InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Haunted ❯ Hell Hath No Fury... ( Chapter 13 )

AN: Well, lucky number thirteen! Watch this whole thing go completely awry as I try to write it… And ugh, I ate too many yogurt pretzels and now I feel sick. Those things are so bad for you, too. Hydrolyzed oils. Gack! Oh well.

 

As per usual, thanks for all the reviews that you've given me: the complements, the constructive criticism, the comments! They really, truly do help me know how my writing's going, and is the better for it. Thank you! One thousand visits from Mediaminer.org! Yay! So, I guess I'm doin' okay, then… ^_^

 

I'm sorry that you find the Shippo and Souta parts boring (Sangome), but most of the time they'll tie into the story… So I'll have 'em when necesary to the plot. Thanks for letting me know that it was boring you, though! My pathetic attempts at humor… (sigh)

 

And is Kagome really going back to Tokyo? (To answer rin sama's question) I'm not sure yet. Maybe if she and Inuyasha get in a big, stupid fight at some point. Then I'll drag Kagome to Tokyo and make them realize what a stupid argument they had, or somn' to that effect. But she's not going anywhere any time soon… I think… But thanks to Livvy22 for the suggestion!

 

Disclaimer: I've said it before and I'll say it again: I don't own Inuyasha. No way, no how! That's some other people's privilege, not mine. Lucky people…

 

Haunted

 

Chapter Thirteen: Hell Hath No Fury…

 

With a creaking sigh, Mr. Higurashi stood up from his seat on the couch and moved sedately- his joints were cramped from all the time he'd been sitting down- to grab the telephone as it rang. "Yes?" He asked sharply. He didn't like to be disturbed while reading.

 

"Oh, hi Mr. Higurashi!" The cheerful voice echoed from the phone's earpiece. "It Eri, Kagome's friend? I was wondering if I could talk to her."

 

Mr. Higurashi nodded. "Of course." He put his hand over the mouthpiece and shouted to his granddaughter. "Kagome! Phone!" The black-haired girl stuck her head through the doorway.

 

"Who is it?" She walked over to her grandfather and took the phone from him. The senior moved back to his seat on the couch and looked back over the scroll he was reading.

 

"Eri." The voice answered. "Just wanted to talk, since we never see you any more." Kagome nodded remorsefully and twirled the phone cord around her finger.

 

"Yeah…" She trailed off. "How are things in Tokyo? Anything interesting happening?" She could here Eri giggling on the other end.

 

"Yeah, actually." She said cheerfully. "Guess what?" Without waiting for Kagome's reply, she kept going. "I got a new neighbor! And he's so cute!" Kagome grinned. Typical of boy-crazy Eri.

 

"Really?" Kagome asked interestedly. "What's he like?" Miroku stuck his head into the room with an interested look on his face. Kagome made shooing motions with her hand and he moved on reluctantly.

 

"He's really, really cute! He's got curly black hair, well, not curly, just kinda wavy, you know? And he's really sweet! He gives me hugs every time I see him!" Eri squealed.

 

Kagome's grin widened. "Really?" She asked with a small giggle. "What's his name?" There was some more giggling from the other end of the line. Unnoticed by Kagome, Inuyasha stuck his head through the wall, a scowl on his face and grayish-gold eyes flashed. And she said that she wasn't like that about boys!

 

"He name's Yasashiku. And he's so cute!" Eri practically screamed. Kagome winced and pulled her ear away from the phone a bit. "The only problem is…" Eri trailed off.

 

"What?" Kagome asked, still unaware of Inuyasha's gleaming gold eyes upon her and the low growling uttered from his throat. "Does he have a girlfriend?" Eri laughed on the other end.

 

"No, of course not!" She answered cryptically. Kagome frowned in confusion. "He's five years old!" Kagome stared incredulously and suddenly snapped around. She knew it. She'd sensed that he was close by. The black-haired glared at Inuyasha, both of them still feeling prickly about their fight.

 

Kagome placed her hand over the mouthpiece of the phone. "What did I say about eavesdropping on my phone conversations?" She hissed quietly so that Eri wouldn't hear. Inuyasha shrugged resentfully. "I said don't!" The poltergeist glared at her angrily and disappeared in a puff of smoke and a small gust of wind.

 

"Kagome?" Eri asked. "Who were you… um… talking to?" She asked curiously. "Souta? Kiyoshi is always listening in on my conversations." Younger brothers; what a pain!

 

"No, it was a neighbor." Kagome lied. "He's a real jerk, too. Demanding, loud, rude…" She paused for breath. "He acts like an infant!" Eri hissed sympathetically on the other end. "And he won't leave me alone! He hates every guy who comes near me, but never does anything to-" She cut herself off and blushed furiously.

 

"What?" Eri asked inquisitively, a small not of teasing entering her voice. "He never does what?" She gasped suddenly. "Do you mean that you two are- but what about Hojo? I thought you were head over heels for him!" Her friend exclaimed over the phone line. "Are you interested in this other guy?"

 

"I didn't mean it like that!" Kagome protested. "And no! He's not- oh, nevermind!" Her face burned in embarrassment as she spluttered unintelligibly. "Go away, Miroku!" She shouted as she noticed his presence just outside the door. "Don't think that I can't tell you're there! You too, Shippo!" There was the sound of feet pattering away hastily. Kagome checked the presences around her, straining her senses. She didn't hear or see anyone, but she couldn't seem to be able to focus her powers.

