InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Emergence ❯ There's no Place Like Home ( Chapter 11 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
A/N: Here it is and I hope you enjoy.

P.S. Please review or else dog boy might not ever get any action...lol

*****

Kagome looked around what she was told had been her room for her entire life. InuYasha had left her to go see their friends and promised to be back as soon as he had told them that she was finally home.

She sat on the bed and smoothed the pink comforter. It felt strange to be in a place she didn’t remember. She wished that InuYasha would come back. She wanted him to start telling her about her life. She really wanted to know what is was he had to tell her that he thought might make her decide not to be with him.

In the time they had spent together since she had awoken, he had been nothing short of wonderful. He was always so attentive and so attuned to her, and there had never been a single moment in which she had doubted that he loved her. When he was near she felt loved and wanted. She could think of nothing that would make her give that up.

Kagome lay back onto her bed and looked up at the ceiling. She was so tired of everything feeling familiar but not knowing why or even if her feelings were correct. She would be glad when InuYasha returned and for the feeling of connectedness that he would bring with him.

~ * ~

InuYasha exited the well and the first thing he noticed was the strong sent of youkai. A smirk formed on his face even as he growled his displeasure that any youkai had dared to come into his forest while he was gone. He had promised Kagome that he wouldn't be long, and he intended to keep that promise, but he didn't see why he couldn't have a little fun. He could tell by their scent that these youkai would be easy to beat, but that was just what he needed.

In no time at all he had killed a large green oni, a red serpent youkai, and some sort of hella nasty insect that had all come too deeply into his forest and much to close to his village.

He took a few more minutes to make sure that his scent once again heavily laced the area he thought of as his, before heading into the village to tell the others that Kagome was back with them.

~ * ~

Kaede paused in preparing her herbs and looked to the young monk.

"I felt it as well." Miroku offered.

"Felt what?" Sango asked.

"A surge of youkai from the direction of the well." Miroku replied. "It is now headed in the direction of the village, but I feel no ill intent."

Shippou ran out of the hut and concentrated hard on catching the scent of whatever was headed their way. His eyes opened wide and he ran back inside jumping up and down excitedly. "It's him. InuYasha is coming."

"Are you certain?" Miroku asked.

Before the kit could answer the reed mat was pushed to the side. Sango, Miroku, and Shippou all fell silent as InuYasha entered the hut. They waited, praying silently for good news.

InuYasha broke into a rare smile. “She’s back home.”

“Thank the Kami.” Sango whispered.

All at once the tension in the hut disappeared like a breath of air rushing out of their lungs and was replaced with feelings of relief and joy.

“When can I see her?” Shippou asked, jumping up and down with excitement.

“She still ain’t completely recovered.” InuYasha told them. “She don’t remember hardly anything, but I am telling her about everything tonight and once she has a chance to accept things, I’ll bring her here for a visit.”

“Please tell her that we are all most pleased to hear that she is recovering and that we will be anxiously awaiting her return.” Miroku offered.

InuYasha nodded and left them to return to Kagome.

~ * ~

When InuYasha returned Kagome was sitting on her bed waiting. She looked at him as he climbed in through her window. “You always come in that way, don’t you?”

“Most of the time.” he replied. “Except when you’re mad at me and lock the window.”

“About that...” Kagome started. “Will you tell me now...and can I see the real you?”

InuYasha removed the beads.

Kagome smiled. “I like you better this way.” She told him as she reached up and rubbed one of his ears.

“That’s something I never thought I’d hear.” he said softly.

“Why not?” she asked.

“You’ve waited long enough.” he said at last. “You probably ain’t going to believe what I am about to tell you, but I swear it’s all true and I’ll prove it whenever you think you can handle it. I am an inu hanyou from about 500 years in the past. We travel through time using a dry well on this shrine.”

“You’re right that is hard to believe.” Kagome told him. “But even if it is a lie, it’s a great story and I want to hear the rest.”

“It ain’t a lie.” he insisted. “On your 15th birthday you were pulled through the well by a centipede youkai. She wanted something you had inside you. Something called the Shikon no Tama. I was pinned to the Goshinboku by the sacred arrow of a miko, and was in an enchanted sleep. Some men from a nearby village found you and took you to their miko. They thought you were a youkai. Keade, the priestess, figured out that you were no youkai, and more than that you were the reincarnation of her sister, Kikyou.”

Kagome felt that painful ache in her chest again at the mention of that name. “Kikyou... Why do I feel sad when you say her name?”

He sighed. “I’ll get to that I promise.” he replied. “Kikyou was the one who pinned me to the tree. She thought I had betrayed her. There was a bandit called Onigumo and Kikyou cared for him. He wanted her for himself and was angered at finding that she and I were together. He offered his soul to a horde of lesser youkai and became Naraku. He took my form and mortally wounded her, while she was waiting for me with the jewel so I could use it to become human.”

