School 04

[yukatado]

Disclaimer:
All characters of "Inuyasha: Sengoku Otogi Zoushi" a.k.a. "Inu-Yasha: a Feudal Fairytale" are the 1998 property and copyright of Rumiko Takahashi; Shogakukan Inc.; Kitty; Fuji TV; and, Viz Communications. No copyright infringement is intended.

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School

Chapter 04 - Enlightenment Is Education

A fanfiction by Yukatado

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The next day, after classes, as Kikyou exited Sakurabara's main gate with Beniko, they were intercepted by Tadahiro. "Kikyou . . . san," he called after her, gaining the girls' attention. They turned to see him take his hat off and wring it around in his nervous hands. "I've given this a lot of thought, since last evening and all of today, and I don't care. I would like to get to know you and take you on dates if you'll let me."

Beniko scrutinized Tadahiro before turning a sly eye towards Kikyou who looked upon Tadahiro contemplatively. "Well, he looks like a decent catch. You should go for it Kikyou. He doesn't seem like a bad guy."

"Yes, I would like that Tadahiro-kun. Come by the shrine tomorrow evening," Kikyou said, maintaining a calm and cool exterior, however, she allowed herself to smile at him sweetly. "However, as it is, I can do nothing tonight. Beniko and I have exams for which we must study and Beniko's got another archery lesson with me this afternoon. Good day to you Tadahiro-kun. I look forward to our time together."

"Y-yes! Good day to you too! And you miss . . ." Tadahiro stammered out.

"Hayashibara Beniko."

Beniko and Kikyou headed off to Kikyou's shrine. "So, who was that boy?" Beniko asked.

"He came by my shrine yesterday. He asked me out and I informed him that a relationship with me entailed certain things that he might not necessarily like," Kikyou explained. "He seems to be . . . open-minded. It would be nice to have someone to share my time with again . . ."

"When was the last time you had a boyfriend, Kikyou?"

"It was too long ago. Come on, today, I'm going to show you how I did that trick when we first met.

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"Kikyou . . ." a shaky, labored voice called her from the other side of the room, "my darling Kikyou."

Right away, Kikyou was by her husband's side. He was now unnaturally old for their time, and death was knocking at his door. She tenderly held his hand as he struggled out his last words. "Yes, what is it Ootarou, dear?"

"All these years . . . you've never aged a bit, you always stayed beautiful . . ." he coughed and continued, "but of course I've always known why. I never said a thing. It was like I was living in my own exciting little ghost story with you, and in reality, I always was, but I was so afraid that you would up and disappear if I ever mentioned it . . ."

"I promised to always be by your side when we married, dear Ootarou, say what you will while you have strength left to say it . . ."

"I've never liked the way you stay young . . . for me, please find a way, if you can, to stay alive a different way. You've always been there for me, you've always been good to me and I love you and I want you to live happily as long as you will, but do this one last thing for me and I can die a happy man . . ."

"I will try, Ootarou. For you I shall find a way," she said hugging him one last time, "I love you, Ootarou."

Ootarou embraced his wife of fifty-two years and passed on saying finally, "And I love you . . ." The ghost of Ootarou got up from the bed and lifted Kikyou's face with his fingers. He looked ever bit the strapping young samurai he'd been when they married. He tenderly kissed her. "Smile for me, Kikyou," he said as his ghost faded into nothingness. She smiled as best she could until he faded away and collapsed on to his body's chest, crying.

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From that day forward, Kikyou made it an almost zealous mission of hers to find a way to live without feeding on the souls of the dead. It took her almost fifty more years, but she was able to eventually discover a way.

Kikyou had not had so many attempts on her life as she had during that first year of searching since before the sealing of Naraku. As it stood, she figured that her best chances of discovering a solution to her problem was in talking to the ones in the land that spent all their time studying, theorizing, philosophizing and theologizing about death: the Buddhists.

Most every time she went to another temple, she was given the same line and some monk attempted to send her back to the depths of hell where she supposedly belonged. That was, until one time, while down in Kyoto of all places, she found a very small Zen monastery on the outskirts. There she met a master. Kneeling before him, she waited for him to sip his tea before she sipped her own.

"Heh heh heh. Woman . . . you do not belong in this world," cackled the old monk with a gleam in his eye, "I should send you back from whence ye came." He merely took another long draw on his cup of tea.

Kikyou was mildly surprised. Usually that line was instantly followed with some spiritual attack of one kind or another. Kikyou took a sip of her tea and put down the cup. "This world is an illusion; what does it matter to you if I remain in this world or not?"

"What does it matter to you then, if I send you back to hell? At least there, your sins would be burned away." he quipped.

"I seek enlightenment. My sins are immaterial to that. The flames of hell searing the sins from my spiritual flesh will only allow me to be reborn, ever continuing the cycle of death and rebirth from which we seek to escape through enlightenment," she said.

