AN: The characters invloved within this oneshot do not belong to me and are of no realism. I hope you enjoy this piece of writing. Please leave a review.

Grip!

By: Kagome-reincarnation

Scattered about are seven purple stars

Thoughts are brought together by each, crushing our cry out for love

Unable to escape from it, we cling to our dreams

We won't lose anymore to the everyday trickery

Kagome, Inuyasha, Shippo, Kilala, Sango, Miroku, and Kikyo; they are the seven purple stars. They're always thinking of the other and hurting for the love of their life. Each day, all seven go through great pains to ignore the dream of their future, seeing as no one wants to become distracted from the battle with Naraku.

Wake up right now

Soon we seem to be surrounded

By the REAL world choking us

Your important person...is who?

In the luxury world, shards of eternity are appearing and disappearing

Touch and seize it, now let's precisely walk this way

They wanted to wake up from this dream, this nightmare.

Kagome wanted to believe that everything within the Feudal Era was a dream- all of the pain and depression that she had received there, as well as all of her joy, if only to ease herself out of the pain and darkness. Her important person didn't realize how much she loved him…Inuyasha… If only he would acknowledge their vision of the future…

Inuyasha wanted to believe that he had finally found someone who thought of him as himself. He was expecting to be rudely awakened at any moment. His important person was one he didn't want to get too involved with. What if the jewel took her away? He would only allow himself to settle down with her once he was sure that she would always stay by his side…Kagome….

Shippo wanted to believe that he had finally found a family- that his parent had never died…. His one special person was Kagome, the one who had protected him and guided him.

Kilala wanted to wake up smelling the cherry blossoms of the Exterminator Village and go train with her mistress. She didn't want her village to be destroyed the way it had been… Her special person was her mistress, Sango, who had given her all of her heart's content.

Sango wanted to wake up, also smelling the cherry blossoms of the village and to train with her loyal pet and companion, as well as partner. She wanted to receive the next assignment from her father, the head, and venture out. Her special person as Miroku, though she would never tell…

Miroku wanted to believe that everything had been a dream- the wind tunnel, his coming death, and even his lecherous ways… He wanted to be with his family once more. His one true special person was Sango… He would never tell her, but he loved her with all his heart.

Kikyo wanted to wake up and realize her death- to acknowledge it- so she could finally stop her wanderings and find peace. She wanted to die with Inuyasha, and to finally be happy… Her special person was the one that she would never be free to be with as she was dead and he was not. Also, the fact that her reincarnation had stolen his heart only crushed her own even further.

"Without regret" we advanced to our destination

Will we laugh? Will we cry? Will we be happy? Will we be unhappy?

After all now, yet I still don't understand

In the future you start to change; don't falter

That's life's essence

Kagome said that she was happy. She had no regrets. She only wanted to be with Inuyasha and stand by his side. What a lie. She wanted to be loved and to be held- to be told that she was needed and loved. She wanted to be told that she was irreplaceable. She had decided long ago that she would laugh and she would be happy, but she could only pretend and weakly try to persuade herself, saying that she was when she wasn't. She simply didn't know what to do anymore. She knew things would change, and se wasn't sure if she would like how things went. Would Inuyasha go with Kikyo after the final battle? She didn't know. Thus, she accepted that things would take a turn for the worse and she would be forgotten, forsaking her emotional needs.

Inuyasha was pretending every bit as Kagome. He was happy? Yeah, right. He was involved in a battle with some asshole he didn't even know! Hell, he didn't even know the guy existed until after Naraku had attacked him. Oh sure; he laughed, he cried, he smiled, and pretended, but most of it was a show. He didn't know who to choose. Kagome or Kikyo? He had promised Kikyo that he would so long ago…. Not to mention that he felt as if he were obligated to do so… But what about Kagome? How would she feel? He just didn't know what to do anymore….

Shippo laughed and cried in turns. He had no regrets, except for his father, but his father had died to protect him, right? In any case, the boy was happy with his life. He had an evil older brother/father figure in Inuyasha, not that he would ever tell him, and he had a mother figure in Kagome. Sango and Miroku were like family members in their own way and Kilala was his pet, friend and guardian when the others couldn't help him.

Kilala wasn't happy, or unhappy. She wasn't laughing or crying. She knew how things would turn out. In her own way, she really did. As a fire demon cat, she could only protect her family and hope that things would come out for the better. Unfortunately, the very key to Naraku's defeat was always confused. Kilala just wanted for her family and mistress to be happy. She wanted to be able to laze and train at the same time without the actual need of skill.

