Mirrored Future by Amazonian21

1

Chapter 1

The merry band of shard hunters made their way down the dusty road, happy to be arguing and yelling the same way they had for over four years. It was comforting in its familiarity, and though all would rather have the threat of Naraku eliminated, none would trade the time spent with their friends for the world.

Kagome was feeling nostalgic. She breathed in deeply and could feel the air of ages passing through, making her almost lightheaded with the years as she walked. When she first entered the feudal area she'd been young in every way. She hadn't even known what to be afraid of. She soon found out, however, by being introduced to the evil of Naraku. When that happened she made her first step towards growing up.

Though it had bee a constant struggle, slowly the years had granted her a hard earned ability to hold a little of her own. She could raise her bow with assurance and had gained a bit more control over her miko powers. She still felt inadequate a good portion of the time, and still worried she'd never get good enough to help her friends when it mattered most, but at least she was learning.

She was able to graduate high school with decent grades after more struggle than Hercules could have had with all the stables in the world. She forced InuYasha to let her go through the well and each time was almost more trouble than it was worth. She was soon a professional at dodging, whining, bargaining, and 'sit!'ing. She finished high school and was finally able to devote all her time to hunting shards and Naraku before she thought about college. It had been a hard decision to make, but delaying her future to benefit the past was something she knew she'd have to do.

Yes, over the years she'd had her share of horror, danger, heartache, and extreme emotions of all sorts, but she wouldn't change a thing. The hanyou, demon slayer, perverted monk, and kitsune were family as much as her mother, grandfather, and brother were. They were all that kept her sane and cheerful in the face of overwhelming odds.

Well, maybe not 'sane'

Currently Shippou was trying to get his lollipop untangled from InuYasha's hair, and the yells of indignation could be heard for miles. InuYasha took a swing at his head and the kitsune's hand flew up in self defense. The sucker was released with the force of his flailing. All eyes widened as it sailed through the air only to land on InuYasha's head where it had promptly become stuck beyond retrieval.

That didn't stop Shippou from trying, however. He spent a valiant couple of minutes trying to dodge the hanyou's quick arms to get his treat. Finally, however, he gave up with a wail when InuYasha's short temper and even shorter patience ran out. He hadn't pulled many punches when dealing with the young annoyance, but the last thread of his restraint snapped.

He made a feint at Shippou's well protected head, and suddenly changed directions mid-air when the kit fell for it. Without pause, the half-demon made a successful swipe and caught the young fox and was now attempting to knock some remorse into him.

"Waaahh, Kagome!" he wailed, struggling unsuccessfully against the stronger demon's hands.

"I'm sorry, Shippou," she said, hiding a smile at their antics, "but you brought this one on yourself. I told you not to pester him so much."

InuYasha's eyes lit up as he realized that the impossible had finally happened; Kagome had sided with him against her protege.

"Come here, you little bastard!" He yelled gleefully, tightening his hold on the frantically squirming fox. With a wicked smirk he grabbed the kit tighter and started giving him noogies fit to take off hair, chuckling darkly the more the kit whined.

Finally, Kagome decided it was enough. The adolescent fox demon had moved on from fake cries designed to get sympathy and progressed on to real noises of frustration. With a sigh and slight laugh she said,

"Alright, InuYasha, that's enough. Let him go, I think he's learnt his lesson." She sat back and rested on her heels, prepared for the tirade and annoyance that was sure to follow. InuYasha never released anything willingly once he'd gotten his hands on it.

The hanyou looked anything but ready to comply with her orders, and held the kit more firmly, as expected. Kagome just sighed and shook her head. She hadn't had to 'sit' InuYasha for almost a year now, and it seemed a shame to break with tradition. She supposed it was her own fault- if she'd stopped InuYasha earlier he would be walking ahead down the road, muttering and driving the gang behind him faster in his irritation. Instead, she'd all but told him to do whatever he wanted with the fox.

"InuYasha," she warned, looking pointedly at his rosary, "don't make me do it. Maybe you've forgotten the taste of dirt, but do you really want to be reminded?"

InuYasha glared at her and sized her up, trying to decide if she'd go through with it. It had been so long that he was starting to forget her earlier enthusiasm when it came to sits. Overconfidence was a big flaw of his.

"Keh!" he said, pausing what he was doing for just a minute, "You wouldn't dare, wench!"

Keeping one eye on Kagome and the other on Shippou, he casually bopped the kitsune on the head, waiting her reaction.

