Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of InuYasha, but Jennifer and Kenji are characters of my own design.

Strange Interlude

Chapter 22

The return to the cave was rather uneventful. It didn't matter. There was nothing. Emptiness. The drama of the evening had whittled Jennifer's state of mind to nothing. She was drained of feeling and life. Upon immediate return to her and Sesshomaru's rocky abode, Jaken greeted his master with his usual enthusiasm.

"Good Evening, milord! I trust everything is well."

But as usual, Jaken's master gave no response. Jaken would normally take his master's deliberate obliviousness of him in stride, but there was something wrong. His lord's face was set deep in thought as he placidly hurried past the little toad down his majestic hall. Confused, Jaken turned to the girl. She had been slowly trailing into the cave, shuffling her feet as she went. Jaken noticed a distinct glaze over her eyes and her limp, empty hands.

"No food tonight, eh?" Jaken concluded. "Serves you right, you little wench, whatever you did."

Jennifer jerked her head, surprised at Jaken's otherwise commonplace rudeness. With rapidly welling tears, she looked at him with the saddest eyes he had ever seen on demon or human. She appeared even more sad than that time when young Sesshomaru—

Jennifer whirled around and ran into her room, slamming the wooden slab of a door behind her. Loud sobs could be heard from within, but Jaken only shrugged.

Darkness ebbed and flowed in black and purple tides in Jennifer's inner-eye. Clouds of dark and dull colors burst and dispersed as she lamented the death of her dear Kenji. From that place of her collapse, she had not moved. Her pillow and hair were wet with tears and her eyes held several days of endless weeping.

She had not eaten; she had not slept. Every time she dozed off, haunting images of Kenji's body engulfed in flame crept into her head, and she'd wake screaming. The horrible event was stuck in her mind. Frantically she'd tried to dispel the images, but in frenzied return would the pictures of death grow stronger and more vibrant.

But Jennifer could not keep her eyes open forever. Her human need for sleep as well as her incessant fits of crying left her utterly enervated. Her breath and mind would wander aimlessly in the dark as she bordered consciousness, and until that last uneven breath fell and slow rhythmic ones began, would she fall asleep.

Now as the last traces of color faded into the recesses of darkness, the nightmare came.

Jennifer stood dressed extravagantly in her flowered robes in the center of a village. She was happy and content, strolling along the road past shops and huts. The familiar-faced villagers smiled at her and some even nodded in recognition. It was bliss. Jennifer walked down the jolly lane toward a large house. Jennifer had never seen this house before, but something within her felt it familiar. Arriving to the door and hearing the happy sound of children from within brought a sudden smile to her face.

I remember now…This is my house. I live here.

The small mansion's door slid open and four curly heads bounded from the house, gleefully shouting and smiling hello at Jennifer.

She knew these children too, and waved after them. Then turning, she entered the light-filled house. If possible, Jennifer's smile widened more. What brought joy to her life was kneeling in front of her in the center of the room. Grinning, the man greeted her ohayo.

As if she knew all the steps, Jennifer bowed and knelt in front of him. But formality would not last long in this family. The sympathetic man reached out and took Jennifer by the hand.

"Welcome home," he whispered, leaning in close to her. Jennifer laid her head against his shoulders, the tip of her nose touching his neck, taking in his lovely scent. Their modest handholding soon turned into a passionate hug, and Jennifer's heart and soul swelled to the heavens.

Beside the young man were four empty teacups. And after a joy-filled tear strolled down the foreign girl's cheek, did she open her eyes and see them. A steaming ceramic pot of tea sat behind the cups, but it seemed no drink had ever been poured in them. Visible specks of dust adorned the rims of the tiny teacups and the more Jennifer kept her focus on them, the more secrets the teacups revealed.

Her spouse held her close and Jennifer could feel his benevolent warmth, but some odd coldness kept her from fully enjoying the loving embrace. The cups commanded all her attention. She explored their every crack, their every crevice. The dust lay thick in some places and thin in others. The glazed clay was a grainy white that the longer she stared, the greyer it became. Flaws emerged in its once shiny surface and the graceful and petit cups suddenly became quite ugly. One cup of the four was set apart from the rest, only a few inches away, and it was in this cup that Jennifer most lost her gaze in. This dustier, grayer, ceramic teacup seemed to wither and grow old before her eyes. She stared in wonder as its surface became rocky and weathered, fractured, and dark. An audible crack made her gasp before the entire cup crumbled into pieces. Jennifer turned her face back to Kenji's neck, but his familiar smell would not return. Instead her nose touched charred flesh. She broke Kenji's grasp and looked at his once young face. A featureless face stared back at her, black and burnt.

Jennifer shrieked and pushed the corpse away. The cold body fell to the side, its head bouncing against the hard wood floor.

Jennifer crawled backward, eyes fixed on the burnt body. Dregs of flame then spontaneously burst from the corpse and even set fire to the room.

Jennifer stared in horror at Kenji's mutilated face. The heat of the fire licked at her sleeves and socks, but Jennifer couldn't grasp the danger she was in. Her trance was broken a second later when screams other than her own could be heard. She managed to jerk her gaze toward the burned out door to see the fury at which the fire ate at the terrified villagers.

Smoke and ash filled the room and Jennifer coughed viciously. She scrambled toward the door, but could not get through the violent flames. In desperation she called out for help.

"Anyone! Please save me!" she called.

She broke out into tears and inched closer to the charred corpse of her would-be lover.

"Kenji! You can't be dead. Wake up…" she pleaded. "Save me…."

