InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Lavender and Roses ❯ Some Things Better Left Unsaid ( Chapter 4 )

Enjoy! Read and Review!

Lavender and Roses

By: Rini

Chapter 4: Some Things Better Left Unsaid

A girl with long ebony hair ran through a thick forest, leaves crunching and sweat pouring down her face. Her breathing was shallow and pained, her lungs burning for the needed air. She dared not look back for fear that He was still there. She was afraid to turn back now. It was already too late.

Suddenly, she saw the end of the forest ahead. Three voices called out for her to reach the safety at the end of the woods. She was almost there. She could start to feel the warmth of the sun just out of her reach. Her eyes drank in the needed light.

Then, she stumbled. She fell forward and landed on the outskirts of the forest. Golden rays of sunlight warmed her face as she turned on her back, panting and smiling at the fact that she had made it.

But, the sunlight died out.

She closed her eyes and shivered as she opened them once more. She was back in the forest. She was once again in the dark depths of the forest. She tried to move, but she was bound to the trunk of a massive tree. She cried out and tried to search for any sign of hope. But it was already too late.

Those eyes, the eyes she'd never forget and would never leave her mind. He appeared with those eyes. A sword was thrust through her abdomen. The girl stifled a cry and looked back into those eyes, tears streaming down her own.

"I will never forgive you. My soul shall never rest until your blood has been spilled by my own hands," the girl croaked out as she fell limp against the tree, blood pooling down on the ground below.

Arioch's eyes shot open as she panted for air. Her arms shook and she tried to steady her hands. She looked to her right and saw the head of a young girl perched on her shoulder fast asleep. Arioch let her body relax and looked up at the sky. It was still hours before dawn, not even the morning twilight yet.

Arioch gently lifted Kagome up and climbed down the tree. She placed Kagome back on the ground next to Sango and tucked them both in with a blanket.

"Have a nice sleepless night Inuyasha?" Arioch asked as she was tucking the girls in.

Inuyasha sat at the base of the tree Arioch and Kagome just occupied with his legs crossed and the Tetsaiga at his shoulder.

"She told you didn't she?" Inuyasha asked with a heaviness to his voice.

Arioch sat down across from him trying to restart the fire.

"I knew demons had lust for women, but you are the first I have heard of to have lust after a dead woman."

"I don't lust after her."

"Then you love her."

"I did. I still do. I.. I don't know what it is I feel."

"And you expect a poor young girl to sit by and allow herself to suffer until you do?"

"I didn't mean for Kagome to get hurt. It's just that it's Kikyo. It's so much more complicated."

"I can't see how it can be so complicated. From what I was told, she died trying to kill you. She's brought back after 50 years and wants to take you to hell. End of story."

"You can't simply put what happened into short sentences and expect it to make sense."

"Then you tell me the truth then. In your own words."

"I loved Kikyo. I was willing to give up this life to be human with her. Then she shot me with that sacred arrow and pinned me to a tree for 50 years. I was ready to hate her. I was ready to curse the day I met her and forget her, but I couldn't. I couldn't just forget her. I loved her too much. Too much was left unsaid."

"And Kagome?"

"She is the reincarnation of Kikyo, yet they are so different I can't even begin to count the ways. Her eyes are so different, full of life and compassion. She's everything Kikyo isn't, from the way her hair flows to the way her eyes light up when she smiles, even to the way she yells at me. I guess I fell for her at first because she filled the gap left behind by Kikyo, but that wasn't it either."

"It's because she's a different person. Kikyo and her may have shared the same soul, but they are like night and day. They are two separate entities. They are two different people, no matter how much everyone says they are the same person. You have chosen two very different people to love, Inuyasha."

"I know. I tried to think that by staying by Kagome's side it would be like being by Kikyo's side. Yet it's not at all. With Kagome I feel free to be myself, but with Kikyo I remember all the things I was going to give up to be with her. I can't let go of either of them."

"Inevitably you are going to have to choose. Kagome may be pure and at times naive, but she isn't blind to the world. There is a fine line between love and hate, compassion and pity, and honor and sacrifice. Don't allow an innocent soul to suffer needlessly. Show some compassion, if not dignity, and tell her the truth."

Inuyasha's eyes darkened and he looked down, "I don't even have an answer."

"You don't need to giver her a final answer. You can't expect to answer all life's questions in a matter of minutes. A simple answer is better than no answer. She needs some reassurance."

"How do you even know so much about all this anyway?"

Arioch looked deep into his flaxen eyes with her own deep purple eyes, "I have my own reasons."

"That's not an answer."

"Not a final answer," Arioch grinned.

Inuyasha smirked, "Just enough to pacify me."

