Welcome to Gaia! ::

Here's the second chap. Enjoy!

YoukaiLuvr, aka Trekker4life

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Why?

Chapter 2

Kaji was playing on the outskirts of Akiko, his adoptive village. While collecting smooth stones from the silt on the edge of the nearby river, his tanuki-youkai nose caught the scent of human blood. A lot of it. He debated going back to the village and getting his okaa-san, but his natural little boy curious mind got the better of him and he followed the river a bit farther downstream to find the source of the smell.

He found it in the form of a young human woman who had been apparently washed up on the riverbank, probably courtesy of the strong current. She was dressed in the weirdest kimono Kaji had even seen – green and white in color and way too short – but that was secondary to the fact that her outfit was covered in blood.

Her deep black hair was covering her face as she lay on her side. Kaji’s sensitive ears could pick up the faint sounding of her breathing and he couldn’t smell death on her, at least, not yet. But that would change very quickly if he didn’t go get some help. Turning on his heel, he ran back to Akiko as fast as he could, calling for his okaa.

*****************

A weird fog surrounded her, blocking out all familiarity with her environment, threatening to lead her astray. Astray from where, she did not know, but she knew that she must get there, somehow. If only this fog wasn’t so thick! She blinked her eyes, as if trying to clear them….

******************

As Kaji and his mother looked on, the girl laying on the futon stirred ever so slightly, and her eyes fluttered open. “How are you feeling?” asked the elder woman. “Ngh,” answered the girl, “I’ve definitely been better, but I’m okay. I’m guessing I have you two to thank for that?”

“You actually have my son, Kaji, to thank,” said the woman, “He found you washed up on the river bed yesterday. He came and got me; we brought you back here and bandaged you up.” Turning her head to look at Kaji, the girl smiled genuinely and thanked him. Then a thought struck her. “Wait a minute, you said he’s your son? But he’s a full-blood tanuki-youkai, and you’re a miko,” she finished, noting the lady’s red and white miko outfit.

“That’s right,” said the lady, laughing a bit, “He is my adopted son. His parents were killed trying to defend this village from some renegade demons. Oh, where are my manners? My name is Mai, and of course you’ve already met Kaji.” The girl on the futon tried to sit up and felt the large shock of pain shoot through her due to the still-severe wound on her chest. She lay back down and said “My name is Kagome.”

“Where do you hail from?”

“Tano village.”

“Tano?” Mai was surprised. “That’s about 3 days’ journey on horseback from here. What are you doing so far from home?”

Kagome shifted a bit to get more comfortable, then began her explanation.

-- My friends – Inuyasha, a inu-hanyou; Miroku, an houshi; Sango, a taijya; Shippou, a kitsune youkai; and Kirara, a bi-neko youkai – and I were fighting a b*****d of a hanyou called Naraku for possession of the Shikon-no-tama. He was putting up quite a fight. We were reaching our limit. I fired an arrow to save Inuyasha, but when I did, I was distracted, and I didn’t see one of Naraku’s tentacles right behind me. It hit me through the chest and I wasn’t able to get off. Inuyasha and the others couldn’t attack for fear of hitting me, but Naraku could attack without risk. So, basically, Naraku was going to kill my friends and I couldn’t do anything about it. Except one thing. I took what miko energy I had left and formed it into an attack to bring him down. But it wasn’t enough, so I had to add my life energy to it. The last thing I remember is taking a small amount of energy and forming a shield around my friends to protect them from the blast. Then I woke up here. --

“I’ve heard of Naraku. Everyone who tries to resist or stand up to him is destroyed, except for this one rag-tag group of demon-slayers. You’re telling me you’re part of that group? And that you fought Naraku?” Mai said, “And beat him?”

“Yes,” answered Kagome simply, “We’ve been tracking him and the Shikon-no-kakera down for over 3 years now. It feels good to finally be rid of him. I really need to get back home; I don’t even know if my barrier worked or not. If it did, my friends are probably worried sick.” Kagome tried to get back up suddenly, only to be stopped by the pain in her chest and by Mai.

“You’re not going anywhere for about the next 10 days. You just got stabbed straight through the chest, depleted your miko energy, and nearly exhausted your life energy all in a matter of minutes. No matter how powerful he or she is, no human could recover in less time. I’m surprised you even survived the experience itself! After those ten days, as long as you are able to ride a horse without much pain, I will take you to Tano.”

“Thank you, Mai,” said Kagome, bringing up a hand to try unsuccessfully to stifle a huge yawn. “Go back to sleep, Kagome,” Mai said, smiling, “I will wake you in a few hours so you can eat something.” Kagome settled back down, nodded, and was fast asleep nearly as soon as her head hit the pillow.

