InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Before You Tell Him Goodbye ❯ Listen to Your Heart ( One-Shot )

 

He had been sitting beside the well keeping vigil for Kagome's eventual return to where she needed to be; at his side when the damn thing had begun to glow, very faintly but it was a glow. Unfortunately, there was something he knew by instinct by the look of that glow; if he was going to cross over it would be forever. No more Sengoku Jidai life for him. Sango, Miroku, their twins Aome and Kaome in their arms, and Shippou stood there at the edge of the clearing and watched him. Two unbearable and grave years had gone by without their Kagome, no, his Kagome. No one had quite been the same for a long time and even now, there was a more serious air to their small family since their most important member had left them forever with nothing but a short not explaining nothing but her farewell. And now the decision to have the second most important person in their lives leave them forever too was taunting them mercilessly. One of them would be making a great sacrifice for the other person. Sango, Miroku, their children and Shippou would lose their protector, a brother, an uncle and a father figure while the other would lose their love forever. Fate had never been as cruel as she was right now.

 

~Sometimes you wonder if this fight is worthwhile.

The precious moments are all lost in the tide, yeah

They're swept away and nothing is what is seems,

the feeling of belonging to your dreams...~

 

 

Inuyasha looked from the well to the unreadable faces of the family he had been accepted into and had embraced as his own. He wanted to go but he didn't. It was something that he had thought about and tortured himself with when Kagome had been there the night she had left. When it was time for her to go back home how would they work it out? Would he go with her or, would they part ways or could he convince her to stay with him? Those questions and more haunted his thoughts and troubled his dreams right up until Shippou's high pitched wail had snapped him right out it. For a long time he had wondered if it had been something he had said or done to her to make her leave him. Then he had gone through a phase where he had condemned himself for being nothing more than a fucking worthless half breed that deserved nothing more than death before remembering that Kagome had loved him best in his hanyou state. Before he could say anything, Shippou took a step forward, the little runt was only up to his hip and yet he looked so much older than he was supposed to at this age. Emerald green eyes were overly bright with tears he was struggling not to shed, the rest of the group was fighting back tears and failing as well as the young kitsune boy spoke for all of them.

 

“Go Inuyasha. Kagome's the one who's first in your heart. We'll miss you though; maybe we'll meet again someday in another life.”

 

Inuyasha began to protest, to try and tell them to give it a little time to think it over before Shippou bared his fangs at him, raced up and shoved him physically at the well before snapping at him.

 

“Dammit Inuyasha, go now! Go to Kagome damn you and stop making her wait!”

 

He had done just that, looking over his shoulder at his feudal era family one last time before jumping into the well. The time stream sealed up forever behind him as he drifted through the darkness of time and space before touching down on the packed dirt floor of Kagome's side of the well. Broken sobs and coughing spells caught his attention as he jumped out of the well and looked frantically for Kagome. Instead he had found one of her friends, shivering and sobbing as if her heart was broken. Torn between going straight to Kagome and being the nice guy, Inuyasha stood on the lip of the well for a good ten minutes before finally jumping off and crouched beside the sobbing girl. His ears had flatted against his head slightly from the broken hearted sobs as he shook the girl's shoulder.

 

“Hey stop that.”

 

Ayumi looked up, eyes wild and cheeks tear streaked as she recognized the more mature looking guy from the past. Same bleached out hair and weird eyes and yet, this was the guy Kagome needed to survive. She grabbed on to him as if he were a life line and the only one around who could save the world as she knew it.

 

`It…it worked!'

 

“Why are you still here?! Kagome's somewhere in her house and I don't know what she's doing. You need to be with her and not worrying about me! Go, now!”

 

She was strong for a human, kind of like Sango, Inuyasha thought to himself as he left the girl behind and scowled at the rainy skies. If there was one reason he absolutely hated the rain it was because it hid the scents of whomever or whatever he was looking for. Silver-white hair turned a tarnished gunmetal color and plastered against his back. The cream colored inner kimono he wore sticking to weather roughened and tanned skin while amber eyes searched the area for any signs of the second piece of his soul. A movement in the fluttering curtains caught his attention as a brief flash of lightning illuminated someone within the room. With surprise he realized it was Kagome's room, she had obviously redecorated during their separation and it wasn't in a good way. All he could see was darkness, as if she had been trying to block out any and all signs of light from entering.

 

`Did leaving destroy her?'

