InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Unexpected Destiny ❯ One-Shot

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

A/N:

Greetings! This story is a request-fic I did for a birthday request I received over on fanfiction.net, but I'm also posting it here because mediaminer is my home site and ALL of my stories will always go here.

The prompt was simple enough: a romantic courtship one-shot where Inuyasha asks Kagome to be his mate. With no plot restrictions whatsoever I decided to use an angle I haven't explored that much yet, an idea I'd been meaning to get around to, in fact. The request gave me the perfect excuse!

This story is off-canon post-manga, taking place in a 'what if' reality of Kagome becoming trapped in the past upon the completion of the mission. Unlike my strictly canon post-manga universe, I'm incorporating some anime-based details into this one, so there will be mention of a few things that are exclusive to the anime. Beyond that, I've also made her personality slightly off for late-mission-Kagome, since in reality she and Inuyasha are perfectly aware of each other's feelings by the end of the mission and Kikyou is no longer an issue between them. For the purposes of this story, even though Kikyou has passed away as she did in canon, Kagome is still uncertain where Inuyasha's heart truly lies. She still has her doubts that there's a place for her in his heart and in his world. Hence why, now that the mission is over, she had been preparing to return to her own time, forever.

Too bad the Bone-Eater's Well had other ideas.




Their victory was bitter sweet. On the one hand, Naraku was dead, the jewel wished out of existence, Sango's brother had been spared, and everyone felt a nearly overwhelming sense of relief. It was over. But, on the other hand, with their mission complete, her purpose in their world fulfilled, Kagome's time in the Sengoku jidai was also over, and that left a very bitter taste in her mouth, indeed.

Even so, what could she do? Kaede believed the well would most likely no longer let her pass back and forth now that the Shikon no Tama had been purified. She had had a mission to fulfill; destiny had never intended to let her keep jumping between both worlds forever. Deep down, Kagome had always known her time in the past was limited. That was why she'd always tried so hard to keep her grades up. Her next trip through the well would almost definitely be her last. She had promised she'd try the well again, just in case, but nobody really believed it would work. Inuyasha had also told her that he'd still come visit her in her time if he could, but of course, nobody really believed the well would permit that, either.

Honestly, Kagome wasn't even sure if it was a good idea for him to visit her even if the well would allow it. They needed to move on. She needed to move on. And he needed to mourn Kikyou's passing in peace. How was he supposed to properly get over the second death of his lost love if he kept on seeing the girl who was a constant reminder? They didn't talk about it often – actually, they didn't really talk about it at all anymore – but Kagome knew she had Kikyou's face. While she did believe that Inuyasha had finally learned to see her, Kagome, when he looked at her, and not long for Kikyou in her, that had only been because of the resurrected Kikyou who had previously walked the earth. They really had been two separate people after Urasue had brought Kikyou back to life, and so it had been easier, then, to forget that Kagome was Kikyou's reincarnation and just accept her as his friend Kagome, the girl from the future. But now that Kikyou was dead again...

Kagome shuddered just thinking about it. She didn't know if she could take it, him looking at her with that longing again, the way he'd used to look at her back in the very beginning. So she would leave; it was for the best. Sure, she would miss him, dearly, and she also believed that he would miss her, the way someone often missed a friend who'd moved away, but with time, they would each get over the loss of the other. Inuyasha had other friends, after all. Kagome didn't feel guilty that she was abandoning him, leaving him all along. Sango and Miroku were talking about settling down in Kaede's village. They would be there for Inuyasha. Kagome knew he needed friends, but he also needed to grieve for Kikyou's passing, and he couldn't do that if he stayed friends with the girl who possessed Kikyou's face and soul.

Hopefully the well simply wouldn't let him through, then she wouldn't have to deal with telling him why she thought he shouldn't visit her anymore if it did. If it still let her through... Well, she'd cross that bridge when she came to it. It wasn't all about Inuyasha, after all. Right now, she was just trying to soak in as many happy memories with her friends as possible. It wasn't just Inuyasha she was leaving behind, after all. Even if he did keep visiting her in her world, if the well never again let her through then she'd still never see Sango, Miroku, Kaede or Shippou ever again. So delaying the inevitable for as long as possible, Kagome wore a genuine smile as she rejoiced with the rest of the villagers during the festival they held in their honor that night, as she laughed with her friends and enjoyed drinking the saké she was too young to indulge in back home. Not enough to get too drunk. She didn't want to risk embarrassing herself by saying or doing something she'd regret the rest of her life. But with a happy buzz going Kagome was able to successfully push her worries to the back of her mind and enjoy one last night with her friends. Even Inuyasha, who hated crowds, seemed to have a similar mindset as he too smiled and laughed with everyone else. She could tell his mirthfulness wasn't completely genuine, and she didn't blame him, since he was hurting because of Kikyou's passing, but even so, Naraku was dead, and that was cause to celebrate.

A part of her wished the celebration would go on forever, that morning would never come, but all good things had to come to an end.

Inuyasha tried his best to ignore the stabbing pain in his heart as he laughed along with Kagome and Sango to one of Miroku's jokes. He tried his best to put on a brave face, for her sake. He didn't want to make her feel guilty by letting her know just how much her pending departure from his world was going to tear him up inside. She was hurting enough as it was; he would not add to it. He wasn't stupid; he knew it wasn't really fair to blame Kagome for this outcome. It wasn't like she was just choosing to never come back again, choosing to walk away from them forever. He too believed the well would most likely stop working now that the jewel was gone. In the back of his mind, he'd always known the day would come when she'd leave his world forever, once their quest was fulfilled, Naraku dead and the jewel gone. How could he possibly justify getting angry with her for merely accepting her fate?

He wouldn't ask her to stay. He wouldn't ask, because if he let her know just how much he wanted her to stay with him he'd probably wind up begging her to stay, and that wouldn't really be fair, either. How could he possibly ask her to give up everything on the other side of the well, her friends, her family, and in fact her entire life, just because he'd feel dead inside without her? He didn't want Kagome to stay because he'd guilted her into it. He would forever feel guilty himself in return, and fearful that she'd come to resent him for forcing her hand. If she'd hinted, if she'd even remotely hinted that she might have been torn, unsure of what to do, and would maybe decide to stay if she knew how badly he wanted her to, then he would have shouted it from the rooftops, but that wasn't the case. She'd never even acted like there was any choice to be made at all. The mission was over, and so now it was time for her to leave, end of discussion. It was obvious she was sad about it, and he did believe she would continue to visit their world if the well miraculously did allow it, as she'd promised she'd try the well, just in case, and he would also try the well on his end just in case it let him through, but honestly, he wasn't holding his breath.

Kami, he was going to miss her.

He'd very briefly contemplated asking her if he could go with her, but he'd shot that idea down almost as quickly as it'd come. Never mind the fact that there was no place for him in her world, and that he'd never be able to provide for her, never get a 'job' because he'd never gone to 'school'. Never mind the fact that he'd constantly have to hide what he was. If he asked her if he could go with her and she said no, for any of those reasons...he didn't think he could handle the rejection. Worse, if she saw his pain and relented, saying yes, he didn't think he could handle the guilt. He'd only end up being a burden on her and her family in the long run. He didn't want to be her dirty little secret, the monster hiding out at her shrine that she couldn't let anyone know existed. What kind of a life would that be? It would be better in the long run if he just let her believe that he would get over her departure, that in time he'd be fine without her, just as he sincerely hoped she would be fine without him.

Trying his best to not think about it and simply enjoy the party the villagers had thrown for them in celebration of Naraku's demise, Inuyasha soaked in as many happy memories of Kagome as he could, knowing that tomorrow was goodbye.

The end of the party came much too soon for everyone, and nobody really wanted to go back to Kaede's for the night. Going to bed meant morning would arrive that much sooner. But they couldn't stay awake forever, the humans practically falling asleep on their feet. Eventually, the Inu-tachi surrendered to slumber. All but Inuyasha, who stayed awake all night staring at Kagome's peacefully sleeping form, trying to burn her image and scent into his mind forever.

Of course, the morning sun arrived right on schedule, and after a tearful goodbye as Kagome hugged first Sango and Kirara, then Kohaku, then Miroku – Inuyasha didn't even get jealous, the houshi keeping his hands in neutral territory – then little Shippou, who cried even harder than Kagome, then Rin, who was going to live with Kaede for a while, and then finally Kaede herself, who gave the future-born miko a quiet blessing for a long and happy life, it was finally time for Kagome to make her last trek to the Bone-Eater's Well. She hadn't hugged Inuyasha goodbye at Kaede's because he was accompanying her to the well, of course, and for once, none of their other friends thought to follow and spy on them. They knew the hanyou and miko deserved to share this moment in private.

Arriving at the well, Kagome and Inuyasha stood staring silently at each other for a moment, each of them unsure of what to say to the other, of how to break the awkward silence that was stretching on between them. Kagome tried to tell herself it would be better to do it quick, like ripping off a band-aid, but that had always been such a stupid analogy in her mind because ripping off a band-aid might get it over with faster, but in the long run it hurt like hell. In reality, it was less painful if you did it more slowly and carefully. Yes, it prolonged your discomfort, but the actual sheer amount of pain you felt was nowhere near as intense if you coaxed it off gently with a little warm water.

A part of her rued her extensive knowledge of bandages, wishing she'd never been forced to witness and endure such atrocities, that her life over the last several months had not been filled with the bloodshed, gore, violence and death that had become a regular part of her daily life. She was a different person now because of it, and a part of her mourned for the loss of the girl she would have been had she never fallen down the well in the first place. A much larger part of her, however, was lamenting the fact that she had to leave that world behind her now, wishing she could remain by Inuyasha's side forever.

Finally, the silence became too loud, and her composure left her in a whoosh. Without warning, she collapsed against him and wrapped her arms around him in a fierce embrace, balling her eyes out.

“Oi!” He was surprised, to say the least. Even knowing that leaving was upsetting for her, he hadn't expected her to break down like this. “It's all right...” he murmured soothingly, wrapping his arms around her in return. “Please don't cry. I want to remember you smiling.”

Perhaps that hadn't been the best thing to say, since it only seemed to make her cry even harder. It was all crashing down on the miko all of a sudden. Everyone could kind of deal with a bit of unhappy knowledge in the back of their minds that one day some inevitable thing would come to pass, but if it was something you were dreading, then it was just as inevitable that when that moment finally arrived you would wish with all your heart that it hadn't arrived yet.

Kagome felt like begging the universe not yet! She was half tempted to actually chicken out, murmur out quietly that she'd leave tomorrow...or in a couple more days. But she knew she couldn't do that. She would never want it to be her final moment with Inuyasha, once that moment was finally upon her. She would always want to put it off. But she was being selfish, and she knew she couldn't put it off forever. Today was the agreed upon day. There was no turning back now.

“It's not fair...” Inuyasha heard her mumble into his chest, almost as if she were talking to herself, and he sighed.

A part of him wanted to agree, rather harshly in fact. He wanted to snap at her 'You're damn right it ain't!' and demand that she not leave him, that she stay by his side forever, as she'd promised she would. But he wasn't stupid, and he knew when she'd said she'd always stay by his side she had just been talking about while their mission was still in progress, because that had been back during the time he had very nearly told her he couldn't see her anymore because of his past obligations to Kikyou. Kami, he'd been such an idiot back then. Of course, he had never really wanted to send Kagome away, he had only been trying to think of what would be best for her. He'd known the Kikyou issue had been painful for her, and also knowing he'd had an obligation to be there for Kikyou whenever the undead miko had required it of him, he simply hadn't wanted to force Kagome to put up with it, to have to live with that and witness it. He'd wanted to set her free. Thinking in that moment again of what was best for the girl, rather than himself, and realizing that if he loved her then he really did need to set her free, he didn't take advantage of her obvious distress to try and manipulate her into staying with him.

“Life's not always fair...” he answered her finally, adding softly as he pulled back from the hug enough to look into her eyes, “But I'm glad fate allowed me to meet you; I'm glad we got to know each other. It's thanks to you that I have our other friends, plus a whole village of people who don't mind me hangin' around. My life will forever be better, now, because you were in it.”

There. He figured the least he could do was say something sappy and sweet as a parting gift for her to remember him by, instead of causing one of their trademark fights and parting on really horrible terms. He'd hate himself forever if he ended up saying something to upset Kagome, causing her to osuwari him and jump down the well in a huff, never to give him an opportunity to apologize. He would not ruin this moment, for her, or for him.

It turned out he had said exactly the right thing as she smiled up at him in that moment, a few leftover tears still trailing down her cheeks, although he could tell her smile was genuine, not forced.

“I'm glad I was able to meet you, too. I'll never forget you.”

Wiping her tears, she then reached up and gently grabbed the rosary, preparing to lift it over his head, but his hands reached up to cup her own as he softly murmured, “Leave it.”

Nothing else needed to be said on the subject; she dropped her hands back to her sides, nodding her understanding. She'd wanted to keep it, as something to remember him by, but if he wanted to keep it for that same reason, then who was she to deny him?

Reaching up with her right hand to fiddle awkwardly with the shoulder strap of her backpack, Kagome almost told Inuyasha she loved him in that moment, but stopped herself. Why burden him with such information? A part of him had to already know how she felt, she was sure. If she brought it up now, he'd only feel guilty that he was unable to return her affections. Even if a part of him did love her back, in some way, she knew Kikyou had been his number one. Even Kaou had said so. She had been the woman he'd loved most in all the world. Why lie when the truth was so much more painful? Even though the flower-youkai had been an enemy out to destroy them, he had also been able to read what was in a person's heart and soul, and if Kikyou hadn't been Inuyasha's true love then he wouldn't have had that vision about going to Hell with her while under Kaou's spell, plain and simple. So even though it was difficult, Kagome let her feelings remain unspoken.

