Evolution of a Taiyoukai

By Danyealle

(FanFiction/MF/angst)

Chapter 20

Warily, Kikyo kept glancing between the pathway to Edo and keeping an eye on Kagome and Sesshomaru.  When she saw them hop into the well she found a place to sit for a few.  After waiting about 10 minutes or so she checked the well.  When she saw they weren’t in it, she relaxed then began waling to Edo.  Though she was a bit more relaxed she was still on her toes.  Yes, Sesshomaru was the biggest threat but he wasn’t the only one. She had been around for a day or so and knew about the wolves that were around the village and that there were a couple of Sesshomaru’s men there as well.  Once she to a certain point, just before where she knew the guards walked, she stopped.  Instead of going on herself, she wasn’t sure if anyone would try to stop her or not, she sent her soul collectors on.  Sure, they guards would detect their demonic aura but it was weak enough that she hoped they would ignore it.  No, they weren’t to go into the village proper, she just wanted Inuyasha to see them so he would know she was close and wanted to talk to him.

While her collectors attended to their mission, she found a comfortable place to sit and wait.

~~~~~@~~~~~

Inuyasha was perched in a tree, dozing off and on, when he caught a glimpse of Kikyo’s eel-like demons.  After a quick look around to make sure no one else saw them or was paying attention, he slid out of the tree then gave chase.

Following the low-level demons like a bloodhound on a scent trail, he found her quickly enough.  After giving her a kiss and nuzzling his mating mark, he settled on the ground by her.

Immediately, she jumped in with both feet, questioning him about the battle with Naraku and what had happened to her reincarnation.

Knowing she had a reason for asking, he went through everything in minute detail, including not only his point of view but what everyone else had said they saw as well.  When he got to the part about Kagome crossing over Kikyo kept stopping him to ask questions or have him repeat something over.  When he was done with that part Inuyasha admitted that he probably didn’t know all of it.  He explained that Sesshomaru probably had a more complete picture of what happened and that Kagome herself couldn’t remember much of anything about the incident, that since the event her memory of it had faded almost completely.

Once the hanyou finished with the tale, Kikyo sat there, quiet, with a far away look on her face.  Her mind was piecing together what she had been told and just what it could mean.  Once she had mulled that over to the best of her ability, she began to question him about the after effects, such as her injuries and any increase in her powers.

As with the other part, he went over what he knew in as much detail as he could, starting with her power boost.  The injury portion of the discussion was the part that took the most time to explain.

Once he was done, Kikyo looked down at the ground, silent.  While her mind pieced together what was said she thought about the decision she had made.  By now she had all the information she needed but she wanted more.  After about 15 minutes of silence she asked, “Is Sesshomaru still planning to kill me on sight?”

Giving her a quizzical look, Inuyasha shook his head.  “No. That decision is now Kagome’s.  Whatever she wants he’ll abide by.  Why?  You know I wouldn’t let him hurt you.  I might not be able to beat him but I can make sure you have time to get away.”  He told her confidently.

Ignoring that last part, she pressed on.  “I want you to arrange something for me.”

“Sure, anything.  You know that.”

“I want to talk to Kagome alone.  You need to arrange that for me.”  She demanded softly.

Blowing out a puff of air, Inuyasha shook his head.  “I don’t know if I can do that.  Sesshomaru sticks to her like he’s her second skin.  I don’t know if I could even get through him to ask her.  Then there is Kagome herself.  I’m not sure she would agree to talk to you.  She’s changed a bit and I’m not sure she would even listen to me once I asked her.”

Expecting that, Kikyo nodded.  “I understand that nor can I blame her really.  When you ask just make sure she knows that this talk will be the last time I will trouble her in any way, shape or form.  I just want some answers that only she can give me.  Once I get those I can move on with peace of mind.”

That statement stunned the usually loud-mouthed hanyou into silence.  He was pretty sure, even as thick as he could be at times, what it meant.  “Kikyo…” was all he managed to stutter out in an uneven voice.

Shooting him a firm look, she asked, ignoring what she knew his question was, “Will you at least try to arrange it?”

“Yeah, I’ll give it a shot.”  He whispered, wide-eyes locked on her.

Standing up, she brushed off her clothes.  “Try to take care of it quickly please.  I’m sure Naraku has something up his sleeve.  The quicker this happens the better equipped all of you are going to be when it comes to dealing with it.”  She told him then vanished into the woods.

