Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.
Remembering How I Forgot You
An Inuyasha Oneshot By: FALLEN ROSE PETAL
It's hard to imagine all that you could forget within a course of three long years. But… somehow, it's even harder to imagine all that you could really remember.
A girl with long black hair that covered bits and pieces of her bloody face lye still in the darkness on the cold floor of a shrine. She adorned a regular high school girl's school uniform, which only differentiated from the rest of the girls by its disheveled appearance.
The white socks were covered in dust and ripped in places where the white was now soaking up red from the girl's blood. Her brown shoes were worn and tattered; her short green skirt ripped as if by claws and covered in mud and dirt. Her white shirt barely looked white anymore, and instead looked a reddish-brown color, mixed by dry and wet blood and earth. Her black hair was matted against her skull by dried blood and the long strands were mangled with dirt. But her whole body lye still.
Having heard the sound of something exploding from their family shrine, Mrs. Higurashi and her father rushed towards the blackened woody doors and together slid them open. They coughed as the smoke slowly crept away, finally revealing the body of the young girl.
Mrs. Higurashi immediately rushed down the steps and fell to her knees at the sight of her motionless, tattered daughter.
"Kagome! Kagome! Answer me, please!" Mrs. Higurashi begged as she scooped her daughter delicately into her arms and wiped away the strands of dark hair from her face that were plastered on by her dried blood. Mrs. Higurashi rocked back and forth as tears fell from her face, down onto her daughter's causing streaks of wetness to stand out amongst the dirt and grime, as her daughter's head limply wavered from side to side with her monotonous rocking.
Kagome's grandfather stood frozen, still at the top of the shrine's staircase, his heart wrenched from his very chest at the sight of his young granddaughter and the remains of the shrine well that lay around her limp body. "No…" he simply mumbled to himself.
Running footsteps echoed around the Higurashi's vast, empty front yard and got louder as somebody came in closer proximity to the Higurashi shrine.
A young boy, seemingly only a few years younger than the unconscious girl in her mother's arms came running in only to stop dead in his tracks at what greeted his eyes. The present wrapped in baby blue wrapping paper fell from his arms with a dull thud as he ran past his grandfather down the stairs to kneel with his mother and sister.
"Sis!" he cried earnestly, taking her pale, cold hand into his own. "No… this can't be happening…"
"Sota…" his mother, Mrs. Higurashi, spoke quietly, her voice fragile and hurt. She looked up slowly from her daughter's face to her son.
Sota shook his head and repeated, "No…no…" while shaking his head in disbelief.
Suddenly, however, amongst the sounds of Mrs. Higurashi's falling tears and sniffling, they heard a slight moan. Kagome moved her head ever so slightly so that it was more near her mother's chest, the only form of emanating warmth. She bore a pained expression upon her delicate, beautiful yet bloody face as she scrunched her eyebrows and her breaths became heaves.
"Inu…" they heard her sigh, barely a whisper, as it exhaled from her cracked, pale lips. Her chest fell and rose with increasing rapidity, her exhaling raspy and difficult.
"We must get her to the hospital," grandfather Higurashi finally said, "at once."
Hours later, Kagome opened her chocolate brown eyes only to slam them shut once more as bright white lights greeted her soggy brain. She groaned and attempted to shade her eyes with her hand but her actions were ceased with a jolt. She peered down her arm only to stare at what appeared to be her arm… it was just covered in many bandages and IV's and white wires trailed from it to beeping, colorful machines.
After blinking a few times, Kagome finally registered where she was and sat up to get a better look. She was in a single-bedded hospital room. White curtains closed off the outside world from her view by the window to her left and to her right stood a night table decorated with many cards and flowers. Looking around once more, she saw even more flowers, cards, and even gifts and a few balloons, all situated on some table or surface of some kind or another.
With a few more blinks, she registered that most of them read, Happy Birthday!
And wasn't that right? The last thing she remembered… it was her fifteenth birthday…
And I'd been walking towards our… family… shrine…
The door was suddenly pushed open and a handful of people walked in, first and foremost of them being a female doctor with her hair pinned up into a tight, black bun.
She couldn't see who all else entered because she was immediately squashed by hugs from people who seemed vaguely familiar.