The next ten days passed quickly, but not quite fast enough for Kagome’s taste. She was anxious to return to the village and see how the others had fared. During that time, however, she became good friends with Mai and Kaji, who reminded her a lot of herself and Shippou. She also met a few of the others in the village, such as Yukito and Ritsuko, a young married couple whom she learned had helped to care for her while she was unconscious that first day.

Nevertheless, she was still extremely happy when on the evening of the ninth day Mai told her they’d be leaving out the next morning with Kaji, leaving the village in the care of Yukito and Ritsuko. Wearing one of Ritsuko’s borrowed kimonos (Mai’s were much too short for her), Kagome mounted a beautiful, strong stallion, while Mai and Kaji rode on a chestnut mare. Kagome noticed how pale her horse’s coat was: such a light silver it was almost white. Hmm, she thought, that’s almost the same color as Inuyasha’s hair. I hope he’s okay...

*******************

The trip back was rather uneventful; the few demons stupid enough to try to attack them taken down with a sacred arrow or two from either Mai or Kagome, who had borrowed a set from one of the men in the village. Kagome’s heart soared as, on the afternoon of the third day, they came to the edge of Inuyasha’s Forest. “Come on! We’re almost there!” she shouted, urging her horse faster; Mai did the same behind her.

Coming to the outskirts of town, Kagome reigned in her horse, with Mai following suit. Dismounting, she turned to the other miko. “Mai, if you ask around for a man named Eriol, he can help you find a place to stay the night before you head back to Akiko. I would help you myself, but I need to check on my friends.”

“Understandable, Kagome. Thank you. Now, go see to your friends.”

“Right.” Kagome turned to go further into the village, but Mai’s voice stopped her. “Oh, and one more thing – when you see Inuyasha, be sure to tell him how you feel, okay?” Kagome blushed and nodded; then headed straight for Kaede’s hut.

Kagome stopped at the bamboo curtain entrance, uncertain as to what she would be facing when she stepped inside.

“Sango! Lemme go!”

Shippou’s voice rang out from the hut, startling Kagome. She froze, waiting to hear what he was hollering about before entering. “Sango! Why don’t you believe me? Come on, I’m the one with a demon nose, here! I know I smell her! Just let me go and I’ll go get her and bring her back!” Kagome stood there, bewildered. Who was he yelling about? Her answer came in Sango’s reply. “Shippou, I believe you, but you’ve smelt her before these past two weeks and it hasn’t turned out to actually be her!”

“Sango! This time her scent’s much stronger than the other times, it’s gotta be her! It’s just gotta be!” Hearing the desperate plea in Shippou’s voice was too much for Kagome and she stepped inside. The hut had only three occupants at the time: Sango, Shippou, and Kirara; the only one to notice Kagome at first was Kirara, who let out a very happy “mew” and jumped on her shoulder to nuzzle her check.

Shippou and Sango froze. They looked up to see Kagome standing there with an obviously happy Kirara on her shoulder. “Kagome!” cried Shippou, who launched himself at her. She caught him in her arms easily and held him tight. “See, Sango! I told you it was her! I told you!” he cried, still sobbing happily in Kagome’s arms. Kagome looked up at Sango and smiled. “Heh, it’s me.” Sango was in shock. “How? There’s no way. Just no way this could be real.”

“Sango, it’s me, I swear,” said Kagome, “You want proof? How about this – the night before we fought Naraku you and I were at the hot-springs and you told me that you actually liked a certain lecherous hou-” That was all it took, for the next thing to happen was a loud squeal from Sango and she tackled, er, hugged, Kagome – hard.

Sango’s scream caught the attention of Miroku and Kaede, who had been attending to a family nearby. They ran into the hut. “Sango,” called Miroku, “What’s wrong?” Sango, practically jumping up and down with excitement, met him at the door.

“Oh, Miroku! Nothing’s wrong! Something’s finally right!”

“Sango, what are you talking about?” Her behavior was explained to Miroku and Kaede when she moved out of the way and revealed the person still holding Shippou and Kirara.

“Kagome!” was their simultaneous cry, both of shock and of joy. The fact that Sango, Shippou, and Kirara all believed it was Kagome and that neither Miroku nor Kaede could sense anything evil about her aura was all they needed to believe it for themselves. Kagome nearly disappeared beneath the flurry of hugs from Miroku and Kaede, as well as renewed hugs from the others.

“Hahaha, guys, that’s enough! I need to breathe, ya know!” cried Kagome, still laughing and crying right along with everyone else. The others backed off a bit, allowing Kagome a better look around the modest hut. Sango, Shippou, Miroku, Kirara, Kaede, wait, she thought, where’s Inuyasha? “Uh, guys, not that I’m not happy to see you or anything, but where’s Inuyasha? He should have caught my scent by now.”

This question brought on a sea of answers from Miroku, Sango, and Shippou; only one problem though: they were all talking at the same time.

