It struck home- and it hit hard. Not only did it shock everyone into a mute trance of temporary paralysis- it completely rattled the foundation we had built ourselves up from, demolishing our hearts and our happiness with one swift blow.
I had never thought such a thing existed, even after all my experiences with similar happenings. I never thought it would stumble into my life... again. And it taunted and pulled at my mind that sang 'it isn't real! This isn't real!'
More thoughts flooded me, more questions thrumbed through me- quiries about my life, my past, my future, my fate.
Most of all, however, I thought of my guardian angels- those three individuals always just a step or two behind me.
'When did they start protecting me?' I wondered. 'Why do they protect me? Protect me from what...?
'Why am I so important?'
And, most puzzling and urgent, if they were protecting me...
Why couldn't they have saved her...?
0-00-000-0000-000-00-0
Wicked Sins
By Sakura-chan88
Change of the Winds
0-00-000-0000-000-00-0
I was still mulling over Sango's words, sitting at my desk as I attempted the impossible... Remembering what our mathematics homework was over. It wasn't that I had meant to forget... It just... conveniently slipped my mind.
Sighing, I stretched, taking a quick glance at my alarm clock. Nine o'clock on the dot...
"Why is time going so slow...?" I muttered, spinning boredly in my chair. The seat gave a small squeel as I swiveled left, then right, then left once more. There was absolutely nothing to do, nothing to catch my attention and hold it. Nothing to satisfy my hunger for fun! "So... bored!"
With not a single measly thing better to do, I opened my window and climbed over the sill, plopping down to dangle my feet above the ground and enjoy the gentle breeze gracing the cooling air. The branches of the many trees a few feet before me creaked as they swayed. Everything seemed so peaceful, so uninhabited and calm.
Too calm.
I found myself once again searching for the elusive shadow that now had a name to fit it. What kind of person was he? Was everything Sango said true about him? The mystery surrounding him was intriguing, and it called to my mind. Maybe there was a way to cure my boredom, after all...
"A dog demon roaming around my woods, waiting in the dark for his name to be called," I giggled, narrating the world around me, giddy at the thought of speaking to another 'stalker' of mine. "He hides in the shadows beyond the trees that groan and refuse to bow to the demanding winds!" My words were carried away on the said winds. "I summon him, the one called Inuyasha. Step forth, oh guardian angel of mine. I call."
My giggle turned to a hearty laugh as the breeze picked up a notch, sending my hair around me to rest lightly upon my shoulders. "I call you now, silent one. Speak to me."
"I'm far from an angel," said the shadow in the branches of the nearest tree. His voice was gruff and rusty, as if it had not been used for the longest of times. "As you said yourself, I'm a demon. Don't get those two confused. After all, I'd call them opposites."
I smiled brightly at his reply. "I'll remember that."
All was silent for a breaths' time. In that silence, I felt the wind whisper in my ear a pleasant farewell as it changed its course.
"Come closer and let me see you."
"You've seen me before," he growled. "Plus, I'm comfortable where I am."
I frowned slightly at his words, then pouted. He was so different from Sango. "But, I don't enjoy talking to a tree. And I have yet to see your face. It's always in the darkness."
"Deal with it."
'How rude...' I thought, moving to a crouched position and bracing myself to keep from falling. "Fine, then. If you won't move, I'll just compromise!"
The wind seemed to lift me up as I took to the air, my arms stretched to allow my hands the reach they needed to grab the branch ahead of me. Firmly holding the limb, I hoisted my body upwards and began my slow, steady climb to the branch over head.
"Keh! Stupid human."
"..." I hadn't expected that kind of greeting as I stared into golden eyes, reflecting the light of the moon. I blinked. Once... Twice. "Was that supposed to hurt?"
"They say the truth hurts," Inuyasha grumbled, lean back against the trunk.
He had a rough, yet boyish face that seemed to fit his voice perfectly, and silky-textured silver hair that hung limply around his body. He had broad shoulders and a wide chest. His clothing was ancient, only viewed in few museums- a dark reddish uniform worn many centuries ago.
All together, his features gave the impression of one of the Lost Boys come back from Neverland. My mind itched to ask where Peter Pan was...
"Obviously you don't know your prey very well," I replied, finding a comfortable place to rest.
"Why would I want to know anything about such a airheaded pain-in-the-ass?"
Again, I blinked, not expecting the man to be so... disrespectful! So inconsiderate and... vulgar! Yet, what could I have thought of a man Sango called violent? Hadn't she said he mutilated someone? An arrogant man she'd had the displeasure of meeting from time to time?
"Well..." Was all I could say, finding it hard to speak to such a person.
"Why don't you just go to bed like a good little girl and wait til..." He trailed off, looking to the side as if he had said too much. Perhaps he had.
"Wait til what?"
Again, silence reigned, and the wind changed directions once more.
