InuYasha FanFic

InuYasha's eyes fluttered slowly open as the glorious beams of sunlight streamed over the horizon. Kagome's hair spilled upon his chest, her head lying in the crevass between his neck and shoulder blade.  A lazy yawn escaped his lips as he gently shifted his weight and sat upright, being careful so as not to awaken the peacefully sleeping Kagome. As the bright ribbons of light shone on her face, however, she stirred into conciousness. InuYasha lifted her chin up delicately with a single finger and searched her deep brown eyes. "InuYasha, can we stay like this forever? I want to lay right here, with you, until the sky falls down on us. No troubles, no concerns, no world. Just... us. For eternity." Kagome's words struck a chord in InuYasha's heart. He hesitated, but with a consoling tone and a sad smile replied to her, "Oh how I wish we could, Kagome, but there's so much out there in the world! Would you really give all of that up for me?" Kagome smiled to herself. InuYasha had grown so much since they had met. When Kagome first knew InuYasha, his heart had been cold and bitter. Little by little, Kagome had healed the wounds of his soul. InuYasha could love again. Kagome looked up at him affectionately with great admiration at his courage for all he had ever been through. The heartfelt moment between the two was interuppted by a bloodcurdling scream. InuYasha and Kagome got to their feet and ran in the direction of the sound. Whatever be the problem, they would face it together, always and forever. As they slid through the brush, more hysterical cries were heard, each louder and more desperate than the last. Finally, they reached a small clearing in the dense forest. There stood a hideous beast, covered in shining scales and oozing a thick black slime. The shreiks were being continuously emitted from the lips of a figure caught within the fangs of the wretched demon. With every passing second the teeth of the demon sank deeper into the figure. The figure clawed franically at the mouth of the demon. InuYasha hurridly unsheathed his Tetsusaiga and with a mere bit of struggle, slashed the demon to bits. The figure, now revealing itself to be a beautiful she-demon, fell to the ground, engulfed in a pool of blood. InuYasha walked to her side. "She's gone," he informed Kagome monotonously. He turned to leave, when a compulsion to look again took over his body. He knelt by the woman's side and in an instant, memories flooded through his mind. InuYasha as a child, running away from the village, running away from the hurt, running away from the shame of what he was, or rather, what he wasn't. He ran because he was, in the villagers' words, "a filthy half-breed with no right to live". He ran because he wasn't like anyone else. Or at least, anyone else but one. Another child, a girl, but more importantly, a half-demon girl, followed InuYasha into the forest. She caught his pace and ran with him. InuYasha grinned at her. They ran until they could run no more. They sat on the highest limb of the tallest tree, the girl's head graciously resting on his shoulder. Another memory passed InuYasha's mind. He and the girl, both being slightly older now, walking hand in hand by the sparkling river, watching the sun slide away in a thousand colors. InuYasha stopped suddenly and embraced her, the one who could share his hurt, the one who knew. The girl's foxlike ears twitched, and she turned her head to better hear a dull roar that grew louder until it was heard as many seperate voices, each and every one calling out to destroy the dirty hanyous. InuYasha and the girl attempted escape, but they were surrounded. The only way out was a waterfall rushing endlessly off a steep cliff. They had to jump. There was no other choice. InuYasha held out his trembling hand to the girl. She took it, and they leapt into the falls. A final memory traced InuYasha's thoughts. InuYasha, soaked from head to foot, searching in vain for the girl. He was calling out her name, treading desperately through the water, but his voice was lost in the thunder of the waterfall. InuYasha's consiousness returned to the present day. He spoke a single word in a cracked voice, "Katari." Kagome raised an eyebrow at him. "Katari? Do you... know this woman?" InuYasha nodded at Kagome's inquiry and replied, "Yes. I'm sure this is her. Before you, before Kikyo, there was... Katari. But... I thought... I thought she was...," he shook his head, "Nevermind it. Is there anything you can do for her?" Kagome sat on the blood-soaked ground and leaned over the girl, looking at her intently. "She's still breathing! I think, maybe, we can save her. Quick, InuYasha! Hand me my bag!" InuYasha snatched the worn yellow bag from