THE MEIDOU'S MISGIVINGS

An Inuyasha fan-fiction.

Summary: During the final battle with the jewel, Kagome is sucked into a foreign meidou where she is spewed back to the day when she first met Inuyasha. However, she doesn't unpin him from the tree, instead, she gets sidetracked by a certain cold hearted half brother who seems to be a bit more venemous than usual.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own a single thing having to do with Rumiko Takahashi's anime/manga series: Inuyasha. I know everyone wishes they did (despite how long and repetitive it may be), but sadly, it's just a dream, so I'm not going to voice it. Readers beware as well, this fan-fiction is going to contain A LOT of spoilers, I repeat, A LOT (especially for the very end of the series).

Chapter One: The Meidou's Suction

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She couldn't bare it any longer.

Watching the faces of her family crowded about on the ground and banging on the dirt, brushing their fingers over the empty spot where the well had once stood before it had vanished. She was still in some sort of surreal dream. She could see everyone clearly, even her friends standing atop the stairs with worried looks on their faces. What was happening? Why couldn't anyone hear her?

What sort of dream was she in, where she had finally gotten into high school and started living a normal life? Where the well shrine didn't exist and no one knew, not even her family, of her historic adventures accompanied alongside the temperamental hanyou Inuyasha? What sort of life is this, she wondered.

And then the jewel appeared.

Kagome widened her eyes, adrenalin spreading throughout her veins like an uncontained wildfire. The pictures of her family, her friends, her normal life, dissolved into nothingness, and here she was, floating about in nothing but pure and utter darkness.

She stared up at the shikon no tama with her arrow rammed straight through it. She didn't know what was happening or where she was, but she had an inkling that the jewel was behind it. Was this Naraku's wish then? Did he intend for her to be cast into the depths of the meidou along with the shikon no tama?

'Wish'

Kagome piqued her head, her mouth parting open. There was clearly no sign of human life within the meidou, save hers, so there was no possible way for her to start hearing voices. Perhaps it was her own voice, but she had not noticed it. Was she going insane?

'Wish'

"What?" Kagome voiced aloud, worry creasing her brow. There was something speaking to her, that much she knew, but what could it be? Kagome reared her head upwards and stared up at the jewel, the jewel that was now pink and no longer tainted by despairing feelings and distraught emotions. Naraku was no longer here to burden the jewel with his cruel intentions.

'Did you like what you saw?'

"What?" Kagome asked again, even though she had clearly heard the question. She was just so surprised to find that the strange, detached voice belonged to none other than the shikon no tama itself. "What are you talking about?"

'You're normal life, how did you like it?'

"My normal life?" Kagome asked herself. Her normal life, was that what that dream had been? Was that supposed to be her normal life? Was it even a dream-- it had all seemed dreadfully real to her, so real, that she had even completely forgotten about Inuyasha. "I'm in high school now, I finally went home!"

This idea dawned upon the young school girl, her hopes and aspirations lighting up like a candle open to flame. So she had made it home then, she had made it into the high school where her friends were going, she was even going out on dates with Hojo! How wonderful that her normal life had returned to her.

'All allusions.'

Kagome jerked her head up and stared listlessly at the jewel. Her hopes crashed and burned until they withered about her like dull, grey ashes.

'Those allusions are what could have happened if you had not met Inuyasha. You could have had a normal life, Kagome. If you wish to have that normal life, all you have to do is wish…'

'All I have to do is wish?' Kagome wondered to herself. It was plausible, as long as she wished with the jewel, her normal life would come back to her. It was so simple!

'However…if you do not wish to have that normal life, you will be doomed to stay in this darkness alone…for eternity…'

Kagome's eyes widened in fear, panic starting to rake at her bones and plague her mind with visions of darkness. Spend an eternity here in this darkness, alone?

'No,' she thought. She couldn't possibly do that, she couldn't possibly live it out alone in nothing but blackness. It was the ultimate hell, there was no doubt in that, but if she didn't wish right, would she be left to dwindle away inside the meidou?

'So if I wish to go home, I could return home,' she thought to herself. 'No, I can't.' She knew perfectly well that it was a selfish wish, a wish that wouldn't work on the likes of the shikon no tama.

'Besides,' she thought again. 'The jewel doesn't really grant your wish at all.' She already knew what to wish for, she knew it all too clearly, but she was scared to voice it aloud. She was terrified of what would happen afterwards. What would become of her if she made the wish? What if something went wrong and she was left to live her life in the meidou all alone in total darkness.

The young girl was frightened, so frightened that she was trembling. She was scared of the consequences, scared of everything involving the sacred jewel. And just when she was about to give up on herself, she heard him.

"Kagome!"

Kagome widened her eyes until they began stinging, her heart thumping madly within her chest. She could hear him perfectly clear, she could hear Inuyasha calling out to her from somewhere outside the darkness.

"Kagome, don't wish for anything yet, wait until I'm there!" he shouted, his voice a faded muffle. Kagome stared up at the jewel, her arrow still embedded within it's center.

'Inuyasha has always come for me,' she thought to herself. Her perspective on things suddenly cleared, as if a wave of crystal clear water had washed through her mind, clearing away all seeds of doubt and concealment. 'He has always saved me, he'll always be there. I'm not scared anymore.'

A new sense of hope suddenly sprang into her mind, filling her body with rejuvenated energy. She could do it, she could withstand the darkness, for Inuyasha. She stared up at the jewel, slanting her eyes in observance.

