The Void by Hairann

1

Disclaimer: Inuyasha and all of it's characters are property of the brilliant Takahashi-sama and I claim no ownership of them. Only the story belongs to me.

Summary: So much can change in an instant. There is nothing that can prepare you for it. One minute everything is perfectly fine and the next? In the next you are transported to an endless nothingness, pulling from the depth of your soul a relentless fear that can never truly be described. (from chapter 2)

Follows: The Anime and movies.

"spoken" 'thought'

AN: Welcome to my other new story. If you haven't already, please check out the other, Warriors of the West. I know some of these chapters will probably be rather small, but Warriors is rather large and don't want to do two long stories at the same time. Heads up, most of the story happens in flashback form. It may not make sense now to do it that way, but it will at the end of this story. Enjoy. :)

Special thanks to my betas PockyThief, Kiyota and Ethereal Siren.

My name is Kagome Higurashi. On my 15th birthday I was pulled into an old well on my family's shrine by a centipede demon who was after the Shikon no Tama that rested within my body, and transported 500 years into the past. I hadn't even known the jewel was there until it was ripped out of my side. While I was running away from the demon, I met a half-demon by the name of Inuyasha who was bound to a tree by a sacred arrow fired by a priestess 50 years earlier after they were tricked by an evil half-demon.

My life went from a perfectly normal, high school girl life to fighting demons, collecting shards and running around the feudal era in mere moments. Not long after I had released Inuyasha from the God Tree and he had destroyed the demon, I wound up shattering the Shikon no Tama when I was trying to stop a crow demon from stealing it. What seemed like such a small thing, quickly turned into one of the worst mistakes I could have ever made.

Over the next year I met an interesting group of people, most of which ended up becoming good friends of mine.

First was Shippo, a young fox demon who was orphaned when his father was killed by the Thunder Brothers, whom were after a shard of the jewel. Then there was Miroku, a perverted monk who was chasing down Naraku, the half-demon responsible for Inuyasha getting bound to the tree, who was also the one behind the wind tunnel curse on his hand. Next came Sango, the last of the demon slayers from her village after Naraku used her younger brother to kill her fellow slayers and wiped out her entire village. Along with her came Kirara, a cat demon, when she joined our group. Though the members of our little group stopped there, over the years that I was living in the past, I met many others that helped to shape my life there.

There was Kouga, a wolf prince that believed me to be 'his woman' after kidnapping me and learning that I could sense the shards. And there was Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha's older half-brother, the annoying little toad demon Jaken that followed him around, and the adorable human girl Rin that joined them. I may never know why the little girl followed around a demon known as the 'Killing Perfection' or why the human-hating demon would allow a young girl to follow him, but that's how it was.

Now that the groundwork has been laid, it's time I get on with my story. It was not long after we had gotten trapped in the stone demon's belly. We had the entire jewel accounted for even if it wasn't whole again. Two were with Kouga, one in each leg. One in the back of Kohaku's neck. The shard we found in Inutashio's tomb remained in my possession, while Naraku held onto the rest of the jewel. We were still following his trail when this story begins.

Flashback:

The morning started just as many before it had, bright and sunny, not a cloud in the sky. We'd sat around the campfire while Sango and I had prepared breakfast. Talking about what shard rumors we had heard about, what the plans for the day was. Miroku groped Sango, Sango slapped him. Shippo stole one of Inuyasha's fish, Inuyasha chased him around the clearing. Same old thing.

We ran into two demons that day, neither of which were much of a fight since they didn't have any shards, but like always, they were after the one I had. We quickly destroyed them and continued on down the road. Evening was approaching and we had been complaining to Inuyasha for the last half hour that we wanted to stop, but he wanted to get more walking in before doing so.

I was just about to 'sit' him, when everything went wrong. He had been arguing with Shippo when he froze in mid-step and his entire body went on high alert. Before we had the chance to ask what was wrong, Sesshoumaru appeared before us, followed closely by his companions. "What do you want, you bastard?!" Inuyasha demanded, showing his usual tactlessness.

"With you half-breed, nothing," Sesshoumaru replied evenly as he looked down his nose at his half-brother before continuing the way he had been going again. It seemed we would get past this encounter unscathed, as long as Inuyasha held his tongue anyways. But just as his group was about to pass ours, all hell broke loose. For once, not caused by Inuyasha.

"Miroku, what's wrong?" Sango inquired, her voice brimming with worry, causing the rest of us to turn to where the two of them were standing. Sango was leaning over Miroku's collapsed body as he held on tightly to his arm. I could feel something ominous on the air and knew without a doubt, something big was about to happen.

"Run!" Miroku screamed, his voice cracking, as he glanced up at the rest of us with fear-filled eyes. Just as we went to follow his command, his arm shot up, exposing us to the wind tunnel. "Run now!" he screamed again as he tried to get some control over it. Everyone rushed away from him, but Rin. She stood, frozen in fear, in her spot.

I could see the wind pick up and she began to be dragged toward the wind tunnel. Without thinking, I tossed Shippo to Inuyasha's arms and rushed toward the little girl. Ramming my body hard into her own, I sent her flying out of the way just as Sesshoumaru had arrived to try and save her himself. Unable to stop ourselves, we crashed into each other and lost our balance. Before I even knew what had happened, we had been sucked into the wind tunnel.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha screamed as the others looked on in disbelief. Kagome and Sesshoumaru had just been sucked into Miroku's wind tunnel, and if something wasn't done soon, Miroku would soon join them. Without a moment's pause, Inuyasha drew his sword and raced over to where Miroku was still standing.

With one quick swipe, his arm had been severed from his body and landed on the ground, blood beginning to pour from it. Sheathing his sword, Inuyasha ripped the sleeve from Miroku's robes and began tying off what was left of his arm. Walking away from the others, as Sango rushed to Miroku's side, Inuyasha withdrew his sword again.

"Wind scar!" Inuyasha screamed as he aimed the attack toward the ground a little way in front of him and away from the others. Sheathing his sword again, he quickly made his way back over to Miroku's severed arm. Picking it up, he held it facing away from everyone and rushed over to the crater he had made with his attack.

Dropping the arm into the crater, Inuyasha turned and began making his way back to the others. "We'll set up camp here for now, he shouldn't be moving until the bleeding stops. No one, and I mean no one, goes near that crater," Inuyasha insisted as he turned to glare at Jaken. Jaken gave him a quick nod of understanding as Rin held onto him crying.

"What do we do about Kagome?" Shippo inquired, his voice cracking as he glanced up at Inuyasha. The question got Rin's attention as well and she turned to him awaiting his response. She knew that whatever they did to help their friend would in turn help Lord Sesshoumaru as well, even if that wasn't their intention.

"Shippo, there's nothing we can do. They're dead. Kagome's not coming back," Inuyasha explained with a heavy heart and Shippo began shaking his head in denial. Tears began streaming down his cheeks as he demanded Inuyasha do something to bring her back. Inuyasha wrapped his arms around the kit, pulling him into his lap as he tried to comfort him in the only way he knew how.

"I'll make lunch," Sango whispered, tear tracks already visible on her cheeks, after she had Miroku resting peacefully. Inuyasha gave her a quick nod before turning to glare at Jaken, who quickly got the message and began helping her. Now left alone, Rin quickly climbed into Inuyasha's lap next to Shippo and began crying into his haori.

Please R&R, good and bad reviews are welcome, however, I will ignore flames.