InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Mou Ichido Dake ❯ Chapter 13

 

Inuyasha felt terribly exhausted after his talk with Kikyou. Never had he poured out his feelings so candidly before to anyone. He slowly walked along the well-trodded path of his forest, bowing his head and kicking pebbles at random.

 

:What should I do now? I feel that I cannot stay in this village anymore, even though I want to very much. But if I continue to stay, I might cause Kikyou to have even deeper feelings for me. But where can I go? There's no where in the world that can suffer my presence anymore.:

 

For the first time since he was thrown back into this strange world, Inuyasha began to regret his hasty decision. It sound like quite a good deal at that point in time, but now life just sucks.

 

“Inuyasha,” a familiar voice rang out in the wilderness of the forest, soft and yet imposing.

 

Inuyasha stopped and lifted up his head to see Sesshoumaru standing in front of him. For a moment, he wondered why Sesshoumaru had not left yet. But he was too tired mentally to care.

 

Upon seeing his brother's listless look, Sesshoumaru could already guess the reason for his bad mood. His brother was somewhat predictable that way, wearing all the emotions he had on his sleeve.

 

“Inuyasha,” Sesshoumaru began, walking towards him until they were two feet apart. “I know what happen between you and that miko. Surely now you understand what I've said.”

 

Inuyasha nodded but did not reply. Sesshoumaru, seeing his brother's despondent look, was suddenly reminded of a scene that happened when they were young. It was when Sesshoumaru was a teenager, a young lord in training. Inuyasha was barely five at that time. No one at the palace really cared about him and refused to play with him. Sesshoumaru bumped into Inuyasha in the imperial garden after their rejection and Inuyasha had the same look on his face. But Sesshoumaru was young then too, and pushed his brother away before walking off. It never bothered him, until today, when he caught another glimpse of his brother's vulnerabilities.

 

A sudden urge took hold of him at that moment, and without even thinking, Sesshoumaru grasped Inuyasha's arm and blurted out. “Go with me, don't stay here. Come back to the Western lands.”

 

It was spoken with a tone that left no room for argument and Inuyasha looked at his older brother in surprise. For an instance, Sesshoumaru had a strange expression on his face but it was immediately schooled into a mask of indifference.

 

“Go back?” Inuyasha echoed softly, before shaking his head. “Nii-san, I don't think I can go back anymore.”

 

Sesshoumaru was furious upon hearing Inuyasha's words. Furious with himself that he actually revealed that he wanted his brother back, furious with Inuyasha for having the audacity to reject him, and furious that his heart actually twinge at hearing those words. He knew what Inuyasha meant when he said that. But Sesshoumaru, being a proud creature, merely nodded. “Suit yourself. But you should take my advice if you know what is good for you.”

 

 

Sesshoumaru left shortly after that, rising up into the air with wisps of smoke surrounding him. Sometimes Inuyasha really envy his brother. Because his brother seemed so much more successful at everything he does than him. He always ended up making everything worse, and everybody around him always suffer in the end.

 

For hours Inuyasha thought through all possible courses of action. Should he tempt fate and stay? Or should he just be a coward and leave? But so what if he stayed? If he stayed, Kikyou might end up weakening her powers even more, leaving her vulnerable. But if he leave now, Kikyou will have no one to protect her.

 

:The only protection she needs now is from you, Inuyasha.:

 

Inuyasha froze. Perhaps his conscience was right. Maybe he should just leave. Maybe in time, Kikyou would forget about him and have her powers restored back. He decided then, to leave the village for both his and Kikyou's good.

 

 

At the same moment, Kikyou was looking for Inuyasha. After hearing about what he said, she felt even more confused. But after thinking through all possible courses of action, she could only come up with one solution.

 

She finally found him sitting under a tree, closing his eyes. As usual he was clad in his fire-rat kimono and Tessaiga lay securely at his hip. She smiled and decided to call him.

 

“Inuyasha.”

 

“Kikyou.” Inuyasha was not surprised. Somehow, he already smelt her scent from far off. But he was not at all eager to tell her his decision.

 

“I…I got something to tell you.” Both said at the same time.

 

Kikyou and Inuyasha blinked. “You say first.” Kikyou offered.

 

“Kikyou, I….I decided to leave this village now. I don't think I'll come back again.” Inuyasha plunged into the topic quickly, fearing he'll lose his courage.

 

“Is it because of me?” Kikyou whispered. “I got something to tell you too. I know that it's impossible to ask you to return my feelings. So I decided to start forgetting those feelings I have for you and retrain my spiritual powers. But I thought maybe I could ask you to stay around, to help protect the village while I'm retraining?”

 

Inuyasha froze. For a second he was tempted to say yes, but one look at Kikyou's hopeful face and he realized that it's impossible. He slowly shook his head.

 

Kikyou looked shocked at Inuyasha's refusal, and then feelings of sadness and betrayal overwhelmed her. “How could you leave me when I need you the most? When we need you the most?”

 

Inuyasha had no answer. He stared at Kikyou's face for a while, trying to memorize her features. Then slowly, he stood up and brushed his kimono and walked past Kikyou without turning back.

 

 

Hours past and a lonely figure slowly made herself back into the familiar village, now filled with night time activities as the village celebrate their victory over the youkai battle that happened a few days ago. Kaede saw the figure from afar and ran towards it, smiling happily.

 

“Onee-sama!! Onee-sama come quickly. Sato-san caught us a huge boar tonight!”

 

When Kaede stopped just in front of her elder sister Kikyou, she could sense something was off. Her sister looked sadder than usual, with a hint of anger and confusion on her delicate features.

 

“Onee-sama? Where's Inu-niichan?” Kaede questioned softly. “I thought you went to invite him?”

 

Kikyou stooped down and scooped her younger sister up. Nuzzling her sister's forehead, she replied gently.

 

“He's not coming, Kaede. He will never come here anymore.”

 

 

 

 

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