InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Love Hurts ❯ Love Hurts ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: I don't own Inu. Song belongs to whoever wrote it.

A/N: This is why I hate plotbunnies in the middle of the night. It's basically a 'what-if' based off of my Psychology text and my Mom's music. The version of the song I used was the EmmyLou Harris/Gram Parsons duet off of EmmyLou's album 'Duets'. Check it out, the harmonies are awesome and the song itself is heartbreaking.


Kagome Higurashi was anything but stupid. Which was exactly why she was here today; why she’d left.

She’d waited until the quest was finished, of course; Naraku dead, jewel complete, Inuyasha with a year’s supply of ramen, blah blah bliddy blah. Then, in a single moment of complete selfishness, she’d fled.

Two whispered words had erased the jewel: “Be happy.”

If someone had asked her in those first weeks why she’d done it, she would have answered that she’d loved him and had known that he could never be happy with her. Now, eight years later, her answer had changed.

Oh, she still would say that she’d loved him, but now she’d also say that she hadn’t wanted to deal with the pain that love would bring.

Love hurts, love scars, love wounds and mars
Any heart not tough or strong enough
To take a lot of pain, take a lot of pain
Love is like a cloud; holds a lot of rain

Because, really, that’s all love is, right? Pain?

Love hurts, mmm, mmm, love hurts

Many people, her mother included, had told her that she was too young to be so cynical. Her response was always the same; a small, secretive smile and a murmured ‘Perhaps’.

She knew she was right.

Inuyasha and Kikyou had been one of the greatest tragic romances of all time. Hell, they would have made Romeo and Juliet weep. And all that their love had ever brought them was pain.

Ayumi hadn’t faired any better in the love department either. She’d married Ryo, her college sweetheart, only to discover that the man and alcohol did not make for a safe home.

Kagome wasn’t cynical. She was experienced.

I'm young I know but even so
I know a thing or two I learned from you
I really learned a lot, really learned a lot

It wasn’t puppy love that would do you in either. Puppy love was safe. Puppy love became friendship.

It was passion that would kill you.

Passion. The fabled ‘all-encompassing fire’; it would burn you alive from the inside out and still leave you crying for it.

Between the dangerously fulfilling passion and the safely incomplete friendship, there was no mystery as to what she’d take.

Love is like a stove; burns you when it's hot
Love hurts, mmm, mmm, love hurts


Contrary to common belief, Inuyasha wasn’t an idiot either. Sure, he usually chose the ‘brawn-over-brains’ approach, but he wasn’t completely mindless.

He’d known that she’d leave eventually. He’d even go so far as to say he’d known why.

Over the years, he’d become used to the fact that, for her to be happy, he should have little to no contact with her. It hurt and he was lonely, but so long as she was happy he was content to keep his distance.

Some fools think of happiness
Blissfulness, togetherness

Shippou, irritating brat that he was, had begged and pleaded with Inuyasha for nearly ten years to bring Kagome back. The kit would often say that, if Inuyasha really loved the girl, he’d want her with him; he’d have her with him.

Instead of smacking the little twit, the hanyou would only shake his head and say that Shippou would understand when he was older.

Inuyasha wanted that infuriating woman with him almost more than he could stand, but he had to let her go.

Why? Simple. He loved her.

He’d never liked that Hojou kid, but he’d give Kagome a stable life. That was all that anyone could ask for.

Some fools fool themselves I guess
But they're not fooling me

He knew that Kikyou’s one-time vision of a perfect, happy life filled with love was a delusion. Love meant sacrifice. Sacrifice meant sorrow.

The arguments that ‘All you need is love’, ‘Love is like oxygen’, and ‘Love lifts us up where we belong’ were inherently flawed.

Kami, he’d hated that damn movie.

It was why he was here, really; to prove to himself that his own little masochistic philosophy was true.

To prove that, where love is concerned, there’s no such thing as a happy ending.

I know it isn't true, know it isn't true
Love is just a lie made to make you blue

So he’d watch her exchange vows with a man she’d never love. He’d watch as she’d smile and laugh, pretending that this was the happiest day of her life.

It’d kill him inside, but he’d watch.Love hurts, mmm, mmm, love hurts

Because, honestly, all love really was is a fancy word for ‘pain’. Right?

Oh, love hurts


Author's note 2: In which the author attempts to explain herself: I was randomly flipping through my Psychology text the other day when I stumbled upon a diagram displaying Love as a pyramid of Intimacy, as in trust, Commitment, and Passion. The text explained that Love was common in many combinations of two out of the three, but to find True Love, the three-in-one package deal, was an ideal that was nearly impossible. Cue the hamster in my brain. A quote from my favorite lyricist, "Feeling lonely and content, I believe, is a rare kind of happiness," helped to form Inu's PoV. Add the duet that got stuck in my head at 10:00 PM and you get this...twisted thing that insists on calling itself a ficlet.