Well, here's the next part in my tale; I've seriously been encouraged by all the reviews I've gotten (I was happy just to have 4 or 5, but I think everyone whose written a fan-fiction before will agree that 77 good reviews beat 5…lol), and the topics have ranged from "good story, keep going!" to, "You're gonna die clown!" (a/n: that one was my best friend; he posted it and wanted to see if he'd get flamed for it, lol).
Well, seeing as how I do this almost every time now, some responses to reviews that posed questions/ones I just think should be responded to ^_^.
To Crew-Hanyou: I have posted the translations; I forget what chapter exactly I posted them in, but the translations for those words are somewhere; and here's the translations for the last batch of chapters:
Inuyasha no shunkan kaisei (Inuyasha's Sudden Transformation); Yoru no Naka De Ai (Love in the Night); Kisu o Shite (Kiss Me); Kikyo no Kaeru Koto (Kikyo's Return); Mou Ichidou Kikyo o Shinu (Kikyo Dies Once More). Finally, yes: you did spell those right (the technically correct form of "Aishiteru" is "Ai shite iru", it's slang when it's "Aishiteru" but it's no big deal).
To DracOnyx: Yes, I've read your story, Starlight and Shadows, and I must say that it is a very well-written fiction; you deserve more recognition for it, as it's very well put together, descriptive, and it has an original and interesting storyline. Everybody should read it. NOW! ^_^
To Evil Pixie Stick Spork Goddess: Yeah, we learned how to write Hiragana/Katakana in Japanese 1; Kanji's annoying at first, huh? I'm just now starting to get to where I can read compounds; how many Kanji characters do you know? I've learned about 150 so far, I should really work on them…haha. You also spelled Oyasuminasai correctly ^_^.
And, without further delay (except for the disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, blah blah blah, you all knew that), here's the chapter!
Chapter Fourteen
Kagome was awake—had been awake since Kikyo had fired the arrow at Inuyasha—as Inuyasha stalked back into camp, forsaking his normal leap into a tree as he plopped down next to the fire, its light barely enough for Kagome to see his face: a hard-cut face, sculpted by prejudice; shaped by turmoil; perfected by a love he thought he had—but had never been his. His eyes reflected the brief glow of the fire, fighting as it struggled to stay alive—but was extinguished, being swallowed up by blackness.
She herself was feeling something of the sort, feeling the pain that Inuyasha was going through—he had just killed the woman he was in love with, his first love—but at the same time, could not bring herself to rise as she watched his cold eyes, illuminated now by star and moon. The woman who had plagued them for so long—given the jewel to Naraku, tried to take Inuyasha to Hell with her, and, even now, tried to kill Kagome—was gone.
Forever.
And he had killed Kikyo to do it; the Kikyo he was in love with, the Kikyo he wanted to spend the rest of his life with…and he had killed her because she had threatened Kagome. He had killed Kikyo because she tried to kill Kagome. But that meant he'd...no, he couldn't have…
'Yes, Kagome,' her mind spoke softly to her. 'He's…'
"Chosen me over Kikyo?" She whispered softly, forgetting Inuyasha's superhuman hearing as she clamped her hand over her mouth, but the damage had already been done: Inuyasha had heard her.
She seemed to freeze inside as his head snapped towards her, cold eyes searching for her sleep-filled ones; failing to find them in the dark, he dropped his head, staring at the fire pit, as he whispered,
"You…you saw Kikyo and I?"
Kagome struggled to do something; anything: her heart cried at her to help him, to comfort him, seeing how much pain he was in, but her body was not hers to command; even as her heart cried for her to do something to help.
"Kagome?" he whispered, tentatively, as her restraint wavered…weakened…and finally snapped as the lump in her throat dissolved.
"I…yes, I saw you two together, Inuyasha…I heard you, too," she laughed lightly; a mirthless laugh that sought weakly to cover the sadness in her voice.
"What did you hear?"
