Chapter 3- To a World yet Unseen

"Maybe we're near the train station; we should go check it out."

Kagome knew her father was just saying that so they'd continue to investigate, but what could she do? The others wouldn't go back even if she would beg, besides, Sota would never let her hear the end of it.

Kagome could only stare at the sunlight at the end of the tunnel, not really paying attention to anything else. All she could think about was the voice that was in her head telling her that they should get out of here and fast. But no, she was too scared to do anything. When they finally got out of the tunnel there was nothing but a field full of flowers. Everyone could only gasp in awe.

"What is this place?" Sota piped, hugging Buyo close to him.

Everyone took a full minute to gawk at the unusually large meadow of dancing grass blades, home to many more strange-looking statues soiled in the earth. There were little huts stabbed with holes and patched with discolored tiles. Larger buildings were seen beyond the landscape afar in the distance.

"What are those weird buildings?" Kagome spoke amongst the talkative wind, clutching Sota's small hand for some reason.

"I knew it."

The family raised their bewilderment to the father.

"It's an abandoned theme park. See?" Dad looked up at the building they had exited from, which appeared to be a red-painted clock house, parched by age. "This is an abandon amusement park! And by the looks of it, it's like this was a feudal Japan themed park! And this must be part of the old train that used to come through here. Listen you can still hear the train now!"

They kept quiet for a few moments, and sure enough, there was the sound of a train going. But something didn't sound right. It did sound like a train but… it was slightly off…

She couldn't explain why but, it sounded more like the train chugging was mixed with the sound of growling. Like it was a beast disguised as a train and was just waiting for its next meal. But that didn't make any sense…

Then again nothing about this place was making sense for Kagome...

Her parents walked onward to probe around more, little Sota sprinting along.

"Wh… Where are you all going? You said that we'd just a quick look! Now let's go BACK!" Kagome balled her fingers down at her hips while they ignored her pointless screeching. "HEEEEELLLLLLLLLOOOOOOO?"

The angered wind overpowered her yell. She fearfully spun her head around to the large clock house that towered over her. A tornado of leaves and flower petals forced her legs to start moving; it was as if the building was telling her to get going. Kagome wrapped her arms around herself, her nails digging into her arms, frowning to hear the building's whimper. Without much more defiance, she rushed for her family.

"Did you guys hear that b-building? I-It was moaning!" she babbled.

Sota looked back at his bug-eyed sister, arms behind his head. "It's just the wind, Sis. Shesh, you're a bigger scaredy cat than Buyo."

For the first time in her life, Kagome let that little insult slip and kept her focus stuck on the clock house that they were leaving behind.

"Oh, what a beautiful place!" their mother cooed. "We should've brought some food, and then we could've had a picnic."

As Kagome was practically dragged along, everyone was looking at the huts around them and buildings still quite a bit ahead of them. Kagome wondered if the twinkle would leave their eyes any time soon, but she really doubted it. Which of course also meant that she wouldn't be getting out of here any time soon… wherever they were.

Before long they were crossing a line of boulders covered in moss. Kagome took a firm grip on them as she tried to cross, but slipped here and there on the slick surfaces. She cursed silently at her own klutziness as she moved.

"Well, I think they were making a river here, wonder why they stopped," her dad said as he made it to the other side and began looking around, examining his surroundings to see what he could discover. Kagome was just glad she was almost over the rocks and didn't really pay much attention to the puddles of water that were flowing between the rocks and cracks.

After Kagome, Sota, and mom were finally across the rocks, she sighed in relief before groaning as her family simply continued their way towards the small town. Great, she really wouldn't be getting away from this place any time soon. Knowing them, her family would examine those huts until they had seen every little detail.

Her dad then caught up a whiff of something. He barely paid any attention to his wife when she toppled into his side. "Hey, you smell that?" he said as he sniffed, a firm grip on her wrist to keep her upright. "Something smells delicious."

Sota hopped over the stones to approach them. "Aw great, 'cause I'm TOTALLY starved!"

"Let's go!" dad said as they all set off in the course of his heightened nose. "Maybe this park is still open after all!"

"HEY! Wait a minute!" Kagome whined in a sort of 'wait-for-me' whimper.

Her dad called back, "Come on Kagome! Let's go check out what they have to eat, it's dinner time after all."

Kagome sighed just from listening to her father, once he smells food and when he's hungry he losses all of the worries he was thinking about, even when he wasn't really thinking about them, food is the only thing that gets him out of his thoughts.

They entered the town and Kagome slowly trudged around, not paying much attention to her family running around, checking out house after house in an almost child-like fascination. Of course, Sota WAS a kid but you get the idea.

She sighed as Sota almost caused her to crash into the ground when he passed her to go to one of the houses on the other side of the street. Kagome merely continued to sulk.

