Author's Notes: Yes, I know this story is going slow but I don't really
feel like rushing it and since not a lot of people are reading it, this is
going to be a story mainly for me to vent my writing frustrations. But hey,
here's an update anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this.
Solitary Soul
________________________________________________________________________
They left as soon as they could, leaving the fortress with its buried memories of blood and hate. Sango gave one last look at the fortress before turning to walk with Kagome, the charred walls burning a scar in her heart. All she had in the world now was some food, the clothes on her back, and her weapon. A wind picked up and Kagome's body froze, Sango stopped and looked quizzically at the miko.
"Kagome-" She was hushed with a raised hand Kagome tilted her face up to a large tree at the right.
"You can come out now." She called out softly to the tree's covering of leaves. Sango had her weapon out in a second as a youkai hopped down from the branches without shaking any leaves down. *Human form, damn it, I don't know if I can take him on* Sango thought as she started to move in front of the girl. Kagome shook her head and motioned Sango to stay back.
"It's alright, he is an...an acquaintance." The youkai gave a huff and straightened out his clothes, his eyes striking dangerous signals at the two. "What do you want?" Kagome asked him.
"I'm making sure you aren't doing any more slaughtering." He snapped and Kagome winced. Sango gaped at her friend. *Slaughter? Kagome?*
"Why don't you stop your lying, youkai!" Sango growled from behind. His feral eyes swiveled to her and Sango gave a small gulp. "Kagome doesn't slaughter humans, you do!" She challenged the youkai. He bared his teeth, the sunlight shining on his sharp canines.
"You are vexing the wrong person, little hunter."
"Sango, could you leave us for a moment? Please?" Kagome asked with her gaze cemented on the youkai.
"But Kagome-chan, human form youkai are the most dangerous!" Sango argued desperately, not willing to have a newly made friend killed within the first day.
"He won't kill me, if he hasn't gone back on his word yet." Kagome said softly. "Don't worry, just go ahead of me and I'll meet you along the way." She turned her head and flashed a reassuring smile at Sango. The hunter looked at her friend carefully for a moment, then nodded her head, trusting in Kagome's word. She hoisted the boomerang onto her back and picked up the little bundle she had dropped. She walked past the youkai but slowed down a bit to whisper a threat.
"You hurt her in any way and I'll hunt you down like I have with hundreds of your kind." She hissed before walking away. Kagome leaned against a nearby tree, allowing its overspreading branches to shade her face away from the beating sun. She didn't look at his face but chose to stare at the earth packed ground instead.
"Is there a reason why you are following me?" She muttered in a hushed tone, knowing he could hear her perfectly with his demon ears.
"I don't trust you." His words, however simply they came out, managed to make her eyes droop a little more than usual.
"I know." She replied dejectedly. "As you have reminded me numerous times before. You're free to do whatever you wish, but you won't stop me." She stood straight and adjusted the quiver of arrows on her back. "Sayonara Inuyasha." She began to follow the path that Sango had took, not waiting for Inuyasha to do or say anything. She knew she wouldn't see the last of him.
~*~*~*~*~*
War and youkai alike had ravaged the once flourishing land of Japan, and not a village was left unscathed or untroubled. Peace turned to war, freedom into slavery, and ignorance became strength. Times when you could stand still and only hear the hushed sounds of content life had long past, merging into feudel wars that sucked everybody in. You could not look to kami for help for it would be long before it comes. The strong faith that led people to temples with gifts died down into the sole duty of praying for another lost soul. The last hope, the very last resort of the people laid in the powerful mikos who were able to protect others with their purity, but even that hope was dwindling.
And Kagome saw it all. Village after village that the two women passed begged for aid, and day after day would pass as the amount of graves grew higher. She wiped the beads of sweat dripping down from her forward and thrust the shovel into the hard earth to take a break. It was her last grave and then she would move on again, searching for Naraku and aiding more villages along the way. But it was time consuming, and though she wished to help more she knew she was on a time constraint. Sango came over, already finished from her own digging and began to shove the dirt back into the hole.
