Inuyasha and I stand in the doorway of the lunch room. Exactly like my dream. There are rows of tables on each side of the cafeteria. In the very back is a long line going through to get the food. As I walk in, I feel a hand on my shoulder. I tense getting prepared to knock out who ever is behind me when I hear a voice, "Kagome?"
Yuka. That's right, we're in my era right now. I don't always have to be watching my back getting ready to strike anyone near me.
"Kagome?" I hear more voices say. "Oh my gosh! It's Kagome!"
Guess I didn't plan this out very well either. Everyone starts to crowd around me, pushing Inuyasha away. I start to freak out a little; I still need to tell him to post the sacred sheets around. The look on Inuyasha's face tells me that he knows exactly what to do. The next second he's gone and more people have filled his place.
There are faces all around me that I don't even know. They are all crowded around me, hugging me, asking me questions. In the corner of my eye I see an administrator coming. Wait scratch that five administrators.
"Everyone back away. Back away. What's going on?" a heavy set lady says walking over. The lady glares at me taking in my mud stained clothes, tangled hair and who knows what else. "Well, Mrs.…"
"Higurashi," I barely manage to say.
"Mrs. Higurashi," she says in discuss, "I see you have a little explaining to do? What is all this talk about not being at school for days? Report to the principal's."
Another grumpy fat lady waves her hand over as if to tell me to follow her. Great, I have no time for this! As I reluctantly walk beside her, my mind starts to work out a solution to this problem. What could I do? What should I do? There was always the option of knocking her out but that probably wasn't the best choice even if the lady wouldn't remember it by tomorrow. No, the only option I have is to turn around and run for it.
So that's what I do. I turn around and sprint back to the cafeteria. The lady was yelling at me and running after me. There is no way she would be able to out run me. As I turn the corner into the cafeteria some guy yells at me to stop running, but I ignore him and keep sprinting over to the table where I see Yuka, Eri, and Ayumi. I slide in by Yuka.
"Hey guys what's up?" I say breathlessly not exactly looking at them but the door to the cafeteria, to see if the lady had made it through yet.
"Kagome," Yuka says clearly flabbergasted. "What? How?" I'm guessing everyone else is just too shocked to speak.
"Yah, yah," I say as the fat lady finally gets into the room and goes to tell another administer guy what's going on. My time is ticking. "Um, meet me outside. Five minutes or sooner if you can get away." The fat lady and man are now looking at me.
Distraction, distraction… I look down and see the food on Ayumi's plate. "Food fight," I yell as I grab it and throw it at the toughest looking guy sitting at the table across from this. He turns around with the rest and looks at me as if I'm an idiot. The fat lady and man are almost at me.
"Your suppose to throw food back at me you idiot," I yell at him. "You know like in the movies!"
"Mrs. Higurashi come here right now," the man says grabbing my wrist. Food starts to fly through the air. All coming from one place, I turn around to see Ayumi, Eri, Yuka, and Hojo. Then complete chaos breaks out. Food is flying everywhere and I'm able to knock the man down, run over to the table, and jester to them to follow. We all duck and swerve through the cafeteria.
By the time we reach the door of the cafeteria the food fight is already dying down. "Come one guys, just a little bit more," I yell over the noise and keep sprinting until were outside. I keep walking fast and they can barely follow.
Between breaths Eri says, "Kagome what's going on? How the hell did you get so fit?"
"Yah aren't you suppose to be dying or something?" Ayumi says.
I begin to tell them everything. I tell them about Inuyasha, Nuraku, Kikyou, everyone, and everything that I went through. Well, except the crazy dream I had when I was knocked out. At first I could tell that they didn't believe me. But then it was as they were finally putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
"So wait, you were never sick?" Hojo asks.
I shake my head. By this time we are already walking up the steps of the shrine. Inuyasha is there still wearing that hat I put on his head. Yuka, Ayumi, Eri, and Hojo stop as if waiting for Inuyasha to explode.
"Guys this is Inuyasha," I say walking over to him and pulling of his hat to expose his little dog ears. "Although, I'm pretty sure that you've all met him before."
"Um hey," Inuyasha says weakly. He's not use to being the nice out going one. No one says anything for awhile. They just all stare at Inuyasha and me. I start to squirm under their all knowing eyes. Maybe this isn't such a good idea after all.
Finally after what feels like an hour Hojo pipes up, "So is that your sword?"
Inuyasha pulls out his Tessaiga with a smirk on his face. "Hell yah it is. Bet you've never seen something like this." They all stare in awe at the gigantic blade.
Hojo walks up to Inuyasha which probably took some bravery considering he is facing a sword ten times the length of him. He and Inuyasha start to talk war, swords, daggers, all that boring stuff, when I feel a tug at the back of my shirt.
"You're coming with us," Ayumi says as I reluctantly follow.
When we stop, Yuka hugs me tight. I hug her back tear threatening to take over. How? How was I going to be able to do this?
Eri and Ayumi join in the hug and by this time I can't stop the tears. They flood down my face. It feels so good to cry. After all the death's I've seen, the friendships that broke, and the whole Kikyou and Inuyasha thing; it feels so good to let it all out. To not have to be tough, for just a little.
