I Didn't Know I Was Waiting For You by Shina Schatten
HOME COMING
Kagome broke down in uncontrollable sobs. It was over. Naraku was dead and the shikon no tama whole. Her arms ached and her head and heart hurt. The fight had taken its toll. Kagome had made her wish upon the now almost powerless jewel and was home. Her tears were warm on her wind chilled cheeks. The courtyard flared with blue lightening and revealed a mask of pain on the young woman's face. Her blue eyes violet black in the unholy light of the storm saw nothing as she glanced at her hands.
Kagome looked down as the first fat cold rain drops joined her tears of pain. In her right hand was an old rusty katana in a wooden sheath. In her left hand was a beautiful crystal ball on a simple chain. She was aware of warmth emanating from the sword. Tetsusaiga seemed to hum with her pain from within the bone white grip she had on it. The soft comforting warmth reminded her of his eyes that night. His gorgeous golden amber eyes had been filled with love, kindness and above all warmth. She closed her eyes against the memory, but it came anyway.
His silver-white hair seemed to shimmer in the moonlight. His small puppy ears slanted down from the top of his head looking contrite. Inuyasha's amber eyes looked like liquid gold. He had asked her to come here because he wanted to talk. Kagome looked into those eyes and lost herself to those kind depths.
"Kagome," he began quietly, "I need to tell you.." His pause hung in the air.
"What?" She asked in a hushed whisper.
"I love you," his eyes earnest, "but I also love Kikyou.. She has a prior claim to my heart and when this is all over I will go to hell with her." He reached to pull her into a tight hug. They clung to each other, Inuyasha virtually trembling with a need to hear her reciprocate the feeling.
Kagome's heart sang and cried. Something deep within her soul snapped at hearing the words 'I love you' from him. She'd desired hearing those words for almost two years and she whispered, "I love you." They held each other so tightly that their bodies ached with unexpressed emotion. Kagome knew then, as she had for about three months, that when the time came she would let him go. "I love you enough to let you go with her.. please just tell me it's what you truly want." Her voice quivered with unshed tears.
"It's what I desire.. Forgive me Kagome; I can't be the man you need." And for once Inuyasha let his tears fall.
"I'll always forgive you. I've loved you almost as long as I've know you. Just hold me, please." The shared embrace was bittersweet as silent tears flowed into one another's hair.
Kagome had kept her word, which was why she stood in her dark courtyard with rain soaking her to the bone. The frequent lightening caused the crystal in her left hand to glow a brilliant violet with each flash. She stared unseeing into her left hand and her tears continued to fall. A sigh escaped her lips as she turned her face to the unforgiving storm and tried to smile for him.
The storm raged outside the warm comfortable Higurashi house. The calm evening of TV and relaxation was interrupted when a storm drenched Kagome opened the front door. She was leaning heavily on a familiar looking katana. She took a hesitant step forward and collapsed on the rug. The now useless shikon no tama rolled from her hand. Tetsuiga was still held by a deathlike grip.
Kagome had been gone over a month and her family was relieved and panicked at her appearance. Souta was the only one to notice the crystal ball roll away. Her mother and grandfather took her a way from the rain blown front door and got her to her room.
Kagome's mother gently loosened her grip on the sword and set it on Kagome's desk. She then changed her little girl into dry clothes and tucked her into bed. Souta slipped in and placed the jewel beside Inuyasha's sword. As the night wore on Mrs. Higurashi knew her sweet angel was getting very sick. She didn't leave her daughter's side all night.
What seemed like an eternity later, Kagome woke up. She was in her room at home. The soft scent of lavender was it the still air. Her head hurt and her vision was slightly hazy as she glanced around her room. The familiar surroundings were alien to her. Kagome felt out of sorts seeing Inuyasha's sword on her desk, sheathed in front of the computer. The crystal held a bit of pink light reflecting from the dawn's light filtering through her curtains.
Kagome's mother was asleep on a chair next to the bed. Her head against the wall and her posture slumped. Kagome spoke quietly to the sleeping form, "Mamma?" and watched as her mother came quickly awake with startled eyes fluttering open to look at Kagome with concern. She smiled warmly at Kagome and reached out to touch her forehead.
"I'm glad you're awake, sweet heart." She withdrew her hand and nodded with gentle satisfaction.
"Mamma, what's wrong?"
"You've been very sick.. pneumonia and this is the first day you've been completely free of it."
"Really?" and she thought 'for once I was too sick to go to school.' "Mom, how long have I been sick?"
"Almost two weeks. You've mostly been unconscious or delirious. When you were awake I made you eat, but you've lost weight." There was moisture unshed in her eyes and her voice quivered slightly with her concern.
"I'm sorry I worried you mamma. But I'm home now. There will be no going back. It's over." Kagome sounded sad.
Her mother nodded; there was relief and sympathy in her dark eyes and soft sad smile. "Kagome, I know you miss them, but I'm here for you whenever you need me." She sat on Kagome's bed and held out her arms.
Kagome leaned into her mother's outstretched arms. Her mother embraced Kagome as she set her head on her mom's shoulder. Kagome started to cry. "I miss them all so much." Her sobs were quiet. "I even miss cold hearted Sesshoumaru." She said with a bitter laugh. *Not that he was all that coldhearted in the end.* She cried herself dry.
As life was want to do, it forced Kagome to live again. Kagome recovered herself over the next month. Her optimistic outlook on life slowly returned as she threw herself into her studies. Part of her studies involved reading as many books on psychic and miko abilities as she could. She practiced what she read, honing her instinctual power to something she could consciously use. Kagome was intent on giving herself a future. She was a crazy woman; she studied so much that she actually began to undue the damage of missing so much school.
In the not quite two years of high school that Kagome had left, she pulled her grades up. What little energy she had left went into archery and kendo clubs. She excelled at archery and soon spent very little time with it. It was kendo that was more challenging. She was one of only two girls in the club and strived hard. Deep in her heart Kagome felt mastering kendo was the only way to properly honor Inuyasha's blade and to remember him in her heart. In the short time before high school ended Kagome developed incredible skill with a blade. Her memories sang in her blood with each meeting and competition.
Shortly after she started to recover, Kagome and Hojo began to date. They went out often, but every time things looked to be turning more serious Kagome stopped it. Kagome knew she didn't love Hojo the way he wanted and needed from his girlfriend. They dated for almost a year before breaking up and becoming best friends. After they broke up, Kagome didn't date again through the rest of high school. Hojo did and Kagome was there for him as only a best friend can be.
In spite of her excessive absences freshman and sophomore years, Kagome graduated in the top fifteenth percentile of her class. She was accepted at Tokyo University, where Hojo was a premed student. She got a partial scholarship and was going to be a history major on the track to getting a teaching degree.
That summer before university was filled with quiet contentment. Some nights as she looked at the stars tears would fall. Her heart still remembered golden eyes filled with tenderness looking at her. Her soul yearned for the simple-complicated times she had with Inuyasha-tachi. In the dark of the silent night, Kagome remembered the friends she loved and missed the most.