Sunday, April 17, 2005

  Deep Wounds: An Inuyasha & Kagome Story
*episode 2*

The lights of an ambulance cut through the rain on a summer’s night in Tokyo and an otherworldly whine precedes it to an old shrine. If the gathered onlookers had not been so focused on the paramedics they might have seen a figure, on a tree limb outside the shrine, in the pulsing light. The ambulance leaves without an occupant and the crowed disperses. Now in darkness, the figure descends and approaches the dwelling attached to the shrine.
A boy comes out to meet him. The figure asks, “Sota, how is she?” Sota replies, “She’ll be ok. They said she didn’t have to go to the hospital, but she won’t be going anywhere for a few days.” The man says, “She was coughing up blood, that’s a pretty serious thing for a human.” Sota replies, “They say she bit her tongue. Other then that it’s mostly just bruising, some pulled muscles, and she might have a slight concussion. Mom decided to say that we didn’t know how it had happened, that she had come home like this. They said it looked like an automotive accident and that she was lucky it was so minor.” “How can they call that lucky!?!” the man snaps. “Calm down Inuyasha.” says Sota, “They couldn’t know the truth so they made a guess.” Inuyasha asks, “Can I go see her?” “You might not want to do that…” Sota warns.
Suddenly the door flies open and an old man bursts out. “You, You, You!” he shouts at Inuyasha pointing a finger accusingly. “How could you let this happen? Kagome could have been killed! How could you…” His grandson cuts him off, “Stop it Grandpa, no one is more concerned for Kagome’s safety then Inuyasha. I’m sure that he did everything he could to protect Kagome and…” In a resigned voice his idol cuts him off, “Sota, stop.” The boy tries again, “but…” Inuyasha cuts him off again, “He’s right. I blew it. Kagome got hurt and I let it happen.” He turns from the stunned pair and walks into the rain.

An hour later a lone figure emerges from the house and begins circling the shrine examining each tree. When she finds the right one she calls, “Inuyasha.” The half-demon falls to the ground and stands before the woman staring at the ground as if some great secret could be reveled if only he examined it closely enough. “We need to talk. Please come inside. Sota and my father are both in bed.”
A few minutes later, the two are sitting at the kitchen table over large mugs of hot tea. Inuyasha begins, “Don’t you hate me?” She replies, “No. However, at the moment, you probably hate yourself.” “I can’t let Kagome continue to travel to the past.” He says “Naraku is getting stronger and I can’t guaranty that I’ll always be able to keep her safe.” “It’s not just your decision.” she reminds him. “Kagome wants to go back there.” “This is about more then what she wants” he says forcefully.” “You’re right, but not in the way you think.” she says. “What’d you mean?” he asks. She answers, “It’s also about what you want. I don’t think you know what that is right now but eventually you will have to make some decisions. I don’t know how you feel, but Kagome has very strong feelings for you. When she comes back here, it’s like she’s missing something. It’s not the adventure, or the freedom, or even her friends there. She’s missing you and it’s like a small piece of her is missing from her heart.” “You serious?” he asks. “Of course she could never tell you or even me, but she knows it and that’s why she keeps going back. After I met Kagome’s father, it took us years to be able to talk to each other about how we felt. And now what I realize is that I lost those years. I could have had so much more time with him, but we wasted that time, and now that he’s gone I’d give anything, except my family, to have those extra memories. Now you two have to face the possibility that sooner or later one of you may lose the other, or you may both lose each other, and then all you’ll have are your memories of each other. Make sure there are as many good memories as possible.” A calm content smile has spread over Inuyasha’s face and it stays for a moment, stretching into the silence. He then becomes conscious of it and he breaks eye contact and blushes. “What is it?” she asks. “Ah…nothing.” he withers under her stare. “You reminded me of my mother.” he says. “She always seemed to have all the answers and she made every problem seem simple.” “Of course she did.” she says with a smile, “That’s what mothers do.”

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