"It's been three years…"
The recent graduate stood before her family's old well, slender hands gently gripping the age-softened wood as she stared into the defunct darkness.
Three years since Inuyasha had disappeared in front of her and the well stopped connecting their worlds.
She wondered sometimes if he stood on the other side when she did, staring into the well, willing it to operate. With her eyes shut, she would try to sense him. That was the closest they might ever come again, after all. She visited the well almost every day, once or more falling asleep there, only waking when Sota or her mother came out to find her.
She'd made an effort after catching a terrible cold the previous winter not to fall asleep in the well house anymore – but sometimes she woke up and stared at her bedroom window in the middle of the night, willing him to open it once again and climb inside her room. On those nights she'd creep downstairs, throw on her coat and make her way to stand where she was standing now.
"I've graduated!" She called. Only her own voice reverberated back at her, but she continued, wavering slightly, "Momma and Gramps took me out for dinner tonight. Later, I'm going out with Ayumi, Eri and Yuka. We're going to celebrate together – I wish…"
She felt her throat close immediately and a gentle pain pierce her eyes – but instead of crying, she let a small laugh out in its place.
"Well, it doesn't matter. I've used up all my wishes."
Somewhat sadly, she could imagine exactly what he might say back to her. Hearing his voice in her head telling her not to be dramatic, to go and enjoy herself like she was always complaining she couldn't.
"You always want to go out, but now that you're going, you're too depressed to enjoy it? You're impossible, wench."
"You're right." She smiled down into the well, reaching out one hand. "I'll be back, Inuyasha."
She waited as always, and as always was answered with silence as a low creak of late spring wind bustled through the wellhouse. When she turned her back to climb the old staircase and head toward the house, she liked to pretend she was coming home from a long time away with her friends, with him.
There were a few small, fake things that held her together.
Behind her, a dim light began to reflect in the depths of the well.
XOX
Another spring almost gone. Another spring without her.
Three years had passed; Inuyasha watched them come and go, each one leaving him a little lonelier and a little less hopeful than the last. Still, he didn't give up – remaining true to his word, he came to the well every three days and tried to reach her. Sometimes he'd call to her, but more than once lost control, digging at the ground in a stupor until the skin on his hands broke.
Today he felt the warmth of the sun and basked in the smell of earth awakening, of rich soil and returning flowers scenting the clearing. The well remained as empty and as inactive as it had been for years.
He didn't understand it – why had they been separated? After all they'd been through, after all she'd shown him – to never see her again…
He had to take in a deep breath, release his now shaking and clenched fists. There was no use getting angry – Kaede, Miroku and Sango had all talked him through numerous fits of rage and despair over the years.
They had even talked down his demon on a single occasion as it attempted to destroy the well in a fury of desperation; he almost harmed his friends in his blackout, but in the end, they'd managed to contain him, somehow, until he regained himself. It was all he could do to not let that happen again.
Still, it was hard to control how he felt. Without Kagome, for a while, it had been hard to move on.
Now he kept a routine of helping Miroku subdue lesser demons around the area, odd jobs here and there – Sango still went out on a demon hunt occasionally, and sometimes they all even worked as a team – but more often, Sango stayed home with her and Miroku's growing family. Shippo was in and out of the village with his fox demon trials, and unfortunately, Inuyasha had been awarded the displeasure of a run-in with Koga in a recent battle, but overall, the years had been a slow trudge toward nothing for him.
Nothing but every three days. Every three days, he let out a breath he'd been holding, and as soon as he left the well, began to accumulate once more.
"Inuyasha!"
He turned, his silver-white hair catching a breeze and flowing from his shoulders. Lady Kaede stood at the edge of the clearing, a basket of herbs weighing her down as she hobbled toward the village.
"Old woman, you're going to topple if you keep working like that."
He rolled his eyes but met hers with silent gratitude – she nodded, holding the basket out to him knowingly as he leapt in three short jumps across the field. She knew when he came to the well, and often kept an eye on him in case he needed someone when he did.
"Ye are too kind, young brat." Kaede wheezed, taking a moment to rest with her palms on her knees before standing up semi-straight once again and beginning her slow journey. "It's good ye keep coming to the well to visit. It seems to me, the energy in the forest is clearing with each year."
"Yeah?" Inuyasha rolled the basket from one arm to the next with bored flagrance, eyeing the forest canopy above them as they walked. "What makes you say that?"
She didn't answer, as she wasn't sure – she only invited him to dinner and discussed what herbs she had found with which to make it.
After all, her hut was closer than the one Inuyasha had procured over the years, and she had a feeling; again, one she couldn't place, but one that spread through the spring air with the same hope of impending summer warmth.
XOX
"We're going…here?"
"I know, I can't believe Eri swung us an invite!" Yuka enthusiastically nudged Kagome forward.
Ahead, Eri and Ayumi chattered eagerly and sped down the driveway of a large house that seemed to thrive with moving bodies, the buzz of speakers blasting alongside cheering and off-key singsong, altogether creating a din that echoed down the street.
Kagome hadn't been to a party since grade school, let alone of this magnitude – for the first couple years of high school she was totally occupied with demon battles and jewel shards, and for the last three, she dealt with mourning her losses while playing scholastic catch-up. There really hadn't been time for much partying, relaxing or…
"Dating!" Ayumi had sighed at her earlier, "Dating, Kagome, you know, that thing you haven't done since your mysterious foreigner boyfriend ditched you?"
Kagome had winced so hard that Eri's mascara wand smudged all the way up the side of her eye, and the frustrated girl had to wipe her face clean and start again.
"I'm sorry Kagome but come on. Tonight is a chance to have some fun before all the boring adult stuff starts."
And maybe her friends were right. Maybe she really did have just one last chance before a lifetime of… the same. A lifetime without him.
She let them lead her toward the house party.