InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Message in a Bottle ❯ Inuyasha’s Farewell ( Chapter 2 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: SplendentGoddess 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 09.03.2005 | Updated On: 12.30.2010 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.0K | Visits: 4.3K | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 09.03.2005 | Updated On: 12.30.2010 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.0K | Visits: 4.3K | Status: Completed
Blanket Disclaimer:
Inuyasha, and the characters therein, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.
========================
Chapter 2 – Inuyasha’s Farewell
No sooner than Inuyasha began debating on abandoning everything he’d just proclaimed by jumping down into the well after Kagome, did Kikyou appear in the nearby woods, the unnatural slithering of her shinidamachuu catching his attention even before he noticed her foul scent on the breeze.
“Inuyasha, are you ready?” she asked, her voice as cold and stoic as ever.
Sighing, he simply muttered, “Yes.”
“My reincarnation has returned to her own time, then?” the undead miko asked for clarity.
“Yes.” was his emotionless response.
“She never belonged here. You know that.” Kikyou stated bitterly.
Inuyasha cringed inwardly at her harshness, thinking… Yes she did.
Staring with a piercing gaze that almost suggested she’d read his thoughts, Kikyou turned abruptly, heading back into the trees. “Come, Inuyasha.”
Sighing again, he simply replied, “Yes, Kikyou.”
As the pair made their way towards the Goshinboku, Inuyasha couldn’t help but to keep thoughts of Kagome in his mind…how heart broken she’d looked, how heart broken that’d made him feel, and how cold Kikyou seemed to be acting about the whole damn thing. As they reached their destination, the undead miko signaled for her soul stealers to vacate, and they left her, the two now standing completely alone. Alone at the spot where Kikyo had sealed him over fifty years ago, the spot where Kagome had later freed him from that curse. Kikyou intended for it all to end where it had begun. Nobel, if you thought about it, but seeing the sacred tree only caused Inuyasha even more pain…even more heartache. It was almost as if he could feel Kagome embracing the tree in her own time. It was a tree of ages, after all, so maybe Kagome truly was at the Goshinboku of her world in that moment, and he could sense it. Good, he thought then. At least in this one small way, they would always be connected.
Reaching her arms up to embrace Inuyasha, he did not resist nor return Kikyou’s brief kiss, as she pulled him closer, wrapping her arms tightly around him.
“Inuyasha…” Kikyou began, starting to sound more like her old self, more like the Kikyou he remembered…yet still did not love any longer. “I have waited for this moment for so very…very long.”
“I know…”
His response was void of emotion, which caused her to pause, deciding she needed clarification in that moment. “Is this what you truly want?”
He winced at the question. What kind of a question was that, anyway? He had no choice but to answer “Yes” in a soft whisper, trying to sound as sincere as possible.
“Then let us leave this world for that which is forever. Together as one, our spirits will be free, free in Hell.”
A mist began to rise around the pair, quickly concealing their bodies from view, and Kikyou leaned forward in that moment to steal another kiss from the mentally distant hanyou. Something was wrong, the undead miko quickly realized in that moment.
What’s this? His mind is willing, but his heart is not!
Unlike the last time she had almost been successful taking him into Hell with her, when Inuyasha had fallen under her spell completely, his heart was subconsciously resisting her magic this time around. Before, during her previous attempt, Inuyasha had been completely devoted to Kikyou, in his heart and mind, at least until her copy had somehow managed to break through her spell, which should not have been possible. Was it possible, then, that her reincarnation was still spoiling her plans in that moment, even from five hundred years into the future? Was Inuyasha’s heart truly so caught up on the woman-child that her magic could not consume him? She could not open the gates of Hell for the two of them until he submitted fully to her spell.
“Inuyasha…” Kikyou began in that moment.
“Yes?” he answered with exasperation present in his voice.
“You do not give yourself fully.” she stated matter-of-factly.
“Of course I do!” he spat in denial.
“You do not…” she argued, her tone firm. “You give your mind, but not your heart.” she clarified.
“I give my life!” he declared, getting really upset over the whole thing. “I owe you my life for yours, a soul for a soul. That’s what I promised. I promised that to appease your spirit, I would join you in Hell. You said you needed my death to find peace.”
“Is that still how you feel?” she asked with doubt in her eyes.
“I’m here, aren’t I?” he replied sarcastically.
When she squinted her eyes in such a manner to show disgust with his attitude, he reined in his temper, but calmly stated, “I owe you my life, my body, and my soul.”
