InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Another Time, Another Life ❯ Chapter 13

All Normal Disclaimers Apply

Sorry for the delays but my Uni beat our biggest rivals 21-13 to end our perfect season of 11-0 and now we're off to the SEC Championship and possibly a chance to go for the National Championship! Big Things and Good Times!

'...' thinking (basically)

Chapter Thirteen (my lucky number):

Kagome's body felt light. It was almost as if she was submerged in water. Her body was weightless but she could feel something constricting around her.

It was unnerving.

She had tried to open her eyes but without much avail. She finally gave up trying and was content just to float in the vast nothingness.

'...Kagome...'

Her eyes finally snapped open but only to be welcomed by blackness.

'...Kagome...'

She moved her stiff body around trying to find the strangely familiar voice that was calling her.

She couldn't figure out which way was up and since there was no hard substance to use as ground, walking was out of the question.

She had a strange feeling of deja vu. This place, wherever it was, felt like the place she went through when she went through the well.

Was it possible for her to be stuck in the well?

'Kagome you don't belong here.' The voice said again this time much closer.

She still couldn't make out any shapes that would indicate a person.

'W-who are you? Where am I?' She asked through her mind.

Her mouth refused to form words and vocal chords refused to work.

'What? You stupid wench, how can you just forget me like that!' The voice spoke with a faux annoyance.

Kagome managed to turn her body to the point where she thought the voice was coming from.

It was empty.

'Looking for me?' The voice said again, this time right behind her.

She turned around and came face to face with the silver haired hanyou she hadn't seen in what seemed like ages.

'Inuyasha?' She said hesitantly.

She reached out a hand to touch his face but his image merely flickered until she drew her hand back.

He gave her a soft smile, one that held all sorts of sadness.

'Hey Kagome, long time no see, well at least for you.' He said in an unusually soft voice.

Kagome would have shed tears if she had any control over her body.

'Inuyasha!' She narrowed her eyes. 'What do you mean "at least for me"?'

He scratched the back of his head and chuckled.

'Same ole Kagome and her weird mood swings. I've been keeping an eye out on you. You didn't think I would just leave you to defend yourself, did you? You're too weak to be left alone like that.'

'Hey!' She huffed. 'I'm not weak.'

He let out another chuckle and stepped closer to her. Though not touching, since for some reason they could not, his presence seemed to surround her as if he was physically embracing her.

'If you aren't weak, then why are you here?' He asked her his tone even softer than before.

'I--I...don't remember.' She answered, a brief trimmer flowing through her body.

'You don't remember because you're blocking it out. To become stronger one must go through certain hardships, if you don't accept those hardships and try to work through them, you'll never be stronger.' He answered.

Kagome looked at him sharply.

'That it isn't something you would normally say, who are you?' She asked suddenly wary.

He just laughed and allowed his aura to calm her more.

'I am the same person you knew Kagome, except I've been dead for more than 500 years. It's amazing how much a guy can learn in that time, probably more than I would have if I had stayed alive.'

Kagome blinked. It was the same Inuyasha, just older and wiser.

'Does that mean, I'm dead?' She asked.

'No. You are in a realm of neither the living nor the dead but you don't belong here and you need to go home. There are people who are waiting for you.'

Kagome sighed. She tried to pull the images in her mind but it wasn't functioning correctly.

'The more time you spend in this place the less control you'll have over yourself. That is why you can't do all the things you're trying to. Eventually, your body will completely shut down and you'll die.'

Kagome let out a strangled gasp and Inuyasha smiled at her.

'That a girl, fight against it. Now think. Why are you here?'

Kagome shook her head and curled up in the fetal position, still floating mid-air.

'No, that is giving in, fight it Kagome. Concentrate!' He said more roughly, more in his usual tone.

Kagome lifted her eyes and focused in on the hanyou. She shook her head but began to think about the events that took place before she awoke in this void.

She said nothing but Inuyasha seemed to be watching every scene through her eyes. His growl surprised her but he motioned for her to continue.

She played through the whole day: Uyeda's invitation and Miroku's wrecked car. The scenes continued with Seiichi and then finally at the party. Inuyasha's growling continued to grow as he watched everything she had gone through courtesy of Uyeda.

By the time the memories were over Kagome could once again cry and the tears were running down her face.

'He saved you. He did it idiotically and, just to point out the facts, I could have done a much better job, but he did protect you like he promised.'

Kagome looked up confused at the last comment.

He smiled sweetly at her again. 'I made Miroku promise to protect you, through every lifetime you two experienced. He swore to it actually, on his mother's grave.'

Inuyasha paused here to laugh a bit. 'Though I found out later his mother wasn't even dead at that point but I'm not sure he knew that so I won't hold it against him. Plus he's done his best to protect you, he's just...misguided at times.'

She began to come to a realization. Her mind was too fuzzy to remember exactly who had tackled Uyeda but with the way Inuyasha was talking it had obviously been Miroku.

