Prologue:
Breaking the surface of the nightmare tide,
she screamed.
Heartbeat, a heartbeat in her ears, pounding
rapidly as her eyes flicked open to the darkness, breathing as the world
again became steady beneath her.
"Kagome, daijobu ka?"
The words were echoed moments later by other
voices, literally pounding down the paper walls between rooms. "Kagome?
Kagome?" the voice repeated, questioning the source of the sound. A worried
voice, gruffly growing closer. Kagome pressed her hands against her face
for a moment, burying it from sight, as though to keep the world away.
Flashes of memory stirred in her mind, remnants of the dream she did not
wish for. Part of her was angry. Part of her was hurt. But it was a dream,
and she knew it was a dream, and so she did not shove Inuyasha away when
he grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at him. "Kagome? What happened?"
She shook herself, shaking the dream away,
brushing it aside. It was a dream, just a dream, and she would not think
about it anymore. But it was not just a dream. She touched the hollow of
her throat, where icy cold fingers had pressed, drawing her down. Pale
white eyes, blank white eyes. Just a dream, but not just a dream. "There's
something here," she said softly, letting her hands slide away from her
face. She was awake now, and she would not be afraid. Shadows shifted around
them, and at her feet, she felt Shippou move a bit closer. If there was
something there, he certainly did not want to be the first to come in contact
with it. Better to be close to someone else.
Uncertainly, Inuyasha looked around, golden
eyes searching the shadows. "I don't see anything. I don't smell anything
either. Are you sure you weren't just...."
"Kagome-sama is correct," Miroku commented,
casting a glance at the sharp angle of shadow against the wall. Traceries
of faded light filtered through the shoji door, painted cranes and bamboo
silhouetted against the outside moon's paleness. "There was something here."
"Youkai?" came the question from Sango, who
was kicking back the folds of light blanket on her futon, straightening
out her yukata as she stood. "The evil aura, houshi-sama?"
Miroku's lips went into a fine line, frowning
at the empty corner. "That is most likely."
"Are you all right, Kagome?" Inuyasha asked,
tilting his head to the side to look at her face. Her eyes were distant,
focused inward, there yet far.
"Hai," she replied faintly, not really listening.
She shivered, shaking her head and rubbing
a hand over her eyes. It wasn't real. She was being silly, self centered,
having such a nightmare. But Inuyasha's hands still rested on her shoulders,
ready to shake her if her mind wandered too far. Awake, awake, alive and
awake. Real. Solid. She touched the white hemline of his inner kimono,
reassuring herself. A nightmare, but she fought her way free. On her own.
She was free.
"Do you remember anything, Kagome-sama?" Miroku
was drawing a pair of ofuda from his robe, and began to place one against
the window and its gathered shadows. To drive away the nightmares.
Remember?
Inuyasha. Kikyou.
Inuyasha...with Kikyou.
"No...no, nothing. Cold," she pressed her
fingers to her throat in memory. Strands of hair clung to her cheeks and
she pushed them away. She forced a smile to her lips, and it was thin.
"I'm all right. Just shaken up. It didn't get to me."
There was a soft noise of blade against scabbard,
the sound of Sango checking her sword, before quickly strapping it around
her waist. "Since we're all fine, I'm going to go check on Yanagi-san and
Kagan-san. Make sure they're all right."
"Hey!" Shippou shouted, insulted, as Miroku
picked him up by the tail. "What are you doing?"
"We're going to put some more ofuda up. I
should have done this before we went to sleep tonight."
"You didn't have to pull on my tail!"
Miroku gave him a narrow look, raising the
kitsune to his eye level. Shippou folded his arms and looked stubborn,
then snuck a glance at Kagome, still half hidden behind Inuyasha.
"Hai...." he agreed after a moment.
"Good," the houshi said, sliding open the
door and letting moonlight from the inner courtyard spill into the room,
hazy and silver.
Inuyasha hesitated, understanding that he
would be left alone with Kagome, should the others leave. It wasn't an
unpleasant prospect, but an awkward one, and he tried to cover for himself,
releasing his hold on her and moving as though to pick up Tetsusiaga, which
he had set down before him when he saw there was no danger in the girls'
room. "Then I'll go with Sango, in case-"
"Inuyasha," the taiji-ya said, pausing at
the shoji and motioning to her feet, where a small, feline youkai stood.
"I've got Kirara with me. You'd better stay here, in case it comes back."
She was giving him an excuse, and he knew
it. Inuyasha didn't like to feel as though others were manipulating him,
or even helping him, even ones he admitted- to himself, of course, never
out loud- were friends. "Feh. Then when I hear you screaming for...."
There was the soft sound of a door sliding
shut, and they were alone. Inuyasha folded his arms and sniffed, annoyed
that she had left before he could finish his little rant. It was so quiet,
and there was the sound of soft breathing beside him. There was little
enough light in the room, darkening the planes of her face and shadowing
her eyes behind a veil of black hair. When he released her, she had brought
up her knees, wrapping her arms around them, hugging herself. The scent
of sweat clung around her still, evidence of a recent scare and surge of
adrenaline, mixing with the faintly floral scent he was accustomed to.
