InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Silence the Fairytale ❯ Seasons of Change-Part 2 ( Chapter 25 )

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

A/n: I wanted to personally thank everyone for the wonderful reviews. I can't say how much I appreciate them, but they really make my days better. Thank you.

Sparkly Faerie: It will, eventually, become a hentai. *sigh* It is taking a long time, as it seems to be a bad habit of mine. Originally, I wasn't sure, and I labelled it so to be on the safe side. And thank you, I liked it... one thing I was always sad about was the fact that Kikyou wanted Inuyasha human... I understand, and in some ways I felt it selfish to ask, but he wanted to do it. I wasn't sure if he did it to make her happy, to just be with her, or if she'd ever had stayed with him if he didn't... So I played out a scenario, though I doubt Kikyou really would have married another man. And Inuyasha loved Kikyou here, just like in the anime. Hope that answers all your questions :>.

KnittingKnots: Ty, ty. Kirara came to me, suddenly, in this chapter. I wanted that little bundle of kawaii fluff.

Leo-mae: I thought your name was lemonade at first XD. Sorry. Anyway, o.o... I did spell it Tetsusaiga. *sweatdrop* And Sesshou's sword is Tenseiga. I used the shortened form of 'Tessaiga'. If I remember correctly, I read that Inuyasha says it that way as a slang form of the name for his sword. As he usually does, speak all gruff and such. If not, Westerners have come us with that as slang, but I think it sounds all masculine :D. But thank you for pointing it out either way, I appreciate it :D. *laughs* and I promise Kikyou will remain dead. I have no intention of returning her to life.

Feudal Teller of Tales: You're the second person to worry! Lol! No, I haven't even had Miro and Sango appear. I wouldn't do that to everyone. But you all are putting bad ideas into my head. Stop it :p. Kikyou shall remain dead. And thank you! I was happy to have Kirara, because she's so fluffy and squishy. :>

Silverwolf Halfbeast: I kinda stuffed something I've been feeling into the chapter. My wonderful hubby always gets me so many things, but having no job, I can't. So, like her, I try and do what I can when I can. I try to also make it super special. :). And tada, wonderful little Kirara enters the scene! Meow.

Tarzan: Aww, Ty!

AllieCoolGirl: Ty ^^! And ty for all the reviews on all my fics!! I appreciate it!! :D!

Unistar: Ty, ty. I thought it'd be perfect for Kagome-she's never been to Edo. And Buyo, too perfect :D. And an excuse for her to be a fattie.

InuyashaLoverr: Ty! I love fluff. And for Buyo, surprise! Yay for Kirara. It was a spur of the moment thing... *laughs* Baby says hi! He's going to be coming soon! :D I started nesting :3. And definitely love your fanart! :D! Is awesome!

Sovereignty: Happy B-day! And thank you very much :D!

InuRoseBudforLife: Ty very much. Ramon. :3. I love that name.

Kokoronagomu: Thank you Ginny. And I only learned what a malpropism was yesterday! You're so smart. I do use Dictionary.com and their thesaurus often, but I missed that. I had no idea that was what tyrst meant o.o. Thank you for pointing it out :D! I guess it does work in though, seeing as they're fluffy and all XD. As unintentional as it was :3. And heck, I even spelled it wrong... humbug.

Rose of Sharon: Oh, really? I understand what you mean. The narrative way I put it was intentional, and I promise I am not rushing. The whole thing about this story is that the intention of it was to span over years and years. And I had a chapter like this one before, just one, where it shows Kagome's personality has changed. And it was really meant to be a narrative, and I couldn't help but think of Samurai X OVA when I did this chapter... I think that's why it came off the way it did. I am sorry you found it disappointing. There will probably be more chapters like this, but I promise they won't be often. It's more to fill in what happened in a time frame instead of saying- "One year later!" You know? That way maybe certain characteristics shown will make more sense. Like, them sleeping together, or how she might be more affectionate to him in more mature ways. You know :D? Otherwise, thank you for the criticism, I appreciate it :). I will try and keep in mind to incorporate more emotion into the chapters ahead.

CatLover260: >>... <<;... good question, oh perceptiable one... And Ty!

LadyDeath31178: I sent you an e-mail as a reply.

Oniguts: Lol, remember a certain little point where they found her next to the river...? TADA! That explains why she had the fish and his haori. Kukuku. I'm a sneaky little person, ain't I? That frisky little kitty.

Silver Dog of the Snow: Good luck with the finals! And Ty! Piano? I wish I could learn how to play... I am happy to be of a theraputic nature ^^. Chacha. And thank you for the second review! Lol! I am happy you enjoyed it, and I think Kirara came as a surprise to everyone :). LOL.

