InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ One Can Only Wander For So Long ❯ Investigation and Meditation ( Chapter 20 )

Disclaimer - Of course, I don't own the Inuyasha characters.

 

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One Can Only Wander for So Long

By Alesyira

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Chapter Twenty - Investigation and Meditation

 

The cool gray mists inched around her crossed legs, but she paid no attention to the surreal chill as she stared down at her empty hands with a frown. She was so engrossed in her own thoughts that the sudden appearance of the strange red-haired man from before went almost entirely unnoticed. “It gets old quickly, doesn't it?” he mused, taking a seat at her side.

 

“It's... not that...” she said quietly, watching her fingers flex and relax with a strange expression. “It no longer brings me satisfaction. It cannot simply be that I've grown tired of it, for I've spent the last fifty years delighting in causing him various sorts of pain.” She looked up at him with a confused expression. “Fifty years of behavior doesn't change in less than a month, so there must be some other reason.”

 

He smiled at her, propping his outstretched arm on a bent knee. “It is the nature of her soul. She has the innate ability to mend souls and bring them peace. It is to be expected from a miko such as her.” He closed his eyes and let out a relaxing breath. Kikyo's confused frown faded as she watched him carefully - she had the distinct feeling that he was deep in concentration, focusing on something that she could not sense.

 

Minutes passed, and he continued to ignore her blatant staring until she spoke. “You've been here a long time. What do the people imprisoned here do to pass the innumerable days?” At her question, he cracked open an eye to glance at her, but before he could form the words to respond, she spoke again. “Now that I think about it, where did they all go?”

 

His eye closed once again and he sighed. “You and I are the only ones.”

 

Her brow furrowed in instant annoyance. “You lie. Who were all those people I saw milling about when I first came here? Were they merely an illusion?” In the time it took for her to blink, he had vanished from his seated position at her side, only to reappear in front of her with a hand outstretched to help her stand. She took the offered assistance and stood, crossing her arms as she waited for an explanation.

 

He pushed a lock of his red bangs from his eyes, turning to walk slowly in a seemingly random direction. “What you saw were the energy signatures of those who once were here. After some time, the soul grows weary and eventually gives up conscious thought in favor of blissful unawareness. It's a measure of peace for someone who knows they are trapped within this place forever. Some souls, especially the young ones, last for only a short while before they fade into the mere shadows of their former selves.”

 

She walked alongside him, considering his words. “Why do you still linger, then?” she asked, wondering how he, the first owner and one of its earliest inhabitants, had managed to willingly stay like this for an unimaginable amount of time.

 

“I will remain until this ring is no longer a threat to my descendants or the world as a whole. Without my presence, the energies of the ring could be lost to conflicting alignments. It is my duty to keep the power in check using whatever means necessary,” he said, tilting his head back to stare up at the featureless sky. “I do miss living, but in the quest for power, I helped create the path I now walk.”

 

`Using whatever means...' she thought, a nagging suspicion forming in her head. She narrowed her eyes slightly as she looked over the man walking just ahead of her. “What could you possibly do from here?” she asked, arching an eyebrow to emphasize her disbelief. He stopped to look back at her, his lips curling into a slight smirk. She knew that he had all the answers that she sought, but just when she was sure he'd give her a clue as to how he was doing... well... however he was bending the ring to his will...

 

“Practice, Kikyo,” he said, as though it were the most obvious response.

 

She stopped and blinked up at him in blatant confusion. “Huh?” she asked, at a loss for further words.

 

“Practice your skills. Meditate. Your powers came not from the flesh, but from the spirit. You do not need your spellbooks and charms here.” He closed the small distance between them and she could barely resist fidgeting under his suddenly warm expression. “You have such potential,” he said quietly, staring deep into her eyes. She felt more than a little confused at his attention and returned his meaningful gaze with a questioning look. He opened his mouth to speak again, but he was so close that she found her gaze slipping to his mouth as it moved. Her eyes widened and she looked back up at him in surprise as his fingertips traced the curve of her jaw.

 

“You were destined for far greater things...” he whispered. But as the words registered in her head, the fuzzy warmth that had started to sneak its way into her soul turned into a splash of icy water. She jerked abruptly from his touch, anger flashing in her eyes. “Destined?!” she shouted, “What the hell could I possibly be destined for while imprisoned in this place?” her voice wavered slightly in her frustration, taking on a slightly hysteric tone.

