"Kagome…the well was sealed by Naraku. You can never go home…"
Kaede's sympathetic words rang in her ears. She lay on the floor of the abandoned home they were using as refuge. She stared at the ceiling, the fire casting shadows across the walls and in the corners. The shadows danced, taking her mind off of everything for a few moments, but eventually dredging up memories that reminded her of her mother, her brother, and her grandfather.
People she loved.
And people she'd never see again.
She rolled onto her side and stared at the door. Under the edge, she could see the darkness of night had fallen, and what little light the stars provided was slithering through the grass.
I can't stay here.
She got up and looked for her shoes. She couldn't find them, and didn't care. She slipped off her socks and went barefoot. She walked like she was half-asleep, and in a sense, she was. Everything she'd had over there…everything she'd been given, all the people she'd known…might as well have been a dream.
And now it's all gone.
She loved her friends in this world, but it wasn't the same as her family.
No, that's not right. They're my family too.
But it wasn't the same.
She continued her walk, not caring where she was going exactly, and she found a river. The sound was impossible to miss, and she was unconsciously drawn to it. She kept walking, not noticing it was right in front of her until she'd stepped in it—right up to her knees.
"Oh…a river." She stared at the water. It was running slowly, barely a trickle. Looking down, she saw her own reflection. She wore her usual uniform. "You shouldn't wear it anymore…" she told her reflection. It reminded her too much of her old world.
Her trembling hand reached for the red scarf. She untied it, and slipped off the top of her green and white fuku. Then she reached for the zipper on her hip, and let the skirt fall into the water at her ankles. She stepped back, onto the bank, allowing her shirt to slip from her hand. As soon as her foot hit dry land, her leg collapsed beneath her, and she landed on her butt.
She watched with a blank look as her clothes were swept along with the river, disappearing forever. She now sat on the bank of a river in no more than her undergarments, mourning.
"Mom…Sota…grandpa…I'm sorry." Her face was wet. Her fingers wiped away the water. Tears. She was surprised.
"Kagome! Kagome! Where are you?" There was a shout in the distance. It wasn't Shippo. Miroku and Sango were away. It had to be…
"Inuyasha…" She drew her knees up under her chin and wrapped her arms around her legs. She buried her face in her knees and started to cry.
She cried. And cried. And cried.
The sound must have been what alerted Inuyasha of her presence. He called her name again, and landed beside her on the forest floor. She looked up at him with a tear-stained face.
"What'd you…" he blushed to see her so exposed, but took off his coat and put it on her shoulders. "What's wrong? Why are you crying?" He knelt beside her, peering at her face. "Kagome?"
"I…can never go home. I'll never see… my family again…" She started crying again. Inuyasha was at a loss. He had never been good at consoling people.
"It's not so bad…I mean, who needs family anyway?" It wasn't working, so he tried another approach. "Well, you at least know people here, right?"
"I guess…" That didn't make her feel much better. But peeking out of the corner of her eye at Inuyasha, she remembered why she was there in the first place—an accident. And she remembered why she stayed—Inuyasha. She let her hand slowly creep toward his.
Her mind flashed back to the first real battle they'd had together, against Yura of the hair. There had been the first signs of his care for her. When the hair that had been holding her up was cut, and she plummeted, he was there to catch her and guide her down without harm.
He was there to push her out of the way of the kodachi that Yura had thrown at them, taking it full in his chest.
And it had been the first time he'd used her name.
At that very moment she'd known that nothing in her life could go back to the way it was. She'd known that in the back of her mind since she'd pulled the arrow from his chest, but then it was certain. At that moment, however, she hadn't known she'd fall in love with him.
She'd asked herself the 'big question' before. If it ever came down to a choice between the two, which would she choose? Every time she asked herself, she put off the question until later.
She touched his hand with her pinky. Barely enough of a touch to feel, but his extra fine-tuned senses felt it anyway, and intertwined his fingers with hers. She leaned her head on his shoulder.
"And…you've got me."
Kagome knew it wasn't the same. But then again, had she planned on living with her mother and grandfather forever? Eventually she'd want to marry and move away, or go off to college.
Eventually she would have chosen Inuyasha. In the end, she would have moved to the feudal era forever. It was just a little sooner than she would have liked. She was only eighteen.
"Yeah…" she said, trying to smile. "I have you."
For a little while longer, they sat at the bank, watching the river flow slowly past, filling their minds with old memories, good and bad. Either way, all they could see at that moment, was what they had missed the first time around.
The other's displays of affection.