Chapter 2
Twigs lashed out at her ankles, painfully slicing through her skin as she ran further and further into the forest, engulfing herself in the darkness. It was rash- incredibly stupid of her to wander into the forest of the feudal era. Especially when there was no Inuyasha, Sango, or Miroku there to aid her in battle if a demon attacked her. Not even Shippo. The only defense that she had was clenched tightly between her fingers; her faithful bow. But she could barely make out the outline of her bow in the blinding absence of light. If a demon were to attack her now...she would have neither the strength nor the resources to defend herself. But it didn't matter to her any longer. Nothing mattered. Not the blood trickling from her knuckles, or the scrapes on her legs and ankles. Nothing.
Kagome was forced to halt as her body began weakening in retaliation to her overuse of energy. She leant against a tree for support, holding a hand to her temple. "What am I doing here?" she whispered sadly to herself. The point was to avoid Inuyasha completely, not end up back in his time.
She sighed softly. It was probably time to face him, she thought. He was probably waiting for her return, and she knew that he'd have returned to her world to look for her eventually. Besides, Kagome mused, it wasn't fair for her to hold out on returning here because of some silly dream. It wasn't his fault that she had been having these recurring nightmares. It wasn't anyone's fault, really.
Well, it was her fault for being stupid enough to venture the woods alone, but at least it had brought her to her senses. Sort of. Kagome stood there quietly, taking another moment to make a definite decision on what to do next. Head back towards the village and find the others. Should she apologize for being gone so long? Hopefully they wouldn't be too mad.
Now that she thought about it, Kagome felt tremendous guilt for leaving Shippo alone for so long. She, after all, was acting as his surrogate mother, and it was cruel of her to leave him like that. Kagome made a mental promise to avoid doing that again. At least they'd missed her.
Hopefully.
Having made up her mind to confront Inuyasha about why she hadn't been back so long, Kagome began to realize that she was facing another problem. She was hopelessly lost in this jungle of night, and her eyes had yet to adjust to the darkness. Great. So she was basically walking around blind.
Kagome was still debating what to do- whether she should wait until day to start moving again or to call for help- when she felt a distinct vibration beneath her feet. Alarm suffocated her senses, and Kagome froze in fear, waiting for the cause of the movement to appear.
Just as she reached for her arrows, there was a deafening split in the middle of the ground, and a demon rose from the debris, its eyes glowing in a wild frenzy of hunger. Kagome gasped at the size of the demon, but immediately regretted the delay in her defense, for it sprang towards her, sending clumps of soil spraying into her eyes. The young girl lost her balance, teetering madly in the air and fell to the ground.
A moment later, she cried out as she felt teeth sink into her scratched ankle with a vicious ferocity. It released her a second later, and Kagome immediately clamped her fingers around the fresh wound, feeling the blood trickling down her hand and into the soil. Reaching blindly behind her back for an arrow, her chest tightened in horror as her fingers grasped nothing but air. She understood immediately. Her arrows had been spilt over the ground when she had fallen. Now Kagome really wished that Inuyasha and the others were here.
Holding back her overwhelming urge to panic, Kagome felt the ground surrounding her, trying to locate one of her arrows with her shaking fingers. The ground began to hum beneath her, and she knew that the demon was headed towards her for yet a second time.
With a cry of startled pain, she dove out of the way, rolling onto safe ground just as it ripped its body from the ground. It roared in disappointment, spiraling back into the earth a moment later. Kagome felt something being pinned under her weight, and in a blind confusion, she reached for it.
Her fingers coiled around something. It was an arrow! "Okay, Kagome. Calm down. Concentrate!" she told herself aloud. She had the bow and arrow. All she had to do now was to aim it at the demon. But it seemed that the plan had a major glitch. With her inability to see in the dark, how was she to aim? It was far too dark.
She felt the demon approaching again. And this time, Kagome was certain it would not miss unless she acted intelligently and quickly. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes, for she knew that vision would not help her. She had to use her other senses.
