~*Disclaimer: If I did own Inuyasha, I'd be so stinking rich, I'd be burning my cash. But alas, I don't and in burning my bills, I am only succeeding in ma- hey! No! My (non-existent) money!
"…" - speech
'…' - thoughts
~*~*~ - change in scenery or time.
~*Previously, on Lock Down:
{He would be back tomorrow to try again.
He always was.
And one day, he would succeed.
He was damn sure of that.}
Fire
Feb.25.299 NA
New Tokyo, Human Division, Sector 118Kagome sighed as she trudged her way to school. The day was a dreary one, with ominous grey clouds covering the sky, blocking the sun's rays. It had been a perfectly fine day just a few minutes ago. But the sudden change in weather seemed to be signal an omen for a bad day.
Turning a corner, the girl bit the inside of her cheek and thought about the past four days.
Ever since Urasue had uncovered that bit of uncertainty that had been embedded deep within the minds of the students, there had been whispers, and evidently, the Government didn't like it. They had reinforced the rules, having even sent out a human official to explain to the students the importance of listening to the Government three days before. School had been paused to hold an assembly to discuss just that.
However, if that didn't work, the disappearance of Nazuna certainly shut the people up.
The day after the assembly, the girl who had asked the unorthodox questions hadn't shown up for class. That wasn't very unusual, since she could have contracted an illness, or anything. But when she wasn't spotted at the settlements, and she went missing for the second day, the students knew.
The Government had disposed of the inconvenience.
The housemates of Nazuna had gone to her room, only to find it cleared of any evidence that someone had resided there previously.
She would never be seen again.
Anger flared up in Kagome as her gait shifted to a furious stomp.
How dare they!
How dare they just kill off anybody who asked a few questions!
Nazuna hadn't even done anything against the rules!
Was asking a few questions so wrong?
Well, evidently, it was. After all, curiosity killed the cat, right?
With her anger, a sudden pain rose through her body. The raven-haired girl groaned and rubbed her temples. For some reason, there a dull throbbing in her head that just wouldn't stop. The throb suddenly intensified to a furious pounding. She stopped walking, and held her head in her hands. The pain was almost unbearable, and Kagome felt as though her body was burning.
And then, as suddenly as it had begun, the pain stopped.
It just vanished, leaving a very confused girl.
A confused girl who looked at her watch and her mouth dropped in shock. The sudden spell of pain had delayed her for longer than she had thought- she was five minutes late for class!
She began to run desperately towards the school. Never, in her entire school career, had Kagome ever shown up late for a class. But it seemed that her perfect was now blemished, thanks to a few moments of pain. Hopefully, this wouldn't put too much of a black mark on her record. Even if she didn't like how the world worked, she still wanted a good job once she graduated from school.
The schoolgirl saw the top of the school rise up above all the other settlements, and breathed a sigh of relief. She cocked her head slightly and frowned thoughtfully. The school had always seemed much closer than this.
But on most other days, she used the public transportation to get from place to place. Today was an exception, since the morning had seemed so nice through her small window. She had decided to walk for once and take advantage of the good weather.
Kagome scowled.
That was before the clouds had covered the sun. Thankfully, the rain had yet to fall.
Still a distance away from the school, Kagome paused for breath. She bent double, gasping for air. The student was athletic, but even she got tired once in a while. Wiping the sweat off her forehead, the girl rested the palms of her hands on her thighs.
Suddenly, multiple alarms started blaring.
Her head snapped up, and a look of horror filled her face.
There were speakers situated around the city that were occasionally used for public announcements. Only the Government had access to them, and rarely were they activated.
However, this obviously was not a public announcement.
Another occasion the speakers were used was to declare the emergency procedures. This particular alarm was used to announce the 'Lock Down' situation. When this happened, everybody was to leave the streets immediately, and lock all doors. The dark covers were all put over the windows, preventing anybody from seeing what was happening outside. The buildings had been made soundproof, so the people heard nothing.
In Kagome's entire life, she had never encountered the Lock Down situation, but all the students were explicitly taught to follow the rules, and to never stay outdoors during an occasion that called for the Government to raise the alarms. There had been several simulations, and the virtual reality simulators had been used to illustrate the procedure.
This proceeding was used to protect the general public from whatever event was happening on the streets.
Whether that was true or not, nobody knew.
Kagome glanced desperately around for any place to run into. She found herself in an alley like area.
