Hello! My 2nd fic! Me so xcited! Plz reed & tell me wat u thought of it! I'm not very gud at plotz, & I hope u like it! If not, flames will b exceptd in the main lobby!
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, though I wished I owned Sessy! (drools)

*Sesshomaru sweatdrops
Kagome sighed and shielded her eyes from the bright rays of the sun. Where in the world could he be? She shrugged and turned back around, wiping her forehead with her hand. As she trudged back to the campsite, she heard low voices near the line of trees.

"But, Kikyo."

Kagome gasped. That voice could only belong to Inuyasha. She tiptoes cautiously towards the clearing and hid behind a bush. She saw Kikyo and Inuyasha talking in hushed tones. Kikyo suddenly hugged Inuyasha, her face upturned to his. Inuyasha slowly leaned down, his eyes closing.

Kagome's eyes were slowly filling with tears, and as she saw Inuyasha lean down, she darted from behind the bush, on her way to the Bone Eater's Well.

Inuyasha grabbed Tetsusaiga's handle and slashed Kikyo in the stomach. She fell onto the ground and writhed for a few seconds, then her body disintegrated and a blue soul shot out from the ashes.

It spoke. "Thank you, Inuyasha. You have set my ancient soul free. You have my unspoken gratitude. I'll make your acquaintance again very soon, Inuyasha." Kikyo's soul flew away happily.

Inuyasha smiled and said, "See you later, Kikyo." He heard footsteps running away, and when he lunged out from the clearing, the person was gone. He shrugged and started to walk back to the campsite, but stopped abruptly in his tracks when he picked up Kagome's delicate scent mixed with tears. Had Kagome been crying? What if she had seen Kikyo and Inuyasha and assumed something terrible? When he came to think about the footsteps, they were coming from the general direction of the Bone Eater's Well.

Kagome! His mind shouted as he raced for the well.

*****
Kagome sniffled as she stared at the foreboding presence of the well. Inuyasha had never cared about her. She was simply his shard detector. Inuyasha had said that when they had first met Miroku, but she hadn't thought it true until today. How could someone like Inuyasha ever love a reincarnated soul like her? After all, Kikyo and Inuyasha had been in love for fifty years.

She took a step toward the lip and was about to jump in, but a flash of silver and white blocked her vision. She looked up to see Inuyasha, who had a worried look on his face.

"Where you going, Kagome?"

"I'm going home." She smiled bitterly. "For good."

Inuyasha's face took on a desperate expression, but Kagome didn't notice for she had turned around to stare at the clouds in the sky. "Inuyasha, I knew I would never measure up to someone like Kikyo, in life or death. You and her have been in love many years, when I have only been in love with you for only a while. I have had fun being your shard detector, but now that the Shikon No Tama is completed and Naraku is dead, I have no reason to stay here anymore. Mom, Grandpa, and Sota need me back in my time."

She turned back around and threw her arms around Inuyasha's neck.

"I have dreamed of holding you like this, but was afraid to, afraid you would shun me. And I have wanted to do this, Inuyasha." She leaned her face up and kissed him. Inuyasha's face was red and he was just as surprised as she was. She broke off and glanced at him, disentangling her arms from his neck. "You won't be needing these anymore."

She grabbed the rosary Kaede had put on him and pulled, snapping it from around his neck. Inuyasha winced at the feel of his hair being pulled, but it was nothing compared to the fact that his beloved Kagome was leaving him.

She put her hand over his heart. "I never owned this, although I wished I did. Kikyo always owned this, and I'm afraid I was jealous.

"I never had control over you, although I wished I did. I know you will be happy with her, Inuyasha. Kikyo was always more alive than me, and I was simply a substitute for when she wasn't there. I'll miss you, I- Inuyasha. Although, when I go back to my world, you'll be dead. I'll seal the well with my miko powers, and maybe I can go back to being a regular teenager."

She smiled and dodged him, jumping into the well. As she floated through the purple inkiness, she willed all of her might and shouted, "SEAL!" A hole drew together above her head and a larger one opened below her. She landed in the bottom of the secret well at Higurashi Shrine.

She climbed out of her past and away from the love of her life. She sat at the foot of the well, in shock at what she had just done. She drew her knees up to her chest, encircled them with her arms, about to cry.

She thought of harsh Inuyasha, the small kitsune Shippo, the lecherous monk Miroku, and the Demon Exterminator Sango.

Thinking about her dear friends from feudal Japan made the tears she had tried so hard to conceal fall from her eyes.

"Why you crying, Kagome?" A rough voice asked.

Kagome gasped and looked up. Her eyes widened and she put a hand to her mouth. It was.

"INUYASHA!!!" She cried. She ran to him and enveloped him in a hug that sent him reeling downwards, lying on the floor. She couldn't stand being away from him for even a minute.

Inuyasha chuckled and hugged her back. "I've missed you, woman. It's been five hundred years. Too long."

Kagome didn't hear him and inquired, "What happened to Sango, Shippo, and Miroku? Why didn't they come with you?"

Inuyasha grimaced. "Shippo died avenging his father three hundred years ago. Miroku and Sango got married and had three children, all born without the wind tunnel. Miroku died when he was eighty-six, and Sango died two years later of tuberculosis."

She didn't really comprehend that he had been waiting for her. Kagome's relief of Inuyasha being with her clouded the usually clear portion of her mind that understood things.

Kagome gasped and tears pooled in her eyes. Her friends were dead. She glanced at him. "And why aren't you dead? I thought you would be, after all the fights you used to get into."

Inuyasha smiled sheepishly and in embarrassment for having to say it again. "I waited for you, Kagome. For five hundred years."

"For five hundred years?!"

He looked at her and said, "When you saw me and Kikyo in the clearing, she was asking me to free her soul. I did, and Kikyo watched over me. She never assumed a human form, and we never became romantically involved." He grabbed her hand and put it over his heart.

"You always owned this, you silly baka. And you always will."

Kagome blushed and grabbed his hand, pressing it against her own furiously beating heart. "As you."

Inuyasha grinned and leaned forward until their lips made contact. His head spun as he kissed her for the first time, working his mouth over hers.

Kagome was the first to break off and had a bright red suffusing her face.

"I-I love you, Inuyasha."

"I love you, too, Kagome. And I'm glad I started loving you. Glad I waited for you."