InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Splendent Shorties ❯ All things happen for a reason ( Chapter 1 )

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

Blanket Disclaimer:

 

Inuyasha, and the characters therein, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.

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Welcome to a new collection of short stories I’m putting together! I feel like that old 1980s commercial for Cabbage Patch Kids Toddler Kids. “When you’re too little to be the big kid, but too big to be the little kid...”

 

So this collection is for the ‘kids’ in the middle, namely short stories that are for the most part concise and to the point, but are nevertheless a couple thousand words or more.

 

Sure, I could beef ‘em up and turn them all into full blown one-shots, but much like my drabble collection Hanging by a moment, the main point is to knock out as many of my bazillion-gillion future story ideas as possible, LOL. The stories that wind up here are ones that absolutely could not be told in only 500 words, so they required at least ‘short story’ status, but I also wanted to just hurry up and tell them and move on rather than tweaking on them and making each one 10k words or more.

 

Most of the short stories in this collection will be from ideas that I’ve already had marinating on my hard drive for at least a decade, but of course knowing me, I’ll also come up with plenty of brand new ideas exclusively for this collection, as well, LOL.

 

Also, unlike Hanging by a moment, the stories in this collection are not going to be exclusively canon/off-canon divergence. I momentarily contemplated making a separate collection for AU stories, but then said screw it. You guys don’t mind reading a random mix of canon and AU, right?

 

Didn’t think so.

 

I’ll label each one at the top so there won’t be any confusion as to what sort of universe it is. Also, ratings and genres will vary. I decided to make this entire collection rated X because there’s bound to be some lemons eventually, LOL.

 

Also, for those of you who prefer longer, epic tales, don’t worry; I have plenty of those still in the works as well!

 

Oh, and if anyone is inspired by any of these shorties and wants to expand upon the idea and make their own longer story based on the same plot concept, feel free! That applies to any of the drabbles in Hanging by a moment, as well. I’d just appreciate a mention in your story for the inspiration, and a link to it so that I can enjoy your finished creation!

 

That said, let’s get this show on the road, so that you can enjoy this creation.

 

……………………………………………...

 

 

~ All things happen for a reason ~

 

(canon post-manga alt-ending)

 

 

 

Sweeping inside the well-house, Kagome sighed, the structure evoking bittersweet memories, but it was her appreciation for all the Bone Eater’s Well had given her that had her taking care of it, despite what all the well had also taken away.

 

It had been ten long years since she had wished the Sacred Jewel out of existence. Ten years since, while tearfully embracing her mother, she had looked back only for her eyes to widen in horror at Inuyasha’s equally shocked expression as the well sucked him back down into the past without even letting her say goodbye. Not that she had wanted to say goodbye to him, and the well had closed behind him then, refusing to let her follow.

 

She had mourned for a time, missing that world, and all of her friends. To never see Sango or Miroku again, to never learn all that she could have from wise old Kaede, or watch young Shippou grow up…

 

She’d thought her place was with them, in that world. She’d thought she and Inuyasha would live together in a little hut near the Goshinboku, in the forest that, at that time, bore his name. She was in the right place, but the wrong time, and it had taken her time to accept that. All things happened for a reason, right?

 

Approaching the well, she leaned against it, looking down into its black depths with a sigh. She’d stopped trying it long ago, but that didn’t stop her from sometimes wishing that things could’ve been different. Turning around, she hoisted herself up onto its edge and sat there a moment, looking around the room, as she’d done many times before. Looking up at the roof of the well-house, she imagined a pale blue sky, and that there was soft grass beneath her feet rather than cold, hard packed dirt.

 

She did not regret the life she had now, of course, and if she were honestly given the choice, she would not want to change a thing, but she still couldn’t help missing the people she would never see again. She’d never even gotten the chance to say goodbye, and it was that lack of closure that bothered her the most.

 

Suddenly, a fairly large earthquake started rattling the building, and she lost her balance before she even knew what was happening, falling backwards into the well head first. Terrified, and bracing for impact the best she could, Kagome gasped in shock when the blue lights of time engulfed her.

 

No! Oh no!

 

Panicking as she arrived on the other side, thoughts of destroyed space-time continuums in her head, Kagome knew she had to climb up and out of the well before she could travel back to the present again, which she planned on doing immediately. Despite her longing to see her friends again, at least this one last time, she knew she couldn’t risk it.

 

But before she could even start her ascent…

 

“Kagome!”

 

No, oh no…

 

Inuyasha couldn’t believe his nose! After ten long years, Kagome was back! He had tried the well all the time but it had never once worked for him.

 

Before Kagome even knew what was happening, she was out of the well and in his embrace.

 

Inuyasha held her tightly, inhaling deeply to reassure himself that she was really real, and that’s when he smelled it.

 

“K-Kagome…?” he stuttered, his eyes wide.

