PART 2: Kagome's Return
Chapter 4
When the Well Worked
Now that the forest had completely grown back, Inuyasha would often impulsively wander the woods alone until he found a quiet place to lie down in the grass to think of Kagome. He'd solemnly reminisce all of the adventures and experiences they had together when she was here—and he'd remember them and sigh with longing. He pondered their discovery of Kagome being the reincarnation Kikyo, all the times they stood up to Sesshomaru, upgrading Tetsusaiga, and defeating terrifying foes, like the Band of Seven, and then finally, Naraku.
He also recalled every time he traveled back with Kagome to her own world. Her world was not as dangerous as it was here in the Feudal Era, but there were always important things she was rushing back there all the time to get done: "School." "Exams." "Grades." He wondered if that was what Kagome was doing over there right now. He wondered if that was why she never returned. Maybe she loved her other life more and didn't want anything to do with this one anymore.
He wouldn't let himself believe that. He knew that wasn't true.
Even if it were true it wouldn't explain why the well wasn't working now. There had to be something else involved with its malfunction. At first he thought it was Naraku's wish, but when Kagome made the jewel disappear forever, everything involving his wish was reverted. He knew it wasn't because Kagome had died, because her world was much safer than this one. An untimely death didn't suit her and she was much stronger than most from her world—she even put the finishing blow on terrifying Naraku.
He knew she was still alive and well on the other side in her time.
Consequently, every time he wished that the well would work again, he'd immediately feel guilty for even wanting her to come back in the first place. He'd remember the pain in Kagome's mother's eyes, then her grandpa's, then her brother's. This was the reason he couldn't find himself to completely forget, accept, or get over the fact that Kagome had been gone these past three years—because he'd keep feeling guilty for wanting her to return. Since he couldn't shirk those feelings, it was impossible to accommodate to the fact that she was gone, making him constantly depressed about it.
Something important was missing from him. He couldn't stand the loneliness. His significant other was gone. He'd miss her so much it hurt—so much he would ache.
It helped knowing without a doubt in his mind that she missed him too, but regardless of that fact, he'd still lie there feeling like nothing without her. Like half of him was missing and never came back. Nothing could fill that hole, not Tetsusaiga, not any of his friends—no one but her. He wanted her to come back so bad. At this point, after all these years, he would do anything to make the well work again. Anything.
Life over here was going on without her. Sango already had two babies with Miroku and another on the way. Inuyasha didn't know how he got through these three years without Kagome, but he did. All he knew was that he loved her. Inuyasha loved her. He missed her, and he feared he would forever have to live without being with her.
It only seemed fitting.
Having Kagome always seemed too good to be true. Life had always been hard for him as a half-demon, and he always had to fight to get anything, but then this wonderful girl crawled out of the Bone-Eater's Well, unsealed him from the Sacred Tree, and accepted him exactly the way he was. He missed out on a lot in life before she came along. She gave him back what he felt he was always missing.
Now she was gone—even though he wanted her to return more than anything in the world.
He had always been an outcast. A loner. A half-demon.
This fate only seemed fitting.
Rin was helping Sango with the twins when the young mother's water broke and the little girl immediately bolted out the door to fetch Lady Kaede. Miroku was already on his way out with Inuyasha, heading to a village they had scheduled to rid demons of. Sango assured him it was alright to leave, but to hurry back as soon as they finished.
Rin found Kaede atop of a hill and told her straightaway what was going on, excitedly urging the aged woman to hurry around the corner of the stairs carved into the hill. She stopped in her tracks and ran in place with anticipation when the old priestess wasn't moving fast enough. "Hurry, Lady Kaede!"
"Don't rush me so, child!" the old priestess admonished as she went onward at her own pace.
"But the baby's about to be born!" Rin encouraged as she pulled Kaede down the stairs by one hand to move faster.
Kaede was cradling a green, wrapped package to her chest. "Is the master of the house out?"
"He had to go to work," Rin explained.
