How She Came To Be by Waiting Dog

Prologue

How She Came To Be

By: Waiting Dog

A/N: This is my first time writing a fanfic, hope you like it. I’ll do my best to try and keep everyone in character.

Summary: While off in the mountains the Inutaichi faces off against one of their hardest opponents yet for a large fragment of the jewel shard. Inu-Yasha is nearly dead, Kagome missing, their shards of the jewel suddenly gone. How can they survive in the unknown mountains of the Northern Lands? What mysteries lay in waiting for them?

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the Rumiko Takahashi characters, and this is merely for entertainment purposes only.

2nd A/N: Going back and re-reading this as I update it for the new readers I warn you this is a slow starting fanfic. I took time to build a certain element here and tried to spin Sesshoumaru in a different way (you'll understand that at later chapters) but have patience and I assure you it picks up. For old readers welcome back and thanks for coming back and continuing on this journey with me.

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 Prologue

It was hot. Practically sweltering, and there wasn’t a cool breeze to be felt at all. The had been traveling since the sun had risen. They had yet to stop for a break and it was practically midday. She was pissed. What made it worse was that he could probably tell. Sure, she could understand his rush. Kagome thought back to the other day when the madness started.

:: Begin Flashback::

They had just made camp for the night after a hard day’s travel. They were very far from Kaede’s Village of Edo. Shards of the Shikon Jewel had been appearing everywhere. From snake demons to weird swamp creature that Kagome couldn’t even identify. The jewel was practically finding them. They had finally killed the eagle demon who had swooped down from out of nowhere. They were tired and travel weary. Night was swiftly approaching, so they decided to make camp. Just as Kagome was preparing to make the ramen, an unnatural, blood curdling scream pierced through the are. Everyone froze where they were, trying to figure what was going on. Kagome looked over to Inu-Yasha. His ears were twitching and his hand was on Tetsusaiga’s hilt.

They waited…

And waited…

Just as Inu-Yasha took his hand off his sword, everything erupted into pure chaos. Large Oni’s had swarmed the camp. The Inutaichi sprang into action. Kirara had transformed into her battle form, defending Shippo from any of the Oni who got too close. Miroku was a flurry of purple robes as he deftly impaled one of the beasts through the chest with his staff. Yanking out his staff at the last possible moment, he ducked low and spun around avoiding the club that sliced through the air where his head would have been. He sprang up and caught the beast with a jaw cracking upper cut. The Oni, stunned by the surprising force of the blow didn’t have time to react as he felt something land on his chest. As the Oni looked down, he saw the pieces of paper stuck to him. Before the creature could even raise his eye, he was being purified. Miroku didn’t  even look its way as he had already jumped to his next foe.

Sango had her katana out and was making quick work of her opponents. Using her giant boomerang, Hiraikotsu as a shield, she blocked the club aimed at her ribs. She spun in a tight circle as she raised her blade and finished him off. She had already moved on to the next one as a soft thump was heard as the previous Oni’s head fell and rolled away. Her movements were fluid and controlled as the demon slayer plunged her katana through the chiseled abs of the Oni before her. She yanked her sword out and changed foes leaving the beast to die a slow and painful death.

On the other side of the clearing, Kagome was shooting her purification arrows one right after another. The Oni’s stood no chance as they burst into sparkling, pink dust. She reached behind her to grab another arrow only to grab at air. She was out of arrows. Several of the Oni who had noticed, smiled an evil smirk. They rushed at her, raising their clubs, roaring their victory. Time seemed to slow down as she stood rooted to the spot, her fear paralyzing her. She didn’t have time to notice their appearance at the start of the fray but she did now. They were huge, over six feet tall. Their bodies were gray, and bulging with corded ropes of muscle. They were naked with nothing but a barely adequate loin cloth to cover themselves. Her chocolate eyes met luminescent yellow as she waited for the hit to end her life.

