AN: I am tired, but wildly excited, for this is my second one shot! Please let me know how you feel about these things!
Tell me how good I am doing or how much I need to improve! I am up at three in the morning and after this, I plan to read some more!!! La de da de da! TT
you know that it is times like these that I wish I liked coffee.
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Irony of Time
By: Concrete Tenshi
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Sometimes he had to stop. Drop everything that he was doing and think back.
It happened a lot, and it anoyed the hell out of him!
Once upon a time he might have gone to search for her, as a matter of fact he had done that for the first years of this new life of his. All in vain. But in his heart, he knew that it was her promise that would keep him searching...
Irony was his best friend, it was his closest companion and often accompanied him on his lonesome journey through his tragic memories.
Strange thing, his morbid sarcasim and sense of humor once had caused his friends concern. But where were they now?
Perhaps at one point in time, in a land far far away he would have turned to someone-anyone else, but they were all gone... At least for now.
Yes, his companions, the ones he had begun to call 'friends', had long since turned back into the embrace of the mother earth. To free themselves to the reaper as only a mortal could.
This is where his best-friend (irony) came in to play. For it had been the taija's fault that he ended up how he was now. All alone. If only she had been a little more selfish and not so damned afraid for her brother.. But as it was - Sango had been first, and this is where his vindictive thoughts got the better of him.
Sango had been the first to die, but in doing so she had unknowingly stolen someone else's death. One he and everyone else had expected the half demon to commit.
Yes, it was supposed to be Inuyasha's death, it was to be the hanyou's final act of ... Well, his final act.
To go into the depths of hell with Kikyo, to take her into the darkness.
The one thing that he could have done to save the tattered remains of his chivalry.
But Sango had cruelly robbed the demon of this selfless act by agreeing to accompany her existence-weary brother into the realms of death. For the demon hunter would not leave her brother, Kohaku, to face such a trial on his own.
She would not leave him in the darkness...
Not the way Sango had left me!
And in the end, it was her selfless act that had robbed Inuyasha of his resolve to travel to hell with the dead priestess.
The half demon had figured that since she had died before she could do it alone.
And, for all that he loved Kikyo, he could not bring himself to leave Kagome alone in the world.
Like Inuyasha had done to me.
So it was Sango's death that had set the pieces in place. Because of her, Inuyasha would not die, and because of that...Kagome belonged to Inuyasha.
Leaving him to seek the solace of his kazaana.
Leaving him in the dark.
But that had come after the battle, and like all great epics, many of the players had found their happily ever afters...
And for each fairy-tale ending, a nightmare began. A horrible relay race of memories and unfulfilled wishes, and silence broken only by the prelude of certain doom...
A haunting melody that had been broken by her....
!!!!!!Flash Back!!!!!!!!
"Miroku!" She called, her breath coming in fast pants.
"MIROKU!" This time she cupped her hands around her mouth in an effort to amplify the sound of her voice, in hopes that her call would resonate off of the foothills.
Irritation and concern flickered to and fro across her features as she prepared to yell his name again.
All in all he found the scene cute, or he would have if she had not woken him up!
"Er- Lady Kagome?" He beckoned with a wave of his gloved hand, trying hard not to laugh at her startled yelp.
"Miroku!" The white and green clad girl scolded, her hand grasping the ominously large yellow pack- a sure sign that she was on her way back to her time.
It never ceased to amaze the monk about her origins, often he would find himself staring quizzically down the dirt well in hopes of unlocking its' mysteries.
And its' largest one was standing right in front of him. A case that would never be solved, the intricate puzzle that was Kagome Higurashi.
Of course he had seen prettier, he'd had prettier, but there was a certain way that the girl carried herself that often sent the lecherous monk into deep meditation.
At one time he had mistaken that something else as her connection with the dead miko, Kikyo. But after watching various encounters with the smitten Inuyasha and saddened (not to mention furious) Kagome, he had to tell himself that it was not that connection that set her apart.
But that didn't matter, not now anyways.
All that mattered now was the fight that was going to begin, the fight that would set them all free.