 

She wanted to hit him for even suggesting that there would be some kind of worthwhile existence for her. “You make it sound like I have a future worth looking forward to!” she cried up at him, infuriated that he was still looking down at her with that tender, caring expression.

 

A chill breeze stirred their hair, pulling the gray mist into twisting streams of white. “Leave my presence at once!” she screamed, her confusion and frustration shifting into a blind rage, the wind around them both whipping strands of hair and folds of their clothing into chaos in reaction to her violent emotional outburst. “GO AW-“ she stopped mid-shout as everything around her disappeared; her fury almost completely evaporated in her surprise. The redheaded man had vanished as quickly as he'd appeared, leaving her alone in the still gray environment of her spiritual prison. She felt empty and deflated with nothing to turn her anger upon, and she slumped to the floor to rest upon her hands and knees.

 

Strange as it may seem, she'd never felt more alone than she did at that moment. For over fifty years, she'd been on her own in the world: no friends, family dead (suicide, murder, but not one natural death in generations!), even her little youkai minions had either run away after their enchantments faded, or they'd been killed during their missions.

 

After she'd lived through Inuyasha's escape, she'd been horribly disfigured. Her scars and physical deformities had never truly healed, yet she lived on through the decades, ashamed of her appearance and (between the desire to forevermore fuck with Inuyasha to make his life even worse, and the ghost of her mother haunting her every waking moment) plagued with slight madness... Her unending days had been drenched in darkness and evil... and only now did it seem to have been so wrong.

 

Her confused anger dissipated into a strange despair as unbidden tears slid down her cheeks. She'd never felt such horrible sadness before. Her emotions used to hover around anger, hate, and malicious glee... Those were familiar emotions, never really changing, comforting in their solidarity. She could always rely on that constant in her life: her dark nature enveloped her like a black cocoon, shielding her from the truth of the world around her. She could freely hate anything and everything and destroy at will, with no hovering guilt or real sense of loss.

 

But now... the gentle rocking of Kagome's warm soul was slowly smoothing away the dark wrinkles of her past. She was torn between displeasure of losing her old self... and hope that her new self could be something... more.

 

Hope...?

 

The word would have sickened her in the past... It had been a concept for the weak, for those who didn't hold enough power to do as they pleased. It was an idea that now eluded her outstretched fingers. She'd never hoped for something before... She had shifted the world around her to do as she bid, and when things didn't go her way, she'd destroy whatever was in her path if at all possible. She'd never left anything up to luck or chance... It had almost always been hers for the taking, as long as she had the desire (or insanity) to make it so.

 

She no longer seemed to have the will to be angry at her circumstance. She couldn't even bring herself to seek revenge against her own death.... But regardless of how little she wanted to do now with her strange partial-existence... she still had a very strong aversion to giving up. To fade away because of boredom or whatever stupid reasons those other people had had before her... it just grated her wrong.

 

`Wait, the ghost of mother?' her depressed musings on the past switched into a sudden connection with her current predicament. Her mother had died through the possession of that woman, just as she had died through the same with Kagome. But as her own spirit was now trapped within Kagome's ring... Kikyo paused, biting her lip as things began to make sense. The snake-headed knife would have been close enough to take back her mothers spirit upon completion of the ritual...

 

`If she could speak to me, taunt me... from the confines of that knife...' she sat back on her heels as she contemplated the situation, `then maybe there is something I can do...' She shifted again as his words came back to her - `Practice your skills. Meditate. Your powers came not from the flesh, but from the spirit.' If what he said held truth, then perhaps she did have some sort of a future after all.

 

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They had been driving all day. One might think that a long road trip would be an excellent way for two people to get to know one another, but this little adventure proved to be the exception to the `rule'. While they did sit in comfortable silence for quite some time, Inuyasha became bored and soon began to shred an empty metallic bag with his sharp claws.

 

He'd made a quaint little pile of sparkling flakes in the middle of the dashboard in no time, and decided to add to the makeshift confetti with another colorful package. He'd managed to slice off the first strip before Kagome asked him to stop making a mess. He blew the bangs from his face, drumming his fingertips against his arm as he tried to think of something else that he could do.

 

`What did I used to do when I was a dog? There had to be something that kept my mind occupied during those endless days of solitude...' He sighed in frustration and looked around, wondering if there was anything else in the car that he could dismantle without annoying Kagome. `I could just talk to her, maybe learn something about her family...?' he thought to himself, tapping a claw against his teeth.

