DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN INUYASHA NOR THE MANGA, NOR THE ANIME
Chapter 7: Envy
"Those fools." Naraku thought as he walked inside his office, "They don't know who they're dealing with".
He reached his polished wood desk and he sat on his black leather chair. He slowly whirled it around facing his window that overlooked the campus.
"But as I thought, the miko does not wield any powers since she lost her memory," he chided to himself, "if she did… then I have to rely on a certain… human"
He began to laugh hysterically. "How awful it must have been for her," he said in a sarcastic tone, "to have to gone through all that and yet… not know what to believe of it".
He looked around his office. Everything was kept up neatly and gave off a very professional appearance. But there was a painting at the back of a shelf of a Japanese woman from the Feudal Era.
She looked very beautiful. She was standing in front of a waterfall in a white short kimono and a red hakama. She had long dark hair tied in a neatly ponytail and soft protruding brown eyes.
"Only with their powers I can have the power to bring you back to life…" Naraku whispered, "With you, the youths, and the reborn Shikon… I will become a full fledged demon"
He looked through his files of a list of women that shared some of the characteristics that Kagome had.
"All this years, and so many girls… It's amazing how difficult it was to find her. Only to find her already falling in love with the Taiyoukai's reincarnation" he said to himself in a disgusted tone, "They will destroy each other in pain and betrayal. As for Inuyasha… may his demon side take over for me to absorb into my miasma"
"Kagome… If I can't have your powers… then no one will. And I'll make you suffer until you crawl and beg me to die," he cried.
He rose from his chair and glanced at the mirror. He now looked at the man known as Naraku, who had bright ebony eyes and long dark hair that reached to his waist. He touched the mirror and laughed wickedly as he swore that he will make Kagome Higurashi's life a living hell.
The next day…
"MAKE WAY DAMN IT! OH MY GOD OH MY GOD. MY CAR!" Inu yelled as he inspected a scratch on the side panel of the white Ford Mustang.
"It's not a scratch you idiot," Sessho said calmly as he got out of his Corvette and went past him.
"DAMN YOU... YOU DID THIS, DIDN'T YOU! YOU ARE PARKED NEXT THE MY CAR" Inu yelled.
"It's just a stain, you materialist. Kami…" Sessho said icily.
Inu remained quiet with a puzzled look on his face. "What's an 'maetirialist'?" he thought aloud.
"It's called a book" Sessho said coolly.
"What the hell do you mean" Inu asked.
"A book is a source of information in which people learn about cultures and knowledge. If you read one, maybe you will know what a materialist means. That is IF you know how to use a book" Sessho explained.
"YOU JACKASS- COME HERE AND SAY IT AGAIN SO I CAN KICK YOUR ASS" Inu said.
"I don't have time for this bickering" Sessho said to himself as he turned and went inside the building.
Sessho went inside the building and into the classroom to see Kagome slumped in her seat staring blankly at the chalkboard.
"Higurashi," Sessho said, "Are you all right?"
"Um, Sessho? How are we supposed to act after a confrontation like this? How can I face Naraku after what he did to us? And I hit him! I will be in so much trouble. Oh god!" Kagome said in a worried tone.
Sessho reached forward and put his palm on her cheek. He bit back the pain that surged from his bracelet as he caressed her flushed skin with his thumb.
"Mine! She is mine! Let go of what is mine!" Sesshomaru yelled.
"Don't cry. I will be there to protect you and besides, he too has to go through the same thing you do." Sessho said reasurringly. Sessho sat beside Kagome and waited as the rest of the students filled the classroom.
After a while, Inu went inside and sat behind Kagome.
"How are you doing?" he mumbled to her.
"Better… but still it just feels weird taking classes from someone who wants to kill us…" Kagome said half-jokingly.
"Nah… that bastard will not try anything for now. And I'll protect you whatever happens" Inu replied.
Sessho looked at Inu menacingly, eliciting a slight growl of possessiveness.
