InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Lucky Ones ❯ Chapter Thirty ( Chapter 30 )

The Lucky Ones

By Terri Botta

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. Sole copyright belongs to Viz and Rumiko Takashi. I'm poor so don't sue.

Rating: R for later chapters.

Pairing: Inuyasha/Kagome, Miroku/Sango

Summary: Sometimes Fate hands you a gift you never thought you'd ever get, and it's up to you to accept it for what it is.

Email feedback to: tci100@psu.edu

Webpage: http://www.wordsmiths.net/Botta

Japanese used in this chapter:

"Kussee"= "It stinks!"
Onsen- hot spring.

*******

Chapter Thirty

The journey to KÅtsuke took four days. The distance was only 56 ri but the need for food and sleep greatly diminished the number of traveling hours in a day. For once, however, Inuyasha wasn't complaining about how much the others slowed him down. In fact, Kagome secretly suspected that he was going at a slower pace himself. He certainly wasn't going nearly as fast as he could, but even with the limitations of human bodies and the needs of pups, he seemed to be in no particular hurry.

The trip was quiet. Shippou kept the conversation light and entertained Yukio, who knew that something was very, very wrong between his parents but didn't understand exactly what, and avoided all subjects involving Kikyou. Even Myouga, who normally took every opportunity to offer his advice and insights, stayed uncharacteristically silent. It was as if a blanket of denial had been wrapped around them, and none of them were eager to pull it back. They all knew what could happen, but were pretending to remain blissfully ignorant.

At night, Shippou, Kirara and Myouga would watch Yukio while Kagome and Inuyasha went off to be alone for a couple of hours. They would return to camp after they had finished their private time, and all of them would take their places inside Kagome's sleeping bag. Shippou would settle next to Kagome on the side opposite of Inuyasha, Yukio would be nestled between his parents, and Myouga would hop into Kirara's fur as she curled up at their feet. Together the six of them took up only a minimal amount of space, but there was no lack of body warmth.

All along their travels, though they met many traders along the road, no one had heard even a whisper of a `powerful shrine maiden' coming to kill the beast that hunted the trade roads. Most, in fact, thought they were the hired hunters and their little group didn't lack for food or shelter during the trip. It was a marked difference from other trips they had taken where doors were shut and food was scarce.

Kagome was hoping since no one had heard a thing about the miko from Zenko-ji, that the messengers had yet to return from their task, and that if the miko was indeed Kikyou, they would miss her. With not even a rumor that the messengers had even been sent, her hopes for a reprieve went up a little bit the further into KÅtsuke they traveled. Even Inuyasha seemed a little more relaxed and focused on killing the monster of the moment, and some of the clouds had gone from his eyes.

On the afternoon of the fifth day, they were attacked by the beast they'd been sent to kill, thus making life a little easier since it had come to them. By this time, Inuyasha was just itching for a fight to work off some of his nervous energy and stress, and he went at the monster with full force. It was an ogre, very much like the one Naraku had tried to trap them in that one time almost two years ago, only a little smaller, and it did have shards, two in fact: one in its forehead and the other in its club.

It put up a good fight but it really didn't stand a chance against Inuyasha. Her adult hanyou prolonged the fight, however, by refusing to use Tessaiga. No, he used the opportunity to turn the hunt into a lesson for Yukio, demonstrating the power of hanyou claws alone. Watching him fight, she was thrilled to see him use his power. He leaped from tree to tree, spinning and whirling as he sliced at the ogre. His silver hair was flying, his body moving in graceful arcs that made her heart beat faster and her breath come in short gasps of excitement. She wondered how Kikyou could have ever seen him like that and not have been entranced by his beauty? How could she have wanted to strip this magnificent creature of his strength and speed? He was glorious in his full display, and she had the inkling that he was showing off just a little for her benefit because every now and then he'd give her a look and a cocky smirk.

Oh yes, tonight they might take three hours and enjoy themselves just that much more. With the pressure off and the prospect of avoiding Kikyou a real possibility, she was certain that the joy would come back to their lovemaking, instead of the loving sorrow that had laced through it recently.

