Chapter Six: Gold in the Darkness

Kagome opened her brown eyes and felt like she was about to be sick. She groaned as she tried to roll over onto her side, but ended up tumbling to the floor instead.

"OWW!" she yelled as she landed painfully on her back. She rubbed her backside and cursed under her breath as she looked around her. Already, she could tell that this was a good day to stay in bed. She felt her vision going blurry as she tried to grasp on what was happening, and she felt her head start spinning as she forced herself to get up. Grasping hold of the bed, she looked at her digital alarm clock to see that it was almost noon.

She gasped in shock and tiredness as she walked over to the door and had to lean up against the wall to support her. She felt her vision slip in and out of focus, and she was sure that she was going to fall to the ground again as she fought for breath.

She stumbled her way into the hallway and into the bathroom… She felt so sick, that she was sure that she was going to throw up, but when she arrived at toilet, she knew that she didn't have anything left inside her stomach. What's wrong with her?

She had been sick plenty of times before, but she never felt as bad as she did right now. She leaned over the sink, and tried hard to catch her breath… and not to pass out. Not bothering to look into the mirror, she turned on the water and began to splash her face.

"Hey, sis," said a familiar voice.

Kagome looked at the open door and Sota came waltzing right in, "About time, I was just about to come in and…" he trailed off when he got a good look at his sister. He was giving her such a look of horror that Kagome knew that she must have looked at bad as she felt.

He turned from the bathroom and yelled down the stairs, "MOM! YOU MIGHT WANT TO GET UP HERE!"

"What's wrong?" Kagome asked as he came back into the bathroom. As she looked at him, she knew right away that she was getting worse, because she was beginning to see double. She could see two Sota's looking at her with scared expressions as her knees gave way and she slid to the floor.

Sota came and put his hand on her shoulder as he screamed for their mother to come up and help. Kagome leaned her head up against the sink, one hand still dipped in the water, and the other, lying uselessly at her side.

"Kagome?" said another voice that she immediately recognized as her mother's.

"Mom?" she croaked, her voice sounding as dry as sandpaper.

"Kagome?" her mother's voice said again as she felt more hands on her shoulders. Kagome looked up and she saw that she was now beginning to see triple, as 3 images of her mother were looking at her with scared expressions. "Kagome what's wrong?"

Kagome shook her head, "I don't know… I feel so weak."

Her mom helped her up to her feet, but Kagome felt as if all of her energy had been sucked away, and she had to hold onto her mom for support. She felt another pair of hands on her other side, and knew that Sota was helping her to walk.

She let her family help her back into her room and she immediately collapsed onto the bed and lay motionless.

"Mom?" Kagome whispered.

"Yes dear?" her mom asked timidly, as if scared of her.

"What's wrong with me? Why do I feel like something's been sucking the life out of me?"

Kagome's eyes darkened as she heard her mother say softly and felt the blankets being pulled up around her, "I don't know Kagome. But if you don't get better soon, then we'll take you to see a doctor. Now, please get some sleep."

Kagome didn't need telling twice.

*Inuyasha*

Miroku slapped Inuyasha upside the head and yelled, "HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?"

A very beautiful woman stepped forward and put her hand on Miroku's shoulder to stop him, "Calm down Miroku! Getting angry isn't going to help us."

Miroku took several deep breaths and his anger almost immediately went away. "You're right, Sango. But still…"

"Back off," grunted Inuyasha as he walked pass them and flopped down onto the couch. "I haven't done anything to her yet alright?"

"Yet?" echoed Miroku.

"Inuyasha," Sango said warningly. "I swear, if you do anything to this girl…"

Inuyasha sat up irritably, "LOOK! I took some of her blood and that's it!"

"Some?" repeated a young and an annoying voice as a red-headed child came bounding into the room. "Hey, Shippo," said Sango as he came jumping over to them.

"Inuyasha!" yelled Shippo as he leapt up onto Inuyasha's head. "I decided to go and see this girl, and she's so pale that she looks like a dead body! Just how much blood did you take from her?"

Inuyasha picked Shippo up by the head with just one hand and flew him across the room, "Alright," he admitted as Shippo let out a cry of pain and Sango was shouting at him.

"I took more than I should've. But I couldn't help it."

"What do you mean you couldn't help it?" yelled Sango furiously. "You're practically killing that girl, and all you're considered about is getting a good meal?"

