Remember not to breathe…
-CagedRaven-
Chapter 8
Death By A Nightmare
"Nothing personal," a female's voice echoed inside the school's empty pool room. It was a little after ten and the woman played with her rust colored hair as she looked over her shoulder at Edmond and nodded, giving him the okay. "You just look like someone I hate!"
The boy lifted up his good arm and water rushed after her. Kagome tried to run, her wet hair clinging to the side of her face and chin, but the liquid moved too fast. Scared out of her mind she pulled out her gun and tried to think of a way to aim it at the teen, without killing him.
She slipped on the wet tiles and she almost fell but caught her herself and continued to run, breathing in all the air her hurting lungs could hold. Laughter rung through her ears and bounced off the walls around her, Ayame's laughter she knew.
How did she get into this? A question Kagome was having trouble answering, herself. She should have stayed home. She should have showed Kouga the note. She should have told someone were she was going. What was she thinking? Was she thinking at the time?
--------------------------------------------------------Flashback----------------------------------------------------------
Looking down at her golden watch again, Kagome sighed.
"What's wrong, sweetie?" her mother asked as she passed the butter to Souta.
Spinning her chopsticks around in the fried noodles in front of her, Kagome just shook her head.
"I just feel a little guilty eating out when I know Kouga is busy doing paperwork behind his desk," she lied, thinking about the note she had found on her desk earlier.
The hand writing was female so it couldn't have been Edmond, plus how would he have known which desk was hers? It's not like she had anything on it like pictures or her name on a plank carved in gold. Unless it was a smart person who had their connections … or they worked there…
Souta grinned seeing the irritation written all over Inuyasha's face. Why not just push it a little further?
"Who's Kouga?"
Kagome started blankly out her brother knowing what he was doing.
"I told you already, he's the person with me on the case."
The journalist decided to just refrain himself from opening his mouth when the name Kouga was brought up, and by Kagome none the less. What was she thinking, if she even was, she knew how much he hated her co-worker! Though he did only meet the freak on one occasion, one being the first time they met and the other was other the phone so that didn't really count… Whatever, same difference, he still didn't like the prick.
'I just need to think of something else…'
Looking over to his left he really saw the restaurant that the whole family was in for the pass fifteen minutes. The restaurant was full, but not with annoying people pushing and laughing a little too loud for his liking. It was full of gentle talking others that seemed to know how to hold a conversation. The space was lovely, decorated in fine blues, purples, and deep grays. The place was called 'Moon's Melody' with musical notes around the name on the sign. Moon, because it was only open at night. Melody maybe because a piano's song played softly in the background from speakers and on weekends a player came in and played while you ate. Inuyasha saw a waitress sit a couple down at a table while another was giving out food. It was very relaxing…
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Kagome pushed up the straps to loose black suspenders, hidden under her suit's jacket. A pale gray silk tie hung around her neck as it contrasted nicely with her white shirt. Slipping her glove covered fingers around her gun's handle loosely; making sure it was still there. No one would know where she was gone; no one would know where she was. She stepped on the gas peddle hard and rode off into the night, leaving her home for the night, and her destination on the note her mind refused to throw away.
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Parking down the block from the school and looking at her watch again, Kagome pulled out her gun before slipping through an unlocked window. The building was cool and quiet; classroom doors were open and chairs still stacked in corners of the room from the last day of school before summer break. The blackboards were clean and most likely gum was stuck underneath some of the student's desks. A plain, old school building, just like the one she had gone to.
Stealthily, Kagome walked down the dark, tiled hallway. Her gun pointed down and her finger on the trigger just incase. She had to keep reminding herself she had no back up and on several occasions she had to stop her hand from grabbing her phone, needing to remind herself again about the back up.
She peekedinto every room she passed on the first floor then headed up a flight of stairs to the second floor. If there was nothing up there then the last floor would have to be the basement.
Walking passed more empty rooms that looked the same, besides the computer room and gym, Kagome walked back down a different flight of stairs and walked out into the basement. On this floor there was usually the gym with its locker rooms, cafeterias for students and teachers, and music rooms with their own lockerfor instruments. She would have to look through them all.
