InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Nightmares of the Soul ❯ Horrors of the Night ( Chapter 3 )

This story is dedicated to my wonderful, talented, awesome editor, Sue Sue Magoo.

Thank you for all your help!

 

 

Horrors of the Night

 

The empty darkness swirled around her, the black fog creeping closer, the endless night consuming all.

 

She suddenly jerked upright, her eyes falling on the figure standing before her.

 

Inuyasha watched her with empty golden eyes, devoid of all emotion. He stood, silently unmoving. His clothes were torn and bloody, his pale face smeared with dried blood, his lank silver hair streaked with dirt and blood. Kagome stared back at him, horrified by his lifelessness. She reached up a hand towards him, imploring, terrified at being so alone in this place, so full of pain. There was no one here, no one for her to turn to. She was trapped alone in this unending hell, the pain slowly eating away at her soul.

 

“Please,” she whimpered, “please, let me go. Let me out . . .”

 

Inuyasha watched her, impassive, his expression unchanging.

 

“Now ye understand.”

 

Kagome gasped. It was Inuyasha's lips that moved, but it was the old priestess' voice that spoke.

 

“Now ye understand. But . . . can ye accept what ye now know? Are ye strong enough?”

 

Kagome couldn't breathe as Inuyasha's vacant eyes watched her.

 

“Be yer heart strong enough to survive the nightmares of the soul?”

 

Inuyasha blinked slowly as the emptiness left to his eyes, the hatred and bitterness returning to fill his gaze. Turning on his heel, the hanyou walked away, once again leaving Kagome where she knelt in shock and fear.

 

“Inuyasha!” she cried, jumping to her feet, “Wait for me!”

 

She didn't want to be alone in this nightmare. She didn't want him to leave her. But, even more than that, she wanted to find some way to ease the pain in his heart, to take the bitterness from his eyes. She wouldn't give up now! She wouldn't desert him! She didn't really understand the priestess' words, but she knew the key lay in Inuyasha, and she would never escape this place if he left her again.

 

And another, deeper part of her wouldn't allow Inuyasha to suffer in this eternal night. She had to save him from the darkness.

 

Somehow, she would save him.

 

 

She ran after the hanyou, ran and ran, even though she could get no closer than ten feet from him as he continued to walk ahead of her. When she could run no longer, she slowed to a walk, but she didn't stop. She wouldn't. Inuyasha kept walking.

 

The laughing, mutated trees passed slowly by on either side of her. She could feel the air cool as they walked. Her teeth chattered as she shivered. Inuyasha continued to walk, the black fog twisting around his legs as he moved through it. He seemed unaffected by the cold.

 

Voices in the distance. Kagome strained her ears towards to the sound that seemed to have no source. Laughter, giggling. The voices of young women.

 

Inuyasha kept walking. The voices grew louder. Kagome, still shivering, rubbed her arms as she looked around for the source of the noises. All she could see was murky darkness.

The wind howled and the darkness stirred.

 

Figures began to materialize to the left of Inuyasha. Four young women, all stunningly beautiful, stood in a group just in front of the twisted trees. They were laughing and giggling among themselves, unaware of their surroundings. As Inuyasha came abreast of them, he paused, watching them.

 

The girls suddenly stopped their playful chatter to stare back at Inuyasha.

 

“Look,” one of them whispered. Their voices carried through the suddenly still forest.

 

Another of them giggled. “Look at his ears!”

 

Inuyasha turned towards them, hope flickering in his eyes.

 

The third girl eyed him up and down. “He looks like he wants to talk to us.” She whispered. They all giggled.

 

Kagome held her breath, wondering what was going on, what would happen.

 

The fourth girl poked the other in the ribs. “Do you want to talk to him?”

 

The third girl laughed harshly. “Look at him! He's a freak! I don't want to talk to that!”

 

Inuyasha flinched back, the hope fading from his eyes. Kagome felt like her heart was breaking at the look of pain on his face.

 

The girls laughed. “What a weirdo!”

 

“Aw, I think you hurt his feelings!” the young woman's voice rang with fake sympathy and sarcasm. “Poor thing!”

 

“Who cares if you hurt his feelings? He doesn't matter!”

 

Tears ran down Kagome's face, pain filled her heart.

 

“Aw, now you've really hurt his feelings. Why don't you go kiss him better?”

 

The girls shrieked with laughter.

 

“Ewww! That's disgusting! Who would want to kiss that thing?”

 

Kagome wanted to go and hit those girls and scream at them for being so cruel, for saying those things to Inuyasha. But the hanyou had already turned away and continued walking down the path. Kagome didn't want to lose sight of him, so she left the girls behind, running after him.

 

As the young women's mocking laughter faded behind them, a new sound took its place. Sounds that Kagome had always associated with home. A woman's gentle words, a man's deep voice, a child's delighted laughter. The sounds of family and home.

