Darkness...
Everywhere, absolutely everywhere...
Kagome whirled and tried to find her way out but it was no use... She was surrounded. It was the day after the pups were born but instead of the happy event it had promised to be, all she got instead was... this.
Darkness... Everlasting and never ending darkness...
'Sess?' she called, but he didn't answer. Most likely, the dark was affecting their bond. Not that they'd had a chance to test it before...
Kagome had been dreaming and was inside her 'safe place', the one place she could go and be safe, at least in mind. Around her, there was the most beautiful garden she had ever seen and she could just barely make out two forms in the distance.
For a demon, that was saying something. And there was nothing but those exquisite gardens as far as the eye could see...
She'd jumped as firm arms wrapped themselves around her waist and then relaxed when she recognized her mate.
"Beautiful aren't they?" the dream Sesshoumaru whispered into her ear. She nodded, leaning against him. "Hopefully, this too will be someday..." he said cryptically.
And that's when everything went wrong...
Without so much as a warning, Kagome was flung out of her mate's warm embrace and into the darkness that surrounded her now...
And here she was...
Not knowing if her children were alright or if her mate was even still alive... She didn't even have a notion of what time it was!
Kagome sighed and, crossing her arms, sat down crossed-legged on what would have been the floor. Just as she was starting to think that it was hopeless, voices started echoing into her 'prison'.
"You'll never be able to wake her! That miasma is the most potent it can be! You'll never see her again, you inbred mutt!"
'Naraku?' Kagome thought. Her suspicions were confirmed a moment later.
"NARAKU, you BASTARD!!! I will get her back and she WILL awaken... Kagome is stronger then you give her credit for!"
'Sess?! Shessh, he really HAS been hanging around me too much! He's starting to talk like a guy from a movie in my time!'
A shaft of light broke through the darkness and hit her square in the eyes.
'What the- Hey, that's-'
Through the tiny pinprick of light, Kagome could see what was happening outside. And it wasn't pretty.
The twins, Kinza and Tinza were sprawled on the floor, their life's blood pooling around their lifeless bodies. Servants' bodies were visible at their death it seemed because the whole room was covered in what was left of them. Blood was everywhere!
The light had expanded without Kagome's noticing until it had totally taken over the dark.
Her breath caught in her throat as she saw Sesshoumaru, kneeling on the ground and holding his sword to keep upright. He was panting, tired and looked so pitiful that she could feel the tears well up in her eyes.
And then...
She saw what his body had been hiding...
Shippo and Rin's bloody forms lay on the ground, drenched in their own blood...
She screamed and screamed, closing her eyes in pain as though that action could block out the memory of what she had seen. Her hands came up to her ears and covered them as she screamed louder... louder...
And the black shield surrounding her shattered like glass...