(Authors Note: Destiny CANNOT be changed. But we don't have to worry about that because we life in a world where science rules all...or does it? Who knows? Maybe there is a magic well in our world that's no yet discovered. Too bad we can't look into the future.

I apologize if this chapter may seem a little confusing, but there's only one message- Destiny cannot be changed.)

Chapter Ten

'Destiny'

Their brother village reported the carrier carriage was empty when it arrived. The driver had been knocked out with no wounds on his body, and the wounded bandit was gone upon arrival. Kagome wasn't surprised. She didn't know the detailed but it was obvious. Omnitachi sold his soul to demons and became Naraku, again. Only this time, he comes for me.

Kagome had explained the situation thousands of times until her voice became raw, though Kaede was the only one that seemed to believe her. But she didn't care. Everything was returning and she didn't know why. No one seemed to have the slightest clue what was going on. Then again, who would?

She wore her green and white school uniform. It had shrunk since that last time she put it on. Kagome didn't feel like a priestess. No priestess would give in to love and abandon her duties. Kagome escaped to the sacred tree, with her beloved pinned to it. She looked up at him face. It was calm and soft, just like the way it was when Kagome first saw him. When she arose from the well after her encounter with Mistress Centipede. The scene was just like before. Kagome leaned against the scared tree beside where Inuyasha was. She leaned on his shoulder, feeling his comfort. But he didn't react. He felt cold. She closed her eyes.

Can you give me an answer? No one else seems to know. Not even Kaede. Why is this happening all over again? It's like a curse, a never ending one. I want to end the line of tragedies, but I don't know how. Help me! Some one! She called out from deep in her heart, desperate for someone to talk to, someone to relieve her frustration.

The darkness engulfed her. The constant chatter of the village drew off into the distance. It grew quiet, so quiet that all she could hear was the thumping of her own heart echoing in her chest. The thumping grew louder as Kagome felt uneasy in this type of situation. She was no longer sitting on the cold hard ground like she remembered. Her fingers felt wet, like she was sitting in a puddle of water that stretched on forever. Her tears rolled down her cheeks. The pure tear drop created ripples on the surface of the puddle. It called for someone, reflecting the wish deep in Kagomes heart. "Kikyo?"

Her face looked back at Kagome. Kikyo looked well, like a goddess. Kagome called out from the bottom of her heart, "Why Kikyo? Why do I keep seeing you everywhere?"

Her voice was soft and gentle, and more matured than Kagomes. But as Kikyo spoke, it cracked her heart, "You are my reincarnation. No matter how you dislike that fact, we will always be connected by a bond that can't be broken. Never forget that."

"Then maybe you can tell me. Why is my life always so tragic? Is it because yours was? And I'm simply following in your footsteps?" Kikyo didn't answer. "It's like I'm poison. Everywhere I go, every thing I touch, every person I meet, falls into the same tragic fate!" Kagome screamed in her mind.

Kikyo blinked showing no emotion. She looked up with her empty eyes. It's like her feelings were all used up. She reached out her hand trying to touch the endless distance, "You are no priestess. You don't understand." She clutched her fist and floated over to Kagome, holding her closed hand up to Kagomes eyes. When she opened them, there was the sacred jewel. Not the jewel itself, but a shard. Kagome knew what it was. She took the shard in her hands. It felt ice cold.

'This must be the shard I wished on.'

"Everything in life follows a path, one continuous flow of events. And that flow can never be broken. What happened once naturally will always happen no matter what. That is its position, it's destiny in the flow and it will happen despite your best intentions to stop it."

…Sango finally arrived at her village. But it was too late. The dog demon was correct. Sango recognized that ominous formation of clouds. It meant a gathering of demons, over the demon slayers village. She shook violently, not just because of the cold. Her battering fingers griped Kiraras fur hard. She tried to blink away the scene, hoping it would just disappear. But it didn't, "It's happened all over again."

…Kikyo tilted her head and towered over Kagome, "The scared jewel bends that flow, but only to a certain degree, a limit. You wished I never existed, and so you got that wish, but it was the only thing you got. You can not take away the events that surrounded me. They will continue to follow the flow and take place, because the wish did not contain them."

… Because she'd left to lure Sesshoumaru away, she was saved from the worst of it. But her village wasn't as fortunate. By the time she got here. The grounds were already a bloodied mess. There was nothing that could have been done. Sango lashed out in fiery. Most of the demons had already cleared out seeing there was nothing alive left to kill. Sango and Kirara finished off the last remaining ones that stayed for a feast. As she strained her muscles, Sango caught a quick glimpse of a figure, white fur with a blue face, looking down on her from the tall tower, but was too exhausted to continue investigating.

… "These events are balanced between good and back. As humans, we wish to live in a world where everything goes our way, no deaths, no killing, no betrayal, but that isn't meant to be. We can not change the flow of nature, no matter how much it hurts. Pain and suffering is a part of life that we can not be rid of."

Kagome ran her fingers over the sharp edges of the shard. 'I get it now. There are some things in this world that I can never change. They'll always happen, one way or another. No matter how hard I try to prevent it, it won't stop the flow of nature. 'Kagome relaxed her muscles and sighed, satisfied. She got her answer, from the one person she wished was out of her life, the one person she always thought to be her opponent.

Kikyo had vanished. She was the messenger, and her mission was completed. The jewel shard disintegrated in her hands. The light reflected on the puddle disappeared, plunging Kagome back into the darkness. But this time, she felt as if a burden was just lifted off her chest, the weight off her heart. She never imagined that the answer that satisfied her most would be… "you can't do anything about it". It meant she wouldn't have to struggle anymore, just sit back and let destiny and fate fall into place.

So she sat back, and waited, waited for the voices of the villagers to return to her ears, waiting for the sound of the forest to turn up its volume, so that when she opened her eyes, she was back.

"Kagome?"

Kagome smiled, looking up at the worried faces of Kaede and the other villagers. Their presence alone comforted her. Kagome stirred feeling the roots of the sacred tree dig into her back. She pulled herself up to her feet, "Kaede. Will you support my decisions?"

Kaede looked surprised, "Aye, Of course I'd support you. I know decisions can be difficult for ye but I'll do my best to help ye."

"Really?" Kagome wasn't sure if she knew what she meant. She turned to face the sacred tree, and Inuyasha, "Even if I decided that I want to release Inuyasha?"

The villagers immediately objected, "No Lady Kagome! He is a danger to us all. You should know that by now, and not continue to stand up for him. He did-,"

"He did nothing wrong," Kagome finished calmly, "He was merely deceived by another evil force. I've thought for a long time now. If my suspicions are correct, then something terrible is happening at this moment. I need Inuyashas help. I need him with me."

The wind tunnel returned to Mirokus hand. That means Sango isn't far behind. I need to save her, or at least help her, comforting her when it happens.

So she waited until the last of the villagers returned to their usual duties. She waited until Kaede gave her last words of warning. And she waited until she left leaving Kagome alone with her thoughts and her actions.

Kagome felt something wet land on her cheek. At first she thought it was only her tears; she's been shedding them a lot lately. But then she realized it was cold. Kagome looked up at the sky. Tiny specks of snow floated down. She could see their shadows despite how small they are. Kagome let one land on her hand. The frosty patterns melted in her warm palm. The tiny drop of water said much. It told her something had happened, as she suspected. If she had learned one thing during her time here, it was to trust her instincts as a priestess, because it was almost always right.

Through her fingers she saw Inuyasha. Kagome knew it was time. She grabbed the arrow pinning him to the tree, just like the last time only without the crushing force of Mistress Centipede, and perked back on it, hard...