A/N: It never fails to bug me how things get messed up right when I REALLY want to post a chapter. I had a chapter written down for ages, I swear, but then my computer crashed, and I lost the file. With all four gigabytes of my other documents, and more than 10gb of miscellaneous files and programs with it. To those of you who had ever gotten an untimely reformat, you must know how much it sucks, and it took me ages to recover from the frustration, and even longer to catch my escaped plot bunnies.
So here it is... the second to the last chapter of Seven Weeks. I hope I don't disappoint you guys with this chapter, and bear in mind that I was in a somber mood when writing it... not necessarily healthy for potentially angst-free fics.
Please review, and as always, I thank everybody who had read and reviewed my previous chapters, and my sincerest gratitude goes to all those who have followed this story from the first chapter, whether they review or not.
Here it is! Enjoy! And no flames, please.
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha and company.
oooooooooo
SEVEN WEEKS
Parting Wishes
oooooooooo
A single orb of bright pink light suddenly appeared in the middle of the Crystal Tower's throne room, sending all immediate guards into a frenzy. The last time a ball of light had appeared out of nowhere, Naraku had come and taken the princess. All of them rushed in, drawing their weapons, but...
All froze as they realized that the orb did not feel threatening – quite the contrary. As the orb slowly grew in size, a warm glow spread from it, engulfing the castle's interior in soothing golden light, bathing the halls in purifying radiance. Slowly, the glow transformed the neglected palace back into its former splendor.
The crystalline walls cleared, the fog caused by the disrepair dissolving in blinding flashes of soothing light. Everything the light touched began to shine with holy luster, and all inhabitants of the palace woke in the very early hours of that morning, to gaze in wonder as the structure slowly regained its former grandeur.
The guards standing in the throne room trembled in anticipation as they realized what was happening. And as four individual beams of light slowly took the form of closely huddled people, their giddiness caused tears to spring from the more soft-hearted of the lot.
The humanoid shapes solidified, revealing a sight they all looked forward to, but hadn't quite expected.
The light from the entire castle began to retract back into the source, before a very sudden flash left all momentarily blinded. As the flash died down, all present in the throne room slowly dared to open their eyes, each shaking as the sight of the most revered person in their land, flanked by the warrior of the legends and her two most powerful assistants, greeted them after months of her disappearance.
Kagome smiled, letting her hand fall to her sides as she felt her feet touch solid ground. She knew, before opening her eyes, from the thrilled voices coming from all around her that she was back, back within the castle, back in her people's lives.
For a moment she reveled in the sounds of jubilation, the cheers from the guards and all present palace dwellers, her eyes still closed, even as she felt her companions pull their arms from hers. The cries of the guards, calls for her name, tugged a smile from her lips, and for just that moment, she pretended that her return was perfect, that her return marked more exultant days for her and her people, her friends, and...
"Kagome..." a soft gruff voice whispered into her ear. Her eyes popped open almost automatically at the sound of his hoarse voice, and she found herself staring into his concerned golden eyes.
'Inuyasha,' she thought. The pretension was over. Her return may mark the end of her people's suffering, but for her... and Inuyasha.
The golden sun peeked into the palace from the high windows, serving as a painfully powerful reminder of the impending agony that she would be forced to endure. Inuyasha glanced at the window, sorrow clouding his gaze even as he turned his gaze back to her.
"Kagome", he whispered again, and the sound ripped a sharp, mournful cry from her throat as she threw her arms around her love. The moment the first sob left her lips, the excited, happy shouts from the people around her stopped, and everything else around her ceased to exist the moment his arms found their way around her waist.
"I..." she began, the sobs choking her as she struggled to speak. His arms tightened possessively, protectively around her, and she realized with a sinking feeling that in a few minutes time, he would have to leave...
She would never feel his arms wrap around her again.
Inuyasha's chest tightened just a little more with every sob, every scalding tear, every hitched breath from the girl in his arms. He buried his face into the crook of her neck, inhaling deeply of the scent of her hair, trying desperately to imprint her essence into his mind. "Don't cry... please."
