Thank you to everyone reviewing "What Dreams May Come"! I'm beginning to think I will have to send out an e-mail so that everyone knows that this sequel exists…
Disclaimer: Still not with the owning of Inuyasha… (or proper English grammar)
Somnium et Umbra: Dream and Shadow
Searching
"…the poor thing…"
"…can't be helped."
"…what are we supposed to do …?"
"Sh, or he might wake up and hear you…"
Voices, faint and muffled, startled her awake. 'Huh? Where am I?' She blinked rapidly, trying to clear away the fogginess that had enveloped her senses. It took her several moments to realize that she was lying on her back, staring up at a ceiling made of polished wood. Kagome laid a heavy hand on her forehead and sat up dizzily; the simple movement almost made her black out and she had to close her eyes until the nausea faded. The floor beneath her was wooden too and smelled faintly of cedar.
"…know what to do…"
"But it has already been decided that he will be banished…"
The voices were back again, louder and more distinct, but having a strange echoing quality, as though the speakers were at the far end of a long tunnel. Kagome turned in the direction of the sound and saw only the white, black lacquer-lined squares of a shoji. Grey-gold sunlight streamed through the rice paper, faintly illuminating the room she sat in. Shadows obscured its dimensions. Kagome could not shake a slight feeling of unease as she gazed about; it felt as though something was watching her with unfriendly eyes.
"…he's only a child, though, he can't help that he was born…"
"It does not matter; if he stays, it will only remind the lord of her indiscretion. He must leave or unfortunate things will happen, you know."
'What is this place?' Kagome wondered, 'Where…?'
A sudden soft sound, like a stifled gasp, made her whirl around in surprise. Kagome blinked again, but this time in shock. 'Inuyasha? But… how?'
Inuyasha stared right at her…no, through her, Kagome amended. His golden-amber eyes were fixed on the shoji, his pointed ears swiveled toward it as he listened intently.
'He doesn't see me.' Kagome crawled forward slowly until she was practically nose-to-nose with Inuyasha. He still gave no sign of seeing her, not even when she waved her hand in front of his face. 'Weird,' was all Kagome could think. She then took a closer look at the hanyou, still trying to determine why Inuyasha would not acknowledge her. 'Wait a minute…' Her eyes must be playing tricks on her… 'He looks…younger. He doesn't look older than Souta.' Kagome frowned, but there was no denying it; the Inuyasha before her could not be more than eight years old. His hands were fisted in the cloth of a futon that was still draped over his legs, and, judging by the ruffled appearance of his hair, he looked like he had just woken up.
'This is…a memory, I must be in one of Inuyasha's memories,' Kagome guessed, 'But I thought the yuro-kyoufu was supposed to attack his dreams. Why am I here? Shouldn't I be…?'
"It is his fault that she died, after all."
The words sounded in her ear as clearly as though the speaker was talking to her. Kagome started and almost turned back to the shoji.
A choked sob halted her. The child-Inuyasha had curled into a fetal position, his eyes and ears still riveted on the shoji that concealed the speakers but was no barrier to their cruel words.
"The burden was too much for her. She died because she could no longer stand the shame."
"Well then, I suppose it is better that he leaves after all."
'Oh no…' Kagome felt her heart suddenly clench painfully and she instinctively placed her hand over her chest. 'This is when Inuyasha lost his mother…and they blamed him for it!' Anger sprang up to mingle with her grief. 'How could they do that? It wasn't his fault! He was only a child, he had nothing to do with it! And speaking like this when he can hear every word they say…what was he supposed to think?!'
"'kaa-san, 'kaa-san!" Inuyasha had clamped his hands over his ears and his eyes were tightly shut against the tears that began to fall from them. He tried to stifle his cries, but his grief could not be held back by mere will. Sobs wracked his small body and tears flooded over his cheeks.
Kagome reached for him, wanting to hold him, to comfort him. Her hand passed right through his form as though she was nothing but a shadow. Grief, loss, guilt and fear flooded through her at the contact and she pulled back, overwhelmed by the emotions that were not her own.
