Blood-Stained

A/N: Hmm… well, finals are coming up, and strangely, the thought of a chemistry test with all prior knowledge learned in the past year put into one test with 100 questions that could range from molarity to molality to entropy to even safety equipment does not scare me. Maybe the night before the test…?

By the way, if Blood-Stained was ever made into a movie, do you think anyone would watch it? I know I wouldn't, because I'd probably shit the pants out of me. (Haha!)

Chapter 12: What Comes Around….

Nghi


It was humid that night, and even more mosquitoes flying around and looking for fresh blood. She shrunk away from a particular big one as it landed beside her ear and onto the smooth, white exterior of her car. Insects were disgusting, and she hated them; she remembered a long time ago when a bee had stung her in the eye, sending her to the hospital, and shivered slightly. Bugs were vermin. Filthy. Nasty. Much like him….

Suddenly the thought of being stranded outside with no one or nothing was there, dawning in her little head, and she realized just how vulnerable she was in that position. Her ribcage rattled nervously, and her breathing seemed to quicken by more than just a little bit. There is no one here, she told herself unconvincingly. But just to make sure…. Kagome glanced behind her and saw nothing. "See? You are letting it get to you," she said aloud, as if it were a barrier of protection. But it was dark, and there were no streetlights, and there were no cars, and all the houses seemed to be cloaked in black, and Inuyasha and Sango seemed to be hiding upstairs, and suddenly there were no noises anymore.

Kagome held her breath, afraid of breaking the silence. A bead of sweat trickled down the side of her cheek, and her vision began to double—no, triple! A little headache began to work its way at the back of her head, and she valiantly swallowed it down. Not another panic attack- not when shewasn't in the safe confinements of her car, not when she couldn't be safe, and certainly not when she couldn't feel safe…! But then again, when was the last time she had felt truly sheltered from anything at all…?

Go.

Her head snapped to the side as she looked frantically for someone who had said that- there was no one. Before she could look around any further, something lashed out from beneath the car and

grabbed

her

wrist.

It was surreal, watching something dark and muffled from the shadows of the trees latching onto her hand, but then time became reality once more as she felt the world collapse on top of her for the second time that day, and Kagome cried as it attempted to pull her underneath the car, armless or not. She could only attempt a feeble noise as it jerked again and again, nearly wrenching the bone out of her socket. Why can't I scream! She dimly thought over the agonizing pain. A breathless wheeze caught in her throat as the side of the car began denting from the force.

Cr­­—There was a small, internal sound of bone beginning to break, cracking under pressure, and something began to flicker at the pit of her stomach. Then it flared, spreading itself across her body, and she found herself screaming, her voice guttural but loud. "No—let me go! Let. Me. Go!" And she was suddenly fighting back, trying to wrestle her arm free—there was a louder snap, and the feeling of courage dissipated as fast as it had come, and Kagome realized just who was winning in the situation. No one had heard her yell for two seconds, she realized with a sinking feeling, and whoever it was down there... he knew it, too. The paranoia and fear and hell that she had suppressed was biting back, jostling her stomach rather dangerously, and she felt nauseous, sick. The hand yanked her back again, and as she tried to scurry forward, trying to defy whoever it was, Shippo's muffled voice from the inside of the car carried out strong and steadfast. "Go away, Kagome- stop acting."

But I'm not…! She felt her guts blown out by his tone, and the tears began to course down her face. "Let me go… please," she sobbed as the hand jerked her against something sharp and protruding. "Shippo, help me! I'm not pretending!" she pleaded, banging lightly on the door- he continued to ignore her, and she shrieked as the sharp metal from scratched more than just skin.Kagome's shoulder was bleeding, and the ligaments were torn and beginning to look like a certain familiar scene way, way back. I don't want to die… I don't want to die- I take it back! I didn't—

The front door of the apartment complex opened, and Inuyasha came out with a trash bag over his shoulders. The hand immediately releasedits grip and retreated, and a second later, something dark and shadowed slipped out from underneath the car, easily slipping in between the silhouettes' cracks. She was too numb to see anything, and after struggling to get out from in between the car's wedge, fell heavily onto the pavement.

It was a second too late for Inuyasha tospot her on the ground, the side of hervehicle ruined with spattered blood everywhere. "Fuck," he swore, dropping the bag, and in a moment, he was at her feet, touching her arm tentatively."What the hell...?"A cool touch to the head, and Kagome's vision sharpened enough to catch an outline of his broad jaw. Her good hand began scratching weakly at his sleeve for a good hold, and she began shaking. "Over there- he—ran—disappeared—vision," she mumbled inarticulately.

"What are you talking about?" he demanded, and in the time it took Kagome to well with frustration at such a stupid question, he had stood up and promptly punched out a window, sending coarse-sized sprinkles of glass all over the car's inside. "Hey, you brat, look at your caretaker…." She flinched,her handgroping thetires to reach a sitting position, and all the while there were indignant shrieks and meows bubbling out. She was trying to stand on both feet now and was almost there, rocking precariously on the soles of her feet. And as Kagome lifted herself off the floor, her eyes almost rolled to the back of her head from too much exhaustion and too little blood circulation, she caught a pair of onyx eyes, glittering dully- they were part of a tree, oddly, and she didn't think she had ever seen any tree with eyes until it hit her. When shehad seenhim,the color of his eyes had been... Kagome made a soft, choked gasp, but it was drowned out by Inuyasha and Shippo. "—it was her fault for making bad decisions!" the little kitsune was saying, crossing his arms stubbornly.

