Okay, okay, okay, I JUST GOT BACK. I'm posting this as soon as possible, because, I know some people have been waiting for it. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: Inu-Yasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.
Lucky bi-
Reflection
Chapter 5-The Stars in the Sky
He looked down at her coldly, what was unmistakably anger burning deep inside his eyes. She resisted the urge to run back to the safety of her friends; regretting leaving her bow behind, and suddenly very aware that despite the fact that he was aiding them, Sesshomaru was still a very dangerous individual.
"What have you done?" It was more a statement than a question, which she took with immediate confusion.
"What have I done? What are you talking about?" Kagome's words were very timid, betraying her fear, and far less final than she had intended them to be.
Sesshomaru was unmoving, his gaze only becoming more intimidating by the second. It seemed like he expected her to tell the truth, that she was lying, but she could only meet him with silence. After a few tense moments, he only made matters worse by leaning in very close to her, causing Kagome to back up slowly into the wall behind her. Sufficiently cornering her, his eyes narrowed to sharp, amber slits, and he spoke again with a voice much deeper than usual.
"You know of what I speak."
Kagome visibly shrank, and unable to face him, turned away. "I really don't know..."
Sesshomaru's gaze seemed to soften in defeat, but he did not withdraw. For a moment, out of the corner of her eye, Kagome thought she could see a brief hint of pain flicker across his face. 'Maybe he really did experience the vision...' She thought.
"I think I know what you mean, a little bit, though..." Kagome mumbled, and she moved back to look him in the eyes, hoping he might move away to let her through, only to find him as immovable as a wall.
"Go on."
She sighed and her eyes moved to the floor. She felt no desire whatsoever to confide in anyone, let alone Sesshomaru. "I've been having theses visions, at least, I think they're visions, of a woman, with golden hair..."
Silence.
"The first time, she was speaking TO me, but now, I feel, like... Like I'm actually her." He still revealed no true hint of emotion, and she took it as a sign to continue.
Kagome felt a burning need to just spit it all out, get it over with, but she couldn't bring herself to just spill her guts to this demon lord. Her mouth moved over the words hesitantly. The tears at the edges of her eyes were both threatening and tempting.
"I saw her die, in someone's arms," her hands clenched into fists, "I think, they were..."
He suddenly came even closer, pressing a response out of her with his glare.
"Your, arms."
He was very rigid for an instant, and then moved away, turning his back on her, and becoming totally silent. Kagome took advantage of the fact that he had finally drew back to regain her confidence, now feeling a strange pang of sadness for him.
"I had slept with images of her in my head for a few days, and then, just a few hours ago, when I touched your skin, and I had another vision. But it was different that time." There was still nothing from him and she went on. "I was actually seeing things through her eyes, or maybe, my eyes. You were there for sure." She smiled a bit, trying to cheer him, though she knew he couldn't see her. "You're head was on my, or her-"
"Lap." He finished suddenly. He looked over his shoulder at her quietly. "My head was on HER lap." The demon put a bit of emphasis on the word "her," causing, to Kagome's great surprise, a small grief in her heart.
'What was I expecting him to say?' she wondered for a moment before trying to act relieved about it. "So you DID share this vision, and you saw the woman. Who is she?"
He walked out to the balcony. He had spent a good deal of time taking her through multiple halls, finally leading her into a vacant room with large windows and doors that opened out onto the mountains before he started to confront her about their predicament.
His eyes were distant, as if focused on someone before him that only he could see. "Sesshomaru?" Kagome asked quietly.
"She was someone I knew long ago." His hands were wrapped around the railing stiffly. Kagome waited for him to continue, but eventually, she realized with dismay that he had finished, and she hung her head in dissatisfaction.
Kagome was just about to leave, when she suddenly remembered that she would have to tell him about the song. He had heard it when the pain of it had taken her, but perhaps he had forgotten.
"Oh, Sesshomaru," his head rose a bit in annoyance, thoughts broken, "that song you heard, the one I was singing before I had the vision, it goes like this," she sang it softly, briefly, watching in curiosity as his eyes widened a bit. "I'd been hearing it over and over again in my head for about two days. I thought you might know what it was about, remember?"
No answer.
"Well?" Now he was starting to annoy HER.
After finally giving up on him, Kagome turned on her heel and stormed out of the room, leaving the demon lord to whatever dismal thoughts he was confusing himself with.
'Men.' She thought angrily as she stomped through the tangled halls of the palace. After a few turns, however, she realized unhappily that she had no clear idea of where she was going.
"Peachy."
After huffing about like a moron for a bit, trying to determine a solution, she sighed deeply in defeat. "I suppose I'll have to ask for directions..." She muttered, though she pitied the poor servant that had to cross her when she was in a mood like this.
But just as Kagome began snooping about for another living creature in what had suddenly become a ghost town, delicate laughter drifted to her ears.
