InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Walking Among the Living ❯ Chapter Two ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
Chapter Two







- - - - 75 years earlier - - - -



“Kagome!” A middle-aged woman called. She was walking through the dirt streets of their tiny village. It was a small village indeed. Just outside of a forest.



“Kagome!” She called again. She was just outside the village now, walking hurriedly towards the forest, where she knew her beloved daughter was. She could only pray that her young daughter would be okay.



‘Kami! Please hear my plea, and protect my daughter.’



- - - - Flashback - - - -



“Where is she?” A gruff man asked loudly in a hut in the middle of the small village. The hut itself was not small, but very much larger than most huts. Yet its appearance was quite the same, shades of brown.


“Where is that girl?” He called once again when no sound answered him the first time.



“Who are you? What do you want?” A woman’s voice answered.



“Tell me where she is!” He yelled again.



“Where who is? Who are you?” She answered yet again.



“Your daughter, where is she?!?!”



“I won’t answer until you tell me who you are.”


The gruff voiced man came into the light. You could not tell who he was or what he was wearing other than a black cape. The cape covered everything and had a hood to cover his head. The only distinguishing feature was his size and eyes. He was an extremely large man, about 6’8”, while his eyes were a brownish-red. Yet when the light shown on them, it made them glow blood red. An optical illusion, maybe, but it set his appearance as one evil and dark.



“Woman you will tell me where your daughter is!” He yelled at the middle-aged woman. She became startled, however her eyes shown with determination and courage.



“If she did something wrong and the law was after her, then you would have been a gentleman and said your name. You would not be yelling at me, and you wouldn’t look like a bandit.” When she was saying this, the lady walked into the sunlight as well. She was wearing a simple yukata of light blue and it had white lily flower petals on it. The petals looked as if they were being blown away by a gentle wind. Her eyes were hazy-bluish gray yet they were full of life. Her hair was short, barely reaching her shoulders and was the color of a raven.



“Woman!” with that the strange being, which she could only guess was a male, left in a rush.



‘I must find Kagome, and warn her. Why would he be after her though?’ With this last thought she ran through the village towards the forest.



- - - - End of Flashback - - - -



* * * Forest * * *



She ran. She ran for her life. She ran for the life of the little girl in her arms. She ran for them. She ran from him. The little girl with dull black hair and reddish brown eyes was wearing a red and white patterned kimono, and she was clinging to the older girl’s kimono. The older girl’s beautiful maroon kimono was being mangled with dirt and grass as she ran from him. He was after the little girl. He could not have her! She wasn’t safe. She would protect her.



- - - - Flashback - - - -



“I’ve found you!” The same gruff voice said, in the same tone as he talked with the middle-aged woman. Though his voice held a bit of malice and sadistic humor with it. Making the two beings that he was grinning at tremble in fear. “I’ve finally found you, girl! Give me the child!” His voice started in a gruff level voice but gradually became louder. It was as if he remembered something in the past and began to get angered by it.



“I will not. I will not let your dirty hands touch this innocent child. I will not let you corrupt her mind!” She began speaking in a time soft voice, but at the end of her speech, she too was yelling as if something had angered her.



“Girl, you have no idea who you are dealing with!” He yelled, and started chasing her when she fled.



- - - - End of Flashback - - - -



He was gaining on her. He was gaining on them. Though the forest that she loved so much, she ran. She ran for the child in her arms. She ran for their lives. Through the grass, the bushes, the trees, they ran and he was gaining on them.



The forest was in a frenzy. It was as if it knew that their friend was in danger. Animals ran here and there. The wind blew loudly, making the trees creak and the flowers blow down to the ground. The grass, in the little fields that were randomly placed, blew in a way that it looked as if they were green waves in an ocean. The wind blew. The animals were wild. The trees creaked. The flowers swayed. Then all was silent.



So silent. No animals running about. No wind making the flowers sway, the grass wave and the trees creak. Nothing. Absolute silence. Just silence.



