Author's Notes: First new story in awhile. It's a little angsty, but I hope you enjoy it all the same!

The Shikon no Tama, the Jewel of Four Souls, the most hateful trinket to exist since the beginning of mankind; it was no wonder that the responsibility had fallen right into her lap. Of course it would be her burden, that purplish pink gem that brought happiness to no one, that devastated so many lives, that brought nothing but ruin for all who possessed it and nearly destroyed the life of the one who had finally eradicated the cursed object from all of existence. From the first deceptively cheerful day that she stepped foot into the Feudal Era, Kagome Higurashi always found that she was holding the short end of the stick, and now she found that she did not even have a stick to hold onto.

She never used to think of her life in that way. She used to be so optimistic, so happy and vivacious. She had thought herself special being chosen to travel into the past to save the world. She had thought that she was lucky to have this incredible experience that no one but herself would ever encounter. It was like she was in a fairytale, a dream come true. But in the end, it had turned out to be a nightmare.

She was no longer that cheery little girl. She wasn't even certain she was a whole person. She was damaged now, possibly beyond repair. Kami, she wished she had never fallen down that loathsome immemorial well. She had thought that Naraku was so evil and everyone's lives would be so much better once he and the Shikon no Tama were scrubbed from the Earth. It was amazing how so incredibly wrong someone could be. That demonic purple bauble practically guaranteed the terrible truth that no one was destined to have a happy ending, with or without Naraku, and it was all because of her. She was even worse than the appalling half demon she and her friends had worked so hard to defeat.

She could remember that day so perfectly in her mind, the day they defeated Naraku. She would never forget the feel of the completed Shikon no Tama, smooth in her hand as she gripped it, washing it with purified energies. She could still hear Inuyasha sobbing broken-heartedly, tearing at the ground where Kikyo, as she clutched the remains of Naraku's writhing form to her body, had descended into the Earth and pulled the evil hanyou into the depths of Hell along with her. Kagome had hurt for him, she loved him, after all, but she finally had the entire Shikon no Tama in her possession. After everything they had been through, she couldn't go to him until she had made a wish, until the jewel disappeared from the world completely. And that was what she wished for, though it had taken her awhile to come to that conclusion. Kami how she wished she could take it all back.

She should have wished for the happiness of all of her friends. The jewel might not have disappeared. She might have been stuck protecting it from power hungry monstrosities for the rest of her life. She might've been unable to be a normal woman and live normal life. But those sacrifices would have meant nothing compared to everything that had been ripped from her after she made that wish, and at least, even if she wasn't happy, everyone else would have been. That would have been enough. That would have been more than she had now.

Her eyes filled with hot, stinging tears as she thought about the months following the jewel's disappearance. The young woman sobbed softly and hugged her knees to her chest tightly, the rough bark of the God Tree biting into her back as she moved. It was almost too painful to dwell on the memories of the past few months.

Inuyasha had become so embittered by the loss Kikyo. He hardly spoke to anyone now. He was never going to forgive himself for failing her a second time. Nor would he ever forgive Kagome for not bringing the deceased priestess back with jewel. Kagome knew that her predecessor did not wish to come back to the world of the living. Dragging Naraku to Hell was Kikyo's final act of redemption, but the hanyou refused to be reasoned with. Instead he verbally attacked Kagome when she tried to console him, assailing her with all the reasons she would never be good enough for him to love and shattering her fragile heart into pieces.

Her friends tried to comfort her as best as they could, but they had their own troubles. Miroku's wind scar hadn't disappeared with Naraku's defeat. Sango, who was already devastated by the loss of her brother, was barely hanging on by a thread after this discovery. Even after Miroku resigned himself to an early demise, she refused to accept it. She stayed by his side, even though he rejected her romantic endeavors. He had thought he was being kind, but his refusals caused the slayer to become even more unhinged.

In the end, the ill-fated couple's suffering did not last long. Three months after Naraku's defeat, Miroku was pulled into the void in his hand. Sango followed him into the afterlife shortly thereafter. Her inability to cope with the loss of the last member of her family and the man she loved so desperately was too much for her deteriorating mind to bear, and she had taken her own life at the monk's concave gravesite.

It was Shippo who found her body fallen upon her katana when he and Kagome went to pay their respects to the monk. He could smell her blood long before they reached the site and had rushed ahead to investigate. They buried her right there in Miroku's final resting place, the way they would've wanted it, together even after the end. That was the night that Kagome finally decided to disregard her fear of never being able to return to the Feudal Era and attempt a journey home.

