After the short second trip through the well, she landed gently on the soft soil and quickly began climbing out of the well. Hoping to see her dog eared hanyou dressed in his normal red attire impatiently waiting for her. As she approached the top she noticed there was no helping hand to hoist her out of the well, so she peered over the corner and noticed there wasn't him or anyone else waiting for her. 'Has it not been two weeks since I left? I said two weeks exactly.' She questioned herself but hastily reassured it was the right day and that they most likely got busy.
She hurried off toward the village excited to see everyone on this cold crisp late morning day, it seems like it had been forever since she had seen her group of four plus Kaede. As she approached the edge of the village, she turned her thoughtful look into one of happiness and picked up her pace to the hut. Upon arriving at the door she pushed the straw curtains back and entered to see her precious friends looking back at her with happiness and excitement.
"Kagome!" rang throughout the hut as they all bursted out at once, the slender tall brown haired women clad in her demon slayer uniform got up immediately to give her friend a hug. Kagome embraced her, "Sango I have missed you, we need to talk and catch up sister." she said joyfully and then she began to hug a black haired man dressed in purple monk robes and moved on to a young orange haired fox demon who was more than excited to see his 'mama'.
"Miroku, you didn't try to grope me? Turning over a new leaf I see." Miroku grinned, nodded, and scratched his head as he looked over at sango who was blushing. "He still gropes me plenty though!" Sango annoyingly glared at the monk who gave a sheepish grin.
"Shippo sweetie how are you? I have missed you dear!"
"I have been good mama, practicing my fox fire!" He stated proudly and hugged her leg.
Kagome looked around the hut feeling something a miss, "Where is Inuyasha and Kaede? Has something happened?" Kagome asked worried that the feeling from earlier had something to do with the missing friends.
Sango looked troubled as she averted kagome's gaze, miroku and Shippo did the same. 'What is their problem...Did something truly happen to her beloved and her mentor...' kagome thought solemnly as she put her delicate hand on Sango's shoulder and looked her in the eyes.
"I am a big girl Sango, you can tell me? Are they in danger or hurt?" Kagome asked sternly.
"No, No, that is not the problem-Inuyasha he-well he ran off with Kikyo about three day's ago into the forest and we haven't seen him since!" Sango said hastily as she hugged Kagome.
Without paying any mind to the comment that did in fact sting her heart and make her fight back the scream wanting to slip through her lips, she asked what of Kaede and received a quick answer from little Shippo. "She followed him to talk with her clay pot of a sister, we haven't seen her since either." "We are worried but she said not to follow, as she wanted to deal with it on her own." Sango paused "Deal with what…We do not know." she finished her comment and began back to cleaning her large weapon while letting the other's go about their business.
Kagome felt the air thick with worry, anger, and signals that they all wanted to drop the conversation and focus on Kagome's arrival. She respected their wishes and began pulling small gifts out of her bag along with food and setting them up for each person. A spot for all five friends she loved dearly, but she knew she would need to leave to look for the pair in order to feel at ease.
"I have brought you all Christmas presents from my time along with some homemade bento boxes for this special day. I want you to open them and enjoy the food, but while you are all doing that I will go look for Inuyasha and Kaede. Please enjoy your gifts and don't fear for me, I will be right back with the pair in no time!" As the last words were said before anyone could interject she was handling her bow and out the door. They seemed to understand why she was going, to find Kikyo and Inuyasha and hopefully not together.
'How could that no good dirty dog go off with that clay bitch! I have done nothing but be nice to him, give him my heart! My soul! How dare he use me like that, I am Kagome not a reincarnation!' Kagome's inner voice was shouting from ear to ear, her face red as a chili pepper, her anger was controlled by jealousy, betrayal, and sadness. Tear's were fighting to not fall down her soft cheeks as she stepped over logs, rocks, and vines trying to not slip on ice and the fallen snow.
The whole time she was steaming mad and bitching Inuyasha out in her head, she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings and in these forest that is a dangerous thing. She walked on with no mind, looking for her idiotic hanyou and his whore.
