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I fell down into the depths of the well for the last time. My eyes were closed to what surrounded me. I couldn't bear to look upon the swirling colors of the time portal and know that the life they had blessed me with would forevermore be the curse that would plague the remainder of my days with the knowledge that I could never return.

My tears still flowed freely even though my eyes had been closed; the hotness of them streaming down my face only heightening the burning anguish of what I was feeling.

I had left them. I had left them all, and I hadn't even said goodbye.

My soul had been torn, my heart broken; and as I fell I knew that once I landed the pieces of my life could never be put back together.

When my feet touched the ground, I was jarred by the force of the impact. My legs folded instinctively to lessen the blow, and I was left kneeling at the bottom of the well, my knees throbbing with the painful reminder of my fall from grace.

I remained there for a moment, unable to move, unable to open my eyes to look upwards towards my fate. The trembling of my body and my dry, mournful sobs were the only movement I was permitted; and the only sounds that reached my ears were those of my own suffering.

"Kagome!"

The faint voice calling me from the distance above forced me to open my eyes, but when I did I realized the full horror of what had happened.

Above me there was no shrine house, no roof to block out the vast reaches of the nighttime sky. There was only the soft blinking of the stars overhead and the message they held for me that said the choice had never been mine to make, that I was bound to the world of the past in a way that I could never escape. The life that I had lived, the friends and family that waited for me just on other side; were now lost to me forever.

"No," I whispered in dismay and disbelief.

I had wanted to leave to spare the pain that my being here would cause, but now that I could not I knew that I wouldn't be able to turn away. I would have to face him now, I would have to hear what I had dreaded to hear; I would have to learn the truth no matter how painful.

"Kagome."

He was right beside me, but I could bring myself to answer or to even so much as look at him. I was frozen within myself at the sense of loss I felt and the sense of dread for what lay ahead for me. I was floating, lost in an endless sea of despair that I believed there would never be an escape from.

"Kagome, look at me." Sesshomaru took hold of my shoulders and turned me to face him, but still I could not look upon his face. Even when he had taken hold of my chin and forced me to meet his gaze, where I was looking was nowhere, and what I was seeing was nothing.

"Kagome, please." There was such sorrow and desperation in that voice, but still it was so far away. Part of me wanted to reach out to it, but the lager part of me, the part that was broken beyond repair, held me still.

I had felt it when his arms wrapped around me, but the warmth from his touch was lost to the cold stillness within me. He had moved us away from the well, in one swift movement he had brought us to rest on the soft grasses of the clearing; but still all of it to me was nothing more than vague images of a dream. I couldn't touch the ground on which I sat, I couldn't see the man by my side; I couldn't feel anything but the numbing cold.

Almost imperceptibly I could hear his growls of frustration, and vaguely I realized that he was shaking my shoulders; but he wouldn't find the response he was looking for. I had already given up.

Somewhere, deep within the seclusion of my mind, I recognized the sharp glint of a blade in the moonlight. It was there in front of me, teasing me with a promise of ended pain. But the blade that was being held forth was not intended for me to use. I knew that something was wrong, something was out of place. I tried to focus on what was happening, I tried to pull myself clear of the dark waters that had entrenched me, but I would not find my way out soon enough.

Sesshomaru had already put the small silver blade to use, and when I finally regained enough of myself to see my surroundings; the first thing I saw was his blood. My breath caught in my throat as my hands shot out to clasp his arm and stop the heavy flow. I could feel the heavy pulse of youki in his blood. He was pushing away my hands, allowing his blood to flow freely from the wound.

"Why?" I choked out as I finally managed to look upon the face of the man that I loved.

"Because," he replied sadly, "of any of us, you don't deserve this pain. Because of all of us, you deserve to be happy. Because from me you can take the power you need to find your way home. Because I would gladly give my life to see that you would live yours as you were meant to."

"I could never take your life!"

My tears had returned anew at the thought that I would be loosing him too. In my fear and frustration I lashed out at him, beating on his chest with my hands, hoping to bring him back to the reason he is so known for. He caught my hands I his own and pulled me forward to wrap me tightly in his arms.

"Then stay," he whispered softly to me. "Stay with me. Share your life and your love with me."

"No," I pushed away from him and dropped my eyes away from the blazing amber of his. I couldn't accept it. I couldn't be the one to hurt him so. "I am…human."

He placed his hand under my chin and lifted my face to his once more.

"What you are, and who you are; are not the same thing. You taught me that."

"But I will die…and you…" He stopped me by placing a finger to my lips.

"We all die, Kagome; but so few of us ever have the chance to really live. I'm asking you to give me that chance now, because without you I will never find it again. I need you Kagome. I need you here with me. I need your intelligence, bravery and strength to lead this pack with me. I need your inquisitiveness and stubbornness, your humor and your wit to keep me always on my toes. I need your compassionate and caring nature to continue bringing light and life to this family."

