Chapter 24

Kagome enters her apartment parking lot. As she pulls into her spot, another car pulls into the visitor spot across from Kagome's. Kagome heads back into the building. "Kagome." A voice calls out to her. Kagome turns around to see Inuyasha coming towards her. "Oh, it's you." Kagome frowns as she crossed her arms. "Sango told me what happened." Inuyasha tells her. "So I guess Sango doesn't want to endure my wrath of my insecurity." Kagome jokes to him. "She's just worried about you. Can you blame her?" Inuyasha retorts to her. "Inuyasha. I'm not in a talkative mood right now." Kagome is about to open the door with her key until Inuyasha grabs it. "Hey give that back." Kagome tries to jump as high as she could to get her key back. "Not until you come out of that insecure shell of yours." Inuyasha grins at her. "This isn't funny, Inuyasha. I need to go back inside." Kagome cries out angrily. "So you can feel safe in there? Well here's something you should know. No matter wherever you go, there's not a single place that is consider safe for you." Inuyasha tells her sternly.

Just hearing that made Kagome drop down to her knees. "Look Kagome. You need to tolerate such things. I'm not here to make feel that way. I'm just here because you're not the only who's been feeling that way." Inuyasha gets down to her level. "You don't sound like me though." Kagome looks back to him. Inuyasha pulls her back up as well as giving her key back. "That's because I gotten over it. It wasn't easy though." Kagome is confused. "You did too?" She asks him. Inuyasha nods as he takes her to his vehicle.

A few minutes later, Inuyasha let's Kagome into his apartment. Kagome would expect a bachelor pad, typical belongings of the guy. But there were a few things that Kagome never seen before. One of the shelves holds a crystal picture of a girl. Kagome is somehow drawn to it. As she walks to it, it shows that the girl looks identical to her. "That's Kikyo." Inuyasha speaks silently to her. "Oh. Well she's very beautiful though." Kagome respects the topic with a smile. "And how is she to you?" She asks nervously. Inuyasha picks up the structure. "My deceased wife." He tells her. Kagome gasps, "Oh I'm truly sorry about your lost." She gives her condolences. "Yeah. But I was aware for how she died, and I couldn't save her in the end." He tells her. "What do you mean?" Kagome asks curiously.

Flashback

Inuyasha is at the hospital. He and Kikyo are waiting for the final results for what was going with Kikyo. The door opens and the doctor enters. "Kikyo." He speaks to her. "According to what I found out about you, I'm sadly to admit that you have stage 4 breast cancer." He tells her. "But how did she get it?" Inuyasha asks him. The doctor looks at the chart he's carrying with him. "The cause is that it was something that I have never seen before. Even I can't tell what exactly it is." He explains to him. "May I see it?" Inuyasha asks him. The doctor hands over the chart. Inuyasha and Kikyo read the report to see what it's telling him. "And none of the scientists are able to get to a solid idea on what it is?" Kikyo asks him. The doctor shakes his head. "Not a single one can even come up with a solution, treatment or cure for this." He replies frankly.

Kikyo controls her tears that are about to fall. "How much more time do I have left to live?" She asks him as she hands over the chart back to him. "I'd say about 3 months is all you have. Even if the option to amputate the effected area won't be able to lengthen your life." He explains the possibilities wouldn't do her any good. "I'm truly sorry about all of this." He just left the room.

End of Flashback

"And just like that, he left us. I bet he didn't want to give us any more bad news that could affect Kikyo's death. I even did all I could to save her with Sesshomaru's help but even he wasn't able to help out." Inuyasha continues on with his story. "And sadly Kikyo only lived for another month." He places the sculpture back onto the shelf. Kagome can tell that how much suffering Inuyasha had to go through. "And the only way to move on is to make sure that she rests in peace. I knew for sure that I had to walk a path of grief but I made sure that my feelings for her would always be there to guide me to move on." He talks some more when they sat onto the couch. "Inuyasha. I never expected that could that affect you that much. You managed to get over it in such a short amount of time. Me on the other hand had to go through that at a much longer period of time." Kagome admits to him.

"I know that Sango spoke behind your back was not meant to be, but she believed that I could be the one to guide you on that path that you don't want to be on. When she told me about what you and Koga did on the building's roof, I knew for sure that Koga that was with you was innocent because of the man who imposing as him." Inuyasha takes hold of her shoulder. "And I want to make sure that you don't fall for such tricks. Because from now on, I'll be looking after you, even if you don't ask me to."

Kagome is at a loss for words. She has no idea on how to say to him. A few phrases pass through her head. Should him let him do that or not? She doesn't know. "Are you trying to have me fill in the void of your wife?" She asks him that instead. Inuyasha is surprised by that. "Not even the slightest. I could never replace her with you. We're just getting to know each other. We're not at that point to make such a decision like that." Inuyasha denies that fact. Even so, Kagome is not sure if she can believe him.

Inuyasha takes Kagome back to her apartment. Kagome is shocked to ride in Inuyasha's SUV. It was a very nice vehicle for him to have. Compare to her average sedan, she couldn't be at the same level of class. "Thanks for the ride." Kagome speaks nicely to her as she hops out. "Let me know if you need a lift." Inuyasha offers to her. "I'll let you know whenever my car is out of commission." Kagome replies back as a joke. Inuyasha just watches her go into the building with her key. Inuyasha pulls out of the parking lot and goes home.