AN: And it begins...
The Fire Bearer 2- Seperating Souls
kagomes-wanna-be
Chapter 1- Awakening
The room was pure white. So different from the black she had become accustomed to while sleeping. Why wasn't she sleeping? Why did they wake her up? Maybe it was a mistake, maybe she could go back to sleep... Something jolted her awake as soon as she had her eyes closed. Something kept her awake. Something didn't want her to sleep...
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"Kyoko get back here!" Sango screamed as she chased her naked son through the village.
"Can't catch me Mommy!" the brown haired, violet eyed 4 year oldyelled as he ran from his mother.
"Got ya!" somebody yelled as two hands grabbed him, wrapping a towel over his wet body and lifting him up. He gasped and looked up, but sighed lightly as he saw the familiar face of his father. His face burst into laughter however as he started to tickle him.
"Daddy!" Kyoko screamed through laghter. "Stop it!"
"Promise to stop running away from your mother and I will!" Miroku yelled as he continued to tickle his son.
"O-o-ok!" he cried as he kicked and swatted at his father's hands. "I promise!"
Miroku smiled and stopped tickling his son, letting him back down onto the ground as Sango walked up to them. She kneeld down and wrapped the towel tighter around him and ran her hand through his hair to get it out of his eyes. "Why don't you go see if your aunt can't get you dressed, ok?" she asked.
He opened his mouth, showing his gap-toothed smile. "Ok Mommy!" he said before taking off down the road towards a hut at the very end boundries of the village.
Miroku chuckled lightly as he shook his head at his son. Sango smiled and stood up, wrapping her arms around her husband and kissing him lightly. "Good morning."
"Mmmmm... good morning indeeed," he smiled, kissing her again.
"Ugh... how about you two get a room?" a gruff voice called from overhead in the trees.
Miroku sighed lightly, huffing as he pulled back from Sango, not even bothering to look up. "Or how about you stop walking in on peoples moments, InuYasha?" he asked, smirking lightly.
InuYasha snorted and jumped down from the trees next to them, his arms crossed. "But what's the fun in that?"
Miroku looked up at him, glaring half-heartedly before softening up lightly. "Good to see you friend." He held out his hand towards InuYasha.
He gladly took it, shaking it and smiled lightly. "Same to you," he said.
"Ehem," somebody cleared their throats behind him and they turned to see a rather annoyed looking Sesshomaru, holding Kyoko by the neck of his shirt. "Perhaps you should teach your son that it is not proper to... walk in on people," he said, dropping Kyoko onto the ground. He quickly got up and scurried behind his parents to hide.
"He didn't..." Sango started, her eyes widening a little bit. She didn't finish though as an embarressed and angry Rin walked up behind Sesshomaru. She clasped one hand over her mouth, trying to hide her laughing from them. InuYasha however, didn't even bother to hide his laughter.
Sesshomaru glared at him as he practically rolled on the ground with laughter. Miroky, seeing Sesshomaru's glare, laughed a bit nervously and slapped InuYasha up the side of the head to shut him up. "We're really sorry Sesshomaru," he said, still laughing nervously. "It'll never happen again, will it, Kyoko?" he asked, looking back at his son as he hid behind them.
"No!" he squeaked lightly, jumping from his fathers look. He looked forward and squeaked again as he saw Sesshomaru's look. "Sorry!" he yelled before turning and taking off towards his family's hut.
They stood there for a while in an uncomfortable silence. Finally, Miroku turned back to InuYasha, and in a lame attempt to lighten the mood said, "So, InuYasha, I see that your back."
"Umm.. yeah..." he started. "I just figured that I might come to see if anything's happened," he said, looking up at the shrine.
"Oh.. you mean..." Sango said as they all looked up at it.
"Yeah."
"No, I'm sorry, but nothing's happened," Miroku told him as Sesshomaru and Rin walked up to them.
"You know what today is, right?" he asked as he looked back at them.
"10 years," Sango said. "We know."
"Do you think..." he started, not able to finish as his eyes turned back up towards the shrine, a few viligers pausing to pray in front of it.
"We don't know," Sesshomaru said, sighing lightly as he put a hand on his brother's shoulder. "We just don't know."
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This room was too white, she decided. It was too white, too bright, and too sharp. She just wanted to sleep again. She missed sleeping, and she was so sleepy... Again, her eyes closed and again, something jolted her awake.
"Ughhh..." she groaned lightly as she rubbed her eyes, trying to get rid of the blurriness. Where was she anyway? Why was she hear? She didn't understand she couldn't close her eyes. She was tired damnit!
A blinding flash filled the room and she put her arms over her eyes to protect them from the light. She groaned again as she took her arm back down, blinking away the spots in her vision. Looking around, everything looked exactly the same, white white white. Except for one thing. In front of her stood a mirror, or, what she thought to be a mirror. When she looked at the reflection, she stood there(or, at least, what she assumed to be her), but the background wasn't white. It looked like the inside of a some sort of room with wallscrolls and inscents all over the place.
She slowly, cautiously took a step towards the "mirror", holding her hand out to it. If only she could touch it... maybe then she would go back to sleep...
