Title: This is Me
By: Queen Beryl
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This is my first real song-fic! I was listening to "This is Me" by Dream and it completely hit me! This situation is so much like the little love triangle between Inu-Yasha, Kagome, and Kikyo. So, here we go, I hope you like it, but I am sorry if it sucks!! One-shot!
I don't own the song, the group, or Inu-Yasha. Yes, I know you're all disappointed, but oh well.

Kagome sat down on the tall, unkempt grass in the Feudal Era of Japan. Her dark locks were blowing in the breeze that would be soothing, had she not been in such a foul mood.
"I should be used to this." She thought aloud, idly brushing her fingers on the prickly green grass. "He does this all the time. He's just insecure and jealous."
After a recent fight with Inuyasha, Kagome still hadn't cooled off. It was always the same with him. Kagome reached over to her bottomless yellow backpack and dug into it in search of something.
"Aha!" She cried, withdrawing her Discman and headphones. Music always calmed her... always made her feel better. She opened it up to see which compact disc it was. Dream. "I haven't listened to them for a while... I forgot it was even in this." She put the headphones over her ears and pressed play. She let the first couple songs play through, until number 3 came on. This was one of her favorites. She turned up the volume and sang along.
"She stole your heart, only did it because she could. Chewed you up and spat you out, that girl never was no good. Baby I will never do that; I'll love you faithfully, but your suspicious mind thinks I'm gonna repeat her story." At the miniscule pause in the song, Kagome thought for a moment. It was almost like she was meant to listen to this song right now. Couldn't Inuyasha see that Kagome wasn't like Kikyo? She was supposedly Kikyo's reincarnation, but she was her own person! Kikyo was completely different!
"She's making you crazy, making you a wreck; making you follow me, making me suspect. You seem to think I'm playing her game, don't you know my name? That was her, this is me. We're different as can be; she and I are nothing alike: you're confusing day with night. That was then, this is now. You wanna trust me, but you don't know how. I'm never gonna mess around, let you down, can't you see? That was her, and baby this is me." We're different people, Inuyasha, Kagome thought desperately, letting the lyrics sink in further. We aren't anything alike, just like the song says! We're different! I'd never want to kill you or pin you to a tree for fifty years!
"Stop making me feel bad; I'm the best thing you ever had! The only thing I'm guilty of is giving you too much love!" So true, so true.... "She's making you crazy, making you a wreck; making you follow me, making me suspect. You seem to think I'm playing her game, don't you know, don't you know my name? That was her, this is me. We're different as can be; she and I are nothing alike: you're confusing day with night. That was then, this is now. You wanna trust me, but you don't know how. I'm never gonna mess around, set you down, can't you see? That was her, and baby this is me."
Inuyasha, why can't you see?
"Don't suffocate me, give me some space. Don't make me pay, for all her mistakes. Believe in the love that's in my kiss. Don't see things that don't exist! That was her, this is me. We're different as can be; she and I are nothing alike: you're confusing day with night. That was then, this is now. You wanna trust me, but you don't know how. I'm never gonna mess around, let you down, can't you see? That was her, and baby this is me. Get a grip."
The song ended, as did Kagome's pretty singing. She took her headphones off and laid back, her hands behind her head, and stared up at the shifting clouds in the azure sky. Listening to music didn't help her this time. It just got her thinking on another tangent. Why couldn't Inuyasha see that Kagome loved him? Why couldn't he understand she was different from Kikyo?
"Oh, Inuyasha. I wish you knew." Kagome lamented.
"I do now." A voice just beyond Kagome's sight stated. Kagome jumped and looked over to see Inuyasha squatting nearby.
"W-what are you doing here?" Kagome stuttered, blushing. He heard me? I feel so stupid! Kagome sat up and brushed her hair through with her fingers, as if his presence didn't perturb her in the least.
"I can be where I please, can't I?" Inuyasha sat next to her and behind just a little. He could partly smell her uneasiness.
"I guess. How long have you been there?"
"Long enough." Inuyasha stated mysteriously. Kagome refused to look at him. There was a bit of awkward silence for a small space. Finally, Inuyasha spoke up again, albeit hesitantly.
"That... song, was it? Is that how you really feel?"
Kagome could have died right there. He knew! It was like handing over your heart to someone and letting them decide what to do with it. It was painful and absolutely terrifying all at once.
"Well," Kagome started. I might as well be honest, right? "Yes, as a matter of fact. Kikyo and I are very different from each other. Everyone says I'm her reincarnation, but I just don't feel it. I'm nothing like her. We may look similar, yes, but we act nothing alike. She was real fifty years ago; she's dead now. I'm here, fifty years later, and I'm alive. Not some walking corpse. I'm made of flesh and blood, tears and smiles, happiness and pain, breath and thoughts. She's made of dirt. And yet... and yet..." Kagome faltered.
