InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Against All Odds ❯ Against All Odds ( Chapter 1 )

Against All Odds

How can I just let you walk away, just let you leave without a trace

When I stand here taking every breath with you

He had been bitter, angry, and cold. His heart had been frozen, the agony of betrayal and the pain of a tragic loss had been the ice that chilled his soul. For 50 years he remained unmoving, pinned to a tree by the arrow of his lost love.

For a long time he could only hate her, the beautiful miko who had tempted him to fully embody what he had always viewed a weakness, for a moment he had wanted to be human, for her, for them, and for the life they could have.

But their love had been doomed from the beginning. The love in their hearts had not been enough to overcome the deceit that eventually destroyed them.

Love made him weak, it made him vulnerable, it was the reason he was pinned to a tree, defenseless and powerless.

His heart had been broken, his heart had been lost, he never wanted to experience love again, not when its beauty had been shadowed by pain and betrayal. No, he would never love again.

That had been his vow, the promise he had made to himself, he wanted to be strong. Love had a way of crippling a man; he knew it all too well.

But then she had come into his life, a bright ray of sunlight in a dark and gloomy world. She who had the face of another, she who made him remember everything he had wanted so desperately to forget

Kagome, that was her name; a strange girl from a different world. Despite the uncanny resemblance to the woman of his past, there was something about her that made her different, made her unique. Maybe it was the way she smiled, or the way she always put the happiness of others before her own. But maybe it was the way her eyes seemed to sparkle with warmth and innocence. Yes, that was it, innocence, his lost love had never possessed the innocence, the purity of the girl he thought of now.

She had become a part of his life. Together they hunted for the shards of the Shikon no Tama, the jewel his beloved died protecting, and they battled the evil that had destroyed his life. She sacrificed so much to be with him and perhaps that is why she touched him so deeply, she sacrificed to be with him. She never asked him to change who he was, never asked him to become the weakness he fought so hard to ignore. She accepted him in every way.

He had hurt her so much over the years, he saw it in her eyes, heard it in her voice. Every time he called the name of the one he lost, every time he stubbornly refused to let go of the past, he broke her heart. For some reason he had never been able to let go of the love that was dead long ago.

And that was why she was leaving, returning to the world she belonged, returning to the family that loved her.

You're the only who really knew me at all

She had come to know him, she had come to know his heart. She understood his need for vengeance and his desire to become a full demon. She knew he cared about her but could never find a way to express it. She tolerated his rude and crass behavior because she knew he never really meant it. No matter how much it hurt her she understood his attachment to the past, she accepted it, she never held it against him.

On the night of the new moon, when his cursed hanyou blood turned him into a human, she would sit with him, never speaking a word, silently giving him comfort in the only way he would accept it.

Kagome knew him so well.

How can you just walk away from me

When all I can do is watch you leave

He had followed her to the well. Their journey over, the jewel complete, the monster Naraku defeated her job was done and her family was waiting. She had said her good byes and he had seen the look in her eyes as she talked to him.

Her eyes pleaded for him to make her stay, to give her reason to stay. She loved him, he knew that. His heart screamed for him to say the words that would keep her by his side forever, but his head refused them to be spoken.

She deserved someone better, someone who could love her completely, and someone whose heart was not shadowed by that of another.

That is why he had simply stood there as she hugged him, why he stood motionless as the tears spilled from her eyes and she walked away from him. He could only watch her leave.

But as soon as her figure disappeared among the trees of the forest, he had run after her, not knowing why.

Now he watched as she stood beside the well, staring down into its depths as if deciding whether or not to jump in. He wanted her to stay, he longed for her ]to stay, but he had no right to ask.

I wish I could just make you turn around, turn around and see me cry

It hurt, it hurt more than he had ever imagined to watch her stand there, heart broken and about to walk out of his life.

The tears fell silently down his cheeks, he had never cried before, not even when his first love had betrayed him, not even when she had died. What he felt now was a bone deep sorrow, a heart wrenching agony that came from knowing that he was losing the one thing, the one person, who made him feel alive, made him whole.

He knew she believed that he still loved another, but if she could just see him cry she would know, his heart belonged to her and it always would.

There's so much I need to say to you

So many reasons why

He wanted to tell her why he had held on, he wanted to tell her why he had never revealed his true feelings. He had done it all for her, watching her heart break more every day was killing him, she didn't deserve that. He was afraid that if she stayed he would just continue to hurt her and eventually her heart would break completely.

Her spirit would dim, her fire die, and warmth cool, just as his had once. He had become hard, he had been cold, to watch her become what he had been was his worst nightmare.

He had so many explanations, so many reasons for acting the way he did. But she didn't\t deserve half-hearted reasons, she deserved love, pure and simple, and that he could not give.

Take a look at me now

There's just an empty space

She had become his other half, without her he was empty and he was alone. He would be forced back into the gray and dismal world he had lived in before she had some and lit up his world and his life.

Without her he had nothing to live for, no sunshine and laughter to look forward to, no love to warm his heart.

Her absence would leave a void that would never be replaced.

Take a look at me now

Because I'll still be standing here

And you coming back to me is against all odds, it's the chance I've got to take

She turned his way, almost as if she sensed his presence there, hiding among the trees, in the shadows just beyond her reach.

As she stood there, desperate hope shining in her eyes, he let his gaze roam over her features one last time.

He raven black hair fluttered in the wind, the silky tendrils falling across her cheek, her rosy lips parted slightly, as if she wanted to call out, call for him, and her eyes, the brilliant sapphire depths of them sparkled, her eyes would forever haunt him.

He knew that as long as he live his mind would never erase, never forget, the pure beauty of her face.

Then she was gone, in a flash of green she was gone from this world, from his life. Only then did he allow himself to step out into the clearing she had stood in.

He walked over to well and looked inside, hoping against hope that she would be there, smiling up to him demanding him to help her up.

He missed her already and she had been gone only for a moment, yet it felt like a lifetime.

As he stood there he felt the words he had never allowed himself to speak begin to rise from the depths of his soul, screaming for release.

"I love you Kagome" he whispered into the emptiness of the well, finally giving voice to the emotion that had taken root in his heart long ago.

He pushed himself off of the well and walked away, the ghost of a smile touching his face. Their love was strong and their love was true.

He would wait for her, that was all he could do now and that would be enough.

He would be standing there the day their love brought her back to him.