InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Lost World ❯ Chapter Seven ( Chapter 7 )

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

<i>Lost World</b></i>

By: OtakuSailorV

Chapter Seven - Sister

Kagome was distraught. Her sister, her darling sister whom she had loved since the moment she had seen her at the hospital where she was born was missing.

Gone.

Disappeared.

Almost as if by instinct, she had thought that something was wrong as she walking home. Maybe it was the way the wind blew her hair, or that sudden shiver she had felt. Maybe it was the dropped red blossom on the stone steps that alerted her to a change, but she couldn't be sure.

She had brushed it off though, thought nothing of it until she came to Rin's room. She popped her head in; ready to spook her sister who she was sure was lost in some other world in a book in her favorite chair. But the room was empty, and eerily still.

A curious thought entered her head, confused by the lack of Rin in a usually Rin-filled space. She knew her younger sibling to come directly home and hang out in her room for ages just reading, writing or drawing. The room usually adopted an easy-going, inviting air when she was working, but now it stood void, empty and cold.

There was no Rin; not even a sign of the young brown-haired girl was anywhere in the room. The room looked the same as it had when they had left this morning.

As she walked back downstairs, she noticed that the strange silence seemed to be spreading, and a foreboding feeling gripped her. What was this uneasy air that had settled and why did she think something terrible had happened?

Curiously, she called out her sister's name, waiting for the response she was sure would come. She was just overreacting again; there was nothing to worry about. Rin was quite fine, she had probably decided to watch TV or something instead.

Except Rin didn't watch that much TV, she was rarely interested in the shows unless they were interviewing an author or it was the News.

Maybe she had gone for a drink instead, or a snack. . .But Rin's room was untouched still, and it had been hours since school ended. Kagome swallowed, wondering if her sister had even made it home.

No answer came.

She arrived in the kitchen where the rest of her happy family was conveniently assembled, unaware that one of the two sisters was missing. They stopped their chatter and preparations for dinner when Kagome entered, looking worried.

“What's the matter dear?” Mrs. Higurashi asked, raising one eyebrow in concern.

“Have any of you seen Rin?” Kagome tried to keep her tone cool, making a passing question and not the worry-filled exclamation she was sure was gonna squeak out of her throat. She couldn't shake the overwhelming fear that was starting to build in her.

The more she thought about it, the more it grew. It just wouldn't make sense for Rin to be in the house and out of her regular routine; this was totally unlike her.

“No, I thought she went with you. She hasn't been home all day.” Mrs. Higurashi replied, looking to her son and Jii-chan to see them nod their agreement. None of them had seen the girl since she had left earlier in the day.

“Well, it's not like her to disappear out of the blue like that, I'm sure she's here somewhere.” Their mother reasoned, giving them a reassuring smile.

Kagome nodded and walked off to investigate the rest of the rooms in the house. Maybe Rin had gone into the little alcove-room that acted as a library and fallen asleep in one of the chairs again. She tried to believe this, but still the odd sense of foreboding lingered, making her fret and worry as she checked more and more empty rooms.

It was possible that they had overlooked her entrance, wasn't it. . . ?

* * *

When finally every room was checked twice over and still there was no sign of Rin, Kagome felt sick with worry. She had always been close to her sister and had worried when she had seen her sister day dreaming so often.

Where was she?

Added to the worry was guilt. Maybe if she had just come home instead of going out with her friends she would know where her sister was right now. She had checked her room several times, even looking under the bed and behind the chairs. The library shelves had a thin coat of dust over them; nothing had been touched since Rin's last visit. No new fingerprints were left in the thin gray film.

“Have you found her yet?” She heard her mother ask; Kagome had entered right after Souta, who looked perplexed.

“I looked everywhere; her shoes aren't at the door and neither is her schoolbag.” Souta replied in a worried tone.

“Where could that girl have got to?” Their mother asked, sounding worried as well. She abandoned her cooking utensils and wiped her hands on her apron as she headed for the phone. She hesitated as she reached for it, about ready to dial for the police. No, no, it was still too early for that.

“Has anyone checked the shrine yet?” Their grandfather suggested.

Souta shook his head; Kagome didn't need to answer, she was out the door in the direction of the old shrine without a second thought.

It wasn't much of a hope, Rin probably wouldn't be there, but she had to hope, had to look and make sure.

