InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Single Wish ❯ Scroll Eight ( Chapter 8 )

A Single Wish

 

By: OtakuSailorV

 

*~* Scroll Eight - Wishes *~*

 

Kagome smiled as she ran over to Sango, who was waving cheerily to her from atop a hill. Behind her, Kagome could see Miroku, Shippo, Kirara, and Inuyasha already seated beneath a large wisteria tree, smiling at her.

 

Without thought or hesitation, Kagome raced towards them, her heart fluttering with love in her chest and reaching out to them as eagerly as her outstretched arms were.

 

As hard as she was running though, she did not seem to be gaining any ground at all. In fact, it appeared as if the hill was getting farther and farther away, and her once brisk movements were now painfully sluggish. Frustrated, Kagome strained to go faster, knowing that she was capable of more speed than what she was currently putting out. Her body would not listen though; it was as if she was just a floating consciousness trapped inside of a shell of a body.

 

In front of her, the hill disappeared; the happy, smiling faces running like ink as a downpour of rain suddenly enveloped her. Ceasing her running at this, she shivered, frantically looking about her, though there was nothing to see in the darkness that surrounded her.

 

The scuffing of old sandals against the ground met her ears and she turned, hugging herself to keep warm as a shape materialized out of the shadows in the distance. Closer and closer it came, becoming more and more distinct as it drew nearer. Kagome sucked in her breath hesitantly as she recognized the familiar person that was making their way towards her; she'd never been quite comfortable around Kikyou.

 

The miko stopped short, nearly bumping into Kagome, her emotionless eyes staring deeply into Kagome's for a few short moments. After a pause, she shoved a bow into Kagome's hands roughly, a deep sadness welling up in her eyes as she did so.

 

“Do you think you can escape my fate?” Kikyou spoke, and her voice was drowning in the misery that was hidden behind her eyes.

 

Kagome looked down at the bow, feeling her own soul ache as it struck a chord with Kikyou's plight. They shared the same soul after all…

 

Looking back up, a forest surrounded her now, and Kikyou was gone. The rain had stopped as well, and from what she could tell, she was no longer wet.

 

Before she could puzzle over this, her senses rang out a warning and she ran skittishly as a loud crashing startled her. Trees raked at her skin and bushes tripped her up as she feebly attempted to outrun her unknown pursuer. She couldn't tell what was following her, for her senses would not allow any sort of concentration, letting her know only that she was in danger and need do nothing else but run.

 

A blur streaked by overhead, clawing at her as it passed and she shrieked in fright, pulling her arms against her chest and notching the arrow to the bow that she held still. Her eyes were squeezed shut in fright, and, without thinking, she released the arrow randomly, not even sure if she was aiming at anything.

 

A gasp of pain and shock met with the dull `thud' of the arrow meeting its target. Startled that the arrow had met anything, she opened her eyes.

 

Inuyasha, his right hand wet with blood, stared back at her in shock, his mouth slightly open and his eyes wide in pain. Kagome gasped, feeling tears well up as she dropped the bow and dragged her shaking hands down the sides of her cheeks in dismay. What had she done? What had she done?!

 

She stopped as her hand met something wet; pulling it back, she stared dully at the blood that smeared her palm. She looked back at Inuyasha, her gaze lingering on his sullied right hand. Inuyasha had been trying to…?

 

“Inuyasha…” she whispered, hurt and despair etching her as tears rolled down her cheeks. It couldn't be true, this was just too much…

 

He stared at her, his eyes glazing over as he stumbled backwards, his left hand reaching towards her weakly. “Kagome…?”

 

Kagome let out a cry, jumping forward to try and stop him from falling, but the darkness whirled in. Now a fire raged around her, hot and sweltering, oppressively bearing down upon her as she fought to breathe. Distressed, she cried out again, looking about for Inuyasha wildly.

 

Turning about, she fell silent as a tall, powerful looking miko and an equally tall and foreboding demon came into view. Neither seemed bothered by either the heat or her presence; staring at each other fixedly and without expression. In the miko's hand was a sword, and Kagome knew without having to look twice that this regal woman was Midoriko. She had seen both them…yes, this man was Midoriko's demon lover from the story. Yes…Yes, both of them had appeared to her after she had made her wish on the Shikon no Tama…

 

As she was pondering this, Midoriko turned her head towards Kagome, her eyes drooping with weary despair; a sadness as great as Kikyou's. Kagome stared, knowing full well why the miko, as feared and powerful as she was, now looked so weak and lost. It was the same reason that Kikyou wanted to give Inuyasha the Shikon no Tama, the same reason that Kagome had wished on a star; a yearning so deep and potent that it hurt, shook one's being to the core.

 

“I'm sorry,” Kagome couldn't stop the words from leaving her mouth, couldn't understand what she was sorry for. Tears streamed down her cheeks, but they dissolved instantly as the heat of the fire brushed them away.

 

Midoriko nodded solemnly, her eyes closing slowly as her hair whipped about her in a wild frenzy.

 

“Do you think you can escape my fate?”

