Disclaimer: I do not own these characters.
Kagome was back. His world was right again. The sun was shining and the warmth of it could actually reach him.
He felt complete once more. His first true friend was back in his life. Inuyasha couldn't help but feel joy in her presence, and couldn't stop the smile from spreading across his face.
While he had always had friends on this side of the well, they didn't know him quite like Kagome, didn't quite connect with him in the same way. Not to mention he wouldn't have even had them as friends without the girl standing in his arms now. She was responsible for his ability to trust and open up to people.
It had only been a few hours that she had been back within his reach, and they now stood under the tree where they had met, that fateful day almost four years ago.
She smiled up at him.
"Inuyasha," she breathed, "it's so good to be back."
He only pulled her closer. His normally gruff and removed attitude pushed aside for the fact that Kagome was back.
"We should head back to village," he said reluctantly. He would have been content to never move from that spot, but he could no longer ignore the rumbling noises coming from Kagome's stomach.
They made the journey quietly and quickly, side by side, and the village was there all too soon.
Walking into Kaede's hut, the smell of stew floated from a pot over the fire and the sound of Sango and Miroku's two girls playing on the floor filled the room with a happy sound. Inuyasha took a deep breath, enjoying all the scents and sounds that washed over him.
The hut was full, but never crowded because they were all friends.
"Kagome," Sango said. "You guys are just in time for dinner. Shippo was ready to eat your share for you."
"That's alright, I'm not too hungry anyway if Shippo needs more," she lied, just as her stomach betrayed her to announce the truth loud enough for human ears to hear it, too.
Sango and Miroku laughed, while Inuyasha gave her a look that clearly said she wasn't fooling anyone.
Kaede handed her a bowl with a smile, and Kagome sat down to make sure her stomach would behave itself.
"Say Kagome, how has your side of the well been?" Miroku asked conversationally.
"Well, I just graduated high school the other day, so I am finally done with school."
Inuyasha perked up a little. "So no more of those tests?"
"Nope," she laughed. "And no more make up work, or having to take notes, and carry around heavy text books…" she trailed off with a dreamy smile.
"Do you plan on staying here long?" Sango asked cautiously, causing an immediate tension to form in the air, and for Inuyasha to freeze, holding his breath as he waited for reality to come crashing back down, knowing that Kagome was so much better off in her own time. Wasn't that why he had left here there in the first place? Wasn't that why the well had shut him off from her for all those years?
"I don't know," she admitted. "I've missed you guys all so much, and really want to spend more time with you, but," she looked down at her clothes, and lack of over-stuffed yellow monster of a backpack, "I didn't really bring much with me this time. I don't even have any ninja snacks."
Her gaze rested on Inuyasha, as if looking for an answer from him.
Shippo hopped up on to Kagome's shoulder. "But you can't go back so soon. You just got here! And I don't need ninja snacks that bad! I'll be fine, I promise!"
Kagome laughed at the earnest look on his face, pulling him down into her arms to hug him close. "Alright Shippo, if you're sure. But if I get cold I'm counting on you and your fox fire to help me out."
Almost before she was done saying that, a red haori was draped over her shoulders, and she looked up to see Inuyasha standing right over her, a slight blush on his face.
"Well Kagome, if you were cold why didn't you just say something?" Inuyasha muttered.
Sango and Miroku shared a knowing look, and Kaede covered a knowing smile while Kagome just continued to look up at the big bad half-demon showing his softer side.
"Thank you, Inuyasha." She pulled the fabric tighter around her shoulders and settled in to enjoy an evening with her closest friends.
Hours ticked by, and eventually Sango and Miroku took leave to take their children home for bed. Inuyasha and Kagome followed them out of the hut to say their good nights, and for Kagome to give one last kiss to each of the children.
As the small family walked away in the dusk, Kagome turned her face to the sky, and let out a sigh. The first of the stars were starting to show in the darkness, and already by far outnumbered the stars in the sky in Kagome's time.
