Author's note: I'm back with a new chappie! Yay! Don't worry Jamie no one will die… or will they? Hardly anybody reviewed my last chapter was there sumthin wrong with it?? Well just to get the reviews going I'm going to make faster updates depending on whether I get lots of reviews or not. And since I usually make the chapters end at cliffhangers, I'm guessing you would want faster ones eh? evil grin we'll just see. Oh and don't forget to check out my other story As The Petals Fall. Thanx to Inuyashakougalegolas and xXChocoholicXx for reading and reviewing both!
Chapter 7: Unclear Memories and Painful DecisionsInu Yasha ran to Kagome, who had just collapsed. "Kagome?" he yelled as he picked her up and cradled her in his arms "Kagome say something! Open your eyes!" He shook her, trying to wake her up or at least receive some hint as to whether or not she was alive.
Sesshomaru watched from Kyoto's spying orb, almost impressed at Kyoto's handy work. "So, you planted this seal on the wench?" he asked.
Kyoto smirked "hai" he said "quite good eh?"
Sesshomaru looked away "for a human" he muttered, not wanting to admit that he was impressed. He was about to say something else when he was once again presented with a continuation of the memory.
"so which ones are you planning to kill?" said the young Kyoto.
"all of them" said the other boy, "they all know too much"
"even ours?" said Kyoto worriedly.
"of course not you baka" said the boy, "they're the only ones who are none the wiser, fortunately for them"
"but what about that weird family?" said Kyoto "the family of youkai. They'll be hard to kill"
"I know that!" yelled the boy irritably "that's why we're gonna use this…"
Sesshomaru was snapped out of his thoughts by the voice of Kyoto. "did you hear me?" he was asking.
Damn! Thought Sesshomaru to himself, he was sure that part of the memory would have made things more clear to him. "What was it?" he said, realizing that he definitely had not heard what Kyoto had said.
"I said we'll capture that girl Inu Yasha seems to care for so deeply and sacrifice her to a demon!" Kyoto laughed "if that doesn't get her tense enough to die nothing will"
"Amateur" muttered Sesshomaru to himself as he watched Kyoto strut away from him with a triumphant grin "It won't work" he stated finally
"What?" said Kyoto confused "why not?"
"Inu Yasha has gotten through many harder times than this" said Sesshomaru "his heart has been broken many times before and he has merely walked it off. And most of these times were inflicted by much greater enemies than you." He turned to look at Kyoto, who now stood in the corner, subdued by this discouragement "And the girl, Kagome, is much stronger than you realize, more than once her miko powers have over powered my own powers" he continued "she also has much more hope than you expect and does not get tense easily. Inu Yasha would come to rescue her the moment he found out she was abducted anyway and the girl knows it"
The conversation was then interrupted by the charming laugh of Sesshomaru's companion Rin. Kyoto looked at her for a moment, than smirked. He had a new idea. "What if we could keep her hopes low?"
Sesshomaru turned to look questioningly at this proposal.
"Kagome!" Inu Yasha called, still desperately trying to revive the fallen miko. "Wake up!" he could feel the tears sting in his eyes and freely let them stream down his cheeks with no effort to hide them. Right then he had discarded all thoughts or efforts to hide his emotions. All he could think about was bringing Kagome back to life. He shook her, gently at first, then violently out of desperation. "Kagome!"
is someone calling me? Thought Kagome in her subconscious why can't I recognize their voice.
Because you were never meant to said (or is it thought?) another voice, this one easily recognizable.
Kikyo? Thought Kagome is that you?
You were never meant to hear Inu Yasha's voice she continued as though Kagome had made no remark at all you were never meant to see him, and thus I shall see to it that you never see him again.
Kagome was taken by surprise by this remark and suddenly found herself in the part of the forest she had always known, the place where the Goshinboku stood tall and proud. But this time, still bound to it, was Inu Yasha, just as he had been when Kagome had first set eyes on him. What's going on? Kagome said/thought I don't understand, I freed Inu Yasha!
I've erased that from time said Kikyo no one even remembers your name now!
Put everything back to normal! Kagome yelled.
You existing in his life is not normal! Kikyo yelled as she walked beside the "dead" Inu Yasha this is normal, Inu Yasha is supposed to be with me not you! You are just another version of me! And that's all you ever will be to Inu Yasha, to Sango, to Miroku, to Shippo, to everyone!
Shut up! Kagome yelled Shut up shut up shut up!
Kagome shivered violently as she lay on Inu Yasha's lap "stop" she murmured "leave me alone"
Inu Yasha looked down at her wonderingly, what was happening to her? "Kagome?"
