InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Emergence ❯ The Hand of Fate ( Chapter 1 )

*****

A soft breeze blew across the meadow, in the center of which was a dry well. The day was mild and would have been a pleasant one if not for the strangely dressed girl and the dog-eared boy auguring loudly disrupting the peaceful calm.

“Please InuYasha.” Kagome pleaded. “I won’t be gone long. I really need to study. I don’t want to say the word. I hate it when you make me say it. I promise just two days. We’re friends don’t you-”

“We ain’t friends bitch.” He interrupted. “And I ain’t letting my shard detector run off all the time. We have work to do.” Please forgive me.

Kagome held back her tears. “I may not be your friend, but you’re my best friend and I l-”

For a moment InuYasha almost reconsidered his vow to keep Kagome at arms length. She had called him her best friend. He knew she thought of him as her friend but would have been sure if she had to pick someone as her best friend that it would have been Sango or those girls from her time not him. “Whatever, like I care, wench you still ain’t going.” He told her. I’m sorry Kagome.

Kagome burst into tears. “OSUWARI.” She yelled and jumped into the well.

InuYasha didn’t even bother cursing. He simply waited for the spell to wear off. I am such an ass. I deserve this. It’s better this way. She deserves better than me. He stood up at last and dusted himself off. He stared longingly into the well. He missed her already. He turned away and jumped into the Goshinboku.

It had been nearly three months since they had defeated Naraku and only a single shard remained to be collected. The only problem was that they had no idea where it was.

InuYasha glanced at the well again.

He knew in a few days that he would go get her and bring her back. No matter how much he liked to pretend that he didn’t need her, deep down he knew that he did. It would be easier if she was like everyone else, if she saw him as a filthy, tainted, abomination, but she didn’t.

Miroku told him at every opportunity that he was making a mistake that Kagome was in love with him and that he was not only hurting her but himself. He wanted to believe and imagined a life with Kagome by his side.

Occasionally he even imagined a couple of hanyou pups with long silver hair, amber eyes and Kagome’s smile. Then he would hear all the words shouted at his mother that he hadn’t understood at the time ‘Whore of a demon, don’t bring that half breed filth into our village, unnatural, abomination, dirty, tainted…’ The list went on and on. He couldn’t subject Kagome to that. He wouldn’t, and he couldn’t live in her time either.

His mother had always told him not to listen to what others said, that she loved his father and that anything was possible if you wanted it enough, that she never regretted being with his father or having him. He often wondered if she felt the same when her own father had set the fire that burned her alive. Did it matter if Kagome loved him and him her? Was it really enough?

InuYasha knew he could use the jewel to become human, but Kagome wouldn’t want that and because of her neither did he. For the first time since his mother died he had once again learned to be happy with what he was. He was both youkai and human not neither as he had always thought.

InuYasha sighed. He knew Kagome loved him. It just hurt too much to admit. In fact he was almost sure she had been about to tell him earlier and that was why he interrupted her. If he ever heard those words from her he knew he would do something stupid, like ask her to be his mate.

*****

Kagome climbed out of the well, vision obscured by her tears. Stupid, Stupid, Stupid. I can’t believe I was about to tell him. He knew what I was going to say. I just know he did. Now I know for sure that he doesn’t feel the same. I am such an idiot and still . . . as much as I want to . . . I can’t stop feeling like this about him.

She knew that she couldn’t go inside because her mother would want to know what was wrong, and she didn’t think she could stand to talk about what was bothering her. It would make his dismissal of her too real. She hurried away from the main grounds and down the steps.

Kagome sat down a few stairs from the bottom and rested her head on her knees. She prayed that none of the passers by would stop and to see if she as okay, because she wasn’t. She didn’t kid herself into thinking that she wouldn’t go back or that she didn’t want to be by his side, even though all her hopes of him returning her feelings had finally been crushed.

They had in fact grown much closer since just before the final battle with Naraku and then closer still after. He had even confided to her that he was not going to go to hell with Kikyou. Maybe she had been foolish to think that it meant something.

Then for reasons Kagome could not discern everything changed. InuYasha returned to treating her much as he had when they first met. It seemed that he was always angry and long gone were the quiet evening spent talking in the Goshinboku.

The change had taken place just after they returned from a village where they exterminated a youkai. They had hoped that this youkai possessed the final Shikon shard, but the rumor had been proven false. The people of the village had been far less than welcoming at least of her and InuYasha. They seemed to have no problem with Sango or Miroku. She had been unable to figure out why, just as she couldn’t figure out why InuYasha had changed so much.

None of that mattered though. She knew that she would return to him, to be by his side as soon as the pain in her heart had dulled in to an ache that she could bear as surely as she knew that she loved him.

All the sounds of the city seemed so far away as she cried quietly into her lap. Sometimes she felt like she wasn’t even part of this world and now she knew that she wasn’t part of his either. Something tugged at the back of her mind but she ignored it. InuYasha.

