Hello peoples, and welcome to my new fic, 'Paradise Is What You Make It'! The story will be split between Kagome & friends and Inuyasha. All I can say for this is know a few good rock songs as well as a few others. They might help you understand the chapters a little more. Some bands/groups to keep in mind: Guns 'n' Roses, Earth Wind & Fire, Daft Punk, and many others that would take forever to write down and I don't feel like trying to remember all of the bands. Anyway, just keep in mind that the music will give you a deeper understanding of each chapter. Not that you won't enjoy it and not understand it, but the lyrics in the songs will more than likely give you that deeper meaning that you weren't able to see before. Please R&R. Anyway, on to the fic!
It was September, and the leaves of the trees were turning vibrant colors of yellow, orange and red. The smell of the first rains was fresh in the air from the day before, and the sky was sprinkled with groups of white clouds that looked like cotton. The smell of miso wafted through the air, as well as pork and rice. Closer to the origin of the sweet smelling food, the scent would sit on one's tongue and that person could taste the food. As one got even closer to the origin, they would notice steam rising from inside a large hut. Sounds of chatting could be heard; there was talk of a great battle. A battle with a great demon, and one prominent voice was distinct out of all of them. It was a man's voice, one with a little bit of a rasp and a baritone pitch,
"Kagome, I don't know how many damn times I have to tell you, you are not going into battle with us! Naraku will have you dead the instant you let your guard down!!"
"Inuyasha… you don't get it do you? You need me to kill Naraku! Only my sacred arrows and Tetsusuiga combined will be powerful enough to kill him!"
"I'll find a way to do it without the sacred arrow, I just want you to be safe, can't you get that through your head?!"
"Fine. Just—fine. I'll leave, go home, and when you figure out you need me, I'll be waiting."
"Kagome, don't be mad, please! I… I just—"
"No I know perfectly well what you're worried about. Oh and I'm not mad… I'm pissed." Kagome gave him the snake eye and walked out. Inuyasha could feel something inside of him snap; he didn't know whether or not to feel happy or sad. He didn't know if he should be angry or depressed. He was deeply confused; she had never really been like this before. Well, maybe once, but he didn't remember what it was like. He also wondered what it was that snapped in him; was it his heart being broken, or was it something else? Was it his bond with her? Was he feeling the pain of losing a friend? The feelings were enough to make him lose his appetite. In fact, he almost felt sick. To add to his anxiety, his friends were all staring at him with a look similar to disgust, but the emotion was not that strong. He was getting more of a chastising glare than anything. The pain of Kagome walking out on him was enough; the pain of his friends being mad at him made it almost too hard to bear. At this point he could have blown up and just stormed outside and sat in his favorite tree. He didn't though. In fact, he felt weak and stupid. However his feelings would spark when Shippo added his commentary,
"Inuyasha you idiot! Now we won't be able to defeat Naraku! You know we have to have Kagome with us in order to defeat Naraku, and here you go making her upset and driving her away! I can't believe you—"
"Shut. Up. Just shut the fuck up you little idiot. You don't know a damn thing, at your age you think it'll all just turn out all hunky dory and everyone will come out okay and Naraku will be defeated. Well reality is truly eluding you if you think that's true. You know what it's like to lose someone you love; you lost your parents. I lost my parents. I never knew my father in fact. However you don't know the pain of discrimination, you don't know the pain of losing the love of your life, you don't know what it's like to lose a brother… only Sango could possibly know what it's like in my life, but the pain of losing your lover is not there for her. When I say lose a brother, I mean that my brother has absolute hate for me. I may have put on a front of 'Fuck you I hate you too', but… in truth, I envy his strength, and I'm sure he envies my emotion. However our pride is too strong to let us reveal those things. As far as I'm concerned though, I have no brother. However… I lost a sister too… You never knew who she was… but that's okay… it was for the best… but anyway you should all understand how painful this is… how much I want to defeat Naraku… but you just can't comprehend what it's like to lose absolutely everything, including fifty years of your life. You all treat my actions towards Kagome either as dumb or insensitive… but have you ever thought of how hard it is to keep someone like her close to you when you know you would lose them during a single battle? I don't want to take that risk… I want her to be happy… even if it means she has to leave for a while… at least until we defeat Naraku!" All of the people listening to him were rendered speechless; they had never heard Inuyasha say anything like this before. In fact, they heard a couple of things that made them feel bad for chastising him. However they were also curious about the fact that he had a sister sometime in the past. Miroku was curious enough to ask about it,
"Inuyasha… I'm sorry… however I must ask out of curiosity… you mentioned you had a sister… do you by chance know what happened to her?"
