Title: 118
Chapter: Telling
"But sometimes it only takes one to break another being's spirit. "
Shippo pumped his brain trying to solve the mystery of what had happened to Kagome. Unfortunately, for the young kitsune his gallant efforts only resulted in a major headache and one very amused hanyou.
"Don't hurt yourself, brat!"
He chose to ignore InuYasha's comment. If the baka wanted to pretend like something wasn't wrong with Kagome, he would have no part in it. Something horrible had happened to Kagome during her absence and he intended to figure it out. He had to help the only Mother he had left to turn to. The thought of losing her in any way, even to her mind, was just too much for the little kitsune to bear.
Little did Shippo know that InuYasha was actually hurting immensely in response to whatever ailed Kagome. He felt like his stomach had been punched out his back, his chest was filling with acid and his brain was shattering simultaneously and continuously. How he wanted to beat whomever had done this to her into oblivion! But he didn't have answers right now. Nothing about Kagome made sense anymore and anytime he thought to question her about it, even force the truth out if necessary, the memory of her haunting, spiritless eyes halted his step.
It had only been two days since they'd found Kagome and yet the torture her companions were enduring made them feel like it had been a lifetime.
"I think she's waking," Kagome heard an excited female's voice whisper.
Recalling the speaker's name took her a moment, but when it did she felt it
assault her like a punch to the brain. Sango. It was undoubtedly Sango. Her best friend and sister was alive. But how?
"Ye would do best to leave her be for a moment."
That was certainly Kaede in voice and manner of speaking. Kagome recalled briefly speaking to the old woman before falling into a much-needed rest. She hadn't considered it before, being in the disoriented state she was, but now her mind assaulted her with questions. How? How were she and Sango alive after all these years?
She sighed and felt as much as she heard the room descend into silence.
Now what? She knew that they would wait patiently for her to speak. Was she ready to? Undoubtedly no. Still, that wasn't much of an excuse being that she doubted she'd ever be ready to discuss what had happened to her. Was she going to try? Yes. At least, she was going to tell them as much as they needed to know and that, she knew, would be very little. There'd be questions and she knew she wouldn't be able to answer most of them. Not now. Maybe never.
Kagome sucked in a breath.
"How long have I been missing?" She questioned softly, keeping her eyes closed.
She wasn't willing to open her eyes just yet. Doing that might prove it all to be a mirage. Kami knows how many times her desire to see all of them had propelled her wishful thoughts into painfully realistic illusions in her darkest moments! A part of her, the last vestiges of her sanity, knew that she was truly home among her friends of the feudal era this time. Still, the majority of her being wasn't ready to accept that she was really home.
"Kagome, you were only missing for a day. A little less, actually," Sango responded, as she softly brushed her hand against Kagome's hair.
The miko felt her self stiffen involuntarily against Sango's touch. Instantly, the taijiya withdrew her hand.
"I'm sorry." Sango whispered.
Kagome ignored the obvious pain she had inflected upon her friend and, instead, softly repeated, "a day." She paused for a moment and then focused on a particular group of nicks shaped like an "x" on the wooden walls of Kaede's hut. Too drained to soften the blow of her next words, she continued on to say, "While it may have only been a day here, where I have been a hundred years have passed."
A collective gasp tore through the room. In response, Kagome raised her hand to silence everyone before the questions could start. Sitting up and facing her friends she cleared her throat. How to begin?
She turned to the most sensible one of the group.
"Kaede, how long have I been sleeping?"
"About two days, child."
She nodded. Kagome wasn't surprised. In fact, she had assumed she was out a lot longer than that.
"About three days ago for all of you, and a little over a hundred years for me, I decided to make a trip through the well to replenish my low supplies. I figured that since it would be a quick trip, I'd be back before everyone woke up.
On my way to the well I came across a young girl. She called herself Urikohime. At first she came off as a very sweet girl and I offered to bring her back to this village. She acted very grateful.
As Urikohime and I were walking, I found myself, strangely enough, confessing my entire life story to her. I even went as far as to tell her very intimate thoughts I had as well as personal stories, which I had not shared with anyone else. It did not feel strange at the time like it should have.
