Love Can Change, In Time

By RulerOfButterflies

It's been years since the final battle. The memory is as clear as water, as if the whole thing had happened yesterday. The reason why I'm remembering it? Today's the anniversary, December 1st.

It was cold. Very cold. The sky was gray and everyone seemed dreary. We had finally cornered Naraku, there was no escape for him. All of his creations besides Kanna and Akago had been defeated.

Sesshoumaru and Kouga had even joined us as we made our way towards Naraku. Of course, Inuyasha protested. He was even arrogant enough to say that he was better than the both of them put together. But, after a few "sits", I think he was glad to have them with us.

It wasn't long before we saw Naraku with hordes of demons and the saimyosho behind him. It was then when the air became colder, heavier, and thicker. It was then it began to snow.

Shippou was safe with Kaede, so I wouldn't worry much about him, and it was decided that Kouga would stay with me to protect me, since I would be put out of range from Naraku and shoot my bow and arrows.

Everyone had lined up, with the exception of Kouga and I, facing Naraku, Kanna and Akago.

Naraku began to talk and everyone's aura flared with anger. I was about to ask Kouga what had been said, but he looked pretty angry, so I just looked back at everyone else. Inuyasha shouted something back at Naraku and pointed his sword to him. Moments after that, the battle had begun.

Kanna had walked in front of Naraku and began to take the souls of Sango and Miroku. Upon seeing that, I placed my feet firmly on the ground and let loose my sacred arrow. As my arrow soared, the demons tried to knock it off-course, but all that touched the barrier around my arrow was purified. Soon after that, my arrow met Kanna's mirror and it had shattered, letting the trapped souls go free.

One down, two to go.

Moments later, Sango and Miroku regained consciousness and let themselves be pulled into battle.

Sesshoumaru had been the one, we decided, to battle Naraku one-on-one. He and Naraku were moving around to fast to watch, so I turned my attention to Inuyasha, because I was worried about him most.

Inuyasha was put up against Akago and a horde of demons who were determined to protect him.

It looked as though Inuyasha finally made it through the demons when in a sudden cloud of smoke Kikyou appeared. 'That's not right,' I thought, 'Kikyou died a couple of months ago by Naraku's hand.'

I had begun to panic. Kouga tried to calm me down when he noticed I was distressed, but I was hysterical.

I screamed to Inuyasha at the top of my lungs when I saw him lower his sword, " Inuyasha, she's not real, she's dead!"

I burst into tears when I saw him heading towards the fake Kikyou. I turned towards Kouga and begged him to go and save Inuyasha. He looked at where Inuyasha was and then back at me, gave a little nod, and headed towards Inuyasha.

The faux Kikyou was taken by surprise when Kouga kicked the demon in the face, forcing the demon to drop the illusion. Soon after, Inuyasha and Kouga killed the demon.

As I watched Kouga and Inuyasha, I let my guard down. Naraku must have noticed this, because right when Inuyasha and Kouga were about to give Akago the deathblow, Naraku had wrapped one of his many tentacles around my waist and pulled me next to him.

Without thinking, I yelled, " Get this nasty thing off of me!" And then I slapped him.

A loud, resounding echo was heard and everyone stopped and looked towards me.

It was quickly noticed that I had been captured. Inuyasha and Kouga came charging towards Naraku while Sesshoumaru slew Akago. Immediately after that, Naraku's grip on my waist loosened and I dropped to the ground.

Inuyasha was getting ready to do the windscar, and Sesshoumaru had pointed Toukijin towards Naraku.

" Wench, shoot your arrow!" Sesshoumaru had yelled at me.

Ignoring the fact that he called me a wench, I quickly notched my arrow, took aim, and sent the arrow on it's way the moment I saw Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru bring down their swords.

There was a blinding flash as the attacks met. A few seconds later, there was nothing but ash and the shikon shards in place of where Naraku was.

As if in a trance, I walked over towards the shikon shards and picked them up, headed over to Kouga and asked for his shards. Getting the last two shards from Kouga, I took off the necklace I wore that carried the bottle that had five shikon shards in it.

With the shikon shards in my hand, I closed my hands and began to make the shikon-no-kakera whole again.

