Title: Ravaged Identity
Category: Inuyasha/Ouran
Genre: Angst/Romance
Rating: M - Language, mildly suggestive scenes, that sort of thing.
Pairing: Kagome/Mori/Honey
Universe: Alternate.
A/N: Well, I've been saving this fic for when Bloodstained Memories concluded, and I am pleased to announce that this fiction has been tirelessly worked on, and I have a good handful of chapters, which I'll upload every couple of days so that I can work on more fictions while knowing that I don't need to worry about this one.
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or Ouran High.
.oOo.
Life is eternal and love is immortal; And death is only a horizon,
And a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight.
- Rossiter W. Raymond
.oOo.
Prologue
She dove to the left, her arm nearly severed from the sheer force as Naraku lunged again with his tentacles. This wasn't what she had expected for a final confrontation. She hadn't imagined that she would be all on her own as she stood against the most dangerous youkai in feudal Japan.
Sesshomaru was lying next to her precious kit, his teeth gritted as he struggled to stand. With a hole in his stomach, the task was taxing him greatly, but the great Lord of the West was refusing to lie down and give up.
Shippo, she knew, was still clinging to life, his small frame looking even smaller among the carnage and his own blood. It was something straight out of the young woman's worst nightmares. She looked at the kitsune pup as her own son, and seeing him so lifeless was heartbreaking.
Naraku laughed, the sound loud and mocking as Kagome struggled to stand, her forearm coated in crimson. The pain was something she could shove aside, replacing it with the adrenaline coursing through her system.
"You still think you can win, little Miko?" he asked softly, striding forward with his hands raised loosely. "After all, there's only you, the pathetic Prince of the West, and the little kitsune that no one wants left to stand in my way."
"I know that we can win!" she hissed back. "Sesshomaru isn't one to give in to someone like you, especially not to an injury like the one he has! And Shippo is my own! I know he'll never stop fighting!"
"Hmph." Naraku snorted, a tentacle raising up. "It would seem that you will die here with those you thought invincible."
Kagome readied herself against another attack, one leg at an angle as she took up an offensive position. All of the fight just began to drain out of her as she stared into the cold crimson gaze that pierced her and held her in place, like a cobra, or a spider. Eyes half lidded, she held her head up high. If she was going to die here, she wouldn't go down like the scared little girl she was feeling.
"Unfortunately not, vermin."
Kagome had never been happier to see the Lord of the West than she was right then.
"Go, Miko." Sesshomaru nearly murmured as his acidic claws held the offending limb away from the both of them. "I will take care of this hanyou."
In other words-
Run, and don't look back.
She sent a last look over to Shippo, praying for him silently as she hesitantly rose.
"I will guarantee that no harm will come to the kit." Sesshomaru assured before wincing as Naraku's miasma began sinking into his flesh.
"Thank you, Sesshomaru-sama." she whispered before scrambling to gain a hold on the blood coated forest floor. She darted away, praying for the youkai that he would win and live and save her precious kit. She prayed that Naraku would die and never taint the world with his foul presence again, that she would make it to the well, to her own time.
Her blood spattered the ground as she ran, her lungs struggling to cope with the stress and adrenaline she was pushing upon them. The forest blurred around her, her mind set on one thing and one thing alone.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, the well came into sight, and she nearly collapsed then and there in her relief.
Then pain in her side and her head. The world tilted and blurred as scenery and a leering face danced in her vision.
The next thing she knew, a night sky was floating above her, along with the familiar scent of home.
"Well, little Miko, this is quite the world you live in."
No.
Her heart plummeted, and she could only watch in horror as Naraku reared before her. This couldn't be happening. Naraku couldn't be here, in her time, in her world. Her mother- her family was in danger. Frantically, the young woman scrabbled back, mind spinning, bile rising in the back of her throat. The hanyou followed, steps quick and sure, light. He knew she was cornered and defenseless, knew that this would be the most ironic place for her to die.
"Time to die, Kagome." he smiled unapologetically, tentacles flying forward-
And she blocked them with her miko ki. Without any conscious effort.
