JUST A NOTE: I'm changing one the pairings. It's going to be a kag/inu fic from now on. JUST KIDDING! Miroku/Sango will become Miroku/Rin and Sango/Ginta. Do you really think I would do that to you guys! That would be cruel and unusual punishment. There's something against that in the fifth or sixth amendment. That's against the law. Speaking of law. . . .
Disclaimer: Let me tell you a little story. Once upon a time there was an amateur author. She wrote a story about Inuyasha without giving any credit to Inuyasha's creator, Rumiko Takahashi. When Rumiko found out she filed a law suit and the amateur author was sent to jail and never heard from again. The End (In other words, I don't own Inuyasha. Rumiko Takahashi does.)
Chapter 1- As the Years Go By
The day had been perfect. Kagome and her band of companions had stopped to make camp for the evening, the water for the ramen was just starting to come to a full boil, and they hadn't had to fight a single youkai all day. Heck, there were even birds singing in the trees. But when things are that perfect, fate is practically invited to put another ingredient into the mix.
"Inuyasha. . ." Kagome asked sweetly.
"What do you want, wench?" Inuyasha replied huffily.
"How about we try that again, hmmm? Inuyasha. . ." Kagome implored without ever looking up from her ramen duties.
"I said 'WHAT, WENCH!'"
"Osuwari!" Kagome gave the hanyou named Inuyasha a good ten seconds to recover from his union with Mother Earth before starting again patiently, "Inuyasha. . ."
"Yes, Kagome?" Inuyasha's face was bright red in agitation as he ground out these words.
"Thank you. Now, I need some firewood. Can you 'please' get some for me? I'm afraid your dear ramen may suffer without a sufficient amount of fire- fueled heat. Tear." Kagome ran a finger down her cheek.
"Feh! Whatever!"
"What was that Inuyasha?" Kagome asked in an almost scarily sweet voice, an evil gleam in her eyes.
"Nothing, Kagome. I'll go get your firewood." With that, Inuyasha bounded off into the surrounding foliage.
After about forty-five minutes had passed Kagome began to worry. The fire had burned out and Kagome had just managed to salvage everyone's dinner. All the bowls of ramen were gone, save one. Inuyasha's beloved ramen was growing increasingly colder as the minutes ticked by.
Kagome wasn't at all worried for Inuyasha. She knew that he could take care of himself, and if he needed help he would stubbornly refuse to give in and she would have heard Inuyasha's screams and swearing by now. No. . . Her worry came from something else. She didn't know what, but Kagome wasn't one to sit back and watch.
She quickly jumped up and yelled to the rest of her partners, "I'm going to get some firewood. I don't know about you, but I refuse to freeze my butt off tonight because Inuyasha is too lazy to fetch us a couple of sticks. Hey, I made a joke. Fetch. Heheheh."
"All right Kagome-chan, but do you need an escort? I'd be more than happy to offer my servi- uhn!" Before the houshi could finish, he was interrupted by a rather large boomerang colliding with his head. . . which happened to be attached to Sango, the very lovely taijia.
Of course, Kagome was used to this by now, but it was always fun to watch Sango turn red with embarrassment every time the houshi did something perverted. Kagome had the distinct impression that Sango liked the monk more than just a whacking buddy. Kagome thanked Sango and strolled away from camp.
The farther away Kagome got, the darker the surrounding area became. The trees became thicker and knarled. They looked almost evil - decayed and stripped of their leaves. There didn't seem to be any living plant or creature around.
Out of the corner of her eye Kagome thought she saw something move. When she turned to look, though, there was nothing there. Could it have been her imagination? There- She saw it again! This was no trick of the eyes. She just wasn't looking fast enough.
Come on, Kagome. This could be a bad situation. Who knows what it is out there? Although, I don't sense a jewel shard. If it's a youkai it doesn't give off a very strong aura, either. Even so, there seems to be more than one. I didn't bring my bow, either. This could be bad. Kagome sweatdropped. Okay. I'm a miko, right? I should be able to sense this thing, predict where it's coming from. If I can do that I can decide what the most logical thing to do would be. Run. . . or scream my head off.
With that thought in mind, Kagome spread her legs about shoulder-width apart, eyes closed, and her hands clasped together with her two pointer fingers and thumbs together in a gun motion, mid-chest. (She looked like one of Charlie's Angels.) She cleared her mind and became focused, aware of everything around her. Her nerve endings began tingling, sparking. It was how she felt every time she let an arrow fly - how she felt when she went through the well, and all the years in between Sengoku Judai and present-day Japan flew past her. It felt like magic. And suddenly, she knew. She knew where the thing was. It was coming toward her. Behind her.
Kagome spun around to face a long floating, snake-like creature. She recognized it to be one of Kikyo's soul stealers.
It at once clicked with Kagome exactly where Inuyasha was. He was with her. . .with Kikyo. Plain and simple. He might be warming up to Kagome, but he would never love her. He would live and die with Kikyo.
