Author's Notes: Hello everyone! Thank you for continuing to support YITM! Please know that if you are leaving me an anonymous review, or if I'm unable to reply to you via PM, I'm still replying to you through my Tumblr page! You can check out the link on my profile. I do this right before I post a new chapter every couple weeks, so you're not left out - I appreciate your reviews just as much as those who have signed in to do so. That's all for this time, nothing exciting, except for a new chapter - on to it!
Awesome Betas: Pentheseileia, Not_Towa_Wakasa, Noir, Youngimoo
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Chapter 49: Memories
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Sango
"You have everything?" Hojou asked, cinching the ties of his bag together and pulling the sliding lock tight.
Sango nodded, zipping her own pack up. She'd gone over her checklist a dozen times at this point. Normally she wasn't so compulsive, but she had to admit to herself that she was afraid. Afraid of what she was going to find if they managed to catch up to Kagome. She wanted to be prepared for anything, although it was impossible.
"I'm going to take one last sweep to make sure we didn't forget anything and then we can say our goodbyes."
"Okay," she agreed as he made his way back up the stairs. He passed Kaede on the porch, nodding as he entered the house.
The sun was just coming up over the treetops, and a haze had settled in the clearing. It had rained last night. The grass was wet and the earth gave way under Sango's shoes. The air was heavy with the scent of drenched pine.
Kaede was wrapped up in a warm shawl, an extra shield against the chill of the morning air. She seemed tired to Sango, like she hadn't slept that night. She couldn't blame her; too much had happened over the past few weeks. So many people had been dropped onto her doorstep, no time to do anything but react.
Guilt twisted in Sango's gut, a feeling she was becoming used to. She had softened towards the old woman since they'd had their chat on the porch a week ago, and Sango had come to care for her like a surrogate grandmother. She was sad to leave the old woman on her own again.
"Sango," Kaede said, hobbling down the steps.
Sango reached out to help her down the last few, her hand papery-thin in her own.
"It fills me with happiness that you have recovered so well. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you had more magic healing."
She ignored the words as best she could and kept her face still. She knew Kaede would not approve of the shard in her back. Instead, she nodded. "You've helped me so much, I can't thank you enough."
Kaede patted her hand, the way a grandmother would. "No need to thank me, just use that strength of yours to free your brother. Then rid the world of my sister and let this old woman rest."
Sango couldn't help but grin. "Then you can retire to somewhere warm and tropical!"
"Aye, that would do these bones some good," she cracked a toothy smile.
Hojou returned, taking the steps down two at a time behind them, brushing his fingers through his hair. "I think we're good to go. You ready?"
"As I'll ever be," Sango sighed, releasing Kaede's hand and picking up her backpack.
"Kaede, you said you think you know where Kagome and Inuyasha may have gone?" Hojou asked.
She nodded. "Unfortunately I have no way to track them, but there are two very large youkai territories as you travel south. The Wolf Territory you will come across first," she pointed to the South-East, "starts about halfway to Nara. That is the direction your friends first started in. It is most likely that many youkai have been gathering up the shards for themselves. The wolf clan is very large, there is a good chance the trail may have led them there. Following that, towards Wakayama," she continued, her wrinkled finger moving South, "is Territory of the Dog."
Hojou's head cocked to the side. "Territory of the Dog? Inuyasha's dog youkai, isn't he?"
"Aye," she replied, her hand dropping again to her side. "It is ruled by a very ancient dog youkai, and it is the place of Inuyasha's ancestry."
He glanced wide-eyed at Sango. "Sounds like a place where Inuyasha might run to."
Kaede shook her head before Sango could reply. "Do not think he will find refuge there. Inuyasha is hanyou, and they are not seen as true youkai by most. He most likely will not be welcomed there."
Sango shoved back a sliver of pity that threatened to break through. She sighed heavily. "Okay, we should definitely check Wolf Territory first then. If youkai are collecting them, it's fairly safe to say they stopped there first."
Hojou frowned. "They have a pretty hefty head start. It might be better to head straight for Wakayama and maybe catch up with them there. Besides, I don't want to have to actually enter youkai territory if I can help it."
"Why's that?"
