Prologue:
Shattered heart & sorrows of the invisible
While they had been walking in the
forest she had sensed Kikyou’s shinidamachu. The others had not noticed and she
had meant to tell them only if the insects got too near. Fortunately that had
not happened…they remained distant as if waiting for somebody to notice…she
could’ve just guess who.
Her mind had been wondering more
than often on how the hanyou felt about her and at the end she had understood she
was only a shard detector. She had cried herself many times because of him. She
loved him…and now her heart was dying because of him. Somehow, someway she had
managed to resist all this, not pretty sure why she cared.
She had become rather strong, now to
her Kikyou’s strength was nothing special…they were equal in power now. Despite
that the miko was the one who made her suffer the most. Being told every time
that she was only Kikyou’s reincarnation was like getting stabbed 100 times at
the heart.
She smiled sadly to herself, too bad
the hanyou didn’t understand this. She had looked in the direction where he was
and had seen he was in deep thought too; probably thinking about that rotten
corpse of Kikyou.
Some time after without even looking
at her Inu-yasha had stopped and had ran away. Some shiinidamachu had came near
and he had tracked them just as the rest of the group had. She wasn’t
surprised. When Kikyou was near, Kagome disappeared, she became invisible.
After all she was but a mere replacement. She had closed her eyes, she had
wanted to cry but she wouldn’t, she had sworn to herself all the crying was
over. She had always been strong and she wasn’t going to change now. There
where other times to despair for such things, she needed to practice more with
her bow now. At least if Kikyou came to claim her soul she wouldn’t manage.
Knowing how to protect herself had
became useful to make her suffering lighter. After Kikyou’s rebirth Inu-yasha
had saved only the dead priestess he saw in her. The look of protection he had
whenever she was attacked made a part of her content, but deep within her, she
knew he didn’t see her and that made her feel bad. So bad she couldn’t express
it with words. When that happened her heart died for a second. She had wished
many times for death, but against her will it became alive again because life
was knocking again at it’s door with the horrors of everyday’s shard haunting.
Not being helped by Inu-yasha had
took a bit to get used to, but at the end it had been for the better, the pain
in her heart now came only when he met with Kikyou and it didn’t happen so
often. That was what she had forced herself to think all the time, but she knew
it wasn’t true.
Sango and Miroku had been some
meters away from her. They understood when she was in need to be alone, they
were the only ones who understood. There had been Shippo too but he was only a
kid. She thought of him as a little brother to keep care of, but when it came
into her feelings, her problems…he was too young to understand. He had been
playing with Kirara at the back of the group and she had to smile seeing the
nice scene.
Sango was her best friend, even
though they didn’t have many things in common they had become very close one to
the other. She knew Sango’s secrets and Sango knew hers. Miroku was an
important friend too. As strange as it could sound because of his innate
perversion, he had helped her when it came to Inu-yasha. It was a bit thanks
too him and Sango she didn’t feel lost inside anymore.
She had lifted her head from her
feet and had stared at the sky. She had wished to be able to fly, fly away and
return when she wanted. No more Inu-yasha, no more Kikyou, no more Shikon no
tama, no more Naraku, no more of everything.
Deep in her thoughts she had not
noticed Sango had came near her. She had told her if it wasn’t the case of
going to see if the hanyou was doing some stupid things. In fact he had a shard
he always insisted on keeping with him…one she had found under the goshinboku.
They had not wanted him to generously done it to the miko. She ran as fast as
she could not caring about her shouting friends behind her who where yelling
for her to slow down. She had been following the youki of Inu-yasha, Kikyou and
her shiinidamachu and couldn’t possibly go wrong. When she had arrived to where
whom she was looking for was, she froze.
She had known this for a long time
but seeing it with her own eyes had made it more painful. She wanted to turn,
run, cry, hide in her own world, but none of those options seemed to fit at the
moment. Her mind was blank, she had only been able seen the one she loved
kissing and swearing to protect a dead corpse, or better, Kikyou. Her heart had
shattered into so many pieces she doubted anybody could repair the damage
caused. A single tear had rolled down her cheek and had sealed her heart behind
thick, strong walls. That had been the day when everything had stopped to
matter.
