Of Crossroads by Kairou Watoshimi

Prologue

For those who follow my doujinshi, Reaching for an Open Sky. It's going to be on a short hiatus. Classes finally ended and I'm moving back to my house so everything is a mess right now and I don't know where my tablet went.

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, Harry Potter or any of their characters.

Of Crossroads
Prologue

“Some birthday present,” Kagome said bitterly to herself as she dodged another bloodthirsty demon. With a loud grunt, Kagome lost what little balance she had and fell onto the hard, unforgiving ground. Pain immediately shot through her but she paid it no attention and whipped around, notching an arrow into her bow and pulled back the string.

The demon didn’t stand a chance.

It was fast enough to dodge Kagome’s arrow but not fast enough to dodge the purification powers surrounding it.

“Holy fuck,” Kagome swore and then mentally scolded Inuyasha for his obvious influence on her language as crashed into yet another demon. ­So much for not noticing her, she thought as the large demon turned around and knocked her into the ground with a large hand. It didn’t have claws, thankfully but it also mean that it was reduced to either crushing her to death with its large hands or choking her. Both were rather slow ways to die.

It chose to choke her.

Which, if Kagome thought back, was a rather stupid choice since it could barely wrap its hand around her neck. This is how I’m going to die, Kagome thought, slowly because the demon can’t wrap its large hands around my neck. With luck, this thing might just pop my head off my shoulders by accident. She struggled hard but her efforts were in vain; despite the demons stupidity, it was smart enough to hold her down.

A flash of red was the only warning she had before an arrow was shot into the demon’s forehead and he was purified into sparkling dust.

“Suffocation, a pathetic way to die,” Kikyo said as she helped the younger priestess up.

Kagome shook her head and picked up her fallen bow. “He wasn’t suffocating me,” she said, slightly breathless from her earlier struggle. “His hands were too big.”

Kikyo allows her lips to twitch in amusement for a second before turning her attention back towards the battlefield. “This is the final battle,” she muttered, her voice low. “Don’t lose concentration now.”

“But it’s my birthday,” Kagome whined, feeling the need to act a little bit childish.

“Happy birthday,” Kikyo said. “Selfless little girl. You’re going to save the world on your birthday.”

Kagome snorted and watched Kikyo as she moved away from her and towards Koga who was currently being surrounded my large numbers of demons. Swallowing hard, Kagome turned back towards the center of the battle where Inuyasha, Sesshomaru and Naraku were going all out.

Again and again, Inuyasha was casting Wind Scar and Naraku was using shields of living demons. Sesshomaru stood farther back but his attacks, courtesy of Bakusaiga was doing just as much, if not more damage than Inuyasha’s. “Come on,” she muttered, her eyes scanning Naraku’s massive body, trying to find the glow of the jewel. “Where are you hiding it, Naraku?”

A loud roar pulled Kagome’s attention back towards her own battle just in time as she gathered her energy around her creating a strong purification barrier. The demons that hit it stood no chance, though the stronger ones were able to scream in pain for a full second before disappearing.

“Kohaku!” Sango’s shout ripped through the air and once more Kagome was drowned in the sounds of the battle.

She whipped around again, and allowed her arrow to fly towards the younger demon-hunter. Filled with her determination and love for all her friends, the arrow did not immediately diminish on the spot, taking with it the first demon that it touched. Instead, Kagome’s arrow flew through the demon that was attacking the younger boy, purifying it and went on, plunging through demon after demon.

Half a battlefield away, Kikyo nodded in approval. This is your story, she thought. You alone can finish this. Then she allowed herself a moment of normality: Go get ‘em, birthday girl!

She closed her eyes, hesitated for only a split second and then made the ultimate sacrifice.

Kagome didn’t have the slightest idea what happened when a burst of something crashed into her. At first she thought some demon had attacked her but when a feeling of completion and fullness washed through her, Kagome knew. No, she thought. No, no, no!

It’s my birthday, Kagome thought desperately. And she and Kikyo had finally learned how to get along. They were like sisters. It’s my birthday! Please no, please no, please no. She wouldn’t, of course, come out directly and say that her relationship with Kikyo was similar to that of hers and Sango’s (not even close) but at least they were getting somewhere. Don’t take this from me now, she thought.

Kikyo’s name escaped Kagome’s mouth in a horrified scream. The sound echoed across the clearing, and laced with Kagome powers, it brought everyone, demons and humans alike down to their knees. Funny, Kagome would later think, how it was Kikyo that made Kagome’s protective nature burst out and not Inuyasha.

Her power—her and Kikyo’s power, she liked to think—poured out of every opening in her body and whipped out and up around her. The bright pink—almost white—glow of her powers flared around her in waves, glowing brighter and brighter until she was blinded from the very light that she had created.

And then darkness.

---

Shit, Kagome thought, once she came to. I’ll killed everyone.

“No,” a voice answered, “you saved everyone.”

Kagome yelped and sat up, looking around wildly for the owner of the voice. She took in the sight of her unconscious allies, who appeared to be resting rather than knocked out cold. Their surroundings were familiar and it took a couple of seconds before Kagome remembered the No-Face woman back when Inuyasha had first gotten Tessaiga. Turning her attention towards the voice Kagome was surprised to see that it was Kikyo standing a little ways away from her,

“Kikyo?”