~~~~~@~~~~~

After she left all Inuyasha could do was stare at the place where she had disappeared into the trees.  Leg bouncing, he could feel his guts roil and knot up.  His heart was hammering in his chest and he had a sinking feeling of dread.  No, she hadn’t come right out and said it in so many words but it did very much sound like, at least to him, that Kikyo’s time on earth was coming to an end.  It also very much sounded like she was the one that had made that choice and was going to be the one that was going to bring it about.

Stressed out and agitated, his mind raced in a hundred directions at once.  But it all kept circling back to one thought: he was going to be left alone in the world once more.  Kagome was lost to him forever now Kikyo probably would be soon as well.  Realistically, he had known for almost as long as she had been back that Kikyo wasn’t meant to be here for a long time but he had always hoped for more and more time.  But it seriously sounded like that time was coming to an end.  And, once more, he would be without both women he loved.  No, he wasn’t alone in the world anymore, he had his ‘family’ now but to be without both the women that he truly loved was going to be bad.  Oh yeah, that hurt like a son-of-a-bitch!

About an hour or so later, he roused himself.  No, he wasn’t ready to go back to the village but he wanted to move somewhere else.  Slowly, he made his way to the God’s tree then hopped up into the branch that he favored.  Maybe it was nothing more than wishful thinking but he always seemed to be able to think better when he was perched in its branches.

Yes, he thought a lot about Kikyo leaving him again but he also thought about what she had asked him to do.  It was rather an automatic thing-if Kikyo asked it of him he would do it with no questions asked.  Now he just had to figure out how to go about the whole thing.  Sure, Sesshomaru had backed away from the kill on sight vow but he was sure that his half-brother would be less than thrilled about the request and would probably be vehemently against such a meeting, making that well known.  As rabid as he was about Kagome and her protection, especially after the attack by Naraku, it was very doubtful he would want her to talk to Kikyo.
 
Then there was the miko herself.  Like he had told her, Kagome had changed.  Since finding out about their mating the topic of Kikyo was touchy to say the least.  The way he saw it was that Kagome blamed both of them equally for the hurt she felt over it.  He wasn’t sure if she would be willing to talk to her even though Kikyo had redeemed herself to an extent in both the miko and taiyoukai’s eyes.

Blowing out a heavy sigh, he reasoned he was thinking too much about the will/won’t topic of the whole thing.  There was no point, from his perspective, second guessing whether they would or wouldn’t. All he needed to worry about was how to convince them to agree.  Concentrating, he began to make a mental list of reasons they would have not to do this and what he could do to counter those arguments.

