"Oh...so nice...so nice..."
Kagome murmured, face down on her pillow. It had been two weeks since she'd last returned home. The pale comforter begged her to stay a moment or two longer, but any hope of that happening quickly died upon Mrs. Higurashi entering Kagome's bedroom, Souta following close behind.
"Ohayou, Kagome-chan. Time to get up." Mother said gently, drawing back the curtains to result in burning bright light streaming on her face.
Not fun. Kagome moaned and sat up, walking into the bathroom to brush her teeth. A small gasp brushed past her lips as she studied her reflection. There wasn't so much of a huge difference as to be frightening or anything. She hadn't been gone long enough for something of that magnitude to come about. But Kagome didn't readily recognize herself. /You're just sleepy./ She frowned, leaning over to flip the water spigot.
Now that day had turned into 2 days, 2 days into what felt like forever. A week, actually. He got pissed when she was only two minutes late—although how he figured out the time so precisely without a watch was something she lacked the ability to know. Kagome felt like she had fallen into routine. Everything sparkling, shiny smooth normal. The cold astringency was somehow muted by her newfound awareness that this was how life should be for her. She wasn't supposed to know how to make arrows, or to pull shards out of bloodthirsty demons, or to get a bloodthirsty demon to turn back to the friend she companied and loved.
Kagome wasn't used to it at all. She longed for a random outburst from a friend. Anything strange was welcome to her eyes at this point. /So why don't you go back, baka? / The group needed her, didn't they? To get the shards. To fight the big bad guy and to save the day. And that was it. She wasn't that important, after all. He could find Kikyou, now, and they could go searching in their happy splendor. The baby had told her—Onigumo, actually—that she was pure except for her hatred of Kikyou. Because Kikyou was taking her away from Inuyasha, and spilling jealousy into her heart. So leaving him so suddenly should've killed that darkness. Now she was like Mary, mother of God, or something. Entirely clear of the black plague that seemed to be like the gauze hanging on some fancy dress upon each and every single person in the entirety of the universe. Kagome sighed louder then she'd planned while sitting in Math class, cheek turned to face the window.
"Is this about the badass boyfriend, Ome-chan?"
Kagome laughed at the question, knowing it was partly true. She shook her head and smiled in an attempt to ward off any others, burrowing her chin into the crook of her arm. Kagome felt oddly confused. For the past three days she hadn't been dreaming of mutant protractors, rulers with razor sharp edges and shiny teeth. She had been dreaming of sakura blossoms. Flowers that she didn't even like all that much. Maybe she had been cursed. Maybe she was just in a deep, long sleep, that had lasted for a week. And the others were worried about her. And she had a fever. And she was twisting and turning and maybe she was bleeding profusely from some limb. Her newfound injuries got longer and more gruesome before Ayumi nudged her once more after her question wasn't answered.
"...I guess so, then."
She didn't try to pat Ayumi's shoulder to reassure her. The bell rang, and then she left the room with her backpack slung carefully over one slender arm. An arm that had toned muscles that many of her friends questioned. 'It looks like she could throw me into a wall' and 'Wow, have you been weightlifting?' and 'Where have you been?'. The third one was the one asked the most often when they touched her hard flesh, and noted the calluses on her knuckles. It looked like she was preparing to start fighting with someone. Which she was, in a sense. But not if when she woke up from whatever odd coma she was in...then she would have no muscles, no calluses, and she wouldn't wake up at the crack of dawn.
"What's WRONG with you?"
She asked herself silently. 15 minutes ago she had been happy. Peachy keen, jellybean. Right as rain. Kagome was confused and restless and...what was the word? Lonely. Not meaning to buy somehow failing to do so, she left home without saying a word, feet about to skim the top of the well. The heavy, Please Don't Kill Me I Brought You Presents backpack was filled with more things then usual. Maybe she wasn't asleep.
But then her hands and knees hit the bottom of the pit with a rather large bang.
"—Itai..."
She wished they weren't mad, or worried as hell. She didn't like to inspire worry.
