Holy shit, we did it!

Kagome? Love? Are you—fuck.

Please wake up Kagome…

Okay okay… I can do this. My yōki will come back eventually, but we need to get outta the borderlands. Just promise me you'll wake up, okay?

I think I see water up ahead… just keep fighting, 'Gome… I love you.

If those fuckfaces don't show up soon, I am gonna let loose a goddamn yōki bomb.

Fucking finally.
Ego sum filius Inu no Taisho, Inuyasha. Auxilium postulo!
(I just told them to send for my dad…)

Help is coming, Kagome. We can make it.

Kagome tried to open her eyes, but everything hurt, and everything was bright. She saw flashes… a smoldering husk of a spider. Wide and watering purple-gray eyes. Something plush, almost like animal fur and wind in her hair.

"She's awake!" A gentle feminine voice shot Kagome's eyes open. The bright was overpowering, but… she was in a bed, staring into eyes so similar to Inuyasha's in shape, but a deep brown in color. Where was she? Had they succeeded? Was Naraku still— "Don't worry dear, you're safe. Breathe for me, okay?"

"I—Inuyasha?" Kagome frantically searched the room, as the woman with Inuyasha's eyes took her hand and stroked it.

She had long straight black hair that was tied back with a pin, and she wore a delicate dress with long sleeves. It was made of silk, ocean blue, embroidered in white cranes and clouds. She was beautiful, with a heart-shaped face and expressive eyebrows and eyelashes, like Inuyasha's. Her movements were deliberate and gentle, and the air of calm around her put Kagome at ease in spite of herself.

"On his way as fast as he can run, I imagine," the woman chortled. "Probably swearing like the dickens."

"Kagome?!" She knew that voice. The voice of her guardian angel, of her soulmate, of the man she loved.

Inuyasha looked more like a flash of silver and red to her still-blurry eyes. His arms wrapped around her instantaneously, kissing her neck, cheek, jaw, basically everywhere that had enough skin for his lips to contact.

"You gave us quite a scare, Kagome," the woman said. "Inuyasha has barely left your side…"

"Wh—what happened?" Kagome asked, letting everything come into focus, brushing Inuyasha's silver hair and snuggling into him.

"We got Naraku," Inuyasha answered, "and apparently everything with yōki got fried too when that fucking portal went boom. Including me…"

Kagome's eyes widened; she searched Inuyasha for any sign of injury, any sign of anything, but there were his silver hair and downy ears and golden eyes, completely intact, completely okay.

"You can't blast yōki out of a half-demon, remember?" He chuckled, a fang poking his lip as he grinned. "We just… turn human… ahead of schedule." Inuyasha then sighed, "took me a week to be back."

"A week?!" Kagome had thought that she had been out—maybe an hour, a day tops. "I've been out for a—"

"Fortnight," the woman answered. "From when the portal opened and spilled dead demons all over the borderlands to now."

Inuyasha trembled against her at the declaration. Kagome had been out for two weeks and didn't even know it.

"Oh." Kagome closed her eyes and tried to remember, tried to put herself back where it started.

She got swallowed and activated the portal device.
She made a barrier around herself and fought against Naraku's yōki, trying to punch its way in.
Inuyasha came to her.
Inuyasha came to her.
And they set off the grenades.
And they said they loved each other.
And then… flashes of Inuyasha's voice from whatever place her coma had locked her.

"Please tell me everything that happened," Kagome whispered, her voice getting stronger with every use.

"I'm going to go grab you some food and water, dear." The woman put her hand tenderly on Kagome's forearm. "Inuyasha, hun, let me know when to come back, but your soulmate needs to eat."

"Got it mom," Inuyasha nodded, letting the woman—Inuyasha's mother—press a kiss to his forehead. After she'd left the room, Inuyasha settled his nose into Kagome's hair. "I was so scared I was gonna lose you, 'Gome."

"But… you didn't." Kagome reached her hand back to stroke Inuyasha's ear. "So… what happened?"

"The bombs went off right when they were supposed to," Inuyasha started, "and somehow we held up that barrier for a lot longer than… well, long enough to survive. Your stupid ass didn't have Kagura's shields anymore so… I covered you as best I could. And… we landed."

"...Borderlands…" Kagome heard Inuyasha's voice flash through her head.

"Yeah…" Inuyasha took another deep breath in her hair, and she felt his nose bump up against the nape of her neck. "I… well enough of that boom had got me so… I was human. And you…" Inuyasha whimpered, "you were in real bad shape. So… I started walkin'. And just… hopin' that a patrol would come by, and that my dad's name was still powerful enough that they wouldn't shoot us on sight."

