Author's Note: I own nothing by Rumiko Takahashi. All characters and places are from her work of Inuyasha; this is merely my take on what the characters were thinking and feeling during the end of the manga/anime. That said, enjoy!

Two Souls, One Heart

Graduation day. All my friends are sitting with me in the crowded, overheated auditorium as our principal drones on about our class's achievements and future endeavors. My eyes are fixated at him standing at his podium, but I'm not really seeing. My mind is painting an image, one that was branded in my skull for the past three years. The principal is giving a speech, but I'm hearing my cries for help, and a distant, almost deafened reply. My classmates sit patiently around me, but I'm seeing darkness, and one, bright light above me. A voice commands me to make a wish. I hesitate. Tears cling to my eyelashes, my heart is heavier than lead, my last hope hanging by a thread...

"Make a wish... Don't you want to see your family again? Don't you want to saved?"

Yes. Yes, of course I want to be safe in Mama's arms again, to hear my kid brother complain, to listen to Grandpa's boring lectures, to be back in my own comfortable bed again... Of course I want that. But I'm stuck here, inside the Sacred Jewel, stuck in a space beyond normal dimensions, because that is my destiny. Because I am Kikyo's reincarnation - no, because I am Midoriko's heir. She created the Jewel, and her soul spent centuries fighting evil, locked inside with her creation. Now it's my turn.

Now I am to remain locked inside the Sacred Jewel for all eternity, fighting demons, trapped, in an endless pitch black void, with no friends, no family, no... him.

But I have a choice.

The Jewel tells me I can make a final wish, and be released from this nightmare.

Maybe I should... After all, if I go home, there's a chance I can see him again...

"... gome! Kagome! KAGOME!"

My sorrow lifts for a moment. My heart pounds as I hesitatingly but loudly cried out, "I-Inuyasha?!"

"KAGOME! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"I'M HERE, INUYASHA! I'M HERE!" I screamed, heedless of the Jewel's wrath. He was out there, in the darkness, calling to me. He's looking for me!

"Kagome, don't make any wishes yet! Wait for me! Promise that'll you wait! I'll find you!"

My breath hitched in my throat. Suddenly, I remembered the words of Grandpa, who I paid so little attention to for so many years:

"Kagome, the Shikon Jewel can only be destroyed by one wish, the one true wish. Any selfish wish won't do the trick, it must be-"

Somewhere in the space in front of me, a large sword slices through the space, revealing an opening in a separate dimension. Before I could register this, suddenly, through this portal, Inuyasha was there!

For a tantalizing moment, we stared at each other, there, in the empty void of the Jewel.

"Kagome..." he breathed, his golden eyes wide with worry, relief, and love all at once.

Tears sprang to my eyes. "Inuyasha..." I said with a slight sob.

And then he was hugging me. I clung to his red haori, hearing his heart thumping, his claws delicately holding me close. Then, we looked up, and without preamble, kissed for the first time. This was no fantasy, no illusion. At that moment, I wasn't thinking about the fact that I was kissing the first and only boy I ever loved, but just thinking about how I felt like I was going to be trapped in this dark hell for eternity, and now he was here, and how desperately I wanted to see him.

I now knew what I needed to do.

My heart stopped beating as I watched Kagome, my Kagome, get sucked into that dark void. My breath wasn't working when I screamed her name and tried to leap in after her, only to fall to the ground as the portal closed between our reaching fingers. My ears didn't hear Miroku, Sango, and Shippou's concerned voices, as I frantically wracked my brains. We had defeated Naraku, our arch-nemesis, at long last. How could this happen now?! I pounded the ground, screaming noiselessly into the air that no longer gave me breath. Kagome. Kagome. Kagome...

Without stopping to think, without even glancing back at my friends, I clutched Tessaiga, my father's heirloom, my greatest partner in battle, and swung into the air, shouting the incantation, "Meidou Zangetsuha!" A portal opened, the same portal that took my reason for living. I leaped in before it had a chance a closing, shouting over my shoulder that I will find her.

I swear it.

The graduation ceremony went without a hitch. Everyone got their diplomas, applauded, and greeted family and friends to celebrate. I went back home with Mama, Grandpa, and Sota, wearily proud of myself, nodding vaguely at Grandpa's jubilation, until I am finally alone in my room. I sit at my desk, absentmindedly touching the mirror, and remember the intensity of Inuyasha's golden-eye gaze...

"I am ready to make my wish!"

The Jewel shone brighter, ominously awaiting the selfish wish that would trap me here. But Inuyasha's arm was around my waist, and his heart beat with mine. I had nothing to fear.

"I wish that the Shikon Jewel disappears from this world forever!"

A blinding light, and suddenly the Jewel shattered, but not like it did all those months ago. The pieces vanished into nothingness, and Inuyasha and I found ourselves rising into the light...