 

That idea flew from his mind in an instant, however, as he absently nipped the end off his claw. His brow furrowed, and he watched in slight fascination as his claw grew back before his eyes. He knew his body healed quickly from injury, but he'd never really been bored enough to think about his claws doing it, too. He bit off the claw again, this time realizing that he had to do something about the piece still left in his mouth - since it was a lot bigger than the tiny nip he'd accidentally taken off earlier.

 

He glanced at the window, realizing he could just spit them outside as the car moved down the highway, and pushed the button to open the window. As soon as the breeze flowed through the car's interior, the tiny shredded pieces from his previous adventure of confetti-creation blew from the dashboard and stuck to everything in their path... which happened to be Kagome's hair and shirt. She rolled her eyes and glared at Inuyasha in annoyance before turning her gaze back to the highway, unable to really do anything about the impromptu decorations sprinkled over her.

 

He bit back a laugh at her new appearance, taking the lack of verbal complaint at the now-open window as a good sign before he blew the bitten nail out of the window. He looked down to watch the entire claw grow back over the next minute, bringing it to his mouth again to repeat the process once it had completed. Kagome winced with every snip of his sharp teeth, shuddering at the idea that he was destroying the same claw over and over again just to watch it grow back.

 

She tried clearing her throat first, hoping he'd get the hint, but as he continued to do it, she decided to be a little more direct. “Inuyasha...” She said, an annoyed note to her voice.

 

He turned to look at her after spitting the newest claw out the window. “Yeah?”

 

“Stop that.”

 

He bit the nail off again a moment later before asking in confusion, “Stop what?”

 

She withheld the groan of annoyance as he spit the nail out of the window again. “Stop that.”

 

He looked up from his task to peer at her. “Why?”

 

She sighed in exasperation, rubbing her temple with a free hand to will away the looming headache. “Because it's very gross, annoying and childish, all rolled into one.”

 

“What else should I do?” he asked her, clearly out of ideas.

 

She glanced at him, raising an eyebrow. “You're that bored? Well... what did you do to pass the time, before, when you were cursed?”

 

He flashed her a fanged smirk, “Slept some. Thought about stuff. Killed things.”

 

“That's kind of dull.” She momentarily furrowed her eyebrows in thought before continuing, “Did you have any hobbies before you were cursed?”

 

“Not really...”

 

“Well, what did you do before you were cursed?”

 

“I don't remember, exactly. It was so long ago, the memories faded some over my more canine years.”

 

She thought for a moment, turning to smile at him as she said, “Well, I guess we could always resort to talking...”

 

“About what?” he asked, turning in his seat slightly so that he could watch her as she drove.

 

“Oh, I don't know...” she said, biting her lip for a moment. “Anything would be fine. Just pick something and talk about it, or ask me a question so I can answer it. Just talk...”

 

The idea he'd had before the claw-biting entertainment came back to mind: “All right, what's your family like? Your mother? Father?”

 

A sad smile appeared at his question, and immediately Inuyasha felt bad for asking. “Dad died on my fifteenth birthday. Mom tried to bury the pain she felt behind big smiles at home and extra hours at work, but I could always feel her misery. What made it worse was the fact that I'd always had a knack for feeling out stray emotions... but after that horrible time in our lives, my sensitivity grew in leaps and bounds. Especially the bad feelings... maybe my subconscious developed the way I used my `skill' to fit the guilt I felt over Dad's death. I always felt some blame for it, because if it hadn't been my birthday, he wouldn't have been out, getting the cake... or had I been with him, I could have sensed out the danged and saved him...

 

“But that's all in the past, and I could not change what happened to him, nor could I continue to let myself wallow in self-pity that it had been all my fault. Time flew by after that. I ditched my school friends and buried myself in homework to hopefully drown out those sometimes-overwhelming flashes of feelings from others... I graduated early and left because the city was too much for me to handle. I couldn't go anywhere without feeling drowned by the raging sea of emotion from the crowds that were all too easy to find.”

 

Inuyasha remained silent while she shared her past with him, choosing to absorb and consider the hurts and worries she'd felt over the years. He wondered what her life would have been like had her father not died; maybe she'd still be living near her family in the city, happily married to someone normal? She probably wouldn't have had any reason to move out to the semi-remote town, and therefore wouldn't have met him. It was strange to think that she'd met him only because she'd been trying to escape from the pain in her life, and here he was, the direct cause for the more recent upsets in her life where she could have continued to live peacefully.

