Be there for me

Chapter 5



One moment she was lying in the cot, in a great deal of pain and speaking to her friends. The next moment, after a brief period of unbelievable pain, in which all the muscles of her body seemed to contract and tighten before blissfully being released and relaxed, she found herself, well, away from her body. Kagome wondered if this what death was like. She could see her body down below, and could see her friends weeping over her. She wanted to assure them that it would be alright, that she would be okay in the afterlife.



However, she found her ability to interact with people on earth cut off. She felt like weeping herself at this discovery, if she could of course. Gradually, she felt herself rising, through the roof of the hutt and to a point above the forest. Her soul was ascending into heaven now, she supposed. Well, at least she would be able to see her father again. She wondered how he was doing.



But her soul stopped it's ascenion, and she wondered what was taking so long. She suddenly realised that a piece of her soul was missing, and thought maybe that her transition into heaven couldn't be completed until it was returned and she was whole. Using something akin to vision, she searched the forest below for her missing soul. Moments later, she found it...



She saw it, knew what she saw, but still couldn't believe it. Kikyo was the person who possessed the other part of her soul. She supposed that it made a sort of sense, considering that when she had been reborn, Kagome's soul had been used, and the two of them had had something of a tug of war in trying to preserve each others soul within their respective bodies.



But it wasn't the sight of Kikyo that caused Kagome sudden distress and disbelief. She specifically remembered asking Inuyasha to retrieve her pack for her, and had wanted to see him again before she passed away. But instead, here and now, she saw him, through her spirit form, hugging Kikyo. While his manner of being made it clear that he knew she had died and passed on, and therefore must of still had very dear feelings for her in his heart, the fact that he was there and not here.... It was just too much to take into account. Kagome just wished that she could hurry up and go to heaven, to run away from the scene before her.



But something was wrong. Something else now was trying to interfere with her attempts to rise up. She thought she could feel herself moving up a little at a time now, but then her forward progress stopped when a sudden urging to be pulled downwards occured.



* * *



The humans had looked up when he had entered the hutt. His face betrayed no emotions, other than his eyes which had almost a warm, pitying look in them. Other than that one look, he had his usual cold face mask solidly in place. The humans wanted to lash out in anger at him, but had to restrain themselves and pick up the reminder that he had no feelings for her, and was here for, what reason exactly?



That reason became apparent a moment later when he withdrew Tensiega, the sword pulsing, from his sheath. The three humans and kitsune gasped with understanding what was about to occur, and they made room for him, hope lighting up within their eyes that they wouldn't have to depart with their dear friend just yet after all.



Sesshomaru saw the messengers from the otherworld tending to the body, preparing for it's rotting and decay period. With a single swipe of the sword, these messengers were dead and her body healed of it's injuries. Re-sheathing the sword, he looked down into Kagome's face to await her awakening.



But something was wrong. She had not started breathing again, nor moving for that matter. Her physical body was in splendid shape. However, her soul had not yet returned to her body. Sesshomaru wondered why this was, and thought about the last moments of her life. Perhaps she did not want to return, seeing as how his hanyou half brother had abandoned her when she had requested to see him one last time.



Suprising everyone in the room, he took a knee by her cot, and actually picked up Kagome's right arm, cradling her hand in between the two of his, and started to purr, softly and warmly. But it wasn't like he had affected new feelings towards Kagome or anything, as he tried to reason with himself. Rather, he had made a silent promise to Rin that he would heal Kagome of her injuries, and he couldn't very well carry out those promises unless he enticed her soul to return to her body.



* * *



Kagome could feel the pull to head back down getting stronger, and therefore she resisted it all the more. With the emotional pain she was feeling right now from the seemingly betrayal of the one that she loved so much, all she wanted to do was transition into the afterlife and seek comfort within the embrace of her father, and eventually her family as well, although that would take some time to happen.



But then a new feeling entered into her emotions. She suddenly felt warm, and calmed down considerably. The pull was still there, but there was something else as well. Kagome wondered what this new feeling was, but she no longer felt like she wanted to go up into the sky above. She felt okay with returning to her body, and so she let the strange pull guide her back into her vassal of flesh...



