Never After by Aura

A Past Lost

Kagome ducked away from the line of energy that cut across the field where she’d been shooting arrows, despite the distance she’d barely managed to dodge the attack with Shippou clinging to her nervously himself. She frowned at the fact that her hair was a little shorter and clips of it had fallen around her in nerve wracking proof of just how close that attack had come.

They hadn’t expected an attack so soon after Naraku’s defeat and she was still drained from her wish and purifying the jewel. The rest of the team seemed to be fairing better, though she’d seen Miroku take a hit early on and as the wind tunnel was gone now he wouldn’t be as much of a danger to any enemies.

“Stay down Kagome!” She heard Inuyasha call after her disappearance but she couldn’t help but peek back over the edge. Her eyes going wide at the field of battle.

Trees had been completely uprooted and tossed about the forest thanks to the windscar but the demon that had attacked them had stopped the massive attack with a single hand. Though his arm seemed heavily burned almost up to the shoulder he didn’t have pain on his face.

The demon had cut his dark hair short, a strange thing to see as almost all demons she’d seen in the past had possessed either long hair or almost no hair at all, even if they pulled it back in a ponytail. He was of average height and had a only slightly muscular build. His clothing was tattered after he’d been hit by the wind scar but previously had been a kimono of rich quality. He didn’t wear a sword but when he struck with his claws lines of energy cut at his foes even at great distances. She’d already learned that his aim was rather accurate even at the far distance and didn’t want to stand until she saw an opening.

He hadn’t spoken at all despite several questions and demands, frowning now at his sizzling arm before gesturing at Inuyasha and breaking that trend. “I’ll return for you child of the dog lord, and for the priestess. Do be a good mutt and stay put in the meantime.”

Then he simply vanished and she frowned some, the man was obviously strong and could keep fighting, then she blinked in shock as she turned her eyes back to Inuyasha.

He’d been frozen in black stone like living onyx, pulling his sword up from his attack and preparing it again, likely about to charge given the aggressive expression captured on his face.

Kagome screamed his name and moved to dash to her friend only to see him crumble away into black ashes...

"Inuyasha!"Kagome sat upright, eyes wide as she woke from the nightmare, her skin sweaty and cold from the fear that accompanied her vision. She swallowed hard to try to fight the dryness that had crept into her throat, eyes seeking to take in the darkness only broken by an occasional ray of ashen moonlight. Wherever she was now, it wasn’t close to the battlefield, the only other person here was Kirara, not that she actually counted as a person really. The small cat canting it’s head at her with a cute trill of concern.

She didn’t actually remember Inuyasha fading to dust when he was turned into a statue but the rest of the nightmare had been more like reliving a vivid memory. She couldn’t remember much after it, she could vaguely recall feeling dizzy then nothing.

“I’m okay Kirara.” She confirmed for the concerned look the cat continued to give her. “Did I faint? How’d we get here?”

The cat moved a bit, fire curling around it as it grew into a larger form. She growled a little and floated a moment in the air before landing and returning to her smaller form and hopping onto Kagome’s lap.

“So we flew.” Kagome reasoned, pushing herself up while holding the cat in one arm, comforted by the familiar creature even if she couldn’t communicate with her well. “What happened to the others?”

A second worried trill came from the cat’s chest and she stared at Kagome. The girl sighing a little. “I see, we’ll have to look for them soon then. Do you think they could be up here somewhere?”

The noise she got that time she wasn’t sure what the cat meant but she pushed herself to her feet so she could look around. Wincing at an unexpected pain in her ankle and nearly falling over, catching herself on a desk nearby barely. Her ankle held a large nasty looking bruise and the best she could imagine is that she must have twisted it somehow when she feinted.

She’d been laying on her blanket but the floor here was otherwise tile covered in dust so thick she could make out a small set of animal like footprints and other disturbances even in the poor lighting, likely signs of her friend putting her here and moving things around. She did find her backpack nearby and dug out a flashlight. Pushing it into the on position she had to squint a moment in the change of lighting. Jumping as she saw her slight reflection in a ivy tinted glass window. One of the only in this room that seemed to have survived however long it’d been sense someone lived here last.