“Well, I guess this is it.” she said at last, her tone reluctant but accepting.

“Yeah...” he replied.

He resisted the temptation to pull her back into another embrace and slam his lips upon her own. Talk about guilt trip. He was sure Kagome had to know he returned her feelings, but if she wasn't going to talk about her love for him then he would respect her silent request that he do the same, figuring they were both silently agreeing to leave their feelings unsaid for the greater good. It wasn't really as if they were pretending or were in denial, but what would be the point of dragging out the heartache? After all, there was no choice to be made here. She had to go back. Openly admitting just how badly they didn't want to part from each other would only make them both that much more miserable. She was putting on a brave face that her life would go on without him, and so he was doing the same. Life wasn't always fair, they'd established this, and if there was one thing Inuyasha understood and respected, it was that duty and honor came before personal desires. It simply wasn't meant to be.

It was knowing that Kagome had a family on the other side of the well that loved her, that missed her, that was hoping to see her again, that prevented the hanyou from reaching for her as she slowly took a seat on the edge of the well and swung her legs around to dangle inside. If she did decide to remain with him, they would never know what had happened to her. For all they'd know, she could have died in the final battle with Naraku, and everything else aside, he cared too much about her family to put them through that. While he knew, if she had chosen to stay with him, that there was a possible way Kagome could have lived to see her family again without the use of the Bone-Eater's Well, it was also theoretically possible that something could happen to them between now and then. Another enemy their imaginations couldn't yet conceive of. If given the opportunity, he'd do anything and everything in his power to protect her throughout the centuries, but an honest voice in the back of his head knew he could not be one hundred percent certain. It would be foolish to pretend he could guarantee her safe return to her family through any means other than the time portal she presently sat upon. Any unforeseen tragedy, no matter how many years from now, even four hundred and ninety years from now, and her family would be none the wiser, still believing she had perished at Naraku's hand at age fifteen.

“You...better not keep them waiting.” he spoke suddenly, cringing as soon as the words left his mouth, although his tone of voice had thankfully lacked any sort of bitterness. The sad smile Kagome sent his way from over her shoulder told him she knew he was just trying to be brave, that he didn't really want her to leave at all.

Maybe...

If only she'd been given the opportunity to tell her family goodbye, instead, then she could...

No!

What was she thinking? He needed to mourn for Kikyou. No matter how much she loved him and didn't want to part from him, even accepting that they would only ever be good friends, the bottom line was that he was hurting, and her presence would only prolong his suffering.

Maybe it was better to rip a band-aid off quickly, after all.

Catching a look of longing in his eyes, a look she was positive he didn't consciously realize was showing on his face and one she recognized all too well although she desperately wished she didn't, Kagome suppressed a shudder. Already, it was starting. She was the closest thing he had to Kikyou now, and her departure...it was like Kikyou leaving him a second time, when he'd wanted to cling to whatever little bit of her he'd had left. Even though she loved him with all her heart, she would not, could not become Kikyou for him. If she stayed, they wouldn't remain just friends. She knew that now. His romantic feelings towards Kikyou would shift to her, using her as a substitute, even if he didn't consciously realize he was doing it. She'd like to believe he'd never be that cruel, that he wouldn't knowingly use her as a replacement for Kikyou, but even if he thought his feelings for her were for her she would still be his second choice...second best... Would she go along with it, because she loved him?

She had to leave.

Unaware of her thoughts, and legitimately unaware of the longing on his face, although that longing was only for the future-born miko before him, Inuyasha decided to say one last thing, making her the only promise he felt he could honestly make. As much as it would kill him inside to live out the rest of his life without her he would not, could not voluntarily end it all. For her sake, knowing she'd want him to live and be happy, he would not go recklessly into a battle he'd surely lose. That did not guarantee, of course, that nothing would kill him, but he would not seek out his own demise.

Right before she dropped, Inuyasha said, “If I live till your time, I'll come see you that way.”

Figuring five hundred years would be enough time to honestly get over Kikyou, and that maybe, if he were miraculously still single (or at least single at that present time), then at that time the two of them could start fresh, Kagome flashed Inuyasha another small but genuine smile and replied with, “You'd better.”

Telling him the four digit year by her calendar, he vowed to never forget the number, so that he'd know precisely when to look for her, after junior high graduation. Couldn't risk finding her early and screwing up the timeline, after all.

“Goodbye, Kagome.” he managed to choke out before his voice cracked.

“Goodbye, Inuyasha.” she returned, before finally, regretfully, dropping into the well.

It all happened so fast, too fast. As she fell, there wasn't enough time to realize the blue lights of time weren't coming. In one second she was falling peacefully through the rabbit hole, leaving wonderland behind her, and in the next, she was landing on the bottom with a thud. Landing wrong on one of the bones that littered the bottom of the well on that side of it, she twisted her right ankle, and fell on her butt with a squeak that was a mix of pain and shock.

Inuyasha had not yet turned to walk away. He had been waiting until her scent vanished, which of course it never did. As the sound of her impact and cry of pain registered in his mind he didn't even think. He couldn't even recall moving. Kagome blinked, and Inuyasha was in the well crouched before her, his hand on her shoulder, a tumultuous mix of contradictive emotions dancing in his eyes. Wordlessly, he took her backpack from her and slung it over his own shoulder before scooping her up into his arms bridal style and leaping out of the well.

Setting her bag down beside them before sitting down on the grass himself, leaning his back against the wooden structure as he held Kagome tenderly in his lap, Inuyasha didn't know what to think. Was Kagome trapped in his time? Trapped...with him? A traitorous part of his mind wanted to be happy at the thought, but how could he possibly allow himself to feel happiness in the face of her obvious turmoil? Glancing down at the miko he held, she was staring straight ahead, wide-eyed, blinking slowly, her mouth slightly open. She was in shock.

“...Kagome?”

And she lost it. Wrapping her arms up and around his neck, she buried her face in the crook of his neck and started wailing. It was ten times worse than when she'd cried in his embrace a few minutes prior. His ears flattened against his head, more from emotional distress than the noise itself, but he didn't try to shush her, and he didn't let her go.

They sat like that for over an hour.

Sitting quietly around the firepit in Kaede's hut, Sango and Miroku were in no particular hurry to go speak with the headman about their desired wedding, about building a house for themselves. Yes, the pair were excited to begin their new life together, but it could wait another day. As Sango held the tearful Shippou in her lap while Miroku spoke softly with Kaede about something of a spiritual nature or another and Rin chatted quietly with Kohaku, the general atmosphere in the single-room house was a somber one. A little more than an hour had passed since Kagome's departure from their world, and each person present could do little more than mourn the loss of someone so special in their lives.

Even Kohaku and Rin, who hadn't known Kagome nearly as well as the others, knew enough about the girl to know that she was special, and that she'd be missed. Kohaku did not begrudge his older sister her heartache; he knew Sango was deliriously happy to have him back, but today was a sad day, and he was not jealous. Sango and Miroku...Kagome meant far more to them than the younger taijiya figured he would ever understand.

Even so, the female slayer and monk both knew that they themselves were not hurting nearly as much as their hanyou friend. They couldn't be. Nobody would feel Kagome's loss as much as Inuyasha would, and they were not surprised by the hanyou's continued absence. In fact, Miroku was surprised when he suddenly realized he could sense Inuyasha's aura approaching them, one quick glance shared with Kaede telling him that he wasn't imagining things. Upon hearing Miroku's announcement that he could feel Inuyasha's return, Sango was surprised as well. She had assumed that he'd stay gone in the forest for at least a day. Perhaps his relatively quick return was a sign that he had in fact matured over the last several months. If he would not try to hide his grief from them, then, Sango decided, neither would she hide hers from him, nor did she believe Miroku would be so inclined. As a taijiya, she understood the viewpoint of how showing sadness was considered a weakness, but in sharing their sadness in this, she believed that together, they would all find their strength.

Everyone looked up to greet him with quiet, understanding eyes as the bamboo mat was pulled aside, but when the sight that actually greeted them fully registered the already quiet room became unnaturally silent. For cradled in Inuyasha's arms bridal style was a still softly sobbing Kagome, her yellow backpack slung over his shoulder.

He had sat with the miko at the well, losing track of time as he just held her and let her cry. Finally, it had actually been Kagome who had meekly asked him to take her back to Kaede's, because of her ankle. He was carrying her because she couldn't walk. It was swollen, and finally, the pain in her ankle had surpassed the pain in her heart. She knew it needed to be tended to.

Time froze for one critical moment as hanyou and miko stood in the doorway, and then started again in a flurry of activity as Shippou cried out Kagome's name in shock, leaping from Sango's lap, while said slayer along with her houshi fiancé both scrambled to meet Kagome and Inuyasha at the door.

“Kagome-chan!” Sango cried, her tone matching the young kitsune's as far as surprise and dismay.

As happy as she would have normally been to see the young miko again, her tearful form being held so tenderly by Inuyasha did not suggest to the slayer that she had merely had a change of heart. Nor did she honestly suspect Inuyasha himself was the cause of her tears, if the way Kagome clung to him was any indication.

“What happened?” Miroku asked gently, as the holy man scanned the pair's appearance and reached the same conclusion.

“Help me set her down.” Inuyasha said instead of answering directly, as he moved past his friends and towards the firepit in the middle of the raised wooden floor. “She twisted her ankle.”

That statement in and of itself was confirmation enough for what the others had feared had happened. Miroku and Sango both immediately jumped into action at his request, Miroku fetching a cushion that he placed by the fire before Sango helped gently guide Kagome onto it as Inuyasha slowly knelt, tenderly coaxing her to release her hands from around his neck.

Kohaku, feeling a bit out of place, decided to take Rin out to play with the other village children for a while, so that the others could have some privacy. Giving her restored brother an appreciative nod, Sango asked Kirara to accompany them, and mewing her agreement the fire-cat got up to head out with the children. Kohaku paused in the doorway and asked Shippou if he'd like to come with them but the kitsune answered that question by crawling into Kagome's lap, the miko's hand automatically coming to rest on the boy's back in a comforting manner. Kohaku and Rin both understood, and meeting each other's eyes, together they and Kirara left the hut.

Ignoring the concerned and questioning stares of his friends, Inuyasha crouched down beside the still stunned Kagome. She was staring at the fire now, her hand absentmindedly stroking Shippou's back as he clung to her stomach while Kaede silently tended to her swollen ankle.

“Kagome...?” Inuyasha voiced softly.

The fact of the matter was, he was almost in as much shock as she was, and he wasn't even really sure what he was asking her as he said her name. It was obvious the well hadn't let her through. Did he honestly expect her to have any more information on the subject than he did? Perhaps he was trying to ask her if she was all right, but that was a foolish question. Of course she wasn't all right. He wasn't sure what hurt him more, the simple fact that she was in pain, and that seeing her upset automatically made him upset on her behalf, or the fact that it was being stuck with him on his side of the well that made her so upset to begin with. Was he hurt from a selfish point of view, from the idea that she didn't want to be there with him?

Bullshit... he tried to tell himself. He knew... He knew! He knew she hadn't really wanted to leave him forever, but she hadn't felt she had a choice, was all. She was not upset because she was stuck with him, she was upset because she was locked away from her family, and he would not be a heartless ass to her about it. Not now. Not over this.

He was pulled from his inner thoughts when Kagome winced slightly as Kaede wrapped her ankle.

“It is definitely sprained, but not too badly, so if you stay off of your feet and allow your ankle to heal properly you should be just fine.” Kaede told her quietly.

Kagome shifted her eyes to meet Kaede's one good eye for a moment, acknowledging she'd heard the elderly miko's gentle instructions, nodding softly.

Everyone fidgeted uneasily then, unsure of how to broach the forbidden subject. It was little Shippou who braved speaking first.

“Does this mean you're gonna stay with us, Kagome?” he asked her quietly, timidly, as he lifted his face away from where it'd been pressed against her stomach to peer up into her tear-filled eyes. There were just as many tears in the kitsune's own emerald green orbs, and it was the sight of the crying boy, the boy who had come to mean so much to her, that finally snapped Kagome out of her trance.

“I...I don't know, Shippou-chan. The well...it didn't let me through, so...so I guess...”

Something in Inuyasha snapped at the sound of her shuddering breath, as she couldn't even force herself to say she was indeed stuck there. Damn the brat for forcing her to face reality so soon.

“Keh!” he interrupted, all eyes suddenly on him. “Don't ask her such questions right now, brat. We don't know what went wrong. Just 'cause the well didn't let her through right now doesn't mean it's closed for good. Once her ankle's better we can try again.”

Kagome knew Inuyasha was just trying to make her feel better, but before she could say anything to him about appreciating his gesture but knowing she needed to accept the facts, Shippou was off her lap and glaring up at the inu-hanyou.

“Baka! You make it sound like you want Kagome to leave!”

Inuyasha looked more offended by that accusation than all the times Shippou had ever blamed him for when Kagome ran home because of something he'd said or done, combined.

“Shut it, pipsqueak! You don't know shit!”

“I know that I want Kagome to stay, and the well obviously decided that this is where she belongs because it didn't let her leave even though you were too cowardly to stop her!”

Sango, Miroku and Kaede all began sharing nervous looks. This didn't look good.

Staggering back a step at Shippou's assumption, Inuyasha crouched down a bit, getting more in the kit's face, as he argued back, “I didn't see you tryin' to stop her, either! You just cried like a baby and hugged her till it was time to go!”

