Kagome hadn't eaten anything out of sheer shock. Sango was especially worried since Kagome kept on musing over Inuyasha. Although Kagome had returned to her old school life that she sometimes wanted, somehow it was so boring. Kagome sighed to herself. So this is what life was like before I met Inuyasha! Kagome thought gloomily to herself as her math teacher droned on and on about factoring. We all know how to factor! Why do we have to go through it again? Kagome screamed to herself. Something was telling her to forget Inuyasha and move on, but she couldn't. Especially not when life became so dull and boring. Speaking of Inuyasha, she didn't want to fail him by forgetting her Miko powers. Thus, when she was alone, she practiced quite a bit with them, still training herself. Sango continued to practice with her giant boomerang, although she somehow found that her boomerang was no longer of any significance to her as it was in her own time.
Sango wasn't doing too well either, she became immensely bored after a month. The first week of her stay with Kagome was actually very fun, since she had never seen a refrigerator before in her life. What fascinated Sango even more was the box with the tiny moving people in it and the huge buildings filled with light and excitement. She also liked the cars, as Kagome called it. The way they zoomed to a fro made her quite shocked to see how much her own race had accomplished over the last five hundred years. Yet, all of this excitement was only temporary. Soon, excitement winded down to exhaustions, and the hospitality of these strange boxes (as Sango put it), only made her homesick.
Because both girls seemed to miss the feudal era, they would occasionally run into the Inuyasha forest and pretend they were surrounded by youkais as a practice as if they were only little five-year-olds playing a small game. But who would blame them anyway? They missed the feudal era!
Of all the boredom and the nostalgic feelings, somehow Kagome's wish seemed to have come true, because one day, during class Kagome heard Kikyou's voice. Why do you hang onto the past like you belong there? You don't belong there! Forget about Inuyasha and go on with your regular life!
'But… I can't… I love Inuyasha dearly and I cannot forget my miko powers! I will disappoint him.'
FORGET INUYASHA! YOU BOTH LIVE SEPARATE LIVES!
"I CAN'T!" Kagome screamed slamming her fists down on her table and standing up angrily.
"Kagome…" Her teacher said in a warning tone. Kagome didn't seem to hear him because of the mental conversation with Kikyou continued.
Yes you can! What use is he of your world?
'He's every use to me! It doesn't matter if he has no purpose in this world as long as he is by my side!'Kagome thought angrily to Kikyou.
He has no use for you. If it hadn't been you who killed Naraku, he would have gone to hell with me.
'No! That's not why!'
Yes it is… you know it is.
'You're lying.'
I am not. He is simply staying by your side because he feels…
'I don't want to hear it!'
He simply stays by your side because he feels he should…
'I told you, I don't want to hear it!'
Because he feels that he should pay you…
"LEAVE ME ALOOOOONE!"Kagome screamed the last words out loud. The teacher was enraged. Before he could do anything else, however, a blast of pink energy blew out from Kagome blasting the windows and upsetting the desks. Students scattered all around her, but were unhurt. The energy blasted throughout the building decimating more than half the buildings. The reason why no one was killed was because it was a purifying power.
By the time the powers settled down, Kagome was breathing hard, but she couldn't get rid of Kikyou's voice that rang in her ears. She clamped her hands over her ears to cut off the sound, but Kikyou's voice came from within. Kikyou was also very angry.
You… you… still have your miko powers?
"GO AWAY!"
I will for now, but remember, I will explain the rest to you later.
Sighing, Kagome dropped down to her knees shaking. Her three friends ran over to her, asking her is she was alright. "Kagome! Where did that come from?" Yuka asked alarmed. Kagome was shaking terribly. Something went horribly wrong with Kikyou. She had given Inuyasha to her and went to hell where she would dwell years upon ends. When Kagome regained her composure, her teacher had backed away from her.
"Where did you get those powers?"
"Huh?"
"Do not answer your teacher in that manner. Tell me, are you a miko?"
"I… I…" Kagome started looking around at her now terrified classmates, "I'm… I… yes. I am."
