InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Grey Eyes and Golden Nightmares ❯ Crying for the Last Time ( Chapter 3 )

Standard Disclaimer: Inuyasha and all belong to Rumiko Takahashi…

Grey Eyes and Golden Nightmares

~Crying for the Last Time~

There should have been noise.

That abstract thought intruded into Kagome's dazed mind as she lay surrounded by a vibrating heat. A condition that she was distantly aware should have killed her or at the very least brought her some sort of pain.  But it was her next thought that brought her senses tumbling back to the present.

`Is this how it felt to die, Kikyou…?'

Kagome blinked, her vision slowly clearing. Yet her vision remained blurred and grey around the edges.  She clenched her eyes shut, shaking her head in an effort to correct that abnormality. But it stubbornly remained.  She finally gave up it, working her protesting arms beneath her to push herself up to her knees. 

The first thing that greeted her eyes was Kohaku's sickle. And wedged in the joint of the chain was the Shikon fragment that had kept him alive.

Numbly she reached out, one burned and soot smeared hand shakily taking the jewel fragment and clenching it so fiercely she could feel it pierce the flesh of her palm.  The other hand slowly closed around the handle of the weapon that had killed her grandfather, destroyed her home…

"Okaa-san.  Souta!!" Kagome shot to her feet and shouted at the top of her lungs when the memory came roaring back in a crushing, painful wave.

She spun on her heel, turning towards the house with every intention of finding her family. But instinctively staggered back in horror when she saw the flames steadily rising to consume what was left of the shrine she had been born and raised in.  "No," she whispered almost silently. One hand lifted to her mouth in frozen denial before a piece of wood split and shifted. The sound snapped her out of the daze instantly, and Kagome shook her head in a single violent motion to rid herself of her indecision. Screaming for her mother and brother again as she started running.

Later, in dreams and nightmares, she may have wondered how she got through the heavy debris…  In those same dreams, she would even wonder why again that the fire didn't burn, or that she felt nothing from her own badly abused body.

Now, however, the only thought repeating through her head was that what was left of her family was in that house, and she had to save them.

They are a part of you, are they not? Naraku's mocking words slipped unbidden into her mind. The sound repeating in a grotesque echo as she reached the bloody destruction within the living room.  She kidded to a halt as she found her mother and brother crumpled in awkward positions on the floor amidst ruined furniture and their own blood. You are the heart of all this…

"Mama…"

The Shikon-no-Tama reappeared with you.

"Souta…"

Kagome dropped to her knees with a sob. Her voice broken in shock and agony as her body began to shake, suddenly cold despite the heat all around her.

You should not have left such a convenient portal for me to find…

"Kagome!!!"

If she heard the frantic scream from outside, she gave no sign.  She stayed between her mother and Souta. Shoulders slumped under a crushing wave of guilt and defeat as blinding tears mixed with the blood that was pouring freely down her face, staining the already ruined ground around her.  Her fingers shook as she reached out and grabbed onto Souta. Dragging her little brother up against her chest, she stared blankly ahead at the burning wall.  There was too much, too many things bombarding her mind. Vaguely she could feel herself shutting down, retreating back to a numb sort of safety. Until all she focused on was the faint thump of her battered little brother's heart against her burned arms.

"Jii-chan…"

"KAGOME!!!"

Her hair billowed out madly when the rest of the wall was violently ripped away, but Kagome didn't so much as blink.  She was still staring blankly ahead, her powers sparking heatedly around her. But otherwise unresponsive as a strong arm banded around her waist like a vice and yanked her up off her feet.  She barely noticed Souta's unconscious slide down her body to lie in a crumbled heap below her.  It actually wasn't until the arm started to turn her away from her family that she reacted. Kicking and fighting wildly as he voice rose to a nearly hysterical pitch, "NO!!  I can't leave them; let go!!"

"I WILL knock you out if I have to, but I'm getting you the fuck out of here, Kagome!" Inuyasha snarled fiercely, yanking her around face to face.  The moment he had her turned to him, however, his expression filled with shock and then horror. "It's your blood… you're hurt…"

"They'll die!" her hands tangled in his haori. She yanked him forward, making him wince at the heat she was throwing off.  Her disoriented mind had yet to fully register just who this was that she was looking at, so sunk into traumatized shock that by all rights she should have been unconscious by now.  "Don't you get it?!  I can't let my family die!  I CAN'T!!"

"Calm down!  I'll get them, Kagome," he promised urgently, grabbing her chin and pulling her face back when she tried to turn.  "Kagome, look at me!  Look!  Don't take your eyes off me.  I'll get you all out, okay?"

