The Goshinboku swayed its branches, its shadows laid soothingly across the shrine grounds from the stairway to the old building in the back. After years of going and leaving through it, a woman touched the etched door frames, reminiscing her youth. The springtime sounds of nature fell under deaf ears, though their peaceful resonance accented her melancholy countenance.

She could never stop visiting this spot each time she came home from University. Her family wouldn't utter a word each time she walked outside after visiting with them at dinner. Although she had never accepted the cruel fate she had been dealt, Kagome had not been about to let her life mean nothing in this world so long as she was not allowed to return to the place where her heart belonged.

Even now as the fresh graduate stepped into the well house this night, there was no life she would rather live than the one below the magical cosmos that connected to the past. Each step down was heavy, and each one sunk her heart further. It is as though the earth of this era has chained her to it. It did not matter how much she missed him. Now that she has been through yet another graduation, she would visit here every day she could. If only to pay her respects since she could never seem to find any closure.

Another chapter of life accomplished, and she still could not fully move forward. Looking down into the empty dirt, she did her best to picture him. As was ritual by now, she closed her eyes in her own kind of prayer. It felt like every other time but, she reached out to him in her thoughts,

'Inuyasha, I can't help but think that maybe the reason I went to the feudal era and why the well closed after the jewel disappeared, was because my job was done. Now I'm supposed to spend the rest of my life in this world, a world without you.'

The times of collapsing down into sobs were past, but with intense emotion, she wished she could be with him once more. The moment she fell for him, she decided he was her home.

'But Inuyasha- I want to see you.'

The silence heard her desperate wish. A whispering sway of leaves could be heard from the sacred tree outside. Only-

With tearful lashes, she peeked down into the blue sky, a drop falling in her unmoving shock. A gust welcomed her as it moved the clouds below.

'It's there!'

After seven years, she could- Her hand covered her mouth at the thought she usually dared not think, but perhaps allowing it this one time, would grant her passage.

"Kagome?"

Her mother made no other sound but joined her silent daughter at the edge of the well. Mrs. Higurashi held her by the shoulders, seeing the cogs in her mind begin to turn. This felt like a one-time trip. This felt like goodbye.

"Mama. I …"

Though her voice shook, she assured her daughter. It would all be fine. With each second Kagome realized even more how real it all was. She was not imagining it, and with each and every second, she grew more and more elated. Kagome never let go of the wood frame. There was no room for risk.

"Tell grandpa and souta that I love them."

Keeping one hand on the well, Kagome hugged her, the last tie she had to this world. Mrs. Higurashi slipped a note into the pocket of her skirt, patting it.

"You tell Inuyasha we love him too."

Though curious what her mother was up to, she knew it was meant for her to read on the other side. A keepsake.

"Goodbye mama." She smiled.

Resting a knee over the edge, it felt all too familiar as she lifted her weight from the ground of the modern era, and let her heart guide her back over. With one last wave behind her, she fell, free.

The rush of brilliant light wipes her tears away. The sensations of time travel felt akin to embracing an old friend. She breathes in anticipation as she touches ground. The sight of a rope ladder makes her cry out in knowing that he had held onto hope for her. Eagerly climbing, she is entranced by the world above, knowing that soon enough she would see him.

Nearly at the top now, he cannot have been any later with his nose. Their eyes meet and he reaches down, almost as if he expected her to be some visual illusion that he could wave his claws through. The clasping of their hands is a slap of joyful reality and he lifts her up just above him.

"Inuyasha." He is lost in reverie at her smile, something he thought he would never see again. "I'm sorry. Were you waiting for me?"

He chokes on a sob as he crushes her to him. She did not expect him to be gentle as she grips his robe. He hoarsely tries to form her name.

"Idiot. What have you been doing all this time?"

She lets out a small laugh at that. His lack of words has not changed, and she had not realized how she had forgotten that fact, as the wall of man shook slightly at inhaling her scent. A fact he knew well that she accepted as he is- just how she accepted and loves all of him.

"I missed you too."

After a moment, she lifts her head to look at him again, retracing the lines of his face over blurry memories. She knows he can't stand her tears, but these are happy ones. Normally, he would be in a panic at the taste of salt in her scent, but he is steadfast, gazing at her. If he didn't do something soon, she'd turn into a blubbering wet mess on him. And so, just as they had done inside the meido, he bends and meets her lips.

It's quiet and sweet. His ear flicks in unconscious happiness. She is really here. He can smell, see, hear, and touch her. One of them fidgets, neither could recall whom, but she brushes an unexpected roughness about his chin. With surprise she pulls back, and lifts a hand to his momentarily confused expression. Her fingers feel his jaw.

'Oh'

He closes his eyes and lets her feel the new change. He hadn't bothered to keep up with the scruff that had sprouted a year or two ago. There wasn't much of a point with only Miroku and Sango around. If anything, it kept the kit from teasing him so much as he was physically recognizable as an adult now, despite a fowl attitude now and then. He had worried what might become of them, together- should she ever return to him. This moment banished those ideas.

Unwavering, Kagome wipes her thumb against a stray tear. The sight of it at all melted her heart to see how much he had grown inside, even if it was without her by his side. The scruffy jawline isn't a bad look either. He looks at her, seemingly recovered from wherever his mind had wandered.

Finally, "I like it."

"Yeah?"

She takes his hand, the same one that had greeted her on her first day back into this era. He squeezes it, guiding her towards the scent of the hurrying family that also wanted to see her.

"Yeah."

I think it's about time I wrote my own version of post-canon.

Will be continued~