InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Lucky Ones ❯ Chapter Thirty-Two ( Chapter 32 )

The Lucky Ones

By Terri Botta

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. Sole copyright belongs to Viz and Rumiko Takashi. I'm poor so don't sue.

Rating: R for later chapters.

Pairing: Inuyasha/Kagome, Miroku/Sango

Summary: Sometimes Fate hands you a gift you never thought you'd ever get, and it's up to you to accept it for what it is.

Email feedback to: tci100@psu.edu

Webpage: http://www.wordsmiths.net/Botta

Chapter Thirty-Two

Within the first week of returning to the village, Kagome had answered her own question about where all of Tokyo's trees had gone. It seemed that Inuyasha was hell-bent on cutting the whole of `his' forest down in order to build her house. He felled huge trees and stripped them of their limbs and bark, giving them to the village woodsmiths to smooth and polish. Then he set about preparing the foundation, showing her where the first support logs would be sunk into the ground and marking the perimeter of the dwelling.

Seeing the preliminary preparations for the house, she was struck by an odd sense of déjà vu. Inuyasha had chosen a home site that was exactly on the land where her house in Tokyo stood in the Modern Age. What was so disturbing about that was the fact that years ago Jii-chan had pointed out markers on the concrete around their house that defined the foundations of a much larger structure that had once occupied the place where their house now stood. What she now realized was that those foundation markers were for this house, the one Inuyasha was building for her, and that she would live in both houses that occupied the same space, just five hundred years apart. The thought was actually very unsettling to her because it was obvious that the house Inuyasha had built her did not exist in the Modern Age, but yet it should have weathered the centuries with the way he was building it. She made a note to ask Jii-chan if he knew what had happened to the bigger house.

The house went up quickly with a hanyou as its primary builder. He did not need sleep or much extra help, and the frame and most of the roof was completed within two weeks. In fact, most of the delay was due to Inuyasha having to wait for the human artisans to finish with things like the shoji, polished logs and carved stone shingles. Luckily, there was a lot going on in the Modern Age that kept calling them back to Tokyo, and that kept Inuyasha from going ballistic with impatience.

Kagome turned eighteen and there was a party that she went to with her friends, and then she came home later for more `birthday sex.' She was pretty sure if her mother hadn't figured out that she and Inuyasha were lovers beforehand, she knew now because her headboard had slammed against the wall a couple of times in their enthusiasm, and she'd also run into a mostly naked Inuyasha coaxing his son to use the toilet instead of going outside the `den.'

The other major milestone was her high school graduation, and no one was more shocked than Kagome that her schooling was now officially over. She didn't know if she was going to go to college, but she decided that she had time to make that choice and opted to take a year off to get her life in the Sengoku Jidai settled first. Inuyasha and Yukio came to the ceremony. She could see them sitting on the roof of the school, looking down over the proceedings. He knew to wait for her signal before coming down and was dressed in a new set of modern clothes Mama had purchased for him. The moment the ceremony was over and she made sure she had her actual diploma in her hands, she waved to them and he was by her side almost instantly. Now that she had officially finished high school and had her diploma, there was nothing the school administrator could say about her baby.

Ayumi was there, saw Inuyasha with Yukio, and came running over to see them. Unfortunately, Eri and Yuka had come to the graduation as well, and their jaws dropped when they saw Kagome with the man they had met at the house that one time with a toddler that looked just like him. It also didn't help that they were wearing identical outfits, complete with matching hats. The girls tittered, stared and turned eight shades of red when Inuyasha stood up close to Kagome, put one arm around her and grinned as the toddler reached for her and very clearly called her "Okaa-san." Their embarrassment increased when Houjou appeared just behind Ayumi's shoulder. Apparently, he had come to the ceremony to watch a cousin graduate.

Kagome braced for the pissing contest between the two males, but it never came. Houjou sized up Inuyasha and Inuyasha sized up Houjou, and they both seemed to silently come to an agreement that fighting over Kagome would not be a good thing. The only comment Houjou made was something to the extent of `Be good to her. She's a good woman.' to which Inuyasha heartily agreed.

