InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Darkness Before Dawn ❯ Awakening ( Chapter 1 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the original characters used in the series/manga, they are the exclusive property of Rumiko Takahashi.

Disclaimer: I do not own the lyrics or music to Bring me to Life, that great honor belongs to Amy Lee and Evanescence.

Many thanks to my two wonderful betas, madma and clnv: for all your hard work and patience in my less than eloquent moments!! Much love to you both!

Darkness.

Such a simple word, with so many meanings. To Kagome Higurashi it was more than a time of the day, or a description of her surroundings. It was the emotion that consumed her soul. Her once bright future was now surrounded in shadow. Everything that had ever meant anything was gone, violently ripped from her life in the blink of an eye. What reason did this young girl possibly have to exist?

Wandering the dimly lit back streets of Tokyo, Kagome searched the tatters of her broken heart for the answer as the rain continued to fall softly from the heavans. It was as though the fates wept along with her; the tears of heaven mingled with the tears of humanity. Numbly she stumbled along until a haunting melody, accompanied by the voice of a wounded angel, drifted along the night wind.

How can you see into my eyes like open doors?
Leading you down into my core,
Where I've become so numb...
Without a soul, my spirit's sleeping somewhere cold.
Until you find it there and lead it back home.

Kagome lifted tired eyes to the sky, squinting slightly against the gentle rainfall. What are you trying to tell me? A flash of lightening illuminated the distant sky for a brief instant. Her soul responded to the quickening thrum of music and the male voice that lent it's raw power to the haunting angel's plea. The woman took a step forward, drawn to the timbre of promise in the words that carried over the pulse of drums and guitar.

(Wake me up) Wake me up inside
(I can't wake up) Wake me up inside
(Save me) Call my name and save me from the dark
(Wake me up) Bid my blood to run
(I can't wake up) Before I come undone
(Save me) Save me from the nothing I've become



His voice led Kagome to the doorway of a small bar. Above the entrance a neon sign blinked "Tiko's" in bright green letters. With a trepidation that caused her hands to shake, she cautiously entered the dark building. The interior was sparsely lit to hide the indescretions of the few people who clung to each other in the shadows. The pungent odor of tobacco burned in the back of her throat. The very atmosphere of the room was thick and stifling with smoke and the heady reality of illusion. Her gaze wandered from the writhing fugures to the small stage where the exiled angel and her savior continued their story.

Kagome's breath caught at the picture they painted: the first, a defiant angel and her free flowing hair. Through the haze, soft light reflected off her skin, shrouding her in shimmering moonlight. A being of light--all except her eyes--they seemed at once to pull in the world, and without mercy, force it back out, through the patrons, through the room, through everything. They were the cold eyes of one who judged all by the shadows of the past.

But above all, it was the voice that struck Kagome. At once containing a heavenly purity and a cruel edge, it was the voice of someone calling back to a distant world from across a chasm of solitary exile.

Now that I know what I'm without,
You can't just leave me.
Breathe into me and make me real,
Bring me to life.

Kagome's eyes moved to the second player of this dramatic scene: the savior, sent to free this fallen angel from the darkness. His mane of long silvery locks swirled about him like a heavenly halo caught in a tempetuous wind. Eyes of ethereal amber glowed with an inner light as they fought to penetrate the darkness of the angel's banishment. Slim tapered fingers moved fluently over the guitar at his hips-- as though it were a mere extention of himself. The powerful chords produced by the instrument echoed through the shadows, attempting to chase away the despair of the angel's cry.

The graceful arch of his stance belied the intensity of his harsh voice. All at once the timbre was unyeilding in it's ferocity, yet pleading with her cold heart to be heard. The man's mere presence commanded the audience to take heed of his message to the divine being before him. (Wake me up) Wake me up inside
(I can't wake up) Wake me up inside
(Save me) Call my name and save me from the dark
(Wake me up) Bid my blood to run
(I can't wake up) Before I come undone
(Save me) Save me from the nothing I've become

The savior leaned longingly into the angel. His being exuded some desperate attempt to draw her closer, to envelope her in the salvation only he could offer. The exiled angel pushed away viciously, turned from him and walked across the scarred stage to sing to a man in the audience. The abandoned savior gave the angel a look of disgust before his eyes turned toward the audience before him. Kagome was hypnotized by the intensity of his glowing orbs. She tried to sink further into the shadows, but those mysterious golden eyes found her. A look of confusion briefly crossed his features once his gaze locked with the troubled eyes of the girl in the shadows. The fallen angel with the voice haunted by darkness continued to seduce the stranger in the audience with her plea.

