a/n: I'm aware that this chapter is WAY over due. I just haven't had the stamina to right another chapter… but here it is! Review please? Also check out some of my other stories. :D
Chapter Seven: Wake up from this nightmare.
With a gasp of fear, I stumble backwards as the strange… centipede thing comes at me.
This would be a perfect time for me to wake up from this nightmare, wouldn't you say? But even as the demon's claws dig into my sides as it grabs me, I don't wake up. I'm stuck here in this bad dream, as the thing demands something from me.
Everything is so surreal. Even when it grasps at my neck, it's strong fingers crushing themselves around my throat, when my breathing gets harder, when the nails scratch against my skin… It's as if it's not happening to me. That I'm seeing this through someone else's eyes. It's not until I feel something snap around my neck, and I feel my head hit something hard, that everything starts to fall into perspective.
The demon is a few feet away, and in one of it's many arms is the purple jewel shard I had found in my grandfather's box of odds and ends.
"A shikon shard!" It rasps out, eyes narrowing as it brings the object to it's lips, "All mine!"
"What the fuck did you do, wench?" Inuyasha growls from the tree, looking livid, "That's a fucking shard, of the fucking shikon jewel."
"Language!" I snap at him, as I slowly stagger to my feet.
The shikon jewel. Then the memories come back. I had thought that Kaede's story ha sounded vaguely familiar. As if someone had told me about it before…
FLASHBACK!
Seven year old Kagome sat on the floor beside her grandfather, toying with one of the shrines give aways.
"Grandpa… what's this?"
Her grandfather cast a look at his young grandchild, with her wide innocent eyes, and serious expression, and smiled.
"That - is a copy of the famous Shikon no Tama."
"Shikon no Tama?" She tilted her head to the side, "What's that?"
"The Shikon no Tama was a famous jewel… It could grant a wish to whoever possessed it."
"Wishes?"
"Yes. Wishes. Good or bad, the jewel would grant them… If the owner of the jewel was evil, so was the jewel, and if the owner of the jewel was good , the jewel was good as well. Therefore, it was important that the jewel was kept purified, and it was said that when a pure wish - the right wish, was wished upon it, the jewel would be no more."
Kagome's eyes grew as wide as saucers.
"You see… once upon a time, there was a priestess - named Kikyo, not unlike your cousin. - who was in possession of the Shikon no Tama. She had amazing spiritual powers, and was dedicated to the protection of her village. One day, a man, not quite human, and not quite demon either, came to the village, wanting to steal the jewel, and attacked the priestess, and the village in order to get the jewel. During his escape, the slowly dying Kikyo approached him with her bow and arrow, and shot him - permanently pinning him to a nearby tree, retrieving the jewel, and dying soon after."
End of Flashback!
Shit. It couldn't be THAT Shikon no Tama… could it be?
As soon as that thought hits me, I feel like I've been thrown off my feet… and next thing I know, a crushing sensation has come over me - as if someone was trying to literately squeeze the life out of me - while pinning me to an obnoxious hanyou.
I gave a sharp intake of breath, as my strength was starting to leave me.
What the hell is happening?
I'm feeling dizzy now… and it's hard to breath…
Not enough air…
As if from a great distance, Inuyasha's words echoed almost uselessly on my ears.
"can you release me?"
I stared at him deftly.
"damn it! Take out the fucking arrow!" he snarled.
I vaguely wondered if he could actually do anything - for all I knew he was going to run away as soon as I let him go…
But of course… maybe not..
Head spinning, I put my hand over the arrow, for a second, then look up at his blurred face, as I try to breath.
"Do you want to suffocate here, wench?" He asks softly.
It's as if his words kick me into his action.
He's kind of persuasive.
Without a second thought, my fingers close around the bamboo shaft of the arrow , and I give a small tug.
There's a bright light.
A blinding flash of light.
As if I didn't have a big enough headache.
Then I feel the cool grass against my hands - my back pressed firmly against the ground.
I sit up, taking in a heaving breath, as I see Inuyasha glare at the demon in front of us.
I'm safe.
I'm alive.
But for how much longer?
Inuyasha smirks, and gives a soft chuckle as he looks over the centipede.
"You look pretty boring." He comments.
The demon lets out something close to a hiss, as it's red eyes narrow, and it lunges forward at him.
I almost expect to see him run for it. To see him fall over dead. To faint. Or something.
But instead…. But instead…
His claws tear through the body of the creature - strips of flesh going this way and that. It's sickening really.
Blood staining, his claws, he turns back to me, a smug look on his face.
He's about to speak, when Kaede's young voice comes from nearby.
"Kagome? You let him GO?"
The incredulous voice. The terror.
Holy crap.
Did I make a bad choice?
Those tremendously sharp claws glow in the moonlight, as he examines them thoughtfully. The wicked grin crowning his face.
This guy.
I get a weird feeling every time I look at him.
A strange fluttery feeling… as if butterflies are invading my stomach.
Weird….
I feel a tug on my arm, as Kaede hurries to my side, and tugs on my arm, as she motions to the men behind her to wait.
"Can you find the Shikon no Tama?" Her voice is hopeful, panicked.
I nod to myself, absorbed in the strange feelings of butterflies or whatever in my stomach, as I search the bloody, fleshy remains of the creature, while Kaede watches Inuyasha wearily.
Why did he have to make such a big mess?
"This is like finding a needle in a haystack." I mutter to myself, as my eyes rove over the remains of the once terrible monster.
"Keh. Stupid, wench." The hanyou growls to himself, as if realizing I'm still here.
Is see his eyes narrow, just as I find the shard of the jewel.
Shining with a dark, foreboding, purple light, the shard is wedged into a piece of the youkai's flesh.
Yuck.
Tentatively, my hands skim over the scales of it's body, the slime of it's blood, and tug out the shard - which seems to turn a bright purple.
My eyes are officially playing tricks on me.
Inuyasha smirks suddenly, and I hear Kaede give a loud gasp, as she's pushed forcefully away by the hanyou.
"Hand of the jewel shard, little girl." He hisses, an air of confidence surrounding him.
"Wh-why should I?" I respond, suddenly terrified.
So. This boy.
He's no the hero is he?
