"Higurashi" by Jezunya
Chapter 10
Whoa.. Can't believe I've gotten this far… And all without owning any of the Inuyasha characters or plot… *sigh*
** ** ** ** **
Sesshoumaru cleared his throat, golden eyes cool as he watched his half-brother, a wary growl already making itself audible in the younger demon's throat. "I have been trying to reach you for several days now," he said in his usual cold monotone, a reproving rumble behind his voice that he knew his brother would instinctively respond to.
As expected, Inuyasha's ears flattened against his skull, his shoulders hunching slightly as his posture became almost unconsciously more submissive and apologetic even as he continued to glare. "What the fuck do you want, Sesshoumaru? I'm in a hurry."
Sesshoumaru raised one fine eyebrow. "You will hear me out." The rest of his sentence was left unsaid, Even if I have to beat you to a bloody little pulp to make you sit still, you half-breed bastard. Inuyasha growled all the louder, his stance becoming aggressive once again as his hands curled, readying to strike at the older demon. He opened his mouth to yell angrily, but Sesshoumaru cut him off. "I have news concerning your mate, Kagome," he added, knowing that would get his attention.
Inuyasha stopped abruptly, staring at him, before his eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What do you know about Kagome, bastard?!" he demanded. "Do you know where she is?!"
Sesshoumaru actually looked surprised and maybe even a little confused for about half a second, before regaining his composure and simply frowning down at the hanyou. "She is not with you?"
"No!" Inuyasha snarled impatiently. "Why do you think I'm in such a fucking hurry?! I've gotta find her!!"
Sesshoumaru touched one hand to his forehead, closing his eyes as if he had a headache. Then, he opened his mouth and let slip one rarely-heard phrase:
"Damn it."
***
Meisai led her to a pair of huge mahogany doors, stopping and waiting impatiently for her to catch up when she reached them. "These are your rooms," she said shortly, shoving open one door for her to step through. Kagome couldn't help noticing how tense she seemed all of a sudden. She was no doubt awaiting Kagome's question: what did all of this have to do with her?
Swallowing hard, she stepped forward into the dark hallway behind the door. The instant her foot touched the floor, the hall flooded with light, leaving her momentarily blinded. She blinked several times, trying to clear her vision, while Meisai waited impatiently next to her. The fox girl seemed jumpy all of a sudden, nervous. Frowning to herself and thinking of their earlier conversation, Kagome finally got up to question that had been plaguing her from the very beginning.
"Meisai," she asked, turning to look back at the fox-girl, "why me?"
Meisai could only stare at her for a moment, her eyes becoming impossibly wide. She had both hoped for and dreaded that small, simple question. Why her? Why Kagome, of all people?
"Because you're the goddess. You are Hitotoki reincarnated."
Kagome blinked, and then her face hardened.
"It's not like that!" Meisai hurriedly amended. "We've been watching you for a long time, so I know this sounds like the same thing you used to hear all the time about just being Kikyou's reincarnation, but it's not! Kikyou was a reincarnation herself – and besides, there's no such thing as 'just a reincarnation.' You're a different person in each life time, even if you have the same soul."
Kagome drew a deep breath, and nodded slightly, though the tension did not leave her face. "I'm human, though. Why bring me here, even if I am the goddess reborn? I can't rule here the way she did."
Meisai shook her head. "It doesn't matter that you're human. The power is contained within your soul, not your physical form. So as long as you have the soul of Hitotoki, you will always be the goddess, no matter what form you are born into."
Kagome nodded, turning back toward the door, her face still grim. It made sense, especially when she considered her unexplainably powerful miko powers, surpassing even those of Kikyou, her past incarnation. Or Naraku's detachment Kanna had tried to suck out her soul, failing because her mirror, which had held the souls of an entire village at one time, could not contain her one soul.
"Isn't there somebody else?" Kagome asked quietly, pausing in the doorway once more. "A Kurotsune who could rule you?"
Meisai just stared at her wordlessly, then slowly shook her head. Kagome sighed and turned to make her way down the corridor to her rooms. The doors swung closed behind her, leaving Meisai standing alone in the hallway.
The fox-girl slowly turned away, pondering the girl's questions as she made her way to her own quarters. Was there someone else who could rule them? A Kurotsune?
No, of course not.
Although…
There were rumors. She had never found any truth in them, but hadn't it been whispered long ago that her own father, Tendou, had been the son of Hitotoki and the demon Ryoushi? She would have asked him himself, but she had been too young to understand when he was killed in the great war between the Gods and the Demons.