First she looked in the cafeterias, both. Kagome saw nothing odd in the rooms. Going down the hallway with only a small flash light lighting her way; she went to the next room which was the music room and its locker room. Nothing but empty chairs and a few sheets of music left behind. The locker was cleaned out; the teacher most likely took all the instruments during the last few weeks of school. Kagome closed the door behind her and placed the broken lock on the teacher's desk. She hesitated moving on; stopping when she heard foot steps and giggles bouncing off the walls. They were walking away from her, going farther down the hall.
Kagome tip-toed to the door and peeked out through the window on the door, her breathing stopping all together when eyes met her own. She jumped away and lifted her hand that held her gun with both hands, ready to pull the trigger. The darkness hid the face but she could tell the person was grinning. Grinning like a clown through this glass and twisting the door knob as if teasing her. Kagome always had a fear of clowns…
She shot once; piercing through the glass on the door and hearing a cry of pain. Her ears heard a slight ring after the shot but she ignored it; kicking the door open and aiming for anything that moved, not seeing the person she shot anywhere. She noticed a little bit of their blood behind on the floor though. Someone was in here; at least she knew that now. All she had to do was find them.
Pointing the flashlight up and down the hallway before jogging over to the direction she still heard the heels stepping on the tiles. 'A woman… about a hundred and …' Kagome listened closely trying to ID the killer. 'A hundred and fifty-sixty pounds,' she guessed going by how hard the heel landed on floor, thanking all her schooling for things like this.
Turning off her flashlight she counted to five slowly, 'one…two…three… four… five!' she turned around the corner and aimed for the woman she knew was down this hallway. The lights snapped on, blinding Kagome and forcing her to shield her eyes; having been used to the darkness. Once her eyes adjusted she held in her scream and turned around to run but it was too late, the hallway was being flooded by a giant wave of water.
It hit her hard, knocking all the breath out of her. The water threw her this way and that, there was no way she could fight it. She had lost hold on her gun when the water collided with her, Kagome's now free hands tried to cover the top of her head and her mouth. She repeated the same four words over and over in her mind, 'Remember not to breathe, remember not to breathe, remember not to breathe!'
The force of the water threw her into a wall, crying out in pain Kagome lost all her air along with her consciousness, a stream of air bubbles floating to the surface from her mouth.
---------------------------------------------End Flashback----------------------------------------------
When she woke up she was in a bright room, coughing up the last of the water still in her lungs. Her back hurt and her head felt like shit. She felt her gun next to her and poured the water out nozzle. Hopefully it still worked. Kagome stood, her legs a little weak under her own weight. She looked over her shoulder at the sound of a woman laughing.
"I told Edmond to remove the water from your lungs; it seems he left some behind," her smile fell, "But I didn't tell him to give you back your gun. Edmond?"
The killer was Ayame? Kagome couldn't believe her eyes. She wouldn't show the shock on her face though, let the woman believe that she thought it was her all the time. Maybe Kagome just couldn't arrest her without evidence or something.
"It's more enjoyable when the victim can fight back."
The teen male Kagome has seen in pictures walked out of the shadows and into the light. Water dripped off the tips of his brown hair. His gray-green eyes shined brighter in the light, he looked younger in person then in the pictures, Kagome noted. And if what Hiroshi Sato had said was true, he had the power to control water. This boy took the job of becoming the reaper himself.
Of all things one could control, why water? If she died here tonight she didn't want to drown to death. Kagome didn't believe it was her weakness; after all, humans have a natural fear of drowning.
Kagome saw his shoulder was bleeding, staining his white shirt. It must have been him who she shot.
"Why are you killing people? And why me? I've never even met you before all of this."
"I kill because I can, because I want to. They deserved it; all of them! Laughing at me and taking him away from me. Well who's laughing now?"
Ayame glared at Kagome and set her jaw. "But you, you look like the bitch that he loved!" Kagome took a step back, this woman was crazy.
"Nothing personal," the female's voice echoed inside the school's empty pool room. It was a little after ten and the woman played with her rust colored hair as she looked over her shoulder at Edmond and nodded, giving him the okay. "You just look like someone I hate!"
The boy lifted up his good arm and water rushed after her. Kagome tried to run, her wet hair clinging to the side of her face and chin, but the liquid moved too fast. Scared out of her mind, she pulled out her gun and tried to think of a way to aim it at the teen, without killing him.
