InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Dark Side of the Moon ❯ Hello, Good Bye ( Chapter 4 )

Meg: You know, My Muse just can't make up her mind.

Muse: * glares*

Meg: She gave me inspiration to start ANOTHER story via a dream last weekend.

Muse: Be thankful, Heathen.

Meg: e__e Riight. Don't worry everyone, I'm not gonna act on it. This story will continue regardless.

Muse: Oh, so now you DON'T want me to inspire you? ~__~

Meg: O__O; …

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Title: Dark Side of the Moon

Rating: R

Obsession: Inuyasha

Genre: Dark, angsty stuff. Lots of it. And a bit of romance.

Main characters: Kagome (duh!), Naraku, Miroku and Inuyasha (sort of). May be others later.

Summary: Check the first Chapter!

Feedback: Duh!!

Author's Note: Hey, check it out! New Chapter AND it's early!! I really hope this makes up for my lateness last time. This one's longer! YAY! That also (I hope) compensates for last time!! I want to thank T.K, DarkLight, Inu-lover, Ice, Kitsune-Balloon (especially her!), SunSaber, Sessou, Kasia Matsubishi, A Black Rose From Death, Duckmonkey, MIKI, SailorNorthStar7, atsumiFairie, meera, Deranged fanfic lover, rainwater, AsianEyes, Evil Bunny, DemonQueen17 and Kuramaandkarasu for their wonderful REVIEWS! Responses are at the bottom!! Please enjoy the chapter!!

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Dark Side of the Moon

By: Meg

Chapter 4

Blood.

It was drying and then flaking off. It would bleed again and then dry and then flake again as she touched it.

Kagome fingered the collar of her once pristine white night shirt, pulling it back from her neck. More dried, flaking blood was on her skin. She rubbed it off numbly, finding the source of the bleeding. The small puncture dripped some of the sticky, warm liquid onto her fingertips.

The scar was only a few centimeters below the new mark. Like its twin, Naraku had been the one to make it. The new one bled more than the first, she remembered. With the proximity to each other, Kagome could almost imagine that some phantom had bitten her. Better the phantom than Naraku.

She touched the fresh cut; flinching at the stab of pain it gave her. She stared through the mirror and at the marks in her neck. She discarded her ruined shirt before attempting to clean up the stale blood. How had it been possible in the first place for this to even happen? She knew he could manipulate the well's power, but did it mean he could actually go through? She wanted to think it was all just part of his powers of the mind. That he wasn't really physically here, but then how had she bled?

He also seemed to be able to control her body, enough so that he could paralyze her for hours at a time. When she remembered waking up, she had seen the tree above her, the weak morning sunlight barely falling through the leaves. Time had passed considerably, as though she had been asleep and dreamt everything, but that was impossible. Dreams do not let you feel physical pain and she remembered vividly how her bones were being bent and the ropes that cut into her skin. Hours could not have passed. Everything felt like it had lasted forever, but dawn should have still been distant.

Why did he even want her in the first place? She was only human and she was under the impression that he did not hold them in very high regard. He had even brought Inuyasha back to life. Such as with Kikyo, it was simply unnatural for Inuyasha to be alive. Although she was not unhappy with the fact that he was alive, shouldn't he be instable, as Naraku had warned? Naraku wanted her to return badly enough to revive a tortured soul. He needed her there badly enough to waste power.

Once Kagome had put a bandage on the small wound, she looked herself over once more. Since she had come home, her milky skin had grown even paler. Her eyes were dulled and lack of sleep had drawn dark circles around her eyes. Frowning at her appearance, she turned from the mirror and changed her clothes before heading downstairs.

In the kitchen, her family was already seated and eating. She apologized for her tardiness and sat with them to eat.

Silence reigned with an iron fist. Everyone quietly ate, which Kagome had no large objection to, but it was creeping her out. "Kagome," her mother shattered the quiet like glass and made her flinch. " I made a doctor's appointment for you on Wednesday."

Too bad I'll be gone by tonight… she thought to her self with bitter sarcasm.

She nodded to her mother. The calm repaired itself quickly and peered at all of them, daring them to speak. Her brother decided to be brave. " Kagome, will you play a video game with me later?" Sota asked her.

She looked at her brother with surprised apprehension. So, this was a new development. Why did her brother want to spend time with her now? First he was watching her sleep, now he wanted to play games?

" Sorry, Sota, I have to study later for a test on Tuesday," she lied.

