Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters!

Almost

She sighs. Once again a perfectly lovely, perfectly sunny day. She could almost smile. Almost.

"Kagome dear, time for school! Wake up!"
She peels her head away from the window and looks around her room. The same. Everything is absolutely the same, as it had been that last time when….when….

Brushing a stray tear that is threatening to fall, Kagome begins preparing for yet another day of school.

How do I go back to how I used to be?

Classes roll on, one after the other, like rain drops on a window pane, and just as memorable to her. Bent over the book, her wide eyes see battle, blood, death, but also smiles, warmth, safety and peace. Above all though….

"Ms. Higurashi, please read us the second paragraph of page fifty-seven."

She stands up, and the motion makes her dizzy. With a small pause she begins:

"Sakamoto Ryōma admired the principles of democracy, and studied the United States' Congress and British Parliament as model for…
A branch hit the window, and for a moment she thought she had seen a flash of white.
"…post-Restoration Japan. Continue Ms. Higurashi."

Kagome represses all the tremors and continues reading. Her monotone voice spreads over the classroom.

Was it…? Could it be…?

Homework piles on her like freshly fallen snow on the ground. She seeks refuge in the different characters, the strange words, and, even in the figures drawn in her math book.

After so much time away, she discovers that diligence is the key to success.

She begins to understand little by little, more characters, more phrases, and even more math problems. Kagome realizes that a life spent doing nothing but studying has great effects on her scholarly record.

And yet, I wish….

Kagome rarely sleeps anymore. Three or four hours at most when her body becomes completely fatigued are enough. Sleeping brings dreaming and dreaming brings memories. Memories hurt. She finds that if she stays awake long enough blackness overtakes her, so she gets her rest that way.

Memories are painful: a grand tree, a small, green-eyed foxling, a loving sister, a weird but kind brother…but most of all…most of all a boy with snow-white hair and warm, autumnal eyes. She breathes in his scent, she drinks in his face, she melts into the feel of his fingers around hers and then….

The cruel sunlight invades her room. They sky is blue Once again a perfectly lovely, perfectly sunny day. She could almost smile. Almost…because she cannot.

Days go by, like swimming through molasses. Each movement floods her with memories, but the pain has faded ever so slightly. She can almost see him before her and not burst into tears at the thought. Almost.

She feels like a traitor. She has willingly traded the scent of his hair, the feel of his fingers around her for her own commodity. She hates herself.
Her mother thinks she is almost back to normal.

Almost, because they both know she is not.

The sun sinks tiredly and yet and another day sees her poring over her books, trying to push away all memories of that time.
After 1094 days of trying she can almost do it. Almost. Flooded by images from another time, she swallows her tears and closes her book. Tomorrow is the big day.
She has already passed her exams. All that is left is the graduation.

As she slides into bed she tries to convince herself that she is happy, and she manages...almost.
Almost, because there is a gaping hole inside her heart, and despite all the time that has passed it bleeds as profusely as it did on that awful, terrible first day.

Almost, because there are voices in her head that belong to people who are long gone from this world (almost all of them) but who she used to call "family".

Almost, because a stubborn, loud-mouthed, indomitable, red-clad boy with hair of winter snows and eyes of autumn sun, still appears before her each time she closes her eyes.

Almost, because she has loved and lost, and the loss is so much more than she can bear.

The day comes and passes: tears, flowers, speeches, some 300 new graduates and their families celebrating. Nothing out of the ordinary. A sunny day. A perfect day almost.

Almost, because it's empty and bitter and meaningless for her; because although she is proud of herself for her achievement she is more proud of her realisation, even though it came too late.

1095 days that merge into one for her made her realise that had she had a choice she would have stayed by their side, by his side.
She had almost realised it. Almost, because the well took her before her mind had been set; and thrust her into this world of almosts. of failed attempts at peace, and emptiness.

She is almost home when she feels something calling to her. The old pull. Her heart skips a beat.

Could this be?

She has a feeling this is her last chance so she rushes to the house for one last time, gathers all that she needs, kisses her family and, for the first time in three years. laughs with wild unrestraint upon seeing the familiar glow from the well house.

This is her decision, her family from this time all understand.

Her mother kisses her and holds her tight, whispering words of encouragement. Her grandfather bows ceremoniously. Her brother smiles and sends his greetings to "Inu no nii-san", and she kisses them all, willing them to understand how much she loves them and how much she needs this.

Then she is gone.

Time shifts around her, as the present fades away into the recesses of the future, and she is there. There! She can see the sun shining from the bottom of the well and. light-hearted for the first time in years, she starts climbing the wall.
She is so caught up in her climb that she doesn't hear the tell-tale sounds of his approach.

When she nears the top, she reaches her hand out to grasp, and, instead, gets pulled out.

He looks at her with complete shock, his body is stock still.

All the almosts of the past 1095 days melt under his uncertain gaze.

I'm back! she says, wholeheartedly smiling, and jumps into his arms.

He remains mute but draws her in even closer and kisses her hair unabashedly.

His heart trembles and his mouth betrays him:

Kagome!

She smiles wider and tightens her arms around his waist.

Inuyasha!

Above them, the sun is shining: it is a perfect day.