Chapter 12: The Locket's Origin
When Inuyasha got back into his bedroom, the locket in his possession vibrates like crazy. Inuyasha places the bag onto his desk. Soon the locket pulsates and glows in white. The glow begins to take shape of a person. "Inuyasha…" The voice calls out to him. Inuyasha gasps to realize who's voice it belongs to. "Kikyo…" He whispers in shock. The glow fades slowly to show Inuyasha the person. Kikyo remains the same before her death. She has long slick straight black hair to the bottom of her back, and her eyes were dirty brown with a calm and serene expression. "I never thought I would see you again." Inuyasha was able to say that after taking in. Kikyo walks gracefully to him. Within contact of her hand, the touch was freezing cold, not from the usual body warmth. "I'm dead so you know I cannot pass on." She said to him. Inuyasha instinctively embraces her despite the cold body.
"But why though?" Inuyasha asks her a few seconds later. Despite the touch and sight of her, she has no scent so there's no telling what the unknown scent really is. "I haven't gotten the chance to tell my family about my thoughts. Before I passed away, I had to transport my soul into the locket you gave me. But I wasn't aware that you accidentally dropped it in the closet of the bedroom from the house next door to you." Kikyo pulls back from him.
Inuyasha sighs. "And then when Kagome found it, you had to possessed her to come to me." Kikyo nods. "I wasn't close enough to get a hold of you. I had no choice." Kikyo explains to him. "So I could be your messenger to your family. Last time I checked Kikyo, your family hates me. They will never listen to me." Inuyasha doubts her.
Kikyo nods sadly. "I'm aware about that. I knew for sure they despised you when they saw you. Even my father yanked me away from you." Inuyasha understands the overprotection that a father is to his daughter. It's like how a mother is to her son. "What is it that you wanted to tell them?" Inuyasha asks her a few minutes later.
Kikyo turns around to the locket. "The best way to resolve this is that you bring that to my sister. She's the only one who knows my secret." She tells him sadly. Inuyasha knew since he met Kikyo that she had a younger sister named Kaede. And she was very close. "I can give it to her tomorrow. I know her schedule. I should be able to give it to her without her parents knowing it." Inuyasha confidently responds. "But I want to ask you something Inuyasha." Kikyo looks to him as she backs away. Inuyasha nods to let her ask. "Where did you get that locket that you gave to me for our anniversary?"
Inuyasha has to think back where he got that locket in the first place. "I believe it was from that quaint shop on the boardwalk when the fair was in town. I don't know if it's there anymore." He answers her without the confidence he just had a while ago. Kikyo had to think to herself for any of those shops that reside on the boardwalk. "Maybe it was that store called 'Little Secrets'. I remember passing that store once before and I had to tell you about what they sell there." Kikyo smiles to him. Inuyasha nods. "I'll give Kaede this locket after I go to that shop where I bought the locket." He gives his plan to her. Kikyo smiles back and fades away.
The next day, Inuyasha heads off to the bus stop, and see Kagome sitting on the little bench. Kagome looks through her phone to see if anything is worth interesting to go through. "Hey." He greets her. Kagome looks up to him with a look of sadness. "Oh hi." Kagome greets back as she puts her phone into her purse. "You ok?" Inuyasha asks her worryingly as he sit next to her. Kagome doesn't feel like talking to him. "Did something happen last night?" He asks her gently, trying his best to get her to talk to him.
Sango and Miroku come to the stop. "Morning." Miroku greets them. But the looks he's getting from Inuyasha and Kagome made him step back. Kagome sees Sango in a similar look. "Sango, can I talk to you for a minute?" Kagome asks her. Sango nods. "Sure." Kagome leaves the guys alone. Miroku sits in the spot that Kagome was sitting in. "What's going on?" He asks Inuyasha. Inuyasha sighs, "I told Kagome about the locket." He tells Miroku so far. "You mean the one that you gave to Kikyo for your anniversary? What did you tell her?" Miroku is a bit shocked to hear this. Only he knows about the locket. "I only told about my story but not Kikyo's part. It's best that I respect that. Kikyo would never forgive me if I did that." Miroku nods. "Ok, so what are you going to do at this point?" He asks him curiously.
Inuyasha pulls out the locket that is still in the bag that he did for Kagome's safety. Miroku widens his eyes. "I'm going to tell Kikyo's sister about this. I know that she and Kikyo were very close." Miroku then came up with something. "Do you know where she is?" Inuyasha remains still for a minute. "For what I can think of is that she's still living at the house that she and Kikyo lived." Miroku nods. "I see. Do you want me to come with you for moral support?" He offers him. Inuyasha glances at him suspiciously. "Why?" Miroku can tell that this is getting uncomfortable. "My bad." Miroku feels bad now. The bus arrives to pick up the group and head off to school.
After school, the group head back their individual homes. Inuyasha comes up to his mother. "Hey mom." Izayoi looks up to Inuyasha. "Welcome home. What is it?" She asks as she puts her book. "I know this may be silly but can I take the car for a while?" Izayoi didn't see this coming. She knows that Inuyasha is enough to drive but she is very adamant about it. "What's the reason? You have your friends in this area." She jokes to him, trying to be humorous. Inuyasha leans to her closely, "I need to go return something."
Izayoi can tell that this is a personal topic. "You get an hour." She gives him her permission. Inuyasha smiles gratefully. "thank you, mother." He kisses his mother on the cheek. He grabs the keys from the hook and heads out to the garage to take her car. Inuyasha makes sure that he takes care of his mom's car. The car is very clean even the interior. He checks around himself and pulls out to the circle of the street and heads off.
Inuyasha arrives at the boardwalk's parking lot. It's not very crowded but it has a few spot available for him to park the car. He gets out and gets onto the boardwalk. He looks around the stores that have been built onto the dry side of the boardwalk while the sea is on the other side. As he looks through the rows of the stores, he spots the store with the tile 'Little Secrets' on the banner. He enters the store with the bell to alert the worker to let her know that a person has entered the store.
"Welcome, sir." A female worker greets him. Inuyasha blinks because he knows the voice. "Kaede, is that you?" Inuyasha comes up to her. Kaede is a bit younger than Kikyo. "Inuyasha? What are you doing here?" Kaede asks him as she comes up to him. "I know it's not right of me to see you again after your sister's death, I just came here to return something." Inuyasha responds to her nicely.
"Kaede, dear. Do we have a costumer?" An older female comes out of the back of the store. "Oh, Mrs. Hitori, this is Inuyasha." Kaede introduces her to him. "Nice to meet. What can I help you with?" She asks him. Inuyasha pulls out the bag in his jacket pocket. "I've come to return this." He explains to her. That's when Hitori widens her eyes, "How did you get that? I don't remember selling this to you." She said as she takes the bag from him nicely. "Really? It might've been someone else who worked here when I bought it." Inuyasha is confused.
"It must've been Tsubaki who sold it to him." Kaede looks at Mrs. Hitori. "Tsubaki?" Inuyasha asks her. "Yeah, Tsubaki used to work her until she got fired for shoplifting the store." Mrs. Hitori said to him. "Oh. Well at least you're doing the right thing for returning this to me." She smiles to him. "All I can say that this locket is cursed."
Inuyasha nods. "Yeah, I witnessed it myself yesterday." He tells them the story for how it came to be in Kagome's possession. "Oh no, is she okay?" Kaede asks him. "Yes, she's okay. I had to tell her how it happened to her." Inuyasha explains to him. "Anyway, this is the Vengeance locket." Mrs. Hitori explains to him. "The Vengeance Locket?" Inuyasha and Kaede ask her simultaneously.
