Kagome was slowly coming back to consciousness. She could feel something warm and soft in her arms, she clutched it tightly. Then, she heard a fain sound from somewhere near her – someone was crying. It sounded like Shippo. The girl felt anger rise in her and she gritted her teeth, ready to start yelling.

'That idiot, Inuyasha!' she growled in her mind, fighting with her own body to make herself open her eyes. 'He must've hit Shippo-chan really hard this time!'

"Stop whining!" she heard Jaken's voice and mentally frowned. "You can't bring him back. Your hanyou is gone."

'Gone…' Kagome thought, trying to figure out what the ever annoying green demon meant. 'Gone? Inuyasha? Where?' her eyes slowly opened and she saw what she was holding so close to herself. 'Inuyasha's haori… Blood?!' suddenly everything fit into place and she remembered.

Everything that had happened came crashing down on her so hard and painfully that she gave out a loud horrified scream. Jumping up from her lying position, startling everybody in the small hut she was in, Kagome threw the bloody haori away from her and found herself hugging her knees to her chest in the nearest corner she managed to get to.

"No, no, no…" she kept repeating, staring blankly at the abandoned cloth. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and she shook her head, refusing to believe her own memories. She heard Sango's voice calling her name and the moment the demon exterminator was within her reach, she threw her arms around her friend's waist and cried harder.

Everybody looked at the two girls sadly. Sesshoumaru, who was by the door, sighed and looked away. He was a little disturbed by the large amount of feelings that humans could display, especially sadness, and with great effort he managed to admit to himself that it was starting to affect him too. He had never thought that he would regret it if his brother died. He didn't even use that 'half' anymore.

There was something else that bothered him too. He had thought about it on their way back from the mountain. No matter how hard it was for him to admit something like that, the dog demon now felt respect for that hanyou. He had even been ready to bring Inuyasha back, despite the sarcastic remarks he would have gotten later from him.

"Calm down, Kagome-chan, please." Sango tried to comfort her friend, although she also had tears in her eyes. "Think about what Inuyasha would have said if he was here."

Kagome cried for a little longer, but gradually relaxed. She pulled away from the demon exterminator and whipped her tears. "He would have panicked and then stuttered something about me being stupid for crying." The girl said sadly, looking at the floor. "That idiot…" she muttered and took a deep shaky breath.

Suddenly, something strange caught Kagome's attention and she looked up. There, by the door, was sitting Kagura and a little aside from her, next to Miroku, was Kohaku. They were perfectly well and alive. Her shock was explainable. She had thought that with Naraku dead, Kagura would have died too, and for Kohaku…

Obviously Sesshoumaru had seen her confused expression and cleared his throat. "I brought them back to life." he said in his usual even voice.

"But you couldn't save Inuyasha." Kagome whispered, turning her eyes back to the floor.

"I am truly sorry about that." the dog demon surprised her and the others by saying such thing, but nobody felt like making remarks or something like that. After all, they weren't a certain hanyou who loved to irritate people or demons, in this case. "Jaken, Rin, we are leaving." with that he turned and walked away.

"Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama!" Jaken ran after his master.

"Bye, everybody." the usually cheerful girl said in a sad voice and also followed the dog demon outside.

After a second Kagura stood up and walked to Kagome. The girl looked at her slightly confused, as she kneeled down in front of her. Then she bowed. "This is for Inuyasha." she said and getting up, walked outside. The sudden strong wind that blew outside of the hut was a signal that the wind sorceress was gone.

Now, the only ones left in the hut were Kaede, Sango, Miroku, Shippo, Kohaku, Kirara and Kikyou, who was still by the door. Kagome looked at every one of them, as if searching for someone. "Where is Kouga-kun?" she asked shakily, fearing that something bad might have happened to him.

"He's outside." Miroku said calmly. "He said that he'll wait until you feel better."

Shippo hiccupped, getting everybody's attention, and walked toward Kagome, dragging Inuyasha's haori with him. The girl felt tears well up in her eyes again, but this time she managed to stop them from falling. She held her arms open for the small kitsune and he jumped at her, burring his face in her stomach.

The sun was setting. The people and demons in the small hut were having dinner, all except Kikyou and Kagome. It was obvious that none of them was hungry, but they just didn't have anything else to do. Kagome was sitting a little aside with Inuyasha's haori spread over her lap. She was still fighting with her tears, only sniffling from time to time. She was sure that Inuyasha was watching her from somewhere, hell or heaven – it didn't matter, and she didn't want to upset him.

Kikyou, who was sitting by the door, looked at her reincarnation and sighed. "Go talk to Kouga." she suddenly said and Kagome snapped her head up.

Without saying even a word, she stood up and walked outside, never letting go of the haori. As she had been said earlier, the wolf demon was outside, sitting under a tree next to the hut. He looked at her sadly and she walked to him and sat next to him. They stayed in silence for a long time, neither of them able to find the right words to say.

"What are you going to do now?" Kouga finally asked.

"I don't know." Kagome shook her head slightly. "I'll just go home and…" she found it too hard to continue and clasped her hands over her mouth to keep a sob from escaping.

"Kagome…" the wolf demon sighed and wrapping his left arm around her shoulders, pulled her closer to him.

Again silence fell between them. And again the one to break it was Kouga, when Kagome calmed down a little and pulled away. "Here, take it." he said, handing her his Shikon shard. The girl looked at him slightly wide-eyed. "I don't need it anymore."

