Disclaimer: I know it's been a good month since I updated anything. I'm sorry. This one shot is dedicated to Eric Steven Davis, my boyfriend who died in a car accident just this week, Sunday, December 19th of 2010. I loved him with all of my soul. Much like how I think Kagome cares for Inuyasha. Eric made fun of me for loving this anime, but he knew something about it, which meant at some point in time he liked it too. This is for him. This is the outlet for my pain, even though it will never go away. R.I.P.

Kagome sniffled for the millionth time that evening. Inuyasha….goodness he just made her so angry sometimes! He was so hard headed and insensitive. And a total dimwit when it came to matters of the heart. She drew her knees closer to her chest.

"Inuyasha, I want to stay with you."

"You…you'll stay with me?"

Yeah, she stayed with him. Because she was madly in love with him. She wasn't sure when it happened. Perhaps it was when he first turned human in front of her and almost died in the same night. She remembered that like it was yesterday. It was one of the first times he actually complimented her…

"You smell nice."

Granted, he was injured and out of it due to poison, but it was a nice thing to say, nonetheless.

She bit her lip hard. These memories hurt her more than anything now. Because he didn't love her back. And she knew it. His heart still hadn't moved on from Kikyo. And it didn't help the situation that she was one of the walking dead. Kagome sighed. Why did everything about her life have to be so abnormal?

Her head snapped up when she heard footsteps nearby. She watched Inuyasha enter the clearing by the well. Kagome and he had gotten into another one of their meager arguments, but it wasn't out of the ordinary. He looked disgruntled to find her still hanging around.

"I thought you were going home?" he growled.

"I am going home. I just needed to relax for a minute so I don't misdirect any of the rage you cause at my family. They've done nothing wrong."

"Whatever. You're so sensitive to everything." He said.

"Well, when you say hurtful things, Inuyasha, you hurt me!" she yelled before she meant to. A look of regret passed over his features, but was quickly replaced by his normal scowl.

"I don't have anything to apologize for. So if that's what you're waiting for, you can forget it and just go on home." He snapped.

Kagome growled and stood up, prepared to go off like a time bomb and "sit" his ass deep into the ground. But before she could, she looked into his eyes. They were so gold and brilliant. In the sun light they practically sparkled. His expression was gentle as he took a step forward toward her.

"Kagome…"

"I-Inuyasha?" she stuttered. She remained where she stood. He wasn't frightening her at all. She was just nervous out of her mind and totally confused as to what he was about to do.

"I'll see you tomorrow, right? I'll meet you back here at the well to come get you?" he said.

Kagome nodded. "Yes. Tomorrow. I know you hate it when I have to go back like this, and I'm sorry, but-"

"It's fine. You always come back, right?" he said.

She nodded, smiling at him, instantly forgiving him once again for being a crazy, over-protective jerk. "Right. I'll be back tomorrow."

Inuyasha softly took her hand in his, gripped it for a moment while looking like there was something else he wanted to say, then turned to leave back towards Kaede's hut. Kagome wanted to tell him so badly that she loved him. But now probably wasn't the right time. Kagome didn't know why, but suddenly her whole body felt so cold. She wanted to cry, she wanted to scream. Her heart just…sank.

But instead, she pushed it down and hopped into the well.

"Inuyasha's gone? Where did he go?" Kagome asked Sango when she returned to the hut and explained how Inuyasha wasn't there to get her at the well today.

"Not sure. He left late last night and just never came back." Sango shrugged. "I'm sure he's fine wherever he is, Kagome."

But still, Kagome couldn't ignore the horrible feeling in her gut that something was wrong. She ran out the door to start looking for him when Miroku approached, carrying a limp Inuyasha in his arms.

"What happened? Is he all right?" she cried.

Miroku had tears falling down his face, pain etched into his eyes of brown. "Kagome…he's dead."

Kagome's heart died that day. Now she stood before the sacred tree in her own time, staring at where the bark had ebbed away five hundred years ago. That time felt like such a dream to her now.

She remembered crumbling before Inuyasha's body before they laid him to rest. She told him that it wasn't fair. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with him and he had been taken in battle with Naraku. He had been alone. No one had any idea where he had gone. He must've marched out and tried to do something stupid, she mused to herself.

She reached out to stroke the tree. Today was the day before Christmas Eve. The day her love had been killed and laid to rest in eternal peace.

It wasn't right. It wasn't the least bit fair. To know one's soul mate just to lose them after a short period of time? There was no justice in that whatsoever.

But not everyone in the world gets to find their true love. Some live their whole lives without knowing a single time of true love or happiness. Believe it or not, she was one of the lucky ones.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do now, Inuyasha!" She began as she continued touching his tree. Her other hand gripped the subjugation beads around her neck tightly. "You were so much a part of me! You were the reason I was allowed to go back in time! I was destined to meet you! Why did you have to go? Why?" she began sobbing.

It had been a year since that day. Her world had changed forever. She didn't think there would ever come a time when she would be all right again. At least, not completely.

A light touch caressed her hair. She could swear she could feel clawed nails against her head. She sighed and leaned into the ghostly touch.

"I love you, Inuyasha. Never forget that. Wait for me."

She took a deep breath, put both hands in her waist pockets, and walked back to her home. Wherever that was.

A pair of golden eyes were watching her walk away, tears filling their ducts and full of such longing it was heart breaking to see.

"I love you, too, Kagome." Whispered a voice that carried with the wind.

She looked over her shoulder back at the tree, smiled, crying, and continued walking once again.