Hola all. Welcome to the first chapter of what will hopefully become my second hit fiction. . . (psst like that'll happen). I'm aiming for one hundred this time, dunno if I'll make it or not but. . . ah what the hell this story confuses me so much. ^_^
Anyways, at the date I was writing this, I didn't get much reviews, so I don't have too many people to thank.
Thanks too:
Demon Angel: Thank you! First reviewer wOOt ^_^
Oneesan no Miroku Houshi: Thanks! I'll check out some of your fics when I have time ^_^
--*--
Well that's all. . .
Now what you've been waiting for!
*Trumpets blare*
THE STORY! ^_^
*~*~*~*~*
Cruel to Be Kind
Chp. 1
Immobilized
*~*~*~*~*
The warm September sunshine shone down on busy street as people pushed past each other on their ways to work, school, or shopping. The sound of footsteps rang through the air, mixing in with the honking horns in the rush-hour traffic.
Loudest of all was a girl stumbling through the crowd, knocking people aside and yelling hurried apologies as she rushed past.
Guess who.
"Sorry I'm late!" Kagome Higurashi yelled as she skidded into her homeroom class, meeting the disapproving eyes of her teacher.
"School has just started Higurashi. I will make leeway for you this time, but see that you are not tardy after this."
"Hai. Arigato Miho-sensei."
Kagome hurried to her seat, pointedly ignoring the stares on her back as she set her books on the desk besides Ayame's and slung her backpack. "Hi," she whispered to Ayame. "What did I miss?"
Ayame smiled at her, setting her novel she was reading down for a moment. "Nothing. I don't see why you ask, Kagome. We never do anything."
Kagome smiled at her comment. "Good point."
"Hello, Higurashi."
Kagome turned around and found herself staring at Sango. "Good morning. What's up?"
Sango shook her head. "Nothing."
Kagome stared at her for a second and was going to turn around, but her curiosity got the better of her. "What were you and that Miroku guy talking about yesterday in class?"
Sango looked briefly surprised, but her expression quickly was replaced as she spoke nonchalantly. "It's nothing. We were just talking about stuff."
Sango smiled as Kagome turned around. "You can't find out yet. . ."
--*--
Lunch hour found Kagome and her friends sitting in the backyard under the cherry trees. Kagome sighed as she leaned back against the trunk of the tree, rubbing her forehead. "Math right after PE is a total killer."
"Math is easy," Ayame said, munching on the slop the cafeteria called food. She frowned down at the thing that was supposed to resemble food and examined it. "what is this anyway? I can't figure it out."
Kouga leaned over to look at the food she was holding. "That," he said, "I believe, is supposed to be a fish stick." He poked it cautiously, watching as it instantly crumbled into dry dust. "Made out of the latest batch of Lunch Lady Mystery Meat," he added dryly as he watched Ayame make a face and get up to throw out her lunch.
"Ayame, you want some pocky?" Kagome offered the box from her home lunch to her friend. She gratefully took some, crunching on the sticks.
None of them were aware of the steady gazes on them from the music room three floors above them.
Sango rested her chin in the palm of her hand and leaned on the window sill. Her face was clouded in worry.
"Stop hanging around miroku. I know you're there."
Miroku sighed and kicked off the ceiling. . .
. . . gracefully falling on his ass in a tuba, knocking it over, which just happened to jar a saxophone over, causing the domino effect on all the instruments in the entire room, including the music stands and the chairs.
"God damnit," he muttered from underneath a pile of brass. "Fate hates me."
Sango chuckled and went over to help pull him out of the tuba. When she succeeded he stood up, wiped his hands on his front and looked at her. "spying again?"
Sango rolled her eyes. "I have to."
"People might start thinking you're some part of a secret organization."
"Pish. Yeah right."
"So, what's the game plan?"
Sango rolled her eyes at his referral but started talking anyway. "We need to separate Kagome from her friends temporarily and get her to the place. I'm thinking of a plan."
