Okay, this next chapter should address:
Human and demon interbreeding.
How Rin is living much longer than the average human.
Where Kikyo figures into all this.
...and so I give you...
**********
Prisoners
Girl Talk
**********
Kagome was surrounded by white. She could feel the ground, soft and hazy beneath her, but she could not see any lines, any angles that differentiated ground from sky. She was held by a feeling of extreme peace.
"I am glad that you find serenity here," a gentle voice came from behind her, "I did, as well, when I created this space during my training as a miko..."
Kagome looked into the eyes of the speaker, eyes that held warmth the first time since she'd known them. "Kikyo..."
"Kagome," the woman kneeled down before her in her priestess robes, "Please, sit."
"I prefer to stand," Kagome was pleased to hear that her voice was steady, even in her emotional turmoil.
"As you wish," Kikyo looked up at Kagome with a deep sadness in her eyes, "Kagome, I regret that the Kikyo you knew was only a shell of the woman I once was. The woman you knew was fueled only by hate, but in my life everything I did was done for love. My love for my people, my love for my earth, and my love for Inu Yasha..." she rose gracefully to her feet to look her reincarnation directly in the eye, "Much like you, in this time."
"It is not!" Kagome yelled. "Well, okay, I do love my family and my planet and all that, but I DO NOT love that dog breathed hanyou!"
Kikyo nodded, "As you say," the miko turned her back on the girl, "I will return again, this is not over."
*****
Kagome's eyes opened to a wall splashed with color from the tiny crystal hanging in the window. She stretched lazily, wiggling her toes. This was the sort of feeling that she deeply appreciated, memories of the strange dream were already disappearing, and she'd woken up before the alarm harassed her with it's monotonous buzzing, telling her to leave the warm, soft bed.
She rolled over slowly to look at the clock, and see how much time she had before her first class at eight-
*****
"SHIT!" the scream from down the hall roused the hanyou out of his troubled dreams. Groggily, he rose from bed to check on the situation.
"What the hell, wench?!" he yelled from his doorway, "It's only eight o' five, some of us are trying to sleep!"
The girl paid him no attention, running through the house full tilt, "Shit, shit, shit, shit..." She grabbed her bag by the front door, ignoring the blank stares from Renee *or is it Rin?* and Shippo. She threw open the door, though only for the satisfaction of slamming it shut again without going through. "Oh, who am I kidding?!" she moaned, "Ms. Watasuki locks the doors at eight. I'm screwed!" she threw her bag on the floor and kicked it.
Rin watched all of this calmly, "Something the matter, dear?"
Kagome kept her head low, embarrassed, "My alarm didn't go off..."
"Hmm, imagine that," Rin didn't sound at all surprised, "Well, we must make the best of a bad situation, and to remedy this one, I'd be honored if you'd join me for a cup of tea."
Kagome was still angry and frustrated, but just as she was about to refuse her stomach rumbled loudly.
"...and perhaps some breakfast as well?" Rin offered, smiling.
Kagome hesitated, then nodded.
"Great, so what are we having?" Shippo asked.
Rin eyed the fox demon sternly, "You are having microwave oatmeal in the kitchen, while Kagome and I are having English tea and biscuits in the den."
"Wait a minute!" the fox demon was incredulous as he followed the two women into the kitchen, "In case you two haven't noticed, I'm a grown up now... hell, I'm five centuries older than Kagome! You can't just shut me out."
Rin was arranging the tray as she answered, "We can and we will, kit... Besides, none of what we discuss is likely to interest you." She accepted the pot of hot water from Kagome.
"What are you going to talk about, then?" Shippo was unconvinced.
Rin hesitated. "Girl stuff," she answered finally.
Shippo's entire demeanor changed visibly, "Ugh... like hygiene and stuff?"
"Yes," Rin answered, lifting the tray, "Only less hygiene and more stuff... coming Kagome?"
*****
In the den Rin set down the tray and turned on the radio. The classical music blared out. "Does it have to be so loud?" Kagome asked over the din.
