InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Haunted ❯ Dark Images ( Chapter 1 )

A/N: Before I start this, just let me tell you, I was letting my `depressed self' plan this out! If you no likey, please say! I'm just trying something new!

Also, I'd like to dedicate this fic to Silent Sniper and Shortyredd17-their stories helped me discover a whole new side of my writing.

HAUNTED

By Dark-Angel-Shui-17

Chapter 1-Dark Images

/long lost words whisper slowly to me/
/still can't find what keeps me here/
/when all this time I've been so hollow inside/
/I know you're still there/

*running running running but from who?

can't escape must keep running

hands everywhere searching must keep running

Inu-yasha Kaede Shippo where are you?

keep running must keep-

Sango Miroku why aren't you with me?

why have you left me?*

*why?*

A scream tore through the night as Kagome Higurashi woke from a darkness deeper than any shadow of this world.

She gasped air into her lungs, tearing the strangling sheets from her throat, sheets that felt like hands from her nightmare.

"Kagome?" Mrs. Higurashi ran into the room, startled from peaceful slumber by her daughter's scream. "Kagome, did you have another bad dream?"

Kagome merely nodded, not trusting her throat to speak. Her mother sat down beside her and stroked the girl's black hair. "Sweetie," she soothed. "You're under too much stress. Maybe you shouldn't go to school tomorrow-"

"No, Mom!" Kagome protested, her voice a little too high. She swallowed hard and tried speaking one more time. "I mean, I've missed so much already-"

"Then there's no harm in missing one more day. You need to rest." Her mother eyed her in a gaze that said, `Don't-argue-with-me-young-lady-or-else'.

Kagome sighed and relented. "Alright," she grumbled, and retreated under the covers again.

"Do you want me to stay with you until you fall asleep again?" Mrs. Higurashi asked.

Kagome rolled her eyes, and was about to send her mother packing when a tear rolled down her cheek. "Yeah, please." She said in a choked voice.

Mrs. Higurashi smiled down at her daughter and started singing a lullaby she had sung to both her children as babies. Kagome smiled at the familiar melody and hummed along, until her eyelids became too heavy, and the young lady fell back into peaceful sleep once more.

*song fic*

*stay away away away!

don't come any closer

please-*

*tears fall slowly down my cheeks

my friends

where are you?

Inu-yasha have you abandoned me?

have you left me like you said you always would?

like you said you would. . .

when we first met. . .

why?

why have you left me. . .

*with this . . . ?*

Kagome woke again with a start when her alarm went off. Her head was one foggy mess, and as she tried to discern where she was, she fell without grace off her bed and landed in a heap of limbs and covers on the floor.

*I-I'm in my bedroom* she thought, blinking. *I'm not in that place anymore* She got up and switched off her evil alarm clock, sitting back on her bed.

"Great-the one day I could have slept in," she groused, eyeing the man-made beeping demon that was her clock, "and I forget to switch off the darn thing." Kagome sighed and leaned back on her pillows. She closed her eyes and tried to remember her dream-

"BANZAI!!" Kagome's eyes flew open as her little brother flew into her room and catapulted onto her bed, and on Kagome herself.

"SOTA!!" the teenager screeched.

"Morning, lazy butt!" her brother laughed. Mrs. Higurashi came into the room, holding a spatula threateningly.

"Sota Kiyoshi Higurashi!" the woman scolded, "didn't I tell you your sister wasn't going to school today?"

(A/N: I just made up Sota's middle name-I have no clue what it really is! ^.^*)

Sota gulped. "Sorry Mom," he said, and went out of the room quickly.

"It's okay, really Mom," Kagome said soothingly. "I was already awake."

Mrs. Higurashi sighed. "Well, you might as well come down for breakfast, then."

Kagome nodded, and grabbed her house coat. She followed her mother downstairs, and as she breathed in the homey scents of pancakes and bacon, she felt truly safe. Safe for the first time since that dream.

*~ *

"Kagome!" The teenager froze as she heard her mother's call.

*Uh-oh!* she thought *I'd better move quickly*

Kagome ducked through the hallway and out the door faster than blinking. Closing the door as quietly as possible, she breathed deep and took a step off the porch-

"Kagome!" her grandfather called cheerfully. He was sweeping the front step that led to the shrine. "How are you lately?"

"Kagome?" Mrs. Higurashi poked her heard out of the upstairs bedroom. "Kagome Tori Higurashi, get in this house right now!" (A/N: Made up that middle name, too!)

"But Mom!" Kagome protested. "I was just going through the well! I'll get so bored here!" She smiled winningly at her mother. "I'll be back for supper!" She waved and was in the miniature shrine before her mother could say another word.