"Ah, well I guess it is their third child after all," Kaede stated, then thought, That's right… Three years have passed already.
The two of them trailed past the Bone-Eater's Well and headed toward the hut where Sango laid in labor.
Inuyasha and Miroku were working in a wealthier, neighboring village.
The monk announced in front of the dwelling they were exorcising, "Not to worry gentlemen, soon your houses will be rid of demons."
A villager seemed reluctant. "But a whole bale of rice for each charm?"
Another chimed in, "Isn't that expensive?"
Miroku slapped three sutras on the door of the large home.
"Huh! He used three!" the first villager gasped in distress.
The door lit up where the sutras were, opening a portal, and a demon flew out.
Miroku nonchalantly directed his attention to his half-demon companion. "Inuyasha, coming your way."
Inuyasha was distractedly gazing off into the distance holding his already-transformed massive sword over his shoulder.
"Huh? Yeah…" he became alert as the red-eyed, white wolf spirit came flying his way.
"Tetsusaiga!" he jumped in the air and skillfully slashed the beast in two and it disappeared.
Afterward, the two headed back through the forest to the village, Inuyasha caring the giant three bales of rice Miroku earned—one in his arm and two stacked on his other shoulder.
"Man, you totally ripped those people off," Inuyasha started to say while they walked. "You were always greedy, but this is a whole new level."
Miroku smiled at his friend then turned back to the front. "I have to take what I can get, my friend. I have a lot of expenses now."
Inuyasha lifted his chin, remember something, "Speaking of which, shouldn't your baby be coming at any moment now?"
Back in the village, the cries of a newborn baby could be heard from Sango's home.
"There. You did well, Sango." Kaede was cleaning off the new baby in a wooden tub of warm water, her sleeves pulled up to her shoulders. "It's a healthy baby boy."
Rin was kneeling next to Kaede with a towel ready. "A safe delivery," the young girl beamed happily, remembering the events of Sango's last childbirth.
Kaede passed the baby into the towel and Rin wrapped him up.
Miroku opened up the wooden sliding door and entered with a bright smile. "Everyone okay?"
Sango was lying on the ground under a blanket in a casual white kimono, wearing a tired, blissful smile. "Come hold your son," she told Miroku.
Toshie and Rena sat around her, admiring their new baby brother cradled at their mother's side. Rin and Kaede were kneeling nearby too, the younger girl happily admiring Sango's motherly gaze upon her new son with a bright open smile of her own.
The three bales of rice Miroku earned that day sat in the background of their home with their other food supplies, baskets, and barrels. It was nighttime, and Sango was resting in bed with her children curled up next to her. Miroku was lying beside them on the outside of the blanket, an arm across her belly, propping his head up with his other hand as he listened to Sango speak.
"I wonder how Kagome's doing these days," she voiced.
Sango's giant demon-bone boomerang, Hiraikotsu, sat behind them against the wall, hardly needed since the death of Naraku—though she continually practiced with it, especially when she was training Rin.
"Yes. Three years is a long time," Miroku pointed out sympathetically. "I remember waiting for three days right in the spot where the Bone-Eater's Well had been, then there was that pillar of light and the well just reappeared, and there was Inuyasha without Kagome."
Sango added, "I wonder if she returned to the other world Inuyasha spoke of."
Miroku was looking contemplatively across the blanket covering Sango and their kids. "Inuyasha doesn't like to talk about it, but he did say, once,"—he paused to pull the blanket back up over his twin girls after one of them accidentally pushed it off—"as much as he needs her here, there are others who need her, and love her as he does."
Sango suddenly held pity for Inuyasha. "I feel for him. Inuyasha must be lonely."
Somewhere on the outskirts of the village, Inuyasha stood off on a cliff side, his hands casually crossed into his kimono sleeves. He stared up into the night sky with a pensive, serious face as his silver hair blew through the wind and a shooting star shot across the sky.