the dirt and tossed it to Kagome. She swiftly unzipped the bag, removed several rolls of bandages, and began to hastily wrap Katari's gushing wounds. InuYasha watched anxiously until Kagome finished. "Is she ok? Will she be all right?" InuYasha's voice was stricken with panic. Kagome started to reply, but before she had opportunity to, Miroku ran into the clearing. "Kagome? InuYasha?" he called out, then took sight of Katari, "Oh, and who might this beauty be?" He gazed at her wonderingly. InuYasha growled, "Lay a hand on her and die! She's injured, can't you see? Or are you too busy staring at her b-" Miroku interuppted, "I wasn't implying anything! It's not like I'm gonna do anything to her while she's like this!" but added under his breath, "But a monk's gentle touch is  healing, is it not?" InuYasha scowled and turned away from him. Sango, Shippo, and Kilala suddenly emerged from behind a small patch of maple trees. Shippo hopped to Katari's side and asked, "Who is this? Is she alive?" Sango walked to her and looked over her questioningly. InuYasha turned back to them and scorned, "No one that concerns any of you. Yes, she's alive. Now leave me alone." Shippo and Sango backed away with amused smiles on their faces. "What the hell you grinnin' about?" yelled InuYasha. "Nothin'!" Sango said, fighting to supress a giggle. "Feh!" InuYasha muttered and averted his eyes back to the battered body of Katari. His eyes softened and he gently stroked her dull crimson hair, streaked in dried blood, with his claws. Jealosy stung Kagome as she watched him with Katari. Obstinence posessed her and her heart began to ache, seeing InuYasha being this way with someone other than herself. Finally, she could take no more of it. "InuYasha, I'm going to go... get... breakfast or something. I... ran out of food from home. I'll be back soon," she said with a faltering voice. "You could probably use some company, so Shippo and I will come too," called out Sango to Kagome. The three of them walked from the clearing, through the trees, searching for anything edible growing. InuYasha took hardly any notice to their leave and began to run his fingers delicately through Katari's hair again when he felt a slight vibration. It was Katari's fox ears twitching. She was going to be all right! InuYasha nearly yelled out in his exitement. Miroku lifted an eyebrow, intruiged, and sat next to her. A small moan escaped her lips before she opened her eyes and looked up at the two men staring at her. "Who are you two and what the hell do you w-aaugh!" she tried to speak, but was overcome by the intense pain and clutched at her bleeding stomach. She tried again to talk to them, slower this time, "That demon got me real damn good, didn't he? Who are you two? Did you help me?" Miroku nodded vigorously. "Yes. I would do anything for you. You're the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Now, you see, I am in a binding predicament. I will die soon due to a curse placed on my family, and I wish to have a woman such as yourself bear a chi-" InuYasha slammed his fist against Mirouku's head. "Don't listen to that letcher, Katari. You need your rest. You'd best get some sleep," InuYasha consoled her. Katari looked at him strangely. "How do you know my name?" she asked him. "You mean you don't rememb-uh... nevermind. Just rest, ok?" InuYasha directed. Katari nodded and drifted slowly into slumber. InuYasha heaved a short sigh and laid back on the grass. "So," began Miroku, "you know this woman from long ago and she doesn't remember you, eh? I'm sure the memories will come to her eventually, InuYasha. You just need be patient." InuYasha retorted, "Feh! I had figured that much out on my own. The question is, when will the memories come back?" Miroku shrugged. "I would assume anytime between several hours and several weeks. It all depends." InuYasha snorted. "Depends on what?" Miroku paused a moment, then replied, "Depends on how much she truly loved you, I suppose. Depends on whether the thought of you could come back to her so easily." InuYasha remained silent. Time slipped from the grasp of the three lying soundlessly, staring up into the cloudy noonday sky. It wasn't until the sun was high overhead that Kagome, Sango, and Shippo returned from their expedition. As they passed the trees into the clearing, InuYasha lifted his head lazily. He acknowleged them with a slight nod. Kagome waved to him and set a colorful assortment of wild herbs and berries before them all. "Lunch!" she announced. They all gathered in a small circle, excluding Katari, who remained asleep nearby InuYasha. Kagome glared maliciously at Katari from time to time as the group ate in awkward silence. InuYasha hardly noticed