Hey minna~! Tessen here~ Welcome to my first ficcie, revised a little. I noticed a huge discrepancy in the timeline and decided to give 2bwu a makeover. (2.5.04)
You see, I originally set the storyline of 2bwu in volume 30 of the manga, after Miroku proposes to Sango. However I was making reference to events that happened after this, the main one being Kagome healing Kikyou in the pool. As much as I want to include that, it takes place in volume 31, long after where I said I'd begun at.
The story still begins there, but because of that, the gumi at this point still believe Kikyou is dead. (from volume 29; episode 124 of the anime) Okie? All other changes are just spelling errors and such. The only main overhaul is in the first 6 or 7 chapters. ^-^ To all newcomers, I hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: ::pulls out standard disclaimer and pastes it messily on fic:: There, happy now?
____________________________
To Be With You Tomorrow
Part One:: Aftermath of Naraku
Chapter One :: A Hanyou's Thoughts
"I have a test to study for in school, Inuyasha, I'll be back in a few days!"
That was what Kagome had said three days ago. The black-haired hanyou --as he had been human at the time-- had watched her disappear down the well with great contempt for her leaving, but like the loyal pup he was he settled in a nearby tree to await her return, or to follow if she did not return within... well, whatever time he could stand being away from her.
Typically, that was three days.
Actually, that was just the time limit he could get away with only about 200+ sits. If he went sooner, like he wanted to, she'd never stop sitting him, even though something told him that she had never been sat before and obviously had no idea how much it hurt, so she yelled incantations to her heart's delight and took relish in the sprawled-out, spread-eagle patterns he could make by face-planting into the ground.
He really didn't feel like being sat at ALL, so he simply had to be patient, even if inside he was screeching for her return. And her three days were up, and he was about ready to go back and drag her back.
Well, maybe not drag her back immediately, as there was no real hurry to find the shards anymore, except his own impatience. After all, they had defeated Naraku, and the Shikon no Tama was almost complete. They only had a few shards left before it would be whole, and Inuyasha was just itching to use it.
*Although,* he thought to himself, *I dunno what it is I want anymore...*
At one time --most of his life, actually-- he'd wanted to use the jewel to become a full youkai, and not just some worthless half-breed. But then, the times his youkai blood had taken control of him, to rescue him from what he perceived to be certain death-- that proved to Inuyasha that Miroku had been right.
Miroku had preached to him enough that if he used the jewel to become a full demon, things would not turn out the way Inuyasha wanted. And his youkai transformations were like sneak previews to what awaited him if he wished for it on the Shikon no Tama.
When he killed Gatenmaru, he realized something the others had already known and kept from him: with every transformation, it erased more of Inuyasha. When he made that desperate transformation, he wasn't Inuyasha anymore; he was a monster, even if he hated that word for it. Just associating the word 'monster' with him made his skin crawl. And when he was in that form, he lost a bit of himself.
His one salvation, the one lifeline that kept him from losing all grip on his sanity, was Kagome. He would have wallowed in self-hatred --in his own way of course-- for a lot longer than he did had it not been for Kagome. She had been at his side, as she had always been there, taking care of him.
He remembered it so very well, that day, when she knelt next to him, put her arms around his shoulders and whispered in his ear, "I understand." He didn't know if she knew how much that healed him, right there. And he quickly came to the conclusion that the power he wielded as a youkai wasn't what he wanted. What he wanted was to be with Kagome.
It was possible now, too. Kikyou was dead. Killed a second time by that hateful Naraku, Kikyou's soul, whatever was left of it, was free, no longer trapped between worlds. She no longer walked the world. Inuyasha too was free, free to love who he wanted.
His heart, once Kikyou's alone, had split between the dead miko and her reincarnation, and as even more time passed, it now completely belonged to Kagome. He wanted to be with Kagome. He wanted to stay by her side forever, and whatever methods he would have used to obtain it with Kikyou, he would try 100x as hard to be with Kagome. He knew that now. And how he had come to that conclusion, not surprisingly, had been in the battle against Naraku.
