InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Waiting on a Wish ❯ Chapter 17 ( Chapter 17 )

CHAPTER 17

He took her to work the next morning the normal way, in his car, and he grumbled about it the whole drive.

He hadn’t wanted her to go to work at all, considering just how little sleep she’d actually gotten. She’d made it all the way to sunrise, and watched with curious awe as his ears first pointed, then slid up to sit at the top of his head, and his hair went from black to grey to silvery-white. She’d fussed over him, run her fingers over his features to make sure everything was back in its proper place…and then promptly curled into his side and fallen into a dead sleep.

But not before she’d warned him to not let her sleep past eight.

She’d woken on her own, in a luxury of blankets and pillows and warm skin touching hers, to find him staring at her with solemn golden eyes and looking quite settled and comfortable. She’d been understandably upset when she figured out that he’d had every intention of ignoring her wishes.

They’d had a rousing argument about it. Almost a screaming match, really, which had felt odd and yet somehow tremendously satisfying after the night before. She didn’t feel hurt at all after the fight -- not ostracized from him, and not that the disagreement had damaged their relationship in any way.

Just refreshed. Refreshed and…comfortable.

She’d felt comfortable in her mad -- mostly naked -- dash through his apartment, which she’d only seen for the first time last night. She’d felt comfortable scrambling to find her bag and her change of clothes, and even with the fact that she’d brought a change of clothes in the first place. She’d felt comfortable slamming the door of his own bathroom in his face while she’d thrown herself together for work. She’d even felt comfortable with the fact that they’d been yelling at each other the whole time. And she had been nothing less than amused when, after his (quite loud) refusal to take her anywhere, and her subsequent (also loud) vow to take public transportation instead, he’d grabbed his keys and her arm and roughly hauled her out of his apartment and into his car.

And after all that, she sat next to him in the car, listening to him mutter and gripe and swear as he navigated the congested early morning traffic. A faint smile graced her lips, and a cheerful hum sat at the bottom of her throat. She didn’t think he’d appreciate any musical efforts on her part just now though, so she kept it to herself and let her eyes linger on the passing cars and buildings.

He pulled into an unused parking spot with only a few minutes to spare. While the car sat in idle, Kagome grasped the strap of her bag and turned to face InuYasha for the first time since they’d left his apartment. He was slumped back against his seat, a bad-tempered sulk tightening his features, one claw tapping out an impatient rhythm against the steering wheel. He glowered through the windshield, gaze fixed on the clinic as if he were calculating the effort it would take to demolish its cheerful stone facade.

She bit her lip to prevent her grin from getting any bigger. Her hanyou did not look pleased. On impulse, and just because she could, she leaned over and pecked him on the cheek.

He snapped out of his glower to stare at her. “What was that for?”

Still grinning, she shrugged. “Do I need a reason?”

For a moment, he just sat there and blinked at her. Then his face softened, and he gave a soft, dismissive snort. She caught an answering smile lurking somewhere in his gaze.

Satisfied with that, she reached for the door. “I get off at six.” She tossed a teasing smile over her shoulder. “Don’t forget, or I’ll leave you behind.”

At some point last night, he’d remembered to inquire about the family dinner that she’d apparently skipped. When she’d told him it had been postponed to the following night, he’d nodded in a matter-of-fact manner and asked her when they had to be there. It was the best possible response he could have given her, in her opinion, and she’d done her best to show him how pleased he’d made her.

At the moment, he only looked mildly irritated. “Yeah, yeah. I got it.” The black of his eyebrows slanted low over his eyes. “Don’t go anywhere without me.”

She rolled her eyes in return as she shoved open the door and stepped out onto the pavement. “Don’t be late, then.”

“Kagome….” He warned again, leaning across the seat to keep her in sight.

She ignored him and slammed the door shut behind her. The smile played about her lips as she felt his eyes follow her across the parking lot and through the glass doors of the entrance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She walked, practically bouncing on the balls of her feet, into a waiting area full of mostly empty chairs. She sighed at the sight, pleased that the busyness of the past few days appeared to be dying down. Adjusting the strap over her shoulder, she automatically headed for the break room, only to freeze halfway across the room when her eyes focused on the figure standing in front of the reception desk. Her stomach took a sickening plunge towards her feet and she sucked in a sharp breath.

Ack. Kouga.

She darted a panicked look over her shoulder, afraid she would see an enraged hanyou bearing down after her through the glass doors. Relief pushed the breath from her lungs in a silent whoosh when the only thing that met her eyes was a mostly empty parking lot. If either Kouga or InuYasha figured out the other was here, they would have a repeat of what had happened the last time both youkai had been at the clinic -- only this time it was possible that real violence would occur.

Just what I needed today.

She drew another calming breath and let it out, wondering why and how she had found herself in such a potential mess.

Maybe InuYasha’s already left?

Somehow, she doubted it.

Kouga stood with his back to her, right next to the reception desk. He wore his usual pants and a long-sleeved shirt today, looking casual, bored and impatient as he listened to the clinic’s curly-haired resident gossip. Miso had an anxious look on her face and, for once, was keeping her voice quiet. She currently had the wolf youkai’s attention, but Kagome imagined that would change in incredibly short order.

She watched as Miso discreetly slipped a business card into Kouga’s palm, the low murmur of her words reaching across the lobby. “-- and her name is Ayame. She really needs someone to show her around, so --”

But Kouga must have heard her last sigh, because his head suddenly came up and around. His blue eyes pinned her, and a cocky grin spread across his face. Faster than her eyes could follow, he crossed the distance between them, appearing in front of her, his fingers gripping gently around her wrists. “Kagome! Where have you been? I’ve been looking for you for days.”

She blinked, disconcerted; she gave him a weak smile and tugged tactfully at her hands. “Kouga. What are you doing here?”

“You saw that rogue from the other night. I was worried about my….” But the brashness of his smile faded as the words left his lips; a strange look took its place. His gaze sharpened and he sniffed pointedly at the air. “Kagome? What happened to you? You smell kinda like….”

She nearly winced and tugged again at her hands. She didn’t want a scene, so she kept her voice soft. “Ah, Kouga, why don’t you come with--”

He wasn’t listening. Comprehension flickered through his gaze. Shock slackened his features, and rage swiftly followed. “Mutt-face! Why that…. You…. That bastard! He took advantage of you! Are you all right? Did he hurt you?” He threw a dark, searching look out the doors behind her and half-stepped toward them. “Where is he? Don’t worry. I’ll teach that dog-shit to keep his hands to himself from now on!”

Oh. Damn.

“No you won’t!” She yanked at her hands. “He didn’t take advantage of me!”

Her sharpness must have startled him, because he shot her a surprised look. “He didn’t?” His grip loosened. “But…. Don’t tell me you wanted….”

One more tug freed her, and she edged away from him, ignoring the heat creeping across her face. She tilted her head and studied him for a minute before letting out a frustrated breath. From behind the reception desk, Miso looked on with sympathetic -- if avid -- gray eyes.

“Kouga, I….”

He stared at her, the anger in his eyes tempered by confusion.

She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth, at a loss. What should I tell him? That I love InuYasha?

She was barely ready to think such an outrageous possibility, much less say it out loud.

It wasn’t as if it made a lot of sense. She’d just met InuYasha, and Kouga knew it. Kouga had been putting out a tremendous effort to woo her since he’d arrived bruised and battered to her clinic months before, but she’d noted his efforts only peripherally at best. And yet InuYasha, who had come to her in the same way, hadn’t had to do anything besides be with her. From the very beginning, he’d just…felt right in a way that no one else ever had.

How could she make Kouga understand when she barely understood herself?

Kouga really did have beautiful blue eyes, and right now they were fixed on her, angry and slightly wounded. Guilt put a sour taste in her mouth. “Kouga--” She licked at her lips, then sighed. She kept her voice soft. “I’m glad you came to check on me. I’m sorry I worried you.”

Kouga responded with an angry snarl. “That damn dog kept you from me. I’ll-”

“No! You two can’t fight here!” She tossed another panicked look over her shoulder, then drew a deep breath and met his gaze. “Please, Kouga. I’m happy that you care enough to make sure that I’m okay, but I’m fine. InuYasha’s been with me since the attack. He’s….” She hesitated, searching for words that Kouga would understand. “InuYasha is taking very good care of me.”

Kouga was much quicker than people gave him credit for. She saw understanding dawn slowly in his gaze as he mulled over her words and took in her tone. He took a step back, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “Taking care of you, huh?” His nostrils flared as he drew in another deep lungful and Kagome had to suppress a wince once again. Thanks to InuYasha, she hadn’t had time for more than a quick rinse this morning; what she’d been doing for the most of the night had to be strong on her. Strong enough that not even Kouga could rationalize it away, which would probably get to him in a way all her words and evasions never had. Youkai tended to respect scents on a level that humans couldn’t comprehend and….

