Disclaimer: Well, my birthday's coming up. Maybe my parents will buy Inuyasha for me. ::wishes really hard::
A/N: I'm so sorry it took so long to update! Agh! I had a temporary writer's block. But now it's better. Hope you guys'll forgive me! Anyway, it seems that no one took a shot at the Charis challenge I issued last time, so I'll give the answer anyway. Charis was the wife of Hephaestus, who was the blacksmith god. And since Toutousai is a blacksmith in this fic, that's how I made the connection.
Ch. 13
Memories and a Spell
Sesshoumaru did not look up from his papers as the door creaked open. "Nazuna," he said, acknowledging her presence.
"Good day, Sesshoumaru," his betrothed replied softly, shutting the door after herself.
The twitch his nose made was nearly imperceptible as he tried to discern for himself what was wrong. The scent of nervousness and fear was laced deeply with her natural fragrance. Not a good sign. "Did you wish to speak with me?"
Nazuna lowered her head. "Yes. I have something… important to tell you." She nervously wrung her hands behind her back, fidgeting slightly. How would he take her news? She knew she had to tell him before he found out for himself, but how would he react? She feared the consequences of this revelation.
"There is no need to draw this out any longer than need be. If you have something to say, then say it," Sesshoumaru said curtly.
"Sesshoumaru… when I went to see my sick brother, I… I…" she stuttered, "I met someone."
The demon froze but his face was emotionless.
"He was a boy from the village and he was so nice and courteous and… and…" she broke off, "I'm so sorry, Sesshoumaru." Nazuna said quietly.
There was a long pause where he said nothing, not moving at all. The silence stretched over several minutes and it nearly killed her as she watched him carefully, trying to gauge his emotionless expression and wondering if it would be best for her to start retreating.
"I did not mark you," he said simply. "You may be my fiancé but by youkai standards, you are still free to choose whomever you like to be your mate. If you truly love this boy, it is not my place to stop you." Stiffly, he stood up and swept past her. "You are free from the engagement. We shall never see each other again." He said in passing.
Tears filled her eyes, "Sesshoumaru…"
He exited swiftly and closed the door. As he marched down the hall mindlessly, he was brought to a halt when he ran into someone. The person fell down and a tray clattered noisily on the ground. A teapot shattered upon impact and the liquid it held splattered across the floor. Several other plates broke as well. The small cakes that were on them fell messily on the floor, growing soggy as the tea soaked into them.
"Oh, poop," Rin swore, "Now I'll have to clean this all up." She looked up and was about to take whoever ran into her down a notch but she gasped instead, suddenly rushing to straighten herself. "Lord Sesshoumaru!"
He looked at her coolly and turned away, walking at a rather fast pace. Rin eyed the mess on the floor and left it to follow the demon lord, preferring to let someone else find it and clean it.
"Lord Sesshoumaru, wait for me, please!" Rin called but he ignored her. When she finally managed to catch up with him, she was out of breath and panting heavily. Sesshoumaru was sitting on a bench under the cooling shade of a tree. They were in the garden and she approached him slowly. "Lord Sesshoumaru?"
He was silent for a moment; his eyes were closed. "Who told you you could follow me?"
"I… um… I'm sorry. You just seemed a little bit upset; I'm not sure but…" she mumbled.
"There is nothing wrong with this Sesshoumaru." He said almost coldly.
"I'm… I'm sorry. I just thought…"
"You thought wrong, girl."
Rin straightened and bowed low. "I apologize, Your Majesty. It was wrong of me to approach you. I bid you good day."
The demon lord thought for a moment she was going to leave, but just as she was about to exit the garden, she stopped.
"However, when you are ready to tell someone about whatever is troubling you, I'll be around to lend an ear." She gave him a sweet smile and left.
Kagome hummed lightly snatches of a tune whose words were long forgotten as she swept a slightly floury kitchen floor. Inuyasha and the others had already left, leaving her with Toutousai and Charis. She was still a bit miffed that she'd been left behind while the others went gallivanting off into an exciting adventure, but she understood their reason for leaving her behind.
"Are you doing alright in here, Kagome?" Charis asked, coming into the room.
Kagome looked up and paused her sweeping. "Yes, I'm fine. I'm just about finished."
"You know you don't have to do this, right?" The elderly woman told her, feeling guilty for allowing a guest to do some of her chores.
The Android smiled genuinely. "I know." She swept up the last bits of flour and dust and stowed away the broom into a closet. "What else can I do, Charis?"
The woman shook her head slightly, "What kind of host am I anyway? Making you do my chores."
Kagome reassured her. "I don't mind, Charis. At least they keep me occupied."
Charis led her away from the kitchen. "Let's see what else there is we can do besides boring old chores. Come along now, Kagome." She passed by the door and stopped for a moment. "What's this?" She muttered to herself. She picked up a dagger lying on the ground. "Miroku must have dropped it after I gave it to him, the silly boy."