And even though Kagome knew this, she would still trudge on. She would find Inuyasha and make him fetch more wood for the fire. Then she would let him go back to Kikyo. Kagome wouldn't give up on Inuyasha. She would work harder than ever before to win him.
Kagome started to walk again, and as she did so she felt eyes boaring into the back of her head. Without so much as looking at her stalker she said in a stiff voice, "Hello, Kikyo. . . Where's Inuyasha?" Kagome paused, "He's with you, isn't he?" Kagome turned around to face her. Her eyes held a steely regard toward undead miko.
"He is." Kikyo replied curtly. "He's waiting for me. He doesn't know where I've gone, yet he'd wait an eternity for me to return." As usual, Kikyo cut right to the chase. Her expression never changed from the nonchalant mask, but Kagome could tell that she was smirking inside. Kikyo had the one up on Kagome, and both of them knew it.
"Then go back! Don't keep him waiting!" Kagome shouted at Kikyo angrily. The worst part was that Kikyo hadn't even done anything to make Kagome angry. She'd spoken only the truth.
It was times like these that Kagome wished that she lived in a cartoon world. That way she could torture Kikyo to her heart's content. . . without ever having to worry about Kikyo dying. Just like Bugs Bunny did to Daffy Duck.
"Tell me, my reincarnation, why would you surrender Inuyasha to me so willingly? Surely, you haven't finally given up on him. From what I have observed, you are incapable of admitting defeat- let alone, for something so obviously valuable to you. So, why are you saying something that you, in your heart, don't mean?"
Kikyo seemed genuinely interested in Kagome's response. "It isn't that I've given up, surrendered, Inuyasha to you." Kagome's eyes were shadowed. "I just understand that I can't forcefully take Inuyasha away from you. He would hate me for it. I feel like I'm fighting against myself. . . Inuyasha loves us both equally. . . probably because of our shared soul." Kikyo looked almost indignant, but Kagome continued, "There's no question of that. But, you two share a history, and because of that you have the advantage. How can I fight something like that? There's nothing I can do to change the situation. All I can do is wait."
At this point, Kagome wanted to dig a hole and bury herself in it. She had just admitted her feelings to her arch nemesis for Inuyasha's affections.
About to break down, Kagome sunk to the ground, clamping her eyes shut. It had taken so long for everything to sink in. She would never have Inuyasha. She had wasted years of her life doing things for him, taking his crap, waiting for him to realize that she was there. And, how much longer would she continue to wait? What else did she have to do with her life? For years her life had revolved around finding the jewel shards and defeating Naraku. Now that Naraku was gone she only had one objective in life.
What would she do when the jewel was completed? Her life outside feudal Japan had gone to the dogs- her friends had pretty much given up on her; she'd be lucky to graduate from high school, let alone college; and she'd never be able to get good medical insurance with the excuses her grandpa cooked up to get her out of school. Maybe she should just stay in the past.
As Kagome slowly opened her eyes she began to feel dizzy. The ground became fuzzy as her eyes teared up. In an attempt to keep Kikyo from seeing her cry she wiped her eyes, but it did no good. It wasn't her eyes, it was the ground! The ground was turning dark and blurring together as if it were going to open up around her. Kagome could only stare in horror and fascination as she started to sink, all the time wondering if this was a trick of Kikyo's.
Even as this thought passed through her head, Kikyo began melting away as well. It seemed that everything was being sucked into this void of sorts. But why wasn't Kagome melting!
If she could have moved, she would have made a futile attempt at grabbing onto something and pulling herself out of the hole she was quickly sinking into. As it was, though, she was currently up to her neck in. . . everything! She was sinking quickly. The most she could do was blink several times and pray that she wasn't dying. 'No matter how screwed up my life is, I still want to live it!'
Kagome seemed to be sinking faster, but that might only have been because there was so little of her body left to be swallowed. She clamped her mouth closed and breathed in deeply through her nose before it was covered.
As her head finally submerged into the hole, she closed her eyes, not wanting to know where she was at or where she was going. Although, because of her lack of vision, her other senses were heightened.
Kagome felt an extreme sense of floating. Her insides began to grow warm, almost calmingly so. It felt as if there was something inside her, something trying to get out. It feels just like when I first learned that the Shikon was in my body. That was the start of a new life for me. Maybe, if I get through this, I can start over again. But what about poor Shippo? I can't just abandon him. Not after all he's been through - all we've been through. . . together.
As all this was passing through Kagome's mind, she began to feel extremely lightheaded. It occured to her that she had been holding her breath for quite a while. She couldn't be sure exactly how long it was, but if she didn't get air soon she would suffocate.
I guess that this is my fate. I'm going to end up like the people on the Titanic in a minute. . . But I don't want to die, damnit! How can life be so unfair! Kagome could have sworn that she was turning blue. Finally, feeling as if she would pass out, she let all the air out of her body. As Kagome inhaled, she realized that she could breathe.