Inuyasha soaked up the information he was receiving like a sponge. Kagome had never opened up like this before.
"And yet," she tried again, "you choose her. You want Kikyo. You still love her. I want to know why you can't get it through your thick skull that she is dead! You two may have loved each other long ago; you two may have made it, as well. She's gone, and you need to get over it." Kagome stood up, and Inuyasha followed suit. He opened his mouth to say something, thinking Kagome was finished, but she continued on.
"Of course it's hard... forgetting the ones you love. I can understand that. I just wish that you could realize that there is someone in front of you now. Someone alive that loves you. I've never hated you. I know we've had our problems and arguments... I know I could never, ever compete with Kikyo and how she died for you. That's because I'm not like her, but then I thought about how she loved you once upon a time. It cheered me up a bit to know that we both loved the same hanyou. Then I was scared because I knew that I was the only one with unrequited love. I was the odd man out. You love her, she loved you... and I... was left in the cold. Maybe if Kikyo was never a part of this equation, you and I'd make it. We could be together. I wasn't so lucky. I came around 500 years too late, didn't I?"
Inuyasha was still musing over everything she was telling him. She was bearing her heart... her very soul to him, and he couldn't do anything but listen. It was as if some magical force bound him to the ground, bound his eyes to hers, his ears to listen to the sound of her lovely voice. But was it all true? Did she really come around 500 years too late? If there had been no Kikyo, would there be an Inuyasha and Kagome couple? This beautiful girl standing before him... she was different from him, wasn't she? She was warm, caring... she didn't want to change him into a human. She loved him as a hanyou.
Kagome loved Inuyasha... as he was. A hanyou. Nobody ever loved him just the way he was, before. He'd changed since he first met her. He'd learned to trust more, learned to care, learned... so many things... all because of her. She made him want to become better. She made him want... something more.
"This is me, Inuyasha." Kagome's voice snapped Inuyasha from his rampant thoughts. "This isn't Kikyo; this isn't her reincarnation. This is me: Higurashi Kagome from modern Tokyo. I don't belong here, in Feudal Japan. I belong in the future, in high school and in a house with a mattress. I come back because I'm needed. Someone here in this era needs me. I come back because I love this person... even though he only needs me as a detector for the shards of the Shikon no Tama. I'm needed, and I want to stay with him. With you, Inuyasha. Even though I don't belong here, I want to stay because I'm needed by someone I love."
"Kagome..." Inuyasha whispered, finally finding his voice. The words she spoke were like hammers to his head. They were real... they were true... they were her. Kagome. Inuyasha reached forward and pulled Kagome into a tight hug. He didn't even mean to do it, it just happened as if on reflex. How could he tell her? How could he let her know what was in his heart? Expressing emotions, except for anger and jealousy, came hard to him. What could he do?
"I-inu-" Kagome started, only to be silenced by Inuyasha's voice.
"Kagome, it isn't true..." Inuyasha's words were muffled by the material on Kagome's shoulder and some of her silky hair. Inuyasha closed his amber eyes. "You're not just a shard detector. I need you for more than that. I need you... because you've made me want to become somebody better. You're right about many things.... I did love Kikyo; I did choose her. She was my first love... I probably always will." The words bit into Kagome, hurting her deeply, but the very next ones forced her eyes to water. "But I was wrong."
"I-inuyash-" Kagome sobbed as he tightened his hold on her. Tears streamed down her pale face. He was wrong about loving Kikyo? About choosing her over me?
"I-i'm sorry, Kagome." Inuyasha stuttered. He still wasn't used to apologizing and admitting he had erred. "I was wrong. You've done so much for me, and I couldn't see it because I was blinded to Kikyo. I only thought of her sacrifices... never about yours. Even though I'll always feel something for her, the situation with you is different. You are here, with me now, and that's what I need. I need you here with me, Kagome. I need you."
"Oh, Inuyasha..." Kagome's sobs rippled through her body. "How can you say the very things that I needed to here? It's almost too good to be true. I never thought I'd hear those words from you to me."
"I just had to realize that you and Kikyo... you're different. It's like you said: I'm confusing day with night." Inuyasha pulled back from her slightly, and he gently wiped her tears from her cheeks with one of his clawed hands. He half-grinned down at her, his trademark frown disappearing for a moment. The next thing he did surprised Kagome as well as himself. He leaned forward and kissed her. No tongue or any raunchy acts, but a soft, sensual, and very meaningful kiss on the lips.
Perhaps being me isn't so bad after all. Kagome thought, smiling into the kiss. Perhaps being me... being Higurashi Kagome... is a blessing in disguise. Especially if you're being loved by Inuyasha.

This actually went a bit longer and mushier than I initially thought it would... I mean... a lot. I didn't mean to put all that romance in, I'm sorry! *bows* GOMEN! Please review! Thanks in advance! ^_^