Ch. 3 "Remembering Days gone By."
Kagome absentmindedly poked at the cooking fire in front of her with the metal poker in her hand, her thoughts seemingly far away right then. The eggs boiling away in the pot she was preparing for breakfast were not yet ready and the rice still had to be steamed as well. She remembered that today or at least one of these recent days, was her birthday and it was the first one she was having without her family.
She shifted her body into another sitting position. Her leg had fallen asleep from sitting on it for the past five minutes or so. Being four-months pregnant was now starting to get in the way of her mobility, doing her routine chores around the hut and her duties in the village. She didn't like being so encumbered and having to rely on Lady Kaede, her mentor and teacher, to pick up the slack of work because she was now with child. Not to mention the morning sickness, having only to sleep on her back and other related issues of pregnancy.
But it was the price she was willing to pay in order to have a family. Many of the other wives in the village gave her much sympathy and support in any way they could. Kagome appreciated this to no end, but in her heart, she knew who she wanted to share this with the most and get support from. But she couldn't.
In stepped her mate from outside their hut, returning from the well with more water for cooking. When she smiled at him, he could see her expression was tinged with some unspoken sadness.
"Is something wrong, Kagome?" he queried, putting down the water jugs by the fire. "Are you upset at me?" He sat near her, wondering what was causing her to look they was she was. He reached out to hold her free hand in his, hoping it wasn't serious.
"No, Inuyasha. I'm not upset at you." She again poked at the fire and smiled wanly.
"Then what is it?" He gave her hand a gentle squeeze, still seeing the far away look in her eyes, wanting to know what was bothering her.
Kagome really didn't want to say. She wondered if she should tell him at all. He didn't deserve to hear her complain or whine as she'd not talked about it since returning to the feudal era to stay with him and become his mate.
I should tell him. I shouldn't make him guess or question himself like this. She thought to herself and then relented in telling him with a small sigh.
"When I came to stay with you, I left my family very abruptly," she had to think carefully of what to say, not wanting to sound put off or unhappy.
"And?" Inuyasha waited for her to continue.
"I was standing there with my mother when I saw the light come from within the well. I quickly said goodbye to my mother and left. I never…" her words trailed off again. She wasn't sure if she should bother him with the news or not. It was her decision then, she had to live with it and the consequences of having made her choice.
"You never what, Kagome?" He insisted, confused by this hesitation of hers. What was so hard for her to talk about? They trusted one another with anything. It was something obviously distressing to her, that much he could tell.
"...I never said goodbye to my brother or my grandfather before leaving. Souta wasn't even home when I left. I wonder sometimes how he took the news that day." A pang of guilt touched her voice.
"Oh." He said quietly, looking down at the wood floor, picking a little at the tatami mat with his clawed index finger. An odd bit of silence fell between them.
"Do you regret coming to stay here with me?" A bit of fear crept in his voice when asking.
For a moment, Kagome was surprised. After all they'd been through, did he think she'd leave him or regret being here with him? But Kagome understood him well and only smiled at what he said.
"Of course not! I love you, Inuyasha. We're starting our family, our lives together. We are as one now, as we were destined to be." She assured him, returning the gentile hold on his hand. Kagome was pleased to see she got him to smile again.
"I guess." He paused as he tried to think of the right words to say. "You love your family a lot. They're pretty important to you, aren't they?"
"Yes, they are." She moved her hand to his cheek, gently lifting his face to look at her. Inuyasha always had trouble looking right in her eyes at 'soft' moments like this. It made him feel weird; as if she were looking right through him. He felt vulnerable and naked. Sometimes he didn't like it, feeling so exposed to her 'womanly' perceptions. Kagome was speaking from her heart.
"But, you are my family too. I love you and wanted to be with you. I wanted us to have a life together." The way she looked at him, so deep and so full of love, made Inuyasha feel small at having doubted Kagome's love and loyalty. He couldn't help it. It was still part of him to feel guarded so much, though she had done much to heal his heart of that tendency.
Inuyasha thought about what she had said, about family. He felt a little envy about Kagome and her family. He had seen their love and support for Kagome all those times and how welcome they made him feel in their home. And he did feel a pang of regret, though never to admit it out loud, at the thought of never seeing her younger brother again. Souta was a plucky kid and liked Kagome's 'punk boyfriend' whenever Inuyasha came to visit.
