Disclaimer: I do not own anything except for the few characters that I have invented to make my story possible. If there are any questions about the story refer to the end of chapter 15 or leave a signed review and I will answer it.

OK so no promises that chapters won't be late (or not show up) because I hate breaking them and being a liar. I was busy moving out of my boyfriend's house this last week and so I didn't have a moment to sit and write this out, please forgive me. Also there are only three chapters left also including the epilogue so please enjoy.

Ch.23 Realizing That His World Is Still Falling Down

"One of the things I have thought on is what I will do from here."

"And have you figured that out?"

"I hope that I will have soon."

"What are your options?"

Kagome blushed slightly but quickly concealed it, "I can either stay in this time with you and everyone else protecting the jewel or I can go home to the future to protect it." She then looked up at him and their eyes met.

They stayed like that for a few moments and then he looked away, "you should do what you want, Kagome."

'I need you to tell me to stay Sesshomaru. That's all you have to do.'

"But what do you think?"

He turned back to look at her again, "Kagome you should do what you think is best."

She was about to get upset with him, 'Why can't he just tell me his opinion? Why do I have to make this choice blindly?'

Sesshomaru could sense that she was getting aggravated and decided to try and help lead her to a decision.

"What is here to keep you from your time that you are accustomed to? What could you loose from there if you were to stay here?"

Kagome stopped and looked down. She didn't want to make a decision off of those facts because she already knew the answers. She gave him the chance to stop her and he refused to do it. She looked to her feet loosing the want to meet his eyes anymore, the eyes that had sucked her up and consumed her to the point that she found herself in now.

"Kagome?"

"Yes, lord Sesshomaru?"

"What will you do?"

The miko sighed and decided there was no point in staying any longer where she was clearly not needed, "Well I guess there is nothing left tying me here after all. Naraku is dead and the Shikon-No-Tama is whole again, my friends are all happy and with the ones they love beginning their new lives, my adopted son has been taken under the wind of Arisugawa and Kumiko and I am sure that they will train and teach him well, and you have gotten your lands and people back and can now start building all they tried to destroy."

With the last part she looked up at him one last time hoping to meet his eyes and find some hint for her to stay but he had turned away.

Kagome continued then tears forming in her eyes, "So, I shall go back to my time then since I am no longer needed here and keep the jewel safe and far away from those who still know of it."

"Then the future is the best and safest place for it?"

"Yes."

"Then your duty requires you to take it there and duty must always come first."

The words that once held so much meaning for Sesshomaru barely escaped his lips with any of the force they used to hold but it was unnoticed by the miko as where her tears to the proud youkai.

Kagome nodded even though she knew he couldn't see her and then headed back towards the castle and away from the cliff that held the one thing she wanted but could never have.

The oceans salt water could have clouded the demon lords sense so he did not notice her tears flowing as she retreated from him.

The wind may have blown too loud and the waves crashed too hard for him to hear the light sobbing or the hurried steps of her departure.

And perhaps the sound of the poor miko's heart shattering into a million pieces as he said his last words was unnoticed by the great dog demon because his own heart, that had been revived by said miko, had also come crashing down at the very same moment.

~*~*~*~

Kagome rushed in to the room that she had planned to stay in originally but her plans had now changed. She was not going to spend one more minute here. Not in the west, not in Kaede's village, not in the past. She was going to go home right now and have her grandfather seal the well so that she may never be tempted to return to this horrible time period again.

Grabbing her yellow backpack she then hurried to the front of the castle where she found a servant with a horse.

"I need that horse to go to the priestess Kaede's village. I will have it returned here when I am done with it."

The servant looked up at her for a moment clearly contemplating whether or not to hand the horse over but then he smiled and handed her the reins, "Here you go Lady Kagome, I have heard a lot about you and know you to be trusted by my lord."

Kagome began to tear up again but quickly blinked the tears away before mounting the horse and thanking the servant. She then took off east towards the bone eaters well.

~*~*~*~

Sesshomaru sat on the cliff staring out upon the sea though he did not see the sea.

'This is for her. This is to make her happy and to keep her safe.' He justified to himself but then the all too familiar pain in his chest began at his thought.

'She was nothing more than a silly human miko who aided me in retrieving my homelands.'

Again the pain persisted and he slammed his hand down next to him pieces of the cliff breaking off and plummeting to the ocean below as a result.

"She was just a human woman. She was weak and would have been seen as a weakness. I have saved her because I loved her from all that could have been done to her in order to get to me."

Sesshomaru then thought of her taking out a good portion of Naraku's army with her powers and then her inevitably defeat of Naraku in the end.

"This was best for her. She had no feelings for me and had no more ties here, she will be happier in her time."

The pain intensified as he imagined her now in her time with another man and her inevitably forgetting all about him and everyone else and the time she spent there.

"Yes…it's for the best."

"Lord Sesshomaru!!! Lord Sesshomaru!!! Ah Lord Sesshomaru there you are! Where is lady Kag…" but Jaken didn't get to finish his question as he was thrown back towards a tree.

"She is gone; I will not have anyone speak of her again."

Jaken shook his head and looked around to see the vial still intact, then his lords words sunk in, "No…I'm not too late…where has she gone?"

Sesshomaru now turned on the frog demon and was about to strangle him when something rushed in between them and latched itself on his arm.

