Just for someone that I dearly love, I would do anything to give him the joy of his life…
Chapter 4: hidden betrayalThe miko went through the forest going to the shrine. There, in front of the entrance, she waited for the lowbred demon. After a few minutes had passed, the time had come for their agreement.
"You have come, Lady Kagome."
The miko heard the demon's voice and searched for him. The filthy demon appeared from the tree full forest walking towards her halting a few feet away from her.
"This just means that you have accepted the deal that I made."
Naraku took the Shikon Jewel from his robe and showed it to the miko. The miko looked at it for a few seconds then returned her sight to the filthy demon in from of her.
"What do I need to do?" Kagome asked Naraku, as she wanted to do their haggle as soon as possible.
"Why are you in a hurry? There is much time for us to bring the your beloved hanyo's miko back to life." Naraku said to her as he moved closer towards the maiden, making him just a foot away from her. The lowbred demon looked at the miko and said, "But before that…"
Naraku did not finish what he was saying and held his hand beside him forming a ball of violet demonic energy. As it was in its fullest, the demon attacked the miko with it that his hand went through the maiden's body hollowly like a ghost that past through a wall. As his hand was inside of her, he searched for the crystal inside the lady's body. When he had found the crystal, he knew that he had found what he was searching for because when he had hit something inside her it shocked his hand letting it out of the miko's body. Naraku had just then awakened the power of the crystal Jewel.
The miko was shocked by what he had done. She did not know what he was going to do with her but at sometime that his hand was inside of her, a few seconds after, she felt something inside her fill her whole body with an unusual sensation. It was like a new power had entered her. At the same time that she felt it, Naraku moved his hand out of her body as though something had hurt him inside her.
In the Sky World…
As Naraku had awakened the crystal's power, someone had felt it. Someone who knew what it was. As he had felt it, he looked down on the land of the mortals from the Sky World searching for where the power had come from.
That aura…But it can't be…he thought.
"What is it dear brother?" Amaterasu Omikami, the Sun Goddess asked her brother who was looking out from the clouds down the Mortal World.
"Nothing. I thought I have just felt a power that is familiar to me." His brother replied still looking out to the Land bellow them. The goddess looked at her brother as though there was something about him that she needed to know.
"Do you still think of her?" the goddess asked in worry.
"Think of who? Kisara?" the god replied.
"No. I'm talking about your long lost daughter." Amaterasu told him, concerned, "It has been sixteen years since Kisara hid her in the future world that brought her to her death. We don't even know where her soul had gone."
"It has been long, but then, I vowed to myself and to Kisara that I will find her." Tsukigomi turned around and faced his sister. "Until now, I still have hope in finding her, wherever she is."
The two superior Gods then walked back to their palace leaving the Moon God thinking of the power that he had felt. Feeling its presence made him think that it wouldn't be long before he could find his daughter. And it truly was.
Both the filthy demon and the miko where astonished by what they had just felt. The demon looked at his hand that was injured by the crystal's power inside the miko while she looked at the demon confused.
"What did you do to me?" the miko asked.
The filthy demon returned to his senses from his disbelief and said, "So, it is true."
The miko looked at him more confused on what he as saying and said, "What is true?"
"Something that I have found out about you." The demon told her, "Do you really think that you're just a normal human being like any other?"
"I do not know what you are talking about." Kagome didn't understand what he was saying and stepped back from him.
"Let me tell you something," the demon began to tell her a very short story, "Once there was a God and priestess who fell in love with each other. But then, because of a law between the Gods and mortals their relationship was kept hidden to all. After a few months of their relationship, the priestess bore in her a child. The Superior Goddess and sister of the God knew about their relationship making her forbid her brother to meet with the priestess. But then he disobeyed it. He went down to the mortal world but was persuaded by the priestess to forget about her and their child and never return to the mortal world for both of their sakes.
The God did so and months of waiting, the priestess gave birth to a healthy baby girl. She named the girl Himiko. But there was one problem that she needed to solve. When the villagers in the village knew that her baby was a child of a God, the villagers planned on killing the baby but the priestess wouldn't allow them to do so. So one night, she crept of the village with her baby and went to a temple of the Moon God. There she opened the portal to another dimension and went to the future world. In the future, it was said that she left the baby in the care of a woman who had lost her first born upon birth. She left her child with the woman and requested for her to keep the truth from the child as long as she can take. And the woman agreed. After leaving her baby with the woman, she returned to her world but was met by the villagers who were angry for what she had done. Because of it, the villagers burned Kisara inside the temple leading her to her death. But before she died, she cast a spell upon her self and sealed her soul inside a crystal that was buried inside the body of her child.
The crystal was said to have great power for it was made by the God and the priestess themselves to have harmony for Gods and mortals." The demon finished what he had told and looked at the miko with his evil smile.
