Title:
PURGATORIOPart:
1 – Warnings and Disclaimers
Author:
Shun'u [ff.net ID: 61008]
Series:
Inuyasha
Genre:
Supernatural/Suspense
Rating:
PG-13
Disclaimer:
Inuyasha, its characters and original storyline are © to Rumiko Takahashi, Shonen Sunday, and subsequent parties. "Purgatorio" is an original fanfiction © to Shun'u [h_shunu@hotmail.com].
Posted:
January 2003Author's Notes and Review Responses:
First off, thank you so much for the reviews! Wow. Before the first chapter came out, even. Imagine that. *sniff* You guys make me so happy! *hugs* Okay, quick note. This chapter is shorter than I expected, but I had to cut it off before going into further details. (Needed to iron out some things that will be happening next.) Besides *grin* anticipation of meeting Sesshoumaru in this series of stories will be good for you.
^_^
*ducks flying objects*
Shun'uFor early updates and teasers, please join my updates mailing list at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/shunu
My Author's Page on Fanfiction.net is located here:
http://www.fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=61008
Feel free to email me anytime. I'll try to respond promptly… honest! ^_^v
In response to Cacat-angel:
Hmm… Atoning for sins is good, don't you think? ^_^ But whether or not he'll receive love… now that's the question!
In response to aoko:
I'm hoping to develop all of the characters further and further with each story in this series. Inuyasha ^^; doesn't go away. Actually, he's very active in this story. He is the title character after all. Besides, I like him. Not as much as other *cough* characters, but I still like him. *grin*
In response to Slice:
LOL I'm sooo happy to have converted someone to alternate pairings! insert evil grin You wouldn't believe how many people began to root for Sesshoumaru after reading my fics early on – back in the days when no one even know Naraku or Onigumo existed! Heh. Makes me feel ancient to know that I've followed Inuyasha from the first day it came out (in Japan as manga, mind you…) ^^;
In response to hope of dragons:
Does this meet your expectations somewhat? I know it's short, but then, I'm working on a longer chapter two.
In response to Momiji:
Did you know that your name has the same meaning as 'Kaede'? Interesting choice. I'll try to update quicker. Can't promise anything though. *sigh* Life's just too busy.
In response to cutelilseffy:
Thanks! Don't die on me yet. This is a little of what happens next.
In response to Cin of an Angel:
Wow… I love you too. Just for reviewing! Hehe. Oh, and Shippou will remain with Inuyasha during this story. Hmm… don't know if I should be telling y'all this, but Shippou will be with Inuyasha and the others while Souta's with Kagome in her time. *innocent smile* Gee… I wonder…
In response to ForestKarma:
First chapter up! I wish I could write as much as the rest of you. *sniff* Honest. It'd be great to be able to churn out chapters like other authors.
In response to Miko-chan:
Thanks! Please keep reviewing. I've discovered that reviews keep me happy and happiness is really, really good for keeping me writing. This isn't blackmail, mind you. ^_~ It's just that writer's block usually hits when I'm down and reviews keep my spirits boosted.
In response to Elsie:
You've got it. Dante Alighieri's very own. Of course this isn't based on the book. I'm using the Italian word 'purgatorio' because I like the sound of it better than the English 'purgatory.'
In response to ashleekyle:
I'll continue! ^_^ Thanks for reviewing!
In response to Junsui:
^^; I hope that my updates are better this time around too… And can you believe that while I'm udpating this I'm also outlining another Inuyasha fanfic? Don't worry though! I won't do that one until I'm done with this.
In response to Silver Dragonfly:
Hehehe… I'm sorry to have left you hanging. It's just that FC's plot ended there. I had to stay "in character" with the series too and not make it an end to Naraku, if you know what I mean. He's too vital to the rest of the story to kill off that soon. Also, I need him to develop Kikyou. *smirk* Yes, I like to write about her too. (Btw, I'm still thinking of your offer. Will get back to you soon.)
In response to PhoenixBlade:
Thanks for reviewing!
In response to Alexiel:
Hey, I like your screen name there. Makes me want to watch Angel Sanctuary all over again. Hmm. No! Must resist temptation! Hehe. Thanks for the compliments! Hope that the characters stay in character in this one too. Believe me. It's very tempting to speed things up. Just can't because Sesshoumaru (not to mention Kagome and Inuyasha to top things off) are rather stubborn characters and set in their ways. *sigh* Ah well. Makes it all the more interesting to write about them, doesn't it? ^_~
Purgatory
(as defined in Merriam-Webster)
1: an intermediate state after death for expiatory purification; specifically: a place or state of punishment wherein according to Roman
Catholic doctrine the souls of those who die in God's grace may make
satisfaction for past sins and so become fit for heaven.