But with his words, all dams within their two souls broke, sending their emotions tumbling into an endless torrent of despair, love, hope. With his words, Kagome found that she really could do no more than cry, cry all the pain out, hoping the tears would wash her hurt away, but knowing that nothing could ease the stabbing pain in her heart.
A feeling of injustice washed over Inuyasha. After all the hardships, all the trials he had endured with her – and now he would be left with nothing. Nothing but the thought of her love, nothing but the horrible agony of knowing that he would be leaving the only woman he would ever cherish so completely. With his softly uttered words, everything rushed into his heart, drowning him, rising into his throat and before he could stop, a single tear slid down each of his clenched eyes.
Miroku stepped away from the pair, whom he knew were lost in their own world, a world where despair was clouding them, but someday, they could be together again. Beside him, Sango blinked back tears, as guards remained as still as stone, each wondering what was going on.
With a small signal by his waving hands, he led all the guards out of the throne room, holding Sango by the elbow as he discretely left the room and closed the door behind them. Leaving the two on their own.
oooooooooo
He never wanted to let go. All this time he had been terrified of having her taken from him, of having her ripped from his arms. But now, all his fears would become reality.
He felt tears well up in his eyes even as he comforted her, even as he rocked her slowly, trying in vain to make her calm down. Everything in him screamed out for him to lift her and run away with her, run away from the pain, but with every tear that fell from her eyes and onto his haori, the grim realization that it was the way things were meant to be taunted him, made him curse the gods that gave him a taste of heaven with her, only to have her taken from him.
"I... Inuyasha," she continued to struggle with her words, her hands reaching up to fist into his robes. Her voice was choked, her words choppy, her cheeks puffed and red with crying. "I don't... I can't! I... I don't want you to go!"
He tightened his arms around her even more, and he raised his blazing eyes to the sky, his expression warding off anything that would dare intrude on their last few moments together.
"I don't want to go..." he whispered, his own voice harsh and defeated. His fingers treaded into her hair, his arms acting as if they wanted to pull Kagome into himself, so they would never have to be apart.
Kagome pulled herself from his chest, her eyes craving for his through the glaze of her tears. "You are... you are the only one," she paused as she choked back her sobs. Her hands floated up to his face, tracing off the small tracks of tears on his cheeks, before cupping them. "The only one that I will ever love. Please, Inuyasha, don't ever forget that."
He held back a sob of his own at the desperation in her eyes. "I won't. I swear to God, Kagome, I... I will never forget. I can't ever forget you," he raised a clawed hand to gently brush bangs from her face, before he let his fingers trace her lips. "And I could never love anyone else, either."
The honesty in his eyes tore at her, and before she could speak, a new river of tears flowed from her eyes. She tried to speak, but found that her lips would not cooperate, and she ended up opening and closing her mouth, willing the elusive words to come out.
He could take no more. As more and more tears fell from her eyes, he leaned down and kissed her softly, chastely, expressing his unadulterated love for her in his kiss.
They broke apart as a knock sounded on the door, and Inuyasha glared venomously at the intruder.
Miroku's solemn faced peeked in, his eyes downcast, as he said, "Inuyasha, Aza-sama... I am sorry but... Inuyasha really has to leave. He has only a few minutes left..."
The tears fell from her eyes more freely now, and with her eyes on the floor, Kagome choked out an answer. "Alright. Bring Sango in here. We... we have to..." she paused, sucking in a calming breath. "We have to bring Inuyasha back home."
His heart shattered with her words, the finality in the statement hitting him hard. He watched Sango trudge into the room, still dressed in her bloody exterminator's outfit. Miroku's robes were still ripped, but he now carried with him a small ofuda.
Kagome pulled away from Inuyasha to stand in the center of the room, right in front of her throne. Inuyasha wanted to grab her, hold her against him once again, but her purposeful strides and the determinedly straight point of her gaze stopped him. She hated this... as much as he did.
Inuyasha watched as Kagome clasped her hands together and closed her eyes, muttering words under her breath. A bright light leaked out of her every pore, engulfing her, and as the light died down, he gasped as Kagome emerged in a flowing white gown, her hair reaching her toes, the Shikon no Tama hanging from her neck. In that instant she was once again Azalea, the princess in the dreams that had haunted him in what seemed like years ago.
