~Chapter Ten~ ~Until the end of time~
*Kagome……* Inu-Yasha thought to himself as he stood upon a hill overlooking the far off mountains, painted with patches of green and white at the same time.
Spring was finally coming closer to being there, and the horrid winter would take it's hike out of there soon as well.
Weather began to get warmer, and Inu-Yasha could feel the warmth more then ever.
Kagome had still been sick, although not enough that she would die.
She was bedridden for over 3 weeks, and was too weak to even sit up in bed, but Inu-Yasha helped her eat, drink, and kept her company when no one else was around for her to talk to.
The nurse continued to go about her other patient's, stopping by to give Kagome her remedy, and make sure her temperature stayed down.
No one else knew why she was so weak but Inu-Yasha.
He figured that it was because she tried so hard to reach him that one faithful morning 3 weeks before.
She used all her strength, and then some, to push past the wall of death, and find him again, and this touched his heart with a print that would never fade away.
Now he stood under the new air filled sky, as spring entered into the world.
His smile would not leave his lips.
*Kagome……* Was all he could think about, and see, hear, and even breath.
Miroku, Shippo, and Sango were more then happy for Kagome's recovery, and were now doing things here and there, and always going to visit Kagome when they found the time.
Kaede was still in the other hut, but was able to go back to her old hut to get things she needed, and of course talk with Kagome if she was awake at the time.
"Kagome?" Questioned Sango as she placed a damp rag over Kagome's forehead.
"Yeah?" She replied, her eyes closed.
"Do you think you'll be able to get out of bed soon? I know Inu-Yasha has been waiting for you for over 3 weeks now! Spring has finally arrived, and all the snow's melting! You should really think about trying to get up." She stated,
Kagome sighed and opened her eyes.
*That's right. Inu-Yasha has been waiting for me to get up for so long now, and 3 ,weeks of my days with him have been wasted, and all because I've been too weak to sit up!!* She thought to herself.
She looked to Sango and smiled. "Sango. Help me."
Sango's face lit up as Kagome and her tried to get her to sit up in her futon.
"So, Inu-Yasha? Where do you suspect Kikyo is now? Have you any intension to find her?" Miroku asked Inu-Yasha as he walked up to his half demon friend who was standing upon the hill looking off into space.
He turned to Miroku with a serious expression. "Kikyo……she won't be coming back. Why should I even try to save her if there's really nothing to save? She was just a mistake in my life. I know better then to keep on going after her when she hates me."
A smile came over his lips.
Miroku stared. "So…if it's such a harsh thing to you….then why are you grinning?"
Inu-Yasha's smile grew.
"Miroku…don't you see? Kagome will live. Kikyo wasn't the one…it was Kagome this whole time! Long ago, in another time in another place in another world, Kagome and I lived happily together. Kagome was so kind hearted and sweet, she decided to create a being who would love and take care of all, so she made that one wish, and Kikyo was born, but in this process, Kikyo deliberately pulled Kagome into her soul, trapping her. For years Kagome's soul lingered within Kikyo's soul, and the only thing she could do was cry to me, the soul that she was supposed to be with forever. I heard her cries, and followed them to Kikyo! I fell in love with Kikyo because Kagome was there within her! Now that Kagome is a whole person, and not trapped anymore by Kikyo cruel heart, I can love the one I was originally intended to love. Kikyo was a mistake. A bad memory. And I know that sounds cruel to shun Kikyo like that, but she never loved me. It was all her plan, to trap Kagome and take me as one of her items! In the end though…it all worked out. Kikyo will never bother me again. I have Kagome again now….and nothing can tear her away from me. Ever."
Miroku smiled to his friend. "Your words are so deep, Inu-Yasha. That one wish that one may see another again is in all of us, right? Perhaps it's just the atmosphere, but I believe that you, Inu-Yasha, were the first one to concur that one feeling that confuses us all. Love. You somehow sought through Kikyo's spell after 50 years of believing she was the one for you, and see that Kagome was there. There and waiting. Sometimes when you least expect it, lessons are learned, and you win something. Kagome is no prize though, she was there all along. Never let go of this bond you have with her, Inu-Yasha. She may just be your soul mate till the end of time and beyond that. Keep holding her hand and don't let it go of it. I assure you that she will do the same for you. Lead each other away from whatever your fears or worries are, and take yourselves away to your own world where no one can pull you apart."
