InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Much Needed Healing ❯ Homeward Bound ( Chapter 15 )

There, wrapped in a fluffy white towel, was his woman. Over five centuries had passed, and seeing her there, hair damp and curling, wide blue eyes staring at him in shock, Kouga realized just how much he had missed her. Giving the taiyoukai blocking his path to her a quick shove, he pushed his way into the home and lifted the little woman into his arms.

“Kagome! I've missed you!” He told her while nuzzling his nose into her hair. He noted that she still smelled like cherry blossoms.

“Kouga! Is it really you?” Kagome managed to squeak out between giggles.

“It's really me.” He told her while pulling away slightly to look into her deep blue eyes. Kagome gave a happy little squeal as he spun her around in a circle. Setting her down lightly, Kouga stared at her. She was older, but only by a few years. The woman-child he had known was now gone, in her place a striking beauty. It seemed as though time rolled backwards for a moment and he was once again in the feudal era. She was here, safe. It was more than he could have ever hoped for.

Of course, he had initially though that Inuyasha was full of it when he started telling him about how Kagome was really from the future. But as the tale had begun to unravel, Kouga had been forced to admit that it made sense. The strange way she had dressed, the lack of prejudice against his kind, the odd phrases she sometimes used and her periods of absence all lead him to the conclusion that the mutt was being honest. Still, he had hardly expected to find her here, at Sesshomaru's home. Dressed in only a towel..... just like the taiyoukai.....

“So, how's my woman been?” Kouga asked her, slightly suspicious now. Why were they both soaking and undressed?

“Things are good now. I had a little.... rough patch, but I'm feeling a lot better.”

Kouga could sense her shame. But what was she ashamed about? Looking into her downcast eyes, he decided that now wasn't the time to ask. Instead, he pulled her into his arms again and stared at her intently. “So you're alright then?” He asked her while petting her hair. “Because if anyone ever hurt you, you know I'd take care of them!”

“I know Kouga, but really, I'm fine.” And then she fiercely hugged him back, settling her head into the crook of his shoulder.

Kouga was in heaven until he heard a throat clear. Raising his head, he looked back at Sesshomaru.

“Perhaps you should put on something a little more proper woman?” The smooth baritone was tightly controlled, but the anger simmering just below the surface was well apparent.

Kagome looked down and saw that she had forgotten she was only wearing a towel. Giving a little squeal, accompanied by a slight blush, she horridly left the room, muttering something about being right back.

Kouga stared at Sesshomaru as the taiyoukai stalked across the room. “Have you told Inuyasha?” He asked the rapidly retreating demon lord.

In a flash, Sesshomaru was back across the room, his hand grasping the throat of the wolf as he slammed him against a wall. “You will say NOTHING of any of this to Inuyasha.” He hissed, giving Kouga's throat a little squeeze for emphasis.

Eyes beginning to bug out of his head from lack of air, Kouga nodded and found himself dropped onto the floor. Gasping, he looked up into the face of a very pissed off youkai. “What are you doing Sesshomaru?” He managed to ask between hitching breaths.

Golden eyes merely narrowed before the tayoukai tuned and walked away.

Kouga could barely hear the response over his pounding heart.

“Truly wolf, this Sesshomaru no longer knows.”

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He was going home and she would be there. It was all that Inuyasha could think about as he stared at the clouds 30,000 feet up in the air. He had wanted to find her, seek her out years ago, but he had been ashamed. When he had pushed her back into her own time, he had thought that he was doing what was best for both of them. He couldn't live if something happened to her. Is she had died in the fight against Naraku, he would have been unable to continue living. She was so innocent and pure; her place was not in the feudal era, but back in her own time. And so he had done it.

He had tried to go back after the battle, only to find that the well was now closed to him. There was no way for him to get to her, and he had spent many years in the Goshinboku, staring at the well and wishing he had done things differently. He had become malnourished and filthy from never leaving the tree, and no one had been able to persuade him to come down and take care of himself.

Until the day that Sesshomaru had shown up. Inuyasha had barely spared his brother a glance. He thought that he knew what the taiyoukai was going to tell him, and he'd heard it all before. “There will be others.” “Time heals all wounds.” “She wouldn't want you to abandon your life like this.” So many statements, crafted to persuade him to live, and all of them shit. There would never be another Kagome.

“Come down Inuyasha.” He heard a cold baritone voice below him say.

“Fuck you Sesshomaru.” There was no anger in his voice. Inuyasha had stopped caring about anything besides his sadness long ago. He heard the soft exhale of breath and the rustle of clothing and, looking down, was shocked to see that Sesshomaru had settled himself down below the Goshinboku.

“Why is it half-breed, that you spend your days wasting away in this tree?”

“You wouldn't understand.” Inuyasha told the taiyoukai petulantly.

“So you mourn for her, your little miko?”

Inuyasha was silent. Why tell the bastard anything? It wasn't as though he really gave a damn.

“This Sesshomaru has not heard tell of her death.”

“Probably because she didn't die.”

“Then why do you mourn her?”

“Because she's gone. I sent her away. And why the fuck do you care?”

Sesshomaru choose to ignore the last part. “If her absence affects you so strongly hanyou, why do you not retrieve her?”

“I can't go to where she is. I can't follow her anymore.”

“This Sesshomaru was under the impression that she followed you.”

Inuyasha looked down at his brother. Didn't he understand? “We followed each other.” He told him plainly.

“Hn.” Again the rustle of clothing as the taiyoukai stood gracefully. Looking up at the boy he had once despised with every bit of his being, Sesshomaru felt pity. As he walked away, he stopped in his steps to look back at the half starved hanyou. “If that is truly the case, then you will find each other again.” And then he was gone.

It was in that moment that Inuyasha found something to live for. Sesshomaru, damn him, was right. He only had to wait to find her again. After all, he knew where she was, when she was, and if he could pull himself together, he could meet her there.

Inuyasha had jumped lightly down from the branches of the Goshinboku and took off in the direction of Sesshomaru.

The hanyou sighed and looked out the window again. Yes, he had been ashamed, but he had also been frightened, and he could feel the cold iron fist of fear tighten around his heart the closer his plane got to Tokyo. What if she hated him for what he had done? What if she had forgotten about him? Worst of all, what if she hadn't waited? What if she had found another?

“Dammit.“ he muttered as he felt a tear slide down his cheek and, swiping at it with one clawed hand, thanked the fates that he was sitting in the mostly empty first class section of the plane.

There was nothing for it. He was going home, she would be there, and he would find her. If he had to scour all of Japan, he would locate her. He would take whatever she had to give, and he would do so honorably. Even if she had nothing but hate for him.

Staring out the small window, Inuyasha clung to hope.

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So, no cranky reviews about length! Grrrr! LOL. Ok, so I know the last one was short, but let's try to remember that I DO write some long chapters as well (think very long and dirty lemon!) In any case, I tried to make this one a little longer so I didn't have to read any more rants about the subject, and I will continue to do my best to write longer chapters.

But I do want to leave you with a little thought on that note:

Its not the size of the ship, but the motion of the ocean!

So there! ;P

~omizumaru