“You have to understand -”

“He-we thought you were -”

“Took him two weeks -”

“The well -”

“Hasn’t been the same -”

“Whoa, whoa, hold on a sec!” said Kagome, raising her voice slightly to be heard over their voices and lowering it again once they stopped, “Now, one at a time, tell me what happened and where is Inuyasha?” Miroku and Shippou both looked at Sango with expressions that clearly said, “You tell her, I don’t wanna.” Sango took a deep breath, and then told Kagome what had happened while she was gone.

“After the dust cleared right after the blast that destroyed Naraku, we saw that the battlefield had been leveled – all except for the area protected by your shield and the jewel was just lying on the ground where Naraku had been. The past two weeks have been spent healing our injuries from the battle. Inuyasha just hasn’t been the same since then, Kagome; just moping about, not doing much of anything. I mean, he hasn’t picked a fight with Shippou once in two weeks!” she said, with an incredulous look on her face, even though she had seen it for herself. Then she remembered something else. “Oh…my…gosh, youhavetogostophim!”

Kagome was a bit startled at Sango’s exclamation. “Stop him from what?” Miroku picked up the story from there. “You must remember, as far as we knew, you had been killed along with Naraku. He left a few minutes before you arrived to travel through the well in order to deliver news of your fate to your family. It took him these two weeks to gather enough courage to do that, so if you hurry, you still might be able to catch him.”

Kagome’s eyes had slowly widened throughout Miroku’s explanation and she passed Shippou and Kirara to Sango. Stepping to the door, she called back, “I’ll be back soon, with Inuyasha!” then walked out of the hut and nearly ran the entire way to the Bone-Eater’s Well.

************************

Kagome finally stopped at the edge of the clearing that housed the well, leaning against a tree for support. She had gained plenty of endurance over the last few years while traveling in the Feudal Era, but her wounds hadn’t healed completely yet and that combined with having been more or less bedridden for most of the last two weeks had depleted her stamina.

She looked up towards the well to see Inuyasha standing over it, hands on the edge. He was muttering to himself, and seeing as how she was downwind of him, she could hear every word he said while he didn’t immediately notice her presence.

“Why! That’s all I want to know. Dammit, Kagome! Why did you have to go and martyr yourself like that? Did you ever stop to think about what we would be like without you? Miroku hasn’t groped anyone – even Sango! – in weeks! He’s been too busy comforting her – Sango’s been trying to keep up a brave face for Shippou, but I’ve heard her at night; she cries her eyes out in Miroku’s arms.

“Shippou? He’s…. Not himself. Hasn’t pulled any pranks or called me idiot or stupid or anything. Just sits there, not doing much of anything. Kirara isn’t much better, except that she tries to cheer up Sango, and it works – to a point. Kaede was hit hard by the news, too. She seems to be moving slower lately, still going about her duties, but without as much enjoyment as she used to.

“And me…. Did you ever think about me? I admit, I didn’t give you much reason to, but still…. I couldn’t hear what you said, but I could read your lips, just before the explosion.”

Kagome gasped at this. He knows what I said? I was kind of hoping he wouldn’t have noticed, considering what his decision must be about the jewel and the future... Despite what she thought about that, she continued listen as she stepped away from the tree and walked towards him.

“Kagome…. I wish you were here or at least that the jewel hadn’t been purified so I could wish you back. I’d do it in a heartbeat, you know that?”

Kagome froze. What? He’d really do that? No, he loves her, he can’t possibly care for me as more than a companion…eh, can he? She regained her composure and crossed the last few feet between them in a couple of steps. “Inuyasha.”

“Keh, great, now see what you’ve done to me? I’m hearing things!” Slightly annoyed that he didn’t even turn around at her call, she placed her hand on his shoulder and said, a bit more forcefully, “Inuyasha.” His head snapped up, and he whipped around to face her. “K-Kagome?”

“It’s me, Inuyasha.” He backed up until his calves hit the well, shaking his head the entire way, sending his silver hair flying. “No, you can’t be – she’s gone!” Kagome took a step toward him. “Inuyasha, it is me! Miroku and the others believe me, what do I have to do to have you do the same?”

Then she got an idea and smiled. “Inuyasha, stay right there, ‘kay?” she said. Taking about five steps backwards to get out of the danger zone, she said “Sit boy!” He didn’t have any time to react as the rosary’s spell took hold and pulled him down into his characteristic face-plant. Kagome just stood back, waiting for his reaction.

It came sooner than she expected; later it would occur to her that perhaps this meant that he was becoming used to the affects of the rosary, but at the moment, that was the furthest thing from her mind….

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Well, that's Chapter 2. I'll post the rest later, possibly tonight - I gotta get ready for work.

YoukaiLuvr, aka Trekker4life

Here's chapter 4.

YoukaiLuvr, aka Trekker4life


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Why?