Now the two friends smiled at each other.
Such thought out words spoken in a single 10 minutes was worth the while to both of them.
"Well, I'm starving! Care to join me in a nice meal down at the cook hut? I hear there are some really cute girls down there that serve you! If your not going, then more for me!!" Miroku stated.
Inu-Yasha rolled his eyes at his friends lecherous ways. "Whatever, Miroku. Actually I'm not that hungry. You go on ahead, just don't let Sango catch you looking at other women. She'll get so pissed!"
"Don't remind me…." Miroku mumbled as he walked off to the village.
Inu-Yasha shoo his head with a small laugh.
"I'm sort of hungry, but I'll just enjoy myself here, thank you! It's such a nice day, it's too beautiful to just ignore."
For some reason, his mind was just at peace that day. Perhaps it was because of Kagome, or maybe the new spring approaching, but Inu-Yasha knew the real reason.
*I'm free. No more Kikyo to hold me back from loving who I truly do love. I'm not lost anymore, and nor is Kagome. I'll make sure that we'll never be lost again. I swear it.* He told himself in thought.
He sat down on the ledge of the cliff overlooking the mountains and let his mind fill with his future.
So many wonderful things entered his head, that he practically fell asleep right there and then!
"Will you be okay from here, Kagome?" Sango questioned, Shippo under her feet.
Kagome nodded. "Yeah. I think I can make it, and even if I'm still really weak, I know I can at least reach where ever he is." She stated.
Sango smiled and backed away from Kagome, Shippo as well.
"Careful though, Kagome! Please!!" The little fox cried out to Kagome.
She turned to him and smiled.
"Sango? I don't get it! Why would Kagome want to get out of bed so badly if she knows that she's just gonna make herself more tired in the process?"
Sango grinned and patted Shippo's head. "Maybe when you're older I'll explain it more clearly,. But for now, I'll just tell you that Kagome just wanted to get out of bed to go see someone. Someone dear and treasured to her heart."
Shippo tilted his head with confusion, but shrugged and let the sight of Kagome go into the forests, disappearing in a rather slow way.
Kagome tried to hurry, but her weak legs, not being walked upon for over 3 weeks now, were wobbling about, forcing her to lean again a near tree from time to time.
She wasn't worried about anything else but Inu-Yasha though.
Before she had left from Sango and Shippo, Miroku passed by with a giant smile on his face.
He had told her where to find Inu-Yasha, and she wouldn't give up walking until she had made it to his side.
Slowly, the trees formed beams of light which fell down over her soft hair, and made her eyes sting a bit, but only for a moment.
She leaned again one last tree before coming up to a clearing which led up to a cliff.
She pushed back some bushes and tree limbs, and there, sitting up on the ledge of the cliff, was Inu-Yasha.
Her smile grew and would not leave her lips as she approached him.
Such emotions she had never felt before danced about inside her, and the feeling that she had always suffered over for 2 years ever since she had realized she loved him, all came together, and it wasn't a bad feeling anymore.
When she reached about two feet away from him, she noticed he was daydreaming, she could only imagine what.
Right as she took another step closer though, she lost her balance, and began to fall to the ground.
She closed her eyes tightly, and just as she was about an inch away from hitting the hard earth, strong arms caught her with a safe grasp.
Gradually, she let her eyes open, and she laid her sight upon Inu-Yasha's face.
He stared down to her with a bit of worry.
"W…What are you doing out here…and in your condition!?" He exclaimed.
Kagome sat up and held her head, as it began to form a headache.
"I know I shouldn't be out here, but I just had to! I….." She paused as she suddenly realized something.
*That's right……Inu-Yasha and I…..we….confessed our feelings over the period I was ill!! He…he told me he loved me…and I told him….and…..* She thought in disbelief in her mind.
