The Storm

By: AniuLonewolf

Chapter 13 - Goodbye

By the time they arrived to the silent demon slayer's village, it was well after dark. When they got back to Sango's old house, they built up a fire and made supper. With the fire quietly flickering in the middle of the room to keep everyone warm and to light the darkness, the group got to dressing each other's battle wounds.

Sango's battle with her younger brother had left her with a deep gash in her shoulder blade which forced her arm into a sling for the night to keep it immobile while it healed. Miroku had small cuts and gashes from the demon minions but was otherwise fine and while Kilala had the injury on her back from where the demon had bitten her. Inuyasha's body was covered in gashes and abrasions from the countless demons he fought during the battle. The worst was a series of slashes down the front of his chest from where one of the demons had swung its claws and caught his flesh.

Koga was in the worse shape out of everyone. His legs were torn up from when Naraku's tentacles had taken his Shikon Jewel shards and judging from the bruising on his abdomen, Kagome guessed he had several broken ribs from being hit by Sango's weapon.

After their wounds were dressed, Sango and Miroku left to pay their respects to Sango's fallen village in the cemetery at the edge of the village. Inuyasha was about to go out to get more firewood when he turned to Kagome who was placing a cool cloth on Koga's forehead. The wolf demon was in and out of consciousness and lying on Kagome's sleeping bag.

"Are you going to be ok with him for a while?" Inuyasha asked, eyeing the wolf demon.

"Don't worry. I don't think he'll be trying anything with the way he's feeling." Kagome smiled up at her dog demon and watched him leave the house through the open shoji doors.

It was quiet when Inuyasha left; Shippo and Kilala had fallen asleep from exhaustion of the battle which left Kagome to sit by Koga, waiting for him to wake up and waiting for her friends to come back.

"You love him, don't you?" A raspy voice said quietly beside her.

Kagome's eyes widened and turned to see that Koga had woken up. "Koga," She whispered as she looked down at the wolf demon. "How are you feeling?"

The wolf demon didn't try to move; his body was in too much pain to even think about moving so he stayed lying down on Kagome's sleeping bag. "You didn't answer my question." He said, his teal green eyes looking up at Kagome's eyes. "You love him, don't you." This time it wasn't a question, it was more of a realization.

Kagome looked down at her lap. She knew this was going to happen; Koga had to find out sooner or later that she and Inuyasha were mates. "Yes Koga, I love Inuyasha." She whispered, placing a hand on her neck where Inuyasha had given her the Mate's Mark. "He and I are mates now."

"So…" Koga's voice faded into silence for a moment as he tried to find the words to say. "So that mutt finally did something right for a change?"

Kagome couldn't help but let a small laugh escape her lips as she remembered what Shippo said when he found out. "Yes I guess he did."

Another silence fell over the two as Kagome continued to look down at her lap and Koga struggled with his words again.

"I hope he makes you happy Kagome." The wolf demon whispered, making the priestess turn to look at him again. "I hope he has learned that what he was doing before was making you upset." The wolf demon turned to look at the girl beside him, placing a hand on the hand that she had in her lap. "I wish you happiness, Kagome."

"Thank you Koga." Kagome whispered back, smiling warmly down at the wolf demon. "So now that Naraku is defeated and you avenged the fallen members of your fallen pack, what are you going to do?" She questioned.

"I'll go back to the mountains and join the council to become chief." Koga answered. "I have a promise to keep after all."

"Promise?"

"To Ayame." Koga said, thinking about the female wolf demon who he promised to marry when they were younger. She was the granddaughter of the chief wolf of the mountains.

"You remembered your promise?" Kagome asked, thinking back on how Ayame appeared during their travels to hold Koga true to his promise. When Ayame told them about the promise, Koga stated that he had no recollection of ever making such a promise to her.

"I didn't remember it at first but I remember it now." The wolf demon said, trying to move his body into a sitting position but his ribs screamed out in pain. "I remembered it shortly after she had left to return to the mountains but I didn't know if I was going to survive the final battle with Naraku. I didn't want her to get involved with Naraku's evil." Koga stopped for a moment to wince in pain as he had tried to move. "Now that I seem to have survived the final attack, I will go back to Ayame in the mountains."

Kagome saw that he wanted to sit up and helped him move so he was leaning against the wall. After Koga adjusted his sitting position against the wall, Kagome passed him a bowl of soup that the group had for supper. "I'm happy you remembered your promise to Ayame. I hope the two of you will be happy."