"You… carried me." Kagome's memory was now playing the steady rocking motions of someone's feet—Inuyasha's feet—plodding along with her on his back.

"As far as I could. I found water on the second day and… hoped that it wouldn't kill us." Inuyasha sniffled. "Finally, on the third day, some of Tsukuyomaru's clan circled over us—he's a friend of my dad… soulmated to a human too—and… well, we got lucky cuz the bats summoned Tōga." Inuyasha let out a breathy chuckle. "Dad didn't even blink. He knew it was me… and… he brought us both home. Took only an hour from the borderlands."

"You must've been so happy," Kagome swallowed. Inuyasha had spent ten years in the human world desperately trying to get home, trying to reunite with his family, and he had done it!

"S—scared." Inuyasha snuffled Kagome's neck again, and she could feel his tremble. "You were—well—I… couldn't wake you up."

"I'm awake now, love," Kagome said, and turned her head so that she could kiss Inuyasha, trying to use her lips to reassure him that it was okay, that she was okay. "You saved me, Inuyasha. I'm here, I'm alive, because of you."

Inuyasha's sniffles had turned to whimpers and were bordering on sobs. Kagome could see the tears in his golden eyes, could feel the way that he'd lost control of his trembles. She could hear all my fault and I'm so sorry through the heaves, so she just held him, and stroked his ears. There would be time enough later to scold him (gently) for continuing to blame himself.

Inuyasha had been willing to give up everything to find his way home. And he lived with the guilt of the decisions he had made every day. She could see the haunts of it in his eyes. The way he bared his fangs at the name 'Onigumo.' The way that he gave his body over to every and any experiment that Kagura had desired to run, as if he were paying penance. All because he had been a demon alone in the human world.

"You saved the world," Kagome smiled, stroking the soft downy fur she knew could calm him. "You saved me and you saved my world and you made it home, Inuyasha…"

"Naraku invaded your world because of my dumbass," Inuyasha whimpered, and although he tried to jerk his head away, Kagome knew not to let him (and he knew not to try a second time).

"Naraku would have invaded the human world with or without you. But because of you, he attacked at exactly the moment that there were people prepared to challenge him." Kagome had reminded him of this so many times before, and she would do it as many times as necessary. "Because you came to us when you realized that he wanted to hurt people." Kagome kissed one of the tear droplets that was running down Inuyasha's cheek. "And we stopped him." She kissed another tear away, lingering just at the edge of his lip. "And now, you've made it home."

He was home now. He got his family back. And he'd done it while saving the world and saving her. Kagome leaned in and kissed his lips.

She still remembered the way that Inuyasha had looked at her when he released his yōki and transformed into his 'true' self. He looked like prey who had willingly walked into the den of a predator, as penance for the crimes he was so convinced that he had committed.

"But now…" Inuyasha spoke between kisses, "I took you…" another kiss, "away from your home."

Kagome pressed her fingers to Inuyasha's hungry mouth, then leaned his head forward and pressed a kiss into the crown. "To save my home? And to be with you? It's a small price to pay."

"You don't need to pretend for me." Inuyasha's eyes sought out Kagome's, and he stroked her cheek.

Kagome wasn't pretending. She was okay. She was alive.
She was… never going to see her family again.
She was never going to see her family again.

She was now in the demon realm, with no way to get home. No way to tell her friends that she was safe and she had survived. No way to tell her mother and brother that she loved them.

But Kagome was not alone.
She had Inuyasha. The man that she was destined to meet.
The man who had, ten years prior, arrived in her world with no one, alone, to meet her.

The tears had started to stream from her eyes, just as they had streamed from Inuyasha's. He held her as she heaved, whispering his love into her ear. She was not alone.

"I wish I had the chance to say goodbye," Kagome sniffled, "to tell them that I loved them."

"You… you never know the future—" Inuyasha started, but he was interrupted by soft footsteps arriving in the room.

"I couldn't wait any longer." The gentle voice of Inuyasha's mother was back; she was holding a tray of ramen and tea, plus a pitcher of water. "Please drink this. It'll help you recover your strength."

"Th—thanks Mrs. Taisho." Kagome wiped the tears out of her eyes and tried to sit up, which was a bit tough given Inuyasha's arms were still roped around her.

"Call me Izayoi," Inuyasha's mother said. "And Inu-baby, would you please go tell your father that Kagome is awake. He'll want to know, so we can get Jinenji in here to check her health."