Kagome's vicious manner, as his eyes were distant, he being lost in his reverie. He refrained from eating. Kagome saw this, and opened her mouth to speak to him, but before she could, a short cry of pain was heard from the lips of Katari. InuYasha quickly snapped back to reality and sat beside Katari. "Are you all right? Do you need anything?" he asked her, whispering gently in her ear. Katari nodded carefully. "Ya, I'll be ok. I just-" she couldn't finish her sentence before doubling over with her middle gripped tightly in her arms and biting her bottom lip forcefully, which was all she could try to do to stop the tears from rolling freely down her cheeks. Despite this, a single drop flowed slowly from eye to chin on a wavering trail. InuYasha gently stroked the tear away with the back of his hand. Katari smiled weakly and spoke. "Thank you for rescuing me. Really, I mean it. Thank you so much, whoever you may be." Her head lolled uselessly to the side as she drifted back away from her consiousness. InuYasha frowned. She still didn't remember. The rest of the group sat, mouths gaped at this new attitude taken on by InuYasha. It was completely unlike his character to be so caring with anyone besides Kagome. InuYasha turned back to them and scoffed. "What the hell're you all starin' at?" Kagome couldn't help but let loose a short, angry laugh. "Like you don't know. Augh! You're such a jerk, InuYasha!" InuYasha looked at her with a bewildered expression on his face. "Feh! I don't know what you're talkin' about!" Heat rose in Kagome's face as she grabbed her knapsack and stormed away. InuYasha muttered, "Figures. Just like her to be goin' off down the well as soon as anything I do isn't up to her standards." Sango bit her bottom lip in fury. "You know what InuYasha?" she said, attempting in vain to keep her voice, now shaking with anger, at a calm tone, "You are so lucky to have a girl like Kagome, who stays by your side no matter what. She has never betrayed you. She has never done any wrong to you. Why do you do things like this? First Kikyo, now this woman! Every time you do, a little peice of her beating heart is ripped from her. I don't even see why she's stuck around you as long as she has. She must really love you, although I don't see how." InuYasha swallowed and remained silent, his head still held high, though his eyes had seemed to weaken. Shippo pouted, "I agree with Sango. You really shouldn't have been such a meanie to Kagome. She's nice." InuYasha bared a fang. Miroku cleared his throat and was about to speak until InuYasha heard a distant sound. He instantly knew it was Katari, now fully awake. He rushed to her side. "Katari. Don't move until your wounds have healed." Katari nodded solemnly and gazed into InuYasha's eyes. "You seem... so familiar," she murmered. InuYasha cocked his head, the corners of his mouth forming a small smile. Katari continued, "I mean, your face. Only, different. You seem... less... hate-filled than I can remember. Tell me, what is your name? ...Wait," Katari's eyes shot open, "InuYasha." InuYasha's small smile spread into a wide grin. "So you remember me?" he asked her. She nodded slowly and spoke in a cracked voice, "I think so. The memories are fuzzy in my mind, but I can still get a fairly clear picture in my head. After that... what was it? A jump off a... waterfall... cliff... something... I thought you had died from the fall, but here you are, right in front of me. Like... a dream," she hesitated between words, stumbling over what she wanted to say, "Like all those dreams I had, where you were alive and here. Or am I in heaven? Or... am I in hell? But... this... this can't be real. My heart froze nearly fifty years ago, and I was trapped from time until my soul had healed enough from the loss of you. Or perhaps, just until I had forgotten you. It took fifty years... but, if you were truly InuYasha, you would be at least sixty-eight years old by now, and certainly not looking the way you had before." InuYasha laughed slightly and explained to her exitedly, "I was possessed by the preistess Kikyo's arrow for just as long! That is why I am here. But none of that matters anymore, Katari! Things are back to the way they were before." Kagome watched, unnoticed, from the bushes nearside them, having come back from the well to give InuYasha a second chance. "SIT, BOY!" she cried out. InuYasha's beads glowed for an instant, then he slammed to the ground, causing clouds of dirt and dust to spill into the air. Kagome continued in a furious voice, "No, InuYasha! Things are not the way they were before! They're different! And if you can't tell the difference, then... maybe I just... shouldn't be with you anymore," her voice grew softer