Kagome was starting to hyperventilate, her eyes locking onto the concerned amber in front of her like a lifeline. As though they were the one clear and stable thing in her violently upset world.  She knew those eyes… but her thoughts weren't cooperating, refusing to put a name to the face that was bringing a measure of calm to her soul. "I… know you," she murmured in confusion. Reaching a shaking, bloody hand up to touch his face, "Don't I?"

Inuyasha didn't have time to be shocked, his attention snapping up when the ceiling above them gave an ominous creaking sound.  Swearing darkly in frustration and more than a little alarm, he ducked down and put his shoulder into Kagome's stomach. The subconscious use of strength knocked the wind out of her as he yelled almost frantically, "Dammit all!  I have to get you out of here!"  Swinging back to her family, he barked up at her, "Hang onto me, Kagome, so I can get your family!  I need both my hands!"

That cut through her befuddlement enough that she grabbed onto him. Fisting her hands so hard that the torn skin of her palms split further, and the Shikon shard bit deeper.  Inuyasha bent down, looping and arm around her mother's waist before doing the same to her brother.  He was up and out in a flash of scarlet and white, darting out of the wreckage of her home and turning grimly just as that side of the house collapsed in on itself.

His gaze dropped to the two humans in his arms and over along the trail of blood to her grandfather's corpse. Ears flattening as he slowly crouched to ease them onto the blackened stones of the courtyard.  `If I had come back any later…' he swallowed hard against the wave of relief that filled him. That emotion easily sweeping over the minor pang of guilt he felt at being glad to see Kagome hadn't been the smell of death he'd caught on his arrival.

Anxious to see to Kagome now that her two living family members had been carefully laid out, he reached up to grab her waist and dragged her forward.  She was already starting to slump on her knees between his spread legs when he hooked his hands under her arms to support her and shook her once. "Kagome!  Dammit, Kagome, open your eyes!  …Please!"

Kagome felt herself being jostled, her head starting to pound even as she heard that familiar voice. But it was foggy… like he was speaking through a tunnel. "I… I don't-"

"Now!"

Kagome winced at the anger in that voice, but there was something in it that made her want to listen and comply with its demand.  She let out a faint whimper of frustration and shook her head before she opened eyes. Her vision was bleary and unfocused again as she stared at the hazy figure so close.  Her brow furrowed and she began blinking rapidly. But his hands caught her wrists when she tried to lift them to rub and restore her vision that way.

"Don't touch your face," he instructed in a sharp, yet quiet growl.  "Just breathe, Kagome.  Deep breaths, you're out of the fire. Your mother and brother are right here and they're alive."  Dear gods,let them stay that way…

She finally started to follow his direction, breathing deeply until she was able to try deliberately calming herself. At least enough for some measure of clear thought.  Her gaze turned up as her tears finally washed out whatever had been causing the new obstruction. And the hanyou slowly came into focus.  Her eyes very slowly went wide; her body starting to shake all over again as the cool air finally eased her into connecting just who it was in front of her. 

Kagome flung herself against his chest. Arms wrapping almost chokingly tight around his neck, she sobbed out, "Inuyasha!"

Startled by the abrupt action, but needing more direct contact himself all the same, his arms came around her immediately. Nearly crushing her to his chest, he buried his face in her hair and reassured himself that she was all right.  The smell of blood and flame, fear and anguish, was almost stifling to his senses. But not so thick that he couldn't smell Naraku's stench all around them… The smell he'd come racing to follow through the well the moment he'd returned to the village.

"Kagome, what happened?!" his eyes closed tightly, hands biting into her from how fierce his grip had become.

Kagome, however, was trying to curl up as small as she could go in the protective circle of his arms. Shaking her hand and trying to block out everything but him.  She pressed her face into his throat, silently begging him not to push her for explanations as she tried to restrict her focus only to him. Terrified that if she didn't she would lose her mind.  Her hand was shaking as she yanked it away from his neck and grabbed the hand at her waist. Slapping her palm against his and squeezing so hard he thought she just might have the strength to break a few bones.

Then he felt the sharp edges digging into his skin, and the unmistakable flush of power that told him exactly what she had just pressed into his hand. 

Inuyasha's entire being clenched in his guilt at not having foreseen something like this happening.  Not once had he thought he would ever see a day that he would be sitting amongst the smoldering ruins of Kagome's home. Holding her while she silently sobbed like her soul was being ripped in two.  His eyes went to her motionless mother and brother before going to her grandfather. Strong arms wrapped even more completely around her to press her into his chest while his ears flattened back to be almost lost in his hair.

