InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Fool's Redemption ❯ City of Light and Illusion ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter 5 - City of Light and Illusion

At eight o'clock she was roused from her sleep by a knock at the door. Opening it, she found Sango standing before her, dressed alluringly in an impressive outfit comprised of a long red velvet skirt lined in lace, pulled up to her thigh on one side, and a red and black corset-like top, with jewelry of black stone to match.

Kagome smiled and shook her head. “Guess I'll have to put in some effort on my first night out. I can't stand next to you looking like crap.”

Sango laughed, and Kagome began pulling clothes from her closet. After a few minutes, she stood in front of the full-length mirror that hung off to one side of the room. She wore a pair of low slung, tight black pants, a white buttoned down Victorian style top with a high collar, and a dark, green and black striped corset vest with a flaring waist. Black boots finished the outfit, and she stared in admiration at her reflection for a few moments. She'd never worn anything so fine, and she could feel her shoulders fall back and her chin lift proudly, even though she still didn't know what occasion the fancy clothing called for.

Turning to Sango, she leveled her eyes at the older girl with a ready smile. “Alright. Now let's see what your big surprise is.”

Sango grinned and nodded her approval, and together they headed out the door and toward the elevators.

Right away, Kagome noticed the difference in the level of activity from earlier that day. Where there had only been a few people around during the tour, it now seemed as if the entire populating of the city had come alive. There were people everywhere, standing along the railings of each floor and moving toward the elevators. Everyone—including Kagome and Sango—was headed downstairs, it seemed. As they walked, several people greeted Sango, and as the older girl returned their greetings, she took the opportunity to introduce Kagome to them as well.

Sango, at the insistence of the king, had been introducing Kagome using only her first name since her arrival in Alduray. He wanted to make her transition into the city as smooth as possible, and was afraid that, if people found out Kagome was his niece, her arrival might become sensationalized, drawing unwanted attention her way. So far however, no one had asked the new girl's last name. Of course, it was eventually going to get out that one of the king's relatives had been secretly moved into the city. But for now, Kagome was enjoying her anonymity.

As they exited the somewhat cramped elevator, Kagome cast a long glance around at all the other people, realizing that she had been worried about being all dressed up for nothing. The people who wandered about were dressed up just as much as she was, in every color and every style imaginable. Every single style she had ever seen, and a few she hadn't, were represented. There were far too many to even begin to count. What was almost more shocking was that everyone seemed to be getting along and mingling without regard to their obvious differences. It was a complete turn around from the way the rest of the world functioned, where style often seemed to dictate where a person fit into society.

Noticing Kagome's stare and seeming to guess what she was thinking, Sango leaned over and said softly, “It's a little different here, isn't it? We're all equals here, so no one feels judged or threatened. It's a nice atmosphere, don't you think?”

Kagome nodded and smiled. “It really is.”

They crossed the ground floor of the atrium and headed toward the corridor that Kagome had wondered about earlier in the day. Only now, she was able to get a clear view of it. What looked to be wrought iron sculpture crafted to resemble vines and foliage twisted and wound its way around the frame of the passage. The hint of sparkles she had noticed earlier turned out to be tiny beads of light, flowing along every branch, much brighter now than when she had seen them before. They seemed to run along the foliage like drops of water, falling from the leaves here and there to descend in tiny points of light, fading quickly as they fell through the air. Kagome paused to watch for a moment.

Glancing up, she noticed a plaque posted over the door. “Ad astra,” she read. “That's Latin, isn't it?”

“It means `To the stars',” Sango explained.

More points of light dripped down the vines, and as she followed them with her eyes, she found that the vines extended down into the passage, which was now lit dimly with ornate iron lamps posted along the walls, the light from which appeared to be provided by brightly glowing moths fluttering about where there should have been electric bulbs. The gently flickering light illuminated stairs leading downward, and as they began their descent, she noticed the hall was lined with large, round mirrors, framed in the same softly glowing foliage. The lights continued to run through the vines, heading downward, as if leading the way to something.

