Wow. I'm sorry I haven't published anything in a while. For those of my readers who are waiting for updates on Humans and Hanyous, I apologize for the delay. I'm currently rewatching the series to figure out where I want the story to go.

Thanks for all the encouragement on that. This popped into my head while playing a Warhammer 40K game.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. If I did, I would have him locked in my basement, husband be darned.

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I've never been good with goodbyes. When I was little, I only had to say it once. When my mother died, that was the only time I ever let my emotions show through. She never wanted me to cry, but I couldn't help it. She was the only person who had cared about him and now she was gone. That was the first goodbye I ever said that meant something to me.

I've said goodbyes to many enemies since then. None of them ever meant anything to me. It was only a formality. Battle was the most important thing to me and it didn't matter who or what I was attacking. Being a freak of nature led me to believe that I had to be the better man, so to speak. My mother instilled that sense of honor in me.

When I first fell in love, I never expected to have to say goodbye. She was perfect in my eyes. She loved me, I loved her, and everything seemed right with the world.

Everything went to hell shortly after I'd made the decision to join her as a human. She betrayed me and tried to kill me. I went to the village, prepared to say goodbye to my humanity and become completely demon. With the Jewel of Four Souls in my possession, I would no longer be a freak of nature. After I had stolen the jewel, I was making my escape when an arrow thunked into my chest. As the spell took hold of me, I whispered a goodbye to the woman I loved.

I woke after what seemed like only a few days. The first thing I saw was that there was a demon assaulting the village. When I looked down, there was a young girl trying to get to me. She was the spitting image of the girl I'd loved a long time ago. I recanted my goodbye to her in my head, thinking she'd come back to me.

Once the arrow was removed, I could unleash hell upon the creature. With it dead, a goodbye said over its corpse, I turned my attention to the child. She was younger than my previous love, which made me realize that it was not the same woman I'd known. She was of similar physical makeup and I realized that, although she was dressed oddly, she had the same fiery spirit I was used to.

I learned that fifty years had passed since my imprisonment and this was a reincarnation of my former love. I had a hard time believing that the woman I had loved had also perished on the day of my capture. I said a solemn goodbye in my head.

Several years passed. I gained new friends and allies, a couple new rivals, and even met with the reborn soul and body of my love. There were enemies I said goodbye to, and there were people I learned to say hello to everyday.

I was starting to realize that the woman I was in love with was not the one I had loved before. She was still a child to me, but she was growing up. She was learning and changing before my eyes. I had never realized how much I could love someone until I'd met this strange girl.

Unfortunately, we had come to a crossroads. We had defeated our greatest enemy. I'd already said goodbye to friends, even though I would see them again. Now, I was just torn between asking this woman to stay with me forever or I was going to have one more goodbye to say that would be the hardest thing I'd ever done.

I was standing at the old Bone Eater's well with her as the sun began to rise. She would be leaving as soon as the sun cleared the horizon. We were milling about restlessly and I was trying to sort out my feelings in my head.

I could hear her voice behind me and I turned. The sun was shining in her beautiful hair, lighting her eyes on fire. My breath caught in my throat.

"I just wanted to say goodbye, Inuyasha. I... I don't know if I'll be coming back."

She had a knee on the lip of the well and she looked sad.

If I didn't say something soon, she wasn't going to be with me long. I could hear myself saying goodbye to her in my head, but I couldn't force the words past my throat.

"Kagome..."

She paused, looking over her shoulder.

"G-"

She frowned at me.

"Don't go. I love you."

I guess I won't really be saying goodbye to anyone for a long time.