Kagome closed her eyes tightly to shut out the pain at their touch, but ignored it as best she could. When she opened them again, she was face to face with a shaggy-haired boy who looked ecstatic that she was finally awake. She recognized him as Sota, her younger brother.
"Hey you," Kagome said lightly, her voice rough and broken, as she ruffled her fingers through his hair. She attempted to smile but it felt like her lips cracked more and more the wider they stretched. So her smiled turned out to be more of a wince.
"Happy birthday, Kags!" he said, pulling the same blue box from earlier, which had a huge white bow tied at the top, from the table and handing it to his sister. "Are you feeling any better?"
"You had us all so very worried," said a female voice Kagome's head snapped up to recognize as her mother's.
"I…I'm fine… I think," Kagome said feebly, her gaze feeling unfocused, her thoughts shattered and scattered about.
"What is the last thing you remember, Miss Higurashi," the doctor asked from her right so that she had to careen her head to look her straight in the face. Her head throbbed in minor pain, but nothing as bad as… before…
Before… before what?"I… I don't know… um…" Kagome stumbled over her words as they came out half as clear as her thoughts. She fisted the blankets in her small hands as she furrowed desperately through her thoughts for something, anything. "It was my birthday." The others nodded, glad she remembered what day it was. "My fifteenth birthday. And I was walking towards the shrine…" she looked up into the expectant faces which all turned downcast.
"Honey… sweetie… it's… today is your eighteenth birthday; not your fifteenth…" her mother replied as gently as she could with a sympathetic look in her eyes.
Kagome blinked a few times.
"Wh… what?"
"Ms. Higurashi, Mr. Higurashi, if you'll please join me outside for a moment," the doctor said, motioning towards the door and following them out with one last, lingering glance at the young, confused girl sitting up in the hospital bed watching her leave with a searing, questioning gaze.
A few silent moments passed the only sounds being that of the meticuously beeping machines and the constant ticking of the white faced clock directly across from Kagome's bed against the wall. The black hands ticked on and on, never ceasing, droning on like the drip-drip of a leaking faucet.
Finally Sota spoke quietly, hesitantly. "Sis…" Kagome lowered her gaze to the foot of her bed where her younger brother sat, tracing the wrinkles of the white bed sheets. "Will everything be okay?"
It was the very same question that had been running through her mind again and again. After a slight pause, her face having been blank, Kagome tried her best to produce a comforting smile and said, "Hai, little one, everything will be fine." If only she could tell herself that and believe it too.
After being brutally nonstop questioned for the rest of the night, Kagome was finally able to sleep. After three days in the hospital, she was given lease and was able to go home.
As Sota ran to the door ahead of everyone, and mom and Gramps took their time meandering up the steep stone staircase leading up to their home, Kagome paused in front of the beautifully blooming cherry blossom tree, or the tree of ages. A breeze caressed its fingers through her hair, tossing it from side to side and also making the leaves and cherry blossom flowers rustle gently. The sun shined so warm through the limbs of the great tree and reached down to touch the young girl.
She stood stalk still, as warmth settled in her stomach and heart. There was something about this tree…about this place.
A heavier wind blew by, mysterious and full of whispering secrets. Kagome shuddered and hugged the stuffed bear that Sota had given to her as a birthday gift tighter to her chest.
The clouds were getting darker as a storm approached; tingles ran up and down Kagome's arms and back, as if not just by the sudden chill, but by something more.
"Sweetie!" Mom called, looking up from helping Gramps up the steps, "Is everything alright?"
Kagome shook herself from her in-depth thoughts and emotions caused by the strange feeling this tree emitted. A few falling petals from the cherry blossoms swirled and spun gracefully before falling to the ground all around Kagome. The girl immediately turned away, admonishing herself mentally for letting such thoughts break her mind's barrier.
Kagome looked at her mother and nodded slightly, unconsciously squeezing the teddy bear all the more tighter as the wind picked up again and swirled her hair around ominously.
Later that night, Kagome flipped through the pages of the many homework assignments she'd apparently missed over the past few weeks.
How could I have shunned aside this much homework during my senior year? This is so crazy… I can vaguely remember bits and pieces of the past three school years… but it's not much. It's as though I'd been spending it someplace else… someplace I can't seem to remember, Kagome thought wearily. Moving from her stiff desk chair to her bed, she flopped down onto her back and subconsciously began rubbing her hand in monotonous circles around a certain spot on her belly. Finally realizing what she'd been doing, she looked down and slowly pulled her shirt up to reveal the white scar near her lower abdomen.