"Are you alright Kagome-chan?" she asked softly. "You should rest, after working so hard today."
Kagome gave a forced smile to the taijiya and trudged over to an abandoned hut to sit down by. She was gazing out across the graves and into the dark forest when she spotted a flash of white. Was it Inuyasha? She squinted her eyes and saw another flash of white, the tip of a long cloak. It was him again, her mysterious advisor. She hoisted herself up and wearily walked toward where she had last seen the white cloak.
"Kagome-chan? Where are you going?" Sango called out.
"Don't worry, I'll be right back." Kagome said before she disappeared into the forest. Sango stared for just a moment before filling up the grave again. Kagome had a darker past than she let on and Sango couldn't mistake the flicker of pain that sometimes showed in her eyes. Kagome had a part to play in the path of the future, a larger part than she could ever imagine.
~*~
She stepped quietly into the forest, inhaling the scent of purity as she walked. Trees bent over, reaching out to her as she walked through and the forest grew unnaturally quiet. He was leaning against a tree, his head bent slightly toward the ground. And once again, his blinding white cloak hid away his face so that she could only catch brief glimpses of a strong chin.
"Time is pressing close, little daughter. Do you feel it?" He whispered. He gracefully pushed off from the tree and walked to her. With slender fingers, he affectionately brushed the back of his hand against her cheek. She leaned towards his glowing warmth and closed her eyes.
"Is it dread?" She asked hesitantly.
"Dread and time walk hand in hand together, but no, it is fate that you are feeling. You must walk faster down the path, or you might lose sight of what is in front of you."
"Fate, destiny, time, why me?" She asked with a wavering voice. "I can sometimes catch vague glimpses of my past and all I can remember is that I wasn't meant to live like this."
"Ssh, you'll know yourself soon enough." He whispered. "Walk faster."
He left the same way he disappeared before, nothing but sudden air. Kagome blankly looked before her and sat down next to a tree, leaning her tired back against it. Raising a hand, she concentrated on it till a fuzzy blue began to sparkle from her fingers. A ball began to form from the immense amount of energy within her soul and she brought it close to her face when it was the size of her fist. Gazing within, she looked into the past and found nothing but a vast empty space. With a sad smile, she lifted her hand up to the sky and offered her soul to the wind, which gladly blew away her magic and her memories. Her eyes still concentrating, her eyebrows furrowed for just a second then relaxed.
"Still monitoring me, Inuyasha?" She called out and the hanyou dropped down from the tree above. His eyes offered no remorse or mercy as he stared down at her, his lips curved down in dislike.
"Just watching you conspire with a god." He said sardonically. "What magic are you brewing up now?"
"It's nothing, just a spell to remember." She said as she stared off into the forest, not quite seeing. "You really do hate me, don't you? Is it your human half that makes you hate me so? You know, I've seen so many humans ravage the land and people, all in greed and anger. It makes me wonder who is the greater enemy, youkai or human?"
"A youkai of course." He snorted. "We can kill you weak mortals with a single blow."
"Yes, but humans....humans can torture a soul for eternity." Kagome reflected as she remembered the scores of villages she had seen, every face laced with sorrow and despair. There were so many people to help and within her, she could feel a growing anger at the mystery of why humans fought wars. Containing a sigh, she stood up and brushed the dirt off her clothes. "I guess I'll be on my way and you'll be right behind?"
He didn't answer but was only standing with a pensive look on his face. She let a gentle smile free her lips and began to walk back to Sango.
"Always." He whispered from behind her.
~*~*~*~*~*
It was exactly a month later when they found Naraku. He had been waiting for them, standing right in the middle of the dusty and forlorn road. With all the confidence in the world, he stared straight at Kagome and in her heart she knew who he was. And he knew who she was as well as a hideous smile grew on his face. Sango grabbed the boomerang on her back but Kagome raised a hand to stop her friend. Naraku gave a good-natured chuckle and flung his dark bangs from his face so they could see his eyes. They were blank and human but it couldn't betray the waves of youki tainting his very aura.
