InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Cloud Watching ❯ family ( Chapter 5 )

If you have not read the manga up to #292, then this story contains a spoiler. By the way, I do not own Inuyasha or any other characters. On with the chapter.

P.S

I posted this chapter and reilzed I left out a few things so here it is again with a few small parts added.

Family

By Melissa Spoula

Sango was standing on a bridge in the village watching the sun set. Her mind however was a thousand miles away. Miroku said if he lived through the battle with Naraku and if his air rip was gone then they could be together. (See Inuyasha # 292) however since they had returned to the village it seemed he had been avoiding her like the plague.

She sighed and kicked a stone into the water. Maybe he didn't mean what he said back at the Oni village. Maybe he had just strung her along. She felt tears well up in her eyes at the thought. She really did love that hentai, but it seemed all he could think about was groping as many girls as he could get his hands on. A creak of the bridge caught her attention before the person who made the sound announced their presence.

Speak of the devil.

"Would you like some company dear Sango?" Miroku stood a few feet away from her leaning against the rail of the bridge same as she was. " Sure. I was just doing a little thinking," she said with a smile. Turning her head away from him she stared out over the water again. However her smile faded when he made no move to get closer to her. Here she was in perfect groping position and yet nothing. Maybe she was right; maybe he had changed his mind.

Well she figured if she didn't get this out in the opened now she may never get the courage up again. Best to get the unpleasantness over with so they could both move on with their lives. "Miroku, do you remember the conversation we had at the Oni village?"

She didn't look up at him when she spoke but kept her eyes on the water.

Miroku also kept his eyes on the water. "Of course I do Sango, like it was yesterday. Why do you ask?" Sango cleared her through. "I…..just wanted to let you know…..I mean….. if you don't want to keep that promise..…well….." Sango took a deep breath to calm her nerves. She really hoped she could get through this with out crying. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you want to leave I'm not going to hold you here. You can go anywhere you want and marry anyone you want to if you don't want me. I just want you to know I'm not…..I'm not mad at you." There, she said her peace now all she had to do was wait for his answer.

Miroku was more shocked than anything by her statement. How could she think he would want to leave her after all they had been through together? "Sango what brought this on? What makes you think I don't want you?" now he moved closer to her. Sango turned her body to face him. Her hand still griped the rail of the bridge so tightly that her knuckles had turned white. "Every time I come near you, you leave. Every time I try to talk to you, you make up some excuse to get away from me. What am I supposed to think? I mean you haven't even tried to touch me once this whole week and that has to be some kind of record." She made no attempt to hide the tears that were falling form her eyes now. She didn't care about what he might think of her for crying.

Miroku just stood there for a moment, looking at her. He moved towards her and placed his arms around her. But it wasn't a hug like it should have been. His hands were placed high on her shoulders and he remained stiff. It was more like he was holding her to him than trying to hug her. This shallow hug only made her cry more.

"Shh" he whispered into her ear. "It's not what you think. Stop crying please and let me explain." Sango wiped her tears and in a few moments composed herself. When she had stopped crying he continued. "You're right, I have been avoiding you to some extent, but not for the reason you think. You're arm is still healing. I've been keeping away form you to keep myself form touching you. See, I'm afraid if I touch you, you may try to react like you usually do, by hitting me. I don't want you to injure you're arm any more than you already have. So I have been staying away from you to try and keep you safe. Do you understand?"

Sango took it all in, than she nodded her head in acceptance. Miroku smiled and leaned closer to her ear and whispered. "Believe me, if you weren't hurt, I'd be all over you." That statement not only brought a blush to her face but also a smile. She wrapped her arms around his and hugged him tight. He loosened his arms and hugged her back.

"Well, looks like I don't have to worry about you two."

Miroku and Sango turned to find Inuyasha standing at the end of the bridge, arms crossed and a silly smirk on his face. The two gave a soft laugh. "What did Kaede say about Kagome?" Sango asked untangling herself from Miroku.