 

"Who's that?" Eri asked. "Oh, wait. I remember. Miroku's the twenty-year-old black-haired guy, right? And Shippo's the little boy?" Kagome twirled the phone cord around her finger again, her face still hot.

 

"Yeah, but Miroku's actually nineteen. And there's Sango now, too. And her cat Kirara. She and Buyo don't seem to get along really well, though." She said quickly, steering the subject away from her nearly non-existent love life. "Sango's from around Maebashi, too. She's around eighteen, nineteen maybe? Seventeen?" Kagome guessed haphazardly. She'd never been too good with ages.

 

"Eighteen." Sango stuck her head through the back door. "I'm eighteen, and I lived in Maebashi. Took a few classes at the University there, too." She added smugly, Hiraikotsu swung casually over one shoulder. The older girl removed her shoes and walked through the living room, Kirara trailing after her.

 

"Eighteen." Kagome echoed to Eri. "Sango's eighteen and from Maebashi where she took classes at the University. So how're you?" She changed the subject abruptly.

 

"I'm good. Yuka's gotten really into swimming, but the chlorine is murder to her hair. She's actually thinking of cutting it shorter!" Eri exclaimed. "Ayumi's good too. She's looking at high schools already! She's all freaked about it, actually, because she barely made it through the middle school ones, remember?"

 

Kagome nodded empathetically. Ayumi was smart, a great student and very ingenious. She was doing really well in all subjects, too, but she was a horrible test-taker, freezing up and wasting time. "I can imagine."

 

"Yeah…" There was a brief lull in the conversation. "Hey, when are you coming to visit?" Eri asked suddenly. "We really miss you. Yuka's not busy at all next week. Neither am I and Ayumi has about six days of nothing planned. Why don't you come up and spend a week at my house?"

 

Kagome snapped her fingers. "I was just thinking that last night when I went to sleep! But I'll have to ask my mom to drive me, and I don't think she'd like to spend eight hours in the car there and back in one day. But I'd love to, and if I could stay at someone's house it'd be great."

 

"Oh, no problem! We talked it over with Hojo and he's getting a ride from his Aunt in a few days. Why don't you come up with him? He said it's fine with his aunt." Eri suggested.

 

Kagome stopped abruptly. That would be awkward. Stuck in a car for four hours with a former crush who was interested in dating her and his aunt whom she didn't know at all. "I don't know…" Kagome said reluctantly. "I mean, I don't even know his aunt. I'm sure that I could get another ride." She added helpfully.

 

"Kagome…" Eri trailed off suspiciously. "I knew it! You do have someone else you're interested in! It's that neighbor, isn't it? Or is it Miroku?" Kagome spluttered.

 

"He's a houseguest, and way too old!" She protested. "And he's a lecher! No way." She said flatly. Miroku poked his head into the room and gave her a wounded look.

 

"I'm not that old." He said solemnly. "And I merely happen to express my appreciation of the opposite sex in unique ways." Shippo was right; Miroku would've been an outstanding lawyer.

 

"Hah." She snorted in an Inuyasha-ish way and watched as he walked into the kitchen, probably to concoct another strange meal. "You're still a lecher!" She called after him. Miroku shook his head and sighed mournfully.

 

"So then it's your neighbor!" Eri exclaimed. "Isn't it? The truth, now!" Kagome fidgeted uncomfortably and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear without answering. "I take your silence as a yes."

 

"Mm." Kagome hummed uncertainly and tucked her hair behind her ear again. Souta wandered into the room with a certain young kitsune.

 

"Kagome, I need the phone." Souta looked at her impatiently. Kagome nodded and went back to her friend on the other end of the line.

 

"Okay, so I'll see you later, Souta needs to use the phone. And I'll visit soon, okay?" She said hastily. Souta tapped his foot on the ground and folded his arms across his chest.

 

"Promise?" Eri asked. Kagome answered in the affirmative. "Okay, then!" Her friend said cheerfully. "See you soon then! Bye."

 

"Bye!" Kagome hung up and handed the phone to her younger sibling. "Here ya go." She got up off the couch and started to walk outside, then abruptly changed her mind and headed in the other direction.

 

Despite the ballroom's current condition- hastily patched the day before and battle-scarred, containing traces of both Kagura and Inuyasha's blood- it was still a good place to think. Or at least, she hoped.

 

Because Kagome really needed some time to think.

 

(\ /)

(•. •)

(><)

 

Inuyasha was feeling decidedly mopey. He was starting to question whether or not Kagome was serious about hating him or not. She said it twice, talked about leaving for a week, something about a neighbor whom she liked- it was probably that stinking wolf, Kouga, even though he wasn't exactly a neighbor- and then she'd told him to go away. And she'd called the neighbor an idiot and a jerk, so then it was almost definitely Kouga. He was both an idiot and a jerk, and then more besides. "Stupid mangy wolf."

 

Inuyasha sighed as pale grey smoke floated around him, creating an almost impenetrable haze. He sniffed delicately. No, it wasn't smoke. It was a rain cloud. He fingered the stuff uselessly. It just passed through the spectral flesh. Hm. He seemed to have developed his own type of climate control: smoke, wind, clouds, electricity… Not that it did him any good.

 

"Hey, Dog-boy!" A large pink bubble hovered above his cloud, dimly outlined against the sun. "I know you're in there somewhere!" The bubble started to descend and Inuyasha growled. Why was it always Shippo? He disappeared with a puff of cloud material and existed in the between-place, where reality and oblivion existed side by side. He knew what was in reality, but what was oblivion like? Feeling decidedly reckless, Inuyasha stuck his hand into the place that was neither dark nor light, cold nor warm, neither friendly nor hostile. It was… nothing. The poltergeist couldn't help but feel curious about it. He moved his hand around in the nothing. Or was he? Inuyasha shrugged. He wasn't sure, really. It was kind of nice, in a vague sense.

