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Chapter 16 (Final Chapter)

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Author's Note: I dedicate this final chapter to an avid reader, whose review inspired me to continue this story, and finish it just for them. To chakitattyla2h8, I thank you.

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Kagome awoke by just a raising of her eyelids. She moved a bit on the sand and found it moist and comfortable. Her breathing was steady and even. She could feel her lower body submerged in water, and her dry fin sucked it up eagerly. The dryness was gone, as well as the pain.

A hand touched her shoulder and Kagome rolled over to gaze up at Sango's smiling face. She held a cup of water out to Kagome, who took it with a gracious nod of her head. Kagome drank the water down, felt a little better, and handed the cub back to Sango who knelt on the sand next to her.

"We thought we had lost you for a bit." Sango said quietly. "Miroku and I had to take turns dumping buckets of seawater over you until the tide came in."

Kagome tried to sit up; Sango helped her until she sat up and could examine herself. Her fin was scabbing a bit, several spots would scar, but it wasn't a fate worse than death. Her fin would probably peel a bit, trying to heal itself. Kagome couldn't bring herself to do any magic right now to heal herself. She figured Mother Nature would take care of her this time, she was just too tired.

"When high tide came in you seemed to begin to breathe better. You're now lying in a slew between the beach and sandbar, we were afraid to move you. We figured as long as you were in water you'd be okay." Sango continued her voice neutral.

"So I've been out for over a tide?" Kagome asked.

Sango face puzzled a bit, but then she nodded. Kagome sighed, she knew the small talk was only avoiding the inevitable.

"How is he?" Kagome asked, fighting to prepare herself for the worst.

Sango's face was dark for a few seconds, but then she smiled. "He's still out, but we've sustained his injuries. He should be up and kicking very soon. Hanyou's heal faster than normal humans. His body has kind of gone into a coma like state, trying to only focus on healing itself. Because knowing Inuyasha, he would probably not listen to his body and just keep on fighting until he withered away into nothing."

Kagome giggled slightly, her eyes passing over the ocean waves. "That sounds like Inuyasha." She said, hiding the pain in her voice.

Sango patted Kagome's hand and asked if she could get anything for her. Kagome said no, that she only wanted to rest. So Sango left her, and walked further up the beach to a small campfire where the others were.

Kagome slithered down into the slew, which only held about a foot of water. But the shore was a good twenty feet from that, and Kagome couldn't move that far just yet. She took some time examining herself, running attentive hands over her fin, checking for anything serious. She had escaped death yet again, this time she hoped it was for the final time.

Kagome noticed the Shikon Jewel that still hung around her neck on its black string. The Jewel's pink surface swirled with concealed power, Kagome watched it for only a few seconds, before letting the Jewel drop back down between her breasts.

Kagome wondered if perhaps she should just leave now. Perchance it would be easier in the long run. Inuyasha belonged here. He now had his kingdom back. Maybe things would go back to the way they were before everything had happened. Kagome could come visit him at the royal docks, and this time they wouldn't have to worry about hiding their friendship. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea. Even though Kagome loved Inuyasha, she didn't think he ever felt for her in that same way.

He was a wild man. He couldn't be held down, not by her, not by anyone. Kagome understood this. She would let him go. He needed that much from her.

Kagome felt confident in her emotions enough that she was able to relax and drift into a light sleep once again.

….

Inuyasha awoke with a start. Out of habit he jumped up, but the stiffness and pain in his limbs and wounds brought him instantly back down to his knees. He groaned, growled, and cursed under his breath.

"Good morning to you too, Inuyasha" Miroku said cheerfully.

Inuyasha was forced to lie back down and grit his teeth from the pain he was in. His eyes suddenly jumped awake and he sat up quickly again, "Where's Kagome?" he cried out.

"Lie down Inuyasha, Kagome is fine. She's actually doing better than you right now, so you need to relax." Sango scolded.

"Yeah, Inuyasha," Shippo echoed, tapping the hanyou on the head, "Relax!"

Inuyasha had just enough strength to whack Shippo on the head and send him crying to Sango's shoulder.

Inuyasha laid back down and gazed into the small fire, watching the embers burn and turn to ash. His golden eyes reflected the flames like a mirror.

