The next chapter... I've recently had alot of new ideas flooding into my head about this story could end...this might be the last chapter, but I don't think so, I'll probably write a bit more still.
Anyway please keep letting me know what you think!
On with the story...
InuYasha and Kagome: My last breath?
It took about three seconds, but it seemed like forever to InuYasha. However, it did finally register in his brain that he needed to get to Kagome. Now.
He willed his legs to move, and in no time at all found himself finally at Kagome's side, where he needed to be.
InuYasha scanned her body and nearly broke down. Her wet hair stuck to her forehead. Blood was literally cascading out of the wound in her chest, staining her white school blouse completely red. Her face was covered in cuts and half of her shirt had been completely torn away, revealing yellow and purple bruises on her stomach. InuYasha felt his heart stop.
He gently cradeled her head. Her eyes remained shut. He broke back a sob.
" No. Please no. Not now Kagome! Don't do this now! "
A memory flashed in his head.
Flashback
InuYasha glared at the woman infront of him as she spoke.
" Kikyou, Kikyou, Kikyou! Whoever she is, shes NOT me! "
" Well I say you gotta be her! How else could you smell so..." InuYasha stopped in mid sentence, taking in a good long whiff of her.
" You're not her..." He eventually said.
" Thats what I've been trying to tell you! My name is KAGOME! Ka-go-me! " The woman called Kagome said.
End flashback
InuYasha shook his head violently, bringing Kagome to rest in his lap. He was really struggling not to cry now.
" Kagome! Kagome! You've gotta wake up Kagome! Wake up damnit! " InuYasha shouted in vain, shaking Kagome slightly.
For a moment nothing happened, and InuYasha brought his forehead down to rest on hers, preying with the Gods that she would open her eyes. Then, after what seemed like a lifetime, she stirred.
InuYasha sat up instantly and looked at her face. She was moving slightly, and her eyes were slowly opening...
-With Sango, Miroku and Kirara-
" We're catching up Sango! " Miroku yelled behind him.
" Yes, I know! Lets just hope InuYasha's found her! " Kirara mewed in agreement at Sango's side.
" I just hope he found her in time..." Sango thought, dreading the consequences on Kagome's part that they might face if he had not been able to.
-With InuYasha and Kagome-
" ...err...Inu..InuYasha?..." Kagome asked weakly, as she stared into his face, " You...you're alright...I'm so glad..."
InuYasha felt that he could jump for joy when he saw her move, even more so when she began to speak, but then realisation of how seriously hurt Kagome was came flooding back like a pile of rocks.
" Shhhh...D-Don't speak Kagome...please..just...just save you're energy...I'm gonna get you back to the village in no time..." InuYasha tried to reassure her aswell as himself.
" No...InuYasha, look at me, theres no hope..." Kagome began, but was cut off from InuYasha's yell.
" DON'T SAY THINGS LIKE THAT KAGOME!!! JUST DON'T!!! "
" Inu..Yasha?..."
" You're gonna be fine! Okay Kagome! Fine! You'll see! So don't even talk that way! " InuYasha hissed at her, tears now forming in his eyes.
" InuYasha...don't make this harder than it needs to be..."
" Shut up damnit! I told you not to talk! Kaede will help you! She can wrap up your wounds! You'll be okay! "
" Oh InuYasha..." Kagome momentarily closed her eyes, then opened them again. She knew there was no hope for her, she'd lost to much blood already, and it hurt so much...
" InuYasha, please...I beg of you...just stay here and hold me for a little while...just a little while..."
InuYasha looked deep into her eyes. Her pain-filled orbs were pleading with him, begging him to do this for her. He found he just couldn't say no.
InuYasha removed his haori, and wrapped it around Kagome, hoping it would keep her warm enough. He then brought her to his chest and held her as close as he could, burying his face in her matted hair.
" Thankyou InuYasha..." Kagome said, content knowing that she'd die in his arms...
Behind them, Miroku Sango and Kirara came up to them. Miroku froze, and Sango nearly choked on her tears.
" No...Kagome..." She nearly ran forward to Kagome and InuYasha, but Miroku grabbed her waist and pulled her to him, allowing her to sob her heart out on his chest. Kirara cried out in despair.
" Kagome..please...please don't leave...don't leave me..." InuYasha choked out, his heart was breaking. He failed to save another woman that was important to him. It was Kikyou all over again.
" InuYasha...are- are you crying?..." Kagome asked.
