Let Me Alone

[[I have been having internet problems here lately. Sorry for the delay. Next chapter is already underway. Thank you for the patience! ^_^ Enjoy the read!]]

[continuing with the Flashback]

Sesshoumaru watched from behind the forming figure of Naraku as the arrow, launched from the miko, hit its mark, disintegrating any remains of Naraku into a pile of burnt ash. Sesshoumaru’s glacial stare penetrated the priestess for killing his enemy; he had vowed that it would be him that would rid the world of Naraku, not a weak-minded miko priestess…and a dead one at that. Kikyo returned his stare then turned her attention, not at all affected by the demon lord. Watching her eyes drop, Sesshoumaru simply snorted and retreated from the field into the forest, returning to his fortress. He cared not for the pathetic humans that dared call themselves warriors and did not want to witness the grotesque reunion between his half-breed brother and the dead miko. Emotions like that made his stomach churn. Plus…he would battle his filth of a brother when he was injured; he had more honor than that.

As he neared the tree line, he sniffed the air; all members of his half-breed’s party were both alive and standing, or were being pulled to their feet. But…something seemed different about the air; something seemed amiss. He took one last glance at Kikyo and realized what intervened in his scent; the damned miko was alive. How? He knew of more than one occasion of her death and had seen his brother rush to her side countless times, going as far as to leave the strange human that seemed from another world in the forest alone. ”Idiot.” Sesshoumaru had always mused at seeing this. He didn’t understand humans and their foolish emotions; how could this girl, what was her name? ”Kagome, he answered himself. Yes, Kagome. He did not see why the foolish girl, Kagome, continued to pursue his idiotic brother as he, time after time, pushed her to the side to go after a dead woman; a woman that sold her soul to the devil himself. It never ceased to amaze Sesshoumaru at the absurd feelings humans felt; they were weak creatures and emotions were of one of the top reasons Sesshoumaru despised them.

He sniffed the air again and glanced around. His icy gaze came across a motionless body lying next to a tree and he raised a brow. He looked up, eyeing the hanyou seemingly too involved with the fact that the older miko wench was alive, not bothering to ask as to how she came to life. Why did he care? ”I don’t,” he answered himself. He seemed to have a habit of doing that. Or maybe it was his demon answering for him. He let out a low growl in annoyance before dropping his gaze back to the body. His face expressionless, Sesshoumaru moved to stand next to the girl and confirmed it to be Kagome. His stature perfect, he stared down at her lifeless body. Normally, a dead body would reek of death but her’s did not…as if she were dead, but not quite. It mattered not to him as he brushed the thought aside. She was not worth a moment’s time in his mind nor in his thoughts.

He could see the ghosts of death around her body, inspecting it as to prepare it for the afterlife. He was reminded of Rin and how the small girl had taken to the girl from another time. Again…with the human emotions. Why she liked the noisy female that seemed to not grasp fashion very well was beyond his comprehension. A thought crossed his mind and he gave a smirk. ”She would fall to pieces if she saw the foolish half-breed smothering the miko with affection, not bothering to wonder where she obtained new life” he mused. She would more than likely sit him into a crater in the field and run off crying; typical of the human race. The idea was not, after all, a bad idea. To see his brother humiliated and by a weak-minded female was amusing. His twisted humor fell and his cold mask came back into place as he unsheathed Tenseiga, holding it at arm’s length, watching the sword spark with an unearthly blue.


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Meanwhile…

Kagome sat with her head bent, her long bangs hiding her face as she hugged her knees tightly. She felt no tears grace her face, but she was crying inside. She was soulless, heartless, and DEAD. Even though she was hopeful that she, one day, and hopefully soon, would live again and would be able to profess her love for her Inuyasha, the fact of being dead was driving her insane. ”Why must the gods play such a cruel game?” she cursed herself, wishing to either die or somehow be brought back to life. She didn’t want to die; she was far too young and had hopes and ambitions for her future. She let out an agitated growl and placed her chin on her forearm, looking out seemingly in a daze.

Suddenly, her miko senses spiked; something powerful was near. She blinked to make sure she saw clearly the demon that now stood at her lifeless body. Was he dead too?

”Hey!” she yelled, standing up. ”Ack! As I thought,” she groaned, kicking a tree root. He wasn’t dead; he was very much alive. If he were dead, she would be able to speak to him. But….what was he doing? Why was he standing so close to her body, as if inspecting it. Surely he was not going to bring her to life once more; Sesshoumaru was not known for that sort of mercy, even if he had a human child in his protection. She had never questioned that thought; she did not want to know as to how or why he kept the small child from harm and with him most of the time.

Seeing a flash of blue glint from the corner of her eye, she turned, seeing Tenseiga above her body. Her jaw hung open and a million thoughts flooded her mind. What the hell was he doing? Oh this makes no sense what so ever. She scratched her head and watched, in amazement and somewhat fear. ”Why?” The question hung thick in the air as she watched, Sesshoumaru flicking his wrist with ease, executing the death wards that stood ever so close to her body. Kagome felt a pull in her stomach and, as in a trance, began to walk towards her body. It seemed she would live again, though she did not know exactly why. Was this what Kikyo was trying to tell her? Surely not. Certainly Kikyo was thinking of something else reviving Kagome, not Sesshoumaru. Kagome snorted. For all she knew, Kikyo had just wanted her soul so that she could be whole again. With that thought, anger began to rise as she fell unconscious, not aware that she fell into her body once more.

Sesshoumaru watched with outward boredom, only a hint of amusement in the corner of his eye as, one by one, the death sentinels vanished. He could feel Tenseiga pulse in his clawed hand, pulling something nearer to his body. Though his face remained impassive, he inwardly cocked a brow. Was she not dead? Not having time to form any sort of thoughts, a vastly intense light emitted itself from the corpse, causing him to blink. He cursed his brother for eradicating his form of his left arm. With his right arm stretched out over the body, wielding Tesseiga, he ducked his head, causing bangs to fall in his perfect face. It helped somewhat, though not nearly enough for his keen eyes.