"And what does that have to do with me?" the miko asked still confused on what was going on.
"Don't you understand, lady Kagome?" the demon said with amusement in his voice, "I have just told you the love story of your FATHER and MOTHER. The child in the story, who is known to be Himiko, is YOU. The Moon God, Tsukigomi and Divine Priestess, Kisara are your REAL PARENTS."
Kagome was shocked and could not believe what she was hearing from Naraku. It was unbelievable that her family, the family that she had lived with since she was a baby was not her true family. She was so troubled by what the demon said that she shouted her reply to what the demon said.
"I don't know what you are talking about!"
The demon just smirked as he saw the miko full of confusion inside her. She was shaking with frustration now as she thought of what he had just revealed to her.
"You have to believe me for what I have said is true. Why don't you ask you're known mother about what I have said?"
"M-m-my mother?"
"Yes, she knows all about it." Naraku told her, "Then let us go back to what I want. You should know dear miko, that as you have heard in the story that I told, a crystal was buried inside the body of the child. And that crystal lady Kagome is right now inside of you. A powerful crystal that even the Shikon jewel could not surpass. Your real mother had kept it inside you to be used at the right time. That is what I want."
"If you want it, then why not take it from me now? Not giving me any bargain to keep."
The demon replied, " Because that crystal can only be used by the one who has a pure divine power. And that is you lady Kagome. That is why I did this haggle with you."
The demon took something from his robe again. It was an arrow that was used by Kikyo.
"In order to bring back Kikyo's life, you need something that was used by her and the crystal that you have together with the Shikon Jewel."
The demon held the arrow in front of him, giving it to the miko. Kagome hesitated on getting it but then she knew it was the only way to bring the dead miko back to life. She took the arrow from Naraku's hand and asked, "What shall I do?"
The demon was glad that she accepted it and so, told her, "Chant the spell for reviving the dead that will make the crystal's power out and into the atmosphere. Then put your aura into the arrow and chant continuously the spell to recreate her body from dust. Use the Shikon Jewel to give half of your soul to her body to make her live." Naraku gave her the Jewel and stepped a few steps back from her.
The miko understood his instructions and did what was needed to be done. And so the miko closed her eyes and held the arrow horizontally with two hands in front of her, her palms facing the sky. Then, she slowly let out her divine power making a purple light cover her as she chanted the spell.
"Spirits in the underworld hear my plea. Let my wish be granted by thee. Upon thou rest a soul that I need. Let her rise and come forth to me. Cast her spirit upon this arrow that she used. Let it be a bridge for life to be returned into this world once more."
As the spell was chanted, the power of the crystal slowly came out of the miko and went into the arrow as a white light. The purple and white light are then combined giving way for the second incantation.
"Earth that surrounds this land around me. Mold yourself into this maiden's body. Make her live as what she was. Be her form in this new life."
The earth around her whirled like a whirlwind around her then slowly molded itself into the revived maiden's body lying on the ground. The demon as he saw the second ritual almost completed, took the ash remains of Onigumo that he brought with him in a small urn then threw it towards the earthy whirlwind putting it into the molded body as well. Now the last face of the ritual was about to begin. The earth returned to the land and the revived miko's body was ready to have its soul.
The miko put the Shikon no Tama inside the maiden's new body and did what she needed to do. The miko with the help of the power of the Shikon Jewel let out half of her soul and transferred it into the formed body. Slowly, the miko felt herself weakening. But then managed to finish the ritual. After she had accomplished all the rites, the miko weakly knelt on the ground until she was seated. Naraku went to the miko and said, "I have finished my part of the bargain, now it's your turn."
The miko looked at the demon standing in front of her, gasping for breath, as she was exhausted and powerless at the moment.
"Now give me your soul and be my servant." The demon said to her as the Shikon Jewel came out of the revived miko's body that was still unconscious. The Jewel flew towards Naraku and the demon took it. He took a shard of it from the whole and then put it into Kagome's head.
The miko felt the dark power of the shard spread inside her after the demon had put it inside her. The power was hurting her inside badly. She felt the pain and the evil aura of the shard spread all over her body and all she could do was scream.
In the Sky World…
Someone in the palace of the Sky World heard the miko's scream and felt the powers of the miko drain from inside her.
That power! The Moon God thought as he felt the power of the miko after he thought of hearing a young lady's scream. The God looked back as he thought of the strange power that he had felt. He then, turned back at his sister and asked,
"Have you heard someone scream?"
The Goddess didn't know what he was talking about so she replied,
"Brother, I did not hear anything."
"But did you feel something strange?" the God asked again troubled and in fear of what he had just felt.
"There is nothing that I feel nor hear, Tsukigomi. Why is it that you are asking me of such things?" The Goddess replied, irritated.