Kaede finally buckled down, getting ready to confront Inuyasha about his intermittent depression of the last three years, but she was surprised when he so readily approached her while she was gathering herbs and began to vent everything to her himself. However, he wouldn't sit next to her, and his back faced the priestess. They spoke for quite some time, the sky coloring with purples and orange.
"After returning Kagome to her world and being relieved…" Inuyasha continued to tell his story, sitting cross-legged in the grass ponderingly, with a hand on his chin as he stared away into the distance.
Kaede finished his sentence, "You found yourself back on this side?"
Inuyasha replied, still without facing her. "Yeah, just like that. I remember how Kagome's mother, brother, and grandpa were crying."
Kaede was gathering plants into her basket on her knees. "Hm…" she acknowledged.
Inuyasha removed his hand from his face and sat up more, gazing into the sky with consideration. "I realized that I wasn't the only one who cared about Kagome," he stated calmly.
Kaede sat straighter. "Inuyasha, you… When did you become such an understanding person?"
Suddenly, the bouncing, rubbery noise of Shippo's balloon form was heard in the air above. "I know!" He descended down to the priestess and the half-demon from the sky.
Inuyasha's face broke into an unimpressed, embarrassed expression of agitation.
"Oh, Shippo," Kaede acknowledged his arrival. "You were taking the Fox-Demon Exam, right?"
Shippo exploded into his true from and showed off a slip of paper. "I was promoted!" It read, Senior 7th rank.
Kaede mumbled a short, enlightened, "Oh," laugh of acceptance and Shippo jumped onto Inuyasha's head who was still extremely irritated with him.
Shippo accused him, "Inuyasha, you're still going to the well once every three days, aren't you?"
Inuyasha angrily averted his eyes to the ground as his cheeks turned slightly red.
Kaede asked the half-demon with astonishment, "Once every three days? What remarkable passion."
Inuyasha stood immediately and punted Shippo straight into the sky, his foot straight in the air. Stars seemed to burst where Shippo had once been as he cried out in pain.
The conversation over, Inuyasha distractedly wandered off. Kaede turned away sadly with a sigh as she headed back to her hut with her basket of herbs, thinking, Yet they still cannot meet. Kagome was cast into this world with the Shikon Jewel and cast from it the moment it ceased to exist. She came here to destroy the Shikon Jewel.
Though I wish it were not so, it may be that Kagome's role in this world is over.
Inuyasha stared into the sky with contemplation on the edge of the hill alone as the wind silently blew through his hair.
It had been a long three years for Kagome. She just recently graduated and was accepted into university with her friends. Even now, she was constantly wondering if she would ever see her friends from the Feudal Era again. The part that saddened her the very most was that she couldn't see Inuyasha anymore. It deeply wounded her heart and soul. She remembered crying many times after discovering the well didn't work on her side any longer.
Kagome ventured outside her home and wandered toward the wooden shrine that held the Bone-Eater's Well. She was wearing casual clothes today, a dark maroon blouse tucked into a blue, high-waisted skirt. A pink cardigan buttoned closed at her neck and her flat slip-on shoes matched her shirt.
Kagome walked up to the well, holding her hands reticently in front of her, and stopped to stare down at it sadly.
She thought to herself with regret, Did the well stop working because of my feelings? When the Bone-Eater's Well disappeared and I was left stranded in the darkness, I was so scared and sad. But I didn't realize…that I'd been in the darkness for three whole days. I made Mom, Grandpa, and Sota all feel as scared and sad as I was. I felt really bad about that. And I was so happy to make it back here. Then the well closed.
She thought deeply about the half-demon boy she missed so much. Inuyasha, I've been thinking this whole time…the reason I was sent to the Feudal Era…the reason the well stopped working once the Shikon Jewel disappeared… My job is done, and I'll spend the rest of my life in my own world.
Kagome leaned the palms of her hands on the edge of the well. A world without you…she contemplated with remorseful recognition. But, Inuyasha…She closed her eyes. I want…to see you!
