Whew! That took awhile again, didn't it? Sorry! But I did warn ya all! In case you don't believe me, let me tell you about my classes:
Two of my classes are baccalaureate-level classes. Which means, *lots* of writing. Another class is a journalism class that requires me to go out to a bunch a stupid events and write articles about them. (I'm not fond of hard news). And my other class requires me to do four hours of fieldwork a week. Which wouldn't be bad, but it takes forever to type up and organize four hours worth of fieldnotes!
So, in other words, I'm busy writing. So when I get free time, one of the last things I want to do is… you got it! WRITE! But, every weekend, when I've actually got some time to myself, I do sit down and write, so never fear! I won't give up my fan fiction writing!
X5-452Star: You *should* write something! It would give me something to read! :) Yeah, I guess this is back to normal, but the action won't really start until the *next* chapter!
Lady Tristana Rogue, avalon, Henio: Thank you! Sorry, but long delays between chapters is most likely the norm now. For awhile at least.
slvrstarlight: Fluff! Fluff! I *love* reading fluff! And… it's not too horrible to read either! … Want to know something strange? I'm listening to "My Immortal" right now too! (Yeah, I'm addicted to the CD!)
SilverWingPhoenix: Read on and you'll see!
dizzy4: Awwwe! Thanks! I'm glad that you think that I have some talent… sometimes I do need to hear it, because sometimes I'm not sure if it's true. :) But, we all have those moments, don't we?
Simply a Lady: I've checked out "Simply a Familiar Scent", but I'm not familiar with the crossover part (it had 'familiar' in it somewhere, if I remember correctly). I don't normally read crossovers where I'm not familiar with the other component. … As for Kagome purifying the jewel… you'll just have to wait and see! ;)
KhmerGirl: Sorry it took so long!
shadinah: Oh, thank you! I'm glad it's not getting worse! ;) Sorry to make you wait for so long!
daisy31: You know something, I never liked reading xovers either. :) Never found one that I really liked, so I decided to *write* one that I like! I really suggest it… it's the one way of actually getting what you want out of a storyline. :)
EvanescenceShine3: Evanescence is in my CD player again. ;) I always have to listen to music when I type up a chapter, and right now I'm on an Evanescence kick. :)
Yueh-miko: Hope I didn't make you wait for too long!
chelsea c: Awwe! Don't cry! I'll never take a month again to update… I hope. I'm really working on it, I promise!
All right, well this is another talkie chapter. But, it should be one of the last ones for awhile! After this chapter, things will start moving along again. This chapter just wraps up a few loose ends for Kagome and Inuyasha. So, enjoy!
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They dined on rabbit and venison that night. The venison was provided by Inuyasha, who was quite smug when Kouga came back to camp a half-hour after him with only two rabbits. He also had a good laugh when Kagome, Sango and Serena ganged up on the wolf demon and made him go out in the woods and clean the rabbits himself. If it was one thing Inuyasha had learned it was that unless he wanted to face the wrath of Sango and Kagome combined, it was best to bring back food clean and as bloodless as possible.
They all ate well that night, and there was even some meat leftover to set aside in Kagome's storage containers. Darien and Miroku were stuck with clean-up duty, as the demons had done the hunting and the girls had done the cooking. While the guys cleaned, Sango and Serena were huddled together, giggling about something. Kagome decided to take the opportunity to pull Inuyasha aside and talk to him, but was not sure how to approach him. As she sat, lost in thought, she became restless, tapping her fingers on the ground beside her and twirling a piece of her hair around a finger with the other hand. Inuyasha himself gave her the best way to broach the subject of talking.
"Hey, you okay?"
The voice startled Kagome from her thoughts and she looked up to see Inuyasha staring at her.
"Huh? Oh… yeah." Then she mentally slapped herself, reminding herself not to lose this perfect opportunity. "Uh, actually…" His eyes that had already moved off to look elsewhere returned to her. "Actually, I need to talk to you." She looked him right back in the eye, and he could see that she was serious, so he nodded. "Can we go elsewhere? Away from prying ears?"
"Sure," he said, turning his back to her. She climbed up, but before they could leave, their intentions were questioned.
"And where are you two going?" Miroku asked in a tone of voice that they had not heard in several days.
"Shut up monk!" Inuyasha growled out.
Kagome went a different route. "We have to talk about something." Her tone of voice was so serious that Miroku sobered right up. "Let's just go," she said, giving Inuyasha's shoulder a squeeze. He complied by leaping away into the night.
He ran for a long while, so long that Kagome lost track of time. She did not complain though, because she was trying to gather her thoughts, trying to figure out just what and how she was going to tell him. She got the feeling that Inuyasha was stalling for time too. But he could not run forever, and so eventually came to a stop.
Kagome got off his back and looked around before settling down on the grass. Inuyasha had brought them to a hilltop that overlooked a lake. The lake below them mirrored the sky about them so that there were two fields of glittering stars and two crescent moons shining brightly. Even with her thoughts clouding her mind the beauty of the scene was not lost on her. She wished she could just forget what they had come there for so that she might gaze upon the majesty of the night in peace. But she felt Inuyasha's eyes burning into her, and knew that her wish would not be granted.
