Muffled wails and stifled sobs echoed through the hallways of the Haruno-Higurashi home, all of those cries coming from one place, one room, one girl. While the others knew she was crying, they knew not why she refused to stop; the truth was, she would have had to force herself if she planned to do so at all.
Suddenly, an ear-splitting crack followed by a low, roaring boom – lightning, then thunder – made the poor oukami cry even harder out of pure, startled fright.
"That does it!" Sakura growled, getting up from her spot on the sofa. "I can't stand this anymore!" She stomped over to the door of Kagome's bedroom and knocked on the door, and her voice changed from its harsh, angry tone to a calm, soothing one. "Kagome?"
"W-what…?" Kagome's voice wavered. "I-is that you, S-Sakky-chan?"
Sakura looked pained. "Yes, Kagome, it's me. Can I come in?"
"Hai."
She opened the door and saw her little sister curled up in a ball on her bed, wrapped up in a blanket Kaede had woven to celebrate Inuyasha's and Kagome's wedding. That wedding had never actually taken place. The poor girl's innocent brown eyes endured the sting of countless tears, with rivers of the salty liquid streaming from the outer corner of each eye, and within those chocolate pools of sorrow was not even a glimpse of hope.
"Oh, Kagome…" Sakura sat down beside Kagome on the bed and hugged her once more, once again acting as a shoulder to cry on. "Listen to me, okay? We'll find Naraku and kill him, even if it's the last thing I do. I swear it."
"A-arigatou… S-Sakura…" Kagome's entire body shook with the violent, quaking heave of crying. It was difficult for Sakura to see Kagome that way.
"Hey, Kagome… guess what? Miyako burned some of Shirou's hair off today."
Kagome looked up at Sakura, smiling feebly. "Really?"
/Success/ Sakura thought, grinning. "Yeah. I guess he pissed her off, and the fire finally spread enough to get his hair this time."
Then Kagome laughed a little, and she started to wipe her tears, though her eyes did not lose their grief-stricken gaze. "Wow… that was smart."
Sakura nodded. "No kidding." She then stood up, her hand on Kagome's shoulder, and her smile faded to a slightly more serious look. "Get some rest, okay? We'll start the search for Naraku tomorrow morning."
"Okay…" Kagome said quietly. Her saccharine smile almost instantly vanished at the mention of the spider's name. "Arigatou, ane-chan."
"No problem." Sakura winked at Kagome before leaving her room, closing the door behind her. Kagome stared at the door for a moment, then turned her stereo on, turned the volume down so it was barely audible, then flicked the light off.
As she lie awake on her bed, staring at the ceiling, she found that it was becoming increasingly difficult for her to get to sleep with every minute that passed. At first, she figured she was thinking too hard, and so she tried her hardest to focus on the music that floated in the cold night air. But after an hour, she grew impatient and got out of bed, pacing the floor in frustration.
The hours passed, the clouds withdrew into the horizon, and the sun rose. Kagome hadn't gotten a wink of sleep all night, and although this wouldn't normally leave her in such a state, she was completely exhausted. Having given up hope around four AM, the little miko had read more than half of an immensely thick book, written a new song, and drawn two pictures in five hours. The sound of a fist rapping against her door made her eyes dart towards the sound, cracking open in an instant. She got up from her bed and opened the door to see Steph and Miyako standing before her, smiling.
"G'morning, Kagome!" Miyako said cheerfully.
"Ohayo," Kagome replied, sounding a bit dazed.
Miyako blinked. "You sound like shit. I mean that in the best possible way…"
"I… I didn't sleep much last night. But I'm fine, really."
"Yeah, right!" Sakura's voice chimed in from around the corner. "You don't even /sound/ okay, Kagome!" When she rounded the corner and laid eyes on Kagome, she gasped and almost dropped the two mugs of coffee she carried. "Oh, god. What the hell /happened/ to you last night? You look awful!"
This scared her. "Really? I didn't think it was /that/ bad… I couldn't sleep, so I am still really tired, and – oh!" she exclaimed, wide-eyed.
"What?" said Sakura and Miyako simultaneously.
Kagome's eyes narrowed as she walked past the two, failing to answer their question. They followed her out of curiosity, chasing her all the way back to the cliff from the previous day.
They were greeted by an abrupt stop, plus the sound of something reminiscent of a laser beam on television, only more crystalline and clear. Startled, they looked toward Kagome. The small, spherical gray gem around her neck, the Tamashii no Tama, was giving off a blinding pink light. Kagome's arms were held out to her sides, palms up, and she faced the sky with closed eyes. The pink light engulfed her completely, and when it faded, she looked quite different. She wore a long, diaphanous gray dress, with long, bell-shaped sleeves. The collar was high, and the middle was cut so that her skin showed through a tiny replication of the Heartless insignia. This collar was a light, gentle shade of pink, and it merged with a poncho-esque piece of cloth—just as diaphanous as the dress—which framed her shoulders and hung to her elbows. Beneath that, a single piece of ribbon of the same color was laced from her hips to a point of invisibility in a corset-like fashion. There was also a line of the same pink visible under the skirt of the dress, where a slightly longer skirt showed through from underneath. Finally, in her right hand was a katana, the hilt wrapped in black and white leather and decorated at the top with her own brown oukami fur.
Not only was the change in clothing, though, but also in her physical appearance. The pointed, elflike ears, tail, fangs, and claws remained, as did the evangelical markings on her face. However, an addition had been made to Kagome's supernatural features. From her back, a pair of silver wings spread to a nine-foot span, releasing several metallic feathers into the breeze.