"The infamous miko who has already destroyed so many of my minions." He shook his head. "Yet, you seem smaller than the description rumors give."
"You also seem more human than the rumors say. But it is only a body you have stolen, correct?" Kagome said as her hand lightly squeezed the comforting wood of her bow. "Naraku."
"Ah, so you already know my name." He gave an open shrug. "You were taking so long to come to me, I thought I would meet you halfway."
"How generous of you." Kagome gave a half bow to him and this time he gave a deep laugh. "I was only cleaning up all the damage that you have helped create."
His face grew serious for a second but then it became pleased. "My most esteemed lady, if you would come with me to my castle, I'd like to talk to you of my plans for the future of the world."
Sango moved to protest but Kagome held her back with a hand. "No, I think I will take up his offer. We don't have a choice."
"Kagome-chan, do you know how dangerous he is?" Sango pleaded. "He'll kill you the first chance he gets!"
"He has already had the first, and second, and many more." Kagome turned to look at Sango. "I must talk to him, please understand."
Sango reluctantly nodded her head, placing all her trust in the miko.
"Naraku, I'll come only if Sango is to come as well and in no way is she to be injured, mentally or physically." Kagome called out and the hanyou put his hands up.
"Whatever my esteemed lady requests. The taijiya will not be harmed in anyway. However, she cannot stay while we have our chat." With an audacious wink, Naraku disappeared and so did the loneliness of the road ahead of them. A large mountain scaled the skies, dark and ominous, giving images of hate and sorrow, making both women shiver from all the youki being emitted from that mountain. Their heads tipped up to see Naraku's palace of darkness on the very top. A grand palace fit for a king, but probably long since killed by Naraku.
"How do we know he won't kill us on the spot?!" Sango hissed as she suspiciously looked at their destination. "Naraku will find a loophole in any promise that he makes, and I have a feeling we won't make it out of there alive."
"I know, I feel it too," Kagome said as she stared in consternation at the palace. There was almost a shadowy beauty to it, the strange clouds fingering around the buildings in a seemingly gentle hold. "But something tells me we need to be there."
"How do you know?"
"I don't know," Kagome gripped her bow tightly and started walking. "But that something also tells me we're meeting someone important, someone who needs our help."
"All this uncertainty is getting me nervous." Sango grumbled as she followed her friend.
~*~*~*~*~*
Youkai servants met them at the front, beautifully delicate women who glided over the two the second they came near. Sango drew out her dagger but seeing Kagome do nothing, she only guardedly fingered the hard ebony handle. They touched both women's clothes here and there as if they were searching for something in the folds of the cloth but eventually they shrank back into the shadows and disappeared. A trail of blood red rose petals had been spilled all over the steps leading into the house and gradually led them down a hallway with a small pond bordering on each side. The eerie silence hovered everywhere, not a breath of wind sighing its presence. Not a being was to be seen as the two kept walking deeper and deeper into the palace.
Finally, the trail of petals stopped before a simple shoji door. It quietly slid open by itself to show Naraku standing with his back to them, watching something out on his balcony. He took a few steps back and something silver flashed onto the balcony. A second later, a tall man stood straight before Naraku, long silver hair billowing out like a misty curtain. The man looked past Naraku to stare at the women with cold amber eyes, evoking an image of Inuyasha from Kagome.
________________________________________________________________________
Orchidaceae: kikyo...hmm, I haven't quite figured it out yet, but she does have a part to play in this story
Queen Ali B: where inuyasha was will probably come up later, he was definitely up to something but I can't say when, but I think u guys might not be very pleased.
