InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Broken Fates ❯ Trapped ( Chapter 28 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Chapter 28: Trapped

"So, you mean I have to put up with you - forever? Just fucking great. Why don't the damn kami just kill me and get it over with?" she asked sourly, bitterness building in her. "All I ask is that you fools leave me alone, but no, instead, you just have to keep getting more and more in my face."

"Do you hate me so much that you would be willing to stay here forever - or even die?" Kikyou asked, sadly.

"No - I hate you more," Kagome snapped.

Kikyou sighed, then, and moved to sit near her reincarnation, her future life. "And do you hate Inuyasha as much?" she asked.

Kagome glared at her, then turned her face away. "Yes," she hissed. "Why wouldn't I? That bastard used me, then threw me away for a dead bitch - one who'd tormented me over and over and over - and even tried to kill me. It was hard for me to get passed the fact that Yasha was Inuyasha's reincarnation and give him a chance. It's a good thing that Yasha isn't an ass like Inuyasha was."

"Dammit, wench! I didn't throw you away!" a familiar voice rasped, and Kagome spun back around, shock in her eyes as she watched a red-clad figure move out of the mists and sit down next to Kikyou. "I did what I had to do - what was expected of me. You think I didn't care?!"

Kagome's eyes narrowed, anguished hatred filling them, causing the hanyou to flinch. "I know you didn't care! All you ever cared about was that bitch right there!And how the hell are you here, anyway... you should be sleeping peacefully inside Yasha."

"Thank the kami for this - they seem to think that this is the only way you'll heal - make you face yourself... and me," he sighed.

"No, all the kami seem to enjoy doing is tormenting me. What the fuck did I ever do to you!" she suddenly screamed into the mists, as she lifted her face and stared upwards. "Why the hell can't you just leave me alone!"

Fists clenched, she stood up and glared at the two staring at her, regret plastered all over their faces. "Stay the hell away from me, both of you! I don't ever want to see either of you again!" she spat, acid in her voice and her eyes - acid that ate at Inuyasha even more than it did Kikyou.

Seeing her, being forced to deal with what he'd done when he'd handled things the way he had was his punishment by the kami - it hurt, hurt more than he'd ever have believed possible.

This shell of a woman before him wasn't his Kagome. She was nothing like she'd been - and it was both of their fault. Kikyou's for all the torture she'd put Kagome through - and his blindness back then to the things Kikyou had done to her, plus for the way he'd sent her home.

The thing was, he'd never have agreed to do it, kami be damned, if she wasn't going home to his own reincarnation. He'd never have allowed her to go to anyone else. No matter the incarnation, her soul belonged with his, and he just wished she could see it that way - could understand that they should always be together.

So he sat there, heart breaking, as he watched her run off into the mists, determined to stay away from them, from him. It suddenly occurred to him that he was going to get a heavy portion of his own medicine - and it was bitter beyond imagining.

Kikyou inhaled sharply as her reincarnation ran off, then let it out, and her shoulders slumped sadly. "I don't know about this, Inuyasha. I don't know if she can heal - our lives together may well be over - because if she doesn't manage to heal the division in our soul, I'll remain trapped here with her until death, and you'll be stuck in your new incarnation - alone."

He pulled her into his arms, trying his best to comfort her as he stared into the distance where Kagome had disappeared. Her words hit him hard; with a coldness he'd never known, he knew that if that happened, if Kagome never woke up, his life was over, too - because he, as Yasha, would kill himself and follow Kagome into death. He would have no will to live his life alone without her.

Healing Kagome was the only way for all of them to get through this...

Alive, and still together.

Because... if the connection between their souls was sundered in this manner, they'd lose each other forever....

Not just in their current lives.

Inuyasha was not willing to do that - he would never allow the grasp he had on her soul to loosen.

She belonged to him - in all their incarnations, whether she knew it or not.

---cCc---

Yasha shook his head as he woke from a light doze, a frown on his face - what had that dream been all about? Or was it really even a dream?

Putting a hand to his chest, he had to admit, he felt a little odd - as though a piece of himself was missing...

His brow furrowed... as though a piece of his soul was missing.

That... it wasn't a dream! Shit... I was inside Kagome's soul - and if she doesn't get past her hatred of Inuyasha and even more so, Kikyou - we'll never be together!

"Oh, kami," he moaned, tears suddenly welling into his eyes before he could even fight them back at the sheer panic that he felt at that realization.

"Kagome... please, don't let them do this to us!" he whispered. "I can't lose you!"

Aiko and his parents both turned to him as they heard his voice, concerned. "Yasha...?" Aiko asked hesitantly. "Is something wrong?"

"Yeah," he said shakily. "Kagome may be in a coma, but I can tell you right now that if she doesn't get over her anger at Inuyasha and Kikyou," he swallowed hard, "she'll never wake again. This is a last ditch effort by the kami to force her to face herself - and Inuyasha," he finished miserably, and those in the room could clearly hear his fear and anguish.

