InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Shades of Gray ❯ I Will Survive ( Chapter 10 )

OK OK OK OK!!!! I know a lot of you are kinda mad right now that he saved Kikyo (believe me, I don't like her either O_O) but let me review why I did it! *sobs*

1. Because it made the story that more interesting, and

2. You know you like the twist! ^.--

Please don't kill me!! It's not an Inu/Kikyo, it's an Inu/Kag, you'll just have to wait and see! ^_^

Alright...now that that's off my shoulders, lemme fill in some blanks...ok um if I don't/forget to mention Naraku again, that's because he's most likely dead (Kagome took the jewel right?) so that's nice (hehe), and this really isn't a filler it's kind of a fact...I'm not sure if Sango and Miroku, not to mention Shippo or Kaede will be in the fic alot. Since I don't specialize in Sang/Miro I can't really do them justice. So you guys will just have to imagine them ^.--

Ok then! Hopefully that makes some people feel better. Sorry for that! Other than that, thanks to everyone for their reviews, be it flames or not, for their critcism or encouraging words! (Both are welcomed ^_^)

Here's the next chapter!

`````````````

Shades of Gray

`````````````

"Speaking" `Thoughts'

Chapter 10: I Will Survive

[Kagome's World]

Darkness consumed her. Everywhere she turned she saw darkness. She closed her eyes and tried to remember the light that had brightened her days so shortly ago. She opened them again to find that she was standing on a line. A very thin line, not one visible to the naked eye, but it was there for sure.

To her right was a field with beautiful flowers of lilac and pink. Sun radiated through the sky, some parts becoming entrapped in the clouds above. Rays of sun pooled through the open parts, creating spots of light throughout the fields. Her entire body screamed to go to it, to be happy. But her heart told her something was wrong.

Looking to her left, she fuond the complete opposite. Dark clouds consumed the sky, leaving the land below desolate and empty. No life bloomed, no living thing inhabited it. Everything was consumed by the dark. Red earth cracked beside her form lack of moisture, and a few dead trees in the background lost some branches. Just as before, her body told her to run to her right, to join the light, escape the dark. But also as before, her heart told her something. But...she didn't understand. Her heart told her that everything she dreamed of, everyone she valued would be waiting for her on the other side of the darkness.

She looked back to her right, to the fields with blooming flowers, butterflies looping through the air. And the left. Light and dark. Heaven and hell.

Of course any normal, impulsive person would give the left side one glance before running into the field. Looking to the left again, she saw something she was positive wasn't there before.

A face. Whose face? She watched as it materialized.

A boy of ten stood across the field. Her brother, Sota. She looked to the right, but saw no-one. She saw ongoing loneliness, misery. Looking back to her left, another figure had appeared. Her mother. Then her grandpa, her friends from school. Then she saw everyone from the Feudal Era. Sango, Miroku, Shippo, Kaede, everyone who had always been there for her.

InuYasha.

He had appeared behind Sango. His shadow only watched her, his eyes seeming to beg her to return to him. She looked to the right, which had now become increasingly encompassed in the dark, the clouds on the left now parting, light streaming in to cover the bodies of everyone she loved.

She closed her eyes and darted to the left, her head to the ground as she ran towards everyone she knew, everyone who valued her, everyone who cared.

Opening her eyes, she was halfway across the field. Light came through more and more, encompassing her every step of the way, like a spotlight across the stage. She neared them, and they only stood there smiling. She reached an arm out to touch them, but as soon as she did, the ground fell out from underneath her.

Her arms opened, grasping air, looking for something solid to hold on to. She hit ground, but strangely enough she didn't feel pain. Only as thumping in her chest. Her heart was beating? Shouldn't it have been beating already? It gave a sharp bump, causing her back to arch, her eyes widening as her mouth voiced an inaudible scream.

~~

She opened her eyes, blinking a few times to find that they were riddled with bits of mud and dirt. Trying to move her hand to rub it out, she found her body screaming in protest, shots of pain shooting up her back like lightning bolts. She winced and left her had at her side. Her other hand was beside her head.

She watched it with sad eyes as her memory came back to her. The cliff. Naraku. InuYasha.

She closed her eyes, and tried to move but gave up as pain once again claimed her whole body. She must've been hit pretty hard, and she guessed she had shattered at least a few vertebrae. If her legs were still functional, or even in shape to function at all, who knew.

Something glittered in the hand near her hand, through her fingers. Stiff from the cold, she willed them to open, painfully so. She winced as the last finger opened enough for her to see the nearly complete jewel. She had sworn she would never let go of it, and she hadn't.