Killing the beast was extremely satisfying for all of them. The shards were collected, the threat to the traders was gone, and now they could go home, slipping out of the country before the `powerful shrine maiden' ever set foot in KÅtsuke. For the first time since they had left Musashi, Kagome was feeling light and free, and smiles graced the faces of their traveling party. They brought the head of the ogre to the daimyo and the ecstatic man offered to reward them handsomely for their efforts. Without Miroku there to `negotiate' for them, Inuyasha brokered a very fair deal that earned them less in money but promised favor to traders from Musashi.

It was the first time Kagome had ever seen him in a diplomatic position and she was shocked to see how good he was at it. It drove home even further her belief that Inuyasha was not a violent simpleton, but in actuality a very intelligent, deep-thinking individual who only let people think less of him. She was fairly sure that he shocked Shippou as well, and she hoped that maybe the kit would start realizing a few things about Inuyasha. The deal he brokered would help the people of their village by ensuring them a place to trade their goods, which would in turn increase the prosperity of everyone. The very fact that he was even thinking about the villagers showed that he was a natural born leader, and Kagome was immensely proud of him.

That night they feasted at a banquet in their honor and slept in the finest room. Yukio was put with Shippou and the others, cuddled in the laps of numerous village women who fawned over the youngsters and Kirara in her kitten form. Myouga, letch that he was, was in flea-demon heaven and they knew they probably wouldn't see him until morning.

Inuyasha and Kagome took the opportunity to slip off together to make love in their room. Their joining was joyful as Kagome had predicted and the only damper was the fact that they had to be quiet as a courtesy to their hosts. Inuyasha promised a full day of lovemaking once they got back to the den where they could be as loud as they wanted and not have to worry about disturbing anyone. Kagome said she looked forward to that, mostly because it would mean they had both come home. After they were finished, they rescued Yukio, Shippou and Kirara from their admirers and they all settled down together for the first night of worry-free sleep in five days.

In the morning, the happy group set out for home, laden with provisions and well-wishes. With everything going so well and spirits so high, Kagome should have known it was doomed from the start and was never going to last.

********

"Bwah! That's hot!" Inuyasha yelled, putting one foot in the onsen Kagome had immersed herself in.

"Is it?" she asked innocently, blinking eyes at him. Yukio and Shippou blinked back as well from their places in the hot spring.

Inuyasha growled. "You and your hot baths! Do you want to be boiled?"

She gave him a sly smile. "But they're so good for aching muscles. Why don't you at least try it? It's not so bad once you adjust to it."

He huffed and she could see he was thinking about it. She was wet and naked, and she knew he loved her like that because she could usually be persuaded to get dirty enough to need another bath, but both young ones were there with her and that automatically nixed any of those thoughts. Shippou was in his little swimming ring and Yukio was tucked against her chest. Unlike his father, he loved hot baths, probably because it meant he could stay with his mother, and often hopped in before he was even undressed.

Inuyasha tried the water again and pulled back again, shaking his head. While he could tolerate most onsen, this one was much hotter than usual and just too hot for him. Not that his hanyou body couldn't handle it, but it just wasn't something he enjoyed.

"No. You stay and boil; I'll go back to camp and get the cooking fire going."

She smiled sweetly. "Okay. We'll join you in a little while and I'll make dinner."

"Keh, woman, I want ramen."

She pouted. "But we have all that wonderful food the villagers gave us. Why do you want the instant noodles when you can have that?"

"Coz it tastes better. Right, pup?"
Yukio nodded enthusiastically, splashing water. "Ramen! Ramen!"

She sighed. "You're corrupting him," she complained.

"Feh. Told you I would."

Shippou shook his head. "Like father like son…"

"Oi!" Inuyasha groused, but the kit was too far away in the onsen to whack on the head.

"Oi," Yukio repeated, reaching over to grab the swimming ring, but popping it with his sharp nails instead.

"Kagome!!!!" Shippou cried, splashing as he sank into the hot spring.

Stifling a giggle, she fished him out of the deeper water and brought him to rest against her like Yukio.

"You should know better by now, Shippou-chan."

The drenched fox kit sputtered and glared at Yukio who did giggle.

"Shippou wet."

Shippou just growled which only made Yukio giggle more and his father chuckle.

"That's my pup." :Good pup.:

Yukio beamed at the praise.

"Alright. Meet me back at camp," Inuyasha said with finality.

"Okay, we'll be there in a little while. I'm enjoying this."

"Feh," he snorted and stalked off.

"I'm going to get out too," Shippou said, pushing away from her.

"Alright."