The room was once grand, the tiled floor now covered in dust and debris blown through the broken windows near the one still in a single piece. The place overlooked a grand valley, and she could see for several miles with small gatherings of lights serving as signs of villages. She frowned a bit, how she’d gotten up so high she couldn’t know, but lingering near the window wouldn’t help. She picked up her backpack and walked over to a old desk, running fingers along the dusty surface, the still smooth wood a testament to quality.

“Where am I exactly?” She thought with a frown as she tugged at the desk drawers, though finding nothing but more dust she closed them again. Leaping backward and then falling to her butt as she put weight on the already tender leg. Wincing from the fall as well as her ankle and glaring at the small part of the old drawer that had fallen free and frightened her. She hadn’t noticed at all there was a fake bottom in the drawer but the aged wood cracked when she’d gone to close it and it’d come free.

Kirara let out a squeak of protest after she’d been dropped unceremoniously to the floor during Kagome’s small leap away. Kagome held a hand over her heart to try to stop the pounding sending the two tailed cat an apologetic look. Though the secret bottom of the desk only held a small leather bound tomb, like a book, which made her raise an eyebrow, scrolls were normally the only things people kept records on in this time. The yellowed pages were a good sign it had been here a long time and she picked it up carefully, setting it on the floor in front of her and coughing at the dust.

A few sneezes from the cat and Kirara relocated herself to the other side of the room while a paw rubbed at her nose.

“I’m sorry.” Kagome offered another small sheepish glance at the cat, she hadn’t personally spent a lot of time with the friendly pet-like demon of Sango’s even if she’d always considered her the cutest thing. “I just...well, I’m curious. No one must have looked at this in ages. Perhaps it could help us.”

She carefully undid the leather latch, surprised at how well it’d kept up, perhaps being in the confined space for so long had done a lot to keep it preserved. She didnt actually see any plants growing here so there must have been something strange going on for it to seem so old without any overgrowth. Some sort of spell or barrier to keep the place preserved she would guess.

Opening the cover she eyed the older styled japanese quietly, it was difficult to make out but she could read it with a bit of effort and the aid of her flashlight.

“I am not one to normally record my thoughts in such a manner, however, I begin this as a suggestion from Natsumashia. Not that I’ll let her know, it is more something I plan to hold for Sesshomaru...”

She paused in her reading, she knew she’d read the name correctly. Though she re-read the first passage several times to make certain she hadn’t gotten things wrong. She frowned a little, it had to be the same Sesshomaru, who else would name their child that? So was this a journal kept by their father then?

She swallowed at the strange discovery and read on.

“...it is more something I plan to hold for Sesshomaru until such a time as I feel it would help him to read my thoughts and motives as a ruler.”

“He and I continue to argue as to his sense of duty. It is something where I wonder if we’ve reached a complete impasse. Where I used to consider him with all the pride I could hold for my eldest child, his lack of feeling toward the humans has become intolerable. He fails to understand that we must learn to survive with them if we are to continue to be.”

“I should have likely been less hard on him, though I find it harder to discuss anything with him all the time. He’s long past being a mere pup and has entered the stage of being stubborn to a fault. His pride, is his biggest weakness, it always has been. I’d like to say he gets it completely from his mother, but I am to fault as well.”

“For the centuries we’ve spent being parents, we taught him all he’d need to survive in a demon’s world but waited far to long to try to impose a sense of morality. He is an exceptional swordsman, a gifted caster, tactician, and craftsman when he takes the time to work with such means. He’s retained the best and worst of both Natsumashia and I. For he is indifferent to the world around him and does not realize that he will require something worth fighting for to hold true strength. It is our own fault, we spent so long developing his natural gifts that we forgot to nurture anything else and he developed his own thoughts on what is right and what is not.”

“He thankfully, despite his pride, he hasn’t yet realized he could already defeat me. If he truely desired; he likely could have done so likely a century ago. I am no weakling, but the manner of power Sesshomaru truly possesses is even beyond his understanding.”

“Instead he grows steadily more distracted with retaining my weapons after my death, I’m not entirely certain why. Though it’s a mixed blessing and curse, it leaves me some time with which to try to show him the path he needs to understand if he is to survive. I must hope at least some of his hesitation in defeating me in the old way of taking the lands of one’s father is more than a lack of faith he’d be capable of it.”

