The Prophecy
By: Demonsaya
1
Kagome awoke with a startled cry, reaching out for the hanyou that wasn't there. She stared around her bedroom in shock and forced herself to take deep steadying breaths. Her heart thundered in her chest and her entire body was covered in sweat. "Just a dream..." She whispered, closing her eyes. "Just a nightmare..."
It was still dark outside, but she had a distinct feeling that she wouldn't be getting any more sleep that night. The dream had felt entirely too real. Too tangible. It was too vivid. Slowly, she sat up, and pulled out a small book. Inside it, she kept her dreams. She began to write it down, the terror in her building with each word. She closed her eyes, trying to remember exactly what happened, but it was already slipping away.
"He said something...what on earth did he say..." Kagome pondered, thumping her forhead with the pencil. It was something important, why couldn't she remember! With a frustrated shake of her head, she finished writing it down and stood, stretching. She had been writing down her dreams for about two years now, since she started going to Sengoku Jidai.
She sighed, walking to her closet and pulling out a towel and a robe. Too often, her dreams came true, or were at least very accurate when they involved the disgruntled hanyou. She walked into the bathroom, pulling off her pajama. She started a shower, sighing deeply. She could still see the smile he gave her before letting go of her hand. His true smile. He'd seemed happy.
"Probably because he was going to be able to be with Kikyou..." She muttered darkly, stepping under the spray. It didn't make any sense to her. Inuyasha was still alive. If Kikyou loved him, wouldn't she want for him to live? Wouldn't she want for him to be happy, even if it meant she were unhappy?
After all, didn't she and Kikyou share a soul?
Kagome looked down at her hand. It was true, she and Kikyou shared a soul, but their life experiences were completely different, which made them very different people. Kikyou was also only a clay shell, made from bones and earth, driven by anger alone.
Kagome, on the other hand, was alive, the soul was now hers. She took a shuddering breath, wondering if perhaps the reason Inuyasha DIDN'T love her was that reason. They were too different.
She shrugged it off, and pulled out her shampoo bottle, squeezing a dolop onto her hand, and then scrubbing her hair fiercely. She needed to get her mind off of that stuff. After all, it wasn't her fault that Inuyasha was in love with Kikyou. It wasn't anyone's fault. The heart was stupid.
Insanely stupid.
It had to be, otherwise, Kagome would NOT be in love with the half-demon, and she'd be dating someone sensible.
Like Hojo.
Kagome cringed at the thought. He hated how he treated her like she was fragile. At least Inuyasha knew she wouldn't break if he handled her a tiny bit roughly. At least Inuyasha would ARGUE with her for gods sake. She shook her head hard. Wasn't she NOT supposed to be thinking about this?
She finished her shower and toweled off. She glanced towards the small clock in the bathroom (kept their for purposes of children not being late to school) and frowned a bit. She'd been in there for almost an hour. Two more and Inuyasha would be coming for her. She sighed, pulling the robe around herself and grabbing her hair dryer.
Just because she was going back in time to be a shard detector didn't mean she couldn't look good doing it.
She smirked a bit, then rolled her eyes. Not like it mattered. The one person who's attention she wanted, she was never going to get. She drug her brush through her hair and sighed, wondering for the millionth time why she was in love with him. It's not like he was particularly nice, and he certainly didn't treat her well.
Yet...
He always had protected her. He had always looked after her. He was gentle in his own way, and underneath that hard exterior, she knew there was just a big softy. She almost laughed out loud at the idea.
She smiled sadly, reaching up and touching the shards of the jewel around her neck. Even if she was nothing to him, he was her world. He represented every reason she had to continue on living.
It would rip her apart when he went to hell with Kikyou.
A tired sigh escaped her.
"Inuyasha..." She whispered, closing her eyes as a single tear escaped.
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Inuyasha sat abruptly, blinking his eyes hard. "What the hell was THAT!" He muttered, rubbing his now very sore head. He hated waking up with nightmares. His head always hurt like crazy afterwards.
Probably the result of a build up of stupid emotions. He stretched like a cat, digging his claws into the tree. Soon he had to go pick up that stupid wench. He leaned his head back against the tree and relaxed. Still, he had enough time to think for a bit before the inevitable argument that would come from him trying to bring her back here.
He let his mind wander back to his dream and pondered the emotions that had come up from it.
"Why the hell was I so happy?" He wondered. "I fucking was going to die." He grumbled, unable to comprehend his feelings in the dream. "Keh. It was just a stupid dream anyways!" He muttered, glancing down at the wounds in the tree. Sap oozed from the places his claws had torn and he twitched.
