Hey, all!  Here I am again.  I'm posting onto the end of this story one more time to add my final two cents where Breaking the Habit is concerned…

I am so incredibly honored, thrilled, and amazed at the response I've gotten since the last and final post.  There were so many, over 60 at last count, that even though I started to respond to them, I can't hope to get through them all any time soon, so I figured that even though I would love to personally respond to each and every one of you, time constraints do not permit it.  But, thank you, from the very deepest corners of my heart.  Your support and loyalty and enthusiasm for my writing has meant the world to me. 

Now, to answer a few questions…

As to a sequel to Breaking the Habit…well, I hadn't really thought of doing one, but there were quite a few of you that suggested, nudged, and generally hinted at doing one that I will probably, some time in the (maybe not so near) future, sit down and work on one…however, if I had to tell Puck that I wanted to go back to that world, he'd shoot me…or disappear on me and quite frankly, I'm not sure which would be worse.  ^_~.  I may bitch at him all the time, but all in all he's a great muse!

I am, however, working on another fic, with the incredibly amazing author LilacRose23 of Through the Ancient Well fame who has graciously consented to be my co-author.  This story is one of the two that I had you guys vote on last post and here are the results of those votes…

*drumroll*

Coming in first place, with an incredible showing of 27 votes at last count (which, admittedly was a few days ago) is For All We Know with Someday coming in at 14 votes.  Of course, I didn't count the people who voted for both fics!  *grin* even though I do highly appreciate it and am incredibly honored.  Since it seemed that Someday idea was well received as well and since LilacRose is working with me on For, I will probably work on it in addition to For All We Know but I do not promise to start on it any time soon as Puck has taken quite happily to For and is running with it, not to mention the fact that finals are just around the corner, causing me and all my study group buddies to go into a mad frenzy. 

Lilac and I have been working crazily on the first chapter of For and we should get it out to all of you pretty soon (we're hoping next week at the very latest) so I hope you all will keep an eye out for it and I really hope to hear from you all again!

For those of you joining us late (post-vote) I will leave the two blurbs up at the end of this note and again…THANK YOU ALL SOOOOO MUCH FOR BEING SUCH WONDERFUL REVIEWERS, VOTERS, AND ALL AROUND GOOD PEOPLE!!

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For All We Know

"For all we know this may only be a dream."

-Bette Midler, For All We Know

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She had forgotten to close her window, she realized as she closed her eyes tighter against the persistent sunlight.  Either that or she was still in Feudal Japan and just didn't remember—that wouldn't surprise her—it had happened before—except she didn't hear any sounds.  She usually heard some sounds, even if it was just chirping of birds…

Well, there was only one test…

She turned over onto her back, relishing in the feel of the Serta Perfect Sleeper pillow top mattress and the caress of her blankets on her skin.  She sighed contently.  She was home, which meant she had left the window open…or Inuyasha had left it open…

She threw her arm over her eyes to block out the light and groaned low in her throat.  If she got up, even to close the window, she'd have to stay up.  She couldn't go back to sleep and her alarm hadn't even run yet…it wasn't time for her to…

Her thoughts trailed off as she felt the weight shift on the mattress and the whisper of the bedding as it moved.

'What the…'

"Five more minutes," came the sleepy male voice as a strong, warm arm snaked possessively over her stomach and a warm cheek nuzzled into her neck.

'…Hell?!' Her eyes shot open and she pulled away quicker than a jackrabbit.

"Oi!" complained the voice, thick with sleep. 

In her flurry of movements as she tried to get away, she managed two things…one was to thoroughly muss the bedding so that all that was left of the man was a tanned arm and a lump where his body should be under the cream and gold bedding and two was to realize she was naked.

"Ahh!" she yelped, tugging the closest sheet she could get free and wrapping it around her. 

The remaining sheets atop the man were pulled away just as quickly and a pair of wide awake gold eyes stared back at her, full of alert worry.

"What is it?!"

She gasped in surprise, almost loosing her grip on the sheets in the process.

He sat up, looking her over from head to toe as if looking for a problem.  "What happened?"

"In…" she stammered, temporarily sidetracked by the line of his waist as the sheets moved.  Her eyes snapped back to him.  "Inu…yasha?"

He quirked his lips in what could have been amusement on anyone else.  "Kagome?" he mimicked her tone.

'Holy Shit!' she thought frantically.  'What the hell am I doing in bed with Inuyasha and naked!?'

He was smirking at her.  Her surprise turned to anger and she gave in to her usual reaction in such situations. 

"SIIITTTT!!!!" she yelled.

Inuyasha's smirk grew.  "I am sitting," he said simply.

'What?' her sight went to his neck and realized he wasn't wearing the beads. 

"What the..why don't…" she stammered.  There were too many things she wanted to ask for her brain and mouth to correspond.  She took a deep steadying breath and decided on one question.  "What the hell are you doing in my bed!?" she exclaimed in one breath.

Inuyasha's smile faded and his eyes went worried again.  "Your bed?" he asked.  "Baby, are you alright?"

'Did he just call me…?' her eyes went wide as saucers as she noticed that he had started to stand and the sheet started to slip from off his hip revealing only flesh—

"Eep!" she exclaimed, turning her back to him.  "What you doing?!" she exclaimed.  The surprise wearing off, her cheeks started to flame from what she almost had a front row seat to seeing. 

She heard the movement behind her and squeezed her eyes shut.  "Don't move!" she exclaimed, clutching the sheet to her own body in a futile attempt to keep it from falling down her back.  'What the hell is going on here?' she wondered frantically. 

"Kagome?" he asked worriedly.  "What's going on?"

