Author's Note: This is the final regular chapter of Missing in Action (though it will be followed by and epilogue, which is yet to come). Once again, I apologize in advance for the almost certain presence of inaccuracies and anachronisms. I'm a music major – I don't claim to be a history expert (though I do have a great fondness for the subject… --grin--).
Anyway, enjoy…
(Note: minor correction made 1/23/06, thanks to Varethane's sharp eye…)
Missing in Action
Chapter 22: Fragments
They could hear the sounds of battle up ahead, growing ever closer as they walked. In her nervousness, Kagome checked her equipment repeatedly to see that she had everything she needed, and to distract herself from what was to come. Despite her brave words, the fact of the matter was that she had never actually been in a combat situation. Although she had experienced danger in her work as a spy, there had always been the protective veneer of strategy and intrigue to cling to. Even when her cover was blown, there had been reasons for the enemy to keep her alive, ways for her to finesse an escape.
In battle, there were no such safeguards: a bullet didn't ask questions before tearing into one's chest.
She concentrated on the sounds nearby instead – the swish of her army issue green cargo pant legs as they brushed repeatedly against one another; the dull clomp of heavy combat boots hitting the soil unevenly around her. Once in awhile she tugged agitatedly at the neck of her black turtleneck.
"Are you alright?" came a voice from just over her left shoulder – and there stood Tieresias.
She tried to smile, but she could feel the strain in her expression as she did so. "Fine," she tried again, though her very tone of voice betrayed her.
The old man nodded knowingly. "I see," he murmured, looking straight ahead – though she could still see the curve of a smile beneath his gray beard. After a moment of silence he spoke again, conversationally. "You know, I fought in The Great War, years ago – in the trenches up north. Scariest thing I ever did – if the bullets didn't get you, then the gas or the disease or the shell-shock probably would. Why, at Verdun alone they say there were about a million casualties."
"I'm sorry," Kagome interrupted, regarding him in puzzlement, "Is this supposed to be helping?"
He chuckled amiably and continued. "I'm getting there, I promise. The thing is that the worst part was that none of us even really knew what we were fighting for. It was like dominoes: An Archduke was killed in Serbia, and before we knew it an entire continent was at war.
"War isn't like that these days," he said seriously, glancing over at her. "This time we know what's at stake. And it isn't just about politics or alliances – it's about protecting those things which we hold most dear." He paused again, returning his gaze to the path ahead. "I met my wife during that war, you know."
Kagome peered over at him, trying to read his expression, but she couldn't seem to put a name to it. Then he smiled and chuckled again.
"Best cure for shell-shock is knowing that you have something worth fighting for."
She smiled back and opened her mouth to respond – but before she had the chance, the train-like whistle of incoming artillery rent the air and they were all forced to the ground. They had arrived.
Dirt and shell fragments filled the air over their heads, and Kagome blinked and coughed, trying to make out the orders that Henri was shouting over the noise.
"Get across the bridge and fill in the gaps! Let's move, move, move!"
The ragtag bunch of them scrambled to their feet and rushed en masse across the frighteningly exposed bridge, everyone scattering for cover upon reaching the opposite bank.
Kagome ducked quickly behind an old overturned jeep as shards of concrete exploded over her head. Her breathing was sharp and ragged, and for a moment, she sat shaking with her back pressed against the sun-baked metal, pulling herself together. Something worth fighting for, she repeated to herself, Something worth fighting for…
As she ran in a crouch from one protective pile of debris to the next, her heart pounded rebelliously against her ribcage as though attempting to escape her body, while enemy shells made contact nearby. Gradually, she made her way forward, aiming for a wide, freestanding column near the edge of the square. It had probably once helped to support the upper floor of the building just behind it, but there was no longer an upper floor to support.
Crossing the last few feet, she leaned gratefully back against the solid stone of the column, immediately turning back in the direction she had come to check on the status of the others behind her. Seeing that they seemed to be alright, she leaned her head back and tried to catch her runaway breath. Just then, she felt a movement beside her, and she whirled her head in the other direction to come face to face with Inuyasha.
"Kagome!" he shouted in mixed surprise and anger. "What the hell do you think you're doing here!" he demanded.
"I'm with the—" gasp, "—Resistance unit. We came to—" gasp, "—help you."
"I know that, dammit!" he shouted back, but broke off momentarily to pull her against him and shield them both from the debris of a shell impact, just a few feet from the pillar behind which they stood. "I meant why the hell did you come with them?"
