A/N- WARNING!!!!!!!! This fic is SAD, but it ends with enough fluff to keep everyone happy! So please stick with it through the sad parts!!
Title: Travelin' Soldier
Author: SolarCat
Rating: PG-13 for mentions of death (sort of) and whatnot. It has a happy ending! I promise!!!!
Chapter: 1/1
Disclaimer: Inu-Yasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. The song "Travelin' Soldier" is the property of the Dixie Chicks.
2 Days Past 18Kagome hated the waiting. The rest of the group had left her and Shippo behind and gone to confront Naraku one last time. It had already been almost three weeks, and Kagome was growing more and more desperate by the day to find out if everyone was okay.
'Inuyasha.........' She sat on the hill for almost the fifteenth day in a row and stared off in the direction the others had gone, fingering the rosary beads at her neck. It had been so long.........
FLASHBACK
Inuyasha was adamant. "You are not going! I won't have it! You'll just get in the way and get hurt! You're staying here to take care of the damned kit! Do you understand me!?"
Kagome was near to actual tears. She knew very well that she would probably be seriously injured if she did go, but she couldn't stand the idea of letting Inuyasha go and maybe never seeing him again. Finally, she gave in to the welling water in her eyes and the feeling in her heart. The tears spilled down her cheeks and she flung herself at him, burying her face in the crook of his neck and throwing her arms around him. He froze, then slowly put his arms around her in return. She sobbed into his neck for an eternity, then pulled herself away enough to talk.
"I know you have to go, and I'll stay here if that's what you want me to do. But you have to come back to me!" She let herself fall away from him slowly, allowing her hands to float briefly over his ears before bringing her arms down. When she was far enough back for him to see, Inuyasha spotted the prayer beads he had worn for so long dangling loosely in her hands. She held them up to his sight.
"I'm taking these for now. But they're going back on as soon as you get back, do you understand me? You have to come back, because I would never break a promise to a person that I love! And I promise you that you will wear these again! So you have to come back to me! I don't care how long it takes!" The tears were still streaming down her face as she placed the prayer beads around her own neck.
Inuyasha watched her with a very odd expression on his face. When she had put the beads on, she lifted her eyes to meet his. "Promise you'll come back to me?" She asked, no, begged him, her eyes tearing away at the remaining shields over his heart.
"Promise me?" She whispered, never tearing her eyes away from his. As she choked back another sob, he moved forward and pulled her back into his embrace.
"I promise." He whispered in her ear, his voice husky. She turned her head to face him, searching his eyes for an answer to a question that hadn't been voiced. She found it when he lowered his head to hers and caught her lips in a soft kiss that made her soul want to cry for both the joy and the pain of the moment. The kiss broke after an eternity, and Kagome nuzzled her way back into his neck, holding onto him as though she never wanted to let go. He let his chin rest on the top of her head.
"Even if it takes me a thousand years, Kagome. I promise I'll come back."
END FLASHBACK
Kagome had watched the little group of warriors until they had disappeared from her sight on the other side of the valley. For the first few days she had been okay. Not exactly happy, but not miserable as she had been for the past two weeks. Then she had gotten worried. The group must have gotten to Naraku's stronghold by that point, and it was then that Kagome had begun her daily watches on the hillside. Kaede had watched the girl worriedly, concerned for her health. She wouldn't even come inside to eat- her meals had to be brought to her. The only reason she would come in to sleep for a few hours each night was because all of the village guards had given her their solemn promise that she would be the first to know if the group was spotted. Shippo had originally watched with her most of the time, but she wouldn't play with him, or even talk to him, and he eventually grew bored with the watching. He spent his days helping Kaede with her duties in the village and entertaining the village children with his tricks.
And so Kagome kept her lonely vigil on the hill.
Waitin' for the Soldier to Come Back Again
It was another week before she saw a sign of them. Finally, she spotted a form that looked much like Kirara coming over the hill on the opposite end of the fields through the woods. She jumped up immediately and began running toward them, forgetting completely about Shippo or using her bike. She just ran straight through the fields toward them, leaping over irrigation ditches, heedless of the mud that was now spattered all over her shoes, socks and skirt. The villiagers stared as she ran straight through the village and out through the fields on the other side. Kaede saw the girl run past the small window of her hut, and began preparing the items she would need to treat any of the group members' wounds.
