InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Strange Duet ❯ Reflection ( Chapter 9 )

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

Welcome back everyone! We've reached the 9thchapter of Fallen (Strange Duet on other sites) already! All of your reviews are always so wonderful when I open them up and read them each day. Thank you all so very much for your support and energy for this story!Some of the songs in the Tracklist will be repeated for other chapters. It isn't because I can't think of any others, it's because I truly feel that it fits the chapter. Also, some chapters will have excerpts from the lyrics and more than one song that suits the mood.

Standard Disclaimer: Inuyasha/co are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, not me, I do own Chimokoumaru and his family, along with any other OCs that may pop in here.

Tracklist C9: Too Much Love Will Kill You- Queen/ Listen to the Rain- Evanescence

Nineteen days had passed since her breakdown at the Goshinboku in the rain. And the rainy season had come and seemed to linger longer than usual. One of the Saturdays she had off from school were spent cleaning out her room from all the junk that had accumulated over the past years. Sorting through old photographs, papers and various other odds and ends had brought back more and more memories of things that had happened. Kagome was currently taking down the fourth industrial sized garbage bag downstairs to be set out for the next pick up day.

Who would have known that so much crap was in one girl's room?

She sighed as she heaved the heavy plastic over her shoulders and into the container. The clouds overhead were heavy and nearly black with rain as the temperature continued to drop. Distant sounds of thunder and forks of lightning reached her from the distance as she looked out from the shrine over the city.

`Another storm, there's no youki this time, so that means it's another normal storm.'

Four more youkai related problems had been solved since the time she destroyed the snake youkai and saved the little girl. There was still no word on who the child was or even where she had come from. One of the violent storms had been caused by a pair of feuding youkai with some marital problems that had been solved by Kagome's quick thinking and advice.

To make things extremely interesting, she was now getting a reputation in the youkai circles as both someone to be feared and someone to be revered.

In the past, she would have been loathed and multiple assassins would have been sent out to dispatch her before she became a true threat. It was not so now. Not because human laws had become so complicated and difficult to risk getting away with murder but because some of the rather high up youkai and human leaders felt that there needed to be a sort of middle person that each side could relate to.

No one could be more surprised to have received such an unusual and honored position than Kagome.

Of course, it made perfect sense to her in some twisted and strange way. She was the only one who could harm both human and youkai at the same time and could also convince either side to step down and think about their actions.

The fact that she was one of the protectors of the Shikon no Tama was probably another of the reasons she had not seen more attempts on her life. The youkai probably thought that her “protectors” were lying in wait and just itching to dig a blade into their flesh.

Not that she had done anything to discourage these rumors. Peace was nice, even if it was a little lonesome at times.

More and more Kagome found herself pausing in her everyday tasks and duties to remember some of the moments in her life that had shaped her into the person she was today. Some of the memories she'd rather leave behind her and others she wished she could relive again and again.

The rain began to fall and drum against the plastic top of the garbage container as Kagome shook herself out of her daze and closed the lid tightly. As she did every time she was outside, Kagome stretched her senses out to enshroud the shrine grounds, checking to make sure no malicious aura was nearby and threatening the peace that came over the shrine on days like these.

`Nothing except a squabble between two siblings of about six years old or so. Probably about a toy or a piece of candy.'

Kagome nodded as if satisfied and turned to return to the house. She paused a moment before she shook her head and headed towards the Goshinboku. Everyday she made time to go and sit beneath the great tree that guarded her family's shrine and spread peace over the grounds. Someone could call it an obsessive habit but, those who knew the Higurashi family over the years knew otherwise. The family seemed to have a strange bond with the old tree that no one was able to explain. Somehow it gave comfort and peace when someone in the family needed it the most.

She smiled up at the tree as she reached out and touched the deep groves in the ash-grey bark lightly with her fingertips. As if the Goshinboku knew her feelings, a sense of peace and calm washed over her mind and spirit, lifting a burden from her shoulders if only for a little while as she rested her forehead against the rough bark and closed her eyes. This is where everything had started, and also where everything had pretty much ended as well.

