She didn't often venture to this part of town. It wasn't forbidden, strictly speaking, but she knew she wasn't exactly welcome and she couldn't blame the residents for their prejudice. Kagome felt the youki equivalent to eyes staring at her as she made her way through the streets. No one was out, but that didn't mean they weren't aware of her presence. She could only pull her aura in so tight and just as she could sense all the youkai around her, they could sense her when close enough. The late hour meant little since youkai didn't need much sleep.
Despite wanting the cover of a hood, Kagome had rejected the idea, knowing it would really only draw someone's actual eyes her way. Looking like you were hiding made you look suspicious and she didn't want the extra attention. Glancing at the scrap of paper in her pocket once more, she adjusted her route. Only a few blocks more and she would be at her destination. Every block seemed to stretch inexorably, and she knew her fatigue was starting to wear on her.
The light tinkling of a bell over her head made her wince. The sound was felt more than heard which let her know it was spiritually entwined. "Welcome to Kaou's Dream Shop, what can I help you find?" The smooth, slightly high male voice reminded her of the bell and she took a deep breath. "Miko," he murmured. "Your kind is not exactly welcome here." His tone had changed from salesman to something slightly more conversational. Kagome wasn't naive enough to think he was actually pleased to have her there, but he wasn't about to turn out a potential customer. He'd decided on a more neutral tone instead.
"I know," she replied. "This is the only place that offers what I need." One delicate eyebrow lifted below a dark, curly tendril of hair as he moved more into the light hovering over the reception counter.
"Oh?" Delightfully intrigued, a small grin lit his mouth.
Kagome almost regretted her decision to come. If she weren't so desperate, she would never have even thought about trying something so dangerous. "I need to know where my dreams come from." The look on the youkai's face became more serious. "For six months I have dreamed of the same man, whom I have never met, and he calls for help. I need to know how to help him." The deviousness seemed to leave Kaou's face and he looked at her intensely.
The little miko before him was clearly in need. Her dark eyes seemed darker for the circles under them, her face nearing gauntness. Her skin seemed too pale beneath dark bangs, her lips thin and tinged slightly blue instead of the luscious pink he imagined they normally were. Were it not for her explanation, he would have thought her a junkie. "Does the man call your name specifically or simply call out for help?"
"He never says my name. He doesn't even know I'm there."
Kaou nodded thoughtfully. A dream such as she described was much too specific and had been going on too long to simply be a fantasy or a nightmare. "Every night?" She nodded. "Do you sleep during the day and have the same dream?" Again, a nod. "Hm. More dire than I would have thought," he murmured, moving around the desk to tower over her. "You have payment?" The young miko sighed, somewhere between relief and exhaustion.
Her hand reached into the pocket of her coat, pulling from it several ofuda in an envelope. They were clearly handwritten and beautifully crafted, each one in a little cellophane sleeve. "There is one for happiness, peace, love, victory and pleasure." Kaou looked them over as she set them gently on the counter so as not to activate them. The resale value on any single one was outstanding, and paired with a dream experience, the client would pay even more. Any client would have the option to not only dream their wildest dream, they would truly feel the experience.
"Very good." He motioned her toward the back of the shop, the hand behind him motioning toward the front door, his youki activating the lock. "Your name?"
"Kagome. Higurashi Kagome."
"As you know, no records are kept, neither of clients nor their dreams. Yours is a special case. If something were to go awry..."
"You need to know how to return me. I know."
He offered no comforting words. She didn't ask for them. Kagome knew what he had to do was dangerous. Considering her own powers, both of them might be in danger. "Please, sit." A soft leather chair sat in a corner of the room, completely unassuming. Kagome felt sleepy just looking at it. "Now remember, I will only be able to observe and to trace any fate lines I may find. If you feel you are in danger within the dream, I cannot assist you." Kagome nodded. "You must restrain your abilities as best you can to allow my work."
"Yes, I know."
"Very well. Please try to relax."
From the moment Kagome let her head fall back against the soft seat she felt sleep reaching out to her. The slightly sticky slide of vines circling her wrists and carefully slipping under her skin almost jolted her awake, but she forced herself to remain calm. Kaou only took small amounts of energy from clients these days. He had many and the monetary gain was much more positive than draining victims. Kagome felt the slightly euphoric sensation described to her a moment later and whatever pain she may have felt was gone. Only to be replaced by the terror of her dream. "Where are you?!" the now familiar voice called. Kagome struggled with tears as she watched the young man fight against the bonds that held him. Invisible to her, they were all too real to the raven-haired man who had unknowingly been haunting her for months. "You can't leave me here!" he cried out again, frustration and fear warring with his clear strength of will.
"I'm here," she called out to him, as she did every time. His head seemed to perk in her direction, as though aware of her. "I'm here!" she shouted louder.