The stairs ended in a landing, then curved right to another flight that led down into a large hall. Here the vines seemed to spread out in every direction to cover the walls and then rise to creep across the ceiling. Congregating directly above the middle of the room, they tangled and twisted downward, dripping the thousands of tiny points of light into a shallow reflecting pool on the ground below. Glancing in, she found that the lights spread along the water's surface, then began to sink, but the depth of the pool seemed to go on forever, so that she felt as if she was staring down into a sky full of stars rather than a simple pool.

Directly in front of them, set into the wall, were three identical elevators, each one an intricately latticed cage of iron and glass. They reminded Kagome of huge birdcages. Most of the crowd waited patiently to board, while the rest continued down another flight of stairs off to one side. All were strangely quiet, speaking only in soft voices, as if in anticipation of something. Sango stood next to her, a calm, eager smile resting on her lips. Finally, they entered one of the elevators, and Sango lead her to the far side, where there was another pair of doors that appeared to look out on nothing but the flagstone wall of the elevator shaft.

As the last person entered and the doors slid shut behind them, the elevator quickly began its descent. There were no lights, so darkness set in almost immediately. Kagome briefly panicked at her sudden blindness, until she noticed that, as they continued downward, the stone wall of the shaft began to glow a soft blue-green. Looking closer, she found that it wasn't actually the stones themselves glowing, but large patches of cave lichen growing here and there, numerous and bright enough to softly light the inside of the elevator. She could hear a steady thumping, like the beat of a drum, growing progressively louder and increasing in cadence.

She was so interested in watching the strange lights float by that when the wall passed away, left far above as they descended, she was caught completely by surprise at the scene that lay before her, and she could do no more than stare out from behind the glass in awe as the elevator continued downward. A tremendous hall stretched out before her, as long as it was wide. Lights flashed and shot through the air, and the thumping had turned into the exhilarating beat of a song. Far ahead, she watched as sea of people danced to the steady rhythm.

As the elevator slowed to a stop and the doors in front of her slid open, Kagome stepped out and gaped up in wonder at something that just wasn't possible. Where there should have been a ceiling, she instead found herself staring out into the depths of space. A thousand stars blinked down at her, as colorful planets drifted by slowly in the distance. A river of glowing gases flowed through the sky and disappeared behind the jagged peaks of the towering rock walls that formed the sides of the hall. It was as if she stood at the base of a massive rectangular amphitheater carved out of the earth itself.

Sango stepped next to her and followed her gaze.

“It's not possible. We're below ground, aren't we?” she asked, finding that, despite the music, she didn't have to yell to be heard. She knew better than to ask such a silly question, she knew very well what she saw in front of her was an illusion, but it seemed so real that she couldn't help but doubt what her common sense told her. For all she could tell, they had been transported to some fantastic corner of the universe.

“It's amazing, isn't it?” Sango said proudly.

“How is it possible? Holographic images can't be created that big, that realistic.”

Sango smiled. “You'll find a lot of things are possible here that aren't possible anywhere else. This,” she gestured over the expanse, “is our sanctuary. This is where we can create anything we want. Our engineers are amazing. They provide the technology for all of this. You can't find a place like this anywhere else in the world. Wait until you see it on a night there's a special occasion.”

They stood at the top of a small landing that provided a raised view of the entire room. Before them, just beyond a short flight of stairs, was a large open area full of people meandering about. To their right were two large entrances to other parts of the hall. “Our film hall and game sphere are over there,” Sango said, pointing.

“What's a game sphere?” Kagome asked.

Sango chuckled. “You'll have to see it to understand.” She pointed to a large open side room to the left, with a vaulted ceiling and a large sheer curtain that partially covered the room from view. Again, despite the loud dance music, she could hear the gentle notes of a piano coming from that direction. “That's the lounge. Nice place to relax when you get tired of dancing. Just to the right of it, through that entrance there, is where the punks and rockers and such hang out. Music in there is pretty hardcore.”

