Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted/licensed/trademarked materials mentioned in this fanfiction (from InuYasha to my references to Nine Inch Nails or Harry Potter). They are the properties of their respective copyright holders and I in no way am insinuating that I own them. (Consider it free advertising.) I only own the storyline and any new characters that may crop up.
Chapter Three: No Turning Back
"Sesshomaru! NO!" Kagome shrieked as he jumped down the Bone Eater's Well to shield them from Kanna's blast. They beheld the cosmic continuum that signaled that they were speeding for modern Tokyo. Sesshomaru, bearing an unconscious Sango under his arm and a wounded Kagome hanging over his shoulder (a shivering young kitsune clung to Kagome), dropped to his knees on the other side of the well. He was staring upwards, staring at the ceiling of the well-house in horror.
Kagome crawled off Sesshomaru's back and pulled the vial containing the two shards of the Shikon Jewel from around her neck hysterically. Shippo scurried away from her. She beat at the ground, "Open! Open! Come on, damn you! Let me back through! No! InuYasha! INUYASHA!" But the well would not reopen. I can't get back to him! We're all stuck here! I can't get back to him …
"Kagome," Sesshomaru muttered weakly, "Where are we?" But Kagome did not answer him. She simply leaned against the side of the well and stared at the jewel shards in her vial. Kagome pulled her hands to her chest and began to cry. Sesshomaru set Sango down, and questioned Kagome again. "Where are we, Kagome?" Panic was rising in his voice as comprehension slowly stole over him.
"My home," she choked out between sobs of grief.
"Nani!" he growled, bristling with desperation. "No!" he howled. "No! Rin!" He clawed at the earth trying to find someway back and avenge her. "Rin! Rin! Damn you, Naraku! She was a child! Rin!" He clawed and scratched at the ground. Sesshomaru howled with rage and despair. "RIN!" With a last howl, he crumpled like a dried leaf to weakly scrape at the ground. Sesshomaru, overwhelmed with sorrow and hate, simply left all pretenses aside and lay at the bottom of the well to weep.
Kagome turned to him, "Don't cry. She wouldn't want to see you like this," but she could say no more. Her sobbing became anew as Shippo inched his way out of the shadows and joined Sesshomaru in his grief. Sesshomaru lay crushed and broken in spirit. Shippo cried, for he loved Rin, too. Kagome clutched at the Tetsusaiga strapped about her waist as she thought of all who had died this night. She dared not think of InuYasha again, lest her soul be drowned with the agony. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sango stirring. Kagome rearranged herself to face Sango. Sango was trembling violently. She faced Kagome wide-eyed and terrified, "Where is he, Kagome? Where is Naraku?" Sango asked.
And the fullness of the situation came crashing down upon Kagome's shoulders. We weren't there to stop him anymore! Oh, Kami above me, what will face us once we get out of the well house? Mom! Grandpa! Sota! Oh no! Not them, too!
"Sesshomaru! Sesshomaru, please get up!" Kagome pleaded as panic infected her like a virus. But he would not move, for his soul had given in to the despair that Kagome fought off by the second.
"Kagome?" a small voice squeaked from above. She gasped as a small ray of hope gleamed within her.
"Sota?" she called back.
"Yeah. I heard screaming and howling. Is everything okay?"
"No, it's not. Get Mom! My leg is broken, Sango is hurt, and Sesshomaru has completely lost it!"
"They're there with you?" Sota asked.
"Just get Mom!" she demanded.
Her heart pounded in her ears while awaiting Sota's response. Please let me find them all safe. Don't let my failure affect them. Please, God, just let my family be okay …
"Okay. I'll be back."
She signed with relief. Mom's okay … Grandpa's okay …
Sango wept and her body shook with anguish, "Mi-Miroku … Kohaku … Kilala!" She sobbed and sobbed. Shippo crawled over to her and gently tapped Sango's arm.
"Sango," he said in a small timid voice, "Here." He opened his haori and all curled up by his belly was a sleeping Kilala. "I wanted to keep her warm. The poison was making her shiver so badly. I didn't mean to scare you."
"Oh, Shippo!" Sango hugged the little fox child tightly. "Thank you!"
A flashlight beamed down from above, and Kagome's mother called, "Is everyone all right?" She saw the cuts, bruises, and her daughter's broken leg, "Dear Kami! What happened?" Mrs. Higurashi tossed the rope ladder over the side of the well. She threw her leg over the side to climb down to her injured child.
"No, no, Mrs. Higurashi. I'll help her out. I'm not injured that badly," Sango called. Sango helped Kagome to her good leg and had Kagome climb onto her back. Sango made her way up the rope ladder bearing the injured priestess on her back. Mrs. Higurashi helped Kagome from Sango's back and set her on an old dusty crate. She fussed over her daughter's condition.
"Sweetheart, you need to get to a hospital!"
