Blanket Disclaimer: The writer does not own any characters created by Rumiko Takahashi but like everyone else wishes she did. All original characters or concepts are the author's Inuma Asahi De's (with the exception of historical figures).
**Be advised: This Chapter is completely unedited, for that I am sorry. So if you see any spelling or grammatical errors please disregard them. I apologize for any inconvenience this might cause you. Please enjoy!**
Chapter Thirty-Seven
To Change the World
"Jinenji!"
A small Jinenji no older than seven or eight covered his eyes and continued to hide in the cupboard despite his father's voice. He didn't want to come out, he didn't even want to try to face the world, not after what that world and its people had done to him.
"Jinenji?" His father's voice sounded slightly frustrated now. "Where are you, son?"
Tears welled in Jinenji's small eyes as he pushed himself further into the dark walls of the old cupboard, surrounding himself with spices and herbs that would mask his scent making it harder for his father to find him.
"Please, Jinenji we just want to talk." This was not his father's voice, this voice was different, sweet and gentle, airy and kind—it was the voice of his mother.
Jinenji flinched at the realization. He could never deny his mother anything, he had never been able to from the time he was but a little toddler till now. He sniffled, the sound coming out strange like a horse that had sneezed. Carefully he reached one awkward hand forward towards the door of the cupboard and pushed it opened, light instantly flooded into it, hitting his eyes causing him to wince. Ignoring the slight pain the light had caused he pushed himself farther forward until he was sitting on the edge of the slight shelf he had been hiding on. Cautiously, he peeped his head out from between the doors and glanced around. He could see neither his mother nor his father.
"Mama?" He whispered softly but no response came. Slowly, he put his feet to the floor, sliding off the shelf with ease, his hands holding onto the side of the door to support himself for a second while he regained his footing. "Papa?" He called a little louder knowing his father had far better hearing than his mother. Still there was no reply.
He sniffed the air but was met only with the heavy smell of medicinal herbs his father kept and the spices his mother used while cooking. He sneezed, this time the sound coming out like a soft whine of a colt.
"I just don't understand it."
Jinenji froze. That had been his father's voice. "Papa?" He whispered and turned in the direction the sound had come from, the living room.
"I mean, I'm their doctor, I have been for years, humans and demons alike" His father continued to rant. "I'm training Jinenji to take my place and they—they want to hurt him, they want to get rid of him! Are these people morons? Why would they do something like that to him, to this villager's future?"
"I don't know." This time it was his mother's voice, she sounded pained.
Jinenji furrowed his eyebrows as the conversation stopped for a second. He moved towards the doorway that lead from the kitchen to the living room, being careful to make no noise as he did so. He reached the roman style archway easily and peered around it, taking in the sight of his mother sitting on the plush burgundy sofa, her hands folded in her lap as his father set beside her, his body hunched, his elbows resting on his knees as his face buried in his hands.
"Haniyama," His father whispered between his hands. "They can't do this to him." The man mumbled bringing just one hand away from his face, the other still covering one eye, the visible eye looking pained. "I have to stop this."
"Dear," His mother placed a hand on his father's back, moving herself close enough to him that their knees were touching. "What would you do?"She whispered softly as her hand toyed with his long hair.
"Fight them, put them in their place." His father said without a second thought, standing from his position next to his wife, his hands falling to his sides in tight fist as he growled, his eyes flashing red.
Haniyama let her hands fall back into her lap watching as he paced, her eyes sad but determined. "That's not your nature."She told him, her voice still placating in tone.
His father shot his head around, looking at his mother like she was crazy. "What else am I to do?" He asked her, his hands flying up in the air angrily. "They hurt him! They physically laid their hands on my son and you want me to do nothing?"
"That's not what I'm saying." His mother stressed as she stood her hands fisting at her sides as she tried to form a coherent thought while his father steamed. "I—I just know that you're—you're too gentle for blood." She brought her hands around herself, giving herself a slight hug as she tucked her chin to her chest. "I don't want you—to hurt them—it's not you—hurting people is not you." She looked at him pleadingly. "You're a doctor. That's a doctor, not a murderer."
From where Jinenji stood he could see her lip quiver, he could smell her tears through the sage, rosemary, and thyme.
"We don't have a choice in this—."
"There's always a choice." His mother cut him off her voice coming out soft but still easily heard. "Fighting them will not stop their hate."She looked at his father with such conviction in her eyes that Jinenji wanted to cry. "Hurting them, making some sort of warning out of them, will not stop the world from hating what he is."She threw her hands up in the air and shook her head roughly. "Hate only begets hate, violence only begets violence." She pointed at his father. "Those are your words not mine!"
His father sighed and set in one of the easy chairs roughly, leaning his head on the top of the chair's back. His eyes were closed tightly as if he was concentrating extremely hard. Slowly, he brought his hand up and reached into his proper dress shirt, removing a chain that constantly rested there. Jinenji watched as he played with the object lightly recognizing it as a family heirloom. His father's fingers toyed with it absently causing it to shimmer in the late afternoon light.
"These people, Haniyama." He started his voice tight. "They won't listen to words. It's not in their—," He stressed the word 'their' as he eyed her sternly allowing the piece of jewelry to drop from his hands. "—nature to accept what is different from themselves."
"How is he different?" She fired back, her hands fisting in her dress as she pleaded with her husband. "Jinenji's just a little boy like any other little boy." She hiccupped before continuing, the tears still evident in her eyes. "He's a good boy, he'd never hurt a fly, tell them that—I'm sure once they look at him and really see that he's just like them that they'll stop—."
"You're too trusting for words." His father said suddenly, the conversation coming to a halt as his father raised his head off the back of the couch and gazed adoringly at his mother. "In a perfect world your words would be true. They'd see that Jinenji is no different than you or me." He told her gently. "But those people, this world, neither are perfect." He sighed tiredly as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "This world is blind, its people are blind. No matter what you say about Jinenji, true or not, those people already believe the worst and nothing you can tell them will change that."
His mother's face feel, her lip quivered but she nodded her head, she understood. "I wish," Her voice was shaky. "I wish it wasn't true."
