InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Cloud Watching ❯ Healing ( Chapter 14 )

Love is like a bed of roses, there are many thorns. The path to true happiness lies in learning to avoid the thorns, while enjoying the roses.

--Lillian Carol Russell

Healing

By Melissa Spoula

Kagome slowly became aware of the area around her. She was sitting on cold, hard, ground and surrounded by darkness. The only thing that illuminated the darkness around her was a faint glowing light, which she couldn't find the source of. The silence of the place was only interrupted by a faint pulsing noise that Kagome also could not find a source for. She tried to stand but found she had almost no strength in her body and what little was left seemed to be leaving her.

Cold, alone and scared she did the only thing that she could think of that would help her.

"Inuyasha!" the only response to her cry was her own voice echoing off unseen walls. Somehow she knew that wherever she was, not even Inuyasha could help her.

Suddenly there was a bright flash of light in front of her. There standing before her was Kikyo. A bright light surrounded Kikyo, making her look warm and alive. Kagome felt a wave of panic stronger than any she had ever felt before. "Stay away from me!" Kagome cried. She tried to get up and run only to find she was frozen to the ground. Worse than that she found she could not take her eyes away form the miko in front of her. She was completely at Kikyo's mercy.

Kikyo walked over and knelt down in front of Kagome, her light touching the edges of Kagome's. This made Kagome realize how faint her light was compared to Kikyo's.

"Calm down Kagome. I'm not here to hurt you. I've only come to apologize for what I have done to you."

"Apologize?" Kagome said in a voice barely above a whisper. "Yes, and not just for this incident, but for everything I have done to you. For every time I made you suffer or hurt you in any way. Please just know I am truly sorry." Kikyo smiled and stood up. " Now I will do the only thing I can and give you back what is rightfully yours."

Slowly Kikyo disappeared living her light behind. Kagome, now able to move again, stood up and began to walk into the light. As soon as she stood in the center of the light she could feel her strength return to her. Suddenly the light expanded around her until the darkness was completely pushed away. The light began to burn so bright that she had to raise her hand to block her eyes.

When she moved her hand away form her eyes again she found herself staring at the ceiling of her room. She was in bed with the covers pulled around her. Three oil lamps burned around the room casting a gentle glow. She turned to her left and was disappointed when she didn't find Inuyasha lying next to her. The disappointment soon left her with what she did see.

Across the room she saw Sango and Miroku siting up against the wall. Shippo was curled up in Miroku's lap and Rin was leaning her head on Sango's shoulder and held Kirara in her lap. They were all asleep. Kagome got up and brought her blanket over to her sleeping family. After she was sure they were covered she quietly left the room.

If Inuyasha wasn't in bed then maybe he was somewhere in the house. A quick check of each room revealed he was nowhere to be found. Kagome then turned her search outside. She began quietly calling his name knowing that if he was anywhere around he would hear her. When she came to the god's tree she sat down.

This was strange. If Inuyasha was going to leave, Kagome knew he would have told her where he was going or he would at least leave a note or something. I just wasn't like him to leave like this. Maybe one of the others knew. Come to think of it why was everyone sleeping in her room?

`Something strange is going on. Ok girl, think back, what is the last thing I remember?'

She could remember taking Rin for a run in the woods and then…then she saw Kikyo's soul snatchers. That's right, she found Kikyo almost dying in the forest. She remembered Kikyo grabbing her and then….what happened? After searching her mind for a few minutes Kagome remembered her dream. She remembered the light and Kikyo apologizing, but what had Kikyo done to her?

Then another thought popped into her head, and this one made her blood run cold. Kikyo was alive and Inuyasha was gone. What if he was with her? What if she had tried to kill him again? What if Inuyasha had gone with her willingly? Kagome shot to her feet and began frantically calling for Inuyasha.

Panic hit her and she began to run blindly in the darkness. Not paying attention to where she was going Kagome ran right into the well house wall. Or what would have been a wall if it had been finished. Since it wasn't she only tripped over the foundation landing hard on her knees. Reaching up she grabbed onto the first thing she could and pulled her self up. She was now knelling in front of the well itself.

She had not come to the well since weeks before the battle with Naraku. Looking into it's depths, the question that had been nagging her for so long now finally had a answer. At the bottom of the well she could see a warm blue light. The well still would work, at lest one way. Just on the other side of that light was the modern world and all she had grown up with. She was one jump away from her family, her soft bed, and a warm bath. There were no demons, evil spirits, or dead miko's there waiting to get her, beyond the light was safety. Her mother was waiting with a hot meal if she was hungry and the phone was right there to call all the friends she had not talked to for so long. Surely grandpa had run out of excuses by now and she sure missed Sota.

One jump, one small jump and she could reset her life. Just like her time in the civil war era had never happened. Just like she had never met Inuyasha.

Inuyasha. Wherever he was and whoever he was with he expected her to be home waiting for him when he returned. She knew she could never leave, would never leave, never jump down the well again, never go home. This was her home now. As if the well had heard her thoughts the light slowly faded away leaving her once again in darkness.

Only this time she wasn't alone. "Thinking of leaving?" Kagome stood and brushed off her bruised and bloody knees. "No Sesshoumaru I just fell." She couldn't really see him but she knew he had a slight smirk on his face. "With all the mindless running you have been doing I am amazed you did not fall sooner. Did my brother not teach you how to see in the dark or did he only teach you how to hear?"

