A Dragon's Fang, a Human's Heart

by The Legendary Dragon Reaper

A human with the power of a demon. To many such an idea sounds ludicrous, does it not? Well he's here to prove them wrong. He will journey across time with the love of his life on his journey as he fights for friendship, for honor, for life, and above all, for love. Rewrite of the Rise of a Warrior: Inuyasha.

9. Kikyo's Wandering Soul

(Kikyo's Wandering Soul)

"When the ten Fangs of Ryuhogo reunite after thousands of years, the Dragon Guardian shall at last fulfill his destiny and rid this world of the Jewel that has caused so much suffering, and begin a new era for all."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

An hour passed, and things began to settle down.

Tatsu discussed with Arashi, Miroku and Kaede events of the meeting with Naraku "It's like I told you guys, Naraku had some kind of spider shaped birthmark on his back."

Kaede frowned in thought "The thief Onigumo suffered from terrible burns, perhaps that proves in itself that Naraku and Onigumo are one in the same."

"Which means that a spider on his back can serve as a callsign for him for the rest of us to identify him if we should run into him again, or more like when we run into him again."

"Either that or the insane amount of jewel shards." Kagome muttered "I lost count of how many he had after I hit 20."

"Either way I think it's safe to say, we're gonna have our hands full with this one." Tatsu then glanced over to see Inuyasha brooding on a nearby treebranch 'He's thinking about everything that we heard from Naraku. Kiky chose not to use the power of the jewel to save herself, she chose death because she wanted to follow Inuyasha into the afterlife. You know when you think about it, their story has sort of a Romeo and Juliet feel to it.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Another day went by, and the hunt for the jewel shards had begun anew, at least as far as most of hour heroes were concerned.

Tatsu let out a sigh at the sight of the mansion before them "Well okay then, looks like we've got another one in front of us."

"This is a really nice mansion." Kagome commented "So what do you guys think, are we going to be staying here for the night?"

"You do know that he's probably gonna give out some line to the owners about how there's an ominous cloud hanging over the place that only he can see."

"You didn't have a problem with that the other night."

"Neither did you."

"I'm afraid that all of you are mistaken." Miroku told them "While you may reach your own conclusions on the matter, the fact is that I do have a legitimate reason for coming here."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

And now for what that reason is…

"So that's it." Tatsu frowned at what he and the others were hearing "So these demons that you saw are carrying off the souls of dead girls?"

"Yes I'm afraid so." one of the vassals meeting with the group began tearing up "As if losing the life of our beloved princess wasn't enough to fill us with grief, I cannot have her soul stolen before it reaches its final resting place."

"No such thing will occur so long as we are here." Miroku told him "I can assure you good sir, my associates and I will shall protect the soul of the princess from these demons and allow her soul to pass on in peace."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

About an hour later…

"Maybe not a scam, but the results are the same." Tatsu glanced around the room they were in, lavishly furnished, and the various trays of gourmet food sitting in front of them "So tell me something Miroku, you wanna try and justify this one, the unwarranted feast and the high standards of accommodations?"

"Perhaps a but much, but keep in mind that one needs to be well rested and with a full stomach if he is to head into combat and triumph." Miroku told him calmly "As a warrior yourself who has spent years training in such arts, you should understand that better than any of us."

"Fair enough."

"But all the same, all of you make sure not to let down your guards. This place is far too quiet, I can sense myself that the air is thick with evil." he had no idea how right he was.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As it turns out, Kikyo had survived her last encounter with the group and had settled herself in a small village as their own priestess, though she quickly attracted the attention of a local monk by the name of Seikai, had originally mistaken her for a demon, but found that she was, in his view, much more powerful and much more sinister. Despite this though, Kikyo continued on with the village for a time, bonding with a little girl by the name of Sayo as she did so.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with the main group…

"Alright, everything looks clear outside so far." Tatsu made his way back into one of the rooms of the mansion "Inuyasha said something about wanting to stay out there on guard. So what about in here, you see anything unusual?"

"Not yet at least, so far so good on this end." Kagome told him "I guess we can relax for at least a minute."

"Not necessarily, no matter what the case might be we're dealing with we can't let our guard down for even a second."

"Oh… right."

"Yeah, so where did our patented lecherous monk get off to?"

"Well from what I heard it sounds like they've got one other princess living here, so he said that he wanted to go make sure that he was safe."

"...You realize what that actually means right?"

"Of course I do, but he won't try anything like that so long as Shippo is with him."

"Yeah, you'll forgive me if I'm skeptical."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with the monk in question…

"I tell you good monk, the younger princess is terrified." one of the vassals had taken it upon himself to lead Miroku and Shippo to the second princess "She is absolutely petrified with such unyielding fear."

"You need not worry good sir, just leave her- I mean things- to me." Miroku assured him with a smile that any intelligent person would find rather unsettling "If her elder sister is anything to go by then I can imagine that the younger princess. You see, it's times like these that I truly do love my job."

"So what about me then Miroku, did you bring me along so that I could protect this younger sister too?" asked Shippo.

"Well before anything else we must first do whatever we can to ensure that her fears are laid to rest, so perhaps you can transform into something cute and fuzzy."