"It's just that as much as you are a part of me and I a part of you, my family is still a part of me too. I could no more divorce them from my heart than I could you." Kagome hoped he would understand.
Inuyasha had to think about Kagome's words, aware she knew a lot about stuff like this. He didn't really understand her relationship with her family. They seemed so close. Inuyasha felt he had nothing to draw from of his family; a missing father he never knew, a mother whom he'd lost when he was very young and a half-brother who to this day despised him. What was that to compare to where Kagome had come from?
"What's it like, Kagome?" He looked up at her, his eyes a little wider. She looked back at him, unsure of his meaning.
"What's what like?"
He sighed a little. "What's it like to have a family that loves and cares about you; to have a brother who actually likes you and wants to be seen with you?" he asked softly, wondering what it felt like to be accepted. Kagome put down the fire poker and slid closer to him; putting his arms around her body and having him hold her, laying her head back on his shoulder.
"A loving family feels like this," she explained. Inuyasha smiled a little at the explanation, but his question went deeper then that. He opened the door a little more to let her inside his heart.
"No. I mean," He struggled to find the words to make it come out right. It was hard for him to talk about family like this. "You and your family were pretty close, right?" Kagome nodded.
"We always were. We kind of understood each other pretty easily." Kagome saw his expression change, as if he were looking back at some distant moment in the past. His eyes seemed deep and far away as he began to talk.
"I don't remember much of my mother," he confessed, surprising Kagome by this sudden openness. Maybe he was feeling more comfortable now with trusting her with feelings he'd held inside for so long.
"I was so little when she was taken from me." His voice became quieter when talking about this subject, leaning his head against hers. Kagome rubbed his arms, showing her support for him and want of him to confide in her, wanting his trust with matters of his heart.
"Sometimes I'm afraid I'll forget what it felt like to be held by her, what the sound of her voice was like. How it felt…" He tried to say more but couldn't. It was still too painful to recall the memories. Kagome could sense this was very hard for Inuyasha. She pulled his arms around her a little more tightly. She didn't want him to feel sad. She knew where he was coming from.
"Don't be afraid, Inuyasha. So long as her love is in your heart and she in your prayers, your mom will never be forgotten by you," Kagome assured him, wanting him to feel safe in his new life with her. She wasn't trying to replace his mother, as perhaps he might have felt she was. He was trying to find that place of balance of love for this first woman in his life and his chosen woman for the rest of his life.
He looked down into his mate's eyes, so full of understanding and compassion for his moment of uncertainty. She gave him a small kiss on his cheek, thanking him for letting her inside on how he was feeling. He lowered his hands lower onto the growing bulge in her abdomen, wondering about the approaching change to their lives. In less then six months, they would have a new born child to look over. She smiled at him, sensing he was wondering about their coming newborn baby.
"Are you excited?" She grinned, sure that he was but just wanting to hear it from him. Kagome saw his eyes dart back and forth, as if trying to come up with something clever to say.
"Yes," he confessed innocently and could not help but let a little laugh escape him in thinking about it, wondering about the miracle growing in his mate's body. Kagome decided to have a bit of fun with him.
"Scared?" She teased a little. His eyes first went wider and then narrowed, as if insulted to hear her suggest such a notion of him being scared of a baby.
"Keh! Foolish woman! I? Scared of having a child? You must be mad!" He played up his disgusted notion of being afraid of having a family. She knew he was just kidding about being insulted.
"If you had any brains, you'd be scared!" She teased more with a mischievous grin. He laughed a little at her insult.
"Guess I'm just too thick-headed to be scared, right?" He released her from his embrace, letting her sit up and take care of their breakfast. The mood in the hut lifted as each now feeling more secure in their love. Kagome took out the eggs and set the steamer on top of the boiling water to cook the rice along with the nori she'd prepped the other morning.
No sooner had they started eating did a gentle knock sound at the entranceway. "Kagome? Inuyasha? Are you awake?" A voice called out to them from the other side of the hanging reed screen that was their door.
"We're awake, Shippou. Come in," Kagome answered, giving Inuyasha a second helping of rice and fish. In stepped the kitsune, holding a piece of rice parchment in one hand.