"What's that?" She asked to no one in particular. It sounded like children. Slowly, she wandered to the source of the sound like a lost child herself.
She couldn't imagine where it could be coming from. Kagome hadn't seen any children in the castle at all, was she imagining things?
Her search soon lead her to a dead end, at which she resisted the temptation to break something, when she noticed a small door to her right. The laughter seemed to echo from the other side. Carefully, she pulled the door back, letting it slide along the grooves gently.
A gasp shook her when she had revealed what lay before her on the other side.
"It, it's a garden!"
Kagome stood awestruck as she admired the sweeping expanse of lush greenery. Upon entering the castle for the first time, she had seen a vast garden at it's base (in fact, it had taken them quite a long time to poke through the mess), but she could have never imagined putting one amidst the fortress itself! They built the thing on a mountain! How could they possible have a garden HERE?
Carefully, she stepped lightly onto the velvety green lawn, and looking up, realized that in every direction, if you walked long enough, you would find a wall of the castle. The garden was boxed in, and it reminded her vaguely of a greenhouse.
It was filled with towering exotic plants, and colorful birds danced about the canopy. Kagome held her breath in wonder.
"What a beautiful place..." She mumbled with a slight whistle.
Reluctantly, her brief moment of bliss was broken, she remembered the mysterious laughter. Timidly, she began shifting about the trees, quite certain that she would find the source in a moment. As journeyed through the forest, the plants started to give way gradually, eventually revealing a small clearing, and inside it, a pond.
Graceful white lilies were spread across its surface, and what looked like an ancient willow was bent pleasantly over it, its branches drifting in the water lazily.
Sitting beside the pond, making flower wreaths happily, were two figures.
'Aha! Children! That solves that mystery.' Kagome thought triumphantly. She quietly snuck over to them, trying to glimpse their faces while not disturbing their fun.
One of them was babbling quickly. "AndKagome'srealniceandsoisSangoMiroku's- apervertedmonkandInu-Yasha'sjustreallymeanandstupid..."
"Shippou-chan!" Kagome exclaimed brightly, hurrying to the little kitsune.
"Hi Kagome!" She scooped him up into her arms and smiled at him before turning to observe his companion.
"And who is this?"
A young girl with a side ponytail was grinning up at her with a toothy smile. She was opening her mouth to speak when Shippou scuttled away from Kagome's grasp and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"This is Rin, she lives here with Sesshomaru."
"With Sesshomaru? I didn't know he had any children." Kagome was puzzled, she remembered seeing the little girl before, but she couldn't quite remember where...
Shippou shook his head. "Nah, he doesn't. He um... He..."
"Sesshomaru-sama saved Rin with his sword!" Rin interrupted, and Shippou nodded in agreement.
"That's right, and then Rin traveled with him for a while until he said it was too dangerous and left her here." Said Shippou. Rin folded her arms unhappily and began to pout. She obviously hadn't approved of that decision.
Kagome's mouth formed and "O." "That's right," she muttered, "I've seen you with Sesshomaru before." Rin brightened, pleased that she had been thought of by at least one person.
Kagome then snapped her fingers shortly, startling the two as she remembered why she had been snooping about in the first place. "Hey Rin, do you know how to get back to, um, Sesshomaru's brother's room?" Hoping that she child was aware of who she was talking about. Rin nodded quickly and started spitting out directions.
"Rin knows! You have to go down, um, that hall," she said, pointing at the east wall and moving her finger across it, "and then, go to the, left! Then...Left again, and then right, and then you go to the room to the...Left! Hmhm!" She nodded again proudly. They were sketchy directions, but they would have to do. In fact, she was suddenly very thankful that Rin knew left from right at all.
Kagome smiled at her, and looked up at the beaming sun contentedly. It had stopped raining, finally, at least she had something to be happy about. "Well," she rose and stretched a bit. "I think I should be getting back to Inu-Yasha now. Have fun!" She waved at them and dashed into the forest, leaving them to their flower wreaths. She just barely heard Shippou's "bye Kagome!" As she ran to the door through which she had entered.
"Thank you Rin-Chan!" She shouted, hearing Rin squeal with delight at her new title.
Kagome followed Rin's sloppy directions to the best of her ability and patiently walked down the halls. With immense joy and relief, she eventually found Inu-Yasha's door staring at her, and entered quietly.
Sango and Miroku beamed up at her upon entering, faintly looking relieved about something.
"Hello Kagome-chan!" Sango chirped.
Miroku bowed his head at her. "Kagome-sama."
"How's Inu-Yasha?" She asked timidly.
Sango gave a suspicious grin. "Funny you should ask Kagome-chan, he just woke up." Kagome smiled delightedly and turned to face the injured hanyou on his futon.
He had his arms folded crossly with a disgruntled expression. Clearly wanting to sit up the way he normally did. He reminded her of Rin.
"Feh."
Kagome threw her arms around him suddenly, squeezing him painfully and tempering his wounded throat. "Inu-Yasha!" She exclaimed, "I was so worried about you! Are you alright?"
