Okay, this short has been planned to be AND WILL be short. Got it? Good. ^^

Disclaimer: Although I have killed Inuyasha numerous times, I would love to own him. Seeing as how I don't, I'll just continue killing him then -_-;;.

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Last Star I see Tonight
Phantom Phire

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The sweet summer breeze wafted through the emerald treetops residing next to a small city. . .

A figure walks up the rise of a hill, surveying the landscape around him. The breeze picked up and rustled the long stems of grass around his feet, swaying in the gentle wind.

He smiled, looking up to the starry night sky as, one by one, the lights of the city died out as adults and children began turning in to their nightly revival.

It was truly amazing what could happen to the once small village in three hundred years. . .

Three hundred years since he had gone on perilous adventures.

Three hundred years since he had traveled around ancient Japan.

Three hundred years since he had any companions.

Three hundred years since the love of his life had disappeared and never returned.

It was three hundred years since Inuyasha and his friends had completed the Shikon no Tama and defeated the monster Naraku.

He remembered vividly a week after Naraku was defeated when Kagome disappeared. Claiming to go home, as always, Inuyasha let her go with less of a fight then usual. Their relationship for that week was tense and nervous; Kagome never felt comfortable wondering what he would do with the completed jewel, and Inuyasha himself had a difficult time undergoing her penetrating stare and the wondering of his companions.

She had jumped down the well, when a blue light erupted out of it, dazzling everyone in the area with the sapphire intensity as it exploded through the woods. When it cleared, he had hurried forward and peered down the well, but all that met his eyes was dirt and a few weeds.

Miroku brushed it off, saying that it probably nothing. Kaede was slightly more worried, but she kept silent and said nothing to any of them.

After two weeks passed without Kagome's cheerful reappearance, Inuyasha was near-senile with worry for the black-haired girl. He took in his own hands and strode to the well, planning to bring her back the second he got through.

There was only one problem.

He couldn't get through.

Kaede and Miroku both looked over the problem, and although Miroku had no clue what was going on, Kaede did. "The well brought her here in the first place to defeat naraku and complete the jewel," she explained. "It sensed her mission was done, and apparently deactivated."

For months after that, Inuyasha resided in a tree above the ancient well, not speaking nor sleeping, rarely coming down to eat or drink. He kept watch on the well twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, in hope one day the girl he loved would return.

But when a year passed, Inuyasha gave up. The last thing he did near the well was build the well house that would last until Kagome's future. Inuyasha returned to the village, but he was never quite the same without Kagome.

Sango and Miroku finally settled down and got married. In the same year, Kaede died peacefully of old age, ascended to heaven and joined her real sister among the clouds. The whole village and many others flocked to the village to her funeral, each bringing flowers for the old miko they had loved so much.

Inuyasha finally decided what he wanted to use the Shikon no Tama for. That day, when Kikyo appeared in the village, seeking her vengeance, Inuyasha wished on the jewel.
"I wish that Kikyo can rest in peace forever."

Kikyo cried out, but then the serenest look on her face took over and she gazed over at Inuyasha, her eyes soft like they once were five hundred years ago. She thanked him as she disappeared, calling out farewell to him and her sister.

Shippo grew up with the rest of the village children. Each day he strayed away longer and longer, until eventually he returned only once in awhile to talk to the adults who had once been his childhood playmates. He would visit Sango, Miroku, and Inuyasha, before disappearing again on some adventure.

Inuyasha guarded the village as the years passed on, and the first time in his life after meeting his companions, felt like he fit in. The people in his village loved and respected him, hailed him in the streets and forests.

Sango and Miroku lived out their life to the fullest, continuing their practices as a priest and demon slayer. Their children grew up, either staying in the village or spreading out to seek their fortune. Seventy years after the jewel was complete both of the laid to rest.

As the years wore on and on, Inuyasha also took up traveling. He traversed all of Japan, his once explosive temper cooled, learning much and becoming respected as a hero to the demon-plagued cities and villages.

Once a year, on Christmas Eve, Inuyasha visited each of Sango and Miroku's descendants. He never let himself be seen, just watched them from a tree. Various times he rescued a stray child, but never focused into anyone's eyes. He was a silent protector, a guardian the never knew existed.

So, every year Inuyasha visited Miroku and Sango's bloodline before returning to the original village. Since five hundred years ago, the small village had grown into a city of chattering population. As time flew by on golden wings he went to that city less and less. His story, Sango and Miroku's story, Kaede, Kagome, and Kikyo's story had faded away, lost in generations of people, tucked away in the depths of their homes. Few books still floated about bearing their tale, but as time wore on the legend faded and then disappeared.

In the present, 200 years until Kagome's time, Inuyasha still lived on. The anger between he and his brother lived on through the erosion of years, and on the few occasions that he saw Sesshomaru they still fought insistently, only coming to a rest when Rin, now grown, demanded them to stop their foolish 'squabbles'.

