All italics are Inuyasha speaking. Regular print unless otherwise noted is Kikyo. Just thought I'd save some confusion by pointing that out. Sorry if this turns out short but I'm trying to avoid doing any overkill. :p
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Inuyasha, she is not me. Nor will she ever be. Why do you persist on holding on to her? She may be my reincarnation but surely you have not fallen so much that you've deluded yourself into believing she could be my substitute?
Kikyo, I KNOW Kagome is not the same person as you. And I know that she can never replace you. That's not what I'm trying to do. You, I promised to protect you always, and I've failed you once. But you've been brought back. So have I. Those years pinned to the tree, damn it Kikyo, they were hell!
A fate you've deserved Inuyasha. Things cannot be changed back to then, even so your life is still mine. I will not linger here in this world any longer than is necessary to finish off Naraku. When I leave, I will leave with all that is mine.
I've already resigned myself to that Kikyo. If that's what you want than that's fine with me. But, my own hatred of your betrayal it stayed inside of me for so many years, still when I saw you again, I was …. I wasn't mad, I was ecstatic. You were back Kikyo! I saw it as we've been given another chance. Another chance to change our fates and maybe find that happiness we were cheated out of …
You really are a fool Inuyasha. I may have been resurrected but I have NOT been 'brought back.' What we shared was destroyed. It cannot be ever again. I did not betray you; not in the manner you believe me to have.
Kikyo, you DID betray me! It was not me that ran my claws through you. But it WAS you that did me in with that damn arrow to the tree. You killed me. You say my life is yours, well one way to see it, you've already claimed that life. So, you don't really have any right to this new life now. But I'm still willing to give it to you because I failed you…..
INUYASHA! Your life is still mine. I was robbed of your death once by my reincarnate but I will not be denied. I have every right to claim what is mine, and I shall. No one else may have you. You do not belong here anymore than I do. Your place, as well as mine, and Naraku's, they should have ended all those years ago. Do you not understand, we are shadows. Made up of moonlight and memories. Our flesh is not real, it cannot be, we died. We are dead. Your hesitation in leaving is, I believe, tied to that novice miko. Will you continue to deceive yourself into believing you could have a life once more? It ended all those decades ago.
Kagome brought me back to life. I thought she was you when I first woke up. Even after all that happened you were still the first that I thought of, I still love you Kikyo. I always will. I don't hate you for what you did anymore. I know why and that makes all the difference in the world to me, I've forgiven you. You don't deserve my anger, if the faith in our love was stronger; I like to believe we would have seen through the tricks. But it was still too new and we didn't understand. But as time passed, time with Kagome and the others, I realized that as you grow older you began to tell the difference between..
Rather presumptuous of you. You who did not trust anyone else until I taught it to you. You would now stand there and dictate to me on love? My hate, it has not abetted completely. I have not forgiven, neither you nor Naraku. Even so, I have loosened my hold on it. I remember the joy I experienced with you, however briefly it was. It comes to me sometimes in moments unexpected. I do not however indulge in it too much. My purpose is not to try and re-live what already occurred. I have to set right what has been distorted and mutilated. I cannot allow myself to be distracted by my own memories or desires. You should not be either.
Kikyo. How could you just turn your back on us? On what we could be again? You….you haven't thought that maybe we could…. No, I can see in your eyes. You HAVE thought on it.
Did I not just finish saying that?
So, why not?
That question I have already answered as well.
You've forsaken me, is that it? Just given up and moved on? Not worth the effort am I? Is that it?
Inuyasha, I have already explained…
No you have not! All that you've done is skirt around the issue. You're trying to avoid answering me. Why? Is it that hard for you to think on it? Is so damn difficult to spare me a few loving thoughts/ Maybe the reason you still carry around all that hate isn't because of what happened to us. Maybe the real reason is because you're mad at yourself! Is your ego the grounds on why you're still do damn angry?! Did it get wounded more than your heart?
You do not know what you are speaking of.
Hel-lo! I know a lot about busted egos. I've had to deal with it for years before and after you came into my life. That's it isn't it? Gods, how could you?
Inuyasha, don't try to play the role of the wounded lover. It does not suite you. You demean yourself by doing it. Think on it Inuyasha, that novice miko is my reincarnate, did it never occur to you that you might also have reincarnated. That by being brought back, the future you has now been murdered so you can subsist here again? Is the life you cling to so diligently worth sacrificing that one? What right do you have to deny its existence? You stand there and preach to me about 'recapturing our love'. How would you know if we haven't done so already in the next life? If it is comfort you are seeking from me I am afraid I do not have it to offer you.
Kikyo….
Kagome, she has been severely wounded hasn't she? Did you send here back to her own time for healing?
How did you know that?
Fool, with her death my soul will be whole again. It began to fill but stopped. It can only mean that she has escaped death somehow.
So, she will survive.
I did not say she would survive. Only that her death was postponed. I still feel a trickle of my soul returning to me. That could mean that she will die soon, and the healers of her time are fighting the inevitable.
I.. I failed her as well. I couldn't protect her either. I still wasn't strong enough….
It is of no interest to me, your shortcomings, however, I would like to know how it happened that she was wounded.
Why?
I have my reasons.. Now tell me.
We were after a jewel shard……….
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