She shrugged to herself. It didn't matter. It was probably just a stupid rumor anyway. No truth to it at all.
Still, she had to wonder… What if it was true? What if her father really was the one child born from Hitotoki and Ryoushi's love? Was it even possible?
And then, if it was… Could he have been reincarnated as well?
***
Kagome just sat, staring at her reflection in the mirror before her. She was draped in layers of black chiffon, making a beautiful flowing dress that seemed to float around her petite form. Her hair was partially up, the main mass of it left to fall down her back, a few thin strands curling gently around her shoulders. Her appearance had changed as she entered her rooms, morphing into the elegant clothes of a goddess as she walked. Yet her eyes were large and sad, depressed, contrasting sharply with the beauty of the rest of her appearance.
She closed her eyes tightly. She couldn't bear to think about it. Now that Meisai had left her alone, she had no one to talk to, nothing to focus on or to keep her busy. Reality came crashing in on her, painful and sharp.
She hadn't imagined what she'd seen. Inuyasha had… had cheated on her. For all she knew, he'd been doing it the whole time. Maybe from the start of their quest even..? Inuyasha may have been half-demon, but he was still very good looking, and there were surely prostitutes in many of the towns they'd stayed in that wouldn't care about the heritage of a client as long they got paid…
Of course, there was the problem: Inuyasha never had any money. Miroku could deftly swindle a village head or pick a passerby's pocket, but Inuyasha? She snorted. No, that just wasn't him.
She frowned to herself, pillowing her head on her folded arms on the vanity in front of her. That was the real problem. It just didn't fit. Inuyasha was no womanizer, or lecher, or… Maybe she was just being paranoid. It was probably just the once…
She scowled, catching herself. 'Just the once'? Isn't once enough? I had to put up with him clinging to Kikyou all through the quest, and then all the stupid women he kept ogling when we went shopping, and now THIS! She clenched her eyes shut again, burying her face in her arms. It just wasn't fair…
Wasn't he supposed to love her? He had asked her to marry him, for crying out loud! But then, no sooner were they an official couple, but he goes and starts paying attention to every other female on the PLANET, except for her!! What gave?!
Of course, all those women looked like Kikyou… and like me… she thought, remembering that shopping trip downtown, nearly a week ago now. What if it wasn't so much an issue of if he loved her, but that he was just picking up women who looked like her because she wouldn't sleep with him until they were married? She shuddered. That was sick…
Maybe it's better this way, she found herself thinking. As much as she liked the idea of a 'fairy-tale ending,' she did have to take a step back and look at the reality of their situation. There was no way they could ever be together. It wasn't even so much a question of which time period they lived in – either of them could adjust eventually, and they would always have the well to travel back and forth, anyway. But it was an issue of time itself: she was mortal while Inuyasha was immortal. She couldn't even imagine what it would be like when she was fifty and he still looked like he was seventeen. Plus, she would eventually die, and he would once again be left alone. Way too much heartache for a working relationship…
Tears built in her eyes, finally spilling over onto her cheeks. Her mind could be rational and cold about the whole thing, but her heart... He was still her best friend, and she still loved him, even against her better judgment as it was.
It just wasn't fair!
***
After taking a long, deep breath, Sesshoumaru let his hand fall from his face. "How much do you know about the 'Daughter of the Sunset'?" he asked finally, looking tiredly down at the half demon.
Inuyasha frowned, watching him suspiciously. "It's the old treaty Oyaji made with the Higurashi clan.. why?"
"No.." Sesshoumaru sighed. It seemed he would have to start at the beginning… He took a deep breath, let it out. "The term 'Daughter of the Sunset' originated in a set of prophecies dating back several hundred years. ..Are you familiar with the tale of Hitotoki and Ryoushi?"
Inuyasha thought for a moment, keeping one eye on his half-brother the whole time. "I think so… That's the one about the goddess who fell in love with a dog-demon, right?" His mother had told him all kinds of stories when he was little, and if he remembered correctly that particular tale had been one of her favorites..
"Aa," Sesshoumaru nodded. "Hitotoki, the time goddess, and Ryoushi, a great white dog-demon. Their relationship caused a war between the Gods of the heavens and the youkai of this earth, and they both were killed. Do you know the rest of the story?"
