Chapter 7

After dinner, everybody went their own ways. Sota was studying, Gramps and Kagome's mother were drinking tea in the kitchen, Kagome was flipping through the channels on the TV and Inuyasha was sitting outside on the front steps of the house. Kagome, annoyed at how bored she felt, got up and walked outside to Inuyasha.

"Hi", she said with a smile. He turned around to just glance at her. "What's wrong, Inuyasha? You look so sad."

"What are you talking about?"

"Lately, you've been so serious. What's wrong?" He starred at her while she sat down next to him.

"Kagome, I spoke to Kaede before we left… She said that as long as you had that", he pointed to the Shirkon no Tama hanging around her neck, "as long as it existed, you'll be able to go back and forth through the well. It's the Jewel that helps you jump through time."

"What!" she shrieked out, "You knew all this! You let us ALL worry and you knew all along we were going back! No wonder you were so calm! You knew you were going back!" She paused at this statement. It had hit her. He had known all along he was going back, so his willingness to go down the well was because of this. "You knew you were going back…" she murmured to herself. Inuyasha starred at her a bit confused.

flashback

"Inuyasha, I must tell you that unless the Jewel disappears in Kagome's time, you both will return", Kaede told him as he pushed up the door on his way out of the hut. He was in a hurry to go meet the others at the well.

"What are you talking about, old woman?"

"You must let Kagome know that as long as the Shirkon no Tama exists, she will be able to go to through the well. She mustn't worry about anything. Unless she wants the Shirkon no Tama not to exist."

"Not exist?" He let the grass mat door fall back down along with his hand. This had caught his attention.

"Yes. To defeat Naraku, Kikyo took a small piece of Midoriko's soul, the miko who's soul helped make the Shirkon no Tama. But once Kikyo died, Kagome took back her soul which also contained the piece of the miko's soul. Kagome, at this moment, has so much power that if she wanted she could make the Jewel's power diminish - forever."

"What would happen after that?" Almost asking himself the question.

"It's hard to tell. She'd obviously lose the power of Midoriko within her, but keep her own power, and she'd most likely be stuck in whatever time she happened to be in. I'm not too sure what else would happen." Inuyasha gaped at the old woman sitting on the floor. He knew he'd have to explain to Kagome with time and in detail what Kaede just told him, but, right now, he had to make his way to the well to go back to Kagome's time.

flashback ends

"Is this why you offered so quickly to come with me? You knew you'd go back", Kagome look at him with fury plastered on her face.

"What!"

"And I thought you had done it out of- I'm a fool." She looked down at her hands clasped in her lap.

"No, Kagome", Inuyasha interrupted her, "there's more that I have to tell you. I only found out a bit before we left. And Kaede also told me that since Kikyo took a piece of Midoriko's soul to defeat Naraku, you took both Kikyo's and the miko's spiritual powers when Kikyo died. Your spiritual powers are so strong right now, that if you wanted, you could make the Shirkon no Tama cease to exist."

"What?" She went into shock. That explains why my powers were so strong when we fought Naraku, she thought. I have to make it vanish. I can't let it fall into the wrong hands again or ruin another person's life. But if I do that-

After a few moments of silence, Kagome started, "If I make it disappear, I won't be able to go back, will I?" Inuyasha shook his head.

It was as she had feared. There is no way I can pick between here and the feudal era, she told herself. If I try to make it go away now, what will happen? I won't be able to go back to see Sango, Miroku, Shippou…anybody. And Inuyasha - he'll be stuck here. What would I do with him? He doesn't belong here. And if I vanish it in the feudal era, I won't see my family ever again. I won't see my brother grow up or my mom smile and encourage me.

Inuyasha could see there was a battle within Kagome. A big enough battle to distort her face.

"Kagome?" But she didn't answer. Tears began to roll down her cheeks and she clutched the hem of her skirt in rage. Inwardly, she cursed the Jewel for ever being formed. But suddenly, a thought came to her. If it weren't for the Jewel she wouldn't have ever met Inuyasha. She wiped her tears away and came to the conclusion that she was going to have to make a choice, as hard as it might be.

"I won't let anyone else suffer because of this stupid jewel. Even if it means I have to make a choice and sacrifice something."

"What? Is your head broken or something? What are you talking about? You don't have anything to choose. You're home, aren't you? You want me here, don't you? So what's there to chose?"

"Inuyasha, this isn't your time. And I need to know that you'll be happy."

"Kagome…"

"I will never let you stay here out of duty", she said solemnly as if a strength that she never knew she had, had taken over, "This isn't your time and there's no reason why one promise should force you to stay here with me."

He stared at her in shock. He couldn't figure out why she would say that. "Kagome, I'm not here out of duty."

"Then why?" He was about to say something, but stopped. No matter how much he cared for her, he would never be able to tell her. It would open a door that he wouldn't be able to close again. And there was just too much in the way. The Jewel, the eras, the fact that he is a half-demon and she's a human - there was just too many differences. So he said nothing. She glanced at him with a "that's what I thought" look.

"You want me gone, Kagome", he asked broken hearted.

"No! I don't want you to leave", she tried to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat, "but I just have a lot to think about. To stay here or there", she pointed in the direction of the well, "To stay by you or away from you." With that she looked into his eyes one more time. She loved him so much. It was tearing her to shreds to tell him all of this. The stress and heartache of the whole situation began to make her shake. It was taking all her strength not to cry even though her body made it quite clear of her distress.

I need to know, she thought. I need to know for sure. I can't keep hanging on to "if"'s and "maybe"s. If I'm going to make the right choice, I need to know.

"Inuyasha? Do… Do you… Do you love me?" She rushed through the last part of her sentence as if it would lessen the impact of the words. But the stunned look on his face made it obvious it didn't. He would've usually said "Baka", and that he didn't waste time thinking about stupid stuff like that, but he could see Kagome was about to burst at the seams in tears. It almost looked like she was about to crumble from the inside out. He didn't know what to answer.