2: a place or state of temporary suffering or misery.
P U R G A T O R I O
· |· Sequel to Full Circle · |·
An Inuyasha Fanfiction
By Shun'u
Part I: Warnings and DisclaimersFour figures sat silhouetted against the irregular flickering of a lone candle. The room was otherwise dark. It was well past dusk, but this could barely be discerned as all of the windows had been tightly shuttered and the heavy blue curtains worked only too well in isolating the inhabitants of the room from the hostile environment outside.
Beyond drapes and glass and plaster walls, a storm was brewing. Come daylight most of the yellowed leaves still stubbornly clinging to the delicate maple trees would have conceded defeat to the greater forces of nature and fallen to the ground. In uneven patches of wilted veins and sodden vellum, the leaves would carpet stone and dirt paths until some industrious soul came along to rake in the damp heaps.
However, the annual changing of leaves had no bearing upon the four figures, as they were warm and dry within the softly lit room. They were comfortable in their thick robes, and took for granted that they were safe within the confines of the measly four walls, floor, and ceiling.
Minutes had passed in silence and none of them had as yet to move. They dared not. All stared in mute and morbid fascination at the objects set in the center of the square table they surrounded on all four sides.
The open flame wavered more violently as a chilly autumn draft flew across the wooden floor and snaked over their exposed, newly polished toes. A set of staring eyes blinked, snapped out of semi-trance. Two others gasped and shivered, clutching their robes more tightly against their chests while curling their toes. And then…
One dared to speak. "I still say that Ouiji Boards should always come packaged with a vial of holy water and a silver cross."
"Yuko!" The shadow across from the speaker hissed nervously. She hunched her shoulders and wrapped her arms more tightly against something unseen. Her perpetually worn yellow headband gleamed when she lowered her head, candlelight catching upon the cheap plastic.
Yuko flipped her curly shoulder-length hair unrepentantly. She said to Ayako, "Well, those would be better than having some stupid disclaimer that says, 'For ages 12+,' or 'This is only a toy.' I mean, really, who reads those things anyhow? That'd be like assuming that people actually read instructions before using cell phones."
Yuko's chocolate brown eyes held twin flames in their warm depths as they reflected the candlelight. She grinned gamely to her friend with the cute bob haircut.
"Right, Naomi?"
Naomi offered up a weak smile. If her giggle was more than a little forced, the intrepid Yuko never noticed. "Yuko-chan, you say the funniest things." Naomi clamped her mouth shut to stop the telling nervous giggle from transforming into hysterical cackling; she had been set against this game from the start.
Yuko turned to her last possible ally. "How about you, Kagome-chan?"
Kagome blinked and refocused on her three friends. She could have sworn that just a moment ago she had felt the presence of a shard. Shaking her head, she said absently, "Sure, Yuko-chan."
Yuko smiled triumphantly. "See? I'm not the only one who thinks that."
"Ano… Yuko-chan," Naomi ventured to suggest, "aren't holy water and silver crosses used against vampires?"
"Uh… yeah, I think so." Yuko said after a moment's deliberation, quite oblivious to her friends' groans of exasperation.
Ayako dropped her head onto the table with a faint clunk. She asked faintly, her voice muffled by terrycloth sleeve and table, "Then, what good would they be around ghosts?"
Yuko's lips parted. For a long drawn-out moment no sound came out. Finally, she threw her hands into the air and declared, "It's still not a bad idea."
Ayako looked at Yuko with weary indulgence.
Naomi looked at Kagome with a look that clearly said, "There goes Yuko again."
The tension broke as they all fell into gales of laughter at their own nervousness. Somehow the girlish giggles made the darkened room a little less ominous.
"Okay," Ayako said. "Enough of our cowardliness. Let's start this game!" Thus saying, Ayako reset the rectangular board with its imitation wood coloring and bold calligraphic letters and numbers in a high arch in the center of the table. The candle was moved to the top edge of the board.
Kagome watched Yuko pull a palm-sized triangular piece with a window through the center out of the cardboard box. The window was supposed to allow them to view the letters as spirits guided the piece to answer their questions. She still felt a little out of sync with her friends. Half of her attention was focused inward and anticipating an angry Inuyasha to come bursting through the doorway any moment demanding that she return with him through the well. The other half was still scattered and searching for that elusive shard that she had detected.
