In the Darkness by Rebecca

Alone

                                             How could you. . . . Kagome thought as the rain pelted her body. Her dark hair hanging over her face as though to cover her anguish. How could you leave me for that dead woman. . . . She continued to walk with an emotionless face. Her brown eyes empty, and her body about to collapse. "I LOVED YOU!" she cried to the heavens, as the sound of thunder followed its echo. "Lady Kagome. . . .?" came an aged voice. The young woman looked over her shoulder to gaze up on a kind eye, with aged features surrounding it. She slowly turned her head back in to position and remained silent. "Hello Kaede Baa-chan. . . ."  she said blankly. "Ye are grieving aren't you. . . .?" the old woman asked. Kagome slowly nodded. "Then come with me." The younger woman felt the olders hand take hers and pull her to the village. Nothing was said.Not even as they entered the hut.

        "I LOVED YOU !!!" rang through the mountains as a pointed ear twitched at the sound. Golden eyes turning to the left as though to look behind him without moving. "Is everything alright lord Sesshoumaru?" asked a scratchy voice that belonged to a green imp. "Some body is sad. . . ." Chimed in another, more child like voice. With the sound of movement behind him he could tell that the green imp was about to say something rather unbecoming. "WHO CARES YOU STUPID GIRL ! LORD SESSHOUMARU IS CLEARLY BOTHERED BY SOMETHING! OBVIOUSLY SOMETHING A HUMAN LIKE YOU COULD--" Sesshoumaru interjected the imp by pounding him several times on the head. "Jakken. . . .your voice is annoying. . . ." he said as he gracefully moved himself toward the cliff side. That was that girl just now. . . . He thought. Inwardly frowning. What could my stupid brother have done this time?

    "Lord Sesshoumaru?" Chimed a voice that he secretly held close. He turned to look down at a small girl no older than eight or nine. She wore a worried look on her face. "Is Miss Kagome going to be alright?" He remained silent, for what felt like a long while. "I-is she?" The demon lord of the west looked out in to the distance. "Don't worry about it. She probably got in to a quarrel with Inuyasha." Suddenly Jakkens voice entered the conversation. "But Inuyasha left with that other woman m'lord." Sesshoumaru suddenly became uneasy at the sound of his servants words. What?! His uneasiness turned to silent rage as he blankly turned, and disappeared in to the forest behind the three. His temper cut short, and his eyes gleaming red.

                The bath water felt warm against Kagomes skin. Hugging her knees to her chest and trying her hardest to block the images of Inuyasha and Kikyo from sphering around her head. "Why Inuyasha. . . .?" she thought out loud. "Was I not good enough? Was I just a replacement?" More and more questions came to mind as to why Inuyasha had left her. Until the final "Did you not want me?" escaped her lips. She looked out the wooden barred window of Miko Kaedes' hut as if to hope that the silver haired half demon would reply to her. Alas. . .he did not. Instead, the aged voice she had come to know so well had spoken out. "Do not dwell on why he left Kagome." said the voice. "Ye best understand that in the end, Inuyasha chose the woman he saw when he looked at ye." The old womans words hit her like a thorned whip, ready to tear her skin off like a rabid demon. "I understand how much the truth hurts. . . . ." Kaede continued. "When Kikyo died, she died with hatred in her heart, and not at peace. For fifty years I had been wary  of it, though I continued to deny it. Only to accept it when I saw my sister with mine own eyes. Just as you will eventually accept that Inuyasha will not be the only one.Many young women spend years searching for their destined lovers. Perhaps Inuyasha just wasn't it. It is said that if the man is willing to look the right way, he will see a flash of red leading to his right pinky. Unfortunate that I have seen many young women in this village cut off their left from marrying the wrong man." Kagome didn't want to listen to anymore. Hearing the elder womans speach was far too much. She didn't want to believe in true love and lost love. Instead, she remained silent and took Priestess Kaedes' words to heart, merely out of respect.

                                       Somewhere in the forest Sesshoumaru walked briskly, almost running, on the trail of his brothers' scent. Only to find the scent of mixed earth and clay mixed in with it. The demon increased his speed as he acquired a stronger hold on his half brothers scent, until finally he stopped at an opening in the forest. "So what brings you to this neck of the woods. . . .Sesshoumaru?" sneered a voice that made the demon lords couls raise with blind fury. "So you didn't avoid me this time. . . . . . ." Sesshoumaru replied calmly. With much more to say in his mind. He turned to face his brother in a nearby tree branch with that. . . . .woman. . . .that thing that many would confuse for a human had they not achieved the gyst of the soul serpants that constantly followed her about. Her cold stare making him far more angry than just seeing his half human brother.