OMG!!! I AM SORRY BEYOND ALL WORDS!!!! I've been grounded from the computer for nearly six weeks! And I'm still grounded and should be working on a report over the CCC!!! My parentshave me grounded from everything imaginable! They seriously said that they had run out of punishment ideas, that I had no life, and that they are seriously thinking about making me go to social events and football games as punishment! I've a 'wee bit' naughty lately (_ _) B) heeheeheeheehee…Anyways, I'm rambling, again, so now onto…
…the disclaimer! I do not own Inuyasha, but I do own this fic, and there's nuttin' you can do about it! So there! Ha! *lawyers crawl back into shadows* That's right! Crawl! Crawl! Back to the depths of which you came! Hahahaha! Uh… *ahem* eheheheh, ah…
Twisting Paths of Fate
Hopes
There it was, a perfectly round orb radiating an aura of rose. The sweet purity of it giving off a sense of calm contentment, but peace was soon to be shattered.
Around it, a soulless, black abyss was closing in, closer now, swirling like phantom mists from the dreams of those who live within the shadows, fearing the light. Slowly, the nauseatingly cold darkness started to turn the jewel black, an ill omen of chaos to come.
When it was completely engulfed within the nothingness, she could only stare in sheer horror at the once bright crystalline orb, an overwhelming sense of dread and panic was emitted from the bejeweled embodiment of demonic power.
She screamed.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Kagome! Kagome-chan, wake up!" Tsuyu was gently shaking Kagome to the waking world.
"Ah! Get away from…Tsuyu-sama?"
"It was just a dream, Kagome-chan, and please, call me Tsuyu." She gently smiled at the young girl.
"The jewel! Where's the jewel?" her tone was panicked, eyes wide in fear.
"Oh you mean that necklace you had earlier?" an unfamiliar male voice responded.
Kagome looked to the open shouji, and saw a young man that looked to be a little older than Tsuyu standing there.
"I put that away so that Hiyoshimaru wouldn't steal it, he tends to like shiny things. I'll go get it now," he smiled and turned to walk down the hall, where a few seconds later, there was a loud crash and a thump.
"Are you okay?" Tsuyu called out.
"Yeah, I just don't remember a wall being there…"
Kagome looked over questioningly at Tsuyu, "That would be my husband, Nobunaga, he's a bit, um…"
"Clumsy?" Kagome offered.
"I guess that's one way of putting it," Tsuyu replied with a sheepish grin and a few sweat drops.
Nobunaga appeared in the open door way, "Here it is, and look who I found sitting by the cabinet it was in," he held up a rather large toad.
"Tsukimo! What are you doing outside of your cage?" Tsuyu cooed to the oversized amphibian from where she sat on the floor next to the futon.
Kagome was looking at them as though they had both grown an extra head or two.
"You see Kagome, we raise toads and frogs, then sell them to people as a way to get unwanted bugs out of their house," Nobunaga explained as he handed her the necklace, "And Tsukimo is kind of like our good luck toad, I'll go put him in his cage now."
"Ah, that explains it," Kagome nodded as she put the rosary-like chain around her neck. Nobunaga quietly left the room.
"You have your voice back!" Tsuyu exclaimed, feeling her forehead, "And your fever's broken! Do you think you can stand up?"
"Yeah, I don't feel nearly as bad as I did before!" she smiled and quickly got to her feet.
"If you want to change, your kimono is right here, it's been washed, and here's the bundle we found with you," Tsuyu patted the clothes lying next to the futon.
"I'll let you have your privacy," the young woman began to walk towards the open shouji, "I'm guessing that you want something to eat, ne?"
Kagome smiled as she picked up her clothes, "Yes, thank you very much."
"You're welcome, dear. The kitchen is down the hall." She said as she slid the shouji close.
The younger girl sighed as she began to get in to her kimono, a look a worry spread across he face; she now remembered what had happened with Hiten, and why she had run away.
~o~O~o~
In the far off distance, Inuyasha could see the walls of the city of Meguriai, one of the places he loathed the most.
The city's economy thrived off of merchants, who he swore were the most vile, greedy, scheming, annoying people ever to be walk the planet. All in all, they really pissed him off.
He bitterly thought of the main goods sold and traded in those vast markets of insanity: cloths, metal works ranging from jewelry to almost any type of weaponry imaginable, livestock, and, finally, slaves, the most common of which were hanyous and weak youkai.
He glared down at his all too human hands, shackles clanging around his wrists; beneath his red, tattered haori, his arms were littered with old scars. One lone, chainless shackle was firmly clasped around his left ankle, rusted from fifty years of use, the entire reason he was here; it seemed to grow heavier as he thought of his curse. It would always remain there, there was only one person who could take it off, and there was no way in the seven hells that she would ever do that. That's where he hoped that fucking bitch was right now, dead and burning in the worst level of hell, for making him like this, for betraying him.
He growled and forced his glare up to the pompous bastard riding horseback in front of the small procession of slaves and guards. His 'master' was, once again, attempting to sell his more troublesome slaves, namely Inuyasha, 'Feh, like that's ever going to happen.'
Tanuki and Shippou were being sold because, well, they were more trouble than they were worth, and just plain annoying. But Shiori was being sold because she couldn't control her powers; she would sometimes blank out for no apparent reason, then her pupils became yellow slits, bat wings emerging form her back, her fangs and claws would grow long and deadly sharp. The young girl would then go on a killing rampage, many servants had been lost to her insanity, the only one who could ever bring her back to her senses was, surprisingly enough, Inuyasha, and that could take hours.
He heard the young girl stumble and fall somewhere behind him, she was then kicked by one of the guards, "Get up you filthy brat!"
