InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Queen of Hearts ❯ Kagome's Salvation and Kikyo's Demise ( Chapter 4 )

Queen of Hearts

by: kleine-kiko

 

A/N: Hey everyone. I have 10 reviews… I guess that's good. I really appreciate them too! ^ ^ So, I'm dedicating this chapter to all of you who reviewed this last chapter. And here you are:

 

to sango's_stalker, kayko15, Miko-Sakurako, and Sango-the-youkai-slayer from FF.net and InuxKag4Ever from MM.org

 

Your comments are appreciated. I'd still like more reviews. If you're reading my story and like it, but aren't reviewing it, or are reading my story like it and are reviewing it, I'd like you to know that I'm starting a series of exclusive one-shots that will be available on only TWO websites, which will be listed in the author's note at the bottom.

 

Chapter Four: Kagome's Salvation and Kikyo's Demise

 

~@~@~@~

 

As Kikyo stood still with the arrow pressed against the base of her throat after she had issued the ultimatum, Inuyasha's mind raced with all of the different possibilities that could happen. He had loved the image of Kikyo he had had during his fifty years of sleep, and he still loved the Kikyo he had known in the past.

 

But was this woman, this reanimated Kikyo, the woman he loved all those years?

 

His mind turned to the other woman in his life… Kagome. She laid on a futon not fifty feet from where he was now, on the brink of death like their friend Sango. Kagome had always been on Inuyasha's side, even in the beginning when he had wanted to kill her for the jewel.

 

But, did he love Kagome as more than a friend? Was the soul that resided in Kagome, Kikyo's soul, destined for his soul?

 

Inuyasha's mind raced, his heart thumped heavily in his chest, his breathing became rapid and erratic as his mind swam, causing him to become dizzy and disorientated.

 

Kikyo noticed the change in Inuyasha's countenance, but she held her ground, “Inuyasha. I want an answer,” she prodded in her cold domineering voice and manner.

 

Inuyasha looked over his shoulder, sniffing out Kagome's scent, wishing he could be at her side, but needing to somehow talk Kikyo out of suicide.

 

“Kikyo, I need to—” Inuyasha looked over his shoulder again towards Kaede's hut, “I need to—”

 

Kikyo barked shrilly, “You need to what? Attend to Kagome? Why not let her die to save me? You would have when she first came to our world…”

 

A cold chill ran up Inuyasha's spine as Kikyo spoke her cruel heartless words. He looked her straight in the eyes.

 

“Because I know your shikigami servants will save you anyway, I'm choosing to save Kagome,” Inuyasha laughed confident that he could save the two women he loved most.

 

Kikyo pressed the arrow to her throat and a soul slipped out, “You're wrong, I have disembodied them. They are useless now. I've also banished my soul collectors; I have no help for me now. You have made your final choice.”

 

Inuyasha stared wide eyed at Kikyo as she pushed the arrow through her neck and pulled it back out, shuddering and falling to the ground. All the souls she had in her body escaped through the hole in her neck, seeming to dance into the heavens where their long awaited peace was.

 

Inuyasha was ready to run and pick Kikyo up into his arms when Kaede yelled.

 

“Hold them Miroku; we mustn't let them fade away!”

 

“I'm trying Kaede I'm only one man!” Miroku hollered in response. Miroku's strained reply was followed closely by two piercing screams of pain from Kagome and Sango.

 

Inuyasha looked at his long lost beloved as a few more souls raced out of her body. He turned his back to her as he entered Kaede's hut. He never saw Kikyo's demise. Inuyasha didn't see the last part of Kikyo and Kagome's soul fight to stay in the body… Inuyasha never saw Kikyo's body disintegrated into dust and a few bones.

 

~@~@~@~

 

Inuyasha entered Kaede's small hut cautiously and almost gagged as he smelled Kagome's and Sango's blood all over the room. He stepped up onto the platform that had the pit with Kaede's pot in it. As he stepped up he could more fully see Miroku's face and Shippo's red hair from behind Kaede's hunched back. As Inuyasha peered over Kaede's shoulder he was disgusted at what he saw.

 

Kagome and Sango were both becoming paler by the second. Kaede had pierced a hole into the veins of each of the girl's arm; Kagome's left and Sango's right. The blood was shooting from their veins into wooden bowls on the floor.

