Long Years Past
Chapter 5
I Only Ever Loved You

"Kagome" Inu Yasha screamed in despair.

The haynou threw down Tetsusaiga, raced to the edge of the well, and jumped in. He frantically looked for Kagome, who he expected to see laying at his feet once he reached her time.

Please be alive, please be okay. hethought as he dropped to the bottom.

But nothing happened.

Inu Yasha began to panic. Why didn't he go through? He searched the bottom frantically for anything; a shoe, a scarf, anything she might have lost when she passed through the well. But even her scent was fading. He began to claw the ground, desperate for a way through, a way to calm his nerves, a way to get to her and make sure she was all right. But his efforts were in vain. The well was sealed.

Inu Yasha collapsed, exhausted.

"Kagome…..where are you?" he cried softly. "Dammit, how can you be gone? You said you'd never leave!" he cried in anguish.

The haynou's sadness was quickly turning to anger. Whoever had done this to her would pay. Oh, they would pay dearly. His molten eyes narrowed in vengeance.

Kikyo.

With renewed energy he sprang out of the well to face the priestess.

Kikyo had dropped her bow and was stepping toward the Shikon Jewel when Inu Yasha leapt out of the bone-eater's well. She glanced unconcernedly in his direction, then continued her venture.

"Kikyo, where is she?" he screamed. "What'd you do with Kagome?"

He ran to the miko and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"What did you do to her? Why can't I get to her?" his grip tightened on her arms and his sharp claws threatened to tear the fabric of her blouse. Kikyo, unfazed by his rage, freed herself from his vice-like grip and knelt to the ground. She returned to him with the Jewel in her hand.

"Because she no longer has this." Kikyo answered coolly, indicating the Jewel.

"What? What do you mean?" Inu Yasha questioned. Surely that wasn't the reason. Kagome had been able to pass freely through the well before without the Sacred Jewel, right? But now that he thought about it, she had probably never been without at least one shard.

Kikyo smiled, seeing that he understood.

"But that's impossible, right? I mean, there's got to be another way…" the haynou trailed off. "Why Kikyo? Why would you do this?" he looked pleadingly at the priestess, wanting answers.

"Her job is over." She stated. "Kagome was brought to this world accidentally, because she was my reincarnation. If I had not died because of Naraku, she never would have come. But then that wench had to go and shatter the Jewel, she was allowed to stay and fix the mess she made."

Inu Yasha growled at that last comment, but Kikyo ignored him and continued.

"And since I was unexpectedly brought back to the world of the living, I was gracious enough to allow her to live for a time. However, now her job is done, and it was past time for her to return to the present. She didn't belong here." The dead priestess finished with an air of superiority.

Inu Yasha took a step back from her. "You don't belong here either, you know."

He turned away and staggered slowly toward the well, all anger towards the situation evaporating into the evening sky. For once in his life, violence wasn't going to get him what he so desperately wanted. And he wanted Kagome. He reached the well and rested his clawed hands on the ancient wood still stained with her blood.

"In a way, neither of us belong here." said the woman behind him. She started toward him quietly. "You should have died beneath my arrow fifty years ago, but you didn't… And I spent fifty years alone in Hell."

"I'm sorry." He replied in a voice so unlike his usually insensitive self. "But I can't go back and change the past."

Stars began to appear overhead as Kikyo reached him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe we can't change the past, but we can decide our future. Inu Yasha, come with me. We can take the Jewel and make sure it never falls into the wrong hands again. We can live out eternity together."

"You know I can't do that." He replied.

"But Inu Yasha," she wrapped her arms around his chest and pressed against him. "I love you… there's nothing left for you here…"

"You're wrong." the haynou loosened himself from her arms and turned to face her again. "I have Kagome."

"She's gone, Inu Yasha. She's never coming back. I'm the only one who loves you."

"I'm sorry." he said again sorrowfully. "I don't love you anymore."

Inu Yasha shook his head, his silver hair shining in the full moonlight. He had made his decision, and there was no going back. He truly loved Kagome, and no one could take her place.

"You're not the Kikyo I loved fifty years ago…"

The haynou walked to his discarded Tetsusaiga and sheathed it. "Goodbye, Kikyo."

The dead priestess stood next to the well in shock. She hadn't expected to be rejected by the broken-hearted haynou. Fury rose within her. Inu Yasha could not just walk away from her.

I will have him!

The midnight wind picked up and swirled around her, her raven hair whipping in all directions. "Inu Yasha!" she cried, her voice cracking, "Come with me to Hell!"

He turned around too late to react. Kikyo's soul collectors (who had remained hidden until then) attacked Inu Yasha all at once, catching him off guard before he had a chance to pull out his sword. The wrapped him tightly, pinning his arms uselessly to his side.

"ARGGGGG!" He growled as he struggled against the ghostly binds. "Kikyo what are you doing? Let me go!"

"If I can't have you, no one will!" she laughed manically as the ground around them split, opening the gateway to Hell he had seen once before when she had tried to trap him the first time.