"I won't wish for anything," she told it, watching how sparks of pink energy began to encompass the jewel and her arrow. "I want to be with Inuyasha, so I'll wait." She believed in him to the fullest, she believed that he would come to get her, to save her from the darkness that had almost won over her spirit. She believed in him full heartedly and she would always believe in him. What else could she do, she loved him.

"Meidou Zangetsuha!"

She looked away from the shikon no tama, her brown eyes scanning around throughout the darkness. She could see a whirlpool of light swirl in the distance, a light so vibrant that she had to squint her eyes. It began to swirl and swirl until a shadow washed over her face. She then discovered that the shadow was none other than Inuyasha himself.

"Inuyasha," she murmured, a smile taking over her lips. She was so overwhelmed with joy and relief, that she hugged him. She pressed into his body, her hands gliding around his stomach to sit at the base of his back. "I knew you would come."

She felt Inuyasha's claws scurry through her hair, raking through her raven locks like a brush. She then stepped away from him and looked up at the shikon no tama, a determined fire hidden within her eyes. There was hope now, a kind of hope that she could grasp- Inuyasha's being there proved it all.

"I'm making it now," she shouted up to the jewel. She stared up at it with an intensity that could burn- she was determined to make the right wish, she was no longer afraid, she would make it without falter.

"Shikon no tama," she said with an even edge. "I wish for you to disappear, forever!"

At first, there was silence, a silence so dreadful that panic started to well within her, but all that panic soon ebbed away when the jewel began to crack. Splintering cracks started to engulf the jewel, a pink ripple of light engulfing it's entire being, and then it shattered. Kagome and Inuyasha stared up at the imploded jewel, pink shards floating throughout the air until they altogether faded away into nothingness.

Kagome and Inuyasha remained by each other, both of them staring up at the pink misty residue that had once been the completed shikon no tama. Inuyasha had felt such an overwhelming sense of relief when he had found Kagome intact; it was an extra bonus that she had not made the wish yet until he had arrived. And now as he stood next to her, feeling the warmth of her body against his, he couldn't help but turn to her and smile warm heartedly. Their quest was over now, the jewel was gone.

"Kagome?" he suddenly shouted, staring off into the distance. Kagome looked up at him, cocking her head in confusion. Wasn't he supposed to be filled with relief and joy instead of shock and worry? Kagome piqued her head into the direction where Inuyasha was staring off into and her mouth parted open into a silent scream.

'No,' she screamed within her mind. 'A meidou within a meidou?!' She watched on in horror as a swirling whirlpool of vibrant white light took form in the exact place where the shikon no tama had shattered, it's shape steadily growing wider as the minutes ticked by. Kagome jerked her head up and clutched onto Inuyasha's haori, fear wracking throughout her body.

"Inuyasha!" she screamed, her eyes quivering. "Why's there another meidou? You haven't even used Meidou Zengetsuha!"

"I-I… I don't know!" Inuyasha said worriedly, his golden eyes fixated on the ever growing meidou. He hadn't a clue as to why another meidou had formed, especially when he hadn't even drawn his sword. What was going on?

"Inuyasha!"

Inuyasha immediately looked down at Kagome after hearing her scream. He could see the utter fear etched onto her face, her brown eyes wide and petrified.

"Inuyasha, it's sucking me in!" she cried, her fingers digging into the cloth of his haori. "Inuyasha!"

"Kagome!" Inuyasha shouted, wrapping his arms around her body. He gripped onto her with all his might, afraid to let her go in fear of losing her. This wasn't supposed to be happening to them, Kagome had made the right wish, hadn't she? Fear and panic were starting to tear away at him, the overwhelming sense of losing Kagome hammering into his mind like a wooden stake. He could feel the desperation in her as she held onto him for dear life- he could smell her horror. He wouldn't lose her now after he had gone through so much to get her back. He would always protect her, no matter what. However, this mantra that he had drilled into his head over the period of time he had spent with Kagome began to suddenly slip away as he felt the meidou's suction grow increasingly stronger. He suddenly realized that the meidou wasn't pulling him in, but it was pulling in Kagome, alone. His eyes widened in fear at the sudden realization.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome shrieked again, her grip on his haori slackening. The suction from the meidou was just too strong for her to maintain herself. "I can't hold on any longer." Tears were pooling within the corner's of her eyes, dread seeping into her heart like malice to a shikon jewel shard. Was this truly her end? Would she truly never see Inuyasha again, or Sango, Miroku, Shippo…her entire family for that matter.

Her body was shaking and rattling due to the meidou's suction. The force of it was lifting her up into the air, her hair raging madly about her like a swarm of angry bees- she even felt one of her shoes slip off. Her fingers were growing weak and Inuyasha's grip around her was also loosening; even he couldn't hold on forever. She stared up at him one last time, a shy smiling gracing her lips. She could see the confusion and terror on his face as he stared down at her.

"Thanks, Inuyasha," she whispered to him, and then, she let go. She could feel her body zap it's way towards the meidou, the suction pasting itself onto her skin like relentless tentacles.

"Kagome!"

She could hear Inuyasha screaming her name off into the distance, his cries drowning out as the suction grew louder. Kagome closed her eyes tightly and pressed her hands against her chest, waiting for the foreign meidou to dispose of her.

The suction suddenly stopped, Inuyasha's cries lost to the foreign silence as she felt her body floating over nothingness. Kagome dared not open her eyes in fear of coming to terms with the reality that she was facing. Instead, she let herself float on, her willingness dying away until she drifted off into sleep.

That was when Kagome became lost to the current Sengoku Jidai.