Author's notes (optional reading): Okay, no reviews so far. Either my writing is worse than I thought, or the prospect of a fic that's pro Kagome/Inuyasha yet void of Kikyou bashing is too hard for most to comprehend. Ah well, I'm having fun with this fic so I shall continue it...would be nice to get at least one reader, though... Mutters to herself inaudibly

Oh, right. If I get any relatively positive feedback, I may make this into an actual fic instead of just a three-part piece.

Also, I don't tend to use romaji (the English spelling of Japanese words) for it is rather trying for someone who is not learning Japanese to decipher their meaning, whether the author has a glossary or not. Actually, it's freakin' annoying. However, I will use the word miko instead of priestess...just because. If I use any other Japanese word by mistake, feel free to yell at me/whatever punishment you feel fit to choose.

Disclaimer is in previous chapter.

"The Threads of Fate"

Chapter II: Kagome and Kikyou

Raven tresses flew as the girl shot out of bed. Bleary chocolate orbs scanned the musky darkness, searching for the intruder.

Kagome's dark brows furrowed. She saw nothing. Tiptoeing to her window, she sought out the source of power that had gently, almost hesitantly brushed against her own.

Nothing again.

"It feels different..." Her curious whisper filled the eerily-quiet room. Inuyasha...

She blushed, but that quickly receded. Even after all this time, she still thought about him. Especially whenever there was a sense of danger. But no, that wasn't right. She didn't feel a threat, or a demon. Then why did her miko powers suddenly flare so?

Nervously tugging on the sleeve of her pink cotton pajamas, she sat on her bed and closed her eyes. Kaede had been trying to teach her how to control her powers before the "incident" with Naraku. Now she called upon as much of that teaching as she could.

Taking in a deep, shuddering breath, she placed her hands out, palms forward, and stilled. A light pink glow warmed the shadowy room. Her power began to expand, spiraling, spinning.

Naught a glimmer of response.

A small frustrated whine left her lips, but she tried harder. Creasing her brows, she focused all her energy into one coalescent sphere and pushed with all her might.

The pure power filled her very core, and as it slowly drained from her body out into the world, it took her along with it. Kagome let the calm currents sweep her away as she waited to find the probing power that awoke her from her sweet slumber...

Kagome suddenly found herself engulfed by a suffocating blackness. Everywhere she went; there was nothing, nothing...until...

There! She felt it! A power, much like her own, quickly reached out towards her. Kagome, still riding the soft, rolling wave of her miko power, reached out in response. The two entities met in a great, blinding flash of rose light...

Serene autumn met startled honey brown as Kagome and Kikyou stood face to face in the darkness. They both considered each other for a long moment before Kagome broke the tense silence.

"So you were the one trying to reach me?" Kikyou, still dressed in the garbs of a miko, simply nodded her head.

Kagome was completely dumbfounded...and a little wary. She grimaced as a fragment of the memory she had tried so hard to suppress came back.

Flashback

All around her was death. The sounds of the whizzing arrows, clashing swords, and screams of many filled her ears; filled her mind. She couldn't take it anymore.

With a fierce, determined look in her eyes, Kagome picked herself off the ground. Her attacker had left; presumed her dead. An unusual smirk graced Kagome's face. Her attacker thought wrong.

Bow and arrow ready in hand, she hunted the slimy, putrescent green demon covered in the pungent pus that stuck to her body and covered her school uniform.

He wasn't hard to spot; the sluggish demon had barely made it ten feet away. A sizzling anger filled her, and before she knew it, her power began to violently surge. A hot pink glow enshrouded her as she slowly, gracefully raised the bow and arrow. Notching an arrow, an almost haughty grunt left her lips as the bow quivered.

One...two...three!

Her fingers let it fly.

The arrow struck the demon perfectly through the heart, a large aura of pink power exploding in its radius, obliterating a good hundred demons nearby for good measure.

After that burst of power, something clicked inside of the teenager. Her honey eyes glazed over and her limbs seemed to move of their own accord.

Kagome was cloaked by her miko powers as she slowly made her way towards the front of the fray; where Kikyou, with the Shikon no Tama, and Naraku were skirmishing. Whenever a demon even scratched the surface of the dome-like orb surrounding her, they were quickly disintegrated. Soon, there was no demon left besides their allies and the slimy Naraku himself.

Inuyasha and the others turned in confusion when the demons they were fighting suddenly erupted in a brilliant flash of pink light.

Mouths agape and eyes wide in fear and fright, they ran up to their friend covered in the beautiful, but deadly aura. They screamed and they shouted, but it made little difference.

Kagome was locked inside herself.

All her vacant eyes saw was energy. And the way the energy was recognized was simple: Human good, demon bad.

She was unaware of the frightened, squeaking voice coming towards her. "Kagome! Kagome, what are you doing?" Shippou, greatly concerned for the woman he saw as a motherly figure, wrestled out of the firm grip Inuyasha held him back with.

The little fox demon scampered through the mud and leapt to her shoulder.

"Shippou, no!" Miroku had just enough time to grab the boy as Shippou's hand touched the surface of the orb's power. He let out a yelp as his hand sizzled, burned by the pure power that didn't recognize him as a friend, but a threat.

Her friends stood back, worry gleaming in their already tired gazes.

"Kagome..." Inuyasha's poignant whisper carried on the fierce wind, brushing uselessly past her unhearing ears.

