'She Will Come Back!'

            "We should take her to Kaede, first.  Then Inuyasha can tell her family what happened.  Funeral arrangements can be made from there."  Miroku was trying to be sensible.

            "We're not having a funeral, cause she's not staying dead!" Inuyasha insisted, for what felt like the hundredth time.

            "How do you plan on working that out, Inuyasha?  In case you haven't noticed, her throat is ripped out!" the monk understood that his friend was heartbroken, but the hanyou seemed to be taking his denial a little far.

            "There's the jewel."  Inuyasha stated the obvious.  "And there's…" he hated to say this, but for Kagome, he would try anything, "there's Sesshoumaru.  He has the tensuaiga."

            "Are you sure it's not too late for the tensuaiga?"  Miroku asked.  "As for the jewel… we don't even know how it works!  Kikyou herself couldn't manage to purify it enough for it to do good, and we don't know what will happen if we put the halves together.  Kagome's soul has probably already moved on by now, anyway."

            "She has not!  I know it!"  Inuyasha knew the monk was right about the jewel though.  They really didn't know enough about it.  There were rumors that it could grant wishes, but they had never heard of an actual occurrence of that.  All they knew for sure was that it had the power to turn a half-demon into full demon, and increase the power of a full demon a hundred times.  Kikyou hadn't even been entirely sure that it would turn Inuyasha into a full human.  Sango's village had believed that the jewel was too dangerous for good people to use, so they had given it to Kikyou to try and purify, but she had been unable to.

            The group wasn't even sure they should touch it when it was whole.

            "Well.  Kagome can control the jewel.  She proved that much when she killed Naraku… So…" Inuyasha had an idea.

            He knelt over her body, and took her hands, which still held the halves of the jewel.  Careful not to touch it himself because the jewel could turn him full demon even without him wanting to, he brought her hands together, closing the jewel inside them.

            Kagome, I know you're still here.  We need your help.  How do we bring you back?  Is the jewel the answer?        

            It was interesting, how Inuyasha's thoughts were audible to her here.  But only when he was talking to her.  It was like prayer, of sorts.

"Well, Kikyou.  You were the guardian of the jewel, and you seem to know more about it than any of us.  Is it the answer?"  Kagome, crouched beside Inuyasha, was getting used to her ghostly status, but she was very glad Kikyou was there with her.  This would have been hard to handle alone.

            Kikyou had been a vast bundle of surprises, from her confession that perhaps her love for Inuyasha had not been true, to her vow to help Kagome get back to him.  Kagome was beginning to look at her as a good friend, or a sister.  They'd been haunting around together, keeping an eye on Kagome's body and the group as they came to terms with her death.

            It's amazing, how well we get along… Kagome thought to herself.  After how much I hated her.  Well, that wasn't really her, was it?

            Kikyou looked thoughtful.  "I would rather he try something that he knows will work, like the tensuaiga.  The jewel is so… touchy.  Who knows what it absorbed while in Naraku's possession?  But perhaps the goodness your half absorbed will cancel that out.  Now that he's fused the two, perhaps we can tell.  You know how to sense and see the jewel's aura… let me teach you how to read it."

            Kikyou, ever the lady priestess, stood near Kagome's body's head, observing Inuyasha as he held her hands together over the jewel.  A light burst from the dead girl's hands, piercing Inuyasha's, which were closed over them.  It was brief, and none of the living seemed to notice it.

            "White light.  That's a good sign, isn't it?"  Kagome looked up at her past self.  The priestess only shrugged.

            "White is neutral.  I learned that much while I studied it.  You remember the story of how it was created?"

            "Yeah."

            "Good and Evil are forever battling within the Shikon No Tama.  Until one side wins, it can swing either way.  But…"

            "But we've never seen it used for good.  Everything that comes in contact with the jewel ends in pain and misery.  Midoriko, Sango's village… and you."  Kagome felt such a connection with the priestess that it was easy to follow her train of thought.

            "You too…" Kikyou looked wistfully sad for a moment.  "I just don't trust it, Kagome…  not anymore.  Look.  He's opening your hands."

            They watched as Inuyasha carefully opened her hands, cupping the now complete Shikon No Tama in their cold beauty.  Kagome hadn't seen it like this since the day she had shattered it with her arrow.  The look on Kikyou's face was very odd.  There was recognition there, but whether it was recognition for an old friend or an old enemy was hard to say.  Kagome stood, and took her new friend's hand.

            "Thank you, Kikyou.  I don't think I could have done this alone.  I know this must be hard for you, after… everything."  She thought about everything the priestess had gone through.  Being saddled with the jewel distanced her from her own people, and when she finally found love, it too was tainted by the jewel.  Finally, finding peace in death, she was thrust unwillingly back into a body of clay, and overwhelmed by an evil presence.  Kagome understood the stress she must be feeling.  It was anxiety she was all too familiar with.

            "I don't think I can move on until I do this."  Kikyou replied, smiling weakly.  "Penance of a sort, you could say.  And how can I get my peace if I'm worried about you two for the rest of eternity?  Let's just see what we can find in the jewel.  I must admit… it's easier to examine from the dead angle… it seems clearer, doesn't it?"  Kikyou was clearly unsettled by Kagome's sympathy, and turned the subject back to the jewel.

            It was true.  It did look different when they were dead.  The two crouched on either side of Kagome's dead body, to study it more closely.  A perfect sphere of misty crystal, that much they had seen when they were alive.  And when they were alive its aura had reflected the power of its bearer.  In Kikyou or Kagome's possession it was pure white, while in Naraku's it took on a disgusting red, like burnt or blackened blood.

            Now, in Kagome's dead hands it seemed that the mistiness of the crystal was alive, swirling rather than static, and the aura was a wild storm of colors.  Pooled in the bottom were non-mixing colors of putrid yellow and brilliant blood red, swirling together and shot with bolts of bright green lightning.  Dancing above were swirls of lilac and twilight blue mist, sparkling with gold and silver lights.  Black and white flames ran through both halves, and it was easy to determine which was Midoriko's battling spirit, and which was the demon's.

            "Wow…" Kagome breathed.  The closer she examined it, the more it seemed to fill her vision, as if the raging battle within was flooding around her.

            "Be careful!"  Kikyou's hand shaking her shoulder brought her out of her stupor.  "You were fading away!"

            "It was sucking me in…" Kagome was shaking.  She couldn't believe the power it held, the pull.  "It's… it's incredible.  You can see what's happening inside of it.  It's so… intense."

            "It is, isn't it?  I think your goodness and Naraku's evilness have reestablished the jewel's original balance, since the fighting seems pretty even in there."  Kikyou looked sadly at Kagome, and they both knew the truth.

            "We can't use it, can we?"  Kagome said quietly.

            "I'm afraid not," Kikyou replied reaching out to draw Kagome into the air with her, where she held her, offering what comfort she could.  Kagome sobbed, hovering over the battlefield.  It was hopeless.  They couldn't rely on Sesshoumaru and tensuaiga, and even if they could, she didn't think the tensuaiga would heal her throat after it brought her back to life.

            Inuyasha… I'm so sorry.  I don't want to be dead!  I want to be with you!

            "We'll find a way, Kagome."  Kikyou promised.  "There has to be a way.  We'll just stay close, using our powers to keep your body from decomposing, and we'll find a way.  I know there has to be a way."