Kagome, after waiting for what felt like a century, opened one eye just a tiny bit. Red was all that met her line of sight. She opened both eyes to see Inu-Yasha give the killing blow with a quick swipe of his claws. She was trembling. Inu-Yasha turned to face her as Sango, Miroku, and Shippo rushed over to make sure she was okay. After reassuring them that she was indeed fine, they surveyed what was their camp for the night. There were bodies everywhere, blood still leaking from their enemy’s bodies. Thankfully no one was hurt. They gathered any of their discarded belonging  and left the gruesome sight in search of new safer grounds.

They stumbled around in the darkness of the forest for a few hours before Inu-Yasha finally called them to a halt. After deeming the spot safe they made a small quick fire. Kagome pulled her sleeping back from her old yellow backpack and rolled it out. Too tired to change her clothes, she practically flopped down on the mat. Shippo bounced over to her and settled on the sleeping bag, curling up at her side, safe in his dreams and in the protective cocoon of her body. She looked over at Sango and Miroku, a smile on her face as she saw the leaning against each other, supported by a large oak tree. She looked up at Inu-Yasha and seeing that he was still awake said a whispered thank you.

He looked at her confused “For what?” he asked.

“Ya know, for saving me earlier. Thanks.” she replied.

He grumbled a quick “Feh” followed by something about her being weak. Deciding she was too tired to even ‘sit’ him, she let it go. Just before sleep claimed her, she wished she wasn’t so helpless all the time, as she closed her eyes. She was asleep in seconds, that one thought floating in the darkness of her mind.

 ~~~~~~

Kagome was having the greatest dream ever. She was in an ice-cream parlor and she had won the ‘All You Can Eat Award’. She was practically shoveling the creamy, cold, sticky, goodness in her pie hole. She felt a nudge on her shoulder and turned around to see… no one. She shrugged and went back to her ice-cream. Seconds later she felt a hard shove and opened her eyes to see sharp clawed toes in her face. She sighed, slightly annoyed that Inu-Yasha had ruined her dream as she started to get up and got breakfast going. They ate fast, having much ground to cover. In their search for a new less Oni filled camp site they had gone in the wrong direction. Not far in the distance they could see the mountains of the Northern Lands.

Supposedly there was a rumor that there was a large village somewhere in the cluster of mountains. From the rumors, it sounded like the village was constantly being over run with demons of unusual strength. Unusual being because the demons were low class, but fought with unnatural powers and abilities. That was all Inu-Yasha need to hear before they left the Eastern Lands and traveled North where the mountain village was. Along the way numerous demons attacked them for their ever growing collection of the shard fragments. When Inu-Yasha wasn’t satisfied by their pace, he decided they needed to change their mode of travel. So as usual Sango and Miroku took flight on Kirara while Kagome and Shippo rode piggy back on Inu-Yasha. It was then after weeks of traveling as such that they reached the base of the mountains, and stopped for a break to eat lunch.

Kagome pulled out a box of fresh sandwiches from her bag and dished them out. It occurred to Kagome that they didn’t know the exact location of the village, and there were a lot of mountains. They couldn’t just stop and go back to ask the man who told them of the rumors either. It was too far! Frustrated she sighed and tried to think of what the best possible way to find the village was.

Noticing her expression and hearing her sigh, Miroku looked to Kagome and asked “Lady Kagome, is something troubling you.”

At hearing the houshi’s words, everyone turned to look at her. “Well actually yeah there may be.” she replied. At seeing their confused expressions, she clarified. “Where exactly is the village because if we were told, I don’t remember.”

Seeing the dumbstruck looks on everyone’s faces, it was obvious they had a problem. She was trying to keep a handle on her emotions but it was getting harder and harder to do so. They wouldn’t be in this situation if Inu-Yasha hadn’t of rushed them before getting the exact details about the village. For all she knew, it may just be rumors and not even exist. She turned to Inu-Yasha. “Well now what?” The irritation was evident in her voice.

He looked at her and glared. “Don’t take that tone with me wench”

She glared right back, her eyebrow ticking. “If you had a little more patience Inu-Yasha, we would know where exactly it is we’re going.” Before he could reply she continued. “And if i’ve told you once i’ve told you a million times… STOP CALLING ME THAT!! You know my name, you’ve had four years to learn it by now. Use it!” She was almost to the point of yelling and she was breathing a little faster. But before the situation could get any further heater, Miroku interrupted.

“Look! There’s a pathway not too far from here leading into the mountains. I’m pretty sure we’re bound to come across the village if we follow it.” He looked back and forth between the two, hoping his distraction worked.

After a few minutes of glaring, they finally looked away from each other. They packed up the leftovers from their lunch and headed toward the newly found path.

Sango, shaking her head said “Nice save monk.”

“Why my dearest Sango, you humble me with your praise.” he said, a gleam in his eye as he inched his hand more and more.

Feeling his hand on her backside, she whirled around face scarlet and gave him a good slap to the face. She walked away mumbling about lechers and their wandering hands.

Miroku gave a soft sigh as he rubbed the hand print that was probably already there. He turned at the sound of laughter and raised an eyebrow at Shippo.

“I hope it was worth it” laughed the fox kit, as he and Kirara followed the others.

A small smile on his face, Miroku said “it was” under his breath and hurried to catch up with the others.

The group continued to follow the path until they broke for camp later that night. Lying on her sleeping bag with Shippo next to her, Kagome wondered how long it would be until they found the village. She looked up at the stars. They were beautiful, so much more than she would probably ever find in her time. Thinking about her time, Kagome hoped her family was ok, and that she would get to see them soon. With thoughts of her family’s smiling faces in her mind, she closed her eyes and drifted into a peaceful slumber.