But Kagome was stubborn, "No! Not until everyone is out of the well!"
Shippo soon emerged with Kilala still tucked safely in his haori. He looked concerned. "Kagome, Sesshomaru won't move."
Kagome looked to Sango and they exchanged a baffled and worrisome glance.
"Sesshomaru," Kagome called gently.
No answer.
"My God, he's really upset," Kagome whispered.
"What are you talking about?" Sango asked quietly.
She doesn't know. Sango was unconscious … "Sango, Naraku killed Rin." Sango gasped and Kagome continued, "Kanna blasted her and Jaken with her mirror."
"Kami, no!" Sango cupped her hand over her mouth. She turned her head around. Sango's eyes watered with understanding as she noticed who else was missing from the group. She sank to the floor with tears flowing down her cheeks. "He didn't make it, did he?"
Kagome slumped, losing her arrogant posture. She slowly shook her head. Shippo sat next to Kagome and leaned on her.
"Isn't Sesshomaru InuYasha's brother?" Kagome's mom asked.
"Yes," Sango answered.
"And who was Rin?" Mrs. Higurashi asked.
"His ward. She was only ten," Sango answered again.
Mrs. Higurashi nodded and walked to the well. She mounted the rope ladder and climbed down. Sesshomaru still laid face down, unmoving.
"Who are you?" he croaked as Mrs. Higurashi touched down.
"I am Higurashi Chiaki. I am Kagome's mother."
He did not answer.
"They told me that you are InuYasha's brother."
"Half-brother," he half-heartedly growled.
"Still, he was related," she knelt next to him. Sesshomaru looked at her. Chiaki continued, "They also told me that you have lost a little one." He looked away, but Mrs. Higurashi kept talking, "I know that it is hard. I lost my husband when Sota was only two. His father brought us to this shrine. I felt as if I could never go on. I was devastated. All hope had been drained from me."
Sesshomaru looked back to Chiaki, "How did you go on?"
"I had two children to raise and protect. They needed my strength, and I needed theirs. Just as there are three people up there who need you. Oh, I know that all hasn't been real friendly between you, but you are all the strength they have left."
He looked at her pleadingly. I have no pride left to lose. All that I have ever fought for or loved is gone … "But who will be my strength, Chiaki?"
She smiled at him softly and patted his hand, "Lean on me when you need to. There will come a time when you will feel whole again." She stood, "Come on inside." Sesshomaru somehow got to his feet and followed Kagome's mother up the rope ladder. Kagome and Sango looked to him. Shippo had fallen asleep on Kagome's lap. Mrs. Higurashi gently took Shippo from her daughter's lap and smiled. "You always said he was cute, but I never imagined him to be so absolutely adorable. I'm going to show Sesshomaru and Sango in and get them comfortable. Then I'll lay Shippo down to sleep. When I come back, we'll go to the hospital to get your leg x-rayed and in a cast. Sango, would you please take the sword from her?"
"Mom, wait!" Kagome panicked.
"What is it dear?"
"Is everything still normal?"
"Why wouldn't it be?"
"I'll explain in the car, Mom."
Sango took the Tetsusaiga from Kagome, and Mrs. Higurashi took the trio into the house. Chiaki returned about fifteen minutes later with her purse and car keys. "Good thing we didn't sell the car. I've told your grandfather to make them tea, get them settled, and that we'd explain when you and I get home."
"Did he flip out?" Kagome asked as her mother put her arm around her shoulders to keep the weight off the broken leg.
"Of course."
Kagome raised an eyebrow, "Why didn't you flip out?"
Chiaki sighed, "When we get home, dearest."
After a quick, well-conceived lie about a nasty fall down the shrine's old well including how Kagome screamed for an hour before being heard, her leg was put into a cast, she was issued crutches, and sent home. Chiaki held the door open while Kagome hobbled in on her crutches.
"Well, young lady!" Grandpa griped immediately, "At long last I won't have to dream up an excuse for your absences! Now! I'd like a full explanation!"
Kagome, Chiaki, Grandpa, Sota, Sango, and Sesshomaru filed into the living room. The three launched into a lengthy account of the battle, their losses, and their escape. "That's why I asked Mom if everything was normal," Kagome stated, "I figured if we hadn't been there to stop Naraku that this world wouldn't be like this!"
Silence hung in the air like thick smog until Sesshomaru broke the silence. "There is one distinct possibility that you haven't thought of, Kagome."
"What would that be?"
"It was meant to happen like this."
"What?" Kagome and Sango interjected.
"How could that be, Sesshomaru?" Kagome asked.
He stood and began to pace around the living room with his hand stroking his chin, "First and foremost, your era is unchanged, suggesting that nothing in the past has changed. Secondly, I know that Naraku wished to possess the Tetsusaiga. He even had Sango try to steal it from InuYasha in exchange for her little brother. But the sword is in your possession. It was never left behind for him to scavenge. And most importantly, you still have two shards of the Jewel of Four Souls. His shard was incomplete. Is incomplete," he stopped pacing, "Either someone else killed him, or he is still alive and in hiding."
