InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Two Worlds ❯ Between Now and Then ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter Three

 

Between Now and Then

 

 

I'll admit it.

 

I was both shocked and upset when I discovered and read Inuyasha's letter, though I wasn't even sure if he really wrote it. I wanted to believe that a poltergeist or something like it had written the letter, but I greatly doubted that as a possibility. Yet I knew for a fact that Inuyasha wasn't into literature.

 

His brother probably was, however, his brother was everything that Inuyasha was not.

 

I found it hard to sleep that night and I never got a chance to close the window, basking in overwhelming anticipation that Inuyasha might come back while I was fast asleep. That, hopefully, I would be spooned against his lean, muscular body by the time I woke up to the soft rays of dawn. Sadly, when I stirred, he wasn't there, and the bedroom felt immensely chilly due to the unmistakable fact that I left the window open during the whole entire night.

 

I hugged the blankets closer to my body as I came to a more comfortable, upright position in bed.

 

A couple of days ago, the day I got my new phone, I connected an external caller ID to it. The phone was sitting on my desk, nearby my digital alarm clock, which plainly read 1:45 PM. Thankfully I didn't have to go to work today and wearily began to sink deeper underneath my blanket with intentions of nodding back off to sleep. That was before I realized that my eyes wouldn't close, solely determined to get me to notice the one number on my caller ID that kept flashing, in and out of existence.

 

I twisted my neck around to face the phone, shielding my eyes from the glaring sunlight with a random hand as I pushed myself upwards and craned my neck over the edge of my work-desk. A second later, I sighed heavily and slammed my head back down onto my pillow, happy when I felt its reassuring coolness flood up around my cheeks. I quietly listened to the dying groans slipping from the sinking bedsprings beneath me, desperately trying to escape the prominent, yet horrid fact hovering high above me like some repulsive vulture.

 

I knew whom the number belonged to, but it was a name that I hoped never to mention during a dire, lovesick crisis such as this one.

 

“Hojo...” I murmured to the ceiling above, “Why does it have to be him of all people?”

 

ii. Guess Who

 

Arisu wasn't at work at all the next day I came strolling into Symphonia Inc. One of my coworkers mentioned that she'd called in sick, which brought a hint of leisure to the tension steadily building up in my shoulders. I didn't want to admit to her that she was right…right about the fact that I would find that special, “fairytale” man of my dreams at a wealthy get-together where all the men, I brashly presumed, were at least over 40 and dating young women just for the sake of regaining their youth.

 

I sighed.

 

I don't really know Hojo all that well though...excluding the fact that I sometimes talked to him in high school...to really say he's my special— I gulped—man...do I? I hummed gently to myself as I punched in the `up' button to the main elevator.

 

He's...okay, but the fact still remains that I didn't see him as `boyfriend' material back in high school. My eyes and...my heart...were only infatuated with Inuyasha at the time. But, now that I don't see him anymore, Hojo's suddenly became this absolutely perfect guy that—that I'd foolishly slept with...that I'd kissed and hugged like we were actually a real couple!

 

The twin, metal doors to the elevator suddenly jerked open. I stepped in slowly, almost cringing in distaste when I heard the usual, crummy elevator music drift into my ears once the doors whisked shut and I pressed the 11th button on the control panel. The music may've not been entirely crummy, but it was classical from what I could tell of the melodic hum of violins and the relaxing shrill of flutes—the very type of music that they were playing at Hojo's so-called surprise bash.

 

I groaned, anticipation practically uncurling inside of me like some huge, lethargic cat poised to pounce at any moment. It could've been from walking around with a full stomach from lunch earlier that day, but I doubted that immensely. Since when did a full stomach give you peculiar, anticipation pains...or...cramps?

 

Fortunately, to my absolute satisfaction, the elevator stopped and the doors glided open. I walked out onto the carpeted walkway and started back towards my office with slow, patient steps, examining the design weaved into the carpet distractedly.

 

I never was quite fond of the carpet design that the incorporation chose. Despite the fact that it was somewhat beautiful and opulent, people who drank coffee while trying to get to their respective workplaces would often waste it and that very incident would cause unsightly brown stains that no one ever bothered to clean up to sprout all over its bright red center.