After graduation, everyone went to a post-graduation party to mingle and say their final good-byes to their classmates and teachers. Kagome made a token appearance but left after thanking all of her teachers, opting instead to attend her own private party back at the shrine. Mama prepared a special meal and all of them gathered around to give Kagome gifts and celebrate her achievement. Inuyasha seemed especially nervous and she thought it was because he didn't have a gift for her, but then he shyly presented her with a necklace made of small polished beads the same color blue as her high school uniform strung on a very thin braid of his hair.

"I thought you should keep wearing blue even though you won't have to wear that uuu-neee-form anymore," he said.

At first she was so shocked she didn't know what to say and he thought she didn't like it. The crushed and wounded look on his face cut her to the quick, and she scrambled to reassure him that she loved it very much. She asked him if he had made it with his own hands, and he blushed and replied that it had been a joint creation between himself, Sango, Miroku and the trader who brought the beads. She put it on immediately and kissed him senseless right in front of everyone else. Then she announced their engagement, and Souta rolled his eyes and said it was about time.

Mama gave them a knowing smile and Jii-chan said they had to pick a date to reserve the shrine. Kagome pouted and said she wanted to get married in Hawaii like all the other Japanese girls dreamed, but that idea was shot down when Inuyasha asked `What's Hawaii?' and Mama asked `How will Inuyasha handle flying in a plane?' Visions of him creating a scene when they tried to take Tessaiga from him filled her mind and she quickly nixed the Hawaiian wedding. Jii-chan told her he could probably reserve the shrine run by a colleague in Yokahama that had a lovely view and nice gardens.

By the time her birthday and graduation were over, two months had passed and Kagome was starting to wonder what Kikyou had meant by `soon.' The Shikon no Tama was complete and she wore it around her neck, never taking it off. The fully re-formed jewel attracted twice as much trouble as the shards themselves, and Kagome was very eager to be rid of it so the village would stop being put in danger by youkai hunting for its power. It seemed that every other day a new threat arrived that Inuyasha had to deal with in one way or another, and while her hanyou was overjoyed to have things to kill in order to work out his frustrations about the slowness of human woodsmiths and stone masons, she was terrified for the villagers every time one showed up.

Finally, almost ten weeks since they had last seen her, Kikyou arrived in the village. The return of the undead miko who was sister to Kaede caused quite a stir, and the town was in a state of chaos for most of the day. When things calmed down, Kagome, Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku, Kaede, Kikyou and the village headman all sat down together to discuss the fate of the jewel. It was decided that Inuyasha would make his wish upon the cursed jewel. If the wish was pure and good, it was believed that the jewel would vanish from the world and that Midoriko's soul would move on. Inuyasha said he knew what he was going to wish for, but he would not reveal the details of it to anyone, not even Kagome.

Kagome was concerned about the wish, but more so about something Kikyou had said to her. She asked Kagome if she was prepared to make the sacrifice she would be asked to make, and explained that the time slip would probably stop working once the jewel was no longer in existence. Kagome hadn't really given the jewel's connection to the time slip much thought recently, but the undead miko's words struck home, and she begged that they put off the wish for two days so she could go home and prepare her family for the possibility that they might never see her again.

"I'll go with you and bring the pup. Your mother has been good to me and I would like to say good-bye. And she'll want to see the pup one last time," Inuyasha told her as she headed nervously for the well.

`One last time… Is it really possible that I might not be able to return?'

"Thank you. I'll… I'll feel better if you're there to support me. This is going to be very hard for me."

"You must bring whatever you think you will want from your room. Fill several bags and I'll carry them across while the well still works."

`Whatever I think I'll want? How about everything?' she thought, but didn't say anything. Instead, she just nodded and gave him a small smile.

Yukio, wide-eyed and quiet because he knew his parents were upset, clung to Inuyasha and looked at her with a worried expression on his little face. She blew him a kiss and touched his nose, making him look cross-eyed at her finger.

"Go see Mama-baachan?" she asked.

At the sound of the name, Yukio cracked into a huge grin and he clapped his hands. "Mama-baachan! Mama-baachan!"

