Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ It's all in the Mind ❯ The Glass Box ( Chapter 5 )

Okay, long time coming I know but I won't offer excuses as I know (from e-mails) that a few of my readers don't actually care about the fact that my life takes precedence over my stories, I wish it didn't but it does and be assured that I have actually been working on this chapter repeatedly and this is now the 4th version of it. Not the best but hey, it's better then nothing…sorry for the wait guys.

Also after this chapter I will not be updating for a while because a new plot twist has just come about so I need to start re-writing up some chapter plans L.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!! And a happy new year - Mademoiselle Morte

 Thanks to all the reviewers:

DatGirl650          ;  Fluffy-Stalker          & nbsp;  Duzzie                 *Somnambuliciou s*            & nbsp; tbiris           &nb sp; Sukera           &nb sp;  dfs               Korochan16            ;             demon-lulu            ;     ForestSprite          &nb sp;      sacaku             lonewolf-chica     & nbsp;         spice of Inu-Yasha     

Special note to Duzzie: I did consider doing a flashback to do that but it didn't fit with what had already happened, but don't worry, this won't be the last she'll see of Sesshoumaru, so in a way you half get what you wanted…I think.

Special note to DatGirl650: YOU DESERVE SO MANY HUGS! YOU ARE ONE OF THE SWEETEST PEOPLE ALIVE. Sorry this update took so long but this chapter is dedicated to you and Sukera!

Special note to Sukera: Wow…..YOU DESERVE HUGS TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH MY GODYOU AND DATGIRL650 RULE! This chapter is dedicated to you and DatGirl650.

~It's all in the Mind~

Chapter Five

It was like floating, a feeling which for some reason felt oddly familiar, was floating a normal occurrence? She didn't think so, but it could have been, maybe she had just forgotten, or something it wasn't as if she really cared, it was just…odd. It was quite comfortable though, she wouldn't deny that. It was soft, and…kinda fluffy, it made you want to snuggle up and curl into a small ball to keep all the heat centred around you, a nice feeling.

But again, a very familiar one, but she didn't really care, she just wanted to stay cuddled up nice and snug in this fluffy thing, and if she hadn't known better it felt like a mattress, which would automatically lead someone to assume they were in bed, but she didn't remember going to bed. Had she gone to bed? It felt like she was, but…no, she hadn't gone to bed, she remembered that much, she had fallen asleep though, somewhere nowhere near as comfortable as where she was now, so she hadn't gone to sleep in her bed, if indeed it was her bed she was in.

Though where else could she be? If in someone else's bed then she had even more reason to become confused and hysterical, but if in her own bed, she would just be confused….right? Though, logically, if she just opened her eyes then her question would be answered and then she could decide on which action to choose, but then again she would have to move the warmth from her to look, but maybe this once it was worth it….well it had better be.

Groaning, and with an amount of pain which she was trying to ignore, with very little luck, she looked over the edge of the cover, raven black hair tousled around a pale, fragile looking face and eyes that stared, blue eyes which one would not expect on a person of such a race, but there none the less.

Those blue eyes scanned the room even as the sleep laden look slowly lifted from them to leave eyes turning grey with shock when she realised just exactly where she was…home. But not the place she had come to call home in the past, but her actual home, the one she had grown up in and had met, of sorts, her very first demon. What in the name of Kami was she doing here?

"W-what?" Cracked lips moistened by her small pink tongue swiping across them nervously, she slowly raised her protesting body up into a more comfortable position and took another look around. Eyes caught sight of her ever present desk, still stacked high with papers and text books long since out of use beside her old computer, a light layer of dust coating the monitor screen, she was home, but why? And when?

Her body was stiff, another confusing thing to ponder, protested to her movements as she slowly raised the covers from her pyjama clothed body and swung her legs over the side of the bed…she felt so weak, like her very muscles had turned to liquid beneath her skin and were weighing her down, unlikely as it was, that's what it felt like.

Finally deciding to ignore her aching limbs she gripped the edge of her bed and started to push herself up, using her arms to support herself as she went trying not to fall on the floor and hurt herself even more, not a good idea at the best of times. She managed to stand up, a slight smile at her achievement upon her dry lips as she ignored the red hot pokers stabbing the insides of her legs, causing her knees to shake.

She would ignore them, she was stubborn even at the best of times and when she was confused, Kami help the idiot who tried to stop her, she was going to find out what the hell was going on.