As all this soaked in, Inu-Yasha saw her face begin to blush, and her heart he knew was racing, as his had been for over 3 weeks.
Soon, his cheeks flushed with the realization of what had actually taken place over the time that had gone by so quickly.
Kagome felt like running and hiding. All the possibilities were endless that she even feared that the only reason Inu-Yasha loved her was for her recumbence to Kikyo, and she suddenly rushed to her feet, but fell over!
Inu-Yasha rapidly caught her before she fell over the ledge of the cliff.
"Careful!" He warned in a tone that Kagome had never heard.
It was as if Inu-Yasha were speaking to someone rather important, which he never thought of her as or acted like she was…..until now.
"Um…thank you…..I……." Kagome began to stutter.
Inu-Yasha smiled and set her down beside him.
For many minutes, it was silent.
They sat and let the spring breeze brush past them, and nothing could or was known to be said.
Inu-Yasha turned and stared over at Kagome.
She stared off over at the mountains, and as the wind blew past her face, making her hair sway was grace, and her features light up with beauty, he lost himself in a world of passion.
His expression turned so soft, and a smile unforgettable came to his lips.
Kagome didn't know what to say, and so she continued to stare off at the mountains, trying to avoid eye contact with the half demon, although she intensely wanted to turned and look over him….the man that might just love her for who she was, and not what or how she was.
Inu-Yasha heart skipped, and his body quivered as his eyes lay on Kagome and would not leave.
Tears of joy pricked his eyes, but he was afraid to blink, for fear that maybe, just maybe, this was all a wonderful dream, and one blink of his eyes and Kagome would be gone forever!
The sensations of passion through his body confused him, but his heart told him what to do.
Suddenly, without even thinking, he jumped over and wrapped his arms around Kagome tightly.
"BLESS GOD THAT YOU'RE HERE, KAGOME!!! YOU'RE HERE AND YOU'LL NEVER GO!!!! I'M SO GLAD!!! SO GLAD THAT YOU WILL STAY WITH ME!!!! I ONLY WANTED TO BE WITH YOU…AND I WAS TOO STUPID TO REALIZE BEFORE YOU GOT SICK, HOW PRICELESS AND DEAR YOU ARE TO MY HEART!!! I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT YOU!!! MY HEART WOULD STOP BEATING THE MOMENT YOURS DID IF YOU HAD DIED THOSE 3 WEEKS AGO AS YOU SUFFERED IN MY ARMS!!! I'LL NEVER LET YOU GO!!! I'LL NEVER LEAVE YOUR SIDE!!! PLEASE!!!! SAY YOU LOVE ME!!! I WANT TO HEAR IT! MY ONLY WISH IS TO HEAR YOU SAY IT AND I'LL MELT IN YOUR ARMS AND I'LL STAY THAT WAY FOREVER!!!!" He screamed his soul out to her.
His words were unforgettable.
Just the mere way he said it made Kagome only know that he spoke the absolute truth to her.
With one breath of fresh air, the words slipped out of her voice like soft water over flat stone.
"I love you, Inu-Yasha. I'm here. I'll never go. Melt in my arms or run far away, it doesn't matter, for my heart is your heart, and your heart is mine. We are one, and I will do everything I can to make your one wish come true. I'll stand by you if you stand by me, and please, just love me for me. I can't be loved by one who thinks I am another or just one part of another. It would surly destroy me…..if you thought that way of me."
Inu-Yasha's grasp over her tightened.
"Kagome……do you not know the truth about Yours, Kikyo's, and my past?" He questioned.
Kagome looked down to him, for he was in her lap now, laying there like a child.
"I know a little. I know that once I used to be my very own person, and then I made a wish that a child would be born that loved and cared for all, and it was Kikyo, but the day she was born, she sucked me into her soul, trapping me there for the rest of her days. When she died that one day you two killed each other, my soul was set free, and I as shot into the future where I was born again as my true form, only I was no longer that very own person, I was Kikyo's reincarnation, with the same looks as the whole person from which I once was long ago."
