Chapter 2: Kagome's Predicament

Author: isisoftheunderground, but I have a few names: Akako, Aka-chan, Ravendust... etc... XDDD

A/N:Well, here's chapter two, let me know what you guys think, k?

Agh... this one kind of blows... but ah well. Heh, did you guys notice that last chapter I had 3 reviews, 3 thousand words, and in the summary it said 3 years? Quite ironic in my opinion...

Must reads:

Expect the Unexpected

Koukyuu no Toriko

A Forgotten Memory

Pirates of the Caribbean Inuyasha Style

A Path Worth Retracing

Hate is Only Skin Deep

My Memory's Heartache

Full Metal Hakusho

Lost Forever in a Tragedy?
Returning Home (sequal to Lost Forever in a Tragedy?)

Ravendust: yay, chapter two... at least it's made it this far, come on baby, let's get ready for chapter 3!

Kagome: It's only chapter two though...

Ravendust: And? I can prepare for chapter 3, can't I?

Kagome: ... I suppose...

Ravendust: Ah, who cares about your opinion anyway, you're insane, remember?

Kagome: I am not insane! Stamps her foot before her eyes glaze over slightly. Inuyasha, I want to stay here for a few more days damn it!

Ravendust: Sighs heavily and shakes her head. On with the story- it'll be a while before Kagome realizes that Inuyasha isn't here...

Previously:

"Higurashi!" Reshine and Mitsubi gasped from the stairs, diving down and grabbing her arms simultaniously.

Kagome blinked wildly and gasped as, instead of stopping her fall, they all fell into the depths of the well, screaming into the black abyss that assended about them.

Now:

Kagome opened her eyes slowly, oh how she ached! The air was fresh about her, and somehow she knew that they were not where they had fallen. What's going on? She thought, frightened and looking at the unconscious doctor and nurse. My ankle- I twisted it when I... jumped out of my window. That was a stupid thing for me to do, I keep losing touch with reality- its honestly going to be the death of me.

She sat up slowly, carefully assuring herself that nothing was broken, but knowing that her ankle ached with a vengeance. Slowly Kagome crawled towards the forms of both doctor and nurse, shaking them occasionally and lightly slapping their faces until each began to moan, "come on, wake up!" She said before looking at the vines that led out of the well.

"Higurashi." Reshine sat up quickly and grabbed her shoulder in a death grip, "just what were you thinking jumping into this well like that, you could have killed yourself!"

Kagome sighed and lowered her head, "I don't know, honestly I don't... I was-"

"Lost again." Reshine sighed heavily and rubbed at his temples as he pulled himself into a standing position, "I thought that for surely your condition would have improved when we brought you home- perhaps it was too soon then?" Heglanced over at Mitsubi thoughtfully, "we'll go back then and maybe in a few months or so it'll be okay to bring you home to stay for a while."

"Um, doctor." Mitsubi gasped, her eyes fixed straight up, wide with awe and with fright.

"What is it?" He glanced up at her, before following her gaze upward. Reshine squinted in the bright sunlight, trying to figure out just what she was seeing, "wait a second! Wasn't the well inside of a building?"

Kagome grasped the vines, her fingers wrapping around them easily as they had seemingly done before on many occasions. Slowly she pulled herself up and out of the well, wincing occasionally as she put too much pressure on her injured foot, the other two followed her in awe.

"This is impossible!" Mitsubi gasped, taking in the vast folliage, "Kagome, just where are we anyway?"

"This place is so very familiar." Kagome began to cry, "but how can it be? This must just be another dream, it can't be real. It isn't real, IT ISN'T REAL!" She screamed histerically, curling herself into a fetal position, staring shakily at the old well.

"Kagome!" Mitsubi moved to the distraught girl's side and pulled her quivering form into her lap, running her fingers through Kagome's ebony hair comfortingly, "it's okay." She said softly.

"This can't be happening," Kagome moaned, "but it just feels so real!"

"Perhaps that fall knocked our senses assunder." Reshine provided hopefully, mopping at a line of blood that had trickled down the side of his head.

Kagome sniffled, her sobs down to a simple occasional whimper, and glanced up at him, "But I never hit my head like you guys did." She pointed out, worried for the moment.

"Yes, but you haven't exactly been fully living in reality, occasionally your mind slips to that strange other place. Perhaps Mitsubi and myself are living in your reality, having heard you describe all of those things to us."

"Kagome, is there any way out of this?" Mitsubi asked the frail girl, "any way to get back to where we belong?"

Kagome nodded slowly, "yes, supposedly if we leap back into the well we should be brought back to my shrine."

"Well, I suppose that it is worth a try." Reshine shrugged and helped Mitsubi balance Kagome between them.

"On three?" Kagome suggested wearily.

"On three." Mitsubi and Reshine agreed.

"One..." Kagome took a deep breath and let it out in a shuddering gasp as she closed her eyes hopefully.

"Two," Mitsubi tightened her grasp on Kagome's arm, she shook in anticipation and fear- what if it didn't work like it was supposed to? What if they were stuck in that strange place?