She blinked. And InuYasha knew that as well as any other youkai, didn’t he? She almost huffed aloud. Damn demons and their sense of smell.

Kouga had looked down, his bangs hiding his eyes from her for a few moments. When he looked up, she couldn’t read the expression in his eyes. “Is this…. Is this what you want? You trust that mutt with your…safety?”

Mute and feeling inexplicably sad, she nodded.

The proud set of his shoulders slumped for just an instant as acceptance settled into the lines of his body. “Hn.” A wry smile twisted his lips and he sighed. “Well…. I guess you seem all right.” He straightened just as quickly as he’d deflated and gave her his cocky grin. “I have to go now -- the paper-pushers at the Alliance have been on my ass for the past few days, you know?”

She offered him a gentle smile and nodded. “Anytime you need help, Kouga, remember….” You’re still my friend.

He stared at her for a long moment, then returned her nod. “You call me when that mutt-face screws up, Kagome. I’ll be here.”

Her smile widened into a mischievous grin. “I promise.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~

His claws tapped dully against the leather of the steering wheel, the only sound to penetrate the stillness of the car’s interior. His scowl hadn’t abated since he’d watched her disappear through the glass doors. He’d wanted her to sleep, not go to work, but she’d blown that by waking up and yelling at him. How she’d managed to wake up so quickly after only a few hours of sleep escaped him. Even habit could be overcome by exhaustion in normal humans, and he’d made damn sure she’d been exhausted.

Kagome worried him. She’d startled the hell out of him last night, lighting up like a fucking Christmas tree, with that crackling glowing pink light. And she hadn’t even realized it. She hadn’t been controlling it at all -- like she’d sprung a damn leak or something -- and it had looked like it turned on and shut off all on its own; and that made him even more anxious.

He shifted restlessly, debating once again the wisdom of going to see the old bat at the orphanage. She knew something -- she’d as much as told him so. He didn’t know how much she knew, and he felt leery about getting anyone else involved, but if anyone could tell him what was going on with Kagome, the old woman could. And it would probably be a good idea if he found out exactly what she knew.

And there was the added benefit of being near the clinic….

But was he ready for that conversation? He wasn’t even sure he could trust the old bat -- especially if her knowledge came from the person he thought it did. He had a sense of her being trustworthy, maybe even a friend, but how did he know he could he really trust himself? The things that he knew…. They didn’t exactly qualify as hard and fast facts, mental pictures notwithstanding. Hell, they fell more into the realm of instinct than actual knowledge. And he’d already been wrong once.

Tension tightened his grip on the steering wheel, and a fleeting gratitude for the durability of leather passed through his mind. Damn it, anyway! Someone could die -- would die, unless he figured out what was going on in time to stop it.

Sunlight glinted off moving glass, a bright flash in the corner of his eye that had him squinting briefly back at the clinic. Surprise widened his eyes and stiffened his muscles when he saw the body pushing its way out of the entrance.

The fucking wolf who still thought he had a right to his woman. What the hell is he doing here? And how the hell had he missed his presence?!

Kouga stepped off to the side of the doors and just stood there for a moment, his nose in the air and his head turning slowly as he scanned across the parking lot. He knew the second the wolf spotted him, because his eyes narrowed and his lip lifted in a sneer.

Back rigid, teeth bared in reaction, InuYasha darted from the car to meet him.

Even with the warning, he barely saw it coming. Kouga’s fist connected with the underside of InuYasha’s jaw, and the hanyou went flying back against the hood of his car. He’d forgotten how fast the damn wolf was.

He was back on his feet in an instant, claws flexing and knuckles cracking as he squared off defensively. “Hey! Bastard!” His jaw only hurt a little. “You--” Kouga stood a few feet away, arms crossed and eyes narrowed, his expression intense with simmering anger but his stance relaxed. He didn’t look prepared to attack again.

InuYasha straightened. “What the hell?”

Kouga sneered at him, eyes dark and serious. “That was for the sneaky way you took her away from me, mutt-face.”

“Sneaky!” He sputtered for a moment. “You never had her to begin with, dumbass!” He froze as the words sank in. Took her away? Had that idiot wolf just said what he thought he’d just said?

Another punch sent him onto his backside on the hot pavement. Kouga stood over him, glaring down. “That was for being a dumb puppy-shit.”

Fury spurred him to his feet once again, and this time he took a swipe at him with his claws, aiming for skin and hoping for blood. Kouga leapt back, his shoes nimbly touching down on the blacktop a few feet away -- just out of striking range.

InuYasha snarled, showing teeth. “You fucking coward! Stop running away and fight!”

Kouga shot him a smirking look of disdain and -- even more infuriating -- leaned a hip against the smooth black side of his car. “That’s the difference between you and me, smelly puppy. I don’t waste my time on pointless battles.”

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.” As far as he was concerned this fight was as necessary as breathing. His fists clenched and he growled menacingly, eyeing the other youkai’s position. The damn wolf might be out of physical striking range, but he could throw a sankon tessou at him. Of course, he might get his car in the same blow, but the damage would be worth it if he could take down that mangy, self-important wolf. But Kouga just shrugged indifferently, the coward.

Blue eyes glittered at him. “For now, dog-breath, she wants to be with you. So I guess I’ll let her be with you.”

The begrudging seriousness of the wolf’s tone stopped him cold. He blinked, staring in shock.

Kouga sneered. “But you better take good care of her, dog-shit. If you mess up -- if you screw up even once -- and she suffers for it, I’ll take her away from you so fast that you won’t even know what happened until I send you a picture of our first pup.”

A part of him wanted to attack; he felt the rage flare to unbearable levels at the mere thought of Kouga pushing a kid off onto Kagome. But an equally instinctual part of his brain recognized the warning for what it was: a concession. Kouga was backing off.

And if InuYasha failed to protect her….

No he couldn’t fail. It wasn’t an option. He was out of chances.

His jaw clenched tightly, his claws dug into his palms and the veins in his head throbbed with the effort of holding back. After a few moments, he managed a nod. “Yeah, I know.”

Kouga returned his nod. “You better, mutt-face.” He grunted, then turned. “I gotta go. Paperwork to sign, you know? All those damn new regulations.” He gave a disgusted snort. “Stupid humans.”

InuYasha watched, somewhat bemused, as Kouga took off running -- his specialty -- and disappeared from the parking lot. Then he turned to stare at the clinic. “I know.” He didn’t move for several minutes.

Then his ears perked, and he blinked. “What new regulations?”

As if someone had heard him, his phone starting ringing. He grabbed it from the pocket he didn’t remember shoving it into and glanced at the familiar name on the display. Swearing, scowling at the slight dent in his hood, he answered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The shrine where she’d grown up sat on a hill in a suburban area of the city, a good distance from the mesh of tall, sky-scraping buildings and smaller establishments of the business district where the clinic was located. The orange glow of sunset had already warmed the sky by the time they arrived, and combined with the trees surrounding her old home, the backdrop gave the whole area an incredibly homey feel. Kagome nearly smiled as they made their way up the steps leading to the shrine. Nearly.

She darted another look at him from the corner of her eyes.

InuYasha was acting odd. He didn’t say a word as they climbed, and hadn’t since he picked her up at the end of her shift. He’d seemed irritated, but when she’d questioned him about it, all he’d said was something about “stupid politicians”, and “report forms in triplicate”. She hadn’t wanted to bother him, and so they’d had a quiet drive over.

But then, when he’d first caught a glimpse of the steps, his manner had undergone a subtle change that she didn’t know how to interpret. His eyes kept scanning over the landscape, taking everything in with a weird, quiet sort of curiosity. Even though he walked right next to her, he felt closed off somehow, withdrawn from her, absorbed in thoughts that he didn’t want to share.

He was making her nervous, which was ridiculous.

They crested the top of the stairs and passed through the torii and into the main courtyard of the shrine. The house sat toward the back of the grounds, behind the shrine, and Kagome automatically headed that way. She failed to notice when his steps faltered. “This way. It’s later than I thought it would be. I bet Mama already has dinner ready.”

It took her a few seconds to realize he wasn’t behind her. “InuYasha…” Her voice trailed off -as she turned. He stood frozen in his tracks, fists shoved in his pockets, his eyes wide and unreadable. She frowned and pivoted on her heel, following his gaze, intrigued to see what had caught his attention so completely.

She blinked. The Goshinboku?

She turned back to face him, glancing back and forth between the sacred tree and InuYasha, who hadn’t moved an inch since he caught sight of it. “What’s wrong?”

For a moment, she thought he wasn’t going to answer. His bows tensed into an almost-frown, but other than that, he didn’t move. “That…that tree.”

