InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Silent Affair ❯ Chapter 7

Happy Labor Day folks! Hey paid holiday! Having a big girl job is kind of fun. Hope those of you who had the day off enjoyed it as much as I did!

 

 

Being home was a bit strange. Everyone was so welcoming at first and then they all started treating her as though she'd never been gone. It was nice to feel like part of the family again. The monks had always been kind to her, respectful if not a little nervous around her. The elder and more highly trained monks felt her natural strength as a miko and tended to treat her with a high amount of respect. The younger ones, usually those new to their robes, were often caught off guard by the fact that a young woman was living in the temple with them and were not quite sure how to treat her. They tended to scuttle off with “important things to do” on the other side of the temple from her. While it was quiet and peaceful, she had missed being able to talk with people who understood her, people who weren't afraid of her.

 

Inuyasha had always been attentive before he left for school, almost to the point of stifling, but Kagome had never been bothered by it. Now, after having spent most of her time alone in silence, he seemed loud and perhaps a little obsessive. She knew it was a combination of two factors; her previous solitude and his protective instincts delighting in having her back. Again she didn't mind, it just took getting used to again.

 

“Kagome!” The young woman glanced down at the hanyou standing below her branch, hands on his hips in a gesture that reflected what she would have done had their places been reversed. She smiled innocently down at him since she wasn't sure what he wanted or what had him in a huff now. “I've been looking for you. How long have you been out here?” Kagome shrugged, not sure and not particularly in the mood to care either. She was plenty warm, the weather was pretty nice and she was enjoying watching the leaves fall off the branches in slow fluttering motions. “Are you coming down any time soon?” the hanyou asked her in a softer tone. Again she shrugged. After a moment's hesitation Inuyasha leaped from the ground onto a branch next to her before sidling over and slipping in behind her to cradle her in his arms. Kagome smiled and relaxed into his chest, loving the warmth and security he provided her with.

 

'I was just thinking,' she replied when Inuyasha asked her what she'd been doing out there. When he asked her what about, she tilted her head, pausing mid-shrug. 'You... me... us I guess,' she finally answered. No point in lying.

 

“Us?” Kagome nodded slowly. “What about us?” Inuyasha wanted to know. The woman in his arms fidgeted slightly, trying to readjust on the branch they were on so she could at least see his expression out of the corner of her eye.

 

'Where are we going, Inuyasha?' He seemed confused by her question. 'I just want to know what to expect.' The hanyou jumped slightly, obviously startled. 'I mean, being home with you is nice. But I still meant what I said back at the temple. If there's nothing for me to stay here for...'

 

“Don't be stupid. Why wouldn't you stay? You belong here with me!” Kagome nodded slowly. It wasn't exactly the response she had been looking for. She needed to know for sure that he wouldn't leave her behind again when something better came along. How to explain that to Inuyasha without insulting him, she wasn't sure. “What are you expecting?” he returned.

 

'I don't know. I don't want to expect too much or too little.'

 

“That's a very vague answer Kagome.” She shrugged. “What do you want to happen?” At this Kagome seemed to think very hard. Waiting for her to think, Inuyasha tried to stay as still as the young woman in his arms. Finally she turned herself a little more in order to face him properly. Slowly, she brought her shaking hands together. Her right clasped over the left and Inuyasha's eyes widened. Kagome looked away angrily at his initial response, blushing brightly from her neck up. Inuyasha gaped at her. Marriage? She honestly wanted to marry him? Him? But he was stubborn, stupid and rude. Not to mention the fact that he was a half-demon! “But Kagome...” Feeling her pull away from him, Inuyasha struggled to justify keeping her to himself before she got far enough to get away. He remembered his conversation with his father and tried to draw back the willpower he'd gained. Strong arms wrapped around her waist to keep her against him while he tried to explain things to her. “Kagome I'm stupid and mean, you always say so. Why would you want me?”

 

'Why did you bring me here if not for us to be together?' Kagome demanded to know, keeping her eyes on the branch under them. 'If you only brought me here to keep me close, so help me...'

 

“No! I mean... I do want us to... to be together.” Taking a deep breath, he tried again. “I want to be with you Kagome. I only want to make sure that's really what you want.” She frowned, glancing at him over her shoulder.

 

'Why wouldn't I? We've been over this. I am the one with the defect,' she tossed the sign away from her body, a visual version of spitting in anger. Inuyasha growled deeply, picking Kagome up so he could turn her all the way around to face him. 'Careful!' she chided.

