'The mirror crack'd from side to side;
"The curse is come upon me," cried
The Lady of Shalott....'
-Lady of Shalott, Alfred, Lord Tennyson
"Do you think that's air you're breathing now?"
-Morpheus to Neo, The Matrix
Chapter 2: Morning Moon, In the Arms of the Willow
The world was cold and black, void of sound
and thought, the spaceless blackness of a sleep without dreams. She opened
her eyes, letting them become round, though they saw nothing but darkness.
She held her hands before her face, and it was turned into nothing more
than sightless gesturing. It was a freezing feeling of panic, to open her
eyes and yet not see. But reason cut through as she struggled though murky
memories. Faces still formed clearly in the sight of her mind, summoning
her senses.
"I am not blind," she said clearly, blinking.
It caused the blackness to shift and warp,
pulling tighter around her until she drowned, slipping again into waves
unseen. Unsure in the darkness, she wrapped her arms around herself, curling
together, floating wide on the silence that surrounded her. A gleam in
the darkness, something to reach for, something to follow. And in the sliver
of transparent light, she saw the faint outline of her hand, the contours
of her fingers and palm, traceries of lines. She reached out for the light,
and found herself at its edge.
The world remained black, no walls, no floor,
no ceiling to mark its location. But light radiated faintly from the hands
of a petite white woman, whose eyes were pale, white. They were not the
dark, shadowed eyes Kagome knew. Empty of emotion, empty of expression,
the dark eyes of Kanna were haunted. And yet these eyes were sightless,
and not her own.
"This mirror reflects only your reality,"
the white woman told her, in a childlike voice so soft it whispered. "This
mirror reflects only what you see."
Kagome was not afraid. The stillness of Kanna,
and the blind eyes that held her gaze showed no reason to fear. It was
an intricate mirror, the edge wrought in silver, carved with delicate scenes
of a floating world. Balanced in her tiny hands, the looking glass gleamed.
That floating world on the mirror's edge broadened,
spiraling larger and overcoming the black world, the gleam intensifying
against the darkness, making it bleached and bright, blindingly so. She
shielded her eyes and looked away, only to find herself caught in the emptiness
of air, falling and floating down to her knees. The tiny scenes on the
edge of the reflection became real, solid, tangible, and she curled her
fingers into sweet, soft grass.
The water of a river of forgetfulness flowed
by her, reflecting her face into the water before her. A low bank, tall
grasses tipping with flowers into the reflection. They rippled, then grew
still, and she looked across the stream. A narrow cropping of stone, lit
by the world's new brightness, extended into the lucid water. Sharp against
the blankness beyond them, red scarred the scene, worn as the clothing
of the figures that stood before her.
"I..." the first sound died in her throat,
and Kagome raised her hand to her lips. Those two figures looked at her,
their gazes steady. But Kikyou leaned close to Inuyasha, within personal
space, with a look of intense sadness on her features. So, too, with Inuyasha,
who's eyes reflected regret. It was a bitter moment, not triumphant. He
did not move to join Kagome, but remained beside the past. And in doing
so, the past had won.
She watched, dizzy, as Kikyou took his hand
in hers.
This mirror reflects only your reality.
This mirror reflects only what you see.
Kagome thought she was going to cry. How stupid,
how silly, how selfish. Reality. Her reality. Then was this real? It seemed
so. She could feel the ground below her, breathe the air around her. How
could it not be real?
"Kagome?"
At her name, she looked up, uncertainly, hopefully.
Large, sad golden eyes returned her look. She had never seen him look so
sad before. "Gomen, Kagome. Gomen."
It was real. It had to be real. He had chosen
to go. This was goodbye. No fight to the finish. No pleading, no convincing.
And that was why it felt so real. No dramatic scene. Simply...chosen...to
go....
Glowing balls of light lifted up from the
ground, which depressed the rock they stood on.
This mirror reflects only your reality.
This mirror reflects only what you see.
She squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to
watch. He had said goodbye. She had no right to get upset. She had lost.
How sad it was to lose. She ran her hands into her hair and clutched it,
clutching her head, wishing herself away. She felt so stupid, watching
as they sank down into the darkness, tears beginning to form in her eyes.