"Keh! Just... Just go to bed! You'll find out soon enough-"
I snapped- That was it! I had enough of the secrecy- I was determined to get the answers to all my questions, and this helped to break the ice of patience surrounding me in the dead of night. "I'm tired of hearing that! 'You'll find out soon enough!' I want to know what's going on- and I want to know now!"
I can't say I didn't ask for it. On the contrary, I had just begged for it...
A loud crash was heard from inside the shrine house- my home. Nothing followed. It was so sudden, and ended so quickly, I thought for the briefest moment that I had imagined it. Imagined everything... Even the fleeing shadows I saw for the slightest second leaving the shrine ground minutes later.
"Wha...?"
"Stay here."
My gaze flickered back to the golden orbs filled with an emotion I couldn't place and, as I tried to, he closed his eyes, brought a sleeve to his nose, and sat hunched over. "Didn't you just say-" That's when I noticed the small ears atop his skull- furry, triangular ears that had just flickered at the sound of my voice...
Ears only associated with...
With a half-breed.
A half-werewolf.
"... Inuyasha..." I whispered, reaching a hand out to reassure myself they were, in fact, real and not a figment of a mind running wild. After all, I had been seeing shadows, and I had heard a noise that sounded like... Like shattering glass.
His head snapped up the instant my fingertips grazed the appendages. "Don't!"
"You're..." My eyes narrowed in thought... "Inuyasha... What just happened? What was that sound..? Who... Who were those people running away?"
He snorted, slapping away my still hovering hand. "They are what I've been put here to protect you from. And that sound was why. You wanted to know what was going on, right? You just couldn't wait..." His glare softened and turned to his lap. "You just couldn't wait..."
"... What just happened?" I repeated, leaning closer, whispering my words. "I know you heard things I didn't. I know you can smell things I can't. I know you can see perfectly in the darkness... I know what you are."
"Keh! I didn't think you were that stupid, idiot."
I paused, ignoring the insult. "Are you avoiding answering me again?"
"If you want answers, look in the kitchen."
"Eh...?" I frowned, then shook my head. "Will that answer who was here?"
"... You're still not ready to know that."
"Right..." I sighed and stood, balancing myself with arms spread out to my sides. "Now, this is the hard part," I muttered, glancing down to the hard-packed earth many feet beneath us.
"No... The hard part hasn't even begun." The whispered words floated to me on the passing breeze for, when I looked over to question him, Inuyasha was no where in sight and there was no trace of anyone ever being there.
"Gee... Thanks for offering a helping hand."
It took a while for me to reach the bottom, but, when I did, I had no chance to see the kitchen.
Sango was standing in front of me, her eyes down cast. Her presence, for the first time, startled me. Emotions flew through me I had never felt before.
I felt panic.
Something was so very wrong.
Something was so very, very wrong if she was here, in the territory assigned to her enemy, risking her own life (as I concluded from her earlier descriptions of Inuyasha) to be near me... If I needed more than one of my guardian angels around me.
"Sango, tell me!" I plead, grabbing the woman by the shoulders. "Please, I beg you. I want to know what's going on! Why is it being kept a secret from me? I'm obviously part of this- whatever it is- so, please..."
Hands covered my own, drawing them to my sides. I looked over my shoulder to see Miroku, his eyes pained. What caused the pain, I cannot tell- not even to this day. Perhaps it was seeing the plea in my eyes, or knowing what awaited me. Or maybe it was because he simply could not tell me.
"I'm sorry, miss," he breathed, licking his lips as he looked to his wife for help. "We can't."
"Then why are you here!" I shouted, stamping my footprint into the ground.
"For support," Sango whispered into my ear. "We know what's happened, and we know what you'll go through... Inuyasha, Miroku, and I... We've been through something... only too similar..."
"What's wrong?" I asked, gazing up into the tree, seeking out the golden gleam of his eyes, only to be sorely dissappointed. "... What's going on...?"
"Come," Miroku sighed, wrapping an arm around my shoulders as Sango silently slipped hers around my waist. I obeyed, allowing them to steer me around the house and to my front door. "We'll wait here for you."
"Are you taking me somewhere?"
Sango smiled sadly. "No, not yet. But, we'll still wait here for you... So, when you need us... you know where to find us, Kagome."
My head snapped up, startled by hearing my own name tumble past her lips. "Sango..."
"Go," she ordered, nodding toward the door.
I bowed my head as I complied, entering the home I grew up in to find I'd never be able to think of it the same way ever again.
There, in the kitchen, lay my mother, sprawled over the counter with opened eyes still crystal clear.
There, in the kitchen, lay my mother, naked, broken, bloody, and bruised, her mouth parted in an eternal gasp of surprise and pain.
There, in the kitchen, lay my mother, her arms raked with claw marks, legs cut by the glass littering the floor, heart pierced through by a silver stake.
And, in all its crimson glory on the entirety of her back, in the middle of all the atrocious scenery, scrawled in a feathery penmenship one would call feminine, the name of the killer was carved.
Kagome
Yes, I was her killer in a every possible indirect way.
What ever had fell my mother, what ever had abused her so thoroughly, had clearly told me I was her death...