`And suddenly he is all smiles and all is right with the world because he's going to see his grandmother and she will give him candy,' she thought wryly.

Inuyasha held Yukio close to his chest with one arm and put the other around her as they leaped into the well and passed through the time slip.

`If I'm trapped in the Sengoku Jidai, I'm certain I'd try to send a message to Mama and Jii-chan telling them what happened. But how would I do that? I could leave a message in the well… I know! I could have Inuyasha carve a message in the well for Mama and Jii-chan, and tell them where to look for it. But… if I get trapped in the past and ask Inuyasha to carve a message, wouldn't it be here in the Modern Era?'

"Inuyasha?" she asked as he went ahead of her to leave the well house.

He stopped, still holding Yukio and looked at her. "Yeah?"

"If we get trapped in the past and I ask you to carve a message to Mama and Jii-chan in the well, wouldn't it be here now?"

He blinked and she could see the wheels turning. "Huh?"

"If we get trapped in the Sengoku Jidai, and I wanted to send a message to Mama and Jii-chan here by having you carve a message in the well, wouldn't that message exist here now because we would have carved it back then?" she explained.

"So… if the well stops working, you'll ask me to carve a message into the wood letting your mother and the old man know what happened."

"Yes. I'll ask you to carve a message…" She looked at the rim of the well, and pointed to a place on the inside of one of the sides. "Here. So… theoretically if we get trapped in the past, there should be a message right here."

She looked around, examining the wood inside the well, but didn't see anything. "Inuyasha, can you look?"

He came to her and handed her Yukio then carefully inspected the inside of the well himself.

"I can't see anything."

A shiver of hope ran through her and she smiled. "So, if there is no message, then the well must not close."

Inuyasha thought for a moment. "But there is no way of knowing if this is the same wood as the well in our time. That well may have been rebuilt or replaced with new wood."

Her heart sank. "Oh." Then she spotted something that lifted her spirits. "No… this is the same wood. Look here, this is where you and Miroku repaired the edge that was damaged when you shoved a tree down the well that one time," she said, pointing to a section of the well rim that looked different from the rest.

Inuyasha inspected the section and nodded. "Yeah. It must be."

"So… if this is the same wood and there's no message, then the well must stay open," she reasoned hopefully.

He blinked at her. "I guess."

She smiled at him and followed him out of the well house. `So the well doesn't close after all. I wonder then what happened to the house Inuyasha built for me. And what happened to our den?'

There was another answer, of course, that she dreaded to even consider; that one being that the well did close but that she was trapped in the Modern Era while he was forced to stay in the Sengoku Jidai. She shuddered at the thought and shook it off as quickly as possible.

"Mama-baachan!" Yukio's voice greeted happily and she knew that her mother was home.

"Tadaima!" she announced as she came in through the genken, leaving her shoes on the rack.

Inuyasha, barefoot as always, preceded her and she joined the both of them in the kitchen.

"Okaeri nasai," Mama greeted, already taking a laughing Yukio from his father. "How's my big boy?"

"Good! Good!" Yukio replied, hugging her.

"Bad," Inuyasha corrected. "He's been running rampant and getting into everything."

Mama giggled. "Toddlers do that. I remember when Kagome was three and managed to get herself trapped on the roof. I still don't know how she got up there."

A vague memory triggered in her mind at the sound of her mother's words. She saw a brief flash of white and heard a deep, throaty chuckle, then the feeling of flying high above the trees but yet knowing she was perfectly safe. A little frown crossed her face as the memory faded and she couldn't get it back.

"Heh, we've had to get him down off a few roofs, haven't we, Kagome?"

She shook off her feeling of disconcertion and smiled at him. "Oh yes we have. Like most dogs I know, he can go up, but he can't get down," she teased.

"Oi!" he huffed, but she just giggled and kissed him on the cheek.

"I must say I'm surprised to see the two of you so soon," Mama said.

Kagome lowered her eyes, remembering why they had come. "I know Mama. We… we wanted to come see you and Jii-chan before Inuyasha made his wish on the Shikon no Tama. There's… there's a chance that the well won't work after the jewel is gone."

"I… I see," Mama replied carefully.