"no" she whispered painfully "you're wrong"
Inu Yasha watched her closely.
Kagome's Subconscious
You're wrong! Kagome yelled to Kikyo I'm not you! I'm not! My name is Kagome not Kikyo so leave me alone!
Kikyo looked almost taken a back. But before she could make a remark Kagome continued. If anything you are just another version of me. She said you know I am more powerful than you. Remember all the times I've overpowered you? Even when you were brought back to life by using my soul I was able to call it back. You're just a vengeful spirit you shouldn't be able to walk this earth! Kagome laughed you're pathetic, hoping to get Inu Yasha to yourself by telling me I don't belong here when neither do you!
As Kagome began to feel more confident of herself the Kikyo that stood before her began to gradually disappear. Kikyo? She said bewildered.
Be careful Kagome Kikyo said in an almost kind tone Inu Yasha may die again because of you.
What? Kagome said as Kikyo disappeared completely No wait! Don't leave me in such a state of confusion! But Kikyo could no longer hear her voice nor could Kagome hear Kikyo's. Kikyo was gone, for now anyway. Kagome stood wonderingly, remembering the whole encounter; she looked at her hands, which were now starting to disappear themselves! But her hands were not the only thing that was beginning to disappear; her whole body was beginning to fade away. Huh? Kagome said in frustration what's happening? I'm…disappearing! Slowly, Kagome's whole body had vanished.
Real World
Inu Yasha looked at Kagome, who was now beginning to open her eyes ever so slightly. "Kagome?" he said shaking her gently to speed up the process.
"Inu…Yasha?" said Kagome sitting up slowly "you remember me?"
"of course I remember you" said Inu Yasha, puzzled by her comment "I never forgot"
"Then…it wasn't real" Kagome said to herself "Kikyo never…made you forget"
"What?" said Inu Yasha dumbfounded.
"She came to me" Kagome continued "didn't you see her? She erased me from time, erased the fact that you were free, the fact that we had ever met"
"Are you feeling okay?" Inu Yasha said, not understanding what she was trying to say.
"She said I never belonged here" Kagome kept on "she said I was only another version of her, her replacement" She looked to Inu Yasha at this, tears brimming her eyes "Am I?"
"Are you what?" Inu Yasha asked, still confused.
"Her replacement" Kagome replied solemnly.
"Of course not!" Inu Yasha yelled "Haven't I told you over and over again that you're not?!?"
"But…" Kagome said slowly "you're the only one"
"Huh?" Inu Yasha said.
"No one else tells me that I'm not Kikyo" Kagome continued, tears now freely flowing down her dirt stained cheeks "they think it's so great that I'm her reincarnation but it's not!" She got up and started to run away again. But Inu Yasha was too fast for her and grabbed her wrist, pulling her into a tight embrace. Kagome struggled to get free of his grasp at first but was soon won over by the comfort of his arms and sobbed into his chest. Inu Yasha felt her hot tears against him and held her tighter, fearing that this would be the last time they embraced all the while. His gaze fluttered to her sleeve which was still ripped from when Kyoto had cursed her and the ancient mark still shone brightly with demonic power. It seemed to seep deeper and deeper into her arm like deadly venom. Her body felt tight as she lay against him and he could tell she was still tense. He hugged her tighter, trying to calm her down. But he was even tenser than her if the truth be told. He knew that the time when she had fainted and would not wake was truly the curse's way of killing her. The poison had made her see her worst fear he realized me not remembering her and being with Kikyo. He looked at her again. Her face was buried in his haori and his shoulder was covered with her raven hair.
"What exactly are you saying?" Sesshomaru asked monotonously.
"Your little girlfriend over there can keep her hopes low" Kyoto answered.
"And how exactly is she to do that?" Sesshomaru questioned further.
"By making Kagome believe Inu Yasha is not coming for her." Kyoto replied.
"I suppose it might work" Sesshomaru said, more to himself than to Kyoto "the girl would never suspect Rin to lie."
"Exactly, I've worked out the details" Kyoto continued eagerly "we'll get a strong demon to work for us by using one of the Shikon Jewel shards I got from the girl as payment, and then we'll get all of the girls in the area to be sacrificed…"
"Why only the girls?" Sesshomaru interrupted.
"So it won't seem odd that Kagome and Rin were captured" Kyoto explained "the demon will have to choose one of the girls to be sacrificed, here's the catch, he'll choose Kagome no matter what. If just that fact isn't enough to kill her, then we'll get Rin to make matters seem worse somehow. All in all it's a fool proof plan"
"I just hope it's Inu Yasha proof" Sesshomaru remarked.
