Okie ya'll, we have reached the end of Inu/Kik domain. Please keep your seatbelts secured until the ride has reached a complete stop.
Disclaimer: I just had the weirdest case of deja vu~ I'm sure I've told you this before, but I don't own Inuyasha~!!
____________________________
To Be With You Tomorrow
Part Seven :: Kagome, Inuyasha and Kikyou (part 2)
Chapter Twenty-Eight :: The Oath
Kikyou stepped back as Inuyasha darted to the girl's side, redressing herself while Inuyasha fawned over the girl. She was still unconscious, but Kikyou had expected it. After all, when it came to dealing with souls, it was an exhausting adventure.
But then, she was dead. She could get another soul anytime, and she had neither energy nor vitality to lose on the event. Which is why she could still move.
The hanyou was still with the other miko, his face tight, eyes wide with panic as he looked over his woman. Kikyou glared at Kagome's unconscious form. *Yes, that... girl. The one he finds ever so much more precious than he ever thought of me.*
As she gathered her things she frowned at the dirt. *Looking into my part of Kagome's soul reminded me of the time when Inuyasha loved me... But not only did she glimpse into my life, but I saw part of hers... And I know what Inuyasha had said to her.*
"Kikyou...?"
The dead woman stopped. She turned slightly and her face met his. He looked wary, tentative, but underneath his caution was a great deal of apprehension. Worry. For whom?
"Yes, Inuyasha?"
"Are you... the real Kikyou?" He stood up, having removed his haori and wrapping it around Kagome's slender form. He swallowed, looking guilty, as if he regretted what was about to come out of his mouth.
"Are you the woman I fell in love with?"
~*~
When he saw them at first he had been worried. Rather, curious with underlying worries. Never in his life had he seen them together in such close proximity, and certainly not holding each other. And when Kikyou abruptly awoke and shoved the smaller girl away, and Kagome's blank eyes slid open, his heart shot to his throat. She mouthed his name, and then she was gone.
He checked her first, her pulse, her scent, her breathing, everything was fine. She was just sleeping. He tugged off his haori and wrapped his love in it, the fire-rat fur sure to keep her warm while he dealt with the other.
His heart now at ease, the second matter at hand, Kikyou, presented itself. Questions burned in his mind. What had she done? What had transpired between them? Why didn't she kill her? Would Kagome be okay?
And he looked at her and at once knew who she was. She wasn't the poor defeated soul who had returned to life hating him. She wasn't the amnesiac demon miko whose goal was to kill him simply because Uramiko had told her.
She was his Kikyou, the woman he had held to his chest all those years ago and confessed that she was precious to him, that he cherished her. The woman he would have given up the one dream that he'd ever had just to be with her. The one who had followed him in death because she loved him so much.
And she was walking away from him without a word.
Is it going to end like this? he asked himself, Are you going to let her walk away?!!
"Kikyou...?"
She stopped. There was a swish of the long hair and she turned slightly. Her face met his. She read his expression slowly and then her eyes fell on his once more.
"Yes, Inuyasha?"
"Are you... the real Kikyou?" He stood up, trying to swallow past the steadily growing lump in his throat. He had to ask. He needed to be sure.
"Are you the woman I fell in love with?"
Kikyou's solemn gray eyes fell on him with a sadness that he hadn't seen since before her death. They were empty of the hatred he had seen in the past months.
"Yes. I am Kikyou again."
At once it was like he had been hit with a ton of bricks. What he had hoped would take off a burden from his chest had done the opposite. Now... now he was faced with what he had sworn to Kagome, to himself, that he would do.
He had to tell Kikyou goodbye.
And somehow that was ever much more difficult than he had expected. It was difficult to breathe. His chest was tight, his heart pounding in his ears, his throat constricting. No words would come. He changed the subject.
"What did you do to her?"
Kikyou paused, as if wondering who 'her' was, or perhaps thinking nasty thoughts about the younger girl, before she turned her sad eyes on him. "What would you have me tell you, Inuyasha?" she asked, "Would you have me lie and say that I tried to kill her.... or do you want the truth?"
"What is the truth?"
Kikyou responded quietly. "I wanted to remember you."
Inuyasha jolted as if physically shocked. As if the image of Kikyou, as if her words, had physically struck him. She looked the same as she had years ago, as the same as he remembered. He felt a sudden guilt then, remembering all the times he had spent with this woman, and it was maddening. Maddening that he could not keep control over his feelings.
