Chapter Nine

Revenge and Choices

(A/N: Wow… so many of you were for Henry's death… Some of you said something about making sure that he'd die a very painful death… Wow… I was kinda frightened reading the reviews… Amazed that you'd care so much, but frightened nevertheless… Eh he… -;

Ok, so here's to answer a few questions…:

How did Henry know about Naraku? Was he lying?: No, in fact, he wasn't. When Kagome first mentioned Naraku (during Christmas), he hadn't heard of Naraku. When he got thrown out, he did a little… 'digging'. a.k.a., threatening, stealing any documents with the hanyou's name, ect.

How does the curse work again?: I found a lot of people were kinda confused about the curse. I can understand why… I don't think I explained it too well… Ok, so, Naraku made it so that InuYasha would be reincarnated 'bout ten years after Kagome was born. Weird spell, I know, but I kinda needed it… -; AND, he had to be a dog. Doggie InuYasha would slowly remember everything that happened, but would be unable to talk. But, there had to be a loop-hole…: InuYasha was able to become human when he reached puberty, ONLY from 12 AM to 1 AM, or when Kagome was in need and couldn't defend herself. If she was asleep, he couldn't wake her up. He could've shot a gun off by her ear and she'd still be sleeping peacefully… Least ways, he couldn't mean to wake her up. If she woke up by accident, it could work… That's pretty much it…

What breed is Inugin?: One of my friends asked me this: he's a golden retriever, but his fur, when he's InuYasha, is silver…

How could Kagome talk to Henry when she was gagged?: Oh, shit! You see, I wrote the beginning of that chapter, like, a week before the ending, so I forgot that she was gagged… Let's just say Henry cut off the gag or something…just for the sake of the story, 'kay? Thanks… and sorry 'bout my short term/long term memory loss… -;

That was pretty much it, so… Here's the next chapter…

The Kikyo Hater)

InuYasha cringed as Henry kicked him in the face. A slow growl rose up in his chest and he pulled himself up to his hands and knees.

Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Kagome slowly reach out for a broken piece of glass. She started using the jagged edge to saw through the ropes that bound her wrists together. InuYasha's eyes, however, were kept on Henry. He wouldn't let the bastard know what Kagome was doing because he was staring at the teenager.

"Oh, did I hurt the doggie woggie?" Henry asked in a sick version of a singsong voice. InuYasha's growl hit another notch and he felt his demon blood pumping dangerously. But he fought back against the demon blood. It wouldn't help him; quite the contrary, he might kill Kagome too, and that was the last thing he wanted to do…

Kagome hissed as the glass cut her, but kept going. Henry was sick, he really was… First, he was a pervert, then he tried to force himself on her, then he tried to kidnap her, and now, he's trying to KILL her!? Not to mention what he was doing to InuYasha…

Her blood pounded in her ears and her speeding quickened slightly as the ropes finally fell away, severed and useless. She made quick work of the rope entrapping her legs; it wasn't that tight of a knot anyways.

Over on the other side of the room, Henry was goading InuYasha. "Does puppy want a biscuit?"

She rolled her eyes. Seriously, had becoming a hanyou meddled with his brains or something!? It seemed that all hanyou that had once been humans but had sold their souls to demons went insane one way or another. Naraku: … Obvious… Sara: She was so desperate for Sesshomaru-sama, she was willing to kill the people who loved her the most. Henry: Need this Kikyo Hater say more?

Not to mention he needed to come up with better insults…

She slowly made her way towards Henry who seemed to be growing weary of insulting InuYasha since the Inu hanyou didn't seem to be doing anything.

"Well then, this has been fun, but I think that you need to be put down, right before Kagome dies… Funny… You've tried so hard to protect her and yet, you-"

He was cut off as Kagome launched herself at him, hooking onto his back and strangling him slight in an effort not to fall off. She didn't dare use her miko powers… she'd need them later for InuYasha.

Henry reeled, teetering slightly to one side, then to the other. "Stupid… bitch…" he hissed, gasping for air.

Finally, thanks to his hanyou strength, he tossed her to the side like a rag doll. Kagome slowly slid to a stop in front of InuYasha who hurriedly came to her side to make sure she was just fine.

"InuYasha," she said, panting slightly. She had, after all, just jumped a half-demon; who wouldn't be slightly out of breath. "Stay still…"

She placed her hands on his shoulders and poured out her miko powers. Typically, when a miko does this, she was going to purify the demon, but…

InuYasha's amber eyes widened. He was… healing. 'When did Kagome learn how to heal?' he thought for a moment before he felt his strength, stamina, and best of all, health.

