Chap 2.
Kagome woke feeling cold and disoriented. Above her was a night sky full of stars. She could feel that she was moving, and it took her a moment to realize she was in the air. "What… where am I?" She asked groggily.
Shippo appeared at her side. "Kagome!" He cried happily. "Are you alright?"
"Yes," Kagome said, sitting up slowly. "I think so, anyway. What happened?"
"We were surrounded by ghosts!" Shippo shuddered to himself. "They were calling out to you. You kept trying to go to them, don't you remember?"
"I… don't know," Kagome said, gripping the side of her head. "I remember seeing something on the other side of the river, but then…" Images suddenly flashed in her head. She saw the white-draped boy who had been standing on the far riverbank, his dark, shadowy eyes like empty caverns. She remembered the feeling of cold hands. More than anything, she remembered sadness.
"I think…" She said. "I think they were trying to tell me something." She realized her cheeks were wet, and she reached up to wipe away the tears she hadn't known she'd been shedding. "I felt so sad," She said. "I was… feeling what they were feeling. That boy…"
"Do you remember why you were trying to go to him? Inuyasha could barely hold you back." Shippo said.
Kagome shook her head. "It wasn't me. They were… pulling me. Calling me. It felt like they needed my help, like they were desperate about something."
"Whatever it was, it was scary," Shippo whimpered. "Even Inuyasha looked scared."
Hearing Inuyasha's name seemed to bring Kagome more to her senses. "Wait, Shippo," she said, looking around. "Where are the others? They didn't stay behind, did they?"
"We didn't know what else to do," Shippo said dejectedly. "Inuyasha couldn't have kept holding you back any longer without hurting you." He pointed at Kagome's shoulders, and she noticed there were smalls stains of blood on her shirt. Now that she was thinking about it, her arms did sting a little.
"Inuyasha…" She whispered, feeling a pit grow in her stomach as she reached up to touch the shallow scratches. She knew he would be feeling guilty about that, and already her heart was aching for him.
"We have to go back, Shippo," Kagome instructed.
"Wait, what?" Shippo whimpered. "Kagome, we can't go back there, those ghosts will take you away!"
Ignoring him, Kagome looked down toward the ground to see if she could get her bearings. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw what was below.
"On second thought," She squeaked, jolting back upright. "Maybe you're right."
"Huh?" Shippo followed her gaze, and then yelled in fright. On the ground just below, a large bank of fog was rolling across the land keeping pace with them. Among the fog, the same white figures from before drifted in and out of sight, vanishing and then reappearing further forward each time so that the whole frightening scene never fell more than a few seconds behind them. The figures themselves never moved from their stone-like postures, which made it all the more eerie.
"They're following us!" Shippo said.
Kagome couldn't hear anything from that distance to tell if they were still calling out to her, but even just looking down she felt the same frigid sadness gripping her heart as before. She forced herself not to look and gripped tightly onto Kirara's fur as their pace quickened.
"Please, Inuyasha," She said to herself. "Inuyasha, please hurry."