"Come back, 'kaa-san, I'm sorry! I'm sorry I made you leave! I don't…want…to be alone…Please come back!"
"Inuyasha," Kagome breathed, balling her hands into fists and choking back on the tears that stung her eyes, "You're not alone, I'm here! Can't you hear me? Don't listen to them, you were only a little boy, you can't be blamed for it!" 'I can't even touch him! How can I help him if doesn't even know I'm here?'
"It does not matter if he survives; it would be better if he dies." The cold cruel words shook Kagome. Inuyasha let out another painful moan, giving her all the encouragement she needed. She rose, determined to face the person who would so cruelly judge and sentence an innocent child.
"Shut up!" she yelled, "Just shut up! He's only a child! You can't say it was his fault!" Her protests rang in her ears as though something was throwing them back at her in mocking playfulness. 'What is going on?' Kagome reached out to fling open the shoji, only to have the rice paper dissolve like smoke beneath her fingertips.
The sunlit courtyard was paved with precisely carved slabs of granite. There were people there, too, but their faces were obscured by shadows. Kagome felt the hair on the back of her neck rise; there was no way the shadows were natural. All sound was distant and muffled and the air was very still, as though she was watching everything through thick glass.
The shadowed people were gathered around a wooden platform that supported a small square tent made of some translucent white material. There must have been a breeze that Kagome could not feel, for the sides of the tent drifted and swayed, affording her half-glimpses of what was inside. Kagome felt a sudden irresistible curiosity to see, but hesitated. Wasn't there something she was forgetting?
"Inuyasha!" she gasped and spun on her heel to look back. She came nose-to-hinge with an enormous wooden gate. There was no sign of the room she had just left or Inuyasha. 'This is getting really creepy,' was all she could think, backing up several steps. Had she lost him already? "But then, was that really him I saw?" she wondered out loud, "This is a memory, right? Maybe the real Inuyasha is somewhere in a nightmare and I just can't find him because the yoru-kyoufu is trying to keep me away." It did not take the cold twinge at the base of her spine to tell her her guesses were not too far off the mark. 'How am I supposed to find him, then?'
The sudden, solemn 'pang!' of a gong drew her attention back to the strange gathering. Hesitantly, she approached, wending her way through the still, silent forms of the crowd. She held her breath, as though such a thing would prevent her being seen when she already knew she was as an invisible specter to them.
Finally, she reached the innermost ring of people and approached the platform with wary anticipation. She had but to lift the white gauze…
'I think I know this place…' he thought in amazement. How had he gotten here? He touched a trembling hand to his brow. 'Is it over? Are those dreams finally over? Or were they all real?' He was so very tired, tired of fighting, tired of not knowing whether to trust his instincts, for they seemed to play him false at every turn. When had he stopped living by them, by his will to survive? Had he not always been alone? Yes, he had always been alone, but things were different now… 'weren't they?'
Kagome raised the veil and peered into the dim interior. It was so small, more like a closet, or maybe…a coffin…
With a shriek, Kagome jumped back from the ghastly tent. The woman inside, lying in repose on a bier of wooden slats, had been so pale, so very pale, her skin stretched tight on sharp cheeks bones, like she had died of some horrible, wasting death. Who…?
"'kaa-san!" The same cry, the same voice…Kagome knew even as she turned to face him.
"No!" the child-Inuyasha shrieked, thrashing helplessly in the grip of the face person who held him tightly, "Let me go! I want to go with her! Let me go!"
"Let me go!"
His ears pricked at the sound of the anguished cry. 'I remember this…this memory, this dream…' He wanted so much to turn away, to shut out his own screams, to keep him from seeing… 'Anything but this, please…' But his body did not obey his will. Instead, he moved forward, through the shades of his past, nearing the macabre white structure that was the center of this tableaux.
'Stop this…'
Blood-red and bright orange lames leapt up, hungrily devouring the dry wood…
'Don't let this happen…'
The butter-fly delicate cloth wavered frantically as it turned black…
'Not again, not this…'
And was consumed.
"NO!!"