Chapter 4

Several days had passed since Mai and Kaji left to go back to Tano, and tonight was exactly three weeks since they had defeated Naraku. Also, since Kagome’s return, Inuyasha hadn’t left her side, except for personal reasons – the small lump he had received from a thrown rock when he had initially refused to leave her alone for her usual bath with Sango was a painful enough reminder that she did need some private time – and the same was true of Miroku and Sango.

The mood at dinner was both cheerful and somber at the same time. They were celebrating the three-week anniversary of Naraku’s downfall, yet were also reminded of what it nearly cost them, and what it could have cost them without her sacrifice. However, overall it was a happy affair, as if the inhabitants of the village and the heroes just wanted to put the whole bloody mess behind them.

Inuyasha left the party early, not really used to crowds; at least, not used to happy crowds – his forte was dealing mobs, particularly angry mobs. Not too long after, Kagome excused herself as well, saying she was tired and was calling it a night.

The others saw through her white lie; it was rather obvious what she was really going to do, considering she had been spending nearly all of her time with a certain hanyou….

Finding Inuyasha was an easy task; he was seated in the Goshinboku, as usual. She walked underneath it and looked up. Inuyasha caught her gaze, jumped down, and, as he had done nearly every night since her return, picked her up and jumped back into position in the Goshinboku.

She settled down against his chest, his head falling on top of hers.

It’s amazing how easily something can become a habit, she mused.

“Kagome?” he asked, his voice low.

“Yeah?”

“What’s been bugging you lately?” he said, a bit of concern leaking into his voice. “I’ve seen you spacing out several times in the last three days and to be honest, it’s sorta creepy.”

Kagome giggled. She could creep out the mighty Inuyasha? The idea would be hilarious if she didn’t know that he always spoke the truth around her now; well, tried to, at least.

“You find that funny, wench?” he growled, annoyed. Kagome just smiled; the use of the once offensive term had somehow been caught up in the upheaval of the last three weeks until it was no longer an insult, but rather a pet name of sorts.

“Sort of,” she said, returning his truthfulness. “It’s just I never thought I’d be the one to actually creep you out.”

He laughed and she felt the vibrations through her entire body.

“Yeah, neither did I,” he said. “Now, tell me what’s wrong.”

She sighed, then slowly complied.

“Well, I…I want to try to go through the well. In the morning.”

“Okay,” he said slowly. “But you’ve done that hundreds of times before. Why would it bother you now?”

She put her head down.

“The jewel’s whole,” she said simply.

Inuyasha furrowed his brow, confused for a moment, then he understood.

“You’re afraid the jewel won’t allow you passage through anymore.”

“Yeah,” she said. “Or worse, it’ll let me through, but only once. One-way trip to the future. But I have to try. I haven’t seen my family in three weeks and they’re probably freaking out by now.”

“I understand,” he said, turning her around so that she faced him. “And I want to go with you.”

“But Inuyasha,” she said. “What if it’s a one-way trip, and you can’t get back to this time?”

“I don’t care,” he said. “I want to be with you, Kagome, no matter what time we’re in. This past week has been incredible – I’ve never been happier – and I never want that to end.”

He took a deep breath before continuing; lifting her chin with a crooked finger to make sure she was looking at him.

“Kagome, will you marry me? Become my mate?”

Kagome’s hand flew to her mouth. Did he just... He did! Her heart leapt with joy.

“Kagome?” Inuyasha asked, uncertainly.

Apparently she had taken a bit too long to respond. She decided to remedy that, immediately.

“Of course I will, Inuyasha! Of course I’ll be your mate!”

Before the words were out of her mouth, her arms were around his neck, her face at his shoulder.

Her reaction evidently caught him off-guard, because they nearly fell out of the tree.

“Really?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said, smiling at him. “Really, truly, I will be – no, I want to be – your wife and mate.”

“And I’ll become your mate and husband,” he said, smiling as well. “And you’re not getting rid of me anytime soon; that means I’m coming with you to see your family.”

Touched by what had just happened and happy beyond belief, Kagome settled back down in Inuyasha’s arms, only this time she was laying nearly chest-to-chest with him, instead of chest-to-back.

“I love you, you know,” he said just after yawning.

“Yeah,” she said, yawning as well. “I love you too.”

Not five minutes later, the pair was yet again sound asleep in each other’s arms.

-.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.-


The next morning, Inuyasha and Kagome walked in for breakfast an hour after sunrise to find the others already eating.

“And what may I ask has you two up so late?” asked Miroku, his typical lecherous grin on his face at the thought – until his was whacked with the edge of Hiraikotsu and the face of Tetsusaiga.

A red lump appeared on the side of his head right next to a red handprint – evidently he couldn’t keep his hands to himself, even for a few more weeks.

Ignoring the monk’s predicament, Kagome grabbed a bowl of porridge and sat down next to Sango, who still hadn’t cooled off completely from Miroku’s actions.