Kagome was completely out of breath by the time she reached the other end of the valley. The fact that she had managed to run the entire length of it at all was astonishing, but Kagome didn't care. All she cared about was.........
Finally the group cleared the bushes, Miroku first, a bit worse for the wear, but alive. She looked at him intensely, silently asking......... Miroku dropped what was left of his staff on the ground and held up the hand that had been holding it. Then he held up the other. No air rip. It was gone. Naraku was gone. Kirara had cleared the bushes by then, Sango on her back. She was a bit worse off than Miroku, but likewise, still hanging in there. She jumped off the fire cat, and silently handed over the Shikon Jewel. The prize they had fought for for so long. But where.........
Kagome took the jewel, then looked from Sango to Miroku and back again. She felt a sick, black feeling welling up in her heart.
"Where........." She half-whispered, half-croaked, her voice cracking in the middle of the word, tears welling in her eyes. She focused on Sango. "Sango- chan?" She sounded like she was begging, pleading for Sango to smile and laugh, and point to the bushes where Inuyasha was waiting. Begging for it to be all a cruel joke. But Sango let her head fall and her eyes rest on the ground, then shook her head slowly. She raised her eyes to Kagome's again.
"I'm sorry, Kagome-chan. There was nothing........." She was cut off as Kagome dropped down onto the ground bonelessly, sobs wracking her slight frame. Sango knelt next to her, and drew her into a comforting hug, trying the best she could to help her best friend deal with the loss. Kagome sobbed and wailed for almost an hour straight before she finally collapsed into a dreamless sleep, her tears spent and her body exhausted.
'He promised me.........' was her last conscious thought.
I cried
Never gonna hold the hand of another guy
Too young for him they told her
Waitin' for the love of a travelin' soldier
Our love will never end
Waitin' for the soldier to come back again
It took a week after Kagome's return to her time, still exhausted and more crushed and heartbroken than she had thought it was possible to be, before she finally felt ready to go back to school. She walked the distance slowly, holding onto the prayer beads she still wore, now with a new school uniform to replace the one she had ruined in her frantic run through the fields.
When she finally arrived, her friends were waiting for her a block away from the school gates.
"Ohayo, Kagome-chan!" Eri called out to her. Kagome looked up briefly, but didn't answer the girl. Her three friends looked at each other, worried about Kagome's health. He grandfather had told them she had a very distressing heart condition. It was probably as close to the truth as he had ever come. The girls walked the rest of the way with Kagome, unconsciously walking on all sides of her- forming almost a human shield against the world for her.
"Hey," Ayumi piped up as they neared the gates. "Who's that?" She pointed to a figure hidden by the shade of a tree about half a block away from them. Yuka and Eri also looked. Kagome just kept staring down at the prayer beads she was gripping. The figure stepped forward into the morning light.
"Whoa. Check out his hair! It's silver!" Kagome's eyes widened slowly, and she hesitantly lifted her head. Her eyes locked on the person in front of them.
"I- Inu.........?" She whispered, not quite daring to believe her eyes. She took a step forward. He did the same, then cracked a smile. "Inuyasha?" Kagome's voice grew a little stronger then. He nodded.
Kagome found herself crying again as she ran towards him as fast as she possibly could, but this time the tears were of pure joy. She jumped into his arms and into a kiss she thought she would never receive again, wrapping her legs tightly around his waist and her arms securely around his neck. He wrapped her up in return, one arm supporting her body and the other tangled in her hair. Eventually the two came up for air, oblivious to their small audience.
"How.........? How did you.........? They said you were dead!" Kagome was sobbing into his neck again. He nuzzled her hair as well as he could, being that she was still wrapped around him as tightly as she could possibly be, and smiled softly into the top of her head.
"I heal fast, remember? And besides, I made you a promise. You always have to keep promises to the one you love. Didn't you tell me that?" He was almost whispering, but Kagome heard every word. She looked up at him through misty eyes.
"You really mean that?" she matched his whisper perfectly.
He answered her with another kiss.
Our love will never end
Waitin' for the soldier to come back again
Never more to be alone
When the letter says
A soldier's coming home