THE MIRROR OF SOULS by Silver Moon Inuyoukai
Disclaimer: Thank you Rumiko Takahashi for your story. Many of us have retained our sanity because of our devotion to Sesshoumaru. Bless you.
MIRROR OF SOULS
CHAPTER 41
SHADOWS
"Help me…" More tears fell when she heard that sound. It echoed again and again but no ears heard it.
Only her.
The tears that fell from swollen eyes float like tiny crystals in the inky fora [n. setting] of the galaxy. She rotated when she looked up but her counter-clockwise movement didn't halt even when she threw out a hand it just slowed it down to her relief. She didn't look down. Like someone who has no love for deep waters fearing that a monster might be waiting with its huge mouth open to devour a hapless victim is the same with her in this place.
The crystals passed her by and a sun got caught in one tiny crystal. A planet went inside another clear globe. Her misery forgotten for a moment she got fascinated at the rounded liquid, following its cycle as it went round and round. Within the tiny crystals were the tiniest galaxies she has ever seen…in…
A small gasp escaped her lips from a mouth dehydrated and thick with stringy saliva from shedding all those tears.
"Please…please." She whispered as more tears fell. " I don't want to be here! Anywhere but here! I don't want to be here…Hello! Hello! Is anyone out there? Hello?" she hates that echo; of her voice sounding so disconsolate, broken and pitiful like she is begging someone to come.
To save her.
She always needed saving….
Who are you? The voice whispers…gently.
"What?" she jerked in terror towards the voice. The fine hairs on her arms stood up and a shiver ran over her. There is a presence around her, moving around, formless. "Who's there? Who's there?!"
Who are you?
The voice became a little less gentle.
"Oh!" the sudden sound in her ear made her jump and the goose bumps that populated her arms felt like she had some fever. "I…I don't understand." She gulped.
She doesn't know how to use her powers completely….
Who are you?
She was always the pawn….
Who are you?
"I am Kagome Higu…" her bottom lip quivered at the insistent murmur.
She was always the victim….
Who… Are... You?
What is her role in this life?
Who are you?
"I am Kagome…"
Who are you?
"What do you mean?"
Who are you? Human..?Miko…? Pawn…? Victim…?
"I don't know…" she whispered tearfully. She gasped as the stars began to move and she was hurtling through the universe and all she can do is scream….
~{0}~
"Oh goodness Kagome! Wake up!" A sound like the tinkling of crystal bells echoed as Kagami wailed in mounting anxiety as how crystal entities have anxiety. "Come on! Wake up!" She almost bit her lip in worry again, not that biting her lip would damage it no matter how often she does it but it's a bad habit that she wanted to ditch (an expression she got from Kagome). She should have woken up. Kagami shook Kagome's shoulder again, much harder this time. "Please wake up. Come on, Kagome. We need to get out of here," Kagami whispered urgently, looking behind her. She almost jumped out of her translucent skin when her shoulder was grasped. "Oh! Kagome you're awake!" her sigh of immense relief sounded like furin chimes.
"Hi? Uh…where…where are we?" the miko moved her head side to side shaking the remnant of sleep or unconsciousness from her brain and at the same time hoping her eyes would clear up. "Ugh!" she swallowed the cotton balls lodged in her throat; she stuck out her tongue in distaste. "Did we ….oh, my head….did we get out?"
"No," Kagami also stood up but she's never far away from Kagome to help steady her charge on her feet. "Not yet."
"So the plan is to get out of here, yeah?" Kagome grimaced at the stiffness of her limbs, groaning as Kagami helped her up. "What the hell happened to me?"
She always needed saving…
"Huh? Who's there?" Kagome gasped and turned around at the whisper; wide-eyed. Over there she could see a shadow…moving…
"Kagome?" Kagami reached for the woman.
"What?" Kagome whirled around looking spooked, pointing. "Did you see that?"
