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Chapter 23: Women's Talk

Their walk through the village was easier on Kagome this time around for the simple reason that she knew what to expect and had steeled herself to ignore it.

And while the curious looks and speculative stares continued, thankfully the whispers had died down since most people were too busy with the day's work to really mill about in idle gossip.

Inuyasha had been worried about Kagome after the way she'd seemed so defeated on their approach to Kaede's that morning. But now? Kagome walked with her head held high, hand tucked rebelliously in the crook of Inuyasha's elbow for all to see…and Inuyasha had never been more proud of his Kagome than he was in that moment.

Of course, he still took the opportunity to glare murderously at anyone he heard speaking about them, or who happened to look their way for even one second longer than he thought appropriate.

Kagome's my mate, dammit! He thought. It's well within my rights to intimidate anyone and everyone who threats her happiness!

He cast her a sideways glance, frowning slightly. She gave up everything to be here with me. The least I can do is make sure that she never regrets that choice.

Thankfully, Rin's chatter was doing a good job of helping to keep Kagome distracted as well, which Inuyasha was grateful for. The girl seemed to be an unending fountain of sound, going on and on about everything from which kimono she wanted to wear to the market tomorrow, to whether or not it might rain during their travels.

How the hell does Sesshōmaru put up with it? He thought, and not for the first time.

Sango and Miroku's home was nestled in a part of the village roughly halfway between Kaede's hut and Inuyasha's place on the hill at the edge of his forest. As they approached, Rin ran ahead to the front door.

"Knock, knock!" She called through the doorway.

"Rin, is that you?" Came Sango's voice from inside.

"Hai, Sango-sama! This Rin is here with Inuyasha-oniisama and Kagome-chan!"

Sango peeked her head out the doorway, Ichiro cradled in one arm and a knowing smirk settled firmly around her mouth. "Aha! I see the happy couple have emerged."

Inuyasha averted his eyes and half-turn away, but Kagome took the teasing in stride, smiling at her best friend. "Yep! I figured we needed to make an appearance at some point before the wedding. Also, we were on the verge of starvation, so…" She shrugged and winked at Sango. "Otherwise, who knows when you would have seen us again!"

Sango just laughed at that and nodded while Rin and Inuyasha stood there, Rin a little – and Inuyasha more than a little – uncomfortable.

Willing himself not to blush – he was a mated man, dammit! – Inuyasha cleared his throat before asking, "Where's Miroku? I ain't in the mood to hang around a bunch of giggling women."

Sango replied, "He's out back, under his meditation tree, but when you find him can you tell him to come in? I need his help to feed the girls. It's harder to make them sit still and eat when this little one is awake and demanding haha-ue's attention." Sango nuzzled her cheek to that of the babe in her arms and chuckled softly at the suckling, smacking noises he made in response.

"Oh, this Rin can help with that, Sango-sama! After all, that is what she is here for!"

"Is it?" Sango asked, shooting a questioning look between Rin and Kagome.

It was Kagome who replied. "I asked Rin to come along to help watch the girls. I need your help with some…things…and thought having Rin's helping hands here would give us the chance to talk more freely. I hope that's alright?"

"Of course!" Sango gave Rin a big smile. "Rin, if you can convince those two hellions of mine to sit still and eat their rice and drink their soup then I think I have a couple of the manjū I was making for the wedding feast with your name on them."

Rin's face split into a wide grin at the offered reward. "That's a deal!" she exclaimed before ducking through the doorway, heading inside to where Inuyasha could hear Aki and Yuki squealing with delight at the sudden appearance of their youngest aunt.

"Keh," Inuyasha shook his head at the sound. "I'll head around back then, see what that lazy hōshi is up to. You still want me to bring him in?"

Sango nodded and began, "Might as well–" But was suddenly cut off when she caught the surreptitious look and wide eyes that Kagome was directing her way.

