Broken

The Confession

Inuyasha barrelled through the trees, not caring if he left a path of destruction in his wake. He didn't know why Kikyo chose now to come back to the village of her birth or why she wanted to talk to Kagome alone but his demon instincts were on edge and he didn't like that feeling. It made him nervous.

He caught Kagome's scent and the scent of clay, bones and graveyard soil and sped up. He hoped to god that there was no spiritual barrier surrounding them, his patience was running out fast.

"You can't move forward and you aren't letting Inuyasha move forward either. He deserves to be happy and that won't happen if you keep coming around and reminding him how much you hate him, and for something he didn't even do!"

The half demon's eyes widened. That was Kagome's voice. What was going on? He'd never heard her speak that way to Kikyo before, she was always so…meek around her.

Was she defending him? Despite the situation, he felt a little flutter in the pit of his stomach.

He skidded to a stop at the clearing, where he knew they were, and looked up to witness Kikyo slap Kagome, hard across the face.

He froze, every muscle in his body bunching up. His vision swam in a red haze for a second before he grabbed onto the tetsusaiga at his waist.

How dare she?!

HOW DARE SHE?!

"Kikyo!" he snarled out her name, startling her into finally noticing he was there. He tried to suppress the anger boiling to the surface.

"Get away from her. Now."

No one could hurt Kagome. NO ONE.

His eyes raked over the teenager, trying to see if Kikyo had done anything else to her. She was standing still, her posture rigid. She didn't look up at him, her eyes stayed focussed on the ground and were covered by her bangs so he couldn't see her emotions and that just added to his frustration and anger.

"Kagome" he called out, his voice coming out a little harsher than he intended. She looked up at him then, her eyes meeting his briefly before she looked away. But that was enough for him to see all the pain, doubt and sadness reflected in her chocolate pools, and a little part of him broke inside.

He really was useless. He couldn't protect her from Kikyo, he couldn't protect her from her own damn feelings, he couldn't even protect her from a stupid spider. He knew she was better off without him, but he was just too selfish to let her go. He couldn't survive without her. It would be impossible.

"Inuyasha…"

His gaze snapped to the undead miko that uttered his name, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Where have you been? I've been trying to find you for weeks now"

He stayed silent, looking away into the trees.

"This girl is distracting you from our mission. Each day that passes, Naraku just keeps getting stronger. We need to defeat him…or doesn't that matter to you anymore?"

She added that last part in a soft voice but he heard her just the same. He took a few steps toward her, "Of course I still want to kill Naraku! How could you think otherwise?"

His eyes hardened as he continued, "But Kagome isn't distracting me. She wants to see Naraku dead just as much as us, so you leave her out of this Kikyo. Its not her you're angry with, its me. You had no right to touch her!"

Kikyo stared at him in shock. He had never raised his voice against her in all the time she had known him. And now he stands against her to defend this pathetic human girl. What had she done to him to make him change so drastically?

"I was trying to convince her to go back where she belongs. We both know that that's not here. This place is too dangerous for her. Surely you agree with me"

Inuyasha's eyes flickered to Kagome before landing on her injured arm. He hated to admit it but she was right. This place was too dangerous for her. But he couldn't bear the thought of her leaving him.

"I protect her" But it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself.

"You can't protect her all the time" Kikyo countered. She saw his uncertainty and it gave her confidence.

Kagome gritted her teeth. They were talking like she wasn't even there! What was she? Chopped liver? She wasn't a child. She knew about the horrors of war and the dangers of this era. She had seen more gore and suffering than all the people in her school put together saw in movies. And to have them talk about her future like she couldn't make any decisions for herself was degrading.

"I'm staying" the miko said, a tone of finality in her voice.

"This isn't just your battle, or Inuyasha's battle. I agree that Naraku never did anything personally to target me but he's hurt everyone I care about! He cursed Miroku's entire family and he had to watch his father get sucked into the black hole in his own hand and now he might be facing the same fate. Sango, who's family was slaughtered by her own brother who is still under Naraku's control. Kouga's entire clan was murdered by Naraku. I want to see him dead just as much, if not more that you because I can't stand to see my friends get hurt and I will destroy anyone who tries to hurt them"

The teenager ended in a quiet, menacing tone. She met two pairs of shocked eyes with a firm glare of her own.

"I can't control Inuyasha's decisions any more than he can control mine" she started walking toward the dog demon but her expression was unreadable, "So stop trying". She continued walking right past him, not even sparing him a glance.

"Kagome.." he reached out to grab her wrist but she wrenched it out of his hold.

"I'm going back to the village" and with that, she disappeared into the trees.

All was silent in the clearing after the miko's sudden departure, except the rustling of leaves that faded as she moved farther away from them. A part of him wanted to follow her, his youkai was screaming at him to go after her, to make sure nothing could hurt her again. But a bigger part of him wanted to finish this conversation. Permanently.

He knew the longer he skirted around it, the more hurt she would get and he couldn't see her eyes look at him that way again. And even Kikyo didn't deserve this, he couldn't lead her on forever.

"Inuyasha…"

His eyes snapped up to meet hers, a determined gleam shining in them that made the dead miko nervous.

"I can't go to hell with you"

If she had a heart, she knew it would have skipped a beat at his words. But her clay body was unable to feel the emotions that were a turbulent mess in her soul. She could hardly speak, the words like sand paper in her throat, "Why not?"

It took a while for him to answer, almost as if he was having an argument with himself. A myriad of emotions flashed across his face and then, one final emotion took their place. Contentment.

