He had been waiting for what felt like forever.
Week after week, month after month, year after year... But he never gave up. He never believed for one single second that he would never see her again. And so, day after day, he would return to the well to sit and wait, even if it was just for an hour, just in case. Every day he would lift his nose to the wind and sniff, hoping with every fiber of his being that he would catch her sweet scent drifting along. He went along with life the best that he could, protecting his comrades and their new additions, and making a new sort of life for himself. One without her, at least for the time being.
It was three years since the last time that he'd seen her, held her, heard her voice. Those three years had brought so many changes- Sango and Miroku's three little girls, Rin and Kohaku living there in the village with Old Kaede, Shippo finally becoming a true fox demon... He alone remained unchanged. It was a warm and sunny day in summer when he woke with a strange feeling inside of him, one that left him feeling anxious and unsteady. In the early hours of dawn he and Miroku banished a demon from the nearby village in exchange for three barrels of rice, but he still yet felt strange. Late afternoon came and he was standing in the middle of the village, surrounded by the ten or so children that lived there, two of them being Sango and Miroku's older set of twin girls. One of the twins was clambering up his arm, her little hands tweaking one of his ears as she giggled, all the other children shouting about wanting a turn of their own. Old Kaede appeared down the dirt road a moment later and the two met eyes, and it was as if the old woman knew something that InuYasha didn't. The old woman then turned away from him to face the west, where he knew the well sat closed off and unusable, and he wondered what she was thinking about.
And then, the wind blew.
It took him only a moment to catch her scent, that still familair scent, and his heart stopped within his chest. A moment later he was shrugging off the children and pushing past them, ignoring their little cries and complaints as he went by, his amber eyes wide and full of hope. As he passed her by, InuYasha could see that Old Kaede was smiling, a single tear tracing the outline of her withered cheek. He began to run, his pace picking up until he was running at full speed towards the well, his heart now hammering hard inside of his chest. He arrived within moments and he slowed to a walk, her scent blasting him then, and he had half expected to see her standing there. A moment later and he heard it, the soft sound of her breathing, the unmistakable sound of her voice as she murmured something aloud to herself. Leaning over the well, his eyes met the most beautiful eyes he'd ever seen and his chest tightened and his stomach turned over. She was smiling and he reached out and down, his hand outstretched for her to take. As her hand slipped into his, he felt his breath catch and he pulled her up. "InuYasha..." Her familair vocals were shaking as she smiled down at him from her place above him, as his hands still held her aloft. "I'm sorry, were you waiting for me?"
Something like a chuckle escaped him as he let her down but the moment her feet touched back down he drew her to him, breathing in the scent of her that he had never forgotten. "You idiot, what have you been doing?" It was her turn to laugh though it sounded like a sob and he held on tighter, remembering a time when he couldn't even look her in the eyes, let alone hold her like this. He had been so stupid back then, back in the beginning. They could both then hear the approaching footsteps, the shouting voices of their comrades, their friends, as they called out to the girl they had thought they'd never see again. InuYasha found it was easy to release her to them because he knew, now they had all the time in the world.