InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Drifting ❯ Reflections ( Chapter 12 )

Reflections

 

Kagome opened her eyes, facing the pounding headache. Two red-clothed arms held her securely. She looked at InuYasha's eyes and snuggled more closely to him. She had grown exhausted from mourning, and InuYasha had watched over her throughout the night.

 

“InuYasha,” she whispered, “Where were you?”

 

InuYasha didn't have to ask her when she meant. He was pensive for a moment. An overwhelming sense of guilt had been eating away at him as he sat through the night. He had neglected his forest, his town, his family, and now… “I was… with you. At your house. In your time.”

 

“What?” Kagome breathed. She didn't know what to think. “You didn't leave… when I told you to.” She disentangled herself from him and stood up. “You stayed behind. All those times that I thought you were there… you were there.”

 

Kagome had started crying again. InuYasha remained silent. What can I say? What can I tell her that would change the fact that I wasn't there and I couldn't come through for them?

 

Kagome shook her head and walked off. InuYasha didn't follow her. I should give her some time.

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He wasn't there to protect them because of me. All of this… because of me. Kagome knelt down at Shippou's grave, placing a few toys on top of it, alongside the flowers that Sango had left. At Kaede's grave were a bow and a quiver of arrows, and at Kirara's grave, a small bell. Kagome closed her eyes and tried to form a prayer, but none would come. Sango approached her and knelt down next to her. They sat in silence for a few moments before Kagome spoke.

 

“Sango, what happened? I mean, I know that there were… youkai… but what actually happened?”

 

Sango took a deep breath before responding. “I killed a hawk youkai before InuYasha went to your time. I didn't realize… I didn't know that it was relatively young. I just thought it was another youkai attacking, and I killed it. The parents of that youkai tracked it here and found its remains. They left, and when they returned, they brought most of their tribe back with them. They attacked during the night, taking us by surprise. There aren't… there weren't many fighters in the village. It was mostly up to me, Kirara, and Miroku…” Sango swallowed. “There were… too many. We couldn't stop them. But once they realized that they were losing members of their tribe, they retreated and set fire to the rest of the huts.”

 

Kagome listened silently with her eyes closed while Sango told her this, and nodded, turning back to the graves as soon as she was done. InuYasha could have stopped this from happening, she thought bitterly, but he was watching over me. I should have known. I should have known he was with me. He's always with me. She turned her head, and as if to confirm her guilt, InuYasha was leaning against a tree watching her with hidden eyes. This… is my fault.

 

InuYasha moved away from the tree and walked toward the girls, but he spoke to Sango, not Kagome. “Sango, has Miroku returned yet?”

 

She looked down at her lap and shook her head. InuYasha frowned and sniffed the wind. “I can… find him, if you want,” he said. Sango nodded, and InuYasha motioned for her to climb on his back.

 

“I'll be back soon,” he said to Kagome.

 

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Miroku sat in the dark of the forest, tracing his perfect palm with the tip of his finger. He heard InuYasha and Sango's approach, but did not turn around right away. He knew that he could not explain why he had left. InuYasha gently placed Sango on the ground and departed without a word.

 

“Houshi-sama,” Sango said quietly, “Please return. We need to rebuild. We need help. I need help. I need you.”

 

Miroku could tell that Sango was crying, and that alone was enough to cause him to turn around. He stood up and walked over to her, though did not touch her.

 

“Sango,” he said, staring over her head, “I have made a decision.”

 

Sango nodded, waiting for him to continue.

 

“I wish to quit my profession. I wish to no longer be a monk.”

 

Sango stared at him with wide eyes as he finally brought his head down to look at her.

 

“Never again do I wish to send so many souls on. I do not want to live a life where I am always there to view the last of life, and never have the chance to be the one to start a new life. I couldn't help them. All my prayers, all my knowledge, it could do nothing for them. After all these years, my faith is waning.”

 

“Can you do that, Houshi-sama? Can you just quit doing what you have done for so long? What your father did before you?” Her voice trailed off.

 

Miroku gave her a faint smile. “I am Houshi no more, Sango,” he closed his eyes, letting himself taste those words, “That is, if you will help me. I want a family Sango. I want… a wife.”

 

“Are you… asking me?”

 

Miroku gave the tiniest of nods.

 

Sango took a deep breath.

 

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“Kagome.”

 

Kagome looked up at InuYasha.

 

“I'm going… to find them,” she said.

