Disclaimer: Inuyasha and company belong to a manga Goddess, certainly not to me.

AN: This small one-shot was actually a part of a larger fic that I am trying to finish up before I start to post it. The circumstances of the story changed as I was writing and this didn't fit in any longer. But I couldn't completely toss this aside. So I offer it to you now, a taste of something that never was.

Confused

She watched the scene in front of her with a confusing mixture of emotions. As Inuyasha rocked Kagome back and forth she could tell he was on the brink of tears. Kikyo didn't know quite what to think. Everything is so much more complicated now. One of the soul stealers started to move towards the fallen couple. No doubt it intended to collect the dying soul from the young girl. Yet, without knowing why, Kikyo raised a hand to stop it. She would not claim this soul.

Why not, she thought to herself even as she turned to leave. After all, she had many reasons to relish in this girl's demise. The soul was mine first, so it should have been an easy claim. Perhaps having this soul in particular would make it so that she wouldn't have to take other innocent souls. Kikyo narrowed her eyes at her own faulty reasoning. No, this leeching existence didn't bother her that much. She resisted the urge to clench her teeth in an uncharacteristic display of emotion. There must be a reason. Was it jealousy? Hatred? Both? That mere slip of a girl had just waltzed in from her easy life in the future and stolen everything that had belonged to her alone. The copy took her sister, her home, her job. Hell the little bitch even had her face. Kikyo smirked inwardly at that. They were not indistinguishable. Kikyo was older, and she knew that her darker eyes reflected the weight of her duty more so then her reincarnation's ever had. Not that the girl has a chance to get that kind of weight now.

Kikyo stopped her slow retreat and glanced back at the mourning figure. She could barely see him through the trees. He was oblivious to everything else around him. Oh how easy it would be to walk back over there and end it now. That girl, who had turned Inuyasha's eyes away.... well that girl was not going to be a distraction for much longer. Again, Kikyo contemplated sending a soul catcher over to them. It would be a prize soul. She knew it had only grown since its residence within her living body. And the presence of the Shikon no Tama within the soul had only strengthened it, amplifying the miko powers.

Kikyo sighed with regret. Ah such power. I had control and finesse.... but that strength was raw and untamed. Yet another reason to hate the girl. Her reincarnation had had it so easy! Such power right at her fingertips.

She heard a roar and three agitated voices pass overhead. The undead miko retreated further into the shadows. It was better if they did not see her now. But she stayed. And she listened as the four friends made their bittersweet discovery. Their quest was complete. Naraku was dead and the jewel shards all accounted for. But the price was seeping into the soil -- an endless stream of blood and tears.

_-flashback-_

Kikyo had been tailing Inuyasha for over a week. She had hidden herself from him carefully. For a while now she had suspected that Naraku was going to make his move against the hanyou. The last few battles had cost Naraku dearly. His frustration would turn him sloppy. Kikyo planned to take advantage when this happened and bring him down. Then she could finally reclaim Inuyasha and return to a quiet rest. So when the confrontation happened, she was not caught unawares. Not that she had participated in this last battle. Naraku had done this all by himself. This battle had proven his undoing, though it looked like he was not leaving this life alone.

This time he had wanted to bloody his own hands. It was a foolish move for the normally cunning villain. Ironic how sloppy emotions can be. Anger, bloodlust, love-- all emotions led to mistakes. Kikyo and Inuyasha could both attest to that.

The short battle had started as a fluke. Naraku had been watching for one of the infamous fights between the hanyou and the miko. Oddly enough, the fight was over Kikyo herself again. Accusations flew through the clearing. Each suffered at the other's biting insults.

Naraku had waited until Inuyasha had received his full compliment of "oswari" commands and was writhing on the ground. Then, as the young girl from the future had predictably started to storm off, he had made his move, attempting to eliminate his most persistent rival. But the trickster had underestimated both of his opponents.

The young miko, in a flash of foresight, had inexplicably sensed that Naraku was near. Even as he had drawn close to the flattened, groaning dog-demon, a pure arrow had slashed across his path. Kikyo had been surprised, her own arrow still clutched in her hand. She let it down. She would not interfere unless Naraku attacked Inuyasha again. Naraku had been forced to dodge away. Faster then should have been humanly possible, the young miko was braced before Inuyasha, arrow notched and ready. The girl and Naraku traded insults. It had been a mistake on both sides.

