Time

Summary:

Time, it connects all things. It is inescapable, inevitable and unrelenting. It is as incontestable as the very stars in the skies, sometimes time can be your greatest ally and others your gravest fears. Time brought together two unlikely people, but will it also tear them apart? An Inuyasha/Kagome fan fiction. Read and Review please xxxx

Disclaimer

Kagome: I am gonna keep it short in this chapter folks. This one is a bit of a turning point in the story.

Sango: the authoress doesn't own the characters, lyrics or quotes used throughout this fan fiction unless she states otherwise.

Kagome: So without further ado, I give you all chapter seven…. Enjoy.

Last chapter

"Enough." Growled Sesshomaru, who had clearly seen enough immaturity. "The last thing that Naraku will expect is an alliance between my idiot brother and I. it could be enough to secure the advantage of surprise. That miko girl he protects so adamantly could also be of great use. I heard that she injured the hanyou Naraku, she could be the key to defeating him." Said the lord dog-demon with a dark ambition laced in his words.

Sesshomaru stood up and started walking away from the tiny pair that had begun quarrelling again. They immediately halted their fight and called after their demon master, who continued to walk away, silent, with his mind on one goal. How he would finish the power-hungry hanyou off once and for all. Then there would be no more questions of the mighty demons power, Naraku would die by his hands.

Chapter seven: The telling of a broken heart

Higurashi Shrine: 00.55

Kagome walked slowly from Inuyasha, her head spinning from the malicious revelations that Kikyou had just bestowed upon her. The words echoed in the caverns of her mind like a piercing scream of pain. The miko felt nauseous, how had everything become so complicated? Why couldn't fates cursed irony leave her to be happy, if only for one night? It seemed as though destiny was laughing at her pain, vindictive jesting at the expense of her exploited heart. Sparkling tears fell from her eyes as she continued to walk away from the concerned hanyou that stood frozen to the very ground he was upon.

'What has Kikyou said to hurt Kagome so badly?' Inuyasha thought, his eyes fixed upon the broken priestess that was walking away from him.

Quickly, he realised that tears were once again staining the porcelain of the young miko's face. Inuyasha was at once brought to his senses and his frozen state left him. He had to find out why Kagome was weeping so mournfully, he could not allow her overbearing sorrow to consume. The hanyou's feet carried him to the weeping girl with alacrity, almost at once he had took her silken arms into his firm grasp.

"Kagome what did Kikyou say to you just there? Why are you so upset?" Asked Inuyasha with every ounce of compassion he could muster for the miko.

Kagome stared into the golden pools contained within Inuyasha's eyes and let a lamenting sigh escape her chest. The half demon was trying to comfort her, to find out why her eyes were brimming with the tears that seemed to be spawned from her bleeding and broken heart. He could never know, or rather, Kagome did not have the strength of heart to tell him. To tell him that it was the silly little girl that he held within his grasp that had caused all his suffering heartache, to tell him that Kikyou had such unremitting hatred for that girl's existence, that it was all because it was this tragedy of a little gir,l that he had been prevented from being together once more with his most beloved Kikyou. No, Kagome doubted that she would ever have the courage to tell her Inuyasha all of this; she just could not bring herself to. Her train of thought was broken by the growl of Inuyasha's voice.

"Kagome will you answer me? What the hell did Kikyou want to talk to you about?" Inuyasha growled at the lack of response that the miko had given his query.

"Nothing…" Whispered Kagome in a reply that was to make the hanyou even more concerned.

"What do you mean nothing? Kagome what is going on?" Inuyasha snapped, he would not tolerate her lying to him. Especially when it involved Kikyou.

Kagome broke free of Inuyasha's grasp and continued to walk; she was heading for the bone eaters well. She suddenly felt very numb, she knew that she would have to do everything in her power to try and break the bond she and Inuyasha shared together. Still, a part of her deep somewhere in the recesses of her heart rang a lone voice that cried into the windswept plains of her soul. A voice that carried some hope for the destiny of her relationship with Inuyasha, it was the echo of the words spoken by Kikyou herself,

"I am not stupid Kagome; I know that Inuyasha is falling for you."

It was these words that twisted her resolve into chaos, turning it to a garbled mass of unasked questions and insecurities, all regarding the perplexing half demon whose golden eyes followed her obsessively. Her mind asked her so frequently about the nature of the feelings that Inuyasha concealed from her, why was he so protective? Could it be possible that Inuyasha was in love with Kagome as well as Kikyou? Fate appeared to hear the query as it was formed in Kagome's mind and it seemed that it had plenty more callousness left for her which took form in the next question to be uttered from Inuyasha.

"Kagome you have to tell me what Kikyou said!" The half demon yelled, "Damn it Kagome how can I help her if I don't know what she said to you?"

And that was it. The conformation that Kagome had been seeking since the very first meeting with Kikyou, it was so damn obvious now! The longing caress that she had received was no sign of love or affection towards her; it was a longing for the presence of the damned clay doll. It always had been. Kagome stopped dead in her tracks, her raven tresses flowing in the winds. Inuyasha stared at her carefully, sensing that something he had just said was about to come back to bite him in the ass.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha slowly walked toward the young priestess.

Kagome turned to face the half demon and looked upon him with emotionless eyes. She now truly felt numb, her emotions spent, her tears had run as dry as the well contained within her shrine. It was truly ironic that one would enshrine all that had caused her pain, but then, that was the path that fortune had chosen to lead her down. A path of deceit, loneliness and heartache was the plan all along.