"Sorry to interrupt your breakfast," Shippou apologized, seeing the two friends of his in the middle of their morning meal.
"No problem, Shippou. What's up?" Kagome set the kettle on the fire to brew some tea.
"A rider just came to the village and handed Kaede this letter. She was asked to give it to the demon-slayers who lived here, then left in a hurry." Shippou handed the message to Kagome, aware that she was the smartest one of his friends and could read better then any of them, including Miroku.
"What's it say, Kagome?" Inuyasha mumbled, his mouth still half-full of food.
"It's a request for you and Miroku to come as soon as possible to that village you were at ten days ago. Apparently the demon you two had slain was not the only one. The village is still in need of help in eliminating them." Kagome explained.
"Damn it all! I knew it was too easy to kill the one we did. We should have known there were more." Inuyasha snarled, annoyed. He finished off his fish and shoveled the last bit of rice into his mouth, wiping his mouth off with the back of his hand.
"Well, I guess Miroku and me have a job to do. I'll go get him and get moving. I don't want this to take all day." The dog-demon took up his sword, Tessaiga, and headed for the door, Shippou following right behind him.
"Be careful, Inuyasha." Kagome told him and he looked back at his mate, a sure smile on his face in knowing he would be okay.
"Hey, I'm always careful, now that I've got something to be careful for." He winked at her. She smiled; assured he would be back soon. Shippou looked up at the dog-demon, unsure what Inuyasha was talking about.
"Huh?" He asked, confused.
"Never mind, Shippou. You're too little to understand." Inuyasha waved off the little fox-demon's question. "C'mon. Let's go find Miroku and get going." Inuyasha left the hut with the fox-demon behind him to search for Miroku. Kagome sat alone in the hut to finish her meal. She sighed a little, spending yet another day without Inuyasha and readying herself for today's duty.
Once done with the morning's meal, Kagome took up her basket to use in getting her food stocks for the next few days from the storage hut. Kaede would be watching the youngest children of the village families today as she and Kagome alternated days in this duty. This allowed each of them some time away from child-sitting to tend to their own needs. The parents and older siblings of those who she and Lady Kaede watched over would work the fields and help maintain the village grounds while the youngsters were with them.
She met up with Sango and her children shortly after setting out, the precarious young twins chatting and carrying on like all three-year-olds did. Kagome wondered to herself how Sango managed to keep them in order and maintain her home as well as she did. To Kagome, it seemed like such a handful of work, remembering how hard enough it was back in her native time for parents to raise a family. But here in the Feudal era, it seemed nearly impossible.
"Miroku said that he and Inuyasha would be back before sundown today." Sango shifted the weight of the pack on her back as she carried her youngest child in it.
"I guess we still have a little time to sit and talk after we get done today." Kagome lugged the basket full of food in her arms, carrying both hers and Sango's supply.
"Yes, it has been busy for us too lately. How are you holding up, Kagome? Any problems?" Sango asked, aware this was her friend's first child and wanting to be sure she was not overdoing her workload.
"A little morning sickness still and my clothes are starting to get too small for me to wear. But overall, I guess I'm doing okay. I'm just a little nervous about it all," she confessed, not wanting to deny she was scared.
"I know what you mean. I was pretty nervous when I was with the twins. It's only natural to be a little worried the first time, but it usually gets easier with each pregnancy. You'll see." Sango assured her friend.
"Let's just get through the first one before I think about having a second child!" Kagome chuckled.
"So," Sango said in a teasing voice as they walked along. "What do you think you're having; a boy or a girl?" She nudged Kagome with an elbow.
"At this point I'm not even thinking about that. I just want our baby to be born healthy. That's all."
"What does Inuyasha say? I can only guess what his preference is. He's not any different then Miroku or any of the other men of the village. They always want a son," Sango joked. It was probably true enough, but he'd not said anything to her about it. He was too excited to care about that. At least that's what Kagome felt in her heart.
She and Sango parted to tend to their respective duties. Kagome had gathered the food she needed, collected more firewood for cooking and seen to several of her neighbors who needed medical attention for injuries.