But she felt angry anyway.
Just leaving her like that?
If she just had another moment, then she'd
at least be able to say goodbye on her own. Stupid jerk, going off to hell
with Kikyou just when...just when what? "Inuyasha no baka." Something in
the air shifted. It grew cold in the whiteness. "Inuyasha no baka!" she
repeated, louder. No, this wasn't right. She wouldn't just let him float
away. This was no goodbye. If this was his idea of running off, then he
had another thing coming. "This is a nightmare. You wouldn't do this...not
like this. Not like this! And if you did...I'd never forgive you!"
This mirror reflects only your reality.
This mirror reflects only what you see.
The words sliced across the air, chill. They
cut, and the sound of shearing glass fell around Kagome, splintering the
world into fragments, catching her into a broken shard of mirror. Blank
eyes, pale white eyes, flashed across her vision. If this was her reality,
then she would simply change it. The figures across from her fell away
into the glass, shattering. Down into the water, down into the depths of
dream, into the depths of memory.
She drowned in the darkness. But she was free.
Breaking the surface of the nightmare tide,
she screamed.
Heartbeat, a heartbeat in her ears, pounding
rapidly as her eyes flicked open to the darkness, breathing as the world
again became steady beneath her.
"Kagome, daijobu ka?"
The words were echoed moments later by other
voices, literally pounding down the paper walls between rooms. "Kagome?
Kagome?" the voice repeated, questioning the source of the sound. A worried
voice, gruffly growing closer. Kagome pressed her hands against her face
for a moment, burying it from sight, as though to keep the world away.
Flashes of memory stirred in her mind, remnants of the dream she did not
wish for. Part of her was angry. Part of her was hurt. But it was a dream,
and she knew it was a dream, and so she did not shove Inuyasha away when
he grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at him. "Kagome? What happened?"
She shook herself, shaking the dream away,
brushing it aside. It was a dream, just a dream, and she would not think
about it anymore. But it was not just a dream. She touched the hollow of
her throat, where icy cold fingers had pressed, drawing her down. Pale
white eyes, blank white eyes. Just a dream, but not just a dream. "There's
something here," she said softly, letting her hands slide away from her
face. She was awake now, and she would not be afraid. Shadows shifted around
them, and at her feet, she felt Shippou move a bit closer. If there was
something there, he certainly did not want to be the first to come in contact
with it. Better to be close to someone else.
Uncertainly, Inuyasha looked around, golden
eyes searching the shadows. "I don't see anything. I don't smell anything
either. Are you sure you weren't just...."
"Kagome-sama is correct," Miroku commented,
casting a glance at the sharp angle of shadow against the wall. Traceries
of faded light filtered through the shoji door, painted cranes and bamboo
silhouetted against the outside moon's paleness. "There was something here."
"Youkai?" came the question from Sango, who
was kicking back the folds of light blanket on her futon, straightening
out her yukata as she stood. "The evil aura, houshi-sama?"
Miroku's lips went into a fine line, frowning
at the empty corner. "That is most likely."
"Are you all right, Kagome?" Inuyasha asked,
tilting his head to the side to look at her face. Her eyes were distant,
focused inward, there yet far.
"Hai," she replied faintly, not really listening.
She shivered, shaking her head and rubbing
a hand over her eyes. It wasn't real. She was being silly, self centered,
having such a nightmare. But Inuyasha's hands still rested on her shoulders,
ready to shake her if her mind wandered too far. Awake, awake, alive and
awake. Real. Solid. She touched the white hemline of his inner kimono,
reassuring herself. A nightmare, but she fought her way free. On her own.
She was free.
"Do you remember anything, Kagome-sama?" Miroku
was drawing a pair of ofuda from his robe, and began to place one against
the window and its gathered shadows. To drive away the nightmares.
Remember?
Inuyasha. Kikyou.
Inuyasha...with Kikyou.
"No...no, nothing. Cold," she pressed her
fingers to her throat in memory. Strands of hair clung to her cheeks and
she pushed them away. She forced a smile to her lips, and it was thin.
"I'm all right. Just shaken up. It didn't get to me."
