A/N: Thank you reviewers chenimax and Lorien Legacy for your kind comments in the last chapter. Here is the next one!
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.
A Different Journey
The story of Inuyasha, and the miko he loved who had survived death
Chapter 6
The next two days were spent with Inuyasha towing Miroku and Kagome everywhere in search of Shikon shards. Wasn't he supposed to be poisoned? – Kagome wondered, exhausted from the long journey and dangerous fights. Granted, she didn't actually do much except act as a shard detector; she had no weapon and knew not how to use one anyway. Everywhere they went, Inuyasha just threw her on his back with little regard for her comfort, bounding up and down and ran and stopped as he pleased. Kagome would've felt sorry for not helping fight, if she weren't always fighting the urge to puke.
They finally claimed their first Shikon shard from a supernatural boar by the morning of the second day, having forgone sleep the previous night. Miroku lay on the ground, heaving breaths. Inuyasha clasped the shard with not a shred of joy, but frustration.
"We're going," he said. Miroku, still on the ground, could only roll his eyes towards him, too tired to even turn his head. Kagome glared.
"We just got our first shard. Can't we rest a bit first? I need to go home," Kagome said.
"You ain't going home."
"Why?"
"Because this ain't enough." Inuyasha tossed Kagome the shard. She scrambled to catch it, barely managing. She quickly pocketed the shard, glad that she had not lost it.
"What do you mean this is not enough? You can't be thinking we can retrieve all the shards and piece together the entire jewel in two days!?"
"I don't even give a flying rat's ass about the jewel."
"Then what?" At this, Kagome realized Inuyasha's intention. He wasn't after the jewel – he was after Kikyou, and the likely culprit of whatever happened between them fifty years ago, the youkai called Naraku. An indignant fury had risen within Kagome. "Oh, so you're mad we haven't found Kikyou-san or Naraku, huh? What does that have to do with Houshi-sama and me? Why should we care about your problems, Inuyasha?"
"And why should I care about your problem, Bitch? You were the one who broke the fucking jewel. Why should I piece it together for your dumb fuck-"
"Okay, okay. Let's keep this discussion civil," Miroku said. "Inuyasha, I can understand what you are getting at. I am not after the jewel either. I want to find Naraku, and I, too, am frustrated that this shard has not led us to him. Still, we need to have patience. Kagome and I are not sturdy like you. You don't have to care about me, but Kagome is critical to this search. You should give her a break when she needs one, otherwise it is just counterproductive. Let's head to the village so Kagome can rest a few days at home. We can regroup and make plans for our next move too. How does that sound?"
Inuyasha growled. "I can care less about making plans with the likes of you. You two want to go to the village, then go back by yourself. I ain't coming with you."
"Inuyasha…" Kagome was about to say the special word, but Miroku held her back.
"It's fine, Kagome. I will lead the way instead. I know where that village is." He whispered in her ear, "Besides, he will come back for you for sure. For one, he's just going to run around in circles without you to guide him. For two, I can tell he does care for your safety. Don't let his attitude get to you."
Kagome nodded, a little ashamed she almost let her temper get to her. She was about to thank Miroku but stopped when she felt Miroku's hand creeping towards her. She slapped it away, glaring at him with teeth bared.
"Are you sure you are a monk?"
"Well, well," he answered with a chuckle, "Appreciation of all things, including the fine flesh of beautiful women like you, is part of my doctrine-"
Kagome's hand found his face in a loud smack. He wore the red handprint as a badge of honour.
Kikyou had come to the end of the forest. She was standing atop a hill that overlooked a small village below. Waving a hand to the shinidamachuu, they obeyed her command to stay in place while she moved ahead to the village.
Once within the village's walls, Kikyou knew something was wrong. The roads were deserted, houses with doors closed. The few people who were still outside ran without stopping, most carrying necessities as water and food. Kikyou managed to catch up to a man, who only stopped when she shouted at him.
"Excuse me. Would you please let me know what is going on in this village?"
The man pulled Kikyou by the hand. "This is no place to talk. Are you staying at an inn, Miko-sama?"
"I have yet to find lodgings. I have just arrived."
"Then please come with me. Quick. The locusts are…"
The man's voice trailed off. His eyes widened in horror at something behind Kikyou. She felt it too – jaki. She turned and saw what the man was referring to. It was a swarm of locusts. No ordinary locusts, but giants, clad entirely in steel. Their flight brought forth a gust. The man was about to run for it, but Kikyou stopped him.
"You cannot outrun them. Stay close to me. I will protect you."
It was too late for the man to run anyway. He squeezed his eyes shut and kept praying to the gods to spare his life. The locusts were fast, so fast that Kikyou could not draw an arrow in time. Instead, she erected a barrier to surround the man and herself, letting the locusts slam into the barrier and be ripped apart by its pure energy. They retreated, and Kikyou chased them by putting more power to her barrier, which expanded like the shockwave of an earthquake. Kikyou managed to consume most of the locusts with the barrier, but the ones at the very front of the pack had enough time to swerve their flight, gaining in altitude to avoid the barrier and come down upon them once more from above. Even Kikyou had her limits, unable to summon more energy into the rapidly expanding barrier. She could only withdraw some of its power from the perimeter so she could push it higher in height. She, just barely, managed to slay all the locusts in the pack. Still, from the jaki she sensed in the wind, she knew more were coming.