Kagome returned to her food and nibbled at it slowly. The silence did not seem very intimidating to anyone today besides her it seemed, as her Grandfather spoke next, " Kagome, will you help sweep the grounds today for me please?"

"Yes, Grandpa," she said between bites.

The quiet returned and this time he was not beaten back again. Long silence filled the air and drove out even the birds singing outside. The quiet felt strange to Kagome, but she enjoyed it, unlike her family. Sota squirmed in his seat, her grandfather cleared his throat, but her mother simple ate quietly, as did Kagome. Before someone tried to break the silence again, Kagome excused herself softly and left to sweep outside. As she walked to the far end of the grounds with a broom in hand, she passed the well house. She paused there, her eyes fixating themselves on the door. A small sense of dread welled up in her throat and she took in a breath.

It was day. She was safe from Naraku's twisted mind now, but she also knew that she would have to go to into the well house. She would have to face him soon. Her eyes stared through the lattices of the door, searching, but unseeing, waiting for anything to transpire. It did not surprise her when nothing did.

The door was still. She sensed nothing there, whether it was dark or not. Naraku was not close by. She would have been relieved, but her mind found other worries to occupy her. Inuyasha was beyond that well, in the past, and possibly being tortured. Her heart bled. She both loved and hated the time that leisurely glided past her.

Slowly, she drew her eyes away from the well house. Her eyes were cast low and her chin sank, but she continued her walk towards the opposite end of the grounds, near the Sacred Tree. There, she spent a few solid hours sweeping away dead leaves and time, allowing her mind to wander into questions she could not answer and hopes that refused to die.

Inuyasha was alive. If what Naraku had said was true, then there was no way that Inuyasha's mind was even whole. He wasn't even Inuyasha anymore; he was a shell that held no breathing soul, a mere shadow. Naraku had offered to erase her memories for her if she refused. She would forget everything she didn't want to remember: the pain of Inuyasha's passing, and the passing of her friends.

But, Inuyasha was alive. Naraku was holding him in the past. The images she had seen revived her, but then killed her again. Inuyasha might even be suffering now. She had to stop Naraku, even if it was too late to help anyone else but him. If her memories were removed, she might forget him and all the loss that had hurt her, but what about what she wanted to remember?

Her only choice was to go back. If Naraku wanted her for something, then so be it. At least Inuyasha wouldn't suffer.

It was when she had reached this decision that her grandfather found her and dismissed her from her chores. She left her grandfather and went inside of her house, pushing herself up the stairs and into her room. She reasoned that studying was rather pointless, as her life in this era would likely be put on hold for a long time. She doubted that Naraku would let her visit her family. Even Inuyasha had a high distaste for her leaving and he was only half- demon.

She took out her history book and sat at her desk. Kagome opened it to the latest chapter her class had been following and began to read.

The war of 1182 was caused by an economic conflict.

She glanced at the clock on her bed, which read 1:23. She rested her chin in her hand as she turned back to the book. Her other fingers drummed against the desktop. Her eyes skimmed over the first sentence with clouded eyes that weren't really reading. Her thoughts went back to the clock. How much time did she have before Naraku came for her? Would she ever come back?

Sighing, she scolded herself for thinking so hopelessly. Of course she would come back.

Her mind quickly came up with arguments that it was impossible, but she pushed them aside. She would find a way to do it. She had to, even if it meant using Naraku to do it.

Even if it meant that she had to kill him herself.

Her eyes clouded over and became dark with the thought of death. Not of receiving death or of enduring it, but of dealing it. Especially to one she hated so much. She could almost imagine the look on his face; how shocked he would be that she had been his end. She found herself smiling cruelly at the thought. It would be lovely…

Her mind cleared then, as if a shroud had been lifted from her eyes. Kagome caught her train of thought and was shocked to find that her mind had even come up with such a thing. It had never been her nature to take any type of vengeful pleasure from others' pain. She had always been the merciful one out of the entire group.

Now there was no group, she thought bitterly. There was only her. She alone had survived. Was it now beginning to corrupt her perhaps?

She quickly forced away the dark thoughts. Her eyes roamed to the clock. 1:31. Her fingers drummed against the tabletop again.

The war in 1182 began with an economic conflict.

It didn't matter what happened to her, as long as Inuyasha would be all right. She wouldn't forgive herself if she let him slip through her hands a second time. Her mind lingered on how she missed him and his insensitive ways. The more she thought of Inuyasha's pain, the more she hated Naraku for it. The more her thoughts drifted towards Naraku, the more her hatred seemed to burn into her, branding her, and leaving a more permanent mark of the emotion. Her mind began to retrace its steps, back to the thought of killing him and enjoying it.