She slipped on the wet tiles and she almost fell but caught her herself and continued to run, breathing in all the air her hurting lungs could hold. Laughter rung through her ears and bounced off the walls around her, Ayame's laughter she knew.
She ran into a different room and locking the door behind her. She closed it fast enough to hear the water slam into the heavy wooden door. Kagome's chest rose and fell she swallowed only to cough again from the dryness in her throat. She let go of a breath she was holding and pulled the wet hair off ofher face. Pulling out her cell phone, she finally thought it wasn't time to act like a big girl and to ask for help. Now, if only her phone hadn't gotten wet…
Kagome flipped her phone and watched the water drip off of it before throwing the useless thing on the floor.
'Wait…'
Kagome looked down at her feet after not hearing the phone hit the floor. Her eyes widened and sweat slid down her face, mixing with the water droplets that were still there.
Water! Water was coming in under the door! She stepped back and claimed onto a desk, trying to control herself; she would get out of this, she would!
She let out a high pitched scream when she felt water fall on her head from a vent up above. Kagome fall back, off the desk and into the thigh high water. She surfaced and walking through the water the best she could over to the door again, her only way out.
She stopped and started to hyperventilate when the water lessened and some of it started to take shape. Edmond was in the room. How did he get in without even opening the door?
Tears began to involuntarily leak out the rim of her eyes and her eyes wouldn't focus on anything. 'He's going to kill me!'
Again he lifted his arm pointing at her; all the water around her moved back and rose to her waists height by his control. Kagome forced her eyes closed waiting for the final blow he would give her
"Sorry."
Kagome dared not open her eyes when he spoke his apology.
Her scream of pain echoed down the hallway, through the entire school, maybe even outside if she was lucky; someone might come and save her.
Kagome threw her eyes open and her head back, praying for the end to be quick. The water seeped into her body from her pores, running through her skin, into her muscles and blood stream. She swore she could feel it on her bones, gliding up her spine and scull straight to her brain.
Then, as if it had never started she felt calm, relaxed even. Someone's hand was waiting for her to grab them, she did without hesitation. 'Was this death?' a tear rolled down from her eyes as she thought of her lover. 'Inuyasha…'
Kagome's body collapsed onto the hard floor and all the water was pulled out of her body. Coming out of the mouth and nose, some came out as tears. Edmond looked down at her body, a smirk on his face. He turned around to see Ayame clapping her hands and catching her breath from laughing so hard. She wiped away a tear and opened her eyes, her big smile still glued to her face.
Her heels sounded on the floor as she walked. Edmond pushed the water away effetely so she wouldn't slip on his mess. She stood above Kagome and placed her red heel on the side of her forehead, looking up past the ceiling and into the heavens.
"You see that Kikyo? This would have been you," walking back toward Edmond she patted his shoulder and smirked when he winced from the pain of the bullet wound. 'Now all Pyro has to do is clean out his memory…'
As if on cue the sixteen year old walked into the doorway; her ice blue eyes glowing with her powers. Her black boots stepping in the puddles underneath her feet; she had on a short, black skirt with red fish nets. A long sleeved black and purple shirt with red writing, it read 'I ran into my ex-boyfriend the other day so I put it in reverse and ran into him again. ' Her shoulder length hair was in two pigtails right above her ears; red and black ribbons holding her hair in place.
Edmond looked confusedly back and forth from the newcomer to Ayame. His hand held his own wounded shoulder, "What the hell is going on?"
Again Ayame laughed as she walked over to Kamiko and place a firm hand on the girl's shoulder.
"She was my back up."
Edmond took a step back when Pyro took a step forward. He looked down at Kagome's unmoving form, pretending he didn't want to trip over her. Kamiko followed his graze and smiled letting him know everything was fine and going to their plan. Ayame stood behind her, not seeing their eye contact.
"You see, Ed," Edmond looked back up to the older woman, his preplanned sweat slid down his face. "This is Pyro. She has the power to remove memories and such. So when the cops come in about," She looked down at her wrist watch, "A half hour. They're going to think you did everything; it was your entire plan."
"You won't get away with this," Edmond threw his arm up and the water flew with it, speeding toward them both. Pyro raised her own hand and blocked his attack with her mental barrier. Pyro's eye twitched and she braced her barrier with her other hand.