They all started to follow Mr. Higurashi to where the smell of food was coming from. After about five minutes of walking and searching they found a little market. Well it almost looked like a market, and the smell was very clear now.

It smelled like a piece of heaven.

"Hey! Over here, I found it!" he called as his mouth watered at the plates of cluttered foods atop the tables of a lonesome restaurant; hot wings, chicken strips, steak, fish and yam all for the taking.

Sota and Mom didn't delay to reach their father, but Kagome on the other hand, loitered far behind.

"Ahh, look at this!" Mom said as she clasped her hands, seating herself. "Come in, Kagome! This looks delicious!"

"Not on your life," Kagome said angrily.

The kitchen seemed to be vacant, however. All except for the boiling steam that was left over the stove there were no signs of anyone. Kagome curiously came closer and glanced into the building to see a long table with food standing there, but there was definitely no one else around.

"Well I don't know about you, but I'm starving!" Dad said as he entered and sat himself down in one of the chairs. Looking into the kitchen to try and find trying to find someone to take their orders. Kagome stayed by the door, not wanting to get into trouble for eating food that wasn't hers.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" Sota called. No reply, and yet another shiver ran up Kagome's spine. She didn't like the looks of this at all.

Mom looked up and down the table, "If there's food here then where is everyone?"

Sota shrugged as he said "Who cares? Let's eat!"

"What?" Kagome said in a slight panic. "NO! Come on, guys. They're not here and they'll get mad if you eat their food."

She was once more ignored. Getting angry again she said loudly, "GUYS? We shouldn't be taking this food! Let's just get back to the car and leave!"

"Don't worry, dear," Mom answered as she invited herself to a treat of the fiery red chicken that was practically begging her to bite into. "We can pay the bill when they get back."

"I wonder what this is…" Sota held up a slice of steak and nudged a piece into Buyo's mouth, who immediately spluttered it back out. "Aww, you don't like it, Buyo?"

"Oh, Kagome, it's delicious! You have to taste this!" Her mother lavished over her meal, mouth full of dangling meat.

Kagome frowned, shaking her head again. "I don't want any. COME ON! LISTEN TO ME!"

Dad simply kept gathering food as he replied, "Don't worry you've got daddy here! I've got cash, credit cards, and checks. No need to worry."

Kagome could only sigh as she said, "Fine, be that way. I'm gonna look around some more. But don't blame me if you get into trouble."

Sota piled more onto his plate. "Sis, c'mon!" He slurped up his food gluttonously. "You have to try this stuff!"

How could they be such… PIGS?

"No!" Kagome growled at her little brother, more irritated by their uncharacteristic greediness. She looked down the road, seeing no one but her shadow.

"Meow," said Buyo suddenly as he sat at her feet.

Kagome smiled slightly as she bent down to scratch his ears. "At least I have you on my side Buyo," she whispered. The cat mewed again as if it too was begging to leave this place. If even a cat thinks being somewhere was bad then why were they still here?

The snorts and grunts of pig-like appetite only seemed to get noisier as they proceeded to wolf and gorge down on the mountains of their feast. Dropping her shoulders in angry defeat, Kagome closed her eyes and wandered off into the town alone.

All the while, she ended up glaring at the buildings she passed as if they could do something about her situation. In Kagome's opinion they actually could, since her family had been drawn to them.

No one seemed to be in the park, Kagome still believed that this place was far from an amusement park. The creepy vibe Kagome had been feeling was only increasing as she walked further. Kagome tried to ignore and shake it off, but something was telling her that she shouldn't be in this place.

She scaled the tall stone steps, her arms limp. Once she reached the top, she stared at the enormous building just across the bridge from her. It looked like something right out of her history books at school.

"Is that…?" Kagome inhaled her breath. "That's a little weird."

She stood on the wooden panes of the bridge, reading the signs. "It's a castle," she said thoughtfully to herself. "Haven't seen those in awhile." It was the kind of castle that you would expect for a Japanese lord to rule over. (Naraku's castle from the anime if you can't picture it)

She frowned at the idea. What was a castle doing here? Was that where the people that had made the food were?

Her thought were interrupted as the sound of a train passing came from somewhere below her. Kagome quickly turned to one of the railings and towed her feet to the ledge of the bridge. She bowed her body beneath the banister to see a train going through some kind of tunnel beneath them.

"There just have to be people here if there's a train, right?" she said to herself as she followed the train with her eyes until it passed under the bridge.

What was going on? A park with no one in it? Food just cooked but no one eating it? And trains with no one riding them?

Kagome quickly ran to the other side to try and see where the train was going, standing on the lowest beam of the railing to see better. Suddenly, a different kind of aura began to bug her; but before she could figure out what it was, she caught movement from the corner of her eye.

