Disclaimer - I don't own them, and probably never will. But my InuYasha lighter never goes far from my person, and I don't let anyone touch it without permission ): D (------Look, I learned a new face!)
Author's Notes - First, some review replies 0:)
Paniced obsessor - Nope, I'm not. But just keep reading : )
Dark and Deluted Child - Thank you : ) It's all written, I'm just making sure I'm satisfied with it before I put it up : P
paws34125 - Anandria - aearoniell - Kaida-Little Dragon - bond jr. - Inuyasha's-Princess12 - Mai - Nameless Moonshine - slvrstarlight - mvdiva - depressed-girl001 - midoriko - Flint - baka-baka - Moonfairy2000 - psycho king - Senay - alli the author - Mistress Storm Crow - Anti [.] Poptarts - Thank you all for the review, and I hope you continue to enjoy the story. Keep reviewing, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask.
chibi stumbler - Don't worry hun . . . I could never leave this story on a sad note. I'm too much of a romanticist at heart and our two hero's have been through too much to not give them some relief. But just read and find out anyway.
Corran Nackatori - *returns the glomph* I'm fixin, I'm fixin! I'm not in a depressed mood, I swear. It just seemed that there were still a few untied threads to the story that needed to be addressed after Naraku was killed, so I'm tying them up (in knots, but still).
ForeverGoddessPeorth - *grin* Thank you for the compliment. I was just as tortured, not being able to post as I wrote this . . . it quite literally drove me mad for a while. I wish I could see this happen in the anime, but who knows? Maybe something like it will . . . although I doubt it highly. Here's another chapter for you hun.
celestial-x - I know it was kinda overdone (the chap. 7 thing, that is) but it needed to be addressed so that the story could continue smoothly. Leaving it out would have made people wonder how they had progressed mentally from one stage to another, and I hate gaps like that. Glad you like the story though, and I hope you continue to do so.
sHaMaN qUeEn NaTaKu - Oh dear . . . I hope I'm not going to see a "Starlight and Shadows Addicts Anonymous" popping up soon. That would be scary.
lizliz - *return glomph* I missed you all too, and thank you. It's great to be back.
Hanyou-Girl25 - here you go hun. I could never just leave you all hanging if I can help it.
Ariane Adora - I haven't quite decided yet why Sess was being a dog or not . . . My mind seems to want to make it so that he was keeping himself hidden for some reason. Perhaps a sequel is in order? *grin*
Kagomesjewel - *resurrects her* Brother's do that a lot . . . but they're enough of a pain in the a&& that I ignore my two : P I'll be heading for your story sometime soon, and I'm glad you love my story. I had the same problem, which is when I started writing this one : ) I hope you continue to enjoy it, and hopefully you'll see my review soon 0:D
yosei - ambereyes - *glomph* Hey you two : ) Glad you're still around and enjoying my story. Ambereyes hun, it sounds like you're going soft. And giving her permission to come after me to boot! Just for that . . . *debates not posting a new chap for a month* Naw, I couldn't do that to you all : ) Anyway, stick around, two more chapters to go.
kawaii monkey hanyou - Just as Kag was returned to her own time by Midoriko because she did not belong in Fuedal Japan, Shippo and Rin were returned to thier own time as well. To restore the 'proper' balance and all that jazz. As far as them going through in the first place . . . I decided to take some artistic license there. Hope it's all clear now.
DragonTamer9741 - thanks : P My mind tends to get ahead of my fingers when I'm typing, and I do occasionally miss the small things. Thanks for the help, and I'm glad you like the story.
*sits back with a sigh of relief* There! That was a whole lot of review for having gone missing for a couple of months, but I'm glad you're all still with me : D Well, here's the next chapter . . .I hope it alleviates some of the depression, but you're all gonna hate me for this chapters ending, so I'm going to hide behind Sephiroth now and get it over with. Only two more chapters to go . . . and we're almost to this stories year anniversary! Yep . . . believe it or not, I actually started writing this in the first weeks of January this year. Now a new year is coming up . . . I might just have to start on the sequel, although how I'm going to top Starlight is beyond me. I'm sure I'll think of something. Anyway, enjoy the chapter, and I'll see you all in two weeks again : P Ja!
Chapter 29 - Not Giving Up
Kagome awoke slowly the following morning, her eyes red and irritated still from the crying she had done the night before.
"Why . . . why must I be tormented by images of him? Isn't the very fact that I can still feel him and yet never see him again enough?" she whispered, her voice hoarse as she stared at the coming dawn outside of her window. "Was our love so wrong that I must be eternally damned to misery?" Tears glistened unshed in her eyes, but she wiped them away and stiffened her resolve. The gods may have forsaken her, condemned her to live her life without her mate, but she would be damned before she allowed them to destroy her. She had been through too much in too little time for that.
