Okay...I noticed in one review...the reviewer (who shall remain nameless)had absolutely NOTHING to say about my story...They were shall we say, politically concerned. And worse yet, someone actually replied to that reviewin another review. Okay if you want to have political discussions I don't really care, whole "freedom of speech" and all that, but please do it somewhere else. I mean in a REVIEW I want to know what you thought of MY STORY. And I found it rather rude of this person to ADVERTISE their opinion or whatever in my reviews. If you want to do this, do it on your OWN fics or profile pages, or better yet your own SITE. This really ticked me off and the only reason I could see for this person posting that in my reviews was that my story had to do with an election. SO WHAT? I bet this person didn't even READ my story and just REVIEWED (if you could even call it that) to get his or her two cents in. Please keep any discussion out of my review space, please. It irritates me when I see "review alert" in my inbox and I open it to see something that has NOTHING TO DO WITH MY STORY.

Thank you.

By the way, sorry for the wait. My last post was right before the holidays. Right before midterms and my internet just does not like me because I'm back to dial-up and I have been EVERYWHERE since last Sunday...Anyway, here it is...

'Ships: Kagome/Inuyasha, Sango/Miroku (duh)

Chapter Title: Let Me Die!

Chapter Teaser: The people speaking of her reawakening were in serious denial. She was dead.

Notes: "words"- means speaking; 'words'- means thinking; italics- emphasis on words

Dedication: To my three inspirational Inuyasha writers: Rozefire, Pline, and Rogue Pryde.

Disclaimer: Well it's the day after Christmas and I got everything I wanted (with the exception of the OC's first season). However, I did not have enough Christmas money to buy Inuyasha copyrights from Rumiko Takahashi...so sadly, I still don't own Inuyasha. There's still next Christmas!

Chapter Fourteen: Let Me Die!

Kagome was awake. Well she was aware of her surroundings anyway. She could hear people sobbing, laughing. Children down the hall screaming while they were getting shots. Vaguely, with all the cries and screams echoing in her ears, she wondered if she was in Hell. She couldn't see... Yet she could still feel pain. Damn, death wasn't all numb and cold as she'd hoped. She listened, since that was all she could manage to do in her state, whatever it was. Was she in limbo? Before she tried to decipher any of the strange new happenings, she heard people speaking to her.

"Oh honey," The voice broke with tears, but Kagome recognized it. To her horror, she felt another pain, this time in her heart.'Mama...' She thought, reaching out with her mind, even though she knew it was helpless. "Please wake up baby. Daddy and I need you. You're the glue that holds us together sweetie. I-It's not right! No child should go before her mother..." The woman broke into sobs and was led away by a strong presence, also crying, though not nearly as loudly. Her father.

It was only a moment before more voices returned.

"Kagome, when you wake up I am going to...to...Oh I don't know what I'm gonna do! But you're gonna be in pain! You know, after I hug the life out of you, you will get your comeuppance!"

One word registered in Kagome's mind at hearing that angry, yet emotional female voice...Sango. She heard a male chuckle and knew Miroku had to be with her. "Sango, threatening her will not make her want to come back any sooner." Sango let out a strangled laugh and Kagome's heart clenched.

'Do they really miss me that much?'

After a moment, a small voice came through the darkness.

"Can I see my sister?"

Kagome didn't know for sure, but she had assumed that she was in her casket and that this was her funeral. The people speaking of her reawakening were in serious denial. She was dead. But at hearing her little brother's voice, her heart tightened painfully and she was weeping on the inside but she had no idea of knowing if it was showing on the outside. Of course, if she was dead that bodily function would also be dead wouldn't it...?

"Sis, I'm sorry I annoyed you so much...I'm sorry for anything I might have done that d-drove you to...this...I love you Kagome, please don't leave me. You gotta scare all my possible girlfriends away and be the big sister that looks out for me and-" His voice broke and he was silent for a moment. Kagome heard him sniffle. Was Souta, the big boy, crying? Over his sister? Over something that wasn't even his fault? He began to cry, she could hear it. She heard Sango offer to move him away and she felt it...

Souta hugged her. She could feel the impact on her body...Did that mean she wasn't dead? She was so very, very confused. Souta whispered one last thing before leaving with Sango and Miroku (who were very touched at this display of sibling love)...

"Besides, sis, I don't think that Inuyasha guy could live without you."

If her body would have obeyed her inner commands, she would have so let out a huge gasp and woken up right then. Souta did not just say...That...He...No way...

It felt like hours had passed when her next visitor arrived. She was beginning to get a funny tingling, like when your foot falls asleep, but this was, like, all over. As she was really starting to get freaked out by it, she heard movement. That kind of freaked her out even more, she didn't like this, it was like being blind. Kagome remembered playing a game in drama class a long time ago, where you were blindfolded and cotton was stuffed into your ears, to see what it was like to be Helen Keller. Well right now it felt like someone had removed the cotton but forgotten about the blindfold. Kagome had decided she would much rather be deaf when she heard shuffling footsteps. Maybe hearing wasn't such a bad thing...