"Mikos… they disappeared from the face of the earth when one miko by the name of Kikyou destroyed all youkais on the face of Japan, thus freeing the people from their worries. It's been said that she was searching for Inuyasha, a hanyou, but she never found him and grudgingly returned to the underworld."
"Inuyasha…" Kagome muttered to herself. She placed her hand on her chest where her soul rested. She knew her soul was not complete. "You're wrong." She said quietly holding her hand on her heart. "Kikyou… she's still around somewhere searching. She's not the type of person to simply give up on pursuing Inuyasha." Her bangs covered her eyes. "He still exists…"
"Kagome Higurashi, what on earth are you saying? Inuyasha and Kikyou are a legend. It's been said that they traveled together to piece the Shiken Jewel that she had shattered to keep any youkai from gaining the complete jewel."
No, they had the story done upside down. It wasn't right. SHE was the one who stupidly shattered the Shiken Jewel into millions of pieces. Kagome placed her hands on the spot where the Shiken Jewel lay quietly. But she said nothing. Instead she apologized and helped her classmates fix the classroom up.
"Shippou, where the fuck did you bring such worthless junk from?" Inuyasha scowled at the teen who set a box in front of him.
"Humph! Why do you have to be so damn grumpy?Besides,I heard that there were moving people in it." The hanyou snorted at the youth and turned his direction towards a dark-haired man in purple robes sitting in the corner fiddling with the prayer beads that adorned his right hand.
"I don't know. I don't think those things would EVER exist." Themonk said calmly while rubbing a speck of dirt off his staff.
"Ha! You heard that, didn't youShippou? Now throw that piece of shit away now."
"NO WAY!" Shippou shoutedas he childishlypulled the box towards his chest. "I'll have to fox fire you, if that's the last thing in the world I have to do to protect my box ofmovingpeople."
"And this wonderful box of walking people? Does it grant some sort of vision into the world outside this cave?" Came an oddly familiarcalm andcool voice.That voiceundoubtably belonged to Sesshoumaru. Shippou nodded vigorously (although he wasn't too sure)as he placed the box in the center of the cave, Kouga only scowled upon seeing that it was only a box, not food. "When is this clay bitch going to just DIE or something? I'm sick and tired of eating fish, bats, bugs, and rats! I've been eating them for five hundred years now! Don't you think I'd be sick of it?"
"Oy! I've been on pretty much the same diet and I don't complain, you Mangy Wolf!" Inuyasha shouted across the cave. That sparked another argument between the wolf and the dog and everyone else sighed, except Sesshoumaru. In fact,Sesshoumaru scowled darkly. Lately his hard mask of stoicism was cracking, since his repetitive diet of, as Inuyasha quite grandioselyput it, shit. In fact,the rest of the gang, minus Rin and Ayame, were pretty much running out of patience. Of course, Rin and Ayame were not there, since they had gone to take a bath, Rin mostly wanting to splash around and play. Suddenly, the cave got very silent, as everyone glared murderously at Inuyasha.
Freaking out, Inuyasha took a step back yelling, "Hey, what are you guys staring at me like that?"
"You've been to Kagome's home. I'm sure you know how to turn the thing on." Scowling, Inuyasha squatted down in front of the box, which Kagome identified as the Tally-vision. He jabbed his finger on the power button. The screen switched on, but there was nothing more than static.
"INUYASHA!" Shippou shouted, "YOU LIED!"
"Wha-? Are you crazy?"
"You just told us you didn't know what that was!"
Inuyasha shrugged and grumbled something that sounded oddly like: "So?"as he rapped the top of the tally-vision with a clawed fist. The static crackled and a voice talking was heard before it turned back into nothing more than static. "No reception." Was all Inuyasha grunted before picking the box up and walking around the cave, holding the tally-vision out to find some sort of reception. The tally-vision's vision cleared a bit when he reached the mouth of the cave. "That's better."
He didn't notice that the whole gang had been following him around with curiosity, even Sesshoumaru. Inuyasha stopped and glared at the group. "WELL?" He barked, "What are you following me for?"
"I'd like to know, DEAR BROTHER, what are you doing?"