"I see the jackass is the same as usual," Inu added.
"Only in your simple mind, Kazuma" Sessho retorted.
Suddenly, a slam on the door signaled the arrival of Naraku.
The professor walked hurriedly to his desk and sat down. He looked around the classroom with a blankly expression in his eyes. Then his eyes settled on Kagome, Sessho and Inu, and his eyes glowed for an instant with a red haze.
"Well, let us do an oral quiz, shall we?" Naraku said, "Kazuma, Tell me. Who is the author that quotes: 'Secret guilt by silence is betrayed'?"
Inu glared at Naraku. 'How the fuck did he knew about my dreams?' Inu thought to himself.
"How the hell should I know" Inu answered.
"Well, Kazuma you failed. Next um... Taishou, can you define the theme of this quote?" Nara asked.
Sessho looked down, pain shooting at him like daggers from that quote. "It's about blame upon someone's heart, like regretfulness for something he didn't want that loved one to know" he whispered in a warningly tone.
"Yes Taishou, and remember this: Cicero said "Man's existence is irretrievably under the control of destiny" Naraku taunted with a smirk on his face. Sessho cursed silently under his breath, but he regained his composure as Kagome rose to her feet and spoke aloud.
"Actually, Mr. Nara, Goethe said that" Kagome said.
"Yes. You are quite right." Naraku said with a eerie fire in his eyes. He brushed his black hair from his face as he thought of another question. He paced forward to Kagome's desk as she gulped in nervousness. "Higurashi, have you read the works of George Santayana?"
"I've heard of him," Kagome replied quietly.
"Well. Why don't you meditate on this phrase," It was interrupted by the bell ring. But still, Naraku leaned close to Kagome's ear. "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.' "Naraku whispered softly as he smiled.
Kagome's eyes widened. She couldn't breathe, it was all too much to take. She didn't know how Naraku knew about her lost past and that she couldn't remember. She rose from her desk and gathered her stuff.
"Have a good day, Higurashi" Naraku said in a sadistic tone, as she brushed past him, leaving Inu and Sessho confused by her strange behavior.
Kagome ran away from the classroom. She had to get out of here, as far away as she can or else she would lose her sanity. Even in her mind she heard Naraku's scornful laugh as she went through the halls. Yet she didn't know that it was only the beginning of her demise.
Sessho and Inu left the classroom worried about Kagome's reaction.
"What do you think he said to her, Taishou?" Inu asked curiously at his rival.
"I don't know… but it's bad" Sessho answered stoically as he suddenly fell to the ground howling in pain.
"Release me… you fool! I will not be subdued that easily" Sesshomaru warned.
"Never…" Sessho cried incoherently as he clutched his chest tightly. Inu remained quiet staring at his insane conduct.
"You will pay for your lies human… soon" Sesshomaru said in a dark tone, "I WILL break these bindings and take over your soul completely"
"Sessho! Are you allright?" Miroku cried as he made his way to his friend. He pushed amongst the students that overlooked the scene, "We've been trying to find you! What happened?"
"Where's Kagome?" Sango asked the boys, "We were supposed to meet after this class"
"Well… she just left…" Inu answered, "I have to go I-"
Inu was suddenly pummeled by Shippo. His green eyes sparkled in recognition of his close friend. Inuyasha growled in frustration.
"What gives, kit?" Inu cried as he pried off Shippo from his torso.
"There they are, Rin!" Shippo cried as a weeping Rin made her way over to them. Her dark hair retained its usual glow but her brown eyes had dark circles around them from lack of sleep. Sesshomaru was at a loss for words, seeing his ward grown up.
"Rin… Kami you're alive too? Just what is happening?" Sesshomaru thought.
"Enough" Sessho said aloud, silencing the demon lord.
"Damn you human… if only-" Sesshomaru started.
"IF" Sessho countered.
"No one silences THIS SESSHOMARU and lives" Sesshomaru said icily.
Sessho chuckled arousing the demon's anger to the extent.