* * *



Sesshomaru could feel the miko's pulse quicken within her hand, moments before her eyelids began to flutter and she let out a small moan. Miroku, Sango, and Kaede all gasped, while Shippou began to jump for joy. While they had seen the Tensiega in action before, for a little while there it looked like it wasn't going to work on Kagome.



The miko opened her eyes just then, and when focused had returned, she looked around the room. There was the three humans and her kitsune standing there in the hutt. But what suprised the hell out of her was the figure kneeling next to her side. It was none other than Sesshomaru, and what was extremly suprising, was that he was holding her right hand in between both of his arms.



'Wait, both of his arms? When did his other one return? Did he regenerate it or something?' wondered Kagome. She smiled, glad to be back despite the feelings that she had endured while transiting up into heaven. The smile faded away somewhat as she knew that she wouldn't be reunited with her father just yet, but someday she would. It's best to just focus on the here and the now.



Sesshomaru glanced down from her face when her hand tightened around his own, returning the embrace. He let go of her hand then, and stood up. Without so much as a greeting to her return or a farewell, he turned his back and began to head out of the hutt. Kagome sat up, noting that the pain was absent, and did a quick-over of herself. The bottom of her shirt was shredded where the pike had hit her, exposing her navel, but the flesh beneath was perfectly okay.



Kagome looked at the retreating form of the demon as he moved for the entrance. Making up her mind in a hurry, taking the events of the last several hours into account, she began to speak to him.



"Sesshomaru-sama, where are you going?" she inquired. Kagome found herself suprised by the formal title that she had used to address him, and realised that having been healed by his sword, and the emotions, slight but present, that he had shown for her, was enough to raise her respect of him by several notches. Upon hearing her voice, the demon stopped his progress, and turned to look at her, the coldness in his eyes present once again.



"Where I am going, is none of your concern, but only of this Sesshomaru's." the demon replied, cooly and without any hint of the emotions that he had privatly shared with her earlier.



Kagome looked almost as if she had been struck across the face, then decided to ask another question.



"Well geez, sorry to be a waste of your time. Why did you stay, anyways?" asked Kagome in a huffy and anger tinted voice. The other humans and kitsune in the room looked on with gaping eyes and opened mouths as the exchange went back and forth.



"Healing your injuries and saving your life was the least this one could do, seeing as how he failed in the protection of his retainer and loyal followers." replied Sesshomaru in a purely flat voice. She was fairly sure that he was struggling to keep his emotions in check, and therefore it was not a suprise when he resumed his pace and was out of the door in moments.



Kagome yawned then, feeling somewhat tired from the day's activities. But instead of lying back down on the cot, she wanted to get up and stretch, not to mention getting something to eat and drink. Swinging her legs off the hay and onto the floor, she gingerly got to her feet. However, being in an out of body experience tends to distort one's self. She wobbled and then tripped over herself, before falling into the arms of Miroku, who had come to help her. Sango came to her other side, and Shippou stood before her.



"Hey guys, it's good to be back." said Kagome. She sounded happy and lonesome at the same time, and now the tears that she had felt in wisp form began to flow forth, spilling from her eyes. Into the tears of sadness also flowed though tears of happiness, and they streamed down her face in rivers of clear liquid. Miroku and Sango, and even Shippou were also crying, and the four of them embraced, the three humans sinking to their knees as they cried and wept and hugged in a joyful reunion.



* * *



"Lord Sesshomaru, did you heal Rin's friend?" asked the little girl the moment the demon had emerged from the hutt. Her heart had felt whole again, and the void that was there had disappeared. She knew that whatever was wrong had been fixed, and she just knew that Kagome was alright, but she still had to be sure.



"Yes Rin. She is fine, and everything is okay now. Gather Ah-Un and Jaken. We will be leaving immediatly." replied Sesshomaru. He let some emotion leak into his voice when addressing his loyal follower, and watched as she moved off to go about her duties. It appeared that rather then comfort the girl, Jaken had preferred to take the mount off to get some grass. Sesshomaru cracked his knuckles, for it appeared he was going to have to teach the toad another lesson.