 

She knew what he smelled, and her face heated as she remembered how her husband had woken her up that morning, and how his passionate kisses had led to so much more. She hadn’t bothered to shower before heading out to clean the well-house, knowing she’d need one anyway after the filthy task was completed.

 

She nodded to Inuyasha then, her eyes begging for him to understand, and to let it go without question.

 

“Mated?” was all he asked, his voice strangely detached, like he was in shock.

 

“For the last ten years,” she confirmed.

 

A part of her wanted to just stay in the past with the young hanyou she’d fallen in love with all those years ago, but she knew she couldn’t. She couldn’t do that to her husband, or her daughter. Kami, she hoped everyone was all right! That earthquake hadn’t been too bad, but on the other hand it had barely begun when she’d toppled backwards into the well.

 

Clumsy idiot! she chastised herself.

 

Glancing back at the time portal, biting her lower lip, Inuyasha could sense her anxiety, and while he knew nothing of the earthquake that had caused her to lose her balance he realized pretty quickly that her arrival in his world had been an accident, somehow or another.

 

“So this means you gotta go back, right?”

 

She’d never heard his voice so full of pain. He’d just had his wildest fantasy come true, only to have it all yanked away from him again just as quickly, and she couldn’t even begin to fathom what he must’ve been feeling in that moment.

 

“I...”

 

Saying ‘sorry’ just sounded so...empty.

 

“Do you at least wanna say hi to the others before going back?”

 

She debated for longer than she probably should have, wondering whether or not she really should, but then deciding that her family back in the future was probably fine, she ultimately gave in. She knew she would regret it forever if she didn’t.

 

The reunion was bittersweet, since she’d be leaving again soon enough, this time for good, but it at least gave everyone a sense of closure, and for that, they were all truly grateful.

 

Kagome was delighted to learn that Kaede, while showing her age, was still alive and doing well. She was also happy to learn that the elderly miko had been taking care of Rin, who upon reaching adulthood by that time period’s standards had chosen to go back to Sesshoumaru, who had allowed her to rejoin him on his travels.

 

A knowing smile flashed briefly across Kagome’s lips, but Inuyasha didn’t question it.

 

Kagome absolutely melted when she got to meet Sango and Miroku’s three children, twin daughters and a younger son, and they were all honored to get to meet the future-born miko their parents had told them so many stories about.

 

Inuyasha had shared a knowing look with Shippou when the kitsune’s eyes had initially bugged wide at Kagome’s scent, his nose twitching a mile a minute, and neither hanyou nor youkai said anything later when Kagome, after briefly glancing Inuyasha’s way, told Sango and Miroku upon their inquiry that she had met someone, and was married now, with a young daughter of her own.

 

Sango and Miroku also glanced Inuyasha’s way at her admittance, but his expression betrayed nothing of what he was feeling, and then he said, “Keh, ten years is a long time. What, you think I wanted her to be alone and miserable all this time?”

 

Sango and Miroku smiled then, glad their hanyou friend was being so mature about it.

 

They had no idea.

 

Kagome said her final goodbyes, then, and after many tearful hugs, Inuyasha walked Kagome back to the well, alone.

 

“I don’t know how I’m going to go on living without you,” he said quietly.

 

She smiled ruefully as she looked his way.

 

“You’ve done a good job so far.”

 

And she meant it. He was a true part of the community, everyone accepting him, and Sango and Miroku’s kids adored him.

 

“I guess,” he agreed with a shrug as they arrived at the well, his eyes flashing with pain again. “Kagome, I...I’ve missed you, so much, I...”

 

“I know,” she said, and then, before she could talk herself out of it, she closed the distance between them and pulled him into a kiss.

 

He was surprised, but didn’t resist her, following her lead as he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close even as she fisted his robes for dear life. Their tongues battled for dominance, and he easily surrendered to her, letting her show him just how much she really loved him, reassuring him that all was not lost.

 

It was actually Inuyasha who pulled away first, when he could tell the longer they waited, the harder it was going to be for her.

 

“You’d better go,” he said, chuckling ironically as he added, “wouldn’t want to keep your husband waiting.”

 

“No,” she agreed, “I wouldn’t. He’s waited long enough already.”

 

With one last, adoring look, Kagome swung her legs back over the lip of the time portal and dropped in. Inuyasha watched her go with sad longing in his eyes, but also a renewed sense of determination building in his heart.

 

On the other side of time, Kagome arrived in the well-house with a sense of déjà vu.

 

“Kagome!” her husband called out frantically, and then the next thing she knew, she was out of the well and in his embrace.

 

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Kagome was relieved to realize the rickety old well-house was still standing, meaning it hadn’t been too terrible of an earthquake, after all. It also made her feel silly for having lost her balance in the first place.

 

Clumsy… she mentally chastised herself again, but with much less heat now that she was back home.

 

“You act like you thought you were never going to see me again,” she teased, amusement clear in her voice.