"But it is." His father said in a calm, soft voice. "That perfect world you speak of cannot exist, not yet, not in this time." His father clutched his pants legs, ripping into them with his slight claws. "And until the world changes, there's nothing we can do."
"I want the world to change now."His mother commented softly the tears that dripped off her cheeks falling all the way to the floor.
"I'm afraid, we won't see it change in either ours or Jinenji's life time." His father whispered as he grasped the jewel once again, fingering it lightly. After a moment he sighed deeply and reached around the back of his neck, unclasping the golden chain that housed it. Stepping towards Haniyama, he held it out waiting until she took it into her hand before he headed towards the front door of the house.
"You're going to go?" His mother whispered as she clutched the odd heirloom tightly to her chest.
His father stopped and nodded his head but didn't turn around.
"I won't let you." Sounding panicked his mother quickly came to stand behind him, her hands clutching the back of his shirt, drawing him back into the room. "You can't fight them!"
His father was quiet for a moment before he stepped away from her, his mother letting go without him needing to say a word. "I have to do this Haniyama" His father whispered back when he reached the door, one of his hands on the handle. "I will not let them hurt my son."
"So you would go against everything," His mother posed the question her eyes pleading. "Every conviction, every placating word you've ever spoken to me just like that?"
"For him, Haniyama," His father said as he turned the knob and walked out the front door. "I'd die."
The door closed behind him and Haniyama fell to her knees instantly, her dress billowing around her as she gasped and hiccupped through her tears, the golden chain and jewel clutched tightly to her chest still. "Why?" She managed to get out through her gasp. "Why can't the world-d-d—why can't it jus-t-t change?"
Jinenji watched his mother cry, somehow already knowing that his father would never came home again.
Jinenji was drawn from his memory by a flicker, a bit of light that changed color causing the barrier to shimmer a blackish blue, little transparent waves rippling through it. "What a strange thing to remember." Jinenji mused as he stared at the barrier his whole body tight as he waited and watched that sparkle of energy, it was about to give out he could tell even with no knowledge of this form of spiritual power. "I wonder why I remembered that, just now?"
He closed and opened his fist, the memory of his mother's hope for a more accepting world and his father's denial that such a time could ever be reached, haunting him. Something inside of him said that it was possible, that a perfect ideal world of acceptance and love could be found or better yet created. But how do you create something like that, how do you change something that has been around longer than you have been alive?
"Papa's words, my words." Jinenji thought to himself as he felt the tension in the air increase, the barrier was still flickering, the changes in its color reminding him of a thunderstorm right before lightning strikes. "This world isn't ready to change, change won't happen in my lifetime." His heart clenched, he thought of his mother, he wished he was wrong but knew he was right. He had said so much to Kagome not an hour ago. The world wasn't ready to change and whether he liked it or not violence was the only means he had of protecting his mother.
His large blue eyes closed for a second, opening slowly to look through the shield separating prejudice and hate from acceptance and love. He watched as even the humans prepared, as if they too could sense the impending battle.
Jinenji gulped, gritted his teeth, his hands shaking as his mind raced. "Are you prepared? Can you fight?" A voice in the back of his head whispered. He closed his eyes pushing the thought away, "Yes, for her, if I'm protecting her, I can fight. Just as my father fought for me, I can fight for my mother." He told that voice within him as he smelled the air, the reassuring scent of pine and oak coming to his nose, the smell of his mother, a smell he had known since he took his first breath within this world.
"It's not your nature."
Jinenji felt the air around him still, he felt his heart pause as his mother's voice filled his head so loudly that he swore she was right next to his ear. He turned his head and looked for her, she was behind him still unconscious—she couldn't have spoken. "A memory again?" He pondered as he turned back to the barrier. "Yes, a memory, the words she spoke to Papa."
For a moment, Jinenji tried to remember his father, the man's gentle calm face, his sleek long hair. It had been white, right? He could almost see his almond eyes so full of love, of caring, of acceptance.
"Papa," He whispered out loud but none could hear him for they all had human ears. "You didn't want to fight either, but you did for me, didn't you?" He nodded his head firmly. "Just like I'll do now for Mama, to protect her just as you would have done."
"Fighting them will not stop their hate… Hurting them, making some sort of warning out of them, will not stop the world from hating what he is."
The voice was loud in his ears, booming like a clap of thunder. It made Jinenji flinch, it made his heart race in his chest but before he could contemplate the meaning behind that memory the barrier suddenly glowed a bright white taking away the transparent nature of the shield and then like a soap bubble it burst. Jinenji stepped back surprised as the energy dissipated like tiny fireflies all the way up to heaven. It was beautiful, enchanting to watch as flecks of Kagome's power dotted the sky like little stars—pure little stars.
As if just now realizing that the barrier was gone, Jinenji turned his attention downwards away from the sky to the people still on the ground. He tensed, they were staring upwards still, they hadn't yet realized the barrier had disappeared. He braced himself spreading his feet as he wetted his lips. "I'll fight for her." He thought, his eyes narrowing as he prepared himself as he forced himself to put aside the strange memories. "I have to protect her at all cost." He felt his muscles begin to shake.
"That thing, it's gone!" One of the villagers yelled causing the other villagers to come back to their senses.
Immediately the crowd started talking all at once, people who had been resting standing instantly, others that had been attacking the barrier turning their weapons on Jinenji, knives, pitchforks and torches all aimed at him in the most menacing of ways. Some of their guns raised as clubs, all their bullets having been used from their guns when they were trying to get through the barrier.
"You die today beast!" One of the women, Bethany if Jinenji remembered correctly, yelled as she pointed her shotgun at Jinenji's heart, the woman's scowl not belonging on such a dainty face.
"Yeah," The man next to her, a man Jinenji recognized to be her husband yelled as well. "Back to hell where you and that slut belong!"
Jinenji growled and snarled at their words, his loud bass voice echoing off the forest's trees causing the villagers to gasp and scramble slightly backwards in fear. He felt his heart pound in his chest as they did, he had never known anyone to really be afraid of him. Most people took advantage of him, using his gentle nature to beat him, burn him, abuse him but now—he saw genuine fear in their eyes.
