The Reckoning

Prologue

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Inuyasha...

She had to wonder if the miko had done it on purpose...to ensure her victory and possession of Inuyasha.

The girl knew Kikyo well because in a way, Kikyo was with her since her birth. Not consciously, no, but hidden deep and not wanting to be acknowledged...hidden willingly. At times, there were moments when a sudden thought would bloom...especially near the God Tree. When she was younger, she used to sleep-walk sometimes. There were many journeys outside with the grass under her feet felt in her dreams but not waking her, and stepping on clouds, she would be pushed away by the rough feeling of the bark against her palm. Sometimes she would awake smelling of grass and tears with stains on the pillows.

Sometimes she felt some balance, some calming force in her seldom solitude that was bemusing. It was like looking through a mirror, full of angles. The colors would shift ever so slightly as she studied them...alone.

Then she would forget for the days were long and the friends were endless as were the chores. She saw life simply because it was routine but a pleasant one. She was normal but herself. There was only one Kagome in her world. That's what her mother had said, you are special, you are precious. You are my joy.

Those words were lost the moment she crossed times, not knowing she had someone else inside her whom another would find to be more precious.

Kikyo doomed them all. Unintentionally...she didn't know.

When Kikyo left her soul, she felt unburdened. She never knew she was burdened...it was like a man who was born with a pound of rocks on his back and never knew he could stand straighter. Now she could never go back. The colors grew brighter and her steps lighter.

Kagome found something precious to her. It was as unknown as the Shikon Jewel that had lurked in her body, the desired power that would bind her to the past with her guilt of shattering it. At first, that was the only thing that had the power to bind her, her responsibility. Then the whole situation grew complicated, very un-routine.

Kagome remembered everything about that day, every shade on the tree, the surprisingly crisp air free of smoke, and the expression on his face...her evaporating fear and the undetected tug on her heart that made her approach the boy with the snow white ears and touch them. She wondered later if that was really her because it had been one of those moments similar to the night and the colors. She wondered if it had been a hidden desire of Kikyo's still fragmented in her that made her do so...some fragment of Kikyo's life, a shard smaller than the Shikon shards. His ears had been very soft, and she was warmed and felt something bloom in the back of her mind.

She had always wanted to touch his ears again but had lost that drive. It must have been Kikyo.

Kikyo...the one she could never be.

Funny that it was Kikyo who separated herself fully from Kagome. That was the irony of it. Kikyo acquired Midoriko's soul in order to heal herself from her wounds and finally obtain the key to defeat Naraku...the one Kagome always saw herself defeating.

Yeah, it was stupid and somewhat arrogant. But Miroku had faith in her. In their first encounter with that monster, he had taken her aside.

"Kagome-sama, you were...unbelievable. And you have had no training?" His eyes were unusually serious. She was not use to that sort of look, the one where another relies on you fully.

"No. In my time, there is no need for that sort of thing. It just...kind of happened."

Kagome laughed lightly, letting the monk know not to expect much from her as she was a normal girl.

He studied her for a moment then smiled deeply.

"Well, I certainly hope it happens again." He paused to observe a battered Sango who was lying on the ground trying to heal from the affects of Naraku's miasma.

"Excuse me, I must tend to Sango."

That was all that was said. Kagome was scared that someone who had suffered so much would rely on her whom had suffered so little. She felt...like she was misleading him.

Then she knew suffering...

Then she knew she had to accept her lot and do the best she could. The Shikon Jewel was a burden she had brought back with her, and she must destroy it before it destroyed everyone involved. Before Inuyasha could be hurt anymore...she would do anything to keep Inuyasha from suffering anymore.

That is why she despised Naraku who had caused Inuyasha's pain...and Miroku's and Sango's. She wanted to be the one to destroy him.

Pity, Kikyo did the unthinkable.

It was strange and would make her question her given knowledge of the dead miko.

Was it jealousy...or just a mistake, a fatal miscalculation? Was the miko jealous of life and those living...was she jealous of Kagome?

Kagome stopped questioning. She knew it was the mutual jealousy between them that had caused Inuyasha's final suffering and the darkness that spread throughout time.

Kagome wouldn't have believed the outcome of any of it if she had not been there. Kikyo bore a grudge that prevented her from resting, that was understandable. Then it should have been Naraku who was killed. No...

Kikyo...'inadvertently' let him go...as well as Kagome. Instead, she took everything that Kagome held precious into death with her...everything and left Kagome locked in a bond with her greatest enemy. She left her reincarnation with the greatest burden of all.

Kohaku had been sacrificed. The boy was torn from his recovered memories and hastily agreed to Kikyo's demands to the last shard embedded in his back. He hastily agreed to cut his false life. Kagome had been so...ashamed that Kikyo had come from her soul and that Inuyasha had not stopped the death of Sango's little brother. She felt filthy that Kikyo had been inside of her, the coldness and emptiness. She felt worthless.

She couldn't believe...

Sango wanted to kill Kikyo, but Inuyasha stopped the young woman harshly, roaring about the necessity of the act.

Kagome wondered if Kikyo couldn't have kept him alive somehow, but she didn't know the full extent of the miko's powers and couldn't fathom that she wouldn't have saved the young boy if she could have.

Sango withdrew completely, only acknowledging Miroku. It hurt Kagome that Sango who was like her sister would associate Kikyo's acts with her. Kagome knew that Sango realized that she was different, but Kagome wore Kikyo's face and that was enough. Sango remained through her grief beside Miroku who was her only form of family. It was her loyalty to the monk that kept her in the fight. The taijya had lost her hope; although she longed for Naraku's death, she had seen another take her brother's life...and that knowledge almost destroyed her. Kagome was sure that after the final confrontation, Sango would want revenge on Kikyo...and she knew Inuyasha would not allow that. Miroku would side with Sango. Where did that leave her? Who would she side with?