Kagome almost laughed but caught herself in time. Sometimes it was like traveling with a couple of children! The years may have matured and strengthened Kagome, but they didn't seem to affect her demon friend as strongly. When she didn't immediately sit him, InuYasha resumed his beatings smugly, unaware that Kagome's face had gone from exasperated to determined.

"That's it!" she yelled, causing the hanyou's ears to flatten against his head protectively, "InuYasha, SIT!"

With a yell and a strangled curse, InuYasha released Shippou as he face planted into the ground, leaving a sizeable hole. The large crater that held his face proved that Kagome's SIT's lost no power over time. If anything, her negligence seemed to spur the rosary to greater heights, as if trying to prove its continued worth.

"Damn it!" InuYasha yelled from the ground, struggling against the forgotten strength of the spell, "Why'd you go and do that, bitch!"

"I warned you, you jerk, but you didn't listen!" Kagome yelled, exasperation replacing her earlier amusement. "You'd better start taking me seriously or you'll never be safe in trees again! I'll sit you from the highest branches if you keep this up!"

InuYasha muttered and cursed angrily as Kagome reached over and pulled the lollipop free of its hair prison. She handed it over to a gloating Shippou and watched as he eyed it closely. The kitsune examined it from all angles with the eye of a true connoisseur. He decided the sucker was still worth all the trouble he'd gone through and plucked a few silver hairs from its sticky surface, then popped the sweet into his mouth. He smiled hugely at Kagome, grinning around his sweet success.

Kagome grimaced at his gross attitude.

"I give up!" she muttered, and walked on ahead, content to leave the fox to his own devices. She thought about warning him to be out of reach when the spell wore off but decided against it. If he wasn't smart enough to stay out of the way of one highly annoyed half-demon, she would get to watch Darwinism in action.

She fell back along the road to the side of Sango. Closer examination of the situation revealed that she'd left one testy situation for another. She looked to Sango who was busy threatening a determined-looking Miroku.

At some point Sango and Miroku had come to an understanding about their feelings for each other. Unfortunately, Naraku was still alive and Miroku's hand was still cursed. Even more unfortunately, their understanding hadn't included a healthy 'no groping' clause. Miroku still reached for his goals and Sango still rewarded his efforts with pain.

She'd gotten more inventive with her threats of as the years passed. Unfortunately for him, Miroku had become immune to her threats and glares over time and seemed to find unhealthy encouragement in her resistance.

Deciding to distract her friends from the headache their actions and the subsequent yelling were sure to cause, Kagome asked the question that had been on her mind for a minute.

"How much longer do you think it will take us to get to the caves?" she asked, pulling on Sango's sleeves casually. It worked to distract her, and her friend turned to answer.

"The villagers said the cave and the demon they suspect have a shard were about a day's walk away. We should reach them soon enough. Probably not more than a couple more hours," Sango replied, looking at the position of the sun in the sky. "It's getting pretty late. We should be there before it's too dark."

Sango turned to Miroku, forgiving his wandering hands for the moment, and continued, "If luck is with us, we should be able to defeat this demon before too long. It's a lower youkai, and even with its shards shouldn't be too much for us."

Miroku nodded sagely and added, "It is most fortunate I was able to exorcize that evil demon from the lord's home last night." He ignored the girls' twin snorts of amusement and disbelief and continued, "We needed that night's rest and relaxation. It will make this day's work that much easier."

When Sango and Kagome nodded in agreement he added, "We must not get too overconfident, however. It's always best to overestimate your opponents and feel your way into battle slowly."

A resounding SMACK split the air as it became obvious that Miroku's hand had been busy 'feeling' something other than battle. Sango walked away in a huff, leaving Miroku rubbing his battered cheek with a happy look on his face. His eyes never left Sango's rear as she walked to commiserate with an oblivious Kirara. The fire demon was so used to the antics of the monk that she barely rose and eye to them any more. Kagome was left giggling at their well-rehearsed antics. Some things never changed.

They walked on in relative peace for the rest of the afternoon on into the evening. InuYasha kept the pace steady and grueling, only giving in to their demands for rest breaks when a mutiny was threatened. Sango walked behind InuYasha keeping an eye out for any signs of trouble and overly aggressive monks. Kagome followed her, absentmindedly stroking Kirara or chatting with Shippou, and Miroku brought up the rear, content to watch the sway of Sango's hips. Kagome idly wondered why Sango still let the monk follow her, when it was obvious to everyone present where his eyes rested. Maybe she wasn't as prudish as she pretended.

An hour or so before nightfall saw them at the mouth of a deep and gloomy cave. The scattering of cattle carcasses littering the entry showed they had the right spot.

