Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, however the original character is mine and I want to be asked permission before she is used.
Faith
"Faith is trust without proof"
~ Me ~
"Inuyasha." Kagome called up to the demon leader. The group had been walking for two days straight on the way back to Kaede's Village. The shard hunt had gone quiet well this time, turning up six shards from a nest of ant demons. This is probably the only reason Inuyasha was letting Kagome go back to her time for a few days. Their walk had brought them back to the familiar trek through Inuyasha's forest.
"Bitch, we are almost at the village, you can rest there." The demon spat back. Even in a good mood he didn't want to let them rest. The sooner Kagome left the sooner she would get back, was his logic.
"It's not that." Kagome snorted, "I since a Shard, a large one." She paused to orient herself, "That way." She pointed off the beaten track in a southern direction.
"Why didn't you say so sooner!" Inuyasha snapped and took off ahead of everyone. The group was quick to follow, but soon they found themselves consumed in a thick mist. Kagome looked around to find she was alone.
"Inuyasha! Sango! Shippou! Miroku!" she called. Silence. "Anybody!" she looked around.
"Shit! Who the hell are you!" Inuyasha screamed from somewhere in front of her. Without thinking Kagome charged through the mist. She dodged trees and bushes as she rushed in the direction of Inuyasha's voice. Abruptly the mist and trees stopped. Unfortunately so did the ground.
Kagome wheeled her arms in an attempt to keep her balance as she teetered dangerously on the edge of a very deep ravine. With a thud she fell on to her rump and breathed a sigh of relief. Raising her head she took in the scene around her. She was sitting next to ravine that she was sure wasn't in this forest the other day. Behind her was a thick grove of trees cloaked in mist. In front of her was a cliff face stretching several meters up. Attached to the cliff was Inuyasha; bound with thick hunks of rock at his wrists and ankles. He was fighting with all his strength to no avail.
"Kagome get out of here! Now! Run!" He yelled.
"Give it up dog boy. She can't run. Once she enters the mist she can only come out here." On a ledge just above Inuyasha's head and girl of about 18 was lying on her back. Her bright red hair, which was longer then Inuyasha's, hung over the edge and danced in the light breeze. She was dressed in knee-high boots, black velvet pants, and a white peasant blouse with medieval emerald lace-up vest. "We are just waiting for one more arrival…oh there she is." The girl turned her green eyes towards Kagome and a smile crossed her pretty face.
"Kikyo…" Inuyasha whispered. Kagome turned to see the dead priestess walk solemnly out of the mist. Kagome gulped. This was bad. Inuyasha was attached to a cliff, with some strange girl and she was trapped on this side with Kikyo and no means of protection. The girl sat up and clapped happily.
"Good! Now that was are all here, we can begin."
"What are you talking about bitch?" Inuyasha snorted. She stood up on the ledge and held out a large jewel shard.
"That wouldn't be any fun." The girl protested brightly, then turned her attention to the two mikos, who both looked a bit perplexed. "Ok girls, here's the game. All you have to do is touch dog boy here and he goes free and you get this jewel shard to boot."
"That's stupid." Kagome shouted. "How are we supposed to touch him when he is on the other side of a ravine?"
"That is your problem." The girl chirped back, cheerful as ever.
"See Inuyasha," Kikyo cooed, "She's nothing more then a replacement, a pathetic one at that." Kagome just looked away. No matter what Kikyo did she would not speak her mind about her in front of Inuyasha. A smile graced Kikyo's face and she raised her arms into the air. They all waited for something to happen…and waited…and waited.
"I do hope you were not depending on those soul stealers of yours." The girl chirped. "Because they are circling in the mist just as all the others are. Around and around they go and where they stop only I know." She sang happily. Kikyo's arms dropped grudgingly. Kagome had to try very hard to hide her pleased smile.
"How the fuck do you expect them to cross a damn hole in the ground!" Inuyasha snapped angrily up at the girl, "Where the hell did it come from anyway! It wasn't here when we left a few days ago!"
"Oh, what's wrong doggy? Do you not have faith in your girls?" the girl cooed as she sat down on the edge of the shelf and lend down to look at him. She smiled and looked back across the spans. "Oh we have another attempt." Inuyasha looked as well and instantly started yelling. Kagome had taken off her pack and was backing up as far as she could.
