It had occurred to Kagome from time to time that her original assumption she had fallen precisely five hundred years into the past was not correct. Although she missed most of her classes, she still tried her best to keep up with the material and some of what her group had encountered just didn't add up.
For example, one of their very first encounters involved the infamous Nobunaga. His rise to power didn't occur until the 1560s more or less, according to her textbooks. It was 1995 where she came which should mean that she was roughly 450 - or less - years in the past. But then no one was familiar with guns and they were introduced more or less in the 1460s. If they really were 450 years in the past, around the time of Nobunaga, then guns should be well known and surely Sango, at a minimum, would be well versed in how to fire one. Instead it seemed everyone they encountered still relied heavily on bows and Sango acted like she'd never seen a gun before.
Guns aside, Inuyasha's alleged age too made no sense. If he really was two hundred and the year was 1540, he would've been born around 1340. However, she'd seen his mother and took note of the clothing she wore. Based on what she'd learned, that style of dress was from the era of Muraski Shikibu who lived between 978 and 1016. Meaning that either his mother was terribly out of touch with fashion, which Kagome doubted seeing as how she was basically royalty of some kind, or Myoga had no real concept of time and was terrible at math, which she wouldn't doubt at all. Totosai and Myoga were both senile in her opinion. In any case, that meant InuYasha could be as old as five hundred years old and some change. Maybe she was reading too much into everything. Why was she questioning how old InuYasha was anyway? It wasn't like it actually mattered to her. She still loved him. Still...
While there was really no need to be precise on the exact year, the inconsistencies bothered her. It was almost as though someone had written the world around her on a very loose, and arbitrary understanding of history.
"InuYasha, how many wars have you seen in your lifetime?" she asked curiously as the hanyou plopped down next to her and began his stretching ritual, "More or less."
"Well, when I was a kid there was one," InuYasha muttered in a bemused tone before he sighed and his smirk fell, "The Hokosawa clan burned our palace to the ground. The fire rat saved me but..."
He didn't need to finish although he did. The mystery of how his mother died was solved once and for all. Still that would've placed his childhood around the 1470s. Meaning really he was only 70, including the fifty years he was pinned to a tree. His immaturity suddenly made sense. InuYasha was 20. Myoga was bad at math after all.
"I'm sorry," Kagome murmured apologetically, "I didn't mean to pry. I just..."
"Don't matter," he comforted absently as he subtly scooted closer to her, "It was a long time ago."
"How old are you? I don't think I've ever asked," Kagome asked then - early a faint smirk and a soft laugh as he sighed and shrugged his shoulders, "Dunno. Never really kept track of time. Not that old though."
The latter was added as almost an afterthought and the faint blush on his cheeks made it clear he wanted the fact known that he wasn't lightyears older than her.
"How old do you think you'll live to be?" Kagome asked as she but her lip and wondered how long she could get away with asking such personal questions. Apparently a while given how quickly he answered.
"Talked to that old tree once about it," InuYasha admitted with a thoughtful sigh, "If a battle don't kill me, he said probably a couple thousand years. My old man was around five when he died and he was about middle age but I'm part human so cut that in half like the rest of me."
"How old is Sesshomaru then?" Kagome asked with a slight giggle that turned into a full bodied laugh when InuYasha finally opened his eyes and gave her a bemused glance.
"Old," InuYasha sighed playfully - his eyes still closed as he moved to lay down on the warm grass and chuckled, "Too old."
"He doesn't look much older than you," Kagome teased, "You sure you're not that old?"
The playful look fell and InuYasha looked down right offended as he furrowed his brow, "Uh no. Demons age fast until we hit maturity and then it slows down so I'm told."
"How do I know you're not a thousand then?" Kagome teased as she playfully nudged him in the ribs to which he pouted and finally opened his eyes to give her a patient look, "You gunna tell me why you're so curious all of a sudden?"
Blushing, Kagome ducked her chin slightly and cringed before sighing, "I'm trying to figure out what year we're in."
