Sango woke up in a half-destroyed hut. She hazily remembered that someone was treating her wounds and giving her water and food for a couple of days. Her body was hurting, she felt weak and unsteady, but the sooner she started to move the sooner she'd be up and fighting again. Walking through the village was the least she could do. To remind herself that she was all alone. To see the damage with clear eyes. To burn into her memory what Naraku did to her, to her family, to her home. He will pay for it.
The last place she wandered to were the graves. She'd noticed them before, but wanted to visit as the last. She came to a stop and blinked. Hotaru-san?
"Sango-chan." Hotaru spoke before she turned around to see her.
"..." Her knees turned to jelly and she couldn't swallow the lump in her throat. She hadn't cried since that night she was supposed to die. She was bitter and angry. She hated Naraku and wanted her revenge. This whole activity was to harden her resolve.
But seeing Hotaru's kind smile, while her blue eyes were grieving made Sango's insides melt and shift. It didn't dissipate the anger or hatred but suddenly, she realised, she was also grieving. And that her grief was overwhelming.
Hotaru outstretched her arms. "I felt you'd wake up today."
"...you took care of me. You came."
"I had help. I am just sad I didn't come sooner." She glanced at Kou's and Saki's graves. "I wish I could've seen and hugged them one more time."
Without a word, Sango buried herself in the offered embrace. And Hotaru held her for as long as her tears were flowing, quietly humming a familiar melody.
######
"Sango-san! I brought some clean bandages…" Kagome entered the hut, "Ah!"
"She's gone." Shippo was looking all around the hut, but Sango was nowhere to be found.
"Let's find her, she can't be far."
They found both Hotaru and Sango kneeling by the graves. Kirara was sitting between them and they were silently facing the neat rows of flowers and weapons. Kagome felt out of place, but she was out of place everywhere, so she approached them.
"Sango-san! You've gotta rest some more."
Sango glanced over her shoulder, her eyes red from previous crying. "The graves…"
"Eh?"
"You made graves for everyone?"
"Ah, yeah. Inuyasha and Miroku mostly. I just picked the flowers and arranged the weapons we found with the dead." She knelt next to Sango and observed the girl. "Uhm… well. I don't really know what to say…" 'Cheer up', wouldn't do it at all. She's all alone now. "Right! When you're feeling better and completely healed, you can both join us, why don't we all go together? Deep down Inuyasha and Miroku-sama are both very nice people."
Sango glanced at Hotaru.
"Don't look at me, you decide." She said with an encouraging nod. "I want to find Bokusen-Oh-sama Myoga-sama mentioned to me before. And I plan to avoid the Shikon jewel like a plague. That said, I will keep my eyes and ears open for Naraku, but I am not going to seek him out."
"Don't you want to avenge them?!"
"Sango, if I get a chance, I will take his head. But even if we do kill him at some point, it won't bring them back. And you know it."
"Are your memories more important than me?" As her voice was gradually rising, she pointed at Kou's grave. "More important than he was?"
Hotaru sighed, but didn't respond in the similar venomous tone. "And what if I am someone's puppet too? What if Naraku finds a way to control me? Will you be able to kill me?"
Sango turned her eyes away, suddenly feeling guilty.
"If I stay out of his field of vision I can be of more use than if I go with you and expose myself to the constant temptations of the jewel."
"Sorry, I just…" She mumbled and turned to Kagome. "Fine. I'll go with you, you seem like a good bunch. And the closer to the jewel I stay the higher the chances of crossing paths with Naraku again are. But you," she pointed her finger at Hotaru, "I hope you will call Kirara when you need her."
She chuckled. "I will. Myoga-sama will show me the way to Bokusen-Oh-sama, so it should be safe. And if it's truly his wood my case was carved from, he might know by whom and point me in the right direction."
Sango nodded. "Well, I think we should tell them about the Shikon no Tama, that's why they came in the first place."
Kagome nodded, "since the jewel was born here." She peeped, once she felt she could join the conversation.
"Sure." Hotaru nodded. "Let's gather the boys and let's go."
They walked towards the cave in silence, using the narrow trail to reach the cliff and the hole that was the entrance to Midoriko's cave and shrine. The air was constantly flowing through that place, making it a perfect place to dispose of demon bodies. The shrine took them in and turned them into rocks and walls, forever entrapping them.
"You've been here before, correct?" Sango asked in front of the entrance.
"Yes, we threw the demon bodies from the village here. Kirara showed us, but we didn't go inside."
"Good, only those with pure intentions can go in. Living demons are usually rejected by the barrier."
"Uuhm…" Inuyasha warily poked the barrier.
"Oh, come on. It's true that Midoriko-sama's powers are still here and she chooses those who can enter, but I don't see a reason why she should reject you. After all, you buried the demon slayers. Her kin." Hotaru smiled at him encouragingly. "Kirara is a demon too and she is allowed to enter."