“And…your love?” she ventured, knowing he’d stumble over his own tongue at the question, which was precisely what happened.
“I…uh…”
“I see.” she concluded.
“Kikyou, stop talking nonsense and let’s just do this thing. I’m here, with you.” the hanyou stated.
“You may be here, but you are not with me, not truly.” Her voice became free of emotion again, as she asked rather blandly, “Your heart…your love belongs to Kagome, does it not?”
“I don’t see why that should matter.” he muttered under his breath, not bothering to deny it.
“It does matter…” the undead miko explained in that moment. “I cannot bring you to Hell with me if your full being is not willing to go.” She stated it as a simple fact, and did not sound either depressed or rejoiced.
Disbelievingly, Inuyasha questioned, “What do you mean?”
“Just what I said.” she answered simply.
“But…Kikyou?” Confusion quickly morphed into anxiety in his voice.
“Go.” she stated simply, almost sweetly. “Go be with Kagome, it is what your soul truly desires.”
He didn’t say anything, so she continued after a moment, once again sounding like the Kikyou he’d once known and loved.
“To be with you is what my soul desires…but my soul is her soul. Perhaps…perhaps it was always her, whom you were meant to be with.”
“Kikyou…” Inuyasha sighed in both relief and gratitude.
Kissing him gently once more, that time, Inuyasha returned the gesture, recognizing it for the goodbye that it was.
Kikyou stepped back from him then, so that the two of them could gaze into each other’s eyes, the mists from her spell having dissipated so that the air around them was clear.
“In a way, she is me, so that will be enough.” she said as a passing thought.
“Kikyou, I…I do care about you, and I’ll miss you…so much.” It was the truth.
“And I you, Inuyasha. I no longer have hatred for you in my heart, and I can leave this world now, and be at peace.”
Smiling at her words, Inuyasha tenderly brushed his fingers across her cheek, before tucking a rouge strand of hair back behind her ear. He was glad that she would finally be able to rest after wandering in limbo for so long.
Kikyou smiled in return, and then her body faded away to reveal a pale blue light, as the souls she’d collected over time freed themselves from their imprisonment, floating up into the sky. All but one, the largest soul, Kikyou’s original soul, which had been ripped from Kagome; it now flew towards the well to rejoin itself with its other half.
````````````````````
Kagome emerged on her side of the well already bursting with a new barrage of falling tears. Running out of the well-house towards the shrine, she stopped as she passed by the Goshinboku. That tree…that cursed tree!
I wish someone would just chop it down! she thought in despair, as the thought of that tree posing a constant reminder of the joy she had once felt only proved to then be a catalyst to the thoughts of pain this day had brought forth.
Slowly, Kagome approached the sacred tree. The jewel around her neck seemed to sparkle more vividly as she approached, but the noonday sun shown brightly from above, so the miko figured it must just be a trick of the light, not to mention how obstructed her vision currently was with tears. Reaching her hand up to touch the spot that had once imprisoned Inuyasha, her beloved Inuyasha, she knew she would always see his presence there in that spot, the spot that no longer grew bark. Feeling something odd, like a spiritual aura tingling against her own, Kagome looked behind her in that moment, and for an instant, for just an instant, she thought that perhaps she saw Inuyasha standing there, looking up at her. Of course, when she blinked he was gone. Her mind was only playing tricks on her. Although, she still felt as though she could feel his presence as she then embraced the god tree. Kagome decided in that moment that she was glad the Goshinboku was still standing, after all, because in that one small way, at least they were still connected.
Turning to head back to her house, Kagome felt another strange presence, and as she looked back in the direction of the well-house, her eyes widened in alarm when she saw a light emerge from the structure, flying straight towards her. The light entered her body, and immediately realizing it was the rest of her soul, the part that had up until that moment been keeping Kikyou ‘alive’, Kagome understood all too well that its return meant that Kikyou had now passed on back in the past, which also meant…Inuyasha was dead, too.
```````````````````````
Inuyasha could do nothing but stand there dumbfounded for a moment. Had Kikyou actually passed on…without him? That meant…that meant he was free! Free from his obligations to her. She’d released him, told him to go be with Kagome.
Well, what was he standing around there for?
Bounding up, he leapt through the air faster than he’d ever flown before, until be was right at the edge of the well. Kagome, I’m coming for you… he thought…but he thought wrong.
Landing at the bottom of the well, Inuyasha waited for the blue lights of time to embrace him, but the time-slip never came. Looking up to see the bright blue sky, he knew he was still in his world.