He could've jumped for joy, had not Kagome collapsed into a tired pile after healing him.

Bending down, his eyes swept over her. Kagome, his Kagome, was having trouble breathing, and her eyes were glazed over.

InuYasha wanted to pretend to brush it off, make her feel better. Go 'Oh, don't tell me your tired after a little healing thing like THAT!', but he knew better.

Henry staggered to his feet. After Kagome had released him, he had fallen to his knees, trying to breathe normal again.

A smirk crossed his lips when he saw Kagome in a pile and InuYasha bending over her. "So… the little miko bitch has healed you… won't help you…"

That was it… it was small, and still a sucky insult, but InuYasha had almost died once today, had to go through enough of those tacky gibes, and was worried sick over Kagome. His demon blood roared in his ears, and he felt it slowly take him over. Tetsaiga was buried somewhere behind the Higurashi Shrine, and so, wasn't there to keep him from transforming into full yokai.

Leaping forward, he curled his hand into a fist and punched Henry right between the eyes. The hanyou feel back, dazed and alarmed. Where was the bent over, weak, and all bark but no bite hanyou that had been there only a moment before?

A groan alerted InuYasha to Kagome and he turned, his eyes already red, and his amber orbs slowly turning turquoise. Two jagged purple stripes had crawled their way along his cheeks, and his hair was standing slightly on end. Long fangs poked out from the upper lip, and his claws were longer than they usually were.

Kagome felt her heart skip a beat when she looked up to find fully transformed InuYasha glaring at her.

She cringed slightly, frightened over what he might do to her. Kagome didn't give a damn over what happened to Henry, but she knew that if InuYasha attacked her, she couldn't, wouldn't, fight back against him.

He turned away to find Henry quivering in a corner. InuYasha raised an eyebrow. 'Coward,' he thought coolly. 'He CLAIMS he can stuff, but doesn't really have the guts to do it if there is any danger…'

"Kagome," he growled, making said girl jump and look up at him. "Get the other part of me and get yourself out of here… you'll only be in the way." His voice was guttural, but Kagome knew that he was worried about her safety. Though she didn't know it, her safety was always at the front of his mind, human, hanyou, or yokai.

She nodded and grabbed Inugin, and getting away.

When she was out of the basement, Kagome had to squint her eyes. Grabbing her dog's collar, she made her painfully slow way to her house, weary beyond description from her healing, and frightened over what was going to happen. Higurashi-san cried out as her daughter shot past her, but Kagome just called over her shoulder that she knew everything and sorry for making her mother worry.

Finally, she was in her room, waiting patiently for InuYasha, Inugin curled up at the other end of the room.

A quick rap tap tap at the window made Kagome jump, but rush over to it and open it. InuYasha was covered in blood (Henry's blood, she guessed since she didn't see a single scratch on him).

She gasped and took a step back, letting InuYasha fall gracefully to her floor. Kagome took a step forward, reaching a hand out, but her legs gave way, making her buckle and fall to her knees in front of the hanyou. Up close, their faces only about a foot apart, they studied each other. InuYasha no longer had red eyes with those terrifying pupils. Nor did he have those demon markings on the side of his face. Only a weary expression.

Kagome also looked extremely tired, shallow bags slowly showing under her eyes, and a weary, jumpy look that flashed fear and concern in those very eyes.

InuYasha picked Kagome up, much to her surprise, and laid her down on her bed. "Go to sleep," he muttered, sitting down next to her. "You look like hell…"

Kagome shook her head and sat up. "But… what happened? What about Henry?"

The Inu hanyou just smirked and cast her a mischievous look. "Let's just say, he won't be bothering anybody until he's reincarnated."

Kagome nodded. Good. Least that was out of the way…

Standing, she made her uneasy was to her desk. InuYasha jumped up to help her, but she waved him away. "No, no. Stay right there. Just a sec."

On her desk was the Shikon no Tama, glinting in the light of her lamp. Picking it up, she turned around and looked from it to InuYasha before holding it out to him.

"You… You died to complete this," she said, stuttering and forcing down a choke on the word dead. "I think it's only fair, after all you've been through, if you had it… It's your choice over what you want to be… Just remember that I'll love you not matter what."

