Chapter Forty
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Not going to lie, I'm nervous about how this chapter might be received...
ONWARD!
Light suddenly filters into my vision. A bright, blinding light that nearly makes my head ache.
"Yua? Yua, open your eyes for me." A familiar voice can be heard, urging me from unconsciousness. Mayumi's voice.
But…it sounds so much more…solid.
"Mayumi?" I murmur in confusion, squinting my eyes open every so slightly so that they could adjust. There, standing right before me and glowing brightly, was the very real form of my predecessor. The woman herself.
Mayumi.
My mouth drops open in shock as I take her in, seeing her for the first time with my own eyes.
She beautiful.
Her green eyes are the only thing that I recognize as something we have in common, and they're staring at me kindly, patiently waiting for me to get over my shock. Her face was sharper than my own, but no less kinder. Her skin was flawless, not a single freckle seen, unlike my own. Her hair was more brown than red, whereas my hair pulled red, and was straighter than my own as well. We were wearing the same outfit, her outfit, though her it hung on her body more baggy than it did mine. It was clear she was a hardened fighter, and though I was gaining physical strength of my own, I was nowhere near looking as fit as her.
This was Mayumi…the real Mayumi.
"H-how?" I ask, looking around the space we were in. Darkness surrounded us as we seemingly hovered suspended in this void. Was this the world Mayumi had been living in since the day I was born?
"It appears that the demon's mirror has afforded us a very rare opportunity to finally meet one and other 'in person'." Mayumi replies, her hands clasped in front of her loosely. "We shouldn't waste it."
"Waste it?" I question, frowning. My eyes widen in alarm, heart spiking at the memory of why we were here. "Wait…are we both being sucked into her mirror, just like you warned?"
"No." Mayumi replies, shaking her head, her face calm. "I am the one that's going to be sucked in, not you. The demon's mirror can only contain one of our souls, so with the little strength I have left I've separated us, allowing the mirror to only take me."
My stomach drops.
"What?! No! No, no, no, no. There has got to be a better way? Another way?" I shake my head as I stumble to my feet, stepping forward towards her. I can see the resolve in her green eyes, her full lips now set in a firm line. "Mayumi…no."
"I'm ready, Yua. You're ready."
"No I'm not!" I bite back angrily, feeling tears burning at my eyes. "How are you ready? How are you ready to just give up?!"
"I'm not giving up." Mayumi replies gently. "I was given a most wonderful gift, Yua. I got the chance to see the world through your eyes one last time." She steps forward, her own eyes shinning with emotion. "I was able to see Inuyasha one last time." I feel my throat constricting, choking back a sob at that.
This wasn't fair to her. I was living her life. I should be the one to go, not her.
As if sensing this argument, Mayumi shakes her head sharply this time. "This was meant to be, Yua. I was meant to save you at this exact moment, so that you could in turn save Inuyasha, save the world."
"What does saving the world mean when I can't save the people that I care about?!" I ask sharply, before taking a deep breath and wiping angrily at a tear that managed to escape from the corner of my right eye. "I'm sorry. We're meeting for the first time and all I'm doing is yelling at you."
"It's to be expected. You've always been stubborn." Mayumi replies cheekily, and I can't help a watery laugh at that. She raises her arms towards me then, and I willingly walk into them, hugging her back just as tightly as she was hugging me.
And for the first time in my life, with the meeting of our souls, I feel an overwhelming sensation of completion and serenity.
"You are going to have a wonderful life here, Yua. You're going to grow old with Inuyasha by your side, surrounded by your children, and their children after them. You're going to get the life you've deserved all along, the family that you've longed for." Mayumi murmurs softly into my ear, hugging me tightly one last time before leaning away, her hands sliding to rest on my shoulders. "Always remember that you are strong. You don't need me to become the person you were meant to be."
