InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Fading ❯ Mistakes ( Chapter 16 )

Chappy sixteen, coming right up (I'm not even going to mention the long wait—I'm sure you've all noticed, or maybe you've stopped caring? lol). One of the last chapters (maybe one more and an epilogue… hmm…). Anyways, I know vaguely what I want to do for this chapter but I'm not sure how I'm going to put it into writing, so here goes nothing…^_^;;

 

Oh! And a brief shout-out to Azelle, who's incredibly kind words of encouragement inspired me to get off my lazy butt and finish this fic ^_^ Reviews mean a lot to me, and not the amount of them, but the things people take the time to write—when people say great things about my writing, it really makes my day. Thanks!

 

Disclaimer: I don't own Inu Yasha ( ran out of clever comments on the stupidity of saying that over and over again).

 

 

Chapter Sixteen: Mistakes

 

 

 

Kagome kept her gaze fixed on Kikyo's back as she walked, her eyes hard and her mouth tight. She knew that Inu Yasha and the others thought her foolish for agreeing to help the dead miko, but things had gotten too far out of hand and something had to be done before even more people were hurt. She wasn't as oblivious as everyone thought—she knew that locking horns with as powerful a force as destiny itself was practically suicide in all but name—but she couldn't just waver uncertainly while Kai was in pain.

 

This isn't for you, Kikyo, Kagome silently told the figure ahead of her. This isn't for you or your revenge. This is for Kai and Riyo and Taro and everyone else who's been hurt by all this.

 

The temperature in the air had been steadily dropping, and Kagome shivered slightly. The fact that she even noticed the cold at all showed that Inu Yasha was still holding onto the prayer bead necklace, her link to the world of the living. It was odd that the simple ring of beads and fangs was what kept her with her friends in Feudal Japan when it had originally been put there to keep Inu Yasha away from her, to restrain him, if need be. “Just keep hold of it, Inu Yasha,” Kagome muttered, hands fisted at her sides as she strode along behind Kikyo. “Let me take care of the rest.”

 

The fate-sealer loomed in her vision like some huge monolith of frost-coated marble, one outstretched hand delicately holding the single thread that connected every living thing in a web of fate. Kikyo had come to a halt, her head turned to watch as Kagome moved up beside her.

 

“Can you sense the kitsune?” Kikyo asked, getting straight to the point.

 

Kagome concentrated, searching inside herself for that hidden well of power. If only she'd had more time to train, then maybe she could… There! Letting the energy suffuse her body, the girl could sense both Kikyo and Kai's presences, plus the fainter ones of Miroku, Sango, Shippou, and Inu Yasha. The fate-sealer might as well have not existed—no matter how much power she drew, she couldn't detect its aura. But you already knew that, she told herself. Focus, Kagome!

 

“You are strong.” Kikyo's voice was as expressionless as her face, but Kagome could detect surprise in her aura, and grudging admiration. “Now, channel that strength into a ball of pure energy and hold it until I tell you otherwise.”

 

“Fine,” Kagome said through her teeth. It was all she could do just to keep her powers from slipping away. Holding out her hands, palm up, she tried to force her miko energy into something resembling a ball. Sparks of light flickered to life in front of her before fizzling out. This is never going to work, Kagome realized. I just don't have the training for this!

 

Kikyo—crackling sphere of miko power hovering over one hand—watched Kagome's face go from determined to frustrated. “There is another way,” she commented, deliberately leaving it up to Kagome to continue the conversation.

 

“Oh really?” Kagome snapped, a light sheen of sweat appearing on her brow despite the cold air. “And what would that be?”

 

“If you would allow it, I could harness your powers myself,” Kikyo replied.

 

“You mean… take control of me?” Kagome asked apprehensively. She had lowered her hands, giving up on the ball of energy.

 

“Just of your miko abilities,” Kikyo assured her smoothly. “Not your body.”

 

“Well…” Kagome hesitated, glancing at the motionless form of the fate-sealer. Kai is still in there, she thought. I told Kikyo I would help her until Kai was free. Despite the uneasy feeling that had settled in her stomach, the dark-haired girl nodded. “I'll do it. But only until we get Kai out of there.”

 

“Of course.” Kikyo gave her a cool smile, but she couldn't hide the way her eyes sparked eagerly. Before Kagome knew what was happening, the dead miko had seized her powers.

