InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Darkness in the Hearts of Light ❯ Empty Moon ( Chapter 10 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Felan Silverchild 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Post-apocalyptic / Hentai | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 05.25.2005 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.2K | Visits: 174 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Post-apocalyptic / Hentai | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 05.25.2005 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.2K | Visits: 174 | Status: Completed
A/N : Lady Raina! I’m sending so my hugs your way! I can’t tell you how much your wonderful praise means to me. I could just squeeze you to death for your generosity of time! Because you were so wonderful, I’m going to stick up the next two chapters ahead of schedule. I’ll try to have the 12th one out by Friday next week or so. I’m usually pretty quick at writing, so after this, I will try to have them up one per week. Lady Raina, I really want you to know that you have given me the encouragement I really needed to continue working on this. As much as I love the story (and it’s about to get a lot deeper and more twisted - don’t worry, I’m not planning on anyone’s death!) I was losing hope that anyone else liked it, so my inspiration was quickly drying up.
To others out there, if there is anyone else reading it, I beg beg beg you to review it. Good, Bad, Flame, Praise ... I’ll take anything, I just need to know what is working and what is not. I really just need to know that someone else out there is even reading it. Not hearing anything from readers is like starvation! It’s actually painful.
Enough with the desperate pleading for reviews .. On with the story.
Chapter Ten : Empty Moon
Inuyasha leapt upwards through the well. The smells of Kagome’s world pervaded his senses as he landed gingerly on the ground, cradling her close to his chest.
“We’re home, Kagome. It won’t be long now.” He could feel her breathing growing shallower and more difficult. “Please just hold on.”
Inuyasha rushed through the door and carried her towards her mothers’ house. He dreaded the look he would see in her mother’s gentle eyes.
The rain was still pouring from dark, heavily laden clouds and drenched them as he ran across the slick grass and up to the well lit porch. On the other side of the light was the door. Every step was a mile stretched painfully long. But somehow he found himself on the other side of it, standing in an empty room and desperately wishing he weren’t alone.
Inuyasha could hear himself scream for her mother and grandfather. Anything to find the help Kagome needed. It was all falling into a blur now. His shoulder didn’t even ache anymore but for now was frighteningly numb instead. His whole body was numb for that matter.
Kagome was feeling heavier and heavier until he sunk to the floor with her.
“Inuyasha! KAGOME! What happened?!” Kagome’s mother rushed down to them dressed in her nightgown and looked her daughter over frantically. She saw the look in Inuyasha’s face and ran to find the phone.
“Why is your hair black? What happened to my sister? Why are you covered in blood?”
“Sota! Go back to your room!”
“But, Mom!”
“I said now!”
As Sota ran back up to his room he stopped and hid at the top of the stairwell and listened with tears in his eyes. What he saw below was horrible. Inuyasha was covered in blood, as was his sister, who lay completely unconscious in the hanyou’s arms. And for some reason, Inuyasha didn’t look anything like himself either, but Sota knew it was him even without the ears and black hair.
“Grandpa! The ambulance is on its way. We need to warm her up. Inuyasha, lay her down on the couch so we can see to her.” Somehow, he found the strength to stand and as gently as he could muster, laid Kagome out onto the couch. Her mother rushed in and stretched a blanket over her. “Get some warm water and a towel so we can clean her up.” She wasn’t speaking to anyone in particular, but Grandpa took it upon himself to disappear into the kitchen to gather the supplies.
It left Inuyasha alone in the room with Kagome and her mother.
“What happened?” Her voice was quivering gently, yet somehow managed to cut right through him.
He couldn’t bring himself to look her in the eyes.
“Alright, here’s the water.” Grandpa walked back into the room carrying a heavy bowl with two towels draped over his shoulder just in time.
“Inuyasha, go up to Sota’s room and have him help you clean up. Jii-san, watch for the ambulance while I clean her up.”
Without a word the two men obeyed her welcome commands.