As she ran toward the wooden structure in the fading light of the day, she saw footprints in the dirt, flattened blades of grass, and upturned gravel all leading to the partially-open door of the shrine. Kagome felt her heart flutter in her chest wildly. Rin was in the old well-house shrine! She was safe!!

Calm settled over her and Kagome slowed her pace to a jog now. “Rin?” She called, ready to chew her sister out for worrying them all so much.

Really, that girl had such a cloud-filled head on her shoulder's sometimes! Sure she was responsible, but she day-dreamed far too much, probably one of her flights of fancy had taken her to the shrine and she was still sitting there just writing or sketching one of the old artifacts within.

“Rin?! If you're in here I'm gonna-”

Kagome never finished her threat; the words died as she thrust the door open wide and looked in on the dank room.

The rest of the shrine was fine, empty, dark and unappealing in every way. The old well that sat in the middle was still there; the smell of rotting wood was still there, even the old steps leading down to the well set in the dirt were still there. Nothing was out-of-place.

The thing that caught Kagome's attention though was the limp form of her young sister's body near the well rim, turned on her side, her back to Kagome.

Kagome's breath caught in her throat. Her sister's schoolbag lay neglected by the entrance; she nearly fell over it as she hastened to her sister's side.

“Rin?! Oh my God, Rin! Are you OK?” She cried, her throat squeezed over worried tears as she pulled Rin over to lie on her back.

Rin's eyes were wide open, the pupils had disappeared and she stared as if in a state of shock at the roof, mouth partially open. A red flower was held smothered in her hand; Kagome recognized it as one of the ones at the foot of the stone steps that led to the shrine and their house. She was breathing faintly, but her body was frigid cold, almost as if her soul had left her.

Kagome shook her limp shoulders, crying out for help. “Rin?! Rin, wake up!” Troubled tears started to gush from her eyes, and her breathing was shallow but fast. She wasn't sure what to do, her poor sister! What could have happened?!

She sat like that for a while, too frightened of leaving Rin alone to go and get help, and no one came to check on her either. She was distraught, terrified and trying to get a hold of herself so she could think straight. If she wanted to help Rin, she had to go and get her mom to call an Ambulance or something; she shouldn't just be sitting here crying her eyes out. But she couldn't loosen her tight grip on her sister; it felt like she would fade away if Kagome let her go.

As if answering her fears, she thought she saw Rin's face growing dimmer and dimmer. At first she thought it was the dim light playing tricks with her eyes, but then she saw a glimpse of her school uniform through her sister's face and she panicked. Looking to the rest of her sister, she could see that her body was definitely disappearing. But to where and why?

This wasn't normal! Human bodies didn't just disappear! As far as she knew, nothing like this ever happened to any creature. Things like this only happened in those freaky sci-fi novels that Rin liked so much. The ones about the people getting taken to other worlds. . .

Kagome clung to her, trying to get up. Maybe she could. . . if only she could. . .

It was no use; she couldn't drag her fading sister to the home for her family to see before she was completely gone. And this wasn't something she wanted them to see anyway; it was much too frightening, she was sure she was losing her mind now. This just couldn't be happening!!

“Rin?” She asked as she watched the last of her sister's form fade away to Kami-sama knew where.

“Rin, what's going on?” She pleaded; she could feel the load of Rin's body disappearing rapidly from her arms and lap.

She sniffed back tears, closing her eyes only briefly to try and clear them properly.

When she opened them again, Rin's body had completely disappeared; her arms encircled nothing but the crumbled red flower that had fallen to her lap.

* * *

Rin sat in the empty room, contemplating Inutaishou's words. Another girl like her had come here once? Had she been able to get back home again? She felt elated at the thought, but she soon calmed. No, that wasn't it. . .

The way his eyes had grown sad along with his tone, and he had seemed lost in some memory. Had that girl, perhaps been his. . . ? No, it wasn't possible. . .Was it?

She couldn't get it out of her head, and there was absolutely no one to consult on the matter either. Not like she'd be comfortable talking with anybody here though. Maybe that Jaken demon, but she wasn't sure about anybody else. It wasn't exactly like she had made a bunch of friends. . .

Looking at the shouji doors critically, she wondered if she would be allowed to wonder the halls now.

Shifting uneasily as she sat on her knees, she looked around the empty room, wondering what to do next.

