Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. Do you really need me to tell you that on
the very last chapter? ¬_¬
AN: Anyway - the votes were unanimous - SAD ending it is! No, you all said happy ending so I've taken what you've said into consideration ^_^. I have to say I like happy endings too - it makes you feel really good inside for the rest of the day. So I probably won't break old habits this time... but one day... one of my stories will be sad!
So this last chapter will be extra, extra long, but I don't think you'll mind that ^_^. Be thankful I didn't decide to split it up into two separate chapters, I don't think it would have worked if I had done that.
Ok - so here I present the last chapter of my longest fic yet! Ta-daa!
Two Faced
The Day of Darkness
It had all been a wild goose chase... all from the start. One crazy loon had been so cryptic to fool some of the most genius minds in the country, including Kagome. The solution had been right under her nose all the time...
And because of this one crazy old man... Inuyasha was dead...
There was a small knock at the door, causing Kagome to just bury her head into her pillow even harder. She wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone. After a few moments of getting no answer, Miroku opened the door slightly and stuck his hand through, holding a Doctor Pepper bottle. "Want some sedative?"
Kagome peeked out before dropping her head again. "Go away."
"Don't make me go in there and give this to you." Was his reply.
"I don't want it! Pepper always makes me happy-"
"So it's morphine, not sedative - so sue me!" he opened the door completely and Kagome tensed up rather rigidly. He padded up to the bed and with a hiss, opened the bottle and held it out. Kagome refused to budge.
"You can't cry in here forever."
"Yes I can." Kagome's voice wobbled. "And who says I'm crying?"
Miroku placed the bottle on the beside table and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "You must be - otherwise Sango wouldn't be crying too."
Kagome hunched against her pillow harder. "Just go away."
"Not until you take a happy sip of the old Doctor P." he told her firmly.
"Go away and I will."
"Why not just give it a sip now and put my mind at ease."
"Because."
"Because what..."
"My face probably looks horrible and I don't want you to see it." She said with a slight pout in her tone.
Miroku rolled his eyes. "You can't be much worse than how Sango looks - she's balling her eyes out downstairs, your dad didn't trust her enough to send the Doctor Pepper with her..."
"But then again he doesn't exactly trust you either." Kagome pointed out.
"Meaning what exactly?" Miroku huffed indignantly.
"Nothing at all." Kagome said shortly.
He sighed and suddenly sat down on the bed, making it bounce for a moment. "Just sit up and take a sip." He held out the drink again.
"No."
"Sip it!" he barked in such a military like command that she had to grudgingly obey.
She sat up slowly and ran her hands over her face to try and clear away some of the wetness on her cheeks. She glanced quickly at Miroku who was smiling. "If Inuyasha was here he would say you were beautiful..."
This obviously hadn't been the right thing to say, because after a few beats she suddenly started to break down again and latched onto his shoulder to hide her face again. Miroku, at a loss, just patted her shoulder, mindful not to try and cop a feel, especially at a time like this.
Eventually Kagome managed to get control of herself and pulled away, her breathing shaky and uneven. "I'm ok... you don't have to stay with me."
Miroku had to keep from sighing with relief. One weepy Sango was about as much as he could handle. He stood up and moved towards the door, before remembering the message that Mr Higurashi had sent up with him in the first place. "Your dad says that you need to pull it together by tonight... you have to make that public appearance... it's the day of darkness, remember?"
"I know..." Kagome sniffed and dashed at her eyes. To her, it was dark because Inuyasha had died the day before. Sod the prophesy...
"Can you handle it?" Miroku asked blatantly.
Kagome inhaled deeply, and for a brief second thought she could do it. Before common sense took over and told her she wouldn't be able to... "Yeah, I can do it." She said anyway. Not that she had much of a choice.
Miroku didn't believe her anymore than she did, and he hesitated a moment before leaving and shutting the door behind him. Kagome sank back down onto the bed and just wished the pain would go away. Maybe this was why she'd been so afraid to fall in love with him... because he WOULD hurt her eventually, even in this manner...
She glanced up at the open bottle of Dr Pepper and bit her lip. It would take more than just a fizzy drink to make her happy again. She felt like she was going to be depressed forever.
"Why?" she heard his voice.
"Because you're dead... I'll never be happy again..." she replied, mumbling the words into her pillow.
"Why?"
"I could never be happy with anyone else, the way I was happy with you." She sniffled, talking to that strange voice in her head that sounded so much like Inuyasha.
A feather light touch brushed against her hair and she suddenly yanked her head up. But there was no one there, just like she'd known there hadn't been. Was she going crazy? Was that what heart break did to you? Hey, maybe she'd be lucky and get crazy enough to jump out the window and join Inuyasha over in the next world?
With a moan she fell backwards and covered her eyes with her arm, just wishing that it could have been different...
-_-
"She'll be giving a speech at seven o'clock this evening." Sesshomaru informed the others. "That's when I expect the real prophesy will begin..."
"So that's when I shoot her?" Kagura asked, picking up a rifle, glad to be back in the north surrounded by modern weapons again.
"No - that's when Kouga shoots her." Sesshomaru snapped shortly, snatching her gun and handing it to the young man. "It's too important to have you mess it up this time AGAIN!"
He stalked off and Kouga watched him go with confusion. "What's eating him?"
Kagura just shot her a dirty look. "His little brother was just killed."
"So?" Kouga shrugged, fiddling with the rifle. "Isn't that what he ordered you to do anyway?"
"Yeah, but it wasn't like he was happy about it." Kagura scoffed. "They're still blood..."
"Right and-" Kouga cut short as the gun went off in his hand, stabbing a bullet through the wooden floorboard, inches in front of Kagura's foot. She stiffed as Kouga froze with a horror filled expression. "Oops..."
"Gimme that!" She snatched it off him and chucked it onto the table. "I'm gonna talk to Sesshomaru about this assassination arrangement..."
^_^
"Oh, Nabika sure is in for it now..." the doctor in the morgue muttered as he led another crisp to his mouth as he stared at the tiny screen set on top of his filing cabinet.
After a few minutes the screen started to go fuzzy as the signal started to fail. He heaved himself out of his chair with a sigh and moved forward to twiddle with the bunny eared aerial.
"Come on..." he breathed... until a soft bump sound outside of the office distracted him. He froze suddenly and listened intently - and he could have sworn he heard that soft noise again.
Hastily, he switched off the TV and walked towards the door and opened it slowly. He couldn't hear anything now... but he reckoned it was just some stupid kids playing tricks on the city morgue - it wouldn't be anything new, but he had to make sure that there wasn't any kids inside the morgue or there'd be trouble. Mostly from freaked out parents...
The doctor walked around the tables containing a few of the recently deceased that he'd been autopsying, and headed towards the swinging door entrance. He poked his head out and looked around. Nope... no kids.