She carried him to the edge of the spring and let him go, then moved back to rest against one of the rocks in the center while the kitsune dressed. Yukio stayed with her, his head resting against her shoulder as they soaked, steam rising up from the water as it came in contact with the cooler night air.

"Mmmmm, feels so good, doesn't it, baby," she sighed.

Yukio burbled an affirmative and snuggled close.

"I'm glad we'll be home soon," Shippou commented from where he was seated on the bank. "Inuyasha's going faster now. We should be back in Musashi by tomorrow night."

Kagome nodded. "Yeah. I'll feel so much better once we cross the border."

Shippou agreed. "I miss Sango and Miroku."

"Me too."

They fell quiet, enjoying the peace of the place and the warmth of the water. Kagome closed her eyes and leaned back, leaving only the tops of her breasts and above out of the water. Yukio was so relaxed he was almost asleep.

A tingle of power crept up her spine and it was her only warning. Her eyes snapped open as her senses came to full alert and she sat up straighter.

"Kagome?" Shippou asked, then sniffed the air.

"Shippou…" she breathed.

They both froze as a Shinidama-chuu came gliding into the clearing around the onsen.

`Kikyou…'

She knew the undead miko could not be more than a few moments behind her soul-gatherers, and there was no time for her to get out of the spring and run for her clothes. Shippou however…

"Shippou run," she hissed.

The kitsune bounded off in a flurry of blue and red, and she felt some small measure of relief. Shippou would run to Inuyasha and then Inuyasha would come running to her.

`Which may or may not be a good thing under the circumstances,' she thought.

"Okaa?" Yukio asked quietly, sensing her distress.

:Pup be still. Be quiet,: she told him gently, not with anger but with warning.

He immediately understood that there was danger and hunkered close.

`Maybe I could reach my clothes…' she hoped, but movement from the trees stopped her as several more Shinidama-chuu came gliding out, followed by Kikyou herself.

The two women regarded each other silently. Kikyou's face was as neutral as ever, and Kagome once again found it hard to believe that this woman had ever smiled in her lifetime. She drew her baby close, knowing there was no way she could hide him because they were both naked and in the water. Yukio turned in her arms and looked at the undead miko, blinking his huge golden eyes at her and sniffing. Then he crinkled up his nose and opened his mouth to prove he was Inuyasha's son.

"Kussee."

Kagome gulped, but Kikyou's expression didn't change.

"Ummm…" she tried.

"When the daimyo said the ogre had been killed by a dog-eared hanyou and his strangely dressed woman, I knew it could be none other than you. But it was talk of a white-haired, dog-eared child that drew me to seek you out," Kikyou cut her off.

The undead miko's eyes settled on Yukio and Kagome found herself trying to shield him from the uncomfortable stare.

"Now I see for myself that this was true."

"Don't be angry," she begged.

"Angry? Angry that you gave Inuyasha something I cannot?" came the deadpan answer.

"It's not like that. I…"

"Kagome!" Inuyasha's voice screamed as her hanyou came tearing into the clearing.

There was a shimmer of light and he slammed full force into an invisible wall.

"Inuyasha!" she cried as he hit the ground with a heavy thud.

"Kikyou! What have you done?" he demanded, jumping to his feet, brushing off the impact as if nothing had happened.

"I have put up a barrier," Kikyou calmly replied.

"Kagome!" Shippou called as he and Kirara in her full firecat form came streaking into the clearing.

"Don't come any closer. Kikyou's put up a barrier!" she warned and the firecat landed with a snarl.

She pushed off with her feet and sliced through the water to get closer to Inuyasha. He in turn moved to where she was as she rose from the onsen.

"Kagome," he said, his hands against the barrier, and his eyes told of his fear and worry.

"Inuyasha."

"Otou-san!" Yukio called, reaching for his father, and Kagome cringed.

`Inuyasha can't get in, but maybe… maybe Yukio can get out…'

She put the naked toddler on his feet and gave him a push.

"Run, baby. Run for Otou-san." :Go to Leader-male!:

He looked at her, saw her face and obeyed without a complaint. He never made it. Even in the short distance between him and his father, the Shinidama-chuu swept down and encircled him, lifting him up and carrying him to Kikyou.

`No!'

Yukio, realizing the potential danger he was in and knowing this person was not part of his pack, began to squirm and kick as he loudly protested his capture. The undead miko held him in both hands, studying him the way a scientist would study a potential specimen.