Inu-Yasha nodded. "Yes….but…that's not the whole story."
Kagome looked down to him with confusion.
Inu-Yasha went on to say……….
Kagome was her own person, yes, free and whole many hundreds of years before, and Inu-Yasha, was there by her side, her forever purposed lover and friend. They were souls and lived together throughout the world of the living, and of the dead. They were always together, but sometimes they were apart, and on one of those occasions, it was when Kagome sat by herself, and created a wish of that one child of love and care to all would be born in the world of the living. A blessing to the land. But when that child was born, it sucked Kagome into her soul, hating and wanting to destroy her for good!! Kagome, crying out to Inu-Yasha to save her, but he being too far away to hear her pleas, was pulled in, and imprisoned there. The child was given the name Kikyo shortly after, and she grew up.
Inu-Yasha, being still the soul he was, searched and tried to find Kagome again, but failed many times. It wasn't until he finally gave up that his tired soul was lifted and born into form of half demon, half human, with the mother he loved and looked to for protection, because there was no other, or that other was lost or trapped somewhere he would never know.
His mind was still fixed on finding that one person though, and from the moment he could walk, he kept on searching. When he was a young teenager, cries one day entered his mind, cries only for his ears, and he rushed to follow them, knowing it was that one person he so wished to find again.
He was led to Kikyo, and, not knowing what more he could expect, looked deep within Kikyo's eyes, and saw Kagome, therefore, falling in love with her, the wrong woman, the wrong one!!
It was a trap for both Inu-Yasha and Kagome, and it soon led to betrayal and tears as Naraku's spell ruined Kikyo's trap, leading her to kill Inu-Yasha with her enchanted arrow, and he killing her with his very claws!!
When Kikyo fell to dye, Kagome's trapped soul was suddenly shot free, and she rushed out, thinking she was able to find Inu-Yasha then, and she did, but when her eyes laid upon the form pinned to the sacred tree, lifeless, unable to see her, she wept tears that fell over his face, and let herself lose it's strength to hold on.
She was then shot to the future and reborn as Kagome. Her normal form once again. She was a whole person once again, no longer trapped by Kikyo, but would forever be mistaken by others to be Kikyo's reincarnation because she obtained her spiritual powers!!
Lost in herself, she lived her life wondering and trying to remember why and where she had truly come from, and everything brought her back to the one sacred tree.
Alas though, she never did remember, and she lived her life in the dark.
It wasn't until she fell into the sacred well and met again the Inu-Yasha pinned to the tree.
Her mind was still frozen of the truth, but she knew deep down, a feeling that still lived, and as her journey with Inu-Yasha went on to claim, she would someday know the reality once again, as well as Inu-Yasha, and all would be restored.
………………………………..........
Inu-Yasha finished his story and looked up into Kagome eyes.
She was shocked. Completely and utterly stunned.
For one brief moment, she thought that she was actually in a dream, and that she was just thinking of something that could never be true, but when she let her eyes focus on the things around her, and then let the feeling on Inu-Yasha's body against hers as he lay in her lap, waiting for her reply, she somehow knew……..that this all had to be real.
"I…….am whole?" She whispered.
Inu-Yasha stared. "Mmm."
Kagome lifted her hands and stared at them. "These are…..MY hands! And I am me!!! Purely me!! There is not a single piece of me that is Kikyo's!!!?"
Inu-Yasha took Kagome's hand into his and looked at it.
"This is Kagome Higurashi's hand."
Then he pointed up to Kagome's lips.
"And this is Kagome's smile."
Then he took her hand once again and placed it over her chest.
"And this………is Kagome's heart."
He grinned up at her and laid back down into her lap.
Kagome listened to him breathe. Each time he breathed out, she got chills of passion up her spine.
She looked down to him and smiled. "Are you not satisfied? I gave you your wish. I said I loved you. Is there more to that wish?"
Inu-Yasha smirked.
Kagome loved that look of his. She loved every part of him, from head to toe.