Suddenly her hair started blowing, even though she inside the shrine. She lightly gasped, as if she dared to believe it were true, and opened her eyes, gazing down into the well.
Kagome's mother walked up to the open shrine and noticed the teenager inside, down below. "Kagome?" She walked down the steps after she entered and stood next to her distracted daughter. "What's wrong?"
Kagome was weakly gaping down into the well. "Mom…" she muttered with disbelief. "The sky."
Her mother peered down into the well with her and saw it.
Kagome straightened sadly and indecisively, "Mom, I've been thinking…"
Her mother carefully took her daughter's shoulders, holding them out in front of her. "Kagome…" she smiled supportively. "I understand."
To the words, Kagome smiled graciously then nodded with tears.
Inuyasha was sitting idly by while Sango and Miroku were hanging their laundry.
Toshie and Rena were hanging on Inuyasha and pulling on his ears chanting, "Doggy! Doggy!" He just sat there and took it, but it was evident he was really annoyed.
Shippo taunted Inuyasha, "You make a good toy."
Inuyasha sounded like he was on the verge of exploding from irritation and helplessness. "Hey, would you do something about the twins? ?" he directed at their parents.
Miroku turned from hanging up laundry on the line. "Girls, leave his ears alone," he said seriously.
Sango apologized pleasantly, "Sorry, Inuyasha." Her new baby boy, Norio, was strapped onto her back.
Right then, Inuyasha's ears perked up when he heard something. He stood instantly, looking up into the sky with earnest. He lifted the twins from his body by the backs of their kimonos and tossed them at Shippo. "Go slay the fox," he told the girls, and they giggled as they made contact with Shippo's body and knocked him over.
"Hey! What was that for?!" Shippo expressed distressingly as both girls happily tugged at his prostrate body.
"Oh, Shippo!" Toshie, in her pink kimono, giggled.
Rena, in her green, smiled and added, "We slayed you!"
Inuyasha was already running through the forest determinedly. He thought to himself urgently, This scent…! There's no mistake!
He ran right up to the Bone-Eater's Well, grunting as he stopped at it. He stood only for a moment, gazing at it nervously and anxiously. He exhaled with hope and reached down into the well.
Kagome reached out and grasped his hand.
Inuyasha immediately pulled her out.
Kagome smiled as she found her footing on the well's ledge, placing her free hand on his shoulder. Inuyasha peered up at her like it was a dream, and they continued to clasp hands as they stared at each other for a long sentimental moment.
Kagome started to tear up with gratefulness. "Inuyasha, I'm so sorry. Were you waiting here for me?"
He only continued to gaze up at her softly. "Kagome…" He helped her down off of the well and pulled her into a gentle hug as they stood in the grass. "You idiot," he said more with concern than admonition. "What have you been doing all this time?"
Kagome nuzzled into his arms comfortingly and they held each other longer, keenly.
Many footsteps came running up from behind them. It was Miroku, holding the twins, and Sango, with Norio on her back.
Shippo called out in excitement from atop Miroku's shoulder, "Kagome!"
Sango stated with surprise, "You made it back!"
Miroku added, "It's been much too long, Kagome!"
Kagome and Inuyasha finally let go of their embrace to look at their audience; he looked so content and she smiled excitedly.
"Miroku, Sango, Shippo! It's good to see you!" Kagome exclaimed and blissfully lifted her chin, thinking thankfully, I'm back!
"Kagome, how did you get the well to work?!" Sango questioned, overjoyed.
"I'm not totally sure; the well just decided to work today!" Kagome paused, eyeing the baby on Sango's back and the twins in Miroku's hold. "Are these…your guys' kids?"
They nodded, happy to share this with her.
Kagome squealed, holding onto Inuyasha's hand, "Oh my, how romantic! When did you two get married?"
"A little while after you left. Nearly three years ago," Miroku answered. "This is so wonderful that you are back, Kagome."