Everyone in the room who heard those words paled - and Sesshoumaru, who'd returned mere minutes before, met his eyes with a sharp look. "How do you know this, Yasha?"

"Because I'm Inuyasha's reincarnation, I was there, too - in her comatose world with him. As was Kikyou. They tried to talk to her, but she said she hated them enough to die rather than talk to them and then ran off." He broke off on an almost-sob, struggling to get control over his voice as the group looked on in horror.

"Inuyasha, though... he's determined to fight her over this. He... no... we, won't allow her to sunder herself from us. She's ours," he finished possessively, his voice suddenly changing; those in the room who'd known Inuyasha heard his voice twine with Yasha's quite clearly in that moment, as his eyes flashed with a look that also had been Inuyasha's.

It was eerily clear that Inuyasha was there - and aware - in the room with them as much as Yasha was.

Sesshoumaru stepped forward, staring intently at his nephew... and his brother, in one. "So, otouto - you return to awareness to claim the miko you damaged - the miko that we have all been trying to save. Tell me, why should we allow you to have any further contact with her?"

Yasha whipped his head up to stare at Sesshoumaru with golden eyes rimming red around the edges, and the daiyoukai shivered; his brother was clearly there, and hearing what was being said - and it was just as obvious that he was not happy about being challenged in such a way, as both his youki, and Yasha's rose up to challenge him back.

"She is ours! We will never let go of the grasp we have on her soul, and neither will we allow anyone to challenge us for her! Remember this, otouto," he sneered, "because if you try to take her from us, we will destroy you, no matter what it takes." It was a solemn vow, and everyone in the room knew it - hackles raised on everyone that carried any youkai blood - and even those without.

Sesshoumaru stared, narrow-eyed at his brother... err, nephew, weighing his determination - and finally, he nodded curtly. "Very well - we will not interfere. But if you fail..." he trailed off, but the warning in his voice was very clear.

"Then what?" Yasha turned away, not even looking at his uncle, his former brother any longer. "If we fail, then there's nothing that you can do to us that's worse than that failure - if we fail, then all of us, Inuyasha and Yasha, and Kikyou and Kagome, plus any other future incarnations, suffer for eternity. There's nothing that you can do that's worse than that."

The daiyoukai stared at Yasha's back, and had to acknowledge the truth of that statement, so he did not say anything about it. Instead...

"What do you intend to do?"

"We'll sleep - probably as much as Kagome, and we will fight her, and eventually, we'll win against the hatred she has. The kami'll help... they wouldn't see their master plan destroyed by a damn stubborn wench, after all," he said sarcastically.

Aiko moved up to him, almost tentatively. "Yasha... Inuyasha... will she be okay?" she asked softly.

The hanyou turned towards her, and his eyes softened with fondness; he nodded. "As long as we can get the stubborn wench to stop whining and listen, for once. Might take a while, though," he chuckled quietly, sadly.

Yasha's parents both stared hard at their son - listening to his voice being overriden by another's, and his speech patterns changing to an entirely different person's, was eerie, and in a way, frightening. It was one thing to know he was the reincarnation of an ancestor - but an entirely different thing to actually be faced with it.

Then Yasha's eyes slid over to them, and his gaze changed. "Weird, isn't it? I'm the bridge between the past, and the future... I'm the present. Don't worry... once this is over, the part of us that's Inuyasha will sleep again, and only the part of us that's Yasha will remain awake. This whole mess is not one that the kami are very fond of - I doubt it'll ever be allowed to happen again."

Both nodded when the man they called their son finished speaking, but neither could find their voice, and finally, Yasha turned away and looked back at Sesshoumaru. "Where do I sleep?"

Within minutes, the daiyoukai had issued orders, and with nary a protest, a second bed was brought in to Kagome's room for Yasha, and a comfortable yukata was obtained so that he could rest without wearing his confining clothes.

As Aiko watched the whirlwind of activity going on in the room before them, she could only be thankful that Kagome's friends had been called home finally - it was late, and their parents had come and gotten them, after wishing her daughter well. And Souta, and grandpa, as well, had gone home. This situation would have caused far too much of an uproar with them present.

Yasha/Inuyasha moved to strip out of his clothes quickly in the bathroom outside Kagome's ICU room, wanting to get back into Kagome's soul fast - he didn't want to waste any more time than necessary. He had to smirk... so much for no visitors for more than five minutes at a time. It seemed that Sesshoumaru's influence here, was as great as it had been back in the sengoku jidai.

Maybe this time, he'd actually get some damn benefit from it.

Finally ready, he stepped into the room, and climbed into the bed that had been prepared for him...

And with one last, long look at Aiko, let himself fall into sleep.

