Hello everyone! Here is chapter 21. I hope you all like it and Sorry it took me so long to update. It has been so much going around since I last updated. Birthdays, me having some health issues and then christmas with family and such and then new years. I just haven't had the energy to write much. But now I am back and hopefully I will be able to get chapter 22 out a little bit faster. I know what I want to write. I just have to be satisfied with what I am writing. I will give you some details though. In the next chapter I will jump forward a bit so Kagome will be going back to the feudal era in the next chapter. I wont give you any more details than that though. please enjoy this chapter everyone.
Sable-Rose-Fox: Thank you for liking my story. It makes me so happy to know you like it.
Chapter 21.
Kagura let out a soft groan in pain as she slowly laid down on her futon to rest from the beating Naraku had given her when she had returned after she had confirmed that the clearing with the well was indeed empty. The saimyoshos that had been with her had confirmed it aswell so Naraku couldn't accuse her for lying but he had not been very happy about it and instead of just squeezing her heart like I usually did he started to beat her instead. If it hadn't been for Kanna walking in and telling him she had something to show him the beating might just have continued. Naraku had thrown her to the floor and told her to get lost and Kagura had used all her strenght to leave her dark lord's chamber and had then gotten help by Kohaku to her room and now she was alone. She didn't know what Kanna wanted to show Naraku but she was actually sure that Kanna had interupted his beating of her on purpose. She had seen how her sister had looked at her for a split second. Kagura sighed and tried to get her more comfortable and then stared up into the ceiling. She needed to heal and then she would think more on how to get free. She knew now that she might not be seen as useful for much longer. After all, beating her like this made her unable to do Naraku's bidding. Her being injured and needing to heal made it impossible for Naraku to send her out. She needed to somehow get herself freed from Naraku before he really killed her.
Naraku looked into Kanna's mirror, still very angry at the fact that the clearing had been empty when Inu Yasha had broken through the barrier. He had seen the remains of the mercenaries but he knew the shards was gone. With him having so many shards of the jewel gave him the a small ability to know if they were anywhere where his insects were but he hadn't been able to find them but this also made everything clear. Kagome was alive, Bankotsu and the others had saved her and then helped her go through the well and somehow the girl had been able to promise them that they would be able to live again without the shards. At that Naraku snorted. That had obviously failed. Their remains was proof enough of that. However what he saw now through Kanna's mirror made him slightly intrigued. Inu Yasha was turning Kikyo away and he had heard what Kikyo and Inu Yasha had argued about and at that Naraku couldn't help but wonder about something that had crossed his mind before. Was Kagome and Kikyo really of the same soul? Somehow he found that weird. Kikyo had never had such a bright and large soul from what he could remember. But they had to be, right? After all, Kikyo had been resurrected and still carried a part of Kagome's soul. Naraku shook his head and looked at Kanna.
"Is there anything else?" Naraku asked, still in a very foul mood. Kanna looked at her master and let the image in her mirror fade away and shook her head.
"No, there is nothing else. I just thought you would want to know about this." Kanna said in an unemotional voice and Naraku nodded and dismissed the void child with a wave of his hand and Kanna nodded and then left the room, closing the door behind her and left. Once she knew she was out of Naraku hearing range she sighed in relief. She had been glad that she had been able to stop her master from beating Kagura further. Sure she did everything that Naraku told her to do but that was because she knew she wouldn't be able to go against him. Her had both hers and Kagura's heart. Unlike her sister that was just like the real wind, wild and free spirited, she was very quiet and collected. She was a void. She waited in the darkness for an opening to free herself. She also knew that Bankotsu and the others was alive. Naraku thought that the miko, Kagome, had failed in her promise to give them their life back but Kanna had tried to peer into all of their souls with her mirror in the afterlife, ability she had gained and kept secret from Naraku a year ago, but she hadn't been able to which meant that they had to be alive somehow and Kanna suspected that maybe the Band of Seven was alive in Kagome's time. Of course she had no proof and she didn't plan on telling anyone her theory but since she couldn't spy on Kagome when she went through the well she thought that maybe that could be the case. Kanna slowly shook her head and then headed for her own room. She knew that Kagura would want to be alone right now so she wouldn't bother going there. Kagura would just tell her to leave anyway.
(With Sango and the others in the well clearing).
