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Love\'s Consequences	By : Sylean Category: InuYasha > Het - Male/Female > Naraku/Kagome Views: 10437 -:- Recommendations : 4 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha nor do I make any profit from this story.

Chapter List
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Love's Consequences
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha nor do I make any profit from this story.
Warning: Spoiler alerts! Just make sure you've seen the whole series, Final Act and Movies included, for I touch upon pretty much everything at one point or another.
Warning: There will be lemons in this story later on.
Chapter 24: One Last Time
Warning: There will be Character Death in this chapter. Tears incoming.
(A/N: +10 years. Early Winter. As an additional note, remember this time frame, it will be mentioned again in a flashback.)
A slumped, male form with old blood dried on his sleeve and new dripping from his fingertips sat astride a great beast. Barely remaining upright, the broad shouldered human bobbed as his mount sped along of her own accord; determined to get her charge to safety before it was too late. A massive, troubled roar announced their arrival, calling forth the occupants of the small hut. The female, with baby strapped to her back, paled at the sight of her younger, but no longer smaller, brother in such a sorry state. Wasting no time, her husband ran for help, rings on his staff jingling in the crisp morning air; there was only one person in the village capable of healing this wound.
Assisting the injured man from the giant, demon cat's back, Sango half dragged Kohaku inside to lay him down. He groaned in pain and his head lulled with every step. Despite attempts to ask what happened, Kohaku's his eyes remained unfocused and his throat made no attempt to talk. There was something very wrong with him and she did not have the expertise to help him. Where had Miroku gone? She needed help, now! She was helpless to save her baby brother's life.
After what seemed like a lifetime of desperate attempts to get through to the catatonic male, Miroku burst back through the door behind a very worried Kagome. She had sensed it long before Miroku had even gotten to her, but had not expected to see so much blood. Springing into action, her hands glowed over the now uncovered arm. Sango had been trying to stop the bleeding but it just kept coming; it was not clotting properly. She suspected poison and Kagome tried firstly to cleanse it from the human's system.
"No!" Kohaku jolted into consciousness, roughly pushing Kagome's hand away from his blood-encrusted arm. It was reminiscent behavior of when his personality would fade in and out under Naraku's control. "The shard; make the voice stop!" He understood better that anyone what it felt like to be controlled by the vile thing in his neck; he had spent nearly a year of his life carrying out horrible orders. Getting into his right mind was far more important than minor blood loss. Kagome understood the fear in his eyes and despite feeling his physical well-being should come first, she acted as he requested and placed her glowing hand over his neck.
The taint she had sensed originally quickly faded and the shard glowed a bright pink once again. Only then would he allow her to tend to the rest of his body. It was better in his mind to be dead than trying to kill his sister again. With the voice silenced, he finally regained his ability to talk, and explained that he had been tracking a rather difficult serpent demon. That was why he had not returned at his regular one-week interval to have Kagome purify his shard. When one week had crawled by, he was finally on the demon's trail and not willing to let it go and sacrifice more lives to the demon's hunger. He continued his hunt, gaining on the beast just for it to slip away. It took another week to finally corner the slippery serpent, and the bite he received in the battle proved nearly fatal, but even more troublesome, was how the venom had quickly darkened his jewel shard. Had he not come to his senses… He had given Kirara strict orders to take him out before he could hurt anyone; a command the fire cat was grateful for not having to follow through with. She curled in a ball by his head in her smaller form, just glad he just thinking rationally again. Everything had turned out all right, this time.
The poison had been cleansed, but it would still take several days for the wound to finish healing. Kagome could help it along, but she couldn't do everything. He would also need at least a week total for his energy to return; Kohaku had lost a lot of blood, and there was no telling how the tainted shard had affected him. The fear in his eyes, of losing himself and hurting those he loved, it was a look that refused to leave her mind. How horrible it must be to him, to relive those memories.
Kagome walked slowly through the village, heading back towards the trees when she caught sight of glowing, whip-like creatures; soul collectors. They were impossible for her to miss. Rooted in place, she saw Inuyasha walking out from the forest a few moments later. He looked up, a sorrowful expression on his face. Something didn't seem right with him today either. "Inuyasha?" He slowly looked up; his abnormally hollow eyes weren't looking at her, but through her. "Are you alright? Where's Kikyo?"
His gaze dropped again, his bangs forming a shadow over his faces, "She's wandering again, said she needed to gather more souls, and…" He couldn't say it; his voice would not stay level for him to manage it.
"Inuyasha, what is it?" Kagome reached out to him, wanting to sooth his pain as easily as she had healed Kohaku's arm, but this pain was beyond her reach.
