Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha! Otherwise, I'd do what my other disclaimers proclaim! xDD
Chapter 9 - Trust
"You've showed up, half-demon," a familiar voice spoke scornfully, blankly. Inuyasha's eyes widened in surprise and shock as the word 'half-demon' escaped from one's familiar lips, none other than Kikyo. He whirled around to face her, who stood a short distance away from him, standing in her fighting position, her arrow pointed at his heart, her hazel eyes blank and cold. Inuyasha narrowed his amber eyes in confusion as he stared in disbelief at the priestess before him. She seemed...so...not herself.
Her usual warm, sympathetic marbles of chocolate now possessed a cold, wicked atmosphere, and her usual nonchalant, blissful, sad expression was twisted into a mask of aggressiveness. Her usual gentle, mystical voice now had bitter acid dripping heavily from her tone. Those eyes were what frightened and troubled him most. They seemed so cold and distant...and...heartless.
"Kikyo...What did you just say?" Inuyasha demanded. Didn't Kikyo promise to never call him a half-demon, knowing how he hated hearing that insult? Why...?
Kikyo laughed dryly, her eyes still possessed with that cold and distant stare. "I called you a 'half-demon.' Can't those pathetic dog ears hear what I say?"
Inuyasha's eyes enlarged once more at the spitefulness that escaped clearly from her lips as she spat those words at him.
"Did you really think I'd allow you to take the Shikon Jewel?" Kikyo asked coldly, narrowing her eyes. A dry, clicking noise echoed quietly throughout the clearing as she pulled back the arrow farther, but not releasing it yet, her blank, aggressive eyes still glued upon Inuyasha's stunned face. "Did you really think I'd love someone like you, half-demon?"
Inuyasha's amber eyes narrowed in anger, and he gritted his teeth, clenching his fists tightly.
"Kikyo! Why...you...Why are you doing this, Kikyo?" Inuyasha demanded, trying his best to keep his voice steady, but the rage in his tone caused his voice to come out of his mouth shakily.
Kikyo smirked. "Can't my words sink through that thick skull of yours? You're even more stupid than I thought, if you really believed I wanted to use the Jewel to live with you."
What...?
Wasn't it Kikyo's long-life dream to release the heavy burden of the Jewel from her shoulders and walk the path of an ordinary woman? Wasn't the Jewel the cause of her suffering and pain, the reason why she could never reveal her true face, but instead had to hide behind a mask twisted into an expression of blankness and bleakness?
-Flashback-
"Inuyasha..." Kikyo murmured softly, breaking the long silence, her chocolate eyes growing soft and tender as she turned her head gracefully to look at him. The breeze blew her raven locks delicately across her pale face. "What do you see in me?"
If she could ask anyone, it'd be Inuyasha. He'd answer bluntly. Yet Kikyo didn't care how blunt and hurtful his response would seem. Kikyo needed a truthful opinion, and she could recieve one from Inuyasha.
"Eh?" Inuyasha said crossly. What was this human driving at?
"Do I seem...ordinary to you?" Kikyo questioned quietly, waiting patiently for the response she wished to hear. Inuyasha noticed that sadness filled her eyes as she spoke those words. He couldn't help thinking how beautiful she was, especially when her hair blew so graciously in the breeze like that. Her scent smelled like a large garden filled with bloomed, fresh lilacs.
Nonetheless, she was still a human!
A strange human.
But...a very interesting, engimatic human.
What about her appealed to him?
What was it?
"Eh! What are you talking about?" Inuyasha demanded. This human was queer. Queer, but something about her attracted him to her. Those sad eyes reminded him so much of his human mother.
"I can't show any signs of weakness to anybody. I mustn't be indecisive. Because then demons would use it against me," Kikyo explained softly. She wondered why she was revealing her weakness to him - a demon. A threat. Yet, he possessed human blood, and she could sense purity beneath that cold heart.