"Kagome! Come down and eat supper!"

I shake my head. Every year the memories grow sharper, but today feels like reliving the final battle in the moment it happened. I lightly slap my cheeks and start to head downstairs.

I slaughtered the endless hordes of demons, screaming Kagome's name, praying she didn't do anything stupid. No. No, not Kagome. She was stupid enough to leap into battle that was clearly out of her league, she was stupid enough to throw herself in danger to attempt to save my worthless ass, but she was not stupid enough to toss everything away to be selfish. But then again... this endless black void would drive anyone mad. Kagome bewildered me sometimes, but I always knew how emotional she can be. If the Jewel tricked her into believing she would see her family and friends again... If the darkness got to her...

"Kagome was born to be in the Shikon Jewel," the disembodied voice told me.

"BULLSHIT!" I screamed, slicing a demon in half. "Kagome was born to meet me!" The words came spilling out, willing themselves to be heard by her, in spirit or otherwise. "And I was born to meet Kagome! Kagome taught me to make friends, she taught me to trust others, she taught me it was okay to be half-demon, that there was something worthwhile in this screwed up world for a jerk like me! Kagome won't give in!"

I thought of the first major battle against Naraku, when Kagome stood up despite the toxic miasma surrounding us, despite all of the stronger fighters in our group too weak to carry on, I remembered Kagome standing on trembling legs, as she faced our greatest enemy, and shot a fatal blow at him with one of her sacred arrows. I remembered the hard look in her eyes, the coolness in her voice, as she faced this dangerous demon with all the courage in the world. So different from the helpless girl who first stumbled into my world! I remembered all the times she helped clean and tend my wounds, her gentle fingers tentatively wrapping bandages around my bruised ribs. I remembered the tears in her eyes when she saw Shippou curled up on his father's pelt, the way she put her arm around Sango when we put her family to rest, the way she believed Miroku was more than his lecherous persona. I remembered how she put up with so much of my shit, the quiet pain in her eyes and shoulders when I was caught up in my memories of Kikyo, the fire in her voice when she gave her "Sit" commands. I remembered her laugh, her voice, the smell of her shampoo, the weight of her on my back when we traveled...

I had to find her!

"Inuyasha? Can you come down? Sango's been asking for your help."

I blink and sit up from my perch. Miroku is calling up to me. On his back is his youngest child, his first son. The little one is napping, but probably not for long. I sigh, and leap down from the tree.

"The twins acting up again?" I ask, as we head back toward Kaede's village. Miroku sighs, a sheepish smile on his face.

"More or less. That and Sango has been threatening that if she doesn't get a moment's rest, she'll hit me with her Hiraikotsu."

"Wouldn't be the first time," I said with a smirk.

"Yes, but it's been six months! I'd like to keep a record!"

I scoff, but secretly grin. Miroku and Sango's marriage can often be as rocky as their on-off relationship beforehand, but if there's anything those two have taught me, is they'll overcome any obstacle. Besides, no one could keep Miroku's lecherous ways in check except his wife, and no one can make Sango happy the way her husband can. The two really are a match in heaven - a crazy, wild heaven, but one nonetheless. I've seen the way those two stare at each other when the other isn't looking. Though granted, I never would've noticed had it not been for Kagome-

My heart clenches. I gather myself for a moment, and continue walking along the path. Miroku has the courtesy to pretend not to notice. The monk has his moments of decency, after all. Kagome was the first to notice it, and to stick by it. However much they teased their lecherous friend, he really was an integral part of their team. And a true friend. So I don't mind playing babysitter for his kids. It's the least I can do for all the times he saved my ass.

Though I really wish the twin girls wouldn't tug at my ears so much! They're like two miniature Kagomes, for all their obsession with my dog ears. As we approach Miroku and Sango's hut, the two rapscallions see me and began squealing "Doggie! Doggie!"

My ears twitch in annoyance, but I still sit down and patiently let them clamor over me. Kirara, in her tiny kitten form, meows, and comes over and curls up next to me. Sango shoots me a look of thanks as she ducks into her now empty home. But then Miroku hands me his sleeping son, winks, and follows his wife.

I growl under my breath. Stupid, lecherous monk!

It's well past dinnertime, and I'm standing outside, gazing at the Tree of Ages. Five hundred and three years ago, I met Inuyasha. A boy, with long silver hair, wearing a strange red haori, and with adorable dog ears, was sleeping with an arrow lodged in his heart. He was stuck to the tree, under a spell that Kikyo placed him under for fifty years. Here, my life changed. Here, in the present, I can sense his spirit the most. It is no coincidence that I had met him, over three years ago here and five hundred and three years there, at the roots of this tree. I've always known it.

So why is it so painful now?

I begin crying, quietly, standing under the ancient tree, remembering...

