Well, this is something that's been sitting on my computer for about a year now, waiting to be posted. I wrote it after reading at least five stories in a row with a certain plot (I guess the summary says it all) I just couldn't take anymore. So, here's a story I hope a few authors of the fics in question will read and re-evaluate their own take on Kagome.

Of course, I hope any other reader enjoys this little Angst-story, too.

With that said, happy reading!

Sayonara

Kagome was running. Caring little for the scratches and tears appearing on her legs and school uniform from the little twigs of the bushes she run past, she raced towards the clearing she knew was a couple of feet away, where an old well was standing, lonely and abandoned. She didn't stop even as she reached it, using her momentum to easily jump inside, ignoring the fact that once she landed, her legs would definitely complain about the harsh landing they were about to receive. As soon as she jumped, a weird light surrounded her and a second later, the clearing was calm again as if nothing happened, the black haired girl having disappeared as if she had never been in the first place, traveling through time five hundred years into the future.

If anyone had watched the scene, then he would have probably wondered what had caused the young woman, for that was what she would be by this era's standards, even if she was only fifteen years of age, to race as though the demons of the deepest depths of Hell were right on her heels. One would have also wondered what could have possibly forced such despair onto the young girl's features, or the tears that glistened in her eyes. But there was no one to watch what was happening and no one to wonder what caused this to happen. The clearing was as calm as could be, and it would be a long while before anyone else disturbed the well, if the magical structure was actually disturbed by the fact that from time to time people used it to time travel.

It was about an hour after this incident that a silver haired inu-hanyō walked out of the woods a couple of miles away from the well, nearing the camp-site he had left not so long before. A quick look assured the half-demon that most of his pack were right where they should be, but the dog ears immediately started twitching furiously when he noticed a certain girl was missing.

"Oi, where's Kagome?" the hanyō asked angrily the rest of the group, who were surprisingly awake for one reason or another. They must have awakened while he was away, because he definitely remembered them sleeping soundly when he left. One of the other members of the group sighed before responding calmly to the hanyō's not-so-calm question.

"We don't know, Inuyasha. She was already gone when we woke up," he said, not meeting the half-demon's eyes. He was a young man of around eighteen years of age, with short, black hair tied in a low pony tail at the base of his neck and dark, almost black eyes, though a tint of purple could also be seen in his irises if one looked closely enough. He wore the purple robes of a traveling Buddhist monk, for that was what he was, and a staff with golden, oval rings and its end was resting against his shoulder.

Before Inuyasha could leash out at the monk angrily, as his friends were certain he was about to do considering the angry scowl on his face, the only female in the group spoke up.

"Don't go blaming us because we don't know, Inuyasha. It's not like you were around to see her leave or stop her, either. We were sleeping – we're only human and we need the rest. You, however, have simply chosen to leave for a reason I don't even care to know about. You're more at fault here than any of us," she spoke courtly, not even sparing the hanyō a glance as she calmly sipped some tea from a cup that definitely didn't belong in this time period. And indeed, it was something Kagome had once brought along with her from the other side of the well, and decided it came in handy enough to keep bringing it. "But Shippō says he saw her leaving in the same general direction you left in, so I think it's quite obvious where she went, considering all circumstances," the female continued coldly, finally opening her brown eyes and turning her head to send Inuyasha and annoyed glare, the movement of her head causing the high ponytail her hair was tied into to sway gently over her shoulders. She was wearing an ordinary kimono, like any other woman of the Feudal Era would, but she had folded up the sleeves for comfort, revealing her arms to be clad in some sort of tight, black leather. That might be something unusual for a female, of course, but not for this particular one, as she was a demon slayer and as such needed to be prepared for battle accordingly, not that she expected to fight now. Not with weapons, anyway.

"What are you…" Inuyasha started to say, but cut off abruptly when he realized what the taijiya was talking about. As if on cue, the dog ears on top of his head drooped and he averted his eyes to not look at any of them, in a poor attempt to hide the guilt that immediately slammed into him. But he had been so sure that Kagome was asleep when the soul collectors came around… and if she followed him, how the hell could he not have noticed that?

Then again, there were multiple other times when he didn't notice her either, so as much as he wanted to, he couldn't rule that possibility out. He often forgot about his surrounding whenever he was with the one that commanded the soul collectors. Kikyo just had the effect on him. She always had and probably always would.

"Took you long enough to catch on," the female demon slayer muttered under her breath angrily.

