Chapter 4
By Nimrodel
***
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, Kagome does. Rumiko Takahashi owns them all. I do have an Inuyasha plushie, though…
That night, Inuyasha couldn't sleep. Images of Kagome kept thrusting themselves into his mind, torturing him. Each one was accompanied by one thought…
What if I never see her again?
The idea that he might never again hear her voice, see her smile, look into her beautiful eyes…it was simply more than he could bear. Kagome had managed to become such a big part of his life. He never remembered feeling as happy as he was when she was near. And now…
Sighing, he realized that trying to sleep was futile.
Inuyasha noticed a dull pain in his stomach…he hadn't eaten anything all day. He didn't really feel like eating now, either, but he knew he probably should. He quietly got up off the bed and left the room, silently closing the door. He walked down the hall toward the stairs, when he realized that there was a light on in Jii-chan's room and two people were talking. His ears twitched as he heard what they were saying.
"I don't see why we're even letting that…that…demon stay here." A male voice, obviously Jii-chan's.
"He's our guest, Father…and he can't get home either! I'm sure he wants nothing more than to leave here, but there's no where else for him to go." That would be Kagome's mom.
"He's a demon, I don't care if he goes to hell! I don't want him around here anymore!" said Jii-chan angrily.
"There is no way I'm forcing him to leave, no matter what you think of it. There's no way he could live here, it's 400 years in his future. He doesn't know how anything works, and he needs people to show him how until…" Kagome's mom trailed off.
"Until Kagome comes back? And what if that never happens?"
Inuyasha backed away from the door, not wanting to hear anymore. He couldn't even be accepted here, with Kagome's family. Fighting tears that seemed to want release all to often lately, he quietly backed into Kagome's room.
"Kagome-chan…" Sango lightly touched Kagome on the shoulder. "Are you ready? Kaede says everything is prepared now…"
"A-arigatou, Sango-chan…" Kagome said, standing up. She had been sitting by the well, thinking.
"Are you okay? You have to be strong right now…" Sango said, putting her arm around Kagome to support her.
"I know…I'm just worried…what if I can never get back again? Never see my family ever again? Or never…see Inuyasha again…" She asked, ending just barely above a whisper.
Sango looked at her with pity. "It's alright…we're going to try our hardest, and I promise you we will succeed. I can imagine what you must be going through though…" Sango said, looking down. "If I might never see Houshi-sama again, I would be just as depressed as you…"
Kagome smiled weakly at her friend. "Thank you…that helps more than you can imagine, Sango-chan…"
"Kagome…you love Inuyasha, don't you?" Sango asked quietly.
Kagome nodded. "Yeah…I do…" she said, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.
"Don't worry, Kagome, we'll have him back here in no time…just wait and see…" replied Sango, leading Kagome towards Kaede's hut.
The hut itself reeked of herbs and incense. Light blue smoke wafted up from a pile of burning herbs. Once Kagome walked in, Kaede handed her a small cup of bitter-smelling liquid.
"Are you sure you want to go through with this, child? You may die…" asked Kaede.
"I have to do this, Kaede-bachan…I don't care what might happen…" I'll die anyway if I can never see Inuyasha again.
"Well…if that's how you feel, then I want you to drink this and lie down over there." Said Kaede, pointing to a futon on the floor by the fire. "Afterwards, you must think of the person you want to speak to over and over and over…don't stop. And when you feel your soul trying to return to your body, don't stop it." Kagome nodded and Kaede gave her the drink. Kagome drank it and laid down on the futon.
Everything was becoming hazy…she felt as though she were floating. Inuyasha…I have to see Inuyasha…Inuyasha…Inuyasha…
Sleep had continued to elude Inuyasha. Even though he had gone into Kagome's room, hoping her gentle scent would lull him to sleep, he remained wide awake. In the dark night, with the smell of Kagome all around him, it almost seemed as though she were there with him. He turned over. He could almost see her, right in front of him.
Startled, he almost fell out of bed. She was right in front of him!
"Kagome!" he yelled in excitement and desperation. He rushed forwards, his arms outstretched to wrap her in them. They went right through her though, as if she weren't there.
"Inuyasha…" she said, tears spilling over onto her cheeks.
"Kagome, what's going on?" He asked, gently, confused. "Why can't…why can't I touch you?" He looked down, his bangs covering his face. "Please don't tell me this is a dream…"
"It's not a dream, Inuyasha…this is really me. I'm really here…" She said, crying. "…or, actually, it's my soul that's here…that's why you can't touch me. I had Kaede cast a spell so that I could tell you what happened"
"Why? What happened?" he asked. "Do you know why the well won't work?"
Kagome nodded. "Yeah…apparently, Kikyo sealed it with one of her arrows…only I can't pull it out."
But why would Kikyo do that…? thought Inuyasha.
"Then…what are we going to do?" He asked, the pain in his voice obvious.
"Well…we're all going to try to find Kikyo, and get her to unseal it. Don't worry, everything should be back to normal soon…" Kagome said, her words confident, but the trembling of her voice betraying her worry.
Inuyasha instinctively tried wrapping his arms around her again, only to have the go right through her. "Kagome…" he said, tears stinging his eyes. "I miss you so much…."
"Me too…" said Kagome. "…would you tell my parents that I'm okay, and that we'll get things back to normal soon?"
"No problem…" said Inuyasha.
Kagome smiled. "Are they treating you alright? They didn't give you any trouble over this, did they?" She asked.
Inuyasha looked down. "You're mom has been great about the whole thing…and your brother has been showing me his 'videogame' things."
Kagome didn't fail to notice that he only mentioned 2 members of her family. "Jii-chan's been giving you a hard time, hasn't he?" asked Kagome, sitting next to Inuyasha on the bed.
Inuyasha nodded. "I think he hates me. I heard him and you're mom arguing earlier…he doesn't care if I go to hell, so long as I'm not here."
Kagome gasped. "That's…horrible of him." She saw the look on Inuyasha's face. "Don't worry…he'll come around eventually." Nobody's ever accepted Inuyasha…this must be hard on him… "And it won't matter once I'm back, anyway." She put her arms around him to hug him.
Inuyasha wanted to cry harder, he couldn't even feel her gentle embrace. He looked down at her. "Kagome…I wanted to tell you, I'm sorry what I said about the shards being more important then your family and home. I was just being my normal stupid self…"
Kagome smiled up at him. "I know. Don't worry, I forgive you." A worried look passed over Kagome's face. "Inuyasha…I have to go now…"
Inuyasha had a desperate expression. "No…please wait…just stay here a little longer…" He stopped when Kagome completely faded from view.
He hung his head, sadly. "I love you, Kagome…"
It's been months since I updated this, I'm soooooooo sorry minna…I was real lazy, not to mention problems in real life…I realized the other day how long it's really been, and I feel so guilty now -_-'. I'm going to try not to let that happen again…*crosses fingers* Anyway, please review…the thing that got me to update this was finding out that I had gotten more reviews since January. I hope you all liked the fluff in this chapter…I live on fluff ^_^. Oh, and by the way…if there's anyone who'd be interested in IY rping with me, feel free to contact me. I must warn you, when I rp it tends to be just as sickeningly sweet as the above fluff ^_^. You can get me on any major IM client, AIM: iloveinuchan MSN: iloveinuchan@hotmail.com ICQ: 72122543 YIM: inuchandaisuki. *looks up at note* I guess I should stop babbling now…ja!