 

“Damn it! You are such a stupid old crone! Can't you see they aren't getting better? Their turning paler! Stop it!” Inuyasha moved around Kaede's body and grabbed the blankets to press hard against the girls' arms to stop the blood letting.

 

Kaede was affronted. “Inuyasha what be ye doing? We must rid their bodies of the poison.”

 

Inuyasha growled, “If you could see anything you'd know that getting sicker and paler looking doesn't make a person better. Damn it! I can practically smell the death rolling off of their bodies.”

 

He wrapped the blankets securely around their arms as he went to get the first aid kit Kagome had left in the Feudal Era for Kaede in case an emergency should arise while she was away, and let Miroku take over putting pressure on the wounds. Inuyasha roughly opened the box, items scattering in every direction. When he found to rolls of wadded up linen bandages, he picked the up and walked over to the two bleeding girls.

 

Inuyasha looked at the girls' ashen faces, wishing there was a way he could help them more. He saw Kagome's cracked eyes. He knew she must be delusional if she could even sense anything, but he turned away from her to help Sango first.

 

Inuyasha was solemn, and quietly asked Miroku to remove his hand, so he could wrap the bandage around Sango's arm.

 

Once the bandage was in place, Miroku carried the limp Sango to another villager's hut, who was willing to give Sango a place to stay until she was fully recovered. Miroku, of course, would remain by her side and nurse her back to health.

 

Kaede stared at Inuyasha, physically—instead of verbally—asking what he planned to do. Inuyasha sighed and turned his back to her, so he could face Kagome.

 

Kagome looked horrible. She looked like Sango, but she had even the tiniest more color in her sunken in cheeks. The blood from her arm had soaked through the blanket, and Inuyasha was scared to remove it. But as he pulled back the layers, he was relieved to find that the wound from the bloodletting had finally stopped it's rapid bleeding.

 

“Damn it Kagome…” Inuyasha whispered as he heard the reed mat rattle as it was pushed aside and Kaede exited.

 

Kagome moaned lightly at Inuyasha's touch, but remained unconscious to the world around her. She had a crease in her brow that grew more intense as Inuyasha wrapped the bandage farther around her arm; finally tying it off at the top of the bandage.

 

She had slight sweat sheen to her forehead, and her lips were dried and cracked. She didn't look much like Kagome anymore… rather a shell of what she used to be—so much like Kikyo had been.

 

Inuyasha looked around the hut for Shippo, ready to tell the kitsune to scram. But Shippo must have left with Miroku and Sango, for he was nowhere in sight. Inuyasha let out the ragged breath he didn't know he had been holding in the whole time. When his breath came out, Inuyasha's exterior crumbled. He seemed to sink farther onto the floor and he dropped his chin to his chest and heaved a great sob.

 

Inuyasha cried.

 

He didn't know whether to be happy or not. Had Kikyo lied? Was she still alive? Kagome was alive, but should he rejoice in the death of his unrequited love Kikyo? Kikyo. She wanted Kagome to vanish; she caused Sango's illness. Kikyo had kept Inuyasha trapped in a sense of guilt.

 

Kikyo had kept him, Inuyasha, the man she loved, from being happy.

 

As Inuyasha sat next to Kagome, crying, the last bit of Kagome's soul that Kikyo had reclaimed, entered her body through her slightly open mouth.

 

Kagome's face brightened a little, and her breath became more even. Kagome opened her eyes to a narrow sliver and saw Inuyasha sitting next to her, his front covered in blood.

 

“Inuyasha?” she croaked from her dry throat.

 

Inuyasha looked up. Kagome gasped as she saw his silver hair reflected in the twin trail of tears running down his face that were illuminated by the moon.

 

~@~@~@~

 

A/N: Hey you guys, I hoped you liked the update. I know I did. I know a lot of people don't like Kikyo, and trust me—I DON'T! I just would have felt bad if I had you know, killed her off by sending her through a random meat grinder that magically worked in Japan's Feudal Era….. (lol) Well, the websites that my one-shot series will soon be located at are http://groups.msn.com/RiikosSecret, and http://groups.msn.com/YokintoTemple. I'll have the rules posted there. Riiko's Secret is my website and the Yokinto Temple is my friend Zink's site. I encourage all of you to join the groups : )

 

P.S. Don't forget to review the story : ) I'd appreciate it.