Inuyasha could remember it as clearly as daylight, how Naraku killed Kagome...
*KAGOME~~!!!*
*Kagome-sama!!!*
Inuyasha quickly shook himself from that memory. He didn't want to remember that. Not again, anyway. He saw it every night in his dreams, how the shot that had been meant for Inuyasha, took his Kagome instead. She was saving him.
Even as he struggled to force it from his thoughts, bits and pieces of that day still echoed in his mind. Like the smell. The smell of Kagome's blood on his hands, his clothes, when he caught her. Her voice as she spoke her last words to him. The silence as her heart stopped beating had been deafening.
*No, dammit!* Inuyasha pounded the side of the branches in frustration. Dammit, it still hurt. Even though she was with him. Even though she was alive and she was with him, it still hurt. Those images would never leave his mind, and he hated it with his whole being.
"Kagome..."
~*~
"Where's Inuyasha??" Sango asked brightly, and Miroku waved a hand lazily in the general direction of the Bone-Eating Well. Shippou sighed. "He's just like that, Sango. He always waits for Kagome to come back. You know that."
Sango sighed. "I know, but it just seems that it's... more poignant now, than it ever was before, that he stays there. It seems almost like he doesn't believe that she'll come back, that the last week wasn't..." She paused as she struggled for a word to fit what she meant.
"Real." Miroku finished and Sango nodded. "Yes, real. Like he thinks Kagome-chan is still..."
Miroku nodded. "I know."
They all knew about it. They had been together when it happened, after all. It had been the final battle against Naraku. All of them, Inuyasha, Kagome, Shippou, Miroku and Sango, had a stake in the battle. All of them had a reason to fight, and all of them had been willing to die.
But when faced with the death of the purest of them… when they saw their comrade fall; it seemed minimized. Nothing was worth losing each other.
It had happened so fast, when Naraku, seemingly on his last legs, went to kill Inuyasha. All Miroku could remember was hearing Kagome yell Inuyasha's name, and then seeing was a blur of green and white and black silk hair, and then-- red.
When the light died down and Sango opened her eyes, she gasped at what she saw. Inuyasha, kneeling on the ground, propping himself up on Tessaiga, and Naraku staring in shock, surprise or something of the like. And Kagome-chan, standing between them, her arms spread out defensively in front of Inuyasha, the ground underneath her soaked through with more blood than Sango had seen in her life...
Shippou could still remember the scent of burned flesh and hair, and it scared him. Kagome's blood was everywhere. It was something a child should never have seen, should never have had to see, but then he hadn't had to. He could smell it.
She had turned ever so slightly, a faint smile on her lips. *Are you okay?* That's what she'd asked him as she fell backwards, landing on his lap as her body began to shut down.
Sango had heard Inuyasha speak in a tone he had never used before, pain and heartache and fear. Fear of losing Kagome. Fear of being alone.
*......Y-you idiot!! Why.... why did you...*
Kagome had laughed. She had smiled confidently as she reached up and touched his cheek. *It's okay...As long as you're alive... I don't mind... I just... couldn't let him... kill you......*
And then her last breath left her, and her eyes shut for the last time. And she had died without him. It brought tears to Sango's eyes thinking about it. *It'll be okay... those two'll bounce back. They're still together. We all are.*
"We'll be okay."
~*~
*....................................*
*The sword that your oyaji-dono gave you, the Tessaiga, has the power to kill 100 demons in a single swing. The sword that was given to your brother however, the Tenseiga, has the power to save 100 people in a single swing. It's a sword of life.*
"Sesshoumaru!!" Inuyasha leapt to his feet and gripped his brother's kimono in his hands. "Sesshoumaru.. the Tenseiga, please... Please use it to bring back Kagome!!"
