Fallen

Disclaimer: The plot belongs to me, so don't steal it. Anything and everything else belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. The song Shed My Skin (that was/is butchered by yours truly) belongs to Alter Bridge and can be found on their first album, One Day Remains.

Couplings: implied Inuyasha/Kagome; implied Inuyasha/Kikyo

WARNING: One-Shot. Deep angst ahead. Dark themes. The lyrics found in this fic are pretty much totally re-written so as to fit with the story. Don't sue because I don't own the song either. I only own the tweaked version.

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Fallen

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I wonder, what would it feel like to launch ones self off of a cliff? What would the thoughts running through ones mind be? What would the feel of the last moments of life be before they hit the ground and end their life? Possibly, forever?

I wonder, how would it feel, to be missed? What would the reactions of people be when they find out the news of the death of someone they loved? How would they cope? Would anyone…

Would anyone miss… me…? If I were gone?

I ponder the answer to the question, and decide that the answer is yes. People would miss me, many people in my family and small group of friends would miss me… But the one person that I would most like to have miss me, more than anything in the world… Would be him.

But he wouldn't miss me. No, he already misses someone so terribly that his heart breaks when he sees me….

And that in itself feels like death.

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I am not alone, I live with the memories-regret is my home

This is my true freedom

Express all the feelings at what I've become

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The feelings that I have kept deep inside of me for the last five years have seen no reason. Childish dreams shattered by the breaking of my heart in everyway possible by three little words that I wish never to hear again.

And, which, in a way, is ironic because they were aimed for me and yet still broke my heart to little pieces… And have me contemplating the ways people would miss me.

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I watch the rising sun

I hope I find some peace today

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I never knew that love could hurt so. It is better to have loved and lost, then to never have loved at all. It's all a load of shit. And what about the people that have loved someone with such passion… Only to never have that love returned? What about that!

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It seems I've gone away, it seems I've lost myself

It seems I've really lost my way

It seems I've lost myself

It's seems I've – Shed my skin

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It just hurt, it hurt so bad.

And it had to end…

The one question on my mind, would it hurt?

Would it hurt… To end it all?

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And it was all because of you.

And it was all because of you.

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Kagome stared around her, eyes wide at the actions that had caused her to walk to the very top of the cliff, overlooking the ocean that was more beautiful for her now than when she had seen it as a little girl. With the sun glinting serenely over the water, it seemed to call to her tantalisingly.

The last five years of dreaming had been shattered, crushed beneath the heel of the only one she had loved, the only one that would ever be source of her affections. She gave her love to him, gave him her all, risked her life for him; all he did was throw everything back in her face and call her a wench.

And yet she still loved him.

A bitter sinking feeling

Awake to the feeling there's no going back

To the world in which I was living in

It was sad, she admitted it, that she loved a man that did not love her. He loved a woman that had basically two timed him more times than one, killed him in a sense and tried to kill him more times than she could possibly count. And still he went back to her, not even registering the fact that she had tried to kill her, his 'shard detector'.

The trees behind her whispered to her, encouraging her with playful breezes pushing her closer to the edge.

I'm searching for something but found less than nothing

I watch the rising sun

She closed her eyes to listen, taking a step in front of her, then another, bending to the will of the whispered words of the only solitude she had convinced herself that she had. Would it really be bad if she just ended the pain, right there?

No, of course not. Came her minds voice, weaving a safety web for her mind to fall into, to empty all the pain that the man that she loved had caused her.

I hope I find some peace today

It seems I've gone away

It seems I've lost myself

It seems I've really lost my way

It seems I've lost myself

It seems I've – Shed my skin

She opened her eyes, stunning blue-grey watching the waves of the ocean crash against the cliffs jagged base, feeling the pull of gravity as she set her toes over the edge and raise her arms from her side. This was the moment…

This was the moment in which she would think her last thoughts, breath her last breath, and cry her final tears.

And it was all because of you.

And it was all because of you.

She was no longer the young woman she had been five years ago. She had matured and ripened and had dealt with the most astounding of things not an average woman of her age would deal with. She had been plucked from the real world in which she had lived in and thrust into a strange time, fighting against foes she thought were only in fables and fairytales. She had fallen in love with her knight in shinning armour and had had it shattered by that man too, irreparable by any means except for one.

And I'm dying to feel what I have lost

And what I was

All my life I've waited

Endless days have taken (and night you see)

Have taken what had made me free

Years have gone and I am broken –

I left the past unspoken

She laughed then, her dark hair billowing around her head as she started to cry. She didn't know why she was laughing, she only felt the need to do it. It was then that she realised the reason as to why she had done such a compulsive act while she stood on the literal precipice of life and death.