"That's what I came to talk to you two about. It seems Kagome is going to be unconscious for a while but she's going to be fine." Sango smiled brightly at the good news. "That's great. I was so worried." Inuyasha returned her smile "Anyway, I want to have a little surprise for her when she wakes up and you two are a big part of that." Miroku and Sango both nodded their heads. "Sure, anything for Kagome." Miroku replied, "What do you need?"

Inuyasha's smile broadened. "Just the two of you." He turned and waved for them to follow. "I'll fill you in on the way." Miroku and Sango followed. "Where are we going?" Sango asked. "To the well," he answered. "We have work to do."

The first thing Kagome became aware of was sound. There were the birds and insects outside, the sound of nearby villagers talking, the sound of water from the river, Kaede writing something across the room, and Inuyasha's breathing, all of this blended together in her ears. A small voice in her mind whispered that she couldn't be hearing all of this at once, it wasn't possible, but she pushed it aside. Struggling, she opened her eyes. She saw the ceiling of Kaede's hut and to the left was Inuyasha. He sat by the window, eyes closed, the sun struck him just at the right angle and it looked almost like he was glowing. Her first coherent thought was `god he's beautiful.'

He had watched her all morning. It had been three weeks and she still lay as still as the day he brought her here. Kaede keep reassuring him she would wake soon and each day he held on to hope that today she would open her eyes. He would stay with her until noon or so making sure she got some soup or other liquid down. Than he, Miroku, and some of the village men would go to the area around the well and work on the surprise. Then when dusk came around they would stop. He would return to Kagome, force more liquid down her throat, clean her if she needed it, brush her hair, and settle down to sleep. In two weeks they had the surprise finished and Sango and Miroku had begun putting the finishing touches on it. Now all he had to do was sit and wait until Kagome woke and then they could move on.

Kagome yawned.

It was only a small noise that caught his attention. His eyes snapped opened and he saw her mouth finished the yawn and her hands stretched above her head flexing muscles she hadn't used in weeks. When she was finished her eyes opened again and she looked back to him, and smiled. His heart skipped a beat and for one split second time stood still. Then he was next to her.

"Are you ok? Can you hear me ok? Can you see all right? Do you feel ok?" his hands were trying to be everywhere at once. Feeling her head to be sure of her temperature, feeling her wrist and neck for a count on her pulse, feeling her sides to be sure she was breathing, anything to reassure himself she was ok and he wasn't dreaming. Kagome reached up and pushed his hands from her. "Inuyasha I'm fine, what's wrong with you?"

Kaede had come to sit next to Kagome. Shooing away Inuyasha she gave Kagome a look over. Smiling and nodding her head "She's fine Inuyasha. Kagome do you think you can sit up?" Kagome looked at Kaede and then to Inuyasha. Did they both loose their minds? She felt fine and they were treating her as if every bone in her body was broken. "Of course I can sit up." Kagome sat herself up without a problem. "My neck's a little stiff, other than that I feel fine. What's wrong with you two?"

Kaede and Inuyasha looked at each other "Kagome" Kaede started "you have been asleep for three weeks. We only want to be sure you are ok." That news hit Kagome hard. "What do you mean three weeks? What happened?" Inuyasha could smell the panic in her scent and went to comfort her. "Calm down Kagome." He held her close placing her head under his chin. "What is the last thing you remember?" Kagome sunk into him wrapping her arms around his waist. "The last thing I remember?"

Inuyasha stroked her hair. "The last thing I remember." She whispered again. Maybe if he got her started she could remember. "We were fighting Naraku. Do you remember?"

Kagome's eyes grow wide and she felt a tight fear close around her chest. Until he said something she had completely forgotten all about the fight. Now everything was coming back like a bad dream. She fisted her hands in Inuyasha haori and hid her face in his chest. The panic her memories were bringing on was too much to handle all at once and she was overwhelmed. Inuyasha just held her tighter and waited for her to compose herself.

