Chapter Eight:

Chapter Eight:

We all walked in a somewhat silent bubble. The only person talking was Shippo, whom was actually just singing to himself because the rest of us were so caught up in thought that we wouldn’t answer if he tried to talk to us.

I pondered what Kaede had unfolded on me, so many moons ago.

When Kaede first said that Inuyasha might have a slight interest in me, I laughed. Impossible. He was just friendly and for the most part he treated me like anyone else.

But now… Let’s just say that I’ve noticed…several signs…

I sighed softly to myself. Do I like him back? Now that’s the big question.

If I’m being honest with myself, and I mean truly honest-as in I’ve sworn in and agreed to speak nothing but the truth-honest, then yes, I like him A LOT. But I am stubborn, and not willing to admit that truth yet. Not even to myself.

Now you understand why we all screamed and practically peed our pants when two figures emerged from the forest trees, one warrior looking one prepared to attack.

“Are you Inuyasha?” She was glaring at Inuyasha, her hand on a boomerang as she waited for his answer. She looked pretty beat up. I felt sorry for her.

“Who’s asking?” Inuyasha snapped, as friendly as usual.

“Be nice!” I growled at him, flicking him on the head as I shoved past him. I smiled slightly at the confused female.

“Hi, I’m Kimi. What’s your name?”

“Do not listen to her, Sango, she is the enchantress I warned you about.” The male wore a baboon fur which covered his face. Inuyasha snarled. “Naraku!”

“I’m going to take that as a complement, Mr. ‘Naraku’.” My eyes narrowed in his direction.

“I have no qualms with the enchantress. I will not harm her. But Inuyasha, prepare to die.” Her words had a grave tone in them. I frowned slightly, hearing great sadness in her voice. 

“You will have to defeat the enchantress to get to Inuyasha, Sango, for she is his mate.”

“Excuse me now? I am not Inuyasha’s mate. I am his friend. FRIEND. Spell it with me now, F-R-I-E-N-D.” I scowled, crossing my arms over my chest in the process.

Sango simply stared at me, seemingly debating.

“Do not believe her, dear Sango, remember what she can do.”

“What? What can I do?” I asked, looking at the monkey confused.

“Don’t listen to her lies.”

I glared at him. “I’m not the one who’s fucking lying here, dude, I’m trying to figure out what all I can ‘do’. If you cared to enlighten me, please do.”

“I’m sorry, but I do not know who to believe. So I will have to kill you.”

I turned around just in time to see Sango take aim at me. Before any damage could be done, however, Inuyasha swooped me up and jumped to a tree branch.

“Stay here!” He set me down quickly and unsheathed the Tetsusagia, jumping down and charging towards Sango.

“Like hell I will.” I grumbled to myself, looking down.

I stopped cold in my tracks. “Okay…maybe I will.” I said weakly, wrapping my arms around the large tree trunk and squeezing my eyes shut. Long story short…I was VERY high up.

That’s when the trunk started to move.

My eyes snapped open, my vision blurred. I could see the tree and the branch I was sitting on just fine, but my surroundings were hard to see. Then it stopped. I blinked and looked down, my feet touching the ground.

“What. The. Hell.” I looked to the other side. Sure enough the grass was a few inches from the branch I was sitting on. I reached down and patted the ground.

It was real.

I laughed a little, a scared little sound that barely made it past my lips, and climbed off the branch. The tree nodded towards me and then stood up, growing taller again. I stared up at it, shocked, and squeaked a little before running back to the fight.

Sango was now covered in her own blood, barely able to stand. Inuyasha had a few scrapes himself but he could still hold strong. Neither side looked read to give up.

I found Kagome behind a rock, nursing a sickly looking Miroku.

“Oh my god, what happened?”

I knelt down next to them and felt Miroku’s forehead.

“He went to fight Naraku but Naraku let out a swarm of poisonous bees loose. Miroku used his wind tunnel and sucked most of them up!” Kagome replied worriedly. I scowled and stood.

“I’ll be back.”

I ran towards the fight, eyes scanning the woods for Naraku. Instead, I found him in the air.

I growled to myself and looked to the trees, helplessly looking for a way to fly.

‘We’ll carry you!’ I looked around, looking for someone nearby. The only living things I saw, besides trees and grass, was these two largish birds. They stared at me, as if expecting me to do something.

“Uhh…did you just talk?”

‘Why yes silly! All animals can talk!’ One bird laughed, nudging the other with his wing. I blinked, sure this was a dream, and then shrugged.

