Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha
Here we go everyone! Chapter 1. Kudos for reviewers!
I opened my eyes. I had a killer headache. I sat up and swore. The world was spinning. Was this what a hangover felt like?
I stretched my arms and tried to ignore the pounding in my head. I touched my sore neck. There was an unusual weight there. I frowned and gasped. Something cold and metal was on my neck. I ran to the nearby stream and looked at my reflection. I was wearing a tight choker made out of silver; in the middle of the choker hung a glass orb with a silver hair inside it. Where did it come from? The only possibility was Sesshomaru. What was it? What did it mean? I did not know. I tried to take the choker off but I couldn't find a clasp. I yanked on it, trying to break it but to no avail. The necklace would not budge.
I groaned. What was I going to do? The necklace looked like something a guy would give to his girlfriend. No, more like a collar you would put on a dog. I fumed angrily at his invasion of my privacy.
Then my anger returned. I remembered that I was furious with Inuyasha. I remembered that I was going home. I stood up and stomped off towards the well, letting the strange happening float to the back of my mind.
I stared down in the dark and musty depths. A malevolent aura was radiating from the bottom, but I felt no Youkai presence. I shrugged and blamed it on my imagination. Adjusting my pack I jumped down.
"What?!" I shrieked.
I started digging at the bottom of the well.
"No! No!! NO!! Let me out of here!!" I screamed.
I curled up in a ball at the bottom of the well and started to cry. I was stuck. I couldn't get through. I need to get through. I need to get out! I needed to escape. I needed to go home.
"Kagome?" I heard someone say above me.
I bit my lip and withheld my sobs.
"Kagome!" Sango's voice came clearer.
"What did you hear?" Miroku's voice called.
"I thought I heard Kagome crying."
"That can't be. She left. There's no way she is hanging around here."
"You're right. It must have been my imagination."
Their footsteps faded into the distance.
As soon as I was sure that they were gone I stood up and winced. I had landed on my ankle wrong but I was pretty sure I hadn't twisted it. I crawled up the vines and landed with a thud on the grass. I picked up my yellow backpack and my bow and arrows I had thrown up previous to my climb up the vines.
I limped off into the woods, wondering what I was going to do. Adjusting my pack again, I looked back at the well regretfully. I guess I was stuck here till I figured how to get back home. Turning and facing forward, I headed west.
Kikyo
I watched Inuyasha mope around Kaede's hut.
"Inuyasha? What's the matter?" I said sweetly.
"Nothing!!" he barked.
"You miss the other miko, do you not?"
"No! Why would I miss that klutz?"
"Because you are in love with her," I said.
"No I'm not!!"
Good. If you keep denying it. It will only make it easier for me.
Sango
I watched the sun go down behind the trees.
"You miss her, don't you?" Miroku said, coming up behind me.
"Yeah," I said.
"If only we could go through the well and get her back."
"Yeah," I mumbled.
……
……
"Aren't you going to say you want to try?" he said incredulously.
"Why? What use would it be? It's not like she would actually come back, even if we could make it through the well which we can't."
"How do you know she isn't coming back this time?" he said.
"She's had enough. She doesn't want to take it anymore. I still think that she is just going to hurt more if she stays in that world. Inuyasha is too stupid for her."
"Yeah. But I think there is hope, for us going through the well, I mean," Miroku said slyly
"Huh?"
"Why was Inuyasha able to go through the well?"
"I don't know."
"Did we ever actually try to go through it?"
"Not really."
"Well, I believe the reason Inuyasha was able to get through was because he desperately wanted Kagome. We're in the same predicament, correct?"
"Yeah, sure. Though I think it was more along the lines of he and Kagome sharing a spiritual connection, or that he had jewel shards."
"Both of which we lack. But if my suspicion is true, it should work for us, right?"
"Maybe, maybe not."
"Well, let's try."
"Fine. I'm bored anyways."
Kikyo
Hmm. So they're trying to go through the well. Nice try. Kagome couldn't get through. I cursed it. Kagome's not there anyways.
Kagome
I yawned as I walked through the twilight. I was hungry and tired. I needed to find a safe place to sleep, out of the way of demons and Natsuki's henchmen.
Alas, my wishes were not meant to be. I seemed to be having an inane problem with running into a certain inuyoukai in secluded places without witnesses. I had all the sleep shoved out of me rudely when I saw Sesshomaru standing on the road in front of me.
"What do you want now?!" I shouted, "You already put this thing on me," I gripped my choker, "what more do you want?!"
"I want something of yours." he said.
Instantly a bunch of dirty thoughts filled my head.
"Well, whatever it is you can't have it!" I shouted, a blush spattering my cheeks.
"That's a shame," he said in my ear.
"Quit getting behind me like that!!" I screeched. I turned around and faced him. "You really need to stop doing that! And you can't have it!"
He held one of my black hairs.
"That is all I need. There is a village about a half a mile ahead of you."
He disappeared into the black forest.
That man frightens me.
A lot.
My weariness came back to me, and having no where else to go, I began to make my way to the village that 'should' be in front of me, if Sesshomaru was telling the truth.
Sesshomaru
"What does Lord Sesshomaru have need of the hair of the miko for?" Jaken said.
……
"If Lord Sesshomaru does not see fit to answer his lowly servant's question, that is alright."
"To make a trade with the other miko," I said slowly.
"I see. What shall Lord Sesshomaru receive this time?"
……
Jaken grew silent also.
I walked through the dark forest. Before me small demons and animals scattered at my approach.
In the distance I could hear wolves howling to the moon. Complaining of their low status in life, no doubt.
The walk was long and Jaken soon grew tired. Though he tried to make no indication of it, I could smell the sweat dripping of his body and hear him gasping for air.
I stopped in a small clearing and jumped into a tree to wait for the end of night. Below me I could hear Jaken starting a fire.
His footsteps walked away from camp. He was looking for some food to sustain himself.
I closed my eyes. I did not need to watch for intruders this night; I was close enough to a village that no demons would bother us. Humans I had no worry of. They were easy enough to dispose of.
I heard Jaken return with what smelled like fish.
"Jaken," I said. "I want some of your fish. I feel hungry tonight."
"Yes, Lord Sesshomaru."
I shut my eyes again. Below me, Jaken was muttering to himself about various things. The smell of fish smoking over the fire and Jaken's gravelly voice was comforting so I did what I should never have done. I fell asleep.
A lair, deep in a far away forest
The small girl looked around carefully. Silent as the grave, she slipped inside the cave. She scurried deeper and deeper into the mountain, avoiding well used tunnels and guards. She moved with a ghost like grace and a wild animal's prowess. The whispering and haunting sounds echoed through out the tunnels. Stealthily ignoring all barriers and spells she made it to the core.
Silently she slipped into the well furnished room. Animal skins covered the stone ground and tapestries hid the stone walls from view. In the center of the room, a large bed of some sorts lay. Through the pink chiffon canopy the girl could see her mistress.
"You have returned." the woman said in a surprisingly deep, seductive voice.
"Yes madam." the girl said respectfully.
"What have you learned?"
"Apparently a miko, Kikyo, with powers equal to that of Kagome, has surfaced. She is placing the curse on Kagome and Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western Lands. Inuyasha has no knowledge of this."
"Now would be a perfect time to go through our course of action. But before that, I shall visit this, Lord Sesshomaru, and see if we can turn his loyalties."