A sharper bang made him start around, and he looked behind him quickly, scanning the room for the source of the noise. There was nobody there, save for dead people and dead people in cabinets along the walls. They didn't usually go bump in the afternoon...
He edged forward into the room, looking around some more but finding nothing... though he was sure he could hear a soft shuffling sound somewhere. Maybe one of the kids and gotten himself lodged in one of the cabinets?
Suddenly one of the cabinet doors to his right started to shudder as a loud repetitive banging started up. "Help! Get me out! I can't see! I'm claustrophobic!"
"What the..." the doctor glanced sharply at the cabinet door and swiftly moved forward. He threw it open and pulled the draw table out. At once the kid lying on it scrambled off quickly.
"That should teach you to mess around in the morgue!" he yelled after the boy that fled out the swinging doors... What a moron! Locking himself in a cabinet...
He turned back to head back into his office when a loud thundering bang had him jumping out of his skin. Another kid?
But no screams for help followed this banging, only a sound which resembled that of metal scraping or tearing against another metal - definitely within the cabinets, he was certain. But which one?
He suddenly yelped as one of the cabinet doors rocketed off its hinges ahead of him and he scrambled back, uncertain of any force on earth that could manage a feat of strength like that. The bed slid out jerkily from inside the cabinet... and what was worse... the body inside was moving it...
"Dear god..." the doctor fell to his knees and started praying.
As soon as the bed was clear a boy with stark white, scruffy hair sat up so fast he almost toppled off the table, fighting the white sheet that had been covering him. He was breathing in short gasps and clenching a clawed hand to his chest, ignoring the biting pain those claws must have been causing. "What... What..." he panted, looking around wildly before spotting the poor doctor on the floor. "Hey..."
"Please don't eat my brain!"
"Ok..." Inuyasha nodded and started to slide off the table, making sure to grip the white sheet around his waist. "Where am I? Where is the hospital?"
"God... you weren't dead after all... were you." The shaken man frowned. "But... you've been here for twelve hours... you didn't have a pulse or... or anything!"
Inuyasha spotted a small splatter of blood on the crisp white sheet around his waist. Quickly, he looked himself over, trying to locate the wound, but found none. Besides, the blood didn't look like his own... it was too dark... almost black. "I was very much dead... I think..." Inuyasha whispered and looked around. "What day is it?"
"Saturday..."
"I gotta go!" Inuyasha started for the doors. "I need to find my clothes before I find her..."
When he was gone, the doctor stared after him for a long time. He eventually got to his feet and went around turning everything off and fetching his coat and hat from the usual hook. He really needed a break from work - a nice holiday to China would do.
^_^
"You ready?" Mr Higurashi asked his daughter as she paced the hotel foyer.
"No."
"Just say you are anyway," he told her gently.
"No point pretending anything, dad." She said in a tight tone, pivoting on her heel and walking back the other way, stopping, fiddling, and then turning again to repeat the actions in sequence. They were being delayed a few extra minutes because the building across the street hadn't been secured of snipers and assassins. A few of the body guards were taking longer than expected the sweep the building, but any time now they would be back with the all clear... then Kagome would have to speak to the public...
She'd never been so nervous in her life. Mainly, she was afraid for her life. She'd never made an arranged appearance before people, it was usually just too dangerous. Standing in the open air for more than thirty seconds was just asking to be shot... but hopefully, if she said the right things within the first thirty seconds then maybe she wouldn't be killed by snipers.
Hopefully...
But then she wouldn't really care if she was...
With that depression thought, she turned again and started to pace before her father, Sango and Miroku. Just then the doors to the foyer opened as a few of the bodyguards re-entered. But as soon as the doors open a deafening road of voices could be heard from outside. And as soon as the doors swung close again the voices disappeared. Sound proofing was a wonder these days.
Kagome started to chew her lip as the bodyguards nodded to her father who in turn nodded to Kagome.
"We'll come too." Miroku offered.
"Any chance you could stand in front of me?" Kagome asked, not moving a muscle in the direction of the doors.
"Well, then how would you speak into the microphone?" he pointed out.
"Come on, Kagome, let's get this over with." Sango smiled gently. "Then this whole ordeal will be finished."
"Ok..." she still didn't move.
After a moment they realised she was scared. Butterflies were racing through her entire body, not just her stomach. The thought of facing so many people in the city... and this was no doubt going to be broadcast on live television. And the mere thought was enough to make her break out in a cold sweat.
"Come on, Honey." Her father took her gently by the shoulder and guided her towards the doors. Kagome just limply let him lead her, seeing as she had no will of her own to do so.
The doors opened and she almost reeled back from the near solid force of the noise. The volume of the sound hurt her ears, but her father seemed cool enough, and ushered her on and through the doors. It suddenly got much worse for Kagome, and her nerves suddenly went numb and her legs turned to jelly.
"Oh god..." she whimpered so only her father could be heard as she was pulled down a corridor forged of bodyguards towards a podium that had been set up before the hotel entrance.
She reached it and restrained herself from clamping her hands over her ears to block out the sound of screaming people. There were so many, she couldn't distinguish anything but just one amazing sound. She had no idea if they were hurling love and adoration, or just insults and disgust. Her father released her arm and stood off to the side of the podium, hinting that she had to move on her own now.
For a moment she panicked and wanted to break down and cry. After her short stay in the south where no one knew her name, it was a sudden switch back to fame that sent her staggering. One step at a time she stepped up towards the podium, looking down at her father and her friends for encouragement. She took the final step and looked out before her as she reached the stand.
The noise grew even louder, if that was possible, and all she could see was a sea of heads that stretched through the square before her, turning into a blur in the distance. That building the guards had been checking out that was 'opposite' the hotel, was practically half a mile away. Or maybe that was just Kagome's eyes dilating.
She nearly collapsed then and there... but she managed to pull at some hidden strength to hold it together for a little longer. She needed to do this for Inuyasha... she owed it to him seeing as what this had cost him.
Looking up she could see a huge plasma screen had been placed on the hotel building above her... and she could see the cameras all around her. Panic seized her even stronger than before. "Oh god... oh god... oh god... oh god..."
Wait - she probably shouldn't be doing that. That screen was awfully big - everyone could probably see what she was mouthing.
After a while the roar of voices died down to a gentle murmur, as everyone waited for her to speak. She looked down at the speech she'd been given by her father and suddenly found she had turned dyslectic... oh dear...
Midway, in the middle of the crowd, Sesshomaru, Kouga and Kagura braced themselves to get ready. They were completely surrounded by several other cells under Naraku's orders. No petty humans were going to see through their little crowd and notice the weapons. Kagura had control of the rifle, but they had decided to wait a little while into the speech (for dramatic effect on the audiences watching). Kouga glanced at Kagura just in time to see her trade a meaningful look with Sesshomaru... he didn't understand what they knew that he didn't know.