Nekomoongirl: I intend to finish all of my fics unless something extreme prevents me from doing so. I just wish I would stop writing new stories and hurry up and finish the ones I have, I think everybody else wants that too
AkayLi: I'm never tired of seeing names reviewers who review frequently. But visits from gods (meddlesome beings that they are ) will come around every once in a while. And I am planning on having kikyo play a part in this story
KiKi Smythe: hehehe, I knew someone was going to ask that question. I will explain why kagome woke up there, why she received those "godly" weapons and why she became a miko. And where the shikon no tama is as well. For now, I'm just building up on the story
Solitary Soul
________________________________________________________________________
They left as soon as they could, leaving the fortress with its buried memories of blood and hate. Sango gave one last look at the fortress before turning to walk with Kagome, the charred walls burning a scar in her heart. All she had in the world now was some food, the clothes on her back, and her weapon. A wind picked up and Kagome's body froze, Sango stopped and looked quizzically at the miko.
"Kagome-" She was hushed with a raised hand Kagome tilted her face up to a large tree at the right.
"You can come out now." She called out softly to the tree's covering of leaves. Sango had her weapon out in a second as a youkai hopped down from the branches without shaking any leaves down. *Human form, damn it, I don't know if I can take him on* Sango thought as she started to move in front of the girl. Kagome shook her head and motioned Sango to stay back.
"It's alright, he is an...an acquaintance." The youkai gave a huff and straightened out his clothes, his eyes striking dangerous signals at the two. "What do you want?" Kagome asked him.
"I'm making sure you aren't doing any more slaughtering." He snapped and Kagome winced. Sango gaped at her friend. *Slaughter? Kagome?*
"Why don't you stop your lying, youkai!" Sango growled from behind. His feral eyes swiveled to her and Sango gave a small gulp. "Kagome doesn't slaughter humans, you do!" She challenged the youkai. He bared his teeth, the sunlight shining on his sharp canines.
"You are vexing the wrong person, little hunter."
"Sango, could you leave us for a moment? Please?" Kagome asked with her gaze cemented on the youkai.
"But Kagome-chan, human form youkai are the most dangerous!" Sango argued desperately, not willing to have a newly made friend killed within the first day.
"He won't kill me, if he hasn't gone back on his word yet." Kagome said softly. "Don't worry, just go ahead of me and I'll meet you along the way." She turned her head and flashed a reassuring smile at Sango. The hunter looked at her friend carefully for a moment, then nodded her head, trusting in Kagome's word. She hoisted the boomerang onto her back and picked up the little bundle she had dropped. She walked past the youkai but slowed down a bit to whisper a threat.
"You hurt her in any way and I'll hunt you down like I have with hundreds of your kind." She hissed before walking away. Kagome leaned against a nearby tree, allowing its overspreading branches to shade her face away from the beating sun. She didn't look at his face but chose to stare at the earth packed ground instead.
"Is there a reason why you are following me?" She muttered in a hushed tone, knowing he could hear her perfectly with his demon ears.
"I don't trust you." His words, however simply they came out, managed to make her eyes droop a little more than usual.
"I know." She replied dejectedly. "As you have reminded me numerous times before. You're free to do whatever you wish, but you won't stop me." She stood straight and adjusted the quiver of arrows on her back. "Sayonara Inuyasha." She began to follow the path that Sango had took, not waiting for Inuyasha to do or say anything. She knew she wouldn't see the last of him.
~*~*~*~*~*
War and youkai alike had ravaged the once flourishing land of Japan, and not a village was left unscathed or untroubled. Peace turned to war, freedom into slavery, and ignorance became strength. Times when you could stand still and only hear the hushed sounds of content life had long past, merging into feudel wars that sucked everybody in. You could not look to kami for help for it would be long before it comes. The strong faith that led people to temples with gifts died down into the sole duty of praying for another lost soul. The last hope, the very last resort of the people laid in the powerful mikos who were able to protect others with their purity, but even that hope was dwindling.
And Kagome saw it all. Village after village that the two women passed begged for aid, and day after day would pass as the amount of graves grew higher. She wiped the beads of sweat dripping down from her forward and thrust the shovel into the hard earth to take a break. It was her last grave and then she would move on again, searching for Naraku and aiding more villages along the way. But it was time consuming, and though she wished to help more she knew she was on a time constraint. Sango came over, already finished from her own digging and began to shove the dirt back into the hole.
"Are you alright Kagome-chan?" she asked softly. "You should rest, after working so hard today."
