In Time, Death
By Alesyira
Summary: A new place with a few old faces.
The Mountain
- 1988 -
Screams vibrated through Kagome's eardrums as she felt herself coming together again. She landed unexpectedly hard, like she'd fallen from a much greater distance than her previous trips. Her knees buckled under the strain, and unable to catch herself in time, she dropped to a heap on the floor and promptly threw up.
Her head throbbing, she rolled to her side and gasped against the pain shooting through her from head to toe. She had no idea what had happened.
She hadn't even touched her vesper that time! When she'd gotten dressed and gathered her stuff, she had made sure the vesper was safely tucked away in a side pocket within her pouch until the next time she needed to use it. She hadn't opened her pouch since then, and her hands had been gripping the front of Shippo's shirt as she'd...
She moaned in misery against the pain radiating through her skull. She swallowed back the next wave of nausea and prayed she didn't puke again.
As her senses returned in pieces, she heard a door slam, and then voices. The first voice sounded cautious, but the sound of her heartbeat thundering through her head muddled the words.
The second voice was clearly irate, with each syllable stabbing through the haze enveloping her brain. Kagome winced in misery and brought tingling fingers to her face.
"What do you mean, they called in sick?" It was a feminine voice that instantly grated on Kagome's nerves, but she wasn't sure if that was because she felt absolutely awful or if the woman was just that detestable.
The other voice was masculine and sounded more than a little amused. "I mean exactly what I said… Everybody called in sick."
Kagome pushed back the growing urge to vomit again. She hoped she was mistaken, but it sounded like they were getting closer and she had no idea where she was, who they were, or if she was in imminent danger. Her vision had yet to return and her magic felt wrong.
She needed a few minutes so she could plaster her face to this cool floor and pull herself back together, but it didn't look like that was going to happen. She struggled to get to her hands and knees. Stars exploded behind her eyelids.
The female growled in irritation. "We haven't had any visitors in the last half year, so how could anyone have gotten sick?"
"Well, the championship game was televised last night and someone thought it would be a good idea to host a game-watching party. Everyone was there, except for you, the notorious workaholic."
She heard a long sigh of exasperation. "Go on…"
Kagome hunched in on herself, giving in to the fact that she could not run away at this moment. Sweating against a fresh wave of nausea and spitting out the saliva filling her mouth —oh great, she was definitely going to throw up again— she did her best to center herself and reached for her magic, intending to weave a barrier around her location so the two that were walking closer might step past her without noticing. The fingers of her control wobbled and failed to catch hold, and what would have been a barrier merely flickered with pathetic sparkles. She might be able to singe someone approaching, but she couldn't hide.
"Well, I started getting calls just after midnight of people falling ill, and after hearing a few symptoms, the doc says it's food poisoning."
"Then why aren't you sick?" Suspicion was clear in the female's voice.
Kagome curled in on herself and clamped her hands over her mouth, pinching her nose shut as she squeezed her eyes closed. I will not puke. I will not puke.
The male choked off a laugh. "I swore off human foods after that severe allergic reaction a hundred years ago. I don't eat anything unless I've made it myself."
The female sighed dramatically, but humor now laced her tone. "And all our students were in attendance?"
"Yep. Not all of them were interested in the game, but free food is hard to turn down. I imagine such a thing will be far less appealing after last night, and I doubt we'll see a repeat anytime soon." There was a brief pause as he reconsidered that thought. "Hard to tell with youngsters these days. They seem to recover quickly from even the worst setbacks. It's awfully coincidental, though." His voice sounded like it was mere feet away.
She sighed. "You know I don't believe in coincidence."
The skin on the back of her neck prickled, and Kagome peeked up at the two staring down at her in suspicion. Through the haze that still blanketed most of what she could see, she only had a moment to make out their most basic features before she couldn't hold it back any longer and threw up again at their feet.
"That's not food poisoning," she pointed in Kagome's direction with a raised eyebrow.
"That's also not one of our students," he reminded her.
There was a quiet moment as the two stared down at her. The female's voice softened with her reply, "She might be."
Yay, I'm not in imminent danger. Kagome groaned in pain, wiping her mouth with the back of her sleeve. She couldn't even find her voice to express apologies for making such a horrendous mess.
The male knelt at her side. "Girl, can you control yourself long enough for me to move you to the washroom?"
She nodded miserably but still flinched when the stranger's warm hands looped under her armpits like she was a toddler. She was dragged easily across the room she'd landed in, down a hallway and through a door into a dimly lit tiled space with the sound of trickling water.
He deposited her next to a sink and set a bucket at her side as she pressed her temple against the chilled wall. "Just use that if you're not done. Jeez, you're a right mess. I'll be back in a moment. I better go incinerate your leavings before it attracts shoes." His voice dropped into a mutter as he walked away. "For pity's sake, the last thing I need is a mess to get tracked across the compound with no one else well enough to clean."
His female companion stopped him before he made it very far. "It wouldn't be the first time someone dropped a miserable little creature in our laps to distract from something nefarious. Go do a quick circuit and direct the guards to be on the alert for anything out of the ordinary."
He glanced over his shoulder at the shivering lump of girl huddled over the bucket. "Want me to keep this one's appearance off the books until we know more?"
She nodded, thoughtful.
Kagome was immensely thankful they didn't shoot first and ask questions later. It took her at least fifteen minutes to push back the nausea and gather enough strength to stand while holding onto the sink for support. Her brain felt fried and her innards scrambled. Her knees wobbled as she leaned against the chilly porcelain, splashing cool water against her face and rinsing out her mouth.
