*
Oto Hinatamura was totally unprepared for what happened. He was a truck driver, and even among that group he was notoriously quick on his feet. And he hit the brakes with plenty of room to spare. If the road hadn't been wet, she would have lived. If she had seen him coming, and moved in time, she would have lived. If he hadn't been going as fast as he was, and it was not speeding, just fast, the breaks would have worked better and she would have lived.
If. If. If.
Kagome Higurashi had been in the road, and was caught like a deer in the headlights
-What will Inuyasha think? I have to tell him, I ha- what, better move better-
She was knocked flying by the collision.
*
Inuyasha, who was chasing Kagome's scent, heard the crash half a mile off. The truck had veered and had rolled over. He knew it when he saw it. He was so impressed by the wreck, which had taken out a storefront, he almost missed-
It couldn't be. It just couldn't.
He stopped. He could hear sirens in the distance. He could feel the rain. But none of it mattered. Kagome was dead.
*
He went back to the library with the express intention of killing himself. He didn't want to live. He went back in, sat down in a stately fashion in another swivel chain and broke down crying.
*
Minds have several parts. Freud called them the Ego, the Super Ego, and the Id. Demons are more complex. Inuyasha had been equipped from birth with the Ego, the Id, the Vengeance and the Compassion. He was a dog demon; he thought in terms of vengeance and compassion. But a fourth personality trait had formed, a sort of combination of the other three to take over for the absent Super Ego. This new state of mind was the Clock, a purely mechanical state of mind in which the emotions can't take it any more and shut down. The Clock did anything to keep the mind busy, and it was mulling over time travel as Kagome had put it before she was DON'T THINK THAT.
All right. Time travel as Kagome had put it. If she and he had a kid, then they would have stayed, and the kid would have had kids, and they would have had kids, and eventually one of them would either be Kagome's mother or her father. And then Kagome would meet him, and they would have kids.
Okay. This was not right. Kagome was dead, and they hadn't had kids, so how could Kagome have been born in the-
Oh no.
Time all down the fourth dimension cut loose and flapped in the breeze.
*
Inuyasha's Clock Mind rattled down the possibilities. Kagome was dead. If she was dead, then there could have been no Kagome.
This universe was doomed. But it hadn't shut down, not yet. For some reason, something was keeping it open. Other, parallel universes would take over in its wake.
What was holding this universe together?
He thought, and after a while went back to the book of the shrine and read it so more. Kagome had obviously written this, but when. The subjective future; the future she had when she went back and forth through time. To an outsider, a zigzag pattern appeared; to Kagome it was a straight line. So, if some event in the subjective future didn't happen, this universe would never be.
This was hard work
So, if he didn't save Kagome's life, she would never exist.
A new vein of thought broke through.
What if Kagome didn't want to be saved, what if she was happier dead, what if she had killed herself.
Inuyasha's blood ran cold. He loved her too much to subject her to a life he himself would have admitted was rough- being one's own ancestor.
And then he looked at the picture again. Kagome had such JOY in her eyes. She was proud of having their baby; and, in terms of subjective time, she would have known about it by the time she and Inuyasha. he still couldn't image doing anything romantic with Kagome. It was weird, but any romantic scenario he could envision in his mind always saw her slapping him and running off to the future if he tried to kiss her. Well. There stood the evidence. The Kagome he knew must have some buried love for him. Somewhere.
He would save her.
Oto Hinatamura was totally unprepared for what happened. He was a truck driver, and even among that group he was notoriously quick on his feet. And he hit the brakes with plenty of room to spare. If the road hadn't been wet, she would have lived. If she had seen him coming, and moved in time, she would have lived. If he hadn't been going as fast as he was, and it was not speeding, just fast, the breaks would have worked better and she would have lived.
If. If. If.
Kagome Higurashi had been in the road, and was caught like a deer in the headlights
-What will Inuyasha think? I have to tell him, I ha- what, better move better-
She was knocked flying by the collision.
*
Inuyasha, who was chasing Kagome's scent, heard the crash half a mile off. The truck had veered and had rolled over. He knew it when he saw it. He was so impressed by the wreck, which had taken out a storefront, he almost missed-
It couldn't be. It just couldn't.
He stopped. He could hear sirens in the distance. He could feel the rain. But none of it mattered. Kagome was dead.
*
He went back to the library with the express intention of killing himself. He didn't want to live. He went back in, sat down in a stately fashion in another swivel chain and broke down crying.
*
Minds have several parts. Freud called them the Ego, the Super Ego, and the Id. Demons are more complex. Inuyasha had been equipped from birth with the Ego, the Id, the Vengeance and the Compassion. He was a dog demon; he thought in terms of vengeance and compassion. But a fourth personality trait had formed, a sort of combination of the other three to take over for the absent Super Ego. This new state of mind was the Clock, a purely mechanical state of mind in which the emotions can't take it any more and shut down. The Clock did anything to keep the mind busy, and it was mulling over time travel as Kagome had put it before she was DON'T THINK THAT.
All right. Time travel as Kagome had put it. If she and he had a kid, then they would have stayed, and the kid would have had kids, and they would have had kids, and eventually one of them would either be Kagome's mother or her father. And then Kagome would meet him, and they would have kids.
Okay. This was not right. Kagome was dead, and they hadn't had kids, so how could Kagome have been born in the-
Oh no.
Time all down the fourth dimension cut loose and flapped in the breeze.
*
Inuyasha's Clock Mind rattled down the possibilities. Kagome was dead. If she was dead, then there could have been no Kagome.
This universe was doomed. But it hadn't shut down, not yet. For some reason, something was keeping it open. Other, parallel universes would take over in its wake.
What was holding this universe together?
He thought, and after a while went back to the book of the shrine and read it so more. Kagome had obviously written this, but when. The subjective future; the future she had when she went back and forth through time. To an outsider, a zigzag pattern appeared; to Kagome it was a straight line. So, if some event in the subjective future didn't happen, this universe would never be.
This was hard work
So, if he didn't save Kagome's life, she would never exist.
A new vein of thought broke through.
What if Kagome didn't want to be saved, what if she was happier dead, what if she had killed herself.
Inuyasha's blood ran cold. He loved her too much to subject her to a life he himself would have admitted was rough- being one's own ancestor.
And then he looked at the picture again. Kagome had such JOY in her eyes. She was proud of having their baby; and, in terms of subjective time, she would have known about it by the time she and Inuyasha. he still couldn't image doing anything romantic with Kagome. It was weird, but any romantic scenario he could envision in his mind always saw her slapping him and running off to the future if he tried to kiss her. Well. There stood the evidence. The Kagome he knew must have some buried love for him. Somewhere.
He would save her.