Disclaimer: I claim no ownership of Sengoku Otogizoushi - InuYasha or Yuu Yuu Hakusho. InuYasha belongs to Takahashi Rumiko, Shogakukan, Viz Media, ShoPro Entertainment, and Shounen; while Yuu Yuu Hakusho belongs to Togashi Yoshihiro, Shueisha, Viz Media, and Shounen. No profit or money of any kind is made from this fan-created crossover.
Title: Love's Lies
Chapter Seven: Life or Legend?
"Do you know how hard you are to track down?"
The sound of the voice of the man she had left behind hours ago had her turning around to look at him. She wasn't expecting to see Yusuke so soon, nor was she expecting to see the men who had been around to witness her break-up with Shuuichi. But now that there was no boy for her to break up with, she finally realized that three of them, Yusuke, Shuuichi, and the one she had yet to formally meet, gave off demonic auras. She already knew Yusuke and Shuuichi were. She had spent enough time in their presence, even slipping up and calling Yusuke one to his face.
"What are you doing here?" She smiled endearingly as she watched him scratch the back of his head sheepishly. He was too cute for his own good, in her opinion.
"Well, we have a case that just came up that involves the Shikon thingy..."
Her eyes narrowed as she gripped the broom in her hand tighter. Perhaps it had been a bad idea to let him know that the shrine grounds they were standing on were a part of that legend. "If you are talking about the Shikon no Tama, then for your sakes, I hope your case doesn't involve it."
Kurama and Hiei had been watching her wearily as Yusuke brought up their case. They noticed how she moved the broom into a defensive position the second he mentioned the Shikon. Kurama wondered just where she really got her extensive knowledge of Ancient Japan and its 'legends' from. "Kagome-san, why do you say that?"
She noticed the way she was being looked at by them and forced herself to relax. Sighing softly, she said, "Because that jewel only brings pain and heartache."
"What do you mean by that?" Kuwabara said.
"Ever since the Shikon no Tama has been created it has brought nothing but bloodshed and pain. Every good thing that happens to those involved with that jewel is tainted and twisted by the power it contains."
"Yeah, but it's just a legend," Yusuke told her. "So tell us what you know of it."
Kagome shook her head sadly and muttered, "Legends are based on fact, idiot." Only Kurama and Hiei heard it, and shared a suspicious look. Perhaps she would turn out to be the one needing to be watched in order to capture their rogue demon.
Leading them away from most of the shrine-goers, Kagome stopped in front of the Goshinboku. She placed her hand on an obviously younger section of the bark and smiled fondly. "I suppose I should start from the very beginning. The Shikon no Tama was created a thousand years ago, around the same time there was an influx of demons. There were so many bloody battles and hate between humans that it allowed for spirits to fester until they were twisted into demons."
The four men listening to the legend she was telling felt their guts twist painfully as how she had just described the 'birth' of demons. She, however, didn't notice and continued on, "Eventually, the demons grew to be too much of a threat for humans to ignore anymore and those with holy powers began to be born. Among those born, one became feared above all others and also became the creator of the jewel. Her name was Midoriko..."
"Wait, wait, wait... You're saying a woman created the jewel?" Yusuke asked.
Kagome nodded her head, "Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying… Got a problem with it?!"
"Yeah, I do! How in the hell can demons fear something as puny as a mortal woman!?"
"Do you know why miko were more revered than priests?" As they all shook their heads 'no', she sighed. "It's because of love. Miko are gifted with their powers because of their love and desire to protect all humans. The stronger the desire, the more powerful they are. That isn't true for priests or houshi. Midoriko possessed an immense amount of love for her kind, and her desire to see the fighting stop between clans granted her holy powers that were unmatched.
"The demons fearing her sought to find a way to get rid of her. It came in the form of a human man who lusted after the young miko. They possessed his body and spirit, and attacked her. They held the upper hand because she wished to do no harm to the human. And so they battled for seven days and seven nights...
"And on the seventh night, as exhaustion threatened to overtake her, she gathered what remained of her power and extracted the demon souls, pulling them into her own. The taint was more than her powers could purify, and so she had to remove them from her body or risk losing herself. When she expelled their souls from her body, her own was expelled as well in the form of the Shikon no Tama."
"So her greatest strength also turned out to be her greatest weakness?" Kurama interrupted the story this time.
She nodded again, "Yes, as it is for almost all miko. Their powers are at their height when they keep equal love for all in their hearts, but as soon as they begin to love one more than the others, their powers dwindle. That's why, centuries ago, it was forbidden for miko to fall in love. It made them and the villages they protected easy targets."
"So if you had been alive then, you wouldn't be able to be a normal teenage girl?"