 

He wondered worriedly as he tensed his muscles and broke into a brief sprint before leaping into the air, into the old tree outside the girl's window and finally again into the pitch black darkness of Kagome's room. As always he landed gracefully and stood up. His amber eyes flashed slightly as he adjusted to the lack of lighting in the room and found Kagome by her scent and that of tears. In her lap was a few things he and the others had found missing after she had left them. His haori was clenched tightly in her fists as she held it to her chest. Blood dripped down her arms from where her fingernails had dug into the flesh. Inuyasha's heart froze when he had seen her before he said her name in disbelief just after his name had come out brokenly from her mouth.

 

 

`God Kagome, what happened to you?!'

 

“Kagome?!”

 

……………………… ;…………………………R 30;…………………………&# 8230;………..

 

The two only faced each other, one looking completely desolate and the other like they had been grieving for a long time. Both shared the same matching expression of surprise on their faces as the young woman stood up, the top and other items save for the haori falling to the ground at her bare feet as she looked at him. Blue-grey eyes darkened to the storm clouds' twin outside while they moved almost frantically over him and noted each little change about him. Amber eyes did the same, noting that she had definitely lost weight and had more of a breakable look about her that he had never seen before on anyone. Not even his mother's illness and weakness before death had made her look frail like this. Inuyasha shifted slightly and stepped towards her, one hand reaching out for her as he spoke.

 

“Kagome…”

 

She twisted violently away from his hand as if it were a snake or, more fittingly, a spider. Kagome held the crimson garment tightly against her chest as she backed away from him, her eyes flashing in anger, fear, disappointment, hurt and disbelief as she found herself out of room and flattened her back against her bedroom door. This was either the most intense hallucination her fragmented emotions and heart had come up with yet or, this was real. At the moment, she'd rather deal with the belief that it was a hallucination that fall into some kind of stupid trap to make her heart feel like it was going to shatter into tiny razor edged pieces. Long black hair fell over her shoulders as she clutched the piece of clothing as if it were a life preserver and she was drowning in a storm.

 

`This isn't fair; maybe I should check myself in somewhere. I can't take these stupid hallucinations anymore!'

 

“Go away, you're not real!”

 

Inuyasha's eyes narrowed slightly in confusion as he took another step towards her and another. Something that approached madness was in her eyes and he now knew what it was; he had left her alone for far too long and she wasn't able to trust any one of her senses anymore. Finally there was no room left for her to go and his youki drifted towards her, recognizing her aura and reaching out eagerly to brush against it. There was nothing else he wanted to do than to hold her at that moment and take pleasure in the fact that he could have her so close to him again. He noticed her hand scrambling for the doorknob and grabbed the offending hand firmly. His fingers pried hers open and laced through them with his own before he dragged her into his arms and held her tightly.

 

Inuyasha winced as she hit, kicked, bit, scratched and yelled at him, trying to make him let go of her so that she could leave him again. Her words sliced deeper than any blade he had ever been attacked with as she called him a traitor, a liar and a deserter. All he did was let her rant and rave at him, knowing that he really wasn't the one she was yelling at. It hurt him that she was talking about herself like that, although he felt like some of the blame should be on him for not trying to find a way to her sooner. Funny how some things worked, he thought to himself, when he had been alone he had been furious and wanted to yell at her for ditching them. But now that he had her in his arms again, all he felt was relief and pain for her. It was like all his anger, frustration and hurt had drained away with his first sight of her tear-streaked face. All he could do was hold her like he was now and wait until she was done. His words were soft as he held her, his hands moving softly over her back and rubbing soothingly to try and calm her down.

 

`I can't stand it when she thinks of herself like this…it makes me feel like I'm the one who failed her.'

 

“Stop fighting your heart, that's one battle everyone loses against Kagome.”

 

She was struggling against him, trying to push him away from her before giving into the overwhelming impulse to hit him and cry. Her weak fists beat against his chest as she called him everything she had ever wanted to call him in her entire frustrated life. Her tears mixed in with his as she finally stopped striking him and wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her head into his shoulder. Kagome had thought that the only way to reach him was through her words and yet he had just broken through every single little barrier she had tried to put up to block everything out.

 

`Why is it that the only way one of us is ever saved is because the other person reaches in and pulls the doomed person out? Why can't we ever just have something work and stay that way!?'