It wasn’t until after the sun had set that he was finally jarred back to the present by Sesshomaru and Kagome passing by the tree, laden down with all kinds of crap.  He watched them pass by then gave it about a half an hour or so before he headed back to the village.

~~~~~@~~~~~

Kagome, Sesshomaru and the rest of the pack were all gathered in “Kagome’s place’, as the house Sesshomaru had built for her was called.  She had brought them all supper, pizza-something none of them had ever tried before.  It was almost a party-like atmosphere when Inuyasha entered.  Quickly, he found himself a place to park.  Having had the hot Italian food before, he piled a bunch of slices on a plate and began to devour them.  Other than ramen and potato chips, pizza was one of his favorite foods from Kagome’s time.  It appeared that everyone else like the hot pies as well because, very quickly, the dozen pizzas she had brought with were devoured.

After eating, they played a few hands of cards then everyone headed out to leave the couple alone for the night.  Inuyasha waited until everyone was gone to jump into the topic he wanted to cover.  “I have something I need to talk to the two of you about.”  He told them gently.

“Go on.”  Sesshomaru told him shortly.  Already his hackles were rising and he was sure that whatever this was about was something he wasn’t going to like.

Wiggling around, Kagome made herself more comfortable in Sesshomaru’s lap and tried to focus on Inuyasha.  That was becoming increasingly difficult as the Vicodin she had ingested took hold and began to take effect.

Sighing, Inuyasha had a quick mental debate on how to begin before deciding that the direct approach was the best.  “I saw Kikyo today.”  At that four word sentence Sesshomaru let out an angry snarl but Inuyasha ignored it and pressed on.  “She asked if I could arrange a time that she could privately meet and talk with Kagome.”

“Absolutely not!”  Sesshomaru stated emphatically.  “There is no way I will allow that dead bitch anywhere near Kagome!  Let alone spend time alone with her!  And you’re a fool to even ask such a thing!”  He snarled, eyes flashing dangerously as he clutched Kagome tighter to him as if to protect her.  “With all she’s done and as much as she’s hurt Kagome why would she even think she would trust her enough to consider it.  I very much doubt that there is any topic important enough that could entice Kagome to want to have any kind of conversation with her!”

Though Kagome agreed with everything Sesshomaru had said, she was curious as to why Kikyo would want to talk to her about.  “Why would she want to talk to me?”

“From what she said and the questions she asked I’m gathering it’s about what happened with Naraku.”

“Hn…  You were there; whatever you saw is enough information for the dead one.”  The taiyoukai sneered.

“I’ve already told her everything I know and saw.”  Inuyasha told him with a sigh.

“Then that’s all she needs to know.”  Sesshomaru lobbed back shortly.

Sighing, the hanyou looked down at the floor.  He had expected this but now he had to figure out how to convince them.  In that area he decided to concentrate on Kagome.  She would be far more flexible and easier to convince than his half-brother.  Now he just had to figure out how to go about it and convince her.  Quickly, he decided the direct, honest approach was going to be the best way.  Hitching a deep sigh, Inuyasha squared his shoulders.  “From the way she talked I don’t think Kikyo plans to be around much longer.  She told me that she needs a few things answered before she moves on and talking with Kagome is the only way to get those answers.”

“Then they will go unanswered!”  The taiyoukai shot back automatically.

“I’m agreeing with Sesshomaru on that one.”  Kagome added, looking at Inuyasha.  “She might have made up for a lot of the out and out nasty things she’s done but that doesn’t mean we’re going to be friends or that I want anything to do with her.”

“Look, I’m sure that I can get her to agree to come into Edo and do this.  You’ll be able to talk alone but everyone will be close by.  Would that work for you?”

“No!”  Kagome said shortly.  “What part of I don’t want to talk to her don’t you get Inuyasha?”  She told him, irritated quality in her voice, temper beginning to spike.

“Look, I know you don’t like her…”

“You have no idea how I feel about her!” The little priestess all but shouted.  “Not only does it take a lot of nerve to even ask me to talk to her, she doesn’t have the guts to do it herself!  She sends you to do the dirty work!  If she can’t even ask her own damn self I won’t even think about it!  Now get out!”  By the time she was finished, she was yelling at the hanyou.

Knowing that voice all too well, Inuyasha knew better than to argue.  Rising to his feet, he slipped out of the little house then went to see if he could find Kikyo.

~~~~~@~~~~~

“I cannot even believe he had the gall to ask me that!”  Kagome all but growled after the hanyou exited.

“I believe Kikyo has the ability to suck what little common sense the whelp has right out of his head.”  Sesshomaru added, glowering at the door.

“If that wasn’t bad enough she didn’t even bother to ask me herself!  How dare she!”  She yelled, face flushing red.  “Does she think she’s special enough that she can summon people through a third party?  I think not!”