Sesshoumaru glared at his younger brother and deftly knocked him away. "Why should I do anything for you? It was your own weakness that got that stupid girl killed. It was your inability to protect her, Inuyasha. Why should I help you?"
Inuyasha forced himself up and ran around to face his brother, who was turning to leave. Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes in irritation. "Get out of my way, you're being foolish. Weeping over a stupid human woman."
Inuyasha hit his knees.
If Sesshoumaru was taken aback, it didn't show; he had no expression, as always, but his amber eyes did widen a bit. Inuyasha's claws dug into the dirt and his voice shook immeasurably. "Please. I'm begging you Sesshoumaru... Please do this one thing for me... I don't want anything from you, I've never wanted anything from you... Just... please, this once...... save Kagome for me...."
Sesshoumaru stared at the form of his brother, kneeling prostrate on the ground, his dirtied, bloodied white hair hiding his face from view, but Sesshoumaru could imagine it. With a sneer of disgust he stepped away from Inuyasha and began to walk away. Inuyasha let out a soft noise of grief, of defeat, but Sesshoumaru didn't look back. He kept walking ahead--
--and saw Rin appear before him. He had left her and Jaken on Ah-Un, a little ways away, and he suspected she had seen the whole thing. She looked up at him angrily. It was the first time she'd ever looked at him with anything but adoration.
Stomp! went Rin's little foot. "Sesshoumaru-sama, you're cruel!! You can save her!! You saved Rin before!! Rin wants you to save that lady!!"
"Rin, get out of my way."
"NO!" Rin's little face crinkled and tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. "Not until you save that lady! Rin won't move!!"
Sesshoumaru stood over her, trying to make her understand, but Rin stood firm. It would be nothing to step around her, she was so small… But the demon lord could not bring himself to do such a thing. Her bottom lip quivered, and her tiny body trembled all over, but she would not move. She had to make HIM understand. He would understand.
Sesshoumaru felt a tingling at his side as Tenseiga shook. The demon had no expression as he sighed softly, almost exasperatingly, and turned back.
Unsheathing Tenseiga, Sesshoumaru stood over Kagome's corpse and closed his eyes. After a moment he opened them. *I can see them. The attendants of the underworld, coming to take this stupid--
--selfless--
--human girl whom my ignorant, honorless little brother has chosen as a mate.*
One quick slash, and the pallbearers disappeared. Kagome's numerous open wounds and burns disappeared. Sesshoumaru resheathed his blade and turned, walking past Rin without a sound. The little girl shot a hopeful smile at the battered group before turning and darting after her guardian.
Inuyasha crouched over Kagome expectantly, his entire body shaking from exhaustion, and the unbearable apprehension. His entire world seemed to teeter on this moment, when he could know she was okay. One hand reached out to brush the dirt from her pale cheek. *Please... please...*
Kagome coughed suddenly, one hand coming to cover her mouth. Weak brown eyes opened and the soft lips moved in a voiceless murmur. Inu...yasha…
Time seemed to stop, and--
--Inuyasha shook himself awake.
His heart pounded, a triphammer in his chest. He sighed, willing his nerves to calm. He rubbed over his face, cursing silently when he found damp wetness there. Crying in his sleep. He leaned back against the tree, his eyes getting used the hazy orangeness that was dusk. It had been a few hours. *I slept longer than I thought...*
The dream.
He'd had it again. He hated those dreams. It was like reliving it, over and over in his mind. His dreams were so vivid, and sometimes he woke up thinking he was still there, her blood on his hands. The scent of it linger in his sensitive nose, never fading.
It wasn't a matter of which part he saw in his sleep, but he always awoke in a fright, certain he was there. Sometimes it was Naraku killing her all over again and sometimes it was Sesshoumaru bringing her back. More often than not the tears he had shed when she died followed him in his dreams, and even to his waking hours. He had awoken with tears in his eyes more than once in the past week.