Finally they pull away and lead me to sit down beside them. They sit patiently as I let it all out. Holding my hand as I tell them the horrors that Nuraku did, the nightmares that seem to never leave, and the pain of hurting Koga.
I try my hardest to slow the tears and soon their gone or at least trapped inside me for what I have to face next.
"I can't believe you went through that all on your own," Yuka says sadly. I nod not trusting my voice to speak.
"Why did you wait to tell us?" Eri asks quietly.
"Because," I start to say hoarsely, "Because I didn't want you to worry about me. I didn't think that you would believe me either."
"We would have. I mean, I think we…" Ayumi starts to say but her voice begins to faultier when she sees the look on my face. We all know the truth. They would have never believed me, not unless something crazy happened like it did today.
"Why tell us now?" Ayumi asks.
"Because after I almost died there," I say pointing to the shrine. "I couldn't let you not know the truth. To have you believe that I was shipped off to America, when really I was actually stuck with that oaf. That wouldn't be right," I say rolling my eyes at Inuyasha who is surely gloating away while I'm over here crying.
We're all quiet for awhile until Yuka says, "when are you going to go back?"
I can't look at them when I reply. I clear my throat and look at my hands as I say, "Not for I while, actually. I don't want to go back just yet." I look up to see they're all smiling. My heart sinks.
"Well that's a relief," Yuka laughs, hugging me.
"Yah! Now we can go shopping and, jeez, have you missed a lot of drama! I can't wait to get you caught up!" Eri says with a smile.
"Man, I can't wait!" Ayumi says.
I force a smile on my face as we hug again. "Yah, me neither."
I stand with Inuyasha outside the house. Everyone else is in, for dinner is ready. Again he asks the same question, "Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Yes, I have to." I say with a sad smile. I kiss him on the cheek. "Go now. I don't want it to affect you too. Are you sure you got the sacred sheets all over town."
Inuyasha nods watching me with worried eyes as I place candles around the outside of my house. "You know I can do that a lot faster." He says quietly.
"Fine then do it." I say sharply throwing the candles to him. In less than a minute he's back.
"Are you –" Inuyasha says but I cut him off raising a hand.
"Yes, I am." I stand up on my tippy toes and give him a kiss. We pull away when I hear Souta calling my name from inside.
"You better go," I tell Inuyasha. "I'll be there soon." I turn away and walk into the house.
Everyone is sitting at the table. "Where's Inuyasha?" Mom asks.
"Oh he thought that he should tell everyone that I'm going to be here for awhile. I'm sure he'll be back soon." A warm smile spreads across my mom's face only making me feel worse.
I sit down beside Yuka forcing a smile on my face. My hands feel clammy and my stomach is doing flips. I still put food on my plate.
"Hey Kagome are you feeling ok?" Hojo asks.
"Yah you look kind of green," Eri adds.
"Really," I say glad that my voice isn't shaking, "that's odd. I feel fine."
Yuka looks at me her expression worried but her voice doesn't sound like it. "What are you talking about I'm sitting right by her and she doesn't look green at all. You guys are crazy."
My heart lifts Yuka is standing up for me. "If you want to see crazy," my grandpa starts. Everyone groans. "Well when I was a young boy my parents tried to eat me."
"I'm sure they did Gramps," Souta says rolling his eyes.
While everyone was listening to the rest of Grandpa's cannibal parent story Yuka whispers in my ear. "I don't know what's going on. But you better do what you have to do Kagome. I just want you to remember that you're always going to be my best friend."
I look at her my eyes filling up with tears, "Same here." I whisper back. Then I turn my attention to everyone listening to Grandpa's story. "Grandpa, if you don't mind I would like to say something." All eyes are on me now. I take Yuka's hand and Grandpa's hand. They follow my lead and soon everyone has their hands clasped together.
I clear my throat and hope that my voice will come out strong. "I wanted to say that I'm glad we're all here together. That I didn't die when I was thirteen." They all look up at me confused. Deleting the memory of me would be impossible. "Well, you know when I almost got hit by that car," I say and they all nod in false remembrance. Because the truth is that day never happened. I am beginning my "magic." "Could you imagine what it would be like if I did die. If I weren't here right now. If I had just disappeared." A shudder goes around the room.
Deleting the memory of me would be impossible. I would have to alter every memory but planting a new one that would change every memory after that, piece of cake. I start to chant my sacred words. At first everyone looks at me as if I am crazy but then the words work their magic and everyone is knocked out. I felt a barrier go around the town as I let the memory of my death release into everyone's minds.
I stand up and take a step away from the table, a tear running down my cheek. I whip it away not realizing that I had been crying this whole time. When they woke up, precisely in fifteen minutes, they would believe they got together for the anniversary of my death. I did not exist in this world.
I slowly walk outside and down to the shrine. I don't have any regrets of what I did. I take a deep breath and jump into the well. I land into the feudal era. It's dark and without even leaving the well I know something is wrong.
Instinctively, I reach for the bow that should be on my back but isn't. "Inuyasha," I call stepping out of the well. "Inuyasha?" I say as I see a dark figure in the distance. That's all I remember before something falls on my head and I black out.