Cry for me, My Destiny ch. 1

‘It’s alright, Inuyasha.’ Said a soft, soothing voice. ‘Naraku will die as well.’

‘But…’ said the one called Inuyasha. ‘What about you? You’ll die with him!’

‘I know that.’ Came the calm reply. ‘But if it means that Naraku is gone to it’ll be ok.’

‘No it won’t!’ cam the mad reply. ‘Kagome you’ll…and I…I don’t want you to die.’

The girl Kagome, who stood behind a barrier that locked Inuyasha away from her, said, ‘I know, Inuyasha.’ She looked to the others, behind Inuyasha. Sango, Kaeda, Miroku, Shippou, Kirara, and even Kouga and Kikyo were there. None of them were able to pass through the barrier, not even Inuyasha sword could help.

Suddenly the girl smiled and said, ‘Sango…take care of Miroku, we don’t want him running off and getting him self killed by some girl.’ Sango smiled, and Miroku put his arm around her waist. ‘Miroku…well…be good to Sango.’ The monk smiled at Kagome, knowing that she meant it. ‘Shippou,’ she smiled, love in her eyes for the kitsun who she treated as a son. ‘I’m sorry I wasn’t able to keep my promise to you and never leave.’ Shippou just shook his head, to sad to be able to say anything.

Kagome also blinked tears from her eyes before she continued, ‘Kaeda…thank you for teaching me everything. It’s helped so much.’ The old one eyed women smiled and nodded. She had been training Kagome for the past four years and it had slowly awakened sleeping powers inside the girl.

‘It wasn’t all me, child, you did a lot of the work yourself.’ She said, the smile slightly fading. She had wanted to teach this girl more, but there just hadn’t been time.

Kagome next turned to the people hidden in the trees and said, ‘I know your there, Sesshomaru. I want to thank you…for all the help you’ve given these past two years.’ Sesshomaru, who had just come into view with Rin and Jaken at his side, had started to help two years before. Inuyasha and he had finally made up, though neither brother would say what happened.

‘What’s going to happen to you, Lady Kagome?” asked Rin, now a right thirteen year old. ‘Will you go to heaven?’

‘I don’t know Rin. Maybe.’ Kagome smiled at them, and turned again to the other two. ‘Kouga,’ she said, smiling as best she could. ‘I know you love me but…’

‘I know,’ he said, glancing quickly at Inuyasha. ‘Kagome, I’ll never stop loving you, even if you don’t return my feelings. Just try not to…never mind…’ and he turned around, not wanting to watch Kagome as she talked to the others.

‘Kikyo,’ she said. ‘We’ve never really…gotten to know each other, even when we were training, but I still want you to know that…you were a wonderful teacher and friend…take care of him, won’t you?’

Kikyo, not needing to ask who she was to take care of, said, ‘I will, Kagome. You were the best student I’ve had and if there had been more time…you would have been even better.’

Nodding Kagome turned to Inuyasha, who was looking at the ground. ‘Inuyasha,’ she said, and he looked up. Taking a deep breath for courage, she smiled at him and said, ‘I love you. Don’t forget that and don’t forget me.’

And without even waiting for him to reply, she ran into the woods that Naraku now hid in, waiting for her.

Inuyasha didn’t know how long he stood there, shocked at what she had said. It had been the exact thing he had been trying to say for quite a while.

‘Inuyasha,’ someone finally said, that someone being Kikyo. ‘We must move from this place. It is not safe to be standing here.’

‘Right,’ Inuyasha said, still slightly dazed. ‘Right…let’s move then.’

They left the barrier, wanting to get as far away as they could before whatever would happen happened. But they weren’t even half a mile away when an explosion ripped through the air from the direction they had just left. It was followed by three more, then a long scream, Naraku’s scream.

‘Is it over?’ asked Shippou, cowering in Sango’s arms.

‘No,’ the reply came from Kikyo and Sesshomaru. Kikyo nodded to him and went on, ‘We can still feel them, though they are faint now. It’ll be only moments before…’

Light shot up into the air, bright and pink. Then they all felt it. Something changed inside of them, something went missing.

