Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

"Torn"

By Chiisana Anisa

"Puzzle undone"

She woke up.

The sense of dis-orientation awake within her and her sight swayed for some time. The room circled around her and the first signs of headache began forming. The air around her seemed different, heavy and hard-weighted to breathe in, it burned her throat to do so, also it glued to every part of her body.

The feeling of warmness swept her over, in crushing waves and she had a rapid thought of skinning herself to make it go away. At first she did thought she just felt warm from the sleeping and besides, Shippou did bring a lot of added warmness to her sleeping bag. But no, this kind of warmness couldn't come just from that, it was too strange and too intense. And then all of a sudden everything went away, disappeared in a flash.

She sat up in her bedding, her hand searching for Shippou when she felt surprised he wasn't by her side anymore. The only locigal thing was to think he got up earlier, although that was peculiar for Shippou, who slept most of the time due to his age.

She neglected the worry that began to form inside of her, instead she got up. Her movements were slow, like they always were in the mornings and she still felt drowsy. As if she didn't get enough sleep. Turning around, expecting to find Sango and Miroku still in the hut, her eyes settled over the places they were supposed to be. But it was nothing there.

Not even their sleeping bags. Now, that was more than odd, and she wondered if they all got up and left her to sleep longer due to the whole thing between her and Inuyasha. She didn't know why exactly, but on some hidden level of her conscience she was glad they did. Stretching out her arms she yawned, gladly. Her eyes drifted to the doors and they almost bulged out at the sight that greeted her.

The doors were open and she could see outside which was very rare, considering they always shut the covering, day or night - didn't matter. Now all she could observe were the village people running around, doing their daily errands. There went a woman carrying the milk, a man with chopped woods... She rubbed her eyes and slowly went out of the hut, not even minding that she didn't feel as free as she usually did in moving, not looking or noticing what she was wearing.

Stepping outside she walked steadily towards the path that lead to the stream near by, to do her daily routine of washing up. At first she neglected the weird stares she was receiving from those few people near her, but she stopped when one woman bowed slightly to her and then went on.

What was that about? And most importantly where were the others?

Some more people did as the previous woman did, bowing to her and although it did seem rather odd, that behaviour to her she didn't quite put her mind into it to discuss with herself why. Instead she walked on to the stream. But upon arriving there she opened her eyes wide, gaping at he sight of... no stream.

Blinking she thought she must of have gone to the wrong side of the village until she noticed the familiar prickling to her miko senses. It was a warning, but a welcoming one she always had when Inuyasha was near. Well, at least she knew he was around. Not close, but close enough so that she could sense him.

That joy in her died soon after when she remembered the problems occurring between them.. And the tears started forming again in the corners of her sleepy eyes. Shutting them she turned around and walked back to the village, forgetting all about the stream and her intentions.

All of a sudden, one of the women from the village grabbed her hand and pulled her. "Come, come, Miko-sama... you must get ready!" The woman exclaimed while Kagome kept looking at her completely puzzled. All that came to her mind was 'What the hell?'.

"Wait, where are you taking me...?"

"Come, come, Asuke will get you back. You can trust me, but hurry, you need to get prepared. Come."

Kagome felt nerved at hearing the word 'come' so many times in a row. What is this woman thinking... But she let herself be lead back and soon enough she found herself sitting on her bedding again. This time she didn't seem anyone from her group again and quietly she wondered where was Kaede too. Hearing the shuffling of the covering on the doors she raised her head, her eyes meeting with another set of eyes, colored in a dark brown.

There was a woman standing at the entrance, looking at her in wonder. She didn't recognize her, who wore traditional village robes, she guessed her age could be over thirty, because of some grey hair in the midst of her natural brown. The woman moved, composing herself and set the tray she was holding in her hands, which Kagome noticed had food on it, beside her bed.

"The elders expect you to come after your breakfast, Miko-sama." The woman stated and with a turn exited the hut.

Kagome remained in the spot, her hands still in the air and blinked. Then again. Did that woman just call her Miko-sama? A Priestess? And the elders? Where was Kaede, and the others?

Shaking herself out of the stupor the unknown woman brought with her visit, Kagome sat down and began eating. Well, at least the food didn't taste differently. But her moment of peace didn't last long when a girl bursted through the doors and latched herself at Kagome, hugging the life out of her.

"Today you'll become our village priestess! I'm so excited, aren't you?!" The girl squealed and Kagome winced at the sound. Soon after another woman entered and looked at them. Kagome noted this woman had great aura of power around herself, but looked at her and the girl with disgust. Wondering why she looked down at the girl and only then saw which set of clothes did she have on.

Miko robes. The exact ones Kikyou wears, or wore... The pants, the shirt... everything was the same to the very detail. The question raising in her throat died when she heard the next words the woman said.

"Kaede, I told you already to leave your sister to prepare in peace. Lets go. Kikyou-sama, I hope the test will go well."

And at that point Kagome found herself sitting in the hut, realizing that the woman did indeed spoke to her, called her Kikyou's name. She tore from the little girl's embrace and bolted out of the hut, not really watching where she was going, her legs carrying her in a hurry to the whatever spot where she could find peace.

The tears already slightly rolling down her face, smudging her vision and too many questions hazing her mind she didn't even notice the bolder in front of her. She met the ground hard, her body falling down in a slow motion as if meeting her reason of mind. She didn't get up.

Instead she lied there, not moving, letting the emotions overflow her senses, letting the tears to fall like rain, washing her face and dropping to the ground beneath her. What was happening?

Forcing herself to raise her head she spotted a small lake nearby and with shaky steps, stumbling got to it. She leaned over it, extending a hand to grab some water to wash her face when she froze. Everything around her seemed to quiet down when the whole place rang off from the scream that came from her lips the very next moment. She screamed like she wouldn't have another opportunity to do so, and cried anew. Her hand till then frozen in air, dropped beside her like you would drop a ragged doll.

Staring dully at the image the surface of the lake presented her she didn't feel a thing. Numbness threatened to overtake, to ate her away while she stared and stared. The image showed her the face of a woman she never wanted to wear and yet she is now. Dark, ebony hair, tied neatly in a perfect priestess way, sliced brown-grey eyes looking back...

'This isn't real!!' her mind screamed at her from the inside. People ran to her and she didn't hear what they were yelling until they got close enough and what she heard made the blood in her veins froze all over again.

"Kikyou-sama!! Kikyou-sama! Are you all right?...."

The air seemed heavy again as she breathed in hard, her chest rising up and down with the unsteady breaths she was taking. Then as if someone turned on the light in her brain the picture cleared for her. Her eyes opened in wonder and her thoughts of previous night revealed the whole puzzle of this morning to her.

Her wish, her request made just like that... The Shikon no Tama fulfilled it... And now...

Now..

She is... Kikyou.

He showed me what it was to cry

Well you couldn't be that man I adored

AN: I'm so so sorry for making you guys wait for so long. And I'm once again sorry for making it short again, but I didn't want to make you wait, instead I wrote this chapter to explain a bit and show what happened. There are things in this chapter that should reveal some happenings in the few next ones, if you read carefully.

Anyway, I'm in the middle of my graduation tests and that is the reason why I didn't update when I said or wrote this small amount of the story. Hopefully you liked it and you don't mind it all that much. I'll update as soon as I can, promise.

Review! Tell me what you think. I love getting your opinions!

Love,

Anisa