A/N: Hehehe... Gomen to everyone. I know I said I would post earlier but...
hehe... my professors, whom I SWEAR could have been descendants of Satan if
he ever had kids, swamped me with sooo much work along with half a dozen
exams. I think they hate me. Not just me... they hate all students. Or,
they are probably doing this as payback to their former professors. Dammit,
why take it out on me?!
I also seem to have a damn bug in my computer. I can't open a certain file of mine, and that's bad, coz that particular file is my Humanities homework! I tried everything to open it, but it just remains sealed. DAMMIT! I had to re-type the entire folio, thanks to the merciless heavens. Gods, what did I do to deserve this!
Anyway, thanks to all those who read reviewed my previous chaps. I just love positive feedback! Thank you all so much!
Here's my next chap. An extra long one to make up for my long absence. Not just that... secrets are revealed in this chap. Yes, secrets about Kagome.
Anyway, enjoy reading!
Disclaimer: Does anyone even bother reading these things? I do not own Inuyasha, dammit!
-----/---@
SEVEN WEEKS
Pains, Wishes and Hidden Identities
-----/---@
-Flashback-
"How much longer, Sango-chan? I'm tired of sitting here!"
Sango looked down at her best friend and smiled at her aggravated look. Sango was brushing her friend's long hair gently, counting off the number of brush strokes. Her friend was seated before the rich vanity closet, with Sango on a higher stool behind her to be able to reach the top of her head.
"Not much longer, tomo-ko," she said, pausing in her task. "We're now down to a meager two hundred strokes more!"
"Nani?" her friend asked incredulously, looking over her shoulder at her. Sango was about to continue with the brush when her best friend held her hand back. "Enough, onegai. We'll stop now, and we'll do twelve hundred tomorrow to make up for it. And before you say anything, I KNOW that that's not logical, " she said as she turned to face the laughing Sango.
"Why, you're quite impatient today, Kagome-chan!" Sango giggled, but stopped when Kagome frantically waved her silent.
"Not so loud, Sango-chan! You know that you're the only one who could call me that! It's not allowed!" she said in a hurried whisper.
"Oh, oh, gomen nasai! I almost forgot!" Sango replied with a grin.
"Mou, Sango!" she scolded her friend lightly before her face suddenly turned serious. "Sango-chan," she began. "Do you really have to leave next week?"
Sango let out a soft sigh. "Hai. I do. You KNOW I do. But it's not as if you'll never see me again!"
"Hai, I know. Demo, I'm really gonna miss you, tomo-ko. You're my only friend, the only girl I can talk to in this mansion," she added, twisting a bunch of the cloth of her long white skirt in her hands.
"I'll miss you too," Sango replied, leaning down to take a lock of her friend's long, ankle-length hair in her hand. "I wish I had hair as wonderful as yours."
Kagome sighed. "Oh Sango. I wish I had a star mark that's like yours."
-End Flashback-
Sango stared glumly ahead as she recalled one of her more memorable encounters with her best friend. Kagome had been acting so glumly then, always saying that she wished she were a palace warrior or an adviser as her friend was. Sango, on the other hand, said that she wished for nothing else than to have Kagome's fate instead. What her friend found desirable in being an adviser when she had something better, she would never know, but Kagome did.
'Fate is funny,' she thought glumly. 'I want to be Kagome; she wants to be me.'
But Sango lately realized what she had that her friend didn't, and why she didn't want her own gift. 'Maybe, I am luckier,' she thought. Kagome had always kept a smile on her beautiful face, but Sango noticed that, when unguarded, Kagome's eyes took on a sad glint that no one else but she noticed.
A knock on her door startled Sango out of her reminiscing. "Come in," she said, not even bothering to look in the direction of her slowly opening door.
"Sango-sama," a low voice called.
She turned to see a very tall guard with his short hair in a high ponytail looking at her. She recognized him quickly as the diseased Souta's best friend.
"Hai?" she asked.
"Miroku-sama is calling for you. He is waiting in the garden. He wishes to speak with you about something important," the guard said slowly.
"Alright. Thank you, Takeda. Tell him I will be right down."
The guard, Takeda, slowly turned to leave and closed the door. 'What could Miroku possibly want now?' she asked herself as she put on her palace attire.
Sango left her room then, and walking at a very slow pace, approached the gardens. She took in her surroundings as she walked, noticing that everything, indeed, remained glum and passive since the abduction of "Azalea-chan".
She turned her gaze skywards as she stared at the ceiling. The once golden trimmed white crystal panels had turned rather dirty and bronzed. Even the garden, where she used to spend many a time sitting in to take in the beauty of nature, looked dry and abused. As she neared the patch of land where Miroku usually sat on, she found herself staring at the houshi's back.
Miroku was staring off into space, as if completely lost in thought. Whether he sensed or heard her coming, he made no indication of it.
"Sango-sama," he began, letting Sango know that her presence had been acknowledged. "Do you know the mystery of the ruling in this land?"
Sango was surprised. 'Now what's wrong with him?' she asked herself before sitting down beside the troubled monk.
"The time for me to know has not come yet, Houshi-sama. Why do you ask?"
"Because I'm confused and need some answers," he replied, looking at her for the first time. "But to have my answers I need the counsel of one other who knows of the ruling."
"Then that means I cannot help you, doesn't it?" Sango asked. She was really implying that she was as curious as hell about the said "mystery".
"That is why I decided to tell you of some things. I need your answer to my question," he sighed before smiling slowly.
"Sango-sama, you do know that every incoming princess ascends the throne at the age of ten, and descends at seventy? Each one rules for around sixty years," he asked. Sango just nodded.
"I have always found it quite odd, you know. I always thought that ten is such a young age, but knowing Hime-sama has gotten me to think twice. Aza- chan ruled us perfectly despite her youth." Sango answered.
