Chapter 10

Passing around cups of tea Kaede met her guest's eyes, and after everyone took a sip she set hers down and said, "So now tell me the news. Tell me of Inuyasha-" she glanced down at Shippo with a fond smile, "-in a little more detail, perhaps?"

Kagome looked sideways at Mattaki, uncertain who should answer her query, then settled back when he smiled at her and then turned his attention to the elder miko. "Ah, in that Shippo was basically correct. I was greatly angered at Inuyasha's treatment of others, Kagome especially, and had wished that the kami had left him to my hand instead of punishing him themselves. One came to me and said that my wish had been heard and that they were debating amongst themselves on whether to grant it – some wished to keep the original punishment, and others thought it more amusing – and appropriate – to give him over to me. After a few days another kami appeared and informed me that my wish was granted, and then returned Inuyasha to my care. He cannot leave my presence until I see fit to release him, or he simply returns to death," he finished easily, not at all concerned.

Kaede was silent for some minutes taking that in, and then sighed and took another sip of her tea. "And I can make a guess that it has not been an easy time of it with him, either. He is very hotheaded and impulsive and carries much bitterness and anger. But I did not mistake the fact that he is not carrying Tessaiga," she added after a moment, her expression concerned. "Is it really wise to have separated him from its calming influence, especially when he is sure to be highly angry and resentful at being disciplined like a child once more, and by a parent he never even knew?"

"As to that, Kaede-sama, there is no reason for concern. After all, the reason Tessaiga is a seal for Inuyasha's youkai blood is because it is my fang. If my mere fang is capable of doing such, is not my true presence capable of doing even more? Do not worry about Inuyasha's youkai side appearing – he is in some ways a little smarter as a youkai than a hanyou, for his youkai side knows who is alpha and submits to me. As long as I am around he will remained subdued and sleeping within."

"Ah. I cannot deny I am glad to hear that. I remember when Sou'unga took him over – it was not pleasant, though surprisingly Inuyasha fought him off enough to keep from killing anyone." She laughed. "I think that devil sword was quite surprised at how 'a mere hanyou' was able to do so in any way at all."

Mattaki looked interested and a little concerned, as well. "You mean Inuyasha was the one to find Sou'unga? How did that happen?"

At that question Kagome spoke up. "Uhm... from what I understood from Myouga and Saya, when you... died," she said, an uncomfortable expression crossing her face at mention of his death, "he bound himself to the sheath and the sword was cast into the well that I used to use to travel here from my time. In my era that well is part of my family's shrine - the whole hill is, including the Goshinboku. The sword was discovered in the well and mislabeled for some years, my grandfather keeping it in a place of honor in the shrine. One day he was conducting his annual cleaning and the seal on the sword was broken, at which point Sou'unga took off, looking for someone to take over. He found Inuyasha with me, and... attached himself to him, recognizing him as your blood and wishing vengeance upon you for controlling him for so long. He tried to force Inuyasha to kill me, but Inuyasha fought him off and abandoned me in an attempt to get back through the well before Sou'unga made him try again," she said, a grimace on her pretty face at that memory.

"What happened then?" he prompted, seemingly fascinated.

This time it was Shippo's turn to answer. "I was waiting at the well for mama-" he fluffed his tail at Kaede's surprised look and grinned, "-to come back, when Inuyasha did instead. He was bound to that evil sword, and his eyes turned red and he chased me. After a minute he came back to himself and told me to get away, and then ran off to the village. After taking out part of it with the Dragon Twister he managed to regain his control and took off. Miroku said that it was because Inuyasha wanted to get far away from any people so the sword couldn't try to make him hurt anyone."

"Hnn," Mattaki intoned after a moment, obviously thinking. "So how did he manage to get unbound from Sou'unga?"

"That was me," Kagome said quietly. "I started to purify the sword, and he rejected Inuyasha and basically high-tailed it out of there to get away from me."

Mattaki blinked, then blinked again, looking very surprised. "You... were purifying him, and he took off? You forced him to retreat?" he asked.

