Hey! Welcome back for chapter 24! I hope that you liked the last chapter! On with the chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, or any other characters related to Inuyasha, except for Kia, Kimi, Kiala, Koinu, Kararu, Sanya, and Machika.
Some Dreams Can Come True, Ya Know!
Chapter 24: The Use of the Jewels
Kagome, Inuyasha, Miroku, and Sango were walking in the forest when something ran across the path in front of them. They all got into a fighting stance, and the thing ran in front of them again, this time stopping to look at them. It was a demon that had black hair, endless black eyes, and was wearing dark, emerald green robes.
"Ah…perfect candidates for the project!" The demon said.
"What?" Inuyasha asked fiercely.
"Uh, oh. I'm afraid you've heard things…that you shouldn't have." The demon said. Then, a powder started to come out of its hands, and the four started to feel drowsy, and their body started to ache. Kagome fell to the ground with Sango and Miroku, but Inuyasha lasted a bit longer.
"What…is…this?" Inuyasha asked, before he fell to the ground, and everything went black.
XxXxXxXxXxXx
xxOne Day Laterxx
"I can't find Kagome!" Shippo cried out as he ran through the house.
"What?" Sesshomaru asked as he struck his head out of his room door.
"I can't find Kagome, Inuyasha, Sango or Miroku! They disappeared yesterday!" Shippo said.
"Okay, where did you see them last?" Kiala said as she came into the hallway, her wings out.
"They were walking in the forest…and when I went to go find them for lunch they were gone! I thought that they had gone somewhere on urgent business call, but they would have been back before now!" Shippo said as he started to get tears in his eyes.
"I bet that I could track their scent." Sesshomaru said. "Bring me to the place that they were last seen."
XxXxXxXxXxXx
Kagome sat bolt up right and looked around. She was in a cell, along with Inuyasha, Miroku and Sango. She put a hand up to her head, and ran her hand along her forehead. She stopped when her hand reached halfway. She felt something there…it was small, but something was there. She heard a groan behind her, telling her that Inuyasha was waking up.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome said as she ran over to his place on the floor.
"Where are we?" Inuyasha asked her after he sat up.
"I don't know…Inuyasha? Is there something in my forehead?" Kagome asked him.
"Yeah…it looks like a ruby." Inuyasha said. He ran his hand over it, feeling it. "Yup, it's definitely a ruby." They both turned towards Sango and Miroku when they realized that they had woken up. Sango and Miroku each put a hand up to their head, and ran it across their face then going to their forehead, Sango stopping halfway when she felt something. Kagome ran over to her and looked at her forehead.
"Hey Inuyasha! There's a sapphire in her forehead." Kagome said over her shoulder. At that moment, a guard of some sort walked past their cell.
"Hey, you! Where are we?" Inuyasha yelled at the guard.
"Oh, has no one told you? You are at the underground mineral mine. Here we study jewels, their powers, and how they affect people, mostly women. Those two," He pointed to Kagome and Sango, "Were perfect candidates for the project. We are waiting for the results of what the jewels do. Here, at the underground mineral mine, we study the use of the jewels. Once a jewel is put into a person, it can't ever be taken out." The guard said with a smirk.
"You little kusoyaro!" Inuyasha said, then reached through a gap in the cell bars and strangled the guard. "Kagome, can you get us out of here?" Inuyasha asked her after he threw the guard away from their cell.
"Yeah…give me a second." Kagome said. She pointed her hands up towards the ceiling and white light shot out of them. The ceiling crumbled, and Inuyasha grabbed onto all of them and jumped out. They started to walk in the direction of Kaede's Village, but what they hadn't realized before was how weak they were. They all fell to the ground unconscious.
XxXxXxXxXxXx
"Shippo! I found them." Sesshomaru told Shippo telepathically.
"Okay! I'm on my way!" Shippo said, then severed the connection and ran off in the direction that Sesshomaru had gone to search in.