“Kagome!?” The call drew her away from the fascinating read and she closed it carefully, replacing the latch and putting it in her bag.

“I’m here!” She called back as she busied herself with putting the journal away, she had to keep reading it, she was certain now that it was Inuyasha’s fathers and couldn’t pass up  

“What happened Sango?” Kagome asked, interrupting the tender moment. “I just remember...”

“Inuyasha being turned to stone yeah.” Sango nodded with a frown replacing the smile of moments before. “Though Hachi thinks if we kill the demon that did it to him it will change him back to normal. After the demon turned Inuyasha all of us but the demons with us passed out. Shippou and Hachi helped with us and Kirara helped carry you away. We awoke in different places but I’m glad I found you.”

“I just woke up myself.” Kagome commented with a frown as her fears about Inuyasha were confirmed. “We’ll have to try to find him soon then. If we don’t at least hide the statue the man could come back for it as he said.”

“Yeah.” Miroku caught up and entered the room with Shippou on his shoulder and the racoon demon trailing not far behind. “We probably shouldn’t linger...but if you’re injured Kagome, you should wait here. This place seems rather sturdy and with your arrows and bow you should be safe enough if we need to come back. We’re going to make a few sweeps of the countryside, if we can find the demon then perhaps we won’t even need to carry Inuyasha back somewhere safe.”

“Just be careful.” Kagome frowned a little, wanting to go but knowing he was right, the injury to her leg would only slow them down. “And quick...this place is sort of creepy.”

“We’ll be back before you know it.” Shippou answered bravely. “That jerk won’t get away with this. I’ll get him with my fox fire.”

“Right.” Sango smiled at the boy and nodded to Kirara, the cat jumping free of her arms and with another wave of fire took her larger war form. “If anything happens just shoot a holy arrow from the window and we can rush back.”

“I think I’ll be okay.” Kagome answered honestly with a nod to her friends. “You need to be more careful than me.”

“We will be.” Miroku answered with a nod. “Shippou you take the furthest areas out, Sango and Kirara can stay closer to here and I’ll take more of the middle ground with Hachi.”

“Right.” Shippou’s form changed as he rushed out and lept into the sky, floating off toward the distance. The others following not long after him left Kagome to watch them moving off into the sky and then frowning at her inability to help.

She didn’t want to dwell on it, she knew worrying wouldn’t do her or Inuyasha much good, they’d fix him and that’s that. Instead she pulled back out the journal carefully and continued her reading. It would at least distract her from the danger they were in. She opened the page and tried to push the concerns from her mind as she found the last place she’d left off. She’d finished what she could make out of the first passage so she moved to the second.

“Sesshomaru and I fought again today, he is growing less patient of my tolerance of the human attacks of our people. He mistakes my desire for peace as weakness, my not wanting to aggravate the situation with counter attacks as fleeing from my duty and hiding away. But I cannot let vengeance risk the small amount of progress we’ve made.”

“He isn’t aware that some of the demons have begun to integrate into the mortal society, a select few have even taken mates amongst them. He and Natsumashia only tolerate my actions they say because they figure after some time I’ll get over my cowardice or insanity. Both of them I wonder if I’ll ever be able to convert to my way of thinking.”

“I must leave soon to meet with one of the local rulers and his daughter, to discuss with them our hopes for peace and with some luck we can reach an agreement that helps both of us live in peace instead of this growing discord.”

“Natsumashia?” Kagome repeated the name to herself. “It’s not Inuyasha’s mother...so is it Sesshomaru’s then? This is before their father ever met Izayoi then?”

She considered in surprise a moment as she carefully re-read the passage a second time to nod to herself, assuming that had to be the case. Eyes pausing her reading to look around the room before turning the page after being satisfied everything was fine in the area.

“The meeting was surprising, the king of the lower provinces hadn’t been able to personally attend but his daughter met with me. Princess Izayoi. She was lovely, graceful, intelligent, and most importantly gentle. She desires peace as aptly as I do.”

“I was insulted at first they would send a woman, given in their society the sex is treated as lesser. Though as I realized how intelligent she was I grew more complacent. She was a pillar of etiquette and the plan to integrate demons willing to live in human communities slowly into their world was bold but something I could very likely work with.”

