InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Final Battle ❯ Sweet Dreams Be Yours, Dear, If Dreams There Be ( Chapter 18 )

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

Heyyyy!!! Yeah, sorry for the long wait. Now that my first year of college is over and done with, I can dedicate more time to completing this fiction! So thank you very much for keeping up with me! :D

DISCLAI–No! I blatantly refuse.

RECAP: Mr. A sighed, following as the remaining aurors were hastily shoveled into the large vehicle. Turning back, he cast one last glance at the portal.

“Harry, Inu-Yasha, Kagome...don’t screw up.”




Chapter 18



“And now, here we are, back in the past with you. The portal’s still open, but I think that the blast of purification energy Inu-Yasha and I released will leave the place youkai-free for a day or two. It probably won’t do much to any demon, but the imprint of the blast might give them an uneasy feeling.”


Kagome sighed, vaguely appreciating the warmth of Inu-Yasha’s shoulder as she leaned into him, exhausted. Shippou’s eyes blinked repeatedly as he tried to stay awake, his small form relaxed and secure in his mother figure’s arms.


“But what of Naraku? Do you think he’ll try to come back into the past?” Sango asked, worriedly looking at her husband, who absently played with his left hand.


“No. He’d have no reason to,” Harry spoke, his eyes pensively staring at the fire in the corner. “He wants to collect as many followers to make him powerful in the era he’s in now, not the past. His business is in the present.”


“...Or the future.” Inu-Yasha mumbled, slightly pulling Kagome closer to him. Harry’s eyes narrowed.


“So what are we supposed to do now that the demons are back in the past?” Soutaro piped up, pacing the dojo. “Me and the rest of Hitomo are trained for fighting, but we’ve never fought real demons until recently. Most of us practice it for the art of it.”


“Do you plan on destroying the youkai if you overcome Naraku, Kagome?” Miroku asked, settling a grave stare upon her.


Kagome blinked, her face shadowed in sadness. Shippou gazed up at her imploringly, his great, turquoise eyes glittering expectantly. She was at a loss for words. Inu-Yasha sensed her silent distress, and squeezed her in soothing reassurance.


“We’ll have to focus on destroying V...Voldemort...first.” Hermione spoke up, involuntarily scooting closer to Ron, who blushed and shifted his arm so that it supported her spine. “V-Voldemort...he’s gained a considerable amount of power. Even though he’s no longer a demon, he’s no longer a human, either. His transformation has led him to become something darker...more obscure.”


“He doesn’t seem to want to stay dead.” Harry stated bitterly. He stood, joining Soutaro in pacing. “There’s just...I mean, every time we seem to have a way of getting rid of him, he goes and kills more people. So many people...” He faded off, his eyes glassing over with the rage and anguish of many lives lost. “How can we stop him? What are we, anyway...against someone so vile, so evil, as he?”


Hermione got up, and put a gentle hand on his shoulder, bringing him down to a sitting position next to her and Ron. Harry looked at his two best friends, his weary shoulders drooping. He turned his face to the floor, staring at the dust that softly floated over his feet.


He sighed.


“In the present...in our world...there is a means of telling the future. A predictive oracle, of sorts.” He began, eyes locked on the drifting dust bunnies. The other occupants of the room looked at him. “The oracle generates prophecies that can only be read by that for whom the prophecy is meant. Two years ago, I came upon my own prophecy.”


Harry looked up. “It said that Voldemort chose me, when I was a baby, to mark as his equal. It said, ‘either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives.’ I’ve been thinking about what that means for almost two years now...and all I’ve concluded is that it means I’m to defeat him.”


Again, Harry sighed, habitually running his fingers through his hair. “But I don’t understand how that could happen. I’m not...I don’t think I can defeat him alone! How can I? I mean...I’m just....” Harry trailed off, a note of uncertainty hanging on the last strains of his voice.


Kagome quietly displaced Shippou from her lap, and moved from Inu-Yasha to crouch before Harry.


“What makes you think you need to handle this alone?” She spoke tenderly, the warmth in her voice reaching out to him like a comforting blanket. “This is a war between his followers and us. No fight has been fought by a single individual as of yet; why do you think that the prophecy would suggest you would have to fight alone in the final battle?”


“You’ll never be alone, Harry.” Hermione said, her lulling voice matching Kagome’s softness.