Naraku had enough time to launch his attacks at the miko. Inuyasha had enough time to put his back in order. Only one had been given enough time. Naraku's spidery appendages had pierced through the miko even as her final arrow stuck him in the shoulder. The arrow began to melt away his body. Kikyo watched, curious, as the miko's body also emitted strong purifying energies, melting away the spidery arms. It threatened to melt the rest of his body even as the girl dropped to the ground in a bloody heap. Even then, the beast might have escaped if Inuyasha hadn't attacked with his full might. On the heels of a Cutting Wind slash came a Bakuruyya. Kikyo shivered despite herself as she watched the waves of youki feeding off of Naraku's own poisonous vapors to rend him into tiny pieces.

Naraku's cry of pained outrage had been drowned in Inuyasha's own. He had called for the girl. Tossing his prized sword away. He yelled at her, one moment praising her skills and courage, the next berating her intelligence and sanity. Kikyo had watched, jealous as he had cradled the girl, whispering endearments as she slipped slowly away.

After all, Inuyasha had never actually done these things for Kikyo. He had never cried for her. Even after learning the truth behind her death, or after almost losing her all these times. She knew with certainty his tears had never pooled for her. But for this girl he now shed a river.

And for all their intimate embraces and the few stolen kisses, he had never told her flat out that he loved her, wanted to be her mate, and never claimed to dream about their pups! But here again she listened to him say all these things and more to this little slip of a girl who had mended his heart and given up her life for the lonely hanyou.

She felt cold, intruding. She was ashamed. She had been none of these things since she died and been revived. So she remained hidden. Her eyes were testament to his private confessions.

- end flashback-

Kikyo had felt colder as the jealousy died out. She wasn't sure what she felt anymore. A part of her was disgusted. A small part of her was simply relieved. And a small warm portion of her was... grieving. What? Could it be that the strange girl had affected even Kikyo's undead heart. Kikyo shook her head at her own foolish assumptions.

Of course not.

The dead couldn't change.

Time stood still for death. She would always be the same bitter, angry, betrayed woman that she had died as. But the doubt lingered. Other so called 'laws of the world' had been kicked aside by the girl. Who was to say that she hadn't lent some warmth to a freezing soul. Her slight touch, dazzling smile, that willingness to trust and help. Kikyo had witnessed it all many times. She had always felt jealous and betrayed. But was she in fact being healed?

She looked at the ground ashamed. She knew this was not who she was in life. Kikyo replayed many of the memories of her life and her observations of the girl. She remembered the times that the reincarnation had even saved her. Was there a hint of pride with some of these memories. Pride, that her soul would be the one to take down the dark miko once more, vanquish evil demons, and lend compassion to strangers. Maybe.

Kikyo turned to move away. She wanted to escape the sobbing of the exterminator, the murmured prayers of the monk, and the wails of a small kitsune who once again found himself alone in the world. Most of all she wanted to forever erase the forlorn cries of the hanyou whom she had once loved. She now knew for certain that her love for him had been nothing compared to his love for the time-traveling girl.

As she headed away she was surprised to find herself wiping away moisture from her face. 'How?' she whispered in awed wonder. The dead cannot cry. Whom was she crying for?

For the girl, drifting into a peaceful slumber that had been ripped from herself?

For the friends left bereft of a second chance at family?

For a battered hanyou, losing love and acceptance before he had even realized he had it?

For a world, suddenly darker then before?

For herself and she knew not why?

"She has that affect on people... youki, hanyou, human,.... and it seems even the dead." The deep voice observed from her right. Kikyo frowned without turning. How had he gotten there without her sensing. And how had he known.

"The dead cannot be affected. Death doesn't change." She countered flatly. He always made her uneasy. Or did her disturbance settle more around his weapon?

"Nor do Youki. " The reply was also flat. He was so similar to herself. Both beings locked emotions away. But he was moving beyond her already. His even steps carried him gracefully towards the clearing where the sounds of grief continued. She turned then to watch him. His long silver hair swayed behind. A small human child followed quietly at his heels.

Kikyo found her lips drawing into an unwitting smile as the proud Youki lord drew out his weapon. This was the sword that the dead feared. This was Tenseiga.

She finally drew away then. Calling her soul stealers around her she vanished into the twilight sky. There were things left undone. Complications still snarled the future paths. But for tonight she could allow herself a brief rest.