InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Welcome To The Machine ❯ The Oracle ( Chapter 6 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Ejecta2248586 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Suspense / Supernatural / Occult / Mystery | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 06.07.2004 | Pages: 2 | Words: 1.2K | Visits: 226 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Suspense / Supernatural / Occult / Mystery | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 06.07.2004 | Pages: 2 | Words: 1.2K | Visits: 226 | Status: Completed
Welcome To The Machine
Chapter VI: The Oracle
"You know, Miroku, we really shouldn't be doing this." Sango and Miroku walked, side by side, down the dirt trail, Shippo and Kirara in tow.
"Sango-sama, please calm down. What if Inuyasha is in some kind of trouble?"
"I know, but... it isn't really any of our business, is it?"
"Why, of course, it is. He is our friend, Sango, and Inuyasha's safety is our concern. With Kagome gone..."
The road was long and serpentine, slithering in unrestrained flexion toward the looming mountains in the distance. Great upheavals of volcanic mist, spewed from subterranean vaults hidden deep within the bosom of the earth. A large ring of opalescent clouds coalescing with sulphuric steam hovered at the feet of the mountains.
"We're going there again?" Sango asked, not without uneasiness. That town gave them all odd feelings.
"Unfortunately, that's the only place Inuyasha could be going."
"Well, we'd better not stand here and talk. Let's get this over with."
***
The only sound in the well-house was a gentle pattering of feet on a wooden floor. Kagome stepped over the lip of the well begrudgingly, a tear still undried on her cheek. She wiped her nose with her sleave and flaggingly tugged her backpack, using her own weight to force it over the edge. Something gave way and she fell backwards and fell on her rump with a loud noise. Kagome looked up to see her backpack beside her and some stones missing from the well's structure. She looked around her, but saw none of them. In fact, it looked like they had been missing for a long time. She shrugged it off, picked up her pack, and, with a sigh, walked back to the house.
She stepped through the sliding doors to be greeted by the wonderful smell of some food. The fat feline of hers plopped down at her feet, haughty in its innate feline way, and affectionate in Buyo's natural way.
Gently shaking off the cat, Kagome walked into the kitchen. Her mother was at the stove, absorbed in the cooking of whatever it was she was cooking. At the soft sound of footfall on the linoleum, Mrs. Higurashi looked up at her daughter's forlorn face. She knew what was happening, and she wished she could help.
"Oh, Kagome..." Her mother's expression was almost as distressed as Kagome's.
"Mama, I -- " Kagome ran to her mother, sobbing into her shirt. Mrs. Higurashi gently stroked her daughter's hair with one hand while trying to keep the food from burning.
After a quiet dinner(Sota was eating at a friend's house), Kagome went upstairs to take a bath. Tossing her clothes haphazardly on the floor, she was wordlessly immersed in the near-hot water. Her head slipped under, and she didn't hold her breath. For a few moments, the world was nothing but an eerie silence. She was trapped in an endless moment in surreal quietude. She never actually considered staying under there, but she wondered for a moment what it would be like to slowly drown in a bath tub, all alone. She wondered if there would be pain or discomfort, she wondered what would happen after her consciousness faded to blackness. Or perhaps she would remain conscious the whole time, waking inside a mother's womb in a new life, or opening her eyes to see a beautiful paradise.
But these thoughts can only be dwelt on for so long before they lose their enchantment and wonder. As bleak and somber as life was right now, suicide certainly never would be the right answer. At least she had told herself that.
Leaning her head against the bath wall, Kagome stared at the ceiling. Innumerable thoughts and ideas passed through her mind in a single moment that, in her reverie, the ringing of the phone in her room sounded like an eldritch banshee's shriek, warning her of her own approaching death. She tossed aside any possibility that there was a prescient foreboding in this thought.
"Kagome, the phone's for you!" Came the call from downstairs. "Do you want me to tell them that you don't feel like talking?"
"That's all right, mama!" Kagome yelled out of her door. A small pink towel was wrapped around her and her wet hair was clinging to her face and neck. She sat down on the bed and picked up the phone.
"Hello?" She said with as much false cheerfulness as she could muster.