"He cannot hear you any more now than before," she heard Kaou's voice. "There are clear lines of fate, one is far stronger than the others. But more importantly, this is not his true face, not his whole face." Kagome startled at the statement. Not his true face? Kagome watched in fascination as spirals of Kaou's youki spun around the man in her dream. The deep grey-blue eyes she knew gleamed until they shone a stunning amber. The dark length of his hair bleached light until it was a shining silver-white. Two animal ears appeared atop his head.
"Hanyou. He's hanyou."
"It would appear..."
"Let me out of here!" the man snarled. While he had never seemed exactly weak or helpless before, he seemed positively ferocious now. "Get back here and fight me, coward!" But no one came and he was still unaware of her presence.
"You still do not recognize him." Kagome shook her head. She really wished she did. Aside from the exhaustion dreaming of him every night brought, the fear, he had become more than just a rescue mission. Seeing him as he truly was... Kagome forced herself to stay on task. "Do you still wish me to find him?"
"Yes. Yes, of course," Kagome gasped. The reason for his question was not lost on her. Did she, as a miko, still want to find and help this man... this hanyou.
"The connection could be... removed." Kagome's terrified look and her instinctive move toward the hanyou made it clear that wasn't an option. Kaou paused a moment before nodding his understanding and telling her to remain where she was. He planned to follow the strongest line of fate, as that would be the most likely to lead her to why this man was haunting her every time she closed her eyes.
"Where are you?"
His forlorn tone was new and Kagome tried to approach him. This youki induced dreamstate allowed her more control over her dream than usual, it seemed. "I'm here, I'm always here," she whispered. Her hands hovered over his wrist, now finally able to see that ofuda-wrapped chains bound him. She looked up into the golden amber eyes that looked through her. "You never see me." She frowned. His face turned her way, as though following his twitching nose, though he still didn't seem aware of her. "I always try to reach you but you never see me!" she shouted this time. Kagome felt like she was cracking. For months she had been listening to him shout to be released, worrying over him, crying for him, researching everything she could to figure out who he was. Not once had he even looked her way. "See me!" she yelled again, banging a fist on one of the shackles that bound him.
The zip of holy power startled her and apparently him. He let out a gasp of pain and then another of surprise. "Who... who are you?" Kagome looked up to finally find his eyes on her. She was dumbstruck. "Where did you come from?"
"Here, I've always been here."
"Who are you?" he demanded again. "Why do you look like... her?"
"I... Kagome. I'm Kagome," she murmured. His nose twitched as he took her in with his wide golden eyes. "Where are you?" she asked him, unknowingly echoing his constant question. "I need to find you, let you free."
"Why would you do that?" His tone was clearly suspicious.
"You've been in my dreams for months."
"Months... I've been here for years," he replied with a snarl. "You look like her, but you smell nothing like her." Kagome shook her head, she didn't know what he was talking about. "Kikyo, where is she?"
"I don't know a Kikyo," she replied honestly. He frowned slightly but said nothing. "Do you know where you are?"
"The forest. My forest," he said softly, eyes drifting away from her, becoming unfocused. "But it's not mine anymore. Something's changed. I can't smell the trees now."
"What is your forest called?" she questioned, feeling a little more desperate. Now she was finally able to communicate with him, and he was drifting away from her. "What is your name?!"
"Inu... Inuyasha," he started in a murmur, then finished with more strength. "Inuyasha."
"Good. Do you remember anything else about where you are?"
"The sacred tree, Goshinboku. I'm on Goshinboku." Kagome wracked her brain for a connection. A sacred tree should be a pretty obvious clue, but there were several in Japan and at least two within Tokyo's limits. He said that he no longer smelled the forest...
Kagome smiled at her ingenious thought. "Inuyasha, what do you smell?" His attention focused on her once again, his golden eyes pulling her toward him in an unnerving way.
"You," he muttered, seeming dazed, "I smell you." She reminded him that she needed him to focus on where he was. "Incense. Lots of it. The kind monks use. And... food. Some kind of soup maybe. I don't recognize it."
Kagome closed her eyes to try and piece together what he was telling her. A shrine maybe? That would explain the incense. But so would a medicinal shop. Or a head shop for that matter. But if he was confined to a tree, a shrine seemed more likely. And in a food district. She knew of only a few shrines that were old enough to have had the city grow up around them. But what if he was nowhere near her? "Where is your forest, Inuyasha? Is it in Japan?"
"Of course it is. In what used to be Musashi's Domain." Kagome's eyes lit with excitement. "What?" he asked, concerned.
"I know where you are. I know where you are!" she cried happily. So happy that she finally had something to go on in order to end his misery and her exhaustion, Kagome didn't realize her hands were on his cheeks and her lips against his until he grunted in surprise. "I... I'm sorry. I just..."