She opened her eyes to regard him, smiling sadly, before she looked away and nodded to Miroku. Miroku and Sango stood directly in front of each other, a few feet separating them. Miroku held the ofuda in his hand up, muttering a short prayer as the piece of paper glowed. Sango joined in, holding out a hand towards the scroll. He abruptly let go of the ofuda, and Inuyasha stared as it caught fire in mid-air. The flames spun around it in a circle, spinning faster and faster until a vortex emerged in the place of the ofuda.
Kagome then took up the chant, and the vortex began to grow larger and larger, until it was big enough for Inuyasha to jump through. She stopped abruptly as the portal grew large enough, and walked over to Inuyasha.
"Look into the portal, Inuyasha," she said.
Inuyasha did as he was told, and was astounded to find himself staring at rapid flashes of his past. It was as if through the portal, he could see his entire life being replayed in fast forward. Kagome's voice broke him out of his musings.
"Give me one thing that you wish to change about your life in your world, Inuyasha."
The question struck him dumb. "What?"
"For all your sacrifices... it is the least I can do," she said, tears forming on the edges of her eyes. "I can't be with you, Inuyasha, but maybe... maybe there could be someone else you would want to see, someone who had died in your past..."
He started. "My father?"
Kagome nodded. "Do you want him back, Inuyasha?"
'You're the only one I want, Kagome!' his mind yelled, but he knew better... "Yes. Could you..."
She nodded, and she turned to the portal. The visions slowed down partly, showing Inuyasha a place he was all too familiar with. It was the place where his father died, only, instead of showing him his father's dead body, he saw his father cracking his knuckles even as he looked around him in bewilderment, the group of rogue youkai who had supposedly killed him dead beneath his feet. The visions sped by again, and Inuyasha looked away when he felt Kagome come closer.
She wrapped her arms around his waist, tears again cascading down her cheeks. "Farewell, Inuyasha."
He wrapped his arms around her slight form and clung to her with a death grip, glaring wholeheartedly at the portal home. "Kagome..."
"I would never forget you," she whispered, pulling back slightly to pull something over her head. The Shikon no Tama dangled in front of his eyes, and he stared unmoving as Kagome slipped it over his head.
"Keep this with you," she continued. "So that you will remember that... once... you had loved a woman named Kagome... and that Kagome had loved you, with everything she was."
His heart clenched as he stared down at the Shikon no Tama, before his eyes raised up to meet hers, his love and sorrow reflected in their blue/gray depths. With his bleeding heart crying out for mercy, uncaring of their small audience, he leaned down without a word and kissed her with all the love and sorrow in his heart.
Kagome's tears burned her eyes as she kissed him back. Naraku was dead, the kingdom restored, and now it was time for him to go home. She knew that parting was inevitable, but it still killed her. The pain was almost physical, and it was as if her chest were being stabbed hundreds of times by millions of sharp needles.
She kissed him back with all the love in her heart, her hands gripping at his robes desperately, wishing with all her heart to keep him with her. Her hands and lips tried distraughtly to memorize everything about him, his sharp scent, the taste of his lips, wanting to keep the memory for the eternity without him that awaited her.
Inuyasha moaned as Kagome opened her mouth to let him in, and he plundered her mouth as best as he could, taking deep breaths in an attempt to remembering every single thing about her, the exact tang of her feminine scent and sweet lips. His hands held her to him tightly, pressing her soft curves against his hard body to emblazon the feel of her into his mind. He poured everything into the kiss, wanting her to know down to the deepest corners of her soul that he would always love her, that in his mind, and in his heart, she will always be with him. Her smile would always be in his mind's eye, her touch branded forever on his skin, the remembrance of their sole intimate night a silent inspiration in the dark days without her scent and laughter around him.
Neither wanted the kiss to end, their hearts begging for time to stop, to freeze them into that moment. But as they slowly pulled away, their hearts cried out in betrayal. Their teary gazes and trembling fingers ran over each other's faces, trying to memorize every line and feature of their beloved's face.