 

He pulled his hand back out, almost expecting it to be altered or gone, broken up in Oblivion. He moved it back and forth experimentally. The thing still seemed to work. "Huh." He said. His voice was muffled, stuffy and small. He'd expected it to echo across the emptiness. "Well, this place gets more interesting by the moment." Inuyasha commented sardonically. "Boring…" It took an effort of will to leave the crossover between Oblivion and Reality, an effort of will to enter it. With a small puff of cloud and a small bright flash, he winked out of the crossover and into the solid world, near the hill where Kagome had fallen to save him. Kagome…

 

"Kagome…" He looked down the slope to the house below. "Do you really hate me…?" He wondered aloud, staring at the bright blue sky above as the long emerald grass waved gently across the steep slope, rustling quietly, soothingly as the wind blew quietly.

 

"Of course not," came the soft reply.

 

(\ /)

(0.0)

(><)

 

"I don't understand." Miroku frowned and stared at Sango rather accusingly. "Explain this to me again." The demon exterminator sighed and put the worn deck of cards on the table.

 

"I use my head." She said very slowly, enunciating clearly as she tried to compact the concept into the purple-eyed man's head. "There is no secret trick, no cheating. I'm just good at cards." Miroku nodded slowly.

 

"I understand that." He tapped his fingers against the tabletop and stared at the deck of cards that sat in a neat pile between them. "But what do you mean by that? What's the trick? How do you use your head?"

 

Sango put her head in her hands and groaned. "I told you… There's no secret! No trick! I just think before I put the cards down! I pay attention!" The black-haired man frowned in thought again, then grabbed the deck.

 

"Okay. I'm going to beat you this time." He told her seriously. "I can do it." He shuffled the deck and dealt. "I will win." He said stubbornly.

 

Sango rolled her eyes.

 

(\ /)

(•. •)

(><)

 

"Ah!" Inuyasha stumbled backwards in surprise and turned around, embarrassment staining his pinkish-grey cheeks a reddish hue. "I- I didn't see you there." He stammered and looked away towards the house.

 

"I know." Kagome replied with amusement as she stared out at the view. They sat in silence for a moment, neither exactly sure of what to say. Only a few hours ago they were mad at each other.

 

Inuyasha cleared his throat uncomfortably. What are you doing up here?" He asked, then grimaced. What a stupid question. The raven-haired girl looked at him in surprise, the sun shining softly on her head.

 

"Just thinking," She replied simply and turned to stare out at the landscape before the two of them. "What about you?" She followed up in a small voice.

 

"Same." The wind heaved a heavy sigh that made the long grass shiver and the leaves on the trees behind them quiver restlessly. The sun was high in the sky and radiating warmth to all below. Puffy white clouds crawled slowly across the intensely blue sky as the two sat -floated, in Inuyasha's case- in silence. Kagome flopped down on the grass abruptly and stared up at the sky above.

 

She giggled suddenly and pointed up at a cloud. "That one looks like a spoon." The poltergeist looked at her quizzically and then at the cloud. He floated closer to the ground on his back until he was side by side with Kagome.

 

"Which one?" She pointed it out to him. "I think it just looks like a cloud." He said in surprise. Kagome looked at him in despair and shook her head, the grass rustling beneath her as she did so.

 

"Use your imagination." She told him and pointed out another cloud. "See that one? It looks like a shoe." Inuyasha allowed himself a small smile as he stared up into the sky. "But you have to look at it sideways." Kagome concluded and tilted her head. "Otherwise it looks like a cloud."

 

Inuyasha nodded in agreement. "I guess…" He said reluctantly. Kagome rolled over onto her stomach and stared at him intently with brown eyes, chin propped up on her hands.

 

"What do you think it looks like?" She stared at him penetratingly. Inuyasha shrugged carelessly. "Oh, come on!" The raven-haired girl coaxed. "Just tell me!"

 

Inuyasha sighed and relented. "My claw." He said flatly and held up a finger. Kagome looked back up into the sky and cocked her head to the side, peering intently at the cloud.

 

"I see what you mean." She said finally. "Or maybe a tooth with the root still in tact!" She grimaced. "But that's gross." She looked back at his outstretched hand. "Is it just me," She moved in closer, her nose only a few inches from his hand. "Or is your hand more colorful than yesterday?"

 

Inuyasha brought his hand up to his face. "What do you know?" He remarked dryly. "It looks like it is." His voice lacked enthusiasm and Kagome looked at him in concerned perplexity.

 

"Are you all right?" She asked. "You don't seem to… happy." Inuyasha shrugged and avoided the subject. After a moment's silence, Kagome sighed. "You know, you can always tell me if you want to." She said carefully, sincerely. "Keeping whatever it is bottled up is bad."

 

The semi-poltergeist looked at her in surprise, golden eyes filled with something unreadable; gratitude, surprise, confusion, and…? Something else that made Kagome look away, face feeling a bit warmer than before, heart pounding against her ribcage. "Thanks." Inuyasha finally murmured, staring up at the clouds again. Kagome glanced at the poltergeist out of the corner of her eye.

 

Was it just her imagination, or was the color in him more intense than a few moments before?

 

(\ /)

(•. •)

(><)

 

"Is there any card game that you're not good at?" Miroku asked Sango, in a state of dazed awe. "Or am I just terrible at these things?" Sango shrugged and shuffled the deck expertly, the worn playing cards slapping against the wood of the kitchen table.