"Otou-san! Kaa-san!" Yukio yelled.

"Silence," Kikyou ordered, and touched a finger to his forehead. He went limp immediately and quieted, but it was obvious that he was still awake and aware because his eyes were wide open and terrified.

"What have you done to my baby?" Kagome gasped.

"He is unharmed."

"Kikyou!!" Inuyasha snarled. "Put my pup down!"

"You acknowledge this child as yours then?" Kikyou asked coolly.

"No! Yukio isn't Inuyasha's. He's an orphan we adopted!" Kagome tried to explain.

"It is obvious this child was not spawned by his seed. This boy is a true inu-hanyou, not an even further diluted mixed-breed as any child fathered by Inuyasha would be," the miko replied calmly.

Kagome wasn't sure if the comment was meant as an insult or not.

"What the fuck does it matter who sired him? He's mine! Put him down!" Inuyasha growled.

"Please don't hurt my baby."

"Hurt him?" Kikyou replied, blinking for the first time.

Any further statements she would have made were interrupted by Inuyasha drawing Red Tessaiga and attempting to slice through the miko's barrier. The blade recoiled off the invisible wall, shocking Inuyasha back and sending him flying into a tree trunk.

"Inuyasha!" Shippou yelled and hopped to his side.

"Inuyasha-a-a!" Kagome screamed, rushing to the barrier. She knelt beside it, attempted to put her hands through it, and was blocked.

`So Yukio wouldn't have made it... He might have even been hurt if he'd tried to go through...'

"Kagome!" he replied, crouching by the shield, his hands once again resting against it.

"Inuyasha, you're all right?"

"Keh! I'm fine, but my Tessaiga won't cut through the fucking thing!"

`If Tessaiga can't cut it, then that means...'

She turned to Kikyou. "Kikyou, please. I don't care what you do to me, just please don't hurt Inuyasha and don't hurt my baby. Please!"

"Kagome, no!" Shippou cried.

"No. I'm the one you want," Inuyasha argued. "Take me and leave Kagome and my pup alone."

"Inuyasha, no!"

"Shut up, Kagome! You and the pup must stay safe."

The undead miko looked from one to the other, her face once again an unreadable mask, and a cold realization settled into Kagome's guts.

`She knows. She sees. She heard him cry my name and sees him siding with me. He hasn't really looked at her even once. She knows our relationship is different now.'

"Kikyou, please. I'll do whatever you want me to do. I'll give Inuyasha to you and leave forever, but please give me back my baby," she pleaded softly.

She had to turn her head so she wouldn't see Inuyasha's heartbroken face.

"Kagome... Kagome, no. What would I do with the pup all by myself? I'm a horrible father."

Now she did look at him, tears in her eyes. "You're a wonderful father. I... I would have been very happy to bear your pups."

"But what if she drags me to Hell? Who will raise the pup?!" he argued, his eyes desperate.

She cast a terrified glance at Kikyou. Could she give them both up if it meant they would live? The answer came to her without pause. `Yes. If it meant that Inuyasha and Yukio would live, I would gladly die.'

"Kikyou. Take my life in exchange for Inuyasha's. If I die, your soul will be whole again. You've said before that there is no need for two of us in this time, and I'm just in the way. Take me and let him live. You and he can raise Yukio together and have a chance at the life the two of you lost when Naraku betrayed you."

Kikyou did not react to her offer, her face remaining as impassive and unreadable as ever. Inuyasha, however, went ballistic.

"Kagome-e-e-e!!!"

His voice ended in a snarl and he attacked the shield with his bare hands, gritting his teeth as the barrier reacted by shocking him with bolts of purifying energy. It blew him back twice and twice he threw himself at it again, roaring in pure fury.

"Inuyasha-sama! You must stop!" Myouga warned, hopping up to him.

"Let Kagome and my pup go!!!" Inuyasha howled and Kagome swore she saw his eyes flash red.

`Oh my god! Will he transform, even with Tessaiga at his hip?'

"Inuyasha! Osuwari!" she ordered, hoping a subduing would bring him back to his senses.

He hit the dirt in mid-leap with a growl, but when he came up his eyes were clear.

"Kikyou-u-u," he seethed, his claws rending the earth beneath him.

