Inopportune Tribulations
Disclaimer: I do not own the original story line and this is a non-profit story. Enjoy
Chapter 3: Capitulation
A gasp barely escaped Kagome's mouth as glass sprinkled over her. She covered her head with her arms as she curled away from the broken mirror. She heard the scarcely perceptible sound of her hanyou's footsteps running into the bathroom.
"What the hell?" he breathed out as he crouched next to Kagome. "What the hell happened?"
"Uh…" Kagome muttered in a shaky voice as the scent of tears hit Inuyasha's nose.
"Kagome?" he asked with a tentative hand on her back.
She balked slightly before raising her head. "Oh this? It… it, uh, fell," Kagome muttered with a fake smile desperately wiping at her tears.
"Fell?" Inuyasha asked skeptically as he looked at the shattered pieces. "That doesn't look like an accident; besides, wouldn't it have fallen into the sink?"
Kagome looked at the south wall; he was right. The mirror had been hanging directly over the sink, and if it had fallen off the small nail as she said, then it would've at least hit the sink. But it hadn't. It had hit the bathtub; which is on the north wall.
"Kagome!" Inuyasha called out again. The miko jumped and focused back on him.
"Y-yes?"
"I said, tell the truth," Inuyasha repeated. "I know this wasn't some freak 'fall off the wall' accident," he finished staring at her hard.
"Uh… weren't we going to get some food? I'm starved."
Inuyasha looked her up and down with calculating eyes before sighing. Now wasn't the time, but he was going to get her to tell him eventually. "You're right, let's go," he said as he helped her up.
Kagome was shaky, but okay to walk on her own. It took some time, but once she finished cooking their food, she had forgotten completely about the mirror upstairs. Inuyasha and she ate and talked for a little while, before Kagome decided to get some unpacking done. Going upstairs, she hummed happily as she took trinket after trinket out of her boxes. Going into the bathroom with some conditioner, she froze.
And so did her reflection.
She stood in front of the bathroom mirror with wide eyes. Taking a tentative step backwards, she dropped the soap without acknowledging it left her fingers. Her mouth fell open, but her reflection stayed staring. T-there's no way, she thought.
The girl in the mirror opened her mouth and spoke: Yaw on s'ereht-t.
Kagome screamed and huddled on the floor with her eyes squeezed shut. Inuyasha came running in and kneeled down beside the beautiful miko.
"Kagome?" he muttered, confused.
"Hm...?" she moaned back shakily, her head still in her hands.
"Why… are you on the floor? You're going to get cut…"
"No, the mirror is back," Kagome said, looking up. Her eyes widened as she looked at the tiny glass shards scattered on the floor. She flinched as she looked down at her bloody feet.
"Too late. Looks like you're already cut," Inuyasha sighed as he put a gentle hand on the top of her abused appendage. "I was going to head back, but you obviously-"
The gears turned agonizingly slow in Kagome's mind. "Two," she finalized whilst cutting him off. "You've been here two days… just enough time for another Naraku-like demon to start collecting shards and terrorize the world. Go without me, I'll be fine."
"No one else can see the jewel."
"Didn't Sango say she could kind of sense them too*?"
"Yeah, but I'm guessing that's only within close proximities, and who knows how far out this jewel is. You remember how spread it was the first time you shattered it…"
"Oh yeah…" Kagome thought for a moment. She didn't have to think about whom else could see the jewel. No, that part was easy. It was deciding if she really wanted to say that brought her anarchic thoughts to an abrupt cessation …
"Kikyou," they both said at once.
Inuyasha looked up at Kagome. "You would really be okay with that?"
"No, but we need her, so it doesn't matter what I think."
"…" Inuyasha was contemplative before looking her directly in the eye. "Kagome, I do not like the idea of leaving you alone like this."
"Really, I'm okay; it's just… been a long day," she lied ambiguously as she slowly stood on her shaky limbs.
"Clearly," he muttered.
"Really, I'm fine. Just a little shaken up is all."
"…You sure?"
"Yup."
"I can bring you back too…"
"No, no, I'm going to wait and settle down before I go back to gallivanting in the woods again."
"Yeah, that may be a good idea. Get some rest and I'll be back in a couple days. Oh, and Kagome?" he asked with his hand on the window.
"Yes?"
"Get in a good punch or two on Arden from me," he finished with a wink.
Kagome's wry smile faded as Inuyasha hoari did too. Standing still for a moment, Kagome didn't know how to slow her thoughts. The idea of Inuyasha and Kikyou wasn't a happy one, but it had to be done. She sighed as she slowly turned back to the bathroom. The broken mirror on the floor seemed to be taunting her endlessly. It had seemed so real: the mirror on that wall… intact.
She just had to keep busy, that's all. Doing something took her mind off the other something in the damned house she was stuck in. Mind set, Kagome went back to unpacking. She didn't get far before a small scratching sound began itching the back of her ear. Stopping to listen carefully, she focused on the sound until she could clearly hear it. It reminded her of how loud her sharpened pencil always sounded if the rest of her class was silent. She looked around slowly, not expecting much…
And that's why what she did see surprised her so much.
It was raining in the feudal era, as Inuyasha walked through the forest and tried to convince himself that leaving Kagome was the right thing to do. He kept slating himself the more he thought about the look on her face as he had hopped out the window. He shook his head as a familiar scent reached his nose and he remembered why he left in the first place: to get Kikyou's help. He sighed; he knew that Kagome wasn't okay with this, but he couldn't just go back there. She was right: it's time this jewel was gone.