Kagome laughed, but it sounded bittersweet to her ears, "Exactly. My duty and life would have been for the people and only the people. Being a normal woman and loving someone were two things a miko could never experience without having tragedy befall them soon after." She sighed heavily before continuing the legend, "Anyway, for five-hundred years the Shikon passed through many hands, becoming more and more defiled each time. Until in came into the hands of a youkai taijiya village, near where it had been born.
"They were not power-hungry like those before them and knew they could not keep the Shikon. They sent instead for the most powerful priestess of the time, a young woman from the village of Edo. She accepted the burden she was given; to protect and purify the Shikon no Tama until either her death or its destruction. It had been said that the Shikon could be destroyed with the right wish, which everyone took to mean a pure, unselfish wish."
Kuwabara muttered, "Like there's anything like that…"
"So true, Kuwabara-san," Kagome agreed. "However, at the time, it seemed the most plausible answer... And she was resigned completely to her path in life, until she met a young half-demon. They both were chained to their own path by other people and events, and in their shared loneliness, they found love..."
"But that meant she would lose her powers?"
She nodded her head in response to Yusuke's question, "Yes, it did. And she knew it, but she couldn't stop her heart from falling in love with him. So, in an attempt for them both to have a normal life as normal humans, she told him to wish on the jewel to become a human. She hoped it would be a good enough wish for it to disappear, so she could live as a normal woman with him for the rest of her life."
"It wasn't the correct wish, though?" Kuwabara had to know, he was too caught up in the legend.
Kagome smiled bitterly, "No one knows... They were never able to make their wish."
"What happened?"
"The young miko had also been caring for an injured bandit. His body was broken and burned to the point of where he could barely talk. But it didn't stop his black heart from lusting after her, and wanting to taint the Shikon no Tama. When he found out what she had planned from her younger sister, he offered up his body to demons to become a half-demon himself.
"With his newly acquired powers, he made the miko and half-demon believe they had betrayed each other..."
"How?"
"He shape-shifted into the half-demon's image and fatally wounded her, and then he changed into her appearance and tried to kill the half-demon. In his anger, the half-demon attacked the village and stole the Shikon no Tama, intent on using it as he first intended: to become a full demon. However the young miko, near dead and full of anger herself, used her last bit of strength and shot the half-demon through his heart, pinning him to this very tree in a sacred sleep meant to last forever. Retrieving the stolen Shikon, she told her younger sister and the villagers to burn it with her body right before she died as well."
"So, what happened to it then?"
Kagome sighed, "You're so impatient... But I guess I should make this part quick. Fifty years later, a young woman appeared near Edo. They didn't know who she was or where she came from, and so assumed she was a kitsune in disguise. However the young miko's younger sister, then an old woman, soon realized that she was not a kitsune, but resembled her older sister, and declared her the reincarnation of her sister. That night, a demon attacked causing the young woman to flee back into the forest in order to draw it away from the people.
"Her screams of help awakened the sleeping half-demon who immediately thought she was the miko who had pinned him to that tree. In the battle that ensued, the Shikon no Tama was ripped from the young girl and she was revealed to be the reincarnation of the deceased miko when she freed the half-demon from the tree. It was only a day later that she ended up shattering the Shikon no Tama, and had to enlist the help from the half-demon in order to piece it back together.
"As they traveled across Japan, fighting demons and gathering shards, they were joined by an orphaned kitsune child, a cursed houshi, and one of the last youkai taijiya. As they traveled and gathered more shards, they soon realized that someone else was also gathering them: the half-demon that had made the deceased miko and her half-demon believe they had betrayed each other. So, it became a race of sorts to gather the Shikon no Tama shards. However by the end, the evil half-demon was in complete possession of it and it came down to one last battle..."
She trailed at the end, her eyes unfocused as if she was lost in a memory. When she didn't continue, Yusuke nudged her, "So what happened?"
"No one knows," she smiled ruefully. "All everyone can agree on is that the half-demon, the reincarnated miko, and the evil half-demon disappeared for three days before only the half-demon returned bringing news that the Shikon was gone forever along with the miko and evil half-demon."
"Damn, that doesn't help us at all!"
Kurama shook his head, "Thank you, Kagome-san, it fills in a lot of the blanks we had about the legend."
She smiled secretively, "But you were hoping to find out what happened to the Shikon?" The fox spirit nodded, and Kagome appeared thoughtful for a moment. "May I ask why you want to know?"
When no one else looked like they were going to answer her, Kuwabara spoke up, "We guess there's someone out there looking for it and might be causing up some trouble."
"I see... Again, for your sakes, I hope it turns out that they aren't looking for that jewel."
As she waved them off, and promised Yusuke that she would help him finish his 'errands' tomorrow, they never noticed the dark figure hidden amongst the people, watching every move she made. He had listened into the legend she told, knowing she was lying at the end. And even if he had to kill her, he would find out what she did with the Shikon no Tama.