Her head snapped up as a loud screeching sound registered so close to her that it almost sounded like it was coming from inside her own head, and then nothing.

*****

InuYasha jumped out of the tree and headed into the village. If he stayed by the well he would go through and he wanted to give her some time. He wished there was some way he could be with her without having to change who he was, without her having to give up her family, and without her being subjected to torment. Just before he stepped inside the hut a chill ran up his spine. InuYasha shook it off continued into the hut.

Miroku was sitting against the wall. “I still think you are making a mistake.” He said as InuYasha sat.

“Yeah, well who the hell asked you bouzo?” InuYasha replied.

“No one.” Miroku said. “But Sango did ask me to speak to you about how you have been treating Kagome as of late. Perhaps if you told us the reasoning behind your actions…”

“It ain’t none of your fucking business or hers.” InuYasha growled.

“If you are worried about Kagome leaving or not accepting you, you need not.” Miroku told him. “I happened to hear her say, while talking to Sango, that she would choose to stay with you if you wanted her to.”

“Yeah that would be fucking great.” InuYasha yelled. “I want to hear her cry every time someone calls her the whore of a demon, or tries to kill her for being with me. Hell maybe she’ll be lucky and it will be quick and painless. Have you ever heard the screams of a woman who is being burned alive? It ain’t something you can forget.”

With that InuYasha took off out of the hut and into the forest. He cursed himself for letting the monk make him mad enough to reveal things he never wanted anyone to know. He hoped the monk wouldn’t figure out that he had been talking about his mother, but he supposed that would be asking too much. InuYasha decided to take out some of his frustration on a few unsuspecting trees.

Miroku watched the infuriated hanyou leave. He was shocked. Not only did InuYasha all but admit that he wanted to be with Kagome, he had also explained why he refused to tell her. On top of that InuYasha had revealed something Miroku was certain he had not intended to. As much as he wanted to believe the comment about hearing a woman being burned alive was not about his mother, he was sure that it had been. What must his friend had suffered hearing his mother, the only living being that accepted him as he was, dying and not being able to save her? Miroku had no doubt that InuYasha, who took the blame for almost everything that went wrong in his life, also blamed himself for that as well.

Miroku decided to go find Kaede and see if he and the elderly miko could somehow come up with some sort of solution. InuYasha and Kagome both gave their all to protect those they cared about without a single thought to themselves or their own happiness and they both deserved to be happy, together. After all was it not for them he would still be cursed with his kazanaa and he never would have come to meet his lovely Sango.

He found the elderly miko tending to her herbs in the small garden near her hut. “Kaede, do you have a moment to speak with me?” Miroku asked.

“Certainly young monk.” Kaede replied. With a hand to her back she struggled to come to her feet.

Miroku leaned down and helped her to her feet and then continued. “I presume you have noticed how InuYasha has been treating Kagome as of late.”

“Indeed I have.” Kaede replied. “It pains me greatly to witness.”

“As surprising as it may be, InuYasha has just revealed to me the reason for his actions.” Miroku told her. “He fears the ridicule Kagome will face for being with him and for her life. Quite unintentionally he revealed to me that his own mother was burned alive for consorting with demons, though he did not specifically say it was her.”

“Ah, so he became angry enough to loose his tongue.” Kaede said.

Miroku laughed. “Yes. Anyway what I hoped to speak to you about was the possibility of creating a concealing spell, to cast an illusion over InuYasha and make him appear as a human.”

“Interesting. I have never heard tell of such a thing but that does not make it impossible.” Kaede replied. “It would be a worthy venture if it helped to bring the two together.”

“So then you will aid me in this?” Miroku asked.

“Aye, we will begin at once.” Kaede replied.

*****

Over the next several days InuYasha was even moodier and ruder than usual. Shippou had taken to running whenever he saw the disgruntled hanyou heading in his direction. When he came to the hut to eat the last of the ramen Kagome had left behind and thumped Shippou for asking if Kagome was coming back it was the last straw for Sango.

“Listen you stubborn ass, if you aren’t willing to swallow your pride and go get Kagome then quit taking it out on us because you are miserable when she isn’t here.” Sango yelled.

“Like I care if that clumsy wench ain’t here.” InuYasha yelled back at her. “She’s better off in her own time anyway.”

“If you think I believe that then you are an even bigger fool than I thought.” Sango said.

“I don’t give a damn what you think.” He growled, coming to his feet and heading for the door.

“You know InuYasha, Kaede and I believe that it is possible to create a spell that can conceal what you are. You would look human without becoming human.” Miroku interjected.

InuYasha stopped and turned back from the doorway. “You really think you could do something like that?”

Miroku didn’t miss the cautious hope in the tone of the hanyou’s voice. “It will still take more planning and research, but we believe we have enough power to create the illusion for a time. Lady Kagome should be able to sustain it permanently. If we are going to work on this for you, we want your word that you will stop what you are doing and tell Kagome that you want to be with her.”

