Tale of the End

I don’t own Inuyasha, never will, wish I did, would love to be the rich girl behind the manga, but I’m not, it will never happen, so enjoy the story.

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~~~ Chapter 4~~~



No sooner than she was dropped to the ground Kagome ran to Inuyasha’s side crying. “Are you alright Inuyasha?”



Inuyasha’s body was covered in his own blood and he had collapsed when Naraku had turned to stone, the only thing holding him up was the tetsaiga. “Feh, I’m fine! You shouldn’t have gotten involved. You could have been killed!” Inuyasha meekly said as he coughed up some blood. “Go take care of the others!” He demanded.



Kagome’s blood boiled as he tried to shoo her away when he was obviously in pain. “No! You’re not okay! I don’t think there is one square inch of your body that isn’t hurt! You are the one who could have been killed! Have you forgotten who saved who already?”



She was about to continue when she noticed his eyes glaze over. She had seen that look before. He was seriously hurt. He needed help. She instantly calmed and reached out to him, lightly touching his cheek for comfort. “The others are being taken care of by Shippou. They couldn’t be in better hands. Come on, I’ll help you get back to the village to heal up.”



Inuyasha used some of his leftover strength and grabbed her hand and threw it from him. “Feh! I told you I’m fine!” Inuyasha abruptly stood up, trying not to let it show how much pain it caused him to defy his body. He immediately felt guilty for snapping at her when he saw the hurt flash across his face. But he was relieved to see it quickly dissipate.



His face was fixed on hers. No matter how hard he tried he could not look away. He didn’t understand how someone so frail could contain so much power and not even show it. “Tell me, how did you do that?” he asked curiously pointing at Naraku.



“I… I… I don’t know,” stammered Kagome.



She truly had no clue, it had just… happened. She really hadn’t expected him to turn to stone, maybe burn a little flesh, but definitely not stone. Her only goal had been to save Inuyasha. She really hadn’t cared about herself.



She decided to tell him what she knew, which really wasn’t much. “I blacked out when he grabbed a hold of my neck.” She lightly touched her neck, wincing as she remembered the shear pain of it all.



“I thought he had managed to quickly squeeze the life out of my body. That was until I heard a voice from somewhere in the darkness.” She broke his gaze quickly looking to the ground. “It was Kikyo. She woke me up, told me that I was not to die yet. When the darkness faded she was in my sight, spoke, and then disappeared. I just couldn’t bear… bear the thought of your death. I couldn’t take the pain that settled that I was going to witness just that. I couldn’t let it happen, I kinda… snapped.”



Kagome stared off in the distance trying to figure out how to put into words what she felt. “All I wanted was for him to stop… for his time to end… for… for you to come out alive. It just happened.”



“Ki… Kikyo?” Inuyasha stammered.



Kagome’s solemn face turned three shades of red. She said all that and all he had to talk about was Kikyo? All of this and his first concern was her? She was infuriated. “Yes Inuyasha. Apparently her hatred for Naraku is even, or was even, stronger than her hatred for you!”



She glared at him. “Is that all you care about?! Your precious Kikyo!! Is that all you heard in what I just told you? Do you not even care that I was the one that risked my life for you! She was the one that set you up! This is her fault! I risked my life for you, because unlike you, I can’t live without you! It figures that you wouldn’t be able to live without her! I guess I’ll have to learn to live without you then! After I make sure the others are okay I’m going home for good, like I had planned before he attacked.” With that she spun around and headed over to tend to the others.



“Kagome wait!” hollered Inuyasha as he reached out and grabbed her hand. ‘Did she really just say that she can’t live without me!’ He was almost positive that he didn’t hear her right. That it was just his wishful thinking. ‘If she were mine I would never let her go. There is no way I can lose her now.’ His thoughts drifted back to Kikyo, as they always did. ‘Even though she’s dead, I still can’t help my feelings for her.’



Inuyasha paused while the thoughts raced through his mind, holding Kagome rather harshly to keep her from running. He could see the tears welling up in those warm, dark brown eyes. It was tearing him apart. “Kagome… please… I’m… I’m sorry.” Inuyasha managed to stammer out. She was still struggling to get away. “Don’t leave me!” he pleaded as he released his grasp.



Kagome spun around to face him again. Tears may have been welling up in her eyes, but there was a fire blazing in them as well. “What! What do you want now! How else would you like to hurt me today?! Would you personally like to rip my heart out and serve it to me on a silver platter?”



Inuyasha paused for a moment. He still couldn’t shake the feeling she would one day reject him. ‘I am nothing, a hanyou, neither human nor demon with nothing to offer, useless. Even Kikyo wanted me to change, to become human.’ He almost shook his head to disagree with himself. Kagome was different from her, different from everyone. She was sweet, kind, and so very forgiving. She had saved him before, beyond the looking glass, risked her life to save him from his youki in that oni’s stomach. She couldn’t walk for weeks from the acid burns on her legs. She was the only one that ever liked him as he was, a hanyou. ‘Yes I remember her saying that.’



He had to keep her here. He wasn’t letting her go now that he knew what he wanted. “I have something I need to tell you.” He said as he nervously shifted his body weight from foot to foot, looking down. Suddenly the ground looked much more interesting.



“What could you possibly have to tell me that is so important? That you are going to leave me for that clay bitch!” she snapped at him still trying to fight the tears that were pushing to come.



“No! Never!” he quickly replied. “It is not like that Kagome. I swear.” He put his hand behind his head and scratched as he tried to think of a good way to put it. “You’re really going to make me tell you?”



He gently clasped both of her hands in his and looked into her eyes and smiled. ‘She is so beautiful, her hands so soft and her scent so pleasant. What would I do without her?’ “Kagome… it was you… you were the one… the one I couldn’t bear to lose today. The vision of you dying in the grasp of Naraku, it nearly killed me inside. I would have killed myself had you died in that battle. You must believe that I care for you more than Kikyo, and that I was just shocked that she, of all people was the person that helped you.”



Kagome’s gaze softened and the fire simmered in her eyes, granting him the courage needed as he took a deep breath and let those words out. “Kagome… I just wanted you to know… to know that… well that… I care for you a lot… I care for you more than I’ve ever cared for someone before.” He closed his eyes, not wanting to witness her reaction.



He expected some kind of retort, some kind of outburst, because he knew she was still pissed. He felt her take a breath in, her hands relax in his, and he braced himself just in case she uttered that dreaded word. He deserved it and he would understand it if she did. Her reaction shocked him.



Her hand gently moved to his shoulder and he felt her shift her body closer to him, flooding his body with warmth. Curiosity and hope begged his eyes to open, begged him to look at her.



He opened his eyes to find Kagome’s tear-stained face before his. Her gaze was filled with nothing but love as a smile touched her lips. It made his heart swell and his body burn.

He let his hands fall to her tiny waist as he buried his nose in her hair, taking in her scent, relishing every moment of it. He wanted to taste her, to quench this hunger in him that she had stirred. He didn’t know if it would make things any better, in fact it would probably make things worse, but he couldn’t contain himself anymore. She was just too tempting.



“I’m sorry,” he whispered as he pulled her close to his blood-soaked body, feeling comfort in her warmth.



His gaze locked with hers as he slowly lowered his head and gently brushed his lips with hers.

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Well I hope you enjoyed. Review and let me know!!!