A/N- Hey everyone! Sorry for the wait. I know I left you had a bad cliff hanger…AHHHH! *dodges sharp pointy objects being hurled in my direction*
Well, as I've said before, the plot is going to be slowing down a bit. I need to build a little more characterization, so don't expect too much action at the moment. I dedicate this chapter to everyone who reviewed! I got the most reviews I have ever gotten for a chapter last time, so thank you SO much!
Enjoy!
Disclaimer- Hmm, if I owned Inuyasha…..oops, wait this fic is rated PG! Haha, he's all yours Rumiko Takahashi!
The Colors of Emotions
Chapter 24
A Connection
Kagome immediately panicked and sprang from her bedding. Shippou was knocked over in the process, but right then, she didn't particularly care. She was too worked up to focus and figure out what to do. 'Why is my lip bleeding?! It was only a dream!' She frantically tried to sort out what was going on, while habitually pacing back and forth. But all Kagome got from her panicked musings was a headache, and she plopped back down on the ground with a large 'thud' and emitted a strangled cry.
Miroku was apparently awoken by the desperate noise, for his violet eyes were now watching Kagome worriedly. She seemed oblivious to his being awake as she had wrapped her hands around her knees, and laid her head on her arms. From the shaking of her shoulders, the monk could guess that she was trying to muffle her crying.
"Kagome?" Miroku whispered. Kagome's head shot up, and red-rimmed, eyes met his own. She immediately started wiping away her tears on the sleeve of the haori she wore, and put on an incredibly fake smile for the monk.
"Good morning Miroku." Kagome cheerfully commented.
"Quit the act. What's up?"
"It's nothing. I had another nightmare. It just scared me a bit." Kagome whispered. She seemed incredibly nervous, and it didn't take a genius to know she was lying.
"You had another nightmare?" Miroku asked.
Kagome nodded her head. She didn't want to tell anyone that her nightmares were a little bit too realistic for her liking. It wouldn't settle too well that she was having dreams about kissing Naraku either. Kagome shuddered at the reminder, and Miroku gave her a questioning look.
"Kagome, you have had two upsetting nightmares in a row. What are they about?" Miroku pushed her for more information. She was hiding something. It was obvious.
"Miroku, I need to talk to Kaede. Do you know where she might be?"
Miroku saw the obvious change of subject, but realized how desperate Kagome seemed and let her go. "She said something about treating a villager's daughter last night. She might still be there, it's the closest home to the river."
"Thank you Miroku." Kagome rushed out of the hut leaving a worried Miroku behind. Not knowing what else to do, the monk went back to sleep.
It was about ten minutes later when Inuyasha came striding into the hut. He seemed in a generally good mood before realizing that someone was missing…
"Where the hell is Kagome!?" Inuyasha yelled into Miroku's face. Miroku ignored the hanyou after being rudely awakened by him a few moments before.
"Inuyasha, what is it now?" A groggy Sango mumbled from where she had just woke up. Kirara was awake too, but Shippou still slept peacefully from where Kagome had tossed him to the floor.
"I'll tell you what it is. The little wench isn't supposed to leave my sight unless I know where she is going. Now spill it monk before I make it so you can't ever have children!"
Miroku 's face grew slightly pale at the threat, and he wasn't about to provoke Inuyasha anymore when the hanyou was apparently quite pissed, so he gave in to reason and told, "She went to find Kaede. And she was quite upset when she left, so I wouldn't recommend you chasing after her."
But Inuyasha was gone before the monk had even finished.
* * * * *
Kagome easily found the hut that Miroku had told her about, and she found Kaede filling a bucket of water by the river. The young miko approached the older woman and set down next to her on the bank.
"Kaede, may I talk to you?"
"Of course child. The young girl who was ill no longer has a fever, so I have time to spare until she wakes."
"Okay. Well, I think I have an answer to my emotion-attacking problem."
Kaede raised her eyebrows and commented, "Kagome, the others told me of your little escapade with the kotsonu. I do hope you realize now how serious your problem is. I warned you that you cannot attack if you do not have enough energy to sustain it, and--"
"I know, I know." Kagome interrupted. "But I don't think I will attack anymore. When I had the Shikon shard around my neck, it absorbed my energy before I had even built up enough to attack. It will stop me from attacking." Kagome smiled. She was expecting Kaede to say something along the lines of, 'That's wonderful Kagome' or maybe, 'Now we have nothing to worry about'.
But Kaede said something very different. "Kagome, this may be a very bad thing."
"What do you mean?" The smile slipped from Kagome's features.
"You say the jewel absorbs your energy?"
"Yes."
"You do realize that you energy is part demon, do you not?"
Kagome sat in stunned silence for a time. 'How could I have forgotten about that?' She mentally berated herself.
Kaede continued, "Kagome, you could be unintentionally corrupting the jewel."
"But you're not sure. I mean, what if the demon magic isn't affecting the jewel at all?"
"Listen child, I don't know what kind of affect your attack is having on jewel shard. But I suppose for the time being, it is the better alternative. Your life has more value than the constant purity of the Shikon jewel."
Kagome smiled. "Thank you Kaede."
* * * * *
Inuyasha followed after Kagome's scent trail. It was very clear still, and it wasn't long before the hanyou could hear her voice from up ahead. 'Well, she's safe.' Inuyasha reasoned. But it didn't diminish the anger at her for running off without telling him.