"… You know… I don't even know what happened… I only remember seeing her for the last time a few days before she was never seen again… no one knew where she had gone… actually, the only one who may have known was mother. She and I grew up together… but that's not something I feel like talking about right now…"
"I'm sure… Inuyasha, suppose that we were to defeat Naraku; what would you do then? Would you bring Kagome back here? Or would you let her stay in her world?"
"… I would rather think about that when the time comes; after all, if I die, she doesn't have to know I'm dead, right?"
"Well I'm sure that she would want to know what happened to you at least instead of forever regretting never seeing you again, wouldn't you agree—"
"Miroku, for once in your life just take my word for it, and understand, things like this are better thought about after the battle has come and gone. Thinking of the intimate details of the aftermath of a battle instead of concentrating on the main battle is spelling out your suicide. It's best we defeat Naraku and afterward we can decide what we will do… because I'm not dying by Naraku's hand. I would rather… well… there's lots of things I would rather do—but just please try to understand what I'm saying instead of questioning it."
"… alright Inuyasha, we will go with your plan; and since you have decided to prepare for the final battle, we should get to our preparations, shall we?" the rest of the room was silent for the rest of the evening. Night finally fell and not but the feeling of anticipation hung about the air. The taste of the cold air chilled the group as they slept in preparation for the battle. The darkness soothed the weary allies into a deep slumber. All but Inuyasha, who had brought up several memories from past occurrences that he would rather have not remembered before the battle. As the night dragged on, Inuyasha finally dosed off thinking about the good times he used to have with is long lost sister.
Morning came, and the warriors were wide awake, ready for the final battle. The air was thick with miasma as the friends walked out into the crop fields on their way to the final battlefield. Finally they had reached the intended destination, where they found Naraku waiting. Naraku himself stared at Inuyasha's party to find one missing,
"Inuyasha… tis a… pleasure to see you. I notice you did not bring your wench with you. Tell me; where is she?"
"Like I would tell you ya' rat bastard!"
"Ah… such a lovely comment. It still doesn't answer my question. I suppose it would be of little significance, as you have signed your death sentence by leaving her behind—"
"Shut the fuck up you asshole! I could defeat you with my hands tied behind my back!"
"Well if you did that, how could you swing that precious sword of yours?"
"Damn you!!" Inuyasha charged head on towards Naraku, unsheathing Tetsusuiga and swinging it at Naraku, who jumped to avoid the hunk of metal. Naraku countered with his tentacles, which Inuyasha hacked and slashed away at until he had to evade Naraku's own blade. The fight continued in this fashion with Sango, Miroku and Shippo chipping in at some key points. As the battle went on, Inuyasha continued to fatigue, and was also badly wounded in several places. Despite the pain, he fought on. However he got a surprise when a flash of light went flying towards Naraku and narrowly missed his head; the sound of an arrow sticking to a tree was a sign that someone had fired an arrow at Naraku. When everyone looked to the hill beside the battlefield, they all saw Kagome. Inuyasha was the first to speak,
"Kagome, what the fuck are you doing here?! Didn't you listen to me last night?!!"
"Inuyasha, until you can understand that I'm perfectly capable of holding my own, I won't let you boss me around, got that?!"
"Kagome, I don't understand… You blatantly put yourself in danger all the time. Is it because you want to prove something? Is that it?!"
"No Inuyasha… it's because… I can't stand it when you try and tell me not to help out!!"
"Fine, you know what? If you want to help, then help. Just don't come cryin' to me when you have a giant hole somewhere on your body or you're missing a limb, got that?!" Kagome simply nodded and looked at Inuyasha with a look of triumph. Inuyasha's moral boosted knowing they now had a good chance of finally putting Naraku under wraps for good. He also thought of a way to get Naraku in the perfect position to strike him without warning. Finally he got a great idea and leaped over to Kagome to tell her the plan,
"Okay Kagome listen; I have a way to defeat Naraku, but I need you to do exactly what I say, got it?"
"O-okay, got it!"
"Alright… I'll taunt him, and get him to think that he can take a single hit from my wind scar. Once we've goaded him into it, I'll perform a backlash wave that I need you to shoot an arrow for. You'll shoot it just as I'm about to unleash it, catching him off guard and he won't be able to escape the following attack. You got it now?!"
