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scriveynerTitle: My Immortal - 1 - Down the Well
Fandom: Inuyasha
AU: crossing worlds
Characters/Pairing: Kagome, Kage, Sota
Rating: T
Length: 2457
Summary:
The night air was cooler than she expected. Higurashi Kagome pushed open the door and walked on to the porch. She was as quiet as she could be, shutting the door behind her and cinching her robe tight. She could see the streetlights faintly reflected off of glass, but it was still the darkness that attracted her. A full moon hung low in the sky, scant clouds darting quickly across its face. She tilted her face up to the sky and stared at the stars.
She had the dream again. It had been a long time since she dreamt of those horrible few days that had ended with her being banished back to the present time and the well being destroyed. Time had yet to heal the wound in her heart, and often she wondered if it would ever heal properly.
It did her no good to wonder anymore. It just opened more wounds. Farewells she never got to say lingered in her memories, and a heavy guilt made her shoulders sag. Kagome sat heavily on the steps, feeling short of breath. Suddenly being silent didn't matter any more, it was more of a labor to keep breathing.
A cool breeze pushed sweat across her neck, and she wondered idly how it had gotten so warm outside. She rested her head against the banister and stared at the grass, watching as the black-green lightened considerably as lights came on behind her. "Mom?"
"Kagome? Where are you?" No, that wasn't her mother. What was she thinking, her mother had passed away two years ago this spring. The voice belonged to Sota, her younger brother and the keeper of the shrine. "Kagome?"
Why couldn't she answer him? Kagome swallowed, but couldn't summon the words to tell him she was on the porch. She was fine ... so why couldn't she say that? Instead, she closed her eyes, tears beginning to burn traces across her cheeks. It had been her fault, she was sure of it. If only she had treated him better, if only she could have seen everything coming ... then maybe all of her friends would be alive today. Maybe they would all be happily celebrating some anniversary or another, picnicking under the sakura like any other extended family.
Maybe.
The heat and the pain overwhelmed her all at once, and Kagome was glad for the porch railing that now supported her.
She had tried so many times to go back. The hole where the well had once been however had become nothing more than an open sore in the ground, a grave begging to be filled. Sota had promised her that this summer they'd bring in fresh sod and close it up forever, perhaps planting one of the seedlings of the dying god-tree in its maw. Perhaps it would bring her some closure, although she knew it was a false hope. She would always be reminded of what could have been simply by looking into the face of her son.
Kage was a bright boy, quick on his feet and equally quick with his mind. He did have a bad attitude and temper, but Kagome could not determine if that was inherited or an inherent trait of being a teenager. As much as Kagome loved him, though, it often brought her pain to see him. She tried to mask it, but she knew he was beginning to pick up on it, and that hurt even more.
Maybe if he didn't look so much like Inuyasha, it wouldn't hurt as much. The boy had the same facial structure, though, and his hair tended to fall in the same way, although Kagome would not let him grow it out. However, the thing that was the worst for everyone, not just her, were his ears. Although Kage had a lot of Inuyasha's features, the only true demon-characteristic he inherited was his dog-ears. The eyes were dismissed as cosmetic contacts, and his fangs completely ignored. However, it was next to impossible to explain the dog ears almost lost in his rich black hair, so Kagome had instilled into the boy from an early age that he should always keep them covered by a hat of some sort. This was the one thing that Kage had never fought her on.
However, around the shrine he tended to not even bother with the hat, never mind his school uniform. Sota was instructing a class on kendo and Kage was very keen to take part in it. He kept his ears wrapped up in the towel that went under the helmet so not to raise any eyebrows, but he had taken up wearing his hakama and short-sleeved dogi whenever not in his school uniform, and it was very disconcerting for Kagome. While it was not as red or ... well, poofy as Inuyasha's outfit, it still would surprise her when he appeared out of nowhere.
Kagome smiled slightly to herself. She had only once described Inuyasha's pants as "poofy" and his expression had been priceless. As abruptly as the memory brought her a smile, it also brought tears to her eyes.
How could he have ever betrayed them like that?
"There you are, Kagome." Sota stood in the doorway, leaning on the doorframe. "Why didn't you answer me?"
"I... don't know." Kagome drew her knees to her chest. The heat was receding and her thoughts cleared further. She wondered if she should worry about the heat, about the dizziness and faintness. She thought about mentioning it to Sota, but thought better of it almost immediately. If she did that he'd banish her to bed immediately and doctor to her. She didn't want him to be put out of his way for her, she and Kage were already living in his home. "I've been ... thinking."