And they heard a voice, the voice of the girl who was now dead, say, ‘I wish…for peace…and my loved ones to be safe…’ and then, so softly that only Inuyasha heard, ‘…and from them not to forget me…for my love Inuyasha not to forget me…’ (they had found out from Kikyo that it was possible to make more than one wish is the wisher had a strong enough will.)

Then there was a blinding flash of light, pure golden light, and the voice faded.

“Kagome!” Inuyasha woke with a start and sat up quickly. “Wha..? A…dream?” he fell back and stared up at the ceiling, sighing. “Why can’t these nightmares go away?”

It has been two and a half long years since the events that happened in Inuyasha’s nightmare. And only recently had he been having those dreams. Two months straight, what happened on that day, so long ago it seemed, had been the only thing that Inuyasha was able to dream about.

“Inuyasha?” asked a voice from the other room. “Are you alright?”

“Fine,” Inuyasha called back. “I’m fine, Kikyo. Are Sango and Miroku up yet?”

“We’re up,” Sango said, peeking into Inuyasha’s room, little Minira and Shen, her and Miroku’s beautiful children, in her arms. “Another dream?” she asked quietly.

Inuyasha nodded silently, poking Shippou in the side to wake him up. Inuyasha had started to notice that, since the…departure…of Kagome, his and Shippou’s relationship had only seemed to grow. Inuyasha knew that Shippou had looked to Kagome as a sort of mother figure, and knew, from what Kagome had told him years before, that Shippou looked at him as sort of an uncle…maybe even a second father.

“Come on, runt, get up.” Inuyasha poked him again,. Sango, smiling, went back into the other room to feed her two little one’s. “Come on, you want food or not?” Inuyasha asked, poking Shippou only a little harder.

“No…no…” Shippou muttered, still in a dream. “Inuyasha...stop it. Kagome…Kagome…make him stop. Kagome? Where…are you Kagome?”

Inuyasha’s eyes saddened and he stopped poking Shippou. Instead, he picked him up gently and set him in his lap gently before stroking his head slightly.

“Get up, Shippou. Kagome…isn’t here. There’s no one to protect you from evil, bit Inuyasha. You better get up and run away.”

But Shippou still slept on, muttering in sleep.

“Fine,” said Inuyasha. “Then I guess you won’t be getting your Christ-what’s it presents.”

A few years back, it seemed just like yesterday almost to Inuyasha, Kagome had come back through the well, brightly packaged boxes in hands. She had explained to them all what Christmas was, though none of them had really understood. Kagome, flustered at that point, had simply said that it had turned from a holiday into a reason to give and get things.

Shippou, who had been happily playing with his present, stopped and looked up at Kagome, tears coming into his eyes.

“I didn’t get you anything, though.” He said and started to cry.

Kagome, picking him up, gently pet him for a moment before she said, “You didn’t have to. I really didn’t expect any of you to get me anything, since I never told you about Christmas until now. Besides,” she said, smiling. “I don’t really like the idea of it being only about presents. I only did this because I thought you all might like something from my time to use. And also…” she glanced up at Inuyasha quickly before saying, “I think Christmas should be spent with the one’s you love.” She blushed hard, having just glanced back up at Inuyasha and seen him staring at her.

“Does that mean you love me?” asked Shippou, eyes shining from tears that had long been stopped.

Kagome laughed, her face becoming normal, though still a little pink from the cold weather. “Of course I love you Shippou, just like I love Sango, and Miroku, and Kirara, and…Inuyasha.” She blushed again and Sango and Miroku glanced at each other, knowing what was on the young girls mind.

“Ewwww,” cried Shippou, jumping out of Kagome’s arms and landing on Inuyasha’s head. “You love Inuyasha? Ewww.”

Smiling at the memory, Inuyasha said to the still sleeping Shippou, “I guess you really don’t want your presents.”

“Presents?” Shippou yelled, bounding up and out of Inuyasha’s arms. “Come on Inuyasha, there are presents!” and he ran into the other room, towards the door outside to look at the snow, and straight into Sesshomaru’s legs.

“Oh, uh…” Shippou stammered. Though he knew that Sesshomaru wouldn’t try and kill him anymore, he was still a little afraid of the dog demon. “He-hello Sesshomru-sama. Are…you here for Christmas to?”