With a sigh, he rolled, dropping to the ground and lazily walking towards the well house. Kagome probably wasn't even out of bed yet, so it wouldn't hurt if he went to gather in her scent for a little while. It would probably ease the knot in his stomach, and it would calm him enough that he could act normally when he saw her again.
He looked into the well, and sighed, grabbing the lip with one hand and swinging himself into the portal. He felt a jerk, and then his feet touched the ground. He looked up and saw the roof of the well house. Her scent lingered here lightly, it having been almost two full days since she'd been inside it. He breathed deeply, but it wasn't strong enough. With an annoyed sigh, he crept from the well house and moved towards the main house.
He glanced towards Kagome's window and saw it was cracked just slightly to let the cool night air in. He jumped from the ground, and landed nimbly on the sill, sliding it open carefully. Her room was empty, but her scent lingered heavy. He breathed deeply, his body slowly relaxing. Slowly, he slipped in, lowering the window behind him. He moved to a dark corner, breathing in her scent steadily.
The door opened, admitting the girl. She was wrapped in a thick terry cloth robe, and her skin glowed, as though freshly cleaned. She paused for a moment, and then her eyes fell upon him. He saw the eyes brightened slightly, and a strange expression washed across her face.
It was almost like...relief.
"Inuyasha..." She said softly, walking towards him, and dropping to the ground at his side. "I thought you were going to pick me up in a few hours..."
He looked away. "Keh, like I care..." He grumbled, squashing whatever that was that just perked inside of him. He would never admit it to anyone, but he liked it when she said his name. It made a part of him warm involuntarily. He forced a scowl onto his face. "Go ahead and sit me or whatever."
She smiled, arching an eyebrow. "I wasn't going to sit you, Inuyasha. I was actually kind of glad to see you. I had a really bad dream..." She said, lowering her eyes to the ground. "My dreams have been becoming more and more accurate lately, and...well, honestly, it's got me worried."
He glanced towards her. It was true. She had started having increasingly vivid, frightening dreams. Dreams that had woken the entire camp up in the middle of the night due to her screams. Later, he would find out that recent events had been eerily parallel to her dreams. "Do you want to tell me?" He asked evenly.
Kagome slowly leaned against him. "No...not right now...it's still too fresh..." She slowly relaxed against him, sighing just a bit. "Thank you...for offering to listen, though."
He glanced towards her out of the corner of his eyes and the corner of his mouth twitched. He opened his mouth to say something, but was silenced by a sudden tremor of the earth.
The girl beside him didn't seem particularly phased by this. "We've been having alot of mini-quakes in this area..." She commented idly. "They've been getting worse the past few days. A few 'Evangelists' are preaching that it's the end of the world." She laughed dryly. "Then again, they always do that."
Inuyasha glanced towards her, a strange expression on his face. "Kagome..." He said softly.
She looked at him, smiling. "Nani?"
"What's an 'Eevangulist'?"
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Kikyou felt the ground shudder and lifted her face to the sky. The prophecy was coming. Her eyes narrowed faintly. She reached down, lightly resting her hand against the earth. It would be soon. Silently, she hoped that the jewel would be complete by then, so she and Inuyasha could take the easy way into hell, and his blood being partially human, it would seal the hell-mouth for another five hundred years.
Her eyes narrowed, and she remembered her vision that morning. "Inuyasha...he will die." She said evenly. Her lips turned up into a faint smile. "And we can finally rest..."
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Kouga felt the tremble and looked up. His face darkened. Something was coming. Something dark and dangerous. Evil.
The other wolves in his pack were shuddering from the sudden presence of pure evil.
Kouga closed his eyes. "The hell-mouth is going to open." He said evenly.
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Rin cried out in schock as a crack appeared in the earth between herself and Sesshoumaru.
"Sesshoumaru-sama!" She cried, unable to jump across the gap. It was too far! She watched the demon pause and then glance down into the hole. Her eyes followed his.
"Don't look." He ordered. Hell wraiths. His eyes narrowed and he jumped across the gap, lifting her carefully. "You must not look." He covered her eyes carefully and jumped back to the side where Jaken and Ah Un waited.
"My lord...is that...!"
Sesshoumaru's face darkened. Then, he turned on his foot, walking away from the slowly widening gap.
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"Come on, dammit!" Inuyasha growled, glaring at the girl. "Shit, why are you so slow!"
Kagome simply rolled her eyes. As usual, Inuyasha's mood had done a complete one-eighty. A sigh escaped her and she shrugged. "Because I'm human." She pointed out. She saw him glare at her. "Well it's true." She pointed out. "I'm not nearly as fast as you. Plain and simple."
"Just hurry the hell up." He complained, stomping towards the well.