Inuyasha managed his way to the stairs but could only make it up a few steps when his vision began to blur again. He reached up and touched the wound in his shoulder. It hurt a great deal more in his human form. His fingers came away with thick blood dripping from them. He seemed to bleed more too.
“Damn you, Raiju.” He cursed under his breath and collapsed weakly onto the uncomfortable stairs, pressing his good hand hard against the wound to stop the bleeding. He leaned back against the wall and supported his head on one of the carpeted steps.
He didn’t care what happened to him, Kagome was all that was on his mind. Whoever the ambulance was would take care of Kagome and heal her now. That’s all that mattered.
Sota clamored down the stairs when he saw Inuyasha collapse there and sat beside him.
“You’re hurt too aren’t you?”
“I’ll be alright.”
“Is.. is my sister going to die?”
Inuyasha was startled by the tone in Sota’s voice. It was so calm and direct.. so unlike him. Inuyasha couldn’t look him in the eye, but instead felt a horrible pressure behind his eyes. He didn’t want to cry, not here, not in front of Sota, but he wasn’t sure he could stop himself. It was the idea of losing Kagome.
Downstairs, he could hear the door open and several voices began talking about things he didn’t understand. He knew it had to be the healers Kagome’s mother had called to come help her and was relieved. Maybe he could relax now.
Suddenly the door slammed open, startling everyone. Sota ran to the edge of the wall and peered around to find out what all the yelling was about. Inuyasha forced himself forward to join him. His body felt so weak and ached badly as he struggled to stay upright.
“Of all the timing!” Inuyasha sucked in a ragged and exhausted breath, searching desperately for the energy to front a stronger image of himself. When he stepped from the stairs, he caught sight of a dark haired youth moving between Kagome and three men dressed only in white.
Inuyasha recognized him immediately on some instinctual level. It was just like in the dream. Even though he couldn’t see his face with his back turned, he knew what the young man with black hair looked like and somehow knew his name.
“Kioshi!”
He turned with the swiftness of a preternatural creature, his blue eyes piercing and furious.
“You could have killed her bringing her here!”
“You would have killed her keeping her there! Stay away from her or I’ll kill you.”
“In your condition?! I can smell it. Not a trace of demon blood in you right now. Which means your only a half blood.. what blood is left in you that is. I’m surprised you can still stand after that much blood loss.”
Suddenly, with an aura of pure strength and determination, Kagome’s mother stepped between the two of them.
“She is my daughter! Whatever quarrel you two have over her I don’t care. Right now she needs to go to the hospital if we want her to live.” There was the twinkle of a tear held sharply in her determined eyes.
The two young men stepped back hurriedly, both watching the men in white cautiously.
“Did you hear one of them say something about demon blood?” Kioshi could hear one of them whispering.
The three men gingerly stepped forward, carefully avoiding Kioshi and Inuyasha as they began attending to Kagome’s needs.
“This girl needs transfusions and antibiotics immediately!”
“Is this a stab wound?”
“I’ve never seen a case this severe. Infection has already set in deeply, she may lose the arm.”
“What’s her heart rate?”
“It’s very poor, sir. I’m not sure she’s going to make it to the hospital.”
All of the words were blurring in and out of Inuyasha’s mind, he couldn’t tell anymore when one voice ended and another began. It was all made worse as he had to watch them lift Kagome onto a rolling bed and walk her through the doorway and into the night.
“Inuyasha, stay here. I’m going to follow the ambulance in. Grandpa, I’m counting on you to keep an eye on everything here while I’m gone.”
“I should be coming with you!”
“No, right now I think it would be better if these two young men stayed here and you kept them in line. I don’t want her in any more danger right now.” Her glare instantly found Inuyasha’s eyes but he immediately looked away. She disappeared through the door and hurriedly closed it behind her.
“Grandpa?” Sota gingerly skirted around the corner and looked at Kioshi. “Who are you? What did you do to my sister?!” Suddenly he rushed forward with his arms high and his fists balled.