"I'll always need you, Mayumi." I deny, swallowing thickly as I don't bother to stop the tears from rolling down my cheeks. Was it just me or was the light surrounding her starting to fade. "Is there anything…?"
"For Inuyasha?" Mayumi asks softly, her face taking on a look of devastating sadness for the first time during our encounter. "Tell him that I understand." I blink at that, but hardly have time to question it as her body begins to fade more quickly, her hands slipping from my shoulders as she starts to physically pull away from me, as if being dragged back by some invisible force.
"NO! Mayumi!" I shout, reaching for her hand, only to have my own pass straight through her's, as if she were a ghost! She smiles serenely at me as she fades from view, her soul dimming until the light was entirely extinguished
"MAYUMI!"
The world comes slamming back into focus, my eyes landing directly on the small demon dressed in white as she stands before me with that mirror.
The mirror that Mayumi was currently trapped in.
"I cannot subdue this woman's soul, though I have the soul of another." The demon's voice is just above a whisper as she talks to herself, clearly not seeing that I was coming to. My whole body is shaking with a bone tired exhaustion. I had never felt so weak before, nor so determined to fight past it as my gaze remains locked on that cursed mirror.
'If I can destroy the mirror, maybe it would release Mayumi's soul.' I think to myself, even as the demon goes on with her commentating.
"You cannot move, can you? I desire the shard of the Shikon Jewel that you possess." The girl murmurs then, her ghostly pale hand reaching out slowly towards me as she approaches. "Give it to me."
Something inside of me snaps.
Almost in a daze I shift onto my knees, the movements feeling fluid, but no doubt looking almost clumsy in my exhaustion. I grab my bow and arrow, notching it and drawing it back with a sneer on my lips.
I nearly falter when I look into the demon's eyes for the very first time.
They were pitch black in colour, though her face showed her surprise at my movement, clearly having not been expecting me to be able to do so. White hair, the same shade as the clothes that she wore, was styled simply and came down to her upper back, small white flowers accenting each side of her head.
Then my eyes were drawn down to her mirror once more.
Mayumi. Was. In. There.
With a shout of anger my arrow was released, a blinding purple light washing out the room as I did. The light itself was much darker in hue than I had ever seen it, the feeling of the aura vastly different.
This was purely my aura, the warmth of Mayumi's lost now.
A cold shudder of foreboding rushes down my spine with that realization, angry tears burning at the corner of my eyes even as I confidently watched my arrow hit the demon's mirror.
I would crack the mirror, and Mayumi's soul would be free.
But would she return to me? Or would she float away into nothing?
I swallow thickly then, the bright light still blinding as my arrow clearly fought to get past whatever barrier it had encountered against the mirror's reflective surface. I can feel two hands, one on each shoulder, suddenly grasp me firmly. I don't have to turn to know who it is.
Sango always had my back.
"Sango! Yua!" Miroku's voice suddenly shouts from behind us. "She's the other demon!" He announces, and I have to refrain from yelling back at him, 'Yep, we figured that one out!'. Suddenly my arrow shoots upwards, away from the mirror and through the ceiling, debris falling between Sango and I, and the demon. When the dust clears I feel my heart sink into my stomach.
The demon was gone.
She had Mayumi's soul with her.
"Mayumi…" I whisper in defeat, slumping backwards against Sango as she helps to support me.
"Yua? Yua, what happened?" Sango asks, concern clear in her voice as my head flopped back against her shoulder, feeling too weak in that moment to hold it up. I was weak, weaker than I had ever been without Mayumi with me. Doubt fills me to the very core.
"Mayumi…she was wrong." I find myself mumbling incoherently. "I can't do this without her."
Miroku has come to kneel in front of me, his blue eyes furrowed with worry. "What do you mean, Yua?"
"She's gone. In the mirror." I answered, feeling my throat closing up with emotion. I never realized just how attached I had become to Mayumi. She had been my guide, my teacher, my advisor. The closest friend I ever had.
What was I going to do without her?
