...the voice in my head spoke one word, "Run."
Branches smacked across my face and legs as I ran frantically from the clearing. I had dove into the trees, not really bothering to find a path. I just knew that the village was due north from the well and so that was the direction I ran in. Scrambling over fallen trees and high roots, I wasn't getting very far very fast. I wondered if it would even help to scream. I looked over my shoulder several times, I couldn't see a thing, only the black silhouettes of stumps and branches. My own breathing was so loud it was making me paranoid, I thought there was someone else breathing right behind me. My heart beat in my ears like a drum of war. There was no light. I stuck my arms out in front of me, but I hit my head on low hanging branches anyway. The fear was turning my legs to pudding and making me a total klutz. Finally, I came to the path that wound around the outside of the forest and cut through the flower fields. As soon as I felt my feet step onto the hard packed dirt of the trail, I took off like a bullet. I forced my legs to move faster towards light of the village, I could see the faint glow through the trees. I was not going to die out here.
Then, as I drew nearer to the place where the trees cut off and the field stretched out over the hills, I allowed myself one last glance over my shoulder. There, in the middle of the trail, just in the overhang of shadows, a figure stood. He was completely motionless. Just standing, staring. My stomach jumped into my throat. The fear was so strong, I felt like I was going to vomit. As my legs began to freeze up again, he began to walk forward, his gait was wide and slow. This could not be happening. This could not be happening! I shut my eyes tight and turned away, breaking into a run again. What is he doing? Is he going to kill me? I did not want to look my murderer in the eyes as he took my life. While some would like to take the image of their killer's face with them, I am not one of those people. I was going to keep running until he killed me. Unlike in my dream, I got a chance to run. Who was he? Was he human? How fast is he? Is he just playing with me because he can stop me before I even make it to the fields? I realized that it was now or never, if I was going to scream, I might as well do it now.
I was about half-way up the trail to the Sacred Tree when I heard it. A scream. It was Kagome.
I stopped abruptly, a shiver shot down my spine, then I turned on my heal and sprinted in the opposite direction, towards the source of the sound. I knew that kind of scream. It wasn't surprise or mild fear; it was a scream of pure terror. She was in danger.
"Kagome! Where are you?" I called into the dark. I had to let her know I was coming, and I had to let the bastard who was after her know it too. No matter who he was, no matter what night it was, if he was still there when I got there, or if he even thought about hurting Kagome, I'd kill the son-of-a-bitch.
I leapt over a fallen tree and careened across the field. The fear of losing Kagome was propelling me with faster-than-normal-human speed. I willed my legs to leap further, my arms to swing faster. Please, just get there in time. I can't lose her!
I gunned around the corner where the forest jutted out into the field. I had to be almost there. All I could see was Kagome's face in my mind. My anger and desperation flared. This right here, was my worst nightmare.
"Kagome! Scream again! I'll find you!"
Nothing.
I didn't dare look behind me, 'Just keep running' was all I told myself. I practically rolled down the steep hill at the opening of the forest. Then, I jumped across the stream at the bottom and kept going. I had to be getting close, but I still felt hopeless, this chase was draining me of everything. I was crying now, there wasn't an emotion I wasn't feeling. Fear, petrifying fear, anger, regret, sadness, desperation, a flicker of hope that only existed because of the light from the village that had to be over the top of the next hill. I scrambled up and over it, pulling up chunks of grass with my hands as I clutched the earth. As I approached the top, I threw myself to my feet and turned around, scanning the landscape for my pursuer. He wasn't there. I didn't see him. Oh God, where is he? I spun around in a circle. In the process, making the terrifying discovery that the village was blocked by yet another peninsula of forest. I forgot about locating him and ran down the next slope into the trees.
My breath was heaving, and my chest ached. I don't know how long I had been running, but my body was obviously not used to it. My bare feet burned every time they pounded against the ground. They were probably shredded like Swiss cheese by now.
I hadn't been in the Feudal era in three years, and I had to honest with myself, I had no idea where I was going. When you are running away from someone to save your life, you don't pay attention to the destination as much as you focus on keeping a distance between you and the guy chasing you. This entire attempt to run was most likely futile. Normal humans don't go wandering around in forests at night. They don't leisurely traipse after you during a pursuit as if they know they can catch up to you in a heart-beat. Not that I wanted him to have started running after me full speed when I first saw him, hell, I probably would have just died of fright. But the way he went about following me was eerie, and non-human. Lastly, I happen to know that normal humans don't just disappear out of nowhere. Either he was a freakish ninja, or he was something else.
I'll admit the dream was disturbing, and I had considered it one of the most scary experiences of my life. But somehow, I had broken my own record in the same day. This was infinitely more horrifying. Reality usually is.
Just then, I heard the voice. The voice of the one person I knew would always come for me. Inuyasha.
"Kagome! Scream again! I'll find you!"
My fleeing feet came to a stop. His voice shocked me. He was coming for me, I hadn't even thought about counting on him to get me out of this nightmare, but he came anyway. Tears burst from my eyes. "Inuyasha!" I yelled as loud as I could. "Inuyasha! I'm over here!"
A twig snapped right behind me. I froze. The entire forest froze. My heart scrambled to steady itself, but it beat wildly. Against my better judgment, I turned to face the sound that came from the darkness. There were lots of stumps that could be passed off as people, but there was only one form off to the side that had clearly defined arms and legs. He was maybe ten or so steps away from where I stood. Motionless, he glared at me. I couldn't see his face, but I could feel his gaze. It seeped through me like icy, black water as it drowned me.