"Hai. I agree. Our Azalea has been wonderful." Miroku stated. "You do know why I called her OUR Azalea, don't you?"
"Hai. I do."
"Wonderful. All chosen princesses leave their old lives behind, including their names, to take on the undying identity of the past princess. They take on the name Azalea and live in solemn solitude for the rest of their lives. The gods then choose the next princess when the princess turns sixty, so someone could ascend once she turns seventy. The new Azalea is marked before she even leaves her mother's womb. Same goes for the palace guards and magic advisers," Miroku said, looking to Sango to see if she understood. She was nodding.
"Ee. I knew some of that. What else is there?" Sango asked hesitantly.
"The princess and her advisers, you and I in this case, cease aging once they reach their prime. The guards continue to age and are "replaced" once they reach forty-five. The three main palace dwellers, however, ascend to be with the Gods once they hand their power over to the next princess and advisers." Miroku continued.
"Meaning that we have no choice but to die once we are replaced. Cheerful, ne? But it would be fine since seventy is already quite old," Sango smiled wryly at the thought.
"Right. Which leads me to my question. Common folk say that being marked with the star is a blessing but... all we actually gain is a lonely life and sudden death," Miroku said with a sardonic smirk. "Is it fair? We spend all of our lives going on like this, sacrificing ourselves for something we did not even choose, and all we get in return is... nothing."
Sango was concerned. "Houshi-sama, what made you think this way about our fate? You used not to care about it!"
Miroku stared at the ground in disdain. "I just thought of it when I realized that we never actually got anything done. That and," Miroku cut himself off.
"That and what?"
Sango gasped when Miroku turned intense eyes her way. "That," Miroku said, "And that I would never be given the chance to love, and to be with her whom I love. After all the pain and hardships we have to go through, we are only left to die! We aren't even given the chance to do the things that we want to do."
Sango was surprised at Miroku's glum outlook of the way they would end up. She never would have thought that the cheerful monk held such bitterness within him.
"Houshi-sama," she began cautiously. "Do you regret being taken in as an adviser?"
Miroku just shook his head. "No, Sango-sama. But I have been troubled for long. I don't want to die a useless man!"
"Houshi-sama, what you do is noble! You would never be considered useless, you hear me? I know that our lives are full of trials and pain but, it would all be worth it!" Sango desperately pleaded. "We are still lucky because... well, at least WE can marry someone we love, even though the choices are limited, and we have to continue our duty til we die. Aza- chan..." Sango trailed off as she realized why she was still lucky. "Aza- chan isn't even allowed that luxury. No one can touch her. She is to be lonely all her life!"
Miroku looked at his companion... his love. The reason he was pissed was because there was hardly any chance of him being happy with her.
"Perhaps I am blinded, Sango. But you are right. I should lighten up."
Straightening up to leave, Miroku cast a last glance at Sango. She was looking at him with an almost unreadable expression.
"And before I forget," he said, turning away from her to walk back to the palace. "The barrier could be lifted in ten days or less."
He left her sitting in the garden, mulling over her words and wondering how and whether he should confess his love for her anytime soon.
-----/---@
Two figures stood before a lone phantom in the dark depths of the room. One of the figures was almost luminous, while the other nearly blended with the darkness of the chamber.
"Do you understand what I am trying to make you do?" the phantom asked of the two beings.
"Hai... demo, are you positive that she holds what we seek?" the brighter of the beings asked back. The phantom just grinned.
"Aa, I am. With that power, you two can join your forces to become one powerful youkai. Are you sure you wish to go through with it?"
"Anything for the power, Naraku-sama," the darker being answered. "We will kill this Inuyasha, and take the girl."
"Good. Now go."
-----/---@
"Inuyasha, what do you think of this one?" Kagome asked, holding up a sprig of parsley that she had just stolen from a nearby field.
"That's nice," Inuyasha replied without even looking at her.
Kagome threw the herb down in exasperation. She understood his depression and anger over the danger his world was in, but this was just absurd!
"Inuyasha!" she shouted at him, finally making him turn to her.
"What the fuck are you shouting for, wench?!" Inuyasha yelled, rubbing his abused ears.
"What do you mean what am I shouting for?!" Kagome screeched. "You've been acting all detached for the past two days! Get over it, Inuyasha! You're attitude has been slowing us down! If you don't hurry up before your seven weeks is up then your world really will vanish! We hardly covered any distance since the day you heard the news from Miroku-sama! You're not helping!"
Inuyasha stared at her in guilt. He had to admit, he was being a dumbass again, but he couldn't help but worry about his mother, his friends and even his asshole brother. Shit, he was almost worried about his teachers!
"I can't help it, bitch! It's hard not to worry about my world when I know that the slightest mistake could prove fatal!" he snapped.
"That's exactly my point, baka! Your slacking is THE fatal mistake. You take long in here and your world disappears! Don't you get it?" Kagome yelled in irritation, before a small, sad frown graced her lips. "Even if it means that you have to leave sooner... we have to hurry if we are ever to finish this quest before your seven weeks is over."
Inuyasha stopped walking to regard her carefully. Kagome was still murmuring softly, but he could hear her very clearly.
"I have no idea how Miroku managed to mess the portal up while he was with Sango. They are well trained! I don't get it! They are incredible at their work!" she was whispering to herself.
"I can hear you, you know," the hanyou remarked dryly, making Kagome stiffen.
"Oh... haha... don't mind me, I was just talking to myself."
Inuyasha suddenly remembered something that he had been dying to ask since the new moon night. About Miroku and Sango...
"Kagome, how did you..."
He cut himself off when he felt a strange presence nearby. It was queer indeed... the feeling of being watched was nearly tangible, but Inuyasha could not smell anything. He just felt the odd presence surrounding him and Kagome. Kagome herself had suddenly stiffened.
"Inuyasha... something's very wrong..." Kagome said, glancing over at Inuyasha to see if he felt it. He just nodded.
