Parting Ways
Chapter 1: Village in Ruins
Kagome sighed as she worked on her test. She rarely spent time in her own world anymore because of all the time she spent fighting demons in Inuyasha's world. Everything changed since she first fell into the Bone Eater's well. She barely had time to study anymore. Letting out another sigh of frustration, she completed the test to the best of her ability and handed it to her teacher.
After a few minutes of resting her head on her desk, Kagome heard the bell ring. "Okay class, you are free to go!" the teacher announced. The rest of the students rushed out of the classroom enthusiastically, while Kagome slowly put her binder and pencil back into her backpack.
Kagome's teacher walked up to her as Kagome got out of her seat. "Kagome, I'm worried about your grade. You're rarely in school anymore so you're never prepared for tests. On top of that, there's a lot of schoolwork you owe me."
Kagome gave her teacher a small smile. "Yeah… but there's nothing I can do about my constant illnesses. I'll try to do what I can while I'm at home. It's just that I'm always suffering from migraines and whatnot."
Kagome's teacher nodded her head. "Try your best, Kagome."
Kagome walked out of the room, feeling guilty. She had to always lie to her friends and teachers about why she missed so much school. But she had to do it. There was no way she could tell them that she was fighting demons in another world. She couldn't say that she was traveling with a monk, demon slayer and half-demon.
It felt like it took forever for Kagome to reach home. Unfortunately, she wouldn't be able to rest. She knew that on the other side of the well was an impatient half-demon who would come after her if she didn't go there soon. As soon as she walked through the door, Kagome started to prepare a bag full of supplies.
"Mom, I'm going now!" she said after a few minutes, opening the front door.
"Okay, be careful!" her mother replied from the kitchen.
At that moment, Kagome's little brother Souta ran downstairs. "Hey sis, tell Inuyasha I said hi! Make sure he comes and visits, okay?"
Kagome smiled. "Okay Souta, it's a promise. Well I'm off! Take care of Grandpa, okay?"
With that, she walked out the door and toward the Bone Eater's well. When she got there, she took a deep breath and jumped in. A flash of blue light followed.
~.~.~
What Kagome saw and what she expected to see upon exiting the forest near Kaede's village were two completely different things.
She had expected to see a peaceful village with little children running around. She had expected to see villagers working. She had expected to see merchants selling fruits and vegetables.
However…
She gasped. The entire village was destroyed. Sango the demon slayer, Miroku the monk, and Shippo the fox demon were all lying down near Kaede's destroyed house, injured. Kagome ran up to her hurt companions. "What happened?!" she yelled.
"Inu...yasha...he...destroyed the village." Miroku replied. "Who would have thought…?"
"He got me scared...he was grinning… like he enjoyed what he was doing…" Shippo added.
"Wha… what?!" shouted Kagome. She felt a mixture of emotions as she looked at her surroundings. She felt sad, angry, confused and betrayed. 'Why... why would he do this? I can't believe this! Where is he now?!
"SIT, BOY!" she yelled as loud as she could into the sky, hoping that the beads around Inuyasha's neck would catch her words and subdue him.
She was fortunate. A loud thud was heard in the distance. She ran as quickly as she could in that direction, hoping that all of this was just a misunderstanding of some sort and Inuyasha was innocent. Soon enough, she arrived at the spot where none other than Inuyasha lay with his face in the ground.
"Inuyasha!" she yelled. "What the hell is going on?!"
"Well, well… Kagome Higurashi... Keh. That was a powerful 'sit' command, ya know. You managed to break the beads around my neck!" he snickered. "I'm free from you at last!"
"The… the beads… Inuyasha, this isn't like you! What happened? What is going on?" Kagome asked, tears threatening to fall from her eyes.
"Well, if you really want to know… Kikyo wanted me to prove how much I care for her and told me to destroy the village." he said matter-of-factly. "So I did."
Inuyasha smirked at Kagome as she fell to her knees and started to cry. He didn't bother sticking around and ran off to find Kikyo.
"Inuyasha... this is like you. Listening to Kikyo... I'm only second best, of course."
"Excuse me miss, is something wrong?"
Kagome looked up to see an unfamiliar black-haired man with a sword at his side. "I'm… I'm okay…"
"It sure doesn't look like it," said the stranger.
"I'm fine, really…" Kagome insisted.
"Then why are you crying while mentioning someone named 'Inuyasha'? Come to think of it, wasn't he the half-demon who was pinned to the Goshinboku tree by a priestess names Kikyo?" he asked.
The mention of Kikyo's name made Kagome cry harder, and she decided that she might as well explain everything and let it all out. So she did. She also explained her journey with her companions to find the missing Shikon jewel shards. The stranger seemed rather interested in the story. By the time she was done, Kagome had stopped crying.
"Oh, I see. So you're in love with this Inuyasha," said the man.
Kagome's face turned red. "I never said that!"
"But he doesn't love you back?" the stranger asked, ignoring Kagome's statement.
"I never said I loved him!" Kagome repeated.
"And he destroyed this whole village... at the demand of Kikyo, the one he loves."
Kagome went silent after hearing that and looked at the ground. Tears started to well up in her eyes again. The man started to panic. "Oh, I'm sorry! Um… hey, forget about Inuyasha. I'll help you find Shikon jewel shards in his place."
Kagome looked up at him. "Really? You will?"
"Sure!" the man said. He smiled. "My name is Bakura. What's yours?"
"I'm… I'm Kagome."
Sorry about it being short, but I already have this entire story planned out so you can expect frequent updates. Please review! It lets me know how I'm doing and gives me the inspiration to continue working.