DISCLAIMER: I don't own Inuyasha.
:Last Dream:
-an Inuyasha fanfiction-
by C.o.m.t.e.s.s.a
(---)
"…." talking
(….) thinking
(---)
Chapter 3:Kekko:
Kagome continued walking pensively through the bustle of evening Tokyo. Lights were beginning to flare up and people swarmed about. As it had been a nice summer day, the streets were overflowing like a tidal wave of people, like a fish bowl with a hundred little fishes trapped in it.
Her sandaled feet took her towards the nearest bus stop. Her home was a bit far from Tokyo Tower, more near the residential area or suburbs. As it was getting late, she'd decided to ride the bus. While her body moved, her mental hinges turned.
The case was the only thing occupying her mind-and in a distant, hushed part that creepy torii-standing demon from a while ago; she could think of nothing else! Her head was a mass of scrambled ideas and half-baked suppositions, all fighting and epopeyic war to call her attention.
She couldn't for the life of her figure out what in the name of Buddha was wrong with the girl. Had she been cursed?
(No, impossible. A curse always leaves a trace in a person's aura.)
Had she been drugged, then?
(No! The forensics and doctors would have surely noticed something like poison on her. Yet they said she was, as far as physical goes, completely healthy...)
"Yeah, right...that's why she's so healthily unconscious, ne?" she muttered bitterly, and kicked a small pebble.
Had she drifted too far in her meditation?
(Can't be. Too much time's passed; her body, without the soul, should've already withered...)
Kagome was beginning to feel the pressing need to pull her hair off. Instead she growled.
"Argh!" Kagome cried in frustration, crossing her arms and tapping the ground with her left foot.
By this time, Kagome was already standing near the bus sign. A young woman in her twenties, with long chocolate hair loosely bound at the back and dressed in a simple blouse-and-skirt summer outfit, stared in mild shock at this steaming, strange girl.
"Ehrm….miss? Are you alright?" she asked –partly in courtesy, partly in curiosity- with a tentative tone. Her eyes were like almonds, and a soft pink shadow over them accentuated their shape.
"Huh?" Kagome whirled around, blinking to clear her wandering thoughts.
"I said, are you alright there? You seem a little bit….eh...off?" she made a graceful gesture with her hand. She was taller than Kagome, of a slim but strong complexion. Her face was mature despite having, apparently, not so much age difference with Kagome.
"Mmm? Ah, hai. I'm fine, thanks," Kagome tensely smiled.
(It's just that the Head Priestess of the entire Mikado's Shinto Religion has fallen mysteriously asleep and I'm supposed to reawaken her! A-ha-ha-ha! Me! Poor old me, who can't even paint her fingernails without varnishing in bright red half her hand! )
She was feeling a little hysteric now.
The woman raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow at the girl's slightly quivering lower-lip.
Upon seeing the other's waiting expression, Kagome supplied, "I'm just a little on edge, that's all. Just some minor... problems."
The woman looked at her dubiously.
"Alright..." she said and turned around with a flick of her long hair, thus finishing the exchange. She thought girls these days just didn't know what real problems were.
Kagome thought normal young women would never understand what having eighteen and a whole load of miko-ish responsibilities felt like.
Sighing, she rested her tired body against the bus pole. Her shoulders ached a little and she was sure tonight was going to be a no-sleep one.
The bus took it's bright little time in coming. By the time it did, the sun had already sank completely and the depths of the buzzy, hot summer night had began deepening.
Quietly she climbed in and sat at the back seat next to the window.
Her eyes roamed the passing streets full of life, electricity, yet she remained apathetically disconnected.
Fastly her holydays were running out and still she hadn't had time to properly enjoy them. What with working full time at the shrine, training, and studying she hadn't gone out on the almost already gone two weeks.
Her friends had come by her house a couple of times, with offers of forest picnics and disco nights, but every single one of their invitation had been received with a quiet "sumimasen" and a lame excuse or other.
Kagome groaned. A headache was coming on.
Not long ago her grandfather had taken up the civil duty of inventing bizarre old-people's sicknesses to fill the heads of her poor, unsuspecting friends in order to help her. Yet it had somehow bounced back when Houjo, a young, blithe sempai at her school -whom had apparently developed a serious case of infatuation towards her- had made his civil duty to bring each and every herb/ointment/pill/etc. in existence to help her heal them.
(Yeap. Here comes the headache...)
