This would've been out sooner, but morning sickness is getting the better of me. ^^;

Chapter Six: A Spider Web, and It's Me in the Middle

Awakening. A sense of self flooded through her along with pure light, and suddenly, she was aware again. She tried opening her eyes, but the pressure that was upon them was too much at the moment. Her ears strained to hear the voices that were with her, but even that was almost too much.

"Will she ever wake up, Kaede-baa-chan?" A young boy's voice, so familiar to her, and yet so far away.

There was a sound of someone inhaling, but they were interrupted by a harsh grunt. "Of course, she will wake up, brat."

A young feminine voice responded with, "I don't know if we should lead him along. Kagome may never awaken." A hush enveloped the room.

Kagome…ah, yes, that was her own name, and it took her mind several minutes to process the voices that had spoken. As soon as she had, she was overcome with a need to force open the eyes that wouldn't budge earlier…needed to tell them something, but she wasn't sure just what.

Another voice began to murmur, and it surprised her to realize that it was her own as it sounded so disconnected from her body. Sharp breaths were drawn by the others, and it was Inu-Yasha who spoke first. "Kagome?" Once full of arrogance and pride, he now seemed so hollow and so defeated.

Her small hands rubbed the crust from her lashes, and she peered at everyone through narrow slits. "Minna…I…am alive," she hissed in pain and then felt the darkness consume her again. But not before she heard someone's--Sango-chan's--tears fall.

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The feel of the soft grass against her feet as she ran was overwhelming, as if a hundred fingers were tickling her. She giggled and hiked up her kimono some more. Why was she dressed up? Was a festival taking place? Not that it really mattered, but the light pink sakura pattern was nice to look at.

The obi was cinched at her waist so tightly that breathing was nigh-impossible. If only she could loosen it….

"I can help you with that." The soft male voice frightened her, and she turned around in surprise.

"Inu-Yasha!" she gasped and then frowned, shaking a stern finger at his nose. "Don't scare me like that!"

He laughed as he grasped her finger in his hand, and she stared in awe at the true smile that lit his face. When had she last seen him smile? Or have a good belly laugh? "You have every right to be scared." With that, he pulled her to him, and off he darted to the well.

She couldn't complain nor was she scared. Her nostrils were too filled with the wild smell that was Inu-Yasha…too delightfully filled to care. She didn't even noticed when they stopped.

She peered up at him and tried to search his eyes, but they were masked behind a puff of silver, tangled hair. "I'm…sorry…that I had to carry you off like that, but I couldn't tell you with the others lurking around. I'm not in the mood for their childish shit."

The possibility of what he meant stained her cheeks crimson, and she ducked her head as demurely as she could. "Nani? I'm confused."

Lips touched lips, and her knees sank to the ground as he had been caught too unaware to catch her. "I…just wanted to tell you…you look beautiful." Two red faces stared at each other, and she watched as he shook his head in embarrassment. "Not that you don't look beautiful daily…or that…well, you dressed accordingly…but you still look--"

She understood his garbled banter and smiled shyly. "Arigatou, Inu-Yasha." Then she returned the favor and kissed him. Never had she tasted anything so sweet.

Darkness claimed the happy moment.

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She opened her eyes and sat up sharply, welcomed only by the pitiful dying flame in the center of the hut and the shadows that followed it. Everyone appeared to be sleeping.

Sweat beaded at her brow, and she wiped furiously. Whatever she had dreamed didn't seem like a dream but a forgotten memory…but when had she and Inu-Yasha ever shared a moment like that?

She racked her brain for an answer, but really, she just knew…and she didn't like what she was thinking.

Dampness crept up her legs as she waded through the tall grass behind the hut to the river beyond. She didn't really feel like a midnight dip in the cold waters, but she was too unnerved by her thoughts to surrender to sleep again.

So unnerved that she nearly missed her footing and would have fallen off the bank if strong arms hadn't rescued her.

Haven't I been through this before?

"What are you doing out here by yourself at this hour?" Inu-Yasha hissed in her ear. "Kagome, I wasn't even aware that you had awakened again."

"I just…," she started to say and then let her voice drop to nothing again. A cool wind swept through her nightgown and caressed her skin, and she shivered, but she feared that her trembling was a cause of her apprehension and not the night chill. Warmth spread over her shoulders suddenly. "Ano…?"

He had draped his haori over her and then sat her gently on the ground. After he took the spot beside her, he wrapped his arms around her. "You will make yourself ill if you stay out here."

"I can't go back inside. I can't go back to sleep," she replied hurriedly. He peered at her skeptically and then softened when he noticed that her shuddering had increased. "I just want to be to myself right now."

"You…you want me to leave?" Sorrowful he sounded, so much that it pained her, and she sighed in defeat.

"Iie, stay with me." She took his hand in her own and curled her fingers around his, squeezing his hand gently. It was more of a reassurance to herself that he really was there with her than some loving gesture.

The grass and weeds were covered in wetness which covered her hands thoroughly. Judging the clouds coursing through the night sky, the dew had to be rain from earlier in the day when she was still unconscious. She sighed and stared into the murky waters before her, wishing that the lingering dream plaguing her would just disappear. Then suddenly, she gasped in shock.

He was squeezing back.

"Inu-Yasha?" She raised her eyes and met his lips which were formed in a shy grin.

"I…was just thinking." His eyes still shone brilliantly in the light left by the half moon. It had occurred to her often during the lunar cycles that as the moon grew closer and closer to fading away, so did his temper. On the nights of the half moon, his actions were a perfect mirror of his hanyou blood. The wildest blend of raw instinct mixed equally with the purest blend of human compassion. A claw trailed a tender line down her jawbone to her slender neck, drawing her from her thoughts again. "You look beautiful in this pale moon light."

A memory interrupted her smile of thanks. Familiarity shivered through her spine as she realized that he had already said the same thing once, but not in this time.

"Kagome?" He reached for her, but she shook him off.

"Don't. Just…don't." He shrank back, obviously hurt, and she cursed herself for saying those words, but she was so confused. "Gomen, Inu-Yasha. I…I don't know what's wrong with me. These memories keep coming to me, and I'm drowning in them. I just forget everything I am. I feel as if I'm tangled in this web of things that have happened, and I'm not certain which are which."

"What do you mean?"

She gazed into the moon, the only thing in her life that was unchanging. She wished that she could know its secrets, that she could see its memories so she could see her own. Sighing, she turned to him and answered. "I once thought that my heart and Kikyou's heart were separate, that only our souls were shared, but lately…lately, my memories are jumbled. I'm not certain which set belong to me, Kagome, and which ones belong to me, Kikyou. As I once feared," she whispered into his haori, "I'm becoming Kikyou, in spirit, body, and now mind."

The ancient moon shimmered on, mocking her with its vast knowledge.