The Lucky Ones
Chapter Thirty
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The Lucky Ones
By Terri Botta
Disclaimer: I don’t own
Inuyasha. Sole copyright belongs to Viz and Rumiko Takashi. I’m poor so don’t
sue.
Rating: R for later chapters.
Pairing: Inuyasha/Kagome,
Miroku/Sango
Summary: Sometimes Fate hands
you a gift you never thought you’d ever get, and it’s up to you to accept it
for what it is.
Feedback to:
tci100@psu.edu
Website: http://www.wordsmiths.net/Botta
Japanese used in this
chapter:
“Kussee”= “It stinks!”
Onsen- hot spring.
*******
Chapter Thirty
The journey
to Kōtsuke took four days. The distance was only 56 ri
but the need for food and p grp greatly diminished the number of traveling
hours in a day. For once, however, Inuyasha wasn’t complaining about how much
the others slowed him down. In fact, Kagome secretly suspected that he was
going at a slower pace himself. He certainly wasn’t going nearly as fast as he
could, but even with the limitations of human bodies and the needs of pups, he
seemed to be in no particular hurry.
The trip
was quiet. Shippou kept the conversation light and entertained Yukio, who knew
that something was very, very wrong between his parents but didn’t understand
exactly what, and avoided all subjects involving Kikyou. Even Myouga, who
normally took every opportunity to offer his advice and insights, stayed
uncharacteristically silent. It was as if a blanket of denial had been wrapped
around them, and none of them were eager to pull it back. They all knew what
could happen, but were pretending to remain blissfully ignorant.
At night,
Shippou, Kirara and Myouga would watch Yukio while Kagome and Inuyasha went off
to be alone for a couple of hours. They would return to camp after they had
finished their private time, and all of them would take their places inside
Kagome’s sleeping bag. Shippou would settle next to Kagome on the side opposite
of Inuyasha, Yukio would be nestled between his parents, and Myouga would hop
into Kirara’s fur as she curled up at their feet. Together the six of them took
up only a minimal amount of space, but there was no lack of body warmth.
All along
their travels, though they met many traders along the road, no one had heard
even a whisper of a ‘powerful shrine maiden’ coming to kill the beast that
hunted the trade roads. Most, in fact, thought they were the hired
hunters and their little group didn’t lack for food or shelter during the trip.
It was a marked difference from other trips they had taken where doors were
shut and food was scarce.
Kagome was
hoping since no one had heard a thing about the miko from Zenko-ji, that the
messengers had yet to return from their task, and that if the miko was indeed
Kikyou, they would miss her. With not even a rumor that the messengers had even
been sent,
her hopes for a reprieve went up a little bit the further into Kōtsuke
they traveled. Even Inuyasha seemed a little more relaxed and focused on
killing the monster of the moment, and some of the clouds had gone from his
eyes.
On the
afternoon of the fifth day, they were attacked by the beast they’d been sent to
kill, thus making life a little easier since it had come to them. By this time,
Inuyasha was just itching for a fight to work off some of his nervous energy
and stress, and he went at the monster with full force. It was an ogre, very
much like the one Naraku had tried to trap them in that one time almost two
years ago, only a little smaller, and it did have shards, two in fact: one in
its forehead and the other in its club.
It put up a
good fight but it really didn’t stand a chance against Inuyasha. Her adult
hanyou prolonged the fight, however, by refusing to use Tessaiga. No, he used
the opportunity to turn the hunt into a lesson for Yukio, demonstrating the
power of hanyou claws alone. Watching him fight, she was thrilled to see him
use his power. He leaped from tree to tree, spinning and whirling as he sliced
at the ogre. His silver hair was flying, his body moving in graceful arcs that
made her heart beat faster and her breath come in short gasps of excitement.
She wondered how Kikyou could have ever seen him like that and
have been entranced by his beauty? How could she have
wanted to strip this magnificent creature of his strength and speed? He was
glorious in his full display, and she had the inkling that he was showing off
just a little for her benefit because every now and then he’d give her a look
and a cocky smirk.
Oh yes,
tonight they might take three hours and enjoy themselves just that much more.