 

"Well, I've played Gin Rummy and Uno since I was little." Sango admitted and placed the neat stack of cards on the table. "And my father always said," Miroku noticed that Sango said the word with difficulty. " that I had a great poker face. And I'm okay at speed games because I've got quick reflexes from training."

 

Miroku stared at the demon exterminator with open awe. "I have no hope against one so well versed in the art of cards." He said matter-of-factly. Sango stared at him for a moment in surprise, then shook her head and dealt another hand of Gin Rummy.

 

"You should've been a lawyer." She told the purple-eyed man sitting across from her. "You would've been a great one." She picked up her cards and arranged them to her liking.

 

"I beg to differ." Miroku frowned in concentration as he organized his own hand. "My strong sense of mortality would get the best of me when defending people whom I believe are to be prosecuted, or prosecuting those who are innocent."

 

Sango snorted in disbelief. "I find it odd that your 'strong sense of morality' doesn't hold you back from touching people where they would rather not be." Miroku picked up the King of Spades and put down the Six of Hearts.

 

"And you say that I should be a lawyer," he commented dryly. Sango pounced on the Six and laid down an Ace. "Ooh." Miroku grabbed the Ace and put it in his hand. He paused for a moment, frowning in thought as he chose a card of his own to put down.

 

"I'll take that." Sango said smugly and grabbed his card. "Oh, and…" She put her hand down. "Gin." She said sweetly.

 

"Are you sure you're not cheating?" Miroku confirmed and ran a hand through his black hair in bewilderment. He grabbed the deck and put all the cards together in one pile.

 

"Yes, I'm sure." Sango replied. "What kind of person do you think I am, exactly?", she asked, feeling slightly insulted. Miroku shook his head and dealt another hand.

 

"Someone who's very good at cards." The black-haired man replied honestly. "And I demand a rematch." Sango sighed and picked up her cards, organizing them as she did so.

 

"The twenty-third rematch."

 

_|__|_

(•.•)

--( • )--

(____)

 

"Kagome!"

 

White ears twitched on Inuyasha's head, catching Mrs. Higurashi's distant call from the house. She called again and Inuyasha sighed. Kagome, her ears not nearly as perceptive as his own, looked at him. "Is something wrong?" She asked concernedly. She was still hoping that he'd open up to her and tell him why he seemed so depressed.

 

"You're mother's calling." Inuyasha informed her and indicated the house with a brief nod. Kagome sat up, leaving a dent in the long grass where she'd been laying. Inuyasha, who'd been mimicking her position, left no mark. The raven-haired teen scrambled to her feet, brushing off her short green skirt and yelling down the hill to her mother.

 

"COMINGGGGGGGGGG!" She called loudly. She turned to her companion, a small inviting smile on her face. "Are you coming too?" Inuyasha shrugged and paused before replying.

 

"I'm staying here for a while." He told her. Kagome nodded, looking slightly put out and slid down the hill. "Careful!" Inuyasha called out behind her. "Can't have you cracking your skull open, can we?" He added hastily when she turned around and gave him a cheerful grin and a wave. Kagome continued to slide down the hill rather recklessly, just avoiding the few sparse bushes and rocks in her way. The poltergeist let out a breath he hadn't know he was holding in when she reached the bottom without incident and stepped over the broken fragments of the old wooden fence that she'd crashed into days previous.

 

"You know, you can always tell me if you want to."

 

Her words echoed relentlessly in his head. He wanted to tell her, tell someone about his past and everything that had happened, explain everything. She could assure him, tell him that it was okay; he wasn't a horrible, terrible monster for what had happened. "It wasn't my fault!" He told himself angrily. "Kikyo's the one who messed things up…" Right? But it was his fault. If he'd overlooked Kikyo's treachery -he stared down at his hands remorsefully- and just did what he needed to do, would everything have turned out all right? And he'd been doing her a favor, too! He'd asked for nothing in return, simply to live his life in peace, find a place to belong. And she'd said of course, that she understood. She said that she could relate to him because she'd faced so many difficulties herself and wanted to live a normal life. So why did she curse him, turn him into a poltergeist?

 

(\ /)

(0.0)

(><)

 

"There you are, Kagome!" Mrs. Higurashi exclaimed as her daughter came running up to the door, looking a little worse for wear with various bits of plant material in her hair and sticking to her socks. "Where were you?" She asked anxiously. "You've been missing for hours!"

 

"Sorry." Kagome gasped for breath. "On hill, with Inuyasha. Looking at clouds." Mrs. Higurashi nodded and stepped back inside. "I didn't realize that so much time had gone by." She apologized.

 

"It's alright, just try and keep track of the time next time, okay?" Mrs. Higurashi went into the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water. "How was it?" She asked, wiping her mouth daintily with the edge of her apron.

 

"Huh?" Kagome asked, confused. "How was what?" She sat down at the table, where Miroku and Sango were still playing a Gin Rummy. The older woman put her cup down and turned to her daughter.

 

"Watching the clouds?" She said, drying her hands on her apron. Kagome nodded in the positive and peered at Miroku's hand before answering.

 

"Good. Just cloud watching." The older woman fished about in her apron pocked and pulled out a set of keys. She turned to the three at the table before walking out of the room.

 

"I'll be gone for about an hour, okay? I need to do some grocery shopping and they don't really have a grocery store anywhere nearby." She sighed impatiently. Mrs. Higurashi didn't really like driving.

