*
His first decision was easy. How he was going to do it wasn't, and if whatever had led Kagome to love Inuyasha in the future didn't happen, but was supposed to, during that period of time, then the universe would end.
A panic hit him. What will happen to me?
It doesn't matter. Kagome matters.
*
"Who is the smartest man alive?"
The librarian looked like he was going to have a heart attack.
"TELL ME, DAMMIT!" Inuyasha reached across the counter and picked the man up by his collar.
"Stephan Hawking?"
"Who?"
"I have a-" choking noise- "book of his here, would you like it?" Inuyasha took it.
*
The book was dense. It was too hard for Inuyasha, but it conveyed one idea through the mists of algebra and applied trigonometric logic.
There were other ways to travel through time other than the well.
"What do you have on time travel?"
The librarian, who had been about to call the police, put the phone down, grabbed another, thicker book, and handed it to Inuyasha.
It was called Theories of Time Travel, and Inuyasha, who was a much better reader than Kagome had ever known him to be, sped through it.
What it said, in a nutshell, was that you had to build a worm hole, whatever that was, or go faster than the speed of light, in order to go back.
Well, how hard could going faster than light be?
"Hey you!"
The librarian, who had been on his way out the door, working hours be damned, seized up. Inuyasha recognized the motion.
"Don't try running; I'll catch you. Now: how fast does light go?"
The man sagged. "Faster than matter can move."
Oh. Well, so much for that idea.
"How do I make a worm hole in-" he glanced at his book- "Space and Time?"
"I don't know. You have to cut through the dimensions, and-"
"Did you say 'cut' the dimensions?"
"Well, metaphorically-"
*
Inuyasha was standing outside, sword in hand. The plan was relatively simple: Cut through time and save Kagome's life. All he'd have to do was go back a few minutes, and he couldn't do that with the well.
This had to work.
He had to aim for the TIME SCAR, the weak spot in the fourth dimension, and slash through.
First, he conditioned himself to look for the wind scar. There it was; weak spot in the density in the atmosphere, minimal resistance and maximum cutting power.
But could he see time?
Of course he could. He was INUYASHA! How hard could it be?
He looked. The wind scar and the world dimmed a bit, and, gradually, he could see something.
Pinpricks of light danced on a fabric like velvet; time was as black as ink. As black as Kagome's hair. Tears came to his eyes; time vanished.
He tried again. This time the blue-black surface, a ribbon dangling off the ends of the universe, was clearer. And he looked closely. The ripples were getting bigger; lasting longer. Time was tearing itself apart.
And he looked closer, and the pinpricks became- PEOPLE. Physical matter dancing back and forth down the timeline. He saw dozens of Kagomes, wending back and forth, all of them subjectively in the past. He saw a man in a telephone booth with a scarf wrapped around his neck. He saw a car made out of what looked like stainless steel roaring away from view.
This was the world of the well; Inuyasha recognized it. Those stars were people; there were other time travelers.
He looked even closer. The ripples became finer. He had to cut at them; go back in time and-
He slashed.
*
He sat in the library, waiting for the universe to fold up on him like Mrs. Higurashi's abominable deck chair. The vibrations in time, which had never seen going down the well, were now too strong to ignore. They were shredding time; undermining it.
What was missing? Why hadn't he been able to cut the time scar?
SHARDS. The word hit his Ego upside the head and bitch slapped his Id for good measure.
Of course!
None of the others could travel down the well; they didn't have whatever extra boost was required.
Maybe the shards had that boost.
Inside five minutes he was inside Kagome's house and going through her stuff. They had to be here SOMEWHERE . . .
He finally found them on her desk. He wondered what to do with them- swallow them?
He dropped the bottle down the front of his shirt.
And he tried again.
This time, the space-fabric was vibrating in all directions, hard and fast. He realized that his universe was probably due to collapse within minutes, unless he and Kagome did whatever it was that cemented their relationship enough to have a child, who would have Kagome, and that would save the world.
He found the time scar, and he cut forward.
*
Kagome didn't run very far. It was too cold. She just walked on, silently, in a stupor.
Like one of the men in the picture in the book on World War One.
Shell shock. That was it- shell shock.
How could she live with herself? She loved Inuyasha, but if they. had a child, then she would be her own ancestor.
Then again, were their any social taboos against being one's own mother? It wasn't EXACTLY incest, was it?
Miroku would know. But he was in the Feudal Era, undoubtedly trying his luck on some poor unfortunate.
So what could she do? She couldn't undo the damage without entering a paradox; but if the didn't that would require giving up free will. Or something like that. Oh, WHY hadn't she paid attention in Physics?
Because you were out socializing with your great-great-etc.-grandfather and future husband.
Oh no! What would Inuyasha do. Surely he was more hurt than he looked. She had to go back! She had to explain-
What could she explain, if she didn't know any more than he did.