Bring me to life....
(I've been living a lie, there's nothing inside)
Bring me to life....Frozen inside without your touch,
Without your love, darling.
Only you are the life among the dead.Kagome inhaled sharply as those piercing orbs of molten amber held her captive. The battered heart in her breast pulsed hesitantly as though afraid of feeling anything. It had been so long...... What was it about this voice, this unusual man, that called out to her soul and actually caused it to respond to him? Something in the tone of his melodious chime beckoned to her and called forth all the emotions she had thought no longer existed. The savior never turned his eyes away from her as the duo played on.

(All of this time I can't believe I couldn't see,
Kept in the dark but you were there in front of me...)I've been sleeping a thousand years, it seems.

Got to open my eyes to everything.(Without a thought, without a voice, without a soul.)
Don't leave me to die here.
(There must be something more.)
Bring me to life.

The angel returned to the savior once more and caressed his sweat glistened shoulder, now seeking the salvation his words promised. He flinched, as though trying to retract the forgiveness he had once offered to her. The light in the savior's eyes dimmed, replaced by a dark glare of promised vengence. He turned to scream out the final chorus into the shocked angel's face. Her wounded expression quickly healed over: just another scar to be hidden, another lashing to be inflicted back upon her offender. Frigid cruelty dripped from the angry angel as she responded to his hoarse cry. The players glared at each other, each word now emphasized by a darker emotion in their vocalization than the song apparently intended. Kagome watched in transfixed horror as they changed the true meaning of the lyrics, twisting it from a message of hope and salvation into something dark and sinister.

(Wake me up) Wake me up inside
(I can't wake up) Wake me up inside
(Save me) Call my name and save me from the dark
(Wake me up) Bid my blood to run
(I can't wake up) Before I come undone
(Save me) Save me from the nothing I've become

The savior turned his turblent gaze back to Kagome, spurning the plea of the defiant angel. It was as though he was desperately trying to convey his message - whatever it was - to her alone. Was he offering that divine forgiveness to her, or was the savior now the fallen one that sought salvation?

Bring me to life.
(I've been living a lie, there's nothing inside)
Bring me to life.


As the final notes of the angel's plea echoed throughout the room, the savior's intense stare bore into Kagome. Something stirred deep within her soul, a feeling that had lain dormant since that night two years ago. Hot tears sprang to her eyes. Tears born this time not of heartache, but of confusion and fear. This man, this stranger, had moved a part of her that she had thought dead these many months, a part of her that she thought would never feel alive again.

Until tonight.

Kagome fled the bar in a frenzied panic. The emotions that man's voice stirred frightened the poor girl. She had to get away from this banisher of darkness, from his sheer intensity.

She had to escape the truth his voice offered.



"Just what the fuck kind of game are you playing at now, Kikyo?" Inuyasha yelled as he burst through the door to the small broom closet that served as the angel's dressing room.

Kikyo turned slowly to face the savior, a cat-like smile played upon her lips. She sized up the man staring at her with furious intensity and her gaze hungrily took in the way his muscles rippled under the tight black tank top. "What ever do you mean, my love?" she replied coyly.

"Don't you DARE give me that 'my love' shit! Who the hell is he, Kikyo?" The man's eye's glinted dangerously as he entered the room and slammed the door behind him. He took little pleasure at the sight of Kikyo jumping slightly when the force of the action sent the brooms and mops crashing to the floor. "Don't think for one second that I am oblivious to the little 'side jobs' you pick up after each show!" Inuyasha stopped a hairsbreadth from her and flexed the fingers that itched to choke the life from the decietful beauty.

"Oh, like you never played 'guitar hero' to any of the tramps that throw themselves at you!" she retaliated maliciously. Her tone dripped acid as her eyes narrowed. "Don't tell me you actually thought-"

"YOU BITCH!" he screamed. "Never --not once!-- did I take one of those girls up on their offers! I thought I had something better waiting for me at home!"

"Ever the faithful dog, aren't you, dear?" Kikyo mocked him. She knew full well that he had never strayed from their arrangement. He was one of the "good guys", someone she had thought could take hermusic career where she wanted it to go. So, she hooked up with him and his friends, lending her tantalizing vocals to the struggling group of musicians. They soon started playing small bars and clubs. Now 'Hell's Redemption' was beginning to actually make a name for themselves, and Kikyo was becoming known in the circles of the music business. The drooling man in the audience was a studio technician at Sony Music Corp. that claimed he could get her a meeting with the top dogs.

