Beautiful Miko and the Youkai Beast
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Disclaimer: I don’t own Inuyasha or any of it’s characters. I make no profit from these fanfics.
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Kagome smiled a little smile as she meandered through the city, her head in the clouds. She’d been back in her own time for over a year now, the well having sealed once a wish was made on the jewel, and she really was trying to make the best of her life. But it was still impossible for her to forget, of course, and she found herself drifting back to her adventurous days often.
Many of the people that she’d known before her adventures now remarked on how different the girl was, how strange. She was still as sweet and beautiful as ever but there were times where her lovely blue eyes were unfocused, her mind elsewhere, and it made it difficult to hold a decent conversation with her. If a single word was said that triggered something in her memory, she would drift off into her own little world, unreachable to all. Needless to say, it happened often.
There was also a certain forlornness to her and it affected all in her surroundings. While she was well liked, it was beginning to make people avoid her simply because they could not handle the oppressing atmosphere. It was rather sad, really.
The only people who understood and still enjoyed her company for long periods of time were her family. They knew that she was stuck in the past, as was understandable, and that it was a constant struggle for her to not drift back to it. They did not begrudge her that.
With a silent sigh, Kagome thanked the Kami for her family.
She stepped to the side quickly without a thought, dodging a bike as it flew by.
The one benefit to having been in the past was Kagome’s sense of her surroundings. Even if it didn’t look like she was paying attention she was. Her aura subconsciously spread about her -almost like a barrier- and she really never even realized it. It certainly came in handy though. And it kept her from getting run over by random people on the street.
As she was walking about that day, she noticed for the first time a small gravel path off to the side. Looking upwards, she saw that it was at a huge expanse of trees, almost like a forest or park in the middle of the city. One that she’d never really noticed before. Curiosity peeked, she went nearer to it, ignoring the sounds of cars and passersby. There were shrubs hiding it among the trees, and in all honesty she knew that she’d never have noticed it if she hadn’t been dazedly looking directly at it as she walked. But she- she could feel something from down that path, something that tickled her senses. Something that was familiar to her.
Oddly enough, she chose to ignore it and continue on. It really didn’t pique her curiosity that much, it was just a passing fancy that drifted away on the breeze.
And so she walked on, aimlessly, watching the people she passed and thinking about anything and everything that popped into her already crowded mind.
She continued on until it was well past dark, the bright lights of the city lighting her way home. She wasn’t afraid of being mugged, having been taught how to protect herself by Sango in the past, and so she really had no qualms with the night life. She actually enjoyed it, truth be told. There was a certain liveliness to it that brought a pleasant trill through her. It made her feel a little more alive.
And so she took her time, stopping once in a while to gaze at a particularly pretty combination of lights and sounds or to simply watch the people. She knew that everyone thought her strange, but she really didn’t care. She found that it wasn’t in her anymore. She was like a shadow, passing through, and she just went with the current.
When she finally got home it was to a slightly panicky mother who was currently pacing in the kitchen, hands wringing nervously.
“Mom?” Kagome murmured as she took off her shoes, eyes following her mother’s movements. The woman stopped, wide-eyed, to stare at the entryway. What she found must have disappointed her, because she simply continued pacing.
Kagome went to her and grabbed her by the shoulders, head cocked to the side in worry.
“Mama, what’s wrong?”
Swallowing thickly, the elder woman looked to her daughter.
“It’s Souta. He went out with some friends this afternoon. He was only supposed to be gone for an hour or two, but he never came home!” She began to run shaky hands through her short hair. “I tried calling his cell phone but there was no answer, it just kept ringing and ringing before going to his voicemail! What should we do, Kagome? What if he’s missing? Or hurt-” Kagome shushed her mother, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and leading her to the table.
“Sit down Mama, I’ll go look for him. You call the neighbors and his friend’s parents and see if they know anything; if they’ve seen him.”
Kagome quickly went to put her shoes back on, her purse still slung across her chest, and went out the door without another word, mind racing.
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As she sprinted down the sidewalk, senses straining for her brother’s aura, she found herself going right back to where she’d been earlier that day. Back to the hidden path in the trees.
Without a second thought she went off of the sidewalk through the bushes and into the trees. Slowing her pace, she looked about her and felt a thrum run through her with each step.
How did nobody else notice this?
There must have been a barrier around the place, to keep others from noticing it’s strange aura and qualities.
Eyes darting here and there as she walked, she noticed a complete lack of sound. There was no animal life, no birds, no rustling of leaves…only the crunch of her feet as she went down the path.
Beginning to feel the adrenaline pumping through her veins as the threatening aura of the place rammed into her repeatedly, she continued on, finally able to sense a small pulse of her brother’s familiar presence. She knew that he was there.
She broke into an all out run, breaths coming in sharp gasps, feeling as if the aura around her was closing in on her from behind. If she stopped, who knew what would happen?
Finally and suddenly she came to a massive building, ancient in it’s design, but not all that ancient to her. For her it was familiar, of a style long gone, one from her memories.
Hesitating but a moment in the thrumming air, she reached forward and opened the shoji screen, stepping inside. Her brother’s aura was but a faint ripple in the far corner of her senses. And she followed it.
The place was dark, infinitely foreboding, but she continued on blindly with her senses as her guide. Only they could help her in this place.
A sharp ringing to her right made her jump back, heart hammering in her chest. Her eyes darted back and forth looking for whatever was making the sound, when she saw a little red light shine in time with the ringing on the floor, in the corner.
It was Souta’s cell.
But there was no Souta.
Swallowing the scream that had been fighting to get out, she continued on.
Finally, after many turns and through many doors, she found him. Opening the last shoji screen, her eyes darted to the figure curled up in the corner.
“Souta!” came her whispered cry as she hurled her body forward.
His head lifted sharply and he reached for her. His words stopped her.
“Kagome you have to get out! Get out now! Or it will find you too!” There was such fear in his face, in his eyes, that she felt a moment’s panic.
“Souta-”
A deafening snarl rang throughout the air, the building literally shaking under it, and Kagome fell to the floor beside Souta.
She couldn’t contain the cry that she let loose in her fear, her high keening joining that of her brother’s.
And suddenly he was there. The dark presence that had been on the edge of her senses the entire time. The one whose aura was palpable in that place.
When she finally gazed up and saw the blood-red eyes, the crazed markings, and the razor sharp teeth, she knew. She knew. And she couldn’t help the quaking of fear as she whispered his name.
“Sesshomaru!”
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A/N: Well, hopefully you all like this one, it’s been in my head for a week now and I just couldn’t let it go once it made root there…Lemme know what you think! It’s going to be a version of Beauty and the Beast…kind of…ku ku kuj!