"Kagome! What do you think your doing!?" Inuyasha yelled, "You stupid Bitch, You better not be thinking about jumping! You'll never make it!"
"Oh hush puppy," The red head scolded happily, "This is fun!"
Kagome was oblivious to all around her. She may not have Inuyasha's demon abilities, or flying worm things, and she may not be the best miko in the history of the world. But Kagome did know one thing, and that was Inuyasha had saved her more times then she could count and she owed it to him to at least try and save him once. With all her strength she pushed off the ground and charged the cliff.
"Stop! Kagome!" Inuyasha's scream fell on deaf ears as Kagome leapt from the edge of the cliff, hand stretching out to him. She could see his face, filled with shock, surprise, horror, and an emotion she couldn't describe. She was so close. She stretched her hand as far as it would go, hoping – praying she could just brush her fingertips against him…before he began to fall away. No! She hadn't jumped far enough! Kagome began to fall, short by several meters. She heard Inuyasha scream her name. She could see him fighting his bonds to reach out for her. Then she fell with a soft thud.
"Wha?" She muttered. Kagome was laying face down on a disc of soft pink light floating in mid-air. She looked up to see Inuyasha staring down at her in surprise and the mystery girl was smiling happily. Kagome sat up and the disc shrank to accommodate her.
"Well," The girl chirped down at her, "all you have to do is reach out and touch him." Kagome blinked a few times before rising to her feet. The disc again shrank so that it only surrounded her feet with only a few inches of light. For her to touch him she would have to cross several more meters. Kagome debated her options. She could jump; it worked last time…sorta. But something told her that wasn't going to work again. She swallowed and raised her foot. The light shrank around her single foot as she stretched the other out a placed it down in a tentative step forward. The light appeared under her foot. She did it. She took the next step with more confidence. Then the next and the next.
Soon she found herself standing right in front of the amazed dog demon. She smiled and reached out and shut his mouth with an audible click. Instantly the rocks around his wrists and ankles vanished and he dropped onto a red disc similar to Kagome's.
"Oh good!" the girl chirped from above them. They both looked up to find her swinging her legs good-naturedly over the ledge. Then she pushed off and landed on a green disc a few feet away from them. She tossed the shard and Kagome caught it. The pair blinked at this strange girl as she did back hand springs back across the ravine, The green disc appearing and disappearing when her hands/ feet 'touched' down. Inuyasha shrugged, picked Kagome up and leapt easily back onto solid ground. They arrived to find Kikyo gone and their other companions come running out of the now mist free forest.
"Kagome, what happened?" Sango asked as they appeared on the scene. It was all rather surreal. Inuyasha and Kagome where standing on the edge of a ravine they were sure wasn't there the last time they where in this area with a strange woman, that looked about as out of place as she could be.
"I'm not sure," Kagome answered, "I think I found a new miko power that even Kikyo doesn't have. By the way where did Kikyo go?"
"She was here?" Shippou asked, jumping into her arms.
"You mean the Queen of the Damned?" The strange girl asked, "She left when dog boy started screaming your name." Kagome and Inuyasha blushed as their three companions gave them surprised, or in Miroku's case lecherous, looks.
"It wasn't like that!" The dog demon growled and took a swipe at her with his claws. The girl just laughed and back flipped out of reach, landing on her green disc over the empty space.
"You are the Lady of Faith, are you not?" Miroku asked.
"Oooohhh, very good Lord Monk, and no, I will not bare your child." She said sitting down on her green disc and swinging her booted feet.
"Lady of Faith…?" Kagome asked, feeling this was one of those things she wasn't going to learn in her history book.
"Yes, she is neither mortal, nor demon, nor angle, nor witch, nor deity. Time flows through her as freely as air would run through a forest. She knows the past, present, and future all at once."
"You are well versed Lord Monk." The Lady of Faith giggled, "And you may just call me Faith."
"So this place must be Faith's Ravine." Miroku said looking over the edge, "I had no idea it would be in Inuyasha's forest."
"Yes and no." Faith answered, lying down on her disc so that her head hung over the edge and she was looking at them upside down.
