A/N: Okay, so, I know I haven't even come close to finishing (or starting, really) on my other story, but who says I can't do two at once? :P I thought of this yesterday, and I was just so excited about it that I had to go ahead and start. I don't even have the outline finished, but I knew exactly how I wanted the first few chapters, so I thought I'd go ahead and post it and see what you all think! I think it could definitely be categorized as a drama, but if you all disagree, let me know and I might change it. :]

ANYWAY--this story might be a little depressing for the first few chapters, but it gets better, I PROMISE! All hope is not lost for poor Kagome. :D

Word Count--1,543

Enjoy!

Make A Wish

The battle was bloody. There was no doubt about that, as Kagome looked around the carnage-layered battlefield. And that would at least have been tolerable, if it was over. And it should have been. Naraku was dead, and Kagome had the completed jewel. She hadn't been paying attention to who dealt the final blow; it hadn't really mattered to her. Inuyasha was what mattered.

Kouga, Kikyo, and Sesshomaru had all joined them in the final battle. Kouga had already given Kagome his jewel shards before the battle began, but he was still faster than the rest, and he was able to take out a large number of Naraku's mindless demons. Kikyo had been a lot of help as well, destroying many with her sacred arrows. And Sesshomaru had taken hundreds out at a time with his Tokijin.

Why was the battle still going on? Kagome looked around, panicked. Inuyasha was half-unconscious on the ground beside her, and she hadn't left his side since several of Naraku's tentacles had pierced him all over. Kagura had switched sides and was fighting with them ever since her heart beat in her chest again. But the demons kept coming.

"K…Kagome…" came Inuyasha's weak voice as he reached out and took her hand. Kagome couldn't keep her eyes from welling up with tears in seeing him like this. She'd seen him pretty beat up before, but this…this was worse, somehow.

"This isn't right. Naraku is dead! Everything should be over!" She tore her eyes away from Inuyasha to find Sango, Miroku, and Shippo all surrounded by demons, although they were holding their own quite well. She could only guess that Miroku was lamenting the loss of his wind tunnel right about now.

"…I have to make the wish." She looked at Inuyasha pleadingly, as if she wanted his permission. "I have to end this!"

Inuyasha's hand tightened around her own and she could've sworn she saw something like fear flash across his eyes—something she only saw in him when she was involved. "What are you going to wish for?"

Hesitating, Kagome looked down at the jewel. It was completely pure, but she knew if she waited much longer, it might become tainted with her own doubts and desires. "…I'm going to wish that everything goes back to the way it's supposed to be. The way it should've been—the way it should be." She had no doubt that this was the right thing to wish for; however, it was not what she wanted to wish for at all. She wanted to wish that the battle would end and that she and Inuyasha could live a happy life together. But she knew that was selfish.

"What if…what if that means we can't be together?" Inuyasha's eyes widened slightly as his thoughts mimicked hers. "Isn't there anything you can wish that can guarantee that?" His voice quivered; he knew he was asking without any hope of a positive answer.

"Not without making it a selfish wish." Her voice was barely above a whisper now as she looked at Inuyasha. "Inuyasha, I love you. Don't ever forget that—no matter what happens."

Despite his injuries, he managed a nod. "I love you too, Kagome. Always will." They'd never officially admitted their love for one another before, but with the possibility of either death or eternal separation hanging above their heads, it seemed petty to let something like pride or embarrassment get in the way.

He struggled to push himself up, but Kagome gently placed a hand on his left shoulder—one of the very few places that he wasn't injured—and kept him down. She knew what he was going to do anyway, and she wasn't about to let himself get even more hurt to do it. So instead, she bent down and placed a sweet kiss on his lips, smiling through the tears as they parted.

She stared down at the jewel again, and she couldn't help but feel like she was saying goodbye. She didn't have time to tell any of the others—she felt like her wish would end this battle and save their lives. If nothing else, she would be thankful for that.