As long as Kagome was around, he knew what he wanted. But when faced with his past, he lost track of his true heart. And he didn't know how to tell Kikyou that he loved Kagome. That he would have to go back on his promise to go to Hell with her.
Inuyasha blinked, noticing the dead miko approaching him. Gently she reached out and touched his cheek, brushing back the lock of silver hair. "Now that I am myself again... you and I can die together. Will you come to Hell with me now?"
"Kikyou... I.."
She ignored his flustered attempt to speak and slipped her arms around his ribs, her hands at the small of his back, her head against his chest. He froze. It was strange now, strange and uncomfortable having her hold him this way. 50 years ago, he would have let no other woman hold him. But now, the only one he wanted this close was Kagome.
*Inuyasha...!*
He loved Kagome.
He took Kikyou by the shoulders and pushed her off him gently.
Kikyou looked hurt, and the expression stabbed at him. It was her true heart after all, the true Kikyou, and it tore at him. She looked so much like Kagome when she looked at him like that. "Please don't look at me that way," he pleaded, "I can't bear it."
"Why won't you hold me? It's been so long..."
Inuyasha looked away guiltily. "I..."
She was silent. He lifted his eyes to meet hers, and in only a second, the pale features he knew so well transformed to anger and she lifted her hand, slapping him across the cheek viciously. Inuyasha made no motion to stop her.
"How dare you," she said bitterly, "I was testing you, to see if what I saw in the bond between myself and that pathetic little girl was true. I believed so vehemently that it wasn't. But it is. You're in love with her!"
Inuyasha looked directly into her eyes, but said nothing.
Kikyou grit her teeth together, her face hardening. Why was he looking at her like that?! Why wouldn't he wouldn't say anything?! How dare he betray her! How could he, after he swore to protect her?!!
After a long moment Kikyou stepped away from him. "I see." Inuyasha looked up, watching her helplessly as the Shinidamachuu coiled around her. He took a step forward and grabbed her arm. "Kikyou, wait--! I still want to help you! I want to save you!"
Her eyes flared in anger. "What?"
"Kikyou, my feelings for you may have changed, but you're still... the first woman I fell in love with! I still care what happens to you!" He breathed out shakily. "Please. Don't go on this way. You have to let go of the past."
She was, again, silent. After a moment she reached down, placing her free hand on his, and Inuyasha cried out when her miko energy crackled around him. He staggered back in pain, landing against a tree. Despondently he looked up at her. "Ki.. Kikyou..."
She looked down at him, her face bland of anything except the anger. "At one time you told me I was not your enemy. That you had never stopped thinking about me. And yet you betrayed me. How dare you presume to try to SAVE me!?!"
"Kikyou..."
Her face stiffened in a pure, absolute hatred. "I have told you time and time again that I'm going to take you to Hell with me. That when you die, it will be my hand that sends you. That has not changed. I swear I will kill you Inuyasha. You and I will descend to Hell together." She smiled, somewhat bitterly. "For all the times you couldn't trust me before, you can trust me on that."
"Kikyou...!"
Inuyasha watched her float away, feeling more powerless than he ever had in his life. *Kikyou...*
~*~
Kagome opened her eyes weakly and looked around. She was in a cave, it seemed, and it was dark and cold. Well, especially cold seeing as she was still only wearing a bra, but she noticed Inuyasha's red haori draped over her.
She noticed the orange dimness of a fire and turned her head, and saw Inuyasha. He was leaned against the wall, facing her, but hadn't noticed her yet. He was staring blankly at the fire, his face the picture of a troubled young man.
He was tending the fire and when he glanced up, his eyes met hers. She saw a play of emotions cross his fire-lit features, going from bland torment to happiness to worry-- well, Inuyasha's worry, which was a mixture of concern and anger for having made him worry. He got up, going to her and kneeling. "Kagome...??"
"Inuyasha...?" she replied.
He sighed deeply, relieved, and reached out and brushed the hair from her face. "Thank God, I was scared." She smiled vaguely hearing him admit that. "Sorry to have worried you..." she said softly, and then looked around. "Where are we?"
The hanyou shifted to sit completely on his bottom, and leaned his cheek into his hand, resting his elbow against his knee boredly. "In a cave near where I found you... We've been here for hours."
