~What Could Have Been~



Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, But oh how I wish I did * ^_____^ *

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The tranquil night sky was dark and beautiful. Soft clouds make their lazy way across the sky and occasionally obscuring the moon. A mild breeze blows through the dark green trees and all is quiet. Until now....

"HOW COULD YOU!!!" a very angry Kagome yells as she stomps purposefully across the grass. She makes her way to the well that is visible by moonlight in the distance. Tears run unheeded down her face as she fumes with righteous anger.

'I cannot believe he had the GALL to see her and then to ask me what's wrong. As if nothing at all was the problem.' she absently wipes away some tears from her cheek. 'And then to top it all off he doesn't even wait till we are back one whole day before he makes up some LAME excuse and then runs off to see HER again.' More tears make there way slowly down her face. 'Well, if that is the way he wants it after all this time we have been together, after all we have done for each other, after all we have been though.' She continues towards the well, her anger clouding her vision. 'Then so be it. If that is what he wants, then that is what he will have.'

She stops before the well and pulls the fully recovered Shikon no Tama from around her neck. The pale glowing light from the jewel illuminates her tear stained face, as she looks down at it in her open hands. "And to think, I was beginning to truly believe he loved me, baka Kagome."

She fails to see a swiftly approaching light heading in her direction.



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Back at the village....

"SANGO!!!" Miroku yells into the night. "SHIPPOU!!!" He calls as he starts to walk away from the village and into the fringe of the forest. "KAGOME!!!" Now he is beginning to get a little worried as he continues to go deeper into the quiet woods. 'Where is everyone? Why did they leave me asleep at Kaede's and go off without me? Not that they really need my protection or anything, but Inu Yasha will be furious with me if he finds out I let Kagome go out on her own' He chuckles to himself. 'Well, maybe not totally alone. She does have Sango and Shippou with her I'm sure.'

He finds himself walking towards the hot spring and quietly creeps in that direction. Laughter and lots of splashing can be heard coming from that way. A smile slowly makes its way onto his face and gets bigger and bigger as he realizes that with Sango thinking him asleep and at the village, and no Inu Yasha to pound him for going near Kagome. He will have an unrestricted view of a pair of bathing beauties and non the wiser.

He rubs his hands with glee and slowly crawls up to the last tree near the waters edge. He carefully leans to the left to peek around the trunk, and is just about to get a look at paradise when.....*SPLASH*

A very wet Miroku stumbles out from behind his poorly chosen tree, with a bucket seated firmly on his head....*Twitch* Sango and Shippou take one look at the completely drenched monk and fall over laughing.

After getting control of her self, Sango walks out of the hot spring wearing one of Kagome's spare bathing suits and takes Miroku a dry towel. "Serves you right Hoshi" Sango exclaims. "Trying to spy on us like that. I knew Kagome's idea would come in handy eventually."

As Miroku dries himself off, Sango explains how Kagome and her had filled buckets full of water and placed them at strategic locations around the spring. Setting them on low branches and running a wire from the bucket to the base of the tree, so that when a certain unsuspecting pervert tried to get a peek all he would get would be a soaking instead.

Miroku with his MOST hurt and innocent look grabs Sango's hands as she sits down on a log to begin drying her hair. "But all I was trying to do was make sure everyone was okay and not in need of help." He exclaims while going down on his knees before her. "If I had known that I would be accused of such a falsehood I would not have left my much needed sleep and come to see to your heath." Fakes tiredness in one of his arms and lets it drop beside her.

Sango blushes a very bright shade of red as she realizes how close to him she is and also a little embarrassed for playing such a mean joke on him. 'He could be telling the truth.' she thinks to herself. 'I mean we didn't even leave a note or anything.' Deciding that maybe he was actually innocent this time she opens her mouth to tell him that she is sorry, but instead of an apology out comes a scream of outrage and anger as she feels a hand caressing her butt through the thin fabric of the swimsuit.

Miroku goes flying high through the air as Sango pulls her giant boomerang from out of nowhere and hits him as hard as she can. "MIROKU NO HENTEI!!!!" Sango screams after the swiftly fading monk. Sango grabs her things and heads back to the village muttering angrily under her breath "How could I even THINK that he was innocent." A very surprised and quiet Shippou follows closely behind her.

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Near the God Tree.....

"You will always have a place in my heart." Inu Yasha whispers softly into the ear of the raven-haired miko in front of him. He slowly caresses the soft, silky hair under his hand as he kisses her a final goodbye with his lips. "I will miss you, but I hope you understand" Kikyo leans into his embrace as she listens to the last words of her love. Tears making there way slowly down her cheeks. She looks up into Inu Yasha's face and sees the pain he is suffering, dulling his beautiful golden eyes.

"I knew from the moment I was raised again, when I had that girls full soul in this shell of a body. I knew at that time she was yours. Heart, mind and soul, and I could feel with my borrowed heart that you returned that love." Kikyo lifts her hand to touch the handsome face before her. "Even though I still want to take you to hell with me...." Kikyo grabs a hold of his white hair and roughly pulls him towards her.."I know now from all that has happened, it was not your fault nor mine." She releases her death grip on his shining locks and smiles for the very first time. "I thank you for telling me, even though it hurts to know I have lost you again. But at least it's to myself in a later time."

Inu Yasha holds Kikyo tightly to his chest and kisses her tenderly on the top of her head. Kikyo takes a deep breath and resigns herself to her fate, knowing that she has had the greatest gift of life 'Love' and that now she will finally be at peace. Kikyo closes her eyes for the last time and waits. "Rest in peace, Kikyo" Inu Yasha whispers as a single tear falls down his face. He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath and plunges his hand into her chest.

Bright light fills the clearing as all the stolen souls start to be released from the miko's body. Inu Yasha stumbles back and falls to his knees. Tears continuously fall from his eyes and onto the ground as he makes himself watch Kikyo's body disintegrate back into earth and bones. He shrugs out of his fire-rat coat and spreads it out on the ground. He then begins to slowly, reverently place her remains inside so they can be transported back to the village. Inu Yasha looks up as one very bright soul circles the patch of ground that was the miko and then rises to fly swiftly back to its owner.

After Inu Yasha bundles the bones together, he ties the ends and carrying it safely in his arms, runs as fast as he can to the village and his one true love. He follows the guiding light that he knows is the rest of Kagome's soul as it returns to its rightful place.

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(A/N: Well, what did you think??? I wonder where this fanfic is going... I intended to start it another way, but it seems to want to begin here. Ohh well.....I am sure it will tell me where to go. So review, review, review..etc, etc, etc, etc... blah, blah....OKAY, OKAY!!! I'M GOING... sheesh ^.^ )