Meanwhile, Kagome was still dyslectic and after a few moments of nervous hyperventilating she took a deep breath and told herself that this was nothing new... everyone in the world had seen her face before, now they were all just seeing it at exactly the same time. So what? Did she want to come across as a nervous wreck.
With a swift slash, she swiped the speech of the podium before her and gripped the metal platform tightly, looking up at the crowd and calming those dizzy butterflies with more force. After a moment she spoke with her opening line.
"Um... Can I just ask... has anyone here ever actually met a demon... for certain?" she asked timidly, her voice unnerving her as it echoed around her.
There was complete and utter silence. Kouga was about to raise his hand, but Kagura quickly slapped his arm with a sharp glare. But apart from that, no one said a word or raised their hands.
With a slightly more relaxed feeling she went on. "Then... how can everyone be so sure demon's are entirely evil?"
There was a sudden hum or noise as the people started to voice their own opinions and concerns about this statement. Kagome bit her lip before leaning closer to the microphone. "What I'm trying to say is... if you've never met a demon yourself than how can everyone be so sure that they all deserve to die."
Kagura's grip on the rifle lessened slightly as an outraged roar sounded from the people who hadn't wanted all demons to die - the people who had hated Kagome with feeling in the start.
"AND-" Kagome said quickly. "How can you be so sure, if you've never met me, that I'm evil and deserve to die."
Sesshomaru rolled his eyes. "Oh please... I think I'm about to drown in my own tears."
But this had quieted the crowd a great deal.
"Can I just start by reading the prophesy?" she looked down at her dad. "The REAL prophesy."
He stared at her stonily for a moment, obviously not pleased at her change of plans, but reluctantly gave in and fished the folded piece of paper from his pocket and handed it up to her.
"Ok..." Kagome cleared her throat, unaware that two people were slowly making their way through the crowd from the edges towards her.
"The land has been and as will always be divided unto light and darkness, A wooden dam shall always be the divider, As always shall the dark ones divide the white and pure ones, Until is the day the darkness will rise within the darkest regions of the darkest ones. The grey one shall come bearing the name every man, woman and child has heard and sung. And into the darkest hours of the era the grey shall fall into darkness and prevail at the hands of evil... and so shall prevail unto freedom and shall prevail unto pain and until the darkest day arises... for that shall be the day all lands will be rid of darkness and evil, the world led into light and the world shall be cleansed of GREY and black."
It took a moment for this prophesy to sink in. These people had never heard this version before.
"And it's all a complete metaphorical mess that everyone in the world has interpreted wrong." Kagome said loudly.
"What?" Sango started visibly. "Kagome?!"
Kouga shook his head slightly. "Was this part of the plan... how can it be wrong?!" he glanced over at the other two members of his cell and found they were both watching Kagome intently.
Kagome was on a roll now. "The man who wrote this piece of cra- I mean - this prophesy was a genius, but maybe this is a little too simple to get."
"What the hell does it mean then?!" she heard someone yell close by.
"It means..." she was about to go on when she saw a flash of white in the crowd. She trailed off her speech and feverishly scanned the crowd for another glimpse of white hair... but she found none. Her eyes were just playing tricks on her. So she continued when the crowd started getting impatient. "This prophesy makes no direct association with demons... just humans... this is all about us."
No one got what she meant.
"Ok, I can explain this better," she looked down at the paper before her. "The land has been and as will always be divided unto light and darkness, A wooden dam shall always be the divider... it means our people will be divided into good and bad... those who want demons dead, and those who don't. I haven't a clue what the dam divider is... I suppose... that's just a separation between these two types of human people."
Once more, she received complete and utter silence as they processed this, everyone was hanging on her every word. Somehow that made her feel better, because at least they were all listening now.
"As always shall the dark ones divide the white and pure ones..." she translated again. "I think this just means our leaders who want demons dead will always divide the ones who don't want them dead. The white ones won't be able to gather their own power, I guess."
There it was again! Another flash of white in the distance. She managed to fix on the owner of the hair again, but only for a fraction of a moment as she lost sight of him again. She had to go on with the talk, otherwise she would look hesitant again.
"Until is the day the darkness will rise within the darkest regions of the darkest ones." She looked up. "That's today. This is the darkest region... full of dark people out for demon blood."
She received a slight grumble in general, so she quickly moved on.
"The grey one shall come bearing the name every man, woman and child has heard and sung - that would be me." Kagome smiled slightly. "And into the darkest hours of the era the grey shall fall into darkness and prevail at the hands of evil... and so shall prevail unto freedom and shall prevail unto pain and until the darkest day arises..."
She hesitated a moment.
"No need to go into details... but basically, that is how you can literally take it." Kagome offered before looking down at the prophesy again. "For that shall be the day all lands will be rid of darkness and evil, the world led into light and the world shall be cleansed of GREY and black."
Kagura let the rifle rise slightly, but noticed Sesshomaru's warning look.
"This isn't a reference to killing demons at all. The day of darkness is the day the truth comes out and the world will have a little light shed on the situation. The prophesy is a scam in reality... it led us to believe that demons would die, and it created a war which has to be resolved today. So you could say that if this guy hadn't written this prophesy then this whole rift between demons and humans wouldn't exist as a result."
"I can't follow this at all..." Miroku rubbed his temples.
"But - now everyone knows. Hating demons is a false feeling - they'll be here for as long as us, so there is no point getting into wars with them." Kagome flexed her hands slightly, absently searching the crowd for white. "Black will be cleansed because it is an emotion, not a race of demons. Grey will be cleansed because it refers to the doubtful emotion - not me! This will disappear on the day of darkness - and people will learn to accept demons."
Complete silence.
"You have to." Kagome said into the stillness.
Then suddenly someone spoke up. "How come you are grey and not white?" a woman yelled up.
"I'm grey because I've experience demons face to face, unlike white people. I know what they can do... and I guess I'm not innocent enough to be a white. But I know where I stand. Some demons are good - some are bad, but we only seem to notice the bad sort. There are probably five hundred demons in this very crowd - good ones - who would never cause trouble."
Everyone suddenly started looking to one another suspiciously.
"Don't expect them to raise their hands or anything." She said as a gradual noise rose up again.
Kouga was growing impatient. "Can we shoot her now?"
"Wait..." Sesshomaru said curtly.
"And I just wanna say... I retire from the position of being your messiah..." Kagome said with a sigh. "I've put up with this for sixteen years, and now it should be officially over. Little grey me will be going. Don't expect me to be hanging around."
She was so close... he couldn't believe it. Inuyasha pushed his way through the crowd, none too gently in his rush to reach her. "Kagome!"
"This prophesy was created to heal the rift between us all." Kagome went on, oblivious. "It was created for me to lead you all into the light... which I really hope it has done."
A few beats of quiet followed, until a huge roar from the crowd broke out, startling Kagome. For a moment she thought they were angry, before she realised they were clapping and cheering her... everyone at the same time, for the first time. It made her feel strangely good inside.
