the last time, an alternate universe break up one-shot

InuYasha stood at the familiar scent approaching him, claws twitching at his side as he refrained from reaching out. Instead, he turned to face her.

"Why are you here?"

He stood between her and the well, his arms folded over his chest. Kagome looked displeased and her tone screamed it, but her face was calm with even the faint traces of a smile. He remembered how things used to be, how she used to smile frequently even if it was often after berating him.

"You can't just leave!" He yelled and his voice cracked, betraying him completely. He was angry at her for trying to leave, abandon him when she still needed to piece together jewel shards. He didn't believe her when she had said she was done, that she had enough and that she wanted to go home. And yet, here she was, trying to go home. He wanted it to come across as possessively angry but it only came out as forlorn, like he was subconsciously asking her not to leave.

"I have to leave," she said sternly, taking a step closer, "don't make this difficult. I can't stay here where...I don't belong. I don't belong here, InuYasha. I'm not entirely safe here, either. Nor am I welcome." Her voice almost sounded bitter, but he isn't sure.

InuYasha looked at her curiously. "You don't want to leave, Kagome," he tried to assure her, "you don't belong here but you're welcome here, damnit! Who said you weren't?!"

"No one said!" She shouted, her fists clenched at her side. "No one had to say because I can see it! I...I love you, okay? And you don't love me. So if anything's more crystal clear than that, it's that I'm not welcome here. Not as a person, anyway." She turned her face away from him, digging one of her shoes into the grass idly.

"Not as a person?"

"More like a jewel shard detector." Her brown eyes shot back up to him and frowned. "It's better if I go. This will be the last time I leave because I won't come back, InuYasha. It's better this way." She nodded resolutely and moved to step around him. She should have known it would be more difficult than that.

He grabbed her upper arm swiftly, careful not to dig his claws into her. "You can't," he said quietly, "you can't go. Please?"

She almost wanted to stay. But almost wasn't good enough and she gently pulled away from him, raising a hand to her face. "I can't stay." She swung her legs over into the well, her backpack on her back, and slid down into the dark bottomless warp of time, tears sparkling behind her as she fell.