Sango sat and stared into the fire as it was her turn to keep guard and she couldn't help but feel like Kikyo was much closer then they would've liked her to be. Sango made a mental note to tell Miroku to put up some sutras around the clearing for protection. She did not want that walking funeral urn to be able to enter the clearing. It was clear to everyone even Inu Yasha now that she was a danger to them and especially Kagome. The next morning when Miroku, Shippo and Kirara woke up Sango told Miroku quietly what she wanted him to do and he nodded in agreement. Even though he had warded the well to protect it from evil intent he thought Sango's idea of doing the same to the clearing was a good idea so once he told Sango to eat some breakfast and then get some sleep he set out to do just that. Kirara walking with him and he had looked at her in slight surprise but then shrugged it off. He wasen't stupid. If Kirara wanted to be near him when he did this he wouldn't object. Who knew, Kikyo might try to attack him or something though he doubted it. He suspected that Kikyo wanted to attack when Kagome returned to get back at Inu Yasha for turning her away.
(In the future with Inu Yasha and Souta).
Souta glared at Inu Yasha with narrowed eyes.
"Do you promise, Inu Yasha? You won't break it?" Souta asked suspiciously and Inu Yasha growled annoyed.
"I already told you I won't! Damn it don't you trust me?!" Inu Yasha yelled in anger and at the flat glare Souta gave him he flinched.
"No, because you don't have any impulse control. But if you break this promise and leaves here to try to find Kagome I will make sure that Kagome never goes through the well again. Am I clear?" Souta said with a very dark tone in his voice and Inu Yasha flushed in anger and embarrassment and nodded.
"Look, I won't leave, okay?!" The half demon said in a grumpy voice. In truth he had been planning on trying to follow Souta but with the threat of not letting Kagome go back to him and the others in the past he would have to abide. But damn it all. He couldn't help it. He wanted to see Kagome but he had now no choice than to wait and he really hated waiting. Souta looked at Inu Yasha and mentally sighed. When he had been just a kid he had thought Inu Yasha was the coolest guy ever not so much now. He wasen't an ignorant brat anymore. Now he could see what Kagome had, had put up with. And the fact that Inu Yasha was very easy to read.
"Why not just go back to the feudal era while I am gone? I will be back tonight and then I will tell you how Kagome is. You just sitting here waiting will just make you go crazy." Souta said and Inu Yasha glared at Souta a little but then nodded.
"Yeah, sure whatever." With that said Inu Yasha walked out of the house, Souta behind him and then went straight to the well house. Oh he was pissed but at the same time he did really understand that Kagome needed time to heal. But that didn't stop him from wanting to see her. Once inside the well house Inu Yasha jumped down the well and vanished from the future and Souta relaxed and then hurried down the stairs.
Souta really hoped that Inu Yasha would listen to him. He didn't want to upset Kagome and if Inu Yasha continued to let everything they said go in, in one ear and then out the other then there was absolutely no way that Souta would agree to let Kagome return to the past. Because that was where all her pain had come from. First falling in love with Inu Yasha who had only had eyes for his first love and always told Kagome she was useless and would never measure up to said first love. Once Inu Yasha had finally gotten his head out of his ass and him and Kagome had decided to just stay friends she got hurt in a much horrible way. Oh no, Souta wouldn't allow his sister to go back to the past if Inu Yasha didn't start to act as the adult he always claims he was. At those thoughts Souta let out a sigh and then remembered what Inu Yasha had told him after he had returned to the future and he scowled. In fact, maybe Kagome shouldn't return to the feudal era until the threat Kikyo presented was gone. The dead one was obviously a real danger to his sister. Then Souta started to think about hos Kagome could take back the rest of her soul from that dead golem. It had to be a way to use the well's magic to do it. He would have to talk to Kagome about that today. He wouldn't even bother asking their grandpa. He was too much caught up in the beliefs he had of him having reiki to even be of any help. Souta shook his head and then saw that the car that uncle Toya had promised to send for him wasen't there yet and he sighed and sat down at the stairs that he just walked down. He would just have to wait.
Souta, however didn't sit long until he saw two people walk towards him and he scowled and stood up.
"What do you two want? Haven't you two and Hojo and Yuka gotten the message yet? Kagome doesn't want anything to do with you anymore!" Souta hissed out as Eri and Ayumi walked towards him and at his words the two young women flinched and looked down at the ground.
"L-look, that is why we are here., w-we know we aren't supposed to go anywhere near Kagome and she has blocked our numbers and mail address but we want to at least apologize. Please Souta, can you at least tell her that we really are sorry…? We didn't know that Yuka and Hojo would do what they did and that was when we realised that what Kagome had told us the day before that incident was true. We acted like we wanted to live out life through Kagome." Eri said as she slowly looked into Souta's eyes and Ayumi nodded in agreement.