For a price, of course. One Kikyo was willing to pay. The woman knew how the game was played.

Kikyo shifted her focus back to the furious man before her. She had toyed with Inuyasha's emotions until the poor sap fell head over heels for her, then kept him on a short leash. Sure, the guy was great between the sheets, but he had entirely too much of a soft heart to suit her. She needed something darker in her life, not this over protective lap dog that he had become.

An image of writhing bodies twisted in brutal passion flashed through the woman's mind, and her body reacted with a sudden quickening of intense arousal. Nothing like a knock-down drag out fight to get the juices flowing!

Kikyo stood and laughed cruelly in his face, her eyes cold and hard as they bored a hole through his heart. Words that stung like a thousand shards of ice spewed from her traitorous lips. "So loyal and true you are, Inuyasha. Just like a lost little puppy; you're so eager to please me, even though I kick you over and over again!" She took sadistic delight in the way he visibly flinched from her verbal attack. The hardened angel bared her fangs and moved in for the killing blow. "You're a good fuck, baby, but that's about where it ends."

The brutal truth in her tone made something snap inside his mind. Inuyasha's vision glazed red and his hands could no longer be held in check. Kikyo cried out as his iron like fingers closed around the delicate column of her throat. This was not the erotic reaction she had anticipated! "You spiteful, self centered little whore! All this time I thought we were gonna make this work! You promised that once we broke through you would marry me! So I let you play your little games. That promise was the only thing that kept me from tearing out your worthless heart!"

Kikyo's eyes bugged out slightly as the vice tightened around her neck. In a desperate bid to break free, she lifted a hand to pry his fingers off her fragile neck. Inuyasha merely laughed cruely at her feeble attempt to loosen his death grip. "Oh, no Kikyo. Not this time. You'll never push me away again!" He lifted her up by the throat and slammed her body against the wall. "Die you selfish BITCH!" he cried and watched her gasp for the precious oxygen he was gleefully denying her.

The door crashed open behind him and through the haze of rage he heard, "Fuck! Inuyasha, what are you doing!!" Miroku pried his friend's fingers from around the girls throat and pushed him back across the small room. "What the hell's going on in here?" He knelt to check on the coughing woman at his feet, but recoiled when she leveled her icy stare on him.

"Get your fucking hands off me, you pervert," she rasped. "I don't need your help! Just get him the fuck away from me!"

Miroku turned once again to Inuyasha, anxiety tripping through him at the sight of the panting, trembling man. The drummer knew his friend's temper was no where near stable. What transpired in the next few seconds would be the difference between walking away from this scene intact or badly beaten. He walked forward and cautiously reached a hand out to his life long friend. "Inuyasha, let's go. Nothing good will come out of this. Come on..."

"You are out," Inuyasha informed her, the deadly calm intonation belied the rage that still pounded through him. "I want you out of my band, out of my apartment and out of my life! Pack your shit and go. Don't EVER let me see you anywhere near what is mine again." The vengeful man cracked his knuckles ominously. "If I do, I will finish what I started." He turned away from her and strode purposefully toward the door. Miroku positioned himself directly behind the seething musician and followed him from the room.

Kikyo choked hoarsely. "And what will you do without me, you stupid fucker? You alone can't carry this band. You NEED me! You used my voice, I used your body! So fucking what?!"

"That's it!" he growled as he pivoted to charge the woman again.

Miroku was quick to react and blocked Inuyasha from attacking Kikyo once more. He forcably shoved Inuyasha from the room and slammed the door in the ranting man's face. He leaned heavily against the wooden blockade, ignoring the vicious banging and violent cursing from the other side. The man who normally possesed saint-like patience glared coldly at the still gasping woman. "I told him from the beginning you were bad news, Kikyo. Thank you for finally proving me right." A particularly vicious push against the door almost dislodged the drummer from his postion.

Once his stance was regained firmly before the door to insure no further interuptions, the drummer continued, "I hope you take him seriously, Kikyo. Next time, I may not be there to stop him. Hell," he smiled maliciously, "I may not even want to stop him." He opened the door once again, and pushed the still snarling Inuyasha further into the dark hallway. "Don't make me beat the shit out of you, Inuyasha! Just let it go!"