They walked down the stairs, Kagome still gaping about, trying to take everything in. Beyond the open area in front of the elevators, more stairs led down to another wide landing, this one looking out over the dance floor. Sango pointed up and Kagome followed her gesture, finding three large balconies hanging high above them, along the right side of the hall. She also noticed a single large one far up on the opposite side. Curving down from each balcony was a narrow, ornate iron stairway. “Those are the prince's terraces. It's one of the few perks they get from their position—their own private places to relax. The first one is the red prince's, the second one is the black prince's and the third and farthest one belongs to the gold prince. The big one on the other side belongs to the king.”

Beneath the terraces were lavish sitting areas, filled with dark leather furniture, lit seductively by silver table lamps and baroque chandeliers hanging overhead. Placed on low tables around the furniture were hookahs, the colorful glass bases of which glowed brightly, lit from beneath. Scattered about were large, overstuffed pillows, some big enough to hold more than one person. Oval-shaped liquor bars, one directly below each terrace, sat nestled in the middle of each sitting area. Already there was a crowd gathered around each one.

Suddenly, the music changed, and she felt Sango grab her wrist tightly. “I love this song!” her friend exclaimed excitedly and took off toward the dance floor. “Come on!”

Still overwhelmed by the place, Kagome half ran, half allowed herself to be pulled along, the people they rushed past nothing more than a blur as Sango twisted and dodged through the crowd. It was too fast, and she wanted to slow down. She hadn't seen everything yet. “Sango! Wait!” she called out, but Sango only glanced back at her with a smile. As they reached the stairs that led down to the dance floor, Kagome grabbed the railing, pulling herself to a stop. Sango's hand slipped from her wrist and the older girl turned, that smile still on her lips as she began moving with the crowd, eventually disappearing into it.

Kagome watched her go, breathing heavily and clutching the rail tightly. It was all so overwhelming. The intoxicating music thumped in her chest as she stared out over the sea of people moving to the beat. The steady rhythm of snare drums beat faster suddenly, and a woman's voice sighed softly in time to the music, accompanied by a chorus of violins and a fragile chime that provided the melody. The lights flashed around her and she looked up again at the stars high above. The entire experience was so exhilarating that she felt as if it might drown her.

Suddenly, the lights went out and the music dropped. Only the small, gentle chime, continuing its melody, remained. The only thing visible was that impossible sky above. As she stood there gazing up, thousands of tiny points of light appeared, each brightly defined, and floated down from above. It reminded her of snow. As they fell around her, she held out her hand to catch them, the chime ringing sweetly in her ears. The lights passed without feeling through her hand and she turned her eyes out over the crowd, the entirety of which had stilled and extended their hands up toward the lights, as if welcoming them. The violins softly joined the chime, and together they began to rise in crescendo. She found herself holding her breath in anticipation as the melody reached the height of its verse.

Suddenly the drums pounded in her ears again—three loud beats—as a rush of air from along the outer edges of the dance floor raced up to engulf her, carrying with it thousands of tiny pieces of silver confetti high into the air. The music erupted again, sending the crowd back into a dancing frenzy as the lights flashed suddenly, reflecting off the swirling metallic paper. Whereas she had stood in a gently falling snow before, she now stood in the middle of a blizzard, the wind lifting her hair and ruffling her clothes. The music continued on, louder and more urgently than before. Her eyes slid shut as she allowed the sound and the wind to pass through her, lifting her. She felt her head tilt back and she opened her eyes, staring up through the flashing confetti to the stars above.

It was as if the city was embracing her, welcoming her.

Without hesitation, she took the last few steps down the stairs and into the mass of people dancing without restraint to the thrilling music. The sky above seemed to swirl around her, and she felt as if she could take off flying at any moment. She raised her hands high above her head, smiling. She was free here. She was safe here. And this is where she wanted to stay. Laughing aloud, she reached into the sky and danced with the crowd as the song reached its peak and finished in a flourish of drums and violins.