Kikyou watched the display silently without so much as a breath escaping her lips, and if anything her silence frightened Kagome even more.

`What is she thinking? What does she plan to do with Yukio? She isn't saying or doing anything...'

"Okaa..." Yukio said plaintively.

:Be still. Pup be quiet,: she warned, not wanting Kikyou to enchant him again and possibly do him damage.

Yukio obeyed and his immediate acquiescence caused Kikyou to flick her eyes at him for a second, before returning her stony gaze to Kagome and her former lover.

"Kikyou, please."

She stood, still naked but not caring what Kikyou thought or saw, and reached out her hands. "Please Kikyou. I know you're not a bad person. You'd never hurt a child. Yukio is an innocent in all of this and he's already lost one set of parents. Please don't make him an orphan a second time. Give him back, please."

"And each of you begs for the other's life and the life of your child. Neither asks for mercy for yourselves. Is this love? To care so much for the other that you care nothing for your own safety?" the undead miko finally asked, her voice as emotionless as ever.

"Yes," Kagome confirmed. "I don't care what you do to me, but I want Inuyasha and Yukio to live. I would die for them. Kill me and take back your soul if that is what it will take for you to let my baby go."

"Kagome!" both Inuyasha and Shippou cried in horror.

She smiled sadly at them. "I'll do what I have to do because I love you."

"No!" Inuyasha roared and renewed his attacks on the barrier, drawing Tessaiga and slicing at it.

"Kon-gou-sou..." he began, preparing the diamond-spear blast.

"INUYASHA! NO! You could hit Yukio!!" she screamed in terror.

Kikyou's Shinidama-chuu rushed at him, wrapping around him as Kikyou herself brought Yukio to her body with one hand in order to free the other, and hit him with a blast of her own purifying energy from her palm.

"Inu-ya-sha-a-a-!!!" Kagome yelled as he was blown back for the umpteenth time.

"He is a berserker. He must be subdued," Kikyou said.

For once, she and the undead miko were in complete agreement.

"Osuwari! Osuwari! Osuwari!"

Inuyasha slammed into the ground repeatedly and finally stopped moving. When he eventually did get up, Kagome knew he was going into shock. His eyes were dilated and she could see the beads of perspiration clinging to his face.

`I have to do something. I don't have my bow and the barrier prevents me from leaving here. There is only one thing I can do against her now, but if I do it... Inuyasha… Inuyasha forgive me. If I do this I could kill her, but she has our baby and you're just hurting yourself. I don't have any choice.'

Inuyasha's eyes met hers and he seemed to understand what she was thinking. She saw him swallow once and then nod, giving her his silent permission and his forgiveness.

`Inuyasha. Kikyou. I'm sorry,' she apologized and reached into herself for the thread of power that connected her split soul. Grasping it in her spiritual hand, she Pulled.

Kikyou jerked and several souls escaped her fake body, but then Kagome felt what could only be described as a mental slap and she was thrown back.

"Foolish girl. Did you think I wouldn't find a way to defend myself from your attempts to take back your soul?" the undead miko stated, showing just a hint of annoyance.

"Kagome!" Shippou sobbed, rushing to where she lay sprawled on the ground.

"Kagome," Inuyasha called, his hand on the barrier, then he began hitting it with his fist, but not in the uncontrolled way he had been punching it before. This was more of a show of helpless frustration and anguish.

Picking herself up from the grass, she shook off the pain but was left with the headache.

`It didn't work. She blocked my attempt to take back the piece of me she still has. What do I do? Do I try again, just harder??'

Gritting her teeth, she picked up the thread again and prepared to do battle.

`I am just as strong as she is, maybe even stronger. I'm just untrained. But I can do this. I have to do this, even if I don't want to...'

Kikyou gave her a mirthless smile. "Going to try again, are you? But I sense your heart is not in it. You still have no desire to hurt me. Even now, when I have your baby and have cut you off from your lover, you still do not harbor any hate for me in your heart. If you had, the jewel around your neck would reflect your taint, yet it remains uncorrupted. What must our soul have gone through, I wonder, in the five hundred years that separate us for it to become so pure? How many lives did it lead and what did it suffer to have grown so large and learned so much?"

Kikyou's statement stopped her in her tracks and a new inkling dawned on her, one that gave her pause.

`Does Kikyou... does she not want to hurt us?'

