Chapter Ten
Kagome slowly opened her eyes, her whole body ached down to her hair. She could feel her powers pulsing almost like they were saying the same thing. She overdid it yesterday, and was paying the price at the moment for doing so. As she moved her body slowly she noticed where she was, as the blanket on her slipped down over her shoulder. A blush dusted her cheeks as she felt arms tighten around her causing her to freeze.
'This is not how I expected to wake up' Kagome thought as she stayed still in Hyun-Su's arms. He was still asleep from what she could tell, but he had felt her shift and unconsciously tried to keep her to him.
She slowly let herself move a bit so she could survey the room, and she could see the occupants of the room whispering to one another. She narrowed her eyes as she saw them looking over at her then whispering again. She had a feeling they didn't like what they saw yesterday with Hyun-Su. That is the only reason she could think they would be sending such warry looks over in their direction.
She could understand not knowing how to react to something different, but she hoped they wouldn't do anything drastic because of it.
"You're awake." A voice whispered, causing Kagome to look over and give a small wave in greeting not wanting to say much so Hyun-Su could sleep more. He deserved it.
"My name is Jung Jae-Heon. The children are asleep right now." He probably figured Kagome would want to know that.
She gave a smile in thanks, as he adjusted the sword in his hands, drawing her attention to it. Kagome didn't say anything, but had a feeling he was uncomfortable.
"The kids said you are Kagome?" He asked, he was definitely trying to get her to talk. She figured he would take the hint. People were asleep and they should let them sleep and not try to wake them so they could make conversation.
"You are Japanese?" He inquired, as his eyes went over to the shifting form of the girl sleeping in the corner of the room.
She sighed, "That is correct." She said softly. The first words she said and she could feel the arms around her tighten and a soft groan leave the boy she was leaning against, she saw his eyes flutter open and saw they were back to normal, and not blacked over anymore. This was why she wanted to stay silent. She had hoped he would get more sleep.
"You okay?" Kagome asked Hyun-Su as he looked Kagome in the eyes, and saw the position they were in. He took a deep breath in as a small blush came to his face as he let his arms fall from being around her waist.
Kagome gave a small smile as she moved so she was sitting next to him, not moving too far away from him, in case he needed her.
Hyun-Su gave a small nod, "I think so..." he was trying to figure out how he got in the position with Kagome in his arms. He didn't recall falling asleep or arriving in this room.
Kagome pushed some of his bangs out of his face, a frown on her face, "Do you remember anything from yesterday?" Her eyes glanced over to see everyone was awake and paying attention to the two now. She had a feeling Jea-Heon woke them up.
Hyun-Su shook his head, a worried frown on his face as he tried to recall yesterday's events in his head, "I..." He licked his lips, worry flashing across his face, "...I remember getting slammed into a wall...then nothing."
Kagome gave a frown but nodded. She wondered if going into the 'monster' mode was like when Inuyasha let his demon side take over. That was something she would have to think about later. She didn't have enough time to think of that right now.
"It's fine. Don't worry about it right now..." Kagome told him with a small smile. He didn't need to worry about it at the moment now that everyone was awake and they had to figure out what they were going to do for the day. They needed a plan on what they were going to do and if they had an idea on where to go. There probably were more monsters around and they had to be careful
Kagome glanced around the room and could see everyone looked tired still and still were not fully awake, she heard a voice break through the silent room.
"So...you're all better then." A girl who looked to be a little younger than her asked. Eyes taking in Kagome then flickering to Hyun-Su who shifted uncomfortably under the stares he was getting from the people in the room.
"...I'm sorry if we caused any trouble..." Kagome paused, a sheepish smile on her face, "I didn't mean to cause a scene..." She trailed off not really knowing what else to say.
Yoon Ji-Su gave a light snort, her distrust of the semi older woman budding just under the surface. "Uh huh...so...just exactly are you two?" Her voice was low with suspicion that made Hyun-Su flinch back as if struck.
Resisting the urge to snap back at the younger woman, Kagome gave a forced smile, her hand seeking out Hyun-Su's to comfort him.
Turning her attention to the still distrustful looking younger woman she tilted her head at her. "I don't know everyone's name...why don't you introduce yourselves first." She gave a sharp look to the girl, she didn't like her tone nor her gaze. Kagome could understand that the things that were happening weren't normal to them.