Unfortunately, someone else was waiting. "Kagome, your mother tells me you've been having bad dreams lately," her grandfather said.

Kagome sighed. Knowing Grandpa, he was going to keep her here for quite a while. "Yes, well-Grandpa, what the heck?" She blinked at the plant that was suddenly being held in her face.

"Ssh," Grandpa hushed, and closed his eyes in concentration. "These nightmares may be caused by evil spirits, Kagome, spirits only I could dispel from your person-"

"That's really sweet, Gramps, but I have to go, bye now!" Kagome said in a rush and jumped down the well-this time, her saviour from another lesson in evil spirits possessing people and how to dispel them.

*Sorry, Grandpa, but I just need one group of people right now-* Kagome thought, as the inside of the well glittered and shone, turning into a wide space of nothingness. *And they're right here*

The emptiness around her solidified and she found herself looking at the same dry inside of a well identical to the one she had grown up beside. She looked up and saw blue sky.

*Yep* she thought, smiling *Right here-far away from all the noise, all the pollution-* She actually laughed. *and all the sanity of my world*

She was still laughing as she used the thick vines growing around the well's lip to pull herself up.

*~ *

Inu-yasha's ears pricked as he heard something very familiar. It was laughter, laughter he recognized. He stood and looked out the doorway of Kaede's hut.

"Inu-yasha? Is there something wrong?" Miroku asked, looking up from his breakfast.

"Kagome's here," Inu-yasha muttered, and took off.

Miroku choked. "What's she doing here? She wasn't supposed to come back for another three days." He started to follow the hanyou when he was pulled down by Sango.

"Let Inu-yasha go and pick her up," the girl said. Miroku snorted.

"Still trying to set them up, milady?" he asked.

"Who me? Set people up? Never." Sango rose, brushing off her kimono and went outside the hut, smiling mysteriously.

Miroku sighed, his eyes on her figure until she disappeared. He loved that smile, he loved her body, he loved that girl so-

"What's wrong with your face?" A certain kitsune popped up two inches from the monk's face. Shippo watched with bemusement as Miroku fell back, the expression on his face turning from one of eagerness to one of revulsion.

"Don't DO that!" Miroku clutched at his heart. "Stupid fox demon."

Shippo shrugged, munching on a dumpling. "I was just curious about why your face was like that. It was like you had eaten something rotten."

Miroku spluttered. "Why you-" he reached for the oblivious kitsune threateningly.

"Where's Inu-yasha?" Shippo asked, licking his tiny fingers.

"He's off fetching Kagome from the well," the monk said through gritted teeth.

"Kagome? Hurray!" Shippo jumped up and ran out of the hut before Miroku could get him claws into him. The monk sighed.

"Oh well-I can always kill the little bugger later."

*~*

Kagome reached the top of the well, when suddenly she was struck with a cold feeling deep within her heart-

*try and escape

try and run, pretty one

you won't be able to run forever

and when you stop. . .

I will take you*

*forever*

-the girl, almost lifeless, lost her grip, and fell back into the black oblivion of the well. At the last second a strong hand clasped around her wrist, and pulled her onto firm ground.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, bitch?" Inu-yasha asked roughly. (by this time he had used the word so much on Kagome it was more of a pet name than anything) Kagome stared at him with lifeless eyes. The half-demon furrowed his brow.

"Kagome?" he said hesitantly. The girl did not respond, simply looked off into space with those empty eyes. "Kagome!" He shook her, fear making its way through his veins. "Kagome!"

As he called her name a third time, the teenager blinked and the light shone into her eyes once more. "Inu-yasha?" she said quietly, her voice no more that a squeak.

Inu-yasha sighed in relief. "You almost had me scared there, bitch," he said, and started to let go of her shoulders. He was surprised to feel her throw herself at his chest.

"I-was-so-scared!" Kagome sobbed, as something broke inside her soul. She just couldn't keep the tears back anymore. "I was-so scared-I wasn't going to see any of you-ever again!"

"What are you talking about?" Inu-yasha was now really scared. To have Kagome break down like this-and though he hated to admit it, Kagome really was a tough kid-was disturbing. Very disturbing.

"I . . . don't know. . ." she whispered into the hanyou's red kimono. "I don't know."

(A/N: Well, chapter one-done! Yeah, I'm feeling kind of depressed, and I don't know why.)

(A/N: I know it doesn't make much sense at this point, but it will! *trust me* It will)

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Inu-yasha characters, nor do I own the song "Haunted". I own only the plot line.