From Wells and Scrolls
Written for HalfBlackWolfDemon for the prompt, "Special Summoning Technique"

In the last sixteen months, Kagome learned and relearned many things. The first was that she could not return home. Tsunade informed her of that three months ago, confirming her suspicions. For over a year, Tsunade convened with the leaders of other summon groups through Katsuya in order to figure out the mystery. But while they held sympathy, even they knew not of how to reverse the effect of the reverse summoning jutsu used in the wrong world, by the wrong kind of person. Her life had never been easy, not since that fateful birthday, so she tried to prepare herself for this very outcome.

But knowing it might happen and having it happen were two very different things.

Secondly, she learned that it was cats. Cat summons, one the other summons thought lost. Just as Kagome knew her luck was beyond terrible, she knew that cats were trouble. Even despite her deep love for them. She supposed if she ever got to speak to Inuyasha again, she would apologize for all the times she got mad at him for being mean to Buyo. That fat cat was likely to blame for this whole mess as well as the whole time-travel mess.

It was a small comfort knowing that.

Thirdly, she learned she loved letter writing. Penmanship had never been a forte of hers, yet she learned she was better at it than Naruto. Though that wasn't saying much as Naruto couldn't write his way out of a metaphor.

It was almost like writing in a diary when she wrote to him. Often she would write of her day, the comings and goings of people and friends in Konoha, the small little things that made Konoha feel more and more like home. And of course she told him of the first two things she learned, making him the only person outside of the Hokage, Sakura and herself who knew. And he told her of his travels, of the people they were meeting and the sights they were seeing. She was almost jealous that he got to travel and she didn't, but all it took was reminding herself of how she traveled all across Japan in less than a year to make her miss it not so much.

And lastly, she learned that the heart has room for more than one love. Inuyasha was still in her mind and heart, but she knew enough from him to know not to hold on to or linger in thoughts about her first love. She didn't want to be like him and always compare everyone who would come after to him, or hold on to the hope that she would see him again. They may have had a love that transcended time, but it could not cross worlds. He could not follow where she had gone.

In a scant few months (though longer a time than it took her to fall in love with Inuyasha, of all people), it was teasing and laughter and an easy rapport that she came to rely upon long before she realized what it meant. Then there were sixteen months of letters and words and never written feelings between them. Even though he was also taken.

But he never spent time with her. He didn't rush to tell her that he was back. And now…

She stared him down as he shoveled ramen into his mouth too quickly for it not to be suspicious. But she controlled the food, which meant once he finished it, she could question him. Kagome was fairly certain he didn't think through his plan all the way when he finished his bowl in record time and held it out for seconds.

With a shake of her head, she took it from him. But not to fill it. "Why didn't you tell Hinata goodbye?"

He couldn't meet her eyes. "Whaddya mean? I did say goodbye."

"Yeah," she agreed, "distantly. Like you guys are friends. Maybe. I say better goodbyes than that, and I'm terrible at them."

He shrugged and she sighed. "We're friends, aren't we?"

"Of course!"

"Then you should remember that friends tell each other things," she said. It was his turn to sigh and mumble something under his breath. "I'm serious. She's leaving for a year now, for diplomacy in Suna, and you couldn't even manage a goodbye kiss. I get it that you guys haven't seen each other in months, but really—"

"We aren't together."

She stopped, mid-tirade, and gaped at him. "What? Since when?"

"I dunno. It just kind of happened." He shrugged again, and turned around in his seat. "I couldn't get over the guilt, and she couldn't get over hers. We just weren't…clicking. She ended it."

"Oh," she breathed out. And she really hoped it didn't sound as relieved as she felt. There was always a tension in her whenever Naruto and Hinata's relationship was brought up, even though she was usually the one to do so. Sometimes she wondered why she liked to torture herself, or maybe she did it in the hopes that it would squeeze the love out of her. "I'm so sorry, Naruto-kun."

He turned around suddenly and smiled. It wasn't forced, but so genuine that it made her feel like a horrible person for being glad his relationship ended. "I'm not. It taught me something. And opened my eyes more."

She breathed out a laugh before turning to refill his ramen finally. "Oh, yeah? About what?"

"You."

The bowl nearly slipped from her hands, but she caught it at the last moment. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about you. You know," he trailed for a moment and she could almost imagine his scratching the back of his head from how flustered he sounded. "I like being with you. I really only looked forward to your letters. And I always wrote you first."

Her heart started to pound faster and she could feel a blush starting to appear on her face. Suddenly the little sidewalk eatery was much too small and too hot.

"I mean, I like hanging out with all my friends, but I look forward to seeing you. Even thinking about it makes me smile. And isn't that all a part of love and wanting to be with someone?" He sounded so unsure, and she wasn't sure if answering would be taking advantage of his confusion. For what had to be the hundredth time, she cursed being the one he turned to for answers about these situations.

"Naruto-kun…" She began to say.

"No, I know what I'm saying. You know why I never said goodbye to you? Because I never want to say that to you."

And then his arms were around his waist. She never heard him jump the counter or move for that matter, but she couldn't find the courage to turn around and face him. "Even if you do. I'll still be here, Naruto-kun."

She could feel him smile into her hair before he squeezed her, lifting her off the ground. This time the bowl did fall from her hands and shatter on the ground when he twirled her around. "And I'll always come back to you. Let's do dinner, this time without anyone else, OK?"

She laughed. "OK. You get to explain it to Sasuke and Sakura, though." And she laughed again at his groan of disappointment.

And this is where I end this story, before it starts to drag. At around 12,000 words, this is why I broke the chapters up instead of posting it as a one-shot, as it was originally written. Even though I lost the last six chapters when I lost my flashdrive, this was always how I imagined ending it. Sadly, Naruto canon made me make some tweaks to it by actually making some poor and hasty pairing choices, and kind of stole my love for the series.

I only hope that all of you have continued to enjoy this little story from beginning to end. And I can't really thank you enough for all the reviews, faves, follows, and C2 listings that this story has received. Because, wow. Honestly I think this may be my most popular story. (Because, really, 170 reviews, 196 faves, 376 follows, 16 C2s and over 25,000 hits as of this posting for only 9 chapters? You all are amazing!)