"Now, now, dear Sango, let's all stay calm. We all know that Kagome-sama is alright and we were on our way to Kaede-sama's village to rest and for her to go home, anyway. There's no need to be angry," the monk spoke, coming closer to the angry female and placing a calming hand on her shoulder. Sango glared at him.

"You know what will happen if that hand gets any lower, don't you, houshi-sama?" she asked warningly, though everyone knew her question was a rhetorical one.

"She got you there, Miroku," a new voice spoke up and the monk let out a strained chuckle as he looked at the youngest of their travelling group. Shippō, a young fox-kit that didn't look older than seven or eight years old, with red-brown hair and a very bushy fox-tail, aside from other traits that defined him as a demon. "I can't help but wonder, though… will Kagome come back this time?" the kit suddenly asked, his emerald eyes staring at each and every member of the group worriedly. It was Inuyasha, who had by then seated himself at the base of one of the nearby tree, who answered the young fox's inquiry.

"Keh, the wench better be back. No matter if she left sooner or not, she said she'd be gone for three days. She better be back by then or I'll just go and drag her back. We've got Jewel shards to find, we can't afford to lose time every time the wench wants to go home," the half-demon said in an annoyed tone, earning himself another angry glare from Sango, which he ignored. The demon slayer didn't say anything, either.

"What has made you think something like that, Shippō? After all, Kagome-sama always came back. Why would this time be any different?" Miroku asked the kit, hoping to calm his worries that way. It didn't work, however, as Shippō responded, proving that his fears were not unfounded.

"Well, usually, when Kagome leaves, she always tells us when she'll be back. When it's unexpected, she tells Sango she'll use Kirara and when she'll be back, too. She never leaves without a word, and neither does she leave leaving only a note behind," the kit responded, his voice unsure as he scurried over to where Kagome's sleeping bag was left forgotten and where indeed a small note had been left. Picking it up, Shippō brought it over to the rest of the group and handed the piece of paper to Miroku, who squinted his eyes and tried to read the note, glad for the moon's and the fire's light making the task a little bit easier.

Indeed, the fact that the future-born miko had left without a word to anyone and leaving a note behind instead was worrying. Usually, you left a note when you didn't want to face the people you had to tell something important, or when you were scared they'd stop you from doing something you felt the need to do. In short, you usually left a note when something was up and you didn't want anyone to know too soon.

Miroku's eyebrows narrowed as he read what Kagome wrote, obvious worry present in his features the further he went. It didn't go unnoticed by the demon slayer as she leaned over to glance at the paper over his shoulder, trying to read it herself.

"This is indeed worrying," Miroku spoke up once he finished reading and Sango nodded in agreement, muttering a low 'yeah' under her breath. Inuyasha's ears twitched on his head when he heard the tone of their voices and he couldn't help but glance at them through half-lidded eyes when the scent of their worry filled his nostrils. He was suddenly feeling very uneasy for some reason.

"Why? What does it say?" Shippō asked somewhat panicky, his eyes wandering between Sango and Miroku at an amazing speed. Before either of them could reply, however, a clawed hand snatched the paper out of the monk's hands and Inuyasha furrowed his brows as his eyes moved rapidly over the note, his growling rising in volume as he read, an unsettling feeling settling itself in his stomach refusing to cease to grow. When he was done, the half-demon crumpled the note in his fist and turned his head in the direction Kagome had left in before. Without giving his friends the chance to ask any questions, Inuyasha leapt off, following Kagome's scent even though he knew very well where she went.

"I guess he wants to make sure everything is alright…?" Sango asked hesitantly, her thoughts still on the note she just read. She sincerely hoped her best friend was alright, but alas, she could not go herself to make sure, as the well would only ever allow passage to Inuyasha and Kagome.

"Most likely," Miroku agreed. "Let's hope nothing happened and just wait patiently for him," he added calmly, although worry was still present in his face.

"And Kagome," Shippō insisted, to which Miroku nodded.

"And Kagome-sama," he agreed, though one couldn't help but notice the doubt in his voice, as if he didn't expect the future born miko to return with the hanyō.

XxX

It didn't take long for Inuyasha to reach the clearing where the well was. It never did, but even less so this time around as he impatiently waited for the time-slip to let him out in Kagome's time after he jumped into the well. He didn't like the way Sango and Miroku reacted to Kagome's note, and he definitely didn't like the note itself, either. His senses were telling him something was wrong. Very, very wrong. And his instincts were rarely wrong.

He prayed that this was one of those few times that they were, though.