He thought of Kagome, as always. Happy that she was alive, but miserable that she rejected him. She had talked to him like he was some kind of a foreign diplomat. She had hidden behind the whale's flipper just to get away from him. He hated himself, despised the fact that he made her fear him, when all he wanted was to be with her, hold her, and tell her what he longed to tell her since the first day they met. She had grown so much, so had he. She was so strong, stronger than he would ever be.

He could remember the salty smell of her skin. Her brown eyes. The greenish-purple color of her fin. Her very voice, as she sang her sweet songs. She was betrothed to another. Never to him. He would watch her go and wonder if things could have been different, if he wasn't such a coward.

Inuyasha shut his eyes tightly, sending a single tear over the bridge of his nose. The smell of his own tears soothed him to sleep once again.

….

It wasn't until early the next morning that Inuyasha was able to stand and move about without getting lightheaded or his body collapsing.

Sango, Miroku, and Shippo spent a lot of time sitting with Kagome. Who still hadn't moved from her place in the slew. Inuyasha wondered if she was still injured, and if so, why wasn't she healing herself?

She talked with them, even smiled a few times. Her eyes never turned to him though. And if they did, Inuyasha would look away or pretend to be asleep again. The day crawled by as this continued.

The sun was beginning to slowly climb down the sky. Sango sat with Inuyasha, tending the fire with Kirara by her side. Miroku and Shippo were sitting with Kagome.

"How long are you going to wait, Inuyasha?" Sango asked while cracking some dry twigs and throwing them onto the flames.

Inuyasha turned his head away with a "Feh." So that she wouldn't see the pain in his eyes. But the sound of Miroku's footsteps trudging through the sand towards them, made him turn back. Inuyasha watched as the monk began to take off his top layer of robes, fold them and lay them on the clean sand.

"Going for a swim, Miroku?" Sango asked.

Miroku shook his head, "Lady Kagome asked me to carry her to the shore so she may return to the ocean."

There was a dramatic pause as everyone looked towards Inuyasha, who looked surprised and hurt. Miroku waited for a few seconds for him to say something, but when he said nothing, he finished what he was doing and walked towards Kagome once again.

"Monk." Inuyasha called to him. Miroku paused and turned around to look at his friend. Inuyasha, using Tetsuigaga as a crutch, stood up and faced him. "Miroku," he corrected.

"Inuyasha." Miroku echoed him, waiting for the hanyou to admit what was needed.

"Let me do this, please." Inuyasha requested. Miroku gave a low bow and nodded, smiling warmly.

Inuyasha took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. He stuck Tetsuigaga in his robe's sash, and dusted the sand off himself. Then, he looked at Kagome who still lay on the beach, her back to him.

He needed to do this.

Inuyasha walked towards her, hearing the other's following after him. He would have yelled at them to mind their own business, but he didn't feel like it. They probably wanted to say goodbye as well.

Inuyasha was fine as he walked towards her, taking one step at a time, moving forward. But when she turned around and gazed up at him with her deep brown eyes, he froze and gulped.

Kagome looked at him and blinked her long eyelashes at him. Then, she looked past him to Miroku, Sango and Shippo. Shippo scampered up to her and touched her arm. "Are you really leaving, Kagome?" he asked in his child-like voice.

"Yes, Shippo. I need to go back to my home, now." Kagome answered. She reached down and gathered the tiny kit into her arms and hugged him goodbye. When she let him go she turned to Miroku and Sango.

"Miroku, Sango," Kagome said, "I can't thank you both enough for all you have done for me."

"And you as well, Kagome." Sango said. "You have saved us many times, and in the end, it was your power that destroyed Naraku."

Kagome frowned slightly. "He is not gone, Sango. Only contained. He and his power sleep inside the Jewel of Four Souls. But I promise you, I will do everything in my power to guard the Jewel and make sure he never escapes into both our worlds again."

Sango nodded her head out of thanks. "Take care, Kagome." She said.

"Be safe, Lady Kagome." Miroku added. "It was an honor to meet you." Miroku bent down to her level and graciously took her hand in his own. He laid a soft kiss on her knuckles. Kagome blushed slightly. But, Miroku's lips lingered a little longer than necessary and it was Inuyasha who hissed, "Enough Miroku."

Miroku dropped Kagome's hand and stood back up. "Now Inuyasha, never interrupt a man when he is giving a farewell to a beautiful maiden. Don't worry, she's all yours now."