There was a soft noise of blade against scabbard,
the sound of Sango checking her sword, before quickly strapping it around
her waist. "Since we're all fine, I'm going to go check on Yanagi-san and
Kagan-san. Make sure they're all right."
"Hey!" Shippou shouted, insulted, as Miroku
picked him up by the tail. "What are you doing?"
"We're going to put some more ofuda up. I
should have done this before we went to sleep tonight."
"You didn't have to pull on my tail!"
Miroku gave him a narrow look, raising the
kitsune to his eye level. Shippou folded his arms and looked stubborn,
then snuck a glance at Kagome, still half hidden behind Inuyasha.
"Hai...." he agreed after a moment.
"Good," the houshi said, sliding open the
door and letting moonlight from the inner courtyard spill into the room,
hazy and silver. He heard Inuyasha begin to say he'd accompany Sango, and
was glad when she gave him a decent excuse to stay. And then Sango, too,
was outside, shutting the shoji behind her, entering the narrow hallway.
He fell into step just behind her as she began to head down the inner halls,
the quickest way to the older couple's rooms. "Sango?"
"Hm?" she paused, glancing over her shoulder.
"Nani?"
"Perhaps we shouldn't separate." She gave
him a narrow look, and he hastened to add on, "You had a point...with Inuyasha.
The thing may come back. We're less likely to be attacked in pairs. I'll
post ofuda as we go."
At his explanation, she nodded, understanding
the logic of it. They were stronger in pairs. "Hai, houshi-sama," she agreed,
allowing Miroku to step up beside her, and they made their way to Kagan
and Yanagi's rooms, hesitating every few moments for him to draw an ofuda
and place it against one of the posts. Shippou watched them from behind,
glowering slightly. He grasped the concept that Kagome and Inuyasha should
be left alone- he wasn't stupid. But he didn't think it was fair that everyone
forgot about him half the time, marching away and doing business on their
own. There wasn't much he could do about it, but still, it rankled.
They passed the outer hallway, open to the
courtyard and its ribbons of moonlit streams. To Shippou's youkai ears,
he heard a faint sound, not quite a tapping, but an even noise, a beat
in rhythm. As they passed the crux in halls, he hesitated, turning and
peering outside as the two humans rounded the corner. Well, he decided,
he knew how to get to where they were going. And if nothing else, he'd
just hide. Or scream really, really loud. Either one would work. Neither
Sango or Miroku had noticed he had stopped, though Kirara had turned her
head. But she was there to follow Sango, not Shippou, and so with her mistress
she stayed.
The kitsune edged his way around, peering
through the archway onto the verandah. The sound broke its pattern, picking
up a bit, awkwardly, then stopping altogether. There, in the silver light
of the moon, was a little girl. She was bent down, picking up a recently
dropped ball, and turning it over in her hands. After a moment, the sound
resumed, the faint noise of the girl's hands impacting on the leathery
surface of her toy, tossed up into the air, then caught again. Wavy black
hair spun around her, tied back in little purple ribbons, fluttering around
her face as she tried to catch it. There were fireflies, floating lightly
around her, tiny golden glows hovering over the water in the lake, reflective
and reflecting.
Shippou stared, tilting his head to the side
slightly, partially in awe, partially in confusion. He had been very much
under the impression that he, the rest of the group, and the older couple
were the only ones there. No one said anything about a girl. Puzzled, he
watched her, almost dancing, as she tossed the ball up again, folds of
her robes floating around her. But there was no joy on her face, playing
her game. She caught it again, but after a moment it slipped through her
fingers, rolling away as she paused to wipe at her eyes with the back of
her hand. After a moment, Shippou realized she was quietly crying.
"Mew?"
The sound of Kirara startled him out of his
trance, blinking and turning to see Sango poke her head around the corner.
"He's here, houshi-sama," she said over her shoulder to Miroku, who emerged
as well. "Shippou-chan, you shouldn't run off. It's not safe."
"But..." he began to protest, beginning to
point at the lone girl. But when he moved to point at her, he found only
empty courtyard. It was unnerving, enough to make him gape. In that moment,
he suddenly felt himself get yanked up again. "Oy! Bouzu! Stop pulling
on my tail!"