“At least I'm man enough to show my emotions! Real men know it's okay to cry when they're sad!”

“I ain't gonna blubber like an idiot when nobody's died!” Inuyasha shouted back.

At his words, Kagome thought back to the time when Inuyasha had indeed cried, for her, because he'd thought she had died. Of course, he'd cried much more at Kikyou's passing, but she shifted her thoughts away from that depressing scene. Surely if Mukotsu's poison had succeeded in killing her he would have shed more tears for her as well; he had just been beginning to cry when he'd realized she was still alive. Thinking about it, Kagome could understand why Shippou was upset in that moment, because he was a child, and sometimes emotionally charged situations were just too much for young children to handle, but she really wished he wouldn't attack Inuyasha like that just because he'd been prepared to let her go. Maybe he would have cried, later, in private, but if so it was none of Shippou's business.

Their continued argument pulled Kagome from her thoughts.

“That's because you don't care!” Shippou shouted to the hanyou. “You don't care about Kagome or you wouldn't have let her try to leave!”

“Now, Shippou, I don't think it's fair to-” Miroku started to say, but was cut off by Inuyasha's reply.

“What do you want me to say, huh? You want me to say I didn't want her to leave? Of course I didn't want her to fucking leave! But we ain't the only family she's got and now her family on the other side of the well ain't gonna know what's happened. You ever think of that?!”

Kagome cringed a bit at that. It was true, after all.

“You want me to admit I'm glad she's stuck here? How fucking selfish would that make me, huh? Did it ever occur to you that if I care about Kagome that that means I should let her do what she gods damned wants? Shit, from the fucking number of times she's slammed my face into the ground you should damn well know I can't keep her outta that fucking well when she wants to go home. So yeah, I was gonna let her go home without a fight. Sooo fucking sorry I didn't want to fight with her the last time I'd ever see her!”

Sango took a quiet seat beside Kagome and Kaede.

“Do you think they even still realize you're in the room?” the slayer asked Kagome, barely above a whisper.

Despite the roller coaster of emotions caused by the present situation, Kagome couldn't help casting her best girlfriend an amused look at that comment. Her mirth was fleeting, however. Hearing the pain in Inuyasha's voice as he and Shippou argued was gut wrenching. She'd never wanted to cause him such heartache. Even though he didn't love her like that she did believe he loved her as a friend, and she had been positive her departure from his life was going to be hard on him, and something he hadn't wanted. But as previously established, she'd felt she had no choice. Staying forever in the past had seemed not an option to the future-born miko, since her family would have no idea what'd happened to her, and especially because Inuyasha needed to mourn for Kikyou properly and she did not want to risk becoming a replacement for his lost love. It broke her heart as it was, to see him in pain over losing Kikyou, and she did not begrudge him that pain, knowing how important Kikyou had been to him, but should he hypothetically try to lessen that pain with her... Kagome didn't want to have her heart broken twice.

So now that she was stuck there, now what was she supposed to do? She remembered that look of longing he'd given her at the well all too vividly.

If Inuyasha had declared his undying love to her prior to Kikyou's passing that would've been different. The pain of never seeing her family again would've been bearable, even with not having had the chance to tell them goodbye. Of course, things would have been different in another way, because had he declared his love for her then she very well could have decided to stay on her own, and she would have told her family goodbye, prior to the final battle with Naraku, still believing the well would likely cease being a two-way portal. But with Inuyasha never having truly fallen in love with her the way she'd wanted him to, Kagome didn't now know if she could trust whatever feelings he might claim to develop for her down the road. She couldn't handle being second best to Kikyou, some shallow replacement of his former love because she was the next best thing. A copy. No, that was not an option, even with her stuck there. She would try her very best to be there for him as a friend and let him mourn for Kikyou's death as he should, not letting her own feelings for him show through and cloud his judgment. If he made any advances on her... She wasn't sure what she would do, but she wouldn't let him use her. She hoped.

Kami, she loved him so much.

“If you hadn't always kept hurting her because of stupid Kikyou then she wouldn't have wanted to leave in the first place!”

Kagome was abruptly pulled back into the here and now at those words. Despite her wandering thoughts, she'd heard Shippou loud and clear. Sango gasped quietly in shock beside her.

Kagome looked Shippou's way, wide eyed, the boy huffing and puffing in his anger, not about to back down, and then her gaze traveled up to Inuyasha, who was on his feet on the other end of the room, looking as if he'd been slapped in the face.

Oh, Inuyasha... Shippou-chan, how could you...?

“Shippou-chan...” Kagome started, sniffling, her voice shaky. “That's not...that wasn't nice at all. You apologize right now.” She couldn't say it wasn't true, but he definitely shouldn't have said it like that.

Both Shippou and Inuyasha snapped their eyes to Kagome at her words, and she had to suppress the sudden desire to snicker despite all the heartache. Seemed Sango's suspicion had been right; they'd both forgotten she was there. She wondered if a similar, albeit different argument would have taken place had she successfully left them. Probably.

Again, it was Shippou who reacted first, his lower lip trembling as he lowered his gaze to the floor.

“Kagome, I...” Glancing up and cringing at the stern look she gave him, he turned and met Inuyasha's eyes with genuine remorse in his own. “I'm sorry, Inuyasha.” Turning back to the miko again, Shippou braved meeting her eyes despite the glistening tears in his own as he added, “I know you weren't leaving because you were mad at Inuyasha. I'm sorry you can't go back to your family.”

Kagome offered Shippou as much of a smile as she could muster.

“All things happen for a reason, right? Maybe you were right, Shippou-chan. Maybe the well has decided that this is where I belong. We'll just have to see what happens.”

His lips quivered a bit more at her phrasing.

“Does that mean you're gonna try the well again when your foot's better?”

“I...” Hesitating, Kagome was unsure of what to say, instinctively glancing over in Inuyasha's direction, as if his presence would give her guidance, or at the very least the strength to deal with Shippou's tears.

Is this how Inuyasha feels whenever I cry? She shuddered at the thought, and vowed to try and keep a brave face for her hanyou throughout whatever was to come.

Sensing that Kagome did indeed need his help in that moment, Inuyasha stepped forward, crouching down again to be eye to eye with the kit.

“Keh, no point thinking 'bout it until her foot's better. If she wants to try the well again at that time, then we're gonna let her, aren't we?”

Shippou sniffled, but nodded, and without saying anything further crawled back into Kagome's lap. She complied by wrapping her hand around him again, and although he no longer cried, he clung to her desperately. Kami, how could she even try the well again after this display? Inuyasha aside, she suddenly got the distinct impression that it would destroy the little kitsune if she were to try and leave him again. Heaven forbid she were successful. He'd been as brave for her as he'd been able to be that morning, balling his eyes out but otherwise not begging her to stay. He hadn't in fact begged her to stay, just like Inuyasha had pointed out during their yelling match. Like the hanyou, Shippou too had been letting her leave, but the difference was that unlike Inuyasha, the fox child hadn't hesitated to express his relief that she was still with them. Not that Inuyasha wasn't relieved, but he was simply trying to act mature and responsible about the whole thing. It was her decision, after all, or at least she'd thought it was before the well had revealed it had other ideas. Shippou had also made a valid point in that regard, in that, apparently, the well had decided that this was where she belonged. She wanted to disagree, for a bunch of different reasons – Shippou not included – but the bottom line, Kagome knew, was that she had no choice in the matter. Now that she'd gotten her hysterical breakdown out of the way, hopefully she could come to terms with that fact without too many additional tears. It was going to take...time.

In the meantime, Inuyasha still needed to mourn Kikyou, despite her presence. Kagome feared he'd want to hold back for her sake, afraid that seeing him cry over Kikyou would be painful for her. But while it would be, in a way, it would be far worse if he kept his pain bottled up inside. She would allow herself to be his distraction for right now, while she was injured, because Kagome also knew how Inuyasha got whenever she was hurt, but there would come a time, sooner rather than later, when her ankle was better and she could walk again. At that time she would encourage him to go off into the woods for a few days of solitude if he needed it, to just be alone and let everything soak in. To cry for Kikyou if he needed to without the shame of anyone baring witness. She'd promise not to sneak off and try the well again in his absence, guaranteeing for him that she'd be there for him as a friend if and when he needed it.

Oh who am I kidding? I need to try the well again, at least once more... She couldn't live with the uncertainty, the not knowing, if she left herself to forever wonder 'what if'. As much as it pained her to think about leaving her friends after this, especially poor little Shippou, she owed it to her family to try at least one more time, just in case. Then, if and when she confirmed what she already believed, that she was indeed stuck there, then she would tell Inuyasha to not worry about her and to go have his cry over Kikyou.

“Kagome...?”

There was no point in thinking about such things right in that moment, the miko knew, as Inuyasha's unfinished question drew her attention. That was the third time he'd spoken her name in that soft, questioning tone, and she would not ignore him three times in a row.

“I'm not all right yet, Inuyasha...but I'll be all right.” she answered him, meeting his eyes with a hesitant smile.

Feeling just as unsure, he smiled back.

Time passed by awkwardly, at first, but by nightfall tranquility had more or less been restored. As Kagome ate her dinner in companionable silence she shared a few knowing looks with Sango. She was still debating with herself back and forth on whether she'd try the well again once her ankle healed. Honestly, she was pretty sure she was stuck there. The well had never denied her before, except for the time long ago when Inuyasha had tried to trap her on her side of it, and for the time portal to now refuse her passage back to the century in which she'd been born...it couldn't have been a fluke. Whether by design, because some kami of the well knew what it was doing, or by dumb luck because without the magic of the Shikon jewel she simply could no longer use the well, in the end it didn't matter.

That wasn't to say she'd stop crying about it. Oh, she would try her hardest to not have any more complete breakdowns, but she knew it was going to take a long time for the sadness to go away. It would probably never leave her completely. Not getting to tell her family goodbye and assure them she was all right was what stabbed at her the worst. Everything else, she could deal with in time.

Even so, she would try to put on a brave face for her friends. They had also been sad and crying, when they'd thought they'd never see her again. She wasn't going to begrudge them their own personal happiness at her continued presence in their lives, and she certainly wasn't going to let them feel guilty for feeling that way. Sango had confessed, hesitantly, while Kaede had been cooking dinner, that she didn't feel herself a very good friend, and she had even apologized, because even though a part of her hoped for Kagome's own sake that she could indeed go home again, a selfish part of her was glad she was still with them. That Sango had admitted such a thing meant a lot to the miko, that she hadn't been afraid to be honest. She was a true friend. Kagome had told her only that her reaction was perfectly understandable, assuring the taijiya she wasn't angry with her for feeling that way. How could she possibly be angry with Sango? Even if you wanted to say the slayer's thoughts were selfish and trivialized Kagome's pain and suffering, and that she shouldn't have felt glad for Kagome's presence when it meant the miko was feeling such heartache, how could Kagome rightfully weigh her own pain against Sango's? At least she knew her family was still alive. They'd all had loved ones ripped away from them. They'd all felt that pain at one point in time or another. At least none of Kagome's family had been slain by Naraku. They might forever think that she had been, but at least the future-born miko knew that her loved ones were safe and sound.

That knowledge helped her cope, a lot. If she really were stuck there, she was sure it would become her mantra.

Thinking of what Inuyasha had told Shippou, Kagome opted in that moment to follow his advice as well and stop thinking about whether or not she would be trying the well again once her ankle healed. She'd cross that bridge when she was able to walk across it. In the meantime, settling down to bed that night with all of her friends surrounding the fire-pit in Kaede's house, including young Kohaku and Rin who had returned with Kirara at lunchtime, Kagome decided to let all the stress of the day melt away and instead she focused on the simple and awesome truth that Naraku was dead and the jewel was gone. If being trapped forever in the past was the price she'd had to pay for ridding the world of such evil and saving however many more lives would have surely been lost otherwise, then it was worth the price in her book.

The next several days went by remarkably smoothly, all things considered.

Kagome had grown tired of being cooped up indoors by the second day and had managed to get Inuyasha to take her out on some brief runs in the forest for some fresh air, but they always deftly avoided the topic of her permanence in their world at those times. Instead, they both focused on simply enjoying each other's company. She found herself growing even closer to him despite her best intentions, but it was strange for the miko, and a tremendous joy, to see her hanyou acting so carefree, now that the threats of Naraku and the jewel were gone. Yes, she could see his hidden pain, and a part of her ached to know that he was indeed keeping his grief over Kikyou's passing from her, but despite that she could still sense the weight that had been lifted off his shoulders. His happiness wasn't fake.

She tried to hint that he could tell her anything, open up about whatever was on his mind. If he would feel better discussing Kikyou then she wanted him to go ahead and start the mourning process. She would be there for him as a friend; she wanted him to grieve. But he always told her he was fine, that there was nothing he wanted to talk about. Not that there was nothing to talk about, but that there was nothing he wanted to talk about. His demeanor always stayed friendly when he said it, probably hoping she'd get his hint in return and change the subject, and she always complied with the silent request.

To avoid the topic she didn't want to discuss most of their alone time was spent either in companionable silence or gossiping about Miroku and Sango. It was an entertaining distraction, at least. The monk and slayer had decided the day after Kagome's failed departure to go ahead and speak with the village headman about their plans to wed, per Kagome's insistence that they not let any sympathy they might feel towards her situation hinder their own private happiness. She wanted them to be happy. They deserved to be happy. So arrangements had been made, and construction plans were already being thought up for their future home, and Kagome found she enjoyed her girl time talks with Sango about their upcoming wedding almost as much as she enjoyed snickering about it with Inuyasha.