Sango fearfully tugged Kagome back to Earth, as a pain-stricken Inu-Yasha struggled with his injuries. "Oh, um, sorry Inu-Yasha," She muttered with a slight blush.
Miroku looked down on the two happily, while Sango did the same, eyes bright and sparkling with joy. The monk then took Sango's arm lightly, and lifted her up, leading her out of the room quietly. "I think we'd better go find Shippou-chan!" He called, continuing to drag Sango, "I did leave him alone with a girl, and I doubt he's that experienced in that department!" With those words, they were both gone, leaving a perplexed Kagome suddenly alone with ANOTHER dog-demon.
"W-wait a minute!" She shouted, "Miroku! Sango-ch-" She was cut off then, rather suddenly, as she felt a hand closing upon her own; sharp claws prickling her fragile skin.
"Inu...Yasha?" Her voice was full of uncertainty as she slowly turned to face the hanyou again.
"Kagome..." His eyes were filled with strong, conflicting emotions. She shifted underneath his gaze, very aware that the last time he had looked at her like that, he had mistaken her for Kikyo.
"It was you." He dragged himself into a sitting position.
"Inu-Yasha, don't, you'll trouble your wounds..." She placed a hand on his chest, willing him to lie back down. He ignored her.
"It was you, wasn't it?" He gripped her hand a bit tighter.
"Me?"
"Your voice, it was calling me back, I heard you."
She faltered, and bent down, lowering her head in embarrassment; unable to understand why he was bringing this up now. "Oh, well, you could have died, and I..." Her voice trailed off.
"I WOULD have died Kagome. But it was your voice that brought me back." She was very doubtful now. He had never spoken so sincerely to her before, it made her self-conscious, and almost fearful. She was even tempted to end it all by saying something like, "all right, who are you and what have you done with the real Inu-Yasha?" But she bit her tongue with much reluctance.
When she did not speak, Inu-Yasha kept plodding along, tearing her nerves to bits as he sputtered more uncharacteristic poetry.
"Kagome, you mean so much to me..." Her brain backfired, he wasn't really saying... Was he?
"I'm, glad that I mean so much to you too..."
'Cannot compute.' She thought. Kagome had officially blown a fuse.
"This must be right..."
'No, he wouldn't...' Why so fast? Couldn't he do it gradually?
"I think I..."
'Get out of town, he IS serious... Shit.' She tried not to start biting her finger-nails.
"Love you... Kagome hildren of Dune
She just about screamed, nothing made sense....AT ALL. Suddenly she felt very much like a shattered glass. Everything hadn't been making sense, as she had reminded herself often, for the past few days. So it had stopped raining, that was nice, but as soon as one problem was solved, here came another one. At a loss for words, Kagome could only fumble and trip with her speech.
"I, um, Inu-Yasha, I, I, wow..." Still sputtering, she pried herself from the ground and began to back up towards the door. Her face was burning a deep scarlet, she couldn't handle this. Inu-Yasha, meanwhile, seemed both very proud of himself, and very content that she was handling it the way she was. It was as if he had expected her reaction.
With that, Kagome gave a slight moan, and tore out of the room, feeling the tears streaming down her cheeks. She could hear him calling for her, but she paid it no heed. Praying that she wouldn't run into another living being, she ran to the only place in the palace she knew she might be alone. The garden.
"Please let Shippou and Rin be gone...Please, please, please..." Ripping the door open, Kagome bolted inside, panting breathlessly. She crashed through the trees for the second time that day, and collapsed near the secluded pond in the clearing, eternally grateful that the children had cleared out.
"Oh no..." She mumbled. The sun was still smiling down, oblivious to her plight. "Oh no, I can believe I ran out on him, on both of them." For whatever reason, she was counting Sesshomaru in this mess. "I can't.Why is this happening?"
Dimly, she recalled asking a similar question to the darkness only four days ago. But she still hadn't received an answer.
Dismally, Kagome stretched out onto her back and closed her eyes to the sun's rays. The tall grass fanned out across her form, blanketing her partially. She needed o do something to clear her mind, anything.
The sun was so warm and comforting...
Perhaps, if she slept on it...
She half-remembered the frequent and confusing dreams she got when she slept nowadays, but in the end, her desire for a good rest overpowered her desire to stay awake and fend off the nightmares.
It washed over her like a hot bath, and as she looked up at the sun, she say a large cloud cover it up lazily. It was shaped like, Sango's head, and, it was talking to her.
"Listen Kagome-chan," It said. "You should talk to them you know..." She nodded slowly.
"Uh-huh."
Kagome rolled unto her side and looked into the depths of the shadowy trees, all of which happened to be singing Christmas carols, and, they had Santa hats on. "Jingle bells, jingle bells..." They're voices sounded like Inu-Yasha's, and they were singing reluctantly, as if they were sulking about it at the same time.
