Owari Nai Yume; Unending Dreams
Chapter 3
Disclaimer: InuYasha and all its characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. Wahhhhhh!!!!T-T
"You say she whispered 'Naraku' before she fainted?"
"Yeah, monk. Do you think he has something to do with this?"
"I doubt it. This isn't really his style."
"May be he's changing his style to fool us," Sango suggested, "Or it could be an incarnation."
"Then how could Kagome have figured out what happened?! She seemed to have understood what was going on before she fainted. And, besides, she sounded like she was trying to convince herself he had done something."
"'Tis odd, I agree, yet ye need not worry. Young Kagome shall be fine with some rest."
InuYasha turned to the old woman and glared at her. "This has got something to do with what she talked to you about when she got back yesterday, doesn't it?" He accused, "You know what's going on, don'cha, ya old hag?!"
"That is between Kagome and myself, InuYasha." The old miko replied gravely, looking purposefully at the fire. "She does not wish for ye to know."
"Dammit! I knew she was hiding something from me! What is it? Tell me ya ol' hag!"
"I can not betray her trust InuYasha, and if ye cannot accept that, than mayhap ye should leave my hut."
"'Mayhap ye should leave my hut,'"InuYasha sneered mockingly. "If you know so much than why couldn't you have stopped this from happening?"
"It is...out of my area of expertise." Kaede replied. "I specialise in the body, not the soul."
"The soul?" Asked Sango, looking up from the sleeping Shippo and Kilala. "What has this to do with the soul?"
The soul?
InuYasha looked on helplessly, caught in a trance, at the impossible figure before him. Kaede had told him she was dead, that the stolen ashes they were searching for were hers, so how could she stand before him, looking just as she had fifty years before?
"Ki...Kikyo?"
As soon as the name left his lips, Kagome's body jerked and the streams of light surrounding her broke away from her and shot into the air.
"The soul is emerging!"
The soul...
"Don't play dumb!" he shot, rougher than he meant, "Ever since Kikyo died, you've been acting all weird! Don't even try to deny it. We've all noticed."
The soul!
He was thrown back as the tentacle threw him backwards and into Kagome, knocking the girl down. He forced himself off of her and the ground in a flash, barely being able to block the next attack with Tessaiga. Naraku would pay for trying to kill Kagome. He'd start that payment on this puppet!
The tentacles stopped, and the puppet laughed coldly, freezing him to the bone. What could be so funny that he would stop his onslaught?
"Now, InuYasha, how does it feel to be responsible for the death of the on you love?"
"What the hell are you talking about, Naraku?"
The puppet chuckled and pointed to the broken body of Kikyo, strewn helplessly on the ground, already becoming dust. Behind and around him, he could hear his friends gasp. Kikyo was finally...gone...at peace. The mockery that had stolen her soul from Kagome was no more, and Kikyo's memory could finally rest.
There was a quiet cry from behind him, and he turned in time to see the last of the souls from Kikyo enter Kagome's chest, pushing her in random directions and causing her to fall over onto him. Kikyo was finally at rest...and Kagome was finally whole once more.
"This...this has to do with Kagome getting her soul back from Kikyo, doesn't it?"
The miko looked up at him and nodded. "It may, but I cannot delve into the details. Kagome has told me all in confidence, and a daren't break that."
"No," he agreed, "Trust shouldn't be broken."
"Where are you going, inuyasha?"
"I just need to think." He replied as he went out the door.
He walked frigidly through the village, paying no mind to the villagers still out at the late hour. It had been kikyo standing before him, or at least her soul in Kagome's body, but how could Kagome have understood what had happened without some waring, unless...
Unless she had had some side effects before hand, like her memories!
It all made sense. How else could she have made references to events that had happened while he had been trying to get the jewel? Or calling Kaede 'sister', and not even bothering to fix her mistake? And that fear scent she had had at their talk. She must have only recently recalled Kikyo's death and was still in the process of accepting that the memories were wrong. And he had pushed her to explain herself to him! Kami, what was he going to do?
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R&R please! And don't expect this to keep this pace forever! I'm sure to run into writer's block eventually...