THE FINAL CHAPPIE! There's a note at the bottom!
Also, there are timers in this chapter. It goes by -minutes: seconds: milliseconds. Looking like 00:00:00.
Disclaimer: Nada
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Time's Up
Keep your eyes closed.
Kagome started to stir.
Don't open your eyes.
Kagome opened her eyes and only saw blackness.
Don't feel your way around.
Kagome lifted her hands, moving them around to take away the pins and needles that crawled around under her skin. When they were normal again, she pushed her hands upwards, only to feel wood several inches from her face.
She tried feeling around the sides, once again feeling only wood. She pushed against it, trying her hardest to break whatever she was in.
When it didn't give away, Kagome started to feel the first stabs of panic.
Take a deep breath, close your eyes, relax and don't move.
"Why?" Kagome whimpered into the darkness. "Where am I?"
She ignored her imaginary friend and pushed against the wood, feeling the thin air around her, feeling the waves of being enclosed overwhelming her. A little voice in her head screamed, crying… She knew where she was but she didn't listen.
It wasn't true.
It couldn't be true.
Don't move.
"Where am I?"
Kagome, please listen to me.
"No," Kagome said in a panicked voice. "Tell me where I am. Why is the air so thin? Why can't I breathe properly?"
The voice said nothing.
And the little voice in her head screamed out loud, letting her thoughts be heard.
"I've been buried alive."
Kagome tried to fight the overwhelming need to throw up, to scream, to shout, to plead and to cry. Kagome tried to reason with herself that none of it was true. Kagome tried and failed miserably.
Listen to me Kagome. You're going to get out of it. Please just relax.
No, she wasn't going to relax. She couldn't.
You'll use up all your air if you keep gasping like that. Calm down Kagome, please.
"No, no, no, no, no!" Kagome shouted. "Who are you to tell me anyways?"
Her imaginary friend was silent for a moment longer but then, the voice of the dead female whispered back.
My name is Kikyo.
13:58:42
For the first time in Inuyasha's thirty-four years of life, he didn't know what to do. Kagome was gone, taken, hidden and about to die. He had less than fourteen minutes to find her or she would explode, be stabbed, decapitated…whatever Tsubaki had planned for her.
Inuyasha wasn't at all sure if he could save her.
Inuyasha wasn't at all sure if he could live with himself if he didn't.
He could imagine Kagome pressed up against some deep dark corner, whimpering and crying, cursing him for his weaknesses. Ever since Inuyasha was a child he had to prove himself to people, he had forced his marks to be good, he had studied and trained endlessly to get to where he was today and he had prided himself that he had been the youngest chief Trite had ever had.
But now, he wasn't so sure that all of his work would be worth anything if he didn't save Kagome.
Ignoring the sirens, the wails and the shouting, Inuyasha willed his body to stay standing and he tried to focus on the situation at hand: finding Kagome.
"Chief, what should we do?"
Inuyasha didn't say anything because he didn't know what to say. There was no leads, no hints, no clues.
Pardoning the pun, they were at a dead end.
"Chief!"
"I don't know Sango," he whispered roughly. "I don't have a clue."
"But there has to be something! Think Inuyasha, dammit think!"
12:00:32
"There… There's nothing we can do."
Sango started to panic. "Come on chief, don't say that! We have to save her! Don't you want to?"
The fire in Inuyasha's eyes was evident when he glared at her, pain, sorrow and helplessness buried deep within.
"What the hell do you think Sango? Do I want Kagome to die? Do you really think I don't care about her?"
"No…I didn't say that-"
"Do you think I enjoyed fighting and screaming at her, trying to fix something that couldn't be fixed? Do you think I wanted to stay away from her?"
"Chief, please, I didn't mean-"
"We thought it was for the best!" Inuyasha cried. "But it was a mistake. I couldn't stay away and I don't want to stay away. One day I wanted to tell Kagome that, to show her…"
"What are you talking about, I-"
"That it was meant to be!"
Don't give up… It's so dark.
Inuyasha took a deep breath. He wasn't hearing things…that was Kagome, he was sure of it.
10:46:54
"Inuyasha," a voice said from behind, breaking Inuyasha out of his thoughts. He spun around to see Ami and Kaede just a few feet behind him.
"Talk to her," Kaede whispered.
