Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. Simple.
I am trying an angst now. I just can't seem to find my calling for wrighting anymore. But I wrote a lot for this first chapter, and it only took me two days. Enjoy this story. It will have its ups and downs. And please remember to review. Reviews keep the story going. Without it, I loose interest. Thanks!
Chapter 1: The Last Battle
Not having much in mind, not having much to do really, Inuyasha and Kagome traveled. The battle was over; The evil gone. So much had happened, yet, no one wished to talk about it. It was painful for a few in their party. Lives and been lost, Hope-Pride-Love had been shattered. After making sure everyone's wounds and been properly been taken care of, silence had settled upon the group.
Miroku and Shippou eventually left with Sango and Kirara, heading toward her old village. They intended to rest and repair Hiraikotsu; And put Kohaku to rest. Inuyasha and Kagome needed to be alone as it was, to work out the problems that had arisen during the battle. Kagome had giving each of her friends a hug before their departure, Inuyasha preferring to ignore them as they left, sulking on the high branches of a tree.
"Take care on your way there," Kagome whispered to Sango, as the two enveloped each other in a tight embrace.
Sango gave a slight nod. "I hope everything works out alright between you two."
Kagome sighed, a depressed tone in her voice. "I hope so, too."
Miroku was next. Kagome raised one eyebrow to him. He lifted his hands in the air as if surrendering. Kagome gave a small smile and hugged him. "Take care of Sango."
"I would give my life for her."
"You almost had to." Kagome's sad smile brought a smile to his own face. He nodded to her in respect.
"Kagome!" Shippou, holding Kirara, jumped into her arms. "I'm going to miss you!"
Kagome smiled and ruffled his hair. "Of course you are. I'll promise to bring you back some treats." She rubbed Kirara head. "It's best that you two go with them, anyway. They'll need two powerful demons to protect them. It's a long trip back to her village."
Shippou nodded excitedly. Kirara meowed in understanding. "I'll make sure to protect them with my life!" the kit exclaimed.
In the background Kagome heard a familiar, "keh". Her smile widened. "I know you will." Kagome kissed the kit on the forehead and set him back on the ground.
Kirara jumped out of Shippou's arms and ran around to the backside of the group. She transformed into her larger state, signaling she was ready when they were.
Sango nodded her last goodbye to her friend. Picking up and cradling the body of her brother, she got on Kirara, waiting.
Miroku bowed to Kagome. He looked up into the tree where Inuyasha sat. "Take care of her, Inuyasha!" The hanyou made no move, but he knew he had heard. Miroku got on behind Sango.
Shippou had tears brimming his eyes. He waved goodbye to Kagome, trying so hard to be the tough demon Kagome thought him to be. "Bye, Inuyasha!" he shouted. Silence. The kit sighed and snuggled in between the monk and demon exterminator.
Kirara made ready to take her first leap into the air when they heard the hanyou's favorite phrase. All three smiled as they took off. Inuyasha would never change.
Kagome's smile dropped as they disappeared into the horizon. The sun was setting. She frowned. She had only a few minutes to get a fire going. She sighed and got to work. Once she got a good blaze going, she picked up her pan and headed toward the small stream that lay just beyond the line of the trees.
"Oi, where do you think your going?" Inuyasha jumped in front of her blocking her path.
"To get water for dinner." Her head was down, she couldn't look at him.
"I'm not hungry."
Her anger swelled. She lifted her head to glare at him. "You may not be, but I am! Stop thinking about yourself for once, Inuyasha." She brushed past him.
Inuyasha cringed at her words. Before they would have had no meaning, but now, it meant a lot. He followed behind her at a distance. Even if Naraku was gone, there were still demons lurking around. He had to make it up to her somehow, and protecting her was the only way he knew how.
"Why are you following me?" she asked, not turning as she reached the stream.
"Feh. Because there are still demon who would like to get their claws on the jewel, wench." He crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for her response. Doesn't she realize that?