Once the door was closed and the echos of the two male voices faded, Kikyo slowly stood. Wearily she gazed at her reflection in the small mirror and assessed the damage to her once flawless skin. "Fuck you, Inuyasha!" she spat as she gingerly prodded the discoloration that was already blooming on her tender flesh. "Just wait, you asshole, I'll make you suffer like never before! You have fucked with the wrong bitch!"

Kagome ran for her life. She raced blindly around the corner of the small establishment and down a darkened ally, oblivious to any potential danger. She had to escape the swirling emotions that man's voice- his very presence- had stirred. The haunted woman had abandoned those dreams so very long ago, cursing herself to wander the earth a bitter shell of the happy girl that once existed. For the savior to have awakened that part of her was more even more frightening than the nightmare her life had become. So Kagome fled from his salvation.

More importantly, she ran from herself.

The sudden realization caused her to stop dead in her tracks. All the grief, heartache and anguish of the past two years burst forth in an anamalistic howl. "WHY?!"

Exhaustion crashed over her like a tidal wave. Kagome leaned heavily against a rainsoaked wall, all the fight drained from her battered spirit. Legs that lacked the strength to support her gave out and she slid down to sit in a shallow puddle. The world weary young woman raised her tearstained face and wept to the heavens. "Why do you continue to torture me? For so long you allowed me to wallow in the darkness! Now that I have finally embraced the fate you dealt me, you lead me to him? Why, after all this time, do you show me what I can no longer have?"

The increased intensity of the rain seemed to be the only answer the fates were willing to offer. Kagome drew her knees up to her chest and buried her face behind them. Heartwrenching sobs wracked the slender frame as memories of the long dead past the past flooded her mind. Once upon a time, she had been happy. A future brightened by love and joy had been laid at her feet. Her music was on the verge of breaking the charts. Shiro-her manager and love of her life- had proposed marriage. They had just purchased their dream apartment. Life for the rising pop star had been perfect.

Obviously, perfection was never meant to be obtained by mere mortals.

In the blink of an eye, all of her happiness was swept away like so much detritus. Shiro was dead. The record label was leary to take on an emotionally unstable singer. When Kagome had returned to the studio three months later, they knew their fears had not been unfounded. She simply couldn't muster the bubbly sound that was her signature. Even the heart felt ballads suffered from her emotional trauma. How could the executives expect her to sing about eternal love and devotion, or fairytale endings when her heart -her entire world!- had been shattered? Unwilling to give the mourning woman anymore time to pull herself together, the record label dropped her immediately.

For two years this shell of a woman drifted through each day without purpose. The only thing she still had was the high-rise apartment she and Shiro were to begin their new life in. The inheritance from her mother and grandfather were sufficient to buy the place outright and keep her comfortable for quite a few years. The only problem was that she no longer had anyone to share it with. Her days consisted of pounding out her anguish on the keys of her piano, letting the music feed off of her darker emotions. Yet no matter how long she played, or how hard she pushed the feelings of dispair from her heart, it was never enough to heal the ache in her soul.

So here she was, the great Higurashi Kagome shivering in a dark and dank alleyway; beaten, broken and frightened of the truth in a strangers voice. How --after everything she had endured-- could the harsh vocals of a silver-haired savior stir her defeated heart to life? How could the fates be so cruel? What had she ever done to deserve this hellish punishment?

The back door of the bar was shoved open and banged against the brick wall. Two figures appeared in the opening, the deep male tones carrying to the softly sobbing girl. "Inuyasha, just calm down! It's over now, let her go. She isn't worth going to prison over, so just walk away from this hard earned lesson! I tried to warn you months ago. I got a bad vibe from her when she first joined us."

"Enough with the fucking 'I told you so's', Miroku!" the second voice rejoined harshly. "But the whore has a point. What the fuck are we gonna do without a lead vocalist?"

"We'll just have to find a new one, I suppose. Sango can fill in till then."

Inuyasha snorted. "Sango's great for filling in at rehersals and singing harmony, but you know she freezes up completely when it comes down to a live performance. We have our first big venue in less than a month! We need to come up with something fast!"

Miroku heaved a weary sigh. "Let's worry about that tomorrow, my friend. I'm too damn tired to try and hash it out now, and Sango's already headed home. You know we can't decide any plan of action without her." When his companion nodded, the drummer clapped a hand to the man's shoulder. "Go home, Yash, and get some sleep. I'll see you at garage in the morning?"