Kagome watched the dagger and felt dazed all of a sudden. She lifted a hand to her temple. She closed her eyes, but the feeling would not go away. She dropped to the ground.
Charis tossed the weapon away, carelessly. "Oh, my! Kagome!" She crouched down and supported the girl's back with an arm. "Kagome! What's the matter? Are you okay, dear?" Not waiting for an answer, she half carried, half dragged her to the nearby couch, laying her along its length. She fanned Kagome with her hands, looking about, her brow creased in worry. "Just wait here, Kagome, I'll go get Toutousai."
In a flash, she was gone. Kagome groaned and pressed her palm to her head. Her eyes were still closed. Inside her mind, images that she previously could not remember were flashing through. What was this? Her past? The time before she foolishly threw her life away to become an Android?
Yes, she breathed deeply, these were her memories. They had come back and all this time she had only wanted to keep them away. The most distinct memories that penetrated through the flurry of images were of the causes of her heartbreak.
First, Kouga, the wolf demon she first gave her heart to. To be with him, she'd given up her family. They abandoned her for choosing a demon over her intended, a snobby boy named Hiten. But then, Kouga had cheated on her with another wolf youkai, breaking her heart. She'd tried to kill herself, hence the dagger, which had triggered the memory flood. Later, she'd met a boy named Houjou. He was as sweet as Kouga had been arrogant. She'd figured that playing it safe would keep her from a second heartbreak. She'd been wrong of course. He broke up with her a few months later and got together with a girl from his village.
Charis returned with Toutousai, distracting her from her thoughts and unwanted memories.
"What's the matter, Kagome?" Toutousai asked. "How are you feeling?" He dismissed Charis with a wave of his hand.
"Everything has come back," she mumbled, staring in front of her.
"Everything? What do you mean?"
"I can remember everything now. Everything." She turned to him. "Why am I remembering? I don't want to remember!"
Toutousai pondered the possibilities for a while before he found a possible answer. "I'm not sure, but I think when that arrow hit you, it could have unlock the barriers around your memories. You see, I never threw away the memories. Memories are precious things; they shouldn't just be thrown away without a thought, so instead I put strong barriers around them. As long as the barriers were up, your eyes would be black." Toutousai scratched his head thoughtfully. "Though, I think originally, I wanted the color to be purple. Oh well."
"So why didn't I start remembering right after I recovered from the shot?" Kagome asked.
"I'm getting to that," Toutousai said patiently. "You see, even though the barriers were down, the memories were still dormant. Something was needed to trigger them. Was there anything…?"
Kagome nodded. "The dagger," she said, motioning to it with her hand. "I tried to kill myself once and the dagger reminded me of it." She was a bit embarrassed about telling the man that, but Toutousai didn't seem to have any sort of negative or reprimanding reaction to the statement.
"Well, you should take it easy now, Kagome. All the memories must be hard for you to register at the moment. Why don't you let your system rest a bit? Go take a nap. It's almost dinner and we'll call you when we're ready."
She nodded and headed for the bedrooms but nearly collided with Kikyou on the way there.
"Kikyou?" She asked incredulously. "What are you doing here? I thought you left with the others?"
She yawned daintily, "I'm a lady. I don't fight in battles. I sent Shinidama in my place. Plus, I almost never get the beauty sleep I deserve. There are always so many princess duties at the palace."
"It is past noon, Princess Kikyou. Even ladies do not sleep past this hour," Charis reprimanded gently.
The princess blushed angrily but didn't say anything.
Kagome gave a polite half-bow to her and slipped into the guestroom. She put her system on sleep and closed her eyes.
The day passed quickly as Kagome busied herself with helping Charis around the house and talking to each other about themselves. Kikyou had tried to enter the conversation once or twice, but, finding their talk boring, she left to practice her archery outside in Toutousai's yard.
By night, Kagome found herself back in the guestroom; only sleep would not come to her. She tried her hardest to make her system rest, but it wouldn't. Kagome guessed it was the nap she'd taken earlier and sat up in the bed. She let her thoughts drift around in her head, making sure to skip around the memories that'd been recently recovered and her mind settled on Inuyasha.
Kagome gave a small smile. Though brash and arrogant, the man could be so very sweet and she loved him for it. Her mind oriented on his face and she remembered how it had felt like when she was in his arms, safe and happy. True, Kikyou was no longer in danger of the Curse, but would her parents and his parents still pursue the engagement? If not, how would she ever be able to dream of a future with Inuyasha? He might be hanyou and would live for a while yet, but because she wasn't technically alive, she'd be around for forever. Kagome shuddered at that thought. Forever was a long time. How would she ever survive it without her friends by her side?