The God calmed down as his sister replied in a harsh voice. But still his face should that he was still troubled. He looked down from Amaterasu and said in a worried voice,
"A-I'm sorry, Amaterasu. It's just that as really have heard a young lady's scream and have felt a strange divine energy from the mortal world."
The Goddess stared at her brother for a few seconds in concern then spoke,
"Tsukigomi, I think your search for your daughter had made you like this." Amaterasu thought of what her brother was feeling then remembered her long lost niece. A strange divine power…she thought. If that was a divine power then, it could be from someone who is Godly. But Tsukigomi said it was from the mortal world. But it's impossible; because only a God can feel the power of his fellow God or any one who is related to a God and no mortal have such thing. Just then something came to her mind. What if it is her? Amaterasu looked at her troubled brother beside her then told him,
"Brother, does your daughter have divine powers just like you or her mother?"
The God looked at her sister and thought for a moment then said,
"I know I shouldn't have done it for it was against our law but, Himiko is my child and Kisara's so therefore, I know that she has powers like my wife and myself but is only needed to be unsealed from her. So at her birth as I watched it from our World, I used my power to unseal it."
The Goddess then had proved that what she was thinking was in fact true.
"Tsukigomi, maybe Himiko is not far from us right now. Maybe she is just near us at the very moment."
The Moon god stared at his sister in confusion as he told her, "But that can't be possible, she's in the future and could not possibly travel through…"
He just thought of what he had just said. He had unsealed her power before. Maybe he divine powers had been awakened at this time.
"Tsukigomi, I think you should go down to the Mortal World for a while and see if what we are thinking is true. We should not presume just yet that she is here in our time."
The Sun Goddess told her brother.
"Yes…yes, I'll do it. I'll go to the Mortal World and find her." Tsukigomi told her sister firmly.
With that, the Moon God went out of the palace and flew down the Mortal world.
As the dawn of morning had come, the revived miko slowly opened her eyes, awakened from her unconsciousness. She sat up and rubbed her one eye with her hand. Just then she felt something strange about herself. She looked at her body and saw that she was naked. To her shock she covered her bosom with her arms and sat putting her legs together closely not to let her feminine part be seen. Just then, there was a rustling of leaves in the bushes near by. Not to let anybody see that she was naked, the miko ran and hid behind a huge old tree. She stood behind it and peeped to see who had come. But then, as the person behind the bushes came out, she saw that it was only the other miko and in her arms were clothes that looked like hers.
As Kagome managed herself to get out of the bush she quickly went to where Kikyo was. But as she was there, the miko was nowhere to be seen. She looked around and saw something move from behind a huge tree.
As the other miko sight searched at her direction, Kikyo as she was peeping from the trunk of the tree, stopped peeping and just stood behind the tree as quick as she can. But the miko's sight was vividly sharp at the moment that she quickly saw the movement of Kikyo at the back of the tree.
"You don't need to hide from me. It's okay, I brought you some clothes."
Kagome said as she moved towards the miko's hiding place. As Kikyo knew that the other miko had found her, she moved out from behind the tree and faced the miko shyly.
"Here I brought you these." Kagome held the clothes towards her to give it to her. The revived miko took her clothes shyly that the other miko smiled at her shyness. The emotionless face of Kikyo before now shows an emotion, which she did not expect, from a woman like Kikyo…
"Th-thank you." The revived miko thanked Kagome.
"You're welcome." The other miko replied her welcome with a simple smile.
So the revived miko went behind the tree again to wear her clothes while Kagome waited for her at the other side of the tree. After a few minutes, the miko was finished and went to Kagome.
"Now, let us go to the village. Inuyasha and the others will be happy to see you." Kagome said and turned around to go to the village assuming that Kikyo will follow her. But then the miko spoke not moving from where she was,
"Why did you bring me back to life?"
Kagome was just a few meters away when Kikyo asked her the question. As she heard the other miko question her about the reason why she did return her to the living, Kagome halted on her tracks and turned back to face Kikyo.
"There is no need for an answer. All that matters is that you're alive."
"You say that I do not need an answer to my question but as I want to know why, I need one from you." Kikyo persisted in her calm voice.
The miko did not want to tell her why she brought her back to life but then she didn't want to lie.
"I promised myself that I will do anything to see the only person that is close to our hearts happy."
"And you thought that giving me life again will do that?"
"Yes."
"But how did you bring me back to life?"
Kagome didn't like where there conversation was going. So she told the miko,
"Know what? Inuyasha and the others will soon wake up and we should be there before they do. We should surprise them and then…"
But before she could finish what she was saying, Kikyo interrupted her.
"HOW DID YOU RETURN ME TO THIS WORLD? I want your reply not some UNNECESSARY excuses."
Kagome could not say a word. She kept herself silent not to let Kikyo know that it was Naraku who helped her.
