InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Pain of Being Alone ❯ Chapter Two: Confronting Kikyo ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter two

A/N: I originally intended for this to be a one shot, but ideas kept coming up. So here is chapter two, Inuyasha tells Kikyo. I don't own Inuyasha, and neither do you, so there!

Inuyasha woke with the dawn. He felt a pleasant warmth against his body. Looking down, he smiled at the sleeping Kagome. She was curled up against his chest as he sat on her bed, his back to a wall. After the confessions of the day before, they had come back to Kagome's room to talk. They had spent the rest of the day talking of hopes, dreams, and the countless other things that young love makes you talk about. Of course, there had been plenty of cuddling and kissing, as well. 'But not mating, at least not yet.' thought Inuyasha, in bemusement. They had discussed that too and had decided that it would be better to wait until Naraku was gone, Kikyo laid to rest, and themselves married! 'Not that it will be easy.' thought the hanyou with a slight grimace on his face. 'I've never mated before, but I've seen and heard enough to know that I want to! Especially now that I have someone who wants me as I am.' He sighed at that thought. He could tell that Kagome was "turned on",as she put it, by him. Kikyo never was. She liked him and had found a companion for her loneliness with him, but she had never desired his hanyou self. She had wanted his soul in a human body. Yet another way that Kagome was better than Kikyo.

Thinking about Kikyo, Inuyasha sighed. 'I have to tell her.' He owed her that much. Carefully moving from behind Kagome so as not to wake her, Inuyasha got up from the bed after gently laying her down. He leaned over and kissed her gently on the lips. She murmered and reached out, putting her hand on his arm and carressing it in her sleep. Smiling slightly, Inuyasha breathed in her scent. He savored her aroma before her moved his arm from under her hand. "I'll be back in a little while, my love. There is something I must do. I love you." He leaned in for a quick peck on her cheek and then went to the window before she could wake completely.

Inuyasha went to the well and went through. He didn't see Kagome watch him go into the well house. After he left, Kagome sat on the edge of her bed. She had an idea what Inuyasha was doing. She hoped that he would be able to. Standing up from the bed, she looked out the window at the wellhouse and made a decision. 'I'm going to follow him. He may need me.' This decided, she dressed quickly and went to the well.

Inuyasha saw the soul gatherers as soon as he came out of the well. "I might as well get this over with." he said to himself. He followed the soul gatherers into the forest. He didn't have far to go. He found Kikyo lounging in a tree. "Hello, Kikyo." he said. "We need to talk."

"And what do we need to talk about, Inuyasha? The fact that you haven't honored your promise to go to hell with me, yet!"

"In a way. Kikyo, I'm not going to hell with you."

Kikyo's eyes narrowed. "You promised that you would."

"I know, but I've already died for you once. Isn't that enough?"

"No, it isn't enough. You are mine and I'm not going to let my shadow take you away from me, because that is what this is all about, isn't it!? You love her more than me!"

"Kagome is more than your shadow, Kikyo!" exclaimed Inuyasha. "She is everything that you could have been, but thought yourself to pure to be. And I love what you could have been, so it is you who are the shadow, because you never truly stepped into the light!"

Kikyo looked at Inuyasha and then did the last thing he expected. She began to cry. Slow tears went down her cheeks. "But ... but I love you, Inuyasha. Are you going to leave me alone?"

Inuyasha looked at her, stricken. But before he could answer, Kagome stepped out from behind the tree she had been hiding behind. "You won't be alone."

"Surely, you are not going to give him back to me. If you are, you are a fool."

"Kagome, I'm not leaving you!"

Kagome looked at the former lovers and smiled. 'I don't know why I didn't realize this before.', she thought. "I'm not going to ask you to leave me, Inuyasha. And I'm not giving him up, Kikyo. I've waited too long for him for that." Kagome took a deep breath. "Kikyo? Have you ever thought about you and I? What we share?"

"No, not really. You were always just a copy of me."

"Yes and no. We have the same soul."

"You're stating the obvious."

"Yes, I am. Something so obvious that we both missed it!"

"Really." Kikyo's voice dripped with sarcasm. "And just what is this oh so obvious thing. Enlighten me."

"Don't you get it?! We share the same soul! If I am your reincarnate, then you aren't in hell, and Inuyasha's soul is still near to your soul in me!"

Kikyo's and Inuyasha's jaws dropped.

"So you see, Inuyasha doesn't need to go to hell with you. And you aren't alone. You're still with him. Only it is as me." Kagome looked at both smugly.

"But ... but Inuyasha will love you. And I won't be me when I become you." Kikyo whispered.

"You're soul will remember and trust me, I love Inuyasha with all my heart and soul. So that means your love will live on in me. Besides, you have already become me, and there is nothing that can change that."

Kikyo turned to Inuyasha, tears of joy in her eyes. "This means I can rest now, because I will still have you and your love! Go to her Inuyasha! And remember me!" Kikyo stepped forward and embraced Inuyasha quickly, then she backed away. As she backed away, a glow started to envelope her. Kagome took Kikyo's place in Inuyasha's arms as the glow intensified. Spheres of light began exiting Kikyo's body and circled her for a moment before taking flight, released to continue their journey to the afterlife. As each sphere left her, she got visibly weaker. The smile never left her face as she sank to her knees. Finally, no other spheres left her body. She put her hands in front of her and one final sphere appeared in her hands. Looking at Inuyasha and Kagome, she smiled at their tears, for both were crying over her. "This one is yours, Kagome. Take it and be whole once again. I will always love you, Inuyasha! Farewell as Kikyo, hello as Kagome!" This said she released the last sphere. It sped to Kagome and entered her chest, causing her to gasp. Inuyasha tightened his grip on Kagome. Then he released her and ran to Kikyo's side where she had fallen over. Kagome came up behind him and placed her hands on his shoulders.

For a moment, Inuyasha knelt beside the body of clay that had been Kikyo. He shed some tears of regret for what might have been, and he shed some tears for her finding of peace. Slowly, he stood. He turned and took Kagome into his arms. She was crying, too. She cried at his pain and she cried for Kikyo's sacrifice.

"We'll bury her here." Inuyasha said quietly. "And after..."

"And after...?" asked Kagome.

"And after, we kill Naraku and live our lives together, never to be alone again. I love you, Kagome."

"Never alone. I love you, Inuyasha." Kagome said with a smile that could have had just a hint of another behind it. "Never alone." she whispered, as she embraced the man she loved.

A/N: Done! This time it is finished! I hope you liked it. Look for another story soon. This one will be about Inuyasha's human family and will be a sequel to this one.