Before she knew it, the days were blending into weeks. Life in the village was peaceful, and while she recovered many of the villagers had stopped by Kaede's house at various times to wish her well, offering her their prayers for a full recovery. Most of the villagers did not know she was from the future, but they did know that she was a stranger to them who had arrived mysteriously and brought the Shikon no Tama with her. Many had wondered if she would be leaving them now that the jewel was gone. A few had asked her her plans, if she would be staying with them in their village or returning to her strange homeland, not knowing her return trip home was via the well and also not knowing she had already tried and failed to leave them. Kagome always awkwardly answered those question the same way, that she was thinking about staying but hadn't made any final decisions just yet.

It was that answer, that hesitation, that roundabout admittance that she was planning on trying the well at least once more, that stilled Inuyasha's tongue while Kagome's ankle healed.

It tore at him silently, the not knowing, the uncertainty. He enjoyed his time with her immensely, and tried his hardest to just be happy in her presence, honestly he did, but the knowledge that there was still a chance – a very slim chance, but a chance nonetheless – that in the end she was still going to leave him... That's what prevented the inu-hanyou from spilling his guts when she asked him innocently if there was anything he wanted to talk about. That's what stopped him from asking her to be his wife.

That, and the sinking suspicion he'd started to feel that warned him she might not even be aware of his feelings, after all.

At first he had been sure she knew how he felt about her, falling back on the logic that it had simply been her duty to return to the future despite their feelings for each other. But he wasn't so sure anymore. Now, he wasn't so sure her silence was simply because there was no point in admitting their love when she was going to leave them. Not when she probably couldn't leave them. Still, he knew it was still possible she wasn't saying anything simply because there was still that tiny possibility. After all, he was doing the same, but only because he didn't want to guilt her into staying. But she'd never really tried to hide her love for him before, in the past. She'd very easily let her love for him show; they'd simply never talked about it. Now, based on her different, much more careful behavior, it seemed more like she was actually trying to pretend she didn't love him at all, only thinking of him as a friend, and the only reason he figured she would do that was because she was genuinely unaware of his love for her in return. He could just tell.

He'd always been somewhat closed off to her before, even as they'd grown closer over the months, but it had been his safety mechanism, and one he was now trying to drop in her presence. But every time he'd scoot a little closer to her as they sat side by side on a hilltop, she'd scoot away, or if she did allow herself to lean against him as she'd so often done in the past, there was a stiffness in her posture now that never fully relaxed as she once had. It was subtle, and he probably wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't been paying close attention. The look in her eyes alone told him that her love for him was still there, so she was either trying to keep a wall up for fear she would indeed still be leaving, or she was trying to hold herself back for...other reasons.

Until he knew for a fact she was staying, he'd hold his tongue. If she really was unaware of his love for her, there was really no point in telling her when she might possibly still leave him. That would really guilt her into staying, or at the very least make her feel that much more guilty about leaving. No...as hard as it was, he would wait. Once she tried the well again and came to terms with the fact that she was stuck there – assuming she really was, which, despite himself, he certainly hoped was true – then he would admit his feelings point blank, spelling it out for her. He'd thought they'd had a silent understanding, but apparently he'd been wrong.

He was looking forward to setting her straight.

Soon... Inuyasha told himself as they all sat around the fire in Kaede's house, as he watched the miko laugh at something Miroku said to Sango that made the slayer blush.

The monk and slayer's house was really coming along nicely. They'd be moving in together before too much longer, Kohaku going with them after a respectable amount of 'newlywed' time had passed. That meant the occupants of Kaede's hut were about to go down to just Kaede herself, Rin, Shippou, himself, and (hopefully) Kagome. Then if things really went according to plan, they would be dwindling down to just Kaede, Rin and Shippou, as the village carpenters would be hired to construct another house.

One day at a time.

Fortunately, time really did fly when you were having fun, even when that fun was doing nothing but hanging around in trees or going for runs in the forest with the girl you loved riding on your back. Before Inuyasha knew it, Kagome was walking again without pain, without a limp. This was it. Both hearing and smelling Kagome's approach as she came up to the tree he was perched in at the edge of the forest, Inuyasha jumped down to greet her before she had a chance to call up to him. He didn't say her name, and she didn't offer him a smile.

She had her backpack.

So, this is it, huh?

“Going to try it?” he asked softly, using every ounce of willpower he possessed to keep the bitterness out of his voice. These last few weeks had been the best of his life, just lazing about the village doing nothing in particular, hanging out and chatting amiably with his friends. He never wanted it to end.

Hopefully it wouldn't.

Had he known about the gesture of crossing one's fingers, he would've had his crossed as he hid his hands in his sleeves, arms crossed in his traditional pose.

“I...I don't honestly think it'll work, but I...I just need to try it once more, you know? I hope you understand.”

He did. He didn't like it, but he did understand.

“Have you already told the others?” he asked her.

“Yes,” she answered, “and I was relieved Shippou-chan didn't cry this time. He told me rather confidently that this is where I belong and that the well won't work.”

The fact that she'd just said such a thing without much upset told the hanyou that she, too, had already reached this conclusion.

She turned and headed for the well then, and he automatically fell into step beside her.

“Just...just in case you do get through...then everything I said before still stands, you know. I'll never forget you, and if I'm still around in five centuries I promise I'll come find you.”

She was truly touched by his words. Even though five hundred years was a long time, and she fully expected he'd likely have a family by then, she still believed he would do his best to keep his vow. At least then they could be friends without her presence being a constant reminder of Kikyou, and she did believe that with enough time she could get over her own heartache as well. Anything would be better than nothing. And maybe...if he was single...

“If I actually make it through, then I'm gonna hold you to that.” she answered, trying to make her tone of voice playful.

He offered her a silent smile and nod as she grinned his way, but as soon as she turned her back to him his smile faded. As she turned and sat down on the edge of the well, swinging her legs over, he couldn't help the nasty, selfish part of him that silently prayed for the well to fail her.

With a part of Kagome ready for just that happenstance, she pushed off fully prepared to strike the bottom, to avoid a repeat performance with her ankle.

Neither hanyou nor miko were truly surprised when she landed on the bottom with a thud. Kagome released a sigh of disappointment, which prevented her from hearing her companion's sigh of relief.

The atmosphere in Kaede's hut had been tense when Kagome and Inuyasha had first entered, but then the future-born miko had sighed, dropped her backpack, and said, “Okay, I'm here for good.”

She hadn't been able to stop the few silent tears that'd trailed down her cheeks as she sat by the fire that nights, but despite them she had also smiled whenever she'd made eye contact with anyone, trying to portray that she wouldn't mope about indefinitely. She'd try to focus on the positive and accept her fate.

That had been two days ago, and now, as Inuyasha watched her chatting happily with Sango as the four of them visited the market town a few hours away from Kaede's village, shopping for things for Sango and Miroku's new house, the hanyou felt the edges of his lips curl up into a small smile of his own. Now that she was staying he was finally free to confess what was in his heart. He hadn't quite gotten the courage yet, not that he'd had that many moments alone with the miko over the last two days, anyway, with as much as she was suddenly clinging to Sango, but he tried not to feel jealous of the slayer, or hurt that Kagome might possibly be avoiding him. He was, a little, but he was also grateful for the lift in Kagome's spirits. She was happy. If talking 'girl talk' with Sango about her pending move-in with Miroku put a smile on Kagome's face then ultimately, that was all that mattered to him.

Of course, he would like to be the one putting a smile on her face, but his own smile didn't fade as he thought about it. Sango and Miroku's house was very nearly finished; they would be moving in together before too much longer and he got the distinct impression from his moments of 'guy talk' with Miroku that Sango would be much too 'busy' to spend any time with Kagome after that.

At least for the first few weeks, in which Kohaku would still be living with Kaede.

The old him would've blushed in embarrassment at such thoughts, but now, he only sighed, wanting the same for himself.

Soon...I'll talk to her soon...

Of course, unbeknownst to the hanyou, Kagome noticed his sigh and slightly dejected expression as he watched her and Sango pick out some basic things for the house. Biting her lower lip, she tried her best, for everyone's sake, to pretend that she hadn't. She could only imagine how hard it must be for him, watching their friends plan their lives out, preparing to move in together as husband and wife...the very thing Inuyasha and Kikyou had been denied all those years ago.

While Kagome did believe a part of him was genuinely happy for their friends, just as she was, she also knew a part of him was hurting, just as she was as well. A part of her would always mourn the loss of her family on the other side of the well, just as he'd lost Kikyou, and to see Sango and Miroku making plans for their own private future, it just had to drive it home for the hanyou that his true love was no longer among the living. Kagome, too, feared such a 'happily ever after' was beyond her, since her true love's heart belonged to another, even in death. But Sango and Miroku did not deserve to have their own happiness ruined, and it appeared this was something she and Inuyasha had both silently agreed on, concealing their inner pain to the best of their ability for their friends' sakes.

Of course, Kagome wasn't completely concealing her pain from him any more than he was completely concealing his pain from her, even though she was misunderstanding his pain, and the fact that his forlorn longing had now shifted into nervous determination. For Inuyasha's part, he knew damn well that Kagome missed her family, and he regretted that he couldn't give them back to her, at least right away, but he wanted...he hoped...that he could at least make her happy in a different way. Give her a new family. Would she accept? Would she accept him? He knew she loved him, but on the other hand she had also been planning on leaving him, so now, his insecurities regarding whether or not she'd actually want to be mated to a hanyou were rearing their ugly head. He didn't want to tell her about the soul bonding right away. He didn't want to bribe her. What if she only accepted being with him for the chance to live to see her family again? No...no he would ask her to be his mate, and if she accepted, then he would tell her about the soul bonding. He needed to know that she loved him for him, and was truly willing to be the mate of a hanyou and would be happy being with him even believing that she'd still live a mortal life, never seeing her family again.

Miroku and Sango were planning on making a trip to see Mushin tomorrow, he knew. That would be the perfect time to talk to Kagome, when she couldn't grab the slayer's hand and run off.

Tomorrow... he told himself, as he watched the girls shop, Miroku doing his usual sweet talking with the vendors to get the best deals possible.

The new day arrived quickly enough, and as soon as breakfast was finished, Miroku and Sango heading out with Kirara to visit Mushin for the day, Inuyasha made his move.

“Kagome, can we go for a walk?” he asked. “I wanna talk to you.”

She looked up from her spot kneeling by the firepit with a basket of freshly picked herbs by her side, three smaller bowls sitting beside it. To make herself busy she'd just been about to sort the herbs for Kaede.

“Is something wrong?” she asked, trying to mask how uncomfortable she suddenly felt.

She failed, and he frowned at her worried tone of voice.

“Keh, everything's fine. Just got some shit I don't want the others to hear.”

Kaede, Kohaku and Rin all looked in their direction at that, having heard that part just fine. Kagome bit her lower lip and looked away. Kaede hid a secret smile at the sight, and nodding to herself, approached Kagome.

“'Tis quite all right, child.” she said in her grandmotherly way. “I will sort these, you two go enjoy your walk.”

Kagome looked up and met Kaede's gaze, but before she could even open her mouth to say anything Inuyasha had a hand on her arm and was, albeit gently, yanking her to her feet.

Sensing his urgency, Kagome realized that maybe what he had to say really was important. Maybe...maybe he was ready to open up to her about Kikyou? She hadn't quite had the courage yet to just come out and tell him directly that he should take the time to mourn, as she'd thought she would tell him after accepting she was forever trapped in the past, but if he was ready to talk to her about it now then she would be there for him as a friend. She would.

She walked with him in companionable silence through the village and into the treeline, knowing where they were headed. Reaching the Goshinboku, Kagome remained silent, watching Inuyasha fidget nervously. She knew from experience that you couldn't force him to say anything he wasn't yet ready to, and that if she tried to ask him what was on his mind it would only make him clam up. If she was patient enough, then...

“Kagome...” he started, and her eyes met his, immediately giving him her full attention.

“Yes, Inuyasha?”

“There's something...that is, I've been thinking a lot lately...and well...”

Starting to feel nervous, since this didn't exactly sound like the beginning of him opening up about his loss, she unconsciously bit her lower lip but remained silent, still meeting his eyes.

“I mean...since we know you're stuck here...'cause if you could go home I'd still let you, but we...we know you can't and I...and well, you know a part of me's glad. I mean, I'm sorry you're sad but...well, like Sango said too, while I do wish for your sake that you could've left, the selfish part of me is glad you're here.”

She nodded slowly at that.

“And so I was thinking, well...since you're here, and I'm here...and ya know, watching Sango and Miroku especially has made it...”

Oh no...no, please don't let him be-!

“I mean, it's got me thinking, you know? Not that I wasn't already thinkin' it before, but ya know, you were leaving. I wasn’t gonna say nothin' for just in case you left me. But well...I guess what I'm tryin' to say is...”

Kagome was only halfway listening at that point, missing some of the more important, subtle nuances of Inuyasha's ramble. Missing the depth of sincerity in the way his eyes sparkled as he swallowed his pride and tamped down his fears.

“I...I love you, Kagome. Will you...will you be with me? Be my mate? My wife? I'll marry you as a human, but...but I'd really like it if you also agreed to be my mate by inu-youkai custom.”

Her world came to a screeching halt. What should have been a dream come true, what would have been under different circumstances, instead was now her worst nightmare come to life. How could she possibly reject him without rejecting him? She didn't want to break his heart, but she didn't want to accept and let him break hers, either. She would never know... She would never know!

