FULL SUMMARY: Mt. Hakurei's barrier was used by many to seal away items of power and demons that were so powerful they couldn't be killed outright. With the barrier down, these demons escape their weakening bonds and set out to continue their rampages through the Feudal Era. Most scatter to the winds, but one seeks out those who inadvertently freed her. After a millennia of being sealed under the mountain she is free, she is starving, and they are full of delicious memories. So vibrant, so filling. She can't wait to suck them out of their heads.
An attack on Kaede's village causes irreparable changes to sweep amongst Inuyasha's pack. When faced with a suddenly deaged Inuyasha, who's last memories are of his mother's death and the villagers chasing him away, Kagome has no choice but to ask Sesshomaru for help. Inuyasha may be roughly a five or six year old child but his enemies are vast and his new age won't stop old enemies.
Chapter 1
"Kagome!"
Ears ringing Kagome rolls onto her side and tries to sit up. Her whole-body aches, but nothing feels broken. One of her eyes won't open, and the earth seems to lurch sideways as she turns her head.
Her bow is just out of reach and intact, the arrow she had notched however, is snapped in half. She blinks slowly and swallows thickly. The world lurches again and she gags; suddenly grateful that she hadn't eaten dinner yet; elsewise she'd be seeing it again.
"Kagome!"
She looks up, trying to hear past the ringing. She can't focus, can't think beyond pain and nausea and a deep-seated anger. She's simmering with it, just waiting to boil over.
Motion flickers. She flares her Reiki in warning. Yokai tentatively flares back, curling into her Reiki softly. Shippo.
Kagome turns her head slowly and spots him, huddled in her yellow bag, tears streak through the dust and grime on his face. She tries to smile at him but even that hurts. He gets her meaning and rushes to her. Barely stopping before colliding with her.
He sobs as he curls into her, careful not to hurt her. Kagome eases back down into the dirt and wraps her arms around him. His whole body shakes as he cries. She's not sure what happened but it's clear they survived some sort of battle.
Shippo shifts until his face is tucked under her chin. Kagome cards her fingers through his hair gently dislodging debris. His sobs lessen, broken up by hiccups and short gasping breaths.
Exhaustion claws her eyelids. Kagome has never known the ground to be so soft, so comfortable, before. She wants to sleep for a year or at least a few days. She knows she shouldn't. Knows that she has a concussion, that both Shippo and herself need medical attention. Can't figure out why that feels weird to think.
"Shippo," she croaks, "have yoooo- see other?"
Shippo wiggles closer. "Not since the barrier went up."
"Airer?" Kagome tries again, tongue like lead. "Wha?"
"A barrier went up around the village, you and Kaede told me to stay in the hut. That the barrier felt wrong. I stayed. Then the hut blew up and all I could find was your bag. So, I stayed with that until I found you."
"S'okay. Goo 'oy."
"Kagome? You don't sound so good." Shippo pulled away and sat up. Gently he touched Kagome's cheek. Careful to avoid the darkening bruise that covered her head from the hairline almost to her chin. Her eye was swollen shut and blood trickled from her nose.
"Kagome," he tried again. She moaned weakly in response. "Wake up. Kagome, wake up! You need to heal. Please mama." He whispers the last, too scared to say it out loud while at the same time wanting her to know how much he loves her. The mother he's never had.
Shippo tapped her shoulder and shook her slightly. She didn't respond. He shook her harder. Nothing. Holding his breath he pressed his ear to her chest, her heart beat sluggishly.
"Just hold on Mama, I'm going to find help."
Shippo sat up fully and looked around. They were on the outskirts of the village, close enough to the barrier that he could feel it buzzing with power. Malice all but dripped from the sickly yellow barrier, but underneath the slimy wrongness was something he recognized, a kind of power he'd felt before.
He cast it a wary look but couldn't stop and puzzle it out. Kagome needed him. He turned away from the barrier, from Kagome, and ran towards the fighting. Running faster than he ever had before.
Giving up the pretense of being human he shifted down to all fours, hands becoming paws, claws gripping the packed dirt. His face began to lengthen, nose darkening. He halted the shift there, taking on a humanoid form was costly and he didn't know if shifting back into his true form would be permanent. Especially since he was so young. Even his father hadn't taken a human form often. But his mama needed him to be quick. He would be quick.
"Wind Scar!"
Inuyasha. Shippo yipped and turned. Heading for the wave of golden light as the wind scar ripped apart everything in its path. Inuyasha would know what to do, and know how to help Kagome.