"You've been dwelling on the past again, is what you've been doing." Sota came out and sat on the step beside her. "I can always tell."
Kagome glanced at him. He was so much bigger than she was ... it still seemed like yesterday that she could pick him up with no problems. She wondered if she should respond, or even if she could respond. Instead, she simply put her head on his shoulder and cried.
#
Higurashi Kageyasha stared at the ceiling over his bed, his head pillowed in his arms. The ceiling had plenty of cracks in it, but other than that was wholly uninteresting.
Wan sunlight filtered through the blinds and cast patterns over the carpet. He rolled over on to his side and watched some dust motes in the sunlight, ears twitching slightly. The doctor was leaving, he could identify the footsteps on the stairs. He sat up then, glancing through the blinds. He watched his uncle Sota converse with the man, then shake his free hand brusquely. Kage sighed and let the blinds snap back to the original shape.
His mother was getting worse, despite her denials. He wasn't sure if it was a mental or a physical sickness, but it was taking its toll heavily on her. They had relocated three months ago from the small apartment in Kyoto that Kage had grown up in to this old shrine in Tokyo. It wasn't as if he had never been to the shrine before ... he had been to his grandmother's a lot, but when she died two years ago they had stopped coming. Then, when his mother started to become ill and lost her job, Sota offered them a home in the shrine. Kage wasn't too happy with the move but wouldn't complain ... his main issue was leaving all of his friends and his familiar high school. His friends in Kyoto were completely comfortable with who ... and what he was. They had gone through grade school together and were about to enter high school when all of this happened. Now Kage attended a school where he didn't know anyone, and no one seemed interested in getting to know him.
"Their problem," he muttered, picking up an airplane he had crafted from paper fished from the trashcan. He watched the paper glide lazily around the room until it hit a wall. The nose crumpled on contact, then it fell disgracefully to the floor.
Disgusted, Kage sat up. He grabbed his current favorite hate, a dark green baseball cap and pulled in on backwards before padding down the hallway quietly. His mother's door was open a crack and he paused there, but Kagome wasn't awake. She lay under the sheets, her skin sallow against the pillow and her bangs clinging to her head with sweat.
Now angry, Kage flew down the steps. His uncle was in the kitchen, preparing some food on a tray in the vain hope that he could get his older sister to eat something. "Where are you off to?" he asked automatically as Kage flew through.
"None of your business," Kage growled, although he wasn't planning on go further than the shrine.
"It is my business for as long as your mother is incapacitated," Sota said calmly, slicing a radish.
"'Incapacitated.'" Kage snorted. "Another word for deathly ill, I'm sure. Why won't you just be straight with me, huh?"
Sota put down the knife but didn't look at Kage. "You want me to be straight with you? All right. Your mother is dying, and we don't know why and there isn't a damned thing we can do to stop it!"
Kage felt his face drain of all color. He had not been serious about the deathly ill thing ... he knew his mother was sick but he had not stopped to consider how sick. Without a word, he turned and fled out the door.
Sota immediately realized his mistake. "Kage! Dammit, wait a minute!" However, by the time he had gotten out the door the hanyou was long gone. Sota stood in the door, angry with himself. "God dammit," he snarled, punching the doorframe so hard he bloodied his fist. "Damn it all..."
#
Kage was up the god-tree faster than he thought possible. He had always been proud of the fact that he could climb the tree ... although his hands and feet didn't look it they were really great for climbing things. He sat on the lowest branch, which was still a good twenty feet off the ground. He didn't sit so much as he did perch, it was easier to clutch the branch when he perched.
He was breathing hard, and he couldn't figure out why. Kage had never even stopped to consider how sick his mother really was. It was just something he had gotten used to, and he wasn't sure why. All these mixed up things swirled through his head, emotions jumbled together like they had been run through a cement mixer. What would he do without her? The thought was too hideous to even comprehend.
Kage watched Sota pace past the tree, obviously in search of him. To apologize, perhaps, but what good would it do him? How could he have been so blind as to never even think of this?
How could the doctors not know what her sickness was? In this day and age of technology, for something to go undiagnosed was beyond bizarre. It was wrong, so wrong. "Why can't I just get away from this?" Kage wondered bitterly.