“Why were you going to become human?” Kagome asked. “You weren’t meant to be human or else you would have been born as one.”

“I was lonely. Being a half demon made me an outcast among both youkai and humans. I was hunted for what I am, but I ain’t going into that with you. It don’t matter.” he told her. “Kikyou said we couldn’t be together unless I became human. The jewel would be gone and she would be free from her duty to protect it. With Kikyou wounded, Naraku came in search of me and attacked me, in her form. Naraku returned the jewel to the shrine and I went and stole it. I wanted to use it to become a full youkai. Kikyou caught me and shot me with an arrow pinning me to the tree. She died and had the jewel burned with her body. It was reborn inside you.”

“That’s so sad.” she whispered. “Both of you tricked into hating each other. She died never knowing that it wasn’t you who killed her...and.... I’m her.”

“You are not her.” he nearly shouted. He saw the surprised expression her face and apologized. “Sorry, but you ain’t her. You may share her soul but you are Kagome and she was Kikyou. She wanted me to become human, and you never have. Don’t compare yourself to her. I made that mistake and hurt you because of it.”

“I didn’t...” she started. “I just meant that maybe this was fate’s way of fixing what went wrong.”

“Keh, don’t worry about it.” he said. “Anyway the centipede youkai attacked the village looking for you, so you ran for the well to lead it away. As you got closer something woke me from the spell. It was like your soul reached out and grabbed mine, pulling it from the darkness.”

“That’s what you did for me.” she interrupted.

“That was the monk’s idea.” InuYasha admitted. “He said it might happen so I had to try... Anyway when I woke up you were there and I thought you were Kikyou. When the centipede youkai came it was crushing you against the tree with me. The villagers told you not to free me, but you decided you wanted to live, so you pulled the arrow. I killed the youkai... Then I tried to kill you because you wouldn’t hand over the jewel... Well I wasn’t trying to kill you so much as scare you into letting me have the jewel.”

InuYasha stopped and let her think about what he had told her so far. He decided not to tell her about the subjugation spell just yet.

“This is too crazy to be made up.” Kagome said after a few moments. “What happened next?”

He went on and told her about how the jewel had been broken and that they had spent the last four years putting it back together. He explained how Shippou, Miroku, and Sango came to join their group and how just a short time ago they defeated Naraku. “Now for the hard part.” he said quietly. “Before I tell you, I want you to know that I’m sorry, for everything.”

Kagome was worried. So far he hadn’t told her anything that would change her feelings for him. Sure he had admitted to being rude, overly possessive and stubborn, but nothing that would make her second-guess how she felt about him.

“Not too long after the jewel was shattered a witch resurrected Kikyou using clay, as well as the ashes and soil from her grave, but since you were in my time with Kikyou’s soul the clay body was like a doll.” He explained. “The witch kidnapped you to steal your soul, so she could give it back to Kikyou. She wanted Kikyou to hunt jewel shards for her. When I showed up you were fighting her magic and she couldn’t free your soul from your body...That is until I said Kikyou’s name.

“Kikyou took your soul and killed the witch, then she tried to kill me. When I yelled you fought to take your soul back because you thought I needed you. You wanted to help me even though it was my fault you were without your soul to begin with. Kikyou ran because you were killing her. She had to get away from you to keep the small part of your soul still inside her... I chased after her, even though you needed me. She fell off a cliff and we thought she was dead again.”

“You mean she wasn’t?” Kagome asked.

He shook his head. “She found a way to live off the souls of dead girls. For everyone else it had been fifty years, but for me almost no time had passed and I having found out about Naraku’s deception I blamed myself for her death. I still do, only not as much anymore. I couldn’t see that she wasn’t the same woman I remembered, even when she tried to kill you and gave the half of the jewel we had collected to Naraku.”

“I hurt you by running off to see her and telling you that you would never be as good as her, that you were weak and stupid. Once soon after she was brought back she captured you and bound you to a tree. She made it so that I couldn’t see you and placed a spell over me, kissed me and then tried to take me to hell with her. You stopped her.”

“Another time you saw us together. I promised I’d always protect her. That was the only time you ever left through the well that I never came for you, but you came back on your own. You asked to stay with me, even though you knew you could never compete with Kikyou because you were alive. You told me you could understand her because even though you weren’t her, you and she shared something. You both wanted to be with me.”

“I knew it was wrong to keep you with me, but I was selfish and couldn’t let you leave. I wanted you with me always, even then. I hurt you. I made you feel like you would always be second best, never quite good enough to live up to Kikyou, but that’s not true at all. You have been first in my heart for a long time.”

Kagome wasn’t sure what to say so she didn’t say anything. Everything he told her confirmed even further that she loved him. What’s more is that he told her he was sorry and knew that he had been wrong. She was also now certain that the woman from her dream had been Kikyou.

It was hard to be hurt over things you had no memory of and it occurred to her that the shadow Kikyou spoke of had been the dead miko’s place in their lives. That fact meant that this was supposed to be a chance for her and InuYasha to be with one another, without her having to question his feelings for her.