"Because I heard you were leading the mission," she shot back firmly. "I wasn't about to go letting you die on me again."
"How did you know?" he asked, bemused.
"Hojo told me when he brought the news to the Resistance."
"Who the hell is Hoj—wait a minute, Hojo?" he amended, the name clicking into place. "I thought he was supposed to be dead!"
"So did I—look, do we really need to be talking about this right now?" Kagome shouted over the general cacophony. "I don't know if you've noticed, but—" they both ducked instinctively as the whistle and boom of another shell thundered nearby, "—we're in the middle of a battle."
"Right," Inuyasha agreed. "You stay here, alright? And for fuck's sake, don't go doing anything stupid!"
"And just what are you going to do?" she countered.
"I'm going in to find Naraku – I have orders to assassinate him."
"Oh no you don't," she said, grabbing his arm when he tried to turn away and leave. "I'm coming with you."
"The hell you are!" he yelled. "You shouldn't even be here in the first place – and I'll be damned if I'm gonna let you get hurt."
"I don't care what you say, I'm coming with you – end of story," she stated firmly.
For a moment they merely glared at each other, each willing the other to back down, until finally Inuyasha conceded. "Fine – damn stubborn wench. But you sure as hell better not go and get yourself killed. If you do," his voice softened seriously, "I'll never forgive you…"
She returned a brief smile before murmuring, "Ditto…"
Bullets filled the air like deadly gnats, whipping over their heads and ricocheting off remnants of what had once been a town.
"Is it too late to call a truce?" Miroku questioned wryly. Sango darted him a look before turning to the second in command of the troops, who was currently shouting incomprehensible orders to his men.
"We're Resistence – how can we help, Sir?" she asked seriously.
The man turned to her, mildly surprised. "You folks made it? Great – anyone in your group have experience with explosives?"
"We've got some training," Miroku volunteered. "What do you need?"
"We have to rig the bridge so we can blow it on our way out – if you can handle that it would free up more of my men to hold off the vanguard. If we don't get out of here before their next regiment gets here, we're sunk."
"Got it – we'll take care of it," Sango confirmed, turning back to Miroku. "So – any ideas?"
The bridge was approximately twenty yards from where they sat in the protective cover of a sandbag-edged ditch that served as their side's makeshift base of operations. Between here and there were a few negligible havens and a good deal of open space. Well, open except for the hail of artillery raining down upon them. It had been easier to reach this spot from the bridge before, since they had been traveling in a group, and thus had been less exposed – but now all the others had spread out and joined the fighting.
"The river," said Miroku, and Sango frowned at him, nonplussed.
"Hm?"
"We can use the river. Look – if we head right from here and get into the shade of that building, we'll be out of the line of fire. Then we—"
"Head for the riverbank and follow it back up to the bridge," Sango finished. "I knew there was a reason I loved you."
They scurried awkwardly along the ditch as far as they could, dropping to their stomachs in the dirt and covering their heads when an explosion hit nearby, and then picking themselves up again and continuing forward. A young man was hit just as Sango was passing and he collapsed backward into her, writhing in pain. They paused briefly to see that he would be alright, and although he was bleeding quite a lot, the bullet had only struck his shoulder – a medic was there to patch him up in a flash.
One at a time they crossed the gap between the edge of the ditch and the wall at a sprint, both gasping for breath once there. Then they swung in a wide arc down to the riverbank, both darting harried glances over their shoulders until finally they skidded down into the riverbed.
"Are you okay?" Sango asked, leaning her head back a moment, eyes closed.
"Fine – you?"
"Perfect – let's go."
The mud and water sloshed and stuck to their boots as they ran along the edge of the river at a crouch, careful to keep below sightlines until they reached the bridge at last.
"Dr. Livingston, I presume," Miroku greeted the men breathlessly. The nearest soldier gave him a 'what the hell are you talking about?' look, which he waved away impatiently. "Never mind – we'll take over here."
It was eerily quiet, the dark interior of one of the few buildings in the town that had been left largely intact a great contrast from the smoke-filled sunlight of the outside world. The sounds of the battle, though still audible, were muffled and distant, only bringing the frightening stillness of the building into sharper relief.