Fate seemed to be against him, however, as he noticed as soon as he arrived at Kagome's side of the well, for immediately after he left the well house, a scent reached his nose that made him freeze where he stood. He could smell blood. Kagome's blood. And death.

Taking in a shaky breath, Inuyasha shook his head in denial, though he couldn't force himself to move as fear slowly gripped his heart in a vice grip. He was afraid of what he would find inside the house, where the two scents were the strongest, practically overpowering anything else he usually smelled, aside from the pollution in the air. He was afraid of finding what his nose was telling him he'd most likely find.

'No… No way… No fucking way!' the half-demon thought as he closed his eyes tightly, trying to move forward, but his feet felt like they were glued to the ground. Taking in another shaky breath, Inuyasha tried to reason with himself.

There was no way Kagome would do such a thing. Not his Kagome. She had no reason to. She wouldn't. She couldn't. His nose had to be wrong, or he was just imagining things. He smelled something else and mistook it for her blood. That had to be it! Kagome would never do something like that!

But if he was so certain it couldn't be the scent of Kagome's blood, why wasn't there anything else he could think of that the scent belonged to?

Raising a trembling hand, Inuyasha's golden eyes fell to the note he still clutched in his hand. The note that Kagome left behind. The note that… meant goodbye.

'No… that can't be… not like that… not Kagome,' Inuyasha thought, feeling his heart struggle in his chest to stay in one piece. Slowly, as if he were walking towards his own scaffold, Inuyasha started to walk towards the side of the house where Kagome's window was. He wasn't afraid anymore, the emotions that drowned him went far beyond fear, which was replaced by dread and deep and utter despair.

All too soon, he reached the window of her room and he had to fight with himself to actually open it and glance inside. As soon as he did, the scent of her blood and of death hit him even more strongly, causing the poor hanyō to almost fall over as he clutched his stomach, suddenly feeling extremely nauseous. Breathing heavily through his mouth to avoid scenting any more of the repulsing smell, Inuyasha forced his eyes, which he had closed as soon as he opened the window, to open and scanned the room, looking first to the bed, then the desk and finally the rest of it as he climbed into the room.

He didn't know whether he should feel better about the fact that Kagome wasn't there or not.

Suddenly feeling like his knees were going to buckle under him, Inuyasha forced himself to walk towards the door that would lead him into the hallway. It never took so much willpower to just turn a simple doorknob, but after fighting himself for a minute or two, the half-demon finally succeeded and stumbled into the hallway, quickly assuring himself that the one he was looking for wasn't there either.

Glancing warily towards the door to the bathroom, Inuyasha was about to check there, despite the fact that the lack of lights clearly indicated that no one was inside, when his ears caught a sound from downstairs. Moving slowly towards the stairs, Inuyasha saw a beam of light coming from the kitchen and a shadow moving about there and bit his lip. He was about to slowly descend the stairs, not trusting himself to jump like he usually would, but then his ears twitched again as he realized what the weird sound he was hearing was. It were the tell-tale sounds of someone crying, if not now then at least not long ago.

He didn't hear any sobs, rather an occasional sniffle, but it was distinctive enough to tell that whoever it was that was sniffling down there had been crying before. Heart clenching, Inuyasha leaned against the wall as he tried to force himself to move, as it had suddenly become very hard again. Taking a deep breath, Inuyasha slowly bent his knees and jumped down the stairs, landing right in front of the open door to the kitchen, though not as gracefully or silently as he usually would. The sound alerted whoever was in the kitchen to his presence as Inuyasha could hear the shuffling of feet in the room, but he couldn't tell who it was as against his better judgment, he had closed his eyes again, almost as if he feared what he would see or just feared facing the person he heard.

"Inuyasha?" a familiar voice asked, making the surprised half-demon's eyes snap open to look at the one who addressed him. And there she was, safe and sound, though a little surprised by the looks of it, with trails of tears staining her cheeks and red, puffy eyes. "What are you…" she started to say as she brushed the remains of her tears out of one of her eyes, but she wasn't allowed to finish as the hanyō suddenly pulled her into a tight hug, stunning her into silence in the process for about half a minute. "Inuyasha?" she asked tentatively, but he didn't respond.

'Gods, Kagome… For a while there, I thought… I was afraid I'd…' he couldn't finish any of those thoughts, much less speak aloud as he held her close to him, until she finally put her hands on his chest to push him away. He was surprised enough to let her do so, but she didn't retreat far, allowing his hands to stay on her shoulders while she got a good look at his face.

