Ch. 8
me: thanks to everyone who reviewed my stories, especially SilverTailz, who gave me some good advice!
Kikyo: =P
To InuYasha, everything was moving in slow motion. He was about halfway to tearing through Miroku and Sango. He could see their fear, and their pathetic attempts to escape. It was as though he was fighting against himself, rather than them.
Two more seconds...two more seconds and they'd be dead; merely a memory in the vast country of Japan. But was it really worth it? Two mortals, dead because of his personal scars?
No. It wasn't worth it. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he did it. InuYasha shifted his body to the left, violently slamming into a tree that was barely a foot away from Sango. The impact hurt, but it was nothing compared to the pain he would have felt by killing them. He slumped against the tree, pulling his sharp claws from the bark.
"Houshi-sama, be ready!" Sango muttered, her eyes searching InuYasha's face. She didn't trust the hanyou, not after his anger at Kagome. InuYasha stood abruptly, making the two mortals flinch.
"I'm not going to attack." InuYasha said shortly, turning and walking across the clearing. Right before he disappeared into the trees, he paused before the miko's grave. Tenderly, he pulled the arrow from the bush he had thrown it into, and stabbed it into the dirt.
A priestess's arrow marking a priestess's grave. It may have been morbid, to mark her grave with the same tool that killed her, but it was all he had.
Kagome stared at the matches in her hand. If there was no well to travel through, then there was no possible way she could return. And that was what InuYasha wanted, right?
But this is permanent. Burn the well, and you've cut off the link forever. Was it reasonable? Kagome started to put the matches down, when she remembered the look in his eyes. Full of hate, anger and pain. And she realized she never wanted to see those eyes again.
Never again.
InuYasha rushed toward the Bone-Eaters well. He had to see her. He couldn't let her sit in her own era, thinking that he hated her. His demon side must have gotten the best of him. There was no other way to explain the rush of fear and hate. If that was what it felt like to be a demon, he wanted Kagome to know that he would never again dream of becoming one.
Never again.
She rushed down her stairs, tripping and falling on the last two steps, the matches tumbling from her hand. Kagome gathered them back up, thrust the door open, and stepped into the setting sunlight. Tears dripped from her eyes as she looked at the old, wooden well. It wouldn't stand a chance against a good fire. She knelt down next to it, her head touching the fragile wood. This was her last chance to turn back. Her hands shook as she removed a match from the box. It was now or never. She slowly ran the match along the side, too slow to light it. Tears wet the box, and she wiped them away. For a few minutes, she stood there, her head bowed to the well, and her hands ready to strike the match....
...which she dropped. There was no way she could do something like this. She was about to turn and go back inside, when a familiar voice popped into her head.
"There is nothing for me here, except pain and suffering!"
Did he really mean that? Wasn't she here for him? Weren't Miroku, Sango and Shippo there for him? Didn't he know that? And then...he had called her a nuisance.
"If he doesn't need me," Kagome said to herself. "Then I don't need him. And there's no point going back to someone who hates you." This seemed to strengthen her reason, and she struck the match against the shrine. It burned red-orange, flickering dangerously near the well. Was this a stupid idea? She stared at the match, as though it could answer her question.
A slight wind blew her hair toward the well, and she quickly held it back with one hand. It wouldn't do to get her hair aflame.
Well, its now or never. Kagome thought determinedly. Her hands shook violently as she moved the match near the well. It was about an inch away when another wind blew the flame into the wood. Almost instantly, the shrine caught fire. Kagome fell back onto her heels, scrambling away from the raging fire as quickly as possible.
InuYasha reached the well. He peered down into it. A red flash lit up the darkness, and he blinked hard, shaking his head to wear off the surprise. What the hell was that? He backed away from the well, a curious expression on his face. Was Kagome in trouble?
It was almost gone. Kagome sat about seven feet away, the fire reflected in her brown eyes. Her face was expressionless as she watched it burn. She slowly rose, and walked into her house, grabbing the cordless phone from the counter. Taking a deep breath, she prepared herself for the bit of acting she would have to do. Her pale fingers dialed the number of the fire department.
"Hello?! Oh my god, there's a fire outside my house! I was lighting candles around the well, and- oh my god, it caught fire!" Kagome sobbed a bit, for effect. In reality, her eyes were as dry as the old well.
"Miss? Miss, please calm down. We'll be right there. Can you give us the location of your house?"
As Kagome told the man where she lived, her eyes set on the burned well. It was all gone now. She wouldn't travel through time anymore. She wouldn't see Sango, Miroku or Shippo. Or...him.
Never again.
me: this isn't the end! There's still one more chapter. And possibly an epilogue.
Kikyo: -whispers- she had writer's block. Really bad writer's block. . thought you outta know.
me: true, true. Please R&R!