"That demon must have sucked Mayumi's soul into that mirror she was carrying." I can hear Sango mumbling, and though her own head was so close to my own, her voice sounded so distant in that moment.
Gone.
Just like that.
I knew at a subconscious level that it was shock setting in as I started to feel chilled to the very bone.
"Inuyasha needs you."
Huh? What?
I blink a couple times, Miroku's hard face coming back into focus. "I can't imagine what you're going through right now, Yua, but Inuyasha needs you. He's out there fighting Kagura, thinking that you're gone. He needs to see you, to know that you're safe, so he won't lose control."
"Lose control?" I ask feeling like the world was rushing back to me. "What?"
"Kagura taunted him, telling him that you…that you were gone. His demon side, I could feel it rising from him. If you don't show him you're safe, he's not going to stop at killing Kagura. The men of the village have all had their souls removed and are at Kagura's disposal. He'll kill them all too." Miroku explains, and I feel Sango move behind me to grab me under my arms and lift me up. She sits me down on Kirara's back, and I barely have my mind about me enough to grab onto her fur for purchase.
"Shippo?!" I gasp then, eyes wide as I looked around the room for him.
"We'll get him and meet you out there." Sango states soothingly, though her voice is firm. "You just concentrate on holding on to Kirara, and she'll take care of the rest. Go, Kirara!" I choke on a gasp as I'm suddenly airborne on the giant cat demon's back, Kirara flying up through the large hole in the roof that my arrow had made. I find myself hunching over Kirara's head, using the top of her own to support mine as she takes us over the village to the outskirts.
Then I feel it pulsing through the air.
'The Wind Scar.' I think to myself as the familiar aura washes over me, my skin raising into goosebumps, and hair standing on end as the electricity from the meeting of Inuyasha and Kagura's demonic auras clashed violently. I frown as Kirara circles overhead, no doubt cautious to bring me down into the middle of the battle at that moment, sensing it as well. Looking down my eyes land on Inuyasha, who hasn't taken notice of Kirara or I yet as his eyes squint with concentration, Tessaiga drawn and pulsing with excess energy.
'How am I going to tell him? How am I going to tell him that Mayumi is really gone?' I can't help thinking in that moment, swallowing thickly. How would he react? Will he be overcome by grief? Will be be angry? Another very small voice worked it's way forward in my mind.
Would he resent me for being the one to come out with my soul?
Following Inuyasha's line of sight I can see Kagura standing there, looking confident even in the face of the attack that had almost killed her.
Then I catch sight of something white appearing at her side, and the glint of a mirror in the moonlight.
'It's that demon again.' I think with a frown, hands tightening on Kirara's fur as she hovered us over the battle. My eyes focus on the mirror once more, frustration eating away at my stomach as I grit my teeth tightly together.
If only my arrow hadn't been deflected. I could have broken the mirror-
Wait.
My eyes go wide as my heart stops, looking towards Inuyasha as he raises Tessaiga, clearly about to attack.
My arrow had been deflected by the demon's mirror.
It had been…deflected.
"WIND SCAR!"
"Inuyasha, NO!" I find myself screaming at him over the roar of the winds, over his own shout as he launched his attack. My heart stops as I watch his Wind Scar race across the battle field towards Kagura, knowing it was too late to stop it as the demon with the mirror holds it out in front of her, deflecting it back towards him. I lean over dangerously on Kirara's back, holding on with only one hand now as the other stretches outwards. With every ounce of strength I have left I call forth a barrier, Inuyasha's look of dread turning to shock as it appears for only a brief second in front of him.
The moment his attack hit my force-field, I knew it wouldn't be enough to protect him.