"What for?"

"I can see it plain as day so just think about it, I can just see the princess having hearts in her eyes and saying how she always wanted to see a bunny up close. You get where I'm going with this?"

"Not really no."

"I'll be sure to explain this to you one day, when you're old enough to talk with about this sort of thing man to man."

"...I don't think I want to know."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

About 5 minutes later…

'Yeah well that could've gone better.' unsatisfied by what he was finding, Miroku pulled himself up to his feet "I'm sorry but I must take my leave, it would seem that the soul of your sister requires my attention."

"I beg of you not to abandon me master Miroku!" the princess didn't hesitate for a second in latching onto him, revealing that she didn't… meet his standards, so to speak "I fear for my safety with no end!"

"No one is going to come after you, I give you my word as a man of the cloth."

"You so me such cruelty!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with the future lovers…

"For crying out loud." Tatsu let out a sigh as he leaned back against the wall "I mean trying to convince everyone else that he's a saint is one thing, most people are idiots anyway, but at least let the kid have his innocence for awhile."

"Yeah I know what you mean, totally agree." this was when Kagome scooted closer to him until her body was pressed against his, which meant he had to force himself not to blush.

"Uh… hey not that I'm complaining, but what exactly are you doing? You know you're a little bit close right?"

"Yeah well you're gonna have to deal with it, this one is creeping me the heck out. It's almost like she could spring to life any minute now and try and suck out my soul or something!"

"...You know you've got a rich fantasy life."

"Yeah I know."

"Just checking. So that was your motivation for it?"

"Yeah of course, what did you think it was?"

"Uh… nothing, forget it. Let's just be sure to concentrate on the task at hand."

"Right. Oh you've gotta be kidding me, don't tell me he had his mind in the gutter like that! No he's not like that, I mean I'm the one who basically pounced on him and started pressing against him like that, I didn't even stop to think before I did it. This whole thing about him being in love with me really has me on edge. I've gotta talk to someone about this when we get back, or I swear I'm gonna explode.'

"I don't think we have to worry about though, I mean what are the odds that a dead body is gonna start floating around the room like something out of Poltergeist?" Tatsu was answered almost immediately by the body of the princess floating into the air before them, which also caused Kagome to latch onto him like her life depended on it 'Come on you idiot, focus on the task at hand, not the feeling of her chest against your shoulder- FUCK! It's times like this I think I'm spending too much time with Akira.'

"Wait Tatsu look!" Kagome pointed at where a white demon burst through the wall in a flash of white light and didn't hesitate in sucking the soul out of the body of the princess.

"Well in that case, I think it's time for me to make the donuts." Tatsu blitzed into the air, drew one of his swords and cut the demon right down the middle, and the second he sheathed his blade the effects became apparent, as the demon evaporated into nothing and the body of princess fell to the ground with a thud, the soul returning to where it had once resided.

"Well at least her soul is safe again."

"I wouldn't count on it being over just yet." he jerked a thumb at where Inuyasha was blitzing across the night sky, cutting down numerous soul collecting demons in the air passing by the mansion "See what I mean?"

"So then there's more than one of those demons?"

"And all of them are carrying the souls of dead people."

"But where could they be going with all of those souls?"

"That's what we're here to find out."

"How about the two of you shut the fuck up and do something!" Inuyasha barked at them from where he was in the middle of cutting down the soul collecting demons.

"You know there is such a thing as positive reinforcement."

"There's no time, we have to go after them quickly!" this was when Miroku and Shippo both burst through the area, trying to avoid the crushing grip of the second princess.

"Let me take a wild guess, Miroku's having woman troubles again? Nope, not going down that road again."

"Which road are we talking about exactly?" asked Kagome.

"The road where I ask a stupid question and it ends up blowing up in my face."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As it turns out, Kikyo was the one who was controlling the soul collectors, using the souls they gathered in order to sustain her new body. It was at this moment that Seikai, the monk that had confronted her earlier that day, and his pupil had confronted Kikyo and informed her that he knew she was really dead. Even though Kikyo assured him that she would do no harm to him, he still attacked her with a spell that was meant to put her soul to rest. Unfortunately, the spell wasn't strong enough and Kikyo ended up reflecting the spell back at him, leaving him fatally wounded and causing his pupil to flee in terror. Before he died, Seikai told Kikyo that to live the way that she was now, it would only lead to a life of misery.

Unfortunately, it was after this that Kikyo discovered that Sayo had followed her, and as a result she had witnessed everything. Realizing that her actions and true nature had left the poor girl frightened of her, Kikyo left the village and resolved never to remain in one place again. Though Sayo asked for Kikyō to wait, Kikyō left anyways, bidding farewell to Sayo and asked for the girl to forgive her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Morning came, and the sun was once again rising over the skies of Feudal Japan.

"Oh come on already!" Kagome was spending the morning the only way she could think of, which included trying to do the impossible task getting Inuyasha to do something good out of pure altruism "I'm telling you that we have to save the souls of those lost women!"

"And where exactly do you want us to go?" Inuyasha let out a snort.

"...Oh yeah that's a fair point."

