Chapter 38: Epilogue: I Missed You

Kagome groaned slightly… she felt as if she was Sleeping Beauty, finally coming out of her hundred year sleep. She felt heavy—as if she was suddenly made of lead. She could hear voices all around her… voices that made no sense at all.

"Doctor! Doctor, I think that she's finally waking up!" cried an amazed echo.

"Go and call her family now!" commanded another voice that sounded closer… but still hazy. She heard the sounds of footsteps on both sides of her… the faint beeping of some kind of machine… and the shocked voices of people.

Kagome opened her eyes to a mass of blurs, blinking numerous times to adjust to the lighting. There were people standing around her dressed in white and blues. They wiggled around like shadows as her eyes began to focus.

She looked around her surroundings; it was a small plain square room. A bit empty, except for some cream-colored curtains that covered a small window, a tiny chair that sat in one corner by itself, and a cot folded up neatly beside it. She lay on a stiff mattress in a bed made of iron wrapped up in warm white blankets. Where was she? As her eyes began to adjust, she realized she was dressed in a blue nightgown and had plastic bands around her wrists. She held her hand to her head in confusion as she slowly began to sit up.

She pondered this before she was interrupted when young women entered her room with her hair tied up in a loose bun and a light blue shirt with matching pants. Kagome noticed the stethoscope around her neck and figured she was a nurse.

"You're finally awake, how are you feeling?" Her voice was rather high pitched as she stared at her as if she was a ghost.

"Fine… I think," Kagome croaked. The nurse smiled at her as she grabbed her wrist and checked her pulse. Satisfied, she took her stethoscope and before using it on her she rubbed it on her hands to warm it up.

"Kagome, right?" She asked as she moved the stethoscope around on her body, Kagome nodded, noting how uncomfortable this was, well it guess it could be worse. It could be a guy doing this… unless it was Inuyasha…

She felt her face turn red at the thought of Inuyasha here with her and the nurse said worriedly, "Dear? Are you feeling alright? You're face has gone red and your heart rate sped up!" Sure enough, the heart monitor that she was connected had started going faster.

Kagome calmed down, and immediately, her heart had relaxed. "Yes," she answered with a smile. "I'm fine."

The nurse smiled again while she took the stethoscope back from Kagome's body and hung it around her neck. "Your family should be here soon, dear."

"Where am I?" she whispered to the medics around her. They all stood by her bedside simply starring at her, some were smiling and some looked like they were examining her.

"You're in the hospital dear," she answered.

Kagome nodded slowly. Her brain worked feverishly to come up with an explanation for her predicament. The last thing she could remember was falling away into darkness and someone's voice calling out to her.

Kagome's eyes started to darken again… and she drifted off once more.

*A little later*

Kagome woke up again… and the first thing she noticed was that she was still in the hospital… and that she wasn't alone.

She slowly opened her eyes but everything before her was blurry, she could just make out a person sitting on her bed. Kagome rubbed her eyes and blinked the sleep away, and realized that it was her mother and brother there in her room.

"Kagome! You're awake! Oh, thank God!" Her mother rushed over to her bed and threw her arms around her.

"Mom," Kagome said quietly as she buried her face into her mom's shoulder. She missed her so much…

"I missed you… But where am I? Why am I here?" Her mother went stiff and began to pull away slowly. Kagome didn't notice the change.

Mom looked towards the doctors, who she suddenly noticed in the doorway, uncertainty etched on her face. "It's nothing to be alarmed about Mrs. Higurashi," said one of them. "It is common for someone who has been in a coma for as long as she had been to be unable to distinguish between reality and fantasy."

The doctor had seemed to have calmed mom's nerves but his actual patient, Kagome, looked bewildered beyond belief. "What are you talking about?" she asked, starring at everyone with a wild look in her eyes as she sat up.

"Kagome dear," her mother said as she gently pushed Kagome's shoulders back down towards the bed. "This may be difficult for you honey but… you've been unconscious for the last couple of months." She paused to let the news sink in. "Don't you remember? You were in the hallway at school talking to Hojo remember? He said that he was just asking you something… he said that you just… collapsed. You've been in here ever since."

"We were beginning to think you'd never wake up again," said her Sota from the edge of her bed. His eyes were wide as he starred at her, as if he still thought that she might go back to sleep at any second.

"Hojo called for help and you were brought here to the hospital… I knew that it was too soon for you to return to school after getting out of here so soon," her mother continued. She ran her hand over her daughter's hair. Kagome was trying to understand the new information that was given to her.