"Inuyasha!" Kagome screamed as she saw the child wrench painfully from the grip of the one who held him and run toward the building inferno. She dove at him, trying to knock him off his feet…and passed through him, landing painfully on her arm. "No, stop!" she screamed helplessly as she picked herself up, her hand outstretched to the small figure. She saw the child stop and hope leapt in her chest. Had he heard her?
"I coming!" the child screamed, and ran forward…
His features contorted in pain as he watched himself charge into those hungry flames. In his true memory, he knew that someone had taken him back from the flames before they could consume him, but in this dream, no one cared to save him. He would be devoured by the flames as they watched, passively listening to his screams. Or had it been the other way around? He could not be so sure anymore… 'Why this? Why didn't anyone stop me? Why didn't anyone try to keep me from seeing this? Did they want me to go insane? Did they want to see me scream and kill myself? Did they enjoy my suffering? I had already lost the only one who loved me in the world, who gave a damn whether I lived or died. I know it was my fault…' Anger surged through him even as he thrust away the guilt and sorrow. He could not bear the pain anymore; something had to give way.
"Bastards!" he roared, his claws slicing through those nearest to him, "Is this what you wanted? To see me destroy myself? I'll take all of you to hell with me!"
Kagome's head jerked up at the sound of the anguished howl, so different and yet so very like the wail of the child who had cast himself into the flames. Instinct goaded her to her feet and she ran to the source of the cry.
They fell before him, torn by his unforgiving claws. But they did not scream, they did not bleed, they gave no indication of having even the smallest fraction of the suffering that raged in him. Hatred thrummed in his head, pulling him farther and farther into bloodlust, dragging him deeper into the dark miasma in his soul that waited to claim him…
"Inuyasha!" Kagome screamed, knowing that she had found him at last. Immediately, she drew back in horror. Inuyasha had gone berserk, screaming and slashing at the blank-faced crowd. His claws flashed crimson in the lurid gleam of the funeral pyre, as though stained with the blood of those he slew. But that was wrong, wasn't it? 'They're only dream shadows,' Kagome told herself as the decapitated head of one of them rolled to a stop at her feet. Fighting down the bile that rose in her throat, she began walking toward Inuyasha. 'They're not really people, he's not really killing them, it's only an illusion…'
Kagome was about to reach her hand out to touch him when she noticed the darkness. It clung to his body like a stain of blood and it was spreading. Eyes widening, Kagome saw that the dream-shadows were the source of the stain, that with each one Inuyasha "slew," the stain grew, until it seemed that it would cover him entirely.
"Yoru-kyoufu," Kagome breathed, finally recognizing the deceitful enemy that was feeding on Inuyasha and would soon claim him. "You have to stop this!" she screamed, and made a grab for his upraised arm, "Please, Inuyasha, you have to…!"
The darkness lashed out at her, flowing from Inuyasha into her body like the icy-fire bite of a whip. Kagome cried out in pain and jerked her hands away. Inuyasha continued his massacre heedless of her effort and the darkness continued to spread. The courtyard, the bodies of the slain, even the fire were being devoured by it, until it claimed every aspect of this dream, this memory. 'Are you just going to stand by and let this happen?'
"Leave him alone!" she screamed at it, grabbing hold of Inuyasha and ignoring the waves of pain the yoru-kyoufu sent through her, "I won't let you have him!"
The darkness focused its malevolent will on her, lashing at her with fear and anguish, trying to make her release her hold of its prey. Hatred seethed through her like acid and terrible images of blood and darkness filled her vision. She could feel her hold weakening. 'No, not yet…I have to hold on…I have to get him to hear me…I have to free him from this…'
It was her last thought before the darkness pulled him from her grasp and spiraled her down further into the black depths.
"She has failed in her first attempt," Kikyou said neutrally.
"What?" Sango and Miroku demanded at the same time.
"What is happening to them?" Miroku continued, unconsciously getting up into a crouch, his staff held at ready.
Kikyou shook her head slightly. "I cannot know for certain," she said, "but their souls had drawn close, but now they have become fainter. She has found him, but the yoru-kyoufu is dragging them further into the darkness. It will become harder for them to escape unless the girl grows a stronger will to fight."
