InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Stolen Soul ❯ Not Kagome ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Author's Note: I'm sorry if this story gets sometimes confusing, since Kagome is in Kikyo's body and Kikyo is in Kagome's body. I'll do my best to be clear about who is doing what. Italics indicate thoughts throughout the story.

I've raised the story's rating from PG to PG-13, because I realized it's difficult to write Inu-Yasha without including swearing. Heh.


Japanese Terms Used in this Chapter
bouzu -- insulting slang for a Buddhist monk


Disclaimer: These characters don't belong to me. This fic, however, is mine. Please don't take it without my permission.


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* * *
Chapter 2
Not Kagome
* * *


Kagome's body was still limp and unresponsive when Miroku and Sango reached the campsite. Miroku was gently laying Kagome's unconscious body upon her sleeping bag when Inu-Yasha leapt into the clearing, Tetsusaiga drawn. His ragged breathing was evidence of how quickly he had raced back after he heard Kagome's scream resonating across such a great distance.

"What happened?" Inu-Yasha demanded, scanning the surrounding area for what danger had caused Kagome's distress. Then, noticing how still she was, he barked, "What's wrong with Kagome?" and when no one answered quickly enough his voice grew even louder and more worried. "Tell me! What happened to Kagome?"

Miroku and Sango were still searching for words to explain the situation when a trembling lump beneath the foot of Kagome's sleeping bag whimpered, "Is Kagome okay?"

Miroku moved Kagome's limp body slightly to give Shippo more room to come out into the open, and the fox-child emerged still shaking. "I was so afraid!" he admitted, his eyes wide and filled with tears. "I wanted to go save Kagome, but I hid instead." Shippo hung his fluffy head in shame, sniffing tearfully.

Shippo's words only made Inu-Yasha more angry. I should have been here to protect her, he ranted to himself silently. I shouldn't have left her alone like that and just run off. This is all my fault. "What happened?" Inu-Yasha roared impatiently, his claws flexing without him even realizing it. He sheathed Tetsusaiga, certain now that the danger, whatever it was, had passed. I should have been here!

Standing beside Kagome's sleeping bag, where Miroku still knelt in his effort to analyze the girl's strangely damaged aura, Sango told Inu-Yasha firmly, "We are not sure what happened, Inu-Yasha. Kagome was not with us, but we ran to her when we heard her scream. When we arrived, Kagome was collapsed like this, and she has not yet spoken or even regained consciousness."

"What do you mean she wasn't with you?" growled Inu-Yasha, pacing and glancing anxious glances at Kagome's slack face. "And bouzu! Keep your hands off her, you lecher!"

Looking up solemnly from his task, Miroku said, "I assure you, Inu-Yasha, that I am only tending to Lady Kagome's aura."

Inu-Yasha stopped pacing, standing and staring at the monk in surprise. "Her ... aura? But what's wrong with her aura?" He stepped closer and crouched on the other side of Kagome's sleeping bag, peering at her face with obvious concern.

"Her aura is severely weakened," explained the monk, "as if she has been drained by some powerful outside source ... or perhaps had performed some very strenuous spell which had depleted her powers. This weakness of her aura is, almost certainly, why she has not yet wakened."

Inu-Yasha's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Someone drained Kagome's aura?" Suddenly, he glanced back and forth between Sango and Miroku and accused, "You never said what happened here. Who did this to Kagome?"

Sango and Miroku exchanged uneasy glances before Sango replied simply, "It was Kikyo, Inu-Yasha. She was with Kagome when we found her."

Inu-Yasha would have been embarrassed at how clearly his emotions of confusion and dismay showed on his face. "K-Kikyo?" he repeated softly, disbelievingly. Would she really harm Kagome? Has Kikyo changed that much? She has reason to hate me, but ... Kagome is innocent in this. Kikyo has no reason to harm her. Surely Kikyo wouldn't do such a thing, even as she is now. Her hatred is for me ... she has no reason to harm anyone but me and Naraku. They must be wrong. Kikyo wouldn't do this.

"Maybe," Inu-Yasha murmured distractedly, "maybe they were attacked ... by a demon or something. Kikyo wouldn't do this. Kikyo wouldn't harm an innocent person."

Sango looked away for a moment, then down at Kagome's motionless face, sadly remembering what her friend had told her about Kikyo's previous attempt to harm her. Should I tell them what Kagome said at the hot spring? But if Kagome wakes and I am wrong about what happened with Kikyo tonight, I will have broken her confidence for no reason.

Sango was still debating within her own mind what she should do when they were all suddenly surprised by the sound of a low moan ... as Kagome's eyes fluttered and opened.

* * *

The soul skimmers set Kikyo's body down soon after they had rescued her, and Kagome found herself lying on the forest floor near a softly burbling spring. Her body felt weak and her mind was confused, so she lay there a moment trying to get her bearings.

