New Author's Notes: In honor of the one year anniversary of the first chapter of 'The Confessions Trilogy' I have decided to perform a massive edit of this story, and will be going over every single chapter. Below you will find all the original author's notes from the story, because I hadn't the heart to part with them, and then beyond that the new and improved story. Maybe this will become a tradition...we'll just have to wait and see!


Though not described in detail, this story does deal with rape so be warned if that sort of topic bothers you

Original Author's Notes: Okay, so I hope this doesn't prove to be a disappointing ending for all of you wonderful readers. I think it's a good way to end Kagome's conflict with her rapist, and I'm the author, so I guess it doesn't matter what you all think! Um, actually, just kidding, I really do want you guys to like this chapter because I know I hate it when the ending to a story sucks.

The chapter is a little short, I know, and I'm sorry about that, but there is one more coming after this, and then the story is done. I hope you've enjoyed the story and thank you again so much for all your wonderful reviews! And now, without further adieu, the second to last chapter! Enjoy!

Title: Confessions of a Broken Heart

Author: dolphingirl0113

Chapter: Sixteen

Rating: PG-13 (rated for violence, language, and implied sexual situations)

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

Time had stopped, and Kagome thought in the back of her mind that it was as though someone had hit the pause button on the remote that controlled her life. The air suddenly stifled her, her lungs not getting enough oxygen, and her heart was in her throat, racing like a jackrabbit preparing to speed away from a predator. The streetlamp illuminated the man before her, and she observed the way the moonlight glinted dangerously off the gun in the man's hands. It almost looked beautiful...

Her body had begun to shake terribly in earth shattering quakes that had her rocking back on her heels, and sweat broke out on her forehead. Inuyasha sensed her sudden fear, and pulled her against him securely, trying to remind her that he was there, and wouldn't let anything bad happen to her.

But for once his presence didn't seem to matter. Kagome was locked in a staring match with the rock-like object in the man's hands. Inuyasha couldn't understand what the big deal was. Obviously it probably hurt if it was hurled at someone, but other then that what else could a rock do?

He'd never seen a gun before.

The man before them, dressed all in black, sucked in a deep, almost annoying, breath, his body shaking with pent up rage, looking for all intensive purposes like a snake coiling to strike its prey. His beady green eyes only added to that image.

"You just couldn't listen, could you?" He hissed, the voice dangerously male, affirming what Inuyasha had already known by the masculine scent coming off of his body. He just continued to glare, but noticed an instant change in Kagome.

Her body had gone absolutely rigid, frozen in place, and the hanyou wondered if he just blew on her she'd fall to the ground entirely. Her face was pale, and he noticed that her teeth had started chattering, adding to her already quivering form. What was wrong?

"Kagome...?" He tried to keep his voice tender, despite the fact that they were in the presence of an enemy. "What is it?"

Kagome remained silent. She couldn't have spoken even if she'd wanted to. Her mouth had gone dry, her muscles tense, and she found herself unconsciously putting a hand up to her throat where the owner of that voice had held a knife to her throat on a cold night when she'd been very alone.

The man was clearly frustrated, and took a step towards them, shaking the gun threateningly. "Do you even know the hell I'm in now because of you, bitch? Thanks to you I have to hide every day! I can't even go to the store to get food!"

He still sounded so cruel...so evil. Kagome shuddered and shrank back against Inuyasha, wishing she could just bury herself in his red kimono, but dared not move more then a few inches with that gun trained right at her body, her rapist's finger poised on the trigger.

Inuyasha felt her press against him even more, and looked down to see Kagome shaking, pale and afraid. He was puzzled. This wasn't the Kagome he knew and loved, the Kagome who had so handily defeated Naraku.

Turning his head so he could get a better look, still not having a clue how much danger they were in because he didn't know what the gun could do, Inuyasha suddenly found himself recoiling and growling furiously as he made the connection.

Doll eyes...

That meant only one thing: the man in front of him must be the one who was responsible for raping Kagome. The man the newsman on the television had called Ted Wilkins. The man who had sent Kagome all those threatening letters.

"Bastard..." He hissed, his voice low and dangerous as he reached down into his robes with one hand to touch the hilt of tetsusaiga. He didn't dare draw it in such an open area where anyone from Kagome's time could see, but all the same the blade's touch managed to cool his raging blood somewhat, which was good. He needed a cool head right then.

