InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Shadow Soul ❯ Chapter 5

*I'm glad to see lots of people are reading my fic…thanks for your time, everybody! If you'd like, you can send e-mail feedback to ZonbiUshi@hotmail.com . Just don't send flames or anything, even if you eventually think I deserve it -_^ *

 

Ch. 5

Inu-Yasha sat for a long time and just listened. He wasn't listening for anything in particular, he just liked to sit and hear the birds, the running water, Kagome's breathing. He could feel her chest rise and fall with each breath, and every once in awhile he would concentrate on it to be sure she was still breathing. After all, he'd seen so much death in his life that by now he kept a close watch over anything and everything he cared about.

After awhile, he fell asleep. Inu-Yasha was always haunted by the same dreams, and now was no different. He saw both Kikyo and Kagome standing next to each other, holding out their hands. His voice echoed through his head: I have to pick one. I have to pick one. It always ended one of two ways: he picked Kagome, and Kikyo became dust on the ground; or he picked Kikyo and Kagome's lifeless body appeared to him, covered in blood. This time he never got to choosing, he was interrupted by a voice he didn't recognize saying,

“That's enough. Now you have to know. Wake up.” His eyes snapped open, despite his unintentional nap Inu-Yasha still knew exactly where he was and what was happening.

“I wasn't sleeping. I was just...just...” The girl was awake, crouching with her face only inches from his. The sun was setting and making a pink and orange sky behind her silver-black hair.

“You were just snoring so loud I'm surprised you didn't wake your woman.” Sure enough, Kagome was still sleeping soundly against his chest.

“She's not my woman!” He snapped. The raise in his voice made Kagome twitch in her sleep, and she repositioned herself a little.

“Oh? So you just want to breed with her? I see. Well, one must further the family line somehow, I suppose…” She stood up and cracked her back, and Inu-Yasha just looked at her with wide eyes as his cheeks started to redden.

“No! No, it's not-we're not-I... I... she's just...just...a, uh....friend! She's my friend, that's all! She...we...”

“Yes, well, you certainly do look friendly, holding her like that.” She cast him a sideways glance, and her eyes flicked down to the top of Kagome's head. “You love her. Admit it, we both know its true. And I haven't even seen you for more than a day.” I do...but what about Kikyo...? I can't just forget about her... This had been a problem for quite some time, and he'd thought the same thing many times before, but he couldn't bring himself to say these things to a strange girl who he wasn't sure wouldn't try to kill him soon anyway. He just sat there quietly and thought it out. “That's what I thought,” the girl said with a small smile. She looked down to Kagome again and said quietly, “You can open your eyes now. You don't have to pretend to be asleep to listen to what he says about you.” To Inu-Yasha's surprise, Kagome sat straight up and looked a little annoyed.

“How did you know?” she asked the girl.

“Oh, I'm not as easily fooled as my elder brother. I saw how your body stiffened when I mentioned you, and I could hear your breathing change.” The girl said it matter-of-factly, as though anyone with a brain stem could've known. Inu-Yasha still looked confused and surprised.

“What?! Inu-Yasha your older brother? No, that can't be. His mother died when he was young...his father was gone before he even met him! There's no way, unless you're only a half-sibling.” Kagome stood up quickly and took a step toward the girl. “There's no way,” she said defiantly.

“Just sit down and I'll explain.” The girl's voice was unnaturally calm and cold, but her face showed her nerves.

“I will not sit down! Just tell me this way!” Kagome was on edge, she didn't trust this girl and she was showing it.

“Quite a fiesty woman you've chosen, brother.” She looked around Kagome so Inu-Yasha could see her. “I like her,” she said with an approving nod; with that she plopped to the ground and curled her legs up beneath herself.

“Well, it doesn't matter if you like me or not! If you think I'm going to just-“

”Kagome, just sit down,” Inu-Yasha said gruffly. He had his arms crossed and his hands inside his haori sleeves.

“No! Why should I?” She didn't really know why, but she felt like she should argue her point. The dark-haired girl chimed in at this point:

“Well, for starters, you're standing over him and he can see up that short kimono of yours.” Inu-Yasha's face turned bright red, and the girl started to giggle. Kagome whipped around to face Inu-Yasha, and he knew what would happen next.

“Wait! No! I wasn't ...I didn't...” he fumbled over his words in her angry stare, “...Well it's not like I saw it on purpose! You were....” but it was useless trying to get out of it. She'd seen how red his cheeks were.

“SIT! SIT! SIT!” his face slammed into the ground with each of Kagome's `sits' and the girl's giggles turned into outright laughing. As she wiped a tear from her eye, she looked at an angry Kagome (who was now sitting next to the face-down Inu-Yasha) and said,

“Ohhh...I haven't laughed that hard in ages. I like you more and more every second!” She watched Inu-Yasha get up, and slowly stopped laughing. Her face straightened out, and she looked almost business-like when she was waiting for Inu-Yasha to settle himself and stop cursing under his breath. She sighed, then began like she was telling a child the same story for the millionth time,

“My name is Kei-Karei. I am Inu-Yasha's younger sister.”