"But… but I don't think it's going to close. I know if I got trapped on the other side I'd try to send you and Jii-chan a message carved in the well, but there's nothing there. That is the original well, isn't it?" she added quickly.

"As far as I know," Mama answered.

"I'll talk to Jii-chan and ask him just to be sure, but I think if I left a message in the well back then, it would be there now. You know, like in the movie Back to the Future, when Marty wrote Doc that letter in the past, Doc had it with him in the future and knew to wear the bullet-proof vest."

"But… wouldn't you have seen it already if it was there?" Mama asked, nodding.

"Not if I didn't know what I was looking for. Inuyasha's writing is very unique and he uses the old kanji."

"Oh?"

"You should see his writing, Mama. It's beautiful; just like the ancient ink paintings."

"Oi, it's not that nice," Inuyasha corrected, blushing.

"It is. Don't be so modest."

Mama turned interested eyes his way. "Really? Would you be willing to address the invitations then?"

"Eh? Invitations?"

"To the wedding, dear. We send invitations out about two months in advance, and it's best to have them addressed by hand," Mama clarified. "I would do it myself, but if your writing is as nice as Kagome says it is, the envelopes would look nicer if you wrote them out. It's not typically something a man would do, but…"

"I'll do it," he replied. "If it's what Kagome wants."

He looked to her and she nodded, smiling happily, then frowned at her mother.

"But Mama… you know we want a small wedding. Just close family and friends. I know it's tradition to invite as many guests as possible but…"

Mama nodded. "I understand. I'll keep the guest list under fifty."

"Fifty?! Do we know that many people?" she gasped.

"Well, there are a number of family connections that would be upset not to get an invitation. They most likely won't come though."

Kagome sighed and her heart stopped pounding. "I hope not. Unless we get married at night on the New Moon, Inuyasha is going to have his ears, and regardless either Yukio or Inuyasha is going to have to wear a hat."

Mama beamed and fluffed Inuyasha's hair. "I was thinking a full Western-style tuxedo with tails and a top hat."

"I'm not wearing anything with tails," Inuyasha snorted.

Kagome snickered. "Not those kinds of tails. The coat is long in the back. I'll show you pictures."

He just blinked at her.

"Anyway all these details can be worked out later, after we know the well stays open. In the meantime, we just want to spend time with you, Souta and Jii-chan, and I need to pack some things from my room to take with me just in case the well does stop working. I should probably do some shopping too."

Mama nodded. "I'll make Oden for dinner."

"Oden!" she exclaimed and hugged her mother. "Thank you, Mama. That would be wonderful."

"Oden," Yukio repeated, smiling. "Ramen?"

Mama rubbed the toddler's ears. "Ramen too, for my good boy."

"Oi, what about me?" Inuyasha growled.

Mama rubbed his ears too and soothed him. "For you too of course, Inuyasha."

"Feh."

Kagome laughed and then she and Inuyasha went up to her room while Yukio stayed with his grandmother. She pulled out two soft-sided suitcases from her closet and filled them up with clothing and other items that she did not want to be without should she get trapped on the other side. She made a mental note to stock up on toiletries, ramen noodles and condoms when she and Inuyasha went shopping.
After she was finished in her room, she and Inuyasha went downstairs and Kagome helped her mother in the kitchen while Inuyasha played with Yukio in the living room. Every now and then, the toddler would get away from him and coming running in, laughing his head off as his father chased him about. Half the time, she thought Inuyasha let him get away just so they'd both get attention from her.

Dinner was the promised Oden and ramen noodles for her hanyous, and everyone enjoyed it. Afterwards, Kagome sat with Jii-chan and told him of the possibility of the well closing after Inuyasha made his wish. She asked him if any messages had ever been passed down through the Higurashi shrine that could be from her, but the old man shook his head. He also confirmed that the well in the well house was the original well and had not been rebuilt as far as he knew. His answer brought her a great deal of relief, but another of his answers made her wonder again about what was to come.