Kagome did not leave the range of Inuyasha's arms. The warmth of his body, the comfort of his touch was exhilarating after all these years. She didn't realize she had missed him this much and that she was aching for him now.
Inuyasha let go of her hand to stand back and let her talk to everyone so she could immerse herself with catching up with them. He put his hands in his sleeves and watched Kagome excitedly greet and speak to everyone with that bright happy smile on her face. Her smile made him smile. He was so happy right now. She was back. She was actually back.
Before Kagome could answer any of their questions about the well or what she was doing all this time, Shippo noticed something.
"Inuyasha, are you smiling? I can't remember the last time you did that," he taunted.
Inuyasha immediately became defensive as everyone turned to him, including Kagome. "What the hell are you talking about? I smile all of the time." He lifted Shippo by his tail to punch him.
Before he could hurt him, Kagome sang, "Inuyasha…!" and giggled so teasingly.
He stopped to turn to her. "What?" he said curtly.
"Sit," she puffed out.
He was pulled to the ground face-first by the subjugation beads.
Sango, Miroku, and Shippo broke into cheering, reminiscent laughter.
"I almost completely forgot what that looked like!" Sango laughed.
The twins were crawling out of Miroku's hands so he set them down and they poked at Inuyasha's ears while his face was dug into the ground.
"Doggy funny, doggy fall boom," they giggled to each other.
"Kagome, we've missed you so much!" Sango repeated to match the mood.
Inuyasha jolted himself back up, about to throw some snide remark about Kagome doing that to him again after all of this time, but the moment he looked into her eyes he stopped, and his expression became absolutely softer.
Kagome stared back at him with grateful bliss and longing, and they held each other's gaze unrelentingly.
Miroku caught the cue and gathered up his twins to leave. "Well…we'll let you two catch up."
Sango turned to go too, holding Miroku's sleeve. "Come on, Shippo," she ordered when the little demon wasn't coming with them.
"What? Why!? I want to talk to Kagome!" the fox-demon squealed.
"We'll have time later, dear Shippo," Miroku explained, "but right now we need to,"—then he whispered—"leave them be."
Before Shippo turned to leave, he called to Inuyasha, "Don't forget to tell Kagome how you checked the well every three days after she disappeared!"
Inuyasha jolted straight up in anger at him revealing that, making his guard rise, but he didn't do anything like he normally would, except look irked.
Kagome, for the moment, ignored the comment as the group walked away, and said to the half-demon sweetly, calmly, nostalgically, "Inuyasha… I missed you so much. I went to the well at least every week, just hoping, just wanting it to work again."
"Kagome…" he faced her and gripped both her hands in his, "I missed you, too."
"Did you really go to the well on your side every three days?" Kagome asked in a chime, sitting down together in the grass with him, leaning up against the well.
"I did," he admitted casually.
Kagome squeezed his hand with a yearning smile.
"How did the well work today? What were you doing all this time?" Inuyasha asked.
"I graduated high school," Kagome revealed. "It was so easy when I didn't have the responsibility of being over here all of the time to help find jewel shards and defeat Naraku…but it was also awful."
"Awful?" Inuyasha questioned.
Kagome nodded. She looked up into Inuyasha's eyes again. "There wasn't a single day that went by that I didn't miss you guys—and you, Inuyasha...so much."
Inuyasha gently pulled Kagome's hands up, near his chest, comfortingly. "I didn't stop thinking about you either, Kagome."
Kagome smiled under getting all choked up. "And the well," she continued. "I tried it often and it never worked. I couldn't help but wonder if I had something to do with it—if my feelings had something to do with it. One day—today—I finally realized I was willing to sacrifice my entire life, my family, everything, just to see you again—to be with you, and that was when the well decided to work."
Inuyasha only continued to listen to her, with patient, caring interest.
"I think I finally understand how the well works," Kagome went on. "It is connected to us Inuyasha, and that is why we are the only two that have ever been able to use it. When both our wills are in sync, it allows each of us to pass through.
