InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Light in Dark Places ❯ Chapter 7: Interlude ( Chapter 8 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Light in Dark Places

By Eilan-san

ooo

Chapter 7: Interlude

I'm waiting for tonight,

Then waiting for tomorrow,

And I'm somewhere in between…

What is real and just a dream?

--Lifehouse, “Somewhere in Between”

ooo

Kagome had always known that Inuyasha liked to watch her while she slept; he watched the entire group while they slept, since as a hanyou he needed less sleep than his human companions. She secretly enjoyed feeling his eyes on her as she let herself fall asleep. It was comforting, and she trusted that while he watched, nothing could harm them.

Harry, on the other hand, was just funny.

She was sure that he must have glanced at her furtively about thirty times before blushing and turning back to his book in the last ten minutes.

She'd had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. He was just so… cute!

And the obvious lack of experience with girls just made him more cute.

“You know, you're going to have to get better at sneaking looks at me, Harry.”

Harry's head snapped up, jaw dropped. “How long have you been awake?” he asked suspiciously, horridly embrassed.

“The last ten minutes,” she smiled sleepily. “You're terrible at hiding it.” She giggled softly.

God, when was the last time she'd giggled? Clearly, it had been far too long. She snuggled deeper into the blankets and made room for Harry to sit on the bed beside her. Which, she noticed with no small amount of glee, that he took with no hesitation.

“Are you feeling better?” he asked, concerned.

She closed her eyes and sighed. She'd been trying to forget the incident earlier that afternoon. “Not really, but I'll be fine eventually.”

“Do you want to talk -“ he began.

“No,” she whispered tightly. “I'm just… I'm just not ready to talk about it.”

She wasn't really ready to talk about it with anyone, and specifically not Harry. Things had been going really well thus far and she knew that the minute she mentioned that she was not… normal, things were going to change irrevocably.

“How about some hot chocolate?” Harry asked, studying her face, trying to discern her thoughts. She didn't think he found whatever it was he was looking for.

“Hot chocolate sounds wonderful,” she replied, smiling at him gratefully as he walked into the kitchen.

How am I going to tell him?

How would she start? `Oh, by the way, I used to be the keeper of the jewel'? That was not likely to go over well.

She hadn't talked about it in so long. Once it was over, it was just… over. She was out of all of their lives and that was the end of it. She'd had to move on with her life, forget about everything that had happened and forget about them.

It simply hurt too much.

When she returned and was finally able to focus on her schoolwork again, she had dropped into the 50th percentile, something that, had she had less understanding parents, would have killed her.

If she were really honest with herself, she knew she'd barely gotten into college at all. Nobody wanted a former invalid who had a bad habit of missing classes for weeks on end and then proceeded to perform sub-standard on exams. It was only her excellence in the subject of Warring States era history that had saved her from a life of flipping burgers and attempting to marry well.

And part of her resented that. The only thing she was capable of doing well was using the knowledge she'd gained from her shard-searching days, and that knowledge was what kept her from pursuing other things she might have been better at.

But here she was, and regardless of whatever plan destiny had for her, she had to deal with the situation at hand.

She replayed Yamato's memory in her head. Who was the guardian he'd mentioned? She doubted he even knew what he was talking about, but clearly he was reaching for something… was he talking about her? Or Kikyou?

And what about those two men? Dr. Yamato had mentioned her by name… if they decided he was talking about her, then she was in significantly more danger than she had previously thought.

She furrowed her brow. Her purity lighting the darkness of the hearts of men?

Midoriko, perhaps?

No.

No.

It wasn't possible. There was no way she brought the jewel back with her.

`It couldn't be that…' she thought. `I placed it in Inuyasha's hands, turned and left, to do with as he saw fit.'

She closed her eyes tightly, her stomach swirling with denial and anger.

Because there was no way to know what his wish was, or if it came true.

There were no records of Inuyasha, none aside from the ones she'd heard in her childhood at the shrine: a half-demon fell in love with a miko, was pinned to a tree and was set free by another miko who looked disturbingly like the previous one. The second miko shattered the shikon no tama, and they worked to complete it again, defeating a hideous monster in the process.

All of her academic studies of the legend said the same thing: there was no ending. The stories all just stopped with Naraku's defeat. The jewel disappeared.

Up until now, she'd assumed it was because Inuyasha wished to become human for Kikyou's sake and they lived out their lives in quiet anonymity.

Kagome shut her eyes tightly, hand flying to her face as she realized that maybe, just maybe, she'd been wrong.

That man who'd attacked her in the alley… he'd said that they knew for a fact that she knew it wasn't just a legend.

They knew. They had to know who she was. She would have to tell Harry and the others, and soon.

She whimpered and trembled and slid under the blankets. Why can't it just be over?

It was childish and she didn't want to admit it, but all she ever really wanted was for it to be over. Maybe, if she could forget, then she could move on.

And apparently, she still hadn't moved on, even after all these years.