“Half-sister, you mean.”Kagome interjected with an impatient tone.

“No. Sister. As in same mother and father. In fact, he is technically only one day older than myself. We shared the womb until he left, but I was slow to follow, I suppose.”

“Wait, so you're...twins?” Again Kagome interrupted, but this time she sounded much more like she was confirming what she'd been told rather than arguing. Inu-Yasha simply sat, arms crossed, looking into Kei-Karei's face.

“Yes, yes! Now you understand, good! I will continue...yes, well, because of my smaller body, I am not nearly as strong as my brother. Not physically, anyway. You see...we are both strong-spirited, but I have the gifted spirit of us two. I possess some miko powers because of this strong spirit.”

“So that's why my sacred arrow didn't kill you...your powers neutralized it.” This time, Kagome's interruption was actually presenting some new information.

“Yes, I guess...to be honest I don't really know much about my powers. I only know they exist because before our mother died...” as she said this she looked into Inu-Yasha's amber eyes, “...she told us both. She told us that we were her little ones, and we had to protect each other. I was supposed to keep your heart pure, and you were supposed to keep me safe...” tears started rolling down her cheeks, and Kagome wondered if she would start bawling again. It wouldn't have mattered if she did, Kagome would've done the same thing as before. She didn't, but instead said very softly, “You don't remember...I was supposed to be your living shadow...supposed to be with you...always...” She seemed unable to continue for a minute; her shoulders shook a little and the tears kept coming. Kagome didn't seem angry with her anymore, her face was soft and motherly and she looked like she was sorry for this little shaking figure in front of her. To comfort Kei-Karei, she got up and went to sit next to her. She put her arms around the shaking frame and held her close. “I...I remember Mother. Like it was yesterday. Not like you...have you forgotten her already...?” Kei-Karei looked into Inu-Yasha's eyes, and he felt like she could see into his soul. For all he knew, she probably could. He turned his eyes away from hers and looked down into his lap.

“No...I haven't forgotten Mother. I haven't forgotten...I won't ever forget her...” Tears welled in his amber eyes, but he blinked them back. “...never...” Both women looked at him, and Kei-Karei leaned into Kagome.

“I miss her,” she said. “But you...you almost smell like her...” she said quietly, mostly to herself, but Kagome could hear. Eventually, she started speaking again, “When Mother died, she wasn't there to protect us anymore. You weren't there to protect me...they took you away somewhere...I didn't know...I didn't know what I should do. You were all I had left and they took you...so I hid from them. After awhile I was so frightened, I tried to find you, but I never could. They found me...I don't know exactly what they did...it was some kind of sealing spell...it was like being asleep, but I never had any dreams. And I didn't age as quickly, I didn't grow like I should have...that's why I'm still so small...and I was that way for a long time. I don't know how long...” she leaned her head back against Kagome, who was listening just as intently as Inu-Yasha. Kei-Karei closed her eyes, like she was remembering something that had happened ages ago. “Then I felt a kind of pull...a kind of pulse...and I woke up.” She opened her eyes and sat up to look right at Inu-Yasha. “Now, for eleven moons I have been looking for you. And I finally found you. But after all this time...you don't remember. You don't remember anything.”

Kagome made a connection and thought Eleven moons? The pull she was talking about...it would've been right around when I released Inu-Yasha from his spell...could that be what woke her up, too? Kei-Karei got up and strode over to where he was sitting. She looked down at him and said, “But it doesn't really matter, does it? I'm here now, and I'm your sister. And I'm going to do as Mother told me, I'm going to be here with you all of the time.” He looked up at her, and then stood up. He was at least a head taller than she, and had to look down into her face. They both had those amber eyes and similar features, and both wore a red haori (though she had no bottoms to tuck it into and let it hang as a short dress). His face seemed rather expressionless as he looked down and said,

“You're wrong. I do remember. I remember...everything.”

“No, you don't.” She sounded like she knew he was bluffing, and like she was running over an old routine he couldn't get right.

“Yes, I do. Mother said to protect you because each of us is not one. We are both two, that's what she told me. I didn't remember before because I'd blocked it out of my mind, I thought you were dead...I didn't want to remember. I'd rather have no sister than one who died because I didn't protect her.” Kei-Karei looked up into his face and tears started to well in her eyes. She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him, and his extra height made her hang off him with her feet barely touching the ground. He brought his arm up around her, and the huge sleeves of his haori almost completely covered her.

Kagome felt out of place at this sort of reunion; it really had nothing to do with her. She looked up to the sky and noticed it was getting dark, and realized that she should've showed up at home hours ago. While Inu-Yasha was distracted, she thought, she could grab her pack and slip into the nearby well to get home. It's not that she was so concerned about going back anymore, but she thought brother and sister should spend some time alone catching up. She grabbed her things and started to get up slowly, and got surprisingly far away before she looked back. The two were standing facing each other, and Inu-Yasha was saying something to Kei-Karei. To avoid being detected, she turned quietly and headed for the well, then jumped in and slipped back to her own time.

