Hmmm...
Chapter One:
Kagome was dead. She was sure as the whole Shikon jewel-when had it become whole?-hanging off her neck. Of course, that was slightly difficult to verify with everything being pitch black and all.
Ha ha, 'pitch black'. Maybe she wasn't dead, maybe all she needed to do was collect 20 whaddyamacallits and get surgery on her eyes to be able to see.
Huh, maybe being dead made her sarcastic, she certainly wasn't this bad when she was alive.
"Mamma! Sota, where are you?"
She tensed-can a spirit tense?-Sota? Mamma? Where had that voice come from? Kagome turned toward where the little girl's voice sounded loudest.
"M-mamma…! Ungh…Who are you?" The girl coughed a few times.
If Kagome concentrated hard enough, she could make out the sound of fire crackling and the little girl's clothes rustling as she moved.
She took a step forward, or tried to, and blinked in surprise as her sight suddenly returned to her. Of course the empty blackness around her was still there, but Kagome swore that she could see a burning room around her as a silhouette of a large man stood before her holding a small knife in his hands.
Everything was blank again, and the sudden loss of her senses was utterly terrifying.
"Wait!" Wait, wait, wait…Kagome's voice echoed through her head like her friends' did oh so long ago. A sob tore from her throat and Kagome made another attempt to move forward, only to be surprised when her feet met solid ground. Had she been floating this whole time?
Wait-was that a light? The Shikon bounced against her collar bone as she started to run. Kagome felt herself panting as the speck of light she had seen become bigger and clearer as she ran closer.
Kagome started to run faster and faster and the weight of the jewel became heavier and started to burn each time it met her skin. She kept on running for what seemed like days, and at one point she thought she saw a little girl walking the opposite way. But she didn't dare look back to check, she was so close!
The light had become the size of her math text book and she reached out, only to gasp as it went through. Suddenly sensations of a red hot fire bloomed on her right cheek and shoulder, making her yelp. Kagome retracted her hand and the pain cooled; maybe this wasn't a good idea, maybe it was safer in the emptiness behind her. She took a step back. Yes, that would be good, no more pain and no more-
No more groping.
No more screams for pocky.
No more silent moments in a hot spring.
No more yelling sit.
"Kagome!"
Two small hands on her lower back stopped her from taking another step. Kagome turned to see who it was just as the hands gave her a hard push toward the light making her spin slightly.
Her own big blue eyes stared up at her from a face she only saw in family pictures of the past.
"You have to go." Oh god, even the voice was the same.
"W-what? Why do I have to go?"
She tilted her head. It was disturbing to watch yourself as a child doing the same actions you yourself do so often.
"Cause I'm dead. You…you aren't supposed to be." The younger Kagome pointed to Kagome's stomach. "That wasn't supposed to happen."
Kagome looked down and choked on a scream. A hole the size of softball went straight through her stomach, showing her ripped intestines and all the lovely things inside.
The little girl of the past pushed her again, and this time she fell through the light-more than a little dazed.
"Oh! Sota's under Mama's sofa!"
The burning and so much more slammed into her and she threw her head back gasping. All around her fire roared and cackled, destroying her home and its memories.
Kagome swayed and fell to her knees, bending over to the side and then puking blood. She wanted to speak-to scream-why? What did her family ever do to the Cloud nins? But her jaw was sore, and-oh god-her throat was burning! She couldn't breathe!
Bringing a hand to her throat, Kagome tried to distract her mind from the pain like her Mama said a good ninja would.
Sota, Sota-sotasotasota-have to find Sota…
Shivering, she got up again and staggered toward her mother's favorite sofa. Kagome squinted against the ashes and smoke thickening the air, and could barely make out the shape of her 5 year old brother.
After wiping her chin with the back of her hand, Kagome squatted down and reached her small hands to pull the small body from under the sofa.
"S-sota…"
Her brother was out cold, making him 68 pounds worth of dead weight in her weak and inexperienced arms.
"C-c'mon Sota, wake up. We gotta get out of here!"
The blood from the gash on his forehead had dried up, but she ripped a strip from her shirt anyway. As Kagome wrapped it around his head, she tried to ignore the pain, heat, and the persistant knowledge of the fate of the rest her family.
Damn it, why won't my hands stop shaking?
She finished, but the fire climbing the door exploded higher and the ceiling above gave a loud creak. Kagome's head shot up and she stared at the ceiling just as a beam broke and came crashing down. Kagome scrambled to cover Sota's body with own, and the first of many burning debris fell over them.
Black and nothing more.