Inuyasha smiled and left the grassy hill he stood on. Feeling the refreshing breeze as the wind picked up, he sprinted for the first time in awhile to the goshinboku. Staring up at the leafy beauty, he crouched and leaped into its welcoming branches, which required much more effort to do then three hundred years ago.

Settling in the branches, he gazed over the city in front of him. The edge of the town had slowly inched away from the God Tree and the well, and the lights sparkled from quite a distance. The bright lights that shimmered, however, were still no match for the bright stars in the midnight sky. The full moon shone over the forest as the wild animals settled down and the "stars" of the city twinkled out.

Inuyasha was older than most half-demons of his kind now.

He had lived fifty and five centuries, 550 years, older than most half- demons and even some demons. He was nearing his inevitable death, yet held no angry feelings. They had died long ago. He had resolved all the problems in his life but one, and that one he knew would be complete in time.

The shimmering silver mane and the soft fur covering the ears Kagome had loved so much had turned darker as he grew older and longer still. His golden eyes reflected wisdom of age and deep thoughts, rather than the arrogant assuredness of his younger self.

Gazing into the bright moonlit sky, he wondered what would happen when he died. Would he go to heaven? Hell? Would he be reborn in another time?

He remembered a song Kagome had once taught him. . .

"Star light, Star bright,
First star I see tonight. . .

Flashback: "Inuyasha, what are you doing out here?" Kagome plopped on the grass next to him and looked at him wonderingly. Why would he come out to this cliff,
alone at night anyway? She thought. For once, he didn't answer in his usual rude way, just replied, "Looking at
the stars. . ." She smiled, somewhat surprised and said, "Look! There's the first star!"
She pointed as the star winked in view. "Let's make a wish, Inuyasha!"
"Wish. . .?" "Yeah! In my time, there's a song we sing along with it. . . Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, make a
wish tonight. . ." She remained silent for a second before looking at
Inuyasha. "Don't ever tell anyone your wish, Inuyasha," she spoke
cheerfully. "Then it won't come true!"
"I thought that only worked with shooting stars. . ." "Either way." She smiled and leaned on him,while he hurridly ignored his hot face and looked away. She shivered in the cool breeze and he wrapped his red haori around her. She looked up and smiled and him, and he looked
down at her returned her smile, returning his eyes to the heavens as a
silver comet streaked by. . .

. . .I wish I may, I wish I might,
Make a wish tonight. . ."

He smiled, remembering the old song and watched the black board of night. It was clear nights like this he missed Kagome the most; but somehow, he knew he'd meet up with her again.

"It's breaking the rules," He called out to the wind, "But I'm going to tell you my wish anyway, because I know it'll come true someday. I wished that I could be with you, Kagome, forever. . ."

As his voice faded the wind sighed, the trees rustled as if in answer to his declaration. He watched as a dazzling silver streak flashed across the sky, the burning bright color imprinted in his vision. The light reflected off his golden eyes as he smiled and watched it fade away.

In a way, the shooting star was so much like him.

It started dull and gray, something no one noticed, but as progressed it grew it strength and beauty, flashing with such speed and independence, moving like the other stars suspended in the sky did not. It slowly faded away, leaving a trail of dust in the heavens forever.

Inuyasha closed his eyes and leaned back onto the trunk of the old God tree. He felt a living connection with the ancient tree; a bond no time could break. The tree seemed to sigh and embrace him with its rustling arms. The wind whistled again, howling lonely in the silent summer night. Silently, he thought of a wish and repeated it in his mind. 'Don't ever tell anyone, or it won't come true. . .' He smiled, a wide smile that in his younger years had forgotten.

Inuyasha fell asleep.

He never woke again.

--*--

Two hundred years into the future, the same wind rustled the leaves of the goshinboku. Silver mist drifted with the wind, dying down as it reached the branches of the tree and the mist settled into an image.

Inuyasha smiled from his perch in the tree, watching Kagome chase Souta around the house, yelling something about. . . trigonometry. . .?

He smiled, faded golden eyes following the young woman he spent so much internal turmoil over.

Somehow he knew his wish would come true.

He would be reborn and time would catch up. He would meet Kagome one day, far, far in the future. He knew not what time their lives would clash again, only that it would sometime.

The wind picked up again as Kagome threw the window open from her bedroom, sticking her head out and breathing deeply, gazing at the old well house and then the goshinboku.

The wind flew past the snaking branches of summer greenery as the leaves clapped along to the song of earth only nature heard.

There was no one there.

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The end.

Sorry if it seems a little. . . ooc. . . odd. . . you name it. But you hafta admit, things change over time, and in here Inu's had a whooooole lotta time to change.

Please review. . . yada yada yada. . .

I just realized I was supposed to being studying for my history exam tomorrow. . . SHIT! O_o

~Phantom Phire