AN: Oh my god, my reviews go to two pages now :D kyaaaaaaaaa~so happy...You guys are the best! Anyhoo, I've gone back and paragraphed my previous chapters, I understand they were mega difficult to read. Sorry about that, and thank you all sooo much for bearing with me :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. It belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.
"Thank you, Rin. Just put them there. Yes, right there."
Kaede smiled affectionately as Rin placed a basket of freshly collected herbs on the ground at the elderly miko's side. Turning back to the task at hand, she began to wrap clean bandages around the man's arm. He had been injured by a sickle during the harvest. It was quite bad, Kaede wasn't sure if his left arm would be of use to him anymore. But she didn't have the heart to tell him that.
"Thank you so much, miko-sama", he bowed his head as his wife escorted him away.
"You will need a lot of rest, and make sure you take the medicine. It should relieve the pain somewhat. I'll see you again in a few days to check your wound."
The man and his wife thanked her again and departed for the village. Kaede sighed and ushered Rin back inside the hut. It was time to prepare lunch. Rin insisted on helping, and Kaede allowed her to make the tea. She was a very sweet girl; genuine and kind. Kaede found the fact that Sesshomaru tolerated her presence quite amusing.
It had been three days now. Three days since Sesshomaru had disappeared into the woods on a "dangerous errand", leaving Rin in Kaede's care. Inuyasha had left yesterday, with Sango, Shippo and Miroku to investigate the strange claims of a band of soldiers. They swore that they had been attacked by humanoid youkai in the woods. Two of them were quite seriously hurt, from what Kaede had heard. But something else was on her mind. That strange presence, the one she had felt on the night of Kagome's disappearance, it had been waxing and waning, almost in lunar cycles. Last night it had surged. The evil aura rested thickly on the air, static, like before a lightning storm.
Something was very, very wrong.
-oOo-
Another long corridor. It was lit dimly be sconces on the stone wall. Even if she squinted, she could not see the end. A gust of stale wind breezed past. Kagome wrinkled her nose at the onslaught of such a foul smell. There was a dull clunk ahead, like a door being thrown open. Kagome could hear the rapid patter of quick, light footsteps. A slim figure was rushing towards her. Kagome retreated a few steps.
The woman paused just before the threshold. She looked agitated and afraid. Her long dark hair was unkempt and her eyes were slightly wild.
"My son? Have you seen my son?"
Kagome blinked in confusion. Slowly, she shook her head. "No, I'm sorry, ma'am, I-"
"My son? Have you seen my son?"
Kagome pressed her back against the opposite wall, eyes wary. "What's your son called?"
At this, the woman seemed to relax slightly. "Inuyasha."
Kagome's heart skipped a beat. "You're...Inuyasha's mother?" The woman nodded, smiling. Her eyes scanned the hall eagerly. "Is he here? Is my boy here?"
Kagome shook her head again. "I'm sorry, he isn't-"
"You. You shouldn't be here. What are you doing here?"
Kagome paused. There was something terribly strange about this woman. She wasn't...right. The way her expression changed constantly, looking nervous, afraid, angry...
"Run away, Kagome. Run away. Don't take a step closer. Do not cross the threshold of this door. Run away. Before it changes again, run away before it returns. You have seconds. Run."
"How do you know who I am? Where am I supposed to run?" Kagome's voice rose. She felt sick with terror, but how was this woman, claiming to be Inuyasha's mother, to be trusted? Could this all be an elaborate trap of some kind?
The woman shook her head, and then Kagome noticed her face was...morphing? The hair became shorter, the eyes, larger. And Kagome was staring at herself. In that instant, any clue as to what was happening to her vanished.
"Okay, what the hell is going on?"
The other Kagome looked at her in fear. "Run, please run..." she sobbed quietly. The sconces at the end of the corridor were quenched. The other Kagome whimpered. "Quick, run, run, run!"
"What about you?" Kagome asked, completely bemused by the whole thing. The other girl shook her head. "Please..." she said brokenly. "Run..."
Kagome didn't need any more encouragement. She turned tail and fled down the corridor. A shrill scream followed her. She threw a desperate glance over her shoulder, and ran smack into something cold and hard. Tottering back in confusion, she raised a hand to steady herself. In front of her stood the door. Chains clinking, it creaked open again, quietly insistent. But she remembered the horror on her alternate self's face. She knew, whatever happened, she mustn't even set one foot across the threshold. There would be no turning back.
She smirked. "Persistent bugger, aren't you?" she muttered as she took a back step. Fingers closed around her wrists like iron, pushing her forward. Kagome screamed in surprise, her feet dragging along the ground. She desperately tried to turn and face her attacker, but at that moment, a frightening detail came to light. The door was inching forward. It was now completely dark. Like a black hole. She whimpered and struggled. She couldn't go in there, she couldn't....
"Stop fighting! We'll both go in, I'll hold your hand nice and safe, and you can show me the doors", someone purred in her ear.
"What...what are you talking about?" she snarled through gritted teeth. That voice was familiar. But she couldn't place it. The chains slithered forward like snakes, wrapping around her ankles and sliding up her legs. She squealed and tried to shake them off, but they only tightened their grip. The door loomed ahead, a gaping cavity of nothingness, and that awful smell, like death itself...Kagome's eyes widened in horror, and her assailant chuckled hysterically behind her.
"No..." she whispered. "Please..."
Time seemed to slow, as she tripped over the threshold of the door, and fell into the abyss.
It was horrible. Slow, like waiting for an execution. Images flashed around her. A monster leapt out at her, with a scarecrow-like burlap mask. She screamed, trying to edge away. All sorts of horrible thing s were falling with her, falling down, down, down...
I don't...please...I don't want to die...
Another door came into sight. Studded with blood stained spikes, remnants of flesh and bones still impaled. Kagome screamed again, twisting in the air, trying to get away from this nightmare. It was horrible, horrible...
A strange red light curled around her fingers, dancing down her arm. It felt warm, and comforting. A lifeline. She wasn't meant to be here...
Kagome closed her fingers around the crimson light, accepting its aid. Everything froze for a nanosecond. There was a blinding red flash. Then...nothing...
"Kagome!"
She snapped her eyes open, expecting to be skewered on a black spike in some kind of hell, but there was solid ground beneath her feet. Like hollowed out earth, but that didn't make any sense..She sat up, looking around. It appeared that she was sitting in the middle of some kind of crater...but how could that be?
She glanced up in the direction of the voice that had called out to her. Airi's wide violet eyes were staring at her from the edge of the enormous fissure. Ran looked rather impressed. The others wore expressions of awe and confusion. Daichi broke the silence with a short bark of laughter.
"Well! That was pretty impressive..."
Ah, another cliffie. Sorry. I have had so much frigging homework lately. My brain is just a useless pile of mush now :( oh wells. What has Kagome done?? The mystery deepens...thanks for reading and please review :D