She was startled when Snow woofed softly behind her. She turned towards him, smiling gently as she gazed down upon the constant companion of her misery. The bedraggled, wounded animal that had seemed so small when he first arrived was now massive, his head reaching to her waist when he stood. His shaggy white coat gleamed in the early morning light, and amber eyes that reminded her too much of a certain inu-youkai regarded her with an eery intelligence as he nudged his head against her hip, inviting her silently to rub his ears. She did so, caressing the soft ears gently as she turned her attention back to the dawn, thinking absently that Sesshoumaru would never have debased himself as to allow a human to pet him as a common dog, even if that was his demon form. A soft smile curved her lips as she imagined the elegant, egotistical youkai lord in his demon form lolling on his back as Snow had sometimes done and then shook her head. "As if . . ." she murmured at her errant thoughts. "That would never happen."
Sighing, she turned to her desk, where many ancient manuscripts lay scattered across it's smooth wood surface. She had begun her research two months ago, after coming to realize that simply hoping and praying was not going to work on getting her back to Feudal Japan. Her grandfather had been a great help to her, showing her where he had stored all the old parchments and allowing her to browse through them for hours at a time. She had finally narrowed it down to these dozen texts . . . somewhere in these texts was the clue she so desperately needed. She settled into her chair to read, Snow's head resting on her lap as she began to comb through them once again, searching for the single elusive piece of information that would give her what she wanted.
A knock at her door interrupted her several hours later. Rising slowly to answer it, she smiled as she found her mother on the other side, a tray bearing breakfast and a small pitcher of hot chocolate balanced in one arm. Her mother returned her smile, walking over to the desk to set the tray down before giving her daughter a brief hug.
"Any luck?" Sakura asked softly, seeing the weariness in her daughter's eyes. Kagome shook her head slowly.
"Nothing yet. Mom . . . you understand why I have to do this, don't you? I know you will miss me . . . but if I find a way to force the well open, I have to go back." Sakura merely smiled and nodded.
"Kagome, of course I understand. We will miss you . . . but you belong there, with him. If I . . . if there had been anyway I could have brought your father back after he died, I would have stopped at nothing. The only thing that kept me living was you and your brother. You have nothing holding you here . . . and every reason to go back. Even if the well should only open once . . . oh, Kagome, you belong with him. It pains me to see you in so much darkness . . . he is your light as much as you are his. I could never hold you're going back to him against you, even if it means we never see you again." Kagome hugged her mother warmly, a hug which the elder Higurashi returned before walking out the door and silently closing it behind her.
Wiping unshed tears from her eyes, Kagome returned to her desk, where she picked up the waiting mug of hot chocolate and returned to her research.
*--------*--------*--------*--------*
"It's been four months . . ." Sango murmured to Miroku as they sat outside of Kaede's hut.
"Yes, it has . . . and he is no better," Miroku replied. They watched solemnly as Shippo chased down another butterfly with Rin. His heart just didn't seem into it . . . he rarely laughed anymore. It seemed as if his childhood had left him with Kagome . . . he no longer seemed half as young as he truly was. InuYasha was no better. He still lay morosely either at the God Tree, or near the well, refusing to move. Kouga had even tried to goad him into a fight, with little to no result. InuYasha had merely shrugged and ignored him.
Speaking of Kouga . . . Sango and Miroku looked up as they heard him go thundering past, heading once again towards the well. They glanced at each other, and without a word arose to follow. Somehow, they sensed that today something was going to happen.
They arrived at the well in time to see Kouga physically slap InuYasha.
"Get out of it, dog breath. She's gone, and moping here isn't going to bring her back."
"Shut up flea bag," InuYasha replied, not moving to retaliate for the slap. He had no choice in the matter, however, when Kouga reached down and picked him up by the front of his fire rat shirt.
"You listen to me, mongrel, and you listen well. She's gone, and you're not the only one suffering. Do you think none of us are sad that she is gone? That we don't feel the injustice of it too? You're not the only one who loved her, you filthy hanyou!"
"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE!" InuYasha roared, shoving Kouga away from him with a barely contained snarl. He heaved in a breathe, his eyes glowing with his anger and despair as he stared at the wolf youkai a mere foot away. "You have no idea what this feels like . . . she is still a part of me, and yet I can never hold her, never talk to her, never BE with her again! It's like having a limb cut off and being constantly reminded of it! My heart feels like it's dying and yet exploding all at once, I can't go an hour without thinking about her . . . SHE WAS MY MATE AND THEY TOOK HER FROM ME!" He collapsed to his knees finally, his head bowed. His white hair, now tangled and filthy from the lack of care, formed an impenetrable curtain for his face as he sat there, before a harsh sob tore from his throat. "Why . . ." he whimpered finally, "why did they have to take her from me?" Kouga knelt down in front of him, silent. There were no words he could say.
*--------*--------*--------*--------*
Darkness enveloped the Higurashi shrine in it's comforting embrace, the moon dark in the night sky, hidden by the storm clouds that had come in hours before. There was plenty of thunder and lightning, but no rain as of yet, for which Kagome was extremely thankful as she carried her burden from the main house to the well. She slid the door quietly closed behind her, and began her preparations, thinking over what she had to do as she worked.