 

Maybe if his curiosity hadn't gotten the better of him in the woods, she wouldn't have been the newest target for his curse... And then this whole mess with the ring forcing her into a relationship and the knife out there somewhere causing violence and havoc... But then he'd still be trapped in his canine form... and still very much alone. He was definitely pleased that he was stuck with the girl, for more reasons than he could truly count! But was he worthy of her? Was his continued presence in her life going to destroy any sense of normalcy she may have had? Would she want to stay with him forever once she really got to know him?

 

All things considered, having fifty years of solitude hadn't destroyed all sense of manners he may have possessed as a hanyou - in fact, his once extremely rude actions had been toned down in the face of sneaking around the human population. His inability to take and do as he pleased made him a little more cautious of people in general, and the only time he felt comfortable enough to crack jokes or speak freely was around Kagome. Something about her let him relax and slip into his old behavioral patterns, but he'd noticed that around her friends he'd not spoken more than a few words - most of which had been on the defensive side.

 

“You know,” she spoke again, pulling him from his tangled thoughts, “I haven't been on an airplane in forever because of my empathy. I got used my life in that small town, since it's so quiet and scattered with so few people... I hadn't had a problem with the simple tasks while I lived there. But in the back of my mind, I was always afraid that when I went into town I'd be overwhelmed again. Because of this, I never went anywhere unfamiliar, and I only went out during hours when it would be the least busy...”

 

She paused for a moment, glancing at him with a warm smile. “I don't know how, but since I've met you, and maybe it's because of all the excitement and danger... I'd completely forgotten about my `people-phobia',” she chuckled a bit at the made-up word. “We went to the airport, and I could walk through those doors, sit in a waiting area full of people, and handle even the threat of hijackers without losing myself to the anxiety and confusion that normally would have accompanied the large crowds.” She reached over and grasped his hand tightly before saying something he'd not expected: “Thank you for coming into my life.”

 

Even after all she'd mentioned... he was completely taken aback and unsure of how to respond. `She's thanking me?` Maybe she hadn't considered everything else that came along with his arrival into her life -- at least, not yet. They were right to wait for moving further into their relationship; perhaps after she'd had time to really think things over carefully, she'd realize there were more reasons he should not be around...

 

The car was silent for a while as they drove, Inuyasha lost in his thoughts of unworthiness and Kagome wading through her memories of the past. Eventually he finished mentally beating himself up and asked a new question: “I saw a family picture back in your house... what about the little kid and the old guy?”

 

She cracked a smile at his blunt description, especially when it accompanied such a serious expression on his face. “My younger brother, Souta - he's in high school now - and my grandfather, who used to tell really interesting stories when I was little. We all thought they were just fairy tales and myths, because none of us had ever seen a real youkai before. I didn't see my first until I met your brother a few years ago...

 

“You see, if people in the city were to tell a tale of an evil youkai attacking someplace, it was almost always followed by a `So that's why you shouldn't do this or that...' which made it seem like it was simply a story to scare children into behaving. And even the rare tales of beautiful youkai that brought justice to the lands... It sounded too good to be true.”

 

She fell silent for a moment, biting her lip as she considered what questions she might ask of him. “Speaking of too good to be true,” she started, flashing him a sly grin, “why is it that I'm not beating back throngs of screaming fan-girls from your adorable ears?”

 

“Keh,” he replied nonchalantly, but she glanced over in time to catch the arrogant smirk before it faded with his next sentence. “Normal people don't see us for what we really are.” He shrugged a bit, looking down at the hand she still held. “People, like you said, don't usually believe in the extraordinary or magical things, so sometimes they just don't see what's right in front of them,” he said, absently threading his fingers between hers.

 

“But those hijackers on the plane? And the police we spoke to afterwards?” she asked, trying to focus on something other than the pleasant tingles creeping up her arm as he played with her hand.

 

“It has something to do with my energy. When I'm in the mood for a fight or I feel threatened, my power swells and people around me can tell when I am. And about the authorities, they know about us.”

 

“Us as in... youkai in general?”

 

“Yeah. They're actually trained to handle the weaker forms of youkai that occasionally attack humans, but for the tougher jobs, there are specialists.”