InuYasha lifted his head from her hair, and felt fresh tear drops fall down his cheeks. He couldn't speak. He'd lost all his will to do so...
" InuYasha...please don't cry...Its horrible seeing you cry..." Kagome said.
InuYasha was silent for a few seconds.
" Kagome...I'm begging you, " InuYasha finally spoke, "...don't leave me...I can't bear to loose another woman I lo-..."
" Another you what, InuYasha?..."
" I-...I-...I just can't..." InuYasha fumbled with the right words to say. It felt like his head was spinning in a never ending black hole. His emotions were just becomming to much for him, he never thought he could feel so much pain, agony, sadness and heartbreak all at once...
"I CAN'T LOOSE YOU TOO, KAGOME!!! YOU PROMISED YOU'D NEVER LEAVE ME!!! " InuYasha yelled in complete breakdown.
...I'll always be by your side...
Kagome looked at him sadly, her own heart breaking at his expression. She'd never thought she'd live to see him like this, never. She wanted to reach up and hold him, to never let him go, but she couldn't. She was loosing her strength so fast. She knew she didn't want to leave him. Him, or everyone else she cared for, but she knew fate was against her now. She could hear Sango shaking with sobs against Miroku through the rain. Miroku himself was crying, and Kirara was sending out desperate mews of utter despair. Finally, Kagome spoke.
" InuYasha..." She began.
" InuYasha, I love you. I love you with all my heart. I never wanted to leave you, never. I know I can't expect you to return my feelings, but at least I can leave this world knowing you know the truth..."
Flashback
Kagura, Kanna and Naraku's incarnation listened as Kagome spoke her hear out to them.
" I know that...all these feelings...they mean that I...that I..." Kagome paused.
" THEY MEAN I'M IN LOVE WITH INUYASHA!!! "
End flashback
" I'll always love you InuYasha, nothing, not even death will change that. Just know that I'll never truly leave you, any of you, even in death..."
Miroku, Sango and Kirara watched and listened in awe. InuYasha couldn't believe what he'd just heard. Kagome had changed everything at that moment, with just three simple words. I love you. I love you. I love you...
He couldn't stand it anymore. He knew he'd cared for her like this for a long time. But with his feelings still strong for Kikyou, it had been difficult. He new now though, if he didn't let her know that very instant, he might never be able to tell her.
" Kagome, I...I..." Why was this so hard?
" Kagome...I...I love you..."
Kagome looked up at him, eyes slightly widened in surprise for a few moments. Then Kagome's face broke out into a beautiful, genuine smile. She truly beamed at him, even though it hurt. He'd said what she never believed she'd hear, not from him. Ever. Even on the verge of death, those three words were like music to her ears. A tear came running down her face.
" Thankyou InuYasha. Thankyou so much..." With those last words, Kagome closed her eyes, and did not open them again.
-with Kaede, Shippo and Kohaku-
" Lady Kaede, look! Look at the sky! " Kohaku said, standing outside the old priestess's hut.
Kaede came outside and looked up. The rain had finally subsided, but the night sky was a deep blood red, and the shadow of complete sorrow and sadness filled the night air.
" I smell blood! Lots of it! " Shippo said, his face contorting with dread and worry as he sniffed the air. " Kagome's blood...no! KAGOME! " Kaede and Kohaku turned to the wailing kitsune, but not before a horrid sound full of pain and anguish sounded across them.
Everyone in the village froze, as a heart wrenching howl filled the sky around them.
It came from up near the mountains. Where not so long ago, InuYasha, Kagome, Sango, Miroku and Kirara had gone for the final battle with Naraku.
-with InuYasha, Sango, Miroku and Kirara-
InuYasha's heatbeat stopped, his eyes widened and a single tear fell down.
" K...Kagome...Kagome...KAGOME!! NO!! DON'T DO THIS TO ME!! "
InuYasha shook Kagome's body, still wrapped tightly in his haori and pleaded with her to open her eyes.
" KAGOME! KAGOME! WAKE UP DAMNIT! YOU STUPID GIRL! OPEN YOU'RE EYES! DON'T DO THIS AFTER YOU TOLD ME THAT! DON'T DIE NOW! NOT NOW!! "
InuYasha's attempts proved futile, and his friends felt complete anguish and sorrow overthrow them as they watched InuYasha try to reach Kagome. Kirara roared into the air, Sango collapsed in a heap, her body completely wracking with sobs. Miroku knelt down and wrapped his arms around her, his own tears spilling out like a waterfall. They'd been to late...