“Are you...” She cleared her throat. “I mean...do you think that maybe this is a little...sudden?” She hoped she didn't sound too negative.

His ears drooped, a little, but looking optimistic, he also offered her a reassuring smile.

“So I was right, you really didn't know how I felt.” His ears perked back up then, determination shining in his amber depths. “Hell, Kagome, I knew you loved me... I know the others say I'm slow and thickheaded, but-”

“What about Kikyou?” she blurted suddenly, cutting him off.

He winched. He hadn't been expecting that. Kagome's eyes offered him a silent apology as she continued to hold his gaze. He almost looked as if she'd slapped him.

“Kikyou...is gone, Kagome.”

Proving that he indeed wasn't nearly as slow or thickheaded as some people thought he was, it didn't take him long at all to realize her outburst had to indicate she was worried a part of his heart still belonged to the undead miko. If she hadn't been aware of his feelings for her, could that in part be because she was so caught up in his feelings for Kikyou? To bring it up now, even after his confession...she had to be worried that his sadness over her death, his failure to protect her, would come between them. That Kikyou would still be an obstacle, even after her passing. He'd set her straight.

“A part of me will always care for her, Kagome, just like a part of you will always love and miss your family, but she doesn't have anything to do with you and me.”

Are you sure about that? Kagome thought, worrying her lower lip.

“What if...what if Kikyou weren't gone?” she asked, even as she hated herself for rubbing his heartache in his face.

He looked confused, so she decided to spell it out for him, as tactfully as possible.

“What I mean is, if she hadn't died, if she were still alive, would you still be asking me to marry you?”

Surprisingly, he didn't hesitate, no longer looking confused.

“If you were still stuck here with me, then yeah, I would.”

She raised an eyebrow at that answer.

“Are you only asking me out of pity, because I'm...because I'm stuck here?”

His eyes widened at that.

“What?! No!”

He didn't want her accepting only because she was stuck there. That was exactly what he didn't want!

Pulling Kagome into a fierce embrace, he held her tightly to him.

“I...I just...it's like I said, Kagome. Because I...because I care, I was gonna let you leave. I know you didn't want to be stuck here. Even knowing you loved me, I knew that it was your duty to return home, that now that the jewel's gone, your purpose here is over...” He felt her stiffen in his arms. “Duty-wise I mean! I mean we all thought it, damn it! We all thought that you needed to go back now that it's all over. That you were here to do what you did then you'd be going back! Why should I tell you I love you then? But now that you're here...why should I not tell you? If I love you and you love me, why should we continue to ignore it if you really are here with me?”

Sniffling, Kagome's voice was muffled as she spoke into his chest, but he still understood her.

“But what if Kikyou were also here? Or what if I had left, and she was here? Would you be asking her to marry you, then?”

The pain in her voice, the scent of her tears, tore at his heart. Suddenly, he thought he understood. Really understood.

“Kagome...do you think...do you think I'm just picking you because Kikyou's gone?”

She pulled back enough to meet his eyes, and the look of pain in his golden honey orbs caused her own heart to ache just as badly.

Oh kami, Inuyasha...what...what am I doing to you?

This wasn't what she'd wanted for him at all. Not at all. Was she really such a horrible person?

But, she had to be honest. He deserved at least that much.

“I know I never forced you to choose...and you never did choose, Inuyasha, unless we count the time long ago when you chose her.”

He flinched at the reminder, even though her words were soft and gentle, holding no bitterness, no accusation.

“The choice was made for you when she died. I do believe a part of you loves me. I do believe you. You've loved me for a long time, I know, as a friend. But you did not feel for me the same kind of love you felt for her, and I am not angry with you for that. I do not hate you for loving her. Please believe me, Inuyasha. I love you too much to see you in such pain, especially when I'm the cause.”

He tried to argue that point.

“You're not the-” She cut him off.

“Yes I am, because look at us now. Look what I've said to you, and now you're hurting, and it is my fault. But I'm hurting too, Inuyasha, and I'm sorry, but I cannot lie to you. I do love you, and you're right, we all thought I was going to leave. That was why I tried to accept that you would never feel for me the same way I feel for you, that those feelings were reserved solely for Kikyou. It's not your fault I fell in love with you, and I was thankful you'd let me stay by your side, and grateful for the amount of friendship you'd shown me. You need to mourn for Kikyou's passing. I know you've been keeping your pain bottled up inside for my sake, and I guess now it makes even more sense why, since you knew how I felt about you. I appreciate that you tried not to show me your grieving to spare my feelings. Yes, it'll hurt seeing the man I love cry for the loss of the woman he loved, but I know you're hurting either way and so it hurts me even more to see you deny it, to see you pretend.”

A part of him knew her words were true, even though her reasoning was way off. He had in fact been holding in his grief over his failure to protect Kikyou, but he was not using Kagome as a substitute! Even though a part of him had still loved Kikyou, a much larger part of him had fallen for the future-born miko long ago. He'd just never said anything because he hadn't thought they would be able to be together. He needed to make Kagome understand.

Holding both of her hands in both of his, he looked deeply into her eyes, trying to burn into her the sincerity of his words.

“In some ways, you're right, Kagome. But you're also wrong. Very wrong. Yes, I was sad when Kikyou died, but also relieved, because finally her suffering was over. She got to die as an ordinary woman, and unlike her first death, she died happy this time.”

Pulling Kagome close, he wrapped his arms back around her, needing to feel her in his arms, and she willingly embraced him back, sniffling into his chest as she listened to his heartfelt confession. Leaning his cheek on the top of her head, his words were a tender murmur, but she heard him loud and clear.

“I did love her, Kagome; it'd be stupid and pointless to lie about something like that. Once upon a time, I loved her. She was the first woman I ever loved, and it hurt, badly, to know that I'd failed her. I'd vowed to protect her from Naraku and I failed. She died again at Naraku's hand. That's the pain I've been keeping from you. That's the pain I have to deal with. That failure. Of course it tore me up when she died like that, but I'm getting over it, because at least she died happy, and I know she's at peace now. Her suffering is over. You are so wrong, Kagome, so very wrong, when you say I didn't love you like that. No I don't love you the same way I loved Kikyou, I love you more, and I definitely don't just want to be with you now because she's gone. I never told you my choice because I thought there was no choice to be made, because I thought despite my feelings you were going to leave me, but even though I didn't think we could ever be together I knew I loved you long ago. Even while Kikyou was still alive, I loved you, Kagome.”

Pulling back from their embrace, tears fell down her cheeks unbidden. She wanted to believe him, truly she did.

“What about what Kaou said?” she asked pitifully, her voice almost a whisper.

He crinkled his nose in disgust.

“You believed that bastard? Hell, Kagome, I think it's rather obvious why he targeted Kikyou...” he explained. “Kaou fed off of people's sad feelings, and my pain at that time of losing Kikyou was pretty fresh. Of course that pain was greater than the knowledge in the back of my head that one day you'd be leaving me, once the jewel was complete. I was kind of accepting our fate, that you and I wouldn't be together. With Kikyou, I...I was hating myself for letting her die. I think he just said that shit about her being the woman I loved most to fuck with your head, and if I'd known you'd taken it to heart I would've set you straight. That's my fault.”

She reached forward and grabbed his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze, hating to see him berate himself like that. She opened her mouth to tell him it wasn't his fault, that it was her fault for letting an enemy's words affect her, because surely he'd looked into her own heart and Inuyasha was right, Kaou had said it on purpose to increase her pain...but before she could say any of that he was speaking again.

“And before you ask...” he started, bringing up the dream-vision she'd been too afraid to ask about. “Yes, I had that vision of Kikyou wanting to take me into Hell, and I can't honestly say if I would've went with her or not because it was an illusion, and in that dreamworld I forgot about you...because Kaou made me forget! But the sound of your voice snapped me out of it, and I was grateful, Kagome, that you saved me yet again from an enemy's trap. Now that I'm awake and aware, I can answer you that no, I do not wish I had died with Kikyou. I hadn't wanted to die with Kikyou for a long time, way before that flowery bastard put his spell on me. I want to live, with you.”

Saying nothing more, he looked deep into her eyes. He could see the battle waging within her. He could almost see her broken heart struggling to put itself back together, only to crumble into pieces again, over and over in the span of those few silent seconds, and he hated himself more than he'd ever hated himself before for causing her this pain.

“Tell me what to do, Kagome.” he pleaded with her then. “Tell me how I can fix this.”

Sniffling, Kagome wiped her tears, trying and failing to offer him a reassuring smile.

“I just...I can accept that a part of you loved, and even still loves Kikyou. I'm not jealous of her any longer, and your feelings for her...they're not what bothers me, honest. What hurts the most is the thought that she was your one true love and I was just a friend who has now suddenly been upgraded out of convenience. Do you promise you actually loved me like that even before she died? If you swear it, I'll try to believe you, because I trust you, Inuyasha. I trust you with my life. I know you'd never hurt me on purpose, and if you were only using me as a substitute for Kikyou, that...that would kill me inside. If I ever found out that were true, that I was just the next best thing now that Kikyou was out of the picture...I don't think I could recover from that.”

She could tell from the look in his eyes that her words were breaking his own heart in two, but he was more angry with himself for having allowed her to concoct such thoughts than he was with her for thinking such things.

If only I had been honest with her...

Mentally, he sighed. He had a list of 'if only's a mile long when it came to dealing with the girl from the future. All he could do was look towards their future. Hopefully, it was a future they'd share together.

Again clasping both of her hands in both of his, he brought her hands up to his chest and pinned them directly above his heart, meeting her eyes with a fierce intensity in his steady gaze.

“Kagome...if Kikyou hadn't died, hell even if she had somehow magically been brought back to true life, flesh and blood, if you were also still here with me, as you are now, then you would be my choice. You asked what if you had left and she had remained? Well...I won't lie. It's possible I might have been with Kikyou-”

She stiffened but he didn't let her pull away.

“But...” he added firmly. “I would have been using her as a substitute for you.”

Kagome gasped at that, and he took advantage to lean forward and capture her mouth in a kiss. It wasn't chaste, but neither was it full of romantic passion. More accurately, it was desperate, as if he feared it was the only kiss they'd ever share and that it was still possible she'd be plucked from his world.

Resting his forehead against hers after pulling back from the kiss, he panted heavily for a moment, as did she, their breaths intermingling, and then before she could say anything he was the one who broke the silence again.

“We'll take it slow. If you don't want to say yes yet to becoming my mate, that's fine. But let me court you. We can go on...on dates. I'll try to do things like how it's done in your century. We can be...” He closed his eyes for a minute, trying to remember the terminology from her world. “We can be boyfriend and girlfriend.”

Hesitantly, Kagome offered him a shy smile.

“I'd like that.”

Time continued to go by, as time is wont to do. More days continued to blend into weeks, until suddenly Kagome found she'd been trapped in the past since Naraku's death for two whole months. Sango and Miroku had long since moved into their new house together. As more and more time passed she found herself feeling more and more depressed at night, not from anything going on between her and Inuyasha, but just from worrying herself sick over what her family must be thinking. Over knowing that they must be worrying themselves sick.

They must think I'm dead by now, I'm sure of it... she thought sadly, another silent tear slipping down her cheeks as she laid in bed in predawn morning.

She'd told her family that the final battle with Naraku was upon them. She'd come home only for graduation day and had rushed right back afterwards, not even staying for dinner. They'd known the fight was imminent. Even if she would have under normal circumstances decided to stay in the past after the battle was won, hypothetically assuming she'd decided not go to go high school, she most definitely would have at least come back home to let her family know they'd been successful and that she'd decided to spend more time in the past. Would they assume it was possible she was merely stuck there? Would they assume that it was even remotely possible she was alive and well but merely locked away from them? Or would they automatically assume the worst, in that her absence meant that she must be dead? The not knowing was what was tearing her up inside more than anything else. If she had even in passing considered the possibility of maybe becoming trapped in the past, if she had had a talk with her family that it was hypothetically possible the well would close on her and reassured them that in her absence do not fret for surely Inuyasha had protected her and the well had simply closed, then...even then...she would feel a hundred times better about her current situation. But she had never had such a conversation with her family. The possibility of becoming forever trapped in the past against her will had never even once crossed her mind.

And at that point, what hurt the worst, was that she couldn't even honestly say with one hundred percent honesty that she was there against her will. Had Inuyasha confessed his love to her long ago, had she known he loved her as deeply as she loved him, it was very possible she would have indeed decided to stay with him. Never seeing her family again was going to get harder and harder as time went on, she knew, but if she had successfully gone back to the future that one last time then never seeing him again would have put her in the exact same spot...except it would've been even more painful.

Kami, she loved him so much.

And despite her heartache over never seeing her family again and knowing they had to believe her dead, these last few weeks hadn't really been that bad as far as her and Inuyasha were concerned. True to his word, he wasn't trying to force her into anything, letting them take it slowly, letting her come around at her own speed. That patience in and of itself spoke volumes to how much he really did love her, she knew. She was trying to keep her own word and believe him, believe in him, and not let herself be the one to make Kikyou an issue between them if the deceased miko truly wasn't an obstacle from Inuyasha's point of view.

They had gone on several 'dates' by that point, doing something just the two of them almost every single evening. Plenty of times, they simply went for more runs in the forest, just as they'd done while her ankle had still been recovering, except this time there was the simple difference of her knowledge that they weren't 'just friends'. They were 'boyfriend and girlfriend' now and that fact in and of itself made those runs something much different, and much more special. Much more intimate. Instead of just running around for a while and then coming back to Kaede's, Inuyasha had often taken her to a special destination, and usually a different one every time. That he knew of such places...a beautiful field of flowers, a hidden waterfall...seemed amazing to Kagome in and of itself. That he thought to share them with her...it truly took her breath away.

