A Father's Embrace
Chapter Seven
Denial
Kagome and Nana entered the front door of the house, and made their way into the kitchen where they discarded their shopping bags. After spotting Nanashi in the restaurant with the attractive young woman, Kagome no longer felt up to shopping. So, they had made one last stop at the grocery store for a few things before heading home.
"Maiki, we're home!" Kagome called out as she helped her mother put away the groceries. After a few minutes, the teenager hadn't appeared, nor had she answered her mother's call. Kagome grew curious. "I wonder what she's doing?"
"Perhaps she didn't hear you, dear," Nana replied calmly as she continued to put vegetables in the refrigerator. "Why don't you go upstairs and check on her?" Kagome nodded, and left the kitchen. A few moments later, she returned, a slightly nervous expression on her face.
"She's not upstairs, and neither is Kunkun for that matter. Maybe she's outside taking him for a walk." Kagome's gaze trailed to the kitchen window. "It'll be getting dark soon. Perhaps I should go out and see what she wants for dinner."
Kagome headed towards the back door and exited the house. Nana put the remaining groceries away, all the while remaining calm, unlike her daughter. The grandmother dismissed Kagome's concern, believing that the her daughter was still a bit shaken up from the incident with Nanashi earlier on. Nana picked up the shopping bags from the department store, and headed upstairs. She set Kagome's small bag on her bed before heading to her own room with her bags.
Nana began to take some of the new articles of clothing out of the bags, when she happened to glance out the window. She saw Kagome standing in the middle of the courtyard, facing the old well-house. And then Nana noticed what had it was that had stopped Kagome in her tracks. The door to the mini-shrine was wide open. She set the forgotten clothes down on the bed and headed outside, grabbing a flashlight along the way. By the time she caught up to Kagome, she was standing in the entrance of the well-house.
"She… She couldn't have… Not… Not down the well…" muttered Kagome, shaking her head in disbelief.
"Are you sure she even went down there?"
Kagome stared into the darkness of the well-house. The setting sun made visibility even worse inside the dim structure. Nana handed the flashlight to her daughter. Kagome accepted it with hesitation, afraid to go down to the well to discover what she hoped was not true. With her mother's reassuring hand on her shoulder, Kagome slowly made her way down the steps inside the tiny shrine. She shined the flashlight around the well, finding nothing laying around to indicate that Maiki had been here.
"Maiki?" Kagome called out, in case her daughter was within earshot. Silence. The women approached the well. Kagome was afraid to go near the wooden structure, but forced herself onward nonetheless. She gasped slightly. "Look, mama," she whispered, pointing to the edge of the well where years of dust had been disturbed as someone had climbed over the edge of the wooden structure. Kagome quickly closed the three feet gap between herself and the well. She leaned over the edge as she shined the light down towards the bottom.
It was empty.
Nana peered over the side as well. "I suppose it's a good thing she's not down there. I don't know if this ladder would still hold much weight."
"Mama! What if she did get down there? What if she passed through?" Kagome panicked, grabbing onto her mother's arm and looking her in the eye.
Nana's expression remained calm. "So…" she trailed off, as if expecting something.
"So? So what?"
"So aren't you going to go get her?"
Kagome froze. Her gaze fell back towards the empty hole. Nana could see Kagome's unfocused eyes as the younger woman seemed to recall long distant memories. After a moment or two, Kagome seemed to snap back to the present.
"No. I think I'm just overreacting," she stated. "She wouldn't have gone down into the well. She's probably out in the woods behind the shrine somewhere. She'll probably be home soon."
On that note, Kagome slowly returned to the wooden steps and climbed out of the well-house. Nana followed behind. Though she didn't voice her concerns, she was certain that Kagome had secretive reasons for not going down the well. As they walked across the shrine-grounds, Kagome's thoughts were still focused on the past...
It had been nearly two weeks since they had defeated Naraku. Kagome now held all the pieces of the Shikon no Tama in her possession. As a group, they had decided not to put the four pieces of the jewel together until they knew what to use it for. They believed that this would prevent a wish from being unintentionally made.
Around Kagome's neck, suspended from a thin necklace, was the bulk of the jewel, the part they had reclaimed from Naraku. In a small leather satchel, were the other three pieces. The two smaller shards had been the ones Koga had possessed. The last piece was the one Kagome had managed to keep with her throughout the years.
Four years. It had been four long years and finally Naraku was gone. It was a time for rejoice. Yet, Kagome and her friends didn't seem as elated as they should have been.
The curse of the Kazaana had been lifted, saving Miroku from suffering the same fate as his father and grandfather. But Kagome still found the monk staring at the now un-marred flesh from time to time. She could see the conflicting emotions in his eyes as he gazed into his palm. Shock. Disbelief. Disappointment. Fear. Whenever Kagome tried to ask him what the matter was, he would quickly school his features and wear a dopey grin, shrugging off his inner turmoil as 'nothing'.
After Naraku's defeat, Sango felt the necessity to return to her village. Kohaku was free from the hanyo's hypnotic spell. But at the cost of his life. No, Kohaku had died long ago. It was hard to remember that the adolescent boy had unwillingly walked the earth after his death with the use of a Shikon shard. Shortly before the final battle against the nefarious Naraku, the hanyo had reclaimed the shard from the boy's back in an effort to break the yokai slayer's spirit. The plan backfired. Having been forced to witness her brother's death once again, Sango's determination to kill Naraku had only grown stronger. Now that Naraku was dead, Sango had the opportunity to give her sibling a proper burial.
