InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ To know you is to know myself... ❯ Final Night ( Chapter 14 )

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

Inuyasha, and the characters therein, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.


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Chap ter 14 – Final Night



Kagome rushed through the trees as swiftly as she could, Inuyasha clutched tightly to her back. They’d never practiced her running through the treetops like this, but somehow, it too came natural. However, it would soon prove futile, as Kikyo had successfully disappeared without a trace. This was not a good thing, considering they still believed her to be carrying Tetsusaiga. What would she want with the sword anyway? It was useless to anyone except Inuyasha (and Kagome) because it would not transform for a human, and its barrier would reject a full youkia.

It was getting later in the day, and the others were probably wondering by now where they were, since they were each only supposed to have soaked for a few minutes in the hot spring, and then return, for further meditation. But meditation was the farthest thing from both of their minds at the moment. They had to find Inuyasha’s sword!

When a couple more hours of searching still turned up nothing, they finally decided, defeatedly, to head back towards the village. After all, if Kaede would be able to change them back the next morning, they had better be there for that, and they’d better at least try to clear their heads in some mild meditation before she starts the spell. They couldn’t risk any mistakes.

Once they made it to the outskirts of Inuyasha’s forest, both persons heard the waling bellow of “Kagome!” followed by a flying orange streak, that this time, correctly launched itself into the inu-hanyou’s arms. They were a little taken aback by his reaction, considering it wasn’t as if she’d been home in her time for a few days or anything.

“Kagome you’re alive! You too Inuyasha!” Hearing his proclamation, they were absolutely beside themselves. Well.....

(A/N: Sorry, it was there, I had to use it. *snicker*)

“Keh, of course we’re alive brat.” Inuyasha started. “Why the hell wouldn’t we be?” Though he knew the answer all too well.

“Because!” the kitsune piped up. “Kikyo came through here, giving Kaede your sword! She said that Kagome transformed, and that you two had killed each other!”

“Well, she was obviously lying, we’re both alive and well…” Kagome said in an attempt to quiet the kit down.

“We went to look for you at the springs but you were both gone! I could smell your blood!” he cried.

“Kikyo shot me with her arrow.” Kagome explained, raising up the sleeve of her haori to reveal to Shippo where the tiniest of spots still remained to indicate it was once a larger injury. Shippo could smell the trace residual amount of Kikyo there, from her arrow, and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Kikyo said that Inuyasha shot you….why would she lie like that?”

“Because she’s evil.” All three suddenly heard Kaede say as she made her approach, Tetsusaiga in hand.

Shippo looked back to Inuyasha in mild fear, though the once-hanyou was temporarily harmless, it still wouldn’t be wise to piss him off by speaking poorly of ‘his’ Kikyo. But to Shippo’s amazement, Inuyasha only nodded, with a weird sort of dawning expression on his face, as he then proceeded to gently take Kagome’s hand.

Kaede noticed this, but wisely said nothing, as she handed Kagome the Tetsusaiga. She took it politely, as much as her old self as she ever was, bowing, saying “Thank you Kaede-sama” and after quickly releasing Inuyasha’s hand, she gripped the sword as she slid the sheath back into its hold on her hip. Kaede had then proceeded to turn around and head back towards her hut, mumbling for them to follow, that there was still lots to be done before the following morning. They moved to follow her without another word, and Kagome had since retaken Inuyasha’s hand. Shippo jumped down from Kagome’s shoulder, and made a mad dash to inform the others that they were both okay.

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The rest of the evening was spent in quiet meditation, that Inuyasha eventually got the hang of. Kagome’s arm had fully healed by now, and didn’t bother her in the slightest. They had informed the others of most of the details (well, the details of after Kikyo’s appearance, not before!) and everyone agreed that Kikyo was truly evil.

That night, Kaede insisted that the two of them sleep alone within the hut, as she had prepared an herb to be burned in the fire pit, that would put them into a deeper, cleansing sleep, meant to program their subconscious minds to know and recognize that their bodies were not their own. Each wondered what, if anything, that would do to their dreams, and once they were alone with her, they reluctantly confessed their dreams to the elder miko. She raised an eyebrow at this new information, but said that it shouldn’t prove to be a hindrance. Kaede agreed with Kagome’s theory, but went on to state that, if a small portion of their true beings still existed within their own bodies, that it would likely make the switch back that much easier. They each sighed with an air of relief.

***Kagome’s Dream***

“I’m….I’m in Inuyasha’s body.” She mutters aloud. “I’ve never realized I wasn’t him in a dream before, so Kaede’s herb must be working.” She said to herself, as she walked about, knowing it was a dream, but yet, still knowing who she was, rather than getting lost in the memory, and believing that she was Inuyasha. Suddenly, she saw herself, dressed in miko clothes. “Inuyasha!” she shouted towards the figure of herself, assuming that since she was him, that he’d be her, before she realized this was still a memory of his, and that the image she saw of herself could no more recognize who she was, then interact with her in the slightest regard.

