InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Half Souls ❯ Whole Again ( Chapter 3 )

Half Souls

Yasashii the Aggressive Kitsune

Disclaimers: I really hate repeating this junk…really. All I own is ramen. So there.

Note: I obviously decided to make this story a little longer, this will hopefully be the final chapter, unless I decide to write an epilogue or make another story based on this one…which I doubt unless I have MONUMENTAL SUPPORT from my readers AKA the bum sitting at their computer right now reading this. Please review or email me or SOMETHING, that's the only way I know I'm doing a decent job! ~Yasashii

Warning: Get your tissue box ready…

{} - contains the character's thoughts. Just FYI.

Though it weighs on my mind, I can't ask
Tired of swimming to you, I fall silent
Though I want to see you, I'm pushed by invisible waves
And I find myself even further away

Keep it going, baby, so it doesn't stop
If you don't feel the same, then tell me
Though I don't believe in forcing things
It's alright to try, if it's just a little

I wanna be with you now
Together, let's shrink this distance
If we do it now, we can make it
We can start over, though we can't become one
I wanna be with you now
Someday, even this distance
Will become something we can embrace
We can start sooner, I wanna be with you after all

You can be hurt this much, by just a single word
But you'll teach me about loneliness

When you can't protect it, keep on trying, baby
Though it isn't how I promised it would be, trust me
Though I don't believe in forcing things
It's alright to try, if I'm with you

I wanna be with you now
Together, let's gaze at this distance
If we do it now, we can make it
We can start over, I want to put it into words
I wanna be with you now
Along the way, even this distance
Will become something we can embrace
We should stay together, I wanna be with you after all

I wanna be with you now
Cuz I know this can't be forever
We can start over, just you and me
I wanna be with you now
Cuz I know this can't be forever
We should stay together, just you and me
I wanna be with you

~Final Distance, sung by Utada Hikaru

~~Whole Again~~

Inuyasha sat there for a long time, staring at the water before him. For the first time in his life, Inuyasha was afraid. Not the kind of physical fear that comes with each fight for the shards of the Jewel. It was a fear that permeated his heart and soul. The only true friend he'd ever had was lost…and so was his will to fight. He sighed.

"There is no turning back now. I will just have to finish the Jewel alone…but it will be so hard without Kagome there for me. I can't detect the shards, either." He shook his head stubbornly. "No matter! I will find them anyway! Then I will defeat Naraku…even though Kagome's arrows would be useful." The fear crept through every bone in his body. "I should be ready to go as soon as I get something to eat…but Kagome has all the ramen. Kuso! I can't even EAT without Kagome!"

It was then that he came to a realization: Kagome had given him a sense of self-worth and purpose. Without her, he was hopelessly lost. He cursed his weakness as the fear surrounded him, overwhelmed him. Inuyasha fought down a sudden wave of emotion that had risen from deep within his heart…it was the urge to cry. He had already chosen, and it was too late.

Inuyasha closed his eyes to block out his reflection on the water. Then instead of seeing himself, he saw Kagome. She smiled at him, laughed with/at him, fought with/for him. She was always there. He frowned. {What about Kikyo?} Kikyo who wanted him dead and hated him with all her being. Kikyo who was dead. Nothing more than a doll now, only driven by hate. {Even though she knows I chose Kikyo, she's still always there. Kagome, you are such an idiot.}

Before he realized what he was doing, Inuyasha stood and headed for the Bone Eater's Well. It had been his fault that Kikyo had died, and it destroyed the miko he once loved. If he let something like that happen to Kagome, he would not be able to live with himself. He needed to redeem himself before she was too far gone. Desperation clung to him like a second skin as he leaped into the well.

{Hang on, Kagome. I'll set things right again…}

~*~*~

Kagome stared at the blank piece of paper. She had made up her mind to do her school work, but her mind kept straying from her geometry to what was on the other side of the well. {Geometry is evil anyways.} She closed her textbook and set it aside. She looked again at the blank piece of paper and started to doodle on it. She knew leaving Inuyasha behind like that was cruel. She didn't really even have anything important to do in school. {Oh well, it's not like it matters anyway.} "He probably doesn't know that anything's wrong. Inuyasha no baka."

MEEEEOOOOOOW. Thunk.

Kagome, worried that someone had heard her, turned around to defend herself. All she found was a very fat cat sprawled out on her sketchbook. "Buyo! How did you get in here?"

The cat merely looked at her as if to say, `How do you THINK I got in here, space cadet?!' added by another meow and the Feed Me Look.

Kagome frowned and shoved Buyo off her book and out of her room. She closed the door and went to put her sketchbook away, which the obese cat had conveniently kicked open. The revealed page displayed a simple sketch of Shippo snoring on her backpack. Kagome smiled, fondly reminisced about her time with the young kitsune, and turned the page. She frowned and then almost laughed at the crude picture before her. A baboon pelt hanging in a noose with little "x" eyes and its tongue sticking out. {Obviously Inuyasha's handiwork. Why can't he ever leave my stuff alone?}

She turned to the back of her book where she kept her only drawing of the rebellious hanyou. She had drawn it when she found him asleep, a fairly rare occasion as of late. She touched the picture and remembered all the kind things he had ever spoken. Then of all his harsh words and reprimands… then of his heart wrenching decision. "Damn, damn, damn!" She clenched her hand into the page and ripped it out, crumpling the paper into a ball. "Damn you, damn me, damn everything!" Kagome turned and chucked the paper toward her window. Her eyes went wide as the page never went out the window. It was instead caught at the sill by a clawed hand.