At the sound of Inuyasha's voice, so full of anger, so protective, Kagome felt some of her fears fade away as she was reminded of the fact that this time she was anything but alone, and that she had a way to be safe. She did not have to go through that horrible pain ever again. With that thought in mind, she leaned back against him comfortingly, and he tightened his hold around her waist in response as they both regarded the man, Ted Wilkins, before them.

"I was hoping you'd be alone," the man continued with a deadly tone, "But now I guess I'll just have to get rid of both you and your boyfriend."

As he spoke, it occurred to Kagome that the voice no longer sounded commanding and full of threats, but rather very afraid and desperate. He truly didn't want to go to prison for what he had done! The thought enraged her. How dare he believe he could hurt women that way but not be punished! He probably didn't even believe that what he'd done was wrong!

"You're getting what you deserve," she hissed, finally managing to find her voice as she used her anger as a means of support, narrowing her eyes dangerously.

Ted Wilkins cocked his head to one side curiously, obviously not expecting her to speak at all, let alone with such confidence. "I never should have gone after you, you little bitch," he swore suddenly, the gun in his hands trembling. "I had a feeling, even when I caught you, that you would cause me trouble." He glared at her.

She glared right back. "Well I guess that means you should listen to your instincts."

Inuyasha felt himself smirk slightly, relieved to see that his Kagome was back again, the doll eyes and the trembling body gone to be replaced by the warrior who had so easily defeated Naraku. He shot one of his own smoldering glares in the direction of the rapist. "You'll pay for what you did to Kagome," he growled.

But for once his glare didn't have the desired effect, because the man simply chuckled, sounding almost like he'd gone mad. "In case you haven't noticed," he taunted, waving his hand in the air, "I've got the gun." He trained it once more on Kagome, and she stiffened slightly in response.

Inuyasha cocked his head to the side and furrowed his brow, still not having the faintest idea what was so important about having a 'gun'. It was just a rock, for heaven's sake! What harm could that do? He could slice it in half easily!

"Keh...your gun doesn't frighten me, bastard," he replied confidently.

The gun began to tremble again in Ted Wilkins' hands, and he pointed it directly at Kagome's heart, taking a step forward as he did so. Kagome felt herself panic slightly, her survival instincts telling her to run, but her logical side knowing that would do no good since no one but Superman was faster than a bullet. But...was he really going to shoot her? She honestly hadn't thought him capable of murder.

Kagome realized then that she didn't want to die. She wasn't ready, not now that she and Inuyasha were finally together. It wasn't fair!

She watched as her rapist curved his lips up into a horrible smirk and, as though reading her mind, straightened his posture and extended his arm fully, pointing the gun at her so that it seemed to cut his face in half from her point of view. To Kagome it was like everything he did was in slow motion.

"I must say," he finally commented sarcastically, "Even with all the trouble you've caused me...it was a real pleasure." Kagome wanted to retch. "Good bye and good riddance, you little bitch."

What happened next was all a blur of red as she felt strong hands shove her to the ground just as the sound of the gunshot ripped through the silence of the evening, Inuyasha shouting her name. She hit the ground, hard, and the impact forced the scream from her mouth in a silent rush of air as the wind was momentarily knocked from her lungs. She found herself gasping, and heard the sound of struggle before her, followed by a cry of pain.

"Inuyasha!" She called out fearfully once her voice had returned. There was no reply. Painfully she lifted her body off the ground, rising to her feet, feeling her muscles protest after the harsh impact with the cement sidewalk, her bare knees and elbows scraped up slightly.

But all thoughts of pain vanished as relief flooded through her when she saw Inuyasha holding Ted Wilkins in a firm headlock, having pulled the redheaded man's arms behind his back. Clearly once the gun had been fired and he'd lost his edge, the man hadn't stood a chance against the hanyou's strength. She noticed a hole in Inuyasha's left sleeve, and felt her knees grow weak at the thought of how close he'd come to death.

For his part, the hanyou was happily punching Ted Wilkins in the stomach, oblivious to how close the bullet had been, smirking every time his fist made contact with his captive, who would grunt in pain.

Kagome felt her relieved smile vanish suddenly as the corner of her eye caught something gleaming on the ground, and she turned to see the gun, sitting uselessly on the ground where it had been dropped. Without thinking, she bend down and picked it up, noting the fact that the weapon felt heavy and awkward in her hands. She didn't really know how to use a gun, after all, and could only guess how she was even supposed to hold it by what she'd seen in the movies.