"This was a bad idea."
"Maybe. But there is a shard here. Somewhere."
"Are you all right?"
"I'm fine."
"You don't remember anything?"
A pause. Then, "No."
He arched an eyebrow, knowing she was lying.
But he wasn't going to press about it. The darkness made her look thin,
though his eyes now could see the expression on her face reforming. The
sadness and touch of hurt fading away, replaced with a thoughtful look,
brows drawing down into an expression he was growing to know. She was working
things out in her head, thinking things through.
"I don't think that thing has the shards."
"Feh. Assuming there was a thing, you're probably
right. It would have done more damage if it had."
Kagome released her knees, turning to look
at him evenly. "I'm fine, Inuyasha. Everyone's fine. Sango would have shouted
by now if Yanagi-san and Kagan-san were hurt. And there was...something.
And that's good news."
"How the hell is that good news?" he asked,
blinking. Kagome could get happy at the strangest things sometimes. "A
mononoke or something around here? I can't smell anything, and it's already
attacking...."
Kagome was shaking her head, calmness returning
as she examined the situation. She held up a finger. "First, we know that
whatever we're fighting doesn't have the shards. Not yet. Second," she
held up another finger, "we know how it attacks. Miroku-sama will put up
some more ofuda, and it'll keep it away from us when we sleep. That's more
than we knew an hour ago."
"This entire thing is stupid," he grunted,
folding his arms again and not trying to meet her eyes. She was right,
after all. But the expense had been her almost...possibly...getting hurt.
And if what she said were true, then he was helpless to fight it, if it
existed by slipping into the mind. Tetsusiaga and claw and a bad attitude
were worth very little in a place he could not reach. "What are we going
to do? Randomly poke around the place until you see the shards?"
Kagome bit her lip, sighed, then shrugged.
"Come to think of it, most of the time, when we get shards, someone else
has already found them. We just take them away." She hesitated, thinking
of something. "If that yurei...if it had..." she shook her head, still
slightly fuzzy from sleep, trying to put together words. "...if it doesn't
have any, then it must be looking for them as well." Reaching for her neck,
she drew out the chain her portion of the jewel was attached to. It glowed
faintly, iridescent and glittering, lavenders, yellows and reds reflecting
into her face, reflecting into her eyes and against her hair, setting them
alight. "Maybe it can't get to the ones already here for some reason. Maybe
that's why it's after mine."
That only served to worry him more, but he
shrugged instead. "Well, whatever it's doing," he cracked his knuckles,
experimenting with his claws. "I'll take care of it."
She smiled faintly at his bravado. But she
remained silent, hand against her neck, glad that the glacial touch of
those invisible fingertips began to warm.
Protect her. Yes, he could protect her. But
nightmares cannot be shredded, even with the sharpest of winds. She cupped
her hands around the glowing Shikon no Tama, and let the shards of her
nightmare fade away.
******************************************
Welcome, minna, to my fic. Just so you know,
this Prologue starts out 'en media res'...in the middle of things. Chapter
1 will start at the beginning, and lead you up to where the Prologue starts.
So don't feel confused. Read on, it'll clear up for you.
This is my first full length Inuyasha fic.
I've written a couple of IY one shots, so I'm not totally new to this-
(and I've been writing fanfics for a couple years, so I'm not really a
writing newbie....) but this is a little different from one shots. ^.~
Just so you know, this isn't a romance...wait!!
::latches onto your hand and refuses to let you click the back button::
It's not primarily, but there IS some fun waffy stuff in here for all you
romance lovers. I'm not usually a big romantic writer, but for some reason,
I can't help myself with this series. I love the pairings. Inuyasha/Kagome,
Sango/Miroku. Their relationships are either 1. too complicated and bizarre,
or 2. just plain too funny/fun. So kick back, relax, and bear with me as
the story unfolds. Patience is a virtue. :P
Fic is rated PG-13, mainly for language. If
you don't know who the pottymouth is by now...take a wild guess.
I've tried to be accurate to the historical
settings used in this fic, though I am no expert on Japanese history/mythology/language.
If I've made some glaring error, email and let me know. I'll clear it up
as soon as I can. (Unless it completely obliterates my storyline...then...well,
it's just a fic.) I've done some research into the eras involved, obviously
the sengoku jidai (Did you know there was actually a feudal warlord named
Hojo? o.O;;) and into the Heian period, some couple hundred years
prior to the feudal age. Why the Heian? lol, you'll see, and I'll explain
more in further Authors Notes. Get your daily history lesson, minna! lol.
I'll also explain where I got certain bits of information from, so if I
have made any glaring errors, I'll at least know where I messed up.
Final things...arigatou to Chira, for reading
ahead for me and making sure I wasn't contradicting anything in the IY
canon...and to Miss Dream-chan (as always) for listening to me babble about
the series so much that I got you hooked on it too. (bwahaha!!)
As for a disclaimer...::looks around shiftily::
Inuyasha is mine!! All mine!! ::grabs Inuyasha and runs as as hordes of
lawyers charge after her::
Enjoy. ^.~
Ja ne!
-Queen
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