 

The two of them just stayed that way, holding each other like two lovers caught in the crossfire of a raging battlefield and knowing there was no way out but death. She looked up at him, eyes closing as he brushed away a tear from her eyes with one of his fingers. Kagome had missed him so much that it hurt, that face, those eyes, his scent, everything about him had continued to haunt her for the past two years. In dreams and in her waking day life something had always reminded her of Inuyasha in big and little ways. It had driven her crazy and quite a few times to insanity because of her obsession with him. His hand gently cupped her face, she leaned into his touch and savored the warmth of his skin against hers, it didn't matter that he was still soaking wet.

 

“You came back to me…even after I deserted you. Why?”

 

Before Inuyasha could speak, Kagome shook herself out of it and stepped back slightly. Just because he was with her again didn't mean that she had to let him freeze to death. She gave him an apologetic glance before opening her bedroom door, her hair fell over her shoulder as she smiled shakily at him and spoke.

 

“Come on, you're soaked through. You should warm up and dry off before you catch pneumonia or something. The shower's over here, I think you remember how to use it.”

 

With those words came the flashback of happier times between them:

 

~And there are voices

that want to be heard.

So much to mention

but you can't find the words.

The scent of magic,

the beauty that's been

when love was wilder than the wind... ~

 

 

`I hate these tests, I hate this book and I really really hate math!'

 

15 year old Kagome thought furiously at the paper in front of her. She had a math test the next morning and if she didn't study for it right that moment, she'd be screwed and probably end up repeating the grade. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and scribbled furiously from the notes she had taken earlier. Finally she couldn't stand the weight of Inuyasha's presence so close to her and stood up, frustrated as she opened her door and called for her brother.

 

“Souta! Will you come here and do me a favor?”

 

Promptly he had showed up, curiosity in his large brown eyes as he peered into the room and grinned at Inuyasha. Her younger brother had the worst hero complex on Inuyasha, not that it wasn't well deserved.

 

“What's up sis?”

 

Souta has asked her. She pointed to Inuyasha's still slightly surprised form before responding.

 

“Can you keep him occupied for a while so that I can study? And keep him out of trouble while you're at it.”

 

“Okay! C'mon Inuyasha, you can share my bath.”

 

She smiled to herself as the two walked down the hall and into the bathroom. Finally she'd have some piece and quiet to get some studying done. Bending her head over her paper again, Kagome began to try and figure out the importance of what pie equaled and what the letter `y' had to do with it before she heard a yell from a very familiar set of lungs.

 

“Agh! What're you tryin to do, boil me alive?!”

 

Running footsteps pounded and shook the things on top of her desk as she began to turn around and let the boys have it for distracting her when she stopped, turning slack jawed and mortified, not to mention the color of a tomato at what she saw.

 

`Oh my god…'

 

There was Inuyasha in all his tanned, toned and naked glory standing in her room with his haori barely covering the most important of details on a man's body. Whoops, make that had been barely covering said penis. She had thought herself very mature when Yuka had showed them the section in their Health book about the male body and she hadn't squealed or shrieked and blushed about it. But this, this was something all together different than looking at something on paper in an educational book. After a few moments of gaping like a big mouthed bass, Kagome let loose with one high pitched screech and started throwing whatever was handy at the nearly fully grown man.

 

“Get out of here!”

 

“Ow! ...hey! Dammit Kagome knock it of-”

 

With a trashcan to the face, Kagome had finally won the battle to get Inuyasha out of her room, Souta lending his assistance like a miniature hero to his sister as he dragged Inuyasha back to the bathroom while explaining that he had to wash the bubbles off before getting into the bath…

 

Inuyasha snorted softly and followed her to the door before pausing for a moment in the door. He looked at her for a moment, noting the fact that she hadn't showered probably since early that morning, not that she stank or anything, it was just an observation. For a moment he deliberated on asking her something that would probably end up sounding worse than one of the lecher's comments before shaking his head and deciding to risk it anyway. His voice was hesitant, something that was rarely heard much less admitted in the hanyou's personality as he spoke.

 

“Kagome? Do you…want to share it?”

 

Damn his human side for making him blush, he thought furiously as he shifted his weight uncomfortably to the other foot. A youkai did not do such a stupid and telling thing like turn the color of a tomato and besides that, it looked better when Kagome was the one turning scarlet from something said or done. It wasn't like he hadn't seen her naked or vice versa, no, the days of them being unfamiliar with each other's bodies was long past. Two and a half months after Naraku had been defeated forever he had in his own fashion proposed to Kagome and that night they had sealed the deal, so to speak, and spent many happy nights exploring each other's bodies.

