The Boyfriend

Disclaimer:
InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does
not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for
this story, you think I’d be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I
would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes…

Genre:
Angst, Romance

Rating: M

Codes: Inu/Kag

Feedback: Keeps my
muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a
flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your
clothes on fire.

The Boyfriend

Chapter 30

Kagome awoke in the soft light of a fire and
opened her eyes slowly. She turned her head and heard her name, but
for some reason, she couldn't see anything. Terrified that she'd gone
blind, her hands went to her face and she laughed with relief when
she touched a damp cloth.

Another hand closed on top of hers and she let it
remove the cloth for her. InuYasha hugged her tightly. Kagome gasped
as it caused her head to throb horribly and she tried to hold
perfectly still and breathe evenly while InuYasha let her go, wincing
and apologizing.

“Kagome, you're awake!” Shippo called and a
moment later, Kagome was surrounded by her friends. She burst into
tears when she saw Miroku, so relieved she was that he wasn't dead.
She didn't waste a moment and threw herself forward to hug him.

“Kagome-sama, I'm so glad that you're okay,”
he said softly, hugging her back. “We were worried, you took such a
horrendous blow.”

“Sango-chan!” Kagome said, reaching out and
hugging her taijiya friend next. She saw that Sango had tears in her
eyes, too and Kagome's flowed even faster in response.

“What have I told you about scaring me like
that?” InuYasha growled as he hugged her again, pushing Shippo
away, who had been eagerly clinging to Kagome's shoulder, delighted
she was awake. He protested, but Kagome clung to InuYasha and wiped
her eyes on his firerat kimono.

“Did I do it?” Kagome asked, afraid of the
answer.

“Yes,” every voice around her chimed. Clearly,
everyone wanted to be the one to give her the news.

“When your arrow pierced the jewel, it exploded
again...” InuYasha began.

“But first, it was purified by the holy arrow,”
Miroku continued.

“The jewel went everywhere—piercing Naraku a
thousand times over with purified shards.” Sango gave her part.

“Naraku lit up from the inside out!” Shippo
added.

“What were you doing there?” Kagome demanded.
Shippo blushed and smiled.

“You didn't really expect me not to come to the
last fight, did you? And not do my part?”

“I suppose not,” Kagome sighed, reaching for
her backpack and digging out some pain relievers to stop the killer
headache she had.

“The light could be seen from the village,”
Kaede said, offering her some tea. “Ye have no idea how amazing it
was to see Naraku purify as the jewel itself in your hand.”

“Huh?” Kagome said and looked down at her left
hand, realizing, for the first time, that it was clutched around an
object. She opened it and there was the shikon no tama—whole and
pink and shining from within. “But you said I broke it...”

“And all of it went into Naraku,” InuYasha
reminded her. “And tore him to pieces. Which gave Sesshomaru and I
the opportunity to destroy his heart.”

“When they did,” Miroku said, “My wind
tunnel sealed itself. I thought for sure that I was going to die
right then and...” Miroku looked down and Sango smiled.

“And then it was over. It was sudden—like he'd
willingly sealed it, only his hand was open.”

“And I knew it was over,” Miroku whispered,
looking at his open right hand.

“That's when all the youkai that made up Naraku
attacked,” InuYasha continued with the story. “And if it weren't
for Kohaku and Shippo, you wouldn't still be here.” InuYasha
grabbed Kagome's hand and squeezed it. She saw the pain in his eyes
and knew it was from the fear of losing her.

“It was nothing,” Shippo said. Kagome smiled
at him.

“Thank you, Shippo.” She turned and found
Kohaku and thanked him as well. He nodded and smiled.

“Shippo protected you with his body while Kohaku
fought and defeated the biggest of all the youkai,” Sango
explained.

“While Sango protected me,” Miroku admitted.
“I'd dropped my staff and was very grateful at that point that
she'd followed me. Though I wasn't happy at how much I put her in
danger.” Miroku looked meaningfully at Sango and she blushed and
smiled. Kagome clapped happily.

“So, does this mean you two are finally getting
married?” Kagome asked. Sango nodded as she blushed even deeper.

