InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Shadow Soul ❯ Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Inu-Yasha stood over the little ball of girl in front of him, listening to her soft crying. He was trying to understand what she'd said: “your living shadow.” What could that possibly mean? It wasn't something you hear in everyday conversation, but somehow the phrase seemed remarkably familiar, like he'd said it over and over his whole life.

“What are you saying? `My living shadow'? That doesn't even make sense...how can a shadow be...alive?”

She sniffled a little, and her breathing hitched. Then she looked into his face and answered simply with

“You don't remember.”

As much as he wanted to just beat the truth out of her, this pathetic weakling of a demon pulled at his heartstrings. He turned his head slowly to look at Kagome, hoping maybe she would give him a sign as to what he should do. She looked even more confused than he felt. There was no movement, except for the irregular breathing of the girl. He couldn't bear it anymore. Inu-Yasha just shut his eyes tight, hoping it would go away. He clenched his fists hard, so his claws drew blood on his palms, and tried to concentrate. This is a dream. He told himself. Wake up now. Just wake up. Open your eyes. He wasn't actually planning on looking, he just wanted it to seem as unreal as possible so he would be convinced none of this was happening. But no matter how hard he tried, it was real and there was nothing he could do.

THUD. That's what made Inu-Yasha open his eyes. He knew from the clumsy footsteps of a running human and the thud of dropped weight on earth that Kagome was running toward him. When he opened his eyes, she should've been right at his feet, and she was, but not because she needed to get closer to him. When he opened his eyes, she was kneeling on the ground, holding an outwardly-sobbing girl.

“Shhhh, shhhh. It's alright, you're alright now...I'm sorry...I'm sorry...” He watched as Kagome held the girl and cooed to her, trying to soothe whatever pain she was holding. But the best thing for the girl was to sob into Kagome's shoulder, and sob she did. She sobbed so long and so hard, had she been human, her face would've turned blue. As Inu-Yasha watched the two kneeling on the ground, he took a good, close look at the girl. Her thick, silvery-black braid of hair ran all the way down her slim back, and from the top of her head her two black ears flattened against her hair with emotion. He could see her small frame rattled by her own lungs' sobs, much like what he would've been had he cried this hard sixty years ago. It was then that he wondered: could she really be his younger sister?