"I'm sorry I scared you, it didn't seem that I was out that long..." Kagome sat up, and the haori slipped down to her waist, leaving her bra open to the public. Both Inuyasha and Kagome blushed and she yanked the jacket back up while Inuyasha turned his head.
Kagome blinked. "Inuyasha, where's my shirt...?"
"It's by the fire, I didn't know really how to put it on you so I just gave you mine," he said helplessly and she snickered, scooting over to the fire and pulling on the blouse while he stared blankly at an outcropping rock in the wall. When she had redressed she sat next to him, wrapping her arms around his ribs, resting her head in the crevice of his neck. "You're so cute when you blush," she said and Inuyasha blushed brighter.
"I'm cute?"
"Un, sometimes the things you do... they make me laugh." She giggled again and he turned his head to glance at her before slipping an arm firmly around her. After awhile he relaxed and sighed deeply, and Kagome caught her breath. He was completely at ease with her. *Is it a sign of trust...?*
She smiled at the sound of his deep breathing and relaxed also. She began to try and recall what had happened. Coming back to Sengoku-jidai, and the zombies, and then Kikyou--
Kikyou.
Kikyou and the soul joining and the memory transfer. And the memories.
Kagome tensed up in Inuyasha's embrace, and he glanced down at her. "Kagome?" No reply. She wasn't listening to him; she was lost in her own recollection.
Kagome bit her lip. Those memories weren't hers, they were Kikyou's, but she still saw them. They weren't as fresh in her mind as they had been just before she passed out, which made her feel better to know that maybe they were sinking back into that deep darkness of her soul that was Kikyou's, so she wouldn't have to see that image of the arrow slamming Inuyasha against the tree. So she wouldn't have to see that devastated, anguished look when she felt herself say she couldn't be with him.
Well, not her. Kikyou. Kikyou had hurt him. Not Kagome.
"Kagome??" She looked up at Inuyasha. His face was clouded with concern, his mouth tight and drawn, the yellow eyes blinking in confusion. "Are you okay?" She nodded, lowering her face, and gripped his white yukata in her hands tightly. After a moment she whispered, "I'm fine."
"Kagome..." She looked up and Inuyasha's eyes locked on hers. "What happened between you and Kikyou? She.. she wouldn't tell me."
What could she say? It had been like watching them. Like the secrets Inuyasha had kept to himself, the parts of himself that he kept for Kikyou, Kagome had witnessed. She felt she had been trespassing. She also felt extremely jealous. That was a part of him she would never be able to have.
"Nothing," she replied, looking away, and Inuyasha snorted. "Liar," he said, "Tell me what happened."
She bit her lip. "When Kikyou took me... she and I... shared our soul for a moment... and... And I saw everything that happened between you and Kikyou......"
Inuyasha's body stiffened in her hold but he said nothing as she continued. "I don't understand how it worked, but when we separated... she was Kikyou again."
Inuyasha narrowed his eyes, fixing his gaze on the fire again. Kikyou and Kagome's soul, for a moment, was one. Put back together again first the first time since Kikyou's resurrection. It baffled him constantly how Kagome was even in any way a reincarnation or a part of Kikyou, and vice versa. They were both so different. And he liked them that way.
After a long moment of quiet he said, "I talked to Kikyou." Kagome froze in his arms and tugged away to look at him. "What happened...??"
There was that lump again. Bigger than last time. Inuyasha swallowed past it, his face dark. "... It's... it's over."
Kagome stilled instantly. Certainly he didn't mean... OVER? She had waited for so long to hear him say those words, that it was over between him and Kikyou. Her jaw disengaged and she gawped, and the only thing she could manage to say was, "What?"
Inuyasha looked at her. There was no trace of hurt on his face, not a hint of sadness. Only a matter-of-fact tone which never wavered. "She knew. Before I could tell her, she knew my heart had changed... but now... she thinks I betrayed her. She swore to kill me."
In an instant, her happiness at hearing that announcement dropped to Kagome's toes. Guilt and horror and sudden pain for Inuyasha refilled its gap. How dare she be happy, when it was obvious he was hiding his feelings?
No matter how in love with her he was, some part of his heart still loved Kikyou and cared for her. Kagome understood that. And surely hearing her oath to take him to Hell must have hurt him.