She blinked at him. “The Goshinboku?” A smile tilted her lips. “It’s our sacred tree. It’s very old. If you let Jii-chan ramble long enough, he’ll tell you about it. It’s one of his favorite things to talk about.”

He stared unblinkingly for a moment longer. “Goshinboku, huh?”

She nodded and turned her gaze back to the tree. “According to Jii-chan, the Goshinboku is an immortal tree that’s lived through every age known to man, and carries the memories of a million great stories that will never be told. He says it’s nature’s way of never forgetting.” Her voice softened with affection. “I used to love that tree when I was a little girl -- I was always getting in trouble for trying to climb it.”

His frown deepened and he tilted his head over her words. “An immortal tree.” He moved then, his silent tread carrying him across the courtyard. She hesitated, then followed at a distance, curious at what had put him in such a strange mood. He stepped right up to the great tree, ignoring the small fence designed to keep visitors away, and stood looking up through the thick branches.

Kagome watched him quietly, amazed that, for the first time in her life, she didn’t feel the need to warn a visitor away from the sacred tree. He studied it for a moment before he placed a hand against the trunk -- right there, right on the large bald spot that had always smoothed a wide portion of the tree’s girth. She’d always wondered what put it there, but even Jii-chan, with his fondness for stories of origin, had never been able to tell her. The fingers of his free hand pressed against his forehead, and for a moment, his features tightened, almost as if he were in pain.

“It remembers…” His murmur was so quiet, she almost didn’t hear him. A frown knit his brows. His entire body tensed.

Puzzled, Kagome stepped over the fence and joined him at the roots of the sacred tree, peering up at where at where his hand now lay motionless. His long fingers stretched, his claws resting gently against the darkness of the bark. The image seared itself into her brain, and she drew in a sharp breath as her heart skipped in reaction.

He didn’t move, didn’t respond to her presence at all, and she refused to say anything. They just stood together, breathing quietly, the calm of early evening and the peace of the Goshinboku descending over them to make them a temporary part of the scenery. The waning light of the sun bathed everything in a peculiar glow; the breeze kicked up for just a moment, and the paper of the shimenawa rustled faintly.

Kagome didn’t understand InuYasha. She didn’t understand what it was about the god tree that he had reacted so strangely to, and yet…

…And yet, at the same time, she, too, had also always felt a strange connection with the tree, had always loved it for the sense of tranquility it granted to anyone near to it.

His hands dropped away from the tree and he turned to face her, and she realized how close she stood to him. Her breath hitched at the deep sadness reflected in the amber of his eyes, a glimpse of some secret torment that she desperately wished he would share with her. Empathy crinkled her brows, and she reached a hand to brush against his jacket. “InuYasha?”

Her voice seemed to call him back, and he blinked, the flash of emotion vanishing from his eyes, then sighed. “Dammit.” The frustration was mild, the tone soft. “Let’s get this over with.” He took her hand and turned away, leaving her slightly chilled at the sudden absence of his body heat. With a gentle tug, he pulled her along beside him as they left the protection of the Goshinboku, heading in a leisurely stroll for the house behind the shrine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~

“Mama! We’re here!” Kagome called out absently as she removed her shoes in the genkan and pointed out the house slippers. InuYasha just shrugged and followed suit, his eyes taking in the house’s entryway curiously. Lights shone through the house, and she could smell the beginnings of dinner on the air. A little farther in, the door to the living room stood wide open, and the sounds of the evening news murmured in the background. “Jii-chan?”

“Kagome! Is that you? I’m so happy you made it.” The warmth of Mama’s voice echoed from the kitchen. “You worried me a little when you rescheduled.” She appeared in the open door opposite the living room, wiping her hands on her apron. “I hope everything is all right?”

Kagome just smiled, like she always did when confronted with her mother’s comforting presence. “Everything is fine, Mama. Something just came up. I’m sorry we worried you.” Reaching behind her, she curled her fingers around InuYasha’s palm and tugged, pulling him with her as she stepped up into the house. “Mama, this is InuYasha.”

Mama turned her soft brown gaze onto the hanyou who had stepped into the house with her daughter. Sudden tension invaded InuYasha’s body, though if Kagome hadn’t been holding onto him she never would have known. He stood easily under Mama’s scrutiny, appearing almost bored as her mother looked him up and down, her eyes widening when she noticed the soft white ears twitching at odd intervals atop his head. Immensely grateful for the tiny contact, Kagome gave his hand a comforting squeeze.

His ears stopped twitching.

Finally, Mama smiled, small and warm, and bowed her head. “InuYasha. Welcome. I’m pleased you could come.”

She felt the surprise that went through him at her mother’s polite greeting, and he blinked. Then the tension of his grip slackened just a little. Looking slightly awkward, he returned the bow and responded with a grunt that sounded like it was meant to be polite. A grin twitched at her lips because the mumbling uncertainty didn’t fit his voice. He noticed her amusement and sent her a sidelong glare, which only made her more amused.

Mama’s keen gaze noted the brief exchange, and her smile widened slightly. “I hope you like nabe, InuYasha. We’re having beef tonight.”

Kagome flushed at the knowing twinkle in her mother’s gaze. “Uh, Mama, where are Jii-chan and Souta?”

Mama’s smile didn’t waver. “Jii-chan is taking a nap in his room, and Souta is--”

A loud thud cut off Mama’s words, followed by a softer thud and a panicked, “Ah! Watch out!”

Almost before the words finished, a soccer ball came rocketing down the stairway ahead of them; it hit the edge of a step at an odd angle and shot directly at them. Mama gasped and Kagome took a startled step backwards, but InuYasha had already stepped in front of her and caught the ball in two hands. For a split second of stunned silence, Mama just stared at him, a hand to her mouth. Kagome blinked at his back, then stepped around InuYasha to glare up the stairs.

Feet, covered in shin-high socks, pounded down the stairs, and a tall, black-haired boy, still dressed in shorts and a jersey, clattered into view. “Sorry! It got away from…” He drew to a stop when he found three sets of eyes turn to him. Dark brown eyes widened and darted over the dog ears and odd coloring of the stranger standing in their entryway. He blinked. “Who’re you?“ His gaze settled on the black and white ball in his hands, and a smile lit his face. “Hey! You caught it? Nice!”

Kagome rolled her eyes, fighting to keep her exasperation in check. “Souta! You’re not supposed to kick that thing in the house! You could have hurt someone!”

He returned her eye roll with one of his own. “Nice to see you too, sis.”

She sent him a murderous look. “Souta….”

Another eye-roll. “Lighten up. I just got back from practice and we have a tournament next month. Anyway, I said I was sorry, didn’t I?” He turned his attention back to InuYasha, his gaze keen. “Who’s this guy? Is he your new boyfriend?”

It was InuYasha’s turn to take a startled step backwards.

Kagome nearly choked on her horror. “SOUTA!”

A smothered laugh slipped past Mama’s lips before she cleared her throat and directed a firm look at her son. “InuYasha is our guest, Souta. You should address him more politely.”

Souta looked mildly ashamed, but he finished his lope down the stairs and held out his hands for the soccer ball, still eyeing the newcomer. “InuYasha, huh? That’s an unusual name….” A frown wrinkled his forehead. “You’re a youkai? Are those your real ears?”

InuYasha scowled at him and finally found his voice. “Of course they’re real.” He tossed the soccer ball back to the teenager. “You got a problem with me being a youkai?”

Souta caught the ball easily and blinked at the question. His shoulders lifted in a careless shrug. “Why should I? Some of the best players on our team are youkai.” InuYasha’s scowl vanished abruptly, but Souta didn’t seem to notice. His frown grew more pronounced. “None of them have ears that look like yours, though. Theirs are all pointy. Why are yours different?”

Kagome hid a smile. “InuYasha is a hanyou, Souta.”

“Oh.” He fell quiet, but the thoughtful wrinkle between his brows didn’t falter. His eyes narrowed and he stared hard at the hanyou, propping the ball on his hip. “Hanyou. Huh.”

She could see InuYasha grow restless under the continued study. His ears started twitching again and his eyebrow got that odd tick. “You got a problem with that?” he finally demanded.

She opened her mouth to intervene before things got out of hand, but Souta started shaking his head. “Nah. You got some really great reflexes.” His head cocked to the side, as if he were trying to get a different view of their guest. “But I’m sure I’ve seen you somewhere before. And I know I’ve heard your name before….” His lips pressed together with effort.

So did Kagome’s as she realized with a flash of dread that she’d forgotten to warn InuYasha about Souta’s second favorite hobby. “Uh, Souta, InuYasha is--”

But Souta’s eyes had already rounded. “No way!” He pointed a finger at InuYasha, his face blank with astonishment. “You’re that InuYasha, aren’t you?! Right? You’re an Alliance hunter, right?!” Excitement radiated with invisible energy from Souta as he took a step closer. “Oh man. I’m sure of it. I saw you on TV the other day arguing with that politician guy!”