 

Oh dear Gods, Kagome thought to herself as she found herself at a loss for words. How was she supposed to answer that question all of a sudden? She nibbled her lip in indecisiveness before tentatively replying. After all, in a sense they were husband and wife, even though they still needed to make it official.

 

`A nice hot shower and bath sounds really good right now…wait, how did he know where to find me?'

 

“Inuyasha? Who told you where I was?”

 

“Someone was praying by the well and I could feel it. I guess the spirit of the well decided to grant her prayers because the next thing I knew was I was in your era and asking her where you were.”

 

Kagome's face paled as the stricken face of Ayumi popped into her mind. Her friend had actually gone for Inuyasha knowing that there was nothing more than a hair's width of a chance that it would work for her? She swallowed hard as she turned to Inuyasha, signs of the old Kagome were coming back now, if it was because she had let herself feel or because Inuyasha was back with her, no one could really tell.

 

`Ayumi-chan…'

 

“I'll be right back. Go ahead and start without me if you want!”

 

Kagome dashed out of the room, thundering down the stairs and swearing furiously to herself for being such an insensitive person before throwing the door open. She was surprised to see Ayumi standing in the pouring down rain with such a desperate look of hope on her face that Kagome felt her eyes prickle with tears. The young woman was soaked to the skin, her knees somewhat muddy and her eyes slightly swollen from crying as she looked down from her intense gaze on Kagome's window and noticed her there. Her expression changed from hopeful to surprise and relieved as the two girls raced towards each other and threw their arms around one another's bodies. Tears mixed in with mindless apologies and babbling were heard as they embraced beneath the cleansing rain. They pulled apart, holding hands as they faced each other and talked for a good long while before Ayumi hugged Kagome again and took off, waving and wishing her good luck and that she'd call her later to talk before she vanished down the steps and back towards her own apartment. Kagome stood there and lifted her face up to the rain, letting it cool her face down from its heated state.

 

`I owe Ayumi so much; I don't think I could ever repay her for what she's done.'

 

 

~I don't know where you're going

and I don't know why,

but listen to your heart

before you tell him goodbye.~

 

 

“What the hell are you doing?! You're asking to get sick dammit.”

 

Inuyasha fumed, already naked from the waist up as he stomped out into the rain and grabbed her wrist while muttering several half-assed insults at her as he pulled her into the house and glowered at her through his rain soaked bangs. The expression of such complete irritation coupled with the still lingering concern for her well being that Kagome couldn't help but smile weakly at him. The gesture felt alien to her after not giving anyone a smile for so long. His eyes and scolding glower softened as he gave her a returning half smile.

 

“Come on, it's been a while since I've done that damn shower thing.”

 

Inuyasha watched Kagome reach over and turn some weird plastic looking thing that was pretty much fastened to the wall. Water, more specifically, hot water began to pour from the silver faucet and into the bathtub. She turned to him, cheeks slightly rosy as she stepped aside to show him that the shower was all prepared for him. There were times that he missed, especially since their last shower and bath together so long ago. It had been a learning experience for the both of them, he thought to himself with a faint upwards twitch of his lips as he began to untie the soaked knot to his hakama.

 

`I'd bet the armor on my old man's skeleton that I remember all the places on her body that she liked me to touch.'

 

When Kagome began to walk past him to leave the hanyou to his privacy, he caught her by the arm and held on gently. She sent him an inquisitive glance and tilted her head to the side for a moment before she spoke to him.

 

“Something wrong?”

 

He gave her that damn arrogant grin that she loved so much before tugging on her arm and jerking his head in the general direction of the steaming water coming from behind the shower curtain.

 

“You never answered my question before you left to see to that girl.”

 

She gave him a strange look as if she were about to ask him what the hell he was talking about when it clicked in her mind. Blue-grey eyes widened as an unbidden blush rose to heat her cheeks.

 

`What is he talking abou-oh!'

 

Would you like to…share it?

 

There was the two sides of her warring on opposite sides of the question. Kagome `A' told her that she should tell him to kiss off until she was ready to forgive him for not coming back sooner and that he could stand his own naked self alone for a while. Kagome `B' on the other hand, smacked the other one with the eternally hated algebra textbook and reminded her that it was she who had left him. Not to mention the fact that she missed the warmth and security of his body that had filled in a now cold place that she couldn't get rid of on her own.