"Trying to get a good reception." Inuyasha snapped, "Come to think of it, Kagome's," He stopped at the name of his beloved, his voice cracking a bit, "Kagome's," He said strengthening his voice, "Home had some weird wire sticking out from the roof. She told me it was for better reception for the tally-vision."
Shippou and Miroku sighed to one another. As time passed, the gang came to learn never to mention Kagome in front of neither Inuyasha nor Kouga, especially Inuyasha. Sheesh! It didn't take five hundred years for Inuyasha to not forget about Kagome, did it?
"TOUTOSAI! Yes! That's when that old fart comes into play!" Inuyasha shouted turning back into his old self. He stomped over deeper into the cave, Ayame and Rin had returned. Rin had grown older, and was about Shippou's age. Much like Shippou, she did not lose her child-like innocence, and thus still thought like a child. Nobody ever bothered to teach them about puberty and such. Miroku did receive a number of bumps on the head from the group members for trying to teach them, especially from Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru. Inuyasha always avoided Rin, since she somehow had a striking resemblance of Kagome.
Keeping his gaze off Rin who happily and naively greeted him, Inuyasha stomped over to Toutosai. "OLD FART!" He shouted rather rudely and kicked the old man awake. Toutosai woke up and blinked his bulbous eyes at Inuyasha who glowered down at him. Inuyasha crouched down in a position much like a dog and drew out the "wire-thing" he had seen on top of Kagome's roof from memory. "Can you make us that?" He asked. Toutosai tilted his head and asked him, "Do you wish for me to forge a strange weapon?" Without warning and so much for asking, Toutosai grabbed a pair of pliers and yanked one of Inuyasha's fangs out.
"OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" Inuyasha screamed. The sound echoed throughout the cave, which brought every single member crashing over to their direction shouting stupid things such as, "Kikyou!" or "To arms! To arms! The clay bitch is attacking!" (that one came from Kouga, by the way) and many more. Sesshoumaru, Kouga, and Shippou had their hand(s) over their ears. "YOU BASTARD!" Inuyasha screamed raging. He bonked Toutosai on the head as hard as he could. "I didn't want another fucking sword!"
"Eh? What was that? You didn't?" Toutosai shrugged and moved to make the strange contraption that Inuyasha had designed for him. Everyone gathered around him curiously watching him fashion the strange contraption from Inuyasha's fang, while Inuyasha himself KEH-ed and humphed. Inuyasha seemed pissed throughout the whole ordeal. It didn't take toutosai long to finish the contraption. When it was done, he held up a strange spidery object in his tongues, which Inuyasha tried to snatch away only to burn his hand. "AIIIEEEEE!" Inuyasha ran around the cave and disappeared.
Minutes later, Sesshoumaru heard the sound of water hissing as Inuyasha plunged his hand into the cold water. Shrugging, Toutosai placed it in the water and it hissed and sizzled. "Finished."
Inuyasha had returned and snatched the thing out of Toutosai's hands, clonking the old swordsmith on the head before he left.
That night, the rest of the gang sat around the box of moving people in awe. Inuyasha would change the channels every one minute, calling them: "Shallow, stupid, boring, unrealistic…" Suddenly he stopped on one of the channels. It was a news program, but the place seemed vaguely familiar.
A woman was standing in front of a scene that awed the gang except Inuyasha, who had already seen those things, provided that he had been to Kagome's world several times. "A strange happening has occurred over the past few minutes. Apparently a strange force of energy enveloped a third of Tokyo in strange pinkish lights. The origin of such powers is unknown. However, it is said that it started in a simple high school near the Higurashi shrine. Whatever this powerful thing is, it has destroyed nearly everything in its path, strangely sparing the lives of any living thing." The screen flashed to show a bright pink light embracing the city and destroying everything in its path.
"Kikyou." Miroku said calmly. "She didn't disappear after all."
"Damn straight, that creepy bitch should be alive somewhere." Inuyasha snapped. But something kept tugging him at the back of his mind. Kikyou is still alive, I know that, but I have a feeling… a strange feeling… it didn't come from Kikyou. Could it have been Kagome?