It was Inuyasha's turn to blush. He growled at the monk, but Miroku only laughed and said, "We will leave you two now. Good luck to you both." Miroku turned and walked with Sango and Shippo back towards the camp.

Inuyasha continued to growl with slight anger in his eyes as he watched them walk away. "Damn pervert." He muttered.

"Inuyasha." Kagome called. Inuyasha looked down at her, the sound of her voice calling his name made his heart ache.

"I'm ready now, Inuyasha." Kagome said softly. Inuyasha nodded his head and knelt down. With careful hands, he picked Kagome up from the sand with one hand behind her back and another under her fin. Her scales felt smooth and cool to the touch. They actually weren't weird feeling at all.

He breathed in as much of her scent as possible as he carried her towards the breaking ocean waves.

When Inuyasha lay her down in the water, she breathed a sigh of relief. She splashed in the shallows before returning back to him.

"So…you will go back now?" he asked her.

"I suppose." Kagome answered, playing with the water.

He was quiet.

"Good. You belong there. With your own people." He said in a low voice.

"I know." She said simply. She had to remain neutral; she couldn't allow herself to fall into the pool of lost emotions.

"Will you return to the palace?" Kagome asked him.

"I don't know, Sesshomaru is only injured. He might be back." Inuyasha said, trying not to answer the question, but he in turn said, "I'm sure I can manage my dead kingdom." He wouldn't bring his eyes to face hers.

Kagome recognized his pain, "This is for the best, Inuyasha. You've done so much for me. You were always a good friend."

He kept his words cool and level. "I only made things worse. I was never there to help you, when you needed me the most."

"But you saved me in the end." Kagome said, "And I am grateful."

"I didn't protect you. I was too busy focused on my brother, to protect you."

"No, Inuyasha..." Kagome begged.

He shook his head as if to ignore her words. "There was a time when you needed me, when Naraku attacked your people, I should have been there. But even after all this… I couldn't even touch Naraku. I have failed you for the last time. I can't do anything more for you now."

"You didn't have to kill Naraku to be my protector, Inuyasha. Naraku is forever imprisoned in the Jewel of Four Souls. In a way, that is better than death. I will keep the Jewel with me forever, protecting it, so that his evil will never plague either of our worlds again."

"You endanger your world by being the keeper of the Jewel. You're still not safe. And the fact that I can never be there to protect you angers me." Inuyasha stated.

"Inuyasha…" Kagome practically whispered.

"Don't try and tell me it's not true, because it is. I'm a failure. I can't do anything for you anymore. Not when you have a place where you belong. Your world. Where your own people can protect you and give you what you've been missing all your life." He told her.

Kagome reached out with a delicate hand and touched his chin, forcing him to look into her eyes. He always lost himself in her eyes.

"Such as love?" Kagome asked.

He tensed his muscles so the shaking wouldn't show. "I believe you can have whatever you want, Kagome. You were always worthy of love."

Kagome's eyes narrowed, "You're very sure of my future. What about the past? Our past?" She seemed to rise herself up without moving at all. "Can you tell me the reason for everything that's happened? Why we were brought together so many years ago and found each other again?"

"I don't…"

"Inuyasha, what about all those moments we shared together?" Kagome asked.

With that single sentence her voice made him remember and relive every moment he had been with her, sharing an embrace.

Every kiss and caress, every murmured endearment. All the ache of wanting returned, undimmed by time or tragedy or the vast space he felt between them.

"We both wanted that, Kagome," he said hoarsely. "To see each other again, it was wonderful. It was…grabbing at life in the midst of so much uncertainty. It was a way to heal. A step in the journey we both were making."

"And you believe the journey is at an end." Kagome said.

He hated when she spoke like that, in riddles, he wanted to shake her. "Don't you see? You talk about purpose. Fate. You were brought here for a reason. I still remember what you said that time: 'I don't belong in the human world.' You have to have a chance to heal. This is that chance--to be what you are for once in your life without having to hide."

"Hide from what?" Kagome asked.

"From everyone; from humans, from demons…" he said.

"I never had to hide from you, Inuyasha." Kagome said. Her words were soft and utterly devastating.

"It's not the same," he whispered. "I know how I would feel if I were you. Living in fear of land creatures. But, I'm selfish, Kagome. If I could have found a place where everyone accepted what I was, I would have given anything to go there."

Kagome closed her eyes. "It never occurred to you that it might be something other than fitting in with the land creatures that I was looking for." She said.