Naomi was just saying something about deciding who should start up the game when Kagome once again felt that odd shiver run down her spine, indicating a shard of the Shikon Jewel was nearby. But just as before the feeling was fleeting and immediately disappeared. Kagome almost laughed aloud at her own skittishness. Her imagination was being hyperactive this night.
"It says here," Yuko read, "that we're supposed to concentrate on the board and ask a question. They have to be simple yes/no questions or the kind that can be answered with a single word."
"Sounds simple enough," Naomi muttered. She was still scared but determined not to back out.
Ayako looked at all of them expectantly and held out her hands, palms upturned. "So? Shall we ladies?"
Kagome felt a bead of sweat roll down her temple. "Um… Ayako-chan… what are you doing?"
"Er," Ayako blushed, "aren't we supposed to hold hands or something like that?"
**********
The creature moved with an innate grace. Stealth came easily to his kind for they were natural born predators, created by the gods to be hunters. Corded muscles played in breathtaking harmony as he stalked his prey relentlessly.
And this time…
This time… his prey was going to return with him to the past come hell or high water.
"Inuyasha, what are you doing?"
The hunter screamed and clawed his way up the nearest tree trunk. Once safely out of reach of the surprise attack, he glared down bravely.
"Damn it, Houshi!" He snarled furiously to cover a growing sense of embarrassment. "What the hell do you think you're doing sneaking up on me like that?"
Ever the suave and unruffled one, Miroku said calmly, "I wasn't sneaking, Inu Baka."
He had recently discovered that Inuyasha did not have an appreciation for sarcasm. Miroku insightfully surmised that his friend's lack of appreciation for satire had something to do with Inuyasha's elder and much more caustic brother.
He said, "You weren't paying attention."
Now that was an unjust accusation if ever the hanyou heard one. Inuyasha hopped down from his perch and straightened to his full height.
"Feh. Whatever, Miroku." Inuyasha said arrogantly, "Youkai don't need to be on guard to catch a human sneaking about."
Miroku smirked knowingly, deciding that the issue wasn't worth arguing over. His glance returned to the object of Inuyasha's interest earlier.
"Were you going through the well?" he asked casually, carefully not noticing the intense blush spreading across the hanyou's cheeks. No doubt Inuyasha would deny any and all concern for Kagome if Miroku made any pointed references to the young lady.
"It has only been four days," he reminded his over-anxious friend.
Inuyasha grumbled under his breath.
Miroku leaned in. He asked, "What was that? I didn't quite catch what you said."
Inuyasha scowled and repeated angrily, "She's late! She said she'd only be away for four days."
Miroku blinked uncomprehendingly. "But… Inuyasha, today's only the fourth day."
"The sun's already set. It's the fourth night," Inuyasha stressed the last word. "She should have been back two hours ago."
Miroku coughed lightly. He was tempted. Oh yes, very much so. But he refrained from telling Inuyasha that he was splitting hairs and Kagome would probably be returning in the morning.
"I take it you'll be going to get her soon then?"
Inuyasha grunted a non-reply irritably. Now that he had said all that out loud it seemed rather petty. Miroku suddenly threw him off balance when he clapped Inuyasha on the shoulder.
"Well, good luck to you Inuyasha. I hope Kagome-sama's in a generous mood, for I fear that you will most definitely be hearing The Word this night."
"Thanks so much for your vote of confidence."
"That's what friends are for," Miroku said, cheerfully ignoring Inuyasha's baleful glare.
Inuyasha felt the very uncharitable urge to wring his friend's neck.
**********
"What should we ask first?" Ayako wondered. They had been debating on what to ask the board for a solid ten minutes. Producing an idea only to discard it as being too ordinary.
Finally, Yuko was struck with inspiration. "How about we ask about Kagome-chan's secret boyfriend?"
Kagome quickly snapped to attention. She stuttered, "W- what?"
"Oh yes," Yuko produced an impish grin, "We'll ask what his name is!"
"B- but!" Kagome looked to the others for help.
However, help was not to be found for like most young women of a certain age, there was nothing more enthralling than a secret love affair or a tryst under the moonlight. Nothing was more romantic than an illicit assignation between star-crossed lovers. For what else could Kagome and her mysterious young man be, if she were this hesitant to divulge his identity? It all made perfect sense to her childhood friends.
"Wait." Naomi, kind soul, felt badly for Kagome being put on the spot. She tried to give her friend an escape route. "Maybe Kagome-chan doesn't have one. Shouldn't we ask first if she does? Then we'll ask the board who he is," she suggested.