"You cannot be enlightened. There is nothing to enlighten within you. You have no soul," the old monk replied.

"Then there is no soul to send to hell."

The monk cackled. "Then if you have no soul to be enlightened, why are you here? Does it have to do with your means of existence?"

"I do wish to be rid of the need to consume souls," she said, bowing, "It is as you say."

"The attainment of Nirvana is merely the snuffing out of their soul, you do them a favor by saving them time and effort," dismissed the monk.

"They shall get what they want for as long as they want, that is what rebirth is about. When they want for nothing, then they may pursue Nirvana. It is not my place to take that away from them," argued Kikyou.

"Destroy yourself then."

"I wish to find a way to live without feeding off souls, but I still wish to remain," she retorted, becoming peeved at his simple view of things and disregard of her own feelings.

"You place too much value in living, but you will be educated. Say your goodbyes to your friends and family, if you have any, and come back in a week."

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Kikyou left that place and traveled up to find Sesshoumaru and tell him of her plan. Sesshoumaru was happy to see his former lover again. It was after the final battle with Naraku that the two had a short lived love affair. Kikyou had, by then, freed herself of the need to have anything to do with Inuyasha or Kagome and wanted to make purpose for herself. Sesshoumaru had seen the Miko before and always kept in his memory that she had saved Rin from Suikotsu when he could do nothing to stop him. They grew close and Kikyou soon became a sort of mother for Rin until the girl grew up. When Sesshoumaru wanted to continue his family line, and she could bare him no children, he had chosen the twenty-year-old Rin to become the mother of his true children. Kikyou moved to a different village and recovered from her betrayal and eventually married Ootarou.

Some fifty five years later, Kikyou had forgiven Sesshoumaru, and had come to terms with why he would not marry her, despite her own feelings for him. Now she simply wanted a familiar face to spend some time with before the long spiritual journey ahead of her the success of which she could not even be sure. They rekindled their passion if only for a couple of nights, and she was actually happy to meet with Rin's grown children and grand children.

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Inuyasha and Kagome had, after the final battle, settled down and gotten married, eventually, as did Miroku and Sango. Something very strange happened. With fully grown children and expecting a grandchild some forty years later, Kagome looked not a day over twenty; it was expected that Inuyasha would not age much, but no one expected this of Kagome. In time, they figured out that it was a by-product of the separation of part of Kagome's soul within Kikyou. They did notice that Kagome had in fact aged, but just every slowly.

The two had become, for all intents and purposes, Taijiya, like Sango had been, and they now traveled with Miroku and Sango's children. When they were approached by a young monk that claimed that a lone female demon was enchanting the monastery, they went down to investigate.

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Two years after Kikyou became a Buddhist nun at the monastery, four figures made their way up the mountain to the temple there. They went inside and found the abbot.

"Hey, gramps!" Inuyasha barked at the old master of the Zen temple, only to receive an elbow in the side from Kagome.

"I'm sorry . . . my husband seems to forget his manners sometimes . . ." Kagome apologized for Inuyasha's behavior, "we're here looking for a demon that one of your monks claims is enchanting the monks here."

The monk looked up, somewhat unimpressed, and went back to reading his sutra. He idly commented, "You realize that your husband is a demon? Is he enchanting you?"

"Watch it Gramps!" Inuyasha shouted.

"There is only one woman here. Kikyou is in meditation right now, so please wait here and I will retrieve her when she is finished," the Abbot replied, ignoring Inuyasha's ire, and much to his added chagrin. However, that vexation turned instantly into shock.

"Kikyou!" they both shouted in surprise. Their companions hadn't much idea what the big deal was, but this Kikyou person must have been something important.

"Gyoshin-sama, there is no need to retrieve me. I felt them coming up the mountain from it's base," Kikyou said from the doorway. "I trust your journey to the area was a safe one Inuyasha, Kagome? It has been . . . a while."

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Kikyou awoke, startled out of her trance by Beniko waving a hand in front of her. "Kikyou, are you alright?" Beniko asked. "It's nearly two o'clock in the morning, Kikyou you should go to sleep!"

"I don't need sleep, Beniko," Kikyou replied, as she gazed out the window onto the Shrine grounds. She watched the ghosts of children playing together with the flute-playing Tatari-Mokke. She idly fingered the innocent-looking glass ball hanging from her neck

To be continued . . .

Author's Notes: Whew! Sorry that this took so long. I had a pretty busy week at school. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this latest chapter of "School" and that you will continue to read future installments. I hope that this chapter helps make Kikyou a little more likeable for all you player-haters out there.

If you want a little more detailed explanation of Buddhism in case you're confused about what was said in the story. If I get several e-mails, I may wait to replay to you until I have enough to go around to everyone at once, rather than sending many separate e-mails.