"That's why...that's why I couldn't kill you. You and I are alike..." He fought for his humanity, as she did. They were both outcasts, their hearts filled with longing and loneliness. They wished to walk the path of what they wished to be - him, yearning to become a demon, and her, wishing to become a woman. It was rather strange, them having more similarities than differences even though their species were clearly different.
Inuyasha turned away from her and scoffed. "Keh, quit whining! We all have our crosses to bear!"
Kikyo blinked at the vehemence with which he spoke, but rather strangely his words did not hurt her. Inuyasha expected her to rise to his bait and reveal hurtful or angry feelings. Here she was, pouring out her sadness to him, and he acted as if he didn't care and told her to stop complaining. He gazed over at her with surprise. Her unexpected response and sad expression drowned all satisfaction and enjoyment of hurting her with his cruel words.
"You're right..." Kikyo admitted softly, her thin lips slowly curving up into a faint smile directed at Inuyasha, the sadness in her eyes never fading. "I shouldn't complain..."
A mixture of remorse, sadness, and regret overcame him at the sight of her somber expression and at the sound of the melancholy tone in her voice. After seeing her sad and lonely expression, Inuyasha felt guilty...for the first time in his life.
-End of Flashback-
Didn't Kikyo wish to use the Jewel to make both of them human, and thus, the Jewel would vanish and the two lovers could live together as humans?
-Flashback-
"Inuyasha...If you did not fight, would you not be who you are now?"
Inuyasha's head did not turn to face her, but he merely glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "You've asked me that before..." he stated blankly.
"Should we try to stop fighting?" Kikyo suggested softly.
"What do you mean?" Inuyasha asked in confusion. What was she talking about? Abandoning her duty as a priestess to stop fighting? Was it all because of Kaede's injury, and the risk of having other people harmed because of her decreased power?
"If we stop fighting, we can become human..." Kikyo explained slowly, carefully forming her words, as if she were forming the perfect plan within her mind that instant.
"Me? Become human?" Inuyasha repeated, his head snapping quickly back to her like a rubber band, his eyes filled with interest and confusion at the same time.
"It's possible," Kikyo responded wisely. "You are a half-demon to begin with. The Shikon Jewel, in the hands of an evil demon, increases their power..." Kikyo paused as her expression grew more thoughtful. "However, if you use it to become human, the Jewel will be purified..."As the words escaped from her delicate lips, Kikyo smiled faintly at Inuyasha, her eyes glistening with hope. "It may even disappear."
This terrible bloodshed...
It could be stopped if they used the Jewel.
They could use the Jewel to make them both humans.
And as humans...they could be together...
"So...what happens to you?" Inuyasha inquired with concern. He understood now. Kikyo was not a human in her current state of being a priestess and the guardian of the Shikon Jewel.
Inuyasha was a half-demon, posessing human blood -from his beloved human mother - mixed with demonic blood -from his powerful demon father. So Kikyo wished to use the Shikon Jewel's power to change them both into humans.
Kikyo turned away, but her reason for averting his gaze was not from discomfort or shame. "I protect the Jewel. If the Jewel were to vanish, I would become an ordinary woman..."
-End of Flashback-
WHAT WAS GOING ON? Why was she doing this?
Why was she destroying her dream of becoming an ordinary woman? Why did she lie to him about loving him? Why did she pretend that she wanted to live together with him as humans, and prepare to strike him down in the end? Why was she betraying him?
"DIE, INUYASHA!" Kikyo yelled furiously, swiftly releasing the arrow at him. Inuyasha snapped out of his stunned and dazed trance right asthe arrow whisked a few inches from his arm, feeling the whoosh of the wind as the sharp object darted past him. He heard the clunk of the arrow as it loudly struck the trunk of the thick tree behind him.
Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.
Kikyo never missed.
Curse you...Curse you...CURSE YOU...
Kikyo winced in agony as her shoulder throbbed painfully from thefatal wound, hearing the splatter of her crimson blood striking the ground heavily. Gripping her shoulder tightly, feeling her blood ooze continuously through her pale fingers, gritting her teeth in anger and pain, she stumbled on as she tried to reach the village in time. If she was to die, she wanted no one else from her village to suffer as much as she was. If she was to die, she was to gain revenge first...and make Inuyasha pay for betraying her!