"I need you Kagome. I need your love because I am in love with you."

He leaned into me then without waiting for me to protest and pressed his lips to mine in a searing kiss.

When I opened my eyes, I knew it wasn't going to be the glowing amber of his that I would be seeing; but rather the endless sky and its scattering of stars that were made visible to me from my newfound position on the ground several feet away where I had been thrown to by our contact.

My tortured scream lifted up into the heavens as I cursed every god in existence for what they were doing to me. I had been the guardian they had made me into. I had stopped the threat of evil that wished to consume the lands. I had done everything they wanted of me and still they would torment me. They had taken my family, my friends; the life I had been born into and that I had known. They had taken everything from me, but they wouldn't stop there.

They would take Sesshomaru as well. They would deny me love as they had denied me any other happiness in my life.

"Why?" It was the only thing I could think to ask when Sesshomaru had made his way over to me and taken me into his arms.

"Because you are reaching out with the wrong hands."

I didn't understand what he was saying. I didn't know what I was supposed to do. I had suffered so much already. My thoughts had been so chained down by the unrelenting emotions of darkened despair that I couldn't even grasp onto any meaning that his words would have had.

But I felt it when he began to show me the way.

It felt as though my skin had been set on fire. Every nerve had been fired in agony when his youki surrounded me and began pressing down upon me. It was crushing the air from my lungs in its weight, and the life from my body. If I could have, I would have screamed; but I could do nothing but feel the pain.

"Let go," I heard his voice through the haze of unbearable pain, but still I couldn't understand.

"Let go," he said again. "Let go of what is holding you back. Let go of the power that you fear and know that I will be here with you. Let go and allow yourself to be whole at long last."

I still couldn't understand, but in my agony I could do nothing else. I let go as he had told me to, let go of all the barriers that had held me back, let go of the power that had lain dormant inside of me for so long, let go of everything; every emotion, every memory, everything.

My own aura rose up around me in a flash of brilliant blue light. It clashed against the burning crimson of his in a breathtaking explosion of light that ignited the night sky in an inferno of blazing colors and chased away all shadows on the earth below. But within the dancing fires I could see clash of our power, and I finally understood.

Like ying and yang we opposed each other, clash in every way. But each on its own is vulnerable, exposed because of the forms they take; but together they are unbreakable: meeting to created infinity.

I could feel him then being brought back to me. My soul had reached out to his and his to mine, and when they met they knew each other and they embraced in a way that could never be broken. Tamashii no awasemono: the entwining of souls, but not because of instincts or forced will, but because we had made the choice. We were bound together by ties stronger than the body or the heart, but by ties we had forged from our own power and our own souls.

We were together now, and would remain so always. We had become one on a level that transcended what we were born to be, and which would forever change what we could become.

When it was over, I looked upon the man that I loved and truly saw him for the first time. I was filled again with love and hope, and I knew then that the future was not something that I would find at the bottom of a magical well, but something that I would create with him.

I smiled for him then, conveying all of my trust and faith and love for him in that simple gesture and he returned it in kind. And then we were granted our first real kiss, and passion's fire at last was allowed to burn.

I had found the life I was meant to live. I had found the love that I desired. I had found the way to make myself whole. I had found where it was that I belonged. When I had asked the well to take me home, I had thought that its magics had failed me; but though it did not bring forth its magic, it did give me what I had asked.

I was home, for home can only ever be that which your heart would make it.

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No cliffie, no evilness; only ooey gooey, lovey dovey, fluffyness. So now everyone thank your authoress because she has been threatened, called names, been ranted and yelled at, glared at and accused of some rather interesting things for what she did last chapter and was still nice enough to give you this touching scene. Patience can be well rewarded, but without suspense there is no need for resolution.

Mind you, it was rather funny to see what kinds of things people could come up with to try and…ahem…'motivate' this chapter out of me. And I rather enjoyed the knowledge of just how evil you all think I really am. Besides, reviews, be they good or bad, threatening or supportive, thoughtful or funny; are all appreciated by this Shadow.

Thank you everyone for reading 'My Experiment'. Though I do plan on having one more chapter, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it so it may take some time to come out (or not…it always depends on my motivation and my imagination). This has truly been an experience that I won't forget and it wouldn't have been possible without all of the support or the ideas that I have received from my loyal readers. So thank you.

ShadowsWeaver1

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters I am about to weave into my web of chaos. Any and all definitions (with the exception of those cited specifically) have been taken directly from Wikipedia the online encyclopedia because I am far too lazy to do any further research to support my Inuyasha obsession.