"Kagome?"
That voice...
"Hello? Kagome? Are you there? You may not understand this..." A bit of static obscured their next few words. "...I'm sorry! Do you hear me? I'm sorry! The store on the corner... I --"
The phone clicked off.
***
"Wake up, Inuyasha-sama."
A sinister voice wafted through the vacant corridors of Inuyasha's mind. Like rising out of a mist, his consciousness slowly surfaced. A distant, cold almost-numbness could be felt at the peripheral of his consciousness. Next, the burnt odor of woodsmoke burned his nostrils. The dim taste of something akin to cinnamon on his tongue. Finally, he opened his eyes.
Shadowy creatures swayed in the dust in a large circle round the fire. Arms askew, the charcoal silhouettes wobbled in sympathy to a beatless drum. The Circle members were invoking the spirits of their gods, and their contorted faces showed of one possessed.
"What..." Inuyasha's tongue and throat were dry, his voice harsh. "What is going on? Where am I? Where's Kagome?"
"Now, now," Said Emi, in her naturally gruff voice. "All will be well soon, Inuyasha-sama. Once the Oracle blesses the ceremony, our little plan will unfold, and I will possess the greatest power."
"The greatest power?"
"Immortality."
A soft voice echoed off the craggy angles of granite around them.
"All be still!"
The dancers uniformly tumbled to the ground in heaps. An Otherworldly silence reigned over the Scar as a hooded figure walked slowly toward where Inuyasha was tied to the wall. His arms had been tied spread apart, fastened around two large boulders above. He was too drugged to move anyway.
Inuyasha could only half-consciously watch as the dark shadow stood a foot from him.
He could only stare into that black nothingness that rested within the hood. An arm reached up toward his face. Out of the long sleeve, a hand came and stroked his cheek. The hand was soft, femenine. Young.
"It's..." The voice matched the hand: gentle and almost musical. "...been a long time, eh, Inuyasha?"
The hood fell to her shoulders, and there she stood. She looked older. Raven hair, blue-grey eyes, plumply peach skin, not overfull lips that curled up surreptitiously at the corners...
"Kagome..."
Sorry 'bout the delay. Although I honestly don't care about reviews, it certainly won't hurt my inspiration or self-esteem to get a few...
Chapter VI: The Oracle
"You know, Miroku, we really shouldn't be doing this." Sango and Miroku walked, side by side, down the dirt trail, Shippo and Kirara in tow.
"Sango-sama, please calm down. What if Inuyasha is in some kind of trouble?"
"I know, but... it isn't really any of our business, is it?"
"Why, of course, it is. He is our friend, Sango, and Inuyasha's safety is our concern. With Kagome gone..."
The road was long and serpentine, slithering in unrestrained flexion toward the looming mountains in the distance. Great upheavals of volcanic mist, spewed from subterranean vaults hidden deep within the bosom of the earth. A large ring of opalescent clouds coalescing with sulphuric steam hovered at the feet of the mountains.
"We're going there again?" Sango asked, not without uneasiness. That town gave them all odd feelings.
"Unfortunately, that's the only place Inuyasha could be going."
"Well, we'd better not stand here and talk. Let's get this over with."
***
The only sound in the well-house was a gentle pattering of feet on a wooden floor. Kagome stepped over the lip of the well begrudgingly, a tear still undried on her cheek. She wiped her nose with her sleave and flaggingly tugged her backpack, using her own weight to force it over the edge. Something gave way and she fell backwards and fell on her rump with a loud noise. Kagome looked up to see her backpack beside her and some stones missing from the well's structure. She looked around her, but saw none of them. In fact, it looked like they had been missing for a long time. She shrugged it off, picked up her pack, and, with a sigh, walked back to the house.
She stepped through the sliding doors to be greeted by the wonderful smell of some food. The fat feline of hers plopped down at her feet, haughty in its innate feline way, and affectionate in Buyo's natural way.
Gently shaking off the cat, Kagome walked into the kitchen. Her mother was at the stove, absorbed in the cooking of whatever it was she was cooking. At the soft sound of footfall on the linoleum, Mrs. Higurashi looked up at her daughter's forlorn face. She knew what was happening, and she wished she could help.
