The Distance that Separates One Heart
Chapter 5 of Sakura Blossom Epic
Rated: T ( for this chapter)
AN: Finally! An update on Sakura. I hope you enjoy this, it's getting close to the action.
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.
The sweet sound continued to call him and soon everything around him went black. Though awake, he was slumbering in his conscious. Every move made was not his own but a force or pull by another. There was someone calling him, he knew that much but not the force calling.
Someone needed him…yet he couldn't break free.
Before he could truly focus on the voice that called him beyond the mansion, something in his heart lurched. Another voice rose above the entrancing one and he almost blinked but failed when a hand came around his and pulled him through the threshold.
"She has been waiting for you," a disembodied voice said, his hand was squeezed tighter.
No.
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Like a knife in her heart, a force twisted it, searching to unleash more pain. Kagome dropped down on one knee. Air no longer seemed capable of slipping passed her parted lips as her head drooped. Whatever was against her, Kagome knew she was not supposed to be able to go passed the barrier. So far, she managed to break through the first three walls, nearly knocking herself unconscious. This being, definitely didn't wish for her to return…or maybe that was what she wished for her to think?
Kagome, placing her hand down on the ground, pushed her body back up and stumbled back a little. She caught herself from smacking straight into a tree and righted herself. Everything in her body protested against her, wanting for her to drop down back on to the ground and take a small nap. She refused. Inuyasha was calling, in some way or form; he wanted her to find him.
Blood rushing throughout her veins like she'd been running three miles in less than a moment; Kagome braced herself and launched at the next barrier standing before her. This time, she went through with ease and stopped short at the next to turn back. She'd broken through the others with a lot more force and nearly fried herself. So why in the world was she able to pass through that one with no difficulty? Trying not to think too much on it, she braced herself again and charged. Just like the one she'd went through, she shot through three more like a piercing bullet from a smoking gun and nearly collided into a clothed chest.
"Kagome?" Miroku asked his hand extended to steady her shaking shoulders. It was hard to breath and she nearly broke down at seeing Miroku's usually serene face etched with worry. Relief poured into her body and she relaxed enough to fall and sit on the ground. Thank the Gods, now she had some help. The houshi was next to her within a second, the back of his hand touching her forehead before pulling away with wide eyes. "Kagome you're burning up," Turning, he called for the tayiji who was just around the hut, finishing her hunt for Kagome's herbs.
The miko could hear feet hustling around and soon she came face to face with the worried expression of Sango in front of her. "Kagome? Were you attacked again?" It seemed Sango could read Kagome a lot better than she noticed before. Without even having to respond to her question, Kagome started to tip forward, face falling into the tayiji's shoulder for her to get the answer. "Miroku the mansion, who's ever in there, has it out for Kagome. They did this to her." Sango tossed a glance toward the mansion with a glare, her insides burning with rage. Being tired of watching as her loved ones were attacked while she could do nothing, this did no more than rattle her sibling protectiveness over the young miko.
There was no way in the seven hells that she was going to let whatever evil was out to harm Kagome. Be damned of her dead body, no one was going to harm another person dear to her.
"Whatever it is, Kagome needs to be hidden and rest. I'll take her back to the hut and place a sutra or two around the area. Who ever it is that's after her won't be able to detect her with the sutras in place." Miroku picked up the limp form of the miko from the Taijiya's arms and wrapped an arm about her waist, hefting her light frame up in bridal style. "After that we should probably investigate the mansion once more. Something didn't feel quite right when you the two of you managed to get inside while no one else could."
Sango nodded and followed behind the monk. Lifting the wicker door covering to allow Miroku to enter, she noticed something amiss. "Hey, have you seen Inuyasha?"
Miroku placed Kagome in the pallet on the floor and covered her up with a blanket that she used the night before. "No I haven't. But he hasn't shown up ready to break a neck because of Kagome which worries me."
They watched as Kagome's face contoured up in despair at the mention of the hanyou's name.
"This troubles me. More than likely he would have been at Kagome's side by now." Sango switched her eyes from the young miko on the floor toward the doorway.
"I know what you mean. Ever since we came to this village there has been something very ominous floating about. Neither I or Kagome could figure out what but we both could tell something was wrong." Her eyes narrowed as she pushed back the door mat. "And it's coming from that damn mansion."
