This is a dark themed three part fic.

It is rated M for the overall theme.

Disclaimer: I claim to own nothing. Do with that information what you will.

Take One Down

It had been harder this time to force her to go. She knew I didn't plan to come to retrieve her just as I knew of her knowledge of that fact. I had obligations to my present just as she had to hers. It really was that simple at the time. But nothing that easy or good lasts forever.

I really thought she would take the rejection a lot better than she did, even if the smell of tears was apparent long after she left. I had forced myself to believe that her emotions wouldn't get in the way. That she was much stronger than the average human, even to the point where she was inhuman. She is strong and human but while trying to separate the two I made a fatal mistake.

When I look back on it now I wonder where did it go wrong? We all seemed happy together, well as happy as a group of teenagers and a runt could be while their lives were constantly in danger. We had our share of laughs along with the occasional tears but we still moved on. That's the way life works anyway.

But somewhere along the line I realized that I wasn't happy with her in danger. And it bothered me when she had to force a smile and continue on. She wasn't from my vile world so she didn't deserve to live like I did. She deserved so much more and I didn't deserve her.

I should have gone earlier to check on her. That had been my intention at the time to make sure she was living in her present, my future and not in her past, my present. But I allowed the simple things to get in the way. She could be busy. Her village was too loud. People would look at me funny while I tried to sniff her out. Just the normal things that stop people from doing what they planned to do.

I really didn't think that when I got there she would be laying sprawled out on the floor. I couldn't have dreamed of her reeking of alcohol. I didn't imagine I wouldn't be able to wake her no matter what I did. But even if I didn't envision those things I don't know what I thought I would find.

She was mine and I rejected her. I pushed her away for reasons I still don't understand. For reasons that now fail to come to my aid and explain how this went so wrong. I was no longer trapped in my past but she was trapped in hers, and she didn't deserve a life like that. Not if she did it for me.

She always came back for me. I couldn't understand it. Why did she continue to come back for me? What could she see in me that I couldn't? She refused to leave my side during times were we both could've been killed. She always stood there with no fear only determination shining through her bright eyes.

She was never one to cry especially not if I could see. If it really had to be said she'd probably yell it before crying. It's just another example of her impossible strength. And I broke her. I broke her into a million pieces of memories that she can't assemble. And now I'm the one left hurting. I'm the one left holding the weight of two worlds on unstable shoulders.

There were things that could have, no should have been done differently. There are words that should have long ago escaped my lips. But they never did. But when I stare into those naïve eyes, those eyes that don't remember a thing about me or my world, I'm pulled away from them again. And those words are left untouched and silently waiting.

I haven't been back since I found her, back to my home, to my world. I just spend my days waiting for her to remember. But she doesn't anymore; all she does is smile at me and constantly ask me my name. It really does kill me on the inside to see her like that, to see her suffering and yet feeling no pain at all. Out of all of my enemies, I just can't defeat the one I created. This pain, this self inflicted pain is slowly engulfing me.

Every day now I tell her the story. Our story, of how we overcame obstacles in a land she believes is only a fairy tale. I tell her of our past and what could have been our future.

I tell her these things so I can believe somewhere in my heart that she'll remember. That she'll remember me. That she'll remember us, but it does no good.

The seasons have changed now and the days have passed into weeks, months and then years. She barely leaves the room in the hospital and neither do I.

I didn't notice at first how her smile began to sink into her skin. How her youthful glow seemed to pass away into a more mature one and then became even more aged. How her laughter changed from young and springy to aged and feeble.

One day I looked at her and couldn't see what I once saw. She had grown past the peek of her life and into elder hood. And it seemed that over half of this time of her growth was spent in this damned room with its paper thick walls and puke colored wallpaper.

It had been so many years and I was the same but she was not. The walks that she had begun in the afternoons around the hospital about 5 years into her living there had now slowed into a simple crawl. She could no longer sit up to listen to my stories. But at least she finally remembers my name. Out of all the people that come to see her she only remembers my name and that's good enough for me.

She is very old now. Her mother has long since passed to the otherworld. Her grandfather has been gone even longer than that. Her younger brother is now enjoying the luxury of great grand children. He can't visit as often as he used to, age is wicked to old bones. So a whole new generation pops its head in every once and a while to greet her but she never is able to match the faces to a name. So I patiently do it for her.

She called out to me one night when the moon shined brightly along with the stars. But it wasn't even a call, more like a whisper. There were machines now for everything. There was one to help her breathe, one to monitor her heart, one to feed her and such. The whistles and soft clatters produced by the machines almost covered her voice but I still heard her. I always hear and I will always hear her, because I am always listening.

"Inuyasha…" She called through the thick night air.

"What is it Kagome?"

"I remember now Inuyasha. It was so long ago but I remember. The story of the girl who overcame time and the boy who time overcame, that was us." She let the words flow out of her parted lips much like a sigh, like a secret she had keep hidden for all the decades she had forgotten it.

"That's right Kagome." I whispered as she smiled up at me.

"In the heart of the Sengoku Jidai there was the Shikon no Tama. The shards spread across the land and we collected them together. Those were such fun times and they made for nice memories." She whispered back.

"I know Kagome."

"It was such a lovely place Inuyasha." She muttered while closing her eyes. "Yes such a lovely place."

"It was absolutely beautiful, just like you." I reply not sure if I truly remember it anymore.

She let out a soft airy chuckle. "You have to take me back there Inuyasha, just for a little while. I miss it a lot."

For the first time I smelt it on her, it was faint but slowly becoming stronger, death. So I did as she asked. I hoisted her onto my back and scaled rooftops until I reached the old well house at the back of the shrine. It hadn't changed at all even with the growth of new industry thriving around it.

"We must hurry, there isn't much more time left." She whispered again. I nodded slowly and jumped down the well.

I jumped into the mystic well, the portal between times and when I arrived I sat her gently on the ground. By now her breathing had become impaired and her eyes weren't focusing that well. Maybe time travel wasn't the best thing for sickly old women at times it even put a slight strain on me. But when she spoke she didn't complain it would probably be against her very being.

"It's just like I remember…" She said with a sigh and closed her eyes. "So open, so wild, so free, so wonderful…"

I didn't mean to let it slip but it did. A tiny bead of water slid slowly down my cheek and fell silently to the ground. It was soon followed by more that continued to make the journey to the ground below. I had done this to her. I had driven her so far over the edge that it had take more than half a century for her to climb back up. I had hurt her while trying to protect her. And it took everything I had to stop myself from falling to the ground in tears.

"I'm so sorry Kagome that I couldn't get you here sooner…"

"I would forgive you Inuyasha… But there is nothing to forgive." She said softly gently cupping my face with her old weathered hands. "But I wonder now, what did you ever do with the jewel?" She asked before leaning into my arms and allowing her strength to drain from her limbs.

"What?" I asked softly, quite startled by the question.

"A wish for anything in the world, but in the end it's all just a dream…"

"A dream?" I echoed.

Kagome whispered as she slipped away into the other world. "Yes, such a lovely dream… I wonder how it will finally end…"

"Kagome. Kagome?" That's when I realized she was really gone. And the little bead like tears ran freely from my eyes. I buried her under the sacred tree in the time she had almost forgotten. And with remorse and even more forgotten tears, I returned to her time.

But I wonder now, what did you ever do with the jewel?