"How did you know…never mind I don't think I really want to know. Where is Inuyasha?" Sesshoumaru slowly circled her. "Well judging form all the energy you seem to have, one would assume that my brother has accomplished his task." Kagome reached out her hand and grabbed his wrist. "What task? What are you talking about?" surprisingly enough the great demon lord made no move to pull away form the girl. "The dead miko took your soul. Inuyasha went to kill her and take it back. Since you are no longer dying it must mean that he has killed her."

`So that's what happened. Then that dream might have been real. The light must have been Kikyo giving my soul back. If Kikyo is dead then where is Inuyasha?' "Sesshoumaru do you know where Inuyasha is?" Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow to her. "Yes. Why?" Kagome clasped her hands together in front of her. "Please, you have to take me to him. He's all alone. He needs me."

Sesshoumaru glanced back to the house. Kagome knew what he was thinking. "She'll be fine Sesshoumaru. Everyone in there will protect her." Sesshoumaru looked back to the girl. "We will have to fly fast, I do not like to leaving her alone with only a pack of week humans to protect her." Sesshoumaru picked her up before she could argue that humans were not week and they took off with a speed that almost left her breathless.

After only a few hours they landed in the woods around the lake. Kagome walked around the edge of the water until she saw Inuyasha. He was sitting on a rock not far from the shore of the lake. His gaze was fixed on a pile of cloth that Kagome could only guess had been all that was left of Kikyo. He didn't even notice her approaching. In his hands she could see he was twisting a green object but she couldn't quit make out what it was.

"Inuyasha?" he jerked his head in her direction. Looking up he saw Kagome slowly waking towards him. She was dressed in a white sleeping kimono. She was bare foot and her hair flowed loosely behind her. The moon light reflected off her skin giving her an unearthly glow.

Ever since Kikyo had died he had fallen into some kind of trance. The world no longer seemed real. The whole situation was hard enough to deal with, now he wasn't sure if he had killed Kikyo or if she had killed herself. She had brought the dagger to her heart but it was the force of his hug that drove it into her. Maybe she had intended it to be both of their faults. Maybe she just couldn't do it her self.

It almost seemed fitting that it was both of their faults, after all the whole incident with Naraku had been because they didn't trust each other, placing the blame on both of them. Only a few moments ago had he picked up the emerald dagger from where Kikyo had dropped it. He twisted it back and forth letting the moonlight reflect off each side of the blade. He wanted to see blood, something to prove to himself that everything was real.

Then Kagome had shown up out of nowhere. Seeing Kagome had literally shocked him back into reality. All his attention was now focussed on the only proof he needed that everything had indeed been real. He dropped the dagger and rose to his feet. Kagome had stopped when he got up and let him walk up to her. He placed both hands on the side of her head and tilted her head up so he cold look directly into her eyes. Her eyes were filled with life, and her face was warm. Not only could he feel her pulse pounding under her skin but also hear her heart beat. Everything about her said that she was alive and well.

Kagome raised her hands to his. "Inuyasha are you ok?" his hands moved up into her hair. That was when she felt him shake. "You're alive. How did you get here?" Kagome had turned her head to glance at Sesshoumaru. "Your brother brought me…." Looking around she found that Sesshoumaru was already gone. Shaking her head slightly she turned her attention back to Inuyasha. She could swear he was shaking more than he had been before. "You're ok." He whispered again. He pulled her closer and kissed her forehead.

When he pulled away Kagome looked up at him. He had what looked like tears in his eyes, like he was fighting something that lay just below the surface. "Do you want to tell me what happened out here? Do you want to talk about it?" with that he dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around her waist. He pressed his face into her stomach and began to sob and shake. Kagome wrapped her arms around him as best she could hoping to give him some comfort. That only seemed to make him cry harder. Kagome dropped to her knees and pulled his head to her shoulder. She began gently rocking back and forth, stroking his hair, and trying to calm him. "Its ok Inuyasha. Everything's going to be ok." He buried his face in the crook of her neck. "There was no way I could save you both. I couldn't let you die." He pulled away just enough to look at her. "She knew I couldn't do it. She stole the dagger away from me. She held it to her heart and when I hugged her I was the one who pushed it in. I feel sad because she's dead but I'm so happy you're alive. I don't know what to feel."

Kagome smiled at him "She came to me in a dream Inuyasha. She apologized to me and gave me back my soul. She wasn't mad, she was smiling. I think she was happy." Inuyasha started to regain some form of composure. "I just want everything to be normal. I just want to be happy. For all of us to be happy but every time I get close something happens to make me realize that everything can be taken away from me in a heartbeat. All I want to do is be happy. Why is that so hard?"

Kagome pushed the hair out of his face. "Being with you makes me happy and that's all I need. Nothing that anyone can ever do will force us apart. So as long as we get through everything together we'll always be happy. I'm never going to leave you Inuyasha. I love you."

He held her closer and rested his head on her chest. "I love you too Kagome."

Author's Notes

Okay, that wasn't exactly a wedding, but I can't think of everything all at once. Maybe in a couple of more chapters.