With the pressure off and the prospect of avoiding Kikyou a real possibility,
she was certain that the joy would come back to their lovemaking, instead of
the loving sorrow that had laced through it recently.
Killing the
beast was extremely satisfying for all of them. The shards were collected, the
threat to the traders was gone, and now they could go home, slipping out of the
country before the ‘powerful shrine maiden’ ever set foot in Kōtsuke. For
the first time since they had left Musashi, Kagome was feeling light and free,
and smiles graced the faces of their traveling party. They brought the head of
the ogre to the daimyo and the ecstatic man offered to reward them handsomely for
their efforts. Without Miroku there to ‘negotiate’ for them, Inuyasha brokered
a very fair deal that earned them less in money but promised favor to traders
from Musashi.
It was the
first time Kagome had ever seen him in a diplomatic position and she was shocked
to see how good he was at it. It drove home even further her belief that
Inuyasha was not a violent simpleton, but in actuality a very intelligent,
deep-thinking individual who only
was fairly sure that he shocked Shippou as well, and she hoped that maybe the
kit would start realizing a few things about Inuyasha. The deal he brokered
would help the people of their village by ensuring them a place to trade their
goods, which would in turn increase the prosperity of everyone. The very fact
that he was even thinking about the villagers showed that he was a natural born
leader, and Kagome was immensely proud of him.
That night
they feasted at a banquet in their honor and slept in the finest room. Yukio
was put with Shippou and the others, cuddled in the laps of numerous village
women who fawned over the youngsters and Kirara in her kitten form. Myouga,
letch that he was, was in flea-demon heaven and they knew they probably
wouldn’t see him until morning.
Inuyasha
and Kagome took the opportunity to slip off together to make love in their
room. Their joining was joyful as Kagome had predicted and the only damper was
the fact that they had to be quiet as a courtesy to their hosts. Inuyasha
promised a full day of lovemaking once they got back to the den where they
could be as loud as they wanted and not have to worry about disturbing anyone.
Kagome said she looked forward to that, mostly because it would mean they had
both come home. After they were finished, they rescued Yukio, Shippou and
Kirara from their admirers and they all settled down together for the first
night of worry-free sleep in five days.
In the
morning, the happy group set out for home, laden with provisions and
well-wishes. With everything going so well and spirits so high, Kagome should
have known it was doomed from the start and was never going to last.
********
putting one foot in the onsen Kagome had immersed herself in.
“Is it?”
she asked innocently, blinking eyes at him. Yukio and Shippou blinked back as
well from their places in the hot spring.
Inuyasha
growled. “You and your hot baths! Do you want to be
boiled?”
She gave
him a sly smile. “But they’re so good for aching muscles. Why don’t you at
least try it? It’s not so bad once you adjust to it.”
He huffed
and she could see he was thinking about it. She was wet and naked, and she knew
he loved her like that because she could usually be persuaded to get dirty
enough eed eed another bath, but both young ones were there with her and that
automatically nixed any of
little swimming ring and Yukio was tucked against her chest. Unlike his father,
he loved hot baths, probably because it meant he could stay with his mother,
and often hopped in before he was even undressed.
Inuyasha
tried the water again and pulled back again, shaking his head. While he could
tolerate most onsen, this one was much hotter than usual and just too hot for
him. Not that his hanyou body couldn’t handle it, but it just wasn’t something
he enjoyed.
“No. You
stay and boil; I’ll go back to camp and get the cooking fire going.”
She smiled
sweetly. “Okay. We’ll join you in a little while and I’ll make dinner.”
“Keh,
woman, I want ramen.”
She pouted.
“But we have all that wonderful food the villagers gave us. Why do you want the
instant noodles when you can have that?”
“Coz it
tastes better. Right, pup?”
Yukio nodded enthusiastically,
splashing water. “Ramen! Ramen!”
She sighed.
“You’re corrupting him,” she complained.
Shippou
shook his head. “Like father like son…”
onsen to whack on the head.
“Oi,” Yukio
repeated, reaching over to grab the swimming ring, but popping it with his
sharp nails instead.
hot spring.
