Standing
now on the edge of a rocky cliff, Kagome stared blankly at the
sunset. With its purple, orange, and pink hues, it brightened the
leaves of the trees behind Kagome, and the light cast her shadow long
across the barren cliff side.
She held a shaky hand out to her
right, and in it, a dagger materialized, its blade gleaming in the
amber sunlight. The miko brought the dagger up to the back of her
neck and lifted her hair over it, her hand still shaking, and closed
her eyes. A single tear rolled down her cheek as someone called out
from behind her:
"Kagome! Stop it!"
A tall–about
5'10"–girl was sprinting as quickly as she could to get to
Kagome. This girl's hair was a pink-tinted blonde, and when it
wasn't blowing wildly behind her in the wind her running created,
it reached her upper back. Her eyes were a vibrant green. She wore a
pair of black jeans, black boots underneath, and a sleeveless, purple
dress-like shirt which was slit on the sides to the hips and hemmed
in black. A hollow black circle was embroidered onto the violet cloth
in front of her knees.
"/Kagome!" she yelled again.
However, the one to whom she called was not responding at all.
With
the bladed side of the dagger pointing towards her neck, Kagome
twisted the dagger so that the blade faced her hair. The blonde one
stopped as she reached Kagome, relieved that the smaller girl wasn't
planning on suicide. However, what the little wolf /was/ going to do
was a surprise, even to the blonde.
Kagome pulled the dagger away
from her head in a swift, backward motion, catching the loose hair
with her free hand in a tight grip and throwing the dagger to the
ground. She turned to the blonde with tears in her eyes, a blank look
on her face, and a gaze of heartfelt pain, and suddenly, Kagome
shivered. Being with what she wore – a short, pleated black skirt
and a strapless white shirt – she suddenly realized that, without
her hair, the wind was a very cold thing indeed.
"K-Kagome…" the blonde muttered, her eyes wide in awe. After a
long, silent moment, she said, "Okay, Kagome. What's going on?
What the hell could get you so messed up that you'd cut all your
hair off?"
Kagome remained wordless for a while, then
explained. "Inuyasha is gone."
"What?" She took a step
forward, stopped, then walked up to Kagome and put her hands on the
girl's shoulders. "What do you mean, he's gone?"
"He's
gone!" Kagome cried. The blonde tensed; it was rare for Kagome ever
to raise her voice. "He's dead, gone; I will never see him
again!" Her fists were clenched, and she held them close to her
chest.
"Oh… oh, my god… Kagome…!" The blonde hugged
Kagome, and she threw her arms around the blonde in response. "It's
okay, Kagome… you can cry if you need to, okay?"
Kagome
didn't decline this offer in the least. She sobbed heavily into the
blonde's shoulder, nearly unable to breathe until she calmed down a
bit.
"I'm so sorry, Kagome, but… I need to know what
happened. Tell me exactly what happened. Maybe we can bring him ba-"
She knew it was impossible, so she stopped herself.
"It…"
Kagome said, finally able to speak. "It was Naraku… I know you
knew that."
"He's the only one who could ever have killed
Inuyasha in his demonic state, right?"
"Yes…" Pulling
away, Kagome looked up at her and said, "Sakura, I… I don't
know what to do… I'm pretty sure Naraku killed Inuyasha to-"
"To get to you," Sakura finished the sentence. "I know he did.
That's just how he does things. But don't worry; we'll all work
even harder now."
Kagome shuddered again, hugging herself
momentarily. "I… I need my love back… I need my—" But just
as she was about to finish her sentence, a whirlwind filled with
feathers of the smoothest gray cut her off. As it subdued, a figure
in a long, hooded black coat strung with belts and zippers appeared
before them. Kagome pulled away from Sakura and stared at the
figure—a male—in awe. The hood hid his eyes from view, but a tuft
or two of dirty blonde hair was visible. From his back, a pair of
evangelical wings with feathers that matched the ones in the wind
unfurled. He extended his arm in front of him, towards Kagome, and
she muttered in amazement, "Roxas?"
