Amehana: erm…not much to say, just R&R to make me happy, because "Happy women make a happy village" says Ashitaka from Princess Mononoke but…we don't live in a village…
Monty Python God: Get On With It!
Amehana: whateva
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha…but my Inuyasha boxed set #1 came in! Finally! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!
Onward to chapter nine! Here it goes! crosses fingers I don't like the first couple of lines but it gets MUCH better soon.
Chapter IX– Future Fates
They waited, but thank the gods, it never came.
No youkai attacked the next day; still the Inuyasha team didn't let their guard down.
Too many lives had been taken in that last attack, that's why certain ties within the five had pulled together the last night, reached out for the feelings in each other's hearts that they could fall back on. They knew they were there without question.
Nothing was said when Inuyasha and Kagome emerged from the back room together (A/N: no they didn't do anything you pervs! not yet at least .) nor when they found Sango sleeping under the security of Miroku's arm around her shoulders, both of them looking quiet peaceful before they were woken up.
…The world outside was dark and dismal.
Last night after the battle, all of them had barely gotten to examine the damage inflicted on the village by that hoard of demons yesterday, before they were steered off to Kaede's hut in order get their wounds treated.
But, their hearts were heavy, and somehow they knew: the outcome of that battle wasn't good. True, they had come out the victors, but after many hours of tireless battling, the only thing that had kept their bodies from buckling over and collapsing on the ground was sheer adrenalin. That couldn't be good for the rest of the village.
Although… Inuyasha saw it. He had started to sleep outside like he usually did, but found he couldn't. One reason being he felt the need to make sure Kagome was properly healed. The second was deeper than the first; the cries of the villagers for loved ones lost was too much for his heart to take.
He could hear them all night: The screams and the cries of no…and why?, villagers grieving in the dark. They did not understanding why the gods would do this to them…The miseries of the humans rang in his sensitive ears all night. All the while he held Kagome closer, thanking whatever divine power might be up there that he wasn't joining those in mourning.
The humans, they'll rebuild their homes and somehow, someday, go on with their lives. But, if Inuyasha lost Kagome, it would be the end for him, she was everything– and without her, he was nothing. He would have nothing to live for, simple as that.
It may have been morning, but whom could tell? The darkness outside was equal to the sadness clouding the hearts of our heroes. So they woke, bathed, and dressed without a word between them.
Crematory fires had been built up during the brink of the night, and were just now dieing down.
The village people gathered by the biggest river that was nearest the town, all of them dressed in the white color of mourning, the color of a new beginning. (A/N: that's what it is in China, so I'm making a guess) and bearing glowing rice-paper lanterns, names of the deceased painted in the formal Kanji across the delicate paper.
Kagome swallowed and took her place near the edge of the river in between Kaede and Miroku. She was wearing the traditional priestess kimono, the red skirt and white shirt with long flowing sleeves interlaced with red trim, and her raven hair was tied in a white ribbon at the back of her neck.
Some of the villagers, mostly children, walked to the dark blue river and set their lanterns atop the water, then stood to watch as the slow current carried the floating lights away.
The rest of the village residents stood behind the monk and two priestesses at a respectful distance, Sango among them, Kirara sitting obediently on her master's shoulder.
Inuyasha leaned against a tree, near the river but separated from the villagers, watching with clouded amber eyes and arms crossed inside the sleeves of his haori.
Shippo stood with him, since his beloved older sister figure Kagome had to be part of the ceremony; he stayed with the next closest person he trusted, which was Inuyasha, unknown to the hanyou himself.
The sky was gray, no sun could be seen, a cold wind hung in the air; the world itself seemed to have given up its usual bright glory to mourn with those present. It might as well have been night.
It's easier to mourn in the dark anyway.
Inuyasha couldn't stop himself from staring at "his" Kagome. He knew somehow that she didn't want to be a part of this, who would? She would have been ill prepared too, if she hadn't spent some of her spare time studying Kaede's scriptures only scarce days before the attack.
Yesterday's attack… it hadn't been the first, it had just been the most fatal; the most homes had been destroyed and the most lives had been taken.
Yet every life was special, and none of the humans had deserved to die. Some of them were even children, who hadn't even lived long enough to commit any crimes.
That was the deal with mindless youkais, they not only killed who opposed them, but slaughtered any who were in front of their goal.