"I love her"

And those three words felt like sharp arrows, that pierced her chest where her heart would have been. She had shot a real arrow through his chest and pinned him to the sacred tree all those years ago and this felt like some cruel form of revenge. She had aimed that arrow for his heart because she wanted it. She couldn't let anyone else have it and so she sealed it away. If she couldn't have his heart, then no one could.

Even though their trust was so easily broken, even though she could never have accepted him completely as a half demon, even though it was impossible to believe, she had fallen in love with him and the piece of soul she possessed still loved him. They could have been happy together, if he had used the jewel to become human.

They could have led long, content, human lives together, grown old together and died together in complete peace. That was what was supposed to happen. Not this.

.

.

.

It wasn't supposed to be like this..

.

.

.

It wasn't supposed to be like this!

Her soul screamed but she schooled her features to remain stoic. She would not show weakness. She couldn't.

"When did your feelings change so drastically?" she asked, as if enquiring about the weather, "I didn't take you for such a fickle creature" she couldn't help adding the little jab at the end.

"I-I um…" he stuttered for a few seconds, but then clenched his clawed fists at his side, "I guess I've felt like this for a long time. I just never realised it. It took her breaking her arm for my stupid brain to catch up with my heart…" he trailed off, a slight snarl in his tone.

Kikyo remained silent. And that was all the urging he needed to continue.

"She was different. I knew that from the moment I met her. She accepted who I was, what I was, no questions asked. Sometimes I think she even forgets that I'm a half demon and I forget too, when I'm with her. For once in my life, I felt normal. It was a nice feeling."

Kikyo winced slightly, but other than that, her face remained expressionless.

"Then, I started noticing other things about her, how strong she was, how determined, how she never backed down from a fight. Her compassion and generosity seemed endless and I was awestruck. How could someone like her even exist? Was she even human or an angel in disguise?"

The undead priestess observed him as he spoke. It was like he was on the other side of the world and not right in front of her. His eyes looked glazed and his tone was reverent. As if sensing her thoughts, the half demon seemed to snap out of it and started blushing intensely.

Kikyo raised her eyebrow at this, she had never seen that shade of dark red dust the hanyou's cheeks before. It made him look innocent, vulnerable.

It didn't look like Inuyasha was going to say anything else and Kikyo decided it was best she leave. There was no point in her staying any longer. She was about to turn when his gruff voice stopped her.

"I don't deserve her"

His eyes turned pleading, as if begging her to understand, asking her for forgiveness and saying goodbye all at once.

"But I love her"

Kikyo sighed, it was a resigned sigh. As if she had been fighting for a long time and she just wanted to give up, because there was no way she could win.

"Then you should tell her"

At her words, the hanyou started blushing madly again and she couldn't help the fond smile that made its way onto her lips.

"Keh"

She turned then and started to leave the clearing, her soul stealers following her.

"Where will you go?" He asked but she knew the hidden question behind it, 'How long will you stay in this world?'

"I want to see Naraku dead. Then I shall be at peace" and with that, she was gone, her soul snatching demons engulfed her and she disappeared in a burst of light.

Inuyasha stared at the spot she was standing in and then started sprinting through the forest in the opposite direction.

Time to find Kagome. He hoped she made it back to the village safely.

Kagome started throwing random stuff into her backpack. She had reached Kaede's hut a few moments ago and was bombarded by questions from her friend. When Shippou innocently asked her where Inuyasha was and why wasn't he with her, her heart clenched painfully and she couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't stay here, she couldn't face him when he came back after being with her.

So she told her friends that her arm was starting to hurt and she was going back home. They didn't try to stop her and for that she was grateful. She slung her bag over her shoulder and left the hut, the straw mat snapping back into place after her hasty departure.

She walked at a fast pace back to the well, a small part of her hoping that Inuyasha would jump out of nowhere like he usually does and stop her before she reached the well but all such hopes disintegrated at the sight of the wooden construction a few feet in front of her.

She reached the well and threw her backpack into it before climbing over the lip herself. She stared at the darkness at the bottom and looked back at Inuyasha's forest. Everything was peaceful in the little clearing, only the occasional sound of birds twittering broke the silence.

She slipped into the darkness, the familiar blue light engulfed her as a single tear slid down her cheek.

Would he even come to get her this time?

AN: - Wow! I don't know if this chapter is any good but I was so inspired to write this. That's the reason I could get it out so soon. I'm watching the whole Inuyasha series again, from the very first episode because I was in a nostalgic mood last weekend and I saw the episode where Kikyo gets brought back to life and at the end where Inuyasha has a flashback of how he met Kikyo and him saying that 'it wasn't supposed to be like this' totally got me in the mood to write this chapter! I hope Kikyo was in character. I don't particularly like her but this isn't an AU fic so I couldn't really do any unfair bashing.

And I tried not to make Inuyasha's dialogues too mushy but if you found them OOC then I apologise. I just felt that at some point he had to show his true feelings and him telling all this to Kikyo also kind of makes sense because she was the first friend he had, even though it was a long time ago.

But I think I got him back in character at the end.

Anyway, I love all the reviews I got for the previous chapter! I told you I would update fast if I got a lot :-D

Next chapter will be up sooner than this if you guys just keep those reviews coming! They're like chocolate chip cookies to an inspiration starved mind!

And to the guest who reviewed under the name 'Your biggest fan', Wow! You have no idea how flattered I felt reading your review! I really hope you like this chapter and it brings a smile to your face just like your review brought a smile to mine :-)

Please Read and Review!

Till Next Time...