'They arrested him.' Inuyasha said successfully getting Kagome out of her own reverie.

'His parents were angry with him when they bailed him out, obviously so, and then he skipped town.'

'What?'

'He'll be back, soon actually, he went to go do something before he came to visit you. I think he's feeling really guilty for what happened. Like I said, I made him promise to take care of you and I'm pretty sure he's having one hell of a guilt trip right now for failing.'

The smirk on Inuyasha's face gave the impression that he had a lot to do with that guilt trip. The smirk faded into a real smile as he returned his complete attention onto Kagome.

'You need to go back soon though. Your mother rarely leaves your side and that bratty brother of yours and your crazy grandfather are very sad. Your friends are upset too. That mangy wolf and several of his pack mates have been watching over you too.'

The tears that had almost come to a stop had once again began to fall.

'Go home Kagome.' He said again with a little more authority.

'I've heard that from you before.' She said with a slight smile.

He chuckled. For someone who covered his emotions so well in life, he certainly showed a lot in death.

'He'll be waiting for you and I guarantee he'll have a pleasant surprise for you. It was why he left town in the first place.' Inuyasha said.

Kagome closed her eyes and Inuyasha smiled.

'I know what you are thinking, "how did he know I was thinking of him?", right?' Kagome nodded. 'You've always held your emotions and feelings out where everyone could see them. I may have been dense in life but when looking back I can see the things that I once missed. The way your eyes soften when you think of him or someone mentions his name, it's the same reaction you used to have for me.'

Kagome's opened her eyes again and looked at the hanyou. He looked to be holding back tears as well.

'I did love you Kagome, though I never showed it. You were so important to me and I treated you so poorly. I'll never understand completely how you could be so loyal and loving of me after all we went through. But in the end, I couldn't be with you, I...my fate had already been chosen and your life had yet to even truly begin. You loved me once and because you are the person you are, you'll never stop but our time has long since gone. He'll be there when you wake up, I promise and that should be reason enough for you to wake. He loves you, he just has a weird way of showing it, not to mention the fact that no matter what life he's in, he'll always be a lech.'

Kagome giggled and reached out to hug her friend. This time she met a solid form. They embraced for a few seconds though to both of them it felt like an eternity.

Releasing each other, they smiled again.

'Bye Kagome and take care. Tell that pervert too, if he ever hurts you again, I'll personally claw my ways out of hell and kick the shit out of him.'

She giggled again and nodded, the tears resuming.

'Please don't cry. You know I always hated it when you cried.'

She nodded.

He smiled.

And suddenly she was no longer in the black void.

She could hear voices slowly filtering through to her ears.

It was still dark but she could clearly see light.

She slowly opened her eyes, careful of the light and the first thing she saw...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...was her mother flirting shamelessly with someone she could only assume was one of the hospital's doctors...a cute one at that.

* * * * *

Again, sorry it took so long for this update. I actually haven't gotten any responses for my work lately so I was hesitant to continue writing for this fic if no one actually cared but I figured I should finish it up anyway.

I think I'll write two more chapters and then be done with this fic.

I'm not in the mood for some deep psychological fic (plus I have a fruits basket fic for that purpose) so I'm going to just pretend that Kagome was strong enough to get over the Uyeda crap pretty easily. I know that is NEVER the case but you'll have to forgive me for being lazy and not feel like dragging this fic out for the ages it'll take to go through all the psychological damage that one goes through when attacked.

This chapter has been full of limes, and not lemons which I've gotten a couple complaints about, I'm not even sure that you can count some of them as full limes just as a little citrusy entertainment, so I'll try to add a lemon at the end of the piece.

Another Favor:

If anyone knows any good Gaara/Naruto fics, send them my way. Thanks.

Please Read and Review. It doesn't help an author get out updates any faster when real* reviews aren't given.

*real meaning something other than just "great story, update soon" or something short like that. The reason I write fanfic is to slowly improve on my writing skills (which is why I've stopped updating some of my earlier pieces) and when readers don't tell me semi-specifically what they like about my fic or what I need to work on, I get no help and no inspiration. Please help me out and if you want me to do the same for you, to read and review one of your fics, just request it and I'm usually really good about helping out.

Just a warning: I'm going to be taking down several of my fics that I've discontinued. As of right now the ones coming down are:

~Some Mistakes are Worth Making

~Finishing Things

~Longing (aff.net)

~Shuichi's Cousin (tentative)

So if for some reason you want to read through those one last time before they come down, you have fair warning, they'll be coming down sometime near the end of this week (Nov. 24-26).

Thank you for everyone who supported me during these fics but it's just impossible for me to continue them on. I may try and rewrite them in the future and repost them but I'm not making any promises. Again, thank you all.

Until Next Time...

Sfae

don't forget to leave a helpful review...thanks.