The Hunt by SableDreamer

Running

A/N: Hello all, and welcome to my first every posted fanfic! I hope that you enjoy this ficlet that I just couldn't get out of my head.

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. I, in no way, make profit from the writting of this story. The only thing in this story that I own are the plot, and any original characters I happen to make.

Chapter I: Running

Her hair tangled in the branches as she ran through the forest. Twigs scraped her cheeks, leaving angry red gouges, and roots tripped her feet. Her breathing was loud in her ears. It was all she could hear. The usual sounds of the forest were conspicuosly absent. Nature knows when danger is about, after all, and all wise creatures take shelter when the youkai hunt.

Past the harsh sound of her breath heaving in and out of her lungs, there was a slithering, a skittering, a crackling of the leaves behind her. She didn't dare turn. If she did, she just knew that she would fall. And once she fell, that would spell the end of her typically cheerful human self. And so, she ran. She ran though her sides ached with the sharp pain of one who has gone past their limit. She ran though her breath burned as it entered her lungs. She ran though her legs ached and wobbled each time her feet hit the carpet of moss and leaves. She ran though her vision swam with unshed tears. She ran though she knew it was only a matter of time before she could run no longer. She ran though she knew that no one was coming to save her this time. She ran even as her heart squeezed painfully in her chest at the thought of all the things she'd left unfinished, of all that she hadn't had the courage to say, of all the things that she had meant to accomplish that now, she never would. Still, she ran.

She kept running, kept going even as all hope died in her mind, even as she began to give up, her body wouldn't let her stop. It wouldn't let her rest and wait for the death that she knew lurked only a few bounds behind her. Even as she despaired, she ran. And then, a miracle happened. Light shone up ahead. Light in the darkness of the treacherous, dangerous forest. Like moonlight on a still lake. Like the glow of the stars in the darkest of nights. The light called to her, and the hope she thought dead in her breast answered. And so, she ran. She ran to the break in the trees. She ran toward the light, and just as she was about to pass the last of the gnarled, spiteful trees, a root twisted her ankle. She fell.

Her brown eyes tightly shut to block that deceitful, mocking light, she waited for her death to come. And waited. Cautiously, her eyes opened. Cautiously, she turned her head. Cautiously, she looked behind her. Light was her reward. The glowing light of moonlight falling on silver hair. The light of the moon shining on spilled blood. She swallowed nervously, for she knew that none of her friends could come for her. At the sound of her own harsh breathing, she cringed. For all of nature knows to hide when the youkai hunt. And as removed as humans might pretend they are from nature, when golden eyes pierced her, her breathing stilled, hoping against hope that the powerful youkai's attention would turn elsewhere. And when she recognized the rumbling snarl for what it was, and when those golden eyes like the sun, though with none of its warmth, turned to the color of the spilled blood of her pursuers and the deep sapphire of a pure and deep lake, she pulled herself to her feet.

And Kagome ran.

A/N: This story is also posted on ff.net under the name SableDreamer. I've rewritten some of it, as I wasn't fully happy with the original. I hope you enjoyed it! Please review! Any sort of comment is welcome, be it praise or criticism.