CHAPTER ONE
Wandering Spirit
Kagome stretched her arms above her head, groaning quietly to herself at the tiny little pops she felt along her spine. She would probably never get used to the way sleeping on the ground made her body feel; days like this made her long for the comforts of her modern life. She was from a time when it was easy to take a soft bed and a warm bath for granted; they were such simple everyday comforts she never expected to be without. Yet now here she was, transported to a time when only the very rich and powerful could afford such luxury. "Do you think we could find a camp near a hot spring tonight?" She gave a pleading look to the silver haired half-demon nearby.
He gave her a look that told her he wasn't exactly thrilled to be making detours on their mission especially for something like a bath when there were plenty of lakes and rivers she could be using. "Keh, Fine. I overheard some villagers in the last town mention one near a village farther north." He slung her comically large yellow backpack filled with their supplies over his shoulder and headed them in the direction. "Gonna probably take all day though and they got a demon problem."
Kagome's eyes sparkled with joy as she trailed behind him "Thank you!" Not wanting to embarrass him, she held back the tackle hug that she wanted to give him; though it amused her to no end how flustered he could get from such small interactions. She thought it was cute. Usually he was so grouchy and hot headed; getting glimpses of the shy and vulnerable side of the rough and tumble hanyou felt rare and special. Something they alone shared in small secret moments.
"This demon, Inuyasha, what did you hear about it?" Sango jogged to the head of the group with Inuyasha and Kagome leaving Miroku trailing slightly behind, though he seemed to not be in much hurry to catch up.
Inuyasha tilted his head in thought. "Well, nothin' much, some people were whispering about it attacking the village girls." The topic seemed to catch Miroku's attention and he caught up to walk by Sango and listen in. "I caught a few people saying something about it stealing babies; probably to eat them or somethin'."
"Inuyasha!" Kagome glared at him. "That's terrible.'
Sango looked at her female companion like she was the weird one. "He's not wrong, Kagome. I've never heard of a demon stealing a human infant for anything good."
"Sango is right, and well; if we are being honest, that's probably the nicer of the possibilities." Kagome scrunched her face up in disgust. Whatever it was, they had to help, but she was beginning to feel like the trip to the hotspring wasn't worth the potential nightmares.
Dusk was creeping over the horizon as the village came into sight. Even from a distance it was plain to see that it wasn't a very prosperous place. There seemed to be far more people than there were huts and of the huts that were there, many had roofs and walls in desperate need of repair; still others were on the verge of collapse, one even having only 3 walls for shelter. "Well it looks like we won't be getting much of a bounty here." Miroku said under his breath, earning him a sharp elbow to his ribs from the demon slayer.
"That's not what we're here for Monk." Sango hisses through her teeth.
The monk put his hands up defensively. "Of course, of course. These people need our help." He laughed nervously.
"Doesn't exactly sound like they want our help." Inuyasha said in a low tone. He'd quickly taken note of the people they passed in the roads giving the group strange looks and leaning into whisper between themselves. Inuyasha's ears twitched in the direction of a pair of men to their right who had some particularly nasty comments to make about him; he paid them no mind however, Inuyasha had heard it all before. He was beginning to wish they would get more creative.
Kagome glared at the villagers eyeing Inuyasha, quickly becoming irritated. He had said nothing to them, not so much as looked their way, these people didn't know anything about him but felt it was okay to take one look at him and whisper foul things back and forth. A strong urge to set fire to what was left of the awful place welled up inside; instead, she wound her arms around one of his and marched beside him haughtily holding her head high.
The hanyo looked down at her, shocked by the sudden contact before an angry growl was forced from him hearing the villagers turn their venomous whispers on Kagome. He clenched his fists and his jaw to keep from cutting out their vile throats.
Ever the diplomat, Miroku stepped between his friends and the villagers, speaking to the two men to the right with a false friendly smile. "Hello , good sirs, my companions and I are traveling demon exterminators -."
"HA!" The men barked a laugh. "You ain't very good ones from the looks of it." One of the men pointed with his chin in the direction of Inuyasha.
