With the final battle against Naraku ended and the jewel no longer plaguing the lands, Kagome found herself back in her own era. A jump down. Two. Three... No matter how many times she went into the well and wished for the magic to take her back once more, there was no response. Her days in the feudal era were over, her purpose there fulfilled. Now, it was time to continue her life in the present.
Yet, this depressing truth was one Kagome could not accept. So, she would live in denial. This wasn't the first time that the well stopped working, after all. Perhaps she simply just had to wait for it to reopen.
That's what she told herself.
What she wanted to believe.
The first three days back were rough. Kagome spent most of her time between jumping down the well and crying at the bottom while begging for it to take her back. In those three days, her family could only watch on in worry. However, when her prayers weren't answered, she picked herself up, plastered a smile on her face for her family, and took up to taking any and every chore and errand she could get her hands on. Anything that would keep her mind occupied. But there was only so much she could do to keep herself from feeling. The modern day era, after all, was peaceful with no demons or violent humans waiting at every corner to attack.
It was simply too mundane.
Kagome paused her sweeping as the gentle breeze swept by, encouraging her clothes and hair to dance along with it. Leaves rustled and she turned to the Goshinboku, which stood proudly overlooking the shrine groups - just the same as it had that fateful day she first traveled back in time. She walked to it, pressing a hand to it's trunk. The hole from the arrow that had originally sealed Inuyasha to the tree still remained and as she traced it with her finger, the image of bright red robes and silver hair billowing in the wind flashed in her mind. He was standing in the clearing in front of the well, eyes forlorn much like hers.
She shook her head, the image disappearing. Stop thinking. Don't give up hope. She just had to wait a little longer. Surely soon, she would be able to return. They never even exchanged a proper goodbye, so that couldn't be the end of that story.
Still, she thought dejectedly, it was hard to keep the depressing thoughts at bay. There was only so much she could do to keep reality from catching up and forcing herself to catch up. She could only run for so long. Even as the minutes stretched to hours, then to days, and soon to weeks, there was no hope for her to grab on to. Nothing to encourage her mind to stay positive.
Kagome sighed. "You know, it would be easier to stop thinking about them if there was something to distract myself with," she muttered. A small demon attack here, or a magical artifact there - something to prove her adventures in the past weren't just in her head. Granted, she still had the Azusa bow with her, having loyally followed her to the present. Yet there was no chance to use it.
If only a big bad demon could rear its ugly head again, so she could once more use it in action. What a wish that would be. That might help distract her mind for a bit. As well as prove the modern era wasn't completely devoid of the supernatural now. Then, maybe that could mean her demon friends were still ali-
No.
Stop that.
She had to stop thinking about them.
After all, if they were still alive, then why hadn't they come to meet her in the present? Surely, the friendship formed between them could withstand 500 years if that was so. They wouldn't just abandon her on her own. Right?
Right.
Once more she sighed, stepping back from the tree. That was enough thinking for today. It was time to get back to work on keeping her mind occupied. Those chores couldn't complete themselves, after all. She lingered by the tree for another moment, taking a final look at the hole in it's trunk and to the past she could no longer return to, before she finally conceded to engage with the present once more. The tree hummed, it's leaves dancing once more with the wind and carrying with it a wish.