The place looked as though it had once been some sort of factory turned office-building, though it had clearly been gutted long ago – probably around the time of the first battle that had taken place here. Still, it couldn't have been in great condition even before that – the paint was peeled and stained, the walls cracked, and in some places fallen ceiling beams seemed to indicated that the wood had rotted straight though. Everything was covered in a layer of dust and grime.
Inuyasha paused at the edge of a doorway, his handgun raised before him, and signaled Kagome to stop with his other hand. After peaking around the edge of the doorframe and apparently satisfying himself that the room was empty, he signaled her to follow him in.
Kagome, for her part, clutched the handle of her own gun a bit more tightly, her wide, sharp eyes darting around, trying to watch all of the shadows at once.
They crossed the room to the doorway opposite, which led to yet another hallway. Inuyasha checked both directions once again, and signaled her to follow him – but she stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. When he glanced back at her, she whispered, "We'll have better luck if we split up."
"What?" he whispered back harshly. "Hell no – you're staying with me."
"Inuyasha, don't worry about me. I'm a spy, remember? I can take care of myself."
In the dim light she could see the battle taking place across his features: He was extremely reluctant to let her go off on her own, but he also knew that she was right – they would be able to find Naraku more quickly if they split up.
In an effort to nudge him to the decision he already knew was the right one, Kagome whispered, "When I asked to come on this mission, I promised I wouldn't let my personal feelings get in the way of what had to be done." She grazed his cheek with her knuckles, brushed a loose strand of silver back from his face. "You need to do the same."
He gazed back at her a moment longer, before finally nodding his assent. Reaching out, he squeezed her shoulder gently; then pulled her to him, kissing her deeply. She kissed him back with equal fervor, relishing the feel of him in her arms again, and praying that it wouldn't be for the last time.
Then, without another word, they parted, going their separate ways.
Kagome crept stealthily along the hallway, keeping close to the wall, her senses straining to detect anything out of the ordinary. Her heart seemed to writhe in her chest as she approached the corner; peaking around the edge to see that the way was clear, she continued forward.
On and on she walked. It seemed as though it had been hours since they'd parted, though it could only really have been a matter of minutes. Then again, in the insidious stillness of this place, time itself seemed to have been subjugated to the will of the enemy.
She rounded yet another corner into a small room that looked as though it might once have been an office. Its window was boarded up, the large hulking shadow of an old wardrobe the only remaining item of furniture.
A pistol cocked, and Kagome whirled to come face to face with Kikyo, each pointing her weapon at the other's heart. A shot rang out, and Kagome let out a scream that was suddenly silenced.
Sango grunted as her foot slipped out from under her in the wet soil of the riverbank, causing her to flatten against the slanted ground again.
"You okay Sango?" Miroku called, glancing over his shoulder from his position near one of the other supports of the bridge. He was thigh deep in the water, struggling to attach a bundle of explosives to his pillar.
"Fine – it's just a bit slippery over here. I've almost got it though. How are you doing?"
An explosion rent the air above them as a shell impacted the earth not far from the bridge, and they winced against the resulting sound and dust.
"Just have one left to do, then we can attach the detonator," Miroku called back over the ringing in his ears.
They worked as quickly as possible, trying to ignore the shaking of the earth and the occasional screams of their friends and comrades. This was made easier by the deafening sound of explosions and gunfire, which drowned out nearly everything else.
Once they had the dynamite rigged up, they connected the wires so they would run from the explosives to the detonator, which had been planted in the brush on the opposite bank.
At last, both lying in the dirt on the incline that made up the east bank of the river where it came up to meet the bridge, they finished making the last connection. With a sigh, Sango rolled to her back, unbothered by the fact that her head was resting in the mud. She was covered in it from head to foot, so it made little difference at this point. For a moment, she closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of the battle thundering behind them, oddly calm.
"Miroku?" she said at last, opening her eyes and meeting his where he lay propped up on an elbow beside her.
"Yes Sango?"
"I just wanted to tell you that—if I have to die here…" she brushed away his soiled bangs and cupped his cheek in her hand, "I'm glad it's with you. I mean, not that I would want you to die—it's just that, well…what I meant to say was—"
He interrupted her with a laugh, nodding. "I know what you meant."
For a moment, it was as though the thundering of the cannons and the stench of death that permeated the place couldn't reach them there, lying in the dirt in the shelter of the stone bridge. All they saw or heard or felt was each other.
He kissed her gently, pulling her into his arms, and the two of them held onto each other as tightly as they could.