A coma for how many months? But she had been in Ariellica the whole time… ever since…

Oh, it suddenly came back to her. She just remembered running out of her classroom, determine to get back to the dreamworld… and she remembered talking to Hojo. But had it all just been a dream? She remembered going home and packing as she went straight over to that house and through the mirror… it couldn't be possible that everyone and everything she'd experienced up until that moment whether it be traveling through the beautiful landscape, battling demons, or falling in love was all just figments of a dream… could it?

Her family stayed there with her for a long time until Kagome started to doze off again. Her mom and brother seemed worried that she might not wake up again if she went to sleep this time. But the doctors all assured them that Kagome was out danger. Mom hugged and kissed her goodbye, and Kagome ran her hand through Sota's messy hair.

Once everyone had left, she was left alone in her room… trying to process what was going on. Sighing, she rolled over onto her side, feeling empty and hurt inside…

That is until she noticed that there was something hard underneath her pillow. Sitting up in confusion and curiosity, she reached her hand under the cushion and felt something small and smooth. Her heart monitor starting to beat just a little bit faster, she pulled out two items…

And felt tears in her eyes.

It was her hair barrette… the same one that Inuyasha had give her so long ago. And the second was something that she hadn't seen for awhile…

It was her mirror. The little silvery mirror that the old woman had given her back at Elyntis… she ran one finger over one of the small crystals as she read the words that were engraved so delicately around the rim… 'If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there. Even if you've have not gone the way you intended to go, you end up where you intended to be. If you become lost however, just remember which side you stand on of a two sides of a one-way mirror. When in doubt, retracing your steps is a wise place to begin.'

Holding the mirror up to see her face, she saw a different person staring back at her. It was Kagome all right… but it wasn't the same one she had been the last looked into a looking glass. Who would you turn to if the reflection in the mirror wasn't your own? She couldn't even look in the mirror like everyone else can… because she could no longer see herself. The one in the mirror looked weak and fragile. Not the strong and confident Kagome she had become. Hopefully, once she left the hospital that would change. Smiling, she tucked the two treasures back under her pillow before she strayed off to the Ariellica in her dreams.

*Two days later*

Kagome woke up in the plain hospital room and got dressed. Her blanket was tangled around her feet and her hair hung tousled over her face. She brushed it back with her hand and took a deep breath as she pinned it up with her barrette. She had been having that same dream night after night for the past two nights. She dreamt of Ariellica growing and coming back to life. The damage that Naraku had done was being undone while the people were all celebrating and marching through streets or dancing on the beach at his defeat. She could see her friends also celebrating…

Sango hugging a little boy with a sweet face… whom she guessed had to be the brother that she once told her about… Shippo and Satsuki were both enjoying the attention for their parts in helping to defeat the tyrant… prisoners being freed set free including the wind sorceress Kagura…

It was as if her friends were telling her that everything was going to be ok and that she shouldn't worry about them… but one thing that was bothering her was that the one person she wanted to see in her dreams—her true love hadn't been seen at all.

She couldn't help but wonder why she couldn't see him anymore.

Kagome stood up and rubbed her eyes. She hadn't told anyone about the dreams. They all were so happy that she was getting better, why shatter their hopes by telling them about her adventures in a whole they had no idea existed? They'd think she had gone nuts, her mind warped by the coma. She sighed glumly.

She looked up as someone knocked on her door. "Kagome," her mother said as she opened the door, "It's time to go home!"

Two days had passed since Kagome had first awakened from her coma and since then, she had improved, to what the doctors called, an almost alarming rate. But they couldn't see anything wrong with her, and so the doctors had announced that they felt she was ready to leave. All she had to do was a few finishing tests and she was free to leave the hospital that had been her home for far too long.

The drive home from the hospital made Kagome feel like she had never been away. She was squashed in the back seat with her brother as they filled her in on what she missed. Her mom frequently glanced over at her, always smiling, so happy to be bringing her home finally. It was like old times. Her brother argued with her in vain as mom sided with her each and every time do to what the doctors called her "stable condition". To her, life couldn't get any more perfect.

Now if only a certain dog-eared boy would come back to her.

"Kagome?" Sota's voice interrupted her perfect daydream of Inuyasha.

"Hmm?" Kagome asked, turning back to him. "Did you say something?"

"I thought you were starting to doze off again," he asked worriedly, as he eyed her with concern and she smiled back.

"I'm fine, Sota. How many times do I have to tell you?"

"Then why were you sitting there with that look on your face?" he argued. "Like you're about to fall asleep again? Don't you think you've had enough sleep for a lifetime?"

