To Begin Again

Chapter Two

Groaning Kagome opened her eyes, her head hurt like hell, and her body felt weird. It felt lighter too. As her vision cleared, she was greeted by the same room that she first woke up in. This time there was no one else in the room, just her and the machines, she was connected too.

Kagome's ears flickered to the left, to where the sound of mechanical doors opening drew her attention. She could tell there was something very wrong, but she couldn't place it yet. She just hoped it wasn't something too bad...

"Kagome!" The voice at the door yelled relief could be heard. Sitting up Kagome was greeted with the site of Dr. Augustine, "Thank Heavens you're alright!"

Frowning Kagome looked down at her hands, they were blue, so that means she was still in her avatar body. If she remembered correctly, the manual had said when you blacked out or fell asleep, you were returned to your human body.

So what was going on here?

Her golden eyes looked to the doctor's, "Dr. Augustine?"

She smiled, "Call me Grace, and what is your question. I can tell you have them, and I am not surprised at that." An emotion passed the doctors eyes, which Kagome couldn't describe, as she watched her sit down in a chair at the side of the bed.

"What did you mean by 'your alright'?" Worry was evident in Kagome's eyes, but she did her best to conceal it as she waited for the older woman to answer her desired question.

Grace frowned at the woman's question but knew there would be no way around it. She herself didn't understand what had gone wrong.

"There was a" She paused for a moment before she sighed, continuing, "Complication when you transferred into your avatar."

Kagome's eyes narrowed, "What do you mean by...complication?" This was not sounding good at all. It seemed like no matter where she went there was always, 'complications'.

Grace took a deep breath in, then let it out as she pinched the bridge of her nose, "When you transferred into the avatar body, something went wrong. You were fine at the beginning, but once everything was clear and connected properly in the new body. Well, your old body didn't take too well to it."

The frown was still on her face as Kagome caught something in the doctors wording, 'What does she mean by old?'

"Doctor" Kagome interrupted before she could go any further in explaining, "What do you mean by 'old body'... but what are you getting at." She was really hoping that it wasn't what she thought. For once in her life, she hoped one of her suspicions were not correct.

Grace smiled sadly, "When you blacked out in the avatar body, you were to go back to your human one. That is where I was then, looking over the monitors for you three when yours started acting weird...I am really sorry this happened...it has never happened before."

Kagome's eyes darkened, knowing where she was getting at, "So my human body is dead...is that what you are trying to say?"

The woman beside Kagome nodded, " Yes that would be accurate." She paused, "We are trying to figure out what happened, but so far nothing that would be helpful has come up...so the body you are in now, is the only one you have now."

Kagome closed her eyes, not saying a word. She didn't know how to go about this new development. But the only thing she knew she could do was to go on as planned, even if she didn't have her own body, she was still here for a reason. For that reason, she would go on as planned.

"Since I am stuck in this body for who knows how long, what am I suppose to do?" Kagome asked, even though she kind of knew the answer already.

Grace patted her on the shoulder as she stood, "I am going to go get the others ready, so we can get ready for the mission that we were going on before all of this happened," she started to make her way to the door but stopped, "there some clothes you can change into on the stool next to you. When you are dressed meet us by helicopter 12." With that Kagome was left in the room by herself to get ready.

x-X-x

Kagome looked in awe at the forest that they had just landed in, it was beautiful. She had never seen something like this before. She could feel the difference too, this place, there was so many connections, and it felt almost magical.

It may be just because she was a Miko, and was more connected to nature, that she felt this way. But she didn't care, this place was so different than anywhere she has been. It was better than the feudal era.

A smile split across her face as she followed the other three, she could get used to this place. She really could.

Kagome watched as Grace and Norm studied the flow in the roots of the trees, deeming it not interesting she followed Jake, as he headed into the jungle.

She found it pretty funny as he touched a weird type of plant, then it went into the ground. He seemed amused by the plants, causing Kagome to laugh softly.

Her laughing stopped, when he touched another one and they all went down uncovering a creature that didn't want to be bothered.

It looked like a mix of a Beetle and a rhino. It let out a cry as it stared down Jake. His smile that was on his face disappeared as he looked at the creature. Jake pointed the gun at it, just as Grace and Norm came running in.

"Don't shoot!" Grace instructed, coming into the treeline, about ten feet away from where Jake was standing, "Don't shoot, you'll piss him off."

The creature roared again, hitting its armor like head on the trees surrounding it, knocking them over, "It's already pissed off!" Jake yelled to Grace, his eyes not leaving the creature.

"The armor is too thick, you won't be able to pierce it," She instructed, "You'll have to stand your ground."

Jake held his ground as the creature came towards him, but it suddenly stopped, making Kagome freeze up.

Kagome knew something else much be close, and more of a threat if it just stopped on the dime like that. As if on cue, a roar sounded behind her and Jake.

There behind the was a panther-like creature. Kagome cursed her luck, of course, this would happen to her. This day was just getting better and better. She was brought out of her thoughts by Jake asking a question to Grace.

"And how about this one?" Jake asked as he indicated to the new animal that was in front of them.

"Run!...Definitely Run! Grace yelled as everyone turned to run, but Kagome. The creature passed her going after Jake, but for a brief moment, as it passed her, their eyes connected. It looked like she was seeing into the creature's soul, as it was to hers. Before she knew it the connection was gone as it continued the chase.

And now Kagome stood there alone. She blinked, before she curses, "How is it I always end up alone!" She ran the way Grace and Norm went, but she couldn't see them anywhere in site.

Kagome stopped as she looked around, she had to have been looking for her group for an hour or more and there was still no sign of them. There was still a lot of light left, so she pressed on.

"I should have known it would have been better if I didn't come along." she muttered to herself, as she walked on through the jungle.

Kagome really should learn to follow her instincts more, if she did she probably wouldn't end up in these situations in the first place.

The sound of a growl like yowl brought her from her thoughts. Her body tensed as she reached to the back of pants, where she had placed her weapon.

Pulling out her handgun, unlocking it, she pointed it in the direction the sound came from, it was just behind the bush, about five feet away from her. Slowly she made her way there. Taking a deep breath, she pushed the leaves of the bush away.

Her eyes widened, as she slowly lowered the gun. Kagome was greeted with a site she wasn't expecting.

Now the question was, what was she to do?