They were very grateful for her gentle tending and offered her what they could in repayment for her kindness. Many of the wives of the village offered all sorts of advice for her about pregnancy and how best to get though the difficult days ahead. The high point of Kagome's day came in the early afternoon when she and Kaede switched places and Kagome could spend time teaching the children how to read and write. She felt it was her duty to share her knowledge and teach them how to do more than just read their names and a few words. Being from the twenty-first century, Kagome understood the power of education and felt if they knew more than just the most basic words, they would go further with their lives if they so choose to.
The sun dipped lower in the sky, afternoon ending as the moms and dads came to collect their young children and head for their homes. Freed up from her duty, Kagome again headed out to the field where the Bone Eater's well resided. She had done several times over the past few days. By the change in the color of leaves on the trees and how much had fallen off already, she could guess about what time of the season it was. It was close to her birthday and it would be the first one she would celebrate without her immediate family.
Standing partially concealed by the branches that bizarrely grew out of the wood itself was the well. Kagome wondered about the strange living branches that sprouted from the wood the Bone Eater's well was made from. The leaves on these little branches were as green as the first time she'd seen them sprout. The well had done this within a few days of her arrival and she had no idea why it happening. She pulled back on the overgrowth to look down into the dark well, wondering about her family on the other side.
I'm pretty sure they're all okay. Souta's probably doing fine in school, he's bright enough. Mom and Grandpa are probably fine too. But…
Kagome felt a twinge in her heart. She wondered if she'd been too hasty in running off to be with Inuyasha like she had, dropping everything and leaving like a lovesick teenager. She'd tried to make herself believe that she was strong enough on her own, that she didn't need her family to prop her up.
For those three years apart, Kagome had believed all she needed was Inuyasha, that he was the solution to that 'glass-half-empty' feeling when she couldn't see him. But now it felt more like 'glass-half-full' from missing her family. Being only with her family or only with Inuyasha? Neither piece alone could fill the space in Kagome's heart.
She looked down the dark well and thought of recent times when she was home in her native twenty-first century time…
Kagome flopped down face-first on her bed with an exhausted grunt, her bag thumping to the floor from its hefty weight, home at last after the wreck of a day she'd had at school. It was a nightmare. She didn't understand a single thing being taught in her math or science classes, she'd missed reading the book she was supposed to have read for literacy class. The only thing that made the day remotely passable was she was in gym class with her friends for a little while. The rest of the day she could have done without.
I don't know what I'm going to do! I've missed so much school, I can't even think about going back to rejoin Inuyasha and the others now. I'll flunk out of school for sure if I don't catch up.
She thought of Inuyasha sitting by the well, waiting impatiently for her to return from her world to take up the fight against Naraku and his minions once more. They'd gotten into a real scrapper of a fight with Kagura that ended up with her wolf-demon friend, Kouga, nearly loosing his arm in the fight. Being away meant her friends would have to wait, and that was something she didn't want to do.
Argh! If there was only some way to get caught up on my work, I wouldn't be so stressed right now! Kagome was so far behind in her studies that it would take a month just to catch up with the missing work. A knock came at her bedroom door.
"Hey, Kagome, are you in there?" her brother Souta asked from the other side of the door.
"Not now, Souta. I'm too tired and I still have to get my assignments from Eri and Youka. Come back later," she groused, not wanting to be bothered right now.
"I think you'll like what I have for you!" he teased, his sing-song tone grating on her nerves. Kagome actually growled a little, sure it was something dumb and childish he had to show her. She got up off her bed to chase him away. She threw open the door, half-expecting him to throw a rubber mouse or something like that in an attempt to scare her.
"Okay Souta, what's so important that you have…?" She stopped when from behind his back Souta produced the lab assignments from her science class, the homework assignments from her math and history classes as well as the Cliff Notes book of her assigned reading. Not to mention a pile of class notes copied from her friends notebooks for her as well.
"Here. I thought you might need these to help you study," he offered innocently. Kagome scanned through the pile, realizing he'd gotten for her all the notes and assignments she'd been missing since she left for Inuyasha's time. He had gone to all her friends and made photocopies of the notes and gotten the homework assignments from her teachers too. Kagome blinked, stunned by the effort her little brother had made in getting her prepared for when she did come back home.
"Souta, did you get all this for me?" She was genuinely surprised by his willingness to help her so selflessly.
