Being who I am I've known darkness. I've known darkness in every perspective of the word. But nothing quite like this. This was the kind of darkness beyond your common ' I can't see my own hand in front of my face' scenario. This was a black blanket spread over everything, so stifling I could practically feel it weighing down on me from all sides.
It was hard to breath in a blackness so thick you could taste it on your tongue, smell it in your nose, and just feel it with all of your senses.
I'm not afraid of the dark. Never was, never will be. Not even this kind of impossibly, overbearing, freak darkness. But a tiny trickle of... uneasiness, yes, that's the word. Uneasiness was leaking it's way into my consciousness with no consent from me.
The uneasy feeling was caused by what the darkness was hiding. And I needed to get away from it. Needed to with every drop of marrow in my bones. I needed to get away so bad I was more then ready to pull something off that was so incredibly reckless. But, hey, you can't lose anything if you have nothing to begin with.
So here I am.
Mentally ready, or maybe I've just taken leave of my senses, I ran. I ran for all I was worth - no. Apparently I'm not worth much, so I just ran as fast as I could push my body to go. Luckily for me, that was pretty damn fast.
But unluckily for me, not fast enough. As I ran towards my freedom from this dark, morbid, place I felt a horrible pain in my back. Even though it was impossible to see, I knew who caused this wound. And that knowledge hurt more then the wound itself.
More angry then I had ever been in my life, I ignored the agonizing pain that nearly blinded me. And that was saying something because other then darkness, anger was something else I was familiar with. And the fact that it hurt enough to blur my vision didn't matter since it was already darker then the deepest level of hell in this place.
The pain blurred my thought process and the next series of events were nothing but a dim blur controlled purely by instinct. My anger fueled me and I was, by some miracle, able to brake away from the darkness alive.
I escaped them.
Through my suffering that one thing was bitter-sweet. And bittersweet was as close to joy as I got.
Water enveloped me. The cool, nearly freezing, liquid soothed my wounds and led me to my hard won, bittersweet freedom.
Inuyasha was startled awake by a loud crash. He sat bolt right up, his hands, equipped with long, dagger-like nails, were instantly drawn up in a defensive stance.
His mind was clouded by much needed sleep as he tried to gain his bearings. A quick glance around the dimly lit room informed him that Miroku was the source of the noise. Nothing to be worried about... Unless Miroku had dropped a box of his stuff.
Aforementioned Miroku glanced guiltily at Inuyasha. "Sorry about that, Inuyasha. I hadn't meant to wake you." He said as he bent down to collect the various items he had dropped.
"For someone who was trying to be quiet you sure made a hell of a racket." Inuyasha retorted, his voice thick with sleep. His eyes went to the clock mounted on the wall. Seven p.m. That meant he had been asleep for three hours.
Miroku watched his unusual friend rub the bridge of his nose with his hand. Inuyasha was never exactly happy-go-lucky but he had been strangely sullen these past few days. Miroku expected it was due to lack of sleep. It seemed to him nightmares were causing his friend sleep deprivation.
He shuddered inwardly at the thought of what kind of grizzly nightmares Inuyasha had.
"I'm going out." Inuyasha announced abruptly, standing and making a beeline for the door.
"Oh? Where too?" Miroku asked casually as he dropped the fallen things back into the box they belonged in.
"I'll find out when I get there."
"Come on kitty, I need to take your temperature. I'm sorry I have to do this..." A young woman of nineteen spoke gently to her patient, in hopes of getting the feisty feline to drop it's guard.
The cat, however, was uncannily wise and had no intention of letting the young veterinarian in training get closer, and informed her so with a loud hiss.
"Oh, come on! You think I want to stick this thing up your butt? Think again pussy cat, I'm doing this for your own good. Now stay still and please put those nasty claws away."
"Kagome, it would make me feel a lot better if you stopped talking to my cat."
"You know you do it too, Sango."
"Perhaps. Just not in front of other people." Sango teased her friend, as she watched her try to maneuver the thermometer she held in her hand to the backside of her small kitten.
"This is how it always is," Kagome vented. "All the animals are just as lovely and as pleasant as you could ever want them to be... Until you pull out the thermometer. Then they turn into little devils, little devils with teeth and claws, and very quick reflexes."
Sango smiled. She knew that was just Kagome's frustration talking. Kagome loved animals, despite of what she said, and did very well around them. Animals even liked Kagome... Until she tried to stick objects up their backsides. Animals didn't fancy that too much.