 

“Look at me! There is nothing wrong with you!” Kagome threw him a sarcastic look. “I'm serious! There is nothing the matter with you. So what, you can't use your voice? I can understand you perfectly. It's what's in here that matters.” He punctuated his rant by resting his hand over her heart. Tears almost instantly filled her eyes and she looked away. “I've never been bothered by it before, why would I start now?”

 

'Friends is one thing... your sister is one thing. Your wife is something else completely.'

 

He stared at her long and hard. “What she said to you really got to you, didn't it?” he asked finally. She froze, her breath catching in her throat, then slumped slightly. Her tears slipped down her cheeks in silence. “I've never thought of you as less. You're... everything to me Kagome. I searched the whole freaking planet for you!” he cried, his hands waving emphatically in the air. At that she smiled, a breathy emission of air that was her equivalent to a laugh leaving her. She finally turned her gaze back to him, her deep brown eyes searching his face. Giving her a lopsided smile, he touched her cheek softly. “I would have searched the universe. You belong with me and I belong with you. End of story.”

 

'You sure?'

 

“Of course I'm sure.” She grinned for the first time, the smile lighting her eyes like he hadn't seen in a very long time. He gathered her into a hug, sniffing her deeply and sighing his contentment. Feeling whole again, he smiled into her hair and considered the possibility of trying to kiss her breathless in this tree... without falling out of it.

 

 

“Mom, I know you're excited, but if you don't stop it I'm gonna...”

 

“Don't you threaten your mother young man,” she scolded with a twinkle in her eye. She knew her son was losing his patience, but he was the one who had asked her to come with him. “I still think this is the better choice. I know you want to... prove something to her, but this is more her style.” Inuyasha eyed the ring in the case that his mother liked so much. It was sturdy, but not too clunky. It wasn't crusted in diamonds like the one he wanted to get, but the edges were traced with filigree and engraving, giving the band an antique look. It looked classic and still fancy enough that it would stand out. “And definitely an emerald.”

 

Inuyasha frowned, sighing. “I thought it was supposed to be a diamond.”

 

“Traditionally in the States, yes. But in Europe it's far more common to get some other kind of precious stone and green is her favorite color.” Inuyasha contemplated it for a while. The man behind the counter had wandered off after being growled at one too many times and now finally returned in hopes of actually making a sale. “Just trust me, as a woman and your mother.” That seemed to do the trick.

 

Taking a deep breath, Inuyasha looked into the man's eyes and asked him one of the hardest questions he'd asked anyone. “How much for that one with an emerald?” The man smiled gently and took a glance at a book he pulled from under the counter. The price for the band itself was nowhere near as bad as Inuyasha had anticipated, the emerald however... He and Izayoi were there another hour looking at cuts, carats and clarity before deciding on one. “A week to have it set? I thought I could walk out of here with it.”

 

“We want to make sure it is the best quality we can provide sir. In that time it would be to the advantage of all to find out the ring size of your lucky lady. Even if it is only a rough estimate. Precise sizing can be done afterward.”

 

“I have a ring that I think might be about her size,” Izayoi said with a small smile, “I'll get her to try it on and let you know.” Inuyasha looked at his mother gratefully, then nodded at the clerk that their business was concluded. The pair wandered out of the store, walking down the sidewalk that flowed through the outdoor shopping area. “I'm very proud of you Inuyasha. You'll make Kagome very happy, I just know it.”

 

The inuhanyou sighed deeply. “I hope so. I messed things up so royally before.” His mother smiled, shaking her head. “What's that look for?”

 

The human woman, much older than her fifty-year-old face implied, looked at her son. He was a handsome boy and she truly was proud of him. Sometimes he was a clod though. “You and Kagome really are so alike. She thought the same thing when you first brought her home.” She watched him consider her statement and the small smile it brought to his lips. “Dear. I wanted to ask you something.” His ears perked in her direction and his golden eyes, so like his father's, turned to her. “The ring I want to have Kagome try on is her mother's wedding band. I want to give it to her for her to wear as her wedding band once you are married, if that's alright with you.” His eyes widened slightly and he stopped walking. “I won't tell her what you are planning, only that I think she should have it.”

 

“How... how did you get it?” he asked in a whisper. Although he had been young, he was not oblivious to the circumstances that had brought Kagome and Sota into their lives. His mother softly explained that once the police had gotten involved, under Toga's strict watch, they had gathered the family's belongings and stored them away for Kagome and Sota once they were old enough. The ring had been kept especially by Izayoi for a day she had always hoped would come. “You thought we would be together from the start,” he murmured, sitting heavily on the bench readily available. His mother sat beside him, watching the emotions on his face. “That's why you were always so upset with me about Kikyo. You wanted me to be with Kagome... and you knew how she felt.”

 

“Everyone knew how Kagome felt, honey, even you. You just didn't realize it.”