Kagome waited until her heart fell to a reasonable pace before she even tried to speak. "You were fighting Naraku. I was moving behind him to try to get a better shot. Than something hit me out of nowhere. I remember flying through the air, and hitting the ground hard. I think I hit my head because I remember a really sharp pain." Kagome reached her hand up to her hair to explore her scalp for any injures. Finding none she continued. "After that I remember hearing you call my name. I could barely lift my head but I saw you. I tried to call you're name but I couldn't talk. You ran off in the other direction and I think I passed out again. The next thing I knew I was looking up into your eyes." Kagome looked into Inuyasha's eyes. " You were crying and I wanted to comfort you." Inuyasha placed his hand on her cheek and she placed her hand over it and leaned into his caress. "I don't remember anything after that."

Kagome turned to Kaede "You did a wonderful job healing me Kaede." Kagome smiled. "I'm not the one who healed you Kagome." Kaede got up "Inuyasha, perhaps it will be easier for Kagome if I leave so you can tell her what happened." Kagome looked at Inuyasha confused. Inuyasha nodded to Kaede and she left the hut. "Inuyasha what's going on? What happened?" Inuyasha wasn't sure how to tell her. He wasn't sure how she was going to react.

He shifted Kagome so she sat across form him. He took her hands in his and took a deep breath. "Kagome when I found you, you were dying. I held you and you told me that you loved me." Kagome felt her face redden. She remembered telling him that but left it out because Kaede had been listening. She looked down at their hands. "And you told me you loved me to." She said not looking up. Inuyasha smiled and shook his head. "Yeah I told you I love you. But then… Kagome…you died."

Kagome jerked her head up to look at him "Inuyasha what are you talking about?" Inuyasha squeezed her hands tighter. "Clam down let me explain. So you were dead and everyone was crying. I held you and I forgot all about the Shikon no Tama, I had it in my hand the whole time, but I was so focused on you I forgot all about it. And I held you and I said I wish I could give you my life. I wished you were alive, and than I felt a strong energy around you. And than you were alive again. You said you were tired and you fell asleep."

Kagome took a minute to take in all he had told her. "So you used the Shikon no Tama to bring me back to life?" Inuyasha scratched the back of his head nervously. "Well…it's not really that simple. You see, the way I worded the wish, `I wish I could give you my life' that's just what the jewel did. You are feeding off my life source." Kagome thought for a minute. "So what does that mean?" She was still recovering from the shock of finding out she had been brought back from the dead and couldn't quite put all the pieces together. "It means you're going to live as long a I am. That's why you were asleep so long you're body healed you and changed to meet the demands of your now longer life span." Inuyasha hesitated with what he had to tell her next. "Kaede thinks that you also may have…changed in other ways."

Kagome looked up to him. "Like what?" Taking a deep breath and hoping she took this news as well as she had taken the other he began. "Kaede thinks that since you are feeding off my life you may gain some of my abilities." `God let her take this well' he silently prayed.

Kagome looked down again "oh" she said. Inuyasha bent down trying to get a look at her face. "Kagome are you ok?" she smiled up at him even though she had tears in her eyes. "I'm ok Inuyasha its just that the jewel is gone now. I didn't get to say good-bye to my family." Her tears rolled down her cheeks now and her shoulders shook with sobs. Inuyasha rapped his arms around her and rubbed her shoulder. He expected this. "It's ok Kagome. It may seem like a long time from now but in five hundred years you can see them again." He tilted her head up to meet his eyes " and believe me I'm going to make you so happy that the time is just going to fly by." She smiled at him and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Thank you Inuyasha." She kissed him softly and he deepened the kiss. After a few minutes she pulled away. "Do you want to go see the others now?" he asked softly.

Kagome shook her head "No, not yet." She wrinkled her nose at herself "I need a bath first." Inuyasha smiled and helped her to her feet. He reached for her backpack and than placed his hands behind his back so she could climb on. Kagome looked at him but choose to walk by, "I think I will walk this time Inuyasha." Inuyasha straitened himself and stared at her. "I think I should carry you there. You may not be as strong as you think. You just woke up after all." Kagome waved her hand at him without looking back. "Inuyasha I told you I'm fine. I feel great." She began to walk to the door. Before she could even reach the door she was swiped off her feet. "You put me through hell for three weeks thinking you may never wake up. The least you could do is let me be a little overprotective of you wench!" Kagome looked up at him. She saw him giving her that look that let her know she could not win this one. She reached her arms up and wrapped them around his neck and sighed. Inuyasha started off towards the hot spring. Kagome rested her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry I worried you." She whispered softly. Inuyasha looked down at her. He gently rubbed his cheek against her forehead. "I'm just happy you're ok."