“No…”
Leaping out he immediately jumped back in again...still nothing.
“No!”
Converting /tmp/phpnPqSNd to /dev/stdout
Inuyasha, and the characters therein, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.
========================
Chapter 2 – Inuyasha’s Farewell
No sooner than Inuyasha began debating on abandoning everything he’d just proclaimed by jumping down into the well after Kagome, did Kikyou appear in the nearby woods, the unnatural slithering of her shinidamachuu catching his attention even before he noticed her foul scent on the breeze.
“Inuyasha, are you ready?” she asked, her voice as cold and stoic as ever.
Sighing, he simply muttered, “Yes.”
“My reincarnation has returned to her own time, then?” the undead miko asked for clarity.
“Yes.” was his emotionless response.
“She never belonged here. You know that.” Kikyou stated bitterly.
Inuyasha cringed inwardly at her harshness, thinking… Yes she did.
Staring with a piercing gaze that almost suggested she’d read his thoughts, Kikyou turned abruptly, heading back into the trees. “Come, Inuyasha.”
Sighing again, he simply replied, “Yes, Kikyou.”
As the pair made their way towards the Goshinboku, Inuyasha couldn’t help but to keep thoughts of Kagome in his mind…how heart broken she’d looked, how heart broken that’d made him feel, and how cold Kikyou seemed to be acting about the whole damn thing. As they reached their destination, the undead miko signaled for her soul stealers to vacate, and they left her, the two now standing completely alone. Alone at the spot where Kikyo had sealed him over fifty years ago, the spot where Kagome had later freed him from that curse. Kikyou intended for it all to end where it had begun. Nobel, if you thought about it, but seeing the sacred tree only caused Inuyasha even more pain…even more heartache. It was almost as if he could feel Kagome embracing the tree in her own time. It was a tree of ages, after all, so maybe Kagome truly was at the Goshinboku of her world in that moment, and he could sense it. Good, he thought then. At least in this one small way, they would always be connected.
Reaching her arms up to embrace Inuyasha, he did not resist nor return Kikyou’s brief kiss, as she pulled him closer, wrapping her arms tightly around him.
“Inuyasha…” Kikyou began, starting to sound more like her old self, more like the Kikyou he remembered…yet still did not love any longer. “I have waited for this moment for so very…very long.”
“I know…”
His response was void of emotion, which caused her to pause, deciding she needed clarification in that moment. “Is this what you truly want?”
He winced at the question. What kind of a question was that, anyway? He had no choice but to answer “Yes” in a soft whisper, trying to sound as sincere as possible.
“Then let us leave this world for that which is forever. Together as one, our spirits will be free, free in Hell.”
A mist began to rise around the pair, quickly concealing their bodies from view, and Kikyou leaned forward in that moment to steal another kiss from the mentally distant hanyou. Something was wrong, the undead miko quickly realized in that moment.
What’s this? His mind is willing, but his heart is not!
Unlike the last time she had almost been successful taking him into Hell with her, when Inuyasha had fallen under her spell completely, his heart was subconsciously resisting her magic this time around. Before, during her previous attempt, Inuyasha had been completely devoted to Kikyou, in his heart and mind, at least until her copy had somehow managed to break through her spell, which should not have been possible. Was it possible, then, that her reincarnation was still spoiling her plans in that moment, even from five hundred years into the future? Was Inuyasha’s heart truly so caught up on the woman-child that her magic could not consume him? She could not open the gates of Hell for the two of them until he submitted fully to her spell.
“Inuyasha…” Kikyou began in that moment.
“Yes?” he answered with exasperation present in his voice.
“You do not give yourself fully.” she stated matter-of-factly.
“Of course I do!” he spat in denial.
“You do not…” she argued, her tone firm. “You give your mind, but not your heart.” she clarified.
“I give my life!” he declared, getting really upset over the whole thing. “I owe you my life for yours, a soul for a soul. That’s what I promised. I promised that to appease your spirit, I would join you in Hell. You said you needed my death to find peace.”
“Is that still how you feel?” she asked with doubt in her eyes.
“I’m here, aren’t I?” he replied sarcastically.
When she squinted her eyes in such a manner to show disgust with his attitude, he reined in his temper, but calmly stated, “I owe you my life, my body, and my soul.”
“And…your love?” she ventured, knowing he’d stumble over his own tongue at the question, which was precisely what happened.
“I…uh…”
“I see.” she concluded.
