Author's note: Number 5 is from the Goddess of Pop (tm), Madonna. This was posted to my LJ on 04/22/2007, in a songfic challenge from Forthrightly. The song gave me the impression of the tale of Romeo and Juliet, and I just turned it into the classic love triangle. It was inspired loosely by the begining of the manga, and by the ani-episode "The Tragic Love Song of Destiny".

Disclaimer: My eternal appreciation, complete and utteral worship to Madonna for being the inspiration for this songfic. "Forbidden Love", this one specifically (as I found that she had made two songs of the same name) can be found off of the CD "Confessions on the Dancefloor", (c) 2005.

I don't own Inuyasha, character or story-wise. He and his story belong to the very talented Rumiko Takahashi and her affiliates. This story, however, is an original from my mind. I'm receiving no $$$ for this; it's for enjoyment only. My payment is your reviews. Enjoy!

FORBIDDEN LOVE

"Is it really true, Kaede?" the young miko had asked of the elder one day.

"Eh? What did ye ask?"
Kaede sometimes could be hard of hearing, but something in Kagome's voice made her take notice. It was a sense of truth that Kagome sought from the older miko that couldn't be ignored.

"Did... Inuyasha..." she stumbled.

"Hai?" Kaede stoked the burning log above which the pot of their evening meal warmed, her back to Kagome.

"...and Kikyou," Kagome thought hard of just how to ask this without the feeling of stepping into a sensitive area. She didn't know how close Kaede held the memory of her long dead older sister, now resurrected, nor how the older miko felt towards the now unsealed hanyou who sat just right outside the flap of the hut, grumbling.

Kaede stopped, hand held tight on the stick she used as a fire-poker, and stared into the flames. She took in a long breath, and sighed. She knew it was only a matter of time before this subject would be breached. She turned around to face Kagome with her left side, the side that held her good eye.

"Yes, child?"

"Did Inuyasha and Kikyou... did they really love each other?" Kagome looked up, hopeful that she didn't step over a boundary.

Outside of the hut, the ear tips of the hanyou twitched to focus on the conversation. His thoughts flew back to a time long ago, though for him, it was as if only a day had passed.

Just one kiss on my lips,

Was all it took to seal the future.

Just one look from your eyes,

Was like a certain kind of torture.

Inuyasha's hand absently fumbled his chest where Kikyou's arrow had pinned him to Goshinboku. He remembered a kiss of hers, though it stung in his mind, and it was hard for him to decipher the meaning behind it.

His future had been sealed, like her arrow as it sunk into his chest. The look in her eyes then, to his memory, was torture. He listened in as Kaede began her tale...

"Once upon a time,

There was a boy, and there was a girl,"

His eyes stared unfocused, and he thought to himself

::Just one touch from your hands,

Was all it took to make me falter::

He cursed inwardly, berating himself for having any feelings towards Kikyou. He thought now, as he did then, the same thought...

Forbidden love,
Are we supposed to be together?
Forbidden love, forbidden love...

Was it Destiny, for them to meet? Or did Fate play a cruel trick?

Forbidden love,
We sealed our destiny forever,
Forbidden love.

He thought to the time when they were sitting side by side, on a grassy hill, discussing the possibility of their using the Jewel for good. Him, to become a human, and her, an ordinary woman.

Just one smile upon your face,
Was all it took to change my fortune,

The more he was around Kikyou, the more he knew of her, and the more he felt for her. Especially the day she had tripped getting out of a boat on its dock, and fell into his arms. He professed that he wanted to become a human--that he would be a human, so that she could be an ordinary woman, and not have to fight anymore protecting the Jewel.

She had hushed him, telling him not to say any more.

Just one word from your mouth,
Was all I needed to be certain.

She had heard what she had wanted to. After that, he couldn't get her out of his mind, even if he tried.

Inside, Kaede had paused briefly, knowing that Inuyasha was listening in from outside. But she continued.

"Once upon a time,
There was a boy, and there was a girl,
Hearts that intertwined,
They lived in a different kind of world."

Kagome listened in as the old miko weaved her tale of innocence. The innocence of a half demon, alone in the world until he met her. The innocence of her sister, alone in her duties as the Jewel's protector until she met him.

Kagome had started to know Inuyasha more each time she came thru the well to the Feudal Era, and realized that it was truly a different kind of world...

She could only have imagined how Kikyou felt back then as her own thoughts now held that same question.

Forbidden love,
Are we supposed to be together?
Forbidden love, forbidden love...

Kagome stared in earnest as Kaede told of the bandit left for dead that Kikyou had tended to, the one who was now the evil that sought to reunify the Jewel in whole for his own twisted purposes. She felt guilty herself now, fumbling her hands in her lap, her conscience clammoring at her soul with the image of her breaking Inuyasha's sealing arrow, thus setting him free.

Forbidden love,
We sealed our destiny forever,
Forbidden love, forbidden love.

Is our Fate, our Destiny, now sealed as well? she thought. Her heart thumped out its hard beats as her own images compared to those of Kikyou's, and wondered how in Kami could Inuyasha ever choose between them?

Just one kiss (five)
I have kissed him,

Just one touch (four)
and I have touched him,

Just one look (three)
oh, Kami...

(Two)
(One)

... and outside the hut, pointed ears now picked up the sounds of muffled speech. The speech of the old woman who told of the one who had tricked the both of them, so long ago... and the response of the one who had freed him from his seal. His nose smelled uncertainty in her scent as he heard her mutter to the old woman.

"Forbidden love,
Are we supposed to be together?"

The words echoed in his mind and they did in his heart, and across the spans of time a familiar chord was plucked.

He couldn't get her out of his mind, even if he tried.

Forbidden love, forbidden love...

Inuyasha dug a clawed finger thru the dirt, absently making some image, and he felt guilty now as well. Guilty for the death of the miko he knew, and guilt for the one he was growing to know.

... and his own ears heard him whisper...

"Forbidden love,
We sealed our destiny forever,
Forbidden love, forbidden love"

His heart thumped out its hard beats as her own images compared to those of Kikyou's, and he wondered how in Kami could he ever choose between them?

Just one kiss, (five)
She has kissed me, and I liked it.

Just one touch, (four)
She has touched me, and I didn't shy away.

Just one look, (three)
oh, Kami...

Just one love... (two)
(One)

Fin