InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Children of Light ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

"Come on Kagome, let's get a drink" Sango squeals in her ear.

"Uh… okay" Kagome nervously replies as they wade through the sea of people, attempting to make their way to one of the many bars.

"This is so great!" Sango yells to be heard over the roar of the music and all the other people who were yelling to make themselves heard over the noise, to their own companions.

"Yeah, great" Kagome quietly mutters to herself. The bright neon lights that were illuminating the patchy, smoky darkness of the bar were starting to make her hot and uncomfortable. The flashing strobe lights were killing her eyes.

"Aw, come on Kag! Loosen up" Sango smiles at her friend. "Look, we'll get some drinks and go and sit with Aymi and Yuka okay?"

"Sure" Kagome smiles happily at her friend. She knew she really should try and have a good time for Sango's sake, but she just felt so out of place. She wanted to be at home, on her couch, reading a book or watching a sappy movie or even waste some time trying to recall pieces of that ever-elusive dream.

Grinning, Sango rushes her way up to one of the congested bars. She pushes through the throngs of people blocking her way, finally making it to the counter as she gives the bartender a sweet smile and flutters her eyelashes. She holds out a crisp $20 bill in her hands, while bending over the counter ever so slightly, allowing the bartender enough of a view for his imagination to spark to life. She had herself two rum and cokes for her and Kagome in no time. Egads it was great being a woman!

Kagome blinks her surprise at Sango. "That was fast"

"Yeah well, tricks of the trade" Grinning, Sango gives her friend a wink and hands over one of the drinks.

"Come on, let's go find Aymi" Grabbing onto Kagome's arm she helps push her friend through the sea of people.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Isn't this great?"

"Yeah, swell" Inu Yasha replies dryly as he plasters his ears flat against his head to keep the noise at a tolerable level for his highly sensitive ears.

Not that anyone would be able to see his ears anyways. He was wearing his concealing necklace that hid his ears, fangs and claws to everyone around him. His hair however was still a silvery white, and his eyes were their usual intense golden, amber color. People just assumed that he was a punker and wore colored lenses in his eyes. He'd lost count of how many times he'd been approached by young kids and adults alike asking where they could acquire such cool lenses. Understandably, they didn't get his joke when he would laugh and tell them that they were a family heirloom and weren't for sale.

"Come on Inu, take in the beauty" Miroku grinned, basking in the satisfying view of scantly dressed women.

"Keh" came the unsurprising response as Inu Yasha crossed his arms over his chest and looked away from his friend.