Inu-Yasha moved closer to her, and sat up partly, still in her lap.
He stared into her eyes and felt that feeling he had always wanted to express, but was always too stubborn and hard headed to do so.
"Can I…..kiss you Kagome?"
She smiled again.
In a single moment in time, which lasted an eternity to them both, they leaned forward…..slowly to make sure that nothing was messed up……and let their lips fall over the other's, creating something that they knew would last till the end of time and beyond.
The feel of one another's lips was more then overwhelming, and they soon were wrapped in each other's arms, lip locked and unable to pull out, but then again, not wanting to.
When finally that one fateful kiss was complete, they let each other part away, and their eyes met.
Gold and brown, black and white.
They may have been different, but they were the same, too.
Before the passion left the air, Inu-Yasha embraced Kagome by the waste and held her tightly for a moment, laying his head again into her lap, and taking in her sweet scent that he could never get over.
Then he sat up and smiled.
"So….are you feeling better?" He questioned.
Kagome thought for a moment. "Well…yeah…but…..I am actually sort of hungry!"
Suddenly realizing how hungry he was too, he stood up and waiting for Kagome to get up as well.
"Are you sure you can stand on your own?" Inu-Yasha asked after a moment of waiting.
Kagome sighed. "I got it! No big deal!"
But just as she had said that, and had gotten to her feet, she toppled over into Inu-Yasha arms.
She laughed and he did too. "Well….maybe I need a little help." She admitted.
"Come on, stupid girl! I think we'd better go save a certain monk's ass from being kicked by a certain demon slayer cause he's flirting with the woman down at the cook hut." Inu-Yasha stated, and then winked at her in a cute way as he picked her up and walked with her in his arms back to the village.
Kagome smiled and leaned her head up against his chest, listening to his heart.
"Inu-Yasha? How long is forever and beyond?"
He looked down at her.
"I don't really know Kagome, but…..it'll be a long time, that's all I know."
Kagome smiled back at him.
"Good, cause I don't think I can stand to be away from you, even for a second after today…ever. I want to be with you. I don't care where or how, but I just want to be with you. Will you let me?"
He gave her a remark looking expression, then laughed a pure laugh that Kagome loved and would always love. Her favorite sound was his laugh. His voice.
"What kind of question is that!? Duh!! Of course!! Those are my answers! Need I say more! I'll love yah till the day I die, and then the next life, and the next and the next!! I'll keep on loving you for the same amount of time that the sun is in the sky and the moon keeps on shining, and if they both go out, and if that time comes, I'll love you forever!! Until the end of time, and when that comes, I'll just keep going and going and going!! I love you Kagome! Eternally!!"
He then spun her around in his arms.
Such a fine day it was.
Nothing else mattered, and for the first time, Kagome didn't care whether or not she would be taken down and ripped apart by Kikyo or any other person.
Inu-Yasha was there now, and she was there for him.
They would always be together, that was all she knew, and where ever that road they walked upon led them, it wouldn't matter what was at the end, for whether gold or nothing at all, they would have already possessed the one most greatest treasure of all.
One another.
~^.^ Fewh! FINALLY I'm done!!! I think it came out pretty good, huh? I hope you liked it! If I should write a sequel or something…then please, just say so in your reviews! That will be fun! I want all of you out there to chose for me what my sequel should be about!
Here are your decisions:
#1 Inu-Yasha and Kagome live together in (Your choice), either the warring states era, or Kagome's era, and Kagome is pregnant and has a baby, ect.
#2 Inu-Yasha and Kagome and the others continue to travel to find the jewel shards of the jewel of four souls and another story unfolds, ect.
#3 Make up something that should happen and I'll see if I like it or not.
#4 You don't really care if I continue or not, but you would rather I decide for myself.
Okay! ^_~ It's been about 2 weeks, so I've gotten a few tallies done, and I've decided to make my sequel on #1 from the list above!!! I hope all of you are cool with this, and stay put for the sequel to be written!! I'll try to hurry! Thanks for all your votes!!!! You guys rock!!!~
~chibikagome1@yahoo.com~