"Word of advice, if you want me to do something then at least have a decent idea of what the fuck you want me to do." he was met with a rock striking him in the back of the head, which caused him to hit the ground face first.

"Thank you Tatsu."

"It's my job to make him shut up." Tatsu gave a shrug and laid down on his back, gazing up into the morning sky "Whatever kinds of demons those things were, we offed a bunch of them but most of them vanished without so much as a trace, so we don't have the slightest clue as to where to start searching, and if Miroku's input is anything to go by then there's no point in going back to the mansion from last night."

"Shippo didn't turn out to be much better off, the poor little guy wouldn't stop shaking all night so I had to try and calm him down."

"That's what I kept hearing? I thought it was Inuyasha singing again."

"At least that one didn't involve some kind of mental trauma that had to be worked through, so it's somewhat better. Kind of. Not really."

"Well a big fuck you to the both of you!" this was when Inuyasha picked himself up, flipped both of them off and then looked away towards the river.

"So what's the problem with you then, are you getting lazy in your old age or something?"

"I fucking dare you to say that again, but in any case I'm not particularly interested. What the hell is gonna be in it for us? It's not like we're gonna get a shard of the jewel out of it."

"Yeah well, I think that one's on me for not seeing that coming. Would it kill you to do one on the house for us humans?"

"That's what I'm getting so sick of, helping people all the time. Look I'm gonna be a great full blooded demon someday, so give me one good reason why I should waste my time going around helping humans."

"Oh yeah, like you're a real villain. Don't even try to fool us with that tough guy act, you're practically a saint and you know it."

"Saint, okay you wanna explain where the hell you're going with this one Kagome?"

"It's supposed to be a compliment, you know you really should learn to accept them gracefully every now and then."

"Whatever, the point is I'm not interested in helping any of those arrogant assholes. Why don't you just have your boyfriend do it if you're so eager to get it done." then he looked up from his little rant, only to realize that she wasn't even looking at him anymore "Hey what the fuck, you know I'm still talking here!"

"Yeah nevermind that, we've got something else going on." Kagome gestured to what she was seeing, which was a man floating down the river "Take a look over there you guys, there's someone in there!"

"Is he dead?"

"We're not gonna stand here waiting until bubbles come up, go get him!"

"Why the hell do I have to-" Inuyasha was promptly cut off by Kagome hurling him directly into the river.

"Just look to the saint inside of you!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

About 5 minutes later…

After having Inuyasha pull the man out of the river, Kagome didn't waste any time in looking him over while using the Healing Hands on him "Well from what I can tell he's just unconscious, he swallowed a lot of water but it could've been a lot worse too."

"What… What happened…" the man, a young monk, slowly opened his eyes as he regained consciousness, but then when he laid eyes on Kagome he let out a scream of terror and jumped back a short distance.

"And that's where the line gets drawn." Tatsu promptly stepped forward and gripped the hilt of one of his swords "I don't suppose you want to explain what that was about? That's not the reaction people normally give to someone who saved their lives."

"In case you forgot, I'm the one who pulled that guy out of the water." Inuyasha pointed out dryly.

"Yeah but only after she threw you in and let's face it, if it weren't for that then you wouldn't have lifted a finger to help the guy. So getting back to the point, you want to explain why you screamed when you saw her?"

"I… I'm sorry…" the man took a moment to recover and let out a sigh "It's just that when I saw her face, it looked so similar to a demon that I had encountered last night… one that had slain my master-"

"Yeah let me stop you right there, you're saying that Kagome looks like this demon that you saw before? Look at her, she has absolutely nothing about her that's intimidating."

"I know, but… This demon I saw, at first glance she appeared to be human, but clearly she was some sort of possessed demon… and a priestess for that matter."

'...A priestess that looked like Kagome? Oh crap, I've got a bad feeling about this.'

"She was able to so easily fend off the incredible spiritual powers of my master, and actually I believe that her name had been spoken at least once. I believe it was… Kikyo."

'Oh shit.'

"Yes I believe it was-"

"Hold on just one fucking second!" Inuyasha let out a snarl and grabbed the monk by the front of his robe "Let me warn you now you little shit, if I find out you're making this up then you're gonna wish you were still in the river."

"I swear to you I speak only the truth, the woman lured away the lonely souls of dead women."

"I don't give a shit about that, it's her name! What the hell made you so sure that her name really was Kikyo?"

"The children of the village called her so, I'm certain of it. The younger ones called her by the name of Kikyo."

'So that's it.' Tatsu shared a glance with Kagome and the others, not a single word needing to be spoken between them 'That must mean that Kikyo was the one using those soul collecting demons to lure away the souls of the dead women, but for what? But more importantly, that means that Kikyo is still in the land of the living. Last I heard, Inuyasha told me that she fell from a cliff. But if she's still alive, she's still wandering around out there somewhere…'

'If she's still alive, and she's still out there somewhere…' Inuyasha didn't utter so much as a single word to the others as he took off running at full speed, his mind racing 'Kikyo, I promise I'll save you… somehow.'

"Yeah, that doesn't surprise me in the slightest."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A little while passed, and the group took some time to regroup and think over the situation.

