This goes with Fading Away, so I highly suggest you read that oneshot before reading this. I'm rather proud of my little story.

In there, Inuyasha told Kagome that they would meet again...

Edited (very lightly!): 6/22/2011

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha

Beyond Life and Death

He heard her before he saw her.

It was her sweet bubbling laughter that caught his attention, telling him she'd made it. She was finally there.

They'd all called him a fool. A lot could happen between life and death that could change a young woman, they'd said. Seventy years could bring him a completely different person. She could have gotten married; she could have fallen in love with someone else. Stubbornly, he'd rejected all the possibilities they laid in front of him. His heart was set on seeing the love of his life once again when she finally passed on, so he sat himself down... And waited.

All the men and women (demons and humans alike) passed him by, shaking their heads sadly at the man. They had better things to do in their afterlife than to warn a young man not to get his hopes up.

So they moved on to find people they knew were there in Death.

And the "lovesick" man was left waiting, alone.

Seventy years were gone, and he still sat there. And now, the laughter as his warning, he was going to be rewarded. She was here. He could hold her again, kiss her again, be with her again.

So he wiped away his scowl and stood to prepare for her arrival.

It was beautiful, I decided. Perfect.

Since I was a child, it had been drilled into my head that when one died, they went to either heaven or hell. Everyone had been wrong. Once you had outlived your destiny, you came here.

The best I could explain it is a world of untouched nature. A place not ruined by mankind's improvements, like technology and all the pollution that came with it. Lush forests, rolling hills, wide skies and prairies...

Perfect.

The colors were amazing. The sky was so blue, the grass so green, the rabbit so brown and fluffy...

It had been the baby bunny that held set me off giggling. As the feeling of carefree spirit came rushing back, I let the giggle evolve into a whole-hearted laugh. Who could be poor spirited in a place so wonderful?

I looked apologetically at the being walking next to me, but he didn't seem to mind. He, for I was sure it was a "he" because of the broader shoulders and narrower hips, had been guiding me since I'd left Earth. I had gone to sleep in the evening as an eighty-seven-year-old woman, in the night my heart had stopped, and I woke up just seventeen years old once again. Dying in your sleep is the easiest way to pass. The being had waken me up, telling me that it was time to go. I walked through my village, the one I took over as after Kaede-sama's death, completely unseen by everyone else.

And then he led me here.

This "angel" wasn't exactly what I expected, of course. He was moderately human shaped and had no features: no nose or mouth or eyes. His face is smooth and a silvery color, but he was still able to talk and see. He also had no clothes, but garments probably don't matter as much when there is nothing to reveal. His body was as silver and featureless as his face.

And I wasn't scared as I followed him happily.

I embraced the idea of being in the afterlife. I had people to see, to talk to.

It had worked. The Shikon no Tama had disappeared, as had... him... while Sango, Shippou, Miroku, and Kirara came back to me within the hour. Without the jewel, I feared coming back through the well to see my family, since I had no guarentee that I would be allowed back through. I could have been stuck in my world and not had the power to come back to the past without the jewel. So while I got my Feudal Japan family back, I haven't seen Mama, Jiisan, or Souta since I was a teenager.

"Ms. Higurashi, are you faring well?" my angel-guide-whatever asked regally. At my nod, a happy feeling seemed to radiate off him, and if he had a face, I imagined it would be spread in a cheerful grin. My happiness made him happy.

I didn't fear dying since Miroku and Sango had told me that it wasn't horrible. They had, after all, died themselves during the final battle with Naraku. Being brought back with a wish from the jewel, they told me that they could never repay me. Especially for my sacrifice. I told them that it was Inuyasha's sacrifice. I made the wish... But he was the one who had paid the price.

They did repay me, in a way. I watched them grow old together, with their thirteen (Thirteen! Can you imagine?) children, and they loved each other until the end. A wonderful love that made a warm feeling overcome my heart as I watched from the sidelines. Sango had gone first, dying of old age. Miroku died of a broken heart not long after. Neither were scared. Been there, done that.

I'd watched Shippou grow older, grow up, fall in love, and marry.

My life was not something I regretted.

And now I was here with most of my friends and family. The others, I pray, won't be coming for some time, but I can wait. They were young, they needed to live out their lives like I was able to.

So why was I so nervous? So anxious and jumpy?

The fresh air did wonders for my rattled nerves.

But, believe it or not, I'm not stupid. Or at least, I pride myself for not being all that stupid.