“I agree whole heartedly.”  Sesshomaru replied.  Yes, he had seen her infamous temper before, several times as a matter of fact, but very few times had he ever seen her this mad.  Since it wasn’t him her ire was directed he was content to let her go ahead and vent.  Once her tempt was assuaged she would more than likely feel better.  Plus, honestly, he felt the same way she did on the topic!  To think the dead bitch would even think, after all she had done, that Kagome would talk to her was ridiculous in the extreme!  Then to summon her like a noble would a peasant was outrageous. 

~~~~@~~~~

It didn’t take long for Inuyasha to fine Kikyo.  She had found a place near the God’s tree to park herself while her soul collectors were out doing their job.  After giving her a kiss, he settled down beside her and just looked at the ground.

From the look on his face, she could tell things hadn’t gone well.  “She refused?”  She asked bluntly.

“Oh yeah.  Quite loudly too.  Both her and Lord Jackass made it quite clear she doesn’t want to talk to you.  They both seemed to be really offended that you didn’t ask her yourself.”  He told her with a dejected sigh.

That wasn’t something she had thought about when she had sent him off.  She was still in the mindset, when she dealt with other beings, like she had been when she was alive.  Because of the respect she had commanded sending someone to retrieve a being was something she had always done and was it was always fine because of the respect people had for her.  So it had been automatic for her to do that.  Plus, she felt that Inuyasha may have a better chance of persuading her than she herself would have.  Although she hadn’t had high hopes he would succeed, she figured the odds were better for him.

“Do you want me to try again?”  He asked.  Though he really didn’t want to, he was sure he would get a reaming so bad that he would never forget it, but if that’s what she wanted he would do it. 

Jarred back to the present, she shook her head.  “No, there’s no point.  I’ll come up with another way.”  She told him.

Looking at her, the one thing he had been thinking about since they had parted earlier, if she was once more going to leave him, crowded to the front of his mind.  He figured now was the time to ask or he was going to drive himself crazy.  “Kikyo…”  He started then stopped, trying to figure out how to ask this.  “The way you’ve phrased a few things it sounds like you aren’t planning to be around much longer.  Is that the case or am I just reading it wrong?”

With a far away look on her face, Kikyo was quiet for several minutes.  When she finally spoke up, her voice was quieter than it normally was.  “Since I’ve come back I’ve perpetrated some things that not only went against every teaching I believed and followed when I was alive but would also condemn me to doing a lot of penance in hell because I knew they were wrong.  I knew what I was doing and ignored the consequences that would be attached to them.”  Stopping, she watched as her soul collectors flitted back and forth.  “Keeping that in mind something has presented its self to me that would erase my bill with the piper if I make a certain choice.  It’s my choice, no one is forcing it on me and I feel, because nothing like it will ever come along again, that I need to do what’s right and not what will benefit me.”

Inuyasha was confused.  Though what she said made sense he didn’t understand how it related to what he had asked.  He was about to ask about it when she started talking again.

“I’ve been selfish Inuyasha, more so than you know.  I’ve be selfish in using souls of dead women to continue to walk.

“My need to get revenge on you was selfish because I never realized that you felt the same kind of hurt and pain I did.

“Keeping Kagome’s soul was among the worst.  Because she’s my reincarnation I felt a sense of entitlement to it.  It wasn’t until I held the whole thing for that short time that I realized that, though she’s my reincarnation, she is so much more than I am now and ever was in life.  She is what I should have been and had the ability to become.  But all I’ve done is cause her pain, both intentionally and unintentionally.  And I didn’t care.  But I should have.  I should have left you and her alone but I just couldn’t leave it alone.

“but worse of all is how I’ve enabled Naraku because of my selfishness.”  Inuyasha started to protest but she ignored him and pushed on.  “But I have Inuyasha.  His fixation on me and ridding himself of what he feels for me drive him to become more powerful.  If I had chosen to leave the world like I should have he would have focused his attention elsewhere.  Though his power would have increased as he retrieved more shards, all of you would have had a batter chance at beating him.” She ended quietly.

“You can’t blame yourself for what that bastard’s done!”  Inuyasha said emphatically.

“I don’t but I aided him in doing so.  I also weakened Kagome by holding part of her soul.  Now she still suffers because I hold part of it.  Until she gets back what I hold, part of her will reside with me. She won’t gain the control she needs until it’s returned.  Plus her ability to heal is compromised.  She needs all her power to heal but I have part of it.  She needs what I hold on to so she can do what is needed.  Until that happens she is compromised and Naraku will grow even more powerful than he is now.  That can’t be allowed to happen.”

A chill danced down his spin and his eyes all but bugged out.  Something in him felt as though she had just told him goodbye.  “We’re going to need you and what you can do get rid of the bastard!  We won’t be able to do it without you!”

“No Inuyasha.”  She said quietly, shaking her head.  “You will need Kagome at full power to do that, not me.  She will be one of the keys to your success.  If I stay around all it will lead to is Naraku gaining more power.  This whole thing will just drag on longer and more innocent people will be hurt or be killed.  I can prevent that.  Even like I am now I don’t think I could live with that knowledge.  In this time of wars enough innocent people are hurt and killed that Naraku’s brand of evil isn’t needed and should be eliminated.  At almost any cost.”  She said firmly.  Standing, she brushed off her clothes then looked at him.  “I’m going to go.  I have a lot of thinking to do.  I’ll talk to you tomorrow some time.”  Then she and her soul collectors vanished into the trees.

“No!  Kikyo!”  He yelled, jumping to his feet.  Though he wanted to chase after her he didn’t, knowing it was a useless endeavor.  She could vanish so efficiently it was as if she could turn invisible.

On leaden feet, he made his way back to Edo.  From that conversation he was now absolutely positive that she was telling him goodbye in some sort of way.  He also doubted that there would be any way for him or anyone else to talk her out of it.  From the sound of it she seemed to have some information the rest of them didn’t. 

Just as he was about to step into the village, he stopped.  Tucking his hands into his sleeves, he looked over his shoulder and scanned the woods.  He had hoped to catch a glimpse of her but wasn’t surprised that he didn’t.  With a morose sigh, he continued on, headed towards the hut they all shared.  Silently, he wished that she wouldn’t leave him again and that someone, somewhere would intervene on his behalf.