"Are you sure?" she asked and he simply nodded.

"We are friends, aren't we, Kagome?" the wolf demon asked, looking hopeful.

"Of course we are!" Kagome exclaimed.

"Okay." he smiled at her. "Don't forget me, 'cause I won't forget you either." with that said, he leaned to kiss her right cheek and ran off toward the forest.

Kagome sat under the tree, watching the cloud of dust that followed Kouga, until it disappeared in the forest. The sound of footsteps made her look toward the hut and she saw Kikyou walking toward her. The undead Miko had her usual calm look as she came to her reincarnation and sat next to her. Without saying anything, Kagome handed her Kouga's Shikon shard. Kikyou accepted it and took out of her left sleeve the almost completed Shikon no Tama. She merged the two pieces and put the jewel on the ground.

"I don't want it." Kagome said coldly.

"Yes, you do." Kikyou stated, obviously not bothered by the tone the other girl used. "Make your wish."

Kagome bit her bottom lip, glancing from the corner of her eyes toward the Miko next to her. Seeing that she still had her calm and unbothered expression, Kagome took the jewel in both her hands and made her wish. Then, she waited. Kikyou waited with her. Nothing happened. Tears started to fall from Kagome's eyes. Why wasn't her wish coming true?

"It's not working, is it?" Kikyou stated the obvious and sighed.

"Why isn't he coming back?" Kagome cried, clutching the jewel tighter. "Why?"

"The Shikon no Tama can't bring the dead back to life." the Miko explained as calm as ever. "Besides, Inuyasha had his fate."

"What fate?" Kagome snapped her head toward Kikyou.

The undead Miko just smiled, which confused her reincarnation even more. Then she stood up and kneeled in front of her, taking her hands in hers. "Our journey is over, Kagome." she said, the smile still on her lips. "Eventually, I will have my 500 years with Inuyasha, but you have to go back to your time."

"What do you mean, you'll have…" Kagome started in confusion and in frustration for not understanding what the Miko meant.

"I will return to you, I will give you back the rest of your soul." Kikyou interrupted the girl in front of her. "Take the Shikon no Tama and go home. Since Inuyasha is no longer here, once you go through the well, there is no turning back."

"But, I…" Kagome started shakily and this time was left to continue. "I don't want to leave Sango-chan and Miroku-sama and Shippo-chan and…" again words failed her and she hiccupped.

"If you truly love them, they will always be with you." Kikyou said and the crying girl slowly nodded.

"Alright, but I'll give them the Shikon no Tama." Kagome's voice became somewhat firm at that.

"No." Kikyou shook her head. "You will need it when you go home."

"I don't understand." Kagome looked confused.

"You will." the Miko smiled and pulled her reincarnation into a tight embrace. They both started glowing and after a second, Kikyou's soul was absorbed by Kagome, leaving only her clothes on the ground.

The others had come out of the hut and had seen everything. Kaede was obviously upset, but her warm reassuring smile calmed Kagome. She stood up and walked toward her friends. She hugged them one by one, taking her time to calm down the wailing Shippo. The small kitsune knew that she didn't belong in this world and that she had to go home, but he still didn't want to let her go.

"Take care, Kagome-sama." Miroku smiled at her.

"Don't forget us." Sango added.

"I won't." Kagome smiled too. "I love you all too much." with that said, she gave Shippo to the demon exterminator and ran off in the direction of the well.

A whole month had passed since Kagome's last return from the past. Only her family knew what had happened in the final battle. She hadn't told her friends, that her two-timing boyfriend was dead. They asked about him from time to time, wanted to see him again and talk to him some sense, but every time Kagome just stood up and left them. Finally, they stopped, thinking that he had done something really terrible this time. Maybe ran off with the other girl?

Anyway, it was a warm sunny day. Wanting to look like she was gradually getting better from her illnesses, Kagome has skipped school today. She sat under the God Tree with Inuyasha's haori spread over her lap. Her eyes were closed, a warm smile on her lips. Whatever she was thinking, it seemed to be really good. Well, of course she was thinking about Inuyasha. Who else? Ever since she had come back, that was all she could think about.

"Be quiet, idiot." she heard someone's voice. It sounded slightly familiar.

"Don't provoke me!" another man's voice yelled. He sounded familiar too and really pissed off, now that Kagome thought about it. "I lost a whole month because of that rehabilitation!"

"Calm down." the other man said calmly, obviously completely unshaken by the outbursts of his companion. "Your human body is just too weak."

"Oh, yeah?!" the pissed off one was now simply enraged. "Drop dead, fluffy!"

Suddenly, Kagome's eyes snapped open and she straightened up. Those voices – she knew who the men were. And when she looked toward the stairs she saw them. The first man was taller than the other one; he was clad in a black suit. His long white hair, his face, his golden eyes, his look! She felt weak in the knees and leaned back to support herself on the God Tree. That man looked just like Sesshoumaru, except that he didn't have the purple stripes on his cheeks and the blue moon on his forehead.

"Hey, is she okay?" the other man asked, glancing nervously at his friend.

That voice… Kagome almost passed out. That other man had long black hair, pulled back in a loose tail, dark eyes; he was clad in a red t-shirt and slightly baggy dark-blue jeans. He looked at her in concern and moving closer to her, said her name. The way he said it, the way he looked at her… She couldn't take it anymore – she was either dreaming or insane. With one chocked intake of breath, Kagome collapsed on the ground, loosing consciousness.

TBC