InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Genuine Desires : Unity ❯ Secrets ( Chapter 13 )

Secrets

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Kagome cringed when Sango gave her an expectant look. What was she to tell her friend? Could she tell her the truth? Before she could answer, though, InuYasha wrapped his arms around her waist and turned her to the side when Sesshomaru took a step towards her, giving him a menacing growl. "Back up, bastard."

 

Sesshomaru flinched at the insult, but stopped. Kagome sighed and reached over, giving InuYasha's ear a soft tug to chastise him. Sesshomaru watched with interest as InuYasha tweaked Kagome's nose, and her eyes widened in confusion when his face exploded in color. "Did you just . . . did you just tweak me?"

 

Sesshomaru looked like he wanted to laugh as the two continued arguing for about another minute before Sango cleared her throat, still expecting an answer. Kagome looked heartbroken, and Sesshomaru cut in before she said anything. "I seek a grave, and the miko is the only one who can find it."

 

InuYasha look like he wanted to argue, but one look on Kagome's face told him to think against it. So he tightened his hold on her waist and moved back a couple of steps, making Sesshomaru roll his eyes. "What do you mean I can find it? Whose grave are you looking for?"

 

Sesshomaru looked a little annoyed, but he quickly masked it as his tone turned tight; clipped. "I seek the grave of someone from my past. I was told just after she died her grave can only be opened by the purifying powers of a miko. And currently, you are the only miko around."

 

InuYasha snorted. "Why would our old man protect her grave with a pure power of a miko?"

 

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes at his brother. "Are you implying father hated mikos?"

InuYasha shrugged. "I didn't say, you did."

 

Sesshomaru's nostrils flared. "Keep in mind your mother was in training to become one when her and father mated. Keep that in mind, half-breed."

 

InuYasha barked at his brother. Sesshomaru growled in return. Kagome gathered her breath, and screamed to the top of her lung. InuYasha and Sesshomaru grimaced. Shooting both of them a dark look before turning her attention back to Sesshomaru. "So you need one of my sacred arrows in order to open up the grave? Where is it?"

 

Sesshomaru shrugged. He pointed to InuYasha. "Only he knows."

 

InuYasha growled. "How the hell would I know?"

 

Kagome looked over her shoulder at InuYasha. He stared back. She sighed. How did she get caught in the cross fire of two brothers who apparently didn't have anymore sense than her little brother?

 

Shaking her head, she pried herself from InuYasha's grip and walked over to Sesshomaru. She dug into his waist ban and took his sword. "I have no problems with helping you, but you'll have to travel with us, understand? I trust you left Rin with Jaken?"

 

Sesshomaru reached for Tokijin. InuYasha leaped forward and swept Kagome far away, hoping back in a blink of an eye and growling. "I did."

 

"Then meet with us at the head of the village in three days. We'll travel with you until we find the grave; understood?"

 

Sesshomaru looked like he wanted to argue, but after another cold glare from InuYasha, he threw his nose in the air and snorted. Bowing once to Kagome, catching her off guard, he sauntered away into the quiet sanctity of the forest.

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Kagome sat down and bowed before the Lord of the mansion. From the aura surrounding this man, she could tell he was a coward with a lot of money---meaning he usually bought his way out of trouble. He seemed to be able to afford anything he wanted---which would give him the cocky attitude, and the frame of mind that he could eye Kagome like he was doing now. He clearly stated InuYasha was not welcome into his home---and after a number of men had been badly beaten by the hanyou, he allowed him in---forbidding he come into his room. InuYasha accepted that much---with the promise that the door is always open and that Kagome's always on one side by herself.

 

At first she thought it seemed pretty stupid---she thought he was being irrational. But she had to remember for InuYasha to go to such lengths to make sure she was safe. It touched her. 'He must have sensed the youki dwelling here as well.' She mused as she looked around slowly, tightening the hold on her bows and arrows.

 

InuYasha's youki was nearby, reassuring---comforting. With a big breath she sighed and relaxed a little as he changed location. "Kimiko had just turned 16? The legal marrying age, correct?"

