Tailz: 230 reviews!!!!! 230!!!!!!! ::Faints::
Sanji: O.O ::Catches:: ::Pokepoke::
Tailz: !!!!!! ::Is ecstatically happy::
Sanji: .....Okay. You guys go to the chapter now. I'll work on calming her down enough to speak actual English.
Tailz: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sanji: ....Wish me luck.
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Darkness. There was darkness only again. Kagome's first thought was that as soon as she returned to her world, she would never turn off the lights. She waited, patiently, for something to happen. Surely, they wouldn't just leave her here in the dark...there was still a part of the Trial left! At least, she thought, it seemed that way...the thing that had impersonated Inuyasha had certainly seemed to think so.
So she waited. And waited. And waited some more. Where was everyone? A horrible thought crossed her mind. Maybe there wasn't a trial at all. Maybe it had all been fake, and she really was dead...and she would have to stay here, in this awful place, for all eternity. It was too terrible to think about. Kagome closed her eyes (not that it made all that much difference) and held her head in her hands. Dropping to her knees, she curled into something close to a fetal position.
'Inuyasha...Sango...Miroku...Shippo...I failed you. I'm sorry...I'll never see you again...' The idea was unbearable, that she should spend forever alone, in darkness. And what would become of her body? Would it die, or remain in a comatose state forever? She hoped it would die, rather than make her friends worry for the rest of its existence. That way, at least, they would know, and they could get on with their lives.
"Hehehehe!"
Kagome's head shot up. What was that noise? She was sure she had heard something...it had sounded like a giggle. A little girl's giggle. But...surely there weren't any children in that awful place...were there? He couldn't see anyone. A hope rose up in her throat. If someone was close, maybe they could help her, or at least explain what was happening.
"Hello? Is anyone there?"
Silence was her answer. Only silence and dark.
'It must've been my imagination,' she thought sadly, disappointed. 'I wonder if I'll hear voices often, now that I'm all by myself.' Could dead people become mad, hearing made up voices? Kagome couldn't see why they wouldn't. Being dead didn't change human nature, and it was human nature to try and make believe that they weren't alone.
"Hehehehe!"
There it was again. Kagome was sure she'd heard it that time. She opened her eyes, and glanced around.
Light! Trees! A forest!
Where WAS she?! Kagome staggered backwards, spinning, and tripped, right towards a large tree. She braced herself, expecting pain, and closed her eyes—but nothing came. Kagome looked up in surprise to find herself on the ground, a few feet away from where she had been but on the opposite side of the tree. She...had fallen right through it.
'What in the world...?' She waved a hand in front of her face. It looked solid. She touched one hand with the other. She FELT solid. Tentatively, she reached forward, stretching her fingers to touch the tree's rough trunk. Sure enough, her fingers, and then her whole hand, passed through it as through nothing was there at all. She felt a certain warmth for but a moment; that was all.
'Am...am I a ghost?' She stared in wonder at her feet, which were passing through the ground that she was sitting on. She looked down again, and noticed that she appeared to be hovering just above he ground. She wasn't apparently solid enough to even put her feet down. Or maybe...maybe she was real, and the WORLD was an illusion. It was possible. Could it be like when she had had to decipher that the Inuyasha-thing was fake? No, that couldn't be it. They wouldn't pull the same thing twice.
"Well, it can't do any good to stay here," she said aloud, figuring that it couldn't hurt—if the people in this place couldn't see her, they most likely couldn't hear her either. She pulled herself to her feet and began walking to the right, following a barely-visible trail. It had obviously been often-trodden on before, but, over the course of several years, had been overgrown by weeds and dandelions and other wilderness-type plants. However, the path DID seem to be widening with every step, and apparently there was a clearing ahead, so maybe she could stop and look around a bit, get her bearings. After all, she didn't have to worry about getting eaten by a demon.
After all, she wasn't even solid enough to walk on the ground.
Finally, the trees opened up and the trail became a round, circular clearing. The grass was overly tall here as well, but without the trees sticking out at odd, bent angles it was a lot easier to see. There were, however, a bunch of burrs, and dandelions, and stickers, and prickly things to that effect, so that if she had been solid, it wouldn't made going more difficult. Maybe there were advantages to being a ghost.
Kagome turned slowly, surveying the clearing at every angle, trying to spot out something of importance. At first glance, there was nothing interesting in sight. A bunch of trees, tall grass to the right; a strangled path and raggedy trees to the left. The only thing that was relatively interesting was a huge tree off behind her...man, it was huge! The only tree she'd ever seen that was as near as big was the God Tree, but...Kagome paused. No. It couldn't be.
Could it?
She stepped closer for a better look. Sure enough, there were the stubs of Kikyou's blessed arrows that had missed Inuyasha. They had framed his body while the other two had held him for fifty years. Those two had disappeared when she had touched them, but the others had stayed in the tree. There was still, in fact, the smallest piece of haori still caught there, fluttering innocently in the breeze, unaffected by aging. Kagome reached out and passed her fingers through the sliver of fabric, wishing she could feel it. She couldn't.
But if this was the God Tree...it meant that Kaede's village was close by! And—it was almost too much to hope for—perhaps Inuyasha and the others were close, too.
There was only one way to find out. With a big breath of anticipation, Kagome backed away from the huge tree and followed the direction she knew lead to the small village.
'Please let them still be here...please....'
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Sanji: Okay, it took the whole time you were reading the chapter, but I think she's calm enough to talk now.
Tailz: !!!!!!
Sanji: --;; ::Pokes Tailz::
Tailz: ::Jumps up:: Oh yeah! Um, this chapter is dedicated to all you guys, but I'd like to specially thank Mari-chan and katty-kat—Mari for being my pal and egging me on, and katty for giving my writer's block a kick with all her reviewing-ness and begging-ness! Thanks everyone, I hope you like the chapter, and...I shall be updating soon! Ja, everyone! Oh, and by the way...I'm thinking about it—would you guys like me to write an alternate ending after this is over? As in, one happy/one angsty ending? Lemme know what you think! G'bye!