"Oh, Kagome..." Her mother's expression was almost as distressed as Kagome's.
"Mama, I -- " Kagome ran to her mother, sobbing into her shirt. Mrs. Higurashi gently stroked her daughter's hair with one hand while trying to keep the food from burning.
After a quiet dinner(Sota was eating at a friend's house), Kagome went upstairs to take a bath. Tossing her clothes haphazardly on the floor, she was wordlessly immersed in the near-hot water. Her head slipped under, and she didn't hold her breath. For a few moments, the world was nothing but an eerie silence. She was trapped in an endless moment in surreal quietude. She never actually considered staying under there, but she wondered for a moment what it would be like to slowly drown in a bath tub, all alone. She wondered if there would be pain or discomfort, she wondered what would happen after her consciousness faded to blackness. Or perhaps she would remain conscious the whole time, waking inside a mother's womb in a new life, or opening her eyes to see a beautiful paradise.
But these thoughts can only be dwelt on for so long before they lose their enchantment and wonder. As bleak and somber as life was right now, suicide certainly never would be the right answer. At least she had told herself that.
Leaning her head against the bath wall, Kagome stared at the ceiling. Innumerable thoughts and ideas passed through her mind in a single moment that, in her reverie, the ringing of the phone in her room sounded like an eldritch banshee's shriek, warning her of her own approaching death. She tossed aside any possibility that there was a prescient foreboding in this thought.
"Kagome, the phone's for you!" Came the call from downstairs. "Do you want me to tell them that you don't feel like talking?"
"That's all right, mama!" Kagome yelled out of her door. A small pink towel was wrapped around her and her wet hair was clinging to her face and neck. She sat down on the bed and picked up the phone.
"Hello?" She said with as much false cheerfulness as she could muster.
"Kagome?"
That voice...
"Hello? Kagome? Are you there? You may not understand this..." A bit of static obscured their next few words. "...I'm sorry! Do you hear me? I'm sorry! The store on the corner... I --"
The phone clicked off.
***
"Wake up, Inuyasha-sama."
A sinister voice wafted through the vacant corridors of Inuyasha's mind. Like rising out of a mist, his consciousness slowly surfaced. A distant, cold almost-numbness could be felt at the peripheral of his consciousness. Next, the burnt odor of woodsmoke burned his nostrils. The dim taste of something akin to cinnamon on his tongue. Finally, he opened his eyes.
Shadowy creatures swayed in the dust in a large circle round the fire. Arms askew, the charcoal silhouettes wobbled in sympathy to a beatless drum. The Circle members were invoking the spirits of their gods, and their contorted faces showed of one possessed.
"What..." Inuyasha's tongue and throat were dry, his voice harsh. "What is going on? Where am I? Where's Kagome?"
"Now, now," Said Emi, in her naturally gruff voice. "All will be well soon, Inuyasha-sama. Once the Oracle blesses the ceremony, our little plan will unfold, and I will possess the greatest power."
"The greatest power?"
"Immortality."
A soft voice echoed off the craggy angles of granite around them.
"All be still!"
The dancers uniformly tumbled to the ground in heaps. An Otherworldly silence reigned over the Scar as a hooded figure walked slowly toward where Inuyasha was tied to the wall. His arms had been tied spread apart, fastened around two large boulders above. He was too drugged to move anyway.
Inuyasha could only half-consciously watch as the dark shadow stood a foot from him.
He could only stare into that black nothingness that rested within the hood. An arm reached up toward his face. Out of the long sleeve, a hand came and stroked his cheek. The hand was soft, femenine. Young.
"It's..." The voice matched the hand: gentle and almost musical. "...been a long time, eh, Inuyasha?"
The hood fell to her shoulders, and there she stood. She looked older. Raven hair, blue-grey eyes, plumply peach skin, not overfull lips that curled up surreptitiously at the corners...
"Kagome..."
Sorry 'bout the delay. Although I honestly don't care about reviews, it certainly won't hurt my inspiration or self-esteem to get a few...