TriNeyce: Ty, ty ^o^. I enjoy it too, because they find so much solace in one another. I think that's important- to find comfort in the person/people you love when the world can be cold. I once heard that for every person there is to hurt you, there is another to heal. I really believe that ^.^.

Lauraelva: Ty ^^


*counts* OMG! TY FOR ALL THE REVIEWS!! *flail* <3

PS Chapter is brought to you by "Cut"-Plumb


Luna-



"Kikyo? Really?" Kagome gasped, lifting her azure hues to Inuyasha in query.

Inuyasha's brows lowered in consternation at her askance, piercing her with intrigue.

"You've heard of her?"

Kagome nodded an affirmative.

"More than that! She was my grandmother."

Inuyasha did a double take, grabbing Kagome by the shoulders suddenly and demanding of her, "Are you serious?! Are you sure?!"

Kagome looked instantly worried, her eyebrows lifting up slightly in bafflement.

"Of course I'm sure... I heard about the jewel from my mother, but she never told me the name... She died when I was young..."

She didn't miss the way Inuyasha tensed in the slightest, his shoulders hunching at her words...

"...Why are you so upset?"

Inuyasha's hold on her slacked, and he averted him eyes in obvious shame...As he did, he slid his hands down and around her back, pulling her close.

"I'm sorry... I... was just surprised... that's all..."

He felt Kagome timidly lift one hand and fist his haori, and he heard her soft whisper...

"...you... you loved her, didn't you?"

Inuyasha tightened his hold on her in response, and that was all the answer Kagome needed.

"Inu, I'm sorry... I--"

He interrupted her, "Don't. It was a long time ago."

She laid her chin placidly against his shoulder as he nuzzled her hair in reassurance... for what, she was not sure, but she accepted the comfort nonetheless.

...For some reason, he seemed so vulnerable. Who was she to ask any more of him, though? She already felt the pressure of asking him to reveal his past to her, when he had apparently already felt so uncomfortable to begin with. It made her heart clench to think she had done this to him so callously, and without thinking...

When they finally settled together under the twinkling twilight that night, and Kagome watched Inuyasha as if entraced through the veil of her lashes as he slipped into an uneasy slumber... The moonlight pouring over his silvery hair, lighting it in an etheral glow... that she finally allowed her eyes to fully slide open.

...Reaching for him tentatively with one hand, so as not to wake him, she gently placed it on his cheek. There, she tried to smooth away the lines of worry that creased themselves there, tried to melt away his sleeping anger, but no matter how hard she tried it would not fade.

His eyes fluttered, deep within his subconscious mind, and she wondered what he dreamt of.

Just how deeply did she wound you, Inuyasha? How deep does that scar run when you already have so many...?

She wondered, if like his years and so akin to the stars, that perhaps the scars he had were infinite.

And for some reason unbeknownst to herself, she came to find herself cynical towards her ancestor. Blame and guilt, as if perhaps Kagome could have turned back time to erase the damage of yesterday.

But Kagome knew... oh, so well now... that sometimes, yesterday just didn't fade away like one might like.

And that was her last sinking thought as she succumbed to the night as well.





"Inuyasha, why are you so shy?"

That day, one spring so far away and untouchable, she had coaxed him to be next to her. The sakura were in bloom, a soft ocean of pink hues that rained down around them, softening her features that had at one time seemed so hard.

"Keh! I'm not shy."

He had lied.

But, she had known that...

She always had a knack of reading between the lines with him...

"I enjoy spring. But I feel, I am more suited for the winter. Do you not think so?" she had asked him, almost poetically...

Yet, there was a strange tone to her.

...almost one of wanting.

...He remembered wondering what had possessed her, when before that time they had seemed to have an understone of hostility to one another. Just as she had with every other youkai near her...

...Though he had not been particularly interested in the jewel she carried, it had crossed his mind before, enough to make him keep an eye on her...

Who couldn't be lured by the temptation of being granted their every wish?

Though, there was a darkness there that always made him keep away. Something inside his humanity that detested its existance...

He had never seen good come from it, in all his time watching her.

"What the hell are you rambling about, wench?"

Kikyo gave him no answer to his question that day.

And while he watched her with a suspicious leer, when she turned to him... and her own eyes were smiling, and lonely.

...that single, solitary look was forever burned into his memory.

...It was the only way he would recall her face...

"Do you think I can be an ordinary woman, Inuyasha?"

He wasn't sure why... but that was the one thing he answered seriously.

"Keh. You can be whatever you make yourself, stupid. Don't ask dumb questions."

He stood.