“Just don’t go too high…” I muttered, climbing onto the bird’s back.

‘Anything for our mistress.’ The bird took off, the other flying next to it, and stayed lower to the ground then Naraku was.

I growled, irritated because I couldn’t reach him.

‘That’s where I can help, my lady, don’t fret.’ The other bird winked at me and flew faster, moving closer to Naraku and leaving me behind, completely stunned. The bird flew up and then dove down, knocking Naraku to the forest floor. I looked back and noticed Sango, almost finished, and Inuyasha running after me.

“I hope he makes it…”

‘You do not need the half dog demon, mistress, you are way more powerful.’ The bird I was sitting on smiled up at me before landing next to a now standing Naraku.

“So, you’re a nature demon.” I could almost hear the sneer from behind his baboon costume. He had really pissed me off.

“Yes I am. Got a fucking problem with that, monkey boy?”

“I do not appreciate that name, Kimi.”

“Oh please. Does it look like I care? You wanted Sango to kill me, remember?” I sneered, circling him slowly.

He didn’t move, instead he watched me as I stalked him. I debated on the slowest, most torturous way to kill him.

“I do not wish to harm you, dear Kimi, I only wish to help you.”

“Like you could.” I scoffed, rolling my eyes. He just wanted Sango to kill me, what maybe two minutes ago?

“You do not understand the full extent of your powers, demon. I can teach you.”

I stared at him blankly. “Seriously?”

“Yes. You could become the most powerful demon who ever walked.”

I smiled softly and shook my head. “I don’t care about that. I can figure out my powers myself, or if I need to I can ask Inuyasha or someone else for help. That’s not my main priority in life.” I continued to stalk him.

Naraku let out a soft sigh. “I do not wish to kill you, Kimi.”

“Really now? And why is that?”

“You are a powerful demon. With your help we can have all the shards and use them to become powerful.”

“What about Inuyasha? He’s pretty powerful yet you don’t ask him for help.”

“Inuyasha is nothing but a half breed, vermin in the eyes of us full demons. I have no need for him.”

I snarled at him. Large vines broke the surface of the earth, entangling themselves around Naraku. The baboon man simply scowled.

“Inuyasha is my friend. He is not vermin. He’s a great guy and he’s funny and fun to mess with. I think he’s powerful, so powerful in fact that I believe if he tried hard enough he’d be more powerful then you and Sesshomaru combined.” I growled, watching almost in pleasure as the vines grip grew tighter with ever word, almost strangling poor Naraku.

“Ha, I find it hysterical that you think you can beat me. Especially with vines.” Naraku chuckled, appearing behind me.

“Huh?” I turned, only to feel something sharp curl around my waist. I gasped out, blood spilling out from my waist as the thorny roots curled tighter around my waist. I trialed them up to Naraku, who seemed to stand on a bunch of wild thrashing roots. I soon realized that they were attached to him.

“Kimi!” Inuyasha ran out of the woods, Tetsusagia ready, and snarled at Naraku. “You bastard.”

“O-ow!” I gasped, crying out as the tight roots seemed to break my hips. It sure felt like it, though I was sure nothing was broke yet. It might just be the roots brushing up against my bone, the skin already gone. I didn’t look down. That’d be one nasty picture.

I placed two hands, palm down, on the roots that held me and shakily shut my eyes. I concentrated hard.

Darkness. Swirling dark spidery designs covered the roots. It was so dark, indescribably dark. I gasped out and held my hands to my chest, staring at the roots in fear. I knew they were beyond my help, forever doomed to darkness.

“Hold on Kimi! I’m coming!” Inuyasha shouted, although it sounded farther away. I blinked slowly and turned to him. I shook now, badly, and I couldn’t stop. I was loosing way to much blood. Dark spots started to cover my vision.

Someone screamed, an ear piercing gut wrenching scream that seemed to echo off the trees and grow louder ever second. I didn’t recognize it as my scream, I didn’t even know my mouth had opened. I just knew the roots had ripped off any last pieces of skin around my hips and that I fell to the forest floor, bare to the bone.

I couldn’t move, or open my eyes. My body was numb. No matter how much I tried my body seemed like a lifeless fish out of water. Just laying here. The numbness was all to familiar.

I heard a strangled cry and then a gasp. Someone touched my forehead softly, tears dripping on me. I wanted to groan or to wipe them off or something.

“Oh my god, Kimi’s still alive!” It was Kagome. I guess she had finally realized that my chest was still moving lightly and I was breathing. It all reminded me of that night when the paramedics found me.  

