February 17

We should be home by tomorrow. I'm just relieved that we were able to find Inuyasha and Miroku and defeat Byakuya. If we hadn't, if we had been too late or if we hadn't even come at all, I didn't want to think about what would have happened to them.

Once Byakuya was gone and the echo of his screams had died out, it was like a weight had been lifted off of all of us. Our husbands were saved but we weren't done yet, as Sango pointed out.

"You guys, we've got to take care of Miroku," she said as she went over to Miroku who was still injured and was sitting on Kirara's back fading fast.

"I'm...fine…" he said.

"No, you're not. Stop trying to be brave," Inuyasha said to him.

We left the fortress and quickly found a nice cave to camp out in, far away from all of the demons still surrounding the place. I pulled out my first aid things and worked on Miroku first. All of us were injured in some way with Inuyasha and Miroku hurt the most. But Inuyasha was half-demon and his wounds would heal much sooner. Miroku was in the most pain.

He lay down and Sango held his hand tearfully as I patched up his wounds. Afterward, he rested his head in her lap and she comforted him while I cleaned up Inuyasha's wounds. Then we set up a campfire and made some food, all of us just relieved that we were all okay.

"So Byakuya was giving you visions, huh?" Inuyasha said to me after we ate. His arms were wrapped around me as they had been almost the entire time since we'd left Byakuya's fortress.

"Yes, I've been having them for days, ever since the ritual at the shrine actually," I replied. "At first I thought they were just dreams. I saw you guys fighting demons and Byakuya. I saw you turn into a full demon. I saw Miroku get stabbed. At first, I wasn't sure if they were real or not but as they went on I just knew something was wrong."

"And so we set off to come to find you," Sango added. "Kagome's visions eventually led us to where Mount Hakurei used to be."

"Well I'm glad you two decided to come," Miroku said. "I don't know what would have happened if you didn't."

"But what happened to you guys?" I asked. "How did you end up with Byakuya?"

"We did the exorcism from the village and that was pretty straightforward," Inuyasha replied. "As we were heading home all these demons came out of nowhere and started attacking us."

"They were Byakuya's minions," Miroku said. "In the midst of it all we ended up being captured by Byakuya but we managed to escape."

"Byakuya found us again," Inuyasha went on. "There was some guy he was keeping hostage and we set him free. Then we had to fight Byakuya again and ended up back in his fortress. I don't know what that asshole has been doing since we got rid of Naraku but he was extremely powerful."

"He got us separated and I was in the basement of his fortress fighting his demons," Miroku said. "That's when I was stabbed and thrown into the dungeon."

"When I was fighting him, I went full demon at some point. It's kinda fuzzy for me from there but the next thing I know I was chained up."

"The most important thing is that you're alive," Sango said, hugging Miroku a little tighter. "We were so afraid."

Inuyasha and I seemed to find it a little harder to sleep that night than Miroku and Sango. The two were passed out in each other's arms with their heads resting on Kirara's stomach. Inuyasha leaned up against the cave wall across from them and I was laying on his chest while his arms were still around me.

"If you're tired, go to sleep, Kagome," he said.

"You should get some sleep too," I said, unable to hold back my yawn.

"Keh, not a chance. All of those demons in Byakuya's fortress probably followed us. Someone has to stay awake in case something breaks in."

"Then I'm staying up with you." I sighed happily. It was such a comfort to finally spend a night in his arms, even if it wasn't under the most romantic circumstances.

"I've missed this," he said after a few minutes.

"Missed what?"

"Holding you. All those days of being alone and not knowing if I ever would again really got to me."

I felt my eyes sting with tears but I kept myself from crying because I didn't want to wake up Miroku and Sango. "You're right. I felt like I was going insane while you were gone." I hugged him a little tighter. "You know, I just realized something."

"What?"

"Today was Valentine's Day back in my era."

"And what the hell is Valentine's Day?"

"It's a day for lovers," I said. "You're supposed to do something nice like go on a date, get each other a gift, have really good sex, or some other nice thing."

"Don't we do things like that every day?"

"Yeah, but Valentine's Day is supposed to be extra special."

"Well today was special anyway."

"You think so?"

"Sure. My woman came in and saved my life; that's pretty damn special."

"That's true," I said happily. My mouth found his in a sweet kiss that made me feel so loved and complete. We didn't need anything major for Valentine's Day, just being with him was enough.

"Although I think that really good sex will have to wait until later," he said with a smirk, gesturing to Miroku and Sango sleeping a few feet away.

I giggled. "We'll make up for it when we get home." Then I yawned again.

Inuyasha kissed me one more time. "Go to sleep, Kagome."

"Fine," I said, laying back on his chest. "Don't stay up all night."

"I won't make any promises."

The next morning we set off for our long journey home early the next morning. Sango and Miroku were on Kirara and I rode on Inuyasha's back. I felt so relaxed now that I was with him. Sure it was nice to ride Kirara with Sango before, but nothing compared to Inuyasha carrying me. I felt so safe and comforted being this close to him just like I did many years ago when we were looking for the jewel shards and I would be on his back all the time.

"Inuyasha?" I said at one point during the day. My arms were around his neck and my chin rested on his shoulder.

"Yeah, baby?"

"I love you," I said as I kissed his cheek.

"I love you too, Kagome. Always."

Even though Miroku was injured, his way of getting us a nice place to stay for the night hadn't gone anywhere. We ended up staying at a nice inn in a pretty well-off village.

It was when Inuyasha and I were finally alone in our room that everything came crashing down on me. All of the immense worry I'd been feeling when I was having those visions, the desperation to find him, the gut-wrenching fear that I felt when he was chained up and unconscious, and that moment when I thought he was dead. Since we'd left Byakuya's fortress I hadn't really cried, which was unlike me, but as I sat on the bed waiting for him to join me every emotion came rushing back at once.

Inuyasha finally came over and lay down next to me. "It's so nice to finally be able to sleep in an actual bed, right Kagome? Kagome?" When I didn't answer, he looked over and noticed how upset I was, and sat up. "Baby? What's wrong?"

I put my arms around him and finally broke down and cried into his shoulder. "I was so scared, Inuyasha. I was so scared I was going to lose you."

He hugged me tightly and kissed the top of my head while letting me cry. "I was too, Kagome. The whole time we were gone, my only thought was to get home to you as fast as I could. I knew you had to have been so worried."

"I was." I sat up and tried to dry my tears. "Especially with the visions I was having. Each one kept getting worse and worse. I was so afraid that we were going to be too late."

He wiped my tears away and pressed a gentle kiss to my lips. "I'm glad you came, love. As soon as I saw your beautiful face, I knew I was going to be okay."

A smile touched my face at that. "I'm glad." I put my hands on his cheeks and pulled him to me for another kiss. "I'm so glad you're safe and that you're here with me where you're supposed to be."

In the couple of days since then that we've been on our trip home, and ever since we've returned, Inuyasha and I have barely let go of each other. I've been so much more calm and relaxed now that Inuyasha is home safely than I've been in days. Everything just feels right now that everyone is back where they're supposed to be.

When we got to Kaede's house today, everyone was relieved to see us. Miroku and Sango had a tearful reunion with their children and we all sat around to recount to Kaede and Rin what had happened.

Since then Inuyasha and I have been at home. I'm more relaxed and comfortable than I've been in weeks. Now that we're here it's about time we spend some quality time together. A few minutes ago he came over here and put his arms around me and said "Remember that whole Valentine's Day sex thing? I think we should finish that."

"Let me just finish these last few sentences," I said, giggling.

He's sitting on the bed waiting impatiently for me. Now that this is all done, it's time to go take care of my horny husband.