 

Pulling away, Inuyasha scoffed.

 

“Keh, never did fully trust this thing after it locked us out.”

 

He gestured at the well with a nod of his head, his more mature facial features betraying his worry in the form of subtle wrinkles around his eyes. “All these years, I could only pray it sent you back to where you belong.”

 

“Why didn’t you ever tell me?” she asked.

 

“Because during our reunion you’d said you thought you’d never see us again, and I could tell you were telling the truth. That you had no idea why the well suddenly worked again when you accidentally fell in.”

 

Frowning, he glared at the well a moment before sighing softly, his brow smoothing out as a rueful grin curved up his lips.

 

“You probably would’ve gotten hurt if you’d hit the bottom head first like that,” he admitted then. “Hell, you might’ve died if you’d broken your neck or something, so maybe it let you through time in order to save your life. I suppose I can’t be mad at the well for that, even if I can still hate it for originally closing in the first place.”

 

“I did want to stay with you back then, but...”

 

“Yeah,” he agreed. “All things happen for a reason, I guess, as Miroku would say.”

 

Ten years ago, just two weeks after she’d been locked out of the past, Inuyasha had come to her. The reason for any delay, he’d explained back then, had been to make sure he hadn’t accidentally damned himself by coming to her right away. If, hypothetically, the reason she’d never returned to the past, and maybe in fact why the well had sealed in the first place, was because his future-self had shown up right away, so she’d actually sealed the well herself for fear of altering history after he’d told her about being without her for the last five hundred years, he would never have forgiven himself.

 

Not willing to risk that possibility, he’d waited, watching, not from a morbid sense of wanting to know that Kagome had tried to reach him, which she had, but only to give his younger self a chance to have what he’d missed out on, willing to sacrifice his own happiness, his own existence, even, if that was how the universe would’ve played it. He would’ve gladly popped out of existence if he knew it was because she had rejoined his younger self back in the past, creating a different timeline than the one he had experienced. Or he had also been prepared to condemn himself to continued isolation, if he had watched Kagome return to the past, creating a parallel timeline that did not affect his own, leaving him to go on living without her.

 

But it was not meant to be.

 

She had repeatedly tried the well, without success, and he’d known his younger self was doing the same back in the Sengoku jidai, and so finally confident that he wasn’t responsible for the well being sealed in the first place, he had approached her then, and told her how he’d waited for her all this time.

 

Oh sure, five hundred years was a long time, and he’d done things he wasn’t proud of. He’d bedded a few whores from time to time, when the loneliness had gotten to be too much. But he’d never fallen in love again. Even if he would’ve been willing to try, nobody would have been willing to love him.

 

Even in modern day youkai society, hanyou were still rare and looked down upon, perhaps even more so now than they had been in the past. Bedding with humans had only been considered disgusting to youkai back then, but in this day and age, it was almost viewed as a betrayal.

 

Because of the abundance of humans, and most lower youkai having gone extinct, maintaining the bloodlines was very important to the surviving races, who lived amongst humans in secret. Inuyasha had removed his concealment charm when he’d first approached her that day, so that she would immediately recognize him, but he had an ensorcelled watch that made him look like his human self that he wore most of the time. It was only a glamour, his strength, and scent, always remaining the same.

 

It had been smelling himself on and in Kagome that day so long ago, ten years after their original separation, and her admittance that she was married and had a child, that had given him the strength needed to wait out the next five centuries, but he had not shared that detail with Kagome when he’d first approached her ten years ago, again for fear of altering the timeline. If she had told his younger self that he had told her, if she had actually been expecting her trip into the past because he had warned her, then that would’ve been different.

 

An excited cry of “Mama!” drew their attention to a six-year-old girl with raven hair and dog ears standing at the top of the steps, looking down into the well-house. She wouldn’t go down the steps. Her parents had told her long ago that the well-house was forbidden to her, and why. That was a nightmare none of them had even wanted to contemplate.

 

Especially after they’d almost lost her during childbirth.

 

While hanyou were looked down upon, a youkai hospital would still begrudgingly treat a human woman giving birth to one, even a miko, and Kagome had ended up needing an emergency c-section.

 

Had she stayed in the past with his younger self, instead, while she wouldn’t have technically been pregnant with the same baby, and it probably would have been a couple of years sooner, even the possibility that either she or the baby could have died had Inuyasha shuddering. Childbirth back then was dangerous. He could have lost them both. So it had definitely been worth the five-hundred-year wait to ensure his wife and child had the benefit of modern medical technology.

 

“All things happen for a reason,” he repeated more to himself, holding his wife and mate tightly to his side as the two of them made their way up the stairs and out of the well-house.

 

Releasing Kagome, then, Inuyasha scooped up their daughter and walked with his family back to the Higurashi family home, where they still lived with Kagome’s mother, brother and elderly grandfather, one big happy family. He wouldn’t have it any other way.