Jii-chan had no idea what had happened to the original house on the property, only that it had been gone for his whole lifetime. He, like her mother, herself and Souta, had been born into the house that now stood on the old foundation, and there were no pictures or descriptions of the house that had once occupied the same space. Most houses were destroyed by fire, and she worried that a youkai or other attack had burned the house down many centuries ago.

"See… Jii-chan says the posts for the original house were here," she told Inuyasha, pointing to a marker in the concrete around her house.

She and her adult hanyou had come outside after dinner for a little bit of fresh air because Inuyasha didn't like to be cooped up inside for too long.

"So?" he replied, crossing his arms.

"So, these are the foundations for our house, Inuyasha. The one you're building in the Sengoku Jidai. It's not here and no one knows what happened to it."

She saw him follow her train of thought, but the conclusion didn't seem to bother him as much as it did her.

"Yeah?" he said.

"Don't you wonder what happened to it?"

"Does it matter?"

"Huh?"

"If something happens to our house, Kagome, I'll build you a new one. Maybe this one burned down or got too small for all the pups, and we built one somewhere else. Maybe we moved to another village if ours got too big and noisy," he explained without concern.

"But it means the house you built won't last through to this time."

He shrugged. "Most don't."

"But… doesn't it make you wonder what happened?"

"No. A house is a just a house, Kagome. I don't care where we live as long as we're together."

The way he said `together' tripped her warning bells and she frowned as another explanation crossed her mind.

`Or maybe he tore it down after I died… Would he continue to live in the house he built me if I was no longer there to live in it?'

She quickly decided to change the subject.

"I wonder what happened to our den," she mused. "Probably buried under two meters of concrete by now."

He shrugged and picked her up, hopping easily on top of the back wall of the shrine and facing in the direction of where the den would have been. She was surprised to see a copse of trees in what appeared to be about the right area where the den was located.

"Huh," Inuyasha said, noticing the same thing she did.

Curious, she climbed onto his back and urged him forward to investigate. He gave her a questioning look, but obliged her and they bounded off. The distance wasn't all that far away from her house and no major streets separated the two properties, and soon they were standing before a very tall stone wall that was oddly reminiscent of the type of hei that surrounded ancient castles. Inuyasha jumped on top of it, balancing easily on the pointed roofed edge, and they could now see part of the roof of a very large, grand house off in the distance. The wall seemed to surround the property which appeared to be a very sizable estate and a monstrous portion of land by modern day standards. Kagome was shocked that the city hadn't seized it for building purposes. Her family's shrine escaped eminent domain only because it was a designated holy place. This looked like a private residence.

`Why did I forget this was here?' she wondered.

Looking around from their high perch, she saw the stream that ran right by their den.

`It's still here… Does that mean…'

Suddenly she really didn't want to see the den, didn't want to know what happened to it. It was almost a compulsion willing her to leave and go back the way she came. It was so strong that it was making her skin crawl.

She felt Inuyasha shift to move forward but stopped him.

"Wait, Inuyasha."

"Eh? Don't you want to see?"

"Yes, but… this place belongs to someone and I am sure they have security. If we go onto their property, we could get in big trouble."

"Feh! Like I care."

The feeling of wrongness increased, making her even more uncomfortable.

"I do. We don't need any trouble right now, Inuyasha. Let me ask my mother who owns this place. Maybe Jii-chan knows them and we can get permission to go exploring, okay? It's enough to know that it's still forest for now, right?"

"Feh. You were the one wondering about it, wench, not me."

`Is that because you don't want to know either, because you think, if we did get trapped, that I died centuries ago? Did you tear down our house and destroy our den in your grief?' she thought sadly.

She hugged his shoulders and gave him a little squeeze. "Let's go back."

He gave her a tolerant look, but nodded. "Okay. You still need to show me a picture of this coat with `tails' that your mother wants me to wear."

He turned and bounded back to the shrine. Kagome made him stop for a moment and she went into a store to buy a bridal magazine that had photographs of Western style tuxedos in it, and they headed the rest of the way home.

"Mama," she asked as they entered the living room where she, Jii-chan, and Souta were sitting watching the evening news. Yukio was with them, playing with some toys on the floor.

