Chapter 26.

I wanted to cry, I really did, but I simply couldn't. I was stunned. How could Inuyasha have just been holding me, kissing me, and then disappeared from my life once again? I didn't understand. I was too tired to understand. I just wanted him back.

"So he is gone, is he?"

I spun around, my head snapping to the owner of the voice. I rose to my feet.

"Kikyou."

"I see that Inuyasha decided to give his life up for you, once again."

She looked the same; pale, beautiful, dead. Her expression was unreadable, blank.

"What happened to Inuyasha, Kikyou? How was he just here with me?"

She stared at me, her dark eyes an emotionless void.

"I brought Inuyasha back to life after you left, Kagome."

My stomach twisted uncomfortably. He had been alive? The entire time I had spent mourning him, trying to forget him…he was alive? I couldn't tell if I wanted to cry at Kikyou's feet and thank her for saving my beloved half demon or if I wanted to slap her for keeping that from me for so long. She caught my internal conflict.

"Are you surprised Kagome? Is it that surprising that I would give life back to the man that I love? The man that loves me?"

I felt sick. Her expression was readable now but all I could read was bitter amusement.

"I did not bring him back for you, Kagome. Understand that."

"You also didn't bring him back just because you loved him."

My voice was shaky and unpredictable.

"No?"

She took a step forward and cocked her head to the side.

"You do not think that I loved Inuyasha enough to bring him back to life?"

"Not without strings attached."

I spat at her and a cold smile spread across her pale face.

"There are always strings attached, Kagome. It is what you must do to ensure you get what you want."

"What were the circumstances for bringing him back, Kikyou?"

I was livid, outraged. She had toyed with him, forced him to abide by her rules in return for his life.

"It was a fair arrangement, Kagome."

She took another step closer, the space between us shrinking.

"I gave him his life back and, in return, he was forbidden to carry on having a relationship of any kind with you."

My stomach heaved. I wanted to throw up. I felt my face pale.

"You made it so he wasn't allowed to see me?"

"He was allowed to see you, and he did. He spent more than enough time following you around in your world."

She broke our eye contact, her face full of resentment.

"As long as you did not see him, he was allowed to keep his life. I even sealed the well from you to prevent your curiosity from ruining everything. He took advantage of his allowance to see you. But if you were to ever catch him, notice him…"

"T-then you would take his life away from him."

Kikyou didn't need to answer. Her silence spoke for itself.

"Why did you do it, Kikyou? Why did you cause such misery for Inuyasha and I?"

I shouted at the dead priestess, at the shell of the woman I was supposed to resemble. I hated myself for looking anything like her.

"You think you felt misery? I lost the man I loved to my simple reincarnation and lost him once more because he risked his life for yours."

She took another step closer to me, our faces now only a meter apart.

"I grant him a second chance at life, a life meant to spend with me, and he wastes it stalking you."

Kikyou's resentment had taken up the entire surface area of her face. Her hands shook at her side and I couldn't help but let my anger fade somewhat as I felt pity for the dead priestess.

After all those times he left me for you, you now know how it feels.

I knew I had been correct when I had immediately assumed that Inuyasha was the one who had saved me from Aden. It all made sense now. He had spent all of that time watching me change myself into the horrible person I was today. He had seen the countless mistakes and bad choices I had made but was still there to save me when no one else could. Does that mean that Inuyasha had chosen me over Kikyou? That he loved me more than Kikyou?

"I knew that if I could not have Inuyasha as my own, neither could you."

Kikyou said quietly, staring at me with her black orbs. At that, I understood. She didn't want to share Inuyasha and I understood. She laughed coldly and shook her head.

"But in the end, he risked his second chance at life for seeing you one more time. In the end, he chose you."

She stared at me silently, hurt and confusion spreading across her face. I instantly realized that she was trying to figure out what made Inuyasha choose me over her. I found myself wondering the same thing.

"Alive or not, Inuyasha had promised to be with me."

Kikyou whispered, her gaze never leaving my face.

"And now that he is gone from this world, I must join him."

The ground beneath my feet began to shake and the earth started to crumble around Kikyou. I stepped back, afraid I was going to get caught in the dissolving dirt along with her. She reached into her robes and pulled something out. It glistened beyond the swarm of dust that had formed from the broken earth. It was the Shikon Jewel, complete and pure. Kikyou tossed it to me and I barely caught it, my fingers slipping over the smooth surface of it before it was safely enclosed in my fist.

"You are now responsible for it, Kagome. Do with it as you wish."

And then she was swallowed whole by the earth, which neatly closed up after consuming her, as if nothing had even happened.

Silence.

I slowly dropped to my knees, the jewel still grasped tightly in my hand.

Kikyou was gone. Inuyasha was gone…again. I was alone.

Inuyasha had watched me from a distance for so long, unable to let me know of his presence. He had been with me this whole time. A warmth filled my chest even as I cried. Everything I had endured felt lighter knowing that Inuyasha had been there with me, even if I didn't know it. He had given up his life in order to hold me one last time, in order to kiss me. Tears were rapidly rolling down my cheeks and I couldn't help but laugh at myself.

Today had certainly been an emotional rollercoaster.

The weight in my hand brought me back to what I had in my possession. I opened my hand and stared down at the pink ball that rested in my palm. It looked as if it were waiting patiently for me to do something with it, to wish something.

My heart skipped a beat.

"A wish…"

I could make a wish. The jewel would grant me a wish.

My heartbeat had rapidly increased and I settled myself into a cross legged position, shifting the jewel so it was now cupped in my two shaky hands. I took a long, slow breath and urged my racing heart to settle. Once I had found peace of a sort, I closed my eyes and let my fingers curl over the jewel.

"Take me back…"

But the jewel was already aware of the wish I wanted. A bright light swarmed my vision and a high pitched tone reached both of my ears. Suddenly the wind was knocked out of me and I blacked out.

Darkness.