That, and his kisses.

The first time he'd been nervous, she could tell. Neither of them had talked about the kiss they'd shared in Kaguya's castle, and one could argue it didn't really count as a real 'first kiss' under the circumstances. Either way, she had kissed him, and this time, this new first kiss, he had been the one to initiate it. He'd been hesitant, clearly afraid she'd pull back and tell him no, but she'd tamped down the butterflies in her stomach and let him lean in, closing her eyes as he'd closed his, when he'd leaned towards her while they'd sat beside one another on a tall cliff face overlooking the gorgeous valley below. A valley she'd called beautiful, to which he'd replied, “Not as beautiful as you.”

After that, he was a little more confident with his kissing, growing more and more sure of himself every time, although so far all they'd ever done was kiss. And they were gentle kisses, a little more heated than chaste but certainly not what you'd call a passionate make-out session, not that she was disappointed in that fact. She was grateful he wasn't trying to push her into anything else. Even though they were dating now, courting as he called it, he seemed perfectly content to leave any intimacy beyond kissing for when and if she said yes and accepted his proposal, elevating their status to engaged.

It was tempting to give in, not necessarily saying yes but just seducing him into further intimacy. It was so obvious to her that he wanted their intimate moments to continue, and that he was holding back for her sake. Several times, she'd had to stop herself; she'd been the one wanting to take things further, physically, wanting to let her hands wander along his body, and she'd mentally forced herself to stop at those times. That wouldn't be fair to either of them. If she wanted him, physically, then that had to mean she wanted him emotionally, too. She did love him, certainly, and wasn't interested in a purely physical relationship, but if she couldn't let her heart accept him fully without any doubts then she had no business enjoying his body.

A few times, perhaps to remove temptation on both of their parts, he'd actually taken her out to dinner, or at least what passed for the equivalent in that time period. While the local villagers did not usually use money amongst themselves, everyone helping each other, bartering for what they needed, many of the more wealthy families did indeed keep a stock of actual money on hand. Actual coins, which they earned through selling goods of some sort their families produced to sell to a merchant on Market Day. Baskets, lengths of intricately woven fabric, etc. Many of the poorer families in the village had men who worked for the wealthier ones as hired hands, even if they were only paid in food because they hadn't enough land to grow their own food otherwise. Sometimes they were paid with coins, and Inuyasha became one of those workers. He began doing work for the families who could afford to pay him, much like a teenager cutting his neighbor's lawn or shoveling snow to earn some extra cash, Kagome mused. He did several oddball things, including chopping firewood, hunting wild game, performing repairs to their houses like replacing roof shingles if the houses needed it. He'd gone straight to them and told them flat out that he needed to earn himself some coins and whatever they thought for him to do, he'd do it. That the local families of Kaede's village had no qualms with a hanyou hired hand doing a few chores for them just went to show how much they'd all come to respect him as a member of their community nowadays. That he'd actually approached them with such a request to begin with... To Kagome, nothing else screamed of how much he'd matured and grown over the year she'd known him.

With the coins he'd earned, he'd taken her a few times on an extended trip away from the village. Camping alone at night just the two of them was always prevented from becoming awkward by the way he'd immediately retire up into a tree at night, the same as during the quest. Arriving at their destination, the main city of Edo, there were several food vendors along the market streets, and he'd allowed Kagome to pick where she'd wanted to eat. It was the Feudal era's equivalent to a restaurant, and he'd bought her dinner. He'd even apologized there was no 'movie' to go to afterwards, saying they could come back when the traveling stage actors were in town if she wanted to see a play.

That offer had been surprising enough, but nothing had surprised her more and been more romantic in her eyes than the one time he'd taken her out to dinner and whispered across the table to her as they ate their meal, “Happy birthday, Kagome.”

She'd blinked, taken aback, until it'd dawned on her that yes, it was her birthday that day. How she had lost track of the days but he hadn't... They didn't even use the same calendar system! But...she had a small traveling calendar in her backpack. She'd needed it throughout the quest, marking off the days as they went. She'd shown it to him once, long ago, explaining that she'd needed to keep track of what day of the week it was based on the Western seven-day system because of school. He must have looked at the calendar at one point, he must have seen that the special dates, including her own birthday, were marked, and ever since she'd tried and failed to leave their world he must have secretly been keeping track of the days by her calendar.

She couldn't remember if she'd ever actually told him it'd been her birthday the day she'd first fallen down the well. Maybe her mother had told him once. Either way, after wishing her a happy birthday and taking a couple more bites of food, he'd looked nervous but determined, and had then leaned forward again, adding shyly, “And...happy anniversary.”

She'd been caught off guard again, but then she'd smiled, a genuine smile, feeling genuine happiness, as she'd answered, ”Yes...yes it is.”

Besides their outings, he'd also started buying her the occasional gift, and they were infinitely better than any of the off the wall medicinal oddities Hojo had always given her in the past...er...in the future... She sighed. Her past was in the future, and her future was the past. She needed to accept that.

Her boyfriend's thoughtful and thought out gifts went a long way in assisting her with that task.Having accepted despite her lingering depression over it that Kaede's house was her house, now, Kagome had set herself up a private corner in the back she'd claimed as her own, with the elderly miko's full permission and even encouragement. In her corner she kept her meager possessions, which until recently had consisted solely of whatever random items had been in her backpack. She had a tiny compact mirror, for example, which she couldn't even see her entire face in at the same time, but knowing most people in Kaede's village possessed no mirror whatsoever and having gotten at least somewhat used to the tiny thing while out on the shard quest, she'd tried her best to make do. Inuyasha had noticed her dissatisfaction, even though he'd never said anything to her about it. He remembered the large mirror she'd had on the wall in her bedroom. One morning, without much explanation, he'd told her only that he had some things to do, disappearing for over half the day. He'd returned shortly before dinnertime with a plate of polished metal around the size of Kanna's mirror. It wasn't a true mirror, technically, as they were much too expensive in that time period for his meager earnings, but the flat metal dish provided a wonderful reflection, and as an added bonus it wasn't breakable. She had been so touched by his thoughtfulness she'd almost started crying.

That wasn't to say he didn't also bring her frivolous, cliché gifts, because he did. Nearly every other day or so he returned from his morning border patrols with a cluster of freshly picked flowers. Where he'd learned that girls liked receiving flowers she wasn't sure, but she wasn't going to question it, and she certainly wasn't going to ask him to stop. He'd even gotten her a basket to display them in. Kagome was no expert when it came to floral arrangements, but for his sake, to show her appreciation, she tried her best to arrange the blossoms artistically. It was symbolic in its own right, her acceptance of his symbolic gesture. She would never reject him, or the flowers.

He'd also taken Shippou under his wing, teaching the boy how to hunt, and the two had been getting along so well lately that Kagome found she had little use for the subduing rosary. Inuyasha hadn't been 'osuwari'd in nearly the full two months she'd been there. She'd only done it a couple of times in the beginning, and only when he'd tried 'tough love' to snap her out of a crying fit. She'd apologized profusely afterwards each time. She'd even offered to remove the beads again, insisting she knew he didn't need them anymore. He actually hadn't needed them for a very long time but they'd both previously agreed to leave them on for fear they were what had allowed him to travel through the well to her time. Now that neither of them could travel through the well to her time she saw little point in leaving them on. Especially when she might snap and say 'the word' in a fit of anger. He'd told her at the time that the beads could stay, that seeing her angry was better than seeing her depressed, although he'd then also promised to try his best to not piss her off so much so long as she promised to try and stop moping around. They'd both kept their word.

Now, in that moment, as the other occupants of Kaede's hut started to rouse, Kagome found herself less melancholy, more optimistic, ready to face a brand new day.

It was early afternoon, and finished with lunch, our favorite hanyou was lounging on the low branch of a large tree near the edge of the village. His eyes were closed, ears flicking occasionally as they followed the sounds of playing children. Turning, they homed in on the sound of approaching footsteps.

“Inuyasha?”

Coming upon where the hanyou rested, Kagome offered him a shy smile when she caught him grinning down at her as she approached.

“Hey Kagome...” he greeted as he hopped down out of the tree.

“Hi. Umm...can we...go for a walk?” she asked, fidgeting nervously in a way he found too cute for words. “I...want to talk to you.”

That sounds familiar... he thought with an internal chuckle, instantly in an even better mood.

“Sure.”

She couldn't miss the way his eyes brightened at her words, and his happiness put her in an even better mood, herself.

Together, they headed into the woods, remaining at a respectable distance from one another until they were out of sight of the village. Once they were tucked safely away within the treeline, away from prying eyes, Inuyasha reached over and took Kagome's hand in hers. It was a common occurrence by that point, so she wasn't surprised or too flustered by the gesture, and merely clasped his hand in return, giving it a little squeeze.

Figuring he knew where they were headed, Inuyasha was not surprised when they arrived at the Goshinboku, and then releasing Kagome's hand, only to give her some space, he leaned back against the tree, arms crossed, but with a friendly facial expression.

It didn't take the miko long to get her thoughts in order.

“Inuyasha I...I just wanted to say...thank you.” Kagome began. “Thank you for all you've done for me these past few weeks. You don't know how much it means to me. And I don't just mean the flowers and the other gifts, although that is nice, but just...just the way you've been, not snapping at anyone, just being in a good mood all the time...”

She let her words trail off, realizing it sounded kind of lame. She was thanking him for being happy? But he only grinned at her, and offered a friendly “Keh” before stepping away from the tree and dropping his arms to his sides.

“What's there to snap at, when we ain't got no shards to collect and no Naraku to kill? I know I said once that I didn't deserve to feel happy, and at that time I didn't think I did, what with Kikyou suffering at the time, but now that she's at peace, now that means I can be at peace, too.”

He'd tried his best to speak more freely of the dead miko as of late, per Kagome's request, because she simply didn't like the idea of him keeping anything from her, of him bottling any part of himself up inside. If Kikyou really wasn't an issue, then he should be able to talk about her freely, Kagome'd said. Continued reticence would only prove to her that she was an issue.

Kagome exhaled at his words, but it was a relaxing sigh, her smile firmly in place. What he'd said hadn't bothered her in the slightest.

“I'm glad.”

He didn't say anything more, waiting for her to continue, but after a moment, when it didn't seem as if she would say anything else, he finally asked in a gently prodding way, “Was that...all you wanted to tell me?”

Did he sound hopeful?

Well, he was, especially when her smile brightened even more at his question.

“Actually...” she began again, letting the word linger for a moment, before sighing again and coming out with it. “I've decided, Inuyasha, that there's just no way in hell I can stay only friends with you. I love you way too freakin' much.”

He broke out into a huge grin at her words, his fangs poking out in a goofy smile that made her chuckle.

“So...?” he led, wanting to hear her say the words specifically.

“Yes, Inuyasha, I'll marry you.”

A little tiny something in the back of his mind nagged at him that she hadn't included the word 'mate' but he refused to acknowledge that something as he swooped her into a playful embrace, wrapping his arms around her before spinning her around. She exploded into a fit of squealing laughter at the move which only made him laugh as well. If she had agreed to become his wife then he was sure he could get her to agree to become his mate as well.

Fortunately, he didn't have long to contemplate the possibility that she wouldn't want to, when as soon as her giggling died down and he placed her back on her feet again she immediately asked him, “So tell me what all this 'mate' thing is that you were talking about, like it was something separate from marriage.”

He sighed in relief, which she took note of but didn't have time to question as he immediately explained himself at the inquisitive look in her eyes.

“I was worried you wouldn't want to mate me, and would only be my wife. I would marry you in the human way only, if that's all you were willing to give me, but yeah, I'll explain what it means to be mates to inu-youkai.”

She'd already agreed to marry him, and it seemed to him that she'd more or less agreed to be his mate, too, wanting only to know exactly what it was she was agreeing to. That was reasonable, and he would explain. Everything. He already had his answer, that she was willing to be with him. It would be wrong to spring any part of the mating on her as a surprise she hadn't been aware of before actually sealing the deal.

“Mate bonding for inu-youkai is sorta like human marriage, except spiritual and permanent.” he began. “Inu-youkai can be together without being mates, just like humans can be together without being married, but if we choose to claim a mate then we are soul-bonded to that person for our entire lives. It can only be done once, and it can't be undone. Myouga told me long ago that my youki's strong enough to form the bond, and with your reiki unlocked you should actually be able to help, and make our bond even stronger than it would be for a youkai and regular human. With a piece of our souls in each other we'll even be able to feel each other's emotions, to a point. We won't really be able to read each other's minds, but we'll feel each other. Even in the case of most youkai and ordinary humans, tying their lives together causes the human to gain much of the youkai's power. Your senses will increase, you'll heal faster and age slower. Because we will literally be soul-mates, you'll age like I do. Our lives will be tied together. If one of us dies, the other dies, too.”

She opened her mouth to say something at that, but he raised a hand, silencing her.

“This is why mating isn't really that common, because yes, it can be seen as a weakness. Technically, it'll make me more vulnerable. But I want this, Kagome. I want it more than I've ever wanted anything. You won't become a true youkai or hanyou from my youki. You'll still be human, and yeah, that means still easier to kill, but you won't be as easy to kill as you are now. My magic will be in you, protecting you better than I've ever been able to protect you before. You'll heal from things that would have killed you before, and you won't get sick. I won't let anything happen to you, so please don't worry that our bond would put me at risk. I'm dead inside without you, anyway. And I won't be bound to your mortal life, dying when you die of old age, if you were worried about that. Sometimes that's the case with very weak youkai, but Myouga called me a dai-hanyou. Even though I'm half human I'm still way stronger than a lot of full youkai and so I'll definitely be able to match your lifespan to mine. Instead of your mortality dragging me down, you'll be tied to my lifespan. That is...if you're willing to lose your mortality, and have to watch everyone around you age while you stay the same.”