`More toys? Mama, you have to stop this…' she sighed mentally.
"Do you know who owns that property with all the trees? The one with the high hei surrounding it?" she finished.

"Behind the shrine?" Mama questioned.

"Yeah."

Mama looked at Jii-chan and knowing glances passed between them. "That's part of the Fushikenwa Estate," Mama answered.

"Fushikenwa ?" `That's one of the most powerful names in all of Japan…'

"Yes. That's their Tokyo home. It's usually empty this time of year, although I think they have staff that live there and tend to it year-round," Mama explained.

"Oh."

"I'm surprised you don't remember. You used to go wandering over there all the time when you were just a little girl."

"I did?"

Mama nodded. "It was just after Souta was born. I would be busy caring for him and you'd go off. Several times you were caught in the forest over there. Apparently you were getting in through the gate over the stream. You were small enough to slip through the bars."

Another memory resurfaced and Kagome saw green everywhere, tall trees, and a man with white hair and a happy smile.

"Did a man with white hair bring me back?" she asked suddenly.

"White hair? No. He had black hair. A sweet young man with the brightest smile. After the first time you were found there, he'd carry you back on his shoulders and bring you home."

More memories, dim with age, played for her: the man, still with white hair, laughing and coming towards her.

"Here again, little one? Your mother is probably worried about you. I know mine would be. Best I take you back, ne? It's no good for you to be wandering about in here anyway. Never know what you might stumble into."

He'd pick her up effortlessly and put her on his shoulders, and then they… flew? No, it couldn't be. It only seemed like they were flying because he ran so fast.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha's voice questioned, bringing her out of her memories.

"Huh? Oh. Ummm… I remember a man with white hair who would carry me like that."

Mama shook her head. "The man who brought you back always had black hair. I think he was one of the security guards, although he didn't wear a uniform."

"Did he ever tell you his name?"

"If he did, I don't remember. It was long ago."

Kagome grew quiet and pensive until Yukio commanded her attention by grabbing her leg.

"Okaa-san!"

She smiled down at him, noting that he had a pretty bright smile himself.

`You're always happy aren't you, baby. You're such a happy boy.'

Picking him up, she swung him once and then braced him against her side.

"Ooof, you're getting heavy. Are you eating too much ramen?" she teased.

"No," he answered immediately, not getting the joke.

She laughed and kissed him, sitting down with him in her lap. Inuyasha settled next to her and they all watched television together. Later Souta managed to get Inuyasha to play some video games with him, and they watched that, laughing at the antics the two got up to. By unspoken agreement, they all stayed together as a family for the evening, separating only when it was time for bed, and even then Kagome and Inuyasha stayed up late with Mama and Jii-chan long after Souta had gone to his room and Yukio had passed out in his father's arms.

It wasn't until well after midnight that they finally retired for the evening. Inuyasha placed a still sleeping Yukio in the crib Mama had bought to replace the basinet that had gotten too small, and climbed into bed with her. They made love only once but it was enough, then they retrieved Yukio and cuddled with him as they all went to sleep. In the morning, they went shopping with her mother, stocking up on the things they would need if the well closed. She managed to get Inuyasha to distract Mama with Yukio long enough for her to buy several boxes of condoms while the older woman wasn't looking, and sequester them in her bag discreetly.

By the time they finished at the store, it was lunchtime so Mama bought bento for all of them and they ate in the park. There was a playground there so they took a short time to play with Yukio on the swings and slide before heading back to the shrine. All in all, it was a beautiful day filled with smiles and laughter, and Kagome thought if the well did close that it had been a wonderful last day in Modern Japan that they all would cherish.

The whole family turned up to wish them good-bye. Mama handed her another bento box of food for all of her friends, and she added it to the mountain of stuff she had to take with them. She hugged and kissed Mama, Jii-chan and Souta and thanked them for everything- just in case it would be the last time she ever saw them. Inuyasha said his good-byes too, accepting a hug from Mama and giving Souta one, and bowing to Jii-chan for the first time she had ever seen him bow to anyone. Yukio, oblivious to what was happening, hugged and kissed his grandmother and great-grandfather with the same open affection he always did.