Quickly recovering, she continued. "But not right away. I need to ask Kagome several things about the wedding and I doubt that either you or Miroku would enjoy being subjected to the details of that conversation. Why don't you keep him company out back for a while and we'll come get you when we're done with all the boring women's talk."

Inuyasha knew a dismissal when he heard one, but honestly, he was happy for it. There was a teasing light in Sango's eyes – one she'd picked up from her hentai husband over the past three years – that Inuyasha wanted nothing more than to avoid…at least for a little while.

So instead of replying he gave the two women a short nod in acknowledgement before turning on his heel and heading around to the back of the house.

Sango turned back to Kagome, motioning for her to enter as she held the door mat open and asked, "What was that all about?"

Kagome looked a bit sheepish as she ducked through. "Well, honestly your cover story is close to a part of it. I need your help and advice on making a list of things to get at the market tomorrow."

Sango nodded. "I figured the two of you would need to head out to the market village at some point. I'd be happy to help." She paused before continuing, "But boring the men isn't the only reason you didn't want Inuyasha to bring Miroku in, is it?"

Kagome's sheepish look only intensified. "You're right, there's something else I want to talk to you about, but let's stick to the market list first. Rin and Shippo are going to be coming with us and I want to be prepared with my full list in hand. I doubt Inuyasha plans to give me much time to dawdle over the merchants and their wares. You know how he hates crowds of humans."

Sango nodded knowingly and the two women spent the better part of the next hour with their heads bent over a small scroll, discussing those things that Sango believed would be most useful and necessary for setting Kagome and Inuyasha up comfortably in their new home together.

When they were done, Kagome looked down at the list and gulped, feeling more than a little overwhelmed.

They needed garden tools, more bowls, cups and serving trays, cooking utensils, knives, ladles, spoons and chopsticks, pots of various sizes, a bigger kettle, a laundry tub and bathing basin, at least one more large storage chest, a few extra blankets, 4 bags of rice, dried fish, miso, and any root vegetables that they could find at this out-of-season time of year. Then there were the yukata and kimono that she would need to select, plus some extra fabric to use for learning how to sew in the hopes that she could one day learn to make and repair her and Inuyasha's own under-kosodes.

Putting the list back down on Sango's low table, Kagome whispered softly in trepidation, "I don't know the first thing about being a feudal housewife!"

Now, by this point, Rin had successfully gotten the twins to eat their breakfast, wiped their hands and faces, and tidied their hair, before leading them outside to play. Knowing this, Sango was less guarded with her reply to Kagome's words.

"Kagome, Inuyasha didn't wait three long years so that he could have a housewife. He was waiting for you. I'm not sure how much he told you, but that man missed you terribly. Miroku and Shippo and I were seriously worried about him at first. Those first few months…" she trailed off, a haunted look in her eye, remembering her friend's suffering.

Kagome took a deep breath, trying to dispel the tears that threatened to gather at the reminder of how much her beloved had suffered without her. Finally, she found her voice. "He… He told me. We spent a lot of the past two days talking when we weren't–" Kagome cut herself off abruptly, suddenly realizing just what she'd been about to say out loud.

Sango didn't miss her friend's slip nor her sudden blush, which prompted Sango to tease, "I'm surprised the two of you found time to doing any talking at all!"

She laughed at the shocked look Kagome gave her. "What? I remember what Miroku's and my first days together were like." Then, directing a faux-imperious look at Kagome, she continued. "Besides, with a husband like Miroku and after three children, I'm hardly the blushing maiden I once was."

Kagome could only blink at her friend a few times before laughing ruefully and shaking her head. "I guess I'm not the only one who's relaxed about these sorts of things."

"Indeed." Sango smiled and joined in her friend's laughter before shooting Kagome an assessing look. "So…how was it?"

Kagome's laughter came to an abrupt stop when she registered her friend's question, eyes widening a bit. "Sango! Are you asking me to kiss and tell?!"