"What the hell do you mean by 'bad decisions'?"

"None of your business, but I'm not letting her drag me into her stupid do-good attitude! It could get both of us ki—" he cut off his ownsentence, frowning.

"Both of you what?" Inuyasha asked roughly.

The boy glared vehemently at the man. "I told you, none of your business! And anyways, what right do you have to break the window glass? You could have hurt me!" He turned his head the other way, in Kagome's direction, and her broken form greeted him.

It-it can't be…. She did not see his green eyes widen at her, and nor did she see them soften with guilt and worry. She did not see the childish tears welling up at the corners, and she did not see him look over at Inuyasha. "… Kagome, what—" She lost her footing at the moment, tripping over a small pebble, and Inuyasha was there to catch her. "Oi," he muttered, "you're bleeding all over the place."

"Him," she garbled, and suddenly the eyes disappeared… but then there was a shadow moving quietly down the street, fast and quick as it turned at the corner, and she became hysterical, kicking and screaming. "He's there! He's there!" she shrilled, waving a pointed finger. And all the while, blood was quickly staining everything- the grass, his shirt, her shirt, the car….

"Calm down, Kagome, get a grip on yourself," Inuyasha muttered, struggling to keep himself from dropping her onto the gravel.

"Calm down?" she shouted in his face, her eyes widening. Was he mad? "He is here. He was there! Right there, in the tree's shadow! He just disappeared at the corner- the corner!" She was hyperventilating, some logical part of her tried to reason, but everything was too disoriented- today, the events, everyone- it was too much for her toact anything butlike someone who had been scared out of her wits.

"Who is 'he'!" Inuyasha demanded, trying to restrain her, but she had tuned his questionsout by now, and there was a faint tremor running through her body. He's here… and he's waiting. I know it.

Shippo knew what she was getting at, and all the color had drained of his face. She did not see him run into the middle of the car and duck under the blanket, trembling terribly, but Inuyasha did, and he looked back to her wide eyes, her jumbled words, and her frenzied nods. "Does Shippo know anything going on here?" he inquired suspiciously, and she suddenly exploded with frustration. Why wouldn't anyone understand? He was here, and she had seenhim up closefor the first time!

"He's here, he's here—"

"Kagome."

"He's waiting—"

"Kagome."

Anger overrode her again, and she found herself shouting as loudly as possible, as ifInuyasha was deaf. "Are you stupid! He was the one who did this to me!To my life!He was the onewhokilled Miroku! He was the one whokilled Sango!"A strange waver passed through his golden eyes,and she thoughtshe had him. "I'll show him to you!" Then Kagome's hand was intertwined with his, and she was running down the street, down the same path that the shadow had taken, and Inuyasha was stumbling along. "Kagome, stop it," he said, trying to free himself without hurting her. "You're crazy- there was nothing there in the first place."

A feeling of dread began to prick at the back of her neck, and she ignored it. Crazy…? I am not… I saw him, just like I saw all the blood in my apartment and the day HE killed that woman. How can you say I'm crazy when I saw it with my own eyes? "No, no, I saw him," she insisted, dragging him along.

They turned the corner, and there was nobody—just like she suspected. "He knew we were coming," she explained matter-of-factly, and continued to head further into the street. Up ahead, she thought she saw something shiny, almost like a twinkle. "He's there!" She never, ever wanted to see him again… but for some reason, Kagome had to make Inuyasha believe- no, see… and touch. It had to be tangible to be real, and if he was intent on killing her, he was going to have a hell of a time doing it. You can't hurt me if I. can. see. YOU.

The hand in hers twisted itself free, and she had to stop walking to turn around… and nearly toppled to the ground. Suddenly her vision wasn't so good…. "He walked into that alley!" she said, shaking her head to smooth out her perception. "Just a little bit more, I promise!"

"Stop it!" Inuyasha barked, pushing her bloodied hands away. "There is nothing."

She reeled back, and immediately the guilt was apparent on his face. "As much as I'd love to beat the bastard to death, you're bleeding everywhere, and if you don't get medical help, you will die."

I don't care, she thought defiantly, but her mouth moved on its own accord. "I'll come back, but justlook a little bit."

"No," he said curtly. "You and I both know you'remakingthis up, and not to mention theyour losing an insane amount of blood. You need to come back now and let Sango help you. She has more practice with this kind of thing." This time, his clawed hands moved to grab her elbow, whether she wanted it or not. She would have pushed it away, but too much blood loss had made her queasy and dizzy, and she didn't know if there were two or three hands making its way for her arm.

She found herself being dragged backwards with no strength to fight, and she began crying. Why didn't he believe her, dammit! "He's there, I know it," she said, struggling to stay conscious.

"Will you shut—" He was cutoff as she passed out just then.

-