"I see." Her answer was slow in coming. "Protect the jewel." She turned to face him, her hand on the orb around her neck. With a easy snap, the chain around her neck broke. Kagome looked down at the jewel in her hand. "All the suffering, just for this."
Surprised, she tossed the jewel to him. He caught it by the chain. He looked up at her questioningly. But her attention was back to her pot of water. She picked it up without another word and walked right on past them, not giving him another glance.
Inuyasha starred down the jewel, its pink glow seeming to crystallize under his touch. He closed his fist around it. He growled. "Why?"
It was just above a whisper, but Kagome heard him. She stopped and turned around. "The jewel is what you've always wanted. The jewel is what you've always protected." And with that, Kagome headed back to camp, leaving Inuyasha at the stream, lost in his own thoughts.
Much later that night, Kagome sat with her arms around her raised knees, starring into the fire. Dinner had been lonely. She had made two cups of ramen- one for her and one for Inuyasha- but he ignored it, leaving it for the cold. It still sat on a rock on the side of the fire. She sighed for what seemed like the millionth time that day.
Thoughts of the battle replayed back in her mind. She tried to push them back, but they just wouldn't go away. Sango loosing Kohaku. Miroku being thrown hard into a tree, the blood seeping from his head afterward. Naraku's taunt, trying to get them to turn against each other. Then there was Kikyo. Kikyo and Inuyasha. Kikyo saving Inuyasha. Inuyasha saving Kikyo. But who had been saving her? Who had had the jewel? Kikyo had stolen it back from Naraku. She had it. And it was her who Inuyasha had protected.
Kagome cringed, remembering those awful events. Then Naraku was trying to use her feelings for Inuyasha against her. Trying to get her to see that Inuyasha cared more for Kikyo then he did for her. He had tried to make her hate Inuyasha for it, tried to get her to take Inuyasha down with her arrow. The memory seemed so alive, so real, as if she was doing it all over again.
Inuyasha stood on the other side of the clearing, Tetsusaiga raised, standing in front of Kikyo, who held the complete jewel in her cupped hands. Kagome stood on the opposite of the clearing, and Naraku in the middle. He was gravely injured. Their friends were out of commission at the moment. Kouga was knocked unconscious, laying within the bounds of the trees. Miroku was being cradled by Sango, who was crying over the death of her brother. Shippou was tending to Kirara who had transformed back into her small state. That left only the four of them. Two of them her enemies, one of them the man she loved.
"Look at that," Naraku had taunted, speaking to Kagome. Inuyasha growled. "The great hanyou protecting his first love. And what about you, little miko? Your protects you now?"
"I do!" Inuyasha took a meanacing step forward, ajusting Tetsusaiga.
Kagome shook her head, her arrow raised and aimed at his heart. "Do you really want to shoot me, Kagome?" he teased, calling her by her name. "Why not shoot the one that betrayed you? The one that choose Kikyo over you?"
"I... I can never hurt Inuyasha!" Kagome yelled, her arrow starting to tremble. She glanced at Inuyasha, a pleading look her her eyes.
"Shut your mouth, Naraku!" Inuyasha yelled at the other hanyou.
"And you, Inuyasha," he sneered. "Why do you protect the dead one when her reincarnation is right over there? I can kill her before you could even make a move."
"I said..."
"Inuyasha." A small sad voice. He looked up at Kagome. She had tears running down her cheeks. He could smell the salt in the air.
"Why?" She paused. "Why do you want to protect her? Why don't you want to protect me anymore?" There was no answer from him. "You've run to her too many times to count. I don't belong here. I don't belong in your life."
"Kagome..." his voice grew soft. He winced at the hurt expression on her face. "Dammit!" He turned to glare at Naraku. "Shut the hell up! Look what your doing to her!"
"What I'm doing? I'm merely telling her what she doesn't wish to believe. And that would be the truth, Inuyasha. Now ask yourself, what have you done to her?"
"You bastard! I haven't done anything!"
"Exactly. And that will be your downfall."
