Forget Me Not

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

Chapter One

Kagome listened as the bell on her family's shrine wrung 108 times for the coming of the New Year. People shuffled past her as they stood listening to the traditional bell's donging. While most people standing there were thinking about the special person standing next to them or the excitement of the coming year, Kagome was concentrating hard not to think of the pain in her heart that seemed to escalate with every large sound the cursed bell was making. The last time she had heard those bells she had being laying painfully on the cold ground of the well. In her time. Without the only person that mattered in her life.

It had been one year since that night. The pain from that night was ever present though, and it threatened to appear again at full force. She laid a hand on her chest as her heart beat furiously in her rib cage. It felt like a bomb. It would explode every moment the bell was struck.

Then, the bell stopped ringing. Her heart settled, but she still felt faint. Suddenly, a warm hand settled on her shoulder. Kagome looked up to see the owner of the hand- her mother- smiling down at her.

"Kagome, how are you doing?" she said carefully. Kagome wanted to cry. The urge over whelmed her, but she had done that enough. There weren't any tears left in her anymore, it seemed. She nodded and smiled up and her mother. Her mother had helped her so much in the past 12 months... she was so blessed to have such a wonderful mother.

"I know this is a hard time for you, Kagome..." her mother started, still smiling, "but I was wondering if you would help clean up tonight before you go to bed. It seems that there is a lot of sweeping needed to be done before the even larger crowd comes."

Kagome stood up swiftly. "Sure, Mom." Then, she remembered where the broom was kept. In the well house. Kagome breathed deeply as she walked toward the small building- deliberately keeping her eyes from the Goshinboku as she passed it. She slid the wooden door open. Her heart thumped in her chest as she peered into the darkness. Without stepping into the dark room, her arm reached around to the left inner wall, feeling for the wooden handle to the broom that would be leaning there. However, in her blind searching, she hit the handle the wrong way and the broom hit the ground with a loud clank. She pressed her eyes closed with frustration, then took a breathe as she stepped inside the well house. It had been months since she stepped foot in here. Quickly, she ran the best she could the small space between the doorway to the broom, swiftly bending down to pick up the broom. She could hear a pounding in her ears as she started to turn around to exit. However...

Something made her stop. Instead of running back outside, thrusting the door closed, and going back to sweeping the shrine's stairs like a good little shrine girl, she was walking toward the place she never wanted to be near again. She was sure she had been possessed as she dropped the broom and in its place grasped the rail to the stairs that lead down to the well. Each step she took down the stairs felt like an earthquake. Her whole body shook as she took the few last paces toward the well. Silently, unwillingly, one leg rose over the lip of the well. She was jumping. She was really going to try the well again. Maybe it might actually work... She went over the side of the well and closed her eyes tight as she waited for that similar floating feeling she yearned for.

Instead, she hit the hard ground.

She didn't remember that it hurt this bad to fall quite a few feet down. Maybe she just refused to remember the disappointment and heartbreak that she felt now. For just one moment she though that she might be able to go back... She could feel her memories of him slipping away... the way he spoke, how he smelled, the warmth of his arms encircling her... The tears she had previously thought were non-existent now poured down her face. She didn't want to think about it, but being there in the well made all the feelings resurface. She laid back on the cold dirt. All the energy had been drained out of her. She shook as the tears streaked down the sides of her face, slid past her ears and into her hair. She stared blankly up to the ceiling of the well house. Her eyes closed with the last bit of her energy.

---

A small noise woke her. Her eyes flew open in alarm. She realized where she was. Sadness washed over her once again, but she shoved it to the back of her mind. There was someone- or something- in the well house. She sat up quietly, listening hard for another noise. She heard the distinct noise of the door sliding closed. Maybe it was just her grandpa closing the door before he went to bed? Kagome almost called out to say she was there, but stopped herself when she heard hushed foot steps tapping on the wooden floor, then a small thump and the sound of someone sighing. It sounded they had sat down against the wall. Carefully, Kagome rose and started slowly climbing up the ladder. Was it some hobo looking for a place to stay the night? What if it was a wanted murdered, or worse, a rapist? She gulped as she continued to climb the ladder. When she neared the top, she heard a clicking noise, the sound of a lighter it sounded like. She rose her head slowly to look for the intruder.

Her eyes must have deceived her. Her eyes caught just one glimpse through the darkness, that little flicker of light from the lighter had helped, to see the one face she had been wanted desperately to see for a whole twelve months.

"I-Inuyasha?"

To be continued...