"NO!" My voice cracks as I scream with disbelief and fear, the Wind Scar shattering my barrier and rushing over Inuyasha, throwing him back hundreds of feet. I could hear his heart breaking screams of pain as it overtakes him, the light fading after what felt like an eternity to show him laying prone on the ground. Without having to ask her, Kirara races down towards Inuyasha, landing directly beside him with a concerned noise rumbling deep in her chest as she leans down to nuzzle at his cheek. I slide off of her back, my knees buckling the minute I hit the ground, but it hardly stops me from clawing my way over to him. Breathing heavily I cup his face in my hands.
He was cold. So cold.
"Inuyasha?!" I call to him, brushing his bangs from his face. He doesn't flinch, doesn't move, his eyes open and starring unseeingly ahead. I look over his body, holding back a cry of horror as I can see the deep cut that runs along his torso from the Wind Scar, letting go of his face and leaning my head down to rest on his chest.
There was a heartbeat, though it was weak.
A sigh of relief leaves me as I sit back up right, brushing the backs of my knuckles of my right hand against his one cheek. "Can you hear me? I'm here, Inuyasha. I'm safe. We're both safe. We're going to get out of this, okay?" I murmur softly to him, wondering if he could hear me in his state.
I swear I heard him breath my name in that moment.
Suddenly the sound of thunder echoes in the skies, the winds picking up around us. I frown, leaning over Inuyasha protectively, my stomach dropping as I look upwards to see a funnel of purple miasma spiraling downwards towards the earth.
Naraku.
More of the vortexes of miasma began to appear, and I could feel his aura long before he materialized before us. The ice coldness of his energy washed over me, the sickening stench of the poisonous miasma that he surrounded himself with overwhelming the air around us.
Then he finally shows himself.
His long back hair is swirling around with the wind as Naraku steps forward to stand next to Kagura and the mystery demon, of which I now had no doubt was a creation of his as well. His pale, sharp face was hardened with a frown, his beady red eyes looking over Inuyasha and I with interest.
Then he gives a cruel laugh.
The chilling sound, which usually sends my stomach clenching with anxiety, has an entirely different effect on me now.
I was pissed.
I stand on my wobbly legs, glaring at the evil part-demon in front of me as I shift to stand between him and Inuyasha.
"That was indeed simple enough." Naraku smirks at me from where he stands, my hands clenching tightly into fists.
"Inuyasha isn't dead." I snap back at him, glaring at the cocky asshole. "So you can cut your celebration short."
"I wasn't referring to that." Naraku replies evening. "Inuyasha being dead or not is of no consequence to me on this day." His gaze slides from me towards the short demon at his side.
And to the mirror that she held.
My eyes widen with horrific realization.
"M-Mayumi…that was your goal here all along." I feel lightheaded, chest constricting painfully.
I had just delivered Mayumi into the hands of her very own monster.
"You are correct, Yua. I now am in possession of Mayumi's soul." Naraku replies, smirk growing wider. "Kanna here was a very clever creation on my part. You see, she can collect the souls of people into her mirror and store them there until I see fit to use them."
"What are you going to do to her?!" I shout at him, heart racing. 'No, no, no. I can't let that monster have her! I can't leave her to a fate like that!'
"What I had intended to do all those years ago. I'm going to get my Sacred Jewel from her."
"And how do you intend to do that without her in her physical body?!" Miroku shouts from behind me, and I could hear the jingling from his staff as he drew nearer to me.
"I've done rather well with creating forms thus far." Naraku replies evenly, gesturing to both the demons at his side. "Kanna and Kagura are testament to that."
"You're disgusting." I get out between grit teeth, my body shaking with anger now, rather than exhaustion.
"Alas, I also came here to ask Inuyasha how it felt to have his own powers turned against him?" Naraku goes on cruelly, looking over my shoulder towards my unconscious mate. "Very easily, I might add."
"It's an honor to have your presence here, Naraku." Miroku steps up beside me now, his voice sarcastic. "I expected another cowardly attempt at a demon puppet." He openly goads, Naraku's smirk turning into a frown rather quickly at that.
