Goku frowned to himself as Kagome dragged the half-demon off, not liking at all the way that they had gone from such hostility to almost being... Friendly with each other. She had been so scared earlier, and then she had gotten mad, and now she was just standing there and letting him rant at her?
"She's a very beautiful girl," his grandpa remarked with a proud smile, drawing the boy's attention away from the pair. "She even seems to understand you, my boy - it does my heart good to see that."
He couldn't help the grin that swept over his expression. "Yeah," he agreed. "Kagome's the best partner I ever could have asked for!"
"Goku does seem to have inherited your taste for brunettes," Master Roshi laughed.
"Ugh, stop bein' so fucking difficult!" Inuyasha shouted frustratedly before the boy could ask what they were talking about, his voice going so loud that they could hear them even on the other side of the arena. "Look, the whole heiress shit mighta sailed, but you're a Lady now! Ya got duties!"
"And I'll honor those duties, asshole!" Kagome screamed right back at him. "But I was a priestess before your brother adopted me into this mess, and that comes first! I gave my word to help someone, and I'm going to follow through on it if it kills me!"
"WELL IT JUST MIGHT IF SUZUMIYA DECIDES TO TAKE ANOTHER CRACK AT YA!"
"THE STUPID BIRD CAN JUST TRY IT!"
"Uh-oh," Goku murmured, seeing his partner start to spark with mercurial light.
"S-she really was a princess?" Bulma squeaked.
The once-tailed boy turned a quick glance over his shoulder, took in the looks of dumbstruck awe on all of their faces, and winced a bit. Kagome wouldn't be too happy about having Inuyasha throw all of that out in the open before she was ready to do it herself...
"AND JUST HOW ARE YOU PLANNIN' ON TAKIN' CARE OF IT IF HE DOES?!" the half-demon continued to yell.
The priestess paused for a moment and Inuyasha started to smirk in victory, but then her eyes flashed completely silver for a second and she gave a calculating grin. "Like this!" she announced with a proud laugh, reaching out and tugging the rosary off right over the man's head. "So Sesshoumaru went and subjugated the East?! I'll just subjugate their ex-Lord!"
The half-demon gaped at her dumbly as she continued to cackle.
Goku couldn't help but smile when she wrapped the beads around her wrist, turned on her heel, and started walking back to them with barely a wave goodbye to Inuyasha.
"Thanks for this!" she called cheekily back to the half-demon. "Rest in peace!"
The twelve-year-old broke into guffaws at the man's dumbfounded expression.
Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing that they were more friendly. He couldn't help but think back to when she'd found her bag when he looked at the bright grin on her face.
She seemed lighter again, and that made him happy.
xxxx
Kagome walked back over to her laughing partner, her shoulders thrown back and her head held high. She might have run away from her past earlier in the ring, but not this time - never again if she could help it. But she wouldn't hold onto it until it killed her, either.
This time, she was really and truly letting Inuyasha go. The anger, the hurt, all of it; she would remember him without the rose-colored glasses, but she refused to ever become him.
She was Kagome freaking Higurashi, priestess of the Shikon Jewel and now (even though she didn't particularly want to be) Lady of the Western Lands. And possibly the East, considering they would have gone to her adopted brother as recompense thanks to the blood oaths. And okay, she really needed to find out if he had ever gone through with his plans for world domination...
Well, damn. Maybe she should just swear to protect the whole Earth and be done with it, just in case. And how did all of this even transfer to a different dimension in the first place?!
But, well, she also knew that the idiot had a point. As soon as they had saved Bora, she would have to ask Goku if he wouldn't mind going with her to track down Suzumiya... And if he didn't want to go with her, well, she would just have to do it by herself. Inuyasha was right: she had a duty to take care of the stupid pheasant. A duty that was hers alone, even if she had sort of unofficially claimed the boy as pack.
The priestess really hoped that her partner would be willing to stick with her a bit longer. She wasn't ready to say goodbye to the little monkey just yet.
She chuckled to herself as she locked eyes with Goku, sapphire to obsidian, and a random thought crossed her mind... Now all that was missing was that boy born from a peach and they really would be a bad pun on the legend of Momotarou; just like she had mocked the bird all that time ago at the very beginning of this crazy journey.
They very well might have to keep an eye out for one. Just in case.
"You're really a princess!" Bulma yelped as soon as she got close enough, one finger flying into the older girl's face accusingly.
Kagome winced. They had heard that, huh? "Was," she corrected. "And technically I was just one of the named heirs because I was helping raise Brother's adopted daughter - I wasn't actually supposed to ever inherit."
"B-but a princess!" The blue-haired teen babbled hysterically.
She sighed. "Look, I'm not even sure if the Western Lands are technically still-"
"The Western Lands!" Roshi, Baba and Krillin all shrieked. Even Gohan was gaping at her now, despite that the others looked a bit lost.
"T-the Western Lands..." The old master choked. "T-the legendary moving nation that exists somewhere between this world and the next, known to be out of reach for mere mortals?! Those Western Lands?!"
