The Long and Winding Road

An Inu-Yasha Fanfiction story

By Patrick Nguyen Huu

Disclaimer: Inu-Yasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi – I don't own anything!.

Summary: InuYasha/Kikyo pairing. Kikyo is supposed to die...but what if she doesn't? When Kagome leaves Inu-Yasha for Kouga, and Kikyo comes back to life once more, where will the journey take them?

Arc One: Red Thread of Fate

Prologue: Floating in Pain

Pain. It was all she felt now. Incredible, searing pain that she would never have believed possible to feel for a mortal. It flowed through her veins, setting her nerves on fire. She had always believed that a person would die before they could endure this much pain, but she wasn't dead yet, as far as she could tell.

Yet. She knew she was dying. The poisonous shouki and the wound inflicted upon her had done their job, and she knew it was only a matter of time before she left this world – for the second time. She shouldn't have been here in the first place, but she clung to the one memory that had kept her going.

She had been continuing her duties as a miko even in death, but that had never been her primary motivation for continuin her journey in the land of the living. No, that wasn't it, she thought to herself, not at all.

It was him. Always him. And it was ironic, she thought, how he was always connected to her pain. He had been the first to show her that she was capable of loving another, and had torn her between her duties and her feelings.

When she had been resurrected, her first thought had been of him, how he had betrayed her that fateful day, and she felt the pain and hatred burning within her. Then she had found the person behind the act, the impostor who had played them against each other so well, and her hatred had turned against him.

And her feelings? They had returned. She had begun to fall for him all over again, as, despite her attempts on his life, her demands of him to follow her in death, her claims to his life, he had been by her side, protected her, cared for her. Shown her that his feelings never diminished, shown her that he was willing to rekindle the old flame even against the challenge of fate. Against the obstacle of time.

And each time she had tried to kill him, each time she had tried taking him to hell with her, a part of her had stirred awake, filling the back of her mind with agonizing pain. The pain of knowledge that she was betraying his love, his trust for her, by clinging to her hatred which they both knew should be directed at someone else.

And now, here she was, falling, like the day she had been resurrected. Only, this time, her heart was filled with sorrow and regret instead of hate. And her only regret was that she couldn't see his face one last time. But even now, she could see him, hear him call her name. Even in the darkness, she could feel his warmth, and even now she could imagine his face, hovering above her.

And then she surrendered to the darkness.