It was searching for me.
Every instinct in me told me to scream my pain, to run over to the body of my mother and hold her close, to flee the scene and hide away forever- curl up and die beneath the biggest rock. They told me so many things, but I refused to listen.
I couldn't move, I couldn't scream, I couldn't breath.
Yet, I felt the tears slide down my cheeks.
And the horrid word stared back at me.
Kagome
Kagome
Kagome
I couldn't close my eyes. I knew that it would give me a temporary sense of dreaming this all, yet the word called me, held me to the spot, unable to do more than look... Look upon the name of my mother's killer, carved in her back, written in her blood.
Kagome
'Souta...' I finally thought, shaking my head and breathing in slowly. How could I tell Souta? How could I tell grandpa? I couldn't let them see! I couldn't let them know... that I was the cause...
"... S... Sango," I called, gripping the doorframe beside me. "Sango, I..."
"Kagome, I'm so sorry," she whispered, encasing me in her arms. "Forgive me, but I couldn't... We couldn't interfere! I swear, if we could have..."
I cried then, my legs folding out from under me. I no longer had the strength to stand.
How could this happen? Who could be so cold and heartless? How could fate be so cruel?
Yes, fate. You'll understand soon enough.
How ironic that I write these words I hated so much.
You'll understand soon enough.
"Sango," I whisper, wiping the tears from my face, gathering my wits. How long had I cried? When did Miroku approach us and engolf us in a comforting embrace? I don't know. I lost track of time and life itself.
When did Inuyasha enter the kitchen and remove my mother's still form, wrap her in a blanket, and set her down beside us?
"Miroku, Inuyasha... Why...?"
All three turned their faces in guilt of letting this sin be committed.
"I know you say I'm not ready... When will I be ready? How long do I have to wait?" I sobbed, leaving the supporting hug. "How long...?"
Sango smiled, her eyes shining with tears. "Now... You can know now..."
My brows furrowed in disbelief. "I had to wait til she died...?" I turned to Inuyasha, my heart filling with anger, and screached shrilly, "That's what I had to wait for?"
"No," Miroku amended, squeezing my shoulder tightly. "You had to wait for the war to stumble into your life. And we cannot interfere in the war- we are only messengers, only guardians."
"Why couldn't you protect her?" I screamed, pushing the man away with all the force I could muster. "If you can protect me, why couldn't you save her?"
"Because she was just a bystander."
The words were cold, cruel, and utterly chilling.
"That was heartless, Inuyasha," chided Sango, standing defensively between me and him, shielding his expression from me.
"That's the truth of it," he growled. "She was a bystander- her life meant nothing."
"Just as your own mother's didn't?" Sango hissed.
He slapped her, quick as lightening, and she stumbled to the side. "Don't you ever, ever, speak of my mother again..."
"However, Sango is correct," Miroku interjected, steadying his wife. "Your mother's life, her brother's life, and my father's life as well... They all meant nothing. They were all just in the way, just innocent persons in the wrong place at the wrong time who got caught in the middle of a war none of them knew existed."
I, still in shock of hearing Inuyasha's words, sat dumbfoundedly in place, staring at my hands. Then, I risked interrupting the conversation. "This war... What do I have to do with it? Why are they looking for me?"
"Kagome, it'll be very... confusing... Very hard to explain..." Sango whispered, holding her reddened cheek gingerly. "Perhaps you should wait-"
"No. Explain it now," I demanded, slamming my fist to the ground. "What war are you talking about?"
"A war that has existed for nearly 2000 years. A war that started at the death of the last pure human."
Miroku sighed, "A war of demons, of vampires and werewolves and such."
"And you and Sango are vampires, I assume."
"Only half," Sango corrected, scoffing at the indigantion. "Being such, we are not allowed to take part in the battle for domanince because we have something a true-blooded demon does not."
"Free will," Inuyasha answered my unasked question at the look on my face. "Our demon blood doesn't rule us- we can choose to obey our master, or choose to turn our backs... And most of us would decide on the latter."
"But, you still follow those stupid rules!" I yelled in outrage. My mother could still be alive right now...
"We would have been killed on the spot," Miroku voiced, stopping my forming shout with a raise of his hands. "Not that our life matters much, but it would have left you open for them."
I sniffled, my eyes moistening at the returning image of my name upon her back and the question firmly placed in my mind. "... Why am I so important?"
He smiled peacefully, bringing my hands into his own. "You are the one who can tip the scale."
0-00-000-0000-000-00-0
A/N: Alrighty, this chapter is completed, finally. I hope you didn't get too bored with the repition in certain parts- the repition I couldn't help writting- the repition I liked too much to change. XD
Anyway, this is the beginning, yes, and I jumped right into the story. I didn't feel there was any need for pointless fillers before getting right into the action! Hope it doesn't bother you that I moved along so quickly... I was hoping this would help keep your attention...
Did it? looks pleadingly at readers Did it?
Please, review and give me some insight as to what you think of this story so far!