"I'm sorry, Kagome… I'm so sorry," he whispered into her ear, squeezing his eyes shut to the scene in front of him.

He had no idea how long he sat rocking her, murmuring gods-knew-what in his efforts to soothe her. When his ears twitched, catching the high-pitched whine coming towards the shrine at a fast pace.  His brows furrowed as he looked up and around, trying to smell past the sulfur and blood of the shrine for anyone coming close. A dangerous growl vibrating from his throat as he instinctively pulled her closer.

"Kagome… I think humans are coming," he whispered quietly in her ear, still fearful of making any sudden moves or loud noises to her.  He had seen animals and people react violently to such things after trauma. And Kagome was still caught deeply in the confines of her own personal hell.  "I hear screaming, like at that other fire I saw."

"Sirens," Inuyasha hadn't thought it possible, but she hunched up even smaller against him. Her diminutive body was wrapped around him so tightly he thought he'd break something before he pulled her off were he to try extricating himself.  Her voice was wavering, but absolutely certain as she whispered back, "Take me back!  I can't… I don't want… they can't see me."

Normally he would have agreed in an instant, but even an idiot could tell the wounds she'd sustained were serious and her time had much better healers. "But…"

"Please!"

His eyes clenched shut at the raw emotion in that plea, "Kagome…"

"I want to go home, Inuyasha," Kagome sobbed against his neck, voice pitched like a little girl and her words almost unrecognizable through her tears.  "I can't stay here. Take me home!"

Inuyasha swallowed hard, looking from her family to her ruined, crumbling house and back to the well house before his eyes closed and he nodded. "All right, Kagome.  I'll take you home."

He felt her eyes close, her body going almost completely lax with her relief, "Thank you."

Inuyasha winced at that, getting his feet under him and lifting her carefully to cradle against his chest.  The smell of her blood was getting stronger, making him edgy the way it always did.  He wanted to kill something, rip into what had caused her pain piece by piece… but she needed him there.  His arms tightened around her as he leapt for the other end of the courtyard. And he cradled her close to him as he slipped through the half open shoji with thoughtless grace.

He would have continued straight through to the well, but Kagome suddenly clenched her fist in his haori. "Wait."

"What is it?" his attention snapped down to her, ears twitching madly as the sirens rapidly grew louder.

"I have to make sure," she whispered fiercely, lifting her face and making Inuyasha cringe all over again at seeing the vicious slash across her face.  It could have been fatal… could have taken her right eye out completely if she'd been cut any higher. Whether she had dodged or been pushed out of the strike by the blow itself, he could only guess. Whatever it was had likely saved her life. But that wasn't much consolation at seeing the amount of blood flowing down her face and staining the once white, uniform blouse. 

"I have to see them come to take Souta and Mama," her hands tugging at him broke his focus from the wound. Drawing his attention to the grey eyes looking so large and vulnerable in her unnaturally pale face, "I need to know they're going to get to the hospital."

Inuyasha bit his lip, glancing between the well and the courtyard before nodding and crouching down beside the door.  He reached out and dragged the shoji almost completely closed, one arm tight around her waist to hold her close. "You need a healer too, Kagome.  You'll lose too much blood if we don't go soon."

"I don't feel anything, Inuyasha," she shook her head, one hand wrapping around his forearm. As much for balance as to reassure herself that he was truly there and draw strength from his presence. "I don't know if I can…"

He stared at her profile, dying to demand what she meant by that vague statement as the sun started to sink. The dying light made the glow of the flames outside that much brighter and the shadows around them equally deeper.  But he could feel her blood, sliding hot and thick over his chest, his hands, even onto his thighs as he held her protectively.  He couldn't take the risk of aggravating those injuries and doing further damage if she struggled to stay. He bit down hard on his tongue to keep silent when she turned back to peer out at the courtyard.

She still hadn't stopped crying.

It felt like time had frozen around them as she started to whisper the names of her family over and over again. Her entire body shaking as though he'd pulled her from ice rather than flames.

Inuyasha was fighting a losing battle with his conscience the longer they waited for those screaming sounds to come close.  Macabre visions shot through his head of Kagome bleeding to death as he sat holding her close, waiting for these damned humans to appear. One after the other until he was nearly snarling his denial at the mere thought of their possibility.  His muscles had just tensed to lift them both towards the well, fuck the humans and their incompetent response, when Kagome went rigid and sucked in sharp breath.

