InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Plea of a Fading Soul ❯ Through Her Eyes ( Chapter 3 )

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

Chapter Three
Through Her Eyes

Inuyasha wasn't even in the water when Kagome saw him. She'd been tapping out a rhythm on the ground and fumbling with Tessaiga, trying to see her reflection in its scabbard when the shadow had emerged beside her.

Kagome put down Tessaiga. She hadn't heard a presence so much as felt it. There was something there… something beside her.
Kagome turned.
There, sat on her right side, was a figure dressed in an outfit much like Inuyasha's - except it was black.

He wore a silver breastplate, and had on dark sandals. In fact, the whole outfit matched his presence. Dark, mysterious. Evil.
“Boo,” he grinned, narrowing his dark eyes at Kagome.
She froze, dropping Tessaiga for an instant, and then fumbled to pick it up again.

She jerked backwards in fear. “You,” she panted, her heart pounding in her throat.
The person before her was in his early twenties. He had dark hair that was about Miroku's length, without the ponytail, and piercing eyes the colour of haematite crystal.

He laughed a flattered, flirtatious laugh. “Me,” he nodded, smiling at Kagome, devilishly.
Kagome jumped up, holding the fang-sword close to her chest. Fear wrapped around her heart, freezing her over until she felt numb.

This person was the essence of all the fear in her heart. He'd chosen a form now, instead of relying on shadows.
Kagome's knuckles were white where she gripped Tessaiga. She began to take a few steps backwards.

The man stood up casually, grinning. “Hello, Kagome,”
“H-How do you know my name?” Kagome whispered, backing up.
The man laughed dashingly. “Kagome, Kagome, Kagome. I know everything about you. Your greatest dreams… and your worst nightmares,” his tone of voice darkened.

He held a hand out to her, tempting her to take it. “For instance, I know there is a boy in the water behind me. And I also know how much he means to you,”
Kagome started trembling. Then, without even thinking, she pulled Tessaiga out of its scabbard.

The rusty blade wasn't at all imposing to the man before her. “You leave him alone!” Kagome snarled. “Why would you possibly want to hurt him?”

The man withdrew his hand and chuckled pitifully, shaking his head. He was humouring her and Kagome knew it. Somewhere inside of her, anger was drowning out the fear.
“You don't understand, Kagome. How can you understand when you don't even know who I am?”

Kagome shifted her hold on the blade, her expression wavering slightly. “You're Shadow Man,” She told him, the fear enclosing her once more.
Shadow Man inclined his head. “To you I am `Shadow Man'. But others know me as… Kanuono.”

Kagome blinked twice, then hissed. “I don't care what your name is. You've been driving me insane for the past month. Why didn't you show yourself to the others? Why did you torment me?”

Kanuono smiled. “What else is there to do for fun?” With that, he turned and skulked away.
Kagome followed, making sure that he didn't reach Inuyasha. The hanyou was, by now, in the water - taking a deep breath as the temperature hit him.

He had his back to the bank and didn't see Kanuono walking behind, gazing at the water's edge.
Kagome made to go after him, but somehow couldn't. She reasoned with herself that it was all in her head - that she must be going insane. The Shadow Man wasn't real, and he couldn't possibly hurt Inuyasha.

That was where she was wrong.
Kagome watched Kanuono disappear into the trees bordering the hot spring. She didn't wait to see if he came out again. She sat behind the boulder, sheathing Tessaiga once more, then she took a deep breath and waited for Inuyasha to come out of the hot spring.

She didn't have to wait long. A minute later, she could hear footsteps.
Smiling to herself shakily, reasoning that everything was going to be okay, she stood up and held Tessaiga under her arm.

She made to go to Inuyasha, ready to smile at him and say: “Let's get back to camp,” … Except it didn't happen.

“I-Inuyasha?” Kagome dared herself to look behind the boulder.
But Inuyasha wasn't stood there. Kanuono - Shadow Man - was.

He was watching the water with a grin. Inuyasha was nowhere to be seen. Kagome didn't know that he was beneath the water, diving - all she saw was that there was no half-demon where there had been before.

Bile rose in her throat and her blood roared in her ears. “Inuyasha?” she called.
No reply.
She turned to look at Kanuono, who seemed very, very happy all of a sudden. He glanced at the human girl out of the corner of his eye.

