Inopportune Tribulations

Prologue: Phychosis

She felt a hand against her shoulder and let out a shriek that could wake the whole neighborhood.

"Kagome, calm down, it's me," a gruff voice said urgently.

The raven-haired miko turned slowly as she took in the sight of her hanyou. "Inuyasha? You scared me," she whispered in near tears.

"I'm sorry, but I heard what happened and I thought I'd check up on you. Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, I'm okay. It just feels… feels like there's someone there. Waiting to kill me."

"Look, I know how it must feel, but nothing's going to get you. It's a figment of your imagination."

"But it's not!" she whispered in anger. "She saw it! She wrote about it and everything, it's here… I know it is!" her voice was shaky.

"Kagome, you've been through a lot, you're just imagining things. It's to be expected, but no one's going to get you. Not while I'm here."

"…" Kagome opened her mouth to disagree, but she was cut off by a shuffle. She looked past her love and into the mirror hanging on a wall opposite of her. There it was. The grotesque face looking back at her. The miko gasped and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha asked with a voice glazed in worry.

She hesitantly opened one eye, and to her dismay? Pleasure? She wasn't sure, but the face was gone. "It's here."

"Listen to me," the hanyou started irritably. "Nothing is going to get you. I'm right here with you, and I will never let anything hurt you." He pulled her into an awkward yet assuring hug. "I'm always going to be right here with you," he whispered.

His whisper was sweet and his hug was warm, and yet, anger bubbled up within Kagome. "Until Kikyou comes along," she whispered angrily.

Inuyasha growled and his arms started to loosen from the girl. "No!" Kagome was above a whisper for the first time since he found her there and panic flooded her scent. Inuyasha quickly wrapped her in his arms again. "I'm sorry," she whispered as tears slipped down her face.

Inuyasha just held the miko as she leaned into his warm skin. She sat there in his arms until she heard a dreaded noise. It reminded her of those horror movies her brother used to watch: the sound of something dying rings through the air, and the smell of putrefying flesh spikes it. She gagged and opened her mouth to tell her hanyou, but she stopped short when his warm embrace turned cold. Literally. His arms felt like ice and his grip was too tight. Kagome turned her head only to find that… that… thing staring back at her. She opened her mouth to scream, her eyes wide as saucers, but the only thing that came out was an asphyxiated gasp. She yanked away from the Inuyasha and tried to run, but the half-demon already had his cold hands gripped in her hair.

"I-Inuy-?" Kagome started. His peeling flesh became clearer as his face came closer to hers. His hands moved from her hair to her throat and down her shoulders. He touched her breasts and she gasped and jumped back, but he already had his deceased hands around her waist. He yanked her closer and nuzzled her neck. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she felt his lipless mouth kiss her. This is a dream. This is a dream, it has to be! she screamed in her mind.

Kagome felt his hands tighten around her and he turned them so Kagome had her back to the mirror on the wall. Inuyasha's grip got tighter and tighter, and Kagome was starting to find it difficult to breathe. He started pushing her back as she dug her heels into the ground. She whispered "no" under her breath over and over again as she squeezed her eyes shut and tried desperately to get out of his grip. With a nefarious smile, Inuyasha shoved the miko backward. They both heard a shatter and Kagome felt the now-jagged glass shove its way into her back. She let out a scream as black ate at and eventually consumed her vision