Brushing a bit of hair from the woman's pale face, Miroku stood up and walked up behind Sango where he wrapped an arm about her waist. "Whoever or whatever it is, I'll make sure they do not harm any of you."
Sango smiled. "And as for you?"
The monk blinked and gazed toward her as she turned in his embrace. "Myself? Well…"
"We work together Miroku."
The Taijiya looked at him as if to dare him to oppose her.
He didn't.
Satisfied, Sango glanced over the monk's shoulder to see Kagome still seeming to battle whatever nightmare she'd been having since she fell unconscious. "I think I should look for Inuyasha."
At that Miroku no longer remained silent as he gave her a heavy look that said more than what words could have said.
"Miroku, please think about it. You're the one with the spiritual powers to keep an eye on your sutras for Kagome's safety."
A smirk graced his lips that Sango looking at him like he'd transformed into another form.
"A compromise it is. We'll both look in the village for Inuyasha. For all we may know, he's around somewhere and simply was distracted." Though neither of them believed it, someone might have spotted the hanyou around somewhere. Even possibly a clue as to where he may have gone.
"Alright."
"But," Miroku waggled a finger, "if we find nothing then I want you to go back to Kagome. If the sutra's come off it's not my spiritual power that will hold the enemy off." Sango made an attempt to protest but sighed instead. Once again, Miroku had a point.
"Fine, but only if we have no trace of Inuyasha in the village," Sango warned before she backed away to allow Miroku to place his sutras about the hut. The young miko remained silent, only every so often muttering what they figured was Inuyasha's name. Her face still stayed ghostly pale as though something were seeping the life right out of her body. Even Miroku started to worry and checked her vital signs only to find that she was fine.
Once they were finished with sealing the hut, hiding the miko from view, Sango and Miroku leave to look for the missing hanyou. When the room was quiet once again, left only to the woman lying in the pallet, did tears stream down her face.
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An hour had passed and they couldn't find hide or tail of their companion. It was almost as if he had disappeared without a trace entailing where he went to.
Sango was the first to growl with frustration and took it out on the dirt clods about the ground. "This is ridiculous; he had to have been seen, even for a moment."
Miroku patted her shoulder. "I know Sango; we just have to stay calm."
The Taijiya sighed before looking about the village like something would spark out to her about Inuyasha's whereabouts. Nothing. "How hard is it not to spot him? I mean, he wears bright red, with silver hair…not to mention the dog ears he sports on top of his head for crying out loud." She huffed at the end when she noticed a large blur from the corner of her eye.
Sango turned to find a villager staring at them with interest.
The woman stood, no older her mid thirties, with hair twisted into a bun as a large dark blue cloak draped over her shoulders. Sango had never seen her before in the village and if she had, something told her that she wouldn't forget a face like that. Although she seemed old, no wrinkles marred her face and she almost could have stood as a younger woman – possibly an older teen.
Quickly her attention shot to her fiancé who was staring at the woman as well. Normally, he would have tried to squeeze or rub before getting clobbered by her. But instead he remained firm in his position next to her, which certainly struck her as odd.
"Do you speak of that young hanyou?" The woman asked a little bit too nicely.
"Have you seen him?" Miroku asked.
The woman tilted her head slightly, contemplating. "I believe I have. He was the one who was taken."
Both the eyes of the monk and slayer widened. "Taken?" Sango managed to get out.
"By whom might I ask?" Miroku stepped forward only a foot closer. The woman didn't seem to notice his hesitation or she was ignoring it. Either way, Sango noticed the odd behavior of the monk and the strangeness of the woman without a problem.
"The evil spirit of the sorceress who lives in the mansion," The woman brushed back a bit of hair behind her shoulder, showing a small black mark on the back of her hand. Sango memorized the symbol once before. It was a mark used by demons to hold value over humans.
So the woman was a slave to a demon? Was it the sorceress? She didn't voice it but suddenly she had a bad feeling about this woman. It smelled like a trap, looked like a trap and felt like one – Sango didn't have to a doubt about what this woman was up to. That had explained why Miroku was distant with the woman.
"The sorceress you say? May I ask how you know of her and what she would want with our friend?" The monk watched as the woman's face contoured in one of concentration. So he hadn't been paranoid when he felt it a moment before the woman had shown herself.