 

It truly and most definitely made my skin crawl, but I needed something to look at it in order to deter away from my thoughts.

 

“Good evening, Ms. Higurashi.”

 

I looked up with a hint of surprise gripping my expression as I stepped into my personal, work quarters. My secretary, Tsusami, was sitting behind her desk with her tiny, almost colorless hand clenching the bottom of a phone receiver. She smiled lightly and I returned it with a very sparse one of my own that probably held some likeness to a strangely contorted frown. If it did then Tsusami didn't say a word as she resumed whatever kind of conversation she was having over the telephone. While she chattered on restlessly, I stalked across the room and slipped into my office without saying a word, closing the door gently behind me as to not interrupt her conversation.

 

The only place I can run to, I thought to myself with an almost inaudible sigh. No thinking about Hojo or Inuyasha or my love-life-gone-bad. All I have to worry about now is getting my paperwork done and dealt with.

 

I plunked down rather unladylike in my swivel chair and twisted and turned uneasily. It almost felt as if I was neck-deep in a human-sized bowl of batter, being churned mercilessly with an automatic mixer. My stomach drew slightly inward as something gnawed gently...then warningly at my sensitive innards. I sighed again and leaned back against my chair, quite satisfied with my earlier decision to wear jeans to work instead of a skirt. I hung my head back, the sun shining far-too happily in my eyes.

 

I squeezed my eyes shut and slowly began massaging my temples with very forceful fingers. The pressure and friction of it all was enough to dim the pain, if only a little bit. For that, I smiled as my arms dropped limply at my sides.

 

Beep.

 

“Maybe it wouldn't hurt to go out with him,” I murmured to myself, “After all, I'm not seeing Inuyasha anymore and going out ought to do my heart some good…right?”

 

I sighed, despair suddenly finding a momentary, out-of-the-way refuge in my heart.

 

There was another beep.

 

Then another.

 

Then another.

 

My patience, the one trait that I was so well known for, was steadily running thin. Without moving my head, I felt around for the speakerphone button on my telephone. I counted the first row of assorted buttons as if it was an everyday chore.

 

1...2...3...4...

 

Bingo!

 

“Yes, Tsusami?” I murmured, my hand plopping back down onto my lap as a sigh pried through my lips. I could already taste the bitter tang of my lip-gloss tiptoe furtively onto my tongue and gagged.

 

“Are you all right, Ms. Higurashi?” Tsusami suddenly asked.

 

I managed a brief nod, though I knew it was impossible for her to see that while she sat waiting for my response in the other room. “Yeah, I'm just fine,” I replied.

There was silence.

 

“Well...umm...” she stammered, “The main desk just called. They said that there's someone here to see you.”

 

“Really...” I answered breathily. I hated to think who it might be, but most of my insinuations were unexplainable and unverified, “Tell the main desk I'll be down there in a second, okay Tsusami?”

 

“Okay.” The line clicked and immediately went dead. I turned off the speakerphone and tried my best to gather the rest of my fractured nerves by running a hand down my face and groaning.

 

Please don't let it be who I think it is. I moved my mouth from left to right out of pure habit and then did the same with my nose. My mother always did say I was going to catch wrinkles by doing that, but I was somehow immune to them just like I was with chicken pox...that is...before I entered the 7th Grade.

 

I smiled grimly.

 

Goodness knows I missed her and grandpa so much.

 

Getting out of my desk chair and making my way back towards the elevator, I kept on hoping (maybe even praying) that Hojo wasn't down there waiting for me. When the elevator jerked and made its long journey back down to the main floor, another thought came to mind and I nearly slapped myself upside the head, I should've asked Tsusami for the person's name. Maybe then I could've avoided being seen if I'd told her to tell the main desk and my special guest that I was still out at lunch.