"It will charge us as soon as we're sensed," Sango had warned the group, and InuYasha pulled his Tessaiga and transformed it to be ready.

"Keh, the bastard won't even know what hit it," he boasted, ready for a fight. He motioned for everyone to follow behind him and approached the cave with confidence oozing out of his pores.

Kagome followed a little reluctantly. Few demons seemed to live in caves like this- the majority of the ones they met wandered the countryside and fought out in the open. It made her nervous to see InuYasha confined by the cave walls, but if he wasn't going to mind she would try not to. She drew her bow and notched an arrow to be ready for purification if needed.

Sango and Miroku were similarly prepared. Sango's boomerang was at hand, ready to be launched with deadly precision. Miroku held his staff at the ready and fingered the rosary surrounding his wind tunnel absently. In these confines he knew it would be a mistake to use it unless absolutely necessary.

Shippou looked anxious for some action himself. The years had matured him to appear almost nine years old. He was still inexperienced and lacked the ability to be a great asset in battle, but his enthusiasm and determination to try and to learn was contagious. Time had granted him some skills just as it had Kagome. It would be almost impossible to survive the battles they'd seen without some improvement, after all.

InuYasha suddenly tensed. "Watch out, you guys, Ugly's coming our way!"

Sure enough, moments later a dragon demon burst forward from the depths of the darkness. What once was a proud and intelligent beast was reduced to a slavering, mindless mass of brute force, thanks to the jewel shard Kagome sensed imbedded somewhere in its body. The evil of the jewel had warped the poor, power hungry beast until nothing worth saving remained.

Kagome concentrated her powers and saw where it hid its piece of the Shikon no Tama.

"InuYasha! The villagers were right, I sense a shard! It's in the scales on the dragon's back!" She got into a ready stance, prepared to let an arrow fly while InuYasha looked where she indicated.

"I see it," he growled, and rushed the ferociously growling demon. His sword raised high above his head, InuYasha prepared to deliver a quick, devastating blow. However, when he unleashed his fury upon he dragon's neck, the skin beneath the sword remained undamaged. Tessaiga bounced back off the impenetrable scales, hurling backwards with the force of the blow.

InuYasha overcompensated for the unexpected recoil and was thrown backwards into the cave walls. The dragon, sensing the jewels around Kagome's neck, left him to his own devices as it came charging after her, ignoring the furious hanyou at its side.

"Great, just great," Kagome muttered. It never failed. These shards were a liability, in more ways than one. No wonder she felt so clumsy all the time- she practically had a sign around her neck that said, 'Eat me!' She pulled back her arrow and charged the head with purifying power. She raised her elbow to her eye line, took aim, and released a powerful bolt with excellent accuracy, straight towards the heart of the beast.

It struck the dragon with enough force to knock it back slightly off course, but did nothing to pierce its fierce hide. The dragon careened into an unprepared Kagome tail first instead of with teeth and jaws, knocking her clear across the room. It was stunned a little as it crashed into the cave wall as InuYasha had before it.

"Kagome!" she heard InuYasha yell, as he struggled back to his feet. He was prepared to run to her side to protect her, but it was all he could do to plant himself in the dragon's path and fend him off her body. He couldn't see where she'd fallen, but he could prevent the dragon from getting near her again.

Kagome knew she'd landed badly even before the pain hit. She moaned as her back protested movement and her leg let her know there'd be hell to pay tomorrow. Assuming she'd ever move again. Her body was in enough pain to make her doubt it. She tried getting up to go back to battle but realized she wasn't going anywhere soon. The whole right side of her body ached, and she was sure to have a few bruises if lucky. She suspected a couple of ribs might be broken as well. Breathing was painful and walking was impossible, so she lay back and assessed her surroundings.

She appeared to be behind a large outcropping of rock. She couldn't see what was happening to her friends but could hear Sango and Miroku yelling to each other as they tried to wound the dragon, and the yells and curses of InuYasha as he fought to keep the dragon from pursuing her as she lay helpless.

She rested on piles and piles of junk. She knew dragons loved to horde and collect all sorts of oddities, but no one would call the things surrounding her 'treasure'. It was a motley pile of junk, with a few valuable items thrown in almost as an afterthought. She sighed and looked at her reflection in an old, gilded mirror as she heard InuYasha's injured shout.

"I need to see what's going on with them," she said in exasperation. "I need to see if they're going to be all right!"

She didn't expect the mirror to have any opinion on the matter. She yelped and scrambled away from it as far as she could when it started glowing around the edges. She peered into its reflection and what she saw there made her eyes go wide.

