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The Breakup

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Miroku sat bolt upright at the heart wrenching sound that filled the night air. It was a scream, likely a child, the primal mind crying out for the love that evolution has taught it to expect. It was the most raw communication, the most pure way one soul can ask another for help. The sound cut off unnaturally as a deafening roar reverberated through the village. Quickly grabbing his staff, he rushed out to the bizarre sight of the little Shiori unleashing the wind scar and Sango standing dumbfounded, already in full gear with Hirakostu at the ready but seemingly forgotten.

"What the hell is going on?!" Miroku bellowed as he rushed to Sango's side to protect her back, "Why the hell does Shiori have the Tessaiga and how is it even possible she can wield it?!"

"I don't know," Sango answered – coming out of her daze as she crouched and prepared to throw her mighty boomerang, "We'll figure that out later, we've got bigger problems right now. Where the hell is that demon when you need him?!"

"Probably long gone by now," Miroku answered grimly, "I haven't seen him all day. Perhaps…perhaps we were too harsh on him."

"He had a child kill another child, Miroku," Sango answered bitterly as she flung Hiraktosu at a particularly nasty looking bat diving towards a villager, cutting him straight in half. As the boomerang returned to her open hand, she sighed and shook her head, "He made his bed, now let him lie in it. We don't need him."

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Blinking sluggishly at the wall for a moment, Kagome furrowed her brow before her eyes flew open and she sat bolt upright in bed. There was no mistaking that aura and much to her dismay, the voices outside made her painfully aware that she wasn't the only one awake at this hour. Scrambling out of bed, Kagome rushed to throw on her house shoes and jacket before flying down the stairs - thanking anyone listening for having worn sweatpants and her bra to bed. The front door was still partially ajar but before she had the chance to reach it, the distinct fading of demonic aura and an earth shattering sound like a bomb exploding from the direction of the well and the building/floor vibrating under her feet had her stopping dead in her tracks.

Trembling, Kagome waited...and waited...and waited for the aura to reappear. Surely that sound meant they had become whole again, right? However, as the minutes ticked by, the aura failed to appear. Sinking to her knees, Kagome wrapped her arms tightly around herself and prayed silently that the worst had not occurred when mercifully the aura began making its presence known once more. Shakily getting to her feet, Kagome made her way to the door and out into the courtyard.

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"THERE ARE TOO MANY OF THEM!" Sango screamed as her eyes wildly darted around the village, "Use the wind tunnel or something!"

"I can't!" Miroku bellowed back as he flung sutras at anything that moved, "Its too risky! I could suck in a villager!"

"WHERE THE FUCK IS INUYASHA?!" the slayer screamed hysterically, earning a strained slightly amused glance from the monk who snorted lightly, "Language, Sango. Language. There are children present."

"LECTURE ME ON LANGUAGE WHEN THIS IS OVER!" she spat back acidly as she sent the mighty boomerang into the fray, "We need to know..."

"HE WENT THROUGH THE WELL!" Shiori screamed as she flew up at inhuman speeds to stand beside them beside letting an attack fly at the encroaching horde, "He said that lady and the bat demons would leave if he did what she asked but he said I'd see him again in a different form. I think he went to get..."

"His human form," Miroku groaned as he shook his head and deflated visibly, "Even after everything, that moron still trusted that Kikyo would keep her word."

"So he was going to sacrifice his demon half to protect us," Sango groaned miserably, suddenly distracted by this new information as she straightened up and stared down at the small girl, "Did he say anything else?"

Letting fly another attack, Shiori nodded as bitter tears slid down her face, "He said he didn't really think he'd helped me but he did. I don't understand why he'd leave!? I'm grateful for what he did! I..."

As they let the small bat girl vent her frustrations, Miroku and Sango exchanged a quick, mournful looking glance before focusing on the battle before them. So the demon had felt some remorse after all. Perhaps they were too harsh on him but still...sacrificing a child was something that was going to take a long time to forgive, although it'd be much easier to make a timetable once they determined which form he'd be returning with.

"Well let's pray that perhaps he'll come back as he once was," Miroku sighed heavily as his hand hovered over the beads, ducking as Kaede fired an arrow over his head, "A human won't help us in this fight."

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Breathing heavily, Inuyasha tried to make heads and tails of the jumbled memories soaring through his mind and felt more disgusted with himself than he'd ever felt before. It wasn't just the memories from the past months. Oh no. Every moment that his demon half had suppressed flooded his mind. The years of torture, the pain he had endured so his human half would never know and a better understanding of the beast made his stomach churn uneasily. But in a way his fear of that side was justified. Once the small bat girl had been identified as pack, he had gone into an almost blind mission to ensure that she'd be ready to do whatever it took to survive. In doing so, even now that he was whole, there was no way any of his remaining pack would ever be able to look at him the same again. He barely wanted to live with himself, why would they want to associate themselves with someone like him? Those two sides were equally terrible in their own way. Two parts of a greater shitty whole.

The worst part was the memories of happiness, true unbridled happiness, that filled his mind. Those weren't the only newfound emotions he had discovered, oh no. It had become abundantly clear just how insecure he really was. He knew that he carried around a bit of self-loathing - thus the desire to become full demon - but he never realized how deeply that went. His human half seemed to hate everything about his normal self and the demon part…he wasn't really sure how the demon part really felt about it. It's emotions were too convoluted and foreign to him to even begin to understand which only served to make him all the more miserable. In the past, he'd thought he'd known who and what he was but it made him to sick to his stomach to discover how wrong, how very wrong he had been. He barely knew himself anymore. His whole self-identity felt shattered beyond repair.

Tears welled up in his ears against his will and a choked sob escaped his lips as he withdrew into himself. Although he was…well, himself again…he had never felt more confused or devastated in his life. He knew he needed to go back and put an end to the inevitable fight before it began but…but he couldn't for the life of him find the will to move from his spot curled up against the well. It was taking every ounce of energy he had left just to keep his sobs to the level they were now without going into full blown hysterics. As he trembled and wrapped his arms around himself, Inuyasha knew he wasn't a man who cried either which only served to add to his general feeling of despair and made the sobs that much harder to control. He just couldn't snap himself out of it.

He was broken. Truly and utterly broken.