The Sound of Silence
Rating: M…for later.
Disclaimer: Duh, I don't own Inuyasha and characters.
Summary: For a girl of only nineteen, Kagome has quite a bit on her hands. Leaving her first love, and dealing with the cruel twists fate seems to have tossed at her was stressful enough. So how will she cope when a certain Taiyoukai is thrown into the mix? Sess/Kag…
Chapter One:
The grass swayed lightly in the early-spring breeze, as if waving goodbye to a beloved friend. The sun set low in the sky, basking the clouds in heavenly pink and orange hues.
The day had been lovely, even more so peaceful.
However, this amazing natural splendor was ignored entirely by a lone girl, lying in the tall grass on the out-skirts of a small human village.
Kagome frowned, her dark green eyes following the downward motion of her lips as if both were connected by string. The evening was becoming a chilly, and her short-sleeved shirt and jeans could only keep her so warm. For a moment she contemplated on standing…but decided to stay when she thought of who she was to return to.
Instead, Kagome turned onto her other side and let her eyelids fall. She was rather tired.
She was rather…broken.
"Kagome!" His rough, masculine voice hit her ears painfully. Stubbornly, Kagome rolled over onto her stomach without saying a word.
"Kagome! Come here…now!" Inuyasha barked, clearly angry of her disobedient ways.
"No! I don't want to be even near you Inuyasha!" She yelled back, her temper rose quickly, only to sink down into despair.
For a moment, the air was quiet. Kagome waited, unmoving for his nearly unbearable voice but heard only the sound of the grass crunching as he came to retrieve her.
Smoothly, she stood, hidden in the darkness of the tall grass and approaching night. Pausing only for a moment, she trekked farther into her sanctuary and away from her tormentor. Smirking sadly as she went along because she knew he wouldn't find her.
Inuyasha was really nothing anymore without his hanyou senses.
He was just human. Plainly and pathetically.
And she wondered, if only for a second, how it must have felt for Inuyasha to be ripped of everything that he was, of everything he fought to justify.
Kagome smiled, because maybe, just maybe…he realized how utterly horrible it had felt. Perhaps he had also come to terms with the fact it was exactly what he had done to her….
But then again, it was Inuyasha. The former half-demon she had traveled with from sixteen years-old to the present nineteen. And if anyone knew about Inuyasha's lack of intelligence and inability to think deeply, well it had to be Kagome.
"Kagome…please…" Oh, how he sounded desperate. It was shamefully tempting Kagome to turn back and find him, if only to see the helpless lock on his now unappealing face. But Kagome was a pretty strong girl, and she fought this idea and continued with her mini-journey.
After another two minutes or so, her heightened senses were unable to detect his following. Sighing, she leapt into the tallest and nearest tree, letting her legs hang comfortably from the sides of the thick branch where she sat.
Her beautiful raven locks swayed prettily amongst the night air, and she unconsciously wrapped her arms about herself. Smells of food, of ningen and the forest invaded her olfactory system almost overwhelmingly and Kagome winced but made no other movements, her mind preoccupied with an image of a little boy…
"Shippo…" Her voice held a tone of warmth and for the first time in a week, Kagome let herself smile…if only for a little while…until her head was filed with flashes or fire and battle. 'How much I miss him…'the girl thought to herself, holding back all but one tear that had managed to escape.
"Kagome…please…"She nearly yelped with surprise when Inuyasha appeared beneath the old oak tree, but stopped in favor of saving of mentally smacking herself that she was so oblivious.
"Hmn." Was the only recognition Kagome had heard the man that was panting in his haste.
"It wasn't your fault Kagome, and you know it! It wasn't your fault!" Inuyasha cried, his voice laced with anger and guilt at his memories. Inuyasha nearly choked when her laughter hit his human ears, but instead grit his teeth at the hollow and mocking tone.
"It was my fault. All of it. If I hadn't been so weak, I could have saved him! Don't you understand that, Inuyasha?" In a flash, she was right beside him, causing the man to stumble in surprise.
"It was my fault, as well, that I didn't kill her the first chance I got…back when I wasn't like this." She lifted a clawed hand into his line of vision, talons flashing in the light of the moon.
Inuyasha inched backwards, suddenly aware for the first time in his long life that Kagome was in fact, very dangerous. Even more so now.
He was scared, and Kagome relished in the taste of it, even though she knew she shouldn't, even though some of her human character that had been left behind begged to stop.
Inuyasha, being the prideful creature he was, swallowed his fear and dumbly forced out a retort. "Don't you dare bring Kikyo into this!" Which he instantly regretted when she lifted him off the ground with one hand.