Inuyasha and Kagome now stood stock still, trying to reach across the field with their senses. Inuyasha took a tentative step forward, but froze when he heard the ground crack beneath him.
He lightly tapped the ground with his foot, noticing for the first time the hollow sound that resonated from the ground. It was as if he had just stepped on the wooden floors of the third floor of his own house.
"Inuyasha, we're standing on thin ground, aren't we?" Kagome asked, panic rising in her voice. She tried not to move a muscle, afraid of what she may find beneath the ground. The thought of being swallowed up by land just did not settle with her.
"Aa... I think so..." Inuyasha growled softly.
"What are we gonna do? Should we run for it?" Kagome asked anxiously. The hanyou just shook his head.
"No... The ground is too thin. We make one wrong move and we're sure to fall through. Maybe we should do it slowly-" Inuyasha suggested, when they heard a sound that resembled cracking twigs from behind them. Both turned around cautiously, only to find the thinnest being neither of them had ever seen standing but a few meters away.
"A ground youkai," Kagome said softly, not taking her eyes off the demon before them. The demon had long, dry wiry hair and parched earth-brown skin. Large eyes that were completely dark stared at them through its bangs above a lipless thin mouth. It was dressed in something akin to mud-dipped rags and its long, thin arms ended in a whip-like form and her feet seemed to be rooted to the ground.
Both flinched slightly when the youkai pointed a whip-ended arm at Kagome. "Teme..." it said in a cracking, dry voice. "Naraku-sama says that you have the power... give it to me," it ordered. Inuyasha stared at Kagome questioningly, only to find that Kagome was not even looking at him. She was staring at the youkai with horrified eyes and mouth agape.
"I... I don't know what you are talking about," Kagome shouted though she was visibly pale by then. The youkai noticed this and began laughing in his same dry tone.
It flicked one of its arms, letting out a sound much like a lashing whip. Another youkai appeared beside him at the signal.
Kagome had never seen a youkai like this one, and was shocked when Inuyasha let out a very soft growl. She glanced at him questioningly, and saw him seething.
"Teme... I don't know what fucking kind of youkai you are but... Naraku sent you, didn't he?!" he snarled, making the new youkai grin. This one had a misty body and was clothed in a flowing white kimono. Its pale blue eyes were flecked with gold and it held a large crystal ball in one hand.
"Good guess, hanyou," the luminous youkai said in an airy voice. It turned to Kagome. "Now, give me the power."
"I told you, I have no idea what you are talking about you stupid asshole!" Kagome screeched in panic.
'What is he talking about?' she asked herself as both youkai advanced on them. 'I do not have any sort of power except for my holy powers! I sealed off the rest!'
"You lie, miko," the earth youkai answered, the roots that were his feet extending to reach them both. Inuyasha started to take a step backward when he felt the ground start to give out under him. Kagome seems to have been in the same situation.
"Don't even try to run, knight. If you don't want to fall through," the translucent youkai said. "But we tell you one thing: give us what we want and we won't bother you again."
"I told you, jackass! I don't know what you are talking about!" Kagome protested. Something wasn't right... she could feel a strange power coming from beneath her feet. It meant only one thing... something terrible awaited them beneath the hollow grround.
"Then we'll do this the hard way!" the ground youkai shouted in fury. It jumped at the pair, swinging its tentacle-whip-like arms at them.
Inuyasha, out of pure instinctive reaction, grabbed Kagome's waist and leaped into the air to dodge the whips. Kagome, however, started to panic when Inuyasha took hold of her.
"Inuyasha, we're gonna crash!" she screamed as they neared the ground. Inuyasha had no time to answer as his feet met the ground and the floor exploded downward upon impact.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome screamed as they fell through, plummeting headfirst into the ravine-like whole that the two youkai had dug into the ground. He grabbed her tightly as they fell, but Inuyasha felt a strong impact on his head as his grip on Kagome loosened slightly.
The last thing Inuyasha heard was Kagome's voice as the darkness suddenly bore down on him. Kagome shouted as the unconscious hanyou let go of her, and she continued falling as the hanyou was suspended on air. She kept on falling until she felt her eyes go heavy and she too sunk into unconsciousness.
-----/---@
"INUYASHA!"
The scream rang in his head as Inuyasha began to stir.
"Kagome!!!" Inuyasha called out frantically as he bolted up from where he lay. As he looked around him though, his eyes widened in confusion. He scrubbed his eyes, thinking he was seeing things, and looked up again. That's when he realized.
He was at home... warm on his bed... in his own world...
'Chikuso... was that a dream?!' he asked himself, shaking his head as if to clear it, when he heard a call from downstairs.
"Inuyasha! Breakfast is ready!" his mother's small voice called clearly from the dining hall. The hanyou crawled out of lethargically, his white sleeping shirt and shorts sticking to his skin, still doubting what had happened.
Had it all been a dream? So many things had happened in so little time! Could it all have been a dream? Miroku, Sango, Azalea and Naraku... were they all a dream?
'Was Kagome a dream as well?' he asked himself glumly as he found his pants sitting on the nearest chair. 'The last thing I remember... we were in danger... was it really a dream? Was SHE a dream? Is that why Kagome is so perfect? Because she's a dream?' his mind screamed as he opened the door.
'Kagome... is she alright?' he thought again as the delicious scent of his favorite breakfast greeted his nose. "Okaa?" he called cautiously.
"Ah, Inuyasha!" she exclaimed as Inuyasha rounded the divider to get into the dining room. She smiled brightly at him before pointing to the table. "Take a seat, Inuyasha! I made Ramen!" she said with a grin.
"Ramen?" his mouth began to water just thinking about it. The thought of his favorite dish drove all thoughts away from his mind.
He was digging in when a familiarly cold voice reached his ears. 'Strange,' he thought, sniffing around to make sure. It was.
