InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Emergence ❯ Return to Where We First Met ( Chapter 12 )

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Kagome held on tightly to InuYasha as they were engulfed by blue light at the bottom of the well. Kagome still clung to him as her feet once again made contact with solid ground.

“You can let go now wench.” he said gently.

Kagome stepped back and opened her eyes. She was in the middle of a forest. There was no sign of the towering buildings that normally marked the skyline. “Wow, it’s really beautiful here.” she gasped. “It smells so clean.”

“Get on.” he said, bending to offer her his back.

“You want me to ride you?” she asked, eyebrows rose impossibly high.

InuYasha had to fight mightily not to laugh at her expression. “Keh, you do it all the time. Just get on. You’ll like it.”

“All right.” she agreed.

“Hold on.” He told her and then he took off. He went slightly slower than usual so she could get used to it, that is, until he heard her laughing.

“This is great.” she said. “I bet this is what it feels like to fly. Can you go faster?”

Can I go faster, huh? InuYasha picked up the pace and then jumped up into the air. He flattened his ears as Kagome squealed. He couldn’t help but chuckle softly. He wondered if she had enjoyed riding on his back this much before and simply been afraid to let him know, afraid that he wouldn't let her do it anymore if he knew she liked it.

He stopped just outside the village and she climbed off his back.

“No wonder I do that all the time.” she said. “It was amazing.”

Kagome walked beside InuYasha toward a small hut. She was both excited and nervous to be meeting the people she had heard so much about.

“Ouch.” she cried as a small ball of fur crashed into her causing her to fall hard on her behind.

“Kagome, I missed you so much. I was so scared.” came the voice of a small boy.

Suddenly the ball of fur was plucked form her lap. “Oi runt what the hell do you think you’re doing?” InuYasha growled. “You hurt her.”

Shippou looked at Kagome and noticed the tears glistening in her eyes. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to.” he said softly.

InuYasha dropped him and offered Kagome his hand. “Just be more careful next time.” He pulled Kagome to her feet. “You all right wench?”

She nodded.

“I’m really sorry.” Shippou offered.

“It’s all right. I know it was an accident.” Kagome told him.

“Kagome.” Sango called, coming out of the hut with Miroku following close behind. “We’ve missed you.”

“Yes, things have not been the same without you.” Miroku told her. “InuYasha has informed us that you lost much of your memory, so I have but one question; Would you consider bearing my child?”

Sango reached out and slapped the monk in the back of the head. “What is wrong with you?” she questioned.

“Nothing I assure you my darling Sango.” Miroku told her as he rubbed the back of his head. “I simply hoped that something familiar might help her remember me.”

“Whatever bouzo.” InuYasha scoffed. “Just keep your perverted thoughts and wandering hands off Kagome, or else I’ll have to shove Tetsusaiga up your ass.”

They entered a small hut and Kagome was greeted by an elderly miko. “Kagome child it is good to have you back. You were greatly missed and I offered many prayers for you, that you would be restored.”

“Thank you Kaede obaa-chan.” Kagome replied.

“InuYasha did you not say she had no memory?” Kaede questioned.

“She remembers things sometimes.” InuYasha offered. “You don’t know when it will happen.”

“He’s telling the truth.” Kagome said. “I didn’t even really think about who you were. It just slipped out.”

“Well all of you come, and sit.” Kaede told them. “The stew is just about ready.”

Kagome frowned as InuYasha sat a good distance from her against the wall and folded his arms. “Can I help?” Kagome asked. “I’m supposed to do familiar things when ever I can.”

“Of course.” Kaede replied. She handed Kagome several bowls. “Fill these for me child.”

When Kagome was ready to eat she took a seat next to InuYasha. She wondered why he was acting so strangely. Usually he would be talking with her, or playing around while they ate. At her family’s home he often would nudge her feet under the table. Sango, who Kagome kept imaging in a tight fitting black and pink outfit, came and took the empty bowls.

“Sango this may seem strange, but I keep seeing you in black with pink, armor I think.” Kagome said. “Am I wrong?”

“No Kagome. You are describing the clothing I wear into battle. It’s the traditional dress of the taijiya.” Sango replied. “It seems you remember more all the time.”

Kagome nodded and leaned over laying her head in InuYasha’s lap. She began to toy with the bottom of the leg of his hakama. She didn’t notice the way Sango and Miroku were staring at her and InuYasha. She did however notice when InuYasha pushed her out of his lap causing her to bump her head on the floor. She sat up and looked at him.

“Oi wench what the hell are you doing?” He yelled.

