The Day After Tomorrow

AUTHOR: Angelhart
GENRE: romance/hurt/comfort
SETTING: AU post-manga/anime
STORY: continuation
RATING: M
DISCLAIMER: InuYasha ©2000 Rumiko Takahashi/Shogakukan - Yomiuri TV - Sunrise
All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter 26

She had sat there for quite a while. Swearing and having something that looked probably like a child's tantrum, realizing soon enough he would not return. Not even to scold her some more. Clearly, somewhere in her life she had become so desperate that messing with demons had become satisfactory. Adding a nice bonus to her mental hurting of loss: physical injuries. The closest thing to Inuyasha didn't resemble him at all. And it was even weird to know that Inuyasha's brother was one of the more sophisticated demons. According to demon standards perhaps even considered 'nice'. He could have killed her a thousand times over, yet he hadn't and maybe out of boredom had made a deal with her and tolerated her presence for play. She had been a fool like all humans before her who struck a deal with one of the demon kind. Any profit that could be made from it would be nulled by the fact that you would always loose in the end.

Any guilt, she could only place upon herself.

Besides her frustration and anger, her state also gave her room for thinking. His words echoing in her mind. It seemed illogical for powers to be inside of her and to only be beneficial for that brief period of time that she traveled to the past. If they were only meant to aid her there, why would they still be part of her now in a world where there was no need for it. They had become dormant like her memories of that other world. Maybe even purposely pushed aside. And it really bummed her out that they didn't react anymore to her beck and call. Like herself they had now become part of a demon's sick little game.

She couldn't help it that her mind wondered off to Inuyasha again. If he would have been born full demon, would he have been like that, too? He had been afraid of that dark personality of his when it showed. Something he couldn't control. But was it something that could be controlled, at all? Jaken had called Sesshomaru a wild dog once when they witnessed him in full transformation. Was it all just an illusion? Could Sesshomaru's appearance of being so perfectly in control all the time, just be a charade? Was he a victim of his own powers just like Inuyasha was? With the slight difference that Inuyasha's father had given Inuyasha Tessaiga as a weapon to control his powers. And leaving Sesshomaru to deal with it with the help of his sanity and a sword that could revive people from the dead.

She stood up and made her way back to the mansion. Passing the bow on the grass, she stopped. With hardly a move from her shoulders she let the quiver slide off and watched it fall next to it. For a moment, she just stared at the items and then faced the arrow that was still stuck inside the tree. Of course, he was there. He was always there. Of all the memories that slowly faded, that one would never go away. But when she moved towards the illusion, the image disappeared with the gentle breeze. And when her hand touched the trunk, he was no longer there. As her fingers moved to take hold of the arrow, she was suddenly reminded of what had taken place earlier. Pain shooting through her wrist and arm, blood flowing from the fresh made wounds as they reopened in the movement.

She roamed through the cabinets in the kitchen until she found what she was looking for. With the first aid kit in hand she sat down at the small square table that occupied the room. Tearing the package of a bandage open with her teeth she placed her injured hand on the table.

She was bandaging herself when she heard footsteps approaching. She ignored them until they came to a stop at the entry of the kitchen.

"Fuck off! You didn't want to help me then and I don't need your help now!"

"Dog trouble?" A different voice asked than the one she expected to hear.

Kagome looked up, startled and embarrassed. The kitsune leaning against the door post with his arms crossed, looked at amused. Then his eyes fell on top of her hand wrapped in white and his expression shifted.

Although an apology for her wrongfully directed anger first came to mind, the judging look he was giving her, annoyed her immensely. And without thinking she spat sarcastically: "Don't mess with dogs, right?" She regretted that outburst instantly. Besides the criticized look there was also concern in his eyes. And the teasing, scolding remark she had first expected did not leave his mouth.

"Sorry", she mumbled, averting her gaze. And to avoid the uncomfortable silence that was bound to take over she asked: "Why are you here?"

