Kagome.
The name. Her name.
Her damn name woke him.
He'd heard it called in his sleep, far away, and by a voice not his own. Still, he heard it and it woke him instantly.
When he'd woken fully he pondered the voice and couldn't place it, and when he couldn't he wondered if it had belonged to him after all. And once he wondered, the voice began to sound like his own.
And it only made sense.
The kit had said he called out her name in his sleep for months, but he thought he'd gotten over it. Gotten over his dreams of her.
The damnable woman with the damnable name.
Unwanted, he pictured her face. As always it was fouled with a scowl, as she glared hatefully up at him. He watched her step backward until her legs touched the splintered wood. She glanced away for a second, but quickly looked back at him as she mounted the edge. Blue-gray eyes, bordered by long, dark lashes, held his.
He narrowed his eyes at the memory. At her.
Her anger never faltered. A moment passed. Then two, and when he stepped forward she was gone.
His hands gripped the bark of the tree he'd made his bed for the night, his claws gouging into the creaking wood, just as they had at the well the day she left him. He'd gone to the well many days after that, until he could no longer bear to touch it.
Inuyasha had a thousand ways to remember her.
Countless.
And this-this hateful version-was the only way he could.
It was painful-heart wrenching-how he missed her. It didn't seem to have an end despite the memory.
Their parting.
He hated her, and he did hope he'd never see her again. Yet, for all the rage and hatred he clung to for her, he missed her beyond expression. It was pathetic and loathsome.
If he ever crossed her path again, he'd make sure he showed her the depth of his loathing.
He closed his eyes to the night, ignoring the hateful whispers of the foul jewel.
He slept fitfully for the rest of it, jerking awake now and then, and every time her beautiful, dreaded eyes were at the forefront of his mind.
And every time he cursed them.
And out loud, into the dark, he cursed the name.
Kagome woke up, startled. She had sensed it, even unconscious. Something dark.
Her senses had flown into some sort of overdrive, as if she'd sensed peril.
She blinked her wide eyes in the darkness, searching for whatever intruder had come to slaughter them, but there was no one. It was silent, all but for the crickets.
She took a deep breath and sank back into her furs. First she looked to Kouga, ready to apologize, assuming her control had waned and he'd be awake.
He was snoring softly.
The tension left her body and she curled into a ball, burying her face into the softness of the furs. She inhaled deeply, letting the scent calm her nerves as she pondered over what exactly had happened.
"If you had my nose, you'd never do that in your life."
"Geez Shippo, you startled me!" She hissed, snapping a glare in his direction.
"You startled me first!" He argued accusingly. "Wake up like the world is ending-"
Whatever he said following that was lost in a mumble, and she sat up rubbing her face with her hand.
"I guess I had a bad dream."
"Well did or didn't you?"
She paused and uncovered her face to see if she'd woken Kouga. He hadn't so she knew she hadn't been having a nightmare. It was more troubling than her original assumption. She felt a threat, like a warning in her heart, but it was nameless.
"I don't know."
"Didn't think a priestess from the future could get any weirder." He teased.
They shared an amused chuckle for a few seconds until Kouga snorted awake.
"What's going on?" He asked groggily, set up on one arm.
"Sorry Kouga. We are going back to sleep. You do too." She offered.
He didn't wait to be told twice and neither did Shippo. He rolled over and lay back down. She stared at his back for a minute before closing her eyes, pondering the warning that had woken her, until it lulled her to sleep.