After they exchanged smiles to one another, Kagome went to bandaging Koga's legs and applied an herbal ointment on his ribs to take away as much pain as it was able. After Koga was finished his supper, Kagome helped him lay back down and soon the wolf demon was sound asleep.

Shortly after Koga had fallen asleep Sango and Miroku had come back to the house to get ready for bed. When Kagome asked if they had seen Inuyasha, both the monk and slayer shook their heads saying they hadn't seen the half demon.

o-o-o-o

He had told Kagome he was going out for firewood but he wasn't. He couldn't let the feeling go away as they had supper earlier and now he had to settle things for good. When he told Kagome he would be right back, he had stepped out onto the porch of the old house and instantly caught the sight of the white creature.

It was a soul collector. One of Kikyo's white creatures that brought her the souls of the dead so that she, one of the dead herself, could walk amongst the living.

Inuyasha walked over to where the soul collector was floating, near the back of the village were a small forest of trees were growing. The soul collector gave a soft unnatural whine as if to acknowledge the half demon and then it turned towards the forest, floating slow enough for Inuyasha to follow.

The creature led him through the forest and soon he saw the soft glow of other soul collectors floating around the trees. The creatures led him to a small clearing in the woods where there was a little pond. There, sitting by the pond was the one person Inuyasha had expected to see.

The half demon stopped a little ways away from her and watched as her soul collectors floated around their master as if telling her that she had a visitor.

"Hello Inuyasha." The raven haired woman said as she turned her brown eyes to look at the half demon.

o-o-o-o

After saying goodnight to Sango and Miroku, Kagome went out to sit on the porch to wait for Inuyasha's return. While sitting on the porch, Kagome looked up at the thin crescent that was the moon at the beginning of its new phase.

The wind picked up, blowing her long black hair into her face. Lifting her hand up to brush the stray hair away, at the corner of her eye she saw something glowing. Turning to get a better look, she let a small gasp out when she saw what it was.

Disconnected souls.

Her heart tightened in her chest as her feet suddenly started moving her towards the floating white lights. "Inuyasha." Kagome whispered to herself as she walked into the forest where some of the soul catchers met up with her to guide her to where she was sure she would find Inuyasha – and someone else.

The soul collectors led Kagome into the forest at the corner of the village. As they got closer to the pond, Kagome saw that there were more of the white creatures floating around the water with white orbs of disconnected souls. Kagome figured that this was where the collectors were taking her and she decided that she would hide behind a nearby tree.

She looked around the forest and instantly found where Inuyasha. He was facing away from her, she couldn't see the expression on his face but as soon as she saw him, she saw her – Kikyo.

Seeing the dead priestess standing in front of Inuyasha brought an ache to her heart. She was reminded of all the previous times she had spied on Inuyasha and Kikyo. She had watched several times as Kikyo tried to drag Inuyasha to Hell with her and on more than one occasion she had almost taken him.

Kagome's heart was hammering in her chest as she watched Inuyasha and Kikyo face each other from where she stood behind the tree.

o-o-o-o

Inuyasha took a moment as he took in the image of Kikyo. This was the first time that he was seeing Kikyo after his realization of how he felt for her. He realized now that the relationship he had with Kikyo wasn't love; it was a cry for help because they thought they could help each other achieve what they really wanted.

He was suddenly reminded of all those times he had ran away from Kagome to chase after Kikyo, allowing the dead priestess to pull him away from Kagome. He was so blind and thought what he had with Kikyo was real. "Kikyo." Inuyasha addressed the priestess in front of him.

"My friend here tells me that you defeated Naraku." Kikyo said, petting the soul collector on the head from where she sat by the pond. The white creature made an otherworldly purr as she ran her fingers down its forehead. She then turned back to look at the dog demon in front of her. "Is that true?" She asked in a calm voice.

"Yes." He nodded, unable to come up with anything else to say.

At his answer, the priestess stood up from her seat on the rock by the pond. Getting to her feet, she faced the dog demon and when she moved, the soul catchers made their purring noise and swirled around her a couple times before calming back down; their every move tied to Kikyo's motions.

Kikyo took a step closer to her ex-love, her hand reaching out to him. "We are finally free from Naraku's grasp. We can finally be together like we had talked about so many times before." She took another step towards Inuyasha. "This means you can come to the afterworld with me now."

"No." He answered sternly, taking a step backwards.

Kikyo stopped in her walk towards the half demon when she saw him step away from her. She was slightly taken aback by what he had just answered her. "What?" She questioned in her soft voice. "What did you say? I thought you loved me, Inuyasha. I remember clearly you promising to come to with me when Naraku was finally dead."