She saw InuYasha, fighting with a fierce determination, slashing and hacking away unsuccessfully while Sango and Miroku tried to help him as best they could in the cramped quarters. Finally, after what seemed like seconds to Kagome but was minutes to the mirror's inhabitants, the dragon caught InuYasha with a lucky blow when he jumped too high and glanced off the ceiling. While momentarily stunned, the dragon lunged forward, snapping its great jaws against InuYasha's shoulder and tearing away a great portion of his arm as he howled in agony.

Kagome screamed and struggled to go to InuYasha before she realized that the reflection in the mirror had rapidly changed once more. She simultaneously realized that the noises from behind her didn't match up with the actions in the mirror. Whatever was going on out there wasn't exactly as the mirror portrayed.

Slightly sickened from what she'd just witnessed, Kagome watched as another image played across the glass' surface. In it, InuYasha and the gang were fighting as fiercely as she knew them to be in real life. InuYasha slashed and fought, searching for any weakness in the dragon's hide. Kagome knew he hesitated to use any of his sword's special attacks when there was no room for allies to avoid them in the close quarters of the cave. She watched in sick fascination as Sango darted in behind the dragon, weapon held high to deliver a stunning blow, only to get swatted harshly with the dragon's forgotten tail. Sango, however, wasn't as lucky as Kagome. Instead of getting thrown, her neck took the brunt of the attack. With a terrifying crack, Sango fell lifeless to the floor, neck broken and body limp. Miroku rushed to her side, yelling as he cradled her still body.

Kagome shrieked in terror. She could hear her friends behind her and knew that what she'd seen hadn't happened yet, but she was terrified it would. How could she lay back as her friends fought against a demon that was way harder to kill than it should have been?

Her attention was turned once more to the mirror when another scenario appeared. Instead of focusing on her friends, this one began on her, watching the mirror in front of her, just as she was in real life. She watched as her counterpart haltingly grabbed her bow, struggled with pain filled valor to the side of the rock, notched her bow, and fired one more charged arrow. She saw the arrow her copy had fired hit the dragon straight in its unprotected eye, purifying it just as its tail headed towards Sango. The dragon disappeared with a roar and a flash, leaving behind ashes and a softly glowing jewel shard.

Kagome knew what she needed to do. It would be painful and was not something she was looking forward to doing, with her ribs promising severe retribution if she attempted it. However, she took a deep breath, loosed an arrow from her quiver, and began the great struggle towards the rock's edge. Some impulse made her stash the now still mirror in her pocket. She wanted to keep it near her.

As promised, her ribs burned and breathing was difficult. Her back hurt, but that pain was manageable. Her leg wouldn't support her weight but she was relatively sure it wasn't broken. Small favors.

She pulled herself as quickly as she could, grunting with the pain and effort, on her belly along the rough ground. It was a long way to the rock and she almost stopped several times. She persisted, however, and was relieved to reach the edge and be able to peer around.

She saw her friends fighting and darting around the dragon as well as they could, relentless in their pursuit of their prey. She knew they wouldn't give up until something died, and she determined to help them avoid the terrible futures she saw in the mirror's glass. She gathered her remaining energies, raised her bow, took aim, held her painful breath to stop her body's shudders, and let the bolt loose.

It looked just as it had in the mirror, a true prediction. Her arrow left the bow and sailed through the air, the picture of pink purity. The course held true and struck the unlucky dragon straight in the eye. It sunk into the socket with no resistance and within seconds the dragon was reduced to ashes.

"Kagome!" InuYasha yelled, as he saw her slump to the ground exhausted. He ran to her side and bent over to gently examine her battered body.

She smiled up at him painfully and tried to reassure him.

"I'm fine," she said, gasping at the pain in her sides. She groaned, knowing that bruised ribs took humans weeks to recover from. "I'm a little beat up, but I'm all right."

Miroku and Sango rushed to her side and began a gentle search of her body. It was a testament to his concern that the monk's hands never strayed anywhere they shouldn't.

"I think you'll be fine in time," he said with conviction. "I don't see anything broken. You'll be uncomfortable for a while, but Kaede should be able to relieve some of your discomfort."

"Here's the shard," Sango said, slipping the recovered fracture into Kagome's hand. She concentrated for a moment and sighed with relief with the little piece glowed pink in purification. She slid the piece to rest with the others around her neck.

"Let's get her back to the hut now," Sango continued, reaching to help her stand. InuYasha pushed her away roughly instead and scooped Kagome up into his arms himself, unprepared to let anyone else tend to her. He hated seeing her hurt, especially when he'd been the one to fail to protect her. This never would have happened if he hadn't let the dragon get past him. Kagome could have died, and it was all his fault.