The fairytale ending for her fantasy life crumbled to pieces before her very eyes. She had wished desperately that Kikyou could find peace and that it would be simple and painless for Inuyasha. *I never wanted it to turn out like this... I didn't want him to be hurt... And...I didn't want Kikyou hurt either.* She buried her face in his shoulder. "Inuyasha, I'm so sorry..."
Inuyasha nodded vaguely. Mentally he reprimanded himself for thinking for a moment that Kagome might be indifferent to the situation. *Kagome's not like that... Even after everything Kikyou has done to her... and everything I've put her through... Kagome stayed by me... She doesn't wish anything bad to happen to Kikyou.*
He slipped one arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him, letting her warmth and her scent meld to him and heal him. "It's okay," he said softly, "You're with me." Kagome nodded quietly, pressing her lips gently to his cheek and hugging his neck.
*I can't stand seeing you like this, Inuyasha... Please get better soon and become your old self again...*
I have told you time and time again that I'm going to take you to Hell with me. That when you die, it will be my hand that sends you. That has not changed. I swear I will kill you Inuyasha. You and I will descend to Hell together. For all the times you couldn't trust me before, you can trust me on that.
The hanyou bent his neck, resting his head on Kagome's shoulder, sighing brokenly. He had never felt like this before. He didn't know what to do. It bothered him, and it also bothered him that it bothered him so much. It was aggravating and exhausting being told that by her, that she would kill him at any cost. Just thinking about it made him feel weak.
Kagome had once told him she couldn't compete with Kikyou, because she was alive. And then she had died. Losing her had put so much in perspective for him, made him realize how precious she was to him. And he had chosen her. He didn't regret it. He didn't regret loving her, and wanting to be with her.
But now Kikyou was left to wander the world, and that made his guilt feel even heavier, his uncertainty all that much more distressing. And what made it so much more difficult was knowing that now... he would have to kill her.
*Before, I know I couldn't do it... but now that I have to... when it comes down to it... will I be able to kill you... Kikyou?*
~*~ To be continued ~*~
a/n :: ^___________________________________^ Heh... Heh...... Heh......... ^0^V Oh yeah~!
Do you guys realize the gravity of what happened?! INUYASHA BROKE UP WITH KIKYOU!!! YAYA!
Lemme know what you guys think!! Okie, ja!!!
~*~ V^-^V ~*~
~Tessen
Disclaimer: I just had the weirdest case of deja vu~ I'm sure I've told you this before, but I don't own Inuyasha~!!
____________________________
To Be With You Tomorrow
Part Seven :: Kagome, Inuyasha and Kikyou (part 2)
Chapter Twenty-Eight :: The Oath
Kikyou stepped back as Inuyasha darted to the girl's side, redressing herself while Inuyasha fawned over the girl. She was still unconscious, but Kikyou had expected it. After all, when it came to dealing with souls, it was an exhausting adventure.
But then, she was dead. She could get another soul anytime, and she had neither energy nor vitality to lose on the event. Which is why she could still move.
The hanyou was still with the other miko, his face tight, eyes wide with panic as he looked over his woman. Kikyou glared at Kagome's unconscious form. *Yes, that... girl. The one he finds ever so much more precious than he ever thought of me.*
As she gathered her things she frowned at the dirt. *Looking into my part of Kagome's soul reminded me of the time when Inuyasha loved me... But not only did she glimpse into my life, but I saw part of hers... And I know what Inuyasha had said to her.*
"Kikyou...?"
The dead woman stopped. She turned slightly and her face met his. He looked wary, tentative, but underneath his caution was a great deal of apprehension. Worry. For whom?
"Yes, Inuyasha?"
"Are you... the real Kikyou?" He stood up, having removed his haori and wrapping it around Kagome's slender form. He swallowed, looking guilty, as if he regretted what was about to come out of his mouth.
"Are you the woman I fell in love with?"
~*~
When he saw them at first he had been worried. Rather, curious with underlying worries. Never in his life had he seen them together in such close proximity, and certainly not holding each other. And when Kikyou abruptly awoke and shoved the smaller girl away, and Kagome's blank eyes slid open, his heart shot to his throat. She mouthed his name, and then she was gone.
He checked her first, her pulse, her scent, her breathing, everything was fine. She was just sleeping. He tugged off his haori and wrapped his love in it, the fire-rat fur sure to keep her warm while he dealt with the other.
His heart now at ease, the second matter at hand, Kikyou, presented itself. Questions burned in his mind. What had she done? What had transpired between them? Why didn't she kill her? Would Kagome be okay?