He would much rather forget the whole thing happened. The emotions he had been feeling then-- he had been so confused and in so much pain. Losing Kagome was one of his worst fears, and it had come true.
That night when they returned to Kaede-babaa's village to nurse their wounds, he refused to leave her side. She hadn't been angry; instead she was light-hearted and cheery. She knew what the battle had cost all of them, and she knew what her death had done to Inuyasha.
At least to a degree.
She didn't know his true feelings. She didn't know that Kikyou no longer held the place she had once had in his heart; she didn't know that he wanted to stay with her, to make her his mate and protect her and love her forever.
But as a human, Kagome's forever was much shorter than Inuyasha's. And in a short time, on his scale, Kagome would grow old and die without him again, and he would be alone again. That thought alone made him want to use the jewel to become human no matter what, so he could be with his Kagome.
But he wanted to protect her too. And just thinking about his monthly digressions to human form and the weakness that came with it made him want to retch. How the hell could he protect Kagome in a body like that?
And then there was the tiny problem of confessing his feelings to the teenager to begin with. It had been nearly a week and a half since the final battle with Naraku and she STILL didn't know how he really felt; for all he knew, she probably thought he still loved Kikyou, and that thought made his chest hurt.
The thought that at this moment Kagome may be crying and upset, thinking he had chosen Kikyou over her-- that made him want to fly right down the well, grab her and tell her right then and there, but he knew that the moment he saw her face he would stall, as he was prouder than anyone on the planet, and while no one else seemed to notice, he was hella shy.
And nothing made him want to gag more than the mental image of him fidgeting like a little kid, blushing enough to match the shade of his hi-nezumi haori, with Kagome staring at him like he was an idiot.
Except maybe turning human every new moon.
*How the hell did I get into this mess???* the hanyou wondered, shaking his head. He leaned back against the tree and sighed, looking at the clouds that covered the setting sun.
"I don't like doing this much thinking, it hurts my head. I wish Kagome was here. I think less when she's here... And I'm so damned lonely when she's not around."
"Then, why don't you stay awhile with her?"
Inuyasha jumped so high that he practically fell out of the tree, and glared down at the sukebe bouzu who was standing underneath the branches, looking surprised. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING YOU BASTARD?!" As an afterthought he asked, "Whaddaya mean?"
The houshi looked up at the hanyou unblinkingly. "Go stay with Kagome-sama for awhile. You said it yourself that you're lonely without her."
Inuyasha, trying not to blush, mumbled, "I said that out loud, huh?" Miroku grinned up at him. "A little. Actually you've been mumbling to yourself for the past hour or so. Not to mention everytime someone tries to talk to you, you try to kill them. You've been on edge since she left."
"I do NOT try to kill people when they talk to me! I'm a wonderful people person!"
"In your own demented imagination, maybe." the monk laughed and then looked up at the demi-inuyoukai. "Inuyasha, no one would think any less of you if you succumbed to your emotion once in a while. Everyone knows what happened, we were all there." His voice lowered. "We all understand how you feel about it as well."
Inuyasha sombered, looking away as Miroku continued. "Go to her. With Naraku gone, it's not as if the demons that still remain aren't enough for Sango and I. Even without my kazaana, I'm still a monk with exceptionally wonderful houriki."
Inuyasha rolled his eyes at the obvious boast, and sighed. "Okay, okay, I'll go. But only because you made me." Which of course was just his pride talking. He'd thought several times about going to stay with Kagome-- after all, what could stop him? She stayed with him all the time, and her world, while it was weird, was interesting.
Like the last time, when he saw the little men in the box. And then there was an even smaller box you used to make the people in the big box change and do different things. It was weird, but really cool. Souta called it a 'terebi', which meant nothing to Inuyasha except 'people in box.'
He leapt from the tree and headed over to the well, looking down into it. Empty, as always. With a soft "hup" he vaulted the side and fell through time.