Harsh laughter followed in the silent wake of the wind scar. Shippo shivered, fur on end, and shifted a little further into a fox. Fear dashed along his spine. Noone laughed after facing the wind scar. No one. Even Sesshomaru took Inuyasha seriously.
"Foolish Welp, I am a being of time itself. You can't kill me."
~oOo~
Kagome was floating.
All the aches and pain drifted away from her as she rested in the inky pool of darkness. Even the exhaustion that dogged her every breath halted. She knew that she wasn't in her body anymore, that she floated while her body laid on the ground, curled around her kit. She could see herself in her mind's eye, bloody and broken, trying to protect Shippo as best she could. Even from herself as she slipped in and out of consciousness.
Her soul aches as she watches Shippo listen to her heartbeat. She can hear it, a slow ba-bum, ba-bum, in the background. Slower than her sleeping heart rate. She's hurt, seriously hurt. Shippo leaps to his feet and runs, his body blurring as he becomes more fox than child.
Two tails trail behind him, one solid and the other barely a suggestion of a shimmer. He's so close to earning it, she doesn't know when he'll get it but she is already so proud of him. Her son, her kit.
"Wind scar!" Inuyasha roars.
She can't leave him. Not like this. Not like his father, who was killed right in front of him, not like the mother he's never talked about, hasn't mentioned once in the three years they'd been traveling together. She can't be yet another parental figure to up and leave him.
She has a duty to herself as well. To keep herself alive, to restore the jewel, to live. She needs to live. Her family, her son, her friends… Inuyasha, they need her. They love her and she loves them.
Kagome gathers her will, her reiki, her stream of consciousness, and pulls. Dragging herself back together, piece by jagged piece. Pale lilac light engulfs her body. A lilac chain becomes visible link by link as the glow spreads to her soul and pushes the darkness back.
Her feet touch lush green grass, soft and springy beneath her toes. She's naked, as all souls are bare, standing on a grassy knoll beneath a bright blue sky. She can't see the sun but she can feel its warmth across her shoulders, pouring over her.
Kagome's shadow deepens and shifts as it pools at her feet, at first mimicking her shape and then twisting and turning into a new one. A shadow sword grows in its hand, turning to a bow, and then back again into two curved blades. She watches her shadow dance with the blades, parrying against an invisible foe. Twirling away from phantom strikes and coming to rest again at her feet. A fan sweeps behind her, swallowing most of her torso, it rocks side to side and then shakes into nine pieces. Each piece twitching on their own before reforming and swaying in time with her soul as she rocks slowly. The fan sinks into her shadow and two purple eyes open.
Kagome stills, hadn't even realized she was moving until she stops. She's not breathing either, but neither is she holding her breath. It's the kind of baited breath one takes when they dream of being underwater. She doesn't need to breathe here, but her body still does, so she does both at the same time.
"Kagome," a thousand voices speak at once, each distinct and yet cohesive. "Why do you sit here with only half of your soul? Don't you wish to be whole, child?"
"It was taken from me."
"So, take it back." A female voice says as something soft twines around her hips. Kagome looks but sees only empty air where she can clearly feel fur. Hot breath ghosts across her collar bone and the female speaks again, "are you really so selfless as to give up a piece of yourself so a clay woman can live a half life and torment you? How curious."
Kagome looks back at her shadow, at the purple eyes that bore into her. A second shadow has joined hers, standing at shoulder height, the shadow opens its pointed muzzle and grins, shadow teeth find a way to glint. Nine tails flare and wave as the vixen twines around her again. Arching against her body like a cat seeking pets. Kagome doesn't move, she is the mountain that the wind howls at.
"We can give you your soul back. All you have to do is let us in." The collective offer, a thousand demon shadows join her own on the grass. Kagome is still alone on the knoll. The mass of shadows stretches, horns and teeth, muzzles and snouts, claws and legs. Only her glowing eyes remain the same. Unmoving, heavy in their gaze.
"I can't."
"Can't or won't?" The vixen asks and rests her muzzle on Kagome's shoulder and whispers directly into her ear, "We'll be waiting for you, Kagome. Until then," She exhales harshly and Kagome is thrown backwards into the sky, through the dark and back into her body.
~oOo~
"Foolish Welp, I am a being of time itself. You can't kill me." The demon shakes her head and sends the wind scar shooting backwards undoing the damage Inuyasha wrought, slamming it back into his sword. Inuyasha screams as the concussive force of the wind scar hits him head on, throwing him.