He heard the weeping start up again inside the hutt, and could feel waves of emotions pouring out from inside to wash over him. There was still a tint of sadness, no doubt pertaining to the absence of his half brother, but by and large these were tears of happiness, the reunion between loved ones and friends that were seperated and lost. Sesshomaru felt a burning sensation in his eyes. He lifted his hand and delicatley wiped them to clear them of the offending particles. When he looked at his hand, he was suprised to see his own tears glistening in the sunlight.



* * *



Inuyasha had stopped crying, and now felt calm and composed. Moments earlier he had felt like his heart had been ripped out, but with Kikyo comforting him, that helped somewhat. But oddly, somehow now he felt whole again. He looked up into her eyes, and saw her smiling sadly at him. He elected to stand up and brush himself off from where he had been groveling in the dirt in emotional pain.



"Inuyasha, are you going to be okay?" asked Kikyo in a whisper. She did not know that Kagome had been healed, and so was worried that the hanyou was shunting aside his emotions. Demons could be dangerous when this occured, but she remembered that Inuyasha has had a lifetime of pain and probably knew what he was doing. His answer suprised her.



"I don't know. Moments ago, I felt like my heart had been ripped out of my body. I felt lost, and confused. But now, now my heart feels whole again. I don't know what to make of it." said the hanyou, as he stared back in the direction of the village.



"Kagome had died, I know that much for certain. Right before you broke down, I felt as though my soul had become whole again. That would indicate that hers has been released from her body." stated Kikyo in a matter of fact voice. She still didn't know what to make of it, but she didn't want him to get any false hopes up.



"That must be it then. Kagome had died and passed away, and then Sesshomaru healed her with the Tensiega, so she is alright now." said Inuyasha, happiness returning to his voice. Kikyo sighed to herself silently. While she did know of Sesshomaru's healing sword, the Tensiega, if Kagome had been healed, then wouldn't that section of her soul have returned to the miko. Still, she was curious.



"Then go to the village, and make for certain that Kagome is allright." ordered Kikyo. While she wanted him to stay here and allow herself to comfort him, she would not deal with these damned false hopes that he always came up with. When he learned the truth and came back, she would be here to help him.



"Okay." was all that Inuyasha had to say in return. Turning a smile for his beloved and her understanding, Inuyasha picked up the bag and headed back towards the village at a fast run. He just knew that Kagome was all right, and he would be glad to see her again, live and well. And he couldn't wait to see the look on her face when she was reunited with him once again.



* * *



The castle was situated not far from where the village was located, although it's presence was protected by a barrier of dark energy that had been erected around it. To the casual passerby, it would appear to be a normal lake just like any other. To those who would stop and taste it's waters, they would die a very quick and painful death from the miasma of it's creator and maintainer.



Naraku looked over to where Hakudoshi was healing his body within it's purple barrier. The demon was not pleased with what the minion had reported to him about the day's events.



"It appears that Kagome's will is much stronger than we thought. Simply breaking her by physical or sexual torture may not be enough. Besides, I do not want to damage her too much physically." said Naraku, hardening his eyes in the kids direction as he said the last.



"The saimyoshi trailing her whereabouts now has reported that she has been revived by Sesshomaru's sword. Even now a sickening display of emotional reunion is about." replied the kid.



"Maybe we could get to her by killing her friends off, one by one. Seeing as how it affected her friends when she died, I imagine it would be an entertaining and effective prospect." Naraku thought.



"Nah, it would be counter-productive. She woud be broken at first, but then her emotions would turn to full anger, and she would force us to destroy her. We must somehow ensure her compliance, no matter what." pondered Hakudoshi in response. The kid had finished healing his body, and now stood on the ground as his barrier dissolved.



"Hmmm, I have an idea. Here, take this." said Naraku as he tossed a shard of the sacred jewel into the kid's grasp. Hakudoshi looked confused for a moment, and looked inquringly into the demon's eyes, which were now wide in glee and excitment.



"Besides Kagome and Inuyasha, it is said that others who wish to use the magic of the bone eater's well must possess a shard of the sacred jewel." stated Naraku simply. The kid smiled suddenly as he understood what Naraku wanted him to do. Hand tightening around the jewel shard, he moved off to carry out his duties.