Starry Starry Night

This is a work of fiction (obviously) and you don't have to like it. I don't want to get angry reviews about a) that I've gotten some song lyrics wrong or b) the music-blasting Canadians next door. The Canadians are a critical plot device, NOT a stereotype. I am Canadian myself, so you can be sure that this is NOT written with spite toward Canadians in general.

So, without further ado, here it is.

Disclaimer: I haven't even finished watching the first season of Inu Yasha. So sue me.

Kagome lay on her bed with her eyes closed, listening to the music blare from next door.

Strangely, it wasn't rap and didn't have a great, thumping bass line as one would have expected.

It was actually rather peaceful.

"you are my sunshine

my only sunshine

you make me happy

when skies are grey

you'll never know, dear

how much I love you

so please don't take

my sunshine

away."

Yes, she thought, she could get used to this sort of music. When one thought about it, one realized that it sort of related to her and Inu Yasha's relationship (or lack thereof) a bit.

She really did love him. She knew that now. She was just afraid of what he might think. If she confessed her feelings to him, that is.

Would he reveal that he felt something for her as well? Or would he simply laugh/ yell at her?

After much thought (she had been thinking about this for weeks now) it was decided that she would wait to see if he let anything slip. In the meantime, she would just continue to admire Inu Yasha from (semi) afar.

Smiling, she turned over. But the next verse caught her attention-

"the other night, dear

as I lay sleeping

I dreamed I held you in my arms

but when I woke, dear

I was mistaken

so I hung my head and cried."

Kagome froze. What if, in waiting, she might lose him forever? After all, Kikyo was still after him.

Her thought process was now back to where it had started, but with a nagging little element of depression and doubt that hadn't been there before.

Curse you, you music-blasting Canadians, she thought, and shook a fist in the general direction of their house.

Inu Yasha sat in a tree and agonized.

He had been doing this nightly now for the past six weeks.

He realized that yes, he truly loved Kagome, but it felt very wrong when he considered that Kagome was Kikyo reincarnated. It's like falling in love with her daughter, he shuddered.

The half-demon had to keep telling himself that he couldn't have both of them. A choice had to be made, and once it was made, it could never be undone.

Moonlight shone down upon his worry-ridden face. He didn't worry very often, but when he did, it showed.

He couldn't give up either of the women, for their sakes. Kagome was just too young, innocent and naive for a flat-out refusal of any intentions. She probably loved him; he could feel tenderness in every gaze of hers. It would be way too big of a letdown for her. She might start doing all sorts of things to take her mind off it...

And he really didn't want to risk that.

And Kikyo? Another betrayal would force her to great extremes. She would probably go all kamikaze and run at him with a huge knife.

Not a pleasant thought.

So tonight, he thought of alternatives to a choice between them. He was looking for the easy way out.

The possibility had occurred to him of running off with Miroku. He had seen the lecherous monk give him funny looks every so often, and he hadn't missed their meaning.

But frankly, the idea just didn't appeal to him.

He was left with only one other option- a course of action that he had been finding more and more attractive recently...

Kagome sat up and looked out her window at the house of the Canadians.

Their garage door had been painted to resemble Van Gogh's "Starry Starry Night." Her family thought that it was pretty garish, but she rather liked it. It was beautifully unique.

And right now, their speakers were blasting Don McLean's "Vincent."

She smiled. The Van Gogh-obsessed freaks. But at least they were predictable, when nothing else in this world seemed to be.

Especially Inu Yasha. She could never seem to figure him out.

"starry starry night

paint your palette blue and grey

look out on a summer's day

with eyes that know the darkness in my soul

shadows on the hills

sketch the trees and the daffodils

catch the breeze and the winter chills

in colours on the snowy linen land."

Kagome fell asleep for a while. She couldn't help it. It was a rather slow song and had the feel of a lullaby.

She awoke in time for the next chorus, the "gist" of the song.

"and now I understand

what you tried to say to me

how you suffered for your sanity

and how you tried to set them free

they would not listen, they did not know how

perhaps they'll listen now

for they could not love you

but still your love was true

and when no hope was left in sight

on that starry, starry night

you took your life as lovers often do

But I could have told you, Vincent

this world was never meant for one as beautiful as you."

Once again, Kagome sat bolt upright. Now she had her answer, and silently thanked the Van Gogh-obsessed Canadians next door. Without them, she would never have known what to do.

And she knew exactly where to do it.

She quietly got out of bed, dressed (even though it was around midnight) and went to the kitchen.

One might think that her kitchen visit was for a midnight snack. It wasn't.

When this was accomplished, she set out for the Bone-Eater's Well.

Under the starlight, Inu Yasha sat and stroked the Tetsusaiga. He knew that it would change for him, as what he was doing would be for the protection of mortals.

He realized that his ultimate goal had to be accomplished tonight. Only under this eerie starlight did he have the nerve. Any other night, he would back out purely out of fear before the job was done.

And tonight, that was the last thing he wanted.

Kagome jumped into the well, silently drinking in every moment of the journey. If all went well, this would be the last time she would have to make it.

Her ears strained to pick out a brief snatch of "Lovers in a Dangerous Time"

"when you're lovers in a dangerous time

sometimes you're made to feel as if your love's a crime

nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight

you've got to kick at the darkness 'til it bleeds daylight."

Bit late for that now, she thought bitterly.

Dark, threatening storm clouds gathered swiftly on both sides of the well, and a low rumble of thunder could be heard in the distance.

The smell of rain grew heavy in the air.

Kagome climbed out of the well, holding the long, slim knife she'd gotten from the kitchen.

Now was the time.

She sat on the well's edge with the knife poised above her left wrist. She was waiting. Waiting for what, she didn't really know. Some sort of signal from the heavens, she guessed.

Inu Yasha sat in his tree, the Tetsusaiga positioned over his heart. He did have his doubts that it would kill him, as it only seemed to work on demons and he was half human. Killing half might be enough.

But this seemed the only way to do things, short of diving from a cliff to the ground below. And there were several problems even with that:

1) there weren't any cliffs directly at hand,

and 2) there was always the chance that he would land on his feet.

Being run through with a giant demon-slaying sword was the easiest way to die.

A flash of lightning ripped through the air and lit a tree on fire.

This was the signal that Kagome had been waiting for. She slit both of her wrists and waited for herself to bleed to death.

Inu Yasha thrust the Tetsusaiga into his body. The tip, glistening with blood, appeared at his back.

The lovers died almost simultaneously.

The pouring rain washed their blood away, and the next morning was as fresh, clear and beautiful as any before it.

Kagome's family assumed that she had run off with Inu Yasha (which was reasonably close to the truth) and wept a little, but were happy that she'd finally found her place in life.

Those in the Warring States era knew better.

Miroku was the one to find their bodies. He slumped against a tree, overcome with grief.

Kagome and Inu Yasha were buried side-by-side on a starry, starry night much like the one on which they had taken their lives.

"starry starry night

portraits hung in empty halls

frameless heads on nameless walls

with eyes that watch the world and can't forget

like the strangers that you've met

the ragged men in ragged clothes

the silver thorn, a bloody rose

lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow

and now I think I know

what you tried to say to me

how you suffered for your sanity

and how you tried to set them free

they would not listen, they're not listening still

perhaps they never will."

Fin.

I guess that "the silver thorn, a bloody rose," is sort of a metaphor for Inu Yasha and Kagome.

Didn't realize it when I was writing this.