Kagome managed not to cry until the very end when she saw tears in her mother's eyes.

"Sayonara, Mama," she whispered softly.

"Sayonara, Kagome."

"I swear, if we do get trapped, I will find a way to let you know. I promise."

"I'm glad. Thank you, Kagome."

She sniffed a few times and wiped away her tears, then Inuyasha handed Yukio to her so he could carry the bags, and she picked up the bento box and two sacks of groceries. With a final wave and wish farewell, they jumped through the time slip and reemerged on the other side.

They brought the bento box into the village for the others and gave Kaede all the medical supplies they had purchased. Kikyou was in the hut with her sister and seemed very intrigued by all of Kagome's modern first aid supplies. Kaede was more interested in the bento box Kagome had just for her.

More plans were made for the following day. The ceremony would begin at dawn. Kagome was to bathe, purify the jewel one last time and make sure it was completely pure before giving it to Inuyasha. The actual wish wouldn't take place until late morning after all the prayers and preparations had been made. This time there would be three powerful mikos present to keep the jewel pure until the end. They could only hope it would be enough to keep the jewel's natural propensity for evil in check.

When there was no more to be said, Kagome left Inuyasha with Kikyou, giving them some time together and walked back to the den with Yukio. Inuyasha didn't realize that she had gone for the den until she was almost there, and he admonished her for going off into possibly youkai infested woods without him to protect her.

"Where else would I have gone?" she asked.

"Keh! To the monk's hut. That's where I thought you were going."

"Why would I go there?"

"To wait for me. I told you I would only be a short while. Why did you go on without me?"

He almost seemed hurt that she would leave for home without him.

"I'm sorry. It just seemed like the right place to go. It's late, Yukio and I are tired, and the den was the natural choice."

He gave her a little nod that he understood and put an arm around her.

"So, what did you and Kikyou talk about after I left?" she asked as they walked along through the forest.

She felt him stiffen and regretted her question immediately.

"I'm sorry. That was uncalled for. You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

"The past," he admitted. "Where we went wrong. How Naraku tricked us so easily. We are trying to make sure nothing like that happens again tomorrow. We have decided to say special words that only we will know so that we can identify each other, just in case."

"Like code words," she mused.

"Huh?"

"In my time, when people need to be sure if a person is the right person they give them a code word. That way when someone asks for their code word, only those who know the code can get in."

He nodded. "Yeah. Like that."

"So what's the code word?"

"Eh?"

"The word you're supposed to say so Kikyou will know it's you."

"My mother's name."

"Ah."

"And she'll say her mother's name because I know it but very few people here do."

Kagome nodded. "Do you want to have a code word for you and me?"

"Your mother's name?"

"Okay."

They arrived at the den and Inuyasha went in first to make sure no interlopers had tried to move in while they were gone. He signaled that it was safe and she entered with Yukio. The toddler, seeing his bed and blankets, yawned and curled up on his futon. It would be a while before he was invited to snuggle with his parents and he knew it. In minutes he was asleep.

Inuyasha stripped as usual, stowing his clothes in their place and lit a small fire while she changed into a yukata. She didn't wear pajamas in the den because Inuyasha liked her in things that were easy to get her out of. Most of the time she didn't even wear underwear but tonight she left it on. She was feeling a little unsettled with Kikyou in the village and the wish coming so close, and she'd need a little coaxing tonight before she would be ready to join with him. Leaving the panties on was his signal to take things slow and be gentle.

As soon as the fire was lit and the den warming up, they settled in the bed together. Inuyasha snuggled behind her, one hand slipping into the yukata to cup her breast. It wasn't always a sexual gesture, although it could be. Usually though, it was just his preferred way of holding her when they were lying together in bed.

"Do you think the well will stay open?" she asked softly.

"I don't know," he replied simply.

"If it does close, why wouldn't the message be there in the well?"

"I don't know."

She frowned. `Just once I wish he'd make something up to make me feel better instead of being so bluntly honest. Well… it is one of the things I love most about him. My hanyou never lies.'

"Kikyou thinks it's going to close?" she questioned.

She felt him nod against her back. "Yeah."

She gripped the jewel around her neck tightly. `This thing was in my body the first time I went through the well. The only time I've been able to go through the time slip without shards has been to go back to my time. That time Inuyasha took the shards from me and pushed me into the well, I wasn't able to get back here until I felt a shard in the well. Inuyasha, though, he's always been able to go through… Maybe that's why there's no message in the well, because he goes through to tell Mama and Jii-chan that I can't come back…'

"You're brooding," Inuyasha scolded gently.

"I'm sorry. I think I'm allowed. It's a scary thing."

He pulled her tight. "I know. But… we have each other and… and the pup. And I'm building the house. You'll… you'll have a good life here if it closes. I promise that you'll want for nothing. I'll draw you as many hot baths as you like. I studied your… boiler? thing and I think I can make something like it here. Toutousai can forge me a big metal container and I can light a fire under it to keep water warm."

He sounded so conciliatory and hopeful that she had to smile in spite of her fears. Yes, he was right, they did have each other and Yukio, and she knew he would do everything within his power to make sure she was as happy as she could be. His devotion was complete and it humbled her sometimes. She'd always thought she was the one who would love him more, but every day he proved her wrong. His loyalty knew no bounds. If she had asked for the moon and stars, she knew he would have found a way to give them to her.

His hand slipping down to caress her stomach before traveling lower, distracted her from her thoughts, which was probably his intent, but brought another thought to her already troubled mind.

"Inuyasha?"

He groaned softly, realizing that his attempts to seduce weren't working. "Yeah?"

"If… do you… would you…" she stammered.

"Would I, did I what?" he prompted, just a hint of impatience in his voice.

"Do you think… it would have been harder for you to choose me if we hadn't… you know… become closer?" she finally managed.

"You mean would I have had a harder time choosing you over Kikyou of we had never mate… errrr… made love?"

"Yeah," she whispered.

"No," came the short and simple answer.

She rolled to her back and looked up at him. "No?"

"No," he confirmed. "Even if we had never made love, I would still have chosen you."

"Really?"

He looked a little peeved. "Of course. You think I only love you because you mate with me? You think I am that shallow?"

"N… no, of course not, I just thought…"

"That you were Kikyou's replacement even though I've told you time and time again that you are not. Who is doubting who now, hmm?"

She winced and looked away. "I'm sorry."

"Not that it isn't my fault. How many times did I run to her and leave you wondering if you were second best?"

`So he finally understands…'

His hand cupped her face and forced her to look at him. "You were never second best. Kagome is Kagome, no one else, and no one's replacement."

"I… thank you," she said, tears brimming in her eyes.

He kissed them away tenderly. "Kagome is Kagome," he repeated. "Kagome loves me as a hanyou, the only one who ever has. Kagome touches me and holds me and mates with me as a hanyou, and doesn't see it as a disgrace. Kagome's power only got stronger after she joined with me instead of weakening. Kagome's voice and scent are the things I hold onto when the world spins out from underneath me. How could I not choose you? In truth, I've been yours for years; I just wasn't free to tell you."

"Inuyasha. I love you, Inuyasha."

"I love you, koishii. Please trust me when I say that because I don't say it lightly. You need to have complete trust in me tomorrow or the jewel will use your doubt against us."

"I know. I promise I will trust you."

He smiled and kissed her. "Thank you."

"Inuyasha."

"Now that that's out of the way, koi, can we make love now?"

She chuckled, knowing he was pushing just a little to distract her.

"Besides our son will wake up soon and I don't want him interrupting us," he added.

She reached up and threaded her fingers in his hair, finding his ears to rub and scratch.

"We wouldn't want that, now would we?" she breathed, smiling as he closed his eyes in pleasure and let out a low moan.

"No…"

"Yes."

"Yes?" he repeated, confused.

"Yes, we can make love now."

He gave her a grateful smile. "Oh. Good."

"It'd better be," she teased.

His smile turned lascivious. "Isn't it always?"

She grinned. "Yes."

"I thought so. For a moment I was worried I'd lost my touch."

She shook her head.

"Never," she breathed, pulling him down on top of her and ending their conversation with a heated kiss.