"The first time I went through—I don't believe it had anything to do with that centipede demon that pulled me into your time at all—I think it had everything to do with you. As for the Sacred Jewel, it was like a gateway. It was an item that transcended time and space, and it was reborn into my body. So the first time I fell to the bottom of my family's well, it wanted back in the Feudal Era because it had more of a chance to find the evil it was seeking—the evil that had corrupted it when Onigumo convinced you and Kikyo to betray each other—so it used the well to return to this time period.
"Since the jewel was reborn into my body, it pulled me through the time-warp with it, and this is where I believe your will was also involved: You were pinned to that tree, you wanted to be unsealed, and I was the only one who could possibly do it—being Kikyo's reincarnation. We were connected to each other because my past life was in love with you, and now we were reunited again.
"As time went on there were moments the well did not work; for example, that one time you sent me home to never return—when you shoved an entire tree down the well. I thought at first it was because you took my jewel fragment, but no, I think it was more because you no longer wanted me to return. You wanted me to stay in my own time period so I could never get hurt again, on top of the fact I was mad at you, and I didn't want to see you so soon again yet either. Then Shippo brought the jewel fragment to the bottom of the well, and I could sense the presence of it on my side. Even though the jewel was within my reach, the well didn't decide to work in that moment that I sensed the fragment, it worked when I consciously stated in my head that I wanted to see you again. At the time, I thought maybe it was the jewel that pulled me through—and maybe it was part of the reason—but we have both traveled through the well without any piece of the jewel before, and if you actually wanted me to return your time I feel like I still could have, even if Shippo hadn't dropped a piece of it at the bottom of the well. I think my passing had more to do with my determination to come back, and it wasn't until my will to return became stronger than your desire to keep me on the other side that it allowed me to go through again. That's what I believe happened that day.
"Then we made up, and your will to allow me to come and go as I pleased returned, so there was no more interference. The well has always seemed to work dependent on if either of us feel I should or deserve to be on this side or not.
"Then we defeated Naraku. And after being trapped in that darkness for three whole days, being tempted with aspects of reuniting with my family after all of my suffering, I was torn between two worlds. When I finally returned home to my family and you were sucked down the well to never be seen again, I missed you terribly, but I never wanted to make my family fret or fear losing me again. I didn't want to feel that ever again either. I wanted to graduate; I had worked so hard to do that. In a way I didn't want to return. At least not completely. Not yet. Because of my will—this desire in my heart—the well did not work. I think you may have had a part in it too."
"Yeah, I think I did," Inuyasha realized. "Though I wanted to see you again—terribly—I remembered the look in your family's eyes when they saw you return, and I couldn't bear to tear them from you when they love you so much…because…I wouldn't be able to bear it if someone tore you from me."
Kagome blushed, averting her eyes for a moment then returning them. "You're so…selfless, Inuyasha."
"No… I'm not," he asserted with a touch of deference.
Kagome sighed a sweet smile then continued her examination, "So then, clearly, both our wills were foggy. We both weren't completely sure we wanted me to pass through the well again. At least, not until these three years had passed. After my graduation, I thought long and hard and deeply about how much I had missed you all of these years, and in that moment hanging over the well, pondering everything and all we went through, I decided I would trade everything to see you again—and suddenly the well worked…"
"I had already gotten to that point too, Kagome," Inuyasha revealed. "I suppose I was just waiting on you to feel the same," he squeezed her hand tighter.
"I'm so glad it worked again," Kagome beamed into his face. "I'm so glad we finally understand it."
"Do you think this means you will be able to come back and forth again?" Inuyasha wondered.
"I hope so," she admitted, "but right now, I only want to see you. I've weighed it out in my head that I would rather be here with you than back in my old world ever again, so I don't think the well would work right now."
He raised his brows. "You'd for sure rather be here with me?" he restated with enthusiasm.
"Yes," Kagome smiled without hesitation.