 

“The hawks?” InuYasha asked, “The taka youkai?”

 

“Yes. I'm going to find the ones who did this. I'm going to purify them. All of them. If there is anything good in them, anything at all, they will survive.”

 

He shook his head. “I'm not letting you go. You're staying here with Sango and Miroku where you are safe, and you are going to help them rebuild the town.”

 

Kagome hung her head. “Don't tell me what to do,” she whispered.

 

“What?” InuYasha asked, though they both knew that he had heard her.

 

“I said, don't tell me what to do. I know what I want to do, and I'm going to do it! I'm going after the hawk youkai, with or without you.”

 

 

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“I can't marry you, hou-Miroku,” Sango said.

 

He stared into her eyes, the hurt obvious. “I see,” he said simply, turning away from her and lifting his face to the sky.

 

“My whole life… I have been… a slayer. I exterminated youkai for a living. And then… my family died. My brother used his skills… to kill my family. And I used my skills to get revenge. I have killed again and again and again. And now… because of what I did…and I couldn't even use the skills to stop it from happening… And now I'm the only one left…” she trailed off, took a deep breath, and started again. “How can I possibly be a mother after killing so many? How can I… how can I…”

 

“How can I have a family after living my life as a monk?” he asked, grabbing her hands. “You said it yourself, Sango. We need… to rebuild.”

 

“I can't replace them, Miroku. I can't just make it all better by having children.”

 

“I know.”

 

“There isn't anything I can do!”

 

“You can marry me, Sango.”

 

They had been inching closer together, and now Sango leaned her head on his chest. “I don't deserve you,” she said, almost inaudibly. He wrapped his arms around her.

 

“You're right. You deserve better.”

 

He could feel her start to cry against him. “I want to,” she said. Miroku breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.

 

“Sango, you can't fix everything around you. You can't do everything alone.”

 

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“I won't let you do this alone.”

 

“Then come with me,” Kagome said, strapping her quiver to her back. InuYasha grabbed her backpack and stopped her from putting it on her back.

 

“You shouldn't go at all. You aren't even making sense! Youkai can't survive purification. You know that.”

 

“It'll be a lot faster if I have your nose to find them with.”

 

InuYasha snorted and pulled the bag out of her hands. He put it on his own back and glared at her.

 

“Let's go.”

 

Kagome hesitated, wondering whether or not they should tell Sango that they were leaving.

 

“What, such a fuss and now you're not coming?” InuYasha asked impatiently.

 

Kagome glared at him before saying, “We can't just leave without telling anyone. They'll worry. And we can't leave the town unprotected.”

 

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“Can we… leave this place? Start over again?” Sango asked. Miroku stared into her eyes and ran his hand over the side of her face. She hung her head, “No, we can't leave, can we. I don't want to start over again.”

 

“We should get back to the villagers. I shouldn't have left the way I did. I needed time to think. I apologize. But I was being selfish. I see that now.”

 

Sango gave him a weak smile and took his hand as they began to walk back to the village.

 

 

 

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AN: This is what happened when I should have been studying for finals. I just hope my grades don't reflect it…

 

Naishin no Miko (who has her own cute daughter named Kagome) :

Poor Kagome. Poor Sango. Poor Inuyasha. Poor...gah, poor everyone! I think I do need a break. It's going to take me until January where I'm not crying every time I read this! That's a good thing though. It appears that Inuyasha is going to kill him some taka (hawk) youkai, yes? Then again, you have to pity the poor parents of the taka youkai. It was young...and considering I have young ones, myself, it probably didn't know any better, right? The parents lost someone important to them, too.... Yes, how will Sango atone for this?

 

Yes… poor everyone. I torture them a bit, eh? InuYasha get revenge? No, he wouldn't do that! *Wink* Sango… yes… she has to figure something out, doesn't she. As for Miroku… I have a feeling that most of the time was spent in meditation.

 

sessy-luvs-me-more:

OH MY GOSH! the ending was so sad i was crying!

u killed shippou! plz bring him back i dont know how exactly but plz bring him

back it would be way too sad without him!but other than that i luv your story

plz write more soon!

 

bring shippou back bring shippou back bring shippou back bring shippou back plz

 

Sadly, I cannot think of a way to bring Shippou back. In fact, I almost changed the fic entirely to evade it, but in the end this was how it had to go. Sorry

 

I do not own the rights to InuYasha.