“They say love at first sight is a myth,” Mr. Higurashi said, lowering his eyes briefly before raising them to Kagome’s again. “I love your mother, Kagome. In a way, I always will. But when I saw Reiko…I don’t know how else to say it, but I knew. I knew at least, at that moment, that my life would never be the same again without her. The closer I got to her, the more sure I was that she was my soulmate—and not just because of her, in a vacuum, but because she was part of this world that I loved too, for all its evil and for all its good. The spirit realm felt like the real world to me, and I was finally part of it. It was where I’d always belonged. As a reiki-wielder, I was needed here. More than…”

“More than with us,” Kagome said, and he bowed his head again.

“There are certain things…” he murmured, “certain things that I can’t say to you, Kagome. Not now.” He raised his eyes to hers once more. “But I promise, when the time is right, we’ll speak about them. As for now, I’ll just say that in many ways I was a terrible coward toward you all. I didn’t think that I could involve you, and, as time passed, I didn’t dare to face you.”

Kagome nodded, closing her eyes. She didn’t realize how much she’d needed to hear him admit this out loud until now.

“So,” she said dryly, opening her eyes again, “you went on to become a seasoned reiki-wielder and ghost-hunter, did you?”

“Well,” he said, with a crooked smile and a fathomless look she couldn’t interpret, “I had a legendary miko as a teacher.”

Kagome arched a brow. “‘Legendary,’ huh? Well, I’ll have to meet her sometime.”

With a twinkle of blue eye, her father smiled again.

“Seeing you again now,” he said softly, glancing to Shin, “I wonder if it’d be alright to go back there, finally. To say hello to your mother, and to Souta and Dad.”

Kagome’s mouth twisted, like she’d bitten down on a sour grape. “No, I don’t think so.”

“No?”

“No,” Kagome said again, plucking Shin from his arms. “I’ll tell them where you are, and let them decide if they want to come see you or not. If you still ‘love’ my mother, even a little, you’ll leave her in peace. Okay?”

Mr. Higurashi nodded. “Okay.”

Strained and awkward though it was, they embraced for a final time at the foot of the ramen shop stairs, and Kagome left him, wondering over everything. Everything she’d ever thought she’d known about her life, then and now.

Still in a daze, she returned home to the shrine. After dinner, and after putting Shin down to bed, she sat drinking tea with her mother, and in the companionable silence between them, she told Mrs. Higurashi about her run-in with her father. Every last detail—including his romantic partner, Reiko.

Kagome’s mother sagged back into her kitchen chair. “So he’s well, then?” Tearfully, she added, in a hushed voice, “I’m so glad.”

Kagome grasped her mother’s hand, tears pricking in her own eyes. “Oh, Mama…he never deserved you.”

Her mother waved her off. “Everyone has their flaws and failings, Kagome. I’m no exception. It’s in the fitting together of our flaws that we find our match.” With a warm, fragile smile, she said, “I’m happy for your father that he’s found his match in Reiko.”

Kagome reached across the table, hugging her mother. “If you ask me,” she said, smiling as she drew back, “you and Aoki Yasuji complement each other pretty well.”

Mrs. Higurashi flushed. Between this and the sheepish smile on her face, Kagome realized her mother had been in love with her neighbor for a very long time and, for a very long time, had clearly felt ashamed of it, out of some misplaced sense of loyalty to her children.

“Really, Mama,” Kagome said, taking her by the hand again. “I mean it.”

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi