(A/N: This is the first chapter of my second Inuyasha story. Before we get started, let me just tell you that this story holds no connection to my other one at all. This story takes place after Naraku has been defeated. Also, the pairing in this story is Kikyou/Suikotsu, though he won't show up until later. Right now it's mostly about Kikyou. Ok, I'm done for now, please enjoy the story.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing

"KIKYOU'S JOURNEY"

Chapter 1: Sacrifice

The undead priestess wondered down the lonely road. Actually, she wasn't even alone, but she still felt lonely. The only ones to accompany her were her soul collectors, though they never spoke. Her two Shikigami, Kocho and Asuka followed closely behind. And behind them was the demon Kanna. Yes, the very same Kanna that had served under the rule of the evil half-demon Naraku. She had joined Kikyou, using her mirror as a place to store souls until the priestess needed them, after her 'father' was killed.

Yes, Naraku was dead, and had been for some time now. Almost as long as it took to destroy him. Everyone that had been after Naraku knew that one day they would eventually get him, but they never thought that it would take eight years. Eight long, long years.

It started seven years ago. Kohaku had managed to destroy Akago, the infant that held Naraku's heart. Naraku immediately tried to kill Kohaku and take the jewel shard in the boy's back. But Kagura had interfered. She had stopped Naraku from killing the boy. Kohaku managed to escape, but sadly Kagura did not. Naraku had crushed her heart, ending her life. But when he did, Kagura just sneered at him saying that she was finally free from him.

Kohaku ran from Naraku. He searched for his sister, Sango, and her friends. But it was Sesshomaru and his group that he found. At first the dog-demon, upon recognizing Kohaku as Naraku's slave, planned to kill him, but little Rin managed to convince the Lord of the Western Lands to spare his life. The young demon slayer now traveled with them, much to Jaken's annoyance and Rin's joy.

As for Inuyasha and the others, they continued their search for Naraku, unaware of what Kohaku had managed to accomplish until they ran into each other a year later. By that time, Kohaku had already had the jewel shard in his back removed and had been revived by Sesshomaru's healing sword, Tenseiga. Sango had been beyond relieved that her brother was alive and no longer under Naraku's control. She had asked if he would join her and the rest of her group, but, with a look at Rin, Kohaku said that he sadly could not. Sango had caught the look Kohaku gave Rin and the look she gave him in return and knew that there was more to the two of them than simple friendship. They soon departed from each other again, but this time Sango was happy about it, knowing that they were not departing as enemies.

It had still taken years to defeat Naraku, something Miroku would not have had due to the Wind Tunnel in his hand. Fortunately they had discovered a way to break Naraku's curse that did not deal with killing the half-demon. It had been a mere fluke too. Miroku had been using his Wind Tunnel on a demon the same time Kagome had shot one of her sacred arrows. The arrow had gone into the Wind Tunnel, breaking the curse. Miroku had been freed from an early death. At least now they didn't need to worry about killing Naraku by a certain time, even though the sooner the better.

There had been a lot of people after Naraku. Inuyasha's group, Sesshomaru's group, Kouga's group, and Kikyou's group. However, not one of these people were the ones to defeat the evil half-demon. It was, in fact, someone that was in Naraku's inner circle. His very own creation, Hakudōshi. He had betrayed his master at the very end and destroyed him. He had been planning to the whole time. The Shikon Jewel had been near completion. When everyone who had a shard of the sacred jewel was in one place, Hakudōshi had destroyed his 'father', and taken the jewel himself.

It had been a real surprise to everyone. Shortly after the death of Mōryōmaru, who had proved to be their toughest enemy yet, besides Naraku, the Shikon Hunters had found Naraku's fortress. They were joined shortly after by Kouga's group, which now included Ayame, Sesshomaru's group, and Kikyou's group. It was then that they watched in disbelief as Hakudōshi betrayed Naraku. He had been much more powerful than anyone, even Naraku, had anticipated. Naraku was killed and Hakudōshi took the Shikon Jewel, increasing his powers even more.

After a very long tiring battle, Hakudōshi was killed. It had been Inuyasha and Kagome that had finished him. Using the Adamant Barrage along with Kagome's sacred arrow, their greatest enemy, even greater than Naraku, had been killed. The Shikon Jewel had been completed and their journey had ended.

After Hakudōshi had been killed, things got very emotional. Sesshomaru, Jaken, Ah-Un, and Rin had left for Sesshomaru's castle. This time Kohaku did not go with them, much to the disappointment of Rin. They promised to keep in touch and to visit as often as possible. Shortly after they parted ways, they surprised several people by confessing their love for each other. Sesshomaru hadn't said a word about their confession, but he did seem pretty anxious to leave after that.

Now that both Naraku and Hakudōshi were dead, Kanna, whose entire reason for living had been to serve them, began to accompany Kikyou. She was very helpful, even more so than her soul collectors. Kikyou needed souls to continue existing, but she could never hold onto a soul for more than a few days before it departed to the afterlife, which was why her soul collectors were always busy. But Kanna's mirror could hold a soul as long as she wanted to. So the soul collectors would gather souls and place them in Kanna's mirror for when Kikyou would need them.

After spending a few days in Kaede's village with everyone else, Kikyou left to continue her journey, though she didn't know what to do with herself now. Until then, from the time she had been brought back to life, her purpose had been to kill Naraku, and her greatest desire had been to die with Inuyasha; the two of them going to Hell together. Sadly, that would have been the only way they could have been together. If Kikyou should ever die, her remaining piece of a soul would return to Kagome and she would cease to exist. This was due to the fact that Kagome was Kikyou's reincarnation from 500 years in the future.

Since Kikyou needed souls to continue her existence, Heaven had been out of the question for her since she would never be allowed to live off souls there. So Hell had been her only option. She had planned to go there, taking Inuyasha with her. She had tried it once before. Even though Inuyasha's soul wasn't damned, he said that he would still be willing to go to Hell with her because he loved her so much.

But that had changed. Kikyou sighed as she remembered that day. It had been a week after Hakudōshi had been killed. Kikyou had decided to have a serious talk with Inuyasha in order to straighten things out between them. She would never forget that day.

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Kikyou waited for the half-demon to arrive. She had sent Kanna to go get him, telling him that there was something important that she needed to speak to him about. Now she was sitting here by the very tree she had pinned Inuyasha to over half a century ago, waiting for said half-demon to arrive.

"Kikyou?"

The undead priestess turned to the sound of the half-demon's voice. She gave him a small smile as he landed a few feet away from her.

"Inuyasha, hello." She said, her tone sad, regardless of the smile on her face.

"Hi." He said. "Kanna said you wanted to speak to me."

Kikyou nodded. "I did. Please, sit with me."

Inuyasha obeyed and sat next to her. They were both silent for a moment, and then Inuyasha broke the silence. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

Kikyou was quiet as she tried to think of the right words to say. "I am curious, now that your journey is over, what is it you are planning on doing?"

Inuyasha looked confused. "What do you mean?"

Kikyou smiled. "The Shikon Jewel for one thing. I hear that you want to use it to become a full-fledged demon. Or at least you did. Is this still the case?"

"I… I…" He hesitated, unsure. He had been so certain before, but now he was second guessing his decision. "I don't know."

Kikyou didn't show any reaction to his words, but inside her mind was racing. 'So, he's uncertain. Well that's good. He's learned that there are more important things than power.'

"Well, there's still time to decide what to do with the jewel." She said. "I guess I should bring up the other important issue. I'm talking, of course, about our relationship. And yours and Kagome's."

Inuyasha flinched. Kikyou knew that this would be hard for both of them. She wasn't sure if she should be happy or not that Inuyasha couldn't meet her eyes.

"Yeah, what about it?" He asked.

Kikyou gave him another sad smile. "I know you have feelings for her. And I also know that you still have feelings for me. But you must know that you can't have both of us."

Inuyasha lowered his head. "I-I know."

"You must choose between us. Who does your heart truly belong to?"

She looked at him, her eyes staring into his very soul. She already knew who his heart truly belonged to, even if he didn't. She didn't want to believe it, but she saw the truth.

"It's not that easy to just pick." He said. "I do love Kagome, but I don't know if I can let you go."

Kikyou sighed. He was making this even more difficult. "Inuyasha, we once loved each other, but times have changed. Perhaps we never were meant to be together."

Anger flared in Inuyasha's eyes. "But if it wasn't for Naraku-"

"We never would have betrayed each other." Kikyou finished.

"We didn't betray each other!" Inuyasha snapped. "That bastard just made us think we did."

"And why do you think he was able to deceive us so easily?" She gave him a very serious look. Inuyasha gave her a confused one. "Tell me, Inuyasha, if we loved each other as much as we believed we did, then why was our trust so easily broken?" He didn't answer, so Kikyou continued. "When Kagome saved me from Naraku's miasma, she saw my memories. The very memory of our betrayal. She went through it as if she had lived it herself. She saw and felt everything I did; the pain, the anger, the heartbreak, and you know what, she wasn't fooled." Her eyes met his. "She knew immediately that it wasn't you that attacked me."

Inuyasha looked away, making a low growling noise in his throat.

"And you never doubted Kagome for a second, did you?" she continued.

Inuyasha shook his head. "No, but I…"

Kikyou rested her hand on his. "Inuyasha, you know as well as I do that we were not meant to be together." The words hurt to say. "We both know that your heart yearns for Kagome more than me. You just don't want to let me go because I'm your first love."

"But how do you feel about me?" he asked.

Kikyou sighed. "It doesn't matter how I feel. You truly love Kagome. I know this, and so do you, even if you don't want to admit it."

"You didn't answer my question."

She sighed again. "I still care for you, Inuyasha, but Kagome loves you far more than I ever could, and you love her more than me. But you have to let me go, as hard as it will be. It's time for both of us to move on. Give yourself to Kagome. It's what you want."

"But what about what you want?"

Kikyou felt a small prickle of irritation. This was hard enough, why couldn't he just leave already? Then again, she should have expected this. He wanted to clear things up so there would be no more loose ends.

"I want you to be happy, Inuyasha. And if that means giving you up to Kagome, then so be it. Now stop stalling and go to your love before she disappears back to her time for good."

Inuyasha's eyes widened. "I forgot! Once the Shikon Jewel is gone, Kagome won't be able to come back! No, I can't lose her!"

Kikyou smiled. "Then perhaps you know what to wish for."

He looked confused for a moment, but then a look of understanding came across his face. He smiled and nodded to her. "Thank you, Kikyou."

And he left. He left her there all alone. It was only when she was sure that he was out of earshot that she wept. It was just a shame that her clay body could not produce tears.

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That had been nine years ago. It had been the very next day that Inuyasha confessed his love to Kagome and the two became a couple. Kikyou left the day after that with her group, knowing that all would be well between them. She still visited the village occasionally, to visit her sister and friends, but other than that she was on her own.

Three years after the defeat of Hakudōshi, Kikyou returned to the village to find much had changed. Sango and Miroku had been married. They had two kids and were working on their third. Miroku still insisted on having 10-20 kids, and Sango was more than willing. Inuyasha would constantly say that with the way they're always at it that they'll probably end up with 40-50.

Speaking of Inuyasha, he and Kagome had been mated. Although Kikyou had willingly given Inuyasha up, she still felt a small amount of pain in her heart knowing that Inuyasha was now truly lost to her forever. She knew how demon mating rituals worked. Inuyasha had marked Kagome as his mate, forbidding any other demon from taking her, permanently bonding them. The two of them even had a child. A little girl that looked a lot like Kagome, but still had yellow eyes, white hair, and little dog ears on the top of her head.

Though Kagome had decided to stay in the Feudal Era, she still visited her family in the future, and even they visited her. Inuyasha had used the Shikon Jewel to allow Kagome's friends and family to be able to go through the well whenever they wanted. Kagome's family got to meet the Shikon Hunters for the first time. And something happened that surprised and disturbed everyone. Kagome's grandfather and Kaede ended up being more than just friends, much to Kagome's horror.

Another shocking result from Inuyasha's wish was the coupling of yet another pair. During one trip, Souta had brought Kagome's cat, Buyo, who ended up taking a liking to Kilala. And not too long later, the two ended up with little half-demon kittens.

Shortly after Kagome and Inuyasha's child was born, Kohaku asked Rin to marry him. The young woman had been thrilled beyond reason, though her adoptive father had been hesitant to let her go. The two were married and two years later were expecting their first child.

As for Sesshomaru himself, even he found a mate. It was none other than Toran, the leader of the panther-demon who had formerly been Sesshomaru's enemy before he saved her and her tribe from their resurrected master. She had always been fond of the dog-demon, even when they were enemies. Former enemies or not, she was a perfect match for him; ice and ice. The cold-hearted Lord of the Western Lands had even begun smiling more. Toran had really tamed the dog-demon.

After all the time Ayame spent with Kouga, the wolf-demon fell for her, hard. But it wasn't until he had his heart broken by Kagome did he realize he truly loved his fiancée. The two mated and had a liter of 'pups', and planned on having many more.

Even Shippo had found his mate. Just like Sesshomaru, he too ended up with a former enemy. The thunder-demon, Souten, had pursued him and eventually won his heart. After they were mated, they decided to put off having children for now, but they definitely wanted some in the near future.

It seemed like only Kikyou was left alone. So alone for so long. She longed for love. Her soul collectors, Shikigami, and Kanna didn't seem to care for love. But Kikyou did. Sadly she knew that she couldn't ever have a relationship with anyone, for she was among the undead. Not living, yet not dead, she would never age or die unless killed, she couldn't even cry.

(A/N: A sad chapter, I know, but I did throw in some laughs. I decided to have Hakudōshi be the supreme villain in the end. He always seemed more evil than Naraku himself. But now it's over, and everyone has settled down, even Sesshomaru. You know, I'm actually surprised there aren't more pairings of Sesshomaru and Toran. I think they make a good couple, even if I prefer Sesshomaru/Kagura pairings. Anyway, it seems like only Kikyou is the one that ended up with nobody. But like I said, this is Kikyou/Suikotsu pairing story. But that won't happen for a while yet. So tell me what you think so far. I look forward to your reviews.)