"3!" Reshine exclaimed, and together they surged forward, feeling the ground disappear beneath their feet.

The three of them landed in a tangled heap at the bottom of the well, breathing heavily and not daring to look up. Finally Kagome opened her eyes, she moaned as she realized that they hadn't gone back through, they were still lost in the Feudal Era (A/N: XDDD I wrote ear...). "It didn't work." She said ruefully, disentangling herself from them, "I don't want to be here!" she sobbed and brought her knees up to her shoulders, wrapping her quivering arms about them as well, "I can't be here, I just can't!"

"Sh, Kagome, come on. We can't very well stay in this well all day. In fact it's almost nightfall!" Reshine said, pulling her into a shaky stand, "back out of the well we go."

"Well, it's a good thing I took a nature course in College after all." Mitsubi giggled as she crawled back up the vines and out of the well. "Lets start walking and hope that we come upon at least somebody."

"Alright." Kagome said compliantly, allowing herself to be led down an old path that had begun to be overgrown by weeds, as though the path had become neglected over the past year.

"Haven't you always said that there ought to be a 'village' near here?" Mitsubi asked cautiously.

"Yes." Kagome's voice was emotionless, she allowed her gaze to cloud over, "It is Kaede's village. I wonder if she'll remember me, or for that matter if she is still alive." She allowed a single tear to course down her cheek before wiping it away impatiently.

"Are you going to be okay?" Mitsubi wrapped her arms protectively around the smaller girl's shoulders.

"I'll be fine." Kagome allowed her hands to travel up the the jar that rested around her throat- she had forgotten that it was even there in the first place, her gaze rested on the few jewel shards- she contemplated on how she had them and thought simply that she must have broken a favorite necklace and used that as an anchor for having shards of the shikon no tama.

Mitsubi's fingers clasped about her own and she rested her head upon her shoulder, "So how far to this village?" She asked quietly.

"Not far." Kagome indicated the break in trees some distance ahead of them, "the forest ends there."

She stiffened suddenly and halted in her tracks, her gaze swiveling about her madly and her fingers clasping at the jar around her throat. "What is it, Kagome?" Mitsubi asked, a frightened look in her eyes as she saw the distant one in Kagome's own.

"Jewel shards." Kagome's face screwed up in confusion.

"You mean as in the shikon no tama?" Reshine cocked his head to the side curiously.

"Yes," Kagome took several hesitant steps forward, "there's something wrong with them though... I can't figure-" Her eyes widened considerably, "run, hurry, to the village!"

She hobbled as fast as she could, finding that Reshine and Mitsubi far outmatched her for speed at the moment. She wished that she could awaken from this nightmare, that the pain in her ankle would subside. And then the unthinkable happened. She tripped, landing face first in the dirt and moaning as her head hit a large rock. After a moment Kagome pulled herself wearily into a sitting position. "Please." She whispered, "please let this just be another nightmare, let me just shake my head and... and be back in Dr. Reshine's office, or even my bedroom!"

Her shoulders shook as she grasped at her mouth to keep from sobbing audibly, "They've left me, both of them... they're gone and left me alone." She bewailed.

Footsteps approached at a confident and leisurely pace, and with each step her heart rate increased, who is there? She thought frantically, not daring to look up lest it be something that she really didn't want to see. Her vision blurred and tears fell into her white-garbed lap (A/N: yes, she is wearing a white uniform thing...). Please, please just let me be insane... There is nobody there, i-it's probably Reshine or even Mitsubi, realized that I fell. Her fingers tightened their grip on her leggings as she willed her tears away. Her head ached horribly, and her ankle was throbbing. All Kagome wanted to do was rest.

Quite suddenly she was lifted bodily by the throat, her tearfilled eyes lifted slightly and looked at the armored chest of a rather large man. She could practically feel him smirking, and something cold was pressing into the tender flesh of her throat. Kagome felt a few rivlets of blood run down over her chest and she realized that whatever was pressing into her throat had cut her. She finally brought her eyes fully up to the man's face, instantly wishing that she hadn't. The bloodlust in his eyes sent shivers racing down her spine as she struggled to breathe. Her hands remained motionless at her side, and suddenly she sensed something. After a moment she moved her gaze to his throat and gasped, there was a jewel shard! "Such a pretty girl," He purred lustily, "I will enjoy spilling your blood."

"What would happen," Kagome said hoarsely, a ghost of a smile gracing her lips, "if I were to take that jewel shard from your throat I wonder?"

He looked taken aback, surprised even that she could see the shard, "Suikotsu," A youthful voice behind Kagome ground out, "release the girl. Naraku has use for her."

The one called Suikotsu growled and dropped Kagome angrily, but not before dragging his fingers across her tender flesh, resulting in four deep scratches that krept over her collar bone and ended at the nape of her neck. She gasped and her hands went immediately to the wound in attempts to stave the bleeding. Kagome's eyes flashed, just for a moment, with unchecked fury before she turned to gaze at the youth that had 'saved' her from Suikotsu. Her eyebrows furrowed in recognition, why... it's Sango's brother! She thought before shaking her head. "Nooo," She moaned disbelievingly, closing her eyes with a gulp, "it isn't real... none of it is!" The last part she shouted, wishing so badly for it to be true, "none of this, i-its all in my head."