A dark grey haze spills out of him as his body arches through the air, swirling around the demon. She breathes it in and sighs gustily; the haze filling her.
"Delicious," she moans as she slurps more of the haze out of the air.
"Hiraikotsu!" Sango explodes out of the rubble and launches her massive boomerang. Blood trickles down the side of her face from a cut across her brow.
The demoness swats the boomerang like a fly sending it back at Sango just as she did to Inuyasha.
Miroku steps into view directly across the battlefield and unwraps his hand. "Wind Tunnel!" Otherworldly winds pull at the demoness, sucking in dirt and debris, they latch onto the Hiraikotsu dragging it back at the demon and slamming it into her side. She stumbles and growls. Gulping the rest of the haze down she pivots so both Miroku and Sango are in her line of sight. Hiraikotsu lays at her feet, she steps on it to keep it from returning to its wielder. Bone groans.
Miroku holds his fist to his chest, ready to unleash the wind tunnel at a moment's notice. Sango, now wearing her mask, pulls a slender tube from a pouch and thumbs off the lid. Thick green smoke billows out. Miroku starts chanting. Sango throws it at the demoness.
"How about you choke on this!"
The demoness takes a deep breath and blows the smoke away. "Anything else?"
Miroku holds an ofuda between his middle and ring fingers, still chanting. Wind tugs at his robes and loose hair, holy energy wraps him in its embrace. His staff jingles. He tosses the ofuda straight up, it multiplies, and scores of them rain down at the demoness.
Sango unsheathes her sword and coats it in poison. The demoness' attention is on Miroku and his attack. Sango just needs him to keep her attention a little longer. The blade pulses in her grip, poison absorbed and primed. She grits her teeth and lunges.
Ofuda rain down bursting into flames as they come into contact with the demoness' yokai. She covers her head with her spindly arms and takes the hit. Snow white skin burns red and she groans.
Sango slashes the sword across the demonesses back, cutting through her ratty kinu*. She screams and drops to one knee. Green blood gushes, staining the kinu and skirts. Sango twists the blade and withdraws, grabbing the handle of her boomerang as she retreats.
Gasping the demoness curls over her bent knee. Shoulders sagging, her head droops, greasy hair obscuring her face.
"That was… unexpected." The demoness said, heaving herself up. Tilting her head she looked through a veil of hair, she watched them with bloodshot eyes.
Miroku drew more ofuda from his sleeves, two for each hand, chanting again. His voice is scratchy but indomitable. Sango braces herself to throw Hiraikotsu.
Shippo watches his friends, his leash, fight. Slipping through the rubble of several homes, he ignores the scent of decay. These are people he knows, this village that opened up for the demons, welcomed them and their protection. Now those who couldn't escape on Kirara's back lay dead or dying.
At least his friends got away, most of the children had been playing by Kaede's hut, parents taking full advantage of demonic hearing and oversight, when the demoness attacked. Kirara had run, too loaded down with children to fly, into the forest with the children. Escaping moments before the barrier sealed the rest of them in.
Rounding a corner, he comes face to knee with Kaede. She's sitting on what used to be a fire pit stone, a bow stretched over her lap. Hope bubbles in his chest someone who can help mama! Reality crashes down on him a second later.
Kagome needs help but they can't help her until the demon is dead or driven away. He noses into Kaede's side as the old Miko strings her bow and gathers her reiki. She's breathing hard, almost panting. How she's made it this far in this fight is a miracle. They've been fighting the demoness since just before sunset, and now only the light of the full moon illuminates the village. Shippo can't help her, Kaede hasn't tried any of the combo attacks that Kagome and Inuyasha use. He doesn't think she's ever even considered them.
Kaede curls her fingers into his ruff, "Listen closely, Shippo, if I fall today, should we all fall, you must find Lord Sesshomaru, he may be the only one who can put this demon down. Do ye understand?" Shippo whimpers. Kaede pats his head softly. "Be not afraid," she said and Shippo isn't sure if she's talking to him or herself.
Shippo pushes his yokai out and brushes it across her shoulders and back. Warming her, hugging her the only way he can, he's fully fox now. Can't even wish her luck.
"Thank you, Shippo."
Kaede stands and notches an arrow, reiki pours from her like a waterfall, snapping onto her bow and arrow. She aims and looses. The arrow glows with blue reiki, shooting across the killing field like a falling star.