Inuyasha frowned. "They were supposed to be reincarnated until they got things right… I think…"
Sesshoumaru nodded again, "They were to be reborn three times, to be exact. As the prophecy goes, with each new life, they would both become more human, until they could finally be together." He gave Inuyasha a look when the younger demon muttered something that sounded like 'Load of sappy romantic shit..' His eyes narrowed, watching the hanyou closely. "This is the third time, Inuyasha."
Inuyasha watched him with narrowed eyes. "What..?"
***
Meisai let the door slide closed behind her, her eyes slowly adjusting to the cool darkness in the room. After a moment, she stepped away from the entrance and made her way over to her late brother's desk.
His computer sat dormant atop the mahogany desk, already collecting dust after Gisou's rather recent death. She sat in the large wheeled chair, casually noting that he had finally settled on one era of decoration for his rooms: middle American, late 19th century AD. He always did love the culture of the West...
Meisai sighed and leaned forward to switch on the large black computer, the screen bathing her in pale blue light as it warmed up. Now that her mission to retrieve Kagome-sama was finished, she had time to begin cleaning out her brother's files and sorting through his belongings.
She absently typed in the password he hadn't known she knew, glancing around the room nostalgically as the machine loaded up. Her head whipped back around to stare at the screen in shock, though, when her brother's voice suddenly sounded in the heavy silence of the room.
"Meisai." The image on the computer screen smiled slightly and inclined his head, his unique green eyes sparkling mischievously the way they always had.
She smiled even as tears formed in her eyes. "Gisou-"
"I knew you'd be the only one who would come snooping around my computer, so I figured I'd leave you a message." Gisou shifted, his face becoming more serious. "If you're seeing this, I must already be dead. And if not, well, I just hope I can trust you with this information. While I know that you would support my cause, I also understand that you need to look out for your own well being." He drew a long breath before continuing.
"To put it simply, Marudashi is planning to use the Child for her own purposes. She has no intention of restoring the Goddess to her throne. She seeks only her own gain from this."
Meisai leaned forward on her elbows, her eyebrows knitting together as she listened to her brother explain the basics of their 'Mistress's' plans.
***
'The third time'? What the hell..? "I don't know what in the hells you're talking about," Inuyasha growled, shifting from foot to foot restlessly. What the hell did some old bedtime story have to do with him and Kagome?! Damnit, he was running out of time!
"No, I suppose you wouldn't.. People rarely remember their past lives..."
Inuyasha felt a tick start up in his left cheek. He didn't have time for this! "What the hell are you saying?!"
Sesshoumaru drew a long-suffering sigh, rolling his eyes heavenward as if asking for some divine help, and then locked those stone-cold amber orbs back on his younger brother. When he spoke, his voice was as acidic and poisonous as the venom from his claws, "I am saying, you little idiot, that you are the dog-demon Ryoushi, pathetic as you seem now, and that I am here to make sure you get things right for once, because this is your last damn chance!!"
Inuyasha blinked several times, having taken a step backward in the face of his brother's sudden anger, his hands held up defensively in front of him. He swallowed, then asked, "So.. So, I'm supposed to be that guy from the story, and that makes Kagome what? Some kind of goddess?" Straightening, he snorted. "What a load of bullshit. You're off your rocker, Sesshoumaru. Kagome's about as damn human as you can get, and I know I ain't no reincarnation!" he growled, jerking a thumb at his chest.
Sesshoumaru watched him for a moment, eyes half-closed and mouth drawn, before stalking away past his half brother. Inuyasha spun to keep his eyes on him. "Where the fuck are you going?!" he demanded, dropping into a fighting position in case Sesshoumaru decided to attack.
The dog-demon didn't even pause. "This Sesshoumaru has wasted enough time on you and your human bitch," he said loftily, striding away toward the trees. "Do what you will, but do not look to me for assistance." And with that, he was gone.
Inuyasha growled and made a rude gesture at his back, before turning back to the well. He didn't get all that mystical mumbo-jumbo his brother had been spouting.. all that gods and demons and prophecies crap. He wasn't about to let his life be directed by some nut-case who lived hundreds of years ago and happened to put together a few coherent sentences for once. He shook his head, bracing his hands on the edge of the well. No, he didn't care what Sesshoumaru or Genshi or anybody said. He just needed to find Kagome.
With that thought in mind, he leapt into the well, waiting for the sense of weightlessness that came with the transportation through time. He didn't expect to land in a sea of black mist, or to see a huge dark palace rising up out of the fog before him.
