Soul Bearers

The rain dripped across Kagome's face as she stared up at the cloud filled darkened sky. Her back flat against the cold, wet pavement. Drenched in rain. Kagome couldn't find the will to move. Her thoughts jumbled. The hard rain pouring on the pavement a white noise drifting to hear ears.

What did she just see? What just happened?

"Kagome!" Hojo's panicked voice reached her ears through the deafening white noise as he rounded the corner were she had hid from him. Kneeling next to her, his hand instantly went to her pulse, even though her eyes were wide open and staring at him.

"Kagome, are you okay? What happened?" he said in one breath.

His presence bringing her back to the here and now, Kagome starting getting up, the dirt clinging to her hands. Hojo helped her to her feet. "I'm okay." Kagome told him slowly, as if she needed to reassure herself that she was.

Hojo pulled Kagome by her wrist to the side walk underneath a big tree. The rain misted through the cover of the tree not preventing them from getting wet. "Kagome." Hojo spoke, his tone worried.

She looked at him clearly, albeit dazed. "What just happened? You, you were out of my sight for only a few minutes." Hojo needed her to explain it to him.

"I don't know." Kagome replied honestly, looking up at the tree encompassing them, "Perhaps I fell."

"You fell? Are you hurt anywhere? Do you need me to take you home?" he was talking so fast, Kagome could hardly understand him.

"Fuck off already." Were those her thoughts?

"I'm alright Hojo. I'm just going to head home now." She tried smiling, but it was forced.

As Kagome turned to leave, he grabbed her by the wrist. "Let me take you home, Kagome." he was insistent.

Kagome was getting annoyed with Hojo's overbearing nature. So much so, that she was sure that the growl she heard was coming from her mouth. She stared at Hojo's hand where he held her wrist tightly. She sighed internally, completely fed up with him. Let him just do what he wants.

Just as Hojo started to pull her along behind him, he felt her stop harshly, nearly losing his grip on her wrist. He looked back at her, rain dripping from her bangs down her cheek. Her face hooded and her eyes suddenly dark. "Unhand me, swine."

Kagome pulled her hand harshly from Hojo's grip and sped passed him. Except, it wasn't Kagome doing these things. Having dazed off, Kagome found herself in front of the cafe Ellie worked at. She blinked slowly, regaining some semblance of reality. What had she been doing?

In a moment of blurs, she recalled how she had spoken to Hojo and how he had looked at her, like she had slapped him across the face. She pressed her fingers to her face in bewilderment.

"Kagome?" Ellie glanced at Kagome as she walked out of the cafe, her belongings with her, ready to end her shift, "You're soaked to the bone!"

Ellie shrugged her jacket off and placed it over Kagome's shoulders. "Let's get you home."

In the midst of her friend helping her to her apartment, Kagome's heart broke when she recalled that Ellie liked Hojo and she wasn't sure how she should tell Ellie about his confession to her. As Ellie helped her into her apartment by unlocking the door for her, she quickly ran Kagome a hot bath.

"Let me put on some tea?" Ellie offered, while Kagome stepped into the bathroom.

"You're the best." Kagome smiled, her wet hair matted to her skin

She took a bath while Ellie quickly mopped up the watery mess on the floor and busied herself with making tea. A few minutes later the two were sitting on Kagome's couch in her cozy open floor living room and kitchen. "I saw Hojo today." Kagome said.

She had to tell her, right?

Ellie hummed, "Maybe, I don't want to hear about Hojo." The way Kagome wasn't looking her in the eyes spoke volumes to Ellie.

Kagome finally mustered the courage and looked at Ellie, wondering what she meant. Her friend looked deep into her full tea cup, the smell wafting to her nose. "I already know, that he likes you." She said, with the saddest small smile Kagome had ever seen on her friends face.

Those words broke Kagome's heart into a million pieces. She would never be able to put it back together. "Ell, I don't know what to say." Her voice was nothing but a whisper in the quiet room.

"You don't have to say anything, Kagome." Ellie assured her, "As sad as I am that he doesn't feel that way about me, I know I'll be fine."

Her voice began to shake, tears threatening to spill, and they did spill. "I'll b-be fine, but l-let me just cry for n-now."

Kagome sat with Ellie until they finished their tea and long after, until she stopped crying. Her friend left for home during the late evening with red swollen eyes and a broken heart. She felt such guilt at her friends unhappiness, it was pure torture. Kagome wondered if she and Ellie would be fine after this.

"This ain't your fault."

Startled, Kagome took steps back reluctantly, her back hitting her front door, "W-who are you?" she steeled her resolve, "And where are you?"

"I'm right here."

Kagome blinked, and as she did a silhouette came into her focus, slowly but surely. There he was waving a hand into from of her face as if he'd been there the whole time. He stood upright from his hunched position in front of her.

He was tall, had dark golden eyes and hair as white as pure snow with ears, like none she'd seen before, flicking atop his head.

"Y'know, for a priestess you're really awful at this."

She stared at him. Her eyes taking in his unusual looks. Did he just appear out of thin air? No. Kagome vaguely recalled seeing him beside her, since she first laid eyes on him, as her memories of the day played back in her mind.

When he had kissed her, he was sitting right next to her with his legs and arms crossed as she regained her jumbled thoughts.

When Hojo had grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her out of the rain underneath the tree, he was standing just behind her looking at the both of them.

When she was in front of the cafe where Ellie had found her, he stood beside her, staring at her.

When she took her bath, he sat just outside the room with his back to the door.

When Ellie cried her eyes out for an unrequited love, he stood silently in the corner of the room keeping an eye on them.

Kagome's heart was pounding in her chest, how had she not realized that he was there the whole time. He practically followed her home, invited himself in, made himself comfortable, but-

-no one else could see him. Not Hojo, or Ellie, even she didn't fully see him, but he's been with her this entire time.

"Who are you? And what-what are you?" Kagome's lip quivered, she was afraid. Something was happening that she didn't understand.

"My name is Inuyasha and I'm a spirit taking up space inside your body."

His explanation was a mouthful, more so it took up space in her brain, but she had no understanding of what his words meant.

"No, this isn't real. Don't talk to me about such silly things!" she exclaimed panicked.

Inuyasha took a breath. "What's your deal. Aren't you some form of high priestess?" he raised a brow, observing her with crossed arms.

"What? No. I don't know what that is, but it's not me. I want you to go away, disappear."

Kagome pushed away from the door and swung at him with a weak fist, Inuyasha's body vanished before she could touch him.

"Even if my astral body disappears, my spirit pulls itself back into your body."

Kagome could clearly hear Inuyasha, as if he was speaking with her face to face. He reappeared in front of her. "I'm sorry." he suddenly felt guilty, "I didn't know that you weren't aware of your spiritual powers, or that you could keep my soul from eternal oblivion. I just couldn't truly disappear yet." He spoke softly so as not to frighten her any further.

Kagome listened, but she couldn't completely understand what he was saying. Spiritual powers, souls? It was beyond her imagination.

"Why? If you're a spirit, that means you died. You should move on. Why do you want to stay?" She asked in one breath before she could stop herself. Did she really want to know any of these things?

"I have something left to do here. I can't disappear yet."