That was just great. Of all places she could have been, she had to have run into an alley.
Spotting a small crevice, the girl ran towards it, hoping that it would hide her from whatever was putting the city in danger.
Hopefully, it would also hide her from the watchful eyes of the Government.
Curling up into a foetal position, Kagome peeked frighteningly out of her hiding hole, and nearly gave her position away by gasping.
The situation she got herself into was probably one of the worst ones that could have ever happened.
For marching in ranks, were dozens of androids.
And not just any type of androids.
They were red ones.
And everything clicked in Kagome's head.
The red androids were only sent out to douse out rebellion fires that sprung up now and then. The students had been taught that they were created to serve the people, and to protect them. But never, had anybody ever seen one, or a rebellion. The reason for that? They had all been shut up in their homes. Whenever a rebellion happened, the people cleared the streets, obeying orders. Perhaps the Government's reasons for the Lock Down procedure weren't as virtuous as they made everyone believe.
It was obvious that they wouldn't want anybody to get any ideas to rise up against them, so they forbade anybody from being outside during one.
It looked liked Kagome would be the first to break that rule.
She watched as line after line marched past her place in the wall. This fire was probably a larger one for so many androids to have been sent out.
Then, they stopped, and the air was silent for a while. The girl could see the shiny polished metal that covered the faces of the androids. All of them were the same- the exact same eyes, the exact same facial features, the exact same body proportions. Everything was deadly quiet.
Before a chaos erupted.
The girl watched, fascinated, and with more than a little fear, as the fire-fighters suddenly charged forwards to a point that Kagome could not see. But she could hear the noises of combat. There were screeches of metal, and the distinct whining sound that signalled when an android was charging up its weapon.
The longer the fight endured, the more Kagome's nerves became winded. She squeezed her eyes shut. Any second, she was expecting for one of the Government's instruments to spot her, and kill her. She refrained from making any sound, and from moving. Her breaths were shallow and far apart, her chest barely rising. The androids were programmed to destroy anything that moved, after all.
Opening her blue eyes again, she saw, in astonishment, that the androids had been beaten back, somewhat. Now, several humans lined her sight, as they fired round after round at the robots. Their faces were half covered by blue clothes, and they wore the grey outfits. Most of the rebels had no armbands.
The humans were using a strange tool that was created of a strange black metal. It seemed to shoot strong light rays that created small holes in the androids' armour when it hit them. For some reason, the weapons were vaguely familiar to the black-haired girl.
Realisation coursed through Kagome, and her eyes widened.
A few scenes flashed past her mind's eye. Scenes from one of the vivid dream she had once in a while.
The guns reminded Kagome of the same weapons that had killed thousands of people in her dream.
Then, the scenes faded from her mind, much like the headache had, and Kagome was left, feeling a little disoriented. The noises had dimmed somewhat, signalling the coming end of the rebellion. She glanced back at the fire taking place, and saw that the androids had once again, gained ground. Her gaze dropped down to their feet, and she grimaced.
Bodies decorated the floor, and blood ran freely.
She had never seen a dead body before, but those people couldn't be anything but dead. Their eyes were lifeless, and the bodies were limp. A red metal foot descended on the chest of one corpse, and it sunk in, several cracks signalling the broken ribs. Blood oozed out a cut on the side of the abdomen, and Kagome felt suddenly sick.
She closed her eyes, and turned her eyes away from the bloodied scene. Only a few androids had fallen, yet dozens of human bodies littered had her view.
Once all noise had stopped, and the clomping of the androids had faded into silence, Kagome braved herself to face the massacre. Waiting several seconds to make sure the battle truly was over, the girl drew in a deep breath. Opening her eyes, she couldn't stop the breath that escaped her lips in a gasp. Without the distracting movement of the androids, the view was free for the girl to see the outcome of the events that had transpired. She poked the top of her head out of the crevice.
There had been more bodies then she had assumed, and separate pieces of metals shined here and there. Almost directly in front of Kagome was one body that had been obliterated to the point of becoming unrecognisable. Through her fog-hazed mind, she vaguely wondered if anybody she knew had been involved in the rebellion. Obviously, none of the opposing force remained, and the scene was deadly still. Even the wind had stopped blowing, and the air was deceptively calm.
The air was laddened heavily with the stench of blood and death. The schoolgirl covered her nose and mouth with a shaking hand. She remained surprisingly calm.
