InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Boyfriend ❯ Looking Back ( Chapter 24 )

Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes…

 

Genre: Angst, Romance
Rating: M
Codes: Inu/Kag
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

 

 

The Boyfriend
Chapter 24

 

After Kagome unloaded all her school things in her bedroom, fed Tama and laid her down to sleep, she sat down and looked through the photos from the camera. Her eyes misted up when she saw the pictures from her graduation. She thumbed through, looking at people she hadn't seen in several months and a part of her missed the life she left behind when she fell through the well. She stared at a photo of a swollen-eyed Ayumi giving her a peace sign as they said good-bye. Kagome had barely seen the photograph as she snapped it. She may have missed a good deal of her third year, but she had spent most of her life for two years before that at the school, with those people.

 

She remembered when the worst thing she had to fear was a bad test score and laughed as she wiped her eye with the back of her hand. She smiled at the last picture of the four of them standing together, grinning for the camera, holding up peace signs. Her hand shook as she remembered that Yukio had been holding the camera and she knew what photo was coming next. She took a deep breath and moved the picture of her friends with her to the back of the pile and stared down at Yukio's face.

 

She didn't waste a second before ripping the photo into tiny pieces. Then she grabbed the picture of the two of them together and tore it up as well. She sat there with the pieces of photographs in her hand and trembled in anger for almost five minutes before she could see clearly again. Kagome stood up and threw the pieces in the trash and didn't look back as she returned to the package of photos. The next one was a picture of Yuka, before she had started wearing all the makeup she wore now. She kept trying to convince Kagome to wear makeup, but Kagome just didn't have time to worry about it. Then she put that photo at the back of the stack and came to the picture of InuYasha leaning over Tama, looking so peaceful she barely recognized him.

 

Kagome traced her finger over the image and smiled, then moved to the next picture. Her little girl looked so pretty, lying there asleep in the photo. Kagome moved to the next and smiled, happy that InuYasha had taken a decent picture of her. Then, finally, she looked at the picture of all three of them together and laughed. Kagome was smiling, Tama's eyes were slightly open and InuYasha was staring at the camera with a slightly defiant look on his face. `Guess he didn't want to smile,' Kagome thought. `Well, it looks more like him this way, anyhow.'

 

“You look happy there,” InuYasha said from behind Kagome, making her squeal in surprise.

 

“Don't sneak up on me!” she admonished.

 

“Feh. Pay attention to what's going on around you, then,” he retorted while sitting down next to her and peering at the photographs in her hands. She went through them again, telling him about her friends from junior high. For once, he sat and listened patiently to her and even asked a few questions about things in the images that puzzled him. After they were finished with the pictures, they sat and discussed things Kagome had always wanted to talk to InuYasha about. They lost track of time until Tama woke up and started crying for a diaper change.

 

Kagome was so happy after talking to InuYasha, despite a few arguments they had during the conversation, that she was humming as she changed Tama. InuYasha was surprised by how little it had taken to make her happy—just paying attention to the stuff she liked to babble on about. He remembered her saying that one of the reasons she liked Yukio was that he listened when she talked and he was trying to be the kind of boyfriend she wanted. And whenever he got bored, he could just start an argument with her to liven things up. He loved the way her eyes lit up when she was passionate about something.

 

He was incredibly nervous and agitated about not chasing after Naraku, but he understood why Kagome had to go to school now. And after school, she had to take care of her baby, which was a lot of work. InuYasha liked Tama—she was rather quiet, for a baby, and she always watched him like he was the whole world when he was taking care of her. Also, she was starting to look a little bit like Kagome, only with eyes more like his own and he couldn't help but think of her as his own. That made him think about having children with Kagome and he wondered if they would come out looking like Tama, or more like himself… or worse, like Jinenji.

 

If their children couldn't use the well, then Kagome would have to have them all in her time. If one of them came out looking like a monster… he had watched a few horror movies with Souta. He knew what this world thought of monsters, from experience. Back in his time, the child could have hidden himself, but now… He pushed the thoughts away. After all, he didn't even know if he could father children. He had never heard of a hanyo finding someone willing to mate with them if they lived to be old enough to create children. He didn't know if they would be almost human, or still a hanyo.

 

He didn't talk to Kagome about these things—after all, there was a chance that he wouldn't even survive the fight with Naraku to test his questions out. There was no need to worry her when there were already so many things she had to deal with. Finding out that she couldn't fight or purify the shikon no kakera anymore was a terrible blow. He had been frightened for her every time they entered the feudal era since. Sango was teaching her taijiya techniques, but he didn't think it was enough. Kagome's attempts at the weapons they tried had failed miserably thus far.

 

But thanks to Yukio, he no longer felt it was safe just to leave her in her own time. Kagome had told him that she was okay now, that he could go back and search for the final jewel shard, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He was glad she wasn't afraid all the time anymore and she seemed to be back to her usual self, but he didn't trust her world any more than his own.

 

“You look lost in thought,” Kagome said, bringing him out of his musings.

 

“I was thinking about going back to my time,” he said.

 

“Yeah, we should do that. And I have a break next week, so we can go hunt for the last jewel shard,” she added. He nodded, knowing that he couldn't argue her into staying put. He had tried and she had reminded him that the kotodama necklace had not been removed and he couldn't just bully her. “I'll go ask Mama to watch over Tama. We can go show everyone the pictures. They must wonder why we never came back when we said we would.”

 

“You shouldn't have told Shippo,” InuYasha said again. Kagome rolled her eyes, she had heard him say that enough. A few minutes later, they were standing in front of the well, saying good-bye again.

 

 

 

 

To be continued…

 

A/N: As always, thanks to the faithful who still read and review my story. I'm glad you're still enjoying it and I'm sorry about the change in life affecting my update rate. I hope you are all having a good year so far and that any misfortune that finds you leaves as quick as a bird in flight. As for the Japanese lesson—I suppose it's cultural this time. In photos, Japanese students hold up peace signs. I don't know why, but it's popular to do, especially in jr. high. And the girls and women over there are obsessed with makeup and most Americans feel they wear way too much.