Where am I? What happened? I remember that I was talking to Kikyo, and then everything turned strange. Why would her soul skimmers take me?

And then Kagome suddenly remembered the last thing she had seen as she had risen into the air. Miroku and Sango ... they were carrying me! But ... how could that be me, if I'm here?

Trembling with growing panic, Kagome sat up, only then noticing that she was dressed in a miko's long loose trousers and white blouse. She ran her hands along the red and white fabric, her eyes growing wider with every moment. On hands and knees, she crept to the spring ... and then looked in to see her reflection, her long black hair hanging straight around her so that the edges floated upon the surface of the water.

I ... I'm ... I'm Kikyo! she thought in whirling confusion. How can that be possible?

Pulling back and sitting with her knees drawn up to her chest, Kagome tried to reason the situation out. I must be dreaming! she decided. How desperate can you get? Dreaming that I'm Kikyo? Dreaming that I'm the one Inu-Yasha loves? Well, that's plenty enough of this dream, thanks. Time to wake up now, Kagome! Wake up! Kagoooooommmme ... wake up, you stupid girl! Um ... okay ... well, then, is it time for the dream to switch to me being late for school? Forgot to study for the big test? Come on, that would be a lot less scary! Well, then, okay, if I have to dream I'm Kikyo, couldn't I at least get some of the fringe benefits, and have Inu-Yasha here to kiss me or something? But no. I have to be Kikyo all alone in the forest. What kind of dream is that? Freaky, that's what it is. And I want to WAKE UP now! Kagome pinched her upper arm, hard, and grimaced at the pain, but the scenery around her did not change. Oh, gods, can't I please wake UP? Please please please please please?

And then Kagome noticed something. Her heart wasn't beating.

No pulse. No sound inside her body at all. Complete silence. Her smooth, pale skin was the same temperature as the night air, supplying no warmth from within.

Oh my god! I'm trapped inside a dead body! This is so creepy! Definitely a nightmare! Got to be a nightmare! Okay, Mom, come wake me up for school now. Please? Please? Oh my god. Oh my god. What if it's not a dream? What if ... What if I'm really here, and this is really real? What if I'm stuck like this? What did Kikyo do to me?

Kagome felt tears spring to her eyes, and found herself marveling that Kikyo's body could still make tears. So I'll be able to cry while I'm stuck like this. Oh goody. That just makes it all better. But Kagome fought her tears in a bid to face the situation as bravely as possible. Surely there must be some solution to her problem, right?

In an instinctive belief that Inu-Yasha would protect her, would somehow make everything all right again -- in an instinctive desire to be close to the people who cared about her, the friends who had become almost like family -- Kagome stood in the unfamiliar body and began to walk in the direction she thought would lead her back to the campsite. It was the only thing she could think to do.

Inu-Yasha! she thought desperately as she walked. Please help me! I'm so scared!

* * *

Kagome's body on the sleeping bag was still only sluggishly beginning to wake when her friends around her noticed Kikyo's reappearance at the edge of the clearing.

Sango stood and wielded her boomerang, watching the miko's form closely. But Inu-Yasha walked forward, saying quietly, "Kikyo?"

The miko's eyes seemed to be begging him, pleading with him, and her voice emerged far more hesitantly than he had ever heard it before. "Inu-Yasha? Oh, Inu-Yasha ... I was so scared!"

He tilted his head curiously and asked, "Scared? Did something attack you and Kagome? What happened, Kikyo?"

But she then looked only confused, and perhaps a bit panicked.

And, behind him, Inu-Yasha heard Kagome's voice, colder than he had ever heard it before, say, "Kill her, Inu-Yasha."

Whipping his head around to see the girl sitting up slightly, leaning up on her elbows with her wavy hair spread all around her, Inu-Yasha could not help but gape at Kagome. What was she saying?

"Kill her," she repeated, impassively watching the miko's body at the edge of the clearing. "That body is nothing but a shell of dirt, filled with pain. If you care for me or for her, Inu-Yasha, you will kill her now."

As Inu-Yasha hesitated in his confusion, the miko's eyes filled with grief and pain. Trapped inside Kikyo's body, Kagome thought, He's thinking about it! He would kill me because she asks him to. Even in my body, she is everything to him. I have never meant anything to Inu-Yasha. He only ever wanted her. And now she has my body. She's human. And they can be together. And he can be happy.

Before Inu-Yasha had even turned around, Kikyo's form had fled, the miko's body running with uncharacteristic panicked pain until the soul skimmers once again appeared to carry her away.

And back in the clearing, Inu-Yasha watched Kagome's face with narrowed eyes. "Kagome would never ask me to kill Kikyo," he ground out. "So who the fuck are you? And what have you done with Kagome?"


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To Be Continued