Though maybe she had been a bit too hasty, as she walked slowly towards the doorway she stumbled, feet refusing to lift from the floor properly so she dragged them part way, friction causing slightly slivers of pain to run along the surface of her feet. She paid it no mind though, her body felt like a dead weight and she was home, it didn't make sense but she could hear no movement in the house…like it was waiting for her, to come down the stairs she didn't know. But she could almost feel the baited breath around her, lips sealed tight as if to let it out would scare her away.

Away from what was something she would ask later, she knew, somehow, that she would get no answers if she asked…it would come to her in its own time, though she didn't expect it to come through air-mail, nothing in her life was ordinary anymore.

Slowly but surely she managed to stumble down the stairs, knuckles white from her tight grip on the wooden banister as she made sure she would not fall and hurt herself. She knew a fall at that time would seriously set back her healing, healing from what she hadn't decided yet but she felt pain, and a lot of it, it didn't take a genius to figure out the equation and a genius she was not.

But it would take a genius to figure out why, why she felt so…..disconnected from it all, she felt the pain, yes, from injuries she couldn't remember, felt the pain from the friction of carpet against foot…yet she didn't. It made no sense to her, almost like she was looking inside a glass box, where all the pain she felt was trapped, a thunderstorm of hidden memories - and she had lost the key to the lock. She saw it happening, felt it even, but she didn't.

She also saw the anger, streaks of red within that glass box, anger of loss, of fear, of solitude….she felt alone, she felt so…..dark, so twisted? Yet the world around her was carrying on, the wallpaper was still bright, not peeling or fading, the carpet beneath her was soft to the touch, hiding the pain it could cause her battered body. The windows were clean, letting the sun she didn't want to acknowledge fall upon her form, casting a dark shadow behind her. So cheery, so untouched, yet the reminders were there, shadows were around every corner, letting people know what could be and what had been.

The shadows followed her as she made it down the stairs, letting herself have a small rest, a victory rest from the arduous journey the stairs had presented her with. She tried to ignore her morbid thoughts, even as flickers of everyday shadows caught the corner of her eyes and made her flinch…she felt afraid…..and angry, angry beyond words of so many things. But mostly, she didn't like feeling confused, she felt like an idiot and hated it, the pain made it worse, even though she couldn't feel it, it was there, tormenting her in the back of her mind - like a finger beckoning her forward, to find the key to the glass box…to go further down the rabbit hole it would seem.

But said rabbit hole would have to wait, she was no Alice and there was no rabbit around…at least none that she could see so she would forgo the cliché and find out exactly what was going on……while studiously keeping her eyes fixed on one position, so that her traitorous eyes would not fall onto the lost key, she didn't want the answers now…the anger she had seen, and felt was different, intense…as if she was angry at the world, for something….something that she knew she would not like…not at all.

Through all this though she hardly took notice of where her feet took her…down the hallway, her ever faithful shadow trailing behind her, mimicking her eerily. Her eyes were fixed a foot, maybe more in front of her feet on the floor, watching as the carpet slowly slid away to reveal light wooden floors….the hallway…near the front room.

Where was everyone? Souta practically lived in the front room…where were the noises of his playstation, of crash bandicoot or some other game he had just bought…was he avoiding the glass box….afraid he might break it? But why would he be afraid…he couldn't know about it…it was her glass box…it kept the pain away, leashed tightly so that she wouldn't suffer more then she had to, suffer the anger and pain within.

So he couldn't know, no, he couldn't but he would wonder what she was doing, wandering around aimlessly in her pyjamas…a strange site indeed and the mirror seemed to agree.

For as long as she could remember it had always been there, an antique mirror of her Ouji-sans'. It had always fascinated her as a child…she would run her fingers lightly along the edging, delighting in the occasionally static shocks which ran through her finger tips, making her squeal in delight as the shocks tickled her skin, like a mothers fingers on a child's tummy would.

But there would be no delight today, no static shocks only the shock of seeing what was before her…the short sleeved pyjama top hid nothing of her arms and hid nothing of the scratches marring them either. Small, shallow scratches already scabbing over, a smattering of bruises complimented them well, making them stand out, angry red against blue and black….interesting colour combination she thought almost giddily, before the reality of what she was seeing hit her, she looked like she'd been beaten, attacked or something…but by what? By who….?

Her eyes were dark with confusion, reflected in the mirror before her, small, fine dark eyebrows drawing together as she stared….stared at the image before her as if they would magically join together, create words out of thin air it would seem….words which would explain to her the rising fear and betrayal she felt when she looked at those marks, those scabbed scratches littering her arms.

Biting her lip she started to turn away from the mirror, not wanting to see anymore when a flash of silver, so quick she almost didn't catch it, caught her attention and slowly, she turned back towards the mirror and gasped in shock, Inuyasha, staring at her with a light, teasing grin on his face…..a reflection in the mirror.