Confused, dazed and more than a little bewildered about how she had come from falling into a well inside her family's well house, 15 year old Kagome had aimlessly wandered in the gigantic forest. She couldn't find her house, her brother or even her cat. The gentle warmth of the summer breeze seemed to come alive and blew teasingly against her body, ruffling her hair and skirt as she followed a sudden tugging in her mind.

Something was calling out to her, tugging at her soul and sending a strange pulsing through her veins.

Kagome had been forced to follow it, the sensation pulling at her mind growing more and more insistent with every heartbeat in her body as she broke into a run. Pushing aside many branches and such that almost seemed to try and keep her from reaching where ever this strange feeling was originating from.

`Where is it coming from?'

She had wondered silently as she shoved aside a particularly big clump of bushes away from her and stepped out into the clearing. Sunlight drifted through the canopy of emerald green and spring grass colored leaves to surround the field and the great tree in a halo of strangely hazy sunlight. Kagome had frozen as the sensation had pulsated through her body once more and faded to nothing as her eyes found the scarlet clad form of a young man's body pinned to the sacred tree.

`A boy?'

Climbing up the vines almost as if she were hypnotized by the sleeping form of the youth held against the tree by an arrow and by several root like vines that wrapped around the tree itself, she had looked at him closely, her hand close to his mouth had proved that he wasn't breathing or sleeping but dead. Her eyes had been drawn to the ears atop his head…

Kagome shook herself out of the memory and smiled slightly as she sat down on one of the giant roots of the tree and leaned against the strong if rough trunk as she closed her eyes.

So many memories of the people in the past were trying to break through to her, trying to call her back when she wasn't ready to go or even aware that she was wanting to go back.

`I wonder if Souta's having any luck with his girlfriend?'

She was getting soaked again but she didn't really care at the moment. Sometimes feeling at peace overrode common sense to get the hell out of the rain and stay dry and comfortable.

Kagome mentally tallied the number of people she had helped in the past nineteen days and was surprised to find that the number was nearly as many as the days that had gone by. It wasn't only adults and people around her age that she had helped either, small children had come up to her, even sneaking into her school to catch her attention for advice or to ask her for assistance in some kind of problem.

There wasn't a day that had gone by yet that she hadn't helped someone out in some way. Several of the people just needed to be treated for physical injuries gone bad and were afraid of being discovered for being youkai in a human dominated society.

Funny how she was able to heal almost anything for almost anybody but she couldn't find a way to heal her own wounds.

The Protector, Healer and Fighter of Present Day Japan was what she had heard several people, youkai and human alike call her. Funny thing was that had they met her in the past they would have found that she was the one who needed the protection.

She huddled against the bone and stone armor that covered the gigantic skeleton of Inuyasha's father. The chill of Death and its musty scent hung heavy in the air as she watched an explosion emerge from the skeleton's shoulder armor. A giant cloud white and grey dog with eyes the color of bloodlust with a turquoise pupil loomed imposingly over the two of them. Inuyasha was gripping the sword tightly in his fist, swearing a blue streak as he half heartedly batted at Sesshoumaru's gigantic paw. As the humongous youkai dog licked at the irritated spot on its paw, Inuyasha landed back beside her, snarling more at the blade than at her.

“Useless piece of scrap metal! Can't even fucking cut!”

She had tried to give her support and cheer him on, smiling at him because she truly believed that he would be able to defeat his powerful half brother like he had every single other youkai who had challenged them.

“You can do it Inuyasha! That one really got him that time!”

Inuyasha have scoffed at her and rolled his eyes, turning his attention back to the approaching youkai with a low growl.

“Tch, you're dreamin' if you think that did anything. I'll probably survive this encounter but you don't have a chance. You'd be squished to pulp in no time flat.”

For some reason that had hurt, not just because she didn't stand a chance against the giant youkai but because he had so little faith in his own abilities. Tears filled her eyes as she looked down, shoulders slumped as her hair covered her eyes and hid the tears that fell.

“Y-You mean that there's no hope? I-I'm going to die?”

He had panicked and had looked at her from a variety of angles, trying to get a good glimpse of her face as he spoke to her, voice just as panicked as his expression.