Kagome frowned at his reaction, wondering at it. "Ye-es," she drawled out slowly. "Why are you so surprised?"

Shaking his head, Mattaki couldn't help the almost awed expression that came over his face as he looked with new eyes at Kagome. After a moment he said, "Back when Midoriko was alive, wishing to rid the world of Sou'unga's presence I had her try the same thing. Sou'unga didn't even twitch. He just growled at her and fought back. She was unable to purify him at all, and just touching him made her ill. You now have the singular honor of being the only thing besides myself that Sou'unga ever feared, let alone ran from in his millenia of seeking domination."

Everyone in the hut stared at Kagome, who twitched and blushed, looking down at her fingers twisting in her lap uncomfortably. "Eh, w-well, that's no reason to stare," she stuttered, still blushing profusely at the admiring look in Mattaki's eyes.

"Mama's always been strong when she needs to protect someone," Shippo said proudly. "Like in the final battle when she purified Naraku's giant body, the Shikon no Tama, and all the shouki that fell all over the whole place – with one arrow!" he said admiringly, bristling with pleasure at the still awed look on Mattaki's face. He was obviously very proud of the woman he called mother, and pleased when others looked on her in the same way.

Mattaki's expression changed to a soft one and he murmured, "Do you have something to protect? Those are the words I spoke to Sesshoumaru before going to my death so long ago, and in you those words are made flesh, my love," he said, his own eyes proud to claim such a powerful heart as his. "He could do no better than to watch you to learn what I tried for so long to teach him."

Kaede looked startled to hear the daiyoukai address Kagome so, and then the look faded into a wry, affectionate acceptance as she looked fondly over at a blushing Kagome. I should not be at all surprised that one such as this male has fallen to Kagome's heart. All the legends of him told of his own heart, and hers is akin to his. And with such proximity as they are now bound to for the rest of time, it is only a kindness that they would come to be bound to each other in all ways. I clearly see the hand of Omoikane-kami-sama in this situation, she sighed to herself. With Kagome's loving heart, I can only thank the gods that they have given her someone to love who is just as eternal as she is – someone she will not have to face losing to death and the Wheel of Time. I will make offering this evening in the shrine in thanks for their kindness to her.

"Sesshoumaru has already learned that lesson, I think, Mattaki. And not from me, but from his little ward, Rin." Kagome glanced over at Kaede. "Where is Rin, anyway?" she asked, her brow furrowed as she realized that she hadn't seen the girl.

"As to that," Kaede answered, "Sesshoumaru-sama came by a week ago or so and took her off with him for a time. He said he would return with her before the fall rains come, and I gathered that he wished to spend the last part of the warmer weather with her before winter comes."

Mattaki looked fascinated at the conversation, not really knowing about Sesshoumaru's life or who was in it. "Who is this Rin?" he asked. "You call her his ward..." he prompted further.

Kagome hesitated, then said, "I don't know the whole story. Apparently he had picked her up somewhere and Naraku, being the bastard he was, decided to use her to try to force Sesshoumaru's hand into killing Inuyasha, with the threat of killing Rin if he did not. Sesshoumaru, as I'm sure you can guess, didn't take well to that whole episode. But to everyone's astonishment, instead of leaving her to her death he went after Naraku to get her back – but when Naraku was overwhelmed and instead threatened her with death if Sesshoumaru chased after him, Sesshoumaru chose to go after Rin, instead – he chose to protect her rather than finishing his opponent. It left us all shocked... especially as Rin is a young human orphan."

Stunned delight held Mattaki still for several long seconds, and then he asked, "If he cares for her why does he leave her here?" he asked.

"He said it is to learn to live as humans do, since she was so small when she came to him and has been with him for some time, just following as he travels. That way, he said when the time comes she may choose which path she wishes."

At that, Mattaki's eyes widened in shocked disbelief. "He said that?" he asked with a peculiar intensity. "Exactly that?"