His voice cracked under the strain of his words, "Her body wasn't meant to last this long. It hurts her to be here." Here, in this plane, in this village, around those living so happily, around Kagome, and around the connection to her past life, Inuyasha. The woman he loved, was pained by his very presence. She was dying, and being with her only made it harder on her. He felt so utterly powerless.
Kagome covered her mouth to keep her gasp from being too jarring, but she had no idea what to tell him. Her dearest friend was losing the woman he loved; she was slowly disintegrating before him. She felt his agony so acutely that her chest felt constricted just like the first time he spoke to her, trapped against him by Mistress Centipede's body. Kagome wanted to help him, but all she had to offer was her friendship; her love for him. She rushed to him and enclosed him in a hug meant to calm his tormented aura; her head rested against his chest and her own breathing wavered painfully. It wasn't much, but his aura settled slightly and his hand rested on her back. Not looking up, she spoke softly, "How, how much time, does she have left?"
"A month, at most," his voice felt empty to her ears, like he had pushed the ache away; deep down inside him. Kagome nodded against him, only letting go once his hand fell from her back. "Thank you, Kagome." First she looked surprised, but smiled as best she could. She would do anything for those she loved.
Watching over his mate from inside the barrier, Naraku was bewildered by a pang of discomfort at Inuyasha's declaration about Kikyo. He didn't care about the dead woman, so why would he feel anything? Onigumo must not be completely suppressed; the human was still alive in him yet, even if he was buried under innumerable layers of demonic energy. For he, Naraku, certainly could not care less if the insufferable wench perished or not.
'One more time,' Kikyo told herself. Just one more time to walk among her memories; to lose herself to what her life could have been. Her steps treaded lightly through the village she had once called home, pausing at the shrine she tended, the house that sheltered her and young Kaede, and the streets that would be packed with people had it been light. The moon bore silent witness to her trip back in time; hanging overhead like an old friend to welcome her home one last time.
Inuyasha had not come to her; he had not come to her for several nights now. She was sure he had taken her words as a personal attack, that he caused her pain, when really everything pained her. Even the dew dripping from the rich foliage made her long to taste the droplet. Her thirst was unquenchable, and her insides empty of sustenance. She persisted in a constant state of deprivation. She was not alive, nor was she dead. She was trapped in a sort or limbo; half-dead, half-alive. It was similar to how she had left Inuyasha seconds before her death, bound to the Goshinboku. She ran her brittle fingers over the divot in the great tree where he had been confined. The rough bark caused another fragment to separate from her battered shell. Inuyasha, he was keeping his distance from her, but she badly wanted to see him, one last time.
Kikyo was here again, traversing just out of hearing range, but Inuyasha could still smell her. He looked like a beaten dog as he revisited the words she had spoken to him; over and over, his mind never once rested.
She warned of her waning time, but she had also made him promise something odd. She implored him to love again. The same woman who once wanted to take him to hell, asked him to love another, when the time came. The request had shocked Inuyasha, but upon thinking about why she would say that, he became even more solemn. Only someone who truly loved him would ask him to love again; would ask him to find happiness. The realization of just how deeply she felt for him, when she was this close to death, hit him square in the chest. Kikyo, what he wouldn't give to see her, one last time.
Kagome couldn't sleep. She sat outside the castle watching the night sky from just inside the barrier. The cold wood of the now dormant well supported her back and the fragile grass stained her kimono where she had broken the blades. Kikyo had saved her life, trained her, and given her emotional support when she was at her lowest. The young woman could still remember crying her eyes out in the elder priestess's arms when she thought Naraku had cast her aside some ten years ago. And now, the nearly constant presence in the corner of her mind was fading. There had always been a connection, even if Kagome could not tap into it in her early years. It was a solemn night.
A rustling was heard; silk brushing over grass and Kagome watched the ghostly figure glide across the clearing towards the village. Without thinking, Kagome burst from her reclining position and ran after her. "Kikyo, wait," Kagome called as she crossed the barrier and unknowingly snagged her mate's attention. The elder stopped, waiting patiently even though her time dwindled. "Isn't there something I can do?"
"It is my time," Kikyo accepted her fate without question.
"But what about Inuyasha? Won't you let me help you, one last time?" Kagome begged, her eyes brimmed with tears.
"I am already dead, Kagome," the soul trapped within a clay shell admitted sorrowfully; it was the first time Kagome had ever heard her sound so completely defeated. The first time she vocalized exactly what she was. "Inuyasha deserves better; I have nothing to give."