"Yes, well, you stay here and soak up some of these good vibes and see if it can't improve your attitude any, and I'll get us some drinks" Miroku quickly rushed off before Inu Yasha had time to retaliate.

~~~~~~~~~

"What about that one?" Ayami asked.

"Too tall" Kagome replied.

"That one?" Sango asked.

"Too short"

Sango and the rest of the girls at the table gave out a defeated sigh. Kagome could be so difficult sometimes. Then out of the corner of her eye, Sango spotted a guy with dark hair pulled back into a tiny ponytail, dressed in dark, tight fitting blue jeans and a purple button up shirt.

"Wow" Sango thought to herself, "he's perfect!"

"Okay Kag, what about that one?" she asked, pointing out the god-send in the purple shirt.

"Ummm… his ponytail's too short" Kagome's quick reply didn't seem to surprise anyone.

"KAGOME!!" her friends yelled at her simultaneously.

"What?"

"You're way too picky" Yuka stated as she brushed her dark bangs from her forehead.

"Yeah Kag, he was great" Sango added enthusiastically. "You're just determined NOT to have anyone in your life".

"That… that's not true" Kagome quietly replied, trying to cover up just how much the innocent comment had stung her.

"Oh yeah?" Aymi inquired mischievously, "Then go talk to him".

"What?!"

"Yeah, go talk to him" Yuka added with an ear splitting grin.

If looks could kill, Kagome's glare would have melted her three friends to a smoldering puddle of goo on the spot. But she knew she wouldn't be left alone until she made at least one attempt to talk to a guy.

"Okay fine" she reluctantly agrees through gritted teeth, as she rose from the table to make her way over to the tiny pony-tailed man. She could hear her friends giggling behind her and momentarily closes her eyes as she clenched her fists at her side and quickly prayed for courage and strength, and the ability to not wish down all kinds of horrible torment and pain on her well intentioned friends.

As she begins to make her way over to the guy the girls had picked out, she realizes she's lost sight of him. She quickly scans the semi-dark room and attempts to find a flash of purple in the crowd.

There!

Discreetly, she follows the tiny-pony tailed guy who was currently carrying two beers, one held in each hand. "Really, who wears a pony tail that short!" She continues to watch him.

"Hmmmm… either he likes to drink, or he's got a friend" she thinks to herself. "Definitely no girlfriend. Look at how he's checking out every girl here". She groans inwardly. "And I have to talk to him? Just great!" Continuing to silently complain in her mind as she rubs her temple with her hand, she quickly realizes that she's lost sight of her prey once again.

"How can he move that fast, with all these people around" she wonders as she pushes her way through the crowds and squints her eyes to see through the glare of the bar lights.

Then suddenly, a flash of white from the corner of her eye catches her attention. Her heart stops. The noisy bar goes deafly silent in her ears and all she can hear is her own heavy breathing and feel her heart thundering loudly in her chest, as it suddenly quakes back to life.

She slowly turns her head to see if she can locate the flash of white that had triggered something inside her, in her now slow moving vision. It reminded Kagome of a scene in a movie, where they showed everything happening in slow motion while the noise has been cut from the scene. The unnatural silence was deafening to her.

The feel of a hand on her shoulder startles her and snaps her back to reality. She stumbles back as the sounds of the bar come rushing back, assaulting her senses. She feels strong arms catch her and hold her up as she looks up into wide, intense eyes.

"Hey, you okay?" The man asks with a sincere smile. "You looked pretty pale there. I thought you were going to faint for a second".

"Oh, uh… no… ummm, I mean thank-you, and I'm fine" Kagome finally manages to say, giving him a weak smile, at the same time noticing that this was the very guy she had been sent after.

"My name is Kagome." She continued smiling.

"Hi, I'm Miroku." He flashed her a million dollar smile.

"Oh boy" Kagome thinks silently to herself.

"Do you think you could help me back to my table, Miroku?" Kagome was also thinking she knew exactly how to kill two birds with one stone. Getting her friends off her back, and herself, out of this bar.

"Sure thing my darling one. My friend seems to have run out on me, so I am at your disposal". He removes his hands from where he was gripping her shoulders to keep her steady and gives her a little bow.

~~~~~~~

"Stupid Miroku" Inu Yasha grumbled as he struggled to make his way out of the tightly packed bar.

Inu Yasha had begun to feel antsy. Hey didn't know why, but he wasn't about to stick around and find out. He just wasn't up to it tonight. He had too much on his mind.

~~~~~~~

"Do you think Kag's okay?" Sango asked her two friends. "She's been gone for a while".

"Hey Guys!" Kagome's voice called out, interrupting Sango's questioning as she approached her friends.

"KAGOME!!" her friends all called out, happily relived.

"What happened to you?" Aymi asked, while Sango and Yuka nodded their heads in approval of the question.

Ignoring their questioning gaze, Kagome pulled on an arm from behind her. "Girls, this is Miroku" she said as she introduced the guy who was now grinning from ear to ear, unable to believe his luck at being surrounded by four beautiful women.

"Inu Yasha, you don't know what you're missing" Miroku thought to himself. Then as charming as could be, he bowed to the table of beauties.

"Ladies, I am speechless when confronted with such beauty" His eyes sparkled and the three girls sitting at the table giggled while Kagome could only roll her eyes.

~~~~~~~~

"Finally!" Kagome thought. "I thought I'd never get out of there" she sighed with relief.

