An Education by UnknownRandomness

Game Over, Restart?

A/N: Just procrastinating, and I wondered what would happen if Kagome wasn't the cheerful bucket of fun she is. 'Cause with all the things they have experienced, I'm surprised they're all so cheerful. Please review :P

Prompt: Tergiversation - Desertion of cause, position, party, or faith.

Word Count: 432

"You can't."

Kagome turned on him, fire burning in her eyes as all her pent-up frustration came out in one sudden explosion. 

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do, you filth! Do you think I give a shit about this? About any of you? This game has gone on long enough!"

Searching their downcast expressions, reproachful eyes stared back at her glaring face and she knew that she couldn't be bothered anymore. Why did she have to be? She had done her part, made the token sacrifice. And it hadn't even been a token! She had dedicated six years of her life to this godforsaken quest. She had lost an eye and a finger. She, a woman from the future, had thrown away her own life in her own time for these people five hundred years in the past. 

What did they have to show for their efforts? Apart from the dead comrades, countless injuries, broken families... What good had come from searching for this jewel? Why did they even need it? 

It scared her that she couldn't remember anymore. This game made no sense! Laughter and smiles were nothing more than a distant memory that tortured her with their shining allure in the dead of night.

All she knew now was pain and trials- with no reward. Kagome could faintly remember the joy they had all experienced when Naraku was destroyed. That was the greatest day of her life.

...But he had only been the lesser of many, many evils. Countless creatures dragged from the pits of hellfire and eternal damnation had come knocking on her door, and this woman had picked up her weapons as she and her companions always did and gone through the motions.

Well, today, that would change. Kagome was tired of this game, and it had to end. Raising her gaze to search the eyes of the hanyou she had loved and hated in equal measure, Kagome Higurashi, Shikon Miko, Time Traveller, High School Drop-Out and guardian of Shippo, took her bow and arrow sheath from her back and dropped them on the ground. The feathered projectiles clattered on the hard earth, and the noise cut at their souls in the tense atmosphere.

"I give up."

The screams of her adopted son echoed in her ears, mixed with the sobs and pleas of the monk and demon slayer and the curses of the half-demon. She remained unmoved. It was iconic, she thought, that such a beautiful mountain was where she left everything. The fall was sure to be freeing. 

This game no longer held any appeal for her. It was time to quit.