The priestess fought back a groan. 'Between this world and the next', was it? "So that's how the whole issue carried over to this Earth..."
Sesshoumaru must have done something that moved his territory between dimensions. In fact, actually knowing the crazy old dog and giving it a bit more thought, that was exactly the kind of thing he would have done. No wonder she hadn't sensed any of the blood wards or boundaries even when she'd been standing in a place literally called West City.
What a mess.
"We can talk about this more later," she finally spoke up, interrupting what looked to be a building knot of mass hysteria. "Baba, would you mind finding where the last dragon ball is? We really do need to revive Bora soon."
If, of course, it was possible at all. She was holding out hope, though - and she would be the last person to ever bring up the possibility of it not working in front of Upa or Goku.
They both believed that it would work so much that she wanted to as well.
"Kagome's right," her partner chimed in agreement. "We really should get going."
Gohan smiled down at him gently, reaching out to place a hand on top of the boy's head. "Alright, my boy. Be safe and look after yourself - and this beautiful young partner of yours, too. Remember all that I taught you about girls, Goku! Be a gentleman! And, lastly... know that I am so very proud of you."
Goku grinned up at him tearily and nodded, rushing to give him one more tight hug. "I will, Grandpa. I promise."
The priestess gave a melancholy smile, thinking of her own lost family.
Her grandpa and Souta probably would have loved this crazy place so much...
A strong hand plopped down on her shoulder, wrenching her from her thoughts and making her give a startled squeak as she was spun around. "What the...!"
"I wasn't done talkin' yet!" Inuyasha's huffed, gold eyes meeting blue.
She stared him down impatiently. "What more was there to actually say? You already griped at me about the whole Lady thing!"
His ears flattened against his skull and he looked away, crossing his arms uncomfortably across his chest. "I ain't apologized yet," he grumbled, voice so low that she just almost missed it entirely.
Her jaw dropped. "Um... What?"
He gave a petulant growl, his cheeks turning a bit pink. "I said I ain't apologized yet!" he barked, shooting her an embarrassed glower. "I really fucked you over back then, and I was a major ass all the time, and I'm sorry!"
She gaped at him for a long moment, finally reaching up and pinching herself to make sure that she wasn't dreaming.
"Oh, come on!" he shouted. "Is it really that hard to believe?!"
The priestess gave him a look. "You actually have to ask that?"
He grumbled and hunched in on himself, looking away again. "Goddamn wench..."
Seeing as he didn't have the rosary on to sit him anymore, she kicked his shin.
The half-demon yelped and hopped up and down on his good leg, cradling the bruised one with clawed hands. "What the hell, Kagome!"
She stuck her tongue out at him. "Learn to deal with your feelings like a civilized person!" she challenged him, inwardly laughing at how comfortable she was actually being with him. Four years of angst, and yet not even ten minutes talking and it really was feeling just like old times. "You might actually have an easier time in your next life if you do, you idiot!"
He growled at her, but she could tell by the light in his eyes that he wasn't really mad.
The priestess sighed and gave him a soft smile. "You're forgiven, Inuyasha. And, well... Thanks for keeping me alive back then. I know I didn't make it easy."
A slow, relieved grin overtook his expression. "Keh! Don't worry 'bout it!"
She felt a hand slip into hers and she looked down, meeting Goku's wide black eyes as he gave her a grin of his own. He had probably figured out by now just what properly saying goodbye had meant to her; as dumb as most people seemed to think he was, he was downright astute when it came to certain things.
"Baba's got the directions ready for us!" he told her.
She nodded and turned around, giving one last glance over her shoulder to give the half-demon an appreciative nod. "Goodbye, Inuyasha."
His response was again so quiet she almost wasn't sure she'd heard it.
"See ya later, wench."
xxxx
A/N: I am so, so sorry it took so long to update this! And it's such a short chapter even now...! *cries* A bunch of things out of my control ended up happening, including my keyboard dying and having to move three different times in the past five months. (From Texas up to Minnesota, then back down to Texas and now to Alabama...) Again, I am so sorry.
Good news: I promise I'm not dropping this story. I'm going to see this monster through to the very end, and possibly even then some! I'm not even kidding, I even want to go in at some point and write a Momotarou parody centered around these guys with probably Piccolo Jr. being the main character. (I mean, come on - the whole egg drifting down the stream thing! It's so perfect!) It's more than likely going to be a special chapter sometime during the three-year time skip after this upcoming one.
However... Bad news: I'm probably going to have to go ahead and announce a short hiatus for just a bit longer. But I promise, I will have more for you by either the end of August or the beginning of September!
Okay, and lastly: I'm probably going to go back and edit a few of the past chapters, just to clean up some typos and whatnot. As much as it frustrates me when an author does that and it makes me think that there are updates when there are not, I did find several mistakes when I went through and reread everything recently.
Thank you all so much for sticking with this story and having so much patience with me! It means a whole lot, and I love you all!
Edit: 8/27/26