"Kagome-chan, first of all, I am absolutely sure that the two of you were doing much more than kissing. And second of all, you and I both know that we spent most of our alone time during the shard hut discussing both my husband and your husband-to-be, so if you think that now that we're older and supposedly more mature that I suddenly wouldn't want you to share, then you've been away for far, far too long!"

Kagome could only smile briefly at the friend she'd missed dearly before her eyes lost focus, gaze turning inward in memory. "Sango it was…" She sighed, shaking her head. "It's hard to put it into words. The way he holds me, the way he touches me, the way he lets his instincts guide him when we make love…" She trailed off, a shiver of lust creeping across her skin at the memories.

"So our shy, self-conscious hanyou was able to get over himself then?" That had been Sango's biggest worry for her friend, that Inuyasha would let his reserved personality and inherent distrust of his youkai half get the better of him.

"Well, I'll admit that at first, he was tentative, but the more I reminded him that I'm a lot less fragile now, the more…ahem…open with his affections he became."

Sango only nodded, urging her friend with her eyes to continue, but Kagome hesitated. She didn't want to get into all the details knowing that not only might Inuyasha still be within earshot, but that he likely would not appreciate her sharing any of the details at all!

Still, there was one thing she wanted to share.

Holding up her hand, Kagome allowed her aura to come to the surface of her skin, extending outward to wrap her in a glow of pink power. Then, with a slight nudge from deep within her heart, she urged the shimmering halo of Inuyasha's youki within her own aura to flare into view as well.

Sango's eyes widened as she saw the flash of crimson skitter across the sparkling pink of Kagome's aura. "Is that–?! Is that what I think it is?!"

"I guess my answer would depend on what you think it is, Sango-chan."

Sango rolled her eyes at her friend's flippant retort before narrowing them with a questioning look, "You and Inuyasha have completed the full daiyoukai mating bond, haven't you?"

Kagome's smile lit up her entire face at the memory. "Hai, we have. And, Sango, the ceremony was so beautiful… So romantic…" Tears began gathering in her eyes again at the memory. She had to give herself a moment before continuing.

"Sango, when I returned I could only hope that Inuyasha might care for me in the way that I had begun to believe he did before we were separated. But this?" She held up her hand again in illustration. "The bond we share now? The love I know that he has for me? Sometimes I still feel the need to pinch myself just to prove that all of this is real. And other times…" She paused to smirk. "Other times, I've been known to ask him to prove it to me in other ways." She gave Sango a lecherous look of her own.

"Oh?" Sango raised an eyebrow in a look very reminiscent of her husband. "Do tell."

Kagome opened her mouth but then closed it again, considering for a moment before speaking, "I don't want to say too much, Sango, but I will say this. Inuyasha reminded me the other day that while he's a man, he isn't really a man…and, Kami, am I glad for it. Sometimes he looks at me like he wants to devour me whole. Other times the way he growls and howls–"

Sango's sudden guffaw cut her off. "I thought I heard howling coming from your part of the forest once or twice!"

Kagome cringed a little at that. "Oh, Kami! I hope you're the only one who heard that…or at least the only one who put two and two together. I'm dealing with enough poor opinion of us as it is," she ended with a huff.

"Ah, so you've caught on to the nonsense going on in the village, have you?" Sango's face hardened as she asked the question, her eyes glinting like the warrior she was, despite the gentle hold she still had on the babe now asleep in her arms.

"Yeah…" Kagome replied sadly. "Sango, you should have seen the way they looked at us as we came into the village this morning. And the things I overheard them saying!" She shuddered a bit at the memory before frowning. "I'm sure Inuyasha was able to hear much, much more than I was."

Sango's own frown only deepened. "Yes, after Rikichi, Miroku and Kaede began assigning duties for the upcoming wedding festivities, and word got out that it was Inuyasha that you were to wed, it didn't take long for some in the village to start protesting…loudly. Though they were smart enough never to do it within my own earshot." She scowled threateningly at that before continuing.

