Let Me Alone

A/N: I edited this, adding more to this chapter. The next is underway and I am sorry for the delay. I have moved and am without internet till the end of the month. :)

[continuation of Flashback]

She was filthy, covered in dirt and grime, and she was hungry. The first two days of not eating went by painstakingly slow, but she managed. She had chewed on bark to try and hold her until she was able to find food. Kagome swore under her breath. Her miko powers were not healing her twisted ankle as they should be, so she was not able to travel very far. After falling from the tree, she had sat for hours just crying. Not only because of Inuyasha, but because she was lost deep inside the forest, because she was injured, because she was hungry and dirty, because she had no way of protecting herself, and because she wasn’t one-hundred percent sure she’d ever see her family again. She had said that she wouldn’t cry again, but she couldn’t help it. Tears continued to pour out of her swollen eyes until she was sure her body would wrinkle up and die. In some ways, she wished she would have died at the battlefield. She wouldn’t be lost in the forest, unarmed, or hurt. She gave one last sob before she bit the inside of her cheek, cursing herself for crying. No more.

She opened her eyes, glaring out at the black forest. It was too dark to see and the moon was hidden behind the clouds. Her ankle throbbed and she was beginning to feel light-headed. She knew sleep would overtake her soon, but she didn’t want to be on the ground, again, unaware of what was going on around her. The freezing air was biting into her skin, sinking down into the bones of her frail body. She seemed to have lost weight in the last few days and her clothing was beginning to look more like rags than anything else. It did nothing to protect her from the harsh weather and barely covered her body. She picked herself from the bitter ground and began half-dragging, half-walking her way into the darkness. She didn’t care where she was headed, she just needed to move. She could not stay in one place for very long. The demons of the forest would pick up her scent and, being that she was injured, would pick her skin clean from her bones.

[/end of Flashback]

As she stared off into the blackness of the forest, she heard a small cry. Picking herself from the frozen ground, her body moved against her will in curiosity towards the shout. She knew demons could often mimic the sound of a small child, luring their prey, but she could not stop her feet from moving forward, as badly as they were injured. If there were any bit of solids in her stomach in which she could lurch up, her stomach would be rightfully doing so at this moment. Her horror-filled eyes took in the sight of a small child, no more than three or four, being sodomized and shredded by a pack of enraged boars. Her eyeless sockets stared into Kagome’s deep brown orbs, offering no mercy to those of the weak-hearted.

The pack, being so enthralled with mutilating the child, did not hear Kagome’s footsteps or hear her plea for them to stop. As much pain as she was in, Kagome’s anger overtook her sense of control and she began to screech at the ravaging hogs. She picked up small limbs that had fallen from an earlier time and began throwing each with all her might, begging for the beasts to stop. The group did not seem to understand the human language but more along the lines of body language; the head boar gave three loud snorts and turned his frightening black eyes upon the human woman. [i]”Female. Injured. Afraid.”[/i] The other demons turned their matching black eyes onto Kagome’s slim figure, eyeing her. They could all smell her fear and could almost taste her sweet innocent blood on their lips. Each licking their lips slowly, they began nearing her, panting in anticipation of their alluring prize.

As each of those terrorizing set of eyes landed upon her body, Kagome froze mid-swing and stood, stick raised above her head waiting to be launched. She didn’t hear the branch hit the ground as it fell from her numb palm nor did she hear the high-pitched screech of the pigs. She turned on her ankle, twisting it a second time, and began running as fast as her languid limbs would allow her. Pain seemed to ebb a bit as horror began to take over her mind, the image of the disfigured child still burned fresh into her memory; she was not sure of what she feared more: what the demons would do to her when she was alive or after she had passed into Limbo. She gave a shudder, not wanting to think about the outcome. The boars, delighted in a chase, did not waste time in pursuing her.

Kagome tore blindly through the trees, not looking ahead or behind her. She stared at her feet, trying her best to not trip and fall. The squeals rattled in her skull as her heart pounded loudly against her ribcage; she could almost feel the putrid smell of the demons’ breath on her neck when she slammed hard into a tree that…grabbed her hand? She felt a rush of air and faintly heard the dying noise of the boar demons, each screaming out in anguish. Afraid to look up, she opened her eyes that she did not remember shutting only to find herself staring at a sheet of white. She blinked. The iron grip on her wrist was beginning to ache and, though her body was numb from the cold air, she was sure it would ache in the morning…if she made it that long.

Venturing further on up, she tilted her head slightly, only to have her eyes widen in dread. Brown eyes clashed with glowering golden orbs before she was dropped roughly on the ground.