Kagome started to turn to glare at him but stopped, flipping back around.  "That's what I want to know!" she exclaimed, trying to fight off the mounting hysteria.  "What are you doing in my bed?  My room?"

Inuyasha, for his part, was at a loss for words.  He looked around at his surroundings and found no difference in the room than had been there when they went to bed the night before.  "Kagome, this is the same room where we…"

"No!" she exclaimed, her cheeks flushing again.  "Don't say it!"

Inuyasha frowned, the worry mounting with each moment.  "This is our room, Kagome, it hasn't changed."

"Our?" she looked around her, really looked at the off white walls, the cherry wood antique furniture, the soft coloring to the tasteful decorations—it was a beautiful room, but it wasn't hers. 

A knock on the door startled her out of her realization.  She tried to speak, but no sound came.  She looked up as the door opened and Sango's face appeared at the door.  "You guys are making too much noise…" Sango started, but stopped as she saw the look on Kagome's face. 

'Why is Sango here?' Kagome thought.  Her eyes opened even wider as she saw Miroku peek his head above her shoulder. 

"Hey, some people are trying to sleep…" he trailed off as he looked from Kagome's face to Inuyasha's behind her.  "Is everything alright?"

Kagome felt lost, disoriented.  Maybe she wasn't really there at all.  "Where am I?" Kagome finally whispered. 

Sango looked behind Kagome to Inuyasha's startled and almost fear stricken face.  The look of fear on Sango's face was not a comforting to Kagome…and then she saw nothing as the black rose up to swallow her conscious. 

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AN: Okay, this will not be a complete Alternate Universe fic in the sense that as you can hopefully tell in the snippet above, Kagome will remember the world as you and I know it from the series.  Everyone else, however, is quite another matter…

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Someday

"How the hell did we wind up like this? / Why weren't we able / To see the signs that we missed / And try to turn the tables? / Now the story's played out like this / Just like a paperback novel / Lets rewrite an ending that fits / … / Nothing's wrong
just as long as / you know that someday I will… / Someday, somehow / gonna make it allright but not right now"

-Someday, Nickelback

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 "KAGOME!!!!!!"

His eyes burned into hers as she fell backward.  Her hand reached out to his, but he couldn't hold on to her.  Her eyes were scared and sad and…her hand was so close…so very close, but her fingers just slipped right through, he couldn't hold on…

He jumped into the well after her, but he hit the bottom still on his side, and then the well started to fall in.  He fell onto his knees, his eyes wild, trying to find another possibility, his mind refusing to believe that it was the end…that he had lost her…lost the opportunity…

"KAGOME!!!"

Inuyasha awoke with a start, sweat dripping down his face like rain.  Or were those tears?  He looked around him, and seeing that everyone was still sleeping, realized he must not have screamed out in his sleep…this time. 

He stood and slowly walked to the middle of his forest, where the remains of the Bone Eaters Well lay undisturbed.  How had he gotten out of there?  He couldn't remember anything past the pain, the emptiness seeming to consume him…the feeling that nothing else mattered…

Mirouku, he realized.  The stupid monk had dug until he had found him and pulled him out.  He hadn't spoken to him, he remembered, just walked away into the forest somewhere. It had been three weeks since Kagome had been pulled back through the well to her own time and away from him forever.  Kaede couldn't find another way through to her, and the jewel…the jewel was gone for good…they had made sure of that…

Inuyasha looked down at the jewel in Kagome's hand as she presented it to him.  "Go ahead, Inuyasha," she whispered.  "Take it.  Make a wish."

He should've told her then…but no, he was too stubborn, too afraid of losing her…he laughed bitterly.  He lost her anyway, didn't he? 

She was in another world, now…separated from him by a barrier that was closed to them now. 

Inuyasha's eyes fell on the well as an idea entered his head.  "Not another world," he whispered.  The well had been their bridge through time.  "Another time…"

When Kaede awoke, Inuyasha was sitting cross-legged before her, staring at her.  "Good morning, Inuyasha," she spoke softly, seeing something in his face she hadn't seen in weeks. 

"I want you to seal me in the tree," he spoke without preamble.

Kaede sat up with some trouble and stared at him with her one good eye.  "What say you?"

"Seal me in the tree, Kaede," he said softly.  "I want to wait for Kagome."

Kaede gasped.  She thought she was starting to grasp the Hanyou's idea, but… "Five hundred years, Inuyasha?" she questioned.  "Tis a long time to wait."  She shook her head.  "Tis a long time to be sealed in a tree."

Inuyasha swallowed visibly, but his facial expression didn't change.  He had thought all about this, all night.  "Five hundred years is a longer time to live…without her."

"She might not remember ye," Kaede warned.  She thought through what she knew of time travel.  "She will have lived a different life…you will see her before she had come here."

Inuyasha shook his head.  "I don't care," he said simply.  "I have to…" he trailed off.  "I have to tell her…I could live with her hating me or thinking I'm crazy or…anything, if I can just see her again…tell her how I feel…" 

Kaede stood up slowly and turned to stoke the fire as she thought.  "It will take some doing…some preparation…" she spoke as she worked.  "We cannot simple seal ye in the tree as Kikyo did, for ye would never last five hundred years that way."

Inuyasha nodded.  "Do whatever you need to do."

Kaede nodded.  "Go, do what you must do, Inuyasha…in three days time ye shall be sealed anew."

Inuyasha sighed and stood up.  "Three days time," he whispered.

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A/N:  Okay, this came to me from hearing the song I quoted above…the basic premise plays with my limited knowledge of time travel and parts from the question…what if Inuyasha missed his chance to tell Kagome how he really felt and waited for her for 500 years to tell her…and what if, the Kagome he finds has never met him?

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