"Oh, I was just day-dreaming of the time I went to sleep…" she answered as he laughed.

"Oh, and Kagome?" her mother asked from the driver's seat. "Where did you get that barrette? I've never seen you wear it before? It's beautiful."

Kagome smiled back as she ran her hand over the beautiful petals and tail. "Oh, I've had it for awhile. Someone very special gave it to me and I just never had a good excuse to wear it."

Now that Kagome knew why it was always so important to her, she never wanted to take it off… she would keep it on until she saw Inuyasha again…

They pulled into the old, familiar driveway around dinnertime. The sun was just setting into the east making the sky an orange, pink color. Kagome climbed out of the car and breathed in the cool spring air. She was home.

"Kagome honey," her mother said, putting her arm around her shoulders. "C'mon dear let's get you inside before you catch a cold."

Kagome nodded, allowing her mother to steer her towards the house. But before going inside, she looked up at the sky… suddenly imagining seeing the sun rise over Crystal Canyon… or the palace with the prince and the blind Cinderella… She blinked a few times and looked around at her house for a moment longer before shaking her head and following everyone inside.

*A few hours later*

Kagome had wandered through the familiar house; examining all the family pictures on the walls… the smell of polish that mom used on the furniture… the loud noises that came from the T.V… everything was the same…

But different.

She was different and back in a world that hadn't changed a bit while she was dreaming.

For the last few hours, she had gotten reused to everything as her mom and Sota followed her around. Sota told her everything that had been happening at her school since she had been out, and that her friends were going to come over later to visit her.

Kagome answered all his questions and laughed at everything he said… but she couldn't help but feel sad inside at the thought of Sango, Miroku, Kirara, Shippo, Satsuki…

The list just seemed to go on and on. She then noticed the hallway mirror and couldn't resist asking it, "Mirror, mirror on the wall…?"

"Now really?" Sota asked as if he was worried for her sanity.

"This is my moment, go away," she joked as she stared into its depts. Forgetting once again where she was.

She shut her eyes and daydreamed a warm breeze blew past her face. The sound of birds twittering off in the distance and trees swishing in the wind could be heard. The moon shone down in beams across the ground, cut into slices by the looming trees above her.

The fairy tales in books are what we read to children before they go to sleep. But living in one is a completely different story, and once the book is shut, things aren't like anything you expect them to be.

'You know Inuyasha,' she thought. 'I longed for a fairy tale of my own. Was that the reason I was pulled into another world?' She opened her eyes and she was back in her hallway again with Sota watching her. 'I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be.'

At that moment, there was a loud knock on the door downstairs which caused them both to jump. Frowning slightly, she heard her mom call out, "Kagome! A friend is here to see you. Kagome smiled, hoping that it would be Yuki, Eri, or Ayume… it will be so good to see them again.

Kagome walked right into the entrance hall, with Sota still talking up a storm, and looked up at her 'guest'. At first she didn't recognize him… with the bright red t-shirt, torn jeans, and blue baseball cap… but as he turned to face her… the long white hair, golden eyes that just seemed to softened when he saw her… a bright red ribbon, that had once belonged to her, was tied around his right arm…

"INUYASHA!" she screamed and ran forward and flung her arms around his neck.

She heard him let out a deep sigh as he breathed in her scent. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and whispered, "Finally."

"You have no idea how happy I am to see you," Kagome whispered to him as she pulled back to look at him. She had come back to reality, but was staring into the face of the guy of her dreams. It was hard to believe that she was awake… or was she? But before she could figure that out, he smiled down at her, and not caring that the rest of her family was watching them, his lips stuck to hers and everything was wiped out of her mind.

"I missed you," Inuyasha whispered to her so softly that she almost didn't hear it.

"I love you," she croaked back. She could feel the eyes of her mother and brother staring at the two of them in astonishment and alarm… not that she blamed them. They had no idea what was going on—the only thing they saw was that she was kissing a guy they didn't know… but at that moment, Kagome didn't notice anything else except the peaceful oblivion that seemed too real to be a dream. But just to make sure… with her arms wrapped around Inuyasha's neck, she gave her wrist a quick pinch… it hurt a lot.

She smiled into the kiss and closed her eyes. No, this was no dream seeing how her love didn't disappear before her eyes. And that was just fine by her.

(Yay, I'm finally done with this story! And I can't tell you all how glad I am it's over. I hope you all loved it and aren't disappointed. I apologize for taking so long, but I've always have something going on. One more story down, and as for what happens next… ;-) That's up to you to decide. Thank you all for sticking with me for so long—I couldn't have done it without you.)