Disclaimer: Inuyasha is © Rumiko Takahashi. Story, plot, Azura, Rio, and the Shi Kuroi
are © Sabre.
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Breaking Point ж
Scroll Four: Unexpected Reunion
As much as she tried, Kagome couldn't sleep.
She growled angrily and shifted onto her stomach, her face
buried in her pillow. The covers were bunched
at the end of her bed, the result of both the hot summer air and her inability to
get to sleep.
Something wasn't right – she could feel it. Mumbling a few curses under her breath, she
climbed out of bed and glanced at her clock. It read just after midnight, and she groaned and rubbed her forehead.
So much for a good night's sleep.
'Might as well do a fire reading to calm my nerves – and find
out what the hell is with this ominous feeling I have…' She stumbled her way to
her closet.
Kagome's pajamas were reduced to a skimpy gray tank top
and her underwear due to the hot weather. She grabbed a pair of black jean shorts and a black tank top, which
clung to her figure. She left her hair
tied back miko-style and pulled on a pair of sneakers.
As an afterthought she strapped the scabbard containing
her sword to her back and headed downstairs.
She had a bad feeling she might need it later.
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The house was eerily quiet,
as she was the only one home. Her
family had left to visit her cousin Ranma in Nerima – apparently he was having
problems with her uncle Genma again. She had declined in case a youkai attack would come about.
Kagome slipped outside and
made her way to the shrine, only pausing once when she reached the Goshimboku
tree. She placed her hand on the bark;
feeling the cool, rough texture against her palm. She sighed once, and then continued towards the fire room.
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Inuyasha groaned and felt
the back of his head, wincing when he touched the bump that had resulted. He sat up, and looked up, expecting the
youkai whom had attacked him to be above him. He was surprised – more shocked – when instead of seeing the night sky
above the well, he saw the ceiling of the well house.
"I-I-I got through…?" He whispered. Still in awe of the situation, he climbed out of the well and
made his way outside.
It looked the same has he
had remembered seeing it a year ago. Silence hung around, and it was pitch black from the moonless sky. No lights were on in the house. The only light seemed to be coming from a
small building near the well house.
Firelight cast dancing
shadows through the doorway, and as he crept closer, he could make out a figure
kneeling before a large fire.
Before he could enter and
reveal the identity of the person, approaching footsteps caught his attention,
so he climbed onto a tree branch on the tree near the shrine.
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Azura walked up to the
door of the fire room. She could see
Kagome kneeling in front of the flames, apparently in a deep trance. She noticed the girl did not wear her usual
blue and white miko's hakama. She stood
in the doorway for a little while until another presence caught her attention.
She narrowed her eyes as
she felt out the person's aura. It
appeared to be human, but with a hidden source of youkai blood within it. 'A hanyou…' She realized, 'An inu-hanyou…obviously
that Inuyasha…but why would he be hear after so long?'
She ran a hand though her
long hair, her disguise not activated since it was so late at night. 'He doesn't appear to be attempting to harm
her, so I will leave him be. For now.' Azura mused, then turned her attention back to
the miko in front of her.
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Inuyasha watched the newcomer. He bit back a growl when he realized what
she was. 'A neko youkai…what's someone
like her doing here? And who's in that
room?' He was snapped out of his
thoughts when the neko spoke.
"You felt it too?" Her voice held a slightly worried tone. The figure snapped out of the trance they
appeared to be in and turned towards the neko.
"Yes…I have a bad feeling
about this Azura…it might be another attack…" Inuyasha frowned when he heard the voice. It sounded a bit like Kagome, but had a mature edge, similar to
Kikyo's. And she seemed to be on
friendly terms with the neko. He leaned
forward to get a better look at the person as she walked forward towards the
neko.
Her face was shadowed by
the firelight. Inuyasha's eyes widened
at the girl's appearance. She wore the
same strange kind of clothes that Kagome sometimes wore, and her waist-length raven
hair was tied back. He listened closely
when she began to speak again.
"Have you talked to Rio?"
"No…I left to come here as
soon as I felt the presence…it feels like Naraku." Inuyasha nearly fell of his branch when he heard the name, but
quickly regained his composure.
"Hai…but I also felt
another presence…and it felt like him." The neko nodded.
He heard a strange ringing
noise and the neko took something from her pocket. She put it to her ear. What had Kagome called that thing last time he was here – a cell phone.
Watching her, he noticed
the grim expression that crossed her face as she muttered a reply to the person
on the other line, and then hung up.
"Rio says there's another
attack going on – this one at the park. He's fending the youkai off as best as he can, but needs you. It might be another shard." Inuyasha's jaw dropped. A Shikon shard? There were still shards in this time? His hand instinctively touched the large shard that hung around
his neck. Who was the girl?