"Kagome loves him," Sango snapped, glaring at Kikyou for so disparaging her friend, "She won't let him be taken."
"I only hope your trust in this love will not be in vain," Kikyou said simply.
Kagome found herself staring up at the open sky that was tinted with the muted flame colors of the sunset. Groggily, she got to her feet, swaying slightly as she tried to orient herself. She was alone.
"Oh, God…" she moaned, "I lost him…I wasn't strong enough to hold onto him…" 'No!' she screamed at herself as her heart seemed to stop, 'Giving up is just what the yoru-kyoufu wants! Find Inuyasha again, and do whatever it takes to stop him! The yoru-kyoufu plays on his fears and shows him illusions. You have to be there to make him see that it is not true!'
"But he doesn't even know I'm here," she whispered, "I can't help him if he can't even here me."
'Find a way then! They're all depending on you to get him back. If you loved him enough to save his life, your love ought to be strong enough to save his soul, or are you just going to be a weak crybaby and lose him?'
'I'm not a crybaby!" she retorted loudly, anger restoring some of her courage and determination. With renewed resolve, Kagome looked about, wanting to at least know where she was before going to find Inuyasha.
"Wait a minute…this is the forest near the Bone-Eater's Well!" she exclaimed, recognizing the trees in the deepening twilight. There was no snow and it looked very much like the first night she had fled to into it to escape the centipede youkai. The shadows here were darker, though. She shuddered, knowing now what they were. But for the time being, it seemed, the yoru-kyoufu was content to wait, and watch.
A sudden crashing in the brush to her right drew her attention, and she stepped forward, ready to defend herself. Instead of the expected attack, however…
"Inuyasha!" Kagome exclaimed in surprise. She took another step forward, glad that her search had come to her. Something made her stop short. 'Wait…he's changed again.' Inuyasha stood before her as she remembered, no trace of the vulnerable child or grief-maddened berserker apparent in his features as he scanned the forest. 'He's changed, the dream's changed, but he still doesn't see me,' Kagome told herself, 'This is getting frustrating.' She shook her head, and wondered what she could do if the hanyou continued to be unaware of her presence. 'I have to find some way of stopping this nightmare before the yoru-kyoufu can claim him again.'
Inuyasha seemed on guard and his golden eyes roved over the veiled recesses of the forest. Kagome wondered what could have him so on edge when she noticed a sudden gleam of rosy light pierce through his right fist. 'Is that what I think it is?' Kagome reached down to take Inuyasha's hand, forgetting that such a thing was impossible. The hanyou solved the problem for her by opening his hand to covetously examine what he held.
'The Shikon no Tama!' The jewel, inexplicably whole and radiating its power, lay in Inuyasha's palm, and Kagome had to tell herself that what she saw was only a dream, that the look of malicious glee in Inuyasha's eyes was part of his imaginings, that the blood that stained his hands was not real…
"Inuyasha!"
Kagome and Inuyasha both froze at the shout. A figure limned by pale silver luminescence stepped from the shadows, a bow and knocked arrow pointing straight at Inuyasha's heart.
'She's here too?'
"Kikyou…" Inuyasha spoke. Kagome blinked. He did not sound surprised to see the miko, only…ashamed. As though he had been found in the act of committing an enormous crime.
"Inuyasha, you deserve to be sealed in Hell forever," Kikyou hissed, her soul stealers winding about her, silent attendants to their mistress.
"Perhaps," Inuyasha said resignedly, looking down at the Shikon no Tama, "But before you do that…" he clenched the jewel in his fist and stared at Kikyou, "…why don't you come with me, like you always wanted?"
'Inuyasha?!' The twinge of betrayal that tore through Kagome was very real, but she forced it away. 'He doesn't know what he's saying…right?'
Kikyou merely shrugged. "Hell can wait for me," she said, "There is something I want from that jewel, and I won't let you defile it further by becoming a full youkai."
"Kikyou!" Kagome exclaimed, shocked out of her doubt by the incredibly cavalier attitude of the miko.
"You see," Kikyou continued, not hearing Kagome, "the Shikon no Tama is so much more than a source of power for youkai. In the right hands, it can do so many things more…such as restoring life."
