InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Pain of Loss ❯ Anger ( Chapter 3 )

Kagome walked swiftly and silently through the woods, keeping her mind steady and clear of emotion. She scowled slightly. Though much prettier and less conspicuous than her old school-girl's sailor uniform, her new short kimono allowed her a decreased range of movement for her legs. She realized why Sango had legs on her taijiya's outfit instead of a skirt. The traditional wooden sandals were hard and uncomfortable, unlike her old, soft leather shoes, and Kagome found her thoughts lingering to the hot springs not too far from camp for a nice foot rub.

These thoughts alone were enough to remind her of the comforts of the future, and she felt the recently familiar rage bubble up within her unexpectedly. Her pace increased, and within a short duration of time, she found herself in a clearing. Acting with quick determination, she pulled the dagger from within her obi stood in front of a tree. She pulled her pale arm back, and with a slight grunt, she forced the blade into the weathered, yet strong bark of the tree. A few moments later, a target was crudely scratched into the bark had been natural and unbroken for many years before it met the wrath of Higurashi Kagome.

She calmly placed the dagger back within her robes and turned around, walking away. When there was approximately 100 feet between her and the towering tree, Kagome stopped and turned to face it. With delicate grace, almost as if she were painting a picture or dancing the ballet, she pulled her arm behind her and plucked an arrow from her quiver. Her eyes narrowed to the center of the target. Then, she looked down to the arrow within her slender fingers.

The fletchings were made from lightweight bird feathers, as all traditional arrows had been. She brushed her fingers over the soft whisps before letting her eyes rove over the shaft and pile. The pile had been chipped from stone. What it lost in slickness it made up for in strength. She sighed and looked up to the target once more. `Enough with this dilly-dallying.' She thought sternly.

She pulled her longbow from over her shoulder and held it in her left hand, using her free arm to gently tuck the nock of the arrow behind the taut string. The pile rested beside the paper wrapped around the longbow as her swift eyes swept over and ordered her to lower her arms slightly for proper aim. Kagome grimaced once more and pulled the arrow back angrily, releasing it from the pressure put upon it by the longbow. The familiar purple flash of light glowed brightly before dimming down as it flew elegantly through the air and hit with great force.

Kagome narrowed her eyes for a moment and saw, to her annoyance, that the arrow had only hit the target face a few inches from the center. She glared at that small distance as if to frighten the arrow into jumping to the center. She wasn't under control; that was her problem. Her emotions were getting the better of her. It had been nearly three months since she had learned of the hideous events which had taken place in the future. She had made little progress in that time, though, at least she now believed that they were dead. She wasn't lying to herself anymore; she wasn't trying to cushion the blow to her sanity.

As of late, she had been seeing the faces of her loved ones in her sleep. Images of Jii-chan, Mama, Souta, Yuka, Eri, Ayumi, Houjo, all of them, had been flashing in front of her eyes. She would wake up feeling extremely cold, panting, her clothes damp with sweat and tears. It was on those nights that she would go walk in the woods, in search of a way to practice her archery. She cast her eyes to the stars, so clear and brilliant here in the Sengoku Jidai, and bit her lip in frustration. Why couldn't she just move on? Why were they haunting her so? She fiercely wiped away an angry tear and looked to the target once more.

* * * *

"Kagome-chan! Come and see your new baby brother!"

Kagome looked up from her crayons and paper with a wide grin (which was currently missing the two front teeth). Her eyes sparkled and she shot up, her art piece forgotten. She ran to Jii-chan, who was waiting (rather impatiently) at the door of the hospital room. She jumped inside and saw her mom, eyes half-closed in exhaustion, with a weak smile upon the bed. In her arms was a small bundle wrapped in a blue blanket.

Kagome climbed upon the bed next to her mother and snuggled softly beside her.

"Kagome," her mother said softly, "Meet you new brother, Souta."

Souta's face was all red and scrunchy, his eyes shut tight and his face in an unpleasant expression.

Kagome's eyes widened in awe as she shifted to get a closer look. "Souta." She said in the same soft tone as her mother.

Mama Higurashi wrapped her free arm around Kagome's slim frame and held her children close to her. They were all she had now.

"You two are my life," she whispered soothingly. "I love you with all that I have. We'll be fine."

Kagome, attention stolen by her new baby brother, was ignorant of her mother's soft tears.