/...am I dying, or what?/
Kagome murmured, face down on her pillow. It had been two weeks since she'd last returned home. The pale comforter begged her to stay a moment or two longer, but any hope of that happening quickly died upon Mrs. Higurashi entering Kagome's bedroom, Souta following close behind.
"Ohayou, Kagome-chan. Time to get up." Mother said gently, drawing back the curtains to result in burning bright light streaming on her face.
Not fun. Kagome moaned and sat up, walking into the bathroom to brush her teeth. A small gasp brushed past her lips as she studied her reflection. There wasn't so much of a huge difference as to be frightening or anything. She hadn't been gone long enough for something of that magnitude to come about. But Kagome didn't readily recognize herself. /You're just sleepy./ She frowned, leaning over to flip the water spigot.
Now that day had turned into 2 days, 2 days into what felt like forever. A week, actually. He got pissed when she was only two minutes late—although how he figured out the time so precisely without a watch was something she lacked the ability to know. Kagome felt like she had fallen into routine. Everything sparkling, shiny smooth normal. The cold astringency was somehow muted by her newfound awareness that this was how life should be for her. She wasn't supposed to know how to make arrows, or to pull shards out of bloodthirsty demons, or to get a bloodthirsty demon to turn back to the friend she companied and loved.
Kagome wasn't used to it at all. She longed for a random outburst from a friend. Anything strange was welcome to her eyes at this point. /So why don't you go back, baka? / The group needed her, didn't they? To get the shards. To fight the big bad guy and to save the day. And that was it. She wasn't that important, after all. He could find Kikyou, now, and they could go searching in their happy splendor. The baby had told her—Onigumo, actually—that she was pure except for her hatred of Kikyou. Because Kikyou was taking her away from Inuyasha, and spilling jealousy into her heart. So leaving him so suddenly should've killed that darkness. Now she was like Mary, mother of God, or something. Entirely clear of the black plague that seemed to be like the gauze hanging on some fancy dress upon each and every single person in the entirety of the universe. Kagome sighed louder then she'd planned while sitting in Math class, cheek turned to face the window.
"Is this about the badass boyfriend, Ome-chan?"
Kagome laughed at the question, knowing it was partly true. She shook her head and smiled in an attempt to ward off any others, burrowing her chin into the crook of her arm. Kagome felt oddly confused. For the past three days she hadn't been dreaming of mutant protractors, rulers with razor sharp edges and shiny teeth. She had been dreaming of sakura blossoms. Flowers that she didn't even like all that much. Maybe she had been cursed. Maybe she was just in a deep, long sleep, that had lasted for a week. And the others were worried about her. And she had a fever. And she was twisting and turning and maybe she was bleeding profusely from some limb. Her newfound injuries got longer and more gruesome before Ayumi nudged her once more after her question wasn't answered.
"...I guess so, then."
She didn't try to pat Ayumi's shoulder to reassure her. The bell rang, and then she left the room with her backpack slung carefully over one slender arm. An arm that had toned muscles that many of her friends questioned. 'It looks like she could throw me into a wall' and 'Wow, have you been weightlifting?' and 'Where have you been?'. The third one was the one asked the most often when they touched her hard flesh, and noted the calluses on her knuckles. It looked like she was preparing to start fighting with someone. Which she was, in a sense. But not if when she woke up from whatever odd coma she was in...then she would have no muscles, no calluses, and she wouldn't wake up at the crack of dawn.
"What's WRONG with you?"
She asked herself silently. 15 minutes ago she had been happy. Peachy keen, jellybean. Right as rain. Kagome was confused and restless and...what was the word? Lonely. Not meaning to buy somehow failing to do so, she left home without saying a word, feet about to skim the top of the well. The heavy, Please Don't Kill Me I Brought You Presents backpack was filled with more things then usual. Maybe she wasn't asleep.
But then her hands and knees hit the bottom of the pit with a rather large bang.
"—Itai..."
She wished they weren't mad, or worried as hell. She didn't like to inspire worry.
/...am I dying, or what?/