Kagome quickly looked aside to have her eyes widen.

She was face to face with a boy…

A teenage boy only a little older standing there, shock also evident in his eyes. Kagome slowly let her eyes travel up his body that was sadly hidden beneath loose worker's clothes until she came to his face.

Everything about him was so strange yet striking…

He was dressed in an outdated, long-sleeved, tucked Kimono the color of burning red and baggy pants to match. He had long silver hair that shined in the sun light and wonderful gold eyes that could pierce anyone's soul. But on top of his head was something that she never expected to see. Dog ears? Now this was really weird… but at the same time she thought that they were adorable. She wanted to run over and touch them.

She swallowed thickly at realizing how sexy the boy in front of her really looked.

The shock in the golden depths melted away to leave no apparent emotion in its wake. Yet when it finally seized him, he took an unsure step forward with a feathery breath, his mane of white hair and clothes afloat for just that instant. He looked as though he were suddenly remembering something…

Kagome reared back, confused by his unyielding stare.

As the long-haired teen continued to blink, he suddenly paced at her with a stiff demand, "You're not supposed to be here!" he yelled at her.

She blinked. What was that?

"Didn't you hear me? You shouldn't be here. Get out of here NOW!" His bulky bangs and forelocks swayed with the rhythm of his rough walk.

Kagome stepped down from the railing and stared in confusion, cringing when he was close enough and extended out his commanding arm. "What?" she asked.

"It's almost night. LEAVE before it gets dark!" the guy never blinked, always glared.

Kagome's eyebrows wrinkled back as the shadows of herding clouds danced over the features of the boy's slightly wild face, making him look almost like a cornered animal.

"Wha-?" Kagome began again.

"What are you doing here? You must leave! Go get outta here! You have to get back through the tunnel before it's too late!" he was really starting to scare Kagome now and she took a step back. The other kept a determined and cold look on his face though and took hold of her wrist.

"Hey!" Kagome yelled, finding her voice again. "LET GO OF ME!"

As she fought to get the guy's own, vice-like grip off her, the sun was peeking just barely between the hostile twilight clouds that kidnapped it for the night. The lamps to the entrance of the castle flickered on.

The dog-eared man flung his head around to speculate the lamps. "They're lighting the lamps…" he informed more to himself before grabbing Kagome by the shoulders and spinning her around. "Get out of here! You gotta make it across the river at least! GO and don't look BACK!" He shoved her along the bridge hastily. "Quickly, get back through the tunnel. I'll hold them off!"

He then turned to the reviving castle and slashed through the air, before crying out, "Iron Reaver, Soul Stealer!"

And as suddenly as he appeared, he was gone. Kagome couldn't believe her eyes. That boy just disappeared!

Kagome decided that she finally had a good excuse for leaving and she ran until the fizz of the lamp's light beside her flickered on. It was as if they were telling her to keep running before it was too late for whatever it was that would occur. She clambered down the stone steps from which she came, just to stop at the last row to see nothing but darkness blinding her vision up ahead.

Squinting in a fringe attempt to continue, she rubbed her eyes silly and asked back over her shoulder, "What's up with HIM?"

Kagome didn't need any further warnings as she sprinted back into the small town. She ran back to the restaurant, not noticing the lamps around her coming to life or the shadowy figures appearing around. She could only focus on the feeling of absolute dread that spread through her more and more as she came closer to the building her family was in.

Kagome raced in a marathon against time, by the time that the restaurant was in her sights did she finally noticed the lights revealing creatures that she had only seen in her storybooks that lurked the streets.

Demons.

Now scared to the maximum point, she stumbled to the restaurant her family was pigging out and tugged on her father's shirt persistently. "Mom, Dad, Sota! C'mon, quit eating! We have to get out of here! This place is getting weirder than it already WAS!"

They only made a few grunting sounds when they answered her.

"Dad? We have to get out of here! There's something wrong with this place!"

She got no reply as the figure sitting in the seat her dad had been in kept eating. Kagome panicked even more.

"Come on, guys!" Kagome stormed over and tried to pull her dad out of the chair. She looked up as he turned his head to look at her and Kagome fell back onto the ground in shock and fear.

She was positive it wasn't her father.

The one sitting in the chair was not her father – although they wore the same clothes – but a pig. A sweaty pig WEARING her father's stretched out clothes. It turned his head back, starting to eat again as soon as Kagome had let go, the food obviously more interesting.

The oversized beast snorted and chewed, beady eyes staring mindlessly at her. He licked at the edges of the table to slurp up leftover sauce, causing plates to clatter and shatter beneath him.

Kagome could feel her hairs stand on end as she backed up, choking on a stifled inhale of oxygen. "D… D-Daddy?"