Kagome gave a forced smile to the taijiya and trudged over to an abandoned hut to sit down by. She was gazing out across the graves and into the dark forest when she spotted a flash of white. Was it Inuyasha? She squinted her eyes and saw another flash of white, the tip of a long cloak. It was him again, her mysterious advisor. She hoisted herself up and wearily walked toward where she had last seen the white cloak.
"Kagome-chan? Where are you going?" Sango called out.
"Don't worry, I'll be right back." Kagome said before she disappeared into the forest. Sango stared for just a moment before filling up the grave again. Kagome had a darker past than she let on and Sango couldn't mistake the flicker of pain that sometimes showed in her eyes. Kagome had a part to play in the path of the future, a larger part than she could ever imagine.
~*~
She stepped quietly into the forest, inhaling the scent of purity as she walked. Trees bent over, reaching out to her as she walked through and the forest grew unnaturally quiet. He was leaning against a tree, his head bent slightly toward the ground. And once again, his blinding white cloak hid away his face so that she could only catch brief glimpses of a strong chin.
"Time is pressing close, little daughter. Do you feel it?" He whispered. He gracefully pushed off from the tree and walked to her. With slender fingers, he affectionately brushed the back of his hand against her cheek. She leaned towards his glowing warmth and closed her eyes.
"Is it dread?" She asked hesitantly.
"Dread and time walk hand in hand together, but no, it is fate that you are feeling. You must walk faster down the path, or you might lose sight of what is in front of you."
"Fate, destiny, time, why me?" She asked with a wavering voice. "I can sometimes catch vague glimpses of my past and all I can remember is that I wasn't meant to live like this."
"Ssh, you'll know yourself soon enough." He whispered. "Walk faster."
He left the same way he disappeared before, nothing but sudden air. Kagome blankly looked before her and sat down next to a tree, leaning her tired back against it. Raising a hand, she concentrated on it till a fuzzy blue began to sparkle from her fingers. A ball began to form from the immense amount of energy within her soul and she brought it close to her face when it was the size of her fist. Gazing within, she looked into the past and found nothing but a vast empty space. With a sad smile, she lifted her hand up to the sky and offered her soul to the wind, which gladly blew away her magic and her memories. Her eyes still concentrating, her eyebrows furrowed for just a second then relaxed.
"Still monitoring me, Inuyasha?" She called out and the hanyou dropped down from the tree above. His eyes offered no remorse or mercy as he stared down at her, his lips curved down in dislike.
"Just watching you conspire with a god." He said sardonically. "What magic are you brewing up now?"
"It's nothing, just a spell to remember." She said as she stared off into the forest, not quite seeing. "You really do hate me, don't you? Is it your human half that makes you hate me so? You know, I've seen so many humans ravage the land and people, all in greed and anger. It makes me wonder who is the greater enemy, youkai or human?"
"A youkai of course." He snorted. "We can kill you weak mortals with a single blow."
"Yes, but humans....humans can torture a soul for eternity." Kagome reflected as she remembered the scores of villages she had seen, every face laced with sorrow and despair. There were so many people to help and within her, she could feel a growing anger at the mystery of why humans fought wars. Containing a sigh, she stood up and brushed the dirt off her clothes. "I guess I'll be on my way and you'll be right behind?"
He didn't answer but was only standing with a pensive look on his face. She let a gentle smile free her lips and began to walk back to Sango.
"Always." He whispered from behind her.
~*~*~*~*~*
It was exactly a month later when they found Naraku. He had been waiting for them, standing right in the middle of the dusty and forlorn road. With all the confidence in the world, he stared straight at Kagome and in her heart she knew who he was. And he knew who she was as well as a hideous smile grew on his face. Sango grabbed the boomerang on her back but Kagome raised a hand to stop her friend. Naraku gave a good-natured chuckle and flung his dark bangs from his face so they could see his eyes. They were blank and human but it couldn't betray the waves of youki tainting his very aura.
"The infamous miko who has already destroyed so many of my minions." He shook his head. "Yet, you seem smaller than the description rumors give."