Grandpa hung his head and Chiaki's face was ashen pale. Mrs. Higurashi's voice trembled as she said, "He must be right."
Kagome turned in her seat to face her mother, "What are you talking about?" Her expression was somewhere between shock and anger.
Grandpa spoke up, "For generations it has been said that within the Higurashi bloodline that a child would be born for great things and that this child would possess legendary relics of the past."
Chiaki took over, "When you came out of the well after your fifteenth birthday, telling us the Sacred Jewel had come out of your body, we prayed for a miracle to keep you safe. I began to hope that this legend may be false, just so that you would be safe … but tonight, when I saw the Tetsusaiga around your waist, I had to face the truth. The Sacred Jewel and now the Tetsusaiga … It had to be true."
Kagome was shaking and she furiously shouted, "You knew this would happen and never told me!"
Chiaki began to cry, "I never knew this would happen! The legend was so vague, Kagome. We didn't know if it was just another fairy tale. We didn't know what would happen. We had no choice but to let destiny play itself out," she took a deep calming breath, "I wanted to seal the well forever. When your grandfather's sutras failed, I wanted TNT. But you told me that restoring the jewel was your responsibility. So I respected your wishes."
Kagome opened her mouth to speak but could not. Her mind was nearing overload. She thought it would burst from everything she just had to take in the past twenty-four hours. Sango put a hand on Kagome's shoulder, "I beg you, Lady Higurashi. No more tonight. She must grieve and accept this. We are all exhausted. Please, later."
Chiaki nodded, "It's more than enough for anyone. But I couldn't put off telling her any longer. Come on, girls. Go bathe and I'll get beds ready for everyone."
Sesshomaru thought A black end to a dark day.
The next day Grandpa asked if they would appreciate a memorial service for their fallen comrades and loved ones. They accepted graciously. "This will help us find closure," Kagome said.
Sesshomaru and Sango simply bowed and said, "Thank you, Grandfather Higurashi."
Shippo timidly suggested, "D'you think I could draw pictures of everyone for the memorial? Would that be okay?"
Sango lifted the little fox and softly said, "Yes, Shippo. That would be fine. We appreciate it. And they would, too."
He sniffed, starting to cry again, "I need a new box of crayons though." He pulled his old box out of his haori and ran his hand over it tenderly, "She loved these . . . I want to put them on the – the gravestone."
"Excuse me," Sesshomaru said abruptly and stepped out of the room. Shippo looked to the ground as his eyes filled with guilty tears.
"It's okay, Shippo," Kagome cooed reassuringly. "It's hard for him, too. Rin would appreciate this. I'll get you some new crayons."
Chiaki picked up crayons and drawing paper for Shippo the next time she went to the store. Shippo worked hard for three days on the seven portraits he had to draw. When he finished Grandpa prepared the shrine for the memorial service. To their surprise Grandpa had obtained seven large stones, and he and Sota had carved everyone's names on their own stone. Shippo solemnly placed each portrait by their respective stone. He placed Rin's portrait with special care and then he set his old box of crayons with the picture. Shippo's bottom lip quivered as he began to cry.
Sango and Kagome leaned on each other and wept. "I loved him, Kagome, and I never told him. I'll never be able to forgive myself!" Sango cried.
Kagome petted her hair, "He knew, Sango. Every time you slapped him, every time you called him 'lecher,' he knew that you loved him."
"Did InuYasha know that you loved him?"
Kagome blushed softly, "Yes, he did."
Sango saw her blush and looked her square in the eye, "Kagome?"
She blushed more, "He was my mate."
"When?"
"The night before …" and her tears began anew.
"Oh, Kagome," Sango hugged Kagome, and they both mourned the men they loved.
Sesshomaru went to stand before Rin and Jaken's stones. Shippo still wailed for Rin. Sesshomaru knelt before the stones and he set a hand on the little one's shoulder. "I will avenge her, Shippo. She did not deserve to die so young."
Shippo sobbed, "She was the most beautiful girl. She was kind. I didn't want her to die."
"Neither did I, Shippo," Sesshomaru said as a tear leaked from each eye and dripped down, leaving stains on his haori.
When all tears subsided, everyone (including Grandpa, Mom, and Sota) picked up a stone. Kagome bore InuYasha's. Sango carried Miroku's. Sesshomaru let Shippo carry Rin's while he carried Jaken's. Grandpa, Mom, and Sota bore the stones for the Wolf Demons. They placed the stones in a ring around the base of the God Tree and Sesshomaru spoke, "Let no one forget the sacrifices that these seven made so we may live. Never forget. If Naraku still dwells within this world, he will answer for their deaths."
There was a mighty crack of thunder and it began to rain.