~*~ To be continued ~*~
a/n :: ^-^
~*~ V^-^V ~*~
~Tessen
You see, I originally set the storyline of 2bwu in volume 30 of the manga, after Miroku proposes to Sango. However I was making reference to events that happened after this, the main one being Kagome healing Kikyou in the pool. As much as I want to include that, it takes place in volume 31, long after where I said I'd begun at.
The story still begins there, but because of that, the gumi at this point still believe Kikyou is dead. (from volume 29; episode 124 of the anime) Okie? All other changes are just spelling errors and such. The only main overhaul is in the first 6 or 7 chapters. ^-^ To all newcomers, I hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: ::pulls out standard disclaimer and pastes it messily on fic:: There, happy now?
____________________________
To Be With You Tomorrow
Part One:: Aftermath of Naraku
Chapter One :: A Hanyou's Thoughts
"I have a test to study for in school, Inuyasha, I'll be back in a few days!"
That was what Kagome had said three days ago. The black-haired hanyou --as he had been human at the time-- had watched her disappear down the well with great contempt for her leaving, but like the loyal pup he was he settled in a nearby tree to await her return, or to follow if she did not return within... well, whatever time he could stand being away from her.
Typically, that was three days.
Actually, that was just the time limit he could get away with only about 200+ sits. If he went sooner, like he wanted to, she'd never stop sitting him, even though something told him that she had never been sat before and obviously had no idea how much it hurt, so she yelled incantations to her heart's delight and took relish in the sprawled-out, spread-eagle patterns he could make by face-planting into the ground.
He really didn't feel like being sat at ALL, so he simply had to be patient, even if inside he was screeching for her return. And her three days were up, and he was about ready to go back and drag her back.
Well, maybe not drag her back immediately, as there was no real hurry to find the shards anymore, except his own impatience. After all, they had defeated Naraku, and the Shikon no Tama was almost complete. They only had a few shards left before it would be whole, and Inuyasha was just itching to use it.
*Although,* he thought to himself, *I dunno what it is I want anymore...*
At one time --most of his life, actually-- he'd wanted to use the jewel to become a full youkai, and not just some worthless half-breed. But then, the times his youkai blood had taken control of him, to rescue him from what he perceived to be certain death-- that proved to Inuyasha that Miroku had been right.
Miroku had preached to him enough that if he used the jewel to become a full demon, things would not turn out the way Inuyasha wanted. And his youkai transformations were like sneak previews to what awaited him if he wished for it on the Shikon no Tama.
When he killed Gatenmaru, he realized something the others had already known and kept from him: with every transformation, it erased more of Inuyasha. When he made that desperate transformation, he wasn't Inuyasha anymore; he was a monster, even if he hated that word for it. Just associating the word 'monster' with him made his skin crawl. And when he was in that form, he lost a bit of himself.
His one salvation, the one lifeline that kept him from losing all grip on his sanity, was Kagome. He would have wallowed in self-hatred --in his own way of course-- for a lot longer than he did had it not been for Kagome. She had been at his side, as she had always been there, taking care of him.
He remembered it so very well, that day, when she knelt next to him, put her arms around his shoulders and whispered in his ear, "I understand." He didn't know if she knew how much that healed him, right there. And he quickly came to the conclusion that the power he wielded as a youkai wasn't what he wanted. What he wanted was to be with Kagome.
It was possible now, too. Kikyou was dead. Killed a second time by that hateful Naraku, Kikyou's soul, whatever was left of it, was free, no longer trapped between worlds. She no longer walked the world. Inuyasha too was free, free to love who he wanted.
His heart, once Kikyou's alone, had split between the dead miko and her reincarnation, and as even more time passed, it now completely belonged to Kagome. He wanted to be with Kagome. He wanted to stay by her side forever, and whatever methods he would have used to obtain it with Kikyou, he would try 100x as hard to be with Kagome. He knew that now. And how he had come to that conclusion, not surprisingly, had been in the battle against Naraku.
