OoO CCTI: Chapter 2: Surprises OoO

Oh Inuyasha… Kagome thought as she sniffled and gasped, trying to relax the sore muscles in her face by taking on an unreadable expression.

She'd jumped into the well, reappeared on the other side, and had stayed there on her knees on the dirt floor. Her legs were folded up underneath her as her body shook with repressed sobs.

She balled her delicate hands into fists and shoved them into her eyes, trying to make the constant flow of her tears stop. Her attempts failed miserably as her face, once again, fell into a grimace of emotional pain.

Get a grip, Kagome! Stop it! Stop it right now! He's not worth this, he's not worth this, he's not worth…

And on and on, she repeated this four word phrase, adopting it as her own personal mantra. However, while her mantra was supposed to give her strength, support her, calm her down, it only made her more upset. She was angry at her own weakness. It made her choke and cough, once again gasping for breath as her chest involuntarily heaved with sobs and tears cascaded down her face.

How could something so stupid explode into the end of the world? I seriously need to pull myself together.

She was so tired, and dizzy from her erratic breathing. Kagome's last thoughts before passing out were, I can't do this anymore, Inuyasha! Right before she did, however, she could distantly hear the faint drumming of rain on the roof of the well house.

Her body fell to a crumpled heap on the floor of the well, her body exhausted. Despite all that, her mind and dormant spiritual powers were working fine, and somehow, they were telling her she would need her energy when she awoke. Her brain was working overtime, knowing by some ominous force that things weren't going to get any better anytime soon.

LATE AFTERNOON THE NEXT DAY

"Kagome…Kagome…Grr…Wake up, wench!" A rough voice demanded as they unceremoniously shook the young woman's body.

"Mmm… huh? Inu-yasha?" Kagome drawled as she slowly opened her eyes and met Inuyasha's unique amber ones. She almost smiled before she remembered the events of yesterday and only huffed in annoyance and crossed her arms in front of her chest, looking in the opposite direction.

"What do you want?" She sneered, a look of utter indifference on her face.

Inuyasha smiled a very rare and true smile that only he could muster at this moment in time and ignored her question, instead, choosing to ask one of his own. "How are you?"

"Hmph!" was her only response as she kept her head turned away, closing her eyes stubbornly.

"Oh, come on, stop being so damned stubborn and look at me. There's something I have to tell you."

Trying (And in her own opinion, failing) to look uninterested, Kagome's eyes locked, melting venomously into his, her mind absent-mindedly raking her fingers through his silver tresses, massaging his soft little dog ears.

Quickly breaking that train of thought, Kagome refocused her dazed gaze to Inuyasha's eyes, surprised that they were now only a few centimeters away from her own, burning into her eyes, almost as if they were begging for something.

W-When did he…!

She immediately lost her hard attitude and gasped as Inuyasha filled the remaining space and gently, almost teasingly, brushed his lips against hers, kissing her so softly, she could hardly feel it. She let out a whimper, inaudible to even Inuyasha's superior hearing, and closed her eyes, still not daring to move for fear of letting it end too soon.

Before she could even respond to the kiss, he pulled away and murmured in her ear, "I'm sorry."

Kagome was in a cloud of bliss that nothing bad could possibly penetrate. She very faintly heard him say the two most needed words for her to hear in the whole world, and thought, Did I imagine that? Or has my mind simply turned to mush and I only wish he'd said that?

Deciding to take a chance, Kagome kept her eyes closed and relished the feeling of what it was like for this foul mouthed dog demon to be so compassionate and romantic.

Suddenly, she was quite aware that he was getting up. Kagome opened her eyes in confusion, and only then was she aware that she was no longer in her time anymore. She was once again on the other side of the well, leaning against the Sacred God Tree, Inuyasha standing a few yards away from her, back turned. The sky was bright, sun shining, without a cloud in the sky. The day was perfect, with cool, green grass and a soft, welcoming breeze.

Even more confused than before, Kagome looked down at her clothing and was alarmed to find that she was in a priestess' attire, though not just any priestess, oh no. She was dressed just like Kikyo. Even her hair was in a white ribbon at the nape of her neck, as Kikyo liked to keep it. She glanced beside her and found her bow and arrows, along with many soul collectors. A stilling chill tore through Kagome's being, starting at the base of her spine and working it's way up, until she was shivering with apprehension. It hit her like a ton of bricks.

He thinks I'm Kikyo. Kagome's heart had broken even more than it'd already been, becoming microscopic specs on what had been only a few seconds ago, green grass. She clutched a hand to her chest, suddenly finding it hard to breath.

Why, Inuyasha? Don't you know it's me? Can't you tell? I'm not dead; I'm alive! Call me wench, bitch, anything, to let me know you remember me! She frantically thought.

The wind suddenly went from soft and welcoming to cold and fierce, the day's bright sun dashing behind ominous, severe looking thunder clouds that looked like they would open up and become a swirling mass of danger, sucking up anything in it's path, leaving devastation and destruction in it's wake.

Kagome looked up and cried, "Inuyasha! Who am I?"

He turned around, apparently not noticing the drastic change in the weather. "What nonsense are you babbling on about now, Kikyo?"

"Inuyasha, I'm not Kikyo! I'm Kagome, remember?!" Kagome cried, her voice reaching a new crescendo.

"Who's Kagome?" Came his malicious reply. She screamed.

END OF DREAM

Kagome was still screaming as her eyes shot open. Eventually, she ran out of breath, and her mouth just hung open in a perfect 'o' of stunned silence, before she coughed and took another deep breath and tried to calm her racing heart.

