InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Animus ❯ Spread the net ( Chapter 2 )

Animus

 

Chapter Two: Spread the net

 

A/N: thanks to my kind reviewers! Seeing that someone enjoys my writing really makes my day! For readers of Reversal: I will be updating that some time this week.

 

 

 

The rain fell hard against her skin in icy, unrelenting sheets. Fitting, this weather, Kagome thought. Every step she took solidified the grief in her heart until it was a stone, dark and heavy, a burden almost too much to bear. But she had to bear it, she was the only one who could.

 

She did not have an obligation to the past anymore, she knew this, but she could not go home either, not yet. The Skikon was complete, and now…gone. The day before she left the village, the temptation to wish Inuyasha back to his healthy, old self had been almost overwhelming. But she had not. That would have been a selfish wish. Instead, with hope filling her heart near to bursting, she had made a very different wish.

 

Kagome wished for things to be as they should be.

 

The jewel sparked in her hand, and then faded away, gone forever. And nothing had changed. Inuyasha was still lost in his mind, body broken and crippled. The one who had done this to him, still unpunished.

 

Kagome had run to the well, fingers digging into the old, splintered wood. Could she even go home? Was she stuck here forever? She did not have the courage to jump in and test it. What if she could never come back? No, she had to do one last thing first, then she would see if she could go home.

 

It was the third day of her journey, and she feared she was walking around aimlessly, listlessly hoping to run into him while at the same time wanting never to see his face again. She wondered if she could keep it together, or if she would run away in terror, or cry, or scream…She wondered why she did not feel bad for what she planned on doing. Never in her life had she ever been so cruel. Kagome was not even sure she had thought herself capable of being so vindictive, but it was not fair. It was not fair!

 

They had all paid their dues. They had all suffered so much, lost so much, and damn it all, she had been entitled to her happiness with the boy she loved. If for no other reason, she could find out why he had done it.

 

 

 

Dawn was gray and cold. The rain had lessened to a misty drizzle by the time Kagome crawled out from under her makeshift tent. As she squeezed the water out of her sleeping bag, she wondered if it was even worth keeping. She did not have time to dry it, so it would mildew and stink.

 

She pulled a pair of jeans and a rumpled sweatshirt out of her bag and peeled off her wet clothes, her school uniform, and left them where she dropped them. Even if she could go home again, she was certain she had failed her classes. That knowledge should have upset her more, but she found she could not make herself care.

 

The days went by much the same way. Sometimes it rained, sometimes it did not. The evenings grew longer and colder, her supplies dwindled and then were gone. Kagome lost track of time, herself, her surroundings. Yet, everyday she remembered to dab the slick oil on her wrists and between her breasts, wondering how he was supposed to smell it, be drawn to it, if it had no discernable odor.

 

One very cold morning, she had a terrible thought. What if her wish had taken him? What if he had just disappeared? She had not seen any youkai for several days, and she knew they were all gone in her time. What if her wish killed them all? What if he was gone, and Inuyasha was to.

 

She did want him dead. Kagome admitted that to herself, as much as she hated the thought of wishing such harm on anyone save Naraku. But he was hers to dispose of, no one else's, and certainly not fate's. Hers and hers alone.

 

Her stomach grumbled loudly, and she wondered when was the last time she had eaten. Food was growing scarce. The bushes did not have berries on them anymore, and she was not as good at catching fish as Inuyasha had been. So, she went hungry, half hoping to waste away to nothing. Kagome just wanted to disappear.

 

Many more days passed before she found him, or he found her. Kagome was not sure which.

 

It was during a nasty storm in the dark hours of the long, cold night. She had not been able to sleep, and the water soaked right through her sleeping back, wetting her clothes. The canvas she had stretched between two low-hanging branches buckled under the weight of water and drenched her thoroughly. Kagome stood, and let the rain fall on her, silently hoping she would not catch her death.

 

But instead, death caught her.

 

She saw him when the lightning flashed, just a flicker of an instant, and not long enough to read his face and know his intent. When the lightning flashed again, he was gone.

 

Kagome pressed her back into the rough bark of a tree, fingernails biting into her palm. She tried to steady the pounding of her heart, sure that he could hear, sure that he could smell her fear. She wondered if the rain had washed off the oil. If it had, she was dead…if it hadn't, he still might kill her.

 

She was fighting a losing battle with herself. She wanted to run, run as fast as she could, but she knew he could and would catch her, and that running would only make it worse. Predators like it when you run, she told herself.