The sun was inching to the top of the sky to signify the late afternoon, it was beautiful with the snowy white canopy of winter frost and frozen icicles in the western forest, and the fields of once beautiful spring flowers heavy with snow along the outskirts of the castle walls. The western kingdom was always the most beautiful among the four provinces in the land. Inside the royal white stoned castle covered with vines and gold roofing and framing, was also the most powerful, dangerous, graceful, and ravishingly gorgeous lord.
This was no ordinary lord, he was a handsome inuyoukai a large white powerful dog demon. His name is Sesshomaru, he has white soft luxurious hair that just barely tickles the back of his knees. Perfect razor sharp claws on slender fingers that can crush a skull in a second if he was enraged enough, silky soft fair skin with a purple crescent moon on his forehead, along with slash style markings on his cheeks in magenta and his arms. A sure sign of his demon blood and royal heritage would be the publics guess.
Thick pauldron adorned across his left shoulder attached to his cuirass and kusazuri, an 8 foot mokomoko across his right shoulder acting as a very large boa, which is in fact part of his Inuyoukai heritage and his tail just slung over as to not drag it about, then underneath all that armor is a white hankimono with red sleeve design, his white nu-bakama pants match his upper layer perfectly starched to puff out, a long yellow with blue tipped heko obi around his waist, and black boots to finish the look.
He was a god like sight for mortals and demons a like, just a vision of beauty, grace, and dangerous instincts. That is the lord of west, the proud Inuyoukai who rules the land with stern understanding and powerful respect.
"My lord, My lord! Please don't go alone take some men with you, they are strong and-" The frantic guard was stopped in his pleads by the demon lord as he turned around and gave a look of silence. "This Sesshomaru is more powerful than any priest or priestess, so do not question my power again Ren." The lord stated in a smooth cold voice to the tall head guard and walked away leaving Ren alone in the long white corridor.
Ren looked on as his lord walked off to deal with some pressing issues on the outskirts of the western lands. There had been powerful holy energy coming from a small clearing near Inuyasha's forest, knowing it might have something to do with his whelp of a brother he insisted on taking care of the issue himself.
Ren was the head guard and has been for 700 year's, since he had first joined the western army he knew he was going to be important one day.
Ren's look was that of a 25 year old man, short red hair spiked and held back in style by a green leather headband. He had imperial white and gold armor about himself with green trim around his rank, cape, and hilt on his daggers placed at his side.
He was a young, strong, responsible, handsome tiger youkai and very sought after with the ladies of the high court and popular among the staff members.
Ren brushed his lords cold behavior off and went back to tending to his army and military duties as head officer.
Sesshomaru was already halfway to the location he wished to investigate with the pace of a demon, when he noticed the sound of retreating footsteps and loud angered whispering coming from the very direction he was heading. 'Someone else is going to the energy, this Sesshomaru does not take kindly to being beaten even in a petty investigation such as this.' he knew it was the miko the moment he hurried his pace up in the tree's, he smelt her, he saw her.
'She looks pleasing in the white kimono with that red obi, she looks like a women ready to be-' he stopped his thought's slightly confused as the nature his mind was going for a human women.
He noticed the miko had stopped in her tracks and her hands were trembling in rage it seemed like, he looked at what she was looking at and was surprised to see the dead miko embracing Inuyasha as the elderly priestess seemed to be performing a ritual.
Kagome was utterly shocked at what she was seeing before her, she had just walked and walked and walked for the love of her life. She was cold, feet hurt, had scrapes and had a run in with two very large but weak rat demon's who had met their demise after catching her off guard, which was all because of her inner abuse to Inuyasha playing in her head distracted her to the world around her. All she wanted to do at this moment was notch an arrow and shoot straight into Inuyasha's heart along with Kikyo's.
'I have been worried about him, wondering if he ran off with her or not! He did! He love's her not me...I have been a fool! What is Kaede doing?...Why is she helping them...I loved him-I love him! How could you bastard!' Kagome's head was about to split from the anger and hurt she was feeling so deep down inside, that feeling from earlier was coming back. The suffocating grip on her heart 'it shattered my heart, I feel it has shattered! broken piece by piece, every time he ran off to her and held her, every day he compared me to her, I am breaking!' At that moment she felt the heart she knew, she felt everything with it die down and close, her love for him and those around her just seemed to slip away into the darkness of her pain.
