"...me..."
"...me..."
"...ome..."
"...agome..."
"...Kagome..."
"...ook! I ...ink it's ...rking! K...ome!"
"Kagome! Come on! You can do it!"
"Here she comes! Kagome! That's it!"
She mentally shied away from the voices calling her name. The last thing she remembered was all-consuming terror and she had yet to completely shake her fear. Why would they not leave her alone? She just wanted some peace and quiet for once. The calm, warm darkness had been so nice. It felt like she had been there for an instant and an eternity at the same time. She couldn't even remember why she had been so scared but in the calming darkness, it had not mattered. She had enjoyed that place and these pesky voices were making it impossible to go back!
"Alright, that's it. WENCH!" screamed the loudest and by far, most annoying voice she had yet ignored and with it came the unmistakable sensation of her teeth being rattled out of her head.
"Inuyasha! Knock it off! You could hurt her worse!" Yelled another voice but this time she was conscious enough to at least realize that it was female. Sango, her foggy brain reluctantly supplied.
Shippo was about to launch himself onto Inu-baka's head to pull his ears clean off when he heard his adopted mother make the first sound he had heard from her in hours.
"Mnnrghhhh..." came the indistinguishable groan from the girl in front of them. Shippo quickly scampered as close as he dared to her and looked on worriedly. He cautiously reached out a small, clawed, trembling hand and rested it on her bloodied upper arm.
"K-Kagome? Are you okay? Can you hear us now?" he questioned her quietly. Her face twitched slightly and although it was not the answer he was looking for, he gladly took it. He knew he saw her die when that awful youkai clawed her. She had been cleaved nearly in half! Not a minute later though, the Shikon had floated up from the pile of ash that been Naraku and made it's way to Kagome.
Before his very eyes the Jewel had landed on her chest and suddenly she had been engulfed in a pink bubble of purity and floating just above the group's heads in the middle of the battlefield. As he watched, the Jewel had pulsed and her wounds had, though slowly, stitched themselves back together. After that, the Jewel hadn't done anything but keep her suspended in the air until almost an hour later. At that point it had pulsed again, rather massively that time, and started giving off a distinctively evil aura. Even her protective bubble had darkened with maliciousness.
Though he had been scared nearly senseless at that point, it had confused him. The Jewel had always purified the moment it touched Kagome so how could it be putting off such darkness? It was then he had noticed it: though her wounds were now closed, she still had no heartbeat. His beloved mother figure was dead. He had started sobbing uncontrollably then. His Kagome had been taken from him before he had even had a chance to tell her that he loved her and looked to her as his mother.
Then, as if he wasn't confused and hurting enough, the Jewel's aura began to shrink and fade. Slowly at first and then quite suddenly, it vanished. Through his tear-filled eyes, he saw that though the Jewel was gone, Kagome was still in her bubble and floating. Would he not even be able to see his mom off to the afterlife? Was life so cruel as to keep him from being able to even do that much?
Hours later with the sun nearly sunken below the horizon, the group had nearly given up hope that their Kagome would be given back to them. Their despair quickly turned to confusion and then hope when Kagome's form started pulsing by itself and her barrier turned the bright pink they were used to. Even though they were all beyond exhausted by now, the group found the energy to pick themselves up from the various spots they found themselves in and made their way over to their friend.
It was then that the member of the group with the most sensitive hearing heard it- thump... th-thump... th-thump... thump-thump... thump-thump, thump-thump. Steadily growing stronger and more pronounced, they told everyone else what they heard. Shippo however, had remained quiet and intent on his mother's form. As her heart gained strength and rhythm, she began to float downwards toward the ground. He simply couldn't believe it. Would she be alright? Would he get the chance to tell her that he loved her? That he saw her as his mother? He swore to himself then and there that he would tell her the first chance he got and would never take her for granted again.