"What do you mean?" Kyoto asked.
"All these plans were concocted well but you forgot one little detail" Sesshomaru explained, "even if we get Kagome to believe that Inu Yasha isn't coming for her, that doesn't change the fact that he will."
Even Kyoto was subdued by this statement, even if only a little "Well we'll just have to make sure she dies before then."
"Why do you loathe my hanyou brother so deeply" Sesshomaru said after a moment's silence "You were best friends at one point"
"Having your family killed by your best friend is not something that can be easily forgotten" Kyoto said, a malicious tone in his voice.
His last two words echoed in Sesshomaru's mind as he was shown another part of the memory yet again.
The young Sesshomaru watched carefully as the two boys crawled into various different huts during the night. "Are you sure we should be doing this?" asked the young Kyoto "it doesn't seem right"
"Chicken" the other boy said to him as he climbed into the hut then held his hand to help Kyoto in as well "don't worry, once we have all of the five sacred objects we'll have limitless magical abilities and power."
Kyoto uneasily grabbed the other boy's hand and climbed into the hut. The two boys then disappeared into the hut. Sesshomaru wondered what they had meant by the five sacred objects and why they wanted limitless magical power.
Sesshomaru was then brought back into the present time and out of the memory. It took him a few minutes to process all the information the memory had revealed. He now knew what he must do; he had to find out what the five sacred objects were and find out whether or not the boys had found them all that long time ago. But in the meantime he would need to keep Kyoto's trust and go along with his plans so he would not arouse any suspicion. "I suppose we could pull it off" Sesshomaru in monotone.
"Are you okay now Kagome?" Inu Yasha said not wanting to let go of Kagome.
"I'm just so scared" Kagome replied honestly, "Ever since we ran into Kyoto at the beach I've been afraid"
"You don't have to be frightened" Inu Yasha told her comfortingly "I'm the one he wants, not you"
Kagome snickered to herself he doesn't know it Kagome thought but to get to him Kyoto needs me. "Do you want to start heading back?" Inu Yasha asked, interrupting her thoughts "the others are probably worried about you"
Kagome nodded slowly and reluctantly let go of Inu Yasha. Stepping back, she took one last look at Inu Yasha golden eyes and immediately felt a little bit better. She realized why she loved him right then and there; he had always been kind even though he hid his true feelings behind his stone cold expressions. Whenever they had fought about something it was usually just Inu Yasha doing something abnormally nice then reverting back to his angry shell and saying something to cover up his good deed which would send her running home. "Let's go" she said, smiling slightly for the first time in the past few days and grabbing his hand.
Inu Yasha looked as she intertwined her fingers in his and blushed "uh...yeah." he said slowly, returning the smile.
Kagome continued smiling as they headed back to Kaede's hut. Though silence loomed in the air, she felt more calm then she had since the battle with Kyoto. But deep down she knew that things were not okay, Inu Yasha was still constantly being tracked by Kyoto and what made matters worse, Kyoto had one key to Inu Yasha's soul, her. As long as she was around, Kyoto would have a way of getting Inu Yasha to come to him. No matter how she looked at it, she was the main reason Kyoto had been able to find out so much about Inu Yasha and have so many battles with him. It was her who had been captured and transformed so that Kyoto could pretend to be her and get close to Inu Yasha. And it was also her that Kyoto controlled and made Inu Yasha fight against. If Kagome was taken again and made to fight, what would Inu Yasha do? What if next time, she wasn't able to control herself? She couldn't expect Inu Yasha to kill her! She needed to get away for a while, to think about what to do.
It was not long before Inu Yasha and Kagome had reached Kaede's hut once again. "What happened to you two?" Miroku asked as they walked in "we were worried."
"Sorry Miroku" Kagome apologized "we just needed to talk for a while, that's all."
"Kagome-chan!" Shippo cried as he came into the room and spotted her.
"Hello Shippo" Kagome said smiling a broad, happy, and convincingly fake smile.
"Kagome? When did you get back?" said Sango as she too walked in behind Shippo and went to sit beside her friend.
"Just now actually" Kagome said, still faking the smile. It must have been convincing enough though, for Sango did not question it.
The group of friends all went into their own conversations. Everyone that is, except for Inu Yasha, who sat in the corner in deep thought. "He sure has been quiet for a while" Sango whispered to Kagome "did something happen?"
"I don't think so" Kagome whispered in reply, "He was fine before."