Sota was gone now, and Kage hardly felt like moving but he did so. He started to shift when the building he had been forbidden to ever go near caught his eye. Like the rest of the shrine, it was kept in pristine condition, but the door was boarded shut. That wasn't particularly what caught his eye. What caught his eye was that the space around the frame was glowing with a soft rose light.
Kage leapt down from the tree, managing to land lightly and without injuring himself. He trotted over to the door and stared at the way the light filtered through the door frame. The rose light was fascinating, and for the first time curiosity overwhelmed the warnings that had been drilled into his skull by various adults. It was simple for Kage to break through to old boards, and as he ripped each board off the door, the rose light seemed to grow more intense. He pried off the last board, throwing it to the side, then shoved the old door open.
The dust and grime of years made Kage cough, and when he opened his eyes the rose light had vanished. All that remained was the darkened interior of a once well-used shrine. In the center, in a sunken pit, the pitiful remains of a smashed well caught his eye. A very, very faint rose glow was coming from the remains.
"What on earth..." Kage leaped down the stairs, sniffing the air. He could smell the sweet scent of a forest, which was impossible. It was the tang of a forest late in summer, abuzz with humidity and insects and the general laziness that summer brings. It was only early spring! His nose must be deceiving him...
The only problem was, his nose had never led him wrong before. Kage leaned over one crumbled edge of the well, and to his surprise saw a faint rose glow at one end. It highlighted the bottom of the well, which was only eight or nine feet down. Deciding that, since he was already breaking about every rule his mother had ever set, Kage leaped down into the well.
What happened next was not expected in the slightest.
He didn't hit the bottom like he expected to. Instead of the split second it should have taken him to drop eight feet, he seemed to float for about thirty seconds, before lightly landing on hard-packed earth. Kage stared at the earth between his fingers, and then got up on two legs. It was dark in the bottom of the well, but sunlight left a few scant patterns on the dirt. However, there was a dense collection of roots and foliage now blocking his path out of the well.
Suddenly in the moment, Kage leaped and grabbed a hold of the closest root, pulling himself through gaps that he never thought he'd fit through. Fighting his way up took longer than he thought, but as he neared the top it seemed that more and more of the roots were receding when he touched them. How bizarre was that?
Finally, Kageyasha hoisted himself out of the old, abandoned well ... and into the middle of a lush forest. "Well," Kage said dryly to himself. "I guess this is a start..."
Fandom: Inuyasha
AU: crossing worlds
Characters/Pairing: Kagome, Kage, Sota
Rating: T
Length: 2457
Summary:
The night air was cooler than she expected. Higurashi Kagome pushed open the door and walked on to the porch. She was as quiet as she could be, shutting the door behind her and cinching her robe tight. She could see the streetlights faintly reflected off of glass, but it was still the darkness that attracted her. A full moon hung low in the sky, scant clouds darting quickly across its face. She tilted her face up to the sky and stared at the stars.
She had the dream again. It had been a long time since she dreamt of those horrible few days that had ended with her being banished back to the present time and the well being destroyed. Time had yet to heal the wound in her heart, and often she wondered if it would ever heal properly.
It did her no good to wonder anymore. It just opened more wounds. Farewells she never got to say lingered in her memories, and a heavy guilt made her shoulders sag. Kagome sat heavily on the steps, feeling short of breath. Suddenly being silent didn't matter any more, it was more of a labor to keep breathing.
A cool breeze pushed sweat across her neck, and she wondered idly how it had gotten so warm outside. She rested her head against the banister and stared at the grass, watching as the black-green lightened considerably as lights came on behind her. "Mom?"
"Kagome? Where are you?" No, that wasn't her mother. What was she thinking, her mother had passed away two years ago this spring. The voice belonged to Sota, her younger brother and the keeper of the shrine. "Kagome?"
Why couldn't she answer him? Kagome swallowed, but couldn't summon the words to tell him she was on the porch. She was fine ... so why couldn't she say that? Instead, she closed her eyes, tears beginning to burn traces across her cheeks. It had been her fault, she was sure of it. If only she had treated him better, if only she could have seen everything coming ... then maybe all of her friends would be alive today. Maybe they would all be happily celebrating some anniversary or another, picnicking under the sakura like any other extended family.
Maybe.
The heat and the pain overwhelmed her all at once, and Kagome was glad for the porch railing that now supported her.
She had tried so many times to go back. The hole where the well had once been however had become nothing more than an open sore in the ground, a grave begging to be filled. Sota had promised her that this summer they'd bring in fresh sod and close it up forever, perhaps planting one of the seedlings of the dying god-tree in its maw. Perhaps it would bring her some closure, although she knew it was a false hope. She would always be reminded of what could have been simply by looking into the face of her son.
