Fanfic based off the Inuyasha storyline, I don't own the rights etc. Just a fan who didn't like the original's ending.
Setting 1 year after Kagome moves to Inuyasha's era.
Kagome was dead, to Inuyasha that was all that mattered. It wasn't a heroic death, there wasn't any greater meaning to it, she hadn't died battling the undead, she didn't die to save anyone, she was just dead. The loss of her passing was still affecting Inuyasha every day, every hour and every minute. Inuyasha spent hours at a time hauled up in their tree just outside the village, he would work through the last few months in his head. He would try to determine what went wrong and when, he could lose hours at a time doing this. Sometimes Inuyasha would play out different scenarios, he would make believe they were still happy and living a normal life. He would lose himself inside these dreams, something would eventually bring him back to reality and when this happened he would lose Kagome all over again. He would hold his breath while he was coming back to reality, he would close his eyes whilst coming back to the here and now. The pain felt so real like a sharp shock to all of the senses all at once, like being dragged into cold water. None of the dreams were real, he couldn't change what had happened no matter how hard he wished for it to change.
Inuyasha's friends grew worried about him, he was spending longer and longer inside his dream world that he'd created, this world that was still moving and felt warm. Kaede was aging now, and she was growing more and more worried about leaving this world and abandoning Inuyasha. She was also concerned about leaving this world and leaving the world alone to face Inuasha's grief. Sometimes when the grief is so strong it changes you to the core, almost down to the person's biological make up. This is what Kaede worried about, they had been close to losing Inuyasha to his demon form once in the past – it couldn't happen again.
Inuyasha, stalked round the village. He was glaring at everything and everyone he saw. "Look at them, flaunting their happiness. Don't they care that my world has frozen, don't they care that she's gone." The words were almost a hiss inside his head. He continued to look at his surroundings, memories flooding his senses. He was surrounded by humans, frail and prone to sickness. All of these people around him would die, grow old, and develop a sickness. He started looking at the humans, a couple standing outside their home, she was pregnant. Her partner was so happy, the happiness was reaching their eyes, all Inuyasha could see was the frailty of the human form. She has a chance of dying from child birth. There is nothing her partner would be able to do about it. Nothing anyone here and now can do to help. Perhaps in Kagome's era the doctors would be able to save the woman. Someone in Kagome's era would have been able to save her. She was in Inuyasha's era. She was human. Was it Inuyasha's fault she died. Inuyasha mulled these words over and over, "she was human, she died because she was human." Inuyasha looked at that same couple expecting their first baby and he resented their happiness, he resented the fact they would die within years of each other. Of course, they're both human not like a demon and a human. "The demon lives on while the human leaves this world selfishly and expects the demon to do what exactly ? Live, be happy ? for how long ? …She left me. If she had stayed in that world she would have lived. But she came here." Inuyasha was slowly coming to a conclusion, he needed to leave, he couldn't live near humans, only to watch them all leave him all over again. He made his way to Kaede's hut, he owed her a goodbye.
Kaede was sitting cross legged next to her small lit fire, Inuyasha looked at her and he really saw her. He looked at the old woman sitting infront of him, her hair was growing thinner, she was hunched over more now, she was using a walking stick to aid her now. Her aging offended Inuyasha, he scoffed as he looked at her he thought about the fact that she would soon leave his side now too. He had to leave, somehow it would hurt less if he broke away first.
They could both hear Miroku and Sango's children outside the hut, they seemed to playing a game of chase, happy sounds filled the silence in the air. Kaede eventually took in a deep breath and looked Inuyasha in the eyes, he glanced away, slowly she said "Leave after the meal they have prepared, if you must leave then do it quietly after the meal. Put on a fake smile, be strong and allow them one last memory of you smiling at a family dinner." Inuyasha folded his arms, he didn't say a word, simply nodding in defeat. "We all hurt Inuyasha, we all feel that pain that makes our skin ache. I can-not take this pain from you, no one can nothing can change your heart in a short space of time but I can only offer this advice. Grief never gets lighter, it never goes away but as time passes you adept to carrying the heavy load and after some time you'll notice you've learnt how to smile again. You will find ways of filling that hole that's been left."
With those words Inuyasha got up and left, he couldn't think about the future he needed to deal with the now. The night sky was clear, the air was warm, in the air was the aroma of the dinner being prepared, Inuyasha's stomach gurgled. He'd neglected his health in the past few days, not eating when he should have. He hadn't even noticed he wasn't at full strength, although it smelt great the food wasn't ready yet, and he didn't want to hang around for more awkward conversations of people pointing out how much he needed to move on. He walked to Kagome's grave, it was a small clearing next to the well, a small grave. She was only small, how many times had Inuyasha carried her on his back with ease, small so small. He muttered a few small words of love, it quickly turned to anger, he was so angry at her humanity. "you survived being here for so long, I protected you against Naraku, I protected you against hoards of demons…but you got sick, what was I supposed to do, how was I supposed to help you. You should have been in your world, you would still be alive !" His eyes teared up, tears streamed down his face, down his cheeks which felt like they were on fire, his lips trembled, his fists clenched by his sides, nails pushing into the palms of his hands – there were small trickles of blood, he bit his teeth together he didn't want any more words to come out of his mouth, he would regret them. And with that he'd made his decision, he had to go now, he needed to be away from this place. He stood and turned to leave, but he could feel something strange in the air, not demonic aura but something he hadn't felt before. He wanted to go, he took another step to leave he glanced back at the village he wanted to be selfish but he could hear Sango and Miroku's children laughing and playing happily. The well had lit up, the air around it crackled with energy, pure unbridled white light. Inuyasha covered his eyes, he should have kept them open. Inuyasha was thrown back by a pulse of energy. He could feel the light on his skin it was hot and yet cold at the same time.
He opened his eyes and saw cowered in against the well a young woman.