Inuyasha could remember it as clearly as daylight, how Naraku killed Kagome...
*KAGOME~~!!!*
*Kagome-sama!!!*
Inuyasha quickly shook himself from that memory. He didn't want to remember that. Not again, anyway. He saw it every night in his dreams, how the shot that had been meant for Inuyasha, took his Kagome instead. She was saving him.
Even as he struggled to force it from his thoughts, bits and pieces of that day still echoed in his mind. Like the smell. The smell of Kagome's blood on his hands, his clothes, when he caught her. Her voice as she spoke her last words to him. The silence as her heart stopped beating had been deafening.
*No, dammit!* Inuyasha pounded the side of the branches in frustration. Dammit, it still hurt. Even though she was with him. Even though she was alive and she was with him, it still hurt. Those images would never leave his mind, and he hated it with his whole being.
"Kagome..."
~*~
"Where's Inuyasha??" Sango asked brightly, and Miroku waved a hand lazily in the general direction of the Bone-Eating Well. Shippou sighed. "He's just like that, Sango. He always waits for Kagome to come back. You know that."
Sango sighed. "I know, but it just seems that it's... more poignant now, than it ever was before, that he stays there. It seems almost like he doesn't believe that she'll come back, that the last week wasn't..." She paused as she struggled for a word to fit what she meant.
"Real." Miroku finished and Sango nodded. "Yes, real. Like he thinks Kagome-chan is still..."
Miroku nodded. "I know."
They all knew about it. They had been together when it happened, after all. It had been the final battle against Naraku. All of them, Inuyasha, Kagome, Shippou, Miroku and Sango, had a stake in the battle. All of them had a reason to fight, and all of them had been willing to die.
But when faced with the death of the purest of them… when they saw their comrade fall; it seemed minimized. Nothing was worth losing each other.
It had happened so fast, when Naraku, seemingly on his last legs, went to kill Inuyasha. All Miroku could remember was hearing Kagome yell Inuyasha's name, and then seeing was a blur of green and white and black silk hair, and then-- red.
When the light died down and Sango opened her eyes, she gasped at what she saw. Inuyasha, kneeling on the ground, propping himself up on Tessaiga, and Naraku staring in shock, surprise or something of the like. And Kagome-chan, standing between them, her arms spread out defensively in front of Inuyasha, the ground underneath her soaked through with more blood than Sango had seen in her life...
Shippou could still remember the scent of burned flesh and hair, and it scared him. Kagome's blood was everywhere. It was something a child should never have seen, should never have had to see, but then he hadn't had to. He could smell it.
She had turned ever so slightly, a faint smile on her lips. *Are you okay?* That's what she'd asked him as she fell backwards, landing on his lap as her body began to shut down.
Sango had heard Inuyasha speak in a tone he had never used before, pain and heartache and fear. Fear of losing Kagome. Fear of being alone.
*......Y-you idiot!! Why.... why did you...*
Kagome had laughed. She had smiled confidently as she reached up and touched his cheek. *It's okay...As long as you're alive... I don't mind... I just... couldn't let him... kill you......*
And then her last breath left her, and her eyes shut for the last time. And she had died without him. It brought tears to Sango's eyes thinking about it. *It'll be okay... those two'll bounce back. They're still together. We all are.*
"We'll be okay."
~*~
*....................................*
*The sword that your oyaji-dono gave you, the Tessaiga, has the power to kill 100 demons in a single swing. The sword that was given to your brother however, the Tenseiga, has the power to save 100 people in a single swing. It's a sword of life.*
"Sesshoumaru!!" Inuyasha leapt to his feet and gripped his brother's kimono in his hands. "Sesshoumaru.. the Tenseiga, please... Please use it to bring back Kagome!!"
Sesshoumaru glared at his younger brother and deftly knocked him away. "Why should I do anything for you? It was your own weakness that got that stupid girl killed. It was your inability to protect her, Inuyasha. Why should I help you?"
