Hesitations

"Oh, Kagome!" Ayumi squealed with glee. "You look so good!"

"Yeah," Yuka nudged Kagome in her ribs suggestively. "Who'd have known you could fill out those drab old shrine clothes and turn out looking like a real, live priestess?"

'Sure,' Kagome thought sarcastically, 'Who'd have guessed?'

"Hey, Kagome!" Kagome turned stiffly to Eri who had been digging though her closet. The sound of her friend's voice was much too ecstatic for her liking. "Look what I found!" Eri exclaimed as she burst out of Kagome's closet with her bow and quiver set in hand. "You have the strangest things stashed back in there." She shook her head a bit to let the unimportant things to slip out then smiled brightly at Kagome. "But these will be perfect to go with your costume!"

'Great,' thought Kagome sourly as she grudgingly accepted the weapon set from her friend, but her resentful feelings magnified a hundred times when Yuka shoved her in front of her mirror and she saw in the reflection the very thing she had left the feudal era to forget: a Miko. And what had made things even worse, was the fact that Ayumi had tied her hair in the exact same style as Kikyo always wore.

'Trick or Treat,' she sang in bad humor in her mind, 'This undead Miko would like a treat.'

A tight, ironic, smile pulled on Kagome's lips at that thought, but upon seeing it, Yuka was quick to come to her own conclusions.

"See," she told Kagome as she wrapped her arm around her friend's shoulders, "I knew this would be a good idea. And I saw that smile. You like it too, admit it."

"Thank you for all the trouble you guys have gone through," Kagome replied rather than answering Yuka's question. "I'm sorry I forgot."

"Oh, it's no problem, Kagome," Ayumi soothed. "We're just glad you're coming."

"You're in for a treat this year, Kagome," Eri added with glee. "We've got big plans."

"Yeah!" Yuka snapped quickly. "But if we don't leave now we're never going to make it there and back in time!"

"But where…" Kagome's question was ignored as her friends spurred into action and began pushing her out the door of her bedroom.

"Oh, hello girls," Mrs. Higurashi greeted with a warm and welcoming smile when they had made it to the bottom of the stairs. She held out a large bowl to them, overflowing with assorted treats and candies. "Would you like some snacks before you go?"

"Thanks Mrs. H.!" Yuka chimed as she grabbed a handful of the offered candy. Eri and Ayumi also helped themselves to a little treat before grabbing Kagome and dragging her to the door.

"Be back by midnight, dear." Mrs. Higurashi called out to Kagome as she was pulled through the door.

"Ok, mom!" Kagome called over her shoulder just before the door swung shut.

"Come on, come on, come on!" Yuka urged insistently. "We need to hurry!" She spun quickly on her heel and began the short dash to the shrine stairs.

Eri was quick to follow, hiking her tight skirt up past her knees to give her more freedom of movement.

"Come on, Kagome," Ayumi said as she smiled brightly at her friend. "Yuka's been planning this for months. You don't want to miss out. You know her; she always has the best plans for Halloween night."

"Right," Kagome smiled as she thought back on years gone by and the spooks and haunts, games and tricks, and just plain old fun that they had had together in the past. "Let's go!" She grabbed ahold of Ayumi's hand, and together, the girls ran to the grand staircase leading down to the street below.

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"Stop! STOP! This is it. Let us out!"

The cab driver looked around at the dark stretch of deserted road for a moment, thinking perhaps the young maid-girl was partially mad. They were deep into a thick forest several miles from any homes. The darkness was penetrating, hardly parting at all for the strong beams of his headlights. The bent and crooked limbs of the ancient trees seemed to be stealing away the light into the shadows. And eerie calls drifted out from the depths of the darkness, sending chills into the blood even when in a moving car.

No good would come from stopping into this place. There was something frightening lurking here.

"Are you sure, Miss?" The driver questioned hesitantly. "This looks like a bad spot for young girls to be wandering around in after dark."

"Of course I'm sure!" Yuka snapped irritably. "Who's paying your fare anyways? I am, and I say that this is our stop. So pull over!"

The driver ground his teeth and his hands clenched tightly against the wheel. He HAD been trying to be the voice of reason. He HAD been trying to warn them. But if that loud-mouthed, crazy-bird in the seat beside him wanted to get herself and her friends killed, it was no longer his problem. He hit the brakes and pulled his cab over to the side of the road.

"I don't know about this," Kagome warned as she took in their surroundings from the backseat.

Actually, she did know about it, she knew a great deal about it. The darkness surrounding them, the gnarled look of the trees and shrubs, the heaviness in the air that stole the breath from your lungs: these things were no coincidence nor were they normal. There was something dark in this place, something lurking in the shadows. Kagome's miko senses were screaming at her in her mind, warning her of the danger.

Yuka spun around quickly to face Kagome. "Don't tell me you're chicken," she teased. "Ohhhhh, look at the big scary forest! Grow up Kagome! It's not like there some big ugly demon out there waiting to devour us!"

'Demon, ghost, angry spirit in stolen flesh, fire-breathing dragon, hell-fire bird of the underworld, evil witch, ten-headed serpent, soul-stealing insect…" Kagome cut short her mental list of things that were probably out there waiting to devour them and tried to talk Yuka out of her outrageous plan. "There may not be demons, but what about gangs hiding out there or hunters with traps and guns. It's dark out there and we don't know what we'll run into. And what if we loose our way, what happens then?"

"Your friend is very smart," the driver pointed out to Yuka. "You should listen to her."

"Who asked you?!" Yuka huffed at the driver before turning back to Kagome. "Well I'm going. I've been here before, and it's perfectly safe in those woods. I brought you here to celebrate Halloween like we used to. You've been so sick for so long that we've hardly had any time together, so why can't you just go along with the games, Kagome? It'll be just like we used to."

Kagome sighed. She just couldn't argue with that. Besides, it's not like Yuka would have believed her that it was extremely likely that there was a demon in those woods, a demon that would probably think four young girls would make for a nice midnight snack. All she could do was hope that they would somehow manage to avoid the dark presence hanging over this place, or that if they did run into it that her sacred arrows would serve her well. She couldn't have been more grateful that Eri had thought to include her weapons in her costume.

"Alright, Yuka," Kagome finally relented. "I'll go. But you have to promise me that at the first sign of trouble we're out of there."

"Yeah, yeah," Yuka waved her hand dismissively as she dug into her bag and pulled out some money for the cabbie. She handed the driver enough bills to appease him, then opened her door and stepped out. "Com on guys," she called before she shut the door behind her, "Halloween awaits."

Reluctantly, Kagome pulled her door open too and stepped out, Eri and Ayumi not far behind her as they scrambled out the other side. They gathered together at the side of the road, and watched as the cab pulled away; its taillights disappearing quickly as they were consumed by the darkness.

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BOO!!!

Hahaha this is fun ;) And it's just beginning.

Bwahahahahahahahah!!!

Naught but a passing Shadow

Disclaimer: Unfortunately my imagination only goes so far as to create plotlines not characters. I don't own any of them.