“Sota!” Grandpa tried to stop him but missed.
Kioshi moved in just the right instant and grabbed Sota by the back of his shirt and lifted him, careful to keep his swinging fists and feet at arms length.
“I saved her, I didn’t hurt her.” The dagger in his voice was directed towards Inuyasha as he turned Sota to face the human form of Inuyasha.
He couldn’t stand it anymore. His rage was boiling over and his pain was subsiding again.
“Inu-nee-chan? You didn’t? I know you wouldn’t..” Sota looked hurt. “You said you’d protect her while she was over there. You lied?”
“Sota.. I .. wasn’t there. I couldn’t.. It’s my fault for letting her go off by herself.” Inuyasha did what he knew best as he stammered for words; he found a point to funnel all of his confusion and anger into.
Kioshi set the boy down and looked back over his shoulder towards the door. As he turned to follow the ambulance against Kagome’s mothers’ wishes, Inuyasha stopped him.
“Where are you going?”
“Why? It doesn’t matter; you aren’t strong enough to do anything to me. You aren’t even able to protect her.” Kioshi’s eyes sparkled dangerously. “You don’t have any right to her anymore.”
It was the straw that broke the Hanyou’s back. Inuyasha drew back with his good arm and struck Kioshi across the face with a fist balled so tightly he could feel the skin over his knuckles tear and bleed. The motion of it was so swift Kioshi, with all of his demonic awareness had no time to react until it was too late. His jaw ached but there was no real damage done except a thin trickle of blood from his lip.
Blood now flowed from both young men.
“Is that all you can do?” Kioshi returned the strike two fold and sent Inuyasha sailing back into a table, scraping it across the floor but somehow not breaking it.
That was all it took.. to start the war and open the flood gates of hell.
“We’ve lost her! She’s flat lining. Charge the defibrilator!” The driver carefully pulled through another intersection as traffic stopped around them.
The paramedic with the balding head flipped the necessary switches and greased the paddles as he tore open what remained of her blouse after they had cut away the bloody wrappings. He placed one above her heart and one below to send the stream of electricity through it, jump starting it back to life.
Inuyasha and Kioshi alone seemed impervious to it as they again struck blows against one another.
This time the connection went deeper.
Her eyes opened and her body lifted, situating her in an upright position as she looked about her strange new surroundings.
“Where am I?” She looked to the man standing awkwardly with his head tilted against the low ceiling, a horrified and bewildered expression nestled tensely in his face. He tried to relax a little but his heart still pounded from the surprise.
“You are in an ambulance, on your way to the hospital. Do you remember your name?”
“Petulant fool. Who are you to ask me that?”
“Is she awake?!” One of the paramedics sitting in the front of the ambulance shouted back.
“You might say that!” The balding one responded nervously. “Y.. You should really lie back down miss. That injury of yours is badly infected. You may be in shock right now so..”
“Wound? Oh yes.” She clasped her hand over the gaping lesion and rolled her head back. A dark light encompassed the reddened meat. The darkness of it withered away into pink flesh and became whole again. Even the color of her cheeks returned.
“A.. amazing! She.. She’s healed!” The paramedic turned to call to his buddies again as Kagome’s hand waved towards him. Nothing happened.
A grimace crossed the girls’ young features, casting an old light into her eyes.
“How can she still have a hold on this body?” Her voice was filled with frustration.
“What?” The balding man turned back as the ambulance came to a stop.
“What did you say, Yassima?”
Again, Kagome’s hand arched through the air. From her drifted a powerful presence that seized the three mens hearts with dread and absolute terror before they fell to their knees. Their hair and skin grew as white as alabaster as they died almost instantly.
Kagome turned her attention to the confines of the small rectangular compartment and narrowed her eyes. With little exertion the metal body of it groaned and split apart, tearing itself into many pieces and twisted into ominous forms before she was satisfied.