Inuyasha, however, was having slightly more frustration. "Kagome!" his voice would in no way carry over the cheering around him, and it was suddenly twice as difficult to move forward. He had to push with more force. "Kagome!!"
But everyone was chanting her name now, and his voice made no difference. Then suddenly her eyes fell on him and all pleasant expression was wiped from her face as she stared at him and he stared back, holding her gaze.
Sango touched Kagome's shoulder behind her, startling her out of her trance. Kagome looked at her briefly before looking back down at the crowd... no... he'd gone... she'd been seeing things again... but he'd looked so real...
"You did it girl!" Sango cheered happily while Miroku just smiled proudly, just like her father.
"I did it." She nodded, but why didn't she feel so great?
"Well done Kagome..." Her father said, noticing that her eyes were peeled on the cheering crowds. What was she looking for?
Inuyasha growled in frustration as he pushed closer, she was looking in the wrong place... typical of her. But he had to get a hold of her now or he might never get the chance to see her again. "Kagome you stupid bitch! Stop being so fucking blind and look!"
Kagome had a natural radar for insults, or at least she must have done to suddenly zone in on him pushing his way forward. She gasped, finally realising that she couldn't be seeing things... Inuyasha WAS alive!
She didn't dare take her eyes of him as she stumbled down the steps of the podium and headed towards the crowd. Her bodyguards stepped forward to try and stop her, but she just ran past them and pressed her hands against the clear plastic screen wall that had been set up to hold back the crowd. She could still see him... he couldn't be an illusion. "Inuyasha!"
"Hang on!" he yelled back, pushing past the last few people and jumping over the low barricades to reach the plastic divider. He stopped and stared at her. "Hey!"
"Oh my god!" she wanted to melt right through the plastic and fall into him, but that was impossible. She couldn't get any closer than this. Inuyasha pressed his hands against the plastic, directly over hers and grinned as he puckered his lips to kiss the wall. Kagome smiled, her entire being flooded with happiness and relief. She leaned forward as well and kissed the same place, almost imagining that she could feel the warmth of his lips.
He pulled back and noticed she was crying, but that was ok because they weren't sad tears anymore.
"Where did you go?!" she yelled, almost accusingly.
"The morgue!" he yelled back and leaned his forehead against the plastic. "Kagome?"
"Yeah?" she couldn't take her eyes of him, like if she did he would disappear again.
"I love you!"
Kagome felt a large lump rise in her throat as she started to cry with proper sobs. "I... I love you too!" she sniffed. "YOU BIG JERK!!"
"What?"
"You wait till I get my hands on you!" she slapped the wall, half angry, but half elated. "You scared me to death! I really thought that you... and then... that was just nasty of you!! And the things you said when you were human! Bastard!"
Ok... maybe it was a good thing that they were divided. He didn't fancy his chances with her right then.
Kouga's jaw was hanging somewhere in the same region as his feet. His keen eyes could see what most humans could not. "He's there... Inuyasha's alive..."
Yura finally found her way to the small group, having made her way from the back. she leaned close to Sesshomaru and whispered so no one else would hear. "I did as you said - I took the blood and spilt it on him with the girl was distracted. He has demon blood in his veins again..."
Sesshomaru barely nodded.
"So... do we shoot them both now?" Kagura asked hopefully, fingering her rifle.
He just shook his head. "They're doing to harm to us. Maybe the girl even helped us out a little...?"
"But Inuyasha still betrayed us!" Kouga hissed. Kagura cuffed him round the ear.
"So what?" she snapped. "He'll marry the old ball and chain - that's a fate worse than death in my book."
Sesshomaru nodded shortly. "Let's leave this place, the human stench is making my ill."
They followed him reluctantly, but they knew that their life in the cell was over... it was all over now.
^_^
Kagome was once again set to pacing the length of her room again. She couldn't believe it. He was really alive... but she was yet to touch him.
There came a knock at the door and she sucked in a sharp breath and faced it. "Come in." she called hesitantly.
The door opened and Inuyasha took two steps in, about to say something when Kagome launched herself at him in a flurry. At first he was concerned, seeing as she had just given him a few death threats, and her hands seemed to be aiming for his neck. But he quickly relaxed as she just threw her arms around his neck instead and squeezed him tightly.
"Miss me?" he sighed, happily taking his time with folding his arms around her smaller frame and holding her against him tightly. He rested his cheek against the side of her head and inhaled deeply to take in the sweet smell of her hair... a smell that he had sorely missed while they'd been unable to touch. He knew she was doing exactly the same.
"I forgot how great you smelled," she laughed happily as she nuzzled his neck and breathing in. "Don't ever leave me again!"
"I promise," he cradled her head gently.
"That's what you said last time." She reminded him, loosening her grip slightly so she could pull back and see his face.
"Yeah, but I mean it this time." He sniffed. "Plus, you kinda smell of Miroku... I won't be leaving you any time soon."
"That might be a problem." She pulled back completely. "I'm going tonight..."
"Where to?" he asked quickly.
"Mom's house... it's near the forest border..." she smiled slightly. "I'll get to see my brother and grandpa again - and I'm gonna attend school there as well."
Inuyasha stared at her a moment before cupping her cheek and pulling her forward for a lingering kiss that sent that familiar thrill through her body. "Sorry," he said as he pulled back. "What were you saying?"
Kagome sighed. "I'm going to go live with mom tonight... I'll be leaving for good."
He frowned slightly before smiling. "Any spare rooms?"
"You'd be willing to leave your father?" Kagome cocked her head. "But this is your home!"
"So?" he shrugged. "My home is wherever you go, Kagome."
"That's so sweet... I can't believe that just came out your mouth." She smiled.
"But it's the truth." He smiled back. "I'll go with you... I could never leave you again."
"Good," Kagome stood on tip-toe and kissed him on the nose. "Now that everything's all over and done with, I can live a happy normal life with my happy normal boyfriend."
"Who's a half demon and a zombie." He winced. "I don't understand that part..."
"I think I know why you're alive..." she smiled. "I'll tell you on the train - we should go see Sango and Miroku now."
She pulled him out of the room and started walking with him to the elevator, just revelling in the opportunity to fold against his side and wrap her arm around his waist. It was just so natural, she couldn't believe she had coped with keeping her distance before.
"I can't believe it's over." She said absently. "My whole life, I've been hiding from demons and bad people... and now I get to live with mom..."
"But you're happy right?" he asked, squeezing his arm around her shoulder gently.
Kagome smiled and leaned her head against him. She couldn't have been happier. She felt like she'd won the lottery and become the world's most famous girl, which in a way she had, but this felt a hundred times better because instead of winning the lottery, she'd won herself an Inuyasha, and she'd make she he wasn't going anywhere from now on.
"I couldn't be happier." She sighed.