Inuyasha gaped at Kagome in shock, never had he seen her eyes look so cold. Nothing was contained within the chocolate of her eyes, no warmth, no love, nothing. The miko's eyes seemed to diminish right before him, the light had vanished and the sparkling that he loved so much had dimmed as though the candle behind her eyes had been blown out. A frown took over Inuyasha's handsome face as he walked right up to face Kagome. His hands slid into her flowing ebony tresses as he looked into the icy depths that her russet eyes now contained.

"Kagome, your eyes…" Inuyasha said quietly, surveying the blank expression on Kagome's face.

"My eyes?" She repeated in a tone that lacked her usual spirit. "It's a funny thing, irony."

"What the hell are you talking about?" He growled in annoyance.

"It doesn't matter anymore." Kagome replied, removing her gaze from Inuyasha's concern filled eyes.

"Listen wench stop talking in riddles and start telling me why you are acting so strange." Inuyasha snapped, removing his hands from Kagome's hair and gripping her shoulders, shaking her slightly in frustration.

"We should go." Kagome added with uncharacteristic indifference laced through her usually sweet, endearing voice.

"We aint going anywhere until you tell me why you are acting like, like…"

And before he could finish the sentence, Kagome spoke, ending it for him.

"…Like Kikyou."

"I didn't say that." Inuyasha responded, letting go of the young miko's delicate shoulders in shock.

"But you were going to."

Suddenly from the bottomless nothing, came fiery anger in Kagome's eyes. Inuyasha took a pace back from the priestess in disbelief. He hadn't meant it like that! Why was it that each time Kikyou was around, everything was fell apart between the pair?

"I – you – what the hell Kagome?" Inuyasha said, his voice rising to a yell.

"You can't look at me without thinking of Kikyou. You never could!" Kagome yelled back at him in fury.

"Why the hell are you starting this shit again?" Inuyasha growled, rolling his eyes in expectance of the usual argument about Kikyou.

"I think – I think now it is time to part ways Inuyasha." Kagome said, lowering her voice again.

"What?" Inuyasha snarled, he couldn't understand why Kagome would do this.

"After this battle with Naraku, I will be coming home, and this time I won't be coming back." The miko sighed, "I have struggled to find a place in life for long enough and I – I just can't keep fighting it anymore."

"Kagome why the hell are you telling me this?" snapped Inuyasha with anger seeping into his controlled calm.

"Because I think that you deserve to know. You don't deserve to be torn in two anymore."

"You are the only reason why we aren't together you little wench don't you realise that?"

"I know that I am the only reason why you and Kikyou aren't together. Whether in hell or earth, that, I have now realised, is none of my concern." Kagome spoke so quietly that Inuyasha had struggled to hear her words.

"Kagome that isn't true…"

"I think that if I were to leave, everything would be alright again. I could go back to my ordinary life, go back to school, go back to my friends and just… exist. You, you could be happy. For the first time in over fifty years you could be happy once more."

"No you are the reason why he is unhappy!"

"Have you even listened to what I want?" Inuyasha snapped, how could Kagome think that he wasn't happy with her around?

"I know what you want Inuyasha! I can't give you that! You can't ask that of me!" Kagome cried out, Kikyou's hateful words to her echoing painfully in her memory.

"If you would just die I could get my soul back…"

"What is it that you think I want Kagome?" Inuyasha asked quietly, he knew that Kikyou must have said something terrible, for Kagome to act as she was. "Kagome, what did Kikyou say to you?"

"It doesn't matter anymore Inuyasha, it's done now. The fairytale is over…"

"Fairytale?" He repeated, "Kagome what could you have done to anger her so much?"

Kagome followed the same pathway that Kikyou had taken. It would be the last time that the stairway would lead her into a land of dreams, love and adventure. It would be the very last time her heart would be torn into shreds, the last time she would see the unfeeling Kikyou, the last hours she would spend with Inuyasha.

Inuyasha ran down the stairway and paused as he saw Kagome standing by the well. Slowly he walked towards her and wrapped the miko in a caring embrace. There would be no way he would let the last comfort that he had in his life leave him forever. She was the precious light that resided amongst the ridicule and hell that he faced in his lonely life.

"Kagome I can't let you leave. You can't just leave and never come back after all of this."

"I need to Inuyasha. Please don't make this any harder than it is going to be."

"What the hell could Kikyou have said to you? Why is she so angry?"

"I live don't I?"

Inuyasha was stunned into silence. All he could do was tighten the embrace around his Kagome in hope that she would soon realise what she meant to him.

"I wont let you go Kagome." Inuyasha whispered into her ear.

Kagome sighed, her heart was aching. Why was he saying such sweet things? How she wished that he would call her some horrid name, anything to make her last visit to the feudal era less painful. With this thought, Inuyasha picked her up and jumped into the dry well. The whole time he held her in his arms, even as their feet touched the ground in the feudal era, he held her.

Eventually Inuyasha pounced out of the well, his feet landing softly upon the grass. It was then that he let the miko's body from his grasp. Immediately he sniffed the air, something had caught his guard.

"Inuyasha what do you smell?" Asked Kagome, concern seeping into her voice.

"What the hell?" Inuyasha growled, unsheathing the Tetsussiaga and standing protectively in front of Kagome.

"Inuyasha…?"

A rustling came from the trees around them and soon a figure appeared. A low growl released itself from Inuyasha's throat.

"Sesshomaru…"

Authoresses note:

Thanks for reading and I hope to have updated some time later in the week. Any comments or suggestions are welcome, as always.

Lots of love

Mandie xxx