AN: Hello all! Sorry it has been a little while but I had to get my wisdom teeth removed and since then I had only been thinking about food. I don't care what anyone says; the procedure is not that bad, the not being able to eat whatever you want afterwards is the worst part. Anyway, ENJOY!
ejgHorseLady: I admit I did kind of beat around the bush last time, I hope this chapter is a little more direct though.
VioletRose4: I agree it would be a bad way to wake up, but I think that if Inuyasha tachi were my hallucinations I wouldn't mind all that much.
inuyasha rox15: Your welcome and thanks for saying I'm nice, lol.
The One above All: Thanks for reviewing.
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha; I am even down six wisdom teeth now.
Love Isn't Just a Memory
Chapter Thirteen: Discoveries
By: Nimerin
It was early morning, and all of Tokyo was alive with people rushing to either get to school or work, and on their way they passed a young raven haired girl who was not walking all that straight at the moment. Kagome was still really tired from the night before and the dark circles under her eyes gave her away instantly. She kept rubbing them in an attempt to wipe the sleep away, but she was not prevailing. So with the magic combination of sleep depravation and having to go to school she was displaying the typical response in such a situation, mumbling to herself like a crazed person. She was so caught up in her rambling that she did not notice her three friends from school approaching.
"Hey Kagome!" Yuka called.
"Stupid gas leak you would think the city could prevent these incidences a little better, but nooooo." Kagome had not acknowledged their presence yet and was now receiving some very odd stares.
"Um… Kagome, what gas leak are you talking about?"
"I should go to their houses and create a gas leak then they can be woken up by the weird people."
"Kagome?" Eri questioned her tentatively, wondering if her friend was starting to show some symptoms of some new illness. Yuka and Eri shared a worried glance, "Yuka, I don't think she is feeling very well again."
"Uh huh, look at her; she looks like zombie or something. She must have some sort of insomnia." Yuka walked up to Kagome and stood in her face, she then put a hand on each shoulder and gave her a little shake to get her attention, "Oi, Kagome wake up!"
Kagome looked up at her friends, first in surprise then in absolute mortification, "How long have you been standing there?"
"For a little while. You were mumbling something about gas leaks and weird people." Eri answered.
Kagome went really pale, "Um… well you see I, uh, didn't really get a lot of sleep last night."
"Well, we figured that out. Are you getting sick again?"
"No," Kagome sighed, "At least I don't think that I am."
Her friends nodded and they all started to walk to school together with a new, more lucid Kagome. "So," Eri inquired, "Why were you talking about gas leaks?"
"Oh, I just think that there might be one at the shrine. I need to call someone about it later today." Kagome answered as she silently prayed that they would not bring up the weird people, she didn't know how to answer that one without sounding crazy.
"Wow, that could be dangerous if it is poisonous or something."
Kagome nodded as they entered the school.
"Kagome, I think that you should hurry to class this morning." Yuka suggested.
"Why? Is something wrong?"
"No, not really, it is just that I don't think that you want Hojo to see you as you are now. I mean you don't exactly look your best at the moment."
"I can imagine." Kagome replied wryly, "Alright, well I will see you guys later then."
"Bye." Her friends chorused as Kagome walked into the building.
Kagome took her seat in the almost empty classroom, there was only one other girl in there and she looked too preoccupied with finishing her homework to worry about Kagome. She contemplated a quick nap before class started, but doubted that she would wake up once allowed to drift off into sleep. The mental image of herself drooling on her desk while the whole class laughed kept her alert.
'I don't need to deal with anymore embarrassing situations today; I don't think that I could take them.'
Kagome looked out the window as she began to ponder what happened when she woke up. Something about it was bothering her, but she couldn't put her finger on it.
'I wonder what other affects the gas might have on us.'
A little voice inside Kagome's head took that as a sign that it was discussion time, and boy did it have a lot to say, 'It isn't going to have any affects on you.'
Kagome sighed, the little voice was back might as well humor it, 'And how do you know this?'
'Well, there is no gas; therefore, you will not have any side affects.'
'There is so a gas leak.'
'Not.'
'Well, then how do you explain the hallucinations we all have been having?'
'Simple really, they are real.'
'What?' Kagome was exasperated, 'They can't be real; they are just too strange.'
The voice sighed, 'Come on Kagome; think about it for a moment. What about what Souta said when you were leaving his room this morning?'
'He just hasn't accepted the fact that we are seeing things yet.'
'How can you all be seeing the same thing if it isn't real?'
'The gas leak.'
'The supposed gas leak of yours would only cause hallucinations; but all of you have a different mind therefore your brains would be producing different images. There is no way you would all see the same thing.'
Kagome was speechless, she could not come up with a retort for the voices reasoning, so the voice took that as a good sign and continued its rambling, 'Also, hallucinations would not be able to wake you up by making noise since they are in your head. You would have to already be awake for them to even produce noise. They are real, face it.'