Next, horror spearing her like a knife when she heard a sort of whip-cracking-sound. She screamed when she saw a long, demonic like arm holding a whip in its hand came out of nowhere and started to whip the pig so it would stop eating. Kagome stared in terror, at first the pig simply ignored it as it was whipped in the face. But after a few more hits, it squealed in protest. It leaned away from the food to escape from the whip and fell to the ground, still squealing indignantly.

That does it. If Kagome ever got out of here, she was never eating a ham sandwich again.

Suddenly, another gross, demon arm lashed out and spanked a spatula across either cheek of the pig that was wearing her mother's clothes. Kagome shrieked, her back itching against the post pole in a feeble movement to get away from it all. When she finally regained her mind, she pushed off the ground and stood up just as the rising pig squealed out all its saliva.

Kagome couldn't take it anymore at that point and ran out of the restaurant, completely freaked out and her mind in total chaos. Where had her family gone? Did they see what was happening and run back to the car? Why had those pigs been wearing their clothes? What the hell was going on here?

Kagome's horrified tears pearled along her eyelashes. She stood in the center of her nightmare at the crossroads, calling helplessly, "MOM! DAD! SOTA! WHERE ARE YOU?"

She stopped yelling and looked round her, now noticing the figures seemingly made of shadows, and the dozens of demons that were walking around as if everything was normal. Kagome was sure that she was going insane and the only reason she hadn't caved in was the adrenaline pumping through her body.

Something bumped into her back and without looking, Kagome bolted away, not even wanting to know what had been behind her. She ran towards the dried up river, hoping everyone would be somewhere around there but doubting it extremely.

The air was so black and thick that she tripped as she approached the river and braced herself against falling on the hard ground. The impact never came though as ice cold water broke her fall. She had squealed to hear the splash and feel the coldness of bitter river water soak soaked her to the bone the moment she fell in. She gasped at the freezing sensation suddenly grasping her body and her chaotic mind only went into more confusion as she desperately went back above water.

"WATER?" Kagome screamed. There hadn't been any water here before. What was going on?

She quickly crawled back onto shore to the stone stairs, shivering as her clothes where now drenched and cold. She looked at the lake now in front of her; her mind not being able to grasp that water could've just appeared like that out of nowhere. She faced her slender body to the gold lined across the moaning clock house and a column of surrounding buildings filled with lights on the other side of the water.

"No… N-No," Kagome grabbed her hair as she shut her eyes tightly to expel the illusion. "This can't be happening! It's just a dream, a dream!" She peeked out to the water again, still seeing the vision of glowing lights of amber. As if there was a giant festival going on the other side.

A ferryboat drifted to the water's edge near Kagome, and Kagome panicked even more if that was possible. "Come on, wake up, WAKE UP!" Kagome screamed at herself as her knees hit the ground, clawing at her face until it became painful.

"Wake up…" she whimpered for the last time.

She clenched her eyes shut again as she buried her face in her hands, just wanting to wake up from this dream. It just had to be a dream, this couldn't be happening to her.

She started to cry, pressing her fists to her face as she kept chanting it was all just a dream, until a tingling sensation running through her body made her look at herself. Her eyes widened as she could see right through her hands.

"I'm see-through?" she croaked as she held her fists up to the light of the boat to indeed see right through them. She lifted her palms into the lights before her, clearly making out the dark gold tinges of illumination outlining gossamer phalanges. She tried to undo the transparency by rubbing her hands together, but then noticed that her arms were disappearing right along after. She screamed as she then got back onto her feet, only to fall back onto the stone steps behind her.

As she quickly got back up, she heard something.

THUMP.

She turned her head…

The ferry had arrived.

Kagome stood like a deer caught in the headlights to see the door fall onto the stone path. Demons of all kinds: some that looked like animals, some that looked like they could pass for humans, and worst of all, demons that looked like they were released out of hell itself all came out through the ferry from bow to stern.

This was too much. Her hands were going see-through, there were pigs where her family had been, a dried up river had suddenly filled with water, demons and shadows were walking the town that had been previously deserted.

Too much… this was all too much.

The music, the lights, the ghosts, the insanity.

This was too real for a dream.

Kagome snapped and ran up the hill she'd come from as fast as she could, tears running down her face as sobs escaped her throat and mind no longer wanting to take anything around her in. Kagome finally ran over to a nearby hill, stumbling over rocks and grass blades, before hiding herself behind a vacant household to shiver from her own stress.

Review PLEASE

(Hey! Hope you like this new chapter. Sorry, I'd been working on a new story and I haven't had any time recently. I just put up a harry potter story: Beside me… always. If you have the time, I would appreciate it if you read it and tell me what you think.)