as the sentence ended. InuYasha looked between the two of them, torn. When he remained speechless, Kagome bowed her head and muttered, "I see. I guess... I'm just not good enough for you, InuYasha. I'd... better leave now." As she pivoted on her heel to leave, InuYasha noticed a single, iridescent tear trickling down her cheek. "Wait! Kagome!" he called out after her. She simply ignored him and walked away, leaving InuYasha, mouth agape, sitting beside a confused Katari and three eager onlookers. "Who is she?" asked, Katari, flustered. InuYasha paused, "She's different. She's not like anyone else. She's... Kagome." Sango, Miroku, and Shippo quietly snuck away from the chaotic scene to follow Kagome through the woods.  Katari's face glowed a rosy pink. "Is she yours? Well, I mean, while I was gone, did you find someone else?" she looked up at him with her deep, watering eyes searching his for an answer. InuYasha averted his attention to the ground. "Katari," he eventually said, lovingly, as though he could say nothing else. She tilted her head so that she faced him directly and spoke, "Do you not love me anymore?" InuYasha was taken aback. At a complete lack of words, he let the last bit of space between their lips disappear entirely. Although the reasonable part of his mind told him not to, he brushed the thought aside and kissed her earnestly, yet ever so delicately. As he pulled away from her, he asked, with his voice full of emotion, "Does that answer your question? Now do you beleive I still love you?" Katari smiled playfully and tried to sit up, but the endeavor was useless. Try as she might to hide the searing pain from the wounds given to her by the demon, she collapsed back to the ground. "That demon... why were you fighting him anyway?" InuYasha asked gently, after the affirmation that Katari was going to be all right. "He was just another bloodthirsty killer out to catch prey. I suppose I was its next meal... until you saved me, that is," she answered tiredly. InuYasha neglected to mention that it was actually Kagome that had saved her, but instead put his hand on hers and comforted her. "Everything's gonna be alright," he soothed her with kind words as he laid her head in his lap. "You know what, Katari? You're exactly how I remember you." Katari smiled and closed her eyes. To most anyone else, those words would mean almost nothing coming from his mouth, but to Katari, it meant everything. She nestled up to him as they both fell into a sound sleep. Katari awoke right with the sun. Although she woke before InuYasha, she was not the first awake. Kagome was positioned under an unusually large oak, back leaning upon the trunk, staring at Katari maliciously. Once fully consious and aware, Katari sat upright and cautiously edged herself towards the tree. "Why do all of you seem so set against me?" she asked Kagome, eyes hard and voice full of anger mixed with confusion. Kagome breathed deeply, closed her eyes, and finally replied, "InuYasha is so strange. He is so confident one minute and yet so insecure the next. His mind is wound on a delicate thread of emotions, twisting and tangling every which way. He can never seem to really make ends meet anywhere... and I think... that if he has to decide... I'm just so afraid that... he'll... I mean... he'll just...," she burst into uncontrollable tears. InuYasha woke at the sudden sound and jumped to the girls' side, sitting close beside them. "That he'll what?" he asked Kagome. She sniffled and said back, "That he'll hurt me again." InuYasha narrowed his eyes. He looked away from them for a moment, lost in thought. He eventually stood and walked away. "This is hard on him," Katari noted quietly, after InuYasha had long since left the scene. Kagome nodded and spoke in a quivering voice, "I feel so... unwanted. Maybe... well, maybe I'm just best left forgotten here in the Fudal Era. Maybe I just don't belong here." She curled up into the arms of the oak and began to cry silently. Katari gave her an aggrivated look, sighed, and stood on unsteady feet, hardly keeping her balance. "Well, unlike you, I'm going to do something besides sit around and mope about my problems. You really need to find a better way to solve your issues. No one can fix your life for you," Katari snapped. She walked wearily towards the direction InuYasha had left, leaving Kagome alone. Kagome's sobs faded away slowly as her eyes shone with a new light of understanding. This woman that InuYasha loved is so wise. So knowing, so full of thought and wonder. Now she knew why and how InuYasha can love her so as he does. But then again, Kagome thought, she forgot him over a span of fifty years. I haven't forgotten him for two-thousand. Katari eventually