"And that somehow can be determined by figuring out how old I am?" InuYasha asked with a soft chuckle, "That's stupid."
"Well from why you just told me, I'd say you're twenty years old," Kagome informed him with a sly grin, "Not counting the time you spent on the tree. And we're around 1540 based on what I've pieced together."
"You got that I'm twenty based on what I told you?" InuYasha asked genuinely curious as he rolled onto his side and propped his chin up on one hand, "Really?"
"But see that's what doesn't make sense," Kagome huffed in frustration, "Myoga said your mother died around two hundred years ago which can't be right. The Onin war happened between 1467 and 1477. Sounga then was only sealed like max twenty years which means that old ghost man was the worst guardian ever. And...and guns should be well known to everyone and they're not. But Nobunaga is alive right now so..."
"Why do you even care?" InuYasha asked as he gave her an amused grin, "S'not like it really matters."
"What if I get trapped here? It'd be nice to know what to expect now wouldn't it?" Kagome sighed after a moment - which had the hanyou flinching slightly and his playful mood dissipating instantly.
"Trapped?" InuYasha repeated in a slightly accusatory tone laced with hurt, "So staying here for any reason would be a trap?"
"I didn't mean it like that," Kagome sighed in a slightly exasperated tone as she rolled her eyes, "I wouldn't mind if the circumstances were...were different than what they are right now."
"How so?" InuYasha asked cautiously as he pushed himself up into a sitting position, "What wouldn't make it a trap?"
"Well, um, if I...if I, uh, met someone and...you know..." Kagome answered awkwardly as her face did a perfect initiation of a ripe tomato. InuYasha's face, however, darkened considerably.
"Someone," he repeated in a flat tone before adding in a slightly hurt tone, "Someone you haven't met."
"I didn't say that," Kagome groaned as she set her jaw and rolled her eyes once more, "I'm just saying if I found someone who loved me, I wouldn't mind staying here forever."
"So..." InuYasha began slowly as a faint blush crept on his cheeks and he averted his eyes, "If someone did love you, if they told you, you'd stay forever. Just like that?"
"I just said that," Kagome clipped back as she wrinkled her nose and huffed, "Listen it was a stupid thing to say anyway. I didn't..."
"What if..." InuYasha began before pausing and clearing his throat as he stared up at the clouds, "What if someone already did...did feel that way and...and they told you to stay, would you?"
"It would depend on whether I loved them back," Kagome snapped as she folded her arms across her chest and glared, "I'm not staying for Akitoki or Koga before you ask. I wouldn't stay for just anyone."
"Would you stay for me?" InuYasha finally asked as he continued stubbornly looking at the clouds - his arms folding tightly against his chest, "If I asked you to stay, would you?"
"InuYasha," Kagome sighed in a defeated tone, "I mean, you don't...I know you care about me but...but you aren't in love with me. That's different."
"But you love me," InuYasha said bluntly with a hint of false bravado that had Kagome's eyes widening in horror, "I know you love me."
"I..." Kagome began as her mouth went dry and she paled considerably, "How long have you known?"
"A while," he replied dismissively before sniffing once and pressing again, "So would you stay here and not feel trapped because you love me?"
"Again, you...you don't..." Kagome spluttered before shaking her head and sighing in defeat, "If you were with Kikyo? No, I wouldn't stay. Because...because I love you."
"But if I wasn't with Kikyo," InuYasha began again - this time with slightly more hope, "If I were...If I was with you, you know like with you with you, would you stay?"
"I don't want pity InuYasha," Kagome huffed as her embarrassment was quickly replaced with anger, "I know you said you want me beside you but I'm not going to be a beard or something for you. I want to be loved. I want romance. And..."
"You're so stupid," InuYasha finally snorted as a grin began playing on his lips, "Think real hard about what you just said and what I actually said. I need you beside me, not want. I need you. Now what does that mean?"