"Trying to keep your pretty hands clean by laying traps isn't going to work in your favor, Naraku. Not with us." Sango adds as she steps around to my other side, now dressed in her slayer uniform. Her hand was reached back to her boomerang, at the ready.
'That damn mirror, though. None of us are going to get anywhere if we can't get rid of it.' I frown deeply, clenching my hands tightly into fists.
"Your confidence is going to be your downfall." Miroku adds, wrapping his fingers around his prayer beads to take them off. My gaze snaps over to him, and I reach out, placing my hand over his own that contained the Wind Tunnel.
"Miroku, don't. That mirror still has the souls of Mayumi and the villagers inside of it." I explain, before I turn back towards Naraku, gaze hard as I felt the anger bubbling just beneath the surface. 'I have to find a way to release Mayumi's soul. I can't let her suffer at his hands!'
"My course of action was simple. I created Wind and Void as incarnations of myself. Witness the damage I was able to inflict through the mere extensions of myself.
"Have we not spoken long enough?" Kagura suddenly asks after a moment of tense silence. She opens her fan, her beady red eyes, so much like her maker's, focusing on Inuyasha behind me. "Shall we take Inuyasha's head along with us as a trophy? I'm sure someone would love to see it."
What?
"I'm sure she would. I suppose I do owe her a gift, after all, she did help me with the creation of both yourself and your sister." Naraku reaches into his kimono then, pulling out a familiar purple glowing orb. My eyes widen in disbelief.
It was the Shikon Jewel…and it was almost complete.
"Naraku's Sacred Jewel fragment is nearly whole! How can that be?!" Miroku exclaims with disbelief as he too gazes upon the jewel.
"A woman attempted to use me so that I would kill Inuyasha." Naraku began, and almost instantly I knew exactly who he was talking about.
Kikyo.
"She's some piece of work, that Kikyo." Naraku confirms.
All of a sudden I hear a groan of pain behind us. Turning sharply I can see Inuyasha awake now, though still too injured to move. Shippo is at his head in an instant, looking as relieved as we all felt in that moment.
"You're alive!" Shippo celebrates, but I frown, knowing he may be alive, but he certainly wasn't well.
Had he heard what was just said about Kikyo? Is that what had roused him? Was he aware enough before to hear what happened to Mayumi's soul?
"Kikyo personally handed this Sacred Jewel fragment to me of her own free will." Naraku adds, smirking coldly at us as he closes his hand around it once more and tucks it back into his kimono. Kagura suddenly raises her fan into the air.
"She wishes to gaze upon your face, after you're good and dead!"
All I see is red as I feel my energy suddenly spike out of nowhere.
"You won't get your fucking hands on him." I promise, tone deadly as the wind slowly picks up around us. Suddenly my energy bursts, creating a vortex of red energy that surrounds our entire group, Miroku and Sango watching on in shock while slowly moving away from the static that was snapping at the air around me.
'I…what's happening? My power…I've never felt like this before.'
Let your instincts guide you. My eyes widen at the ghost of Mayumi's voice as it floats through my mind, closing my eyes for a moment to feel for her.
But all I feel is me. My power.
My rage.
My gaze snaps open and lands on the shocked faces of our enemies in front of us. As if on instinct I step through the barrier that I had unconsciously created around my friends-my family. I move in a familiar fluid motion to create my bow made up of purely my energy, the aura continuing to bleed red as my anger fueled it.
Naraku was not going to take everything from me.
I hold onto my bow with my left hand, my right stretching forward and drawing back slowly to create my arrow. At first I aim for Naraku, and if I had been myself, I would have enjoyed the look of utter fear that crossed his face the moment I had.
Mayumi.
My gaze slides to the mirror that Kanna was holding, and my aim moves to follow. Releasing my arrow I watch confidently as it races across the destroyed field, dust kicking up in it's wake. With a blinding light it hits the mirror, my body tensing as I will it to break through this time. However, it didn't break through this time.
