I'm kinda disappointed I got so few reviews for the last chapter . . . has my taking so long really turned so many people off to me?

Anyway, keeping in mind that I asked some of the people I go to school with, etc. what ending they wanted, the votes for the ending stand thus:

Happy, Happy, Happy, Happy, Happy, Happy, Happy Ending - 4
Bittersweet Ending - 9
Myeh Ending - 7
Tragic Ending - 5
Evil Ending – 2

So as per right now, the bittersweet ending is winning. More info on voting will follow after the story.

Disclaimer: All I own in the Inuyasha universe is the OCs I have created. Oh yeah, I also own a few movies, a few mangas, a few action figures, a few DVDs, and a few plushies.


Jiko curled himself up at the bottom of the well, eyes and nose burning from the smoke surrounding him. He didn't dare get up. Inuyasha had ordered him to stay down here till he came back for him, and he would do whatever his mentor told him to, no matter the risk.

'What will I do if he forgets about me and doesn't come back?' The little hanyou opened his eyes slightly, seeing the air begin to clear before them. 'What if I stay down here until I die . . .?'

He shook his head slightly, sitting up in the darkness and clutching his stinging arm, still tender from its injury. No. He knew Inuyasha would come for him. He was his dear friend that had gone through all of the same torments and all of the same pain. He wouldn't abandon him like his mother did . . .

His mother . . .

How long had it been now?

Looking up into the darkness, he attempted to count the weeks that had passed.

Five, maybe six at the most . . .

Instantly, his eyes misted, the memory so fresh and so painful that he had to bite back tears to keep his promise.

He never thought that his mother would abandon him . . . and he simply couldn't believe that Inuyasha would do the same, but the burning ache in his heart whispered the opposite as the truth. That Inuyasha too would abandon him and leave him to die at the bottom of this old well.

"Don't worry, Mom! Just let me do this real quick, and I'll head out!"

Jiko instantly curled into a corner at the sound of the unfamiliar voice, eyes wide. Light had begun to poor into the abyss in torrents at the creak of old wood, the same voice grunting as if doing something that required a great effort.

Such as ripping the well apart . . .

'Mommy! Inuyasha! Help me!'

Jiko covered his head as the light shone in at full force, suddenly blocked as a figure stooped over to peer inside.

The person gasped, then turned, yelling at the top of his lungs. "MOM! MOM! COME QUICK! THERE'S A PERSON IN THE WELL!"


Inuyasha let a low growl pass through his teeth as he felt the flames rise on either side of him, begging to lick at his flesh and turn him into their lifeblood. "Who the hell are you?"

The eyes returned his growl, leaping off their branch in the Goshinboku and landing ten feet in front of him. "I should ask you that, boy. No fool would stay in this forest else they be killed by my hellfire."

"So it is you, then." Another growl brushed past Inuyasha's lips as the flames parted slightly, giving him a view of the arsonist himself, as well as letting the eyes find their way to him. "Why the sudden need to destroy this entire forest, huh?"

"My motives are none of your concern," The man speaking let his eyes return to their natural state, brushing a hand casually through his fire red hair, sparks flying from their tips in a dazzling swirl of bright orange. "Though I would like to know something before my flames eat you alive."

"Oh? And what would that be?" Inuyasha said, mockingly, sizing up the demon before him with the utmost loathing.

"The location of a certain half slime child . . ."

Inuyasha's insides clenched in hatred at the youkai's name for a hanyou, and instantly, he vowed never to reveal anything about Jiko to him. "I don't know what the hell you're talking about."

"Don't play dumb." Fire flashed in the man's eyes, and a flaming tree branch crashed down onto Inuyasha's shoulder, easily burning through his shirt to eat at his bare skin. "The damn kid's scent is all over this hellish place! Tell me where he is!"

The hanyou quickly threw the branch off of him, ignoring the pain of his blistering skin. "I told you, demon. I don't know who the hell you're talking about. There's no half-breed kids around here from what I've seen. Besides, even if I did know, there's no way in hell I'd tell some random nameless demon."

"You want to know my name?" The fire curled suddenly in a giant arch, wrapping into a frame for the demon as his hair rose softly, his blood red eyes slitting as his mouth curled into an evil smirk. "I am Hinote of the hellfire, and the boy I am looking for is named Jiko."

'Jiko? So I was right not to say anything.' Inuyasha let his growl rumble deeper, ears folding back on his head. "And why do you need to see this 'Jiko' anyway?"

The smirk grew wider. "I believe it is a father's right to see his own offspring . . ."

'Father . . .?' Almost instantly it seemed, Inuyasha could see the similarities. The same fire red, messy hair. The same eyes that housed the same fire. The same face even, though for what Inuyasha had seen, Jiko's face could never possibly contort into such an evil countenance. It was obvious that they were related. But was it possible that Kagome could fall in love with this man? "Maybe it is, but I don't know how burning down the forest will endear you to him."

"Tell me where he is, and I will stop the fire and let you go." The fire, as if it were some all-consuming liquid, splashed back down in between them, covering Inuyasha in a barrage of sparks, the ground beneath him already dry from the heat, allowing the fire to encroach upon him. "Refuse another time, and I will have no choice but to kill you."

"Really now?" Inuyasha quickly leapt up into the air, feeling the fire lick at his skin as he landed just in front of the still protected Goshinboku. "I'd like to see you try to kill me!"

He charged forward, the demon before him just now turning to see his attack. This was his perfect opportunity to end all of this in one bone-crushing blow.

But before he could land a punch, he stopped . . . his mind reminiscing suddenly on Kagome.

Kagome . . .

She . . . loved this man . . .

