Good afternoon/evening/morning/night/day/whatever and welcome aboard to this last chapter of Unwanted Visitor. We hope you have had a pleasant read and that the last chapter will be just as enjoyable.
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…alright, time to get serious. This is as I've already said the last chapter. I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed – thank you very, very much, your reviews have been a great encouragement. It's been fun writing this story, and I hope you had fun reading it too.
One last thing I have to explain: some of you might hate me for this, but Kagome is quite definitely dead. She will not be resurrected. I don't believe in miracles.
Goodbye from me, see you in the next fic (maybe)!
Disclaimer: Actually, I reckon you know the drill by now, right?
Chapter Eleven
When Sango looked back on that evening she couldn't understand why Inu-yasha didn't lose his mind right then and there. He had already crossed and recrossed the border of insanity a few times that day, and this last sorrow seemed as if it might finally drive him off his rocker. But Kagome had used the last life in her body to protect him, and that might be why he realized that he had to live on.
The death of Kagome took up all their thoughts for several days, and they rested in that same spot, not having the strength to move on. Finally they decided to look through Sesshoumaru's castle before they returned to Kaede's village. Inside they found Jaken, dead since days. He had hanged himself, leaving a note of four words: I have had enough.
They heard the voice of a small child, crying, and in a locked room found a little girl, starved and terrified. She would not speak, gazing up at them with big eyes, but she took to Inu-yasha immediately and would not leave his side. He let her cling to him, not enjoying it but not protesting, either.
The rest of the castle was empty.
"Sesshoumaru employed phantoms. Without his will to steer them they are gone," said Inu-yasha. It was the last words they heard him say for a long, long time.
They took care to preserve the body of their friend but did not do anything for the corpse of Sesshoumaru. When the girl saw the body she let out one long wail. After that she did not make a single sound again.
Kagome was buried in her own time. In Kaede's village they raised a stone for her, telling her story, but none of her remains rested there. Inu-yasha was often seen sitting beside it, staring off into the distance. He had abandoned the chase for Shikon shards and rested in the village while rumours came from the surrounding lands of death and chaos, and the rise of one demon called Naraku.
The little girl they had found followed Inu-yasha wherever he went, but kept a respectful distance whenever he sat by Kagome's memorial stone. They did not know who she was or why she had been locked up in Sesshoumaru's castle, and she never knew the story behind Kagome's death. She acted mute and Inu-yasha seldom spoke, but gradually the two of them formed a bond. Both had lost the one they loved most, and they could help heal each other.
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One day the tidings came that war was coming steadily closer. The demon named Naraku was moving towards their part of the country, burning, ransacking and killing on his way. Before there had been few to defy him, now there was none. It was whispered in the country that Naraku had finally found out the whereabouts of a half-demon who possessed something he wanted.
"It's you they are after," said Sango. Inu-yasha didn't reply, seated as he usually was with his back to the stone, gazing at something only he could see.
"He knows you are here now. You still have many Shikon shards, and he wants them."
Still no answer.
"For the sake of all heavens, do something!" Sango exclaimed, losing her patience although she had promised Miroku not to. "You can't sit here and wallow in your misery for ages! You have to realize the truth! They are after you, and they will kill all they believe are connected to you – which means everyone in this village. If you don't do something, fight back or at least flee, many innocent people will die! This girl, to mention only one!" She grabbed the child's arm and hauled her in front of Inu-yasha.
"Think about her life and decide what to do."
After Sango had left, drying tears of rage and regret out of her eyes, Inu-yasha remained exactly where he was. The girl tried to sneak off to the place where she normally sat, watching him, but he stopped her by taking her hand and looking into her eyes.
"Are you scared of them? Of Naraku?" he asked quietly. The girl nodded.
"Don't worry. I might not be the fighter I once was, but if they try to hurt you, I'll be there. I'll protect you." And as he said the words, the face of a girl he'd once said the same things to floated up before his vision. And the vision of Kagome opened her mouth and said…
"Inu-yasha, you drive me nuts! Stop being an ass! Go out there and fight, what are you sitting by a stupid stone for?! (Ooh, it's my stone. Cool.) Get up right now and beat the crap out of Naraku, and get back the Shikon shard that Kikyo stole from me, the freaking bitch. I want to see some action! Hop to it! Gimme some revenge!"
Inu-yasha nodded slowly to himself. Yes, it was time to stand up again, wasn't it? Time to stop mourning, time to start living. Kagome had given him life, now he had to use it.
"I will fight back," he said out loud, getting to his feet. "I will gather all that have strength to stand against Naraku and I will overcome his army of ghosts and nightmares. His reign will stop before it started." He looked down at the girl and smiled for the first time since Kagome died.
"And I will see to it that you are safe."
The girl hesitated, but then her face lit up as she grinned back at him.
"Rin is glad," she said.
THE END