Inuyasha blinked once, twice.
"What the hell?!"
***
Kagome looked up at the light knock on her door, frowning and turning in her chair as whoever was outside simply decided to let themself in. A tall kitsune-woman stepped into the room, her face elegant and pale, and framed by shoulder-length black hair. She wore a short black dress that seemed to be made of silk by the way it caught the light as she moved toward the human girl.
"Kagome," she breathed, her voice rich, yet cool. "I am Marudashi. I rule here." She held her hand out gracefully and Kagome took it hesitantly, rising from her chair in front of the vanity. "It is a pleasure and an honor to finally see you here, within this palace." She smiled slightly, dark eyes glittering.
Kagome nodded, swallowing. She took her hand back after only a moment, trying not to be too obvious about rubbing it with her other. Marudashi had very cold hands…
The kitsune woman just watched her with narrowed eyes, that calculating smile still on her face, before turning to lead the way out of Kagome's rooms. "Come. We have much to accomplish, and so very little time in which to do it."
Kagome frowned curiously, and followed.
***
Meisai shot out of her brother's rooms as fast as her legs would carry her. While she didn't agree with her brother's solution – namely, killing the Child of Dusk – she knew she couldn't just let Marudashi go about her plans unopposed. She put on a new burst of speed as she neared Kagome's rooms.
She threw the door open, rushing in. Maybe she was still here? "Kagome?" she called, jogging through the different sitting rooms, dressing rooms, and finally to the huge bed chamber at the rear. She knew it was practically blasphemy to come bursting into the Child's rooms like this, but she had to get her out of here before Marudashi got to her. "Kagome?!"
She swore. The place was empty.
***
Sesshoumaru walked along, brooding. All this time, wasted. The last few days spent running from his domain, to his brother's territory, and to the Higurashi lands, all for nothing. He should have known the little bastard wouldn't listen. He had wondered what the prophecies had meant in saying that Ryoushi would become 'more human.' Now he knew – it meant he would become more stupid with each new incarnation.
He growled low in his throat, swatting a low-hanging branch out of his way as he stalked through the forest. Why did he care, anyway? He never gave a damn about the worthless little half-breed before, so why now? Why was it suddenly so important that he inform Inuyasha of his role in the past? That he make sure that the miko-bitch be restored to her rightful place of power?
He sighed, irritated, and reached inside his kimono, drawing out the carefully rolled scroll, bound in exquisite black silk for the journey. It was not the original, of course, but a copy of the passages regarding the 'Final Trial,' as the seeress had called it. Most of her prophecies were obscure, vague, describing events and people without any explanation or purpose. Many scholars had dismissed her as crazy, or a fraud, at least when it came to prophecy. Of course, none could doubt her powers as a miko – far too many youkai had died at her hands for that.
It had disturbed him, though, how she had foretold her own death. She had seen the battle, and the great demon whose soul she would enclose with her own in a tiny, yet powerful, gem, but she had done nothing to change it, nothing to stop it. Some – the disbelievers – said that she 'foresaw' it because she had set up the whole thing. It hadn't been enough that she was a powerful miko; she wanted to have such an ending that she would be remembered for centuries to come. So she had made a bargain with the demons: she would allow them to possess a human under her protection, if they would agree to fight her, fearful of her as they were. The demons agreed, thinking that in their huge numbers they would finally be able to overpower her. And so the battle had begun.
Sesshoumaru had been a disbeliever. At least until he had come upon a set of passages that he had never read before. What he found in them shocked him to the core.
The prophecy identified him specifically.
That was what originally caught his eye – that the prophetess had called for the 'One-armed Brother of half-blood.' (That had been offensive at first – it was Inuyasha who was the half-blood, not him. Then it occurred to him: it didn't mean half pure blood, but simply that this 'One-armed Brother' would only share half of his heritage with the Ryoushi reincarnate.) He had become rather distinctly aware of his missing limb after that. His only thought was that it must have been a coincidence.
That was when the nightmares began.
Sesshoumaru was a demon of great dignity and pride, certainly not one to admit to being frightened by some fancy conjured up in his mind as he slept, but there had been no shaking the dreams, especially when their images began superimposing themselves on events around him in his waking hours. Once, he had even seen Rin as a grown woman overlaying the small girl smiling up at him. This adult Rin had been wearing a tiara of flowers, just like the ones the child always wove for herself as well as for he and Jaken, and she had been smiling up at him sweetly, warmly. She had seemed to be some kind of forest sprite, and a flash of memory suddenly informed him quite firmly that she had been his mate in lives past. He had spent the rest of the day a good thirty feet away from her, enclosed in a surly, thoughtful silence.