"Who are you?" a voice boomed, echoing all over the room. She gasped, jumping back in fear and suprise. She looked around, searching all over, watching over her shoulder to see who said that. But she didn't see anyone. "Who are you?" the voice asked again.
"Who are you?" shemocked backat it,putting her hands on her hips as she stood there.
"That is not an answer," the voice, indistinguishable between male or female, said. "Who are you?"
She opened her mouth to say something to it, before closing it. She stood there, a confused look on her face like a little kid trying to figure something out. She opened her mouth again, but only ended up closing it again. Finally, she answered. "I... I don't know..."
"Why are you here?" the room, as she now decided the room was talking to her, said.
She stood there for another moment, the same look on her face. "I don't know that either," she said, her voice starting to quiver.
"How long have you been here?" the room continue to ask its questions, making her feel stupid.
"I don't know!" she screamed at it, stomping her foot on the ground in frustration. "I... I-I don't know anything!"
"Why not?"
"I don't know!" she yelled, dropping to the floor on her hands and knees. "I don't know! I don't know anything! I just want to sleep, let me go back to sleep!" She took her hand, lifting it high before slamming it onto the ground, hitting it over and over.
"You might hurt yourself," it told her, its voice as flat and melancholy as ever.
"I don't care!" she cried out again and again. She lifted her hand one more time, but when she slammed it down, something amazing happened. Fire appeared around her hand, and then around the other as well. Slowly she sat back on her heels, lifting her hand to her face to look at the fire in amazement. She turned her hand over, looking at the back then the front. The fire didn't burn her, she could hardly feel it besides a slow tingling.
She screamed, her body being forced back onto the ground as she began to cry, waves of memories, thoughts, and feelings washing over her in a sudden clash. Her body writhed in pain, her hands clawing at the ground and heels digging into it, her legs kicking and back arching. Tears sprang from her eyes as her head slashed viciously from side to side, her eyes squeezed tightly shut in pain. Then, she stopped. She stopped moving, she stopped screaming, but she didn't stop crying. Silent tears still falling down her face.
Slowly, her eyes opened, red and puffy from her episode. She layed there, more exhausted then she ever had been. Now she really wanted to go to sleep, but she couldn't. Her mind was too sharp, and everything was finally clear. She lifted her arms, her trembling hands above her face as she looked them over. She turned them over, looking at the back, looking at the front. They were differentnow... they were hers again.Slowly, she sat up, looking into the mirror with her lips hanging open, her face tear streaked, hair clinging to her neck and cheeks.
"Who are you?" the room's voice came again, but this time she answered.
"I am the Fire Bearer," she answered it, her eyes half-closed.
"Why are you here?"
"Because I died," she answered it quickly.
"Why did you die?"
The question struck a chord in her, jerking her heart in her chest. She took a deep breath, her voice trembling with the rest of her. It was suddenly very cold in here. "Because... because I had to... to save them... all of them..." she answered, closing her eyes as more tears flowed from them, dripping off her chin or getting caught in her hair.
"Open your eyes," the room demanded, not threateningly, but still strongly.
"No," she said quietly, shaking her head.
"Open your eyes," the room persisted.
Slowly, she did as it said, her eyes opening and looking into the mirror. She sat on the floor in the reflection, huddled and crying, looking absolutely helpless. She wrapped her arms around herself tightly, trying to stop the trembling, and regain some of her compsure.
After a moment, she stood up, her legs trembling beneath her and again, and started to walk towards the mirror. She looked over the room. The same wallscrolls hung on the walls, the same inscents burned as before, but she saw it differently now. It was a shrine, she realized. Why was she in a shrine?
The room had been quiet for a while and she looked around, wondering if it was going to say anything. After a moment of just standing there, she decided to ask the room some questions. "Why am I here?" she asked it, her voice cracking. The room didn't answer and she growled lightly in frustration. "Why are I here?" she asked it, her voice louder and stronger.
"To return," it said simply.
"Re... return?" she repeated what it said quietly, her eyes still stuck on the mirror. "You mean... to the living?"
"Yes."
She closed her eyes again, fighting back tears as her hands clenched tightly at her sides. "What..." she started, but paused as her voice cracked. "What if I don't want to go back?" she asked, a sob breaking through with her last word. "What if I just want to sleep, and stay here? I don't want to go back..."
"Open your eyes," the room insisted, but she just shook her head, keep her eyes tightly shut. "Open your eyes," it insisted again.
"No..."
"Now!" she room yelled at her, making her scream and jump, her eyes widening as she looked around. The room had never had any emotion in its voice, and now it was screaming at her. She didn't understand. "Your time is now Fire Bearer, you must return to the living. You were meant to be with the living."
"NO!" she screamed, but it was futile as a force started pulling her towards the mirror. She screamed, struggling against the force, but it didn't let her go. "Let me go! I don't want to go back!"
"You must Fire Bearer, it is your time to live..." the voice faded until there was no noise but the sound of her screaming, fighting to break free.
Her fingers brushed against the surface of ther mirror, and it rippled out like water. Her eyes widened. It wasn't a mirror, it was a portal. This is what would send her back, back to the living, and back to all the pain and heartache and confusion. "No! No I'm not the Fire Bearer! I don't want to be the Fire Bearer! I'm Kagome! KAGOME!"
AN: And so, it has begun...
