A/N: I can't believe I never posted (or finished editing) the second part of this. I am clearly a terrible person and I apologize for existing. Thank you for reviewing, especially in light of my whining.

Part Two

"Kagome," Miroku had caught up with the shikon shard detector and was tapping her politely on the shoulder. "I'm afraid that your theory on time travel has some very obvious flaws."

She raised an eyebrow, nonplussed. "Oh really?"

"Yes."

Kagome dropped her beaten yellow backpack on the ground and grudgingly waited for him to continue speaking. "I'm listening."

"Wonderful!" the monk smiled. The rest of the group groaned in exasperation. "Well, as for your first point on the passage of time... The well could simply be transporting you through a fixed amount of time when you pass through it. For instance, it could be programmed for exactly 499 years, 3 months and 17 days. Each time that you travel, you would go back and come forward the exact same amount. This would account for the observed passage in time both in the present and the future."

Kagome had no rebuke, so she settled for simply glaring at the monk.

"In response to your second point, Kagome: you are completely dismissing the possibility of alternate and parallel universes. Perhaps, rather than traveling back and forth through time, you are simply travelling to an alternate yet identical world in the past. In that case, you are right on one count: what you are doing here would have absolutely no real bearing on your own world. You could leave and absolutely nothing would change. But, on that note, you would be abandoning our world to possible total destruction," he sighed dramatically. "Think, Kagome. What would poor alternate you have to say about all of this?" Miroku shook his head and pursed his lips in disapproval. "I know alternate Miroku would be very disappointed with you."

Kagome, however, only rolled her eyes. "I'll give you credit on stumping me with the passage of time counterpoint. However, I can think of at least two incidences right off the top of my head—one of which involved my middle school's delightful Cultural Festival—where both shikon shards and youkai were present. If this were really a case of alternate universes, when I broke the shikon no tama in your 'alternate world' in the past, it should have resulted in my world being devoid of the shikon no tama in any form. Since this was clearly not the case, it is reasonable to assume that the well transports me back in time here. And that's not even counting the whole confusing Affections Touching Across Time subplot, but nobody cares since that isn't canon, so let's just move on."

Miroku frowned, and Kagome continued to speak, smiling cheekily. "That brings me right back to my initial statement that everything I do is accounted for already. Inuyasha bound to the Goshinboku again? Not my problem. He's not here in the future, so what do I care?"

She paused momentarily, furrowing her brow in contemplation. "Although this does make the whole 'Kikyo wandering around in the past with part of my soul' thing very confusing... I mean, you'd think if I travel back to the past, the last little piece of my soul would have returned to me by now. Unless!" Kagome gasped. "Obviously the only acceptable conclusion here is that Kikyo is still wandering around in my time, doing god knows what. Probably running an orphanage somewhere and cursing any poor hapless guys she runs across who are unlucky enough to have white hair and smell like a wet dog."

"Now, if you'll excuse me..." Kagome took a deep, satisfied breath and reached for her backpack, but was interrupted by the sound of Miroku lightly chuckling to himself.

"Not so fast, Kagome."

She looked at him skeptically.

After thinking for a moment, he continued, "These sorts of identical alternate universes would run in a loop of sorts, too. Meaning the Kagome of our alternate world is also likely traveling back in time and experiencing the exact same trials and tribulations that you are. Instead of saving her world, however, she would merely be saving and changing the future of another identical universe. So you see, although you may have lost your jewel shards in an alternate world, an alternate Kagome would have lost her shikon shards in your world, solving the paradox you proposed quite nicely."

Kagome paled visibly.

"You can see where I'm going with this, then." He smiled. "By all means, Kagome, go back to your own alternate universe. Indulge in your sugar and saturated fat, get lost in your tantalizingly corny soap operas and doom our world. I hope for your sake, though, that the identical alternate Kagome traveling back to your world's feudal time doesn't make the same decision. It'd be terrible to have your vacation interrupted by a raging shikon shard-inspired apocalypse."

With that, Miroku pat Kagome on the shoulder, spun around and continued to walk down the path towards Kaede's village.

Kagome picked up her yellow backpack, shoulders slumping slightly. "God damnit..."
With a miserable groan, she followed Miroku down the road.

Inuyasha scratched his head. He scooted closer to Sango, who, although she had been listening thoughtfully, had little to contribute to the conversation. He whispered, "I'm confused. Is Kagome going home or not?"

The demon slayer shrugged. "Eh, I'd give her about a week."

fin

A/N: And now to find/fix up the conclusion to Kikyo's Delivery Service and Kikyo and Kagome... Those poor, lonely abandoned one-shot/two-parters... I guess it has been, like, six years. I can't in good conscience just leave them, though, even if they were the half-baked products of a bored teenage mind.