"You also seem more human than the rumors say. But it is only a body you have stolen, correct?" Kagome said as her hand lightly squeezed the comforting wood of her bow. "Naraku."
"Ah, so you already know my name." He gave an open shrug. "You were taking so long to come to me, I thought I would meet you halfway."
"How generous of you." Kagome gave a half bow to him and this time he gave a deep laugh. "I was only cleaning up all the damage that you have helped create."
His face grew serious for a second but then it became pleased. "My most esteemed lady, if you would come with me to my castle, I'd like to talk to you of my plans for the future of the world."
Sango moved to protest but Kagome held her back with a hand. "No, I think I will take up his offer. We don't have a choice."
"Kagome-chan, do you know how dangerous he is?" Sango pleaded. "He'll kill you the first chance he gets!"
"He has already had the first, and second, and many more." Kagome turned to look at Sango. "I must talk to him, please understand."
Sango reluctantly nodded her head, placing all her trust in the miko.
"Naraku, I'll come only if Sango is to come as well and in no way is she to be injured, mentally or physically." Kagome called out and the hanyou put his hands up.
"Whatever my esteemed lady requests. The taijiya will not be harmed in anyway. However, she cannot stay while we have our chat." With an audacious wink, Naraku disappeared and so did the loneliness of the road ahead of them. A large mountain scaled the skies, dark and ominous, giving images of hate and sorrow, making both women shiver from all the youki being emitted from that mountain. Their heads tipped up to see Naraku's palace of darkness on the very top. A grand palace fit for a king, but probably long since killed by Naraku.
"How do we know he won't kill us on the spot?!" Sango hissed as she suspiciously looked at their destination. "Naraku will find a loophole in any promise that he makes, and I have a feeling we won't make it out of there alive."
"I know, I feel it too," Kagome said as she stared in consternation at the palace. There was almost a shadowy beauty to it, the strange clouds fingering around the buildings in a seemingly gentle hold. "But something tells me we need to be there."
"How do you know?"
"I don't know," Kagome gripped her bow tightly and started walking. "But that something also tells me we're meeting someone important, someone who needs our help."
"All this uncertainty is getting me nervous." Sango grumbled as she followed her friend.
~*~*~*~*~*
Youkai servants met them at the front, beautifully delicate women who glided over the two the second they came near. Sango drew out her dagger but seeing Kagome do nothing, she only guardedly fingered the hard ebony handle. They touched both women's clothes here and there as if they were searching for something in the folds of the cloth but eventually they shrank back into the shadows and disappeared. A trail of blood red rose petals had been spilled all over the steps leading into the house and gradually led them down a hallway with a small pond bordering on each side. The eerie silence hovered everywhere, not a breath of wind sighing its presence. Not a being was to be seen as the two kept walking deeper and deeper into the palace.
Finally, the trail of petals stopped before a simple shoji door. It quietly slid open by itself to show Naraku standing with his back to them, watching something out on his balcony. He took a few steps back and something silver flashed onto the balcony. A second later, a tall man stood straight before Naraku, long silver hair billowing out like a misty curtain. The man looked past Naraku to stare at the women with cold amber eyes, evoking an image of Inuyasha from Kagome.
________________________________________________________________________
Orchidaceae: kikyo...hmm, I haven't quite figured it out yet, but she does have a part to play in this story
Queen Ali B: where inuyasha was will probably come up later, he was definitely up to something but I can't say when, but I think u guys might not be very pleased.
Nekomoongirl: I intend to finish all of my fics unless something extreme prevents me from doing so. I just wish I would stop writing new stories and hurry up and finish the ones I have, I think everybody else wants that too
AkayLi: I'm never tired of seeing names reviewers who review frequently. But visits from gods (meddlesome beings that they are ) will come around every once in a while. And I am planning on having kikyo play a part in this story
KiKi Smythe: hehehe, I knew someone was going to ask that question. I will explain why kagome woke up there, why she received those "godly" weapons and why she became a miko. And where the shikon no tama is as well. For now, I'm just building up on the story