Her nails dug into the soft wood of the desk, leaving marks from her dull fingernails. She felt the sting from the force of her digits into the wood. Her mind's evil thoughts broke again, and the pieces were falling over the side. They would be picked up again, without her knowledge, and glued back together. Something would carefully set it back where it was and she'd never notice the difference until she came upon it again.

Tears stung her eyes. Confusion swallowed her mind. Why was she thinking this way? Had death corrupted her so much?

Stubbornly, she wiped away the wetness of her eyes. She refused to cry. She'd promised herself only a week ago that she would stop crying over her losses, albeit large losses. She sniffled once or twice, the last remainders of her sadness.

Trying to push the thoughts away once more, she looked at her textbook again and read the first line again for the third time. Her chin rested in her palm, her other fingers drumming again. Her attention went to the chapter in her history book and trying to successfully read at least the first few sentences.

The digits that rested against her cheek seemed to creep up without her knowledge, running over the marks on her neck. At first touch, they seemed to pulse beneath her fingertips. It shook her from her concentration. She looked at the clock by her bed. Her eyes widened considerably in shock. How was it possibly 5:49 already?

She stood up and went to the clock. Was she loosing her mind? She picked it up, to check if the battery was or had been dying. The steady tick-tock was soft, but still thundered in her ears. Her eyes flew to the window. The sun was setting in the distance, painting the sky colors of red and violet then finally indigo. The sky was approaching twilight.

How is this possible?

She backed away from the window, her small alarm clock in hand. She couldn't have been sitting there for nearly four and a half hours! She wasn't sitting there for that long; she knew she wasn't. Fear began to grow in her mind again. Panic was making her heart beat faster.

She turned and hurried down the stairs and into the kitchen. Her family was already sitting there, beginning to eat dinner. She paid them no mind; in fact, she hadn't even noticed them. Kagome glanced at the clock above the door. 5:50.

She looked at the small clock in her hand, then at the clock above the door. They were nearly sync. Her hands flung the small clock from her as though she had been burned by it.

" Kagome?" she vaguely heard her mother's voice over the crash of the clock on the floor.

Tears were stinging her eyes again. No, it was too soon…and yet she knew that there was no time to waste. Her breathing became pants and her hands were trembling. She turned to look at her family who stood bewildered like she was some wild animal in their home. Except for her mother, who was coming towards her, looking very worried.

Was she loosing her mind? A chuckle echoed in her mind and she gasped, turning in an effort to place his voice. She saw outside the window, where the well house was in view. The well…

Someone touched her shoulder and she turned, nearly screaming out in surprise. Her mother stood there, watching her with a worried face and perhaps even fear for her daughter. " Mama…" Kagome cried out then embraced her mother tightly.

Tears were falling from her closed eyes. " Kagome…" her mother murmured, petting her daughter's hair.

The soothing gestures were working a little. Her rational mind was trying to come back to her. Her mother's fingers were running through her hair now, combing through the ebony locks. A delightful shiver ran through her at the feeling.

Another echoing chuckle resounded in her ears.

Her mother's fingers were no longer fingers…they were claws…

Kagome's head shot up and she saw Naraku towering over her, arms wrapped around her. Her mother was gone. Fear and panic began to swirl in her head again and she pushed him away with all the strength she could muster. She quickly flew out the back door, hearing shouts from her family to come back.

The time is near…

The voice echoed in her head. She kept running until she reached the door to the well house. She paused before opening it.

What will you choose?

She looked back at her family, hurrying out the door of her house. Another glance was given to the Sacred Tree. Some of the fear washed away as she looked at it. What it was about the tree that made her so calm was unknown. Perhaps it was because it seemed so unchanging and immortal. It would stand possibly forever. Perhaps her courage and hope could also. The sight soothed her as it had been for the last month or so. Her hands began to stop shaking and she felt more control over her self. Yes, she promised, I will come back.

Kagome opened the door to the well and stepped inside. Abruptly, she closed the door behind her and latched it shut. The darkness of the well didn't feel as empty as it should have felt. She went down the steps and walked where the moonlight didn't show the way. She had spent so much time here, she could have found her way around if she were blind.

She stepped up to the well and rested her hands on the cool, aged wood. She could hear her family calling her name, but it was drowned out by another deeper, smoother voice, " Shall I erase your memories now?"

His voice was real. She heard it beyond the well and in the darkness. He was here.

" Naraku," she said softly, and then swallowed down the rising fear, " Where are you?"

