THIS IS HOW YOU TELL SOMEONE HOW IMPORTANT THEY ARE TO YOU:
Inuyasha, the guy who fucks up every single important thing that needs to be said, says THIS.
"I feel lighter with you." This should be a slam dunk comment. Kikyo is a weight, dragging him down to hell, but Kagome is the buoyant part of himself that feels like he could maybe have the lightness and the happiness that he's been searching for.
"I have to" is not the phrase we use to tell someone we love them. It is an obligation. It is a requirement. This isn't love for Kikyo, it's because he feels responsible for her death. The entire time that we've seen them together, Kikyo has never once alluded to her love (in the present-tense) for Inuyasha. She might have loved him before she died, but she doesn't love him now.
She wants him to die. She wants him to be just as miserable as her.
And then we have Kagome:
This is a girl who knows she doesn't stand a chance at being with Inuyasha, but stays with him anyway. She stays with him because she wants him to be happy. Is she being a little selfish because of her own feelings? Yeah, she's said that.
But she states that it wasn't an accident that they met and she's going to enjoy the time that they have left together. There's no obligation on Inuyasha's part. Zero. There is nothing that she demands of him except for what he's willing to give.
That's what love is. Giving with no expectation in return.