So he never wanted to be with her at all?
All of his words were a LIE!
How could he?
After all she'd given up for him, all she had risked for him, after all the love she'd bestowed upon him, he was cruel and ruthless enough to plan a scheme to betray her. To toy with her heart, to pretend he loved her, to slash her shoulder, to speak harsh words into her ear, to steal the Jewel from her, to slaughter the village to stain the Jewel with bitter blood, to cackle wickedly at everyone's reactions of horror and disbelief as he struck them down...
Sadness and hurt threatened to leak from her eyes, but she forced them back.
To shed tears was useless. Especially in this situation.
She needed to protect her village and make absolute sure no harm came to them. Especially by Inuyasha's hands.
Didn't Inuyasha promise her that he wished to become human?
-Flashback-
"It's not a whim or anything," Inuyasha murmured quietly, his eyes gazing down sadly at Kikyo, as if thinking that this was a dream.He felt that if he exhaled the breath he was holding, he'd wake up from this wonderous dream. "I will become human, and you will be an ordinary woman...my...-"
"That's all right," Kikyo replied gently, stepping out of his embrace with a reassuring smile on her face. Inuyasha stared at her in amazement.
Was there anything more beautiful than the maiden in front of him, especially when she smiled?
He would be human. She would be a woman. She would...be his wife. They would be together...forever.
"You don't need to say anymore," she whispered softly.
Inuyasha softly exhaled the breath he had been holding. This dream...was real. They'd actually be able to live together as humans. After Kikyo used the Jewel, they'd be able to start a new life, taking the same path, experiencing the same happiness, fighting the same obstacles, reaching the same end of the road. It was...too good to be true.
The words he wished to tell her swam up quickly from his joyous heart to his throat, and desperately attempted to escape from his lips, but it was as if something sealed the entrance of his mouth. He swallowed, and a choking noise erupted from his throat. He wanted to tell her how much he loved her.
"Kikyo...I just want you to know...-" Inuyasha began, but he was cut off as Kikyo leaned over to kiss his cheek and for a split second Inuyasha was too stunned to think. He couldn't let the oppurtunity pass by. He wanted Kikyo to know that he loved her.
If his lips could not form the right words, the least they could do was capture hers with love and affection. Finally, he slightly turned his head, but it was enough. His lips were now against hers, and they both blissfully returned the tender feeling of love that they were offering each other. Inuyasha embraced her once more, and Kikyo hugged him back, reciprocating the warm feeling of a loving embrace and the tender feeling of a passionate kiss.
-End of Flashback-
Curse you...
Kikyo's grip tightened on her wounded shoulder, not caring that her harsh grasp was inflicting more pain upon the injury. That was why Inuyasha eagerly asked her to use the Jewel last night outside the shrine while she was busily purifying the Jewel...
How dare he speak such heart-warming words that sounded too promising into her ear...How dare he take her into his arms, melting her heart with the warmth of his embrace...How dare he act sympathetic towards her, while behind his mask of tenderness was hidden his true face, filled with coldness and cruelty, filled with satisfied smirks and evil snickers as he corrupted her heart...How dare he lie to her, saying that he wished to be with her and that he loved her...How dare he decieve her...HOW DARE HE BETRAY HER!
Curse you...Curse you...Curse you...CURSE...YOU!
"Kikyo..." Inuyasha whispered in disbelief.
Everything about the priestess before him was not like the woman he had fallen in love with.
Her appearance. Her usual nonchalant expression now resembled the face of a bloodthirsty demon who wished to slaughter a human, wishing to hear their cries of agony, wishing to feel their thick, crimson blood dripping from his fingers, wishing to see the pained expression on their faces as he tore them apart. Her continuous pools of chocolate ripples filled with bountiful beauty and delicacy now seemed like cold, stony marbles, their smooth surfaces dark and blank, nothing hidden deep within.