The forest was mourning. Mourning for her. For their friend, for she was dead. She died protecting a young child. She died falling over a cliff. Alone and afraid. He had caught up. He had struggled with her for the child. He had pushed her over the cliff in the struggle. He had run off. She was there, lying. Lying dead on the forest floor. Blood. Broken bones. Dead. The forest mourned. The forest wept. The forest was never the same; it made a vow of silence. Never again to be happy. For it’s friend had died. It’s young, beautiful female friend. Died. Died on the forest floor.




- - - Sometime Later - - -



‘Darkness…’ It was dark. Very dark. Nothing but darkness. ‘Someone’s crying…’ Light. There was light. The light, it got brighter.



All of the sudden, she could see. See everything. She saw herself. She was in a futon. So pale, with no life. Her family. Her family was crying next to the ‘other’ her.



‘Is that me? But I’m me. How can there be two of me?’



~ You are her, she is you. ~ A soft feminine voice stated. Yet she could see no one to match the voice. Just her, she and their family.



“Who are you?!?!” She yelled. Trembling in fear as she looked around.



~ Do not worry. ~ Darkness surrounded her again. She could no longer see the scene that had been before her.



“Worry?!?! Worry about what?!?!” She yelled again, still looking around the darkness.



~ I am Lady Fate. You need not worry what will happen to you. ~



“Lady Fate?” She asked with wide large eyes. “Wait! What will happen to me?” She had quieted down some since she knew whom she was talking to. Of course she couldn’t be sure, but when she looked back on everything that had happened so far, she wasn’t that skeptical.



~ Yes I am Lady Fate. You have a choice young one. I may be in charge of fate but some people can get out of my sight. The man that was chasing you. He has somehow gotten out of my grasp. Because of this you were affected and ended up dying. Thus you have a choice. A choice to either go to the great beyond to wait for centuries until you can be reincarnated. Or you may walk the earth guiding souls to their salvation. The choice is yours young one. ~



“Why are you giving me this choice? I already figured out that I’m dead, and I’m the essence of my soul but-”



~ Hush. You must make the choice. ~



“Humph. Fine. So you’re saying that I can walk the Earth again and all I have to do is guide souls to the afterlife?”



~ Yes. ~



“What’s the catch?”



~ Wise, you ask what the conditions are before you agree. Very well, the catch is you must not interact with your family; you will not be “alive” but a ghost and you must find the man that killed you and deliver his soul to me. By doing this correctly without complaint I might return your life to you, so you can once again be alive. ~



“I won’t get to interact with my family? A ghost? Wait! How do I deliver his soul to you?”



~ No. Yes. You need to kill him with a special sword. The sword will then suck his soul into it. Then all you have to do is travel to my shrine at the base of Mt. Fuji and place it on the pedestal there. After that I will perform my part of the deal if you chose this choice. ~



“Is there something I should know about this man?”



‘Can I kill someone? Even if he killed me?’



~ He sold his soul to the Lord of the Underworld, though it is still within him. He lives forever, yet the Holy Sword can kill him. ~



“The sword that I will have to kill him with?”



~ Yes, the Holy Sword, Shiori. ~



“White? The sword has a name? Well it is a Holy Sword, kinda makes sense… So all I have to do is deliver his soul to you and I can become alive again?”



~ Yes. ~



‘Can I kill him? He hurt all those people. Can I really kill him? … Yes … To protect others from the same fate I had.’



“Alright I accept the second choice.”



~ Good, I was hoping you would choose that path. ~



“So what now?”



~ … You will see … ~



With that Kagome blacked out and woke up in the forest she knew so well. As a ghost. As a soul. Commanded by Lady Fate to fulfill her quest.




- - - Present - - -




‘It would seem that my mood has lightened up a bit. Is it because of that man?’ She thought, a first thought she had had in a long time. She felt more alive. She remembered her past again. She always felt more alive after, yet she felt more alive than usual. ‘It’s been years since I met that man, yet now I start to feel more alive because of it? I remember my journey. I must find the Holy Sword. Then I must find Him.’ With this last thought she walked deeper into the forest, blending in with her surroundings, seeming to disappear.



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