Mama looked impressed. “My, my. Do you really hunt those terrible monsters that cause all that damage?”

InuYasha flashed her an uncertain look from the corner of his eyes, and she winced in apology. Oops. InuYasha’s expression questioned her brother’s sanity, but he grunted out an affirmation. “Yeah. So?”

“Yes! I knew it!” Souta jumped, punching a fist into the air and nearly dropping his ball. He turned an accusatory glare on his sister. “Why didn’t you tell me you knew someone like him?”

She rolled her eyes again. “Why should I? You never care when I talk about Sango, and she’s a hunter.”

“That’s because I know Sango. Besides, she’s good, but she’s not as good as him.” He cocked a thumb at InuYasha, who looked completely nonplussed. But Souta lost interest in blaming Kagome and whirled on InuYasha with a calculating grin. “Hey, hey. Is it true that you’re the only hanyou to ever officially hunt for the Alliance? Do you really have a huge sword that causes all kinds of damage? Can I see it? Is it true that you killed Ryukoutsusei before you were even a hunter? Is your kill rate really as good as they say it is? Can you tell me about that big rogue that tore up the city? Was it really--”

With each question, he took another step, bringing him closer to a hanyou whose expression grew more wary by the second. InuYasha started edging back away from her brother, and Kagome felt her temper snap. “Souta!” Before he could push InuYasha back into the genkan, she grabbed onto his ear, twisting to make sure he got the message. “Stop it!”

“Ah! Hey, that hurts!” Souta winced, but immediately froze, experience serving him well.

Blowing out a breath, she dropped her grip on his ear and turned an apologetic look to InuYasha. “Sorry. Souta and some of his friends are big fans of the Alliance hunters. They like to keep track of all that stuff.”

Souta rubbed at his sore ear, but appeared to realize that he’d overdone it. He nodded, his eyes taking on a sheepish glint. “Yeah. Sorry. I guess I got a little excited. Me and the guys have this website, where we keep up stats and pay rates and kill ratings and stuff. But we don’t have as much information as we’d like about all the hunters. You especially. I thought you could fill in some blanks.”

“Website?” Now that he wasn’t being stalked out of the house, InuYasha looked a little less hassled. And more curious. His brow furrowed and doubt shaded his voice. “How do you find all that stuff out?”

Souta grinned. “Wanna see it?”

“See it?” His eyes darted to her, but she just shrugged.

“Come on. I’ll show you what we have, and you can let me know if any of it’s not right.” Souta’s expression was eager again, but not as overwhelming this time. He grabbed onto InuYasha’s sleeve and started to pull.

“Uh….” He darted another look at her, somewhat panicked. This time, she bit the inside of her cheek to hold in a grin.

Mama didn’t even bother to hide her smile. “That’s a wonderful idea, Souta. You keep InuYasha company while Kagome helps me with dinner.”

InuYasha still looked reluctant, so she let her grin surface and gave him a reassuring wave. “Don’t worry. We’ll call you when dinner’s ready, okay?”

He rolled his eyes, but turned to make sure he didn’t trip behind Souta‘s enthusiastic grip on his way up the stairs.

Kagome watched InuYasha disappear onto the second floor with Souta. “Nice to see you too, Souta.” She heaved a small sigh and turned to Mama, whose merriment hadn’t abated. “Well, at least that went well. Now all I have to worry about is Jii-chan.”

Mama gave a small laugh. “Welcome home, Kagome.” She turned back to the kitchen. “Now let’s finish cutting these vegetables so we can feed these boys.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~

He allowed Kagome’s little brother to pull him away from her, but only because he thought it would be easier to go with the kid’s flow than fight it. They emerged onto the second floor to a long hallway and several western style doors closed against it. His eyes fixed almost automatically on a specific door farther down. He blinked and froze in shock. But before he had the chance to move or inquire, Souta’s grip on his sleeve jerked him off to the side. He was dragged into a different room and released abruptly.

He stumbled to a stop and watched as the kid made a beeline for a large desk on the other side of the room. An elaborate-looking cluster of electronic devices covered the desk: screens and metal boxes of various sizes, and odd-looking devices connected by twisted wires that all seemed to vanish into the wall. Souta plopped into the rolling chair, touched something that brought the largest screen to life and immediately started typing in rapid-fire clicks. “Man, this is great. No one is ever going to believe that I had you over for dinner.” The typing stopped and Souta whirled in his seat. “Hey, you think I could get a picture while you’re here? The one we have on the site isn’t that great. You don’t really go to the Alliance that often, so it’s not that easy to get a picture of you. The one we have up now we got from when you were on the news.”

InuYasha stared at him in mild disbelief. He’d never met anyone so excited to see a hunter before, and never one so impressed by the fact that he was a hanyou.

Talk about your foreign concepts.

Souta didn’t wait for an answer. He turned back and gestured to the images loading on the screen. “One of the guys who helps run this website knows someone inside the Alliance. He knows all kinds of stuff about the hunters and when they hunt and what they take out, and he gets it to us pretty quick when a rogue attack happens. We update the site pretty often, too, just to keep everything current.”

Frowning his curiosity, he walked across the room to look over the kid’s shoulder, taking in the dark brown, green, and black that made up the site design, and the splashy title in blood-red letters across the top: Hunting Ground. He nearly rolled his eyes at the title, but then skimmed down the rest of the page. The front page had a few paragraphs of text about the site, and colored links lined the sides that lead to information about the Alliance and how it worked, the rogues, and hunters. Beneath the text, photographs of Alliance hunters --some of whom he knew, and some he didn’t -- lined themselves in rows according to rank. He was surprised, and a little irritated, to find a picture of himself among those on the top row. Right next to Kouga.

He scowled. That picture of him wasn’t exactly flattering. He re-considered allowing the kid to take his picture. It seemed like the pictures were links, leading to more information about the hunters they represented. “Why would you do something like this?”

Souta shrugged. “My friends and I’ve been big fans of the hunters and what they do since we were little kids. We used to eat up anything we saw or heard on the news about you guys -- we even bothered our teachers to tell us stuff about the Alliance, but they didn’t really know all that much either. Then we got smart and started clipping and saving stuff, doing research on our own. We managed to gather a ton of information, and it was just sitting around, so we decided it would be fun to put it all into one place for anyone to see. Pretty cool, huh?”

Grudgingly, he admitted a small amount of respect for the work that had obviously gone into a teenager’s hobby. Briefly, he wondered if all the information they had up about the Alliance was correct.

Souta nearly read his mind, because he launched into a comprehensive explanation of the site, pride shining in his voice. “We threw in the background stuff because we thought it would help round things out -- tell people why it’s important, you know. Most of it’s available in history books or a matter of public record if you know where to look for it. We just compiled all the information and organized it. And then we calculate stats and stuff for the hunters. We even have a ratings system. You’re one of the best, considering the high success rate and that kick-ass sword, though it doesn’t help your stats any when stuff gets destroyed, so that hurts some. Oh, and you should probably be more careful about….”

The kid’s constant flow of chatter didn’t seem to require him to answer, so he let his eyes wander for a few moments, taking in the subtle tones of the room, the tatami matting on the floor, thinking idly that Miroku would be interested to know about what the kid was doing -- assuming that he didn’t already know. A bookcase lined the wall opposite the bed, but it was only partially covered in books. Posters of sports and monster movies dotted the walls, and trophies and medals interspersed with the books on the shelves. On one of the top shelves, a flash of bright green within a wood-framed picture caught his eye.

Kagome?

His frown returned and he strode over to the bookcase, grabbing the picture.

It was definitely her, though much younger. She stood in front of some building, wearing a school uniform with a pleated green skirt and a long-sleeved sailor top. Three other girls, dressed the same and looking eerily similar save for their differing hairstyles, crowded around her in the picture. A cheerful, brown-haired teenage boy stood just behind them grinning at Kagome like an idiot. Kagome was laughing, two fingers held up in a victory sign, and the vivid yellow stripe of a backpack hung over one shoulder.

He couldn’t breathe. The pain was back again, ripping into his brain and destroying his concentration, but this time he didn’t even try to hide or fight it. He gripped his forehead, and embraced it as he had earlier at the Goshinboku, let it wash over him, let the images that always came with it come as well, and simply stared down at the photograph in his hand. In the background, Souta chattered away, oblivious.

The pain released him and his lungs expanded to gulp at the air. He staggered backward on unsteady legs; when his knees hit the bed, he collapsed onto it, sitting so hard that the headboard thumped against the wall. Stunned, he just stared down at the photograph, his insides trembling. Holy shit.