"Y-yeah we know what we did was wrong, that is why both me and Eri has decided that we are going to stop bothering Kagome. We don't want to lose her completely. That is why we are going to back away. If Kagome can someday forgive us then we will show her that we really can be friends to her but until then we are not going to try to contact her." Ayumi said as tears welled up in her eyes. Souta looked at them and he didn't believe them but would let it be for now and just glared at them.
"Fine, I will tell her that you two are sorry. But I wouldn't hope too much if I were you two. Kagome isn't as forgiving as she once was. The fact that you and the other two didn't leave her alone even though she told you to and even followed her to her work and caused something that made the police involved has really made her stressed out. And she was already that to begin with." Souta said in an angry voice. He had always known that Kagome's high school friends had been pushy but when she had heard what had happened at the hospital he had been just as furious as the rest of the family. He was just glad that no one had got hurt. He had been even more furious when their mother had gotten the call from Kyoshi the other day telling them of Hojo trying to approach Kagome even though he had been put on the restraining order and he was glad that, that foolish guy would have to spend a month in jail. Souta then saw the car that was to pick him up park by the road in front of him and he looked at the girls again.
"Now leave. I will tell Kagome you said sorry but I don't want to see you two here again. It is up to Kagome if she want to contact you once the restraining order is no longer in affect. Until then, get lost." Souta said coldly and then he climbed into the car and it drove away, leaving two shocked and sad young women behind.
Eri and Ayumi looked after the car and then looked at each other and decided that they should just go home and that they would do what Souta told them and give Kagome space and not try to contact her. They now knew that what they had done was wrong. Seeing Hojo and Yuka suddenly start using violence in the hospital they had followed Kagome to have made the see it. They really hadn't been good friends. However they were worried about Yuka. Yuka had been really furious over having been arrested that day and when they all had gotten a restraining order against them, forbidding them all from contacting or even see Kagome Yuka had been even more furious and had talked like it was all Kagome's fault and that Kagome should've just gone out with Hojo like they had wanted her too. That was when Ayumi and Eri had told Yuka off and said that, that way of thinking would get her into even more trouble. After that Yuka had stormed off and not spoken to them at all. The two friends just hoped that Yuka wouldn't do something stupid.
(In the well clearing in feudal era).
Once Inu Yasha landed in his own time he jumped up and saw that Sango, Miroku and Shippo was in the clearing and he looked around a little for Kirara.
"Where is Kirara?" He asked in a grumpy voice and the all looked at him in surprise.
"We sent her to the village to get us some food. We thought you was going to stay in the future, Inu Yasha" Miroku said while the other two nodded in agreement. Inu Yasha glared at them and sat down in front of them.
"What? I can't come back for a little while or something?!" Inu Yasha asked, his mood becoming sourer and his friends looked at him and then shook their heads.
"Let me guess. You planned to sneak out to find wherever Kagome was to talk to her even though you promised to give her time and her younger brother, who is staying at the shrine to keep an eye on you realised that and he told you off. I am right, aren't I?" Sango said as she gave Inu Yasha an angry glare and when Inu Yasha's ears flattened against his hair and he refused to look at any of them they knew Sango had guessed right and the all let out an annoyed sigh.
"Inu Yasha, I know you want to see her but right now she needs time for herself and her own family more then you being there demanding that she tells you what happened. Why can't you show more understanding of that…?" Miroku asked and Inu Yasha growled and shoved his hands into his sleeves.
"So what?! I just want to see her. I am worried." Inu Yasha grumbled as he looked at then with narrowed eyes and Sango glared at him in anger.
"We all are worried for her Inu Yasha. But you promised her mother and brother to let her be, right?! Why are you already breaking that promise?!" Sango yelled out and Inu Yasha flinched.
"Look, I know okay?! That is why Souta told me to return here to cool down. I am really trying to be patient but it isn't something I am good at." Inu Yasha snarled out and then he stood up.
"I'll be back, don't follow me!" Inu Yasha said as he walked deeper into the forest. However he did hear Miroku yell after him and looked over his shoulder.
"Be careful, Inu Yasha. Kikyo is in the area." Miroku called out and at that Inu Yasha tensed and then nodded and walked away. He needed to clear his head because he knew that Sango and Miroku was right. He was already thinking of breaking a promise to Kagome's mother. He couldn't do that. Miroku, Sango and Shippo watched Inu Yasha vanishing into the forest and then looked at each other.