The girl nodded and picked
up a sword and scabbard that rested on the floor, strapping it to her
back. She then pulled on some black
fighting gloves and looked up. Inuyasha's
heart stopped when he saw her face.
It was Kagome.
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Kagome nodded to Azura,
completely oblivious to the violet eyes that watched her in disbelief from a
tree branch above.
"Can you transform and
take me there? It might be faster." She asked.
Azura nodded and started
changing. When she had finished, a cat
youkai the same size and shape of a transformed Kiara was in her place. She was Siamese colored and had large cream-colored
wings. Kagome climbed on her back and
Azura took flight.
Inuyasha snapped out of
his reverie and followed after them, his mind whirling with everything he had
seen.
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Kagome readied herself
when Azura approached the battle. She
pulled her sword from the scabbard and leapt off of the still-airborne Azura. The blade transformed as she fell through
the air, and she raised it above her to strike.
"Shining Apocalypse!!!!" She roared and slashed at the enemy. Black blades of energy shot at the youkai,
getting a direct hit. Kagome landed in
a crouch in front of the bleeding youkai. She quickly analyzed the situation. Rio was off to the side, nursing a stomach wound while a detransformed Azura
ran to check on him. The youkai was a
wolf youkai, and the shard was located in its forehead.
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Inuyasha stared at the
battle with wide eyes. He tried to run
towards Kagome, but was stopped by some sort of barrier. So he was only a hopeless bystander. He watched as she attacked once again.
Kagome charged, bringing
Shi Kuroi down on the youkai. It
ducked, and retaliated by lashing out at her. She missed getting swiped at the head, but its claws managed to cut her
shoulder.
"SHIT!" Kagome cursed as she felt the claws rake
though her skin, slicing a nasty wound. She leapt back and brought her hand to her shoulder to assess the
damage. Her shirt was torn
considerably, and crimson blood already ran down her arm and stained her palm.
Inuyasha cried out in
anger and tried to cross the barrier again at the sight of Kagome hurt. The barrier just shocked him and sent him
flying back. He stood back up and clenched
his fists in frustration.
"Now's a good time to try
out that attack Rio taught me…" Kagome
pulled out an ofuda and pressed it to her wound, letting the blood soak
it. Then she tossed it in the air and
clutched her blade horizontally, as the ofuda connected with the sword. It glowed brightly and emitted a large
amount of energy.
"Crimson Annihilation!" She yelled, and a red blast shot towards the
youkai. The energy incinerated the
youkai, and it howled in rage before dying.
The Ski Kuroi
detransformed, so Kagome sighed and sheathed her sword. She ignored the pain in her shoulder – not to
mention the steady blood flow – and made her way towards the ashes of the
youkai. She picked up the shard and
looked at it for a long time before placing it with the others in the glass
bottle.
Turning towards Azura and
Rio, she let go of the miko barrier that surrounded the battlefield. She always placed on up so people wouldn't
be injured by the fight.
A shiver ran though her
spine and she slowly turned to face the trees behind her. Her breath caught in her throat at the sight
before her.
'Oh Kami…it's not him…it
can't be him…' Violet eyes stared back at her, and she bit back a sob.
"Inu….Inuyasha…?" He nodded and took a step towards her and
she shrank back. Crying out, she
whirled around and bolted away from the battlefield.
Inuyasha watched her run
away from him, and sighed.
"So…you're the infamous
Inuyasha." A voice said, a hint of
amusement in it. He looked up to find
himself face to face with Azura.
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Kagome kept running until
she thought her lungs would burst. She
bolted into the house and ran upstairs into the bathroom. She looked into the mirror as she caught her
breath.
'I just can't believe…after
all this time…'
"I have to get my mind off
this…" She drew in a shuddering breath and turned her attention to her wound. She
turned on the shower and closed the door. Stripping down, she got into the shower, welcoming the cool water on her
heated skin. She stood there and let
the water pour down on her, the blood from her wound mixing with the clear
liquid and disappearing down the drain.
She felt her eyes start to
sting, and a few tears had already made their appearance, running down her
face. She sunk down to the floor and
hugged her knees to her chest, the steady flow of the water still beating down
on her.
She closed her eyes and
let out a choked sob.
"Why now…?"
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Sorry for the wait, school
started a few weeks ago and I've been pretty busy since then. Updates might be slow, as finals are coming
up (oh goody…*rolls eyes*). Hope this
chapter's okay! Might try to get the
songfic I'm working on up soon. It's
called "Dreams".
Please R/R!