He hated to add that last part, the very reason why most humans refused the bond, but he had to be honest with her. He couldn't sugar coat it and make it sound so very fabulous when there was definitely a negative side.

Kagome absorbed everything he said in silence for a few minutes, her expression thoughtful; he didn't interrupt. Finally, it seemed she'd reached a conclusion, and she lifted her gaze to meet his eyes with a look of confidence in her own.

“You're right, that it'll be difficult watching people, watching our friends, grow old and eventually die, while I'm still young. I hadn't known there was this bonding thing. But...but to learn now that you won't have to watch me grow old and die...how can I possibly deny you that?”

She was smiling widely, and he grinned in return, but still felt he had to say, “Don't just agree for my sake, Kagome. I'd hate for you to regret being stuck with me a couple hundred years from now.”

She only laughed, and wrapped her arms around him.

“Never.” she said, stretching up on her tiptoes to reach his lips.

He met her half way.

Pulling back from the kiss several long seconds later, a look of dawning suddenly sparked to life in Kagome's eyes.

“Wait...do you think...do you think maybe we'd live five hundred years?”

He exhaled slowly, smiling softly, playing with a lock of her hair.

“So long as nothing kills us, we should live for at least a couple thousand years. We'll be old by that time, since I am half human and will eventually die of old age, but yeah, we should definitely make it to your time no problem. We'll probably look around your mom's age.”

Kagome absorbed that bit of information as well.

So, she wouldn't be able to pick up where she'd left off and go to high school as if nothing had happened, just for the sake of keeping up appearances. Not that she probably would've wanted to, anyway. Five hundred years was a long time, after all. 'Kagome Higurashi' will still have disappeared, as far as her school and friends were concerned. In that, nothing had really changed, she supposed. But to be able to at least tell her family what had happened...

As if sensing the direction her thoughts had traveled into, Inuyasha dropped the lock of raven hair he'd been absently playing with and said, “I...I hadn't wanted to tell you, until after you already agreed to be with me, just in case...in case...”

He couldn't quite seem to make himself finish that thought, or look Kagome in the eyes, but he didn't need to. She immediately realized what he meant to say, and her own eyes softened. How could she possibly fault him?

“I can't get angry with you for fearing I might possibly agree to be with you only so that I can see my family again one day. Not when I was afraid you only wanted to be with me to live with Kikyou through me.” Tilting her head to the side, she added, “I am surprised you were worried, though. I thought you said you knew how I felt about you.”

Her tone wasn't really accusing, but it did imply she thought he should've known better.

Humbly, he confessed, “I was afraid.”

Leaning down and giving her a gentle peck on the lips, he added, “Yeah, I knew you loved me, but I also knew you were gonna leave when the quest was over, and so we wouldn't be together. I know you always said you liked me fine as a hanyou, and I wanted to believe that that even meant you'd be willing to be with me as a hanyou, but I never really thought about it too much since I figured it didn't really matter either way. And then the well closed. As soon as you tried it that second time and we knew for a fact you were here permanently, I got nervous, wanting to approach you but also terrified inside that you wouldn't want to be with a hanyou. Especially when you started shying away from me, which I now know was just 'cause of your thoughts about Kikyou.”

Again, Kagome knew she couldn't fault him. They'd both had their insecurities, but the important thing was that all of their insecurities and misunderstandings were behind them, now.

“I guess the well really did know what it was doing, after all. I didn't think I'd be able to say this so soon and actually mean it, but, I'm glad. I'm glad I'm stuck here, with you.”

The look in Inuyasha's eyes heated at her words, and he wrapped his arms back around her, pulling her into another kiss. This one was slightly more intense than the last, but she could still tell he was holding himself back. When they finally pulled apart, he rested his forehead against hers, panting heavily. After catching his breath, he said, “I'm glad, too.”

“I guess we should go tell the headman that we'll need our own house built, as well.”

His eyes sparkled merrily at that, and if Kagome didn't know any better, she'd swear there was a hint of sexual mischievousness in his gaze.

“I can't wait.”

Unlike the last two months, the next few weeks seemed to take forever, or at least that was the case from the perspective of the newly engaged hanyou and miko who were both quite eagerly awaiting the completion of their new house. Inuyasha participated in the building as much as possible, to help expedite the process. In the meantime, the couple still went for plenty of walks in the forest, for some 'alone time', although they still didn't do much more than kissing. Usually. Okay, some 'over the clothes' groping had happened a few times, but that was it. Inuyasha didn't mind waiting until they had a roof over their heads to do anything that involved the removal of clothing. If they were gonna do it, they were gonna do it right, he said.

As the construction on their house got closer to finished, it dawned on the hanyou and miko that the new moon would be coming again before too much longer, and Inuyasha really started to hustle the workers, and himself, to make sure it was finished on time. If the house wouldn't have been ready quite yet it would've messed up their newly formed plans, which wouldn't really have been that big of a deal since it had just been a spur of the moment decision, but when the house did indeed get finished three days prior to the moonless night, hanyou and miko both smirked in triumph.

It had been during some of their 'over the clothes' activities that Kagome had first realized just how...large...a certain part of her fiancé's body really was. She had, albeit playfully, expressed her nervousness, to which he'd shyly assured her they'd go however slowly and carefully she needed to. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her. When he'd first realized the completion of their house might just coincide with his human night, he had actually been the one to ask Kagome if she wanted to take advantage of it being that time of the month, so to speak, consummating their marriage when he was human. He wasn't quite so 'dominating' in that form, and so that way, her body could adjust to his in stages, he'd said. She had been surprised by his suggestion, and had sheepishly admitted the thought had briefly crossed her own mind but that she'd never actually thought of suggesting it for fear he'd get the wrong idea. She did not prefer his human side. She loved him as a hanyou. It almost seemed...wrong, somehow, for her first time, for their first time, to be with him in his human form. But then again, on the other hand, she loved and accepted all of him, and his human form was a part of him, simple as that. One night a month, her hanyou husband would be human, and she would most certainly never shy away from him on those nights. Practically speaking, letting her 'adjust' to him in stages was actually a very good idea. Ultimately, she'd agreed.

Now, as they started getting their house move-in ready, setting up the various pieces of furniture they'd bought at market and bringing in all the little things that had been gifted to them by their friends and some of the other villagers, Kagome was as eager for the moonless night as her husband.

Yes, they were married now, thanks to the village headman making the appropriate log in the village register. It was that time period's equivalent to a courthouse marriage. No wedding ceremony, just sign here. They had a celebratory dinner with all their friends that night, of course, Sango and Miroku once again over at Kaede's. Retiring to their brand new house for the first time after dinner, they did way more than kissing, but they'd still left their clothes on...even though they had reached inside each other's clothing a few times.

They took advantage of the couple of nights remaining before the moonless one to build up their levels of intimacy in steps.

Two nights before the moonless night they braved getting completely undressed, touching each other fully and eagerly with exploring hands as they lied in bed wide awake, facing each other with matching expressions of awe. Instead of Inuyasha only bringing his wife to completion, insisting he was 'fine' when she'd voiced her concern about leaving him hanging, this time, not only could Inuyasha actually see what he was doing as he pleasured Kagome, but she also took full advantage of his equal nudity to touch much more dominantly what she'd only ever before felt in teasing touches over cloth. It was the first time anyone other than himself had ever touched him in such a way, and the only thing that made the experience even more amazing than it already was was the simple knowledge that it was the first of many times.

The night before the new moon, he realized even Kagome's hand, which had already seemed a thousand times better than his own, paled drastically in comparison to her mind numbingly talented mouth. Afterward, once he regained the ability to think and move, Kagome also learned that he was a fast learner, and that his tongue was also quite talented in its own right.

Finally, the night of the new moon was upon them. While he still had his hanyou senses Inuyasha got a head start getting Kagome 'ready' for him. If he'd thought her smell was tantalizing before, it was nothing compared to her taste, and he was damn near addicted to her. Not that she had any complaints. By the time the sun slipped out of sight and he felt the changes consume him, he'd already brought her to orgasm three times. She stared up at him from their futon, panting and sweaty, but no less enthralled, as she watched the metamorphosis wash over him. Finally, when he was human, and not quite as 'impressive' although he was still plenty impressive in her opinion, he lowered himself down to the futon and crawled over her.

True to his word, he went slowly and carefully, not wishing to cause her any more discomfort than necessary. Another benefit of being in his human form was that he lacked any animalistic inu-youkai instincts that would've ordinarily been warring with his human heart, wanting him to pound into her hard and fast. With his human heart the only instinct driving him forward, he was able to much more easily resist the natural temptation to seek his own pleasure. It wasn't as if going slowly was not pleasurable, after all. It was almost torture, she felt so good. Maybe it was because it was also his first time, maybe it was because he was human, or maybe it was a bit of both, but he didn't last nearly as long as he'd wanted. Kagome had no complaints; their night was far from over. Several minutes later, after allowing them both a cool down period, she used that talented mouth of hers to get him ready again.

“We don't sleep during the new moon, remember?” she asked teasingly when he questioned her.

It was true, after all. Even these last couple of months, with Naraku dead, he'd still insisted on staying awake all night long on his human night. He always had, after his mother's death, except for the times during the shard quest when he'd been injured in some way. Those times didn't count. On this night, they took full advantage of staying awake all night long. By the time the eastern horizon started to show the first signs of dawn's approach, Kagome was more than ready to complete the mating.

At first, their rough game plan had been to take a brief nap after he regained his hanyou powers, or at least that he'd let her take a nap, but as the eastern sky got lighter and lighter, Kagome's eyes brightened as well, with a wicked idea.

“Make love to me again.” she said in a sultry request, almost a demand.

“N-now...?” Inuyasha asked, surprised, as he looked up from feeding their fire to gaze out the eastern facing window.

Understanding dawned faster than the morning sun, and he turned back to look her way with an equally wicked smirk.

They were properly in the thick of things as the sun breached the eastern horizon, and Kagome both saw and felt it as her husband regained his hanyou features. They both gasped at the sensation.

While he felt pain more easily in his human form, it really wasn't that his hanyou skin was too thick to register the sensation of touch as well as his thinner, more fragile human skin. For the most part, his skin was just as sensitive to touch as a hanyou, it was just nowhere near as easy to damage. Standing in acid wouldn't hurt, for example, because the acid wouldn't eat away at his skin. But if he really had to describe it, then pain in its raw form felt about the same to him as a hanyou, but it was just that besides being harder to injure, his threshold for tolerating said pain was also much, much higher. Same with hot and cold. Sure, he felt the cold when it was chilly out, it just didn't bother him the same way it did humans. But his touch sensors could still get a shock, even as a hanyou. He was sure Kagome would never forget the time he'd burst into her bedroom wearing nothing but bubbles thanks to her little brother trying to boil him alive. In retrospect, he knew he could've handled the temperature just fine. It obviously hadn't really scalded him, especially if Souta could handle it. But it'd just surprised him. Not to mention the shower in and of itself had been a new, scary experience. Already apprehensive about the foreign contraption, he'd been ready to jump at the slightest thing. Now, in that moment, as he regained his hanyou senses whilst intimately joined with his wife, it was the most vivid experience of a veil being lifted that he'd ever felt. Greater than all of his previous human nights, combined.

Not only could he suddenly see and smell her again, not to mention hear how frantically her heart was pounding, but he could sense her aura with his youki now, and his soul was crying out for its mate. Plus even if touch wouldn't have ordinarily been more or less intense for him, he suddenly had more skin to feel with in the area that mattered most, and that sensation, of growing within her, was something he definitely wanted to repeat on future moonless nights. If the way the girl below him was clutching his shoulders was any indication, she would have no objections.

No words were needed in that moment, the miko having already been briefed during one of their cooling off periods throughout the night on everything she'd need to know to hold up her end of the bargain during the mating process. Ordinarily, Inuyasha could do it all by himself, tying their souls together with the power of his own youki, alone. But he wanted her aura to join in, to merge with his; he wanted her soul to reach out to him and tie him to her, as well. Between youkai partners both people usually contributed to the bonding, unless one were incredibly weaker than the other. It was just that with most youkai/human couples the human would obviously be incapable of participating with their own magical aura, because they had none. Not that youkai/human couples were really all that common to begin with, and especially not mate-bonded pairs, but it did happen. Rarely, once every few centuries or so. It happened often enough that there were ancient texts on the subject Myouga had been able to read, and that was all that mattered to Inuyasha.

He knew the vast majority of hanyou, himself included, were borne from unmated couples, and that had his parents been bonded then his mother would have died when his father died, shortly after his birth. It was yet another reason why it was rarely done, even between youkai. Why risk your children losing both parents instead of only one? But with Kagome it was a risk he was willing to take, because they would not die. Not if he could help it, at least. Not unless they didn't do the bonding, and she left him due to mortality. If that were to happen, he would follow her himself. He wouldn't need a bond to snatch his soul away. He'd create a meidou with Tetsusaiga and leap in after her.

