Summery: He made his choice, between past and future. It just wasn't me. Its time to go, I'm no longer wanted here. Its too painful to remain, and watch my love, my only, love another.
"Just stay here. Just stay here until I come back." Kagome heard those words in her head, repeating over and over again. What could she do? It was clear what would happen now, with Naraku finally gone, Miroku and Sango marrying.
Inuyasha had chose. He had spoken those words to Kikyo, while she lay wounded in the forest, before they had went to the border between this world and the next. Where everyone, her and Inuyasha along with the others, Sesshomaru and his group, had come and the final showdown with Naraku had begun.
She had slipped into the forest before Sango and Miroku had awoken, when she had heard Inuyasha leave. She had heard it all. It had broken her heart. Not just cracked it, as it had every time he had went to see her before, but had broken it. She had known that there, in the glade with the soul collectors, that Inuyasha had chosen between past and future. He had chosen the past. Kikyo.
They had all come back to Kaede's village to heal. It was night now, and Inuyasha was in the forest, tending Kikyo. She stood at the well, the jewel of four souls in her hand, minus one shard. Kohaku's shard. He had disappeared after the battle, after giving the final blow to Naraku, which had sealed him in the jewel, releasing Midoriko.
She had thanked them, and offered them a gift. She had made them immortal, all of them, with the exception of Sesshomaru, Jaken, Kiara, and Shippo, who already were since they were full demons. Now Kagome stood at the well, looking over Feudal Era Japan.
She knew what she would do now. She had to take the jewel to her era and find someway to purify it, or at the very least hide it. She couldn't stay here. It was too painful. With one tear, which shimmered in the moonlight on her face, she turned, and prepared to jump into the well for the final time.
"Wait!" Startled, Kagome turned to see a boy in ragged gray clothes racing towards her. She recognized him at once. Kohaku, Sango's brother. He came up to her, panting slightly. "Kohaku? What are you doing here?"
He straightened and with eyes that had seen too much for one so young, looked her dead in the eye, "I need to come with you." Need, not want. She looked at him, really looked at him.
A young boy of around 12 or 13, he had lines no kid should have around his eyes and mouth, his eyes, a deep black, showed pain, anguish, and regret.
"Why?" She didn't ask how he knew she was from the future, or how he knew she was leaving for good. She just wanted to know why. "I can't stay here, not with what I've done."
He turned to look over the village, where his sister and her fiancé slept. She understood then, "you can't stay because you remember who you've killed." He nodded, "she may forgive me, but she will never treat me as she once did. I still remember when I slaughtered the guards who were my friends, my family, who trusted me to keep them safe," his voice broke and he bowed his head for a moment before finishing, "I can't stay here where their blood soaks the land, and their cries echo in the wind. I can't."
Kagome looked at the bowed, defeated boy, and nodded. "There you should be able to live a normal life, being you are immortal now, and no longer need the shard. Are you sure? Once I go through, the well will seal and no one will be able to come or go through it again. From either side."
Kohaku looked at the village, where it was silhouette in the moonlight before turning to Kagome and nodding. She held out her hand and he took it. Then, without a backward glance, they leapt into the well, into the future, never to return to the Feudal Era again.
They found out in the morning. Inuyasha had returned in the late morning to find Sango weeping, Miroku trying to comfort her, and Shippo glaring at him with tear filled eyes. Kagome was nowhere to be found.
"What's going on?" At the sound of his voice, Sango rose and flew at him with her Hiraikotsu. Inuyasha barely dodged the hit that would have knocked him out, "Jeez woman! What the fuck is wrong with you?"
She was sobbing as she attacked Inuyasha, and no one was doing anything to stop her, "you bastard! You fucking bastard! You made her leave! You wanted the dead bitch and because you couldn't leave the past behind she's gone! Its all your fucking fault!"
She wasn't making a lick of sense and he really didn't want to be out cold for the rest of the day. Using demon speed he was able to knock the Hiraikotsu out of her hand and pin her to the ground, "what in the hell are you talking about?"
Her eyes glared at him but it was Miroku who answered. His tone weary and sad, "Kagome is gone. Shippo says her scent is at the well and it's a few hours old. From what Kaede says she sealed the well."
Fear pierced Inuyasha like a sword and in an instant he was off the ground and racing to the well. He too smelled Kagome's scent at the well, the refreshing scent of flowers and rain. But there was salt there too. Tears. Reaching the well he leapt in… and nothing happened.
He hit the ground and looked around. He was still in the Feudal Era, not the future. "Kaede says she sealed the well." "You wanted the dead bitch and because you couldn't leave the past behind she's gone!" Kagome was gone. Really gone. And it was all his fault.
From the village, the grieving Sango and Miroku heard his howl of anguish.
Kagome and Kohaku made a life in the modern era. Kohaku was readily accepted into the Hiragashi household, bunking with Souta, who was a little wary until he discovered that Kohaku could jump like Inuyasha. Then the bad case of hero worship came into effect.
Only one time was Inuyasha mentioned and Kagome simply said that the jewel was whole and Naraku dead. Her mission in the past was done and it was time to get on with her life.
No one saw through the facade. They saw pain, even little Souta, but wisely didn't say anything. Inuyasha was still mentioned, but what had happened that made Kagome come back was not. Kohaku had adjusted to the modern era, though if he still stared a little at speeding cars, people wrote him off as a car lover.
Kagome's grandpa helped her purify the jewel and then hide it in a place where no one would ever get it again. She finished high school, barely, and attended the local community college.
Kohaku made friends and him and Souta became like brothers. Kagome occasionally came across him looking out the window, towards Mt. Fuji, with a look of sorrow on his face.
When that happened, she simply went to his side, wrapped an arm around his shoulders, and did her own reminiscing. Kohaku got great grades in school while Kagome got her degree in Archeology.
Life went on. Neither forgot what had transpired in the past. Neither forgot that one day they would meet up with their old friends and family. Neither forgot their and others sacrifices.
They lived life, made friends, and influenced others with their presence. But neither forgot.
The EndReview
Chrys