Disclaimer: Inuyasha is created and owned by Rumiko Takahashi.
Chapter 1: Night of the Youkai Raid
The sun had long set and men could be heard returning to their homes after a day in the fields and a few drinks at the inn. The sound of their conversations and hearty laughter fell on deaf ears to those in the one room hut. In this moment, the soft crackling of a fire and the silence of an untold story were the only sounds heard by the two women.
Kaede looked upon the young woman whose head rested upon her bent legs. Her aged hands swept dark locks of hair away from Kagome’s face. Kagome continued to watch sparks of fire float up, disappearing into darkness. However, before her unfocused eyes only figures with familiar faces could be seen dancing among the flames.
The moment I saw ye walking in from the West, I noticed ye eyes, once unguarded, now held a hardness. I could tell ye were hardly the child I once knew many years ago. Wielding an aura that only the most powerful miko ever possessed; ye walked like a warrior… and there, worn around ye neck, was the Shikon no tama. Kaede glanced at the jewel that still hung from a chain around Kagome’s neck, her gaze drifting up toward the silent tears falling from sapphire eyes. Her adopted granddaughter’s bottom lip quivered.
“Now, child,” Kaede stroked Kagome’s hair, “what has caused ye heart such sadness?” No immediate answer was forthcoming and Kaede began to wonder if Kagome had even heard her, but then her thin fingers tightened around the red sash clutched to her chest- a single, white cherry blossom embroidered on the end.
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Eight years ago their tiny farming village was attacked by a horde of demons unlike any seen before. I t wasn’t uncommon for farm animals to be targeted by youkai in the form of wild beasts, but on that night they had been lead by a hanyou. A creature, human in features and carrying half-youkai blood was unheard of, but he would never be forgotten.
Kagome was only eleven but images of that night burned brightly in her memory. She lay curled on a futon next to her younger brother. Souta already snored softly, but she was finding it difficult to surrender to sleep. The entire village had spent the day celebrating the end of harvest with a festival. She had ridden on her father’s broad shoulders as they walked past stall after stall in the market. Souta was latched firmly to her mother’s hip and her older sister, Kikyou, walked between them all. The family shared free treats they received from vendors, danced to neighbors playing music, and played games with the other children. During this time of year the streets were more alive, before everyone was forced to settle down for the cold winter weather.
In the evening, a performance was put on retelling the story of a wicked youkai. A man wearing a mask with a horse mane attached for unruly hair ran through the audience. Children squealed and parents hid knowing chuckles behind their hands. This year Kagome was especially proud. Her father was playing the role of the brave fisherman who at the end of the play slays the demon with his harpoon. During the big fight scene, she cheered until the demon lay on the stage lifeless. When all the actors took their bows, the audience applauding, her blue eyes shone like the stars above.
After the play, Kagome’s mother took her and Souta home, and tucked them under blankets in the back room of their hut. Even though her eyelids grew heavier, she was able to catch the whispered conversation from the front room. Lady Kaede, the village miko, had come to speak with Kikyou.
In front of the fire, Kikyou poured tea. “Lady Kaede, you feel it too, don’t you?” Kikyou asked.
“Hai.” The elder miko replied between sips.
Kikyou’s voice expressed concern, “Something is coming to the village tonight. We should tell her. She may be able to better protect the jewel.”
“No, child. It is best she knows nothing. If she were told, I am afraid it could trigger her sealed powers. The jewel would then be detectable to any demon.”
Kikyou remained silent. She remembered the day of Kagome’s birth. She had been studying under Kaede for a couple years and was with her when she helped her mother through labor. The moment Kagome was born and taking her first breaths, Kikyou had seen the startled expression on Kaede’s face. If she had not noticed Kaede’s reaction, she still would have felt what caused it. From this tiny baby radiated an immense holy power.
Kikyou helped her mother clean up while Kaede took Kagome into another room to be washed and clothed. When she returned, all power that had been felt by the two miko had vanished. Kagome now held the presence of a normal baby.
It wasn’t until sometime later that the strange occurrence was explained to Kikyou. Her baby sister had been chosen by a higher power to protect of the Shikon no tama. That’s what an ancient prophecy told of anyway. Kaede had sealed her holy powers while they were still underdeveloped in order to protect her and the jewel. The elderly woman worried that if her powers grew, so would the energy emitted from it. She would never know she was a miko and it was up to them to guard her and her secret possession.