I most certainly don't remember having that…or getting it… she thought, remembering having first laid eyes on the strange marking as she changed from her hospital robe to her regular clothes.Thunder rumbled overhead and silver light flashed in the dark night sky, flooding in through her bedroom window near her bed as another bolt of lightening struck. A light pitter-patter began as the raindrops hit the roof, forming a steady beat like a drum. Kagome closed her eyes and let the sounds fill her mind; the light pitter-patter grew and grew, finally becoming solid like sheets of water falling from a waterfall from the heavens.
She let her mind go blank and she breathed evenly, trying to calm her strong heartbeat and ignore the pain dully thudding from her old injuries scattered over her body.
The rain… why does the rain… strike… such memories?Images of a forest, strongly smelling of pine and freshly falling rain, flashed through her mind like some type of broken projector. There was silver… like silk, as she ran it through her fingers. The smell of wet hair and skin against her wet skin…
Kagome sat up abruptly, the thoughts too much all at once. A bolt of lightening flashed across the sky right outside her window, and as she slowly turned her head to look at it, something silver, and a flash of gold, like cat eyes, caught the corner of her eye. She jumped up suddenly, having thought she'd seen those silver and golden colors belonging to a dark figure sitting outside her bedroom window, but as she moved to the window, there was nothing, nothing at all; just the falling rain and the pounding lightening and darkness.
A week passed and Kagome was finally ready to go back to school. It was the one place, besides her home, that she could remember, so she was glad to return, and, it seemed, so were her friends...amongst others, as well.
"Kagome!" her three closest friends, Eri, Yuka and Ayumi shouted, having spotted her walking through the school gates. As the said girl happily walked over to her friends, who were sitting on the bench beneath a drooping cherry blossom tree waving her down, many random students whom she recognized from her senior class waved hello or spoke some type of friendly greeting. Kagome numbly waved back and muttered words in return but was extremely bewildered by half of the people even knowing who she was. She noticed after the people walked past her, they'd always huddle back into their little groups and begin talking behind their hands furiously as if they had some great news to share.
Finally joining her friends by the tree, Kagome raised one eyebrow in questioning after hugging them each separately. She ignored their roaming eyes taking in her battle-worn body masked behind all the many white bandages.
"I don't even think I remember half the names of those people… how do they know me?" Kagome asked inquisitively pointing over her shoulder with her thumb at the students meandering their way around the school courtyard, some still casting wary glances her way.
"O-oh… um… them. Don't mind them…" said one of the girls quickly.
"Yeah, they're just talking nonsense…" agreed the second.
But the third hesitated and said, "Um… I think it has to do with all the rumors going around about you having… um… you know… amnesia," she scuffed her foot nervously, "and all…"
Kagome looked to the other two who laughed nervously.
"It wasn't us though."
"Yeah! We heard Hojo had gone to visit you but he wasn't aloud in… he said they were only accepting family members…"
"Yeah, so the next day he comes into school telling everybody a dramatic story about you being in some type of accident and you having a really bad case of amnesia."
"Um… so is it true?"
Kagome blinked a few times completely dumbfounded. She scratched the back of her head awkwardly with her bandaged hand. "Um… well… you see…" the breeze picked up suddenly, running its fingers through Kagome's long, hip-length hair. Her heart skipped a beat and a strange feeling tingled up her body. Something was drawing her attention… something… but what?
Kagome spun around and watched the cherry blossom petals once again twirl all around her body before falling to the ground gracefully, as if in a dance. More tingles ran up and down her back; chills covered her arms. She hadn't noticed she'd painfully clenched her small hands into fists and had closed her eyes until she felt warm arms wrap themselves around her tightly, securely, but delicately.
Her eyes flew open as her feet left the ground and her school bag fell to the ground with a thump.
Her chocolate eyes clashed with blazing golden ones not four inches away. The boy who the eyes belonged to breathed evenly, his hot breath softly blowing at the loose tendrils of hair lying against her warmed cheeks. Two triangular, fluffy, white ears moved with the flowing sounds around them of people talking, birds chirping.