“You’re serious?” InuYasha asked, for the first time allowing the hope that Kagome and he could be together bloom inside his heart. Miroku nodded. If they really can do this then we could be together. I’d look human. It wouldn’t matter which time we were in. In her time I would have to learn a bunch of stuff and find a way to support her, but wouldn’t it be worth it. Isn’t Kagome worth it…Yes. “I give you my word.” He blushed as everyone in the hut smiled at him. “Damn it. Quit staring at me already.”

*****

InuYasha was in a much better mood than he had been in quite sometime. Kagome had been gone a week. He had thought about going to get her sooner but the new moon was the next night and he decided to wait until then. It would be easier to let her know that he hadn’t meant those things he said when he was a human.

As sunset came, he jumped into the well and out the other side. He just barely caught the scent of someone unfamiliar, so he waited in the well house until the transformation was complete. He took a cautious look out and saw a middle-aged man sweeping the ground a good distance away. He approached the man.

The man turned abruptly. “I’m sorry young man the shrine closes at dusk you’ll have to come back tomorrow.” He said.

InuYasha scowled. “Where’s the jiji that usually keeps this shrine?” he asked.

The man looked a little offended at InuYasha’s term for Kagome’s grandfather. “Do you know the family?” he asked.

“Yeah now where the hell are they?” he all but yelled.

“Well, I never. What would a nice family like them be doing associating with a rude boy like you?” He replied.

“Listen I don’t give a fuck what you think of me or my manners. If you don’t tell me where Kagome is right now I’m going to kick your ass.” InuYasha yelled.

“They’re gone.” The man said.

“What the hell do you mean they’re gone?” InuYasha asked.

“Kagome the young girl was in an accident about a week ago.” The man informed him. “It was a close thing. She nearly died. It happened right at the base of the shrine steps. A boy on a motorcycle ran into her. They say she was upset, crying about something and didn’t see him coming. Luckily the boy who hit her comes from a very wealthy family. They hired me to look after the shrine so they could go to Okinawa to a hospital offering the most advance treatment in Japan for her injuries.”

InuYasha was sure that his heart had stopped beating when he heard that Kagome had nearly been killed. It was his fault she had been so upset, and now she as gone. Worse than that he had no way to reach her to find out how she was, to tell her he was sorry. “You better not be lying.“ He said. “Not Kagome…“ He felt oddly disconnected for his body and didn’t notice as he went to his knees.

The man watched InuYasha. He hadn’t expected such a reaction to the news. He hadn’t believed that such a boy had known the shrine keeper’s granddaughter at all, but it was clear the strangely dressed boy had been deeply affected. “Listen young man…uh… I don’t know how to reach the family, but the lady of the house will be calling from time to time to check on things.” He said. “If you tell me your name, I can tell them you came by.”

InuYasha heard the man speaking but his voice seemed so distant. Then slowly what he had said registered. Kagome’s mom would be calling on that telephone thing that makes all the noise. He stood up and straightened his shoulders. “My name is InuYasha.” He said. “Tell her I’ll be back the night of the next new moon, to call then.”

“The new moon?” the man questioned.

“That’s what I said, ain’t it?” InuYasha replied.

“The girl, she is important to you?” the man asked.

“She’s my best friend.” He replied quietly. He headed for the well but realized he couldn’t go back with the man watching him so he headed for the stairs. He walked partway down and then ducked into the trees on either side of them to wait until he was sure he could go back undetected.

InuYasha went back through the well mindless of the danger of walking back to the village at night in his human form. Kagome was hurt. She had nearly died. It was all he could think about and it was all his fault. He went into Kaede’s hut and sat against the wall.

Miroku woke when he entered. It would have been hard not to. InuYasha’s aura was so strong and changing so violently. Something must have gone wrong.

“InuYasha, what is troubling you?” Miroku said quietly.

“She’s gone.” He replied as he stared into the fire. “She was hit by one of those moto things from her time.”

The wrongness of saying such a thing had happened to Kagome stuck him as he spoke. He was still in shock and a month seemed like an impossibly long time to go without seeing her, let alone without knowing if she was going to be all right, if she would ever be able to return to the past at all. They had met nearly four years ago and since that day they had never been separated for more than a few days at a time.

Miroku’s jaw dropped. “You mean Lady Kagome was killed.” He said loudly waking the rest of the hut’s occupants.

Sango sat up along with Shippou. “What’s going on?” she asked.

“Kagome ain’t dead.” He corrected. “She just ain’t at the shrine. A man there said they took her to some place to treat her injuries. He said she almost died. It‘s my fault. She was upset and didn’t see it coming. She was crying because of things I said to her.”

“Did he tell you anything else?” Sango asked.

InuYasha shook his head. “Her mother is supposed to call. The man is going to tell her I was there and that I’ll be back on the next new moon, so she can call then and I can talk to her about Kagome.” He told them.

“On the telephone Kagome told me about?” Shippou asked. InuYasha nodded. “She’s going to be all right though right?” InuYasha didn’t respond and Shippou started to cry.