Stifling a
giggle, she fished him out of the deeper water and brought him to rest against
her like Yukio.
“You should
know better by now, Shippou-chan.”
The
drenched fox kit sputtered and glared at Yukio who did giggle.
“Shippou
wet.”
Shippou
just growled which only made Yukio giggle more and his father chuckle.
“That’s my
pup.” :Good pup.:
Yukio
beamed at the praise.
finality.
“Okay,
we’ll be there in a little while. I’m enjoying this.”
“Feh,” he
snorted and stalked off.
“I’m going
to get out too,” Shippou said, pushing away from her.
She carried
him to the edge of the spring and let him go, then moved back to rest against
one of the rocks in the center while the kitsune dressed. Yukio stayed with
her, his head resting against her shoulder as they soaked, steam rising up from
the water as it came in contact with the cooler night air.
“Mmmmm,
feels so good, doesn’t it, baby,” she sighed.
Yukio
burbled an affirmative and snuggled close.
“I’m glad
we’ll be home soon,” Shippou commented from where he was seated on the bank.
“Inuyasha’s going faster now. We should be back in Musashi by tomorrow night.”
Kagome
nodded. “Yeah. I’ll feel so much better once we cross
the border.”
Shippou
agreed. “I miss Sango and Miroku.”
They fell
quiet, enjoying the peace of the place and the warmth of the water. Kagome
closed her eyes and leaned back, leaving only the tops of her breasts and above
out of the water. Yukio was so relaxed he was almost asleep.
A tingle of
power crept up her spine and it was her only warning. Her eyes snapped open as
her senses came to full alert and she sat up straighter.
sniffed the air.
“Shippou…”
she breathed.
They both
froze as a Shinidama-chuu came gliding into the
clearing around the onsen.
She knew
the undead miko could not be more than a few moments behind her soul-gatherers,
and there was no time for her to get out of the spring and run for her clothes.
Shippou however…
“Shippou
run,” she hissed.
The kitsune
bounded off in a flurry of blue and red, and she felt some small measure of
relief. Shippou would run to Inuyasha and then Inuyasha would come running to
her.
the circumstances,’ she thought.
him gently, not with anger but with warning.
He
immediately understood that there was danger and hunkered close.
hoped, but movement from the trees stopped her as several more Shinidama-chuu
came gliding out, followed by Kikyou herself.
The two women
regarded each other silently. Kikyou’s face was as neutral as ever, and Kagome
once again found it hard to believe that this woman had ever smiled in her
lifetime. She drew her baby close, knowing there was no way she could hide him
because they were both naked and in the water. Yukio turned in her arms and
looked at the undead miko, blinking his huge golden eyes at her and sniffing.
Then he crinkled up his nose and opened his mouth to prove he was Inuyasha’s
son.
Kagome
gulped, but Kikyou’s expression didn’t change.
“Ummm…” she
tried.
“When the
daimyo said the ogre had been killed by a dog-eared hanyou and his strangely
dressed woman, I knew it could be none other than you. But it was talk of a
white-haired, dog-eared child that drew me to seek you out,” Kikyou cut her
off.
The undead
miko’s eyes settled on Yukio and Kagome found herself trying to shield him from
the uncomfortable stare.
“Now I see
for myself that this was true.”
“Don’t angrangry,” she begged.
“Angry?
Angry that you gave Inuyasha something I cannot?” came
the deadpan answer.
“It’s not
like that. I…”
tearing into the clearing.
There was a
shimmer of light and he slammed full force into an invisible wall.
“Inuyasha!”
she cried as he hit the ground with a heavy thud.
feet, brushing off tmpacmpact as if nothing had happened.
“I have put
up a barrier,” Kikyou calmly replied.
firecat form came streaking into the clearing.
“Don’t come
any closer. Kikyou’s put up a barrier!” she warned and the firecat landed with
a snarl.
She pushed
off with her feet and sliced through the water to get closer to Inuyasha. He in
turn moved to where she was as she rose from the onsen.
“Kagome,”
he said, his hands against the barrier, and his eyes
told of his fear and worry.
