A/N: Hello, hello everybody! So due to an unfortunately, rather large amount of unseen and awful factors, I went on a month break from writing. I returned to my stories yesterday and found myself pathetically out of shape. For some reason, I find I can't write anything lately and well, somehow this got produced as I tried to kick myself to update something. I actually had the idea for this last May and just got around to writing it. It's not as 'pretty' as I would have liked it to be (due to writer's block, depression, etc.) but I think it more or less gets the job done. As advertised, it was inspired by Train's 'Marry Me' which is a beautiful song. Please take a listen when and if you can. :)
"Promise me, you'll always be happy by my side."
"Only if you promise you'll say hello next time..."
To the ignorant onlooker, it was an embrace like any other. Two people clearly in love, holding one another tight in the gentle warmth of the afternoon sun, under a tree that held more meanings and secrets between the two of them than anyone else would ever know. And it was just like any other day. The birds chirped from their perches among oak leaves in the distance while the crickets joined in from the thick grass below; and the two lovers held each other close while two onlookers struggled to form words that made sense in the scope of the events that had just occurred.
"What does he mean by dragging Kagome out here?" the female onlooker hissed under her breath, edging closer to the pair though she remained concealed by the underbrush.
"You should know by now, Sango, that no good ever comes of this particular tendency of his," was the grim reply from her stern companion, who was also hunched over beside her. His dark violet eyes scanned the scene thoroughly as if he was anticipating for what he was sure to happen next.
Sango's eyes darted from the monk by her side to the pair standing a few yards away and back again. "And...shouldn't we stop them?" her question was slow with a potent pause that made it seem as though she had changed thought halfway through the statement.
"You would know better than even I that that course of action would be ineffective at best" the monk sighed, his grip tightening on the wooden staff he always carried, "We can do nothing but wait." A grim smile crept over his features, "With any luck, they'll start arguing."
A small smile also played itself out on Sango's lips, "I miss their arguing, Lord Monk..."
"As do I, Sango, as do I..."
A few yards away, the pair was completely oblivious to their watchful friends' gazes and critiques. To them the only thing that mattered in the whole world was each other. And at the moment, it was all they had... It was all they needed. A heavy gloom hung in the air between the two as gentle salt-water rain droplets fell to the ground around them.
Kagome held on desperately both physically and mentally, grasping at Inuyasha's robe and pushing back sobs that threatened to grasp her entire frame and rip at her soul. As was the case every few months when the pair would find themselves in some life-changing danger, Inuyasha would drag her back to the Bone-Eater's Well and make some grand show of her 'well-being' and what was 'best for her'. And all the while, Kagome would be confused as to why he was doing such an odd thing until of course she realized they had come to the place where they had met, lived and fallen in love. And at that time, she would always find herself caught up in a heated argument for her own future.
Distant resonances of her once shouted statements echoed around the small meadow as recent trips to the Bone-Eater's Well under what could be considered 'better' circumstances haunted the edges of her mind.
"You're trying to send me back again, aren't you?" she had demanded one blazing hot summer afternoon after a particularly sneaky and downright cowardly reincarnation of Naraku had kidnapped her for the day.
"Feh," was his simple response as he continued to carry her through the thick woods towards the clearing.
"Well, I'm not going!" was her ardent response, as she tried her best to cross her arms over her chest and look away from her beloved half-demon.
"It's not up to you," was his huffy response but at catching the angry look on her face, he quickly added, "I'm doing this for your own good, Kagome!"
"Then let me stay with you!" Her eyes sparkled with the faintest prelude to tears and at the sight of this, he paused in his determined march and gazed into her eyes.
"I'm no good for you, Kagome," he nearly whispered and though he wanted to look away, he couldn't. She'd already caught him in that unbreakable spell.
"You're wrong, Inuyasha," she had replied just as softly, just as kindly, just as earnestly, "You're perfect..."
The words still rangclearly through the small space though they now seemed as though they were from another life to Kagome. Cautiously, as though her heart would break all over again if she moved too quickly, she lifted her head slowly to make eye-contact with the man who now held her in his arms. This time, as they stood together near the Bone-Eater's Well, was different, of course. This time, she had known in advance that they would be coming to this spot on this day. And this time, she knew there was nothing she could do about it. This time, her leaving, his loneliness, their separation... it was all inevitable.
"Inuyasha!" she gasped quietly as her eyes drifted over his features. Large wet tears were streaming from his amber eyes, down his cheeks and onto her face and hair.
"What?" he attempted to growl, though the word came out muffled and strained.
"You're crying," Kagome responded somewhat dumbly, though she felt that the words needed to be said.
"I know, idiot," he replied, "I know."
Kagome bit her lip as he pulled her close again and whispered promises of love into her hair. Slowly, she closed her eyes and allowed herself to cry fully knowing this would be the last time... the last time...
Two pieces of a seemingly inseparable puzzle just didn't make sense apart.
