Displaced by Silent Taiyoukai

Violet Eyes

Kagome looked into Hakudoushi's violet eyes and was afraid. No one could help her now. She only had herself, her bow and arrow against Hakudoushi's terrible oni pet. Behind her, Miroku sat with his poisoned hand around an unconscious Sango. Shippo comforted an injured Kirara, and then there was Inuyasha. His dark-haired, human form lay prone in the darkness a few feet away. He had rushed out from his hiding place and given away his secret for naught. One swipe of the oni's claw had put him out of the fight and left Kagome to her own devices. She drew her bow and Hakudoushi smiled, giving a nod to the oni at his side.

The oni opened its palm to the sky, and Kagome gasped as a shadowy mass arose from it. It was a black hole in space, a colorless void surrounded by an eerily bleak aura. She could feel it calling to her. It spoke as an almost breathless whisper in her ear. It clouded her head and made her lower her bow, dulling her senses. She could see the void expanding toward her, blocking out her view of Hakudoushi and his oni. It crept closer and closer until all she could see was its impenetrable blackness. She could hear Inuyasha's voice calling her back from somewhere distant, but soon that too was lost to the dark.

Her heart leapt into her throat as the ground was pulled out from under her. She turned around in weightless suspension and found herself alone. She looked in every direction, and the movement seemed to awaken something within her that the oni had tried to dull. Her fingertips tingled with power, and she drew her bow once again. The arrow glowed and she let it fly. It came to a halt as though it had hit an invisible wall, and a circle of light swiftly spread from the arrowhead.

Kagome screamed as she was pulled forward, toward the break in the darkness. She could feel gravity returning, and she was falling through the blinding light of her own power. The ground came up on her quickly, and the surface was very unforgiving. She held out her hands to break her fall and felt as large pebbles and gravel dug into her skin. Her knees scraped across the rough surface and bled.

She was still in darkness, but it was incomplete. A circular portal in front of her revealed a scene of trees and sky, and starlight filtered slowly into the cave she had been deposited into. She got shakily to her feet, ready to run toward the exit. She was stopped by a cruel laughter from behind her. She whipped around and was confronted by two violet orbs glowing in the shadows. She went to draw her bow and realized that the string had snapped. She was defenseless.

"Oh no..." Kagome said, taking a step backwards.

"Something wrong?" came the disturbing soft voice of a child demon. The colorful orbs floated closer until their owner was clearly visible. Hakudoushi stood before her with his long-handled blade slung over his shoulder. "Too bad your friends can't help you."

Hakudoushi's blade swung off his shoulder in a wide arc. Kagome put her arms up to shield her face, but the searing pain she was expecting never came. Instead their was a child's scream, a flash of light behind her closed eyelids, and a sickly sweet smell that made her nose itch and throat tighten. Kagome let herself fall to the ground and opened her eyes to darkness. She could hear movement behind her, feint rustles of fabric and the crunching of gravel underfoot.

The darkness extended into Kagome's mind, and she collapsed to the ground in an exhausted faint.