Still staring up, her eyes suddenly caught a flash of white and she froze, staring at the terrace above. Her arms slowly fell as she gazed up at a man with long white hair and two strange feral ears on top of his head, standing at the edge of the terrace, his elbows propped on the railing as he stared out over the crowd. Her breath caught in her throat at the sight of him again after so much time. She stepped forward as if to call out to him, but thought better of it before his name could escape her. As she stood there, a brunette appeared behind him, seductively wrapping her arms around his shoulders and whispering something in his ear. Kagome watched as Inuyasha smiled and turned, wrapped an arm around the woman's waist, and then disappeared from sight. All she could do was stand there, staring up at the spot where he had been, unmoving as the last of the song faded with soft violins and the haunting sigh of a woman.

*****

She saw no more of Inuyasha over the next couple of weeks. She knew she could just go to him if she chose to. But she was scared. After seeing him again just that one time, she felt heavy. She knew it was her guilt returning, weighing her down. She just couldn't bring herself to face him yet.

Within the span of her first two weeks, Kagome had managed to settle into her new life nicely, and her uncle was thrilled when she told him that she had decided to stay. She had started her new job the day following her tour, and she loved it. Her main responsibility was to test the soil in the dome and all the greenhouses everyday. It was easy enough. She carried a small computer with her that had an attached wand that she inserted deep into the ground. It automatically ran all the necessary tests and gave her the readings on its screen. She enjoyed the fresh air and getting to know all the people who worked in the greenhouses during her shift.

Sango had quickly become her best friend, and they spent almost every evening together, mostly underground, but sometimes they would go to the eco-dome or to the baths and just enjoy each other's company. At first, the `loose' atmosphere of the place had intimidated Kagome. Thanks to several remarkable medical breakthroughs, the dangers of casual sex that had existed long ago hadn't been a threat for decades now. But public opinion in the rest of the country remained cautiously prudent, and sexual indiscretion, while becoming more accepted after most of the dangers were eradicated, was still highly stigmatized. After living in such a restrained atmosphere for so long, it was little wonder she felt uneasy at first.

It took a week or so, but eventually she became accustomed to the uninhibited dispositions of her peers. After witnessing all manner of depravities during her first week, especially in the wings of the underground hall each evening, she doubted anything of a lascivious nature would ever shock her again. Though it didn't bother her, she did still feel a bit detached from it. Of course, she had been approached, but she felt that it was just too soon for her to begin thinking about things like that. She wanted to make sure she was good and settled in before getting involved with anyone. She had too much on her mind already without having to worry about that as well.

The troubling thoughts of Inuyasha always stayed in the back of her mind. She certainly couldn't avoid him forever, and it was a wonder she hadn't run into him already. She often found her mind wandering to thoughts of him, and that awful dream of the lab had returned to her again several times since her arrival. She knew Sango could tell that something was wrong, but she didn't want to tell the older girl her story just yet. And for her part, Sango never pressed the issue.

The night that began her third week in the city was spent on the dance floor. She didn't really feel like dancing this particular night, but Sango had insisted, and Kagome suspected her friend was trying to distract her from her thoughts. One thing Kagome had discovered about the immense underground hall was that the entire place was capable of transformation, using the same technology that was used to create the images overhead. They could create illusions of almost anything anywhere in the room—the falling lights she had seen on her first night; plants growing wildly and hanging from every staircase, balcony and overhang; `water' filled with hundreds of brightly colored fish that suddenly seemed to flow up from under their feet to fill the entire hall. It seemed the only limit on what they could create was the human imagination. The images overhead changed nightly, one night creating a brilliant illusion of space, the next a steaming rainforest, and the night after that sending everyone into the depths of the ocean.

Sometimes she couldn't tell exactly where or what they were trying to create with the illusions, but it didn't matter. Each one was just as realistic and breathtaking as the last. Even the dance floor was capable of transformation. She found this out the hard way one evening when the floor suddenly `disappeared' into an expanse of stars rushing up at her, giving her the feeling she was suddenly falling. She had grabbed onto Sango's arm in a panic, still feeling her feet on solid ground that was no longer there, and the older girl had laughed as she steadied her friend, telling Kagome that she had done the exact same thing the first time she had seen it as well.

