One week after leaving:
Kagome stood up with her finished origami ornament and stretched her tense shoulders.
Time for a cigarette.
Inhaling, she studied her yellowed nails and decided they needed painting if she were to continue to hide her habit from the others. Her hand faltered as she reached for a bottle- she had no intention of going back, so why was she concerned?
Shrugging, Kagome picked up a polish at random.. red. She hated red. Red reminded her of InuYasha. Red reminded her of blood and lost sleep. Of daemons and heartache- Mostly of heartache. Kagome sighed and put out the cigarette as she sat down to paint her nails red anyway.
Five months after leaving:
Kagome growled at her grandfather as she dusted the shrine. He'd tricked her into wearing miko garb and maintaining the shrine because she "wasn't constantly in the past anymore" and "securing a real job seemed impossible" due to her dropping out of school. She growled again and said 'sit' under her breath just hoping it would reach InuYahsa in the past. It really was his fault that she dropped out of school years ago.
Finishing her shrine duties, she sought out her grandfather for the next list of chores only to learn that he had 'spiritul' training in store for her. She grumbled 'sit' again and reluctantly listened to her grandfather's instruction. Much to her grandfather's delight and to her dismay, Kagome had discovered she'd had a much more potent spiritual talent than she'd previously thought. Some wicked little piece of her brain hoped that it meant Kikyo had finally passed on before Kagome slammed it down. Kikyo was hundreds of years in the past. Of course she'd passed on.
One year after leaving:
Kagome awoke, just as she had for months now, and dressed in the silence of the early morning. Now that she didn't have Kikyoto be mistaken for- or the stray dog to chide her for dressing how she wanted-, she felt free to wear the garb of a Miko. She was actually beginning to honestly prefer it over 'modern' clothing and often would wear it out to the grocery store or anywhere else in town that she needed- or wanted- to go.
..
Kagome's eyebrow twitched- InuYasha was back again to spy on her. How was she supposed to move on and enjoy the present if the past literally kept haunting her? Her hands stilled their rhythmic sweeping of the shrine as a plan began to form in her mind. She'd simply wait until the stray wandered off. She'd erect a barrier to keep him- or anything else- back where it belonged. In the past.
Later that night, Kagome sealed off the bone-eaters' well. There would be no more ghosts coming to spy on her. She was proudly adding finishing touches to the seal when her fingers stilled. Kagome realized how she had relished in the fact that InuYasha had been coming to check on her, too stubborn to speak first. Her heart ached, only for a moment, and she knew that she had outgrown her teenage love for a man- no, demon- that could never return her feelings. Silently, Kagome faced the direction of the tree where she'd first met InuYasha and wept in the dim light of the useless well room.
..
..
InuYasha panicked when he didn't time travel to Kagome's home. He clawed at the packed earth of the well as his mind raced with horrible images and scenarios of Kagome being helpless and hurt and lost forever. His mind and heart racing, he sprinted to Kaede for a solution. The long-winded old hag was always full of advice. Kaede always knew how to fix things. Kagome wasn't lost, he chanted mentally, she's just.. dammit, I don't know but she isn't lost!
Miroku watched the inu leave and walked over to the well to see what had made InuYasha run off... and was shocked to feel nothing more than a normal, dried up well. Perplexed, Miroku walked back to Kaede's hut, knowing that the only way Kagome would ever come back was if she wanted to... and it could be a long wait.
Turning toward the village path, Miroku couldn't help but chuckle as he watched the inu being subjugated.
"Perhaps not such a long wait, after all."