At the Beginning by Elenna
At the Beginning
Title: At the Beginning
Authors: Elenna and Mikaela
Prompt: The Beginning (Nobody's Colab Community Responce)
Genre: Drama and Romance
Rating: T
Word Count: 5030
Summary: In the beginning, she had been naïve. Now she wasn't. She realized now, that the past wasn't her home. Her time was, with her family and friends. And as much as it hurt, she had to leave them behind when faced with the choice. But the connections to all of them could not be severed, for their were pinnacles to remind her of the past. There was Goshinboku - InuYasha's tree. And there was the rotting tree, the dying tree -Sesshomaru's tree.
AN: This is a collaboration between Elenna and Mikaela, for Nobody's collaboration group project. The theme was 'Beginning', and so we decided that we would base a one-shot on the song "At the Beginning" by Donna Lewis. Let us know what you think! Enjoy reading!
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At the Beginning
Beginning, the point in time or space at which anything begins. Where one story has an ending, another has found its beginning. As a vile hanyou dispersed from the air and all matters of existence, a group of fighters began contemplating their future in a more serious tone for the first time. When the last of the miasma left, the Shikon no Tama to fell to the ground and a bright light slowly erupted from the pink jewel.
In front of the miko's eyes, from where she stood next to her blood covered hanyou companion, Kagome watched in awe as the pink light took form, developing into the woman she had never seen but had always known. "Midoriko..." the name slipped from her lips, a whisper on the wind, as the eyes of the ethereal woman came down upon her.
"Kagome." The great miko's voice was soft but strong, turning all attention on her so that no one could look away, "You have fulfilled your destiny by defeating Naraku and completing the Shikon no Tama, with the aid of your friends. It is now time for you to make the decision - you can not continue to travel through the well as effortlessly as you did before. It is not right, or of natural forces. You must make the wish upon the Shikon No Tama, purify it from existence and choose which time you shall stay in. There are only two days left before you must..."
"What?!" Inuyasha growled out as he attempted to stand. "What the hell do you mean she has only two days? Decide whether to leave or stay?" He looked to Kagome and almost whimpered at the site of his brave miko who had tears filling her eyes, her body torn from the battle that had taken place earlier; her school uniform ripped in places Miroku would be drooling over if he had not been passed out from an attack from Kanna. The scratches on her skin nearly made the hanyou bow his head in shame for not preventing such harm to such a pure creature. "Kagome..."
She tried to shake away the tears that were threatening to spill over, but it did little. With blurry vision she looked up to the shining figure, forcing her words out, "I'll... I'll never be able to come back... once I make the decision?"
The woman seemed to give her a sympathetic smile, "Your choice is your final choice - you will never be able to go back to the other." She could feel her heartstrings snapping, her world cracking around her. She reached for InuYasha without thought, taking hold of his hand and gripping him as tightly as she could, as if she were to lose him now. "Two days... Good luck, Kagome." And then the light faded, the jewel dropped from the air. Kagome could have sworn that she could hear the thump of the jewel, identifying the sound as the end of the world she knew.
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Understanding is the mental process of a person who comprehends. To understand why there were no happy faces at a time of celebration was a bit unnerving to the old miko who watched over a small village just outside a set of woods called "Inuyasha's Forest." The perverted monk of their group was situated in the arms of the demon slayer. A young kitsune carried the injured hanyou as well as the saddened miko to his side. Upon settling to the ground, Kaede, the old miko of the village, had several men help move the monk into a nearby hut. The hanyou growled at the foolish humans who tried helping him, but it was the older miko who insisted, seeing as he could barely stand on his own two legs. Once the two men were inside, much to the displeasure of a certain half-demon, Kaeda turned to the younger miko who had suddenly vanished from where she had stood. "Kagome?!"