At her small gasp the ears swiveled towards her, pointed and erect, listening for a sign of her discomfort. His clawed fingers gently grazed her waist and legs as he held her close to his hard, muscular chest, which rose and fell carefully and steadily with each inhale and exhale of warm breath. He adorned regular clothing, however, that being a plain white tee shirt and blue jeans and sneakers but his long, oddly white mane of hair danced in the breeze, catching the sunlight at such an angle that it appeared silver.
His lips were slightly parted as his hot breath trickled around her neck and his eyes hadn't left her gaze for a moment. He tightened his grip ever so slightly before carrying her away at a slow walk, his eyes straight ahead, as he carried her past the staring students, through the school gates back outside to the sidewalk. Once he turned, he bent his knees and they were flying through the air. His tee shirt flapped through the wind, as did her whipping black hair. Kagome opened her eyes finally to see that he'd stopped in the park.
The breeze whispered through the shimmering green grass and the leaves and the flowers. The boy carefully placed Kagome down underneath a weeping willow that sheltered them from wandering gazes like a butterfly's cocoon.
Kagome couldn't take her eyes from the boy's golden gaze. He moved closer, finally closing the distance between them as he took her fingers into his hands and closed his eyes as he kissed her gently on the lips.
Kagome didn't pull back, and instead her eyes instinctively slid shut. Her lips kissed back against her will, greeting his warm, wet lips as eagerly as his did hers.
The rain fell around them, his white hair sticking to her arms and mingling perfectly with her long black locks. Their lips were the only source of warmth in the cold, rainy night…
Kagome pulled back frightened by her heart's frantic beating against its cage and the memories suddenly flooding into her mind.
The boy's golden eyes held question and hurt, his white ears drooped in sadness. He hesitantly lifted a hand back up, reaching out to her, but not going the full way.
"Ka…Kagome…" His voice was so deep and husky, but filled with hurt and rejection as she flinched from his touch.
Backing up a few steps she stuttered, "Wh-who a-are you?" She continued backing up until she bumped into a hanging limb and jumped as the flowers loosely fell around her.
"Don't… you… remember me? Kagome… I'm… Inuyasha…" he said softly, barely above a whisper, his hand still reaching out helplessly and hopelessly. His golden eyes lost their shimmer and seemed to become dark as all he saw in her eyes was fear and confusion, not recognition and lest of all… love.
"Inu…yasha?" she said but barely got it out before the flood of thoughts broke through her mind's barrier once more.
"Inuyasha…""I love you."
"I love you too."
Kagome bent over and grasped her head as it thudded with great pain. Inuyasha reached out for her habitually and was glad for he caught her just in time as her body fell limp into his arms.
Kagome awoke later that night, first feeling the wetness of the cool cloth on her forehead and after that a breeze sweeping across her body through her open window. She lazily opened her bleary eyes and turned her head to the right against her soft, fluffy pillow to look to the window.
There sat Inuyasha on her ledge, one foot curled under his other leg that he let propped up. He chewed thoughtfully on his thumbnail before his ears twitched and he turned his head slowly to face her. Neither moved for a few moments as the cool evening air washed over their bodies.
Kagome made to sit up but Inuyasha jumped down and quickly moved to her closed bedroom door. The setting sun's orange glow now spilt in through the unblocked window. His hand stopped half way in the middle of twisting the doorknob when he froze, letting his thoughts untangle.
"I'm sorry… about earlier," he said, his back still to her. She sat up fully, despite the pain, and her heart skipped a beat again at the sound of his voice. "Your mother…" it hurt to speak to her, knowing… "Your mother told me… about your amnesia. I… I understand now. You… you wouldn't remember me, anyway. I… I'm sorry… Kagome."
With the last whisper of her name being uttered from his mouth he tore the door open and slammed it behind him.
Kagome blinked a few times, mulling over her thoughts and this strange lump in her throat and the strange heaviness in her heart. She stared at the door, at the spot he'd been standing, letting the tears flow down her cold cheeks like cold, ceaselessly falling rain…
The next day, Kagome returned to school like normal to even more glances and whispers than the day before. Kagome hadn't even asked her mom about the boy, for she was too afraid to even ask. After experiencing such thoughts and feelings around him and after the unsettling dreams she'd had last night, she just dropped all thoughts of yesterday, and tried to handle the new day better than the previous one. It most certainly proved challenging.