"What?" Inuyasha asked. "How?"
"I know you can talk to her Inuyasha, you two have a connection so strong I've never seen anything like it. The bond you two share is unbreakable, no matter how many miles away from each other you are. Talk to her Inuyasha, I promise she'll answer."
"I don't…think I can," Inuyasha said slowly, his voice quiet.
Finally, Sango snapped, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him so much his head hurt. "Damn you bastard!" she shrieked. "Do you want Kagome back or not?"
9:29:10
"Yes."
"Do you have a connection with her?"
"…Yes."
"Do you love Kagome?"
Inuyasha stared at Sango in silence. Here he had his best friend, shaking him and screaming at him, just seconds away from slapping him until he died. She probably hated his guts right now, for all the weakness that was dragging him down.
"Do you love Kagome?" Sango repeated, this time in a whisper so quiet, it was audible only to his ears.
In the same quiet murmur, he answered. "Yes. I do."
"Then stop being such a dickhead and find her!" Sango shouted and let go of him, punching him in the stomach.
7:55:44
Inuyasha was taken by surprise and clasped his arms over his stomach, falling to his knees and gasping for breath.
Inuyasha…please.
"Kagome," he whispered.
Help.
'Where are you?' he asked within his mind, praying for an answer that was yet to come.
In the ground.
'What?'
I've been buried alive. It's so dark Inuyasha. He's done it again.
'Who?'
Father… I'm back in the closet. I don't want to starve.
Kagome was starting to lose it, remembering the traumatic past that affected her present so much. She thought that he was back, that he had kidnapped her and locked her back in the closet.
'When two more suns by love's place,' he thought and then suddenly, it all made sense.
6:31:59
"Sango, follow me."
Inuyasha didn't wait for her to respond and started running back to his place, passing through the coniferous forest, past fallen leaves and dead stumps towards his backyard.
"What are you doing?" Sango asked breathlessly when she caught up, only to see him feeling his way on his hands and knees on the grass.
"This place is really old, built long before Trite even became a town. I remember when I first bought this place, the couple I got it from had three children and during the time I was looking around, they were nowhere in sight. I asked them where they were and the couple said that they were in the cellar."
Sango waited for him to finish.
"But there is no cellar or basement to this place. That's what always confused me but now I see."
The sound of metal hitting metal caught Sango's attention and she watched as Inuyasha ripped off some grass and pulled open a large rusted door.
"It's an underground cellar, used for storage, tornadoes, things like that," he said and walked down a couple steps, the light pooling in from the outside barely enough to let him see.
"I need flashlights!" he yelled and within seconds, members of his team ran down the steps, lighting up the passage only to see a mound of freshly turned dirt.
3:59:21
"Shovels! We need shovels," members of the team yelled and most ran up to obtain equipment. Inuyasha just didn't care; he ran to the pile and started raking the dirt away with his fingers. He had to get to Kagome on time.
3:18:04
People started gathering around him, shovels upturning the dirt that covered Kagome. Whoever dug the hole had done it within different periods of time because the further they went down, the harder it got. The dirt was freshly packed though and it was only a matter of minutes before they felt the wood of the coffin Kagome lay in.
1:45:06
They scraped at the dirt that still covered the wooden coffin and had to dig wider or else it wouldn't open. The wood was new and strong and Inuyasha doubted they could break it without hurting Kagome in the process.
00:43:35
"Get the Goddamned crowbars ready!" Inuyasha ordered but didn't move as finally the entire coffin could be seen.
00:14:54
Members of his team started surrounding the coffin but everyone stopped dead in their tracks when they heard a small repetitive beeping.
00:00:00
Time's up.
"Shit," Sango cursed as she turned off her watch alarm. "Move! Move! Move! It's already ten-o-four!"
Inuyasha didn't know what to think or what to do. He stayed frozen to the spot as his team worked hard to pry open the wooden coffin. Soon, the first creak of the wood came and it quickly after gave away, opening until it flipped open, into the arms of the others who were waiting to grab it.
In there lay Kagome's body, her skin as pale as the dead and her black raven hair spread out around her. Her eyes were closed and her lips were together and chapped. Her hands were clenched in tight fist by her side and her body was absolutely frozen.