“H-Hey, are you crying? No crying!”

Irritated with him and feeling scared she had retaliated as she glared at him and yelled right back.

“What am I supposed to do then huh?! Laugh?!”

“No, you should just shut up and let me protect you!”

They had stared at each other for a moment in surprise before he had gotten flustered and turned away to go and fight his brother again. She had been left there, standing in complete and total shock as she touched her chest and felt her heart beating faster than normal. He had said that he wanted her to let him protect her…

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Forty days had passed since the fight between he and Kagome had ended in the two of them somehow ending what ever they had had together.

She hadn't come back once.

Shippou had absolutely gone hysterical, bawling his eyes out and blaming Inuyasha for driving Kagome away forever as he ran back to the village to hoard whatever Kagome may have left behind for himself. Sango and Miroku had grilled him mercilessly on what had happened and the woman had been about ready to kill him for it had the monk not stopped her and insisted that he was vital in Naraku's downfall.

He had surprised them all by accepting the blame and even admitting that it was “all his fault” that Kagome was never coming back to them, something that was definitely out of character for the hanyou and worried his friends.

Not once had he come back to the village, save for the one time to pick up the Tetsusaiga's sheath. He was living out in the forests like he had before he had met Kagome, destroying whatever threat came his way or tried to attack the villagers. Though he had isolated himself from the rest of his group, Inuyasha still made sure that they were well taken care of. Hunting game and depositing it in the little ring that Sango had made to help Miroku and Shippou train in combat before leaving again.

He and Sesshoumaru had crossed paths again, several times actually. But unlike all the other encounters, Inuyasha was the one to ignore the older youkai and move on to where ever his destination was at the time. They had even shown up at the same time to the Goshinboku and had ignored each other in silence as the hanyou jumped into the branches of tree while the youkai stood at the base of the tree and studied it.

Inuyasha was trying to ignore the suspicions that Sesshoumaru was coming to the Goshinboku to be close to Kagome.

He stood up on the tree branch and looked at the village from his perch, clearing away some leaves from his vision as he let his eyes move over every little detail in the former home of his before he nodded in satisfaction and launched himself out of the tree and raced into the darker parts of the forest.

Everything was moving on as if he had never existed in the first place.

The Goshinboku was empty of anyone near by, be they youkai or human. A good thing too, he wasn't in the mood for anyone's company except for that of the one person whose company he'd never have again. He landed in front of the tree and rose back to his feet, jumping from gnarled vine to gnarled tree root as he stood in front of the area he had been pinned to for fifty years.

It was the place he had first met Kagome.

And it was the place where the stupid argument had begun that had eventually triggered the end of the relationship between himself and Kagome as he knew it.

For the first time in a long time he was able to hear the sounds of life around him. Considering that the forest was almost eerily silent save for the occasional rustling of grass blades or leaves from a field mouse or some other low life creature running away from something he didn't know about, there was a good chance that a youkai of considerable strength was in the area.

He still couldn't move, that fucking arrow was still in his chest and held him in stasis, his body anyways, not his mind. But the thing that bothered him besides the fact that he was still pinned to a fucking tree by that traitorous bitch was that he didn't know what had woken him up.

Whose voice had called out to him for help?

A scream, broke into the air, shattering the silence of the forest as the sounds of someone running for their lives breaking through the brush caught his attention. His eyes snapped open as his eyes readjusted to the surroundings around him. Night time, his most hated and most loved time of any day. On some nights he loathed it so completely for rendering him powerless and others he thanked it for sealing him in silence. Someone suddenly broke through the thick forest and tangled underbrush and slid to a stop directly on her stomach right in front of him.

`What the hell!?'

His eyes narrowed as her scent drifted up to him. His claws unsheathed immediately as the familiar scent trigged several unpleasant memories of who had pinned him there.

“What's the matter Kikyou? Why don't you just take the bitch out like you did me? One shot, you've done it before, why play with her now?”

Blue-grey eyes framed by thick unruly black hair looked up at him, startled and wide with fright and wonder as she stared at him. Her strange attire was pushed aside for the moment as he noted the fact that her face was much less defined than that of Kikyou's and her aura different, less cold and in control.

