I don't own Inuyasha. Just a little oneshot to clear my head. Review?

Last Fairytale

by InuKoishii

Inuyasha and I had a fight the other day.

"Inuyasha..."

"Hmm?"

"Inuyasha, what'll happen to me...to us... after we finish the jewel? After Naraku's defeated?"

"Keh, wench, don't worry about it. Right now, all we need to worry about is Naraku. We have about half the jewel and it's comin' down to just us two."

"Exactly, Inuyasha! The final battle's arriving, and I want to know what you plan to do! Are you going to hell with Kikyou? Is the well going to seal? Will I ever even see you again? What-"

"Shut up, wench! Of course you're going to see me again. We need to focus all our energy on training for now."

"I have a future in my time, Inuyasha. I can get a job, and a house, and a family, instead of staying here to babysit you running after Kikyou all the time."

"You do not babysit me! If anything, I have to babysit all of you useless humans-"

I had exploded then.

"Stop trying to act so mature, Inuyasha, when all you really are is a 500-year-old child! Do you honestly expect me to wait for you? I'm 20 years old! I'm an adult! I deserted college for the jewel! I want Naraku dead, Inuyasha, I want it with all my heart... but I also want to know that I belong somewhere."

"...You belong here, Kagome. With...us."

The tears threatened to fall. He was so afraid of commitment, he wouldn't even tell me that he wanted me to stay.

"Right now, Inuyasha, I don't know where I belong."

My dramatic exit through the well concluded our first fight in a long time. And just when things had been going so well between us. Kikyou hadn't appeared for weeks, my miko training was progressing extremely well, we had about half the jewel, and Naraku hadn't shown his face around in a while.

I knew I had a point. Inuyasha would live at least 10 times as long as me, and the perfect companion for him was Kikyou, who would never die. Kikyou, my cold, beautiful,even sophisticated counterpart. And as tightly knotted as my heart twisted, I could still never wish a curse upon anyone, least of all a part of myself.

And so I continued to let him toy with my heart, rip it away, hastily tape it back in and kiss it all better again. This process was repeated countless times, until I had learned to numb the pounding appendage.

Each time, I forgave him because I thought, in my heart of hearts, he was sorry.

And now as I lay on my back I wonder, is this a fairytale? A prince (not necessarily charming), an evil villain, talking animals, and a touch of magic.

I wonder if this is a dream, fuzzy at the edges, tinted with bright light. Sometimes I want to pinch myself. Sometimes I want to do worse.

A fairytale? Hardly. Maybe I just need to wake up and face reality.

Face the fact that I was never perfect enough for him. Never free enough for college. Never strong enough for the Feudal Era. Never enough.

Is this how a princess is supposed to feel, trapped in the castle, waiting for her prince? Maybe she should just give up. Maybe he'll never come. Maybe he's found another girl, given up on the one hiding in the bramble thorns, within the crumbling mortar and among the sleeping clouds. Maybe she's condemned to weave forever, spinning a golden web that shimmers in the moonlight and sparkles in the sun. A tale that no one will ever see.

Once upon a time, there was a girl who had the misfortune of stumbling into a magical well into another time, where she freed the boy who would forever be the cause of her tears and joy. They set out on a quest to destroy the foulest of evils, and the girl fell deeper in love with the boy who had captured her heart with his flickering white ears.

The end is being written as I think, mindlessly wandering the recesses of my thoughts. Every wall of my brain echoes with choruses of Inuyasha.

The curtains flutter and I feign sleep. After we have a fight, Inuyasha always sneaks in my window. It should scare me or freak me out, but I'm not, simply because it shows that he cares. I'm too far gone to care now.

He lays down beside me, spooning me. One leg wrapped around mine, intertwining and dragging me closer to him, while he slowly and softly pulls me backwards to collide with his chest. An arm drapes lazily over me, strong and protective. He provides much more warmth than my blankets.

"I know you're awake, Kagome," his coarse, rough voice whispers. At such a soft tone, it is hoarse and sends delightful shivers down my spine. I shiver involuntarily and he bends his head down to let his nose rest in my hair.

I can't afford to lose another piece of my heart to this boy- this man- this prince, but oh god, there it goes. I don't know what you want from me, Inuyasha, and I ask you out loud.

"You're right, Kagome," is not an answer I had expected to hear. "I'm immature, and I have absolutely no right to boss you around and try to control your life like I do."

I don't know how I'm supposed to feel anymore.

"But I'm scared. So scared that you'll leave me after the jewel and Naraku are both gone. Scared that I'll be left alone again. You promised you would never leave, Kagome. You belong with me."

"And you belong with Kikyou," I reply. "No matter how much I hope and pray, you deserve a second chance with her."

"Kagome..." A clawed finger comes out to brush my tears away; the tears that I didn't even know had fallen. "Maybe once, I deserved a second chance. Now, I don't deserve anything, especially not you."

"You deserve everything and more after all the hell you've been through, Inuyasha," I laugh, and he smiles half-heartedly along with me. Sensing an argument approaching, I quickly end with "and this is not debatable."

This time he really does laugh, and the sound, corny as it may be, sends deep tingles zipping down my spine. I arch into him and he groans. The new, erotic sound excites and frightens me at the same time. I'm not ready.

I make to move away, but Inuyasha pulls me in, towards his heart. My hand splays out over his chest, and he picks it up, placing it alongside his. His palms are calloused and he can almost bend his fingers over mine. "Look at me, Kagome," he breathes. "I could destroy you with a touch."

The mere fact that he thinks he would that to me sends my mind reeling. "No you won't."

"How do you know?" he bites back, tone full of self-loathing.

How do I know? I ask myself. How do I know that he will see nothing but red when he changes, nothing but gore and the urge to kill rising up in his blood? How do I know that he won't sneak into my window and slit my throat and delight in my screams? I just do, I suppose.

He takes the silence as an answer, shifting away. This time it is I who grab him by the front of his scarlet robe and jerk him down to face me.

"...Because I love you."

To my surprise, Inuyasha doesn't stare, or flee, or roll out of bed in shock. Instead, he lets out a hoarse cry of victory. I find myself face to face with him, his golden eyes boring into mine, wide and disbelieving. Then he cups my face, so gently, and kisses me, rough and harsh at first, but oh gods, it tastes like sweet, sweet wine, pouring down my throat, syrupy and thick and lusty with desire. The caverns of my mouth light on fire. I wonder why they haven't exploded in a ball of light by now, or shriveled up and burned to cinders by the light his golden eyes seem to have transferred to his skilled tongue.

It's everything a princess would ever dream of, lost and scared and running in the forest. It's familiar and comforting, a taste on my lips I could live with for the rest of my life. Energy courses through my veins and the window seems to have steamed up. His kisses are like a pick-me-up, and when we separate with a gasp, my brain mourns the loss by tilting the world upside down.

"I can't promise you a happily-ever-after, Kagome," he murmurs later, our noses nuzzling gently in an Eskimo kiss and our breath fanning out and intertwining. "I don't want you to live my life. You don't deserve it."

"I don't need another fairytale, Inuyasha. I want to be able to touch you and kiss you and let you burn me up. I want you to yell at me. I want to know the real you, live the real you." I want to leap down from the turrets of this tower, fall and fall and fall, leave the evil witch and the ball and the spinning needles behind. The gold and glitter and glamor can rot in the world of the Brothers Grimm for all I care.

This is Inuyasha, and this is the end of my last fairytale.