She tall demon looked at the young fox and said, “Yes. Rin is waiting for you, make sure she does not get cold.” And he strode into the room, everyone else greeting him.

“Where’d you learn about this holiday thing from?” Inuyasha asked, sitting next to Miroku on the boys side of the fire, as Sesshomaru sat on Miroku’s other side. “I didn’t think you were into all of this crap.”

Squeals of excitement came from outside as Shippou and Rin, who were playing hide-and-go-seek with Jaken, more like push Jaken into a snow pile and pretend to look for him, ‘found’ him.

“Kagome-sama,” (Inuyasha was still surprised that his brother respected Kagome.) “Told Rin about it while she was in Kagome-sama’s care. She has told me about it and said she would like to visit you all for Chrustamus.”

Though he had gotten it’s name wrong, no one corrected him. No one felt like it really, and they knew that Sesshomaru would just ignore them if they did. Instead, they all watched as Minira and Shen, able to crawl, made their way over to Sesshomaru and started to climb onto his fluff and promptly fall asleep. Sango, who was a little worried that he wouldn’t like this, was surprised when all he did was gently tuck them in.

Inuyasha tried not to laugh as he said, “Who…who wants some breakfast?”

“It’s all ready,” Kikyo said in her quiet tone. “There’s enough for everyone to have as much as they want.”

Inuyasha, who’s feeling for Kikyo had almost disappeared after Kagome had said those three words to him so long ago, smiled at her and said, “Didn’t poison it, did you?”

Kikyo glared at him and said, “No, but I’ll poison your bowl just for the sake of it.”

They all laughed, except for Sesshomaru who was quiet, and started to get their food. Shippou, who had smelled the food, ran into the room with Rin and Jaken on his heals. Though the room was quite big, it was starting to get cramped in there. Shippou, sitting next to Inuyasha, was only amazed to see Minira and Shen on Sesshomaru, but the smell of food drove it from his mind the next second.

Rin, now sitting next to Sesshomaru, accepted a bowl from Kikyo and started to eat as well. She would usually have sat on Sesshomaru’s fluff, but, seeing the two cute babies there, she didn’t mind sitting on the floor.

Jaken, sitting next to Rin, also accepted a bowl from Kikyo before staring to eat as well. But the spoon wasn’t even all the way out of his mouth when Rin poked him, making him drop it and grab his side, keeping her from poking him again.

“Rin!” he cried in a hurt voice. “What was that for?”

But Rin only giggled with an innocent look on her face. The rest of their breakfast was quiet except for the slight rustle of clothing as Jaken grabbed his side again, seeing that Rin was moving closer. Since it was quiet, breakfast was one of the only times of day that it was, everyone, even Sesshomaru who was use to no noise, took that time to think about what they were going to do.

Miroku who, after his marriage to Sango, had stopped thinking about other women all together, thought: ‘Maybe I’ll take Sango over to the hot springs, have some fun with her again. We could always ask Inuyasha or Sesshomaru to look after the little ones. Never thought I’d be asking Sesshomaru to do that. But it has been quiet some time since Sango was able to have fun, what with Kagome-sama...gone.’

Sango who, after Kagome’s death and burying her brother, had only wanted to die herself until Miroku had proposed to her. Instead of thinking about that she though, ‘There must be something I can do. Even if he says it’s because he can’t, I know Inuyasha can go through the well, I’ve seen him. He needs to tell her family…they have a right to know. I can understand his grief, we all have it as well, but he needs to think of Kagome-chan’s family as well!’ sighing she took another bite and went to think on about how the others might react to her gifts.

Shippou, though now with another playmate in the form of Rin, was still a rather depressed little kitsun. Though he tried to shove the memory away, or at least not think about it every second of the day, Kagome’s death was almost always on his mind. It was only at the times that Inuyasha was truly acting nice to him that he felt happiness at all. But he had learned from the best, Inuyasha, to hide his feeling, even if Inuyasha could still tell he was doing it.