"If something happened to our hosts while
we searched for you, you're in trouble," he warned, turning and rejoining
Sango and Kirara, as they headed their way down the hallway. After a moment,
his tail was released, and he leapt over to Sango's shoulders, riding there
instead. Maybe if Miroku hadn't yanked on his tail twice in one night,
he'd have said something about what he saw. But right now, he thought it
best if he just kept it to himself.
There was a faint clicking sound as the shoji
slid to a close, and Sango opened her eyes, still slightly sleepy, suppressing
a yawn. "Kagome-chan?"
"Hai. Did I wake you?" the other girl asked
as she turned away from the door, heading inside. It was a hectic night,
though in the end, it seemed harmless. Kagan and Yanagi had been awakened
from a deep slumber, and worried about Kagome. Miroku had posted more ofuda,
warding the room from whatever had attacked the time-traveling schoolgirl.
An hour passed, then a second, and nothing happened. Eventually, calm won
out, and they returned to their rooms to sleep.
"Iie," Sango sighed, sitting up. "Not really.
Just dozing...I didn't realize you were gone." Kagome moved to their packs,
rifling through and shoving items back into her knapsack. Her hair was
wet, though she still wore yesterday's rumpled clothes. "Found the bath?"
"Better yet," Kagome grinned, picking up a
brush and beginning work on the tangles in her hair. "They've got a hot
spring out past the west gate. No wonder they built the mansion here. It's
beauti-" her voice cut off as she winced, a hard knot catching in the brush's
bristles. "Beautiful," she concluded after a moment, face a little sad.
"Kagome-chan...are you sure you're all right?"
"Yanagi-san gets up very early...there's breakfast
already. Miso soup, and rice."
"Kagome..." Sango repeated, getting worried.
Kagome hesitated, met her eyes, then shied away.
"I couldn't sleep...but it was just a dream.
A bad dream. But I'm okay, really," she tucked a wisp of damp hair behind
an ear, then cupped her brush in her hands, fiddling with it distractedly.
She bit her lip. "I saw Inuyasha with Kikyou...that's all." She grinned
a little, shaking her head. "I think I got out of the nightmare because
I got mad at him for running off to hell."
Kagome's reasoning struck Sango as funny, and she laughed lightly
for a moment, tossing off her covers and dislodging Kirara. "Well, you
seem to be all right. Maybe I should find my way back to the kitchen and
get some breakfast too."
"Yanagi-san left some plates out. Inuyasha's
already sniffing around for the shard, and I think Shippou and Miroku-sama
are still sleeping."
Sango sent a wry glance at the screens between
their rooms. "Maybe I should go find the hot spring first then. Take advantage
of the quiet."
Kagome nodded, catching her train of thought.
"You know...here..." she began digging through her bag, tossing things
out of her way as she rummaged. Sango watched, slightly bewildered as Kagome
emerged, brandishing a small black...thing. She blinked as Kagome tried
to push it at her. "I brought it for you. It's a bathing suit. Everyone
uses them."
Sango held the 'bathing suit' up to her, pulling
a bit at the stretchy material. "It's...um..."
"It's all right. It's lycra...everyone goes
swimming in them."
"There's...not much to it...."
"It's a one-piece, not a bikini," Kagome told
her, then began to gesture at herself in attempt to explain. "And it covers...all
the necessary...parts?" She laughed a little nervously. "It's considered
normal to wear something like this. And it'll cover you up enough you don't
have to worry about Miroku-sama. Even if he is still asleep."
Sango still wasn't entirely convinced, but
she doubted Kagome would lie to her about the bathing habits of the people
of her world. "Um...hai...arigatou?" Kagome nodded, and Sango began to
collect her own things, moving to the door after a moment.
"Ne, Sango." She turned in time to lift a
hand and catch a bottle that Kagome lobbed at her. "It's just shampoo.
I bought a new brand."
She looked at the flowery pattern on the clear
bottle's cover, and accepted it. She'd borrowed such things before, and
the nice smelling liquid soap made her hair very soft. "Arigatou," she
thanked her. "You said the western gate?"