 

Instead, Kagome pressed her back harder against the trunk of the tree, wishing she could sink into it, be absorbed by it, like the myths where Apollo chased a maiden and she became a tree. Yes, she thought, being a tree right now would be good.

 

Her eyes darted around in the darkness, trying to discern movement, because she could not hear anything over the driving rain. Another bright flash of lightning.

 

He stood in front of her, head cocked to the side, face unreadable as always, and the darkness swallowed him again.

 

Against her better judgment, Kagome bolted, her veins pumping with electric fire, the backs of her hands tingling, her mouth dry as though she had swallowed ash. She ran until she could no longer feel the smothering surge of his youki.

 

Her shoes stuck in the mud, and she abandoned them, the wet earth squishing between her toes. She stood in a clearing, whirling around to see if he had chased her, but she could not see or feel him.

 

Then her stomach dropped to her feet. She had left her bag, her bow, her arrows…everything, back at that tree.

 

“So…stupid!” she breathed, still looking around her, getting dizzy from fear and turning in a circle.

 

She felt him suddenly. It was a crashing wave of hot, throbbing power that rolled over her in waves, tingling up her spine, filling her veins with ice water. Kagome gasped, and backed up a few steps, fighting the instinct to run again.

 

It was so dark, and the storm was moving away, so the lightning no longer lit her surroundings, but he was there, somewhere, with her in the clearing.

 

She heard a small whine, and clamped a hand over her mouth when she realized it had come from her. Kagome decided that she had to get her things, and that walking away calmly was unlikely to incite him to violence…right?

 

Taking a few steps, she let out the breath she had been holding when nothing happened. He was still there, in the complete dark, but maybe he would let her get away. But, you don't want to get away, do you? She asked herself.

 

Her misgivings were cut off when someone grabbed her hair, close to the base of her skull and pulled hard. Kagome yelped, fingers flying to the hand that held her hair.

 

She felt hot breath fan over her ear. “Miko,” it was his voice. It was Sesshomaru.

 

“Miko,” he said again in the same, chilling whisper. “You should be more careful with your possessions.”

 

Whether her hair was slippery from being wet, or he had let her go, Kagome could not say. She simply knew that she was free and she began to run again. Her foot caught on something, and like in the old, cheesy, horror movies where the girl is running from the monster, she tripped, sprawling face first into the mud.

 

She struggled to right herself, arms and legs slipping. She heard a soft chuckle and nearly sobbed.

 

His hand closed over her arm, and he yanked her sharply to her feet. “Why run when you know that I can catch you?”

 

Her back was to his chest, and she dimly noted that his armor was gone. Sesshomaru's skin was hot and it seeped through her sodden, mud caked clothes. In horror, she realized that she was probably getting his clothes all dirty.

 

“I…you just…just frightened me…that's all. I didn't mean to run.” She hated how weak she sounded. How drenched in tears her voice was.

 

Kagome felt his chuckle rumble in his chest before she heard it. “And you're not frightened now?”

 

She commanded her heart to slow and she took a deep, even breath. “No.”

 

His nose was suddenly pressed to her throat and he inhaled sharply, leaving her skin cold. “You lie,” he said.

 

The grip on her arm tightened, his claws pricking the tender skin of the underside of her arm. She felt warmth trickle down to her elbow. It was her blood. Kagome trembled.

 

“Are you going to hurt me, Sesshomaru?” She asked in a small, tremulous voice.

 

“Haven't I already?”

 

His question shattered her utterly. Kagome sagged, going to her knees. Her grief choked her, blinded her. All her carefully thought out plans vanished like smoke blown apart by a cold, cruel wind.

 

She heard the sharp sound of metal sliding against metal, but when the tip of his sword met with the back of her neck, she barely felt it. Suddenly, she was not afraid.

 

Exhaustion bore down on her. A terrible sick feeling that made the earth pitch wildly under her. Sparks dotted her vision.

 

“No!” She moaned. She could not faint, not now. Kagome did not want to die like this, on her knees.

 

Ignoring the prick of the blade on the back of her neck, Kagome stood, hands thrown out in front of her to gain balance. When she got to her feet, all the blood drained from her head and she stumbled forward.

 

She whirled to face him, his blade scraping her skin, drawing a thin line of crimson in its wake. The movement was too much and darkness more complete than the moonless night descended on her. Kagome fainted at the feet of her hated enemy.