A/N – This story is my version of what the end should be like. You could call it a sequel to "The Rain", but it's just as good on its own.
The gift
If you love something enough, you will let it go…
The wind scar ripped through the air like thunder, Kagome's arrow singing along side it. Naraku cried out as it tore him limb from limb and ripped through him. As the glare from the wind scar faded, the glint of the Shikon no Tama could be seen as it descended to earth.
Inu Yasha panted. "Finally it's over." He fell to his knees, exhausted.
Kagome knelt beside him and wrapped her arms around him. "You did it. I knew you could." She breathed the words softly in his ear.
He looked up at her and squeezed her arm gently. Without her, he could have never beaten Naraku. He stared at her as if seeing her for the first time. "I couldn't have done it without you, Kagome. Your arrow purified his powers." He touched her cheek, sending shivers down her spine.
Kikyo who'd assisted them, but nearly as much to her liking. Inu Yasha and Kagome had destroyed Naraku without her assistance. The young miko was much stronger than she had suspected. She made her way past Inu Yasha and Kagome. Out of the corner of her eye she watched them. 'Inu Yasha has changed. He never let his guard down like that even with me.' She picked up the large shard Naraku had possessed, purifying it. She looked back at the girl again.
"Give me your shards. I shall make it whole again."
Kagome looked nervously at Inu Yasha. She wasn't sure if they could trust Kikyo. He nodded. "It's the only way we can destroy the jewel for good."
Kikyo was taken aback by this. 'What? Has he no desire for the jewel any more? He fought Naraku, merely to keep it from his evil clutches?' The idea had never struck her that maybe he no longer wanted the jewel.
Kagome took out her shards and handed them to Kikyo. They locked eyes for a long moment, before Kagome retreated to Inu Yasha's side. The hanyou slipped his arm around her waist and held his breath. 'Something has changed between those two.' She frowned inwardly. 'I no longer own his heart. He belongs to her. But am I not a part of her. Yes, that is how I shall achieve my own happiness.'
The others were still watching her, so she pressed the shards together and prayed until they combined back into one. The onlookers gasped to see the jewel whole again. "Give it to me." Inu Yasha held out his hand to receive it. Slowly she made her way toward him.
Miroku and Sango stumbled towards them. "Wait, Lady Kikyo. Perhaps you should keep it for a while longer, until Inu Yasha has made up his mind."
"I've made up my mind you stupid monk." The hanyou did not inform them, that he planned to wish the stone into nonexistence.
Kikyo shook her head. "Let us see what he can do with it."
As soon as the stone touched his hand, he knew that its power had been used. It was nothing more than a worthless stone now. He gaped at the jewel. "What have you done?"
"I have done what was necessary." Her body began to crumble before their very eyes, the lost souls escaping into heaven. The blinding blue light, which was Kikyo's soul swirled in the air and then came crashing back down into Kagome. Her body twitched and her knees went limp. Her eyes lost focus and she began to fall.
Inu Yasha clutched her tightly. "Kagome? Kagome! Kagome!" He sank with her to the ground.
Slowly her eyes regained focus. "It's all right, Inu Yasha." She caressed his cheek.
His eyes were full of panic. "But Kikyo-"
Kagome looked down at her hands. "It's all right. She's here." The young miko smiled. "And she's happy. I understand now. She wanted to be with you, because she loved you. But she knew she couldn't any more, not like that anyways." She looked over at the pile of broken clay. "But she could like this. She could as a part of me."
"She gave up her life just to be with me?"
Kagome looked up at him, a touch of surprise in her eyes. "If I had had the choice, to watch you be with someone else or die and become a part of that person. I think I would have made the same decision."
He hugged her tightly. "Kagome, I'm glad you're whole again."
"And I am glad Lady Kikyo is finally at rest." Miroku said a soft prayer for her.
"And I'm glad she's happy." Sango looked at the remains of the resurrected miko. She had never truly believed Kikyo had been happy alive. She had always seemed too sad.
"And I'm glad Inu Yasha didn't have to use the jewel." Shippo hopped onto Miroku's shoulder.
"Who said I would have used it anyways?" Inu Yasha defended himself.
"You, only did like a hundred times." Sango pointed out.
"Well, I'd changed my mind about that. I would have wished the jewel into nonexistence." His friends gasped, except for Kagome.
She smiled up at him. "I knew you'd make the right decision, no matter how things came out."
He looked down at her amazed at the amount of faith she had in him. He hugged her even tighter. 'Life has a chance now. That's all that matters.'
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Well, that was my version anyways. It gets rid of Kikyo, Naraku, and the jewel all in one sweep. (And that's exactly what I'd like to do with Kikyo's remains, sweep them under a rug somewhere or better yet burn them!) Oh, sorry you had to see that, that was my sadistic side. Please R&R.