"I protect both of them! I... I care for both of them!" Inuyasha's growl increased, confusion clouding his mind. "Die already, Naraku!" With a single jump he leaped through the air, Tetsusaiga swinging toward the hurt hanyou. "Kongousouha!" A thousand diamond shards blasted toward the spider-hanyou.
A song came to Kagome then, in the middle of her remembering. It was like she could somehow hear the song in her mind as the events of the last battle played on. Her memory was much like a tape in a VCR. If you hit the right button, it would change the play settings. Remembering Inuyasha's attack enabled her mind to press that button, and as the scene continued to play in her mind, it do so as if in slow motion.
"How do I get through one night without you
If I had to live without you-"
Inuyasha had let go his most powerful attack. The diamond shards glistened as they made their way into the direct path of Naraku. A single tentacle suddenly shot out from Naraku's already battered body.
Inuyasha didn't have time to stop it. He was in the middle of what he was hoping to be his last attack.
It raced toward her. Inuyasha's head turned to watch as the tentacle raced past him.
It happened so fast, that both mikos' had no time to react. Inuyasha raised his free claw to swipe at the danger, but it was already too late.
"-What kind of life would that be
Oh and I, I need you in my arms
Need you to hold-"
A few tears escaped her eyes and trailed down her cheeks as she starred into fire remembering. It had been a sad moment. She had never wanted it to end the way it had.
Inuyasha lowered Tetsusaiga, not caring if his attack had abolished the evil. He ran straight to her, noticing that Naraku's tentacle retracted itself, but not caring. He dropped to his knees before the fallen miko and cradled her head in his lap, his body shaking slightly.
The red and white clad miko opened her eyes, her small fist lifting in front of his face. She opened her palm to reveal the Shikon no Tama.
"Inu...yasha."
He could only look at her, shaking his head slowly as if apologizing. "I couldn't..."
"And it was not in your place," she whispered. "Go to her." She dropped the jewel into his hand.
"-You're my world, my heart, my soul
If you ever leave
Baby, you would take away everything good in my life-"
Kikyo's eyes closed for the last time. Her shinidamachuu surrounded her suddenly, lifting her body into the air. The spirits that had sustained her body were separating from the host. Most flew heavenward, their blue lights fading into the darkening sky. But one remained. It floated just above Kikyo, as if not deciding where it should go.
Kagome's attention was suddenly turned back to Naraku. She barley noticed how her arrow had somehow managed to direct itself toward Inuyasha and Kikyo during that attack. Naraku wasn't much. His body was torn in many places, all of his power seemed drained. Inuyasha's last attack had done its justice. But it had not been enough. He was still alive.
The single tentacle that still remained, the last hope Naraku had to defeating them raised itself slowly in the air, its sharp point covered in Kikyo's blood, gleaming as it took aim.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome cried, seeing that her man she loved was still kneeling on the ground, oblivious to what was about to happen.
"-Without you there'd be no sun in my sky
There would be no love in my life
There'd be no world left for me-"
Inuyasha's head whipped around faster then she could have imagined with him being in his state. He starred at her, her arrow pulled back and pointed straight at him. His eyes caught hers. A tear slid down her solitary cheek. 'I'm sorry', she mouthed to him, knowing he would understand, knowing he would be able to read her lips.
He could only nod, knowing she had to do what she had to do.
Kagome smiled sadly. She turned toward Naraku, who was all but ready to use the last of his strength to destroy Inuyasha. "Rot in hell, Naraku." And she let go her arrow.
The solitary spirit that had stayed with Kikyo's form finally made its move. It shot forward, surrounding itself with the pink miko arrow Kagome had let fly.
Even in the condition he was in, Naraku still had enough power for his last blow. His tentacle struck its target just as the arrow struck its.
The surrounding area was covered in a bright flash of white, much like an explosion, minus the force and sound. When the area finally dimmed down, Naraku was no more. Embedded where he had been standing was now a small crater. Kagome noticed the blue spirit floating over the spot. She finally realized what it was. It was her spirit; What little Kikyo had been able to steal when she was brought back into the world. It had helped her finish her task.