And he looked at her and at once knew who she was. She wasn't the poor defeated soul who had returned to life hating him. She wasn't the amnesiac demon miko whose goal was to kill him simply because Uramiko had told her.
She was his Kikyou, the woman he had held to his chest all those years ago and confessed that she was precious to him, that he cherished her. The woman he would have given up the one dream that he'd ever had just to be with her. The one who had followed him in death because she loved him so much.
And she was walking away from him without a word.
Is it going to end like this? he asked himself, Are you going to let her walk away?!!
"Kikyou...?"
She stopped. There was a swish of the long hair and she turned slightly. Her face met his. She read his expression slowly and then her eyes fell on his once more.
"Yes, Inuyasha?"
"Are you... the real Kikyou?" He stood up, trying to swallow past the steadily growing lump in his throat. He had to ask. He needed to be sure.
"Are you the woman I fell in love with?"
Kikyou's solemn gray eyes fell on him with a sadness that he hadn't seen since before her death. They were empty of the hatred he had seen in the past months.
"Yes. I am Kikyou again."
At once it was like he had been hit with a ton of bricks. What he had hoped would take off a burden from his chest had done the opposite. Now... now he was faced with what he had sworn to Kagome, to himself, that he would do.
He had to tell Kikyou goodbye.
And somehow that was ever much more difficult than he had expected. It was difficult to breathe. His chest was tight, his heart pounding in his ears, his throat constricting. No words would come. He changed the subject.
"What did you do to her?"
Kikyou paused, as if wondering who 'her' was, or perhaps thinking nasty thoughts about the younger girl, before she turned her sad eyes on him. "What would you have me tell you, Inuyasha?" she asked, "Would you have me lie and say that I tried to kill her.... or do you want the truth?"
"What is the truth?"
Kikyou responded quietly. "I wanted to remember you."
Inuyasha jolted as if physically shocked. As if the image of Kikyou, as if her words, had physically struck him. She looked the same as she had years ago, as the same as he remembered. He felt a sudden guilt then, remembering all the times he had spent with this woman, and it was maddening. Maddening that he could not keep control over his feelings.
As long as Kagome was around, he knew what he wanted. But when faced with his past, he lost track of his true heart. And he didn't know how to tell Kikyou that he loved Kagome. That he would have to go back on his promise to go to Hell with her.
Inuyasha blinked, noticing the dead miko approaching him. Gently she reached out and touched his cheek, brushing back the lock of silver hair. "Now that I am myself again... you and I can die together. Will you come to Hell with me now?"
"Kikyou... I.."
She ignored his flustered attempt to speak and slipped her arms around his ribs, her hands at the small of his back, her head against his chest. He froze. It was strange now, strange and uncomfortable having her hold him this way. 50 years ago, he would have let no other woman hold him. But now, the only one he wanted this close was Kagome.
*Inuyasha...!*
He loved Kagome.
He took Kikyou by the shoulders and pushed her off him gently.
Kikyou looked hurt, and the expression stabbed at him. It was her true heart after all, the true Kikyou, and it tore at him. She looked so much like Kagome when she looked at him like that. "Please don't look at me that way," he pleaded, "I can't bear it."
"Why won't you hold me? It's been so long..."
Inuyasha looked away guiltily. "I..."
She was silent. He lifted his eyes to meet hers, and in only a second, the pale features he knew so well transformed to anger and she lifted her hand, slapping him across the cheek viciously. Inuyasha made no motion to stop her.
"How dare you," she said bitterly, "I was testing you, to see if what I saw in the bond between myself and that pathetic little girl was true. I believed so vehemently that it wasn't. But it is. You're in love with her!"
Inuyasha looked directly into her eyes, but said nothing.
Kikyou grit her teeth together, her face hardening. Why was he looking at her like that?! Why wouldn't he wouldn't say anything?! How dare he betray her! How could he, after he swore to protect her?!!
After a long moment Kikyou stepped away from him. "I see." Inuyasha looked up, watching her helplessly as the Shinidamachuu coiled around her. He took a step forward and grabbed her arm. "Kikyou, wait--! I still want to help you! I want to save you!"
Her eyes flared in anger. "What?"
"Kikyou, my feelings for you may have changed, but you're still... the first woman I fell in love with! I still care what happens to you!" He breathed out shakily. "Please. Don't go on this way. You have to let go of the past."