Miroku forced a laugh. "We are more than capable, I assure you." He affirmed in a dark tone before resuming a more friendly demeanor. "We heard your village may have a demon problem and have come to offer our services. We would be happy to assist in ridding you of the demonic forces plaguing your village."
The villager smirked. "Come to think of it, we do have a demon problem. Yeah. Why don't you get that demon and its whore out of our village!" Inuyasha's vision flashed red for a moment, Kagome squeezed his arm in a effort to calm him down. "Those little ones too." The man pointed to Kirara and Shippo. "All of you damn demon lovers can get the hell out of here!"
Waves of anger rolled off of Inuyasha, if not for Kagome at his side clinging to him, the hanyo was sure he would level this worthless place to the ground. Miroku shrugged coolly. "Alright then, let us take our leave friends, our services are not needed here." Miroku began to walk away before pausing to turn back to the men. "Should you change your mind and need our help in the future, consider us unavailable."
The group passed through the village back to the main - or rather, only - road. "I ought to go back there and give those guys a piece of my mind." Kagome huffed, half grumbling to herself as they passed the last ramshackle hut in the village. They had traveled far in their search of the jewel shards and encountered plenty of rude closed minded people but never had they met a group so hell bent on not accept help from their mixed group.
Songo patted her friend on the shoulder. "You aren't going to change the minds of people like that Kagome, it's a waste of breath." Something ahead on the road caught their attention. Curious, they approached to find a smallish shrine smashed to pieces. The wooden housing was entirely destroyed; hardly a single board was left intact and the splintered pieces lay scattered all around the area. The stone statue that would have been inside was in no better shape, the original form was hardly recognizable save for a few distinct shapes; a large piece of the head showed canine features, a slender snout and large fox like ears. "They had a shrine to a fox spirit outside their village? Looks like they destroyed even that." Sango shook her head in pity.
Shippo hopped down from Kagome's shoulder to take a closer look. A tiny lavender colored flame of fox fire appeared in the air over Shippo and danced around the demon kit like a falling leaf caught in the wind before landing harmlessly on his nose and vanishing. "She seems nice...but sad." He said mostly to himself, placing his hand over his nose and blinking in surprise of the fox spirit's greeting. "Zenko help humans. What kind of idiot would do something like this?" He asked feeling a touch of sadness settle in his heart shared by the fox fire.
Miroku stooped down, finding a bit of a broken stone tablet with writing carved into it. "Asuka of the Dream and Darkness-?" He couldn't be sure if he was reading a second name or a second title and the rest of the tablet was far too damaged to read, it was crumbling to pieces just being held in his hand, some of it seemingly already crushed into powder.
"Ain't our problem, Serves those bastards right." Inuyasha continued ahead. "You comin' or what? Can't hang around here all day if you still want that hotspring." Miroku, Shippo, Sango, and Kagome made a quick prayer over the broken shrine for the spirit it belonged to grant them safe passage into the night and for it to find peace before following after the half demon.
They managed to find a small clearing near the hotspring to set camp just before the sun fully set. " You go ahead Kagome," Sango told her, while helping Miroku gather supplies to make some dinner. "I'll come get you when it's ready." Kagome smiled at the other woman before rummaging through her yellow bag for a towel and toiletries. She skipped off toward the long awaited hot bath.
The moment the heated water touched her skin, all of the tension and stiffness in her body melted away. She sank low in the water, closing her eyes in bliss. A gentle night breeze wove its way through the steamy air carrying with it the soothing aroma of chamomile and wisteria. Kagome wondered if there might be a field of wildflowers nearby. Her grandfather would probably be thrilled to enjoy a cup of chamomile tea, handpicked from 500 years in the past.