Inuyasha forced himself up and ran around to face his brother, who was turning to leave. Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes in irritation. "Get out of my way, you're being foolish. Weeping over a stupid human woman."
Inuyasha hit his knees.
If Sesshoumaru was taken aback, it didn't show; he had no expression, as always, but his amber eyes did widen a bit. Inuyasha's claws dug into the dirt and his voice shook immeasurably. "Please. I'm begging you Sesshoumaru... Please do this one thing for me... I don't want anything from you, I've never wanted anything from you... Just... please, this once...... save Kagome for me...."
Sesshoumaru stared at the form of his brother, kneeling prostrate on the ground, his dirtied, bloodied white hair hiding his face from view, but Sesshoumaru could imagine it. With a sneer of disgust he stepped away from Inuyasha and began to walk away. Inuyasha let out a soft noise of grief, of defeat, but Sesshoumaru didn't look back. He kept walking ahead--
--and saw Rin appear before him. He had left her and Jaken on Ah-Un, a little ways away, and he suspected she had seen the whole thing. She looked up at him angrily. It was the first time she'd ever looked at him with anything but adoration.
Stomp! went Rin's little foot. "Sesshoumaru-sama, you're cruel!! You can save her!! You saved Rin before!! Rin wants you to save that lady!!"
"Rin, get out of my way."
"NO!" Rin's little face crinkled and tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. "Not until you save that lady! Rin won't move!!"
Sesshoumaru stood over her, trying to make her understand, but Rin stood firm. It would be nothing to step around her, she was so small… But the demon lord could not bring himself to do such a thing. Her bottom lip quivered, and her tiny body trembled all over, but she would not move. She had to make HIM understand. He would understand.
Sesshoumaru felt a tingling at his side as Tenseiga shook. The demon had no expression as he sighed softly, almost exasperatingly, and turned back.
Unsheathing Tenseiga, Sesshoumaru stood over Kagome's corpse and closed his eyes. After a moment he opened them. *I can see them. The attendants of the underworld, coming to take this stupid--
--selfless--
--human girl whom my ignorant, honorless little brother has chosen as a mate.*
One quick slash, and the pallbearers disappeared. Kagome's numerous open wounds and burns disappeared. Sesshoumaru resheathed his blade and turned, walking past Rin without a sound. The little girl shot a hopeful smile at the battered group before turning and darting after her guardian.
Inuyasha crouched over Kagome expectantly, his entire body shaking from exhaustion, and the unbearable apprehension. His entire world seemed to teeter on this moment, when he could know she was okay. One hand reached out to brush the dirt from her pale cheek. *Please... please...*
Kagome coughed suddenly, one hand coming to cover her mouth. Weak brown eyes opened and the soft lips moved in a voiceless murmur. Inu...yasha…
Time seemed to stop, and--
--Inuyasha shook himself awake.
His heart pounded, a triphammer in his chest. He sighed, willing his nerves to calm. He rubbed over his face, cursing silently when he found damp wetness there. Crying in his sleep. He leaned back against the tree, his eyes getting used the hazy orangeness that was dusk. It had been a few hours. *I slept longer than I thought...*
The dream.
He'd had it again. He hated those dreams. It was like reliving it, over and over in his mind. His dreams were so vivid, and sometimes he woke up thinking he was still there, her blood on his hands. The scent of it linger in his sensitive nose, never fading.
It wasn't a matter of which part he saw in his sleep, but he always awoke in a fright, certain he was there. Sometimes it was Naraku killing her all over again and sometimes it was Sesshoumaru bringing her back. More often than not the tears he had shed when she died followed him in his dreams, and even to his waking hours. He had awoken with tears in his eyes more than once in the past week.
He would much rather forget the whole thing happened. The emotions he had been feeling then-- he had been so confused and in so much pain. Losing Kagome was one of his worst fears, and it had come true.
