Kagome goddess of japan
chapter 8 The Temple of Kagome
Kagome looks at the tile and in a slow clear voice begins to speak.
"Shibasaski Yoichi. You were a fine soldier. You died in my service. You died because I could not find a better solution."
Kagome's voice catches. "I am sorry." Tears begin to form in her eyes.
Kagome thinks, 'I try, every day, to come here and mourn the people that have died because of me. I must acknowledge and thank them for their sacrifices. My worshipers trust me to do my job properly, when I don't, I must know about it, so, I can correct things.'
A ghostly male figure appears next to Kagome. He is wearing a white light kimono. Like most Japanese ghosts his legs fade into wisps, so he has no feet.
"Goddess." The ghost says. Even though he is a ghost, he lowers himself to the ground, like he would as if he was on his knees, if he had legs.
"Arise." Kagome whispers. She takes a deep breath, "you died in combat."
The ghost bows his head, "Fighting for you, my goddess."
Kagome reaches out and touches the top of his head. Her hand glows. "You followed in your father's footsteps and like him, became a soldier in the service of my husband."
"Yes, goddess."
Kagome's head twists a little bit to one side, "You died, young. Too young for children, although, your family still exists and still serves."
"Yes, goddess."
Kagome continues to speak in a hollow sounding voice, "You were a successful soldier."
"Yes, goddess. Five personal kills and fourteen wounded enemy among other things."
"You also saved the lives of your friends and companions, and your actions help change the world."
"Yes, goddess."
"Those deaths and the other inevitable violent actions of a soldier during combat weigh on your soul. The number of times that you saved the lives of your friends, and your other services help to lighten your soul."
Kagome pauses.
"You could have already been reincarnated, but you wished to remain a ghost."
"I wished to stand before you, my goddess."
Kagome removes her hand from his hand. "Rise, Shibasaski Yoichi."
Shibasaski Yoichi raises his head and looks at Kagome. Kagome looks at him.
"I owe you, Shibasaski Yoichi." Kagome says, "speak."
"Thank you, Goddess." The ghost says. "When I was alive, I promised my wife that I would take care of her, but I died before I could."
Kagome nods.
"I still wish to carry out that promise."
"Your wife is, I am sorry to say, already dead." Kagome says.
'Ghosts don't have a firm grasp on time and space. Problems like this are common.' She thinks.
A pause, as he adjusts, "then, my goddess." He says, "I wish that you would intercede so, I might be reincarnated near her."
'Not an uncommon request from ghosts,' Kagome nods. 'The gods that control reincarnation do things according to their rhyme and reason.'
She says, "I will do what I can, Shibasaski Yoichi, but there are things that even I cannot do. Your reincarnation might be different from you might desire."
"As long as I am with her."
'He has a good soul, a positive soul. The gods that control reincarnation do listen to me. Unlike the God of Abraham, I do not steal souls from them, so they will listen to me in small requests, like this.' Kagome thinks. 'The God of Abraham and his Heaven removes souls from a cycle of life and so steals them from the influence of the gods of reincarnation. They like me, since I have not created a heaven like the God of Abraham.'
"That much I can promise." Kagome says.
The ghost nods, "thank you, goddess." The ghost fades away.
Kagome hands the tile back to Hoshi. The tile has extra writing on it.
She thinks, 'at night, in the early morning hours, I meet most of the ghosts of the people that worshiped me, but most of those ghosts and souls are people that just lived ordinary lives. Good lives, many of them, but nothing that gives them an extraordinary claim on my goodwill. Here, during the day, I call upon the ghosts that served me well. These ghosts do have a claim on my goodwill.'
She watches Hikari walk to the wall, pick out another tile and walk back to Kagome.
She thinks, 'luckily, ghosts and souls don't have a firm grasp on time, so I can call upon them as I wish.' She conceals a shudder at thought of having to meet all of the dead of a major battle quickly. 'That would distract me from the concerns of the living, this way, I still help the souls of the people that died in my own way.'
Hikari hands Kagome the new tile.