Why did the mindless have to be so strong that they were easily turned into uncontrollable killing machines? And why did the innocent have to be so weak and defenseless? It just didn't seem right.
The wind blew, causing the white colored kimonos to flow, in contrast to the dark world around. It was hard for all of them, after all these years they had come to know the village, not know the people themselves but the village as a whole, which was alright for them.
That is why Sango, Shippo and Inuyasha dawned their usual, more colorful clothing, but joined the ceremony all the same. Even Miroku wore his usual black and purple monk robes, although he was going to help give the ceremony, it seemed unnecessary for these companions who were often traveling to not dress out for the occasion.
Yet they came all the same. Out of respect for the dead? No one knew. Maybe they came because they needed to see the ceremony to help with the heaviness in their hearts that had come unbidden to them and without reason.
Somehow, they all felt small sliver of guilt deep within themselves, they had stopped the youkai, but in their eyes, not soon enough. And somehow, they could feel that some of the villagers did blame them, having no other scapegoat.
But none of the fighters blamed the villagers for their scorn, it was simply the folly of humankind: people must find something to blame a crisis on and make sure that a punishment is carried out before they can allow their hearts to be healed.
Out of the corner of her eye Kagome saw Kaede give a slight nod and place her hands together, so the younger miko mirrored the gesture, placing her hands together and lacing her fingers together, crossing her thumbs over each other and paralleling her two index fingers and holding her arms firm in front of her chest, Miroku did that the same on his own, the placement of their hands allowing their holy energy to be channeled.
In sync the monk and two priestesses closed their eyes and bowed their heads a little. Then they started a barley audible chant in ancient Osakan (A/N: I do believe that's an older Japanese tongue or something) dialect.
There was a shift in the world around, the wind picked up and blew their hair and long robes. All the while they kept up their passive chant.
A melancholy silence swept over the scene, and then quietly, the air around filled with an unbalanced multitude of bright spherical lights.
A small girl hid behind her mother's leg. "What are they, okasan mother ?" she whispered.
The mother softly explained to girl what the lights were, and some of villagers who didn't know either listen. Their eyes widened as they were enlightened. But the team of Inuyasha and his friends required no explanation; they had seen them often enough. The lights evoked deep and hard memories. Kikyo used to steal them before they could reach the next world; either Heaven or Hell. Either would be better than being trapped in a dead shell, spending eternity screaming out for peace.
They were the un-resting souls of the dead.
One by one the souls rose to the dark sky, guided by the powerful words of the holy vassals' present. Far above they collected, in an organized swirl radiating from one point. As more souls rose up the spiral and disappeared, more joined at the base, and repeated until no more collected at the bottom.
The wind died down as Miroku, Kaede, and Kagome stopped their hushed chant, and they opened their eyes in complete unison, they turned to watch the rest of the souls ascend to be judged, hoping they would receive peace, for they had prayed for that too.
Slowly, some in awe, some struck in horror, the crowd departed in straggly lines, some crying, others praying, some held their children close to them either for the children's support, or their own, it was hard to tell. Some of the villagers had their arms around each other.
One woman, her whole body weak from dejectedness and somewhat slumped over, her face sad and her eyes dark, walked slowly back to the village.
But she stopped when she happened to pass Inuyasha and Shippo in their indolent stance against the tree. She stopped and looked up at them, suddenly her body completely straightened, her face shifted from to one of pain to one of sheer anger.
"You" she said, her voice dripping with disgust and hate.
Her voice made Inuyasha shift his ever-watchful gaze from Kagome to the rigid form beside him, and he caught the great disapproval in her voice.
Inuyasha gave absolutely no regard to her; he remained stoic under her icy glare.
The woman continued. "You…you did this!" she whirled back on the departing crowd, then raised her voice to a yell. Without turning around to even address them, she pointed behind her to the stone-still Inuyasha and Shippo leaning next to him, his height to just above the hanyou's knee, he looked as if he wanted to hide behind Inuyasha, but he was older now, so he tried to mirror Inuyasha, but wasn't doing near as good a job.
"It's their fault! Their kind did this! Others just like them killed your families and destroyed your village! They don't deserve to be here!" she switched to a hiss. "We can't trust them."