While some of the memories were pleasant, like the ones involving Rin, many were not. Many were filled with violence, anger, and guilt. Anger at his brother – how dare he betray their clan like that?! Who did he think he was?! Ryoushi, of all people, should have known better than to consort with a Goddess! Then came the guilt – his brother, lying there, dying. He managed to crawl to that woman with his last breath, taking her in his arms as they both fell in the puddle of their mingled blood. He had done that himself. He had let them be killed. He had betrayed his own flesh and blood with a crime far worse than any unsuitable love affair.
Shortly after the dreams began, they had met in their final conflict with the hanyou-turned-demon Naraku. It had been a long, bloody battle, but they had all come out alive in the end, even Inuyasha's human companions. (He begrudgingly gave them a new respect – while they in no wise held the awesome power of he, Sesshoumaru, they had all handled themselves extremely well, especially the miko-girl, who had, in the end, been the key to defeating Naraku.) When the battle was won and the dust had cleared, he had stood at the edge of the field, regarding his brother silently. The hanyou had stared back, obviously unsure of what to make of the situation. Was he a friend or a foe? Sesshoumaru did not know the answer to that question himself.
He had left the battlefield without a word, pausing only long enough to revive Jaken and call Rin to him. They had returned to his father's castle, deep in the western-most lands of Nippon, where Sesshoumaru had again studied the prophecies given by the miko Midoriko, determined to find some proof against his seeming memories of a past life. All he found, however, was more evidence ratifying his dreams, which led him to the strange decision to go out of his way to help his filthy little half-breed brother.
Which brought him back to his original question: why did he care?! After he had found the prophecies of Ryoushi and discovered the importance of the Final Trial, it had seemed like something he couldn't help doing. It was almost as if he were trying to make up for some past transgression, some guilt he still carried with him in this new lifetime.
Like betraying his brother Ryoushi. And getting him killed.
That seemed to explain a lot – the last thing he remembered was feeling angry at Ryoushi for betraying their people. Perhaps that would explain his inherent dislike, even hate, for the half-demon. In retrospect, he hadn't had much feeling toward Inuyasha's mother, either positive or negative – indeed, it was not unheard of for a demon lord to take a human mistress. But when Inuyasha had been born, he had been filled with unexplainable disgust and anger. Yes, it was in part because he was a half-breed, but the blind rage he had felt at the hanyou's birth was more than that. It was almost as if he were still angry with Ryoushi, and disgusted that he would dare to show his face once again. And so their hate-filled brotherhood had begun.
Sesshoumaru sighed and closed the scroll, rolling it tight and securing its silk covering around it before replacing it in his kimono. So here he was, trying to make up for a guilt he still felt – Ryoushi may have consorted with the enemy, a goddess, but he, Hyakaku, had betrayed his own flesh-and-blood! He led his own brother to his death!
He had warned Inuyasha and tried to tell him about the prophecy, but he knew it wouldn't be enough. The idiot wouldn't realize what he'd said was true until it was too late.
He growled, frustrated with himself and his lack of resolve, asking himself again why he even cared, even as he turned and began making his back the way he had come.
***
Marudashi smiled to herself as she led the human girl through the halls of the palace. The girl was like a meek little lamb, completely unsuspecting that even now she was being led to the slaughter. Of course, it wouldn't have mattered even if she had tried to resist. Marudashi had seen her in action and she had very little control over her powers. Nothing to worry about.
They were nearing the throne room now. Not the one where she usually sat to give orders, the real throne room. The Goddess's throne room.
She smirked, casting a sidelong look at the unsuspecting girl trailing along behind her. Meisai had done well, bringing the girl here, and even making her feel at ease in the palace and with the Kurotsune. She wouldn't suspect a thing, until it was too late.
Her smile widened. Soon, she, not Kagome, would be the Time Goddess.
** ** ** ** **
Yay! Done! At last! ^_^ Hope you guys liked!
-
Okay, in case this was confusing-
Ryoushi = Inuyasha
Hitotoki = Kagome
Hyakaku = Sesshoumaru
Tendou = Meisai's father
Gisou = Meisai's brother (the Kurotsune who tried to kill Kagome toward the beginning)
Hope that helps! ^_^;
-
Please review!