It took some time to convince Inuyasha to leave the hut so that Kagome could be properly examined. He was in absolutely no mood to leave her side at the moment, which nobody would have found terribly unexpected considering the stress he had been under the last twenty-four hours, but the old woman's surprise at how altered Kagome looked upon entry hadn't helped his temperament.

The moment Kaede's one good eye fixed on Kagome, it widened in surprise.

"I see... it is just as Miroku said," she murmured in awe. At that, the poor girl shifted uncertainly, looking up at Inuyasha for some reassurance. But in response to her worried glance, Inuyasha turned from his intended mate to deliver the old priestess a livid glare, "I'm not letting you in here to goddamn talk about the way she looks!" he snarled defensively, moving to block the girl from view.

From there, it had taken some serious coaxing to bring him back down to his former state of simple uneasiness, and he definitely still wasn't pleased about being shooed out of the room. In the end, it was only Kagome's insistence that finally weakened his conviction.

"Poor Inuyasha," the old woman sighed after the door snapped behind him. "He's taken all this very hard."

"I see that..." Kagome murmured, staring after him sympathetically as she slowly pushed herself into a sitting position. "I think he was beating himself up over it all morning too."

"Inuyasha does tend to shoulder more than his fair share in matters like this."

Kagome sighed and nodded, then looked over at Kaede again.

"I uh... I don't suppose you have a mirror with you?" she asked timidly.

Outside, Inuyasha's aura darkened broodingly. He had clearly heard Kagome's question and was less than pleased about it. But at the very least he didn't fling open the door and interrupt with more shouting and growling, so they both took that as a good sign.

Keade nodded to the young miko and reached into her basket to pull out a round hand mirror with a simple handle. Just beyond the walls of the hut, they heard Miroku's reassurances that everything would be fine and a faint grunt from the dog demon.

"After Inuyasha and Miroku's talk this morning, I thought it more than likely that ye might want to see the changes for thyself," Kaede explained, extending the mirror toward the girl.

Kagome gave the old woman a grateful smile and gently took the mirror in her hands. "Thank you."

Keade nodded and watched as the young miko turned hanyou hesitantly brought the mirror up and looked into it.

The eyes that looked back at her from the glass instantly widened in surprise at their own bright vivid blue. The slit was a strange addition to see as well, but not unexpected thanks to Inuyasha's warning.

She felt like she was looking at herself wearing halloween contact lenses. But at the same time, the detail was far too real.

'No wonder Inuyasha was so anxious.'

She held back a sigh, knowing full well that he was listening hard for her reaction and likely expecting the worst. Kagome looked at her new eyes again.

"Inuyasha told me that I was beautiful," she said softly.

The old woman smiled. "I dare say, he is correct."

Inuyasha's aura relaxed some.

(-)

As soon as Kagome's bandages were changed, Inuyasha was allowed back inside and he carried a basket in with him that smelled of soup, but to Kagome's surprise, Miroku did not follow him in. Instead, the door snapped closed shutting their friend outside.

"Kagome-chan is doing much better today," Kaede reported, smiling at the dog demon with satisfaction.

He plopped down on Kagome's right where she was sitting propped against the wall. The basket of food he placed down on his other side.

"Not surprised," he replied, looking her up and down thoughtfully. "You smell healthier than last night too."

Kagome smiled brightly. "Then I was wondering if the others can-"

"No," he interrupted firmly with a sudden dark look.

Her smile fell a little. "But-"

"NO," he snarled still more firmly. "If everyone else knows what's good for em, they'll stay the hell away until you've recovered."

"But why?" she complained in a clearly upset voice. She looked to Kaede for help but the old woman shook her head.

"Ye are doing better, yes, but rest is still vital. Better we listen to Inuyasha."

Kagome's shoulders slackened a little at Kaede's sensible advice but she still shot her a look of pleading.

The old woman chuckled. "Besides, It may be Inuyasha who needs the quiet more than ye do and we can both see he is not ready to leave thy side."

Kagome's eyes widened in surprise at the idea and turned back to her companion questioningly.

"You talk too much old woman," Inuyasha growled back resentfully.

Kagome gave the half demon a worried look that went ignored, then she sighed, knowing Kaede was most likely right. Inuyasha did seem very stressed. Maybe having the others around would just make things worse...

"Okay," she agreed wearily. "I'll wait, for now."

