Rockefeller Center

New York City

Present Day

She spun in a circle, relishing the feel of the cold wind against her cheeks, enjoying the way the skate slid effortlessly across well-used ice. With the many people currently using the ice, she knew it should have been tougher to slide and twirl, but it was as if the ice knew that tonight would be her last time. It's as if the ice knew it had to be just perfect.

And despite the wave of sadness she had felt earlier, she couldn't help but laugh. For one moment tonight, she felt free.

She had loved, she had lost and she was moving on. She wouldn't – no, couldn't dwell on the past. Not when there was still so much ahead for her. She had plans, she had a life a live.

And after spending so many years trying to take down Naraku, and surviving near death battles, she couldn't give up what she had left. She would be letting Inuyasha and others down. She couldn't do that.

And for the first time in a long time, she had stopped thinking about Inuyasha with sadness. She understood now the reason behind his decision to follow Kikyou , and knew that what she had felt for him then was nothing more than a childhood crush, not love. He had loved, maybe not her, certainly not in the way she wanted him to, but he had loved somebody enough to give up everything to spend eternity with them.

Despite this, she was relieved he didn't spend eternity with Kikyou. Instead it was somebody else he had found and fell in love with. He had learned his lessons over the years and realized that once had found somebody worth keeping, jump at the chance instead of waiting for it, and possibly losing it.

If he had felt even a tenth of what she felt about Sesshoumaru toward his mate, then she knew he had a happy life full of love and laughter, something every being deserved.

She took one more spin around the ice, holding her arms out like she was flying before gliding to the bench where she had placed her shoes. There were always hockey arenas in Southern California if she ever felt the urge to put the skates on again.

She sighed, she would miss it, she knew. She would miss the lights, the sounds, the hustle and bustle of New York City, the streets lined up with yellow cabs and skyscrapers stretching way up into the sky.

And she stared up at the tree as she stood from the bench. She would miss the tree most of all as it was the one constant in everything that had happened to her over the past five years. Her happiest of memories had occurred here, the times she'd sit in tranquility and silence with him, the small gift exchanges, skating on Christmas Day, enjoying the carolers on Christmas Eve, the list went on.

She smiled though. These were memories she'd treasure wherever she went, and they were experiences she could never regret, and learn to build upon to better herself.

How could one regret and forget love? It only made a person stronger.

Knowing she was making the right decision, she collected her skates and walked toward the roadway, only turning once more to take one last look at the sight before her. This would be the last time she'd set foot here.

She turned back ready to call a cab when she caught a flash of silver from the side. Her heart hammered painfully in her chest as she willed herself to look at him.

He was right there. After a year of absence he was standing less than a hundred feet away from her. Staring at her, looking at her as no other man had before.

She could feel the tears starting to form in her eyes, and all of the pain she had felt last year flooding back. He had left her. She decided to open up fully and truly, she had decided to give him her heart and he trampled on it before walking away. She wasn't strong enough to survive it a second time, and forced herself to turn away, intent on catching a cab out of there once and for all.

"Wait," She heard him speak before being crushed against him. "Just wait," he whispered.

"I can't." she whispered back, struggling to keep her hands at her sides. She wanted nothing more than to just wrap them around him and pull him tighter to him.

"Please." He had said the one word she couldn't refuse. She had learned many things about him over the years, and the one thing she knew without a doubt is he never begged. While she knew this was technically not begging, it was as close to it as he would ever get.

"Why?" She pulled back slightly and his hands, which were wrapped around her, slid down to hold her at her waist.

"We need to talk. I have things to say."

"I don't know if I can hear them. It was hard watching you walk away once, I can't do it again if that's what it's going to come to."

He lifted her hand in his and twined his fingers through hers. He held her hand a lover would. "Just come and sit with me for a few minutes. If you don't like what I have to say, you can walk away and I won't follow you, but I've had all year to think about this, and you need to hear it."

She nodded reluctantly, looking for a bench and finding none free. It wasn't surprising really given the number of people who show up every year for the lighting. He led her to his limo instead, knowing she'd appreciate the comfort and warmth, if not the privacy.

"You're looking good," he started out once they were safely ensconced in his limo and the privacy screen up.

She blushed slightly, then scowled at the fact that she was still so affected by his words, and that they meant so much. She didn't say anything though.

He sighed. "Okay, so I made a mistake last year, I'm sorry."

Her eyes widened in shock again. For the second time that night he had placed himself in a vulnerable position for her. She couldn't think of one time since she had known him that he had ever said please in such a desperate manner, or apologized to anybody. "Sorry for what?" she asked.

"This isn't easy for me to say. I walked away afraid last year," he confessed. "You told me you loved me and I wasn't prepared for it. I didn't know how to react."

"You could have said something, anything and I'd have probably understood," she said. "Walking away, it nearly destroyed me."

"I know," he grabbed her hand again, appreciating the fact that she was responding to him. "I watched your face as I drove away. You have the most expressive eyes," he explained. "I could see everything you were feeling in them. And I can't describe to you what I felt when I watched your heart breaking in them that night. I wanted to turn back and apologize, and make everything right then. Pride wouldn't let me."

She nearly choked. In all the years she had known him, she had never heard him be so open about what he was thinking and feeling. When had all this changed. "I don't know what I would have done if you did," she confessed. "I was hurt, I might have lashed out, or if you had come back and I was okay with it, who's to say the rest of our relationship wouldn't be strained. In truth, the time away gave me plenty of time to think."

"I thought as much. The year did much for me as well. In truth, I had never felt so empty, not since after losing Rin. It took me a while to figure out why. I was used to having you around. And if you weren't near me, you were on the phone."

"It felt weird not being able to call you when I was stressed out from school," she confessed.

"And it felt odd not being able to stop by for a visit after a stressful day at the office," he confessed as well.

It was her turn to sigh now. "Why are we so screwed up?"

"I don't know," he laughed, probably for the first time the entire year. "What I do know though is I want you back in my life, however you'll take me."

"I'm moving," she said.

"I'll follow," he replied, not caring as to where she was moving. It would be easy enough to hop a plane from New York to anywhere she wanted to be, and he would do it too to be near her.

"I don't want another broken heart," she whispered, bringing light to her greatest fear.

"I can't promise I won't break it again," he squeezed her hand though to show her he meant what he was about to say. "But I won't leave you unless you want me to go. Even then I'll fight to stay."

He didn't need to say the words. She could see in his eyes every emotion he was feeling at the moment, and she felt humbled that he would open himself to her like this. She felt cherished, and knew without a doubt that once again, she could trust him with her heart. "Okay," she said, smiling, feeling confidence in everything for the first time in a year. "Okay."

He smiled then, brilliantly, and she couldn't help but feel she had made the right choice.

They looked out the window at the seventy-foot tree, admiring the way the lights and crystals twinkled in the night. She continued to smile as she moved into the crook of his arm, resting her head on his shoulder.

Oh how she loved Christmas in New York.

FIN

AN – That's it, I'm sorry that it took forever to finish. This chapter still didn't come out as I wanted it to, it got better during the end, but it came out better than my previous two versions of it.

Anyway, it's always nice to have a little bit of Christmas in July. Could have been worse, I could have waited until next Christmas 

Disclaimer: Inuyasha doesn't belong to me, it belongs to Rumiko Takahashi