"Yeah. Tell Sango I'm sorry I ruined her plans for tonight." At Miroku's shocked expression, Inuyahsa chuckled. "Do you two think I'm blind, or just plain stupid? Get out of here, you lecherous ass!" He watched the smiling pervert give a jaunty salute as he flipped open his cell phone and walk toward the parking lot next to the alley. Inuyasha turned to make his way down the desolate strip of pavement when he caught the muffled sound of sobbing from the shadows. Cautiously he approached the huddled figure so as not to startle whoever the poor soul was.

He crouched down infront the woman. "Oi. Are you okay?" Tentatively, he gave her shoulder a gentle shake. The figure shrank from his touch as though it burned her. Inuyasha growled in frustration as she continued to sob into her knees. "Tell me how I can help you, dammit!"

"You can't! No one can help! Just leave me alone," the girl whimpered in defeat as the intensity of her cries increased. "It's hopeless! So.... fucking hopeless....."

Inuyasha raised his hand to stroke her hair gently. Something about this broken specimen of humanity touched a long forgotten piece of his heart. For some reason Inuyasha was overwhelmed with an urge to gather this woman close to him and protect her from all the pain she was suffering. "Oh, baby, nothing is ever hopeless," he whispered soothingly. "Someone, somewhere, must care about you, must want to heal your wounds."

"He-- he's dead! They are all DEAD!"

The pure agony that spewed forth from this misery-laden declaration ripped through Inuyasha's heart. The caressing hand stopped in mid air for a split second before lowering to her cheek. A finger curled under her chin to force the girl to tilt her head up so he could look at her. His breath halted within his chest as she raised her tortured brown eyes to his face. It's her!

Kagome gasped, her eyes wide with shock. It's him! She savagely shoved at his chest and sent the silver-haired savior sprawling in the miniture river that ran through the allyway. "Stay away from me!" the panic stricken girl screamed as she scrambled to her feet and sprinted away from the cause of her anxiety.

Inuyasha was quick to recover his balance and darted after her. "Wait! What the hell has you so spooked?" he yelled at her retreating back. "I'm NOT gonna hurt you!" His longer stride quickly ate up the short distance between them and he wrapped a muscled arm around her waist. With a quick jerk the girl was spun around to face the intensity of his piercing gaze.

Nose to nose with the savior the panic within her escalated and caused her to blood to stop cold in her viens. His golden eyes seemed to peel away every defensive wall she had carefully constructed and peered into her very soul. All the fear, anxiety and pain welled to the surface as she cried out, "NOOOOO!"

Inuyasha winced as her shrill cry pierced his eardrums as it continued to reverberate off the walls that surrounded them. He watched in horrified facination as her eyes rolled and her lids slid closed. The girls body suddenly went limp in his arms and he barely had time to catch the dead wieght before she crashed to the ground. "Fuck!" The man barely registered the sound of racing footfalls over the pavement.

Miroku heard the girl's scream just as he was getting into his car. The cry caused the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on end. He knew he could no more ignore the sound than he could ignore the beat of his heart. The scene he stumbled upon was a sight he never would have believed possible. Inuyasha was leaning over the limp form of an unconcious woman in his arms. "What the hell are you doing to her, Inuyasha?!"

"Dammit, Miroku! It's not what it looks like!" Inuyasha replied hotly. The man easily scooped the uncouncious woman into his arms and strode to his dumbstruck friend. "Help me out here! Look in her purse for some kind of identification, an address, or anything that will give us a clue where to take her!" He waited long enough for Miroku to reveal a drivers license. "Alright, let's get this girl home!"

"Ah, Inuyasha, do you know who this is?"

"At this point I don't care!" Inuyasha barked as he strode toward Miroku's little toyota. "She's soaked through and cold as ice. Her lips are starting to turn blue, for God's sake!"

Miroku raced ahead of his friend, stopping long enough to unlock the passenger door and open it. He rounded the back of the decrepit vehicle and popped the trunk to snatch the emergency blanket then slammed the lid closed again. When Inuyasha settled into the small car, stilll cradling the woman in his arms, Miroku arranged the blanket over them both before racing over to the driver's seat. He quickly reved the reluctant engine to life and turned the heat up full blast. As the drummer maneuvered the vehicle onto the nearly deserted street, he turned nervous eyes to the couple beside him. His usually calm companion was running trembling fingers through her hair, then over her pale cheeks. There was a look of such intensity in the guitarists normally distant eyes.

I've never seen him like this..... Dark indigo eyes turned toward the heavens. Guide him, Bhudda! His soul is so scarred, please don't torture his soul any further!