Shippo, though he had grown much over the past four years, was still very loyal and affectionate towards the miko who had come to be almost a mother to him. And such was the object of his own distraught. With all the jewel shards gathered, all that needed to be done was make a pure wish to dispel the jewel's evil. But without the jewel or any shards thereof, would Kagome be able to return to the Feudal Era? Or would she be stuck in the modern age should she return there? The fox kit would act tough during the day. But many times during the night, he would cry himself to sleep at the thought that he might lose his second mother.
Kikyo. She was gone. Forever. In the final battle against Naraku, she had used the last of her strength to bind Naraku while Kagome fired the arrow that had killed the beast. When the dust and lingering miasma settled, Inuyasha ran to the side of his fallen first love. Kikyo's job was done. She had seen through to Naraku's defeat, and thus, was no longer needed to walk the earth in the empty shell of her clay body. Over the years, her grudge against Inuyasha had faded and she had accepted the fact that he now belonged with Kagome. With a final goodbye, she released the portion of the soul that she shared with her reincarnation.
With the reunification of her soul, Kagome knew immediately that Kikyo had passed on. Fear gripped her momentarily, worried that Inuyasha had fulfilled his promise to the undead miko and had gone with her to hell. She was elated when her eyes landed on the hanyo, his back turned to her, his hair billowing in the wind. Kagome ran to him, to wrap him in a hug, but hesitated. There was an air of sadness around him. And Kagome knew that Inuyasha would never forget Kikyo. Hopefully, time would mend the wounds of lost love...
Kagome sat on a large rock in a grassy, open field just outside the village. She stared intently at the large jewel piece delicately resting between her thumb and forefinger. In the two weeks since Naraku's defeat, it seemed as though she and her friends had become increasingly distant from one another. Sango had returned to her home. Miroku bottled himself up. Shippo tried to act tough. Inuyasha. He had distanced himself the most. He hadn't said more than a few words to Kagome since the battle. He would take off into the forests for two or three days at a time, checking into the village occasionally to make sure everything was okay.
What was she going to do? Not only with the jewel, but after the wish was made? She gazed into the pink orb, a hint of orange from the setting sun reflected off its surface. So lost in thought, Kagome didn't notice the arrival of the red-clad hanyo.
"Kagome…"
"Inuyasha?" she gasped softly, turning to face him.
He shifted uncomfortably, his gaze was averted. Suddenly, golden eyes locked with blue-gray eyes. "You won't… you won't leave me, will you?"
Kagome's heart wrenched at the sound of sadness and loneliness in his voice. "Of course not. I'll never leave you, Inuyasha." Relief washed away the doubt from his eyes and he gathered the young woman into the security of his arms.
"So, Maiki-san, it's apparent that Kagome-sama told you nothing of the well, or of her abilities as a miko," Miroku spoke calmly.
"And our names don't sound familiar to you at all?" Sango voiced her concern with curiosity. Maiki shook her head 'no'.
"How about the names Shippo-kun or Kaede-sama? Did she happen to mention those names to you?" inquired the monk, earning another negative answer. The monk stared off into a spot in the ceiling, seemingly in thought. Maiki idly stroked Kunkun's fur as the ferret napped in her lap. After a moment or two, Miroku turned back towards the teenager. "What of the Shikon no Tama? Have you heard of that?"
Maiki's eyes snapped to the monk, instant recognition on her face. "Yeah, I've heard of that. Mama used to tell me the stories about it when I was a little kid. I guess, the legend goes that it could grant any wish. There was a miko and a hanyo who fell in love with each other and they wanted to use it to make a wish so they could be together… or something. But they betrayed each other in a fight over the jewel and they died. But the miko had a reincarnation who was able to bring the hanyo back to life. But the hanyo hated her because she looked just like the miko. But somehow, the reincarnation broke the Shikon no Tama and then the hanyo was forced to help her find the pieces… That's all I really remember about it. I stopped paying any attention to the legends when I got older. They're nothing more than fairytales anyway… just stories to entertain little children and tourists who visit Nana's shrine."
"Maiki-san," the monk requested the girl's attention, "would you believe me if I were to tell you that your mother is the reincarnation the legends speak of?"
The teenager blinked incredulously. "Would I believe you? Hells no. Would I recommend that you check yourself into a psych ward? Absolutely. Do you realize that it would be impossible for my mother to be the reincarnation in the legends? All that garbage happened something like five-hundred years ago! There's just no way!"
"Actually, technically speaking, the appearance of the reincarnation happened a little over twenty years ago," Sango replied.
Maiki was silent for a few moments, giving Sango a look that seemed to say "You're joking, right?" Then she began to look around the room, her eyes darting about as if searching for something. "Alright. Where's the camera? I know this is some sort of elaborate prank that someone's trying to pull on me. Now out with it. Tell me what's really going on."
"Maiki-san, we are not trying to fool you," Miroku attempted to reassure her. "You came out of the same well you fell into. You saw the forest and the village as you came here. What could we have possibly done with your home and your entire city in a matter of moments? Like your mother before you, you have traveled back in into a time that Kagome-sama frequently referred to as 'Sengoku Jidai'."
Holding Kunkun close to her chest, Maiki silently rose from her seat and strode over to the door. She pushed the bamboo drape aside, and peered outside into the village beneath the dusk sky. Most of the villagers had settled in for the evening meal, very few people wandered the dirt streets of the quaint settlement. It was true. Everything they said was true. But how? It was impossible. But she couldn't deny the fact that she was here, in the flesh, smack dab in the middle of the Warring States Era.
A/N: Sorry this took so long to update! It seems there was something wrong with Fanficiton for the past few days.. It looks as though no one was able to log in and update/review... (grumbles) Oh! On the bright side, I was able to conjure up a pic of Sachiko and Kunkun, which can be seen here: www(dot)deviantart(dot)com(slash)view(slash)18791633