Inuyasha brought Kagome to a near by hot spring that was one of her favorites. Kagome took her backpack from him and began to take out her bathing supplies. Inuyasha sat down on the grass. Kagome began to take her shirt off when she realized that Inuyasha had not left yet. "Can I have a little privacy?" she said crossing her arms. "I told you I'm not sure you're strong enough to be on you're own yet. Anyway, I bathed you for three weeks. I've seen everything there is to see, so go take your bath." He said it so calmly as if it were no big deal but Kagome felt her whole body heat up and turn red. "You…. didn't." Inuyasha almost looked proud. "Aren't you happy? I know how much you love your bathes so I bathed you every other day just like you would have if you were awake and…" and that's as far as he got. "SIT!!!" his face hit the dirt so fast he almost forgot to swear. Kagome quickly got undressed and climbed into the water. "If you know what's good for you you'll leave me alone so I can bathe." When the spell wore off, Inuyasha lifted his head to find she had her back turned to him and was already washing her hair. Inuyasha mumbled something about her being ungrateful and stomped off.

After a quick bath she felt much better. She was surprised at how good she felt really. Her body had changed considerably while she slept. Her hearing was about ten times better and her eyesight too. While bathing she found she could hold her breath for almost ten minutes under water. She also found that there wasn't a scar left on her body form any of her injures, new or old. She changed into clean clothes and began to walk the path that would lead her to the village. Half-way down the path an idea entered her head. What if she could run as fast as Inuyasha? She had always envied the way he seamed to fly everywhere, what if she could do the same? She readied herself to brake into a run when she felt two hands on her waist.

She gave a small yelp of surprise when her back met a worm chest and the arms warped themselves around her to hold her tight. Looking up, she met Inuyasha's golden eyes. "After all I've done for you it really wasn't nice to sit me like that." Kagome recalled why she had sat him and blushed. She turned her face away so he couldn't see how red she still was. "You were the hentai who took advantage of a unconscious girl. You know Sango or Kaede could have done the same thing you did." Inuyasha nuzzled his nose into her hair. "Its my job to take care of you Kagome, not theirs. I fed you, clothed you, bathed you, brushed you're hair, stayed by you day and night, and told you what was going on in the village, everything I could think of to make you comfortable. I just wanted you to be happy." Kagome felt her heart melt at his words. He was right. He had done just what she would have if the situation were reversed. She wrapped her arms around his. " Thank you. I'm sorry I sat you." Inuyasha loosened his hold on her. "That's ok. The others are waiting for you back at the village. Shippo is dying to see you." Inuyasha moved in front to her and placed his hands behind him. `So much for finding out how fast I can run' she thought as she climbed onto his back.

Shippo paced in front of Kaede's hut. Ever since Inuyasha had come and told them Kagome was awake and that he would bring her back once she finished her bath, the kit had been restless. It seemed like it was taking forever for the two of them to get back. Sango and Miroku sat quietly talking to themselves trying not to let the kit get on their nerves. Shippo finally caught a glimpse of red coming his way. "They're coming, they're coming!" he yelled. Sango and Miroku got to their feet. Inuyasha set down and let Kagome off his back. Shippo jumped up into her arms and started hugging her. "Be careful kit don't be to ruff with her or I'll pound you." Shippo just continued to hug and kiss Kagome ignoring the hanyou. "Inuyasha, I told you I feel fine," scolded Kagome.