Because Kirara was once Midoriko-sama's companion… She and Sango exchanged knowing looks and entered.
The others followed. Well, except for Myoga. Whatever Midoriko's reason was, Hotaru felt the barrier electrocuting the tiny youkai, but she knew he'd be safe.
As they walked further through the long tunnel, the walls and ground of the cave were covered in a fluorescent moss and tiny glowing mushrooms, growing on the mummified bodies of countless demons. Stalagmites and stalactites were growing from the ground and ceiling. The air was dry and fresh, there was no stuffy smell. The very spare light was seeping in through cracks in the walls drawing patterns on the rocks.
Kagome gasped when they reached the big hall of the cave.
A huge stalagmite was rising from the ground. It had a shape of countless demons merged into one huge being.
"Are those mummified youkai?"
"Correct," Hotaru nodded, "and also," she bowed deeply in front of the statue. In the mount of the demon was a mummified woman. "Midoriko-sama."
Sango bowed too. The others followed in suit. Even Inuyasha, who had trouble showing any form of respect to anyone, felt that if he didn't show proper attitude, he'd be thrown out.
"Countless number of youkai merged into one to increase their power. Dragons, ground spiders, oni and so on. Just to destroy one single human."
"A human?"
"Midoriko-sama was a priestess. A human. And the youkai ate her." Hotaru smiled, letting the group look at the sight in front of them.
"Then this… as I thought." Miroku hummed, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
They approached the statue as if drawn closer. Standing right at its foot, the demons seem to be humongous and the human mummy of the priestess was so small in this huge maw formed from numerous different demons.
"She is wearing old armour. Was she a general?"
"She was a miko from the village of the demon slayers. Several hundred years ago." Sango's corner of her lips turned upward in a kind proud half-smile. She grew up listening to the story of the brave Midoriko-sama.
Inuyasha glanced at Sango with a thoughtful frown. "I see. If youkai are your opponents, then a miko is about as strong as 100 samurais."
So then, while this person was alive, she fought youkai? Kagome was staring at the mummy with deep respect and reverie. That's like Kikyo.
Sango nodded. "It was a time when nobility was still in control of Japan. There were piles of people who had died in war and hunger. As the corpses and exhausted humans were eaten, in no time the numbers of demons increased immensely. All sorts of buddhist priests and generals exterminated the youkai, it appears. But above all was her. Midoriko-sama. Our priestess. Who had the training of a demon slayer as well as unbelievable spiritual power. She used an attack that drove out youkai's souls and purified them. She had enough spiritual power to destroy 10 youkai at once."
"Drive out their souls and purify them?" Kagome asked curiously. She was awed.
"Yes. Of anything. See, in this world, there are humans, animals, trees and rocks. Midoriko-sama could purify all four of those souls." Hotaru explained.
Kagome blinked. She didn't understand.
"In shinto, there is one way of thinking," Miroku decided to elaborate Hotaru's explanation, "namely that 'shikon' is Ara-mitama, Nigi-mitama, Kushi-mitama and Saki-mitama. All together these become one spirit and in the flesh they live inside the heart. Ara-mitama is courage, Nigi-mitama is kinship, Kushi-mitama is wisdom and Saki-mitama is in charge of love. Human nature is correctly maintained between the four."
"I didn't get a thing." Shippo's head was spinning from the information dump.
"It's like, even if he repeated it, I still wouldn't understand." Kagome sighed desperately.
"...and then?" Inuyasha was equally confused.
"If you do evil, the Shikon's action will fall down into evil."
"..." Inuyasha blinked. "Stop changing things around!"
Miroku sighed. "Shall I start again?"
Hotaru chuckled. "In other words, souls can become both good and evil. Even in one life it's possible to be both."
"Right." the monk agreed.
"Anyway, Midoriko-sama exorcised Shikon and had much experience in using the spell to transform youkai's power into nothing." Sango continued her story. "That's why the youkai were afraid of her and started trying to take her life. But even if they attacked her suddenly, they were all exorcised. Which is why, to overcome Midoriko-sama's powers, a soul with massive evil was necessary."
"Then the youkai became one?" Kagome tilted her head. "How?"
"Take a look over there." Sango leaned closer and pointed at the underbelly of the dragon-snake like creature, forever mummified in this cave. Close to the ground, there was a head and arms sticking out of the demon's body. "There's one more."
"Eh?! Where? Ah!" Kagome gasped when she noticed the head. "That's also a human?"
"Yes. There was a man who secretly loved Midoriko-sama. The youkai took advantage of his weakness and possessed him. Using a human with an evil heart to anchor with was easy for youkai and allowed them to merge into one."
Blood was drained from Kagome's face. This story… I've heard it before.