 

It was a strange feeling, as if some giant invisible hand had taken hold of her soul in an iron grip. She could still move—she made sure of that by quickly taking a few steps backwards—but she couldn't get rid of the sensation that some part of her was missing, or numb. To her right, the shining ball of energy hovering in front of Kikyo grew larger until it was roughly the size of a person.

 

“Now,” Kikyo hissed, and thrust her hand forward.

 

The jumble of miko power shot towards the fate-sealer like a bullet, leaving a trail of scorched grass in its wake. Shimmering arcs of energy skittered across its surface in a frantic dance, exploding outward when the ball collided with the huge, mist-cloaked form and enveloped it in colourless light. Please let that be it, Kagome thought, eyes fixed on the blinding display.

 

It was then that three things happened all at once, throwing all of Kagome's hopes out the window.

 

One, she was suddenly hit from behind by something solid and warm, something that was swearing quite fluently as it steadied her before she fell. It seems Inu Yasha had decided that she couldn't handle this on her own.

 

Two, the energy had finally dispersed, leaving a dark spot in Kagome's vision that wasn't quite enough to block the sight of the fate-sealer, whole and apparently unharmed. Its head—or the shadowed area inside its misty hood—swivelled unnervingly to look in their direction.

 

And three…

 

“Stop! What are you doing, you stupid, stupid girl?!” Riyo's voice rang out across the grass as she hurried towards the hanyou and the two other mikos, Taro in tow. For some reason, she had one hand pressed to her head, as if in pain; Taro simply looked confused, staring from the broken necklace chain in his hand to Riyo and back. “You cannot destroy Fate! Even if it were possible, the consequences of your actions would affect the very order of the universe! Oh, you stupid girl!”

 

Kagome turned as calmly as she could to face the furious dark miko. At this point, she wouldn't have been surprised if Myouga had appeared and announced he would defeat the fate-sealer single-handedly. “I'm not trying to destroy Fate. I'm just trying to free a friend.”

 

“And I suppose you don't mind that freeing this friend of yours might destroy hundreds of other lives in the process?” Riyo asked scathingly. “Call back your powers before you make this mess worse!”

 

“I can't,” Kagome told her, irritated by the woman's tone. “Kikyo over there has control.”

 

“Has con—! What is wrong with—?! Why would you even—?” Riyo clamped down on her words, mouth twitching furiously. She took a deep breath, before turning to Kikyo, eyes glowing dangerously. “I don't know who you are, or what the story behind your death is, or why you are even still walking among the living—” Another angry breath. “—but if you were ever a miko of even the smallest power and prestige you would know that you must never take control of another miko's powers! This whole catastrophe has to STOP!”

 

Kikyo studied the dark miko silently, her blank eyes disconcerting. Riyo glared back, flecks of green adding depth to her gaze and her hand still pressed to her temple. Kagome stood between them, looking slowly from one to the other and feeling the frustration mount in her head. This was supposed to be so simple! Just save Kai and get out of here; nothing complicated, nothing endangering the world's population… and what's wrong with Riyo, anyways?

 

“I think,” a rough voice interjected, “that this has gone on long enough.”

 

Inu Yasha's tone, so unusually serious, was enough to bring the three women's heads around. He shifted uneasily under all those piercing gazes, but clenched his fist tighter around his prayer beads and faced them down. “If you just stand here and do nothing, then none of this will ever get fixed. Somehow, all this has to end, or else nothing will ever go back to the way it used to be.” Carefully keeping in contact with his necklace, he shifted his grip from one hand to the other, freeing his sword arm. “I know you're just women, and arguing is as natural as breathing to you; I can't expect you to solve all the problems… And I won't stand by while this situation goes downhill.”

 

Three pairs of flat eyes met his.

 

“Arguing is as natural as breathing to us? The last person I need to hear that from is you!” Kagome muttered, glaring at the hanyou incredulously. Riyo and Kikyo merely drilled holes through Inu Yasha with identical, piercing gazes.

 

The half demon, amazingly, ignored them as he flexed cold fingers to loosen the joints. Shaking his hand out in order to quicken his circulation, he settled his hand firmly around the hilt of Tetsusaiga. Without looking at her, he spoke quietly to Kagome. “I want you to stay here, you hear me? Your miko powers don't seem to be doing anything to this fate-whatever-the-hell-it-is, so just… just stay out of it. I… I don't want anything to happen to you again.” Catching sight of the odd expression on her face, he flushed and roughened his voice again. “Well, what do you fucking expect after you bloody well disappear and leave all of us to look for the jewel on our own, only to find that you've taken that too? Kami, use your brains, stupid girl! You're needed here!”