She was running from something, it almost seemed. This had been thrown in her face without warning. But there was only a single fact: She didn't belong here. She never had. It was a freak accident that any of this had happened, a stupid action that had caused her to break the Jewel. She should have known - she shouldn't have gotten attached. She should have known better. This was her feudal fairy tale, yes, but it was just that - a fairy tale. And her fairy tale had no happy ending, it seemed. She was to do her duty and go home... go home; the place where she was born, where she belonged. And so now she made her way up there, to the damned well. Maybe she would go now, leave without saying goodbye. Make it a clean break for them. But her mind lingered to their faces, to the face of the man she loved. InuYasha... her heart ached, thinking of leaving him behind forever, never to...
"Kagome-chan!" cried out an innocent voice that had stopped the miko midway in not only her thoughts, but in her run towards her wooden destiny. Turning quickly to the side, Kagome was just fast enough to raise her arms and catch a very small body into her arms. A flash of yellow and orange caught the corner of her eye and Kagome immediately calmed, hugging the young girl in her arms as tightly as she could.
"Hi Rin," Kagome greeted with the best smile she could muster for the young ward of the Western Youkai Lord. "Are you feeling better?" Rin bobbled her head up and down and immediately held out flowers to the young miko. "For me, Rin?"
"Yes, Kagome-chan!" Rin said with a smile on her face, jumping slightly, "Can Rin put them in your hair, Kagome-chan?"
Kagome couldn't help but smile lightly, and with a sigh, she sat down. This would be her last memory of this place, her last smile in the world she wished she was born into. "Of course, Rin-chan." she said as she sat down, the young girl bouncing giddily and automatically grasping the miko's raven locks in her small fingers, braiding them expertly and holding the cluster of flowers in her lap. After a moment, Kagome spoke once more, not bothered by the light tugging of her hair, "Rin-chan... Where's Sesshomaru?"
Rin's response would never reach the miko's ears as a harsh wind blew past the two humans; a strange and yet all too familiar aura was carried upon its current. Kagome shuddered slightly, though not enough to cause Rin to notice, the Youkai standing behind her, however, did. "Miko," the low, baritone voice called out to her in a bit of a gentle way.
"Hello, Sesshomaru-sama," Kagome greeted as kindly as she could. For a moment, she just stared up at him, as if she were trying to burn his image into her mind. She had always appreciated his beauty, his inhuman grace and power over those around him. He was the first true enemy she had ever faced at Inuyasha's side - forget Yura of the Hair. She was nothing compared to him, a mere insect in his great shadow. And she would appreciate him for the rest of her life; remember him as the enemy and ally that was the true key in defeating Naraku.
"Miko," he repeated, the sound flowing down her and through her ears, "InuYasha is injured. And yet, you are here."
She could tell it was his mere curiosity, and even so, she wondered why he wanted to know. "I'm here because... because I don't belong here." she whispered quietly, "Leaving him now... might make it easier."
Sesshomaru just stared at the young miko, contemplating her words. "Do you say such things merely because another dead miko has stood up against you, demanding you to leave?" he growled at her and immediately saw her surprised reaction, expecting such. Looking to his ward, he let out a short sigh. "Leave, Rin."
"But, my lord! Kagome-chan is going to leave us! Rin wants to spend time with Kagome-chan!" Rin stated, hugging Kagome.
"Rin, listen to him," Kagome tried to say, but for some reason, the girl was refusing to listen to even her words...Rin simply glared at Sesshomaru as if daring him to refuse her; such strength in a small child. You will make this Youkai Lord proud one day, Rin...Kagome thought to herself with a smile.
"But, Kagome-chan..." Rin began, her lower lip jutting out, "If you are going to leave, Rin will never see you again!"
"Rin..." she knew she'd regret this, but she continued on anyways, her words low and slow, "...I promise that I'll come see you again, one more time, before I leave. Alright?"
The young girl continued to pout, but nodded, gathering up her flowers and shoving them in Kagome's arms. "Keep them, Kagome-chan, until you come back," she requested.
But before Kagome could answer, it was Sesshomaru who spoke, silencing her voice beneath his own, "Rin, leave." And, with a small nod, the girl scampered back into the forest, to meet Jaken somewhere in the cover of the trees.