“I am still uncertain of the second plan. I know that it would hurt Natsuumashia. Breeding with her myself would leave a high ranking noble as a half-demon that we could both teach to protect the people. What better way however to unite our peoples than showing that we could exist together in harmony?”

“It is a proposition I have to consider carefully. If we are wary no one need know I was the one that fathered the pup and hopefully everyone can grow from it’s base. I realize the actions are extreme but the seers all know that the future will not include us if we do not learn how to blend into the mortals world. No one will listen to them so they’ve gotten much more quiet but I cannot forget their whispered words and I see the destruction humans have begun to wreck upon the weaker of our kind.”

Kagome leaned back after the third page, realizing she’d been bending close in anticipation of the words to come and shook her head in disbelief as she looked at the book again. She was holding the journal of Inuyasha and Sesshomaru’s father before Inuyasha was born. It could be a fake? But what would the point in that be?

Inuyasha’s father had always been shrouded in such mystery. She’d never thought much on why he would have left Sesshomaru’s mother or why he favored Inuyasha so much over Sesshomaru. Would he have really purposely had Inuyasha in an attempt to stop a war? What could have happened to ruin his plans? She knew that Inuyasha’s mother had died when he was young and that she’d been attacked by the man called Takemaru. But little else, Sesshomaru had apparently known more about that time than any of them but he wasn’t exactly friendly. Did he not know what had occured with his father then?

She had closed the journal for now and was slipped it away, looking over the horizon for her friends as she considered the endless implications just the few passages she’d read had put forward. A frown creased her entire expression, this just made her more concerned. Even if she’d found this journal, what else could it hold that she may have been better off not knowing.

“Kagome?” The deep voice was unmistakable and she turned her head toward it in shock. Eyes widening at the demon lord she’d just been reading bits about. He still held the strongest demonic aura she’d ever sensed and his father’s words about his power haunted her as she met his golden eyes. “Why are you here? Shouldn’t Inuyasha be watching after you?”

“Inuyasha’s...” She frowned, wincing as she tried to use the side of the desk to stand but still put a little weight on her bad ankle. “We were attacked after the battle with Naraku and he’s been turned to stone. Why are you here?”

“This palace is mine. I’m alerted when people enter unannounced.” He stated coolly, his expression never changing as he watched her struggle to her feet.

“Useless girl.” Jaken came around from behind his lord’s leg wagging his staff at Kagome as he chided her. “My Lord has more important things to do than be checking on humans that can’t take care of themselves. Leave this place at once, you...”

“Jaken.” Sesshomaru interrupted with the smallest change of tone that alerted the imp to be silent. “This demon, what did it do?”

Kagome watched the exchange warily. She’d hoped that after they’d defeated Naraku together and Sesshomaru had helped to defend her while they battled in his body that the demon lord would have taken more of a warmth to her. It seemed like it wasn’t a good idea to go with that plan.

“We were on our way back and he came out of no where, he was fast, almost as fast as you actually.” She stated as she remembered, thinking about it. “Inuyasha and the rest of us were pushing him back but he blocked a wave of the wind scar with his bare hand. It burned him but otherwise he seemed fine. He told Inuyasha to stay, that he was going to return for him, and for me.”

“What did he look like?” Sesshomaru pressed, seeming a bit more considerate than before.

“He had short black hair, dark brown eyes that were almost black, and wore a black and gray kimono before it was ripped up in the battle. Otherwise I guess he was fairly average. I didn’t get the best looks at him. Whenever he clawed at something lines of energy erupted from his hands at his target. Sort of like Inuyasha’s Blades of Blood, but without blood.”

“I see.” Sesshomaru glanced past her out the window. “Come, this place will not remain safe for long. He is likely already near here looking for a way into the ancestral estate.”

“Um...what do you mean?” Kagome hobbled a step forward but stopped once she didn’t have the desk to help her. “I can’t just leave everyone not knowing where I am. You know this demon?”

“I believe I recognize the clan.” Sesshomaru commented, walking toward her with a sigh and lifting her from the ground, backpack and all in a single arm. “If what you say is true, Inuyasha is lost to you, you would to well to concern yourself less with him and more with yourself. They will be after you if they state such.”

Kagome didn’t get a chance to ask what he meant, light enveloped them and she felt herself grow too dizzy to keep a grasp of conversation as they moved away from the ledge without falling.