you're right.I've never read somethin' this sad.But it doesn't mean that this story is bad, it just tells what life is sometimes.If Inuyasha wouldn't be a story but a real life, that could really happen 'cause sometimes you just drift away from your friends and love ones.I know it 'cause that's happened to me.

good story, but really really REALLY sad :'(

It is sad, yes, but it is also impossible. Ev en for the simple fact that you never really disconnect from first love. It wakes something in yourself you are always linked to even if it ends. And I doubt anything short of Inuyasha's death could truly break that in Kagome.

I don't really know what to think about this piece. I'm guessing it's because this scenario was so impossible.

I mean, there are reasons why many ideas haven't been explored, but this particular one could never fit into an Inuyasha fanfic. Kagome could never just 'drift away' from Inuyasha, Kaede, Shippo, Miroku and Sango. For one, Inuyasha would never let Kagome just not show up when she said she'd be coming back. If anything he'd get worried and make sure she was all right since he's perfectly aware of the dangers within the Kagome's mid-late 1990's Japan.

Not only that, but Kagome is not that selfish. Yes, she's self-absorb and childish at times, but even she couldn't forget Inuyasha and more importantly Miroku, who's life depends upon them winning the battle against Naraku. Not to mention, if she didn't go back in time to fix what she was meant to fix, Naraku would live and the future Kagome would have come back to would have been altered from the time she came back through the well (since we're working with parallel universes).

There are way too many reasons why this scenario could never play out. That said, it was well written and if I weren't familiar with Inuyasha, I might be sad. Instead, I find myself leaning towards disgusted (at Kagome and the sheer possibility someone COULD do this).

Animefreak242

aka

Kawaii Girl

When I first read this, I thought, "Wow. This is a REALLY good lead-in for 'Absence'...I wonder if one inspired the other?"

Then I remembered that Kagome's goodbye in 'Absence' was indeed a VERY definitive moment.

I agree. Depressing story. It seems so...unsatisfying. But the fact is that it's realistic, and I think that's the really sad part. It's the way some things happen. You become separated from a very self-defining experience in your life, and realize later that the separation was in the works for a long time without you being aware...

I agree with you that this is a sad ending to the story. It is well written, but I can't really say I like it, but only because of the content of it. To me, this means that it's well done.

i loved it. it was a short piece yet it was very powerful.

its written from a different perspective and its really interesting cause i never thought about that being able to happen. its definitely one of my favorites )

I'm a sucker for poignant, powerful pieces, and I definitely liked this one. Honestly, I wish it was longer, which I suppose is complimentary, because as is I have to do a lot of thinking to construct a scenario within the framework of the piece to explain how it happened, and outside of open endings, I don't like to read the author's mind.

For example, I assume that Inuyasha knew her affection was fading by the visits getting shorter and less frequent and knew when she didn't come back that she had abandoned him, rather than being sick or dead or in danger or any number of other explanations for her absence, and that it had worn him down enough that he didn't want to fight for her. See? My review is getting longer than the piece, now.

This story is so sad! It almost made me cry! I'm so choked up here (. I hope the series really does'nt end that way, that would be so depressing. It was really good though... I liked the metaphor of Kagome's memories of the Feudal Era being like a chapter in a book on her bookshelf.

My friend says: I thought it was really, really sad too and on top of that I also cried! But I really thought it was an astonishing story.

It is sad, but it is a possibility that people need to face. I really liked the quote you used for your summary- "The world ends not with a bang, but with a whimper." by T.S. Eliot. Forgive me if I worded it incorrectly, but my point's still the same. It was intriguing, and it caught my attention and got me to read this. I hope very much that it doesn't end this way- in fact, part of me refuses to believe that it will. But I'm glad you wrote it- because not all facets of life are happy, and a rare few come out as we predicted. If they did, what would be the point of life? If I knew all that would happen ahead of time, where would my free will be? What would separate me from a simple machine? I know I'm stretching it a bit here, but the reality should be faced within art, and if it isn't, then art loses it's connection, and in its hubris is destined to fall. It's hubris that assumes that everything will end as we predict, and arete to keep things in proportion, to admit that the unpleasant can happen, even the ordinary. I know this probably seems like tangents and philosophical generalizations, but hey, that's how I think when I think deeply. Thank you for keeping the realm of writing (dare I say it) Inuyasha fanfiction in perspective, and giving me such food for thought.

Yes, it's depressing. I usually fave your stories-and I'm going to fave this one. Not because I like the way things ended, but because of how you wrote it.

I read this earlier when you first posted it, and have thought upon several times since then. It is really thought provoking - and I can't count the number of friends I have lost contact with over the years through my sheer inability to pick up the phone. I believe Virginia Wolff wrote once spoke about losing friends from the sheer inability to cross the street. It reminded me of that. I really enjoyed stumbling upon your fanfic and reading it again.

that is so sad! but, i totally loved it! rock on!

oh no it was sad. i feel so bad now. :(

So short, and so terribly sad. I definately havn't seen this issue played out this way - to think that Kagome would never go back even though she had the power to . . . it's mind boggling. Yet, at the same time it's realistic. Life pulls us in different directions, and sometimes the things we love simply don't follow. Lovely fic.

definately very sad, but u wrote it so well it was definately worth reading.

thanks for posting it!