"Tell me Inuyasha…how I can't bring that…that thing into it?" Kagome said calmly, her breath even and quiet, much unlike the man she held. Inuyasha said nothing and focused on avoiding the lively green eyes probing into him. "Was it not her who murdered Sango and Miroku?
"Did she not kill the child I cared for like son?" she set him to his feet, taking favor in circling him, much like a cat ready to pounce on its meal. Again, Inuyasha remained silent, eyes downcast. "Isn't it her fault I will never again be back in my time, and see my family?"
Kagome continued mercilessly. "Wasn't it precious Kikyo that turned me into...a monster?" She asked sadly, provoking him to speak by stopping her pacing and walking closer to him.
"Wasn't it her that stripped you of everything she had claimed to fallen in love with?" Kagome stepped as close as possible without physically touching him.
Lifting his chin with a clawed finger she made him look straight into her eyes. "And wasn't it Kikyo that took you away from me, while I held onto naïve dreams that we could be together?" Kagome dropped her hand, pleased when he had enough sense to look at her on his own.
Inuyasha spoke, his tone filled with guilt and bitterness. "Yes, yes it was." Kagome allowed him to face to ground once more.
She turned, satisfied that she had made her point and expressed enough hatred for him today, but stopped when Inuyasha dared to stay and continue.
"I really did love you Kagome; I don't care how you feel about me…I just want you to know that there was a time when I was in love with you." Kagome didn't come back to face him, but instead asked so quietly Inuyasha had to strain to hear. "And why did you stop?"
It was quiet, so quiet Kagome felt uncomfortable as the silence consumed her. But she knew he would speak no more, for they both knew the answer. And she cried no more, and would no more, because she had come to terms with that.
The loud steps of Inuyashas departure hit her pointed ears painfully, and she spoke once more. "I'll get my things in the morning." Inuyasha stopped, and barley nodded, letting the harsh realization hit him head on for the first time.
It was hard to think about life without her…life without Kagome. It never seemed like she would leave one day without him. Truthfully, he had thought she would stay with him forever. And it hurt, horribly in fact, to know that she was going…
And it was his fault.
The sun rose above the hillside and blessed the earth with its golden rays, and the birds and animals stirred along side it.
Kagome awoke from her extremely light slumber, arching and stretch her muscles that were surprisingly fine for sleeping in a tree. Grunting to herself she jumped to the ground without second thought and began her walk to Inuyasha's hut.
It was sad, really, to think about her time with Inuyasha to finally be over…They had had a chance at a wonderful life together, but he had gone and messed everything up. The battle was over and the Shikon Jewel was back to where it had belonged. Unconsciously, Kagome rubbed her side where the jewel was currently residing and where the scar was left from when it had been taken.
She was suddenly aware that she was outside of Inuyasha's pitiful hut, and reminded herself she shouldn't keep spacing out anymore. Forcing herself half the way, Kagome pushed open the shoji screen door and went inside, surprised to find her belongings placed neatly on the little table at the center of the room. Upon further inspection, Inuyasha was no where to be found, which hurt Kagome a little.
'the least he could have done was say goodbye…' The youkai female approached the blue duffle bag that held the only items she had left from her era. At some point in her travels she had replaced her abnormally humongous yellow book-bag with this one, because it was stronger and more sensible. She smiled at the memories of her teenage life with that yellow bag and regretted leaving it behind.
Picking up the large bag, she slowly exited the hut, and didn't stop even when she caught the scent of Inuyasha approaching his home; instead she turned and went the opposite way.
It was cold, cold and wet.
How she had always hated the rain.
But it barley registered to Kagome as she continued through the night, her sopping hair bouncing behind her. Her eyes flashed brightly in the dark, looking about calmly. Straight ahead was a large village, a castle at the farthest point from her. The village was rather advanced she determined from its tall and strong surrounding walls. The loud and annoying sound of metal-clad feet, no doubt patrolling officers, reached her ears. Rolling her eyes, she continued towards the village, not really considering that she might not have been too welcome in the dead of night at a mostly human village. Her feat barely made noise as she stepped into puddles and onto the soaking ground, but she paid very little attention to this.
Something…was pulling her into that village. And she was freighted of what it could be. Kagome struggled to stop herself, but her curiosity was getting the best of her. When she reached the gates of the village, she shivered.
A tainted and rather malicious power radiated from the village, and it clearly was taiyoukai.
The billowing red flags that hung from the protective walls of the town caught Kagome's attention for a mere second as she cleared the wall in a single jump.
and that ladies and gentlemen… was the first chapter.
Next one will be longer.
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