Spiraling into the Realm of Hatred
Chapter Three
"Inu-Yasha, where is Kagome?" Miroku asked peacefully, though the worry showed through his voice. "I have not seen her since earlier in the evening."
The hanyou scowled and stared out through the open doorway of Kaede's hut at the darkness and the rain that swept over the forest, shrugging, "I don't know."
"Well, you have to know. It was you who last saw here, was it not?" the Monk continued, agitation growing. "It is late and the weather is bad . . ."
"She'll be fine. Just let her go for a few hours, she'll be back."
Miroku frowned sullenly. "You act as if you do not care, Inu-Yasha. Is that the case?"
"I care!" he hissed with his arms stubbornly across his chest. "She just got mad and needs to blow off some steam, that's all. Just leave me alone about it. It's not like I made her go into the woods by herself!"
"You mean to tell me that Lady Kagome went into the forest this night?" he gasped in horror. "And you let her?"
Inu-Yasha's orange eyes glinted with momentary hatred for the Monk's interference, but then turned to avoid anyone noticing the anxiety that crept into them. "She'll be fine."
Miroku clenched his staff. "Inu-Yasha, do you understand the severity of this . . . if something were to happen to Lady Kagome then . . . then I am afraid I would never be able to be in your presence again as a friend."
"Feh, whatever." He snarled, turning away.
"I just think that you are being stubborn, that is all. What does Lady Kagome mean to you anyway, Inu-Yasha? I know you have feelings for her, but you can't expect to treat her the way you do and actually have her stay with you." Miroku tried to reason, but Inu-Yasha's ears only turned away as if he weren't listening. He sighed and turned his back to the foolish hanyou, closing his eyes in frustration. "And you cannot deny that she might have feelings for you either if she stayed as long as she had with you. And then this Kikyou business, I can sense that the trouble that is occurring is originating from it. Do you not think so? I swear, Inu-Yasha, if you do not go after Lady Kagome and bring her back I will have to." He paused to make his point, but received no answer. "Are you even listening to me?"
But when he turned, Inu-Yasha was gone . . .
A crack of thunder resounded across the forest and fields beyond the safety of the hut.
A cloud of evil formed within the thunderheads . . .
He could sense the living dead . . .
Hatred . . .
He prayed that Kagome would be all right . . .
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Maybe he is having some sort of pleasure about having her like him. That was it. Inu-Yasha knew Kagome liked him, that's why he had kept her around. He relished it. Loved it. Desired it. It was something to feed his ego. Something to feed his pride. Something to make him feel better about himself since nothing can bring him down.
Nothing.
He could be angry. In fact, he mostly was angry . . .
He could be a little sad . . . but it was only when it involved Kikyou . . .
Kikyou . . .
The name resounded in Kagome's head like a hammer. She stopped along the path where she walked, driving her fists into her forehead, trying to force that name from her very thoughts.
But Kikyou was in her thoughts . . .
She was her thoughts . . .
The rain caressed her back like an animal mauling its prey, it felt as though the heavens were trying to push her back to the earth . . . to the pit of hell that she was struggling to be free from. The pain that occupied her . . .
The thoughts of what could have been . . .
What could be . . .
How could she be so foolish to think that Inu-Yasha could have liked her? Her? She wasn't special, wasn't better than any other girl they had come across in their travels – especially not that dead woman. What did she not have to offer that Kikyou had?
Inu-Yasha's heart, that's what!
She had to keep running . . . but she was so tired . . .
And cold . . .
The rain was like ice, the wind cut through her body and caused her to shiver . . .
But she didn't care. She was away from him. Away from the village. Would anyone care that she had run away? Would anyone notice until morning when they were to leave searching out the rumors of the jewel? Would anyone notice that she wasn't there until it was time to see the jewel? Find it! Take it! Without her, they wouldn't be very successful.
Not at all.
Kagome finally collapsed from the cold . . . from the pain that nagged at her legs as the night rolled on in waves of water . . .
She was so tired so suddenly, as if she had stayed up for days upon end . . . or was it the emotional stress she was under that just made her want to curl into a little ball and sleep away the pain.
Hopefully she would never wake up . . .
Kikyou watched her, she could feel those dead eyes on her . . . but she didn't care.
"You can have him!" Kagome cried out into the dark. "You can have him, Kikyou . . . I . . . I just don't care anymore . . ."
"Oh . . . I think that you do." The strange voice answered through a pleased smile. "You do care or you would not be as upset as you are."
"It's just that . . . it's just that . . ." she sobbed, gripping the mud between her fingers as if it could provide comfort for her tortured soul. "He loves you, Kikyou! Not me."
"I could have told you that, Kagome. Inu-Yasha will never love you. Not as long as I am around." The dead Miko's skin glowed a pale white as the slithering serpent-like soul stealing demons encircled her, surrounded her with their insect like grins and twitching legs.
"But . . . but you want him dead!"
"Yes. That is the truth. He will be with me forever, Kagome. Not you."
Kagome's heart ripped in half upon those words. There really was no hope . . .
No hope . . .
"Oh, poor Kagome." Kikyou mused, not even bothering to hide the giddy joy of her victory. "Poor Kagome, who could ever love a girl like you?
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