That was an unexpected reply; Inuyasha drew back, but sighed.

"You were looking for yourself, just as I was. But the call you felt didn't summon me here, Kagome…"

"Then what did?" She opened her eyes and focused on him with her wise stare.

"I told you." Inuyasha said. "My wanting of revenge."

Kagome ignored his last words. "What did it mean to you when you said that you loved me?" She asked. Her chocolate depths locked him within the question.

He closed his mouth, stunned into silence. Did he love her? Or was he just living in the moment?

Finally he said:

"I…I knew I liked you. That I missed you. And that you needed to feel at home again. " Inuyasha said.

"And you succeeded." Kagome answered, gazing up into the sky. "I did need you after all. You seem to know what I need better than I do myself."

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow at her.

She smiled, a sad lifting of her mouth. "You'd sacrifice anything to give me what I need."

"Sacrifice? After all you've given me?" He turned his head away, as if the movement alone could hold back the tears. Inuyasha's tears never fell before, in front of her, now that they began, Kagome was deepened with anguish.

Through his tears, Inuyasha still fought to seem strong. But his heart opened, and the darkness within vanished. Inuyasha took a deep breath and then he admitted it, what he had always felt in his heart. What he never told her.

"Once I wanted desperately to be a merfolk. I thought they were better than demons. I got my wish, in a way. I came closer than any demon could. I realized that miracles still exist, that I'm worth something after all. You gave me that, Kagome."

Kagome became confused. 'What are you saying, Inuyasha?' Kagome wondered within herself. 'Why was he so damn arrogant? Why couldn't he have told this to me before? What is he trying to prove?'

"Then, are you satisfied now, in the end?" Kagome asked. "Are you happy we are going our separate ways?"

"I…I…" he stumbled.

Kagome's heart raced. Was there more? She had to know.

"Then there is nothing for you to give up when you leave me, Inuyasha?" she continued asking, searching his golden eyes. "Nothing to regret?"

Before he could react she reached up and cupped his cheek in her hand. "Not even this?"

Her mouth rose up to his. He tried to hold himself passive and still, but it was like trying to resist a force of nature. He welcomed her lips, her tongue, the coolness of her body.

She could still make him want her so easily. Her desire for him was still unmistakable clear.

Now, he had to make it clear that his was there as well…

Kagome began to move away, but Inuyasha pulled her closer to him. She stiffened, but he didn't release her.

He pressed his mouth to her neck, biting with the gentlest of nips. She felt him claim her and nothing in her rational mind had the strength to fight back.

He growled against her skin. "I won't let you go."

She felt suddenly weak. His words began to soak into her. She felt the passion stir. No, she couldn't allow this. He wanted…no, needed to stay.

Were the demoness and merman right in their assumption? She loved him, but he did not love her. She began to feel like hiding her emotions again, shielding herself from love. Just what the lovers did not want her to do. If she could do it now, the pain would be less later. So she slammed the shields back into place, hid away the 'love' word. He didn't love her.

But these caresses, these kisses…she began to want him again. But she couldn't. She had to let him go. It was for the best.

She turned her face from him and closed her eyes, unmoving. Gradually his caresses slowed and stopped.

When he looked at her again her expression was grim and far from loverlike. He dropped his hands from her shoulders.

"Don't talk like that Inuyasha. You must return to your world, as do I." Kagome said.

'Why? Oh why did I kiss him?' she argued with herself. She pushed herself out of the shallows, attempting to leave him before she gave in. But, Inuyasha grabbed a hold of her arm and held her back.

"Kagome…" he whispered.

Now it was Kagome's turn to cry. Her hot tears pooled from her eyes and landed in the cold ocean water. Her body tensed under his grip on her arm.

"I am not a hanyou, Inuyasha," she whispered. "I'm not a…demon. I can't live like one."

He dropped her arm and backed away as if she had struck him. "You're afraid, Kagome," he said. "All the time I was gone, you weren't afraid then. But now…"

"We're too different, Inuyasha." Kagome told him.

"No." He answered.

"I can't be what you are!" she burst out. "I wont fit in with humans and demons or what it's like to be a part of all this."

She threw her arms wide to encompass the silent shore line. "But you can, Inuyasha. You have now avenged your rite as a demon prince! You can return! You can regain your throne!"

Amber fire flickered in his eyes. "Sesshomaru thought he understood my true nature…as a demon. Was he right?"