When she rolled back over to look at the sun again, but something was in the way; a head, but not Sango's. It was, Sesshomaru. "Sesshomaru... You're blocking the sun..." She muttered as she stared up into his unmistakable, burning amber eyes, the only part of him that was visible in the darkness.
'Darkness?' She thought, "Oh wait a minute, it's just nighttime."
"Jingle bells, Jingle bells..."
He still wouldn't move. She felt something underneath her, something like, arms, Sesshomaru's arms, he was lifting her up with one hand beneath her legs, and one near her shoulder blades. "Hey, wait a minute. When did you get your other arm back?" She fixed him with an accusing stare.
"I won't let you die, Kagome."
Kagome blushed and giggled a bit. "But I'm not dying!"
Suddenly, she felt wetness, her shirt was soaked. Had she taken a bath? Carefully, she prodded the fabric with her fingers and lifted them up to her eyes, they were soaked with something dark... Blood.
"What?" She continued to paw about, more frantically this time, searching for the source of the bleeding. Her hand strayed to her throat, and closed upon a massive gash, identical to Inu-Yasha's.
Kagome shrieked in fear, clutching Sesshomaru with her all her might. "What have you done?!" She cried tragically to the yellow eyes. There was only silence.
He had faded away. There were no longer any arms supporting her, no longer anything around which her hands were clamped. Kagome felt at her throat, and found that there was no wound. Even the eyes above her seemed to be dissolving.
There was only darkness.
"Tenshik..." A voice was calling out in the black sea.
"Who's there?" Kagome asked hesitantly.
"Tenshik..." It was Sesshomaru.
"Sesshomaru!" She called brightly, waving her arms about, as if he might be able to see her. "Sesshomaru, hey, Sesshomaru! Where are you?" She was thankful that someone was here with her.
Kagome stood up then, on what, she couldn't be sure, but she didn't care. She began running, sprinting in whatever direction she could, confident that she would be able to find Sesshomaru somewhere.
Her eyes scanned about, and registered that there was something out there, possibly Sesshomaru. Kagome could see it, it was glowing a faint blue. "Hey!" She called again.
It was coming closer, and closer, there it was, yes, she could almost touch it now. "Sesshomaru!" But when it finally became clear what the thing was, Kagome realized with misery that it was not, in any way, a person.
"It's a mirror..." She mumbled, crestfallen. Still, she stopped and looked it over. It was, indeed glowing blue, and, seemed to be having a bit of trouble producing her reflection. It was moving, like the surface of a lake, shifting about unevenly. Kagome continued to observe this before it settled on a definite shape. Her reflection.
"No..."
It wasn't her reflection at all! It couldn't be, that wasn't her! It looked a little like her, but, how, how could it be?
It was her face but, the skin, it was darker than hers, almost Inu-Yasha's color, and the eyes were, green, not brown. Yes, they were a clear, crisp, green. Then, it hit her. This person, this woman before her trying to pass off as her reflection, had golden hair. It fell past her waist. Golden hair...
"Who are you?" She screamed, and it's mouth moved after her own at the same time, mimicking her movements just as any other reflection would. Kagome, frightened, began moving about, watching as it copied her movements accurately. It even wore the same facial expression of confused fear.
"No! This isn't possible!" She shouted desperately.
With that, Kagome lifted her hand and bound it up in a fist, making to smash through the false mirror and end the nightmare. But when she slammed her hand forward, rather than crashing into the glass, it went through, unharmed, as if the mirror were made of water. Gasping, Kagome felt herself falling forward, and lifted her other hand to protect herself from shards of glass. Yet just like her fist, she fell through like she was diving into water.
When she had passed through entirely, she spun around, deciding that kicking it forcefully might be a better idea, but when she had turned, there was only empty blackness facing her, with no mirror in sight.
Frustrated, Kagome crouched and shoved her head into her hands her long hair billowing out before her.
"Long?" Kagome muttered with a hint of sarcasm. "Oh no..."
Springing back up again, she wrenched a fistful of hair before her face, with a slightly dark hand, anticipating the results, but still anxiously hoping that what she feared wasn't so. "IT'S GOLD!!! WHAT THE HELL?!!!"
"At last, I have found you Tenshik!" Her shouting fit was interrupted as she realized Sesshomaru was standing right in front of her.
"I'm Kagome..."
She began to sob and fell to the ground, "I'm Kagome, Kagome, Kagome, KAGOME!"
"You are Tenshik."
Kagome woke with a start to somebody shaking her violently. She was covered in cold sweat, a regular occurrence now. Not surprisingly, it was Sesshomaru poised above her in the grass, and thinking she was still dreaming, or having a vision, her hands shot up to wrench him down so that his face was inches from her own; holding him by the collar of his clothes.
"I'm Kagome."
Now, while I was away I kept a small journal in which I wrote chapter 6, if I can work fast enough, I'll have it typed and out by today, so watch for it! Hope you liked it! I have done the best that I can.