 

The man, Lord Kuwabara nodded as he eyed Kagome with a smirk tugging on his lips. She stifled the desire to kick him in his face---he was old enough to be her grandfather and she didn't appreciate the way he was looking up the skirt of her school uniform. She closed her legs more, allowing her ankles to drift apart as she sank closer to the floor. "Kimiko has always been special to our family. But she just---it's not my Kimiko."

 

Kagome had a feeling that there was something that he wasn't telling her. She had a feeling he was hiding something big---something that could have led the girl to commit murder in the first place. She had a feeling this was somehow connected to the young girl that InuYasha wasn't able strike when he attacked her. That same youki that left her unsettled stroked hers again---and then was overpowered by InuYasha's again. He wanted to go after it, but he didn't want to leave her there either. Even if he didn't say it . . . she understood his actions. She understood him. "You're not telling me something." She stated dryly.

Lord Kuwabara flinched. He cringed and looked around quickly, with a nervous look on his face. He leaned closer to Kagome, as if he was afraid someone was watching them this instant. "Kimiko had . . . distant friends."

 

"Distant . . . how?"

 

Kuwabara looked around again. Something was haunting this man. "She used to travel to different lands with . . . with my son. He used to be madly in love with her . . . and he traveled all over the world, learning about different cultures, meeting different people . . .”

 

"So she had a lot of friends from different areas?"

 

Kuwabara nodded and began toying with his hands in front of him. "Yes . . . and after my son was . . . after he was killed by a demon raid in one of the far south villages . . . she wandered all of the way home. She has never been the same since. She used to be so alive . . . so friendly. But now, she just looks . . . dead."

 

Kagome blinked. There it was again. It was toying with her---playing with her nerves. She tried not to panic, tried to ignore it as InuYasha's youki overwhelmed it over and over again. "What do you mean, dead?"

 

Kuwabara shrugged, and then ran his fingers over his bald head. "You have seen Lady Kikyou before she was laid to rest. There was this feeling whenever she came around---we loved her so but we all knew something wasn't right. She held this faraway look in her eyes . . . her skin was pale---white. If you have seen war---you have seen the bodies of the dead."

 

Kagome nodded. No matter how much this man talked---he was still hiding something. She knew it. The fear coming off of him was so thick . . ."So . . . she died in the raid?"

 

"No, she was alive and well. But . . . she looked dead . . . her presence felt dead."

'Could she have been . . . brought back to this dimension by the use of magic? Does she wander around filled with hate---like Kikyou once did?'

 

"So . . . what happened then?"

 

"One of the richest Lords in this country took an interest in her one day when she traveled with my son. He discovered she resided here---and asked for her hand in marriage."

 

"So you forced her to become married?"

 

"No . . . I told him it was up to her. But there was a rumor going around that this man had the heart of a demon but the blood of a human. He was extremely evil, they say . . . had three or four wives and treated them like whores. One of her close friends was severely abused by this man---later died."

 

"Revenge?"

 

"No one understood her. She acted on her own accord."

 

Kagome nodded and stood up, grasping her bow and arrows. "I'll be back later to ask you some more questions," She said with a nod before she stomped out of the room. Walking to the back of the large mansion, she slid open the door with a dull thump, knocking back her arrow and aiming into the far right corner of the room.

 

A mist began to show . . . and InuYasha's coughing could be heard as an angry youki began wrapping itself around her, battling her sheer will as she tried to find the source of the evil. "Show yourself." She said with a hiss.

 

InuYasha approached behind her, his Tetsusaiga over his shoulder as the familiar mist around the room began to vanish, and Kagome dropped her aim and sighed. "It got away." He said with a bored expression as he took a step into the room. It was oddly quiet---oddly calm. Nothing normal about it. Kagome could feel the hate radiating through the walls . . . it covered each and every corner of the room so much it made her shudder.

 

'How could a human store this much hate? How could someone like her hate someone so much?'

 

Kagome turned and faced InuYasha. "Was she human?"