Tonight there was a gentle breeze blowing across the dance floor, and the steady rhythm of the music encouraged her to relax and enjoy herself. The first few nights out Kagome had been a bit self-conscious about her dancing, but she had soon learned to loosen up and just let her body decide how it wanted to move. Sango had left to get a drink and rest a bit and Kagome eventually found herself dancing alone in an empty corner of the floor. She didn't glance up at Inuyasha's terrace, and found it strange that she had no urge to do so. She had noticed a huge gathering of people up there earlier in the evening, and Sango, following her gaze, had informed her, though somewhat reluctantly, that there was a party being held there for the red prince's twenty-sixth birthday. Kagome had passed it off with a shrug, pretending like it didn't matter.

Now, as she moved freely with the music, she felt someone come up from behind to place their hands on her hips, swaying gently with her. This wasn't unusual. There was always a fair amount of touching and groping going on, especially out on the dance floor. It was normal here. And Kagome couldn't deny the fact that she enjoyed the attention, though, with her, things never went any further than just petting.

She didn't need to glance back at him—she could tell from the form of the body pressing against her that this person was a man. She allowed herself to move with him, feeling his hands flexing on her hips, then strong arms wrapping around her to pull her closer. She felt a warm breath at her ear, followed by soft lips that trailed at a maddeningly slow pace from her ear, down past her hairline, to the nape of her neck. One of his hands came up to brush her hair back from where her neck and shoulder met, leaving the moisture from his kisses across her skin.

This is better than normal, she mused. Normally they just danced with her, but this one was much more bold, and she found that boldness exhilarating, deciding to let him continue on how he wanted. A hand pressed against her stomach, securing her against his chest, and she smiled at the intimate gesture. She lowered her head and turned her eyes down to where his hand rested against her skin, just as a shining lock of white hair spilled over her shoulder.

She stared at it dumbly for a moment. Then, as her movements slowed to a stop, she felt her heart drop into her stomach. A sudden roar, like frantic wings, filled her ears, threatening to drown out every other sound. As he lowered his head to return his attention to her shoulder, she slowly pulled her gaze up to find a white, triangular ear hovering next to her cheek. His lips and tongue were on her skin again, and before she could stop herself, before she could rationalize the situation, his name escaped her lips in a whisper.

“Inu…yasha…”

The man behind her froze, his gaze snapping up to stare in disbelief at her with a striking golden eye. They stood there for what felt like an eternity, as if petrified, neither one able to move. Suddenly, the shock seemed to clear from his eyes, replaced instantly by rage. He shoved her away with a vicious snarl, causing her to stumble forward. Barely managing to catch herself before she fell to the ground, she turned to him, a look of dismay on her face, his violent reaction filling her with dread. It's all messed up now, she thought. Not this way…

Inuyasha stared at her, his eyes flashing with anger and confusion. He took a step back, then another, balling his fists and shaking his head as if in denial of what he saw in front of him.

“Wait,” she pleaded, raising a hand to stop him, but he turned and ran off of the dance floor and into the crowd above. She rushed after him. “Please!” she called out, but he was too far ahead. With the music blaring he wouldn't have heard her anyway. By the time she got to the top of the stairs, gasping for breath and looking around desperately, he was no where to be found.

Continued in Chapter 6 - Bad Blood

A/N: This chapter was inspired by a piece of music from the soundtrack for the anime Gankutsuou, called Kaishou. It's the piece I listened to while writing about Kagome's first night in the city and is basically the soundtrack for the first half of the chapter. It's also the piece of music that, along with the stunning imagery from Gankutsuou and an EXTREMELY weird dream, inspired this entire story. It's an awesome piece, so I just thought I'd gush about my muse!

Music for this chapter:

Kaishou - Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo OST

Song for Holly - Estero