 

“Damn,” I cursed just as the elevator jolted to a stop and its doors swiftly glided open. I almost felt like closing my eyes as I stepped out onto the conspicuously hard linoleum that calmly detested my presumption that this was just a dream...or even a horrid nightmare. Though my eyes didn't stay close for long, I could already imagine myself nearing closer to the main desk.

 

Eyes half-lidded, I ran into something hard—and as I desperately felt around—with muscles. Subtle, but fairly noticeable muscles.

 

Meekly—uncertainly if you want to include the profuse puddle of embarrassment pooling deep down within my stomach—I looked up into the chocolaty brown eyes of—

 

“Souta!” I gasped. The woman behind the main desk spared me a startled glance, but I casually ignored her and the strange frown on her face.

 

“The one and only,” he chortled heartily, the sound of it all still ringing with sonorous innocence.

 

“Wow...umm...” I started to look around and beamed triumphantly when my eyes rested on the lounging area nearby the astonishingly tall, cathedral-looking window to the front of the building. I quickly grabbed Souta's hand, “C'mon!” Quickly I dragged him off to the large, crimson couch sitting in between a circle of matching armchairs. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Souta and my grip nearly slackened. He was gawking. The look on his face was unbelievably priceless...memorable...juvenile...

 

And absolutely hilarious!

 

I giggled softly…maybe even loudly. I couldn't really tell until I received a couple of strange looks from most of employees just coming in from lunch. But I wasn't the least bit embarrassed. Honestly, it was quite on the contrary.

 

To see my brother there...in his entire, innocent, boyish grandeur was enough for me to slip off the brink that separated adults from children. But did I mind? Not really.

 

I smiled broadly at Souta as he and I plunked down onto the soft, velveteen cushions of the couch. I could've sighed when I felt those cushions brush against my back like the phenomenal touch of a masseur...with careful...bashfully moving fingers sporting razor-sharp...claws.

 

My smile died suddenly in the vast stream of sunlight coursing through the windows. Souta stopped laughing and looked at me with a great deal of concern, “Ka...gome...?”

 

My face scrunched up and I bowed my head to evade his unwanted gaze. A lonely tear scorched the inside of my eyelid and slowly traveled down my cheek. I quickly wiped it away with my hand.

 

“I'm fine,” I whispered, and my voice almost cracked.

 

“Ya sure?” His brown eyes were glistening beautifully now in the dancing sunbeams...tantalizingly if we were both unrelated strangers and I was a woman deprived of any kind of love life whatsoever.

 

If only…if only I didn't have a life…

 

I sniffled pathetically. “No worries. I'm just fine,” I lied.

 

Souta was silent...I was silent...and phones were softly ringing in my ears.

 

Ring. Ring.

 

Ring. Ring.

 

Ring...

 

I was shaking, teetering helplessly on the verge of yelling my head off and wrenching my hair out of my head. An arm...a thick and hairy arm...wrapped gently around my shoulders in reassurance. I didn't shrug them off, even when they made a timid attempt to pull me closer against Souta. Instead, I smiled softly, but in Souta's eyes, it actually looked like an unshakable frown and his concern mounted considerably.

 

“I'm sorry,” he apologized.

 

“For what?” I looked up at him. The moistness welling in my eyes had finally withered away, “You didn't do anything wrong.”

 

“Then what made you cry?”

 

He'd known! I was so sure he couldn't see the pain...the misery...my misery...and the torture...and my tears—

 

“I... I just remembered something. Don't worry about it.” I smiled a fake and almost emotionless smile.

 

Souta didn't seem to care and moved his eyes away from mine to look out of the window, “You're still the same.”

 

Huh? “Same what?” I asked, eyes slightly wide.

 

He was silent. Don't get me wrong...it wasn't that brief, poignant kind of silence that always pursues after one of those dismal moments...but it was lengthy. Unbelievably...aggravatingly...despicably lengthy!

 

“Souta...” I murmured. Or was that growled?

 

A smile broke out over his face. My control was rapidly running thin...so very thin. When he refused to open his mouth during times such as this, restraint seemed oddly distant. Every time I mumbled something that came very, very close to being indecent, his smile only grew and my anger elevated, lapping dangerously at the surface. My fingers itched to curl into a tight fist and wham him upside the head just so I could wipe that silly grin off his face. Oh how temptation betrayed me so...