"Are you sure it's alright for us to let him go like that?" asked Miroku "Keep in mind that he did seem to be in a great deal of a hurry when he heard the story of the monk."

"I wouldn't want to go after him right now." Kagome told him "Keep in mind that no matter what he might say or no matter how he might try to convince us otherwise, Inuyasha is probably still in love with Kikyo, so I think that it's for the best to leave him alone for now."

"I see, I believe I understand the meaning behind what you say."

"No two ways about it, this whole situation sucks for him." Tatsu breathed a sigh "The only woman that he ever loved is almost a completely different person compared to how he once knew her, and if that is the case then either he wants to make sure others don't see her as she is right now, or maybe he wants to try and change her back to how she was, or at least see if that's even a possibility."

"But why would that be?" asked Shippo "And I mean who's to say, for all we know she might have changed for the better, so then what do you think would happen?"

"My guess is something along the lines of dragging him into hell with her as some form of payback. Keep in mind that even if you're right and she has changed, there's still a pretty fair chance that she doesn't know about the existence of Naraku, and thus she still thinks Inuyasha is the one that killed her 50 years ago. He'd have to deal with the woman he loves hating him until the end of time. How do you think you would react when you realize something like that?" he was met with silence from everyone present "Yeah, that's about what I expected. Personally if that happened to me, my heart would've been ripped apart like a piece of wet paper."

"Yeah, piece of wet paper…" Kagome cringed as she heard this and looked away 'Great, there goes any chance of being able to talk to him about this. One wrong move and I could break the guy's heart, and that's the last thing I want. The next time we head home I'll have to try and talk about it with somone, but who? God it's times like this I wish I had another girl in the group to talk to about this stuff.' but putting aside that little bit of foreshadowing, this was when the sky above the group suddenly turned dark "What the heck is this?"

"Take a look over there and see for yourself." Tatsu jerked a thumb at where a number of soul collectors passing by them through the trees "Anyone else wanna take bets that if we follow those things then we find Kikyo?"

"Sounds like a bet to me, let's roll!" so Kagome promptly leapt onto Tatsu's back as he took off running, with Miroku following not far behind and Shippo riding on his shoulder, but then the former two passed through a certain area that the others could not.

As a result of this, Miroku and Shippo ended up crashing face first into the makeshift barrier, and he was sent staggering back as a result "What the hell?"

"What the heck was that?" asked Shippo.

"It would seem that this area has been sealed off, which means that we can't pass."

"But that means- Wait what about Kagome and Tatsu, what happened to them?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with Inuyasha…

'Come on, come on!' with his instincts and one track mind driving him, Inuyasha screeched to a halt when he reached a certain area by the river 'So this is it then, this is the place that monk told us about right? Come on, let there be something- There!' he knelt down by the side of the river and picked up something that caught his eye 'What the hell is this, a hair band? Wait a second, this scent… Kikyo, are you really still alive?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with Tatsu and Kagome…

"Hold up, hold the hell up!" Tatsu screeched to a stop on a grassy slope as he felt Kagome grab onto a branch that forced them to jerk to a sudden stop "Not the most eloquent way to stop when you think about it."

"Maybe not, but it doesn't detract from the fact that we had to stop." Kagome told him "The grass is really slippery here, one bad move and we could both go flying."

"Smart move then, thanks for the save."

"No worries I guess, but- Wait a second, what happened to Miroku and Shippo?"

"Crap, we probably lost them somewhere back there."

"We've gotta go back for them!"

"We can't, if we go back now then we'll lose the Soul Collectors." Tatsu then started running forward again, gracefully skidding down the side of the slope in search of the Soul Collectors, which were nowhere in sight "And yet we already did." he skidded to a stop when they reached a a patch of landscape glowing with white light, and when they looked up at the tree at the center of it, they saw who was responsible for it "Well we found her, so… yay?"

"Nay, definitely nay. We found Kikyo! Is… Is she sleeping?"

"Probably not after you just yelled it out loud enough for them to hear it all the way in what will be Korea!"

"Yeah well she… She looks so frail and sad."

"Yeah well I doubt that's gonna be the case if she wakes up and sees me."

"Why what's the big deal, I thought it was Inuyasha she hates."

"Yeah she does, but considering the last time I saw her I threatened to blow her face off, I highly doubt I'm on her list of favorite people."

It was at this moment that Kikyo's eyes snapped opened and she locked eyes with the two of them, and then her gaze hardened "So it was the two of you then. I see that my barrier was not strong enough to prevent the two of you from finding me."

"You mean that pulsing feeling that made my stomach churn for a minute? Well whatever the case I think we need to talk, as in talk about you stealing the souls of dead women. Let me tell you now that my threat from last time still stands, so either that stops now or I go right ahead and blast your face off. Your call."

"You seem rather volatile when in my presence."

'Yeah well here's the thing, seeing the woman you love get her soul sucked out tends to do that sort of thing to you.'

"Tell me then, is he not here with you?"

"We came here on your own, your ex-hubby took off to track you down earlier." that little comment caused Kikyo to twitch.

"Then tell me, what sort of relationship do the two of you have with Inuyasha?"