AN: awwww... see? Happy ending.
AN: Anyway - the votes were unanimous - SAD ending it is! No, you all said happy ending so I've taken what you've said into consideration ^_^. I have to say I like happy endings too - it makes you feel really good inside for the rest of the day. So I probably won't break old habits this time... but one day... one of my stories will be sad!
So this last chapter will be extra, extra long, but I don't think you'll mind that ^_^. Be thankful I didn't decide to split it up into two separate chapters, I don't think it would have worked if I had done that.
Ok - so here I present the last chapter of my longest fic yet! Ta-daa!
Two Faced
The Day of Darkness
It had all been a wild goose chase... all from the start. One crazy loon had been so cryptic to fool some of the most genius minds in the country, including Kagome. The solution had been right under her nose all the time...
And because of this one crazy old man... Inuyasha was dead...
There was a small knock at the door, causing Kagome to just bury her head into her pillow even harder. She wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone. After a few moments of getting no answer, Miroku opened the door slightly and stuck his hand through, holding a Doctor Pepper bottle. "Want some sedative?"
Kagome peeked out before dropping her head again. "Go away."
"Don't make me go in there and give this to you." Was his reply.
"I don't want it! Pepper always makes me happy-"
"So it's morphine, not sedative - so sue me!" he opened the door completely and Kagome tensed up rather rigidly. He padded up to the bed and with a hiss, opened the bottle and held it out. Kagome refused to budge.
"You can't cry in here forever."
"Yes I can." Kagome's voice wobbled. "And who says I'm crying?"
Miroku placed the bottle on the beside table and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "You must be - otherwise Sango wouldn't be crying too."
Kagome hunched against her pillow harder. "Just go away."
"Not until you take a happy sip of the old Doctor P." he told her firmly.
"Go away and I will."
"Why not just give it a sip now and put my mind at ease."
"Because."
"Because what..."
"My face probably looks horrible and I don't want you to see it." She said with a slight pout in her tone.
Miroku rolled his eyes. "You can't be much worse than how Sango looks - she's balling her eyes out downstairs, your dad didn't trust her enough to send the Doctor Pepper with her..."
"But then again he doesn't exactly trust you either." Kagome pointed out.
"Meaning what exactly?" Miroku huffed indignantly.
"Nothing at all." Kagome said shortly.
He sighed and suddenly sat down on the bed, making it bounce for a moment. "Just sit up and take a sip." He held out the drink again.
"No."
"Sip it!" he barked in such a military like command that she had to grudgingly obey.
She sat up slowly and ran her hands over her face to try and clear away some of the wetness on her cheeks. She glanced quickly at Miroku who was smiling. "If Inuyasha was here he would say you were beautiful..."
This obviously hadn't been the right thing to say, because after a few beats she suddenly started to break down again and latched onto his shoulder to hide her face again. Miroku, at a loss, just patted her shoulder, mindful not to try and cop a feel, especially at a time like this.
Eventually Kagome managed to get control of herself and pulled away, her breathing shaky and uneven. "I'm ok... you don't have to stay with me."
Miroku had to keep from sighing with relief. One weepy Sango was about as much as he could handle. He stood up and moved towards the door, before remembering the message that Mr Higurashi had sent up with him in the first place. "Your dad says that you need to pull it together by tonight... you have to make that public appearance... it's the day of darkness, remember?"
"I know..." Kagome sniffed and dashed at her eyes. To her, it was dark because Inuyasha had died the day before. Sod the prophesy...
"Can you handle it?" Miroku asked blatantly.
Kagome inhaled deeply, and for a brief second thought she could do it. Before common sense took over and told her she wouldn't be able to... "Yeah, I can do it." She said anyway. Not that she had much of a choice.
Miroku didn't believe her anymore than she did, and he hesitated a moment before leaving and shutting the door behind him. Kagome sank back down onto the bed and just wished the pain would go away. Maybe this was why she'd been so afraid to fall in love with him... because he WOULD hurt her eventually, even in this manner...
She glanced up at the open bottle of Dr Pepper and bit her lip. It would take more than just a fizzy drink to make her happy again. She felt like she was going to be depressed forever.
"Why?" she heard his voice.
"Because you're dead... I'll never be happy again..." she replied, mumbling the words into her pillow.
"Why?"
"I could never be happy with anyone else, the way I was happy with you." She sniffled, talking to that strange voice in her head that sounded so much like Inuyasha.
A feather light touch brushed against her hair and she suddenly yanked her head up. But there was no one there, just like she'd known there hadn't been. Was she going crazy? Was that what heart break did to you? Hey, maybe she'd be lucky and get crazy enough to jump out the window and join Inuyasha over in the next world?
With a moan she fell backwards and covered her eyes with her arm, just wishing that it could have been different...
-_-
"She'll be giving a speech at seven o'clock this evening." Sesshomaru informed the others. "That's when I expect the real prophesy will begin..."
"So that's when I shoot her?" Kagura asked, picking up a rifle, glad to be back in the north surrounded by modern weapons again.
"No - that's when Kouga shoots her." Sesshomaru snapped shortly, snatching her gun and handing it to the young man. "It's too important to have you mess it up this time AGAIN!"
He stalked off and Kouga watched him go with confusion. "What's eating him?"
Kagura just shot her a dirty look. "His little brother was just killed."
"So?" Kouga shrugged, fiddling with the rifle. "Isn't that what he ordered you to do anyway?"
"Yeah, but it wasn't like he was happy about it." Kagura scoffed. "They're still blood..."
"Right and-" Kouga cut short as the gun went off in his hand, stabbing a bullet through the wooden floorboard, inches in front of Kagura's foot. She stiffed as Kouga froze with a horror filled expression. "Oops..."
"Gimme that!" She snatched it off him and chucked it onto the table. "I'm gonna talk to Sesshomaru about this assassination arrangement..."
^_^
"Oh, Nabika sure is in for it now..." the doctor in the morgue muttered as he led another crisp to his mouth as he stared at the tiny screen set on top of his filing cabinet.
After a few minutes the screen started to go fuzzy as the signal started to fail. He heaved himself out of his chair with a sigh and moved forward to twiddle with the bunny eared aerial.
"Come on..." he breathed... until a soft bump sound outside of the office distracted him. He froze suddenly and listened intently - and he could have sworn he heard that soft noise again.
Hastily, he switched off the TV and walked towards the door and opened it slowly. He couldn't hear anything now... but he reckoned it was just some stupid kids playing tricks on the city morgue - it wouldn't be anything new, but he had to make sure that there wasn't any kids inside the morgue or there'd be trouble. Mostly from freaked out parents...
The doctor walked around the tables containing a few of the recently deceased that he'd been autopsying, and headed towards the swinging door entrance. He poked his head out and looked around. Nope... no kids.