His crash-landing finally caught Souta’s attention, and he stopped talking long enough to pivot his seat. “What happened?” He spotted the picture still gripped tightly in one clawed hand and frowned. “What’s wrong?”

Trying to cover, he held up the picture and his voice rasped into the silence. “How old is she in this?”

Souta’s face cleared. “Oh. That. She’s almost fifteen there. She and those girls were inseparable through all of middle school. And see that guy looking at her like he would bow down and worship her if she’d let him?” He rolled his eyes and turned back to the screen, reaching a hand into a nearby drawer to pull out a box. “That’s Houjou.” He pulled out a pretzel stick and tucked it into his mouth. “He was her boyfriend through all of high school.”

“Boyfriend?” Houjou. He scowled down at the boy in the picture and let his thumb skim across the picture, stroking over the younger Kagome’s face. His claw scratched faintly against the glass. She looked utterly carefree, happy. And completely, elementally familiar. All the way down to that damn yellow backpack.

Souta gave non-committal hum. “For a while he was with her all the time. Mama and Jii-chan thought they would end up married, but they broke up on graduation day. Kagome didn’t even seem that upset about it. She just came home, said it was over, and that was the last I heard of him.” He paused, contemplated, and shrugged. “I think he asked her to marry him and she said no. She never was as attached to him as he was to her.” He started typing again, a sly note entering his tone. “Anyway, you don’t have to worry about him, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“I’m not worried.” He clipped it out, still glued to the picture.

“But you like her, right? And she likes you -- she must. She hasn’t brought a guy home for dinner since Houjou, and I can tell she likes you better.”

He blinked, then let a small smile curve his mouth. “Maybe.” After a moment, he tapped at the glass. “Why do you have a picture of your sister and her friends in your room?”

The typing stopped and Souta darted an uncomfortable look over his shoulder. “Ah, well…. That was the last picture she took before the accident, so it’s kinda special.”

“Accident?” His ears pricked and his head came up, his eyes finally pulling away from the picture to pin Souta with a startled gaze. “What accident?”

Souta blinked at him. “The accident at the park on her birthday.” He frowned and scratched at his head. “You mean she hasn’t told you yet?”

Park? Birthday? A cold, hard knot twisted in his gut. His teeth clenched. “What accident?”

Souta sat back against his chair, his unease palpable. “I don’t know. If she hasn’t told you, she must have a reason….”

“Maybe it just hasn’t come up yet.” His eyes narrowed, and the sick feeling in his stomach started churning. “What accident?”

Souta still looked hesitant. “Maybe I shouldn’t have--”

“I’ll let you take a picture.”

Souta stopped and eyed his position at the foot of his bed. “Really?”

His brows hardened. “I don’t lie, and I don’t make offers twice. What accident, Souta?”

Souta took all of ten seconds to mull that over. He sighed. “Early in Kagome’s last year of middle school, her class went on a camping trip. It was just for a weekend in one of the national parks outside the city -- you know, the ones they keep clear of youkai so it’s safe for humans? But while they were hiking on one of the trails, Kagome fell and hit her head.” He paused, his features softening. “They rushed her to the hospital, but she was already in a coma. It happened on her fifteenth birthday.” He looked down at the floor. “She stayed in a coma for an entire year.”

“A coma? For an entire…year?” His heart slammed in his chest. He did a quick mental calculation, and his heart stopped. It couldn’t be…except that it could, and it even made sense if it had. Guilt clenched through his chest.

Oh…shit.

“Yeah. It was rough for her.” Souta looked troubled. “When she came out of it, she was a year behind. All her friends had moved on to high school and were too busy to visit her, so she was stuck in the same school with people she barely knew. She ended up transferring schools to finish middle school. It only made it worse that no one believed her about the youkai.”

His eyes widened and his grip on the picture tightened, threatening the frame. “Youkai?”

“Yeah.” The younger male turned his back to InuYasha to stare at the computer screen. “I was still pretty young, so I’m not really clear on all the details, but I was there the day she woke up. I used to go visit her after school sometimes, just to see how she was doing. She was really disoriented and weak, but one of the first things she did was start babbling about the youkai witch who had grabbed her. She said she’d been put under some kind of spell, but….” He shook his head. “The doctors said it was just a concussion. Her friends all saw her fall off the trail. It took them a while to find her, but they didn’t see any evidence of a youkai around. Just her, bleeding from her head. And that park hasn’t had youkai in years.” He fell quiet for a moment. “In the end, they told her it was a dream.”

Fuck.

A loud crack echoed through the room as the tip of his claw sank into the glass.

Souta whirled and gawped at the picture. “Whoa. Are you okay?”

He bowed his head, letting his hair fall forward to hide his expression from the boy, staring almost blindly at the younger Kagome through the striations in the glass. “ ‘They told her’? Didn’t they convince her?”

Souta blinked at him for a long moment, his eyes going from the ruined glass to the hanyou and back. “I don’t know. She doesn’t talk about it. She hasn’t since the doctors and gave up on her story.”

He let that sink into his system for a few moments, let it absorb into his brain. Then he forced his muscles to release their tension. He sighed and looked up at the kid. “Sounds like she had a hard time after her…accident.”

Souta continued to stare, but he answered readily. “Some. Mostly just with school and friends. After she transferred, all she did was study. Even after she got into high school, the only one of her classmates she spent any time with was Houjou -- and I think that was more because he was an old friend than that she really wanted to be with him.” He frowned. “But she’s fine now. She got over it when she met Sango.” A grin twisted his mouth. “She was the first hunter I ever met. I even met her brother Kohaku once.”

Souta’s grin widened and he held up his hand, which now held a small digital camera. “He was real cool. He let me take his picture, too.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~

Mama led her into the kitchen and set her up at a counter with a knife, a cutting board, and a pile of recently peeled vegetables. Then, while Kagome started chopping, Mama turned to the sink and her much larger pile of unpeeled vegetables, all of which would go into the pot warming on the stove. She picked up her paring knife, and within moments, the kitchen filled with the smooth and rhythmic sounds of peeling and chopping.

“I’m glad you were able to rearrange your schedule to bring InuYasha tonight. He’s quite good-looking isn’t he?” A brief moment’s pause. “Though he doesn’t strike me as the type to hide in a bedroom just because someone’s mother comes to visit.”

Halfway through her first potato, Kagome grimaced as blush number one warmed her cheeks, and guilt swamped her stomach. Just like her mother to get to the point in a roundabout way. “Yes. I’m sorry you had to find out that way. I was going to tell you, eventually. It was just….”

“A surprise, yes? For me, too.” Mama’s voice often smiled better than her face. “Well, I shouldn’t have come in like that, either. I was concerned after something so violent happened so close to you. A mother worries. But I suppose I wasn’t the only one?”

“No, Mama. You weren’t the only one.”

“That’s good.” She sounded satisfied with that answer. “And you? How are you doing, Kagome?”

This time it was she who smiled. “Very well, Mama.”

“Any regrets?”

This question was much softer, almost sympathetic, and Kagome paused for a long moment, turning it over in her mind before answering just as softly. “No. None.”

Mama’s long sigh filtered over to her as if carried by a gentle breeze. “And you’re being careful?”

Blush number two. She resisted the urge to thump her forehead against the cutting board. “Yes, Mama.”

Chopping, and the shaving of the paring knife, filled the air for a few minutes. On the stove, water began to boil. Kagome set her took a moment to turn it down, then returned to her vegetables -- a radish this time.

“So how did you meet this hanyou of yours?”

“He was a patient. I treated him for wounds he got while he was hunting, and he kind of just…stuck around after that.”

“And how long ago was this?”

The moment of truth.

She hesitated. “Two weeks, Mama.” Only the slightest of embellishments.

The steady snick of the paring knife stopped abruptly. Kagome held her breath, and waited.

The silence felt loaded, heavy. The unbearable quiet stretched and still Mama didn’t move, her back remaining rigid for several minutes. Kagome’s eyes dropped to the cutting board, and her fingers tightened around the handle of the knife. Tension twisted knots in her gut as she waited for some kind of response.

Then Mama sighed again, and her knife made a metallic clack as she set it on the rim of the sink. “Two weeks as of when?”

Kagome winced. Mama had always known exactly the question she didn’t want to answer. “Two weeks as of tomorrow.”

Mama still hadn’t turned around, and in Kagome’s mind her face was as blank and careful as her voice. “I’ve always felt very lucky as a mother, because I have a daughter who has always been a very responsible person. You were so brave when Papa died, and you never complained about having to help. You were never rebellious about anything, and you worked hard in school, and you were always honest and deliberate about the way you dealt with people. Even after the accident, when you had to decide what to do about schooling, you’ve always considered everything so carefully.