"What is wrong Rin?" Sango asked the girl as Shippo held her reassuringly.
"I had a series of strange dreams… and… YOU were there" Rin said as she pointed at Sessho, "my lord"
"Rin… you couldn't have. You haven't seen him until today" Sango said to the quiet girl.
Everyone grew silent at her words. Miroku quickly took out his ancestor's book and Sango held both palms to her mouth in utter amazement when he showed everyone Rin's picture from the book.
"You have me mistaken for someone else, girl" Sessho replied, pushing roughly past her, only to be stopped by Shippo's hand.
"She doesn't mean you, but the Taiyoukai…" Shippo alerted, "And do not treat her so disdainfully, Taishou"
"NO ONE disrespects my ward…" Sesshomaru warned from within.
"How do you know that? Are you a mind reader?" Sessho replied icily.
"Mind your mouth, jackass…" Inu retorted, "He's my friend"
"Sessho? What's gone into you?" Miroku cried.
"Because… I had that dream too…" Shippo replied ignoring the others' comments, "And you were there too, Inu. I thought you and I were the only ones, but Rin also dreams from the same era."
"And Koga? Does he dream now as well?" Inu asked.
"I do not know… we need to gather all we can" Shippo said.
"Miroku… maybe we have to summon a meeting and then get Kagome" Sango advised.
"Please do… but unfortunately I won't be attending…" Sessho said sarcastically as he continued his way out.
"Sessho… we need the Taiyoukai's help in this, whether you like it or not…" Miroku said.
"IT will not go out… I will never let that THING out again" Sessho said without turning as he left the group.
"Miroku did you-" Sango asked.
"Yes, I felt it too… something is not right… and the only person who might know is now lost" Miroku said.
"Let's go… this stench is giving me the creeps" Inu said as he motioned the group out.
'Stench?' Shippo thought, 'Maybe Taishou's not the only one with a spirit within…'
"What about Kagome?" Rin asked Sango.
"I think you and I have an idea where she went…" Sango assured.
"I hope she finds her memory again… wherever she is…" Rin whispered.
Meanwhile...
Kagome waited outside of her home for a time gathering her breath from the run. She raised a trembling hand to the door and went inside. Finally, she gathered the courage to call upon her family. Her mother walked down the stairs and looked very surprised to see her.
"Honey, you're back…" her mother trailed off as Kagome made her way past her and up the stairs. When she stood on the upper step her grandfather made his way to her mother from the living room adjacent to the entrance. Her mother was about to go after Kagome but a wrinkled hand rested on her shoulder, preventing her from going further.
"Let her go… maybe it's time" the grandfather told the mother when she tried to go stop her.
Meanwhile Kagome made her way into her room. It was decorated with white bedding with green sheets. She looked around for what seemed was a long time when she faced the door opposite to it. She reached her shaking hand to the knob only to find it locked.
"Kagome, what are you looking for?" her mother asked worriedly.
"That wasn't my room. My room had pink sheets… and there was a desk… That room with green sheets has a window that faces a tree where I…" Kagome trailed off. 'where I kissed Sesshomaru.'
She gasped for a moment and faced her now shaken relatives. They both were at a loss for words.
"Where's Sota?" She asked, "I need to ask if he has met him"
"He's at school…" her grandfather replied making his way slowly upstairs with her mother, "Who are you talking about?"
"Please open the door, okaa-san! I know my room is there! I know it…" she whispered.
Her mother looked at her before taking a key from her pocket and opened the door. When she flung it open, Kagome faced a room covered in light dust and spider webs. She walked inside and a photo caught her attention, she raised it and stared at it. A memory flashed in her mind from seeing the picture.
"K-K-Kagome is this ride a ride to our deaths? We are going straight for that-" Sesshomaru stopped short as a flash of light flashed on him and the mountain opened to the end of the ride.
"That was fun! Wasn't it Sesshomaru?" Kagome said as he looked at a confused Sesshomaru poking at the roller coaster.