Yet to be so openly hostile to someone she just met...she was not about to deal with that shit. Nope, not now and she wasn't going to let Hyun- Su be bullied.
"My name is Yoon Ji-Su." The girl with the attitude introduced herself, "We know who everyone else is, you two are the odd ones out." The girl said, making Kagome shift in anger as she let herself lean against Hyun-Su.
"That's enough..." Kagome heard an older man intervene, he glanced at Kagome and Hyun-Su, giving them a nod.
"I am Han Du-Sik, and the woman in the corner is Im Myung-Sook. You already know the children." He introduced everyone, glancing over at the young woman with a stern look, "We are all on the same side right now. We don't need to be getting on one anothers bad side right now."
Kagome didn't say anything and let the man do the talking, she didn't want to rock the boat when they needed to be quiet since they didn't know what else was out there.
"I don't want to fight, but I want to know if I am safe because from what I saw he turned into something...something not human..." The girl, Yoon Ji-Su, spoke, her hands motioning to Hyun-Su who shrank into himself as if trying to make himself as small as possible.
"...is he going to turn into a monster again..." the small voice of Yeong-Su broke through the room. He was holding onto his sister's hand who was also looking at Hyun-Su with fear in her eyes. She didn't want to see another monster.
Kagome looked at the children, "Hyun-Su is special..." She saw the children have their full attention on her. She also knew everyone else was having their attention on her as well, "He isn't like the others….he isn't going to attack us." Kagame grabbed Hyun-Su's hand trying to reassure him, he gripped her hand tightly but didn't uncurl himself as he looked away from everyone in the room.
"He protected us before, so you don't have to worry. If he was a bad guy he wouldn't try to save us…right.." Kagame gave the kids a bright smile. She could tell a couple of the people in the room didn't quite believe her words but she didn't care. She trusted him. He didn't try to hurt her at all, and she didn't think he ever would….though it isn't like she wanted to test it either.
The two kids looked at one another before nodding as they took what Kagame was saying to heart. They trusted Kagame and if she trusted Hyun-Su they would trust him too….she was right too. He had saved them from the monster that had been after them yesterday…so he couldn't be all bad.
"Now why don't we sit down and we can make some breakfast…" Du-Sik suggested motioning to the kitchen. Everyone slowly moved to the kitchen area, Kagame stayed behind with Hyun-Su for a moment, her hand still tightly clasped into his own.
She squeezed his hand, "….you okay?" She knew it could hurt how they were talking about him like that. She didn't like it, but could understand they were scared.
Hyun-Su nodded, "…fine…"
Kagome sighed, "Its okay not to be fine. With how everything is turning out….I don't think any of us are really fine." She gave him a small smile trying to reassure him.
"We can figure things out later. I don't know how or why people or even yourself turned into what you are….but it doesn't matter….You are still you Hyun-Su." Kagame told him and he gave a small smile at this, standing up from his position on the ground, bringing Kagome with him as he stood as he reluctantly released her hand so they could join the others in the kitchen.
The two of them could hear movement and the clinking of dishes as they went into the dinning silently sat down next to one another, not saying anything to anyone as they heard light chatter from the others as Myung-Sook was standing over the stove cooking.
Several minutes later breakfast was served, it wasn't anything fancy but it would do. They were all hungry and they really didn't know what kind of food they would be eating in the future. There is only so much supplies here in the building.
Kagome thanked the woman for the food as picked up her chopsticks. She poked at her rice with her chopsticks, pondering the conversion they were having. "Maybe...maybe the monsters are like us...they can be either good or bad? Just because they're no longer human doesn't mean they're inherently evil..." She trailed off, a light flush dusting her cheeks as everyone turned to look at her. Some looked at her like she was crazy while others looked at her with understanding.
Jae-Heon nodded a smile on his lips. "God gives everyone free will so I think you're right. It's just that most of them probably give into the temptation of their baser wants and desires. While others like Hyun-Su are able to repress them and follow the path of light."
Yoon Ji-Su resisted the urge to roll her eyes and decided to steer the conversation away from God, not wanting to listen to another lecture from Jae-Heon. Sure he was cute but he really needed to let up on the bible thumping. "So...what's with the magic lights and what not? Are you also a half monster or whatever it is?" Kagome resisted the urge to laugh, memories of a certain yakuza male floating in her mind's eye. At least she wasn't automatically dubbed a magical girl.