InuYasha regretted his words before he had even finished saying them. Kagome looked at him with tear filled eyes. Truthfully he didn’t mind what she had been doing in the least, but he had been embarrassed by Sango and Miroku’s stares and reacted the way he would have before Kagome’s accident.

He was far more used to getting angry to cover himself than with being honest and being in his time had caused him to slip back into his old ways. He could see how hurt and confused she was. He hadn’t yelled at her, not really, since the day she had been injured.

Kagome bit her lip and stood up. “I’m tired.” she said softly. “I think I’m going to go back home for a little while.” She was so embarrassed about the way he had reacted. She couldn’t bear to face anyone in the hut, at least not for a while.

She stepped outside and then ran. She wasn’t sure she was going the right way to get to the well, but she didn’t care. She just had to go somewhere that she could be alone and think about what she could have done to make him act like that.

InuYasha sat there stunned and ashamed. Kagome hadn’t been doing anything she hadn’t been doing for weeks now with him at her house and at the hospital.

“InuYasha?” Sango said quietly. “Shouldn’t you go after her? Does she even know the way back to the well?”

“Fuck.” He growled coming to his feet. He took off after her.

She was really moving, for her anyway. Of course he caught up to her easily and stopped in front of her. “Where are you going?” He asked gently.

“Home.” She replied.

“Then you’re going the wrong way.” he told her.

“InuYasha, what did I do wrong?” She asked.

“Not a damn thing.” He said pulling her to him. “It was me. It’s hard for me Kagome. The bouzo and Sango were staring and I was embarrassed. I just reacted how I would have before you got hurt.”

“You’re embarrassed that we’re together?” She asked.

“No, that ain’t it.” He replied. “I ain’t used to having someone show that they care about me or showing them. I told you growing up both humans and youkai didn’t want to have anything to do with me, a dirty half breed.”

“But you’re not.” Kagome said fervently. “What can I do to help you?”

“Just wait for me to come to you.” He told her. “Can you do that?”

She nodded. “What about at home? Does it have to be different now there too?”

“No, just here, just until I get used to it.” he explained. “And Kagome, if I act distant or say something that I wouldn’t normally say try and remember it don’t have nothing to do with you.”

“Okay InuYasha.” Kagome replied. “Can we go home now?”

“Yeah, but first let’s go say goodbye to the others.” he told her. “They’ll want to know that you’re alright.”

They walked side-by-side back to the hut. InuYasha held the mat to the side for her to enter. Shippou jumped into her arms. This time she was ready and caught him.

“Are you all right Kagome?” the kit asked. “Last time InuYasha was mean and made you cry you were gone for a really long time. I don’t want you to get hurt again. You should say the word next time he makes you sad.”

“The word?” Kagome asked.

“Oi runt shut up about that.” InuYasha growled.

“Well InuYasha, it seems you have forgotten to tell the Lady Kagome a thing or two.” Miroku offered.

“You want to die bouzo?” InuYasha asked.

“What is everyone talking about?” Kagome questioned.

“Say osuwari Kagome.” Shippou told her.

“Osuwari why....” Kagome started. She cut off as InuYasha went crashing face first into the ground beside her. She dropped Shippou and went to her knees trying to pull a cursing InuYasha up from the floor. “What happened? InuYasha are you all right?”

Shippou was laughing. “Damn you runt. I am going to kill you.” InuYasha growled coming to his feet at last.

Kagome stood in front of InuYasha and touched his face. “Are you all right? What happened?”

“Keh, I’m fine.” InuYasha replied stepping back a bit.

“Kagome child you activated the subjugation spell around InuYasha’s neck.” Kaede explained. “When you say osuwari, InuYasha is pulled to the ground by the spell on the rosary he wears.”

“So it was my fault that he fell like that.” Kagome said. “That’s horrible. Why would I want to do that to him? What kind of person am I? I’m so sorry InuYasha.”

“Don’t worry about it wench. It takes a lot more than a face full of dirt to hurt me.” InuYasha told her.

“Still... Shippou that wasn’t very nice of you to trick me like that.” Kagome said rounding on the little kitsune. “I can’t believe I would ever want to do that to InuYasha.”

“You do it quite often actually.” Miroku offered. “Most of the time he deserves it though.”

“Did he not tell you how you met?” Kaede asked.

“He said I woke him when a centipede demon was after me and freed him from the Goshinboku. He also said he was trying to get the Shikon no Tama and that he chased me, pretending that he was going to kill me to scare me into giving it to him.” Kagome offered.

“Aye he did that.” Kaede said. “He almost had the jewel too, but I sent those beads around his neck and you chose the word that would subdue him, so that he could not escape with the jewel.”

“Well he isn’t trying to steal the jewel anymore so can’t he take those off now?” Kagome asked.