found InuYasha sitting in the highest limb of an incredibly strange tree. She instantly knew why it seemed so strange, why InuYasha had come here. Jumping stealthily up to the branch holding InuYasha, she whimpered in pain. Her wounds were still fresh, the blood still trickling from her system lethargically. Having completed her destination to the limb of the queer tree that seemed to reach for the rising sun, she laid herself beside InuYasha and whispered so as no one but he could hear the words, "This is the tree we used to sit in. This is the tree to which you were bound for the fifty years my heart was frozen. This is the tree where you met Kagome." InuYasha hesitated, then nodded and spoke in the same manner as she, ''Yeah. It is.'' Katari refrained from speaking again, but instead took his hand in hers, and after that, no words could express what was said between the two, depending on each other's silence to keep themselves from letting the past rip their souls apart from the inside out. ''InuYasha...'' muttered Katari. ''Do you love Kagome? Do you care for her?'' her voice was straining.  InuYasha neglected to answer her. "InuYasha!" Katari  yelled, pulling away from him.  InuYasha kissed her gently on the cheek and jumped from the tree, bits of grass and dirt flying in the air as he landed on the ground.  His feet padded the earth as he disappeared into the brush.  Katari sighed and touched the spot on her cheek where InuYasha's lips had just grazed.  "He does, doesn't he? But.. then why did he..?" her voice trailed off with the passing breeze. Wisps of her thin hair dangled before her.  She tucked the locks behind her drooping fox ears.  "I guess.. he.. I'm just.. it's been too long." she shook her head sadly, falling asleep against the rough bark of the tree.  When Kartari awoke she was leaning not against the tree, but the demon who broke her heart.  She tried to speak but, she was afraid that the sadness that was building up inside her would find away to escape her tortured soul. ''InuYasha ...'' Kartari whispered,'' I ...'' ''What is it Kartari? What do you want?'' Katari took a deep breath and replied shakily, ''I love you InuYasha... and I hoped that you loved me as much as I love you, but you love this girl. So - so it can never be you and me , together...'' a tear rolled down Kartari's crumpling face. ''InuYasha... I love you. Y-you don't understand what it's like! You took my heart and crushed it in the palm of your hand!'' she screamed, not in anger, but in sheer emotional pain. ''You don't understand.  Don't go about tellin' me about how hard your life's been when you've had it a whole hell of a lot easier than me!'' InuYasha retorted.  ''Fine! You know what? I don't even care anymore! I don't care about that stupid wench you got with you! I don't care about you! I wouldn't care if you were to die right this instant! '' She snapped back.  InuYasha gave her a questioning look.  ''I dare you. Go on, try me. Die. I wouldn't shed a single tear for you, you stupid mutt.'' InuYasha shrugged and scampered down the tree. He yelled up, ''Well fine then! I'll go back to Kagome and the others and leave you out here to die! See if I care!'' InuYasha walked, head held high, back into the forest. Moments later, he emerged from the same direction. ''Wrong way..'' he mumbled and left towards the opposite corner of the forest. Katari sniggered silently to herself, realizing for the first time in more than fifty years that she didn't need InuYasha to be happy.  ''I can live my life without him. I don't need a guy for my life to be complete.  I can just be me, and that's all I need in the world,'' she said to the sun as both their smiles shone brighter than day itself.  Katari closed her eyes and listened to the sound of the summer air.  The sound of the summer air soon turned to the sound of heavy, raspy breathing.  Katari snapped opened her eyes.  ''InuYasha? Scram, mutt!'' she yelled, the fury building in her voice.  The breathing continued to grow louder, with no reaction to Katari's demand.  Her heartbeat quickened.  ''You're not InuYasha... Who are you?'' she asked shakily.  ''You know who it is,'' the voice replied.  ''Oh,'' Katari let a sigh of relief, ''It's just you, Naraku.''  A peek of baboon pelt appeared from within the trees.  ''Yes, it is I, Naraku.  Katari, I didn't let you free from your curse for nothing, you know.  Is it not time to take action?'' Katari bit her lip, ''I haven't had opportunity.  Though everything has been going according to plan, what with the demon's attack, my 'lost' memory, and such,'' she added quickly.  ''Good.  InuYasha has always been the more gullible type, you know.''  Naraku laughed mockingly.  ''I know.  