Sighing deeply while looking at the flowers in her arms, Kagome felt the tears return to her eyes. Sesshomaru smelt the tears, even before they had begun to form. He had smelt the nearly dried ones that had created a trail down her cheeks...such beauty to be stained by one ancient miko's words. It angered Sesshomaru greatly and he growled out in frustration.
"Enough miko," he barked, taking a step near her. "Dry those tears."
"I shall let them fall, Sesshomaru, if I want them too!" Kagome screamed at him, immediately standing with the flowers slowly dropping to the ground. "Why don't you just leave me alone? Turn away now; I won't be here when you look back!" She began to storm off in the direction of the well but was stopped by a warm and clawed hand grabbing her wrist.
It was an iron steel grip, and her struggling was worthless, no matter what she tried. She dared not try and purify him; if she did she knew he would only end her life in that second. But maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing - it would solve all her problems, wouldn't it?
Surprised and horrified, she shook the thoughts away. She couldn't think like that... she just couldn't.
So she whipped herself around to look at the daiyoukai, which was a mistake in itself. The moment she locked her gaze with the intensity of his golden stare, she lost all train of thought. Only a few times had InuYasha ever done this to her, when true emotion had entered the hazel eyes that she loved, but this was a totally different experience. There was no thought, there was no more remembering of her issues or her sorrow. She was just... standing there, unable to move.
And then he snapped her out of it.
"Come with me, miko, unless you wish to end your life."
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Origin, something from which anything arises or is derived. Kagome fought in fear against the daiyoukai who seemed to drag the young miko without a care of her tugs and scratches she was causing on the powerful youkai. He seemed immune to her yelling, thankful that she did not scream or call out for his half-breed brother. As the trees slowly dispersed into a clearing where a lone tree stood, Kagome's yelling and fighting died down to a slow walk behind him as he led her to a single tree. It was their tree; the tree where Kagome had first met Sesshomaru.
Once Sesshomaru saw that the young miko would not run, he let go of her arm and watched as she walked slowly over to the tree. She seemed to study the tree, looking up and down the bark as if to imprint the image of this one living object into her mind for all eternity. She then turned to look beyond the tree and it was here that Sesshomaru visualized their first encounter with her. "Sesshomaru, what..."
"Be quiet, girl," he told her, his eyes upon the lone, nearly dying tree instead of the miko that he had dragged along.
She didn't listen, an action which did not surprise him, "What do you want, Sesshomaru? Why did you bring me here?"
He took a moment to answer, the silence gnawing on the patience of the miko, making her anxious. "This Sesshomaru encountered you here, with InuYasha, for the first time. Do you remember?"
She gave him an incredulous look, but her voice was soft, "Of course I remember. You were searching for Tetsusaiga; you used the Woman without a Face to pose as InuYasha's mother. But why does it matter...? Why have you brought me here?"
"Every end poses a beginning, miko."
Kagome just stared at the daiyoukai; contemplating her next words carefully while trying to fully understand his. She looked down and smiled.
"I know," she started softly, "my father once told me something similar, Sesshomaru. Do you want to know what he said to me?"
"Hn," he simply responded and Kagome's smile broadened. She simply walked over and sat at the base of the tree, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them.
"He said, 'Kagome, no matter what happens...no matter what path you may choose in the future whether it's who you are marrying or what college you are going to, you must always remember to follow your heart. Life is like a road where you want to keep traveling down because now and forever is a wonderful journey. When the world stops turning and the storms are through, Kagome, just remember that I will always be there, at the beginning with you.'" Kagome turned to Sesshomaru who seemed to be staring at her.
He wasn't quite sure why he was telling her this, but he listened none the less. For a moment, there was a passing thought in his mind that he may be slightly, but only slightly, be impressed by the wisdom of the miko's father. "Miko, what will your decision be...?" he asked after a moment, turning his stare up from her and to the tree - the dying, rotting tree that he somehow found symbolism in.
Kagome sighed softly and looked up at the tree above her. "Goshinboku," she stated.