 

"'Kay." Kagome replied. Her mother walked out of the room and out the front door, pausing only to call up to Souta and Shippo, who were picking up another mess of packing peanuts and to put on her shoes.

 

"Gin." Sango said smugly for what was likely to be the fortieth time. Miroku set his cards down and ran a hand through his black hair. "Another game?" She challenged. The purple-eyed man shook his head in the negative and put his head in his hands.

 

"Ooh, let's play BS!" Kagome said enthusiastically. Sango nodded in agreement. Both girls turned to Miroku expectantly. The monk peeked at them from around his fingers.

 

"I'll play." He said with resignation. "If I really have to…" Sango started dealing out cards and Kagome cheered. "I guess that's a yes, then." He picked up his cards and looked at them wearily. There were only so many card games he could play in a day… And Miroku was pretty sure he'd already hit his limit. Wearily, he put down a card.

 

"One two." He said carelessly. Let the games begin.

 

(\ /)

(•. •)

(><)

 

He should really stop thinking about Kikyo now. Inuyasha sighed and looked across the hill. It was really bad for his mood. He noticed carelessly that he'd started spewing black smoke loaded with little sparks everywhere and there was a turbulent breeze swirling around him. Oh well. He didn't really care. He was feeling downright miserable at this point, caught in the maelstrom of his own self-degrading thoughts.

 

He just wanted to disappear of a while… To go somewhere alone where it was all empty and no one would or could bother him. He wanted to take a visit to Oblivion. With a soft, mournful whoosh of air and another large cloud of smoke, he was gone.

 

Oblivion. It welcomed him with open arms to a safe place, an empty place, a small place that was large at the same time. Oblivion. A place to think, to reflect, to mourn his past mistakes. "He who is wise never tries to revise what's past and gone". So what? He was a fool and always would be. A fool to trust Kikyo, a fool to fall for her, a fool to believe her.

 

"A fool…" He murmured aloud. His voice reverberated, muffled and small. He sighed. He was small, in the scheme of things. Kikyo's pawn in her grand plan. "A fool." He said harshly, strongly. A fool.

 

"No, it's I who was the fool." A familiar voice echoed from the depths of Oblivion and a terrible hollowness appeared in Inuyasha's now-grey eyes. "And such a fool, too."

 

"Kikyo." Inuyasha said simply. Hey, it was Oblivion. Anything could happen, right? The one person he really, really didn't want to see ever again… or did he? He was so confused.

 

"Inuyasha." The voice echoed bitterly. And Kikyo stepped into his perception. He couldn't see her, couldn't smell her, but he knew she was there. A familiar presence in all the emptiness. "Inuyasha…" She echoed again.

 

(\ /)

(•. •)

(><)

 

"BS!" Kagome cried triumphantly and pointed at Sango. The demon exterminator winced and picked up the huge pile of accumulated cards. Kagome grinned at her cheerfully.

 

"And my father said I had a poker face." Sango shook her head and arranged the cards in her hand. "How could you tell?" She asked the raven-haired girl. Kagome grinned and shook her head.

 

"Now that would be telling, wouldn't it?" She asked. Miroku grinned and put down his own cards on the table. Clearing his throat officiously, he stated what he'd put down.

 

"Three sixes." Sango searched painstakingly through her hand for any sixes. Her hand was so huge, there had to be some in it somewhere.

 

"Hmm…" Her hand hovered over first one card, then another. "Looks like you might be telling the truth." She scrutinized the purple-eyed man carefully. "But I'm not real-" She broke off as Kagome gasped and fell on the table, clutching at her head. "Kagome?!"

 

"It hurts!" The younger girl exclaimed in a panicky voice. "Pounding-" She gritted her teeth and hissed, eyes tightly shut. "And it won't stop-" She gasped out at another fresh onslaught of pain, tears welling up in the corner of her eyes. "Oh-" She curled up in her chair, clutching her head desperately.

 

"Kagome!" The two of them were around the table, Sango desperately shaking the girl's shoulder as Miroku hurried over to the phone. Shippo came tumbling down the stairs as the black-haired girl rocked back and forth in her chair.

 

"Kagome!" He wailed and launched himself onto the girl's other shoulder. "What's wrong with her?! Is she sick? Is she gonna get better?" The kitsune wailed at Sango. "Make her stop hurting!" He tugged helplessly at Kagome's shirt. "Wake up!"

 

Bright stars exploded across Kagome's tightly shut eyes and she felt herself losing something. Vision flashed and she saw black, darkness. The pain was throbbing, pulsing in her skull, threatening to explode into something far worse. "Oh…" She gasped as a gruesome throb made her reel. She was no longer aware of the chair as it fell over, Sango shaking her shoulder or Shippo's desperate screams, Souta's tears splashing against her face or Miroku's voice rising in volume as it demanded an ambulance. The darkness overwhelmed her and she felt pain lessen. Kagome threw herself gladly into the darkness, anything to make the pain stop.

 

And the pain did stop, instantly fading into nothing. After the few moment's relief that Kagome sought, she grew alarmed when she couldn't see. She couldn't see, hear or even move. If she was moving, she wasn't aware of it. She focused her will, panicking, on seeing, and willing her eyes to penetrate the grey fogginess that clouded her sight to go away. "See…" She murmured. "See…" Her voice was small and muffled, echoing not in her ears but in her head. Something cackled around her, something warm in the place that was neither warm nor cold, dark nor light. "See!" She said desperately, forcefully. "Please!" Sparkling pink light bloomed around her, cackling with energy as it swirled around her. The stuff faded to a dull roar and then diminished. Kagome blinked spots out of her eyes and sighed in relief. She could see.