Miroku sighed in exasperation. "Why not just try the trail of fireflies trick? It works all the time. Or the weird ball of light."
Sango glared at him. "If we do that, Kagome's friends will follow her. We can't have that, that'll mess up the order of things. And we can't screw up, no matter what. We can't fool with time either, and you know that. We need a different plan. . . A good one."
Miroku glanced at her, obviously irritated. "If you're the manipulation mastermind, why am I here anyway?"
"Because you're so good at acting and we have to make it look convincing."
"You're supposed to say 'Because I love your company'," he grumbled. He glanced over at her and his features softened slightly. "You have this all planned out, don't you."
"Not exactly. I don't know how it will turn out. We can only hope we're doing it right."
"Okay. Fine. What do I do?"
Sango whispered in his hear before he nodded, saluted and exited the room. She turned her gaze back out the window before hurrying out of the room too.
--*--
Kagome hummed to herself happily. It was a great day so far, and it was probably going to get better. Her mom had given her permission to go home with Ayame and go shopping before spending the night. She shoved her dark blue binder into her backpack and slung it over her shoulder, quickly spot checking the desk and the area for any forgotten supplies.
"Kagome! KAGOME!" Kagome turned around at the sound of her name and smiled.
"Oh, hi Ayame. What's up?"
"What's up? What do you mean what's up!? How could you tell Kouga you liked him? You knew I liked Kouga for a long time!" There was angry tears running down the girl's face and she glared at Kagome. "I can't believe you Kagome!"
"Ayame! WAIT!" It was too late. Ayame had whirled around and ran out of the room, crying miserably. Frozen in standing there, she heard a car start up and the door slam before going off.
"There goes my ride. . . How did this all happen?" She rubbed her forehead, unsure of what to do or where to go. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed home.
The only thing that met her ears was the dial tone. "Great. Just great, now is the time mom chooses to go shopping." Snapping her cell phone shut, she tucked it in her pocket and wandered out around the school field. "I guess I'll just wait till she gets home."
Kagome stared off into the distance, looking at the dark forest that surrounded a overgrown field that was usually off limits to students. For some reason she felt a strange urge to go and explore that forest. "I should stay here," She said out loud to herself. "But then, mom takes a long time shopping and she thinks I'm with Ayame. I guess it wouldn't hurt." She left her backpack under a tree and set off for the field.
When she got there, it was a lot thicker than she'd imagine. But it was very peaceful. One could spend time in quiet solitude here, she thought. She filed it away in her mind to reserve as a place to go when she needed quiet. She kept walking in the sunshine until she came to the edge of the forest.
Her mind told her that it was probably dangerous in the dark leafy shade, but it was practically calling to her. She stepped over a bush and waded into the forest.
Kagome pushed her way through the dense underbrush. It was a lot thicker then she'd thought it would be. And she'd been walking for a while now. Suddenly, it occurred to her how stupid it was to go through a forest without a map or any sort of trail marker. Turning around, she saw she left a wide gap where she'd crashed through the growth. That was taking care of. She had to be somewhere close to the heart of the forest.
As she turned around, she tripped on a large tree root and came face down in a bush.
"Oww. . . That was so stupid." She propped herself up with her elbows before sitting up completely, brushing the leaves out of her hair and off her skirt. She got to her feet.
What met her eyes astounded her.
There was a boy clothed in a old-style yukata leaning against the huge tree in front of her.
On closer look, the boy was apparently pinned to the tree by an arrow. Gasping, Kagome walked forward and called out, "Hello? Are you okay?"
Moving forward, she was fascinated by the fact that the boy had long silvery hair to his waist and golden eyes, frozen in a state of shock. There was anger, pain, and despair written all over his face, and as her eyes traveled up to his head, she saw that he had fluffy white ears perched on top. In a small circle around the base of the tree, nothing grew there. It was just soil, like the grass had decided to suddenly stop growing.