 

“That surprisingly makes a lot of sense,” she murmured, thinking it over carefully. They made a stop a short while later to eat lunch, and for the most part, their long drive to Manona was uneventful. The two talked and laughed or sat in comfortable silence, simply enjoying the peace while it lasted.

 

~~~

 

Inuyasha reached over and touched her hand to catch her attention from the monotony of driving. “Kagome, I can see the city limit sign up ahead. We're almost there!” Excitement - probably from the idea that he'd be able to get out of the vehicle after being cooped up for so long - was obvious in his voice, and she wrapped her fingers around his in warm affection.

 

Mere moments later they passed the sign he'd seen, and she almost let go of his hand in shock of the strange feeling that passed over her. That is, she would have let go, had Inuyasha not gripped it tighter with a sudden gasp. It had felt like she'd driven through a thick wall of freestanding water, cool and slightly viscous in nature. It pressed her firmly back in her seat for a moment, stealing her breath with its strange heaviness before it faded as quickly as it had come; it was as though something had wanted to hinder her passage. Inuyasha's grip on her hand was almost painfully tight, and she immediately pulled over to see what had happened to him. Surely from his reaction, it must have been ten times worse for him than what she'd felt.

 

He was covered in sweat, recovering his breath with slowly evening pants of air. “Inuyasha? Are you alright?” she asked, her expression showing clear worry and anxiety over his condition. He seemed slightly pale, but he looked over at her and nodded.

 

“That hurt like hell... I think we just drove through some kind of a barrier,” he said, coughing once into his free hand. They both turned to look back through the rear window, thinking they'd be able to catch a glimpse anything out of the ordinary, but they had no luck. The sight of a few farmhouses nearby, one of which had a woman moving hurriedly toward her front door, confused her as she looked around in curiosity.

”From Grandpa's stories... I thought barriers were meant to keep things out? We passed through it without as much difficulty as I'd have guessed...” she ignored his look of exasperation, “And if it's not that kind of barrier, then why would people be living right next to one that does such strange things? That woman looked like she's lived here a while,” she added, pointing at her retreating form.

 

“Barriers normally keep out things of my nature... But obviously I'm still alive and in one piece, so we'll have to ask someone in charge when we get into town,” he suggested, relaxing back in his seat with a slight wince.

 

“Are you sure you're ok?” she asked, hesitant to continue on.

 

“Yeah, let's get moving,” he said, looking out the window as she pulled the car back onto the road. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion at the woman they'd seen earlier, because now she was speaking on a cordless phone in obvious panic, and her husband (he assumed) stood beside her with a firm grip on a shotgun. “Kagome, we'd better make this quick, cause I don't think we're going to be welcome here,” he muttered just loud enough for her to catch.

 

She turned a confused look in his direction as she drove, barely noticing the occasional farmhouse scattered among the gently rolling hills. “What makes you think- ” she started to ask, but as though right on cue, two police cars came over the next rise, lights flashing and sirens wailing. “Strange...” she muttered, pulling the vehicle over to the side of the road. Both eyebrows rose in immediate surprise, however, when both police cars screeched to a sideways stop, effectively blocking off the road. Officers from both vehicles hopped out, and using their vehicles for cover, drew their firearms and aimed in at their location.

 

Inuyasha couldn't contain his growl at the threat these men displayed, but Kagome reached over to touch his arm reassuringly. “They feel... wary... and a little afraid, but they aren't meaning to shoot at us...” she said, hoping she wasn't mistaken.

 

The policemen were too far away for her to see very clearly, so she was pretty sure that any shots fired from that distance would miss. Surely they were just setting up a defense in case they came closer? She jumped in slight surprise at the sound of one of the loudspeakers echoing over the hills. “Turn the vehicle around and leave the city limits immediately.”

 

“Oh, hell no,” Inuyasha growled, reaching down to jerk at his uncooperative seatbelt. “We didn't just drive all this fucking way to turn back now... stupid belt, open!” he shouted, pulling hard at the resistant latch.

 

“Wait, Inuyasha... There must be a good reason why they want us to leave. Let me go talk to them,” she started, only to be interrupted yet again by the loudspeaker.

 

“This is your only warning. Evil creatures are not allowed within city limits. Turn the vehicle around now or we'll be forced to open fire.” The voice this time was different, laced with a mid-western twang, but the message still came across quite clearly. There was no way she'd be able to talk to them if they were going to take the `shoot first, ask questions later' approach...

 