“Hey, Sango,” she said, “Do you want to walk down to the river with me to wash up after breakfast?”

Sango swallowed the bite in her mouth. “Sure.”

Once they finished their meals, they grabbed their washing supplies, threatened the guys with ‘sits’ and Hiraikotsu if they dared to follow – “We need some girl-time!” – then left the hut.

Once they got to river, Sango turned to Kagome.

“Okay, spill.”

Kagome just looked at her. “Huh?”

“Spill it! What happened between you and Inuyasha last night?”

Kagome had been grinning like crazy while Inuyasha had a self-satisfied smirk plastered on his face all throughout breakfast and it had been driving Miroku and Sango crazy during the entire meal.

“Oh,” said Kagome, “Well, first off, you should know that Inuyasha and I are going to try to go through the well around lunch today.”

“Understandable,” said Sango.

“But there’s something else,” Kagome said.

Sango just looked at her, the unasked question on her face. Kagome continued.

“The well may not open at all or it could be a one way trip.”

Comprehension dawned on Sango’s face. “Oh,” was all she could say.

“I almost don’t want to go because I may not be able to get back,” said Kagome. “But I want to see my family. Besides, what Inuyasha said to me last night more than makes up for the risk, I think.”

That piqued Sango’s interest, big time. “What did he say?”

Kagome just grinned again. “Well, he said that he’s going with me to the modern era, because he doesn’t want to be without me.”

Sango’s jaw dropped. “Inuyasha – our Inuyasha – said that?”

Kagome nodded. “And that’s not all.”

“Well, what else?”

Kagome laughed at Sango’s impatience. “Well, he, he asked me to marry him. And I said yes, of course.”

Sango squealed with joy. “Oh, Kagome!” she cried. “That’s wonderful!”

Kagome just smiled. Sango was incredibly happy for her best friend – Inuyasha had waited long enough, too long in her opinion, to decide which miko truly held his heart – and after the events of the final battle, the two of them deserved some happiness.


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Inuyasha, Miroku, and Shippou were the only ones left in the hut – Kaede had already left to make her usual morning rounds – when they heard Sango’s squeal.

“Sango!” cried Miroku, turning to run out of the hut, only to trip over Inuyasha’s proffered foot, reddening his face even further.

“She ain’t in trouble, bouzo,” said Inuyasha, very calmly.

He was standing up, leaning against the wall of the hut, his foot and leg still stuck out slightly to catch Miroku.

Tucking his arms further into his haori sleeves, Inuyasha just smirked and said, “Kagome must’ve told her.”

“Huh?” said Shippou, who was currently attempting to pull the houshi up from ground; the size difference between the two made this a bit difficult.

“Ugh, thanks for the ‘trip’, Inuyasha,” said Miroku, grimacing. “But what must have Kagome told Sango?”

“Keh, only that I proposed to her and she accepted,” he said, still in that very un-Inuyasha-like calm.

The looks on the faces of Miroku and Shippou were priceless.

Silence was the only sound throughout the hut until Shippou burst out “’Bout time! What took you so long!”

Inuyasha blinked at his outburst – that was very unexpected coming from little kit.

“I’d like to say that I feel the same way, Inuyasha,” said Miroku, who was now grinning like the idiot he could be. “It’s about time.”

“There’s a bit of a catch though,” said Inuyasha, unfolding his arms and coming over to sit down beside the other two.

“Kagome and I will be going through the well to visit her family before lunch, but with the jewel completed, there’s no telling how the well will react.”

Miroku seemed to understand the implied meaning of this statement first. “Ah, so there’s a chance the two of you may not return from the modern era.”

Inuyasha nodded.

“I don’t want you two to leave!” cried Shippou. “I want you to stay here with me!”

Inuyasha looked at him, eyes softening slightly. I know, kid, I know. “Miroku, do me a favor, wouldja?”

The monk nodded.

“You and Sango look after Shippou if we can’t make it back.”

“Of course, Inuyasha.”


-.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.-


The girls returned shortly and all too soon the time came for the trip to the future. Kagome and Inuyasha tried to not make a big deal out of it – after all, there really wasn’t any reason to not think that the well wouldn’t work both ways – but the others came along anyway.

Once they arrived at the well, Kagome turned to Sango.

“After we go through, we’re going to come right back. If we’re not back within an hour or two, most likely the well doesn’t work.”

Sango nodded and opened her arms to catch Shippou as he jumped from Kagome’s arms. Kagome walked back over to Inuyasha, who was waiting right next to the well.

They said goodbye, Inuyasha put his arm around her waist, then they jumped.


-.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.-


When Inuyasha and Kagome entered the well, the time slip opened for them and surrounded them in the familiar blue lights. After crossing over, they looked up to see a wooden roof instead of white clouds and blue sky; they had made it to the modern era.