She was, again, silent. After a moment she reached down, placing her free hand on his, and Inuyasha cried out when her miko energy crackled around him. He staggered back in pain, landing against a tree. Despondently he looked up at her. "Ki.. Kikyou..."
She looked down at him, her face bland of anything except the anger. "At one time you told me I was not your enemy. That you had never stopped thinking about me. And yet you betrayed me. How dare you presume to try to SAVE me!?!"
"Kikyou..."
Her face stiffened in a pure, absolute hatred. "I have told you time and time again that I'm going to take you to Hell with me. That when you die, it will be my hand that sends you. That has not changed. I swear I will kill you Inuyasha. You and I will descend to Hell together." She smiled, somewhat bitterly. "For all the times you couldn't trust me before, you can trust me on that."
"Kikyou...!"
Inuyasha watched her float away, feeling more powerless than he ever had in his life. *Kikyou...*
~*~
Kagome opened her eyes weakly and looked around. She was in a cave, it seemed, and it was dark and cold. Well, especially cold seeing as she was still only wearing a bra, but she noticed Inuyasha's red haori draped over her.
She noticed the orange dimness of a fire and turned her head, and saw Inuyasha. He was leaned against the wall, facing her, but hadn't noticed her yet. He was staring blankly at the fire, his face the picture of a troubled young man.
He was tending the fire and when he glanced up, his eyes met hers. She saw a play of emotions cross his fire-lit features, going from bland torment to happiness to worry-- well, Inuyasha's worry, which was a mixture of concern and anger for having made him worry. He got up, going to her and kneeling. "Kagome...??"
"Inuyasha...?" she replied.
He sighed deeply, relieved, and reached out and brushed the hair from her face. "Thank God, I was scared." She smiled vaguely hearing him admit that. "Sorry to have worried you..." she said softly, and then looked around. "Where are we?"
The hanyou shifted to sit completely on his bottom, and leaned his cheek into his hand, resting his elbow against his knee boredly. "In a cave near where I found you... We've been here for hours."
"I'm sorry I scared you, it didn't seem that I was out that long..." Kagome sat up, and the haori slipped down to her waist, leaving her bra open to the public. Both Inuyasha and Kagome blushed and she yanked the jacket back up while Inuyasha turned his head.
Kagome blinked. "Inuyasha, where's my shirt...?"
"It's by the fire, I didn't know really how to put it on you so I just gave you mine," he said helplessly and she snickered, scooting over to the fire and pulling on the blouse while he stared blankly at an outcropping rock in the wall. When she had redressed she sat next to him, wrapping her arms around his ribs, resting her head in the crevice of his neck. "You're so cute when you blush," she said and Inuyasha blushed brighter.
"I'm cute?"
"Un, sometimes the things you do... they make me laugh." She giggled again and he turned his head to glance at her before slipping an arm firmly around her. After awhile he relaxed and sighed deeply, and Kagome caught her breath. He was completely at ease with her. *Is it a sign of trust...?*
She smiled at the sound of his deep breathing and relaxed also. She began to try and recall what had happened. Coming back to Sengoku-jidai, and the zombies, and then Kikyou--
Kikyou.
Kikyou and the soul joining and the memory transfer. And the memories.
Kagome tensed up in Inuyasha's embrace, and he glanced down at her. "Kagome?" No reply. She wasn't listening to him; she was lost in her own recollection.
Kagome bit her lip. Those memories weren't hers, they were Kikyou's, but she still saw them. They weren't as fresh in her mind as they had been just before she passed out, which made her feel better to know that maybe they were sinking back into that deep darkness of her soul that was Kikyou's, so she wouldn't have to see that image of the arrow slamming Inuyasha against the tree. So she wouldn't have to see that devastated, anguished look when she felt herself say she couldn't be with him.
Well, not her. Kikyou. Kikyou had hurt him. Not Kagome.
"Kagome??" She looked up at Inuyasha. His face was clouded with concern, his mouth tight and drawn, the yellow eyes blinking in confusion. "Are you okay?" She nodded, lowering her face, and gripped his white yukata in her hands tightly. After a moment she whispered, "I'm fine."
"Kagome..." She looked up and Inuyasha's eyes locked on hers. "What happened between you and Kikyou? She.. she wouldn't tell me."
What could she say? It had been like watching them. Like the secrets Inuyasha had kept to himself, the parts of himself that he kept for Kikyou, Kagome had witnessed. She felt she had been trespassing. She also felt extremely jealous. That was a part of him she would never be able to have.
"Nothing," she replied, looking away, and Inuyasha snorted. "Liar," he said, "Tell me what happened."
She bit her lip. "When Kikyou took me... she and I... shared our soul for a moment... and... And I saw everything that happened between you and Kikyou......"
Inuyasha's body stiffened in her hold but he said nothing as she continued. "I don't understand how it worked, but when we separated... she was Kikyou again."
Inuyasha narrowed his eyes, fixing his gaze on the fire again. Kikyou and Kagome's soul, for a moment, was one. Put back together again first the first time since Kikyou's resurrection. It baffled him constantly how Kagome was even in any way a reincarnation or a part of Kikyou, and vice versa. They were both so different. And he liked them that way.
After a long moment of quiet he said, "I talked to Kikyou." Kagome froze in his arms and tugged away to look at him. "What happened...??"
There was that lump again. Bigger than last time. Inuyasha swallowed past it, his face dark. "... It's... it's over."
Kagome stilled instantly. Certainly he didn't mean... OVER? She had waited for so long to hear him say those words, that it was over between him and Kikyou. Her jaw disengaged and she gawped, and the only thing she could manage to say was, "What?"
Inuyasha looked at her. There was no trace of hurt on his face, not a hint of sadness. Only a matter-of-fact tone which never wavered. "She knew. Before I could tell her, she knew my heart had changed... but now... she thinks I betrayed her. She swore to kill me."
In an instant, her happiness at hearing that announcement dropped to Kagome's toes. Guilt and horror and sudden pain for Inuyasha refilled its gap. How dare she be happy, when it was obvious he was hiding his feelings?
No matter how in love with her he was, some part of his heart still loved Kikyou and cared for her. Kagome understood that. And surely hearing her oath to take him to Hell must have hurt him.
The fairytale ending for her fantasy life crumbled to pieces before her very eyes. She had wished desperately that Kikyou could find peace and that it would be simple and painless for Inuyasha. *I never wanted it to turn out like this... I didn't want him to be hurt... And...I didn't want Kikyou hurt either.* She buried her face in his shoulder. "Inuyasha, I'm so sorry..."
Inuyasha nodded vaguely. Mentally he reprimanded himself for thinking for a moment that Kagome might be indifferent to the situation. *Kagome's not like that... Even after everything Kikyou has done to her... and everything I've put her through... Kagome stayed by me... She doesn't wish anything bad to happen to Kikyou.*
He slipped one arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him, letting her warmth and her scent meld to him and heal him. "It's okay," he said softly, "You're with me." Kagome nodded quietly, pressing her lips gently to his cheek and hugging his neck.
*I can't stand seeing you like this, Inuyasha... Please get better soon and become your old self again...*
I have told you time and time again that I'm going to take you to Hell with me. That when you die, it will be my hand that sends you. That has not changed. I swear I will kill you Inuyasha. You and I will descend to Hell together. For all the times you couldn't trust me before, you can trust me on that.
The hanyou bent his neck, resting his head on Kagome's shoulder, sighing brokenly. He had never felt like this before. He didn't know what to do. It bothered him, and it also bothered him that it bothered him so much. It was aggravating and exhausting being told that by her, that she would kill him at any cost. Just thinking about it made him feel weak.
Kagome had once told him she couldn't compete with Kikyou, because she was alive. And then she had died. Losing her had put so much in perspective for him, made him realize how precious she was to him. And he had chosen her. He didn't regret it. He didn't regret loving her, and wanting to be with her.
But now Kikyou was left to wander the world, and that made his guilt feel even heavier, his uncertainty all that much more distressing. And what made it so much more difficult was knowing that now... he would have to kill her.
*Before, I know I couldn't do it... but now that I have to... when it comes down to it... will I be able to kill you... Kikyou?*
~*~ To be continued ~*~
a/n :: ^___________________________________^ Heh... Heh...... Heh......... ^0^V Oh yeah~!
Do you guys realize the gravity of what happened?! INUYASHA BROKE UP WITH KIKYOU!!! YAYA!
Lemme know what you guys think!! Okie, ja!!!
~*~ V^-^V ~*~
~Tessen