She had made it. One immense sphere of wretched black power blocked her, seeped unwelcome into her senses like a noxious mist. Before it, however, was a great ball of pure power, slightly tainted by its holder.

Kikyou.

She was using Shikon no Tama, trying as hard as she could to destroy this foul demon.

Kagome called the jewel to her outstretched hands.

As like attracts like, the jewel recognized the pure force calling to it and followed.

Kikyou gasped in horror as the Shikon no Tama disappeared from her grasp. She turned as a great miko power hissed and crackled angrily behind her. Kagome stood surrounded by her sizzling pure power, Shikon no Tama floating above her open palms.

A small, sad smile crawled onto the woman's face as a quiet, bitter laugh escaped her pale lips. She had thought she could destroy Naraku using the jewel, but it seems she wasn't even strong enough to accomplish that. Gazing up into the wild, twinkling night sky, she realized tonight was her time to die...and she welcomed it.

A dark, hideous cackle dripping malice echoed throughout the forest. "You honestly think you have a better chance of harnessing the jewel's power than Kikyou? You must be more foolish than I thought, human!" Naraku continued his roaring laughter until Kagome brought her hands in, focusing her power, seeing, hearing, knowing nothing other than the dark force she knew she must eliminate.

Everyone watched, entranced, as a large sphere of shimmering light formed around Kagome and the jewel.

The covered their eyes as the flickering light became much too bright, yet Inuyasha still managed to catch a glimpse of Kikyou standing in front of Naraku, unmoving. "Kikyou, watch out!" His roar was swallowed by the hissing and crackling of the pure orb that quickly made its way towards Naraku and Kikyou.

She was smiling.

Tear drops slid down her face as Naraku bellowed and their bodies were swallowed by the force of the power.

A brilliant flash! And then...nothing.

Kagome crumpled to the ground, tears cascading down her face in a crystal waterfall. Inuyasha, still shocked by what had just transpired, was snapped out of his reverie when she unleashed an agonizing wail. The half demon quickly sprinted to her side, taking her face in both claws.

Inuyasha felt his heart wrench at the distressed look on her face, chocolate-honey eyes brimming with the sparkling tears that ran down her wet cheeks. She whispered one barely audible thing before passing out in his waiting arms.

"What have I done? I killed...K-Kikyou..."

End flashback

Kagome didn't realize she had begun crying until a warm, friendly hand gently wiped away some of the tears.

She looked up to see Kikyou smiling warmly down at her. Her brows creased deeply in puzzlement. She's...smiling at me?!

"I wanted to thank you." Kikyou's voice still held the beautiful, deep lilting tone it always carried, but it seemed much more bright and cheerful now.

Kagome shook her head. "You wanted to thank me? I...I killed you!" This didn't make any sense to her. Why was Kikyou so nice suddenly?

"Kagome..." Deep and full of emotion, her voice floated past Kagome's ears, making her want to start crying all over again. "You didn't kill me; you liberated me. You freed me. I had no desire to live again; every day was a living hell for me."

Kagome watched the woman before her carefully. She looked so much happier. Was this how Kikyou was before? Before Naraku had pulled his malevolent trickery? She was so full of life, so graceful...no wonder Inuyasha loved her. "So you contacted me to thank me..." Kikyou nodded her head.

Kagome licked her lips. There was a question that had been nagging her since that day...

"When you...died, I felt as if there was something missing from me. Why?" Both their gazes met again. Kikyou inhaled deeply. "You are not whole, Kagome. Neither am I. We are sharing the same soul. Before, I was still alive, therefore you felt the connection. But now..." Kagome nodded her head.

A silent gasp escaped from her lips as it hit her. Gratitude wasn't the only reason Kikyou had called her here; she was offering the rest of her soul as well. But if Kikyou gave it up...

"I can't accept it!" Kikyou let out a weary sigh as she placed a tender hand on the girl she had barely met, yet felt she knew so well. "I have to. It's not my time to live, it's yours." One more tear trickled down the side of Kagome's face.

"But Inuyasha..."

"What about him?"

"He loves you..."

To her surprise, Kikyou laughed. It was a pretty sound that somehow reminded her of the deep orange and red colors of autumn leaves. "He loves you, Kagome...has he not said anything to you?" Kikyou looked down upon Kagome with interest as she shook her head. Yet another sigh left Kikyou. "That fool...I told him..."

"What did you do after Naraku was defeated, Kagome?" Kagome nervously tugged at her sleeves again. "I...left. I couldn't face Inuyasha after I killed his only love...and I took the jewel with me." A pang hit Kikyou as she looked at Kagome's face. Did the girl really think so lowly of herself?

"Go to him, Kagome...I have no doubt that he misses you." With that, Kikyou stepped forward, placing her palms on either of Kagome's shoulders. She gasped as something warm filled her, something she had been waiting for since the day Kikyou had been re-awakened.

And then it was over. Kagome found herself sitting back on her bed, the moon's pale light shining through the fluttering curtains. She found herself walking to the window, her gaze traveling to the well...

Casting a glance to her desk where the Shikon no Tama lay glittering, she nodded her head.

After one year, she was finally going back to feudal Japan.

To be continued...

Blech, this didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. Oh well, I'm just glad for it to get out. If you have any comments, please feel free to leave a review...