"Do you feel it?" Kagome asked, breaking the silence that had stretched between them.
"Feel what?" Inuyasha asked, eyes still boring into her.
"That we're nearing the end of our quest. Soon it will all be over." She sat and waiting for a response, but did not get one. She took the silence as agreement, because he would have let her know if she was just being stupid. "There's so many ways it could end…" she trailed off, not wanted to finish the thought.
"Hey," Inuyasha said, his voice gruff. "We'll all make it through. I won't let anything happen to anyone," he said. 'I won't let anything happen to you,' he silently added.
Kagome turned to him and smiled a little. "I know. We all look out for each other." She took a deep breath and blurted out her next sentence. "You can't have the jewel when it's completed." There, she had said it, and now she waited for the outburst that was sure to follow.
"I never thought you were going to give it to me," was his only reply.
"You didn't?" Kagome asked. He shook his head. "Huh," she said with a blush. "I guess I had been thinking about giving it to you for so long that I just forgot that I never told you I would."
"You were going to give me the jewel?" Inuyasha asked, unable to hide his surprise.
Kagome was shocked that he was surprised. "Of course! Well, I wasn't planning to at first, but as I got to know you I came to realize that you deserved it. You've fought harder than any of us, lost more blood than any of us, all for the jewel. I came to trust you, but… but everything's changed now!"
That familiar look of hurt returned to Inuyasha's eyes. "What changed?" he asked, unable to stop the hurt from seeping into his voice too.
Kagome hated to see that look in his eyes. She had seen too much of that recently, and so she hurried to make it go away. "You remember how I told you yesterday that you would be the first person to know what Serena and I had talked about?" He nodded, and Kagome was relieved to see him relax a little. "Serena told me how her crystal had been formed, and the story is almost identical to how the Shikon jewel was formed." She then repeated the story she had heard the day before.
Inuyasha sat and listened to the brief tale that was so similar to one he had heard before. "So, the Shikon jewel is like Serena's crystal?" he asked to clarify things. Kagome nodded. "But this Aliana fought for two days before creating the crystal. Midoriko fought for seven."
That made Kagome pause in her thoughts. Inuyasha had caught a detail that had passed her by. "I never thought of that. I'll have to ask Serena about that."
Inuyasha looked mildly pleased to have thought of something that Kagome had not, but pushed it aside. There were still a lot of things they had to talk about.
"So if the jewel is like the crystal and the crystal could only be purified by one person, then the jewel can only be purified by one person?" Kagome nodded. "And… you…?" Again Kagome nodded. He had to think about this for a moment. The moment stretched into several minutes before he spoke again. "So if you are the only one who can purify the jewel then all we have to do is get the jewel, you purify it, and no one else will be able to corrupt it again?"
"Yeah," Kagome said with a nod. "We've only got to get the jewel from Naraku," she added with a humorless laugh. Inuyasha gave a snort in agreement. "I really am sorry that I can't give you the jewel, Inuyasha," Kagome whispered a moment later. The thought had been troubling her since Serena had first told her the destiny of the jewel.
"I told you," he said with a slight sigh, "I never expected to get the jewel, I didn't know you were planning on giving it to me. But," he had to swallow his instinct to keep his thoughts and feelings to himself. "But somewhere, somehow it stopped being about the jewel. The jewel became about getting closer to Naraku, about making sure we had one more shard that he didn't. And - and the fighting became about protecting you - and the others!" he hastily added, but not in time to save himself from a blush.
Kagome nodded, knowing that even though she was practically blind in the darkness, Inuyasha could see just fine. She did not want to say anything to Inuyasha, but she knew when it had become about killing Naraku. It was the moment he realized that it had been Naraku who had pitted him and Kikyo against each other all those years ago.
Kagome mentally shook herself to rid herself of thoughts of Kikyo. No matter how much she hated to admit it, her life had been going better since Kikyo had passed on. Inuyasha had been sweeter to her and showed more concern. There was even the incident early in the day… This time it took a mental slap to the head to get her thoughts to diverge to a different path. This time the path took her down a road that she was not sure she liked being on. She had promised herself that she would bare her soul that night, but now that the time had come she was not sure if she wanted to. The fear of rejection clung heavy to her heart, but she would have to push it aside and go for it.
Inuyasha sat and watched as emotions played across Kagome's face. Happiness, sadness, anxiety, even a touch of fear. He was not sure what was going on in her mind, but he aimed to find out. Except, Kagome beat him to it.
"Hey, Inuyasha?" she said softly.
"Yeah?" he answered back, his voice also quieter than normal in order to not break the stillness of the night.
"I, uh… do you remember that song I sang that got everyone upset?"
"Yeah," he said in a tone of voice that clearly said he still did not like the song.
"I was thinking last night about it, and I came to a decision… sort of."