“Kikyou, stop talking nonsense and let’s just do this thing. I’m here, with you.” the hanyou stated.
“You may be here, but you are not with me, not truly.” Her voice became free of emotion again, as she asked rather blandly, “Your heart…your love belongs to Kagome, does it not?”
“I don’t see why that should matter.” he muttered under his breath, not bothering to deny it.
“It does matter…” the undead miko explained in that moment. “I cannot bring you to Hell with me if your full being is not willing to go.” She stated it as a simple fact, and did not sound either depressed or rejoiced.
Disbelievingly, Inuyasha questioned, “What do you mean?”
“Just what I said.” she answered simply.
“But…Kikyou?” Confusion quickly morphed into anxiety in his voice.
“Go.” she stated simply, almost sweetly. “Go be with Kagome, it is what your soul truly desires.”
He didn’t say anything, so she continued after a moment, once again sounding like the Kikyou he’d once known and loved.
“To be with you is what my soul desires…but my soul is her soul. Perhaps…perhaps it was always her, whom you were meant to be with.”
“Kikyou…” Inuyasha sighed in both relief and gratitude.
Kissing him gently once more, that time, Inuyasha returned the gesture, recognizing it for the goodbye that it was.
Kikyou stepped back from him then, so that the two of them could gaze into each other’s eyes, the mists from her spell having dissipated so that the air around them was clear.
“In a way, she is me, so that will be enough.” she said as a passing thought.
“Kikyou, I…I do care about you, and I’ll miss you…so much.” It was the truth.
“And I you, Inuyasha. I no longer have hatred for you in my heart, and I can leave this world now, and be at peace.”
Smiling at her words, Inuyasha tenderly brushed his fingers across her cheek, before tucking a rouge strand of hair back behind her ear. He was glad that she would finally be able to rest after wandering in limbo for so long.
Kikyou smiled in return, and then her body faded away to reveal a pale blue light, as the souls she’d collected over time freed themselves from their imprisonment, floating up into the sky. All but one, the largest soul, Kikyou’s original soul, which had been ripped from Kagome; it now flew towards the well to rejoin itself with its other half.
````````````````````
Kagome emerged on her side of the well already bursting with a new barrage of falling tears. Running out of the well-house towards the shrine, she stopped as she passed by the Goshinboku. That tree…that cursed tree!
I wish someone would just chop it down! she thought in despair, as the thought of that tree posing a constant reminder of the joy she had once felt only proved to then be a catalyst to the thoughts of pain this day had brought forth.
Slowly, Kagome approached the sacred tree. The jewel around her neck seemed to sparkle more vividly as she approached, but the noonday sun shown brightly from above, so the miko figured it must just be a trick of the light, not to mention how obstructed her vision currently was with tears. Reaching her hand up to touch the spot that had once imprisoned Inuyasha, her beloved Inuyasha, she knew she would always see his presence there in that spot, the spot that no longer grew bark. Feeling something odd, like a spiritual aura tingling against her own, Kagome looked behind her in that moment, and for an instant, for just an instant, she thought that perhaps she saw Inuyasha standing there, looking up at her. Of course, when she blinked he was gone. Her mind was only playing tricks on her. Although, she still felt as though she could feel his presence as she then embraced the god tree. Kagome decided in that moment that she was glad the Goshinboku was still standing, after all, because in that one small way, at least they were still connected.
Turning to head back to her house, Kagome felt another strange presence, and as she looked back in the direction of the well-house, her eyes widened in alarm when she saw a light emerge from the structure, flying straight towards her. The light entered her body, and immediately realizing it was the rest of her soul, the part that had up until that moment been keeping Kikyou ‘alive’, Kagome understood all too well that its return meant that Kikyou had now passed on back in the past, which also meant…Inuyasha was dead, too.
```````````````````````
Inuyasha could do nothing but stand there dumbfounded for a moment. Had Kikyou actually passed on…without him? That meant…that meant he was free! Free from his obligations to her. She’d released him, told him to go be with Kagome.
Well, what was he standing around there for?
Bounding up, he leapt through the air faster than he’d ever flown before, until be was right at the edge of the well. Kagome, I’m coming for you… he thought…but he thought wrong.
Landing at the bottom of the well, Inuyasha waited for the blue lights of time to embrace him, but the time-slip never came. Looking up to see the bright blue sky, he knew he was still in his world.
“No…”
Leaping out he immediately jumped back in again...still nothing.
“No!”
Converting /tmp/phpnPqSNd to /dev/stdout