* * * *

"Ouch!" Kagome wailed, rubbing the sore spot on her head.

"Mmspph…" Mama Higurashi mumbled through a mouthful of hair pins. Swiftly tucking her daughter's raven tresses into a pretty, yet simple weave, she quickly dispensed the rest of the clips to hold the hair in place and sighed in relief.

"I'm sorry, Dear." She said, now able to speak. "But now…" She said with a grin as she tucked two elegant chopsticks into her daughter's hair, "We're finished." The chopsticks had been given to her by her mother when she was a young child, going to her first New Year celebration. They were engraved with a graceful vine pattern that crept its way smoothly up the long stalks and would shoot out into a blooming flower every so often. At the tips, the vine exploded into an extremely detailed cherry blossom with a sparkling oval of ruby in the center.

Carefully helping her six-year-old to her feet so as to not ruffle the beautiful kimono, she led the young child to her vanity mirror. Kagome's mouth opened slightly as she leaned in closely.

"They're so pretty, Mama." She said happily.

"They were given to me when I was your age by my mama," Mama Higurashi replied with a smile. Now that Kagome was ready, she ran to her closet and pulled out a silk kimono in deep greens and blues. After she had changed into the slim-fitting robes, and tied the wraps in the correct fashion, she kneeled down next to Kagome at her mirror.

She pulled out her makeup set and began applying light layers of eye paints, lip paints, and slight dabs of rogue.

"Mama, what are you doing?" Kagome asked with curiosity.

"I'm putting on makeup," she replied casually as she finished her face and began knotting up her own fairly long tresses in a similar fashion to Kagome's. Her style was much simpler and faster than what she had created with her daughter's hair, and she finished shortly.

"Can I try some?"

Mama Higurashi smiled widely. She pulled her daughter close to her and dabbed a bit of pink lip paint on her small, petal-shaped lips. Then she applied an extremely light layer of pale blue eye paint and smiled.

"Now, I look pretty, like you Mama."

Mama Higurashi embraced her daughter tightly to her, inhaling the fresh scent of youth and energy she always radiated.

"I love you, Kagome."

"I love you, too, Mama."

* * * *

"See ya!" Kagome shouted, running through the kitchen door and out into the courtyard. If she didn't hurry up, she'd be late to class! She was nearly at the steep steps that led down to the street when something at the well shrine caught her eye.

"Hey, Souta!" She shouted.

"Sis?" He replied.

"You're no s'pposed to play in the mini-shrine!" She scolded him. How many times her Jii-chan lectured them about going into the creaky old shack? Her little brother never seemed to learn.

"But…Buyo…he's…" He said, pointing to the open well-house.

"In the well-house?" Kagome asked in disbelief. How did the obese cat manage it's way into the well-shrine that was always kept closed?

"Buuuu~yooooo!" They called in unison for their cat. They crept softly in, ignoring the floorboards creaking below their feet.

"He's somewhere down there…" Souta said wistfully.

"So go down there and get him!" Kagome said. She was going to be late!

"But…doesn't this place sorta give you…the creeps?" Souta said fearfully.

"What are you, scared? You're a boy, aren't you?" She asked smugly.

His face flushed scarlet and he was about to reply when a scratching noise from below stole their attention.

"There's something down there!" Souta screeched, cowering behind Kagome's figure. Kagome rolled her eyes.

"Like, oh, say, our cat?" She asked sarcastically. Souta remained where he was, and Kagome stood up, exasperated, and clomped down the old stairs. If she didn't end this now, both of them would get in trouble for tardiness. The scratching noise started again, and Kagome looked to where it seemed to be coming from.

"Huh….it's coming from inside the well? You've gotta be kidding me…" She said, looking to the boards of wood that covered the well. Suddenly, something big brushed up against her legs. She screamed loudly and threw her hands up to protect herself. When nothing attacked her, she slowly lowered them. "Huh? Buyo?" She picked up the large cat with difficulty.

"Don't yell like that!!!" Souta shouted. "You scared me!!" Kagome rolled her eyes.

"You little…" Her sentence remained unfinished, though, as behind her, the boards covering the well snapped apart and two long, slender, pale arms roughly grabbed her shoulders and she was pulled back, Buyo jumping from her arms.

The last thing she heard was Souta's scared cries before she was enveloped by the blue and green sparkling lights.