"Ye-es," Kaede responded slowly. "Why is such so surprising to you?"

"Unbelievable," Mattaki whispered, obviously still stunned and trying to take it in. After a moment he caught the other's impatient looks and sighed. "He is giving her the choice between life as a human, or life... with him. When she is of age he will come to her and ask her which she wishes, and if she chooses to go with him then... he will take her as his mate," he breathed, a smile crossing his face as he realized that his son had finally learned what he had tried so hard to teach him. "He sees her as his, but without some emotion there he would simply keep her with him whether she chose him or not. He... he loves her, and wishes her to have the choice. While his love for her is platonic at this time his instincts have whispered to him that when she ages that will change. I never thought I'd see the day," he finished, so pleased he was grinning, not surprised to see the shocked faces surrounding him.

"B-but... but..." Kagome stuttered, unable to get out what she was trying to say.

Mattaki understood, though. "How old is this child?" he asked.

"Now? We are not totally certain, but probably around ten or eleven. It's been pretty much three years now since we started seeing her with him," Kagome replied.

Mattaki nodded. "Yes... I am certain. When she comes of age he will give her the choice. So, perhaps five or six years from now..." he trailed off and looked at Kaede. "This girl... how does she act with him?"

"She adores him," Kaede said, patting a now snoozing Shippo on his back. The little kitsune had grown bored with the discussion and dropped off for a nap. "She always speaks of him, calling him Sesshoumaru-sama, and it is Sesshoumaru-sama this and Sesshoumaru-sama that. She also trusts him implicitly and fears him not at all."

"You're right, she does," Kagome broke in, her mind taking her back to that confrontation that Sesshoumaru had with warrior monks who tried to take Rin from him. "One time, I'm not sure how, but Rin was captured by some monks and they tried to force her to go to a human village. She called out for him and he responded, coming for her. When the monks tried to purify him he defeated them, though oddly without killing any of them now I come to think of it, and then told Rin that she could follow if she chose. He always protected her, but he also always gave her the choice to stay with him or not – and she always chose to stay by his side."

Kaede nodded. "Hai, I am not surprised. Even now she would follow him if he allowed it, through winter snows or not. She misses him greatly when he is gone, but one thing I have noticed – he is never far away, though she does not realize it, I don't think." At that, she looked thoughtful for a moment. "Then again, perhaps she does. At any rate he protects this place because she is here. I must admit it has been nice not to have to worry over bandits or youkai attacking. At least while she is here, anyway," she finished ruefully.

Mattaki sat back with an elated look on his face. "I would enjoy meeting this Rin. I am certain that one day she will indeed be his. The love she feels for him will soon change; when her heart becomes adult it will turn even more strongly to him."

Kagome exchanged a surprised glance with Kaede, not sure what to say to the whole thing. While she'd known that Rin had indeed softened the inuyoukai, she hadn't ever thought it had gone quite that far. Apparently neither had Kaede, from the expression on her face.

"Well," the younger miko eventually said, "that is... news. But I suppose one can't underestimate the power of a faithful heart. And Rin is most certainly that."

Kaede bobbed her head in agreement. "She is at that."

Mattaki couldn't rid himself of the satisfaction he was feeling that at least one of his sons was finally going to be taken care of. That he would know what it was to be loved without thought or expectation – simply for who he was. He glanced at Kagome as she spoke to the elder miko, and that satisfaction increased. His own future was assured, as well.

But then his grin soured a little as he thought about his youngest pup and he sighed, sincerely hoping that the boy would straighten out so that one day...

He broke into the two women's conversation with a polite clearing of his throat. "I think that I wish to go find Inuyasha and see this place he was pinned," he said, and Kagome blinked, then nodded.

"I can show you-" she was cut off as he smiled and shook his head.

"No, my dear, you stay here and enjoy your visit. I can find him easily enough, you know," he said, twitching his nose a little, and Kagome giggled.

"Okay," she said, before turning back to her conversation.