He quickly went still, turning his focus back out to see humans in odd suits pouring into the courtyard. Some so covered not even their faces could be seen while others wearing solid white and carrying larger versions of Kagome's healing box went straight for her mother and Souta.

Kagome let out a shuddering breath, sensing Inuyasha's confusion and whispering, "Paramedics… healers."

Inuyasha's ears flipped forward to listen, but there wasn't much he actually understood in the bizarre words they were using.  The only thing he recognized was their observation about the loss of blood and the fact that they were still alive. That last comment the only one he repeated to Kagome in a low, reassuring murmur.  The odd humans moved around the unconscious pair in a flurry of unfamiliar instruments before more of the white men brought out long, flat orange boards and strapped them down.

His eyes followed their progress as Kagome's remaining family was carried away, nearly unrecognizable for all the tubes and bandages. While those white men barked orders and directions to the other uniformed men until they disappeared down the steps after them. 

For the painfully long period of time they had seemed to wait for their arrival, the healers had moved remarkably fast…

Kagome's face pressing up against his chest brought his attention from the curiosity of how her world worked with a renewed twinge of guilt.  He immediately lost interest in the strange creatures shooting water at the flaming shrine from long tubes and tugged her back away from the door. "Kagome?"

"We need to get out of here," her voice was nearly inaudible even to him, weak enough to start his heart pounding in alarm.  "They'll look in here soon.  We can't be here."

Inuyasha was on his feet, one arm going under her knees to cradle her against his chest as he hopped down to the rim of the well.  His eyes dropped to her face, brows furrowing in growing concern the more she slumped against him. "Hang on, Kagome.  I'll have you at Kaede-babaa's in no time."

Something went clattering to the ground with a metallic clang that had him launching to the far corner of the hut. All his senses instantly attuned to the possibility of danger at the foreign sound.  Yet after a tense moment with only the sounds from outside, Kagome's shallow breathing, and his growl, there was nothing. 

He shook his head, ears twitching madly as he sniffed and returned to his previous position. His eyes moved steadily over the floor until he found what had caused the jarring noise.  Inuyasha leaned down, his eyes slowly widening as he shifted Kagome's weight to one arm to free one hand and close his fingers around the bloody handle.  `How did I not see her holding this?  Hell, how didn't I feel it?!  Was I that fucking distracted?  Wait… the shard and… oh gods, please not that…'

Inuyasha sniffed the sickle, hoping against hope that he was wrong, but there was no mistaking that scent. "Kagome… who-?"

"I killed him," her flat whisper cut him off.

`Oh fuck no.'

"I'm tired, Inuyasha…"

His hand tightened on the sickle convulsively, nearly snapping the handle in half. "Don't you dare go to sleep on me, bitch!"

"There was blood… so much blood," she tried to curl into him, not listening as everything finally started to catch up to her violently disturbed mind. With her family safe, the adrenaline keeping her body active was rapidly draining away.  "They were waiting for me.  At my home."

Inuyasha swore violently and dropped into the well, Kagome was starting to shut down and he needed to get her to Kaede before that happened. "Talk to me, Kagome.  You can sleep at Kaede-babaa's but not until then, do you hear me?  What happened?  Tell me who was waiting!"  `Tell me anything. I don't fucking care, just don't stop talking!'

Kagome's eyes slowly opened when she felt the shifting magic around her. Her soul in tune to everything around her as, for the first time, she focused on the magic of the well.  Her eyes mirrored the colors streaking past as she blindly memorized the feel, her mind racing over what she knew she had to do. Her voice was vague, almost unrecognizably distant as she answered him. "A puppet… and Kohaku…  He killed my grandfather; he was going to kill Souta… my mother…"

Inuyasha swallowed hard at the sound of her voice; lost and emotionless. So unlike anything he'd ever heard from her that it felt like someone was twisting a knife in his stomach. "I should have been there."

"I set my own home on fire," her eyes clenched shut, hands fisting in his robes again. She gave no indication she'd heard the self-deprecating remark from the hanyou as a hysterical edge started to creep back into her voice.  "I couldn't control it and I burned them.  I burned everything!"

"You're alive, Kagome," Inuyasha growled as he hit the bottom of the well on the other side. 

Just like that, the energy drained out of her again. Kagome's head lolled back against the curve of his arm, her eyes turning a darker grey and glassy when he looked down at her.  She blinked, eyelids slowly lowering now that she had done the last thing she fought to stay awake for.  Now she was in Inuyasha's arms, and he would keep her safe, she knew it. "Tell her I'm sorry."

"Her?"

"Sango.  Tell her…"

Kagome didn't hear him shout her name as everything went black.