Kaede nodded and turned back to Inuyasha. "I dare say someone will be up with thine food again at noon."

He gave a grunt of acknowledgment but said nothing else. At that, she left the two of them alone and joined Miroku outside. As soon as their footsteps had faded a little Inuyasha turned to their breakfast and started to dish out the food.

(-)

"...Hey," Kagome murmured, staring down at her untouched soup absently.

Inuyasha paused, lowering his wooden spoon before turning from his own meal to look at her. "Is something wrong? You're not eating."

"No," she replied, nudging her fish around in the bowl with her own spoon. "I was just wondering about something."

Inuyasha shifted uncomfortably. "Wondering about what?" he asked.

"You said... You saw my teacher attack me."

Inuyasha frowned in distaste and turned back toward his bowl. For someone who claimed she didn't want a man maimed she had a funny way of showing it, bringing that bastard up now.

"And?" he scowled.

"What else did you see?"

He blinked and looked back at her. She was still staring down at her food, her expression far away and thoughtful.

After a moment of silence where he did not answer she turned to look at him. "I get the feeling that while we were under that spell, you might have seen something else that upset you."

Images flashed in his mind of Kagome being stabbed and sliced up but he kept his expression schooled.

"...I saw a lot of stuff," he replied vaguely.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" she asked. "I won't get mad at you."

After a moment of thoughtful silence, he surprised her by saying "...Yeah, I do," Then he glared at her full bowl. "So long as you eat."

Kagome cast him an apologetic smile and nodded, looking down to take her first bite.

"First... I saw you as a little girl," he relayed, watching her progress with the meal carefully. "You were playing a weird game with some other kids. They made a circle around you and were singing a song with your name in it. You kept winning the game but everyone started saying you'd cheated."

Inuyasha frowned bitterly. "Then some brat kicked dirt on you."

He took on a more agitated look but his voice grew a little softer. "You fell down, and when you tried to get away the other kids wouldn't let you." Kagome reached over and touched his hand soothingly. At the contact, he took a deep calming breath. "After that, they let you run away and you cried," he finished.

She looked down at their hands thoughtfully, "The other kids used to make fun of me a lot for my name when I was little," she replied simply.

"But that's not what they were doing," he said, intercepting her eyes with a meaningful look. "They were mad at you for winning the game."

She went quiet for a moment then sighed, pulling her hand away to pick back up her spoon. "Sometimes... I just did things like that. Nobody could explain it, let alone me, And sometimes it made people angry and upset. But now that I know I'm a miko and have certain powers, a lot of the strange things that happened to me as a child make perfect sense. Seeing things nobody else could see... Knowing things I couldn't have possibly known... I always win that game even if I try to lose. The name just pops into my head and I end up blurting it out. It even scared me. So I just stopped playing those kinds of games."

Her eyes found his again. "I'm sorry you had to see that Inuyasha," she apologized.

He snorted softly. "It's fine. I'm the one who should apologize to you for lookin."

She smiled slightly and took a bite. "But you haven't yet," she reminded him after she had swallowed.

"And I won't," he replied stubbornly. "Lookin is what saved your life. No matter what, I'm not sorry for that."

Kagome blushed and mumbled, "You know... That was a pretty tame memory for you to have seen. I mean... I wouldn't have minded telling you about it if you'd asked."

A pair of white dog ears perked. "Really?"

"Really," she affirmed with a smile. Inuyasha smiled a little in return and nudged her hand holding the spoon. She sighed and took a bite of her food, then another.

"So what else did you see?" she asked.

He thought about it and his posture wilted a little. "I saw you get the news of your father's death."

She frowned. "They weren't ALL terrible memories were they?"

"No. There were a few times you'd played with your toys and what I think was the first time you rode a bike."

He blushed. "And uh, a time you and I shared my haori by a fire."

She smiled at that.

"But there were more bad ones," he conceded. "The thing with your teacher was next I think, and then I saw a memory of you with your father."

Her eyes widened. "I... My dad?" she murmured in shock.

"Yeah," he nodded.

"What was he like?" she asked urgently, watching him with rapt attention. "What did he look like? What did he say?"

"You really don't remember?" Inuyasha asked softly.

Kagome's expression fell and she turned back to her food in thought. "...I remember some things," she said faintly. "I sort of remember the smell of his cologne, and a few of the toys he gave me, but... that's all."