Rin turned it down a bit, "It's just insurance. In case anyone with superhuman hearing might be trying to listen in," she explained quietly. "I brought you in here to tell you some things... important things, which concern myself, and Inu Yasha... and you, Kagome."
Kagome nodded excitedly, spreading jam onto a biscuit, "I think I'm ready for anything by now..."
Rin nodded, "First off, I must confess that I lied to you, my dear. My name is Rin, not Renee. I first met you when I was eight years old, five hundred years ago."
Kagome dropped her knife, "You were the little girl with Sessho Maru...!" Rin nodded slightly, "But you should be long dead by now."
Rin shrugged, "I myself am often surprised by life's little quirks," she took a sip of tea, "I was nineteen years old, and still aging normally, when I realized that the nature of my love for Sessho Maru had begun to change from the childlike worship I had held for him since I was eight; and I was twenty... um, now I forget, twenty-two or twenty-three when I realized that he no longer looked at me as the little tag along brat," she smiled warmly at the thought.
"So how is it that you are still alive?" Kagome urged.
"Well, to make a very long story short, Sessho Maru got scared. He never admitted it, of course, but he eventually had to confront his feelings for me, and this caused him to run away, vowing never to return.
"On this journey, Sessho Maru was more obsessed than ever with Inu Yasha's sword... um..."
"Tetsusaiga," Kagome provided.
"Right, that one, and in order to attain it he began going through any information on his father that he could find, where he made the sword, how, and why. In with this information, in a small temple far from what is now known as Tokyo, he found documentation on the mating of his father to Inu Yasha's mother." Rin looked down at the diamond ring on her finger before continuing.
"It was in this scroll that Sessho Maru found the ancient practice of binding two souls, a human and a youkai's, so that their lives become one, allowing the human to live as long as their significant other." She slipped off the ring and handed it to Kagome, "The diamond in that ring was what we eventually used to concentrate the energy of our souls to allow us to be together."
"It's so beautiful..." Kagome whispered. Deep within the diamond she could see swirling colors in an eternal dance, she handed the ring back to Rin. "But how did Sessho Maru... um, 'bind' himself to you when he held such hatred toward humans."
Rin leaned forward on the little round table, "As I'm sure you'll discover, love is very hard to suppress," Kagome blushed pink, "However, you may notice, the next time you see us together, that I now look a few years older than Sessho Maru. Love may be very hard to suppress, but Sessho Maru is damn diligent..."
Kagome nodded, she could imagine how difficult their courtship must have been, "You said that all of this somehow concerned Inu Yasha and me..."
Rin nodded seriously, "Kagome, I know that you have the last shikon shard," Kagome's eyes widened, "Now, don't worry, I only know because I watched Inu Yasha search all those years, and I know that if that shard had existed anywhere, he would have found it."
Kagome nodded, "It is very important to him..."
Rin laughed, "You don't know the half of it! You see, after you left Inu Yasha and your friends were only looking for the shikon shards so that they could complete the jewel and destroy it-"
"That's just what he said," Kagome cut in bitterly, "He only wanted to use the shard to become a full demon."
"He changed when you left, Kagome. He only wanted to destroy the jewel, until he found out that the binding ceremony for a human and a demon (or a human and a hanyou, for that matter) required a jewel to concentrate the energy. Do you follow me here, Kagome?"
Kagome blinked, "He wanted to use the jewel of four souls to bind with a human?"
Rin nodded, "With you, yes. Think of it, Kagome, if you two use the jewel as a means to bind to each other in love, then the jewel is purified! Good overcomes evil, light defeats dark!"
Kagome raised her eyebrows, impressed, "I'm actually surprised that Inu Yasha came up with that."
"Alas, our dog boy was not the one to formulate the plan. In a way, you were."
"Me?"
"When you left Feudal Japan and the well was sealed, it allowed Kikyo's soul- your soul- to return her body. She explained all of this to Inu Yasha, and fused the shards together. Then she freed him from the prayer beads, kissed him on the cheek and dissolved back into the earth."
