Well... I'm redoing this chapter... I have found more places where I have neglected to change the story from 3rd person to 1st person.
I'm friggin hopeless.
You see when I say that fate is cruel? Evil, evil bastard that fate is. But before I run off at a 90 degree angle from my story line, let's turn back, and let me finish my story.
I opened my eyes to the beautiful pristine land of the feudal era… with a splitting headache.
I groaned loudly and sat up quickly, grabbing for my bows instinctively, because the last thing I remembered was Naraku. I almost stumbled back to the ground, my hands falling into the sharp rocks to keep myself upright. A sharp intake of air was all I showed, as I continued to look frantically for my bows. They were gone. I pushed myself up to stand, slowly calming from my adrenaline rush.
I remembered being pushed into the well by Inuyasha with the full Shikon Jewel, the backs of my legs against the lip of the well as he shoved. That was only minutes before! Was Inuyasha trying to save me? I had seen Naraku's tentacles fixated on Inuyasha's frame as I flew back with the air whipping around me and then the flash of blue. Did Naraku hit Inuyasha?
That's where my memory is gone, from the space I was pushed into the well, to the time I woke up, I figured I must have jumped back into the well and passed out. I wondered why I woke up outside the well. I chalked it up to the wierdness of the feudal era.
Inuyasha and the others were gone, nothing but chirping birds and glorious sunshine. Did we win? Naraku without the Shikon was not really much of a threat as he normally was, but was still powerful.
I froze… where was the Shikon no Tama?
Taking calming breaths while ignoring my headache, I let my energy spread, searching for the Shikon Jewel, my hand moved to where the scar should have been on my side. I did not feel my scar, and boy do I know my own body.
Oh holy crap!
I couldn't suppress my sharp gasp that pained my head. It was back inside me.
It wasn't in my belly though, and I wanted to cry at my discovery: It was connected to my heart. The jewel was protecting itself from what had happened in the past, a priestess may not protect the jewel with her life if someone's life was in danger. I had proved this when I first came to the feudal era by neglecting the jewel to save a girl in a river. Now, I would protect the jewel from coming into contact with evil entities because now it involved my life. It could not be cut out like last time and survive.
I would have to be killed for someone else to possess the jewel.
I glanced at my unblemished hands, for some reason thinking that there would be something wrong with them, and realized the extra power I felt, the incredible energy… it was the jewel's aid to me for protection. How much power could the jewel aid me? Would it be enough? I shivered at the thought, wanting to burst into tears. Will I even know how to use the power?
Midoriko… was this also her will? Well if so… she's a bitch, okay I know she was powerful and all, and she was probably really nice, but… sheesh this is a bitch. Then I apologized in my head.
My thoughts were cut off by an alarming scream. Jumping up I almost fell back over, holding my head. Oh why can I never catch a break? I dashed into the foliage and straight towards the sound, a few bushes slapping my legs. I figured Inuyasha had to be there!
Coming into a clearing, I saw a female demon fighting against a towering lower class youkai. The girl's youki was powerful but she was injured, probably before this fight had even started. The demoness charged the huge youkai and slashed, landed a good hit but was knocked back by the youkai's giant arm.
I then proceeded to pick up a rock and hurled it at the monster. Then I wanted to slap myself on the forehead, a rock, a rock, yeah.. That was going to hurt a gigantic youkai.
"Hey! Picking on someone who is injured isn't fair you know!" I shouted. Ugh.. That was the most retarded thing to come out of my mouth. I chastised herself, and wondered why I didn't think of a plan before throwing the damned rock. The huge youkai turned quickly with a growl and started sprinting at me. I bent down quickly and grabbed the little dagger I had hidden in my sock and skillfully threw it at the giant. My years with Inuyasha kicking in. It's metal point flared with pink energy as it struck it's target in the right shoulder. I frowned, because I had been aiming for it's head.
The energy from the dagger was enough to knock the demon down with a boom, and the demoness ran towards the falling giant to land one explosive kick to it's head. I heard a snap.
I stared at the demoness… the fighting style she had used… seemed familiar. I tried to shake my head to clear the pain once again, it didn't work. Thinking just wasn't going good for me today.
Okay, I focused back on the demoness… I helped her… now what? Not being able to think of anything else to say, I opted for my name, "Hi! I'm Kagome!"
"I'm Kaori." The demoness said wearily, clutching her side. The demoness Kaori kept her eyes on me, she didn't know I wasn't a threat to her.
"Well Kaori, let's get you cleaned and bandaged up." I said, then frowned as I walked over to the giant ogre and pulled my dagger out. "I know there's a spring near here, can you walk?" I wiped the dagger on the grass and replaced it within my sock, trying not to get dizzy.