 

InuYasha shrugged. "I can't tell. The mist took away all of the scents that could of helped me."

 

Kagome sighed. All they had been Kimiko was a young girl seeking revenge. She did what she wanted to, but where had she gone, and why did her anger grow to the point it began to taint her soul; if she still had it? Just what was this young girl's story?

 

"I overheard the maiden's talking."

 

Kagome looked over her shoulder to Sango with Kirara on her shoulder. She looked at the floor and coughed---and Kagome grabbed her chest as Sango seemed drawn

To the room. "What did they say?"

"They said it was awkward that a woman named Kimiko had so many friends that were being murdered one by one."

 

Kagome blinked. "There . . . was another one?"

 

Sango shook her head. "No . . . they said it was the first murder that happened with a flower. Her other friend had been murdered by a Lord that lives some way away. Kohana was her name---seemed to be a childhood friend to Kimiko."

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No matter how many times she cried---no matter how many times she begged them . . . they wouldn't stop. The clan of bandits did what they wanted to her. Orphaned by an old man that had found her when she was nothing but a babe---she had no choice but to obey his orders. Thus began her savage hate for men.

 

She had no friends . . . no family. Her mother killed in war . . . her siblings taken away . . . she had nobody left. Nothing to live for. She was all alone---and she hated the feeling of it. So she ran away---in search of a family that would care for her. She searched for three years. No one fit her liking---no one cared for her in the way she wished they would.

 

She ran for days---ran for nights. Running from youkai . . . running from humans, she had no home, no friends. She watched as different people would laugh and play together---how they would hold hands and go into the hut. She watched them with interest, hoping they would have room for her . . . only to get her heart broken.

 

When the little girl finally died . . . she refused to pass on without a friend. Promising Kami himself to wander on the face of the Earth until she had one hundred maidens---she refused to move on. Gone was the days she would be alone---gone was the days when she would have no one to talk to. She would make friends with those who were pure---those who were lonely and afraid. She would become their best friend so she wouldn't have to be lonely anymore.

 

She began a transformation. She pure little human heart was gone . . . replaced by power . . . replaced by something wholly unnatural---ugly. She became a new person, her metamorphosis completed as she sought to rid the world of evil that would hurt her and her friends. She began a new life---searching for a new ending as she sought to rid the world of the evil of uncaring men. It was said that on the Hundredth Red Moon---her mission would be accomplished . . . and thus would be the rebirth of the world where men and women will never live together again---where women would reign supreme and men would bow down to them---lowly servants bowing to their goddesses---and she would reign over them all.

 

And it would all start with the hate of two girls.

 

Thus is the legend of Hawotonaeru Nyonin.

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Kagome blinked as they walked into the room they were assigned. InuYasha refused to stay anywhere other than where Kagome was---and he was literally taking it to the next level. Kagome had a feeling InuYasha wasn't telling her something---and she would bite off her own foot before she'd ask him that question. She had grown much stronger---which meant his usually foul attitudes were becoming harder and harder to ignore . . . considering the fact they had grown closer than before in the past three months than they did in three years.

 

She looked over her shoulder as he stood near the window, peeking out of it cautiously as he curled his lips back in a vicious snarl. She cringed and shot him a dark look, which went unnoticed. He snarled again, this time his hand resting on the hilt of Tetsusaiga. She stood up and ambled over to the window, peering outside---to see nothing. "What are you scowling at?" She hissed in a whisper.

 

She spared her a glance---his snarl intensifying as his ears curled back and his back seemed to arch slightly. She withheld a laugh as his ears came back up---just to go right back down like a flash of lightening. They twitched---the hair on them seemed to stand as he seemed more and more bothered. "Just what is the matter?" She said a little softer.

 

InuYasha relaxed a little, his ears resurfacing with a wince as he looked up at her. "You don't feel it?"

 

Kagome shook her head and shrugged, looking confused as that snarl resurfaced on his face. "InuYasha?"

 

"Since I'm half-youkai . . . I guess it'll be easier for me."

 

"What are you talking about?"