Those years they haunt me still

Shed my skin

Her life was to end very much like the life of her formers, broken and betrayed by the very man they had both loved.

Only instead of getting revenge by killing him, she was getting her revenge by having him live with a life full of guilt over her death. He could have prevented this, she sneered inwardly, taking a deep breath and watching the flying gulls out above the ocean.

"You deserve this." Was the final, hatred-filled thing she was to ever say again as she launched herself from the cliffs top and plummet to the bottom…

And it was all because of you

And it was all because of you

That I have shed my skin

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His smile grew wider, lighting his face up maliciously. Silly little girl, he smiled, watching as the woman he was spying upon disappeared over the edge of the cliff she had stood upon, not seconds before. From his position in the trees he had witnessed everything and what made him even more elated than seeing the final act set into motion, was how easily he could play with the woman's mind.

Simple manipulation was always his forte. All he had to do was create a strong enough illusion to fool the stupid miko into thinking the hanyou that she so dearly loved had pledged his love to her former being, and the rest was up to her… Oh, alright, he played with her mind then as well. How could he not? It was so much fun.

Naraku had learnt from his mistake with Kikyo and Inuyasha. He would not have a repeat of his pasts failed actions, now would he? So he decided to poke around some minds and get things sorted out, get things to go his way for once. And when he had found out about the little Kagome's infatuation with her hanyou hero, he couldn't have been more delighted. It was an added bonus when he found out the feelings were mutual.

He had then formulated his perfect plan. Turn the one against the other, and he'd be more than set.

He had sent a rumour out that his newest secret lair was to the north, a weeks ride away. With a bit of his under-handed manipulation, he had the two males of the group go off, leaving the women and that annoying kitsune child alone in a village.

The rest laid with Kagome, and his mind illusions of Inuyasha and that damned be miko, Kikyo, kissing and pledging their love for one another. It was only predictable what would happen afterwards.

Or so he thought.

She had fought against the illusion, saying that she had only dreamt it and that she was 'sleep-walking', that Inuyasha was on his way up north with Miroku, the monk, in tow. It was when he decided to intervene and push the amount of magic he had been using in the illusion to greater heights, helping to convince her that what she was seeing was 'real'.

And she couldn't shut up and faster.

She had finally come to accept the illusion as real and it was then that the rest was history. He worked his magic on her every day, turning her thoughts ever more darker and sinister, until the time that she had suddenly gotten up from camp earlier that day and said she was going for a long walk by herself.

He laughed out loud now, getting out of his tree and walking to the edge and looking down, satisfied with the amount of mess she had made. He clicked his fingertips together, sending an indication to a minion of his to collect the pieces of the jewel that she had been carrying with her at the time of her death.

It was in his grasp less than a minute later, all the pieces glowing a pure pink before swirling with a blackness that matched his part of the jewel completely. He hid both parts of the jewel back into his baboon pelt, and turned to walk away.

It was sad really, to have it all come down to this. Yet again, she had been the victim and she could do nothing about it. But, he reasoned, at least she was at peace with herself, dying and knowing that the man she had loved, Inuyasha, would in actual fact be shattered to learn that she was dead.

He scoffed at himself. He was getting all sentimental again. She was a pawn in his game of chess and he was but one move away from winning. The added bonus of it was seeing the face of the hanyou he had come to loathe with a passion as he discovered that the death of his beloved was intended. That she had indeed killed herself.

Kagome was an influential child, he mused. One push, and she would have eventually fallen.

Why he hadn't thought of it, though, had him shaking his head in disgrace, until he reminded himself that there needed time for the love to ripen. The waiting had been bitter-sweet, but leading up to this master plan of his…

An evil smirk alighted to his features before he disappeared in a cloud of miasma.

He had already won and all because of a little girl that had fallen with the darkness that was hidden in the deepest recesses her heart.

He couldn't help but bow to her, smirking to the spirit he imagined was watching him them; giving her thanks in his own devilish, fiendish way.

And he knew, that from that moment onward, nothing could wipe the grin from his face.

Absolutely nothing.

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El fin

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Amity-Star: On a personal note, I'm quiet proud of this piece because I've never quiet written something so angst filled, maybe even a little dark. (Well, it is kind of dark right? I mean, come on, Naraku basically wins!) On a more, interactive note, I'm also slightly ashamed of writing this piece because I'm such a strong supported of Inuyasha and Kagome getting together and dislike in a very extremist way of things, reading a fic where Kagome dies and that's it. On a second thought, maybe I will write a second chapter but then again, it might just ruin the whole orientation of the story. I'll ask what you guys think (if you do review that is) and then make a decision.

Please review… It might just influence a sequal… Or not… Please review.