One week ago, she had finally found the clue she needed. It had been a vague, half mentioned idea, but it was more than she had originally thought to find, so she had been ecstatic. Vague on details, it had given her the idea she so desperately needed. Now, with a note left on her bed and her bag packed and ready beside her, she prepared to put into action the idea that had formed.
Rising to her feet, she solemnly lit the candles on the four corners of the well, illuminating the well house in a comforting glow that did nothing to dispel her worries that what she was about to do was a fleeting chance at best. Starting a small fire in the iron bowl she had bought days before, she quickly added the herbs Kaede had taught her to use to increase mental clarity and spiritual resonance. She sat there, breathing deeply of the smoke that drifted up from the smoldering herbs, and began to go through the ritual of centering herself, getting more in touch with the magic that ran through her blood.
When at last she felt she was ready, she rose gracefully to her feet and approached the entrance of the well . . . candlelight glinting off the polished steel of the ritual dagger she held in her right hand.
*--------*--------*--------*--------*
InuYasha stared up into the night sky from his perch high in the branches of the God Tree, his mind wandering as it often did to the time he had spent with his Kagome. Kouga had done more than he figured that afternoon . . . without realizing it, he had awoke InuYasha to the fact that he really wasn't the only one who felt Kagome's loss.
Sighing, the hanyou stood and leaped lightly from the tree, his footsteps soft but firm as he headed back towards the well. Kagome was not coming back . . . it was time he admitted it and moved on with what was left of his life. Kagome would not have wanted him to mourn her . . . he knew that now. Shippo still needed him . . . and there were still demons coming after the jewel, even though it wasn't there anymore. The village needed his protection too . . . and he felt that Kagome would have been proud to know that he had taken it upon himself to be its protector.
Arriving at the well, he leaped lightly onto the edge, crouching there to stare into the dark and silent depths of the connection it had once shared with the future.
"I'm sorry Kagome," he whispered into that lonely dark, wishing she could hear him. "I've been a fool these past four months . . . I should have seen that they were suffering too, but I was so wrapped up in losing you that I was blind to their pain. I swear to you . . . I will take care of Shippo as you wanted, and I know you would have wanted me to try to protect the village in your absence. I will do better . . . and I will never forget you. Always and forever, remember? That's how long I will love you . . . always and forever, with all of my heart." A single tear glistened as it fell into the depths, shining like a falling star until the darkness swallowed it up.
"Isn't that sweet?" a voice growled behind him. InuYasha turned quickly, his hand flying to grasp the hilt of Tetsusiaga. His hand never made it as he found himself lifted bodily by a clawed hand wrapped around his throat. He found himself staring into the eyes of a snake demon, it's half humanoid form rising over him, the sleek coils of it's reptilian half wrapping around the well as it spiraled higher into the air. "I had heard that the jewel was guarded by a priestess and her hanyou lover . . . it seems the priestess is gone and the hanyou has no will to fight. Where is the jewel?" it hissed.
"Gone," InuYasha gasped out, his golden eyes narrowing angrily as he found himself incapable of breaking free of the grasp the demon had on his throat. "It's gone . . . and it won't be coming back. It's beyond reach."
"You lie . . ." the demon hissed. "There is no such place." It's fingers tightened ominously, cutting even more oxygen off from the hanyou in it's grasp.
"InuYasha!" The voices of both Sango and Miroku came from just behind the demon. The whistle of a bone boomerang accompanied the shriek of outrage as the snake demon turned towards this new threat, it's claws digging into the back of InuYasha's neck as it kept hold of him in it's turn. Blood began to well, and InuYasha struggled harder to remove himself from it's grasp before it managed to snap his neck.
Finally getting thoroughly annoyed with the whole affair, InuYasha snapped. Reaching his hand around to the blood dripping from his neck, he wet his claws . . . and went on the attack.
"Blades Of Blood!" he snarled, whipping his hand out and down in a smooth arc. The red energy of his hanyou blood flew into the snake demon, cutting swathes of skin in their wake. The snake demon howled before it flung him away from it. Blood pattered like rain from the serious neck wounds as he flew across the clearing and cracked into a tree. He retained consciousness just long enough to see the well flash with a familiar pink light as his blood fell into it before the darkness consumed his mind.
*-------*-------*-------*-------*
At about the same time as InuYasha was saying goodbye at the well, Kagome was saying her own words over that well on her side of it . . . the words of a spell she had dug up from ancient scrolls.
Blood calls across time to blood
Bound by oath and love.
Time flows, a river of life
Witnessed by god's above.
I call to you with heart and soul,
With all that I possess;
Open for me the passageway,
Let my love do the rest.
Unhesitantly, she drew the dagger across her open left hand . . . the hand of her heart. Summoning every ounce of miko energy she could, she willed it into that hand . . . and opened it above the well, allowing a single drop of her blood, glittering like a night star with her miko power, to fall into the darkness below.
She was nearly blinded as the well erupted in a shower of light seconds later, the familiar pink glow engulfing the entire well house in it's brightness. Quickly Kagome spun around, snatching up her bag before leaping into the well of light.
"Please," she whispered, "don't let this be a dream."