 

InuYasha grimaced. "As Inu-youkai . . . we're keen to the scent of the dead . . . to the presence of the non-living. And she's right there . . . looking at the mansion."

 

She looked out the window again. All she felt was the strong youki from the room----"InuYasha! We've been mislead! When we thought she was in the room---"

 

"She was in the forest the whole time. But why can't you see her?"

 

Kagome shrugged. "Maybe I'm not---maybe I'm not strong enough."

 

InuYasha looked at Kagome---a concern forming a frown on his face as her gaze skittered away. His ears flattened and he withheld a whine as he took her by her shoulders and pulled her into a hug. Holding on to her---words wasn't needed as she sighed and relaxed against him . . . her intoxication scent wrapping around him like a warm blanket.

 

He swept her up and brought her to the futon, laying her down and sprawling out beside her. She yawned and giggled. "Get to sleep. We'll think about this more in the morning."

 

Kagome fell silent---and in a heartbeat InuYasha knew she was asleep. Planting a nervous kiss on her forehead, he stood up and ambled back over to the window. Though she was gone from his sight---her presence was still near. It still unsettled him---made him feel a little uncomfortable. He heard Kagome's soft sigh---watched as she stirred from the loss of warmth but didn't wake. He needed---wanted to be down there with her . . . sleeping softly.

 

But whatever was out there, it was after Kagome. And he wouldn't let that happen.

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Sesshomaru bowed before the river---the moon reflecting in the middle . . . giving it an odd glow as the crickets echoed through the night. His hair pulled back into a long braid that was beating against him as he rushed here---he would never forget this place. It was the last place he ever saw her---was the only place he felt truly connected to her. Shaking his head as he looked into the reflection of himself again---he felt his blood boil painfully as he gaze skittered over the moon identical to the crest on his head.

 

He grabbed his wrist---fighting back the transformation as his mother's voice echoed throughout his ears. Her spirit---her scent was still located around this very river . . . and he came here every time he felt troubled---when his blood would lurch painfully when a familiar youkai began to come nearer to his territory. When he was younger---he used to chase after it. But it seemed---weak---and afraid and one way or another would always manage to get away. But he hasn't seen it for a couple of years. But recently it began appearing again---and he found himself at the river more and more often.

 

The river seemed to smile at him---congratulating him when her agony suddenly stopped. He gave a sigh of relief, collapsed on the edge of the river as his mind slowed to a crawl. Just why was he here? What was his purpose of being on the Earth? "You are my son---your purpose is to withhold the Inu-youkai legacy . . . and to protect your siblings."

 

Sesshomaru snorted. There was no way in hell he was going to watch over InuYasha. Even though his mother wasn't as bad as Sesshomaru thought it was going to be . . . he didn't hate him any less---and would die before he helped his brother. "When we have a younger child---you have to protect it and love it as your own. I won't always be here to help you."

 

Sesshomaru didn't understand her words than---but later on he did after his father told him not to. His mother didn't have any children other than him---and she died a little later. His father managed to live on and mate a human wench---thus the birth of Taisho InuYasha. Sesshomaru looked into the reflection again. His crest was glowing---something it hadn't done for centuries. The last time it glowed---was the day his mother died. He uttered a terse cry and grabbed his head as the pain became unbearable. Like a fire was alit in his eyes---he squeezed them shut, digging his claws into the ground as a voice echoed in his head. "Find your siblings---introduce them to your family---and then save the world. You are the key."

 

'Mother . . . I don't understand. What are you asking me to do? InuYasha is my only sibling . . . I have no other family.'

 

 

"Seek aid of those that are in acquaintance with your father." Was the only reply. The pain stopped, and as he stood up with a new strength---the moon faded from the water. He blinked and looked again, it was gone. With a soft shake of his head---he turned and stalked out of the clearing of the river. 'I go to see . . . Totosai.'

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A/N

 

Sorry this took so long. Enjoy!

 

Hawotonaeru Nyonin: Reign of Women

 

Heheheh . . . I like this title.