It got sucked in.
"The arrow went through, it didn't deflect." I could hear Kanna stating with slight wonder.
"What happened? Why did your mirror not strike back at her?!" Kagura demands, her tone more panicked.
"I understand. Her power is linked to her soul." Kanna murmurs, my own eyes widening hearing her. "Her soul is very powerful, it's overwhelming the mirror. It's entirely filled now." I could see the orbs of light, the souls in the mirror, leaking forward out of it as the reflective surface shone brightly. "Unless the souls are released, the mirror will burst." I lean forward at that, breath catching in my chest.
Would Mayumi's soul be released as well to save her precious mirror?
Suddenly the souls begin to leave the mirror in great volume, shooting off in every direction as far as the eye could see. I wait, and wait, and wait anxiously for one of the shining bright lights to come darting straight for me.
It never happens.
"WIND TUNNEL!" I hear Miroku's shout before I can stop him, gasping as I'm flung backwards by the wind. Shippo transforms into his large bubble, catching me safely and allowing me to slide to the ground unharmed beside Inuyasha once more. My eyes are wide as I look around, searching the area, searching the skies for any sign that Mayumi's soul had been released.
'What if she's still in the mirror?!' I think desperately, Kagura using her wind powers to heave boulders into the air for Miroku's Wind Tunnel to be diverted in sucking up. The three take the diversion her actions give them, turning and disappearing from sight. With a cry of effort Miroku closes his Wind Tunnel, glaring ahead at where our enemies had been.
"Curse them, they've escaped." He murmurs angrily to himself.
'Do not worry, Yua. Mayumi's soul is going to be well taken care of in my hands.' Naraku's chilling voice intrudes into my mind, and I feel my heart stop.
No.
He has her.
We leave the village well before sun up, heading straight for the cabin that Koharu had shown us the previous day to shelter in. I was so caught up with what had happened that I hardly remembered how the parting had gone with the young girl, nor if I even said a word to her upon our departure.
Now, as I kneel by Inuyasha's side after freshly bandaging his wounds, I can feel the weight pushing on me about what to do next. He's staring up at the ceiling, conscious but unseeing. He was hardly responsive as I worked to clean his wounds, promising to heal him once I had gained my own strength back to do so. He was basically catatonic the entire time. Somehow I had a sneaking suspicion this wasn't all just because of Kagura defeating him. No doubt he was stung by Kikyo's betrayal as well.
Did I tell him about Mayumi when he was like this?
'Between his injuries and this thing with Kikyo…would he be able to handle it? Would I be doing the right thing keeping it from him for now?' I ask myself, another voice from deep within chiming up. 'Or am I being selfish doing so? Trying to hold off the inevitable, scared of what his reaction is going to be towards me?'
I mean, how childish of me was that? He had a right to know.
Mayumi was the love of his life, and she was now captured by the one person he hated most.
…because of me.
I swallow thickly, tears of guilt mixed with my own feelings of loss burning at my eyes. "Inuyasha?" I ask, voice cracking slightly. He doesn't move, doesn't even look at me. "I-I know you've been through a lot…but there is something else that you need to know." I pause, needing a moment to gather myself.
He was going to need me to be strong for a change in that moment.
"When Kanna tried to take my soul," I notice his one fist clench tightly, but that was the only reaction I got at that, "she wasn't only taking mine, but Mayumi's as well." I go on, feeling like I just needed to keep momentum to get through this. I look down at my knees in front of me, unable to look at him as I move on. "Mayumi…she sacrificed her soul for me, so that mine would be released instead of sucked into the mirror as well."
"What?"
Out of pure shock I look up towards Inuyasha's face, my own mouth parting slightly in surprise. His gaze is hard, his eyes filled with an emotion that I couldn't quite read as, for the first time since his defeat by Kagura, he was looking at me. Talking. "What happened, Yua?" His voice is sharp as a knife, and cuts through me deeply as I feel my chest tightening with anxiety. Unable to look him in the eyes as tears filled my own, guilt burning viciously in my stomach, I answer.