He was uncomfortable then to indulge in her sentimentalities, and she seemed to sense it as he walked away.

It had been so unlike the miko that seemed to have no human emotion he had come to assume her to be.

And she never called him back to her that day, but she had already tangled him in a web he wouldn't be able to escape from, even when he wanted to.

And when he could physically walk away... he found, his heart could not.

....

He followed her, constantly.

He couldn't forget that smiling loneliness that replayed in his mind...

He would protect her, watch over her, for seasons at a time. They had a strange camaraderie together, one they did not speak of often.

Sometimes, she would seek his counsel, but more often than not she would simply listen to him.

Never before had someone taken an interest in what he had to say...

Her eyes, always silent and understanding, would speak to him in ways her words could not.

And it was two winters after that one day under the sakura, that finally he knew the depth of what he felt for her.

It was also then, he came to appreciate his strength in ways he never knew before.

He finally had someone to protect.

"Kikyo, watch out!"

It had been a nightmare.

It was snowing.

A boar youkai was giving them more trouble than necessary.

She fired a sacred arrow, but missed when it dodged from its path.

It charged her, blindly.

He couldn't reach her in time...

...It caught her with a tusk, and threw her into the air.

...Blood followed in her wake.

"KIKYO!"

He remembered his despairing cry.

The rage that coursed through his blood, running red and white and hot through his veins.

He remembered catching her before she hit the ground...

...and he disemboweled the creature that dared hurt his intended.

His youkai blood was screaming for revenge...

He barely remembered the days he spent caring for her...

He just remembered the gripping terror as he listened to her shallowed breaths, her waning heartbeat... and he prayed.

He prayed for the first time in his life since he was a child.

...she survived.

And in nearly loosing her, he had come to realize she was the most important thing to him...

And yet...

...and yet...

...it was not meant to be.

Even when his heart wished it so, with all his being.

...

She had finally suggested to him her plans with the Shikon no Tama.

Inuyasha remembered his fear for her, remember the way he had nearly lost her...

"There's too much at risk, Kikyo! What if the jewel doesn't fade? Who will protect you then?"

Inuyasha also wasn't ignorant of the way her powers had been waning as of late.

But still, she seemed so bitter... she had a jaded smile on her face, as if she wished she could change it all.

"It doesn't matter, Inuyasha."

Her words sounded so... hollow...

"How can it not matter?!" he grabbed her shoulders then, digging his claws ever so slightly into that fragile flesh... that flesh that could be broken so easily, be made to bleed.

He knew, if he had wanted, he could have struck her down then.

He was so angry... so full of fire, and passion then.

Had he changed so much now since that time...?

Kikyo snapped her eyes to him, glaring at him with a coldness he had never seen. It caused him to tense, but not to remove himself from her being.

"It doesn't matter because you're a hanyou and I am a human."

...Every word she spoke spilled from her lips like a frosty wind, cutting him and lacerating him in unpredictable ways...

She reached up, forcibly removing his hands from her and throwing them away as if she were disgusted.

"It doesn't matter because I'm a miko and you're part youkai!"

Kikyo stepped away from him, out of his reach... so distant, even if he were to touch her body he still felt he wouldn't been able to feel her. He stood there, staring, unable to respond.

He had never expected this.

He had expected her to understand.

He, above all, knew what it meant to be branded a hanyou.

...he just didn't believe she did.

"Kikyo, I..."

He watched her, as she visibly shuddered at the sound of her own name.

"No, Inuyasha! It can't be this way! It can't!"

He vaguely recalled wondering, if she had been trying to convince him or herself.

He didn't speak.

...she walked away.

...and he stood there, alone and forgotten, without an explanation as to why it had to be that way.

...he never got his answer.




Inuyasha awoke, drenched in a cold sweat. He nearly sat up on impulse, but a warm body held him fast to the ground by its weight, and his instincts told him not to disturb it.

...it had been so long...

...so very, very long since he had dreamt of her...

He nearly very regretted telling the tale at all, since it dragged up memories he thought he had buried deep.

...running a shaking hand through his mass of hair slowly, he stared up at the sky.

The moon, waning, had been making its steady descent into the horizon.

It was early morning, far earlier than he wanted to be awake.

Looking down at the person that held him prone, he was struck by the resemblence of Kikyo. He had noticed it, the first time he had seen her...

But he had come to easily separate the two.

Kikyo was undeniably Kikyo.

And Kagome was the same.

It was like comparing life and death, light and silence.

You just couldn't.

Impulsively, he kissed her gently upon the forehead. She moaned little in her sleep, but did not stir.

And he found, he appreciated he had never become human for Kikyo...

...and it was only that day he knew it had been the right decision, after all...