"I forgot how many stars show up in the sky here," she said softly. "It's so peaceful here."
Inuyasha silently agreed, with the girl who had finally brought peace to his life standing right next to him. He felt complete to have her so near, but he was still scared.
He wanted to reach out and pull her close like he had earlier, but what if she didn't want that? What if that was just a reaction to seeing him for the first time in so long?
He couldn't afford to push her away or lose her. Not again. He would keep his hands to himself if it killed him, because that was the only way he was sure he could keep himself from picking her up right then and there and running off with her.
He had thought about her every single day since the well had shut. He couldn't get her off his mind, and couldn't keep himself from checking the well routinely, couldn't keep himself from hoping for the impossible.
Yet the impossible had happened. Hope or not, Kagome was here, and she was real.
Did she think about me while she was gone? he wondered.
She turned those big, dark eyes on him, and he was momentarily stunned by the depth of them.
How could he have ever mistaken her for Kikyo? Sure there were similarities, but now the differences he knew about them were so much bigger.
Her eyes were so much softer. The way Kagome looked at him was so different than anyone else had ever looked at him. She never saw him as a half-demon or half anything. He was wholly Inuyasha to her, and she had never asked him to change.
He had thought about that a lot over the past three years. Even Kikyo hadn't truly accepted him. He would have gladly become human for Kikyo, but she had always seen his demon side first.
Had that been why it was so easy for Naraku to set them against each other? Was Kikyo always on the lookout for his betrayal? He supposed it was her job to be cautious, to protect the jewel at all costs, and it had ended in hurt and death for them.
But the jewel was behind him now, in the past, and Kagome was right in front of him, looking at him with concern on her face.
"Inuyasha? Are you lost in there?"
"Keh. No, I was just thinking."
"That's what worries me," she teased, elbowing him lightly in the ribs. She stretched her arms up above her head and let out a great big yawn. "I think I'm going to have to find a place to sleep sometime soon."
"Come on, we'll go back to Kaede's. I'm sure she's got some extra blankets you can use."
Settling the blankets out on the floor, Kagome climbed in between them, and laid down to look at Inuyasha.
"Inuyasha? Will you… Will you stay here for the night, too?" she asked hesitantly.
He looked at her. "If that's what you want," he mumbled gruffly.
"I'd like that," she breathed as she closed her eyes.
She didn't want to wake up to have all of this to be a dream, and she felt like if Inuyasha were there she would just know that it was real. She didn't think she could handle this being anything but real. She wanted to be here with Inuyasha, her heart was sure of it. The well wouldn't have opened for any other reason.
Would it?
Inuyasha watched as Kagome slept. Whatever had happened to her over the past years, it seemed to have a good effect on her.
She was as beautiful as ever, and she looked just so damn peaceful right there, curled up in a mess of blankets and his haori.
If someone had asked him seventy years ago if he ever thought he would be so attached to a human he would have laughed and maybe hit them for being so stupid.
Yet here he was, happy with every breath he took to be smelling Kagome. Everything bad that had happened in his life seemed to be paying off now, in this one blessing to be so near to Kagome once again.
If she decided to stay, and he so desperately wished she did, he would protect her to his last breath. He knew he was in love with her. He had only realized too late, once the well was shut and he was unable to tell her. The knowledge had haunted him.
With how hard it had been to get over Kikyo, he was sure no one could ever replace Kagome. She was just too special, too good, too pure, too Kagome.
He had agonized over how she was doing on her side of the well, imagining all the other boys she was around, and picturing her happy and safe in her own world. It was a gut-wrenching feeling to think of her with another guy, and it bothered him that he had no way of knowing how she was doing for so long.
Kagome moved in her sleep, distracting Inuyasha from the deep thoughts that were once again plaguing him.
"Inuyasha," she sighed in her sleep, stopping the half-demon in his tracks.
His heart softened.
So she does think of me.
