The Low Down: This may get a little odd… but just keep the chapter title in mind. I hope it's not too confusing, but just try it out. It'll all fit.
Sorry for delay in chapter… Bonfire…STAT exam (or more like studying with my cute STAT boy) …football against pansy rival dorm wanting only two hand touch… Bah! We made them cry. ^__^
Sango and Kagome will have their reconciliation next chapter… promise!
Stone Gardens
Chapter 4
Whispers to the Heart
***
"Kagome?" Ms. Higurashi placed a breakfast plate in front of her daughter. "Can you tell me why I seem to be missing a few dishes?"
Kagome stopped mid bite in her scrambled eggs.
"And why on earth I found pieces of one all over the walk outside the garden." She continued with the note of motherly warning.
Think fast! Kagome frantically sought an explanation, but nothing sounded defendable in her head. "I…" she stuttered and earned an even more skeptical look from her mother. "There was this howling cat outside my window… I got a little too frustrated I guess." She said sheepishly.
She expected the eyebrow twitch. She was waiting for the red face and dagger eyes. She was waiting for a lecture to ring in her ears. She wasn't expecting a soft laugh and a shake of the head.
Kagome sighed internally when it didn't look like she was about to be murdered on the spot. Maybe she'd just gotten too accustomed to homicidal hanyous and forgot about how someone normal would react.
"I did hear the most horrible yowling last night." Ms. Higurashi laughed quietly. "I can't really blame you for wanting to stop it. Just next time, don't throw my plates."
"Yes mama." Kagome said quickly. "I'm sorry. I just wasn't thinking I guess."
"Just go clean up the mess before you go to school." Her mother said and went back to breakfast. "The last thing we need is for Miroku to see and us get in trouble for something so small."
Kagome couldn't stop the smirk as she thought that was unlikely.
But she finished her food and grabbed a small trash sack and headed outside towards the garden. She saw the pieces flung all around the ground and smiled at herself. She'd cleared the wall very well and had she been able to see well, she might have just hit the creep.
Speaking of… Kagome walked up to the weeping tree to make sure e was once again stone and not likely to change that state any time soon. He was, but she frowned at how she found him. He had his arms crossed over his chest and was pouting like a spanked child.
She snorted. 'What possible right does he have to pout after how he behaved last night?' she thought spitefully.
He didn't deserve the pity! The first time he even so much as looked at her, he tried to kill her. She could understand that he had mistaken her for the woman who had in killed him and been understandably angry. But to continue his aggression when she had done nothing to him in the least, he could pout for all eternity and she wouldn't fell the slightest bit of sympathy.
He just might pout for all eternity for all she knew. How long Inuyasha would continue to come to life at night, Kagome had no idea. She didn't know if the day would come when the spell just stopped working. She also didn't know what would happen if something happened to him. What if something broke the statue, even a little chip?
Strong and fragile, stone and breakable, Inuyasha was at the mercy of the world. How easy would it be for something to hit the stone image and break a little triangular ear off his head or snap a claw? He might never wake again. He'd only be some distant nightmare.
'I wouldn't have to deal with him anymo...' Kagome's thought stopped cold and she gasped.
'What was that?!' She thought with a shudder.
How could such a terrible, vile thought come to her head? It wasn't her.
Alright, she was angry with Inuyasha, but there was no way that she just didn't want him to ever wake up again! Such an idea was cruel and unforgivable. Why would she think such things? It wasn't her!
She wasn't such a horrible person that she wanted him to be stone forever. It would be no less that murder.
Kagome sunk to her knees on the stone and braced herself on trembling hands. She could feel her heart beating against her throat and swallowed nervously. She was afraid; possibly more than when she'd first seen Inuyasha, and it was a bitter fear. She was afraid of herself, of her heart. Afraid that inside her soul was something dark and cruel.
It just wasn't her.
"Kagome?" a gentle voice called from behind and when she turned, Kagome found her brother standing in the door frame holding her bag.
Sota watched his sister for a moment before he called out to her. He watched her sink down to her knees and became worried when he saw her start to shake. "Are you all right?" he asked and walked quickly to her.
Kagome pulled on a quick smile and nodded to him. She quickly swept what was left of the broken pieces in the little trash bag and grabbed her backpack from her little brother.
"Let's go squirt." She smiled down at him as he followed by her side.
Sango watched them leave, looking at Kagome with the same concern as the little boy beside her. She didn't like that reaction one bit and decided that she needed to keep an even closer eye on Kagome. But also, and more difficult, she had to earn Kagome's trust again.
She needed to know what had happened in Kagome's mind to make her so afraid. Not being able to read minds, she would need Kagome to talk to her again to tell her just what was going on.
