The End is only the Beginning von leonie2 ================================================================================ Kapitel 3: Encounters --------------------- Chapter 3: Encounters It was awkward. Extremely so. Just a few minutes ago Kagome had been surrounded by her friends, they had eaten dinner together and then sat around the fire. Everyone knew about Kagome’s circumstances and they were sensible enough to not speak about their plans for the future as they had the nights before. They had shared stories of their numerous travels, now that all had ended well they could joke about their encounters with almost certain death. The atmosphere had been light Kagome had been able to forget for a while why she was still there. Then, Miroku had taken Sango’s hand and made their excuses for the night. His smile had been positively lecherous and after smacking him, Sango had blushed deeply and followed him to their new home. Just minutes later Shippo and Rin had decided to ambush Inuyasha and by that started a war that neither would give up on quite so early. That left Kikyou and Kagome all by themselves. The silence was uncomfortable but try as she might, Kagome could not bring herself to make polite conversation. Not with the person that made no secret of her displeasure concerning Kagome’s continued presence in the Feudal Era. She could understand her, of course. Who would want the rival for their husband’s love to stick around without a real purpose other than possibly trying to snatch that love away? Of course that was not Kagome’s agenda but she had a feeling that Kikyou would not believe her if she told her so. To her infinite surprise, Kikyou was finally the first to break the silence. “I am aware of the fact that there are still feelings between you and Inuyasha. It is to be expected since you spent a lot time traveling together and you being my incarnation.” The words cut as they were meant to be. Kikyou would not tolerate Inuyasha being diverted again by his feelings for Kagome. She had suffered and endured too much to allow it now that they finally could start over. Kagome fought hard to keep calm. The other miko just had that talent to always get under her skin. “Of course there are still feelings. We are friends and not even you will change that fact. And I want to make one thing clear: I may be your reincarnation but I am not you. I am my own person.” “You are different because you have been born into a different life in a different era. Souls do not change. Why do you think did you fall in love with Inuyasha? It was because your soul knew him, you did not have a choice in the matter. You do not belong here, Kagome, your place is already taken by the true Shikon miko and I intend to keep it.” Kagome stood up. She could have strangled the arrogant bitch in front of her but she didn’t. Instead, she yelled at her while her eyes filled with hot, angry tears. “Is that how you thank me for saving your stupid clay ass? For making Inuyasha human for you? For backing away to give you your stupid happy ending? Well, I have news for you: I will not back down just because you told me so. I will stay in the village as long as it pleases me to do so and if you want to continue being a jealous bitch, by all means, be my guest.” With that, Kagome turned around and ran towards the forest. She did not want to wait for Kikyou’s reaction, she just wanted to get away from everyone to shed her tears and think in peace. Her anger started to fade among the calming presence of the forest around her and she was just about to take a deep breath before heading home when she heard rustling behind her. Seconds later, she stood face to face with a huge frog demon. “Well, well, well what have we here? Such a sweet girl… “ And that was when Kagome realized how foolish it had been to just run off into the forest. There was no Inuyasha who could pick up the scent of the demon and her distress and Miroku would be much too occupied with Sango to feel the frightened spike of her miko powers. Worse still, she did not have her bow with her, not even a knife or any other weapon. She was alone in the deserted forest with a demon who looked at her like a starving man would eye a hamburger. Definitely not good. “How nice of you to come my way, sweet girl. I was just wondering what I would have for dinner.” Kagome backed away, slowly, while trying to come up with a decent plan for dealing with the situation at hand. The demon followed her. Then, she met a resistance at her back. A tree was hindering her and allowing the demon to close the gap between them. … Sesshoumaru watched the scene from the tree tops. It was clear that the girl would die a rather unpleasant death. He didn’t care. If the miko was foolish enough to enter the forest unprotected and attract the attention of a demon she definitely would not be able to take on then she did not deserve better. He tucked a strand of silvery white hair behind his ear. He should be on his way to see Rin. … Kagome almost vomited when the demon licked with his slimy tongue across her cheek. The stench and the feeling of it was almost unbearable. But the demon seemed distracted with his own hunger, maybe she could… “How sweet you taste, human girl. I’ll make a special feast out of you.” His tongue began to stick out again but Kagome had already ducked under his arm and started running for her life. She could feel him following her, hear him calling, teasing her. Her only hope was that he would play with her long enough for her to reach the village, then she could scream for help and hope for the best. … He was quite surprised when the miko started running. But then again, when had the wench ever given up even in the worst of situations? Of course, she wouldn’t make it. While the frog demon was stupid enough to let her go once he most certainly would not be able to contain his hunger any longer now that his prey had given him a nice chase. It would be over soon and he really should get going before his sensitive nose was assaulted by the frog’s eating habits. But then again… Rin did seem quite fond of the miko when he last saw them together. … In the end, the demon’s hunger overcame his fun at the chase much too early for his prey. Kagome collided painfully with tree trunk and only and heartbeat later, the frog was in front of her, baring his sharp little teeth. “Now you made me really hungry, girl. I wonder how your blood tastes…” Then, the world stopped making sense. A/N: I’ll really try to do Sesshoumaru justice in the next chapter. Reviews are always appreciated  Hosted by Animexx e.V. (http://www.animexx.de)