"Inuyasha… are you alright?" Kagome asked worriedly, though one look at him told her the answer. He was unnaturally pale, his eyes were still wide and his breathing a little labored. Overall, he looked like he was about to be sick. Kagome narrowed her eyes worriedly. "What happened? Did something happen on the other side? Are Sango and Miroku alright?" she asked, a worried glint in her eyes. Inuyasha shook his head.

"No, nothing happened, and yes they're fine," he answered finally. Kagome eyed him skeptically and definitely didn't look convinced. Then, something akin to understanding shone in her eyes and a sad look returned to her features as she regarded him.

"Is it about Kikyo?" she asked gently, to which Inuyasha shook his head vehemently. He couldn't believe this woman. Why did she always have to bring the other priestess up? "Then what's wrong? And don't go telling me 'nothing' because I can definitely see that it's not nothing," she said, though he couldn't help but notice that her voice wasn't as strong as it usually was when she tried to convince him to tell her what was bugging him. His eyes fell to the floor.

"It's just that… I…" he started to say, but just thinking about what crossed his mind a few moments before made the words die in his throat and something stab his heart painfully. Without thinking about what he was doing, Inuyasha pulled the girl in front of him back towards his chest, not giving her the chance to fight him.

"You were gone when I got back, so I followed your scent here. When I came out of the well… I smelt your blood," he finally confessed into her hair. "I smelt your blood when I got here and I thought… I was afraid that…" he couldn't bring himself to say it. Just the lone thought of it made something deep inside him break. Closing his eyes, Inuyasha tightened his hold on the little miko in his arms, trying to reassure himself that she was very much real.

If he had been right on that thought… if she had done what he had feared she'd done, intentionally or not, when he came here… 'I don't know what I would do. I wouldn't know what to do,' he acknowledged in his mind, unable to speak the words aloud. 'I can't lose her. I just can't!'

"Oh…" was all Kagome replied as she stared towards the ground. Then she blinked ad turned her head to look up at him. "Why did you follow me in the first place, though? I left a note saying where I went and why, so you didn't have to. Why did you?" she asked curiously. When Inuyasha didn't answer for a while and refused to even look at her, she sighed. "You didn't read it, did you," she stated.

Still refusing to answer, Inuyasha forced himself to let go if her. As soon as she was free, Kagome turned and walked back into the kitchen, pulling the silent half-demon behind her and telling him to sit at the table. He was surprisingly obedient and did exactly as asked. Silence reigned for a while before Inuyasha finally spoke up.

"Why can I still smell your blood?" he asked uneasily, glancing at her from under his bangs as she worked at the kitchen table, cooking something.

"I cut myself," she replied distractedly, not turning around. Inuyasha blanched.

"You… what?" he asked weakly, dread once again rising within him as he stared at her. 'Why would she…?'

"Not on purpose," Kagome rushed to reassure him, probably guessing where his thoughts had wandered off. "I was preparing a meal and my hand slipped when I was chopping some vegetables, that's all," she added and showed him her right hand for emphasis. Aside for a few band-aids on her fingers, she seemed fine. Inuyasha frowned.

"But the scent's so strong… it couldn't come from just that," he eyed her skeptically, making Kagome turn around much quicker than would be deemed normal, trying to hide the blush Inuyasha had luckily missed.

"Uhm… that'd be because… well…" she stuttered, unable to find a way to phrase it. How was she supposed to tell him it was simply that time of the month? "Well, it's nothing you need to worry about. It's because of something hundred percent physiological," she finally said, the words rushing out of her mouth so fast it'd be impossible not to guess that she was not nervous.

"Fyzio… what?" Inuyasha asked, completely at a loss at her futuristic expression.

"It means something completely normal, something that's supposed to happen in the human body," Kagome explained, praying to any and all kami that Inuyasha would not ask for details.

Inuyasha nodded in understanding, hardly thinking about the fact that Kagome, whose back was still turned to him, would not see the action. There was something telling him she wasn't saying all there was to it. But another part of him also told him it was better not to know everything, and he decided to trust his instincts. Now fully calm, he couldn't stop the sigh of relief that escaped him. However, he made the mistake of breathing in with his nose afterward, and as he once again smelt the mixture of Kagome's blood and death, he couldn't help but feeling nauseous again, even if he knew it was not what he had at first thought. A groan escaped him and Kagome turned around immediately at the unnatural sound.