“You're…not Kikyou.”

“My name is Kagome! Ka.Go.Me.”

A corner of his mouth twitched as he swore he could hear her yelling at him for mistaking her for Kikyou when they had first met.

“Ka.Go.Me.”

Inuyasha said softly, mimicking the way she had pronounced her name as if he had been an infidel as he rested his head against the tree's scarred trunk. Even when Kikyou had been revived, a part of him had always been focused on Kagome. His thoughts had been with his revived first love but his heart, he recognized too late, had been with Kagome the entire time they had traveled together. The gentle patter of rain fell on the earth around him as he looked up into the stormy sky, the dreary days they had faced ever since Kagome's departing had only done more to depress him.

It was like everything in this time was stabbing an accusing finger at him and punishing him for forcing Kagome away.

Even the rainy days that he and the others had faced with Kagome didn't seem to have been this draining. It was all due to Kagome's personality, her determination to make sure everyone was happy and healthy even if she wasn't herself.

Sure he was the one who mostly sustained the injuries in a fight, but Kagome was the one who seemed to suffer when ever one of them was hurt physically or otherwise.

How much did they force Kagome to sacrifice in order to keep her by their side?

She had certainly complained when he did about trying to keep her with him but, any other time she never said a word about it.

Even when he had put her into the most dangerous of situations, namely the first night he had turned human in front of her, she had thought only of his safety, Shippou's and even the youkai hating brat named Nazuna's before her own. When he had been poisoned by the spider youkai, she hadn't left his side, dragging him and guarding him with her own body as she had stayed with him through the whole night.

Nausea and pain had been the only two things swarming through his veins as he shivered slightly from the fever settling in from the toxin's effects. It felt like someone had put an entire village on to his chest and added that bastard of a brother to sit on it. Everything hurt, even breathing took more effort than it should have taken him. Death would have been so much easier and yet, something kept him from completely falling asleep and succumbing to the darkness wanting to embrace him. A subtle but sweet scent filled his head as he managed to open his eyes.

Never in all his life had he seen a woman quite like the one he was looking up at.

The warmth had come from her body and the soft touch was her hand wiping the sweat off his forehead. Worry and tenderness were in her dark grey eyes as she seemed to be lost in thought. His breath caught in his throat as he wished for a moment that he could reach up and touch her, to hold her close to him and never let her go. The last time someone had looked at him like that, with such…love had been his mother before she had died and left him all alone in the world.

At that one moment, filled with poison and hurting like no one's business, Inuyasha had the feeling that what he was feeling wasn't just something that made his heart ache a little but kept it warm.

Somehow, Kagome had become necessary to make him feel alive in such a short amount of time.

It was in that moment that he realized that he could and was in love again…

How could one girl end up meaning so much to him that he felt so…dead without seeing or hearing her?

`When did I start needing people that much in my life?'

Inuyasha wondered to himself as he sank to his knees, his hand still on the Goshinboku's trunk as he knelt there, the rain pouring down on his body and soaking him to the bone as he dug his claws into the rough bark, blood beginning to ooze from scratches that the bark gave him. He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth against the wave of loss and pain that seemed to attack him when ever he thought about Kagome. The look on her face as she looked at him and said with more than her words that it was goodbye was still killing him.

`Why didn't I see or think about any of the signs leading up to that?'

Tears fell down her face as she forced herself to keep the sobs silent, so that he would not have to hear her cry wounded him as he held on to her, as if letting go would mean the end of the world. Her hand had moved his off of her shoulders, keeping one in her hand as she pressed something cold and round into his palm before folding his fingers over the items and looked up at him. Those eyes of hers, now a washed out grey from the tears that had fallen and still overflowed, stared into his as her voice broke near the end of her sentence.

“We destroyed all our promises Inuyasha, there's…no hope for us.”

