I do not own InuYasha or any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi
Passing Time
InuYasha walked into the house with some freshly caught fish and found Kagome sitting at her work table staring in a mirror, studying the shape of her mouth, the skin around her eyes, her forehead. She looked up at him, a confused, unhappy look on her face.
He sat down next to her. "What's wrong, Koibito? You've been acting strange ever since we got home from Miroku's."
She sighed, and put down her mirror. "The oddest thing happened while we were down there. A peddler came by while we were outside hanging up Sango's laundry, and the peddler asked if Yasuko and I were sisters. He thought Sango was my mother!"
He took her hand. "You're as beautiful as ever," he said.
She leaned into his arms. "But Sango's only a year older than me. Atae's seventeen this year."
"Yeah, and he only looks like Miroku's thirteen year old," InuYasha said. "Youkai blood ages differently."
"But I'm not youkai," she said.
"Maybe," he said. He pulled her into his lap.
"Maybe what?" she asked.
"I heard something once from someone who claimed to be a sage," InuYasha said, running long strokes down her hair and back, trying to soothe his wife. "When a youkai takes a human partner, one of three things can happen. The youkai will become more human as they live together, and eventually age just like his partner. Or the human will become more youkai, and together, they will live a life like a youkai pair. Or sometimes, nothing at all happens, and the human ages like a human, and stays human, and the youkai stays youkai. Maybe it was true."
She looked up at her husband. InuYasha still had the face of a youth on the verge of full manhood. "But I still have my reiki," she said.
"So did Tsubaki. And she wasn't anywhere as good as you are." He kissed her forehead. "I don't think Rin's aging, either. She doesn't look a bit older than Noriko. Maybe a little younger."
"You're right," Kagome said after a moment. "She doesn't."
They sat there together in silence for a while.
"I think I'm scared," Kagome said, unwinding herself from her husband.
"Of what?" InuYasha asked, not letting her hand get away from him as she moved off his lap.
"Of what it's going to be like if this is true. Of watching Sango and Miroku get older without me. Of having the world change at a different speed than I do."
"Keh," he said, giving her hand a little squeeze. "It's hard. I noticed that about Miroku a couple of years ago. Not the first time I watched time take someone away." He sighed, remembering his mother. "But would I be a greedy bastard if I said I don't want time to take you away from me?"
"Not really," she said, cupping his face. "But this is going to take some getting used to."
Just then, the door to the house slid open, as Atae and Yukika walked in.
"Mama, what's for dinner?" the boy asked.
Kagome looked surprised. "Home already? I forgot the time."
"Fish," InuYasha said. "Go get some water and firewood," he told the two.
When they left, he pulled her back into his arms. "Time is funny that way," he said.
"It is, isn't it?" she said, and got up to start cooking.
A/N: Noriko and Yasuko are my names for Miroku and Sango's twin daughters.