The tile glows.
"Yoshio Kodama" Kagome says in a slow clear voice.
A pause.
Kagome sighs, "you have already decided to go to the gods of reincarnation." She pauses, as her powers trace his soul, and then nods. "In your new life, you were rewarded for your good deeds."
Another pause, as she telepathically connects to the supercomputer below and traces the family's history. "Your family lives on. They still serve the empire and me. In honor of Yoshio Kodama's deeds, at the time of his death, the family was rewarded. The current head of the family may apply for additional rewards."
Kagome hands the tile back to Hikari.
She thinks, as she breaks the link to Kodama's families records, 'I've added a note to the family's record. They can go to one of my priests and request a minor favor from me or my priesthood. Hmmmm . . . from the quick glance that I took, the family is doing fine. And, they already possess a similar note on their files from his grandmother, when she died. The family appears to be saving it for a raining day.'
She slowly nods. 'A wise family, saving a favor, now two favors, even if they are minor ones, from me. hmmm. Do I send a note to their priest and have him ask them if they need anything? No. let them choose how they wish to use them, do not force them. The favors are minor ones.'
Hikari hands Kagome a new tile.
"Kalea Waipa." Kagome says in a low steady voice.
A female ghost appears in front of Kagome. She is dressed, rather dressed sparsely with just a ghostly silken wrap around her waist, since she was a native of the Hawaiian islands. Her ghostly feet are just off the ground.
"Goddess." She, like Shibasaski Yoichi, kneels down, with both knees on the ground.
Kagome stretches out her hand and touches her head. Kagome's mouth twitches into a smile. "I remember you." She whispers. "Raise." She removes her hand.
Kalea Waipa rises and looks at Kagome.
"Kalea Waipa. You were a very good doctor. You lived a very useful life, helping many people."
"Yes, goddess."
"Except for the occasional patient that you lost, you have very few black marks against you."
Kalea Waipa grimaces and nods.
"Your family still lives and remains one of the best medical families in their province."
"Thank you, goddess."
"Kalea Waipa, I owe you." Kagome says, "your wish?"
"Can you help me with the soul of the child that I was holding when I died?" Kalea Waipa. She holds out her hands. Kagome can see, just barely the traces of a baby, an African baby spread between them.
"I've held onto her soul, to prevent it from falling into the clutches of the god of Abraham." Kalea Waipa says. "Ever since someone killed he and I with explosives under hidden under him, I've been holding on."
Kagome nods. 'I remember. As we were expanding in Africa, She went there, as an old, semi-retired doctor, to help the people adjust to the rule of the empire. Her speciality was helping people with mental problems, and adjusting to the empire does cause problems.'
Kagome keeps her face still as she thinks, 'one night at the encampment that she, other doctors and additional civil affair's specialists that were there to help the people get back on their feet, was attacked. A bleeding man came into the encampment, a dead woman's body draped over a horse, the saddlebags covered in blood, in his arms was a bleeding baby wrapped in a huge blanket. When the doctors saw him, they rushed to help him. He was screaming that his wife was dead and his child was hurt and he needed aid.'
'But, he was lying. There were three booby-trapped bombs. The bloody saddlebags had a bomb in them. They had killed a random woman, cut her open, stuffed explosives into her body. And finally under the blanket wrapped around the baby, was a third bomb.'
Something grim appears in Kagome's eyes, 'the tribe of the man that did it, didn't want to give us the family of that man, so they could be punished for his deed. Inu-yasha sent an armored division in. that tribe is no more.'
"Very well," Kagome says. She holds out her hands and grasps the almost transparent outline of the ghostly baby.
Kalea Waipa steps back and observes.
"This is my house." Kagome says. "I am in control." She glows. The ghost of the baby glows.
'The angel of death is fighting me. But, this place is where I am at my strongest.' Kagome thinks. 'This soul must be part of the cycle of existence, not stored like a wheat grain in heaven.'
There is snapping noise that echoes throughout the room, although, no ear heard it, and it will not be heard on any tape. It exists only in the mind of those in the room.
