InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Addiction ❯ 1,477 and Counting ( Chapter 8 )

A/N: Okay… Well, as you all probably know, I haven't updated for a while. I've had personal issues that really took a toll on me. I wasn't functioning well at all for quite a few months. Now, however, I am back on my feet and ready to get back to writing. This is the final chapter for this fanfiction, and the ending may shock you. Ha, ha. Try your best not to hate me for it. It's been a pleasure writing. Good luck.

 

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Seriously. I sit around naked all day in a box I stole from a girl scout with a computer I jacked from the flea market. XD (Just kidding.) I just don't own InuYasha.

 

Chapter 8: 1,477 and Counting

 

“Do you know anyone who might have wanted to hurt your mother?”

 

The detective was watching Kagome with soft, holding eyes. His features were gentle with a sympathetic glaze, but Kagome could feel impatience seeping from his lips. She shook her head.

 

“No,” she said, “I can't think of anyone.”

 

“What about the man who shot you?” he pressed, glancing slowly at her shoulder. “Could he have done it?”

 

Kagome turned to gaze at the bleak hospital ceiling, shifting slightly. “Maybe.”

 

“Can you tell me who that man was?” The detective was staring at her intently now as he leaned closer.

 

“No.” Kagome met his dark eyes without hesitation. “I don't know who he was.”

 

The police came back to Kagome a few times before she was discharged; she knew what they were doing. Surely they hoped that she'd suddenly remember something she hadn't before. More to the point, they probably knew that she already remembered.

 

As she walked out of the hospital, Kagome felt particularly gloomy, taking in the scene around her with distaste. Clouds rolled over the city like black tsunamis, consuming buildings and mountaintops with their monstrous jaws. A cool wind crawled up her spine as it blew past, but she knew she had to keep moving. With her heart pounding, she began to step forward. It seemed so strange. She was walking in the hospital parking lot, and she could hear him breathing. A smile grabbed hold of her lips; her feet continued their pursuit.

 

Her thoughts began to drift back to InuYasha. She could see his figure rattling, his eyes shrunken by pain. And still, her smile grew. Withdrawal was hell; she knew that. But within the confined spaces and heightened security of the hospital, InuYasha had stayed clean for the last few days.

 

“And counting,” she noted to herself. Ambling through the allies and streets she knew so well, Kagome's faint smile began to wither to an expression fit for a phantom. Blank. Nothing. As she ran her fingers along the brick wall encasing her, wind like icy breath against her neck, she glanced hurriedly at her surroundings. He was waiting for her.

 

“Hello, Angel.”

 

Her father was standing with godly pride, seeming to have made himself the center of the alley, his black coat appearing to be gaudy amongst the deadened gray of the streets. Even his skin seemed dimmed in comparison, looking charred and washed out. Kagome just stared at him as she felt herself begin to lose her nerve. She shook.

 

“Why are you so afraid?” her father asked, his voice rumbling lowly, nearly demonic. But he looked eager. “Come on, Kagome. Haven't I taught you anything?”

 

“I . . .” Kagome's breath staggered when he approached her, her body turning frigid. As his hands began to stroke her shoulders, she melted. She couldn't move or think, a puddle beneath his feet.

 

“Relax,” he murmured. “This is us.”

 

“Why did you kill my mother?” Kagome's voice came meekly, inching its way over her gaunt lips. She looked straight at him, eyes quaking with captive tears; she wouldn't let them escape, fighting mercilessly to keep her strength. “Why?” she asked again.

 

He frowned for an instant, and then let his face relax, his head resting atop hers. “You're a pretty girl, Kagome,” he said simply as if her words had disintegrated in the wind. “A girl like you brings in plenty of rewards.” He paused. “I need you for my business.”

 

“What?” Kagome pulled back, incredulous. “You need me? How can you even say that? Haven't you had enough? I gave you money! I gave you my virginity! I let you pull me into that sick, twisted world of yours! You think I want to go back? Have you lost whatever sanity you have left?”

 

Her father was taken aback at first. Kagome was normally so gentle; she was easy. His gaze narrowed. “You were never this defensive before . . .”

 

“Well, my mother wasn't dead before. Before, you hadn't turned my best friend into some heroin-crazed monster.” Her words were softer this time, almost too relaxed. “Before, I gave in because I was afraid.” She straightened herself out, raising her chin. “I am not afraid of you.”

 

“Really?” he laughed out. It was quick, and Kagome didn't see it at first. Now, with his gun against her head, her father grinned with a vindictive flair. “What about now?” he pried. His toothy smile widened as he waited for it, for her scream to emerge. But it didn't.

 

“You want me for your business and you plan to kill me?” Triumph was glittering in Kagome's stormy irises as her father began to step back. He was livid, and she could feel his rage churning. “I'm a good person, but I can't apologize for this . . .”

