A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I'm glad I wasn't flamed for killing Souta. Well enough talking, here's the chapter.
*Italics=Thoughts*
~*Chapter II*~
It was dark, but the darkness surrounding her seemed peaceful and comforting. She was sitting with her knees in front of her to support her arms, as she was using her arms as a pillow for her head. And she realized there was talking going on...
"Souta Higurashi! I said it's time to go, so come now!" that vague voice behind her seemed so similar to her mom's...
"But Mama! She's worried... And I'm not sure if she can take care of herself–" another voice behind her whined and she smiled almost picturing Souta say that... She tried to turn her head but she couldn't... She was frozen in that position but for some odd reason, she didn't feel scared...
"Souta Higurashi! Do not tell me that in my absence you were not taught any manners whatsoever?! Your nee-chan will be fine without you.. Not only that but you shouldn't be here... It is time to go. Don't worry, Kagome's in good hands... She said so."
*Mama? I hear Mama and Souta... Souta is such a baka, I was taking care of him, not the other way around... Mama should know that..*
She could hear a small sigh, "Well, I guess he seemed strong enough to protect her...and if she said so, nee-chan must be safe... Hai, Mama, I'm coming."
*Wait! Souta? Mama? Where are you going? Why can't I see you? Why can't I lift my head? I'm forgetting something again, aren't I? Wait, Souta don't go! Mama, don't go yet!*
"There, there, you're okay now child..."
Kagome's eye's snapped open and she sat up, or tried to. As she was rising, she felt a pain sear her head and fell back onto her pillows. Her eyes focused in the darkness to see an old lady next to her... Looking around she took in her new setting and gasped... She was in a large canopied bed, in a room twice as big as her house. "Where am I?" she asked then a thought hit her... "It was all a dream wasn't it?"
"Hai, my child... You were dreaming, and sleeping peacefully till just a minute ago when you started to thrash about mumbling the name 'Souta' and for your mom... As for where we are, you're in the palace of the Western Lands."
Kagome took in a deep breath trying to register what the lady had said when earlier events came back to her. This time managing to jerk up and ignoring the headache, she turned swiftly and asked fearfully, "Souta...Where is Souta?!"
The lady looked at her, "Who's Souta?"
"My brother–Where's my brother?"
The look she was given answered the question but Kagome wouldn't accept it. Leaning toward the lady she asked again, "Where is Souta? Is Souta okay? Please tell me where he is!!!"
"Calm down child–"
Kagome didn't listen to the rest, swaying as she got up she ran to the door. She was in a corridor with a few people walking by but she couldn't see her brother anywhere. Turning to the other side, she saw a silver-haired boy stand next to her door. Ignoring him, she turned back around and started to walk down the hall...
"Wait!" he called for her.
Turning she asked him, "Do you know where my brother is?" Her eyes were stinging, as she remembered herself holding onto her brother, and him telling her about wolves...
The boy was looking at her with a weird expression on his face, almost as if he was mad at her. Then he spoke. "Your brother is... dead."
"No! You're lying!" Kagome shrieked, and turned away from him as tears streamed down her face. He grabbed her arm turning her back. Kagome glared at him through her tears and saw him take a step back when he saw she was crying. "You're lying! I just heard him five minutes ago! SOUTA'S NOT DEAD!"
"Keh, hit me then... Hit me as much as you want..." his voice was soft for some reason...
Kagome stopped hitting him and threw herself against him to cry. Everything was coming back to her...
~*~
Kagome woke up with sunlight in her eyes. She was back in her bed but this time no one was in her room. Sitting up, she leaned against her pillows as she sorted out her thoughts. She remembered how she had held Souta as he died... He was dead... She felt her eyes sting and wiped them away quickly... *I've done enough crying last night... How did I get back into bed anyways? And why am I here? Where is this place? But why did I dream about Souta yesturday?.. It was a weird dream... Souta... I should have protected you... * She wiped more tears and tried to calm herself... *I'm sorry Souta... But crying isn't going to bring you back is it?...*
"Oh you're awake," a cheerful voice said interrupting her thoughts. Kagome saw it was the same lady that was with her last night.
"I'm sorry about last night," Kagome whispered.
"Oh it's alright child. Don't worry about it."
"I didn't quite catch your name... I'm Kagome..."
"I'm Kaede, child. But don't worry about politeness. I'm sure you have questions, and I brought your breakfast. Why don't you ask them while you eat?" Kaede said bringing a tray with food. Giving the tray to Kagome, the lady around fifty, sat in the chair next to Kagome's bed.
Seeing the bread and fruit on the tray, Kagome's stomach gave a growl. Blushing she started to eat before thoughtfully asking, "I remember you said this was the palace of the Western Lands... But where is that? And how did I get here? Oh and who are you?"