Sango smiled and Sango laughed. She cried and she frowned, but she always thought of it as normal. Didn't everyone? Then she noticed things. Miroku was always with her- did he love her the way she loved him? Kagome's smiles became more strained and her laughter more false. She was being killed emotionally. That would only lead to one thing. She knew things would change drastically soon. Everyone could feel the tension in the air. They were nearing the time of the final battle.

Miroku laughed a lot. In fact, he was the most jolly of the group. Though he had more at stake than the others, he also knew that they were too preoccupied to notice. Therefore, he simply smiled, laughed and tried to brighten the mood. The most serviceable method was to grope his love. He doubted that she knew it, and he was rather oblivious to her reactions to him, but he still carried on in the same way. Just how would these things turn out?

Kikyo was the opposite of the group. She was sad, and unhappy. She had her regrets, but she also knew that nothing could be done about them, somewhat balancing them out. She knew that she would either die or wander the earth for eternity. Of course, she preferred the first option, but she needed to finalize things with the man she loved. Everyone had thought that she didn't accept Inuyasha as a hanyou. She did... In fact, she loved him that way, but he was insecure about it. He wanted to become a full demon. Unfortunately, she knew what would happen if she used that wish on the jewel. It would become corrupt, and she would be cursed with carrying the damed thing for the rest of her life. So she had offered to turn Inuyasha human. He had agreed. How was she to know that he didn't truly want that? She had only been human! In fact, she still was human. The only difference was the material that made up her body...

We're living just barely, we sent our answer

Even if it's different, and gives the wrong impression

But it's a powerful hope

Until that day you become the real thing

In this cruel world, love's bud will probably be smashed

Touch and seize it, we now we engrave it firmly

Kagome was a shell. She was barely alive in the emotional sense. She was alive physically, but soon, that would all change. She had been less heartened, and had decided to stop eating as much as she needed... What would happen to her? She knew that Inuyasha would most likely go to Kikyo if she didn't intervene. At the same time, she didn't want to intervene, because she knew that Inuyasha would be sad. If she could help it, that would never happen...

Inuyasha, on the other hand, was confused. Who would he decide upon? Kagome, or Kikyo? Even as his mind drifted, Kikyo was always the first to appear in his mind. She was always before Kagome in his thoughts. He wanted to go with Kagome. To spare her of this pain, but at the same time, he knew that she would be miserable knowing that his love for her was false. Of course, he would be equally miserable, leaving his true love for a false one... He would go with Kikyo... He was decided now.

Shippo thought of everything as simple. You eat, you sleep, you live your life to the fullest. If you fall in love, you fall in love. All you had to do after that point was make it known and pursue the object of your affection. Fortunately, he would have the opportunity to learn from Inuyasha's mistakes instead of his own, seeing as Inuyasha was making plenty of mistakes in his own double relationship.

Kilala, being more of a pet demon, didn't expect to mate. She didn't expect to find love, and either way, she was to busy with it. Therefore, she lived her life the way it was, simply helping her friends and all. She had no real worries. The ones that she did possess were remnants of her mistress's worries.

Sango worried about everything. What would she do after the final battle? How would things go? Would she be able to tell Miroku that she loved him after? Would either of them even be alive? Would she be able to save Kohaku? So many questions running through her mind... She didn't know which one to figure out first. Instead, she ran away from them, believing that they would solve themselves in due time.

Miroku also had many worries. Would he live to defeat Naraku? If he did, would he be able to defeat Naraku? It was all so confusing. Part of his mind always wandered back to those questions and even came up with more. What was he to do?

Kikyo knew that she would have to die. Everything depended upon her death. If she died, Naraku would no longer have a true reason to remain. If she died, she knew that he would soon follow. On the other hand, what she would do, help kill him and claim Inuyasha, was more appealing. That way, they could still die together and all the spirits except that of her reincarnate would be satisfied. On the other hand, she also knew that her reincarnate had someone for her in her own time... Someone that would love her in a way that Inuyasha couldn't do for her.

Wake up right now

Soon we seem to be surrounded

By the REAL world choking us

Your important person...is who?

In the luxury world, shards of eternity are appearing and disappearing

Touch and seize it, now let's precisely walk this way

The seven of them knew what they had to do. Each would take down a nemesis and destroy the final copy together. They would destroy the one that had locked away their future and reclaim they key. They would move on, most likely moving away from each other as well. They would find their true loves and they would walk their paths. Never to meet again or to meet once more in the future was all in fate's capable hands. If only they could, for they most certainly would. They would pretend until then, tossing their worries aside. Then when it came time to deal with them, they would solve them and would walk their paths into the future.

In order to smile in the end, we now walk precisely this way