"Will that idiot be okay?" Shippo asked and Miroku and Sango looked at each other, wondering the very same thing. Especially since they were certain that Kikyo was near.
Inu Yasha walked through the forest as he tried to actually think things through, not something he usually did but he really needed to do it. He missed Kagome and wanted to see her but he understood her not wanting to see him aswell. He usually just let his mouth run wild by speaking before thinking things through. Inu Yasha sighed and saw the sacred tree in front of him and he walked up to it and sat down. This were where he had first met Kagome and the fact that this tree was in the future aswell made him feel like he was in the shrine. Inu Yasha looked up into the sky his thoughts on his best friend. He did however notice the sudden smell of grave yard soil and he looked over his shoulder towards Kikyo and her soul collectors that he noticed now was completely black and he looked at her but didn't say anything. A part of him wanted to run to her and take her into his arms but he clamped down on that feeling and just stared at her. After what Kikyo had revealed before he felt that he really couldn't trust her. Kikyo had seen when Inu Yasha had returned and she then followed him from a distance, keeping her presence and aura hidden, she didn't want the others in Inu Yasha's group to sense her. She was going to talk to Inu Yasha. She had to. If she didn't she would really loose him and she needed him to trust her. After all it would make it much harder to take the rest of Kagome's soul if he was against her. When she reached the sacred tree she once sealed him to she let herself be known and when he looked at her but didn't move she was shocked. 'Is he really that mad? Why I haven't done anything wrong!' Kikyo thought angrily but she kept her face calm.
"Inu Yasha, did you really mean what you said before?" Kikyo asked, making her voice sound hurt and sad and then waited for him to answer. Inu Yasha looked at her, his face for once unreadable.
"If you mean that I told you I want nothing to do with you anymore if you are going to hate Kagome the way you do then yeah. I am through with you. There is no way I want to be with someone who would hate and want to hurt someone, who has done nothing to deserve it." Inu Yasha said calmly and Kikyo stared at him in shock until her anger took over.
"I see, well don't come crying to me when she throws you away then!" Kikyo hissed out as she turned on her heel and stormed off. Inu Yasha just looked at her retreating form and sighed and shook his head. He really wanted to go after her but he didn't. It was obvious that the woman he had fallen in love with never existed and if she had then she was forever gone now. The Kikyo that was here now was not the same. He looked up into the sky and just let his thoughts run freely in his head. He didn't plan on going back through the well until later this evening. If he went earlier and Souta wasen't at the house then he might try to leave to look for Kagome, using the excuse that he was looking for Souta.
Kikyo stomped through the forest back to her hiding place behind her barrier, completely furious. This was all that girl's fault. Why did everyone love Kagome so damn much?! Kikyo gritted her teeths as she glared towards the well she could see from a distance and scowled. She would have to get rid of the girl as soon as possible. Once Kagome was gone and Kikyo had absorbed the rest of that girl's soul and power Inu Yasha would realise that he had been brainwashed by that slip of a girl and come crawling back to her, begging her to forgive him and take him back. With that thought Kikyo nodded and then leaned back against a tree and closed her eyes, she knew from what she had heard that Kagome wouldn't be back anytime soon so she would have time to come up with a good plan to kill her. Kikyo never noticed how her soul collectors looked down at her and how their eyes had started to glow and she never felt hos black marks started to appear on her body.
(In the future with Kagome and her family).
Kagome woke up the next morning and slowly sat up and stretched and then smiled as she remember that they were going to have a picnic in the garden to day and that she had been allowed time off. Not that she had much to do now since Bankotsu, Jakotsu and Suikotsu was now the only ones left in the hospital and she suspected that they would soon be released as well. Kagome then climbed out of the bed and stretched. She then walked to her own private bathroom to take a long, hot shower.
When Kagome came down stairs almost two hours later, dressed in a pair of blue jeans shorts and a black tank top and her hair up in a high pony tail she saw how Souta came from the living room and saw her and smiled.
"Hey, sis, can we talk…?" Souta asked and Kagome looked at him and nodded.
"Yeah, sure. Where is mama, uncle Toya and grandpa?" Kagome asked and Souta smiled.
"Grandpa is resting. He was apparently up all night making more of his useless sutras. Mama and Toya are in his office. Why don't we go to the living room and talk?" Souta said and when Kagome nodded they both walked back into the living room Souta just had come out of. Kagome sat down on the couch while Souta sat down in front of her in one of the two armchairs and Kagome waited for Souta to speak. Souta looked at his sister and though he could see that she was still that she was still not fully healed he could see small glimpses of her old self showing now and that made him very relieved.
