Tomorrow by Dreaming_Trees

...[ Tomorrow ]...

She should have felt vindicated, victorious, or at the very least, relieved, but as Kagome held the completed Shikon no Tama, she knew that something about it was just... off. The jewel seemed heavier, colder than it had ever been before and while its inner light was no longer Naraku's poisonous violet, it was still a rather disturbing shade of mauve. Cupping the sphere in trembling hands, Kagome murmured, "What should I do?"

"What you and you alone were meant to do," Miroku gently urged, "make a wish and --"

"No." Sesshoumaru stepped between them. "Cast it into Hell, where it belongs," he said.

"No!" Kagome pressed the jewel to her breast. "Miroku's right, I --"

Sesshoumaru shook his head. "The jewel brings only death and destruction. You have only to look around you to see this is true."

'But I didn't mean it! I didn't ask for this -- It's not my fault!' The thoughts whirled in her head.

"A wish cannot reverse time, cannot raise the dead," Sesshoumaru intoned.

Tears welled in Kagome's eyes, "But --!"

Inside the jewel, the light flickered and then, pulsed.

Sesshoumaru fixed her with a penetrating stare. "A coward wishes, but the brave forge their destiny."

The pulse intensified until it was a painful throbbing against her heart.

Miroku said, "Kagome, I am certain that if you wish with a pure heart all things will end well," this was punctuated by a light pat on Kagome's bottom.

Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed. He advanced upon Miroku, but rays of white and rose suddenly burst from the center of the throbbing sphere.

The jewel splintered in her hand and the clearing in which Kagome stood began to spin.

Violently.

Alarmingly.

She reached out to them, crying for help, but Miroku and Sesshoumaru's voices were soon swallowed by a flash of blinding light, the roaring in her ears, and the sensation that she was plummeting through space, plunging over the abysmal precipice of an unknown event horizon.

When Kagome opened her eyes, she lay upon a soft bed of fallen leaves beneath the Goshinboku in her yard.

Beside her, russet and golden leaves rustled as something stirred.

Something large.

Something near.

Kagome struggled to a sitting position, looked to one side, and gasped as the clawed fingers came nearer.

"This was your heart's desire?" Sesshoumaru plucked a leaf from her hair.

Kagome shook her head and laughed. "My destiny," she said, "It's always been you."