"This carriage is a carriage of hell..." he mumbled as people looked at him weirdly.
Kagome took his hand and pulled him to the exit where they saw the picture that was taken of them portraying at the screen. Kagome couldn't help herself but laugh at the sight. Kagome was looking at the camera giving peace sights with a smile on her face and Sesshomaru was looking with wide eyes and twisted yell as his hands were in front of him in a defensive way.
"That was not funny miko..." Sesshomaru mumbled seriously.
"I'm sorry..." Kagome said while drying some tears from her eyes from laughing so hard, "I have to buy that picture".
'He really does exist…' she thought dreamily as she clutched the picture close to her.
Tears streamed down her face of pure happiness. At least she knew the Taiyoukai existed, and they both were together. 'But what if Sessho was right? What if what happened in the forest… the other memories were also fake?' she thought as she continued looking in the room.
"Kagome? Do you remember?" her mother asked when she put her hand on her daughter's shoulder.
Kagome quickly turned around and stepped away from her mother.
"Why? Why did you hide this from me, mom?" she asked vainly fighting back her tears.
"When you arrived that day, you had no memory of the past. We didn't know what to do. We couldn't tell you that you traveled between realms to save Japan, now could I?" her mother sobbed.
"Kagome, we did what was needed to do… Kami forgive us, but it was the only logical thing to do…" her grandfather explained.
"I don't know what to believe anymore… I don't believe anyone" Kagome thought aloud.
"Perhaps… you have only one person left to trust, Kagome" her mother advised, "But you'd have to go back into time"
"What are you talking about, mom? I don't have the Shikon! I can't travel through eras!" Kagome cried disbelievingly.
"The Shikon may have been only a link to the past… but now that mark on your neck would be another link there as well" her grandfather said, "It wouldn't hurt to try"
A few minutes later, Kagome stood in front of the wooden shrine that held the well. 'Strange… how this turn of events have played in my mind,' Kagome thought as she bid farewell to her family and walked inside, 'Mom was right… there is only one person left to trust… and that is the Taiyoukai'.
She hoisted herself to the lip on the well and prayed for this plan to work. 'Kami, please guide me…' she thought as she flung herself into the well and closed her eyes awaiting the cold wet, earth but instead felt a heat of aura surrounding her before she floated into the ground.
She shyly opened her eyes and saw sunlight pouring into the hole of the well. 'There is no shrine… am I in the Feudal Era?' she thought as she climbed out of the well and stood in the forest she once knew as 'Inuyasha's forest'.
"At least this memory is true…" she chuckled to herself before walking to the tree.
"So many memories have happened right here" she murmured happily before being faced by a small toad-like creature.
"Wench!" he cried in disbelief.
"Um… Jaken?" Kagome asked the now wrinkled servant of the Taiyoukai that has haunted her dreams.
"Wench! My lord had bid me to take you to him" Jaken ordered turning on his heel.
"Please Lord Jaken… call me Kagome" Kagome asked politely.
"I apologize, my lady, but this lowly Jaken has been waiting a hundred years for your return… I was quite angry about it" Jaken admitted as he walked with his trusty staff.
"A hundred years have passed? Then… I won't see my past friends…" Kagome said sadly.
"They had short lives… but good ones" Jaken retorted. He wasn't one to say good things about humans.
"What about Inuyasha? Or Shippo? Are they well?" Kagome asked.
"The kit is all right… has a few years ahead of him" Jaken admitted, "He has taken a liking to my Lord's ward"
"Rin and Shippo… who could've known" Kagome said to herself sarcastically.
"You haven't aged a day, my lady" Jaken said.
"Yeah… I still haven't grown up… late bloomer I guess" Kagome added.
"No… not because of that nonsense" Jaken retorted. 'She doesn't realize the effects of mating… just what has happened to her?'
Finally, they arrived upon a clearing. It mostly consisted on herbs, grass and weeds but on the foreground stood two white marble graves. On one grave it had the Tetsusaiga and on the other was the Tenseiga and Toukijin.
