Disclaimer: The characters of InuYasha are not mine; they are property of Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Yomiuri TV, Sunrise, and Viz. The following story is for entertainment and not profit.

Beautiful Dreamer Awaken to Me

He had spent a hundred and fifty years searching for her, another hundred and fifty learning to live without her, and two hundred sleeping trying to forget everything about her, and now she stood before him as if she had never left. He felt like he was losing his sanity. It just couldn't be real, not after all those years. And yet, there she stood, as stunned as he and completely unchanged. Her hair, her face, her stance, her scent, everything he had tried to forget and failed miserably at; it was all the same.

He needed to touch her, feel the warmth of her skin against his, to prove to himself she was real. Everything was too much like a dream, even the edges of his vision seemed to be wavering. With each step he could feel a tugging in his chest, as if the red string of fate was pulling him in. There was so much he wanted to say, but his mind wouldn't settle on where to start. What do you say to a person you have spent half a millennia grieving for?

As his hand brushed her cheek, a tear slipped from her eye to greet it. "You are crying." The words sounded like someone else's even though he knew he had said them.

Hers came back to him just as surreal, "So are you."