"I'm his assistant. I deal with humans so he doesn't have to." He winked.

"Yeah, he sure lacks the necessary social skills." Kagome looked at her hand. "So, he has sent you to deal with me?" She then bit angrily.

"No, I just followed the scent of your blood. What happened?"

With a sudden feel of pride, she raised her head and smiled. "I took him on."

Shippou raised an eyebrow. "One on one?" Then he chuckled. "I would have liked to see that."

Kagome laughed softly before her expression changed into a painful one. "He won."

The kitsune smacked his lips. "Provoking demons isn't ensuring a long lifespan."

"Yeah," she sighed.

He stepped closer and she watched him eyeing her bandage questionably. "I have to say this. Your bandaging skills have really gone downhill over the years. It looks like shit. Honestly."

Kagome looked at her handiwork. He was right. It looked terrible. It did cover the wounds, but that was about it. It even felt uncomfortable. Sighing she moved to undo it all, only to be stopped by Shippou's hand. The kitsune had sat down at the small table on the chair opposite of her. Taking hold of her hand he carefully started to unwrap the white cloth. Baring her skin, he hissed when the puncture wounds came into view.

"Nasty", he commented.

He took out a new bandage roll and an alcohol pad from the kit. Now it was her time to hiss as the sterile liquid came in contact with the puncture wounds.

"It looks like there is no real damage, though. More superficial. "How does it feel?"

"It fu-" She bit her lip to avoid the curse that wanted to escape. It still surprised her that she had grown such a foul mouth over the years. "It hurts."

He was examining the damage with careful prodding. Then with a smile he said: "You'll live."

She pulled back her hand and bit him a sarcastic 'thanks'. When he reached out to grasp her hand she took hold of his. "How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Use fox fire?"

He sat back. "Kagome… I…" Looking at her face he could obviously tell this was a serious question. "I don't know. I just…" He sighed deeply. "Where is this question coming from?"

"He told me, that I should heal myself. I haven't really thought about my powers. I just thought they were gone when the well closed behind me. For why would I need them here, right? But I always thought that if they were a part of me that I could control them. That it would be natural." Suddenly she stood up and grabbed him by the hand. "Come."

He was a little reluctant as he shoved the chair back and rose to a stand. "Where are we going?"

She didn't answer him and just pulled him with her, not allowing him to pull out of her grip. Her uninjured hand holding him tightly.

"Kagome?" He stopped when they were outside. The hard pull on her arm, made her look back.

"You're going to teach me," she said with a smile. Before he could utter any protest, she pulled him with her again. When she was assured he would still be following, she released him, ignoring his voice as he called her name several times over. She was fueled with determination. In this Era there was no Kaede, not Miroku or Kikyo who could teach her. But she would no longer be played a fool.

Dragging him through the bushes she stopped when the forest abruptly ended. This was not a natural clearing, but the result of massive destruction. It was a path like the gods had reached in from above and had plowed the earth. A vision she recalled from years ago. But it was odd to see it here. In this timeline. "Is this…?"

"The Windscar."

She turned her head to look at the face of the kitsune standing next to her. "What happened?"

"I got him angry." At her jaw-dropped reaction he added: "You're not the only one who is able to piss him off."

"What. Did You. Do…?"

"I sometimes try to be that voice in his head to talk him out of things that he shouldn't be doing. He disagreed."

"So, this bad temper is a family thing, then." Stepping forward she picked up a twig from the ground.

"Kagome."

She spun around. "What? You're going to be my voice now?"

He flinched.

"You know, I pulled an arrow out of a half demon who was put there to be sealed in an eternal slumber, as villagers were shouting warnings at me. Needless to say, your attempts will be pointless."

As she sat down and placed the twig with one end in the ground, she could hear he was attempting to hide his snickering from her, by muffling the sound by placing a hand in front of his mouth. After he regained his composure he sat down opposite of her.