He swept his hand out. "We are very obviously human. And to be frank, sometimes youkai can just tell slayers apart from regular humans. Kagome should be okay with Inuyasha looking out for her, but we sure as hell won't be. I'm confident in my one-on-one ability against youkai, not in my one-on-three-hundred ability."
Shit, he was right. "Well, what if we miss them? How will we know?"
"We won't," he shrugged. "But I say we head straight there, wait a few days, and if they don't show up, start asking around. Youkai work a bit differently than humans. Those that live within their territories tend not to deal with technological advances. But they do know everyone else's business. Information for them is like a form of currency."
"We'll lose any element of surprise," she warned.
Hojou wrinkled his brow, thinking, then: "We don't have any other options, really. We'll go, set up camp, and hope for the best. If we have to out ourselves so be it."
Sango breathed in deep before letting it out in one big woosh. "So to the South, then."
"To the south," he agreed, then turned and bowed deeply to Kaede. "I cannot thank you enough for everything you've done for us. I truly hope to pay you back one day."
"Ah, you've already livened up my home, child. I need nothing else." She turned to Sango, who bowed just as Hojou did.
Argh, why couldn't she think of anything poignant to say? A measly 'thanks' didn't seem to be enough, but she was not nearly as adept as moving goodbyes as Hojou was. She opened her mouth, hoping a sincere 'thank you very much' would be enough, when she felt the old woman's touch on the back of her head.
She lifted her chin, her eyes meeting deep black.
Kaede was smiling down at her, all-knowing and all-accepting. "I leave you with only this, Sango," she said, "talk with Kagome and forgive her. Rebuild your friendship and ask Inuyasha to help you with your plight. Your anger will only make you more hateful. Seek your brother's freedom by way of fellowship instead. Inuyasha will help you. There is human deep-seeded inside of him."
She was tired, suddenly, like she couldn't conjure up the anger she'd come to know so well. There was so much she couldn't say. So much she could never say.
But was Kaede correct? Could she, by way of forgiveness, save her brother?
She nodded, taking Kaede's words for what they were, and promising herself she would at least think them over.
"Thank you," she finally said, "for everything." When she straightened out, Kaede's eyes were filled with unleashed tears.
She wiped at them with shaky hands, "all my children leave me in the end. It is a bitter, necessary cycle."
"We'll be back, Kaede," Hojou grinned, shouldering his pack and signaling Sango that it was time to go, "and we'll bring some sake to celebrate."
"Ah," Kaede replied, her smile wavering, "make sure to take two shots for every one of mine."
...What a strange way to put it, Sango thought as she turned and followed Hojou across the clearing and into the forest.
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The days flew by and the pace Hojou set for them was intense. But Sango wouldn't complain if it killed her. She was just as eager to get the shards, to get to Kikyou and kill the bitch and get her brother back. She knew she should be thinking about what she was going to say to Kagome, though, when she saw her again. ...Her best friend.
As the landscape changed, Sango's body, despite the shard's help, started to burn with exhaustion, there was nothing to do but to keep her mind occupied, and due to Kaede's words, her mind was occupied with thoughts of Kagome. She mulled over the history, over the memories and the ups and downs they had shared.
Kagome was the first one to stick up for Sango in elementary school when she was getting picked on. Not that Sango had needed any help. Mostly the kids were afraid of her. But Kagome had stood up as they whispered about her and told them to stop. She was the first one who wasn't afraid of the ramifications to her own social life.
And from there, their friendship had grown, Sango exuding some sort of terrifying vibes, apparently, to those around her and Kagome taking it in and showing others that they had nothing to be afraid of. By the time high school had rolled around, it wasn't even a problem. No one was afraid of Sango anymore. She'd felt normal.
While she could always hold her own in a fight, while she'd always been confident in herself and liked the way she was, she'd felt in awe of Kagome. In her ability to walk into a room and calm things down.
So what had happened? How had her friend lost her cool so bad?
Inuyasha. Always, it came back to Inuyasha.
She bit at her tongue as her thoughts revolved back to Kagome's reaction to him when she first saw them together. The way her eyes moved, the way her breath came faster… the way blood flushed into her cheeks.
She'd never reacted that way to Hojou, that was for sure.
Inuyasha's magic… it was possible…
"Kagome is not being spelled," Kaede had said. "It should be obvious to you that she is in love."
