Perpetual

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha and it's a good thing too. I'd never get a single productive thing done if I had him all to myself.

The well was closed and InuYasha was gone. It was over and now Kagome was left with a blank canvas of a life.

She simply sat down on the floor of the well house and sobbed. It seemed that her tears had been never ending these past few days. She cried for her broken heart, the shredded remnants of her life and mostly out of fear.

Without InuYasha, she didn't know what to do with herself or even who she was supposed to be.

She had been stupid to not plan for this kind of thing and blind for not seeing all of this coming years ago. Once or twice she had pondered how long her adventures in the Sengoku Era would last. A person couldn't jump back and forth in time uninhibited without paying a price. She should've known that, just as suddenly as her adventures began, they could end. The idea had been much too frightening to her, so she simply ignored the nagging suspicion.

Still, she should've at least thought about what would happen after the Shikon Jewel was completed and Naraku vanquished.

Worse yet was the aching loneliness. InuYasha was gone forever and she was just beginning to comprehend what a vast expanse "forever" was. Five-hundred years were more than numbers in her history text book. Though those three words seemed harmless when they were nothing more than ink stamped on brittle paper. Now Kagome was faced with stark reality and it terrified her more than Naraku and a hundred demons. The worst they could do was to kill her, but that would be it. This was the cruelest kind of torture, having to live parallel to, but never again crossing paths with the man you love.

The covered well taunted her daily, whispering mocking reminders of how she'd taken its precious services for granted. Half of her world had been brought to a screeching halt that fateful day when the well closed for good.

Kagome tried to remind herself that she'd lived in her time with perfect contentment before InuYasha. She'd done it before, but she wondered if she could again. Could she return to a completely normal existence? It just wouldn't be the same, living in blithe ignorance and bland normalcy.

Either way, she knew she had to resign herself to an empty, normal life.

Besides, InuYasha wouldn't want her to sit there in a puddle of her own tears. None of them would want that for her. They'd want her to live, to find a way to be happy.

Her sobs quieted into pitiful hiccups and then faded in one gusty, trembling sigh.

All her dear friends would be hoping that she was happy and safe back in her own time. She could almost hear them reassuring her that everything would be okay, that she would be okay. She hadn't lost them, not really.

Even though she couldn't see InuYasha, she knew he'd always be with her in spirit. He was a hanyou, after all, and even a half demon was still a spirit. She didn't know all that much about the laws of the Netherworld or what eventually happened to youkai and hanyous once they passed away. The supernatural world was still so enigmatic to Kagome, but InuYasha had said that he'd always protect her. For all she knew, he could be watching over her right now and she'd never even know it!

With that thought bolstering her, Kagome dried her tears and stood. She mounted the stairs that led to the sliding doors of the well house and stepped out into the brilliant sunshine. The sun was golden, just like InuYasha's eyes, and burned with the same intensity.

Kagome smiled and resolved to carry on with her life, reminding herself that her hanyou was always with her. Because he promised he would protect her and InuYasha never broke a promise.

I hope you've enjoyed this little ficlet as it is my first published InuYasha story. Albeit a bittersweet one.