He took the jewel and held it up, gazing at it in amazement. Now that he looked back on it, this little jewel had done nothing but make everybody's life hell…

'You can be a full yokai now, just like you've always wanted!' a little voice called from the back of his skull and he blinked. What he always wanted… Was it what he always wanted?

Kagome stood there, watching him look over the Shikon no Tama, his brows furrowed together in deep thought and unnamable expression slipping in and out of his features.

"InuYasha?" she asked, blinking. He started and looked up at her. Smiling slightly, he handed it back.

"No, I don't want it. You make the wish…"

Kagome blinked and felt like the world was turned upside down. What? He… he didn't… didn't want to be a… full yokai?

"But… but you-"

He gave her a lopsided smile, a single, normal sized fang slipping out from under his upper lip. "I thought I wanted it… I didn't. At first, when I had first heard of it, I did. Then, I wanted to live with Kikyo. When she died and you freed me, then, for a moment, it was what I wanted. Then I wanted to be free of that blasted spell. Then… I wanted you to be happy… to live… with me…"

It had to be a dream. It SERIOUSLY had to be a REALLY good dream…

Biting her lips, she looked down, her bangs covering her eyes. It had been what she had always wanted to hear from him… but she felt as if he was looking at Kikyo. Not her. Never her…

"But what about Kikyo?" she asked finally after an uncomfortable silence.

A sigh made her snap her head up. InuYasha was shaking his head, clamping the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. "How many times do I have to tell you, wench!?" he cried, back to his normal old self. His eyes snapped open and he waved his hands, taking a step forward. "You are NOT her! I know you too well to not know that you feel like I'm talking to her, but I'm not. And, anyways, she's been dead since she shot me to the Goshinboku! She was never brought back… only her hatred for me was. And even when she was laid down to rest, only for a moment there, was she really her old self. Kagome… we never really loved each other… just felt… lonely. I was looking for a way to fit in; she was looking for a way to be normal… It was sort of a compromise! True, it was sorta love, but not true love! But after she died, I felt obligated to her since she had died to follow me! But, I guess it was more an act of duty that she didn't use the Shikon no Tama to save herself so that she could live; she knew it would taint it, and felt it was her duty to keep it pure and out of evil hands. Not out of love did she follow me, but out of a sense of duty…"

Kagome stared at InuYasha. He had just laid bare everything that had happened between him and Kikyo and how the two didn't really fall in love… and it made sense.

Taking a deep, shuddering breath, she stood up. "You… you said you wanted freedom, ne?" she asked, looking him square in the eye. He nodded, raising an ebony eyebrow in uncertainty.

Kagome smiled and closed her eyes. This would sap the last of her strength for the day, so she'd have to sleep after that.

"Then you should be free…"

Grasping the Shikon no Tama, she let her head fall. Whispering, she begged the Shikon no Tama to sever the lifeline from Inugin, and InuYasha, letting the two live, but be in separate bodies.

Pink lights flittered around InuYasha and the sleeping Inugin. InuYasha started, looking in fear at Kagome. But the fear died away. He trusted Kagome with his life, and knew she wouldn't betray him.

Trust… it had been one thing he and Kikyo didn't have… but he was glad they never had it. If she hadn't shot him to the Goshinboku, he would never had met Kagome…

The lights died away and InuYasha blinked. He looked at his hands, his claws, and his hair. Everything was normal… he wasn't human, nor was he full yokai… Then, what had Kagome's wish been. Her whisper hadn't been loud enough for him to hear-

He launched forward as Kagome's legs buckled. It had been a long day, and she had fainted, using all of her miko powers to make him free.

Placing her gently on her bed, he tucked her in, making her as comfortable as possible, before looking around the room for the Shikon no Tama. It had disappeared.

"So," he said quietly, settling in to a nice nap by Kagome's bed. "That's that then… Keh… Bit… easy… There's gotta be a catch."

But no, there was no catch. There was nothing but InuYasha and Kagome, and a cherry blossom on her desk.

The End

(A/N: Oh ho! Nine chapters, and this last one was nice and long… and Henry died. You guys can imagine how he died… I was never one for describing bloody scenes… reading them, sometimes, when I'm in the mood for death and gore and crap, but never writing them. Ah well…

Anyways, what'd ya guys think? Was the ending good? I hope so… -giggles- So… please review! Thanks to everybody who already did and will, and thanks for reading me story. Sayonara!

The Kikyo Hater)