Whenever Inuyasha gazed into Kikyo's hazel eyes, full of every emotion that deepened her beauty, he'd take a shortcut into Kikyo's soul, seeing the sadness and loneliness that shrouded around her pure heart ever since she guarded the Jewel. Staring deeply into her eyes, he could read the pages of of her story, her tragic life, the sadness and bitterness that was scrawled upon every page. Page by page, event by event, piece by piece, the story of her life unfolded through not her eyes -it'd be too painful to see the way she experienced her miserable life- but his eyes.
But, no matter how hard he tried staring into this maiden's eyes, he could not see anything. They were blank, lifeless, dull. A cold barrier prevented him from see deeper, to see life through her eyes, to see the beauty that Kikyo possessed.
Her words. She was mockingly insulting him and calling him a half-demon, spitefulness and cockiness clearly escaping along with the words that exited her lips. She claimed that she never wished to use the Jewel to change him into a human, and stated coldly that she could never love someone like him. Her words stabbed into his flesh, and into his broken heart, and he wondered if having a sword through his heart would be more painful. He doubted it.
Her spirit. Her mystifying, soft voice now seemed to grow deeper and bitter, thick acid dripping heavily from her tone. The delicacy of the mystical music of her voice soothed his inner soul, but this woman's voice sent shivers gliding down his spine. And Kikyo, being a master archer, having trained to be a priestess all her life, never missed her target, especially if she intended to take her target's life.
Inuyasha snapped back into reality as Kikyo's scent rushed into his nose. Kikyo's scent still remained the same, like fresh roses in a large garden, and for a moment, he was floating through an endless clearing of these flowers, breathing in deeply their fragrant scent. Suddenly, another scent mixed within Kikyo's scent. Inuyasha's eyes widened in shock, and he sniffed the air again. His amber orbs narrowed in realization.
Why did he not smell it before? Perhaps he was too dumbfounded and confused to realize that another smell overlapped Kikyo's scent. But it was confirmed. The scent of a demon was blended in this woman's scent, that oddly resembled Kikyo's lovely scent of lilacs. But this priestess was not Kikyo.
"You..." Inuyasha managed to choke out, despite his raging anger. How dare this demon take on the form of Kikyo!
How could he have not realized it sooner? Inuyasha felt a sharp stab of guilt pierce his heart. Before his assumptions were confirmed, he had really believed that this demon was indeed his Kikyo. He felt terrible that he had doubted Kikyo's intentions, doubted her trust, doubted her.
"You're not Kikyo!" he finally declared.
The priestess's eyes narrowed, deepening the coldness and bleakness in her hazel orbs, which now seemed to be a darker shade of brown. "What do you mean by that?" she spoke sharply."Surely you are not dim-witted enough to not realize that I am indeed Kikyo, the one you foolishly fell in love with! Now, stop this useless talk and die!"
The priestess's arm quickly reached behind her back to grab another thin arrow from her quiver and released her arrow at him, but the arrow missed him again, whisking about a foot away from his arm. Inuyasha's amber orbs narrowed.
"I am standing only a few feet away from you, and if you really intend to kill me, you would not miss!" Inuyasha pointed out, his voice growing louder and angrier with every passing second.
Her eyes narrowed once more. "What does that prove?" she demanded coldly, clenching her fist -the one that wasn't holding her bow- tightly, as if frusterated and angry that its disguise was useless now.
"Kikyo is greatly experienced in archery. She never misses," Inuyasha stated. His amber eyes narrowed again in triumph. "But the fact that proves that you are not Kikyo is your scent! You can't fool me, demon!" Inuyasha snapped, becoming impatient and outrage that this demon wished to continue to try to deny its identity.
Her pale lips curved up into an amused smirk, and they parted to form no words, but merely an evil laugh, a laugh that belonged to not Kikyo, but the true demon within.
"Lady Kikyo!" several villagers cried out in alarm as they noticed the injured priestess stumble into their village, gripping her wounded shoulder tightly, gritting her teeth in pain. Cries of "Lady Kikyo!" echoed throughout the air as the entire village surrounded Kikyo in worry and concern.