Inuyasha let out a sigh for a moment, not liking what the tone in her voice was telling him. He wanted to do this without an argument but of course, he was a fool for wishing something like that when it came to telling Kikyo goodbye. "I can't." He answered, placing a hand over his heart. "My heart belongs to someone else."

Kikyo was quiet for a moment as she heard his words. Inuyasha took a moment to study her face and saw a smirk appear on her lips. "It's that reincarnation of mine isn't it." She stated, gaining Inuyasha's attention again. "That wench." She whispered lowly to herself and she heard Inuyasha's growl from across the clearing; his keen ears had heard her curse. She looked up at the half demon, her expression this time showing anger and jealousy on her porcelain face. "But you promised that you would come with me." Her voice was increasing in volume, her anger clearly showing.

Inuyasha's growl grew louder as his face turned into a glare at the word Kikyo used to talk about Kagome. "I made no such promise Kikyo." The dog demon snarled, shaking his head. "I promised you that I would avenge your death and that bastard is dead now." He answered with a wave of his arm.

o-o-o-o

Kagome watched from behind the tree as Inuyasha and Kikyo's conversation escalated. Her mind continued to show her the flashbacks of when Inuyasha used to run after Kikyo the first chance he got and her mind remembered how it broke her heart in half to see him run after her.

She remembered being tied to a tree by Kikyo's soul collectors, the priestess placing a spell on her so Inuyasha couldn't see her. She watched as Inuyasha professed his love for the priestess again and again, begging her not to leave him again. She watched as Kikyo pulled Inuyasha into her arms, capturing his lips into a kiss as she tried to pull him down into Hell. Kagome knew from that day that there would be no way that she would ever be able to fill that gap in Inuyasha's heart that Kikyo held.

But now everything was different. Now she was watching Inuyasha tell the same priestess that he didn't actually love her and that he was in love with Kagome. Kagome was the one that held his heart and the girl couldn't help but place her hand over her collar bone again to feel for the Mate's Mark.

The girl from the future was both thrilled beyond belief to hear Inuyasha say that she was the one who held his heart but at the same time she was worried about what Kikyo was going to do.

o-o-o-o

"So, my reincarnation has stolen you away from me has she?" Kikyo said, almost nonchalantly. But the look in her eyes told Inuyasha that she was furious behind her calm mask.

The half demon could think of nothing else to do but look straight into Kikyo's eyes and no his head. He wasn't afraid to admit he loved Kagome. He had to tell Kikyo goodbye.

Kikyo's face didn't change, but neither did her smoldering eyes. "And there is no way to change your mind?" She asked, taking two steps closer towards the dog demon.

Inuyasha growled again, this time a louder warning. "No Kikyo."

Kikyo looked down at the ground for a moment and Inuyasha didn't know what to expect but she suddenly looked back up at him and her eyes were glowing in anger. Not like before with the hidden fire of anger behind them; this time they were actually glowing – her whole body started glowing a deep purple. "That just won't do, Inuyasha." She said in her monotone voice as she took another step towards him, her soul catchers swirling around in the air. "I guess I'll have to kill that bitch so you can finally be with me and not make this horrible mistake."

Inuyasha let out a fearful snarl at her threat. He could feel his demon blood rise up inside of him, purple streaks appearing on his cheeks. He crackled his knuckles ad he glared at Kikyo who was still advancing to him. "You will do no such thing Kikyo!" He growled.

The dead priestess smiled coldly as she stopped walking and tilted her head to one side, try to act innocent. "What's wrong Inuyasha, did I strike a nerve?" She did hesitate in one step as she looked at Inuyasha's face. She had never seen Inuyasha's demon blood take over.

"Kikyo I'm warning you, if you move to harm Kagome I will tear you apart with my own claws." He growled louder, meaning every work that left his mouth.

Kikyo suddenly shook her head violently and let out an angry shriek. Inuyasha took another step back, concerned about what Kikyo was going to do; Kikyo was one of the strongest priestesses he had ever met and now she was growing more and more out of control as her anger grew.

"NO!" She yelled, placing a hand on her chest. "I died because of you and I will not rest until you are in Hell with me!"

Inuyasha kept his ground but stopped growling for a moment to shake his head at her outrage. "You've changed Kikyo, and I've changed too. You're not the woman that was Kikyo 50 years ago and I now realized that I don't think I ever really loved you. It was a cry for help since we were both trapped for what we were – me a half demon and you a priestess. We wanted to use the jewel for our own gain and because of that, Naraku was able to use us in his plan."