"Inuyasha?" Miroku was looking at him, he too heard a similar story before. "The story is like it's about Naraku. Isn't it the same as when the wild-thief Onigumo submitted his body to the youkai and was reborn as Naraku as the outcome?"
"EH?!" Both Sango and Hotaru snapped their heads towards the monk. "Naraku was..?" Hotaru frowned. "So that's how… and why…"
Inuyasha was focused on the statue, but his hand gripped the Tetsusaiga's handle. "Continue the story, Sango. Did this miko beat the youkai, or did she lose?"
Sango's eyes narrowed. She would learn the story about this Naraku demon later. "The battle continued for 7 days and 7 nights when Midoriko-sama finally exhausted her powers and her body was eaten. It seems her soul was absorbed." She looked at Hotaru to finish, the priestess could word it better.
She nodded and smiled. "At that moment Midoriko-sama used the last of her power to seize the youkai's soul. Together with her own soul, she forced it out of her body. Both Midoriko-sama and the youkai died, but the cluster of souls remained. That is the Shikon no tama, the Shikon jewel. But even though their bodies were destroyed the battle continues," Kagome's eyes widened as she and Inuyasha exchanged glances, "inside the jewel. Midoriko-sama and the youkai's souls continue to fight."
"Eh?" Kagome was staring at her, her mouth partly open under the heavy truth.
"In truth, it depends on the soul of the holder of the Shikon no tama. They become better or worse, it seems. If a youkai or an evil person holds onto the jewel, their corruption increases and youkai are winning inside. If someone with a pure soul holds it, then they are cleansed and Midoriko-sama is victorious." Hotaru elaborated her explanation with a sad smile. She drew her fingers through the white strand in her loose long hair. "That is why I cannot hold onto it. Youkai in the jewel can sway an uncertain heart, a weakened soul. I don't remember who I was before I came here and they can use it, twist it."
They remained silent for a while. The atmosphere in the cave was serious and heavy, but also strangely light. Midoriko's mummified corpse with her dried dead eyes was staring in front of her. A patch of her hair was swaying in the breeze together with spiderwebs covering the statue. It almost seemed like she was enjoying the company. The jewel on Kagome's neck was warm, shining brightly with purity.
Kagome took it into her palm and studied the pink light. Is my soul truly that pure? She wondered.
'Do not be afraid, child. I believe you will end my suffering.' The breeze carried those words and ruffled her hair. Thank you. Smiling, she covered the jewel with her hand and hid it underneath her uniform. She felt warm all over her body. And most of all reassured.
"Well, after creation, the jewel travelled, being held by various youkai and humans. It returned to the village in my grandfather's time. He brought it back. He got it from a demon he exterminated, but he was so badly wounded he died soon after. The jewel was so defiled and poisoned by evil, that it was not in our powers to purify it." Sango finished the story she and Hotaru could tell.
"Then… It was entrusted to Kikyo." Inuyasha breathed out. Now it got to the point from when he remembered.
"So I remember the story. Yes."
"Because Kikyo purified the jewel, Naraku was born?" Kagome asked quizzically.
"It's probably like that," Miroku agreed. "Naraku wanted the jewel corrupted. If he could corrupt Kikyo-sama's heart with hatred and suck up the malicious blood with the Shikon no tama…"
Sango frowned. "The jewel would be the same as before all over again."
"Kikyo died while holding the jewel. Her body was burnt with it. That should have ended everything, however, eventually, the jewel was reborn and crossed time back to the past with me." Kagome felt that Hotaru and Sango should be given some explanation as well. It was only fair.
Hotaru turned towards her, scanning her from head to toe. "From the future?"
She nodded, her skin prickled under the intensive stare. "Yes, I can cross through the bone eaters well, that's a part of my family's shrine in modern Tokyo. Kikyo was also revived from her bones and grave soil. And a part of my soul…" Her voice gradually lowered into a barely whisper, under Inuyasha's heavy gaze.
"Hmmm…" Hotari drew her fingers through her hair again. Her head was thumping with the migraine settling behind her temples. "Do you also look like this Kikyo?"
"Keh!" Inuyasha spat out roughly. "For our part it looks like we are being manipulated by the jewel, doesn't it? This is no joke. If the jewel's fate repeatedly returns things to evil, then I, with my own hands, will sever that fate."
"I don't think only one person can end the jewel." Hotaru smiled at them kindly. "But together, you two might just succeed. And I hope you will."
Kagome returned the smile.
Sango's rumbling stomach echoed in the cave. She blushed and looked down. "Sorry."
Hotaru laughed. "It's a sign we should go cook dinner." Then she looked at Kagome, Inuyasha and Miroku: "And I'd like to hear your stories. I shall tell you mine, or what I can remember as well."
A/N: Let me know what you think but remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary.
S.