Kagome cringed.
maybe Yukio can get out…’
She put the
naked toddler on his feet and gave him a push.
to Leader-male!:
He looked
at her, saw her face and obeyed without a complaint. He never made it. Even in
the short distance between him and his father, the Shinidama-chuu swept down
and encircled him, lifting him up and carrying him to Kikyou.
Yukio,
realizing the potential danger he was in and knowing this person was not part
of his pack, began to squirm and kick as he loudly protested his capture. The
undead miko held him in both hands, studying him the way a scientist would
study a potentialcimecimen.
“Silence,”
Kikyou ordered, and touched a finger to his forehead. He went limp immediately
and quieted, but it was obvious that he was still awake and aware because his
eyes were wide open and terrified.
“What have
you done to my baby?” Kagome gasped.
“He is
unharmed.”
“You
acknowledge this child as yours then?” Kikyou asked coolly.
“No! Yukio
isn’t Inuyasha’s. He’s an orphan we adopted!” Kagome tried to explain.
“It is
obvious this child was not spawned by his seed. This boy is a true inu-hanyou,
not an even further diluted mixed-breed as any child fathered by Inuyasha would
be,” the miko replied calmly.
Kagome
wasn’t sure if the comment was meant as an insult or not.
“What the
fuck does it matter who sired him? He’s mine! Put him down!” Inuyasha growled.
“Please
don’t hurt my baby.”
“Hurt him?”
Kikyou replied, blinking for the first time.
Any further
statements she would have made were interrupted by Inuyasha drawing Red
Tessaiga and attempting to slice through the miko’s barrier. The blade recoiled
off the invisible wall, shocking Inuyasha back and sending him flying into a
tree trunk.
knelt beside it, attempted to put her hands through it, and was blocked.
‘
have even been hurt if he’d tried to go through...’
“Kagome!”
he replied, crouching by the shield, his hands once again resting against it.
“Inuyasha,
you’re all right?”
fucking thing!”
means...’
She turned
to Kikyou. “Kikyou, please. I don’t care what you do
to me, just please don’t hurt Inuyasha and don’t hurt my baby. Please!”
“No. I’m
the one you want,” Inuyasha argued. “Take me and leave Kagome and my pup
alone.”
“Shut up,
Kagome! You and the pup must stay safe.”
The undead
miko looked from one to the other, her face once again an unreadable mask, and
a cold realization settled into Kagome’s guts.
name and sees him siding with me. He hasn’t really looked at her even once. She
knows our relationship is different now.’
give Inuyasha to you and leave forever, but please give me back my baby,” she
pleaded softly.
She had to
turn her head so she wouldn’t see Inuyasha’s heartbroken face.
“Kagome...
a horrible father.”
Now she did
look at him, tears in her eyes. “You’re a wonderful father. I... I would have
been very happy to bear your pups.”
“But what
if she drags me to Hell? Who will raise the pup?!” he argued, his eyes
desperate.
She cast a
terrified glance at Kikyou. Could she give them both up if it meant they would
live? The answer came to her without pause. ‘Yes.
If it meant that Inuyasha and Yukio would live, I would gladly die.’
of us in this time, and I’m just in the way. Take me and let him live. You and
he can raise Yukio together and have a chance at the life the two of you lost
when Naraku betrayed you.”
Kikyou did
not react to her offer, her face remaining as impassive and unreadable as ever.
Inuyasha, however, went ballistic.
His voice
ended in a snarl and he attacked the shield with his bare hands, gritting his
teeth as the barrier reacted by shocking him with bolts of purifying energy. It
blew him back twice and twice he threw himself at it again, roaring in pure
fury.
him.
“Let Kagome
and my pup go!!!” Inuyasha howled and Kagome swore she saw his eyes flash red.
Will he transform, even with Tessaiga at his hip?’
bring him back to his senses.
He hit the
dirt in mid-leap with a growl, but when he came up his eyes were clear.
“Kikyou-u-u,”
he seethed, his claws rending the earth beneath him.
Kikyou
watched the display silently without so much as a
breath escaping her lips, and if anything her silence frightened Kagome even more.
plan to do with Yukio? She isn’t saying or doing anything...’