A sharper bang made him start around, and he looked behind him quickly, scanning the room for the source of the noise. There was nobody there, save for dead people and dead people in cabinets along the walls. They didn't usually go bump in the afternoon...
He edged forward into the room, looking around some more but finding nothing... though he was sure he could hear a soft shuffling sound somewhere. Maybe one of the kids and gotten himself lodged in one of the cabinets?
Suddenly one of the cabinet doors to his right started to shudder as a loud repetitive banging started up. "Help! Get me out! I can't see! I'm claustrophobic!"
"What the..." the doctor glanced sharply at the cabinet door and swiftly moved forward. He threw it open and pulled the draw table out. At once the kid lying on it scrambled off quickly.
"That should teach you to mess around in the morgue!" he yelled after the boy that fled out the swinging doors... What a moron! Locking himself in a cabinet...
He turned back to head back into his office when a loud thundering bang had him jumping out of his skin. Another kid?
But no screams for help followed this banging, only a sound which resembled that of metal scraping or tearing against another metal - definitely within the cabinets, he was certain. But which one?
He suddenly yelped as one of the cabinet doors rocketed off its hinges ahead of him and he scrambled back, uncertain of any force on earth that could manage a feat of strength like that. The bed slid out jerkily from inside the cabinet... and what was worse... the body inside was moving it...
"Dear god..." the doctor fell to his knees and started praying.
As soon as the bed was clear a boy with stark white, scruffy hair sat up so fast he almost toppled off the table, fighting the white sheet that had been covering him. He was breathing in short gasps and clenching a clawed hand to his chest, ignoring the biting pain those claws must have been causing. "What... What..." he panted, looking around wildly before spotting the poor doctor on the floor. "Hey..."
"Please don't eat my brain!"
"Ok..." Inuyasha nodded and started to slide off the table, making sure to grip the white sheet around his waist. "Where am I? Where is the hospital?"
"God... you weren't dead after all... were you." The shaken man frowned. "But... you've been here for twelve hours... you didn't have a pulse or... or anything!"
Inuyasha spotted a small splatter of blood on the crisp white sheet around his waist. Quickly, he looked himself over, trying to locate the wound, but found none. Besides, the blood didn't look like his own... it was too dark... almost black. "I was very much dead... I think..." Inuyasha whispered and looked around. "What day is it?"
"Saturday..."
"I gotta go!" Inuyasha started for the doors. "I need to find my clothes before I find her..."
When he was gone, the doctor stared after him for a long time. He eventually got to his feet and went around turning everything off and fetching his coat and hat from the usual hook. He really needed a break from work - a nice holiday to China would do.
^_^
"You ready?" Mr Higurashi asked his daughter as she paced the hotel foyer.
"No."
"Just say you are anyway," he told her gently.
"No point pretending anything, dad." She said in a tight tone, pivoting on her heel and walking back the other way, stopping, fiddling, and then turning again to repeat the actions in sequence. They were being delayed a few extra minutes because the building across the street hadn't been secured of snipers and assassins. A few of the body guards were taking longer than expected the sweep the building, but any time now they would be back with the all clear... then Kagome would have to speak to the public...
She'd never been so nervous in her life. Mainly, she was afraid for her life. She'd never made an arranged appearance before people, it was usually just too dangerous. Standing in the open air for more than thirty seconds was just asking to be shot... but hopefully, if she said the right things within the first thirty seconds then maybe she wouldn't be killed by snipers.
Hopefully...
But then she wouldn't really care if she was...
With that depression thought, she turned again and started to pace before her father, Sango and Miroku. Just then the doors to the foyer opened as a few of the bodyguards re-entered. But as soon as the doors open a deafening road of voices could be heard from outside. And as soon as the doors swung close again the voices disappeared. Sound proofing was a wonder these days.
Kagome started to chew her lip as the bodyguards nodded to her father who in turn nodded to Kagome.
"We'll come too." Miroku offered.
"Any chance you could stand in front of me?" Kagome asked, not moving a muscle in the direction of the doors.
"Well, then how would you speak into the microphone?" he pointed out.
"Come on, Kagome, let's get this over with." Sango smiled gently. "Then this whole ordeal will be finished."
"Ok..." she still didn't move.
After a moment they realised she was scared. Butterflies were racing through her entire body, not just her stomach. The thought of facing so many people in the city... and this was no doubt going to be broadcast on live television. And the mere thought was enough to make her break out in a cold sweat.
"Come on, Honey." Her father took her gently by the shoulder and guided her towards the doors. Kagome just limply let him lead her, seeing as she had no will of her own to do so.
The doors opened and she almost reeled back from the near solid force of the noise. The volume of the sound hurt her ears, but her father seemed cool enough, and ushered her on and through the doors. It suddenly got much worse for Kagome, and her nerves suddenly went numb and her legs turned to jelly.
"Oh god..." she whimpered so only her father could be heard as she was pulled down a corridor forged of bodyguards towards a podium that had been set up before the hotel entrance.
She reached it and restrained herself from clamping her hands over her ears to block out the sound of screaming people. There were so many, she couldn't distinguish anything but just one amazing sound. She had no idea if they were hurling love and adoration, or just insults and disgust. Her father released her arm and stood off to the side of the podium, hinting that she had to move on her own now.
For a moment she panicked and wanted to break down and cry. After her short stay in the south where no one knew her name, it was a sudden switch back to fame that sent her staggering. One step at a time she stepped up towards the podium, looking down at her father and her friends for encouragement. She took the final step and looked out before her as she reached the stand.
The noise grew even louder, if that was possible, and all she could see was a sea of heads that stretched through the square before her, turning into a blur in the distance. That building the guards had been checking out that was 'opposite' the hotel, was practically half a mile away. Or maybe that was just Kagome's eyes dilating.
She nearly collapsed then and there... but she managed to pull at some hidden strength to hold it together for a little longer. She needed to do this for Inuyasha... she owed it to him seeing as what this had cost him.
Looking up she could see a huge plasma screen had been placed on the hotel building above her... and she could see the cameras all around her. Panic seized her even stronger than before. "Oh god... oh god... oh god... oh god..."
Wait - she probably shouldn't be doing that. That screen was awfully big - everyone could probably see what she was mouthing.
After a while the roar of voices died down to a gentle murmur, as everyone waited for her to speak. She looked down at the speech she'd been given by her father and suddenly found she had turned dyslectic... oh dear...
Midway, in the middle of the crowd, Sesshomaru, Kouga and Kagura braced themselves to get ready. They were completely surrounded by several other cells under Naraku's orders. No petty humans were going to see through their little crowd and notice the weapons. Kagura had control of the rifle, but they had decided to wait a little while into the speech (for dramatic effect on the audiences watching). Kouga glanced at Kagura just in time to see her trade a meaningful look with Sesshomaru... he didn't understand what they knew that he didn't know.