"You wish to use a wish on a tree?" Sesshomaru asked in a bit of a shocked tone, though still holding his cold façade. Kagome laughed at him.
"No, Sesshomaru, it's just that," she paused and touched the root of the rotting tree. "Goshinboku is the tree that connects Inuyasha to me. It's where we first met and in many ways, this tree stands in the same way as Goshinboku does." She slowly stood up and leaned her back against the tree, looking up to the rotting tree's limbs. "This tree is what connects me to you."
"What point are you getting at, Miko?" he questioned, quite annoyed by her responses.
"...I don't want to lose connections, Sesshomaru..." Her voice was quiet, barely audible, "Where I'll end up going... I won't know what happens. I'll have one thing and one thing only - Goshinboku. But, what about my friends? Where's my connection to them...?" She gave him a side long glance, her eyes clouded with a sorrow he could ever imagine to understand, "What about you?"
He stared at her for a moment, "And where will you end up going, Miko, where you cannot have these 'connections' any longer?"
"Somewhere far," Kagome replied and there was twinkle in her eye when she saw Sesshomaru's reaction. "I'm not joking. I'm going some where that is very far away from here."
"This Sesshomaru knows many lands, miko," Sesshomaru growled.
She crossed her arms across her chest. "Of that, I do not doubt, Sesshomaru but, seeing as how you will know of this eventually, I should just tell you now." She turned to him and placed her arms to her side. "I come from the future; five-hundred years to be exact. I was born in what is known in my time as Tokyo." Sesshomaru just stared at her, not at all reacting to anything she was stating.
His mind was working, quickly. He expected to find it a flat-out lie, but his nose and eyes told him it wasn't. She didn't smell of deceit, her movements didn't show any signs of lies. She was telling the truth, as strange and outlandish as it was. "You expect me to believe you?" She didn't have to know he knew she wasn't lying, "This Sesshomaru kills those who dare to lie to me, Miko."
"You know I'm not lying," She huffed, "And doesn't the explanation make everything obvious? My clothes, the way I speak, the items I have that you don't recognize, even my attitude! Where I come from is different than here, Sesshomaru. Women aren't like they are now - they're strong, they're independent, they speak their minds and have standing in the world ..." she gave him a look then, her spunk gone. "My connections will be gone... I won't know what happened to my friends. All that will be left is Goshinboku," she touched the tree, running her fingers along the knotted surface; "Even this will probably die by then."
She looked sadly to him and opened her mouth to speak, but closed it once before opening it again. "In my time, Sesshomaru, youkai are not seen. I believe that since visiting this era, I've been able to sense some auras in my time with my powers, but the spells used are very strong." Her words began to slur slightly. "I don't know what my decision will be Sesshomaru, but I just want to ask a favor; one, small favor that could help me keep my sanity through the next day." Sesshomaru smelt that tears were beginning to form. Seeing as how he did not say anything against the favor, Kagome smiled once more. "If I decide to go back to my era, could you please not hide from me?"
He was slow with his words, "This Sesshomaru does not hide."
She smiled, ever so slightly at him, "I'll take that as a yes, Sesshomaru."
He just looked away from her, out into the horizon, "Hn." And after one moment - one horrible moment where all she could see was him; the way the light shone on his hair, the way his eyes became when he was lost in his thought, and the way he was oh so beautiful even though he was oh so dangerous - they were silent. But then the silence was broken when she tore her eyes away from him, unable to stand it any longer.
"Rin is waiting for us..." And then he began to walk away, without a single word, leading her away.
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Wish is to want; desire; long for. One wish must be made; an unselfish wish; a wish that would purify the Shikon no Tama for all time. But even as Kagome sat and watched Rin chase Shippo around with the other village children as well as watch Inuyasha fight Sesshomaru, though not as severely as they had in the past, the young miko felt a sense of loneliness. She had one wish in her mind...but would such a thing work?