Disclaimer: Inu-Yasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.
Lucky bi-
Reflection
Chapter 5-The Stars in the Sky
He looked down at her coldly, what was unmistakably anger burning deep inside his eyes. She resisted the urge to run back to the safety of her friends; regretting leaving her bow behind, and suddenly very aware that despite the fact that he was aiding them, Sesshomaru was still a very dangerous individual.
"What have you done?" It was more a statement than a question, which she took with immediate confusion.
"What have I done? What are you talking about?" Kagome's words were very timid, betraying her fear, and far less final than she had intended them to be.
Sesshomaru was unmoving, his gaze only becoming more intimidating by the second. It seemed like he expected her to tell the truth, that she was lying, but she could only meet him with silence. After a few tense moments, he only made matters worse by leaning in very close to her, causing Kagome to back up slowly into the wall behind her. Sufficiently cornering her, his eyes narrowed to sharp, amber slits, and he spoke again with a voice much deeper than usual.
"You know of what I speak."
Kagome visibly shrank, and unable to face him, turned away. "I really don't know..."
Sesshomaru's gaze seemed to soften in defeat, but he did not withdraw. For a moment, out of the corner of her eye, Kagome thought she could see a brief hint of pain flicker across his face. 'Maybe he really did experience the vision...' She thought.
"I think I know what you mean, a little bit, though..." Kagome mumbled, and she moved back to look him in the eyes, hoping he might move away to let her through, only to find him as immovable as a wall.
"Go on."
She sighed and her eyes moved to the floor. She felt no desire whatsoever to confide in anyone, let alone Sesshomaru. "I've been having theses visions, at least, I think they're visions, of a woman, with golden hair..."
Silence.
"The first time, she was speaking TO me, but now, I feel, like... Like I'm actually her." He still revealed no true hint of emotion, and she took it as a sign to continue.
Kagome felt a burning need to just spit it all out, get it over with, but she couldn't bring herself to just spill her guts to this demon lord. Her mouth moved over the words hesitantly. The tears at the edges of her eyes were both threatening and tempting.
"I saw her die, in someone's arms," her hands clenched into fists, "I think, they were..."
He suddenly came even closer, pressing a response out of her with his glare.
"Your, arms."
He was very rigid for an instant, and then moved away, turning his back on her, and becoming totally silent. Kagome took advantage of the fact that he had finally drew back to regain her confidence, now feeling a strange pang of sadness for him.
"I had slept with images of her in my head for a few days, and then, just a few hours ago, when I touched your skin, and I had another vision. But it was different that time." There was still nothing from him and she went on. "I was actually seeing things through her eyes, or maybe, my eyes. You were there for sure." She smiled a bit, trying to cheer him, though she knew he couldn't see her. "You're head was on my, or her-"
"Lap." He finished suddenly. He looked over his shoulder at her quietly. "My head was on HER lap." The demon put a bit of emphasis on the word "her," causing, to Kagome's great surprise, a small grief in her heart.
'What was I expecting him to say?' she wondered for a moment before trying to act relieved about it. "So you DID share this vision, and you saw the woman. Who is she?"
He walked out to the balcony. He had spent a good deal of time taking her through multiple halls, finally leading her into a vacant room with large windows and doors that opened out onto the mountains before he started to confront her about their predicament.
His eyes were distant, as if focused on someone before him that only he could see. "Sesshomaru?" Kagome asked quietly.
"She was someone I knew long ago." His hands were wrapped around the railing stiffly. Kagome waited for him to continue, but eventually, she realized with dismay that he had finished, and she hung her head in dissatisfaction.
Kagome was just about to leave, when she suddenly remembered that she would have to tell him about the song. He had heard it when the pain of it had taken her, but perhaps he had forgotten.
"Oh, Sesshomaru," his head rose a bit in annoyance, thoughts broken, "that song you heard, the one I was singing before I had the vision, it goes like this," she sang it softly, briefly, watching in curiosity as his eyes widened a bit. "I'd been hearing it over and over again in my head for about two days. I thought you might know what it was about, remember?"
No answer.
"Well?" Now he was starting to annoy HER.
After finally giving up on him, Kagome turned on her heel and stormed out of the room, leaving the demon lord to whatever dismal thoughts he was confusing himself with.
'Men.' She thought angrily as she stomped through the tangled halls of the palace. After a few turns, however, she realized unhappily that she had no clear idea of where she was going.
"Peachy."
After huffing about like a moron for a bit, trying to determine a solution, she sighed deeply in defeat. "I suppose I'll have to ask for directions..." She muttered, though she pitied the poor servant that had to cross her when she was in a mood like this.
But just as Kagome began snooping about for another living creature in what had suddenly become a ghost town, delicate laughter drifted to her ears.
"What's that?" She asked to no one in particular. It sounded like children. Slowly, she wandered to the source of the sound like a lost child herself.
