Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership of Inuyasha: Sengoku o-Togi Zoushi. I am borrowing it for entertainment purposes only. No money is being made from the writing or reading of this story. Only original characters and situations belong to me.
I Want Tomorrow
©2001-2002 by Kei
IV – Bathed in Blood
Stars danced their way across the vault of heaven, lighting up the clear midnight sky. Several wisps of clouds drifted by, their hands of mist branching out and pulling them across. A gentle breeze fluttered through the trees on gusty wings, sweeping by Kagome's face and lightly caressing her cheeks. Her eyes moved and landed on Shippô slumbering deeply in her lap, curled into a tiny ball of cinnamon fur. Then she looked at Inuyasha sitting up against a tree for support, his head turned to the side as he gazed out into the vast scope of night. She couldn't help but consider what a nice profile he had.
It wasn't the first time she'd noticed his attractiveness. Throughout the first day of their journey, she had continually found herself staring at him and admiring the easiness of his visage on her eyes. He was quite a pleasant sight, especially his amber eyes. They held no malice, only a carefully hidden hurt that could not be concealed from Kagome.
The dying flames of the fire they'd built together flickered in the wind and sent shadows darting back and forth across the setting. Kagome was reminded of a time when her father had made a comparison of each life to a candle flame. He said that every life began with a single spark until it grew into a flame, but like that flame could burn, it could very easily be blown out. Even something as seemingly harmless as the wind could douse the delicate fire. Hirofumi told his daughter that, just like fire was precious, so was life. Now Kagome wondered if he had known that the hurricane wind of a demon would extinguish his flame so soon.
It was natural for Kagome to want revenge, but she had to learn to let go. Her mother had cried for weeks after Hirofumi's murder, but never once had her tears been of anger. Saeko had never shown an intense desire to lash out at any youkai that crossed her path in return for the vicious killing of her beloved husband. She still had her small twin babies to take care of, plus her oldest daughter Kagome and her aging father-in-law. Even when she sang lullabies to help her children fall asleep, she cried, but she continued with her life until all the tears were gone. Kagome wondered if Saeko was crying for her, too, because she had never cried over her father's death. Though she had witnessed the gruesome slaying with her own innocent young eyes, never had tears fallen from those eyes.
Then Kagome's thoughts turned to her Grandpa. She remembered seeing his eyes shining and their color wavering back and forth across the white just moments before he turned around and lifted a hand to cover his face as his back shook. At the time, the little priestess-in-training hadn't understood his actions, but years later, upon examining the memories, she realized that he had been crying. She could recall tugging on his pants leg and asking him what the matter was. He very quickly dried his eyes and turned around to her, smiling his goofy Grandpa smile that she loved. Then he had picked her up in thin, wrinkled arms that belied his strength and hugged her close before starting to tickle her relentlessly. He had always doted on her and filled her head with stories about her ancestors and many, many more of her father's youth. She knew now that though those stories had been meant partially for her enjoyment, they had also been a major part of the healing process for Grandpa. By spinning the tales of his son for his granddaughter, he was able to embrace everything that Hirofumi had been and get through his mourning with relatively little trouble.
When Kagome emerged from her reverie, she felt eyes upon her. She glanced up and locked gazes with Inuyasha. She felt heat rising to her cheeks and immediately tried to quell it, though she was pretty certain it had not worked. She gave him a small smile and said, "I think we should both get some sleep, Inuyasha. I'll put out the fire. Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Kagome," he replied, settling into his spot a little more and closing his eyes. Kagome nodded, quenched the fire with a simple look, and carefully situated herself into a comfortable position without disturbing Shippô.
Sunlight breaking through the trees' leaves hit Kagome's eyelids with a vengeance and blinded her when she opened her eyes. She found her lap devoid of any weight and she looked around frantically for Shippô under the hot gaze of the morning sun. She was slightly confused by the changes in scenery. When they had stopped in this thicket the previous evening, it was not a grove of sakura trees and soft blades of summer grass. It was a rather rocky landscape, with trees of lush green leaves, but certainly no cherry blossoms. Although, it had been growing dark, so maybe her eyes had not been adjusted to the lower light and had not absorbed the scenery correctly.
"Shippô-chan!" she called, feeling more than a little puzzled by the fact that her mouth was still forming the cub's name, though the cry had already been released. She lifted her hands up to cup them around her mouth and magnify the shout, and her arms felt like two waterlogged extensions; her hands were heavy, and again her mouth did not move accurately when she yelled for Shippô.
Kagome looked for Inuyasha at the tree he'd been sleeping against, but he was not there. She would have called for him, but knew it would be as useless as calling for Shippô had proven to be. She was completely alone, and she didn't like it one bit.
"Kagome!" a familiar voice beckoned, and she turned around, entirely in slow motion. She couldn't understand the incredibly sluggish movements of her body.
When she finally completed the turn, she saw nobody there. The only thing before her was a full-length mirror, reflecting glass set in a beautiful gold frame. Two phoenixes flew at each other on the top, and their burning feathers composed the rest of it. Kagome looked at herself, wondering how the mirror had gotten to be there.
All of a sudden, her reflection's eyes narrowed and the mirror girl smiled evilly. She raised her hand from behind her, revealing a honed dagger that glinted in the bright sunlight. In her other arm she held a limp, unconscious Inuyasha. His head hung back over her forearm, leaving his neck utterly vulnerable. Kagome gasped in horror when she realized what the other Kagome was going to do.