The sounds of battle died. The man hesitantly opened his eyes. "Are they gone?"
"Yes, they are gone. For now," Kikyou answered him.
He dropped to his knees, almost in tears. "Thank the gods for my good fortune. Thank you for saving me, Miko-sama. I am forever in your debt."
Villagers emerged from their houses, having watched in fear within their homes that last locust attack. They came up to Kikyou.
"Please stay with us, Miko-sama. The locusts have come many times to destroy our crops and slaughter all those in their way. They will come again. We need you with us. Please save us!"
"Please save us, Miko-sama!"
Kikyou raised a hand to calm the commotion. "I shall see to it that this village is protected." She reached into her sleeve for the paper mannequins she had prepared previously, holding them in her palms while she closed her eyes in prayer. The paper glowed, floating upwards much to the villagers' awe. The light brightened and expanded into the shapes of two children. When the light faded, two young girls stood in its place, one in yellow, the other in blue.
"They are…?"
"My shikigami, Kochou and Asuka," Kikyou answered. "Asuka," she called. The blue-clothed shikigami stepped forth and bowed respectfully. "You are to tend to the barrier I will set up around this village."
"Your will is my command, Kikyou-sama."
Kikyou's powers expanded once more in a pale blue light that surrounded the village. She turned to the villagers. "This is the barrier. If you stay within the barrier, you shall be protected from the youkai. If you value your life, do not exit the barrier in my absence. I shall return after I exterminate the locusts' nest and rid of them once and for all."
"I will follow you, Kikyou-sama," the yellow-clothed shikigami, Kochou, said from Kikyou's side. She nodded.
"May I have a horse?"
A villager quickly ran off and retrieved a horse for Kikyou. "Safe journey, Miko-sama. We eagerly await your return."
Kikyou got onto the horse with Kochou at the reins. "Thank you. Best of luck be with you and this village."
Miroku had shown Kagome back to the village where the ancient well stood. She climbed into the well, and instantly was engulfed in bottomless darkness. She was falling for a long time. All she could do was hope that she would emerge back home and not some other random time. She would love for a trip to the future and ride a flying car or something, but not right now. Now, she just wanted to go home and take a hot shower…
Splat
The moment she landed, a sharp-smelling liquid splashed onto her face. Rice wine. Her grandpa's favourite. Kagome narrowed her eyes.
"Grandpa, what was that for?" she asked, rising to her feet. Her head poked out of the shallow well into the dusty air of the storage shack behind her family shrine. Yup, she was home.
"Oneechan!" Souta ran over to her, hugging her and crying. "I saw you get sucked in by the well and I was so scared. I thought you would never come back!"
"I said the rice wine and the prayer would appease the gods," Grandpa said, tossing more wine onto Kagome. Kagome had to shield her face from the wine.
"Stop it, Grandpa! I just time-travelled. I'm not possessed; I don't need a purification!"
For the next few hours, Kagome explained to her family all that had happened to her. Much to her surprise, they believed her every word, especially Grandpa who said the wood of the goshinboku held powers that transcended time, then proceeded to rant on about the story behind the goshiboku well's construction. She had to excuse herself so she could take the shower she had desperately craved.
Now that she was done and was relaxing in the bath, she relished in the feeling of hot water soaking her strained muscles. Home sweet home. Running water and electricity were the finest of mankind's inventions. She stayed entirely too long in the bath and nearly fainted from the heat. She only crawled out when Souta shouted at her from the other side of the bathroom door to hurry so he could use the bath before the water cooled.
After the bath, she was too tired to do anything else, instead just lying in bed to stare at the ceiling. The bedding was so comfortable. Soft and warm. The air that breezed in from the open windows might not be as fresh as that of the Sengoku Jidai, but everything else was better here. She had her family. She was in a peaceful time. It was wonderful. If she decided to stay here, it wasn't as though Inuyasha or the others could do anything about it.
There was the jewel she had to piece together though. She was the one who broke it after all, and if she didn't clean up the mess, perhaps the changed course of history would even affect the modern times. That would be bad. But even if she wanted to do something for the cause, would she be able to? Was she just a burden on the others?
Strangely, it was not the lack of modern comforts, or the fear of danger that made Kagome hesitate in whether to one day go back. It was this – she wanted to help, not to drag the others down. Inuyasha said he didn't care if she were gone. Maybe she really should stay here. Maybe…
She drifted into an uneasy sleep plagued by dreams of vaguely familiar things. Memories? No. She was seeing a dark night only lit by a streak of lightning. Rain fell so hard it drenched the farmlands. Across the lowland was a forest - Kagome recognized it as the one where she had met him. Inuyasha. Yes, he was there, his red robes soaked, appearing black. He stood at the place where he had once been pinned, running his fingers over the mark on the tree's bark where the arrow had once touched.
Another figure was behind him. He had not noticed at first, but now he turned, his eyes widened in surprise. The one who faced him bore similarities to his appearance. Silver hair. Golden gaze. But on his face were the markings of a crescent moon and magenta stripes. Instead of red, he wore white, dotted by the patterns of cherry. Atop it was an ornate armour held by a sash of rich yellow and blue.
Inuyasha's surprise turned to caution. He lowered his stance, his eyes glaring. "What are you doing here?" He asked. With more malice, he spat out the newcomer's name. "Sesshoumaru."
End of Chapter - reviews appreciated