Kikyo's face suddenly turned into that of pure anger. "NO! You will die with me this time Inuyasha!" She yelled and her glowing purple changed into a deep red colour.

His thoughts took him back to the day when Kikyo was revived by the witch Urasue who stole Kikyo's ashes at her grave site. Urasue kidnapped Kagome who was the reincarnation of Kikyo, housing part of the priestess' soul within her own body and used the girl from the future to revive the dead priestess.

When Inuyasha and Keade had arrived to safe Kagome, they were faced with the reborn Kikyo. That was when Inuyasha learned that someone had turned himself and Kikyo against each other. But just as Kikyo shot her sacred arrow at Inuyasha, Kagome tried to recall Kikyo's soul within her body, forcing Kikyo to leave the scene or lose her soul completely.

:.: Flashback :.:

The lights of the soul returned to Kagome, lowering her down to the ground as the light of the sacred arrow that attacked Inuyasha grew dimmer with Kikyo's weakened powers. Inuyasha regained his footing from the attack and looked around, trying to find the reborn priestess.

"Wh—Where is she?" Inuyasha asked himself as he looked around the scene and then gasped when he saw the priestess stumbling away. "Kikyo! Some part of her soul must remain inside." He stated as he watched the porcelain recreation of Kikyo walk away.

"That which keeps Kikyo moving is nothing more than her deep hatred." The witch Urasue spoke as she laid on the ground, burnt from Kikyo's attack. "It seems that most of the soul has returned to the young girl from whence it came. Kikyo's hatred for you and her need for revenge must have absorbed into the bones and grave-side soul itself." The wind picked up, beginning to take away the burnt ashes that were once the demon witch. "The once pure maiden is now a monster – a monster feeding on its hatred of you. Lovely image, is it not?" She laughed as her burnt remains blew away in the breeze.

:.: End Flashback :.:

Inuyasha bowed his head as Kikyo continued to fume. His thoughts were right and his choice was clear in his mind. He was a complete fool for thinking this would be solved without a conflict. The half demon bowed his head as Kikyo continued to fume in front of him. "I have no choice Kikyo," He said as he looked up at the priestess from behind his bangs. "You will die by my claws this time if you take a step closer."

But just as he was finishing his threat, he looked up and saw Kikyo charging at him. He didn't move his feet; just closed his eyes and raised his hand over his head. His bangs covered his eyes as he waiting for Kikyo to get closer. "I'm sorry you couldn't rest in peace, Kikyo." He said quietly as he swung his hand down.

o-o-o-o

Still in her hiding place behind the tree, Kagome saw everything that happened between the half demon and the priestess. She watched as Kikyo grew out of control with anger and how she charged at Inuyasha. Kagome knew from her own powers that just a touch from Kikyo's priestess powers would have been enough to burn his demon skin.

But she watched Inuyasha bow his head and she knew that he knew there was no other choice. But she couldn't help but gasp when he swung his arm down. Even though she had it coming, she couldn't help but feel sorry as she watched Kikyo fall.

Kagome's heart ached as she turned her eyes away, sad to see the priestess' life end this way.

o-o-o-o

The soul collector's purring had climbed in volume as each one floated down to where their master's body lay on the ground. They each swiveled around her remains for a moment and then took off into the night sky.

Inuyasha looked down at his hand which was covered in mud. It felt strange, but he had to remind himself that Kikyo's body was made out of nothing but soil from the earth and her ashes. The half demon looked down at the ground and glanced over the pile of mud and dust and the clothing that once was Kikyo.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, taking a deep breath. But as he took in the breath, he caught Kagome's scent and looked over in the direction where her hiding place was. "Kagome you can come out, I know you're there."

The girl from the future stepped out from behind her tree and walked over to Inuyasha quietly, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Why," she whispered, wiping away her tears. "Why did she have to die with such hatred towards both of us?"

Inuyasha let his breath out in a long sigh and wrapped his arms around Kagome. "I don't know." He said truthfully, looking down at Kikyo's remains over Kagome's shoulder. "Come on, we should get back." He said, letting go of Kagome and kneeled down before Kikyo's remains.

It was a quiet few minutes as Kagome watched Inuyasha collect Kikyos' remains and wrap them in her priestess clothes. She knew that the half demon would want her to have some peace in her passing and it would bring peace to Keade to have her sister's remains back in the village.

When the half demon was done, he stood back up quietly and Kagome took his hand in hers to tell him that she was there for him. Inuyasha held onto Kikyo's remains in one hand as he wrapped his arm around Kagome's waist as they quietly made their way back to the house.

"Good bye Kikyo."

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi

The Storm by AniuLonewolf