 

One of Inuyasha's ears perked at the sounds, the torn one hanging at a strange angle, unable to move. The hanyou's steps picked up, an eagerness to his movements. Kagome also sped up, yearning for home, for freedom from the unending darkness.

 

Figures slowly came into view. The murky shadows parted to reveal three people. A middle-aged, slightly plump woman, her black hair pulled back in a loose bun, her eyes bright with love and laughter, a warm smile on her kind face. An older man, slightly balding, his hair done in a tight topknot, a strong but gentle look about him, a welcoming smile turning up the corners of his mouth, his deep, rich laughter ringing through the dark trees. And standing between them, with each hand holding one of his parents', was a young boy. He stood between his parents, laughing and smiling, happiness and pleasure shining in his eyes, safety surrounding him.

 

Inuyasha stopped, watching the family, longing evident in every line of his body. The hanyou took a hesitant step towards the family, yearning written on his face, hunger in his eyes.

 

The family suddenly noticed the hanyou. The child screamed as the woman wrapped her arms around him, pulling him back as the father stepped protectively in front of them, brandishing a club he suddenly held.

 

Inuyasha stopped in mid-step, watching them warily.

 

“Inuyasha!” Kagome yelled brokenly, pain building in her chest as she realized what would happen. “Inuyasha, no!”

 

The man waved his club. “Get away from us, demon!” his voice was cold and hard with hate and fear.

 

Inuyasha shrunk back but didn't move.

 

“Get away! We don't want you here!”

 

The child screamed. The mother turned blazing eyes up to Inuyasha.

 

“Go away!” she screamed, revulsion twisting her face, “We don't want you here! We don't want you!”

 

The woman's words echoed in the silent night. Kagome cried silently at the pain she knew Inuyasha was feeling. Rejected, again.

 

“Get lost!” the man shouted, “And never return!”

 

The hanyou, slouched and dejected, moved on, his feet dragging desolately in the mud.

 

Kagome could feel the sick trees laughing at his pain, the shadows feeding off his misery. And hers too. She has never felt so awful in her life, never felt so full of pain, hopelessness, despair. And anger. Why was the old priestess hurting her like this? But more importantly, why was she hurting Inuyasha like this? It seemed anything was possible in this strange world. Could Inuyasha's spirit have been pulled into the spell because of his hair the woman had used? Was Inuyasha trapped in this spell along with her, suffering through all the physical and emotional beatings?

 

The walked along the dark path, the shadows following in their wake, the black fog convulsing around them, leeching the last of the heat from them as the air grew yet colder. Kagome could feel her soul slowly dying in this terrible place, this horrible nightmare, this unending night.

 

Kagome heart sank as she heard more voices in the distance. More voices meant more pain was coming.

 

Six figures materialized this time. It took Kagome a moment to realize what they were. Demons. Demons of all shapes and sizes. One with long silver hair looked like a dog demon. One had a long brown tail, probably a wolf demon. There was one that looked like a kitsune. The other three also looked human-like, but she didn't know what kind of demons they were.

 

Inuyasha slowed as he came alongside them, watching them with guarded eyes. The demons finally took notice of the hanyou.

 

“A dog demon,” one said softly.

 

“A half-dog!” another snarled.

 

“A half-breed!” the word was laced with venom.

 

Inuyasha took a step back at the looks of loathing the demons directed at him. Kagome began to cry again. Would this nightmare never end?

 

“A foul beast!”

 

“Part human!”

 

“He is tainted!”

 

“Disgusting! A plague upon our world!”

 

“Foul, worthless!”

 

The demons exchanged looks as Inuyasha sagged under the weight of their words.

 

“Anyone up for a little sport? I'm rather bored myself.”

 

The others nodded.

 

“He's better off dead anyways. One less half-breed will do the world good.”

 

“An engaging hunt will provide us with some entertainment. Not that a halfling will give us much of a challenge.”

 

The demons laughed cruelly. Kagome couldn't believe what she was hearing. They were going to kill him for fun?

 

“Let's get him! Die half-breed!”

 

Inuyasha ran.

 

“Inuyasha!” Kagome yelled, taking off after him, hurriedly wiping the tears from her eyes, trying to breathe through the pain constricting her chest. The demons faded behind them. When Kagome thought she couldn't run one more step, Inuyasha began to slow, settling back into the same walk, every line of his posture indicating great pain.

 

“Oh, Inuyasha.” Kagome murmured, feeling the pain in her heart grow even worse. He had been rejected over and over again. No one offered him any comfort, any relief. He faced nothing but hate and rejection on every side, alone in a world where no one would accept him. The pain she felt was nothing compared to what he must feel.