"I love you, Sango," he murmured in her ear, knowing that no matter how many times he said those words to her, it would never be enough.
The stairwell tapered off into darkness below him, but he continued forward, undaunted. He kept ears pricked for any signs of encroaching danger – and, admittedly, for Kagome's calls for help, should she get into trouble.
Eventually the dull thunk of his boots against the wooden steps gave way to the thick sound of concrete beneath his feet – he had reached the basement. The walls no longer bore paint or wallboard, but were instead made of bare cinderblocks and wooden beams. Rounding the corner to the right at the bottom of the stairs, he could see patches of yellowish light in the darkness up ahead – and where there was light, there must be a source.
Ever so slowly and silently he crept along the dank passageway, following the light. At last, rounding the next bend, he found a door cracked just wide enough for a splash of gold to spill out onto the concrete. Pushing the door aside gently, willing it not to squeak, he slipped through the gap.
The room was cavernous compared to the rest of the building, and bathed in the color of sunset and shadows. There were old crates stacked haphazardly around the edge of the room, partially obscuring it from view – but from what he could see, the center of the floor was clear. The light in the space flickered occasionally, and Inuyasha saw that it emanated from a number of oil lamps set in various places around the room.
A shot ricocheted off the wall just over Inuyasha's left ear, and he hurled himself instinctively behind the stack of crates to his right. Heart pounding in his ears, he peered out over the top of the crate, trying to locate his assailant. Another shot rang out and he ducked once more. Where the hell is he? he demanded silently. Popping up again, he fired two shots off in the direction of the others, hoping to drive the attacker out of hiding, then ducked quickly as more weapons fire rang in his direction, this time from a slightly different position – whoever it was was closing in on him.
Dammit, he thought fiercely, and began weaving his way through the crates carefully, looking for a better angle. A shot fired again, and he ducked, but this time the shooter was further off the mark, not having been able to pin down the hanyou's new position. Inuyasha found a small gap in the crates and peered out into the room, looking for any signs of movement. The flicker of a shadow caught his eye and he fired twice, but had to duck once again when three more shots hit in his direction.
His location compromised, he moved again, finding another niche and searching for his target. Then his saw it – the dull sheen of a gun barrel peeking out from behind the jumble of packing crates over in the corner. But before he had a chance to pull the trigger, a bullet stuck his own weapon, knocking it from his hand. It skittered across the floor, landing on the concrete ten feet away in the middle of the room.
Inuyasha dropped to the floor and covered his head to shield himself from the additional gunfire. Goddamnfuckingsonofabitch, he cursed silently to himself, furious. He had two choices: either he could run out there and grab the gun and try not to get killed in the process, or he could make a dash for the exit. But the only door to the room was in plain sight of his attacker's last known location – he was pretty much running the risk of getting killed either way. And when Inuyasha had a choice between a strategic escape and an insanely reckless feat of heroics, he usually chose the latter.
He almost made it too.
"Don't move," came the coldly threatening voice, accompanied by the equally coldly threatening sound of a pistol cocking. Inuyasha froze in mid-step, his own weapon still out of reach.
There before him, eyes like blood boring into Inuyasha's countenance and rooting him to the spot, was General Naraku.
Far off, somewhere on the floor above, a gunshot and a female scream echoed grotesquely, and Inuyasha's heart leapt in terror. No – no, it couldn't have been…
"You thought you could kill me, did you?" the tall, gaunt man said, his mouth twisting into a malevolent smile seemingly unconcerned by the sound. "Thought you could catch me unawares?"
Inuyasha didn't answer, but merely continued to meet the man's gaze defiantly, teeth gritted. He was barely even listening to the words being spoken, focusing all of his energy on convincing himself that that scream had not belonged to Kagome.
"Whatever could have led you to believe that you could outsmart me?" Naraku continued, unconcerned, "Of the two of us, which has ever been betrayed? Which has been so blinded by the affections of a woman that he did not realize that she was lying to him through her teeth? Which has been thus deceived…twice?"
He let the silence drag out, the air thin and brittle with tension, and growing thinner by the minute. They both knew how this would end – it was only a matter of time. And time was on Naraku's side.