He stood and made his way to the door, pushing aside the matting and stepping outside, only to let it fall back with a clatter as he stood on the step and scented the air. Within seconds he'd caught the scent of his pup and was gone in a swirl of white silk, leaving surprised villagers staring at Kaede's stoop and wondering if they'd really seen what they thought they'd seen.

~oOo~

They stayed in the village for three days, Inuyasha coming in to greet the elder miko he'd known while Kagome and Shippo were showing Mattaki through the village and introducing him to the village elders, his manner quiet and still subdued. It was an amazing difference but no one was really sure what to make of it, since he still hadn't said much of anything to anyone.

It was perhaps not surprising that the one he opened up to first was Kaede, since she'd been so intimately involved in everything that had happened in his life after he'd met Kikyou. She'd been there often when he was with the older miko, she'd been there the day he got pinned, and her older self had been there the day he was woken up. She had been the one constant thing in his life for over fifty years, even though it hadn't always been in the best way, and so her presence was soothing to that part of him that was always so wild and lonely.

She was like an older aunt or something, or so he told her after thanking her quite politely for being there for him, for all of them, sharing her small home with an open heart while they were all on the hunt for Naraku, and giving of herself and her time in ways they'd definitely needed.

She couldn't help but ruminate after he'd left and gone back to the Goshinboku that she greatly preferred this Inuyasha to his much more brash, temperamental, moody and sarcastic persona, and everyone else couldn't help but agree.

They all hoped, of course, that this change presaged even greater changes to come in him, but none more than Kagome and Mattaki. Both just wanted him to find happiness for the first time in his life, and if he could finally settle down and just allow it, he might.

It was on the morning of the third day as they readied to head to the slayer's village that disaster struck.

While Mattaki was off waking Inuyasha from his perch in the Goshinboku so that they could get ready to leave, an oni, one who seemed to have learned to hide his scent and aura a little too well, attacked – and Kagome was out of Kaede's hut and into the fight before the elder miko could even grab her bow.

While the villagers ran screaming in the opposite direction she ran straight at it, and coming to a halt on the verge above the village she nocked her bow and drew down on the beast. Unfortunately, before she could line up the shot it saw her and recognized the danger and one huge fist swung straight at her, moving so fast she barely had a chance to even see it, let alone get out of the way.

She was just bracing for impact when Mattaki arrived, red-eyed and enraged, and tore into the beast like a rabid dog, stunning everyone into stillness. Within moments the oni was gone, nothing but a smear on the landscape, a ferally charged Mattaki standing over its remains with a snarl still creasing his face. It wasn't until Kagome finally managed to get past her frozen shock and cleared her throat that he moved.

In a flash of white he was looming over her and she gulped, because she'd never seen him so angry before. What...?

"Woman, if you ever do something like that again I will turn you over my knee and blister your ass!" he shouted, fangs elongated and eyes haloed red. "What did you think you were doing?!"

"Er, uh... protecting the village?" she squeaked, too stunned to say anything else.

"By getting yourself pulverized?! I had thought you quite intelligent – was I wrong?" he snarled sarcastically.

Now that managed to unstick Kagome's tongue and her temper and she flushed red and clenched her fists, glaring right back at the enraged daiyoukai as everyone else watched on, including a wide-eyed Inuyasha as well as Shippo and Kaede – and half the village.

"Now wait just a damn minute!" she snarled right back. "What did you think I was gonna do – run and let others get hurt?! I'm a miko-" came the indignant scream, "-and this is what I'm supposed to do! I'm supposed to protect people, especially from rampaging demons!"

"Not by putting yourself in harm's way!" he roared. Apparently goaded beyond his ability to control himself he reached out and grabbed her, pulling her into his hard frame. Glaring down at her with a frightened expression that shocked her speechless once again he asked, his voice suddenly full of anguish, "What if something did manage to kill you? What would I do? Where would that leave me, Kagome? Don't you ever do that again!" he cried before slamming his mouth down on hers, kissing her with a desperation that completely overwhelmed her.