Now, Houjo visited the shrine everyday with his customary smile and wrapped up medicine, only to be rejected by her grandfather with his vapid allusions to a new sickness...which, in turn, made him come back again the next day! Oh, the endless circles of the amused Fates...
She sighed. It was enough that she had to deal with creepy supernatural things and have her entire life bound to a little shinny, encased pearl -that, by the way, she'd never be able to pawn or use for it's legendary propensity to cause world chaos- that she also had to deal with this trifling, everyday life!
It was impossible not to see that in the depths of her heart the molding she was forcing herself into to become the most similar semblance of a proper miko was fastly draining her. On this dreadfully hot night, Kagome was pondering for the hundredth time that very same week, if trying as hard as she did was really worth the effort.
Her head thumped with a rhythmic pulse.
At that precise moment, it definitely didn't seem so.
(Kaa-san always says that we should make the best out of what is given to us, but…. Oh, it's so hard sometimes that I just want to scream and take the first plane to Fiji for some well-deserved extended holydays! mental sigh Alright, alright, I know I'm exaggerating.)
"This is just a phase, only a phase. Like the flu or….ehmm…. pre-adolescent pimples," she mumbled and couldn't help giggling with the off-handed memory of her ear-splitting wail for having to live with a huge pimple on the nose for a week crossed her mind. She had been so young at the time…. waltzing through her merry fifteen. (Actually, it was only a couple of years ago. Mmm…. My God, time DOES fly by, doesn't it? It feels like an eternity ago...)
Looking out through the window, she saw her stop was near. Quickly, she stood up and climbed down the bus. (Only two more blocks and I'll be happily safe at home. Kaa-san must be preparing dinner...mmm… perhaps she prepared tempura, or soba! Oh, heavenly soba, my favorite!)
Kagome instantly felt her mouth water, the day's problems forgotten...well, almost.
She couldn't help the flash of the image of the little daisaiin crossing her mind. (Such power, how can that be humanly possible?) She shrugged mildly. The girl was the Emperor's High Priestess, after all. Kagome supposed that having grand powers was a must on the curriculum.
The girl had seemed to her like a porcelain doll though, or the impersonation of an apparition, so pretty and delicate, enshrouded by her blood coloured hair and ambary linens.
(She certainly does look like a butterfly), Kagome conceded, as she hurriedly climbed the steps of her home.
As she reached the top, Kagome unconsciously glanced up the torii and shivered.
The demon, or whatever that thing had been, had been standing at the now closed Kyoudenkyo shrine's gate. He'd been staring at her. Fixedly staring.
(...and that youki, such odd feeling youki. I should talk to jii-chan about it...
But what if it was my imagination? I have been a little under stressed lately, so...)
A pause.
"But what if it wasn't?" Kagome felt the creeps making their way down her spine. Though the weather was bordering hot with the approaching night, she couldn't help the chill of dread that coursed her spine.
If indeed she hadn't imagined it and that kind of being really existed...Well, then to say they were pooped´ would be mild. It was so powerful that it could hide and disappear in a second without a trace, just like….
"Oh my God!" Kagome gasped, eyes going wide and hands flying to her mouth. (It-it could be connected. He could be involved in Kajiura-redis state, couldn't he! I mean, how many people can have such cold power? He looked so suspicious, too… what with hanging over a wooden pole on deserted shrines and all...
OH-MY-GOD! It could've been him! And I just had him in front of my eyes!)
In a second, she dashed towards her house, a barrage of possible connections between the two creepy events flying in her brain.
(I need the phone! I need to speak to Miroku!)
(999)
"Argh!" Kagome growled and stomped her foot against the carpeted floor, phone firmly grasped to her ear.
"He's not home! How is it possible! It's bloody Wednesday, for God's sake. Where in the name of Kami did he went to and at this time!"
"Argh!" Kagome clicked the communication off and dialed again.
Five minutes later and still nothing. "Dammit, Miroku! Where are you?" She conveniently shut out the little voice at the back of her head that whispered him being absent on a Wednesday night wasn't so odd. After all, he did have a life and holydays to enjoy…
Kagome sighed dejectedly.
She had reached her house in a blurry flash, barraged towards the phone and called her friend...only to have no one answer it!
Also, her house seemed to be inconspicuously empty..
(I'm hungry, frustrated and there's no one to take it off on!)