 

"Inuyasha!" She cried joyously. She felt like crying out of relief. She'd thought that the headache was a stroke or something that had killed her and she was dead. But here he was, and she'd be safe with him. Inuyasha was staring at her, a mixture of pain, anger, just plain torment evident in his lonely grey eyes. "Inuyasha?" She tried again. "What did I do?" Her words didn't even echo dimly in her own mind and Inuyasha didn't seem to hear her. She tried to open her mouth wider to yell at him, and discovered to her horror that she didn't seem to have a mouth to open. Nonexistent hands tried to fly on to her face in horror and she would've stumbled back if she'd had feet. "No!" She cried out, her words nonexistent. "NO!" Strong pink light burst forth from her essence, if that was what she was, and surrounded her, shivering and sparkling violently as it swirled around in a maelstrom of power and confusion. "LET ME GO!" She screamed frantically. The power surged up and grew into a giant writhing column that dipped and swayed, rushing and spinning, a very frightened girl-spirit at its center. "PLEASE LET ME GO!"

 

(\ /)

(•. •)

(><)

 

"Why?" He asked simply. Kikyo looked at him with an expression torn between hate and anguish, standing before him as tall, proud and unreachable as before. She took cautions, wavering steps towards him. Inuyasha was surprised that he could see her. Before, she'd just been a presence, a familiar feeling, and then suddenly she glowed, pulsed and she was there just as she'd been five hundred years prior.

 

"Why?" She echoed and looked at him, a deep and penetrating misery echoing timelessly in her eyes. "Why did you kill me?" She asked. "I always wanted to know…" Inuyasha reeled back as if struck.

 

"I didn't kill you!" He shook his head in denial. "You killed me! You trapped me inside a bottle, forced to live alone, a mere shadow for five hundred years!" He argued, his eyes a hollow grey as color started to leak from his appearance, leaving him a worn and faded grey color. "Why?"

 

"I did not kill you." Kikyo said quietly. "The spell that I made wasn't supposed to turn you into what you are now. You somehow got caught in the spell. I didn't foresee it happening." She said, staring at him fixatedly.

 

"You could've waited until I was out of the way to perform the spell. I told you to wait, just a moment. I was in the air, just about to cut him right down the middle," Inuyasha stared into the distance as he remembered the most painful memory of his life. "And you just let go. It was aimed right at me. You trapped me." He stared back at her. "Don't pretend it didn't happen." He snarled. Everything was supposed to have ended differently…

 

"I didn't aim the urn at you. I was still making the spell when you attacked Naraku. My concentration was on it, not you. You were supposed to protect me as I finished the spell. Because of you, I have been trapped here for so long." Inuyasha backed away again.

 

"I didn't kill you!" He protested. He knew that he hadn't attacked Kikyo. "I don't know how you died, after you sealed me in the urn." His fists were clenched tightly.

 

"But because of you, I died." She said simply. Five hundred years in Oblivion had twisted her, changed her into someone else and her memory with it. She did not truly remember the events leading up to her death, only that it was Inuyasha, his fault. "You did not keep to your words. Lair. I thought that you cared about me…" Her resolve was crumbling. "All you wanted, you said, was to live in peace. With me…." Her eyes opened wide suddenly and she fell to her knees. The priestess started to glow fiercely and a muffled voice echoed across the expanse of Oblivion in a way nothing else did.

 

"And I wasn't lying!" He looked at her, slightly alarmed. "What's happening?" Kikyo looked up at him with cold, bitter eyes as she tried to stand again.

 

"This place claims all in time. I have faded from myself. But the presence of my soul and your thoughts have brought me back, temporarily." She explained bitterly, staring at him. "See what you have done to me?" She stayed on her knees as the voice inside her began to grow stronger until it formed intelligible words.

 

"LET ME GO!" Inuyasha stepped back again in surprise and horror. It was Kagome, her voice filled with fright, panic. "PLEASE!" There was the tiniest hint of a sob in her voice as it echoed again from Kikyo's body. "LET ME GO!" With a sparkling pink light, Kikyo started to fade.

 

"And to Oblivion I return." Kikyo said coldly. "Goodbye, for now, Inuyasha." She could not fight this force, whatever it was. Kikyo knew that. The pink light enveloped her. Inuyasha reached forward, having no idea of what was going on.

 

"Wait!" He tried to grab her wrist. "I don't understand!" And he was so confused at the moment. Kikyo looked at him calmly as the blinding light surrounded and engulfed her until she was gone. "Kikyo!"

 

The pink light dimmed, leaving behind a black-haired, frightened girl. Kagome sat, curled up, eyes tightly shut as she hugged her knees to her chest. "Please let me go," she murmured. "Let me go, let me go, go home, go home." Immediately Inuyasha placed a hand on her shoulder in a feeble attempt to calm her.

 

The black-haired girl flinched away, then looked up, tears in her eyes. "Oh, god!" She threw herself at him, shaking with nerves. "Oh, god…" She murmured into the thick fabric of his grey haori. Inuyasha stared at her in surprise.

 

"Kagome?" He asked in confusion, feeling slightly awkward with her holding him so close. "What are you doing here?" She looked up at him and wiped her eyes before answering.

 

"I don't know." She said, stepping away hastily, blushing slightly. "I was playing cards with Sango and Miroku. Then… I don't remember… and I was in a dark place with nothing and…" And she'd been terrified because she didn't exist; she was a lone consciousness without a body and that terrified her. She hadn't existed. "… and so I ended up here." The darkness was no longer frightening. She was her again, and Inuyasha was here with her. It would be okay. "Where are we?"