 

“Inu Yasha—”

 

“Shut up, and stay put.” The hand on Tetsusaiga tightened along with his grip on his prayer beads, and for some reason Kagome felt her breath catch in her throat. The movement seemed symbolic to her, a silent promise that he would be there to protect her no matter how much he complained.

 

And then the other meaning of his actions hit her. Wait a minute… He's planning to take on the fate-sealer by himself!

 

Perhaps Inu Yasha sensed her sudden shift in mood, or maybe he'd simply had enough of standing around; either way, he suddenly bent his knees and kicked off from the ground in a powerful leap, heading for the eerie, motionless form of the fate-sealer and slipping between the clutching fingers of Kagome's hand as she reached for him with a sharp exclamation.

 

“Inu Yasha!” Kagome hollered after him. “You idiot, get back here!”

 

He didn't look back.

 

The dark-haired girl felt something powerful welling up within her, a feeling born of desperation. Subconsciously, she smashed at the spiritual bonds along which her powers were flowing into Kikyo, tearing them away from the dead miko and rearranging them until she could feel the energy flooding into her. Power suffused her body, lighting her up like an incandescent star and making every hair stand on end. Distantly, she could hear women shouting, one in pain and the other in futile rage. She pushed the voices to edge of her consciousness, focusing every fibre of her being on the red-clothed figure hurtling towards the misty form that was responsible for every problem plaguing her. It ends NOW.

 

With a flick of her wrist, Kagome gave the energy raging inside of her an outlet, which it eagerly seized. She was inexperienced, acting purely on instinct and fear for Inu Yasha's life, and the power seared her to the bone as it shot out of her body towards the fate-sealer. She couldn't have cried out if she tried; she merely writhed with agony inside of herself, unable to halt the flow of miko power now that it had begun. Through a haze of pain and worry and fatigue, she stared at the towering embodiment of Fate and felt a sudden tremor of terror lance through her.

 

The fate-sealer slowly, methodically raised its hands, weaving them together in a complex design that inexplicably heightened Kagome's sudden sense of fear. With the precise, slow-motion quality of a dream, she watched her bolt of energy pierce its hands in an explosion of light, illuminating the object within them.

 

It was a cat's cradle, the simple thread belying the intricate detail of its shape. Kagome identified the colours of the strings with the emotionless detachment that came from knowing you had just made a huge mistake. Red, green, pink, purple-pink, beige, gray, orange, violet, brown, black… and multi-coloured.

 

She had barely finished that thought when the last vestiges of the energy draining out of her suddenly hooked around her core, drawing her out of her body, out of her existence, at an impossible speed towards the shape of mist and shadow. The black space within the fate-sealer's hood loomed like a cavern into oblivion, and Kagome felt a faint stirring of emotion as she flew through the space between herself and the darkness, trapped in eternity. I… don't want to go here, she realized with a vague sort of surprise. Then, stronger; I do not want to go here!

 

Summoning the dregs of her stamina, she pushed her metaphysical body to its limits, twisting and thrashing both mentally and physically. I—twist—don't—thrash—want̵ 2;kick—to GO!

 

Drawing on the innate instinct of survival present in all living creatures, Kagome gave one final heave, scarcely registering the shift as the black depths of the fate-sealer's hood vanished, replaced by the flash of coloured string. She felt herself tangle in the cat's cradle, the design—so meticulously prepared and thought out—becoming a jumble of thread that seemed to have a life of its own.

 

It was from here, hopelessly tied up in the pulsing string, that Kagome finally—finally—was granted a glimpse of the method behind all this madness. It was from here that she was allowed a small glance into a world beyond her own. And it was from here that she was able to realize, in its entirety, her own worth.

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And there it is, yet another chapter scribbled out in a fit of non-laziness. Actually, that's not quite it—I'm not the kind of motivated person who actually goes back over their work more than once, so I apologize for any grammatical and spelling mistakes, and/or general crappy writing. Inspiration is kind of scarce with me nowadays, what with all my resources being drained into pointless school assignments -_-x Ah well, I can't really complain. Hope you enjoyed, `cause who knows how long it'll take me to get the next chapter finished!

 

~SilverMyste~