XxXxXxXxXxXx
Kagome sat up and looked around. Everyone else (Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango) was waking up to. She looked at the room to realize that she was back at her home (in the Fuedal Era). They discussed what had happened, then Kagome brought up a point.
"Yeah…and now we have these weird jewels in our heads!" Kagome said.
"So…it looks like you finally came to." A voice behind them said, making them all jump.
"Sesshomaru!" Inuyasha said.
"Yes, that's me. You four have been out for at least two days…I don't know how the girls go those jewels in their heads…but they are quite fashionable." Sesshomaru said with a grin.
XxXxXxXxXxXx
"Good night Inuyasha." Kagome said.
"Good night Kagome." Inuyasha said, then kissed the sapphire on her forehead, then on her cheek. They both laid down and went to sleep.
Kagome opened her eyes. Her head was pointed down, and she saw that she was wearing a ruby colored kimono. Every time she moved it felt as though she were reliving the moments in which she got wounded tenfold, this being because it seemed to be happening all at once. Even her insides seemed to burn with pain, with no sign of letting up.
She looked over at him. He was in worse shape than her—those were mortal wounds even for a hanyou. He looked over at her, sensing her stare, and smirked.
"Guess we won, huh?" He asked, his voice hoarse and filled with pain, despite being poorly hidden under amusement and sarcasm.
She heard the others celebrating in the background—it had been only her and Inuyasha against Yoramisu, while the others battled it out with his underlings and the army of demons. She wasn't sure, and probably never would be, how she and Inuyasha could beat Yoramisu by themselves when they hadn't been able to do it with their friends' help for the past year, but she wasn't about to complain. They'd escaped from their battles unscathed, and had apparently not noticed the two on the ground as of yet.
She returned his smile, though it turned out to be a bit of a grimace. "Yeah, I guess we did."
She wasn't sure how, but he drug himself over to where she lay, placing a hand on her cheek, his good humor suddenly replaced by sadness. "No one ever said victory would come without a price. I'm…sorry, Kagome."
She shook her head, a tear stinging her wounds as it tried to escape her cheek to the ground, only to be caught in one of the cuts along her face. "Don't apologize, Inuyasha. We will both die on this battlefield. And it's me who should be apologizing to you…"
He chuckled, though it sounded almost like a sob, and put his arms around her, holding her as close to his broken body as he could. "Why? Please don't apologize for helping me find love, and friends, and family. You've given me the best year of my life."
She began weeping. "I'm sorry I can't stay with you, Inuyasha; by your side like I promised."
"You are by my side, Kagome, and you always will be. We will die here, yes, but our spirits will walk this earth again. In the next life I will find you again—dear gods, even if it kills me I will find you, and if we perish again I will continue to seek you in the life after that and after that, and on and on, until finally fate allows us to stay together! I won't let you go now that I've found you! I swear it!"
She intertwined her fingers with his, beginning to cry harder. "I promise the same, Inuyasha. One day we will be together!"
"And I'll never share you with anyone, and no one will come between us, and forever I will be by your side as faithfully as you have stayed by mine this past year despite my going to that damned clay pot. Distrust and death won't come between us as it did Kikyo and I…" his voice dropped, "my love for you is too strong for that."
She smiled, laughed a little and cried more at the same time. "I love you too, Inuyasha. If only I had told you sooner…" She said, embracing his neck despite the pain it cause her, and apparently caused him as well.
A sudden thought struck him, and he gave her a small half-smirk as the last of his strength began to fail him and he could no longer hold them both up, causing them to fall to the ground, her lying half on top of him. "You know, this reminds me of how I acted when I thought you had died when we fought Desarain." He said.
She giggled, though it came out almost like a raspy gurgle. "Yes, I suppose so. What do you say we share true love's first and last kiss while we die?"
"That's the first good idea you've had since you charred Yoramisu's butt to a burning crisp." He said, and leaned forward, capturing her lips in his.