"What are you saying?" Inuyasha demanded.
"If I could truly live once more, maybe I could put our past behind me," replied Kikyou, "It's obvious you don't love me any more. Why should I continue to even hate you? You're not worth it."
"Kikyou, what are you saying?" Kagome cried, walking up to the miko, "You heard me ask for your help, and you came, if only to save Inuyasha's soul! How can you say something like that?" 'Is everyone going insane?'
"And what hands would restore your life?" Inuyasha asked sullenly.
"He is, after all the most powerful being alive today," Kikyou said, as though she had already answered the question, "With the Shikon no Tama, he will happily give me back my life, for he has wanted me for so long."
"You wouldn't!" Kagome was not quite sure which of them had said it, but disgust and betrayal surged through her as she stared at Kikyou in disbelief. "Naraku will only use the Shikon no Tama for evil!" she yelled, "You know that! I thought it was part of your plan to defeat Naraku when you took that shard from me! Now you're going back on what you said? You're going to help the thing that killed you and caused you to hate Inuyasha?! You're betraying him worse than any betrayal he could imagine!" Kagome tried to wrench the bow from Kikyou's hands.
"Good-bye, Inuyasha," the miko said, cold and unforgiving.
The arrow flew from the bow and struck true.
"INUYASHA!!!"
The hanyou screamed in pain as the arrow's divine power coursed through his body. He glared at Kikyou, who watched him with detached interest, waiting for him to die so she could take the jewel from his lifeless fingers. "Bitch," he snarled, "I thought you betrayed me once before. Maybe I was right in killing you."
"You'll have time to think about that,' Kikyou responded coolly, "Now die."
"Like hell I will!" Inuyasha screamed. He tried to yank the arrow out of his body, but a barrier threw back his hand. Kagome moved forward to help, but froze when she saw Inuyasha's eyes. They were so full of anger and hatred, she thought he was already possessed by the hellish darkness that was now bearing down them in anticipation.
"No, Inuyasha, don't do it!" she screamed even as Inuyasha clapped his right hand to his mouth…and swallowed the Shikon no Tama.
"NO!" Kikyou screeched in anger.
Inuyasha reached up and jerked her arrow from his body and flung it aside like it was an irritating splinter. His eyes, blood-red split by vertical slash of blue, narrowed, and he gathered himself.
'He's a full youkai…oh God, Inuyasha, no, don't! Don't give into it!' "Stop!" Kagome screamed as Inuyasha launched himself at Kikyou, a full-throated roar issuing from his lips in an earth-shaking tumult. Kikyou tried to draw back, but there was no way that she could avoid Inuyasha's terrible claws.
A piercing shriek echoed through the shadowed forest.
Inuyasha crouched over Kikyou's body, panting in exertion. Kagome took one trembling step toward him, then stopped. 'Why? Inuyasha, you really wouldn't…?' Though her mind was in shock, a small part of her fiercely denied that such a deed could be committed by the one she loved. 'This is a dream,' she had to remind herself as she stared at Inuyasha, 'The yoru-kyoufu feeds on his worst nightmares and shows him his worst fears.' She thought back to the first memory… 'It showed him his weakness, his guilt, his worst loss…and now, it shows him betrayal by one he loved, the worst kind of betrayal.'
The body of Kikyou dissolved at Inuyasha's feet, the bits of grave soil and bone whirling away in a hissing breeze. Inuyasha suddenly stood and stared down at his hands. They were coated in blood and dust. "Ki…Kikyou?" he whispered, his voice full of disbelief. He clutched at his head and stumbled away from the place where the corpse had lain. Kagome approached him and gazed into his face. It was twisted in horror and shock. "What have I done?" he muttered to himself, "What have I done?"
'And now, it shows him the depth of his crime,' Kagome told herself, stunned by the abrupt change in Inuyasha's manner and her own ability to analyze the situation in such a detached manner. 'The yoru-kyoufu manipulates his emotion and shows him the darkness in his soul as though it is the only thing he is.'