Sango and Miroku drop to the ground.
The demoness turns and leans back until her back is nearly level with the ground. The arrow whizzes over her, its trailing reiki burning her as it passes a hair's breadth away from her chest.
Kaede curses and reaches for another arrow.
"Not so fast Miko." The demoness snarls and blurs. Reappearing directly before Kaede, grabbing her by the throat, she picks up the Miko and shakes her. "Such a long life you've lived, so many memories to devour."
The Demoness purses her lips and inhales. A gray haze swirls around Kaede's head and flows into the demoness. Shippo watches in horror as Kaede goes limp. He lashes out with his yokai and wraps it around Kaede, trying to protect her. With each inhale Kaede grows younger. Wrinkles fading from her face and color flowing into her hair, changing the gray to brown.
The demoness cocks an eyebrow at him and kicks. He flattens himself to the ground, sliding under her foot. He doesn't let go of Kaede. She lashes out at him again, clipping his side. He yelps but still holds onto Kaede. The demoness leans down, swiping at him with dagger-like claws. He bares his teeth and screams. She flinches, tucking her ear towards her shoulder. He screams again. She slaps him upside the head, no longer sucking away Kaede's life, the Miko dangles in the demoness' hold, eyes open but unseeing.
Shippo snarls and snaps fox fire oozing from his mouth like foam from a rabid animal. Every hair stands on end, his eyes bleed green until his irises are drowned in it. He grows, claws lengthening, he is closer to dog sized than fox. His tail aches but he doesn't look away from the demoness. Sparks ignite around his paws; ethereal winds tug at his fur.
He can see the flow of her yokai, where it clashes with itself. Shippo lunges, snapping his teeth over her shoulder, biting directly onto her yokai. Heart Scar! He leaps away before she can grab him, snapping at her thigh next, then her wrist.
She shrieks. Throwing her arms up and expelling a blast of yokai that knocks Sango and Miroku into a hut, bringing it down on top of them.
He bites her again and again. Each time harder and more vicious than the last.
She grabs onto his tail and pulls. Shippo lets go, that's not his regular tail! She holds him at head height and snarls at him outraged. He twists and looks up at both his tails. Shocked and proud.
She swings him up, over her head, and slams him down into the dirt. Knocking the air from his lungs, he gasps, unable to take a breath before she lifts him again and swings. He slaps the ground again and again. He can't breathe, can't wiggle, can't even twitch.
Tongue lolling he's fully limp in her grasp, half dead. She brings his face to hers and sniffs him, flicking a forked tongue out as she licks his furry cheek and breathes him in. Gray smoke swirls around his body as she slurps.
"Hey!" Kagome stumbles around the corner and levels an arrow, "You might be a being of time, but I am the Miko of Time, why don't you try me on for size."
The Demoness drops Kaede and Shippo kicking his smaller body out of her way.
"You dare to challenge me, The Great Hijasaya? Very well."
Please don't let me be too late. Kagome inhales as Hijasaya blurs, pooling her reiki into the arrow and onto the ground, shaping it into a circle. Hijasaya reappears before her and screams as lilac flames erupt at her feet.
A perfect circle of Miko energy lifts off the ground and spins around the demoness. Kagome pushes more reiki into it and a second loop forms, turning diagonally. She grits her teeth and pushes again, a third circle takes shape, forming an X with the first circle spinning rapidly around the middle. Pinning the demon in place.
Kagome looses the arrow. Hijasaya is so close Kagome can smell her breath, the arrow doesn't even leave the curve of the bow before it strikes. Reiki and magic collide with the demonesses yokai, sucking it out of her and burning it at the same time. Her yokai feeds the trap. Hijasaya's face wrinkles, cheeks drooping, her dishwater hair bleaches white.
Kagome glows with power, eyes shining, her body heals even as the demoness disintegrates.
Kagome reaches out and grabs Hijasaya's face and punches magic into her, holding her in place, in life. "This is for hurting my son, for harming my friends, for attacking my village!" Kagome snarls on the last word and holds Hijasaya until all that's left of her is the skin Kagome's fingertips touch.
The demon turns to dust and Kagome collapses. Power washes over and through her. The circles slow their rotations and pool on the ground, lapping against her knees and sinking into her.
~oOo~
*Kinu can be found here, it's part of an ancient two piece costume worn by both men and women, consisting of a cross front jacket that flared over the hips, called a kinu, worn over hakama(men) or pleated skirts(women).
Cross Posted to Ao3