A/N: Well, here I am at the last chapter of Lie to Me. This story exceeded my expectations in many ways, including the reviewer response. Because it was mainly about Kikyou, I didn't expect so many people to actually read it, considering how many out there hate her (in my opinion, at least) unfairly.
To tell you the truth, I used to hate Kikyou before I saw this episode, so that is why I choose it to put into a fic, in hopes that it might change some people's minds about her. But, as always, you can't change the masses opinion with just one little thing…
Anyway, I'll have more details later on my next fic, which I'll put up quite soon because I already have 5 chapters done, because I'll be working at Target all summer and doing other things, and I really want the new one to get done on time, considering how long it is.
Also, here's a fun fact for you, I wrote this chapter in a kimono! Except, it's a good think I'm alone in my room, because if I make one small movement out of my sitting position, the flimsy obi gives way and it falls open. I have no idea how those Japanese do it…Maybe I'm tying the stupid thing wrong…
Chapter 20: The Truth
Everything had gone white since Kagome had closed her eyes. She didn't feel like she was falling…more like she was floating in an endless void of whiteness. Her body seemed to be suspended in midair, her head back, and arms spread, like she was floatin on an endless lake.
She didn't feel any pain, or anything at all. She didn't dare open her eyes, afraid of seeing where she was. The last Kagome could remember, she had been dying in Kikyou's body, and then had fallen, her last thought on Inuyasha…
It seemed her mind could think now,yet everything was hazy. Inuyasha…
Her heart remembered the pain in his beautiful golden eyes as he was shot with her arrow to Goshinboku, the pain of seeing this moment in time happen once more, only it was a different woman wholet loosethe arrow, under different circumstances. Either way, the outcome was the same. Inuyasha would be sealed to a tree for fifty years, and Kagome would die, sending her soul back to where it belonged.
Is that where I am now? she wondered. Am I waiting for my soul to go back into my own body and clean up this mess?
Once she was reincarnated, she wouldn't remember who or what Inuyasha was. She would have to wait another fifteen years until she fell down the well once more, to meet that arrogant hanyou sealed to a tree.
But it didn't matter. As long as she could see Inuyasha again, it would be worth it.
Once more, her mind cried out to him, Inuyasha…
Kagome begun to have feelings in her body now. She could, just barely, feel the tips of her fingers, her toes. She couldn't move them, of course, but now she had regained some feeling, at least.
What's going on? How much longer will it be until I will be able to open my eyes and see my world again?
Very, very faintly, she began to hear voices she couldn't recognize. Shewas unablemake out what they were saying, they seemed to be so far away.
Straining her ears, Kagome was able to just make out her name among the unintelligible speech. Who's there? she wanted to know. Why are they talking about me?
The voices grew louder as a faint pinkness filled her vision. She clearly heard a male voice say, "I think Kagome-sama's waking up!"
Able to feel her fingers, she was able to clench them, until she heard another voice say, "Look, she moved!"
Is that…Sango-chan? Kagome realized, recognizing the voice.
"Her eyelids are fluttering, she's waking up!"
Miroku-sama! she recognized, the pink in her vision growing brighter. He's there! They're all there, except…
And then she heard it…That voice that she had heard so many times, that voice that caused her heart to flutter, "Kagome…"
Inuyasha! I have to get to him! I have to see him! Kagome desperately tried to wake herself up, forcing herself to see him alive once more. Inuyasha…Inuyasha!
"She's saying something…" Miroku answered. After a pause, he replied, "She's saying 'Inuyasha'…"
Kagome felt warm, strong arms hold her toa comforting body. Inuyasha pleaded, "Come on, Kagome, wake up, we need you back…please…"
Biting her lip as she clenched her fists, Kagome forcefully pulled herself from the place, so she could go back to the one she loved. Inuyasha! she cried, hearing her voice call it as well as her eyes popped open, a burst of pink light filling her vision.
When the light cleared, she saw the one thing she had longed to see for so long, Inuyasha smiling down on her, and holding her, keeping her safe. "Kagome." he sighed, looking relieved. "You're all right."
Kagome's breaths were deep as she looked into those lovely golden eyes. "Inuyasha…"
Blinking, she managed to turn her head to look around. They were in the same clearing of the forest they were in before she had been sent back, with Miroku, Sango and Shippou crowded around them, looking relieved as well. "We're glad you're back among us, Kagome-sama." Miroku spoke for all of them.
Straining her tired muscles as Kagome tried to sit up, reluctantly out of Inuyasha's arms, she asked, "How long was I out?"