The soul skimmers lifted him off the ground and brought him to their master. The fires of Hell raged around her as the ground sunk lower into the earth. The demons dropped Inu Yasha at her feet and she quickly pinned him down, suppressing him with her spiritual power. The sky darkened as heavy clouds covered the once moonlit heavens. It was if the dead miko was commanding Mother Nature herself. Inu Yasha thrashed about trying to get loose, but Kikyo was stronger than she looked.

"Kikyo what's wrong with you!" he screamed, but his words fell on deaf ears. Kikyo was long gone. Her eyes were lifeless and black, reflecting only hatred.

"I don't want to hurt you, but I'm sorry!"

With a burst of strength he unsheathed Tetsusaiga and struck her across her front, trying not to cut her too deep. Kikyo fell backward in pain, clutching her chest as blood seeped through her clothes. The air around the two grew hotter as they descended into the nightmarish blaze.

But no matter what she had done, Inu Yasha found he could never truly hate her. He gazed pleadingly at the priestess.

"Kikyo, please! Don't do this! I don't want to loose you too!" the haynou extended a clawed hand, reaching for her.

"Please…"

Kikyo's eyes softened and she seemed to revert back to her old self. "Inu Yasha…"

She took his hand gently as raindrops began falling, quieting the fires of Hell for a moment. And a moment was all she needed. Before Inu Yasha had a chance to react, Kikyo had pulled a small dagger from the sleeve of her dress and thrust it in his chest. Inu Yasha gasp at the pain a fell away, his blood becoming mingled with the crimson Kikyo had stained on him. The priestess stood above him triumphantly.

"You will never be rid of me!"

The haynou looked to the now cloud laden sky to see it disappearing. They had been sucked so far into the earth that it was closing in around them. With the last ounce of his strength, he sprang from the ground and into the open air as the hellhole closed around Kikyo.

"NOOOO!" She screamed, realizing her defeat. "Inu Yasha!"

"Kikyo!"

He ran to the rapidly closing earth and stared painfully down at the woman he once loved. Kikyo stretched her arms up to him, as if trying to reconcile all she had done.

"I loved you!" came her strained voice. A tear graced her cheek, mingling with the rain, and the ground closed, separating the two forever.

"Damn it! NO!" the broken haynou slammed his fist on the ground, which remained intact with no trace to show of the hell that had just befallen it; as if nothing had ever happened. The world was silent once more, save for the incessant falling rain. His tear-laden eyes fell on the Jewel, which Kikyo must have dropped on her ghastly descent.

Inu Yasha broke down and his sobs racked his body as the rain fell in torrents, soaking him to the bone in seconds.

She's gone…

He knew he should feel relived that it was all over, but what is relief to the man who just lost the two people he cared about the most in the same night? Anger, pain, sadness and fear; emotions he had never willingly shown, swirled around him with the rain, blinding his eyes and mind to sanity. His heart screamed breaking into a million pieces. Inu Yasha grabbed the Jewel and lifted himself up off the ground and began wandering through the forest, not knowing or caring where he was. All he could do was hold his chest, as if he were afraid the shattered pieces of his heart would be lost and he would never be able to fix it again. A faint light suddenly shone in the distance, and the haynou staggered on a few more steps toward it before remembering the burning pain from his physical injuries and falling into a welcome unconsciousness.


"Miroku, I'm getting worried." Sango trailed off, searching for reassurance. "Do you think something happened? They've been gone a long time…"

"I don't know." The monk replied, taking advantage of the worried Sango to comfort her, his hand straying below her waist. He was justly rewarded with a slap.

"How can you even think about that at a time like this!" she turned on him, angrily.

"I wish you both would just grow up…" Shippo said from the corner in the room. His comment went seemingly unnoticed.

"I'm sorry. I was just trying to make light of the situation. I didn't tell you before, but I'm sure I saw some of Kikyo's shikigami earlier."

His statement caught the attention of Kaede, whohad beenabsentmindedly stoking the fire.

"Aye…my sister…that should be an interesting confrontation for Inu Yasha and Kagome, what with Naraku dead."

The thought of it being nothing more than a lover's spat seemed to put everyone at ease. Everyone began readying for bed, when Miroku took one last glance out the window. A flash of lightning illuminated his face and a horrified expression that replaced his calm demeanor.

"What was that?" the monk's voice trembled.

"What, the thunder and lightning? It's just a bad storm." The kitsune replied, half asleep.

"I thought I saw something…"

"Just go to sleep. You're going to need it if we have to spend all of tomorrow making Inu Yasha and Kagome friends again."

"Yes, alright….wait! There it is again! Oh no….."

With that Miroku ran out of the hut into the pouring rain, and Sango jumped up to follow him.

"What is it?" she questioned, after adjusting to the shock of ice cold rain. Another flash of lightning illuminated the area and the exterminator gasped in horror.

A figure clad in red was staggering toward them, and though he remained a few yards away, they could see by the flashing lightning the trouble he was in. He was soaking wet and covered in blood, his hand clutching a crimson wound in his shoulder. One more faltering step brought him to his knees, and the haynou collapsed in the mud, the Shikon Jewel falling from his hand.

Sango screamed.

"Inu Yasha!"