From somewhere behind him, Inuyasha heard Sango and Miroku cry out and he could hear Kouga holding Ayame, shushing her. But Inuyasha ignored them all and jumped into the coffin, wrapping his arms around Kagome and lifting her up.
Slowly, Kagome's eyelids started to flutter open and she gasped deeply, as if breathing for the first time.
"She's alive," he heard Miroku say shakily from above. "S-She's not dead."
Sango started crying and held on tightly to Miroku, both too overjoyed to really say anything more. Everyone was dead silent other then the subtle sobs of happiness and relief and everyone's attention was focused on the couple in the grave.
"Kagome," Inuyasha whispered, cupping her cheek. "You scared the shit out of me."
Kagome's eyes were heavy but she gave a small smile. "You jerk. This is where you're supposed to say you love me and that you didn't know how you could've lived without me and start making me all these crazy promises of marriage, a family and everlasting bliss."
Inuyasha smirked. "That will come later."
He bent down and kissed her, short but sweet and everyone cheered and smiled, moving out of Inuyasha's way as he lifted her out of the coffin and back towards the beautiful outdoors where Kagome slid out of Inuyasha's arms and cried for being alive.
"Miroku, I swear to God. Touch my ass one more time and I will break your arm off."
"I was merely wiping away some dirt, Sango. I don't see how that could be a problem. Honestly, you have such a dirty-mind if you thought I was just doing that to get a feel-"
"Miroku, shut up."
Miroku opened his mouth to continue but Kagome, who had no choice but to listen to it all, cleared her throat loudly. "Please," she said, closing her eyes and covering the lids with her hand. "I don't want to hear it. I'm tired, I'm cranky and I'm pissed off because the doctor won't let me go home."
Sango laughed and smiled. "Sorry Kagome. How are you feeling anyways?"
"I'm fine!" Kagome shouted, exasperated. "But tell the doctors that! Nothing was wrong with me other than a little trouble breathing but I think that was because trying to breathe air that doesn't exist is pretty difficult to do."
"Point taken," Miroku agreed and leaned on the footboard of the hospital bed. "But I'm sure Dr. Nogami will let you go soon."
Kagome just groaned.
"Could we come in?"
Kagome opened her eyes and smiled as she saw Kagura walk in, dragging a reluctant Sesshomaru behind.
"How's it going?" Kagura asked, looking at Sesshomaru from the corner of her eye. He just stood there, expressionless as ever, looking at the cheap painting put up on the white wall in hopes of cheering the spirits of sick patients.
If they want to bring their patients cheer, better beds would be better than funny looking paintings.
"Great. Now do me a favour," Kagome started, "and tell the doctors that."
Shaking her head, Kagura merely smiled and looked towards Sango. "Did you finish the report?"
"Oh hell no," the deputy answered, scowling.
"She's been too busy with me," Miroku added, his grin so big it reached ear to ear.
Slap
"Sango, relax. I didn't mean anything dirty by that. It was you who had the dirty-mind that made you think I implied it."
"Miroku?"
"Yes, dear?"
"Shut up."
"Alright."
Even to that Sesshomaru raised a brow to, realizing that the tough deputy and the perverted agent were a good –but strange- couple.
"I haven't finished it," Sango cleared up, "because of all the lies I've had to create to make it realistic. After this I can certainly say I believe in the paranormal, but others won't. Chief and I are working on creating a story that everyone can use."
"Sounds like a good idea," Kagome agreed when she heard a knock at the door. "Oh goody. Who else wants to share my bed of pain with me?"
"Hey Kagome!" Ayame said, shuffling into the hospital room with a meek look on her face. "How are you doing?"
Kagome sighed inwardly. How many times had she answered the question already? "I'm doing just fine. Pass that on to the doctors if you don't mind."
"We will," Kouga said, stepping out from behind Ayame. "Why are they keeping you in here anyways?"
"God only knows," Kagome muttered. "So what are all of you doing tonight?"
Miroku laughed. "I'm taking my Sango out to dinner."
Sango rolled her eyes but nodded, the edges of her lips curving into a smile.
Sesshomaru cleared his throat. "Kagura and I will be going back to the city. We took a long enough break as it is."
"Boss is going to kill us," Kagura murmured, shivering at the thought of feeling their boss's wrath. He was big, he was mean, and though they had asked for extra time and he had permitted it, he still wasn't going to be too pleasant about it.
