Inuyasha was powerless to stop the look of horror that now spread across his features. "Kikyo, you can't do this!"

"Inuyasha, I thought that you would be overjoyed at the idea," the clay body that Kikyo had become walked purposefully toward the stunned hanyou. "We could be together again here, in life. There would be no need to drag you down to Hell with me. All you have to do is let me take her, Inuyasha, and you and I can spend the rest of our lives together! Isn't this what you wanted?"

The half-demon fought against his inner turmoil. Yes, he wanted Kikyo to live, but...

"I can't do that, Kikyo. I won't let you kill Kagome." Inuyasha turned from the miko and walked to where Kotori was holding Kagome. The little demon hurriedly placed the girl's body on the snowy ground and fled back into the woods. Part of Inuyasha wanted to hunt the little runt down and kill him for the part he had played in all of this, but his heart steered him to Kagome's side.

"No, Inuyasha! Give her to me! She's nothing more than a poor imitation of me, sent back to this time so that I may have back my soul!"

The words seemed to cut a nerve in the hanyou, and he slowly turned to face his dead love once more. There was something different in his eyes now, something that Kikyo immediately feared. "No, Kikyo. She's not like you," he said more to himself than the priestess. "Kagome may be your reincarnation, but she is her own person, too. The soul in her body no longer belongs to you, Kikyo. Her soul is her own."


Inuyasha hulled Kagome to her feet and sneered. "Ah, what a place end up at. I think it's fitting that you die here, where I should have killed you the first time we met!" He raised his clawed hand and prepared to rip her broken heart from her chest...

Kagome brought up her knee, which came in contact with a very sensitive part of male anatomy. Inuyasha, stunned, dropped her to the ground with a heavy thud and snarled at her. He was only effected for a moment, but that was all the time she needed to remove the gag.

"Sit, sit, sit, sit, sit...!" Her fear had momentarily fled and was replaced by anger. She screamed the word over and over, each time remembering how close he had come to killing her. Once she had said the command enough times to render him helpless for several minutes, she searched the glen for something to use as a weapon. Her eyes set upon her bow and quiver, which had somehow gotten beneath the leafy boughs of the ancient God Tree. She did not hesitate as she picked up the weapon and fitted one of the arrows. This time the nightmare would not end, and Kagome knew she would have to finish it herself before the illusion killed her...


"Inuyasha! Do not leave me like this!" The calm exterior that the priestess relied so heavily upon disappeared as her plan began to fall apart. "You owe me your life! If you are unwilling to give yours, then give me hers! I can stand this half-life no longer! You cannot leave me stuck here, somewhere in between life and death. Inuyasha!"

Her cries fell upon deaf ears as Inuyasha knelt to examine Kagome. She was no longer crying outâ€in fact, she wasn't moving at all. Even through the thick blankets he could feel the heat radiate from her. "Hang on, Kagome," he whispered.

Kikyo's desperation turned to anger as she watched Inuyasha dote on the dying girl. "She will die, Inuyasha. And when she does, I will be there to claim what is mine!"

Inuyasha raised his amber eyes and stared straight through to Kikyo's soul. "No, Kikyo, you won't. My life is forfeit to you, I know that already. But you will not touch Kagome. Now, or ever again. Because if you do, I will personally hunt you down and make sure that the last thing you see is me ripping the life out of your body with my own two hands."


The demon Inuyasha began to pull himself up from the ground. The look on his face was fearsome, and for a moment Kagome lost her courage. But as the wicked smile formed on his lips, the young miko ceased to hesitate and let her arrow fly.

Her aim was steady and true as the arrow slammed into Inuyasha's chest. He reached one bloodied hand down to grasp at the shaft, and he stared down at the wooden bolt in disbelief. The color drained from his eyes, and Kagome watched as the Inuyasha she had known before returned. "Ka-gome...?" Amber eyes locked with brown for a moment before sliding shut for the final time. As his limp body slumped to the ground, Kagome watched the Shikon no Tama fall from his lifeless fingers. "Inuyasha, what have I done?" Kagome turned and fled into the forest, refusing to look at the pool of blood that gathered beneath the corpse of her only love.


Kikyo stared at Inuyasha in shock. She watched, helpless as he turned from her for what she knew to be the last time. If her body could produce tears, her porcelain face would have been streaked with salty trails.

Inuyasha ignored the miko, having forced his attention away from her stricken face. The beauty he had once seen there was gone, replaced by something ugly that he now refused to acknowledge. Instead he focused on Kagome, who was stirring once more. He gently picked her up, and was preparing to leave the desolate clearing when something unexpected occurred.

Kagome opened her eyes, and Inuyasha's heart skipped a beat. "Kagome?" He stared down at her, hope beaming in his amber eyes. But Kagome, her own eyes clouded with fever, must have seen something far different. She screamed, a sharp, shrill sound that hurt his sensitive ears. The girl struggled in his arms, and he fought to keep her from falling. Fear drove her movements, however, and she soon fell from his grasp and hit the ground. In moments she was up, stumbling into the forest at a blind run that should not have been possible in her state.

"Kagome!" With one last hallow look back at Kikyo, Inuyasha set off after the fever-mad girl.

Kikyo watched as the pair departed, and a sad smile graced her lips. Even if Inuyasha did catch the girl, it was too late. Her mind had snapped, and it would not be long until the girl collapsed in a lifeless heap in the snow. With that final thought, Kikyo gathered her demons close and set off after her last chance at life.