It wouldn't have mattered if she couldn't come back now. Inuyasha had only pushed her away, becoming more bitter and cruel with each passing day, if he even spoke to her at all. Sango and Miroku were gone. The only presence in her life that remained steadfast in his love and friendship was Shippo. But it wouldn't be long before he grew into an adult. And while it may have been a matter of years still, once he was grown, he would also leave her to search for a mate to start a family with. Then she would be left alone with Kaede and Kirara, who were both more than capable of fending for themselves. She had nothing to come back to.

So that morning, as she leapt into the well to return to her era, there was no lump in her throat. She hadn't felt any loss or heartache at the idea of never setting foot in the Feudal Era ever again. It wasn't until she hit the bottom of the dried out well that she felt an overwhelming sense of despair. As her abruptly twisted ankle began to swell and throb, and the dust that her jump had stirred settled to the ground once again, Kagome had let out a disconsolate wail. The well hadn't worked. She could not go home. She had spent the rest of that day sobbing, mourning the loss of the life she would never return to and the family she would never see again.

It had been a week since that day, and every day since her first attempt to travel back to the present, she had tried to travel back home hoping that something had changed, and the portal between time periods had somehow reopened. That was why she now sat underneath the God Tree, rocking herself back and forth as she remembered how her life had fallen into complete and utter ruin, all because she made the wrong wish. She almost laughed aloud at the sudden epiphany as she drew a shuddering breath.

Suddenly she understood why she couldn't return home. The Kami were punishing her. She had destroyed the lives of everyone she cared about. She deserved to suffer. She deserved to be alone. She deserved a fate so much worse than the one that she was getting. Underneath the pale moonlight of the crooked waning crescent hung in the black sky, Kagome let her head drop back into her knees as she let forth another unnerving wail of complete and utter despair.

x.X.x

Until three days ago, Sesshomaru had not set foot in his childhood home since he had finished his advanced combat training with his father. The once palatial estates of Inu no Taisho were now overgrown and in disrepair as they sat abandoned, a ruined memorial of a time long past. He could still remember the beauty and serenity of the castle as if it were yesterday.

He could picture his mother sitting in the lush gardens of the southern courtyard as she observed her mate and their progeny sparring on the sprawling castle grounds. Her purple kimono was always draped elegantly about her spare form as she sat upright, wearing a haughty expression on her proud features. He remembered his father, tall and imposing, yet kind and jovial with an ever-wandering eye. Even then his parents' distaste for one another was apparent.

That was one of the reasons he had never returned to this place. He was not fond of the memories it brought to mind. In fact, if Rin hadn't been in such sore need of proper bedding, Sesshomaru knew he never would have come back.

As he stood by her bedside, the demon lord stooped to brush damp strands away from the young girl's sweat covered brow tenderly as she coughed violently in her sleep. She had never been sick before, and the inuyoukai found it strange that this sudden bout of pneumonia would overtake her usually good health so rapidly. It was only three days ago that he began to smell the sickly-sweet stench of disease on her breath, and already she was wholly incapacitated.

"Jaken," he called softly in his deep monotone to the kappa demon standing in the corridor outside the doorway. Despite his lack of intonation, the imp could detect the worry hidden in his master's voice. "Fetch some cool water and a clean scrap of cloth."

The diminutive youkai bowed and left the room wordlessly. Sesshomaru would never admit it aloud, but Jaken had become incredibly valuable since Rin's illness had developed. Bed rest had been the kappa's idea and, after they had arrived at the abandoned estate, he quickly went about finding an appropriate room for the girl and cleaned the vast accumulation of dust until it was suitable for her use before the inuyoukai could even request anything of him. There had been no whining or complaining, no groveling or squawking, only compliance and duty. The imp was as concerned for the girl as he was.

Sesshomaru was drawn out of his thoughts when Rin moved to lean over her futon, retching and spewing the acidic contents of her empty stomach onto the tatami flooring. Once her petite form was no longer racked by violent heaves, she lay back again, shivering despite the thick covers wrapped about her. Sesshomaru took a seated position on the ground next to her, opposite the side where the pungent sick still covered the floor. He placed the back of his hand against her forehead. The girl's pallid skin was searing against his flesh. He pulled his hand away as Rin began to cough, and this time, he could smell the coppery scent of blood on her breath.

The inuyoukai's eyes widened, sheer terror reflected behind the gold of his irises for the first time in over a century. Cool water and bed rest was not going to be enough to help the girl. She needed medicine, human medicine, a topic upon which the Lord Sesshomaru was sorely uneducated. Pneumonia was deadly enough, but there was something else, something even more toxic invading the girl's body. For the first time in his life, Sesshomaru found that he desperately needed the aid of a human.