He should be dead before three days' passing,'' Katari assured confidently.  ''Good.  And so let it be,'' Naraku replied with a flourish, and vanished back from whence he came.  Katari let the tears flow freely down her cheeks for her own cruelty and selfishness.  ''But fooling InuYasha was the only way Naraku would let me free of the spell, and so it was my only choice... my only choice...'' she repeated to herself.  Kagome held her breath, afraid of making any noise to give away her location, having heard the entity of Naraku and Katari's scheme.  Her thoughts wandered to what action she might take when a jolt of fear shot through her body.  'My nose!' she thought to herself, 'I'm going to sneeze!'  Try as she might, the endeavor to hold her sneeze was useless.  The high-pitched noise rang through the trees and seemed to echo for years before Katari appeared before Kagome, eyes ablaze.  ''You wench!  You heard??''  she said through clenched teeth.  All Kagome could bear to do was nod.  ''Well, then.  There's only one thing to do.  I'll have to take you to Naraku.  He'll know what to do with you,'' she sniffed, and without giving Kagome reaction time, she scooped her under her arm and began to run.  Her agility was like none Kagome had seen, not even comparing to Koga's speed.  Katari cringed, the sharp wind stinging her eyes.  ''Damn... It's so hard to see... but I know where it is... right... here!'' she stopped suddenly at an enormous castle in the clearing.  ''Naraku!'' she called out, ''Come out here!  Look what I found!''  Without warning, Naraku apparated before the two, Katari rubbing furiously at her eyes and Kagome paralyzed with fear.  ''Well, well, well.  If it isn't Kagome.  Good work, Katari.  She'll be of great use to us,''  Naraku noted.  ''Yes, I do imagine she will,'' Katari replied, with a trace of sadness in her voice.  Naraku took Katari's chin in his palm and asked her calmly, ''Are you going to kill him or pity him?  Beings like InuYasha do not deserve to grace this earth.  You need to put aside your feelings and let yourself destroy him.  You will never gain power when you hold onto your old loves.  Believe me when I say this, Katari,'' he advised her strongly, his voice never hinting that he was speaking from his own experience.  Katari nodded, her confidence returning to her.  ''No worries, Naraku.  She'll be of much help in assisting us in our plan to kill InuYasha,'' she said brightly.  Kagome shrieked from under Katari's arm.  ''Let me go!  InuYasha will never fall for your stupid tricks!  He'll save me! He'll... he'll...,'' Kagome's voice faded away with Katari and Naraku's incessant snickers.  ''You think InuYasha will come save you again?  After you stormed off?  After all that you've done and not apologized for?  You think he'll just forgive you and come to the rescue?  Think again!  You know InuYasha.  You know how stubborn he can be,'' Naraku said smugly.  Kagome continued to yell out at him.  Katari rolled her eyes and dropped Kagome to the ground.  ''Ow!''  Kagome muttered, brushing the dust from her sleeves and standing up, annoyed, and continued to scold the two, ''Now, I'm warning you, you'd best let me go, or InuYasha will come kill you both!''  Naraku's voice changed from amused to angered, ''Now if he hasn't beaten me before, what makes you think he can beat me now?''  Kagome frowned and continued, ''Well he's gotten a lot stronger from all those times.  He's gotten stronger!  Stronger!''  Her words turned to desperate tears as she cried to the sky for InuYasha, knowing he wouldn't come to her call.  ''I'll go get him,'' Katari said simply, with a wave of her hand to Naraku, walking off to find the unsuspecting half-demon, only to bring him to his doom.  ''I have to save him,'' Kagome told herself quietly, whispering under her breath.  ''No.  You will not get in our way.  You will be bait for the half-breed, and nothing more,'' Naraku corrected her, pulling out a sword and holding the tip to her forehead, ''Nothing more, or you die... quicker, at least,'' he laughed.  ''Here's a warning, Kagome,'' he snarled, whipping his sword across her arm.  Kagome cried out in pain, falling to her knees and clutching her arm close beside.  ''That should shut you up for a bit...''  Naraku resheathed his sword and, turning around, motioned Kagome to follow.  Kagome shook her head, unable to speak, for the piercing pain shooting through her body was unlike any normal wound she had ever received.  Unlike any cut a sword had ever bestowed upon her.  She stood and followed Naraku, feeling somehow it was the only thing she was able to do.  ''InuYasha...'' Katari called uncertainly. ''InuYasha, are you here?''  She stood in the clearing where her lips held to InuYasha's.  ''InuYasha!'' she called louder, trying to put aside the memories.  ''What the hell do you want?  I thought you wouldn't care if I was to die right this instant,''  InuYasha retorted in a weakened voice, but still holding his ground as he emerged from the bushes, crouching on the ground and looking up into her deceiving face.  ''Well, Katari?  Whaddaya have to say for yourself?'' he asked her bitterly.  She did not reply to his words, but instead let herself collapse into his arms.  InuYasha pushed her away instantly.  ''So say something!  You can't just expect me to just-'' His sentence was cut off by Katari's shaken words, ''I'm sorry.  I'm so sorry, InuYasha.''  She fell into his arms, again into an embrace.  InuYasha did not push her away, but neglected to hold her in return.  ''Hmph,''  he raised his nose to the sky and crossed his arms, ''So what now, Katari?  Eh?  What now?''  Katari lifted her head.  ''Now...'' she began, ''Now please follow me.  We can start over!  Please, just give me another chance.''  InuYasha let his eyes wander to her face.  ''Follow you..?''  Katari nodded quickly and jumped up.  ''Come on!  Trust me, InuYasha!''  She beckoned him with a hand gesture and began to skip into the forest.  InuYasha paused a moment, but stood and followed her obediently.  Katari giggled, turning around to assure he was behind her, and continued to tread a path to Naraku, InuYasha trailing close behind.  Katari looked straight ahead and continued running, taking no heed to InuYasha. InuYasha wandered where she was leading him to but he shook his head from the thought. ''Don't think that. Just trust her, trust her like you did Kagome.'' He thought, trying to reassure himself of her trustworthiness.  Soon they neared a castle.  The castle seemed unusual, though.  There was something different about it, though InuYasha couldn't quite place what it was yet.  All about it was dark and it had a mysterious miasma around it.  InuYasha stopped.  ''What is this place Katari?'' He asked, looking at it closely with high suspicions.  Katari didn't look back at InuYasha, but instead she went on running towards the castle.  ''KATARI, WAIT!'' InuYasha shouted.  Nevertheless, she didn't stop to look back at him.  ''Stupid girl.'' InuYasha whispered to himself with a frustrated look plastered on his face.  ''Here!'' Katari said proudly upon reaching the castle gates.  ''Wait a sec... Katari, you don't want to go here!  This is Naraku's castle!  Just go back to the forest and let me handle it, all right?''  InuYasha gently pushed her back and started towards the castle.  ''No, InuYasha,''  Katari hissed, gripping InuYasha's wrist tightly, ''No, I won't let you handle it.  You won't.  You can't.  Not this time.''  InuYasha laughed slightly, a bit surprised.  ''Katari... let me go so I can go fight Naraku.  He's a horrible demon.  Don't you understand that?'' he asked her.  She rolled her eyes and dug her claws into his flesh.  ''Shut up and come with me,'' she snarled, dragging him through the castle gates.  InuYasha struggled, still in shock, but could not free himself from Kataris' hold.  Once inside the gates, Katari pivoted on her heel to face him again.  ''Now... it's your life or hers.'' Katari said viciously, voice filled with pure hatred, pointing to a corner of the tower enveloped in shadows and vines.  InuYasha had to take a second look before seeing Kagome, on her knees, fallen in the dirt.  Her eyes were blank and distant, as though she were seeing, but not looking.  She never moved, not even to breathe.  ''Wha... is she dead?'' InuYasha asked quietly, voice shaking.  ''No.  But it's just as well,'' Katari laughed, ''The toxin from Naraku's sword has seeped into her brain.  She may never be the same again.  She's gone.''  InuYasha bowed his head in shame, cursing his own idiocy.  The old wooden doors of the castle loomed above them formidably.  The doors swung open with a crash as they slammed against the cold rock, and Naraku stepped out swiftly.  ''InuYasha.  Look closely around you.  Conceive it all in your mind, for this is your last day on earth.  Remember me in hell, filthy half-breed,'' Naraku told him, the ring of his sword being unsheathed echoing off the stone walls.  InuYasha broke free of Katari's grip and freed the Tetsusaiga of its chamber.  The Tetsusaiga remained in its katana form, rather than transforming as it usually did.  InuYasha stared at it wonderingly.  ''The Tetsusaiga's spell is reversed by my barrier, InuYasha.  Don't be so surprised,'' Naraku informed him, now growing impatient.  InuYasha replaced Tetsusaiga in the sheath and clenched his fist, watching his knuckles turn white.  ''All right, Naraku.  