"Kagome!" a boy's cheery voice yelled from across the courtyard. He wore the usual boy's black school uniform with his brown hair combed perfectly as he trotted his way over to Kagome. "My dear Kagome, oh how I've missed you! I brought you some chocolate and some triple antibiotic since I heard about your whole hospital ordeal and all," the boy said, finally reaching her and stopping a breadth away from her, making her jumpy and uncomfortable. She awkwardly took the neatly decorated basket from the anxious boy and halfheartedly smiled back. "I tried to visit you while you were at the hospital, but they were only accepting family members in for visitation. I'm so sorry…" he trailed off at the blank expression on her face.
"Are you… supposed to be my boyfriend or something?" Kagome asked randomly, cocking her head to the side.
"N-no… n-not exactly. I'm Hojo, don't you remember me?" he asked direly, but changed course in not a moment. "B-but since you brought it up," he said excitedly, "I'd been meaning to ask you if you had a boyfriend… now that you're regularly attending school and everything."
I've only been back two days…Kagome swallowed and felt bad for the boy… but something in the back of her mind probed her to say, "I… I'm sorry. I… I think I already have a boyfriend." She spoke words that felt so true as she remembered the kiss they shared the day before and how warm Inuyasha's lips were on her own. She subconsciously trailed her fingertips across her lips to stop the tingles. "I'm really sorry though…" she trailed off as she smiled apologetically and headed to homeroom.
Kagome saw no sign of the boy, Inuyasha, for the next week or so, a fact that, on the inside, saddened her greatly. She was still having a horrid time trying to remember the lost memories of the past three years. Every time she tried to dig deeper into her memory, the more she seemed to get lost. It was breaking her heart, more and more the longer time passed. The leaves changed colors, becoming deep reds and yellows and browns. The flowers of the cherry blossom trees became fewer and fewer by the day. The air became colder and nipped at flesh left bare. And all the more did Kagome's heart wrench at the hole in her heart that grew day by day, deepening further and further and becoming all the more painful.
Her thoughts often lingered on that boy, Inuyasha. And finally, one autumn evening, her heart's desires were finally quenched.
Her family had gone for a short trip for the weekend to visit relatives in Hokkaido and she had been left home alone. She was glad to have time to herself, after the stress of the last few months she greatly needed it.
As she sat beneath the huge tree, her back leaning against its tough bark, her eyes closed peacefully, as the wind tugged playfully at her loose tendrils, a shadow moved over her body. Her eyes flew open at the soft thump as Inuyasha jumped from the tree's topmost limbs down to the ground right in front of her. His breath heaved as though he'd been running and he looked disheveled but most of all, he looked hurt and sad.
He looks the way I feel on the inside…the thought echoed quietly through her befuddled mind. After that, all thoughts went blurry and her heartbeat doubled. The scarf around her neck felt too tight and the cold felt frigid against her face. But her eyes were glued on his handsome face.
"Inu… yasha… it's you…" she finally spoke, watching his ears swivel to hear her voice.
He said nothing. He stood there and she sat there for minutes, just staring at each other; the cold becoming colder, the sky becoming darker.
"I've waited," his voice cracked and sounded rough but still deep and it vibrated through her body like an electric shock, "five hundred years… to see you again. I swore to myself, that I would one day see you again. I would search the whole world just to lay eyes on you once more. I will not give up without a fight and I will not let you forget. I love you too much, Kagome." Her heart skipped a beat once more. " I've loved you for the past five hundred years and longer. The times we shared together… there's no way I'll let you forget." The wind tore at his hair. Shadows hid his eyes from view.
Kagome silently stood, using the tree for support. He moved forward and held her close as he embraced her in a tight hug. The wind painted their flowing hair together in a knot of beautifully mixed colors, Kagome's dark and Inuyasha's bright.
"I love you not Kikyou!" Inuyasha shouted into the night, holding his one true love even closer, if possible, trying to make her believe.
Kagome remembered feeling immense jealously. She remembered pain, tears, heartache, and finally forgiveness. After that… an immensely strong wave of warmth and love washed over her being. She hugged him back loosely at first. As the love in her heart grew stronger, her grip tightened, until she couldn't do it any longer; the tears burned her eyes as she let him go and ran into the house. She slammed the door behind her and breathed deeply.
