Chapter 1
Disclaimer: Inuyasha and co. belong to Rumiko Takahashi and Viz… and maybe some other Japanese companies as well. Just get it through your head that they don't belong to me.
88 – Thirteen years ago - 88
"Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, lived a king, his wife, and the king's son from a previous marriage. They lived in a beautiful castle surrounded by tall, polished stone walls and miles and miles of lush and green fields and forests.
"One day, a son was born to the king and queen, a hanyou baby since the king was a full demon and his mother was –"
"Mama, what's a demon? What's a hanyou?" A small voice piped up from a bundle of flannel pyjamas.
"A demon is a make-believe creature, Kagome, and a hanyou is a half-demon, a cross between a demon and a human."
"Are they real, mama? Can I go see one?"
"No, darling, they're make-belief. They aren't real. Now let me go on with the story."
The five year old mumbled an apology and snuggled further into her mother's shoulder, eager to hear more of the new bedtime story her father had picked up in a market on a business trip.
"Where was I? Ah yes… And his mother was a human. At first, there was a cry of outrage from the kingdom, having a half-blood prince, but they were soon reassured by the king (who they really liked) with the knowledge that the first-born son who would inherit the throne was full youkai. They even threw a huge party that lasted three whole days and three whole nights. The months went on and peace reigned again over the kingdom until a dark figure entered the castle, blasting down the guards and storming into the throne room where the king was.
"The dark figure revealed itself to be Naraku, a tall and dark lord who ruled over a powerful kingdom not too far away. He was outraged at not having been invited to the hanyou baby's birth-day party and vowed for revenge. And this is what it was: Lord Naraku placed an evil spell on the baby hanyou, cursing him to be rejected by both humans and youkai."
Mama stopped when she heard her daughter's muffled sniffles.
"What's wrong, sweetie?"
"That man is so mean…"
"Don't worry, Kagome. Everything will work out in the end. You'll see." Mama gently stroked the little girl's silky black hair and continued.
"In addition, if he ever tried to become a full youkai or full human by any means, the entire kingdom would die and the territory would become his. As Naraku disappeared, he set the roof of the throne room on fire, and the king died that night saving the queen and his sons. The first son, the full youkai, took over the throne and, as Naraku had foretold, the baby hanyou and his mother, the former queen, were shunned and placed in a small cottage on the far edge of the kingdom.
"Twenty years passed, and the hanyou baby grew into a strong and willful young man who protected his mother from any human or demon that was a threat to them. Not long after his mother died, the hanyou son was very sad and lonely, all by himself in the cottage. One day, when he was walking by a well near his favorite tree, he saved a girl from a pack of evil demons. They eventually became good friends because they were both very lonely. The hanyou protected the girl and the girl helped him around the house and kept him company. A few months went by before the girl told the hanyou a secret. She was actually a powerful priestess who was the guardian of a precious magical stone – the Shikon Jewel – which was why she had so many bad demons chasing her. It could grant you any wish you want."
"Like… If I wanted to have oden every night?"
Mama chuckled, "Yes. Even a wish like that."
"She wanted to turn the hanyou into a full human so that the humans would accept him and they could live together in a village and be happy. The hanyou boy decided to think about it overnight. In the morning, the girl came to him where he was sleeping – in the tree there, see Kagome? Isn't it funny that he's sleeping in a tree? Look at his little furry ears!"
The sound of a baby wailing interrupted the mother and daughter.
"Honey," cried a man's voice from the living room, "I think he's hungry again. I've tried everything and he won't stop; I certainly don't have what's he's looking for…"
"I'm on my way. Could you finish Kagome's bedtime story?" Mama slowly got up from Kagome's bed and kissed her daughter gently on the forehead. "Goodnight, sweetheart. Papa will be right out to finish the story for you, ok?"
Almost as soon as she had exited the room, Papa appeared and took Mama's place at Kagome's side.
"Okay… Where were you and Mama when she left?"
"At the part where the girl wakes up the boy in the tree."
"Ah yes, here we are… In the morning, the girl came to him where he was sleeping. He didn't know about the curse, so he decided to say yes to the girl. As soon as he came down from the tree and put his fingers on the jewel, he saw another identical girl, very, very wounded, who was walking toward them. He saw the girl in front of him turn into a tall dark man and then disappear suddenly, the jewel dropping to the floor, unused. Then he saw the wounded girl, the actual girl he had saved, shoot him with a bow and arrow pinning him to a tree.
"They had both been tricked by Naraku. Inuyasha was tricked into deciding to turn into a human and thus bring forth the full effects of Naraku's curse. The girl had been tricked by Naraku and then mortally hurt by him while he was disguised as the hanyou. By using her last strength to pin the hanyou, who she now thought as evil even if he really wasn't, to the tree, the girl inadvertently softened Naraku's curse a bit. Instead of dying, everyone simply fell into a deep, deep, slumber. No one in the kingdom would awaken until someone broke the girl's spell and removed the arrow that pinned the hanyou to the tree. The girl then fell, exhausted, and died.
"Almost immediately, everyone in the kingdom began to fall asleep: the king, the servants, the farmers…even the prisoners who were forced to scrub the castle floors and toilets. Thick vines grew over the castle walls until the entire kingdom looked like a thick forest, one that no one would dare enter."