"What's wrong?" she asked worriedly when he slumped forward, resting his head on his arms as he did so and fighting the oncoming headache as he started to breathe through his mouth again. He didn't get to answer as she suddenly seemed to understand on her own and opened the window. "It's the scent, isn't it? You never liked smelling my blood, not that I blame you," she said calmly, indeed not put off by the idea. To her, the fact that he didn't like the scent of her blood meant only that he didn't like to see her hurt, as that was what the scent of blood was usually associated with.

"It's not just that," Inuyasha confessed, grateful for the fresh breeze that reached him despite the pollution in the air that he came to associate with her era. "It's the mix of your blood and death… Why does it smell like death, anyway? And why does that smell seem to come from you?" he couldn't help but ask, though he regretted it when Kagome's shoulders slumped and her head lowered.

"It's my grandpa," the young girl replied quietly. "He's dying. And I'm taking care of him in his last moments."

Inuyasha didn't reply to that. Quite frankly, he didn't know how to respond, so he just stayed quiet and silence reigned again, until Kagome spoke up and broke it.

"Well, now you know everything. Could you leave me alone now, like I asked for in my note? I'll come back as soon as I can, I promise," she asked quietly. "Why didn't you even think about reading it, anyway?" she added as an afterthought, not really expecting an answer, though she still glanced at the half-demon in wonder when she was met with silence.

He wasn't looking at her, staring at the floor instead with an uncomfortable look on his face. Just by looking at him, Kagome suddenly knew why he hadn't read the note.

"Inuyasha… Is it that you didn't read the note… because you can't read?" she asked softly, hesitantly, but she might have as well yelled for all Inuyasha heard, flinching slightly at her soft question.

"My mother taught me how to… but it was a long time ago," he tried to defend himself, still not looking at her, not wanting to see what she might think of him now. She was intelligent, even he could see that, and she knew a lot of things. What she didn't know, she learned quickly. What would she think of him now that she knew he wasn't even able to read? He didn't even want to know just how low he must have fallen in her eyes now. So he was surprised when he heard her next question.

"When the whole mess with Naraku and the Jewel is over… Would you want me to teach you?" she asked quietly and his head snapped up to stare at her. She didn't sound like she was joking or making fun of him. She was just asking. But there was also another thing he didn't fail to notice. 'After the whole mess with Naraku and the Jewel… does that mean she intends to stay even after that?' he thought in wonder, not realizing he had actually voiced his question aloud until she answered him.

"If you'll still want me around by then, yes. I did promise you to stay by your side as long as you let me," she said with a small smile on her face. It was quick to vanish, however, when a call of her name could be heard in the house and Kagome suddenly remembered what was going on.

"Get going now. I… I need to be alone with my family," she said, giving him an apologetic look. "Tell Miroku and Sango that I'm alright. I'll be back over there as soon as I'm able to," she said, all but pushing him out of the kitchen and towards the door. He nodded in agreement, understanding her need to be alone save for her family and headed for the door.

"Oh, and Inuyasha," he heard her say and looked at her over his shoulder, his eyes widening when he saw an angry gleam in her eyes. "Next time, think twice before you jump to conclusions. You should know me better than that. As if I did something so stupid over something as trivial as… I don't even know what you think could make me do such a stupid thing and I don't think I want to know," she said angrily before turning around and disappearing into the kitchen. Inuyasha keh'ed in response and moved towards the well, though in his thoughts, he couldn't help but agree. He really should have known better.

As he left, he didn't notice a crumpled note he let fall to the ground, but the wind did as it played with it for a while, before carrying it off and letting it fall into a trash can, open for anyone to read who might be curious.

I'm sorry for going off like that without a word, guys. But for a few days now, I've had this really bad feeling that something was horribly wrong at home. And today, it got to the point I just can't stand it any longer. I have to go home immediately. I need to reassure myself it's just a feeling and nothing more.

However, if I don't come back immediately, that will mean something happened. And in that case, I'd like you to tell Inuyasha not to follow me and to simply wait until I'm back. Somehow, I just know that whatever it might be that awaits me at home, it is something that my family and I need to handle ourselves.

Sorry again to leave like that without telling anyone anything. I'll be back as soon as I'm certain that everything is fine. Wait for me until then ok?

Kagome

And this is it. I hope you enjoyed. And to all those who write fics in which Kagome decides to commit suicide because she can't take the pain of seeing Inuyasha with Kikyo anymore, I hope I at least got you to consider the idea of Kagome not being as weak as you portray her in such fics. Though I agree that all people have a certain breaking point, I don't think Kagome would ever reach a point where she'd go quite that far.

There, now, my conscience is clear.

Reviews are welcome ;)