"Hate only begets hate, violence only begets violence."
Jinenji blinked in surprise, the voice in his head returning, the sound of his mother causing him to actually visibly flinch in a way that the villagers never could cause. "Hate begets hate?" He repeated in his mind, somehow the phrase felt important, at least more important than just a childhood memory. "Their hate creates more hate—creates hate—my hate?"
"What are you waiting for?" A familiar voice, the voice of Mr. Carver who was resting bandaged against a tree rang out. "Kill him, kill them all!"
As if coming out of a trance the villagers screamed and charged, a mob of no more than twenty, maybe twenty-five men and women racing towards Jinenji, their weapons drawn. Jinenji held up his hands in the same way the Captain had, his body trembling not with fear for himself or even his mother or the injured Captain or Kagome but with fear that something was wrong, that he was doing something wrong.
"Violence only begets violence."
It was as much a memory as it was a current sentiment.
"But I have to stop them. I have to fight them for Mama. She's worth fighting for. Her safety is more important than theirs—than anything." The words reverberated in his head as the first of the villagers, Tom was his name, reached him pitchfork aimed for Jinenji's side. Reacting instantly to the threat the demon in Jinenji came out for the first time in his life as he took his large hand and swiped at the piece of farming equipment causing it to snap in two before he made his hand into a tight fist and hit the villager in the face. Blood poured onto his knuckles, red hot and thick, the sight of it causing Jinenji to grow nauseous not from the sight of the blood but from the disbelief that he had caused it. He had never caused someone to bleed like that before.
"Did I—Tom's Blood—?" He barely had time to think before he felt a pain lodge in his side. "Ah!" He screamed and turned towards the villager, Jonathan—his name was Jonathan—that had brought a pitch fork to his hip, his eyes seemingly flashing from blue to red as he grabbed Jonathan's weapon wielding hand, snapping the fingers with just the pressure surmounted by him closing his fist.
Jonathan screamed in pain as he fell to the ground clutching his now useless hand. "Fuck! My hand, my hand!"
Jinenji barely registered his words as he turned; his eyes overcome by people, so many people swarming towards him. Mary—Kevin—James—Coleman—David—Joseph—Sarah—Robert—Morgan—Amy—Margeret—Jean—Peter—Henry—Ian—Isaac—Isolde—Carl—Eric—Alexander—Wesley—he knew them all. Hastily Jinenji pushed the names away, his eyes focusing on them as strangers. He had to see them as threats as his enemies, not as names he knew, not as people he had known his whole life.
"We are from the same village, born from the same midwife, we eat the same food, and drink from the same rivers."
The words actually stopped his breath.
"We are neighbors and I wish—,"
Jinenji remembered how he had trailed off, how he couldn't complete the end of the statement, how he couldn't tell Miss Kagome how he really felt. "I wish," He felt tears enter his large eyes. "They'd see me the way I see them." The thought was one he had never let himself think. He had never once thought to himself that he wished they would treat him as he treated them. He had never let himself think it, he had always cut it off before the thought could have been had.
Jinenji clutched his teeth, he had to push it away, he couldn't think of it now—not now. Nothing could interfere with his task now!
He glanced at the lot of them hastily as he pushed his thoughts completely to the side. There were so many of them, too many, he didn't know how to handle more than one at once. How had Inuyasha done it so easily? He had taken out almost thirty men with his fist and guns alone. He had made it look so easy.
"It's not your nature."
The words rang in his head but didn't have long enough to set in as another villager—Isaac— ran at Jinenji, a large sickle held in his hands, one that was typically used for reaping wheat but was now posed to reap Jinenji's life. As if by instinct or intuition Jinenji felt his body step to the side, Isaac so intent on hitting him that he overbalanced falling forward with his weapon when he missed Jinenji having hit nothing but air. Jinenji allowed one large hand to follow Isaac as he fell to the ground, hitting him over the head with a large clutched fist, knocking the man unconscious without any thought.
"Die beast!" Another villager—Wesley—screamed as he jumped on Jinenji's exposed back, thrusting a hunter's knife into the large area of exposed flesh.
Jinenji roared with pain, his surprisingly flexible arms and nimble hands reaching behind him to grab Wesley flinging him off and away. He crashed to the ground, his head bouncing as it made contact with the dirt before he skidded a good ten or fifteen feet away from the swarm of violence. Jinenji panted as he took a step backwards the weapon still protruding from his now bleeding back. His large eyes looked around frantically for the next attacker, as his heart pounded hard in his chest.
"This isn't me." The thought came to him with a will of its own. He blinked his large eyes taking another step backwards as he glanced at Wesley. He wasn't moving, no one was helping him, he was just laying their unconscious and bleeding from his head.
"I'm there doctor."
He heard the voice of his father but it sounded oddly like his own.
Two more men sprang towards him one with nothing but a torch and the other with a rather large hunk of wood. On instinct Jinenji blocked the attack made by the one with the large hunk of wood, stopping the large baton from hitting him in the leg. Quickly Jinenji raised his head to take in the man and gasped as he found himself staring into the man's deep green eyes, eyes he knew well.
"Henry." He whispered, they had grown up together or really they were just the same age. Jinenji, by all accounts, had grown up alone but this boy had been born not minutes after him, the midwife had even forced his mother and Henry's mother to be in the same room so she wouldn't have to run between two rooms or houses. It was a fact Henry's mother had always despised and so had Henry. He had despised it so much in fact that he had spent his childhood making Jinenji's life a living hell.
Henry didn't respond to his name being called, he only drew the weapon back and thrust it forward once again. Jinenji blocked easily as he saw the flames of the torch the other man carried coming towards him out of the corner of his eye. Without even wincing he lifted his unoccupied arm and flung it towards the flame wielding man, sending him flying just as easily as he had the man before.
"John!" Henry yelled, it was a name Jinenji recognized, another person who had aged with him but didn't have as deep a connection. "Monster!" The angered Henry screamed as he pulled his weapon back again and sent it towards Jinenji's face but just as every time before Jinenji blocked it easily.