Lowering her hand to her side and dropping the thread, she regarded her greatest rival with wary, but newly opened eyes.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha asked, but she waved him to be quiet.

There was a long silence, then Kikyou lowered her gaze to look at Yukio and there was no denying that the miko's face softened. Yukio looked back at her and stuffed his fist into his mouth.

"Yukio want Okaa-san," the child pleaded.

"Yu-ki-o," Kikyou said slowly. "Nourished by god."

`So she knows the third meaning too. Well, of course she would know…'

Kikyou moved, half-gliding over to a large boulder on the edge of the hot spring, and sat down upon it, her eyes focused on the toddler in her embrace. One hand lifted up to lightly brush along the silver strands of his hair and the tops of his little ears. Kagome saw him flick them away from her touch, but that was probably due to instinctive reflex more than anything else.

She took the opportunity to hastily pull on her clothes.

"Kagome, what's going on?" Shippou asked softly.

She cast a glance at him and gave him a reassuring smile. "I'm not sure yet, Shippou-chan, but I think we might have been overreacting."

"Overreacting?" Inuyasha hissed, his hands on the shield. "She's got the pup and she's put up a fucking barrier. How can we be overreacting?"

She shook her head and turned to face Kikyou.

"Kikyou, if you truly don't mean any harm, please show us your intentions by lowering the barrier."

Kikyou's only reaction was a quick flick of her eyes, then there was a flash of light and Inuyasha fell on his nose beside her.

`So she doesn't mean us any harm...'

Inuyasha recovered quickly and was barreling towards his former lover. He stopped short of her and held out his hands.

"The pup, Kikyou. Give me my pup."

"Theirs was always black," the undead miko replied, then slowly took her eyes from Yukio and raised them to Inuyasha.

"Eh?"

"In my dreams, our children always had black hair. They were human children who slept in our arms and gathered at our feet," she clarified with a note of regret in her voice.

Inuyasha dropped his arms and flattened his ears. "Kikyou," he whispered.

"It is ironic, but more fitting, don't you think? An orphaned, outcast hanyou raising an orphaned, outcast hanyou child?"

"Kikyou," Kagome said, coming to stand beside Inuyasha.

The miko looked at her then offered Yukio to her. She took him, wrapping him up in his haori, which she had grabbed before she walked over to them. Yukio, traumatized and relieved to be safe again, latched on with his claws and clung to her.

"Okaa-san." :Mother-female.:

"He is beautiful," Kikyou breathed.
"Yukio..." Kagome sighed as she buried her face in his hair and hugged him tight. :Mother-female loves pup.:

Inuyasha practically yanked him out of her embrace as he grabbed his son and gave him a thorough sniffing to reassure himself that the child was unharmed and unaltered. Yukio gave a little whine of protest but then clung to his father just as tightly as he had clung to Kagome.

`Poor Yukio. He'll be Velcro Baby for at least two days now,' she thought.

"Kikyou, thank you," Inuyasha said, holding his son close.

"My reincarnation is correct. I would never harm a child. Not even a hanyou one."

Inuyasha flushed with shame and nodded, then handed Yukio to Kagome. He crawled up to her shoulder, wrapped his arms around her neck and his legs around her diaphragm, becoming a Yukio-shaped leech that had attached himself to her chest. She patted him lovingly and held him close. He dug his little claws into the fabric of her shirt and she knew if anyone tried to take him, he'd rend the garment to pieces.

The three of them stood and looked at each other, and Kagome did not know what to say. Kikyou didn't seem angry. She looked more sad than anything else.

"You... you said you followed us because the daimyo said we had a child with us," she finally said, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"Yes," Kikyou answered simply.

Inuyasha growled. "If that's so, then what was the barrier for?"

Kikyou leveled eyes at him. "Would you have let me anywhere near your mate and child if I had not?"

Inuyasha snorted but looked guilty.

"Yes, I know you have taken her for your mate. It is obvious to anyone with eyes."

Inuyasha straightened and looked briefly at Kagome. "It is true. Kagome and I have become closer, but... I have not built her a house."

Kikyou gazed at each of them individually, then turned her eyes to Inuyasha. "You've been waiting for me."

The adult hanyou bowed his head. "My promise binds me to you first. I was not free to move on."

"Yet you accepted her love and took her innocence."

Inuyasha swallowed hard but said nothing, and Kikyou looked to Kagome.

