LOVE BEYOND LIFE

By Laura-chan

Disclaimer: Inuyasha belongs to the talented Rumiko Takahashi-sensei, I own only the plot.

Warning: I'm Italian, please forgive my mistakes. Thank you.

NOTES:
Goshinboku: sacred tree.
Shikon no Tama: Jewel of the Four Souls.
Demo: but.
Naze: why.
Hanyou: half demon.
Aishiteru: I love you.
Nani: What!?
Baka: stupid.
Onegai: please.
Miko: priestess
Owari: the end


LOVE BEYOND LIFE

Kagome ran in Inuyasha's forest, towards the Goshinboku: the girl, her panting breath the only sound in the night, looked at the old tree, silent watcher of so many vicissitudes.

Kagome sat down, her eyes sad, her beautiful black hair a bit tangled from the run.

[Look deep in your heart: the soul has all the answers

Kagome started crying: tears of rage, tears of embarassment, tears of pain, tears of unrequited love. And Kagome cried, thinking about Inuyasha and about the love she felt for him: she didn't understand why she couldn't hate him.

Why I don't hate him? Why I love him so much?

[I'll stop loving you when a blind painter will paint a black rose's petals falling on the crystal floor of a castle that never existed.

They'd defeated Naraku and the Shikon no Tama was completed: Kikyo helped them and at the end of the battle Inuyasha had hugged her sweetly, telling her that he was ready to die with her.

Kagome's heart couldn't take it anymore, especially after Inuyasha had turned to stare at her with a pained expression on his face. With a soft cry she had turned around and she had run away from them and from the terrible vision, ignoring her friends' yells for her.

And now she was here, her heart going out of her body along with her tears that snaked on her cheeks.

'Why did I fall in love with him? There're so many boys in the world, and I love HIM!! The only one I can't have... Inuyasha, why do you hurt me so much? I don't want to be anybody's fool... but I'm your fool... a fool madly in love with you. AND IT HURTS!!!'

Kagome continued to cry, while the night's animals and creatures watched her with curiousity.

'Why do I always forgive him for what he does to me? Even when he hurts me deeply I still can't be mad at him for long...' But the reason was simple: she loved him.

She stopped making any sounds when she felt someone move through the bushes and voices disturbed the calm of the forest; hastily she hid behind the Goshinboku.

Inuyasha and Kikyo came out from the bushes. "...I've already told you, Kikyo! I've got to speak with Kagome about this... why does she have always to misunderstand me..."

"Demo...Inuyasha, naze...why we can't just forget about her? Or maybe we can kill her... I like to be alive. With her soul, MY soul, I'll be complete!"

Inuyasha turned to her angrily. "Don't you ever think about it! I'll die with you so I can get over my guilt, but she has to stay out of this! She's my best friend - I love her... If you'll hurt her, Kikyo, I swear, I'll hurt YOU!"

Kagome smiled between the tears. 'So he loves me a bit...'

Then she started to think, 'With my soul Kikyo would be alive and Inuyasha with her. If I don't do this Inuyasha will die with her and I'll live like a miserable, with the guilt of have letting the man I love die... I can't allow this!'

She was determined. Her eyes held a fire they hadn't ever held. She stepped out from her hiding spot. "Kikyo!" she called.

Inuyasha and Kikyo turned towards her. "Kag-" began the hanyou.

"Kikyo, take my soul!" Kagome stopped him: she didn't even look at him in the eyes, for fear of losing her courage.

Kikyo grinned a evil smile. "Why-"

"You know why I'm doing this." Kagome interrupted her too.

Kikyo took a step back, surprised by the intense and loving look her reincarnation's eyes held. Then she opened her arms and Kagome's soul began to go to her.
Inuyasha looked still and shocked while Kagome was lifted in the air, a white light all around her body.

"Kagome..." he murmured with worried eyes.

Kagome turned her head and stared at him for a long time. Then she smiled a sadly. "I couldn't let you go to Hell... you're a good person, even if a little rude. And you're also... my first and only love... " the girl saw the hanyou with his mouth agape.

"Aishiteru, Inuyasha... I'll miss you." She said to him, her voice now only a whisper.

"No...No...Kagome. NO!" the hanyou roared. "KAGOME!!!!!!"

With a jump, Inuyasha was near Kagome, hanging in the air thanks to the spell that was lifting Kagome. He hugged her tightly.

"Inuyasha, what are you doing?" yelled Kikyo "Your soul will be sucked!"

"It doesn't matter... " whispered Inuyasha, staring at Kagome, who looked shocked.
"Kagome... " he stroked her cheeks with his hand. "Do you...do you really love me?"

Kagome smiled gently, wanting to caress his cheek, but couldn't find the strenght to do it. "Of course: I mean what I said."

"Kagome... I-I love you too!"

"Nani!? What are you saying, Inuyasha? You promised Kikyo to go-"

Inuyasha stopped her, kissing her sweetly on the cheek. "I thought you didn't love me...I still love Kikyo very much - she's my first love after all - but I love you more... Now I'll stay with you and Kikyo will be alive, so I wont feel guilty anymore. "

"How could you think, even for a second, that I didn't love you... Baka!" she joked, through the tears that were running down her face.

"But...that Hobo guy..."

"Hojo. But he doesn't matter..." she said, feeling even weaker than before.

"He doesn't matter..." repeated Inuyasha, feeling weak too as his soul left his body. "We're together...this is the only thing that matter... " he murmured. Kikyo in the end sucked both their souls.

"Kikyo..." whispered low Inuyasha, barely conscious. "Onegai...seal us together..."

The miko, now having the feelings that in her fake body had been chased away by hate, readed her bow, with tears in her eyes, pity and love filling her heart.

The two bodies were still in the air when they were hit by Kikyo's arrow, that pinned them to the Goshinboku. The two lovers, with their eyes now closed, kissed softly on the mouth and then they fell in the eternal sleep, while the roots, magically moving, bound them to the tree.

Kikyo stayed there, watching her old love and his mate. "I hope you'll be happy." She said.

'I know very well, dearest Inuyasha, that you never loved me like you loved my reincarnation... maybe she was really something more.'

The miko turned around and with slow steps returned back to her village.

So, only the spirits and the pixies can see the ghosts of two young people, a hanyou with silver hair and dog-ears and a human girl with long black hair and blue eyes, walking together, hand in hand, towards the sunshine, towards the eternal happiness.

Owari


Author's Note: Please, let me know what do you think of it :)
08/15/2007: I finally edited and corrected the mistakes - hope you'll enjoy it more. R&R please.