Authors note: Omg twenty chapters! Hard to believe. This is my longest ongoing fanfiction story, outside of my own original works.
I posted on X today, asking for suggestions:
I'm about to begin a portion of Barefoot, where I have a several chapter gap of freedom with the storyline (it doesn't correspond to any episodes for awhile). I have some ideas I plan to incorporate, but what would you guys like to see? Especially focusing on mundane human type things that Sesshomaru wouldn't have experience with - in regards to Rin. Keep in mind she's a child currently!
Remember to leave me love, in the form of reviews. :3
Chapter 20 - Tampering
The wind blew faintly, rustling the leaves in the bushes and trees around where Sesshomaru and his followers were concealed. The yokai lord watched with piqued interest. The human girl, Kagome, still stubbornly clung to the unconscious body of InuYasha. She apologized over and over, pleading for him to wake up.
It was the other figure that set Sesshomaru on edge, he felt his fingers twitch toward Tokijin, hanging at his side. The smell of death and graveyard soil not only clung to the female figure, but seemed to emanate from her very bones. The woman, dressed as a priestess, reached down to pick up what had fallen from Kagome's forehead. Now lifted, he could see that it was a sacred jewel shard. It glowed faintly between her fingers.
"Ironic isn't it." The woman began.
Kagome lifted her head with a gasp. "Kikyo!"
Kikyo? If Sesshomaru remembered correctly, that was the name of the human priestess whom InuYasha had fallen for, so many years ago. The very one who'd bound him to the tree he now lay under.
The woman, Kikyo, continued. "The same situation. The same spot. You truly are my reincarnation. Walking the same path I did." Kikyo held the shard toward Kagome.
"Now take this and return to your world."
"I won't!" Kagome's stubbornness reminded Sesshomaru again, of Rin.
"You must go. You never belonged here in these times. You are an outsider. A person who chanced upon this world of ours." Kikyo was growing angry, he could hear it in the tone of her voice, though she faced away from him.
"I can't leave InuYasha." Kagome buried her face in InuYasha's hair, the silver strands soaked up her tears. For his part, Sesshomaru agreed. InuYasha needed Kagome's presence to tame his inner monster. Something, apparently, which Kikyo had failed to do in the past.
"You must leave!" Kikyo demanded, rage filling her voice. "You're the one who injured him!"
It was all Sesshomaru could do not to snort with derision. Self justified words, coming from the woman who sealed InuYasha to a tree for fifty years. Relegating him asleep and useless to the world.
"Heed my words." Kikyo continued. "Hyoga is using the formidable tree of ages in order to increase his demon powers." She walked around Kagome to place her palm against the tree.
"The tree of ages?" Kagome echoed, her brown eyes following Kikyo as she moved.
"That is correct. This is also a tree of ages. The tree of ages lives through different eras. Hyoga's tree of ages, it steals energy from various generations and it endures. By now other generations of time have been frozen over. Your era has likely been plunged into a never ending winter." Kikyo turned, her face now visible to Sesshomaru from her angle standing by the tree. "You must go! Or you will never be able to return to your time."
Grabbing Kagome's arm, Kikyo dragged the younger girl away from InuYasha, who slumped back against the tree. Lingering in his unconsciousness. Sesshomaru's gaze followed them, as she pulled Kagome toward the Bone Eaters Well.
Turning, he motioned to Jaken, indicating for him to move further back into the woods. In silence, the imp nodded and took the reins from Rin, soundlessly urging the dragon to turn and head deeper into the foliage. Though Rin did not speak, her wide brown eyes followed Sesshomaru until she could no longer see him amidst the lush greenery.
Shifting his focus, Sesshomaru turned back to the scene just beyond the trees. Kagome stumbled behind the taller older woman, following unwillingly. Slowly, careful not to be spied, Sesshomaru walked into the clearing around the sacred tree. Stepping before his brother, he reached out with his right hand to lightly touch InuYasha's forehead. His brother was unconscious, but not dead. His haku was strong. It would only be a matter of time until he woke.
Glancing back at the women, he walked into the forest, on the other side of the clearing. Silent as a shadow, he moved as near as possible without being seen.
The two humans had stopped before the well, with their backs facing him. Kagome stood next to the wooden frame, which was quickly becoming overgrown with new branches and leaves.
"Plants are forming." Kagome said softly. "The wood of this well is ancient…"
Behind her Kikyo took a step closer. "This well was constructed out of wood from the tree of ages. It's vital life force lay dormant all these years, and is now being awakened by the tree of ages. If the well is covered over, you will never be able to pass through to your own time. You must return to your own world. You still have a chance."
Kagome listened in silence, then turned and cast a longing glance to where InuYasha lay just beyond sight at the base of the tree. "But… InuYasha…"
Sesshomaru shifted within the cover of the trees. A sudden change of the wind. Awareness that a choice had been made. His golden eyes narrowed. Kagome would not willingly leave InuYasha, when he was injured, he'd seen enough of her bravery to know that much. Which left Kikyo.
What is she planning?
Kikyo stepped closer to Kagome, forcing the younger girl to lean back against the wood of the Bone Eater's Well. "Go home! Back to your own era where you belong. You and InuYasha live in different times." her firsts were balled at her sides in anger. Her final words were a yell that cut the air. "GO HOME!"
Sesshomaru watched through slitted eyes, as Kikyo shoved Kagome over the lip of the well. Screaming, Kagome vanished into a pink light that shone from within. All went deadly silent. Almost instantaneously, the trees began to grow over the entire surface of the well. Blocking access completely.
Kikyo seemed relieved. "You must never be with InuYasha again. Nor I. For I am one with the dead, and as such, I too don't belong here."
Irritation that Sesshomaru couldn't describe filled his chest. The dead priestess turned and began walking away, floating soul collectors following her.
She has a cruel soul. Who do you think you are, dead priestess Kikyo, to tamper in the fate of others?
Stepping out of the foliage, Sesshomaru watched as Kikyo vanished in the direction of the mountain. Then he turned and watched the branches grow over the well. Kagome somehow traversed time. If that was so, and fate destined her to be here — there was little that Kikyo would be able to do to prevent her return.
Huffing softly, Sesshomaru turned and headed back toward where Rin and Jaken were waiting.
It is time to learn more about this dead priestess Kikyo, and her ongoing tampering with the fate of my brother.