"Were you trying to attack me with this thing?"

"I-Inuyasha…" A lump formed in her throat and she turned away from him. Inuyasha raised a brow and looked down at the ball of paper in his hand. He sat down and childishly swung his legs back and forth over the sill. Being careful so as not to ruin any more of Kagome's things {like that diary I threw into the river or that "pen" thing I broke in half, or those funny waxy things I chewed on…what did she call those?…Oh yeah, "cray-ons"!}, he carefully uncrumpled and smoothed out all the wrinkles from the paper.

"Kagome…this is…this picture is…" He turned the page upside down and sideways and right side up again and peered at it. Kagome gasped and turned back to him, grabbing at the drawing. Inuyasha smirked and held it juuuust out of reach. "Hehe, something you don't want me to see?" He then made a show of looking at it even more closely.

"BAKA! If you can't tell what it is, then give it back! Don't make me say IT!"

"I know what it is," he stated solemnly, stopping his antics to look at her. {She really is beautiful when she's mad…}

Kagome snatched the paper away when she saw he was distracted and tucked the picture into her book. She didn't want to hear anything he had to say to her, not now. He could never understand, nor would he ever want to. She looked up into his youthful golden eyes, feeling the tension between the two of them grow as the silence dragged on.

Inuyasha sighed and stepped down off the sill. "Being quiet doesn't suit you." Kagome only turned her back to him and began to clean up her desk. She knew she had just cleaned it a couple days ago, but she needed to concentrate on anything but him. Inuyasha narrowed his eyes, "Ohhhh so it's gonna be the silent treatment." He circled around her, trying to get her attention. "You can't avoid me, Kagome. I'm always gonna be here so you better get used to it! I refuse to leave until I know what I did wrong this time." With that said, Inuyasha strode over to her bed and sat down on it with an air of finality.

"Why?" she whispered. Her hands tightened around a glass, hoping against hope that he would take her pain away…{But Inuyasha is Inuyasha. He doesn't care for a cheap incarnate of his lover.} Kagome couldn't keep the tremor from her voice, "Why can't you just leave me alone? I come home to get away from you!" From the corner of her eye, she saw Inuyasha flinch. His reaction made something crack inside her. Never had she seen him look as guilty as he did now! Why?! "How can you say that you'll always be here when I know that as soon as I look away, you'll be looking for Kikyou?! What did I ever do to you to deserve this?" The tears began to fall, one by one. "I know I'm not perfect like she is, but I thought you were my friend!"

Inuyasha blinked, taken aback by her harsh words. "K-Kagome…"

She turned to face him, her tirade far from finished. "I saw you talking to her. How you promised your life to her. Do you even know what it's like? Being trapped in a mind that used to be someone else's? Someone who loved you and died for you?!" She stepped closer, the tears running down her face in tiny rivers. "Don't you understand?! I…I feel like cheap leftovers! Like a puppet on a string! And ya wanna know something? It's your fault! I…I hate Kikyou…and I hate y-" Her sentence was abruptly cut off by strong arms pulling her into a warm embrace.

Inuyasha held her close, wondering what had set her off. He breathed in the scent of her hair…it was something indescribable, but distinctly Kagome. He thought of the last time he had held her like this, then felt another pang of guilt at the thought of pushing her away again. His arms tightened around her.

"Inu…Inuyasha?"

"It's okay, Kagome. I'm not going anywhere."

With that, Kagome let her head drop onto his shoulder and she began to cry. Her arms wound themselves around his torso and her hands clutched at the fabric on his back, afraid that he would try to tear himself away from her. It had been far too long since she had been allowed to cry.

Inuyasha just sat and held her, rocking back and forth to try to soothe her. {I hate making you cry, it makes ME want to cry!} He didn't want to ruin things by opening his big mouth, so he occasionally ran his claws through her hair while he waited for her sobs to die down. Inuyasha just knew that Sesshoumaru would have a field day if he saw this…no. He was going to stop worrying about what everyone else thought. It didn't matter in the long run. His Kagome would always be his Kagome. Sure she was human…a human from a different time to boot! Inuyasha furrowed his brow in thought. {She said she was just a cheap copy of Kikyou…Kagome no baka. Kagome is nothing like Kikyou. She can't even shoot a bow! Maybe she wouldn't cry if I had realized sooner…} He heard Kagome's breathing even out, and looked down to find her asleep on his lap. Inuyasha sighed, knowing that he wasn't going anywhere for a while. He reached for a blanket and wrapped it around her and settled his back against the wall. His ears twitched and his eyes widened when she unconsciously shifted to find a more comfortable position. He relaxed again when her head settled back onto his shoulder. He closed his eyes and smiled just the tiniest bit. {What have you done to me, Kagome? I'm starting to think of you more and more with each passing day…I think I love…you.} The silent admission hung in the air as the hanyou drifted off to sleep with the miko-in-training nestled in his arms.

AN: Heehee, fluff. I think I may write another chapter! It's just too cute! Er….hope it's not TOO cute. I had some inspiration while listening to "Final Distance" by Utada Hikaru. Very pretty song. The lyrics are at the top. It fits Inuyasha and Kagome, doncha think? Thanks for reading and PLEEEEEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD….REVIEW!

~Yasashii ^_^V