"Kagome..."
She closed her eyes against the pain in her breast, her hands taking in fistfuls of his clothing. She would never wipe her lips, never wash her clothes, so his scent and taste would remain with her.
He held her against him in a last desperate hug, hearing her heart-wrenching sobs and feeling her breath hitch against his chest. It hurt too much, but he had to be strong, for both of them.
"I love you, Kagome," he said, his voice choked. "I will never forget you. I..."
He reached out to her tear-stained face... and made the mistake of wiping her tears away.
His heart broke completely, and some of the furiously held back tears slipped down his cheeks, his breath catching with every word. "Take care of yourself, wench. I... Gods, I..."
"Inuyasha!" she cried out, her aura flaring in her grief. "I will! I promise you! I... I would never love another! I... Oh, God!"
He closed his eyes as he pulled away, their fingers touching as he did so and lingering for a moment before he severed the contact. He trembled, his body knowing as much as his mind that they had just let go... for the final time.
"Sayonara, koishii..." he whispered, closing his eyes as he turned away. He started towards the portal, until he stood directly in front of it, watching memories of his childhood spin in wild circles in its depths.
"Inuyasha!" she called out, her pain escalating with every syllable.
He stopped but didn't turn around. He just knew that if he did, he would never be able to leave. He would wilt into her arms, let himself just drown forever into the torrential storm of her eyes.
She looked at her feet as she spoke, her voice a pained whisper. "I love you... If you remember nothing else, always remember that."
He froze. 'She wouldn't...' he thought. He began to turn to face her again, but a sudden force from the portal sucked him in at that instant.
"Kagome!" he screamed as he felt himself falling, falling though the portal to his world. 'Don't make me forget! NO!' his mind screamed.
He turned forcibly, tears springing to his eyes when the last thing he saw was her face, her anguished face, screaming his name in desperate misery, before everything went black...
oooooooooo
"INUYASHA!" Kagome yelled into the portal as Inuyasha was suddenly pulled in. She almost wanted to jump in, but she knew she couldn't leave her world like that. The portal closed as he disappeared into the black void of the vortex, and she crumpled to her knees, her eyes blank and staring, before the tears came again.
"Inu... Inuyasha... INUYASHA!" she screamed, her cries loud enough to carry through the entire palace. She broke into huge sobs, one of her hands covering her face as she knelt on the ground, her other fist pounding the floor beneath her knees.
Sango knelt beside her, she too crying. "Kagome... I'm sorry... don't cry, please!"
She just turned, flinging herself into Sango's arms, and crying her heart out on the other girl's chest. "Oh, Sango!" she cried. "I know I have to move on, to get Crystallia back on its feet, but..." she paused, powerful sobs wracking her frame, her shoulders shaking in defeat. "But it's too hard! I'll never get over him, Sango... I... I don't know what to do..."
"Kagome... you heard him... he will always love you and... he will never forget you... oh, Kagome!" Sango buried her own face into Kagome's hair, feeling her friend's pain.
"He can't keep that promise, Sango... I made him forget."
"What!"
"I made him forget... I will suffer, but him... I love him too much. I made him forget about me, about Crystallia. So he wouldn't have to be hurt. I hope it worked. Because if he didn't want to forget, he... he's so strong Sango, he'd fight it," Kagome sobbed. "I just wish... that there would be some way I could be with him..."
Sango just held her, Miroku looking on in helpless sadness. He shook his head. Kagome's prayers were strong enough to sustain their land... he just hoped they would be strong enough to sustain her heart...
oooooooooo
"INUYASHA!"
The silver haired hanyou bolted upright in his bed, the shrill scream still ringing in his ears. The star-shaped birthmark on his chest was burning dreadfully, and his breathing was ragged.
'Yume wa... a dream. It was a dream', He told himself, but deep down he knew that there was something else. He sat up in his bed, thinking about it. The dream was so real.
The dark-haired lady in his dream looked to be in such pain. Her blue/gray eyes pleaded with him, the tears trailing down her cheeks making him want to abandon his gruffness to reach out and brush the tears away. The dream was also strange - he had never had a dream like that before. And her voice...