Kagome fell to the ground as Kikyo walked off, overcome by grief at the truth of her words. There really was nothing she could do to help.
Naraku gathered Kagome up and set them down on a nearby log. Kagome nestled into his arms and cried her eyes out, clinging to the greatest constant in her life. Without him, she would be lost. Is that how Inuyasha felt about losing Kikyo?
"There will never be one last time," Kikyo overheard from one of the huts as she made a line straight for Inuyasha. It wouldn't have caught her attention accept for the voice that spoke it was familiar. The man, whom she knew as a boy, was the one with a shard in his neck. He must have grown considerably if his deep voice was any indication. It felt like only yesterday to her; time had not progressed other than to let her bone and clay shell deteriorate. Her soul, or what was left of it, was no older than when she had been brought back from the dead. The soul could live on, her light was still enough to sustain life, but it had no suitable shell to harbor in. "I'm not complaining, Sango, but I can never really live with this shard in my neck. There is no telling when a demon might seize control and make me kill a wife. That's why I can't find anyone to settle down with."
Kikyo had stopped beside the house, pondering over the slayer's words. He was trapped in time as well, unable to move on because the fragment of jewel made him susceptible to possession. It was a fate just as tragic as her own.
Inuyasha saw the sadness reflected in her eyes and could hold back no longer. Before Kikyo had even lifted her head, he had his arms around her, professing how sorry he was for not staying away; for causing her pain, "But I had to see you, Kikyo, one last time."
Her arms returned the embrace and her head laid against his shoulder, soaking up the sensation as she spoke softly, "This will be the last time, Inuyasha." He gripped tighter and her fragile body gained a hairline fracture. It mattered not to her, she was falling apart anyway. "I intend to pass tonight."
"What? But you said you still had a month left," he protested into her hair.
"My one month can give a lifetime to another," she explained softly; slowly, reluctantly, letting go of his warm body. The night air swiftly robbed her of the heat she had absorbed. Turning into the hut where the man rested, talking to his sister, Kikyo knelt down beside him as the two watched her curiously.
"Lady Kikyo, it is good to see you," Kohaku greeted after getting past his surprise. Inuyasha followed her in, standing at the door with a distraught expression. "Is something wrong?"
"What would your life be like without that shard, Kohaku?" she finally let the question form after several tense moments. "Do you want that?"
"I never really thought about it," he admitted. "Without the shard, I'll die. There would be no life."
"And yet it is the source of your greatest fear," she summated.
He looked down before uttering, "Yes, it is."
"Would you allow me to remove it," Sango gasped, protest on the tip of her tongue until Kikyo continued, "and give you my life instead?"
"But Lady Kikyo, then you would die," Kohaku reminded, far more concerned with others than himself. By all that's natural, he should be dead.
"I am already dead," Inuyasha turned his head away at the truth he had been trying to ignore for years. Her body may be dead, but inside she was still the same Kikyo he loved. "It is my time, Kohaku," she continued as the air thickened with sorrow, "this is the last act I am capable of."
"I, I understand," Kohaku acknowledged her wishes, "I gratefully accept, Lady Kikyo."
She reached out, hand glowing and switched out that light for the shard. In the same instant that Kohaku took a gasping breath of new life, Kikyo's form lost all stability and fell over.
"Kikyo!" Inuyasha rushed to catch her. Even a fall of this short distance would cause her to shatter.
Her body landed in his arms and her glass-like eyes looked up at him. A small smile creased her lips, "Inuyasha, stay with me, until-"
"You don't have to say it," he cut her off and gathered her in his arms. He wanted to be alone with her for their last moments.
He stepped out, but Kikyo halted him when she sensed someone incoming, "Wait." Kagome had felt something strange with the shard, and came down from the woods to make sure everything was all right. Kikyo opened her hand, uttering, "Kagome, the last shard." The younger priestess rushed over to collect it, holding back more tears from her already salt-stained face. "Protect it; this is something only you can do now." Kagome held back a sob, her throat tight. She knew, it was time; Kikyo was leaving. Inuyasha took her away, towards the tree that meant so much to all of them, the Goshinboku, while Kagome and Naraku peeked inside to determine Kohaku's state. He was alive; Kikyo had saved him from his shard, forever.
"It's been so long," Kikyo broke the silence with soft melodic tones. "Do you remember those days, Inuyasha? When we were happy, when I was alive?"
"How could I forget?" holding Kikyo close in the tangled roots of the great tree he reminisced. "Back then I wanted to become human so we could spend our lives together."
"At last, I have become an ordinary woman," Kikyo smiled, her eyes drifted shut as her energy waned.
