That night passed as restlessly as the last. When the rosy light of dawn seeped through the slatted reed curtain, Kagome rubbed a hand across her red-rimmed eyes and gathered up her things to go.

It was half a day’s trek back to Edo village, though she hardly seemed to notice the time. Spinning an entire week’s worth of lies kept her mind occupied. Before she knew it, the journey was at an end.

The sun burned high in the spring sky as she broke through the forest at last. The village sprawled before her, idyllic and serene. The outlying rice fields gleamed like panes of polished glass. In the distance, the village square bustled with activity—farmers wheeling carts of hay and vegetables, women gossiping with baskets at their hips, children sprinting and shouting as they darted between. For a moment Kagome stood there, absorbed by the sight, as though she had crawled her way out of hell and back into the living world again.

The villagers bowed to her as she passed them by. Dressed once more in her miko attire, she felt more like an impostor now than she ever had before. She made her way home as quickly as she could. Inuyasha wasn’t there when she arrived, and secretly Kagome was grateful. She needed some time to decompress.

She moved about their small bright home, picking up discarded clothing and otherwise tidying up the place. She had never been much of a neat freak, but since that first day with Sesshoumaru, she’d felt an almost uncontrollable need to put things in order, like an itch in her mind. Putting a kettle on for rice, she decided not to dwell on her compulsive behavior. She was home now. Everything would be back to normal, including her.

When the curtained door swung open, she didn’t even hear it. Outwardly, she was mending shirts; inwardly, she was composing herself. Strong arms slid around her from behind. She started with a gasp, her needle stabbing through her thumb.

“Sorry,” Inuyasha mumbled. His voice muffled in her hair. “…I missed you, Kagome.”

Warmth flooded her, even as tears pricked her eyes—keener than any needle’s sting. Turning, she seized him by the front of his haori, burying her face in the familiar scratchy fabric, breathing in his familiar comforting scent. It felt so good to be in his arms again, so right. Relaxing into him, Kagome sighed.

“I missed you, too.”

After a while, she drew back.

“So,” he asked, fingering a lock of her hair, “how’d it go?”

“Well, I think,” Kagome answered tiredly.

Golden eyes studied her in concern. “You seem beat. Those nuns must have put you through the ringer.”

“It was exhausting,” she confessed.

Why she felt the need to be as truthful as possible seemed absurd, considering the circumstances. A drop in the bucket, really, but she felt it all the same.

“Did those old bags teach you anything useful?”

“Yeah, I learned a lot. But there’s just so much.” Kagome hesitated, bracing herself as she met his gaze. “…I might have to go back.”

“Sure, no problem,” Inuyasha replied.

Her stomach sank at the ease with which he gave his consent. He trusted her completely. If only he knew how little she deserved it. But she reminded herself that she loved him, and that was what mattered.

If all went to plan, he would be none the wiser. There was full inuyoukai and not, just as there was full human and not. The in-between was too murky to tell anything for sure. So long as Inuyasha didn’t suspect her, he’d have no reason to suspect their child either. When all this was over, they would be a family at last. Finally, they would be content.

And she would never even think of betraying him again.

Pushing her hair back from her shoulder, Inuyasha frowned. The pad of his thumb brushed over the wound in her neck. “What’s this?”

Kagome tensed. Somehow, even with all the mental preparation, his question caught her off guard.

“Oh, that…” she said uneasily. “A spider youkai attacked me on the way back.”

“On the road?” Inuyasha said, raising a brow.

“No…I took a shortcut through the woods.”

“Kagome,” he growled, “I told you to stick to the roads.”

“I know,” she said. Her eyes fell. “I’m sorry.”

He tilted up her chin, his expression tight. “You have to be more careful when you’re on your own.”

She nodded contritely. Releasing a frustrated breath, he examined her throat again.

“Well, it looks clean, at least,” he grumbled. “Should heal in a few days.”

Kagome bit her lip. “Yeah, hopefully.”

His gaze softened. His clawed fingers slid across her cheek, and she covered his hand with her own. A burst of warmth suffused her as his other hand rose to her nape, drawing her face up to his.

Their lips met gently, sweetly—like they hadn’t in years. For a long while they explored one another. Their clothes shed slowly, their bodies sinking gradually to the tatami below. Unbroken they kissed, as he hovered above her. His narrow hips lowered to hers. His hardness met her softness so perfectly, so exquisitely.

“Inuyasha,” she murmured as he surged inside her, her back arching with a desire that had been dormant for far too long.

At the way he groaned her name against her neck, she knew that he felt it too. In the face of this longing, her guilt washed away, even as the mark on the other side of her throat twinged and nagged.

This was love, she remembered.

This meant everything.

---

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi

Revised 7/4/22

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