My songfic about InuYasha and Kagome after the fact. No, I don't know what happens when the well opens back up so please accept this humble attempt at the fandom.

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha, that right belongs to the honorable Rumiko Takahashi.

Long ago

Just like the hearse you

Died to get in again

We are So far from you

Kagome thought back, her eyes coming to rest on a picture her mother had taken only a year ago. She was standing in front of the Goshinboku tree in front of the shrine. She had a wide smile on her face, and she looked healthy and happy. It may have only been a year ago, but it still hurt to know that she'd left him. He was in the past, five hundred years away from her, living on and having adventures while she simply grew up. She was so very far away from the man she'd come to love.

Yes. Kagome could say it clearly and without pause: She loved Inuyasha with all her heart.

Burning on

Just like the match you slide to incinerate

The lives

Of everyone you know

She took a match to that photo, knowing that the memories would be best buried and forgotten at the bottom of the dusty well. She had gone and sat at the bottom of it so many times waiting for something, anything, to happen. But yet nothing came to be. She would wait there, falling asleep to the sound of her own quiet breathing. Her brother or mother would find her there the next morning, a worried look would cross their face, if only fleetingly. Kagome would forget in time, wouldn't she? It seemed as if her very soul was withering away. She finished her school work robotically, never failing a single class. It seemed as if she was filling Inuyasha's void in her heart and mind with pointless schoolwork.

And that's the worst you take

From every heart you break

And like the blade you stain

Well I've been holding on tonight

Sometimes, when it was nighttime, she would think. The cool air would flow through the window and caress her face, and she would pretend it was Inuyasha. She left her window open at night during the summer and spring, hoping for him to fall quietly to the floor and shake her awake. Shake her awake from the nightmare of her life. Kagome wished she had Tetsusaiga. Maybe the blood stains of battles long past and love long lost would remind her of the things she wanted most.

Even when her heart was broken, she never stopped wishing for his return. The scars on her arms grew deeper and more abundant. Would he never come for her? Kagome was desperate. But she held on, with her vigils in the well and her lonely blade. Maybe a drop of blood was all it took to summon her one true love. So she bled into the well. And still nothing came of it; she was doomed to be alone forever.

Came a time when every star fall

Brought you to tears again

We are

The very heart you sold

Kagome was a walking skeleton. Despite the best efforts of her friends and family, no one could even come near to offering the comfort of her love. She would sit and sleep under the stars, tears falling gently down her cheeks. She remembered the many nights she spent in feudal Japan, sleeping under the selfsame stars she was gazing at now. Was it the same sky? Kagome remembered it being a little brighter and a little cleaner back then. More than anything, she missed the feeling of Shippo in the crook of her arm and Inuyasha's powerful aura only a few feet away, keeping watch into the darkest hours of night.

The new moon nights were her favorites. She would think about the handsome raven-haired incarnation of her Inuyasha. He was her equal, her soul mate. His human form was the one night where she could protect him as well as him protecting her. It was mutual love and understanding then. But she'd sold her heart to the past, and there was no getting it back now. It was long gone.

Can you hear me?

Are you near me?

Can we pretend

To leave and then

We'll meet again

When both our hearts

Collide

And then it happened, two years later. The well. She could feel it opening again, in the middle of the night. She was packed and ready to go, ready to leave at a moment's notice. Would her friends even recognize her? Was Kaede's hut still there or had things gotten bad in the village? She didn't even want to imagine the past without the helpful woman and her friends. She said goodbye to her family, not even looking back over her shoulder as the familiar blue light swallowed her up and spat her back into the past.

It was her true home, and was exactly where she belonged. She clambered quickly out of the well, her eyes tearing up as they took in the familiar surroundings. And there, asleep against a tree not even a hundred yards away, Inuyasha lay. She dropped her bag and took a few shuddering steps forward, watching his ears twitch as they registered the sound. His nose twitched, and his amber eyes opened slightly, slitting. He hissed, standing up quickly and taking a defensive position against the attacker. "In-Inuyasha?"

"K-Kagome?" and then he rushed forward, pulling her against his chest and spinning her around until they were both dizzy enough to see stars. They fell down next to each other, smiling widely and knowing that this was where they belonged.

"Kikyo didn't drag you to hell with her," Kagome smiled.

"I know. I was waiting for you to return. I thought I'd never see you again, but here you are, wench," the endearing word fell out of his mouth once again, and he felt relief at having her back in his arms. She loved the feeling of being protected and safe once again.

Well if you carry on this way

Things are better if I stay

So long, and goodnight

"You're staying, right?" Inuyasha asked the girl in his arms. By now they were in a tree. Inuyasha propped himself against the trunk with Kagome in between his legs, her back against his firm chest. He had his arms crossed over her stomach, her eyes half-lidded in exhaustion.

"Of course I am, but if you keep ranting about how it was when I was gone," she teased, "Then I'm going right back through that well."

"No!" he shouted, taking her seriously.

"I was just joking," she said, reaching behind her to place a cool pale hand on his face. "I wouldn't leave, ever. I'm supposed to be here, I feel it."

"Good. I love you, Kagome."

"I love you too, Inuyasha."

So long and goodnight.