"You know he wasn't." Kagome said.

"But it isn't possible that you could be wrong as well."

She stared at him in shock. "You accept what you are. You must…"

"You would have me deny half my soul." He didn't move toward her again, didn't touch her, and yet he hold her in an unbreakable grip. "I want the truth, Kagome."

"What truth?" she whispered.

"Were you lying when you said you loved me?" Inuyasha reechoed her own words back at her.

She couldn't answer.

His mood dropped very low. "If you want to leave because all of this is too much to accept…"

Treacherous tears formed in her eyes. She stared past his shoulder, feeling him as she'd never felt him before…not with her body, but with her soul.

"A clean slate…is that what you want, Kagome?" He asked. "To forget everything that's happened?"

The safety of her anger deserted her. "I'd think you'd want to forget," she whispered.

"No." He held his body very still. "Forgetting is like running. I ran for five years. I won't run anymore. There's too much I want to remember."

His eyes told her what he remembered, wordlessly, in shattering detail. Kagome felt herself beginning to come apart at the seams.

"What do you want of me?" she demanded.

"Only one thing, Kagome. All I ask is that you deny it. Deny that you love me, and I'll let you go."

It should have been possible. She'd lied to herself plenty of times until Inuyasha had returned to her, and even afterward.

"I can't," she cried. "I can't deny it…"

He gave a great, gusting sigh and pulled her against him, pressing her face into the hollow of his shoulder. Inuyasha was overwhelmed with emotion. She'd been protecting him all along. Keeping him safe from her enemies. Resisting the love she'd had for years. Always his friend, but never his lover.

"That's why you'd leave me now, isn't it, Kagome? Loving me, believing it's best for me that I stay with my people." He tangled his clawed fingers in her hair and held on as if he thought she might escape again. "You'd take everything on yourself…look after the Jewel, and face what you left behind there. Alone. For my sake."

"It wouldn't matter to me. There's little of my previous life left." Kagome said pulling away from his embrace. She didn't want to look into his eyes, she would give in if she looked into them, but she couldn't help it.

He shook his head, but there was gentleness in his eyes, a quiet strength that needed no posturing or raised voice to make itself felt.

"No, Kagome," he said. "The running is over. I know what must be faced, for both of us. But you're not doing yours by yourself."

She balled her fists against his chest. "Damn it, Inuyasha, I don't want you to sacrifice for my sake." She extended a hand towards the beach and land. "That is your home, your people, your own kind…"

"You are my kind, Kagome."

Kagome didn't give in. She continued to protest against his decision. "You spent five years trying to return to this land. You won't have to wander ever again, looking for a place to belong. This is your home!"

He cupped her cheeks with his hands, catching an errant tear with his thumb. He stroked her skin, his fingers forming a cage to hold her fast.

"You are my home," he said.

She felt the last shreds of her feeble resistance drift away like foam on the waves.

"It doesn't matter what happens," he said. "Wherever you go, I go. Nothing can change that. We're bound, Kagome. No one can take anything from us every again."

"But…"

"I love you, Kagome."

Just as she began to shatter, as her knees began to give way and her bones dissolve, Inuyasha covered her mouth with his. He gave her his strength, his goodness, his acceptance in the kiss, gave her the love he had shown in a hundred ways. She buried her fingers in his hair and pulled him down fiercely, giving back in full measure.

And Kagome knew that Inuyasha was right. It didn't matter that he was a hanyou and she, a mermaid. Their love bound them together. And through his bond, she was his kind, as he was hers.

They were images in a mirror…not in form, but in spirit. When she looked within herself she could find no anger, no fear, no dark foreboding about the future that awaited them. Inuyasha was free of his past, as she was of hers. They were both through running.

She pulled back, coiling a lock of his silver hair around her finger. "I guess," she said, "that you'd have followed even if I'd managed to get away."

"To the ends of the ocean." He said.

Kagome smiled, a full smile, created just for him. Inuyasha stood up and walked into the water, until it was past his waist. He turned back to her, and extended his hand.

"Come to me, my Kagome. It is your magic that enables me to breathe this water and not drown. For that reason, and my love for you, I never want to leave your side ever again."

Kagome lunged forward and took his hand in hers. She pulled him underwater and kissed him with her magic. Hand in hand, they swam together. Forever together.

King and Queen of the Land and Sea.

(The End.)