For it was now set in stone the time in which their journey would come to and end. As to which ending-
Miroku was not naive, he knew the likeliness that he would survive were slim to none, still Kagome had insisted on heading back to her time to gather medicines for the afterwards... An aspect in which he did not want to dwell on at all.
Or hope to believe in.
"I am going back now." The young miko asked, interrupting his little play by play. "Do you want anything?"
He flashed her a small smirk of gratitude, "No thank you Lady Kagome, I doubt that I will be around to use anything I might want to request."
It had started out harmless enough, but a slight, ever-so slight tone of bitterness had crept its way into his voice, effectively causing said girl to tear up.
"Don't say that!" She demanded, her voice harsh and slightly shaky, her dark eyes flashing violently. Quieter she whispered, "Don't you ever say that."
The raven haired monk had not seen this coming, though he guessed he should have, Kagome was always surprising him.
With a sigh he motioned to the vacant spot of grass besides him, "Please sit Kagome," He said when she hesitated, "I must speak with you."
"What is it?" She asked as she lowered herself with a thud as her immensely lighter pack plopped down besides her.
For a moment he wanted to stall, to spare her the cruelty of what he had to say-but he didn't have to, she did it for him.
"Do you believe in re-incarnation?" She asked, drawing her knees next to her chest and wrapping her arms around them.
For a moment Miroku paused, sure he was heading into a trap that vindictive woman loved to set, it was only after he reminded himself who he was with that he answered her. "Yes. I do."
If he had not been studying Kagome's face so hard he might have missed the movement of tension as it leaked slowly from her face.
Relief.
"Do you know how it works?" She asked, her heart beating a tattoo upon her chest, even as her eyes remained focused on the horizon.
"I can not ever be sure, but as a monk, I have an idea." Looking over at her he began to anticipate her next question, "Take yourself for instance," He paused to make sure that using her as an example was not taboo.
"Kikyo was in service of the jewel. Its protector. The jewel needed a soul to keep it safe, therefore, since Midoriko, and Kikyo had already met its qualifications, it gave new life to the soul." To do his friend justice, Miroku was proud of her when she failed to flich at the name of the woman she had once been.
The woman Inuyasha loved.
The dead thing that did not belong on the earth.
"So, as long as there was a jewel, I would be re-incarnated?" She asked. her tone slightly shaking.
"Not you, your soul. Though I think that the spell Urasue placed on you would allow you to regain your memories of this lifetime."
Her hands quivered slightly as Kagome reached up to push a rouge strand of hair away from her face, "What about you? Could you be re-incarnated?"
Miroku's lilac eyes darkened in thought, "Because I serve a purpose, or rather, because my soul serves a purpose to a higher order, the Buda faith, yes. I would be."
"And the others?"
This time Miroku shrugged, "Inuyasha would not-he is a demon and they have natural longevity. As to Sango, I do not believe her soul has a higher calling, though Icould be wrong." He had not wanted to seem so calloused towards her about Inuyasha, but she was taking it rather well.
Or so he thought.
Sobs intruded into his hearing, making him eat his thoughts.
"Please! Do not cry Kagome." He murmured, drawing her to him as the sobs wracked her body. "Kagome I-
"Am so relieved!" She laughed all while her hands grasped clumsily at his robes, "I didn't know- What to tell them... I couldn't lie..."
It then dawned on Miroku that Kagome was not naïve, she knew what her chance of living was, and she was going home to explain things to her family.
Some how she had to tell her parents. Who would undoubtably want to know where to find there daughters body. They would want a heads up that there daughter might not be comming home.
He could not pretend to understand how it must feel, none of the rest of the group had any parents to care about whether or not they died, and Kagome had to live with the knowledge that she alone would be responsible for explaining to her folks that she might not. be . coming back.
"Now I can give them hope! If I die and the jewel has not been destroyed then..."
"You will get another chance." He said fiercely, "You deserve it."
In ways I will not.
For a moment Miroku wondered if she was in his head, because she seemed to be reading his mind. It was as if he was throwing all of his concerns and fears in her face, she could read him so well.
"And what about you? HM?" She whispered with equal ferocity, "Why do you think you are so unworthy?" She asked, her eyes piercing.