"She allowed the mirror to take her soul, so it wouldn't take mine." I reiterate, voice just barely above a whisper.
"S-she's gone?" Inuyasha's own voice is barely above a whisper as well, and filled with heart-wrenching disbelief. I can't stop the sob that breaks through my lips, quickly clasping my hand over my mouth to stifle another that wanted to quickly follow. I take a deep breath, shaking my head as I keep my hand firmly pressed to my mouth, unable to calm down enough to speak. "What? Where is she then? Yua, tell me!" Inuyasha demands, his voice panicked and confused all at once. I take a deep breath behind my hand, tears now rolling freely down my cheeks. Impatiently he grabs the wrist of the hand that was currently covering my mouth, firmly but gently pulling it away. "Yua, tell me." He demands once more, those this time his voice is a little more calm.
I still can't bring myself to look at him.
'This is all my fault.' I take a deep breath. "I…I think her soul is still in the mirror. Naraku he…he mentioned a plan…to give Mayumi a physical form." I swallow thickly. "So that he can finish the plan he had started with her all those years ago. To get her Sacred Jewel." Inuyasha's hand snatches quickly away from my wrist, and I hear him shuffling around. Looking up I gasp in shock, seeing him moving to try and sit up. "No! Inuyasha, your wounds! They'll reopen!" I caution him, gently pressing my hand to his shoulder to have him lay back down.
"You just told me that Naraku has Mayumi, that he's planning on bringing her back to life to use her, and you just expect me to lay here?!" Inuyasha snaps angrily then, clearly irrational at this point. "You're out of your fucking mind if you think that's what is going to happen!" He snaps, voice filled with venom. I lean back, unable to hide the shock at his tone with me.
He hadn't spoken to me like that since we first met, back in the forest after I had released him from the tree.
'He's still in love with her. It's just like I thought all along.' I can feel an intense wave of sadness washing over me, irrational and selfish thoughts quickly piling up in my mind. 'He's willing to risk his life to go after her…and if she's able to return to a physical form, and we can save her from Naraku…'
I was the only thing in the way of them living happily ever after.
Or maybe I wasn't? Perhaps just like that I was no longer an issue at all for him.
My silence is apparently enough to bring him back to his senses, because suddenly I feel his hand pressing against my tear stained cheek. The moment our eyes meet I know he knows exactly what I'm thinking, we had become that close to one and other. He begins to shake his head, opening his lips to no doubt deny what was clearly now hanging awkwardly between the both of us.
"I'm sorry." I murmur, my voice hollow. "It's my fault. She risked herself for me. But we'll save her, just as we've saved others. We'll defeat Naraku, and Mayumi will be safe once and for all." I pull away from him.
"Yua, don't-"
"I need to go wash up at the creek. I'll be back to check on your bandages." I smile at him, though my tone is too cheery to be passable. I leave quickly, closing the flap behind me and giving a vague answer to Shippo as I pass by the small fox demon hearing towards the river.
I didn't want to hear his denials. I didn't want to hear promises that he would break in the end.
Because those two belonged to one and other. They were the ultimate love story.
He deserved his happy ending.
Mayumi deserved her happy ending.
'I just need to feel hurt for a little while, I need to feel the loss, the heartbreak, without feeling selfish for doing so.' I think to myself, kneeling down heavily by the river, splashing my face with cold water. 'I don't want to feel like a horrible person right now, wishing, praying that Naraku doesn't give Mayumi a physical form. I want her to be alive. I want her to live happily ever after with the man that she loves.'
And I love Inuyasha so much.
Enough that I had to prepare myself to let him go if it's what makes him happy.
Hehe...soooo...what do you think? I'm honestly bracing myself here lol.
Until next time :P
T.O.T.
