InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Hanging by a moment... ❯ Promises and Honor ( Chapter 7 )

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

Genre(s): Angst
Rating: A
Warnings: None
Word Count: 500






The mission was over, it should be a happy occasion, but in that moment Kagome would’ve wished Naraku back to life if only to delay the inevitable. It was time for Inuyasha to join Kikyou in Hell.

Crying on Sango’s shoulder, she begged the taijiya not to say or do anything to stop him. It had to be Inuyasha’s decision. He was a man of honor and had to keep his word. It didn’t matter how broken she had become.

But that wasn’t true, it mattered to Inuyasha greatly. He was as heartbroken as Kagome as he walked away from his friends, his ears pinned back at the sound of her sobs. Shuddering at Kikyou’s triumphant grin as he approached her, Inuyasha gulped, and momentarily debated just how great a dishonor it would be to walk away from this obligation. But even as he contemplated giving in to his heart’s desire, running back to Kagome, scooping her up in his arms with apologies and declarations of love, his feet held steadfast on their path to destruction. He had given his word, and he was nothing without his word. How could he even offer himself to Kagome if he broke his vow to Kikyou? His honor was all that he had, and he would do anything to keep it, even die.

Closing the gap between himself and the undead miko, Kikyou wrapped her arms around him, a mist rising up out of the ground to surround them both and block them from view.

It was then that Kagome lost it.

“No!” she cried, not in a conscious attempt to stop him, but just in her own sorrow. Believing it already too late, believing them gone, she closed her eyes and said “I need you to live.”

Surrounded by Kikyou’s magic and nearly unconsciousness, Inuyasha’s eyes popped open as Kagome’s words reached him, an echo from a past long forgotten merging Kagome’s voice with another’s, as the mists turned to flame.

It was his human night, someone had known the secret and chose that night to attack. The seven-year-old boy awoke to the sound of his mother’s screaming, flames engulfing their hut. Running together for the door, the roof collapsed on top of her; he was too weak to move the beam.

“Inuyasha, you must run!” Izayoi shouted.

“I won’t leave you!” he shouted back.

“My time is over, it is already too late for me, but not for you! You must run, Inuyasha, you must live! Promise me you’ll always fight to live! Never give up! I need you to live!”

“I…I promise!” the raven-haired boy cried, before kissing his mother’s cheek and running from the burning hut before it claimed him too.

Inuyasha’s expression morphed from resignation to horror as the memory consumed him. Keeping his vow to Kikyou would dishonor his mother! His promise to live came first…

“Forgive me, Kikyou.” he said before leaping out of the circle just as the gates of Hell opened beneath her feet.