Suikotsu gave the youth an 'she must be insane' look before shaking his head and turning to walk away, "fine, Naraku can have her. I could care less... maybe I'll go kill those other two people she was with."

"No!" Kagome leapt to her feet and balled her hands into fists, ignoring the sting in her throat, "You leave them alone bastard!"

He looked over his shoulder, and she could see that he longed to kill her. "No, you are to go after Inuyasha. He is nearby and will perhaps catch the girl's scent. He is not to interfere."

"That half-breed?" Suikotsu scoffed.

"That's all anyone talks about, damn it!" Inuyasha was furious, and it showed in his jerking motions as he paced near the camp fire, "I want to become a full demon Kagome, got that?"

"I don't get why you can't be happy as you are Inuyasha." She said, hurt apparent in her voice, "I mean, I like you as a half demon."

"And?" He crossed his arms in frustration, looking at her, he faltered, seeing her for a moment as Kikyou before quickly shaking his head to clear it of the thought.

"You were thinking of her again, weren't you?" Kagome sighed heavily and glared at him.

"Of who?" He asked innocently.

"Kikyo." She said, her eyebrows twitching as he deliberately played the ignorant fool. "I'm not her Inuyasha."

"Nobody said you were!" He said bitterly, "feh, and besides, you're to ugly to be Kikyo anyway."

Kagome growled haughtily and prepared to give him the seating of his life. Suddenly she shook herself from her daze and blinked rapidly, realizing that she was being stared at by both Kohaku and Suikotsu. She knew that she probably looked insane, what with having conversations with herself and all.

"Damn..." She hissed to herself, crossing her arms and wincing as her hand slammed into the bleeding wound.

"Suikotsu." Kohaku said, glancing over the man's shoulder and into the distance, "Inuyasha is coming. No doubt he has her scent now, since you were bastard enough to make her bleed."

Kagome shivered and took a weary step backwards. Looking at the two before turning fully and beginning to run at the break in the trees. She longed to make it to the relief of Kaede's village- she was so close! Her breath came in ragged gasps as she felt her energy beginning to dwindle. No! Not yet, please! She silently pleaded with herself, just let me make it away from them. Let me get to Mitsubi and Reshine. Perspiration formed on her forehead as she strained to make her goal.

All hope left her as Kagome felt something sharp pierce her lower calf, and immediately she tumbled into a breathless heap- staring up at Kohaku whose lifeless eyes narrowed in her direction. He pulled back on the long chain that was connected to his sickle, "Don't do that again." He said as he grasped the weapon firmly in his hand.

Kagome closed her eyes tightly, go away... this isn't real. I'm immagining it all, I think that probably in some sense or other I am wishing that it were true, but it isn't... it's not... and I need to really wake up. I have to escape! "Just leave me alone!" She moaned, "why are you doing this to me? All I want is to go home."

Kohaku frowned at her, "So, miko," A voice pierced into her very soul, it sounded from the trees around her but she couldn't quite place it, "where, I wonder, is it that you disappeared to for the past three years?" Naraku appeared and Kagome grew faint at the sight of his baboon pelt, she saw a flash of white and crimson arcing all around her before fully arrousing herself once more and beginning to quiver in horror, "Jewel shards have been so hard to come by lately- what with that Kikyo bitch finally being dead and the fact that you are now the only one that can sense them." He smirked at the mortified expression on her face.

"You!" She seethed in fury, wanting nothing more than to strangle the life out of him right then, though she knew that she could not, "what are you doing here Naraku?" She spat vehemently.

His smirk curled into a sneer, "it would be so easy to kill you right now." He sneered, "the only reason that I haven't done so is because I have plans for you."

"Oh yeah? And just what makes you think that I would comply to your plans?" She ground out through clenched teeth.

"Go," He said darkly, "go to your precious hanyou- but know this: you are no longer above darkness. It will consume you in time, and then, miko, then you will be mine forever to manipulate however I so choose." He crossed his arms and turned around, indicating that Kohaku should follow him, and without a word the boy did just that.

Kagome sagged in both relief and worry, what was Naraku talking about? Slowly she stood, stumbling foreward slightly as pain shot up her wounded leg. "This just isn't my day." She moaned, just remember, this is all a dream... I probably ended up hitting my head and am now unconscious at the bottom of that well... or I may even be dead. Is this my punishment for not stopping what happened to my family? Am I to be doomed for the rest of my life/ afterlife to keep living in these false realities with this false hope?

A/N: Heh, well... here's chapter two, what do you think? Good, bad, somewhere in between? I really am trying to get a descent story going here, the story is just flying through my head, faster than I can type XDDD... Review and ye shall be rewarded. (Chapter 3 is in progress)