"I'll be fine." Kaori huffed, then staggered. I rushed the few feet between them and slung one of Kaori's arms over my shoulders, taking on some of her weight. I wondered if all demons were stubborn like this, why couldn't they just accept help once and a while?
"Why are you helping me?" Kaori demanded, still trying to stand on her own. I tried to force the pounding of my head to the back of my mind, the pain was getting so much worse.
"Because you need it, just don't argue with me." I replied as smoothly as I could, trying not to show my hopefully temporary weakness. "If I wanted to hurt you, I would have purified you along with that thing." I knew that it was a lie, that I wouldn't be able to purify such a demon by myself, but oh well, what's a little white lie?
Kaori smiled slightly as if knowing I was lying "So you're a Miko."
"Sorta, it's a little complicated." I answered, feeling slightly uncomfortable at the topic. I was not trained, and besides, Kikyo was the Miko.
"Either you are or you aren't." Kaori stated, and we started to move over the unsteady terrain.
"Have you heard a battle going on in these parts?" I figured a change of subject was in order. I started readjusting Kaori's arm over my shoulders.
"Besides the one I was just in?" Kaori laughed slightly, the young demoness seemingly growing more comfortable around me, figuring I wasn't a threat. "Not for a while I'm guessing, I've been around here for about a week."
I tried hard to hide my horror, but a week? Inuyasha could have gotten hurt in that time! Maybe it was because of me having the whole Shikon did something to the well, but at least it was only about a week. I'd just have to go back to see Kaede right after taking care of Karoi.
"You're a wolf demon." I stated recouping from the prior information, and for some reason now just taking in the sight of Kaori's furs. The pounding in my head would not go away, if at all it was getting worse. Trying to force my pain away, I took a glance at Karoi, she had a shapely figure, dark brown hair pulled into a simple ponytail, and the most dazzling green eyes I had ever seen.
"Yeah, from the east, I'm the daughter of the newly instated eastern lord!" Kaori stated proudly.
My thoughts turned to Kouga at the mention of wolf demons. I would just ask Inuyasha when I found him.
"So your father is a taiyoukai?" However I tried, my thoughts were on Inuyasha and the others. I told myself that I would find them shortly and to focus on Kaori.
Kaori nodded enthusiastically.
"What about your mother?" I noticed the almost instant stormy eyes that gazed at the ground.
"She died giving birth to me." She was so quiet I almost didn't hear it.
"I'm sorry…" I said as I noticed that Kaori had a sword strapped to her side, and it looked familiar.
"Why didn't you use your sword? Wouldn't it have been useful?" I asked.
Kaori smirked, "It's pretty much for appearance, my father stole it off of a samurai that he killed. He said he never really needed to use it, it just looked good."
"It looks deadly, but I guess that's the point." I forced a smile through my pain, more silence followed, and I was actually grateful. Me... Not talking... Who would have guessed?
"Where are you from? I've never really seen clothes like that before." Kaori wondered after a slight lull in conversation.
"I guess you can say it's far enough away that it would take you a long time before you ever got there." I hazarded.
"You must be from across the seas." Kaori said softly, and I thought she said it almost wistfully too.
I said nothing at that, and we fell into a companionable silence until we reached the spring. My thoughts were just on Inuyasha. What if he was hurt worse than Kaori was? Maybe I shouldn't have helped the young demoness.
I shook my head slightly to rid myself of such thoughts, knowing that I would always help somebody in trouble. Removing Kaori's furs from around her mid-section, I took off one of my long socks and rinsed it out in the water to clean her wound as best I could.
"Here," I handed Kaori the sock. "Put this on your wound and hold it there to stop the bleeding, I'm going to clean your furs."
As I rinsed the furs, I couldn't help thinking that the longer I stayed with Kaori, the feeling that something was wrong, terribly wrong, kept increasing. Wouldn't I had seen proof of the fight, even though it had been a week.. The paths that Inuyasha had made with the windscar, the scars on the trees from Sango's giant boomerang... The area just looked so clean.
My hands started to shake. Thinking hurt my head even more.
"Are you alright?" Kaori asked gently.
"We have to go soon… so a village very near here." I said quietly, the agonizing pain getting much worse. "Something is not right."
"What do you mean," Kaori paused. "Not right?"
"Here, since I don't have anything to hold the sock in place, we'll have to use your furs." I tried to get off subject, but the feeling was suffocating. I forced herself to hold the sock as steady as I could while Kaori expertly placed her furs back around her mid-section.
"Kagome," Kaori started. "My father always told me to trust miko instincts. What is going on?"