The sharpened blade cut down and slashed across Inuyasha's throat. Blood cascaded plentifully from the hanyou's neck until his bare skin was drenched in the same color as his kimono. Tears suspended in Kagome's eyes now came spilling out as her friend's blood had done, quickly and endlessly. She screamed his name and once again her lips were delayed in forming the syllables, and her tongue sat lethargically in the oral cavity like a pillow.
"NOOOOOOOOOO! INUYASHAAAAAAAAA!"
And even though she was screaming and wailing beyond breathlessness, she could hear someone else crying in the distance. A child was crying, and someone was calling her. That voice was telling her something…she needed something…needed to—
"WAKE UP, KAGOME!" Inuyasha bellowed, shaking her roughly by the shoulders in another attempt to wake the girl so deeply caught in some horrible nightmare. Her screams of terror had jolted both Inuyasha and Shippô from their sleep, and Kagome's shouts and sobs had made Shippô start crying out of fear for her. Inuyasha had immediately set about pulling Kagome from her terrible dreamscape.
Her eyes shot open, wide, tearful, and unseeing. She didn't register his presence there at all and looked right through him. She screamed his name again and thrust her arms out as if to reach him, and when she contacted his chest, she finally, really woke up. She blinked and swallowed hard, staring into Inuyasha's eyes. Her hands, still out and touching his chest, clutched his kimono tightly as she started sobbing wretchedly. Inuyasha lowered himself to his knees beside her and his hands slid from her shoulders to her back as he took her in a comforting embrace. He had never seen her so emotional; she was usually affable and glad or serious and calm, never so uncontrolled and weepy.
"Shippô-chan!" she exclaimed in a whisper, remembering her dear little kitsune friend. She loosened one of her hands from Inuyasha's kimono and reached it out for the small fox demon. He accepted the invitation right away and snuggled up against her leg, sniffling and wiping his eyes on the cotton cloth of her pants. She wrapped her free arm around him and sighed.
"I'm so sorry, Inuyasha," she murmured into the crook of his neck. "I…it was such a horrible dream. I saw myself…" Her voice dropped away into nothingness, for she had no desire to continue and relive the horrors she had seen.
"It's okay, Kagome, you don't have to tell me," he soothed, rubbing her tense back before at last releasing her from the embrace and sitting back on his haunches to look at her.
"Are you gonna be all right, Kagome?" Shippô piped up, gazing at Kagome with large, expectant eyes.
She smiled weakly and said, "Yes, Shippô-chan, I'll be all right eventually." She scrubbed her face furiously with the sleeves of her own kimono, drying her tears the best she could. She was supposed to be her friends' bodyguard, not a sniveling little girl! How could she have let a stupid dream get the better of her? And yet…it had seemed symbolic in a way, which unnerved Kagome. The lovely scenery clashing with the sheer brutality of the images in the mirror had not been something her mind just conjured up for no reason.
"Well, let's pack up and get going, shall we?" she suggested, reverting back into her old self, the cheery priestess with the contagious smile. "I hope we find a river soon, or at least a stream, because I think we could all use a bath."
Her traveling companions agreed with the suggestion, and the trio gathered their belongings and set off again. Inuyasha led the way, assuring the other two that he knew of a river not far from their current location. Kagome trusted in him completely and followed without a hint of hesitation; Shippô simply went where Kagome went.
They arrived at the river as promised, and the lovely scenery surrounding it awed Kagome. The plant life all around was lush and verdant due to the natural irrigation of the clean, flowing waters cutting through the living emerald landscape. With a smile, she set her pack down and kicked off her sandals. Inuyasha had already chosen to lounge in the high boughs of a nearby tree and take a mid-morning snooze; Kagome knew the truth, though, that he was looking for an excuse to close his eyes and allow her privacy while bathing. He was sweeter than he liked to let on, but she would never say that to his face. Knowing him, he would be deeply insulted by the comment.
With a light-hearted cry of glee, Shippô stripped in one swift movement and leapt into the river, totally immersing himself in the crystalline water. Kagome smiled to herself and opted to first kneel at the shore and wash her face. She dipped her cupped hands into the cool, clear liquid and brought some up, splashing it on her pink, sunbathed cheeks. When she returned her gaze to the river's surface, she saw in place of her reflection a burning yellow sun illuminating the crimson sky behind it as the golden orb sank behind the dark violet horizon. But why was she seeing the sunset before it was even noon? Then the sky began to expand and overtake the other colors, changing the water to blood. Kagome looked at the droplets sprinkling her hands and found that they, too, were blood.
"Come on, Kagome!" Shippô beckoned to her, and she slowly lifted her head to look at him. She gasped in shock and horror when she saw the kitsune child standing in waist-deep crimson, awash completely in blood.
"Kagome, what's wrong?" Shippô inquired, wading over to her. Kagome could only gape at the blood-soaked cub. "I thought you liked taking baths with me. The water's not cold or anything, come on!"
Kagome finally tore her wide gaze away from him and looked once more at her bloodstained hands. But…they were no longer bloody.
"What?" she murmured, seeing that the crimson had receded from the water and Shippô was completely clean.
"Oh, Shippô-chan, I'm sorry, I just got lost in thought," she lied apologetically. Then she removed her clothing and undergarments, sliding into the water after him. As she and Shippô played and washed, Kagome tossed a hurried glance up at Inuyasha, who appeared to be dozing easily.
After Kagome and Shippô were washed, dried, and clothed, Inuyasha took his turn. When he jumped out of the tree and landed in front of Kagome, he eyed her strangely for a moment and then asked, "Kagome, why did I smell blood earlier?"