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Author's Note: Alright! I've finished finals! School is out. Yes!
In this issue: New Developments on the home front; Kagome must make her choice: her family or Inuyasha?! Haha. That's what the tagline would be if this were a manga issue.
So yeah, that's what's goin' down in this chapter. Hope you enjoy and please, please review! I need positive feedback.
Chapter 16, Parallel Fifths
My dreams got weird after that. Kikyo chased me through my dreams, always a shadow across my face. Sometimes I was Kikyo. The dreams started pervading my waking, even. The worst was one time when I was preparing dinner with Inuyasha in the room, and I suddenly blacked out. When I came to, Inuyasha and I were sitting down to eat. He didn't seem fazed in the least, so I let my loss of consciousness pass without comment.
I spoke to no one of these moments. Sango and I hadn't talked since the incident. Miroku held our lessons as though nothing had happened, but there were awkward silences whenever we shared a laugh, as though we both felt guilty enjoying each other's company.
We were working on tightening my control over my spiritual powers. Inuyasha sat in on the lessons as often as he could. I overheard the two of them talking one evening after an especially difficult lesson.
"The Resistance is getting antsy, Inuyasha," Miroku was saying.
"She's not ready yet," Inuyasha said.
"But she can sense the shards. That's all that matters to them," Miroku said. "They want her on the field."
"She's not ready for the field," Inuyasha argued.
"She's gotten better."
"Not good enough. Not nearly good enough. Her technique is sloppy. Her core is off. If she gets involved in our missions, she'll be a goner the minute she steps into the game."
There was a long silence. I had forgotten about the laces I was tying, and pressed my ear against the door, afraid I would miss something. When at last the silence was broken, it was Miroku who spoke, his voice low and with an edge.
"I know what you're thinking, Inuyasha. But Kagome-sama's our best chance right now. We can't find the shards without her." He paused for a pregnant minute. "No matter how long I train her in this basement, she won't be perfect. She's missing proper tutors, time, space… Inuyasha, she won't ever be Kikyo."
Furtive sounds of struggle came from the other side of the door. I jumped back as a great weight was thrown against the door. The door had bent with the force, and through the cracks I could just make out Inuyasha's taught face as he looked up at Miroku. He held Miroku against the door with two great fistfuls of Miroku's shirt.
"Watch your tongue, Miroku, because I have no qualms about cutting it out," he hissed. Shivers rocked my body and I sank back farther into the shadows, lest I be spotted.
In an incredible calm voice, Miroku said, "Just think about what I said Inuyasha. The sooner you realize their differences, the easier it will be for you to accept their similarities."
"Shut up!" Inuyasha cried, releasing Miroku and stepping away. "You don't know anything about it!"
Miroku stood tall, and his face was calm, but I could see his hand shaking. "Maybe not, but I know enough to make me sick. Kagome-sama is working so hard to get her family back, and all you can do is scoff at her achievements because they're not as impressive as Kikyo's. Let her work. Give Kagome-sama the chance she needs to get her family back."
"Is that all?" Inuyasha asked slowly, with unmistakable poison in his voice.
"No, not nearly," Miroku sad. His tone was strident now, biting. He took a step towards Inuyasha. "I've seen the way you look at her. Stop it. She's not Kikyo! Leave your emotional baggage out of it."
"You have no idea what happened between Kikyo and I," Inuyasha said, his voice barely above a whisper. I could just make out his face over the shadow of Miroku's shoulder. His eyes were taught, haunted pinpricks that darted about.
"No matter what it was, that doesn't change the fact that what you're doing is wrong. Stop taking your issues with Kikyo out on Kagome-sama!"
I thought Inuyasha was going to murder him. I shut my eyes and waited for the impact that never came. When I dared to open them again, Inuyasha was gone. Miroku was standing in the hallway by himself.
"You can come out now, Kagome-sama," he said.
Caught, terrified, I wondered for a moment what I should do. Finally, I peeled back the remains of the door and crawled into the hall.