Wood from the rafters of the building cracked and fell all around them. The situation was hopeless. There was nothing that could be done. Jennifer pulled herself alongside Kenji's cooled and stiff body and managed to wrap her arms around his burned body and clothes. Tears clouding her vision, she thought she saw Kenji's face restored and locked lips with the haggard skeleton. Flame leapt upon her, scorching her body.

Searing pain jolted through Jennifer's entire body as she woke from her gruesome dream. A half-dozen quick breaths helped calm her and bring her back to reality. Jennifer looked around in the darkness as the dull moon's light streamed into the cold cave from the small skylight so high above her. Although she realized she was safe from flame in the cool dampness of Sesshomaru's cave, Jennifer could not free the stench of charred flesh from her nostrils.

But even the thought of her "safety" was discomforting. She was being housed by a killer. This depressed Jennifer even more. Not only could she not rid herself of these nightmarish dreams, the guilt of Kenji's death, and the destruction of his entire village, but now she had to continue living with the heartless fiend Sesshomaru.

"What can I do?" she helplessly sobbed, collapsing back onto her futon.

I feel dead, so worn out. How long have I laid here? It seems like an eternity…It's so hard to breathe…But I don't even deserve to. I've let him go. He's not here. I won't see him ever again…

My name is Kitaohji Kenji.

Kenji…I remember you. I'll always remember you. You cared for me…loved me… But why, Kenji? Why were you so kind to me? What's so special about me? I'm worthless…I couldn't save you…

"Are you cold?"

"No, I'm okay."

"Here. Take my blanket. You must not be used to cold nights where you're from."

"Um…thank you,"

You thought of me, before even yourself. If only I could've been like you. If only I could've repaid your kindness. Why couldn't I be like you, Kenji? You are bright and innocent, but I committed murder.

I don't have a purpose here. It's pointless, I think, to continue on. Redundant and slow, I've only caused harm.

It's so cold, Kenji. Punishment, I guess. But the pain won't affect me for much longer. The darker it gets, the less I see. The less I see, the less I feel. Kenji, my eyes are sewn shut and the darkness is near absolute. I can no longer feel the bitter cold of night or the pins and needles in my head and stomach. I can't feel this dusty earth or even the life-giving sky. Breath has no meaning to me now. What would a dead soul have for it?

I'm sorry, Kenji. I'm sorry if I've kept you waiting.

…

A shallow exhale left Jennifer's mouth and she stopped breathing. Her body gave one final warning by sounding a beyond tolerable ringing through her head, but Jennifer would not rise from her determination. Several moments later, the sound went away, and Jennifer's starved, sore, worn, and torn body started to die.

The world was just turning white when a quiet voice said:

"Jennifer…stop this foolishness. You can't die like that, lying in your own worthlessness. That depression is a lie; you don't know how much your life means. So keep on living for the future; so many wonderful things await you. Do not feel sorry for me; my life never amounted to much. I was meant to die and you were meant to live. Don't ever feel at fault for my death, and do not blame the demon either. He only did it because…well, it hurts me to even say, but don't hate him. My death will have been for naught if you do. Now wake up, Jennifer…wake up and live…"

Jennifer's eyes flashed open, and life-giving oxygen returned to her lungs. She coughed at the sudden revival of her life, and struggled even then to keep it.

No, she silently pleaded, I want to stay here.

Jennifer sought for the power to move her muscles, and feebly tried to push herself to sit up. Struggling with all her might, she strained her day's unused and bruised arms to pull her body upright. Blurry blinks, brief breaths, and a buzzing brain gave Jennifer a new sense of existence. These movements were so uncommon to her that almost absolutely believed that it was not she who controlled her body.

Unable to stand, the starved girl inched over to the wall, awkwardly crawling and tripping over uneven planes of stone. Grasping at the wall's cold and dusty surface, Jennifer pulled herself to lean against it. Trying to balance herself to stand without the wall, however, only led to a face-plant on the hard rock. Wobbling forward, heavy breaths and feeble grunts were the result of the tiny teeters taken toward Jennifer's far-off goal of freedom.

With time, the unevenly balanced human arrived at the door. Her head was still reeling and her legs wobbled and shaked as she moved. Jennifer could not feel her body move beneath her, but knew that she somehow had control over the emaciated limbs. She felt unreal; she felt as if her consciousness was floating above the ground and moved via phantom limbs.

Jennifer walked into the empty hall and managed to stumble to the flat table-like boulder. Her body folded from under her, and in panic, Jennifer grabbed the edge of the table while the rest of her collapsed to her knees. Gasping, Jennifer struggled to pull herself up. She let out a cry of desperation and sighing, laid her head in her arms on the table.

Several tears escaped her lids and she shut them, mourning her pitiful existence. But a new sensation came upon her, a strange sensation not felt by her in over a week. A foreign air flitted through her nose and tingled her senses. Jennifer was shocked to smell something other than dank cave and tears. She smelled food.

Opening her eyes, Jennifer came upon a pleasant surprise. A bowl of cold porridge greeted her. Now ecstatic, Jennifer totally forgot her former frailty and leapt upon the bowl. She slopped the slightly sweetened rice into her mouth and reveled in the feel of the mushy substance down her throat. How quickly was her attitude revived when her lips felt food! Death and depression were pushed from her mind. Now all she could think of was life. She enjoyed every breath, every thought, and every sight of being alive.

And she had her friend Kenji to thank…

Please inform me if there are typos or grammatical errors. I actually appreciate when people point out my mistakes, so I can try to be better. OR as my sister would say…I'm only a perfectionist who loves to know she's right…

Grumble, grumble…

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. If all goes to plan expect a new chapter next month.

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