“Here's looking at you, kid.” He grinned, before leaping at her and grabbing her by the throat.
“NO!” Kagome screamed, feeling a vice-like grip close around her throat. “NO! Inuyasha! What have you done to Inuyasha?”

Kanuono laughed mercilessly, heading in the direction of the woods. “Nothing, sweetheart,” he cried over her shouts. He raised her higher in the air so her feet didn't touch the ground.

Kagome couldn't breathe. She was gasping for breath, kicking out but not succeeding. She felt as if her chest was being crushed, her head was pounding and she couldn't think straight. Her lungs felt like they were going to explode.
Panic was overwhelming her. She was going to die here…drowning in air…

Kanuono put her down in a clearing deep inside the forest. Time had flown by. Kagome had been losing consciousness, losing her grip on reality, when she had finally found firm ground.

She collapsed, gasping for breath. Kanuono, however, looked down at her from above, sneering. “All that matters, Kagome, is your fear. Don't you understand that? I live off of your fear. You can try to stop me but you know that in the end I'm going to win,”

Kagome coughed, gasping for breaths of air. She'd been so close to fainting…. The nausea was still with her now - the urge to keel over and throw up, to wait for the dizzy feeling to end.

Kanuono had been carrying her by one hand. He hadn't appeared to be so strong, but appearances were deceiving. Kanuono wasn't actually twenty-something years old. He was a newborn demon, born from Kagome's fear. He was only a month old.

But Kagome didn't know that.
All she knew was that Kanuono had dragged something else into the clearing with her. A body.

“Enjoy,” Kanuono grinned, before disappearing in a thick cloud of dark mist. It engulfed him like a tornado, and then he was gone.
Kagome didn't want to look at the corpse he had thrown at her. She didn't want to know…
Your greatest dreams… your worst nightmares…

Kagome knew who'd she see if she looked down. Her worst nightmare…
“…I know there is a boy in the water behind me. And I also know how much he means to you,”
Kagome felt physically sick. She slammed her eyes shut.

Kanuono had conveniently thrown the body into her lap. The person's skin was cold against her bare legs. Their head was resting on her right thigh.
Oh please… I don't want to see, I don't want to see… Kagome gasped, mentally. But she knew she had to look.

Slowly, she glanced downwards, the tears already forming in her eyes. There, nestled in her lap, was Inuyasha. His eyes were wide and unblinking, a film already starting to cover them.

His mouth was twisted in an `o' shape. He looked stunned and afraid. He was wet - the water clinging to him was cold, not hot like the hot spring had been. His skin was pale, a few shades darker than his hair.

He looked beautiful despite his expression - frozen in time like a painting caught on canvas.
A tear splashed against his cheek.
Inuyasha was dead, and there was nothing Kagome could do about it.

Kagome didn't pay any attention to the fact that he was naked. She let out the first sob of many and held him to her, brushing his hair through with her fingers. She tweaked his ears - trying to get some kind of reaction out of him. Nothing.

He really was… gone.

Kagome felt a mixture of emotions, and wasn't capable of defining any of them. Most of all, she felt incomplete. As if a part of her had been ripped away. She was only a teenager, but she knew that her love for Inuyasha wasn't just a pointless crush.

He was the love of her life. And now his own life had been stolen away - for fun. To get at her. Kagome couldn't stop crying then. He'd been ripped away from her for amusement… She felt that she could cry for centuries and never stop. She had too many tears to shed over this… she'd always be grieving - always.

Kagome bent her head and closed Inuyasha's eyes. She shut his mouth effortlessly and kissed his forehead, rocking him to and fro like a baby. Well, he couldn't really stop her, could he?

Then Kagome picked him up, unsure of where her strength had come from. She didn't hear the frantic voice in the distance calling out her name - searching for her. Inuyasha was dead, that was all that mattered.

She leant his upright body against a tree in the centre of the clearing, holding him there by his shoulders. And then, feeling the desperate urge to have some comfort, she dug her head into his shoulders - nudging his cheek with her nose.

Kagome was hysterical now. She cried until her heart bled, shaking Inuyasha to wake up. His head lolled dangerously. It was odd; he had no apparent wound or breakage that revealed why he had died. Kagome didn't ponder over it. She didn't care about how he died - it was the fact that he was dead at all!