"I need a cup of tea," Kagome finally sighed, placing the phone on the receiver and dragging herself to the kitchen. It was a true bitch when things just didn't work as she wanted. Switching the lights on, she moved to the counter. On top of it, in her mother's neat writing, she read they had gone out for a quick visit to the market for some last-minute buys.
"This is just not my day," she said moodily, moving about putting the kettle and preparing her green tea.
She sat dejectedly at the table, resting her head on her outstretched arms.
Her brain was spinning with ideas and conjectures and the haziness product from coming in too close a contact with the daisaiins aura. And then having to feel that youki so soon after –less than an hour, for Kamis sake!- just hadn't helped.
She put a cool hand to her forehead. "C'mon Kagome...you've felt drowsy before." She looked longingly at the back of the fluffy sofa on the other room, too far away of comfortable reach. Instead she plopped head down once again, eyes closed, rapidly drifting off.…
...only to be awakened by the whistle of the kettle.
She opened one eye. "Uhn. Tea's ready."
Standing, she moved about the mechanics of preparing hot ocha in automatic. Then, lumbering towards the living-room, she sat on the sofa and stretched.
"Ah….so goo-d." Grabbing the cup between two hands, she sipped softly. Hald-lidding her eyes, she let the hushed atmosphere of the empty house lull her into a semblance of peace.
It lasted very little, though. The face of an unconscious child just kept popping on her mind. She wanted to help her, she really did; but she had no reliable experience on solving detective cases like this one. She tried picturing what the characters of the police novels she had once been so fan of would do…
"O-kay let's think fast... How to solve a mystery?" She stood gingerly for the action made her spine sound, something she hadn't expected.
"Ouch! Right... no rough movements, then. Let's see, I need…. paper and a pen, and the case's folder, too." She got up to retrieve these items.
She had never been sharp enough to solve mysteries for she couldn't pride herself on the quick mind they required, yet she had accepted this burden and she was hell-bent on seeing it through. The case was a dire one, and certainly more complicated in it's mysticality than any she'd faced before. There were very few clues, naming the blood...
(...from a dead goat that, as it was a goat and now dead cannot be counted as proper witness or suspect.)
The scream…. (belonging to the daisaiin, according to what Shikimura-san alleges….)
And Shikimura himself.
(Wait a minute...) Kagome furrowed her brow and began quickly passing the pages on the folder, skipping through it's content with eager eyes.
(Here says Shikimura was the first to hear the scream, because by the time the other shotens reached the main pagoda, he was already there. Yet he was not the one closest…
So, how...?)
A that moment, the front door slammed shut, the voices of her family drifting to her ears and efficiently cutting off her current train of thought.
"Oh, konnbanwa, Kagome-chan," her mother greeted, placing several plastic bags on the floor at the foot of the door. "How was the meeting?"
"Ah, i-it was fine, kaa-san," she replied, moving up to help her mother and grandpa enter the rest of the groceries. "Demo... I couldn't do much to help."
Kagomes mother moved towards the kitchen with the precision of a master of her craft. She quickly began unwrapping supplies, taking out bowls and cups from the high cupboards, and simply setting to make dinner.
Meanwhile Kagome, whom had followed behind, sat once again at the table and began to retell the events of that afternoon.
"I see…." her mother said as the tale wore off. "She has aura reaction but no mental recognition. It is rather tricky, indeed."
Kagome nodded her head distractedly. "The worst is I can't find anything odd in all this. Except…. well, I've been rereading the case's folder and," Kagome halted. "Apparently, it was Shikimura-san whom heard the scream first."
"Is it now?"
"Yes. He said it was very loud and... distressed. That's why he ran in to check. But I've been thinking…. How's it possible he was the first to reach her when he wasn't the closest in location? The daisaiin was praying inside the main pagoda, yet Shikimura-san was said to have been spotted carrying some documents into the shrine's library…which is located all the way across the yard… Also, it was a normal hour at the shrine, other shoten were all around there, yet when the other's appeared at the pagoda's door, they said Shikimura-san was already kneeling beside her, and that no more than five minutes had gone by since the scream. When he saw the other's coming in, he called the daisaiins guard…." her voice drifted as she tapped her chin lightly. She was going into some very wild speculations here, but it was the only thing that seemed to nag her brain into attention "But why wait? Why didn't he do it immediately?"
"Have you spoken of this with Tatakai-san?" her mother asked, setting the table.
Kagome shook her head. "Iie. I only saw this now. I was trying to contact Miroku, but he isn't home."