Ayako agreed. "Good idea, Naomi-chan. " She turned to a very nervous Kagome. Her smiled turning slightly menacing in Kagome's opinion. "So… Kagome-chan, do you have a secret admirer?"
Kagome turned slightly pink. For some reason her tongue was cleaved to the roof of her mouth; she was having quite a bit of difficulty speaking.
Yuko said, "Ayako-chan! You're supposed to ask the board, not Kagome!"
The sound of something small and solid bumping against the table went unnoticed by everyone save Naomi.
In a bare and shivering whisper, Naomi said, "Uh… maybe you don't have to." She pointed at the source of the thumping sound. "Look."
The girls watched in silent, frozen fear as the triangular piece shook and trembled at the center of the table. Shaking faster and faster with every passing second. Bumping against the table more heavily and violently each time that it did. Moved by an unseen force – for nothing was touching the piece, as it raised one, no, two inches to hover in the air – the triangle slowly rotated as the girls held their collective breaths to answer their eager question.
/YES/
"Oh gods," Yuko choked out after interminable moments of having held her breath. She stared up into Kagome's wide, disbelieving eyes.
The candle flickered one last, token time before a breath of air extinguished its warmth.
One, two, three blinks later, terrified screams ricocheted off the walls as chair legs scraped the polished wooden floor and shoulders bumped roughly in the dark.
"Somebody turn on the light!"
"Oh Go~~d!"
"Please don't let there be a real ghost in here!"
"Everyone, calm down!"
Kagome rushed to flip on the light switch after yelling her command to be heard over the high-pitched cacophony. She blinked, momentarily blinded while her pupils adjusted to the instant influx of white light. Once her sight returned, she could see that nothing had changed in the room but for the girls all standing up. There, still suspended at the center of the table and over the Ouiji board, was the wooden triangle. She slowly made her way back to her seat and almost sat down before remembering that her chair had been pushed too far back and she would have landed on the floor. Kagome opted to stand.
"Kagome-chan," Naomi's lips trembled nearly as much as the rest of her girlish body. She pleaded, "Do something."
"What?" Kagome began to back away and wound up knocking into Ayako and Yuko who had moved to stand at each shoulder behind her. Naomi huddled closer and clutched at her left sleeve. Apparently the three girls had silently and unanimously voted Kagome as their spokesperson with the dead. "B- but, why me?"
"Because," Yuko quickly grabbed Kagome's right shoulder and kept her from wriggling to freedom, "you're the bravest, Kagome-chan."
Kagome shook her head in denial the instant she heard that, but knew her protests would be futile when they all nodded their heads simultaneously. With a soft sigh she resigned herself to the inevitable. What should I do?
"Um…" Kagome cleared her throat, "hello?"
Nothing.
"Is anyone there?"
The triangle piece shook and spun. It landed back precisely where it was before moving. Their ghost was a perfectionist.
/YES/
Kagome grimaced. Oh, great. She swallowed but forced herself to continue.
"Who are you?" she asked.
Maddeningly slow, the piece moved.
"It's spelling something," Yuko said. The excitement was plain to hear in her tone. Her fingers dug into Kagome's shoulder almost painfully but neither noticed for they were focused solely on the board.
-F-R-I-E-N-D-
Yeah, right! Kagome thought a little hysterically. She asked the next logical question. "What's your name?"
No answer.
"So… umm…" At a loss as to what to call their unexpected spectral guest, Kagome dubbed him, "Yuurei-san." She giggled nervously and hoped that she was not offending the ghost. The last thing they needed was for a spirit to be angry with them.
"Dear gods," Ayako groaned from somewhere behind her. She asked of no one in particular, "did Kagome-chan just call it 'Mr. Ghost'?"
Yuko rubbed her sweaty palms against her blue robe. "I'm afraid so."
Meanwhile, Kagome was saying, "Are you here to harm us?"
This time the triangle did not wobble or make a single startling thump against and table. Instead it made a slithering sound against the glossy corkboard as it rotated exactly 90 degrees from its spot directly between the YES and NO.
/NO/
"Oh, good." Kagome's muscles relaxed minutely even as her nerves jangled. "Did- did we call you through the board?"
/YES/
Kagome traded ambivalent glances with the others. "Well, then, can you tell us why you're here?"
/YES/
Naomi suddenly burst out of her silence. "You aren't one of those ghosts who wants to take revenge on the people who harmed you while you were living or something, are you?"