“Izanagi no Mikoto, it is time I reap my promise.” Kagome lifted her arms high above her head, stretching her body into an elegant arch as she lifted momentarily up into the air. Her appearance changed only slightly. Her form seemed more feminine and her eyes and aura exuded immense power. But she was no longer Kagome.
A car pulled up behind the demolished ambulance and idled there for a moment as Kagome descended to the ground again, free of the twisted metal.
Kagome’s mother opened the door and leaned warily out into a half standing position. Suddenly it started to rain again, yet strangely the rain seemed to run down an invisible surface above her daughters’ head keeping her dry.
“Ka.. Kagome?”
Kagome’s mother was pushed back a step by the force of power suddenly directed towards her. There was no recognizable trace of Kagome left in her body except the appearance of her face. Even that didn’t seem quite the same.
“Mortal. You are witness to my rebirth, you who bore this vessel for me. Izanami has returned to this world as she swore she would to bear up her grudge. As reward, you shall live to see the dusk of man.” Kagome’s body turned and walked down the street away from her mother, disappearing in the haze of the storm.
“Kagome!” Her mother felt the weight of it and collapsed to the wet asphalt. When she feared she would lose her daughter, she could not have imagined in her darkest dreams something like this. This was far worse than death. She had to tell Inuyasha, as much as she didn’t want to see him again. In a way, she blamed him for all of this even as she tried hard not to.
In one direction she disjointedly watched her own body wonder off and disappear. Then her mothers voice echoed out through her, sounding as though it were calling through a distant cave. Slowly, straining to move, Kagome turned and saw her mother weeping on the ground.
She reached out a hand to comfort her mother but it passed instead through her body.
“Am I.. dead?” Her voice echoed in her ears over and over. A light caught her eye as she looked up suddenly frightened. Everywhere, little eyes glimmered in the dim light, watching her, moving in the shadows.
Kagome stepped back and fell through her mothers’ body.
“Inuyasha, what am I going to do?!” With the thought of him she was suddenly sucked through a passage of light and dragged, it felt, through a murky, almost solid haze until she found herself standing just before him.
She saw in his eyes a moment of recognition.
“Kagome?”
Converting /tmp/phpvz7aZw to /dev/stdout
To others out there, if there is anyone else reading it, I beg beg beg you to review it. Good, Bad, Flame, Praise ... I’ll take anything, I just need to know what is working and what is not. I really just need to know that someone else out there is even reading it. Not hearing anything from readers is like starvation! It’s actually painful.
Enough with the desperate pleading for reviews .. On with the story.
Chapter Ten : Empty Moon
Inuyasha leapt upwards through the well. The smells of Kagome’s world pervaded his senses as he landed gingerly on the ground, cradling her close to his chest.
“We’re home, Kagome. It won’t be long now.” He could feel her breathing growing shallower and more difficult. “Please just hold on.”
Inuyasha rushed through the door and carried her towards her mothers’ house. He dreaded the look he would see in her mother’s gentle eyes.
The rain was still pouring from dark, heavily laden clouds and drenched them as he ran across the slick grass and up to the well lit porch. On the other side of the light was the door. Every step was a mile stretched painfully long. But somehow he found himself on the other side of it, standing in an empty room and desperately wishing he weren’t alone.
Inuyasha could hear himself scream for her mother and grandfather. Anything to find the help Kagome needed. It was all falling into a blur now. His shoulder didn’t even ache anymore but for now was frighteningly numb instead. His whole body was numb for that matter.
Kagome was feeling heavier and heavier until he sunk to the floor with her.
“Inuyasha! KAGOME! What happened?!” Kagome’s mother rushed down to them dressed in her nightgown and looked her daughter over frantically. She saw the look in Inuyasha’s face and ran to find the phone.
“Why is your hair black? What happened to my sister? Why are you covered in blood?”
“Sota! Go back to your room!”
“But, Mom!”
“I said now!”