It was a strange sensation - breathing in your surroundings. And one that Kagome knew that she would never get used to - no matter how short a time she had experienced it so far.
Then, just as she lost hope of ever getting out of the swirl, her feet touched something solid. When Kagome opened her eyes she saw the rest of the world come back into focus. Gravity seemed to return as well, and Kagome found herself sprawled on her back in the middle of a not-so-empty field. Kagome got to her feet and turned around to survey her surroundings.
The sky was a stormy grey, as if it would open up and rain down upon everyone at the slightest disturbance. At the top of a nearby hill several nameless people were huddled together against the wind. Kagome approached the group slowly, realizing after she had gotten a bit closer that she knew those people.
There was Sango and Shippo. Shippo's head was buried deeply into Sango's chest, and they both appeared to be crying! Kirara was there as well, rubbing up against Sango's leg in a soothing gesture. Kagome looked a little farther and saw Hachi, looking very forlorn.
Kagome suddenly realized that everyone was wearing black. 'It must be a funeral,' she thought. Quickly, Kagome searched for Inuyasha, afraid that he was the one everyone was mourning over. She soon found him.
Inuyasha was wearing his usual red hakama. His face wore an almost bored expression, but he still managed to look angry. As though realizing that Kagome was staring at him, he turned his head to look at her. After holding her gaze for a few moments he broke the trance to walk over. As he neared his appearance changed from angry to fuming.
Inuyasha roughly grabbed her arm. "This is all your fault!" he whispered harshly to her, while positioning his body so that it looked as if he were consoling her.
"What are you talking about, Inuyasha!" Kagome gritted out in pain.
"You should know! It's your fault that the monk's dead! If you had just found the shards. . ." Kagome didn't hear the rest. She was too busy listening to her heart breaking. It was cracking wide open.
He couldn't be talking about Miroku. No! It wasn't true! Miroku couldn't be dead! They had defeated Naraku! They had lifted the curse! They had killed. . . . . No, they hadn't. They had defeated Naraku but had found out later that he wasn't dead. The kazaana had never left Miroku! It had never closed up!
Near histeria, Kagome pulled herself out of her thoughts to listen to Inuyasha's onslaught. ". . .You're nothing but a shard detector. You couldn't even find the last two shards! Just go home! Go back to your boring little life. Maybe you'll be of some use there." Kagome tried to turn and run away, but Inuyasha had a firm grip on her. "Don't you think it's a little rude to leave without paying your respects." Inuyasha leaned in to whisper in her ear, "After all, it's your fault he's dead."
Tears welled up in Kagome's eyes. Was it really her fault? She had tried as best she could to find the shards. Would completing the jewel have made a difference? Everyone wanted something from it, and the Shikon could only give one wish. More likely than not Inuyasha would have ended up with the jewel - making him a full demon. Perhaps it was a good thing that they hadn't found the jewel. A tear ran down Kagome's cheek, and Inuyasha smiled cruelly. She decided then and there that if she were the one to complete the jewel that she wouldn't let anyone bully her into getting the Shikon's wish.
Inuyasha nudged her slightly forward, effectively moving her in the direction of the memorial. As she got nearer she could see words on the tombstone of the bodiless grave become clearer and clearer. She finally reached the edge of the monument and gave out a small scream. She covered her eyes and sank to her knees with a soft 'thud'. The words etched in the stone would be forever etched in her mind.
"Miroku - A dear friend, a dear ally. May he find happiness in the afterlife."
It was a simple written eulogy and shouldn't have made Kagome react in such a way. The fact was that this confirmed Miroku's death. She couldn't deny that he was dead, now. She couldn't deny that she had failed him. She couldn't deny that their group they had worked so hard to keep together was breaking up.
Kagome made her second decision that day. I am going home!
Kagome felt a tingle on the back of her neck. As she turned around she saw Inuyasha with Kikyo. They were kissing passionately. Just then, Kikyo pulled away from Inuyasha and grabbed an arrow. She picked up a bow off the ground and set the arrow to the bow, pulling it taught. Kikyo let the arrow fly, and it pierced through Kagome's heart, embedding itself in a tree - the God tree. Kagome was stuck to the God tree!
'No! This is just like what happened to Inuyasha!' she thought, struggling fiercely. Kagome was met with searing pain for her efforts.
Kikyo finally spoke. "Inuyasha is mine."
Inuyasha came up behind her and slipped an arm around Kikyo's waist. "I don't need you. I have Kikyo to find the jewel shards." Kagome tried to speak, but she found herself too weak. Her vision was getting dark. "I choose Kikyo. Just disappear."
That's when Kagome blacked out.
A/N: I decided to leave off there. Sorry that this chapter is so short. sheepishly And that it took so long to put out. But I PROMISE that the next chappie will be MUCH better/longer. Thinks back over chapter and starts to cry MIROKU DIED! WAHHH! Next to Sesshy, he's my fav. character. Immediately composes Don't worry though. Miroku will be back. 'Til next time. Bwah hahahaha! Ja!