Question was...Who was it?

Inuyasha's eyes filled with tears when he saw her, but he refused to let them fall. He would be a man. He would not cry. Not even if the one girl he loved lay unconscious on the bed in front of him. Oh the hell with it.

He felt a tear unwillingly slide down his cheek as he scooted the visitor chair close to the bed. The teardrop landed near Kagome's lips and she felt the tingling sensation intensify. It felt as if her whole body was lit on fire or something. It felt really cold, but she could also feel warmth in the tips of her fingers and toes. Suddenly, she regained bodily actions. She licked her lips and tasted salt, but he didn't see her do it. More tears escaped his golden eyes, glazed over with heartache as he stroked one of her hands. Kagome's whole body felt numb, but she cracked open an eyelid and the brightness overwhelmed her. Blinking about a hundred times, she tried to speak. It worked, though her voice was extremely hoarse...It was like she would have to learn to talk again. Her tongue felt thick in her throat, like it was just in the way.

"Inu-yah-a..."

The whisper was so faint, he could have sworn he was imagining things. He lifted his tear-stained face to look at her, and moistened golden eyes met brown ones, still groggy from sleep. The golden eyes widened and any remaining tears evaporated. He had to be strong for her. And he had to fight back the shock that had risen somewhere in the region of his Adam's apple.

"K-Kagome?" He choked, watching her as she surveyed her surroundings. Suddenly, she sat up, fear overtaking her. She was in a hospital, the screams and shouts were not Hell, as she had imagined. She was not in a casket! She hadn't been "brought back from the dead" and freaked out everyone at the funeral. Why was she here? What...?

'No! No, this isn't right! I'm supposed to be dead! Gone! Six feet under!'

"Why am I here?" She asked frantically, brown eyes wide with some misplaced emotion. Inuyasha gaped at her. Did she not remember? He was about to speak, when she spoke up again.

"Nevermind," She shook her head quickly, "How did I get here?"

"Here? As in Earth here, or..." Inuyasha asked slowly as he tried to figure out what exactly she was asking him. An exasperated voice tore from her throat.

"The hospital, you idiot!"

"Ambulance, wench! We found you in the bathtub! We called 911!" He reached out and entwined her fingers with his, squeezing her hand. "Damn it, Kagome!"

She clutched his hand and when she did, looked down at her own hands. Her arms were wrapped in pristine white bandages all the way up to her elbows. She hadn't succeeded in killing herself. They had saved her. Kagome wrenched her hand from his grasp and stared at him, a mix of confusion and disgust on her face.

"How could you?" She whispered vindictively, her voice laced with so much hatred that had it been poison, it would have killed the now confused hanyou on the spot. She stared at him in wonder. He returned the look, eyebrows raised.

"What?"

"How could you ha-have saved me?" It wasn't a question, it was an accusation.

"What...?" He sputtered, then regained his angry demeanor, "We weren't going to just sit there while you got a one-way ticket to Hell Kagome! Damn! Are you that dense?"

Infuriated, Kagome leaned forward and began beating her fists upon his chest, sobbing uncontrollably. Each blow to his chest caused her to weaken and she wondered why they even let her live. "Why? Why didn't you let me die? Why did you let them save me?" Her beatings slowed until she was just weakly hitting him, and her hands stopped, resting on his chest. By then she was merely laying with her head against his collarbone, crying. "Why?" Came out once more in a strangled whisper.

The pounding on the outside of Inuyasha's chest had ceased, but the pounding of his heart inside thumped, if possible, even louder and faster.

Startled, Inuyasha placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed her away lightly. He didn't want her away, the warmth of her body so close to his made him never want to let her go. He felt as if he had lost her and now no way was he going to let it happen again. He removed his right hand and gently used his forefinger and thumb to lift her chin. Gold clashed with brown and his heart clenched. Her eyes were deadened. No longer did they glitter with happiness, no longer was her pain masked. It was there. Real. And very, very raw. He could see the anguish, the self-loathing, every pitiful emotion invented was locked in those brown eyes. Those same brown eyes he had fallen in love with, yet so different...

"Answer me a question, 'Why did you want to die?'" His golden eyes bore deep into hers and she looked away. Her voice came as a whisper once again. But the whisper held a monotone, memorized sound, like she had thought this over before.

"I'm not worth it. Had I been...dangling from a bridge by one arm, or still in that bathtub, it wouldn't matter. I would not be worth saving. I am worth nothing. So I would die as nothing, to be absorbed into nothing. I would not be missed. Nothing would be lost except dead weight on a ship in danger of sinking."

