I was always the one that hid,the one that sought solace behind an empty facade.It was pathetic,really.It's impossible to hide when hate seeks you out and wrenches your heart from your chest.And then slowly,painfully tears it,spreading the scraps across the globe.Some people just weren't meant to love.I guess I was one of them.Never to love,never to be loved.

Chapter 1----Clay Woman

The hole in her chest was bad, leaking souls quicker than her Shini-dama-chuu could supply them.Kikyou knew what she had to do.It was up to her.She must save Inuyasha and destroy Naraku.But the battle was so close, that to hit Naraku's heart would be to hit Inuyasha.Inuyasha was supposed to come with her later.Yet still, she knew which was the most important.They will both be together eventually,as is meant.

Quickly, Inuyasha was slammed against a tree, yet still managed to be between her and Naraku's exposed heart, which was torn from the baby.She loose a hiss of dis-satisfaction.Slowly she raised her bow and cocked her last arrow,aiming for the lump on the ground.

From here,she could see it would first hit Inuyasha's leg,purifying him before tearing though his flesh to slam into the pulsing heart.But it would still hit.She drew the bowstring back.

But that was too hopeful.Naraku was in front of her now,a blink of her eye nowhere near as fast as the evil hanyou.

"Kukukukuku,"he laughed."Did you really think it would be that easy,bitch?"

With one movement of his hand,Kikyou was blasted back,and the arrow that was her last hope was nothing but dust on the ground,blowing around the half-youkai's feet.Naraku began walking towards her heaving form,grinning with malice from ear to ear,knowing that her last breath was soon and he would be the one to deliver the crushing blow.

He had only taken several steps before blood arced through the hazy summer air,stopping his advance.A hoarse voice rung across the blood-soaked battlefield.

"Asshole!Your opponent is here!"Inuyasha shrieked,bringing Tetsusaiga within an inch of the grinning demon,not really expecting the sword to hit.It didn't.Naraku was too quick for anything,human or youkai or in-between, these days.The evil half-youkai just smiled wider,if possible,laughing silently at the panting hanyou.

"Very well,"he droned lazily,his tone condesending."I will send you to the afterworld before your precious clay woman."

Even though she was exhausted and delirious from pain,blood dripping slowly from her chest,Kagome managed to hear Naraku's bored statement.For just a moment,she stopped her attempts to snatch the arrow from its ledge,and let a single tear drop onto the rock below her,mixing with the dirt and blood.The salt smell was lost in the metallic tang of the battlefield,Inuyasha never knowing anything.And then her struggles increased,knowing the arrow may mean the difference between life and death,if not love and friendship.

Inuyasha ignored the bastard in front of him,ignored his careless words.In fact,he probably didn't even hear the asshole speak.His ears were too busy listening to his youkai blood pounding in fury,demanding Naraku's blood for the countless people that would not live to see the sun rise on another day.He jumped,swinging Tetsusaiga to bring it down on Naraku again.

Naraku just dodged,and sent Inuyasha slamming into the cliff-face,where the pain and smell of blood got to him.He fainted,his eyes rolling up into his head.But Naraku ignored this obvious opening.He once again came over to the barely-moving Kikyou, and began to bring his katana down, because he knew he would never get the opportunity again.Onigumo made sure of that.Naraku was finished with the meddling of human emotions.They never belonged in the heart of a tyrant.He swung the well-made sword.Kikyou's death would bring the end of Onigumo's emotions.

She closed her eyes and just waited.Inuyasha would come to her in time.He belonged to her.He knew this,and he loved her,not that stupid weak reincarnation.She gritted her teeth,hearing the katana slicing the air with a whine.This was it.But nothing came.

She chanced a glance upwards.But Naraku wasn't there anymore.

"So,dog-shit,how does it feel to be saved,huh?Not so tough now are you-OW!What the hell was that for?I'm on your side!"

Kouga stood there,holding his head in pain,while Inuyasha glared at him,recovered from his faint.

"Really!Could have fooled me,bastard!"

"A kiss from Kagome-san would make this so much better..."

"Stop changing the subject!"

Kouga just looked at him and huffed.Inuyasha 'Keh'-ed.They both turned to face Naraku,allies for the time being by their unspoken agreement.

Naraku held his shoulder and looked at the blood on his hand.His blood.Naraku just laughed that stupid laugh again."You got me."The words were blunt."I guess I'll have to be more serious."He brought his blade in front of him and settled into a fighter's crouch."Prepare to die."

Kouga, of course, had to be the smart alec."That is so cheesy,"he stated,but nevertheless readied Goraishi,flexing his hand.

Kikyou ignored the foolish ookamiyoukai.If he wished to die,that was his problem.True,he had granted her a few more minutes,but basic facts told her that almost all of her souls had gone.In fact, there were only four souls left inside her.It took more than that to draw a bowstring.

But the strangest thing was happening.She could move again.And she knew these souls.There was Kohaku,the boy granted another life by the Shikon fragment then ended by it.And that other soul there,that was Sesshoumaru-sama's insubordinate and there was the ridiculous girl that followed Sesshoumaru-sama like a puppy.But she couldn't tell who the fourth soul was.This one was big,and angry.All of them were.Crying for blood,screaming for it,as they raged inside her.That one though,was so strong,it had almost gained control of her body in its desire for revenge.

She battled with it,pushing it down,but it kept repeating one word,forcing her to understand,even though she couldn't.She didn't know when she had gained the ability to use souls other than those of maidens,but struggling with the big soul inside her was taking too much effort to leave her to ponder other things.

Aizou...

And then the soul was quiet,Kikyou finally hearing the plee inside her head.Cherished...The soul had something to cherish,and it didn't want the thing it cherished to go.Kikyou put a hand behind her,propping herself up.If this soul was moving her,then she owed it a due.She would help save this thing the soul cherished.

As she stood,her foot slipped against something polished.Putting her foot into another spot,and looking down,she found Kanna's mirror.It was cracked though,shards lying on the rocks close to it,glinting in the midday sun.Earlier in the battle, Inuyasha had sent Tetsusaiga into the mirror, and the pale girl had simply vanished,white smoke trailing across the field.But picking up the shard she had slipped on, Kikyou realised how it was shaped almost exactly like an arrowhead...