 

I sighed...

 

He chortled...

 

I poked my lip out and started to sulk.

 

“Okay, okay.” He finally caved in. “I just noticed that...” he stammered, “that...”

 

“Yeah...” I leaned in closer...and closer until I was sure I could hear every single word that slipped off of his tongue. I was determined...strangely determined at that...to hear what he had to say.

 

“You must still miss him,” he suddenly spoke, and his eyes veered sharply to rest on mine.

 

“W—what? What are you talking about, Souta?” I was fully flushed now, but not out of embarrassment.

 

“That guy,” he briefly replied before a sly grin curled his lips and his eyes narrowed suspiciously, “That must be why you're blushing.”

 

I looked at him with wide eyes, outright clueless. Where was he exactly getting at?

 

“What guy!” I yelled, “I'm blushing completely out of frustration!”

 

I received a couple of looks from the main desk personnel again, but still could've cared less.

 

Souta chuckled, “You know…Inuyasha onii-chan. You still miss him, right?”

 

My eyes narrowed. My heart stopped. A strange look, I was sure, crept furtively onto my face—

 

Then my blood boiled...and something—like a warm, dry dishrag—was pressed against my breastbone, all but properly scrubbing at my insides. Naturally I cringed, but that one reaction didn't keep me from sourly glowering up at my kid brother. Though he was only 4 years younger than me, and quite strangely at times acted somewhat older than me, he was still and forever will be my little brother. Undoubtedly, it was my natural birthright to be the oldest and take on more responsibilities than the youngest sibling, and my pride would most rather wallow in disappointment of losing a duel to Kikyo than hand that right over to Souta.

 

After all, I constantly got a kick out of still being able to tell him what to do after all these years…

 

“I—I won't even dignify that ill-mannered comment with an answer.” I folded my arms and crossly turned the other cheek, mumbling, “I advise you to never ask that question again.”

 

Souta looked at me with wide, owlish eyes. His gaze barely faltered and the smile on his face slowly died into a disorientated frown, “I was so sure you still missed him—”

 

“W—wait a minute!” I moved to confront his sparkly eyes, realization falling down on me suddenly, “At Mama's funeral you...you said that...that...”

 

“Oh,” he bluntly murmured, “I was just pulling your leg.”

 

I gawked.

 

“After all,” he continued with a youthful smirk, “how could I forget about my first, real hero?”

 

I was more than ready, more than willing to give him a conscientious, but ridiculously childish tongue-lashing when I felt some mysterious, ghostly hand clench my throat in a tough stranglehold. My voice was instantly swallowed whole in its clutches and I felt myself wheezing, trying my best regain some control over my racing mind and the unsteady pulsing of my heart. Strangely, on its own accord, my hand fisted itself in the chest of my shirt.

 

“How could you?” I asked contemptuously through gritted teeth.

 

Souta flung me a strange look, “What are you—?”

 

I bowed my head to conceal the flare of anger kindling in my eyes, “How could you lie like that...and at Mama's funeral?”

 

I did the only thing I could do when fury overwhelmed me—

 

I balled my hands into severely tight fists. My knuckles were glowing a deathly white just as I heard Souta stumble over his words.

 

“Ka—Kagome! W—what's wrong with you! I just didn't want you to get heartsick while dumping your whole focus onto him. You were already in so much pain…”

 

I couldn't explain the ache that suddenly enveloped my throat and caused my jaw to clench. Could be the fact that I was completely speechless, overwhelmed by the unrelenting waves of anger lapping at my insides without any leniency whatsoever.

 

“Look...” I spoke softly, tentatively, “I'll just go back to work. I'm sure you know the way out, ne?”

 

“Kagome...” Souta quickly seized my wrist just as I eased off the couch and started to make my way back to the main elevator. I looked at him insensitively, but he looked at me exactly the opposite, rebelliously contradicting my gaze like a child who's finally grown tired of forcing things to go his way. I wanted to wrap my fingers around his neck and throttle him hard and mercilessly for that simple action.

