Disclaimer: If I owned Inuyasha, I wouldn't be sitting here writing fan fiction, now would I?

I was listening to depressing music when I came up with the idea for this story… So yeah… I hope you all like it!

Chapter One – A Painful Memory

Tears blurred her vision as she ran through the darkened forest, unable to think clearly, and didn't have the slightest idea of where she was going. Branches scraped against her frail body, which left cuts and bruises as well as some rips on her white, discolored, uniform shirt that stuck to her from being drenched with sweat. Though, she didn't seem to care. She just kept on running, her ebony hair flowing freely behind her with her swift movements as a gentle breeze blew past her, following the same path as the one she had left on. The only thing that held firm in her mind was the scene that she most dreaded to see… It clenched her heart with such an unbearable sorrow…

FLASHBACK

He stepped closer towards her, the ears on the top of his head twitching slightly as they slowly embraced in a hug, savoring the bitter sweet moment held between them. They both knew that time itself was their enemy, taunting them by making it so that they could never be together in the world of the living; the only way they could ever be together was if they faced death, hand in hand. Kagome was watching the two from behind a tree, trying so hard not to cry and fall to her knees in total defeat. It just wasn't fair. She was alive; Kikyou was dead. There was a big difference. Though, she was aware that she could never compete against the undead miko, judging by the fact that Inuyasha still loved and wanted to be with her. Suddenly, the silence was at last broken.

"Kikyou… I will be with you always… I am the only one who can protect you," Inuyasha spoke softly, unlike his usual, tempered self. His face was calm and held a hint of sadness reflected in his golden orbs he had for eyes, glimmering faintly in the moonlight.

"Then… Are you willing to go to hell with me?" Kikyou asked, looking up at him.

"Yes… After Naraku is dead, I will do anything to be with you." Kagome felt her heart sink after hearing his answer, feeling as though it was shattering into millions of little pieces. How could he forget about her? How could he not even consider everything that they'd been through together? She had hoped at least he had a small place in his heart for her. But now it was clear that she must've been wrong. No longer able to watch, she quickly turned around and started to run at full speed, letting out small breaths of air from her mouth while hot, steamy tears rolled down her cheeks, trailing out from behind her.

END OF FLASHBACK

'Inuyasha… He… He doesn't care about me at all… All I am to him is a shard detector; nothing more.' Kagome thought to herself solemnly. She was now running down a hill, not paying attention to any of her surroundings that she normally would've taken the time to admire, too upset about what she'd just seen. Suddenly, her right foot came into contact with a risen tree root and tripped over it, tumbling forward onto the cold, hard ground, and rolled the rest of the way to the bottom. Pain shot through her entire body as her head collided with a rock, and let out a small, pitiful cry, immediately feeling fresh, crimson blood gush out of the injury. Her whole world was spinning and she began to grow weary from the amount of blood loss. 'This was not how I planned to die… I didn't want to die alone with no one by my side to comfort me…' Just then, everything went black.