"He's… He's too strong! I can't get into his mind!" Ayame gasped when water floated through the girl's barrier and wrapped around Pyro's legs, throwing the teen across the room. Kamiko grunted in pain as her head slammed into the wall. Edmond growled and held his still bleeding shoulder. He was starting to see double from the lack of blood; this was not a part of their plan. He would have to do this quick.
Ayame backed up a few steps when she didn't see the younger teen get up. Turning around and running done the wet hallway; her heel slipped on the wet floor and she landed hard on her chest and stomach, knocking the air out of her. She could feel him walking closer to her. With every inch she lost her life she reminded herself. Ayame pulled her red pumps of her feet and threw them at him, doing absolutely nothing. He pulled his water in the way to knock the shoes away.
Sprinting now without her shoes on, Ayame thought if this was how everyone else felt when he was after them? Is this how you felt when you knew your death was only moments away? In all the movies, in all the books and stories she's seen and read they all said a calming feeling came over you, blocking out the pain. Was it all just a lie? Without thinking, Ayame ran into the pool room. When she realized what she had done it was already too late; he was standing in front of the door, his eyes seemed to glow gray just like the sky before a storm.
Kamiko walked over to Kagome's still body and shook her slightly. "Hey, come on, wake up."
Kagome groaned in protest and tried to stay in her dream world. Kamiko slapped her across the face twice. Kagome opened her brown eyes and looked around not remembering were she was or half of what she had been doing. Kamiko, seeing her confusion, enlightened her.
"You were looking for the murder. Edmond isn't behind this, its Ayame Waki."
Kagome nodded and got up slowly with the help of Kamiko. "Wait, then why are you here?"
Kamiko already had thought of an answer for this question, she had whipped out most of Kagome's memory; mostly the pain she just gone through and about Edmond.
"I heard screaming in this building and called the cops. They said they were on their way but I had to come over and see if I could help."
"That's not a very smart thing to do," Kamiko nodded and helped Kagome walk down the bright hallway away from where she knew both Ayame and Edmond were.
"Please, don't!" Ayame cried out when he cornered her by the pool's edge. It was the very same pool way back then… with Kouga and the others. She didn't want to drown, she didn't want to die.
Edmond was able to slow down the bleeding from the bullet shot Kagome had done earlier. Using some fabric from his shirt to use as a tourniquet and stop the blood flow. He needed to teach this woman a lesson, and if the answer was death, then so be it.
He didn't need to do anything but take a step closer. She fell into the pool's water, panic clearly seen on her face. She fought against the water and tried to stay at the top. Edmond only looked down at her fearful graze crying out for help. It reminded him of Amber.
'Cold...' Ayame thought, her salt water tears mixing with the water around her. Edmond raised his hand and moved his hand in a circle, slowly.
'It's constantly moving around me… it's like it has a mind of its own.' Ayame tried to fight the whirlpool his magic was making; her best efforts not doing all too well.
'Pushing and pulling me back and fourth, angrily as if I had done something wrong …I was only trying to get them back for all those years…'
'It seems the water is only getting colder…' Ayame was slowly starting to give up, welcoming her own demise. Her inner thoughts wishing she wasn't too scared when she was younger to learn how to swim.
She started to sink under the water's surface, not wanting to open her pale green eyes in fear that all that would greet her was the darkness she's seen for far too long. The water flowed into her mouth as she gasped, not being able to hold her breath any longer. Soon after, the water began flowing into her nose and ears as well. The oxygen leaving her lungs coming out in air bubbles in the water. She lazily opened her eyes, resting in the numbness she felt going through her as her body sank to the bottom of the pool. Her eyesight was clouded as she breathed in the water. Her brain lost its connection with the rest of her form, her body no longer doing what she told it to. Her brain was no longer trying to hold onto hope of escaping her fate, nor did it try to store away her heart's feeling one last time. The hope that one day she would wake up from this nightmare and see that none of this was real… it was all just a dream… a really bad dream…
After five minutes Edmond stopped focusing on the stilled body floating in the water filled pool. If he pulled her out now she might have a chance at life again. He didn't know what to do, this all happened before. Fisting his hand, he made up his mind.
TBC
Wow, almost done!
-CagedRaven-
