Sad voices, one by one, had gifted her ears with the sweetest whispers, words of farewell broken by persistent sobs. Kagome tried to put names to the voices but in the end, all she could remember was their faces — and that she loved each one of them with everything she had.
Even so, she didn't dare open her eyes to gaze at them one last time. Kagome knew what she would find and she would rather held on to the happy memories they shared together, the ones treasured and saved deep into her mind to keep her warm in the cold days. And she hoped that they would pay her the same courtesy, remembering the person she was before her body started to fail her.
Silence fell over the room when the last person left. Kagome harnessed the moment to make thankful prayer. First, for the many lives she touched and for the ones that touched hers. Then, for the misfortunes that had thrown her into a different path than the one she expected and all the blessings she had harvested out of it. Finally, for being allowed to spend her numbered days in the comfort of her bedroom.
It had been a difficult battle, but her family granted her wish when it become clear there was nothing modern medicine could do. Kagome would know. She was a doctor, after all. And a priestess — a very good one, at that matter — though this part of her past was unknown to them.
Nobody understood why Kagome had never wanted to move out of the old shrine, nor her reasons to be so attached to the mysterious well it sheltered. Not a soul alive knew that when the wind blew her face, she dreamed of blurry trees, fluttering white hair and strong, clawed hands supporting her as she pretended to fly. InuYasha was a secret to everyone else.
With one exception.
"Nee-chan. Can you hear me?" Fingers moved her grey bangs out of the way. "I'm gonna stay right here with you, okay? Until it's time for you to go, I-" His voice gave in to breaking sobs and after placing a kiss on her forehead, he pulled a chair and sat next to her bedpost.
Kagome wanted to tell him not to cry. If anything, he should be happy for her. People fear death because they are afraid of what they don't know. Although she also ignored what waited for her on the other side, she knew who would be waiting and it was enough to make parting feel like coming home.
The well that connected her world with his had never worked again since the day their story was cruelly interrupted by the whims of destiny. At first, she had hoped it would get fixed somehow but then days turned to months, months to years and Kagome slowly started to realize it was a permanent thing. Nonetheless, she always believed they would find each other again. However long it took, in this or in another life, they would find each other again.
In the meanwhile, Kagome had build herself the best life she could. She had fallen in love, again and again, each time different from the other. She had made mistakes and learned, laughed and sang, cried and danced. She had witnessed miracles, seen the magic that went unnoticed by pessimist eyes. She had also faced tragedy, met the worst the world had to offer and used it to become stronger. She had been loved, deeply and unrestrained. She had been happy.
And she did it all while still loving and missing him, every second of every day.
Kagome wasn't sure how much time had passed — it was such a meaningless concept now — before she felt a change in the room, a nostalgic sensation calling to her soul in a way she hadn't felt since her teenage years.
"Kagome." There it was, the sound she so desperately needed to hear. Her eyes opened on their own accord, drawn by him like they had always been. Suddenly, Kagome felt like fifteen again. All the numb butterflies in her stomach came rushing back to life at the vision of her favorite white, red and gold combination.
Something about the way InuYasha's eyes gleamed had her tired heart beating on a pace she had forgotten it was possible to achieve.
"InuYasha…" Until that moment, Kagome had never let herself speak his name out loud and to do it felt like letting out a breath she was holding for far too long. She tried to keep the tears at bay — she remembered how much he hated when she cried — but it was hard to repress them when, without warning, echoes of a conversation they once had made her chest burn with the same relief she felt back then. "You came for me."
"Dummy. 'Course I did." With a smile that reflected her one, InuYasha closed the distance between them, promptly using a clawed finger to clean her wet cheek. "Ready?"
When she rose, she left behind a body that wasn't hers anymore — every inch of it marvelously marked by time — and a life lived to the fullest. And when she interlocked her fingers with his, she knew there was nothing on this world or the next that could break them apart.
"Ready." She said, at last.
A/N: This was based on the episode "Not Yet" of One Day At A Time.