Kagome turned everything over in her head, trying to make some sense out if it all, when it all seemed to click. "Oh Kami, they are real!" She screamed out loud as she suddenly stood, causing the poor girl that was doing her homework to jump and fall out of her seat and onto the floor. Noticing this, Kagome blushed and ducked her head slightly, "Gomen, I didn't mean to startle you."
The girl barely managed a small flustered nod as she sat back in her seat. Kagome gathered her things and left the room, determined to confront the guests at the shrine and find out exactly what was going on. She ran into her friends in the hallway, nearly knocking them over in her haste.
"Whoa, Kagome where are you going in such a hurry? Class is about to start." Eri stated as she regained her balance.
"I'm, uh, not feeling very well, I have to go home." Kagome replied. It wasn't really a lie, ever since she had figured out the truth about the strange people she was feeling a little ill.
"Oh, that's too bad. Well, take care Kagome and we will tell sensei for you." Yuka offered.
"Arigato." Kagome ran out of the building and headed for the shrine.
~*~
Back at the shrine, it had been decided that the adults had played enough and it was time to do some actual work, such as figure out why the well wasn't working. Shippo decided to keep Souta company and play video games with him while they others investigated. When the others went downstairs they found Mrs. Higurashi. She noticed the determined faces they had and decided to talk with them a bit, "Why such serious faces, is there something wrong?"
"Iie, Higurashi-sama, we are merely going to investigate the well and see what is the matter with it." Miroku answered.
"Oh, I see. Well, I hope that you can fix it; Kagome ended up with a sprained ankle the last time we had her try. Of course, that was after the seventeenth attempt that day."
"Kagome sprained her ankle? That girl is always getting into trouble; it wasn't too bad was it?" Inuyasha asked gruffly, though everyone present could tell that he was only worried about her.
Mrs. Higurashi smiled, "It wasn't really bad at all. She was able to run down the stairs in pursuit of oden later that night."
Everyone smiled at the image the comment produced, they all knew their companions love of oden; she was quite obsessive about it really.
"I think we should be looking at the well now." Sango cut into the comfortable silence.
"Hai, we will let you know what we find, if anything, Higurashi-sama." Miroku responded as they went out the door and towards the well house.
When they got in the well house, they leaned over the rim of the well and peered into its depths. Inuyasha had an idea, but he wasn't too sure if he wanted to try it. "Oi, bouzo; do you think it would take me through if I tried."
Miroku looked up at his friend, "I don't know. I definitely feel a strange new energy coming from it. It is almost as though it is keeping the normal energy of the well bottled up."
"So you don't think that it will let him through?" Sango asked.
"I can't be sure. The well in our time keeps Inuyasha out, and this one keeps Kagome out, but who is to say that this one won't let just Inuyasha pass through."
"So I could end up stranded back in our time and who knows if that woman would let me come back." Inuyasha growled lightly out of frustration, "It ain't worth the risk."
Miroku nodded, "I agree. I must meditate now to see if I can determine how this spell works." Miroku sat down on the ground and closed his eyes. He began to focus on the well and the strange power he felt coming from it as the others stood close by. After about ten minutes he looked up at his friends, "Well I was able to learn some things."
"Like what?" Inuyasha asked impatiently, he didn't like just standing around waiting for the houshi to figure something out; he was a hanyou of action.
Miroku stood and dusted his robes off, "Well, first of all whoever performed this spell is very powerful; we had better be on our guard with this enemy. Also, there is a hole within the spell, meaning that it can be broken in two ways. The first way would be to find the key, which we have no idea of and there is no way to determine it even through meditation. The second would be to simply be more powerful then the caster."
"Well then what are you waiting for bouzo, break the spell." Inuyasha ordered.
"Inuyasha," Miroku sighed, "I am honored that you think so high of my abilities, but I am no where near strong enough to break this spell."
"Who is then houshi-sama?" Sango asked quietly.
Miroku shook his head, "I don't know. Kagome-sama might be the only one of us that stands a chance of breaking it, but I am not even sure if she has the power to do so. Not only that but she would need to know how to concentrate her powers, and while we all know she is talented, she is not trained and may not be able to pull it off."
"So we are back to nothing." Sango replied sadly.
"Not nothing, it is better than what we had before; at least now we know that there is a chance." Inuyasha responded.
Sango nodded, "You're right. Perhaps Allerium-sama might have some suggestions for us."
"Hai, next time we see her we shall ask her." Miroku said as he walked out of the well house, the others close behind him. "We should go tell Higurashi-sama what we found out."
"You two go ahead, I'm going to stay outside for a little bit." Inuyasha ordered. The other two walked inside the house as he turned to face the shrine steps. His keen senses had picked up the approach of a familiar presence.
Just then an angry Kagome reached the top of the steps and her eyes fixed on Inuyasha, "YOU!" She screamed angrily as she pointed at the hanyou, "You have a lot of explaining to do!"
AN: Well there is another chapter out for everyone. It is a little longer than the last one, but I already have a pretty good idea of what I want to write for the next one. Hopefully it will not take me too long to get that one out. Thanks for reading, and PLEASE REVIEW! Love you all.