 

The darkness gathered around them. Thunder suddenly rolled across the black sky, the air growing colder. Shadows crept even closer, the trees moaned their laughter in the harsh wind.

 

Kagome glanced behind her, horrified to see the path had been absorbed by the dark haze. There was no turning back. She turned back and jerked to a halt.

 

Inuyasha, still ten feet ahead of her, stood on the edge of a cliff, nothing but darkness, swirling, forbidding ebony, stretching as far as the eye could see. Nothing lay ahead, nothing behind.

 

Inuyasha stood at the edge of the cliff, staring straight ahead into the dark night.

Kagome was suddenly terrified that he was going to jump. She opened her mouth to scream his name.

 

“Inuyasha.” The woman's voice that spoke was not hers.

 

Kagome whirled to find none other than Kikyo standing behind her. The priestess stepped forward, coming to stand beside Kagome. Her eyes never left Inuyasha.

 

The hanyou turned slowly, his eyes coming up to stare at the priestess.

 

Pain tore through Kagome. He had once again aged. He was now the age that she knew him as, the age he had always looked to her. But his eyes . . .

 

Nothing. There was nothing in his eyes. The life was gone from him. The soul inside him was nearly dead, his heart already spent. Empty gold watched the two women, a husk all that was left of the person she loved.

 

“Inuyasha . . .” she sobbed brokenly. “No, Inuyasha. Don't give in. Don't let the darkness win.”

 

Still, no one responded to her voice. She sank to her knees once again, convulsed with sobs. What was she going to do? She couldn't reach him. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't reach him. How could she save him if she couldn't reach out to him?

 

“Inuyasha.” Kikyo hissed a malevolent whisper. Kagome had never heard so much hate put into one word, one name.

 

Inuyasha didn't move, didn't react. Thunder rolled as the sky opened up above them, releasing a torrent of rain.

 

Kagome gasped as Kikyo raised a bow and knocked an arrow, pointing it directly at Inuyasha's heart. Kagome struggled to rise, but the darkness pressed her down. She had to stop Kikyo! She was going to kill Inuyasha!

 

Inuyasha watched, uncaring, as the priestess pulled the arrow back, preparing to fire.

 

“I hate you, Inuyasha.” Kikyo spat. “I hate you. And you deserve to die, you vile beast.”

 

She released the arrow.

 

“No!” Kagome screamed, leaping to her feet, knowing it was too late.

 

With a wet thunk, the arrow struck Inuyasha in the chest, throwing him backwards. A vague flicker of sadness was the only thing Kagome saw in his eyes as he disappeared over the edge of the cliff, falling into the unending darkness.

 

“No . . . Inuyasha . . .” Kagome's broken whisper was drowned out by the howling wind.

 

The rain looked like blood in the darkness.

 

Kikyo burst apart in a cloud of black smoke, fading into the shadows.

 

Kagome crawled to the edge of the cliff, staring down into the darkness where Inuyasha had disappeared. She had failed. She hadn't been able to save him. The darkness had claimed him in the end, swallowing the ashes of his heart, the last vestiges of his broken soul. All the suffering for nothing, all the pain for nothing.

 

She collapsed in the mud, her body wracked with violent sobs. Had Inuyasha's life really been like this? Had he really suffered like this? And now he was dead, and she hadn't been able to save him. She hadn't been strong enough. She hadn't been able to accept what she had seen, what she had experienced, and so she hadn't been able to reach him to save him. She could understand, but she couldn't accept.

 

She cried into the mud, tears mixing with rain, too cold to shiver anymore as the wind chilled her soaked skin. The thunder boomed, though there was no lightening. There could no light in this dark hell. This pit of misery. This nightmare of the soul.

 

The eternal night roiled around her, the shadows coming to devour her soul as she lay in the mud, no longer afraid of the darkness around her. This darkness, this was what Inuyasha had lived with. This darkness was a part of who he was. This darkness existed inside his soul, a testament to all he had suffered, all he had survived. She had never, never, feared Inuyasha, why should she fear a part of him? She waited for the darkness to come for her, to claim her, to take her to where Inuyasha waited for her. She would join him in the eternal night. She would embrace the nightmare, if only she could see him smile one more time. Just one more time.

 

She didn't know how long she lay on the wet ground, waiting for the shadows to engulf her. But after some time, she realized that the darkness was not coming closer. She slowly sat up, pushing her dripping hair off her face, and gasped.

 

The cliff was gone. The path stretched out before her once again. The road continued.

 

She stared, uncomprehending.

 

Maybe . . . maybe it wasn't over yet . . .

 

She hauled herself to her feet, forcing her tired body to move. She ran down the road, searching, searching. If the path of life continued, then perhaps the life of the path hadn't ended either. If Inuyasha was still out there, she would find him. She had to. She wouldn't give up, not on Inuyasha.

