Kagome woke up some time later in InuYasha's arms, with Sango, Miroku, Kaede, and Shippou standing around her.

She blinked hard. "Did what I think happened happen?" she whispered.

"If you mean killing Kikyou..." Kagome's face dropped, "Yes," said Kaede.

She got up and walked out the door, running behind a tree and vomiting. InuYasha ran up behind her and grabbed her, hugging her and rubbing her back.

"Kagome, are you okay?"

Breathing heavily, she turned to him, wiping her mouth on her hand.

"I killed her. I can't have...oh, InuYasha!" she cried, running from him further into the forest. She came to rest under the tree that he had been bound to by Kikyou's arrow when she first saw him.

Kagome began to cry. As she sat in tears, she felt InuYasha's eyes upon her.

What am I supposed to do with myself...I killed someone...

"Kagome..."

I did it. I killed Kikyou. But I didn't want to! I mean...I actually killed a human being...

"Kagome..."

And how must InuYasha feel? He loved her...he still felt indebted to her, how will he pay her back now...?

"KAGOME!"

"Huh?" She was startled out of her dazed thoughts and turned towards him.

"What's the problem, Kagome? I mean...you just killed Kikyou. She was your enemy!"

She stared at him with a look of horror. "InuYasha, she was a human being! I mean, killing demons is one thing, but humans are entirely different! I might as well have killed one of my friends! And she wasn't my enemy! We're practically the same person! I killed the other woman who loved you...but her loving you doesn't mean that she deserved to die!"

"Okay, for one thing, she wasn't a human, she was clay and dirt mixed up with a few souls in a twisted cocktail. For another thing, humans AREN'T all that different from demons. If they're evil, they're evil, whether they're human or demon. Kikyou was a lot like Naraku- she started out human, but then something else mutilated her. Don't think of it that way, Kagome." He could see the distress in her face and tried his best to make her okay. He whispered, "You're not the same person. And you know that you didn't kill her because she used to love me, you killed her because she was going to kill me. Kagome, I don't think you even knew that you could beat her, yet you still jumped in front of me." His voice became strained with emotion. "You got in the way of her arrow, even though you had no idea that you could kill her, and had no intention of doing so. You protected me with your life, Kagome."

"But...InuYasha...I thought you- you loved Kikyou and- you felt like you owed her-"

"Yeah, until I realized myself that she's not Kikyou. You have most of her soul. She's just a replica."

A slight smile grazed her features. "You-you're not angry, then?

He smiled widely and, for once, sincerely. "No. I'm not angry. If she was really Kikyou, I would have been angry. But if she was really Kikyou," he said softly, "You wouldn't be here." He leaned down and kissed her mouth gently.

Her eyes widened in surprise, but then she closed them and just let herself feel the emotions between herself and InuYasha.

Both of them thought the same thing-

Life can't get any better.

(A/N: I'm starting to notice certain details about the two romance-type IY fics that are a bit too similar. I may stop writing this one, since NOONE IS READING IT ANYWAY. Unless they're just not reviewing *tsks*...A/N a few days later: Okay, so I just came up with a new character, Kazerizumu, the wind goddess. Now...should I put her in THIS story, or the other one? Hmm, probably this one, since Naraku & Co have been vanquished in the next one. Eeee this chapter is short! Well, if anyone wants me to keep going, review. If you don't, I might just stop remembering to update this story. Seriously, I forget about ff.n sometimes unless I'm reminded of it by the little alerts in my email.)