“That’s why, when you decided to move out, your Jii-chan and I didn’t object. We had confidence that you would find the right decision no matter what you faced.” She turned, strain lining her features. “I suppose I have no reason to doubt that now.”

Kagome bit her lip and sent a hesitant look at her mother. “You don’t think Jii-chan will mind about InuYasha?”

Mama’s eyebrows lifted. “You mean that he’s a hanyou? Well, perhaps we shouldn’t tell him about your relationship being so close, but as for what he is and what he does, it’s certainly no surprise. You’ve always had an affinity for youkai -- especially those lovely orphanage children. Jii-chan knows that.” A smile graced her lips again. “To be honest, my first thought was that it was that charming youkai Kouga.”

Kagome rolled her eyes. “Please, whatever you do, don’t tell InuYasha that.” She continued to chew on her lip for a moment before she set her knife down and turned to watch her mother wash the vegetable she’d finished peeling. “Mama? How did you know it wasn’t Kouga?”

“When I thought back to way you treated Kouga, I realized it couldn’t be him.”

Kagome frowned. “The way I treated him?”

Mama smiled her gentle smile. “You treated him the same way you treated Houjou. The same way you’ve treated every boy I’ve ever seen you with. I knew it couldn’t be him.”

She shut off the water and set her carrot in the sink before turning soft eyes to her daughter. “You’ve always kept yourself at a distance from boys, Kagome. I’ve watched it your entire life -- even before the accident, when you were very small. You’ve always kept a little part of yourself separate and untouchable, and none of the boys I saw you with over the years could get anywhere near that part of you. None of them even realized it was there.”

Kagome stared at her mother, eyes round. “I kept a part of myself separate? But why?”

Mama’s tone grew thoughtful, and she picked up her carrot and turned it around in her palm. “In fact, most of the time I think not even you knew it was there.” Her smile turned sad. “I used to worry for you. I was afraid that you would end up married to Houjou and that part of you would stay locked away forever. He was such a nice, solid boy….” She drifted off for a moment, then sighed. “But I knew he couldn’t touch you the way you were waiting to be touched.”

Kagome sucked in a horrified breath, nearly dropping the half of a radish hanging forgotten in her fingers. “Mama!”

To her shock, her mother’s smile took on a hint of slyness. But then Mama shook her head. “I didn’t mean quite like that, Kagome.” The slyness strengthened for just a moment. “Though it didn’t seem to me as if your hanyou has a problem there, either.”

“MAMA!”

A soft laugh and Mama had turned around and flipped the water back on. “I meant that Houjou--or any of the others--could never reach all of you, Kagome, because you wouldn’t allow it. None of them ever passed whatever secret test you always had for them.”

Carefully, Mama set the newly peeled carrot off to the side and picked up another. “I knew that whoever you were hiding in your room that day, it wasn’t any of the ones I’d met.” She laughed again. “Of course, I didn’t expect that it was someone you only met last week, either. But, Kagome, if you’ve finally found the person who can pass your test, then….”

“Test?” She paused, thinking back, going over Mama’s words. “You really think I had a test?”

“I always did wonder what you would do when you found him.” Mama shut off the water and brought the vegetables over to her side of the kitchen and grabbed a cutting knife of her own. “I can see it, you know. That part of yourself you’ve never let anyone touch. He’s got to it, set it free somehow. I can see it shining in you.”

Following Mama’s movements, Kagome wrapped her fingers around the handle of the knife she’d been using, and lifted it as if to cut, but didn’t bring it down. Instead, she studied her reflection in the blade. “So…you don’t mind, Mama?” How inadequate that question was, meaning so many different things and saying none of them.

But Mama understood. She stopped slicing and sighed heavily. For a moment, tension and worry brought the strain back to her face. “It’s not a usual situation. Being so close after knowing someone only a week is….” She paused, sighed again, and the worry was gone. “But you’re not the usual kind of girl, at least not in this. I have faith in your judgment, Kagome. You’ve given me many reasons to trust it over the years, and very few to doubt it. If this is what it takes, then….” She smiled her warm smile. “You should bring him here more often. Souta’s taken to him.”

Kagome felt the warmth fill her chest and burst in answering brilliance across her face. “Yes.” Wryness put a twist to her lips. “A little too taken with him, I think.”

Mama didn’t answer, but she didn’t have to. The air was clear again, and Kagome was content with the familiar sounds of chopping as she and Mama cut up the remaining vegetables.

Kagome paused, fingering a slice of radish thoughtfully for a moment. “Mama? About Kouga….”

Mama’s graceful eyebrows lifted at her daughter’s studied tone. “Yes?”

“You remember how you met him, right?”

“Of course. I came to the clinic so that we could have lunch, and he was waiting to speak with you about something. He was quite pleasant, if a little overbearing.”

Kagome smiled. “Yes. Will you do me a favor? Don’t tell InuYasha any of that, okay?”

Mama seemed very amused by that; Kagome could hear laughter just under the sereneness of her tone. “If you say so, dear.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~

“InuYasha? Souta? Dinner’s almost ready.” Kagome hummed happily on her way to collect her brother at her mother’s behest. She was much relieved after talking with her mother; she’d been so worried that Mama would disapprove. Mama’s confidence in her had lifted a huge weight from her chest, and the fact that she actually liked InuYasha brought a smile to her lips. Her family’s opinion meant a lot to her.

“Souta, Mama wants you to set the table.” Her feet made familiar thumps on the stairs as she hurried up in search of her brother and her…whatever he was to her. She’d been trying to puzzle over that for the past few days now. The term ‘boyfriend’ just didn’t seem to fit. Lover was closer, and a little more thrilling, but still didn’t feel quite right, and the term ‘soul mate’ was not only premature, but far too dramatic for her tastes. Whatever she was doing with him, whatever they were to each other, it defied classification. And Mama’s revelation had given her a whole new way of looking at their relationship.

She sighed as she neared Souta’s closed door, a fist raised to rap on the wood. “Souta? Did you hear --”

The door yanked open before her knuckles made contact. She blinked, startled to find herself looking up into the eager face of her teenage brother. Souta’s growth spurts had gotten more apparent to her in the years since she’d moved out and no longer saw him every day, but it was only in the past few months that he’d started edging her in height. Not so many years ago, she’d been able to wrestle him down for a noogie with little or no resistance.

How quickly things could change.

Souta flashed her a mischievous grin and darted past her, completely oblivious to the flash of nostalgia that crossed her features. “I heard you the first time, sis. Dibs on the beef!”

Of course, Souta would always be Souta.

His socked feet started their controlled tumble down the stairs, leaving her standing in an empty doorway. She peered into his room. InuYasha?

“InuYasha isn’t with me anymore,” her brother’s voice called back in descending volume. “He left a few minutes ago. Seemed kinda upset. I thought he was downstairs already.”

Kagome blinked again. Upset? Why would he be upset? She glanced around the hallway. He wasn’t downstairs, of that she was sure. So if he isn’t downstairs with Mama and Jii-chan…. A tiny frown marred the skin between her brows. “InuYasha?” she called again, and again received no answer. Her eyes fell on a door at the other end of the hall, and noted that it stood ajar.

Could he be…?

Her feet padded the few steps down the hall. The door swung open as quietly as always, and her old bedroom loomed silent before her. The yellow light from the hallway cut into the otherwise unlit room, illuminating edges and deepening shadows. She stood for a moment to adjust to the darker interior, letting her gaze pass along the familiar walls and decorations: girlish ruffles, old pictures, and miscellaneous awards of which she’d once been so proud. All remnants of a time in her life long since lost, but the memories always brought a smile to her lips. Everything was exactly the same as it’d been when she’d left for university all those years ago. Mama still hadn’t changed it.

Her eyes skimmed over to the window on the right, where her bed, desk, and hated alarm clock had always been. She spotted him easily enough, sitting cross-legged on the floor with his back to the bed. He had his head cradled in his hands, almost as if he were in pain, though the flicked-back position of one of his ears told her he knew she was there.

Her frown grew concerned. “InuYasha?” Hesitantly, she stepped into the room. She was surprised to note the cool breeze that rippled though the curtains. He’d opened the window. For some odd reason, a deep chord of resonance swept through her at the sight and she paused, her hand going to a throat that was inexplicably tight. It was as if it were only, incredibly, wholly right that she find him sitting in her old room next to an open window. She swallowed, wondering if he felt it too, then tipped her head to the side.

“What are you doing in here?” She wasn’t offended, just curious, and it was evident in her voice.

At first he didn’t respond. His body didn’t move a fraction from its position on the floor. Kagome frowned. A trace of concern curled through her; he really did look like he was in pain. A few more steps had her at his side, and she settled onto her knees facing him. She reached out and brushed her fingers against his shoulder.