Kage was a bright boy, quick on his feet and equally quick with his mind. He did have a bad attitude and temper, but Kagome could not determine if that was inherited or an inherent trait of being a teenager. As much as Kagome loved him, though, it often brought her pain to see him. She tried to mask it, but she knew he was beginning to pick up on it, and that hurt even more.
Maybe if he didn't look so much like Inuyasha, it wouldn't hurt as much. The boy had the same facial structure, though, and his hair tended to fall in the same way, although Kagome would not let him grow it out. However, the thing that was the worst for everyone, not just her, were his ears. Although Kage had a lot of Inuyasha's features, the only true demon-characteristic he inherited was his dog-ears. The eyes were dismissed as cosmetic contacts, and his fangs completely ignored. However, it was next to impossible to explain the dog ears almost lost in his rich black hair, so Kagome had instilled into the boy from an early age that he should always keep them covered by a hat of some sort. This was the one thing that Kage had never fought her on.
However, around the shrine he tended to not even bother with the hat, never mind his school uniform. Sota was instructing a class on kendo and Kage was very keen to take part in it. He kept his ears wrapped up in the towel that went under the helmet so not to raise any eyebrows, but he had taken up wearing his hakama and short-sleeved dogi whenever not in his school uniform, and it was very disconcerting for Kagome. While it was not as red or ... well, poofy as Inuyasha's outfit, it still would surprise her when he appeared out of nowhere.
Kagome smiled slightly to herself. She had only once described Inuyasha's pants as "poofy" and his expression had been priceless. As abruptly as the memory brought her a smile, it also brought tears to her eyes.
How could he have ever betrayed them like that?
"There you are, Kagome." Sota stood in the doorway, leaning on the doorframe. "Why didn't you answer me?"
"I... don't know." Kagome drew her knees to her chest. The heat was receding and her thoughts cleared further. She wondered if she should worry about the heat, about the dizziness and faintness. She thought about mentioning it to Sota, but thought better of it almost immediately. If she did that he'd banish her to bed immediately and doctor to her. She didn't want him to be put out of his way for her, she and Kage were already living in his home. "I've been ... thinking."
"You've been dwelling on the past again, is what you've been doing." Sota came out and sat on the step beside her. "I can always tell."
Kagome glanced at him. He was so much bigger than she was ... it still seemed like yesterday that she could pick him up with no problems. She wondered if she should respond, or even if she could respond. Instead, she simply put her head on his shoulder and cried.
Higurashi Kageyasha stared at the ceiling over his bed, his head pillowed in his arms. The ceiling had plenty of cracks in it, but other than that was wholly uninteresting.
Wan sunlight filtered through the blinds and cast patterns over the carpet. He rolled over on to his side and watched some dust motes in the sunlight, ears twitching slightly. The doctor was leaving, he could identify the footsteps on the stairs. He sat up then, glancing through the blinds. He watched his uncle Sota converse with the man, then shake his free hand brusquely. Kage sighed and let the blinds snap back to the original shape.
His mother was getting worse, despite her denials. He wasn't sure if it was a mental or a physical sickness, but it was taking its toll heavily on her. They had relocated three months ago from the small apartment in Kyoto that Kage had grown up in to this old shrine in Tokyo. It wasn't as if he had never been to the shrine before ... he had been to his grandmother's a lot, but when she died two years ago they had stopped coming. Then, when his mother started to become ill and lost her job, Sota offered them a home in the shrine. Kage wasn't too happy with the move but wouldn't complain ... his main issue was leaving all of his friends and his familiar high school. His friends in Kyoto were completely comfortable with who ... and what he was. They had gone through grade school together and were about to enter high school when all of this happened. Now Kage attended a school where he didn't know anyone, and no one seemed interested in getting to know him.
"Their problem," he muttered, picking up an airplane he had crafted from paper fished from the trashcan. He watched the paper glide lazily around the room until it hit a wall. The nose crumpled on contact, then it fell disgracefully to the floor.
Disgusted, Kage sat up. He grabbed his current favorite hate, a dark green baseball cap and pulled in on backwards before padding down the hallway quietly. His mother's door was open a crack and he paused there, but Kagome wasn't awake. She lay under the sheets, her skin sallow against the pillow and her bangs clinging to her head with sweat.