“Okaa...”
Yukio said plaintively.
warned, not wanting Kikyou to enchant him again and possibly do him damage.
Yukio
obeyed and his immediate acquiescence caused Kikyou to flick her eyes at him
for a second, before returning her stony gaze to Kagome and her former lover.
She stood,
still naked but not caring what Kikyou thought or saw, and reached out her
hands. “Please Kikyou. I know you’re not a bad person. You’d never hurt a
child. Yukio is an innocent in all of this and he’s already lost one set of
parents. Please don’t make him an orphan a second time. Give him back, please.”
“And each
of you begs for the other’s life and the life of your child. Neither asks for
mercy for yourselves. Is this love? To care so much
for the other that you care nothing for your own safety?” the undead miko
finally asked, her voice as emotionless as ever.
“Yes,”
Kagome confirmed. “I don’t care what you do to me, but I want Inuyasha and
Yukio to live. I would die for them. Kill me and take back your soul if that is
what it will take for you to let my baby go.”
“Kagome!”
both Inuyasha and Shippou cried in horror.
She smiled
sadly at them. “I’ll do what I have to do because I love you.”
“No!”
Inuyasha roared and renewed his attacks on the barrier, drawing Tessaiga and
slicing at it.
“Kon-gou-sou...”
he began, preparing the diamond-spear blast.
Kikyou’s Shinidama-chuu
rushed at him, wrapping around him as Kikyou herself brought Yukio to her body
with one hand in order to free the other, and hit him with a blast of her own
purifying energy from her palm.
the umpteenth time.
“He is a
berserker. He must be subdued,” Kikyou said.
For once,
she and the undead miko were in complete agreement.
Inuyasha
slammed into the ground repeatedly and finally stopped moving. When he
eventually did get up, Kagome knew he was going into shock. His eyes were
dilated and she could see the beads of perspiration clinging to his face.
have my bow and the barrier prevents me from leaving here. There is only one
thing I can do against her now, but if I do it...
could kill her, but she has our baby and you’re just hurting yourself. I don’t
have any choice.’
Inuyasha’s
eyes met hers and he seemed to understand what she was thinking. She saw him
swallow once and then nod, giving her his silent permission and his
forgiveness.
she apologized and reached into herself for the thread of power that connected
her split soul. Grasping it in her spiritual hand, she Pulled.
Kikyou
jerked and several souls escaped her fake body, but then Kagome felt what could
only be described as a mental slap and she was thrown back.
myself from your attempts to take back your soul?” the undead miko stated,
showing just a hint of annoyance.
on the ground.
“Kagome,”
Inuyasha called, his hand on the barrier, then he began hitting it with his
fist, but not in the uncontrolled way he had been punching it before. This was
more of a show of helpless frustration and anguish.
Picking
herself up from the grass, she shook off the pain but was left with the
headache.
attempt to take back the piece of me she still has. What do I do? Do I try
again, just harder??’
Gritting
her teeth, she picked up the thread again and prepared to do battle.
maybe even stronger. I’m just untrained. But I can do this. I have to do this,
even if I don’t want to...’
Kikyou gave
her a mirthless smile. “Going to try again, are you? But I sense your heart is
not in it. You still have no desire to hurt me. Even now, when I have your baby
and have cut you off from your lover, you still do not harbor any hate for me
in your heart. If you had, the jewel around your neck would reflect your taint,
yet it remains uncorrupted. What must our soul have gone through, I wonder, in
the five hundred years that separate us for it to become so pure? How many
lives did it lead and what did it suffer to have grown so large and learned so
much?”
Kikyou’s
statement stopped her in her tracks and a new inkling dawned on her, one that
gave her pause.
she not want to hurt us?’
Lowering
her hand to her side and dropping the thread, she regarded her greatest rival
with wary, but newly opened eyes.
There was a
long silence, then Kikyou lowered her gaze to look at Yukio and there was no
denying that the miko’s face softened. Yukio looked back at her and stuffed his
fist into his mouth.
“Yukio want
Okaa-san,” the child pleaded.