“InuYasha?” Her voice was softer this time. “What’s wrong?”

His ears twitched in the pale light, and his head lifted from his hands. He still didn’t look up at her. His eyes fixed on a spot on the floor in front of them.

“You should have told me.”

Huh?

She blinked. “Told you what?”

“About the damn coma.” His eyes lifted then, and blazing anger and frustration gilded his gaze as it locked with hers. “You were in a coma for an entire fucking year, and you never said a damn thing about it.”

She froze, for a moment unable to even blink.

Coma? Her eyes widened. How does he…? She swallowed, anxiety twisting a cold leaden ball into her gut. Souta.

“I….” This time it was she who wouldn’t look at him. Against her thighs, her fingers twisted in the light material of her skirt. “I didn’t think it was important.” That coma had not been a pleasant thing to happen in her life. She had lost so much that year, and no one had believed her when she told them what happened. “It was a long time ago, and it has nothing to do with now.”

“More than you know.”

Kagome bit her lip and looked up, her worry growing at the harshness of his tone. He was resting his forehead against his fingertips now, his eyes narrowed as he peered down through the gloom. She edged a little closer, trying to get a good look at the face he had turned away from her. “Hey. Are you all right?”

He let out a soft growl. “Tch. Of course I’m all right. This place is just….” He made a slicing, dismissive motion with his free hand. “It’s just a headache.”

She blinked at him for a few moments, surprised to hear that he could suffer from something so mundane as a headache, and even more surprised that he would admit to such a weakness out loud. Then she wondered how bad it must be for him to have said

anything about it in the first place. She suppressed a wince of sympathy, wishing there was some way she could help. None of the painkillers that Mama was to likely have on hand would be effective for a youkai, and it wasn’t as if they had time to go all the way back to the clinic just so she could mix up some herbal tea.

Abruptly, she pushed back onto her feet. His ear swiveled, following her movements, though he didn’t look up. The mattress dipped under her weight as she settled herself on the bed behind him, crossing one leg underneath her and letting the other hang to the floor by his side. His head came up then, and he started to twist around to face her.

“Kagome….”

“Shhhh.” Her hands at the sides of his head stopped him before he got even halfway around. Her fingertips, cool from all the chopping and washing she’d done, smoothed against his temples. He stiffened, but she ignored it. She started a slow massage, rotating with gentle pressure against his skin, going for a few of his pressure points.

For a few seconds he just sat awkward and unmoving under her ministrations. She held her breath, afraid he would stop her. She felt him relax, and breathed out as his shoulders sagged back to rest warmly against her leg. His head tipped back just a fraction to accommodate her hands, and in that moment, he reminded her of Buyo whenever he presented her his tummy in a lazy demand for attention.

Not that he would appreciate being compared to the family pet.

A smile flickered across her lips and she widened her reach, fingers delving into his hair, nails giving the occasional light scratch, fingertips digging very gently into the thickness at the base of his ears. They quivered ever so slightly every time she scratched at the delicate skin. Her smile deepened, and she had to beat back a wayward urge to lean down and brush a kiss along one of the finely furred edges, not wanting to startle him out of letting her touch him like this.

A few more moments of quiet, and she was certain she heard the faintest hint of a rumble -- one of those deep ones, from low in his chest. Then both his ears gave a slight jerk, and she heard him draw a deep breath and sigh.

“Kagome….”

She hadn’t been expecting him to speak just yet, much less in such a somber tone. She blinked. “Hmm?”

He hesitated for a heartbeat. “What happened?”

“What….” More blinking as she tried to figure out what he was talking about. Her rhythm slowed. “What happened….”

He huffed softly and his ears flicked again for emphasis. “The camping trip. The accident. Tell me about it.”

“Oh.” Her fingers stilled against his scalp, and she focused down on the fine strands of silver into which they’d disappeared. This was not exactly her fondest subject. “Well…. I guess I was….”

“Not what the doctors told you happened.” He interrupted her, voice laced with impatience. “Fuck the doctors. What do you remember.”

Her eyes widened, wondering just how much Souta had told him. Suddenly uncomfortable, she started to pull away. “I --”

His hands clamped down over hers, trapping them in his hair, and his swiftness startled her. She stared down at him, but he didn’t move. Quiet descended, falling over both of them like a heavy blanket. A breath of wind pushed through the window, stirring the curtains, a brief rush of coolness over both of them.

She closed her eyes and allowed her fingers to resume their circular motion. After a few seconds of following her movements, his hands released hers. One of them dropped to wrap possessive warmth around her bare ankle. A ghost of her previous smile curved her mouth.

Her lids lifted, and she studied him in silence for a moment. “Why do you want to know?”

“Because….” He trailed off. Growled softly. His fingers tightened. “Just tell me.”

She sighed, but relented. She took a moment to think, and her brow wrinkled with the troubled memories. “Our class wanted to celebrate the fact that we would be leaving middle school after that year. We had entrance exams coming up, and it was supposed to be fun and relaxing before all the stress. We thought a camping trip sounded like an adventure, and to me it was exciting because they scheduled the trip for over my birthday.” She smiled. “I would get to leave fourteen and come home fifteen. The national park just outside the city was supposed to be a good place. It was supposed to -- was free of dangerous youkai….”

She sighed again, her fingers still massaging absently because the action proved to be as soothing to her as it was to him. “My friends all said I went sleepwalking that night. They said they followed me, and that I tripped and fell on the hiking path --” His fingers gave a warning squeeze around her ankle, and she glared down at the top of his head. Even if he couldn’t see, it made her feel better. “But that’s not what I remember.”

She fell quiet for a moment, doubting herself as she often did when she thought about that night. “My memories are so hazy. They could be…misleading.” The doctors and medical professionals that had overseen her recovery had insisted that she was wrong, regardless of how many times she’d insisted that she wasn’t. That park, after all, had been cleared -- and kept clear -- of youkai just so that humans like herself would have somewhere safe to camp.

His voice was uncharacteristically soft. “So could your so-called friends.”

Her frown grew agitated; so did her grip on his head. “But that park is swept regularly for youkai. They went back and checked after I woke up. There was nothing there.”

He snorted. “They didn’t find anything after a fucking year? What the hell does that prove?”

She glared at him. “No one else has been attacked by youkai in that park since. Why would a youkai attack me but no one else?”

“Just tell me what the hell happened!”

She growled at him as he often did at her, only not nearly as effectively, then closed her eyes in concentration. “I don’t remember how I got onto the trail. I remember some kind of dream, I think, but that’s about it. One minute I was sleeping, the next I was on one of the hiking trails. There was an old woman. A youkai, maybe an oni. She was short and shriveled and she stank, but she was so strong that I couldn’t fight her when she grabbed me. She had some sort of scythe weapon that she carried with her and she threatened me with it so I wouldn’t struggle.”

Her nose wrinkled, and she was barely aware that her hands had ceased their movement. “She took me to some sort of cave, and I remember being immersed in some disgusting smelling water It was some kind of ….spell, I guess. It made feel really sick, as if something were trying to pull me apart from the inside out. It….” She hesitated again, and a hand went to her chest, rubbing absently. “It felt like a punch in the chest, only backwards. I fought it. I tried to keep whatever it was of myself that was trying to get away. But it was hard. I couldn’t seem to make it come back, and every time I pulled, I felt weaker. I didn’t realize how much time was passing -- it felt weird, like forever and a split second at the same time.”

She drew in a deep breath, and let it out slowly. “And then everything just snapped back into place.” Her eyes opened when the warmth of his palm moved to her calf, and the weight against the leg she’d drawn under her disappeared.

She glanced down to see he’d sat forward, away from her, and had his head resting on his palm. The thick pale fringe of his bangs fell forward to obscure his eyes. He was muttering something, too, so soft that she almost didn’t hear it -- a soft curse, a sincere, infuriated “fuck”.

Worried, she scooted closer, trying to get a better look at his features. “InuYasha?”

His throat moved, his voice garbled. “You nearly died.”

She sucked in another breath and decided she was going to murder Souta. “Well…. Yes. I guess at one point, my vitals dropped so low that my heart nearly stopped. But it didn’t, and it was right after that that I came out of it.” She stopped, biting her lip, then sighed. “When I opened my eyes, I was in a hospital room. Mama was sitting beside me, and it was my sixteenth birthday. An entire year later.” She knew she sounded sad, but she couldn’t help it. The coma had completely displaced her. The year that had followed had been one of the roughest in her life -- in her mind, second only to the year her father had died.

He still hadn’t moved, but his grip on her calf tightened almost painfully. Tension radiated off him in waves of drifting, uneasy heat. Kagome frowned, far more concerned about InuYasha than with disturbing memories she’d long since come to terms.

“It’s all right,” she murmured, trying to be matter-of-fact. “It’s been over for years.”