“Yes,” she said quietly. “You were expecting someone else?”

“Midoriko actually,” Kagome admitted. She had saved everyone after all, at least, according to Kikyo.

“Midoriko…”

“Yea. I thought… you know once we won she’ll come to me, thank me purifying the Jewel—her soul—saving the world and send me back to my own time because I did what I was here to do.”

Silence again. Kikyo shifted where she stood for a moment before turning around to face Kagome who flinched at the sight of Kikyo’s cool expression. Despite their closeness the past few months, Kagome still couldn’t stand seeing such coldness, such distance from the other priestess. “It’s not over yet.”

“I know,” Kagome whispered softly. “I didn’t think it was.” Another pause. “What did… what did I do wrong?”

“Nothing.”

Kagome’s head snapped up at the firmness of Kikyo’s tone.

“It’s not your fault,” Kikyo whispered softly. She blinked slowly, as if surprised from her own gentleness. “I saw this coming.”

A bitter laugh escaped Kagome’s lips. “This?” she asked and waved an arm out towards her unconscious friends. “All of this?”

“No.” Kikyo sat down, not bothering to look away from Kagome. “I expected Naraku to have some means of escaping. What you did back there, your power, it scared him.”

“Where is he now?” Kagome whispered.

Kikyo shrugged.

Kagome felt numb. “All these months… of jewel collecting, of Naraku-hunting and he’s gone?”

Shaking her head, Kikyo inched closer to the younger priestess. “You are right,” she whispered. Kagome looked up and Kikyo shifted uncomfortably, not sure how to talk to her reincarnation. “I mean… do you not notice how we are all tied to you?”

Kagome blinked. “Huh?”

It was obvious that Kagome didn’t understand so she tried a different tactic. “Why are you here?”

Kagome blinked again. “To… complete the jewel.” It came out more sounding more like a question than a statement.

“Yes. Why is Inuyasha here?”

Kagome’s eyes flickered towards her half-demon friend. “To complete the jewel,” she repeated, this time with conviction.

Kikyo shook her head. “No,”

“To hunt down Naraku,” she guessed. “To avenge your death.”

“Partly, perhaps,” Kikyo admitted. “But the real reason is to protect you.”

“Me?” Kagome squeaked. She had gotten over Inuyasha, really she had, but that didn’t stop long, almost forgotten memories and feelings of her devotion from surfacing from time to time.

“Yes.” Kikyo didn’t seem the least bit worried about her former lover’s feelings… or the lack thereof. “Why is… Sango, Miroku and Shippo traveling with all of you?”

Kagome wasn’t sure where this was going.

“I assure you that they are not here because of Inuyasha. If the two of you were to part ways, I’m sure they would choose to accompany you without a second thought.” She looked over at the unconscious wolf demon. “He’s here, traveled with Inuyasha for the past two moons because of you, that much is for certain. Even him,” Kikyo said motioning towards the demon lord. “You convinced him to travel with your group of misfits.”

Kagome swallowed hard.

“I travel with you…” Kikyo said softly. “Because my soul—your soul—doesn’t scream out in agony when it’s close to you. Less painful for me.”

“Oh.”

“Don’t you see?” Kikyo asked. “We’re all together because of you.”

“Well,” Kagome blushed. “Well, yes, I see that. But I don’t—I don’t see why that matters.”

Kikyo pulled back. “The jewel is Midoriko’s soul, as I’m sure you are aware.” Kagome nodded in confirmation. “At the same time, however, the jewel is also a casing of itself; it hides its absolute potential. You are bonded to the jewel. To her soul. To the soul.” Kikyo swallowed, knowing that she wasn’t good at explanations for she barely understood anything herself. “That is why you are here. To protect the soul.”

“It chose me,” Kagome whispered, almost in awe.

“Yes.” Kikyo smiled. “And we chose you.”

Kagome suddenly paled. “Oh god,” she whispered. “We’re the Jewel’s guardians?”

“Yes.”

Kagome blinked. “I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s just—I can’t imagine anyone choosing this. Knowingly. I mean, I never did. And well… I can’t imagine anyone wanting to give their life up to protect a jewel.” she jerked a chin towards Sesshomaru. “I especially can’t imagine Sesshomaru doing that.”

“Yes.”

“You wanted to have your own life, remember? You wanted the jewel gone. You wanted to be normal yourself.”

Kikyo laughed bitterly. “I was a fool.”

Kagome frowned, opened her mouth to say something but realized that she didn’t know enough of Kikyo to help. She might make things worst. “What happens now?” she asked softly.

“I’m not sure,” Kikyo said. “Naraku is gone but not… You are still here but your duties have been taken away.” She looked sad, resigned. “Perhaps we will sleep.”

“Sleep?”

“Until the time to fight has risen again.”

Kagome noticed for the first time, that everything was fading. Kikyo’s voice was becoming softer, and the image of her sleeping friends, the feel of the grass beneath her skin was dulling. “No,” she said, her own voice sounding very far away. “No!”

And nothing. Only darkness.