"So, what? You want me to set this thing ablaze?"

"No. I want it to grow." She looked at him. "Do you remember that time when Kikyo used a tree to lure all those rats?"

"Yeah, those nasty critters were hard to kill."

"She used some sort of spell to bind the rats to it. I am starting off easy. I just want it to sprout."

"Easy, hm?" Shippou narrowed his eyes at her. "Come, let me bandage your hand first."

But she didn't allow him to take her hand. "I will heal that later."

He sighed. "Kagome… I don't want to burst your bubble, but Kikyo didn't became a priestess overnight. I mean… she had years of practice."

"I know," she spat. "Don't you think I know that?"

"Honestly…? I don't know, Kagome. You're acting strange."

"I just… I just want to be prepared. When… when I get back." She avoided his gaze after her words. She didn't want to see it in his eyes. The pained look. The pity and every judgment he had about her now. Even his silence was painful. She could hear the air of his sigh escaping his nose.

Two hands grabbed hers gently. Fingers different than before. Clawed fingertips and red fabric around the wrists.

"Kagome…"

She looked up to his face at the different tone in the voice that spoke to her. Eyes like molted gold that looked sad, features that were in her dreams almost every night.

Kagome pulled back and stood up. 'You promised!" she shouted angrily. "You promised!"

"Kagome, please."

"No." And when he approached her: "NO." She turned away from him. "Fuck you, Shippou. You promised." Her face red from anger, tears burning behind her eyes she faced him again, hoping that it would be the kitsune standing there. Not the vision of Inuyasha. But two pointy dog ears flattened at the sight of her fury. "How dare you play these twisted mind games with me!?"

"I will use whatever means I have to prevent you from hurting yourself."

"This-" she hissed, "This is not all right."

To her relieve he transformed back, but when he tried to pull her into a hug she stepped back. "Just leave." When he was about to speak, she raised a finger. "Don't. Whatever you want to say, just don't. Just leave." A sound left his throat as the beginning of a protest which she stopped by bringing her raised finger closer to his mouth. "Leave."

He threw the bandage that was still in plastic at her feet, turned around and walked away. She waited till he was out of her sight before she let herself fall to the earth on her knees and cried.

How in the hell did things get so messed up? Her heart still pounded heavily with the image of Inuyasha now so vivid in her mind. Taking a deep breath and rubbing the tears from her eyes, she stared at the twig in front of her. Dead wood in an equal dead landscape. Nature would eventually heal itself and within a couple of years there would be no mark of what had happened here. Nature had it easy, she thought. With each wound inflicted, humans would carry a scar with them. Even if the wound was not inflicted physically. A mental scar would cut just as deep. Perhaps even deeper.

She moved herself closer to the small branch she had planted in the earth. Placing her hands next to it – her eyes glancing to her own injuries for a moment – she sighed again. She had no idea how to start. She thought of the time Kikyo had asked for her aid in helping her to heal. In order to purify Naraku's miasma she had to truly want to save the young priestess.

I didn't do much then, except touching her.

Kagome closed her eyes even though it felt stupid to do so. Nothing about this is sane. Even that little sparkle of hope of finding a way to return to the feudal Era seemed foolish. A silly dream, but one she clung onto, nonetheless. In the darkness, she had surrounded herself with now, nothing existed except that little branch she envisioned. Placing it in a luminous aura like she imagined the warmth of the sun would be. She tried to imagine her hands as veins connecting to the earth's soil, her powers flowing through her arms and her palms. And although it felt like nothing was happening, she didn't dare to open her eyes or break the contact. She didn't know if words were required for such spell, but she chanted them silently in her head, anyway. Grow. Grow…

She altered the image in her mind and pictured roots forming and reaching deep into the ground. And as her powers would nourish the soil they would take it in and transport it to the wood that slowly came back to life. And there, underneath the bark, a little nub was forming. Something small that grew larger, slowly. And then stretched out into a new strand of wood and on the end of it something green.