"How much did you hear?" he asked, his eyes fixed at something straight ahead of him.
I couldn't find my voice, but I doubted very much that Miroku needed an answer. He looked at me, a crooked, tight smile twisting his handsome face. "Everything, huh?" Again, I said nothing. Miroku's face fell. "I'm sorry." He turned and left me alone in the hallway, one shoe still untied.
(-)(-)(-)
When I got home that night, Inuyasha wasn't there. I made dinner, stuck Inuyasha's half in the fridge with a label, and crashed on the sofa with a soda and a bag of popcorn. I watched one movie, and when that was finished, another. I fell asleep around four-thirty while waiting for the Discovery Channel to play a documentary on cheetahs.
In my dream I was standing on the top of a roof. My hair was tied back in a long braid. I was wearing a cat suit, my guns secured at my hips. A strong wind carried his scent to me—cigarette smoke, night, earth, forests…
"Inuyasha."
"So you came after all."
I didn't turn around. I didn't want to see the hatred, the betrayal, the pain that I knew would be there. "So…you found out, huh?"
"All this time you've been playing them for a sap. They all bought your story. Hook, line, and sinker."
"Yes, they did. But you're not here because of them, are you, Inuyasha?"
"Even me—me, Kikyo." He paused and I wondered if maybe he was going to strike me. "Everything you ever told me was a lie!" he screamed.
"I told you what you wanted to hear," I said. The hollow words echoed inside my chest.
"So…you used me…to get to the Jewel."
"Yes."
"To hand it over to the one man I hate more than anything. To give it to that bastard Naraku."
"Yes."
"So…everything…it all meant nothing to you."
My mouth formed the word, but no sound would come to my lips. My hesitation detected, Inuyasha reached out and grabbed my shoulder.
"Tell me it meant nothing."
"It…it meant nothing."
"Turn around and tell me it meant nothing."
"It meant nothing to me!"
"TURN THE FUCK AROUND AND TELL ME THAT I MEAN NOTHING TO YOU!"
Shaking, I slowly turned around. Was he…crying?
"Inuyasha…"
"Mornin', girl."
I opened my eyes. I was on the couch. Inuyasha was in front of me. Whole. Uninjured. Why had I expected him to be otherwise?
"Whoa, whoa. Take it easy," he said, jumping forward to catch me. He lowered me back onto the couch. "Stay there. I'll get you some water."
There was a flash of blue eyes, black hair. Promises were being whispered along my collarbone. A wet mouth encircled mine.
"Inuyasha…"
"Here I am, girl." He presses the glass to my lips. I take a deep gulp.
"Can you stand?"
"I…I don't know…"
"What's happened to you?"
"I can't remember."
"What are you saying, girl? Hey! Can you hear me?"
"That's a nasty bump. Come on, we'll get you to a hospital, ok?"
"A bump?"
"Yeah, a bump. Right here." A touch sends warm shivers down my spine. "Can't you remember who gave that to you?"
"No…I can't…I can't remember a thing…"
"Hey! Hey, snap out of it, girl!"
"How about your name? You can remember that, can't you?"
"Kikyo."
"KAGOME!"
I snapped awake. "Inuyasha?"
He was kneeling in front of me, a wild, fervent look in his eyes. "How did you know that?"
"What?"
"How did you know what she said?"
"What who said?"
"How did you know that!?"
I realized slowly what had happened. By some cosmic power, I was experiencing Kikyo's memories. What I just experienced was Inuyasha's and Kikyo's first encounter in an alley not far from Resistance Headquarters. Inuyasha had been returning from a mission. He had found Kikyo dinged up and unconscious in an alley, claiming to have amnesia. He had taken her back with him. I knew these things as surely as if they had happened to me.
"Inuyasha…" I breathed.
He flinched. I grabbed his hand.
"Shikon no Tama, hear my wish, the wish of the miko who guards you. I wish…"
"I'm sorry," I murmured. "I didn't…I…I'm so sorry."
Inuyasha stood up and left.