She would never forgive him if he killed this pathetic excuse for a demon, and that would be even worse than losing the well.

She'd never come back if he laid a finger on him . . .

A swift punch to his gut brought Inuyasha back to reality, sending him flying back into the trunk of the sacred tree, right where he had been pinned before Kagome had come across time to find him. He crumpled at the bottom, his focus distracted by the unbearable truth that Kagome loved . . .

Another blow, this time to the face, and Inuyasha was on the ground, his ears being filled with sparks and his nose complaining loudly about the smoke and ash.

"Heh. Pathetic." Hinote drew his sword, raising it over his head in preparation for the final blow, but then . . .

"Inuyasha!"

The demon froze, recognizing the name. Was the other object of that human's affection around here someplace as well? He couldn't smell a damned thing now, but if someone was calling for him . . .

Hinote looked back at the nuisance on the ground, the demon boy that had been so easily defeated. He couldn't possibly be this Inuyasha person. He was too strong for a hanyou and too obviously full blooded.

"It's your lucky day, little man." The demon sheathed his sword, allowing the flames to part for him. "I won't kill you today, but should I see you again, you can be sure that I will."

Inuyasha lifted his head softly from the ground, ears back to their pinned state and his sleeve instantly rising to recover his nose. "Damn . . . you . . ."

"Consider yourself fortunate. No one has survived me before." He turned then, slowly, and made his way through the hellfire, disappearing at last into the burning remains of the forest.


Water . . .

The cool liquid slipped gently through Kagome's cracked lips, awaking her from her long sleep.

"At last, you're awake," a middle-aged woman smiled down at her, holding a small cup of water in her hand, the other one being used to raise her head.

"Who . . ." Kagome looked around as best she could, her stiff limbs making it difficult to move at all. "Where . . ."

"In my home. You're safe now." The woman gently set her head back down, placing the water carefully beside her. "My husband and I found you badly injured in the village over yonder."

The memories suddenly came flooding back into Kagome's consciousness. Jiko was . . .

Tears began slipping from her eyes, flooding down to wet the futon beneath her.

The woman, instead of questioning her, gave her a sad smile. "I understand, dear. T'was a terrible massacre."

Kagome closed her eyes, remembering her son. Remembering everything about him that she had loved so dearly. His smile. His laugh. The way his hair always was so perfectly messy. The way his eyes were so full of life and trust. The way he always seemed to understand . . .

"Jiko . . ."

The woman's eyes grew sadder, motherly empathy shining there. "Was he someone important to you, dear?"

Kagome raised a stiff hand to her face, rubbing at her eyes even though she knew it was futile. "He was my . . ." Her voice came so rough she could barely recognize herself. "My son . . ."

"There, there, dear. We all lose at least one child . . ." The woman took an old cloth out and began wiping the tears off Kagome's face. "Though sometimes Ijust wish all the bandits and demons would go rot in hell where they belong and leave all of us poor mothers alone."

"It's my fault though . . . I left him all alone . . ." Kagome harshly refused the woman's kind hand as she covered her face with her own. "I left him alone to pursue my own damn happiness . . ."

The older woman was silent, understanding the miko's want for it.

'Inuyasha . . .' Thoughts of him swarmed through her mind, not allowing her the peace she so desired. 'I can't search for him anymore . . . if I'm ever going to regain my life . . . I have to . . . forget about him . . .'


Keep reading.

The fun isn't over yet.

I present to you, Over's first Omake theatre!


Omake Theatre

(What Over's Mom said should happen after Over asked her which ending she wanted.)

Tears filled Kagome's eyes as she looked over at Jiko, seeing him now as if he were a ghost. "J-Jiko . . .?"

The boy turned slowly, practically trembling at hearing his mother's voice after such a long time. "M-Mommy?"

"Jiko!" Kagome ran across the field, despite her injuries, taking her one and only son into her arms and holding him so close that it was as if they had become one. "Jiko . . ."

"So I see you found your son."

The two looked behind them, seeing none other than Hinote standing there, sword drawn with a smirk on his face, ready to kill.

Kagome smiled, still holding her son closely as the tears flowed freely from her eyes. "You know what? I have to thank you."

The demon instantly lost his superior air, sweatdropping slightly. "Wh-What?"

"If you hadn't done what you did to me, I would never have this wonderful child." She rubbed her cheek in his hair as he looked up at her curiously. "I don't care anymore."

With that, she turned around to face Inuyasha. "So screw off." She flipped him off over her shoulder as she walked over to the flustered hanyou.

"WHAT!" Hinote dropped his sword, holding his head in confusion. "WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED!"

His utter confusion caused him to stumble away into a road, not paying attention to anything.

HONK! HONK!

The demon looked up in time to see the glaring headlights before he was dead, crushed beneath a semi.

Over: …annoyed look up at Mom… Mom, that was the stupidest ending I've ever written.

Mom: It was so sweet though! And Inuyasha didn't have to bloody his hands.

Over: …looks over what was written… And since when are there semis in Feudal Japan?

Mom: Um . . .

Over: Exactly.


And there you have it. As I like to say, two cliffys are better than one, but still, I wish I could've thought of how to write out another Jiko part, but that'll have to wait until the next installment.

So now onto the ways of voting this time around:

This time the choices are based on who you wouldn't mind dying. I ask that you choose at the very least two, mostly because I know that if I just say at least one, Jiko's Dad (or now that he's got a name, Hinote) will be killed by everyone.

So here are the choices:

Hinote
Jiko
Inuyasha
Kagome
All of the Sango x Miroku family . . .

I'm not including Kaede because she's so close to death anyway . . . I might turn it into a chappy even!

I thank you in advance for your input, and I hope you don't have to wait too long for the next chappy!