She opened her eyes and blinked as she adjusted her vision to the bright light of day. As she looked down nothing had changed. The twig stuck in the ground was still dead. The beautiful image of it coming back to life had only taken place in her head. Disappointment almost allowed a curse to slip past her lips. Swallowing she avoided the possibility of her foul mouthing in perhaps ruining the purity of her enchantment. Beginners luck was obviously wishful thinking.

She took a couple of deep, swift breaths and closed her eyes once more. "Again."

This time she imagined the flow of her energy to form strands like imaginary roots, reaching deeper where the soil would be moist and smell fresh. Luring the wood to follow the flow down. Then up, taking the substance it needed in, into the bark. Higher, higher so it stretched to reach out to the sun, another food source. She became almost euphoric as her envisioned tree grew to large proportion, beautiful with healthy branches reaching out and stretching wide. Green leaves shading her from the light. But she didn't open her eyes just yet. Not until the large trunk was as sturdy as the old Goshinboku tree, with roots as thick as her arms which dug so deep that tearing them loose from the earth would leave a crater as big Miroku's wind tunnel. Only when that image was complete she did open her eyes.

Blinking again Kagome realized the sun's position had altered. It now standing behind her, casting a shade in front of her. At first it still seemed like the same broken twig. But as she leaned in closer she noticed something different. On the thin wood, there was a small lump with a crack in it. And out of the crack something green was emerging.

She jumped up and shouted a loud "woohoo!" Hands in the air she did not notice that she almost trampled the thing in her excitement. With the village in need of medicine she could could enforce fast growth upon the necessary herbs. Even multiply the rare ones. Cultivate a medicinal garden like no one had ever seen. Inuyasha could bring her seeds from places all over Japan within a couple of days.

A tense smile flashed upon her lips as she sat down again. If… she ever could get back.

Pushing away the melancholic thought she closed her eyes again. So far, she had made a good start. But a new sprout still wasn't a tree. This time it even felt like she could actually feel the flow of her energy leaving her body and disappearing into the earth. She was even thrilled as she felt a vibration on the ground she was sitting on. Her joyous giggle filling the air as the ground pushed her back and without looking she knew that small branch was now becoming a full trunk.

Sweat was forming on her forehead and she could feel her body transpiring – her clothes starting to cling uncomfortably to her skin. But she couldn't give up now. When she would reopen her eyes, she wanted to see a full tree, like the one she had pictured in her mind. Like one in Inuyasha's forest.

"Miko stop."

The voice was coming from far away. Deep in the darkness of the space she occupied. But as she got distracted by it slightly, she felt her energy now being pulled from her without her effort. In front of her the tree was blooming. And in the darkness, she could open her eyes and watch the beautiful life she had created.

Blinking her eyes, she noticed her eyes were actually open. And the world around her had become dark and silent. Before her was the illusion from her mind. A tree like one she remembered. And it was blooming. Petals of pink falling down upon her like silk rain. She raised herself to a stand, turning around smiling and as she did she felt like something tore off her like an invisible umbilical cord, painful even and it almost made her lose her balance.

"You shouldn't have done that." Stern yellow eyes, glowing in the dark, looked at her.

She nearly growled at the sight of him, her heart filling itself with anger quickly and when he reached out to her, her hand took hold of him first. His arm like the root of the tree and before she could have any influence on it she felt her energy transferring itself into the living skin of the one in front of her. And it moved. The skin underneath her fingers moved like it boiled. The air filling itself quickly with an awful stench as green ooze combined with red seeped out from under her touch.

A growl made her look up and the eyes that had looked upon her seconds ago were now glowing a deep red. Pink markings were stretching and becoming ragged like lightning bolts. She fell backwards, or thought she did and the last thing she saw before her world suddenly turned black, was a row of white, glistening, sharp fangs close to her face.

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this new chapter.

Reviews are most welcome ^^