Inuyasha didn't understand. What had he done?
They had been fighting a horde of demons. Kagome had slipped and fell of a cliff. As he had shouted her name, a sacred arrow had pierced through the air, purifying it. The purified air had caught Kagome like a net. When then turned around, Kikyo was there, bow in one had. The other hand was poised stiffly above her head where she had released the arrow.
Inuyasha had mouthed her name. She turned around and ran. He tried to follow, but she was too fast.
She had been too fast when she was alive too, he remembered. There was a rustling behind him. Kagome. She sat down beside them. The tension was so thick, the silence so eerie. He didn't dare speak. Her face was down. He could not tell what she was feeling.
He had tried to forget Kikyo, for Kagome's sake, but he couldn't. He wasn't sure he loved her any more, or if he just clung to her…the only memory of his past.
The darkness enveloped them. It seemed like they had spent a lifetime sitting on this hill, just staring into the distance. The darkness turned cold…and so did Inuyasha's heart.
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It had been a long, wintry night. Although the night sky was light, Kikyo carried a huge torch with her that she continued to light with oil. The torch burned an odd-smelling fragrance that made Kikyo cough.
"Why do you carry that torch, miko?"
"I fear the darkness."
"It's light out."
"Not that darkness Inuyasha…not that darkness."
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There had been something else Kikyo feared. What it was, Inuyasha would probably never know. There was one thing he did remember. That night, as they strolled through their beloved Shitsuren Hill, he had sensed something following them…looming over them.
What was following them that night? And why did Inuyasha feel as though whatever it had been still haunted them?