(-)(-)(-)
"Why hello there, Mr. President. So nice to have you stop in for a chat. Would care for some tea? Coffee? If you'll wait just a moment, I'm sure my guards would be more than happy to serve up some of that cold, hard gruel that I've just been having. I never knew that gruel came in such a variety of…aromas."
Naraku bears a simpering grin. Laying his special, enchanted cane across his lap, he takes a seat across from me.
"Oh, won't you take a seat? I'd join you, but I seem to be a little tied up at the moment." I smile at the guards on either side of me. Each is holding a long pole, which is attached to the collar around my neck. My hands are secured behind me in cords that repel my spiritual powers.
"Release her. I am here to speak as her friend, not her captor," Naraku orders.
The guards remove the poles from the collar and unbind my hands. I take a seat and face Naraku.
"I brought you something," Naraku says, passing me a newspaper. I take note of the date. I've been imprisoned her for three weeks. Three weeks with little sleep and less food, three weeks of solitary confinement, interrogation sessions, and regular physical abuse.
"Wow. Thirty-eight degrees Celsius, really? Fuckin' oven out there, huh?"
Naraku's smirk grows. "I thought the headline would be of especial interest to you."
"Higurashi Kagome named national hero," I read. "I hope there's a good picture of me. I really want both of my black eyes in the shot. Adds a nice effect, don't you think?" I throw the paper at his face, unable to contain my disgust any longer.
"It's the late edition," Naraku says, plucking the paper from his front and folding it up neatly before him. "The story of your heroism will reach newsstands everywhere tonight. Tomorrow, you will be back home, basking in the glory of having turned in the most wanted man in Tokyo."
"I've told you a hundred times, Naraku. You'll have to kill me first," I snap.
To my amazement, Naraku laughs. "That's what I thought you'd say. That's why I brought a guest to tea."
The door opens, and someone is shoved forcefully in the room. It's a smallish boy with a shot of black hair and tattered clothes. He looks malnourished and weak. My stomach falls to my feet as his dark eyes meet mine.
"Oh God…Souta!"
"Neesan!"
We're hugging each other, crying, smothering each other in kisses. I push the hair back from his eyes and hug him again. He feels so small in my arms.
"Thy told us that you were dead!" Souta says. "Mama kept saying you were alive, but-!" He sniffles, and I know exactly how he feels. I kiss his cheeks.
"It's ok, Souta. I'm here. I'm alive."
"Neesan!" He started to cry again, and I'm reminded of just how young my little brother was. How long has it been since we were together? A year? A year living in this hell? How could I ever dream of subjecting my baby brother to that?
I kiss his tears away. When he quiets, I ask, "How are they treating you? Is Jichan ok? Mama? Are they alive? Are you being fend? They're not abusing you are they?"
Souta shakes his head. "There's never enough to eat, but we take turns missing meals. Mama and Jichan are so thin. Jichan has a cough that won't go away. They don't hit us though."
"Well, I hate to break up this touching reunion, but I have so many places to be. Say goodbye to your brother, Kagome."
"Neesan!"
"Souta!" I fight against my guards. One of them stuns me, and I watch helplessly as Souta is dragged from the room, kicking and screaming. My cheeks are moist.
Naraku waits patiently, his hands folded in front of him.
"I…" My voice falters. I catch my breath between sobs and try again. "I will tell you whatever you want. Just…just let him go."
Naraku says nothing for a long time. Finally, his lips curl back in a feral grin that I can feel. "You and Kikyo have so many useful similarities. Both of you were willing to sacrifice the man you loved for the sake of a sibling. Humans are such pathetic creatures." Still laughing, he rises and begins to exit.
"Bring her upstairs to the guest room. Make sure that she is as comfortable as possible."
The guards seize my arms and drag me a flight of stairs. I am shoved into the room, my limp frame tumbling into the downy covers of a queen-sized bed. The door closes behind me. I run for it. It's locked. I head for the desk and rip open the first drawer.
A pair of safety scissors stairs back at me.
I scream and sink into the comforter.