 

Inuyasha looked at her uncomfortably, his thoughts still occupied by Kikyo. "Oblivion." He said simply. Kagome looked at him in alarm, the shrugged in acceptance.

 

"So, how do we get out?" She asked. He seemed to be preoccupied by something. "Inuyasha!" Kagome exclaimed. "What happened to you?" She fingered the dull fabric between her colorful fingers, then rubbed them against the cloth harder when some of the color seemed to come off and stain the cloth red.

 

Inuyasha pulled her hand away sharply. "Don't do that!"

 

"Why not?" Kagome demanded. "You're completely colorless!" He was starting to scare her, actually. She reached up and poked him in the face, leaving a peachy mark on his cheek.

 

"Hey!" Inuyasha barked in surprise. "What are you doing?" Kagome placed her palms on his arm and pulled away, leaving vivid red hand marks on the otherwise dull material.

 

"Making you colorful." She told him matter-of-factly and grabbed his shoulder. Color flowed from her hand and sank into his shoulder with a strange tingling feeling. "See?" Hesitantly, she brought her hand to his other shoulder, silently asking for his consent. When he didn't move, she placed it on his shoulder, the color seeping through his shoulder to flow down his arm as Kagome concentrated fiercely on her hand on his shoulder. She wasn't sure what she was doing, exactly, only that it made Inuyasha colorful again and made her feel weak to the knees.

 

She gasped and stepped back tremulously, head spinning slightly. "All done." She surveyed the poltergeist with a critical eye. He was very colorful now, but his eyes were still grey, and staring at her in shock. She frowned and took a wobbly step forward, wondering dazedly if she should poke him in the eye. "Your eyes are still grey-" Her knees gave way and she fell to the nonexistent ground.

 

Inuyasha caught her by the elbows and pulled her upright, glaring at her. "Fool!" Kagome stepped back as if slapped, eyes wide with surprise and confusion, then hurt. "Look at yourself!" Kagome inspected her hand, eyes widening in shock.

 

Her hand was grey tinged peach just as Inuyasha had been the day before. "Oops." She said in a small voice. Inuyasha glared at her with grey eyes as she sat down heavily on the ground. "I didn't think that that would happen." She commented, eyelids beginning to droop with exhaustion.

 

"Take it back." Inuyasha said flatly, offering his hand. "I don't need it." Kagome looked up at him through dark grey eyes, blinking slowly. She was so tired…

 

"You need it more than I do." She said. "You're always so sad." Inuyasha stepped back in surprise. "You try to hide it," She commented sleepily, her exhausted mind making her tongue loose to say whatever it wanted. "but you're so lonely inside, afraid to make friends. You don't want to be hurt. You're actually shy, insecure." She yawned and blinked again. "So just take the color. It's pretty and you deserve it." Her eyelids fluttered shut and she her head sank down on her knees. Her breathing evened out as she slept.

 

Inuyasha blinked. "How…?" He wondered aloud, staring the sleeping grey girl. He sighed and sat down next to her, holding up his hand contemplatively and staring at it, then the red fabric of his haori. He turned to the pale girl next to him with a strange expression in his bright golden eyes.

 

Kagome slept on peacefully, unaware of the profound thoughts of the poltergeist next to her.

 

_|__|_

(•.•)

--( • )--

(____)

 

"Kagome!" Shippo tried shaking the comatose girl for the umpteenth time. "Please, wake up!" With a heavy heart, Sango gently picked up the young demon and put him down next to the couch where Kagome was lying. "Stoppit!" He protested. "Let me see Kagome!"

 

Sango cleared her throat painfully and looked at the kitsune with strain in her eyes. "Shaking her won't wake her up, Shippo." She said bleakly. She couldn't stand to watch Kagome's head roll limply about on the pillow as Shippo shook her. Only the even rise and fall of the younger girl's chest was keeping Sango from the brink of total panic.

 

Miroku slammed down the phone again and swore blackly. "The police are incompetent, uncompassionate fools and the paramedics are either deaf or the most incredibly cold-hearted-" Miroku took a deep breath before saying something rather brash, "-people in the whole of Japan." He finished weakly. "Fifteen phone calls." He ground his teeth and sat down on a chair. "Fifteen!" He shook his head incredulously. "And it's their job! They don't get paid to sit around on their-" He took another breath before continuing. "-chairs all day and ignore people in need!"

 

"What did they say?" Sango asked wearily, Kirara mewing softly on her shoulder. She patted the little cat and sighed deeply.

 

"'By the time we get there, she'll be dead. There's no need to come out.' Can you believe it?" Miroku asked. "Of course, they didn't say it like that, but it's what they were getting at." Sango stared at him in outrage.

 

"That's… disgusting!" She cried, fists clenching tightly in her lap. "Give me the phone." There was a dangerous spark in her eyes that promised hell and high water to those whom it normally wouldn't bother.

 

Wordlessly -he was actually looking forward to this- he handed the phone to Sango and headed into the other room to grab the other phone so he could hear and add his own two cents. "Hello?" Sango snapped into the phone after dialing. Miroku came back into the room with the cordless phone in hand. "Yes, I'd like to report an emergency." She paused. "Priestess Lane." Her eyebrows snapped together at the man's reply on the other end. "No. You are coming here. Now." The man fumbled awkwardly for a reply, but the relentless demon exterminator cut him off sharply. "I don't care how long it takes for you to get here. As of now, Kagome Higurashi is alive and breathing. If you'd left when we first called, you'd be here by now." Miroku grinned in spite of the situation.