Her eyes widened. This couldn't be real, could it? No one went around in old yukatas with ears glued to their head, much less be pinned to a tree by some arrow.
For some reason unknown to her, all she wanted to do was touch the ears. As she moved forward, she suddenly smacked into some weird wall.
Stepping back, she saw that a silvery substance, only seconds before invisible, had formed exactly where the rim of the grass had stopped. So that was why the grass stopped growing inside there, she thought. This is so weird. I must be hallucinating.
She took another step closer, but the same silver shield blocked her progression forward. This time, though, golden ribbons of light twisted onto the shield, writhing and turning until they formed legible letters.
Open wide, doors of golden time
For thee has done unforgivable crime
Let him sleep in land or sea
Let him dream an eternity
Through death and life. . .
Through beauty and strife. . .
That no life lives forever;
That dead ones rise up never;
That they be given a second chance
That winds of fate change their dance
That his savior come to his release
Lest this world to exist shall cease
Kagome blinked after reading the gloomy sounding inscription in the odd shield. The golden words faded away. She wished they would come back once more, so she could read it again. She touched the shield.
This time, it glowed a bright purple and disappeared.
She stumbled on a tree root as she fell where the shield once was and found herself leaning on the boy. She straightened, eyes narrowing at the arrow. It's not going to come out and stab you, she reasoned. It's perfectly safe.
She reached out to touch the ancient feathers on the tip. As soon as her fingers made contact with it, the entire arrow shuddered, as if it was alive and freezing cold, and crumbled into dust.
For a millisecond it felt like electricity shot through her body.
Then the boy started to move.
Yelping, she backed up, tripping over a tree root in the process. She stared at the boy as he stared at her. "Kikyô?" he whispered.
"Kikyô? Who's Kikyô?" Kagome asked, forgetting about her situation for a second and staring at the boy.
He frowned and glared at her. He opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly a wind blew through the trees and his eyes went oddly blank, as if he were trying to remember something. He shook his head and stared at her again.
"If you aren't Kikyô, who are you?"
"Kagome," she answered. "Kagome Higurashi."
The boy studied her for a second. "How did I get here? And what the hell are you wearing?"
Her mouth dropped open at his rude comment. "What I'm wearing is the school uniform. You're very rude you know. You could at least introduce yourself. Where did you come from? Why were you stuck to a tree?"
He looked at her like she was insane. "My name is Inuyasha. And what the hell are you spouting?"
For a second time her mouth dropped open. "Y-you just. . . Well, where did you come from?"
He stared at her and opened his mouth but frowned and shook his head. "I don't remember. . ." he said, staring off into the forest.
The next thing he knew the girl was at his side rubbing his ears.
"Hey!" he yelped. He edged away from her and glared at her. "What the fuck are you doing?"
She blinked, ignoring his comment. "Are those real?"
He stared at her. "No shit Sherlock. They're attached to my skull. I'm a half-demon."
"Demons don't exist!" She said, still staring at his ears.
"Who says bitch?" he grumbled.
"Why you. . ." Kagome growled and turned around with a vein pulsing on her head. "Fine, you can stick around here for all I care! Jerk. . ."
"Where am I anyway?"
She turned around to tell him to leave her alone, but the expression on his face stopped her in her tracks. His eyes were sad again, and he was looking around and sniffing the air. He had the same look on as when he'd asked about that Kikyô person, and it made her feel sad—even—guilty—when he looked like that.
"Don't you have anywhere to go?" She asked.
"I told you, I don't know where I am," He said, sounding exasperated.
"Don't you have parents? Or Something?"
"Both of my parents died when I was six."
--*--
That's all for now. Wasn't that fun? Yeah yeah. This story is gonna go places! ^_^
Anyway, I have nothing else to report for now so yeah. . .
Except
HALLOWEEEN IS TOMORROW WOOOT!! ^____________^
Falcon