Disclaimer: I own it! I own it! I own it! -blinks- Oh. You thought I meant Inuyasha? No, I own the new bird we just got. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

...The Answer...

After that incident by the tree, Inuyasha tried to stay as far away from Kagome's future home as possible. He didn't quite know why, but he felt he would be tempted to contact Kagome before the time was right. Or maybe that was just the Jewel's wish talking, not wanting him to screw up the proper course of time. Either way, he resolved never to go within a mile of the place again.

At the mall one day, he was sitting in the food court and drinking a soda, checking his watch every so often. Shippo was in sixth grade by now, and school let out later than Inuyasha was used to picking him up. He was also looking for some 'help wanted' signs, as he was supporting the both of them with a minimum wage job and an army pension under a different name, so money was tight. And false identity papers were getting more and more expensive...

"Inuyasha?"

He froze, trying not to get his hopes up. But it was definately a girl's voice behind him, and his sensitive ears picked up the same swish Kagome's school skirt used to make. He turned around slowly.

But it wasn't her. Just some other girl in a school uniform. This girl had brown hair cropped to her ears, and her eyes were brown, not the blue-grey shade he remembered so well. Still, she was strangely familiar...

"D'you remember me?" she asked. "I'm Yuka, one of Kagome's friends."

Inuyasha stared at her, thinking rapidly. "This may sound strange," he finally said, fighting to keep control of his voice, "but what year is it?"

Yuka looked at him strangely, but he was beyond caring. "It's 1997," she said cautiously. "October 6th, if you'd like to know."

With the clatter of a falling chair, Inuyasha was gone, leaving poor Yuka struggling to remember exactly why it was that Kagome liked this guy.

ooOoo

How the hell could I lose track of time?! the hanyou thought wildly as he ran. It's been three frikkin months since the Well closed on this side! What the hell is wrong with me?! He dropped to all fours and ran across the roofs of buildings, through the treetops, all thoughts of Shippo and a job forgotten. His long wait was nearly over.

I'll find you somewhere
I'll keep on trying until my dying day

He ran and ran to the now familiar place of her school building, where she aught to be at this time, but she wasn't there. Inuyasha started running again, this time for the local high school. If he had done his figuring right, Kagome had first come through the Well in 1995, and had been going back and forth through time for almost two years. And she had said she was in ninth grade, so two years was more than enough time to pass on to high school. He guiltily wondered if she'd had to repeat a year because of him.

But she wasn't at the high school building either. Finally it hit him: Yuka, who was in the same class as Kagome, was at the mall, so school was out for that class. He berated himself repeatedly for being such a dunce.

Inuyasha ran full speed as Kagome's house came into sight.

ooOooOooOoo

Automatically, the first place Kagome went was the Well-house. She sat at the entrance for nearly thirty minutes before heaving a sad sigh. I was so sure he'd be here. She sniffed. But why though? Just because the story said he made a wish, it doesn't mean he survived long enough to make it come true. A half-demon would only have half a demon's lifespan, so he probably just didn't live long enough. A single tear rolled down her cheek.

The grief she had tried so long to supress came loose like a torrential flood of emotion. Kagome turned and roughly pulled the doors to the Well-house open. Blinded by tears, she ran up to the house...

...and abruptly crashed into someone else. Someone running on the direction of the Well-house.

It was a teenage boy, seventeen or eighteen by the looks of him. He was wearing patched jeans, threadbare sneakers, and an old red sweater that looked none the worse for wear, with a mane silver hair that was way too long for this day in age. He looked scruffy, but clean, and showed no demonic features whatsoever. He could have been anyone she met on the street.

Except for the eyes. There was no mistaking those golden eyes.

Kagome reached up a trembling hand to where there should have been soft white dog ears, very much aware of how stupid she would look if she was wrong. But she refused to hope, refused to believe in something that could just as easily be a grief-induced halucination. But even though her eyes told her nothing was there on top of this boy's head, her fingers came into contact with something triangular and velvety soft. She quickly drew her hand back, almost afraid.

"Kagome?" he whispered, breathless.

She couldn't trust herself to speak. Barely breathing, Kagome caressed him with her eyes, taking in every feature: his cocky stance, his messy hair, the punkish lilt of his voice. His talons were filed down to regular nails, but you could hardly go around with clawed hands in the modern world. That was probably the reason she couldn't see his ears, though how he accomplished that, she had no idea. His fangs were still there, but they could conceivably be put down to some teenage vampire fad, or even a medical disorder. If this was a halucination, it was a very good one. If only there were some way to prove it, beyond a doubt. Only then would she dare to losen the airtight rein she had on her emotions. Only then would she dare to hope.

I just need to know whatever has happened
The truth will free my soul

Her eyes drifted to a lump under his shirt, just below the collarbone.

The word so foreign and yet so familiar, one so well used that it brought memories both wonderful and painful, jumped unbidden to her lips. "Osuwari," she said in a barely audible whisper.

He fell.

Face down.

In the dirt.

With a groan, Inuyasha pulled himself up. "Now there's a pain I havn't felt in a while," he muttered. "Kagome, I thought you'd be happy to--" His voice cut off with a grunt as Kagome tackled him in a ferocious hug. "...see me." he finished awkwardly. But his arms tenatively encircled her waist, and he found himslef hugging her back just as hard. Though she made no sound, there was something wet on his shirt where her face was.

When they finally parted, Kagome sniffed and rubbed her eyes, and it was Inuyasha who had to keep his emotions in check. "You really waited five hundred years just to find me?" Kagome asked him quietly.

He blinked. "Did you really think I wouldn't?" he asked in response. Though his voice revealed nothing, Inuyasha's mind raced as he realized that this was a distinct possibility. She might not have cared that he'd waited for her, might not have even wanted him to--

Her arms were suddenly around his neck, pulling him very close to her. And before he'd even had a chance to process this new development, she put her lips onto his. And for a moment, the entire world revolved around her, consisted of only her...

But then, how was that different from the way he'd always felt?

"Not even for a second," she whispered as they parted. Guess that answered that question.

ooOooOooOoo

Now, there are some who would say this would be a good place to end it, but I'm a very detail-oriented person, and can't just leave things up in the air like that. Whatever happened to Shippo, for instance?

Next chappie...The End. But it probably won't be the actual end. That's just for effect. In addition to details, I also have a flair for the theatrical.

Thank you so much to everyone who favorited my story! I feel so loved!!