 

Again this question shook Kagome, but in Midoriko's tone Kagome could hear Kikyou's voice as well. The two were weighted down with sorrow, and the question that they pressed upon Kagome seemed void of any sort of hope. Rather, the two voices seemed to say: `you cannot escape this.'

 

Up rose the great miko, floating in the air high above the fire storm. The demon stepped back, dissolving into darkness as he watched his lover ascend. And then a massive shape solidified around Midoriko, her arms raised for combat. Kagome recognized the pose; it was the same that Midoriko's mummified body had held in the cave that acted as her shrine. And the beast that twisted about her, her eternal foe, was-

 

The Leviathon hissed in rage, his empty eyes widening in pain. The creature, long imprisoned within the Shikon no Tama opposite the miko Midoriko, now writhed as its flesh bubbled and erupted. Its cries were deafening and the smell it gave off was enough to make one's eyes run. The grisly lumps of flesh that served as the beast's limbs gave out; its claws scraping at the dirt furiously as it attempted to bring itself back to its feet. From its jaws came black-stained blood that sizzled as it hit the earth below. Labored wheezes heaved loudly as its lungs collapsed, the mangy fur falling out in thick patches. It was dying now, but the damage had been done…

 

* * *

 

Kagome started, drenched in a cold sweat from her nightmare. Nightmare? Had it really been only that? She pressed her palms to her forehead in an attempt to cool the feverish heat that engulfed her head. It had felt so real, looked so real, and yet…a nightmare?

 

She wasn't sure what caught her attention, but Kagome was suddenly jolted again, her teeth grinding against each other as she looked about herself wildly. Where was she? What had happened?

 

The terrain about her was devastated, scraggly trees that were burned black clung to the red-stained soil, stretching out their decrepit boughs to the darkened sky. A sickly wind blew by, carrying with it the scent of disease and pestilence, and awakening a primal urge to preserve oneself against such malefactors. A stagnant river ran through what must have once been a village way off in the distance, the remnants of buildings now only a few scattered beams and pencil-thick sticks charred to the ground.

 

Kagome stared, wide-eyed and slack-jawed. It was the picturesque scene of a broken and abandoned world; she swore, if she had been taken into one of her little brother's crazy RPG video games by all of this, she was going to scream. (Really, such a fanciful idea didn't seem too farfetched to her at this point.)

 

Getting to her feet, she looked everything over carefully, considering her predicament. This was no easy task however, for a thousand and one thoughts ran through her mind, screaming for her attention and ranging from plausible to outrageous in nature. There was no way of calming them either, for attempting to do so only seemed to generate more commotion from the frenzy.

 

“About time you woke up, girl,” a familiar voice cooed, frightening her out of her skin.

 

She jerked about, glaring at Naraku, who was seated in his usual pompous manner, resting against a tree. She hadn't suspected that he would still be around, but in a way she was glad, he might be able to provide some answers.

 

“What are you doing here?” she demanded immediately. Despite her previous notions, she was suspicious of his every movement. Why would he still be hanging around and not have killed her while she was lying in the dirt?

 

He smirked at her and she could hear the scoff in his voice. “You dragged us here, miko,” he retaliated simply. “When you destroyed that creature, you took us here.”

 

Kagome stared at him for a long time, probing his red eyes, but there was nothing there but mockery. He couldn't be telling the truth, there was no way she could have done anything like that…

 

“Where are we?” she asked instead, bothered by the fact that she had seen no hint of depth in his eyes, no sign that he was anything less than a cunning beast. She had known he was a vile and merciless, contemptible demon from the beginning, but there was just something wrong with this…It wasn't like she was able to sense magical powers or anything very well, but there was that old saying that the `eyes were the windows to the soul,' right? Since she was a child - and she knew for a fact she wasn't the only one - she had felt most comfortable around a person when she made eye contact. And yet, in Naraku's eyes she had seen nothing, as if there was nothing beyond them; just his smug laughter bearing down on her. Such emptiness in a person made her very core rattle with fear, though she wasn't entirely sure why.

 

“This is what is left of the world inside your well,” Naraku replied with a cold tone that bore the smallest hint of triumph.

 

She was too stunned to talk, to breathe; for a moment, all of her thoughts had halted, pausing on a moment that seemed to extend into eternity. Then, with a painful jerk, everything came back together, and she was bombarded with an overwhelming amount of emotions and thoughts that made her knees buckle.

 

What was left? Then, the village she'd noted before, the one with the stagnant river…it was…

 

Without thinking, she raced towards the ruins, her feet pounding hard against the dirt and rock as she grit her teeth. Screwing up her lips, she forced back sobs and tears that had appeared the instant the thoughts had settled in.

 

`No, no,' she told herself desperately as fond memories played before her minds eye. It just couldn't be…

 

The air was putrid, thick with the disease that the stagnant water in the river carried and the sorrow of those lost souls that remained chained to the desolate place. The aura of such woe some spirits sent a shiver down her spine that shook free a few tears that slid down her cheeks.

 

Looking about, she traced her steps through the demolished village, imagining that she was in Kaede-obaa-chan's village of days past and comparing it to what she saw before her now. Her heart pounded in her chest loudly, hammering away at each second that crawled painfully by.

