InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Fallen Part Two: For Whom the Bell Tolls ❯ Faint ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2: Faint

He had been following her for a while now. Ever since that fight he had been watching her. She knew it. She knew the moment he showed up, just a couple of hours after the fight. Her tears had long since dried when he arrived. She was glad for it. She could not afford to look weak in front of him.

//I am a little bit of loneliness, a little bit of disregard
Handful of complaints, but I can help the fact, that everybody can see these scars
What I want you to want, what I want you to feel
But it's like no matter what I do, I can't convince you, to just believe this is real//

Though she gave no inkling, she knew he was there, just as he knew that she knew. Neither really cared that the other was aware of their presence either. At that particular moment in time, both wanted to be alone, yet feared it at the same time. However, both were too pig-headed and prideful to admit it, even to themselves. In their silence they shared a mutual bond. Both blamed themselves for what happened, even for the circumstances that surrounded the entire situation. The incident of just a few hours prior had shaken them to the core. Both had seen the look in Inuyasha's eyes just before the final blow was struck. In that one moment there was clarity. His red-fogged eyes had turned amber and one could see the pain reflected there. Those things weren't his fault. It was so easy to miss the fact that he was being controlled until that one moment. Those crimes were not his, but rather another's. Both blamed themselves, thinking they should have seen it earlier. Thinking they should have known better. Thinking that with all their power it meant absolutely nothing because they could do nothing to save the weakest of them all. One allowed a million `what if' questions to flood their mind, while the other was silently brooding.

//So I let go, watching you, turn your back like you always do
Face away and pretend that I'm not
But I'll be here 'cause you're all that I've got//

Sesshoumaru couldn't understand why he felt the way he did. All he could feel was regret and a sense of loss. That was far different from what he was expecting. But then again, at the time when he thought he would rejoice over his brother's death, they hadn't been on very good terms. He desperately wanted these feelings to go away, but he couldn't help thinking. `Hadn't I just been brooding over the fact that this truce had ruined my fun? Hadn't I wanted to kill Inuyasha my whole life? … Perhaps not.'

Like most things in life, Sesshoumaru did not know what he had until he had lost it.

Carelessly, Sesshoumaru pushed the offending emotions aside. It would do him no good to brood over this right now, or ever for that matter. He would just have to get passed the guilt and loss now. What was done was done. Deep in his subconscious he buried those emotions and all thought of his brother to be left there forever.

//I can't feel the way I did before
Don't turn your back on me
I won't be ignored
Time won't heal this damage anymore
Don't turn your back on me
I won't be ignored//

Well, he tried anyways.

Kagome was a whirlwind of confusion. Her mind and body were numb. Thoughts rushed through her head, yet she was thinking nothing. Inwardly she was screaming, crying. Outwardly she maintained a stone-faced calm.

She would conquer this. She had to.

//I am a little bit insecure, a little unconfident
'Cause you don't understand, I do what I can, but sometimes I don't make sense
I say what you never wanna say, but I've never had a doubt
It's like no matter what I do, I can't convince you, for once just to hear me out//

The day came and went. Night fell and they continued on some unknown path of which only their feet knew the way. Sesshoumaru did not know why he was compelled to follow this creature, only that something about her called to him. He was not impulsive, and yet he was following her without rhyme or reason. He would not be satisfied until he knew what exactly it was about her that caused him to ache for her in such manner. He racked his brain for a reason, a real reason but could find none forthcoming. `She is still on my lands,' he reasoned. `It's my duty to see that she does not cause problems.' He was not one to lie to himself and yet here he found himself doing so, if only to have a reason.

//So I let go, watching you, turn your back like you always do
Face away and pretend that I'm not
But I'll be here 'cause you're all that I've got//

As several more hours wore on, Kagome became agitated. Another wave of emotion made its' way passed her barrier of shock and disbelief. She wanted to scream and cry, but her pride forbade her. She could not show weakness in front of him. Her walls began to crack and her emotions began to overwhelm her. `What does he want with me?' her oversensitive mind hissed, trying to find a place to vent her anger. The remainder of her restraints began to crumble, and she could feel tears begin to gather. Before she could stop herself, as the last wall fell, she found herself rounding on her pursuer, screaming, "What the hell do you want with me?"

//I can't feel the way I did before
Don't turn your back on me
I won't be ignored
Time won't heal this damage anymore
Don't turn your back on me
I won't be ignored//

Sesshoumaru's ethereal form pulled from the shadows that hugged his glowing white form. He stared down the young phoenix, watching her as her chest heaved in her misplaced rage. He stood before her tall and proud, the epitome of perfection. "I do not have to want anything from you. You are still on my lands in spite of my warnings and for that I should kill you," he said softly.