Inuyasha rose an eyebrow and shot her an `I-told-you-so' look before sighing loudly. He rolled his eyes and slumped back in his seat. “Let's get out of here before they do something stupid,” he grumbled, looking out of his window in annoyance. “Keh, evil creatures, my ass.”

 

“Okay,” she muttered, turning the car around to drive the way they'd come. As they passed the barrier, Kagome was unable to feel the sensation of traveling through liquid again, and Inuyasha seemed perfectly fine, so their suspicion that it was meant to keep them out - and not prevent their exit - was confirmed. “Kikyo's cabin would have to be outside...” she thought aloud.

 

Inuyasha smirked at her and said, “Yeah, houses usually are outside.”

 

“Not like that... I mean, if the barrier they have at the city limits is designed to keep out `evil creatures', then it stands to reason that her cabin is somewhere outside of it, right?”

 

“Yeah, I s'pose so,” he replied.

 

`Hmm,' she thought, catching sight of an intersecting country road ahead. `Which way should I go?' She could see some light brush and a few trees a short distance away to her left, so she made the turn and came to a stop in the cool shade. She smiled over at him as she turned off the engine. “This parking spot should be just enough to keep the car out of sight while we look for the place on foot. I doubt she had any roads that went by her home.” He nodded his agreement, happy to finally be getting out for a good run.

 

She tossed a few bottles of water and her small first-aid kit into a small carry-on bag, cinching the strap tightly across her chest. She locked the car and he knelt for her to climb on his back, and in no time they were off in a northerly direction. He leapt easily over the gently rolling hillside, keeping a firm hold of her legs just above her knees. The news article had said that the murders had occurred during the teens' hike through the woods - and that wording led them to believe that the cabin wouldn't be hidden from sight by a mere handful of trees.

 

Inuyasha used his enhanced sense of smell to find the largest concentrations of trees while Kagome tried to focus on keeping them a safe distance from the barrier. She was unsure of the effects it could possibly have on her companion should he not be conveniently pulled through it quickly with a vehicle the next time they encountered it. She wasn't even sure if that was how he'd gotten through it in the first place.

 

Inuyasha continued forward, moving quickly across the landscape. The afternoon sun warmed her back as she clung quietly to his shoulders, her eyes closed as though she slept. She was so deep in her concentration that she'd become completely oblivious to the previously exhilarating motions of his preferred mode of travel. It felt like trying to find a needle in a haystack, for she was unsure of what a barrier would feel like from a distance. She kept picturing that water-like sensation from before, thinking that it would be a good visualization of what she was looking for. Even the smallest shimmer or hint of the barrier that posed a threat to Inuyasha (and to herself if she was still riding his back if and when they accidentally leapt through it) would help them avoid any unfortunate events.

 

She had no knowledge of how barriers worked - well, to be honest, the only real “miko” ability that she could readily call upon was her almost instinctual use of purification energy with her bow (and that strange attack she'd performed recently that involved holy-energy-infused glass shards...)

 

While Kagome was lost in her concentration, Inuyasha was having far better luck in finding the forested area housing the old cabin. In no time at all, he'd landed lightly in a small clearing and paused, looking around warily. The scent of old blood lingered, even though a week had passed since the teens had died. “Kagome,” he said, squeezing her knee to catch her attention. “Kagome, we're here.” Kagome started suddenly out of her searching and took a look around. The slight breeze that slipped through the thin gray trees chilled her as she separated from the warmth of Inuyasha's back. Her eyes immediately fell upon the weathered wood of the front door and she took a steadying breath.

 

She knew - even without actively searching for it - that no one was inside. She stepped forward with renewed confidence, pulling down the single piece of police tape that barred their entry. She pushed open the door so that the two of them could glance inside.

 

Her gaze was immediately drawn to the center of the main room, and before she knew it, she was kneeling within reach of a large stain. She could easily make out the swirl of dark energy tracing an oval pattern over the dried blood. `This must be where she died,' she thought, twisting her ring in slight nervousness.

 

Alone... came the whisper of a foreign thought.

 

`How sad,' she frowned, wondering how long she'd lived here in her solitude and madness. Remembering the event at Nehi, she extended a hand toward the residual energy and watched with slight apprehension as the misty dark swirls twisted together into a snake-like shape and slithered toward her. It slipped into her skin, filling her with the combined sense of a sudden rush of power and an unexpected plunge into a tub of icy water. The ring pulsed once, sending a wave of warmth through her body as she worked to purify the dark energy. It took mere moments to complete the process, but when she felt completely back to normal, she noticed that she'd fallen back onto her butt from the slight shock.

 