 

A blackened skeleton of an old tree had crumbled to the ground to her left, a tree that she'd once sat under with Inuyasha. Not far off, a bank had eroded away from the scorched and broken bridge that had once allowed traffic to pass over the waters of the now stagnant river. On either side of the river were the scattered remains of huts and the ramshackle bits of housing that had once stood proudly.

 

Tears welled up in her eyes, but she choked them back, bunching her hands up into fists at her sides. It was true…

 

“Are you going to stand there and cry, miko?”

 

She hated that voice, she hated it. No, not just the voice, she hated the eyes, the sneering lips, the face, everything about this monster. Everything good and wonderful in her life had been taken away by him, everything!

 

Whirling, she raised her fists over her head and swung them down furiously, gasping in surprise as they were caught by two of Naraku's tentacles. He still had the power to materialize them?

 

“Ku ku ku, surprised, miko? I may have had much of my shouki drained by that damned tree in your era, but I regained my power while you slept,” he was dangerously close to her face now, his red eyes alive with murderous intent. Kagome squirmed in his grip, gritting her teeth. It was true, he had his power back, though she could tell that it was not fully restored yet.

 

“I'm sure you sense it too though, don't you,” he continued after a brief pause and pulled back, turning to look at the sky crossly.

 

Kagome was puzzled by his words and followed his eyes, but there was nothing to be seen. Ah, he'd said `sense' though, hadn't he? Furrowing her brow, she concentrated on the energies around her…

 

The force of such power stunned her though- never before had she felt such a huge amount of shouki, not even from Naraku!

 

“What is that?” she couldn't help but say, albeit it was barely audible.

 

Naraku didn't answer, releasing his hold on her before turning his bright crimson eyes on her once more. Kagome returned his glare, though she was inwardly uneasy about the whole ordeal. If he had his powers back, even just a little, then she had more to worry about; she didn't doubt that he'd try to kill her at every opportunity, and she wasn't about to die until she cleared up this whole mess.

 

“…Miko-san?”

 

Kagome gasped, turning about as the voice broke in on her thoughts. She hadn't been expecting anyone to speak, especially someone referring to her as miko-`san.'

 

From the wreckage of a nearby hut came a dirty man clothed in a torn and sullied yukata. He stared at her with dull eyes that had only the merest flicker of intelligence and hope in them as he looked at her. His cracked and bloodied lips twisted into a small smile of recognition.

 

“Miko-san, you're…” he paused as his eyes fell on Naraku. Cowering, the little light in his eyes was snuffed out immediately as he pulled back into the hut.

 

Looking over at Naraku, Kagome huffed as she realized what had frightened the man and went forward slowly, carefully peeking into the dim light hesitantly.

 

“What's the matter? What happened here?” Kagome asked softly as she nudged aside the bamboo screen that hung over the doorway.

 

The man sat in the corner, huddled into a ball with his arms raised up and wrapped about the top of his head. He shook visibly, his eyes wide as his mouth worked on words that he fumbled over stupidly. He refused to make eye contact with Kagome at first and even seemed to have forgotten that she was there at all. Confused by this, Kagome hesitated on what she should do next.

 

“Sir, sir,” she came closer, crouching down and making slow signs in the air to try and get the man's attention.

 

After a moment, his frantic eyes twitched towards her and then darted away again, as if he were afraid to look at her. He fell silent and just as she was about to address him again, he spoke, though his voice was trembling and faint.

 

“A monster…a horrifying creature…it came out nowhere, no, no…” he fell silent again, shaking, his fingers scratching at his scalp feverishly. “No, it came from the land between the North and the East…it…horrible, horrible,” and then he jumped up onto his knees, catching Kagome by her shoulders and shaking her stiffly. His eyes stared wildly into hers. Kagome stiffened, her lips parting in surprise as she stared at the beggar-man in fright.

 

“That man, he is dangerous, he is like that monster…no, the monster was worse, but he is a monster, Miko-san…get away Miko-san, get far away; down the well…down the well…” he released her again, letting out a long breath as he pulled back into his huddled ball. From then on he would say nothing more nor even look at Kagome when she tried to speak with him.

 

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Ah, sorry about the long wait, though I guess it wasn't nearly as long as last time, eh? Heheh…

 

I'm on spring break right now, so I'm trying my hardest to update as much as I can. I'm gonna work on the next chapters for Lost World, Servant and No One Like You next, ok?

 

Oh yes, and I started a Naraku/Kagome fanclub on deviantArt! That's right, a fanclub! It's pretty small right now, but I plan to have up links to various fanfiction and such soon. There's a link to the fanclub in my profile, so be sure to check it out, ok?

 

There was a reviewer question about which `wish' Naraku had been referring to when he'd spoken to Kagome in the last chapter. And since I don't see where I would include that answer in the story, I'll answer it here instead. Simply put, he's referring to her wish on the Shikon no Tama since in actuality that wish is the only one that had any magical weight in Kagome's world. Her wish on the shooting star was just that, a wish, which is no more tangible or noteworthy than dropping a coin in a wishing well.

 

Well, I believe that's it for now everyone. I'll see you all next chapter! Ja'ne!!

 

Review Please