Too happy within his lovers arms
Inu-yasha had sensed her presence just now. When he had turned to look at her,
his face had the expression of a kid who had just been found stealing biscuits
from the kitchen. She had felt pity for him, he couldn’t leave his past life
behind. His will to live had been really weak after all. She didn’t know if he
knew what he had done…she didn’t care. All she had wanted was to die. Then, if
her soul was reincarnated again, from somewhere else, she’d prey that that
person wouldn’t suffer much as she had. She had looked at him with indifference
and had slowly turned the other way knowing she was out of place. She had heard
him call her name but it didn’t matter. Inu-yasha had become really part of the
past now. She had decided to go on searching for the shards on her own, she
didn’t need him anymore.
Due to her despair she had ran so fast
that she could’ve been mistaken for a youkai. She had not been afraid to be
alone in that era , she had grown up from when she had first came through the
well and could now make it on her own in Sengoku jidai.
When she had been distant enough
from the place where her heart had been thorn apart she had stopped. Night had
started to fall. The wind had sounded like the howling of wolves and the moon
had looked like an eye looking at the world from above. The shadows had been
starting to cover everything bit by bit, as if blackness had been eating up all
that surrounded her.
Although she had sworn she’d never
cry again while running to find a shelter, her eyes had filled with tears. She
had gave up on everything for him. Her family, her friends, school, life, her
time…and what had he done? He had betrayed her.
Her hair had been sticking to her
face and she’d been having problems seeing where she was going because of a
strange fog there had been around for a while. Only when she had stopped to
concentrate to find a cave of some sort she had noticed it was raining. For how
much had it been? She had not been able to make it out. One thing had been
sure, she had been running for a lot of time. Her muscles had been screaming
out in pain and she had been socked too. Despite her physical state instead of
a shelter she had somehow felt a weak youki of a child nearby and had ran
towards it.
By the weakness of the energy the
kid had been probably nearly dead. Who she found was a small girl, eight or
nine years old, not more. She had on a simple red and blue kimono. Her hair
where loose but tied by one side in a funny short ponytail. She had a big slash
on her stomach probably caused by a youkai.
Taking the girl in her arms she had
concentrated all her remaining energies and had placed her hand instinctively
on top op the wound. She had felt the warmth of her hand transferred to the
coldness of the child’s body. A weak yellow-orengish light could have been seen
between her hand and the girl’s wound. The slash had closed, no sight had
remained of the previous hurt and the girl’s skin had turned to it’s normal
color. When she open her eyes she had called Kagome Sesshoumaru-sama and that
had took the young miko by surprise. This girl knew Sesshoumaru? She had asked
the girl her name and she had told her she was called Rin. That had been all
Rin had said, probably too shy or weak too talk. The kid had then fell asleep
and she had looked over her for all the night.
Once she was sure the child was
feeling good enough she had placed her under a big tree and when she had woke
up she had told her to stay there until Sesshoumaru arrived. She had thought he
would arrive soon. He was youkai after all and even with this weather he had no
problems in finding what he was looking for. The idea of leaving the girl with
the taiyoukai had not been really appealing but the kid had smiled widely when
she had misunderstood her for Inu-yasha’s brother. She had deduced she was
treated well and that the she was fond to him. That had sounded like the right
decision to her. She had created a barrier around the girl which only
Sesshoumaru could pass in case any other youkai attacked her. She could well
remember the youkai’s youki and creating such a barrier had not been difficult.
His ki was strong but not overpowering; just strong enough to make you fear
him. The child had not protested and then had thanked her. She had nodded
slightly with her head while smiling to the young girl.
Without her realizing it, the
blackness of the night had left the space to the light of the day. The first
night of lone shard searching had ended. For the whole night she had not
thought about Inu-yasha and she couldn’t figure out if it was a good or bad
thing. A part of her had felt as if forgetting him was the same as betraying
him herself as he had done, but a part of her had thought that this was what he
deserved. Too bad that had been the weakest part of her. She had been feeling
as a traitor and really selfish… So lost in her thoughts she had not paid
attention to where she was heading and had simply walked away .
Rin had been sitting under the huge
tree wondering. Who was that girl? She had looked like an angel. She had told
her, her name was Kagome. Her lonely figure walking towards the sun as it rose
was beautiful, yet something… Her hair had been flying in the wind just as her
wierd dress and had made her seem like a girl of a painting. She had looked
like a god and had been surrounded by a mysterious invisible light…
---End Prologue---
---Chapter I---