~*~
Kagome relished in the normality of the day. Classes with other normal students in a normal school where she fit in so perfectly that she was hardly distinguishable at all from al the other girls in little green uniforms; it was exactly what she wanted and by the time lunch rolled around, she could barely keep the silly grin to a peaceful smile.
The students were friendly, and she'd already taken up with three happy and talkative girls who'd lost no time in inviting her to spend lunch with them. They chatted amicably about boys, asking her of her old life, her family, and any old boyfriends, which Kagome admitted embarrassedly there had not been any. They were immensely interested in the handsome shrine keeper, in training to be a priest, Kagome told them about and were already planning when they would be able to join her at her home to study or just have girl time.
There had even been a boy. A polite and friendly young man who had come to introduce himself to her while she ate with her new friends. He was kind and attractive and said his name was Hojo and by the excited gleam in her new friends' eyes, he was considered highly desirable in this school.
Kagome gladly forgot the events of the morning while she talked with Hojo, just grateful for not having to feel like a detestable smudge of a person.
The day passed quickly and before she knew it, classes were over and she was walking back home to the shrine. But at least a little bit of normal was walking back with her and Hojo told her about the local hangouts and what people generally did for fun in the area. Kagome smiled in simple bliss of having a conversation with someone who was treating her kindly and not secretly plotting or threatening her life.
Simple, normal, human interaction: how she had missed this!
All too soon, she found herself at the high steps leading to the shrine, and she found herself saying 'goodbye' to Hojo.
"I'll see you tomorrow." He called out and waved as he walked away.
"Yeah." Kagome said under her breath and waved in return. "I guess you will."
She gave a sigh and looked up at the stairs. Normal was gone and she had nothing else to do but trudge up to the insanity that had become her life. She walked slowly up the stairs, savoring the peace just a little longer, and she was soon almost at the top.
It was then, with the last set of steps in front of her and not yet able to see above the top, that she heard Miroku's distinct voice just above the ledge. She dropped and pressed herself against the stairs, keeping as quiet as possible, and listened.
"You're being paranoid." She heard him say.
"Miroku," Sango's voice said, "I know what I saw and something this definitely wrong with Kagome."
Kagome smothered a gasp. They were arguing about her?
"If it was because of what Inuyasha did to her," Sango said, "I swear I'll make that demon suffer so long he'll never want to wake up again."
"Don't worry so much." Miroku said. "We'd be able to see if there was something wrong and nothing has been out of the ordinary. Just be patient."
"I've been with Kagome too long not to recognize when something is seriously affecting her, and I won't just stand by and let something happen to her." Sango was almost growling now. "I won't let what you say happened in the past happen to Kagome."
Now what did that mean? Kagome was straining to hear more of their argument and remain hidden. She held her breath listening for any clues to what Sango could have meant. Just a little more information and maybe she could figure out what was going on.
"Kagome!" Sota came running up the stairs and Kagome nearly jumped out of her skin. She was on her feet in a flash as her brother ran up to her and she clapped a hand over his mouth before he could ask what she was doing. Giving him a stern look, she grabbed his hand and lead him quickly up the rest of the stairs.
Just as she thought, as soon as their heads peeked out from the rim, she found Miroku and Sango looking at them surprised. Miroku pulled on a smile quickly.
"Ah, Kagome! Sota!" he chimed. "You're home all ready. How did you enjoy your first day in your new schools?" He sounded normal enough, but Kagome knew not to buy it. Sango had that familiar sad expression again and wasn't looking her in the eyes.
Sota was still oblivious however and rushed straight up to Miroku and started telling him everything he could remember about the school day. He grabbed Miroku's robe and practically dragged him back towards the house, asking him to help with his homework. In just a few short days, Sota had come to admire Miroku greatly. The kid really did need a male role model that wasn't constantly trying to exorcise the coffee pot.
However, this left Kagome alone with Sango, and they stood regarding one another.
What had she just heard? Sango had been watching over her for a long time? That can't be possible when she only met the woman a week before. But from just the little bit of argument she just heard, the woman seemed to care about her.
Kagome hesitantly met Sango's eyes and was surprised to see she had not stopped studying her with the same sadness since she appeared at the top of the stairs.
"I…" Kagome muttered. "I have to go help Momma with dinner." She said in a rush and ran off towards the house.
~*~
The sun sank lazily in the evening sky. Red light bathed the garden and flickered through the vines to the sleeping figure hidden from the world. When the last ray of light faded from his body, the stone began to crack, ever so faintly at first, and increasingly violent with each passing moment.