She tried to force a smile on to her face, to try and relieve him and possibly try to make the parting between them easier by making him think she was ready to move on with her life. The smile was as tear filled as her eyes and just as fragile as her heart seemed to be at that moment. Two tears had hit his hand and soaked into his skin and the uniform tie he held in his hand as she shook her head and let his hand go. Kagome had backed away from him, her hand on the door handle as she opened the door to the house and stared into his eyes before she spoke to him, her voice breaking and trailing off into a sob as she told him the last two words he ever wanted to hear from her.

“Goodbye Inuyasha.”

“Kagome…”

Inuyasha whispered softly, feeling the sting of tears burning behind his eyelids as he shuddered and shook his head. His ears flattened against his rain soaked hair as he fought against the urge to cry like everyone else had.

He had no right to cry, not when he was the one who had caused all of this.

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“He was checking on us again, I don't think he thinks we can see him when he does it.”

Shippou reported as he came in through the woven bamboo mat that served as a door to Kaede's hut. Leaf green eyes were dark with mixed emotions as the young kitsune fought against several different things he could add in addition to his little report on Inuyasha. Part of him wanted the hanyou to come back and stay with them in the hut because it was what Kagome would have wanted and being near Inuyasha was like being near Kagome, he had been with her longer than anyone and that was enough for Shippou sometimes. On the other hand, he wished Inuyasha would be killed by something so that he didn't have to see him everyday and remember that he was responsible for making Kagome leave them forever.

`He hasn't even set foot in the village since then…'

Inuyasha hadn't abandoned them, due to the food and protection that was given at times when they needed or really didn't need it. He was just doing things at a distance and staying away from all of them. Shippou knew this and hated it, not because he thought that hanyou was making them look like they were nothing without his help, it was because he didn't want to lose anymore people that had become his family since his father died.

To be completely and brutally honest; he was afraid that he'd be left all by himself again.

And it hurt because he couldn't get close to the usually fiery tempered hanyou without the hanyou suddenly getting up and leaving the area in a flash of silver and scarlet. It was frustrating because he wanted to be close to Inuyasha, the hanyou being the one who supported him the most when Kagome wasn't there, even if it was in his own gruff and kind of aggressive way.

Inuyasha was being selfish, grieving alone and making him do the same.

Shippou wanted someone to share his pain with, he hated being depressed and sad and scared all alone with no one else to share it with. Inuyasha would have been the perfect person for him to grieve his loss with, because Inuyasha had loved Kagome too, though in a much different way. Sango and Miroku had each other to lean on, Inuyasha and himself didn't have that luxury of having someone be with them. He sat down by the fire and didn't look at the quietly conversing slayer and monk. They had come back one day smelling very strongly of sweat and each other after they had taken off to go to Sango's village and offer prayers for the deceased.

He might have been still young, but even he knew sex when he smelled it. His mother and father had smelled the same way after they had one of their adults only “play” time.

He looked into the flames as his eyes filled up with tears. He remembered meeting Kagome like it was yesterday. How weird that girl had seemed and out of place in a desolate battle torn area filled with bones and rotting carcasses. Shippou sighed as he reached over and threw a stick into the fire.

`I miss you Kagome…'

He had held his swollen cheek as he curled up slightly from the shock of being thrown to the ground. His head and body hurt from being hit by Manten's back hand. Tears stung his eyes as he fought against the urge to cry, one tiny fist clutching the bottle containing a few of the shards even as he braced himself for death.

`Pa, I'm sorry, I couldn't get revenge!'

Something flashed above his head, stopping Manten in his tracks as the gentle scent of that hanyou's woman reached him from behind. Leaf green eyes widened as he looked and saw none other than the girl he had stolen the shards from.

`Wh-what's she doing here?!'

She looked down at him for a brief moment, relief in her eyes before determination and stubbornness settled in. Notching the arrow and pulling it back, the young woman aimed the arrow point blank at the surprised Manten as he began to step forward.

“Hold it! Don't move or this arrow's going through your head!”

Kagome looked back down at him and jerked her head to the side as she gave him a determined smile. Her voice could have been interpreted as bossy but, Shippou had chosen to take it at face value; that she was there to save him from being killed like his father.

“Shippou-chan, come over here, and hurry!”