 

* * *

 

Inu-Yasha stood with his last real family hanging from around his neck. He brought his arms up around her, and felt her shoulders. She was real. He heard Kagome move around and get her pack, and he knew she was trying to sneak away. At this point, he didn't care. He knew she should go. The weight around his neck let go and fell to the ground, and he reluctantly pulled his arms away. She was the last thing he really knew he had left, and he didn't want to let her go. He looked down into her face and said,

“I thought…I thought you were dead. And I thought it was my fault…I wasn't there…I'm…sorry.” Her face softened, and he wondered what she'd gone through all this time without him. He wondered if she was like him, forced to fight her way through everything to get this far and scarred because of it.

“It's alright. I know you couldn't escape them. There were so many…any we were only children.”

“No, it isn't alright. I should've looked for you once I escaped, I should've tried to find you.”

“Don't you understand? It wouldn't have mattered if you had found me, I would be in a sleep you couldn't wake me from. And you thought I was dead…what would the point be in looking for a dead sister?” Her voice was warm, but its firmness convinced him she was right. He smiled, knowing she forgave him. Then, inadvertently, he looked in the direction Kagome had headed. Even though he couldn't see her, he wanted to make sure she wasn't in danger. When he turned his attention back to Kei-Karei, she nodded to him and said, “You want her for your mate, do you not?” He could feel his cheeks fill with color.

“I…”, But what about Kikyo?

She smiled again, as if she knew he wouldn't be able to answer. “Come, we will follow her.” With that, she sniffed the air and turned in the direction of the well. Without a word, he followed her. Once they got to the well, she sniffed the air again and turned to him,

“In the well?” she didn't seem confused, more inquisitive than anything. He nodded, and she propelled herself over the side. It was then that a thought crossed his mind: would the well even let her through? He looked over the edge, and she was gone. Apparently she could go through the well just as easily as Kagome or himself. He jumped after her, and appeared on the other side, where she was standing in the bottom of the well waiting for him.

“What was that?” She asked as soon as he'd emerged.

“It's like a bridge through time…we're in the future now. This is where Kagome comes from.” He wondered if she would understand. She seemed smart, but this whole time slip thing was enough to make anyone's head spin.

“This is where she's from? The future…your woman is from the future and she comes and goes over this `bridge,' is that it?” He didn't like that she kept calling Kagome `his woman'. After all, he was more hers than she his.

“Yes, and stop calling her my woman. She's her own, and nothing more.” He said it with a finality that stopped any argument. She nodded,

“I'm sorry, Aniki. Indeed, she is her own woman. Now, is there more to this future than the inside of this well?”

“Oh, yes. There is more. So much more.” He grimaced at the thought; he hated it here. The only good thing was the food. And Kagome. But he could have both of those back in the Sengoku Jidai, where it wasn't so smelly and dirty and crowded.

“Then lead the way.” He jumped up, out, and over the walls of the well, then out of the well house into the main part of the shrine. Halfway to Kagome's window, he thought to look back and make sure she was keeping up. She was so close behind him, they would collide if he stopped too quickly. Let's test her reflexes…he thought. He hadn't met another inu-hanyou before, and had no idea what she might be capable of. Inu-Yasha sped up until he reached Kagome's window, where he stopped as suddenly as he could. He fully expected to feel her slam into his back, but instead he felt her hands hit his shoulders and saw her head sail over his as she pivoted around him and flipped. She landed neatly in front of him, and he had to struggle to keep his jaw from falling open. He'd never seen such agility before, not even from Sessho-Maru. She must have noticed, because she gave him a wicked grin and he saw the sparkle in her eyes, “We must race sometime, and see who really is the strong one!”

“Feh, speed and strength are two different things,” he said. He dug his claws into the wood of Kagome's window and opened it, allowing Kei-Karei to crawl in first. As soon as he followed her in, he took a deep sniff. He loved being in Kagome's room; it was like being wrapped in her scent. He could also smell traces of Kagome's mother and the family cat, Buyo. He looked over at Kei-Karei, and saw that she was completely entranced by various trinkets on Kagome's desk. Inu-Yasha silently padded over to the door of the room and popped his head out to listen and smell for the humans. He concluded that Mama and Jii-Chan were downstairs in the kitchen, and Souta was in the living room. From the smell of steam and sound of splashing water, he could tell Kagome was in the bathroom taking one of her hot baths. He, of course, still couldn't understand how she could love such hot water. He sat down on the floor with his back against Kagome's bed, and soon he felt Kei-Karei thump down next to him.

“You know…I remember Mother like I saw her yesterday.” Her voice startled him, almost as much as the topic she was presenting. “But I can't remember what Father looked like. Only his scent…I only remember that he smelled of forest air, and of something else.” She leaned against Inu-Yasha's shoulder and set her face in the folds of his haori. “We smell like him. And Mother…and each other.” The idea unsettled him; he didn't want to be his father. He heard the water in the bathroom stop splashing, and knew there was only one thing to do. Wait. So he sat with the family he'd unknowingly abandoned, waiting for the family he had accidentally found.