Kagome wondered how such a small and adorable kitten could be so ferocious. The tiny black and white kitten had been rescued by Sango, whom had found the cat abandoned near the apartment complex she and Kagome lived at. The kitten was too young to be away from it's mother. And it looked a tad sick.
The adorable kitten had turned into a man-eating tiger the moment Kagome tried to treat it. She would have to remember to order a new thermometer, one that didn't need to be shoved up an animals butt hole in order to retrieve it's temperature.
"There! All done. That wasn't so bad was it?" Kagome inquired, as she mixed the hungry kitty a bowl of mothers milk formula.
"Have you decided what to name her?" This was directed at Sango.
"I'm thinking about naming her Kirara." Sango thought out loud as she pulled her long, arrow straight, locks into a high pony tail, using the elastic hair holder she wore on her wrist to confine her dark brown hair.
"That sounds spiffy." Kagome said, setting the bowl down in front of the mewing cat.
"Kirara it is." Sango declared. "So what do I need to do for the poor thing?"
"Feed her, love her, change the kitty litter." Kagome joked washing her hands off. Then in a more serious tone said, " Just use some of this special blend mothers milk until she's old enough to eat solid stuff. And you may want to turn up the heat when you get home, it's important for her to retain body heat."
"Easy enough." Sango said as she stroked the diamond like marking on the kittens forehead. She had already grown quite attached to the helpless kitten.
"And you live a few doors down if anything goes wrong."
"Exactly. My shift never ends, you know that? Never. I'm here Monday through Wednesday after class, and even then I'm still here. I don't know if we're shorthanded or if they just like working me to death. I'm going to start growing grey hair early, I just know it." Kagome fumed, pushing her long black bangs out of her pretty face. She was overdue for a haircut.
"Finished?"
"Yep."
"Alright then, I'll see you tomorrow. Have anything fun planned for tonight?"
"Sure do. I'm going to go home, take a long hot bath, go to sleep and stay that way until ten."
"Ooh, riveting."
"Sure is. And I may take a chance and switch conditioners."
Sango laughed, knowing that her friend was just playing, and deserved a relaxing evening. Hadn't Kagome said something about helping operate on a psychopathic duck earlier?
Sango collected her cat and the formula and bid Kagome goodnight. "Sleep well."
"Oh, I will."
True to her word, after her long, languorous bath she changed into the most comfortable pajamas she owned and climbed into her bed. Her rather obese cat, Buyo joined her while she brushed the tangles out of her long ebony locks. Her hair had been pinned up all day, so it felt good to have it down about her shoulders.
"There is just too much going on right now, Buyo." She confided in her cat. "My professor is being particularly harsh and I really need a vacation."
Buyo fixed her with an unwavering gaze. "Meow." The large calico groaned.
She sprawled out comfortably on her bed, the soft mattress was a piece of heaven to the young collage student. Buyo curled up contentedly on her stomach. The weight of the cat made breathing just a tad difficult.
"That's it. Your going on a diet." She informed the stoic cat between yawns. Buyo's head abruptly shot up and he fixed his human with a disbelieving stare. She wouldn't dare!... Would she?
Listening to the soft patter of raindrops that assaulted her roof, she let natures calming music lull her into a welcomed slumber.
Inuyasha was glad for the parka he had swiped before he left the house. Hours later, when he had wandered himself down an unfamiliar alley way it had started to rain.
The long coat didn't protect all of him from the bite of the rain, it soaked his long hair and poured freely down his face. The hat he wore warded off some of the rain, he was especially partial to the hat. It stopped water from getting into his ears.
A bright flash of lightening lit up the sky with purple hues. He tilted his head towards the heavens and watched another bolt of lightening rip the night sky open. This time it was soon followed by thunder.
Clearing his mind he stopped walking and bent his head down, letting the rain drip down his neck, and the increasingly powerful wind to claw at his hair. Who cared? He had worked so hard for his freedom... but why? Their was nothing out here for him. Nothing. Nothingness was a part of his life, so the empty void in his chest was nothing new.
When he was still trapped, he had waited. Waited for something to happen, anything. Nothing had, so he took it upon himself to make something happen.
Once... once the void had nearly been filled. But that had been a fleeting illusion of some emotion called happiness.
"Happiness...keh! Right..."
An almost inaudible click brought him back devastatingly fast to earth. "Shit!" he cursed with feeling as he tried to spring himself into a run.
Why had he let his guard down? You would think that he would learn that self-pity only caused trouble. But maybe once, just this once, fate smiled down upon him... He just didn't know about it yet.