She grimaced at the colorful splatters along the sleeves and front of her white haori. She pulled it off with a wince and held it over the sink, considering the best way to get rid of the mess.
"Leave that," the female ordered, startling Kagome so badly she dropped the garment. "We'll take it to the laundry later."
Kagome had briefly forgotten she wasn't alone in the room. She pressed a hand to her face in mortification at the overall first impression she must have given these people. She carefully wiped off her face before turning to look at the person leaning against the door frame.
The washroom lights had been left off, probably for her sake. Pale golden ambient light trickled in around the female's silhouette as she stood in the doorway. There wasn't enough light to make out any details beyond dark hair framing a pale face. Eyes with a hint of inner shine looked her over head to toe. "Who are you, and what are you doing in this place, besides making a mess of our training facilities?"
"I'm really sorry about the mess, and I'm not sure why I'm here…" Kagome muttered, feeling incredibly awkward. She couldn't believe she'd been plucked out of that elevator and just dumped here, wherever here was.
She reached for the pouch at her waist to check her vesper, but the female hissed, "Don't move!"
Kagome froze, gripping her pouch in an effort to hide her distress. Shippo had been carrying her weapons when she'd been unexpectedly whisked away. Her mind raced. Was she in any danger? What could she do to diffuse the situation?
She needed more information.
"Um," she began, feeling sweat prickle along her brow. "What…year is it?"
The female crossed her arms over her chest. "1988."
Kagome didn't recall seeing that date on her vesper's schedule, but her hand left her pouch to clutch the strap over her heart. That was the year her father had died. Her voice was a little rough when she asked her next question. "What…month?"
The female's silhouette shifted with what might have been suspicion. "Did you hit your head? It's November."
Kagome felt a mixture of ill relief. Her father had died months ago by that time, and so maybe she wouldn't have to witness another horrible moment for some unfathomable life lesson. She closed her eyes and turned her face away from the watchful female, trying to not think of the awful things she'd witnessed in the last twenty-four hours.
"What is your name?"
Something about this lady gave her the chills, maybe not the kind of evil vibes that she was about to get robbed and murdered and left for dead, but definitely a leader that doesn't play around. She swallowed nervously and answered with her first name.
"Very well, Kagome, what are you doing here?"
She bit her lip. "I really don't know. I'm not even sure where I am." Without her vesper possibly providing details (which it hadn't since the gathering in Reikai to discuss the Great War) she was really left to just stumble across the who-what-where-when-why on her own, if she ever figured out the purpose amongst all the random sprinkled along with it.
"What can you tell me?"
Kagome shook her head. "I've been traveling all over the place at the whim of something I don't fully understand. I have some control over where I'm going, but I don't always know the destination or my purpose there. Sometimes I don't even realize what I was meant to see or do until I've already gone to the next place."
The female's posture shifted impatiently. Her story wasn't going over too well.
"This sounds so idiotic, I know. Are there any bad guys running amok around here?"
The female snorted in amusement. "No."
"Long-running regional wars plaguing the population?"
"Again, no."
Kagome pressed a hand to her forehead. "I doubt I'm here to help with a bad case of food poisoning. Maybe I'm just here to meet someone important."
"Perhaps," the female agreed.
Quick-moving footsteps echoed down the hallway toward them. "It's done," the male said from somewhere out of sight. "Nothing along the perimeter. And the mess has been reduced to ashes. Any improvement?" He poked his head around the edge of the door to peer in at her, and his glowing golden eyes narrowed. "Wait a sec, this one looks familiar."
He squeezed in past the female and flicked on the lights. Kagome blinked against the brightness, then got a good look at the speaker. He ran fingers through his short red hair, considering Kagome's appearance. Kagome felt like she'd seen him before, too, and then recognized his magic now that hers wasn't on the fritz from a literal bad trip.
She'd only heard his name a few times while she'd been hosted by Baikal's community, but he'd stopped by her room more than once to give updates while she'd still been in pieces. "Gatai?"
"I remember you! The uh," he paused and put a hand to his forehead for a moment, searching for the right word. Waving half-heartedly in her general direction, he continued, "outfit with funny little pictures on it!" He laughed and pulled a planner from his pocket with ridiculous red cartoon foxes all over it. It looked almost identical to the print on the pajamas Shippo had given her.
He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder to indicate something behind him, and Kagome paled as she noticed the decorations carved above the door frame. "One of the woodworkers started putting it on everything. It's been a community pattern for centuries." He gave her a wicked smirk. "Such a trend-setter!"
Of all the things this male could remember her for, it was the outfit? She guessed it could be worse.
The female stepped to Gatai's side with a hum, a hand touching her chin. She was quite a bit taller than him, with vaguely familiar features, like someone she'd known long ago or had met in passing. She had dark hair and pale skin with the slightest tint of deep blue. Her dark blue eyes resembled the deepest waters of the ocean, and they glowed with a hint of power.
"Have we met?" Kagome asked.
The woman shook her head as she drew close enough to brush a fingertip briefly against Kagome's cheek. Her lips curled into a wide smile, and Kagome wasn't sure if she should be worried or put at ease. She took a hasty step backwards and bumped into the washroom wall.
"I am certain we have never met, but I recognize your magic."
Kagome frowned. "That… doesn't make much sense."
The woman smiled, exposing a row of eerily familiar shark-like teeth. "You must be Shippo's priestess."
Gatai gasped, "The one from his stories?"
She folded her hands in front of her and gave a short bow. "Welcome to the Mountain. I am Angara."
Author's Note: it's a bit short, and not much happens, but next chap is coming soonish. let me know if you're enjoying the ride? every tidbit of text is treasured.