InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Windows on the West ❯ The Third Year ( Chapter 29 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Disclaimer:  I do not own the characters of Inuyasha.  (And I'm so tired of admitting that.)

~oOo~

Kagome woke, an instant flash of joy rushing through her – finally, the time had come.  She graduated today, and it was also the anniversary of her third year being gone from sengoku jidai.  It was also the day she would return to that past – the past that she belonged in.

She had been saying goodbye to everything and everyone in her time for quite a while, now, and her family knew it – they already knew that today was the day she would leave.  But they also knew that they would be seeing her again... a few hundred years older, true, but still her, still as young as she was now – at least visually.  And that made things easier for them, though her mother would probably shed a few tears, as would she, herself.

But right now, all she could feel was excitement, and she popped out of bed to get ready for her graduation ceremony.  For herself, she really didn't care about graduating, per se, because for her, it was more important as a going away ceremony – she had finally finished her duties, and was free to follow her desires at last.

And follow them she would.

And while she did her part in the ceremony, giving her family that honor, (and her mother the chance to take lots of pictures)  she barely held herself in check as she waded through the longest hours of the three years... the last seven hours of separation from her pack.

Finally, it was all done, and she was packed, and ready to go, dressed comfortably for the change in locale, she set her bags down in the courtyard before the wellhouse, and slid the door open, before turning and smiling one last time at her family.

“Mama, grandfather, Souta... I'll see you in a couple of days, at least for you guys,”  she chuckled, and they all smiled, though, as she'd known it would be, her mother's smile was accompanied by tears.  She hugged them all one more time, a few tears slipping down her own cheeks, and then stepped back, and picked up her bag.

Moving confidently into the small shrine, she climbed up onto the rim of the well, and looked back once more at her family, and smiled.  “I love you guys,”  she said, and then to the sounds of her family's returned affections, she jumped.

The blue lights of time rose up welcomingly around her one last time, and she grinned, even as they deposited her gently at the bottom of the well...

She looked up, and into blue skies, and golden eyes, and grinned wider.  Holding out her hand, she felt him grasp it, and pull her up and out, to set her down in the green grass of the meadow he'd practically lived in for three years.

“Hello, Sesshoumaru-sama,”  she beamed at him,  “I'm so glad to see you!”

Feeling whole for the first time in three years, Sesshoumaru nodded down at the now taller, more matured miko, and returned the sentiment.

“It is good that you are back where you belong, miko – with your pack.  I trust you have finished all your duties to your family?”  he asked, content when she nodded.

“Oh, yes, Sesshoumaru-sama – duty before desire, ne?”

“Very good, miko.  Duty before desire.” With that, he turned, and with her following along behind, headed for the village.

It was time to greet all those who had awaited her return for three years.

Everything else would come in its own time, he thought, simply content to let things flow at their own pace once more.

His pack was whole again, and that was all he needed.

~oOo~

A/N:  And there we have the quickest three years I bet anyone has ever seen!  

Amber

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