She snapped out of her thoughts when she saw a thin, luminous glow outside her window. What was that? She stood up and walked to the window. Outside, was the same wisp of light. It shimmered and twisted, reflecting light that had no source. Its shape was vague yet clear at the same time. It was beautiful and it was mysterious. Try as she might, she could decipher what it was.
The light called to her. She felt a tugging her in chest and her head felt fuzzy. At the moment, her only clear thought was to get to that light. She dashed out the room and from the house, hoping the wisp was still there waiting for her. It was.
As she drew closer, it retreated. She followed, entranced and it led her away.
In the other guest room, Kikyou was awakened by the thumping of Kagome's feet against the wooden floor. Grumbling, she marched to the door, prepared to yell at the girl for waking up royalty, but she was not prepared to see her run out the house. Her curiosity made her slip on a warmer cloak and follow the Android outside. Kagome continued to walk away and Kikyou tagged along, wondering where she could be going in the middle of the night.
Kagome was unaware of the princess behind her. Her mind would only focus on the light. She followed it quite a distance until it finally stopped, wavering in the air and then dissipating. The fuzziness in her mind disappeared along with the wisp and she blinked, suddenly finding herself in a beautiful clearing.
The place was small with a waterfall just a few feet away. The moonlight reflected against the water, and the light splayed out across the clearing, creating an ethereal look. In front of the waterfall, there was a narrow platform that reached to the height of her chest. A mysterious beam of light fell on the platform and the scene was so cliché that Kagome felt the urge to laugh. She quelled it and approached the stand.
On top of it, there were two items. One was a thin, plain staff that was concave at the top. It seemed as if something was missing there. Next to the staff was a stone. It was round and a dark lavender color. Glancing back to the staff, she realized that the stone would fit perfectly on top of it.
"What are you doing?"
Kagome jumped as the voice spoke. She turned to see Kikyou peering curiously at her, her arms crossed.
"Why are you here, Kikyou?"
"Why are you here?" She countered. "It's the middle of the night and you came all the way out here to stare at a stick and a rock. What do you have to say for yourself?" Kikyou demanded, setting her hands on her hips.
"I… don't know." Kagome turned to look back at the staff and stone. Curiously, she picked them both up. She was startled when the stone glowed and turned into a brighter rosy color.
"What are you doing?" Kikyou asked sharply. The light on shining down was slowly fading away. Even the moonlight seemed to be vanishing bit by bit. Kagome was unaware of the changes.
She was mesmerized by the jewel and she slowly fitted it to the tip of the staff. Nothing happened for a moment. Absolutely nothing. Sound even seemed to be absent in that split second.
Then, a blinding, white light exploded from the staff. Kagome reflexively swung up an arm to shield her eyes and dropped the staff in the process of doing so. The light receded but the staff continued to glow brightly with the jewel firmly attached. The waterfall scene completely disappeared to reveal a dark clearing with a large stone throne before them.
Naraku sat there, his chin resting on one hand, watching them with cold amusement in his eyes.
"Kagome…" Kikyou whispered, "what have you done?"
A/N: Yes, it's a cliffy, but I haven't put one of those in in ages! So don't complain =P Plus, it's not all that bad. Anyway, this story's almost over. Maybe it'll get another three or four chapters. I don't know what it is about the number 17, but I always seem to be aiming for it. Don't forget to review!
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Review Responses:::::{}{}{}:::::
Lifeless-Kanna: I'm sorry I didn't update very fast! I had a lapse in inspiration, but then I was suddenly struck with it a couple days ago! This is the result. Hope you enjoyed anyway. Fiery Fox Demon: Thanks for reviewing so many of my stories! I makes me happy when people do that =P I'm glad that my work is loved XD This chapter took a bit of time coming out, but I hope you liked it! Thank you again for your reviews! AnimeBrat: Heehee thanks! I'm sooo sorry this took so long to get out! IY-ROX: Thank you! Of course Kagome will be with Inuyasha! What kind of Inu/Kag writer do you think I am? LOL. Kill-all-Flamers-210: Thank you! For both the reviews! Haha, it's fun to give people a scare now and then. Hope I didn't scare you too much. =P Laura-chan: Thankies! I try to be as original as I can get. That's why I like AU's better. Sorry this update was a bit slow, but I was able to get this chapter to be fairly long (for me). Hope you liked! AlleyWings: Wow, you've got all their situations in a nutshell don't you? Thanks for the review! Actually, I was planning to do something with Kikyou… I'll tell you that much, but no more! Heh heh. =D Dragon Man 180: Yeah, it is a bit different huh? Well, she was more neutral than evil. Naraku just made her do evil things. Amberescence: I swear, I can never get your name right! =P Anyway, thanks for reviewing! I know I took a little too long to update this time but…. You forgive me right? LOL. Moonlight-Miko: Wow, you've got some accurate predictions there! Do you happen to be a mind reader…? LOL, I'm just kidding. Hope you liked the chapter even though it ended on a slight cliffy foot!