Now, his mind on his food, he though, ‘I wonder if Rin will like my gift? I had been hoping that they’d come by, so I’m glad I have a gift for her! But…would she have been happy even without a gift? Kagome…said that Christmas wasn’t all about the gifts, but about family and loved ones. Maybe Rin wouldn’t have cared if I didn’t get her anything…’ though he was still young, very young even in kitsun years, Shippou had become very smart. His complex thought, which might have made some of the others heads reel, were easy for him to understand. It was either that, or their heads would only spin because of kitsun child thoughts, and they weren’t smart at all.

Jaken, who had never really liked any of them before, had come to respect them, though only slightly. He even respected that bratty kitsun, Shippou, for all that he helped Rin torture him. His thought were simple at the moment, only really concentrating on his food and keeping Rin at a safe distance from his side. ‘Will that little brat stop? She’s even worse after that Miko child died! Mmm…this is good food though…ow! Brat, stop it!’ But he didn’t voice any of this, knowing his master wouldn’t like it.

Sesshomaru, who though quite a lot more then any of the others, had nothing to concentrate on as he didn’t eat human food. Instead he wondered, ‘Why does my brother insist on keeping that dead Mio around? She is of no use to us, besides to seek out the jewel shards once more for him. He is not as simple minded as I had thought, even though he will never be smart.’

After Kagome had made the wish on the Shikon no Tama, it had shattered once more. They had thought that it would simply disappear, but it did not. Kikyo had said that she thought that this might happen, but said that it’s power to grant wishes would be gone. Only the power to give power to one who holds even a shard would remain. They believed her, even though there was no proof. No, once again, they were on a quest to find the shards. This time, however, it had been easier, as not many a demon wanted to face down Inuyasha and his friends, the ones who had defeated Naraku…or so they thought…and who traveled with a priestess and Sesshomaru. No, most of the demons that did have a shard either ran for it or left it where it had been. Only humans had been stupid enough to keep any.

Kirara, even though she was a cat demon, had learned the language, though she could not speak it, of men. Her thoughts, though, were simple as she wasn’t able to place much of men’s words together into sentences. Her only thought was, ‘Mmm, this fish is good.’ It was simple, but more complex that most of her brethrens thoughts ever would get.

Rin, who had become use to these long periods of silence to think in, thought, ‘I wonder why Sesshomaru-sama wanted to come? Usually he would have only ignored me and Jaken-sama. I guess he liked the idea of gift giving or something. He’s so sweet! He hides his emotions so much, but I know he cares about Inuyasha-sama!’ she smiled and tried to poke Jaken again, but missed as he moved away to the side.

Kikyo, who was almost always quiet and thoughtful, had a lot to think about. Only a few years back, at around the time Kagome had died, had she really had any thought about staying with Inuyasha and his friends. Before that, she had only been around to teach Kagome to be a Miko. Kikyo, who at first thought that Kagome was a rather weak Miko, had soon found that that wasn’t the case. In fact, Kagome’s powers had been sleeping, dormant until they were needed. Kikyo had soon seen this and asked to join with Inuyasha and the others, but only to teach Kagome to be a Miko.

‘What?’ Kagome squeaked from the trees behind Inuyasha. ‘You want to do what with me?’

Inuyasha glanced over his shoulder. Kagome had been there the whole time? How much had she heard? By the way that she wasn’t looking at Inuyasha, she must have heard more than he would have liked.

‘Teach you,’ Kikyo replied, stepping to the side to get a proper view of Kagome. ‘You have power, a lot of power, and you do not know how to use it. If you do not learn to control these powers, you could purify Inuyasha, any demon that is close to you, without even trying.’

Kagome went pale. She hadn’t know that there was that much power inside of her! Or was Kikyo just pulling their legs? Trying to get closer to Inuyasha? As if she knew what Kagome had thought she suddenly laughed.

‘I will only be there to teach you. After that I will leave again, for a time at least.’ She watched Kagome’s face, looking for signs of denial.

‘But,’ Inuyasha asked, coming out of his shock. ‘We’re looking for the Shikon no Tama shards! How are we suppose to do that when Kagome out here being taught?’

‘What’s that suppose to mean?’ Kagome asked, tears coming into her eyes. ‘I’m still just a shard detector to you aren’t I?’