"Hai," Kagome replied, standing and dropping
her brush into her bag. "There's a path. I'm going to go track down Inuyasha.
Maybe I can help him."
Sango nodded, opening the shoji, and the two
girls slipped outside.
The path was clearly marked, footworn from
time. Flora filled the narrow walkway, chrysanthemums unfolding in the
morning light, giving off a sweet fragrance. Parting ways, Sango headed
down it, finding the high woven screens that shaded the steaming spring
from onlookers, situated amongst large, moss covered rocks. Kirara dashed
ahead then back again, sniffing the wind and running around, batting at
a nearby cicada. It was quiet there, pines providing shade on the edges
of the enclosure, and Sango quickly slipped into the 'bathing suit' Kagome
had given her. It fitted itself to her, narrow, dark red racing stripes
arching over her hips.
"Well, Kirara?" she asked the cat, gesturing
at her outfit for approval. The firecat only stared quizzically in return,
then bowed under a quick petting on the head. "Hm...keep an eye out for
anything, ne?" Kirara promptly turned tails and headed back to the spring's
entrance, stoically taking up post there as Sango slipped herself into
the hot water.
Steam rose up around her face, clouding slightly
in the cool morning air. Water lapped around her shoulders as she slid
in, ducking under momentarily to saturate her hair. It clung to her face,
and she took the shampoo from the pool's rocky ledge, opening the lid and
squeezing a bit into her palm. The scent of peaches wafted upward, and
she rubbed it into her hair, using her nails to turn it into a lather.
There, in the quiet, it was easy to slip away, to luxuriate in the warmth,
and feel the mist rise from the water's surface. And, relaxing, she drifted
on the edge of the water, eyes half closing as she sunk down, letting her
arms drift outward and float.
It was a strange place, the old mansion that
sat upon the hill, overlooking the river. Youkai, or no youkai? Something
that attacked, and yet could not be sensed. An evil aura? Mononoke? Yurei?
A ghost? Perhaps, she wondered idly, frowning as she flipped through possibilities
in her mind. She supposed that was the most likely thing. A youkai that
attacked through sleep? It was puzzling. But she was sure Miroku's ofuda
would seal away the most dangerous areas, and if its power revolved around
dreaming, then she would simply stay awake. Could a ghost use the shikon
no kakera? Sango bit her lip, watching the long strands of her hair curl
around her on the waves of water. White, foamy soap drifted away on a suddenly
frosty breeze, and she ducked under the heated water to warm and rinse.
She did not escape the cold.
It pressed against her skin, making it prickle,
and causing Sango to open her eyes underwater in alarm. She saw her hands
float in the darkness, wheeling upward, pale and white against the submerged
blackness. Then the heat overwhelmed, pounding against her temples, dizzying.
She broke the surface, gasping, steam clouding around her as her vision
narrowed, spinning the world into a kaleidoscope of color. Fighting the
urge to panic, she saw, through the distance of tunnel vision, the lip
of rock she used to enter the spring. The sound of water broke wildly around
her as she tried to reach for the relative safety outside. She felt the
surface of the stone, and felt her fingers slip on the wet rock.
Silence.
*****************************************
Ever notice there's always a hot spring somewhere?
I thought I'd follow the trend.
Yup, another cliffhanger. What will Sango's
dream be...? Tune in next time, same sengoku jidai time, same sengoku jidai
place.
We're caught up now to where the prologue
was...if you didn't notice, a page or so repeated itself, and left with
Sango instead of staying with Inuyasha and Kagome like it did in the prologue.
And you'll find out more about the little
girl Shippou saw in the next chapter. ^.~
I thought I'd mention this too...I love listening
to music when I write. Soundtracks for fics always add something, letting
some music flow into the storyline. For 'Kami Monogatari', I listened
to several cd's, but predominantly the soundtrack to 'The Lord of the
Rings.' If you have it, pop it in and let it be the background. If
you happen to have the Mediaeval Baebes' album 'Undrentide'...that'll
work too.
Terms of note:
Daijobu ka?- Are you all right?
Daijobu- I'm all right.
Yurei- a ghost
Nope, not much by way of notes this time. ^.~
Til next chapter.
Ja ne!
-Queen