"I'm sorry." He heard himself whisper but felt as if the words were not from his throat. Hastily he copied one of the Captain's moves, bringing his knee up into Henry's chest before kicking him backwards with a large thrust of his foot to Henry's sternum.
"Hate only begets hate."
Jinenji froze, this time his mother's words created a hallow noise in his psyche. Without his consent, his eyes turned to Henry on the ground moaning in pain as he clutched his sternum, blood dribbling down the sides of his mouth as he breathed violently, gasping his eyes opened wide in panic. "He punctured a lung." Jinenji easily deduced his mind racing through possible cures, he came up with only a few but they were risky. "He'll probably die." He whispered to himself as he felt water build behind his eyes.
"Violence only begets violence."
"I did that to him." Jinenji felt himself step back, he saw another villager come towards him. "Jean." The name registered in his mind as he watched the man raise his plow above his head, prepared to strike. He raised his hand preventing the action easily, his eyes wide and disbelieving as he shoved Jean away so hard that the man flew backwards slamming into a tree roughly. With disbelieving eyes Jinenji watched as Jean fell forward, blood pooling on the back of his head. Most likely, it appeared to Jinenji's surprisingly well trained eyes, he had fractured his skull.
"It's not your nature."
"No it's not." The words bubbled within his mind but he once again pushed them away. It didn't matter what his nature was or the state of the world, or the world he wished existed—all that mattered was the woman behind him he wanted to protect. "For her," He told himself as he closed off his mind, as he pushed his doubts and pains out of his head. "I'll go against my nature."
-break-
Kagome sat on the ground with Haniyama's head in her lap, Inuyasha standing a few dozen feet in front of them his eyes trained on the fight, waiting and watching to see if he would need to act. Gently Kagome stroked the old woman's hair her eyes well trained on Jinenji as he fought as well. He appeared to be doing okay besides a few wounds he had incurred from the villagers but nothing seemed to be particularly life threatening. But despite that good news, something about the battle itself seemed to be oddly wrong. Something didn't feel right.
Kagome bit her lip slightly as she glanced down at Jinenji's mother who was resting peacefully, unaware of her sons' fight. Gingerly she brushed the old woman's hair out of her face and looked down at the worn out flesh of someone who had lived a hard fought life. She could see the scars, tiny as they were between the wrinkles. Haniyama had lived a very hard life and all of that was for Jinenji for Jinenji's happiness.
"You really love your son." She whispered to the sleeping face. "You lived your whole life protecting him, didn't you?" She glanced up and took in the sight of Jinenji blocking a pitch fork aimed for his face, she winced when he counterattacked sending the man flying to the outskirts of the woods. "And now he's protecting you." The thought seemed off but she couldn't place why.
"Jin—en."
Kagome blinked and looked down hastily to see the old eyes of Haniyama opening slowly. "Mrs. Haniyama?" She whispered quickly as she studied the waking face.
"Kago—me?" The old woman whispered as she lifted a hand and brought her shaking fingers up to Kagome's face, touching her cheek with the upmost of care. "Jinenji—where—is?"
"Mr. Jinenji—he's—um," Kagome gulped, should she tell her, should she worry her with the fact her son was currently fighting for their lives? In the end, it was a decision Kagome didn't have to make.
Haniyama turned her head as the sound of a man screaming filled the clearing. Her eyes blinked slowly and then widened considerably. "Jinenji?" She breathed out harshly, her pupils dilating as she watched her son roar with pain as he was hit violently in the side by a pitchfork. "No!" She tried to scream as Jinenji's eyes flashed red and he hit the man—Richard—over the head with a clubbed fist. "No Jinenji—no—no—," Haniyama tried to sit up, tried to pull away from Kagome but the younger stronger girl wouldn't let her.
"Mrs. Haniyama." Kagome whispered hastily as she tried to comfort the panicking woman. "We had no choice. Inuyasha turned human and was shot, he can't fight, he's human—he's human and he was shot! Jinenji's all we've got." Kagome knew she was repeating herself but she had to make the old woman hear, she had to convince her.
"But Jinenji." The older woman barely got out as tears started to form in her eyes. "It's the same, it'll be the same." She turned to Kagome, her look pleading as she tried to convey an understanding to the younger girl.
Kagome narrowed her eyes. "The same?" She repeated softly as she looked into the distressed eyes of the mother. "What's the same?"
"This—," Haniyama motioned to the ensuing fight, her face contorted with so much pain that Kagome felt her heart begin to crack. "All of this—this is how his father died."
Kagome felt her face fall, she felt her lips open slightly and her eyes widen greatly. "His—father?" She echoed the sentiment as her hands dropped away from Haniyama. "He died, protecting you?"
"Us." Haniyama whispered as she brought a hand up to touch her head, wincing as she held it as if she was just now truly feeling the pain. "He died—protecting us, Jinenji and I." Her eyes seemed to become far off as she spoke, the memory coming back to her. "I asked him not to—this won't solve it—this is wrong. It's not his nature!" Her voice came out in pants. "Hate only begets hate violence only beg—beg—be," Her voice trailed off her eyes started to roll into the back of her head, she swooned.
With reflexes she didn't know she had, Kagome grabbed the falling woman stopping her from slamming her head on the ground once again. "Haniyama!" Kagome cried out her voice alerting Inuyasha even above the den of chaos and noise.
"Kagome?" He mumbled as he turned towards her, immediately moving towards them when he noticed Kagome holding onto the old woman shaking her. "Kagome, what's going on?" He shouted hastily as he came to kneel beside her, his hand holding his side as he panted. Even from that short a distance he was out of breath—it wasn't a good sign.
"She woke up and saw Jinenji and panicked and then—," Kagome felt the tears in her eyes building as she looked down at the old woman. Haniyama was sweating and her breathing was ragged. "She's—I don't know."