I heard a fierce snarl. “It was a damn puppet!” I felt someone touch the skin, just above my deadly wound.

“There’s no way she could’ve survived this…” He murmured.

“But look, she’s breathing.”

“I know. I don’t smell death, stupid. I was just saying.” He snapped. “Here, give me one of your extra shirts.” I heard some rustling and then tearing noises.

A strangled gasp and then everything went black.

Inuyasha made himself stop shaking. He wrapped the shirt bandages around Kimi’s hips, thinking.

This was all his fault.

He had waited, watching from the trees as Naraku spoke to Kimi. Kimi looked like she had everything under control, Naraku made it seem that way. Plus, he had wanted to hear what Kimi would say.

He wanted to cry. For the first time nine years he wanted to curl up in a ball and just weep. The only thing that stopped him now was Kagome, who was watching Inuyasha as he slowly and carefully picked up her unconscious cousin. She was sobbing, barely able to see two feet in front of her. Inuyasha held Kimi close to his chest, keeping a poker face plastered to his face, not wanting to give away any emotion.

Miroku was okay now, well enough to carry Sango, who was passed out. Shippo wailed when he saw Kimi, moving to Inuyasha’s shoulders as they started towards a village Inuyasha had seen earlier.

“I-inuya-yasha? Will…will she make it?” Shippo gasped out between cries. Inuyasha kept his jaw clenched, ignoring everyone’s stare.

Just one foot in front of the other. Move, Inuyasha. He growled to himself, his grip on Kimi tightening slightly. He didn’t speak. He couldn’t speak. If he opened his mouth he might cry. Right now he had to be strong and get Kimi back to health. He would stop at nothing until she was okay again. He refused to let her die.

Inuyasha broke into a run, nearing the village, just as Sango started to come too in Miroku’s arms.

“Hnm? Where’s he going?” he heard her murmur softly.

“Kimi received some pretty bad wounds…Inuyasha’s worried…” Miroku trailed off in barely a whisper. Kagome couldn’t stop crying and Shippo had felt it was his duty to make sure she didn’t run into anything.

Inuyasha kicked the door to the first house he had seen and set Kimi on one of the beds. From what he could tell, the town was empty. Tons of rotting corpses littered the streets. He figured a demon must’ve attacked the village.

Inuyasha worked silently, allowing several tears to fall as he unwrapped Kimi’s bandages and cleaned the wound. He was terrified, he could see all the way to her hip bone in some places.

He honestly had no clue what to do. He had heard a little while ago that when a demon puts his blood inside a mortal the mortal could become demon or at least half. But Kimi was already half demon, which is probably why she survived the injury in the first place, and he didn’t know if it would work.

“All I can do is try…” Inuyasha murmured shakily, running a long nail along the inside of his palm. Blood flowed out of the gash in a steady river, falling to Kimi’s bloody hip.

I blinked. Lost in a strange world full of vibrant colors. A dream.

My mother smiled at me warmly from her seat across from me. We sat on our porch’s old wicker chairs, rocking back and forth as the bright sun started to set behind the trees. Mom took a sip of her coke, turning to watch the sun set while I looked around.

“Mom?”

My mother turned. “Hnm?”

“What…what’s going on?”

My mother gave me a confused look. “Whatcha mean?”

I looked around. I wasn’t in Feudal Japan…Hell, I wasn’t even in Japan! I was in Arizona, back at home, sitting on my front porch…with my dead mother.

“Um…never mind?” I sat back in my chair, my hands resting on my lap. I wore a soft white strapless sundress and white flats. A white rose rested behind my ear, the thorns cut so I wouldn’t be harmed.

“So…I heard you met someone?” My mom gave me a knowing smile. I knew immediately that she was talking about Inuyasha. I felt my cheeks heat up.

“Meh.” I looked away.

“You wanna talk about it?” I blinked and turned to my mom, sighing.

“Yeah…” I brushed a strand of hair out of my face, but didn’t turn to my mother. She laughed lightly.

“I see what the problem is.”

“What?” I turned to her, giving her a weird look.

“You don’t want to admit that you’re in loooooove!!” My mother sang, smiling at me teasingly. I growled. “Sh-shut up.”

“Hmm, you know he seems to care about you a lot.”

“What do you mean?” I watched as my mom stared into her cup.

“See for yourself.” My mom passed me the cup. I gave her a weird look. She sent me one back and motioned for me to look into the cup. I sighed and peered in.