It really shouldn't have been a surprise, she decided in the rain. She had been more and more in love with him as time went by, and he really didn't seem to mind so much as he once did. And if they had had a child, what would Inuyasha have done? He couldn't come and live in the modern world; he just wasn't cut out for it. So they would have stayed in the past.
She had known it all, really; she just hadn't put it together.
What would she tell him? She wasn't sure she really loved him like that; wasn't sure she COULD love him like that.
She started to step out into the street, and felt a hand on her shoulder. She spun around, annoyed at the rain and the situation. A large truck, driven by one Oto Hinatamura, swished by.
Good, thought Inuyasha, who had raced up behind her, now if she wants to live she can. It's her call now.
She turned around, and saw him. He stood before her, and there were tears in his eyes.
"Look, Inuyasha-"
"Kagome!" He grabbed her, hugged her tightly. She gasped a little from surprise. "Oh Kagome, I missed you. I love you so much, please don't ever leave again."
"What?" She grabbed him by his shoulders and held him out and arms' length. "But Inuyasha, I was only gone-"
"Kagome, I would so anything for you. I love you." He was crying freely now. "I don't know how time works and I don't care if you are related to me, Kagome. I couldn't live without you."
And he kissed her on the mouth.
Kagome Higurashi was stunned for a moment, and the Slap Reflex came on. But she let it pass, and wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back. Overhead, the rain had stopped and the sun was out.
She did love him, she realized. She always had, it had just been hidden by the glare of his flaws. But she saw past the glare now, and it seemed trivial.
"I will be your wife, Inuyasha."
*
END
*
Author's Notes
This idea hit me out of the blue. I don't know where it came from, but it grew on my mental processes like a phage. The thought was: What if Kagome is her own ancestor? If you think about it, this story is in fact a highly logical way for the series to end.
A reviewer, Sparkling Cyanide, has said that this story looks rather like Robert Heinlien's "All You Zombies". I have read a summary of this story and Cyanide is, to some degree, correct. But at this point it looks much more like Isaac Asimov's book The End of Eternity, which is very good and very old and very out-of-print. In it, something almost exactly the same as the Bone Well exists- the Kettle System, which travels in shafts down that dimension. People called Eternals, who patch up history as they see fit, which causes lives to exist or not exist, run it. That's where I got the term 'subjective time'; that or something by Heinlein. I honestly can't remember.
Another reviewer says he/she finds this hilarious. I wasn't going for hilarious, I must say (although I did put in some humor, me being me), but maybe it is hilarious and I'm just missing something.
His first decision was easy. How he was going to do it wasn't, and if whatever had led Kagome to love Inuyasha in the future didn't happen, but was supposed to, during that period of time, then the universe would end.
A panic hit him. What will happen to me?
It doesn't matter. Kagome matters.
*
"Who is the smartest man alive?"
The librarian looked like he was going to have a heart attack.
"TELL ME, DAMMIT!" Inuyasha reached across the counter and picked the man up by his collar.
"Stephan Hawking?"
"Who?"
"I have a-" choking noise- "book of his here, would you like it?" Inuyasha took it.
*
The book was dense. It was too hard for Inuyasha, but it conveyed one idea through the mists of algebra and applied trigonometric logic.
There were other ways to travel through time other than the well.
"What do you have on time travel?"
The librarian, who had been about to call the police, put the phone down, grabbed another, thicker book, and handed it to Inuyasha.
It was called Theories of Time Travel, and Inuyasha, who was a much better reader than Kagome had ever known him to be, sped through it.
What it said, in a nutshell, was that you had to build a worm hole, whatever that was, or go faster than the speed of light, in order to go back.
Well, how hard could going faster than light be?
"Hey you!"
The librarian, who had been on his way out the door, working hours be damned, seized up. Inuyasha recognized the motion.
"Don't try running; I'll catch you. Now: how fast does light go?"
The man sagged. "Faster than matter can move."
Oh. Well, so much for that idea.
"How do I make a worm hole in-" he glanced at his book- "Space and Time?"
"I don't know. You have to cut through the dimensions, and-"
"Did you say 'cut' the dimensions?"
"Well, metaphorically-"
*
Inuyasha was standing outside, sword in hand. The plan was relatively simple: Cut through time and save Kagome's life. All he'd have to do was go back a few minutes, and he couldn't do that with the well.
This had to work.
He had to aim for the TIME SCAR, the weak spot in the fourth dimension, and slash through.
First, he conditioned himself to look for the wind scar. There it was; weak spot in the density in the atmosphere, minimal resistance and maximum cutting power.
But could he see time?
Of course he could. He was INUYASHA! How hard could it be?
He looked. The wind scar and the world dimmed a bit, and, gradually, he could see something.
Pinpricks of light danced on a fabric like velvet; time was as black as ink. As black as Kagome's hair. Tears came to his eyes; time vanished.
He tried again. This time the blue-black surface, a ribbon dangling off the ends of the universe, was clearer. And he looked closely. The ripples were getting bigger; lasting longer. Time was tearing itself apart.
