A/N: Apologies for the late arrival of the new chapter.

Chapter 3.

How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on…when you begin to understand…there is no turning back? There are many things that time cannot mend…some hurts that go too deep…that have taken hold.

I cannot recall the taste of food, the sound of rushing water, the touch of grass, the softness of the wind. I am blinded in shadow, there…there is nothing. A veil between myself and time's aging.

I am a maiden who wanders the earth, disguised by the appearance of my previous life, hiding my true nature. It is difficult to see the world turn dark, then light in the next daybreak. To see two beings entwined in love's grasp, to feel the lack of the other half of themselves when parted. I have accepted that nothing will come of this second life of mine, but sorrow.

Day after day, I stay in the lord's castle, spending my time in solitude, Rin accompanying me every so often. I feel that my only reason for staying is to keep Rin happy, to keep her from being alone, just like myself. Though, now is the time that I leave, I still have one more task to complete before the end.

Early Spring morning, I walk down the path in Inuyasha's forest. Trees surround, drops of moisture that clung to the leaves falling to the forest floor. My beloved soul collecters glide in the air beside me, buzzing as they do every now and then. The morning breeze rustling in the trees, birds chirping off into the distance. This walk through the woods reveiled memoriesin a flash. Every step I take brings me closer to the place I once called home. The small village that once held the Shikon no Tama safe, the place where I lived my life and died.

I gazed upon the village overhead on a small hill, the wind blowing the hood of the cloak I wear off my head. One of my soil catchers nuzzled my neck, circling my body then flying off into the sky once I stepped forward and walked down the incline, I dare not show my identity.

The village was just as I had forseen it, quiet and peaceful, children running down the dirt paths and playing with each other. I passed from home to home, until reaching the hut that stood in the south of the village and entered.

On the floor sat an old woman, one with a path on her right eyes, my younger sibling, Kaede.

"Kikyo, ye have not aged a day." She said.

"The dead do not age, my sister."

"Why have ye come?" Kaede asked.

"I have arrived to say this is the last time you shall see me," I said, walking towards her,"I Will no longer seek vengeance for both mine and Inuyasha's past."

She nodded and understood. It was odd to see the aging on her face, her gaze the only thing keeping her young, as she was a child when I last saw her. I recall seeing her cheerful smile, her will to learn from me always keeping her goal to becoming a priestess alive. Yet here she was, a woman who has seen many things, aged for over fifty years, and I, still as I was the last time I saw her.

I knelt beside her, taking her hand in my own. I gazed at it, studying the lines on her palm. I could not feel the warmth of her skin, nor the roughness from a hard day's work. I gently laid a glowing shard in her open hand.

"Give this to the ones who seek to recreate the saced jewel of four souls, I have no use for it where I will be going." I said, closing her hand and walking to the doorway once again. I stood there for a moment, looking back at her then turning away. Goodbye…sister.

I placed the hodd upon my head, hiding my face to all that I pass on my way out of the village. I hear a voice that I have known for a long time. I walked right past her, the woman who is my reincarnation, the one…who shares the same soul, the one who also loves him.

I turned back looking at them walk off into the distance of the village, the monk, demon slayer, young fox demon, the girl, and Inuyasha.

I looked at the sky, nothing but the sun and blue. I closed my eyes, the buzzing heard again in my ears.

"Goodbye, Inuyasha..."

"Lady Kikyo, you're back!" Rin said, running towards me.

I knelt down, and took her in my arms and looking into the lord's cold gaze and whispered in Rin's ear," Yes…I'm back."

A/N: Had to cut down on the length of this chapter due to loss of time, next installment in ASAP.