Chapter 47

She couldn't believe it, yet she could, as her hands raised to frantically wipe away her fallen tears. She had wanted HIM to wipe them away, but it was only her standing there, trembling fingers moving over her rosy cheeks in an attempt to hide them from the others. It was too late, her short but load sob had echoed through the air, giving off the sore thumb scene of her tears.

"K-Kagome! What happened?" Sango asked, shooting up from her kneeling position by the fire like a shooting star to dart to her side. She set a soft hand on her miko friend's shoulder, Shippo instantly hopping onto the other to swipe away a tear with a caring finger. Miroku soon joined at her back, stroking her skin beneath the rumpled white blouse with that cursed hand of his. Kirara mewed softly, twin tails flicking as she trotted to rub her black striped head on the miko's shin.

"Kagome? Are you alright? Why are you crying?" The kitsune questioned, snuggling his face against hers, his rust colored bangs tickling her damp cheeks but not lifting her an inch off the dirty ground her heart had been dropped, carelessly, to.

She couldn't speak a single word through her tears, only turn, abruptly, to the bamboo flap that was left swinging shut after the hanyou's departure. She had to know for sure, to mend or break what was left of her heart. All those different times, watching them hug and kiss and speak so sweetly in a way Kagome had never experienced with the cold and distant half-demon boy.

Shaking the comforting hands from her body and the gentle words from her ears and mind, she flew out from the hut with the smoke trailing from the hand built chimney. She raced across the dew covered grass, feeling four pairs of wide eyes on her back as she ran, ran, and ran some more. And she wouldn't stop until she hit the forest, hovering trees casts dark shadows of her tearstained features. She wouldn't stop until she had been completely enveloped in the darkness of the forest that matched her mood.

She ran, padding wildly over the grass, until soft voices hit her ears. She stopped, feet sliding slightly in the wet terrain. Her head ached, but she didn't close her eyes for a moment as she listened with unwilling ears that listened against heart's will. Those teary brown eyes searched the darkness, hands moving along the rough trunk of a tree, hiding her in it's looming branches. A sanctuary to shroud her in safety as her eyes set upon that sacred tree and the boy who stood at the foot of it.

"Kikyou." He whispered her name under his breath, gazing upward with trembling irises that seemed to glitter in the dark. And there she was, the woman who went by the name uttered in a lustful voice. She sat, perched on a high branch that would willingly hold her weight as she stared downward, returning the sparkle in the boy's eye.

A pale hand outstretched by the miko, Inuyasha raised his own hand as he scaled the side of the tree, eagerly moving his own rough hand onto her silken soil one. Kagome watched enviously as Kikyou pulled him upward to meet eye to eye. Brown against amber. Just like Kagome and him, just how the modern girl wanted it to be. The sight of the boy she so desired, crawling close, his eyes moving up and down her body.

'Why does he look at her like that, and not to me?' Kagome wondered, pure envy burning in her eyes. Unknown tears danced down her cheeks without her even realizing it, but she continued to watch in a near horror as the hanyou moved even closer, his lips parting to speak.

"What are you doing here? Your scent...it was on Kagome. What did you do to her?" He questioned, eyes narrowing at her. For split second of hope, the girl believed that he was defending her, mad at Kikyou for touching his precious Kagome. But that was before her eyes lowered to catch their twined hands. Since when was Kikyou ever loving toward Inuyasha? At least after all that had happened between them.

"It doesn't matter why I'm here, she is still alive...isn't she?" Kikyou whispered back, her voice so seducing that it made Kagome literally tremble with disgust. Surely she wouldn't try to drag him down to Hell again. Not after she had failed the first time. She tried to push the thought away, but it leaked in as she curved further around the tree to watch them closely.

She felt nosey, horrible in every single way for spying on them, but she was hooked. Each word they said made her realize more and more, but also broke her heart into several unmendable pieces.

"Yes. She is...Kikyou...I…" Inuyasha never finished what he had started out to say. He just stared, his eyes trailing down to her abdomin and then back into her suddenly narrowed eyes. They matched Kagome's, how she trembled behind the tree with quivering lips that wanted to scream out to the two of them.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" The deceased priestess demanded, her hand slipping from his as she slipped higher onto the branch, arms flung out to hold to different branches alongside her. Though, Kagome couldn't figure out why her eyes had narrowed accusingly, evilly. 'Lucky', she would call the older miko for receiving such a loving gaze from the boy she wanted it most from. Never to be hers, and she knew that.

"There's something I didn't tell you. I haven't told you...I meant to...but." His solemn voice trailed off, his ears flicking behind him, signaling Kagome to duck behind the tree once more. A hand flung out to clasp over lips that shed heavy breaths. All she could do was sit back against the tree, her back pressing to the rough bark, and pray that he hadn't caught a sign of her.

"What is it, Inuyasha?" Kikyou tore his attention back, letting his dazed golden eyes fix on her again as he advanced on her. She allowed him to slip closer and closer, eyes set on hers in a determined gaze. Whatever that secret was, it brought a sad shimmer to the hanyou's eyes. What could ever make him cry? Not this secret, surely not. But how bad was it.