She sighed, standing up. Maybe... maybe it was time to go. She's seen Rin, after all, like she'd promised. She'd exchanged awkward goodbyes with Sango and Miroku, whom had decided to go off on their own early, to start their new lives. And Shippo... she could say goodbye to Shippo; now, if she had to, and say goodbye to Rin in the process. And InuYasha wasn't around to try and keep her here, to give her the look she knew would shatter her heart and make it so she never had to leave until Midoriko gave her no choice. She could just leave him to his battle with Sesshomaru. Just leave him. There was no other way, really. No other way to go about it and not be stuck in a time she didn't really belong to.
The Goshinboku flew passed her - God, was she already there? - And she lengthened her stride, pushing her muscles to the limit. One last breath of truly clean air, one last glance at the sky that wasn't her own... and then her hand was on the rough bark of the wooden well, and she was flinging herself into the depths that swallowed her whole. Only just then, in her last second in the time she wished she belonged to, did she meet with golden eyes. Not the golden eyes of a hanyou, but of a youkai... A youkai?! But then the moment was gone, stolen away, and she floated down to the grounds of her time, her home... Her feudal fairytale was finally over.
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Future; time that is to be or come hereafter. For Kagome Higurashi, the term "future" meant nothing. She, being a former traveler of time, returned home to life and reality. Upon returning, the jewel faded from her grasp and even though she attempted to travel through the well over and over again, the light and magic of the well would never work for her again. So, Kagome Higurashi moved on. Only three people would know of her journey; of the "real" tale of the Shikon Miko.
Once returning home and giving up on fighting the inevitable, Kagome graduated with honors from High School. Though pushed by her friends, Kagome had finally accepted a date with Hojo and within time, the two decided to attend the same college together. Kagome would pursue a degree at the local University in, ironically, History.
And upon this day, a miraculous break from college life, Hojo was taking her out for a lunch in some park he'd found, saying it was beautiful and pretty much deserted. They were walking side by side on a trail that Kagome remembered, but didn't recognize, on their way to this place, conversation smooth and pointless. Eventually he stopped her, the two finding shade underneath a tree, both sitting and leaning against the bark. Only moments later did Hojo realize that he had forgotten something, as he usually did, and he went to scamper off to his truck, leaving Kagome alone and shaking her head at him with a small smirk.
And so, in her time alone, she reminisced. She remembered the faces of her friends, her enemies, her acquaintances. She remembered her journeys, her laughs, her tears... She remembered him, like she always did for some reason she had yet to figure out, the face of Sesshomaru floating through her head. Absent mindedly her hand ran over the roots of the tree, her body suddenly tensing and freezing. She remembered this. She remembered the way the roots were of the dying tree - exactly the same as this one - the feeling of the struggling and dying bark that was somehow alive and well behind her, where she leaned against a now strong and thriving plant. There was no way, just no way, that Hojo had managed to take her to this spot.
Then she felt it - the aura crushing down on her. At first she mistook it as a flashback, a memory of him. But then... "This Sesshomaru does not hide, Miko."
Kagome could not even say his name. Just the fact that his voice had spoke to her, or that his piercing golden eyes were staring her down in this very moment was almost life shattering for the girl who once stood up to this daiyoukai with a bow in hand. "Sesshomaru?"
It had to have been him. Those eyes, that voice....his hair was pulled up in a ponytail, his markings were gone-hiding, no doubt, due to spells that Kagome could somewhat sense-and his clothes were a bit "upper class" but really, did one expect less of the Western Lord?
Kagome could hardly breath, and somehow, in a rather shakily manner, was able to stand while her back was supported by the tree. He stepped forward, towards her...every step making in incredibly painful to bare the silence around them.
"Is it really you?" she asked, the tears assaulting his nose once more.
"This Sesshomaru has never repeated himself, miko," he calmly stated with a bit of a smirk on his face. "Not in the five-hundred years he has waited for this day nor can he recall of any before then."
"Then?" Kagome repeated, swallowing hard. He stepped even closer. "Then...being the time when we first met."
"When else would it be?" He asked thoughtfully, his eyes softer - or, they seemed so to her - then they had been in the past. And when she could not manage to say a word, to force her voice, he filled the silence, "Who is the boy you were with?"
