When the Light Goes Out
Kiwi: I give you this as a sign of peace! Don't hurt me for being late ! (It really wasn't my fault…) And at least I'm updating!
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Hello Bob,
Oh, the nerve of them all! How dare they try to tear you apart! Why can't they just leave me alone! Ooh, they piss me off so fucking bad! I'm sorry Bob, I didn't mean to let them hurt you. But really, were they waiting for me to go to the bathroom or something? What are they, stalkers? Oh well, its not so bad. They didn't hurt you at least. This was supposed to be a new start, a new beginning. Why are people always so shallow and uncaring and aggravating to no fucking end? I almost wish that they would hit me just hard enough to piss me off enough to not care about them and pound them all to dust in a mad rage, that's how much they upset me… no, of course I don't wish that. I just wish I could get away from all people, since all people seem to hate me…
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Inuyasha woke up early, not that he had slept much anyway. He rolled out of bed and prepared to search the house for Kagome, again. Only this time, he was actually, dare he even think it, worried. 'What the hell is wrong with me?' He looked around his room briefly, then left to begin his search. Since he was already on the second floor, that's where he started. Bathroom: empty. 'Well, I have no idea why she would be in there anyway…'
He headed into the study, and there, much to his relief, was Kagome. She was seated on the chair-like stool thing he had brought in front of his newer desk. She looked to be reading something, but when she heard him come in and she looked up, the object in her lap disappeared.
"Inuyasha,' she said in surprise, "wow, isn't it early for you to be up?" He moved forward into the room, grabbing the chair since he couldn't grab her. Kagome looked up at him, startled even more.
"Are you all right?" he asked with almost frightening seriousness.
"Oh," her shock went to sad almost instantly, she looked away.
"Well?" he probed when she didn't answer.
"…More or less," she responded half-heartedly.
"Feh. Which is it, wench?" he asked, more at ease. 'This Inuyasha I know better,' Kagome thought as she smiled weakly.
"Not too sure yet," cue the awkward silence. Inuyasha still held the chair, but wasn't quite so intense as before.
"Well?"
"What?" she asked, trying to be innocent.
"What do you mean, 'what!' 'What,' as in 'what the hell was that last night!'" Kagome sighed and slid through the chair. "You had better not leave-"
"Oh calm down," Kagome replied, sitting now on the desk, "you're too loud to avoid anyway. I just thought you might want the chair." Inuyasha grunted, sitting backwards in the chair so that his arms were crossed over the top of the back, waiting for her to begin. Kagome sighed again.
"Are you going to keep doing that or are you actually going to say something worthwhile?" Kagome glared at him.
"It's hard talking about your death!" Inuyasha shut up. Kagome looked out the window, deciding that the scenery would be easier to talk to than the half-dog-demon behind her. It really was early, the sun risen just enough to be not considered dawn anymore. She remembered the smell of morning, the fresh, crispness of it. The God Tree and the forest below them looked peaceful and welcoming. She tucked her knees under her chin, took another deep breath, and began.
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"I guess, it all began when before we moved here. We lived in a big house in the country, the same house I was born in. It didn't have a big forest like here, but it was calm, peaceful. Mom, Dad, Souta and I were happy there. Dad was successful in the family business of connecting people who wanted jobs done to people who could do the work, and Mom made money with her cooking. Everything was nice and happy. Souta and I were home-schooled, but Mom was going to have me start public school when I was in eighth grade, and I was excited. I was going to get to meet new people, maybe new friends.
"But it was different from what I imagined. I was very bright in school, and no one liked me. I was a freak to them, because I had been home schooled and because I was so good in class. Everyone had already established groups of friends, so I was the loner, outcast kid. The other kids would laugh at me, humiliate me, all around torture me daily. My hopes had come crashing down, and that's when I learned to accept the fact that things are bad, you just deal with it. There was always something new to laugh at me about, and by the end of the first semester, I hated school. But, for some reason, I didn't want to tell Mom or Dad. They were always so happy when I brought home good progress reports, I didn't want to tell them anything was wrong. It was around the second half of the year that things got really bad.
"Dad made some kind of a deal with a shady character, Naraku. Naraku tricked my dad into working with him, and forced him to commit awful crimes by threatening us. It started out with petty burglaries, then identity thefts, then Naraku told my dad to murder someone, I think some kind of opposition of his. When my dad refused, he kidnapped me coming home from school. I remember his greasy hair, his red, ugly eyes. I remember him telling me how pretty I was, and wanting to barf.
"He told my dad that he would keep me with him until he did what he was told. I felt so guilty, because even though I didn't want anyone to die, I was so scared I just wanted Dad to come save me. I was crying like an infant, Naraku kept leering at me. He just stared at me, sitting in his dirty basement and crying my eyes out. Then he got up, telling me again how pretty he thought I was, and he kept moving closer. I got scared and stood up, but he backed me up into the wall. He tried to grab me, and I punched him in the stomach and tried to run away. I didn't know he was a demon, but he pulled me back with a tentacle or something, but before I could look at it properly he had pulled it back in. He hit me in the face so hard I fell down, then kicked me a couple times. The he turned me over so I was facing him, and h-he crawled on top of me. He was pinning me down, and I swear he was going to rape me. I've… I've never been so scared in my life.
"The phone had been ringing, and just when he- I heard Dad's voice saying it was done and he wanted me back. I didn't think Naraku would keep his promise, but he just grinned at me. He said we would finish this and he kissed me. My first kiss was with that horrid man; I wanted to burn my lips off.