The thought churned in her stomach. Because it wasn't just the idea of Inuyasha being a constant presence in her life that made Sango so angry. It was the knowledge that it wouldn't end well for Kagome. It couldn't end well for Kagome, even if Sango liked Inuyasha, even if he was the super stand up guy Kaede kept trying to convince her he was.
Because Inuyasha was a hanyou. What life did he have in a human world? What kind of life could he and Kagome have together? He was at least three-hundred years old. Older, because he'd been stuck in that stupid mirror for that long. So, what… five-hundred years? Six-hundred?
Kagome would grow old and die at one-hundred, if she were lucky.
Sango glanced up quickly at Hojou, whose shirt was now completely soaked through with sweat despite the chilly weather. She could see the muscles under his skin move, fluid and tense as they jogged, hopping over rocks and tree roots. His focus was sharp, almost deadly. He wanted this as much as she did.
He wanted Kagome back.
Something new pushed at her, something she swallowed back as it threatened to choke her. It wasn't the usual rage that burned at her insides, it was something else. It swelled and grew, and she pushed it back. She pushed it back and she kept her pace.
They pressed forward.
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"Here," Hojou said, stopping abruptly.
Sango wheeled forward a bit, inches from slamming into his back. She breathed in deep through her nose, trying her best to regulate her breathing. She was grateful for her years of training, for her parent's unyielding demands they forced on her. If anything would save her, it would be her cardio.
And the shard in your back, don't forget that, she thought, bitterness seeping into her thoughts.
"I haven't seen any animal tracks around. Certainly no youkai. You?"
She shook her head. "Nothing." Not that she knew what to look for, she'd never been taught how to track youkai, because up until a few months ago she hadn't even known they existed.
The corner of Hojou's mouth quirked up. "I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but we're certainly headed in the right direction, if this compass is to be believed." He tossed it to her, leaving Sango to scramble to catch it.
"What are we going to do once we get to Dog Territory?" she asked, her pointed glare going ignored.
He opened his pack and pulled out his sleeping gear. "We'll have to stay hidden, for sure. It won't do us any good to be taken in by the youkai before we run into Inuyasha."
She snorted, following his lead. "I doubt Inuyasha will have an issue with us being youkai bait."
A grin spread across his face. "That's what I'm counting on Kagome for, to keep the big, bad youkai at bay."
She straightened, glancing around the area he'd chosen to rest. The trees pressed in around them, the shade of the late afternoon quickly fading into night. The space was barely big enough to fit the both of them plus a small fire. It would be a tight fit, but if she were being honest, she felt safer having Hojou close by. Although she couldn't be accused of being a coward, this was no child's play. She would take all the comfort she could get.
"You have so much more confidence in her ability than I do," she finally said, kicking away small pebbles and twigs from her spot and pushing with her toes at the fallen leaves to make somewhat of an extra cushion.
Hojo paused in his movements, his sleeping bag halfway unrolled. His eyes darted up to meet hers, now serious. "I went back, you know."
Sango had returned to pulling out her sleeping gear. She refused to meet his gaze. "Where?" she asked. But she knew where.
"To the attic. While you were still recovering, I went back."
She sighed and stopped unpacking, finally allowing him to catch her eyes. "That probably wasn't very smart."
"No kidding. I still went, though."
"And?"
"It was… pretty sickening." He turned his gaze to the trees, losing himself in the memory. "There was a lot of blood. I could see the outline of…"
"...Of us?" Sango guessed, rolling out her bag and setting out her camping utensils.
"Yes, but let's not focus on that. I saw the outline of her."
"Who, Kagome?
He shook his head. "Kikyou. There was… there was some of her flesh still stuck to the floor. It had been fused to the wood. It was black, like charcoal."
She plopped down heavy onto her bag, sighing with relief as her sore muscles got some rest. "Yeah, well, right before I lost consciousness, I saw her attack Kagome. And from Kagome, I saw..." her voice trailed off.
"So you know. You know what Kagome is capable of."
She snapped her teeth shut, eyebrows furrowing. "Kikyou was killing her. She was choking her, she… And then there was this light…"
He nodded. "She's a priestess, all right."
Reluctantly, Sango stood again on shaky legs and began to gather sticks for the beginning of a fire, wanting something to distract her from the words she uttered. "I thought she was dead. I thought we were all dead."