What about Inuyasha?

He'd told me, as he drifted away from me so long ago, that we'd meet again. Does he even remember me? Has he regretted his parting words of 'I love you'? Was his declaration simply made because he was dying, and it seemed like the kind of thing I would expect in that moment?

Even seventy years were not enough to to rub away the pain of losing him, but if he told me he lied when he'd said those words, I swear to Buddha or Ghandi or even Elvis that I'll hit him so hard, Sesshoumaru would feel it.

I sighed. Now I was envisioning fantasies of a mini me beating a mini Inu into the ground.

"We're almost here," my angel interrupted my (sadly) satisfying thoughts. "I will have to leave you soon after we get through this clearing," the being explained as he parted the trees over the rough path. "I have been through here many times, and there is a young man who waits for his love."

But I didn't hear the rest of his story. All sounds blurred from my mind as I felt my stomach plummet and my heart clench. My angel looked at me questioningly as my feet froze to the ground while my vision was flooded with red.

Dragging my blue gaze upward, my eyes met with a pair of bare feet, then blood red clad legs, a rather solid chest, two silver dragon tails, and finally a set of smoldering amber eyes.

Inuyasha...

He stood several meters ahead of me, but I seemed not to be able to move closer. It was as if something was between us, not letting me get to him before something meaningful happened.

I ignored the feeling as I drank in the sight of him. Of my Inuyasha...

"...You waited," the whisper was torn from my throat.

His gleefully dancing golden orbs switched over to a lazy glare. I shivered when that feeling came over me... The feeling of cocky, perfect non-perfection that seemed to radiate from him. He keh'd silently before his fang poked out from under his upper lip in his memorable smirk.

"Of course I waited. Took your time... wench."

It was amazing how the insult made me want to hug him rather then beat the crap out of him. Maybe it wasn't the insult itself that made me happy. I was pretty sure it was simply hearing his voice again.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the heavenly being step away from us. He seemed to figure out that I was the love that the young man was waiting for.

"It worked," I told him, slightly aware that my statement sounded more like a question.

He nodded firmly, and his serious expression finally fled his face. "I saw them on their second way through here not too long ago. It would have had to have worked if they died a second time."

Oh. That made sense. I couldn't help myself when I blurted, "Do you regret it?"

Inuyasha blinked back at me. His emotional gaze now clouded with confusion. "Should I?"

You can call me selfish, if you want. I really had loved having my friends back, but I would have liked to hear him say that he regretted letting me wish his life into them. Regretted it, because he missed me. The fact that he'd waited several decades just for me seemed to slip my mind in the face of my looming self-esteem issues. When I finally recalled his seventy year wait for me, I blushed in shame. It was his choice. If he didn't regret it, then I couldn't regret it either. "Oh," I whispered softly upon the realization.

He seemed to finally understand that his simple question had upset me. I noticed his foot trembling as though he was going to lift it to come to me, but the same thing that seemed to hold me in my place seemed to have him frozen as well. Scowling in annoyance, he finally took the practical (or lazy...) way out and had me come to him. Inuyasha opened his arms and said what I needed to hear:

"I missed you."

And then that force that had me held to my spot shattered, and I could move freely again.

So I did.

I ran into his arms and sighed happily as they wrapped around me for the first time in so long. I was just the perfect height for him to tuck my head under his chin as he breathed in the scent of my hair. With my nose so buried into his chest, I realized something. Even without his canine nose, I could find his scent. So much like a forest and winds sweeping a clearing full of grass.

"Why did you have to live so long?" He complained quietly.

"I'm sorry." I knew he didn't mean it. He may not be the best at expressing emotions, but he'd never wish a short life on anyone, even if it meant longer for him to wait for me to come to him in death.

"I missed you, too," I said, still relishing the warmth of his arms around me. He'd had to die before he'd ever been able to hold me in life. At least, he'd never held me like this.

"I know," he told me.

"Good. I still love you," I admitted in the loudest voice I could muster, which was still very soft and quiet, struggling to contain all the emotions welling up in me.

I could feel his shoulders shake as he silently laughed. "Do you really think I'd stay here this long if I didn't feel the same?"

Sighing, I reminded myself that his rudeness was one of the things I liked about him. Still... "Say it," I demanded.

"Say what?" Inuyasha wondered aloud blankly.

"That you love me."

I really thought he wouldn't do it. I really thought that his stubbornness would win out. But even in death, one can be surprised.

"I love you, too."

THE END