As long as Kagome has that tension seal on her arm, she's in terrible danger. The only way to save her is to use the transfer idols. But if we use a transfer idol, someone else will have to die. It's obvious that the others aren't willing to give up their lives and Kyoto knows that. He knows that only I would be willing to. If Kagome dies, I lose a loved one, just like he did. And if I use the transfer idol, I die. Either way, Kyoto gets his unnecessary revenge! Inu Yasha clenched his fist tightly either way, he wins and I lose! He looked up at Kagome, who sat talking to Sango, her convincingly fake smile plastered on her face and felt his heart break but I don't care anymore he thought I can't let Kagome die, I'll get the transfer idol, and I'll use it on Kagome. Then, I'll die, and I'll wait, Kagome, I'll wait for you on the other side.
The next morning, Kyoto and Sesshomaru gathered Kagome's shard and ventured off to see the demon of the village of Kai (a/n: this just made me think of "we're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of oz!). Many rumors had been spread about this demon saying that he was one of the most powerful, intimidating demons around. So, naturally, he was their first choice. They traveled far and wide, past the gumdrop trees and the cupcake mountains (a/n: j/k j/k! did you actually think I'd make it have gumdrop trees and cupcake mountains? They're trying to find a demon for Christ's sake!) Pretty soon they had reached the demons cave.
"Um…is this the…residence of the demon of Kai?" Kyoto called in.
"Who's asking?" called out a half low/half high voice roughly.
"The honorable Kyoto" Kyoto said proudly, puffing out his chest. But then he noticed the killing stare Sesshomaru was giving him "and the equally honorable, lord Sesshomaru" he added quickly, laughing nervously.
"What do you want oh honorable ones?" the demon called out from the cave sarcastically.
"We have a business proposition for you" Kyoto called out in reply.
There was a long pause after his statement "come in then" the demon said slowly after the silence. The two walked slowly into the dark cave, putting out their hands to feel their way around. "Oh shit! I'm sorry, I keep forgetting humans can't see in the dark" the demon said, flipping on the light switch. Suddenly, Sesshomaru and Kyoto were greeted by a bright light. When their eyes had adjusted, they saw that they were standing in a nicely decorated, very welcoming, very pink cave. And standing in the middle of it all, was a tall, lean, silvery blue haired, green-eyed…
"YOU'RE A….A…SHOJO!" Kyoto shouted out in exasperation ( a/n: for those who don't know, Shojo means girl )
"Couldn't you tell from my voice?" she said smiling as she flicked her hair over her shoulder "I'm the one and only reputed demon of Kai, Koru"
"But…you can't be…the demon of Kai is supposed to be terrifying and powerful" Kyoto protested "Not some, demon version of Barbie!" (a/n: question, would they know about Barbie? Well, let's just pretend they do okay?)
At this Koru seemed to get very annoyed "Omigod!" she said in a very chickish (a/n: yes chickish! It's my word! Don't make fun of me, I'm creative) way "I'm gonna so totally have a B.F."
"A B.F.?" Kyoto asked as he and Sesshomaru exchanged confused glances "what's that?"
"A Bitch Fit!" Koru shouted in annoyance, her green eyes glowing in anger "you'd better apologize now!"
(a/n: yes, yes I know that's from white chicks, but wouldn't it be funny if something like that happened in Inu Yasha?)
Kyoto smirked "feh…what are you going to do, slap me?"
This was the breaking point, in one bright flash of green; the entire cave blew up, leaving an almost burnt Kyoto and Sesshomaru standing in the middle of the still immaculate, pink cave. Koru stood proudly in front of them, laughing at their hair, which was blown straight up (a/n: which would look pretty hilarious on Sesshy lmao!) and at their ripped and burnt clothes. "Now that" she said "is the power of a good old fashioned bitch fit."
"Ok" Kyoto coughed "let's negotiate this shall we?"
Koru smiled and gently poked them both in the stomach, sending them flying straight down onto the pink, fuzzy (squeals in delight FUZZY!!!) couch. "Never underestimate the power of a shojo" she said smirking as she walked over to one of her cupboards. She grabbed a couple of herbs and brought them over to the boys. Sitting down, she handed the herbs to them "this should take care of your hair" she said.
Kyoto and Sesshomaru both rubbed the herbs into their hair until they were completely dissolved. Immediately, their hair fell back into place. Koru looked at Sesshomaru's silver hair and squealed in delight "your hair it's so…shiny!" she said, running over to him and playing with it "Have you ever tried braiding it? I swear it would totally bring out your eyes and those scars on your cheeks."
"Can we PLEASE" Kyoto interrupted "get back to business?"
Koru turned to look and Kyoto and blushed "sorry" she said sitting back down "now, about this business proposal?"