"It's okay." Inuyasha said as he took his hand placing it on the old woman's neck, searching for her pulse. "Don't worry Kagome," He continued to speak as he felt the flutter under his fingers, it was strong and unhindered, that was good. "She just fainted," He deduced as he set back on the balls of his feet awkwardly because of his wound. He hissed slightly.
"Are you okay?" Kagome immediately reached for him, her hand touching his own that was covering his side.
"I'm fine." He told her as he took a few more deep breathes before glancing back at Haniyama. "She is too." He concluded as he sat down with his knees folded underneath him in the same way he had been taught to as a child. "It was probably the shock of seeing Jinenji fight that caused the faint."
"I guess—that would be shocking." Kagome mumbled and nodded as she tried to control her racing heart. She couldn't stand to see someone die today, especially not someone like this, someone who was innately good. The world needed more people who were naturally accepting and loving.
"Yeah," Inuyasha agreed as he held onto his side firmly, he could feel the blood beginning to seep through the bandages.
"Shit," He thought to himself as pain started to push at his side, a dull stab that he couldn't ignore. "It's not getting better." He glanced at the moonless sky, looking for a star to help tell him the time. He saw Polaris and nodded to himself as he followed it until he was staring at the Little Bear in the sky, it was just now starting on the tilt. "It's barely one maybe two. The sun won't be up for three hours. Damn." He glanced at his wound, he should make it that long but not if he agitated it further. The drugs Jinenji had given him were affective but wearing off. He wouldn't be able to take the pain for too long once they were out of his system. "Fucking human night."
Clearing his throat harshly he glanced at Kagome and tried to smile as he pointed to the still engaged Jinenji. "He's not a fighter by any means but he's doing okay. I think he'll be able to stop them."
Something in his words clicked in Kagome's head. "He's not a fighter." She repeated softly, an action she had been doing more and more lately. "No—Jinenji's not, is he?"
"Nope." The Captain replied easily not aware that Kagome was on a wholly different page. "You can see it watching him, he hesitates a lot—he—doesn't have the will."
"It's not his nature." Kagome felt the words drop from her lips, unnaturally.
"Yeah," Inuyasha responded as his eyes followed the fight, darting this way and that. "That's a good way to put it. It's just not in his nature to fight, but anyone will fight for something they want to protect."
Kagome didn't respond but she did take in his words. "Something to protect, he wants to protect his mother but—Haniyama doesn't want this, this kind of protection because—it's not lasting." The thought echoed in her as total realization drowned her. Haniyama wanted a world where people were able to solve their differences in a safe environment or really where people ignored differences completely.
"But—until that world is created it is necessary, there is no other way to make them listen."
Kagome worried her lip between her bottom teeth. "What would it take, to create that world?" She whispered into the thick night's air, her voice catching Inuyasha off guard.
"What?" Inuyasha spared her a glance as she spoke, his eyebrows knitted tightly. "Kagome?"
"This isn't right—this isn't what Mrs. Haniyama wants," She continued to speak as if she hadn't heard him. "This isn't what you want, is it Mr. Jinenji?" She glanced down at Haniyama who was now resting peacefully once again, the earlier worries having gone now that she was once again unaware. "You want to fight for her but what if—," She paused for a second. "What if there was a different fight, a more important fight that needed to be won. A fight that had lasting effects."
Inuyasha completely turned to face her once again, one eyebrow quirked as he took in her contemplative face. "Kagome what the fuck are you talking about?" He asked her truly perplexed by her words but slightly agitated by them as well. The pain medicine was wearing off slowly but surely leaving him with a stabbing sensation in his side that wasn't exactly his idea of a good time.
"Mr. Jinenji would never want to hurt anyone." She continued completely ignoring Inuyasha still as her mind went back to that conversation once again, his words touching her heart deeply.
"I don't want them to be hurt."
"Jinenji," She said his name, a part of her consciously aware that she had dropped formality and another part knowing it didn't matter. "You want the world to change too." She spoke for him, her eyes starting to become far away.
"We're from the same village, born from the same midwife, we eat the same food, and drink from the same rivers." His voice was comforting. "We are neighbors and I wish—," His voice trailed off, he didn't say anything more on the subject.
"You wish," Kagome finished for him. "That they would see you the same way you see them—as neighbors."
"Kagome," Inuyasha grabbed her shoulders suddenly turning her so she would look at him. "What the hell are you going on about?"
"Changing the world." She whispered as she stared into his dark eyes, her own eyes full of deep understanding. "I want to change the world."
"Change the world?" Inuyasha blinked once again rapidly, his eyebrows furrowing causing his forehead to wrinkle in confusion. "From what?"
"From this," She pointed at the fight. "From this hate. I want to change the way people see half demons."
"Damn it Kagome!" Inuyasha cursed his eyes blazing. "Just because you're so fucking accepting doesn't mean you can make the rest of the world see in the same convoluting way you do." His hands held onto her shoulders tightly as he looked deeply into her eyes. "The world doesn't just fucking change on a whim."
Kagome blinked and looked back at him, looked into those dark black eyes. They were pleading with her, telling her of all the pain he had ever endured because of his blood and race. They were telling her that she didn't understand, that she knew nothing about what it was to be half of something. They were telling her that she couldn't possibly change that, that she couldn't possibly change the world. Kagome frowned at the very thought—something inside of her begged to differ. "What if it did?"
Inuyasha looked away from her, shaking his head back and forth. "That won't happen." He told her bluntly. "The world doesn't just change. People—don't just change."
"You're wrong." Kagome said suddenly, her words so strong and truthful that Inuyasha actually felt belittled for a second. "It can change, I can change it."
She pushed him away from her gently before he could speak. She could feel it, the same feeling, the world slow down around her, in that same way it did right before she had erected the barriers or used her energy against Manten but this time no barrier came, no strange foreboding power entered her either. Instead it was a certain understanding, as if a knowledge that had been stored within her incarnated lives was coming to the surface. It encased her, covered her in an intellectual warmth that slowly brought everything together. It was as if the conversation had magically turned on a metaphorical light in her head, awakening the part of her that transcended time.
"What the hell?" He reached to grab her but froze when she looked at him, her eyes had changed, they were no longer dark and stormy grey but instead a soft light color that he couldn't even identify.