I'll play your little game.  I don't need my sword to beat you.  All I need is...'' InuYasha growled.  ''All you need is your friends,'' Miroku finished, stepping through the castle gates, accompanied by Sango, Shippo, and Kilala.  Naraku laughed menacingly.  ''You have your friends in this, then I'll have mine...''  he said, as Kagura and Kanna apparated into vision.  Sango made no delay,  but with a yell, hurled her hiratkos at Kanna.  The hiratkos was easily deflected by the mirror in Kanna's hands, though the impact sent Kanna backwards several footsteps.  Sango caught her weapon and frowned.  ''Did you honestly think beating us would be that easy, Sango?''  Naraku asked, slowly stepping towards them.  Miroku seized his own right hand.  Naraku did not speak, but held out a hive of poison insects threateningly.  With a shake of his head, Miroku lowered his hand.  The thud of Naraku's clothen feet seemed to be the only sound in the air as he neared in on them.  When only a stride was left between he and InuYasha, he stopped.  InuYasha dropped to his knees and spoke in a broken voice, ''I have nothing left to live for.  I disappointed my friends.  I let Kagome slip away.  I fell for your stupid trick.  And now... now the only thing I deserve is death.  But Naraku, I will not let my blood stain your hands.  I will never let you kill me.  I would take my own life before I let you!''  With that being said, Naraku tossed his sword over his shoulder.  The sword hovered in midair a moment, then glided towards Kagome.  Before InuYasha could speak, the sword impaled Kagome.  Her eyes lost what little life had clinged to them.  She fell limp to the sword, blood dribbling from her body rhythemically.  Sango's ever-shaking hand moved to cover her mouth, which was agape in horror.  Miroku closed his eyes, bowing his head to say a small prayer for the dead.  ''Not again..''  InuYasha said, a sad laugh escaping his lips, ''You killed Kikyo.. now Kagome..  and now your lives will pay the debt that you owe to all of us.''  Katari inched away from the tension that she could feel unfolding in the air, biting her knuckles fixedly with her left fang.  She warily placed herself in the dirt behind an overgrown, thorned bush.  The fight rushed on, Naraku dominating the battlefield, InuYasha and the others valiently retaliating, but to no obvious avail.  It was a lost cause.  No hope remained.  At last, Naraku's blade struck InuYasha, this time the blow hit his neck.  InuYasha's pupils dialated, shrinking slowly, and his eyes warily fell upon Katari.  His lips moved slightly, then all life left his body.  He fell to the ground.  The inevitable finally occurred.  InuYasha was finally slain by Naraku.  Katari instinctively, without thinking at all, hurled herself over InuYasha's dead body and cried.  Her tears swirled and mixed in with the fresh blood on the already scarlet cloth of InuYasha's yukata.  Naraku shook his head, still smiling.  Without another word, he returned to his castle and disappeared.  Everything disappeared.  InuYasha and Kagome.  Naraku and his minions.  The castle.  InuYasha's friends.  All gone.  Katari wiped her eyes on her sleeve and sat up.  They had just faded away, like a dream.  In the blink of an eye, she was no longer in the clearing where the battle had been.  All around her, flowers miraculously popped up from the thristy ground.  "Wait a second..." she said, her voice growing louder with every syllable.  "This isn't right!"  She jumped to her feet and searched the area frantically for any sign of InuYasha, Naraku, the castle, anyone, anything!  But it was all gone.  Not a trace was left.  Hundreds of colours of fruits hung from the trees teasingly.  The sun smiled at her brightly overhead.  But Katari did not smile back.  She threw herself at the ground in another bout of tears when she spotted a white and red flower.  Wait a moment.  It's a white flower, yes, but it's splattered with blood.  Katari sniffed the flower curiously.  InuYasha's blood.  Slowly and carefully, she pulled the flower from the ground and tucked it in the locks of hair on the side of her head.  A drop of blood spilled onto her ear, but she did not bother to brush it away.  She picked a pleasantly plump yellow fruit from the tree and took a bite.  This was her new reality.1

"It's a coma," Miroku told Sango sadly, "It must have been the shock.  She may never awaken."  Sango shook her head ruefully, "That's too bad, you know.  She was a good warrior.  What can we do now?"  Miroku shrugged.  They left her on the ground smiling a content smile, though it was missing something.  The smile plastered upon Katari's face lacked love.  And it will lack love for as long as she shall live.  Farewell.2