“You missed a great fight!” Shippo announced,
climbing into Kagome's lap. “Even that shrimp Jaken did his part!”
Shippo looked thoughtful for a moment. “Although I feel kinda bad
for him. When it was all over, Sesshomaru remembered that Jaken let
Rin get kidnapped. And he was angry.”

“I think bad tempers run in the family,”
Miroku teased.

“Feh,” InuYasha dismissed.

“Is it really over?” Kagome asked, surprised
that she had missed the end.

“Yeah,” InuYasha said. “Naraku is dead.
Really and truly dead. And you have the shikon no tama. It's yours
now.” Kagome's eyes widened and she looked down at it. She
remembered when she had needed it to travel in the well, but it had
been a long time since then.

“What do I do with it?” Kagome asked. So much
potential rested in the little jewel. So much pain. So much good and
so much evil.

“Well, you can try not to break it again,”
InuYasha suggested with a smirk. Kagome stuck her tongue out at him.

“If you want, we can protect it,” Sango
offered. Kagome shook her head.

“No. This thing has caused enough damage. It's
time to end it.” Kagome stared into it and could almost hear
Midoriko crying out for help.

“Kikyo thought that if I used it to become
human, then it would vanish,” InuYasha offered.

“No. You said that she thought it would take an
unselfish wish. Well, that would be a selfish wish. You wanted to
stay with her, so using it to become human wouldn't have been
selfless at all. And I don't care if you're human, youkai or hanyou.
I like you for you.” Kagome looked up at met his eyes. “But if
you still want to use it...” Kagome held it out and she heard
Miroku's sharp intake of breath. Everyone knew what InuYasha wanted
to use it for. “Now is the time, before I get rid of it.”

InuYasha stared at the jewel like it still had
Naraku in it and Kagome closed her hand.

“You really don't care if I stay a hanyou?” he
asked. “Because if it would be easier for me to be human...”

“I want you to be what you want to be,” Kagome
answered. “I like you as a hanyou.”

“Then I'm going to stay a hanyou,” he said.
“I'd decided already, a long time ago, that I didn't want to be a
youkai anymore. I don't want to hurt... my friends.” InuYasha
looked away from everyone and Kagome smiled.

“Do you know what to wish, Kagome?” Sango
asked. Kagome shook her head.

“Not exactly, but I have an idea. But I'm not
ready quite yet.” Kagome looked up and Sango nodded to her. She
smiled, so happy that her friend trusted her, but a sadness was
growing in her heart. She didn't know if the well would still work
once the jewel was purified. She wasn't ready to give everyone up,
not yet.

She wanted to see Miroku and Sango get married.
She wanted to see Shippo grow up, though she didn't know if that was
even possible. Who knew how fast he aged? He didn't seem any older
than he was when she met him. But she at least wanted to see what
would happen to him for a while. And she wanted to see Kohaku and
Sango happy and starting up a new village of taijiya—if that was
their wish. She wanted to know what they wished.

And most of all, she didn't want to take the
chance that InuYasha wouldn't be on her side of the well when the
wish happened. She didn't want him to fade into the past—the
thought terrified her. But she also didn't want to wait too long to
purify it. Every minute it was there was a minute longer they were
all in danger from it.

It was a hard decision and one she wished that she
didn't have to make. Then, a nagging thought from the back of her
mind clicked into place.

“Oh, no!” Kagome cried.

“What?” InuYasha asked, startled and alert.
Everyone started looking around, panicked.

“I missed school today! There was a big test
in...” Kagome looked at everyone and shrunk back. They didn't look
happy at being startled over her school crisis. But then Miroku
laughed and Sango joined him. After a minute, InuYasha chucked
lightly as well. Even Kagome had to join in—considering all that
they had been through, even she saw the humor this time.

To be continued…

A/N: OMG, they killed Naraku! Just wanted to get that out of
the way before it happens in the manga. I know they're close, but I
wanted some of that story to be mine. Yes, it's already an AU story,
but I still wanted to parallel the manga. Ja ne!