He sighed to himself as he left the hut, there wasn't much use sitting around doing nothing when he could be collecting herbs or other things for the group. Rain was starting fall as thunder rumbled in the distance. His eyes darkened as he slumped against the door frame, Kirara wandering over and cuddling up to him as he wrapped his arms around her warm fur and sighed. Shippou cuddled the fire cat and spoke softly to her as the two of them watched the storm building outside.

`Kagome…'

“I miss her Kirara; I want Kagome to come back.”

Kirara mewled softly as if to agree with Shippou as she turned her rose-pink eyes to the dark clouds above them.

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Miroku watched as Sango discussed something with Kaede, his cobalt eyes darkening slightly as an affectionate smile crossed his lips before fading at Shippou's report about Inuyasha.

His dear friend was still secluding himself from the rest of the world, only showing up if there was a youkai that had slipped under his formidable nose and even then destroying the threat and leaving before anyone could talk to him or pull him aside.

`Inuyasha… how long are you going to exile yourself from the rest of us? We've already lost Kagome-sama and now you…'

Some things in this strange world were just too much for some people to handle. He had spent a long time trying to calm Sango down from killing Inuyasha with Hiraikotsu after Inuyasha had finally told them what had happened.

Though he really couldn't blame Sango for feeling that way, he had been quite unhappy with his hanyou friend as well.

Still, sometimes it was all a part of life's cycle, people you cared for left and would not or could not return to your side. Miroku knew this lesson very well, as painful as it was; he thought that it was perhaps best if Kagome had returned to her era.

`Though I wish it would have been under different circumstances than the ones that had come. At least now Kagome-sama is no longer in danger and is safe with her family.'

Losing her had struck such a blow to them all. Shippou had even run away for about three days before he and Sango had set out to look for him, finding him covered by Inuyasha's haori beneath the Goshinboku with the said hanyou watching over him from the branches of the sacred tree.

That had been the last day that he, Sango, Kirara and Shippou had spoken with Inuyasha.

Miroku's eyes darkened as he built up the fire, it was still chilly despite the occasional burst of warm spring weather and it wouldn't do for Kaede or anyone else to grow ill from the elements.

Especially since Kagome was no longer there to help diagnose what was wrong when someone fell ill and was able to treat it.

Somehow this little “family” that had formed between himself, Sango, Shippou and Inuyasha was falling apart without the presence of Kagome with them. Miroku poked the stack of wood with the end of his staff, readjusting the pile so that it wouldn't collapse as easily and burn down the hut around them. Ever since meeting Sango and seeing the place where the Shikon no Tama was formed had gotten him thinking about their respective roles in this strange journey.

`How is it that the virtues of the Shikon no Tama, and also the human heart seem to have attached themselves to each one of us?'

He sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck and frowned into the flames. Dark eyes clouded over as he became lost in thought, the flames seeming to produce the image of each person that seemed to fit the virtue exactly.

`Ara-mitama; the virtue of courage…Inuyasha's soul reflects everything he's been through. A better man would have given into the urge to cast himself into oblivion a long time ago, even someone like myself would have.'

The flames crackled, for an instant showing the image of Inuyasha risking his life at one of the many life or death situations to go after one of them when no other would have.

`Nigi-mitama; the virtue of family, or friendship…Sango's entire fight has been to put her family's souls to rest after they were betrayed by Naraku. Shippou as well, he has been “adopted” into our group as a part of our strange family.'

Again the fire showed an image, this one of Sango using all of her strength to hurl Hiraikotsu between the swarm of youkai rats and Kohaku, the last of her remaining family.

`Kushi-mitama; the virtue of wisdom…I have experienced much in this world from a very young age thanks to Naraku's curse on my family. As a result I am wiser than most my age or even those superior in living. How many times have I figured out something that put us at least a little ahead of our enemy or at least one step closer?'

He saw himself puzzling out why Mushin had been acting so strangely the first time he had come back to get his curse sealed back for a little while. A lump formed in his throat as he forced himself to complete the thoughts circling the last of the virtues of the human heard and the Shikon no Tama.