It comforted Inuyasha that she was so confident about her decision to return here—to return to him. It assured him so much that he felt confident enough to do the one thing he wanted to do the moment he pulled her back out of the well earlier.
Inuyasha carefully leaned into Kagome's face, and he was happy to see she inched toward him too, to meet him halfway. Their lips met in a soft, comforting greeting, reuniting deep close friends that hadn't touched in a long time.
It felt so nice, Kagome thought she could cry. Soft, moist, and tender. It felt like coming home.
When they released, they stared at each other again, in excited bliss.
"I'm so happy to be back," Kagome repeated to him in a whisper.
Inuyasha touched his forehead to hers. "I am so happy that you're here, too." He held her hand more fervently with protecting poise and need, and then they laid in the grass and talked a bit longer about what each of them did over the past three years and how much they missed each other—repeatedly kissing, genuinely enjoying each touch and embrace.
It had been so long since they held each other close, but how they felt about each other never diminished over the time they spent apart. Being reunited now, it was as if they never missed a thing, picking up right where they left off. It was easy.
When they were ready to go back into town to go see everybody, Kagome expressed the one thing she was most surprised about—"I can't believe they have three kids!"—though she was also not so surprised at all. "I need to catch up with everyone. I'm so happy they are living their happily ever after."
Inuyasha held Kagome's hand as they began making their way back toward the village. "And now we can, too." He looked right at her.
She smiled generously in return.
When they arrived at the village so that Kagome could catch up with the rest of her friends, the entire little community was already informed of her arrival.
"Kagome! ! Kagome's really back! !" Rin greeted with much energy as Inuyasha and Kagome sauntered for Kaede's hut hand-in-hand.
"Rin! It's so good to see you! How have you been?" Kagome beamed welcomingly.
"I've been wonderful!" She led them into the home and everyone stood and greeted Kagome.
Kaede, Miroku, Sango, Rin, and Shippo all exchanged hugs with Kagome, elatedly telling her their excitement for her return, their love of her presence, and their joy that she was here.
After the jubilant greetings and welcomes subsided, everyone sat down and Kagome immediately slapped her hands down on her lap determinedly. "So teach me the names of your kids, Sango and Miroku," she stated animatedly, ready to memorize.
"Well, this is Norio," Sango held out her wrapped-up baby cradled in her arms, "he was just born a handful of days ago."
Kagome wiggled a finger in his face with a blissful grin, "How are you, Norio?"
"And the girls," Miroku indicated his twin daughters, "Toshie and Rena. Toshie is the one in pink and Rena is in green. You girls come say hello to Kagome."
"Hello, Kagome!" the two little girls chimed together.
Kagome giggled at their absolute cuteness. "Rena and Toshie," she repeated their names with a ring.
"Rena was actually saved by Tenseiga after she was born, by Sesshomaru," Miroku enlightened.
Kagome's eyes widened, quite interested by this. "Well, that sounds like an exciting story; you definitely have to tell it to me."
Sango and Miroku explained what happened that day and Rin even added a few details, especially about how amazing she thought Lord Sesshomaru was.
"Wow. What a special experience for Rena," Kagome voiced.
"It is," Rin agreed with a knowing gaze at the little girl. "Rena doesn't understand it yet, but we're the same."
"The same?" Kagome looked at Rin for clarification.
Miroku elaborated, "I don't think any of us really knew this before, but Sesshomaru saved Rin with Tenseiga the first time they met."
"He did?" Kagome wasn't necessarily surprised, but was baffled she didn't know already.
Everyone nodded.
"I never knew this!" Kagome turned to Rin with astonishment. "But I guess that explains why he let you follow him. You were the first person he ever used Tenseiga on, weren't you?"
"That's right," Rin smirked innocently. "He's so amazing!"
Kagome giggled at her enthusiasm. "Well, I guess you can understand Rena's situation. I'm sure you two will become close friends as she grows older."
"We already are," Rin hugged Rena. She put another arm around Toshie. "I'm already very close to the twins. I babysit them all the time, and in exchange Sango trains me with weapons."
