InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Strength of Bond ❯ Types of Bonds ( Chapter 4 )

4/18/04- edited

Warnings: none

Chapter 4

When Kagome woke the next afternoon, her head filled with questions for her mother. Of course, she was somewhat embarrassed about the topic she would attempt to discuss, considering that in this day and age, sex at as such a young age was usually frowned upon by both society and family. Mainly the difficulty would be her mother's reaction, since her mother was just a little too weird. In fact, Kagome had a sinking feeling that her mother would want to know all the details. Far too many times has she experienced her mother in `best friend mode' than the traditional matriarch of a family with no father.

As she shifted in bed, the downy pink covers falling from her chin, she noticed her mother sitting on a small stool beside her. She wondered how long the woman had been there, and why she, herself, hadn't even known she was there until awakening. She had always found it very uncomfortable for people to watch her while she slept.

Taking a careful look, she could tell that her mother was paler than usual. Her eyes were closed and her brows furrowed, as if she was deep in concentration. The wispy brown hair was starting to gray around her framed face, showing her true age more acutely than anything else. She was still quite beautiful, with little to no lines to show too much trauma in her life. This was truly a woman who knew how to live, even if she had to loose the love of her life. Still, as Kagome watched her mother, she became confused. Her mother hadn't looked like that in years. What was wrong?

Her mother was alerted to her wakefulness, as she heard the shifting of the bed. Her eyes, that had been closed in thought, opened, revealing their soft brown orbs to the curious ones of her daughter. "Good morning Kagome-chan. Are you comfortable?"

She was in 'best friend' mode this morning. "Morning."

"You know I was so worried when I got up this morning and you weren't in my room. I thought you wanted to sleep in there?"

"About that-"

Her mother continued, not even paying attention to her daughter. "Or are you sleep walking again?"

"Mom..."

"I was sure you had grown out of that stage."

"MOM!" Kagome snapped, finally getting her mother's attention.

"What is it, dear?"

Kagome shifted uneasily under her mother's watchful eye, as she attempted to sit up in her bed. "Why didn't you tell me I was a miko?"

The reaction to this question was instantaneous. Her mother's brown eyes widened, blue color flickering into the depths, and all the color in her face had seemed to drain from her face. A deadly silence followed before her mother spoke again, though her grasp of a cheerful nature was rather forced. "What makes you a-ask m-me that?"

"You wanted to know what bit me yesterday, right? Well I know who did. And I also know that it has something to do with me being a miko. So don't you dare try to deny that I'm not one, because I know it's true." Actually, Kagome wasn't sure that the idea of being a miko was that true. After all, she only had the man's word to go by, and how could she completely trust that when he was the one having sex with her. He could have used it as an excuse to get into her bed, and sadly it had actually worked. Still, she wanted to know if the whole thing was true or not. Her mother's appearance, though, hinted that at least something in her question touched the truth.

A sigh emerged from her mother. "You are right, Kagome. You are a miko."

Kagome nodded her head slightly, adjusting to this new information. So far, the man's story proved true. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"It's complicated." Her mother stood from her seat next to Kagome's bed, her eyes flickering from the brown hues into a soft blue, and she began to pace the room gathering her thoughts. "As the High Miko, it usually fell to me to tell certain individuals about their crossing periods or in some easy cases, help them through it. In a way, I thought that if I was around then I wouldn't have to worry about your powers consuming you. After all, I could easily extract the extra energy from you without causing too much harm. I guess I hadn't really thought about the whole crossing period and I forgot to tell you."

Kagome looked at her mother confused. She wasn't really making any sense, and she suddenly felt a little sick. What if the man last night wasn't suppose to be doing what he was doing? What if she was supposed to be left alone and allow her mother to help her through the transition? Her head was starting to hurt. "So... let me get this straight. If you had remembered, then I wouldn't have been... ... bonded to another individual?" She gulped slightly when she said the word `bonded', but apparently her mother wasn't really noticing that.

"Actually Kagome, you had been placed to another when you were ten, and silly me, I forgot about that. You see Kagome, I became High Miko a year after your placing. Only yesterday, did I realize what was happening to you."

"So, why did I have to be bonded to another person?"

"Part of the rules, dear. You see when a person of spiritual powers turns ten years old, the Counsel of Magera places the child under the care of another individual." At Kagome's blank look, her mother continued. "Let me start at the beginning. You see every year unique individuals are born with special spiritual powers. Miko, houshi, holy children, magicians and other similar people, youkai, hanyou, and dormant humans. Miko are women with amazing quantities of spiritual powers, and houshi are the male equivalents. Holy children are actually quite rare and currently only one exists today, the Dalai Lama. Then there are the magicians, which include every known way to call someone with magic or power, like witch or wizard. There are actually quite a few of these individuals. Then there are the dormant humans, whose powers are never manifested entirely. Lastly, there are the youkai and hanyou. They actually do not have any holy powers but youki, which in some ways is the opposite of ours. Though youkai and hanyou aren't all evil. There are good and bad to both species. Does this all make sense so far?"

Kagome nodded her head slightly. This stuff so far was easy to understand. There were different kinds of people out there with special gifts. Now, it seemed that all her grandfather's rather crazy stories seemed to be very true.

"Now, when a houshi, magician, or miko turn ten, the Counsel of Magera, founded in 1172, pairs off the child to a dormant human, youkai, or hanyou. The reason for this, is youkai powers neutralize and siphon off pure magical energy better than others of the same type. In this way, youkai are benefited with protection from the normal human world, and children with the pure energy are allowed to live. You see, if their magic isn't siphoned off, the power will try to purify their host and in the process kill the child. After all, no living thing is completely pure, except a holy child."

"Who makes up the Counsel?"

