Another's Name, But My Heart

By Lady of the Ink

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, but you knew that . . .I hope. But I do own this plot and all the twists that it takes.

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General Reminder:

Kagome will now be known as Kagome and Kikyo will mean the real Kikyo, no matter whose POV it is.

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Thanks so much for the 200 reviews!!

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Chapter Twenty-Four

Running Away

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Dear Inuyasha,

I know that this is going to come as a shock, but there's something that you have to know. I'm not who you think I am . . .

After the first few sentences, Inuyasha felt his entire body freeze as though slowly being encased in ice. His eyes widened as he read the words she had written, all the while a voice at the back of his mind screamed in denial. There was no way Kikyo would have lied to him as she wrote that she had. There was no way that Kikyo would have pulled him into her arms if she was hiding such a secret. There was no way Kikyo would just leave after dropping such a bombshell.

But then, the woman he had thought was Kikyo apparently wasn't Kikyo at all.

As soon as he realized where the confession was going, he wanted to stop reading it. Although it was a childish reaction, he had some vague hopes that if he didn't finish it, it wouldn't be true. In the end, he forced himself to continue, the need to know it all overriding even the pain the words brought to his chest. He didn't stop until he reached the bottom of the paper. There, his focus found a new target. A signature, far different from the one he had been expecting.

Kagome.

Not Kikyo.

Kagome.

A tidal wave of rage swelled inside him as he faced the implications of what he had just learned. If the woman who had occupied that room and written the letter he had found inside it wasn't Kikyo, it caused a lot of problems. Not only was their marriage a sham, but his claim to the lands would also be in question. The agreement to avoid fighting had been made after the switch, which meant it was meaningless. Eve if Kikyo didn't find some way to defeat him, she still had the option of claiming his entitlement was unlawful, since it had been gained in the way that it had.

Crumbling the paper in his fist, Inuyasha rose and paced with short, jerky steps. He had been played from the moment he had stepped onto Kikyo's lands, and now he was back to where he had started from. The domain he had so recently thought of with pride as belonging to him really didn't. If he wanted to claim them -rightfully- he would be drawn into the battle he had been so pleased to avoid. People would get hurt, and the peaceful air of the area would be shattered and lost forever.

Would the villagers still accept him so readily if he were forced to bring down their neighbors and sons during battle?

Would they still speak of him as wise when they learned that all he had acquired could be taken from him in one fell swoop?

Would the people still respect him if they found out that he had been duped by two women?

A growl rumbled from his throat. Kikyo and Kagome. Witches cloaked in almost identical skins of innocence. It was hard for him to decide which he loathed more. Kikyo had acted like the spoiled child he now knew her to be, running away from things she didn't like rather than facing them head-on and dealing with them. Kagome . . .Kagome had lied. She had lied to his face, with her words and her shy glances, with her offers of friendship and her phony smiles . . .

Yes, he definitely despised Kagome more. Whatever her reasons, whether it was truly to protect her family as she would have him believe, there would have been another way. She could have told him the truth in the beginning and asked for his help. Didn't she know that she could trust him?

No, he thought, a spate of inner honesty braking into his thoughts. In the beginning, she had known nothing about him. She had never even seen a demon before and had nothing to go on regarding their tendencies other than storied meant to frighten small children into obedience. She would have had to have been an idiot to trust him right away.

But now, after the weeks they had spent together, she had to have known him a little. She should have known she could trust him with her story . . . His eyes dropped to the wrinkled ball of paper peeking through his fingers. In the end, she had admitted the truth but hadn't had enough faith in his reaction to do it to his face. Instead, she had taken the coward's way out by jotting a few lines and then running like the wind.

Grinding his teeth together forcefully, Inuyasha threw the letter as hard as he could. There was a nearly silent impact followed by a whisper of sound as the missive dropped to the floor and out of sight. He turned away angrily, his eyes taking in the room as he did so, noticing what he hadn't upon his entrance. At the many and varied signs of her desertion, a new flash of anger rose inside of him. He stomped from the room, wanting to distance himself from the place that smelled like her, felt like her. Slamming the door with satisfying force, he made a vow to himself as he stormed down the hall. He would hold onto the lands that he had gained, no matter what it took. No sacrifice would be too much to turn him from accomplishing his goal. This kingdom would be his, rightfully and without question.

As for Kagome, she could vanish for all he cared. If he never saw her again, it would be too soon. There was no place in his life for liars.

...