Kagome raised her eyebrows, impressed. "That's awesome! By the way, Rin, where are Sesshomaru and Jaken?" she glanced outside in as if they were right nearby.
"Oh, I live here now! They visit me though," Rin explained as she smoothed out her purple kimono with the gold butterflies.
"Well that's quite a different adjustment. How long has that been going on now?" Kagome asked.
"Well… I was eight then, and I'm 11 now, Kagome," Rin explained.
"You're getting so old," Kagome smiled. "And what about Kohaku?" she glanced at Sango and Miroku. "Is he around? I'd like to say hi to him, too."
"Kohaku has been on a journey, training with Kirara, slaying demons for other villages," Sango explained. "He's visited oncesince he left three years ago, and that was to meet his two nieces." The mother indicated her twins. "He's yet to visit to meet his new nephew."
"Wow, I bet he's much more powerful than he already was back then," Kagome awed. "I'm sure he's helped many people."
"He has indeed," Sango agreed, quietly proud.
Kagome looked about the room at the rest of her friends. "What else has been going on?"
Shippo jumped up. "I've been repeatedly taking the Fox-Demon Exam. I'm very highly ranked now!"
"Wow, Shippo! How important!" Kagome congratulated. "What's your rank?"
"Senior 7th rank," he revealed.
Sango elaborated, "So we haven't seen much of Totosai lately, but that's to be expected, though Kohaku told us he's been working with him for weaponry."
"That's nice," Kagome smiled. "I'm sure we'll run into him again in no time."
"And Myoga still hangs around every now and then," Miroku added, "to get a good taste of Inuyasha's blood and to see how everything is going."
"Sounds about right," Kagome chuckled.
"Hm… I can't think of anyone else really," Sango pondered. "Oh! That's right. Several months ago Koga showed up here looking for you!" She laughed a little bit at the memory.
Kagome laughed back. "Really? ? What was he looking for me for? What did he want?"
Inuyasha was suddenly seething in the back corner of the hut, silently eyeing the conversation with annoyance and jealousy.
"He was about to be married to Ayame," Sango explained, "and he wanted you to stop the wedding and proclaim your love to him!"
Kagome let out a harder laughed. "What! No way! How funny! I mean, he's a good friend, and I'll do anything for him—but…not that." She smirked guiltlessly.
"I know," Sango assured. "Inuyasha actually explained that to him. He got Koga to shut up when he gloated about the kiss you two shared before you were trapped on the other side of the well."
Kagome blushed with a simper. Sango's words seemed to relax Inuyasha a bit, but he also looked irritated at the casual mentioning of the details of his and Kagome's love life.
Sango continued, "Inuyasha was all dominating, like, 'If Kagome is ever going to be proclaiming her love to anyone, it's definitely not going to be you'," the demon slayer mimicked him then shrugged aloofly. "Give or take."
Kagome turned to Inuyasha with a blushing smirk. "You really said that, Inuyasha?"
He decided to just accept it. He huffed a lazy sigh and put his hands behind his head. "Keh. Yeah I did. So what."
"I actually find it really sweet, Inuyasha," Kagome leaned her shoulder closer to him, shyly staring down at the floor.
He wasn't expecting that response as he glanced at her in surprise. He stated unprepared but calmly, "Oh. Thanks."
A/N:
I made a handful of edits in the previous chapters. And I'll try and have the next chapter out in about a month. 02/2015
Ep. References—
(1) Episode 26 of InuYasha: The Final Act "Toward Tomorrow" (I used direct scenes and dialogue from this episode throughout this chapter—with translations from both the English and Japanese versions)
(2) Episode 19 of InuYasha "Go Home To Your Own Time, Kagome" (when Inuyasha sends Kagome back and shoves a tree down the well)
(3) Episode 21 of InuYasha "Naraku's True Identity Revealed" (when Kagome is finally able to return after Inuyasha sent her home)