Naraku was just as shocked as she was, because his eyes remained wide for several seconds before he regained his composure and smiled nastily down at her. "Care to explain this odd occurrence to me?"
Kagome blinked, the words not quite registering over the ringing in her ears. Everything was moving too fast for her to comprehend. All of her attention was focused on her ki, which was defending her in a smooth shield that Naraku was vaguely examining as his tentacles tried to find a flaw.
He lunged again, and once more, her miko ki repelled him. Her vision blurred, dark spots dancing at the edge of her vision.
There was a pull at her edge of her mind, this one much different than the harsh tugging of unconsciousness. It felt more like a calm winter snow, the cool wind brushing against the sensitive barrier of her mind.
It took her a moment to realize that her miko ki was draining her.
Panic overriding her, she began struggling against the pull, trying to keep her miko ki from killing her. Naraku's leer faded in and out of her already dimming sight, and with a final harsh yank, she severed herself from the power.
The pain that followed made her wish she could fall into the soothing darkness that was now banished from her mind like a bucket of icy water.
She felt her back arch at an impossible angle, feeling something rip inside of her as she lay suspended between gravity and her own power. Something was wrong, terribly so, but she couldn't think past the horrible, mind numbing pain.
Naraku seemed to be affected in a similar manner: his hands were clutching at his head, and his mouth was open in a silent scream. In fact, she was surprised that she herself wasn't screaming.
It seemed like years, millennia that she was lying there, lost in the sea of roiling fire, but in reality it couldn't have been more than a handful of seconds, perhaps a minute.
Finally, it ended, and she numbly fell back to the ground with a ragged sob.
She couldn't feel anything. Not the earth beneath her fingers, which felt like someone had taken a blowtorch to their surface. Not the shards of glass or the debris that had been scattered from the explosion of raw power. Nothing.
A blur of white was the last thing she registered in her sight before she was finally, blissfully taken in by the darkness that had been denied throughout her pain.
(insert line here)
There was something beeping faintly by her ear.
Her logical, half-awake explanation?
Her alarm clock.
Vaguely, she slowly reached out, hoping to beat the stupid piece of electronic numbers senseless.
However, she was prevented by doing so by a light pressure against her wrist. It also stung a bit, now that she was thinking about it. She tried to open her eyes, but found that they were unresponsive to her will.
She felt a small frown cross her lips as she tried again. This time, she managed to get one open with minimal effort, but the other was refusing to cooperate.
"Kagome?"
Her open eye flickered over to a man, who appeared to be in his early forties, with well-groomed dark blond hair and chocolate brown eyes that spoke of warmth and compassion. His facial structure was hawkish in appearance, and she automatically knew that it hadn't been too long ago that he had been quite attractive.
And it was right about then that she realized that she wasn't at home in her bed but in a sterile white room with beeping machines and IV's. She also realized that her hands and her ankles were restrained by something rough that chafed against her sensitive skin.
"Where am I?" she asked frantically, struggling to sit up, fighting against the restraints. "Who are you?"
"Kagome, I need you to listen to me for a moment. This is very important. You are in Ootori Hospital. You are safe, I can promise you that."
Ootori Hospital? Wasn't that some high class hospital or something?
A painful throb emanated from her temple and shot down the back of her neck. Wincing, she leaned back, gaining little relief from doing so.
"Ah. I can see you are still rather tired. I'll leave you now. Would you like a nurse?" the man asked, concern flashing through his eyes as he leaned forward to rest a soft hand against her shoulder.
Kagome whimpered out a yes, her mind feeling as though it were being stabbed with ice picks. No matter how hard she tried to make sense of why she was here, there was simply nothing there to remember.
"I will see you soon. Enjoy your rest." The man said softly as he stood, taking a moment to straighten his crisp jacket before leaving, the door barely clicking behind him.
Kagome was left wondering where her mom, Souta and jii-san were, and what had even happened to land her here.
Several moments later, the door opened again, and a nurse wearing a smooth white pair of scrubs came in with a gentle smile and even gentler hands as she pushed some kind of medication through the IV and into the exhausted raven's bloodstream.
Sighing, Kagome fell back into the darkness that reached up its gnarled hands to cradle her into the lullaby of unconsciousness.