There was a link from the mansion to where they stood. He could have felt it a mile away with its wicked spikes. That only meant the woman appeared here from the mansion only a second before he detected her.
Eyes narrowed at the woman, he waited for an aggressive retaliation to his question when it went unanswered. So, the wench had sent a messenger out.
Well, that only served to prove who was after Kagome and probably Inuyasha as well.
"That I do not know. Though I've heard the sorceress had been banished inside the mansion for over a century. Villagers say that she once had a lover who betrayed her and stole her spiritual powers away before selling her soul to the keeper of hell. They say afterwards, she asked for revenge in return she would bring a pair of souls every ten years on the anniversary of when she exacted her revenge." The robes shifted over the woman's body and finally Sango got a nice glimpse of something glowing within her robes. When Sango finally realized what it was, it only seemed to put more questions in her mind.
Why would the sorceress send a puppet? "Her revenge?" The woman's eyes shifted off from Miroku to Sango so quickly, she would have sworn the woman had broken her neck.
"No one knows what she had wished for her revenge, only that the action marks her deadline to add souls to the hell keeper's quota."
Sango didn't allow another minute to pass. "You know an awful lot about this sorceress. Would you know why she might be after a young woman with spiritual powers?"
The woman look puzzled for a moment before replying "Most likely to steal the woman's powers."
"And how exactly could she do that?" Miroku interjected between the women's back and forth game.
It was quite obvious the woman knew a vital bit of information into finding Inuyasha and protecting Kagome from what ever was after them.
The woman actually looked taken aback by the question. As if the game of innocence was going to work now.
"I know that you're not as ignorant as you are portraying to us. I wish to know how the sorceress wishes to steal my friend's powers."
Once again, the woman looked like she was contemplating something in her mind before replying with a curt, "I wouldn't know."
All of a sudden the next thing they all knew, a fist was getting ready to connect with the puppet's face when Miroku grabbed a hold of Sango.
"She knows something! Let me go, I'll beat it the hell out of her." The tayiji growled when the monk didn't loosen and actually started to break through his hold when the mysterious woman backed up with a laugh mingling along her lips. "Damn it Miroku!"
"You think that I work for the Sorceress? Well I am sorry to disappoint you both but I do not work for that cad of a woman. Unfortunately all I can tell you is that your friend is with her. If only to further tear apart that young woman, she's using her lover against her. It's cruel and it's something I would never participate in." She eyed the couple as if waiting to be given an apology. There wasn't a single one formed or attempted.
"And we should believe you?" Sango yelled, ready to knock her lights out, be damned if Miroku go along for the ride. "Why should I trust you and place my friends in danger? I don't trust a single word you say."
With a small nod and a smile, the woman bowed her head. "You shouldn't trust me. But I do not speak a lie. If I did, I would die. For that is what the fates have placed upon my shoulders at the time that I rouse to this world." Green eyes lifted to watch as the couple gasped at the sight.
Miroku finally released Sango. "You're a prophet? Why in the world would you be here posing as a messenger of the Sorceress?"
This time the woman didn't hesitate and scoffed. "It was the only way I could come to you without being detected by her royal bitchiness."
Well, that certainly had caught the monk and slayer off guard as their mouths dropped the ground.
"So you masked your powers with that of hers so you wouldn't be caught?" The prophet nodded as her smile returned to her lips. Suddenly Sango rethought her age completely to something of a woman in her twenties.
Reluctant not to beat the prophet simply because there was a need to take her stress out on someone, Sango mimicked Miroku's earlier actions and stood farther away from her, barely in hearing range.
"Were you sent here to help us?" Miroku asked, a little baffled that a prophet would be standing in front of him without a real true purpose. Only those higher in power could send a prophet out of their way to help simple mortals.
"Sent here to help Kagome," She corrected as she pulled away the dark blue cloak to show the glowing object had been an amulet that only higher prophets received to show honor and respect to.
"Only Kagome, now why would you be sent simply to help only her?" Sango inquired as she tried to still her hand from reaching her little spare dagger in her belt.