Although it wasn't too difficult to convince her friends that she needed to get going because she wasn't feeling well, seeing as how they were all wrapped up in Miroku after all. But it was a whole other story trying to push her way through the mass of tightly packed bar goers.

Stepping outside, Kagome takes in a deep satisfying breath of fresh air. "Ahh, it's a nice night. I think I'll walk".

She turns the corner at the end of the street and begins walking home towards her apartment which was only about a ten minute walk away. After walking several blocks though, Kagome began to feel a little uneasy. She hadn't realized just how dark it had gotten or how quiet. The startling realization sent an uncomfortable shiver down the back of her spine and caused the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Why the fuck do I let him drag me out with him! It's always the same shit!" An irate Inu Yasha growled menacingly as he leapt onto another building, while quickly removing his concealing beads from around his neck. White velvety ears, sharp dangerous claws and hungry fangs, visible to any passerby, made their presence known once again. An unlikely possibility, however, as Inu Yasha was quite fond of traveling the `Skyline' route.

"Such a waste of time" he continued to grumble as he shoved his beads into his coat pocket.

Just moments before sprinting into his next leap, he falters in his step as his heart suddenly jolts in his chest. Quickly regaining his balance, he swivels his ears to attention, arching, straining to find and locate the disturbance he had sensed. The fact that he had even sensed a disturbance not connected to himself, which was unusual to say the least, did not seem to pass through his occupied mind at the moment.

There…a woman screaming.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kagome's heels pounded loudly on the pavement as she struggled to make her way to the safety at the other end of the dark alley. Away from the men who had maneuvered her into its concealing depths. Away from the men that were howling and screaming, and right behind her!

Panting hard, and the now familiar feeling of her heart pounding through her chest, she struggles to keep from giving into the cramps that were quickly forming in her side. She shrieks as she feels someone reach for her arm and pull her back.

A triumphant howl goes up from the three men chasing her as Kagome stumbles and falls. She lands heavily on her hands and knees, the palms of her hands quickly scraping with blood. She squints her eyes shut to block out the sharp pain from the gravel embedding itself in her knees and stinging her now bleeding palms.

Suddenly, she feels hands grip her around her shoulders as she is whipped around to come face to face with a leery, scruffy faced man, whose whole body reeked of some thick, disgusting liquor that was also heavily mixed in with the old stale smell of cigarette smoke.

"Ugh" Kagome sneers at the assaulting smell of the man who was now breathing heavily into her face. She looks away, trying to avoid the brunt of the stench.

"What do we have here?" the man asks grinning suggestively at Kagome as his two friends stand a little bit behind him, laughing and enjoying the spectacle.

"Aieeee!" Kagome's scream makes the man momentarily flinch. "Get away from me!" She shrieks in his face as she attempts to struggle uselessly against the man who was now holding her upper arms in a death grip.

"Now, now, don't sssstrugle" the drunken man cooed darkly, "We wouldn't wants to get…rough" he added, emphasizing the last word as his eyes glinted in cold anticipation.

"Get..away.. FROM ME!!" Kagome screams again, as she jams her knee into the mans stomach.

******~~~~~~~~~~A Flash of Red~~~~~~~~~*******

The man lurches over but still manages to hang onto Kagome. Struggling to compose himself he takes her by the arms as pain, annoyance and anger flash through his face and slams her into the alley wall, just as he hears his two friends cry out in panic behind him.

Before darkness swims into Kagome's vision, she hears the thugs scream out in pain and something akin to horror, as she briefly notices the man who had slammed her into the wall, attempt to turn and run. She feels a warmth begin to pool at the back of her head as her eyes begin to blink close. Just as her fading vision begins to fail, it is filled with the brief sight of shadowed, triangular ears, a dark mass of what could only have been some kind of hair, concealed by the alley's dim light, and flecks of something gold. Suddenly, unknown to her semi-conscious mind, her eyes and soul cry out in sparkling recognition, before darkness and numb unconsciousness overtake her.