The kiss was rather bittersweet, partly because of the fact that they were dying, and partly because both of them tasted like blood, most but not all of it theirs.
"It feels warm…but I'm so cold…" She whispered, shuddering. Her vision was blurring, but she wasn't sure if it was from more tears or if it meant she really was dying. She could see his eyes beginning to glaze over as well.
"It's okay…" his breathing was starting to become labored as he fought to stay alive for just a little while longer. "I'll…keep you warm…"
"I know it's selfish, but…I wish we could have another chance…I know we'll be reincarnated, but still I wish our promises really will be kept…"
"They will…they…will…" He let out a small, grating cry of pain.
"And I wish we could find our friends, too, when we find each other."
"I promise…"
Before he could say just what it was that he promised, the Shikon no Tama, completed and lying beside them, flared up. A young, ghostly apparition that immediately reminded them of the statue in the cave near old demon slayers village appeared.
"Dear ones," the shade said, "thou hast fought so hard and so bravely, yet now ye receive only death and heartache in return. I shall grant thee thy wishes, but I warn thee, thou shalt not have thy happily ever after immediately, though thou dost deserve it. Unfortunately, the Fates are not that kind, and I can only do so much to aid thee."
Neither of them could nod, nor could they speak, so they merely closed their eyes, still clutching to each other as they breathed for the last time, their pained expressions melting away even as their spirits were taken from their bodies.
The specter disappeared as their friends rushed to their sides, and with it, it took the Shikon no Tama, which now glowed brightly in its pure state. It shimmered one last time, then disappeared into the never ending void of space and time.
XxXxXxXxXxXx
"Good night Miroku." Sango said.
"Good night Sango, my love." Miroku said, then kissed the sapphire on her head, then on her cheek. They both laid down and went to sleep.
"Miroku! We did it! We won!" Sango said as she jumped for joy.
"Yes, we did!" Miroku said, and reached out and hugged her, not having the sudden urge to grope her.
"Yay! We beat both Korugi and Kinara…and now Yoramisu is dead to!" Shippo called out with glee.
"Sango, your arm is cut…let me bandage it for you." Miroku said as he reached for the bandages that Sango's cat had brought.
"Thank you." Sango said. Afterwards, Miroku's expression turned to one of happiness to one of anxiousness. He ripped off the rosary that he had around his right hand and looked at it. His hand no longer had the endless black hole; neither did it have the disease that was started to spread from it.
"Oh Miroku! It's gone, along with the disease to!" Sango said. They turned to Shippo as the little kitsune screamed.
"Oh Gods! Kagome! Inuyasha!" Shippo screamed. He ran over to the two, Sango and Miroku how on his heels. Sango heard a small breath come out of the pair's mouths on the ground as she knelt down next to Kagome. She held out a hand to touch her. As soon as hand met flesh, she pulled it back immediately.
"No…" She whispered. Tears immediately filled her eyes.
"Kagome, my life long best friend…and Inuyasha, my half demon friend…and now their both dead!" Sango thought. Kagome had been her friend since they were five, and Inuyasha had been her friend since they were eight.
"Their dead." Miroku said.
XxXxXxXxXxXx
Kagome woke up with shuddering gasps, Inuyasha doing the same. They sat up and looked at each other in they eyes.
"Oh Inuyasha, I was so scared!" Kagome said as she leaned over and hugged him, burying her face in his clothes.
"I know, was to." Inuyasha said as he hugged her back.
"It felt so real! I've never felt so much pain in my life…well, if you don't count me dying at the hands of Naraku…" Kagome said.
"Let's go tell Sango and Miroku about this. They were in the dream…or should I say memory after all. That would be best." Inuyasha said.
"Yeah." Kagome said. She and Inuyasha got out of bed and put on their robes. Kagome opened the door quietly and they both walked into the moonlit hallway.