She rubbed the bridge of her nose. "This so confusing, and hard, and mind-wobbling…" She sighed. "I'm working on it, I truly am, but—I just don't think I'm getting anywhere…and my head feels as if it was swimming in marmalade," she said, depleted. "I only wish there was something else I could do…."
Kagome resumed her half-sprawled position over the table, head resting resignedly on her arms.
Her mother turned and focused compassionate eyes at the despondent figure of her daughter. "Oh, Kagome-chan… don't feel so down. I'm sure everythingll work out fine, you'll see."
Kagome simply moaned an assent.
The woman regarded her daughter for a moment more, then reached a slender hand and softly caressed the girl's forehead, face worried. "Mmm….you look a bit under the weather, too. Have you eaten anything for lunch? You weren't home all morning."
Kagome smiled ruefully. Despite all the odd things that happened around them, her mother was the permanent anchor. Full of sweet smiles, not many advices but an endless amount of reassuring platitudes, she was the pillar that held together the concave ceiling that were the Higurashi.
"Hai. I ate at WacDonald's on the way back from archery. I'm just a little tired, that's all." She managed a mischievous smile now, blue eyes wide and pleading. "But with the heavenly soba you'll most surely prepare for your most brilliant daughter, I'll be flying up in no time!"
Her mother laughed, "Yes, yes..." and quickly moved towards the stove to prepare the ordered dish. "It'll take a little time to be done. Why don't you take a bath meanwhile?" she suggested, turning. "I'll call you when it's ready."
Kagome stood and stretched her back. "Ha-i. I think that's just what I need."
Turning, she went upstairs.
Ten minutes later, Kagome sighed contently as her body immerged slowly on bubbly water. She rested her towel-covered head against the furos edge, the jasmine scented water smoothly rippling at her chin. In the background, some old CD she'd found lying around her bedroom played a placid tune. Music while bathing helped her relax and quieten the jumble that was her everyday brain. At least, it usually did.
Moving a little to find a comfortable spot, she closed her eyes. (Ah… the sweet pleasures only a furo provides...)
Thoughts still swarmed her brain, like the obnoxious buzz of mosquitoes. Her eyes opened, half-lidded as she stared distantly at the whitened ceiling. The right hand's finger twiddled lazily with the edge of the bath-tub and water, creating constant bubbly ripples.
(I should talk to Shikimura-san, or the detective in charge of the investigation tomorrow.
(Such an odd thing for that man to be there...Could it be that--? No, impossible! But…perhaps…was he in there already when she screamed? But why? Why would she scream with him there? No one would dare attack with an audience to testify later, so…
Was she even attacked at all?)
"Didn't anyone else see this?" She moved a little, drops of water wetting her nose. (Hmm...)
Her eyes dropped closed again. She felt weary, tired of having possibilities and what-ifs prancing inside her skull. But she couldn't help it, couldn't avoid the fact of feeling the desperate need to solve this. A child's life depended on her, and she'd be damned if she let her down.
She sighed despondently, her heart lurking painfully in her chest. How could anyone be so cruel as to harm a little girl –she being a powerful priestess aside? Why would a child be the receptor of such a treatment, for surely she was innocent? (Of course she's innocent, what crime could she have committed to be so punished?)
Kagome blinked languidly, sleep pressing upon her like a warm blanket. (I'm not thinking right…mmm…so tired…)
Quietly, she drifted asleep.
(999)
The night bloomed in utter blackness, with no moon to light it's depths.
Tokyo's National Park was plunged in the hot darkness of the summer night. It laid still as the hours moved slowly by towards midnight, stars dotting a velvety sky as they shone brighter and brighter when darkness deepened.
In the ground, the trees and bushes and the earth itself were of a black so profound that they seemed to have blended one with the others in monstrous creations of shadows and dark. No trace remained to be seen of the sunny Wednesday that had passed now beyond existence.
The National Park had once been, some 500 years in the past, the lush expanse of a forest so deep that very few had dared willingly enter it. It had been famous for it's fabled tales of demons and monsters haunting it's every nook and cranny, ensnaring unsuspecting villagers or travelers into it's depths to be unmercifully murdered...or even devoured. The once small village of Edo had flourished at it's border, and legend tells they had never suffered damage from the external armies that at that time of the Warring Era were so commonly seen ravaging small towns in raids of blood and plunder. It's inhabitants, peasants of no real knowledge aside of the craft of rice-farming and the fervent faith in invisible deities, had attributed this to the belief of a half-breed of an inu mononoke living in the woods whom protected them from harm. They had taken to say that this powerful half-demon of white hair prowled the forest's vastness in search of a mystical pearl that granted wishes, eliminating any who dared challenge his domain. The villages around reveled in this for he unconsciously secured no army to attack them.