"I don't know!" Kagome snarled as she began to stand up, "And I don't appreciate you making fun of me!"
"Oh come on! I don't say that to just anyone! I only ever said it to you! You're the only one I could say that to! Are you really going to make me come out and explain it?" InuYasha scoffed as he glared up at her, "You really are stupid."
"Fine if I'm so stupid then go ahead and mansplain it to me why don't ya!?" Kagome screamed as she took a aggressive stance, "You're not..."
"I love you idiot!" InuYasha bellowed back as he gracefully sprung to his feet and met her angry gaze, "I love that you have to bathe every five minutes or else you bitch! I love that you trip over nothing! I love that you yell at me and send me careening into the dirt! I love how you never back down! I love that after you've ridden on my back your scent clings to my clothes! I love how you always want to heal my injuries even though I've told you a thousand times I don't need it! I love that you're the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep and the first thing I want to see every morning! I love you and I need you and if you're gunna stay here for someone that someone better be me!"
Kagome blinked at him as her mind short circuited - her mouth hanging open as the retort she had planned was suddenly made moot. Instead, only two words escaped her lips in their stead.
"Wait what?" Kagome blurred as her face slowly morphed into confusion and she cocked her head to the side, "Why...why didn't you say so?"
"I told you I need you didn't I?" InuYasha barked back defensively as his nostrils flared and he stared at the ground like it was suddenly interesting, "What else could that mean?"
"So...so you love me?" Kagome repeated as she screamed internally. God, maybe she was stupid after all.
"Yeah," InuYasha spat as he wrinkled his nose and scowled, "So will you stay now? Forever I mean."
"I mean, yeah," Kagome replied stupidly before her face fell, "But...but I'll die before you. I'll be all old and wrinkly and gross and..."
"I don't care," InuYasha replied before he added a little too quickly, "Rather that then not at all. S'not like Miroku and Sango are gunna live forever either but I'll take what I can get."
"You'll outlive any kids we have," Kagome pointed out - cursing herself as the words just vomited out, "That's not fair."
"Life's not fair," InuYasha sighed in a slightly defeated tone, "Beisdes everyone dies eventually. No need to dwell on it or nothing. Why do you gotta make this depressing?"
"I..." Kagome huffed as she shook her head and grimaced, "I don't know. Because I'm stupid."
"Just a little," InuYasha laughed softly as he finally raised his eyes to look at her, "After all, you'd have to be pretty stupid to love an ass like me."
"Maybe," Kagome replied with a ghost of a smile, "So...where do we go from here?"
"Is anything really that different?" InuYasha snorted indignantly as he rolled his eyes, "We're the same as we have been. Nothings gunna..."
Oh how wrong he was as Kagome sprang at him and placed a long, lingering kiss against his lips. Distantly he registered the way her soft hands worked beneath of the confines of his clothes and caressed his skin. The way his own hands began some exploration of their own as he pulled her tightly against him and moaned softly into her mouth. How long the kiss really lasted he'd never remember but when she pulled away and smiled up at him, that look of pure love and adoration he would always remember. Things would be different from now on. In the best way possible. God, he was the stupid one. They could've been doing this all along. Time was weird and so much of it just plain wasted.
"I dunno about you but I hope some things change," Kagome teased as she took a step back and grinned, "I've been wanting to do that for ages."
"You know," InuYasha chuckled as he took a step forward and hooked a finger under her chin, "If I am a thousand years old, you just made out with an old man."
"I can live with that," Kagome countered playfully before sighing happily when his lips pressed urgently against hers once more.
The next few months were filled with many kisses and many more things that had Kagome racking her brain. Sometimes she swore someone was writing her life and they didn't take Japanese History 101. But as she wished for the jewel to disappear in the darkness within, it turned out she had however many centuries to figure out that exact date. A selfless wish and a loving ancient miko alleviated the fear she'd die before the man she loved.
It turned out to be exactly 456 years in the past she had fallen into and each day towards the present was more beautiful than the last.