His eyes glowed beneath the stone, an eerie gold, and with a fierce snarl, Inuyasha came to life and flung stone pieces from his hair and clothes.
The growl from his throat died when he was free from his rock shell, but another growl continued and he tried to squash it with clawed hands.
Inuyasha was hungrier than he had ever been in his life and his stomach was protesting violently. The aching inside his belly was so consuming he actually felt the need to vomit. There was no way he could go another night without food.
He glanced to the wall facing the humans' house and snorted indignantly. That foolish girl had taken pity on his miserable form the night before and offered him her family's food. There was nothing else for his pride to do but throw it back in her cocky little face.
He didn't need the woman's charity. He could find what he needed himself.
His decision made, Inuyasha took off toward the opposite wall. He was up and out with a single leap and raced down a steep incline to streets of stone.
Large, fast-moving contraptions with glowing lights blared at him with a loud and hideous noise that hurt his ears and he rushed across the marvelously paved road avoiding them. Huge buildings, made from more stone and glass instead of wood loomed over him from every side, and more people than he had ever seen in his life pushed against him on the street.
The people… the one thing that time didn't change. They pointed at him, gaped at his ears, whispered about him in voices they thought he could not hear. He hated it. As quickly as he could plow through, he rushed from the street-side crowd to a building and leapt high up its side.
A cry sounded below him as his claws sunk into the wall and caught. Inuyasha paid no attention to the excitement on the ground as he swiftly scaled the building. Let them scream; he didn't care. He was still just a monster to them.
He reached the top and pulled himself over the edge. Finally he could look out over the area to find his bearings and perhaps his old hunting grounds, but as he gazed over horizon, Inuyasha discovered just how much the world could change in five-hundred years, and he became afraid.
No. No, this couldn't be. He wasn't high enough. He just couldn't see far enough.
He leapt from building to building to find a higher place. He had to find some place where he could see beyond the world of lights. He finally came to a building higher than any other around and pulled himself up to the highest point, hanging from a tall metal pole pointing up at the top.
But it was all the same.
Every direction he looked, there was nothing but lights and stone. The building, the streets, everything in this world was made of stone, and it was filled with unfamiliar sights, sounds, and smells.
Inuyasha realized then, he was a stranger in a strange world.
He sat down at the building's ledge, just staring out into the noisy world. When had everything changed? Where had his forest gone where he'd hunted to survive? Where were the rice fields and streams and village huts? Everything he'd once known was gone. Everyone he'd once known was dead.
He was alone.
'What do I do now?' he thought, 'Where can I go?' but then snorted at himself. What else would he do? Obviously he couldn't go anywhere thanks to the stone sleep. He was confined to the garden, a prisoner of his own body.
But if he could break the spell… no… not even then. He didn't know anything about magic. He wouldn't know where to start. But even if he could break the spell, what could he do then. He didn't know anything about this world. How would he survive?
Inuyasha was helpless, and he hated every bit of it.
'Not only helpless…' the voice in his mind spoke, 'but at risk. Any bumbling fool could come along and chip my body while I sleep and that would be all it took to kill me. Just one swift hit… and besides, that girl does hold a grudge against me.'
He snarled at the thought. Why shouldn't the girl try to kill him? Kikyo had done the same thing.
'No way.' He thought with a snort. 'Kikyo caught me off guard. She made me foolish and weak and unprepared for the final attack. I won't make that mistake again.'
'But I mustn't take the chance.' An insistent and oddly demanding part of his mind urged. 'Take care of the girl now before she becomes a threat! Before she has a chance to kill me! Then I won't have to worry. Take care of her first.'
Inuyasha shook his head and rubbed at his temple that had developed a dull ache. The girl was too weak and pathetic to be any danger. There wasn't any need to bother about her.
'Kikyo was a warrior: stern and brutal in battle.' He thought, 'This girl cried and cringed at a little snarl. She's no Kikyo.'
~*~
It was still well before sunrise when Miroku was surprised to see Inuyasha pull himself back over the garden wall and plop down on the grass. Another hour and he would have followed after his charge, but it seemed like the cursed demon needed some privacy.
To lose everything he'd ever known and suddenly be trapped with no choices. Yeah, Miroku could sympathize with that.
Inuyasha was starving and was to the point where he wasn't even hiding it anymore, and that actually had Miroku worried. He had not even been noticed from his perch on the wall.
He watched his protectorate sit tiredly on a bench and look up at the stars, straight through him in fact. 'Why is Inuyasha starving so badly?' Miroku shook his head at his own question. Naturally he had a higher metabolism than a human and his body demanded greater stores of energy, but also, there was no telling just how much of his strength was used every time his body converted its cells to stone and back.