Harry stood in Kagome's kitchen, pondering the box of powdered cocoa in his hands.

The Dursley's used to keep this kind of stuff around for Dudley, but Harry hated it and he was pretty sure he had some leftover Honeydukes chocolate in his suitcase.

After rummaging through his pack and locating the half bar of chocolate, he grabbed the saucepan Kagome had left in the drying rack the night before and the carton of milk out of the refrigerator and set to work.

He tried to review the events of the day as he melted the chocolate, but his mind simply could not wrap itself around it.

Find the Guardian? What in the bloody hell was the Professor talking about?

Was he talking about the priestess that was in love with the half-demon? But which one? Weren't they both in love with the half-demon? Or just the first one?

Harry shook his head, attempting to clear it. That love triangle was just a bit more complicated than he cared to think about at the present moment.

The professor had also said “Her purity lighting the darkness of the hearts of men.” Was he talking about the Jewel or the Guardian?

He knew that the Jewel purified demons, did that mean that the Jewel also purified the evil out of human hearts as well?

And round and round it went.

He stirred the milk in with the melting chocolate and attempted to locate some rum but unfortunately didn't find any. Apparently, Kagome wasn't much of a drinker. He did find some cinnamon in a cabinet and stirred that in as well. It really began to smell wonderful and Harry was rather pleased with himself. If he were a normal boy, and Kagome a normal girl, he could almost see himself making this for a cozy night by the fire, but he wasn't normal, and apparently neither was she.

He remembered the night they were attacked after their first (and only) date. What did that goon in the alley mean when he said that Kagome knew where the Jewel was before? He recalled her mentioning that it had been kept at her family shrine, but those were just local legends as far as he knew. So what was the true story and did his newest roommate know the answer? And how was she involved, because clearly she must be, and…

Headache.

Harry pinched the bridge of his nose while he finished stirring his concoction in the saucepan. He just couldn't make sense of the ideas swirling in his head.

He wanted to believe this was all just Malfoy's latest grab at power, but he sensed something more sinister was going on, and that Kagome held the key.

Unfortunately, it also seemed that she was keeping a significant amount of information from him.

He grabbed two mugs out of the cupboard above the sink and poured the drinks and resolved that he would find out what she'd been keeping from him as quickly as possible. She had to understand the danger that she, that they were in, and if there was anything age had taught him, it was that going into battle and not knowing what was going on was the absolute worst thing to do.

However, he found his resolve quickly dissipating upon entry to the bedroom and finding Kagome curled up in the fetal position under her comforter.

He sat down on the side of her bed and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Kagome whimpered slightly, and something loosened in his chest and he exhaled sharply as she slid out from underneath the blankets.

He'd never seen her quite this sad… this open.

This was his chance, he had to take it, he had to…

She wiped a few stray tears from her eyes, and sat herself up and leaned against the headboard and he just couldn't bring himself to say anything.

He looked at her and she knew. She knew that she had to tell him about whatever was going on, that she was planning to tell him.

So, he handed her the mug of hot chocolate silently and tried his very best to be patient and wait for her to say something.

She sipped her drink slowly. “Mmm… this tastes wonderful, Harry,” she murmured. “The best hot chocolate I've ever had, what did you do?”

This was not how this conversation was supposed to go.

“I cheated,” he said, flushing slightly. “I melted some Honeydukes chocolate that I had in my pack instead of that powdered stuff in your cupboard.”

“Honeydukes?” she asked.

“Yes, it's a shop in Hogsmeade, near Hogwarts, where Ron, Hermione and I went to school. They specialize in some of the most delectable sweets you will ever taste,” he said, running his fingers through his messy hair nervously. Get back on task, you git.

“I see,” she said, clearly amused that his action actually made his hair stick up even more, not less. “I would love to see your school someday, it sounds marvelous.”

“It's a beautiful place,” he said wistfully, before he could catch himself. “We'll go there one day when this whole shikon mess is worked out.” He blanched, “Er, that is to say you still want to see me after this is over.”

There it was again. That tightening in his chest, that undeniable something he felt whenever he was around her. He was absolutely terrified of her saying no and saying yes all at the same time.

“Of course I'll want to see you,” she replied matter-of-factly, looking away, reddening slightly. “Don't be silly.”

Harry surprised himself at the sheer relief he felt hearing that. He smiled, but then forced himself to get back to business.

“Kagome,” he began lightly. “We need to talk.” She nodded faintly, staring into her half-empty mug.

“I know,” she whispered. “But can it at least wait until the morning?” She looked up, truly looking at him for the first time all day. Her eyes were open and clear and blue and fearful and just so sad.

He heard himself acquiesce before he realized he'd done it.

“How about a movie?”

Kagome immediately brightened. “That sounds wonderful, Harry.”

Two hours and a bowl of popcorn later, the movie ended and Harry found himself in the most precarious position: next to Kagome on the bed, his arm around her, and her head nestled into the crook of his shoulder.