`Saki-mitama; the virtue of love…It goes unsaid that the person who best fits that virtue is Kagome-sama. What kept her from being swayed like any of us and kept her fighting was not only will power alone. Her love for all of us kept us alive and kept her soul from being overtaken.'

The flames seemed to roar brighter as he became lost in the memory of just how powerful he had realized Kagome's love within her heart could be. Cobalt eyes glazed over as the memory took shape and played itself out in his mind.

The situation was hopeless, Inuyasha was felled or disabled, Miroku couldn't tell from the stinging of miasma filling his senses. Darkness was all around them and seemed to be prepared to swallow them all before destroying them. Sango was in his arms as Shippou perched on his shoulder, trembling along with the rest of them at Naraku's power and eventual victory over their weakened party. It was growing harder and harder to breathe properly, much less keep aware of his surroundings as he heard Naraku taunting Inuyasha, telling how pathetic he was and that it was suiting that only a half youkai should meet his end at this desolate place.

Things had seemed so bleak at that time, at least, until a sudden explosion of light shattered through the noxious fumes that hung heavily in the air. The fumes were being dissipated even as the air suddenly seemed to be much cleaner and cleared the strange cloudiness from his mind. Standing just behind Inuyasha was absolutely livid form of Kagome, her bow was still humming from being shot. Blue-grey eyes shone the color of her arrow's light a few moments earlier as she reached for another arrow, seeming to have to restrain herself as pure unbridled fury shone in her eyes.

“Naraku!”

The arrow was notched into the bow as she glared at the evil man directly across from her. Naraku had been clutching what remained of the left side of his body with one hand, surprise and even a little fear in those sickeningly scarlet eyes as he stared at Kagome. The girl was furious as she seemed to use a great deal of her will to hold back on just shooting the arrow at him. Her voice pierced through the silence as she snapped at him.

“You are the absolute worst!”

`That arrow was from Kagome-sama!?'

Shippou voiced his surprise as they had noticed the darkness actually starting to clear up from around them.

“The miasma's dissipating!”

He had hardly been able to believe it himself, how could so much power come from such an innocent looking young woman such as Kagome?

“All because of Kagome-sama's arrow?”

The girl had raised the bow up and drawn the arrow back behind her ear, eyes narrowing as she seemed to find the target she was looking for on Naraku's body. The evil man spoken about was beginning to inch his way back, still holding his side as he continued to stare at her with a strange light in his eyes. Her eyes had flashed as she prepared to fire the bow.

“You're not getting away! Don't move!”

Naraku and Kagome had exchanged a few words, Miroku had been surprised that Kagome had been able to even speak, what with the rage her aura had been giving off with each passing second. Naraku had spoken about the girl being Kikyou's reincarnation, which had seemed to make the girl snap for a reason unknown to himself.

“Will you shut up! I'll never forgive you for this!”

The arrow left the bow with a roar of energy, the arrow finding its mark in Naraku's chest and exploding in a flash of blue-white light that had only Naraku's head and maybe a little of his neck remaining as she glared at him, contempt and fury in her eyes. At that time all he had been able to say was one word.

“A-Amazing…”

Miroku didn't realize that he had started to cry until he felt the soft hand against his cheek and the warm weight of a very familiar body against his back embracing him from behind. Her voice was soft and concerned but understanding as she spoke to him, her head resting against his shoulder.

“You're thinking of Kagome-chan, aren't you?”

He turned a little and gave Sango a half formed smile as he reached up and gently squeezed her arm, eyes still filled with unshed tears as he responded quietly.

“Indeed Sango. It just seems so…unreal that Kagome-sama is never going to return to see us again.”

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“I know.”

Sango said softly as she looked into the flames herself. The past forty days had been filled with a pain that wouldn't dissipate for some reason. Nothing had worked but, something almost wonderful had happened as a result, she thought sadly as she shifted her weight a little and allowed herself to hold Miroku closer to her than she had before.

She and Miroku had pledged their lives to one another a week after Inuyasha had told them that Kagome was never coming back to them.

Thirty three days now they had been husband and wife, even though Miroku still wore his monk's robes, more out of habit than anything now.

If only there was someway that they could get Kagome back here so that they could tell her.