With his attention on the blinding light, Sesshoumaru did not sense the exterminator behind him. Sango had been attempting to find her best friend, knowing that if she saw the meeting between Kikyo and Inuyasha, she would probably be in the forest crying somewhere silently. It killed her to know how her friend suffered and she cursed the idiot hanyou for not seeing her best friend’s love for him. He was just too stubborn and too hung up on a dead chick to see any different. She shook her head and concentrated on her task at hand. She had to find Kagome. What she stumbled upon next stopped her dead in her tracks, leaving her mouth gaping open as a powerful light engulfed the scene, blinding her temporarily.

What happened next seemed to fly by in only a matter of nanoseconds, though it took exceedingly longer. The group back in the field seemed oblivious to the occurrence of Kagome’s resurrection, not seeing the blinding light or hearing the deafening scream. Sango fell to her knees, defending her eyes that were becoming achingly sore as the light’s intensity increased. She buried her head in her arms as she curled into a ball behind a bush. She could sense and somewhat see Sesshoumaru’s figure in the midst of the light, but could not grasp the concept as to why he was here. Did something happen to Kagome? Did he kill her? The thought raged through Sango flickering across her shut eyes, but she kept still. She was beginning to have a headache and right now was not a time for screaming accusations.


The light and its force seemed to continue to rise as if it wanted to engulf the entire planet until it ceased, radiating for a few split seconds before rapidly reentering the small miko’s form. Sesshoumaru blinked again, bringing his head up to look at his sword. Did all that energy come from Tenseiga or was it the human? He glanced down, noticing a steam that was rising from the form. This truly confused the demon lord, though he did not show it. Instead, he turned and disappeared into the forest, leaving the human to be found by the human that was crouched in a bush behind his figure. He had sensed her the moment after the energy had subsided, but chose not to acknowledge her. He had nothing to say to her, nor did he owe an explanation. Could he give one? He growled inwardly and launched himself into a high branch deep in the Inuyasha Forest. What had been done for pure enjoyment now turned into something more baffling than what the demon had anticipated…and it bothered him that he could not explain what had happened.

The light had not seemed to affect Kagome as she opened her eyes, blinking a few times as if to clear away her mind. Wasn’t she just dead? Was she still? Did Sesshoumaru actually resurrect her? She raised a cream-colored hand and rubbed her forehead, trying to think. This is when she noticed the figure above her squinting his eyes. Apparently, he could not see her. Should she be grateful for that or should be in fear as to why he brought her back? At any rate, she smiled. She hugged her body, feeling the warmth of it and liking the feel of her skin. ”Okay, that’s a bit creepy.” Still…it felt good to not be dead anymore. Which reminded her…now that she were alive, she had a task and a small piece of hope behind it, driving her. She looked up at Sesshoumaru as she sat up and was about to utter her thanks, but then noticed another presence near; how could she sense that? Oh yeah, the Shikon Jewel. Duh. She saw his stiff body relax and then he seemed not to see her at all, but shift and then he disappeared into the forest. Confusion left her when she noticed her best friend hunched over behind a nearby bush. Standing, she called out as she neared the seemingly terrified girl.

Sango looked up see her best friend standing, moving the bush away so that she could get closer and sit. Her eyes just held pure disbelief when she saw the girl in front of her; standing and without a hint of scars. Kagome reached a hand out and laid it upon her friend’s shoulder, giving a smile.

”Wha…what…umm…Kagome?” The demon slayer was at a loss of words. What the hell exactly happened? Trying to form a complete sentence in her brain, she tried again. She gave a deep sigh and began slowly.

”Kagome, what exactly happened? Why was Sesshoumaru standing over you and why is Kikyo alive and where were you during the battle and—“ She was cute off by a tight embrace from Kagome. She clung to her friend as if she had been gone forever and tears started to form in the corners of her deep green eyes. Kagome leaned back, holding the girl away from her as if to get a good look at her and then she smiled, sighing a bit.

”Where to begin?” Kagome didn’t want to tell her friend that she had died and that her soul was now with Kikyo, or was it? This hadn’t dawned on her, but that was a good question. She felt like herself, but if she were alive, wouldn’t that mean that Kikyo would go back to being dead? None of it made any sense and at the moment, she didn’t want to think about it.

”I’m not sure exactly what happened. I remember the battle with Naraku and then I guess I blacked out. I awoke to find Sesshoumaru standing over me, looking down like he wanted something, but then he just turned and vanished into the trees.” Okay, so it was a lie, but how could she explain something she hardly understood herself?

She stood, pulling Sango to her feet. ”I’m sure the others are wondering where we are. We better get back. I don’t want Inuyasha screaming his head off at us missing,” Kagome said nonchalantly. Sango froze for a moment before reaching out and grasping her friend’s hand.

”Umm…’Gome? There’s um…well…Kikyo’s back and um…” her voice left her when she looked into Kagome’s deep brown eyes. The girl returned a smile then turned her head, looking towards the field.

”I know Sango.” was all she said as she turned her back and left Sango standing in the bush. Sango watched Kagome walk away from her back towards the group. Something was different; ‘Gome isn’t exactly the type of person to take things lightly, especially when it comes to Inuyasha.

”Oh god,” Sango said miserably as she began to follow her best friend. Maybe Kagome wouldn’t take it as hard as she had thought? She seemed to have known Kikyo was back. With that last thought, she shook her head and caught up with her friend, striding next to her as the two came into sight of the group…and Kikyo.

Review please. Next chapter will be done soon.