Inuyasha tightened his grip on Kagome, then jumped out of the well into the well-house proper.

“Well, we’re here. Do you want to try going back?”

Kagome looked up at him. “Yeah. It’ll drive me crazy if I don’t know whether or not the well works both ways.”

They turned around and jumped back in the well. Once again, the blue lights swirled around them and when their feet were back on solid ground, they looked up to see an incredibly blue sky instead of a layer of dark brown wood. Kagome relaxed against him in relief.

“It worked! The well works! Oh, thank Kami….”

“Kagome!”

They looked up to see a small ball of red fluff falling toward them. Kagome reached up and caught Shippou before Inuyasha had a chance to smack him.

“It worked! You’re back!” he cried, giving her as big a hug as his little arms could. Kagome laughed right along with him.

“Yeah, it did. Hey, can you do me and Inuyasha a favor?” Shippou nodded and Kagome continued.

“Tell Miroku, Sango, and Kaede that Inuyasha and I will be back in about a week, ‘kay?”

“Okay,” he said, hopping down from her arms and scrambling back up the sides of the well to wave to them from the top as they jumped up and back down through to the future.


-.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.-


Inuyasha and Kagome walked out of the well-house to a bright, sunny afternoon where the shrine grounds were pure white with a coating of as yet untouched snow. Making the first tracks through the snow, they walked to the house and entered through the back door into the kitchen.

“Nee-san!” hollered Souta as he came barreling around the corner. “You’re home! And Inuyasha-nii-san, too!”

Kagome couldn’t help but laugh; they had evidently caught his attention in the middle of dressing – his pants were on as was his belt, but the latter wasn’t buckled, and his shirt was only halfway on and backwards to boot.

“Hai, Souta,” she said, “We’re back. But shouldn’t you be at school?” Souta looked at her like she was crazy.

“Iie, it’s Saturday, or did you forget?” Kagome and Inuyasha just looked at each other.

“Oh,” she said. “I must have lost track of time. Where are mom and gramps?”

Souta had pulled his shirt the rest of the way on, realized it was backwards, and was in the process of turning it around when he answered her.

“They’re out grocery shopping. Mom thought you would be home any day now, so she wanted to stock up. The snow just finished falling about five minutes ago, and Mom said as soon as it was done I could go over to Hitomi’s, so I’m going to leave in a few minutes.”

“Ok,” said Kagome. “I guess we’ll just stay here and rest until they get back. You will be back for dinner, right?”

“Yeah,” said Souta. “We just have to work out the kinks of a report that’s due on Monday. It shouldn’t take more than a few hours.”

By this time he had finished putting on his clothes – the right way – and had grabbed his coat and bookbag.

“Alright,” said Kagome. “See ya later, Souta.”

“Yeah,” said Inuyasha, speaking for the first time since returning to the modern era. “See ya later, kid.”

“Well,” said Kagome, turning to Inuyasha. “Looked like we have the house to ourselves for a few hours. What do you want to do? Sleep?”

Inuyasha looked at her and gave her his ‘puppy-dog/begging’ look. “Eat ramen?” he asked hopefully – he had been without his favorite treat for three weeks; they had eaten the last packages the night before the fight seeing as Kagome had been planning on making a trip back right after the battle.

One look at his face made her decide to give in – that look hardly ever didn’t work – and Kagome just laughed, walked over to the pantry, and pulled down the ramen.


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When Kagome’s mom and grandpa got back, they were greatly happy to see her again. They asked all sorts of questions about what happened, but Kagome said that she’d tell them at dinner so Souta could hear as well.

Later that night, dinner had been prepared with an extra bowl of ramen just for Inuyasha – he still hadn’t had enough yet – and now they were all sitting around the table to eat.

“So, Kagome,” said her grandfather. “How come you haven’t come home for the past three weeks?”

Kagome nearly choked on her bite of shrimp.

“Um, well, you remember how I said that Inuyasha, the others, and I had to keep on fighting this really powerful demon? To destroy him and finish collecting the Shikon-no-kakera?”

“Hai, go on,” said her mom.

“Well,” said Kagome, looking at Inuyasha before continuing. “We did it. He’s gone and the jewel’s whole again.”

“That’s wonderful, dear,” said her mom.

“Cool!” said Souta.

“The Shikon-no-tama?” questioned her grandfather. “May I see it?”

Kagome nodded and pulled the jewel out from underneath the long-sleeved tee she was wearing; she and Inuyasha had both changed into modern day clothes – her, a green shirt and a pair of blue jeans; him, a red shirt and a pair of grey sweats – while their feudal clothing was in the wash. The jewel was nearly transparent – a faint trace of white clouded the center – but that merely seemed to enhance the jewel’s brightness as proof of its purity.

“Oohh,” was all her family could say, her grandfather in the lead.