"And you let him do this, knowing full well that my claim still stood. You allowed him to taint you and bring shame upon you."

Kagome glared, her fists clenching. "Hey! I'm not tainted and I'm not ashamed of what I did. I love Inuyasha and I'm not sorry about what happened at all."

Kikyou gave her a small smile. "No, you wouldn't be. You live by a set of rules that are alien and unknown to us in this time. It is why you have not been diminished by your relations with him."

"I am sorry about the way things happened," she explained. "I know it looks like I did it all on purpose, but I didn't. I wasn't intending to... mate with him, and Yukio... well, Yukio was brought to us by his dying mother. She put him in my arms and begged me to keep him safe."

"Life goes on. It does not stop for the dead," Kikyou replied cryptically. "My time here ended over fifty years ago. If it were not for Urasue and her black magics, I would never have been ripped from my rest. This life, this place, does not belong to me. I merely walk in it."

"Kikyou... what are you saying?" Inuyasha asked.

The undead miko placed a hand upon her chest in exactly the spot where Naraku's tentacle had punctured her.

"Do you know that the place where your hand sealed the wound in my chest is the only place on my body that is always warm," Kikyou told her.

Kagome swallowed and blushed. "I..."

"My sister once said to me that you were a remarkable child who was slowly healing Inuyasha's heart. What I had wanted to do while I was alive, you were now doing in my stead. But my ways were tainted by my belief that all youkai were evil and needed to be exterminated or controlled. You were free of such beliefs and were able to accept him as a hanyou. I have come to realize that this is why my soul waited 500 years before returning to right the wrong it had done."

"Wrong?" Inuyasha gasped. "I am as guilty as you. I didn't trust you. If I had trusted you..."

Kikyou held up a hand. "It was not our fate, Inuyasha. Both of us... we loved, yes. We did love. But we hated too. What I wanted from you was not pure. I understand that now, more than you realize. If you had made the wish upon the Shikon no Tama back then, it would have reflected my taint and possibly destroyed us both. Never forget that the jewel is both good and evil, and any wish is sure to be twisted if given the chance."

"Kikyou... I..." Inuyasha tried.

"And in this life, I tried to hold you to me, but Kagome had your heart and I could not compete with it. How could I? I wanted your death. She has always wanted you to live. I wanted your hate. She wanted your love. I wanted your suffering. She wanted you to be happy. Her love was the pure love, and your soul knew it even if your heart did not."

Listening to the undead miko's words, and hearing the regret and sorrow in her voice Kagome realized what Kikyou was saying and her heart beat faster in her chest.

`She... she's going to release him! She's... We... We'll be able to be together...'

"I would be lying if I said I did not regret the lost opportunities we did not take. But lost is what they are and we cannot bring them back, any more than we can make my heart beat again or my body flesh instead of mud and bones."

`She understands. Life is for the living and not the dead.'

She looked and saw Inuyasha clenching his fists, his body taut and rigid.

`He's holding himself back for my sake... he shouldn't have to.'

"I... I'll leave you two alone," she said softly.

Inuyasha stared wide-eyed at her, then his face softened in gratitude.

"Kagome..."

She gave him a tender smile and kissed his cheek gently. He nuzzled her, then petted and nuzzled Yukio.

"I'll be back at camp. Take your time. I'll hold dinner. Okay?"

He nodded. "Thank you, Kagome."

She nodded back then gave a small bow to Kikyou. Kikyou dipped her head slightly in response. Knowing that was all she would get from the undead miko, Kagome turned away and walked toward camp. Shippou was on Kirara in her full firecat form, the kit was holding the rest of Yukio's clothes in his small hands, and they watched her go then fell in beside her. Myouga hopped up on her shoulder.

"You're going to leave them alone, Kagome-sama?" the flea-youkai asked.

"I trust Inuyasha. If I'm going to have a future with him, I have to show him that I'm not going to repeat Kikyou's mistakes," she answered.

`Besides, if Kikyou is going to say good-bye, they should be free to hug and I don't want to see that.'

"Kagome is so much more mature than Inuyasha," Shippou commented.

Kagome spared a brief glance towards the couple who stood facing each other and bit her lip.

`Inuyasha, I do trust you, but please... don't take too long.'

Deliberately turning her back, she left the two former lovers alone and returned to their camp.