 

She ran for hours, for an eternity. And then she found him.

 

He knelt in small stream that stretched across the path, his back to her. His head was bowed, his shoulders hunched, but he was alive.

 

Kagome moved slowly forward, afraid that she once again wouldn't be able to get close to him. But to her relief, she was able to come right up beside him. Her heart lifted as she realized that the arrow was gone, though he had yet another bloody wound on his chest. She knelt at his side, watching him.

 

“Inuyasha?” she whispered.

 

He didn't react, continuing to stare into the water, his eyes in shadow. She looked into the water.

 

Pain ripped through her, shattering her from the inside out.

 

Inuyasha was staring at his wavering reflection in the water. His face was twisted with hate and bitter anger as he looked at himself. The pure self-loathing in his eyes tore at her heart. Tears streamed down her face as the magnitude of what she could now see crushed her soul.

 

A grunt of mocking laughter escaped Inuyasha as he raised one hand to stare at the demon claws, hatred flaring in his eyes. He raised the other hand, his hand closing around one of the ears that she so loved. With a scream of rage that made her flinch back, he tore his claws through his ear, the sharp nails shredding the tender flesh.

 

Blood ran into his hair as the hanyou slammed his fists into the stream, destroying the reflection. He bent over the water, pain in his eyes, pain in his heart.

 

Kagome couldn't move, couldn't react. She bent her head under the weight of agony. The pain in her heart was only matched by the pain in her soul. Darkness converged on the edges of her vision as the black fog closed around them, obscuring everything else from view.

 

A small, bitter laugh escaped Inuyasha. Kagome gasped at the harsh, cold sound, her head snapping up.

 

She gasped again as her eyes took in the black hair, the human ears, one shredded, the regular fingernails. He was human. Inuyasha was bent over the water, once again staring at his reflection.

 

She stared at his human form. Why had he transformed now?

 

A strange noise escaped Inuyasha. He raised his head to stare into the darkness around them and Kagome was astounded to see a tear slide down his cheek.

 

He . . . he was crying?

 

Seeing the darkness closing in on them, Inuyasha's eyes filled with hopelessness as another small sob escaped him.

 

“Inuyasha . . .” Kagome whispered, not knowing how to comfort him, not knowing if she could comfort him.

 

Another tear ran down his cheek. He looked again at his reflection, pain twisting his face, agony darkening his eyes. He began to cry, his body shaking with wracking sobs as he wrapped his arms around himself. Kagome began to cry too, seeing the horrible pain, the utter misery inside him. The unending rejection and harsh self-loathing were destroying him, eating away at his soul. It was the darkness inside him that was the real enemy, not the darkness on the outside. One darkness fueled the other, feeding off each other as they both grew in strength, consuming Inuyasha's soul.

 

“Inuyasha!” Kagome cried, shifting closer to him, reaching for him, fully expecting her hand to pass through him as it had every other person in this strange world.

 

Her hand connected with the rough material of his fire-rat kimono, his shoulder solid underneath.

 

“Inuyasha!” she cried in anguish, throwing herself at him, wrapping her arms around him. She held him as he cried out the pain, the horror. She prayed that it would be enough, that the agony and misery wouldn't be too much.

 

Inuyasha's sobs slowly died down, until he sat quietly, shivering with cold as the rain poured down on them.

 

“Inuyasha?” she whispered, letting go of him, moving to kneel in front of him.

 

His head slowly came up, his eyes locking on hers. Eyes full of unceasing pain, of bitter agony, of relentless rejection of himself. Kagome's heart shattered, her soul falling into despair. He wasn't any better. Nothing could heal the wounds of his heart, the pain in soul.

 

“Inuyasha . . .” she pleaded, trying to get through him. Though he was looking into her eyes, she wasn't sure he could even see her. All he saw was darkness, all that was in him was darkness. The light was gone from his eyes, the spark of life in him quenched by the pain of his existence.

 

She never saw where it came from, but he sudden held a knife in one hand. The blade gleamed as he lifted it before him, tightly clenched in his shaking fist.

 

“Inuyasha!” she screamed, trying to get through to him. “No, Inuyasha!”

 

He flipped the knife in his hand, turning the point towards himself, leveling the blade with his heart.

 

“NO!” she screamed. She tried to grab the knife, to pull it away from him, but her hands passed right through his. “Inuyasha!” she sobbed, “Please, no!”

 

He raised the knife, his eyes locking on hers. Ice ran up her spine, her cries dying on her lips. He wanted it. He wanted to die. He wanted it to end. He was tired of the unending pain, the knowledge that it would never change, never get any better. He longed for the end, longed to give himself to the darkness.

 

He plunged the knife into his chest.

 

Kagome screamed as she felt the blade pierce her heart as well.

 

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Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters associated with the anime/manga.