There was a gasp, and Kagome looked up to see that Ted Wilkins had stopped struggling against Inuyasha's strong grasp, his eyes instead fixed on her, or rather, what she now held in her hands. The fear in his eyes was obvious, and it gave her a sudden, immense feeling of power.

Inuyasha had gone still as well, trying to decide what Kagome was doing. Glancing down at the hole in his sleeve, he chuckled inwardly as he realized he now understood why 'guns' were so dangerous, but couldn't understand why Kagome would hold a weapon like that. She didn't look like herself at all, but more like someone who was possessed by anger and hate.

There was a long silence, and then, suddenly, Kagome raised the gun a little higher and narrowed her eyes. "Are you afraid?" She asked the imprisoned man. He didn't answer, instead only managing to stare at first her and then the gun, repeating the motion with frantic sweeps of his eyes. That was enough for Kagome to know the answer. "You bastard," she hissed, "Do you know what kind of hell you put me through? Do you know how hard it was to live because of you? Do you know how much you hurt me?" Kagome squared the gun, awkwardly, so that it was pointed right at his chest, and he shrank back. "I hate you!"

Ted Wilkins was squirming backwards desperately, finding that he had no where to go with Inuyasha's solid frame behind him. Panic was evident in his green eyes, and his already white face had managed to pale another shade. "Please..." He begged, his voice suddenly devoid of all strength, sounding like that of a seven year old boy. "Please don't..."

Kagome just regarded him coldly, feeling her own hands start to shake as her anger became almost too much to bear. "What, suddenly you think life is precious?" She laughed, and it was a cruel sound that caused the hair on the back of Inuyasha's neck to stand on end. "Well maybe now you can feel the pain that I felt that night!"

Inuyasha suddenly felt an immense fear for the woman before him. She wasn't his Kagome any more, but some mirthful, cruel creature out for revenge...and willing to kill for it. He couldn't let her do that! He knew deep down Kagome wouldn't want this, and he couldn't live with himself if he allowed her soul to be ruined in such a way.

"Kagome," He spoke gently, his voice surprisingly calm, "Put the gun down. You don't want to kill this man...he's not worth the guilt that will be on your conscience for the rest of your life." She shot him a deadly glare, and the hanyou couldn't help but step back slightly, his own fingers starting to feel clammy with uncertainty. "Kagome...?"

The sound of his voice, usually so full of confidence but suddenly full of fear, caused Kagome to jolt slightly, and her expression changed to one of confusion. "Inuyasha..." She cocked her head. "I thought you wanted him dead too."

The hanyou sighed in relief as he saw she was fighting her way back to reality, and tried to figure out the right thing to say in reply. It was true, he'd wanted the bastard who hurt Kagome dead since the first moment he'd found out what happened, and in fact that was all he'd thought about. But now...

"Kagome, I don't want him dead if it means the loss of your innocence...the loss of your humanity."

Her eyes hardened again. "I already killed Naraku," she hissed, and he shivered. "I got you your revenge, Inuyasha. Now I want mine!"

Inuyasha hardened his gaze and wished he could just let go of the man in his arms and shake the woman he loved back to her senses. "No Kagome!" He commanded firmly. "You don't need to kill him to have revenge. Let's just take him to that police station you went to before, and they can deal with him there, just like you said they would." He acquired a pleading look. "Just...please don't do something that I know you'll regret, Kagome. Please...I could never live with myself if I let you do something as horrible as murder."

A soft, chilling breeze rustled the bushes and trees around them, and a lone fast food wrapper blew past and down the empty street, the paper crinkling as it rolled. And suddenly Kagome seemed to be having an internal battle with herself.

"But..." Tears were in her eyes now, and her body continued to shake, but her fingers seemed to be losing some of their grip on the gun at last. "He laughed at me, Inuyasha." She looked away in shame. "When I was in pain, he just laughed."

Now she just sounded like a lost little child, and the hanyou growled in spite of himself as another wave of rage struck him hard in the gut. In some ways he wished he could just let Kagome kill the bastard. He could take her back to his time, where she'd never be found again, and then it would all be over. But for some reason he just couldn't...he couldn't let her pull that trigger.