“I still want to be with you.” she said at last. “I understand why you needed to tell me all this before you let things change between us too much. The truth is, I can’t remember being hurt by you because of her and I don’t think I ever will. I know that I was probably very upset by the things you did and said, but hearing it, the way you tell it, I can see that you never meant to hurt me and that you were hurt as well.”

“What kind of person would I be if I faulted you for not simply dismissing your first love. I can’t blame you for that anymore than I can for you feeling guilty and confused. I just need to know...Do you still want us to be more than friends?”

“Of course I do.” he replied. “Fuck, Kagome, how do you do it?”

“Do what?” she asked.

“I just tell you a whole story about youkai, traveling through time, and resurrecting the dead and all you want to know is if I want to be with you?” he said.

“Like I said, it’s too crazy to be made up, and you haven’t lied to me so far.” she told him. “I may not remember much, but I know I can trust you... Oh and by the way I told you so.”

“You told me what?” he questioned.

“That I would forgive you.” she said with a smile. “So now that you’ve told me everything does that mean I can say it?”

“I will never understand you.” he whispered as he pulled her against his chest and held her there. “But I know that I never want to have to live without you.”

She raised her head. “Then you won’t have to.”

His lips met hers and the kiss they shared was tender and full of emotion. After a long moment he pulled away. “The others are never going to believe this.” He told her. “When do you want to go see them?”

“Later.” She replied, pressing her lips to his once again.

“Definitely later.” He agreed, murmuring against her mouth


~ * ~

Close to an hour later a soft knock at the door finally served to part InuYasha and Kagome’s lips, not counting the brief pauses they took to draw a breath before continuing their kiss.

“It’s time for dinner you two.” Her mother called.

“Okay.” Kagome replied. “We’ll be right down.”

Reluctantly InuYasha got up. Kagome too came to her feet. They both took a moment to straighten their disheveled clothing and smooth their mussed hair before heading downstairs to dine with the family.

A fifth chair was brought in from another room and the eldest Higurashi sat at the head of the table, leaving InuYasha to sit beside Kagome and across from her little brother. Souta did most of the talking, excited to be back and home and to be able to tell them all about his first week back in his old school.

InuYasha glanced at Kagome as she kicked his leg under the table. She was looking at her brother smiling and trying to appear innocent, but she couldn’t fool his hanyou senses, and so he kicked her back. He was surprised when her retaliation came in the form of a gentle and very distracting caress of her foot along his calf. He found himself wondering if it was normal for such seemingly innocent contact to feel so good.

“InuYasha.” Asami said very loudly causing the young hanyou to jump up, spilling his glass of water over the side of the table and on the front of his pants.

He blushed and looked at the four Higurashi’s amused faces. Kagome was the first to laugh and as the rest of her family joined in he was powerless to do anything but shake his head and join them. When the laughter quieted her mother spoke again.

“InuYasha, I asked you if you wanted some more to eat.” Asami offered.

“Uh... Yeah, thanks. I think I’ll go change first though.” He replied. Before leaving though he leaned down to whisper quietly to Kagome. “I hope you still think it’s funny when I pay you back for that wench.”

Souta looked at his sister as InuYasha left the room. “So sis what exactly were you doing him?”

Kagome blushed and lowered her head. She heard her mother’s soft laughter and decided it was best just to pretend she hadn’t heard Souta’s question and that her time could be better spent envisioning what kind of retribution InuYasha would come up with.

~ * ~

After dinner Kagome fell asleep laying on the sofa with her head in InuYasha’s lap. They had been watching a movie, but as he smoothed her now ear length hair gently it had lulled her to sleep.

Kagome stirred as she felt herself being carried. She opened her eyes and noticed that InuYasha was carrying her up to her room. “InuYasha?”

He glanced down. “I didn’t meant to wake you.” he told her. “I just thought you’d be more comfortable in your bed.”

“It’s all right.” she replied. “I need to ask you about something.”

He opened her door and set her on her bed. “What?”

“Is there a night when you really are human?” she asked.

“Why would you ask that?” he questioned.

“I had a dream, I think it was a memory. We were at a temple and there were these huge spiders. You were human and they poisoned you. I was really scared because I thought you were going to die.” Kagome explained.

“You cried for me.” he said softly.

“You told me I smelled nice, and I couldn’t believe it because you said you didn’t like the way I smelled.” Kagome continued.

He looked at her. “I lied.”

“So that really happened? You have a night when you really are human?”

“Yeah.” he told her. “You were one of the first people I ever let see me on that night, the moonless night. You were so mad that I didn’t tell you because you were the one who insisted that we go to the temple to help with the spider demons.”

“I remember.” she said softly. It was her first real memory. Up to this point she had felt things and had flashes that were more like ideas and pictures than actual memories. "I finally remembered something."

InuYasha smiled and hugged her.