 

`I'm going insane, I knew it. When someone hears two sides of themselves fighting with each other they check themselves into the nearest padded room in a hospital.'

 

She shook her head and brushed her hair behind her ear before shooting Inuyasha a small yet shy smile. Well, maybe it would be a good thing to take a shower and a bath with him, after all, she needed one and didn't want him to actually drag her in with her clothes on.

 

“Sure.”

 

Before Kagome could even begin to remove her wet clothes, Inuyasha stopped her, holding her arms and sliding his hands down to her wrists and holding them still as he matched his eyes with hers.

 

“Let me do it Kagome.”

 

He released her wrists to fall at her sides as he started with the black long sleeved blouse she wore, pulling the cuff of the sleeves over her hands before peeling the soaked fabric gently over her head. Amber eyes turned a darker shade of gold as he glanced over the top half of her body. She had lost weight, he'd be damned if she kept it that way for long though. First thing after he finished familiarizing himself with her body was going to be stuffing every kind of food that made someone gain weight down her throat until he wasn't able to see the outline of her ribs anymore. Again there was that damnable `bra' object that supposedly gave a woman's chest support while they went about their lives. It had become his greatest enemy, even beating out Sesshoumaru and Naraku in it's evil manner of keeping him from enjoying Kagome's body.

 

`Support my ass! Those things were made for no other reason than to frustrate a woman's mate and that's final.'

 

Inuyasha thought to himself as he glared at the offending undergarment and flexed his claws. He cut through the small strap in the front and looked more than absurdly pleased with himself as he slid the straps off her shoulders and tossed the bra as far away from the two of them as possible. He watched her shiver slightly in the humid, steam filled room and smiled slightly to himself before glaring at the complicated six or so buttons on her jeans. Not those damn pants again, he thought to himself angrily as he gave her a furious yet helpless and reproachful glare. That look was supposed to be intimidating, he thought sulkily as she began to laugh and undid the buttons with slender, nimble fingers before wiggling her hips, pushing down the fabric to her ankles and stumbling around as she tried to step out of them. Inuyasha caught her and helped her before she slipped and hit her head on the floor or on the bathroom counter. His claws remedied the remaining piece of clothing effortlessly as he flattened his ears from her squeal of indignation.

 

“Oi wench, easy on the ears!”

 

“What is it with you and ripping my underwear?!”

 

“You're too slow and I was helping.”

 

“How is making me replace my underwear helping?!”

 

“Could just go without.”

 

“What?!”

 

Kagome screeched at him as she smacked his chest with her palm, noticing that it had no effect other than getting him to serve her that damn cocky, arrogant grin he knew she loved. This boy could get her blood boiling in more than one way in so little time that had she considered herself, she'd have a reason to be worried. She raised her hand to smack him again when she felt him catch her wrists in his hands and draw her closer to the heat of his own body. His hands left her wrists and lowered to settle on either side of her waist, pulling her closer as smoky amber eyes burned into her own, looking past the surface and into her soul as he leaned and rested his forehead against Kagome's. His lips teased hers, barely brushing against her own as he spoke to her.

 

“Shh. We can talk and argue later.”

 

She smiled and stood on tip toe as her lips met his. Sensations flew hotly through her body as the two auras became one, silvery-blue merging with golden-white and coloring the clouds of steam as they swirled around the two bodies. Heat, liquid and aching coursed through their bodies and pooled as Kagome and Inuyasha used their senses to familiarize themselves with each other after so long apart. Inuyasha broke the kiss, his tongue gently running over her lips and his own before using one hand to guide her towards the shower.

 

“Come on.”

 

In the dark house a single light shone from the bathroom and spilled out from the curtains on to the shrine grounds. Muffled sounds of laughter and pleasure mixed with squeals and water splashing echoed through out the house as the rain continued to beat down on the unsuspecting city of Tokyo. Two souls that were incomplete without the other nearby were again made whole that night and well into the early morning hours. Finally the lovers had settled down to sleep in each other's arms, both feeling complete for the first time in a very long time.

 

Author's Note: This was actually supposed to be much longer and go into further detail. However, at some point during this one shot something just didn't seem to work and I had to find an at least half-decent ending. I apologize if this is disappointing to anyone who enjoys my work.