Sesshomaru nodded and sighed.
"Oh you know me," Ayame said. "Chilling out at my place, pretending I have a life outside work. Maybe if I feel spontaneous I'll actually get out of bed and watch TV."
"The best way to spend a night," Kouga agreed. "I'll probably pop by your place later to get those papers done."
Ayame huffed. "I didn't want to do work. That was the point."
Kouga gave a wolfish grin but didn't further comment.
Kagome just sighed. "Well, while you guys are gallivanting off to sin your asses, I'm going to be here. Alone. Depressed. With only my book and Quinn, the hot and sexy thief who is seducing a museum director and is fulfilling a truckload of secret agendas. Did I mention that I was going to be alone?"
"Yes, I think you did," Sango stated. "Several times."
"Well good. I just wanted to let that guilt settle in there."
Everyone laughed; commenting on Kagome's bad mood until someone finally popped the million dollar question.
"Where's Inuyasha?" Miroku asked, looking around the room. "Wasn't he here before?"
"He left for coffee," Kagome said. "He's been here with me all night and morning. The poor guy is running on fumes."
"But he knows it will be worth it in the end," Miroku said, laughing while Kagome took her book and flung it at his head.
"You lecher! You should be ashamed."
"Would you throw something at me again if I said I wasn't?"
Kagome just sighed dejectedly and crossed her arms over her chest. "No, because I don't have anything to throw. Now give me Quinn back."
Everyone kept talking in the room until Inuyasha showed up, ultimately starting the party. Questions about the murder and Tsubaki raged through everyone's head and he tried his hardest to answer the questions properly.
"So Tsubaki was Kagome's half-sister, bent on revenge because she was given up and Kagome wasn't?" Ayame asked.
"That's basically the gist of it. But it wasn't just Tsubaki's need for revenge that made her like that; she was just a broken person. People don't just walk down the street and see someone thinking 'I'm going to kill her.' Now, all of us may joke about it and think of ways to do it but there's something in our minds that has been engrained in our brains since childhood."
"Which is right and wrong," Kagome finished, looking at Inuyasha. "We could go to a person and say 'I'm going to kill you' but won't actually do it because we have a sane part of us that tells us it's wrong and that we can't do it. Then there are other people who say it and actually have the actions behind those words. Those are the people that are broken because they don't have that conscious that separates what they can and can't do."
"Exactly. When Tsubaki learned that her mother was dead, she blamed Kagome. She then blamed Kagome for being kept," Inuyasha continued. "When she saw Kikyo –a dead ringer of Kagome- she felt that anger and her conscious snapped. She broke. After that, she killed in a very programmed way using the age gap and her date of birth to separate when she should kill." Inuyasha took a deep breath. "You see, after the first time she killed five years ago, she decided to make it annual. This year, she killed for the same reasons but what set her off was the sight of Kagome."
"So they were just connected to Kagome then?" Sango asked.
"To Kagome, Tsubaki and Nazuna," Inuyasha corrected. "You see, Yuri used the warehouse last owned by Nazuna's father. Nazuna is Tsubaki's best friend. Kirara caused Nazuna pain after what happened with Shippo."
"Then why kill Nazuna?" Miroku asked. "She was Tsubaki's best friend."
"Nazuna wasn't the intended target," Kagome stated, burying her hands in her lap. "Ami was and that's why Nazuna's body was found there. Somehow, Nazuna found out that Tsubaki was the killer because the two were close. When Tsubaki realized that Nazuna would give her away, she had no choice but to kill her. Since Ami needed to suffer as well, she left Nazuna's body in her apartment. What Tsubaki didn't expect though was by putting the body there she helped us, in a way. Once Ami became traumatized, the locked door to her latent abilities opened, and she became psychic, helping us in the end."
"And now Tsubaki is dead," Kagura stated.
"Yes," Inuyasha nodded. "She's gone. Claimed her dead at the sight."
"Then there's no more worries," Miroku said happily. "Evil lost; good won."
"One of the very few happily ever afters," Kagome said. "Finally Kikyo was able to move on."
"Kikyo?" Inuyasha asked slowly. "What do you mean?"