She smiled and turned back to where she had left Inuyasha, only to find him gouging his claws into the doorframe. His eyes were closed tight and he was taking in shallow pants of air though his mouth. She crawled toward him in cautious concern, slowly rising to stand a few feet away from him. At the closer proximity she could easily feel his turmoil; his anger had welled up, coiling so tightly around his body that she would not have been able to detect it from her previous spot on the floor. His pain and repressed anger of the past was a nearly tangible force, clinging to his shaking frame like the sheen of sweat that had appeared with his distress.

 

She realized that Kikyo's scent must still hang heavily throughout the home, but she hadn't thought it would drag such a terrifying swell of emotion from her companion. “She's dead, Inuyasha,” she whispered softly, hoping the sound of her voice would help calm him.

 

She could see the worried crease in his brow as he fought to keep control of himself, but his voice was a barely recognizable growl as he spoke: “I... know...”

 

He had a death grip on both sides of the doorframe, effectively -and unintentionally- preventing her from fleeing. His face contorted in a frightening grimace as his teeth elongated and jagged purple stripes appeared on his cheeks. The restrained growl he had been emitting grew sharply in volume as the wood he clenched in either hand began to splinter and break apart.

 

Before his last thread of control snapped (and Kagome was scared half to death of what may result after he let out the unfathomable rage he'd built) she did the first thing she could think of... aside from running in sheer terror. She threw her arms around him and held on tight, opening herself up to the excess power just as she had with the dark residual energies.

 

Her hunch proved to be correct, for as she came in contact with him, he released a feral scream and let his fury go. She couldn't have been sure if it was a sound of denial or anger, or maybe even anguish... in fact, aside from the searing heat that tore through her body in a split second, she wasn't thinking of much more than keeping her tight hold on him.

 

The moment passed quicker than she'd expected and they both fell to the floor like sacks of bricks, but Kagome was immediately back in motion to scramble out the door on her hands and knees. She made it a few feet before emptying the contents of her stomach onto the grass... And when she thought she had finished, she proved herself wrong with a second round of retching.

 

It was one thing to siphon off smaller amounts of energy... the two times she'd been exposed to the residual amount of evil energy, it had been purified quickly without any lasting side effects. And since their partial bonding, pulling small amounts of Inuyasha's energy (or giving her own to him) had become probably one of the most natural things they could do to help one another. It had never hurt either one of them in the past, beyond a slight exhaustion at the most...

 

But when Kagome had taken in the two opposing powers so close together - the negative energy from Kikyo's place of death, and Inuyasha's unrestrained youki... coupled with his intense emotions and barely repressed urges toward violence and vengeance... `I'm going to be sick again,' she thought miserably, clutching her somersaulting stomach with her hands. She wasn't sure which had felt worse: the icy cold that came with the evil power, or the intense burn of Inuyasha's raw energy. She coughed once, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand and trying to spit out the acrid aftertaste. She stayed there a moment longer until the involuntary shaking of her limbs had stilled, then gingerly stood up and brushed the dirt from her hands and knees.

 

She turned around and saw him still sitting in the doorway, looking dazed and slightly pale, but none the worse for wear. “All better now?” she asked, her mouth turning up into a genuinely happy smile. He gaped up at her, seemingly unable to comprehend how she could be so chipper. While he'd known from their first encounter that he would not have harmed her even after he'd lost control of his youkai blood, she'd had no such assurance because of her lack of consciousness during the violent ordeal.

 

He schooled his face into an irritated scowl and crossed his arms from his spot on the floor. Kagome stepped forward to stand in front of him, looking down at him with a raised eyebrow, and suddenly he didn't feel as intimidating as he'd meant to appear. “That was stupid of you,” he growled out. “You had no idea if I would kill you or not.”

 

“...Yet it seems we've both got a knack for saving each other from our stupidity,” she said with a warm smile, extending a hand to him.

 

“That's not the hand with vomit on it, is it?” he asked suspiciously, trying to hide his amusement behind a critical gaze at her fingertips. She blushed furiously and jerked her hand back in embarrassment, stepping back as he stood easily. “I was just teasing,” he winked before he stepped outside. “Be right back,” he called from just out of view.

 