"What makes you think that you are not entitled to a second chance at things? I know that Inuyasha..." She choked, but only slightly, "I know that this IS his second chance, but..." Once again the tears whelmed up into her eyes.
"You have no excuse!" She cried. Her hands which gripped his robes had lost their earlier clumsiness and now shook him. "Do you realize that when you speak like you did earlier, it makes me hurt inside? I feel guilty about wanting TO LIVE!"
The last words had taken her energy, the pent up fear she had held about death and regret, all of the guilt and her hope had leaked from her in those frustrated words.
Causing him to gasp in horror.
"Don't!" He cried, his hands now gracing her shoulders tightly, "DON'T! You should never think that you are a bad person for wanting to live! It is human nature to strive for the light in life.."
"Then why is it that you don't seem to care?" She asked, her face buried in her hands.
With tenderness he didn't know he possessed, Miroku cupped her face in his hands, both of his hands. "Because." He whispered, "I no longer have a light."
This time her voice was calm, "You do,or, you did you know? There were times when.."
When things would have been different.
"And I promise you... There will be more lights Miroku. There will always be a light for you." Then with infinite emotion Kagome kissed his forehead before gathering her pack and walking back towards the well, leaving behind her a monk that gapped at the space she had occupied...
Starring like a blind man who had seen color, and light and disbelieved that it was ever there.
Then he remembered there topic of conversation and smirked, for there would certainty be a light for him.
For Kagome Higurashi was a light that could never be put out.
!!!!!END Flashback!!!!!
That encounter had weighed heavily on him, especially during the fight as he watched foe battle friends. Kouga had been slain, as had Kohaku, Kirara and even Jaken. For the aristocratic lord Sesshomaru had too joined the fray against Naraku.
And after sand had slipped away with her puppet brother, and after the battle had been done and all that was left was waistlands, Inuyasha, Kagome, and himself stood alone, the jewel of four souls glowing before them.
Dimly Miroku wondered if his kazaana had disappeared, but he knew that it hadn't. He could feel in burn within him and could only guess that the cause was that one of Naraku's incarnates still lived, for it was the soul of Onigumo that had cast this curse on his family, and so it was the soul-the entire soul-that needed to be destroyed.
And they had let Kagura go, along with Kana, they had given them their freedom as long as they swore to stay away from this fight.
What was worse, he had seen to it personally.
It was here that he was introduced to the most painful of Irony's.
It had been him who had spared the incarnates' lives, and in doing so had damned his own.
But somehow he had swallowed down the howl of grief that threatened to erupt from his mouth as he watched Inuyasha and Kagome wish upon the jewel.
Inuyasha had wished to become human, to start a new life with his beloved miko. As a mortal.
So the jewel had faded into its' protectors body, for something that had caused so much grief could not simply wink out of existence.
All in all it was a happy ever after for Kagome and Inuyasha.
At least, he had to assume it was for he never got the chance to see them, the kazaana had made sure of that.
But that had been fine with him, it had been okay. For like Kagome, Miroku had taken to heart the secret of their re-incarnation.
And her promise...
Now, as he strode down the noisy streets of modern day Tokyo, Miroku contemplated that promise. She had made it clear to him, painfully blissfully clear.
She would always come back to him. He would have her in the long run.
In the end her light would shine for him, taking away the darkness.
That thought alone had spared him from thoughts of contempt and hatred that would have been directed to the one person who had held her heart.
Inuyasha.
Inuyasha was a demon, who had become mortal and human.
He would be long dead...He had had his share of life and loves. And though it pained him to feel that way about his friend, Miroku felt slightly justified.
Still, he felt guilty that he should wish so ill of his ill-tempered friend. But when he thought back, as to the fact that it was Inuyasha that got to hold her while he suffered...
Yes he felt justified.
And, as he rounded a corner in time to see a familiar white-and-green clad raven haired girl surrounded by friends, the one time monk could only wonder if this was his shot at his own happily ever after ending...
Or was this Once Upon a Time?
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AN: Please don't kill me! It is four thirty in the mourning! So it is bound to be crappy! Did you notice that I set it up for a sequel? Now don't take my word for that,
I am not too sure. I just wanted to keep my options open!
Reivew Please?
CT