Kagome
I sat up quietly in the middle of the night. The old woman with grey hair was fast asleep, leaning against a wall with a worn leather book in her hands. Inuyasha was against the wall, muttering in his sleep about stupid old hags and bothersome girls. I took a deep breath before trying to move, weakly remembering the last time I had attempted such a thing. My vision was a bit blurry, flecks of unnatural color sparking in the darkness, showing me things that weren't there. I took another deep breath, closing my eyes to still myself. My head was no longer so light it could have flown away, and even though my limbs were still sore I was positive they would move with little complaint.
I ground my teeth as I attempted to stand, waiting for more pain to set in, for another episode of the semi-out-of-body experience to take hold of me and cause me to empty out my stomach. I waited, but there was nothing. As silently as I could manage I made my way out of the wooden shack, taking in the night air, the cool breeze, and the light of the almost full moon.
Everything was calm.
I took one look at the water in front of me, waiting for the haze of light green that would tell me it was irradiated, the same green that had clung to Raven's bones after he had deconstructed. There was nothing but the water itself, shifting in small waves against the bank. I let my feet dip into the small lake, waiting for sickness to claim me again but it was simply cool and refreshing against my aching body. I waded deeper into the lake, allowing it to wash away the dried blood on my leg. Carefully I unwrapped Inuyasha's kimono from my body, dipping it into the water and washing the blood from the red fabric. The old woman had been kind enough to wrap bindings around my torso, covering my breasts from the cool air. Someone had slipped shorts on me, covering up some of my legs, but still letting me see where the wolf had bit into me.
I would be lucky if it didn't leave a scar.
I continued scrubbing at the blood on Inuyasha's kimono until I was satisfied that it was gone. Carefully I made my way to the bank to set the piece of clothing on a rock to dry.
Inuyasha
She had slipped right passed me while I was deep in thought, my eyes closed. It took me a moment to realize she had left the room.
Now I felt like a creep, watching her soak in the pond, the moonlight glinting off her black hair and the water surrounding her, making her look like a celestial being. I was grateful for the binding around her chest or else my face would probably had been on fire. I had watched her at first, wondering what she had been doing with my Kimono, but even from this distance I could no longer smell her blood on it.
A cough escaped the girl, causing me to focus more intently on her. She was doubled over, her face so close to the water. I panicked, letting my body react on its own. Mere seconds passed and I was in the water next to her. She didn't notice I was there at first, and as the coughs subsided she stood, taking in her surroundings once more. When she finally noticed me her eyes were wide and scared. I pulled her into me as she shook from the cold air around her.
"Inuyasha, what are you doing here?" her voice was soft and frail.
"I was just making sure you weren't dead," I muttered, my hand brushing over her hair. It was as soft as silk.
"Well I will be if you keep squeezing me like this," she muttered back. I pushed away from her, keeping my hands on her bare shoulders. Her skin was still warm from fever but she looked a lot better, her eyes focusing and adjusting to the light. Little fleck of variant colors crossed her brown eyes, giving them a mystical appearance.
In that moment I had never wanted to kiss anyone so much.
She coughed again, covering her mouth and pulling it back, her eyes going dazed as fleck of bright red blood appeared against her cream skin. She pulled away from me, washing the blood off in the water and wading to the shore, shaking her hair out before pulling it up into a messy bun.
"I need more rest," She finally said leaving me in the middle of the pond, her warmth still radiating in my palms.
Kagome
I could have sworn he was going to kiss me. I shuddered at the thought of him thinking about Kikyo while pressing his lips against mine. I pushed my bangs away from my forehead to feel the warmth of the skin there. I was still suffering from a fever and was probably just imagining things, like the lights dancing across his face and the way his gold eyes seemed to look at me this time instead of through me.
To a girl that probably wasn't even still alive.
I sighed, leaning against the wall of the shack, listening to the old woman's steady breathing. Trying to match my heart to the steady beat. Once my legs no longer felt like jell-o I made my way back to the mat on the floor. I pulled the warm blanket over my body and did my best to just ignore all thoughts of Inuyasha as I forced myself to plunge into the darkness, trying anything to get to sleep.