That, at least, came to make sense between the two after many years.
Hours went by as she sat alone and cried in her shower. Hours passed as he avoided all contact with his worried companions, choosing instead to sit alone by the well which still held the last traces of her lingering scent. The scent that had disappeared all too thoroughly and quickly as she departed one last time from his arms.
"Better alive than dead," he had mumbled to himself though his strength had faded with her disappearance and for once in many years, he again felt thoroughly alone.
Hours had turned into days and days into months.
Those who were closest to the pair had urged each to move on with their lives, never knowing the full story behind the parting or why Kagome had never tried to return. Why she was gone... so far, far away to an unreachable place. And though he knew the answers, queries still haunted Inuyasha's mind in sleep or wakefulness; it didn't seem to matter.
And months became years as too many passed for the half-demon to keep track of anymore.
But he waited patiently for his happily ever after, as though time could serve to make it all better, instead of stealing the girl he'd come to love.
Decaying human flesh and skulls littered the ground as an elderly woman sat on a pile of bones, smoking a pipe that was spewing deep purple smoke.
"She will forget."
The words were spoken with the utmost confidence and with no reservations towards the poor half-demon's feelings or already shredded heart.
"What do you mean, 'forget'?" he nearly snarled across the dark room. His nose was burning with the foul odor of the undead and the hair on the back of his neck was standing straight up. He hated being in this place and was silently cursing Myoga for sending him here.
"Are you stupid, half-breed?" was the old woman's blunt response, "Forget. She will forget."
Inuyasha's blood boiled with anger, "To hell with you, old hag."
The woman shifted so that her features were made visible by the dim candlelight that filled the room and Inuyasha saw that they were disproportionate and malformed, almost decaying. A look of disgust crept across his face and the woman gave a bark-like laugh, "She was not of this world." Inuyasha bit back his response which was incidentally filled with much swearing and little logic. He couldn't argue with that statement... Kagome was something else altogether. "The priestess," the old woman continued nonchalantly, "Kikyo," Inuyasha inhaled a sharply at the mention of Kikyo's name. The woman narrowed her eyes at him before grinning lightly and continuing, "Was the form of that child's soul that... held a place in this world."
"Kikyo is dead," Inuyasha stated firmly.
"And whose fault is that?"
And so, Inuyasha was to live out the rest of his years alone. He had offered no sign of greeting, not even acknowledgment, as he had exited the Death God's dwelling and met with Myoga on the road returning to his forest...the place which held the last fleeting memories of her.
"Lord Inuyasha!" Myoga had called desperately as the half-demon walked past though Inuyasha had no response. Inuyasha believed that there was very little worth his response these days and he would hold fast to this principle in the years to come.
Loneliness...
It was the only feeling that he experienced in the years that seemed to pass all too slowly.
Loneliness and a bitter longing for that which he could not have.
Around him, the scenery changed. Budding flowers gave way to luscious leaves which faded and crackled and eventually fell to the ground dead, only to be reborn again.
And Inuyasha watched the forest, year after year, with a strange mix of apathy and emptiness for both his existence and that of the world around him.
He had heard that they had all died long ago. Miroku and Sango and of course, old lady Kaede, though their descendants lived on in the surrounding villages. And the stories and tales of the heroic demon-slayer, Sango, and her monk-in-shining-armor, Miroku, would never die. It seemed that the pair had become quite famous after marrying. At least, that's what Inuyasha heard from those who passed through his forest, oblivious to the fact that a heartbroken half-demon was half-listening to their tall tales, half-living in a semi-dreamed past.
And then, all too soon, it seemed, even the forest itself began to change. Plants, bushes and trees disappeared one by one and Inuyasha was suddenly ingrained with a new passion for swearing as what could be considered his 'home' was slowly uprooted and carted off in large wagons with far too many wheels.
"The world is changing," Myoga had observed during one of his last visits with his master. He was becoming an old flea and the long, often arduous task of finding his master (as his master often did not wish to be found) was wearing down on his health.
"Feh," was Inuyasha's standard reply, and the two had sat out the remainder of their final meeting together in silence.
Inuyasha didn't care much for a 'changing world'. He didn't care much for anything, after all, though he kept to the Well as his last means of finding her again.
And though the Death God's prediction still rang out clear in his mind, he would wait for her.
He'd wait forever if he had to.
All Kagome's life, she couldn't help but feel as though someone... or something, as the case may be, was always watching her. When she was younger and had complained to her parents about the eeriness of it all, her mother had simply soothed her with assurances that ghosts weren't real.
"And even if they were, what would they want with a little girl?" her mother would often tease, though Kagome swore that she could always hear a faint snickering after these words.
Though when Kagome got older, she realized more and more that the presence didn't feel like a ghost at all, but rather something very lonely and sad. When she was eleven or twelve, she had even gotten into the habit of opening her bedroom window late at night and calling out, "If you're lonely, you can come in and stay in my room tonight." But she never felt whatever it was come in. And her curiosity remained until she entered middle school and thoughts of high school entrance exams and academic success clouded any childhood fantasies her mind could harbor.