She couldn't imagine where it could be coming from. Kagome hadn't seen any children in the castle at all, was she imagining things?
Her search soon lead her to a dead end, at which she resisted the temptation to break something, when she noticed a small door to her right. The laughter seemed to echo from the other side. Carefully, she pulled the door back, letting it slide along the grooves gently.
A gasp shook her when she had revealed what lay before her on the other side.
"It, it's a garden!"
Kagome stood awestruck as she admired the sweeping expanse of lush greenery. Upon entering the castle for the first time, she had seen a vast garden at it's base (in fact, it had taken them quite a long time to poke through the mess), but she could have never imagined putting one amidst the fortress itself! They built the thing on a mountain! How could they possible have a garden HERE?
Carefully, she stepped lightly onto the velvety green lawn, and looking up, realized that in every direction, if you walked long enough, you would find a wall of the castle. The garden was boxed in, and it reminded her vaguely of a greenhouse.
It was filled with towering exotic plants, and colorful birds danced about the canopy. Kagome held her breath in wonder.
"What a beautiful place..." She mumbled with a slight whistle.
Reluctantly, her brief moment of bliss was broken, she remembered the mysterious laughter. Timidly, she began shifting about the trees, quite certain that she would find the source in a moment. As journeyed through the forest, the plants started to give way gradually, eventually revealing a small clearing, and inside it, a pond.
Graceful white lilies were spread across its surface, and what looked like an ancient willow was bent pleasantly over it, its branches drifting in the water lazily.
Sitting beside the pond, making flower wreaths happily, were two figures.
'Aha! Children! That solves that mystery.' Kagome thought triumphantly. She quietly snuck over to them, trying to glimpse their faces while not disturbing their fun.
One of them was babbling quickly. "AndKagome'srealniceandsoisSangoMiroku's- apervertedmonkandInu-Yasha'sjustreallymeanandstupid..."
"Shippou-chan!" Kagome exclaimed brightly, hurrying to the little kitsune.
"Hi Kagome!" She scooped him up into her arms and smiled at him before turning to observe his companion.
"And who is this?"
A young girl with a side ponytail was grinning up at her with a toothy smile. She was opening her mouth to speak when Shippou scuttled away from Kagome's grasp and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"This is Rin, she lives here with Sesshomaru."
"With Sesshomaru? I didn't know he had any children." Kagome was puzzled, she remembered seeing the little girl before, but she couldn't quite remember where...
Shippou shook his head. "Nah, he doesn't. He um... He..."
"Sesshomaru-sama saved Rin with his sword!" Rin interrupted, and Shippou nodded in agreement.
"That's right, and then Rin traveled with him for a while until he said it was too dangerous and left her here." Said Shippou. Rin folded her arms unhappily and began to pout. She obviously hadn't approved of that decision.
Kagome's mouth formed and "O." "That's right," she muttered, "I've seen you with Sesshomaru before." Rin brightened, pleased that she had been thought of by at least one person.
Kagome then snapped her fingers shortly, startling the two as she remembered why she had been snooping about in the first place. "Hey Rin, do you know how to get back to, um, Sesshomaru's brother's room?" Hoping that she child was aware of who she was talking about. Rin nodded quickly and started spitting out directions.
"Rin knows! You have to go down, um, that hall," she said, pointing at the east wall and moving her finger across it, "and then, go to the, left! Then...Left again, and then right, and then you go to the room to the...Left! Hmhm!" She nodded again proudly. They were sketchy directions, but they would have to do. In fact, she was suddenly very thankful that Rin knew left from right at all.
Kagome smiled at her, and looked up at the beaming sun contentedly. It had stopped raining, finally, at least she had something to be happy about. "Well," she rose and stretched a bit. "I think I should be getting back to Inu-Yasha now. Have fun!" She waved at them and dashed into the forest, leaving them to their flower wreaths. She just barely heard Shippou's "bye Kagome!" As she ran to the door through which she had entered.
"Thank you Rin-Chan!" She shouted, hearing Rin squeal with delight at her new title.
Kagome followed Rin's sloppy directions to the best of her ability and patiently walked down the halls. With immense joy and relief, she eventually found Inu-Yasha's door staring at her, and entered quietly.
Sango and Miroku beamed up at her upon entering, faintly looking relieved about something.
"Hello Kagome-chan!" Sango chirped.
Miroku bowed his head at her. "Kagome-sama."
"How's Inu-Yasha?" She asked timidly.
Sango gave a suspicious grin. "Funny you should ask Kagome-chan, he just woke up." Kagome smiled delightedly and turned to face the injured hanyou on his futon.
He had his arms folded crossly with a disgruntled expression. Clearly wanting to sit up the way he normally did. He reminded her of Rin.
"Feh."
Kagome threw her arms around him suddenly, squeezing him painfully and tempering his wounded throat. "Inu-Yasha!" She exclaimed, "I was so worried about you! Are you alright?"