"Let me handle this one Tatsu." this was when Kagome stepped forward "I already have a fair idea of what happened the last time you met Inuyasha and Tatsu, so I can't really say anything that hasn't already been said, so I'll just tell you this: Inuyasha is our friend, faults and all. We accept him for who he is, and we trust him with our lives." she slapped a hand over Tatsu's mouth to shut him up "We both accept him faults and all, and we trust him with our lives, and that's all there is to it."

"...I see. Then that's all I needed to hear from you." Kikyo promptly poked Kagome's forehead with one finger, and a white glow materialized around her body.

'What the heck did she do to me, I can't move.'

"That's one down."

"Let her go or I carry out on that." Tatsu held out a hand to fire an energy blast, only to be met with two soul collectors chomping down on his arms, allowing Kikyo to poke him as well, leaving him bound in place 'If I didn't wonder what Inuyasha saw in her before, I sure as hell do now.'

"That will end any interference from the two of you."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with Inuyasha…

'Dammit, those things again?' still running through the forest on his own, Inuyasha had come across a set of soul collectors and decided to follow them, until he came across something that definitely caught his attention 'First I find the demons that are making off with the souls of dead women, and now I find a spirit shield. Kikyo has to be on the other side, but is it really her? I have to know for sure.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, back with the lovers and the dead one…

After being caught in Kikyo's trap, Tatsu and Kagome now found themselves bound to a tree side by side by her Soul Collectors 'Okay keeping us out of the way of whatever she wants to do is one thing, but why the hell am I being held upside down?!'

"I can sense it." Kikyo held out both hands in front of her and took in another soul being brought to her by her Soul Collectors, a smile full of mirth spreading across her face "Inuyasha is coming to me, although I fear he has not come to save the two of you. The main purpose for his coming here lies with seeing me. The two of you will not interfere."

"Oh for fuck's sake, are you seriously still going on about killing Inuyasha? Believe it or not he's not your enemy, you guys got screwed over by a demon called Naraku, back then he was the one who pitted the two of you against each other."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah it is." Kagome's eyes lit up suddenly "Inuyasha would never have even dreamed of hurting you, he doesn't even now."

"Judging by your countenance I gather that the two of you to expect me to be rejoicing."

"Or at least to stop hanging me upside down." Tatsu told her dryly, only to be ignored.

"You claim that someone else was responsible for causing my premature demise, but tell me, will the death of my murderer bring me back to life?"

"That same logic could apply to you trying to kill Inuyasha, that's not gonna bring you back either so why bother with it?"

"The dead have but one wish, and that is to walk amongst the living once again, but such a wish is one that can never be realized. You said it yourself in our last encounter, my time among the living has long since come to an end. However, there is one thing that this woman is still able to wish for. What I wish for is a heart, the heart of the man whom I shall never allow to forget about me. That is what I desire."

'...Yeah it's official, Inuyasha sure as hell knows how to pick em, and yes my thoughts are pretty much oozing with sarcasm.'

"It is clear to anyone that Inuyasha wishes for my death, but that is a good thing because it means that he feels remorse for the dispute we had to suffer through. Let him feel that remorse and anguish for himself. I shall never allow for him to forget about me, time will not advance and thus allowing me to exist in a dimension in which time has long since been frozen. I will be able to live on inside his heart here in my frozen re-creation."

"But Kikyo, you're the one that's always on Inuyasha's mind." Kagome told her "Why can't you just be satisfied with that? Even after all these years he hasn't forgotten you, I can't think of a single moment where he's not thinking about you."

"Except when he's stuffing his face." was Tatsu's input, which earned put him on the receiving end of a dry look from Kagome "No?"

"No. The point is, isn't that good enough?"

"When Inuyasha and I parted so long ago, the two of us felt nothing but burning hatred for each other." Kikyo told her calmly "The love that you refer to is little more than a shallow emotion, an emotion that only served to deepen the hatred that I feel. Nothing will be able to resolve the determination one feels for exacting vengeance in the way that bitterness can. If he must feel love then let him feel love for my consuming resentment, and in return I shall love his heart while it falls into the deepest of despair."

"But there's no point to this Kikyo, there's no point in holding onto this hatred-" Kagome was cut off by the sound of footsteps approaching the scene.

"So you have come, I was expecting you… Inuyasha."

Sure enough, Inuyasha himself had finally arrived on the scene, his expression clearly stunned at the sight of Kikyo standing before him, his presence causing the Soul Collectors to scatter "So it's you… Kikyo…"

"Why are you just standing there Inuyasha, you have to talk to Kikyo and tell her how you were deceived by Naraku!" unfortunately, Kagome received no reply or even any acknowledgement of her presence "Inuyasha?"

"Well that's just perfect, he can't see or hear anything we say or do." Tatsu muttered "Kind of reminds me of something that Jaken pulled on me and Inuyasha awhile back, when he was trying to get information out of him about the Tessaiga."

"Yeah, you completely left me out of that."

"How was I supposed to know we were gonna get dragged halfway to hell?"

Fortunately, Inuyasha was able to unknowingly put that argument to rest when he started talking again "So it was you after all, you were the one gathering the souls of dead women. But why would you…?"

