Kagome and Inuyasha walked back to the village hand in hand. She had held his hand before, but this was different. This time, there were no lingering feelings of Kikyo to come between them. Kagome sighed and squeezed his hand tighter. He squeezed back and she had to work to keep from grinning like an idiot. They walked into the village to find Sango, Miroku, Shippo, Kirara, and Kyate standing around laughing and talking with the villagers.

"Well where have you two been?" Miroku said with one eyebrow raised.

Kagome laughed nervously, "No where! We've just been, well," she began, but Inuyasha cut her off.

"I've decided to go with Kagome to her time," he said. They all looked incredulously at Inuyasha and Kagome blushed furiously. She didn't trust herself to speak at the moment so she kept her mouth shut. Sango looked like she was about to say something but Kyate spoke first.

"That is wonderful Inuyasha. But of course ye can travel back at anytime ye wish," said Kyate, smiling at the two who's fingers were still intertwined.

Inuyasha looked at the ground, his hair covering his eyes. "But that's just it, I don't plan on coming back," he said. Kirara chirped and Shippo leaped onto Inuyasha's shoulder.

"What do you mean 'not coming back'?" said Shippo.

"I made a promise," said Inuyasha, looking up and clenching his fists. "I promised Kagome that I would never leave her again, and it's a promise I intend to keep. With the Shikon Jewel taken to the underworld, Kagome has no way of ever returning here. She needs to go back to her own time to be with her family and return to her normal life," he said. He clenched his fists harder till his knuckles were white. "I will protect Kagome, no matter if it's here or in the future, I will never leave her again," he said.

Kagome was stunned. She looked around at the faces of the others and could clearly see that they were all as shocked as she was at this speech.

"But, why would you do that?" she said, still trying to grasp everything that he had said. "Why would you isolate yourself from them for me when you can come back to see everyone whenever you want to?" she said, putting her hands on her hips. "Don't do this for me, I don't care if you can see everyone and I can't, well I do care, but not like that," she said sheepishly looking at Sango. "I mean, I don't mind that you have the ability to see them and I don't. We can write letters and things like that. It'll be like having 

pen pals with people 500 years in the past," she said trailing off as the implications of that idea were too strange to contemplate at the moment.

Inuyasha looked at Kagome, "Because," he said, "I love you."

Sango, Miroku, and Kyate smiled and Shippo turned beat red and hid his face. Kagome just stared at Inuyasha. What? She thought, wide eyed. She thought she might faint since she couldn't seem to focus her eyes. She realized why as a two large tears fell from her eyes. Oh no, she thought, I'm crying again like some little girl. But, that was Inuyasha who just said that, wasn't it? Or am I just dreaming?

The goodbyes were far too drawn out for Inuyasha's tastes. Why do girls always have to be so emotional about everything! He thought as Kagome hugged Sango and Kirara for the hundredth time. He sighed noisily from his perch on the well, hoping she took the not so subtle hint. Hmph, he thought, I said my goodbyes; once. Why is she taking so long! He sighed again and jumped from the well wall and landed next to Kagome, the dust from the impact blowing up in a cloud around his feet.

"Come on, Kagome, enough already," he said, scowling at her.

"Inuyasha, just be patient!" she yelled, then turned back to Sango and the others, giving Sango one quick, final hug before moving off towards the well. "Goodbye everyone, I love you all. And, thank you, for everything. Goodbye," she said, trying not to cry. Inuyasha was just glad she wasn't weeping again. Girls seemed to do that a lot when they said goodbye to anyone. Kagome took a deep breath and looked up at Inuyasha, a small smile on her face.

"Ready?" she said.

"Ready," he said, taking her hand. Neither one looked back as they climbed to the top of the well wall and jumped in, leaving Feudal Japan forever.