A faint voice inside her told her that she probably wouldn't survive the fast-coming night. Another showed her the way out. She blocked it out. She couldn't do that! How would she live with it? What would her family say?

The voice nagged again. Everything inside her screamed for her survival, natural instincts fueling her blood, desperate for any way to keep her alive.

She closed her fingers on the jewel again, as she closed her eyes. She knew she couldn't do it, and a single tear slid down her cheek. She would die, if only for him again.

In her mind she siad a quick prayer while she still could. Who knows what would find her soon, so she wouldn't waste time. In her head, she saw everyone again. Her family, her friends. Another tear slipped through her barrier and fell to the ground, as her silent sobs came out, unheard. No-one could help her now. In her head she silently wished for it all to go away, for everything to be better, for her to have the strength to defend herself, for the grace to make more friends than enemies, for love enough for everyone, for everything to make life better for her and those around her.

`It's not fair,' she mused, `I don't understand. I've always put everyone first, and now when I could save myself, I still put others first. I wish that I could be free, flow through the lands, have power above the strongest enemies to save everyone I cared for. For my heart to be just a little bit bigger, for it to find it easier to accept things, no matter how heard they may be to realize. I wish I could live.'

A bright light shot out from her hand, and she opened it with wide eyes as the jewel emitted rays of all the colours of the rainbow, encompassing not only her, but the area around her with a ten foot radius.

A figure emerged before her, and she could've sworn she was either dreaming, or dying. It looked down at her, and opened it's mouth to speak.

~~

[InuYasha's World]

He trudged back to the hut, mud clinging to his shirt, dry parts claking off. He had walked for about a day, and the fact that he had lost Kagome still hand't registered. The part that everything was his fault had, but not that Kagome was gone for good. He couldn't bring himself to accept it, to admit that he had technically killed her.

He exited the treeline, the hut now in view. As he got closer, Shippo ran out to him. He asked where Kagome was, and InuYasha could only lower his head. He asked again, and again, and he still couldn't give him an answer. The small kitsune shook with sobs as he cried, realizing something must've happened to her.

Sango came out next, upon hearing the fox demon cry. She had began to ran towards him, asking what was wrong, when she saw InuYasha...and no Kagome. She hesitantly walked over to him, a small hand pressed against her chest, as her eyes silently pleaded him to tell her that Kagome was alive, she was safe somewhere. But when he leaned forward and whispered in her ear that she was dead, her eyes filled with tears, as she fought to hold them back, to no avail. She turned and fled back towards the hut, running into Miroku as he came through the door. She looked up at him with tear-streaked cheeks, eyes still spilling over more. She grabbed his shirt and pulled her face into it, sobbing into his chest. He looked from InuYasha to Sango, and put two and two together. He only held her as she cried, fighting back tears of his own as he said a silent prayer for his friend.

InuYasha picked up Shippo, who was nearly asleep from crying. They all entered the hut, Sango and Miroku looking at him with expectant eyes. They wanted the whole story, but he wasn't sure he could give that much.

When the kitsune child fell asleep, he told them how Naraku had set up a trap and had dropped her off a cliff. How he had ran down the side of the cliff to see her fall in the water, and how he had searched it for her to find nothing. Sango had began crying again and Miroku comforted her as he lowered his head in his own grief. InuYasha muttered his apologies under his breath, as he turned and walked out the door, bangs covering his eyes from the world.

~~

[Kagome's World]

The figure stood infront of her. Upon a better look, she saw that it was a woman, dressed in armor, with black hair. The woman stood infront of her, a white light radiating off her body. She bent down and picked up the empty jewel infront of Kagome, before standing again.

"What is it that you want, guardian of the jewel," she asked. Kagome could only lay there, her vocal cords refusing to move, as her mouth opened and closed. She had so many questions to ask, but none would come out!

"I see you are badly injured," the woman continued. Kagome found her voice, as a stream of questions poured out.

"Who are you? Where did you come from? If you did come from the jewel, how is that possible, it's not complete! How did you know I guarded the jewel? What exactly is going on?!"

The woman merely smiled as she rattled off the answers, "I am Midoriko, the priestess who had been inside the jewel. Indeed I did come from the jewel, and although it should not be possible until it is complete, it is at a state where most of it's power is restored. One of such pure heart as you can open the jewel even by using mere thoughts, if your intentions are truly good. I knew you guarded the jewel for some time now. I could sense that you had strong spiritual powers, and like I said before you had a pure heart."

Kagome nodded her head slowly as she absorbed the new information. It all made sense so far, but she still didn't know why she was here.

"What happened was this. When you wished inside your head, in you own thoughts, the jewel picked it up. Your thoughts became a wish, a hope, and that is what I do. I fulfill those hopes, and complete dreams. I am here to see if you still want to have your wish. But we can't do anything while you're in that state can we? Lie still, do not move."