"You know as well as I do that the demon Urasue had created this body using the earth and bones that she collected from the sight of my grave." Kikyo told him "It has to be sustained by the souls of dead humans if I'm to remain here. Inuyasha, you have to despise me. I have drawn in the souls of the dead in order to maintain my presence, and it is my hatred for you that continues to fuel my actions."

"But that's totally ridiculous, even if you do hate me for what happened back then that doesn't mean I hate you. I never stopped thinking about you Kikyo, not even for a second."

'Inuyasha… if love is true then even the deepest of pain can never cause it to truly die out from someone's heart.' Tatsu let out a sigh as he watched Inuyasha and Kikyo's exchange, and then he spared a quick glance over at Kagome 'To be completely honest, if I was in his place then I would probably say, do and think the exact same things that he does. It's not easy being a man that's hopelessly in any day or age, whether it's my time or his or any other.'

"No matter what happened Kikyo, there was no way that I would ever be able to hate you or think any less of you. It's your spirit that I care for, it's not about your appearance or anything like that."

"Truly Inuyasha, you mean that you wouldn't?" Kikyo slowly turned to face Inuyasha and placed a hand on his cheek "You mean to tell me that you wouldn't despise me if I were to use these hands of mine to steal the life from you?" and then she reached up and gave him a gentle and loving kiss, then latched onto his chest "Inuyasha, after I had met you I had renounced my position as a shrine priestess and I became an ordinary woman. I longed to be able to embrace you like this back when I was still alive."

"Kikyo, I…" Inuyasha slowly wrapped his arms around her, his eyes closing "I meant what I said before, I never stopped loving you, not even for a second."

'Great, now he's going to take her back like a simp.' Tatsu let out a groan 'Not that I can blame him for it though, if I were in his place then I would jump at the chance to be with Kagome. Now that I think about it though, this is a lot less touching and a lot more awkward when you realize that me and Kagome are basically a captive audience and on one even knows it. I guess I was right before, their story really is more of a Romeo and Juliet sort of thing. Either that or it really is just the blood rushing to my head from being held upside down!'

'Kikyo, her scent feels so familiar, and her fragrance feels just like it used to be. The only real difference is that I don't feel any real warmth coming from her. Her body is cold from the jaws of death, and she feels so sad and lonely.'

"You know it as well as I do." Kikyo further buried her face in Inuyasha's chest "We are unable to turn back the hands of time, so please if you would just allow me to continue to embrace you for just a little while longer."

"I can't save you Kikyo, I can't do anything to help you except stay like this, and I've never felt anything so bittersweet. If only there was a way for time to stand still."

"Then tell me, would you agree to that if I were to stop time?"

"Of course I would. I don't care, it doesn't mean anything to me as long as I can hold you in my arms like this."

"Oh for crying out loud, there's simping and then there's this." Tatsu let out a groan "This would be so much more romantic and touching if she wasn't forcing a captive audience to validate all of this crap! Seriously, this is getting more painful to watch than my brother's lovelife, but why bother to open up that can of worms."

"I don't remember you being this talkative and snarky in a bad situation." Kagome noted with a raised eyebrow.

"We're being held captive and forced to watch him act like a simp that's about to get dragged into the depths of hell, all the while I'm being held upside down and feeling the blood rushing to my head. I think I'm allowed to be irritable right now."

"Well yeah but even so there's- Wait Tatsu look!" she gestured, or at least tried to gesture, to where she noticed the ground beneath Inuyasha and Kikyo began to open up and suck in all of the souls surrounding them.

Kikyo knew of this, but her hold on Inuyasha only tightened "Inuyasha, I promise you that I will never let you go, so come with me into the depths of hell."

"She's trying to drag him into hell, we can't just sit around and do nothing! Inuyasha you have to snap to it, you've gotta get out of there!" Kagome was met with no reply "It's no good, he's unconscious now and he can't hear me!"

"It won't be long now."

"Hold on a second Kags, just leave it to the pro." on that note, Tatsu summoned a series of iron chains from his hands that latched onto both, stopping their descent into the portal "Alright listen up cause I know you can damn well hear me, so listen up! Inuyasha said that the only thing he really wanted was to be with you, he never once said about wanting to die with you, so don't even try to make him or any of us think he did. Inuyasha wants to find Naraku and rip his head off for the way he tricked you both into basically killing each other, like what Romeo and Juliet would've been like if anyone knew what the hell was going on. He's still got unfinished business in the land of the living. He wants to live and fight more than anything in this entire fucking world, and there's no way he'd ever be so pathetic and weak in spirit as to allow himself to die until he kills Naraku and avenges you! I know you can hear me and understand everything I'm saying to you, so don't you fucking dare try to ignore me!"

"...Is that so?" Kikyo held out a single finger, which freed Tatsu and Kagome from their spiritual restriants, the Soul Collectors binding them loosening their grips "Then tell me this, what would it accomplish if he does exact his revenge? Would that serve to revive me?"

"No but it would save a certain monk whose bloodline was cursed by Naraku not long after your death." this was ignored.