"Only on the cheek?" Kagome asked happily.
"I think you're kind of missing the point here-" Rin muttered.
"Hey you guys!" a voice called from outside the door. Cursing, Rin got up, turned off the radio, and opened the door to reveal Shippo. "I couldn't find the oatmeal, do we have any Ramen?"
*****
Kagome sank down gratefully into the couch, glad to be through the day's classes and housework. She wanted to keep ahead of the chores, before Inu Yasha had a chance to assign her anything, and now she was dog tired. *Dog tired... dog... Inu Yasha.*
She was too tired, even, to berate her mind for following it's familiar path of thought back to the hanyou. *Maybe I'll just rest my eyes here for a minute...*
*****
"I'm glad you came back," Kagome turned to see Kikyo standing, hands clasped and head bowed slightly.
"Kikyo..." Kagome thought back to what Rin had said, "is it true that you wanted Inu Yasha and I to be bound together?"
Kikyo stepped closer, "How long can two souls wanting to become one be kept apart?" she touched Kagome's shoulder, "How long can one of those souls remain splintered, unable to forgive herself?"
Kagome looked deep into Kikyo's eyes... her own eyes from another time. On impulse she grabbed the miko and held her close, gasping as she felt herself becoming one with the woman. "Our soul," Kagome and Kikyo intoned together, "will be healed..."
Just before they came together completely, Kikyo asked softly, "Please, give my love to..."
*****
"Inu Yasha," Kagome murmured, still half asleep, and feeling more... complete than she had in years. She woke completely to find herself still on the couch, a widely grinning hanyou staring down at her.
"Penny for your thoughts?"
Kagome felt her cheeks flush, "SIT!"
Nothing happened.
"Oh, right... damn it!" instead Kagome settled for the less satisfying action of marching to her own room, slamming the door shut behind her to keep out the uproarious laughter of the half demon.
***********
TBC
Human and demon interbreeding.
How Rin is living much longer than the average human.
Where Kikyo figures into all this.
...and so I give you...
**********
Prisoners
Girl Talk
**********
Kagome was surrounded by white. She could feel the ground, soft and hazy beneath her, but she could not see any lines, any angles that differentiated ground from sky. She was held by a feeling of extreme peace.
"I am glad that you find serenity here," a gentle voice came from behind her, "I did, as well, when I created this space during my training as a miko..."
Kagome looked into the eyes of the speaker, eyes that held warmth the first time since she'd known them. "Kikyo..."
"Kagome," the woman kneeled down before her in her priestess robes, "Please, sit."
"I prefer to stand," Kagome was pleased to hear that her voice was steady, even in her emotional turmoil.
"As you wish," Kikyo looked up at Kagome with a deep sadness in her eyes, "Kagome, I regret that the Kikyo you knew was only a shell of the woman I once was. The woman you knew was fueled only by hate, but in my life everything I did was done for love. My love for my people, my love for my earth, and my love for Inu Yasha..." she rose gracefully to her feet to look her reincarnation directly in the eye, "Much like you, in this time."
"It is not!" Kagome yelled. "Well, okay, I do love my family and my planet and all that, but I DO NOT love that dog breathed hanyou!"
Kikyo nodded, "As you say," the miko turned her back on the girl, "I will return again, this is not over."
*****
Kagome's eyes opened to a wall splashed with color from the tiny crystal hanging in the window. She stretched lazily, wiggling her toes. This was the sort of feeling that she deeply appreciated, memories of the strange dream were already disappearing, and she'd woken up before the alarm harassed her with it's monotonous buzzing, telling her to leave the warm, soft bed.
She rolled over slowly to look at the clock, and see how much time she had before her first class at eight-
*****
"SHIT!" the scream from down the hall roused the hanyou out of his troubled dreams. Groggily, he rose from bed to check on the situation.