Urikohime listened intensely to everything I told her, especially those things that upset me. She began to encourage me to do some terrible things. It wasn't until she encouraged me to do something unspeakable that I snapped out of it.
I demanded to know who she really was and what she wanted. In response, Urikohime stripped off her skin revealing a small demon beneath. She – or rather it – called itself Amanjaku.
Its words, 'She will not be very pleased at my use of this last resort, but I am confident it will finish the job and you will be-', well, it doesn't really matter. Anyway, that's the last thing I can remember before being swallowed up into darkness and dumped into a world very different than this one."
Kagome felt her body shutter when she recalled the cruelness of the dark world she had previously occupied and its inhabitants.
"I am tired. I will sleep more," she concluded after seeing the many questions ready to pour from her friend's mouths.
Upon lying back down, the miko instantly slipped back to sleep.
A flicker of white tore through the tall grass of a meadow. It moved on into the surrounding forest. The blur sped deeper and deeper past the thickening clusters of trees. Onward, it raced barely apparent due to its incredible speed, until it came to an abrupt halt causing large ripples to tear out across the small lake. At the edge of the lake, freakishly still in contrast to his prior movement, stood Lord Sesshoumaru.
Moments passed. The water, absent of any wind or other disturbances, once again stilled. More moments passed. The silent Lord of the Western Lands remained frozen. His lungs refused to budge. His eyes remained glued to his upturned motionless palms. Drying blood, still damp against his pads, stained his hands red.
Lord Sesshoumaru wasn't in the forest. He wasn't standing completely frozen by the lake. No. In those moments he was back in time, his brain torturing him with his memory of the last hour over and over again.
"Lord Seshoumaru-sama, I… I-"
He cut her off with a quick nod of knowing.
She took off into the woods, careful not to stray farther than a couple trees away from the camp. Her side ponytail bounced with every step, a beacon of the boisterous life that was her essence.
Hundreds of insignificant memories, only made insignificant at the time due to his unforgivable ignorance, attacked his brain. Her toothy smile. The moments she tripped. When she would tease Jaken. The strange games she played, which only a human could invent and carry out joyously. The sound of her "Sesshoumaru-sama". Her overly explosive laughter as Ah-Un flew her around in circles. That bouncing ponytail. Again and again and again.
His back was resting up against the tree and his eyes were closed. He was taking in the scents around them, checking for danger. That's when he smelled it. Blood against the deep scent of the earth. HER blood.
Like a flash, he was at her side. As he looked down at the blood, he felt something inside of him crack. Her body was gone, yet the smell of her blood dashed any hopes he may have for her survival. Her blood held the lingering scent of death.
Ever since she'd come into his life she'd been there. His initial hatred and disgust for her had not deterred her persistence. Even once these feelings dissipated, only leaving mild tolerance in their wake, she had remained by his side. Through danger and worse, she'd been ever-present and unfalteringly loyal. She believed in him like no other. And he had failed her.
He closed everything within off, searching out a scent. He needed to be empty to pour all of his strength into his search. To be able to located anything, however small, to indicate the nature of the intruder. The killer.
Sesshoumaru's attempts were made in vain. Somehow the one who had taken Rin's life had masked its scent. Even from him.
The Lord of the West was not one to give up so easily. If one path proved fruitless, he tried another.
Emotions were not the always the enemy, but they could be when they interfered with his mission. If he couldn't shut down again, empty himself entirely, become the sort of demon he was before Rin, he knew he would not be successful in avenging her. Emotions right now would make him messy. So he soaked his hands clean in the lake and washed memories of the small girl with a side ponytail away.
A/N: I love Rin! I hated to do that to her. I would have loved to see her grow in this story, but alas, such was not meant to be in this one :(!
In case you are wondering, Amanjaku ("heavenly evil spirit") is a demon-like being that knows people's wicked desires and attempts to get them to act upon them. There is a Japanese fairytale about a girl named Urikohime ("melon princess") who is born from a melon to an elderly couple. She was tricked by Amanjaku who devoured her. He can impersonate her by wearing her skin.
Translations:
baka – idiot
taijiya – demon hunter
hanyou – half-demon