"That is the weakness of the Allies," the pale man drawled smugly, for he seemed determined to torture his prey before delivering the merciful relief of death, "Trust. Trust gives power to the unworthy, makes us less than what we might otherwise be by allowing others to control us. The wise collect it from others, but do not dole it out. A bit of advice for you to remember in your next life, Inuyasha: Trust no one but yourself." With that, he raised his weapon to take aim, and Inuyasha's mind raced, grasping in panic for some method of escape. But just then—
"Wait," came a sharp, dark, female voice from the shadows. The click of Italian heels against the concrete floor echoed around the room, and there was Kikyo looking none the worse for wear in a tailored black skirt suit, her gun pointing directly at Inuyasha's heart.
But if Kikyo was here, then that must mean that Kagome…
"I assume you've taken care of the other one?" Naraku asked blithely.
"My double? She's dead," Kikyo replied bluntly.
"You're sure?"
"Absolutely – I put a bullet between her eyes myself."
A cruel smile twisted his lips. "Excellent."
"May I do the honors? I always enjoy extinguishing an old flame," she said with a coy raise of an eyebrow, raising her pistol and supporting it with a second hand for better aim at the hanyou.
"Of course, my dear," Naraku replied.
Inuyasha's eyes fixed on the barrel of the gun, then on the face of the woman he had once loved; the woman who had made his world and then destroyed it – more than once; the woman who had killed Kagome. It was over – the battle was lost. He was going to die, and now he didn't even care – because what good was a life without her in it?
He could only hope that the others would succeed where he had failed, that his blunder would not lose them the war.
It happened too quickly. He felt the bullet tear his flesh – but strangely, Kikyo was no longer aiming her weapon at him. How had he been shot if she wasn't aiming at him? And what was she aiming at?
His mind whirled with pain, confusion, and the haze brought on by rapid blood loss. Falling to his knees, he clutched at the tear in his side, focusing all his energy into continuing to breathe, fighting to remain conscious. That was when he noticed it: Naraku was sprawled motionless on the ground where he had previously stood.
Kikyo had shot Naraku instead.
The floor seemed to come up to meet him, and Inuyasha gaped up at the ceiling, trying unsuccessfully to process the information. Kikyo had betrayed Naraku?
And then, somehow, Kikyo herself was there, hovering over him, a worried expression on her face. Inuyasha frowned – no…no, that couldn't be. Kikyo had left him, had betrayed him, had plotted against him. Kikyo wanted him dead. Kikyo didn't worry tearfully over him when he was injured, didn't brush the hair from his face and stroke his cheek.
"Inuyasha," the woman murmured, wearing an expression of genuine concern that Inuyasha doubted Kikyo had ever worn in her entire life.
"Kagome…" he murmured back, the pieces falling into place.
She gave him a watery smile, drawing a hitched breath. "Gotcha," she shrugged weakly. A tear fell onto his cheek, and she brushed it away. "Don't worry Inuyasha – you're going to be fine. You're…you're going to be just fine…"
He wasn't sure whether she was trying to convince him or herself. "What happened?"
"Naraku fired just as I did," she explained. "He must have realized what I was doing a split second before I was able to finish him off, and fired instinctively. Inuyasha, I'm so sorry…"
"Sorry?" he said, weakly bemused. "You saved my life, Kagome – in more ways than one."
She smiled softly and whispered, "Just returning the favor."
Somewhere far away – or perhaps not so far, but only dimmed by his waning consciousness – he heard footsteps pounding, equipment clattering. "US army!" called a bodiless voice to no one in particular, and Kagome looked up toward the ceiling and called back.
"We're down here!"
Inuyasha noticed his eyes were closed, and blinked them open; but before long everything went dark and silent as he slipped into unconsciousness.
The order had been given and the men were retreating, thundering over the stone bridge as fast as their feet could carry them, occasionally turning to pick off an enemy soldier that was getting too close. Some didn't make it, hit by enemy bullets when their backs were turned and falling into the river below. Once over the bridge they scattered into the woods beyond for cover to wait for their comrades. Meanwhile, Miroku and Sango waited in the brush of the west riverbank for the order to detonate the bridge.
"There's Kagome!" Sango hissed, pointing out the young woman amid a group of allied soldiers who were working their way back toward the bridge from further into town, hiding where they could and sprinting from haven to haven.
"And isn't that Inuyasha?" Miroku pointed out, noticing the limp form being carried by one of the larger soldiers.
"Oh my god, you're right – I hope he's alright," Sango said, clutching Miroku's hand tightly.
When the last of the Allied soldiers and Resistance agents had made it across the bridge, and the Germans were encroaching upon it, a voice called out from the woods: "Now!"