Kagome would have to move soon, since the cleaning crews were bound to arrive to clear the mess. What they would do with the bodies, she didn't know, and frankly, she didn't want to know.
The girl stood, up, and discovered that her legs were still quivering from the sight she had witnessed. Her entire body trembled in fear. Taking a deep breath, she willed herself to try and still herself.
Just as the black-haired teenager was about step out into the open, a series of thumping noises permeated through the silence. Kagome froze, and her mouth dropped open. Had the cleaning crews arrived already?
But no.
There were too few footsteps. She shrunk back into the crack, and watched the narrow strip of view she was offered.
The footsteps drew nearer, and they told her that there were at least two people. However, the gait of the second person was a little strange, almost as if it was walking on more than two legs.
She held her breath, and tensed in apprehension. The tip of a black boot entered her view.
Kagome was ready to bolt, if needed. Although she doubted it would do much good in running from armed androids…
The slim figure of a girl son followed, and Kagome's eyes widened in shock.
This was one of the rebels!
She had survived…!?
The body shape of the rebel was certainly female. Her clothes were clearly that of a human's- grey with a blue armband, like her own outfit. However, the girl's lower face was covered, leaving only her eyes to the open air. Magenta orbs glanced here and there, looking for any sign of life. Her hair was pulled into a long ponytail that swayed to and fro. Across her back was slung an rediculously large boomerang shaped… thing that Kagome could only classify as a weapon.
Now that some of the information began to process, the schoolgirl discovered that the guns hadn't been the only weapons used by the rebels. In fact, there were many strange items that appeared to be extremely difficult to handle.
Turning her attention back to the lone rebel, Kagome was slightly surprised to see a sheen of sadness that coated the rebel's gaze as she looked around. The girl stopped before the body of a small boy, before her eyes widened, and she gasped in horror.
She fell to her knees, and with shaking hands, gently cradled the head of the small youth. Several tears glistened down the girl's cheeks. Kagome studied the body, and judging from the body frame, he couldn't have been more than eleven years of age. The girl's lips moved, and whispered words blew through the silence.
"Kohaku… no… Kohaku!"
The magenta-eyed girl hugged 'Kohaku's' body, and her body shook with silent sobs. Kagome didn't move from her position in her hiding spot, but her heart went out to the girl who was crying over the body of someone she had obviously cared a lot about. She was reminded again, that the rebels were human, and had feelings as well. They had loved ones who would miss them.
There was a small mew, and Kagome's attention was drawn to a small cat-like creature by the girl's side. Her mouth dropped wide open in complete, and utter shock at the demon, for demon it was.
It most certainly couldn't have been a true cat- it had two tails! Kagome took in the creamish yellow hue of its body, and the two strips across its tails. Large red eyes observed the human and the dead boy sadly. The actions of this creature went against everything she had been taught. Demons were supposed be blood thirsty savages that hated humans- but this one was working with one!
The two-tailed cat nudged her mistress' hand, and mewed worriedly. A pink tongue flicked out and licked it, trying to comfort the girl. Its ears flicked, and evidently hearing something alarming, its mews became more urgent. The girl raised her head to glance at the demon. Understanding what her companion was saying, even if Kagome couldn't, she nodded sorrowfully, and stood up.
Suddenly, her posture was straight and erect, and Kagome was slightly surprised at the sudden change that had overcome the unknown rebel. She was once again, emotionless, and if it weren't for the red eyes, one wouldn't have believed her to be unable to feel anything.
She turned to the cat-demon.
"Let's go, Kirara." The girl's voice was weary, and sad. It was empty.
Kagome was in for yet another shock of her life, as "Kirara' was encased in flames, and what had formerly been a small cat transformed into a large demon at least six times the original size. This form was much more menacing. Long fangs protruded from the cat demon's mouth, and large red eyes scanned the suroundings. Flames encircled its feet, sigifying its control over fire.
The rebel hopped onto the demon's back and patted its side. With one last longing look at the boy, Sango tightened her hold on the cat, and 'Kirara' jumped up, seeming to be running in the sky, as it flew into the distance. Kagome, all caution placed aside, hopped out of her hiding hole, and tried to locate the rebels, but they had disappeared.