The ghost of the child firms. He opens his eyes and looks at Kagome. Kagome smiles. She looks at the ghost of Kalea Waipa. "I'll see it he can become part of your family."
"I would like that, goddess." Kalea Waipa says. "Now I will allow nature to take its corse."
Kagome nods. "Thank you for your service."
"I was helping people, that is thanks enough." Kalea Waipa says as she fades out of existence.
Another ghost, a footless Japanese ghost, appears next to Kagome. Kagome hands the ghostly baby to him. "Take him to where his soul needs to be." She says.
The ghost nods to Kagome and vanishes with the baby.
Hikari accepts Kalea Waipa's tile and brings another for Kagome.
Kagome thinks, 'after I finish today's, and everyday's services, this room is open to the public. Families of the dead come and worship their ancestors, not only at home, but also here. Rooms, similar to this, are built into my temples across the world, so these deserving people's memories will also be praised and worshiped by their neighbors.'
Kagome, over the next little bit of time, calls up and rewards a couple more ghosts of persons that died in her service.
Hikari says, "This is the last one on today's schedule, Goddess." She bows to Kagome.
Kagome nods her head to her. "Thank you, High Priestess. I will begin to move to the preaching forum."
Kagome slowly, stalely, spins and moves to another set of huge doors. As she moves in that direction, a couple of ghosts flirt near her, appear to speak, then vanish.
The huge, finely lacquered and decorated with Kagome's spreading oak tree design, oaken doors, slide open as Kagome approaches them.
They open up to the outside. The before dawn promise of a beautiful day is coming true.
The morning sun enters through the doors and shines on Kagome's face. Also, entering through the doors are the sounds of people.
Directly in front of Kagome is a wide, marble staircase leading to an immense open plaza. Off to each side of Kagome, at the head of the stairs, is a place where Kagome (or others) can speak to the people in the plaza.
Barely contained in that plaza are an uncountable number of people, from all over the world.
As Kagome appears, the crowd in the plaza shows their respect for Kagome, their goddess, by prostrating themselves flat on the ground, their faces looking at the marble surface. As everyone does that, a whooshing sound rises from the plaza.
Kagome as she stands at the top of stairs, says, "arise."
The people in the plaza stand up and shift around, as Kagome slides off to her right and into a slightly raised area, where she can address the crowd.
'Once,' Kagome thinks, 'I had to learn how to shout and speak to crowds without any speakers. Then, I had to learn to speak into microphones, as the early electronics would carry my voice. Now. Now, my necklace carries a complex wireless system that allows me to patch into the plaza's speaker system and into the world's TV net, so everyone can see me and hear me.'
'Normally, I come out here, every morning, and give the people in the plaza and the world, a short sermon about that day's topic. Today, though, I'm going to have to ad lib.' she thinks.
As Kagome settles in her customary place, a sigh sweeps the crowd, as they know that Kagome is about to speak.
"People of the world, citizens of the Japanese Empire," Kagome begins to speak, "and all persons that are listening and watching me, today is the anniversary of my appearance on this world."
She looks out across the crowd. There is some movement in the crowd, as people try to move to a position to see and hear her better. "The world I came from was destroying itself. My goal has always been to prevent the mistakes that I saw in my home world from happening again."
Kagome sighs, "I had planned a speech outlining my successes over of these last four hundred and fifty years, but."
The buzz from the crowd increases. People look at the text of the speech that was handed to them as they entered the plaza.
"Everyone, please, be calm. Now, Nori." Kagome says.
Ghosts, suddenly appears throughout the plaza.
"There are people in the plaza that are planning to attack me." Kagome states.
the end of chapter 8
Authors' Notes: Hmmm. How to say this.
Real life is forcing me to change my schedule, so, I will probably only be able to post new stories on Sunday and Tuesday (not Thursday), and my story chapters might be smaller than I like. Sigh. We'll see, I hope to return to my previous schedule, but, sigh . . .