It had been easier than Kagome had anticipated to slip unnoticed from the castle and through the courtyard. Although there were a large number of people milling around, they were all preoccupied by the tasks that they were involved in. She could only guess that the unexpected arrival of Inuyasha's parents had caused the distraction, and for that she was grateful.

The walk towards her home was an eye-opening experience. Streets that she had once traveled over almost daily seemed strange and unfamiliar. Many of the buildings had changed drastically, beneficiaries of the rash of upgrades and improvements that Inuyasha had instituted. The people, too, were different from when she had seen them last. Gone were the worried and helpless expressions of villagers at the mercy of a situation they couldn't control. It was more than just the relief of an aborted war; it was the contentment of a life that had become easier and seemed destined to remain that way.

Guilt swelled within her at each and every change she noted. Inuyasha had done so very many good things and in the end, it could all be taken from him. The worst part was that a lot of the blame could be laid at her feet. She had served him the worst injustice imaginable, and nothing could change that.

The sight of the small house that she had grown up in rising into view brought a sheen of tears into her eyes. She wanted to rush inside and turn and run in the other direction at the same time. As much as she longed for the comfort of her family and familiar surroundings, Kagome knew her mother. It would only take a moment for the older woman to know that something was wrong with her only daughter. Kagome knew that her only hope was to convince her mother that her depression was caused by the prospect of leaving her family behind once more for her new job.

Kagome paused at the door, unsure of whether or not to knock before entering. The decision was taken from her when it was thrown open and she saw her mother framed in the doorway. One second they were standing a foot apart, staring at each other, and the next they were wrapped in each other's arms, laughing and crying at the same time.

The effusive greeting set the tone of the rest of the visit. Before she knew it, Kagome was ushered inside and given the best seat at the table. Souta was out, but her grandfather sat in his traditional spot by the fire. He proved how much he had missed her by actually rising to his feet in order to give her a hug.

The afternoon and evening passed quickly as she spoke with her mother and grandfather, and to Souta as well when he returned. They wanted to know about everything that she had be doing during their time apart, and she struggled to answer them as honestly as possible. She explained about the castle, describing the rooms, servants, and other perks while her mother placed a simple dinner on the table for them all. It was well past midnight before they all turned in for the night.

.The sun had barely crested the horizon when Kagome said goodbye amongst hugs and promises to visit that she didn't intend to keep. The bag on her back was twice as full as it had been before, packed with her own clothes and the bundle of food her mother wouldn't hear of her leaving without. Its weight was comforting, like an echo of the sensation of her mother's arms around her.

She kept to the main road on her way out of the village, nodding to the people she knew but not stopping to talk. Haste was the thing foremost in her mind and she didn't want to be slowed down by idle chatter. After what she had done to him, she doubted Inuyasha would come after her, and she didn't blame him. But if she was wrong and he did follow, she wanted any potential confrontation to be as far from prying eyes as possible. It wouldn't be fair for her family to suffer gossip due to her own foolish choices.

As she left the town behind, she began paying closer attention to her surroundings. When she was sure that no one was watching, she slipped off the path and into the woods that edged it. Ducking behind a tree, she dug through her bag until she located the thick woolen cloak bundled at the bottom of it. It was wrapped around a shirt and pants belonging to Souta that she had swiped when no one was looking.

Discarding her dress and all the trappings it required, she pulled on the masculine clothes. The pants were a bit tight about her hips, but they would do nicely until she could find better fitting ones. The shirt was loose enough to conceal her figure, but she decided to cover it with the cloak just to be safe. As she slipped it on, she pulled the hood over her head so that her features were completely disguised.

When she retook the road once more, she was no longer Kagome Higurashi. In her own mind and, she hoped, in the minds of anyone who saw her, she was just another nameless, faceless traveler. She was counting on the anonymity afforded her by her outfit to keep anyone from getting too close. At that point, curiosity was as much her enemy as ill intent from any thieves she was likely to meet. The smaller the amount of attention she garnered, the better.

...

The figure stood in the thickest part of the tree line, seeing everything but remaining unknown to those he watched. His posture was negligent; his arms crossed over his chest and his hip braced against the trunk at his side. Despite the air of laziness that everything down to his half-closed eyes implied, he was actually very much in touch with what was happening around him.

It took a scant few seconds for the cloaked figure striding down the path to catch his attention. It wasn't so much her -he knew it was a woman immediately, in spite of her apparent attempts to hide it- as the scent that clung to her like an unwelcome musk. A cocky smirk tilted his lips as he pushed away from the tree, fully focused on the woman before. Matching his steps to hers, the dark-haired man followed along, planning his revenge as he went.

'Now I'll make you pay, Inuyasha.'

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