The next thing I saw after destroying the Jewel was my family materializing in front of me. Or, more accurately, Inuyasha, I, and the well appearing in front my family. They had been checking the shrine for the past three days after the well had vanished - which coincided with me disappearing into the Jewel - with only the words of an disembodied Inuyasha reassuring them that he'll find me. But all of that was explained to me later.

The first thing that happened was my mother grabbed hold of me and soon I was smothered in a family reunion hug, all of us crying and blabbering incoherently. I finally broke from my mother's embrace to thank Inuyasha for saving me, only to find... Him vanishing, going down the well again...

I'll never forget the looks on Kagome's family's faces when they were reunited with her. The tears, the smiles, the almost hysterical laughter of relief... This, this was where she belonged. I smiled then realized something was wrong. Kagome and her family were disappearing... No, I was going back! Back down the well! I reached out and tried to call out to Kagome, but I was already passing through time.

On the other side, Miroku, Sango, Kirara, and Shippou, battle-beaten and exhausted, barraged me with questions. I simply said, "Kagome is safe. She's home. The Jewel is gone." I couldn't say anything more, because I hardly understood much more myself. Eventually, they left me alone, and traveled home, ready to rest at last. But I remained behind at the well. And jumped inside.

I tried returning again and again, on and on into the night, but to no avail. Over and over, I jumped in and out of the well, over and over, playing in my head, the look of shock and dismay on Kagome's face when she realized, like I, too late, that we were separating again.

Dawn was creeping when I finally stopped my fruitless efforts. I had always been able to visit Kagome's world. In fact, I was the only besides Kagome herself who could pass through the well. So why was it stopping me now? Was it because Kagome finished her job? She purified and destroyed the Shikon Jewel. Was that her only purpose here? Dammit! I rested my back against the well, and gazed at the sunrise.

It was at that moment when I suddenly remembered that we had kissed.

I am back in the shrine with the well. So many hours I've spent here, so many pointless attempts to reenter the world on the other side. I sometimes come here to talk to Inuyasha, Sango, and the others, knowing that no one can hear me. I ask questions of how everyone is doing, of whether Miroku finally married Sango, of whether Shippou has been improving his fox magic, of Kaede's health, and of... Inuyasha.

But rhetorical questions aren't enough. I want... I want to see them. To talk to them. I want...

I want to be with him.

I clutch the edge of the old well, wishing, wishing so desperately that I can see Inuyasha once more.

A breeze ruffles my hair. Wind? Drafts never make it down here, in this abandoned old shrine- Suddenly, I gasp, and stare into the well. The blue sky of the other side is there, as if it had never gone away.

Squealing brats climbing all over me like I'm some kind of a tree... And people say I'm not a good friend! I refused to look at the parents when they stepped out from their hut an hour later after they went in, though at the corner of my eye, I can still see Sango's bright red face and Miroku smirking like the pervert that he is. Thankfully, their kids don't seem to notice, though I'm glad Sango took over watching her son, while she started on laundry. The twins are a handful enough.

Suddenly, I stand up, ignoring the complaints of the little ones. That smell! I'd know that smell anywhere. I take off, shouting some lame excuse in response to Miroku and Sango's bewildered questions. I run, faster and faster, hardly daring to believe, but also knowing in my gut that I need to see to believe. I need to know.

Is she back?

"Kagome?"

Mama's voice brings my attention, and I tear my eyes away from the miracle to face her standing on top of the stairs.

"Mama," I croak, gesturing vaguely at the well. She soon joins me and looks. Her face remains perfectly still as she ponders, then faces me... And smiles.

I almost start sobbing. "Mama, I-"

She presses a finger against my lips, then hugs me tightly. "I know how much you love him," she whispers in my ear. I only cling to her, savoring this last embrace.

"Tell Sota...and Grandpa.."

"Of course, dear."

"I love you, Mama."

"I love you, too, dear." She stands back a bit to face me; I see there are tears in her eyes too. "Now, go on."

I wipe away my tears, we exchange kisses, and I climb onto the edge of the well.

And jump.

I slow down only when the well is almost within reach of me. Doubt gnaws at my mind. Is my mind playing tricks with me? Is it because it's the three year mark? Am I losing it? But her smell is so distinct here, so real I can almost taste it, it simply has to be -

I reach out my hand involuntarily and gasp when her warm, delicate hand grasps mine.

And suddenly, she's here, standing on top of the well, holding my hand, smiling down at me.

"Inuyasha," she says (in her voice! Her real, sweet voice!) "Did you wait for me long?"

"K-Kagome," I whisper. Then I tug her down and hug her tightly. "Idiot! Do you have any idea how long I waited?"

AN: *SQUEEEEEEEEE* Ohhh, I love Inuyasha so much! Thank you for reading my fic; it's one of the first I've ever written. ^^" I'll try to come up with more material later on...