"Inu…yasha….?" Her voice croaked embarrassingly as she spoke, clearing her throat she stared at his red covered figure, standing not but a foot behind her in the reflection…which meant.

"Inuyasha!" With a smile beginning to form on her lips she turned, hoping that he could give her the answers she didn't want, and hoping that seeing him would kill the sudden sense of emptiness in her heart.

Her hair smacking against the back of her neck she finally had her back to the mirror, facing him standing there silently before her, that smile never leaving his face.

"What's going on Inuyasha….I-I feel so strange I mean I…" He didn't reply, didn't even move a muscle, he just stared at her and smiled, she frowned the command about to leave her lips when she drew back a step, her eyes locking onto his own…and there was not a flicker in them, no life, no humour, no anger, no confusion….nothing.

A fine trembling took hold of her as she stared into his now lifeless amber eyes, a fear welling up inside her that she wanted nothing to do with, knowing that it was about to give her those very answers she was starting to dread ever thinking of wanting…air-mail seemed much preferable it seemed.

"Talk to me Inuyasha….please, stop doing this" Her voice pleading, she breathed in deeply and took a step towards him, ignoring the strange smell that seemed to wrap around him.

He still did nothing, just stood there. She frowned, glancing briefly towards the door to the living room as if begging for someone to wake her up from this nightmare, but no one came and with a resolve that she knew she would regret having, she lifted up a single scratched up arm and went to place it gently on his shoulder, eyes open wide in fear as she breathed in deeply, her chest feeling tight and heavy as she moved.

She felt the light brush of fabric beneath her finger tips before her hands fell…completely through him.

The breath rushed from her body as her eyes followed her hand falling limply through him, coming to rest once more by her side….Oh Kami…she gulped, her mouth suddenly dry as she stared, her pale hand rested innocently, no idea what shock it had just given her.

But she would not be allowed to wallow in the shock of the moment for a faint thud suddenly reached her ears and in her surprise she drew in a deep breath, and gagged at the 'taste' of rot that invaded her throat. She gagged and wretched backing up swiftly, eyes never leaving her hand, she didn't want to know, she didn't, she wouldn't look up, not a chance in hell would she look up, she didn't want to, she didn't!

But she did, her eyes slowly moved away her hand to the floor wondering, against her will, what had fallen down. At first her mind couldn't make sense of it, it was a grey pink colour, it looked…almost like gone off….meat, oh kami! She turned sharply, holding onto the frame of the mirror before as she dry heaved, blinking her eyes continuously as she did trying to get rid of the image in her mind, and where it had come from.

Oh Inuyasha, what happened? It ran around in her head, colliding with the glass box in her mind as she heaved again, face going pale in shock. As she trembled, slowly sliding to the floor onto her knees she made the mistake of looking in the mirror, forgetting the reflection she would see….

...and she screamed…

...and screamed…

…and screamed…

Tears running down her face as her eyes were fixed onto the figure in the mirror, the decaying flesh was slowly falling off, revealing twisted and rotting muscle beneath, and the smell, oh Kami that smell.

She sobbed, hands covering her mouth and noise to cover her sobs even as she tried to hide from the smell, even as she couldn't hide from what was behind her…the truth, he was dead.

"Kagome!!" A voice pierced through the hazy fog seemingly covering her in a strange lethargy as she sobbed out her heart, a worried, feminine voice that rang bells in her mind.

"Kagome!"

…."m-m-mummy?" Her voice came out a soft plea, as if begging for her to release her from this nightmare, scare away the terrifying images and fears like she had when she had been younger.

"Oh Kagome…" Soft, gentle hands wrapped around her shaking figure where she knelt, rocking her gently back and forth, the soft scent of washing up liquid, lavender and the unique scent of being a mother seemed to push away the rotting smell, wrapping around her in a soft embrace, soothing her sobs and gently petting her hair in reassurance.

"Please, make it go away, p-please mummy…make it stop" She hated it, her voice, the images, everything she wanted it to end…she felt exhausted and just wanted to close her eyes and forget everything, he couldn't be dead, how…no…he c-couldn't be.

"Make what stop sweetheart? You have to tell me Kagome, I can't make it go away if you don't tell me" Shaking hands were caressing her hair, even as they tried to calm her down, the concern in her mother's voice broke her, sobs wracked her small frame once more as she cried, and cried, throat already soar from her earlier screams.

She didn't answer her, she couldn't, how could she ask her to make him go away…he was dead…he was already gone.

…..