He chuckled, and stepped up to the well, across from her. He was dressed in the white fur she had come to expect from him. His mask hid his face from her, and even his eyes. The darkness did not allow her to see the blood colored eyes beyond the guise.

" Well?" he asked her.

She looked down into the dark abyss of the dry well. Kagome looked at him again. " After you."

He only chuckled again. She narrowed her eyes at him for a fraction of a second, then looked down the well again. The darkness looked darker, waiting to eat her up. Before she could even move again, an arm swept around her, wrapping her in the white fur. His arm pressed her against him while the other covered them both in fur.

Her heart pounded in her chest. Something pulled at her senses and she felt heat pool where his hand wrapped around her. She leaned into him before she could even stop herself, almost as though by instinct. His arm around her was nearly constricting while becoming steadier in order to hold her.

She could faintly hear her family still calling her and possibly trying to get in, but their efforts where fruitless. Naraku wouldn't let them in, not when he was getting what he wanted.

Kagome let out a small gasp of surprise when he leapt into the well, taking her with him. They fell into blackness at first, but it began to morph into the blue colored haze she recognized. Ancient magic and power rested there, flowing effortlessly forever like time. She remembered this feeling. It made her feel calm, like the Sacred Tree had.

Within moments, Naraku touched the ground and she looked up. The sky was dark, but the moon shone with half its full resilience. She was in the past again. A place she didn't think she'd ever return to, but now the Inuyasha was alive…

She was brought out of her thoughts when Naraku shifted. His hold on her changed so that her sight was level with his, only she was facing the other direction. Kagome looked at him once he had obviously put her in the position he wanted her. The dark empty sockets of a baboon mask stared at her. All she could do was stare back.

His arm left her waist and settled on her hip. She could feel his claws resting on her side, as though warning her that he was still in control of this situation. His hold tightened and she shrank, feeling awkward in the intimate embrace. The black holes stopped staring at her and looked ahead. He leapt out of the well, quickly enough to make her stomach lurch. Her chin was weighed down and her head became buried in the fur of his disguise. Her fingers clung to the pelt, entangled in white. When she lifted her head, the wind whipped her hair in the face. She looked behind him and saw the treetops far down below and fading away into a think mist.

She turned and looked at Naraku. The mask was gone now. His dark hair was blowing in the wind, as hers was. His face was noble and pale-- paler than health should allow. Naraku's mouth was an emotionless flat line. Her eyes roamed over his profile, further taking in his appearance. His ears were pointed, like the ends of the claws that still rested on her side. Then, as though feeling her eyes on him, he, in turn, looked at her. Or rather, began to stare.

The claws at her side twitched, digging through her clothes to her skin, as though reminding her of their presence. She gasped softly and his blood red eyes stared into hers. The look was not cold or questioning, but rather, it seemed, dark and blank. He seemed to be peering into her, judging her. Suddenly feeling very bare, she turned her eyes away, as though in shame. She looked back, down at the misty scenery below, but she could still feel his eyes on her. Kagome wanted to break the silence, above all things, just so he would stop staring. " Why did time pass so quickly?" she asked. Her voice was low and breathy and not at all the way she wanted it to sound.

His voice sounded lightly pleased. " I got impatient."

Her hands fisted in the white fur. Impatient?

She said nothing, not wishing to speak out of turn. The claws were still digging into her side. She took a glance at him from the corner of her eye, and his gaze was still on her. His mouth was twisted into a small grin of what she guessed was satisfaction. Frowning, she rested her chin on his shoulder, resolving not to look at him again if she could help it. Anger, regardless, boiled through her. How dare he compromise my time? The only time I had left in my era. I hate him…

Her eyes fell shut, and she tried to steer away from that train of thought. Instead, she remembered Inuyasha and how she was going to heal his wounds when she got to him.

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Responses:

Deranged Fanfic Lover: Well, I'm sorry but I'm not going to put Kagome and Inuyasha together. Yeah, Kagome would probably never forgive Naraku for killing Inuyasha (Don't worry, she won't!), but this is the happy, fun land of Fan fic! ^__^

Asian Eyes: You have a Dead Hamster Zombie? O__O Wow…where can I get one?

Evil Bunny: Update "Forest for the Trees," dammit! ^__^

Kitsune-Balloon: I love the new Diary so far! ^__^

A Black Rose From Death: Thanks for the review! I feel complete now that I've got a rabid fan!! LoL ^__^

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Review…Clyde is lonely! * Pleads with Big Shiny Eyes*