"Miroku has had a number of villagers come to him at the Shrine, trying to convince him to do something, as a holy man, to prevent this tragedy as they've taken to calling it." At that, Sango let out a low inu-like growl, succeeding impressively well for a mere human.

"What?!" Kagome whisper-yelled, trying her best not to wake the sleeping Ichiro.

Sango continued. "He's been doing his best to let the villagers know that this isn't some mistake and that Inuyasha hasn't coerced you into this marriage, but with the two of you out of sight for the past two days rumours have unfortunately spread."

"Why?!" Kagome yelled much louder this time, causing poor Ichiro to frown and squirm in his sleep. Kagome saw the boy's reaction and lowered her voice again. "Why, even after all this time, can't they see that Inuyasha and I are meant to be together?!"

Sango's face changed then, from embittered to considering. "That's the same question that's been rolling around in my mind over the past two days as well, Kagome-chan, and I think… I think that part of the problem is that they don't necessarily know the whole story. I mean, a few, like Rikichi, know that there was some magic with the Bone-eater's Well involved, most know that you are Kikyo-sama's reincarnation, and all know that you are the one that released Inuyasha from his imprisonment upon the Goshinboku, but other than the stories of our battles and adventures during the shard hunt, none of them really know how the two of you fought for each other, bled for each other, protected each other, cared for each other." She paused a moment to let her words sink in before continuing.

"It's really only those in our pack that truly understand the depth of your commitment to one another. We who understand just how in love the two of you have always been. Miroku told me once that he believes that you and Inuyasha are bound by the red thread of fate and that, no matter what, it has always been the Kamis' will for you to be his and he yours… But for those on the outside our pack looking in, especially as a tajiya, I can understand how hard to believe this truth it might actually be for outsiders."

"Well…" Kagome began hesitantly, "what if there was a way for me to make them understand…without having to tell everyone everything?"

Sango was confused. "Kagome?"

"I– I think I have a plan, Sango-chan, and I'll need your help to…practice...but if it works I think it might be just the thing to resolve any and all concerns that the villagers might have about my feelings for Inuyasha, his for me, about the strength of my Miko powers as a married woman…all of it."

"You know I'll do whatever I can to help you Kagome-chan. Always. But if such a plan is possible, why do I get the sense that you do not want Inuyasha to know about it? Is this the reason why you sent him outside with Miroku?"

"Hai…" Kagome replied a bit hesitantly.

"And why is that?" Sango questioned, equally hesitant.

"Well, I'm not exactly sure how Inuyasha might react."

"How I might react to what, woman?"

Kagome whirled around to find Inuyasha standing in the doorway, and as she locked eyes with her mate, she couldn't help but let slip a soft "kuso" under her breath.

A/N: Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, everyone, for your comments! I read them all and I LOVE to hear from you! Thank you for taking the time to read and let me know what you think!

College n Curls - Thank you so much for the compliment! And I agree I think my writing has gotten better since I began this story. So much so in fact, that I went back and did a little rewrite on the prologue. I think it reads much better now!

Surfy - Thank you for your comment on Chapter 1! I agree, I think that Kagome's friends were always portrayed fairly one-dimensionally in the show and definitely still used more as story props than anything else in fanfiction, and I really wanted to show them for what they were. Kagome's oldest friends. They may not have understood their friend, but they cared about her and always only ever wanted her happiness.

Also, OMG, for you to compare my story to The Return and The Ascension?! You have no idea how great a compliment that is to me! THANK YOU!

smmahamazing - You are gonna make me cry! To know that someone out there is appreciating this story that much! This is really a labour of love for me, and to have it so well-received?! Thank you!

PS – You can find me chatting about behind-the-scenes stuff over on Tumblr. My username is sarah-writes-stories

(And, of course, I do not own Inuyasha nor any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi.)