"Sesshoumaru?" he asked aloud, whipping around to stare at his elder half brother who stood stoically in the doorway.
"Honestly, Inuyasha," he began, fixing a pointed glare at his brother. "You still slurp that ramen like a full-fledged slob. Disgusting," he remarked before sitting in his old place at the table and eating his ramen noiselessly.
Inuyasha stared at his brother. His brother's long hair was dark, probably cloaked already, and tied back in a low ponytail at the nape of his neck. He had a briefcase and was wearing a professional-looking black suit. 'Shit, is that Armani?'
"Inuyasha, might I know why you are staring at your own brother that way?" Sesshoumaru teased in slight irritation.
Inuyasha snapped out of it. "Hey, what are you doing here, anyway? When did you get here from Yokohama?" he asked his brother in surprise. He didn't know Fluffy was coming for a visit. He had moved out of their home four years ago.
"What the hell are you talking about, ototo?" Sesshoumaru asked with raised eyebrows. "I've never been to Yokohama."
Inuyasha stared at him in surprise as his mother took her own seat beside the head of the table. Odd. She had taken the head seat since his father died. Now that he thought about it, why were there FOUR plates on the table?
He nearly choked when he got his answer.
"Inuyasha?" his mom began. "Would you please call your father down from the bedroom? He's taking way too long up there."
Now that wasn't right.
-----/---@
"Inuyasha..." Kagome whispered as she felt her eyes open slightly. She was finally awake. She sat up straight, rubbing the back of her head where she had hit it when she fell.
'Where the hell am I?' she thought before deciding to open her eyes. What she saw shocked her limbs cold.
"Masaka..." she whispered in panic as she looked around her. "IYA!" she screamed, pounding at the walls that surrounded her. Each desperate bang against the wall sent jolts of static through her body but she paid no heed to the shocking pain. She looked down at her hands to see the jewels and rings around her wrists and fingers the way they had been before she met Inuyasha. Her pale fists were clenched tightly as she began to pound again.
"IYA! Inuyasha! Anata wa doko?! Inuyasha!!!" she screamed as her panic rose even more. She felt tears slowly well up in her eyes as her desperation increased, making it hard to breathe.
Her tears fell from her eyes unrestrained when she finally looked down at her own body. She was no longer wearing her black fighting robes. Quite the contrary... she was dressed in long, blinding white garments. She reached up momentarily to find a simple yet elegant crystalline ornament on top of her head.
Her fists started to bruise and bleed with the pressure of punching against the hard wall. But she had to try. She was sweating heavily now, her ankle- length raven tresses sticking to her face, her chest heaving with the exertion.
"Onegai! Someone help!" she shouted once more in tearful desperation. Her throat was burning from all the crying and screaming, but she didn't care. 'This is not happening!' her mind pleaded as she continued to ignore the blood that now dripped from her clenched fists.
Something round and cool was pressed against her throat and she stilled in horror. 'Impossible!' she thought as she looked down at the offending object. Her blood ran cold when she realized what it was that she now held in her hand.
The Shikon no Tama.
"Gods, NO!!! Don't let this be happening! Inuyasha!" she screamed again, but this time, a cold voice cut through her furious yells.
"Kukuku... why don't you just stop struggling? It would be a lot easier."
Kagome turned to the direction of the voice and saw the hazy outline of the one being she hated the most.
"Naraku," she hissed. "What are you doing? Where is Inuyasha?!" she demanded. Much to her agitation, Naraku just looked at her and... snickered.
"Inuyasha? The knight in the legends? Have you forgotten that you cannot use your powers in here? You can not call him. You must have had some dream! Kukuku... MY poor sweet Azalea..."
Kagome cringed at the sound of the name. "Don't call me that!" she yelled.
"What's the matter princess? Afraid of your own destiny? Why don't you just accept my offer, hime?" he asked again.
Kagome just about blew up. "I told you... I would rather die than accept you Naraku! And it's Azalea-SAMA. You have no right to call me so familiarly!"
She froze. 'I'm back in the dome, as Azalea... but how?'
-----/---@
A/N: Well, that's it for my chap! How was it? I finally revealed who Kagome really is, aren't you all happy?! ^_^ LOL! I mean, you do get what I was trying to relay to you guys about Kagome's true identity, right? Right.
Anyway, here is my response to all my wonderful reviewers.
Litwolf689: I'm only seventeen, so I'm still in school. I'm a college sophomore. Anyway, the confession would come in about 2 or 4 chaps, I think. Just hang on in there, onegai?! Thanks for the review!
Mikogurl: Sorry if I took too long with the update. Anyway, I'm glad you still like my fic ^_^. Thanks for the review!
Moonlight shadow: I'm glad you like it! Thanks for the review.
Guesshoo: Hi! I'm glad you enjoy reading my work. Anyway, yeah, Miroku-sama and Sango-chan will be out of the palace in a couple of chapters at best. Kagome would have a LOT of explaining to do once they catch up! LOL! Thanks for the review!
Lilmissy^^: Hello! Anyway, the name's Adelle. Ikaw? I'm glad you liked my previous chap, and about the windy plain... that happened to me back when I was in high school, right in front of my crush of the millennium, and man, it was embarrassing! Good thing I was wearing nice undies. Tungkol naman sa school, grabe... sarap talaga umabsent ng matagal... kung pwede lang sana... Nakakatakot nga lang bumagsak, LOL! Thanks for the review!
Green Peridot: Wow, I'm glad you liked my last chap. Thanks for the review!
Justmeh: I've updated! Thanks for the review!
Trina: Oh well... May nagpadala na kasi ng death threat sakin via email e... I took my own sweet time with this chap. Thanks for the review!
Well... that's that. AGAIN, thanks for all the wonderful reviews! Your feedback (and even death threats, lol!) always encourage me to type faster. And, oh yeah. Watch out for the next chap. This coming chap is bound to be good. Man, even I'm getting excited! LOL!