With that last thought in mind, he closed his eyes and started concentrating, even as he started moving his hips a little faster, feeling her adjust to his increased size below him. He didn't have to chant any words or draw on her body with his claws. He most certainly didn't have to draw her blood with a claw or his fangs. She'd asked him if he'd have to bite her neck, and he'd crinkled his nose in disgust, wondering where she'd gotten such an absurd notion. All he had to do was bring his youki to the surface, which came as naturally to him now in regard to what he was doing as it did whenever he needed to use the Sankon Tessou or Hijin Ketsusou, or any of Tetsusaiga's attacks for that matter. It was instinct. His aura did the rest all on its own. He did what Myouga told him to do, and visualized his aura reaching out to hers, lovingly enveloping it in a warm embrace. He wasn't worried about her reiki actually hurting his youki. They'd already merged their powers together before when she'd fired a purifying arrow into his Kaze no Kizu and instead of her arrow nulifying his attack it had made the blast that much stronger, defeating their enemy with both his demonic aura and her purifying one at the same time. It was because of that that Myouga had been so confident from the start that this would work.

As Kagome felt Inuyasha's aura wrapping around her, something that was much easier for her to sense now that her miko powers were fully unlocked, she immediately concentrated on bringing her own powers to the surface, but not in a destructive way. Instead of bringing forth her purifying energy as if to attack an invading demonic force, she concentrated instead on the part of her power that merely sensed demonic auras. Straining for him, almost, as if he were just at the edge of her sensing range, she used their proximity to peer deeply within him, seeking out every last nook and cranny. In what almost felt like his soul hugging hers in a loving embrace, she responded to the sensation, imagining her own soul embracing his back.

She felt it immediately as the bonding started to take effect. She felt it as his essence entered her, almost as if she were being possessed by a spirit, except she wholly welcomed the sensation. She felt him invade her, and she felt it as his strength added to hers, as her senses increased and her body became more physically durable. Instantly, the teeny tiny lingering bit of – not pain but perhaps a tad uncomfortable sensation by that point – was gone, and she felt nothing but pleasure. He had already been inside her body and now he was inside her very heart and soul. They were one.

At the same time, she could feel herself inside of him, in a way. She could feel that she was split, that he was a part of her, or more accurately, that she was a part of him. It was similar to the sensation of when Kikyou had housed a part of her soul, but what had previously left her with an incomplete feeling deep inside herself was now filled up by his piece of soul in return. He was filling the hole in her, no pun intended.

Inuyasha could of course feel their connection as well, and as he realized that Kagome had indeed been able to add to their joining, merging with him even as he merged with her, leading her in a dance she fully participated in, he couldn't help the overwhelming surge of emotion that came over him in that moment. He'd blame it on feeling her emotions as well. That the love he felt for her in that moment was not only the love he felt for her, but also the love she felt for him in return. That was as good an excuse as any as a single tear leaked out of his right eye to land on her left cheek. She gazed up at him in shock, but there were tears glistening in her own eyes as well.

He gave her a sheepish smile, then leaned down and licked the tear from her cheek.

“Now comes the fun part, mate.” he stated huskily, as he immediately began moving his hips again, their lovemaking having temporarily paused as the effects of the bond fully washed over them.

Now, it wasn't really as if they could physically feel what the other was physically feeling, but they were still in tune with each other's emotions, and as Inuyasha started moving faster and faster, Kagome felt like her heart was going to burst not just from the physical sensation, but from the amount of love she felt both for and from him. How could she ever have doubted him? Of course, she'd already come to accept his feelings were genuine or she never would have agreed to even marry him in the first place, let alone do this bonding thing, but when she had agreed and he'd first explained what it would mean to be mate-bonded she'd felt like a fool for her previous insecurities.

There was no point dwelling on the past, though. They had a long, long future to look forward to. In that very moment in time, however, all Kagome could concentrate on were the sensations rushing through her. Kami, he felt so good.

That was about Inuyasha's limit of comprehension at the moment, too, as he felt his release on the approach. Biting his lip to hold it back, he twisted his hips in that special way he'd learned throughout the night. Kagome immediately gasped below him, and it was music to his ears.

She cried out loudly as her release crashed over her, and he immediately followed suit, letting loose a distinctly canine sounding howl. After a moment, when they finally came down from their mutual highs, Kagome found she could do nothing but gaze lovingly up into the eyes that were gazing down into her own. Those eyes drifted shut, as he lowered his mouth to hers. She happily returned the kiss.

Reluctantly pulling back with a sigh when he heard her stomach growl, Kagome giggled at his disappointed expression.

“I may not be completely mortal anymore, but I still need to eat.” she said with a teasing edge.

He quirked his lips in a half-smirk.

“I suppose we've got plenty of time for more kisses after getting some breakfast.” he acknowledged, as he pulled back, up and out of his wife.

Sitting up beside him, Kagome reached over and took his hand into hers, giving it a little squeeze.

“We've got plenty of time,” she emphasized, “for everything.”

Gazing fondly at the bare spot that marred the surface of the Goshinboku, Kagome reached over and cupped her mate's hand with her own, lacing their fingers together. The black-haired Inuyasha cast the miko a sidelong glance, his dark eyes reflecting the true happiness and peacefulness he felt. He wasn't the same brash young hanyou he'd used to be, incapable of expressing his joy in simple things, or the love he felt for his wife.

“Are you ready for this?” he asked her softly.

The mature woman beside him turned her head and gave him a fond smile.

“I've been ready for five hundred years.”

They both turned as they heard the soft footsteps of somebody approaching from across the yard.

“Hello, and welcome.” Mrs. Higurashi stated as she approached the two new visitors to the shrine. “Are you interested in hearing the story of the Goshinboku tree?”

“Oh, we're quite familiar with its story.” the gentleman answered, causing Mrs. Higurashi to unconsciously tilt her head in curiosity. Why did these two people look so familiar? Had they been to the shrine before and she'd already told them the story? How embarrassing for her to not remember!

“Oh, excuse me.” She bowed. “Have you patronized our shrine before?”

It was the woman who answered this time.

“Oh, we used to come here all the time, although we haven't been here for several years now.”

Now Mrs. Higurashi was really curious.

“May I ask why you have stayed away?”

The woman smiled kindly, her expression soft and warm.

“Time conservation.”

Mrs. Higurashi felt an uneasiness begin to grow in the pit of her stomach.

“I'm sorry?”

“We could not return until after your daughter's last trip through the well.”

Mrs. Higurashi felt her knees growing weak. Kagome had just left to go back to the past yesterday, after graduating junior high. She'd gotten the feeling it was rather urgent. Their dreaded enemy was upon them, she'd said. Glossing over how these two people could have possibly known about the well, her thoughts lingered on one thing specifically.

“Last trip...?”

It was the man who spoke again this time, as he stepped forward and gently cupped Mrs. Higurashi's upper arm when he noticed her unstable appearance. Tenderly, he looked into her eyes.

“Do not fear, Higurashi-san,” he told her reassuringly, “Kagome does not die.”

She definitely relaxed at those words, but with that fear alleviated other thoughts began to dominate in her mind.

“But how...” Her words trailed off as she shifted her gaze back and forth between these two people. They looked awfully familiar, and to know about Kagome? To know about the time portal?

She swallowed.

“Are you...are you two descendent...?”

“No, although you have many descendants.” the woman answered, her eyes sparkling. Her lips curled up in an amused smile. “Fortunately, there's no crazy paradox like a descendant is also an ancestor. That would've been a little too weird, even for me.”

Kagome had first made the joke with her husband when they'd come across a humorous American poem on the Internet called 'I am my own grandpa.'

The miko shook her head, continuing.

“Although, it turns out, we are descendent of Sango and Miroku. I never would have guessed.”

Mrs. Higurashi's eyes got huge. She had always been pretty quick on the uptake.

“K-Kagome?!”

The woman smiled and nodded, and in two seconds found herself embraced by a teary-eyed Mrs. Higurashi. Kagome's mother had immediately figured out what must have happened, from their talk of her daughter's last trip through the well, descendants and ancestors. How she was actually still alive after all this time she didn't fully understand, but chalked it up to demonic magic of some sort courtesy of the man standing beside her.

Pulling back from the hug, she sniffled in the man's direction.

“Inuyasha...?”

He smiled, showing a fangless mouth. “Yup.”

“How...?”

He wasn't sure if she was referring to his current appearance or Kagome's presence, or both, so he decided to answer both. “This...” He grabbed a lock of his black hair. “Is just an illusion.” He released his hair and gestured back and forth between Kagome and himself. “This is thanks to inu-youkai mate bonding.”

Mrs. Higurashi grinned at that, and looked back Kagome's way.

“And I have many descendants, ne?” she asked, a teasing edge to her voice.

The five hundred year old miko, who as Inuyasha had predicted appeared about the same age as her mother, did not blush, but smiled kindly. “Many many descendants, most of whom are still alive.” Kagome answered.

“Well...clearly you two have a place of your own, but you are most definitely staying for dinner tonight, young lady. I want to hear all about my grand kids!”

Kagome only laughed, shaking her head fondly at the 'young lady' remark. “Of course we'll stay. We have a lot of catching up to do.”

Mrs. Higurashi helped ease her father-in-law into the news so that Kagome's Jii-chan wouldn't have a heart attack. He accepted the news rather well, all things considered, stating something about the kami and destiny. Souta exploded into saying how awesome it was, asking the centuries old couple hundreds of questions. Kagome had forgotten how energetic her little brother could be. In fact, she'd forgotten a lot of the little details, and even had to refamiliarize herself with the layout of the house. Five hundred years was a long time, after all. But she had fond memories of her family, and even though she wasn't the same Kagome she used to be, she was glad to again be in their company. The most important thing had not been for her to see them again, but for them to see her again. She had done it for them, and it had been the right decision.

Over dinner that night the hanyou and miko told her family about their own, new family, and the many generations of 'grand' Mrs. Higurashi now had in the way of grand kids. And yes, most of them had Inuyasha's 'cute' ears, they told her when she asked. Laughing, the hanyou removed his concealment charm so Kagome's mother could see the ears she and her daughter both loved so much. Souta said it was weird seeing him in 'normal' clothes, that the old him was 'cooler' for being archaic, but he made it up to the boy by informing him he was now much better at video games. That earned an excited noise from the ten-year-old.

They explained how, after the final battle with Naraku and the purification of the sacred jewel, the well had closed, leaving Kagome forever trapped in the past. Omitting the foolish drama of their youth, they then said how they had married and also mate-bonded, thus enabling Kagome to age as slowly as her hanyou husband. They explained how they'd discovered hanyou in their hybrid state were sterile, but that since Inuyasha had more or less mastered maintaining his sanity while in his full-youkai form, something Kagome had been able to help him perfect with her calming influence, they had been able to have true hanyou children. If the timing had worked out properly in regard to Kagome's own bodily schedule then they would have had human children from his human nights, but that was not the case. With some of their children and grandchildren, however, they did indeed have a few lines of purebred humans. They kept tabs on those descendants from the shadows, but after so many generations, those humans no longer knew they had youkai ancestry. It was best to keep it that way.

Most of their line were still demonic, they explained. Some were even pureblooded youkai, from a hanyou-turned-youkai child of theirs marrying a full youkai. They said they could make arrangements for a family reunion of sorts, for Mrs. Higurashi to meet everybody. All of their children knew the story that their miko mother had originally been from the future. They all knew they had a grandmother, great-grandfather and young uncle to meet, once the timeline came full-circle.

Mrs. Higurashi, Jii-chan and Souta all said they were looking forward to the reunion. Jii-chan even joked that he wouldn't throw ofuda at anybody.

Discussing what to do regarding high school, her old friends, and 'Kagome Higurashi's' pending disappearance from their world, Kagome and Inuyasha assured her family that they'd already worked out the perfect plan to take care of the situation once and for all. 'Kagome' would need to be pulled out of high school. With Shippou's help, they were going to pretend that she and Inuyasha were cousins of the family that lived far away at a remote shrine, a place they'd say Kagome had already gone to on a few occasions. They'd say it was their belief that life in the big city was what was contributing to her many illnesses, and that once she was far away in fresh air and the peace of nature, Kagome was much healthier. For this reason, they would say they'd decided she needed to move there permanently. Shippou was a master illusionist and they'd already been practicing. He could portray her teenage-self flawlessly, so that 'Kagome' could say goodbye to her friends, and make whatever other appearances might be necessary, if somebody from the school board needed to speak with them. Doing it this way, her family would be off the hook.

Mrs. Higurashi said it was a fabulous plan, and that she was grateful they had thought of something so perfect. She was also looking forward to meeting the kitsune boy she'd heard so much about, even though he was no longer a child.

“I'm proud of you, Kagome, and the woman you've become.”

Kagome felt her eyes tearing up at her mother's words, but no tears actually fell as she pulled the younger woman who would always be her mother into a tight embrace.

That night, as Kagome and Inuyasha spent the night in her old childhood bedroom, not having had the heart to decline her mother's offer for them to spend the night, they took in the nostalgia with whimsical adoration. Inuyasha had nearly forgotten what her old scent had smelled like, and he found it a pleasant odor to fall asleep with, for old time's sake. Pulling her to him as they spooned on the small bed, he told her huskily that he greatly preferred her new scent, however. The combined scent of the two of them mixed together that marked her as his. Smelling her 'innocent' scent permeating from the bedding was making him horny. She laughed.

“Horn dog.” she teased.

“You wouldn't have me any other way.”

“Damn straight.”

Rolling over, she met his lips with her own, but it was brief and chaste.

“Not in my mother's house.”

His ears folded back and he whimpered quietly, which earned a chuckle from her and a light slap on his chest.

“No,” she insisted playfully, “but I'll make it up to you as soon as we get home.”

“I'm gonna hold you to that.”

She smiled.

“I wouldn't have it any other way.”