"No…" Kagome whimpered as she fell to her knees. She read the name over and over trying to find logic behind this turn of events. "Inuyasha and Sesshomaru…" she thought sadly.
"My lady… Inuyasha lived a few months before his demon side corrupted him completely. The monk and demon slayer alone couldn't subdue him, even with the Lord's help. Lord Sesshomaru lived for few years until… his heart gave out" Jaken said.
"What do you mean?" Kagome asked.
"He means that he waited for your return… for if demons are parted from their mates they slowly begin to die of a broken heart" a voice called from the depths of the forest.
"Kaiyan…" Kagome remembered the brujo who helped her in many ways in the past.
"Before his final breath, he bade me to give you these" Jaken said as he gave her an amber orb and a crescent moon sapphire necklace.
"Did… he suffer…much?" Kagome said between shaky breaths.
"There is not a more painful death than one of a broken heart, human" Kaiyan said sternly.
Kagome's eyes grew blank in realization. Her hands dropped her new belongings as she made her way towards Kaiyan. She pounded her small fists against his chest.
"Then why did he push me in the well? WHY? WHY DID HE PUSH ME?" Kagome cried hysterically.
"BECAUSE YOU REJECTED HIM! YOU UNWILLINGLY REJECTED HIM THE MOMENT YOU DECIDED TO GO YOUR WORLD!" Kaiyan cried darkly.
"Then why did he reincarnate in a human's body?" Kagome countered.
"Destiny…" Kaiyan replied with a smirk, "is a faith greater than love itself. Your task is not yet complete miko, and the wheels of destiny will continue to turn until you make them right"
"By being with Sesshomaru?" Kagome asked.
"No… at least not that alone… It is something that you alone must find" Kaiyan answered as he began to vanish.
"Wait! What of my memories… which are true? How can I sense if this is not some trickery" Kagome asked worriedly.
"Foolish girl," the entity cried as smoke surrounded her and Jaken, "The trickery resides on your surroundings that affect your mind… not your mind itself"
With that said Kaiyan vanished back into the forest.
"Damn brujo!" Jaken muttered under his breath.
"I can't trust anyone… only my mind" Kagome told herself. She knelt down in front of the graves and paid her respects.
"Inuyasha… my dear friend, rest in peace and may love find its way toward you. Sesshomaru…" her voice faltered at that moment speaking unwillingly without her realization, "I love you… now and always…"
"Come, you must go" Jaken said as he helped the miko up to her feet.
"Jaken… you do not have anything left here… perhaps you'd like to come to my era?" Kagome asked the impertinent toad.
"With the stench of rotting humans? I'd rather die!" Jaken answered.
"You'd see Lord Sesshomaru again!" she taunted the toad.
"My lord!" he said as his eyes grew teary with happiness, "I will follow to any hells to see my lord".
He went to the grave, bowed and took the Tenseiga and Toukijin from their resting position.
"All right! Then come with me, I'm sure the Lord will awaken with these swords in hand" Kagome said happily with Jaken murmuring curses along the way.
A/N
SunMoon1285: Very long chappie! So please review and I will continue to update! No Flames please… All this unanswered questions will be answered in no time!
Sesshomaru: (smirks) There you are! You have a debt to make (claws drip with poison) and then you'll be mine
SunMoon1285: (Dodges, ducks, dips, dives, and dodges claws) Yipes! Please review and if I live to see the next day I will update as soon as I can…
Sesshomaru: Mine! (unsheathes Toukijin)
SunMoon1285: (yelps) um… review and no flames (runs away)
Preview of next chapter:
Kagome is back into her own era with a very annoying Jaken. But her happiness will turn to chaos when Naraku tells the board of her inappropriate behavior! How will the gang react towards Jaken and her newfound memories? What will happen to her? How will she confront Sessho and his trickery and Naraku at the same time? And… what is that amber orb for?