Inside the dark brown colored coke was a picture. The picture wasn’t as bright as this world, the colors weren’t as vibrant, but it was still clear enough to see. The room was light, only because it was daytime and the sun shone through the windows in soft little rays. My body was laid on a bed in the corner, bloody bandages wrapped around my waist. Inuyasha’s chin rested on the mattress, his wary gold eyes barely able to stay open. His ears were back, flat against his head, and if I looked closer I could see dried tears stains on his cheeks.

“Inuyasha?” Kagome entered the room slowly, holding a bowl of steaming ramen. Inuyasha didn’t move or look up. He didn’t even grunt, which is abnormal for him.

“You need to eat something…” Kagome squatted down next to him, holding out the bowl. “You lost a lot of blood too.”

Inuyasha twitched. “I don’t want food.”

“Then what do you want?” Kagome asked softly, even though he was growling at her.

“I want Kimi to be okay!” He snarled at her, glaring at the mattress on which his chin sat on.

Kagome looked utterly defeated. Sad wary eyes looked to my body, tears brimming in her eyes.

“I know. I do too.” She stood then, leaving the bowl on the floor, and left the room.

I sighed softly, staring into the cup sadly.

“You see?” I handed my mother her coke back but didn’t look at her.

I broke the silence by asking the question I’ve been dying to ask.

“Are we dead?”

My mom didn’t speak for a moment. She just stared into her cup.

“Sorta.”

I stared at her, an eyebrow raised, as I waited for her to explain.

My mom sighed softly, not looking at me as she explained.

“In a sense, yes. I am dead. You, however, are on the bridge.”

“I’m on a bridge?”

“You’re on THE bridge. There’s a bridge in between life and death. You, unlike me, have a choice. You can stay here and a bloody rose will appear beside your body, symbolizing your death, or you can choose to live.”

“Will I remember this?”

“Maybe. I do not know.”

I nodded, not looking at her.

“Momma…”

“You know what I want you to do?” I glanced at her out of the corner of my eyes.

“What?”

“I want you to live. I want you to kick that Naraku’s ass.” My mom chuckled darkly, looking into her cup again.

I sighed, shaking my head. “But I miss you, Mommy.”

“I know, baby, I miss you too.” She smiled at me sadly. “But you deserve to live. You need to live. Inuyasha needs you.”

I fell silent at that one. I knew it and I couldn’t deny it. I let out a shaky sigh and leaned my head back against the wicker chair, closing my eyes.

“And we will be seeing each other again…”

“What do you mean?” My eyes snapped opened, turning to look at my mother.

“This will not be your last brush with death.” My mom said quietly, glancing up at me from her cup. I swallowed thickly.

More dying? Good god.

“Seriously? I’m going to die again.”

“No, well yes, but no. You’re not dead! You’re on the bridge. As long as nothing bad happens to your body you can live. But if something happens to your body then the rose will start to grow.”

I sighed. “Why a rose?”

My mom smiled, laughing a little, obviously relieved to get off the my-deaths topic. “The bloody rose symbolizes a powerful nature demons death. Every degree of power has it’s own flower. The flower that appears shows how strong the demon was and the blood symbolizes death. You would be a rose.”

“I would?”

My mom nodded, watching as the last rays of sun started to disappear.

“Yes. When ever there is death around a nature demon a bloody flower will grow.” My mom’s tone dripped in pain. I stared at her worriedly.

“Mom?”

“You need to go back now.” She said softly, almost strangled.

“What?”

She turned to me, smiling through the pain. “I love you, Kimi-bear. Be strong. I’ll see you soon, baby. Here drink this.” My mom handed me her coke. I gave her a weird look.

“It will let you live.”

My eyes widened. Coke? Let’s you live? Ha I knew it. A little smug, I took a sip from the coke.

I blinked. Light filled my eyes. I gasped and squeezed my eyes shut again.

“Kimi!”

I groaned and turned my head, watching as a rose bud slowly retreated back into the ground. I blinked hard, trying to focus my blurry vision.

“Kimi can you hear me?”

Golden eyes appeared as my eyes finally focused. Worried gold eyes.

I smiled, remembering my dream, and nodded. Inuyasha let out a shaky laugh, pressing a clawed hand to my forehead.

“You’re okay…”

I watched as he leaned back against the dresser that had been moved near the bed. His eyes were closed, his lips tugged up into a small smile. I stretched my fingers, watching as they uncurled and cracked. I almost didn’t hear the door open.

I looked up as a dark figure entered the room and walked towards us.

It was Sango.