"Violence only begets violence, hate only begets hate." She said softly, her voice eerily wise. "And the only way to beget change, Inuyasha, is to fight for it."
"What—," Inuyasha whispered completely confused. "What are you talking about Kagome? You can't fight."
She smiled then, gently, her hand reaching for him cupping his cheek sweetly. "Not that kind of fighting." She told him her expression actually appearing amused as she caressed his skin gingerly. "I will change the world and never raise my fist."
Inuyasha felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end as he looked at her. Her voice was monotone, her eyes almost vacant, she looked as if she was not Kagome in front of him anymore but someone else he had never seen before. He gulped. "But how—but why? Why now—why change the world now?"
"It needs to change," She informed him breathily. "Haniyama needs it to change. Jinenji needs it to change."
"What?"
She looked away from him her eyes landing on Jinenji, they were soft and gentle as she spoke. "Jinenji's father died this way." She whispered it so delicately that at first Inuyasha hadn't even been sure she had spoken. "He died in a fight just like this, with these same villagers." She spoke a little louder this time.
"Kagome?" He looked up at her, his dark eyes worried.
Slowly she turned to look at him, her eyes glassy and far away, they studied him for a second as if they had just become aware that he even existed. "His father died—like this—," She motioned to the battle, her eyes never leaving him as her hand moved airily. "He died protecting them from this hate."
Inuyasha felt his heart clench in his chest at the thought—a father dying protecting a family.
"Otou-san!"
He could hear himself screaming, he could see the blood, the revolution.
"He was protecting them," Kagome went on. "But Haniyama didn't want him too."
Inuyasha felt his hands shake, he could hear his mother's pleading words, asking, begging his father not to fight.
"No—," She had cried as she reached for her mate, Inuyasha shielded in her kimono. "Anata wa, tatakau koto ga dekinai—please—onegai! You don't have to fight!"
She hadn't wanted her husband to die.
"Haniyama," He started to tell Kagome. "Is like any wife. She didn't want to lose her husband." He reasoned softly as he licked his lips before looking her in the eye. She gazed back at him, the look on her face saying she knew what he had been thinking. What he had been remembering.
For the first time ever in his life he truly felt a sense of terror looking in those eyes. They were too wise, too knowledge. They looked as if they could see into his very soul, as if they knew everything that had ever happened and ever would happen, as if they knew every person, every plant and every animal, and every tree. It was as if they were the eyes that had created them.
"No." Kagome whispered as she looked at him a soft smile forming on her lips, a smile of pity or piety. "Haniyama is not just any wife. She is a woman who understands what has yet to be understood. She understands that the world needs to change."
"Aaa—," It was all Inuyasha could say.
Kagome smiled at him and giggled, the sound awkward to his ears as she suddenly moved Haniyama from her lap, brushing the old woman's hair gently. "People need to learn to see the world with eyes unclouded by hate," She whispered as she watched the old woman breath gently in sleep. "To judge a man by who he is inside instead of his heritage." She stood then and looked at Inuyasha, her eyes now swirling with a mixture of colors, grey and black, blue and green, gold and red. "That change starts now." She told Inuyasha as she smiled those swirling colors making his heart leap.
"Kagome?" He whispered out his breath hitching in his throat as he suddenly felt a great warmth encompass him.
It was like a blanket had suddenly been draped over his shoulders, a blanket woven with so much love in every string and thread that it made him want to cry. He had never felt such love, never felt such true acceptance. He felt like a little boy again, felt like a child wrapped within his mother's loving arms. He could almost see her kimono—the one she had worn when he was a very little boy—before his father had died. He could almost feel her fingers and her slight caress.
With eyes he knew were vulnerable and opened he looked at Kagome and watched as she lowered herself down and touched his cheek once again, her delicate fingers tantalizing, hot and satisfying. He panted, the overwhelming sensations causing his brain to stop thinking. All her could hear and all he could smell and feel and taste and see and think about was her.
She smiled, her eyes for a second becoming just a pure gentle grey, a stormy sea that somehow lives through a cloudless night. "Inuyasha." She whispered to him and he felt his heart stop in his chest.
"Kagome—," He whispered back as he watched her pull away from him, her hand hanging in the air for several seconds before finally pulling back to rest against her breast.
"Don't worry." She told him even though she knew he couldn't think of anything negative in this moment. "All will be corrected soon."
Without another word Kagome turned away from him, her back the only thing he could see as she started to walk away her eyes on Jinenji who was still fighting. Her hands lifted into the air in one elegant motion coming to rest above her head. She stood there silently for a moment, her hands simply resting above her as Inuyasha watched unable to move, that comforting warmth holding him tightly in place as he watched.
The chaos of the fighting seemed to pass him by as he watched her fingers begin to glow, watched her hair start to levitate with an unseen power. He didn't hear the screams, he didn't see the blood, or see Jinenji as he took out another man with his large fist. All he could see was Kagome's hands, that amazing cool light that permeated her fingertips catching his eyes just as a moth is drawn to a candle's flame. "Sugoi." He whispered to himself, the word for amazement natural on his tongue.
The lights on the tips of her fingers slowly began to travel towards her knuckles, until every inch of each finger was covered in light that was seeping towards her hands. Like water trickling down her finger tips to her palms, the light spread until it reached her wrist where it seemed to stop, the glow of her skin growing mute for a second as it took time to build.
Inuyasha blinked his hands falling to the ground in front of him as he supported himself on his hands and knees.
As if just now realizing that the strange woman from earlier had entered the clearing the fighting stopped, coming to a grinding halt as all the men and women and Jinenji took in the sight of the woman with glowing hands.
"What?" A man whispered as he lowered his weapon, his eyes staring at the faint glow of the strange native's hands. "How strange."
Another who had been ready to strike Jinenji lowered his weapon as well, his eyes focused on the young girl. "That light?" He whispered into the clearing. "How's she doing that?"
"Shaman." Jinenji whispered to himself as he stepped away from the men assaulting him and at the same time took a step back from Kagome. He could feel the tingle of her power as it built, every instinct in his body telling him that it was about to explode and when it did, it would be bad.