His naked body warmed her naked body like a blanket, sheltering her from the falling rain…
She let her coat fall from her limp arms to a heap with her scarf all in one pile on the floor. Kagome ran up the carpeted stairs to her bedroom and gently closed the door in the semi-darkness. With her back still to her room, she leaned her forehead wearily against the wood of her door.I wish…so badly…that I could remember… why I forgot you… Inuyasha…Kagome thought both angrily and sadly.
She slipped her shirt over her head and unzipped her jeans, letting them fall to the floor in a pile. Sniffling slightly and wiping at her wet cheeks, she flicked her light on and finally turned around to walk towards her drawer to pull some pajamas out when she nearly jumped out of her skin at seeing Inuyasha's silhouette against the open window.
He stood motionless right inside her room, staring at her with pleading golden eyes.
"Kagome… Kagome please, tell me you've not forgotten me… I… I love you, Kagome. I have loved you and I will love you forever…" His hand was outstretched again and at that moment, Kagome did not know if that was what did it or if it was his very words or perhaps just his eyes… In the end, she settled on it simply being him.
The rain fell, constant and hard as Kagome and her one love, Inuyasha, made love in the middle of the night, in the middle of the pouring rain and mist. They were soaking wet from the mixture of raindrops and sweat. Inuyasha and Kagome stared into each other's eyes, mezmerized. Kagome dug her fingernails into the flesh of his back. Inuyasha slowly licked the salty sweat from around his mouth before lowering his head...
Inuyasha closed the distance between their bodies, holding her near naked body tightly against his warm, clothed one. He was so strong and held her with a protective, loving grip. He wanted her to remember with all his being; with all his heart, mind, and soul.
They finally had all the pieces of the broken Shikon no Tama, the Jewel of Four Souls. Kagome, Sango, Miroku, Kaede, even little Shippo and lastly, Kagome's sweet Inuyasha all sat in a huddled circle on the earthen floor of Lady Kaede's hut.
The smell of wet earth swam around the air, greeting their noses, from the previous rainfall caused by the storm preceding their final battle with Naraku.
Sango and Miroku loosely linked their fingers together with a slight blush, finally happily betrothed to soon follow their hearts and wishes of finally being joined together in matrimony.
Inuyasha hesitantly kissed her on the lips, not closing his eyes as Kagome did likewise. He waited. He knew. She was remembering.
Shippo lay curled up in Kagome's lap, shivering and cold, but also holding on to every last minute he knew he might spend with Kagome.
An eerie silence wavered through the air of the stuffy hut.
Inuyasha sat further back, away from the others, more hurt than the rest of the group for he had nearly sacrificed himself in order to save his friends, and most importantly, his love, his Kagome. She'd nearly died, he'd nearly lost her. What if… by putting the jewel together, he lost her again?
Lady Kaede mumbled an incantation beneath her breath as she bent over, her hands together in prayer, the only other sound in the hut being the crackling of the fire before her. She was making preparations for the following ceremony she and Kagome were going to attempt to mend the jewel of four souls.
Kagome stared into the depths of the fiery flames that licked at the air hungrily. She kept remembering the night she and Inuyasha had spent together and then their battle against Naraku, and now, finally, after three long years, merging the jewel back together. She subconsciously caressed her fingers through Shippo's childishly silky strands of hair.
She glanced to her right at Inuyasha. He sat with his legs crossed, his eyes closed and his arms crossed over his sword. As if sensing her gaze, his eyes snapped open and their gazes locked for a moment. Silent words were exchanged. But not nearly enough was said.
"Are ye ready, Kagome-chan?" Lady Kaede spoke, breaking their gaze. Kagome looked across the fire at the elderly lady. The red and orange flames flickered in reflection in the young girl's eyes as she contemplated her last few thoughts.
"Hai," Kagome said slowly, "I am ready."
The others moved back as just Lady Kaede and Kagome sat before the flickering fire. Together, they murmured the incantation to mend the jewel. It took all of both their spiritual powers. But most of all, it drained Kagome fully.
As Kaede continued chanting, her head bent, the others watched as Kagome's body glowed a bright blue that illuminated the whole hut and blanketed it in strange warmth. The partially completed piece of jewel and the rest of the remaining pieces that had been lying dormant in Kagome's outstretched hands suddenly rose into the air. Kagome's hair fluttered as if moved by some invisible force of wind that no one else could feel. Her body rose and her clothes faded away as if dissolved by the light emanating from her very body. Her eyes remained closed as her body curled up into a small ball before the jewel. All the pieces scattered, as if by a tiny explosion but inside an invisible barrier, for the pieces froze, forming a circle that cast rays of a deep blue aura like the sun casting its rays on the ground, all around its perimeter.