The prophet noticed the direction Sango was going and gave her a smile only meant to pester her already growing distrust in her. "Because of what Kagome is, what's she's capable of, that is why I am here. To make sure nothing happens to her and also to allow some training in her abilities. Mainly because the young miko is not trained in her spiritual powers, the sorceress most likely is drawing her lover to her to draw the miko out. I'm here to prevent any harm toward her."
Sango rolled her eyes. "A little late for that aren't we. If you haven't noticed Kagome's battling with the bitch for awhile now."
The prophet nodded. "That I know."
"You're losing me here. If you're here to protect her then why did she get harmed?" Already irritation was filtering through the tayiji's blood as she tried her damnedest to not jump the woman – prophet with her damn smugness.
Miroku had to fight back his own temptation to gulp with all the tension in the air between the two. "I don't quite follow as well-" The prophet turned her gaze to him, a sweet look in her eyes.
"I'm not here to make you understand." Sango opened her mouth to curse her out but fell quiet when she noticed the pulse in the prophet's eyes and her mouth tightened into a frown. She was no longer joking around. "Just know that in order to protect Kagome, you must let her fight, not hide. If you continue to hide her away, the separation from the hanyou will cause her to slowly die of heartache."
Miroku suddenly felt ill at those words. "Will the same thing happen to Inuyasha?"
The prophet's eyes dulled and she turned her head in the direction of the hut Kagome resided in. "I am not sure. But for Kagome to live she needs the hanyou. For that hanyou to survive if he truly loves her as much then he will most likely perish after she has."
Both Sango and Miroku felt that solid lump that formed when the words perish and die came into play. Neither wanted their friends dead, they were practically a dysfunctional but loved family. "Do you know anyway to break through that barrier without Kagome's powers?" Sango asked, still having the hardest time trying to block out her young miko friend's life waning.
"No. Kagome is the only one to break the barrier, mainly because she is the strongest. The sorceress wishes to gain that woman's body and power. The hanyou is most likely bait for her to follow into the mansion. I warn you, do not allow her to use her powers in vain if she is to die."
They nodded in understanding and the prophet seemed a little relieved though it was obvious she was quite worried for someone she didn't truly know.
"You care about her, don't you?" Miroku inquired and the prophet didn't try and hide her emotions as they flickered across her face.
"There is a reason that girl could break through time's barriers. No other miko has ever been able to do such."
Sango eyed her before crossing her arms over her chest. "That doesn't answer his question. Do you care about Kagome or not?"
Eyes flickered with pain that Sango had known all to well.
"Yes," Closing her eyes, the woman tried to break away whatever pain or saddened memory she'd been seeing and turned back to the couple, "but that isn't important right now."
"Will watch her." Miroku stated, easing the woman a bit more. "Sango, I wish you to stay here with Kagome until she is better. If she's the only one to fight this sorceress then we need her at full strength."
Sango wanted to argue but didn't. "Fine but where are you going then?"
They all knew the answer to that even before he spoke it. "The mansion."
"Be wary up there, monk." Pulling her cape back over her head, the prophet handed the tayiji a small beaded necklace. "Give this to the miko when she awakens. She'll know of what to do with it."
"Is there anyway we can contact you if we-" The prophet caught Sango offguard when the woman pulled out a large staff from her kimono sleeve.
"I will come when needed, for now I wish you luck and safety. This is something far greater than even Naraku himself."
That didn't leave a good feeling in either the monk's or the tayiji's stomach.
A cloud of mist formed about the staff's ornament until it engulfed the prophet, leaving only mist before there was nothing left to say she'd ever been there.
"That was creepy," Sango shivered and started to head back to the hut.
"Indeed." Miroku started to head off toward the mansion when he heard the woman's foot steps stop behind him and turn.
"You better come back alive, Miroku. Otherwise I'll never forgive you."
A smile pulled at his lips as he heard the worry in his woman's voice, nearly melting his heart.
"Don't worry dear Sango; it will take more than a woman with a scary mansion to out me." He turned and gave her a famous smile before continuing his walk up the mansion's entryway.
Sango couldn't stop herself as she frowned at his retreating back. In the pit of her stomach, something felt awful and wrong. It was possible she was just scared for Miroku and the other's safety but something still nagged at her.
How could this woman be stronger than Naraku but need Kagome's body and powers?