Suddenly, the light in her hands intensified, growing from just her hands glowing with her power to an actual physical ball of energy that she encompassed in her fingers. It looked remarkably like a barrier, the kind she had created when they were at the mouth of the Mississippi River and yet—the energy itself seemed to feel different.
Inuyasha felt his jaw drop as that light grew as powerful as a rising sun. Hastily he stood to his feet prepared to sprint towards her but stopped when the pain in his side escalated from the jerky action. "Holy shit." He gasped as he grabbed his side and turned his eyes to stare at Kagome.
Her hands were still cast above her head, her fingers still holding the ball of light. He had no idea what she was doing, he had no idea what was happening. He had never seen a Miko with this amount of power in his life, it was immense but it wasn't an attack, it wasn't a barrier. He had no idea what it was. It was just a ball of light, a ball of energy—purification energy by the look of it but by the feel of it, it wasn't.
"What the hell is it?"
He heard a villager yell and fought back the urge to yell, 'I don't know.' He felt his knees start to buckle underneath him but fought the impulse to fall as he stared at her, watched her with utter and complete amazement or perhaps horror. She was building the energy still, pushing a much of her power as she could into the light. Each second that passed found her making the orb of light even stronger, strong enough to kill at least twenty maybe thirty fully fledged demons with just the touch alone. Yet, it wasn't meant to, he could somehow feel it. This energy was not meant for demons it was different. It felt different, a different type of power. It had the same twinge as purifying energy and yet none of the same malice.
A tingling sensation overtook him then. He felt an awakening within his blood. Every part of his body began to glow, the power of the demon inside of him pushing to come back to the surface. It pushed, it pulled at him and then suddenly he felt it break through. The pain in his side where the bullet had entered instantly beginning to subside, dissipate.
With wide eyes he pulled his hand away from the wound and looked down, his jaw dropping in amazement as he took in the sight of a now healing flesh wound. And then as quickly as the healing had begun, as quickly as his power had returned he felt it ebb, like a tide it pushed away the pain returning though nowhere near as bad. He had transformed long enough for the demon in him to heal the wound.
"What?" He muttered as he looked down at his hair taking in the sight of silver strands mixed with black, they were fading, becoming lighter and lighter until they were pitch black as well.
Hastily his eyes flew to Jinenji who was staring at Kagome just as intently, his form morphing between that of his demon and—what appeared to be his human—a much smaller man with much smaller features, his nose, eyes and hands tiny in comparison. His human form shimmered before changing back to the demon, only to morph to the human a few seconds later.
"Fuck." Inuyasha let the word slip from his lips as he felt the demon reentering his body. It was as if she was purifying them and then pulling her purifying energy out of them. He had never felt something like it in his life—he had never seen anybody do anything similar to it in his life for that matter. "What the hell is she doing?" He gasped as he felt the wound heal more before he changed back into a human, the pain greatly lessoned now from what it had been before.
And with that the light abruptly exploded from the orb in Kagome's fingertips, the purification energy so bright that it lit the darkness, casting them in brilliant daylight. Quickly Inuyasha raised his hand up covering his eyes with his sleeve as the bright light blinded him, his pupils screaming in pain as they unexpectedly dilated. He heard the gasp of the others in the clearing, heard the yelp of Jinenji as his ears switched from human to demon, then demon to human once again.
"Ah!"
Someone screamed, the voice sounding masculine.
"No—ah! It hurts!"
Another person yelled, their voice sounding as if they were on fire.
Inuyasha tried to pull his hand away. He had to see what was happening but the energy pushed at the back of his hand, the force of it and the wind behind it actually pushing him backwards to the extent that he fell back to the ground once again.
"Make it stop!"
"Shit, holy mother of god!"
"Ah—help me!"
Inuyasha closed his eyes tightly. A part of him no longer wishing to see what plague had been thrust upon the people screaming. They sounded worse than demons being purified.
Curiosity won favor however and with energy he didn't know he had left Inuyasha made himself stand. With great force he brought his hand down to see what the hell was going on, a major part of him regretted it. His eyes were met by a clearing full of humans on the ground, screaming and withering with pain. Jinenji was standing in much the same way he was, a large morphing hand trying to keep the pure energy out of his eyes as he braced himself on the ground, attempting not to fly back in the same way Inuyasha had.
A purplish energy was filling the air, coating the ground with a transparent oozing mist. It seeped out form every villager, going into the air where it hung for several seconds looking deadly and toxic before it lifted raising higher into the sky only to dissipate and eventually disappear.
"What is that?"
Inuyasha whipped his head around taking in the sight of Jinenji who had fallen to his knees his constantly changing eyes looking at the scene with absolute horror. The much larger demon turned looking at Inuyasha with his mouth wide opened.
"Wh-a-at is—is—s-sh-she doi-n-nng?" He asked his voice stuttering so badly that Inuyasha actually had trouble understanding. "Inu-y-y-yasha?"
Inuyasha blinked at the question his mind racing for an explanation. At the moment he only had a vague idea. Slowly he turned back at Haniyama, there was no purple mist with her, she merely laid asleep and unaffected. He glanced back towards the other humans, watching as different degrees of mist left their bodies. Some had barely any hovering above them, leaving them. They just produced slight puffs of the purple sickening smoke but others, Mr. Carver for example, were like chimneys of purple evil—
"Hate." Inuyasha whispered the word before he even knew what it meant, or at least what it meant in this context. "It's their hate."
Inuyasha fell to his knees, his eyes watching with complete disbelief. It was impossible, he had never seen a Miko do it, he had never heard of one—of anyone having this power over humanity. They did it to demons, sucked the evil out of them, it even looked the same—the purple evil mist, the darkness of a soul embodied but this, this action to humans—this was downright unbelievable, improvable, impossible. This wasn't real, this was a dream, no single person could actually achieve what Kagome Dresmont was achieving.
"She's," He found himself whispering. "She's purifying them, like they're demons—she's purifying them."