"Only about ten minutes or so." Sango replied. "Inuyasha woke up before you."
Kagome's chocolate eyes went as wide as dinner plates at that tidbit of information. "Inuyasha?" She turned to look at the hanyou, who stared back at her, before turning away slightly and blushing.
"Keh." was the only reply she got, but it caused Kagome to wonder.
Did…did it really happen? Was I really there? Both of us?
"I must apologize." Another female voice said, causing Kagome to look up, while her heart gave a little jump. Kikyou stood there, with her bow still in her hands, looking remorseful. After being in the body of the woman who stood before her for a year, it took Kagome a second to remember that she was finally herself again. "I did not think my arrow would harm you."
"It's all right, Kikyou." Inuyasha answered, his blush having faded. "We're all right."
As Kagome stared at the dead miko, she couldn't help but feel ashamed with herself. Before, she had been jealous of her, thinking her lucky that Inuyasha had loved her once, and now…she understood her. There was a silent bond between them now, at least on her part. Now she understood why Kikyou still cared for Inuyasha despite telling him her love had faded long ago.
She had a sad life. Kagome's eyes filled with pity. And now she cannot help but wish that things had turned out differently.
Kikyou must have noticed Kagome's look of pity. Looking at her reincarnation, Kikyou asked, "You didn't…see anything while unconscious, did you?"
Glancing back up at her, Kagome shook her head without pausing for a moment. "No, or if I did, I can't remember it." She did not want to discuss what she had experienced with anyone, especially her.
At first, the miko looked like she didn't believe her, but she nodded anyway. "Well, if that is the case, I should be going. I have stayed far too long."
Kagome had been prepared for Kikyou to leave them once more, as she always did, but Inuyasha, stood up beside her, and called out, "Wait, Kikyou!"
The miko turned back to the hanyou from where she had been starting to go on again. "Yes, Inuyasha?"
Walking up to her, her answered. "I need to speak to you, Kikyou." he took one last glance back at Kagome. "Alone."
Kagome felt her heart break as she watched him, and her eyes lowered in sadness. I knew it. That time…It was all a dream. When he told me he loved me…it was all my imagination.
Everyone elseglanced at Kagome with sympathy in their eyes as Inuyasha led Kikyou away to speak with her privately. What it was about didn't matter to her, but just the fact that he had done it right after she had dared to hope what she had dreamed was real…it was too much. Kagome felt the tears coming. At first, she tried to keep them from flowing, fighting herself, as she had done for so long.
But then Kagome remembered who she was. She was not stoic Kikyou, who had probably never shed a tear in her life. She was Kagome, herself. And Kagome was allowed to cry when she wanted to.
"Kagome-chan?" Sango asked, coming closer to her friend who was on the brink of tears.
A sob escapedKagome as she turned away shutting her eyes while a tear trailed down her cheek. "I need to be alone." she replied, trembling.
Her friends stared. She had never gotten that upset when he went to see Kikyou. She may have cried a bit and gone back to her home, but never to the point where they couldvisibly see her heart breaking. "But, Kagome—" Sango was cut off as Kagome stood up, wiping her eyes with her arm.
"Leave me alone!" she cried, as she ran into the forest, leaving them behind, very concerned.
Kagome sat on a hill on the edge of the forest, looking out at the orange sun as it set. Her eyes had long since dried, but she still could not shake the sadness from her heart. For once…I just thought…and then he had to shatter it.
Her knees were drawn up to her chest, while she rested her head against them, looking out to the endless fields of green. Clenching her fist, Kagome slammed it against the ground. I wish I had never had that dream!
It was so real though…but so impossible. Besides the ridiculous notion that her soul got trapped in Kikyou's body, there was the time when Inuyasha had burst out that he loved her, that alone was impossible. Given by what she had seen, she knew Inuyasha must feel the same as Kikyou, wishing that the past had been different.
How can I face him now? Once he found out how upset she had been, it would be more than obvious, even for him, how she felt. And if he ever found out about her dream, then she might as well say it upfront. How am I going to explain without telling him how much I love him?
Her heart clenched with fear as she heard the sounds of him coming to sitwith her. Not now! This is the worst time! But her mental pleas did nothing as the hanyousat next to her, looking out on the horizion as well. No doubt he could already smell the tears she had shed.
Neither of them looked at each other as he began, "The others said you were here."
Kagome nodded. "I needed to think on some things." she replied in a small, hurt voice.
"What things?" the hanyou pressed on, folding his arms as they both looked away.
