What the Spirits Want

"I want to talk to her." Yuka's eyes glinted darkly in the candlelight as she made her declaration.

"Talk to who?" Eri asked in confusion from her side.

The dark look in her friend's eyes and the wicked smile rising on her lips told Kagome the answer before Yuka even gave it.

"The little girl," she told her friends in a voice coated with false sweetness and innocence. "I want to ask her why she hasn't moved on to her rest."

"The Ouija board." Kagome finally understood Yuka's purpose for bringing it here.

"Scared, Kagome?" Yuka taunted.

'Not as scared as you would be if I even so much as laid a hand on that thing,' Kagome thought darkly. "Sorry, Yuka," she said instead, "but I can't use those things. It's against my religion."

Yuka pulled back slightly in shock. "Religion?" she asked speculatively. "Kagome, we all practice the same religion, and there's nothing that says we can't try to talk with the spirits. Actually, that's the whole point of it!"

Shrugging passively, Kagome replied, "The spirits of the unsent are restless. Their only wish is to see the living suffer. To engage in their games is only to ask for trouble, trouble which I have no wish to exacerbate by offering the eyes of miko to aid them."

"That's the second time you've called yourself a miko tonight, Kagome," Yuka bit out hotly. "It's getting pretty old."

"I don't know," Ayumi offered quietly from beside the two facing off. "Kagome has lived in a shrine all her life. She knows better than any of us the ancient rituals and I've seen her draw out the charms with her grandfather. Isn't that what a miko does?"

"Kagome a miko?" Eri started giggling. "Next you're going to try and tell me the light show from the shrine earlier was actually her taking down a demon with a mystical arrow!"

Kagome sighed at her inability to tell her friends the truth and make them believe and shook her head. "Believe whatever you want, but I'm telling you, I won't touch that board. You guys go ahead without me."

Eri started laughing again. "I never thought I'd see the day where Kagome was afraid to do anything! Oh, Yuka! You really did it this year! The best Halloween ever!"

Buy Yuka didn't even acknowledge Eri. Her eyes remained glued to Kagome, anger and resentment brewing just beneath the dark surfaces. "Whatever," she finally spit out in disgust. "Be a chicken shit. See if I care."

With a sharp wave of her hands, Yuka gestured both Eri and Ayumi to move closer to the Ouija board. Together, they placed their fingers lightly on the wooden scryer in the centre of the board.

Sitting back and watching carefully, both her friends and her surroundings, Kagome waited. She could feel the pull against her mystical abilities the moment they had touched that thing, but she forced it behind her barriers of restraint, refusing to allow it to surface to give any more power to whatever spirits inhabited this place. If they wanted to make contact, they were going to have to do it without her. She waited….

Yuka's voice lifted into the shadowy night, being carried on the winds through the shifting fog. "We seek the spirit of the girl who died here all those years ago, the girl whose demon arose to take revenge for her terrible death. We seek the spirit bound to this place in her eternity. Speak, spirit. Speak with us!"

A soft scraping against the wooden board was heard. Eri gasped in shock and fright, while the others watched wide-eyed as the wooden scryer began to move. Slowly, shakily, the triangle under their fingers started circling the boards.

"St…Stop doing that Yuka!" Ayumi stuttered fearfully.

""Shhh!" Yuka hissed back. "It isn't me!" She watched for a moment more as the scryer moved in its circular pattern, but when realizing that it wouldn't deviate from its path, she took a deep breath and spoke again. "Who is moving the scryer?" she asked the board.

And in response to her question, the arrow began to move from the circular path it had chosen, sliding over the board in the same slow, shaky movements.

The arrow suddenly stopped, its tip pointing to a single letter.

M

"M?" Eri asked in a whisper of confusion. "M what?"

But even before she had finished her question, the scryer began moving again, eventually coming to rest at another point.

E

"Me…" Ayumi whispered. "Me who?"

The scryer moved again, but instead of directing the arrow to any more letters, it went back to circling in the centre of the board, over and over in a slow repetition.

"Are you a spirit?" Yuka tried, but still the scryer continued in its slow circular path.

Eri looked over at Yuka. "Why won't it answer?"