She reached up and wrapped her arms around him after the first stunned moment, her knees going weak as he kissed her deeply, passion exploding between them in a manner she had never known it could and she forgot everything around her – the villagers looking on with shocked eyes, Kaede, who just smiled knowingly and took a blushing Shippo back into her hut... and a gaping Inuyasha, who was still holding his katana in a limp grasp and staring at the kissing couple in immobilized shock.

Mattaki also in that moment had forgotten the presence of his son, though in the state he was in it wouldn't have mattered to him if he had remembered. The sight of that huge fist heading for Kagome's fragile body had wiped every thought from his mind – including the fact that even were she injured she wouldn't die, and even if she had there was still Tenseiga. Of course, there was also getting to Sesshoumaru and getting it from him, though Mattaki knew that wouldn't be a problem. Still, that visual had frightened the life out of him and he'd simply come unglued, yelling at her and then grabbing her with little thought to their surroundings.

When he finally managed to pull away due to a lack of oxygen Kagome was flushed and panting, her eyes sparkling and a lovely shy smile lighting her features. He stared at her, his whole body tight with tension and drenched in the scent of her desire and his own... and that's when he caught sight of his son and realized that the neko was now out of the bag as regards he and Kagome's growing relationship.

Kagome noticed Inuyasha about the same time Mattaki did, and her smile faded and she winced at the look on his face. "Uhm, er... Inu... yasha?" she asked carefully after pulling away from Mattaki and smoothing a hand down her clothing, her blush deepening. "Are... are you okay?"

Her only answer was the light breeze that had sprung up whipping her hair back over her shoulders as Mattaki's silver topknot brushed over his seemingly reaching for her. She shot the daiyoukai an agonized glance and Mattaki, frowning now, turned to fully look at his son with a concerned expression.

"Have you lost your voice, Inuyasha?" he asked, wondering what the boy's next reaction was going to be. He ran the gamut through his mind, from a simple rant to attacking him...

But he wasn't prepared for what actually happened.

At the prompting of his father's voice inuyasha finally blinked, then snapped his mouth shut and stared closely at the two, sniffing openly as his eyes narrowed at what his nose was telling him. "Keh... and when did this... this start, eh?" he asked suspiciously.

"Before you ever returned," Mattaki answered back, still on alert waiting for whatever reaction was coming.

Inuyasha's eyes went far away and he began muttering to himself. As the two watching stared at him almost apprehensively, he just shook his head, sheathed the sword, and turned to go to Kaede's hut. "You know what? It just isn't worth it," came ghosting back over his shoulder as he walked away. "I don't even want to know."

Both people left behind were completely dumbfounded. Both had thought that the reaction would be much worse, and when that 'worse' didn't materialize neither really knew what to make of it, exchanging confused looks with a hint of -did that really just happen?- in their eyes.

"Uhmm," Kagome began, pausing as she found she really, really didn't know what to say.

"Indeed," was all Mattaki could think to return and both blinked at each other, still feeling as though they were lost in what Kagome would call the Twilight Zone. After a moment he shook his head and smiled ruefully. "Well, that went... differently than I thought it would."

Kagome looked at him, then at the disappearing Inuyasha's back. "Yeah... no kidding."

After staring at Inuyasha's vanishing fire rat the two looked at each other again, and then Kagome flushed once more as Inuyasha was replaced in the order of her thoughts by that kiss... and what had preceded it. He... he looked so frightened that something would happen to me, she thought just a bit incredulously. It was still hard to believe sometimes that someone that looked like him, who could have anyone he wanted, seemed to really want her so much.

After a moment she smiled a little, her eyes dropping shyly as his warmed again on her. "Uhm... I'm sorry I worried you," she said softly. "I didn't mean to... but you know that's who I am. I would never forgive myself if I were to run away from a fight and people got hurt."

