Night passed quickly with Inuyasha still lost in his thoughts. Soon, the others were awake and after a quick breakfast, everyone prepared to pack up camp. Shippo stared at Inuyasha and then looked at Sango and Miroku meaningfully. Sango just glanced at Shippo and Miroku then turned her gaze to Inuyasha. Miroku hummed as he packed but also turned to stare at Inuyasha pointedly after Sango's glance. Then, they all seemed to come a stop and gather around a clueless Inuyasha.
"Inuyasha! Where is Kagome? Why haven't you gone to bring her back from her time yet?!?" Shippo bounced impatiently as he waited for Inuyasha to explain. The hanyou just stared off into the distance with a blank look on his face.
Miroku glanced at Inuyasha thoughtfully.
"Kagome-sama never stays away from us for longer than she says. So what did you do to anger her this time, Inuyasha?"
Inuyasha just stared blankly at him. "What?"
"Why do you have such a strange face on? You look like your face is frozen. Did something happen with Kagome-sama?"
"Aa," Inuyasha intoned. "She saw me and Kikyo together."
Sango gasped and wondered how Kagome was faring. Shippo growled at Inuyasha and panicked at the thought of Kagome not being with them anymore. If Miroku felt any shock, he didn't show it. He looked at Inuyasha for a long, solemn moment before shocking Inuyasha out of his blank look.
"You will have to go to her world to get the Shikon shards back then. If it is how I think it is, you must have chosen Kikyo. Otherwise, I don't think Kagome would be upset enough to not even see us. Since you have chosen Kikyo, it would not be fair of us to force her to find the shards with us."
Sango stared at the ground at the words and held a still Shippo. Just as she was getting to know Kagome better she was leaving. Poor Shippo, he's going to miss Kagome-chan the most. She was like a mother to him. Sango hugged the small kitsune comfortingly. She knew that Miroku was right and she hoped the young kitsune cub would realize the same.
Inuyasha stared at Miroku for a long time, wondering why he was shocked. At the back of his mind, he knew he would not be able to see Kagome again. But the full impact of that had not hit him till now. Somehow, hearing the words from another brought to his mind how much he would miss her. In the beginning, when he woke from his long sleep, there was only her, his only companion. She didn't seem to care at all that I was a hanyou, not a human and not a demon. She was nice to be when she didn't have to be. After so long...
* * * * * *
And so, Inuyasha found himself heading towards the Bone Eater's Well. Running through Inuyasha's Forest quickly, he paused as he saw the well's clearing. Slowly, he approached the well and crouched next to the mouth of the well. Instinctively, Inuyasha sniffed the air trying to catch Kagome's scent. The scent was a day old but a lingering sweetness teased his nose. Shaking his head, Inuyasha leaped into future Tokyo through the Bone Eater's Well.
* * * * * *