"No, I'm fully human...just a special kind I guess." She then gave a brief explanation of her miko powers, ignoring the way Jae-Heon clenched his jaw as she explained how her powers were from the gods. She really wasn't in the mood for a religious debate, everyone was free to practice whatever religion they wanted. She just knew that her powers came from her chosen set of gods and that was all she cared about.
"Testing! Testing! One, two, three." Everyone paused as the male voice echoed through the room via the intercom.
Turning to face the intercom everyone waited with baited breath for the speaker to continue speaking.
"This is Lee Eun-Hyeok, myself and some other survivors have gathered on the lobby floor and urge any and all survivors to make their way here. We have food and water and need to rally in order to make a plan. I repeat, any and all survivors are urged to make their way to the lobby floor."
He repeated himself once more before falling silent. It wasn't a second later that everyone in the room began talking all at once. Their voices meshing together into a loud blurr that made Kagome wince, yet another headache blooming to life. "Guys, calm down. We don't want to attract anything." Her words made everyone fall silent, thankfully.
Yoon Ji-Su swallowed thickly, licking her chapped lips as she decided to speak up. "Think we should go? I mean...we can hole up here for only so long. We don't have the supplies we need to last here long term...let alone the room." She glanced around the cramped room, as if trying to get her point across.
Jae-Heon nodded, agreeing with her. "We can only last so long on our own...there's safety in numbers...and while we have the numbers here we don't have a viable long term food or water source."
While Kagome agreed with them she also knew that with numbers came conflict...pack mentality...and not the good kind.
"I'm going where the kids go...they need someone to look after them." Kagome glanced at the elder woman, it was obvious that her sole reason for being there was to look after the kids. They were what had brought her back from full monsterization. A fact that had not escaped her.
"I think it would be best if you and the kids stay up here for now. I don't want to risk exposing them to danger if it's not a good environment for them in the long run." Her words were light as she pondered the pros and cons of her next statement. Turning to Hyun-Su she gave him a small smile. "I think you should stay here to keep them safe and like I said I want to get a feel for the people down there before we make such a huge and risky move."
Hyun-Su frowned, not liking the idea of her going down there without him. He had just gotten her back and he didn't want to be parted from her yet he was also wary of leaving their safe place. He didn't know anything about those waiting on the lobby floor...sure he didn't know much about those in the apartment either but so far they were accepting of his monster side...
Kagome caught his hand with hers under the table, giving it a firm squeeze. "I'll be fine, I promise. I'll go check them out and report back as quickly as possible and we can make a choice as a group as to whether or not we want to join up with them." Plus she wanted to see if Sang-Wook would wander down there. Sure, he was a lone wolf but even he had to be curious about the group set up in the lobby.
Maybe he was a part of it? Her powers were so raw and tired that she knew she wouldn't be able to pinpoint his aura even if it was in the room right next to her. She had to let them rest and recover because if the last few days had taught her anything it was that anything could happen at any given second and she had to be ready.
The air around them seemed to chill as Hyun-Su's darker self lurked under the surface. Shifting close to him she bumped her shoulder into his making him focus on her, her fingers intertwining with his under the table. "Hey, calm down. I'll go check it out and come right back, I promise. Have I ever broken a promise to you?" She smiled as his eyes cleared and became brighter, his more human side once again taking control.
"Fine. I don't like it but you're right...while you're down there I'll gather what I can supply wise on this floor just in case you think we're better off up here. Maybe even clear out a few more rooms so we can have more space." Kagome blinked at his words, a small smile appearing on her face.
"That's actually a great idea...just promise to be careful. Don't push yourself." She wouldn't be around to bring him back if he went too far into his monsterization and that thought made her uncomfortable.
Hyun-Su nodded, a look of determination settling on his face. Kagome was hard-pressed to not reach out and touch him, to offer him her support. Instead, she pushed the urge down and stood, exiting the apartment to trail after the two who had already slipped out into the hallway. Giving them a tense nod of understanding they slowly and carefully made their way down the hall into the stairwell.
For once lady fate was on their side, they were able to make their way to the ground floor without much incident, encountering not a single monsterized human. Yet as they approached the lobby they stumbled upon a pack of screaming people gathered around an open set of doors. Kagome could only blink at the cluster fuck they walked into, glad that they had deicded to leave the others behind.