Chapter 336: Diametrical
n. in direct opposition; being at opposite extremes
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The swell of untapped magic seemed to swirl in the air, choking Kagome with the prospects and memories of past travels. She resisted the well's call, turning her distracted attention to the three siblings panting in exhaustion inside one mostly intact building. Slowly she passed around the small thermos with their remaining water. Hoping that taking care of them would keep her busy enough to stop the overbearing memories lingering just on the outskirts of her awareness, waiting to drown her.
Cautiously she foraged alone around the outskirts of the village, recalling the first sacrifices she had presented to the desert before slogging through the sandstorm in search of civilization. She managed to stumble upon some empty food wrappers and discarded textbooks, but the other forfeited morsels had long been claimed by the sands. A beetle skittered across her foot and with a war cry Kagome set to capturing the beetles that would help sustain her small and ravenous group.
As red rays of light signaled the setting sun, gusts of wind violently bashed against their shelter. Kagome finally allowed the memories to rise and play out in half hopeful possibilities while heartbreak played on the opposite edge of reality.
Kagome slept fitfully for many hours until the howling wind died down. She glanced over the siblings only to see Gaara blinking open eyes. Kankuro and Temari were curled around their weapons, with Kagome tucked between them, piling together to keep warm in the freezing night temperatures of the desert.
Kagome sat up slowly, carefully extracting herself from their dogpile, pausing when one sibling grumbled. Gaara watched curiously, out of reach of the slumbering trio. Once Kagome successfully maneuvered out of the midst of his siblings, she sent a wobbly expression towards where Gaara sat.
"I'm just…"whispered Kagome, pointed out the doorway. Gaara nodded along, even as he shifted his weight, undecided about following her. Kagome sent one last halfhearted smile before she stepped out of their shelter.
Gaara pulled himself up, glanced at his siblings before quietly retracing Kagome's steps. He paused at the door listening, making out the sound of her ragged breathing outside the shelter.
"The stars are so bright," whispered Kagome when he eventually stepped out beside her.
"Yes," agreed Gaara keeping his eyes fastened on Kagome, leaning against their shelter, before following her unfocused gaze towards the well in the center of the forsaken village.
"Can you feel the magic too?" whispered Kagome breaking the hours long solitude between the pair. The sun was beginning to stretch lazy, icy lavendar streaks of light across the distant horizon. Gaara glanced at Kagome out of the side of his eyes before following her gaze back to the plain well, the object of her steadfast devotion.
Gaara contemplated how to answer her question before settling on a reserved, "Magic?"
Kagome bit her lip, as she shifted back on to her feet, her fingers clenching and unclenching into the stained fabric of her green skirt. Then almost as if pulled Kagome stumbled her way towards the well's sides, tripping over obvious obstacles that she was blinded to in her unswerving approach. Gaara winched as Kagome staggered before subtly beginning to clear the more obvious obstructions from her path.
"I can feel it down there, swirling in deep swells likes it's trying to breathe," claimed Kagome as she leaned precariously over the edge of the well's wall. Gaara soundlessly sent sand to brace her against falling, "the sand is strangling it."
Gaara's eyebrows drew downward as he cautiously sent out seeking tendrils of chakra into the depths of the well.
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