Author Note: When I say "Series Parallel" what I mean is that the story will basically follow alongside the original. However, I want to change a few important events, and show the difference it makes. This in no way makes the story mine. Hopefully the changes are significant enough that you guys aren't bored. A big thank you to my first reviewer in my first fanfic ever, Aaliyah starnight!
Chapter 2: Boy who was Sealed.
They were sitting by the old miko's hearth, in a comfortable, tiny cabin on the edge of the village. The miko's name was Kaede, and Kagome liked the elderly woman a great deal. By now she felt much more at ease, and Kaede had explained a few things about their situation. Savoring her bowl of soup, Kagome continued her line of questioning, "So even though Kikyou sealed Inuyasha, you made a rosary to subdue him just in case?"
"Aye child, he has always been prone to doing… the unexpected," the lady said, with a guarded look in Inuyasha's direction. "I thought it best to be prepared. The rosary is keyed to holy auras, so that any priestess would be able to restrain him if the need arises, even my successor."
"Wow! You certainly plan ahead! If I put half the thought into my homework that you do into your job, I'd ace everything!" She smiled winningly at the thought.
Upon hearing her odd slang, the inhabitants of the hut looked at her askance but allowed for her strange behavior. She had informed them that she came from the 'future'. In fact, rumor was already racing around the town that she was a Miko who controlled Time. If only it was true! In that case, she would have quickly and easily wished herself home.
Growling with helpless frustration, Inuyasha punched his fist through the floor. "You mean this stupid necklace will work for ANY miko?" he snapped. "Take it off, busu!"
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Inuyasha," replied Kaede quietly. The fact that she was Kikyou's little sister was out in the open now, and she did not want to test his desire for revenge. She was not the powerful miko that her sister had been.
"You mean you won't!" he replied angrily and stood, looming over the old lady like a physical threat. "Look here! I am not going anywhere near Kikyou with a nuisance like this around my neck! Remove it!"
The room fell silent, and sudden tension soaked the air. Wondering what she had missed, Kagome glanced uneasily back and forth between them. The way it was explained to her, Kikyou and Inuyasha first had a friendly quarrel over the Shikon no Tama, then Kikyou had harmlessly pinned him onto a tree. The kind of thing that happens every day. Obviously there was more to the story.
"Ano… How long was Inuyasha sealed up exactly?" Kagome asked. "Since everyone in the village seemed to recognize him, I guessed it was only a short while?"
Calmly replying to both boy and girl at once, Kaede continued, "It has been over fifty years since Inuyasha was sealed, and Kikyou died. She met her end that very day."
For a moment, Inuyasha's eyes widened, before his expression seemed to recede, leaving nothing behind but an empty stare. And for a moment, Kagome could see her mother there, the same shuttered look on her face, waiting for the next few words in Grandfather's story to tell her that it wasn't true… it wasn't true.
But the moment passed as quickly as it came and the boy scoffed at them as usual. "Keh! That's a relief. Looks like she could eat dirt just as well as the next person."
Sipping her soup, Kagome watched him pretend not to care.
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It's already been two days since I arrived here. Everyone must be so worried about me… I have to find a way back soon! she fretted the next morning, as she watched the miko sleeping deeply on the other side of the room. Maybe the well in the forest holds a clue to lead me home? It's how I came here after all…
Slipping out of the hut, she reviewed the facts that she had been given. The 'Bone Eater's well', as Kaede called it, had a long and notorious reputation. Any dying or dead youkai that were cast into the well vanished from sight as soon as they reached the bottom. And as for how the Shikon jewel had gotten stuck inside the well, the elderly miko justified this easily enough.
It had been her sister's will to place it there.
Since the Tama had the power to grant anyone's wish, Kikyou's purpose had been to protect the jewel from youkai and humans alike, never to let it fall into evil hands. Yet she had not wanted to pass such a burden on to others. So she had devised a clever plan to dispose of the jewel once and for all. After she and Inuyasha fought, Kikyou entrusted the Shikon no Tama to her little sister. Laying down the groundwork of a spell with her dying breaths, she had instructed young Kaede to walk unto the dry well in the forest and to drop the jewel inside, at the time of her soul's passage from this world.
The Tama, like a youkai, was immortal. Over the years the villagers had disposed of many youkai by way of the Bone Eater's well, and Kikyou intended to destroy the Tama in a similar fashion. Burning it would not be enough; it could not be incinerated. Instead, she used the momentum of her death to drag the jewel into the endless void. If youkai could be killed and cast in the well, to disappear forever, then by tying the jewel to her soul as it moved from one world to the next, she hoped to effectively 'kill' the jewel and hide its body at the same time.
True to her word, Kaede had skipped her sister's last rites. It was the first village ceremony she ever missed, and the last. The elderly miko had realized her calling then, on a hill at the outskirts of a forest, watching the unearthly flames rising high from Kikyou's funeral pyre. Then, trudging to the well, she had done as her sister commanded, and the jewel had vanished from existence as planned.
But now, Kagome had somehow found the jewel once more. Since her touch alone was enough to purify the stone, Kaede claimed this meant she was a miko. Moreover, because she had resurrected the Shikon no Tama, its' guardianship fell to her. Ignoring her protests Kaede had given her a bow and arrows and insisted that she practice. Kagome did not like the idea one bit. She had no special powers, and she loathed archery! Once, when she was growing up, her grandfather had decided it would be a good idea for her to learn how to use a bow and arrows. After all, they lived on a shrine, and he believed in tradition. The experience had ended badly to say the least. She distinctly remembered standing in the hot sun, wearing a sweltering archer's uniform, and watching as an errant arrow tore through two screens and broke a vase in the house. The target at which she had been aiming had been in the opposite direction.