Sango fearfully tugged Kagome back to Earth, as a pain-stricken Inu-Yasha struggled with his injuries. "Oh, um, sorry Inu-Yasha," She muttered with a slight blush.
Miroku looked down on the two happily, while Sango did the same, eyes bright and sparkling with joy. The monk then took Sango's arm lightly, and lifted her up, leading her out of the room quietly. "I think we'd better go find Shippou-chan!" He called, continuing to drag Sango, "I did leave him alone with a girl, and I doubt he's that experienced in that department!" With those words, they were both gone, leaving a perplexed Kagome suddenly alone with ANOTHER dog-demon.
"W-wait a minute!" She shouted, "Miroku! Sango-ch-" She was cut off then, rather suddenly, as she felt a hand closing upon her own; sharp claws prickling her fragile skin.
"Inu...Yasha?" Her voice was full of uncertainty as she slowly turned to face the hanyou again.
"Kagome..." His eyes were filled with strong, conflicting emotions. She shifted underneath his gaze, very aware that the last time he had looked at her like that, he had mistaken her for Kikyo.
"It was you." He dragged himself into a sitting position.
"Inu-Yasha, don't, you'll trouble your wounds..." She placed a hand on his chest, willing him to lie back down. He ignored her.
"It was you, wasn't it?" He gripped her hand a bit tighter.
"Me?"
"Your voice, it was calling me back, I heard you."
She faltered, and bent down, lowering her head in embarrassment; unable to understand why he was bringing this up now. "Oh, well, you could have died, and I..." Her voice trailed off.
"I WOULD have died Kagome. But it was your voice that brought me back." She was very doubtful now. He had never spoken so sincerely to her before, it made her self-conscious, and almost fearful. She was even tempted to end it all by saying something like, "all right, who are you and what have you done with the real Inu-Yasha?" But she bit her tongue with much reluctance.
When she did not speak, Inu-Yasha kept plodding along, tearing her nerves to bits as he sputtered more uncharacteristic poetry.
"Kagome, you mean so much to me..." Her brain backfired, he wasn't really saying... Was he?
"I'm, glad that I mean so much to you too..."
'Cannot compute.' She thought. Kagome had officially blown a fuse.
"This must be right..."
'No, he wouldn't...' Why so fast? Couldn't he do it gradually?
"I think I..."
'Get out of town, he IS serious... Shit.' She tried not to start biting her finger-nails.
"Love you... Kagome hildren of Dune
She just about screamed, nothing made sense....AT ALL. Suddenly she felt very much like a shattered glass. Everything hadn't been making sense, as she had reminded herself often, for the past few days. So it had stopped raining, that was nice, but as soon as one problem was solved, here came another one. At a loss for words, Kagome could only fumble and trip with her speech.
"I, um, Inu-Yasha, I, I, wow..." Still sputtering, she pried herself from the ground and began to back up towards the door. Her face was burning a deep scarlet, she couldn't handle this. Inu-Yasha, meanwhile, seemed both very proud of himself, and very content that she was handling it the way she was. It was as if he had expected her reaction.
With that, Kagome gave a slight moan, and tore out of the room, feeling the tears streaming down her cheeks. She could hear him calling for her, but she paid it no heed. Praying that she wouldn't run into another living being, she ran to the only place in the palace she knew she might be alone. The garden.
"Please let Shippou and Rin be gone...Please, please, please..." Ripping the door open, Kagome bolted inside, panting breathlessly. She crashed through the trees for the second time that day, and collapsed near the secluded pond in the clearing, eternally grateful that the children had cleared out.
"Oh no..." She mumbled. The sun was still smiling down, oblivious to her plight. "Oh no, I can believe I ran out on him, on both of them." For whatever reason, she was counting Sesshomaru in this mess. "I can't.Why is this happening?"
Dimly, she recalled asking a similar question to the darkness only four days ago. But she still hadn't received an answer.
Dismally, Kagome stretched out onto her back and closed her eyes to the sun's rays. The tall grass fanned out across her form, blanketing her partially. She needed o do something to clear her mind, anything.
The sun was so warm and comforting...
Perhaps, if she slept on it...
She half-remembered the frequent and confusing dreams she got when she slept nowadays, but in the end, her desire for a good rest overpowered her desire to stay awake and fend off the nightmares.
It washed over her like a hot bath, and as she looked up at the sun, she say a large cloud cover it up lazily. It was shaped like, Sango's head, and, it was talking to her.
"Listen Kagome-chan," It said. "You should talk to them you know..." She nodded slowly.
"Uh-huh."
Kagome rolled unto her side and looked into the depths of the shadowy trees, all of which happened to be singing Christmas carols, and, they had Santa hats on. "Jingle bells, jingle bells..." They're voices sounded like Inu-Yasha's, and they were singing reluctantly, as if they were sulking about it at the same time.