"Oh there are about ten representatives in all. Two youkai- one male and one female, one miko, one houshi, the holy child, two dormant humans-also one male and one female, two magicians- same thing, and one female hanyou."

"So how are bonds done?"

"There are three types of bonds: Contact, Blood, Soul. The simplest form is Contact, where the protector of the spiritual child has to touch the child periodically throughout the child's life. This is typically used on weaker magicians and some dormant humans. All that is involved could be as little as a handshake every five years. Really quite simple."

"What if the bonded dies?"

"Well then the magical energy isn't siphoned off and they eventually die. But unlike Miko and Houshi, they can survive with only the occasional siphoning of their power. Blood bonds are powerful oaths that bind children with above normal quantities of magic. These are typically lower class houshi, miko, and upper class magicians. Their bonded are usually youkai or dormant humans. Here the exchange of blood is used initially at the start of the crossing period. After that, only occasional meetings are required to keep siphoning off the power."

"Why are youkai used?"

"Well, youkai have the negative energy of spiritual powers. Therefore, they can destroy the energy they siphon off. This is why they are used only for blood oaths. The other two oaths either have no affect or will kill the child. Then there is the Soul bond. This is usually only used for extremely powerful houshi and miko. Their bonded are either hanyou or dormant human. This bonding allows the bonded to extract large quantities of power at one time, and involves a full five day crossing period to make the bond work. You know, your father and I were bonded in this way. He was a dormant human, and therefore he was allowed to take in my powers through each of our bonds. Sadly, the energy eventually overwhelms a dormant human, and they tend to die sooner than one would like."

Kagome winced at the mention of her father as well as the sadness that had creeped into her mother's eyes at the mention of what the bonding did. She reached out her hand to her mother's whom clasped it gratefully, once, before continuing on in her explanation and pacing.

"Hanyou, therefore are the ideal partners in this bond. You see hanyou have the youki energy but since they are human they can extract the pure energy into them self, without harming the other. Then the youki will degrade the power and release it as harmless energy. They are quite rare, however, so not many strong miko or houshi are ever bonded to hanyou."

Kagome nodded her head. "What exactly does this bonding involve?"

Kagome's mother paused in her pacing. "Kagome, dear, I believe you already know the answer to that question."

Kagome's cheeks flushed red, and she suddenly found the patterns of her bedspread very interesting.

Her mother chuckled, picking up her hand again and squeezing softly. "Don't worry about that. I knew six years ago that you would have to go through that bonding. He has been gentle with you? Because if he hasn't been, then I'll teach him a thing or two about angering a miko."

Kagome smiled, her cheeks a bright crimson red. "So..." Trying to change the subject, "how does the bonds get picked?"

"Actually, Kagome, the bonded choose the child. Basically the youkai, hanyou, and dormant humans are shown a vid of the child, and then told the bonding needed to be done. Then the individuals get to choose which one they will take under their wing."

"So basically what you are saying is that my bonded knew exactly what he was going to be doing six years ago?"

Her mother nodded her head. "Essentially that's correct. However, it is quite difficult to find ones willing to preform the third bonding. This is because in this bonding, you and the other are permanently stuck to each other. You are never to have another in your life time. He will be your mate, your love, and even the father of your children. Many people don't want that kind of responsibility put on their shoulders at such a young age."

Kagome began to wonder if her face would ever stop being red. She was stuck with Inuyasha for the rest of her life? She didn't even get a choice in the matter! Not that she was complaining now... but what if later they just didn't get along? What if she was never able to loved him? What if he never loved her? And they would have to stay together, forever, in this life?

"I remember how awkward it had been between Seiko and myself after the five day crossing. I had thrown every one of my possessions at him the first time I was able to see him. I hadn't realized that my dreams had been actually truths of reality. Funny, how that's the standard method in the bonding."

"Why don't you change it?"

"Miko energy, especially, needs complete dormancy in order to be bonded to another in this method. So, deep in the dead of night is typically when it is. The reason is based on the fact that miko energy has the need to purify everything, and since mating isn't what the energy would consider pure, it tries to purify the host. That's why you sleep so long, because the energy is purifying you. After the five day crossing, the miko energy will be finally suppressed enough to stop trying to inflict harm on the bonded. However, if you go one night without bonding during this time, then the miko energy will kill the miko and release out to kill the one who attempted the bond."

"So am I tainted?" Kagome squeaked out, wondering why she even asked that question at that moment.

"Oh no, dear. The bonding act is very pure, but you see the energy in our bodies isn't made for our bodies to handle alone. That is the reason for the bonding. Only the holy child is able to live and use all of his power without a bonding. Now I suggest, you and I get something to eat. After all, you have a long night ahead of you, and it's almost sunset." Her mother winked suggestively, causing poor Kagome to revert to an almost permanent cherry red. This was going to be a long day... uh... night.

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Added: 4/18/04

Translation and Pronunciation Guide:

-chan- (chah-n) Suffix to a name typically used for girls by their friends.

Magera- (ma-Jai-ra)- Actually doesn't mean anything… not Japanese nor any language that I know of.

Houshi- (hoe-SHE) A Buddhist Priest. (just an interesting note: In Inuyasha they have Buddhist priests and Shinto priestesses… interesting.)

Youkai- (yoh-k-eye) Apparition, demon.

Hanyou- (hah-n-yoh) Half of a kind.

Youki- (yoh-key) Weird air.

Vid- (just like in Video) Crystal like substance when place in appropriate apparatus will give a movie or slide projection of images and sounds directly to the brain.

Seiko- (seh-E-koh) There are many meanings but this one would be exquisite or elaborate. Though Seikou and Seikoi both mean sexual intercourse… No pun was intended.