"This is it," Miroku said; and he and Sango pushed the handle together, throwing themselves flat to the ground and covering their heads to protect from any stray debris.
"Let's go!" Sango shouted as soon as the initial danger had passed, and the two of them got to their feet and hurtled into the woods, enemy fire at their heels.
The trees and brush rustled with the sound of scattering soldiers, and shouted orders, everyone making their way as quickly as they could to the rendezvous point. At last they came upon a clearing that was being used as a makeshift runway, planes landing one at a time to pick up passengers and evacuate them from the area.
"Injured get first priority!" a man who seemed to be in charge of coordinating things was shouting, "Move, move, move!"
"This one didn't make it – move on," said a voice just behind them, and Sango turned to where a couple of medics were doing triage to see Tieresias stretched out glassy-eyed upon the ground.
"Oh my god," she whispered in shock, staring transfixed at the old man's body.
Miroku, following her gaze, echoed her sentiment with a mumbled oath.
They were jolted out of their sudden grief by a passing soldier who was hurrying toward the nearest plane with another man limping along beside him – there was no time to mourn just now. Then, across the field, they spotted Inuyasha being loaded onto one of the planes in a stretcher, Kagome climbing in after him.
"Kagome!" Sango called out, running toward the plane, and the young woman turned at the sound of her voice.
"Sango!" she called back, "Miroku! Thank god you're alright, I was so worried." She and Sango embraced tightly.
"How about Inuyasha – is he…?" Sango began.
"He'll be alright once we get him to the hospital – I'm going with him," Kagome replied, looking worried but confident.
Sango nodded, saying quietly, "We'll be going back to the bunker," and she and Kagome embraced again. "Be careful."
"You too," Kagome returned. Then she turned away resolutely and climbed into the plane, only looking back as the door was shut behind her.
Miroku and Sango moved away to a safe distance, and Miroku wrapped his arms tightly around her from behind, a comfort which she gratefully accepted. Together they watched as the plane took off, and the woman who had been like a sister to Sango for as long as she could remember disappeared beyond the clouds.
The doctors assured her that he was out of the woods, and that he would make a full recovery as long as he was allowed to rest properly. Nonetheless, Kagome had not left his side since their arrival in London. She had a book propped against her knee, but she couldn't focus on it for more than a few minutes at a time, always finding her attention drawn back to his sleeping face.
A quiet noise from the hospital bed beside her drew her gaze up from the book once more, and there she was relieved to see blurry golden eyes peering back at her.
"Where am I?" Inuyasha asked in a voice grown rusty from grogginess and disuse.
"The army hospital in London," Kagome explained, putting a hand comfortingly on Inuyasha's arm and squeezing it gently with a smile. "You're going to be just fine."
He gave a vague nod, watching her mutely as he seemed to be trying to put together the pieces of a fragmented memory. "What happened?" he asked at last.
"Well, you were shot when—"
"No, no," he interrupted, "I mean, how did you—what did…how did you manage…"
"Oh," Kagome said, smiling somewhat sheepishly. "You mean what happened before that. Well—I ran into Kikyo after we split up, and I…I killed her, and traded clothes with her, hoping that that would allow me to get close enough to Naraku to kill him before he realized who I was. When I saw that he was about to kill you, I…I just sort of went with my instincts…"
"But," he said, puzzled, "the scream – I could have sworn it sounded like—"
"Yes – that was me. She startled me; I hardly even had time to think, and before I knew it I'd fired, and there she was, on the floor…" Kagome trailed off.
Inuyasha was silent for a moment, then asked in a voice void of expression, "So Kikyo is dead then?"
Kagome nodded silently, watching his reaction. He seemed to notice her careful scrutiny and gave her a brief, if weak, smile. "Don't worry about it – I'm alright. I just…don't think I would have been able to do it myself, that's all. And I was thinking about that argument we had before – the day before I left the bunker, when I accused you of still having feelings for Kouga, because you hadn't been able to kill him when you'd had the chance."
"Yes?" Kagome prompted when he paused.
"Well," Inuyasha continued, somewhat reluctantly, "what I never told you was that I did the exact same thing."
The woman frowned slightly, wondering what he was getting at.
"Back in Asile, while I was being held captive, I incapacitated a couple of guards and I had Kikyo at gunpoint. She was unarmed, and she had the antidote to the poison they had injected me with. I could easily have killed her then and there, but instead I took the antidote and ran. I couldn't bring myself to kill her."