‘That’s not what I…’ Inuyasha started to say, but Kikyo cut him off with, ‘I will travel with you. It will be easier for her to learn if she is around those she knows. If I were to teach her away from you all she would be distracted and learn nothing.’

‘But I…’ Kagome said. But she found that she didn’t have any excuse to this. She sighed defeat and said, ‘Fine, I would love to be able to at least aim properly.’

Kikyo laughed lightly and turned back to Inuyasha before saying, ‘I will need a few days to prepare. You may keep moving on without me, I shall catch up.’ Then she was off into the trees, Inuyasha unable to follow because of the Soul Catchers blocking his way.

Now Kikyo was a full member of Inuyasha’s group, but for how long she did not know. She knew that the demon slayer, Sango, didn’t like her very much. Or that is, hadn’t liked her very much when they had first met. ‘She blames me for all of the times that Kagome-sama cried. It was not my fault that I one loved Inuyasha, and he I. I believe she has gotten over that, but I do not know. She seems not to mind me as much anymore, though I do find her eyes on me at times. And her monk of a husband seemed not to have like me either. I hope they have gotten over it, I may want to take Inuyasha’s life one day, but that will not be a day soon in coming.’ She filled Rin’s bowl back up as the small child asked for more, smiling at her.

Inuyasha, who sometimes didn’t like all of the quiet, not after what happened those years ago, thought, ‘Sesshomaru seems different. They all do. Even I do. I don’t love Kikyo anymore, I only care for her. And Shippou…he’s like a…a son to me. A little bratty son that is. I wonder why Kikyo is still here? She’d said she’d wanted to teach Kagome to be a Miko…and she did. Sango and Miroku, they’re so happy it seems. Have they forgotten what happened?’ But Inuyasha had seen the look in both of their eyes so many times, the look or sorrow and grief, he knew that he was wrong. ‘No, they think of her a lot to. Kagome…why couldn’t you have waited for us to help you? Why? We could have won without you dieing! Kagome…I never got to tell you I loved you. You told me and I just stood there like an idiot.’ He sighed silently and finished his food. Cleaning it, he heard a noise form out side and smelled a familiar scent.

He was out the door in a second, looking around and calling into the trees, ‘Kagome! Kagome?” but no one answered.

“Inuyasha!” called Sango who was at the door of the hut. “What is it?” she looked worried.

Inuyasha slowly made his way over to her, searching the trees for any sign of the departed girl. “It’s Kagome,” he said. “I just smelled her. And I thought I heard her out here to.”

“Inuyasha,” Sango said, worry in her eyes. “Kagome-chan is…”

“I know what she is!” Inuyasha almost yelled, but the thought of the young one’s inside stopped him. “But I also know what I just smelled and heard! It was Kagome, I know it was!”

“But, Inuyasha think about it. It must have been from the dream. You were thinking about it and thought that you smelled her. It must have been that. Now come back inside and lets open our presents.” She turned around and stopped. There, on the side of the hut, was a pile of brightly wrapped packages, like the ones she had seen Kagome bring before.

“What is it, Sango?” Inuyasha asked. She pointed and he looked, spotted the gifts, and smirked at Sango. “Part of the dream?” he asked.

Sango frowned and said, “They must be from Sesshomaru. Or someone in the hut.”

“No one,” Inuyasha said, taking a step towards the packages. “Has paper like that here, and you know it.”

“Then explain to me why no one else smelled her.” Sango, in great denial at the moment, was now torn. She wanted it to be true, that Kagome was really back, but then again she didn’t. What if she was like Kikyo? Dead, needing souls to live, and only wanting to kill Inuyasha? It wouldn’t be the Kagome she knew and she didn’t want that.

“Maybe they did and just didn’t say anything.” Inuyasha said, gathering up the packages into his arms. “Shippou is still young and doesn’t use his nose properly, and my brother…well, he’s my brother, nothing excites him.”

Suddenly they heard a mewing from behind them and there was Kirara, sniffing about in the snow. She mewed again and trotted over to Sango, something in her mouth.

“What is it?” Sango asked, reaching down to take whatever it was out of Kirara’s mouth. Suddenly she gasped. “Inuyasha…look…” she said slowly.

“What is it?” he asked, turning around. He almost dropped the gifts when he saw what was in her hand.