"Okay, I guess I should start with the less complicated stuff. Ayumi and Eri came to the shrine today, wanting to speak to someone. They know they can't go near or contact you so they has going to try to talk to our mother I suppose." Souta said and he noticed how Kagome stiffened and how she scowled a little and he held up his hand to stop her from saying anything.
"They just wanted someone to relay to you how sorry they were and that they promised not to contact you anymore. They said that they would wait and see if you would forgive them. They also said that if this was really the end of their friendship with you then they wouldn't push it. I honestly don't know if I believe them but they seemed really sorry and I said I would tell you." Souta said and he watched how Kagome looked down at her hands thinking to herself a little. Could she forgive them for what they had done? She had told all three of them that she had no interest in dating Hojo and they still had planned dates for her without actually asking her if it had been okay and whenever Hojo had asked her directly they had agreed for her aswell and with the last stunt with them practically stalking her and causing trouble in the hospital she was currently working at part time that it became so bad that the police had to be involved. Could she forgive them? Kagome shook her head and sighed and looked at Souta. No, she couldn't forgive them. They had never been real friends from the very beginning.
"I don't think we have been friends for a very long time Souta. I won't give them anymore chances. For years they have forced their wants and actions on to me even though I have told them to stop and now this incident at the hospital. It was the last straw. Sure Ayumi and Eri didn't become violent but the fact still stands that they all followed me there is just to disturbing." Kagome said and Souta nodded in understanding and then cleared his throat.
"Okay then, good to know in case they approach me again I can tell them that so they can move on. The problem is going to be Hojo and maybe ever Yuka. Though I haven't heard anything from her you never now. Well not like she can do much to you and if I remember correctly so is her parents pretty strict so the fact that she has gotten arrested has probably made them ground her for the whole summer. But now, there is something else I have to talk to you about. Inu Yasha came back the night before and he told be some things and told me to talk to you about it." Souta said and at that Kagome looked at him in confusion but didn't speak. Just nodded for Souta to continue. Souta looked Kagome and took a deep breath.
"Something happened in the past that has made all your friends back there thinking that you might not be Kikyo's reincarnation and Inu Yasha then asked if you could somehow take back the rest of your soul without having to go through the well. Apparently when Inu Yasha had heard Kikyo say some really awful things he told her that he refused to be with someone that hated his friend that way and after that they all felt that she was too much of a danger to you so they were hoping that maybe you could take your soul back from this side of the well. Can you do that sis?" Souta said and Kagome stared at him with wide, shocked eyes.
Kagome was in slight shock at what Souta just told her. They didn't believe that she was Kikyo's reincarnation anymore? Sure she had never really seen herself like that even when she first started traveling in the feudal era and Kikyo was brought back to life she had never been able to see the similarity that Inu Yasha and the villagers of Edo had seemed to see, they had all said that she look almost identical to the former guardian of the jewel but she had never agreed to it. She also knew for a fact that Shippo had agreed with her. Sango and Miroku however had believed her to be Kikyo's reincarnation aswell since she could sense the jewel shards and now for whatever reason Kikyo had said something that made them believe otherwise? 'What in the world could she had said to make them all start to doubt it? And Inu Yasha actually telling her he refused to be with her? It must have been something really bad to make actually do something like that.' Kagome thought and then looked at Souta as he cleared his throat and blushed lightly as she remembered his question and she looked down at her hands.
"I don't really know if I can do that… I know that whenever Kikyo is near she pulls on my soul trying to take it but that stopped after she and I talked it out. At least I thought we talked it out. I still never trusted her but she stopped pulling at my soul after that. But I don't know how to do that so I am not sure if I can do it while on this side of the well." Kagome said and Souta looked a little dissappointed at that but then Kagome thought of something and smiled at him.
"Don't worry, Souta. I don't know if it is possible but I think and can ask Renji about it. He was the one that helped me get my reiki under control in the past before he woke up in the hospital. I will go up to my room and call him immediately. Can you come and get me when it is time to prepare for the picnic?" Kagome asked as she stood up, smiling a little bit brighter than before and Souta looked at her and smiled widely.
"Yeah, I'll come get you later." Souta said and at that Kagome hurried out of the living room and hurried up to her room. She had left her cell up there since it needed to recharge. This knew knowledge that she might not be Kikyo's copy made her very happy and hopefully, Renji might just know something or could help her look it up on how and if she could take back the rest of her soul. When she entered her room she walked straight to her phone and called Renji, waiting impatiently for the smart young man that had helped her get her powers under control in the past to answer.