Kaede answered, "Your village was probably one of the border villages between the Western lands and the Eastern lands... The Western is rule by the Inu Youkai, while the Eastern is ruled by the Wolf Youkai. You were brought here by Inuyasha after you purified half the demons fighting... I am also a miko and also I was the family's nurse..."
Kagome dropped the toast she had been eating, "Purified you say?" coughing, she asked.
"Here drink some of this water child," Kaede said handing her a cup of water. "Hai, there was no doubt about it. You'll probably still be tired after eating.. Inuyasha said other than you and your brother... There were only the wolf and inu youkai..."
"But I.. I'm no miko!" Kagome sputtered staring at Kaede.
Kaede looked at Kagome thoughtfully wondering if the girl truly did not know about her powers. "Are you sure you're not a miko?"
Kagome nodded vehemently. "I never showed signs of having miko powers. I couldn't heal unless I had herbs and only simple healing. I'm positive that you're mistaken."
"Well... That could be child..." Kaede said hesitantly and Kagome went back to eating.
"But why am I here? And who is Inuyasha?"
Kaede took a while before answering, "You're here because it seemed appropriate at the time..." She decided if the girl refused to acknowledge the presence of her miko powers, it was out of her hand. "As for Inuyasha, he's the youngest son of Inutaisho and Inari. Inari his mom is dead, and Inutaisho is the King of the Inu Youkai, Lord of the Western Lands..."
Kagome was chewing thoughtfully when she gulped... "Does Inuyasha have silver hair?"
"Hai, but so does his brother Sesshomaru..." Kaede replied before getting up. "I'm sorry Kagome, but I need to check up on something. Can we continue later?"
"Hai, and thank you for breakfast," Kagome answered smiling a little bit but Kaede saw traces of sorrow. "If only they could heal each other," she thought wistfully.
Knowing grief took time to pass, she just smiled and said, "Feel free to look around." With that Kaede was gone.
Kagome finished eating her breakfast as she locked her feelings inside. She decided she needed to take the tray back and find someone to tell her how to get back to her village. When she stood up, Kagome realized the nurse had been right about one thing, she was tired. Although her legs wobbled a bit a first, she got them to be firm and she walked out, carrying her tray.
~*~
"Houshi-dono, she complete denies being a miko... And I believe she's not lying. Kagome truly believes she's not a miko," Kaede said.
"Hmmm... You may be right, which can put us in an awkward situation... If the rumors are true that there's another youkai behind this whole war... I believe we need another miko like Midoriko for this war to end... Some of the inu youkai that came back with Inuyasha really were purified... But if she can only do it when she emotionally stressed...This presents a problem..."
~*~
Kagome was getting irritated when she asked over ten people how to leave the palace and only got weird looks or was just ignored. Finally when she ran into a girl who seemed to know how to get around, she told her she needed to speak with someone first. That was where she was heading at the moment.
When her escort stopped, Kagome looked at her. She pointed to the double doors. So Kagome walked up, knocked and entered...Before her was a huge mahogany table where three people sat. All had silver hair, and she recognized the boy she had cried on the night before.
The one in the middle arched an eye brow when she came in and asked, "What do you want?"
His voice had a commanding quality to it, and Kagome felt the urge to answer right away with respect. As she answered she observed the people sitting in front of her, "My name is Kagome Higurashi, sir. I don't know why I was brought here, but I'd like to go back." The one on the right was the one from last night, she thought she saw something twitch on his head when she spoke. The one on the left seemed older, colder, and more distant than the others. He had what looked like purple scars on his right cheek. The one on the middle, could only be the king... Kagome gulped when the king frowned.
"Go home?" he asked.
"Yes, I'd like to go back to my village." Kagome answered refusing to look down.
"Permission is not granted." was the reply as Kagome gaped openly while feeling a little indignant. *My brother just died... Who is he to say whether or not I can go home?*
Kagome narrowed her eyes and tried to stay calm. She asked politely, "May I ask why?"
"As the Lord of the Western Lands, I believe it would be more beneficial to both you and the Western Lands if you stayed here for a while." the king replied. "If anything is not to your liking, it will be fixed, miko."
"But I'm not a miko!" Kagome replied angrily.
As the one on the right was about to reply, the king cut in, "Whether you are a miko or not doesn't matter. You will stay."
"Most likely the village you were from is destroyed anyways," the one on the left sneered for the first time with no feeling. Kagome felt herself sway. The one on the right, which Kagome presumed was Inuyasha stood up angrily.
"Sesshomaru! You didn't have to say that!" Inuyasha yelled angrily.