She sighed in annoyance, repeatedly wiping her hands on the sides of her shorts. `Hopefully that was the end of the drama...' she thought to herself, turning to look carefully around the cabin for anything else out of the ordinary.

 

~~

 

`Deep breath in... deep breath out...' Kikyo thought to herself, guiding her ethereal body into a state of complete calm. Meditation was almost a laughable concept for her - she had no need to connect any further with her `inner self', considering she was her inner self. Theoretically, while in this form she should have had access to any power that her soul possessed, but letting go of the idea of having a body with limitations was still proving to be difficult.

 

She sighed and tried to visualize her spirit melting into the floor she sat upon, to become like the mist that curled about her crossed legs. She knew that she would grow restless, with a good possibility of going insane if she did nothing, so she was determined to find something... anything... A trace of the power that flowed through the ring she inhabited, or perhaps a glimmer of life outside of the mysterious silver confines. `It would be nice just to get a vague idea of what this place really is,' she thought, frowning miserably.

 

It happened so fast that she nearly missed it, but an image flashed before her eyes, the location so desolate, so lonely... so familiar that she brushed it off as merely an old memory surfacing to haunt her. She settled back again, trying to reclaim her calm focus from the moment before the strangely depressing out-of-place flashback, closing her eyes and reaching outwards again with her senses. `Maybe it would work better to try floating instead of melting into the floor...?'

 

Her ethereal body tingled with a near-giddy sense of anticipation and she lost all semblance of concentration. `Oooh, yes, this must be it!' she grinned broadly, her ethereal arms practically thrown out in acceptance of whatever great knowledge she'd receive... when she was knocked flat on her back by what felt like a small vehicle mowing her down, backing over her again for good measure, then sinking into her like an unreasonably heavy fog.

 

`That was entirely unexpected...' she thought as she laid there in a slight daze, staring up at the featureless expanse above her. The power surge had felt almost completely identical to her own energy, yet warmed as though it had been sitting next to the hearth for a good while... `What the hell? Where could that have originated from?' she thought, slowly pushing herself back into a seated position. She had a pretty good idea that what she'd felt had nothing to do with enlightenment or a sudden connection with her naturally occurring abilities, so (of course!) she attempted to settle back into meditation to renew her search. She felt a strange sense of familiarity wrapping around her, like... Like she was home...

 

`Where is she?' she thought almost desperately. `Where are we?' she amended, and the world faded to black.

 

Shifting images of fire... screams of terrifying anguish... searing pain ripped through her soul. Something clawed at her face and body, and she heard more than felt the telling splash of entrails and blood hitting the floor. Her bones broke, her skin tore, and incoherent wails of pain remained lodged in her lungs, refusing to be released.

 

And then it was silent. The gray mist was calm and almost serene, completely free of any disturbance. Kikyo took a deep, shuddering breath, still seated cross-legged as though she hadn't moved a muscle. Perhaps the path to enlightenment in this silver prison was laced with immeasurable pain and confusion? ...Yet... everything that had just happened felt connected somehow.

 

Why the sudden memory of her house?

 

Why the unexpected rush of energy that she'd left behind with her death?

 

Why did she feel like she had been the sole target of a bloodthirsty rage that seemed intent on exacting revenge?

 

She furrowed her brow in contemplation. `They couldn't possibly be there... the knife is surely long gone by now...' she steeled her resolve and demanded aloud, “Show me what remains.”

 

Not entirely sure that she'd get a response, she was unprepared for the sudden change in her surroundings. She blinked in confusion at the empty chamber that was revealed to her, but it didn't take long for her to recognize where she was. Disappointment washed over her at the evidence that everything she'd collected and created over the decades had been taken. `Yet it's possible....' It was surely a long shot, but she had to try.

 

“Look down!” she shouted. “See if it remains!”

 

~-~

 

Author's Note - I promised the few people that emailed me that this chapter would be done and posted a long time ago, but a bit of putting it off turned into a whole month without computer access due to our laptop cord meeting its untimely demise... (damn!) So, I did this chapter's edits (and then some) with a tiny-font printout, a pencil and LOTS of paper... to be more precise - 30 pages of paper (Way too much writing by hand, owies) before we got another computer cord, and even then I wasn't done writing yet. It ended up turning into two full chapters (plus half of another) due to crazy length! All that I'm waiting for now is a bit of internet access so that I can post the chapters. >_<