Sango was the next to greet Kagome. She walked up and hugged Kagome making it a three-way hug with Shippo in the middle. "Kagome I'm so happy you're ok." Sango said trying to hold back her tears. Kagome really hoped Sango wouldn't start crying. If she did then Kagome was sure she would start and Shippo would follow and the three of them would be crying like babies. "I'm sorry to have worried you Sango, I'm sorry I worried all of you." Miroku placed a hand on Sango's shoulder trying to reassure her. "Were all just happy you're ok Kagome. That fact that were all together is what matters." Kagome brushed what would have been a tear out of her eye before it had a chance to fall. "You're right, we're lucky we're all ok, and that we have each other."

After a few more hugs they all went into Kaede's hut. Sango filled Kagome in on all that had happened while she was asleep. She told Kagome that she and Miroku planed to get married and Kagome happily agreed to help with all the planning.

Most of the time while the grownups talked, Shippo sat contently in Kagome's lap, just happy to be with his foster mother again. But as the conversation wore on about dresses and other wedding stuff he got more and more bored. Soon like all little children he was hungry and sleepy and growing very cranky. He moved onto Inuyasha's shoulder and whispered into his ear. "Can we show Kagome our surprise yet?" Inuyasha gave the fox a quick pat on the head "That's a good idea." Inuyasha stood, placed Shippo on the floor and looked at Sango and Miroku. "I think it's time we show Kagome the surprise we have been working on." Sango and Miroku nodded their heads in agreement. "What surprise?" Kagome asked picking up Shippo. Inuyasha held out his hand and helped her stand. "You'll see when we get there."

The group left he hut and started for Inuyasha's forest. Shippo sat on Kagome's shoulders and had his little hands covering her eyes. Sango walked in front of Kagome holding her hands and making sure she didn't trip. "We're almost there." Sango said with a smile. They reached the clearing where the well and the god's tree were. "Can I look now?" Kagome asked.

Inuyasha nodded to Shippo and he removed his hands form Kagome's eyes. Kagome opened her eyes and gasped. In front of her stood Sango and Miroku. The two had their arms rapped around each other's waist and each gave her a big smile. Behind them, right where her house would be in the future, was a large one story house. Kagome took a few more steeps forward still holding on to Shippo's hands. "Where are we?" she asked. Sango came up and placed her hand on Kagome's shoulder. "This is our new home Kagome."

Kagome was shocked. She turned and looked around. There was already the small storage shed right where it was in her time. The well house was still under construction. It was just like her home. She felt completely at ease here, and happier then she ever thought she could.

"Do you like it?" Kagome turned around and faced Inuyasha. And somehow in her heart she knew he had done this for her. He had done this, all of this, just to make her happy. She simply walked up to him and placed her arms around him laying her head on his chest. "Thank you Inuyasha." He smiled and returned her hug.

"Kagome come here." Shippo called. Kagome released Inuyasha form their hug and walked to him. Shippo bounded in front of her; taking her hand he pulled her toward the house. "Come inside, I'll show you my room." Sango and Miroku followed close behind them holding hands.

Inuyasha stayed behind and watched the group walk into the house. No, it was more than just a house, it was their home. It was where his family lived, where his children would live, and generations form now where Kagome would live. That's what they were now, the five of them, a family. This house, this place, was more than just wood and dirt. It was his past, his present, and his future all in one.

This place was home, now and forever.

Author's notes

I'm going to stop trying to guess how many chapters I'm going to write because each time I finish a new chapter, I come up with about ten good ideas for the next one. I don't know how many it will be until the story ends.

Thank you for all the reviews!!!! They make me so happy!

The reason why this chapter took so long was because for about a week it seemed all I wrote came out wrong. I didn't want to give you a chapter that I didn't think was the best I could do. So I hope you really like this one. I hope to have the next chapter up soon.

Love missy.

P.S while I'm adding I would like to answer Angel-chan's question. I will address Kagome's heritage in a latter chapter. But no she is not related to herself in any way…if that makes any sense.

I would also like to thank merith for helping me catch some of my mistakes. Thank you so much I also really like your story a heart divided. I hope you post your new story soon.

And if anyone has any questions please feel free to ask. I will do my best to answer.