 

He was the cause of this sudden pain rushing through my body in an uncontrollable maelstrom of emotions. I just wanted it...to stop.

 

“Kagome…” he started again, probably hoping that I wouldn't make a frustrated attempt to snatch my wrist from his unsure grasp and stomp back towards the elevator doors, “If I knew that was going to make you angry…I wouldn't have…shouldn't have…”

 

“Souta!” I yelled, all while both my patience and composure snapped with the careless tug wrenching at my heart, forcing it to sink deeper and deeper into the darkness…distortion…corruption…bitter coldness that had settled in the depths of my stomach, “You just don't understand...do you?”

 

Souta looked at me in a way I've never seen him look before. I couldn't really tell if the look on his face was one of sadness...betrayal...or confusion, but it did look pain-stricken and roughly frolicked with my heartstrings.

 

My brown eyes bored angrily into his until minutes crept stealthily by and his grasp suddenly slackened. My mind, unfortunately, was stuck between a grueling stalemate of moral and immoral decisions. I didn't know if I could leave, playing on the foolish insinuation that my mind had concocted, or if I could make a fearful, mad dash for the elevator. I wanted to leave, believing that Souta was the cause of this pain...this incurable, excruciating knot in my back and abdomen, that he was the cause of this electrifying anguish that always washed over me every time my heart beats.

 

I wanted lies. Sweet, little, deceiving lies to whisper against my ears and impishly tease my earlobes with its blistering breath.

 

Yes...that's exactly what I wanted. And so I whispered, “Bye, Souta” and ran towards the elevator, this time paying close attention to the odd looks that the main desk personnel was tossing my way and the monotonous ringing of the telephones.

 

iii. Shopping Spree

 

The mall…

 

I always felt at home in a vast building swarming with countless people that didn't know a single thing about my past or me. It was the closest heaven that I could seek from the nerve-wracking confinements that littered both Hokkaido and my pleasant-dreams-turned-nightmares. I could always come here...be happy...be carefree...think about the irritatingly strict budget that I'd put myself on a few months ago…and never worry about having to run into Inuyasha or anyone for that matter.

 

I hadn't heard from Hojo in three whole days. His calls were undoubtedly replaced by those of Souta trying to check up on me to see if I was still angry. Though I didn't answer a single call, I wanted to tell him that my rage had finally blown over, but the worst was sure to come. There was just something simmering somewhere deep down within me like a feminine sixth sense. I didn't exactly know where to pinpoint it, but I was sure I could feel it. And though I was strongly determined to think that it was just my sacred powers going haywire, I already knew that that was impossible. After my mother called for someone to seal the well due to so-called “evil happenings,” and after the pulsing presence that were mainly associated with the sacred jewel shards had left my body completely...my powers had gradually grown dormant until I was no longer able to use them anymore.

 

I sighed as I pulled back yet another dress, hardly satisfied with the message it was sending me through its very low-necked design. But what was the use? Even if I did find a gorgeous dress that I really liked, a certain budget kept on creeping into the foremost recesses of my mind. Fortunately, that didn't keep me from rushing into the nearest dressing room and slipping on the very first dress that sparked my interests.

 

The entire room was empty when I slipped in. Quickly, but quietly, I entered the nearest stall and began changing, lying my things on the bench attached to the wall opposite the door. Since there was no mirror in the very small cubicle, I went outside to look at myself in the one hoisted on the farthest wall to the left. I couldn't say I wasn't happy with the barefooted image staring back at me through so-called mirror-land. Her toes wriggled as she cheerfully twirled around and around, her eyes sparkling with mirth as she saw the dress levitate into the air and ripple like rich silk.

 

It was red, the sinister color of blood, a color that I presumed a long time ago was Inuyasha's favorite. Hanging from my shoulders by thin, satiny straps, the dress was a beautiful contrast to my hair and it didn't radiate “needy” or “desperate and lonely old woman.” Thankfully, it was just right, yet—

 

“You must really like that dress?”