Inuyasha lifted her gaze to his once more and simply looked into her eyes. So much of their relationship could be revealed in eye contact that it was scary...

He looked past the hurt and into her soul.

A broken spirit, torn by simple words on an impressionable mind.

"You're wrong." He too, was confined to whispering, since he seemed to not have enough strength to speak any louder. "You are worth living. You were worth saving. You are worth more than anything to me." She was shaking her head and looking down at her lap again, not being able to bear what he was telling her."Damn it Kagome! Look at me!" He placed both hands on her jawbone gently, yet roughly, and turned her to face him, her face cradled in his hands, his forehead inches from her own. "You scared the hell out of me! I thought I was never going to see you again!"

"Well, that was the intentional plan..."

"Kagome, when you were there... When I saw you... A part of me died inside. It was like my heart just...stopped. And I knew if I lost you, I would never be able to live with myself."

"But it wasn't your fault!" She said, shocked at his reasoning, "It was mine! All of it! All of it has been my fault!"

Fed up with reasoning, he pressed his lips roughly to hers. After the initial of his mouth on hers, she welcomed his kiss and he once again felt her dire need for love. He also remembered the circumstances of their first kiss and he let his twisted emotions speak through his mouth, deepening the kiss. Love, fear, heartbreak, pain... He broke contact and with her face still in his hands, and his forehead touching hers, he gazed into her eyes and saw a spark there. He had re-ignited her spirit.

Trying his luck, he quoted something. After all, quoting Romeo and Juliet had worked out well. It was a movie this time, though, and he wondered vaguely if she had seen it, but didn't care, because it fit. It fit with the situation, it fit with what he had just said...It fit them, even if this incident had never happened. "You complete me."

He saw her smile. Through the tears still streaming down her cheeks, even with Inuyasha lightly brushing them away with his thumb (being mindful of his claws), she spoke another line, confirming that she had, in fact, seen the movie, which was entitled Jerry Maguire.

''You had me at 'Hello.'" She laughed lightly and then said, "Or rather, you had me at 'Feh, Kouga's a jerk.'"

They smiled at the memory, and Inuyasha kissed her lightly on the forehead. As he did that she closed her eyes, thinking. Wondering why he stood by her. 'Of course,' she realized, 'it must be because I want him happy. He must want me to be happy for the same reasons. If not for the fact that I thought killing myself would make his life and everyone else's much easier and happier, I would have stayed by his side, just like he is doing for me right now...' She curled against his chest, his heartbeat lulling her to sleep. He must have noticed that she was getting drowsy because he lay her back down on her pillow, covering her up. "Inuyasha?" She muttered sleepily, missing his warmth already.

"Yes, Kagome?"

"Stay with me?"

"Always."

"I...love you..." And with those three words, she drifted into a peaceful slumber.

Inuyasha's eyes widened for what felt like the millionth time that night, but they soon shrank back to normal size as he lovingly stroked her hair. All the drama and fear had dissipated. She was alive and he would help her through this. She was with him...and that was all that mattered.

"I love you too, you stupid girl."

The end! Aww! Well, not really, Chapter 15 is an epilogue, so y'all find out what happens with Sango and Miroku and the others. And who wins the election...(yeah like ya'll are really concerned about that now!)

Update coming as soon as its finished...

Please review!

Reviews
I got 12 reviews, but due to circumstances, I am only thanking 10 for their reviews. (Not that the 2 I'm leaving out would even care...)

partalien01: Technically you reviewed twice...but I updated, HAPPY? Jeez...psychopath... Thanks for the compliments anyway...Made my day when I read it, lol.

oXoCrAzY4MyHaNyOuXoX: Nice screenname. You told your family! Wow...um...wow...I don't even tell my family about my fanfiction because they don't get it, lol. That's really cool, thank you!

crazyFORvampires: Nope, she's not dead. Sorry for the long wait.

coolcat96: Was kinda goin for sadness, but I'm glad you like it.

alejandra: Sorry for making you wait...hehe...That was pretty much as sad as it gets...I gotta make it happy from here on out or Pline and partalien01 will kill me...

Phrancine: Hmm...I dunno bout a sequel, but I'm glad you like it!

Ahnatmas: She's alive!

Black-Rouge-Dapura: I made you cry? YES! I mean, not that it's a good thing that I made you cry, it's just that's what I've always wanted, to impact someone with my writing, make them laugh, move them to tears...Thank you! Not sure about a sequel...I have other fics waiting to be posted after I wrap this up.

angel: She's not dead! Jeez people I'm not that cruel! I would hate myself if I killed her off!

Drake Clawfang: Short, sweet and to the point. Nice. Thanks very much!

To the other two reviewers (if you are even reading this): Take note of what I said above. I am asking nicely. Thank you.