As Sota ran back up to his room he stopped and hid at the top of the stairwell and listened with tears in his eyes. What he saw below was horrible. Inuyasha was covered in blood, as was his sister, who lay completely unconscious in the hanyou’s arms. And for some reason, Inuyasha didn’t look anything like himself either, but Sota knew it was him even without the ears and black hair.
“Grandpa! The ambulance is on its way. We need to warm her up. Inuyasha, lay her down on the couch so we can see to her.” Somehow, he found the strength to stand and as gently as he could muster, laid Kagome out onto the couch. Her mother rushed in and stretched a blanket over her. “Get some warm water and a towel so we can clean her up.” She wasn’t speaking to anyone in particular, but Grandpa took it upon himself to disappear into the kitchen to gather the supplies.
It left Inuyasha alone in the room with Kagome and her mother.
“What happened?” Her voice was quivering gently, yet somehow managed to cut right through him.
He couldn’t bring himself to look her in the eyes.
“Alright, here’s the water.” Grandpa walked back into the room carrying a heavy bowl with two towels draped over his shoulder just in time.
“Inuyasha, go up to Sota’s room and have him help you clean up. Jii-san, watch for the ambulance while I clean her up.”
Without a word the two men obeyed her welcome commands.
Inuyasha managed his way to the stairs but could only make it up a few steps when his vision began to blur again. He reached up and touched the wound in his shoulder. It hurt a great deal more in his human form. His fingers came away with thick blood dripping from them. He seemed to bleed more too.
“Damn you, Raiju.” He cursed under his breath and collapsed weakly onto the uncomfortable stairs, pressing his good hand hard against the wound to stop the bleeding. He leaned back against the wall and supported his head on one of the carpeted steps.
He didn’t care what happened to him, Kagome was all that was on his mind. Whoever the ambulance was would take care of Kagome and heal her now. That’s all that mattered.
Sota clamored down the stairs when he saw Inuyasha collapse there and sat beside him.
“You’re hurt too aren’t you?”
“I’ll be alright.”
“Is.. is my sister going to die?”
Inuyasha was startled by the tone in Sota’s voice. It was so calm and direct.. so unlike him. Inuyasha couldn’t look him in the eye, but instead felt a horrible pressure behind his eyes. He didn’t want to cry, not here, not in front of Sota, but he wasn’t sure he could stop himself. It was the idea of losing Kagome.
Downstairs, he could hear the door open and several voices began talking about things he didn’t understand. He knew it had to be the healers Kagome’s mother had called to come help her and was relieved. Maybe he could relax now.
Suddenly the door slammed open, startling everyone. Sota ran to the edge of the wall and peered around to find out what all the yelling was about. Inuyasha forced himself forward to join him. His body felt so weak and ached badly as he struggled to stay upright.
“Of all the timing!” Inuyasha sucked in a ragged and exhausted breath, searching desperately for the energy to front a stronger image of himself. When he stepped from the stairs, he caught sight of a dark haired youth moving between Kagome and three men dressed only in white.
Inuyasha recognized him immediately on some instinctual level. It was just like in the dream. Even though he couldn’t see his face with his back turned, he knew what the young man with black hair looked like and somehow knew his name.
“Kioshi!”
He turned with the swiftness of a preternatural creature, his blue eyes piercing and furious.
“You could have killed her bringing her here!”
“You would have killed her keeping her there! Stay away from her or I’ll kill you.”
“In your condition?! I can smell it. Not a trace of demon blood in you right now. Which means your only a half blood.. what blood is left in you that is. I’m surprised you can still stand after that much blood loss.”
Suddenly, with an aura of pure strength and determination, Kagome’s mother stepped between the two of them.
“She is my daughter! Whatever quarrel you two have over her I don’t care. Right now she needs to go to the hospital if we want her to live.” There was the twinkle of a tear held sharply in her determined eyes.
The two young men stepped back hurriedly, both watching the men in white cautiously.
“Did you hear one of them say something about demon blood?” Kioshi could hear one of them whispering.
The three men gingerly stepped forward, carefully avoiding Kioshi and Inuyasha as they began attending to Kagome’s needs.
