Chapter Three: A Walk in the Woods
"Lost all sense of fear; Feelings insincere, Can I be your memory?"
-Sugarcult "Memory"
He woke up in a daze. The air around him was fresh and green, and he felt a pallet of leaves under his body. Looking up, he found himself to be in a forest. The sunlight peeked in through the trees, as the wind gently blew across the ground. Wondering if he was even still alive, he stood up and brushed himself off.
'Damn,' he thought, 'where am I? Why am I here? Did that lightening hit me, or did I actually fall into a... portal of some kind?' His mind reflected back on the times he watched another pass between worlds, and it only caused to make him wish he had succeeded in his task even more.
He began walking, not knowing what else to do. Following his own feet, the man unobservantly passed through that forest. Birds chirped around him; he did not hear. Small creatures skittered past his feet; he did not see. All the world went on as it had before he had come, but he would not have noticed if even the sky had begun to fall. If he had happened to pay attention, he would have seen the sights become familiar. He would have recognized a place he had been before, and he would have known where he was headed.
But no detail found its way to his eye, and he did not even give mind to a long forgotten scent that was carried by the wind. The trees were beginning to thin out, and sounds of a village reached his ears.
As he suddenly stepped out into the open air that was on the outskirts of the forest, a voice arrested him. The sight of an old woman, wearing a familiar red and white outfit arrested him. He couldn't move, as the ghost of someone he had watched die stood before him. "This cannot be real." He whispered. "I know that I am dead now. It's... Kaede."
The children that were playing around the old priestesses feet suddenly became silent when they saw the strange, disheveled man come out from the woods.
"No! It's a demon!" One of the girls yelled.
"We'll fight him!"
"Let's get out of here."
"Don't be scared. He looks like he's about to pass out. He's too weak to fight us."
"Don't be stupid, he's still a demon."
"Children," Kaede said. "I want you to go back inside the village. I can take care of this on my own." All the kids went off to safety, and she warily approached the man.
"What are you doing here, demon? Do you have some evil you wish to commit?"
He looked at her wildly, and his steps faltered as he began to back up. "How can you speak?" He asked her hoarsely. "I watched you die... that illness, the one that came to the village, you... you caught it, and we couldn't find a cure. You aren't supposed to be here."
"Are ye mad?" She asked him. "I am quite alive."
"Then, am I dead?" He looked around him in obvious distress. "Are we all together again? Is this the land apart from the living? Are the others here; tell me where they are!"
"What are you talking about? Your mind is obviously rattled. Let me put you out of your misery!"
He sank down to his knees, and put his head in his hands. "I am so lost... why am I so continuously tortured? You weren't there Kaede. You didn't watch him kill them, but I did. He was so brutal; he was so merciless." His fists clenched in anger. "And he... Damn it! That bastard killed Kagome first! We all had to watch as he tore her apart. How do you think I'm supposed to feel?"
Kaede stood in complete horror. Here in front of her stood a young man, obviously a demon, but there was something about him that she knew... He was tall and thin. His hair was long and very red, tied in a long ponytail. He wore blue, and he had eyes the color of emeralds.
Shock fell onto her face. She knew, in that second, who stood in front of her. "Oh... Shippou..."
Thanx for reading! Love and PEACE! -A.D.D.