Kagami followed where Kagome pointed, got wide-eyed and grabbed the miko's arm. "We need to get out of this area." Kagami got concerned at Kagome's behavior. "Come! Kagome, are you alright?"
"Alright? Uh…I saw something there." Kagome looked around as if she didn't hear Kagami. "It's moving Kagami…"
"Don't look at it! Let us move, Kagome-sama. Quickly now!"
"Okay!" though she was pulled by the mirror creature Kagome continues to look behind her. "They were in my dream…" she pointed again.
Kagami was instantly looking at her intently with a little fear shadowed in her eyes, "Dream? What kind of dream Kagome?"
"When we were about to defeat Naraku he put me inside the Meidou and I was so terrified." Kagome gave the mirror creature a ghost of a smile when Kagami took her in a half embrace for comfort, "it was like being in space but more terrifying because there were voices in it."
"What does it say?"
"It said 'who are you'?"
"What?" now Kagami took Kagome's shoulders firmly," Did you answer it? Kagome, did you answer it? Please say you didn't."
Kagome raked fingers through her hair, looking in the distance, "Well, I was confused because it kept asking me the same question even when I told it my name." she didn't notice the widening of Kagami's eyes. "I…Kagami! What…!" she was pushed to the front by the terrified mirror entity.
"We have to get out of this area now!" she began jogging.
"Area?" Kagome gestured at the void with a frown at the place she had hated since she came here. "I thought it's just one immense and infinite space."
Tense, Kagami pursed her faceted lips, on guard. "No. There are many areas here."
Kagome tried to keep pace with the entity. She has no idea where they're going but Kagami seems to see something that she couldn't by the way she stops and turns. It baffled Kagome because if there are or were partitions in this place why didn't she run into them the many times she had wandered in this dimension?
"But?"
"What? I didn't say anything, Kagome-sama." Kagami turned back in surprise and Kagome was fascinated by the tinkling of Kagami's forehead. She hurried the young woman as they run.
She laughed nervously, "Oh yes, there's always a 'but.' I have hunted the Shikon shards all over Japan and I have seen some crazy things. It's not always it's this and it's that. There's always a 'but'." Kagome began to keep a wary eye around them. Kagami's fear must be catching because she's beginning to get quite spooked at the potential danger they are in. "Say, why is this place dangerous? What happens if I see or talk to them?" She held up a finger, "A-ah! Don't give that 'I don't know what you're talking about' face. "
"Stop talking for now, please!" Kagami whispered, eyes darting around. "Follow me." Kagami said briskly, her nerves (yes, mirror creatures has nerves) on the breaking point.
"Okay." She followed Kagami through some 'turns' in the void until Kagami stopped and made a gesture like she was closing something. All of a sudden a quietness she has never felt nor heard before surrounded them but it was not an ear popping kind of quietness. "So are we safe here?"
"For now," Kagami chimed a sigh.
"So what is happening?" Kagome crossed her arms.
"The sudno is almost full…"
"Wait! What? The…sudno?"
"Yes. Whenever Rylanion takes people's life force there is a container where he puts the souls…"
"Like soul collectors?" Kagome shook her head when Kagami frowned. "Uh…Kikyo had these youkai-like creatures who gather souls so she could regain her strength….no?"
"No. It is a place where harvested or collected souls were kept until he would ingest them."
"Ingest? As in eat them?" Kagome said in incredulity at Kagami's nod. "Where is it? We need to find it, Kagami!"
"And what do we do when we find it, Kagome-sama?"
"Why…free them, of course!" Kagome gestured. "Do you know where he keeps it?" both occupants jumped when the sound of banging echoed in their 'space.' "What the hell..?" the miko unclenched her grip on her shirt, breathing hard.
"We are in danger, Kagome-sama!" the mirror entity looked as though she might fall apart from tension.
"Kagami you keep on saying that. What will happen?"
"We would be harvested as well!" They both jumped again as the banging got louder and insistent this time.
"Hey! Open this damned door! Both of you wanna stay there forever?!"
~{0}~{0}~{0}~