"Keh." He finally really seemed to see her. "Kagome, huh?" She felt a blush rise on her face, but nodded. Kagome felt the presence of Kaou at her back. It was time to leave the dream. Inuyasha was not aware of the other youkai but he clearly noticed when she began to back away. "Oi, where are you going? You can't leave me here!" The panic in his voice startled her, so like his cry from before. She quickly sought to comfort him. He leaned into the hand she pressed to his cheek.
"I have to wake up now, but I'm coming to find you, the real you. Then I can set you free." His skeptical look made her smile. "I promise. I'm coming to find you, Inuyasha, I promise."
"Keh. Holding you to it," he said, a tiny smirk twisting his lips. Kagome fought the urge to touch him again, Kaou's insistent tugging letting her know she had to leave.
Kagome let out a gasp for air when her eyes popped open. Kaou was wrapping gauze around her wrists and frowning slightly over the task. "You made contact with him. Were you not able to before?"
"Never. Thank you." He nodded, standing slowly and walking over to a chest. Opening the doors revealed many bottles, all filled with liquids Kagome didn't recognize off hand. Her brain slightly fuzzy, the bottles could have been koolaid for all she knew. "Where did the line lead?" she asked after a moment.
"To the future. Unexpected. Most lines of fate that strong within a dream are to the past. People dream most strongly of those they have loved and lost or who haunt them. The weaker lines were definitely connected in the past, though I cannot tell why. If you have never met the hanyou, then you should hold no past connections to him." Kagome thought about asking Kaou about the woman Inuyasha had mentioned, but felt a strange aversion. She didn't want any more comparisons being drawn between them for some reason, even if it might explain more. "The Buddhist temple on the eastern side of the city coincides most accurately with the direction the line gave and the clues he gave you." He held a map in one hand and a small vial in the other. "Once you have released him from his prison, or whatever must be done, drink this. You will sleep very heavily and without interruption." Kagome looked at him quizzically and a tiny smile quirked his mouth. "Dreams are meant to restore you, but you have been sorely depleted. A dreamless night will help."
"Thank you, thank you so much." Kaou nodded as she shakily stood. Kaou let her look over the map and take a note of the address she was looking for before handing her something else. Reminded of an after dinner mint, Kagome held her hand up to her mouth in embarrassment. Kaou laughed heartily.
"It is to give you strength. You are weak from the process and it will boost you until you make it home." Kagome nodded gratefully and popped the sweet in her mouth. It tasted strongly of blueberry and another tangy flavor she couldn't identify.
The night streets seemed less daunting now that she had a goal, had some of her answers. Kagome made her way quickly to the last bus stop on the "human" side of town. She had to wait nearly half an hour, but it was nothing in comparison to how long the wait had felt on her way there earlier that night. The night bus driver simply raised an eyebrow at her appearance, but said nothing when she paid her fare and took a seat. Despite wanting to go directly to the temple, Kagome knew she needed to clean up at home first.
And maybe wait for the sun to come up.
Inuyasha sighed softly when the girl disappeared. He didn't know for sure how long he had been trapped here, but he knew it had been years at the least. "Ka-go-me," he tried the name on his tongue. He liked it. He liked her. Granted, she was the first encounter of any kind he'd had since he'd been thrown into this nightmare. He might be a little biased. In a never ending cycle, he dreamed that he was shackled to the tree by faceless people, all the while waiting for a nameless woman to come back for him. His mind had always superimposed Kikyo's face, as he had last seen her, on the woman who stood just out of scent range, just out of reach.
Suddenly Kagome had appeared, a scent so foreign yet welcome that he couldn't suppress his excitement. She'd spoken to him, touched him... kissed him. She was going to let him out. She promised. She had to find him first and, given that he wasn't completely sure where she was, he was worried she wouldn't be able to. Remembering her confidence made him regain some of his own. Surprisingly it didn't bother him that she looked like Kikyo as much as he thought it probably should. But as he relished the new memory of her face, he pointed out all the differences to himself and realized the resemblance was mostly a vague similarity in face-shape and coloring.
Kagome seemed... more alive somehow. Even in this nightmare he lived in, Kagome had brought light with her, brought the scents of life. Her scent had somehow let him smell the place in which he was kept and therefore give her more clues by which to find him.
"She said she knows where I am," he said to himself with a small smile. He repeated it in his head as the nightmare began again, the hands too strong to be human seeming to press the shackles tighter. Until they reached the one on the wrist Kagome had touched. The faceless, voiceless creatures flinched back as though in pain and backed away. Inuyasha stared in wonder. That had certainly never happened before. They approached again, as though commanded, and again attempted to further confine him. The coils of chain again seemed to shock them, forcing them back. He was no less restricted, but that small amount of freedom in his wrist gave him hope. Kagome not only knew where he was, she could somehow break his chains. "She's going to set me free," he told the now dark blobs of quivering shadows. They lurked nearby, unable to complete their assigned task and therefore unable to leave. With a wicked smile he crowed out a laugh. "Kagome is going to set me free!"