Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha and characters in this story

Chapter 8 - Game

It was going to rain. Angry storm clouds rolled across the sky, forming clusters so large that the blueness of the sky could no longer be seen. Gusts of wind milled along the deserted sidewalk that had been busy only a while ago, instead, people had found shelters to escape the worst of the storm.

His silver hair whipped back and forth as the wind danced with it, through the opened window. Purple eyes hard as he watched the girl before him with a mixture of bitterness and anger. She doesn't remember.. at all. He knew and that alone was enough to bring out the worst of him.

Centuries, he had waited for her to reappear for centuries and she had played with him, reincarnating into forms that was almost a mirror image of her old self, her dark brown eyes, her black hair, highlighted with streaks of midnight blue. But never had she really been there, alerting him of her presence but never really fully solidifying, always managing to drift away from him like wisps of smoke through his fingers.

And now she was doing it again..

Why?

"Midoriko"

She did not reply this time, but merely looked at him with those dark brown eyes that he could never seem to forget, the dagger that she had held the first night he had met her in her shaking hand.

Denial yet again, why hadn't Midoriko waited for him.. back then, right now.. why was it that every of her reincarnations greet him with a blade that threatened to end his life. Why wouldn't she just allow him…?

He stepped forward, almost subconsciously and watched her move back simultaneously, almost dance like, her body tensed, knees slightly bend, her heart thumping with the howling wind outside. He knew that sound too well, yes, the same thumping as a deer that he had hunted, or a rabbit, cowering at the dead end and knowing there would be no escape from him. The real Midoriko would never do that, not even a reincarnation of her. Fight as they may at every one of his attempts to draw out the woman he loved, but cower?

No.. Midoriko hid from no one, cowered away from no one.

So, was the girl that stood before him..

Really the reincarnation of Midoriko?

"You're not Inuyasha.. are you?" he heard her ask with a slight tremor in her voice. His lips forming a faint smile, not of amusement but tease. Inuyasha, huh? It appeared that she still had no idea who he really was, or what he was capable of doing. Perhaps he was mistaken after all, perhaps she was just a girl that had the same appearance of the priestess, perhaps he had failed yet again to find her. "No," he replied, though wondering vaguely why she had asked that, and with such sadness burning in her eyes too when he had answered. Had it not been the hanyou, his reincarnated form that vexed her most? Had it not been his hanyou form that kept her away the most?

*~*~*~*

He was.. not Inuyasha. Not the youkai she had tracked for the past two month. Perhaps there had never been anyone called Inuyasha in the beginning? The hanyou who attacked her, the hanyou who had saved her.. all which had happened were merely games played..

For what? What was his purpose?

To hurt her? To humiliate a Hunter? If so, he had succeeded.

"Then, when you saved me from that youkai.." She whispered, suddenly unable to find the strength to say the words out aloud. It.. was just a game you played.. It was so foolish of her to believe his every words.. so foolish to believe that she had felt the slightest trust in a youkai..

"I think we might be soulmates"

Liar! That too had been part of the game, she had never believed in the existence of soulmates, just like fairies and magic were only part of her realm of fantasy. Yet.. yet.. Why do those golden eyes continue to appear in her mind, the eyes that held nothing but sincerity..?

"What game are you playing?" she cried. It had been a natural question from a Hunter, but it was not just her Hunter's instinct who wanted to know, she too wanted to hear the answer. Why simply hurt her when he could have simply killed her. What was he attempting to achieve by gaining her trust then throwing it away?

"Playing?" he replied with mock surprise. "What makes you think that I am merely playing?" His form suddenly blurred away in front of her eyes and before she could react, he was standing right behind her. He's fast! Her mind cried out in alarm as she felt his sharp claws brushing against the side of her cheek, heard him whispering down her neck. "I was very serious from the beginning.."

"For what purpose?" Kagome asked, her voice held tension as his nails slowly move towards the side of her throat, gliding across her skin leisurely, as thought he was enjoying her fear and unease. The slender hand that still gripped her dagger moved ever so slightly and stopped, was it wise to attack and risk having her throat cut out?

"For purposes that you will never comprehend," he snapped, seeming to loosing his temper abruptly, yet with words spoken with hints of bitterness and disappointment that she recognised. Kagome stopped and considered it, it was a emotion that she had felt, so long ago.. waiting by the side of the burnt down house that she had once called home, calling and waiting, holding onto the slightest hope that others may still alive..

It had hurt.. waiting for ones that were never to return…

It had hurt.. waiting in the darkness alone…

It had hurt when the thread of hope snapped..

Yet.. even back then.. that emotion was not unfamiliar.

Perhaps she had felt it before.. in another lifetime?

Outside, the roar of thunder ripped through the silence, a few splashes of raindrops bounced onto the emptied streets before the sound became louder and louder, seconds later sheet of rain crashed down..

*~*~*~*

End of chapter 8 -Game

AN: Ok, so nothing much happened in this chapter, blame it on the writer's block. I am actually considering a change in the genre.. to perhaps tragedy? Well.. it won't be too tragic.. since this story is originally based on another one I wrote a while ago but never posted because it went nowhere and that one was heading toward tragedy.

Death's essence: yep, I think you are right, but I'm not too sure about the pairing anymore..

as sweet as sin can be: thank you

EvilBunnies1: you are pretty much right, except Midoriko and her lover didn't betray each other. (does it sound like they betrayed each other in the story?)

Queen Beryl: you got it

kokoro : I'm sorry.. I'll do a bit better next time

angelic-design216: You think? Hm.. keep on reading ^_^

Cosmik: ^_^ Inuyasha told her to leave because she was in danger as his 'other form' was taking over Inuyasha. With Kagome.. were you talking about Sango? Sango didn't really betray Kagome, she just didn't tell Kagome everything about herself.

xo-Kagome-ox: thank you

Lets-Play-With-Matches: ^_^ will consider this one

sweet little country girl (jak_hell@hotmail.com): no ,Kagome wasn't hurt

Thank you to everyone that reviewed and was patient with my slow updating/ short chapters.

RicePaper