AR: My chicken flew out the window.
Kim: -sigh- Angel, you're an idiot.
M: Hey! Do not insult the mighty AR!
Kim: Miroku, you're an idiot as well.
AR: Kim, get out of my room.
Kim: Fine! -leaves-
Y: What was her problem?
AR: I dunno. She gets like that every now and then. Just tell her to go away and you won't have to deal with it.
IY: Or you could give her a good whack to the head.
AR: That seems excessively destructive.
K: Yeah it kinda does.
IY: Shut up!
K: Inuyasha, sit!
AR: Well...time for the chapter! I don't own the show or any associated characters. I only own my characters!
-------------------------------------------------------------
Let freedom ring
Let the white dove sing
Let the whole world know that today
Is the day of a reckoning
Let the weak be strong
Let the right be wrong
Roll the stone away
Let the guilty pay
It's Independance Day
(Independance Day: Martina McBride)
-------------------------------------------------------------
Don't Fall Away
Chapter Ninteen: Nephilim's Past
For the rest of the day, Kagome couldn't help but get the feeling that InuYasha was being abnormally clingy. Every time she would leave the room, he would find some reason to follow her. Kagome had to admit that it was rather annoying and she quickly decided that, if for some reason she ever returned to the future, there was no way that becoming a famous actor or singer was an option. If InuYasha's constant attention creeped her out, then the attention of thousands or even millions of people would be torture. -now that's ironic -
Kagome finally got rid of InuYasha a short while before dinner was to be served and she was going to make sure that she spend that time doing something that, should InuYasha decide to show up, he would have no reason to stay.
The young miko hastily made her way to her room to grab a kimono before she traveled down the hall to the hot spring. She felt comfort in the idea that she would get at least a little bit of time to herself before the noise that would be inevitable during supper.
The spring was quiet, save for the comforting noise of the small waterfall feeding the pool of crystal clear water, and there was nobody else there. Kagome quickly stripped and lowered herself in until it was just below her chin.
'What has gotten into him today?' Kagome asked herself. 'He's being clingy and he's disreguarded my bubble quite a few times today...and it's only to me.' Kagome sighed and sank lower into the water. 'And Sesshomaru...ugh, I never would have thought that he was a pervert behind closed doors. But, then again, his character is so hard to figure out. Oh, Nephilim...what do you want me to do?' After this statement, however, Kagome made a strange face. "There's almost nothing more creepy than having a ghost watch you bathe...nevermind, Nephilim, tell me what to do later."
Kagome looked around and laid her head back on the rought stone of the spring, closing her eyes.
'Why does my life have to be so complicated?'
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Dinner started a half hour ago and Kagome still isn't here." Sango said to Yukana, who was sitting next to her. "Kagome is never this late for anything. Something could have happened to her."
"Sango, calm down. Kagome probably fell asleep in the hot spring or something."
"Sesshomaru-sama, can Rin go and find Kagome-chan?" Rin begged. "Please?"
"Do what you will." Rin squealed happily and bolted from the dining hall, leaving everyone but Sesshomaru amazed at how fast that little girl's legs could carry her.
Rin had been listening to Yukana's comment about Kagome falling asleep in the hot spring. By the way she said it, it sounded like Kagome did it all the time. She decided to check there first.
Rin was not a stupid child and she could tell, just by looking at Kagome, that she was stressed and distracted. The little girl had noticed a dramatic change in the way that the woman she viewed as her mother had been acting. It had come about shortly before they returned to the western palace from Lord Daijirou's ball. The fact that they had left on such short notice gave her reason to believe that something had happened during their stay that changed the older girl, possible forever. However, Rin had decided that, if whatever it was had affected the strongest woman in her life, then it was probably not a good idea to ask Kagome about it.
Through her train of thought, Rin barely noticed that she had passed the door to the hot springs, so she ended up about halfway down the corridor before the full realization hit her and she turned around and backtracked.
She was abou tto knock on the door when she heard a strange noise coming from the other side. It was muffled, but, to Rin, it almost sounded like Kagome was crying. Rin frowned and opened the door. What she saw gaver her the shock of her life...and, also, broke her heart.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Sesshomaru-sama!" Rin cried as she burst back into the dining hall. Sesshomaru looked at his ward and took in her tear-streaked face and immediately stood up.
"What is it, Rin? What happened?"
"Ka...Kagome-chan is...is hurt!" At this statement, Sango's attention was caught and she was next to Rin in an instant, kneeling so she was eye-level with the child.
"What kind of 'hurt', Rin?"
"Kagome-chan is bl...bleeding." Rin choked out. Sango's eyes widened.
"What do you mean? From where?" the taijiya pressed. Rin cried harder.
"I don't know!" the child wailed. Rin threw her arms around Sango and sobbed on her shoulder. Sango wrapper her arms around the little girl and looked up at Sesshomaru, only to find that her was no longer standing next to Rin. She knew that he had went to find Kagome, but she didn't get up to follow for two reasons: one, Rin needed a female figure that she was familiar with to comfort her, and two, if Kagome was as bad as Rin made it seem, then she, herself, might not be able to handle the sight.