Kagome lay there, as Midoriko closed her eyes, speaking softly under her breath. She felt her body tingle, as the light surrounded her. Bones cracked and shifted, but she felt no more pain. Only a weird numbness as she felt her strength renew, her mind and heart fill with hope of the future. When it was over, she still lay there. But upon looking at the priestess infront of her, smiling at her, she slowly moved into a crouched position. Then to a standing one. She lifted her arms over her head and stretched as her muscles tightened then relaxed.

"Thank you, you really didn't have to," she told her with a warm smile.

"It is my job. Consider it a return favour, for all the times you have kept me safe and from the hands of evil," she replied.

"Now, when you wished for the things you did, were you actually serious? Do you still want such things?"

Kagome lowered her head slightly in thought. Did she actually? Of course she did. But...no. She would.

She looked up at the priestess with determination and light in her eyes as she nodded her head.

Midoriko smiled. "You deserve to have freedom. I know about your past, your present, you future. You of all people deserve to have such a wish." Kagome smiled at her as she continued, thanks in her eyes, "I will give you freedom, grace, love, understanding, wisdom, courage and strength, and patience. You will flow through the worlds with beauty and wonder, kindness and helping hands."

She closed her eyes, and Kagome watched as she positioned her hands in a silent prayer. Kagome closed her eyes, as air swirled around her. In her mind, she could see her body, herself and Midoriko. She watched in her mind's eye what was happening outside of her at the same time.

Midoriko said the last word, and light came down from the heavens around them. It circled them, and Midoriko directed it towards Kagome. It lifted her off the ground a bit, her feet curling downward as her toes pointed towards the ground.

````

Heaven is mine, seems I've been losing my time

The silence warms me and prevents me from crying

````

Her arms raised to her sides, as the light swirled around her, encompassing her. Her eyes relaxed, and the school uniform around her slowly began to change.

````

Where deserts are green, and the tales are true

That's where Iwanna keep my loving for you

````

Her hair flew around her gracefully, as her skirt lengthened, and became a beautiful shade of emerald green. It became a silky-like material. One side cut off just below her knee, the other side trailing down to the ground, with a small train behind it. A white silken cloth came from her hip to her thigh, as it circled around her to fall a bit further on the back.

````

Angels,whisper,something unreal, they put me up to a place of heal

Angels, whisper, something unreal, they put me up to a place of heal

````

Her eyes slowly changed to green, bits of emerald around the cornea, as she breathed deep. Her hair straightened, (AN: Picture Kagome with a straightening iron ne? ^.--), as bright green streaks formed through it.

````

Come into my dream, let me show you where I've been

It's you and me I've seen, let me tell you what Imean

````

Her shirt first changed to a matching green silken tank top, before the straps shrank a bit. The material collected in front, creating folds in the shirt, as the straps came across to her shoulders, dark green pins collected the folds.

````

In the deep blue sky, there are rainbows in the night

You and me could fly, and the ocean shines so bright

Come into my dream

````

The back of the shirt draped down to about her mid-back aread, in the same fashion as the front, the pins collecting the straps from that side with the front. Her hair flowed down around it, tiny waves now forming in the straight locks. Across the front, a material much the same as the white one around her waist formed, covering her shoulders like a nearly invisible sheath, it clipped together in the front by a silver clasp resembling a small leaf.

````

Come into my dream, let me show you where I've been

It's you and me I've seen, let me tell you what Imean

````

Her feet started straightening, as the wind around her slowed, the light fading ever so slightly. Her toes touched the ground, and her arms slowly lowered to her side. Her hair slowly came to rest down her back, as her bangs covered her forehead.

Midoriko smiled at the girl, beautiful as ever, qualities and features both enhanced. She walked up to her, and Kagome opened her emerald eyes. She reached around her head with a bright green clip, and took back the first layer of her hair on each side, effectively pulling back the hair from the front. She left a few wavy pieces, as she clipped it back. The tendrils fell loosely around Kagome's face, and her hair gathered softly in the back. Midoriko stepped back to look at the girl, and smiled warmly, Kagome reflecting it.

````

Come into my dream.

````

~~~

Ohhh! Another cliffie! ^.--....well sorta o_O

Anyways, let me know what you think please! Keep R&R-ing for me! ^_^

Thanks again to everyone for the support and constructive criticism. By the way, I'm not too sure about everything on Midoriko, so please overlook it if there's some mistakes in there somewhere.

Um...other than that, I think that's it! I'll try and get the next chapter posted soon, I promise!

Thanks all, Luv ya! ^.--

*Moshi**