InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Fragment of the Dream ❯ Disorientation ( Chapter 1 )

Fragment of the Dream

A Dark Alternative For Inu-Yasha

By Amanda "SeiferGrrl" Lever

Chapter One: Disorientation

Kagome jolted awake to hands on her shoulder and a gnarled root jabbing uncomfortably into one kidney. The hands were gentle, unlike the root's placement. Both sensations made her all too aware that things were not right-she did not normally wake up at the base of the Goshinboku. To say the least, it was highly disconcerting.

"Where…?" she murmured.

She glanced about in confusion to see Sango leaned over her, her dark eyes swimming with concern.

"Kagome," she said slowly, "Inu-Yasha and Shippou... they're gone."

This roused Kagome instantly, and she sat upright with a suddenness that surprised them both. The young girl climbed to her feet with Sango's assistance, and saw only an apparently calm Miroku, sitting beneath another one of the trees, and looking off in the distance with his shakujo resting against his shoulder. Kirara sat at his feet, staring up at him with wide, crimson eyes.

It was a disturbingly pleasant day for such a moment of horrific confusion. The noon sun filtered through the green leaves of the trees, and a suffocating silence filled the glen. It was a tense quiet, however, which ruled the trio as they stayed together, looking in bewilderment for their supernatural companions.

But the kogitsune Shippou and the hanyou Inu-Yasha were no where to be seen.

"I've looked nearby," Sango said gently, "But I've seen no sign of either Shippou or Inu-Yasha, and Miroku seems to be in shock."

"Shock?" Kagome peered over Sango's shoulder toward the still-silent houshi, and then whispered, "He's not hurt, is he? I dropped my pack…"

"Your pack is by him. I found it," Sango reassured her, "But he isn't wounded." The taijya paused, sitting uncomfortably for a moment, before grabbing Kagome's hand, and drawing her away from the tree.

"I didn't look much farther then the Goshinboku," Sango said, "Let's look a little further into the woods."

The woods gave them no clues; deer and rabbit sign were all they found. Hours passed before they found the winding mountain road that shielded this village in its shadow. There was no trace of their companions. Kagome didn't like it at all; Inu-Yasha would abandon them like this.

Trying to push such dark thoughts away, Kagome focused on more immediate trouble. "What's wrong with Miroku?" she asked, as Sango scouted the road.

Sango gave her a sharp glance, but reached out to take her hand, ignoring her question with a silence unnatural to her.

"We'd best look toward the village, too," Sango said.

Her protest cut off by Sango's yank on her hand, Kagome was drawn away from the silent houshi. "But… I don't understand!"

Again, the taijya was grim and quiet. However, she didn't leave Kagome completely in the dark. "When he's ready, he'll show you," she said tersely. "I think he just needs to time to himself for a moment. He… he was near hysterical when I woke up."

"Hysterical? Miroku?" Kagome gasped sharply. That didn't make any sense! The houshi was always so level headed, so . "What happened, Sango?"

"…the kazaana…" Sango's voice held confusion and fear, but she shook her head. "You'll have to just let him tell you, once he's ready."

Fear shook Kagome to the core, preventing her couldn't say anymore. They could find nothing in the woods; once they came to the crest of the hill that overlooked the rice paddies of the village, the huts small in the distance, they realized that their companions were no where to be found. The men and women were going to and fro as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Women marched walk; children played, dogs barked, and life went on.

But something was wrong. Kagome could feel it like the presence of a shikon shard, tingling at the back of her neck.

"We should turn back," she said finally. "If Miroku is as badly off as you say, I don't think we should leave him alone for too long."

Sango frowned slightly, but she turned, leading the poor Kagome after her, Sango's hand tightening around the poor time-displaced girl's.

It took them little time to get back through the woods and the hills, but they never let go of each other; with Inu-Yasha gone and Miroku out of sorts, it seemed they only had each other to rely upon.

Despite everything she'd been warned about, Kagome was unprepared for Miroku's damp eyes and frighteningly serene expression. Had he been weeping or upset, that might've been something, but the houshi stared at her placidly once they stood before him.

"Has Sango told you?" he asked, as he rose to his feet, disturbing Kirara and sending the small youkai to circle Sango's feet.

"No, Miroku-sama," Kagome replied, trying to manage an even, calm tone to match Miroku's.

Sango looked away from them both, kneeling down to pick up her long-time youkai companion.