She didn't know how long she sat there, cradled in her mothers arms as she sobbed but sooner then she would have liked her mother had shifted, belying her worry for her daughter and the lack of answers she had been given.

"Are you feeling better now?" Her voice was soothing as Kagome slowly nodded her head, feeling lighter then she had done in a while, the glass box hiding for now in the depths of her mind.

"W-What happened? Why am I here?" She wanted to know, she knew it was important.

"I was hoping you could tell me that Kagome, Souta found you unconscious by the door" She sniffled as she heard her mother speak, beaten…well that would explain why she felt so bad…the final battle!?

No, Sesshoumaru had healed her, she remembered that…remembered seeing Miroku's look of grief at the death of Sango, she remembered the others….alive and dead.

"I don't r-remember…I just…" She sighed and slowly slid out of her mothers arms, sniffling as she went, wanting some space to try and figure out what exactly was going on…she would NOT dwell on Inuyasha….there was no proof, just an overactive mind that was all, she was just tired…that had to be it.

"Come on dear, you've tired yourself out, lets get you back to bed" Her voice ever soothing, her mother gently took her arm helping her to slowly stand up. Throughout all this Kagome kept her eyes averted from where she had seen Inuyasha standing, trying not to remember the vivid image of him…decaying.

As she let her mother hold her up, even her bones feeling weak and weary Kagome stared at the hallway, the walls and the pictures lining it, trying to bring her mind to a happier place…but it doesn't always work that way.

Her eyes fell on the calendar she had given her mother for her birthday nearer the beginning of the year…but her eyes fell down to see the days marked off in the red marker pen that had come with the calendar…it had marked off the 20th…so that meant it had to have been yesterday….no, she shook her head, that wasn't right…she remember…she had woken up from the battle nearer the beginning of the month, at least on the 10th…what…

"Mum…" She felt it, a dark coil of suspicion and doubt coursing through her as she stared at the calendar…if it had been so long…why had no one come to check on her…they must know what had happened to her, it must have happened in the past…it didn't make sense.

"Yes? What's the matter?" Slight curiosity in her tone showed that she had no idea of the thoughts running through her daughters head…maybe that was a good thing.

"H…How long have I been asleep?" She didn't want her to answer, but she did. Her breathing quickened slightly, hoping against hope that her mother would not say what she thought she would say.

"Oh…I think it's been just over a week, no wonder you're so tired, you've just been lying there the entire time, your muscles must be a bit out of it…no worries though-"

She bit in a breath…a week…"A-and you d-don't know what happened to me?" She licked her suddenly dry lips.

"If I knew I would take my steak knife to whoever hurt you" The anger barely hidden in her mothers voice told her what she needed to know, even if she hadn't heard the words.

They hadn't come, even after a week they hadn't come…if they had her mother would know she would have made them…they hadn't come.

Oh kami…

She tore her arm away from her mother and sprinted as fast as she could out the front door, letting it slam behind her against the wall almost insignificantly as she went, the paving scraping against the soles of her feet as she went, she didn't care…she had to know, what had happened to her, what was going on…why hadn't they come for her.

She bit back a sob, there had to be a reason…there had to be.

Flinging the well house door open violently she ignored everything else around her, her mothers calls, her brothers. She flung herself down the stairs not caring when she fell sharply on her ankle, she gritted her teeth, not wanting her mother to stop her…not wanting to put this off any longer…something had happened, something bad, but she couldn't remember it…and she had to know.

But it wasn't meant to be, as her fingers gripped the side of the well and she expertly jumped over she landed with a thud…still in the 21st century on the hard floor of the well…surrounded by the walls of the well house.

"W-what?" She stared down at the ground, trying to will it to work, her lips moving silently as her fingernails scraped the dirt floor…denying exactly what had just happened. Threads of pain ran through her, the glass box cracking ominously down one side as if warning her, to stop, to keep going…she didn't care…why wasn't it letting her through.

"Let me through damnit! Let me through, L-Let me through…"Her voice slowly faded as she used all her strength to pound away at the floor, sobs wrenched from her throat as she pounded away, skin going red…she didn't care, WHY wouldn't it let her through!!!!!!!!!!

"Damn it all….why won't you let me through?" Eventually, her shoulders screaming at her, she fell onto her side curling up like an abandoned child in an alleyway as she cried, the answer so clear that it hurt to even breath as it finally hit her…after everything she had done…or hadn't done, it had finally come to this.

The well…it had been sealed, it had to have been from the other side, it had to… and the only one who could seal it from the other side had to be a Miko…and the only Miko left who knew about the well was Kaede…

…she had sealed the well.