Yukana looked at Sango and Rin, then stood up and went after Sesshomaru, while Kaori and Miroku stayed with Sango and Rin. InuYasha was nowhere to be seen.
As Yukana walked down the hall, the mixed scents of blood, fear, and tears became stronger.
'How did somebody get in without us knowing?'
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
When Sesshomaru heard what Rin said he was overwhelmed by a sense of worry and dread. His body acted on its own and he sped off toward the source of Kagome's panicked scent, which had entered the room when Rin came back in.
He was only seconds away from the door, which was still wide open, when he heard an ear-splitting scream coming from the springs. Sesshomaru ran as fast as he could for the last few meters and went into the room. He tried his hardest to supress a gasp, but failed.
Somehow, Kagome had been able to heave herself out of the water and was lying on the polished floor in a small pool of her own blood. With the combined power of her miko and youkai blood, the wounds on her back had already begun to heal, but there was something that Sesshomaru had to wonder: how did they get there?
There was one specific wound that caught the eye of the western taiyoukai. It was a long and deep gash, but no matter what had happened, there was nothing in the vicinity that could have caused a wound to take the characteristics of coming from a whip. All of these thought came within four seconds of Sesshomaru entering the scene.
Sesshomaru banished all his thoughts and hurried over to Kagome. Her eyes were glazed over, but she was still conscious. He knelt next to her and snatched her towel off the table, wrapping it around her shivering form. The taiyoukai cradled the demoness and for the first time in a long time, he almost cried...almost.
Yukana walked in a few seconds later and let out an almost inaudible gasp and raised her hands to her mouth, whispering incoherantly to herself.
Kagome looked over at Yukana and pinned her with a glassy stare.
"Nephilim...I don't want to do this anymore." she whispered.
"Kagome, I'm not..." Yukana started.
'Kagome, I'm sorry. I did not wish to cause you such pain, but I was left without a choice.'
"But...why?"
'You needed to know.'
"Why now?"
'I cannot answer that question right now. It will be answered in time.' With that final statement, Nephilim disappeared.
Kagome closed her eyes and buried her face into Sesshomaru's haori. Somehow his presence helped to calm her nerves, which were already fried from the events of the past few days.
"Where are Rin and Shippo?" Kagome asked quietly.
"Rin and Shippo are in the dining hall with Sango, Miroku, and Kaori." Yukana answered. "You might want to talk to Rin, Kagome...she's the one that found you."
"Alright." Kagome stood up. "Get out. I have to get dressed."
Yukana and Sesshomaru exited and closed the door, leaving Kagome alone in the small room. Kagome quickly slipped into her kimono, after she made sure her back was clean and healed fully so it wouldn't stain her clothes.
Kagome then left the springs as well and followed Sesshomaru and Yukana to the dining hall.
---------------------------------------------------------
"She knows..." he muttered darkly. "How does she know?"
"Naraku." The voice came out of nowhere. The dark hanyou turned around and watched the girl materialize in front of him.
"I've been waiting for you...Nephilim." Naraku said coldly. "So it was you who ruined my plan. You were forbidden to help the living in those ways by Midoriko, were you not?"
"Midoriko would not object if it meant putting an end to your evil." Nephilim answered, unphased. "However, I do not see why it would matter to you. Kagome, no matter what you try to do, will not fall for it."
"Oh, I think otherwise, my daughter."
"Naraku, I am no longer the girl you once played father to those years ago." Nephilim said in a tone to match that of Sesshomaru. "It is by your doing that I am a wandering soul, doomed to wander the universe for all eternity. And it will be by my doing that you are stopped."
"You forget, Midoriko forbade your interferance." Naraku argued.
"You were in possession of the jewel created by Midoriko, herself, were you not? I am sure that she would change her mind if it went down to the destruction of such an evil creature such as yourself, the very thing that she trapped her soul in the Shikon no Tama to destroy and leave the world safe."
"Whether or not you are still among the living, it is no matter. I am still your father and you will obey my orders."
"You are not my father. My father is dead, consumed by demons." Before Naraku could reply, Nephilim was gone.
------------------------------------------------------------
AR: Well, was that worth waiting for? I know it took a while but I was stuck with finals and all that other good junk. But, hey, no school means more time to write! Oh, just for the record, the other stories won't be started until this is over. But the winner is...Right Kind of Wrong!
K: So are you actually going to write another story?
AR: Yes, but after this one. I really can't concentrate on more than one story.
DAG: I can!
AR: Yes but you make your chapters, like, two pages long.
DAG: Hmph.
Y: Well, at least AR can admit that she can't multi-task.
AR: You had better watch it, Yukana...
Y: Heheh...
AR: Well, toodles! I'll get another chapter out soon!