When she called out his name, he could feel the overwhelming pain in her voice. He wanted to reach out to her, hold her... but why he felt like that towards a stupid dream, he couldn't figure out.
'Keh. I must be so over-worked, I'm hallucinating. Shit,' But try as he might, he just couldn't figure out how his brain could have produced such a vivid dream.
'INUYASHA...'
He sat up straight and looked around in his room. Gods, he could have sworn he heard her voice in his head again. Her voice... so pained... She was calling to him, desperately pleading with him.
"Dammit! Snap out of it Inuyasha! It was a fucking dream. A pigment of your under-used imagination," he said aloud to himself, his golden flashing in annoyance. "You just need to lighten up and kick some ass to get your useless mind off things."
As he got up from his bed, he caught a reflection of himself in the full length mirror near his bed. He reached up to brush back a lock of hair that had fallen across his face, when a gleam from something that hung from around his neck caught his eye.
He reached down to grasp it, puzzled. 'What the hell is this?' he thought, looking at it through narrowed eyes. A round, wispy pink pendant hung from a simple gold chain around his neck.
A knock on the door, and the loud voice of his father stirred him from his thoughts. Deciding to ponder the mysterious jewel later, he summoned his human disguise and answered his father's call.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming, dammit!"
oooooooooo
"I still can't fucking believe that Sesshoumaru is getting married. He'll finally move out of the house." Inuyasha grouched to his friend Takeshi, and his self-proclaimed sidekick, Shippou.
Takeshi brushed long red bangs back from his face, looking quizzically at Inuyasha. "Didn't know you hated him that much."
"Yeah," Shippou chimed in, bobbing up and down on his feet. His longish auburn hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail, a purple concealment talisman hiding a tail and fox feet – his distinctive kitsune youkai features. "Besides, I thought you actually liked Miss Rin. Aren't you sorry to see her end up with him?"
"I do, but the wench is fucking stupid enough to like him, there ain't nuthin' I can do about that," Inuyasha replied noncommittally as the three turned to enter their favorite hangout – the local coffee shop.
Takeshi shook his head with a grin. "Yasha, must you insist on calling every girl we meet a wench?"
The statement caused Inuyasha to stop walking, and he stared in shock at his friend as his voice, and another familiar female one flitted through his mind.
- "Must you insist on calling me wench, Inuyasha?"
"Yeah I do, now shut up already," he called back. -
'That voice...' he thought. 'It's the voice of the girl in my dream this morning!'
"Yasha?"
Shippou's confused voice broke into his thoughts, and he shook his mind to dispel the fog.
"Yeah, what?"
"Nuthin'... hey, nice necklace!" Shippou said, glancing down at the round crystal pendant he wore. Then, in undertones only heard by youkai, he continued, "New concealment charm?"
Inuyasha looked down at the pendant, and the soft feminine voice of his dream phantom entered his mind again, this time in a whispered plea.
- "Keep this with you," she continued. "So that you will remember that... once... you had loved a woman named Kagome... and that Kagome had loved you, with everything she was." -
He shook his head, not minding the strange looks he was getting from his friends.
Takeshi gave a soft wolf whistle as they found a vacant table and sat down. He motioned to the doorway, making Shippou and Inuyasha look in the said direction.
Inuyasha's heart stopped.
A woman with an entirely too familiar face framed by brownish black hair stood in the doorway, looking for a vacant seat in the crowded store. Her cool brown eyes scanned the crowd, finally resting on him and the vacant seat next to him.
His heart resumed movement, his heartbeats furious pounding against his ribcage. Blocked memories resurfaced as the woman came closer, and he grabbed onto the pink pendant as remembrance washed over him in a torturous wave.
He barely heard Takeshi saying, "Isn't that the new chick from Section B? What's her name again? Kikyo?"
Shippou shrugged, turning to Inuyasha. "I dunno. Yasha?"
But Inuyasha was staring vacantly as the memories sailed back into his head, making him dizzy with pain and realization.