“Only you can remove the rosary child.” Kaede told her.

Kagome reached for them, but InuYasha stopped her. “Leave them on.” he said.

“Why?” Kagome asked.

“Those have saved his life too.” Sango offered. “You used them to bring him back from a transformation and to force him to the ground to avoid a killing blow from a youkai attack.”

“Transformation?” Kagome questioned.

“When InuYasha’s life is in danger, when he is seriously injured and without his sword, his demon blood takes over to protect him.” Miroku explained. “When that happens his human soul is over powered and he can no longer distinguish friend from foe. You are the only one he has ever shown the slightest hint of recognizing in that form and so he has to be rendered immobile so that his sword can be returned to him.”

She looked to InuYasha who gave a small nod. Kagome noticed that his eyes seemed sad, haunted. She would have to talk to him about it once they were home. “Well in that case I’ll leave them, but I’ll only use them if it is to help him, not to punish him because he upsets me.”

“You ready to go?” InuYasha asked.

Kagome nodded. “I guess I’ll see you guys later.”

“Please come back soon.” Shippou said.

Once they were out of the village Kagome looked at him. “InuYasha, what’s wrong?”

“I can’t believe I forgot to tell you about when I transform.” he said. “I’ve done terrible things Kagome. I slaughtered a group of bandits as they begged for their lives and I don’t even remember it. How can you want to be with someone like me?”

“Don’t you see?” Kagome asked. “It wasn’t really you and I can tell that you would give anything to go back and change what happened. You have a good heart and that is what I love about you. We’ll just make sure nothing like that happens again.”

He hugged her. “Kagome earlier...I didn’t say it, but I’m sorry.”

“I know.” she whispered.

~ * ~

InuYasha was sitting on the sofa while Kagome helped her mother fix dinner. He smiled at when she came into the living room from the kitchen. He groaned softly as she ran and jumped into his lap, but wrapped his arms around her. She reached up and rubbed one of his ears.

“Dinner is almost ready.” she said. “I thought after we could go outside for a little while, if that’s okay with you.”

“Sounds good to me wench.” He replied. InuYasha captured her lips in a kiss.

“Gross. Do you have to do that with my sister?” Souta said. “Mom wanted me to get you two for dinner.”

“Get used to it kid.” InuYasha replied as he came to his feet with Kagome still in his arms. She giggled as he carried her down the hall to the kitchen.

He set her on her feet beside her chair and took his usual place beside her.

~ * ~

InuYasha and Kagome walked together out onto the shrine grounds. She slipped her hand into his. They had just planned to walk around for a while, but InuYasha wasn’t surprised when they ended up under the Goshinboku. Kagome looked up into the branches of the ancient tree.

“I wonder if I’ve always felt this way when I stand beneath this tree.” Kagome asked.

“What way?” InuYasha asked.

“I don’t know... Connected, like a part of something, of everything...” Kagome tried. “It’s endured all this time. It’s a part of both our worlds, something besides the well that ties our times together. I know this is where we met, where you spent fifty years in darkness and I hate it that I can’t remember something so important.”

She looked up at him eyes filling with salty tears. InuYasha wrapped his arms around her. “Hold on to me and don’t get scared, okay? I want to show you something.”

InuYasha held her tightly and leapt up into the branches of the sacred tree. He sat down holding Kagome between his legs and against his chest.

“This is our tree, isn’t it?” She asked quietly. “Where we came to be alone?”

“You see, you remember more everyday. You’re going to remember Kagome. It’s just going to take awhile.” InuYasha told her. “Give it time.”

“What if I don’t though? What if I never remember?” Kagome asked, nearly shouting. “I won’t remember everything we’ve been through, or my friends and family. You’re with me now waiting for me to get my memory back, but for how long?”

“For as long as it takes.” InuYasha replied. “And if you never remember then I’ll still be here Kagome, I promise.”

Kagome wiped her face. His tone and the seriousness of his expression made it impossible to doubt his sincerity. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean-”

InuYasha cut Kagome off by pressing his lips to hers and kissing her gently. “Don’t be sorry. I’ve done more than my fair share of taking shit out on you, when I’ve had a hell of a lot less reason to be upset. I tell you as many times as you need to hear it, that I ain’t going to leave you.”

“Thank you.” She whispered. “And if I don’t remember, then we’ll just have to make new memories together, right?”

InuYasha nodded. “You know we could make one right now.”

Kagome shivered as his lips brushed across her ear. “Will it be a good one?”

He smirked. “A really good one. What do you say?”

“I say shut up and kiss me already.” Kagome replied with a slight blush. A soft growl escaped him and she forgot all about being upset as he did just that.