That night when they returned to Kaede-babaa's village to nurse their wounds, he refused to leave her side. She hadn't been angry; instead she was light-hearted and cheery. She knew what the battle had cost all of them, and she knew what her death had done to Inuyasha.
At least to a degree.
She didn't know his true feelings. She didn't know that Kikyou no longer held the place she had once had in his heart; she didn't know that he wanted to stay with her, to make her his mate and protect her and love her forever.
But as a human, Kagome's forever was much shorter than Inuyasha's. And in a short time, on his scale, Kagome would grow old and die without him again, and he would be alone again. That thought alone made him want to use the jewel to become human no matter what, so he could be with his Kagome.
But he wanted to protect her too. And just thinking about his monthly digressions to human form and the weakness that came with it made him want to retch. How the hell could he protect Kagome in a body like that?
And then there was the tiny problem of confessing his feelings to the teenager to begin with. It had been nearly a week and a half since the final battle with Naraku and she STILL didn't know how he really felt; for all he knew, she probably thought he still loved Kikyou, and that thought made his chest hurt.
The thought that at this moment Kagome may be crying and upset, thinking he had chosen Kikyou over her-- that made him want to fly right down the well, grab her and tell her right then and there, but he knew that the moment he saw her face he would stall, as he was prouder than anyone on the planet, and while no one else seemed to notice, he was hella shy.
And nothing made him want to gag more than the mental image of him fidgeting like a little kid, blushing enough to match the shade of his hi-nezumi haori, with Kagome staring at him like he was an idiot.
Except maybe turning human every new moon.
*How the hell did I get into this mess???* the hanyou wondered, shaking his head. He leaned back against the tree and sighed, looking at the clouds that covered the setting sun.
"I don't like doing this much thinking, it hurts my head. I wish Kagome was here. I think less when she's here... And I'm so damned lonely when she's not around."
"Then, why don't you stay awhile with her?"
Inuyasha jumped so high that he practically fell out of the tree, and glared down at the sukebe bouzu who was standing underneath the branches, looking surprised. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING YOU BASTARD?!" As an afterthought he asked, "Whaddaya mean?"
The houshi looked up at the hanyou unblinkingly. "Go stay with Kagome-sama for awhile. You said it yourself that you're lonely without her."
Inuyasha, trying not to blush, mumbled, "I said that out loud, huh?" Miroku grinned up at him. "A little. Actually you've been mumbling to yourself for the past hour or so. Not to mention everytime someone tries to talk to you, you try to kill them. You've been on edge since she left."
"I do NOT try to kill people when they talk to me! I'm a wonderful people person!"
"In your own demented imagination, maybe." the monk laughed and then looked up at the demi-inuyoukai. "Inuyasha, no one would think any less of you if you succumbed to your emotion once in a while. Everyone knows what happened, we were all there." His voice lowered. "We all understand how you feel about it as well."
Inuyasha sombered, looking away as Miroku continued. "Go to her. With Naraku gone, it's not as if the demons that still remain aren't enough for Sango and I. Even without my kazaana, I'm still a monk with exceptionally wonderful houriki."
Inuyasha rolled his eyes at the obvious boast, and sighed. "Okay, okay, I'll go. But only because you made me." Which of course was just his pride talking. He'd thought several times about going to stay with Kagome-- after all, what could stop him? She stayed with him all the time, and her world, while it was weird, was interesting.
Like the last time, when he saw the little men in the box. And then there was an even smaller box you used to make the people in the big box change and do different things. It was weird, but really cool. Souta called it a 'terebi', which meant nothing to Inuyasha except 'people in box.'
He leapt from the tree and headed over to the well, looking down into it. Empty, as always. With a soft "hup" he vaulted the side and fell through time.
~*~ To be continued ~*~
a/n :: ^-^
~*~ V^-^V ~*~
~Tessen