To Which Future Do You Return, Kagome?
By. Tate Icasa
Part Five
That Which Remains
Kagome stopped short at the drawbridge.
There stood Kikyo, looking very pregnant and holding a struggling Jaken by the neck. The toad was rapidly changing from his usual ugly green color to a very interesting shade of blue.
"Kikyo! Don't kill him!" Kagome yelled.
Kikyo turned her head and released Jaken.
"This imp refuses to allow me passage into the castle." Kikyo stated.
Jaken said nothing, still gasping for breath.
Kagome moved a few feet away and released the lock on the crank and began to lower the drawbridge.
"Hey! Girl! Get away from there!" Jaken sputtered angrily.
"Fine." Kagome said, stepping back from the crank.
Jaken yelped as the bridge fell, catching on of his legs underneath.
Kagome smiled. "Now, Jaken." She berated. "I've told you my name a dozen times now, and some manners wouldn't hurt either."
Jaken seethed. "Lady Kagome, would you please remove this bridge from my foot?" He spat.
"There, now that wasn't so hard, was it?" She asked, raising the bridge high enough for him to get his foot out.
Without looking at him again, Kagome crossed the bridge, followed by Sango and Miroku (helping Kikyo), a very bouncy Shippo, and an angry, muttering and limping Jaken.
"Kagome, do you know where we're going?" Kikyo asked.
"Sure." Kagome said. She opened the door. Inside was the single bed and the window looking over the garden.
Shippo started running around the room excitedly, poking his head into everything.
Kagome watched him with a smile until he reached a door near the other end of the room.
"No, Shippo!" She yelled, reaching out a hand as if to stop him. He turned, but it was too late, his hand had already knocked the door open.
Kagome gasped. Sitting on the ground inside the closet was the skeleton on a man. But not just any man. A man with dog ears atop his head, and sitting atop a next of silver white hair. There was blood stained, yet otherwise perfectly reserved red Kimon wrapped around it's shoulders, but all other traces of clothing had disintigrated hundreds of years ago. It's claws were blood stained, it's pointed teeth were not.
Shippo jumped about a foot into the air and ran to hide behind Kagome's legs.
Kikyo had managed to get to the bed herself, and was, at this point, lying down with her eyes closed.
Kagome was surprised to realize that, while the sight of Inuyasha's bones dismayed her, she felt no repulsion. In fact, she felt nearly nothing. There were no tears n her eyes, as there were in her friends. It was, she decided, because she knew, somehow, that this was wrong, and she could change it.
Before she know what was happening, she had crossed the room and was kneeling beside the bones. None of the others said anything, they just let her sit there in silence. She slipped into a trance-like state, and the next thing she knew Sango had grabbed her wrists to stop them from moving.
"What?" She asked.
Sango looked down at Kagomes hands.
Kagome followed her gaze. Her hands, now still, were sitting upon a silver-white piece of cloth, she had unknowingly woven Inuyasha's hair into something.
Sango released her hands. Kagome lifted the object into the air. It was a kimono she realized. Then she looked around. It was dark outside, the stars and moon were the only light. Kikyo slept on the bed, each of the others scattered on the floor. She and Sango were the only ones awake.
She looked around her, and realized that she'd done more than just weave a kimono. Each of her arrows had one of his claws tied to the tip by a strand of his hair. Her bowstring had also been replace.
She picked up one of the arrows and began to untie the claw, but something made her stop. She glanced up.
"He'd want you to keep it." Sango whispered.
"That way it'd be like we was still protecting me." She put the arrows in her quiver, and set that and the bow against the wall.
Sango took the Kimono and wrapped it around Kagome's shoulders.
"You should sleep." She whispered.
Kagome nodded sleepily and lay down. Then she sat up again.
"Now what?" Sango asked.
Kagome shook her head and closed the closet door. Then she set her head down on the ground and closed her eyes.
Most people would have been bothered, sleeping so close to a corse.
All it did for Kagome was assure her that somewhere very near, Inuyasha's spirit slept.