And just like that, Kagome considered herself grown up and beyond the supernatural.
Believing in ghosts was a child's fantasy. However, she swore there was something weird with that old well house out front. As if something had happened there long ago, but she couldn't remember what. But she'd been having those feelings for years and now that she would be entering college in the fall; it was time to put such thoughts out of her mind and move on with her life.
"I'm going out, Mama!" Kagome called as she slid the front door open and laced up her shoes.
"Pick up a carton of milk on your way home, dear!" was her mother's response from the kitchen.
"Will do!" responded Kagome and with that she was off. As a recently accepted college student, Kagome couldn't have felt freer. She walked the streets of Tokyo with a certain bounce in her step that could have only been instilled due to the sudden lifting of most of her academic responsibilities. After all, the spring before entering college was always a student's happiest moments. She glanced at her watch almost mechanically as she waited alongside the red 'don't walk' man at a crosswalk. She had about thirty minutes before she was supposed to meet Yuka, Eri and Ayumi at the café. She grinned as the little green man replaced the red one and cars skidded to a stop in front of her. Being a little early never hurt anyone. And with that piece of wisdom in mind, she jauntily set off for the newly opened French café, La Muse, down the street.
It was... weird (to say the least) to be a demon living in 'Kagome's time'.
That's what it would always be in his mind.
'Kagome's time.'
Despite the fact that Inuyasha had lived the five hundred years that separated his time with Kagome's, he still found the transition between the two worlds to be inordinately strange. And even though the current era had most certainly also become 'his own time', even though he had adapted to the new world, had learned what cars were and how to drive, had bought an apartment on the classy side of town and had already graduated college with top marks, he would always refer to it as 'Kagome's time'.
It was hers and it was special and it had taken a damn long time to get there.
But he was there! He'd done it. He'd made it to Kagome's world.
He'd waited for what seemed like forever for this moment. He'd gritted his teeth three years prior when Mistress Centipede had dragged her down the well for the first time, and watched with heavy remorse as she emerged from the well after each one of their stupid fights that seemed to occur so, so long ago.
And he'd gazed on helplessly as his heart was ripped out all over again when she had returned for the last time. And the well had been boarded up as all thoughts of Inuyasha and feudal era were promptly forgotten by each member of the Higurashi family one by one.
And she'd seemed so alone... so helpless... so unlike the girl he'd come to know and love. For the six agonizing months that he had remained a part of her memory, the echoes of a tragic love had tortured her to the point that he was actually glad when he was wiped clear from her mind. At least, his nonexistence meant the pain that sub sequentially followed also simply did not exist...
And she could exist, seemingly without him, in a world that was all her own.
Yes, shortly after forgetting him (he winced at the thought), she'd flourished in her natural home. She'd returned to school, achieved top marks and had retrieved her glow of happiness that suited her so well. And today, sitting two tables away from him in the local chic café, she was just as beautiful as ever. Her presence practically radiated with a certain degree of pride and cheerfulness that magnetically drew Inuyasha in, forcing him to remind himself that he could not mess this up.
He'd had five hundred years to plan this and though he'd been waiting all that time, he was still the same old impatient Inuyasha who had bid her adieu so long ago.
As he watched his love sit with her legs crossed, sipping from a frappuccino in one hand and reading a magazine held in the other, he let himself reflect on times gone by; something he didn't do very often if at all.
Before meeting Kagome that faithful day under the God Tree all those years ago, he had never thought he'd come to love someone.
Now Kikyo was different.
She was in a completely different category altogether and what they had shared had been gentle understanding and unwarranted trust. A first of firsts and prelude for what was to come. With Kagome, together could not be close enough, and forever was not long enough.
He fidgeted with the small box in his pocket as a very uncharacteristic wave of nervousness suddenly washed over him.
What if she didn't remember him? What if she couldn't remember him? What if her memories of him were lost forever...? What if it was already too late? What if there was nothing he could do? What if...?
Inuyasha shut out the thoughts quickly with an air of arrogance that suited him all too well.
Just because she didn't remember him, didn't mean they weren't perfect for each other. And he would make sure she saw that.
He made to stand up but quickly flopped back down as the waitress approached Kagome's table and asked if she wanted anything else. Inuyasha soundlessly swore as he realized how shaky his sudden retreat had been.
"If I ever get the nerve to say hello in this café," he muttered under his breath, not taking his eyes off of the unaware Kagome, "Say you will."
"Say you will."
A/N: Deliberately left with many mysteries and a somewhat cliff-hanger ending. Feedback would be much, much, MUCH appreciated (it might help with my current state of depression... .) as well as what questions you as the reader might have about the story. And if there's enough interest, I might finish off Inuyasha's proposal and enlighten everyone to their reunion. Thanks for reading! Have a great day!
Andddd, review? :D