When she rolled back over to look at the sun again, but something was in the way; a head, but not Sango's. It was, Sesshomaru. "Sesshomaru... You're blocking the sun..." She muttered as she stared up into his unmistakable, burning amber eyes, the only part of him that was visible in the darkness.
'Darkness?' She thought, "Oh wait a minute, it's just nighttime."
"Jingle bells, Jingle bells..."
He still wouldn't move. She felt something underneath her, something like, arms, Sesshomaru's arms, he was lifting her up with one hand beneath her legs, and one near her shoulder blades. "Hey, wait a minute. When did you get your other arm back?" She fixed him with an accusing stare.
"I won't let you die, Kagome."
Kagome blushed and giggled a bit. "But I'm not dying!"
Suddenly, she felt wetness, her shirt was soaked. Had she taken a bath? Carefully, she prodded the fabric with her fingers and lifted them up to her eyes, they were soaked with something dark... Blood.
"What?" She continued to paw about, more frantically this time, searching for the source of the bleeding. Her hand strayed to her throat, and closed upon a massive gash, identical to Inu-Yasha's.
Kagome shrieked in fear, clutching Sesshomaru with her all her might. "What have you done?!" She cried tragically to the yellow eyes. There was only silence.
He had faded away. There were no longer any arms supporting her, no longer anything around which her hands were clamped. Kagome felt at her throat, and found that there was no wound. Even the eyes above her seemed to be dissolving.
There was only darkness.
"Tenshik..." A voice was calling out in the black sea.
"Who's there?" Kagome asked hesitantly.
"Tenshik..." It was Sesshomaru.
"Sesshomaru!" She called brightly, waving her arms about, as if he might be able to see her. "Sesshomaru, hey, Sesshomaru! Where are you?" She was thankful that someone was here with her.
Kagome stood up then, on what, she couldn't be sure, but she didn't care. She began running, sprinting in whatever direction she could, confident that she would be able to find Sesshomaru somewhere.
Her eyes scanned about, and registered that there was something out there, possibly Sesshomaru. Kagome could see it, it was glowing a faint blue. "Hey!" She called again.
It was coming closer, and closer, there it was, yes, she could almost touch it now. "Sesshomaru!" But when it finally became clear what the thing was, Kagome realized with misery that it was not, in any way, a person.
"It's a mirror..." She mumbled, crestfallen. Still, she stopped and looked it over. It was, indeed glowing blue, and, seemed to be having a bit of trouble producing her reflection. It was moving, like the surface of a lake, shifting about unevenly. Kagome continued to observe this before it settled on a definite shape. Her reflection.
"No..."
It wasn't her reflection at all! It couldn't be, that wasn't her! It looked a little like her, but, how, how could it be?
It was her face but, the skin, it was darker than hers, almost Inu-Yasha's color, and the eyes were, green, not brown. Yes, they were a clear, crisp, green. Then, it hit her. This person, this woman before her trying to pass off as her reflection, had golden hair. It fell past her waist. Golden hair...
"Who are you?" She screamed, and it's mouth moved after her own at the same time, mimicking her movements just as any other reflection would. Kagome, frightened, began moving about, watching as it copied her movements accurately. It even wore the same facial expression of confused fear.
"No! This isn't possible!" She shouted desperately.
With that, Kagome lifted her hand and bound it up in a fist, making to smash through the false mirror and end the nightmare. But when she slammed her hand forward, rather than crashing into the glass, it went through, unharmed, as if the mirror were made of water. Gasping, Kagome felt herself falling forward, and lifted her other hand to protect herself from shards of glass. Yet just like her fist, she fell through like she was diving into water.
When she had passed through entirely, she spun around, deciding that kicking it forcefully might be a better idea, but when she had turned, there was only empty blackness facing her, with no mirror in sight.
Frustrated, Kagome crouched and shoved her head into her hands her long hair billowing out before her.
"Long?" Kagome muttered with a hint of sarcasm. "Oh no..."
Springing back up again, she wrenched a fistful of hair before her face, with a slightly dark hand, anticipating the results, but still anxiously hoping that what she feared wasn't so. "IT'S GOLD!!! WHAT THE HELL?!!!"
"At last, I have found you Tenshik!" Her shouting fit was interrupted as she realized Sesshomaru was standing right in front of her.
"I'm Kagome..."
She began to sob and fell to the ground, "I'm Kagome, Kagome, Kagome, KAGOME!"
"You are Tenshik."
Kagome woke with a start to somebody shaking her violently. She was covered in cold sweat, a regular occurrence now. Not surprisingly, it was Sesshomaru poised above her in the grass, and thinking she was still dreaming, or having a vision, her hands shot up to wrench him down so that his face was inches from her own; holding him by the collar of his clothes.
"I'm Kagome."
Now, while I was away I kept a small journal in which I wrote chapter 6, if I can work fast enough, I'll have it typed and out by today, so watch for it! Hope you liked it! I have done the best that I can.