Before she’d realized he was moving, he was on his feet by the window, standing with his back to her and his fists at his sides.

“Hey!” She scrambled to her feet, reaching out to put a hand on his back. She paused and gave a blink when she felt the tautness of the muscles through his shirt. “What’s wrong?”

He shook his head, refusing to turn around and look at her. “It’s not all right.” His voice oozed quiet fury. “I didn’t know. Dammit.”

“What?” Her heart gave a funny little skip and she rolled her eyes, half-exasperated and half-touched at his anger. “How could you have known? Why does it matter?”

He responded with a soft growl.

She frowned at him, her gaze confused as incredulity struck her. Why was he so upset over something that had happened to her years ago? His anger didn’t fit. Yes, it had been difficult for her, but not a terrible tragedy. She’d survived, gotten over it, moved on to a full life. It certainly wasn’t something that he should feel guilty about.

“You’ll be safe with me, Kagome. I promise I’ll keep you safe.”

She blinked, but was less startled by the fervent declaration than she should have been. She nodded serenely. “I know,” she said softly.

And for once, she surprised him, because his head jerked around at her response and he stared at her, eyes wide in the faint light of the room. She caught a strange glint in them, similar to what she’d seen earlier, under the Goshinboku, before he covered it with a sharp breath. His fingers grasped at her shoulders and gave a tug. She let out a tiny gasp as she fell against his body, and his arms slid across her back, enfolding her tightly -- so tightly she had a difficult time breathing.

And it hit her suddenly -- a flash of certainty she’d never felt before, and she accepted it without question. For InuYasha, it all meant more than he was willing to show. The hug, the dinner, the relationship they’d raced so blindly into -- it all carried hidden levels of meaning and purpose, and because he wouldn’t share it with her, it took a heavy toll on him.

She relaxed into him, her hands clutching at the material covering his back. She wished he would stop trying to do everything alone. She wished she could tell him that she was here, somehow communicate that she was willing to bear whatever burden he carried, that she wanted with all her heart to make it easier for him.

But in the end, all she could do was stay here, in his arms, holding him up and hoping that the comfort he took from her was enough. Her hands tightened.

It took him a minute, but his grip gradually eased. His head ducked a little closer, his nose tucking just behind her ear. His breath stirred her hair, and the hug went from desperate to comfortable. A smile flickered across her lips and she, too, tucked in a little closer, happy to have been able to affect even that little change.

She didn’t know how long it had been when he suddenly lifted his head and turned it toward the open doorway. She looked as well, and couldn’t suppress her grin at the aged voice that drifted energetically from the stairwell.

“Kagome’s here? Where is she? Kagome! Why didn’t you wake me? Kagome! Come greet your beloved grandfather!”

The look he gave her said ‘Now what?’.

Her grin widened and she took his hand and yanked him toward the door. “Now you get to meet Jii-chan. Don’t worry about the ofuda. I don’t think they’ve ever done anything but look useful.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~

Dinner itself was a basic success, despite some lingering animosity from Kagome’s grandfather and a brief altercation with that damn cat of theirs when he finally made his lumbering appearance in the kitchen during dinner.

Souta eyed him with barely concealed glee during most of the meal, shooting a never-ending list of questions at him between bites and making time for bouts of good-natured bickering with his sister. Kagome’s mother just sat back with a gentle smile and played the even-handed referee, her eyes twinkling at him knowingly every time they rested on him. Even Kagome’s Jii-chan seemed to be over most of his suspicion by the time Souta finished expounding on his better traits as a hunter, and InuYasha got the feeling the old man’s initial animosity had less to do with his job or nature than the fact that he was a guy sniffing after his granddaughter. Which was something he understood, even if it was a pain in the ass.

All told, he really liked her family -- not that he had expected anything less. He found himself quite satisfied by the time they left, especially because Kagome looked so happy that everything had gone so smoothly. The strong reactions to the house and its occupants had hurt, though, so he was a little relieved when Kagome did finally pull him toward the entrance.

She zonked out on the drive home -- home meaning his apartment -- but he was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn’t notice until the car had stopped in the grass between the buildings. He pulled the key from the ignition and glanced over to find her body lax against the seat beside him, her head tilted at an awkward angle between the headrest and her shoulder. He paused for a moment. In the darkness her pale skin looked luminescent and her eyelashes cast thick shadows against her cheeks. The gloom made the black of her hair pitch, and it spilled across her shoulders and onto her jacket in inky, light-absorbing waves.

He felt the harshness of his thoughts melt away as he stared at her.

No wonder she fell asleep, he mused as he reached to unbuckle the belt holding her in place. She’d worked all day after only an hour or two of sleep, and that family dinner thing on top of it all. She’d held up admirably until now, with barely a yawn to betray herself. She must be exhausted.

Because of me.

A pang hit him, punctuated by the faint thud of the seatbelt snapping back into its original position. Kagome stirred and murmured, but didn’t wake. He grimaced, and only briefly contemplated waking her. No point in doing that just to make her walk, especially when she was so tired.

He slipped quietly from his side and walked around the car, pulling open her door to lean in and hook his arms underneath her knees and back. With minimal movement, he lifted her out of her seat and settled her securely against his chest. She gave another murmur and her head nuzzled against his shoulder, but even after all that jarring didn’t wake.

Yep. He’d sure as hell worn her out.

A small, smug grin quirked his mouth, and he turned and made his way over to the building. Her purse he left on the floor in the car, figuring if she really needed it, he could get it for her later.

He didn’t see anyone until he hit the second floor, where those damn wise-cracking twins were just coming out of their apartment. They both jumped and stared as he paused on the stairs, and one of them --the one with the green hair on the bottom half of his head -- got a sly look and opened his mouth to comment. He cut the kid off with a soft snarl, and continued on his way, accepting the fact that the whole building would know about his human companion by the end of the day tomorrow. He shrugged mentally and let it go. They had to find out sometime, and as long as they didn’t come knocking on his door, he didn’t give a damn who knew.

He got her to bed without waking her up, and didn’t run into any problems until he realized she was still dressed, and he probably shouldn’t let her sleep like that. Since she was still dead to the world, he sighed and began the irritating chore of trying to get her clothes off. After a few minutes of struggling with tiny buttons, impatience won out and he just cut her clothes off her, all the way down to her bra and panties. Then, just because he felt like it, he cut those off her too. He tossed his own clothes to join her pile of newly formed rags, and curled around her, pulling the covers securely around them. Kagome mewed like a kitten in her sleep and snuggled back against him before settling.

He stared into the calm darkness, figuring he’d have to do without sleep tonight. He had too much running through his head, too many concerns and questions that didn’t have easy or comfortable answers.

He hadn’t expected this kind of connection to crop up. Hadn’t expected that part of his life to be so closely connected to hers. Which was stupid, because it was all connected to her.

Eleven years ago she’d been knocked unconscious by a youkai witch who’d stolen her soul. He should have known. Even with as much as he hadn’t realized back then, he should have known; he should have realized and done something. But he still hadn’t really understood back then, and Kagome had lost a year of her life as a consequence.

It made him wonder what else he still didn’t understand.

Things were coming together; he could feel it, see it around him. He didn’t think he would be able to stop it, and he was pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to anyway. Although, at this point, he would have given almost anything to change it. To change his own stupidity.

His chance would come, and the only thing he could do about it was to prepare.

Don’t fail. Not this time.

Kaede. That old bat knew more than she was saying. He’d known that for a while and hadn’t really done anything about it. He needed to understand as much as possible. Tomorrow, he would pay her a visit and ask the questions that he’d been avoiding.

He stared into the darkness, eyes unblinking and body tense, the thought of sleep and dreams far away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A /N: And here we have the next installment. I won’t even bother to count how long it’s been since the last one.

*prostrates self against Sweltering Ground of Repentance*

I’m sorry! I’m so sorry it took so long. There were so many factors holding me up for the past who knows how long that I don’t have the space or the energy to list them. I worked extra hard, and it’s the longest chapter yet, so hopefully it helps (at least a little) to make up for the wait. Thank you so much to anyone who is still reading. I love you for taking even a small interest in something so close to my heart.

Extra special thanks to Blackberry, beta extraordinaire, for her excellent work and advice. No nitpick is to small or ridiculous. I’m so happy I have someone who knows that stuff; without you, I’d only have about half a clue, which doesn’t make for good writing. Thank you! ^__^Please, feel free to comment, e-mail, IM, or otherwise get in touch with me if you have any questions or concerns -- or theories. I love theories. ^^ It’s really not all that complicated, you know. Some of you already have it.

Wah. I’m so exhausted right now. Seriously falling asleep over the keyboard. These past few weeks have been @_@ for me. I’m going to bed now.

Cheers and Blessings,

~Quill