"Not only that," cut in Shippo who got up from the floor and rubbed his sore head, "But she looks just like Kikyo!"

Miroku and Sango both stared at Shippo before turning to look at Inuyasha, "Are you serious?" Miroku said amazed.

Inuyasha glared at Shippo with menace and Shippo had to hide behind Sango for protection. "I haven't noticed," Inuyasha said coldly.

"Oh come on!" Shippo said crossly, "She and Kikyo could've easily passed as twins!"

"Really?" said Sango excitedly. "I have to go and get a look at her now."

"You think that this girl could be…" began Miroku.

"I don't know," said Shippo. "I saw her early this morning when it was still dark out, and got a good look at her face when she was still asleep. She looks like Kikyo alright, but if she is the one that we've been waiting for…"

"It's not her," Inuyasha said bitterly as he folded his arms across his chest and started to pout. "She couldn't even fight off a weak human! She's not who we all think she is."

Miroku put his hand under his chin and thought for a moment, "It is possible that she might not know…" he paced up and down the room for a while until he spoke again, "Inuyasha… I need to see her. I should be able to tell if she's the one."

Inuyasha stood up and went storming out of the house, "There's nothing to see! Believe me, she's not the one!"

"If she's not the one," Miroku called out as his retreating back, "Then why are you going back to see her?"

Inuyasha stopped in mid-step.

"You're going back!" Sango screamed as she went storming out of the house and up to Inuyasha. "Don't tell me that you're going to go and take even MORE of her blood? If you keep this up then you're going to kill the only person who has a chance of helping us!"

Inuyasha rounded on her, "She's not the one ok? And I'm not going to kill her! I was just going out!" He then turned and went running off before anyone could stop him.

"Damn him!" Sango said pissed off. "That Inuyasha… what the heck does he think he's doing?"

*Later*

When it was near midnight, Inuyasha had once again arrived at Kagome's window and stepped inside without making the slightest sound, except for a tiny creak of the floorboards. He calmly walked over to her bed to where she was sleeping, as a cold breeze from the outside swept over him.

As he looked down at her face, he saw that what Shippo said was true; Kagome looked no different than a corpse with all the blood that he had taken from her. He felt sick to his stomach… he was sickened with himself.

Sango was right, he was killing her. Just because he couldn't stop his nighttime cravings, she could end up dying because of him… he made up his mind.

He couldn't stop himself from taking her blood, but he was only going to take one sip from now on. It wasn't much, but at least he could still taste her blood and not have to worry about hurting her. He nodded as he bent down towards her neck again… just one small sip, that was all he wanted.

But as he was only a few inches from her, something happened that he did not expect…

… she opened her eyes and was staring into his own.

*Kagome*

Kagome didn't get out of bed for the rest of the day. She slept, trying desperately to recover from her sickness, and to figure out what was causing it. Sota and her mom came in several times, almost every hour, and she sometimes heard them talking outside her door:

"Mom, what's wrong with her? I've never seen her look so sick before," said Sota's voice.

"I don't know Sota," answered her mom's voice. "But if she gets any worse, then we'll have to call a doctor."

'Doctor? No thanks,' thought Kagome. She hated hospitals, and she didn't want to go to one unless she had to. She shut her eyes and drifted off again, hoping that the next time she woke up, she would be better.

*Later*

Kagome opened her eyes to see that darkness had filled up her room. She blinked several times, and she realized that she felt much better. The sickness was gone, and she felt much stronger… the tiredness was still there, but she no longer felt sleepy. She looked at her bedside table on her left to see that her clock read 11:55 p.m. Almost midnight…

Kagome wasn't sleepy, but her eyes still felt heavy as they slid shut. She felt much better than when she woke up today, so much so that she might be able to go to school in just a few hours.

She hated dragging herself to school, but she rather be there, then laying here in a sickbed.

She laid there motionless for a few minutes, trying to let her eyes relax… was she starting to dream again? Was that the creak of her floors she just heard? Or was it from a branch outside?

And where did that breeze come from? She thought that she closed the window already… was that how she was getting sick? From the cold air? She would be sure to close it in the morning…

… but… maybe she should close it now? Just in case? She felt well enough to get up for just a minute. She opened her eyes… only to see a pair of gold ones staring back at her in the dark…