"Why is it they all die because of me?!" Inuyasha screamed, "It's all my fault that they're taken from me, that they die!"
"No, Inuyasha, don't say that!" Kagome protested, "It's not real! The yoru-kyoufu is only showing you this! It's all an illusion! Don't believe it!" 'His greatest fear is that he will lose the ones he loves because of who he is!' "Inuyasha, listen to me, you have to hear me! The yoru-kyoufu is…"
"Inuyasha…"
"Kagome?" Inuyasha whirled. His frenzied eyes widened as he gazed at her, at the blood that stained her white blouse, at the mask-like fix of her face. "Kagome…?"
"Inuyasha, why did you let him kill me?" Her voice was accusing, her eyes hazed by death.
"What?"
"No, Inuyasha, don't listen to her!" Kagome shouted, desperately placing herself between him and the thing that had taken her form and perverted it for its own ends, "She's not real! I am! I'm right here!"
"I've only come to say goodbye," said Kagome dully, "I will never see you again."
"No, wait!" Inuyasha shouted as Kagome turned from him. He would run after her, he had to! She was the only one who could make sense of all this…
"No, Inuyasha! She's not…!" Kagome screamed as Inuyasha sprinted through her and into the darkness.
"Kagome! Wait!"
Surprisingly, she halted, turning to meet him. "Why do you keep doing this?" she asked him as he drew beside her, panting from the exertion. 'When did Kagome ever learn to run so fast?'
"I can't…believe…" he gasped, then took a deep breath, "I can't believe what you said, that you…when did it happen? Why can't I remember anything?"
"Anything?" She sounded so bitter, so cold, and her eyes were so hard…not unlike Kikyou. Inuyasha suppressed the urge to recoil from her, telling himself that he had to trust one person in this madness. "You really don't remember, do you?" she asked, seeming to soften a little.
"All I know is…I feel like I'm watching one of my dreams…my nightmares," Inuyasha told her, watching for her reaction, "It's like I've been living in a place that's not real, but it is real to me. I'm reliving all my dreams, I think. I don't know how it happened, or why, but now you're here. And I…I killed her…I killed Kikyou with my own hands. I didn't mean to, but...I just don't know what's real and what's just in my mind. I think I'm going crazy. Kagome, tell me what's going on? What's happening?"
Kagome closed her eyes and slowly nodded. When she opened them again, Inuyasha was taken aback by the depth of sorrow that shadowed them. "Perhaps this is the best way," she murmured, "Oh Inuyasha, it was a terrible thing; you were so certain we would win, that you would defeat Naraku once and for all. You were so confident of your strength that we followed you without question. There was no way that I…we could let you face him alone. Maybe…maybe it was partly our fault that we…all of us…"
"Kagome, what are you saying?" Inuyasha asked, a sudden coldness spreading through his limbs. He reached for her hands, to pull her closer; they were colder than stone, cold as ice, cold like…death. "Everyone," Kagome said, reaching for his face with both hands, "Everyone, Inuyasha…they're all dead. You weren't strong enough to defeat Naraku, and we all died because of you."
'Where is he? I'm not giving up, I can't give up! I can make him hear me! I have to show him that this is all a lie!' Kagome sped through the blackness, so intent on catching the hanyou that she ignored the shadow that dogged her every movement…
"It's no use, he's too strong!"
"We're not giving up yet! Inuyasha, you can break through the barrier! Use Tetsusaiga and finish him!"
His hand grasped the hilt of his sword, even as his mind protested that he should not leave his comrades behind, that he would regret leaving this fight up to them. "Right," he heard himself say and he turned away, all his attention focused on the one being he hated most in the world. "Naraku, you die today!"
Though he could not see him through the lurid red gleam of the magical barrier, Inuyasha felt rather than heard the laughing reply: "Try and kill me, halfling!"
Inuyasha charged, or rather, was taken along as his body, propelled by rage and the thirst for revenge threw itself at the barrier. Tetsusaiga shattered the barrier in a cacophony of shrieking wind and the crackle of black lighting; it sounded and felt as though the entire world had been split asunder.