~~~~~~

Dawn the next morning found the travelers still on the path to the unknown village in the mountains.

:: End Flashback::

Just thinking back on the events that had transpired the past couple of days made Kagome irritated. In her opinion the mountains sucked. The uneven rocky path was hard on her feet. The sun was high in the sky and there were no trees here to help shade them, and there weren’t any breezes. Oh yes, she was in a foul mood and wanted to find this stupid village already. She wanted a bath. She hadn’t had one in days! Just as she was about to yell at Inu-Yasha for a break, she felt it. “Inu-Yasha! Jewel shard!” she shouted to him.

Tetsusaiga’s out and transformed “Where!?” he yelled.

She pin-pointed the shard’s location, and when she found the familiar tainted glow, she gasped in shock. ‘That cant be’ she though to herself. There was no way.

“Wench, where the hell is it!” he yelled.

Still shocked by the shard’s location, she completely over looked the fact that he had called her wench again. Raising her arm she pointed a shaky finger at the mountain to the left a few meters away from them. “The mountain” she whispered.

“What?” He said to her before yelling out “WHERE!!”

“It’s in the mountain” she said, still not quite believing it.

To say that the group was shocked was a huge understatement. Turning to her Sango asked “Are you sure Kagome?”

Kagome having nothing to say just nodded dumbly, eyes transfixed on the rather large fragment as is afraid it would disappear.

Just as Inu-Yasha was about to insult her, the very ground beneath them shook. In seconds it became a thunderous rumble. “What’s happening?” wailed Shippo, his voice uneven due to the quaking.

Before anyone could reply to him though, the mountain that Kagome had pointed to was… moving. It was shaking, fissures appearing, rocks and large boulders falling. Dust-like dirt was  covering the bottom half of the live mountain. What was still visible of the mountain, and what it was doing was impossible to say the least. It was dividing. But the amazing part about it was what came away from it. Standing, towering a good twenty or so stories was the biggest ogre-troll-thing Kagome had ever seen. She didn’t even have a proper name for it.

