Spread the Word

            Miroku had finally convinced Inuyasha that they should at least take Kagome's body back to Kaede and the village.  The hanyou was still badly wounded and needed care also, though he hated to admit it.  But Kagome had told him he had to be strong.  He had to heal and be ready for what was to come.  He didn't understand entirely what she meant, but he knew that he trusted her.

            They had carried her on Kirara, though he had wanted to carry her himself.  He seemed to be getting weaker by the hour, his wounds still bleeding sluggishly.  Kaede had sewn and bandaged him enough to let his demon blood get to work healing him.  The old woman had been very saddened by Kagome's body, but still stoically held back her tears.

            "You will go tell her family, Inuyasha?  When you are well enough to travel the well again.  We will clean her body, and you can take it to them."

            "She's going to come back, hag!"  Inuyasha didn't understand why no one was listening to him.  "I know she's not gone yet!"

            "Inuyasha!  She is dead!"  Kaede's voice was harsh with pain.  "She was the only one who would have been able to control the jewel, but she is dead!  I have not been able to get the jewel to do anything since you gave it to me, that was my sister's skill!  We cannot bring her back, Inuyasha.  I am sorry, but we can't.  She's gone."

            Inuyasha had growled and was about to tell her how wrong she was, but she stopped him with a sound conk to the head.

            "Get some rest, Inuyasha."

            Now he drifted, lost in a silver fog, calling for Kagome.

            "Inuyasha!"  She was running toward him!  In an instant he was with her, scooping her into his arms.

            "Kagome!  You're still here!"

            "Yes!  Kikyou and I are still haunting around.  She's going to help us Inuyasha, isn't that wonderful?"

            Kikyou emerged from the fog, and Inuyasha clutched Kagome protectively.  He was still thinking about the times that Kikyou had tried to kill her.

            "Hello, Inuyasha."  She said quietly.  He didn't reply.  "It's nice to be able to talk to you.  As just me, that is.  I… I'm sorry, for everything I've done to you."

            "I want Kagome, Kikyou."  Inuyasha said, remembering how he had nearly gone to hell with her.  "I hope you find peace, but I want Kagome.  Only Kagome."

            Kagome hugged him tightly, thrilled by his words.  Kikyou smiled, but there was her eternal sadness behind it.

            "I know, Inuyasha.  I know.  That is why we're going to find a way to put her back in her body."

            Inuyasha looked down, at Kagome, finally in his arms where she belonged.  "But Kaede said she couldn't get anything from the jewel."

            Kagome nodded.  "We were shielding it from her because it's too dangerous for her to use.  We can't use it, Inuyasha.  It won't work."

            The hanyou couldn't believe it.  The all-powerful Shikon No Tama couldn't bring the woman he loved back to him.

            "You won't even try?"  He asked.

            "Whatever we did with it would be tainted."  Kikyou replied.  "We can't trust it.  And if we try, it seems to pull us in, devouring us.  I think that it's something it absorbed after all of Naraku's amalgamation magic… oh!  Kagome… I have an idea!"

            "What is it?"  Kagome was eager to return to life.

            "Oh.  Well, I'm afraid it will just purify the jewel, and perhaps cause it to disappear.  Cease to exist."

            "You mean you still want to turn Inuyasha into a human?"  Inuyasha didn't understand the odd tone in Kagome's voice when she said that.  Didn't she want him to become fully human?

            "No."  The girls looked at each other as if sharing a secret.  "Don't worry.  But the jewel as it is now is balanced.  Good and evil are still fighting it out within the jewel.  If we could strengthen the good half, it would over take the bad, and be completely pure.  The demon within would be defeated!"

            Kagome was following Kikyou's thoughts.  "The magic that it absorbed from Naraku makes it try to pull in anything connected to it… like you or me because of our connection to Midoriko.  Or demon souls because of the demon inside it."

            "If I let it take me in, then perhaps the good side would be stronger than the evil, and I could finally purify it, from within."

            Kagome was already shaking her head as Kikyou spoke.  "No.  It's too dangerous.  I can't let you.  It would be a waste."

            "No!  The jewel has to be destroyed.  It can't be used for good, because it's tainted.  It is easier to corrupt than it is to purify.  That is true with everything.  That's why the jewel is easier to use for evil purposes, but twists all that is good.  Even though you defeated Naraku, there are still demons that want it.  It has to be purified and destroyed!"

            Inuyasha looked from one woman to the other, greatly confused.  They were going to destroy the jewel and not bring Kagome back to life? 

            "Kikyou…"

            "Kagome…"

            They spoke at the same moment.  They looked at each other sternly for a moment, seemingly conversing in their minds.

            Inuyasha held Kagome, wondering what was going on.  But he was greatly enjoying holding her like this.  Sure, he had held her before, but that had always been in the rush of battle, trying to save her from some one or other.  Now he was just holding her because he wanted to.  And she wanted him to.

            "I've got to go now, Inuyasha."  She said, smiling up at him.

            "What?  Hey!"  She couldn't leave until they found a way to save her!

            "I'll be back.  I promise."  She brushed her fingers gently across his cheek, sad to leave him.  "I promise."

            "Kikyou, what are you thinking?  You can't destroy the jewel.  Not now!"  The two incarnations sat on opposite sides of the jewel, where it now rested in the village temple.

            "Kagome… I understand how much you want to return to life, to Inuyasha… but I'm beginning to wonder.  Perhaps, what's holding me back isn't you and Inuyasha.  It's the jewel!  I must purify and destroy it!"  Kikyou wasn't even looking at Kagome.  She was staring intently at the swirling danger of the jewel.  It looked exactly as it had when they examined it before.  Though now there was a shield surrounding it, keeping anyone in the living world from accessing its terrible power.  Kikyou and Kagome had put it there, to protect the group. 

            "But… what about…" Kagome couldn't believe how obsessed Kikyou was.

            "Listen!  Do you think I don't know how it feels to have death tear you away from the one you love?  Maybe, this is the fate of our soul.  To come close to love but never touch it.  Stop being selfish!  Purifying and destroying the jewel is more important.  It is the most important."  Kikyou was moving toward the jewel, floating closer and closer.

            "You don't even know if going inside the jewel will work!!"  Kagome exclaimed, standing up.  She couldn't let Kikyou take away her last hope of returning to Inuyasha.

            "Yes," Kikyou's voice remained firm, though it was sounding slightly… off. "I do know.  This feels right, Kagome.  This is it.  I finally figured it out… the key to the jewel.  I can do it.  I can finally do it…"

            Kagome didn't know what to say.  Kikyou was lost, in the past, in her destiny, she didn't know.  But the tragic miko was removing the shield they had placed around the Shikon No Tama, she was preparing to dive in, and Kagome was powerless to stop her.