A/N: I apologize for the shortness, I hope for chapter 1 to be much longer. I havent been in the swing of things for a while. Constructive criticism is grestly appreciated!-Em

Darkness had swallowed Kagome whole, consumed her entire being, and confined her inside the Shikon noTama. She had been so determined to eradicate the evil Naraku had tainted the Jewel with, but now that she found herself inside it, she felt so helpless.

Scenes from the past floated across her eyes like a movie set on fast forward, and she watched the warrior-priestess Midoriko fight almost effortlessly against several hundred demons before she succumbed to them. Kagome had once found it very sad. She had captured all their souls in the jewel upon her death, and in doing so, trapped herself in an endless battle that still raged even now.

She had been brave, selfless, strong; nothing like Kagome herself, and yet..

"Make your wish Higurashi, Kagome,"

The voice was unmistakable, though Kagome knew she had never heard it once during her journey.

"But what wish is correct?" She thought aloud.

So many hours of thinking had been dedicated to making the perfect wish, the selfless wish. She had been chosen to do so since the moment she fell through the Bone Eater's well.

Her fist tightened around the necklace entwined in her fingers, and she breathed in deeply. The journey she had begun after shattering the jewel had not really prepared her for this moment. How could she make the right wish when everything had always gone so wrong? Her only saving graces were her friends; without their support she would never have made it this far.

"Ka-go-me..!"

A male voice screamed her name, sounding so far away in the blackness that surrounded her. She knew this voice, had recognized it as he called her name once more, and again. Each time his voice grew louder, and she desperately wanted to call out to him. She wouldn't, couldn't, though she wanted nothing other than to be in his arms once more. She vaguely saw a future in which she wished to just be by Inuyasha's side forever, but shook the thought away just as it had come. A selfish wish would only lead to more darkness.

"Make the wish!" Midoriko sounded urgent now, and Kagome was vaguely aware that her friends were still fighting while she sat there in her little bubble. Her heart hurt at the thought of her friends, determined to defeat the evil her past self had helped to create.

It really was all her fault, wasn't it?

It came to her then, and she new exactly what she would wish for. She apologized to everyone silently as her lips formed the words.

"I wish..." She breathed, her ears ringing.

The world began to fade away, like waking from a dream.

"I'm sorry, Inuyasha."

(p.s. Please please please let me know how I can improve!)