He gathered her quickly to his chest and held her as close as her injuries would allow. He suddenly seemed uncomfortable with his apparent tenderness and concern when the others looked at him in surprise.

"Oi, wench, there you go again, getting injured! Now you can't walk and you'll hold us all up!" he said with all the severity and gruffness he could muster. It looked like he was glaring at her, but his attempt seemed half-hearted at best to Kagome.

"What are you talking about?" screeched Shippou, coming to the defense of his beloved Kagome. "This is your fault! You practically threw the dragon right at her!"

Hearing Shippou's words echo his own thoughts made InuYasha's guilt spike to new levels. He held Kagome tighter as he growled at Shippou, sending reverberations through her body.

"Shut it, runt! You don't know anything about it! Where were you hiding while the rest of us did all the dirty work?" he said, furious with the conversation.

"Please," Kagome interrupted, her side too sore to let her listen o her friends fight, "please let's go. I just want to head back now."

Both Shippou and InuYasha had the sense to look guilty at her words and nodded sheepishly.

"Keh," InuYasha said again, avoiding Kagome's eyes. "We'll go on ahead to the village. You guys catch up. It'll be a lot faster if I don't have to wait up for you bozos."

Miroku and Sango nodded in agreement. Shippou made to protest, but gave up when he saw the sense in it. Kagome needed to be tended to as soon as possible.

With a great leap, Inuyasha took to the air. He set himself a grueling pace and took off into the evening, heading straight for the old miko who would be able to help his friend.

As he leapt, he vowed to himself, 'This will never happen again. I will not let Kagome get hurt if I can ever prevent it.'

He'd vowed it before, and he'd probably vow it again, but in that moment it was the foremost thing on his mind.

A week went by while Kagome healed. Her leg and back recovered most quickly, being used to her rough treatment. Her ribs, however, took a bit more convincing. Kaede bound them tightly with wide cloth. The extra support helped her a bit while she was walking and eased her breathing, but laying down was still a chore. Sleep didn't come as easily as it once had.

So it was that Kagome was awake long after the others had gone to sleep. Her side was aching and teamed up with her head to orchestrate an impressive display of pain. The hut felt stuffy with the breathing of monk, huntress, demon, and miko. It all combined to make Kagome feel stifled and irritable.

She needed to take a walk. She sighed and got up, fingering the mirror she still carried in her pocket.

She hadn't had the chance to experiment with the mirror since that day in the cave. It was an exciting puzzle to her. From what she could discern, the mirror showed various future outcomes. She wasn't sure how it worked or what determined which scenario would occur, but she was interested in experimenting more to find out.

She wanted some privacy for her trial runs. She wasn't sure why, but she hadn't told any of the others about the mirror. She was compelled to keep it a secret, at least until she knew more of its secrets.

Sneaking quietly past the sleeping humans she slipped out to the woods. InuYasha was no where to be found. This time of night he was often hunting for the next morning's breakfast or meditating alone in the forest. Either way, Kagome figured she could get a little personal time before he felt compelled to track her down.

She wandered over to the well and sat at the edge. There were a million and one things she wanted to ask the mirror to show her. She wanted to know about the fight with Naraku. She wanted to know about the future of her friends. She wanted to find the remaining lost jewel shards.

She wanted to know about her future with InuYasha.

It was the last scenario that occupied her mind most, though she wished the shards took priority. She knew that four years was a long time to hold on to a youthful crush, especially when there were so many things in the way of a working relationship. She was human, he was hanyou. She was from the future, he was stuck in the past. She was the reincarnation of a walking corpse that he still wasn't over.

Details, details.

Kagome wasn't under any illusions. She knew that after all this time it was unlikely that anything more would develop in her relationship with InuYasha. He was possessive and protective, but so was Shippou. He felt strongly for her as a friend, but she was seriously doubting he'd ever be capable of more than that. And, after all they'd been through, she wasn't sure she wanted more from him, if he'd been unable to appreciate all she did for him, and all they were to each other. She didn't want him coming to her only after Kikyo was dead, hoping to use her as a poor substitution.

She just had to be sure.

Gathering her resolve and hoping not to see a repeat of the horrible images that had assaulted her before, she took out the mirror and looked at it.

"I need to see the future," she told it. "I need to see the future with...," and trailed off as she tensed and felt the presence of a very strong youkai behind her.

"Sesshoumaru," she gasped, as the tall, cold lord came into view behind her, regarding her with cruel disdain.

She was distracted from that sight, however, as the mirror in her hand began to glow.