 

"How much are you paid a month?" Sango asked casually. The man replied awkwardly and tried to comment, but she cut him off. "And what is in your job description, exactly? Why do you get paid?" Miroku's grinned widened. "You help people with medical emergencies, correct?" She said, voice clipped. "Now, how much do you think of your paycheck is for sitting at that desk? I don't think it's very much. But you'll find out soon enough when I call your superiors and tell them exactly how very helpful you are to the community. I'm sure they'll be very pleased to hear about it." The man hastily agreed.

 

"I'm on my way, ma'am." He said and slammed the phone down. Miroku turned the phone off and looked at Sango in surprise and awe. She hung up the phone calmly and leaned back against the chair without glancing at the purple-eyed man.

 

"And you said I should be a lawyer! You should be a PR executive! Very persuasive." Miroku exclaimed. Sango turned to him seriously, the anger burnt out of his eyes, leaving behind a great weariness.

 

"You said you wouldn't be a good lawyer because of your strong sense of morality. I wouldn't be a good PR consultant because I despise lying to the general public about issues that rightfully concern them and covering up the illegal or harmful activities of large corporate faction that operate with only their own well-being in mind." Miroku stared at her.

 

"What?" He blinked in surprise.

 

"Would you like me to repeat it?" Sango asked calmly. Miroku shook his head slowly. Shippo quietly climbed back onto the couch and stared at Kagome intently, sitting right next to her head.

 

"No thanks." Miroku said and looked out the through the glass doors at the garden. Inuyasha was floating a few scant inches above the ground, his feet hidden in the grass. He drifted towards the door and tried to go through it, but he hit the glass with a soft wumphing sound. Sango and Miroku stared. "Was he that colorful this morning?" The black haired man ran a hand through his hair in bewilderment.

 

"I don't think so." Sango shook her head in the negative. "And he hit the door too." The poltergeist tapped his foot impatiently against the concrete steps and tapped softly on the window. The demon exterminator got up from her seat and slid open the door for him. "What happened?" She asked. "How are you all-"

 

"Kagome." Inuyasha cut her off. "She made me colorful." Miroku raised his eyebrows at the poltergeist and Inuyasha glared at him. "You have a filthy mind, monk." He held something carefully cupped in his two hands.

 

"What is it?" Sango closed the door softly and peered into his hands. Miroku got up and joined her. "It's glowing…" The demon exterminator said softly. In Inuyasha's hands was a soft light, a small handful of wispy pink vapors that glowed and sparkled. It looked incredibly fragile, beautiful while at the same time strange and alien.

 

"Kagome's soul." Inuyasha said softly, afraid to breathe upon the thing in case it would blow away. Miroku stepped back instantly, horror on his face. Sango looked confused and Shippo left Kagome's comatose form to take a look.

 

"What did you do to her?!" Miroku asked angrily. "She could've been killed!" Inuyasha's gaze didn't leave the collection of sparkling pink smoke for a moment, carefully bringing it towards her body.

 

"It wasn't me." He said carefully, all his concentration focused on the soul. The pink smoke drifted slowly in his hands with the small air currents. "Stop moving." He told everyone in the room. "And shut all the doors. We don't want Kagome's soul blowing away." Slowly, Miroku walked to the doorway and shut the door to the hallway as Sango moved to the kitchen door. Upon closing them, they froze. Inuyasha floated ever so slowly closer to the comatose body and carefully lowered his hands until they were a few inches above Kagome's chest. He carefully let the smoke drift through his semi-spectral fingers and onto Kagome's body, where it sank through her shirt and into her body.

 

As soon as all the soul was back in Kagome's body, she stiffened at sat bolt upright, gasping. "Oh…" She slumped into a sitting position and grinned at Inuyasha. "Thanks." She said, then looked at everyone else. "Hi! Sorry to worry you!" They all stared at her, slack-jawed. "Is something wrong?" Inuyasha cleared his throat.

 

"You're see-through." He informed her, glaring. "I told you not to give me all your color!" Kagome blinked and looked at her hands they were their regular peach and, indeed, transparent. Everyone else continued to stare.

 

"Cool." She commented and poked at the couch. Her finger went through it slowly. "Ooh." She frowned and tried to walk through the furniture with difficulty, like walking through water. "That's weird…"

 

Everyone was silent, staring at the now demi-spectral girl in front of them. Finally, Miroku spoke up. "What exactly happened?" He asked carefully. This was going to take a lot of explaining…

 

Kagome took a deep breath and began her story…

 

(\ /)

(•. •)

(><)

 

AN: Well, it seems that I was right about the "lucky thirteen" thing…

 

I feel that the Kikyo/ Inuyasha thing was very unsatisfactory. Any suggestions upon improvement for that scene or anything else? I could really, really use some good advice on that bit. It did not flow well as I was writing it. As mentioned before, my Kikyos always end up being tragic sob stories, so I tried to stiffen her up a bit more in this story. (Did it work?)

 

This one took a little longer to write because I had lotsa problems with the Kikyo/Inuyasha deal (as said before) and the fact that I changed the ending several times. At one point, actually, Kagome became a poltergeist because she gave so much of her life force to Inuyasha. Definitely not happening… So I had to change it.

 

And as usual: OOC? How so? Recommendations upon making any characters less so? And in general… how am I doing, because second opinions are very valuable! (As are third, and fourth, and fifth…et cetera)