Finally she turned back to the two demons. "You don't belong here"
A younger girl bravely walked up behind the woman, put an arm around her shoulder and wheeled her away, not daring to glance at either Inuyasha or Shippo out of fear. The woman gave in, made a snotty "humph" in her nose and turned away from the demons she had just publicly insulted.
Inuyasha heard whispers in his keen ears, some of denial, but most of agreement with the woman's shouts.
The inu-oni never once broke indifferent stature; he simply blinked once and looked away. Shippo let out a breath he hadn't even known he was holding.
Inuyasha caught a rise in Kagome's aura. He looked up slightly to her. Her eyes were narrowed in a deathly glare at the woman's back, and her fists were clenched so hard he caught blood seeping from her balled hands. He knew she was angry for insulting Shippo, but something inside told him she was mainly mad at the woman's offense of him, and that calmed his own hidden fury behind his mask he had put up.
Kagome tried her best to make her way to Inuyasha while being stopped by the villagers, either to be thanked for sending away the souls of the dead or to answer a question, which she had to stop and rack her brain for the correct information to answer. So by the time she got there, most of the crowd had departed, and Shippo had long since gone over to Sango and Miroku.
"Inuyasha, don't listen to one thing that damn woman said!" the miko said when she finally reached him.
The hanyou raised his eyebrows, Kagome never cursed, only when she was very angry or agitated. Apparently what that crude woman had said to him really unnerved her. "I never do." He replied smoothly.
Then he leaned down and whispered in her ear. "Thanks for caring"
"Of course I do!" Kagome said but quickly abandoned that for a gasp and a blush as Inuyasha took her hands in his and gently licked away the blood from her rage-driven, self-inflicted wounds.
When his work was done and he stopped straightened he looked at her. "That should help it heal."
"Arigato, Inuyasha" Kagome said somewhat shyly as she held her hand in the other, never taking her eyes from his.
In the background, Shippo, Sango, Miroku and Kirara exchanged confused glances; apparently their friends had a secret that wasn't too much of a secret. Still, it was a secret, and that just had to be changed.
Miroku made an "Ahem" in his throat, Sango rolled her eyes and muttered "Really subtle there, houshi-sama" to which he grinned slightly in reply.
At that Inuyasha and Kagome suddenly broke their eye contact and turned away blushing.
Miroku set his head on his palm, his blue eyes full of worry. "So what your saying, Kaede-sama, is that we need to find someone who can make the jewel nonexistent…forever".
"Ay" was her simple reply.
"But…we're not exactly sure how to go about this, right?" asked Sango.
"Also correct, aren't you two a pair" Kaede returned.
They ignored the innuendo; instead they just went back to staring at the burning fire.
Seconds passed. "But…we have an idea right?" Kagome suggested, doubting her own words as she spoke.
"Yes…that is correct…I do believe that if a demon uses the jewel to turn human then it'll disappear" The older miko answered.
At that Kagome gulped and realized what she had just hinted to was far too close to home. Inuyasha. Duh.
The unspoken subject of the conversation swallowed a little too. "I suppose…I guess…I" he sighed and looked down "I don't know" Inuyasha confessed.
Kaede smiled warmly, but pain was behind those gray eyes of hers. " 'Tis alright, young hanyou, it's much too big a decision to make and one ye should never had to face…ye must not pressure thyself ".
The addressed nodded slowly.
Miroku decided to be candid for a moment, for he coolly said, "So I guess that means
you're not going to turn into a full demon, Inuyasha".
Surprisingly, the inu-oni didn't explode; just bravely looked up to meet the monk's eyes "No. When I transformed I almost killed you guys…besides it's cheating…" he looked at his claws as if they were drenched in blood, as if the youkai blood in his veins was taking over this very second, as if his killing instincts were in full control and driving his every thought and movement. "If I can master this…then I'll really be a full demon…"
Breaking the silence Kaede said with a slight, all knowing smile "Ye are a noble one, Inuyasha".
"But we've always known that" Kagome added with a smile of her own.
The half-demon looked away.
Sango smiled too. "Yeah, just don't practice on purpose".
They all laughed…but the nervousness, fear, and confusion for the future lingered in their hearts.
Owari Chapter Kyū
Amehana: yayayayayay the beginning's over! Next chapter is the BIG turning point done done done
I guess that's all just…REVIEW!