InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Middle Road ❯ Dreams Within Dreams ( Chapter 9 )

Well, as I would prefer not to be 'pimp slapped', I suppose I'll continue for now.

Don't own Inuyasha.

Yet if hope has flown away

In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

-Edgar Allen Poe, Dream Within a Dream

**** ****

The subtle drip drip drip of cold moisture tapped incessantly on the hard, stone floor of the cave. Two figures, huddled serenenly together, sat in the damp shadows. Sango and Miroku were lost. Wandering aimlessly through labyrinths of granite was eroding to one's will, sanity, and energy. After Kagome disapeared, Shippou and Kirara somehow vanished in the dark. Miroku sat with elegant stoicism, his mask of self-confidence never faltering. Sango's head laid silently on his shoulder, her exhaustion far outweighing her pride. Miroku stared, gazed unmoving at the stygian darkness that benighted them. His eyes never betrayed his thoughts. Behind those two cool, tranqil, tenebrific* specks of violet he imagined wandering directionless in complete darkness for infinity. That thought was the sole reason he went on. The minutes felt like hours, the hours like days, the days like weeks. According to his reckoning, they had been there no less than a month, surviving from the occasional drip of nutrient-filled water and the small supply of victuals they had brought with them. He could not let Sango die here. He was perfectly willing to give up his own life to save hers. He inhaled rythmically, exhaled wistfully, and attempted to concentrate what few faculties of sanity on that sound. A discordant thought came to his mind: if he would only meditate a little longer, maybe she could regain her strength.

*** ***

"What's wrong, Inuyasha?" Inuyasha sat up abruptly from his sleep. Looking across the fire, he saw the tired, firelit face of Kagome. To the right he could see Miroku louging against a tree, his staff placed across his arm, Sango was laying, curled next to Kirara, and Shippou stirred in his sleep as Kagome sat up. "What's wrong, Inuyasha?" Concern etched itself across her features. Where was he? Or perhaps more importantly, when was he? Kagome's brow furrowed at her question not being answered. "Inuyasha?"

"Hmm?" He looked at her strangely to the point that she blushed. His thoughts returned to him and he provided as simple answer as possible. "Can't sleep." She nodded in understanding.

Kagome nervously bit her lip and stared into the fire. At sudden, she stood up, threw the blanket over shippou's sleeping body, and sat down next to Inuyasha, her legs pulled up close to her chest. "Ano...." She thought desperately for something more to say. Her mind abandoning at the last crucial moment. He spoke first. "Is this real?" He said, gazing into the ruddy glow of the fire. She looked at him as though he were crazy, "Huh?"

"Is this real? I mean, I've been through about six different worlds-dreams-nightmares-whatever you call them. I'm just not sure what's going on. Are you real?" She looked at him with a dazed expression. "I'm as real as I've ever been, Inuyasha. Are you okay?"

"I'm not sure." he stated simply. "I'm just not sure." He closed his eyes, swallowed hard, and laid his head softly on her shoulder. She blushed crimson, and her heart sped up dramatically. She could tell by his breathing that he was asleep. And directed his head gently into her lap. With a sigh, she laid her head back against a rock and closed her eyes, her conciousness seeping into another world.

**** ****

Kagome strolled quietly along the rough path that went through the forest. The balmy air of the dense forest made every thing seem static and dull. Like an irksome, summer day that seemed to last forever for lack of anything to do. It was only now that she realized she could see again, it did not seem unusual to her. Her mind wandered, her thoughts meandered across the spectrum of everything that had troubled her in the past three years. As she walked slowly past a titanic tree, she wondered at the sublimity of it. Its huge trunk went up a hundred feet before sprouting limbs. The verdant canopy above swayed softly in the breeze. She ran a finger across the rough bark. As she rounded the tree, she saw the placid figure pinned to the tree by an arrow. How odd she thought. It seems so familiar. She could not place her finger on it, but the figure reminded her of something. He seemed to be melted. The colors of his red haori blended slightly with the ivory hue of his hair, like an impressionistic painting. Like a painting she thought. It's so odd. She climbed up the torpid, meandering creepers and vines that wrapped themselves tightly around the tree. She was face to face with him, her curiosity overcoming her unease as she reached up slowly and wiggled to protruding, canine ears on the top of its head.

Strangely, nothing seemed amazingly peculiar. The undefined lines of his eyes did not deter her. After all, she was in a place indescript, a time indescript, and most likely a world indescript. Nothing would shake her attitude. He opened his eyes slowly. The imperfect amber orbs stared at her with a detectable longing. She saw his eyes and froze, staring at him unashamed while quick bursts of air rushed from her mouth. Her heart froze in mid-beat. His face leaned closer to hers as he spoke: "Kagome?" She inhaled sharply, the lines of his mouth and face becoming distinct. "Inuyasha?!" She cried as she embrace him, tears streaming down her face. As much as he enjoyed this closeness, he needed her to get that arrow out of his chest. At his request, she fluently dissipated the arrow. Back on solid ground, she needed to know something of him.

"Inuyasha?" she said, staring at the dirt road under her. "What happened?" He stiffened in mid-stride. "What do you mean?"

"You know, when I got hurt." His eyes widened.

"You got hurt?" She took a long gaze at him. Something was wrong here.

"When you nearly killed me." He suddenly found the ground very interesting. Looking up, he opened his mouth a few times, but nothing seemed to come out. He breathed deeply, and his shoulders slumped as he sighed an exhale. He turned to her, his face still pointed downward, and reached his hand to the hilt of Tetsusaiga. As he looked up at her, she saw that his eyes were a deep purple, and the seperating lines between his eyes and face and hair, once again became like a blended painting. A violet aura hovered inert around him, like a frost-fume does before your face in the winter. Drawing the sword, he winked at her, and warned morosely that she should flee.

She stood, stiff, a few moments, then charged in the opposite direction, off the cleared pathway. As she stumbled through the woods, thorns and briars hindered her even more. In the distance, she heard the gloomy trees about her echoed unearthly the eerie, haunting calls of the Inuyasha doppleganger. His ghostly voice lingered around her.

"Kaaggoommeee?" He called out. She did not bother to look ahead of her, only backwards toward the echoes that haunted her. Though the voice may seem to be all around, she thought hysterically, it's only one person. Her brooding were interrupted when she crashed headfirst into something. She fell on her rump, and looked up at it. There, in the midst of a pregnant air of pride, Inuyasha stood statuesquely.

*** ***

If I don't update for a while it means: (1 I'm staying with my sister during the storm. (2 My house is blown away with my computer and I'm dead, or (3 I just haven't had a chance to write any more.

I live half a mile from the Chesapeake bay, so I doubt I'll stay here.