“Yu-ki-o,”
Kikyou said slowly. “Nourished by god.”
Well, of course she would know…’
Kikyou
moved, half-gliding over to a large boulder on the edge of the hot spring, and
sat down upon it, her eyes focused on the toddler in her embrace. One hand
lifted up to lightly brush along the silver strands of his hair and the tops of
his little ears. Kagome saw him flick them away from her touch, but that was
probably due to instinctive reflex more than anything else.
She took
the opportunity to hastily pull on her clothes.
“Kagome,
what’s going on?” Shippou asked softly.
She cast a
glance at him and gave him a reassuring smile. “I’m not sure yet, Shippou-chan,
but I think we might have been overreacting.”
“Overreacting?”
Inuyasha hissed, his hands on the shield. “She’s got
the pup and she’s put up a fucking barrier. How can we be overreacting?”
She shook
her head and turned to face Kikyou.
“Kikyou, if
you truly don’t mean any harm, please show us your intentions by lowering the
barrier.”
Kikyou’s
only reaction was a quick flick of her eyes, then there was a flash of light
and Inuyasha fell on his nose beside her.
Inuyasha
recovered quickly and was barreling towards his former lover. He stopped short
of her and held out his hands.
“Theirs was
always black,” the undead miko replied, then slowly took her eyes from Yukio
and raised them to Inuyasha.
“Eh?”
“In my
dreams, our children always had black hair. They were human children who slept in
our arms and gathered at our feet,” she clarified with a note of regret in her
Inuyasha
dropped his arms and flattened his ears. “Kikyou,” he whispered.
“It is
ironic, but more fitting, don’t you think? An orphaned,
outcast hanyou raising an orphaned, outcast hanyou child?”
“Kikyou,”
Kagome said, coming to stand beside Inuyasha.
The miko
looked at her then offered Yukio to her. She took him, wrapping him up in his
haori, which she had grabbed before she walked over to them. Yukio, traumatized
and relieved to be safe again, latched on with his claws and clung to her.
“Okaa-san.
“He is
beautiful,” Kikyou breathed.
“Yukio...” Kagome sighed as
she buried her face in his hair and hugged him tight. :Mother-female
loves pup.:
Inuyasha
practically yanked him out of her embrace as he grabbed his son and gave him a
thorough sniffing to reassure himself that the child was unharmed and
unaltered. Yukio gave a little whine of protest but then clung to his father
just as tightly as he had clung to Kagome.
now,’ she thought.
“Kikyou,
thank you,” Inuyasha said, holding his son close.
“My
reincarnation is correct. I would never harm a child. Not even a hanyou one.”
Inuyasha
flushed with shame and nodded, then handed Yukio to Kagome. He crawled up to
her shoulder, wrapped his arms around her neck and his legs around her
diaphragm, becoming a Yukio-shaped leech that had attached himself to her
chest. She patted him lovingly and held him close. He dug his little claws into
the fabric of her shirt and she knew if anyone tried to take him, he’d rend the
garment to pieces.
The three
of them stood and looked at each other, and Kagome did not know what to say.
Kikyou didn’t seem angry. She looked more sad than anything
else.
“You... you
said you followed us because the daimyo said we had a child with us,” she
finally said, breaking the uncomfortable silence.
“Yes,”
Kikyou answered simply.
Inuyasha
growled. “If that’s so, then what was the barrier for?”
Kikyou leveled
eyes at him. “Would you have let me anywhere near your mate and child if I had
not?”
Inuyasha
snorted but looked guilty.
“Yes, I
know you have taken her for your mate. It is obvious to anyone with eyes.”
Inuyasha
straightened and looked briefly at Kagome. “It is true. Kagome and I have
become closer, but... I have not built her a house.”
Kikyou
gazed at each of them individually, then turned her
eyes to Inuyasha. “You’ve been waiting for me.”
The adult
hanyou bowed his head. “My promise binds me to you first. I was not free to
move on.”
“Yet you
accepted her love and took her innocence.”
Inuyasha
swallowed hard but said nothing, and Kikyou looked to Kagome.