“This girl needs transfusions and antibiotics immediately!”
“Is this a stab wound?”
“I’ve never seen a case this severe. Infection has already set in deeply, she may lose the arm.”
“What’s her heart rate?”
“It’s very poor, sir. I’m not sure she’s going to make it to the hospital.”
All of the words were blurring in and out of Inuyasha’s mind, he couldn’t tell anymore when one voice ended and another began. It was all made worse as he had to watch them lift Kagome onto a rolling bed and walk her through the doorway and into the night.
“Inuyasha, stay here. I’m going to follow the ambulance in. Grandpa, I’m counting on you to keep an eye on everything here while I’m gone.”
“I should be coming with you!”
“No, right now I think it would be better if these two young men stayed here and you kept them in line. I don’t want her in any more danger right now.” Her glare instantly found Inuyasha’s eyes but he immediately looked away. She disappeared through the door and hurriedly closed it behind her.
“Grandpa?” Sota gingerly skirted around the corner and looked at Kioshi. “Who are you? What did you do to my sister?!” Suddenly he rushed forward with his arms high and his fists balled.
“Sota!” Grandpa tried to stop him but missed.
Kioshi moved in just the right instant and grabbed Sota by the back of his shirt and lifted him, careful to keep his swinging fists and feet at arms length.
“I saved her, I didn’t hurt her.” The dagger in his voice was directed towards Inuyasha as he turned Sota to face the human form of Inuyasha.
He couldn’t stand it anymore. His rage was boiling over and his pain was subsiding again.
“Inu-nee-chan? You didn’t? I know you wouldn’t..” Sota looked hurt. “You said you’d protect her while she was over there. You lied?”
“Sota.. I .. wasn’t there. I couldn’t.. It’s my fault for letting her go off by herself.” Inuyasha did what he knew best as he stammered for words; he found a point to funnel all of his confusion and anger into.
Kioshi set the boy down and looked back over his shoulder towards the door. As he turned to follow the ambulance against Kagome’s mothers’ wishes, Inuyasha stopped him.
“Where are you going?”
“Why? It doesn’t matter; you aren’t strong enough to do anything to me. You aren’t even able to protect her.” Kioshi’s eyes sparkled dangerously. “You don’t have any right to her anymore.”
It was the straw that broke the Hanyou’s back. Inuyasha drew back with his good arm and struck Kioshi across the face with a fist balled so tightly he could feel the skin over his knuckles tear and bleed. The motion of it was so swift Kioshi, with all of his demonic awareness had no time to react until it was too late. His jaw ached but there was no real damage done except a thin trickle of blood from his lip.
Blood now flowed from both young men.
“Is that all you can do?” Kioshi returned the strike two fold and sent Inuyasha sailing back into a table, scraping it across the floor but somehow not breaking it.
That was all it took.. to start the war and open the flood gates of hell.
~~~~~~***~~~~~~
The ambulance was roaring with sirens as it sped down cloistered roads. Kagome’s awareness of it disappeared as a deep blackness swelled over her and swallowed her intimately.“We’ve lost her! She’s flat lining. Charge the defibrilator!” The driver carefully pulled through another intersection as traffic stopped around them.
The paramedic with the balding head flipped the necessary switches and greased the paddles as he tore open what remained of her blouse after they had cut away the bloody wrappings. He placed one above her heart and one below to send the stream of electricity through it, jump starting it back to life.
~~~~~~***~~~~~~
A pulse of power ran through the city in a shallow tide, flowing with a sense of malice on the wind. It passed through every wall and soul and woke every sleeping child and stirred every animal.Inuyasha and Kioshi alone seemed impervious to it as they again struck blows against one another.
This time the connection went deeper.
~~~~~~***~~~~~~
The paddles surged with power, not from the box, which contained its battery and charge, but from Kagome herself.Her eyes opened and her body lifted, situating her in an upright position as she looked about her strange new surroundings.