Authors' note: the tiles: each have the name and family of the person that died, and a small bio. They are made, in part, with their ashes, after they died. In some cases of course, the ashes are purely symbolic, so there is no direct connection, but magic doesn't require truth, just belief.
Author's note; why no military protection at the doctor's camp to screen people? Doctors and such are there to help people, shoving guns in people's, that need help now, faces aren't helpful and causes problems. Does it mean that attacks like the one described happen? Yes. However, like Kagome indicated in her thoughts, the punishment for such an attack is harsh, and unchanging. (The few survivors of that tribe were scattered throughout the empire. Children and adults were adopted into new families.)
Also, by making sure that the doctors and such are unprotected by the empires' military, the people that they are there to help, will organize some type of protection for them. Which is a start for their new police force and such.
Authors' note: Kagome's daily/weekly sermons: each week Kagome's sermon's have a theme. Say, parental responsibilities. Then, each day in the week, Kagome will talk, for about 15 minutes, about various aspects of that week's theme.
The themes and speeches are known before hand, and the sermons are also known before hand. The local priest, who is waiting for Kagome to finish before he starts to preach, is supposed to expand upon Kagome's sermon with local issues and variations.
Authors' note: a reviewer Isabelle111 had some questions that I'm going to try to answer here.
Kagome has a lot of children. One of her sons, rules China. That son's father was a Chinese celestial dragon. That joining together, ie her son, was the way to join China with the Japanese empire. Before that, there were massive wars, after that, the wars stopped.
Define tyranny? As in Historical japan, the empires of japan's laws are very harsh/complex, but, like in it was in realty, the applications of the laws are pretty mild, in general. As long as you as you live within certain customary behaviors, you can do what you will. But, if you step out of custom, things get tough. Or the other hand, eccentric, if non-harmful, behavior is accepted.
Remember that Kagome had to take command over Japan during the time the samurai warlords were at their strongest. They would only accept a strong warlord over them. She's is a lot gentler than many of her advisors (esp. Sesshomaru) would like her to be.
But, yes, she doesn't run a democracy. And, yes, she's not a fan of democracy, either. It's far too variable for her. She likes stability.
As far as hypocrisy in rulership? There is such a feeling. However, Kagome has hundreds of years of trustworthy feelings to draw from. People are willing to trust her. (And, yes, there is a recent increase in number of juvenile crime. Kagome is aware that is directly due to how she is raising Kiyoko and people coping her.)
Whatever Kagome has planned is big enough that she's willing to risk the trust between her and the people of the empire that has been built up over the years.
And, about punishment to her? Who can punish her? As a goddess, nothing human can. Inu-yasha, as her husband, has some formal control, but, that's very much a day to day thing. The other gods are trying to react to her, but, she's operating faster than they are used to. (Nowadays she's stronger than many of pantheons that she's a member of. She has the worshipers pumping power to her, they do not.)
Is she arrogant? You spend 400plus years with 99 percent of the people around you telling you that everything you do is "perfect" and that you can "do no wrong" and see how that affects you?
Compared to some real-life kings/emperors/dictators Kagome is still pretty sane. She knows that she makes mistakes and she does try to correct them.
Since this is a huge project, I'll going to try something new.
I am creating a website for this story. On this website, I'll post some of my notes, explanations. (I
do plan, that during the story itself, these notes will be used, but, the storyline might hide some of
the details.)
The site has a message board, and a chat room, so, fans of the story can post messages, etc. I do
plan on visiting the site, at least once a day and I will reply to the messages on the site.
(I have been slacking off of responding to reviewers. I am sorry about that. I fully intend to
better respond to reviews and comments on this story. Which is one of the reasons why I'm
trying this site, to see if this will help me.)
The site is at: (remove the spaces for the link)
groups. msn. com/ jeffsfanfic
On it, right now, sept 27, I've got posted a rough time line and 6 other small essays, and rough maps showing the growth
of Japan's empire. There is still a lot of work to do on the site. I'm planning on posting additional
notes as time passes.
Thank you for reading
jeff shelton