A dream… it was only a horrible, cruel dream… Kagome tried to console herself as she painfully pulled herself up into a sitting position. Oh… note to self: Never sleep on a hard surface, especially when it happens to be the ground!… Wait, why am I still in the well house, anyway? Souta usually checks the well every day, just to be sure I'm not stuck down here… Oh well, I'll just have to yell at him later.

Groaning at her sore muscles, her reserve of tears finally used up, Kagome tried her hardest to ignore the pounding and pulsating in her head from her migraine as she slowly made her way up the side of the well and finally made her way to the top. She left her backpack next to the well; she wouldn't be needing it for a while.

Once she was seated on the rim, Kagome's ears focused on her surroundings and she stopped in slight alarm. That's weird. Usually, the shrine is humming with noise, but today, it's as quiet as death. Shuddering at her last comment and mentally kicking herself for thinking that, Kagome stood up and walked to the door, cracking her neck on the way to try and relieve the kink she'd gotten in it.

Suddenly, she was filled with anxiety. But why? Maybe I just can't wait to be around my family, who love and want to know what's going on in my life. Yeah, that's it… Kagome wasn't exactly convinced, but shook away the feeling nonetheless.

Quickly, she opened to door and ran as fast as she could to her house, wanting to be in the arms of her mother, hearing her words of encouragement as Kagome spilled the story out to her. Breathless, but happy, Kagome threw open the back door of her home and called, "Momma, Souta, Grandpa! I'm home!" Running to the kitchen, Kagome suddenly stopped.

Nothing. That's exactly what the young woman heard. Nothing but sound of an eerie tale, too horrible to be told at the moment.

Frightened, Kagome searched upstairs, then down, checking the fridge for any notes she may have overlooked, but found none. She stopped, once again in the kitchen, and caught her breath, thinking.

Okay, sure, I wasn't expecting a party when I got back, but they always leave notes as to where they are, or they're here to welcome me back. What's going on? The lights haven't even been turned on, and it's late afternoon with a dark sky because of the rain!

Scared shitless now, Kagome closed her eyes and tried to calm down. She could feel her priestess prowess waking up, trying to sense anything ominous or evil. She was so scared of the house, the house she grew up in, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to concentrate.

Suddenly, she sensed it, something far more evil and malicious than anything she had ever felt before, only adding to the fear she already had. It was a familiar miasma she would've sensed earlier had she not been so drained.

It's Naraku! Oh God!… No, wait… it's… different somehow…

Too scared to do anything more, Kagome bit down on her bottom lip to the point of bleeding as she took deep breaths in and slowly released them. Habitually, her hand came up and started playing with the thin necklace there, gripping the small vial that held over three-fourths of the Sacred Jewel.

The jewel glowed not light pink as it usually was, but a light blue, reflecting Kagome's mood at the moment.

Abruptly, Kagome heard a doorbell ring.

They're back! They came back for me! She thought blindly.

Lunging to the front door, Kagome threw it open and was about to tackle whoever was at the door with all her might when she took a second to actually study the two people standing on the front stoop. She stopped and stared at the two, confusion clearly written on her face.

"Miss Higurashi? Miss Higurashi, Kagome?" The short, fat one on the left asked, staring at her with an equally confused expression on his face.

A feeling of utter devastation and dread settled into the pit of her stomach, making Kagome feel queasy and sick as she nodded her head, almost robot-like.

"We're sorry ma'am, but there's…there's been an…an accident. I'm sorry, but…" The one on the left continued as they trailed off. Although he kept talking, Kagome had stopped listening. She didn't hear anything more, didn't want to hear anything more, as she just stood there and looked at the two people in front of her. She knew what they were saying and what they were going to say, but she didn't want to hear it.

No… not this on top of everything else…

The person on the left finally stopped talking and looked at Kagome, waiting to see what kind of reaction she would administer to a shock like this.

The bald, skinny one on the right looked sad, and reached a bony hand to Kagome's shoulder as a way of making her snap out of her dreamy-looking daze. Kagome turned her head in acknowledgment, but didn't seem to hear or see them, only looking though them.

Suddenly, Kagome wailed as loud as she could. She vaguely wondered if she possibly broke an eye vessel or an eardrum of her guests as she continued screaming, her scream so filled with agony, torture, and pain, even the two people in front of her cringed, though their discomfort was nothing compared to Kagome's.

Her screaming came to a halt, only to be brought back again by a deep breath, only this time when she screamed, Kagome's body began taking on a faint light pink glow, until finally, she was glowing so brightly the two people in front of her had to turn their eyes away, for fear of blinding themselves.

Kagome's scream lasted and lasted, for her soul was fed up and needed release, for now, not only did she have to see Inuyasha soon and continue her search for the rest of the shards in their inevitable meeting, she had to deal with the cruel, lying and deceiving police officers in front of her, telling her the number one thing she feared in the whole world:

Her family is dead, gone… murdered.

OoO

Again, I'm not exactly thrilled with this chapter, but it'll do for now. I know it's a bit over-dramatic, but I like detail and description!

Please review, and a special thanks to Lissome Dalliance. First, for an actual criticism, second, for being honest; I shall take what you've thought into consideration when I have time to revise my chapters.

Thanks to everyone else that have reviewed! Please be sure to check out my one-shots as well; they tend to get neglected when I get into the actual story!

I will have more posted before the end of this week; look for it!

Keruseyu32691