A jump down.

Another.

Then a third…

No matter how many times she leaped into the well, its pull into the past never came. No magic lighting the ground beneath her feet, nor wash of that cool comforting aura that turned the wellhouse into a starry void before she was transported to the other side five centuries in the past. With the final battle against Naraku concluded and the Shikon no Tama no longer plaguing the lands, her adventures in the past had come to a close without even a final proper goodbye.

The depressing reality she now faced, one full of calm normalcy in the present day, was one Kagome refused to accept.

Denial was strong and Kagome was stubborn, if nothing else.

Surely, the well would open up again here soon.

That's what she told herself – what she desperately clung to.

The first three days back were perhaps the hardest. She switched between jumping down the well and crying at the bottom of it, begging for it to take her back. Her family could only watch in the background, unable to help the girl. She prayed and prayed and then prayed some more, yet never was a single one answered. There was no escaping the truth, no matter how much she ran from it. Rejected it.

Her purpose was fulfilled.

So when begging didn't produce results, she picked herself up and engaged with the present. Every little chore and every little errand was taken up. She refused to let herself stop and rest, to give herself the time to think. The well was just temporarily closed. Inuyasha would come for her soon enough.

After all, this wasn't the first time it stopped working.

Just wait a little longer, things would work themselves out.

That's how she passed her time, slaving herself away until she was too exhausted to do anything more. Even taking long jogs at night like a cat with too much pent up energy needing to exhaust. Her friends wouldn't want her to slack.

The thoughts were catching up though, the doubts fast on her heels.

Life was simply too mundane. There was only so far she could push her body before even that became the norm. After all, the modern day era was peaceful. There were no demons or violent humans waiting at every corner to attack or kidnap, no jewel shards to hunt, and no enemies to spice up the day's events. Nothing to grasp on to. Danger had become her normalcy, the peace was too boring.

Kagome paused her sweeping and looked to the great Goshinboku, her hair swaying in the light breeze dancing through. Its leaves rustled, singing to the wind. The holy tree stood tall and proud, overlooking the shrine grounds as it had the days prior. In the center of its trunk, where a chunk of its bark was chipped away, lay the hole from the arrow that had sealed Inuyasha to the tree. She walked over the wards and placed a hand to the smooth wood, tracing the hole's outline. The image of bright red robes and silver hair billowing in the wind flashed in her mind, the familiar face of her best friend and love staring forlornly back at her.

This was where she first met him.

Where fate's threads weaved together with his, forever changing her world.

Kagome shook the image from her mind, willing herself to stop thinking. Don't give up hope, she told herself. She just had to wait a little longer. Soon, she would be back with her friends. Inuyasha always came back for her. This wasn't the end. After all, they never even exchanged proper goodbyes. This couldn't be the end of that story.

The girl sighed and looked back up, watching the leaves chatter once more. If only there was something here to distract her. To keep the hope burning. Demons were no longer around, she hadn't sensed a single one since coming back. No magical artifacts nor supernatural phenomena threaten her world. The bubbling thoughts of doubt played with her mind. Sometimes, she'd even catch herself wondering if all she experienced in the past wasn't just some sort of delusion her mind conjured up.

"What I would do for a change," she muttered. Something to distract her for the time being, even. It didn't have to be anything big. Just something that could provide assurance. "I'll even take a youkai attack. Just… I wish there was something to keep me going."

Reality was catching up all too quickly. Denial could only take her so far.

At the very least, a demon sighting would give her some comfort. It was familiar. It would prove to her that not everything had changed. That the present wasn't completely devoid of the supernatural. That there was still a chance. If demons still existed, then maybe that also meant her 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 the five centuries separating their worlds. 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 the chore of sweeping the whole shrine grounds. Best to reoccupy her mind before she started crying again.

She lingered for but a moment longer at the tree, taking a final look at the arrow hole in its trunk. To the past she could no longer return to. Before finally conceding herself to the present. The tree hummed, its leaves dancing once more, carrying a wish with the wind.

Edited: 11/22/24