And so she closed her hands around the jewel and placed it next to her heart. "I wish for everything to be as it should be," she murmured quietly, but that was all it took. The jewel vanished instantly, and Kagome opened her eyes in panic, half expecting to find that everything was the same and half expecting to find everything gone. Instead, she noticed the world around her fading, and her heart dropped as she realized that the second option was taking form around her. She was leaving the feudal era—possibly forever.

Inuyasha tried to hold her hand more tightly to keep the girl from fading right before his eyes, but it was too late. He couldn't touch her—and he could barely see her anymore. And then, she was gone.

As the world around Kagome faded into blackness, the sounds of the feudal era drowning out, another sound could be heard in the background—getting louder and louder. Beep, beep, beep, beep… She tried to cover her ears to keep the annoying sound out, but she found that her arms were not obeying her wishes. She couldn't move…at all. And she couldn't open her eyes. What was going on with her? Had she unknowingly wished herself dead? It was possible, with all the times Inuyasha saved her from death—had she already lived past her time?

But then the beeping got faster and faster. And slowly—very slowly—she started regaining feeling, and was able to move her hand a little. She thought she could hear a soft murmuring of voices, but she couldn't be sure.

"…Kagome?" This voice rang loud and clear—and Kagome found her eyes shooting open as she sat straight up, terrified. "Kagome!!"

"…M-mom?" Her eyes finally focused in on her, although she was dizzy from sitting up so quickly. That was when Kagome realized she was in a hospital room. She looked around the room carefully, and with sudden horror realized that this was her hospital room. She was hooked up to cords, and the annoying beeping had slowed down considerably, which she had just realized was her heart rate.

"Kagome!" Mrs. Higurashi cried again, tears streaming down her face as she bent over to hug her daughter. Within seconds, Kagome's hospital gown was soaked, but Kagome didn't particularly care—she was so relieved to not be dead, and to be able to see her mother again, that a little bit of wetness didn't bother her at all.

As Kagome hugged her mother, her eyes scanned the room again. There were balloons and cards—but they weren't just worded with 'get well soon.' There were birthday cards, too! And suddenly, Kagome felt silly for forgetting—the battle with Naraku had been on her nineteenth birthday. But how did all of her birthday stuff get here in such a short amount of time? She had discussed with her family that they would all just have to wait and celebrate with her the next time she was able to get home—and she certainly hadn't expected it to actually arrive on the day.

"Mom…what happened? How'd I get in the hospital so quickly?"

"So quickly?" Mrs. Higurashi stepped back and blinked, finally drying some of the tears. "Well, I guess you have no real concept of time when you're in a coma." She bit her lip—that wasn't exactly the way she'd planned on telling her daughter about what had happened.

"A coma?!"

"Kagome, sweetie, you fell in the well." Mrs. Higurashi took a seat by the bed as she looked at her daughter intently.

"Well, yeah, that's pretty obvious, but—"

"Four years ago," Kagome's mom interrupted, giving Kagome a moment to process the information. "You broke almost every bone in your body, and you've been in a coma for four years. The doctors always had a feeling you'd come out of it, though—you always had a high amount of activity in your brain, so there was no way they could think you were brain-dead," she said with a soft smile.

Kagome sat there numbly. Had it all been a dream? A very intense dream—one that had apparently kept people from allowing her to life to be terminated—but a dream nonetheless? And then she did what Mrs. Higurashi had been expecting all along: she broke into tears.

Mrs. Higurashi leaned forward and gave her daughter's hand a gentle squeeze. "I'll go call Grampa and Souta. I'll talk to the doctors about getting you home, but for now, I'll leave you here to…process."

She didn't even bother to give any sign that she'd heard what her mother had said. She just sat there, crying, latching on to every memory she had of the feudal era and wondering if it had all been real. And part of her realized she didn't care if it had been real—she wanted it back, even if it was just delusional. She'd give anything to have the delusion back, and not be sitting in a hospital bed, sobbing, alone.