Priceless (an InuYasha FanFic)

Shock

Kagome was met with cold red eyes. Eyes which promised pain and bloodshed. Those eyes were set in a pale angular face which was framed with inky black hair and held an expression of smug satisfaction. The man before her was dressed in a white dress shirt, unbuttoned several buttons at the top and untucked from the professional black slacks that he wore. His tall stature, broad shoulders, and proud posture made for a terrifying silhouette.

This man had stalked her for two years back in junior high before mysteriously disappearing. She knew his face well but had never learned his name, mostly because she had been too busy hiding from him.

"Who the hell are you?!?"

He smirked. "Don't you recognize me Kagome?" He tilted his head, his face looked almost disappointed. 

"That voice...?"

Kagome's brain was struggling to keep up. She knew that voice, but it didn't belong to that face. 

As she struggled to understand the information her eyes and ears were communicating to her brain, the man began to transform before her eyes. This transformation was nothing like what Sesshomaru underwent when he dropped his human disguise. That was graceful, natural, almost beautiful. This was... wrong... crude. Watching the bones under his skin rearrange and his skin, eyes, and hair change color and shape, Kagome felt so sick she was sure she would puke. But when the transformation was complete, she was too shocked to feel anything but fear and confusion.

"Hojo" Kagome whispered. "But... How? Why?"

The man, now more of a teenaged boy, chuckled darkly. "Yes. How indeed." He sneered. "Kikyo, perhaps you would like to explain."

Forcing herself to tear her eyes away from the imposing presence of her former stalker, to see Kikyo stepping down the stairs in the corner of the room to stand beside the man. She looked as beautiful and terrible as she always had, flowing ebony hair, soft skin, and cherry blossom lips. She was dressed in traditional miko garb and wore a bow and arrow on her back. "You look awful Kags. Did the trip not agree with you?"

Kagome remained silent. Since when had these two ever done anything together? 

"As to how your old stalker just turned into your dear Hojo, its simple, they're the same person." Kikyo continued. "You should be familiar with demons by now. You're engaged to one. NARAKU over here is a spider demon. Part of his power is to impersonate whoever he chooses. Unfortunately for the real Hojo, in order for Naraku to properly replace him, Hojo had to disappear. Naraku devoured him."

Kagome felt sick again. That poor boy.

"Why?" Kagome whimpered. 

The two co-conspirators looked at each other, sharing a meaningful look before Kikyo spoke again, while Naraku regained his original shape. "You have part of my soul. I want it back."

"What?!? I thought you just didn't want me to be with Inuyasha?"

Kikyo scoffed. "This was never about him. He was mine from the beginning, you had no chance. I just wanted you to think that was what it was about." 

Naraku chuckled again. "You see my dear Kagome, you are a mistake."

"What?" Error Kagome.exe has stopped working.

"Kikyo is the clone of an ancient priestess, brought into this world by a group of fanatic Shinto priests in the last ditch effort to bring back the holy powers of old. After she was fully awakened, we knew something had gone terribly wrong. She was missing her soul, of course, the only reason that could happen was if her reincarnation was already in this time. She was placed into the home of a young woman whose child had been stillborn until we could figure out how to solve this problem. Of course, we had to tamper with her memories. Had to account for her now having a 6-year-old daughter in her home, so we made her think that the stillborn babe was the younger sister to Kikyo, not their first child."

"They didn't anticipate that my next door neighbor would be the very reincarnation which had stolen my soul in the first place," Kikyo stated.

"Yes." Naraku continued. "As soon as you girls started to spend time together Kikyo's body began to call her soul into itself from you. We thought this was the answer and left it alone for several years, but we also did not anticipate that you would unconsciously fight back, therefore you still hold half of the soul which is rightfully hers."

Kagome frowned. None of this was making any sense. Does not compute... The harder she tried to follow, the more her circuits seemed to be frying.

"Perhaps we should give her time to absorb this information before we continue," Kikyo Suggested.

"Agreed. I believe you have a lunch date with Inuyasha do you not?"

Kikyo nodded, her expression changing to one of gentle caring. No matter how cruel she had been to Kagome, she did love Inuyasha. "I do."

"Why don't you go do that. I can keep an eye on the fluke here while you are gone." The look that crossed his face as he said those words sent chills up and down Kagome's spine.

AN I'm back! I'm gonna try and actually finish this story up her pretty soon. For now, here is the next chapter. I hope it's not too disappointing. I'll hopefully update again tomorrow, but I am exhausted right now. its been a long couple of weeks. 

Speaking of which, I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. Mine was nice and small. just a few friends and family. 

Let me know what you guys thought! I'm always open to suggestions and constructive criticisms. See you guys on the flip side.

Cassie