 

Inuyasha shook his head. He didn't want to believe that he had intentionally hurt Kagome in such a way but he couldn't completely deny that part of him had wondered if her behavior had stemmed from jealousy. At the time, his mind had then assumed that her jealousy was as a girl who felt she'd had her best friend stolen from her, not a young woman rejected by the man she loved.

 

He would have liked to be able to say he thought of her as too pure or too sweet to be with him, that he'd thought they could never be and so had never thought she could care for him that way. But he had dreamed, had always dreamed, of them together. Almost from the moment he had set eyes on her when they were both young, he had had flashes of them holding hands. As he'd grown older, the dreams had changed, morphed into more solid representations of the life he hoped for. His teenaged years had included far more risque encounters, which were even harder to handle when he had woken up from some particularly steamy ones sitting in Kagome's room, as usual unsure how he'd gotten there. Even when he'd been with Kikyo, his dream lover was still usually Kagome, or sometimes she would begin as Kikyo and change into Kagome.

 

“You always knew. How?” he finally whispered to his mother.

 

She smiled softly, patting his knee. “When youkai pups are born, they never have birthmarks.” He stared at her as though she had perhaps lost her mind. What did that have to do with anything?

 

“I'm not full youkai Mom,” he said, rolling his eyes and sitting back against the bench. “I have that mark on my ribs anyway. I've always had it.” Her grin widened and he eyed her warily. “Haven't I?”

 

Izayoi took a deep breath and tried to properly align her thoughts to make this as clear as she could the first time through. “Do you remember the first day you came home from school after meeting Kagome?” His eyes told her he thought she was reaching pretty far. “The day her family... That was not the first time you had met Kagome. When you were very small, you were in the same school. You met her on the playground.”

 

“Why don't I remember that?”

 

“Likely because you passed out in the process.” His look was incredulous. “I had to come get you at school because you were in the nurse's office. No one knew what had happened, just that you and Kagome had been playing together near the swings and that suddenly you were both unconscious. They suspected a virus, your father knew better.”

 

Inuyasha shook his head. What on earth was she talking about? “Mom? This is crazy... Wouldn't I remember Kagome from school after that?”

 

“Let me tell my story,” she admonished him. He held up his hands in surrender. “When I got to you, Kagome's mother was there as well. Poor woman was terrified. I had already spoken to your father and he told me what to look for.” She reached over and patted his side where his birthmark, or so he'd thought, lay. “I asked Kagome's mother if she had any particular markings or birthmarks. Since they are human, birthmarks were the only option really.”

 

“Kagome doesn't have...” He realized as he began to say it that he didn't really know if she had or not. He'd never seen that portion of her skin before. He'd dreamed about it, sure, but never actually seen her fully nude. “Mom, are you saying I have this because she does?”

 

She smiled. “It's a little more complicated than that, but yes. You have no markings of your own, so it made sense for you to take on hers. You two more or less preliminarily marked one another from a very young age. We moved you to a different school so that things didn't move too quickly and your father kept in close contact with Kagome's family throughout your childhood. He tried to protect them...” Her eyes dropped to her lap and he could smell the sadness come over her. “We were all lucky he was even able to save Kagome and Sota.”

 

Inuyasha sat stunned for a long time. Mate-marked from a young age? He didn't even know that was possible. “That's why I ended up in her room all the time, isn't it?” Izayoi nodded slowly. “And why I've always felt like I needed to protect her.” Another nod. He took a deep breath. “And why I lost it when she went missing.” His mother placed her hand on his knee, trying to ease him through this revelation. He leaned forward, putting his face in his hands. “Why didn't you ever tell me?”

 

The human woman sighed, closing her eyes. She had known this question would come eventually and she had been practicing her answer for years. “Even though the mark was made, and stayed even while you two were apart, you both had to make the decision on your own and in your own time to be together. Telling you about the markings would have influenced you. You might have felt you had no option and would have resented each other instead of allowing your feelings to develop naturally.”

 

Standing a moment later, the inuhanyou reached out to help his mother up. “Let's go home. I... I need to see her.” Izayoi looked up at her son in concern as they walked back toward where the car was parked.

 

“This... doesn't change your feelings for her, does it?” she asked quietly, now afraid that she shouldn't have told him.

 

“Of course not. Talking about her so much makes me want to see her, that's all.” She smiled, her heart settling down. “You asked me if I remembered coming home that day. Did I do or say something?”

 

Izayoi laughed softly, smiling gently at her son. His ears had swiveled in her direction, his focus entirely on her. “You asked me when Kagome would be yours.”

 

Woo, two chapters in one night. Watch out! Please review if you get the chance.