Again she recalled the sci-fi/fantasy romance manga she had read from time-to-time back in her own world and shook her head with a sigh. No, no powers for her, no summoning strange beast-Gods, no granting wishes, no political struggles over the heroines powers, no bishies, no nothing! She just wanted to go home, and the last thing she wanted was to hear: “Surprise, you are now the incarnation of our Goddess that no living person could ever pronounce the name of correctly and you get to take care of our kingdom since we're such slackers and can't do it ourselves and be with all of us for forever and ever and ever!”

Okay, maybe she was being a bit selfish. If she couldn't get home and they really needed her help and all, maybe she could lend them a hand. . .NO! If she had some strange mystical power in this world, she was gonna use it to get her back home!

Torn, Rin bit her bottom lip nervously, brows furrowing. She didn't want any powers though, that would just be too much responsibility that she didn't want or need. After all, what was that quote from that American movie she had gone to see with Kagome? “With great power comes great responsibility?” Hm, it was something like that. . .

But the thing with Japanese school-girls that suddenly got whisked into another world was that they always got powers and a troupe of bishies to look after them while they went on some quest to save the kingdom or something. And the heroine was always some generic-bubbly-headed person that was no good at school.

That was it, Rin knew she got off on idiot-parades sometimes, but she definitely wasn't bubbly and a social butterfly; and she could see that there were no bishie harems so far, so she must be safe. Besides, if she were really some savior or whatever, wouldn't Inutaishou have said something from the beginning?

Rin sighed; she had gotten over-worked and thought all those horrible things for nothing then. Of course she wasn't in some shoujo manga, she wasn't the type to be in one of those!

She was a bookworm, quiet and kept to herself. She rarely approached people to make friends or simply talk because she felt that she was annoying people all the time. Sure, that vanished at times, so to speak in Jaken's case, but still, she wasn't at all comfortable talking to anyone out-of-the-blue like that usually. She was what people might call the loner-type, though she had never styled herself as such and really wouldn't mind having friends. It was just more awkward for her it seemed. She wasn't sure why, but she had always felt that they were all different from her, living in their simple world and dealing only with things on the surface. . .

Snapping out of her reverie, Rin blinked, trying to clear the haze from her eyes that had grown while she had been deep in thought.

Well, if she couldn't get home right away, she would have to think of this as an extended vacation. It would be nice to get away from school for a while anyway. And this was what she had wished right? To get away from it all, to visit some other world where she seemed to `fit-in' more and to see youkai? And she hadn't even had to get a passport! What a bargain!

She sighed sadly, thinking of her family suddenly. What would they think when they discovered that she was gone? Would they call a big search and put up posters and have her on the News? What would her classmates think? She gave a wry smile at the thought. They probably never noticed her before and suddenly her face and name are on TV and they would all say: `Hey, wasn't that girl in our class?'

And her sister and brother would be plagued with questions, those filthy media people would be all over her room, her Jii-chan would re-open the shrine in an effort to try and fund the search for her. She wondered what they would think it was. . .Would she be kidnapped by some mysterious yakuza in a sleek black foreign Italian car, or would she be running away from home because she was a “friendless nobody?”

She stopped her thoughts there. She was getting too much humor out of this, her family was probably worried sick by now and here she was laughing about it. What was her problem? She unfolded her knees from under her and brought them up so she could bury her head in them as she sniffed back tears.

She couldn't go home, she had no ties to her world except her stupid schoolgirl uniform, not even her school bag had made it through with her! No photos of her family, no necklace from them, nothing to remind her of them. What if she forgot their faces? What if she was stuck here forever and never got back home again to see them? Would they assume she was dead and forget about her?

Tears flooded her eyes and streamed down her cheeks. She clenched her teeth together and took deep breath to stifle any sobs. She didn't want anyone to hear her crying it would be too embarrassing. Her body shook, her throat hurt, her mouth went dry. She squeezed her arms around her legs tightly as the salt water continued to stream down her face, which had turned red.

It took a while to calm, so many thoughts and emotions filled her head and flowed through her body to come out in the form of the tears. The sleeves of her uniform were soggy; her nose was running and she sniffed several times to try and clear it.

Rubbing her hand over her eyes, she sniffed again, her breath still choked in her throat as she stood and determinedly opened the shouji door. She wasn't about to sit and sulk all day, it was worth exploring wasn't it, even though she felt as if she were breaking some rule. . .

Looking cautiously around, Rin once again escaped her little prison and this time made sure to watch for guards as she set out.

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