“Kagome,” he said, still very much in awe. “I thought you said that nearly the whole jewel was in the possession of this Naraku fellow and was thus tainted.”

Kagome nodded, keeping one hand on Inuyasha’s arm; he had started to growl when the older man had mentioned Naraku’s name.

“That’s right, Gramps.”

Her grandfather still looked confused.

“But this jewel is so pure…I’m almost afraid to touch it. How can it be that pure if it was so tainted before?”

Inuyasha was the one to speak up this time, the pride evident in his voice as the slight frown melted into a smile.

“That was all your granddaughter’s doing, oyaji,” he said, causing said girl to blush and elbow him in the side, resulting in a small “oof” coming from the hanyou.

“Kagome,” said her grandfather, now staring at his granddaughter. “You really did this? You really purified the Shikon-no-tama?”

At her nod, he continued. “You must have the powers of a priestess, mayhaps inherited from my side of the family. But it is rather odd that your powers would be so strong when their strength in the rest of the family has only decreased for the last five generations.”

Kagome smiled to herself. Should I tell them that I’m the reincarnation of the priestess who originally guarded the Shikon-no-tama? she thought. Nah, don’t wanna give them an information overload.

She settled for smiling and scooting a bit closer to Inuyasha before answering; she felt Inuyasha’s left hand sneak it’s way around to rest on her left hip – he was being bold, especially considering he was practically a nervous wreck about telling her family that they wanted their blessing to get married and her mother was sitting right across the table.

“Well,” she said at last. “It could just be that with all of that fights back ho-, back in the feudal era, that my powers have gotten more of a workout than the others.” She sighed nearly imperceptibly at her little slip-up, then continued.

“Anyway, the reason I’m so late in returning is that we were all exhausted and injured to one extent or the other, then we were needed to help with some repairs, so we were delayed. But there’s something we need to ask you.” She turned to Inuyasha and he took that as his cue.

Turning to Kagome’s mother, grandfather, and brother, he began to speak.

“Higurashi-san, Higurashi-san, Souta-kun. I have known Kagome now for nearly four years. She means more than anything to me. More than my own life. Last night, I asked her to share the rest of our lives together and marry me. She said yes.”

Pausing to take a breath and pull Kagome even closer to him, he continued. “I, no, we would both like it very much if you would give us your blessing.”

He bowed his head to wait for their reaction and his right hand sought out hers for comfort; she gave it willingly, entwining the fingers of her hand with his.

“Inuyasha,” said Kagome’s mom. His head jerked up to see all four of the Higurashis with a large grin on his or her face. He felt his face begin to smile as well as Kagome’s mom continued.

“Of course you two have our blessing. But I must say, it certainly took the two of you long enough to do something about those feelings.”


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Later that night, Inuyasha and Kagome were settling down for bed upstairs in her room; Kagome’s mom had given them permission to sleep in the same bed as long as there were no “marital relations” until after the wedding.

Kagome could tell Inuyasha was still in shock. He was facing away from her on the opposite side of the bed, already in his sleeping shorts. Finished with changing into her nightclothes and brushing out the tangles from her hair, she crawled across the bed and started to massage his shoulders.

“Mmm, I was right: you’re just a bundle of knots back here. What’s got you so tense?”

He started to relax as soon as her hands touched his shoulders.

“I don’t know, ‘Gome. I guess I was just worried about what your family would say. I mean, my being married to you would actually make me a part of your family and I wasn’t sure what they would think about that….”

Kagome stopped rubbing his shoulders and sat down beside him.

“What do you mean? They’ve been around you for as long as I’ve known you; they like you.”

“Still, being around someone or just ‘liking’ someone is a hell of a lot different than having that person as part of your family.”

“Oh, Inuyasha,” said Kagome softly. She knew he still had doubts about others acceptance of himself simply because of his blood, but that fact that his self-doubt ran deep enough to extend to her family….

“How many times do I have to tell you: my family doesn’t care what blood you have or who your parents were, all they care about is that we love each other and will be happy together. And of course, that’s true. Now, come on, let’s get some sleep.”

She crawled back over to ‘her’ side of the bed and cut out her nightstand lamp. She felt the bed dip down towards the middle, the blanket pulled up over them, arms around her shoulders, and knew Inuyasha had settled down for the night.


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The next week was fairly busy. Kagome’s mom wanted the two of them to have a ceremony in the modern era, even if it wasn’t the one they would consider to actually ‘marry’ them, and Kagome agreed, knowing that a legal human marriage would only help in the event of an emergency during a return visit.

The ceremony was a small one, just Kagome, Inuyasha, her family, and the priest, who was an old friend of Kagome’s grandfather’s and could be trusted to keep both the secret of Inuyasha’s existence and his human night, for that was the night of the wedding.

Kagome wore her mother’s wedding kimono and Inuyasha borrowed her father’s; the wedding kiss was a simple peck on the lips.

