InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Without a Lullaby ❯ Cornered ( Chapter 20 )

Chapter XXIV: Cornered

 

 

“Goddamnit, that hurts! Sesshomaru!” He whirled around, holding tightly on to her wrist as he shoved her up against a tree and growled harshly.

 

“What are you expecting me to do, Kagome? Lie down like some subordinate pup as I watch you run off head first in to any danger that comes across you? Is that how it works, I watch until you wind up dead?” She felt his fangs running across her neck as he spoke harshly, trembling slightly. He bared them against her skin, growling, angry beyond all fury with her stupidity.

 

“All I wanted to do was go home! It's not my fault that some youkai attacked me!” Kagome defended.

 

It had been a while since they had come back to Kaede's village… so much had happened. Memories had overwhelmed her, and after days on end of the tears Kagome had determined all she wanted was to just go home.

 

He seemed indifferent to her pleading… he just pressed his body against hers, trapping her effectively between himself and the bark of the tree.

 

“Sesshomaru… onegai… Let me go…” Kagome twisted her arm ineffectively in his grasp.

 

She felt his fingers uncurl from her wrist, but he didn't bother moving his body. Instead, he scowled down at her with those intense twin suns.

 

That long, silvery hair.

 

And she could almost see the way those ears twitched slightly in annoyance.

 

Tears welled in her eyes again, threatening to consume her. Her breath hitched in her throat, looking at him with wavering hues.

 

At this, Sesshomaru's face hardened and the next moment he was gone.

 

Kagome knew, inside… that he knew all she needed was time.

 

 

So, she stumbled her way back to the village… back into the arms of her companions…

 

It had been so long since she had been home… and the last thing she wanted was her family to see how weak she was anyway…

 

And if Sesshomaru was willing to give her that time she needed, she willingly take it.

 

But she couldn't deal with these memories on her own.

 

 

And it was the dream in which they took her in, through her haze, and allowed her to sit down and cry it out. Cry out the memories and pain that all but haunted her these months. The absence she felt, the emptiness while she was away from her dearest friends… her family.

 

Sango-chan… Shippo-chan… Miroku-san…

 

It all became too much to bear.

 

Inuyasha…

 

She knew he and Sesshomaru were completely different people. She knew Inuyasha wasn't coming back again, ever.

 

She knew that…

 

But those eyes…

 

The memory he'd never again would come to be was just as intense now as the day he had left her presence.

 

Kagome remembered it all too clearly.

 

Kagome laid on her side, barely conscious. The pain was so great… it devoured her consciousness. The helplessness consumed her as she heard Inuyasha cry out, being tossed into the air like he was some sort of rag doll… and landed less than five feet from her on his back. He turned those pained eyes toward her, spitting up a small amount of blood….

 

His eyebrows knitted together, regret flooding his face.

 

She knew that look… that pained look…

 

He had never meant for it to go this way.

 

Weakly, she reached out toward her only love. Her true love.

 

He was dying.

 

Again, the regret washed over his face as he lifted his own rough, clawed hand toward her. He was even too weak to transform.

 

“Gomen nasai...”

 

She watched him whisper… those words… that apology…

 

His eyebrows knitted together, he returned her a look of helplessness, of longing, of remorse, of absolutely agony…

 

Naraku came, looming over him like a death sentence… he lifted back his hand… and Inuyasha didn't even grace him with a look… as Naraku brought down his claws through Inuyasha's chest, and Inuyasha cried out in absolute anguish… yet, he never took his eyes off of Kagome.

 

Not even in death did his eyes move away from the last place he saw Kagome.

 

And Kagome remembered screaming out.

 

The last thing that ever came from her mouth before Sesshomaru came in to her life.

 

And that was Inuyasha's name.

 

“Kagome-chan… Kagome-chan, I know… please, I know it hurts. But tell me, what's wrong? What's wrong?”

 

But Kagome just cried and cried. She rocked herself, not even responding. It hurt. All over.

 

In her body, in her mind.

 

It was slow torture.

 

“Kagome-sama, how are we to help you… if we do not know what ails you?”

 

Kagome bit out at him, “It hurts, baka!”

 

Sango touched her shoulder gently, “We know… Kagome-chan, but why?”

 

“He's gone…”

 

At this, Sango and Miroku both looked at each other silently.

 

“Kagome-sama… Tomorrow it shall be a year…”

 

Kagome could only nod wordlessly as another heartfelt sob escaped those tiny lips…

 

“Demo, Kagome-chan… You're with Sesshomaru now, aren't you?”

 

Kagome lifted her head, staring at Sango helplessly. The tears caused her hair to plaster to her face, making her look unreal… like a picture in a story…

 

“I know…”

 

“Then… why?”

 

How could they not understand…?

 

Miroku understood the look Kagome gave them, and he sighed gently. “Kagome-sama, please… understand, we miss Inuyasha too… but has Sesshomaru not lessened the pain of his passing?”

 

Kagome breathed in deeply, and nodded.

 

There was no way he could not have… she was still alive…

 

“Kagome… Sesshomaru isn't Inuyasha…”

 

Kagome pounded a small fist on the ground. “I know! ….I know… okay…? But…but…”

 

Sango ushered her on… she really wanted to know how Kagome felt about the great demon…

 

“But what?”

 

Kagome looked up at her with vibrant eyes, eyes that spoke volumes of her misery. “That doesn't take away the loss… you know?”

 

Both adults nodded… even Shippo had experienced the pain of loss… his father, Inuyasha too…

 

“But… how do you feel about Sesshomaru, Kagome-chan?”

 

Kagome lifted her eyes slowly, looking at both pairs of expectant eyes.

 

And she gave them the straightest answer she ever could.

 

“I love him.”

 

And that was all there was to it.

 

She knew he wasn't Inuyasha.

 

She knew he could never be Inuyasha.

 

And she didn't want him to be.

 

He was who he was and that was all there was to it.

 

And now she couldn't take back how she felt, and she never wanted to.

 

All she could do now was avenge Inuyasha's death through the death of Naraku.

 

It was the least she could do, considering he gave his life for her.

 

And she told them that.

 

Yet… it is so funny… how Inuyasha was seeking to take revenge on Naraku for Kikyo… and now, her reincarnation… is doing the same for him…

 

That was the ironic part about it.

 

Life was a huge circle, and she was caught in it.

 

And she didn't mind.

 

Because she had Sesshomaru and Rin, along with her old friends to help her along the way.

 

 

A/n: We're getting close to the end of the story. Celebrate.

 

It's taken us a while to get there, but we are.

 

After this, I shall resume `Failure: Not an Option'.

 

`Sleep Paralysis' shall continue.

 

But after that, no new stories for a while. I may just need a break, I may not. We'll see ^^. Anyway, Kagome finally admitted it, yay! Wonder if Sesshy heard? Heh heh. I'm such a bitch.