He scoffed, "Anyone going into that attic will one-hundred-percent think someone died in there. It's like a scene out of a horror movie."
"And yet here we are, alive. Yay."
His hand was on hers, stilling her movements once more. She turned her gaze up to him, surprised. She hadn't noticed that he moved.
"Hey," he said, his gaze soft, "it's good that you're alive. It's a good thing."
Another swell of that… that emotion that she couldn't quite place welled up inside her. She swallowed it down and shook off his hand. "Why did you even go back in the first place? To torture yourself?"
"No," he chuckled, retreating to his pack. "I was looking for my cell phone. I don't know what happened to it. Probably obliterated when… whatever it was happened in there." He glanced up at her again. "I didn't find yours, either."
"I figured. It doesn't matter though, I tried calling my parents from Kaede's house and just kept getting their voicemail."
"You worried?"
"Not as worried as I am about my brother."
"They don't know yet, huh?"
She shrugged. "I don't know what they know. The last time I talked to them dad gave me your number. They were out on a hunt, apparently."
He frowned but didn't reply.
"It's a good thing I got in contact with them at that point, at least. It brought you in to help me. And you've been very helpful."
The smile returned to his lips. "I have to admit, I was pretty cool, showing up at your house and surprising Inuyasha like that."
"He was beating the shit out of you."
"Hey, I was holding my own!"
She couldn't help but crack a smile herself. "Whatever you say, slayer. Help me collect the firewood so we can eat. I'm starving."
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After dinner, Sango stayed awake a long while, staring across the dwindling fire at Hojou's back.
It was unfair. Once his head hit the coat he was using as a pillow, he was out instantly. But Sango tossed and turned for hours, until finally exhaustion took over and she couldn't help but close her eyes.
Fingers pushed into her back. A hundred fingers. A thousand. They pushed and poked and prodded, breaking down her muscles until they were nothing but moldable putty. Pain ravaged her, but she couldn't move - it was impossible to move - and then the slicing began.
It started as sharp, little pricks, poking her open, and those fingers, the thousand of them, pressed little bits of glass shards deep into her back. Over and over again they sliced her open and pushed in, further and further until she could feel them press against the back of her heart.
And she knew then, that those shards weren't just glass. They were jewels. Every single jewel shard was being forced inside her, into her skin and sharp against her organs. And she knew, also, who's fingers pressed into her back. If she turned, she would see him.
Her whole body trembled, her upper lip damped with sweat, eyes wide and heart thudding against the pricks of each jewel shard. But against her own voice screaming in her head, she turned.
But it wasn't the monk's deep, lavender eyes that she'd expected. It was the face of her enemy.
"Kikyou…" she breathed, the air rushing from her lungs as the jewel shards pierced into them, and they collapsed in on themselves.
The priestess grinned, the evil bitch. If it was the last thing she would do, Sango would kill her. Take her down with her. But her arms wouldn't move and now she couldn't breathe. She was going to die. In her sleep, with her back made of mush and stuffed to the brim with jewel shards.
Her vision blurred. She was done. Slowly the edges of the priestess's face faded to black. Sango blinked one last time. When her eyes opened, her hands were up. She couldn't feel them, but the hands - were they her hands? - were reaching for the priestess. They were bigger than she remembered her own hands being. The nails were wider. Blunter. Cut down to the shortest length possible.
...Those weren't her hands, reaching out and gripping onto the priestess's head, causing her image to flicker and then fade. Those weren't her hands…
She heaved awake, her fully-inflated lungs gasping for air, sweat covering her body, her sleepwear stuck to her like a second skin.
"Slayer!"
Her arms flung out, fighting against the dark shadow in front of her. It wasn't until they were gripped by those same hands that she gave pause.
"Shhhh, Sango. Slayer. It's me."
And it was. She could see the violet color of the monk's eyes reflected off the dying glow of the fire. She opened her mouth to tell him off, because seriously, what the fuck? But he shook his head and brought a finger up to his lips, signaling for her silence.
And then he stood and motioned for her to follow him, away from the safety of the campground and into the darkened forest.
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Aaand we're back to Sango. We'll be with her for the next few chapters, I hope you all enjoy catching up with her and Hojou! See you in two weeks!
~SugarRos