Kagome was first roused by a loud noise. If she hadn't been so tired she would thought that someone was trying to tear her wall down, and called the authorities. But she was, and simply rolled over, sending Buyo crashing to the floor with an indignant yelp.
She found a handhold of sleep and held on to it tight. Only to be reawakened an few moments later by the same bashing sounds.
Were her stupid neighbors having a wild party or something? Jerks. They could have at least invited her. She gave no thought to the weird image of a elderly couple throwing a party.
Then someone began shouting her name.
For the sake of all that was decent! Couldn't she sleep anywhere besides class?
"Fine, M'coming!" She yelled, finally acknowledging the fact that someone was at her door.
She dragged herself from her warm, comfortable bed and padded her way clumsily over to the door. Her apartment wasn't that big, so she didn't have far to walk. But she did trip over her couch...and only found the door by walking into it...twice.
She would have turned on the light, but she knew it would hurt her eyes that had become so familiar with the dark.
Kagome fumbled with the locks, but soon got them open. Someone swung the door open and pushed past her.
Well, that wasn't odd at all.
"Umm..." Kagome said unintelligently. If she hadn't been half asleep she probably would have cared more.
It was pitch black so she couldn't see a thing the intruder was doing. Her only clue was the rustling and shuffling noises she heard. The sound of scraping, and then a loud thud met Kagome's ears.
"For Gods' sake Miroku! Do you want to crack his skull open?"
Hey... That was Sango's voice.
"Just a bit, but I don't think Kagome would appreciate blood all over her nice clean floor."
And that was Miroku...
"Blood? Whose blood? Keep my floors clean." She rambled on, her voice heavy and almost unintelligible with sleep.
"Good morning Kagome, sorry to bother you at this hour but a friend of ours needs your help. And Sango tells me you're a great doctor.
"Well, I don't want to toot my own horn, but..." Ah. She was finally awake enough to string together a whole sentence.
"I always knew you were a wonderful person." Miroku gushed.
"A saint." Sango added.
"Aww... you guys, stop. Your making me blush." At a decent hour Kagome would have been weary of such blatant praise.
She heard someone make there way back to the door and lock it.
"So what's happened? Is it Kirara, or did your dog get hit by a car or something?" Kagome asked, her grogginess slowly abating. No matter how tired she was, she couldn't find the heart to send away a poor injured animal.
"Er..Something like that." Sango and Miroku said in unison.
"Let me go get my stuff...turn on the lights, I can't see a thing." Kagome turned away and trotted back to her room to retrieve her medical supplies she kept at her place. It couldn't be that serious, or they would have taken their... what was it that was hurt anyways?... to a clinic. But she took the whole bag anyways.
As she had predicted, the lights made her eyes burn and she had to blink rapidly to sooth them. "So, what's the pr - why is their a dude on my kitchen table?"
Kagome tottered dumbfounded back to her small, small kitchen, where a man was laid out on her kitchen table, obviously unconscious.
Words wanted to come out of her mouth. They really did. And they did their best to find a way out of Kagome's throat. But in spite of her efforts to say something coherent, she ended up standing there, with her mouth flapping in the same fashion as a dehydrated fish would.
"It's a rather long story. Perhaps you could stop some of the bleeding before we explain?" Miroku asked politely, as he jabbed a finger at the young man with outrageously long hair that looked suspiciously white, draped across her table.
"Huh..." Was all she managed to say. Perhaps she was still asleep, and dreaming this peculiar ordeal. Yes, that was it. She was dreaming...fate is a very unusual thing. Kagome was sure she would never understand it. Nor would she understand what caused her to have such an odd dream.
"Kagome are you alright?" Sango asked, worry laced her words.
"I should have listened to my fortune cookie...It told be not to open my doors late at night."
A/N:
(Sheepish smile) I know I should be working on Fragment, but I was encountering a brick wall every time I sat down to type. And the way I get over writers block is to start a new story entirely. But, hey, I had fun writing this. And I severely hope you enjoyed reading it. Perhaps I'll continue soon if I get a good response... Either way, I needed to get this down, so I hope it was worth your time, Thanks for reading! (Sorry for such a short chapter by the way...)
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot to this story. A plot that shall be revealed if you review In a nut shell: I do not own Inuyasha and co. I never have, and never will. Rumiko Takahashi owns 'em till the day she dies...which is soon right? She was born...like...a hundred years ago.
(Inset witty good-bye phrase here)
SilverSqueakyInuEars