Papa turned the page and then stared at the book with incredulity. The pages were blank.
"Well that's strange… Kagome…" He looked down at his daughter only to find her fast asleep. "Well, good night sweetie." Kissing the little girl on the forehead, he tucked her into her covers and left the room, pausing at the door to turn off the light. "I'm going to have to bring this book back. It's not even complete!"
He walked into the living room to find his wife feeding his newborn son. Taking a seat beside Mama, he set down the mysteriously incomplete book on the coffee table and kissed his wife's temple and let his son grab his index finger with his little hand.
"Your work phoned while you were reading to Kagome. They want you in Osaka tomorrow. Something about the business report…"
Papa sighed. "Well, I guess I'd better leave soon, then, if I want to catch the overnight train."
"Come back home safely. I'll tell Kagome in the morning."
"Of course I'll come back home safely. I'll see you in a few days." He kissed his wife again and was gone. Never to be seen or heard of again.
88- Present Day-88
Kagome sat up with a start at the sound of her alarm. After hitting it, a reflex seen in most teenagers woken up before 6am, her first thought was: "Shit. I have to go to school." So she put on her clean uniform, carefully laid out on her desk chair as usual. Her second thought was: "Wait a second… It's Sunday. There is no school." She was about to remove her uniform and substitute it for something much cosier when her third and final though came swiftly. "Souta, that little son-of-a-!"
She cruised through the hallway to her little brother's room only to find it empty.
"Why that little…"
Storming down the stairs, Kagome's fury was halted when her mother called to her from the kitchen.
"Kagome, is that you? What are you doing up so early on a Sunday? You're not usually up until 3 or 4 pm!"
The daughter looked at her mother with as dull and calm as face as she could muster. "Yes. I know that. Where did Souta go?"
"I think he went out to the shrine to pray with your grandfather… Hungry?"
"Not really." A loud grumble echoing from the depths of Kagome's abdomen gave her away. "A little."
Mama smiled brightly and handed her a hot scone, fresh from the oven. "Remember, no fighting in the shrine!"
At that, Kagome, mouth full of wonderfully warm and melting chocolate-chip scone, sprinted off toward the shrine, only catching a few syllables of what her mother shouted out at her from the kitchen window.
"And try not to leave any crumbs at the altar! .… What a strange girl, wearing her uniform on a Sunday!"
Seconds later, scone completely devoured (no crumbs in sight), a black-haired young woman burst open the doors of her family's shrine, sending her little brother into a shuddering heap next to his grandfather by the altar.
"Ah, Kagome! How rude of you to interrupt our morning prayers, but I am glad that you have joined us…"
The priest's granddaughter cut him off as she began to chase her little brother around the shrine.
"You little brat! I needed that sleep! I just finished two weeks' worth of studying and mid-term exams! I'm gonna kill you!"
"Wahh, Kagome! It was only a joke! Don't kill me! You can't beat me up in the shrine, remember?"
"Children these days have no sense of honor. Why, when I was young, we used to sit still and be quiet for hours and meditate so that our minds would flourish and…"
The shrinekeeper's words fell on deaf ears as Souta sprinted out of the incense-filled shrine out into the courtyard then hid in the old, rickety well-house. He slid the locking doorbeam into place, looking into the darkness that was pierced by slim beams of sunlight slipping through cracks in the boards in the wall, hoping it would buy him time in order for Kagome to either calm down or fall asleep. Knowing how his sister was when sleep-deprived, he knew neither would happen and he prepared himself to be on the receiving end of a lot of pain. Maybe he had gone too far this time…
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Yep. There she was, ramming the door with her shoulder. The wood was old and rotting, so he doubted it would hold much longer. Slowly, Souta moved to the far corner of the well-house, on the other side of the boarded-up well, where he wouldn't be hit by the door breaking open.
CRACK! The door blew, sending splinters of wood flying everywhere. Kagome, with the momentum of her shoulder-thrust, was sent running into the well, which collapsed on contact. She fell inside, screaming.
Souta ran over to the well's wall, looking down into the darkness, yelling his sister's name. Nothing. He threw down a few coins from his pockets but did not hear them fall.
He had definitely gone too far this time. What the hell was he going to do?
88-Through the well-88
Thunk When Kagome awoke, her first thought was that she was looking at a tunnel with a bright light at the end. "I must be dead." Thunk Her second thought was: "I can't be dead; why would a 10-yen coin just fall on my head?" Her third thought, as she got up, was a rather complex one, or rather, several mashed together: "It seems I'm in the well, I wonder if I could climb that vine thing out, SOUTA, IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, YOU'RE GOING TO DIE! Man, I have a bad headache…"
It ended up indeed that she could climb the vine out of the well, but wherever she was, it was definitely not the well she had fallen into. She brushed off her school uniform and took a good look around.
She was in some kind of clearing, surrounded by forest. The only sound she could hear was leaves rustling in the wind.
That's when something caught her eye. A young man with long, silver hair wearing bright-red clothing was pinned to a tree, seemingly asleep.
Kagome caught her breath after losing it for a second. 'It couldn't be...' Her mind wandered thirteen years back to the last moments she had with her father, the picture in the book she looked at as he read. 'I must be dreaming,' she thought, 'this can't be real.' What she saw before her was exactly as illustrated in the mysterious, unfinished book.
A/N: Let me know what you think!