Kagome felt so alone. She'd never ever felt this alone. Pressing her head into the side of Inuyasha's face, she kissed his cheek. The desperation overwhelmed her.
“Wake up!” she begged, tears streaming down her face. “Please, please, wake up!”

She realised then that someone was behind her, watching her. Kanuono's back…she thought wildly. She ignored him; she wanted him to see how much he'd hurt her. Maybe then he'd leave her alone for good.

Your worst nightmare… Kanuono had known her worst nightmare. And of course, Kagome's worst nightmare was Inuyasha's death. Kanuono had simply carried it out.

“Kagome?”
Kagome refused to listen to the voice behind her. Kanuono was back, he was calling her - he'd probably have a triumphant smirk over his face…
“Please, Inuyasha, please wake up…” Kagome whined.

The person behind her stopped suddenly, but then carried on making their way over. She ignored them again. She started shaking Inuyasha's body harder. “Please… Please, wake up…”

The person was right behind her now. Kagome felt a comforting hand on her shoulder, but her mind wouldn't register the gentleness of it. All she thought of was Shadow Man…
“No! No, leave me alone!”

“Kagome, it's all right! It's me, I'm here,” A familiar voice said softly, coaxing her.
Kagome shook her head, fervently. No… No, it's just the Shadow Man. He's messing with your head, girl!

She was being turned to look at the person. She herself was turning her body. Inuyasha's corpse was slumping against the tree. He was falling… she had to catch him before he hit the floor. She tried to turn back but it was too late.

Anger flared up inside the pit of her stomach. She snarled at the person she believed to be Shadow Man, not registering his presence. “No… No, you took him away from me!” she screeched, starting to hit him. “You stole him away from me!”

She glared up then, to see Shadow Man's reaction. Her eyes found and held a pair of amber eyes. They were shining in the moonlight - and for an instance she thought there were tears brimming up in the person's eyes.

She refused to understand who it was she was looking at. She refused.
“Kagome…”
Kagome didn't want to hear that pleading, afraid voice any more. The voice that was so familiar. She cut him off. “You stole away the only person I've ever loved! I'm not afraid of you! There's nothing you can possibly do now that can-” hurt me… she mentally finished. She didn't get to say it out loud because the familiar stranger grabbed her hands.

Kagome stared at the person in shock. They were angry, she could see that. “Look at me!” he screamed. “Who am I, Kagome? Look at me and tell me who I am!”
Kagome blinked up at the person. Inu-Inuyasha? No… no, you're dead - you're body is right behind me…

Kagome tried to pull away, to look at the body behind her. She was pulled immediately back, but not before she saw that there was no body. No…
“Let go of me!” she screeched, hitting out at the stranger. I have to be sure. He's behind me, and he's dead, I swear he is…!

“Kagome, who am I? Who am I?”
“Leave me alone!”
“Kagome, it's me! It's me, it's Inuyasha!”
The information tried to sink in, but somehow it dissolved before Kagome could understand it. No! Inuyasha's dead…

She didn't realise that she'd spoken out loud. The person before her gripped her tighter, but his words were softer. “Kagome, I'm right here,”
You're just tricking me… It's all a trick! “No, you're just the Shadow Man. You're trying to trick me. It's not going to work…”

“I'm not the Shadow Man, Kagome. I'm your friend. You can tell me anything, you know that…”
My friend… Inuyasha, you're more than just my friend…
“Inuyasha's dead…” was all Kagome managed to say.

“No, I'm not.” Inuyasha told her, speaking softly into her ear. He pulled her into a hug, comforting her. Kagome felt arms wrap around her. She felt anchored, safe - complete again. “I'm right here.” Inuyasha whispered.

And through the clouds of confusion, those words came through. Inuyasha was right there, with her - holding her…
New tears began to fall, tears of happiness. He's alive…
“Inuyasha?” Kagome breathed, not daring to hope.

Inuyasha seemed to read her mind. She could feel his cheek against her hair, his breath ruffling her fringe. His hands were warm; she could feel his touch through her shirt. His hold on her was gentle, yet firm. “Yes, Kagome. It's me,” he said softly.

Kagome smiled limply. Then she was simply falling. Falling in a pool of her own tears. Thank God…
Thank God…

The lights went out as Kagome went limp.