XxXxXxXxXxXx
Sango opened her eyes to find that her face and pillow were wet with tears. She sat up, wiping the salty water off of her face. She was shocked to see Miroku doing the same thing.
"Miroku…that dream…or should I say memory felt so real!" Sango said.
"I know…let's go tell Inuyasha and Kagome about it…after all, they did die in it." Miroku said. Sango nodded and they got out of bed, put on robes that Kagome had given them, and walked quietly into the dark hallway to find their way to Inuyasha and Kagome's room. About half way there, they bumped into someone.
"Sango! Miroku! We both had this dream that we had just fought a demon called Yoramisu…" Kagome said.
"Yeah, I know. We had the same dream. Let's go to the kitchen where we can see what's going on." Sango said. They went into the kitchen and each lit a lamp so that they could see. Each couple explained what happened in their dream. When Sango and Miroku finished their side of the dream, Kagome gasped.
"What's the matter Kagome?" Inuyasha asked her.
"That apparition that came out of the jewel…it was Midoriko!" Kagome managed out through her shock.
"Your right!" Inuyasha said.
"Well, we could ask her about it tomorrow because she said that she remembers everything that happened outside the jewel." Sango suggested.
"Yeah, let's do that. We'd better get off to bed." Kagome said. The others agreed, then got up, turned off their lamp, and went their separate ways, thinking about the strange dream that they had just had.
XxXxXxXxXxXx
Midoriko was walking down the hallway towards the dining hall when she heard someone call her name.
"Midoriko!" She turned around to see Sango, Kagome, Inuyasha, and Miroku running towards her down the hall. "Please wait!" Kagome yelled, stopping when she reached her. After they caught their breath, Kagome started.
"Do you remember a demon named Yoramisu?" Kagome asked her. Midoriko sighed, then nodded.
"He was a terrible demon about five hundred years ago. Finally, a small group wanted to put the war with him to an end. Over the course of a year, they fought with him, his army of demons, and his two underlings, Korugi and Kinara. The group consisted of a demon slayer, a monk, a kitsune, a fire cat, a miko and a hanyou. They finally reached his castle where he couldn't escape from, and they fought with him for the last time, the monk, demon slayer, fire cat, and kitsune taking on the army of demons and his underlings, the hanyou and miko taking on Yoramisu himself. They killed him, but the wound's inflicted on them during the battle were fatal, and they died together, me fulfilling their wish to be reincarnated until they could be together forever." Midoriko said.
"And…what were the names of the miko and the hanyou?" Kagome asked hesitantly. It took Midoriko a minute to respond, but when she did, she shocked everyone.
"Kagome and Inuyasha."
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
zodiakwizard: Thank you so much for being patient! I'm so sorry that it took me so long, but the computer freaked and just messed up this one document so I had to type it all over again! Well, thanks for reviewing!
i the bright angel: Hey! I'm so glad that you liked it! I read you story to, but the computer wouldn't let me review, so I'll tell you right now what I think. Maybe you should have her go to school, and there's this new guy there named Inuyasha. He can have silver hair with dog ears or the black hair with human ears, it doesn't matter to me. Anyway, back to what you should do. He could be really nice to her, or rude, but they become friends, and he helps her with Naraku and Kikyo by asking her over for the night every once in a while, and one night they could run away from everyone. That could happen, right? Well, when you review, tell me what you think! Again, thank you so much!
kyo's little koneko: I'm glad that you liked it! Thanks for reviewing!
inuyashaluver8844: Yeah, it has been a while, but yahoo has been messing up for me. And yes, the baby's real name is Koinu. I know that most people call them pups but I think I'll stick to calling them babies. And for once, you psychic abilities were wrong! LOL well, gtg!
Well, that was chapter 24! I hope that you liked it! Also, when you review, please leave idea's for chapters! I'm starting to run out of idea's! (-screams and runs away from the idea of having no idea's-) LOL. Well, I'm going to go and work on my other stories for now!
Join me next time for:
Chapter 25: The Mystery Revealed