Kikyo didn't hear anything from the miko after her last question. She doubted her silence. Because of it she became suspicious that she looked at the miko for a long time then manage to see something on her hand. There was something on the upper part of her hand at her wrist behind the part where we take our pulse. It was like a scar and her long sleeve was hiding it.
Kagome saw the miko staring at her hand and looked at it as well. She saw that the scar that Naraku made that time as he made her his ally was peeping out of her sleeve. Oh no! She thought. Not to make Kikyo see it, she consciously rubbed the hand with the scar with her other hand as though it itched.
" Oh great. There are so many insects here. Now my hand's starting to itch. This forest sure is full of stray insects. Right Kikyo?" The miko laugh a bit as she did her excusable action for the scar.
As she rubbed her hand she pulled her long sleeve downward to cover the scar. But because of what she did Kikyo became more suspicious that she quickly moved towards the other miko, took her hand and held it in front of her so she could look at it clearly.
Kagome started to feel hot. Her perspiration was starting to flow on her face and her hands were sweating. Kikyo looked at her hand closely, Kagome's palm on hers making her see the back of her palm. The miko pushed Kagome's sleeve upward and saw something behind it that made her eyes open wide. What was behind her sleeve was a small spider mark like Naraku's that fitted her hand. The miko looked at her reincarnation with a mean glare.
"I-I-I can explain. You see…" Kagome tried to tell her.
"It's the Filthy demon." Kikyo said to her in a harsh voice. She managed to keep her anger. "Naraku was the one who helped you bring me back to life!"
"Kikyo please, listen to me."
"Why? Why Kagome? How can you give your trust to the person who wants to kill Inuyasha?"
"Kikyo, Listen to me first, please!"
"No, I won't listen! That demon is our ENEMY Kagome. OUR ENEMY."
"Kikyo, PLEASE. Listen to me first!" the miko shouted at her.
Kikyo stopped herself from talking giving time for Kagome to explain why she asked Naraku's help in bringing her back to life.
"Since you died Kikyo," the miko began feeling a bit anxious and bitterly envious, " a few days ago, Inuyasha had been…well let us say…so different. He always wanted to be alone. I tried to make him see that even though you weren't there anymore I was there for him." Kagome had a hard time keeping her jealousy from Kikyo. "But still all he would do is look at the sky and think deeply. And I know that he was always thinking of you at every time he does that. He wanted to see you again Kikyo! Don't you know that? I asked him and he said yes. You're still the one that his heart longs for! You Kikyo, you!" Her jealousy could be seen by the other miko. Kikyo could feel the loneliness that she felt the past days. "I could not stand the sight of him that is so sorrowed, so in despair. As I was in the forest I wished that you were alive again so that Inuyasha would be back to his normal self. Then Naraku heard my wish and appeared to me. He told me he could help me with my problem that he was the only one who can." Kagome's eyes were watery at the moment but she tried to stop herself from crying. "I agreed to have a bargain that in bringing back your life, in return I will become one of his allies. The demon gave me two days to think about it and three hours after midnight of the second day he said that if I agreed, I'd meet him in the temple that is in front of us now." She points at the temple, " I did come and here I am now with you. My wish has been granted." The Kagome calmed herself down as the other miko asked,
"What happened to your part of the bargain?"
After calming herself, Kagome looked at Kikyo and said in her normal voice,
"I am now one of his allies and I could not run away from him. He has my soul. He will control me after this day. But before I could go to him, I will bring you to Inuyasha and complete my wish."
Kagome took Kikyo's hand and took something from the pocket of her skirt. It was the Shikon Jewel.
"Take this with you. You are the guardian and owner of the Jewel. Naraku said that he has no need of it anymore. Do not worry the jewel still has it's power."
The miko gave the jewel to Kikyo putting it in her hands.
"But what about you?" The revived miko asked.
"I will be fine. Naraku needs me and because of it he could not harm nor kill me…yet." Kagome told the revived miko, "Promise me this Kikyo. No matter what happens, always be by Inuyasha's side. He needs you. And before we go to the village let me remind you that your power is not as strong as it was before because you have been revived only with the use of a thing that you have used in the living and the memories that I have of you."
Kikyo replied.
"I promise. But what about you? If you'll leave, Inuyasha will…"
Kagome interrupted her, "Do not worry. I can handle myself. I know this is betraying my friends but… this is the only way to return things back to what it was. And…I know that Inuyasha won't long for me when he finds out that I am gone." Kagome looked at the other miko in the eye, "Not as much as he longed for you."
The revived miko did not want to argue with her reincarnation. At the moment she did not know what to thing of. She just looked at the miko with nothing but pity in her heart.
"Come on let's go to the village." Kagome took Kikyo's hand and lead her to the path going to the village.
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