Kagome followed as quickly as she could, while being hindered by her over-sized bag. She met him there and noticed an anxious look on his face. He was staring into the well and sniffing deeply. "Inuyasha? What is it?"
His eyes widened. "The village is in danger." He looked at her closely. "Leave your bag, it'll just get in the way. You ain't getting any 'studying' done anytime soon if I'm right..." He saw the nervous expression on her face and growled, grabbing the straps of the pack and practically ripped it off her back. "Dammit!" Without a word, he put his arm around her, and jumped into the well.
Kagome looked up at Inuyasha as they touched bottom. "What in the world is wrong?" She asked as he jumped out of the well, her with him.
"The hell-mouth." He ground out. "Fuck." He shifted her around so she was on his back and broke into a dead sprint towards the village. "Goddammit!"
"Inuyasha? What's the hell-mouth?" Kagome asked softly. He was tense. She could feel it all through his shoulders and see it in his eyes. No...not tense...SCARED. Her eyes widened. Why would he be scared about this? Why was he so convinced the village was in danger?
A strange feeling washed over her and she clung to the hanyou. "Inuyasha...I feel strange..." She said softly, her limbs weakening. She saw his eyes narrow. "What is happening, Inuyasha...what's happening to me!"
"The hell wraiths..." He said evenly, glancing back at her. "I heard a story...when I was a kid. Every five hundred years or so, the mouth of hell will open, spewing forth it's most evil demons, and the land will be bathed with blood." His eyes narrowed darkly. "The hell wraiths cause feelings of weakness, hopelessness."
She nodded slowly, accepting it. She didn't fully understand, but there were many things in life she didn't understand. They entered the village and saw Miroku and Kaede had set up a shield. The pair passed through easily, and Kagome jumped down, running towards the old priestess and young monk. "Kaede-obaa-chan! Miroku-sama!"
The glanced towards her only briefly. "Sorry if we don't welcome you properly, Kagome-sama." Miroku said, his brow covered with sweat.
Kagome dropped to her knees. "Is there any way I can help?"
Kaede shook her head. "No...this...is my destiny...If Kikyou were still alive...it would be hers instead, but...someone must close the hell-mouth..." She was weakening. "I must throw myself into it to do so."
Kagome felt a rather violent quake and stumbled. Inuyasha caught her carefully. She looked up at him and saw his eyes were narrow. "Inuyasha, what is she talking about!"
His face twitched a bit. "A person with human blood has to willingly throw themself into the hell-mouth to seal it." His eyes narrowed. "Preferably a person with powers. A priestess, a monk..." His eyes narrowed in disgust. "Or a hanyou."
Her eyes widened. 'No way...it can't be...this can't be happening. My dream...' She lifted her hands to the jewels around her neck. "Inuyasha..." She said softly. "My dream is coming true." She said softly. "The nightmare I had last night...it's happening..." De ja vu started to overwhelm her and she heard Sango calling out to her. She turned and saw the taijiya pointing at an area just in front of her feet.
She looked down and saw a crack winding it's way towards her. Quickly she danced out of the way. She looked at Kaede. "Kaede-obaa-chan!"
Kaede felt her strength flee her and she fell backwards, her mind going blank. Then, there was nothing.
Kagome cried out in shock and Miroku rapidly caught the old woman. He quickly took her pulse, then looked at Kagome, his face solemn. Slowly, he shook his head. Gently, he lay the old priestess on the ground. "She's dead." He said softly.
Kagome covered her mouth, staring at the old woman's face. Slowly, her gaze moved towards Miroku, who was frowning faintly, then Sango, who's expression mirrored her own. Then Inuyasha, who was looking away, his expression hidden from her view.
"Keh...I guess there's no choice." He complained. "We've got to find the hell-mouth." He said, cracking his knuckles. "If for nothing else, to try to stop some of the demons that are probably going to be coming out of it around noon tomorrow if my nose isn't wrong." He saw them looking at him and his eyes narrowed. "Do any of you have a better idea! If you do, I'd love to hear it! I don't care what it is. What they are. I'm not going to sit here passively waiting for them to come annialate us!"
Kagome felt a swell of pride in her chest. Yet, she had a distinct feeling that although his plan was really their only option, this was a BAD idea. She closed her eyes and nodded slowly, making up her mind. If push came to shove...She'd throw herself onto the grenade. She looked at Inuyasha and forced a smile. "Let's do it."
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AN: Another chapter gone, and the beginning of the real action. Sorry to those of you who hate me for killing of Kaede, but I had to. To those of you who have already reviewed this story in it's short life, thank you. I hope to make future chapters much MUCH longer...if I can...