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Something cold touched her forearm and she moved to try and get away only to find she couldn't. More coldness touched her, this time on her leg, side and hand. It felt awful and thick yet flowed like water.
She knew it wasn't water; could smell the odd odor that didn't quite sit well with her stomach.
Nauseas from the smell, she tried to move again this time successful. Pulling herself up to her full height, she made her way down a narrow path that only has a small light at the end.
Trying her hardest she ran until she came crashing into a barrier that was almost identical to the ones in the woods. Kagome moaned as her body protested to even move an inch. It was like getting fried with electricity only it wasn't what shocked her.
Just as she tried to move, something caught her eye and she turned to find something white out farther from her. It looked like a sheet of ice with something lying frozen on it.
Her brown eyes widened in fear as it finally dawned on her. "INUYASHA!"
Trying to get up on her feet quickly, Kagome felt another jolt hit her, nearly knocking her back again. Biting her bottom lip, the miko moved even harder as she had in the woods and tackled it until she felt a spark fly deep inside her. It felt strange and different but also empowering at the same time.
Almost as if it was meant to be with her, Kagome attacked another barrier this time with a less amount of power.
Or was it, she had gotten stronger?
Carrying herself into the frozen ice, Kagome's legs trembled as she fell down on to the ice and touched Inuyasha's cold face. "Dear Gods Inuyasha, what's happened to you?"
It wasn't a mirage of her nightmare. No, for some dubious reason, she was sitting in front of her hanyou. The real Inuyasha. Her Inuyasha.
He was asleep, frozen alive.
"I don't know how we got here, but I'm going to get us out." Kagome said as her breaths became shallower and puffs of white air became visible. She was going to free them from here.
She was going to have her hanyou back; the love of her life back.
Closing her eyes, Kagome concentrated on that spark that she'd felt seconds before and pulled from it, allowing it to consume her until she felt it flow throughout her body.
She wanted to be free, to live a life with Inuyasha and be happy.
She wanted Inuyasha to be happy.
Eyes flew open as she felt everything around her pulse to life.
Power submerged throughout her body and scattered into shards about her reminding her of when the Shikon no Tama had shattered into tiny shards.
Without any warning, light filtered through out the darkness and Kagome raised her arm to block out its intensity.
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Sango made it back to the hut while still wondering of whether it had been a bad idea to allow the monk to go on his own when she felt something spark. It was only an instant but it wasn't something she would pass away as unimportant and rushed inside the hut to find Kagome engulfed in pure bright light. The room's air flowed about with life in it.
"Kagome!"
The miko's eyes started to fluttered open to find teary eyes looking down at her. She smiled until she looked over the older woman's shoulder. A blue-white bird flew about in the room, flapping its bright colorful wings. It was breath-taking and yet chilling. Never had she felt so much power before.
"Sango, Inuyasha's been-" Her voice hoarse, Kagome coughed trying her hardest to make out what she needed to say. If they didn't reach the hanyou soon, something told her in her gut that Inuyasha would die. "He's been"
"Taken, I know. Miroku went to investigate the mansion now."
Kagome sighed, relieved that her friends were two steps ahead of her. "I know that woman is after him. He's suffering because of me, of who I am."
Perplexed but the oddness of her words, Sango asked her what she meant but the miko simply shook her head and started to sit up.
"We need to follow after Miroku. I need to save Inuyasha from that bitch." The woman who'd been like an older sister her simply laughed when Kagome growled the obscenity out.
"It looks like Inuyasha's rubbing off on you." Sango kidded, trying to lighten the mood and Kagome smiled lightly, allowing her friend to feel like she helped.
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Kagome smiled and started to pull the covers off of her when pain shot throughout her body.
"Easy," The tayiji eased her back into the pallet noticing the many pearls of sweat coating her forehead and skin.
"Something's coming," Kagome managed between pants "and it's coming pretty fast with a lot of power." Sango turned around to look at the doorway.
She could feel it too without having much spiritual power herself; she was scared more than she'd ever been in her life.
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Dark smoke poured off the corner of the paper until it flamed up, burning away the sutra that had been placed along the hut. Then the other quickly followed until there was nothing but ash which the wind licked away with its fiery power.
The hut, no longer was safe.
A wicked fanged smile grew.
Tbc