Her attention was suddenly brought elsewhere by a groan. Inuyasha! She hurried to his side. The tentacle was gone, along with Naraku. But that didn't mean his injury was. His right shoulder looked pretty beat up, broken most likely.
"Inuyasha..." she called to him, trying to get him to wake up.
His eyes fluttered open. "Ka... gome." Then surprising her, his good arm reached out and caught hold of her back, pulling her down on top of him.
"-And I, baby I don't know what I would do
I'd be lost if I lost you
If you ever leave-"
"Don't ever," he grimaced, "scare me like that again."
She sighed. "I'm sorry."
"Keh. Don't be sorry. Just don't ever do that again."
"-Baby, you would take away everything real in my life
And tell me now-"
The lone spirit chose that moment to come crashing down. It entered Kagome's body from behind, making her back arch with it. Her eyes were wide. Inuyasha sat up and grabbed hold of both her shoulders, mindless of his own injury.
Her head flopped forward, her chin resting in her chest. Her eyes were closed as if she was sleeping. Inuyasha shook her a little bit. "Kagome?" A pause. Nothing. He shook her a little hard. "Hey, Wench. Wake up!"
Kagome could barley remember hearing Inuyasha yell at her. It was faded, as if in a dream.
Kagome blinked. She couldn't remember anything more after that. The next thing she knew, it was morning, and her wounds had been attended to. And the shikon had been around her neck.
Kagome sighed, not happy with what had happened. Inuyasha had protected Kikyo. But it was Kikyo who had the jewel, the one thing Naraku wanted more then anything, her mind told her. He was protecting the jewel, not her. But her other half refused to believe that.
Her eyes drifted away from the fire to the tree Inuyasha sat in. He still sat, head raised, starring off into the stars. Kagome stood up and approached his tree. Tilting her head to look up at him she called his name. "Inuyasha?" He ignored her. She cringed. She felt bad for what she said to him earlier. But wasn't she right?
She leaned her back against the tree and slid down to the ground, sitting at its base. The song that had came to her mind came flooding back to her. She sang it at a whisper, not knowing if Inuyasha heard or not.
"How do I live without you
I want to know-
How do I breathe without you
If you ever go-
How do I ever, ever survive
How do I, how do I
Oh, how do I live-"
Her song came to a end. She took a deep breath and let it out. Standing up, she didn't even look up at him. "I live..." she paused, knowing he had to be listening, "because of you." With her head down she walked back to the camp fire and unrolled her sleeping bag. She climbed in and immediately closed her eyes, knowing sleep would come fast.
She heard a thump, then an approach of footsteps. He stopped beside her and sat down.
"I've always protected you," he said softly, head downcast.
"I know." She continued to lay, her eyes closed.
"You're not Kikyo. You never were."
"I know."
"You were better then her." Silence. Then hesitance. "I don't love her." Pause. "I don't think I ever really did."
She didn't have anything to say. What could she say?
"Kagome?"
"Hmm?" She was very tired, almost on the edge of sleep, but glad that he had come to talk to her.
"Will you continue to stay with me?"
Kagome did a double take. She hadn't been expecting that. She sat up and turned to face him. Her eyes met his golden orbs, a sadness embedded in them. His ears, she noticed, were folded over as if in shame.
"I asked you once if I could stay, and you asked me if I would. That answer is still yes, Inuyasha." His eyes lit up, his ears now perked.
"Keh. How did I know you were going to say that?"
"Because great minds think alike." She smiled. "I think its time for bed. We'll talk more tomorrow."
He nodded then extended his hand. It was the jewel. "I shouldn't have it. It's yours."
She shook her head. "No it isn't. We gathered the shards so you could have your wish. Keep it." She yawned. "Night, Inuyasha."
He smiled at her, taking back his hand. "Night, wench. Get some rest.You'll need it for tomorrow."
"Why? What happens tomorrow?" she asked, making herself comfortable in her sleeping bag once more.
"We make a wish."
Again, this story isn't going to be very long. A few chapters at most. But I do plan on making sure the chapters are long. As always, please remember to review. Without them, I'd be lost. JA!