Blood flowed out of the wound and Sesshomaru could feel the numbing venom of the dragon entering his blood stream. He then tossed the dragon towards Jaken ripping even more flesh from his arm.

Jaken caught the dragon and it immediately nudged the vial, Jaken then realized what it had done and opened the cap as the dragon spat the blood into it.

"What have you done?"

Jaken then looked at his lord and swirled the contents of the vial around, "I have spent the last week finding a way to keep lady Kagome here with you forever."

Sesshomaru grew infuriated but kept his demeanor partially because of the numbing spreading itself thinly through his being, "And why would you do that Jaken?"

Jaken then shook his staff at Sesshomaru, "Because you're a blind fool who refuses to see what he has before him out of fear of following in his father's footsteps! Because Kagome loves you and I could tell a week ago before I left that she was good for you!"

Sesshomaru chuckled, "If she loved me then why did she leave me not too long ago?"

Jaken sighed some of his stress leaving him, "So she is alive. She probably left because you pushed her away! Did you tell her your feelings? Did you ask her to stay?"

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes, "That does not concern you."

"Hell if it does not my lord! I have risked my life and have spent my time gathering and preparing the one thing that could make it possible for her to stand at your side forever! The one thing that could make you and her happy! You are much more of a fool and idiot than I took you for my lord if you have allowed her to leave so easily!"

Sesshomaru had heard enough and rushed at Jaken slamming him against the tree held up by his neck. The vial fell from his hands and crashed on the floor. He let out a scream of anger and anguish, before being silenced by the lack of oxygen. Sesshomaru knew his reaction had nothing to do with him holding the toad by his neck his life literally in the hands of his lord. Sesshomaru looked down at the broken glass and the liquid it used to contain dripping onto the garden floor.

Sesshomaru then let go of Jaken, "How was it to work?"

Jaken fell on his hands and knees, "Bokusenou said she must drink it, but I do not know what we are to do since there is only so little now that is not ruined."

Sesshomaru ran to the castle and back with a new vial and he quickly poured the liquid that was on the bigger pieces of the glass into it. He then looked at the vial to see that it was half full, "We shall consult him later on amount and its effects but for now I need to give this to her."

"My lord you must be sure! That potion will turn her into a full blooded Inu Demoness!"

Sesshomaru looked back at Jaken and nodded his head, "Thank you Jaken."

~*~*~*~

Kagome made it to the village and was met immediately by her friends that appeared ready for a fight. They instantly calmed down as they realized it was her and began to ask why she had returned so soon.

"I have finished assisting Lord Sesshomaru and since you all are happy and no longer need me I will be going back home." She said calmly as she tied the horse to a post.

She was met by different pleas and requests for a reason why so soon and why at all when she finally raised her hand to silence them, "The Shikon-No-Tama will be safer in the future where no one knows of its power. As the protector it is my duty to keep it safe so that is what I will do. It is hard for me to leave but I don't belong here. I hope you are all happy and enjoy this new peace."

Her friends nodded sadly realizing that she had made up her mind and began to walk with her towards the well to say their final goodbyes.

~*~*~*~

Sesshomaru ran as fast as his giant dog demon form could carry him but he knew that she had taken one of the demon horses so she was much farther ahead than he had originally thought. He ten smelt her scent on the wind still fresh and she pushed himself that much harder until he landed in a clearing quickly morphing back into his humanoid form. He looked around at all the sad and surprised faces before realizing that Kagome was nowhere in sight.

"Where is she?"

"We just sealed the well, she isn't coming back." Inuyasha answered.

Sesshomaru's eyes began to glow red, "What?!"

Kikyou then stood next to Inuyasha, "Kagome asked for me to seal the well after she went through. I have just finished doing so."

"Well unseal it! I need to speak with her!" He said trying to calm himself down.

Kikyou then looked to Inuyasha for direction but before he could say anything Sango's voice came from the edge of the well, "She loved you but she left. Why should we allow for you to break her or her heart anymore than you have?"

"Because this Sesshomaru has realized that I need her. I want for Kagome to be my mate and I only realized this after she left."

Sango stared him in the eyes not sensing any deceit or lies from him, "Kikyou please unseal the well. Inuyasha once it's unsealed go through and ask her to come back."

"What if she doesn't want to?" Inuyasha asked as Kikyou began the prayer and chant that would unseal the well.

"Well make her!" Sango said angrily.

Inuyasha nodded and waited for Kikyou to finish. As soon as she did he didn't wait a second longer before diving into the well.

~*~*~*~

Once on the other side of the well Kagome had run out of the well house and was immediately met by her grandfather.

"Kagome, your back!" he then noticed her tears, "What's wrong girl?"

Kagome wiped her eyes and began to beg of her grandfather, "Please please please grandpa please seal the well and seal the well house so that I may never be tempted to go back to the Sengoku Jedi! Please do it right away before I change my mind!"

He looked at his sad and broken granddaughter before nodding his head and going into the well house.

Kagome then fell to her knees before the sacred god tree and cried her heart out. She cried for quite a while until she heard footsteps approaching her.

~*~*~*~

A/N: Another cliff hanger! I'm sorry ok but I like the falling action and drama towards the end of the chapter. Call me evil, call me cruel, but I will only continue to write as long as I get reviews.

-Vamp ^-^