She kept silent and rose to her feet, trudging along the still-muddy road, the storm had lasted for nearly two days..
He let out a held breath as she continued on without any hindrance; the Blood Pearl had not been found. Without that, she would not be able to create barriers, and they would not be able to escape.
His 'master's' horse stopped, Inuyasha had not realized how late it was; the sun was setting in the west.
"We will rest here for the night," the pompous bastard announced, "We shall reach Meguriai tomorrow."
Inuyasha looked back to his fellow slaves, Shippou looked as though he were asleep on his feet, Tanuki, as usual, was looking around nervously, constantly fidgeting with his chains, Shiori was sitting against a tree, looking off into the sunset.
Tomorrow, they would all be free.
~o~O~o~
"So that's why I ran away," Kagome, Tsuyu, and Nobunaga were sitting around the low table, eating dinner, "Then I got attacked by a youkai, but it decided, for some odd reason, to leave me for dead in stead of eating me, and I woke up, and I was here," she hated lying to people, but the truth was just too weird.
Tsuyu nodded in sympathy, "I see why you ran away, I guess that means you have to keep moving, lest your father tries to find you. Do you know where you're going?"
"I'm trying to get to the Higurashi shrine, do either of you have any idea where that is?"
They both shook their heads, Nobunaga's face brightened a little, "I have not heard of that particular shrine, but there is a well traveled miko at the oboe shrine, perhaps she might know where it is." (AN: oboe is pronounced oh-boh-eh, not oh-boh like the instrument, sorry, just had to say that ^_^;;)
"Thank you, I'll try there, where is it?"
"It's a bit of a ways away. First, continue to take the road north until you reach the city of Meguriai, that should only take three hours or so. Make your way through it, now that might take a little while because it is very large and extremely crowded, more like a maze than a city, you'll be there perhaps a day or so. Once you're out, keep going on with the road, it should eventually lead you to her village. Though it'll take a little more than a week and a half, if you ride a horse at a gallop practically nonstop the entire time"
"And if I walk?" Kagome cringed as she waited for the answer.
"Anywhere from two and a half to three and a half weeks, sorry," he grinned sheepishly.
She sighed, "Alright, well I guess I should go to bed now, I have a lot of walking to do in the morning."
"Are you sure you can do that much, after all, you only woke up today…" Tsuyu trailed off in a kind voice.
"I feel fine, I think I was asleep so long because I was so stressed out and emotionally worn out, I'll see you in the morning. Thank you, again," she gave them both a bright smile.
"Goodnight Kagome-chan,"
"Goodnight, Tsuyu, goodnight, Nobunaga-san," Kagome called as she walked to her designated room.
~o~O~o~
Inuyasha woke up with the sun; the cursed city loomed on the horizon draped in the shadows of the dawn, only an hour or so away.
By tomorrow, everything would just be a mere memory.
~o~O~o~
Kagome awoke from the realm of sleep and dreams when Tsuyu gently shook her, "Time for breakfast Kagoome-chan,"
She yawned and stretched out her back, "Alright, I'll be there in a minute,"
"Kagome-chan, I was thinking, you're father is looking for you, correct?"
She nodded as she rubbed some sleep out of her eyes.
"And the only way he can find you is by physical appearances, right?"
"Yeah…"
"So what if we cut your hair? Give you some bangs, cut it to just below your shoulders or so, what do you think?"
Kagome just stared at Tsuyu.
"Err, bad idea?" the older girl asked, a few sweat drops forming.
"No…It's a great idea! I haven't had a haircut for nearly ten years! I was always too afraid!"
"You were afraid to get a haircut?"
"Yeah, you see, the servants at my father's house are, well, a bit odd to say the least. There's this one, her name is Yura, who would always bug me until I gave my cut pieces of hair to her," Kagome made a slightly disgusted face, "She collects it. And then there's this other one, Manten, who would yell at me for being so thoughtless to cut it off, he's naturally bald, and still fairly young too. So I just stopped cutting it and they left me alone."
Tsuyu giggled, "Let's cut it after breakfast then,"
~o~O~o~
Kagome stood in front of the Takeda's house, bidding goodbye to Nobunaga and Tsuyu.
"Are you absolutely sure that you don't want us to take you at least to Meguriai?" Nobunaga asked, once again.
"Yes, I'll be fine, and I don't want either of you drawn into this anymore than you have been already. Thank you, for everything," she smiled at them.
"Alright, if you're sure, Kagome-chan," Tsuyu leaned over to give the girl a quick hug.
Kagome sighed, "I had better get going, thank you, again, for all the trouble you had to go through."
"It wasn't a problem at all.," Tsuyu protested, "Now you start on your way, before you waste too much time."
The teenager pushed her new bangs out of her eyes, "Yes, I suppose so, goodbye,"
"Goodbye, Kagome, may Kami protect you," Nobunaga grinned slightly.
She nodded, a warm smile of thanks spread over he face. With one final farewell, she turned down the road, determination and confidence firmly set upon her features.
Once she had disappeared form view, Nobunaga and Tsuyu went back to the house. An aura of hope lingered over the house.
However…
~o~O~o~
"Honey, have you seen Tsukimo?" Tsuyu asked as she stared at the empty cage.
"No, is he gone again? I swear that toad is too smart to be an animal," Nobunaga sighed
"We had better start looking for him before he dries out," the two immediately began searching the house.
~o~O~o~
…nobody had noticed the exceptionally large amphibian hop after the girl with a fixated interest.
**************
Well, are your questions answered? I'll get the next chapter out ASAP! Once again, I'm REALLY sorry! I will update 'Are You Happy Now?' updated and the fake ending to that 'How It Could Have Happened' reloaded ASAP, I'm turning it into a songfic, it will be so much better!
I'll edit this later, review please!