 

“Yeah, but…” A frown settled between my brows. I wheeled around sharply to face the open entrance to the dressing room, suddenly recognizing just whose voice drifted into my ears. My eyes were wide, one gasp away from nearly bursting out of their sockets, “H—Hojo!”

 

He looked at me with an aggravatingly peaceful aura shining around his expression. His dark business suit, completed with mud-brown, dress shoes, served enough for me to cock my head slightly in confusion. What was he doing here? I was so sure he worked a far, far ways from here.

 

“What are you doing here?” There was no surprise in my voice, just impassiveness.

 

“Hey, Hojo, did you find her yet?” A woman yelled, each word slowly gaining in volume with the gentle pitter-pat of footsteps. More thumps echoed behind the woman's steady footfalls, but

 

I quickly shoved that clearly insignificant thought to the nether chambers of mind as my heart suddenly wrenched in remembrance. I nearly felt myself stumble as the woman emerged out of the frail gloom of the entry corridor and stopped beside Hojo. She still looked the same, almost as if her former high school self was incased in a special, laminated covering, untouched by the crinkly, gnarled fingers of age. The only thing different about her was that she'd let her hair grow out until it just barely brushed her shoulders. Still though, that didn't change the traditionally tomboyish look on her face.

 

“Y—Yuka?”

 

She only looked at me with eyes dancing eloquently in friendliness and mirth.

 

“I can't believe it's...you,” I murmured softly, almost dreamily as if I were stuck in an irrevocable moment of passion.

 

She smiled a semi-girlish smile and I returned the favor with equal ardor, even though it held some semblance to a distressful frown. I couldn't help it if every time I smiled it looked like a frown. Most of my school pictures were exact, living proof of that unpleasant gap in my personality.

 

“Hey! What about us?”

 

Huh. My eyes remained sturdily glued on the entrance of the dressing room as two more figures wandered out of the half-gloom: one with long, wavy hair and the other with stringy, shoulder-length hair bounded back by a yellow hair-band that greatly matched her—remarkably adorable—sundress and sandals.

 

“Eri...Ayumi...” My eyes narrowed slightly, “What are you two doing here?”

 

Their eyes gradually became very gaunt slits filled with puddles of piercing brown.

 

“What do you think, Kagome-chan?” Eri started. Her seemingly rhetorical question was quickly, without a hitch, resolved by Ayumi, who'd somehow managed to startle me with the elusive, presumably fast-as-light speed it took for her face to close in on mine, “That we just came here for our own health?”

 

I scratched awkwardly at my cheek with my index finger and blushed lightly, “Well...yeah.”

 

Both of them exchanged rather skeptical glances and I grinned innocently, hoping that my reply didn't sound all that serious. Discreetly, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Hojo beaming, obviously amused by the unplanned, unrehearsed performance before him. I almost—Almost, I screamed at my belligerent conscience—smiled in spite of his handsome show of happiness.

 

Sadly, I was so caught up with what was occupying the corner of my eye that the crazed-romantics that were my friends, bunched together like a flock of pigeons and started whispering.

 

Whispering. Now that usually wasn't a very good sign.

 

I bowed my head and snippily stifled the obtrusive cough that escaped my throat, “Ahem!”

 

Immediately, they stopped their endless gossiping and simultaneously twisted their necks to face me.

 

Wordlessly, I marched towards Hojo and automatically dispelled his shocked expression out of my mind as I seized his arm and led him towards the dressing room entrance. Playfully, I shoved him halfway down the entry corridor, leaving him to turn around and stammer, “W—what? But...Higur—”

 

“Kagome.”

 

“B—But, Ka—Kagome!”

 

Without turning around to face him, I softly murmured, “No men allowed. The last time I checked it clearly said Women's Dressing Room, not Men's.”

 

Unable to resist the heavy mantle of temptation pressing down on my gut, I willed my footsteps to slow and peeked inquiringly over my shoulder. In the gloom, I was just barely able to make out a soft smile that brushed Hojo's lips like silk and abruptly slipped out of existence as he wheeled around and started further down the narrow passageway.