He was said to be the illegitimate son of the once demon Ruler of the West, Inu no Taisho, and of a human hime of rare beauty. They had fallen in love at first sight on the night of the new moon, sealing their love by conceiving a son.
Yet their romantic escapade was not meant to be an idyllic one. Nine months later, under the darkened eye of a moon eclipse, the hime gave birth to a hanyou babe.
From here on the story takes many turns or twists of plot, according to the fancy and imagination of whom is telling it. Some say the babe was secretly taken far away from her mother, and abandoned on the gloomy depths of the forest that would later become his domain. Others, that on the night of his birth his wounded father came in search of him, but was detained and later slaughtered by the jealous captain of the himes personal guard, Setsuna no Takemaru. Others insist that he lived amongst humans in the dwellings of his mother's home, until she died of sickness and he was shunned away for his accursed nature by the very sames whom had protected him until then.
Some even alleged he possessed a brother of full demon blood, the ruler of the new House of the West, whom despised his very name.
Of course, non of these could truly be proved.
Still all stories coincide in that he soon became a rare being of even rarer prowess. He lived and was the main character of many adventures of danger and great heroism, many of them of dubious reality. With hair spun of silver and the eyes of the Devil himself, he forged with claws and sword his own mystical existence.
On those conflictive times, even mentioning his name would make the blood of any human and demon alike tremble.
Inu-Yasha... the half-demon.
No one had truly ever seen him in the face. Some alleged they'd seen his silvery shadow pass on the nights of the full moon, or heard his growl when he slaughtered some poor bugger who'd stumbled in that forbidden place.
No one knew him, or at least, no objective historical record was left behind on the nature of his presence...as is bound to happen to all demons and spirits of ancient times. Yet his legend was once created, his story of a shattered love for a miko who was not destined for a happy end once passed from mouth to mouth, and though no foolproof existed -not even in his time- of him, he became real. The stories made him so.
Edo moved from little village to sprawling town with the passing years, as the fires of feudal wars were quenched and the ashes of it's vestiges smoked into history. Still the forest remained in all it's glorious vastness untouched by human hands for many years more, as deep and profoundly mysterious as it had been so long ago.
Humans scattered and increased, and Inu-Yasha's Forest rapidly became the last hideout of demons and sprites, of fairy tales and legends.
But Modernism caught up with Japan far too quickly for the survival of these mystical beings, and even the respect and mystery that the forest had been enshrouded in, was soon forgotten.
Thus Edo grew and became Tokyo, from town to city to megalopolis in the blink of a five centuries-old eye. All forests and woods began vanishing with their legends, for now it was time for Reasoning.
Inu-Yasha's Forest diminished in extension and frondness; and though it survived, it saw itself reduced to only a quarter of what it had once been.
It became Tokyo's National Park….
At last midnight came and went, and still the heavy darkness remained undisturbed in this ancient, mystery-cloaked place. No sound stirred it beyond the lonely hoot of an owl, or the flap of wings of invisible bats. Everything laid still, inert, deathly quiet.
Time seemed to have been frozen in it's hinges.
Suddenly, there was a rustle of leaves. A twig snapped, the crack resonating like a gunshot in a cathedral. The air subtly changed, charging with invisible electricity.
There was a hushed hiss, and some dry leaves that laid scattered on the floor, moved up and flew gently like caught in the tendrils of the wind…but there wasn't any wind. Softly, they rested on the blackened grass again.
Another twig snapped. Behind the cover of darkened trees, a figure emerged.
It wore blackness for a cape, yet it was different from the surroundings in that it didn't seem made of fabric at all -or shadows for that matter-. It seemed dressed of a void in space, not the colour of black but the lack of it. It was as if it was wearing a hole in the Universe for a cloak.
It glided slowly, it's clothes barely swishing, it's feet never touching the ground. The crackle of magic followed it as it passed like a silent spirit between tall trees and vines, never touching them, never making any sort of contact with the earth. Until it reached a shadowed meadow near the entrance of the Park. There, he remained standing for some time, completely blending with the night.
