Title The Shining Path

Author:: landofthekwt

Rating: PG-13

Prompt: Knowledge/Wisdom (The Wilted Rose: Four Souls of the Jewel)

Word Count: 1195

CU

Warning: None

Summary: Kikyou guides Midoriko to her new life.

The Jewel exploded with a mighty flash shattering into an infinite number of pieces dwindling into nothingness. The youkai souls escaped to wherever their kind goes when they move on. A pillar of light appeared and took Inuyasha and Kagome back through the well to the world of modern Tokyo

When it was all over there was only a single point of light shining in the darkness illuminating the body of an armor-clad woman. A swirl of souls rushed past the armored breast plate and sank into the warrior's body. Slowly she stirred to life as the return of her soul to her body for the first time in 500 years reanimated her.

The light pulsed as ball of light descended upon it. Then it came together and glowed until they became one. They gradually took on the form of a priestess of the warring states' era. She walked over to the warrior and returned that part of the soul of the warrior she had borrowed and waited.

As she watched, the other woman stirred to life.

"Where am I?"

"You are in the meidou."

" Who are you?"

"In life and death I once was known as Kikyou. If you wish, you can call me by that name."

"How did I come to be here?"

"You wish to remember? Be prepared. The memories may cause you pain."

Kikyou placed her hand on the head of the warrior priestess, A light sprang from her hand and surrounded the head of the prone woman. The warrior gasped and tried to shrink back from the touch. Kikyou persisted and did not relinquish her hold until the light was extinguished. A pained look spread over the face of the warrior. Kikyou knew that look. A sudden comprehension of the truth of her existence. It was a lot to deal with when one had not been alive for five hundred years

She had experienced it only once in her life. As her false body was dissolving she finally discovered her humanity. It was first time in her life that she had truly been happy when she realized that Inuyasha loved her and that she was the woman whom she had always wanted

The truth of her life was finally revealed to her in a blinding flash and she died happy in the arms of the man she loved Midoriko's truth was far worse. What had happened to here in the Jewel was revealed. All the things that the Jewel had done flashed before her eyes in an instant. The woman hid her head.

Kikyou bent down and cupped her chin. " All of that is behind you. No need to hide your head or be ashamed of what you did or did not do. It is too late for that now. You like me were saved despite everything that we did. You are not responsible for what the Jewel did any more than I am responsible for the creation of Naraku. While we have a hand or been the reason for their creation. We are not responsible for what they did."

" Why are you here? "

" I am here because we have alike souls. We both were priestesses who fought and died fighting youkai. In death you forced your soul and the souls of the youkai you were fighting out and created the Jewel. You were forced to fight them for centuries. I guarded the Jewel and tried to take it with me when I died. It came back to this era when my reincarnation was drawn here from her home five hundred years in the future. We were both betrayed. You by Nameless, me by Onigumo who sold his soul to demons in order to possess me and the Jewel. In the end we were both saved by Kagome. She saved my soul by going to Mt. Azusa to save my life even though she hated. Without her intervention I would have remained one of the lost. Trapped forever in between death and life, unable to accept my own humanity unwilling to give up my attachment to the world. She just saved you by getting rid of the Jewel. Although the Jewel said Kagome was born to take your place fighting Naraku, the only way for you to be saved from fighting for eternity was for her to wish for the Jewel to disappear forever. When the Jewel disappeared you and Youkai were freed from it and are now able to pass on"

" That still does not explain what will happen next?"

" I have been sent by the kami to be your guide. It has been only a short time since I passed on. Part of me was still inside the Jewel and was not released until the Jewel disappeared. Both you and I being released from the Jewel are whole again and able to move on. The kami felt that because of our shared experiences that I was the best one to guide you along the path. I know that my experiences with the Jewel have not always been righteous. Before I died, I was going to use it so that Inuyasha and I could live together as husband and wife. I took it with me to the next world, but it returned because of my lingering affection for Inuyasha. I handed it over to Naraku so that I could send him from this world, but by doing so he was able to do much harm to the world. Lastly, I used part of your soul to heal myself and released your will to control the Jewel. I have just returned that part of your soul to you."

Midoriko pondered all that Kikyou had told her. Having been a part of the Jewel for five hundred years. she knew what she said rang true. In her last gasp to destroy evil she had created something far more sinister. Instead of killing the youkai she had been fighting them for five centuries. Her own actions had resulted in the deaths of thousands. Yet the kami were willing to forgive her and allow her to pass on. They had already forgiven the being in front of her for all of the wrongs that she had done in the fight for the Jewel. They owed their salvation to Kagome. Someday she hoped to thank this young woman for all that she had done. Without her she would have continued to be used by the Jewel and forced to fight for eternity. Now with her soul saved, she had a chance for a new life forever free of the tyranny of the Jewel. She held out here hand to Kikyou. Kikyou smiled and took her hand and together they set out on the shining path to a new life.