It didn't take as long as I thought It would, because a few moments later the shikon-no-tama was whole and purified.

The moment I opened my hands and saw the shikon-no-tama was whole, I realized that this was the end. No more Sango and Miroku moments, no more sitting Inuyasha, no more seeing Shippou, no more being together. I'm sure Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha noticed I was crying before I did.

Turning around, I put on a big fake smile and handed the shikon-no-tama to Inuyasha and said, " Here you go, now all you have to do is make your wish."

Inuyasha's eyes never left mine as he took the jewel from my hand. Looking down at the jewel, he closed his eyes tight and made the wish.

A bright purple light surrounded my body and before I knew it, everyone was being pulled away from me. Next thing I knew, I was back in the shrine.

I picked myself up as fast as I could and jumped back into the well in a desperate attempt to go back to the Feudal Era.

" No! Inuyasha, what did you do!" I sobbed.

Not long after that, okaa-san and jii-chan came running into the shrine, trying to find out what was wrong, but I could not tell them.

The next morning, I found myself in my bed. At first I thought it was all a dream, but that couldn't be true. My heart had broke, no dream could do that.

I became empty. No life was in my eyes. I was wallowing in self-loathing and pity. Okaa-san at first had been kind, but as months passed and my condition continued, my okaa-san forced me to get up and move on with my life.

After that talk, I pushed myself to be the best. I ended up passing high school with top scores and graduated from college with flying colors.

Here I am now, a successful businesswoman. Every year on this day, I take a day off of work and sit in my cozy apartment. But, for some reason, today feels… different.

I'm supposed to feel sad right now, but I can't. I actually feel happy.

Since everything had been so different so far, I decided to go to my favorite place. A little coffee shop, owned by a young couple who remind me of Sango and Miroku.

Since it's a short walk there, I was there in a heartbeat.

" Uryu, would you mind getting me my usual?"

" Kagome?" Uryu asked.

" The one and only." I said with a smile.

" You're a sight for sore eyes." Uryu said as he hopped over the counter and crushed me in a bear hug.

" Where's Sa-chan?" I asked.

" That lovely onna is doing stuff in the back."

" I'm not anymore."
Uryu turned around to see the lovely onna glaring at him and tapping her foot with her hands on her hips.

" Kisa, my love, I have m-"

" Can it." Kisa said.

Uryu hung his head in defeat and started to make my usual drink. A white-chocolate mocha with whip, grande size.

I ran up to Kisa and gave her a hug like always.

" I wish I could stay longer, Kisa, but I have something I need to do." 'What it was, I had no idea, but it just came out.'

" All right, I'll see you later Kagome." Kisa said as she went into the back room again.

" Here you are Kagome." Uryu said as he handed me my drink.

I waved and said a quick goodbye to him and left.

Instead of going back home, I decided to wander around a bit more.

Lost in my thoughts, I accidentally bumped into someone.

" Watch where you're going, wench." A male voice bit out as he shoved his way past me.

'Wench.' The name sent alarms blaring in my mind. I turned around to see the tall figure wearing a long black jacket and a black hat walking away from me. I ran towards him with all my might, my last hope of staying attached to a time that I shouldn't have been in, but was needed.

" Wait! Please!" I yelled in desperation.

By the time he stopped, I had already ran around to the front of him.

His hat shadowed his face, so I pulled his hat off and gasped.

" It is you!" I said as I lunged at him, wrapping my arms tightly around his neck. I was so happy I began to cry.

He stiffened at the sudden contact and it made me laugh.

" Wench, remove yourself from my person."

I laughed harder and held on tighter.

" Don't you remember me?" I asked.

When I heard no reply, I told him.

" It's me, Kagome."

I pulled back away from him and looked into his eyes. They widened only a fraction, but that was enough to tell me he was surprised.

" Kagome?" His baritone voice was softer when he said my name.

" The one and only."

He looked down at his Rolex and looked back at me. " Do you have some time to spare?"

" I have the whole day off."

" We need to go somewhere and talk."

" We could go to my apartment, it's nearby."

" Lead the way."

Nothing was said on the way to my apartment, but my mind was going a mile a minute trying to figure out what I was going to ask him and what he was going to tell me.