Suddenly, with a soft rustle of his cloak, the figure whistled.
In the sky, a new sound could be heard approaching. They were many flapping wings. Birds alighted hushedly on the trees surrounding the meadow. They were crows, thousands of them, with sharp beaks and glinting red eyes, that focused on that silent wanderer standing still in the middle. The trees soon filled with these winged predators, uncharacteristically silent. Immobile, they awaited.
On the ground, leaves and twigs sizzled with energy. The figure shuddered and it's cape bellowed around in the air, the folds of void material twisting and disappearing. The cloak sputtered backwards in a sudden flurry of feathers, as a pair of midnight wings unfolded on the figure's bare back.
It lowered his wings gently and breathed deeply. Once again the atmosphere stilled.
Some of the birds in the trees fluttered and cawed, restless, yet their eyes remained solely on the winged thing of the meadow. Their senses were alert, scrutinizing even to the tiniest shift of the other.
The dark figure slowly turned it's head upwards and surveyed the trees around through a mat of long darkened hair, with rugged black plumes scattered on it here and there. A sudden smile broke on his face and he barked a maddened laughter to the crows that watched him.
"I have seen it! I have seen who guards the Pearl, at last!" he croaked, his voice a barely discernible human sound, for it resembled more that produced by the crows. He laughed again. "Yesss, she's just a child! And the reincarnation of she who locked us so, so long ago!"
His maddened laughter echoed again through the forest. He extended his feathered arms to his side, his grin shinning pearly white towards the sky.
"We'll be free at last! We'll be strong and one again!"
The birds cawed all together at this, a deafening, piercing sound, and shifted their wings.
He whistled, and four crows descended from their perch to land on his extended arms. He petted them and groomed them with his tongue. "How we've longed for this moment, haven't we?" It said in a coy whisper. "Yesss, yesss we have. The Pearl will be ours and her blood will flow as a token of our revenge…"
He chuckled and crooned eerily as one of the birds pecked his hair. Then, with another flurry of blue sparks and black feathers, he pushed the birds upwards. All the crows spread their wings and took flight as one single, deep black bird. Over the hiss of the fluttering wings, the maddened laughter echoed, followed by the figure's croaked, crowy voice. "Go! Go and spy on her! She'll be ours by the time the moon rises again!"
He laughed, his lean frame shaking, his black wings unfolding.
With a single beat, the figure rose high, some stray feathers droning down in laziness. As he rose, his chant became a whisper lost to the forest air. "She'll be ours…. She'll be ours…. She'll be ours…."
"….she'll be…mine…."
The tree branches stopped moving as the flutter of it's wings disappeared. The National Park promptly plunged in quiet darkness once again.
(999)
Morning dawned and quickly became midday. A pleasantly hot day was barely unfolding.
Inside Kagomes bedroom silence reigned supreme as her figure snored quietly over the softness of her bed.
Outside, little birdies sang merrily to the summer sky as Kagomes grandpa swept the cobbled grounds and muttered darkly about said merry birdies dropping their blessings on his consecrate floor.
In the kitchen, Kagomes mother hummed an old romantic tune as she finished setting up the table for lunch.
It still seemed to be just another common summer Thursday to all who witnessed it. The key word here being still, because within the next few minutes Souta snaked his way inside Kagomes room with a large glass of ice-cold water firmly held in his hands and a grin that put the devils themselves into shame.
Slowly, very slowly, he approached the oblivious person that was his onee-san. Right hand moving forward, glass tipping down and….
Splash!
"AIIE!" Kagome quickly incorporated, simultaneously hauling at him the first thing that she came into contact with from her night-stand: a pink and yellow box of tissues.
"Oy! Hey, that hurt!" Souta scowled indignantly, left hand massaging the sore spot where the box hit on his forehead.
Kagome blinked away the remains of her dream (Wasn't I riding a purple cloud over Okinawa…?What…Where am I?)
Unconsciously, she passed a hand through her now dripping wet fringe and narrowed her eyes.
Understanding dawned.
(Sou--)
"--ta!" She turned her head in a flash, murder in her eyes.
Her little brother eeped and gave a step back.
(Wrong move!) his mind chortled, as Kagome sprinted from bed in order to wring his neck into the next life.
"Come here, you little prank!"
"Iie! kaa-san! HELP!"
"Don't run, coward! kaa-san, stop him!"
"Okaa-san!"