"Yes!"
"Good, now stand over there." He pointed over to a small part of the meadow. Kagome followed orders. Inuyasha on the other hand tried to get Naraku's attention,
"Hey Naraku, bet you're too weak to take my wind scar head on!"
"Oh my, I'm shaking with absolute fear. Come now you fool, surely you don't think I'm that easy of a target, do you?"
"Well I'd sure as hell love to see you take one head on!!"
"Alright, do your worst you dammed half breed!" Inuyasha powered up Tetsusuiga and just as he was about to unleash it, Kagome shot her arrow from beside Naraku, catching him off guard. Once the arrow was in the proper spot, Inuyasha performed his backlash wave. As he performed it, he noticed that something was different; he felt like the Tetsusuiga was lending him some sort of power, to which he used in the attack. The attack also traveled at a sonic speed. There was no way for Naraku to dodge. Before the demon could die, he stated,
"Damn… finally defeated by the half demon… well… good thing I got rid of your sister before you were awoken by your wench… in fact, I guess I could help you join her!!" Naraku shot a last ditch effort tentacle at Inuyasha, whom which was unable to see it in time to dodge it; he took the blow in the chest, and was instantly poisoned on impact. Inuyasha fell to the ground. Naraku was not but vapor after the massive attack. However the downed hanyou drew his friends in from their positions on the battle field, Kagome the first one to be by his side. Looking at the wounds, Kagome could already tell that this was going to kill him,
"Inuyasha!!"
"Kagome… I don't know if you figured it out or if maybe it was one sided but… I love you." Kagome's eyes filled with hot salty tears that streamed down her face,
"Inuyasha, I love you too, please don't die!!"
"Kagome… you should know just as well as I do that this wound is going to kill me… I'm going to die, but I want you to be happy; Be happy that you met me, because I'm sure as hell happy to meet you. Damn that Naraku… taking my sister… my ex lover… he took almost everything… now he won't be able to harm anyone else's life. He Miroku… how is your hand?" Miroku looked at him with a questioning face, then he realized what Inuyasha meant,
"Oh right!" Pulling off the prayer beads carefully, he opened his right palm to reveal that the vortex was now gone. Inuyasha was happy,
"If that's gone… that means that Kohaku must be just fine as well. Well… I guess my purpose in life has been fulfilled. Kagome, don't you ever forget about me… don't you ever forget about me, understa—mmm!" His lips were sealed with Kagome's; the smell of her tears and her sweet smell of her breath was strong for Inuyasha. His heart fluttered as he returned the kiss as best as he could. They finally broke, and Inuyasha stared deep into her deep chocolate eyes, and raised a hand to caress her cheek. He rubbed his finger tips across her cheeks, feeling her soft, warm skin. Finally he said,
"Kagome… I'll say it once more… I love you… and I will miss you… goodbye." Kagome felt as his fingers trailed off of her cheeks and his hand thumped coldly onto the ground. Cold drops of rain felt like searing needles on her bare skin; the pain in her chest welled up into one large scream that she could no longer hold. Finally, she let loose,
"Inuyasha!!!"
The next morning the friends all went to Inuyasha's mother's grave. Inuyasha's body had been cleaned and ceremonial robes had been placed on him; they were solid red, just like the clothing he always wore. They dug a hole under the tree next to his mother's grave, and slowly lowered him into his new resting site. They buried him, and set flowers on his grave. Not saying anything, only praying silently, they let Miroku bless the grounds and conduct proper ceremonies. Finally, they all left for Kaede's hut. Once there, Miroku spoke with Kagome,
"Kagome… what are you going to do now?" she took a while to respond, but finally she did,
"Miroku… I intend to go home. I'll come back to visit, but I think now that the quest is over, there won't be much to come back for but you three and Kaede."
"Right… well listen, Miroku, Shippo and I will be waiting for when you come back, alright?"
"Okay Sango, I'll be looking forward to it too!" Kagome packed up all of her belongings for the final time, and left the village. As she came up upon the hill where the well sat, she stared at the spot on the Goshinboku where she had first encountered Inuyasha. Then she went through all of the things they did in her head. Finally, she said her final goodbyes, and entered the well, not to return for a while. When she got to the other side however, she saw something that she would never forget…
And that ladies and gentlemen is the first chapter of 'Paradise Is What You Make It'! Now that the base line is set, I can take this story in the direction I intended. I hope you all loved this so far, and please review!
-JT Jewels