Miroku suddenly recalled something from a long time ago...
Flashback
" Kagome are you crazy?!? You could have gotten yourself killed! " InuYasha scolded her.
Kagome sat herself up from beside Miroku and looked at InuYasha.
" I wouldn't have done it if I'd had any doubts! He can't be all bad if he tried to save the villagers! Lets at least give him a chance! "
End Flashback
" Kagome was the first to see good in me..." recalled Miroku.
Sango felt immobile...
Flashback
" InuYasha! We really got to work on your people skills! No wonder everybody thinks you're rude! " Kagome said, as she turned away from the half demon and to the troubled demon slayer Sango.
" He puts on a big tough guy act just to hide that hes actually a big softie underneath. "
" Hmmph! You wish! " InuYasha snorted.
End flashback
" She'd always do her best to be there for me...like the sister I never had..." Sango thought through her tears.
InuYasha had blocked out all noise from around him. He didn't want to listen to the pained sounds of sadness erupting from his companions. Loosing Kikyou had been one thing. It had nearly killed him inside, and the only real thing that kept him going was Kagome. Now that she had left him, like Kikyou had, he didn't know how he'd cope. His emotions continued to stack up inside him, finally boiling over the top in a long, mournful scream of pain, anguish, loss...heartbreak... He would never see Kagome again. Never see her smile at him, never be sat by her again, never be touched by her again...never comforted...or loved... It all came out in one...
" KKKAAAGGGOOOMMMEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "
InuYasha howled into the night air, a sound that could be heard for miles around. The rain, which had previously stopped, came crashing down again, soaking them all. InuYasha sobbed and sobbed. He couldn't remember crying like this in so long...not even when Kikyou had died, only when he'd lost his mother. He had held emotions in like this for so long, too proud and stubborn, but now he didn't see even half the point. He had lost the most important thing in his life at that point, and felt he had no one now. He felt completely alone...a feeling he never wanted to have again...a feeling he thought was dead and buried after he met Kikyou...and then again after Kagome...
InuYasha looked once more at Kagome's lifeless body, right up to her face. He remembered so much. How she had been there for him when he'd turned full demon, risking her own life to save him and then to comfort him afterwards. How he had left her for Kikyou so many times but still she had stayed with him, though it must have been hurting her inside. How she cared and looked after Shippo, took him in as if one of her own...how she'd always been there for all of them. Not skilled in attacks and knowing very little of the feudal time she had found herself in, she had still tried so hard in battles they fought...so hard to help in whatever ways she could...so hard to live up to expectations for them, so they would be happy...
InuYasha knew Kagome had a big heart, and though with a firey temper to match, he had never quite known how big her heart really was until now.
Flashbacks
" You really hate me, don't you? "
" Oh InuYasha, it must be so hard for you..."
" InuYasha, sit boy! "
" Is that all I am to you? Oh, how could I forget? You've got a thing for dead girls! "
" I'm sorry I made you worry InuYasha..."
" Your mother used to make this? And she taught you how to make it too? "
" I was worried...Are you really okay?..."
" I was afraid you might forget about me..."
" I saw everything that happened between you anf Kikyou! I had a front row seat! "
" Kikyou and I are completely different...but theres one thing we have in common...our desire to be with you..."
" InuYasha, will you let me stay? "
" I like you just the way you are..."
" I love you...I love you as a half demon..."
End flashbacks
InuYasha wasn't sure what was happening anymore. He was looking down at Kagome's face, He tightened his arms around her body, lifting it back onto his lap. He could feel and smell her blood all over his hands, arms and white under shirt, and knew he must really look something horrid. His hair stuck to his face through the rain, as it mingled with his fallen tear trails. He didn't care how he looked, or what he felt around him, there was only one thing that mattered to him now.
He rested his forehead just above Kagome's, and ever so slowly began to bend to rest his head further down. His next action cause everyone to hault their mourning and look up. Look up and see something futile but full of warmth and meaning, something they didn't think they'd see InuYasha of all people do.
They watched in awe and sorrow at the same time, as InuYasha bent his head down to Kagome slowly, and then kissed her.
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Well, there you go, keep telling me what you think!
Phew! that took me a little while, and personally I'm pleased with it, but you may see otherwise.
I may write 1 or 2 more chapters before I put this story to an end, I have more ideas developing.
What do you think? Is Kagome really dead? Should I keep it this way and leave it? Or could Kagome possibly come back to life in some way unknown to me yet??