She crossed her arms defensively when she got weird looks from her friends. "What? You know how they always say that people who died violently come back for retribution. My grandmother says that their souls can't rest and they can't move on to heaven. Then there are the ones who sinned so much in their lives, but didn't sin enough to be sent to hell, so they're stuck between heaven and hell until they repay for their sins or…"
Naomi stopped chattering when she noticed that all she got were slightly slack jaws and blank stares. She ducked her head and said sheepishly, "My grandmother's Catholic."
The lights began to flicker again, startling the girls into grabbing onto each other. Softly at first, the sound of amused masculine laughter built in the air, causing all of the teenagers to yelp and hold onto each other even tighter.
Their ghost had a voice.
"Yu- Yuurei-san?" Kagome asked.
A tall man's image blinked in and out of sight. Kagome could briefly make out the appearance of deep red hair and forest green, exotic eyes. However, she did not focus on either of these features as something more vital caught her attention: the glitter of a shard embedded in each earlobe like sparkling diamond earrings. That, and the swishing tail that she could see behind him while he stared straight at her.
Their mysterious ghost not only possessed shards of the Shikon Jewel. He was also a kitsune.
"Yuurei-san?" Kagome suddenly felt a callused hand glide along the edge of her jaw. She turned but saw and felt nothing else until a fleeting touch prickled the top of her hand. Goosebumps raised where the ghostly fingers had run across hyper-sensitized skin.
Almost in a panic by this point, she yelled furiously, "Yuurei-san!"
Empty.
The room felt so much bigger without the ghost's presence. There was suddenly enough oxygen to breathe easily instead of with tight gasping pants. Kagome knew that this wouldn't be the last time she would meet their ghost although it would be the only time for her friends. They would be able to go home after this night and recall this incident as simply a result of their over-imagination.
Her friends started to laugh as their minds jumped to the easiest and least troubling conclusion. The still nervous but, easy chatter barely intruded on Kagome's thoughts, which had turned introspective. She numbly sat and watched Yuko put the incriminating board away before Yuko's mother discovered them playing with it, while Ayako turned on the karaoke system and Naomi shuffled through piles of the latest J-Pop CDs.
Unfortunately for her, there would be no such delusion. The jewel, after all, always drew trouble. This time trouble had followed her into the 21st century and came in the unlikely form of a dead kitsune caught in the middle plane of existence Christians called Purgatory.
**********
Something was wrong. Kikyou could feel it in the air. The souls were restless and harder to find. Her soul stealers were gathering less and less these many days. Not because of unwillingness to do her bidding, but because, as they reported, the souls were disappearing before they could be harvested. Into thin air, apparently, and without reason.
At first she had suspected Naraku and had gone in search of him, only to discover from the strange white girl named Kanna that he too was missing. Missing to the point that Kanna with her enchanted mirror could not find her master.
Strange. Very strange…
This was something that required investigating. She would start by contacting Kaede. Her sister's powers were mediocre, but many travelers remembered tales of the powerful miko who had protected the Shikon Jewel and defeated demons with ease, and often sought Kaede's wisdom, thinking that what one sister had surely the other equaled. They were wrong. However, in return for Kaede's sage advice they would often bring her information from lands far and wide.
Even if Kaede were to know of nothing, Kikyou reasoned, certainly Inuyasha or someone else in his well traveled group would. Kikyou started on her way towards Inuyasha's forest.
Along the way she let her awareness spread and encompass everything within her considerable range of power. Seeking, feeling for the souls of the dead. She found nothing. Not even the souls of small animals could be found. There was simply an emptiness to the world where before there had been life.
Kikyou was worried. Always she had been careful in her gathering. She had never lingered in any place too long, never consumed more souls than wise. Moving from place to place, she had made sure that the circle of life was unbroken and enough souls would be left so that new lives could be born. Now something had disrupted that chain and broken the circle. Something, or someone, she thought darkly.
It would either take someone of great power to destroy all of those souls, or someone seeking great power to consume all of them so greedily and recklessly. Her anger grew as she made progress towards the forest. Anger that changed to confusion and curiosity by each step as she became aware that the dense forest contained more spirits than it normally did.
The souls are being drawn here: to the forest. Why?
Kikyou hastened to reach Kaede, Inuyasha, and answers to what was happening in Inuyasha's forest.
**********
Hope it was okay… a little slow start, but chapter 2 will have more action and more characters. ^_^ Please review and let me know what you think.
Shun'u