She'd fallen asleep during one of the action sequences (Merlin only knew how) and he'd been perfectly happy to let her use him as a pillow, but now the gentleman in him knew he had to put her to sleep in her own bed and migrate to his makeshift bed in the living room, much to the dismay of his non-gentleman side.

He reluctantly disengaged himself from her grasp and tucked her into her comforter before moving to the living room and falling into his own bed, exhausted and anxious. He tossed and turned for a few minutes, trying to find a comfortable position, and eventually fell into a fitful sleep.

In his dream, Harry was standing in a clearing in a rather ancient forest near a dry well.

He knew he'd never been to this place before, but it felt familiar somehow. He'd grown used to lucid dreams over the years, but even this one was a bit stranger than usual. It didn't feel normal, it didn't feel like his.

There were some people standing nearby, and he'd already tried talking to them, but to his dismay they couldn't hear him or see him. The four of them simply continued talking in a language he couldn't understand.

Two members of the party were clearly not human. One was a child with a tail and the other was a very unruly teenager clad in red with puppy-dog ears. The other two were dressed in strange clothes, even by wizard standards, but seemed fairly normal otherwise.

He recognized the teenager as the hanyou from the legend of the Jewel as seen in the painting that hung in Kagome's office, as well as the demon huntress and the monk. He'd never seen the child before, though, and also noted that the miko was missing from their group.

`Perhaps they are waiting for her,' he thought.

He began listening to their conversation again, and this time he was finally able to discern at least one of their names - Inuyasha. The hanyou's name was Inuyasha.

He furrowed his brow, `Hadn't Kagome mentioned an Inuyasha at one point?' He couldn't remember.

Suddenly, he saw a bright pink light out of the corner of his eye.

The well! The well was filled with a bright pink light, and then slowly faded.

The child scurried past Harry and leaped onto the ledge of the well and yelled, “Kagome!”

Kagome?

Sure enough, a few moments later, Kagome climbed out of the well. But this Kagome was young, young enough to be in school. She wore a sailor shirt of some sort and…

Harry tried to avert his eyes and wondered briefly at the sanity of a school system that allowed the girls' uniform skirts to be so short.

Kagome embraced the child heartily and greeted the others, who all walked over to her and seemed very happy to see her, save Inuyasha who only grunted in her general direction. He saw her frown quickly before smiling at the other woman and began talking to her.

It was then that he noticed - she wore the Jewel around her neck. Or part of it anyway, there was a large chunk missing.

The group continued to chatter for a few more minutes before another woman, bow slung over her should, appeared and the group grew very quiet. Harry recognized this woman as the miko from the painting, but there was something odd about her, something not quite right.

She walked right up to Kagome and said something in a cold, low voice. Kagome took a shaky step backward, but her legs hit the side of the dry well.

The others began yelling at the miko, (somewhere in the back of his mind he deduced that her name was Kikyou),but she merely raised her hand and they were all thrown back. He could she was totally focused on the Jewel around Kagome's neck. Kagome's eyes dart around frantically, but Kikyou only laughed. Her hand shot out and in one swift moment, Kikyou had grabbed the Jewel and torn it away from Kagome and pushed Kagome backwards into the well.

Harry ran toward her, but just barely missed her hand as she fell down into the black depths of the well. The last thing he heard before the world around him faded to black was Kagome screaming.

Harry jerked awake, eyes bleary, and found himself back in Kagome's living room in his bed, but he could still hear Kagome's screams ringing in his ears.

Except… it wasn't the memory of the screams he was hearing… Kagome was actually screaming.

Harry jumped out of bed and rushed to the door to her room and saw her in the throes of a nightmare.

In a flash, he was at her side, shaking her, trying to get her to wake up, desperate and afraid of something he couldn't quite name. The feeling of foreboding that had been haunting him all day seemed to collect at the pit of his stomach, dark and heavy.

She opened her eyes. “Kagome,” he breathed. She looked at him, confused and frantic. “Kagome, it's Harry.” He whispered. “It's Harry, Kagome. You're okay now.”

“Harry,” she whimpered and threw her arms around him. “Harry, oh Harry. It was awful.” She hiccupped and buried her head even deeper into the crook where his shoulder met his neck and he wrapped his arms around her, one hand on her running up and down her back and the other stroking her hair.

“It's alright, Kagome, it was only a dream,” he whispered in her ear. “Sleep. Go back to sleep.”

She cried a bit more in his arms, but she eventually fell asleep. Harry tried to quietly disengage himself from her, but she had a very strong grip. He slowly pried her hand away from his shirt and walked back to his bed in the living room and sat on his bed.

You prat, you could have stayed, Harry thought, but then grimaced. It was likely she wouldn't remember the incident in the morning, and to be honest… he just didn't trust himself to sleep next to her all night as he was not in the right frame of mind to even begin thinking about that kind of thing at this hour.

He crawled into his own bed and wrapped himself in the thick blankets, and as he drifted off to sleep again he found himself wondering if they'd had the same dream.