Ch20

"One more thing?" Inuyasha cocked his head to the side through a side-glance.

"Yes," replied the god of the underworld, "Kagome, I will have to take Inuyasha away for a few moments."

Kagome gave a look of concern.

"Do not worry, I will bring him right back," Hades smiled.

The two lover's eyes met between them. Inuyasha nodded and stepped forward. As though getting consumed by a shadow, Inuyasha faded away along with the God. Kagome ran up to the location where the two had been standing but there wasn't any trace of them.

Oooooooooooooooooo

Miroku was sitting on the hill outside of Kaede's hut watching the moon when he felt a presence to his right. "You should be sleeping Shippo. I do believe it's past your bed time," he smiled to the young fox demon.

A water track marked the trails of tears through the boy's fur on his face. He gave a few sniffles and stood where he in silence.

"You've been crying again," Miroku smiled under his breath.

"It's been three days," Shippo choked softly, "and it's almost dawn for the forth day."

"Has it been that long already?" the monk spoke gently.

The fox-child nodded with another choke.

Shifting his wait back, Miroku laid on his back and pillowed his hands under his head, "Look up there Shippo," Miroku whispered.

The child's eyes shifted up.

"The moon shines brightly tonight. Ever since Kagome told me of man being on the moon, I've never seized to wonder; What kind of thoughts was going through the first man to have set foot on the moon when he was leaving this earth. I doubt it was an easy task. I bet many had thought he was leaving on a suicide mission and there were many disagreements but ultimately, he made it because he believed he would; because people believed he would. Inuyasha had gone to the realm of the Gods to rescue Kagome. It's true, it's never been done before, but he believes he can do it. Now, we just need to believe in him," Miroku turned to the child, "have a little faith Shippo. We are Inuyasha's closest friends. If we don't believe in him, who will?"

A few moments of silence followed the monk's words before the tiny demon made his way beside the monk and took a seat. "You're right Miroku…" spoke the child, "the moon IS bright tonight."

Ooooooooooooooo

How much time had passed since Inuyasha disappeared? Kagome paced about the pentagon room restlessly wondering what was taking so long. 'They've been gone for at least an hour, I swear! So much for be right back," she grunted under her lips, "WHAT IS TAKING SO LONG!!" she shouted.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, no need to shout," Hades' voice sounded in front of her.

"Inuyasha, you're back!" Kagome jumped.

'What about me? People have no respect for Gods anymore,' the God rolled his eyes.

"What was that all about?" Kagome rushed up and asked.

"Oh nothing much. I was saying goodbye to my old man," Inuyasha replied plainly. Kagome knew it was a lie. It only made her worry even more.

"Now then kids," Hades pointed to a new door across the room. Kagome knew it wasn't there before but he did not bother over thinking it. It was magic, simple as that, "You're boat awaits behind that door. It will carry you to the gates and from there, take the third door and it should get you back to where you want to go. Remember what we've talked about Inuyasha. Once you open that door, Kagome's soul will be extracted from her afterlife body. You must never, I repeat, NEVER turn back to look at her until you reach her original body. Is that understood?"

"Yes," the hanyou nodded.

"Alright, whenever you're ready," the God opened his palm to the door and faded away.

Kagome waited until he fully vanished before turning back to Inuyasha to ask what had happened during the time he was away. The answers she received were all vague replies like, "Just stuff," or, "It's nothing to worry about."

The two argued to the door where Inuyasha stopped and turned to her. "Kagome," he whispered with pine in his eyes.

"Inu…yasha?"

Without a word he leaned over and kissed her and embraced her one last time, "Just in case," he whispered to her ear, "I love you."

"Wait…what do you mean 'Just in ca…'" before she could finish, Inuyasha had opened the door. A warm wind blasted into her face and suddenly, she felt limp. The wind circled her. It felt as though it was sucking the air out of her lungs. She could not breathe. White light enveloped her as she was lifted up by some form of invisible force before her body faded away.

Inuyasha never turned back during the entire time. He crossed the door. He could sense that there was something happening behind him but he remained focused on the front as instructed. Charon awaited him on the ferry and stepped to the side for Inuyasha to get on when he saw the half-demon coming from the door. Without a sign of falter, Inuyasha made his way onto the boat.

There was something happening behind him. Hades had said that it is Kagome's soul and that the soul is something forbidden from sight. Suddenly, a shriek echoed out, startling him and nearly making him turn but he caught himself in time. 'Fate he said,' Inuyasha thought after retrieving his calm, 'I've never really believed in that type of stuff.' The boat came to a stop and Charon shifted to the side.

"What, we're there already?" Inuyasha snapped out from his thoughts.

The hooded man nodded.

He was brought to a shore before a cave. He could see a white marble path in front of him, extending into the shadows of the giant hollow. He bowed a thanks to Charon before getting off and stepped onto the path. "The third door…" he reminded himself as he stepped into the cave. Immediately, he was stunned by what he saw. The universe orbited around him and the marble path split into twist and turns. Stairs twisted in all directions much like the tower he had climbed before but this time, there were no walls on either side.