"Naraku!" Inuyasha screamed, but he sensed that something was wrong, that everything was some horrible trick…
"The victory is…mine!" The darkness had Naraku's voice, but its power was infinitely greater. Inuyasha felt his body freeze, held in place by the terror of coming face-to-face with the purest form of evil. His mind screamed, warning him to attack, to drive Tetsusaiga through the thing, even if it meant his death, for if he did not…
"Inuyasha!"
'RUN!! GET OUT OF HERE BEFORE IT…!!!"
The darkness flung itself at him and Inuyasha instinctively brought Tetsusaiga in front of his face, somehow knowing that its magic would protect him, at least for a little while. Even as the darkness, more poisonous than any you-ki Naraku could ever hope to conjure, whipped around him, Inuyasha realized his mistake. His friends had no protection…
There was an unearthly roar, almost immediately snuffed out as soon as it had begun; Inuyasha did not have to turn to know that Kirara had been the first to meet the darkness. Sango's cry for her faithful companion was cut off as she too was enveloped and extinguished.
"Sango!" Miroku must have used his spiritual power to momentarily ward off the darkness in his vain effort to reach Sango's side. His death scream jerked Inuyasha out of his paralysis, and he turned, Tetsusaiga's fierce, blood-red glow cutting through the shadow as it had cut through the barrier. He had to get to them, had to get to her, before the darkness took everything from him…
"No! Shippo!" he heard Kagome wail. She was so close, if he could just reach her before…
Blue and gold radiance sundered the darkness, and for an instant, he saw her, untouched by the miasma. She was reaching for him, blood streaked on her pale face, her eyes wide with desperation, begging for him to save her.
"Kagome!" Inuyasha screamed, charging forward, "Hold on! Just a little longer!"
"Inu…" Suddenly, her eyes widened and her body spasmed violently. She coughed, bringing her hand to her mouth. Dark blood spilled out from between her fingers, and she stared at it as if she did not know what it was.
"Kagome!"
She fell to her knees, the blue-gold light collapsing around her, the darkness rushing in.
"No!" Inuyasha howled, throwing aside Tetsusaiga so he could pull her away from that terrible shadow. Her bloodied hand reached out to him even as the light in her eyes darkened. He clasped it to him, but she was already fading, wasting away under the indomitable evil.
"I'm sorry…" she whispered. And then, she was gone…
Narrator here. Good God, talk about depressing. I am terribly sorry that this chapter took so long to get out, but I had to rewrite it almost five times. And then finals came up and yadda yadda yadda…
To my reviewers:
Chibi Washu: Maa, maa, here is the next chapter. I do have a rather irritating habit of leaving you with cliffhangers, don't I? And yes, it would be cruel to have Inuyasha lose two loves in one lifetime, but it makes for terrific angst! *~.^*
Rika: Here's a tissue, honey…
Anime Fan: Yes! Another person who likes the damsel-saving-the-hero stories!
Trunks Gal: Like I said, she's working on it. Don't worry, I won't draw it out too much…
Dansama: Ummm…well, I did update…that's good enough, right?
Lil Washu: Hey, do you have a twin or something? Eh heh, okay, bad joke…I'm glad you're so enthusiastic about the story. And yes, I am embarrassed for not having updated in a timely manner…
IsleofSolitude: This might be a bad time to mention this, but I personally think I suck a WAFF. Argh, I don't need the pressure!
Well, thank you so much for reviewing, minna-san! I keep getting reviews on "What Dreams May Come," begging for a sequel, and I want to yell, "What do you think this is!?" -_- Maybe I should just try telepathy…
Inuyasha: You already have a hard enough time with your own mind, woman! Why else do you think you're having so much trouble with this story?
Kagome: You're not really going to kill us, are you? So many of your reviewers will be upset if you do…*sotto voce to reviewers* Keep telling her not to kill us! It's probably the only thing that might save our butts.
Narrator: Honey, me killing you two is like me pairing you with Kouga.
Kagome: But you said you were going to do that.
Narrator: Oh yeah… *runs away from PO'ed and very jealous Inuyasha* Oi, can't you take a joke?!?
Inuyasha: NO!!!