Tell me what you think, onegai!? Arigatou for reading, and please review!
ScarletRaven1001
I also seem to have a damn bug in my computer. I can't open a certain file of mine, and that's bad, coz that particular file is my Humanities homework! I tried everything to open it, but it just remains sealed. DAMMIT! I had to re-type the entire folio, thanks to the merciless heavens. Gods, what did I do to deserve this!
Anyway, thanks to all those who read reviewed my previous chaps. I just love positive feedback! Thank you all so much!
Here's my next chap. An extra long one to make up for my long absence. Not just that... secrets are revealed in this chap. Yes, secrets about Kagome.
Anyway, enjoy reading!
Disclaimer: Does anyone even bother reading these things? I do not own Inuyasha, dammit!
-----/---@
SEVEN WEEKS
Pains, Wishes and Hidden Identities
-----/---@
-Flashback-
"How much longer, Sango-chan? I'm tired of sitting here!"
Sango looked down at her best friend and smiled at her aggravated look. Sango was brushing her friend's long hair gently, counting off the number of brush strokes. Her friend was seated before the rich vanity closet, with Sango on a higher stool behind her to be able to reach the top of her head.
"Not much longer, tomo-ko," she said, pausing in her task. "We're now down to a meager two hundred strokes more!"
"Nani?" her friend asked incredulously, looking over her shoulder at her. Sango was about to continue with the brush when her best friend held her hand back. "Enough, onegai. We'll stop now, and we'll do twelve hundred tomorrow to make up for it. And before you say anything, I KNOW that that's not logical, " she said as she turned to face the laughing Sango.
"Why, you're quite impatient today, Kagome-chan!" Sango giggled, but stopped when Kagome frantically waved her silent.
"Not so loud, Sango-chan! You know that you're the only one who could call me that! It's not allowed!" she said in a hurried whisper.
"Oh, oh, gomen nasai! I almost forgot!" Sango replied with a grin.
"Mou, Sango!" she scolded her friend lightly before her face suddenly turned serious. "Sango-chan," she began. "Do you really have to leave next week?"
Sango let out a soft sigh. "Hai. I do. You KNOW I do. But it's not as if you'll never see me again!"
"Hai, I know. Demo, I'm really gonna miss you, tomo-ko. You're my only friend, the only girl I can talk to in this mansion," she added, twisting a bunch of the cloth of her long white skirt in her hands.
"I'll miss you too," Sango replied, leaning down to take a lock of her friend's long, ankle-length hair in her hand. "I wish I had hair as wonderful as yours."
Kagome sighed. "Oh Sango. I wish I had a star mark that's like yours."
-End Flashback-
Sango stared glumly ahead as she recalled one of her more memorable encounters with her best friend. Kagome had been acting so glumly then, always saying that she wished she were a palace warrior or an adviser as her friend was. Sango, on the other hand, said that she wished for nothing else than to have Kagome's fate instead. What her friend found desirable in being an adviser when she had something better, she would never know, but Kagome did.
'Fate is funny,' she thought glumly. 'I want to be Kagome; she wants to be me.'
But Sango lately realized what she had that her friend didn't, and why she didn't want her own gift. 'Maybe, I am luckier,' she thought. Kagome had always kept a smile on her beautiful face, but Sango noticed that, when unguarded, Kagome's eyes took on a sad glint that no one else but she noticed.
A knock on her door startled Sango out of her reminiscing. "Come in," she said, not even bothering to look in the direction of her slowly opening door.
"Sango-sama," a low voice called.
She turned to see a very tall guard with his short hair in a high ponytail looking at her. She recognized him quickly as the diseased Souta's best friend.
"Hai?" she asked.
"Miroku-sama is calling for you. He is waiting in the garden. He wishes to speak with you about something important," the guard said slowly.
"Alright. Thank you, Takeda. Tell him I will be right down."
The guard, Takeda, slowly turned to leave and closed the door. 'What could Miroku possibly want now?' she asked herself as she put on her palace attire.
Sango left her room then, and walking at a very slow pace, approached the gardens. She took in her surroundings as she walked, noticing that everything, indeed, remained glum and passive since the abduction of "Azalea-chan".
She turned her gaze skywards as she stared at the ceiling. The once golden trimmed white crystal panels had turned rather dirty and bronzed. Even the garden, where she used to spend many a time sitting in to take in the beauty of nature, looked dry and abused. As she neared the patch of land where Miroku usually sat on, she found herself staring at the houshi's back.
Miroku was staring off into space, as if completely lost in thought. Whether he sensed or heard her coming, he made no indication of it.
"Sango-sama," he began, letting Sango know that her presence had been acknowledged. "Do you know the mystery of the ruling in this land?"
Sango was surprised. 'Now what's wrong with him?' she asked herself before sitting down beside the troubled monk.
"The time for me to know has not come yet, Houshi-sama. Why do you ask?"
"Because I'm confused and need some answers," he replied, looking at her for the first time. "But to have my answers I need the counsel of one other who knows of the ruling."
"Then that means I cannot help you, doesn't it?" Sango asked. She was really implying that she was as curious as hell about the said "mystery".
"That is why I decided to tell you of some things. I need your answer to my question," he sighed before smiling slowly.
"Sango-sama, you do know that every incoming princess ascends the throne at the age of ten, and descends at seventy? Each one rules for around sixty years," he asked. Sango just nodded.
"I have always found it quite odd, you know. I always thought that ten is such a young age, but knowing Hime-sama has gotten me to think twice. Aza- chan ruled us perfectly despite her youth." Sango answered.
"Hai. I agree. Our Azalea has been wonderful." Miroku stated. "You do know why I called her OUR Azalea, don't you?"
"Hai. I do."