But if Inuyasha would not accept food from Kagome, then Miroku betted the stubborn hanyou wouldn't be any more likely to accept it from him. So how could he change the situation before Inuyasha's own pride killed him?
He rolled his eyes and gave an internal sigh.
In the quiet calm of her bedroom, Kagome woke up in a cold sweat and looked around frantically. Her breathing was fast and choppy and her heart was racing. It had been the most terrible nightmare she could remember.
It was night, and Inuyasha was still stone. She had been smiling, but not the smile she knew. It had been cruel, spiteful, and calculating.
She brushed the hair away from her face and discovered her cheeks were wet and grainy. When had she started crying? Oh yes… she remembered. She'd held the monk's staff, although she couldn't remember where she'd taken it, and was holding it high and ready.
She knew the intent of that weapon as she stood over Inuyasha's helpless stone body, and she had been smiling.
That was when she woke up.
She flew out of bed and rushed from her room. She felt like she wanted to vomit. She felt like she wanted to curl up in a ball and hide in a dark corner. But most of all, right then, she needed to see Inuyasha, in the flesh, and know that it hadn't been real.
She leapt down the stairs and ran out of the house into the cool night air, heading to the garden.
When she reached the door, however, Kagome couldn't find the nerve to take a step further. Right in front of her, sitting near the tree and still oblivious to her presence, Inuyasha was looking up to the sky with the same sad face she'd felt so much emotion for when she first saw his statue.
Her heart clenched in her chest.
He shone in the moonlight: a brilliant flash of silver in a gray and sleepy world. Dangerous and deadly, and yet, beautiful and sad; Kagome wondered what could ever have sparked that horrible dream. Nothing in her then could so much as fathom harming him.
But something was wrong. His shoulders were bowed and his ears drooped on top of his head. Every bit of his posture said he was weak and exhausted. 'What's wrong with him?' she thought with concern and watched as he absently rubbed his hand over his stomach.
"Idiot!" she hissed in a whisper soft voice and backed away from the door.
He had never eaten anything and now he was too weak to do anything. If he kept this up, he would kill himself, and after such a fearsome dream, that was the last think Kagome was going to allow.
"Stupid idiot!" she grumbled and turned the stove on under a kettle of water and pulled a cup of instant noodles from one of the cupboards. It would have to do for now; it was too late and she was too frustrated to make anything more complicated.
She poured the hot water in the cup and waited a moment, grabbing some bottles of water and chopsticks.
"Stubborn, arrogant, moronic, idiot!" she muttered and turned back through the house heading to the garden once again. This time, she didn't stop at the door, fearing she would lose all her nerve if she allowed herself to think this through.
Soft footfalls caught Inuyasha's attention and he turned to see the last person he'd expected to encounter. The girl was walking up to him without fear or hesitation, but with a determined glint in her eye that made him slightly nervous. Hadn't he scared her away enough? What did she think she was doing?
"You really are dumb." She said and plopped the cup down beside him on the bench. He lay his ears flat and was about to snap at her when she stuck the chopsticks right in his hands, completely ignoring his claws that threatened to tear her. "Don't even pretend you aren't starving. You should have heard me coming way before now."
Damn! He hadn't even been paying attention to anything he'd been so weak. She was right, he should have heard her coming, and noticed her smell long before that. What else could he have missed that would come sneaking up on him in his weakened state.
The faintest trace of a chuckle flicked in his ear and he turned a frozen glare off to the wall.
"I'm over here!" Kagome grabbed his hair and tugged his face back to her. "Look." She said sternly. "I don't care what you think of me, but I'm not going to hurt you."
"Like you could." He found his voice again.
"I know you don't have any reason to trust me," She ignored him and continued, "but for some ungodly reason I want to help you."
Kagome glanced up to surprised golden eyes and smiled softly.
"And I'm not going to let you starve." She pointed to the cup of noodles. "It's not much, but I'll make you something larger tomorrow and leave it for you. Now goodnight! I have school in the morning."
Stunned beyond words, Inuyasha stared blankly as she walked right back out the way she came. What was wrong with this girl?! One minute she's scared out of her mind, next she comes charging at him with demands. How could her eyes shake with fear and then shine with stern brutality?
The scent coming from the cup spoke directly to his stomach, who then insisted on shutting his brain up immediately.
Oh well. He could always think about the woman's insanity later. It wasn't like he was going anywhere.
With cautious hesitance, he sniffed the broth and noodles and took a testing bite, trying to find any poisons or sedatives. Nothing! Just chicken-flavored broth, vegetables, and noodles.
And it wasn't half bad either!
Next Chapter: Wicked Voice