"Yes and No what?" Sango asked.
"Yes, this is my home, Faith's Ravine. No, it is not in Inuyasha's forest."
"The where is it?" Shippou asked.
"When ever and where ever I want it to be."
"Why would some one like you want a jewel shard?" Inuyasha asked, looking at the girl with narrowed eyes.
"If I wanted it I won't have given it to you." She answered rolling onto her stomach and propping her head in her hands.
"Then what where you doing with it?" Kagome asked now totally confused.
"Getting your attention." Faith chirped, "I felt the two of you needed a lesson in faith, trust, and love. And I was bored."
"What fucking kinds of lessons where we supposed to learn with Kagome jumping off a god damn cliff!" Inuyasha seethed, "She could have gotten hurt! All because you where bored!"
"Pish posh puppy." Faith giggled, "Kagome was never in any danger. But it was good that Kikyo didn't try it, it's a long way down." She lend over the edge of her disc and whistled like a falling bomb.
"Why would Kagome not be in danger and Kikyo would?" Sango asked, now as confused as Kagome.
"It is Faith's Ravine," Miroku explain, "The test is always the same, a leap of faith."
"Lord Monk, you are ruining all my fun." Faith cooed happily.
"So that platform thing wasn't made by me?"
"Yes and no."
"Bitch! Stop that!" Inuyasha snapped.
"Stop what?" Faith asked innocently.
"Talking in circles!"
"Oh, your no fun. Yes, Kagome made it, but no, not with her miko powers."
"Then with what?" Kagome asked.
"Faith and trust." The group gave her a dry look, but her ever-present smile never wavered "Oh fine! Faith in her own ability to jump the ravine and trust that if anything went wrong Inuyasha would do anything in his power to save her; even with miss living dead around." Kagome blushed
"Then why did I get a light disc too?" Inuyasha asked.
"Your faith and trust in Kagome not to let you fall." Faith answered rolling over to look up at the sky. Inuyasha now had a turn to blush. Then his expression turned more serious.
"Miroku said know the past, present, and future. So does that mean you know if we will defeat Naraku." Inuyasha asked, of once totally serious.
"Yes and No." She answered rolling to her side and propping herself up on one elbow smiling brightly.
"GOD DAMMIT BITCH! Give me a straight answer!"
"There are no straight answers. You aren't asking the right questions." Inuyasha was seething. Miroku placed a restraining hand on his shoulder.
"Allow me. Lady of Faith, do you know the out come of our battle with Naraku?"
"Yes and No."
"Could you, perhaps, tell us?"
"Nope."
"Why the hell not!" Inuyasha snapped his patience for this girl was spent. Faith smiled and stood up on her disc and raised her hand. She spun around and let her fingers leave a trail of four different colored ribbons in their wake. She plucked a blue one from the air. And held it taunt before her.
"The past is immutable, unchangeable, set in stone." She plucked a pink one from the air and stretched it out leaving a space between it and the green one, "The future is not." She plucked a golden one and placed in between to two, attaching it at both ends. "The present is the variable." She took a purple ridden next, attaching it where the gold and pink strands met, running it first perpendicular then parallel to the other line. "The future runs in a steady flow, just as a river runs to the sea. The flow is a constant; but just as a single stone can change a river's course, so can a single action, word, or even thought change the out come of the future."
"You are still speaking in riddles." Sango accused.
"Then let me leave you with one more riddle." Faith cooed, "Always remember: Love is a powerful force that can change without seeking to change." With that said Faith, her disc, and her canyon faded from sight. The group was left standing in the middle of Inuyasha's forest.
"That was the strangest shard we have ever collected." Shippou said after a long silence.
"Forget going home to study, she made my head hurt." Kagome muttered softly. From a near by tree a red hair girl smiled down on the little group. They may not have understood all she said, but it would all make sense, in time.
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A/N: I realized this story is a little…strange and a little OOC. But this came to me when one of my friends asked me what I believed Faith was. I answered her with the quote under the title. This got me thinking and somehow evolved into this. The Lady of Faith, kind of embodies and expresses my ideas on faith, love, and how the future is determined. Anywho, now that this is out of my system…you can tell me I'm crazy or brilliant or whatever.