The Arcane Sanctuary was a mythical realm said to have created by the Gods before the dawn of time. They say that it was an 'In between' realm between our world and nether worlds. Indeed, the hanyou did not know what to make of what was before his eyes. There was something beautiful about this unnatural structure and at the same time, barbaric. Stairs that appears to climb from one angle would appear to decline from another, but the time needed to spend on admiration was not the time Inuyasha had. "The third door," he repeated to himself as he marched on.

The path never divided but it always circled, making him walk back and forth and in circles before he finally got to move ahead a bit more. He was just starting to wonder if he was in the wrong place when a red glow caught his eyes. It was a portal and carved in white on a black crystal at its base was the number "1". 'And here I thought it was a riddle,' Inuyasha continued on.

'Inuyasha, there are two choices that you have right now,' the half-demon recalled the discussion with the God, 'The first is that you take Kagome back and she will be revived and she will wake up thinking that everything was a dream. The second is that you remain here with here with her. Both of you will be granted privilege of going to the blessed realm and it will be just like that dream you had where you were in the garden.

'What's there to choose? Of course I choose to bring her back to life. That's what I came here for!'

'You do not get it Inuyasha. There are certain compensations with the revival. You see, if you choose her to bring her back to life, you must remain here and sacrifice yours.'

Up ahead, another portal came up with the sign "2" before it. Inuyasha's steps grew slower. 'What do you mean I must sacrifice mine!' he had exclaimed with outrage.

'It is written that she was to die in that battle. That is how the course of history is suppose to flow. There is a balance that must be established between the two realms and if both of you were to return, it would shatter that balance.'

'This was for the best,' he thought to himself, 'I already said I would give everything to protect Kagome. I won't back down on them now.'

The third portal was coming up. He could already see the eerie orange glow it gave off below the flight of stairs in front of him. The ruckus behind him focused more and more toward one direction. It felt as though it was pushing him or rather, being pulled toward something and he was in the way. By the time he arrived before the third portal, the soul was pushing so hard against his back that he actually had to use some force to stand his ground. His hand reached up into the portal. With a deep breath to calm himself, he walked through.

Ooooooooooooooooooo

Dawn rose timidly from behind the hills. Slowly, it crawled through the open window of the hut and crawled its way to the girl. Sparkles began to glimmer swirled around her lifeless figure. Kaede's eyes, disturbed by the flickering lights, opened sleepily. At first, she thought it was just the sun in her eyes and rolled over to block it away but a sudden realization made her jolt up from her position. The noise she made during her rise awoken the others in the hut as well.

"What's going on!" Shippo clung to her garb immediately after his awakening.

"Her wounds are fading!" Miroku pointed, "Even the blood stains are disappearing!"

"Does this mean that Inuyasha…" Sango covered her mouth.

The sparkles began to fade. They seem to embed themselves into the girl. Everything was still. Other then the phenomenon, the girl appeared as before, motionless. As more shards of light disappeared into the girl's body, colour began to return. The four in the room watched without a word. Precipitation built on their faces. Even though none of them knew exactly what was happening, all of them had put their guesses on one answer. 'Kagome is coming back!'

A chill turned Kaede's attention away from the girl toward the entrance of the hut. The door waved slightly in her vision like watching a distant tree on a hot day. Her eyes squinted slightly as the wavy portion of her vision outlined a shape. "Inuyasha?" she muttered. The other three in the room did not hear her. The outline seemed to turn to her. She focused harder. The outlines darkened and cleared in her vision. "Inuyasha!" she exclaimed, "You've returned!"

The other three had heard her this time and snapped their heads to where the old priestess was looking at but they did not see anything there. "Inuyasha? Where is he?!" Shippo jumped.

"Is he outside?" Sango asked.

"What are you talking about. He is right there, do you all not see him?" Kaede pointed to the door. The three looked but shook their heads.

Inuyasha looked back to the girl. Only a hand full of the shards of light still remained free floating. Though his figure remained fuzzy, she could definately see sorrow in the half-demon's eyes.

Ooooooooooooooooo

'Once I pass through this portal, Kagome will be gone forever,' Inuyasha hesitated, 'I wish…just once more.' His eyes glanced back but he pulled them back forcefully. 'I finally got her back after everything and now I have to part again? I went through all that and I finally found her. How does he expect me to let her go again?"

'After I cross…I will never see her again…' his eyes wandered back, 'Just one more glance…just one more won't hurt will it? One last look…a quick…last…glance,' he swallowed. Slowly, his head began to turn back.

TBC….

A quick update. Hope you all enjoy it. Next chapter is the epilogue and I don't know how long it will take me to write it because I want it to be as good as I can make it but I assure you that when I upload it, it will be well worth the wait.

This story is ending next chapter! If you haven't reviewed this story, I hope you will soon!

Deduction