“Tonight, it is up to us to ward off any evil that may come…” Kagome never heard the rest of the conversation before succumbing to sleep.
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Kagome was startled awake by her mother shaking her, “Kagome, Souta, wake up!” All remnants of sleep were cleared from her eyes when she and her brother were urgently pulled by their arms toward the far corner of the room. The distressed woman then slid open the door to a small cupboard and began clearing out its contents.
Kagome looked up into her mother’s face; she was terrified and breathing heavily, “Mama, what are you doing?”
The woman continued to grab and frantically toss sheets and yukata on the floor around them. From outside the hut came an unfamiliar roaring, alarmed voices and screams. Something wasn’t right. When the small storage space was empty, Souta was forced into the tiny space. She then moved to grab Kagome.
“Mama…” Kagome felt her heart squeezed by fear.
“Shh, baby.” She chided in a hushed voice. “Stay with your brother.” Kagome didn’t have time to protest as she was squeezed in too and the door was closed.
The door remained open a crack and she watched as her mother hurried to the front room where Kikyou doused the fire with a bucket of water and her father rummaged through a storage chest.
Just as her father pulled out an old katana, the straw mat covering the hut’s entrance was pushed aside and in walked a man, waves of wild hair cascading down his back. His features were handsome, but his eyes bled red and he wore a crazed grin that exposed sharp teeth.
Her mother screamed, collapsing to the ground and clinging to the back of her father’s haori. Carnivorous eyes focused on her sister. “It seems I have found you, miko,” the intruder cooed.
Kikyou instantly rose and began drawing an arrow from the quiver slung around her shoulder. Before she was able to notch the arrow, a clawed hand grabbed the bow, snapping it in half and tossing it to the floor. The young miko was unprepared for the sudden setback and was distracted. In a flash of movement faster than Kagome’s eye could see, Kikyou was pinned to the wall by the force of the intruder’s body.
Now that his back was turned, Kagome’s father took the opportunity to attack. Unsheathing his rusted katana, he charged while bellowing an impressive battle cry. What followed happened so quickly that Kagome hardly had time to process it before she herself bolted into action.
The man spun around to face the assault. Kagome’s mother screamed as he gripped the blade, slicing his clawed hand in the process. A boot clad foot pushed her father off balance. The katana was flipped so that the assailant had a hold of the hilt and then was plunged into her father’s chest. Strange purple waves flowed from one end of the sword and into her father. This time the brave fisherman would not walk away from battle. He stopped moving instantly and the blade was removed, allowing him to fall.
Again Kagome’s mother prepared to scream out but her inhalation was cut short as the sword’s blade cut across her throat. She swayed back and forth where she sat before toppling forward. Neck craned sideways, her lifeless eyes stared at Kagome.
Time stopped for the two girls who witnessed their parents’ deaths. Neither could believe they would no longer walk the ear th and breathe the air. Kikyou was the first to recover. Picking up one of her discarded arrows from around her feet, filling it with as much holy power as she could, she stabbed their parents’ murderer in the back. He chuckled, “Miko, you have something I want.”
Kagome couldn’t lose her sister too; she had to help. She began crawling out from her hiding place, but before she was on her feet, Souta grabbed the hem of her sleeping yukata, “Kagome!”
Kagome turned to her brother, “Be quiet, Souta. Stay here.”
“What’s happening?”
Their eyes met and lingered before she spoke again, “I will come back. Wait for me.” Kagome pulled free of Souta and slid the cupboard shut.
Kagome made for the other room where Kikyou was backhanded and lost her footing. There was a sickening crack as the side of her head slammed against the edge of the open chest. The murderer bent down to her motionless body.
“No!” Kagome cried and scratched at the man’s face. Irritated, he grabbed a fistful of her long hair and threw her across the floor.
Stunned and holding the tender spot on her head, Kagome looked up at the man. His eyes sparked with interest when their gazes met. “What do we have here?” He grabbed her chin firmly, tilting her face upward for his examination. In the darkness fearful sapphire eyes glittered with unshed tears. “Such a pretty face… and such unusual eyes… You could be of some use to me.”