//Now
Hear me out now//

"Arrogant bastard," she hissed. "If you're going to kill me, the kill me! If not then leave me be!" she cried, the tears finally escaping their prison.

//You're gonna listen to me, like it or not
Right now//

He merely stood there for several moments, baffled. None, save his brother, dared speak to him in such a disrespectful manner. His eyes slowly narrowed to slits in a deadly glare. Defiantly Kagome stared back.

//Hear me out now
You're gonna listen to me, like it or not
Right now//

"Do not presume to think that I will tolerate you on my lands much longer. My patience runs thin with you. Leave my lands or suffer the consequences," he growled out coldly.

//I can't feel the way I did before
Don't turn your back on me//

The deadly undercurrents in his voice would have, at any other time, sent a trill of fear down Kagome's spine, but in this instance it only further enraged her. Something he had said had struck a nerve. Her talons lengthened to deadly points and her eyes flared red. She lunged for him, he preparing to defend himself, when she stopped. Something, something that apparently only she could sense, wafted to her on the breeze. To her it almost sounded like the ululation of a lost dog, looking for comfort or a friend.

//I won't be ignored//

Without warning or reason, Kagome bolted back in the direction from whence they had come. Something cold slid through the air, causing a shiver to run down Sesshoumaru's spine. Something struck him with an odd sense of urgency and he too turned in pursuit of the phantasm.

Onward Kagome raced through the dense foliage, jumping over fallen trees, dodging branches and roots. Something was calling out to her. Someone needed help. The smell of blood and death lingered in a specific clearing and Kagome realized that was where Inuyasha was killed. She skidded to a halt, and frantically looked around. The strange ululations were coming from this clearing. She looked around the clearing and realized there was not a body in sight. Slowly she turned until she came upon a mound of fresh churned earth. `Sesshoumaru must have buried him there,' she thought. Behind her a blur of white appeared in the clearing, but remained stationary just in the shadows where he could not be seen.

//I can't feel the way I did before
Don't turn your back on me//

Fresh tears came to Kagome's eyes as she slowly approached the grave. She stood there for several moments, staring down at the unmarked grave through tear-blurred eyes before she knelt down. She clasped her hands together over her heart and closed her eyes causing two tears to overflow down her face. She said a silent prayer for his soul, the wind picking up slightly increasing the volume of the cries. More tears slow after she finished her prayer and made their way to the ground.

//I won't be ignored//

Sesshoumaru watched in awe as the tears that made it to the ground caused small flowers to spring forth in their place. Never before had he seen such a power. It was amazing that she had managed to keep it hidden through all the years he had known her. Silently he mulled over her strange power and what he would do about it. She posed a possible threat. He watched silently as she prayed over his brother's grave and listened intently as she said her final goodbyes.

"I'm so sorry I doubted you," she miserably whispered. " I should have known, I should have been able to save you. You didn't deserve it, I know that now. You didn't deserve the way I treated you. You were my best friend and I abandoned you. I loved you and yet I let you die."

//Time won't heal this damage anymore
Don't turn your back on me
I won't be ignored//

More tears flowed to the ground and some of moisture made its way through the porous soil. Enough of it made its way to his bloody form to heal the wounds of his dead body but not to revive it. Slowly a once tainted soul rose from the body and through the soil in thin wisps of pure white smoke.

//I can't feel

I won't be ignored//

"I'm so sorry I let you die the way you did. I'm sorry I left you the way I did."

//Time won't heal//

The rest of the soul rose from the earth and began to take on its earthly shape. Sesshoumaru's eyes widened in a rare display of shock as the soul of his little brother slowly took shape. And of all this, Kagome remained unaware as her eyes were still closed.

"I loved you, Inuyasha, I always did. You just wouldn't let me…" she whispered before she opened her eyes. Her lids slowly slid up, revealing stunning blue eyes that widened at the otherworldly form before her. With a shocked gasp she quickly scrambled back and onto her feet.

//Don't turn your back on me//

"I love you too, Kagome," he whispered. "More than you'll ever know. … Thank you," he said just before he ascended to the heavens above to await reincarnation.

"Goodbye," she whispered. She stood there for several moments watching the sky before she turned. She paused when she saw the white figure lurking in the shadows and for a moment she froze. For a moment she lost her senses at the sight of him. But then it passed and she brushed passed his motionless form.

//I won't be ignored//

~X~

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