"Then your father must have more faith in me than I do." I said, but my aching mind screaming at me to go back to the village and find Inuyasha.
"Let us go to your village then." Kaori said with finality.
"Us?"
"Yes, you helped me, I help you." Kaori stated simply. "It is the honorable thing to do."
"Do you feel more like walking?"
"I am fine. I get better with each passing minute, I shall be healed by sundown." Kaori waved me off. "Cleaning my wounds seems to have sped up the healing process."
"Let's hop to it then!" I said a little too brightly, not noticing Kaori's confused expression at my words.
"What is this feeling that you have?" Kaori pushed.
I was silent for a while before answering, "Something is just horribly wrong… like, there is a shift, and my body is trying to catch up. I can't really explain it very well."
"Trying to catch up to what?"
"I don't know," I answered honestly, and hesitated before telling Kaori what I already knew. Who knows.. Maybe talking about it would help. "To go to my home quickly… I go through a portal."
I glanced at Kaori to see what her expression would hold. Satisfied with what I saw I continued. "Time should flow through both places at the same time," at Kaori's confused expression she thought quickly, "When a minute passes here, a minute passes there… or it's supposed to be." Kaori's confused expression abated.
"When I jumped back into my side of the portal, time skipped here. At least a week has gone by for the minutes I was on my side of the portal." I paused for Kaori to take all that in.
"So… when you went back home a week ago… you were only there for a matter of minutes before coming back here and finding me?" Kaori seemed to be chewing on her words.
"Yes!" I said, carefully stepping over a log. "So I have no clue as to where my friends are, we were in the middle of a battle when I was forced through the portal, I went back through as soon as I could, but there was nobody there."
"Maybe I've seen them?"
"I traveled with a hanyou, a demon slayer, a monk, a young kitsune, and a fire-cat. You wouldn't be able to miss a group like that." I said, losing focus for a second before it receded.
"You're right…"
"But during this battle," I decided to test this ookami knowledge of Kouga. "We also had the assistance of a wolf demon named Kouga."
Kaori stopped walking. "That's not possible."
I turned to Kaori, confused. "Why's that?"
"Are you sure it was Kouga?" Kaori stared intently at Kagome.
"Yes, his name is Kouga, we were in a battle with the hanyou Naraku."
Kaori stared dumbstruck at me as she tried to form words. "Y-You're Kagome?"
"Kaori what's wrong?" I asked as Kaori plopped herself on the ground.
"You are Kagome. The Kagome, that he talks about." Kaori was dumbfounded.
"I didn't know Kouga talked about me that much, it's not a big deal." I blushed.
Kaori jumped up, "Only minutes passed on your side of the portal correct?"
"Yes!" I stamped my foot impatiently, but the action making the pain worse. What was happening to me?
"So you didn't go into hiding!"
"Why would I do that?" I was baffled, completely baffled, and went to rub my temples. Oh it was hurting so much. "Kaori tell me what's going on!" I pressed trying to pull Kaori out of her own revelations.
"I'll take you to him! And he told me my travels would never amount to anything." Kaori was bubbling over with excitement. "My father will eat his words now!"
Dread filled me as something clicked inside my head, the feeling of displacement grew, along with the pain. "Kaori… who is your father?"
Kaori turned her excited bright green eyes on me and said proudly, "Why Lord Kouga of course!"
The pain in my head seemed to explode in a terrifying ache, and she felt the Shikon pulse within my chest to the rhythm of my heart.
Everything went black.
Oh Kami I was drowning! I felt like I was underwater, but there was no up. I couldn't see, couldn't even feel my eyelids to open them. Why couldn't I feel my legs? My arms? Oh boy I was beyond panicking.
I felt a malicious presence within my mind, pushing me back, away from my control. I was confused, but very angry that someone would try to control me. My miko powers rose within my mind and the parasite seemed to shift, so I poured more power out towards the intruder.
Pain shot through what was my mind and I registered that this trespasser was fighting back. When I lessened the amount of power that I called forth, the less pain I felt. So I restrained my purifying energy and the pain stopped, but I felt like I was slipping back, being tossed aside. That shook me to my core and I knew I couldn't lose. I felt another intrusive wave of youki, but it was from a separate source. If I could have cried I would have, there was no way I could fight off two! My state of panic lessened as I realized that the second intruder however was not causing me pain, in fact it served to aggravate the first intruder.
The help was all I needed, pink flowed through my vision, and the pain receded. My head felt ten times lighter than it had been, my equilibrium came back and I realized I was laying on the ground with something heavy holding me. My eyes snapped open.
Sesshoumaru. Was. Staring. At. Me.