Inuyasha's heart sank. That only made the memory all the more bittersweet. Not only would her father never get to see his daughter grow up or get to protect her, someday she wouldn't even remember him.

"Could you actually see him?" she asked hopefully. "Was the memory damaged?"

"It was all clear. I heard every word," he answered.

A look of surprised joy lit her features. "So... what happened in the memory?" she asked hopefully.

"It was night, and you two were just sittin under the god tree talking," he recalled. "He said you were gonna grow up to be beautiful,"

Inuyasha smiled slyly. "He was right."

Kagome blushed a bright red and looked back at her food in her lap. Inuyasha's smile widened.

"He had a scar on his cheek and he was braggin about how he had a 'rap sheet' a mile long. But he seemed like a good guy and he seemed like he really loved you."

Kagome said nothing but Inuyasha started to faintly smell tears so he hurried his description along. "And then he went off telling you not to let "some stupid boy" break your heart when you grew up, and if someone DID break your heart, then he'd have to kill em."

"Good thing he never met you huh?" she instantly replied with a small grin.

"Yeah, I got that impression," he sighed before shooting her an irritated look. "Then you said that if it made him sad then you'd never get married, and just so you know, you and I ARE getting married in your time and restoring your honor."

The girl raised her hands in mock surrender. "I couldn't have been more than four when I said that," she said defensively. "I don't think I even really knew what marriage was at the time. Don't get mad at me for something I said when I was still practically a baby."

Inuyasha snorted and continued. "So then he told you it was okay if you did get married, and that it would be better for you to be free. And then he said that you were both like cats."

"Cats?"

"He said you were both like cats cuz you go where you want, and if someone tries to stop you, you'll fight for it."

She laughed quietly and looked down into her bowl again. There was a long pause where Inuyasha stopped his rendition of the conversation and finished off his food.

"I wish I could remember," Inuyasha heard her whisper to herself sadly.

He paused "...You do in a way." Inuyasha replied. She looked at his face just as he was setting the bowl aside. He fixed her with an intense golden stare.

"His memory is still inside you," Inuyasha said softly. "You never let it go, it just got covered up."

Her smile widened and tears started to pool in her eyes. She reached up with her right hand and brushed them away sniffling.

"Thank you, Inuyasha. For telling me," she said in an emotional voice.

A sense of pride bloomed in the half-demon's chest. "You okay to hear the rest?" he asked gently.

She nodded.

"Well, after that you saw a shooting star and told him you wished to marry a prince that would fight dragons for you."

She laughed out loud at that. "How did he react?"

"He said you were probably setting yourself up for disappointment. But you were really persistent."

"Little girls can be that way," she replied mysteriously.

a little of his prideful look flickered away as he paused. "... Am I what you wanted Kagome?" he asked uncertainly.

She appeared surprised by his telling question but watched him seriously.

"I'm not a prince like in your story's you tell the runt," he continued, lowering his ears. "I'm not even human. I-"

He was interrupted by Kagome's sudden burst of hysterical laughter.

His eyebrow twitched in irritation and he struggled with himself not to snap at her. "What the hell is so funny?" he ground out even as he blushed.

"I think you're the EXACT kind of man I would have dreamed up for myself as a child," she laughed, looking at his surprised expression with a pair of happy and shining eyes.

His ears perked. "What? Really?"

"Really," she replied, grinning broadly. "If someone had told me then that when I grew up I was going to marry a man with long white hair, golden eyes, and adorable dog ears I know I would have been ecstatic." She let out a soft giggle. "I would have counted down the minutes waiting to meet you."

"You must be crazier than I thought," Inuyasha grumbled with a look of embarrassment.

"Or I have good taste," she teased, taking another bite of her soup.

Authors notes

11/14/16

I know it's been awhile since I last updated this story. I haven't forgotten about it, promise! it's just that lately, I've been focusing on T.H.B.W. :/

(And also that I hate writing meals so much... )

The next chapter should be a LOT less tedious for me to do at least so that's something.

Edit:11/24/16

The new cover art is by Grapefruitwannabe! Thank you so much, it's beautiful!

Edit: 3/3/17

Good news! My next two updates are going to be dedicated to ending this story. I know it's been a long wait but I'm working on the ending for this story around the clock and I expect it to be done within the next two months, or maybe even sooner.