Kagome smiled down at him comfortingly. "Well, that makes you a hypocrite, Inuyasha – but nothing worse than that."
He looked back at her, puzzled. "You're not angry? Think of all the trouble I could have saved us both by killing her."
"But think of all the opportunities you saved us by not doing so," Kagome pointed out. "If you had killed Kikyo then and there, Naraku might have abandoned her part of the plan altogether and killed me as well, instead of sending me on that strange mission of his. And if it hadn't been for Kikyo's presence at Ville du Pont, I wouldn't have had the means to get close enough to Naraku to kill him and save your life."
"But—" he protested, but she interrupted him.
"And besides, I don't know about you, but I don't generally make a habit of faulting people for not killing other human beings," Kagome finished with a smile.
Inuyasha couldn't help himself – he smiled back.
They fell silent for a short while, during which time Kagome laced her fingers with his and squeezed his hand affectionately. Then his brow furrowed slightly, as though something had just occurred to him, and Kagome questioned curiously, "Is something wrong."
Inuyasha peered back at her. "When I first saw you in Ville du Pont—didn't you say that Hojo had told you I was going to be on the mission?"
Kagome's eyes widened slightly, recalling suddenly that they had not yet finished this conversation. "Ah…yes, yes I did."
"And that would be Hojo, your old fiancé from the diary?" Inuyasha clarified.
"Yeah…"
"The one who's supposed to have been dead for three years?" he clarified once again.
"Yep, that's the one…" Kagome confirmed.
"Uh huh," Inuyasha mumbled, considering. "Mind filling me in on the details there?"
Kagome snickered lightly at his ineptly disguised jealousy. "Well, it's a long story – and I don't actually know all of it – but the short version is that he and I have broken things off for good this time, despite the fact that he's alive."
"I see," he said, still watching her. "Any particular reason?"
"Well, other than the fact that he'd been expecting to come back to the same girl he'd left, there was also the little matter of my being in love with someone else."
He grinned. "Anyone I know?"
She grinned back, shrugging coyly. "Could be, Flyboy…"
And that was when the Flyboy drew the Spy down for a gentle kiss.
A/N: It's done! I can't believe it!
Well, okay, it's not completely done – I do still have the epilogue to write – but the body of the story is complete. Yay! You have no idea how wonderful it feels to finally be finishing this story.
Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed reading this as much as I've enjoyed writing it (in fact, I hope you've enjoyed reading it a good deal more than I enjoyed writing parts of it, because if not I would wonder why you're still here…). It's certainly not perfect (and I would argue that it's not even all that good), but it's fun, and that's good enough for me. And I have to admit, I had a lot more fun writing this last chapter than I thought I would. In general, I'm not great at the action scenes (which begs the question of why on earth I would chose to write a story set in WWII – and the answer is "who the hell knows?"), but this one seemed to actually turn out relatively okay, surprisingly (I think – hard for me to tell though, since I can't read it objectively). And I like this version of the little "showdown" with Naraku much better than my original version, which I had sort of stolen from the end of the Kyoto Arc of Rurouni Kenshin. I had this set up where Naraku is aiming a gun at Inuyasha, and Kagome is aiming at Naraku, and then Kikyo runs in to shield Naraku and everybody fires, so Kikyo gets hit both by Kagome's bullet coming in (which goes through her and hits Naraku) and Naraku's bullet coming out (which goes through her and hits Inuyasha). Then the idea was that Naraku and Kikyo would have this weird little farewell scene as they both bleed to death (Kikyo, of course, happy to die for the sake of Naraku's cause – now do you see how I stole it from RuroKen?), and Kag and Inu would have pretty much the same scene they had here.
But I like this new version of the scene much better. It was so much more fun to do…
So…yeah. I might give a few more notes on things I did/didn't do in the author's notes at the end of the epilogue if I come up with anything that seems like it might be interesting. This story has changed so much since my initial planning of it (I think I've said before that in the original outline, the scene with Kouga on the train was supposed to have been the climax…heh…). We'll see – bye now!
(Oh, one more thing: Up until the very last draft of the chapter, after the line where Inuyasha says, "Who the hell is Hoj—wait a minute, Hojo? I thought he was supposed to be dead!" I had typed in brackets the words, 'Well that never stopped Kikyo…' – lol)