"Human, are you stupid? That clay miko will never die until her soul is rested." Sesshoumaru's voice cut through Inuyasha's train of thought. "She can't come here. I had Jaken put up an Anti-miko barrier. Thus, that woman cannot enter without being utterly destroyed, clay or not."
"KAGOME!" Inuyasha suddenly shouted, scaring the daylights out of everyone including his older brother. "It's her I KNOW it's her!"
BONK! Sesshoumaru thumped Inuyasha over the head with his fist. "It's not her. I hope you DO remember what Kikyou said. She turned Kagome's time upside down so that she's fifteen again. That means that she has NO memories of you whatsoever, neither does she have the ability to use her miko powers. Speaking of which, she may be able to pass my barrier for mikos seeing that she doesn't have the powers anymore."
"Sesshoumaru…" Shippou started, then he kicked the taiyoukai once, "Look what you just did! You just shredded the last hope Inuyasha had in Kagome. And I hope you remember it was you who told us not to bring her up or discuss about her or elaborate on the topic of Kagome." Sesshoumaru scowled again. The gang sneaked a look at Kouga and Inuyasha. Much to their horror, both had started bickering again.
"If you weren't such a bastard then this would have never happened! Why the hell did you attach yourself to that clay bitch so that something like this would happen?"
"Shut up, Mangy Wolf! You try forgetting about someone you loved with all your heart and soul!"
"So you DO have feelings for that clay bitch after all! I can't believe that Kagome still loves you after all you've put her through, running after a mean-ass clay bitch only to be tossed away rudely! I think Kagome would be much happier with me! You seem to make her cry all the time!"
Inuyasha looked oddly quiet. He didn't lash out at Kouga with his claws, but simply stood there clenching his fists until he drew blood from his own palm. After a while, "You're right. It is all my fault. Everything is. Kagome's heart, this, Kikyou… hell, I don't even know why she ever stayed by my side. You're right, Wolf, Kagome should have gone to you. All I do is hurt her." Inuyasha looked up with a strange half-smile that must have creeped everyone out. "I'll bet I deserved her forgetting me. Maybe I should go out and let Kikyou kill me. I don't deserve to live."
"YOU ASS!" Sesshoumaru roared. "Do you not COMPREHEND that you hold father's grave in your left eye?"
"SO? What does it matter to you?"
"You and I may still be half-brothers, but Inutaisho is still MY DAD!" The last word echoed emptily through the cave bouncing off the walls and returning to both Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru. The seemingly magical deposition of Sesshoumaru was suddenly broken when there was a crackle of twigs. This sent both brothers on their edges along with Kouga and Shippou. Kirara changed into her gigantic cat-like form growling menacingly. "I smell human…" Sesshoumaru growled.
A man came into view. Sesshoumaru launched his attack, but Inuyasha grabbed his arm and managed somehow to keep his brother back. "Wait. It's not Kikyou. Remember? Kikyou can't break through the barrier no matter how strong of a miko she is. That barrier's designed to keep powerful mikos like her out." Sesshoumaru nodded in agreement.
"However, we will not let this man out of our sight. We do not want him running around the place blabbing about our whereabouts. Despite the fact that he does not reek of that miko, he can set a new set of rumors free. I believe the best thing to do is to kill him." Sesshoumaru flexed his claws.
"No, let him live." Miroku took a step forward. "The man didn't mean any harm."
"Shut up monk! Did he not see the state of Inuyasha, Jaken, Kirara, and Shippou? He's bound to run off to his strange world to broadcast to the whole world about seeing us. If the miko finds out, she will come here to off all of us. And by now, I do not want to think about how powerful this miko has gotten over the past five hundred years. You heard what that ningen said about the miko power that destroyed nearly a third of Tokyo." Inuyasha took a step forward to argue, but Sesshoumaru cut him off immediately. "And that power, Inuyasha, didn't come from Kagome. You know damn well what Kikyou did to her. She did it for a purpose, and that purpose was to eliminate any source of rivalry."