The air itself inside the hut seemed to become stagnant before the many pieces of the broken jewel joined together as if drawn by some invisible, strange magnetism. The jewel glowed bright as it was finally finished. The pink and pearly colors inside the jewel swirled together like an internal storm.
They all thought it was over. But it was not.
Suddenly, Kagome's body was spread out, her battle wounds reopened and blood spattered in every direction, and the jewel joined with her body so that she and it glowed brilliantly. In a flash of light, the jewel ripped itself from her body and as if somebody had turned the lights off, her body went dull and fell to the floor where Inuyasha caught her in the last second. Her hair floated neatly into place and her body slowly fell into his arms as if she were floating, as if no harm were to be done to her. Inuyasha ripped his red haori from his chest and arms and wrapped it around her naked body as he held her close and touched his nose to hers.
"It is finished." Lady Kaede spoke in an exasperated voice as she breathed deeply and stared at something with a glowing aura next to Kagome. "She did it."
"I… I remember…the… the scar, I remember now. Putting the jewel back together. It required a miko's offering of self sacrifice, which is why it joined itself with me, but sensing my true purity, the jewel was finally cleansed and purified and finally…completed."
The next morning, the sun had barely peeked beyond the mountain's horizon and fog still lye in the air, thick and cloudy. Kagome and Inuyasha walked hand in hand to the well.
"Well I guess…" Kagome began.
"This isn't goodbye," Inuyasha roughly interrupted. "You're coming back. We'll see each other again-"
"No…I… I'm going to leave the jewel here… with you." Kagome's heart wrenched as she let go of Inuyasha's hand and she slowly took the necklace with the jewel on it from around her neck. "If… if we're meant to be together, truly… I'm sure I would be meant to be in my own time, Inuyasha." He scowled and growled beneath his breath. "I believe our love… could breach time itself, Inuyasha. I know… deep in my heart… we'll see each other again. If you… if you make the right wish, it might just come true," she said, taking his hand into her small, soft one and gently placing the round jewel into the palm of his hand. She pushed it into his hand and closed his fingers over her own covering up the jewel before sliding her fingers from his and instead tangling them in his silky silver locks.
"Inuyasha…" she whispered.
"I love you," he choked out and she crashed her lips up against his as he passionately kissed her back. Her tears fell and wetted their locked lips.
She pulled away and whispered, "I love you too, Inuyasha, I always have and always will. You'll always be in my heart." She turned away, and with one leg over the well and one tearful glance back her lips mouthed the silent words, "Goodbye." The wind tore at her black hair, whipping it around her tearstrained face. Blue light encompassed her body.
There was a huge explosion and then darkness.
Inuyasha made his wish.
Kagome was zoomed in back to the present with Inuyasha holding her near naked, broken, tearful body closely to the warmth of his own body.
She'd forgotten him... because he'd meant so much... because... he held such a special spot in her heart and mind, that, it was taken away by the transfer of time. But, even through time, their love prevailed.
"Inuyasha!" she shouted amongst a sob. And wrapped her arms tightly around his neck.
"Kagome, I knew you'd remember!" Inuyasha said gruffly and snuggled his nose against her neck and placed kisses along her collarbone.
"I told you our love could do anything," Kagome said softly, twirling a strand of his silver hair, bathed by the moonlight, around her small finger.
"You've remembered that night…" Inuyasha said coyly, reffering to the night they made love. It was the first time they'd truly, finally spoken their honest feelings.
"I could never forget that night… just as I could never truly forget you, Inuyasha."
He smirked and lifted her up so she could wrap her legs around his hips as he kissed her hard and passionately. He carried her over to the bed where he gently laid her down and placed sweet kisses all along her body.
"I love you, Kagome," he said, his silver hair spilling down and cascading around her small, fragile body, his breath hot against her skin.
"I love you too, Inuyasha, I have and always will…"
THE END
A/N: thank you if you are so kind to read and thank you vury vury much if you should like to review-it's greatly appreciated.
FALLEN ROSE PETAL