Kagome shrugged and smiled. "My imaginary friend came to visit me. She told me you would come, she kept me alive and she told me her name. Tsubaki's first victim didn't want to see everything lost, so she came to me, hoping that I could fix it."
"Can you still hear the voices Kagome?" Miroku asked.
"Oh yeah," Kagome answered breezily. "But they're not as loud as before."
"Hey Kagome," Inuyasha announced suddenly, turning to face her. "Are you going to finish it?"
"Finish what?" Kagome asked, cocking a brow.
"The book. You have the three books, but they all end on the forth. Your story. Do you think you'll ever finish it?"
Kagome thought about it for a moment. "You know what, I think I will."
"Well now that that's all settled," Kagura said, looking at her silver watch. "We have to go. Our limo will be here any moment."
"Leaving in style?"
"There's a lot more room," Sesshomaru told them and saluted the group before leading Kagura out of the door.
"We're going to head out too," Kouga said, tugging at Ayame's arm. "Bye Kagome, bye Chief. See you both."
Ayame waved goodbye and soon, only Miroku, Sango, Kagome and Inuyasha were left. They talked for a little bit longer, mostly about what happened and what they were planning on doing. Eventually though, Sango and Miroku left to get ready for dinner, leaving the couple all alone.
Inuyasha sighed and sat down on the side of her bed, resting a hand on her stomach. "So are you excited?"
"For what? Being bored?" Kagome asked, rolling her eyes. "Oh yippee."
"No," Inuyasha said, smirking like the devil. "For going home."
Kagome's face lit up like a bulb and she jolted up, throwing her arms around his neck. "Thank you!" she squealed. "My God, I don't know what I'd do without you."
"I know, I know," Inuyasha joked, that smirk still in place. But soon, it was wiped away, turning back into a slightly serious one. "So Miss Writer, how is your story going to end?"
"The way it should," Kagome murmured. "The guy gets her girl."
"Oh? And how does he do that?"
Kagome smiled. "Well, first he'd take her hands and kiss them and then go on in this short but sweet speech about the last three Hell weeks and then how much he realized he loved her. And then, if I want to be really dramatic, he'll start rambling on about the future: marriage, kids, eternal happiness… The whole shebang."
Taking Kagome's hands, Inuyasha lifted them to his lips and kissed them. "Well Kagome, this past month has been Hell. A crazy woman bent on revenge on her half-sister, killing three girls, scaring a town shitless… It's amazing we made it through."
"But we did," Kagome agreed, grasping Inuyasha's hand tighter. "It was difficult, but we did it."
Inuyasha shook his head and looked at Kagome for a moment, taking in every feature on her face: her brown eyes, her stubborn jaw, pale skin, arched brows and full lips. Slowly, he leaned down so his lips were only inches from her own.
"Kagome?"
"Mmhmm?" Kagome mumbled.
"I love you."
Kagome smiled and let go of his hands, wrapping them around his neck and bringing him close enough so that their foreheads touched. "I love you too."
They kissed and when they broke away, Inuyasha put on goofy smirk. "So did I do it right?"
Kagome laughed. "Yes but you forgot about the promises of the future."
"Oh yes."
"You know…the marriage."
"When you're not on a crappy hospital bed and somewhere where everyone can see that I'm with you love."
"And then there're the kids…"
"Eventually."
"And you can't forget eternal happiness."
Inuyasha snorted. "Well, I can't do that one. That's for you to decide."
Kagome played with his silver hair and then pulled him close again. "I think I can manage that."
Inuyasha smiled and then kissed her, knowing that this truly was, a happily ever after.
The End.
There we go! My second story is over and done with! On to the next! I have two stories coming up. Already, I have the story posted called Loyal Traitor. It's a romance/ humour/ action adventure fic and is done completely in Kagome's POV. If you'd like to read it, go to my profile and you'll find it.
Then after the first chapter is put up, I'm probably going to post Just Missed the Train which is a major multi-genre. It's romance/ humour/ angst/ action adventure/ mystery and horror. I have the summaries for both stories posted on my profile.
Alright, now I want to thank all of you SO much. I'm amazed at how well this story turned out, despite the fact that I originally didn't like it. If you have any questions feel free to ask and I promise I'll respond. You guys are the best!
Luv lots,
WitchyGirl