"Now come with me Inuyasha, come rather than staying here and living with my memory. You and I share the same desires between each other."

"You know he's unconscious, and just because he can't reject you doesn't imply consent!" but putting aside the TFS references for the moment, Tatsu yanked on the iron chains he had summoned that bound Kikyo and Inuyasha to him "Hey Kagome listen, if you're gonna come up with some kind of plan then now would be the time!"

"Right!" Kagome held out one hand in front of her, energy building in her palm 'Remember what you learned from Shippo. I have to concentrate, let the energy build until it has nowhere to go but out, and… Now! I'm telling you now Kikyo, LET HIM GO!" she fired forward a pink and purple energy blast, hitting Kikyo dead on and causing her to cry out in pain as a series of white lights burst forth from within her body "Uh… okay, I wasn't expecting that. What exactly did I do just now?"

"Well if I had to guess based on what I saw from her last time, you cracked her open and let all of the souls she absorbed spill out of her. Now she's only got so long before the rest of her souls leave her body and she gives out."

'Dammit they've caught on, I have to hurry before this body is completely empty!' despite feeling the souls bursting forth from her, Kikyo once again latched onto Inuyasha's chest "Inuyasha you must come, we have little time." she started pulling him in again.

"Alright time to get your shit together, we all know you're way too strong spirited to let yourself lose to something like this! Do you hear me Inuyasha?! INUYASHA!"

"Wh… What the hell… That's his voice…" Inuasha slowly opened his eyes, and then his vision cleared to find both Tatsu and Kagome on the scene "What the fuck?!" he promptly leapt out of the portal and cut them free of the restraints by the Soul Collectors that were binding them "Okay then, you two wanna try and explain what the ever lasting fuck the two of you think you're doing here?!"

"You mean aside from feeling the blood rush to my head to the point where I can barely even see or hear anything anymore? Seriously, if it wasn't for the Fang of the Iron Heart enhancing my senses then I'd basically be Hellen Keller right now."

"Who?"

"Not important, what is important is this: What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Well that… look it's kind of hard to explain okay?" Inuyasha then glanced over to see the Soul Collectors hurtling towards Kikyo as the vortex in the ground disappeared "What the hell is happening to her?"

"Kagome cracked her open like an egg with an energy blast, and all of the souls she absorbed spilled out of her."

"Wait what?!"

"Inuyasha, tell me…" Kikyo turned to face him, the expression on her face appearing to be one of sadness "Do these two mean more to you than I do?"

"Kikyo, I… well… it's not…" Inuyasha then looked up as Kikyo's Soul Collectors began dragging her away "Wait Kikyo don't go, you have to listen to me!"

"You must never forget Inuyasha, never forget the feeling of my lips against yours, for that was very much real. Never allow yourself to forget." and with that, Kikyo and her Soul Collectors all disappeared into the night sky.

"Kikyo, I… goodbye." this was followed by a brief pause.

That is, until Tatsu broke the silence from his place sprawled out on the ground "Well that was without a doubt in my top five most uncomfortable moments in my life."

"So then… you saw that? How much of it exactly?"

"I saw a hell of a lot more than I was comfortable with, and I did all while she had me hanging upside down for some reason and I had god only knows how much blood rushing to my head all the while, hence why I can't exactly move right now. You mind?"

"You minded when I asked you to help me out when I was stuck under that boulder, and when I got blown into the side of that mountain and you just left me there, and when you guys threw out my back with that boulder and all those Sit commands."

"So… is that a no?"

"...Shut the fuck up and get up here." he grabbed Tatsu by the back of his gi and hoisted him over his shoulder, but then he saw the look of sadness that Kagome was giving him "I'm not carrying you too so don't even fucking try it, be grateful I didn't choose to leave him face down in a ditch somewhere."

"No no, it's not that…" Kagome cringed slightly and looked away, following after the two of them in silence 'He can say whatever he wants, but it's plain as day how he feels. Despite all that's happened between the two of them, he still loves her. Even when he thought she had betrayed him and tried to kill him that day, he never truly hated her. There was a part of him that still loved her. Tatsu always did say that if love is true then it never dies out, not even for a single second, and now that I think about it he's right. Great, that just makes my own problems even worse than I already thought they were. Tatsu's in love with me, god only knows how bad that's going to make things if he finds out I heard about that. You know you don't have to force yourself to stay with us."

"What?"

"You heard me, you might be happier searching for the jewel shards on your own."

"Where the fuck was that stuff coming from? Don't forget that you're the only one that can track down the shards of the jewel, and at least this jackass can put up a decent fight."

"So then… that's all I'm good for is it, finding the jewel shards and letting the two of you do all of the heavy lifting while I just stand by and do nothing?"

"Where the fuck is this coming from?"

"...No you know what, I shouldn't be rambling on about stupid stuff like that. Forget it, just forget that I said anything. I guess it's just the thought of being on my own in the world, it's kind of a lonely prospect when you think about it. Forget it, sorry to bug you with my rambling. It's just something I do ever now and then."

"And again, where the fuck was that coming from?"

"It's nothing really important, it's just sinking in that you really couldn't see me or Tatsu there at all the whole time."