Inuyasha bowed his head in defeat. "So the only chance we have is to kill him." When no objections were made, Sesshoumaru lifted his right hand and it glowed green as his poison oozed out. The man looked terrified. "Die." Sesshoumaru said coldly as he brought his hand down to kill the stranger who was backing away in horror.
The sound of the history teacher rapping on the chalkboard was deafening. "Class! Please settle down!" Kagome's history teacher clapped his hands together as the students dashed back to their desks. Ever since that fateful day in which Kagome released her miko powers, many of the students feared her excluding Ayumi, Eri, Yuka, and Hojo. Sango, of course, knew about Kagome's miko powers, thus having no fear over her.
Ayumi, Yuka, and Eri were Kagome's friends and were also quite nosy. Ayumi wasn't so bad, but Yuka and Eri seemed brutal. Ayumi had longer curly hair that she wore down while Eri and Yuka both had shoulder-length hair. The only difference between the two was that Yuka wore a headband and Eri did not. As usual, Eri and Yuka cheered along with the rest of the class upon hearing that they were going on a field trip. Kagome sighed and Ayumi smiled. They were the only two students in class who didn't go crazy with excitement. Kagome wondered if they were going to visit the Inuyasha forest again. Personally, she didn't feel like going back there since it brought back too many memories, too many memories of Inuyasha.
"We well be going to…" Kagome held her breath along with the rest of the class waiting to hear him say the Inuyasha forest. "The unchanged islands." Kagome let out a sigh of relief while the class went wild. They had seen pictures of it. It was a very beautiful place, beautiful, yet strange. Many people tried to urbanize it into a resort island, but as quickly as they brought their materials, they were mysteriously destroyed into nothing but dust along with the trees, thus the place remained unchanged. Another strange thing was that any monk, male or female, could set foot on the island. Kagome was unsure if she were to be able enter.
"Umm…" she spoke up, "I'm not sure if I could even set foot on that island."
"What's wrong? Afraid that you might be fried crisp like those other monks and mikos that tried to enter that island?" A boy from the back of the class called mockingly. Kagome cast her glance down at her hands. She was a miko, there was no way she would be able to enter that place without being blasted back into the ocean with enough force to send her ramming into mainland Japan, thus killing her. Then again, she had the Shiken Jewel in her body that might save her. Nonetheless Kagome was worried. She wondered what type of person or maybe even what kind of Miko put it up. She would have to go to inspect it to see who had put it up. It might be the deed of a taiyoukai. Speaking of taiyoukais, that reminded her of Sesshoumaru and Sesshoumaru reminded her of… Inuyasha.
"Kagome's a fraidy cat!" The same boy laughed along with the rest of the class, but Ayumi, Eri, and Yuka didn't. In fact, Yuka stood up and yelled at the boy. Kagome barely heard it, because if it was a youkai that put up that barrier, it might be because of Sesshoumaru. But Sesshoumaru despised humans. She highly doubted that he wanted ANY humans crawling around on his precious plot of land. "The bastard…" she mumbled to herself. But there might be a chance that Inuyasha was there. Inuyasha… the one and only protector… INUYASHA! He might be there waiting for her. She was almost positive about it.
Inuyasha may have been a Hanyou, but he once told her that Hanyous lived up to fifty thousand years, half the life of a full youkai, which was a hundred thousand years. The last time she was with him, he was only two hundred years old. Add five hundred to that, it meant that he was only seven hundred years old, meaning that he had a long way to go as far as natural death was concerned. If it was really Sesshoumaru who put up the barrier, then Inuyasha might still be alive. He always has a way in surviving Sesshoumaru… Kagome thought to herself. And who knew? Sesshoumaru might have accepted Inuyasha as his brother, "Fat chance." Kagome said aloud.
The same kid laughed at her, but Kagome ignored it. She just couldn't picture Sesshoumaru being nice to his younger brother. Suddenly she stood up scaring the whole class including the teacher. "I'm going!" She shouted. While sitting back down, Kagome knew this was a perfect chance to see Inuyasha, if she was lucky, he and Sesshoumaru would have never crossed paths, and he might be alive. The same kid who made fun of her was shivering. At that, the bell rang and Kagome grabbed her bag and ran out of the class leaving a bunch of surprised kids. "Whew!" One of them said, "At least she didn't attack us with her scary pink thing."