Now angry, Kage flew down the steps. His uncle was in the kitchen, preparing some food on a tray in the vain hope that he could get his older sister to eat something. "Where are you off to?" he asked automatically as Kage flew through.
"None of your business," Kage growled, although he wasn't planning on go further than the shrine.
"It is my business for as long as your mother is incapacitated," Sota said calmly, slicing a radish.
"'Incapacitated.'" Kage snorted. "Another word for deathly ill, I'm sure. Why won't you just be straight with me, huh?"
Sota put down the knife but didn't look at Kage. "You want me to be straight with you? All right. Your mother is dying, and we don't know why and there isn't a damned thing we can do to stop it!"
Kage felt his face drain of all color. He had not been serious about the deathly ill thing ... he knew his mother was sick but he had not stopped to consider how sick. Without a word, he turned and fled out the door.
Sota immediately realized his mistake. "Kage! Dammit, wait a minute!" However, by the time he had gotten out the door the hanyou was long gone. Sota stood in the door, angry with himself. "God dammit," he snarled, punching the doorframe so hard he bloodied his fist. "Damn it all..."
Kage was up the god-tree faster than he thought possible. He had always been proud of the fact that he could climb the tree ... although his hands and feet didn't look it they were really great for climbing things. He sat on the lowest branch, which was still a good twenty feet off the ground. He didn't sit so much as he did perch, it was easier to clutch the branch when he perched.
He was breathing hard, and he couldn't figure out why. Kage had never even stopped to consider how sick his mother really was. It was just something he had gotten used to, and he wasn't sure why. All these mixed up things swirled through his head, emotions jumbled together like they had been run through a cement mixer. What would he do without her? The thought was too hideous to even comprehend.
Kage watched Sota pace past the tree, obviously in search of him. To apologize, perhaps, but what good would it do him? How could he have been so blind as to never even think of this?
How could the doctors not know what her sickness was? In this day and age of technology, for something to go undiagnosed was beyond bizarre. It was wrong, so wrong. "Why can't I just get away from this?" Kage wondered bitterly.
Sota was gone now, and Kage hardly felt like moving but he did so. He started to shift when the building he had been forbidden to ever go near caught his eye. Like the rest of the shrine, it was kept in pristine condition, but the door was boarded shut. That wasn't particularly what caught his eye. What caught his eye was that the space around the frame was glowing with a soft rose light.
Kage leapt down from the tree, managing to land lightly and without injuring himself. He trotted over to the door and stared at the way the light filtered through the door frame. The rose light was fascinating, and for the first time curiosity overwhelmed the warnings that had been drilled into his skull by various adults. It was simple for Kage to break through to old boards, and as he ripped each board off the door, the rose light seemed to grow more intense. He pried off the last board, throwing it to the side, then shoved the old door open.
The dust and grime of years made Kage cough, and when he opened his eyes the rose light had vanished. All that remained was the darkened interior of a once well-used shrine. In the center, in a sunken pit, the pitiful remains of a smashed well caught his eye. A very, very faint rose glow was coming from the remains.
"What on earth..." Kage leaped down the stairs, sniffing the air. He could smell the sweet scent of a forest, which was impossible. It was the tang of a forest late in summer, abuzz with humidity and insects and the general laziness that summer brings. It was only early spring! His nose must be deceiving him...
The only problem was, his nose had never led him wrong before. Kage leaned over one crumbled edge of the well, and to his surprise saw a faint rose glow at one end. It highlighted the bottom of the well, which was only eight or nine feet down. Deciding that, since he was already breaking about every rule his mother had ever set, Kage leaped down into the well.
What happened next was not expected in the slightest.
He didn't hit the bottom like he expected to. Instead of the split second it should have taken him to drop eight feet, he seemed to float for about thirty seconds, before lightly landing on hard-packed earth. Kage stared at the earth between his fingers, and then got up on two legs. It was dark in the bottom of the well, but sunlight left a few scant patterns on the dirt. However, there was a dense collection of roots and foliage now blocking his path out of the well.
Suddenly in the moment, Kage leaped and grabbed a hold of the closest root, pulling himself through gaps that he never thought he'd fit through. Fighting his way up took longer than he thought, but as he neared the top it seemed that more and more of the roots were receding when he touched them. How bizarre was that?
Finally, Kageyasha hoisted himself out of the old, abandoned well ... and into the middle of a lush forest. "Well," Kage said dryly to himself. "I guess this is a start..."