“Where am I?” She looked to the man standing awkwardly with his head tilted against the low ceiling, a horrified and bewildered expression nestled tensely in his face. He tried to relax a little but his heart still pounded from the surprise.
“You are in an ambulance, on your way to the hospital. Do you remember your name?”
“Petulant fool. Who are you to ask me that?”
“Is she awake?!” One of the paramedics sitting in the front of the ambulance shouted back.
“You might say that!” The balding one responded nervously. “Y.. You should really lie back down miss. That injury of yours is badly infected. You may be in shock right now so..”
“Wound? Oh yes.” She clasped her hand over the gaping lesion and rolled her head back. A dark light encompassed the reddened meat. The darkness of it withered away into pink flesh and became whole again. Even the color of her cheeks returned.
“A.. amazing! She.. She’s healed!” The paramedic turned to call to his buddies again as Kagome’s hand waved towards him. Nothing happened.
A grimace crossed the girls’ young features, casting an old light into her eyes.
“How can she still have a hold on this body?” Her voice was filled with frustration.
“What?” The balding man turned back as the ambulance came to a stop.
“What did you say, Yassima?”
Again, Kagome’s hand arched through the air. From her drifted a powerful presence that seized the three mens hearts with dread and absolute terror before they fell to their knees. Their hair and skin grew as white as alabaster as they died almost instantly.
Kagome turned her attention to the confines of the small rectangular compartment and narrowed her eyes. With little exertion the metal body of it groaned and split apart, tearing itself into many pieces and twisted into ominous forms before she was satisfied.
“Izanagi no Mikoto, it is time I reap my promise.” Kagome lifted her arms high above her head, stretching her body into an elegant arch as she lifted momentarily up into the air. Her appearance changed only slightly. Her form seemed more feminine and her eyes and aura exuded immense power. But she was no longer Kagome.
A car pulled up behind the demolished ambulance and idled there for a moment as Kagome descended to the ground again, free of the twisted metal.
Kagome’s mother opened the door and leaned warily out into a half standing position. Suddenly it started to rain again, yet strangely the rain seemed to run down an invisible surface above her daughters’ head keeping her dry.
“Ka.. Kagome?”
Kagome’s mother was pushed back a step by the force of power suddenly directed towards her. There was no recognizable trace of Kagome left in her body except the appearance of her face. Even that didn’t seem quite the same.
“Mortal. You are witness to my rebirth, you who bore this vessel for me. Izanami has returned to this world as she swore she would to bear up her grudge. As reward, you shall live to see the dusk of man.” Kagome’s body turned and walked down the street away from her mother, disappearing in the haze of the storm.
“Kagome!” Her mother felt the weight of it and collapsed to the wet asphalt. When she feared she would lose her daughter, she could not have imagined in her darkest dreams something like this. This was far worse than death. She had to tell Inuyasha, as much as she didn’t want to see him again. In a way, she blamed him for all of this even as she tried hard not to.
~~~~~~***~~~~~~
Kagome could see the rain but it seemed to pass through her. The motion of it was slow, and thick, and frightening. She couldn’t feel the cold of it or smell its aroma but she could sense the winds carried with it as they threatened to sweep her away.In one direction she disjointedly watched her own body wonder off and disappear. Then her mothers voice echoed out through her, sounding as though it were calling through a distant cave. Slowly, straining to move, Kagome turned and saw her mother weeping on the ground.
She reached out a hand to comfort her mother but it passed instead through her body.
“Am I.. dead?” Her voice echoed in her ears over and over. A light caught her eye as she looked up suddenly frightened. Everywhere, little eyes glimmered in the dim light, watching her, moving in the shadows.
Kagome stepped back and fell through her mothers’ body.
“Inuyasha, what am I going to do?!” With the thought of him she was suddenly sucked through a passage of light and dragged, it felt, through a murky, almost solid haze until she found herself standing just before him.
She saw in his eyes a moment of recognition.
“Kagome?”
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