Three months ago, they had finally defeated the jewel, but the process had led to horrible disaster: a once again broken jewel. They had cornered the malevolent Naraku and had finally finished him off with a single arrow from Kagome's quiver. The only the problem? Kagome managed to shatter the jewel with the same technique as the first time. And that's what they were trying to fix now. Sango and Miroku still tried to help, but with their wedding over with and their lives together just beginning, it was way too leisure, and so it was up to the hanyou and miko. Once Kagome and he completed the jewel, they could live their lives out.
Together, Inuyasha added in his mind with a smile. His eyes sparked when he saw Kikyou's clay form enter the clearing, and he tried not to stare to long. He knew he was still in love with her; he wasn't in denial, but there was something about spending the rest of his life with her that just didn't seem appealing. They could never grow old together; never have a family together. All it could ever be was the two of them and only the two of them until he died. Of course, he didn't age like a human, but he did get older at a dawdling rate and even though Kagome wouldn't live nearly as long as he did… the concept of following her to old age added completion to his completely incomplete life. Was that redundant? Probably, but so were the throws of his heart.
"Your aura called to me," Kikyou drawled as she brought his attention from his thoughts.
"Huh? Oh- uh- yeah, I needed to talk with you."
"Then speak," the command was sharp, as though she thought she was literally speaking to a dog.
"I need your help," Inuyasha started, hating the way the words sounded from his mouth.
"Naraku is dead. What do you need of me?"
Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. She knew very well what he was there for, but she was making damn sure he worked for this "privilege".
"I need you to search for the jewel with me. You're the only one that can see it."
"Besides Kagome."
Inuyasha gave a curt nod, "Besides Kagome."
"And where is the young miko?"
"Not… here," Inuyasha said carefully.
Kikyou snorted. "Of course; she'll never know responsibility."
"Will you help?" Inuyasha asked quietly as he lowered his head.
Kikyou looked at him for a moment; her stare was scrutinizing as she took in exactly what he was asking. Finally, with a sigh, she reached into her kimono and produced a small portion of the gem. "Here-" she tossed it to him "-I will help you this much, but I'm only slowed down with the aid of others."
Inuyasha picked up the stone and stared it over. Add this to the collection he and Kagome had managed to get a hold of, and they would have around three quarters of it already complete and in their hands. That would take some of the pressure off until he could find an opportune day to return her to this era. He nodded. "Thank you," he muttered as he looked up, but she was already gone. He smirked. There was no negotiating when it came to that woman, was there?
Staring at the jewel as he turned and walked away, Inuyasha felt a cold chill feather up his spine. The plume of chilled air made his breath catch and he slowly turned around. The damp forest surrounding the clearing was at a silent standstill. It wasn't a silence that was comforting or heavy, but one that was deafening. His ears twitching to and fro as he tried to place what was wrong in the air.
The birds.
A forest was never quiet. You could always hear animals scurrying and, at the very least, thousand of different birds singing their songs. But there were none. No chirping, no scurrying, no swaying trees or wind. There was no soft chirp of crickets or the annoying buzz of bees and mosquitoes. Just the dripping of water, and even that was wrong. It had been raining not a few moments earlier, and yet, the water dripped from a single source: a small shrub was dripping water into a puddle of water. That wasn't an uncommon occurrence, especially right after a pouring rain. And yet, that was the only sound he heard; the only plant that seemed to be dripping anything.
The air turned heavy, and it became hard to breathe. The hanyou walked over to the pool of water and stared at his reflection for a moment. His ears popped as his eyes pulsated painfully. The water rippled so briefly that Inuyasha wondered if he had actually seen it.
After a short moment, he decided it was nothing, but a small movement out of the corner of his eye kept him from moving. His irises shifted to the left and stared at the edge of the murky water. Nothing. There was nothing there but the moss and pool of liquid. And yet. Something still bothered him as he watched his distorted reflection. There was something wrong. The movement happened again, and Inuyasha stared harder at the edge of the pool.
Something small and black started to squirm its way out of the water: first one, then two more on either side. At first, the hanyou thought they were twigs floating to the surface, been a fourth showed and they gripped the edge of the pool. Fingers. Staring at the grotesque hand, Inuyasha was frozen to his spot. The blackened color of the skin was moldy and the scent a powerful smell that brought tears to his eyes. The finger nails were broken and some started to rip off and bend backward as they dug into the dirt.
It seemed like time had slowed down, that the hand was moving in almost slow motion, but in reality, it was only a few seconds before another movement brought his attention to the right side. Another hand was clawing at the dirt. More mangled and filthy than the other one, Inuyasha had to look away from its twisted appearance. Standing quickly as he finally grabbed his bearings, the water rippled again as to blinded eyes stared back at him from a garbled face whose gender could not be discerned.
Inuyasha could feel all the color from his face pale as he quickly back away from the pool.
Kagome opened her eyes to see the worried face of her mother. "Sweetie? Are you okay?"
Kagome sat up slowly as she rubbed her throbbing head. "W-what happened?"
"We heard you scream and when we got up here, you were passed out."
"Did you clean up the broken mirror?" Kagome asked cautiously and looked at the bathroom.
"Your mirror broke?" her mother asked as she turned around to face the bathroom as well. With confusion on her face, she turned back to Kagome. "It's fine…"
*In the second episode with Sango, she berates herself for not sensing Naraku's jewel shard because she usually can
**Finally found enough time to finish the last two hundred words of this chapter. Well here's your update, which I hope you like, but even if you don't, reviews will be noted. 'Til next time!**