“Yeah. If you think you’re going to get all the glory by doing in the old coot yourself, you’ve got another thing coming to you.” Ron interjected, cheekily cuffing Harry on the shoulder.


“And you’d have to beat me to it,” Inu-Yasha’s gruff voice chimed in. “Naraku and I have some unfinished business.” A flicker of gold flashed briefly in the violet of his irises. Kagome began to smile, but yawned at the first movement of her lips. Soon, all occupants of the room were echoing her unvoiced sentiments, and bleary eyelids struggled vainly to remain lifted and alert.


It was Miroku who finally suggested a few hours’ rest before an attempt was made at returning to Kagome’s time.


“Well, I don’t suppose it would hurt any,” Kagome muttered, tiredly resuming her position in the crook of Inu-Yasha’s waiting arm, and cuddling Shippou like a stuffed-animal.


“I guess it would be best if we slept for a while, and got our strength back for tomorrow. Then, you might even be able meet Ginny.” Ron said, nodding his head to his snoring sister.


“Yeah, right. Maybe in another month,” Harry chuckled, his back to the wall.


“I hope we’re not putting you out at all...?” Hermione asked, raising her eyebrows at Sango, who shook her head and smiled.


“If you’re a friend of Kagome’s, then you’re a friend of mine. I’m only sorry we can’t give you finer sleeping quarters...I do have a few extra mats–Soutaro, will you fetch them for me?”


“Sure thing, Grandma.” Soutaro left the dojo for the main hut.


“Now, if you’ll excuse us, Miroku and I are going to make one last check on the village, and then get some rest ourselves.”


An impossibly lecherous grin stretched itself across Miroku’s face, as he hungrily stared at his wife.


“Ne, Sango darling, we should patrol the forest, too. One never knows the sort of rif-raff that might linger in the soft grass beneath that shady tree, next to the hot spring.”


Sango threw a wary glance in her husband’s direction. “I said ‘rest,’ houshi. It’s too cold for the rif-raff you’re thinking of.”


“I know ways we could keep warm...”


Sango rolled her eyes, but let slip a sliver of a coy smile as she looked upon the group. “We’ll see. Everyone, it was a pleasure meeting you today, and I will see you all in the morning. Let’s go, Miroku.” Sango made to leave, then halted abruptly, as if forgetting something. She turned back to the group, her eyes narrowed at the space beside a leaned-back Harry.


“That means you too, Mi-chan!”


Shinamichi guiltily chuckled, standing delicately from her position at the oblivious wizard’s side. “Certainly, Grandmother. I was just about to follow you out–after I properly bade our male guests good-night.”


“For you and your grandfather, ‘Proper’ has about the same meaning as ‘sober’ did for Mushin. Now, off to bed with you!” Shinamichi humbly bowed, and swiftly fled the dojo. She nearly bumped into Soutaro, who hastily distributed mats to the dojo’s occupants, and left as quickly as he came.


Sango shook her head, taking Miroku’s hand in her’s. “Oyasumi nasai, minna. Get some rest–you’ll need it.”





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The wintry air hung still in the middle of the night. Nothing–not even the rustle of the trees, nor the soft hoot of an owl was heard in all of Musashi.


It was too quiet.


Although the others found sleep easily despite the time change, Harry was not so lucky. Even though he was physically exhausted from the morning’s strenuous activities, every time he closed his eyes to doze, his mind would restlessly recount visions of past and future events. The upcoming battle with Voldemort, his kiss with Kagome, and the tension hanging thick in the air did an amazing little for his ability to relax.


Giving up, he opened his eyes.


He met the violet gaze of his now-human rival, intently staring at him from across the room.


“Trouble sleeping, much?” Inu-Yasha grunted in question.


Harry shrugged, stretching out his limbs, careful not to disturb the brunette and redhead before him, who, in their states of unabashed repose, were leaning contentedly on each other.


“Not tired.” He muttered. “It’s barely 16 pm in England, anyway.


Inu-Yasha said nothing, but looked out at the moonless night. Neither of the two spoke for a while.


The silence hung still, a prolonged, palpable weight in the atmosphere. Had Inu-Yasha been hanyou once more, his ears would have been pricked and alert for the slightest crunch of a leave, the softest whisper of a breath. As it was, his muscles were tensed, his grip taut and firm around Kagome and her snoozing kit.


