Flower Kiss by NekoFreckles

Awakening

~ A/N:~ This is my first fic. >__< Please- be a bit gentle! I'm a Japanese student so I couldn't help but throw in a few honorific titles, but I'm stuck watching the English dubbed version so I might be behind on the plot. I try to keep at least two chapters more in my writing than in my posting, so my being busy (hopefully) won't effect updates. The first chapter is short and a little rushed. Sorry!

Edit: Changed paragraph format slightly.

DISCLAIMER: These characters are not mine. I withhold the right to really really wish they were, but they are not. The are belong to Rumiko Takahashi, along with all my base.

Kagome Higurashi blinked a little, gazing at the sky above her sleepily before sitting up, leaning her weight back on her hands. She drowsily wondered how long she had been asleep and glanced around.

The first thoughts that came to mind were ones of wonder. She couldn't see anyone else around, and she was ringed by trees. The trees weren't clustered like they would be in a forest- it was a place where forest shaded into meadow, and the floor was covered with smooth grass. Some blades of the grass were bent from recent footsteps, but only a few- this place was not very well-traveled. Small clusters of brightly colored wild flowers were scattered throughout the clearing, acting as vivid clumps of red, blue, pink, yellow and white dotting the canvas of green grass around them. Dew clung to the grass and flowers, and Kagome too had droplets of water on her skin and hair. She even felt a few on her eyelashes and lips, brushing lightly with one hand at the thin coating of droplets on her face and legs.

A deep breath brought in the scent of an ending summer; flowers, leaves, and a lingering hint of clay that must have been mixed in with the dirt. Autumn hung low in the air, and it almost felt like she could reach out and touch it. A few stars still lounged in the heavens. To the east the sky brightened, with orange streaks running across it and a lazy sun peeking over the scenery. Right in the middle of the ring of trees was Kagome's big yellow backpack and her sleeping bag, upon which Kagome was sitting.

She sat forward a little more to appreciate the scene for a few more seconds before moving the hand that she had brushed at the dew with up to rub at her eyes. Yawning, Kagome arched her back, throwing her arms up and stretching. It occurred to her that she should probably be wondering about what had woken her up instead of how long she had slept for, but couldn't think of anything in the peaceful place that might have roused her and guessed that she had woken of her own accord. She then shrugged, shook her head, sneezed quietly, and took another cursory glance around the area. Kagome squinted in the half-light of an approaching dawn, wishing the sun might hurry up in its journey upwards.

Finally registering something she had noticed a while ago, she gasped and jumped a little. I'm... I'm alone? The beauty of the surrounding area was suddenly forgotten as she turned her head frantically, trying to find her friends. Caught up in abrupt panic, she began recollecting all she could about what had happened as quickly as she could. Not remembering, she balled her hands into fists and looked around one more time, and then closed her eyes and rapped her head gently. She needed to think rationally. That's right. Be rational, Kagome. No time to be freaking out now. She thought quickly to her mother, who was usually so calm and together, and tried to mirror her mother's personality.

Taking a closer look at what was around her, she attempted to take stock of herself and her surroundings. She wasn't familiar with this area... she remembered that the group had all been here. They had been traveling here because she sensed a jewel shard. She wondered where it had gone- she certainly couldn't sense it any more. In fact, she couldn't sense any jewel shards. The realization of that produced an empty shiver, like a numbing of the mind and soul that somehow carries through the body. A thought struck her and she crawled over to her bag, kneeling over it and rummaging through her belongings. A look of shock marred her elegant features as she pulled out the glass bottle that the group collected jewel shards in, confirming the fears she had realized upon not even being able to sense their own shards. She couldn't see the shards inside, but she could see a note rolled up in the bottle. Having found her next task, she pulled off the cap of the small glass container.

Drawing the sheet of paper from the bottle was difficult because it was angled diagonally across the bottle and stuck on the inner rim of the bottle's opening. She could tell that she wouldn't be able fit two of her fingers in the small vial to grasp the note and simply pull it out. Thinking quickly, Kagome dug her pinky finger into the small glass container, applying some pressure near the bottom of the piece of paper. After a few long minutes of nudging at the paper it finally yielded, bending slightly at the place where she was pushing so top of the paper was poking at a different angle- no longer pushed against the lip of the vial. When Kagome released the pressure she was putting on it with her pinky finger, the top of the sheet was poking out of the bottle. Gingerly trapping the note between her thumb and pinky, she pulled it out.

Kagome placed the paper on the floor and held the bottle up to quickly check what she had already guessed- the Shikon shards they had gathered were definately missing. Kagome had known as much, but felt as if she needed to check - some part of her needed to reassure herself about where exactly her standing was now. She assumed that it was the part that was still trying to be the voice of reason, and wondered why it was showing up so wonderfully now- a bit of reason was something that would be nice to have handy, not something that should just dip in and out of your reality for a laugh.

Her mind was wandering, and she shook her head as if it would shake off the fog inside of it too. She then took a deep breath and readied herself for the worst as she picked up the note again. Her stomach lurched even after the mental preparation as she unfolded the note, unveiling an inked shadow of a spider. Closing her eyes, she cursed at herself. A few more deep breaths later, she addressed a few questions. Did I sleep through all this? Where are my friends?! If something took my friends... why am I still here?! Finding no answers she hugged her legs to her chest, wondering what to do next and feeling like dirt. Really stupid dirt.

Kagome shivered and a few sobs escaped her, from frustration and helplessness. Naraku had been here, and her friends were missing. What could she do? Where would she go? She was lost and alone, up at the ass-crack of dawn a few centuries before she would actually be born, and the only clue she had was a stupid spider scribble. She furiously threw the note down on the soft grass, not caring how little a tantrum would fix, not stopping to wonder where the reasonable tug at the back of her brain had vanished off to. Instead she curled up as she sobbed, sniffling and hugging her legs closer, still unaware of her company.