"Wonderful. All chosen princesses leave their old lives behind, including their names, to take on the undying identity of the past princess. They take on the name Azalea and live in solemn solitude for the rest of their lives. The gods then choose the next princess when the princess turns sixty, so someone could ascend once she turns seventy. The new Azalea is marked before she even leaves her mother's womb. Same goes for the palace guards and magic advisers," Miroku said, looking to Sango to see if she understood. She was nodding.
"Ee. I knew some of that. What else is there?" Sango asked hesitantly.
"The princess and her advisers, you and I in this case, cease aging once they reach their prime. The guards continue to age and are "replaced" once they reach forty-five. The three main palace dwellers, however, ascend to be with the Gods once they hand their power over to the next princess and advisers." Miroku continued.
"Meaning that we have no choice but to die once we are replaced. Cheerful, ne? But it would be fine since seventy is already quite old," Sango smiled wryly at the thought.
"Right. Which leads me to my question. Common folk say that being marked with the star is a blessing but... all we actually gain is a lonely life and sudden death," Miroku said with a sardonic smirk. "Is it fair? We spend all of our lives going on like this, sacrificing ourselves for something we did not even choose, and all we get in return is... nothing."
Sango was concerned. "Houshi-sama, what made you think this way about our fate? You used not to care about it!"
Miroku stared at the ground in disdain. "I just thought of it when I realized that we never actually got anything done. That and," Miroku cut himself off.
"That and what?"
Sango gasped when Miroku turned intense eyes her way. "That," Miroku said, "And that I would never be given the chance to love, and to be with her whom I love. After all the pain and hardships we have to go through, we are only left to die! We aren't even given the chance to do the things that we want to do."
Sango was surprised at Miroku's glum outlook of the way they would end up. She never would have thought that the cheerful monk held such bitterness within him.
"Houshi-sama," she began cautiously. "Do you regret being taken in as an adviser?"
Miroku just shook his head. "No, Sango-sama. But I have been troubled for long. I don't want to die a useless man!"
"Houshi-sama, what you do is noble! You would never be considered useless, you hear me? I know that our lives are full of trials and pain but, it would all be worth it!" Sango desperately pleaded. "We are still lucky because... well, at least WE can marry someone we love, even though the choices are limited, and we have to continue our duty til we die. Aza- chan..." Sango trailed off as she realized why she was still lucky. "Aza- chan isn't even allowed that luxury. No one can touch her. She is to be lonely all her life!"
Miroku looked at his companion... his love. The reason he was pissed was because there was hardly any chance of him being happy with her.
"Perhaps I am blinded, Sango. But you are right. I should lighten up."
Straightening up to leave, Miroku cast a last glance at Sango. She was looking at him with an almost unreadable expression.
"And before I forget," he said, turning away from her to walk back to the palace. "The barrier could be lifted in ten days or less."
He left her sitting in the garden, mulling over her words and wondering how and whether he should confess his love for her anytime soon.
-----/---@
Two figures stood before a lone phantom in the dark depths of the room. One of the figures was almost luminous, while the other nearly blended with the darkness of the chamber.
"Do you understand what I am trying to make you do?" the phantom asked of the two beings.
"Hai... demo, are you positive that she holds what we seek?" the brighter of the beings asked back. The phantom just grinned.
"Aa, I am. With that power, you two can join your forces to become one powerful youkai. Are you sure you wish to go through with it?"
"Anything for the power, Naraku-sama," the darker being answered. "We will kill this Inuyasha, and take the girl."
"Good. Now go."
-----/---@
"Inuyasha, what do you think of this one?" Kagome asked, holding up a sprig of parsley that she had just stolen from a nearby field.
"That's nice," Inuyasha replied without even looking at her.
Kagome threw the herb down in exasperation. She understood his depression and anger over the danger his world was in, but this was just absurd!
"Inuyasha!" she shouted at him, finally making him turn to her.
"What the fuck are you shouting for, wench?!" Inuyasha yelled, rubbing his abused ears.
"What do you mean what am I shouting for?!" Kagome screeched. "You've been acting all detached for the past two days! Get over it, Inuyasha! You're attitude has been slowing us down! If you don't hurry up before your seven weeks is up then your world really will vanish! We hardly covered any distance since the day you heard the news from Miroku-sama! You're not helping!"
Inuyasha stared at her in guilt. He had to admit, he was being a dumbass again, but he couldn't help but worry about his mother, his friends and even his asshole brother. Shit, he was almost worried about his teachers!
"I can't help it, bitch! It's hard not to worry about my world when I know that the slightest mistake could prove fatal!" he snapped.
"That's exactly my point, baka! Your slacking is THE fatal mistake. You take long in here and your world disappears! Don't you get it?" Kagome yelled in irritation, before a small, sad frown graced her lips. "Even if it means that you have to leave sooner... we have to hurry if we are ever to finish this quest before your seven weeks is over."
Inuyasha stopped walking to regard her carefully. Kagome was still murmuring softly, but he could hear her very clearly.
"I have no idea how Miroku managed to mess the portal up while he was with Sango. They are well trained! I don't get it! They are incredible at their work!" she was whispering to herself.
"I can hear you, you know," the hanyou remarked dryly, making Kagome stiffen.
"Oh... haha... don't mind me, I was just talking to myself."
Inuyasha suddenly remembered something that he had been dying to ask since the new moon night. About Miroku and Sango...
"Kagome, how did you..."
He cut himself off when he felt a strange presence nearby. It was queer indeed... the feeling of being watched was nearly tangible, but Inuyasha could not smell anything. He just felt the odd presence surrounding him and Kagome. Kagome herself had suddenly stiffened.
"Inuyasha... something's very wrong..." Kagome said, glancing over at Inuyasha to see if he felt it. He just nodded.
Inuyasha and Kagome now stood stock still, trying to reach across the field with their senses. Inuyasha took a tentative step forward, but froze when he heard the ground crack beneath him.