"Yeah. After I got out of school, I hopped over to your school and got the stuff you needed to catch up with," Souta explained with a grin. "I think I came up with some pretty good explanations on why you were out of school so often too. None of your teachers questioned me when I did."
Kagome again flipped though the pile, seeing every page was numbered, in order of issue date and due date. The notes copied from her friends' notebooks were all numbered as well and had several worked out examples for her to study from. She almost couldn't believe it. He had gotten everything she thought she was missing for her and had done it all on his own initiative! She suddenly felt a little bad for having been annoyed.
"Soo-chan, thanks so much! You don't know how much of help this was for me!" She hugged him, glad to have such a great little brother who looked out for her like he did. "Is there anything I can do to repay you for this? Anything at all?" Kagome's offer was in earnest. What could she do to make it up to him?
"Well," Souta sheepishly looked down at the hallway carpet, almost too embarrassed to ask. He was pretty sure she wouldn't be able to make it happen. "I was wondering if maybe, you know, you'd be able to get Inuyasha to visit again." Kagome saw how her brother couldn't really look at her in the eyes when admitting to his admiration of Inuyasha. She smiled, seeing how Souta was so enamored with Inuyasha after meeting him only a few times.
"You like him, huh?" she teased with a sly grin, pretty sure that Inuyasha had won her brother over as his new hero.
"Mm hmm! He's cool!" Souta gushed, looking up at his big sister. After witnessing Inuyasha in action that night when their grandfather's Noh mask had come to life and seeing Inuyasha destroy it with Tessaiga, Souta was in absolute awe of her friend.
"I'll see what I can do, but I can't make any promises. You know Inuyasha can be pretty stubborn." It wasn't a promise, but that didn't matter to Souta. So long as there was a chance to see Inuyasha again, it was all worth the effort to get her assignments collected and ready for when Kagome returned home.
Later at dinner, Kagome spoke briefly of the recent adventure she'd shared with her friends back in the feudal era. Her mom and grandfather listened to her story, enthralled. They were glad to have her home again, even if it was most likely for only a little while before she'd be off once more.
"Why don't you ask Inuyasha to come for dinner again, Kagome? He seemed like such a nice boy and is always welcome here." Her mom spoke warmly, thinking it would be nice to have her daughter's 'boyfriend' over for a good meal.
"Thanks for making him feel welcome, mom. I know he appreciates it, even if he doesn't say so." Kagome was happy her mom had made Inuyasha feel at home, aware her good friend had had a tough upbringing and had spent so much of his growing up years alone. He distrusted a lot of people but knew this was a welcome place for him to stay if he chose.
…those moments back home, how she missed her family and how they were still so much a part of who she was. She clasped a hand over her mouth, shutting her eyes as the homesickness she'd tried to bury under the veneer of 'priestess' now welled up inside of her. How she must have hurt them by her sudden departure with such disregard to their feelings. Kagome suddenly remembered that she'd never followed up with Souta's request; she never bothered to ask Inuyasha to visit her family one more time. Being so wrapped up in her duel life of student and adventure-seeker, it had escaped her memory to do so. It made the prick of pain in her heart hurt a little deeper remembering this now.
Kagome felt the tears of missing her family escape from under her eyes and fall away, disappearing down into the darkness of the well as her head fell forward. She braced herself with one hand by holding onto the ledge of the well.
"I just wish I could see them again!" She was finally admitting it to herself, having tried to lock it away in her heart over the past months. No sooner has she acknowledged that truth, a faint wafting breeze suddenly came up from the well's dark interior. At first Kagome thought she was imagining it. But the breeze was gently causing the leaves of the over-growth to sway. It wasn't her imagination. She quickly pulled the foliage aside, anxious to see what was causing this movement.
Souta looked down into the well, seeing a strange light emanating from down there through the mist as the cloudy obscurity parted, revealing some odd shapes moving around. He could see a hand, no, two hands moving whatever was blocking the light out of the way. His heart began to pound in his chest.
Suddenly, a female face appeared against the backdrop of blue sky looking right at him from the other side of the well. It was Kagome! The two siblings locked eyes, shocked to see one another after so much time. Both had smiles that grew from ear to ear at spotting the other looking back.
