so sad. i could never see him making that decision to choose kikyou over kagome. although i can see him feeling a little guilty traveling with and hanging out with kagome, going to kikyou whenever she came around until one of them was taken out of the picture permanently before having to make a decision. he never promised to follow kikyou into death, he suspected that she had tried to kill kagome, knew she tried to kill him but overlooked that because he was guilty of her reanimation by calling her name and guilty not to have known about onigumo or protecting her from naraku in the first place... some people take on guilt that's not their responsibility and that's what he did. i'm also sure he realized that her request that he wish himself human was rather selfish so that she could be a normal woman and so was his willingness to acquiesce so he could be accepted somewhere.

hmm... first off, the manga/anime are intrinsically, fully japanese and western cultural norms don't apply, at all.

at fanfiction dot net:

A Fan Fiction Guide to Japanese Culture By: Ai Kisugi

at youtube:

Why The Japanese Never Say "I Love You" (Panel Discussion) ASIAN BOSS

Japanese don't say I love you? どうして日本人は愛してると言わないの？ Rachel and Jun

the fact that with inuyasha and kagome there is a lot of physical contact, she will grab his hand or spontaneously hug him, fuss over his wounds, he carries her on his back, risks his life for her, takes hits meant for her. that he chose where he preferred to be and with whom he preferred to be with, if he felt so much for kikyou, he would be with kikyou. every time they do such things (acts of service) they loudly proclaim their feelings. i could see him being with kikyou only if his perceived honor required it, but not because he would rather be with her as proved by his not traveling with her, then again, he promised to protect kagome and kagome promised to be with him (that's enough for vows for a marriage in that time period).

as for kikyou's claim of kagome being the ''cheap copy'', clearly kikyou was the obsolete and broken relic and kagome, the new and improved. yes, inuyasha ''loved'' them both but feeling duty and obligation and guilt is not love... love is being happy for the happiness of the one you love, no matter who they're with. kikyou in modern times would be on jerry springer trying to have a cat fight with kagome and flashing the audience kind of love... at least at first. she seemed pretty resigned with inuyasha's choice and her fate by the time kagome healed her of most of naraku's jaki, but still arrogantly aloof (she reminds me of a female sesshoumaru... i can understand a kikyou/sesshoumaru pairing read: ''The Rift Between Auras'' by Chio Saki -they work so nicely together). love is also not having to walk on eggshells and trying to be who you're not with the other person, something i can't see inuyasha acting himself with kikyou as he acts with kagome, where he was still wild, i could see him acting in a way to gain her approval and trying to sit up straight and be polite in a stiff and uncomfortable way kind of love, whereas he was comfortable enough with kagome to scratch his ear with his toe and argue with her, to be himself.

your story, kagome will never be a replacement to me and she will always be superior in so many ways.

please another chapter please please pleasee

such a sad thing, even though he's going to her now. there have had to have been motivations and reasons for his choice and marriage problems and that would give him a voice to state them and defend himself from her conclusions.

in canon, inuyasha will always return to kagome... kikyou always had the same abilities as before she was reanimated and therefore better suited for fighting but inuyasha doesn't travel with her... he's a creature, though honorable to a fault, who is selfish and who will hang out with who he truly desires to hang with. his comparisons of kagome to kikyou if you count them in canon aren't that many, he's only stated her role as a 'shard detector' just once, to miroku when he asked if kagome was his lover, flustered inuyasha gave her that dignified job title which would have been unusual for a woman in sengoku japan as women held very little worth... kagome was upset because he could have called her 'friend'. for a great explanation google: the shipper's manifesto kagomexinuyasha -it's in livejorunal and is the first listed in google... it's very old and the manga links no longer work but the essay is interesting.

daphne love, i have the difficult time dealing with depressing stuff... ;p
gin