"Oh, you know, things." she shrugged. After that, there was more silence between both of them. It was almost unbearable before they both tried to speak at once.
"Kagome, I—"
"I know, what you must be thinking." she cut in, breaking him off. "Honestly, Inuyasha...I really am sorry for all the trouble I caused."
By then, the hanyou did look at her with those scrutinizing amber eyes. "Trouble? What do you mean?"
Only then did Kagome turn her head, and meet his confused golden eyes with her longing, brown ones. "I think you know." she whispered softly, and by the way his eyes got a bit wider when she said it, it conformed that he did know to what she was referring.
They both turned away once more. While a small blush appeared on the hanyou's face, Kagome's was clear of any twinge of embarrassment, knowing now that what she had longed for was beyond her reach. "I'm sorry for all this." she repeated, looking out towards the sinking sun while hugging her knees to her chest. "I just wished that…It doesn't matter now. I've been fighting it for so long, I can keep on doing that."
Another pause, before Inuyasha's reserved, golden eyes took in her form. "But Kagome…if you didn't fight, would you not be who you are now?"
With his words, Kagome's brown eyes opened wider, and a gasp escaped her. It wasn't possible. It wasn't…wasn't it? She turned back to him, the stunned look still on her face, while Inuyasha just smiled softly at her, turning her heart to mush once again.
His hand slowly reached for her, and caressed her cheek, while she was unable to control the frantic beating of her heart. "Would you not be that wonderful, beautiful, kind woman I know you to be?"
"But…" Kagome was able to breathe, still gaping at him slightly. "Kikyou…?"
The hanyou pulled his hand back, but still stared softly into her eyes. "I told Kikyou that I can't keep her promise anymore. I will avenge her death, but I can no longer follow her wherever she goes." He leaned closer, so their foreheads were touching as he continued, "There's only one woman I want in my life, and while we were there, I realized that it's you," His gentle hand clasped hers. "Kagome."
Looking up into his beautiful eyes, Kagome could hardly believe it was happening at last. We were really there? And he…choose me? "Inu…Inuyasha…" she murmured, as she realized that he had given her something when he grasped her hand. Pulling away from him slightly, she opened her palm, and saw that inside was the shell full of rouge he had given Kikyou so long ago. "Inuyasha?" she gasped, unable to believe what she was seeing. "But how? I…I thought…"
"I took it for you when we were there, remember?" he explained, leaning closer to her. "And somehow, when I woke up, it was still there…I wanted to give it to the woman I loved, and I think I was meant to do that, in the end."
A smile tugged the corner of her mouth as happy tears threatened to spill. It was finally happening. Inuyasha was finally telling her he loved her. She looked back at him, eyes sparkling with joyful tears, and a smile on her face, and she noticed the small blush on his cheeks. Well, he was never very good at these romantic speeches anyway.
After seeing how happy all this was making her, Inuyasha decided to take the final plunge. A small smile on his face as well, he said those three little words, "I love you, Kagome."
That was it, breaking the impending wave of tears as Kagome launched herself at him, managing to get out, "Inuyasha!" before meeting his lips in their first, true kiss.
The sun set, leaving them in the faint light of dusk as they continued to hold each other in their passionate embrace. And they both knew, that living life in the past or someone else's shoes did change your own.
The lie wasn't a bad thing, if the lie brought them to each other.
A/N: And, done! Well, I think that's a pretty fluffy way to end the story, ne? Originally, Inuyasha was just going to say the line from the past, grab her hand and watch the sunset with her, both with dorky smiles on their faces. But I just KNEW I had to put some fluff in there, or I would get complaints about it. Besides, it was cute to write.
This took me twice as long to write…stupid kimono…I am so buying Kikyou's outfit at Otakon, because that looks cool and doesn't come loose at the worst possible times!
Okay, so the reviewer award goes to Kyoumi and orangepencils too, because I think the PMed review due to technical difficulties counts. Third win for Kyoumi, second win for orangepencils, so great job with your reviews! The rest of you, come on! Don't you want to win virtual pocky?
Now, as to my next story:
Four Seasons With Your Love (I think…I don't really like the title, but whatever.) – InuKag obviously. Three years after the Shikon no Tama has been destroyed, Kagome tells the story of 'The Miko and the Hanyou' to her son. The epic tale of her and Inuyasha's romance unfolds, a love that survived pain, suffering, and above all, loss. They are faced with Naraku once more, but he has something new up his sleeve—the curse of the Shikon no Tama!
I hope you guys come to read it! Sayonara!