“It’s too quiet.” He said, and Harry looked at him, nodding once.


Inu-Yasha’s eyes glittered in the meager starlight, his nose struggling to sniff out discrepancies in the air, any subtle shifts of wind. He sniffed and smelled, but to no avail.


For what had to be the six-thousandth time that day, Harry sighed. Feeling ready to die of boredom or be driven mad by the tension in the air, he spoke up.


“So...what was the battle like the first time?”


Inu-Yasha looked at Harry peculiarly. “Which one?”


Harry snorted. “The last one you all fought. The one you thought killed Voldemort.”


“You mean Naraku?” Inu-Yasha said pointedly.


“Yeah, Naraku. Voldemort. Whatever.”


Inu-Yasha looked back out at the stars, and then to Kagome’s sleeping form. For a while, Harry thought he was going to ignore his question. But then, his gravelly voice interrupted the silence.


“It was...pretty rough. Not as bad as others have been, but still...how much did Kagome tell you about it?”


“Not much,” Harry answered. “Just that Nort had use of the jewel, and at the last minute, Kikyou sacrificed herself and purified him.”


Inu-Yasha’s eyes dulled, a somber air surrounding him.


“...Yeah. That’s about it.” He shifted slightly, careful not to disturb the miko in his grasp. “Kikyou...”


Almost as if sensing the subject of her beloved hanyou’s thoughts, Kagome twisted a little uncomfortably, until resuming her state of unconsciousness.


Harry stared at the two blankly.


“Why did–if you loved her so much, then...what are your feelings for Kagome?” Harry asked, knowing as soon as he dared the question, he would be shot down with a defensive ‘it’s none of your business’ remark.


To his surprise, Inu-Yasha merely shook his head slowly.


“It’s a question I’ve asked myself a lot. Countless times. How could I care about two different people, even though they share the same soul?” Inu-Yasha looked down at the girl in his arms. “Kikyou was...the only one who cared about me. Wanted to help me be accepted, to become human. My father was a powerful youkai, who died before I was even born. My mother was a human noble, and the only one who ever cared for me in my youth. I was shunned by everyone, youkai and human alike, for being a hanyou. My mother...was killed because of it.”


Harry grimaced slightly, understanding all to well the feeling of being orphaned and resented.


“After she died, I had nowhere to go. No home, no food, no one else who was willing to take me in...I didn’t even know of anyone else like me–a hanyou. I guess I just learned to live alone, getting by on my own strengths, my own terms. I had to fight to make a name for myself, to ward off others who would try to take advantage of the fact that I was ‘just a filthy half-breed.’ I had to push my way over others, defeat them, show them what someone who was ‘just a filthy half-breed’ was really made of.”


Harry frowned. “You didn’t have any other relatives?”


Inu-Yasha looked at him darkly. “You mean on my mother’s side? They didn’t stop her from being killed. And once she was dead, I was a problem they would just as soon help to get rid of.” Harry looked down sympathetically. “And as for my father’s side...”


Inu-Yasha snorted. “Well, let’s just say I engaged in more family reunions than I’d care to remember.” He snickered humorlessly. “My father was of a powerful youkai lineage, and the pure side of his family took the wholeness of their blood very seriously. I was nothing but a stain on the family crest...a bastard child nobody wanted.


“That’s why I wanted the jewel so bad. I’d teach them all–all of those who treated me like crap since the day I was born would fear me once I was full-youkai. They couldn’t say anything about my heritage if I only had the jewel.


“...But then, there was Kiykou. Kikyou...she was the first person since my mother to show me any sort of kindness.” Inu-Yasha paused pensively. “I guess that was such a novelty to me, I didn’t know what to think, or what to feel. When you’re so alone for so long, emotions get thrown by the way side...but I know I grew to care deeply about Kikyou.


“When I thought she betrayed me, I went out of my mind. It was like, who can I trust, after all? And so...I went on a rampage after the jewel. Women, children...it didn’t matter. They were expendable. I hurt indiscriminately, killed without much cause. But when Kikyou finally shot me, it was the most painful thing I had ever experienced. Not really the physical sort of pain...the kind of pain that tells you, ‘this is it. Look at the end of your life. You really are...’just a filthy half breed...’”


Harry looked at the man across from him, understanding him a little bit more.