"I went home, and I couldn't tell anyone what had happened to me. I remembered him telling me how pretty I was, I had nightmares of him 'finishing his business' with me. I burned all of my clothes and ended up wearing more and more conservative clothing, until most of my wardrobe was from the boy's section. By the end of eighth grade, I was a freakish tomboy who wouldn't talk to anyone. But, I hardly cared about that. Dad took to drinking as the orders from Naraku became more and more violent. He beat my Mom every night, I remember waking up to her crying. I didn't know what to do, I felt so pathetic.
"That summer he got worse, and started beating me after I yelled at him for hitting Mom and even Souta. He said he was sorry he had ever saved me, that I was a mistake. I knew it was the alcohol that made him so upset, but I started to believe him. I now hated home too."
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Inuyasha had been listening intently, and looked up when she stopped. She turned from the window to look at him, and Inuyasha felt a lump in his throat rising. She looked so lost and alone, tears brimming on her eyes, cheek resting on her legs as she looked at him with a heart-wrenching smile.
"That's enough for now, I'm getting all teary. Besides, Miroku and Sango are coming," she gestured to the window, getting up and heading for the door.
"Wait! This doesn't answer what happened last night," Inuyasha had stood up and was now looking down at Kagome who was standing just in front of the door way. He wanted nothing more to just hug her tight to let her know that it was all going to be fine, everything was all right. 'But it isn't. She…died.' Kagome smiled softly.
"I'm getting there. I'll tell you later," she said quietly before turning to go appear downstairs. Inuyasha felt bad for making her relive this whole thing, this mess that was her life.
"Kagome?" she turned around, brushing away the evidence of tears, "You don't have to, tell me anymore I mean. If it bothers you," the ghost girl smiled at him, a smile that finally lit her eyes back up.
"It's all right. I've never been able to talk to anyone. If you don't mind, could I tell you the rest?" Inuyasha nodded at her after a moment, then followed her as she glided down the stairs to meet their friends.
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"Kagome!" Sango called to her, waving furiously. Kagome laughed and waved back as Sango dragged Miroku to the door.
"Hello Sango! Hello Miroku!" she exclaimed cheerfully so that Inuyasha could barely tell she was crying a few moments ago. "What are we going to do today?" she asked eagerly. Sango tapped her finger to her lip.
"Why not explore?"
"Explore what?" Inuyasha grumbled. "We'll hardly find anything interesting in this house," Sango glared at him for shooting down her idea, but Miroku intervened.
"He has a point, Sango dear," Sango's fury turned to him.
"Don't dear me,"
"But-"
"The forest." All eyes turned to Kagome, hovering in the air much like she did when they first met. "We could explore the forest," Miroku nodded, approving.
"Hey, we could even have a picnic!" Sango exclaimed.
"I guess it's decided," Miroku declared, "so, Inuyasha, what picnic foods do you have?" Inuyasha looked down at the floor, muttering something while rather embarrassed.
"What?" Sango asked, cupping a hand to her ear. Another mumbled. Kagome giggled.
"He doesn't have any," Inuyasha glared at her.
"Nothing? What do you live on, ramen?" Inuyasha looked away from Sango. "Oh for the love of-" Sango put a hand to her head, leaning back into the couch. Kagome laughed while Miroku shook his head.
"Such an appetite is unhealthy," the half-demon pushed him over. Sango sighed again, exasperated.
"I guess we'll have to make a trip to my house for food,' Inuyasha opened his mouth to defend his ramen.
"Pre-packaged noodles don't count as food," Kagome commented. Inuyasha, having nothing more to add to this conversation of ramen conspirators crossed his arms and scowled before turning away in an absurd out that sent Kagome laughing all over again.
"Me and Miroku will be back in a bit," Sango said, leaving the house.
"Feh!"
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The gang was now exploring the forest, with Kagome randomly disappearing and re-appearing in surprising places to make Sango, Miroku and Inuyasha jump as a form of amusement. Other than random shouts or the occasional slap and screeching from Sango at Miroku, it was peaceful. The trees were dense, but not so they were stifling, and green light filtered down from the foliage. The ground was littered with leaves, twigs, sticks and shrubs. The trees themselves were covered in mosses, indicating that this place had been untouched for many years. Inuyasha could hear the birds even over the laughter and noise from the others. Inuyasha sniffed the air when he caught a new scent.
"Hey guys, I smell water," he called back to them.
"Oh, perfect," smiled Sango. Kagome's eyes lit up.
"I know what Inuyasha's talking about! You guys will love it there!" with her exclamation, she rushed ahead, literally through the trees. Inuyasha caught up with her first, being half-demon and all, and came to what even he couldn't deny to be a beautiful sight.
The trees had given way to a large clearing, though some roots still snaked their way to the water he had smelled. It turned out to be a spring of some kind, with a steady, slow flow. The water lapped up gently on the solid ground that fed into the spring much like the shore of a lake, except there was no sand. Grass and small, flowery shrubs came right up to the surface of the water, and some plants with vines actually drifted on the surface. The sunlight drifted down gently even though there were no leaves to hinder it. With the sunlight, the trees' bark took on a silver sheen, and the spring sparked, looking as smooth as glass. It was peace incarnated into nature. And, drifting above the center of the spring, was Kagome ,bare toes just skimming the surface, eyes closed serenely, hair flying about while swirling the water around her in the air like ribbons to create a beautifully haunting display.
Inuyasha stared until Sango and Miroku arrived, and then they all stared together. They watched Kagome weave the bands of water around her in a dance of sorts, until she let them crash into the spring. She smiled and floated toward them, seemingly wet but where she dripped there was no water mark.
"I believe," Miroku said, starring in awe at the ghost girl in front of him, "we have one remarkable friend." Inuyasha and Sango nodded.
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Kiwi; I know, I know, this was incredibly short. But I left off in a good place, didn't I? Don't worry, Kagome will finish her story and I promise I'll update soon (ish.)
Ja ne!