"Uh… you mean-"

"We got there before you did, so we saw the whole thing." Tatsu told him dryly "And even if I was upside down with a metric fuckton of blood rushing to my head, we were still close enough to see tongue in that little exchange."

"As in…"

"Yep, basically the whole thing from start to finish." Kagome cringed at the memory "I'm gonna go home for a little while, I've got some stuff to think through. But before we do anything else we should probably go and find Miroku and Shippo and tell them what happened."

"Hey guys we're here, what happened, did you find her?" this was when Shippo and Miroku both finally showed up on the scene "Hey what's going on guys, why is Inuyasha carrying Tatsu on his back?"

"Because Inuyasha's ex hoisted me onto a tree upside down and left me there for about a half hour, and now the blood is rushing to my head." Tatsu told him dryly, which caused Inuyasha to drop him on the ground and keep walking "I overstepped my boundaries didn't I?"

"Yep." was all Inuyasha said as he kept walking.

"Just checking, just give me a few minutes and I'll be okay. I've dealt with this sort of thing a few times before."

"Not waiting for you."

"I didn't expect you to."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Unfortunately for the group, not all was as settled as many of them would've liked to believe.

After departing from Inuyasha and the others, Kikyo had gone to Kaede in order to confirm what she had heard about the existence of Naraku, and as such she learned about how he had originally been born from the bandit Onigumo. Upon hearing of the true circumstances that surrounded her death, as well as contemplating how Inuyasha had changed in her eyes, she promptly bid farewell to Kaede and took her leave, promising that they would meet again.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Morning came, and the sun was rising over the lands of Musashi.

Kagome was slowly making her way towards the well, with Tatsu by her side, and she spared a quick up at Inuyasha brooding in his place in a nearby tree "You think we should try and talk to him about it?"

"Trust me on this, when it comes to the girl you love bailing on you, bringing it up again is the last thing you want to do." Tatsu told her flatly without turning around "I understand that from personal experience."

"Uh… you do?"

"Both of us do, don't tell me you forgot about the hell hole that was my brother's dating life before he and Moya hooked up, not to mention Akira's lovelife or lack thereof. I guess that's why he's so focused on anime and swordsmanship." this caused Kagome to cringe, and him to realize his mistake "Uh… sorry. Shit, how can I be such an idiot? That's always sort of been a sore subject to her, consider the sort of history her and Akira share… thanks to her dad, the swordsman Kisuke Higurashi. He was a kendo instructor before he died, and Akira was his prized student. Everything he knows about learning a sword he learned from her dad, the same with me by extension, since he taught me how to use a sword too. Sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"No no, it's alright. It's been so many years since then, I can't just break down crying every time he gets brought up. Besides that's not what we're talking about anyway. Actually do you mind if I go on ahead for a little bit? I just want some time to think."

"Yeah, yeah go ahead."

"Thanks." she gave him a small smile, as forced as it might have seemed, and she promptly dove into the well.

'The forced smile, the pain in her eyes, it's that time of year. She only gets that pained look whenever the anniversary of his death rolls around, it's gonna be 9 years this year. I need to give her some time to work through this, leave her alone for a few days. I can't do anything for her at a time like this, as much as I hate that, but there is someone I can help.' on that note, he promptly picked up a small rock and hurled it into the nearby trees, only for it to be hurled back at him seconds later and for him to be forced to dodge it.

This was when Inuyasha jumped down from his place within the trees, another rock in hand, and he looked about as pissed as he always did "This your way of trying to piss somone off? Because it's working."

"Actually it's more of my way of asking if you wanted to spar."

"That's it?"

"The way I see it this is long overdue. You have the Tessaiga, I have two swords and two Fangs of Ryuhogo going for me, I want to see which one can come out on top. Plus I figured you would jump at the chance to try and run me through with that thing."

"Throw in all that ninja food stuff I can eat and you've got yourself a fight."

"You mean the ramen? Yeah I probably should've seen that coming. Alright you've gotta deal, but only if you win, so put your money where your mouth is."

"How about instead of that, you shut the fuck up and fight!" Inuyasha promptly drew Tessaiga from its sheath and charged at him.

'Yep, I figured that was what would get him going again.' Tatsu dropped into a stance as he drew both swords from his back, bracing himself as he clashed against Inuyasha's sword 'I can't make him forget about Kikyo altogether, in his place I know I never would, but at the very least I can help him take his mind off of that and show him that he's not alone. That's the sort of thing that friends are for right?'

A/N:

Now we see the return of Kikyo, having survived her previous encounter with the group, as a walking dead that survives on the souls of the dead, but after her second encounter with the group she learns of the existence of Naraku and his role in her death and Inuyasha being sealed to a tree. Now that she knows of the truth behind her death, what will she do? I suppose only time will tell, unless you've already watched the original series, so you guys know what she's gonna do.

I know this chapter was a little bit on the shorter side compared to the others in this story, but you don't have to worry, next chapter is going to be much longer, especially since we're finally going to see the debut of the last main member of the gang, in the form of a certain female Demon Slayer. Once that happens, we'll have wrapped up the first season of this story.