He lightly tapped the ground with his foot, noticing for the first time the hollow sound that resonated from the ground. It was as if he had just stepped on the wooden floors of the third floor of his own house.
"Inuyasha, we're standing on thin ground, aren't we?" Kagome asked, panic rising in her voice. She tried not to move a muscle, afraid of what she may find beneath the ground. The thought of being swallowed up by land just did not settle with her.
"Aa... I think so..." Inuyasha growled softly.
"What are we gonna do? Should we run for it?" Kagome asked anxiously. The hanyou just shook his head.
"No... The ground is too thin. We make one wrong move and we're sure to fall through. Maybe we should do it slowly-" Inuyasha suggested, when they heard a sound that resembled cracking twigs from behind them. Both turned around cautiously, only to find the thinnest being neither of them had ever seen standing but a few meters away.
"A ground youkai," Kagome said softly, not taking her eyes off the demon before them. The demon had long, dry wiry hair and parched earth-brown skin. Large eyes that were completely dark stared at them through its bangs above a lipless thin mouth. It was dressed in something akin to mud-dipped rags and its long, thin arms ended in a whip-like form and her feet seemed to be rooted to the ground.
Both flinched slightly when the youkai pointed a whip-ended arm at Kagome. "Teme..." it said in a cracking, dry voice. "Naraku-sama says that you have the power... give it to me," it ordered. Inuyasha stared at Kagome questioningly, only to find that Kagome was not even looking at him. She was staring at the youkai with horrified eyes and mouth agape.
"I... I don't know what you are talking about," Kagome shouted though she was visibly pale by then. The youkai noticed this and began laughing in his same dry tone.
It flicked one of its arms, letting out a sound much like a lashing whip. Another youkai appeared beside him at the signal.
Kagome had never seen a youkai like this one, and was shocked when Inuyasha let out a very soft growl. She glanced at him questioningly, and saw him seething.
"Teme... I don't know what fucking kind of youkai you are but... Naraku sent you, didn't he?!" he snarled, making the new youkai grin. This one had a misty body and was clothed in a flowing white kimono. Its pale blue eyes were flecked with gold and it held a large crystal ball in one hand.
"Good guess, hanyou," the luminous youkai said in an airy voice. It turned to Kagome. "Now, give me the power."
"I told you, I have no idea what you are talking about you stupid asshole!" Kagome screeched in panic.
'What is he talking about?' she asked herself as both youkai advanced on them. 'I do not have any sort of power except for my holy powers! I sealed off the rest!'
"You lie, miko," the earth youkai answered, the roots that were his feet extending to reach them both. Inuyasha started to take a step backward when he felt the ground start to give out under him. Kagome seems to have been in the same situation.
"Don't even try to run, knight. If you don't want to fall through," the translucent youkai said. "But we tell you one thing: give us what we want and we won't bother you again."
"I told you, jackass! I don't know what you are talking about!" Kagome protested. Something wasn't right... she could feel a strange power coming from beneath her feet. It meant only one thing... something terrible awaited them beneath the hollow grround.
"Then we'll do this the hard way!" the ground youkai shouted in fury. It jumped at the pair, swinging its tentacle-whip-like arms at them.
Inuyasha, out of pure instinctive reaction, grabbed Kagome's waist and leaped into the air to dodge the whips. Kagome, however, started to panic when Inuyasha took hold of her.
"Inuyasha, we're gonna crash!" she screamed as they neared the ground. Inuyasha had no time to answer as his feet met the ground and the floor exploded downward upon impact.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome screamed as they fell through, plummeting headfirst into the ravine-like whole that the two youkai had dug into the ground. He grabbed her tightly as they fell, but Inuyasha felt a strong impact on his head as his grip on Kagome loosened slightly.
The last thing Inuyasha heard was Kagome's voice as the darkness suddenly bore down on him. Kagome shouted as the unconscious hanyou let go of her, and she continued falling as the hanyou was suspended on air. She kept on falling until she felt her eyes go heavy and she too sunk into unconsciousness.
-----/---@
"INUYASHA!"
The scream rang in his head as Inuyasha began to stir.
"Kagome!!!" Inuyasha called out frantically as he bolted up from where he lay. As he looked around him though, his eyes widened in confusion. He scrubbed his eyes, thinking he was seeing things, and looked up again. That's when he realized.
He was at home... warm on his bed... in his own world...
'Chikuso... was that a dream?!' he asked himself, shaking his head as if to clear it, when he heard a call from downstairs.
"Inuyasha! Breakfast is ready!" his mother's small voice called clearly from the dining hall. The hanyou crawled out of lethargically, his white sleeping shirt and shorts sticking to his skin, still doubting what had happened.
Had it all been a dream? So many things had happened in so little time! Could it all have been a dream? Miroku, Sango, Azalea and Naraku... were they all a dream?
'Was Kagome a dream as well?' he asked himself glumly as he found his pants sitting on the nearest chair. 'The last thing I remember... we were in danger... was it really a dream? Was SHE a dream? Is that why Kagome is so perfect? Because she's a dream?' his mind screamed as he opened the door.
'Kagome... is she alright?' he thought again as the delicious scent of his favorite breakfast greeted his nose. "Okaa?" he called cautiously.
"Ah, Inuyasha!" she exclaimed as Inuyasha rounded the divider to get into the dining room. She smiled brightly at him before pointing to the table. "Take a seat, Inuyasha! I made Ramen!" she said with a grin.
"Ramen?" his mouth began to water just thinking about it. The thought of his favorite dish drove all thoughts away from his mind.
He was digging in when a familiarly cold voice reached his ears. 'Strange,' he thought, sniffing around to make sure. It was.
"Sesshoumaru?" he asked aloud, whipping around to stare at his elder half brother who stood stoically in the doorway.