Mattaki sighed ruefully, his thoughts the other day on Kagome and her need to protect those she cared for coming to the forefront of his mind, and he inwardly acknowledged that she really had acted perfectly in character by coming out to defend the village from such a threat. And she wasn't going to change just because he wished she would avoid danger. Truthfully he didn't really want her to change... but he also didn't want her to ever be in such danger again. He would just have to be much more careful from now on.

"I know. But... you know what you did in this instance was foolish, Kagome. For if you had been hit, the oni would simply have gone on rampaging and destroying everything, and you would not have been able to do anything about it. What good would you have done for them if you had been sidelined in such a manner?" he asked her, hoping she would see his point and understand what he was telling her.

At that Kagome had the grace to look sheepish, knowing he was right. She had been foolish getting so close to it. She should have lined up the shot from much further back. She looked down at her feet and nodded. "You're right. I was startled, caught off-guard by how it suddenly just appeared so close to the village, and reacted without thinking. I'm sorry."

He nodded after a moment of watching her. He had to smile a little at her remorseful expression, and with a final sigh he let the episode go. He held out his hand to her and she took it with a return smile, and they slowly walked back to Kaede's hut to grab their last items and head out for the slayer's village, which would take two days to reach at their slow pace.

Kagome had planned on spending four or five days there before heading back home, which put them back at the estate in approximately a quarter of the moon cycle – good timing for beating the less comfortable fall weather that would soon be on its way in. He estimated that within half a moon cycle to perhaps three quarters the weather would turn and it would become too cold and wet to travel comfortably.

He would be quite happy to be indoors for the colder weather, because even though youkai didn't feel cold in the same way that humans did they certainly felt it, and weren't any better than humans when it came to getting drenched in the heavy fall rains. While he could survive quite easily out in it that didn't mean he would enjoy it, and he would be much more comfortable in out of the winter weather.

There was also a suspicion that Sesshoumaru might come and stay for some time during the winter, and he would appreciate seeing his son for a longer period than he had so far. But there was also a downside to this... and that was the relationship between his sons. Sesshoumaru would probably let his dislike of Inuyasha's actions be known; though he had learned since that there were somewhat mitigating factors his eldest was quite the stickler for honor and less forgiving for that, and wouldn't really consider the dead miko using a glamour on the boy's mind as an excuse. And it was not even a question that his youngest's inflammatory temper wouldn't handle his brother's scorn well.

It seemed that he couldn't win when it came to his sons – if either were anywhere near the other things were more than likely going to go downhill. He growled inwardly. Perhaps he could spend the next century working on that problem? Because it would probably take that long for the two to be able to be polite to each other when in proximity and in mixed company.

He glanced at Kagome and smiled slightly again at her questioning look but just shook his head as he reached out and pulled back the matting on the hut for her after tapping on the doorframe and being beckoned inside. "Later," he mouthed, and despite looking mystified she signaled compliance before entering the hut with a smile.

A short time later saw the group taking their leave of the elderly woman, Kagome hugging her with words of visiting again come spring and leaving Kaede with a smile as she waved off the small group heading west towards the slayer's village with exhortations to give her regards to Sango and Miroku - as well as a rather generous gift of certain herbal remedies for any illnesses the winter might bring on.

It was silent for a time as they walked along in the early morning sunlight, each person seemingly lost in their own thoughts, but though Mattaki seemed perfectly at ease someone else wasn't.

Kagome couldn't help but be apprehensive as they began the trip, walking along with Inuyasha after what he'd seen earlier, and then his strange reaction. It just wasn't... him. Inuyasha wasn't really the type to be so... calm about something he had definitely been so shocked by.

Surprisingly, it was Shippo that forwarded the conversation, though for once he wasn't being antagonistic towards the hanyou in doing so – he started it all out with a question – but one that couldn't help but pull Inuyasha into the discussion.

"So when are you gonna take mama as your mate?" he asked Mattaki out of the blue, his tail twitching.

Kagome fumbled in mid-stride at the question, flushing deeply and staring from the kitsune to the hanyou with wide-eyes as Inuyasha also paused in his stride at the question and twitched before continuing on silently – though he was listening carefully, as evidenced by his openly backward pointed ears.