"Right" Kyoto said "we need you to do us a little favour…"
Then he and Sesshomaru proceeded to tell Koru the entire story and their plan "You'll be needing my brother then" Koru said after they were finished explaining.
"You have a brother?" Kyoto asked in relief.
"Yup" Koru said smiling "Koneru! Get your ass over here!"
Suddenly, A huge, 10 ft tall, demon that looked like an extremely tall teenage boy with silver blue hair and green eyes stepped through the door way. "What now Koru?" he said annoyed.
"These people have a business proposal for us" Koru said, gesturing for him to sit down.
"For your brother not you!" Kyoto interrupted.
"You want me to have another B.F.?" Koru threatened.
"Did I say your brother?" Kyoto said, laughing nervously "I meant your brother and you"
"That's better" Koru smiled "Now…what's in this for us?"
Kyoto smiled and nodded to Sesshomaru, who took out the vile with Kagome's jewel shards "Does this make it worth your while?"
Koru and Koneru stared at the vile and smiled "this will do nicely" Koneru said, reaching out to grab the vile.
"Not so fast, demon boy" Kyoto said, snatching the vile back "you'll get this, after you do what we ask"
"Deal" Koru said, holding out her hand.
Kyoto smiled, shaking her hand "Nice doing business with you" he smirked.
Later on, the gang had decided to pay a visit to the hot spring. Kagome had brought swimsuits for everyone so that they could all go in and not have to worry about perverts like Miroku looking where they weren't supposed to.
"Come on Kagome" Sango said smiling "let's go"
"Uh…that's okay" Kagome said returning the smile "you guys go on ahead, I…have some studying to do"
"But you didn't bring any books back with you" Miroku said.
Kagome shot him a look thank you helpy helperton she thought "It's not that kind of studying" she lied quickly.
"What is it then?" Inu Yasha asked.
"Well…it's…English" Kagome lied "we have to think about a topic for an essay"
"Oh" Inu Yasha said.
"How long will that take?" Sango asked.
"Not too long" Kagome smiled "at least I don't think so. If I get done early, I'll meet up with you guys."
"Okay if you're sure" Shippo said happily as he bounced out the door. The others slowly followed after him.
Kagome shot them a fake smile and waved. As soon as they had left, Kagome sat and got down to some serious thinking Kyoto's one link to Inu Yasha, is me. She thought if he gets a hold of me again, he'll have a greater chance of killing Inu Yasha. Kagome thought more about how she could stop that from happening and could only think of one solution. But it was one of the most painful, heart breaking option she had but it's the only one I have she thought the only to destroy Kyoto's chances of getting to Inu Yasha through me, is to make sure I'm out of the way. I've got no other choice; I've got to kill myself. I have to erase myself from the planet. There's no other way, even if I tried to run away, Kyoto would find me. Kagome felt hot tears stinging in her eyes let them flow freely without hesitation. She was allowed to cry this time, this was the last time she would ever be able to feel sadness, pain, love, hurt, happiness, joy, or any other emotion. Tonight was her last night on earth. She prayed Kami would be merciful as she grabbed an arrow from Kaede's quiver. But before she did anything with the arrow, she grabbed a paper and a pen from her backpack (a/n: of course the giant backpack that's bigger than her would have a paper and a pen. Why not? It's got enough room for a pan, a timer, cup noodles, etc.). She wrote away, writing down everything, her last wishes, what she was leaving everyone, how and why she had died. Then, she paused, thinking about whether or not to write something deeply personal why not she thought it's not like I'm ever going to see them again. So, she wrote it. When she was done, she folded up the paper and placed it in the middle of the room. Then, she picked up the arrow and held it against her chest. This was it; this was her last minute on earth. I'll miss you mom, sota, even grandpa. Bye Shippo, Sango, Miroku, you were like a second family to me. Good bye Inu Yasha, I will probably miss you the most of all! You were my best friend, maybe even more! Then, with one last tear, she brought the arrow down!
Author's note: Muahahahaha! Yet another cliffhanger! grins evilly Wanna see what happens? Will Kagome really plunge the arrow into her heart and kill herself? Will the rest of her friends find the will? And what was that personal thing Kagome wrote down? It's all to come in the next chapter! And a little hint to everyone, the more reviews you send, the faster I write! I want at least 40 or even 30 when this story is done. So if you grant my wish, I'll grant yours! Oh and before I forget, does anyone want to join the new club I'm starting? It's called the I HATE KIKYO Kikyo haters club. A club in which all inu/kag fans can express their feelings of hatred toward that stupid living dead bitch! (srry I jus reeeeeeeellly hate her!) Answer in your reviews and I'll let you in on the details.