Yuka's lips pressed into a thin line. She refused to look over at Eri, and refused to say that she didn't know.

"Spirits often can't remember their names." It was Kagome that had answered. "Many of them don't even realize that they are dead. Asking questions about their life or their death will likely get you nowhere."

"Big talk from someone who won't even touch the board!" Yuka bit out hotly. "If you know so much, why don't you ask it a question?"

Kagome scowled and shook her head firmly in the negative. "Nice try, Yuka."

"Fine then," Yuka said, her focus turning back to the board, "I'll ask it."

"Do you know why you're here?"

…………

"Do you have any memories?"

………..

"Do you understand me?"

………..

"Can you even hear me?"

………..

Growing frustrated, Yuka applied more pressure to the scryer under her fingers, causing it to crape shrilly across the wooden surface as it continued on its circular path. "Why won't you answer??!!" she yelled down to the board.

The scryer suddenly lurched under her hands, and it quickly moved to spell out a message.

…O…

…N…

…L…

…Y…

"Only…." Ayumi translated the beginnings of the message even as it the scryer continued spelling out letters.

….K…

…A…

"This is not funny, Yuka!" Kagome hissed out angrily.

…G…

"I swear to you, Kagome!" Yuka replied defensively, "I'm not doing this!"

…O…

"Kagome…?" Ayumi whispered fearfully. Her fingers started slipping away from the wooden pedestal.

…M…

"Don't let go, Ayumi!" Kagome told her firmly. "You must not break the connection until the spirit is calmed."

…E…

The scryer drew to a halt, the pointed end signaling the final letter of its message.

"Only Kagome," Yuka repeated the words spelled out to them by the spirit board. She looked up at her friend. "It will only talk to you."

Kagome clenched her jaw firmly to try and prevent herself from scowling. "Yuka," she said angrily, "If you think…"

"I swear it wasn't me!" Yuka cried shrilly. "The thing had a mind of its own! I was just along for the ride!"

"It couldn't have been Yuka," Eri said quietly. "It couldn't have been any of us." She lifted her eyes slowly, prying them away from the board to look at Kagome. "I tried to make it stop. I tried to make it spell out another name. It didn't work! It just kept moving!"

There was panic in her friend's voice and terror shinning in her eyes, and Kagome looked away. "Guys…"

Kagome was cut off when Eri cried out in fright. She looked back quickly to her friend, only to find that Eri, along with Yuka and Ayumi were once again watching as the scryer moved along the board's surface.

...H…E…L…P…M…E…

"Help me." Yuka interpreted the message. She looked up to Kagome. "You have to."

Closing her eyes tightly, Kagome released a heavy sigh and nodded her head. She knew she could never turn away from a cry for help, even if it had come from the dead. With a deep, steadying breath, she opened her eyes and stretched her hands out to touch her fingers to the scryer's surface. The moment she came in contact with the spirit board, Kagome could feel the cold chill that shivered its way down her spine. In response, with no way to stop them, her powers surged outwards in her defense, wrapping her in an invisible layer of protection, but at the same time granting the spirit an easier path to the board. Still, she knew there was nothing to be done about it. She had already committed herself to helping this wayward soul.

"I am Kagome," she said quietly. "Do you wish to speak with me?"

The scryer moved to the top left corner of the board.

…Yes…

"Do you need a miko?" Kagome asked.

…Yes…

"But you're not…" Kagome's stern look stopped Yuka mid-protest.

Turning her attention back to the board, Kagome asked, "Do you want me to perform a sending rite?"

…No…

Her features drew tight in confusion as she tried to understand the spirit's motives. Not coming to any conclusions, she simply asked, "What is it you want from me?"

The scryer surged under the girls' hands, moving across the board with unsettling urgency as it spelled out its final message.

…Y…O…U…R…S…O…U…L…

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Well, I don't know about you, but that sure would freak me out :P Heh, poor Kagome. She always finds the worst kinds of trouble. Still, it is quite entertaining to watch XD

Anyways, I think I still have a few more lines left in these tired fingers, so I'm going to break into the next chapter while I'm still on a roll.

Later

Shadow