They ran like two stomping wild rhinoceros, from up to downstairs in a blink. Then they moved to the living-room, passed the kitchen, yelled in the hallway and finally tackled one another in the yard.
"Iie! Kagome!" Souta cried as his sister began mercilessly...tickling him.
"Onee-san! Don't...Ahahahaha...don't...Ahahahaha! Stop, onegai!" he threw random pushes in the general direction of his sister, yet Kagome was relentless in her tickling attack.
"You deserve this! Why. did. you. splashed ME WITH WATER!"
He only laughed harder, as she found his weak spot on the sides of his belly.
"Now, now children...Behave," their grandfather's voice came from somewhere in the vicinity. He approached them, sighing at their childish antics. "Stop this or you'll force me to separate you with the broom."
Kagome raised her head and smiled a good morning greeting at him. Souta took advantage of the distraction and switched places. Now he was on top, tickling her.
"Ah! Souta you little back-stabber!" she cried, but couldn't help laughing at his assault.
"Surrender?" he asked in mock seriousness.
"Never!" She pushed him off, and grabbing a handful of sakura petals that laid in a neat pile near her -which her grandfather had so painstainkingly been piling all morning-, she threw it at him. Squarely on his face.
"Sakura wars!" he yelled, quickly dodging, and straining to reach for his own handful.
"No! Stop! My work..." their grandpa bellowed, stumbling after them with one fist raised and the broom threateningly shaking at them clutched on his other hand.
They ran, one after the other all around the cobbled yard, their yells and laughter echoing, blending with the sounds of the city.
"Children! Stop this nonsense. Right. Now." A firm feminine voice said, coming from the house's door.
At once the three of them froze, Kagome in mid dodge, Soutas arm outstretched as he had thrown a ball of dirt and pink petals which were still falling all around them, grandpa waving his broom in the air maniacally. They turned slowly, guilty eyes focused on mama Higurashi who stood with one brow raised, hands crossed over her chest.
The petals blew gently and settled, scattered on the once groomed ground.
(Oh, oh...) Kagome thought, and gulped.
"Now," the woman said with a stern note. "Kagome, Souta, apologize to your grandfather for the mess you've made..."
Kagome and Souta both sighed, relieved that their punishment had been so tiny.
"...and clean up the yard. Souta, you'll also clean your sister's room for having thrown water on her bed."
Kagome smirked and Souta groaned.
"But...but kaa-san," came Soutas whine. "I tried to wake her as you said, but she wouldn't listen! I only did what was necessary..."
The woman sighed.
"Now, don't be silly, Souta-kun, you know perfectly well that what you did was very rude," came her once again amiable tone. "Hurry up and clean all this, or you'll miss lunch."
Ah, lunch, the magic word to break the spell. In a blur of movement, Kagome and her brother grabbed brooms and began working, still throwing some dark whispered remarks here and there to one another.
The work passed quickly and so did lunch, in a flurry of familiar chat.
Later, Kagome stood at the door of the shrine's pagoda, fully prepared to attend her miko duties. She was dressed in formal miko attire, staring fixedly at the altar that resided in the pagoda's middle. She was standing with an arm over her tummy, the other raised as slender fingers lightly tapped her chin. The sunrays illuminated her thoughtful posture, marking the gentle curves of her face and streaking her hair with silver highlights.
Thoughts plagued her brain and she was powerless to stop them. She was sure this was a similar –if obviously in a lesser size- setting as the one the daisaiin had fallen unconscious in. Most Shinto constructions were, in baser structure, almost equal one to the other. Only the glitter and grandeur of it belonging to the mikado or some other powerful family would make the difference.
She bit the corner of her lower lip and frowned. The daisaiin was very powerful yet despite that she had been somehow caught and put under a spell of some sort.
(But what is it? I don't know of any spell that has consequences like this…It must be very strong and at the same time subtle to catch the priestess unawares.)
Last night, before finally succumbing to the depths of her bed, the thought that perhaps the child had been put under a spell, invaded her. It wasn't so far-fetched, taking in consideration the lack of clues surrounding it.
Kagome stepped inside the little shrine slowly, unconsciously treading it's familiar grounds as if in a trance. She looked about her, not really paying much attention, but instead trying to imagine how the Mikado's shrine had looked like on that day.
Her hand lightly traced the paneled-wall's writings, and slipped away to touch the wooden plaques with the names of the previous priests. (The person that attacked her must've been already there, for sure…hiding. But where? There is truly no good place to hide in a shrine, except-)
Her stormy eyes flickered up and fixed on the altar.