"STOP!" Kagome shouted toward the trio of betrayers, "What are you doing Kaede? Why are you helping them?" She asked as tears fell down her cheeks and onto the ground.
Kaede jolted a bit at hearing Kagome's voice, she stopped her chanting and frowned with sadness in her eyes. Inuyasha looked scared, sad, but not regretful and well Kikyo she had a smirk but did have a glint of pity in her cold hollow eyes. None of them moved from where they were, Inuyasha and Kikyo stayed embraced with one another and Kaede didn't move her body from the spot she was or set the scroll aside she was reading.
'Has this world gone mad? Do I have a smile on my face, yes they look at me with sadness but not regret or worry over my feelings!' Kagome moved a bit closer she was now out in the open clearing staring all of them dead on. unbeknown to them with a curious Sesshomaru peering from a near by tree, he was looking for answers as to what was going on too. He never understood why his brother preferred a dead wench over a living one. 'Let us see how this plays out.' He thought to himself.
"Child ye must have a lot of questions, I followed the two of them here...I told them ye loved him and trust him. He understood that but ye have to understand these two are meant to be together. I get that now, that they have explained it to me the story of their love before and after is just meant to be continued. I found-This scroll it was what I have been looking for, to bring my sister back to life to be human again not a soulless being. Please child ye have to look at it from my point of view I lost my sister. Inuyasha lost the love of his life, if you truly cared for us and loved him ye would want us happy, no matter what. This is a selfish and painful thing I am asking of ye child. What is the answer child?" Kaede sorrowful explained and left it with the open question but Kagome was frozen in thought or in horror neither of them knew.
Not getting a response from her with a blank tearful look she had, Inuyasha spoke up while holding Kikyo close.
"Kagome, I love you so very much. I think the love I have for you is only-now don't get upset but the love I have for you is because you're Kikyo's reincarnation. Everytime I look at you I think I love you so much Kikyo, but when you talk and smile I love Kagome. It took me a long time to figure out the difference between loving you and loving kikyo, I know what it is now. I love Kikyo, I need her to be alive so we can live happily ever after, wasn't that the point of defeating naraku last year? To be happy...Well this is my happiness and without it I won't be truly happy. I am so sorry again Kagome, I hate hurting you...I do love you." Inuyasha finished with the heaviest look of guilt and sadness on his face while he just held the silent Kikyo, she figured it is best to stay silent and let the two of them talk it out. That is the nicest thing she could do at this point in ending her mean streak with Kagome.
Kagome's tears increased 10 fold as she processed everything everyone had said to her, her shaky legs slowly began to retreat toward the first sighting of the heart breaking scene of her beloved loving another.
"I-I don't know what to say...You all are-how could you think this is okay? You two-I just-I can't see you! I don't want to see you! You can have her because I don't want you! I am leaving! I will be doing my own thing from now on you bastard! As for you Kaede-I...Hope you get what you want and tell Shippo I love him and will see him soon!" Kagome spit on the ground toward Inuyasha and said a few more hateful words with a shaky voice.
Inuyasha reached out from a far to hold her to calm her down but he paused because he knew if he moved from this spot he would break the chant they have worked so hard on night and day.
They all looked on at the broken down, pitiful looking girl dressed in white with her long shiny black locks covering her flushed face, stood in front of them trembling and wiped her tears away vigorously with her delicate pale hands from the cold chilly weather.
"Do not look for me Inuyasha! You or the others! if I see you I will-I will gosh I will do something painful like how you hurt me!" With that she ran off into the forest not looking back once as the late afternoon turned to a dark evening. She just ran until she would feel nothing, see no one, and cry forever until her heart found a beat again.
Sesshomaru saw everything from the first sad look to the last sympathetic word that left his useless half brother's mouth. 'I don't find this ritual an issue for my land, just for my brother. I will do nothing as of now, but will check up on them occasionally. I am a bit more curious about that fiery miko and where does she think she will go if not the village that cares for her?' Sesshomaru's thoughts held true because where would kagome end up if she wasn't going back to the village especially with a disgruntled outlook on life at those very moments.