---cCc---

Kagome wandered for a long time after she ran for the hills from her haunted past, wondering where she was - and what that hell-born bitch had meant by this place being the consequence of Akina's hatred of her.

Dammit... seems like I'm surrounded by horrid bitches or something. "So... what happened to me, then?" she said aloud. It was a rhetorical question, really, as she was seemingly alone, she didn't expect an answer - but she got one anyway.

"She ran you over with her car," came a voice Kagome never thought she'd ever hear again. Shocked, eyes widening, she spun around - and caught sight of her dearest friend, the one woman she saw as a sister... Sango.

"S-sango? Is that really... you?" she asked hesitantly, her voice choked with emotion, almost positive she was hallucinating.

"Yes, it's me, Kagome. I can't stay too long, but the kami thought we might like to visit for a little bit, and allowed me to come. They really don't want you to suffer, you know, Kagome - but you have to let go and accept what was meant to be."

Kagome looked away, then, almost ashamed of her recent behavior when faced with her big sister. "I don't know if I can, Sango. It caused too much damage - and I really don't want anything to do with," here, she gritted her teeth, "any part of that damn Kikyou." Then she looked back at her as something clicked. "Wait - what do you mean, 'she hit me with her car'?"

Sango sighed. "That woman - Akina. She hit you with her car, and now you're in a coma. You won't wake up until you find a way to work this tangle in your soul out - and that means that you and my reincarnation will never get to meet... like the kami had planned." She moved to Kagome and took her hand and ran a caressing thumb over it.

"It isn't just you and Inuyasha's souls that are tied together, imouto... Miroku, and I, are just as tied to you both as you two are to each other. You have to figure this out, Kagome - for all of our sakes."

Kagome looked down at Sango's hand holding hers, and then threw herself at her, and started sobbing as the older girl hugged her fiercely. "I miss you guys so much! I've been so angry at Inuyasha for what he did - I didn't even get to say goodbye," she cried. "And now I want to be with you guys again - but I don't know... if I can let go of this hurt and anger at Inuyasha and Kikyou. It just hurts too much - there's so much there, that if I did let it all out," her voice sank to a pained whisper, "I don't know if there'd be anything left of me."

Sango hugged her tighter, heart breaking at the hurt she could feel pouring from Kagome - it was overwhelming. "Kagome, I know you. You're stronger than this." She pulled away from her enough to see her face; her sister's drowned eyes making her own eyes flood. "No matter what we faced back then, you were always stronger than whatever it was, and you kept all of us going. Now, you have to be strong one more time, and learn to let go of this hatred - and heal the division in your soul."

She sighed, then pulled a little more away. "Kagome... haven't you ever done something, and then thought, 'oh, I hate myself for that!', and been horribly angry at yourself?"

Kagome look startled, then looked at Sango, brow furrowed. "Well, sure," she said, voice puzzled. "But what...?"

Sango looked at her with loving exasperation, then. "Don't you see? It's the same thing. Kikyou is you. When you were her, you were a bitch - to yourself - so now you hate yourself for that. But even though there's times that you think "I hate myself for that', you don't try to kick a part of your soul out over it!"

Surprised, Kagome just stared at her, caught in what she'd said. Surely... no... it can't be that simple!

"Yes, it can too be that simple! You are the one that's making it so hard, Kagome - and I desperately want my imouto back. Believe me, Inuyasha and Kikyou both paid dearly when I found out what they'd done... I tortured them both for years about it - and I kicked the hell out of Inuyasha when he came back from the well and admitted what he'd done. If Miroku hadn't stepped in when he did," she admitted sheepishly, "I'd have killed him. In fact, he came close to dying. And when Kikyou tried to get in the middle of it, I beat the hell out of her, too."

"Wow..." Kagome said, an awed look in her eyes. "I knew you were tough back then, but... just - wow. I'm glad you weren't mad at me!"

Sango smiled, and shook her head. "No... I missed you so much - and that's why I want you to figure this out so badly - because my soul wants my imouto back. I've already had to wait five hundred years, and I don't want to wait any more." She blanched, then, and Kagome could see her starting to fade.

Eyes wide, panic-stricken, Kagome cried out. "No! Sango, don't go!"

Blinking back tears, the former taijiya stared at her friend. "I'm on the other side of awake, Kagome. Forgive the two that caused you such pain - then forget them, and come back to us," she said, as she finally faded out entirely, and Kagome slumped to her knees, horrible, pained sobs almost choking her.

"How can I, Sango? It hurt so bad then - and it still hurts so bad! How do I get past that?" she choked out in heartbroken tones.

The ones standing silently just out of sight met each others saddened, pained gazes - and wished they could turn back time, so that they could undo the damage they'd done to the broken little miko on her knees, crying her heart out.

But it was far, far, too late for such an easy fix.

---cCc---

A/N: Hope this update pleases... the next chapter, and possibly more, will be coma chapters - so a lot of angst is coming.

Amber