OK, I just got this epicly idea for a plot, and had it stuck in my head for AGES, so I put it down in Word and this has just been driving me nuts over the past few days (Parents have been annoying me about stuff, otherwise I woulda gotten this put up awhile ago) and got it uploaded and stuffs. =3. Anyways, this is KougaxKagome, and obviously it takes place in the present. Well, except for the very beginning, and memories that I might bring up, but yeah. ANYWAYS, Imma make Kouga do the Disclaimer. =D

Kouga: DISCLAIMER; Cassie does not own Inuyasha, any of its characters, or plot or whatever. If she did, there would be constant AU's where Kagome and I get together and the mutt either dies or stays with the other priestess chick. And a few other pairings, but yeah. She DOES, however, own this plot.

Me: Yups. =D. Thankies Kouga~. Poor Hojo-kun though, he'll never have a chance with Kagome in my world of fandom. *shakes head, tsking* Poor guy. Anyways, read on, everyone! This is a little over 2,100 words, WITHOUT these Author Notes. ;)


In the Present Forever

Chapter one.

They had finally done it.

They had killed Naraku and gotten all the jewel shards!

Kagome picked up the last few pieces of the Shikon Jewel, and smiled slightly sad, slightly happy as she looked over at her friends and saw Sango crying, hugging her brother Kohaku's body tightly now that Naraku was dead and no longer controlled Kohaku, even if Kohaku had to die for it. Sango was glad her brother was no longer being forced to do things like slaughtering innocent people. Miroku, on his end, was almost crying himself, happy that his family would no longer be cursed with the damned Wind Tunnel, and was spinning around, holding Shippou and making them both dizzy as they cheered.

Inuyasha, unlike them, had a far off, sad look in his eyes. Kagome knew he was thinking of Kikyou, and having finally gotten revenge on Naraku for tricking them both and killing her.

But it hurt for Kagome to know.

It really did.

She stood and turned to face them all completely. "Hey, guys!" she shouted, catching their attention. Kagome flashed the jewel shards, and they all understood. Running over, she smiled at them, and they gave her encouraging looks. Encouraging smiles to complete the Shikon Jewel and make a wish. This might be the last time she ever saw any of them, if she was sent back to her time and couldn't get back. In fact, if that happened, it would be definite. There were no demons in her time, and there was no way that Miroku and Sango could last that long.

With their looks, she took a deep breath and did it – she completed the jewel. Kagome closed her eyes and cupped it in both hands, holding it close to her heart, thinking "What wish should I make?"

Inside, she wanted to make a wish so she could stay in the Feudal Era with them all, but she knew what she needed to do. What the right thing to do was. Opening her eyes, she looked at them all, her gaze lingering on Inuyasha, and she could feel her eyes start to water. No, I can't cry! I can't! Kagome thought sternly.

Behind her smiles, she noticed, they were all sad with the realization that she'd probably have to leave. "Sayonara, mina." Kagome said softly, smiling weakly at them.

"I wish that this era and onward was peaceful, and there will be no more fighting between humans and demons," she said, more speaking to the jewel, which now glowed bright pink, and Kagome opened her eyes in time to see Sango and Shippou crying, while she could just see dark, sad faces on Miroku and Inuyasha. The jewel flashed and went back into her body, in the same spot it had first come out of when Mistress Centipede bit her and took it for power. Suddenly, Kagome saw the star-filled sky she always saw as she traveled back and forth from her time to the Feudal Era, and her heart sank.

She never saw this unless she went down the well.

So if she was seeing it now, and hadn't gone down the well, that was that.

Her job in that era was finished.

She felt the tears fall as she came into the bottom of the well at her family shrine. Crying there for a few minutes, not caring where she was at the moment, she just sat there. Then, getting over her pity-party, she called up the well. "Obii-san! Souta! Kaa-san!"

A few moments later, a ladder came down for her. Climbing up, she saw it was Souta, who was giving her a curious look that reminded her of Shippou. Bursting back into sobs, she wrapped her arms around him, making Souta freak out. "KAA-SAN! KAGOME'S BACK AND SHE'S ACTING WEIRD! SAVE MEEEEEEEEEEEE!" he yelled.

Kagome straightened herself out just enough to swat him on the shoulder and glare at him as best as she could, what with her eyes all red and puffy from crying.

Their mother rushed in and suddenly wrapped her daughter in a hug. Kagome sniffled and wrapped her own arms around her mother, and after breaking apart, was led back to the house. As they walked past the God tree, Kagome started crying again, thinking of Inuyasha, and noticing that, Kagome's mother hurried her past into the house, comforting her. "How does a nice, hot bath sound hon?" her mom asked. Kagome nodded.

Her mom ran upstairs to start a bath, and Kagome grabbed some tissues, blowing her nose a little and wiping away the tear tracks on her face.

Kagome felt completely drained of energy now.

Her mother poked her head into the hallway from upstairs and said "It's ready now dear."

Kagome nodded and headed upstairs past her mom and into the bathroom. Stripping off her clothes rather slowly, her arms feeling too heavy to do it quickly, she finally climbed into the bathtub and sighed as the hot water seemed to melt away her worries and depression. After spending ages in the bathtub preening herself – not having gone to the hot springs in ages back in the Feudal Era and so being pretty dirty (and having Naraku's blood on her, EW) – she finally got out after her fingers were all wrinkly from the water. Grabbing a towel and drying herself off, she picked up her clothes, put them in the laundry hamper in her room, and changed into some nice, warm flannel pajamas.