"I know, Kagome," he finally all but whispered, and another silence permeated the air, filling it with tension as both men waited to see what she would do.

Then, suddenly, Inuyasha heard the most beautiful sound in the world as the gun crashed back to the ground, and then Kagome was falling to her own knees and wrapping her arms around herself as her body shook with sobs. They were loud, heart wrenching sobs, and it was all Inuyasha could do to resist dropping his prisoner and running to her.

Finally, unable to take it any more, the hanyou looked down at the red head of the man in his arms and with a grunt whacked Ted Wilkins hard across the neck, satisfied when the man fell limp. Dropping him unceremoniously to the sidewalk, he reached Kagome in two steps.

Kagome cried out in overwhelming inner emotional pain as she felt the arms of the man she loved more than life itself encircle her and pull her against his strong chest, her cheek and ear against his chest, enabling her to hear his heart beat. Grabbing hold of his red kimono, she buried her head in it, sobs wracking her body in violent quakes as she willed her heart to slow down and beat in sync with his.

Inuyasha found that suddenly he had the patience of thousands as he sat with her, content to just hold the woman he loved and rock her back and forth gently, much the same way as he had the day after her rape, when he'd first found her alone in her room, dressed in baggy sweatpants, her hair in tangles. She had come a long ways, he realized...and he felt pride swell within his breast at the thought.

"I hate him so much," Kagome whispered finally, breaking him out of his thoughts, and he turned to look at the top of her head. "I...I wanted so badly to kill him."

Inuyasha grimaced at the seriousness of her words and looked away, up at the stars overhead. "I know," he replied softly, running a gentle hand through her hair, careful not to catch his claws on the back of her neck. "But you couldn't kill him and then be okay, Kagome, you know that. I mean, you feel guilty about killing Naraku! And he was the epitome of all evil..." She nodded against his chest and relaxed slightly knowing that she agreed.

Slowly, oh so slowly, he finally began to rise to his feet, and carried her with him, making sure she was steady on her feet even though she still leaned against his body for support. She had a deep frown on her face, and as he followed her gaze realized she was staring at the unconscious Ted Wilkins nearby.

"I...I wanted him to suffer," she finally whispered, looking at the ground in shame. "I wanted him to feel pain at the hands of another, just like I did. I wanted him to have something precious taken from him, just like he stole my virginity and innocence." She shuddered. "But you were right. Revenge is not the right path for me, and I would have regretted it for the rest of my life." She paused. "Thank you, Inuyasha."

She looked up then, her dark eyes meeting his, and he felt butterflies in his gut as he saw the unbridled love in her gaze. This was the woman he loved, he affirmed as he touched her cheek with his hand shyly, almost reverently.

As she leaned into the caress he smiled and lowered his head to kiss her gently, feeling her lips quiver against his own, and it was the most wonderful sensation he'd ever known. Kikyou's kisses had always been so cold, so without emotion. But Kagome...well, everything about her was so warm...

Suddenly Inuyasha felt his body fall forward as Kagome wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her as her gentle kiss turned desperate, and somehow he could sense that she was expending every ounce of fear, anger, and hate she'd felt a few moments ago. Not that he minded, he decided as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed her body against his.

Finally they broke away after several minutes, their harsh breathing mingling in the air, leaving their bodies as vapor as it disappeared into the night sky.

Inuyasha regarded her tenderly. "Do you feel better now?"

In spite of everything that had happened, Kagome found herself smiling. "Yes. Thank you, Inuyasha...for everything."

He chuckled and kissed her one more time lightly on the lips before pulling away and walking over to pick up the man on the ground, slinging his body over his shoulder like a sack of worthless garbage. Kagome liked the image, and couldn't help but giggle slightly.

Inuyasha began to walk away, disappearing from sight as he faded out of the light of the streetlamps, and Kagome watched, remaining still and silent for several thoughtful moments, her expression somewhat disbelieving. Was it over? Was her nightmare finally over? With Naraku dead too, did that mean they could both finally move on with their lives and be happy and unafraid? The thought brought a smile to her face.

"Hey Kagome!" Inuyasha's voice reached her in the dark. "How do we get to that police station place anyway? This guy's getting heavy!"

Laughing outright, Kagome felt her feet suddenly kick into action as she ran in the direction of the hanyou's voice, knowing it was the voice she would return to for the rest of her life.