"What the hell, wench?!" he yelled from his doorway, "It's only eight o' five, some of us are trying to sleep!"
The girl paid him no attention, running through the house full tilt, "Shit, shit, shit, shit..." She grabbed her bag by the front door, ignoring the blank stares from Renee *or is it Rin?* and Shippo. She threw open the door, though only for the satisfaction of slamming it shut again without going through. "Oh, who am I kidding?!" she moaned, "Ms. Watasuki locks the doors at eight. I'm screwed!" she threw her bag on the floor and kicked it.
Rin watched all of this calmly, "Something the matter, dear?"
Kagome kept her head low, embarrassed, "My alarm didn't go off..."
"Hmm, imagine that," Rin didn't sound at all surprised, "Well, we must make the best of a bad situation, and to remedy this one, I'd be honored if you'd join me for a cup of tea."
Kagome was still angry and frustrated, but just as she was about to refuse her stomach rumbled loudly.
"...and perhaps some breakfast as well?" Rin offered, smiling.
Kagome hesitated, then nodded.
"Great, so what are we having?" Shippo asked.
Rin eyed the fox demon sternly, "You are having microwave oatmeal in the kitchen, while Kagome and I are having English tea and biscuits in the den."
"Wait a minute!" the fox demon was incredulous as he followed the two women into the kitchen, "In case you two haven't noticed, I'm a grown up now... hell, I'm five centuries older than Kagome! You can't just shut me out."
Rin was arranging the tray as she answered, "We can and we will, kit... Besides, none of what we discuss is likely to interest you." She accepted the pot of hot water from Kagome.
"What are you going to talk about, then?" Shippo was unconvinced.
Rin hesitated. "Girl stuff," she answered finally.
Shippo's entire demeanor changed visibly, "Ugh... like hygiene and stuff?"
"Yes," Rin answered, lifting the tray, "Only less hygiene and more stuff... coming Kagome?"
*****
In the den Rin set down the tray and turned on the radio. The classical music blared out. "Does it have to be so loud?" Kagome asked over the din.
Rin turned it down a bit, "It's just insurance. In case anyone with superhuman hearing might be trying to listen in," she explained quietly. "I brought you in here to tell you some things... important things, which concern myself, and Inu Yasha... and you, Kagome."
Kagome nodded excitedly, spreading jam onto a biscuit, "I think I'm ready for anything by now..."
Rin nodded, "First off, I must confess that I lied to you, my dear. My name is Rin, not Renee. I first met you when I was eight years old, five hundred years ago."
Kagome dropped her knife, "You were the little girl with Sessho Maru...!" Rin nodded slightly, "But you should be long dead by now."
Rin shrugged, "I myself am often surprised by life's little quirks," she took a sip of tea, "I was nineteen years old, and still aging normally, when I realized that the nature of my love for Sessho Maru had begun to change from the childlike worship I had held for him since I was eight; and I was twenty... um, now I forget, twenty-two or twenty-three when I realized that he no longer looked at me as the little tag along brat," she smiled warmly at the thought.
"So how is it that you are still alive?" Kagome urged.
"Well, to make a very long story short, Sessho Maru got scared. He never admitted it, of course, but he eventually had to confront his feelings for me, and this caused him to run away, vowing never to return.
"On this journey, Sessho Maru was more obsessed than ever with Inu Yasha's sword... um..."
"Tetsusaiga," Kagome provided.
"Right, that one, and in order to attain it he began going through any information on his father that he could find, where he made the sword, how, and why. In with this information, in a small temple far from what is now known as Tokyo, he found documentation on the mating of his father to Inu Yasha's mother." Rin looked down at the diamond ring on her finger before continuing.
"It was in this scroll that Sessho Maru found the ancient practice of binding two souls, a human and a youkai's, so that their lives become one, allowing the human to live as long as their significant other." She slipped off the ring and handed it to Kagome, "The diamond in that ring was what we eventually used to concentrate the energy of our souls to allow us to be together."