Inuyasha's heart skipped a beat. She had come to a decision. 'She's gonna leave me. She's gonna leave me. She's gonna leave me…' "What… what decision?" 'She's gonna leave me. She's gonna leave me. She's gonna…'
"I don't know if I'm going to stay in one era permanently when this is over with, assuming that the well will stay open since the jewel won't be disappearing. But I do know that I - that I, uh…" She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, tying to calm her nerves. "But I do know that no matter what, I would like to stay by your side."
She shut her eyes and waiting for the 'Keh' or the laughter that she felt sure was going to come. So it is needless to say that she was surprised when he instead pulled her into his lap and wrapped his arms around her. She hesitated for a moment before snaking her arms around his back and resting her forehead on his shoulder. He in turn rested a cheek on the top of her head.
They stayed like that as the moon passed by slowly overhead. Neither of them felt tired, just content to be in each other's arms. For this was the first time since they began their journey that they both felt free to do so.
"Kagome?" Inuyasha softly whispered into her ear after almost an hour of the soothing embrace.
"Mm?" she said back, so softly that even he almost did not hear it.
"We should get back." She let out what could only be called a whimper, which caused him to chuckle.
"What?" she said in an annoyed tone.
"Y-you whimpered," he said, still chuckling.
"Do you have a problem with me not wanting to move?" she replied softly.
His breathed hitched at her confession, and he pulled her all the more closer to him. "No, not at all," he whispered. "But you need to get some sleep."
Kagome sighed. She knew he was right, but she also knew that they probably would not have a chance to be at peace like this for a long time. "All right, let's go back to camp." She made a move to get up, but was stopped when Inuyasha instead stood up with her in his arms.
"No reason to move you yet," he said, and was rewarded by her snuggling closer to him.
He walked back to camp, which was much closer than he led Kagome to believe. All the same it took him a while to make it back, because they were both reluctant to let the other go.
Kagome reveled in the feeling of being in Inuyasha's arms. Of course she had been in this position before - being carried bridal style by Inuyasha - but all other times it had been merely to get her out of harms way. This time everything was peaceful, and she could freely and openly nestle into his arms.
'I love being in his arms like this,' she thought. 'I wish we could do this more often. I wish that the unknown wasn't always hanging over our heads. That Naraku was not such a threat. That there is such a big possibility that we will all die soon. I hope we all make it through okay, and that Inuyasha will let be stay by his side. I hope he won't push me away… I wish'
"Wish what?" Inuyasha said, breaking her train of thought.
"Huh?" she said, looking up at him.
"You just said 'I wish'. You wish what?" he said, gazing into her eyes.
She broke the gaze and pressed her face into his shoulder. She contemplated whether or not to tell him what had been on her mind. She decided a moment later that she had already told him much of what was in her heart, so why not what was on her mind?
"I wish…" she hesitated for a moment, before slowly drawling out, "I wish that we could always be like this."
She waited with bated breath for his reply, but one was not forthcoming. She forced herself to breathe evenly, but could not bring herself to look up at his face. Instead she closed her eyes with a sigh and decided to just be content with the here and now.
In his defense, Inuyasha was incapable of speech at the moment. He was, to put it simply, stunned. He had started out the night sure that Kagome would decide to leave him at the end of their quest, despite any love she may feel for him. Yet now, come to find out, her heart was at the same place as his. She was going to stay by his side, and he was going to stay by hers. And he was going to tell her so, but Serena's words came back to him:
'Take it slow. If you suddenly wanted a relationship with Kagome, she would think she was merely a replacement.'
…or something like that. So how to tell her he felt the same without giving her the impression that she was just a replacement?
When they finally reentered the camp everyone was asleep, and Inuyasha had still not found the right words to say. Inuyasha found that someone - probably Sango - had set out Kagome's sleeping bag and had pulled it back, ready for her to slip in. A quick glance around found Shippou curled up in Serena's arms.
Inuyasha gently set Kagome down on her sleeping bag. She automatically snuggled into it, and turned her back to Inuyasha, never once opening her eyes. She was not angry with him at all, she just did not want to see her own feelings not reflected in his eyes.
"Kagome," Inuyasha said softly, but she did not respond. "Kagome," he tried again, a little more forcefully this time. With a sigh she turned and looked up at him. He stared down at her. Now that he had her attention, he was still not sure of to say.
"Inuyasha?" Kagome said, her question in her voice.
"Kagome," he replied. Then, on a whim, he caressed her cheek with his hand, and then rested it there. She tilted her head to be closer to his warmth. "Kagome… I just… I need…" He paused and took a deep breath. "Kagome, just give me time."
Kagome gazed up at him for a moment before a small smile graced her lips. Her hand covered his own and gently pulled it from her cheek. "As long as you need," she said. She then kissed his palm and released his hand. With a smile she closed her eyes and returned to her original position.
Inuyasha lingered over her for a moment before standing up and leaping into the tree above where she lay. It was not until he was comfortably settled against the trunk that he allowed the smile to creep onto lips. For the first time since he was a child, his heart was light and his future was bright.