`Kagome-chan…you've been there for Miroku and I for so long now, I wish I could somehow tell you that we've combined our lives…'

Sango's eyes glazed over slightly as she too recalled her own memories of Kagome, shaking her head and shivering slightly even as she felt her husband turn around and guide her to sit in front of him so that he could hold her. Her head rested on his shoulder as the two of them gave and received comfort from each other.

How did things manage to get like this?

And more importantly, how did things like this get fixed?

Maroon eyes filled with tears as she felt Miroku gently kiss her forehead, her arms wrapping around his body as she allowed herself to quietly sob into his shoulder. Even though it had been such a long time, the pain still hadn't faded. Time was supposed to heal her wounds and yet, the one it couldn't seem to do was heal the hole that Kagome's absence left behind. Even when she had been so torn up over her family after Kohaku had been taken away by Naraku, Kagome had been there to try and help her.

Sometimes Sango thought that the only reason she had managed to prevail was because Kagome had been at her side whenever she had needed her.

In time, the younger girl had become the sister that Sango had never gotten.

No one was more understanding than Kagome had been, even when her life had been in danger from Kohaku, Kagome had only told Sango that it was “alright” and that she understood.

Blood soaked through the wrist and shoulder of the white uniform blouse that Kagome usually wore. The blaring signs that the girl had been injured, the blood dripping off the blade of Kohaku's weapon showing where the wounds had come from.

She felt something within her heart sink down.

There was no way she could live with the fact that her brother had wounded someone she had considered family for a long time now.

Something had to be done.

Kagome's eyes met hers, panicked and afraid, though not for herself, Sango noticed with surprise as the blue-grey eyes shot over to Kohaku and back to her. The girl's voice was shaky but urgent as she spoke to her.

“I, it's okay. I'm not badly injured.”

Later, when the whole ordeal had ended, Sango had gone to thank them from allowing her to make a mistake in nearly taking her brother's life. Instead, she had found them together in what might have been a crucial bonding moment interrupted by her arrival. She had started to thank them and had stopped at the confused expression on Kagome's face, the bandages on her shoulder and wrist partially covered as the younger girl's face. Kagome had looked at her before tilting her head to the side and speaking, her voice soft and still a little confused.

“Thanks for…what?”

`Kagome-chan…I never was able to tell you how much your words and actions meant to me that day…during the entire time you had watched me go through so much pain with Kohaku.'

Sango felt Miroku's body relax a little and felt herself smile sleepily and turned her head a little to be closer to him.

If she could go through the well, then she'd have gone through and told Kagome before anyone else would have known.

`Kagome-chan please be safe and healthy in your time. We miss you.'

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Kagome sighed and touched the bark of the Goshinboku hesitantly, eyes filled with so many questions as she closed her eyes and sent a prayer of safety through the tree to keep those she loved safe on both sides of time.

`Some people aren't meant to be in either place but are meant to straddle the boundaries to keep both worlds safe. How does one person figure out what they're meant to do?!'

“Sango-chan…Miroku-sama…Shippou-chan…plea se be safe.”

She said softly before she hesitated and spoke again.

“You too, Inuyasha. Please be well and safe, where ever you guys are.”

So much tension was caused because of this triangle between Inuyasha, Kikyou and herself that she could have sworn that that was a major part of the reason she and Inuyasha had ended up in that horrible fight.

So why was everything so difficult to deal with?

Kagome leaned against the tree and sighed to herself, the sun had gone down about an hour ago and the rain had stopped falling down a little over half an hour ago as well. It'd be her own fault if she caught a cold or a fever for staying out in the rain so much. There was also another problem in the equation that she didn't want to bring up or think about.

Sesshoumaru.

What on earth could she do about the sudden unrecognizable feelings that surfaced when ever his name came up?

`I can't keep running away from my feelings but, I don't want to hear what might be happening within my own heart…'

“Someone…help me find the answers I'm looking for. I can't find them on my own…”

Well, this chapter took a while to bust out. I thank you all for being such loyal readers and reviewers of this story. As always, please let me know if there is anything I can do to improve the story.

Until the next chapter, please stay safe and happy everyone!