Embracing the image nonetheless, while trying to place which memory this was, she was suddenly made painfully aware of which one it was, when claws of youki energy protruded from her double's finger tips, impaling her.

Wh...what? she thought hazily, then realizing the Kagome she saw before her had darkened eyes that were glazed over with evil, it suddenly clicked.

“Oh no!” she bellowed, as she ran for it, while her image gave pursuit. She knew all too well which memory this was now, and it didn’t seem as though she was able to alter the course of history, regardless of the fact that she was currently aware. That realization had become all too clear when ‘Kagome’s cry of “Die Inuyasha!” fell on her ears, right before the last rope on the bridge snapped, causing her to fall, herself.

Running, jumping, dodging, she wondered how on earth she was going to get out of this memory alive, and was yelling at herself to wake up. She felt the pain of every bolt of energy that shot through her, bullets of youki that pierced her body, smacking the trunk of Goshinboku behind her. Then it happened, she found herself face to face with…herself…as that shadow of a memory held a bow, complete with notched arrow, straight at her heart. Then she heard it, the faint whisper to run away, this was when she’d tried to fight off the curse. She remembered it all too well. Standing there, she braced for the impact she knew was coming, and then she felt it, the magical arrow piercing her heart. But something was different, something was wrong. Right before she’d blacked out, she heard ‘Kagome’ scream her name. Her name, not “Inuyasha!” as she’d screamed during that time, during the actual event. Was Inuyasha truly within this body of Kagome after all?

***Inuyasha’s Dream***

Waking up in Kaede’s hut, he looked down over himself and thought I’m still in Kagome’s bodyshe must not be done with the spell yet. But then, suddenly, it dawned on him that he was wearing miko garb. I’m, I’m dreaming… he realized. I’ve never been aware of who I am in her dreams, sothat herb worked after all. But suddenly, he realized something was wrong, something was very, very wrong.

He got up and stood up, not of his own will. Something is controlling my body? Am I still a slave to the memories even though I’m aware of who I am? Then he saw Kaede, and Kaede was calling him “Kagome” which only aided in confirming this was, in fact, a dream. Then, in utter horror, he witnessed his own body (well, okay, Kagome’s body) raise up her hand, with claws of youki energy emerging from the tips, and she slashed at Kaede, getting her in the arm and shoulder. This is when Menomaru had Kagome under his control. He realized with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Walking outside, he saw himself, he saw ‘Inuyasha’ and he knew all to well the events that were about to take place, and hated that he was powerless to prevent it. But something wasn’t right, that image of himself had just called out his name. Is that Kagome? he wondered to himself, unable to speak aloud, because he was still controlled by the moth youkai’s spell. He had no choice but to impale her with his claws, mentally cringing at the look of shock in his own eyes. Giving chase, he tried to resist, tried to cease his muscles from obeying, but he nevertheless continued to fling youki at his retreating form, until they were together on that damn bridge. When the words “Die Inuyasha.” left his mouth, he felt like throwing up. Then, he tried with everything he had to wake himself up from this memory, as he floated down after the fallen image of himself, which he was pretty sure was Kagome. They battled, if you could call it that. Kagome looked as unwilling to hurt him as he’d been to hurt her, back when this had really taken place. When he shot her with those bolts of energy, he mentally cringed, and when he had his bow drawn, he fought it, fought it as hard and as strong as she must have. He managed to utter, barely above a whisper “…run away…” before he released his arrow. When he saw the image of his own body fall, he cried out, cried out Kagome’s name, his scream still sharp enough to rid the air of the moths that had infested it.

He ran to her side, begging her to wake up, and then who else made her appearance, but Kikyo. Kikyo? Of course, Inuyasha had never been made aware of that part. She was a specter of the memory, and proceeded to taunt him about the same place, the same situation, ‘she’ was truly her reincarnation. Kikyo spoke of the tree of ages, telling him how ‘her’ world was likely plunged into a never ending winter, and how the well was constructed with the wood from the tree of ages. She told him to leave, to go back to where he belongs, while he still can. When he simply said he wouldn’t, she snapped at him in a harsh yell, that he must leave because ‘she’s’ the one who injured ‘him’. He fell down the well, though it felt more like a push, from her miko energy. When I asked her if she’d run away, she hesitated, like there was something she didn’t want to tell me, but then she said yes, she ran away.

Emerging on Kagome’s side of the well, he saw how Kikyo had been right, it was a winter over here. He wandered aimlessly for a few moments, watching Sota and her grandfather chanting at the base of Goshinboku for the sky spirits to stop the snow. He wanted to tell them that it’d all be alright, but he knew they wouldn’t understand. Sitting down on the bench across from the tree, he heard Kagome’s mother go into how important that tree is to everyone. Approaching the tree, he noticed the jewel shards he still carried had started to glow…

***Kagome’s Dream***

Slowly opening her eyes, she saw Kaede and Shippo looking down at her with concern. “Where’s Inuyasha?” she asked, without even thinking. Hearing only what Kaede had been meant to hear, she answered that “Kagome is not here.” She tried, and managed to stand up, though struggling a bit. Then in a flash, she saw what she thought looked like an image of herself standing before her, before it was gone. Of course she realized.