Miroku glanced to Sango, and then settled his staff against the tree, before reaching for Kagome's hands. His actions were careful and deliberate; her placed her fingers against the seal of the glove, and applied a gentle pressure.

The glove did not yield; it was as if solid, living flesh was beneath the barrier of cloth.

"Do you understand?" he asked.

"I…" Kagome's breath hitched in her throat. "Have you opened it, to be sure?"

"No," he admitted. "I was… I was afraid." His smile tightened, drawn like a rictus grin instead of the vital, friendly expression Kagome was so used too.

Kagome hesitated uncertainly for a long moment, then reached to carefully untuck the flap; she pretended she didn't feel Sango's eyes on her back, didn't hear the hitch in Miroku's breathing as she loosened the soft protective cloth.

When she swept away the cloth, the sound of wind was absent.

"Kami-sama," Kagome whispered in a rush, as she slid two fingers along his newly whole hand, and found only a warm, soft palm beneath them. Miroku's eyes glazed slightly, swimming again.

"I don't understand," he rasped, his voice was wretched, choked hoarse by powerful emotions; wonder, fear, awe. "I don't at all. Why did it close?"

"I don't know," Kagome murmured, sliding her hand till her palm covered Miroku's. His hand convulsed, and then tightened about hers with a steely grip, and she gave a gasp of protest as her hand was painfully clenched.

"I'm sorry," he apologized immediately, releasing his grip. "I've just never felt..."

"It's alright." A smile was worn to assuage his fear, but she abandoned his hand to reach to grab Sango's wrist, pressing the taijya girl's hand into Miroku's. Even in the face of confusion and fear, Higurashi Kagome was more then able to further the matchmaking effort between the two who she just knew were meant for each other. This, she decided, could be a very GOOD thing.

Ignoring the pair's bewildered looks, along with Sango's blushing and Miroku's stuttering, Kagome backed up two steps, and gave a weak grin. "Now you've felt it twice!"

Neither said anything, but Miroku kept his hand in Sango's, even as it dropped between them, the contact a heady thing for both of them.

Kagome beamed for a brief moment, then as the moment faded, she looked away. Her pack was there. Sango and Miroku were there.

Inu-Yasha and Shippou were not there.

And, she realized with dread settling in her belly, neither was Kikyou.

"Did you two see her?" Kagome asked slowly.

No body answered. She looked back over her shoulder, and saw that her job had been done to well; Miroku and Sango were staring fitfully at each other; if Sango blushed harder, Kagome was certain she'd faint. Miroku wasn't faring much better.

She cleared her throat loudly, and made the pair jump. "Kagome-sama!" Miroku blurted. "Were you saying something?"

"Yes." Kagome tried not to be irritated, as it had been her idea to get the pair of them holding hands, and so asked again. "Did you two see her? See…"

"Kikyou?" Sango said haltingly. "Yes. I saw her."

"As did I," Miroku added.

"And she's gone, and Inu-Yasha and Shippou are gone…" Kagome murmured. "There was something she was holding in front her. A mirror."

"It broke," supplied Miroku. "I saw it… before I passed out, I suppose, and then… we were here."

"Is there a mirror here?" Kagome asked, kneeling to look through the grass.

"No. No shards of glass, either," Sango said; she reluctantly drew her hand from Miroku's to stand at Kagome's shoulder, before joining her to look in the grass. Both searched carefully in the grass and brush about the tree for any sign of glass or mirror.

They found brush, grass, sticks, more brush and dirt. No mirror.

"I think we're wasting our time here," Miroku said simply, looking away again. "We should head to the village, and see what can be found there. Maybe Kaede-sama sensed something."

"The village seemed peaceful when we were looking for signs of Inu-Yasha and Shippou," Sango said as she rose to her feet, brushing the dirt from her skirt. "But perhaps we'll find clues there."

Miroku returned to the tree he'd been sitting under. He took up his staff, and helped Kagome get her pack righted on her shoulders. Sango's hiraikotsu was propped not far from them as well, and the taijya fetched her weapon as well.

There was something else wrong about the scene, Kagome thought as they left the grove of the Goshinboku. She couldn't place it, but she knew it was there. Something wrong… Something out of place.

Despite the trepidation that settled in their hearts, they headed through the woods back toward the shrine that had once housed the Shikon no Tama, and the hut in its shadow that had often housed the questing companions.

They all hoped for the best, and feared the worst.