Climbing into her bed, tired, she fell asleep immediately even with the light still on.

After a few hours of a nap, she got up and felt a little better – at least not depressed. Noticing it was dinner time, she didn't feel like changing, and instead went downstairs in her current clothes. Souta was snickering at her – for some reason he found seeing Kagome in pajamas funny, but he was a little kid AND her little brother. "Oi, baka, what's so funny, hm?" she snapped at him, slapping him on the shoulder. Rubbing his arm, he only answered by sticking his tongue out at her.

Kagome returned it with a scowl and turned to her food (Momma had put out a plate as soon as she came in), a slightly faraway look on her face. Eating with her chopsticks rather slowly, her grandfather noticed the look and frowned. "What's wrong Kagome?" he asked.

Kagome jumped a little, and smiled weakly. "Nothing, Obii-san."

Grandpa looked at her. "Ka-go-me." He growled. He was not going to let this go until she told him.

Kagome faltered and hung her head meekly. He sounded serious. "I… I…" Kagome said, her voice sounding unnaturally higher than usual, like she was about to cry. "I can't go back to the Feudal Era anymore! Happy?" she yelled. She left the room, leaving her food half-finished.

It was ok about the food, she had been starting to feel full anyway, but her thoughts were on her grandpa. WHY did he have to pry? I just wanna be left ALONE… Kagome thought in her room, her face buried in her pillow.

The next morning, Kagome was up and dressed before anyone else. If her plan didn't work… well, she'd go to school like she's supposed to, but she had to TRY first! She had to at least try.

She walked into the well house and opened the doors to it. Taking a deep breath, she jumped in. Landing on the bottom and, obviously, not seeing the star-filled sky like usual, she balled up her fists.

She had been right.

She couldn't go back.

Kagome fought back the hot tears she could feel stinging behind her eyes and got back out of the well. Now to go back to school... like a normal girl.

At least she would only miss school if she was really sick now, no more of her grandpa saying she had arthritis or something.

Running now - because thats what she always did... force of habit - she got to school pretty early.

In fact, she even got there before the earliest kid in school - Hojo! When he came in and saw her, he was definitely surprised.

For one, she was actually at school for once.

And second, she was there before him! She was usually late! "Has Doomsday finally arrived?" Hojo asked jokingly. "You're not late for school, for once that you're actually here."

Kagome jumped at his voice, having been staring out the window, dreamlike. "Heheh, don't think so Hojo-kun~." Kagome said, masking her depression with a cheery voice. "I just woke up early this morning and figured that I should get going early before my usual luck caught up with me."

"Well, in any case, I'm glad to see you're not sick for once, Kagome-san." Hojo replied, smiling at her like he always did - bright and happy like you would smile at someone you liked. "Make sure you eat foods with plenty of vitamins so you don't get sick again!" he said.

Kagome answered with her own smile when her friends walked in the door and squealed. "KAGOME!" They immediately glomphed her, blocking Kagome from Hojo's view. He went to his own seat, and since they were the only noise in the classroom, had trouble finding something to do so he couldn't overhear them.

And, of course, what they were talking about was just so INTERESTING! "So, Kagome, what about that guy of yours? How's everything going? We want all the juicy details!" Hojo could hear.

Hojo was really disappointed about hearing she already had a boyfriend... but he brightened up a little hearing her reply. "Well... You could say that something happened to where I can't see him at all anymore... so we've basically broken up... After all, there's no way for me to contact him to stay in touch in any way."

He only felt a little guilty about feeling happy about that.

Just a little.

"Awww!" Yuka cried out. Eri chirped "Well, he was no good for you anyways! After all, he kept flirting with his ex-girlfriend, didn't he?"

Ayumi elbowed Eri in the ribs. "Even if he did, Kagome really liked him! I'm sure she's absolutely depressed about it, even though she's hiding it!"

Yuka suddenly had a look that screamed 'EPIPHANY!'

Whispering to Ayumi and Eri, so that Kagome couldn't hear, she told them her idea. "Girls, we should get Kagome a new guy! Someone who won't cheat on her, of course. And in fact, I say Hojo-kun over there is perfect for the job! Whaddya say?"

"Yuka, you are a genius!" Ayumi and Eri said in unison, having 'OMG' looks on their faces.

"Okay, you guys need to..." Yuka said, telling them the plan to try and get Kagome and Hojo together. Nodding determinedly, the three of them turned to Kagome, giving her bright, though somewhat evil and plotting, smiles, and leaving to go sit at their own seats for class. "Meet you after class, Kagome~!" they sang.

Kagome felt uneasy - she knew that look on their faces. They're planning something, Kagome thought. Crap.

Later, at the park, Kagome impatiently waited for Yuka, Eri, and Ayumi to show up. They had told her to meet them here, and THEY were late! Unbelievable. Scowling, Kagome lost it and started running home - NOT a good idea.

She ran smack into someone - she was keeping her eyes on the ground as she ran, so she didn't see them as she rounded the corner. Kagome could feel herself falling backwards, and braced herself for landing on her ass, but...

She didn't. Instead, she felt someone's arm wrapped around her waist, keeping her from falling. Looking up, she saw a familiar face with a black ponytail of hair over the guys shoulder, hanging down, and wide blue eyes looking at her in shock.

Damn lucky that no other people happened to be around to see the two of them, ne? People might start thinking things.


Me: SO! How was it? R&R please! You know you want to click that review button! :D.

Kagome: *pops in* Cassie says that flames will be ignored (If you don't like the story, don't read it), but Con Crit is loved. CC is always good, so be nice to her!