"Those are terrible wounds!" a woman exclaimed worriedly. Kikyo glanced around frantically, but her eyes could not locate any signs of the half-demon who betrayed her. Her village seemed the same as it always did. No signs of destruction. No signs of crimson blood. No signs of lifeless bodies. No signs of Inuyasha. Her vision flickered as darkness threatened to overcome her spirit.
"Where..." she managed to choke out. "Where...where is he?"
"He?" they echoed in surprise and confusion.
"He was not here?" Now it was Kikyo's turn to be shocked and confused. Didn't Inuyasha tell her that he planned to slaughter her village to taint the Jewel with bitter blood, and thus, increase the Jewel's power?
"No one has arrived here at the village, Lady Kikyo," a young man stated. "But there are more important matters! We must treat your wounds!"
Kikyo shook her head sadly, feeling her strength leaving her quickly, her mind clouded in drowsiness. All she could do was to watch as everyone began to weep with sadness, her heart shattering at the sight of inflicting everyone pain as they watched their beloved priestess slowly die. "It's...too late for that," she whispered sorrowfully. Now she understood.
Inuyasha knew that Kikyo would instantly return to protect her village. That was why he stated that he intended to slaughter the village. To divert her attention away from him while he made his escape and not have any interferences when he used the Jewel to transform himself into a full demon.
"Sister Kikyo! Sister Kikyo!" Kaede pushed violently through the crowd of villagers as she desperately tried to reach her elder sister. "Sister Kikyo!" Kaede knelt beside Kikyo, who was gripping her shoulder painfully as she attempted to stop the continuous flow of her crimson blood. "S-Sister Kikyo!"
Kaede's eyes widened in shock and horror as they caught the wound in Kikyo's shoulder, and the blood that splattered the moist ground heavily. "Sister Kikyo!" she shouted frantically. "T-The wound...we have to treat you!"
"It's too late for that," Kikyo repeated again, sadness creeping into her voice once more. So this was the path Kikyo was doomed to walk ever since her birth.
The path Kikyo took was filled with tragic events that brought her nothing but misery and sadness, loneliness and sorrow, bitterness and pain. Her life was an unending cycle of agony and sadness.
How could Inuyasha betray her like that?
Kikyo had been extremely blissful when he agreed to use the Jewel to change them both into humans. Thus, the course of Kikyo's current path would change, leading to a road filled with bright joy and happiness as they lived their lives with one another, their everlasting love binding their destinies together.
But Inuyasha wanted to take his own path, one that led to power, the increase of his strength and the fear and pain he'd inflict on helpless victims. To walk that path, he decided to trick Kikyo into believing that he loved her and wished to be human with her. Then...he'd strike her when she let her guard down, sending her hopes and dreams crashing upon her.
Now Kikyo'd never see her villagers again...Nor Kaede. She had finally reached the end of her path, one that was the most tragic event of all of the horrible things that occured along the way as Kikyo traveled through the path, through life. This was the end of her path...The end of her life...The end of her dreams she dared to imagine that would bring her bliss and happiness...
Tears threatened to escape from her eyes, to mark the bittersweet sadness that Inuyasha inflicted upon her, but a magical force that Kikyo's spirit created refused to allow them to flow.
Suddenly, a bright light caught the corner of her eye, beckoning her, calling to her. Kikyo's eyes widened in realization as she turned to lock her eyes upon the glowing light, constantly flickering as its color of black continued to change into a darker shade of black, a hint of violet hidden within the darkness. The Jewel!
What...?
But wasn't the Jewel in Inuyasha's hands?
What was going on?
A/N. Sorry for the late update. The previous chapters came straight from the anime, so you can see why it takes me longer to update now...u.u
Anyway, I'm SO evil for stopping here, aren't I? xP
And I'm sorry for saying that I was considering to make the "this much reviews then I update" thing. -sigh- It's been a rough time for me lately. D; So, sorry, and I hope you liked this chapter. xD I'll try to update ASAP!
