On the Outside by SunsetMiko

Lecture

Chapter 24 - Lecture

*A fool may give a wise man council.* (Stella's Soundtrack Challenge) - 500 Words

"Look, Inuyasha, I can't do this anymore. If you insist on having Sesshoumaru go everywhere with us, then I can't hang out with you any longer. I didn't want to have to do this, but I can't take it."

"You mean you're gonna ditch me?" the hanyou asked in an irritated tone. He worried this would happen if he continued to try and help Sesshoumaru win her back. He knew she was hurting, but he hoped she wouldn't turn her back on him. After all she had done to fight for him and his right to exist without being hassled, after everything she gave up to befriend him, to have her throw it all away had seemed unlikely, but there she was saying it anyway.

"I'm not ditching you," she growled. "You're welcome to come and hang out at the shrine. I'd be happy to do things with you. I just can't take his presence any more. It's killing me."

"You know, there's a reason for that," Inuyasha said snidely.

"Yeah, because it's torture!"

"No, because you're still in love with him!"

"So what if I am?" the miko yelled. "I said I can't forgive him and I can't! It's not fair, forcing me to be around him all the time. He was the one who tormented you. He was the ringleader, making sure you were never safe. Now all of a sudden he changes his tune and you're best friends? How stupid are you? You have to know the whole thing is an act! Why are you helping him? Why are you torturing me?!"

"I'm not helping him, 'Gome. I'm trying to help you," Inuyasha screamed, beyond frustrated with the thick skulled and stubborn miko. He hadn't been enjoying hanging out with his ass of a half-brother, changed or not. The guy had a stick up his ass three feet around and twice as long. He wasn't fun, he had no sense of humor, and all he did was pout about how much he missed Kagome.

"How is making me cry every day helping me?"

Inuyasha sighed and tried his best to calm down. Yelling at each other would get them nowhere. "Look, Kagome. You love him. You always have. He loves you and has for as long as he can remember. If I hadn't shown up here to ruin it, eventually you two would have ended up together. I can't take myself out of the equation. Already tried that and it failed, so instead I have to do things this way.

"You can forgive him. I have, pretty much. The dude let himself get his ass kicked because he felt guilty about what he did to me. I can't ignore that. How can you still be mad at him for what he did to me if I'm not? I think it's time for you to sit down and really think about what you're afraid of; because it's not him going back to the way he was before, Kagome."