"Souta!" Kagome shouted, waving at him.
"Kagome! Onechan!" Souta shouted, returning the wave. He looked right at her. Her mouth was moving but he heard no sound.
"Souta! Can you hear me?" she called, wondering.
"I can't hear you!" He pointed to his ears and shook his head. Kagome nodded back.
"Wait there! I'll be right back!" He briefly held up one finger and then hurried away, running frantically back to the house to get the biggest pad of paper he could find and a thick black marker to write with.
Don't leave, Souta! She silently begged him to come back, afraid that whatever caused this window to open to her old life might quickly close up. After what seemed like an incredibly long time, he reappeared in the well's opening, holding a pad of paper. Quickly, he began to write then turned over the pad to show it to her.
Are you alright? He'd scribbled out, looking at her with a worried expression. Kagome thought it so sweet that the first thing he wanted to know was if she was okay.
She nodded back. "Yes!" she called to him. Souta quickly scribbled another question.
How's Inuyasha?
She nodded and gave him a thumbs-up. "Let mom know I'm pregnant!" She could see that Souta didn't understand what she was saying as he shrugged and put up his hands.
"I'm pregnant!" She repeated.
Souta watched Kagome silently mouth her words, her expression desperate for him to understand. It must be important. He scratched out another message with the marker and pad.
What?
His kanji filled the page. He turned the pad over to show his message, getting Kagome's attention, seeing her read it.
Kagome was almost frantic. She needed him to understand. She hopped up on the ledge of the well to sit, making sure he could see her profile. Kagome pointed to her bulging belly. She looked down at him, seeing his eyes go wide. She got off the ledge of the well, watching him write franticly.
You're pregnant?! He'd scrawled out, shock and delight on his face.
"Yes!" Kagome shouted, smiling and nodding back at him. She could see him jump up and down, throwing a victory fist in the air in triumph. He scribbled on the pad again, turning it over to show her once more.
When? Souta was smiling broader then before in happiness for his sister. Kagome held up five fingers, indicating five more months until the birth. Souta's heart thrilled that his sister was going to become a mom and he would soon be an uncle.
Again he scribbled his message. Happy for you!
"Souta? Are you out here?" He heard his mother calling from the house. Souta quickly ran to the open doorway of the shed.
"Mom! Come quick! Kagome's in the well! Kagome's in the well!" Souta shouted and then hurried back to the well, to make sure Kagome was still there.
He saw the image of his sister starting to shimmer and waver, diffusing by the returning white mist by the second.
"Hurry mom! Hurry!" Souta yelled as he began to panic at seeing the window starting to close.
"Souta!" Kagome cried as she watched her brother's face start to become blurry and obscured by the shrouding white mist.
Mai rushed to the shed that housed the well, wondering what Souta was yelling about.
"Mom, look! Kagome's down there!" He pointed. Mai hurried down the steps to her son's side but only caught a fleeting glimpse of a blurry face that was almost consumed by a strange puffy whiteness down the well shaft, and then it was gone.
"What…?" Mai wondered what she just saw, the cloud of mist dissipating all together and leaving nothing behind. "Was that Kagome down there?"
Souta leaned over the ledge to see again, finding the well had gone dark.
"It was her, mom. I swear." The tears in his eyes, once were of sadness now were of joy in having seen his sister again. He was so sure she'd make it in time to see that it was Kagome down there.
Mai turned to her son, seeing him smiling with a brighter look in his eyes. "Did she say anything?"
"I couldn't hear her, but I wrote out some yes-no questions and she told me that she and Inuyasha are doing fine. Kagome showed me that she's pregnant!" He was so happy to be able to tell their mother that she would soon be a grandmother. Mai gasped, delighted.
"Oh, that's the best thing I could hear today. I'm so happy for them." Mai was simply glowing in pride and happiness. Kagome would be a wonderful mother, and she wished them all her blessings and love.
"She said she was due in five months and I guess they must be really excited." Souta felt his heart lift, the sadness leaving his heart.
Kagome watched the window to her old life close. The mist clouding her view grew thick and the thin sapling-like limbs around her gave a brief shudder. A tremor vibrated through the structure of the well, the swirling mist fizzed away into nothing as the well reverted to its previous empty appearance.