Unfortunately for her, she was spared that decision.

Kikyo had disappeared from the group several days before with Inuyasha chasing frantically after her. Kikyo was no longer...Kikyo. Kagome was familiar with the dark look in the miko's eye, the look of necessity. So when she awoke to find the two missing, she knew at that moment she would not be allowed to talk to Inuyasha again. It was necessity, an unknown motive for the person behind Kikyo's murky eyes.

Inuyasha did not return. Miroku's time was almost up. The wind tunnel had increased ten-fold, and Sango was wild with grief at the idea of losing another she loved.

Kagome was stung with Inuyasha's absence; it seemed he had made his choice. She could not help but achingly imagine what her situation would be if Naraku had succeeded in killing Kikyo. It would have been different. Inuyasha would be suffering but...she was selfish once again.

The day before the final strike, Kagome had wandered away from her two companions to allow them time to themselves. She did not fit in the picture. Shippo slept peacefully, and Kagome was left with her thoughts, wondering where it was that Inuyasha slept under the same sky. Fear pounded in her brain, she was frightened for him. It grew into a dagger in her heart; Kikyo wanted Inuyasha dead, and Kagome pictured Inuyasha's death repeatedly in her head, dying with each image. Kikyo did not deserve life if she desired to end someone else's, especially Inuyasha's.

She had started to run away from the camp, fighting the harsh branches and limbs, and into her own world, trying to find him again, calling to him wildly. He never answered.

It was chance that had allowed her to be present at the final moment. She had lost her way, sitting against a tree, rocking back and forth, sobbing. The morning bled through the trees, and she resented being there as a spare. She wanted to go home and thought about trying to find her way back to the village until...she spotted Naraku's demons in the sky, heading quickly south into the bleeding sun.

She followed them, tripping and sliding on the wet ground. Several times she fell, but she arose each time with more determination to see the conclusion...and to see Inuyasha one last time. So the fifteen-year old girl arrived at the scene uninvited.

Kagome skidded to a stop, struck by the thread uncurling in her senses. The energy from the Shikon jewel...was a darkness that cut her to the core. It was complete...and in Naraku's hands.

Kagome glimpsed a flash of pink and spotted Sango in a fray of demons, bleeding and struggling to knock them away. Miroku was shouting her name, holding his arm in pain. He was struggling to reach her. Kagome did not see Kirara or Shippo...or Inuyasha.

Naraku was standing above the pair, laughing wildly. He was about to do it...he was about to become a full-demon. And she did not have her bow.

Kagome launched herself over the hill and began sliding down into the pit of demons. She felt Naraku's burning eyes upon her, but she didn't care. It really didn't matter anymore. She had to be there in the end, had to get to her friends!

The mass of demons came fast and mercilessly, cackling in blood lust, and gritting her teeth, she prepared to run straight into them.

Inuyasha was dead, that's why Naraku had the jewel of Four Souls, and that's why it was time for her to die as well. Her miko powers were shattered by her realization, and she was fatally normal. Miroku had been wrong, she could not change anything. Might as well-

A swirl of crimson and the demons were gone, and in their place, with his sword slung over his sword and golden-eyes glimmering in battle, was Inuyasha. Kagome halted abruptly and wanted to say something. He looked at her with his mouth slightly ajar and his eyes full of...so many things...wonderment, joy, maybe love...she had affected him somehow. She knew that, and she wanted to say something. Time stopped fully, vibrating on a thread.

Naraku was not there nor was the mass of demons nor was the corrupted energy nor was Miroku's distressed shouts...Kikyo was not there. He was there and uttered her name, piercing her.

"Kagome." It was a whisper of helplessness, and she wanted to do nothing less than hold him and say it was okay, that she understood. A sad joy lined his eyes, and purplish circles marred his face. He had not slept. Neither had she.

She was going to tell him how she felt; it was on her lips.

"Inuyasha, I-!"

Kikyo appeared from behind him, bow in hand and wind whipping up her hair in torrents. She appeared ethereal, mournfully beautiful, and more marble than ever before. She looked not of this world with her lips shaped so. Her dark eyes were so large they spoke of misery yet eternity. She looked like she was underwater or stuck in time with them. She dared to look...helpless.

She had broken into their moment and it faded from memory as he turned his gaze to Kikyo alone.

And that was it...

"Kagome, stay out of the way."

The tone transformed into indifference, and then they were gone in a blur of red and white. She sank to her knees and wept, striking the ground with her fists. She could not hear Miroku anymore and thought that he had given up too.

Crawling her way back towards the edge of the woods, she leaned up against a tree for support and dug her nails into the bark. She let her gaze fall upon the dark demon that seemed to be drinking in the sight of her defeat. Finally he had seen her crack. She glared up at him, and in turn, he held out his hand to let her see the Shikon jewel, blazing with darkness.

Then his cold sneer changed to an expression of surprise and pain. Her heart skipped at what she was sensing.

Inuyasha...

The Shikon Jewel seemed to be pulsating, and her head hurt.

Again she shrank back as time seemed to stop...for Naraku had flung the jewel away from him, staggering back. Her knees locked in disbelieve...something in her told her to run. What could knock Naraku back like that?

She watched morbidly as the darkness in the jewel began to slither...interweaving between itself. A figure emerged from the darkness, and then she fell into darkness.

Author note:

I've obsessed over Inuyasha so much that I just felt compelled to try an Inuyasha fic. So yeah, tell me what you think, if it's boring or something. If you no like, I'll think up something else.