"I…I heard…," she started, but then stopped as she tried to force herself to say the words that she knew Inuyasha would be unable to repeat to her. "I heard you say…that…"
"You heard me say how different you are than her…how you're not just a copy…you heard her final scream as I silenced her once more forever?" He offered the last darkly, eyelids hoods above his eyes as he continued to stare at the fire.
"N," Kagome replied, seeming to have gone temporarily mute, her face flaring as red as Inuyasha's as he continued.
"You heard me…saw me…kill her, then?" He asked the last with no trace of emotion; a cold, hollow voice that scared Kagome to the depths of her being.
"Inuyasha…," she whispered, words failing her as she tried to find expressions of the inexpressible. "You didn't kill Kikyo—you killed what was left of Kikyo, nothing more than ashes and dust; bones and herbs. The woman you loved has been dead for 50 years, no magic or spell can ever bring her back. DO YOU REALIZE THAT!?" She exploded in a final burst of impassioned speech, eyes clouding up with mist.
Inuyasha merely stared back at her as she continued with her rant.
"If the real Kikyo truly loved you, don't you think she would want you to have peace in your life!? You've suffered all these long days since Kikyo was supposedly brought back, but you've been suffering needlessly, because it wasn't Kikyo that was returned, baka!" Tears were now flowing from Kagome's eyes as she screamed at an impassive Inuyasha who merely rose to his feet. "Move on: don't forget her, but move on! Ease your own pain, and maybe you can finally be…"
"Happy?" He asked, standing above Kagome now, looking down into her misty storm blue eyes; pain suffused his form as he felt like his heart was being ripped into a thousand pieces with every teardrop that ran down her face; strength that could topple the mightiest of youkai was useless in the face of this pain.
"Yes, so you can be happy; just so you can be happy for once in your life!" She screamed, sobbing freely as she saw him standing there, seemingly untouched by her impassioned screams; tears plummeted from her face to the grass, shining like jewels before shattering on the green life of the forest floor; she hadn't done anything to help, she'd poured her heart out and done nothing in the face of it, she'd screamed and ranted and…
Her train of thought was cut off as gentle fingers traced a trail through her tears, drying them from her face as she looked up to see Inuyasha; without a further word, he wrapped her in a tight embrace, burying his head into her hair even as she nuzzled into the safe warmth of his body. Strength ebbed in a sudden tide from her even as new tears were born, splashing softly against Inuyasha's kimono as he held her close, breathing in her beautiful smell; fingers tangled in her hair as he held her close, silence pervading until he voiced one last question.
"Kagome…why are you crying?" He asked gently, laying both he and her gently to the ground, holding her all the more tightly to protect her against the chill of the ground as she responded.
"Because you're in pain," she cried into his chest, sleep slowly beginning to overtake her as she mumbled, "And there's nothing I can do to help you…"
"Kagome…," Inuyasha started, stroking her hair gently as he tried to get her to stop crying. "I'm not in pain…not anymore, at least…"
She tried to look up at Inuyasha's face, but he gently held her head as she asked,
"But…Kikyo…"
"Keh, Kikyo can go to hell," he smiled gently as he held her close. "I'm not in pain Kagome…not as long as I have someone like you," he whispered, holding her close even as she tried to respond; sleep robbing her of the chance as it overtook her.
Well, here's the next chapter…sorry if Inuyasha's OOC, but I'm like dedicated to bringing accurate portrayals of the anime, so it kinda bothers me if they're not in character (or at least, they're not in character and there's no reason for it). I hope you enjoyed this newest chapter, and, as always: story requests, challenge fictions, fight scenes, romance scenes, requests for translation of stuff into/from Japanese, reviews, thoughts, feelings, anything's welcome, just as long as you review! ^_^
One last thing: Diablo, Amaya Shinkuyoake, and Inuyasha, you're more than welcome to email/post your requests/anything I can do to repay you for telling me the names of the shinidamachuu (within reason, of course ^_^). Jaa!