“When Kagome woke me up, all I could see was Kikyou. All I could remember was Kikyou. And all I could think about was the jewel.


“I didn’t care if it killed her or not–I wanted the jewel more than anything else, and I was going to get it. But then, that friggin’ rosary...” Harry could almost see the expression on Inu-Yasha’s face when Kagome first unleashed the debilitating curse word. “And Kagome, the witless wonder, just had to make my attempts to use the jewel that much harder when she shattered it. But...I guess, looking back on it, that was the best thing that could have happened for me. And I’m selfish for thinking so, because I know how many people died as a result. But...


“...had the jewel not been broken, I would have ended up killing myself with rage, or Kagome’s ‘sit’s’, trying to get at it. The quest gave me a purpose in life, and that purpose gradually became to protect Kagome.


“Kagome...where Kikyou was mysterious, Kagome was painfully obvious. Kikyou was wise, Kagome was a wise-ass. Kikyou had the weight of the world on her shoulders, and Kagome was a floating airhead.


“...But, to Kagome, who didn’t even understand the world of youkai, I was just me. I wasn’t a hanyou, I wasn’t a potential youkai or a potential human...I was a friend.” Inu-Yasha looked at the girl in question.


“It was different than Kikyou...”


He sighed. “Of course, when she was resurrected, I felt this desperation to know why come back to me. Why, after all she said, would she just betray me like that? Of course, once I realized what Naraku had done to us, I was beyond remorse. Remorse for not trusting her like I should have...for neither of us trusting the other. It was my duty, to repay her for all she had done for me, and to do what she wanted, whether or not it was what I, myself, wanted. Kagome...after all was said and done, I had no right to want her.


“But she kept staying by my side. I never asked why–I don’t even think she knew. I was just thankful for it. I know, to her, it seemed like I had been taking her friendship for granted every time I went off to Kikyou...but in reality, I never felt more alive than when she needed me. I craved those moments when we were together, just...there.


“When Kikyou died...I was sad. I...loved her, but it was better, in the end, for her soul to be at rest. I guess we just weren’t meant to be together, after all...”


The two immersed themselves in a comfortable silence once more.


Then, Harry spoke up.


“I can relate a little. About not being wanted, I mean.” Harry started, the hanyou looking at him.


“When Voldemort killed my parents, I was put into the care of my only remaining family–my mother’s sister. A muggle family–I guess they’d be similar to your mother’s human family.” Harry idly stroked his scar with his index finger. “Thanks to Dumbledore, they weren’t about to kill me, but that didn’t stop them from trying. I had to live in a closet, and had no friends...no one to turn to. My fat clod of a cousin’s favorite hobby was to beat me up, and he frequently indulged himself in many of his favorite hobbies.


“When I found out I was a wizard, I couldn’t believe it. For the first time, I had friends...not only had I friends, but I was free to be me. It was unlike anything I had ever dreamed of before.


“But...things have been getting worse, and more dangerous as Voldemort has been gaining power. People are divided. Many have lost their trust in Dumbledore...even more still have lost their trust in me.


“But when Kagome came...it was like a reprieve from all the crap that’s been going down.” He set his eyes firmly on the hanyou’s.


“I love Kagome. She’s given me something to protect, and I will not bow out softly. If you hurt her, I’ll take her from you.”


Inu-Yasha raised his eyebrows, holding Kagome closer to his body. “So that’s how it is, eh?” He glared. “Well, you can save your breath, scar-face. Kagome’s not going anywhere.”


Inu-Yasha’s expression softened slightly, his next words coming out in an almost inaudible string. “And if I hurt her, I’ll give her to you, myself.”


At that, Harry closed his eyes, grunting. After he settled back against the wall, he lifted one eye open. “You know, I’m a little surprised. Normally, you’d bite my head off if I talked to you like that.”


“Keh,” Inu-Yasha deemed him with a flicker of a gaze. “That’s why I hate being human. You’re body’s not the only thing that gets annoyingly softer.”



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Yeah. I’m not particularly satisfied with this chapter–I tried to make it as In-Character as possible, and I must have gone over Inu-Yasha’s little monologue a hundred times before I came up with what you have before you right now. I hope it clarified the distinctions in his feelings for Kagome (lol–I just accidently wrote “Voldemort”) in a way that sounds Inu-Yasha-ish. And by Inu-Yasha-ish, I mean his human side. :D