Meanwhile, Kagome was still dyslectic and after a few moments of nervous hyperventilating she took a deep breath and told herself that this was nothing new... everyone in the world had seen her face before, now they were all just seeing it at exactly the same time. So what? Did she want to come across as a nervous wreck.
With a swift slash, she swiped the speech of the podium before her and gripped the metal platform tightly, looking up at the crowd and calming those dizzy butterflies with more force. After a moment she spoke with her opening line.
"Um... Can I just ask... has anyone here ever actually met a demon... for certain?" she asked timidly, her voice unnerving her as it echoed around her.
There was complete and utter silence. Kouga was about to raise his hand, but Kagura quickly slapped his arm with a sharp glare. But apart from that, no one said a word or raised their hands.
With a slightly more relaxed feeling she went on. "Then... how can everyone be so sure demon's are entirely evil?"
There was a sudden hum or noise as the people started to voice their own opinions and concerns about this statement. Kagome bit her lip before leaning closer to the microphone. "What I'm trying to say is... if you've never met a demon yourself than how can everyone be so sure that they all deserve to die."
Kagura's grip on the rifle lessened slightly as an outraged roar sounded from the people who hadn't wanted all demons to die - the people who had hated Kagome with feeling in the start.
"AND-" Kagome said quickly. "How can you be so sure, if you've never met me, that I'm evil and deserve to die."
Sesshomaru rolled his eyes. "Oh please... I think I'm about to drown in my own tears."
But this had quieted the crowd a great deal.
"Can I just start by reading the prophesy?" she looked down at her dad. "The REAL prophesy."
He stared at her stonily for a moment, obviously not pleased at her change of plans, but reluctantly gave in and fished the folded piece of paper from his pocket and handed it up to her.
"Ok..." Kagome cleared her throat, unaware that two people were slowly making their way through the crowd from the edges towards her.
"The land has been and as will always be divided unto light and darkness, A wooden dam shall always be the divider, As always shall the dark ones divide the white and pure ones, Until is the day the darkness will rise within the darkest regions of the darkest ones. The grey one shall come bearing the name every man, woman and child has heard and sung. And into the darkest hours of the era the grey shall fall into darkness and prevail at the hands of evil... and so shall prevail unto freedom and shall prevail unto pain and until the darkest day arises... for that shall be the day all lands will be rid of darkness and evil, the world led into light and the world shall be cleansed of GREY and black."
It took a moment for this prophesy to sink in. These people had never heard this version before.
"And it's all a complete metaphorical mess that everyone in the world has interpreted wrong." Kagome said loudly.
"What?" Sango started visibly. "Kagome?!"
Kouga shook his head slightly. "Was this part of the plan... how can it be wrong?!" he glanced over at the other two members of his cell and found they were both watching Kagome intently.
Kagome was on a roll now. "The man who wrote this piece of cra- I mean - this prophesy was a genius, but maybe this is a little too simple to get."
"What the hell does it mean then?!" she heard someone yell close by.
"It means..." she was about to go on when she saw a flash of white in the crowd. She trailed off her speech and feverishly scanned the crowd for another glimpse of white hair... but she found none. Her eyes were just playing tricks on her. So she continued when the crowd started getting impatient. "This prophesy makes no direct association with demons... just humans... this is all about us."
No one got what she meant.
"Ok, I can explain this better," she looked down at the paper before her. "The land has been and as will always be divided unto light and darkness, A wooden dam shall always be the divider... it means our people will be divided into good and bad... those who want demons dead, and those who don't. I haven't a clue what the dam divider is... I suppose... that's just a separation between these two types of human people."
Once more, she received complete and utter silence as they processed this, everyone was hanging on her every word. Somehow that made her feel better, because at least they were all listening now.
"As always shall the dark ones divide the white and pure ones..." she translated again. "I think this just means our leaders who want demons dead will always divide the ones who don't want them dead. The white ones won't be able to gather their own power, I guess."
There it was again! Another flash of white in the distance. She managed to fix on the owner of the hair again, but only for a fraction of a moment as she lost sight of him again. She had to go on with the talk, otherwise she would look hesitant again.
"Until is the day the darkness will rise within the darkest regions of the darkest ones." She looked up. "That's today. This is the darkest region... full of dark people out for demon blood."
She received a slight grumble in general, so she quickly moved on.
"The grey one shall come bearing the name every man, woman and child has heard and sung - that would be me." Kagome smiled slightly. "And into the darkest hours of the era the grey shall fall into darkness and prevail at the hands of evil... and so shall prevail unto freedom and shall prevail unto pain and until the darkest day arises..."
She hesitated a moment.
"No need to go into details... but basically, that is how you can literally take it." Kagome offered before looking down at the prophesy again. "For that shall be the day all lands will be rid of darkness and evil, the world led into light and the world shall be cleansed of GREY and black."
Kagura let the rifle rise slightly, but noticed Sesshomaru's warning look.
"This isn't a reference to killing demons at all. The day of darkness is the day the truth comes out and the world will have a little light shed on the situation. The prophesy is a scam in reality... it led us to believe that demons would die, and it created a war which has to be resolved today. So you could say that if this guy hadn't written this prophesy then this whole rift between demons and humans wouldn't exist as a result."
"I can't follow this at all..." Miroku rubbed his temples.
"But - now everyone knows. Hating demons is a false feeling - they'll be here for as long as us, so there is no point getting into wars with them." Kagome flexed her hands slightly, absently searching the crowd for white. "Black will be cleansed because it is an emotion, not a race of demons. Grey will be cleansed because it refers to the doubtful emotion - not me! This will disappear on the day of darkness - and people will learn to accept demons."
Complete silence.
"You have to." Kagome said into the stillness.
Then suddenly someone spoke up. "How come you are grey and not white?" a woman yelled up.
"I'm grey because I've experience demons face to face, unlike white people. I know what they can do... and I guess I'm not innocent enough to be a white. But I know where I stand. Some demons are good - some are bad, but we only seem to notice the bad sort. There are probably five hundred demons in this very crowd - good ones - who would never cause trouble."
Everyone suddenly started looking to one another suspiciously.
"Don't expect them to raise their hands or anything." She said as a gradual noise rose up again.
Kouga was growing impatient. "Can we shoot her now?"
"Wait..." Sesshomaru said curtly.
"And I just wanna say... I retire from the position of being your messiah..." Kagome said with a sigh. "I've put up with this for sixteen years, and now it should be officially over. Little grey me will be going. Don't expect me to be hanging around."
She was so close... he couldn't believe it. Inuyasha pushed his way through the crowd, none too gently in his rush to reach her. "Kagome!"
"This prophesy was created to heal the rift between us all." Kagome went on, oblivious. "It was created for me to lead you all into the light... which I really hope it has done."
A few beats of quiet followed, until a huge roar from the crowd broke out, startling Kagome. For a moment she thought they were angry, before she realised they were clapping and cheering her... everyone at the same time, for the first time. It made her feel strangely good inside.