It wasn't long before we were in my apartment. To think there'd be a demon who had tried to kill me numerous times would be sitting on my couch, waiting patiently for me to get tea ready.

Soon enough the tea was done and I had to face whatever it was he was going to say.

I took a seat next to him on the couch and poured the tea. He didn't want sugar in his tea, nor did I. I figured I'd need something strong to help me stay a little calm.

After taking a sip of tea, the demon turned to me and began to speak.

He told me of how Sango and Miroku were married and had seven girls and one boy, Kaede had passed away in her sleep at the age of ninety, Kohaku had survived and he and Rin had also married and had one baby boy, and Kouga had finally mated with Ayame after she knocked some sense into him.

Don't get me wrong when I say this, I mean, I loved hearing how everything with my friends went, but he was deliberately ignoring the one person I wanted to know most about.

" What about Inuyasha?" I asked after a lengthy pause.

He growled at the name which made me laugh. He looked up at me and sent me a cold-hearted glare which only made me laugh harder.

" Inuyasha," he spat out venomously, " died fighting for me."

He turned his head away from me as I took in the information. 'Inuyasha... died.' Before I knew it, I was in the embrace of the former taiyoukai of the West.

" Do not cry. I couldn't stand the smell of you tears then and I can't stand them now."

It had been too long since I ever thought of the possibility of Inuyasha being dead. He had made it through so much, how could he have died?

I looked up at the taiyoukai through my tear-filled eyes and asked the one word that would probably kill me.

" How?"

He looked away from me and glared dangerously at the tea.

" Protecting me. The baka showed up and decided to help me protect my castle from a siege. I had been knocked unconscious and he continued to battle the demons who sought to take over my lands. By the time I came to, Inuyasha was close to death."

Nothing was said for a few moments until he decided to continue.

" His body was laying next to mine as he faced me and I faced him. Then... he smiled. He smiled and told me to live a long life. And if I saw you, to watch over you and keep you safe. I was reaching for Tenseiga as he continued, but, he saw me and told me that he wanted go to hell."

The tears came again and I heard him heave a sigh. A moment later, I was in his lap. His fingers on my chin, he lifted my head up to his.

Those amber eyes and snow-white hair brought back haunting memories of another.

" There was another thing he wanted me to do when I ran into you."

" What was that?" I whispered.

" He wanted me to tell you what his wish was."

'The wish! I'll finally know what it was after all these years!'

" Well!" I asked in shaky voice.

He pulled me closer as he began to talk. " He wished on the shikon-no-tama to... he wished for you to be happy."

'Happy? I've been miserable all these years! Leaving all of that behind was supposed to make me happy!'

That was the straw that broke the camel's back.

I quickly stood up and glared at the taiyoukai.

" You're telling me that I've been living in despair, wondering how everybody was, missing my friends and my kit! How is that supposed to make me happy!" I yelled at him.

He stood up slowly, his hand came around my neck and squeezed like a vice grip.

" I'm sorry for what you were forced to give up, but that gives you no right to yell at me. I may not be the ruler of the Western Lands, but I still demand respect."

All the while he talked, I continued to struggle to escape his grasp and get a breath of air.

He looked at me viciously before dropping me on the ground.

We continued to glare at each other, until I broke down. I ran into him and crushed my body against his. I buried my face in his chest and began to sob.

" I'm sorry! Pl-please! Pl-please, don't l-leave m-me! Please, Sess-shoumaru!" I said desperately.

I felt his arms envelope me softly as he gave me a light kiss on the top of my head.

" Never koi. I'll never leave you."

After he said that, he tightened his arms around me and said soothing words to ease my pain.

Once more, I looked up into those hauntingly familiar eyes and tried to find some truth or some support in those words. He gave me a curious look, and as if he knew what I was looking for, he gave me a soft and demanding kiss, which only made us crave each other more.

Later that night, after I was sure the beautiful and deadly taiyoukai beside me was asleep, I crawled out of my bed, put on a robe, and went to the little balcony just outside my room and looked up to the stars. I smiled and said, " Thank you, for leaving me someone, Inuyasha."

A moment later, the star I was looking at began to flicker, as if it was winking at me and I laughed.