“Inuyasha?”

“Kagome… is that you?” she heard echoed back through the air.

“It is. It’s me…” she confirmed back.

“We’re sharing the same dream.” She heard his echoy voice observe.

“I don’t understand it either…” she mumbled. “We’re dreaming of a memory, yet, we remember who we are.”

“That part makes sense. But how are we connected?”

“I don’t know.” She mumbled. “In this memory…that’s what I was thinking about now…that I was still connected to here, connected to you…though I don’t know if that means anything…” she thought for a moment, then asked, just for confirmation purposes. “You’re in my time and it’s snowing, right?”

“Right…” his voice echoed back, then asked next “How come you never told me that Kikyo had thrown you down the well?”

“At the time there were more important things to worry about…besides…she was right…”

“You were NOT the one who injured me, you were controlled by Menomaru. When SHE shot me, she was herself.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t…don’t ever be sorry for what she did, if she hadn’t, we would never have met.”

Around this time, the imagery around her faded away until she was in a blank sea of white, and before her, was the image of herself, whom she knew all too well carried the soul of her best friend, the man she loved…

“Inuyasha!” she bellowed joyously as she ran towards and embraced him.

He hugged her back, and mumbled… “I’ve been thinking, Kaede said that smoke was supposed to help us know who we are, and that these bodies are not our own, but she never said anything about us being linked together like this, even after we told her of the dreams.”

“Maybe it’s because…” she hypothesized, “…that our souls are connected in this way, like ‘soul mates’ or something. I think her herb worked, since we do know who we are, but we’re still in each other’s heads because we’re connected…”

“Makes sense…” he agreed. Then pulling away gently asked “How do I get back to you?”

“Huh?”

“Before, when I told you Kaede said to shoot your way through the well with a sacred arrow, you said you didn’t have anything like that here, but then said you did, and then you blasted your way through, what did you do?”

“Oh!” she realized. “The arrowhead from Kikyo’s arrow is still in the tree, I knew it was there because I’d stuck myself on it earlier and-”

“What’d you do that for? Stupid…” he chuckled.

“AND…” she cleared her throat, trying not to giggle, “I took one of Grandpa’s sticks, pushed it into the hole in the tree, and fused the sacred arrowhead onto it.”

“Sounds simple enough.” he nodded, “What about a bow?”

“He’s got an old bow sitting on the ground by him, not that he could ever use its shield.” she chuckled the last part.

Inuyasha chuckled as well. If the old man’s sutras were useless, the odds of him actually using a bow for spiritual barriers were...slim.


***Inuyasha’s Dream***

He stepped away from the tree, and the image of Kagome faded away. Turning abruptly, he grabbed one of the sticks from Jii-chan, and jammed it into the hole where Kikyo’s arrow had pinned him. He was amazed when he retracted the rod, to discover that the arrowhead was, in fact, merged to the tip. Quickly grabbing the old man’s bow, he bolted, running into the well house, where he paused, shocked by all the overgrowth that emerged from the portal. Turning around at the sound of her voice, he discovered Kagome’s mother, handing him a clean and pressed school uniform. Well, he hated the bloody thing, but he would put it on, because he was supposed to. You can’t alter a past memory, right? Smiling, he realized what an understanding woman Kagome’s mother actually was. Heading back into the well house now, he gulped mildly, when he realized he only had one arrow, even though he was pretty sure even he couldn’t miss a shot like this!Standing on the edge of the well, and fired into it with a sort of “here goes nothing” attitude, leaping down into the portal following closely behind his arrow.

***Kagome’s Dream***

She’d known not to get too close to the well, knowing it would explode, and waited a safe distance away for Inuyasha to blast his way through, which he did, right on time, too.

***Shared Dream***

Inuyasha came crashing into his own time, startling Kagome when she noticed him wearing her school uniform.

“Didn’t think you’d change into that….”

“Keh, had to, can’t alter what happens in memories…” he mumbled.

On cue, Myouga showed up, lecturing him that this was no time for “petty arguments”.

Laughing, and taking Inuyasha’s line, Kagome said “I figured out that much!” and bending down, allowed Inuyasha to climb onto her back.

However, they did not rush towards the pending battle at the growing tree of ages, instead, running back over towards Goshinboku.

“Thought you said we couldn’t change things…” she smirked, as she stood up slowly, allowing him to gracefully dismount.

A rather feminine “Keh” was heard, followed by silence, as the two were kissing once again.

******

Waking up, they were each mildly embarrassed to discover that they had somehow shifted in their positions on the futons, so that they were now embracing each other. Well, truth be told, they weren’t actually embarrassed at all, at first, until they realized that Kaede was still in there with them. She greeted them with a knowing smile and a soft chuckle, informing them that she was ready to begin.