Made of dark wood and silver planks, the Kami-dana to the Moon God was of considerable size. It glimmered gold with the midday sun peaking through the opened shojis. An ovaled mirror was held perfectly straight at its center by four intricate figurines of silver birds. It is believed that through that mirror, the Gods and spirits are connected to the human world. Thus it is that every day, it is the duty of all priests to greet their supernatural protectors by praying at the altar's feet. Every shrine has one God or Goddess to whom the family or community reveres. To them the prayers are sent, and in exchange for their attention, the Gods favors the human's pleas. It is, of course, a matter of how much faith one puts into their prayer to get the God's attention…and their favorable answer.
The fact remained that, besides being a consecrate place, it was quite big. It could easily hide a grown person's figure at it's back without giving anything away.
(So, she entered the shrine that morning…) Kagome moved forward, towards the Kami-dana, her naked feet barely making a sound. (…and went to kneel in front of Amaterasus altar.) She knelt as she always did, sitting perfectly straight, hands automatically intertwining over her lap in praying position.
(Her eyes were surely closed…) Kagome closed her own eyes, following every step that she thought the child could have done. (Mmm…In her mind she must've seen the light of her power flare as the words of the prayer slipped her mouth…) She herself began chanting, independently from the knowledge of her brain; so used she was to the dealings of her work. Her aura glowed silver and pink, as she focused on the millenarian honorable words and a crime that was becoming more and more puzzling by the minute.
(As she knelt, concentrated, the assassin lurked hidden…the only place I can think of would be—the altar. I've heard the Mikado's one is quite magnificent…) Hooded eyes slipped open and stared at her own altar in mild distrust.
(Perhaps she heard a sound, something strange before the definite assault? Perhaps she saw his shadow, advancing towards her silently…) As the thought slipped through her mind, the creak of the wood-floor behind her resonated. Quiet feet were moving towards her.
Yet she couldn't listen, something about the entire bad-guy-hidden-in-altar´ just didn't quite…click.
(But what happened then? Did he attack her so fastly that she couldn't even defend herself? Hardly…she's a professional in her art, having probably trained most of her life for that.)
The steps became louder now, a figure prowled stealthily the back of Kagome. The sun shone behind it, and his shadow enlarged and engulfed that of the clueless, kneeling miko as her mind whirled in the possibilities of the past.
(So, let's suppose he DID appear out of the altar. Then what? He jumps out, mutters a curse, and the daisaiin falls? Impossible! No strong curse can be cast so quickly. And besides, she did have time to scream.. ..)
"Hmm…but if you can scream," she mumbled, eyes closed. "Why not defend yourself instead?"
"The attacker was too charming, perhaps?" a male voice drawled in her left ear.
….
A silent heartbeat.
A bird chirping in the distance.
A thud, as Kagomes behind hit the floor.
"AIIE!" she screamed and whirled around, hands flailing in front of her as the words for a barrier formed in her brain. Her power surged, flaring white in her defense. In less than a second, she was enveloped in a silver bubble, while her assailant laid sprawled on the floor some feet away, dazed from the energy blast that knocked him.
Kagomes heart was racing a marathon that the rest of her body had seemed to have lost. Her mind whirled between the daisaiins dizzying case and her current surroundings. So immersed she had been, she hadn't paid attention to anyone entering!
She blinked a couple of times, letting the barrier fall and quickly clambering to her feet. Still her right hand remained extended in attack position, in case the other decided he still wasn't finished accosting innocent girls!
Meanwhile, said attacker was slowly sitting up, a hand massaging his scalp in sore pain.
Kagome paused for a minute and frowned. Her eyes focused on that tall complexion, that amused expression and most of all, on that oh-so-familiar lecherous grin. Recognition filtered her mind.
She gasped.
"Mi- Miroku!" she said, aghast.
"Heh…Kagome-sama," the young man said amusedly. He stood up, tall and slender, chocolate hair slightly messy from the blow, coming undone from his lazy ponytail. He smiled roguishly at her. "As quick as always, I see…"
He bowed grandly, though painfully. "And, of course, just as pretty."
Kagome sweat dropped, picturing the lo-ong day that awaited her.
(999)
Glossary of Japanese words:
Kekko: past
Ocha: green tea
Shoten: male clergy.
(---)
:C.o.m.t.e.s.s.a: