One Night is not Enough by xactually

Chapter One

Inuyasha sighed and stared at his feet as he trudged through the forest towards the Bone Eater's Well. He had lost her, and he knew it. The painful part was that he hadn't even truly lost her. She was close enough for him to get to her easily, but not in the way he wanted to. Kagome had given her heart to someone else... Sesshoumaru.

And so she had left with him. It was that simple. Unlike when she was with Inuyasha, she didn't seem to care about her family back in her own time anymore. Sesshoumaru and his stupid little followers seemed to be her only family to her now. Inuyasha wondered silently if maybe Kagome had been brainwashed into loving Sesshoumaru, but then he remembered her eyes when she had told him that he loved his brother.

No, they belonged to her. Inuyasha bowed his head, hiding his eyes from the world. It hurt. It really hurt. And now he was left to tell Kagome's parents about her abandoning everything. Abandoning them, abandoning their quest for the jewel shards, and abandoning him. All for that bastard Sesshoumaru.

He was in her time now. The "present". He leapt up onto her windowsill as he had done so many times before, but unlike the times before, he didn't have butterflies in his stomach at the thought of being surrounded by Kagome's sweet scent. Instead, he was dreading it with everything inside him.

He stepped into her room, trying and failing to not take in her scent. He walked over to her door and then paused, remembering all that had ever gone on in this room, and suddenly remembering one particular time when Kagome had shown him a song.

He grinned bitterly. That song was so much like him, especially now that he remembered the chorus. He struggled to dig up the rest of the lyrics, running through them as if they were the only thing he had left.

That much was true. So then why was he here? Obviously Kagome wasn't here, she was off with Sesshoumaru. Inuyasha choked and growled. Sesshoumaru... He hadn't ever thought that he could hate his brother any more than he had before, but now he knew that he had been wrong. He turned on his heel and leapt out the window, speeding for the Bone Eater's Well. He couldn't explain it to Kagome's family. He could barely explain it to himself.

He felt utterly betrayed. Why Sesshoumaru? The man who had nearly killed him on more than one occasion, and after all that he and Kagome had been through, he thought he had meant something to her. Kagome certainly meant something to him, and from the way she had acted every time he was caught with Kikyou, it had seemed obvious that she was returning his feelings.

Obviously not.

But then again, two could play at that game. He jumped out of the Bone Eater's Well, back in his own time, and sped off into the forest, hoping to find someone he hadn't visited for a long time.

Inuyasha felt a lump in his throat. He didn't want to see Kikyou right now. He wanted to see Kagome, but he knew that wasn't possible. He knew he didn't want to be alone, so he shook his head, trying to stop thinking about Kagome so that he could focus on finding Kikyou, but the song kept playing in his mind, reminding him of the girl he only wished he could forget.

He couldn't believe it. He wasn't the one for her. He didn't even think to stop when he saw Kikyou out of the corner of his eye. The only reason he would ever have broken out of his trance was because she spoke his name aloud.

"Inuyasha...?"

He stopped suddenly and turned to look at her, but it wasn't the same feeling as so many times before, and he silently found himself thinking, Why can't you be the one I want right now?

If only Kagome had even been with him that morning. Inuyasha didn't even really see Kikyou come up to speak with him, nor did he hear her words. All he could think about was how Kagome was not his to love and protect and dream about anymore. She was lost to him forever.

Suddenly he felt a strange feeling come over him and he did something that he hadn't done since his mother had died.

He cried.

And as he cried, he felt Kikyou's arms wrap around him, and he held her close to him, convincing himself that maybe he could still love the priestess.

Maybe he could even pretend that Kikyou was Kagome. Or maybe he could just end it all and go to hell with Kikyou like she wanted. Yes, that seemed like the only reasonable thing to do.

"Kikyou..." he struggled to keep a steady voice, "I'm ready to go to hell with you."

He admitted to himself that he was using Kikyou. But perhaps Kagome had been using him? He looked into Kikyou's eyes and found a small, sad smile straying across her lips.

"It's not me that you love." she said, and Inuyasha turned on his heel and ran as fast as he could. Even Kikyou rejected him now.

But he silently agreed. He didn't love her anymore.

He was unloved by even those that he didn't care for, and though he cared very deeply for one, even she had turned her back. He had nowhere to go, and even if he found a place, would it be good enough?

He was alone.