Kagome began to struggle away from him but he already had a hold on her small wrist. With little effort Kikyou’s unconscious body was hoisted on to his other shoulder and they were dragged outside. Kagome glanced back and saw her parents lying in pools of their own blood.
Once outside in the cool night air, the source of the roaring became apparent. All around fire devoured the village. Long arms seemed to reach up from the blazing buildings, grabbing for the stars. Demons ran around setting fire to the huts and stables. People tried to escape carrying children, men fought demons with farm tools, only to die.
Weathering her initial shock at her surroundings, Kagome realized there was a slow growing distance between her and the ground. Under her feet was a swirling cloud composed of the same purple substance she had seen flowing through her father’s sword. She began to twist and turn away from the man’s grasp again.
It was no use; he had a hold of her and he wasn’t going to budge. Kagome cried out in frustration, allowing her tears to fall freely, “Kikyou, wake up!” Kikyou only hung from his shoulder like a ragdoll. Fresh blood now flowed from the wound she received from falling on the chest. Kagome dug her blunt teeth into the man’s wrist only causing him to laugh at her mockingly.
Someone called to Kagome from below. When she looked back she saw they were now well above the hut roofs. Lady Kaede. They looked at each other hopelessly. The elder miko lowered her bow and arrow. If she were to shot now, she ran the risk of him dropping both girls.
The higher they climbed into the night sky, the further Kagome’s hope of escaping diminished. She could see the fire was out of control now; there would be no stopping it. She felt the heat from its flames lick at her face. The village would burn.
Then, the traveling cloud they stood upon began to engulf them. Its gassy substance choked Kagome’s lungs. Whatever she was breathing in was causing her to part ways with consciousness. Before losing the battle against darkness, out of the corner of her eye, red contrasting with the dark night caught Kagome’s attention. For years Kagome would wonder if what she saw were real or an illusion of the miasma.
On the forest’s edge perched on the branch of a towering tree was a man donning a red fire-rat hakama. However it was not his silver hair or the puppy-dog ears perched atop his head that struck her as peculiar, but rather his amber eyes. He watched as she and Kikyou were stolen away into the starry sky, a sea of fire sending them off from below.
Kagome fell unconscious.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Naraku walked into the geisha house with a sleeping Kagome in his arms. The okaa-san looked startled upon his midnight arrival but she was never one to turn him away. She knew better. The matured woman led him to a room in which he could lay his bounty down on an empty futon.
He planned to sell her for a small sum of yen. “I have brought you a potential.”
Studying Kagome’s face, she said, “I see nothing special. This one may be pretty but I have plenty of beautiful girls here.”
“Her eyes,” he grinned knowingly.
The okaa-san was taken aback by his remark. She glanced at the girl’s closed eyes and back at him.
Naraku peeled back Kagome’s eyelids with his clawed fingers. The woman could hardly hold back her surprise and gasped. Eyes of water. Remarkable…
He waited for the woman to speak.
The girl would be a unique asset to her geisha house. Her frame seemed to be of the right shape and her features were undeniably pleasing at such a young age. A potential, indeed… She could not allow him to leave with her tonight so she asked, “How much?”
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A throbbing in her temple aroused Kikyou. Her eyes hadn’t yet adjusted to the lack of light but she could tell she was laying on moldering tatami mats. The moisture had seeped into her clothes. Now searching the room, she was startled when she saw her capture and a ghostly-looking girl sitting across the room from her.
He no longer wore a sadistic grin. “You are sure she is not the one?”
“She is not, my lord. She does not possess the Shikon no tama,” his young companion replied. To Kikyou, the girl hardly looked alive.
“Pity…”
“Then you will release me if I do not possess what you seek.” Kikyou said.
Naraku stood and chuckled, “I can still use you for other things.”
Kikyou could only glare at her capturer’s back as he and the child exited the room. “Wait,” she called, “my sister, where is she?”
Another grin displayed his pointed teeth, “That pretty little thing? I sold her off.”
The shouji door was shut, leaving Kikyou alone in the dark room. Their footsteps disappeared into silence and she laid her head back on to the damp tatami. Her only comfort was in knowing that Kagome had escaped this monster.