"What?" Jinenji questioned as his watched in equal hysterics.
"Kagome's taking the hate out of their souls." Inuyasha continued to speak as he watched the last of the purple evil, the embodiment of hate seep out of Mr. Carver. "Kagome purified their hate."
"That's—that's impossible." Jinenji whispered as felt tears well in his eyes. "They—so much hate, how could she—get rid of—so much hate?" a part of Jinenji felt as if this was some sick joke, as if it was impossible to believe not because it was a ridiculous notion but because he was afraid to believe it was true.
He felt the tears slip from his eyes, felt the pain of wounds in his back that were trying to heal between stints of being human and being demon. He had wished for years for the hate in their hearts to die, for them to see him without that hate blinding them and now—now could it be that Kagome had given them the ability to do so. Could something as ludicrous as that be true?
"Kagome." The gentle beast whispered as the tears continued to slide down his cheeks as he took in the sight of people who had hated him because they were too blind to see him—to see inside of him. "Will they see?" He asked himself, dared to hope. "Will they see me for me?"
Only a few feet away from Jinenji, Inuyasha continued to watch as Kagome allowed that purification energy to seep into every person. One by one, it pushed into the body of a fallen human, pulling and forcing all of the hate—all of the purple evil in their souls to leave. It was in creditable to watch as all that hateful mist reached into the air. A part of him wondered how much of their hate she was pushing out. Was she removing all of it from their souls? Was she changing the very foundations of their being by doing it? Or, perhaps, she was pushing out just enough so they would only be able to see past differences.
Maybe she was just touching the part of their souls that clouded their judgment so much that they could not adequately see a man (like Jinenji) with eyes able to actually see him. Somehow, Inuyasha got the feeling that was all she was really doing. He was positive that she didn't have enough energy to do more than that.
Inuyasha shook his head pushing the thoughts away. They weren't really important to him anyway, what was important was the how not the intent. "How did she?" He tried to form a thought but couldn't. "She just—how." He whispered into the air but his thoughts were equally disturbed. "Miko's can only purify evil—demons evil—not humans. What the hell?"
He felt his heart stop in his chest as her power began to fade. He felt like he was in a dream as he watched the glow that surrounded her lift, darkness starting to fall in the clearing once again.
"Is she don—," His words died on his tongue as the glow left Kagome completely, her hands dropping to her sides as the energy disappeared from the air. He felt his body shift, he felt the demon tingle in his blood fade away. He glanced downwards and saw his completely black human hair. He was human again. Looking towards Jinenji he watched as the large demon looked at his hands, studying them as if waiting for them to change back to human ones. When they didn't the large demon nearly cried with relief.
Inuyasha found it in himself to smile slightly before he turned back to Kagome just in time to see her fall to the ground, landing flat on her back. "Kagome!" Her name was yelled easily as he dashed towards her fallen form skidding to a stop beside her only to fall to his knees. "Kagome?" He whispered as he crawled to her side, his hand reaching to touch her cheek as he neared her, his eyes worried as he studied her pale features. "Something's wrong." He realized instantly, his hands beginning to shake as frantic thoughts filled his mind at the sight of the lack of color in her cheeks and lips.
The world stopped, Inuyasha felt his heart fall all the way to his stomach lodging itself in the bottom of it before it jumped into his throat. He reached forward and touched Kagome's cheek, it was ghastly white. His thumb hovered over her lips with agonizing slowness, they felt cold—they shouldn't cold, not after such exertion, not this quick. His breath started to come out in pants as his eyes blinked back rapidly building tears.
"No." He whispered and shook his head as he reached for her desperately, his hands pulling her towards himself before pressing his ear over her mouth, expecting to feel the sensation of her breath on his human skin. He felt nothing except his heart tearing apart in his chest.
Kagome wasn't breathing.
End of Chapter
Please Review
Congrats to InuEared Miko of Darkness for being reviewer 900!
A/N: I really debated ending it here but yeah I didn't. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. There are still some unresolved parts for the Jinenji arch, for instance Jinenji's feelings and thoughts on this whole subject, Kagome's strange power, Naraku and Kaede, we still need to find the jewel, and oh yeah—Kagome's not breathing! Hm, promises to be a gud 'un!
P.S. It is obvious that we are reaching 1000 reviews. I just wanted to let everyone know that the 1000th reviewer for this fic will get a prize. The prize is a sneak peak at my new one shot I have been writing as a side project. The name of the one shot is Chance Meetings and will feature a young Sesshoumaru, his father, and a young Izayoi. If that's something you're interest in you better be reviewer 1000.
**In order to get the Prize you must be logged into your fanfiction account for the actual review. If you are not logged in please include an email so I can email you the Prize. If you do not do either of these things the Prize will go to reviewer 1001.
Japanese Translation:
Anata wa, tatakau koto ga dekinai: You can not fight. (very roughly)
Bonus Point:
In this chapter I use the phrase, "I want to change the world." Where does that come from? Hint: It is from the series (Inuyasha Series) and it is in at least 20 episodes
Last Chapter's Bonus Point:
Let's get down to business, to defeat the Huns! Did they send me daughters when I asked for sons?
Oops wrong song but you guys guessed the right one! The answer is A Girl Worth Fighting For from Mulan, great great movie. Congrats to the winners:
La Pisces, rmk11, Purple Dragon Ranger, SweetHunniiBunnii, 1Hanyou Lover1, glon morski, VoiceofGeneCo50, InuKag77, Regina lunaris, Silver Star Wing, InuKag4eva, Miley4prez, NurNur, Warm-Amber92, horsechick, Laken, Summer Raven, InuEared Miko of Darkness, Heavenly Eclipse (Love the fact you put the whole song!), Little Margarita, Dark AngelRakel, AriaLuvsInu, Otaku-Mae, veroniquevern, arkangel213, Litle C, blackandwhite125, Blackdiamonds-16, booklover2thextreme, 3lue 3utterfly, anonymous (anyone else ever see that and think about Dragonball with Chichi?)
Next Chapter:
N/A
See you then!
UNEDITED
POSTED 10/31/2011