"Kagome..." he muttered in a daze, standing as the woman approached their table.
"Is this seat taken?" she asked.
Instead of answering, Inuyasha snapped back into reality, and one look at the face that so resembled his lost love's own broke him. Without another word, he fled from the shop, ignoring the concerned calls from his friends for him to come back.
He remembered everything, down to the last moment when he had fought to keep his memories. From the last kiss they had shared before he left, to the way her skirt fluttered about her legs as the wind blew past.
He was back home in record time, and his mother stepped back as he nearly barreled into her in his haste to get to his room.
She noticed the tears standing in his eyes, and she called out his name in concern. But still he ran, until he reached the safety of his own bedroom.
He slammed the door shut, flopping down on his bed as he dropped the concealment spell that made him look human. With shaking hands, he grasped at the Shikon no Tama, the tears he had held back since the moment he felt Kagome slip away from him falling from his eyes.
He held the Shikon no Tama to his face, smirking tearfully at its shiny surface. "Keh... wench... didn't I tell you that I could never forget you?" he rasped. He closed his eyes against an onslaught of tears, as the realization that the jewel, along with his mind's whispered reminder of her soft kisses, was the only thing he had left of her.
Not caring if anyone heard, if anyone noticed, Inuyasha howled, a long, mournful howl of an inu youkai who had lost his heart... a howl that was her name...
"Inuyasha!" his mother's voice sounded from the doorway, and he looked to see her standing there, her dark eyes reminding him of Kagome... everything seemed to remind him of her.
"Yasha... are you alright?" she asked, highly concerned at the sight of tears on her usually strong son's face.
"Okaa... hahaue..." he gasped, reaching for her as she kneeled before him on the bed. Remembering the days of his childhood, he rolled down, burying his face onto her lap as sobs were ripped from his throat. "No... and I don't know if I ever will be again..."
oooooooooo
A/N: If you all remember, Inuyasha left his world very early in the day, before seven in the morning (first chapter). Here in the orient, the sun rises at about 6 in the morning, so he naturally had less than an hour left after defeating Naraku.
And about Yasha crying... he did hold it back for an awfully long time. My ex had been bawling the day we parted at the airport, so I'm guessing by the way I made Inu react here, he had seemed more stone youkai than inu. And psychological studies show that boys who grow rather closely to their mothers tend to break before their moms if the pressure is too great.
Before I go on to the review responses, I would like to give a heartfelt thanks to Midoriko-sama for her kind words and encouragement. That email really got me back into writing this chapter. Thanks again, and I am honored to have received such words from you.
Responses:
The Literary Dragon: I am afraid our psychic connection has been broken for now... but don't worry, Inu and Kag won't end up miserable forever... there are other ways... Wahahahaha!
PureAngelEnchantress: Oh well... here's the chapter... but there's always hope, ne? Hope you enjoyed!
Guardian Angel of ALL Anime: Gah! Go chase Koto! Anyway... hehehehe... so he left... um... gomen!
Min Farshaw: Yeah... ending things always make me sad in a twisted sort of way...
Ixchen: That happens... blame my computer!
Dragon's Kitty: Oh, thanks! I'm glad you think so. But there... I hope this chap has also held your interest... I know it's held mine!
AnimeObsessionFantasy: There... but it's not the last chap so there's hope... right?
inulova4lyfe: Thanks!
RavenShadow: Um... heartbreak,anyone? Hehehe... sorry for leaving the chap like that, but remember, I did say that I rather like happily ever afters...
TheWraith: Nice snippet, Tim! I can't wait til you can finally finish the chapter. Oh, and thanks for the review. Hail the Evil Overlords!
Thanks again to all those who have been reading my story, whether or not you review. I have to admit that even I am surprised by your patience with me and my horribly irregular updates. Of course, much thanks to those who do review, even just once, to tell me what they think of this fic. Your words fuel my fingers into typing. Hehehe!
Thanks again for the time. Please tell me what you think, and for any criticisms, it's ok, as long as they're not in the form of flames.
Til next time! The last chapter is coming your way, people...
ScarletRaven1001