 

I opened my mouth…

 

Not a word slithered past my lips as Hojo vanished out of earshot and around a blind corner. My shoulders slumped as I pivoted and started back for the dressing room.

 

“So...are you going out with him now?”

 

“Yeah! Did you finally decide to give up on that badass boyfriend of yours?”

 

“It's a good thing that he dumped you though, right? I mean...it'll give you a chance to get better reacquainted with Hojo!”

 

“By the way, did he finally ask you to marry him?”

 

“Or are you both just going study?”

 

I was suddenly bombarded by so many questions when I returned to the dressing room that a flimsy, white—Dear God! Am I that weak?—flag came close to being my one and only savior, the only thing that could help me elude their endless, nonsensical blathering—

 

“So...are you two intimate yet?”

 

My eyes suddenly grew wide. Intimate? Why me, why me, why me?

 

“Umm...” I tried to concentrate hard and unwaveringly on my bare toes, suddenly lacking the ability to hide the ripe blush rising over my cheeks, “we're not exactly...umm...intimate.”

 

I tried to pretend I couldn't see their sly, clearly secretive smiles.

 

“Really?” Eri started, “Then why is he here?”

 

I coughed, which honestly sounded like a sharp, incredulous gag, “Why are you all here for that matter?”

 

“We saw you walk in a little while ago from a nearby shop.”

 

Wow…how could I have ever forgotten that my friends also live in Hokkaido? I mean, they were the ones who pressed me to live here…

 

“What about Hojo? How'd he...” I blushed even harder, unable to subdue the building pressure lingering beneath the blistering, oversensitive skin of my cheeks, “How'd he...get here?”

 

Strangely, Yuka was the only one to answer that question. Her voice was sullen and sounded hoarse, almost as if each word were scraping against her throat like sandpaper. “He said that he was with someone, but then we dragged him along anyway.”

 

“Yeah,” both Eri and Ayumi hastily confirmed in unison, nodding their heads vigorously.

 

I sighed, hope suddenly filling my heart to the brim with its comforting and ghostly caresses. Its fingers fondled my heart with such preciseness and carefulness, almost like a mother cradling her child straight after birth. Strangely, I didn't know where in my body it was weeding out from, breeding with such incredible speed. And without saying another word, I slowly...solemnly marched back into the dressing-room stall to change out of the dress I'd somehow lost all affection for.

 

iv. A Change in Plans

 

The entire store seemed abnormally brighter and radiant once we departed from the dressing room.

 

Leaving Eri, Ayumi, and Yuka behind, I quickly wandered off to place the dress back on the rack before stealthily slipping out of the store, hoping to find Hojo, if not in a nearby store then...somewhere. Pain flared behind my eyes like bolts of lightning each time I blinked to escape the bright rays of the sun wafting in through the vast window situated above the mall entrance.

 

It's funny...the obvious scrap of verity bubbling deep down within my stomach and quickly warming the very sole of my beating heart.

 

“You're jealous,” part of my obstinate conscience pressed.

 

“No! You're just worried,” its more understanding and congenial counterpart quickly opposed.

 

“You're even jealous about fact that Inuyasha could be with Kikyo right now...bedding her...whispering sweet nothings in her ear...” some other strange part within me drowned out their wrangling voices and suddenly left me completely abashed. Out of the blue—out of the clear...warm...radiant...ocean-blue...—something finally struck me hard in the head and caused my temples to throb excruciatingly.

 

My—My heart was beating...fast and loud...hammering mercilessly against my chest.

 

W—was I jealous? Was I jealous of the truth settling right down in front of me, before my knowingly deceitful eyes? Was I jealous of the veracious piece of evidence falling into my line of vision one by one, furtively slipping in and out of existence like tiny raindrops?

 

I shook my head. Mentally, I even pictured myself throttling my heart half to death for triggering such inane emotions to pulse through my veins and lance thoughtlessly through the very core of my soul.

 

“Hey, Kagome!”

 

I didn't turn around. Truth was, I couldn't turn around even if I'd wanted to. My emotions seemed to weigh down on my limbs like the primitive, barbell bracelets that prisons bounded on their many unfortunate captives.