And he looked closer, and the pinpricks became- PEOPLE. Physical matter dancing back and forth down the timeline. He saw dozens of Kagomes, wending back and forth, all of them subjectively in the past. He saw a man in a telephone booth with a scarf wrapped around his neck. He saw a car made out of what looked like stainless steel roaring away from view.
This was the world of the well; Inuyasha recognized it. Those stars were people; there were other time travelers.
He looked even closer. The ripples became finer. He had to cut at them; go back in time and-
He slashed.
*
He sat in the library, waiting for the universe to fold up on him like Mrs. Higurashi's abominable deck chair. The vibrations in time, which had never seen going down the well, were now too strong to ignore. They were shredding time; undermining it.
What was missing? Why hadn't he been able to cut the time scar?
SHARDS. The word hit his Ego upside the head and bitch slapped his Id for good measure.
Of course!
None of the others could travel down the well; they didn't have whatever extra boost was required.
Maybe the shards had that boost.
Inside five minutes he was inside Kagome's house and going through her stuff. They had to be here SOMEWHERE . . .
He finally found them on her desk. He wondered what to do with them- swallow them?
He dropped the bottle down the front of his shirt.
And he tried again.
This time, the space-fabric was vibrating in all directions, hard and fast. He realized that his universe was probably due to collapse within minutes, unless he and Kagome did whatever it was that cemented their relationship enough to have a child, who would have Kagome, and that would save the world.
He found the time scar, and he cut forward.
*
Kagome didn't run very far. It was too cold. She just walked on, silently, in a stupor.
Like one of the men in the picture in the book on World War One.
Shell shock. That was it- shell shock.
How could she live with herself? She loved Inuyasha, but if they. had a child, then she would be her own ancestor.
Then again, were their any social taboos against being one's own mother? It wasn't EXACTLY incest, was it?
Miroku would know. But he was in the Feudal Era, undoubtedly trying his luck on some poor unfortunate.
So what could she do? She couldn't undo the damage without entering a paradox; but if the didn't that would require giving up free will. Or something like that. Oh, WHY hadn't she paid attention in Physics?
Because you were out socializing with your great-great-etc.-grandfather and future husband.
Oh no! What would Inuyasha do. Surely he was more hurt than he looked. She had to go back! She had to explain-
What could she explain, if she didn't know any more than he did.
It really shouldn't have been a surprise, she decided in the rain. She had been more and more in love with him as time went by, and he really didn't seem to mind so much as he once did. And if they had had a child, what would Inuyasha have done? He couldn't come and live in the modern world; he just wasn't cut out for it. So they would have stayed in the past.
She had known it all, really; she just hadn't put it together.
What would she tell him? She wasn't sure she really loved him like that; wasn't sure she COULD love him like that.
She started to step out into the street, and felt a hand on her shoulder. She spun around, annoyed at the rain and the situation. A large truck, driven by one Oto Hinatamura, swished by.
Good, thought Inuyasha, who had raced up behind her, now if she wants to live she can. It's her call now.
She turned around, and saw him. He stood before her, and there were tears in his eyes.
"Look, Inuyasha-"
"Kagome!" He grabbed her, hugged her tightly. She gasped a little from surprise. "Oh Kagome, I missed you. I love you so much, please don't ever leave again."
"What?" She grabbed him by his shoulders and held him out and arms' length. "But Inuyasha, I was only gone-"
"Kagome, I would so anything for you. I love you." He was crying freely now. "I don't know how time works and I don't care if you are related to me, Kagome. I couldn't live without you."
And he kissed her on the mouth.
Kagome Higurashi was stunned for a moment, and the Slap Reflex came on. But she let it pass, and wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back. Overhead, the rain had stopped and the sun was out.
She did love him, she realized. She always had, it had just been hidden by the glare of his flaws. But she saw past the glare now, and it seemed trivial.
"I will be your wife, Inuyasha."
*
END
*
Author's Notes
This idea hit me out of the blue. I don't know where it came from, but it grew on my mental processes like a phage. The thought was: What if Kagome is her own ancestor? If you think about it, this story is in fact a highly logical way for the series to end.
A reviewer, Sparkling Cyanide, has said that this story looks rather like Robert Heinlien's "All You Zombies". I have read a summary of this story and Cyanide is, to some degree, correct. But at this point it looks much more like Isaac Asimov's book The End of Eternity, which is very good and very old and very out-of-print. In it, something almost exactly the same as the Bone Well exists- the Kettle System, which travels in shafts down that dimension. People called Eternals, who patch up history as they see fit, which causes lives to exist or not exist, run it. That's where I got the term 'subjective time'; that or something by Heinlein. I honestly can't remember.
Another reviewer says he/she finds this hilarious. I wasn't going for hilarious, I must say (although I did put in some humor, me being me), but maybe it is hilarious and I'm just missing something.