Inuyasha, however, was having slightly more frustration. "Kagome!" his voice would in no way carry over the cheering around him, and it was suddenly twice as difficult to move forward. He had to push with more force. "Kagome!!"
But everyone was chanting her name now, and his voice made no difference. Then suddenly her eyes fell on him and all pleasant expression was wiped from her face as she stared at him and he stared back, holding her gaze.
Sango touched Kagome's shoulder behind her, startling her out of her trance. Kagome looked at her briefly before looking back down at the crowd... no... he'd gone... she'd been seeing things again... but he'd looked so real...
"You did it girl!" Sango cheered happily while Miroku just smiled proudly, just like her father.
"I did it." She nodded, but why didn't she feel so great?
"Well done Kagome..." Her father said, noticing that her eyes were peeled on the cheering crowds. What was she looking for?
Inuyasha growled in frustration as he pushed closer, she was looking in the wrong place... typical of her. But he had to get a hold of her now or he might never get the chance to see her again. "Kagome you stupid bitch! Stop being so fucking blind and look!"
Kagome had a natural radar for insults, or at least she must have done to suddenly zone in on him pushing his way forward. She gasped, finally realising that she couldn't be seeing things... Inuyasha WAS alive!
She didn't dare take her eyes of him as she stumbled down the steps of the podium and headed towards the crowd. Her bodyguards stepped forward to try and stop her, but she just ran past them and pressed her hands against the clear plastic screen wall that had been set up to hold back the crowd. She could still see him... he couldn't be an illusion. "Inuyasha!"
"Hang on!" he yelled back, pushing past the last few people and jumping over the low barricades to reach the plastic divider. He stopped and stared at her. "Hey!"
"Oh my god!" she wanted to melt right through the plastic and fall into him, but that was impossible. She couldn't get any closer than this. Inuyasha pressed his hands against the plastic, directly over hers and grinned as he puckered his lips to kiss the wall. Kagome smiled, her entire being flooded with happiness and relief. She leaned forward as well and kissed the same place, almost imagining that she could feel the warmth of his lips.
He pulled back and noticed she was crying, but that was ok because they weren't sad tears anymore.
"Where did you go?!" she yelled, almost accusingly.
"The morgue!" he yelled back and leaned his forehead against the plastic. "Kagome?"
"Yeah?" she couldn't take her eyes of him, like if she did he would disappear again.
"I love you!"
Kagome felt a large lump rise in her throat as she started to cry with proper sobs. "I... I love you too!" she sniffed. "YOU BIG JERK!!"
"What?"
"You wait till I get my hands on you!" she slapped the wall, half angry, but half elated. "You scared me to death! I really thought that you... and then... that was just nasty of you!! And the things you said when you were human! Bastard!"
Ok... maybe it was a good thing that they were divided. He didn't fancy his chances with her right then.
Kouga's jaw was hanging somewhere in the same region as his feet. His keen eyes could see what most humans could not. "He's there... Inuyasha's alive..."
Yura finally found her way to the small group, having made her way from the back. she leaned close to Sesshomaru and whispered so no one else would hear. "I did as you said - I took the blood and spilt it on him with the girl was distracted. He has demon blood in his veins again..."
Sesshomaru barely nodded.
"So... do we shoot them both now?" Kagura asked hopefully, fingering her rifle.
He just shook his head. "They're doing to harm to us. Maybe the girl even helped us out a little...?"
"But Inuyasha still betrayed us!" Kouga hissed. Kagura cuffed him round the ear.
"So what?" she snapped. "He'll marry the old ball and chain - that's a fate worse than death in my book."
Sesshomaru nodded shortly. "Let's leave this place, the human stench is making my ill."
They followed him reluctantly, but they knew that their life in the cell was over... it was all over now.
^_^
Kagome was once again set to pacing the length of her room again. She couldn't believe it. He was really alive... but she was yet to touch him.
There came a knock at the door and she sucked in a sharp breath and faced it. "Come in." she called hesitantly.
The door opened and Inuyasha took two steps in, about to say something when Kagome launched herself at him in a flurry. At first he was concerned, seeing as she had just given him a few death threats, and her hands seemed to be aiming for his neck. But he quickly relaxed as she just threw her arms around his neck instead and squeezed him tightly.
"Miss me?" he sighed, happily taking his time with folding his arms around her smaller frame and holding her against him tightly. He rested his cheek against the side of her head and inhaled deeply to take in the sweet smell of her hair... a smell that he had sorely missed while they'd been unable to touch. He knew she was doing exactly the same.
"I forgot how great you smelled," she laughed happily as she nuzzled his neck and breathing in. "Don't ever leave me again!"
"I promise," he cradled her head gently.
"That's what you said last time." She reminded him, loosening her grip slightly so she could pull back and see his face.
"Yeah, but I mean it this time." He sniffed. "Plus, you kinda smell of Miroku... I won't be leaving you any time soon."
"That might be a problem." She pulled back completely. "I'm going tonight..."
"Where to?" he asked quickly.
"Mom's house... it's near the forest border..." she smiled slightly. "I'll get to see my brother and grandpa again - and I'm gonna attend school there as well."
Inuyasha stared at her a moment before cupping her cheek and pulling her forward for a lingering kiss that sent that familiar thrill through her body. "Sorry," he said as he pulled back. "What were you saying?"
Kagome sighed. "I'm going to go live with mom tonight... I'll be leaving for good."
He frowned slightly before smiling. "Any spare rooms?"
"You'd be willing to leave your father?" Kagome cocked her head. "But this is your home!"
"So?" he shrugged. "My home is wherever you go, Kagome."
"That's so sweet... I can't believe that just came out your mouth." She smiled.
"But it's the truth." He smiled back. "I'll go with you... I could never leave you again."
"Good," Kagome stood on tip-toe and kissed him on the nose. "Now that everything's all over and done with, I can live a happy normal life with my happy normal boyfriend."
"Who's a half demon and a zombie." He winced. "I don't understand that part..."
"I think I know why you're alive..." she smiled. "I'll tell you on the train - we should go see Sango and Miroku now."
She pulled him out of the room and started walking with him to the elevator, just revelling in the opportunity to fold against his side and wrap her arm around his waist. It was just so natural, she couldn't believe she had coped with keeping her distance before.
"I can't believe it's over." She said absently. "My whole life, I've been hiding from demons and bad people... and now I get to live with mom..."
"But you're happy right?" he asked, squeezing his arm around her shoulder gently.
Kagome smiled and leaned her head against him. She couldn't have been happier. She felt like she'd won the lottery and become the world's most famous girl, which in a way she had, but this felt a hundred times better because instead of winning the lottery, she'd won herself an Inuyasha, and she'd make she he wasn't going anywhere from now on.
"I couldn't be happier." She sighed.
AN: awwww... see? Happy ending.