 

“Why'd you leave us like that?” Eri reached me first, followed by Ayumi and Yuka taking up the rear.

 

One word. That was all I was capable of. “Thinking,” I replied.

 

I was quite aware of the perplexed looks that all three of them exchanged circumspectly among one another. Later, they shrugged their shoulders concurrently and I sighed. There were times where I constantly wished that they knew what was going on inside my head. There were even times that I wished that I told them more about Inuyasha, about the fact that he's really from the Sengoku Jidai, that he's truly not a `badass' and can be, at some times, very generous; that the many sicknesses that my grandpa informed them about were all lies, and that I visited the Sengoku Jidai regularly through means of a time slip disguised as an ancient well.

 

“Hey, there's Hojo!”

 

My eyes widened slowly. Covertly, I could feel the mounting torrent of surprise and relief gushing through my veins.

 

“W—wait!” Out of the corner of my eye, I could just barely make out Yuka's form as she squinted hard at something up ahead with a very pensive frown plastered on her face, “Wh—who's that...girl with him?”

 

Something, a murderous and distinctly brutish hand, mercilessly seized my heart. My air supply lacked considerably in reliance, gradually growing harder and harder to use by the minute.

 

A—A girl? Could she be the one that they mentioned back in the dressing room?

 

I wanted to say something. Really I did. But my throat had tightened on me so abruptly that I found myself straining to keep my wheezing under wraps from any ears that may've been on full alert. I made several, discreet attempts to gulf down the achy feeling lingering in the center of my throat. Each one proved futile, leaving me to glance from left to right to see if Eri, Ayumi, or Yuka had noticed the sudden grief scorching a hole through my heart.

 

An inexplicable coolness swept across my face and bare arms. I was alone now.

 

A—alone?

 

My head shot up, but my words were held steadfastly deep down within my throat. The walls that were my innards—blood-slicked and dripping red—convulsed...constricted...and unknowingly grew taut.

 

Thump. Thump.

 

There went my heart...singing that age-old tune that would soon deteriorate into that unforgettable path that spiraled downwards into a cavernous void of silence.

 

“Kagome-chan!”

 

Crash!

 

There went the blank and dreary emptiness that was silence. It crashed...falling in razor-sharp, glasslike fragments around me. It littered the ground to where I became the only witness of its namely terrible crime.

 

There was the girl, I realized. Waist-length, raven hair...lipstick glistening an innocent, angelic hue of an unripe peach...eyes sparkling with mirth and laughter—

 

Kikyo was the first thing to pop up inside my mind. I—I remembered how cool her fingers felt when they first brushed along the front crook of my neck—

 

So cold...

 

But then...realization suddenly struck me while those unmerciful roots roughly embraced me in their rain-slicked, but boorish clutches, holding me just above the frigid darkness that lapped at the grimy walls on either side of my dangling feet.

 

She's...she's taking the sacred jewel shards away from me!

 

While seeing that girl with Hojo, I was reliving that excruciatingly disastrous night all over again.

 

“Kagome...chan...”

 

My previous thoughts floated loftily above me as if they were Satin's tiny minions, whispering sinister thought after sinister thought into my gullible ears.

 

Yes, yes...murmured one, let go of all that green envy inside you...just let it erupt.

 

Boom! The other one bellowed. Apparently, it was the dim-witted one, only trying to push me further over the edge.

 

And it was working out all too well.

 

Thump...

 

The rhythmic and energetic beating of my heart ceased. My heart spared only one more frail thud against my chest before growing somberly, yet dangerously silent. My entire chest was swallowed whole in the clutches of a disparaging ache.

 

Darkness.

 

Yes. That was the only word that came to mind as I felt myself fall to the ground, crash down into the ice-cold linoleum. A sharp pain rocketed through my left shoulder to the very crook of my neck where it spooned upwards and merged with the scanty underside of my cheek. I felt my face scrunch up reflexively, but then, strangely, that was the last message of feeling conveyed to my brain as unconsciousness slowly lulled me into an unexpected sleep.