The thing was colossal! Huge arms swung down past its knees, a large pot belly shook as it laughed at them. The sound hurt to listen to. Like sharp rocks grating harshly against each other. It had huge fangs jutting up from its lower jaw, and one large, dark, almost beautiful obsidian colored rock served as its eye. Right in the center of its forehead was the black tainted jewel fragment. For a minute time itself seemed to have frozen, stopping to also gaze upon the beast before them. The whole entire creature seemed to be made of stone. And then it was moving, a massive arm hurtling toward them at an astonishingly fast speed for something so massive. It must have been the jewel helping it. ‘Shit’ thought Kagome.

The Inutaichi snapped out of their daze and scrambled into action. Miroku grabbed Shippo by the tail, ignoring the fox kit’s protesting as he hopped aboard the waiting Kirara with Sango. His butt barely made contact with the fire neko as she took off, propelling them high into the air. Inu-Yasha, with Kagome safely on his back was already leaping away, dodging more blows from the Rock Beast as Kagome dubbed it in her mind. Seeing that Inu-Yasha was too fast to punch, the Rock Beast started to hurl boulders at them. Inu-Yasha dodged them as best he could, and used Tetsusaiga to slice through the others.

While Inu-Yasha had been dodging bullets, Miroku had come up with a plan after seeing that the Tetsusaiga could cut through the boulders. “Inu-Yasha!!” yelled Miroku. Seeing that he had some of the half demon’s attention by the swiveling of a furry white ear he continued. “Cut of it’s arm if you can!!”

Snorting to himself “If huh” Inu-Yasha said under his breath. Inu-Yasha changed direction and ran toward the Rock Beast, zig-zagging to avoid being hit. Jumping as high above the beast as he could he screamed “WIND SCAR!!”

To everyone’s shock the Rock Beast looked up, smiled, and readjusted his stance. The full force of the powerful waves were absorbed by its big stomach and it laughed as it finally landed a blow to the stunned Inu-Yasha. Instead of them dropping from the sky, the force of the blow’s energy went right through Inu-Yasha’s body, and continued to Kagome’s. She flew far off into the distance screaming his name as the force of the transferred energy of the impact sent her sailing beyond his line of sight. He screamed her name as he dropped from the sky, falling flat on his back, winded from the impact.

Before he could recover, a giant fist was all he saw before it was all he could feel. The Rock Beast pounded away at him, glee a sick gleam it its eye. Inu-Yasha’s demon blood was the only thing keeping him alive at this point. In the back of his mind he  barely registered the sounds of Sango yelling “Hiraikotsu!” Dimly he saw the rocks that made up the Rock Beast’s crumble before his mind shut down, and his body succumb to the darkness if blissful unconsciousness.

After seeing the blows Inu-Yasha was taking after dropping from the sky, Sango threw the giant bone parallel to the ground, horizontally slicing its head in half. The now lifeless rocks crumbled and fell, burying the hanyou alive. Kirara quickly landed as the remaining Inutaichi members rushed over to dig up their fallen comrade. Miroku, seeing the glint of the shard in the still intact other half of the head stooped, picked it up just incase the beast was able to regenerate, and wrapped it in an few protective sutras before tucking it securely in his robes. He then rushed over to help Sango pull out Inu-Yasha’s nearly lifeless body after Kirara frantically dug him up. The laid him out and sat around him in a protective circle. The rocks from the once Rock Beast making perfect cover for them as they set up camp around their severely injured friend. Almost all of his ribs were broken along with his arms and one of his legs. As far as Miroku could tell, the sheer strength of their friend along with that of the fire rat robes saved his life. He just hoped that Kagome was okay, praying to the Kamis above that in some miracle the miko from the future was still alive somewhere, not too terribly injured. Then remembering just how far she flew from them the odds of her survival were slim if not non-existent. He sighed. Since they still had Kagome’s backpack they ate some of the leftover sandwiches from earlier that day. With no wood to build a fire, they settled down to sleep in the darkness, their hearts heavy.

They only prayed that nothing else should seek them out in the dead of night.