If only she could pretend all of this was a bad, birthday induced dream. Fingered the jewel once more, she took the necklace off and thought briefly of using the 'powers' of the jewel to wish herself home. Kaede had said it could grant any wish, right? The concept seemed childish though, and she held fast to her original idea that the well might take her back to the future. Gripping the stone tightly she continued her journey. Red eyes followed her through the forest as she ran.
With every step, Kagome felt more and more uneasy. The creeping tingling up her spine was just like the time she was pulled into the well…What is this feeling? she wondered. Then, as dark shapes burst through the trees straight toward her, she realized what she was sensing. A youkai!
She threw her hands up, but the youkai was not focused on her, only the Shikon jewel. The Shikon no Tama went flying out of her hands, snagged by the talons of a crow demon. Too late, she realized she had forgotten to put the necklace on again. Oops.
This could not be good. Panting, she changed course and ran after the youkai blindly. How was she going to explain this to Kaede? Or Inuyasha, for that matter, he seemed focused on obtaining the jewel also. Barely managing to keep up, she followed the crow demon to the river, but at this point she could do no more.
A red blur stretched out in front of her, and suddenly the white-haired boy was there. "Inuyasha!" she cried thankfully. "How did you know…"
"Is it safe?" he cut her off. When Kaede had awoken alone in the hut, she had alerted the villagers to the fact that Kagome might be in danger. Tracking her scent had led Inuyasha here, and judging by her face, he had not been fast enough. "The Shikon no Tama, where is it!"
Dumbly, she pointed toward the sky. The crow demon was rapidly growing in size, silhouetted against a backdrop of innocent fluffy clouds. "Aah!" he screamed in consternation. "This is the second time in two days you have allowed a demon to swallow the tama!"
"Well why don't you just kill it like you did the last one?" said Kagome petulantly, resenting his implication that it was all her fault.
"I'm going to!" he snapped back, before his annoyance peaked as he realized one unfortunate detail. "But I can't fly!" This girl would be the death of him yet. "You're a miko," he began again, "Why don't you shoot it down? Be useful for once." And grabbing her before she had the chance to reply, they sped after the airborne youkai as it reached the village.
Kagome bristled from her perch on his back. First of all, she was not a miko. Second, she didn't have her bow and arrows, and third she refused to help someone obviously so rude. He had just manhandled her like a sack of potatoes, and now she was supposed to do his bidding?
Although she was the one who had lost the Tama, she would grant him that much. And the crow demon did look pretty nasty as it dove toward a young village… child… "Inuyasha!" she pointed in warning. "It's trying to grab that kid!"
Using the opportunity presented to him with the crow demon so close to the ground, Inuyasha dove toward his opponent and sliced him open in one quick motion. The villagers murmured and fell back. Such a display of power was nearly unheard of in their area, and they looked to him with momentary awe. Then he opened his mouth again. "Where is the Tama now? Girl!"
"Hmph." She crossed her arms and turned away. "My name is Kagome. Ka-go-me. Say it with me."
"This is no time for a quarrel, this is serious!"
"Hmph!" Behind them, the crow demon began to regenerate, and took to the sky, piece by piece, as it came back together. Still Kagome waited, tapping her foot. Surely it was not that hard just to say her name politely, one time.
"Oi! Onna!"
Oh all right, Kagome gave up tiredly. For the sake of her sanity and poor little village children everywhere, in danger of being snatched up by giant crow demons, she would be the bigger person here. She would show him that if she were not skilled, at least she was clever. Politely requesting a bow and arrow set from a nearby villager, she picked up a piece of the crow demon that still lay on the ground, earning herself a growl from Inuyasha.
"As if you can hit it from this distance," he berated her, "Don't think I haven't been watching you practice. You're awful."
Resorting to junior high school bantering tactics, Kagome turned the conversation around. "Aww, you were watching me? I didn't know you cared."
And securing the crow demon's flesh to the arrow, she shot.
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From his perch on a rocky hillside, Sesshoumaru felt the awesome flare of energy from the East. A ball of light exploded on the distant horizon, and thousands of tiny shooting stars began to streak through the bright daytime sky as he and Jaken turned their eyes to the heavens.
"Na… nan da sore wa.." his retainer murmured fearfully. "What is that?"
They had been wandering the countryside for some time now, in search of his father's tomb. The late Inu no Taisho had left him a riddle to solve, before he could hold his birthright in his hands, and the power that it entailed. Of course, this was how it was meant to be. Father had always enjoyed a good battle of wits. And now that Sesshoumaru was in charge, and the lands had gradually settled down under his iron fist, he had enough spare time to seek out the Tessiaga. It was an excellent excuse to patrol his borders without interference as well.
The foreign light in the sky was worrisome however. It had a pinkish-purple tint that suggested the holy aura of a miko. Yet it also had the jaki of a demon. And while the currents of bright air rushing by him had no scent at all, they were incredibly alluring.
All in all, it reminded him of only one thing. "The Shikon no Tama," he murmured in reply to Jaken, his cold face impassive, even while his heart was sinking in his chest. The Shikon jewel did nothing but stir up trouble and cause unrest. In his lands.
This could not be good.
Mentally sighing, he turned and continued on his quest. And if the search for his father's tomb happened to lead him to the origin of this disturbance, then so be it.