"Honestly, Inuyasha," he began, fixing a pointed glare at his brother. "You still slurp that ramen like a full-fledged slob. Disgusting," he remarked before sitting in his old place at the table and eating his ramen noiselessly.
Inuyasha stared at his brother. His brother's long hair was dark, probably cloaked already, and tied back in a low ponytail at the nape of his neck. He had a briefcase and was wearing a professional-looking black suit. 'Shit, is that Armani?'
"Inuyasha, might I know why you are staring at your own brother that way?" Sesshoumaru teased in slight irritation.
Inuyasha snapped out of it. "Hey, what are you doing here, anyway? When did you get here from Yokohama?" he asked his brother in surprise. He didn't know Fluffy was coming for a visit. He had moved out of their home four years ago.
"What the hell are you talking about, ototo?" Sesshoumaru asked with raised eyebrows. "I've never been to Yokohama."
Inuyasha stared at him in surprise as his mother took her own seat beside the head of the table. Odd. She had taken the head seat since his father died. Now that he thought about it, why were there FOUR plates on the table?
He nearly choked when he got his answer.
"Inuyasha?" his mom began. "Would you please call your father down from the bedroom? He's taking way too long up there."
Now that wasn't right.
-----/---@
"Inuyasha..." Kagome whispered as she felt her eyes open slightly. She was finally awake. She sat up straight, rubbing the back of her head where she had hit it when she fell.
'Where the hell am I?' she thought before deciding to open her eyes. What she saw shocked her limbs cold.
"Masaka..." she whispered in panic as she looked around her. "IYA!" she screamed, pounding at the walls that surrounded her. Each desperate bang against the wall sent jolts of static through her body but she paid no heed to the shocking pain. She looked down at her hands to see the jewels and rings around her wrists and fingers the way they had been before she met Inuyasha. Her pale fists were clenched tightly as she began to pound again.
"IYA! Inuyasha! Anata wa doko?! Inuyasha!!!" she screamed as her panic rose even more. She felt tears slowly well up in her eyes as her desperation increased, making it hard to breathe.
Her tears fell from her eyes unrestrained when she finally looked down at her own body. She was no longer wearing her black fighting robes. Quite the contrary... she was dressed in long, blinding white garments. She reached up momentarily to find a simple yet elegant crystalline ornament on top of her head.
Her fists started to bruise and bleed with the pressure of punching against the hard wall. But she had to try. She was sweating heavily now, her ankle- length raven tresses sticking to her face, her chest heaving with the exertion.
"Onegai! Someone help!" she shouted once more in tearful desperation. Her throat was burning from all the crying and screaming, but she didn't care. 'This is not happening!' her mind pleaded as she continued to ignore the blood that now dripped from her clenched fists.
Something round and cool was pressed against her throat and she stilled in horror. 'Impossible!' she thought as she looked down at the offending object. Her blood ran cold when she realized what it was that she now held in her hand.
The Shikon no Tama.
"Gods, NO!!! Don't let this be happening! Inuyasha!" she screamed again, but this time, a cold voice cut through her furious yells.
"Kukuku... why don't you just stop struggling? It would be a lot easier."
Kagome turned to the direction of the voice and saw the hazy outline of the one being she hated the most.
"Naraku," she hissed. "What are you doing? Where is Inuyasha?!" she demanded. Much to her agitation, Naraku just looked at her and... snickered.
"Inuyasha? The knight in the legends? Have you forgotten that you cannot use your powers in here? You can not call him. You must have had some dream! Kukuku... MY poor sweet Azalea..."
Kagome cringed at the sound of the name. "Don't call me that!" she yelled.
"What's the matter princess? Afraid of your own destiny? Why don't you just accept my offer, hime?" he asked again.
Kagome just about blew up. "I told you... I would rather die than accept you Naraku! And it's Azalea-SAMA. You have no right to call me so familiarly!"
She froze. 'I'm back in the dome, as Azalea... but how?'
-----/---@
A/N: Well, that's it for my chap! How was it? I finally revealed who Kagome really is, aren't you all happy?! ^_^ LOL! I mean, you do get what I was trying to relay to you guys about Kagome's true identity, right? Right.
Anyway, here is my response to all my wonderful reviewers.
Litwolf689: I'm only seventeen, so I'm still in school. I'm a college sophomore. Anyway, the confession would come in about 2 or 4 chaps, I think. Just hang on in there, onegai?! Thanks for the review!
Mikogurl: Sorry if I took too long with the update. Anyway, I'm glad you still like my fic ^_^. Thanks for the review!
Moonlight shadow: I'm glad you like it! Thanks for the review.
Guesshoo: Hi! I'm glad you enjoy reading my work. Anyway, yeah, Miroku-sama and Sango-chan will be out of the palace in a couple of chapters at best. Kagome would have a LOT of explaining to do once they catch up! LOL! Thanks for the review!
Lilmissy^^: Hello! Anyway, the name's Adelle. Ikaw? I'm glad you liked my previous chap, and about the windy plain... that happened to me back when I was in high school, right in front of my crush of the millennium, and man, it was embarrassing! Good thing I was wearing nice undies. Tungkol naman sa school, grabe... sarap talaga umabsent ng matagal... kung pwede lang sana... Nakakatakot nga lang bumagsak, LOL! Thanks for the review!
Green Peridot: Wow, I'm glad you liked my last chap. Thanks for the review!
Justmeh: I've updated! Thanks for the review!
Trina: Oh well... May nagpadala na kasi ng death threat sakin via email e... I took my own sweet time with this chap. Thanks for the review!
Well... that's that. AGAIN, thanks for all the wonderful reviews! Your feedback (and even death threats, lol!) always encourage me to type faster. And, oh yeah. Watch out for the next chap. This coming chap is bound to be good. Man, even I'm getting excited! LOL!
Tell me what you think, onegai!? Arigatou for reading, and please review!
ScarletRaven1001