* * * *

"Really? You think he likes me?" Kagome asked dubiously, a fry held right before his mouth.

"Ya!" Yura and Eri exclaimed. The three girls, along with Ayumi, sat at their favorite booth at Wacdanald's chatting about school and boys. The specific boy that was currently under scrutiny was Houjo-kun.

"No…" Kagome said. All of the girls of both A and B class were obsessed with the boy's sparkling looks and personality. Why would he be interested in her?

Just then, Houjo-kun walked up to their booth, a wrapped package in his arms.

"Higurashi!" He called cheerfully, briskly walking up to her. "I'm glad you're feeling better after that bad bout of syphilis. Kagome blushed furiously. `Jii-chan…'

He held out the package and watched as she unwrapped it with uncertainty. "A loufa?" She asked, looking up to him.

"It's very good for your skin!" He said, still radiating with young naivete.

"Uh…thank you." She said slowly. Maybe Yuka, Eri, and Ayumi had a point. Argh, this was all wrong! She didn't need some young, schoolboy crush getting in the way of her potential relationship with Inuyasha!

"It's nothing. Try to feel better!" He called over his shoulder as he waved goodbye. Kagoem gave him a small wave in response, then, when he was out of ear-shot, she groaned.

"This is the last thing I need."

"What are you talking about? Houjo-kun is the best-looking guy at school!" Yuka claimed, and she and Eri swooned.

Kagome just rolled her eyes and finally brought her attention back to her food.

Later that night, Kagome spoke with her grandfather.

"Jii-chan, did you call me in sick with syphilis?!" Kagome asked loudly.

"Yes," he said proudly. "I was in the library finding books on diseases and I found a great one about sexually transmitted diseases!"

Kagome groaned. There was no reason to yell at Jii-chan. After all, he was being so sweet by calling her in every morning that she was in the Sengoku Jidai. After all, inevitable, he was going to run out of "normal" diseases. Kagome sighed.

"Thanks, Jii-chan." She said, and gave him a hug.

"Anytime, Kagome." He said, returning the embrace.

* * * * *

Kagome's hands shook; her breath was fast and uneven. Tears began welling in her eyes, then spilling over and leaving shiny trials down her cheeks. She shook her head angrily and aimed another arrow. Screaming loudly, she released it and fell to her knees, not caring if it had struck or not. She sobbed into her chest, trying to overcome the anger that was threatening to overwhelm her.

"WHY?" She screamed, looking at the stars. "WHY DID YOU ALL LEAVE? WHY?!?!" She sobbed, choking over her words.

"YOU LEFT ME SO I ONLY HAVE THIS LIFE LEFT!!! YOU ALL ABANDONED ME!!!! I HATE YOU!!!" She sobbed. Tears were running down her cheeks and she was shaking and gasping for air. She curled up into herself in the damp grass, sobs wracking through her small body.

She laid there for a while, sobbing, before she felt her hair being gently tucked behind her ear. She felt arms wrap around her in an embrace and immediately accepted the hug, wrapping her arms tightly around the person.

She heard the soothing sounds of comfort that her friend had made and allowed herself to be rocked back and forth until most of her tears and anger had ebbed away. They stayed there together, silent, for a while.

"Everything's going to be alright."

"I know. Thank you, Sango."

"It's alright. I know the pain."

"I know."

Sango held Kagome for a little bit longer until she realized that she had fallen asleep. She kneeled down and wrapped the girl's arms around her own shoulders, then picked up her legs on both of her sides. She rose and began to head back to camp. As she passed the tree, she noticed two arrows stuck stubbornly within the bark. One was a few inches off-center, and the other had been perfectly aimed, stuck right in the middle.

She walked back through the forest until she arrived to the campsite. Miroku and Inuyasha looked up as she walked around the fire and placed Kagome's sleeping form on her sleeping bag.

"Thank you for letting me go after her, Inuaysha.' She said gratefully. He just scoffed.

"Where was she?" Miroku asked, his face illuminated by the flickering firelight.

"She was in the field. She had been practicing her archery, but I found her crying on the grass. She'll be fine for now." She said, casting a glance over her shoulder. Shippo had already, in his sleep, moved next to Kagome and her arms had wrapped around him naturally.

The three sat there in silence for a while, watching the flames and all deep in thought.

For the first time in many nights, Kagome sleep was undisturbed.