The disgruntled hanyou leaped into a nearby tree, and sat on a branch while eavesdropping on the conversation going on below him. He was surprised to hear that Kagome might be corrupting the jewel shard, but Inuyasha figured that it didn't really matter. Naraku had a good chunk of the jewel, and his piece was no doubt smothered in malice.
Inuyasha heard Kaede say, "Your life has more value than the constant purity of the Shikon jewel." And the hanyou agreed full-heartedly. He knew the burden the jewel was to Kikyo, and Kagome was too innocent to be worrying over the same problems as her previous incarnation.
Thinking about Kikyo and then comparing her to Kagome made his heart sting. Inuyasha knew he shouldn't compare the two, and he normally didn't. But all this talk about Kagome's purity brought back unwanted memories of Kikyo. Kikyo's heart was bent on protecting the jewel from corruption, no matter whom she hurt in the process. It was ironic that Kagome, her re-incarnation, apparently didn't give a hoot to whether or not the jewel was pure. As long as her shard prevented her from causing anyone harm.
Inuyasha's musings were interrupted when his attention was snapped back to the conversation going on below him…
* * * * *
"Umm, Kaede? Can nightmares have a physical affect on a person?"
"Why do you ask Kagome?"
"Well…umm…I've been having these…umm…dreams, more like nightmares. I've had two in a row, and they seem really real."
"Kagome, a nightmare is merely something your own mind came up with. If something hurts you in a dream, it isn't hurting you in reality."
Kagome visibly relaxed. But Kaede continued, "But, if someone has influence over another's mind, that is an entirely different story. If one is connected to another so strongly that they can put themselves into the other's mind, then physical affects occur.
As example, let's say Sango was able to put herself into Miroku's mind through a very strong connection between them. Then, if Sango bashed Miroku with her boomerang, then he would have bruises in the morning." Kaede cracked a smile at the thought, but her smile fell at seeing Kagome's horrified expression. "Is there something wrong child? It is near impossible that someone could enter your mind, I am sure your nightmares are merely the after-affects of such a stressful few days for you. You look like a wreck, no offense dear."
Kagome's mind was racing. 'Naraku must be connected to me somehow.' "Umm…Kaede? Is there anyway to prevent someone from entering your mind like that if there was a connection?"
Kaede gave Kagome a worried glance. "The only way I suppose would be to get one's mind out of reach of the other. Either that or destroy the connection. Kagome, do you have reason to believe that someone is entering your mind?"
'I can't tell her. I can't tell anyone. The connection with me and Naraku must be the demon power flowing in the…the jewel. I've started having these dreams when I got the shard back, so that must be it. Everyone will make me remove the jewel to keep him from connecting with me. And then I would be vulnerable to attack them. I might even attack when I'm asleep too! What if I had a dream that made me really angry or something, and I wasn't wearing the jewel?
There is no way I can take off the jewel shard.'
With her mind set, Kagome smiled and answered Kaede's question, "No. I think you're right, I'm just a little stressed. I think I might go home for a little bit. 'I might be out of reach of Naraku there.'
"That's a good idea child."
* * * * *
Kagome had returned to Kaede's hut a short while later, and with a few quick good-byes and a near-empty yellow bag in hand, Kagome set off in the all too familiar path towards the well. She hadn't run across Inuyasha that morning, which was probably a good thing. He wouldn't want her going home anyway.
Kagome walked into the clearing where the wooden well was located and made her way over to it. When she was barely a few feet away, a strange sense of deja-vu overcame her. The last time she had been in this spot, the kotsonu had attacked her. A chill ran up Kagome's spine, and she made a lunge for the well to escape the frightening memories.
She hopped over the well's edge and closed her eyes while waiting for the familiar sensation that meant she was returning to the future.
But it never came.
Instead, she had barely fallen a few feet before a hand grabbed the back of the haori she wore, and Kagome was effortlessly lifted from the well.
She opened her eyes when she felt her feet hit solid ground, and she was met with golden orbs boring into her own.
"Where do you think you're going?" Inuyasha casually asked, as if he was merely commenting on the weather.
"Home." Kagome defiantly answered. She tried to wriggle out of the grasp he kept of the back of the haori, but he merely tightened his hold.
"I don't remember you asking me if you could go back to your time. I also can't recall you asking me if you could prance off by yourself this morning looking for Kaede."
Kagome really wasn't in the mood to fight with Inuyasha. So with a tremendous sigh, she answered him. "Listen, I didn't think it was a big deal for me to walk to the river by myself this morning. You weren't there for me to tell anyway. And no offense, but you aren't too fond of letting me go back to my time, so I figured it better not to ask you. I'm sorry, I hadn't realized that you were so serious about making sure I'm okay."
Inuyasha looked at her incredulously. She had just apologized, and completely avoided fighting with him. That was just weird.
"Hey, what's up? You aren't acting normal."
"I have a lot on my mind."
Inuyasha remembered overhearing Kagome say that she was stressed, so that probably explained her behavior.
"Inuyasha, please let go of me. I want to go home now. I'm only going to stay a couple of days, I promise."
"Okay." And he let go of the haori.
Kagome gaped at him. "Okay? You're seriously letting me go?"
"Yep. But on one condition."
Kagome stared suspiciously at him. "What's the condition?"
"You know the rules I made Kagome. So I'm going too."
Inuyasha picked up Kagome, and with a cocky grin, he jumped into the well.
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