Looking around once more, at the death scene, Kagome walked slowly to the body of the small boy the girl had called 'Kohaku', and studied it. There was a round, neat hole directly over his hear. She had a feeling that the wound continued through his chest cavity, and out the other side. His hair was pulled back into a short ponytail, and upon removing the covering, Kagome saw that his soft features were still that of an innocent young boy. Touching the now-cold face sadly, she bowed her head repectively, and backed away slowly from him.
But then something sparkling caught her eye, and her hand reached out to study a strange circular medallion dangling from the boy's neck. It was made of a green stone that her class had studied, known as jade. It was carved, smoothed, and extremely beautiful. Kagome brought it closer to study the emblem inside of the circle of jade.
Suddenly, footsteps from far off echoed to her ears, and Kagome's head shot up. In the distance, she could just make out the cleaning crew that had just begun to arrive. The demon must have heard the noise before, and so carried its partner away from danger.
Getting up from the ground, Kagome stumbled backwards, and began to run away from the death, and away from the danger. She headed straight towards her student settlement, avoiding the bodies, and the puddles of blood. The rain finally started to fall from the dreary skies. It pounded on the pavement, and had Kagome looked back, she would have seen the blood running together, staining more of the grey pavement.
The streets were still empty of life.
Nothing broke the silence except for the patter of the rain pounding on the asphalt, and the booms of thunder.
Clutched tightly within her right hand, was the medallion that she had unknowingly taken when the string holding it had broken. Kagome didn't dare turn back or stop, and by the time she reached her room, her legs were shaking from running so far, and her breath was coming short.
Shakeningly sliding her Personal Identification card across the key slot, her door opened, and Kagome entered her dark room.
She sat down on the chair in front of the small desk next to the bed. The rain pounded on the window of her small room, and the student discarded her clothes.
The clothes that were stained with the blood splatters of humans who had been slaughtered.
Picking it up, Kagome stared at her top without seeing it. Right in the middle of the front, was a large splotch of blood that had belonged to some rebel or another. The shirt dropped to the ground, and the girl was left staring beyond her hand.
Her eyes focused, and a wave of nausea washed over her.
Blood.
Her hand was covered in blood.
The blood of that little boy.
The youth who'd been killed with his comrades.
The boy who had been too young to die.
Kagome ran into her personal bathroom, and threw up into the porceline toilet. She continued to retch even when her stomach was empty, drawing up nothing but digestive fluids. Her eyes burned with tears as the memories continued to flash.
She had seen a fire, and it was truly horrible.
There had been so many lifeless eyes.
So many unmoving bodies
And that girl- she wondered if there were anymore like her, who had watched as their comrades died, yet could do nothing to stop the bloodshed.
She never wanted to see death again.
Wiping her mouth, the girl tore off her remaining clothing and stepped into her small shower. Turning on the water, she waited until it was scorching hot before furiously scrubbing at her skin with ample amounts of soap. Kagome rubbed until her entire body was red from the heat and cleaning.
She turned off the water, and stepped out of the enclosement. She furiously rubbed herself down with one of the rough towels.
But it didn't go away.
That disgusted feeling.
She could still see the blood where it had been on her body.
She shifted her gaze to the medallion clutched in her hand. It seemed to glow an eerie green.
It had been that boy's.
Stifling a sob, the teenager pulled on the black night clothes with shaking hands. She then dragged herself to her bed and collapsed on it.
The events that she had witnessed finally fully processed through her shell shocked mind, and the girl buried her face into her pillow. Her sobs and cries were muffled by the cushion, as Kagome let out all of her frustration, terror, and all of her overwhelming emotions.
A white hand still gripped onto the jade medallion. It suddenly pulsed with an otherwordly glow, and then faded back to its original lustre. Almost in answer, there was a pulsing light from within the seventeen-year-old's body. With each sob, the light throbbed harder, and the air seemed to sparkle and crack with power.
Then, the pulses slowly faded away as her energy began to wane, and the girl got better control of her emotions.
But Kagome failed to notice this, as she lay in her bed, crying softly.
And outside, the rain continued to fall and thunder rang out through the sky, mirroring the girl's distress.
She had asked for something interesting to happen and it had.
What a horrible day it had been indeed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
[I'd been looking forward to writing this chapter, so it came out faster than usual.
… What? I like… making the character suffer? ^_^;;
The action scenes were a little more descriptive than I had planned, but less descriptive than I would have liked.
Confused?
So am I.]