InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Little Bits ❯ She's Back! ( Chapter 26 )

Voices rose, but she heard excitement, not fear or panic. Unworried, Kaede continued picking greens for supper.

Until Inuyasha landed in front of her, splashing mud everywhere, including on her. "Kaede, did you hear? She's back! Kagome came back!"

Her scold died aborning. "Kagome?" She stared at him, stunned, barely noting the huge grin on his face. "Kagome--came back?"

"Yes!" Inuyasha didn't quite bounce. "She came back--to me!"

Something stirred in her heart, at the thought of that lovely girl leaving her own time and family for the sake of this excited boy. She kept her voice dry, "Ye'll be wanting me to marry you two, I suppose."

He blushed, looking away, his ears sagging to half-mast. "Keh. I mean, yeah. When--I mean, if--she says 'yes.' Oh, and when I get a house built." The hanyo gave her a sideways, pleading look. "You will, won't you?"

This was the hanyo who'd been loved by her sister, been lost to life, and returned by Kikyo's reincarnation. This was the boy she had succored for the last four years, whom she'd watched change from an angry, wild and distrustful creature to a sad but resolute young man determined to do his best for those who had accepted him.

Tears stung her eyes, and a laugh caught in her throat. "Oh, Inuyasha." She did not resist the urge to cup his face with her hand. "Of course, I will. You and Kagome have all of my blessings."

She didn't object to the crushing hug he gave her, before he bounded away, despite the new smears of mud. Mud washed off, after all.

It would be a new beginning for him, a happy beginning, with his beloved at his side.

She smiled.

Author's Note: This drabble was written for the First Tweak community on LiveJournal. It was originally published on January 18, 2009. It came in third.