 

There was a flash, and then there was blood. Her father grasped at his shoulder, his wrinkled face cringing in agony. Lifting his hand, he caught sight of his wound. Claw marks. He forced a smirk as he stared at his attacker. “I suppose you're not here for another fix, InuYasha,” he breathed, clutching his bloody arm with a grip that seared through his skin.

 

“No.” InuYasha lurched forward, eyes distinctly wild, and for the first time in so long, he felt right. His claws slicing through beaten flesh, he was creating a masterpiece clad in red. As each drop of scarlet fell, the piece grew more majestic, tainted with the savoring satisfaction of bloodlust. He watched Kagome's father collapse to the ground, but it wasn't enough. Pressing his foot firmly against the man's stomach, he sneered, “You deserve to die, you bastard. If it weren't for Kagome, I'd kill your sorry ass here and now.”

 

“Letting a little girl boss you around?” he huffed out, grunting as InuYasha's foot dug harder into his stomach. “Pathetic.”

 

Kagome just looked at them; her body felt like cement, heavy and stuck. Their voices echoes amongst the chatter in her mind, she saw something. It ensnared her, and it seemed luminous as it observed her from the concrete. She picked it up without hesitation. “InuYasha, move,” she ordered quietly, stroking the gun in her hands. She glared at his baffled expression. “Move,” she repeated, nodding as leapt to her side.

 

Her father struggled to his feet and laughed. “Are you going to shoot me, Angel?”

 

“Why did you kill my mother?” Gritting her teeth, Kagome pointed the gun at his chest. “I know you. There has to be some reason.” She dithered for a moment, letting out softly, “I need to know.”

 

“She was the only one who'd keep me from getting to you,” he answered shortly. “She was the only one that really cared.”

 

InuYasha was fuming. “Fuck you! I—”

 

“Stop!” Kagome's hands quivered as she stepped with caution in front of InuYasha. Her gaze touched his. “Let me do this.”

 

Amusement poured from her father's eyes. Rolling his shoulders back, he let a slight grimace kiss his lips. But then he smiled. Kagome knew that smile all too well. His face lit up like that each time he was inside of her. Each time got a new fix. Each time he won. His smile was the beacon of his sins, crying out to the masses in success.

 

“You gonna do it?” he pressed. He stretched his arms out, as if preparing to ascend to the clouds. “You gonna kill me? Do it. I'm all yours.” Stifling a laugh, he shook his head mockingly. “Thought so. Your mother corrupted you. What about everything I taught you? What about—”

 

The sound of the gunshot hung in the air. Her father was dead.

 

“Kagome . . .” InuYasha wanted to reach out to her—he wanted to say something. And he couldn't; all words were lost in the echo of her father's body hitting the ground. Breathing deeply, he drew back. What had she done? It wasn't supposed to be like this. She'd said she didn't want him dead. “What . . .” he mustered out finally. “Why, Kagome? I thought . . .”

 

“I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!” she gasped out, teeth sinking into her bottom lip. “I didn't want to turn into this . . . I didn't want to be like him . . .”

 

He shook his head furiously. “Kagome, what are you talkin' about? He was asking for it! He got what he deserved!” He leaned closer and allowed sympathy to engulf him, his eyes softening as he neared her. “Just drop that weapon of yours. We can go back to my era for a while. I promise. We're gonna fix this.” She said nothing at first, but his gaze didn't waver.

 

“I can't . . . I'm sorry . . .” She shuddered. “I am not a monster.”

 

InuYasha tried to stop her, but he couldn't keep the bullet from shattering her flesh. He couldn't stop the blood that pooled from her head. With breath caught in his throat, he felt as if fate was strangling him. All he could do was stare at his hands, his eyes lingering over the crimson evidence of Kagome's life. There it was, her essence, sliding down his fingertips like rain; but this cry was eternal.

 

(000000000000000000000)

 

He buried Kagome by the tree, their tree. Each day he'd lie next to her, her scent infusing his body, her voice reverberating against the wind. Even now, years later, he still couldn't understand what happened that day. He remembered the shot firing and the lights. Yes, the lights he outran, a collaboration of red and blue intertwining in a melody of nakedness; the scene was stripped bare with no questions left to ask. Kagome and her father were dead. The end. He could still see the path of blood building itself behind him as he carried Kagome to the well. But what he remembered most were Kagome's last words.

 

“I am not a monster.”

 

“No,” he murmured, “you're not.” He let his fingers entwine with the grass that had found shelter over Kagome's grave. “I'm the monster. I didn't hear your cries. I just needed a fix.” He hesitated. “Forgive me.”

 

It had been 1,477 days since InuYasha had spoken to Kagome at the hospital. He'd been clean 1,477 days.

 

“And counting,” he said.

 

~Fin~

 

A/N: All right… I don't want a million flames for this. Believe me, I thought about this ending for a very long time. I had so many different ideas, but then I realized what would fit the story best. Simply put, life sucks. Half the time, it's one tragedy after another, especially when drugs are involved. It takes a lot for a person to quit. And thus, you have my ending. You can like it. You can hate it. It's life.