"It's so beautiful..." Kagome whispered. Deep within the diamond she could see swirling colors in an eternal dance, she handed the ring back to Rin. "But how did Sessho Maru... um, 'bind' himself to you when he held such hatred toward humans."
Rin leaned forward on the little round table, "As I'm sure you'll discover, love is very hard to suppress," Kagome blushed pink, "However, you may notice, the next time you see us together, that I now look a few years older than Sessho Maru. Love may be very hard to suppress, but Sessho Maru is damn diligent..."
Kagome nodded, she could imagine how difficult their courtship must have been, "You said that all of this somehow concerned Inu Yasha and me..."
Rin nodded seriously, "Kagome, I know that you have the last shikon shard," Kagome's eyes widened, "Now, don't worry, I only know because I watched Inu Yasha search all those years, and I know that if that shard had existed anywhere, he would have found it."
Kagome nodded, "It is very important to him..."
Rin laughed, "You don't know the half of it! You see, after you left Inu Yasha and your friends were only looking for the shikon shards so that they could complete the jewel and destroy it-"
"That's just what he said," Kagome cut in bitterly, "He only wanted to use the shard to become a full demon."
"He changed when you left, Kagome. He only wanted to destroy the jewel, until he found out that the binding ceremony for a human and a demon (or a human and a hanyou, for that matter) required a jewel to concentrate the energy. Do you follow me here, Kagome?"
Kagome blinked, "He wanted to use the jewel of four souls to bind with a human?"
Rin nodded, "With you, yes. Think of it, Kagome, if you two use the jewel as a means to bind to each other in love, then the jewel is purified! Good overcomes evil, light defeats dark!"
Kagome raised her eyebrows, impressed, "I'm actually surprised that Inu Yasha came up with that."
"Alas, our dog boy was not the one to formulate the plan. In a way, you were."
"Me?"
"When you left Feudal Japan and the well was sealed, it allowed Kikyo's soul- your soul- to return her body. She explained all of this to Inu Yasha, and fused the shards together. Then she freed him from the prayer beads, kissed him on the cheek and dissolved back into the earth."
"Only on the cheek?" Kagome asked happily.
"I think you're kind of missing the point here-" Rin muttered.
"Hey you guys!" a voice called from outside the door. Cursing, Rin got up, turned off the radio, and opened the door to reveal Shippo. "I couldn't find the oatmeal, do we have any Ramen?"
*****
Kagome sank down gratefully into the couch, glad to be through the day's classes and housework. She wanted to keep ahead of the chores, before Inu Yasha had a chance to assign her anything, and now she was dog tired. *Dog tired... dog... Inu Yasha.*
She was too tired, even, to berate her mind for following it's familiar path of thought back to the hanyou. *Maybe I'll just rest my eyes here for a minute...*
*****
"I'm glad you came back," Kagome turned to see Kikyo standing, hands clasped and head bowed slightly.
"Kikyo..." Kagome thought back to what Rin had said, "is it true that you wanted Inu Yasha and I to be bound together?"
Kikyo stepped closer, "How long can two souls wanting to become one be kept apart?" she touched Kagome's shoulder, "How long can one of those souls remain splintered, unable to forgive herself?"
Kagome looked deep into Kikyo's eyes... her own eyes from another time. On impulse she grabbed the miko and held her close, gasping as she felt herself becoming one with the woman. "Our soul," Kagome and Kikyo intoned together, "will be healed..."
Just before they came together completely, Kikyo asked softly, "Please, give my love to..."
*****
"Inu Yasha," Kagome murmured, still half asleep, and feeling more... complete than she had in years. She woke completely to find herself still on the couch, a widely grinning hanyou staring down at her.
"Penny for your thoughts?"
Kagome felt her cheeks flush, "SIT!"
Nothing happened.
"Oh, right... damn it!" instead Kagome settled for the less satisfying action of marching to her own room, slamming the door shut behind her to keep out the uproarious laughter of the half demon.
***********
TBC