"STOP!" A hand grabbed Sesshoumaru's wrist. The only person in the whole cave that ever dared to touch him was Inuyasha. Sesshoumaru glared at his brother who was grabbing onto his arm. "Don't kill him."
"ARE. YOU. IN-SANE?" Sesshoumaru hissed enunciating each syllable to his younger brother who grabbed onto his wrist. Sesshoumaru brought his hand closer to the man's throat. "He's seen too much, he needs to die!" Sesshoumaru inched his hand downward as Inuyasha grabbed onto his wrist now with two hands.
"Are you stupid? RUN!" Inuyasha shouted. The Man seemed to snap out of his trance and sped out of the cave as fast as he could. Sesshoumaru watched him run until he was gone. Once the ningen's stench faded away, he punched his brother in the face.
"You pathetic hanyou! Do you realize what you've done?"
"He won't tell, you filthy bastard." Inuyasha growled from his spot not moving from the spot where he rammed into the cave wall making Rin and Ayame flinch. "Doesn't matter anyway… this place has been already known by humans. You should at least be grateful that no miko or monk could ever enter this place." A cough came from Miroku, "Except for you."
Sesshoumaru glared at his brother who had finally picked himself off the ground. Deep down inside, he had agreed, but he didn't let it show. It was true that the normal humans had tried to bring strange things into his land that reeked of metal and oil and something else, but he, Sesshoumaru had destroyed them along with Inuyasha, Shippou, Kouga, and Miroku. Of course the monk had used his kazanna to suck in the strange items without any trace, Inuyasha used his Tetsusagia, Shippou used his now powerful fox fire, Kouga his powerful kick and punch, and him, Sesshoumaru, used his tojiken and his light whip.
But that was a long time ago. The humans had long given up trying to bring such strange things onto THEIR land. They even went as far to bring a monk or a miko over thinking that there were evil spirits there. Obviously most of them vaporized the moment they touched the barrier. The luckier ones were expelled from the island only to be killed by the force of them ramming into mainland Japan. Most of the regular humans knew nothing of their existence, except for Rin. Rin and Miroku… they were the only humans on the island. It was a wonder that they survived five hundred years, both having drunk out of a spring that elongated their lives as long as a hanyou could live. Of course they didn't know until Miroku realized that neither of them seemed to look old after about fifty years. And when they passed two hundred, both were suspicious of the spring within the cave.
Humphing to himself, Sesshoumaru turned away from his brother towards the mouth of the cage. But a sudden flash disturbed his vision. The flash was so blinding his eyes watered. He heard Inuyasha get into a defensive growl and the other people moved into their defensive position, Rin and Ayame was pushed towards the back along with Jaken, Ah-un, and Kirara, if danger came along back there, they would help them. Sesshoumaru felt his eyes readjust to the surrounding.
"YOU!" Inuyasha shouted. The same man was holding another strange box. Sesshoumaru steadied himself to attack. Much to his surprise, Inuyasha jumped in front of him snarling, "How dare you… Iron Reaver Soul Stealer!" That was the end of the strange man. Inuyasha, who had once yielded his life, slashed him to ribbons with his claws. "You will not create pictures of ANY of us." He growled down at the remains of the intruder. The stench of blood filled the cave, so strong Sesshoumaru had a headache. He covered his nose with his sleeve. Seeing that the youkais or the hanyou could not get near the remains without getting sick, Rin and Miroku moved forward to clean up the mess.
Within minutes, the place as clean, but the smell of blood still stayed. "You're right Sesshoumaru." Inuyasha growled, "These people nowadays are untrustworthy." Without another word, Sesshoumaru watched Inuyasha disappear deeper into the cave after having smashed the box into pieces. If he had guessed correctly, his brother had just saved him from transforming, thus destroying their hiding place. "Inuyasha," he muttered, "Did you just save me?" The drafty wind blew past the youkai and his hair fluttered a bit before settling down again.