Kagome concentrated her attention on hearing and feeling the demon as it neared her. It was moving very quickly. She positioned her bow. It was only a few feet away. Her fingers held the arrow with a determined firmness.
Two feet.
The bow quivered with tension.
One foot.
Her ankle throbbed in pain.
"Now!" she yelled. Just as the demon wiggled its way free into the night air, Kagome let her arrow fly. There was a deafening shriek as the arrow made its target in the center of the demon's heart, killing it instantly. Blood splattered everywhere, the hot liquid hissing as it splattered Kagome. Groaning and letting out a gasp of pain, Kagome managed to weakly balance herself on her feet.
Okay. So now what? She had to get help. Kagome knew that her strength would not last long; she could feel it fading from her even as she breathed. Using the bow as a crutch, she began moving forward again, not sure where she was going. All she knew was that she had to keep moving.
She bit her lip to keep from crying out as she stepped on a stray branch. It snapped, and one of the broken halves whipped out, lashing out against the puncture in her ankle.
Limping on through the forest, wincing occasionally, Kagome's breath grew short and ragged. The dull pulse that she had felt earlier had erupted into a mind-splitting headache. Things were not going too well, Kagome admitted to herself. To make matters worse, the ground began to slide in and out of focus, and she felt herself drifting off course several times.
Unable to walk in a straight line, Kagome realized that there was more to the wound than she had initially thought. The bite must've poisoned her...
Eventually, her body could take no more abuse, and her legs collapsed, sending her sprawling onto the ground in defeat.
Her lips, numb with pain, moved to speak, but would form no words at first. Her throat was dry, and to be honest, Kagome wasn't sure that she had the energy to move, let alone talk. She coughed, forcing her throat to let her speak.
Inuyasha...
"Please, someone..."
Do you...
"Anyone..."
Love...
"Help...me..."
Her?
By this time, it was hard for Kagome to think straight. Her hair hung limply over the side of her face, and she no longer could feel her fingers. She had lost the ability to move, and now lay paralyzed by the poison. All she could do was blink and slightly move her lips. But...
She strained to listen.
Footsteps?
Inuyasha...
A voice. Someone was shouting. "This way!"
Her eyelids were growing heavy. So tired...
Kagome wanted to sleep. However, the chorus of voices in the dark drilled loudly into her mind, forcing her to stay semi-conscious. Make the voices stop, Kagome thought weakly to herself.
She felt the heavy vibrations of bodies as they surrounded her. "Kagome? Kagome!" A rough voice was yelling into her ear. Her eyelids fluttered softly, flickering shut almost immediately.
The air...smells of blood...
She hadn't even realized that it was her blood.
Inuyasha...
Disoriented, she tried to make sense of the chaos happening around her. "Inu...yasha?" she tried to whisper. It came out an inaudible sigh; she barely had any strength left.
"No, it's me, Kagome!" His voice rose in tone as he began shaking her. "Kagome! Try to stay awake! You have to!" she heard him shouting. Strong hands lifted her gently, pressing her close to his body.
He's...so warm...Kagome thought drowsily.
She felt the soft caress of his fingers as he tucked stray strands of hair behind her ear and touched her face. She strained to look into his face, too tired to comprehend whom he was. All she could make out was the shadow of his body.
But...
She thought she saw...
Frighteningly beautiful eyes the color of gentle blue skies on a summer day...
"She needs help. Quick! Find a pack with a healer and..." Kagome began tuning out, feeling the darkness creeping over her like a fuzzy blanket. She tried to reach out further for the escaping warmth.
"...time to waste!" The voice was saying. Then, hectic, it yelled: "Kagome! You can't fall asleep! Do you hear me? You must stay awake!" He kept shaking her.
Stop it, she thought tiredly.
Stop it.
Please...
She was too tired to care, too tired to realize that she was on verge of death.
"Stop it..." she mumbled drowsily.
"No! I won't! Wake up, damn it!" He sounded frenzied, almost insane with worry.
"...I'm sorry..." Kagome sighed, and finally let the darkness swallow her up.