She snapped back into reality, or at least, managed to get herself to talk again, "Hojo. He's a... friend, I guess."
"Hn." He seemed uninterested, as his hand picked at something stuck to the tree until he was satisfied everything was in the correct order, "You have nothing to ask me, miko, after five hundred years of absence?"
"Of course I do!" Kagome exclaimed, watching his actions carefully. She then looked down to the ground and thought. "But where do I even begin to start asking."
"Perhaps, the beginning would be best," Sesshomaru replied softly, examining the tree even more.
Kagome smirked at him though there was a bit of anger in her aura. Sesshomaru loved it. To feel her aura again, it was almost intoxicating. What her next words said surprised him however.
"How did you know I was here?" she questioned, placing hands on her hips in almost a defiant way.
He glanced over at her, but then his gaze turned to stare out in the distance behind her, at something she doubted she could see. "This tree is the one that we last spoke at, five hundred years ago," he said slowly, his voice filling the gap of loneliness that had been left in her heart so long ago, "It could not heal on its own. Our meeting, at this point, is pure coincidence..." his gaze turned back to the tree, "...mostly."
She stared at him for a moment, nearly shocked, "You... You've taken care of this tree for five hundred years?"
She thought she saw a smirk, a smile on his face, but it was gone before she could be sure of herself, "InuYasha has Goshinboku. I have this." His gaze returned to the spot over her shoulder, "Your Hojo is returning."
Kagome sadly looked to see that Sesshomaru had been telling the truth, and that Hojo was waving at her. Returning a smaller wave, she turned back to the Western Lord who was staring at the young man, though not in his cold way as she had seen him look at with Inuyasha. This was different; he seemed to be looking at Hojo with some sort of "respect" in his eyes.
"Um...Sesshomaru," she began to state as he turned and began to walk away with Hojo closing the distance.
"Yes, miko?" Sesshomaru acknowledged with his back still turned to her.
"Would you like to join us for lunch?" she asked nervously.
His footsteps paused and he looked at her over his shoulder, golden eyes meeting with hers. The human boy had walked up, standing beside the woman who Hojo only thought he knew, and was giving him a small, friendly smile. He almost found it amusing. This boy, this naive little human, was standing in the presence of two of the most powerful people left in the world and didn't even know it. But, still, his lack of intelligence could not be directly blamed on him. What made him stupid was the ignorance of the world.
"Are you going to accept Kagome-chan's invitation, sir?" Hojo asked, still giving Sesshomaru that same dumb smile. Did he really know what he was asking? But Sesshomaru didn't care either way; the boy could be jumping to his death and he would let him fall.
"I believe I shall," he said quietly, turning back around. And Kagome smiled up at him, a smile that made him think of Rin, a smile that warmed him in the slightest.
"I'm glad," She said quietly, going to stand next to him, leading him behind Hojo as they began to walk. Apparently, this would not be the spot they would rest...
They both took one last glance at the tree, their personal Goshinboku.
"Do you regret leaving?" he asked her, his words low enough to only be hers.
Her eyes turned up to him, suddenly haunted, clouded, "Of course I do... And it will never be the same as then, will it? I'll never get to live the way we did, back then?"
His warm hand took hold of hers, brushing against her skin. She held back the shock, managed not to jump in surprise. "No, it will never be like it was then. It will never be the same... but this is a new beginning." She could see the spot where Hojo wanted them to eat, a clearing surrounded by trees... she had a feeling she'd eaten here before, underneath the shade of an unimportant tree, surrounded by her friends, her makeshift family. Where she'd laughed, made a poor hanyou plummet face first into the ground, where she'd played with a young child she had adopted as her son. And now she was back, with two other members of her newest makeshift family, only one of them from the life she considered her true reality. "What was your wish upon the Jewel?" he asked her, quiet again, as Hojo stopped in the spot, throwing down a blanket.
She looked up at him, a small and sad smile on her face, and took a single deep, cleansing breath. "I wished..."
To Be Continued....?