It was silent for a while as Inuyasha moved over by Kagome and Arioch kept close to the fire. It was a few hours of silence, where the two demons could keep to their own thoughts. Inuyasha would often look over at Arioch, but she seemed as though she was miles away in her own world.

< Her eyes seem so dark now, like she's remembering something from her past. Something painful. I guess I get that look in my eyes too when I think of Kikyo and Naraku. >

"Something wrong?" Inuyasha asked.

Arioch stretched and laid down on the ground with her hands behind her head, "Fate has a fun way of messing with lives, doesn't it?"

"What happened to you Arioch?"

"I told all of you already."

"You told us some story, but I know there's more than just that. Even I can tell that."

"It makes no difference."

"It makes a lot of difference."

"Here's a lesson for you, Inuyasha. Some things are better left unsaid."

Inuyasha laughed, "I guess only my life here is an open book."

"Open books need to be closed," Arioch said as she got up and walked into the forest.

"Guess so," Inuyasha said as they looked up into the sky, now brimming with the sun's light as sunrise started to spread across the sleeping landscape.

"Where's Lady Arioch?" Miroku asked Inuyasha a few hours after sunrise when everyone was awake and packing the camp up.

"She left at sunrise about 2 hours ago."

"Maybe she left to train again," Kagome said.

"I hope she comes back soon so we can get going," Sango replied.

Just then, Arioch walked back in with her emotionless expression and whip in hand.

"About time you came back," Inuyasha said with a wink.

Arioch smirked, "Sorry, I was plotting graves for your bodies."

Miroku shook his head, "I guess those two will never get along."

Kagome and Sango smiled at each other and laughed.

"Let's get going," Inuyasha shouted.

"There's a lot of overgrowth ahead and a knocked down tree. It will be hard to try to walk through it all. I found an easier path not to far off."

Miroku smiled and walked over to Arioch and grabbed her hands, " You are such a wonderful spirit. I would be honored to have you bear my children."

Sango hit him with her boomerang, "Down boy. Sorry Arioch."

"Like I have time for human males."

"Shot through the heart."

"It's a demon thing," Kagome laughed.

"No, it's just a female thing for Miroku," Sango giggled.

"Let's get going then," Miroku said with a frown on his face.

Everyone was following Arioch through the woods. Inuyasha stayed near the back trying to make sure no one would attack them. The whole time, however, his eyes where locked on Kagome. Her eyes seemed dimmed and her face seemed permanently frozen into a frown.

< She aches because of me. She cries because of me. She probably hates me. >

Then, Inuyasha remembered Arioch's words.

< An answer, not a final one but an answer. I should do that. I need to do that. >

"Kagome," Inuyasha called.

Kagome stopped and turned around," Yes Inuyasha?"

"I want to tell you something."

"You can tell me anything you want, Inuyasha. I'll always listen."

Inuyasha stood next to Kagome, "Kagome, I don't know how to say this. I was never good at saying what needed to be said like this, but you deserve to hear something. I can't deny that I don't care about you, but I can't deny that I don't care about Kikyo either. I can't say in easy words who I love more and it would be wrong of me to decide now with everything the way it is. But I do care about you Kagome, and I must finish this thing with Naraku for Kikyo and myself also. I owe it to her to finish this."

Kagome reached out and hugged Inuyasha tightly, tears springing to her eyes, "I don't want you to chose any one of us now. I understand you have to kill Naraku for your own reasons and I accept that. It doesn't matter to me who you love Inuyasha. I just want to be here, with you. Nothing else matters as long as I can stay by your side."

Inuyasha closed his eyes and hugged Kagome back just as tightly, each seeking solace from the other. Finally, they broke apart and walked on forward, but with lighter hearts, as Kagome pushed her bike with one hand and held Inuyasha's hand with the other.

Arioch smiled to herself.

"Something wrong?" Miroku asked.

"And here I thought he would be just like Him."

"Like who?" Sango asked.

"What are you guys babbling about?" Inuyasha yelled, " Keep going already!"

"Yes master," Arioch shouted back to him.

It was near mid afternoon when they finally got out of the forest. It was suddenly very quiet, not a bird or grass blade stirred. It was quiet, deadly quiet.

"What happened to the birds? To the animals?" Sango asked.

"I feel a foreboding presence here," Miroku added.

Suddenly, a scent assailed the air and Inuyasha drew his Tetsaiga out, "I smell him. "

Sango readied her boomerang and Miroku gripped his staff.

Arioch looked around her, "Why would he come here? So soon?"

"Now's your chance to prove yourself, demoness," Inuyasha yelled.

"I sense a jewel shard. That way!" Kagome shouted.

Inuyasha and the others started to run off into the plains with their weapons ready, as Arioch stood confused.

"This better not be a trap for them," Arioch whispered into the wind and took off after the group to find Naraku, the source of all their pain and suffering.