Kagome
glared, her fists clenching. “Hey! I’m not tainted and I’m not ashamed of what
I did. I love Inuyasha and I’m not sorry about what happened at all.”
Kikyou gave
her a small smile. “No, you wouldn’t be. You live by a set of rules that are
alien and unknown to us in this time. It is why you have not been diminished by
your relations with him.”
“I am sorry
about the way things happened,” she explained. “I know it looks like I did it
all on purpose, but I didn’t. I wasn’t intending to... mate with him, and
Yukio... well, Yukio was brought to us by his dying mother. She put him in my
arms and begged me to keep him safe.”
“Life goes
on. It does not stop for the dead,” Kikyou replied cryptically. “My time here
ended over fifty years ago. If it were not for Urasue and her black magics, I
would never have been ripped from my rest. This life, this place, does not
belong to me. I merely walk in it.”
“Kikyou...
what are you saying?” Inuyasha asked.
The undead
miko placed a hand upon her chest in exactly the spot where Naraku’s tentacle
had punctured her.
“Do you
know that the place where your hand sealed the wound in my chest is the
Kagome
swallowed and blushed. “I...”
“My sister
once said to me that you were a remarkable child who was slowly healing
Inuyasha’s heart. What I had wanted to do while I was alive, you were now doing
in my stead. But my ways were tainted by my belief that all youkai were evil and
needed to be exterminated or controlled. You were free of such beliefs and were
able to accept him as a hanyou. I have come to realize that this is why my soul
waited 500 years before returning to right the wrong it had done.”
“Wrong?”
Inuyasha gasped. “I am as guilty as you. I didn’t trust you. If I had trusted
you...”
Kikyou held
up a hand. “It was not our fate, Inuyasha. Both of us... we loved, yes. We did
love. But we hated too. What I wanted from you was not pure. I understand that
now, more than you realize. If you had made the wish upon the Shikon no Tama
back then, it would have reflected
both. Never forget that the jewel is both good and evil, and any wish is
sure to be twisted if given the chance.”
“Kikyou...
I...” Inuyasha tried.
“And in
this life, I tried to hold you to me, but Kagome had your heart and I could not
compete with it. How could I? I wanted your death. She has always wanted you to
live. I wanted your hate. She wanted your love. I wanted your suffering. She
wanted you to be happy. Her love was the pure love, and your soul knew it even
if your heart did not.”
Listening
to the undead miko’s words, and hearing the regret and sorrow in her voice
Kagome realized what Kikyou was saying and her heart beat faster in her chest.
She’s... We... We’ll be able to be together...’
“I would be
lying if I said I did not regret the lost opportunities we did not take. But
lost is what they are and we cannot bring them back, any more than we can make
my heart beat again or my body flesh instead of mud and bones.”
living and not the dead.’
She looked
and saw Inuyasha clenching his fists, his body taut and rigid.
sake... he shouldn’t have to.’
“I... I’ll
leave you two alone,” she said softly.
Inuyasha
stared wide-eyed at her, then his face softened in
gratitude.
“Kagome...”
She gave
him a tender smile and kissed his cheek gently. He nuzzled her, then petted and
nuzzled Yukio.
“I’ll be
back at camp. Take your time. I’ll hold dinner. Okay?”
He nodded.
“Thank you, Kagome.”
She nodded
back then gave a small bow to Kikyou. Kikyou dipped her head slightly in
response. Knowing that was all she would get from the undead miko, Kagome
turned away and walked toward camp. Shippou was on Kirara in her full firecat
form, the kit was holding the rest of Yukio’s clothes in his small hands, and
they watched her go then fell in beside her. Myouga hopped up on her shoulder.
“You’re
going to leave them alone, Kagome-sama?” the flea-youkai asked.
“I trust
Inuyasha. If I’m going to have a future with him, I have to show him that I’m
not going to repeat Kikyou’s mistakes,” she answered.
good-bye, they should be free to hug and I don’t want to see that.’
“Kagome is
so much more mature than Inuyasha,” Shippou commented.
the couple who stood facing each other and bit her lip.
please... don’t take too long.’
Deliberately
turning her back, she left the two former lovers alone and returned to their
camp.