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Kagome woke up suddenly. Glancing at the clock, she found that it was only 2 am. Glancing at her calendar, she found that it was a Monday morning. Why am I here? She asked herself, Shouldn't I be back in feudal Japan?
Then she remembered. There had been a bright light, emitted by the jewel. Pain. She pushed herself up with one hand, then fell back, stifling a cry. Pain. She looked at her hand and found that it was covered with burn marks. Upon first glance, it appeared only a random configuration. However, when she examined it more closely, there almost appeared to be a word written. Eternity. What's with this? She asked silently.
Well, for one thing, it meant that she couldn't have dreamed the whole thing up. The evidence stood against that. Then, why was she back here? Did it mean that her quest was done and that she could never go back? She probably couldn't anyway, seeing as she didn't have the jewel. I never got the chance to say goodbye to Inuyasha, She thought sadly, and I was never able to say 'I love you'. Wow, I can't believe I just admitted that.
"Damn it! What's wrong with me?" She screamed aloud. She bit her lip as she heard footsteps coming down the hall. Her mother opened the door slightly.
"Kagome? When did you get back?"
"I... er, not that long ago," Kagome stuttered.
"Well, then can you please be quiet? Some of us are trying to sleep."
"Sorry, mom."
Her mother slipped away, closing the door gently behind her. Kagome watched the door for awhile and then curled into a ball. I wanna go to sleep. When I wake up, it'll be just the way it was before I ever went through the well. I'll just forget about Inuyasha and all the rest of them. Yeah, I'll be fine. She lay back in her bed, but somehow, sleep wouldn't come. I'll go down to the well and see if I can't go back.
She slipped out of bed and crept silently down the stairs. When she reached the well, she gasped. Somehow, the well had filled with water. Water? This well has never held any water. I guess this means... this means I can't go back. She bit back tears and went back to bed. In spite of herself, she fell asleep right away.
* * *
Kagome awoke in the morning with the sun streaming in her windows. Rubbing her eyes, she glanced at the clock. It read 11:30 in big green digits. She stared at it for several minutes before the actuality of it sunk in. She leapt out of bed and hurriedly got dressed. Running out of her room, she grabbed her school bag.
"Bye! I'm going to school now!" She called, pulling on her shoes.
"Kagome!" Her mother called after her, "Wait a minute! You just got home!"
"Sorry Mom!" Kagome ran out the door, slamming it behind her.
She slowed to a walk several blocks later. I didn't get enough sleep last night. I'm so tired. Oh well, gotta keep going.
Kagome reached the school awhile later. Her class was outside for gym, so she quickly found the teacher.
"Sorry I'm late," she apologized with a deep bow.
"It's okay, Kagome," the teacher replied, "Your mother called and said you might not be in today. Are you sure you're okay to come?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," She sighed inwardly. As class was nearly over, she didn't bother changing, but instead sat on the bench. She leaned against the wall, staring up at the sky. Suddenly, a face came into her vision. She sat up with a start, nearly knocking Hojo over.
"H - hi Hojo," she took a deep breath to recover from the shock.
She and Hojo had been going pretty much steady for a few months. Well, in the time that Kagome was in the current era. She felt a painful jerk at her heart when she thought about it.
"Glad you're back, Kagome," He said, smiling at her.
"Yeah, me too."
Not really. She thought, and Inuyasha's face swam in her mind. Inuyasha...
"Do - D'you think you'd be okay to go on a date Saturday night?" Hojo asked, jerking her out of memory.
"Yeah. Sure," At least now, she could be a normal teenage girl.
"That's great," but he paused, "Are you sure you'll be there? I mean, you always have things to do."
"That's all over now. I'm done what I have to do," Kagome said, biting back the wobble in her voice.
"Okay then. I'll pick you up Saturday night at 7pm."
"Okay, sounds good."
Hojo walked away, back to his game, leaving Kagome sitting all alone.
But he - he. No. Inuyasha isn't going to be coming this time. If the well is filled with water, Inuyasha can never come to get me. A single tear ran down her face and dropped to the ground, leaving a small dot in the dirt that quickly faded to nothing.
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The next chapter may take awhile to get to the net because of all the holiday confusion, but that's okay. Right?