She thought she'd seen her mother's face for just a second or two, but it was so brief of a look that Kagome wondered if she imagined it.
"It's gone!" She sighed, disappointed but at the same time, thrilled that she had gotten to share her most important news with her brother.
Souta will tell Mom, I'm sure of that. He looked like he was doing okay too. Kagome felt the warmth return to her heart, knowing her family was fine and they had the news.
She stood for a minute or two longer by the well, relishing the feeling of having seen her brother again. Kagome wondered why the well suddenly revealed a window back to the world she'd come from. She had visited the well several times since coming to stay with Inuyasha, but it'd never acted like that.
Kagome still had to get started on the evening's meal and would have time to contemplate this strange development more while cooking. Returning home, she found Inuyasha was back from his outing with Miroku today. He could tell Kagome was in a better mood. She was humming to herself as she chopped up the vegetables and meat to make the stew they were having for supper.
"You seem happier." He observed her glowing look, watching her prepare their evening meal. Inuyasha slid closer to her, curious about her chipper mood. She'd been acting rather gloomy the past few days. This was a rather sudden change and he wondered what had made her more upbeat all of a sudden.
"I feel happy." Kagome looked over at him, readying the carrots with some water and a knife. "I'm happy because I'm here with you."
"Then," he paused, a bit confused by the change. "You're not sad about not seeing your family at all?" Inuyasha thought this a little odd about Kagome. Family was pretty important to her.
Should I tell him? Would it help him to know? Kagome quickly muddled over an answer and decided to let him in on what she'd experienced today.
"I went over to look at the well today while you were out." She began as she started to slide the ingredients into the bubbling broth in the pot.
"And?" He waited for her to continue, curious.
"Would you believe I actually saw my brother looking back at me from the other side of the well?" Kagome let slip some of her excitement of having seen her brother again.
"Really?" Inuyasha's interest instantly perked up at hearing Kagome had seen his number one admirer looking back from the other side of the well. He quickly tried to downplay his excitement.
"I mean, oh really now?" he play it nonchalant, but Kagome had caught the look of happiness on his face.
"I couldn't hear him but I did manage to let him know that we're doing fine and that I was due this Spring with our baby. Souta seemed really happy to know." Kagome couldn't hide her relief in being able to let her family back home know how they were doing.
"I'm glad to hear that. I know you must miss them a lot." Inuyasha smiled at his wife, happy that she was happy now. "But," an odd thought crossed his mind when she told him this news. "I thought the well was shut to your world now. How were you able to see Souta looking back from the other side?" Neither he nor Kagome had been able to pass through the well since her returning to his time, though each had tried on separate occasions.
Kagome could only shrug. "I can't explain it. I don't know how or why the well showed me what it did this time but wouldn't let us go through it like we've tried before. I guess we just have to chalk it up to one of those 'mysteries of the universe' kind of things for now."
Just knowing now that her family was aware she was with child and doing well was enough for Kagome. The homesickness she'd felt was quelled inside her for a while and she felt more relaxed and content then ever before.
"Well," Inuyasha continued. "How's Souta doing? Is he alright? Does he miss me…I mean, you?"" The half-demon was eager to know if his number one fan was doing okay.
Kagome laughed a little at him, hearing how her husband was missing her brother's admiration. A little scarlet appeared on his cheeks for having seen so eager to know. "He looked like he was doing just fine and I'm pretty sure he misses seeing his favorite hero."
"Really?" He was sincere to know and it was not lost on Kagome. She knew he secretly missed Souta's company though he denied it any time she hinted at or asked in casual passing. More than once did she catch her brother imitating Inuyasha, running around the shrine's courtyard, yelling 'Sankontetsusou!' and pretending to strike demons with his open hand. She thought it adorable. Inuyasha probably would've died of embarrassment at witnessing Souta's impersonation.
"Do you think the well will open again?" Inuyasha wondered if the ancient well was ever going to repeat like it had today for them. Again Kagome shrugged.
"I honestly don't know. We'll have to just wait and see." Kagome slid the chopped turnips and carrots into the stew, stirring the contents. She let him in on what she was thinking more. "I'd like to think so."
"So would I, Kagome." He confided. For now, they would be content with the small fragment of possibility as they looked forward to the future.