ding
Something like the ring of a tiny bell followed by the snap of a twig pulled Kagome out of her relaxed state. She jumped to her feet in the pool scanning, her head whipping in the direction of the sound. She found herself faced with a woman she didn't know, from the village she assumed at first but her clothing suggested otherwise. Her small frame was adorned in a glossy silk kimono. It was pure white for the most part with a pattern long tendrils of lavender colored flowers draping around the sleeves and legs and was tied with a black obi that appeared to be a solid color but moonlight reflected semi-matte black swirls of delicate patterns hidden against a matte black background."Pardon!" She bowed, her long inkly black hair falling around her face hiding the slight blush of finding the bathing woman. "I didn't expect the spring to be occupied, please forgive my intrusion."
ding
Kagome was sure she heard the bell this time but was quickly distracted. She could swear that she could see a fluffy mass of several golden tails gently swaying behind the woman but when she blinked it was nothing more than swirling steam rising from the water's surface. Kagome pushed her spiritual energy out searching the other woman for any signs that she might be a threat but the woman gave no reaction. The woman looked up, chewing her lip nervously. "I don't want to be a bother, but would you perhaps permit me to join you? My home is quite far so I am not often able to make my way to this hotspring."
ding
Kagome nodded with a gentle smile." There is plenty of room." The woman smiled back, then turned away, removing her kimono and hanging it over a tree branch with care. Something about the beautiful garment seemed off as it fluttered softly in the chamomile scented breeze. From where she sat, it looked as if the Kimono had a large slit cut down the back from the neck all the way down to where the lower back would be.
ding
A thick fragrance of wild flowers filled the air as a cool gust wound through the trees. The strange woman turned to enter the hot spring and an involuntary gasp escaped Kagome. Across the woman's stomach, hips, and far upper thighs four massive jagged scars marred her fair skin as if she had been violently slashed open by a terrible monster. The woman froze mid step and looked down at herself and if she had forgotten about the angry scars. "Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! I didn't mean -."
ding
Kagome apologized profusely for her outburst. The woman shook her head with a doleful smile. "It is entirely fine. You haven't been the first and you can't possibly be the last." The woman stepped into the heated pool , sinking slowly into the water's warm embrace as another floral breeze drifted through the trees, soothing some of the awkward tension.
ding
"Do you hear that?" The woman looked at Kagome with confusion. "I just keep hearing something, like a little bell."
The woman covered a giggle with her hand. "Did you know of the lost spirit that wanders the forest?" Kagome shook her head no. "It's a local legend. After a terrible tragedy befell her, her spirit was expelled from her body as it was dying, trapping her between worlds. She wanders, searching for the things she lost before death." She put up three fingers to indicate the things the spirit searches for. " Her lover, her unborn child, and her body."
ding
"Supposedly only someone with spiritual powers can hear the bell that marks her presence." The woman studied Kagome curiously. "Are you perhaps a Miko?"
"Hardly. I do have a little power I guess, but I wouldn't call myself a miko." Kagome was reminded of Inuyasha's comment about the missing babies. "Is the spirit dangerous? I heard that women and children were going missing in the area."
"Well those villagers seem to think so but to them everything not human is an enemy. I think she is just a heartbroken soul lost in the world."
ding
A yawn escaped Kagome. Her eyelids were beginning to feel heavy. "I wonder if there is a way to help her soul rest." She fought another yawn and tried to shake herself awake. "I can't imagine how much pain her soul must be in."
ding
More chamomile danced in the air making Kagome's eyes and body feel so heavy. "Do you really think you could help?" Kagome nodded as her eyes drifted closed. The woman smiled. "I am Asuka of the Dream. Please allow me to borrow your body for a while." Asuka moved close to Kagome as the sleepy girl nodded again, not truly hearing the request. Asuka took Kagome's hands in hers. A ring of lavender flame encircled the two women. Asuka's form began to slowly burn away as the flames circled higher and her soul tangled itself around Kagome's.
A/N - Thank you so much for reading all the way down here. I hope you liked it. This idea came to me while I was revising the first 4 chapters of my other Inuyasha fic Unbonded. The premise being "What if we explored more of what fox demons are capable of in mythology and later translate that to the origins of the next big threat." Since some powerful fox demons are capable of altering space and time, I think it would be really interesting to see where we can go with that rabbit hole.
Let me know what you think, I love seeing reviews and I hope you'll follow for more.