The next morning I was startled awake by Inuyasha's loud complaining and the gruff voice of the woman next to me. I sat up, rubbing my eyes to see my blanket covered in herbs and other plants I didn't recognize. I stayed silent as they continued to argue about the best cure for the radiation sickness I must be suffering from. I sighed, taking inventory of the aches and pains of my body.
My fever was gone.
My leg was stiff, but no longer in the same amount of pain I had experienced last night.
I could breathe without the threat of coughing up more blood.
I sat silently, eyeballing the two arguing parties, too caught up in their fight to notice that I was awake.
I sighed again and pulled myself out of the blanket, careful not to disturb the amount of flora that had been situated on top of me. I dressed in the clean clothes sitting next to my spot on the floor, all the while being ignored by the loud people in the shack.
"I'm going to stretch my legs," I finally said, loud enough for the two idiots to hear me. They stopped for only a second to stare at me before turning the blame on the fact that I had escaped their notice while I left the shack.
The sun felt brighter than what I had become use to in this wasteland. The tress around the small village were large with green leaves and full branches. I was dressed similarly to the old woman in red pants and a white kimono tucked into the pants. I pulled my hair out of the messy bun I had slept in and ran my fingers through it, detangling the strands as I walked through the throngs of people. Most of them looked like your average everyday person, unless you looked close enough to see the red tint in someone's eye or wings protruding from beneath their robes. None of them took much notice of me as I walked, keeping my distance but smiling towards friendly faces.
In the distance I could see the arch of a shrine and for a moment my breath caught in my throat. There was a tree, one I could recognize from any angle, its shady branches looming over the wreckage of an in caved roof. Everything looked destroyed from a distance. I picked up my pace, running towards the hill, my feet finding it difficult to keep up with my brain.
My bare foot hit the cold crumbling rock that had once formed the steps up to my family's shrine and I ascended, ignoring the calls behind me. Inuyasha's voice didn't reach my brain, his hands grasping at the fabric of my clothing, but not able to pull me back, to keep me from seeing the destruction caused by the years of destitution and the nuclear bombings.
My body stilled at the top of the hill, my heart lurching at the destruction. The old well was barely covered, the shrine keeping it enclosed all those years ago was little more than useless wood. The courtyard connecting my home and the shrine was rubble, some pieces still intact while other were overturned, jutting outward, some mere pebbles under tow.
My home was in ruins, the wall of my bedroom was destroyed, showing the faded pink of my comforter, now dirty and faded with age. The yellow of my walls were also faded and peeling. Inuyasha tried reaching out to me, comforting me, but I pulled away, moving forward. Stepping over sharp pieces of cobblestone and prying the front door open to no avail. Strong arms reached around me, pulling the door off its hinges. I heard it fall against the wall. I could hear the apology in Inuyasha's voice, though the words didn't register.
I continued forward, cutting my feet on broken glass and stepping on broken pieces of wood and twisted metal. The house my mother slaved over to keep clean was the sight of a catastrophe. Nothing was in its place, the kitchen table little more than a broken heap of wood, bones scattered beneath it. I leaned down, picking up a collar with a word written across it, barely legible.
"Buyo," my voice was weak. I stood back up, stepping over the mess, clasping the collar tightly in my hand.
"Kagome," Inuyasha's voice finally registered. Funny, it was the first time he had ever said my name and I was having a mental breakdown.
"This is my family home." I finally said, bringing the collar to my chest. "Just last week I was sitting at this table teasing my brother about math tests and girls. Mom had made my favorite meal." Tears were streaming down my face. "Grandpa was trying to tell me about all of the old legends of demons and this shrine. How it was a sacred place, once full of magic and wonder." I whispered, looking around the mess of the kitchen, walking slowly towards the next room, stopping when I saw white bones sitting in the middle of the living room.
"You don't have to do this right now," He said finally. His voice soft as he pulled me into him. I shook my head, ignoring the nagging voice in my mind telling me I could always come back.
"If I'm going to handle this world I have to say good bye to my own." My eyes were set forward as I continued with this, walking straight into the living room.