Later that evening, after dinner had been eaten and cleaned up, Kagome’s mom called Inuyasha and Kagome into the living room.

Sitting down on the opposite side of the table from her mom and grandfather, Kagome said, “Yeah, mom?”

Nudging her father-in-law slightly (he was fascinated by the now-human Inuyasha), her mother replied, “Your grandfather and I have something we would like to give you. But before we do, I assume you two are going to want to make your life in the feudal era and –”

She continued on, despite the looks of “How did you know?” on their faces.

“Thus these gifts may not be very practical and you may not want them. But we wanted to offer them anyway.”

Kagome looked completely lost and Inuyasha even more, so her grandfather took up the explanation.

“Kagome,” he said, garnering their attention. “I remember how, when you were a little girl, you used to love to play with your grandmother’s wedding ring. You loved to pretend you were being proposed to by your stuffed animals.”

Pausing to laugh at Kagome’s blush due to Inuyasha’s inquisitive stare, he extended his closed fist toward his granddaughter and continued. “So, if you would like to have them, these are for you and Inuyasha.”

Kagome put her hand under her grandfather’s just in time to catch two rings when they out of his newly opened hand. Upon closer inspection, she gasped.

“Grandpa, these are…I-I don’t know what to say.”

“I know something you can say,” said Inuyasha. “What the hell are those things supposed to mean?”

Kagome turned to him and explained.

“These ‘things’ are called wedding rings and they belonged to my grandparents. Basically they represent the marriage bond between the husband and wife; they also tell other humans that the married couple is off-limits: neither part can be courted in any way.”

Inuyasha nodded in understanding. “So they’re the humans’ version of a youkai mating mark?”

Kagome blushed and nodded. “Okay then,” said Inuyasha, reaching over to take the rings from her hand. “Where do they go?”

Kagome, a bit startled by his reaction, took the man’s ring from his palm and placed it on the third finger of his left hand, talking as she did so.

“It goes here because legend says there’s a blood vein that runs from this finger directly to the heart. In other words, it connects your heart to whoever has the other ring in the set.”

Inuyasha just sat and watched her the entire time; when she was done, he took her left hand in his, and slipped on ladies’ ring. Kagome was speechless for a moment, but she wasn’t motionless. She grabbed Inuyasha around the neck in a bear hug that was only broken by her grandfather clearing his throat.

“Ahem. Kagome, your mother has something to give you as well.”

Kagome and Inuyasha broke apart and faced her mother, though Inuyasha kept his arm around her waist. Kagome’s mom began to explain her gift to the newly-wed couple.

“Kagome, your friends Miroku and Sango are due to be married soon as well, correct?”

“Yeah, they were just waiting until we defeated Naraku before they did.”

Kagome’s mom continued her explanation. “Well, you’ve told me so much about them that I feel like I have another son and daughter, so even though I have no idea if these would be practical in their line of work, I want to give your father’s and my wedding rings to you to give to them as a wedding gift from us.”

She handed Kagome a small grey box with the rings inside. Kagome and Inuyasha were both near speechless.

Kagome said, “Mom, Grandpa, I really don’t know what to say, except thank you.”


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Kagome and Inuyasha were climbing into bed; they were headed back to the feudal era tomorrow and wanted to get some sleep before then.

There would be no ‘marital relations,’ as Kagome’s mom put it, because they both unconsciously came to the same conclusion: yes, technically, they were now husband and wife, yet neither of them would feel married until the ceremony in the feudal era. That’s where their life was, after all and until then, they were just content to lay in each other arms. Well, mostly content….

Kagome was snuggled with her back against Inuyasha’s chest when she felt something poking her on the outside of her left thigh.

Trying and failing to suppress a grin, she asked, “Uh, Inuyasha, what is that?”

Inuyasha’s nose was buried in her hair yet again – it was his favorite position – so his reply was slightly muffled, but she could tell he was smiling.

“Keh, it’s Tetsusaiga, I swear.”

Kagome just turned around enough to give him a peck on the nose and laugh.

“Just a few more days, dog-boy.”

She turned around and both of them settled back into their previous positions.

“’Night, ‘Gome.” She just smiled and snuggled a bit closer to him.

“Hmm, goodnight, my Inuyasha.”


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I have a thing for leaving it off when they go to sleep, huh?

Oh, if you’re wondering about that whole ‘Tetsusaiga’ thing, it’s a play on an Stargate: SG-1 episode. For the SG-1 fans like me out there, you’ll probably recognize it with no problem, but it’s the one where they find the Antarctic gate – you know, when Jack and Sam are caught in that glacier? The whole ‘It’s my sidearm, I swear’ scene? For some reason, changing that line to ‘It’s Tetsusaiga, I swear’ just popped into my head and wouldn’t go away....

YoukaiLuvr, aka Trekker4life