Mattaki seemed to be the only one not bothered by the question.

"When she decides she's ready," he responded calmly, though he was keeping a close watch on his son for any... unpleasantness.

At that Shippo turned unblinking green eyes on his adoptive mother and pinned her with them, causing her to blush deeper. "Well," he said doubtfully, "humans usually take a long time to get around to doing things like that, but maybe she won't take too long." It was apparent that though Shippo was young, he somewhat understood that Kagome's slow courtship was giving the daiyoukai a hard time of it, and was trying to be encouraging.

It made Kagome suddenly realize something she'd not thought of previously. That was that Mattaki was youkai, and her lengthy way of doing things was probably most difficult for him to deal with... as difficult to deal with for him as his speedier ways were for her. When he'd put her in the rooms meant for his mate within weeks of meeting her she'd felt pressured and uncomfortable with how fast he seemed to be moving. And when she'd pushed back against him he'd bowed to her wishes, but with Shippo's words she'd had her attention forcibly trained on just how difficult he might be finding dealing with her withdrawal and need for time and space.

She felt badly all of a sudden, because despite the fact that this was apparently difficult for him he'd respected her wishes and held himself back from her. A guilty look crossed her face then, and she sighed.

"You know... it probably would have been easier on you if I were youkai, wouldn't it?" she asked, though the question was really more of a statement, and the others walking with her understood that. "I... don't mean to be making things hard for you."

Mattaki opened his mouth to respond only to be cut short by a snort from the heretofore silent hanyou.

"Feh. He'll live. Humans are different. If you wanna court one, then you have to deal. Simple as that," he said shortly, and in his tone it was apparent that he was not terribly happy with what was happening.

Kagome was definitely surprised at the fact that he wasn't already yelling.

Inuyasha continued, not looking at his father or Kagome. "What I don't get is what brought this on in the first place. Is it really Kagome that you want, or is it just the convenient circumstances along with a fetish for humans? 'Cause it seems awful convenient to me, ya know, all this."

Glaring at the back of his son's head Mattaki cast a sideways glance at Kagome to see her reaction to Inuyasha's words, scowling when he saw her frown. "What is the problem, boy? Is it just that you can't understand someone finding her attractive in her own right and wishing to be with her?"

"Keh!" he snapped, glaring over his shoulder at his father at that. "Don't go feeding words in my mouth! That ain't it at all. I jus' want to know the truth. Why do you want her?" he prodded intently, obviously looking for something though Kagome couldn't figure out what, and why he was goading his father the way he was.

She sighed inwardly – had their bout of peace finally come to an end and angry Inuyasha decided to return?

On the other hand, from the suddenly knowing glint in golden eyes trained on his red clad son, Mattaki seemed to have figured out what he was looking for and decided to answer the question in uncompromising and open terms.

"Because I love her, Inuyasha. Are you satisfied now?" he replied calmly, not at all perturbed to have said something so surprising so openly.

The reactions were varied and quite interesting. Shippo merely grinned, already knowing how the daiyoukai felt due to his actions. Kagome choked, her face paling and then going a charming cranberry as she stared with wide-eyes at the inuyoukai – even as she came to a halt on suddenly shaky legs.

Inuyasha... Inuyasha just stiffened as he also came to a complete halt, not moving or seemingly even breathing for long moments.

And once again they were all waiting on Inuyasha and his reaction to the fact that the woman who'd loved him for so long had moved on – and to his father, of all people.

Had the shock finally worn off from what he'd witnessed earlier?

Were they just now going to get the real reaction from him?

The only one not noticing Inuyasha was Kagome – because she was having trouble even breathing right at that point, thanks to Mattaki's unexpected and casual revelation of his feelings towards her.

She dimly wondered whether she'd ever be able to breathe again as those words tumbled around in her head...

Much as they were in another head – one with a pair of now madly twitching puppy ears set atop it.

~oOo~

A/N: Aaaannd cliffie!

Amber