With strained voice, laden with torturous anguish, Inuyasha let his feelings out, "Kikyo, you were the first woman that I ever love; the first person that I ever cared for, but I, I still couldn't save you." A single tear escaped and landed on her cheek. The clay absorbed the liquid, staining her pale face a darker shade. He carried the guilt of how things turned out between them 60 years ago; he had never forgiven himself for failing to see through to the truth and standing by Kikyo no matter what.
"You've never done that, Inuyasha," Kikyo pointed out gently. "I think that's the first time I've ever seen you cry."
"Kikyo, I'm so sorry," the liquid streamed down his face without restraint as the memories resurfaced, "you needed me and I couldn't save you."
"It doesn't matter; you're here with me, one last time," she forgave him, released him from the guilt he was chained to, "that is enough." Together, they finally let go of the past; she did not want to drag him down any longer. She loved him; she wanted him to live a long and happy life.
"Kikyo," Inuyasha poured all the love he had into the one word, kissing the woman who held his heart.
'Inuyasha,' she thought fondly as her eyes slid shut, permanently.
"Kikyo?" Inuyasha gasped as her shell crumbled and released the soul it bound. Soul collectors flew in from every direction and gathered up the glowing fragments and carried her off.
A howl on the wind reached Inuyasha's ears; a sound exuding a great sadness. Instinct and sorrow overtook him, throwing his head back he howled back unreservedly. The two beings shared their pain long into the night through the ancient tongue that only canines could understand. Inuyasha understood, in this moment, he was not alone.
Huddled in the small wooden house of the slayer and monk, the group mourned loss even in the midst of Kohaku's newly restored life. It was a bittersweet scene. Sango clung to her brother and husband, Kirara and Shippo curled up together with the young children, and Kagome nestled into Naraku's lap, burying her face in his silken robes.
A haunting howl echoed over the land as Kagome felt Kikyo's presence in her soul, one last time, "Kikyo?"
"Look at that light," Miroku called as the light came into the house, swirling around its occupants.
"It's Kikyo's soul," Sango supplied, in awe at the sight. This was the woman who brought her brother back to her; gave him a real life.
"It almost feels as if she's saying goodbye," Shippo mumbled innocently.
"It's so warm," Kagome sighed through her tears as the light made its way over to her, still curled in Naraku's arms. Kikyo was even saying farewell to him. Kagome looked up into the stony expression her mate wore, only to see something she had never expected. There was a single line trailing down his face, a droplet clinging to the underside of his jaw. Kagome reached up, letting her fingers brush against his porcelain skin and brushed the tear away.
He knew she would ask about it, but waited until the rest of the occupants had migrated outside to watch Kikyo's soul ascend before speaking, "Onigumo is not yet dead." Kagome watched him, she knew him well enough, that even if that were the case, he would not show Onigumo's emotions outwardly. He never let him show before.
Kagome knew there was more to it. Resting a hand on his cheek, she soothed, "There's a thin line between love and hate." Naraku's initial love for Kikyo turned to hate, and Kagome's hate for Naraku turned into love. The two emotions were intimately intertwined, as she had come to experience for herself. "It's okay to be sad; it's okay to care."
'Perhaps she is right,' he pondered as he held her tighter. He had managed to keep the emotions at bay, until Kikyo's soul touched even him on her way to the other side. Why she would decide to bid him farewell, he would now never know, but she had, and it unlocked something he refused to acknowledge. He didn't hate her. He was slowly beginning to understand, to lose the anger he had at her for her decision; you can't change whom you love. Kikyo was the one who had started all of this; his birth. As much as he liked to think of himself as the orchestrator, it was actually she that had been the catalyst in his creation. It was a bit of poetic irony that after all the times he tried to kill her he felt nothing, but when she actually passed of her own choosing, his heart stung.
Kikyo had originally died in her prime years, and it was with this appearance that she was brought back. Seeing her deteriorate while looking young, it brought a painful reality to the forefront of his mind. He had almost lost Kagome once, and if he didn't do something soon, she would age and die on him one day.
"We need to find a way to make you immortal," Naraku reminded, holding her tighter to try to protect her from time itself. Kagome nodded in his embrace. She understood that somehow she would end up that way, but hadn't the slightest clue how. The next words Naraku spoke would stay with her forever, "Inuyasha is stronger than I gave him credit for; I would not survive losing you."
(A/N: I felt Kikyo deserved a chapter dedicated to her death and hope I did them justice.
On a side note, if the howling part confuses you, good; it's supposed to. It will be elaborated on later.)
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Love\'s Consequences