Sesshomaru replied, "It's the truth. We haven't sent our soldiers back to fight yet, and the wolf youkai also needed to recuperate which includes eating... Her village had a high chance of being attacked."
The king intervened, "Both of you quiet!" Then with a softer voice which surprised both Inuyasha and Sesshomaru, he spoke to Kagome. "It is as he said... There is almost no chance that your village is still in tact."
Kagome nodded her head roaring and turned to leave. Blackness was creeping up on her and she closed her eyes reaching her hands out to grab onto a wall when she felt someone support her. Leaning on him, she fainted.
~*~
Inuyasha returned to the conference room to see that Kaede and Miroku were also there.
"Getting attached aren't we?" Sesshomaru said softly glaring at Inuyasha.
Inuyasha glared back, "No! That's a stupid idea even for you Sesshomaru...I killed her brother!"
"Stupid? Who came back with a stalemate from his battle?" Sesshomaru snapped.
"SHE WAS FREAKING PURIFYING EVERYTHING, WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO?" Inuyasha roared.
"You could have taken that opportunity to kill that filth Kouga... A real demon would have...Not only that but a few of your men deserted to my fraction earlier today...Seems they're losing faith in their commander," Sesshomaru sneered smugly.
Inuyasha stood up gripping his sword, "Sesshomaru, you bastard.... I'm GOING TO KILL YOU!"
"BOTH OF YOU WILL BE QUIET!" Inutaisho snapped as silence again descended on the room, with Inuyasha sitting.
Clearing her throat, Kaede started, "After speaking with the girl, I think she truly does not know her miko ability. She also doesn't know how her brother had died...."
"Inuyasha, I was wondering if you're going to tell her how her brother died?" the monk asked when Kaede finished.
Inuyasha sulked, "No, she wouldn't believe her brother was even dead yesterday. And today she fainted before I could say anything. Keh, that girl seems to do nothing but fainting!"
"Inuyasha!" Kaede snapped, as a nurse for the family over the years she could speak easily to them even before Inutaisho. "Kagome-chan fainted because the amount of energy needed for any miko to do what was done two days ago is enormous... Not only that but she is dealing with the fact her brother has died."
Inutaisho coughed. "That and her village's death, because of Sesshomaru."
Kaede drew in her breath, "This isn't going well... Inutaisho-sama, if Kagome-chan is to develop her powers fully enough so that she may use them when she wants to, she needs to be emotionally stable."
The monk added his thought, "Inuyasha, don't tell her how Souta was killed."
Inuyasha growled, "Why?"
The monk sighed, "Because if you tell her, you killed him by accident when he ran in front of Kouga, she's going to hate you. If she ever forgives you it'll be in years. We can't afford to let this war last for years. Too many people, humans and youkai alike are dying."
"She'll hate him more if she finds out later," Kaede cautioned as the meeting went on.
~*~
Kagome woke up hungry. She was in her room again, and blushed realizing that this was getting to be a bothersome habit. Getting up, she decided to look for the kitchen since she remembered she was stuck there for a while anyways.
Kagome was walking towards the kitchen which she found earlier when she stopped. Souta was running across the hall... Feeling her heart pound, she ran over to him and hugged him. "Souta!"
"Um, can you let me go please?"
The voice was different than Souta's, more polite. Letting go, Kagome saw it wasn't Souta but a different boy, Souta's age. This boy had longer hair and was wearing a demon exterminator suit of black and blue. Blushing she backed up, her eyes burning. "I'm sorry, I...mistook...you for someone else." She was about to run back when another voice stopped her.
"Oh don't worry about Kohaku. He's extremely shy around strangers," a cheerful girl's voice replied. Turning around, Kagome saw a girl around her age in a demon exterminator's suit similar to the boy's but hers was black and pale purple. Her hair was tied back in a magenta ribbon.
Feeling embarrassed at herself, Kagome replied smiling faintly, "Oh, no problem... It was my fault..."
The girl looked at her curiously before smiling, "I'm Sango, Kohaku why don't you go find father?" When the boy ran off she turned to Kagome. "He reminds you of your brother?"
Kagome's eyes blurred when the words hit the spot.
Sango gave her an understanding smile, "It's okay to be sad when they're gone."
"They're about the same age, I think... The same height..." Kagome replied softly. "Thank you, I'm Kagome."
~*~
I update about once a week, and sorry but Souta is dead. He won't be revived but... ^^ He's still going to play a part... Sorry there wasn't a lot of Inu/ Kag interaction in this chapter... I promise there will some next chapter.^^
Thanks to: Sailor-helios, xo Kagome ox, Jessica C, Puppkid, Arella Hallo, and Alaskantiger for reviewing. ^^