"You...don't remember, do you?" He asked her, blinking softly, his eyes trailing away from hers. He could only leave her there, staring at him with the most emotion she had expressed since her death. It make Kagome wretch with anger that she tried to keep inside. She hated how close he was getting, but she knew she had no say. It was already miracle enough that they didn't know she was there.

"What? I don't-" Kikyou's eyes shot wide as Inuyasha neared, a warm hand slipping over the miko's hip to bring her closer. Kagome flinched, tears tickling at her rims all over again. She could barely feel them spilling as a raging river when the hanyou moved himself deadly close. She could hear the priestess gasp as his hand dove into her yukata, sliding over her clay skin.

She stared, horrified at the slightly perverted sight of Inuyasha's hand in Kikyou's kimono shirt. It just didn't make any sense, the way his hands tore the clothing from her shoulders to reveal pale, bare skin that he touched eagerly as if it was real. But what shocked her the most was the way Kikyou just sat there with wide eyes that matched the younger miko's.

Inuyasha's fingers crawl across the front of her slender neck, slipping over her shoulder, bringing his nose to Kikyou's, lips moving to form: "You lecher!" before she finally began to squirm away, but the hanyou's grip and will was stronger than hers. He easily pressed her back to the tree by her hips, his hands finally finding their spot that made Kagome freeze with surprise and horrified shock.

Two fingers were placed against the priestess' neck, nails gently scraping her skin. Two fingers on her neck...it just didn't make any sense to Kagome as she sat behind the tree, panting silently with the tears streaming down her cheeks. She wanted to shoot up and race away, never see either of them again. She didn't want to see what came next, nor hear. She just wanted Inuyasha to be happy, her to be happy, Kikyou to be happy, everyone to live happy lives, even if it was without her.

But she stayed, and listened to Inuyasha tell the older miko something that would scar Kagome forever.

"You're mine." He muttered, his fingers moving away from the spot so Kikyou could reach up and trace her delicate fingertips over the two fang marks, dented into her perfect clay skin. "You were my mate."

Silence. That horrible silence that Kagome loved and hated at the same exact time. She wanted something to break the silence, but anything than what followed. She couldn't help but lock her eyes onto the two as Inuyasha sank against her, his lips covering hers, pressing tightly, and holding her in what seemed like an everlasting kiss.

Kagome melted on the spot, and not in the good way. She melted back behind the tree like the wicked witch of the west after being drenched with water, only, these were tears that drenched the miko. Her head settled to the back of the tree, a small sob letting loose from her trembling lips. She knew they wouldn't hear. They were too busy, caught up in a lip lock Kagome so dearly wanted to be a part of. But she couldn't, and that caused the volcano of transparent tears that danced down her red face.

Her hands moved up to cover her mouth. She knew she would surely start to sob loudly if she didn't have anything to stifle the screams that struggled to release themselves. She hated it, hated her, and hated him. She hated herself for not diving into that oh so tempting kiss the inu hanyou had tried to set over her awaiting lips.

'His. She was his...' She confirmed in her mind, eyes shutting tightly, but it didn't stop the tears. Those noises they made sank through the tree, echoing forever in her ears as they continued. She could hear them kissing, all until they pulled away, breathless. She wished they would quit, stop right there, but she could hear so clearly as their lips connected again in another kiss to leave them panting by the end.

She felt like melted tar stuck in the grass. She knew she couldn't move no matter how much she wanted to, and her thousands of tears didn't dilute the tar that had become her legs. She could only sob silently into her shaking hands, listening as the two placed kisses over each other's faces.

"That's not all..." Inuyasha finally slipped out through another kiss that stained a hundred tears over Kagome's cheeks and echoed a thousand times in her ears. She could hear the silence again as neither of them kissed again. She loved that sound, any sound they meant they weren't in love. It didn't work. Her heart was already as broken as humanly possible. She swore, at that moment, she couldn't possibly feel any worse.

"What else have you been keeping from me?" She heard Kikyou demand, along with the rustling of her kimono as she shifted herself more comfortably to give way to more silence. Kagome's nails dug deeply into her skin at the news of more pain to rip apart her being. More sobs breaking through her tight hands at the scene of her near twin's lips claiming her dear hanyou's. She just didn't know what to expect as his next words ripped apart everything that could have possibly been left of her heart, her mind, her core, her sanity

"The day you died, Kikyou...you were pregnant."

..:--.--..--.-.-.:..

AHHHH! -is obsessed with Johnny Depp- That make out scene in POTC2 got to me. I was drooling...literally. But I-... -stares at chapter- ...omg...don't kill me.

But...heh...good twist, right? It'll be explained...in horrific detail (kidding) in the next chapter...which will come later...JUST TO TORTURE YOU! HAHAAAA!

No, really. I love you people. So much, that I was going to upload this chapter tomorrow...but...I KNOW YOU GUYS APPRECIATE IT!

Well, here it is... -puts on a helmet- ...So...feel free to throw things. Tisn't a lie. The woman's actually pregnant! With whoooo's baby? You can guess...wonder who's...it'll tell in next chapter.

But I made it fluffly good, nah? Sorry Kikyou haters and you're welcome Kikyou lovers!

Crimson had left the building!...well...not really...cuz I'm still here, telling you that...but in a sec, after I finish I wi-...but I'm not actually in a building because this is over...the...NEVERMIND! -shuffles off-