Title: Light

Type: One-shot. SPOILERS FOR MANGA CHAPTER 465.

Genre: Angst. Romance.

Dedication: MyLamb, because she helps me more than she knows. xD

Disclaimer: ALL dialogue (just the dialogue) is from manga chapter 465.

Summary: Kikyou dies for the last time.

Notes: You don't need to have read the manga to understand. It just might help a bit. Lol. Anyway, yea…

Also: Check out my LJ (link in profile) to request a one-shot! I am accepting any and all ideas if I can write it!

)-(

Her eyes were empty, watched him with empty sorrow, empty longing, empty love. She was a shell. An image left to drift, to draw attention to her otherworldly beauty and those empty, empty eyes. And she lifted her hand, touched his cheek so gently he had to wonder if her fingertips felt him at all. She too, had to wander; can I feel him at all?

"Back then…" Her voice is wistful, recalling the past.

He holds her in his arms, eyes widening in slight surprise, "Kikyou?"

"Do you remember, Inuyasha? Before we were split apart by Naraku…" The hanyou thinks to speak; to reassure her that he remembers, – will always remember – but as he stares down into those empty eyes he has never seen more pain.

"Inuyasha, why don't you use the Jewel and become human?" The priestess beside him smiled faintly, trying to avoid his prying eyes.

He shifted. "If I became human, what would happen to you, Kikyou?"

"I am the protector of the jewel. If it disappears, I will become an ordinary woman."

The trees had been still that day. As if they, too, waited.

Inuyasha pulled her closer to his chest, resting his chin on the top of her head so he wouldn't have to look into the empty eyes of the woman who was Kikyou, the woman who was not Kikyou.

"Like I could forget that," he said with a bitter laugh. "At that time, I'd intended to become a human and stay with you."

She laughed too. His hands trembled. "I am finally… an ordinary woman." The miko's eyes slid closed.

"Ki- Kikyou… since the day I was born, you are the first woman I ever loved." Yet even so, I wasn't able to do anything…

Her body relaxed in his hold.

Inuyasha held her tighter still, tugging her closer in a frantic attempt to make her stay. "This is the first time," that soft voice whispered, "I've ever seen you cry, Inuyasha…"

And he did not bother to wipe the tear from his eyes, but let it fall on to her clay flesh and fade into her clay skin. "Kikyou… I wasn't able to save you!" He cried, not seeing the way she grimaced in pain from his claws.

She gazed up at him with those empty, empty eyes. "You came for me," she smiled. And then she laughed, the sound gentle as the loud roar of soul leaving body fell like a dull buzz in her ears.

"Kikyou…" Inuyasha kisses her gently; afraid she will break under his light touch.

And she does break. She fades like dust in his arms, whispers his name like a forgotten promise. The air around them is warm, and he watches her go.