"But…" Inuyasha whined, but there was a territorial snarl underneath it. One look, though, from Izayoi, and the snarl was silenced.

"Please?" Izayoi pleaded. "Tōga is too far away for me to call him." She let her fingers massage the base of one of Inuyasha's ears. "You have lifetimes to talk to Kagome, love. So let's get her healed up fast. Jinenji will know what to do."

Inuyasha pinned his ears back—he even looked like he was going to make to retort—but in the end, he listened to his mother.

"I'll be back soon Kagome," Inuyasha said from the door. "I love you."

And off he went. Izayoi motioned for Kagome to drink the tea, which she did. It tasted like honeyed ginseng, but brighter. And the moment it passed over her tongue, Kagome could swear that she felt more awake, more energized.

"Tea is from Jinenji. Drink it up, dear." Izayoi took the cup from her the moment that she had finished, placing it back on the tray. "I wanted you to have a chance to mourn, at least for a little while, without worrying about breaking Inuyasha's heart," Izayoi whispered, now placing the tray of ramen in front of Kagome; it smelled delicious. "I lived in a small town in Ohio. I hated it. My father was the worst kind of man, and my mother tolerated it." Izayoi motioned to Kagome to take the spoon and start eating. The moment the first bit of salty broth hit Kagome's mouth, she was ravenous. "And… well… the day my father turned his hand on me, I ran away." Half the ramen was already gone. Had Kagome ever been this hungry? But still, she did not look away from Izayoi's sad eyes. "The portal opened the moment I stuck my thumb out to try to hitchhike to Chicago, and… I landed on Tōga." Izayoi poured water into a glass next to the ramen. Kagome paused, then blushed, because she had eaten almost all of it already. She took the water. "He knew who I would be to him right away. But we took it slow; he learned my language and I learned his. And… the demon realm is paradise. It's beautiful and old and full of spark and spirit. It's nature and demons living in harmony. But…" Izayoi smiled sadly, "I still missed my home. It didn't matter that I hated my father and resented my mother. Because… I missed them." Izayoi put her hand on Kagome's. "It's okay to miss them. You were ripped away from your home. Away from your friends. Away from everything you knew."

"So was Inuyasha," Kagome mentioned; the ramen was now completely gone, and so was her first glass of water. Energy was returning to her limbs. "He's been ripped out of two of his homes now, so he understands, Izayoi. I'm not afraid to tell him I grieve, because we grieve for many of the same people."

"I… hadn't thought about that," Izayoi said, her eyes displaying a haunt of understanding.

"Thank you for… being here. For me. For him." Kagome exhaled. "He told me all about his amazing family, and it was so clear why he wanted to get home so badly." Kagome then squeezed Izayoi's hand. "Because you were here waiting for him."

A twinkle came to Izayoi's eyes at Kagome's words, and she leaned in to give Kagome a hug.

"Thank you for loving him," Izayoi murmured—for Kagome's ears only, "and for bringing him back to us."

"He's easy to love," Kagome shrugged, relishing in the warmth of Izayoi's embrace. "Thank you for finding us in the borderlands."

"That was all Inuyasha," Izayoi answered, pushing back just far enough that she could look in Kagome's eyes. "And Tōga."

"Did I hear word that my favorite daughter-in-law is awake?" a voice boomed from the hallway. The language was accented, but the words were English.

"Dad! Shut up!" Kagome had never heard Inuyasha sound that embarrassed before.

A moment later, a truly formidable figure crossed the threshold into her room. He had long silver hair (so like his son's) tied back into a ponytail. His golden eyes were sparkling and he wore the same fanged grin that Kagome had seen so often on Inuyasha's face.

"She looks better awake than asleep!" The man crossed the room, then immediately crouched down beside the bed, and took Kagome's hand into his, placing a kiss on its back.

"You better not have kissed my girlfriend." Inuyasha bounded in after his father.

"She traveled through time and space to be with you son." Tōga didn't take his eyes off of Kagome, even as he kept talking to Inuyasha. "I think we can cut the girlfriend stuff right now."

Inuyasha's ears were pinned back and his face had turned a shade of puce that Kagome was not sure she'd ever seen before. Had Inuyasha's father just proposed to her for him?!

"Tōga… give these two some time to… acclimate." Izayoi had pulled Tōga away, and Inuyasha nearly immediately was on the bed, his arms back around Kagome. "Kagome, meet Inuyasha's father. He thinks he's funny."

"I am funny," Tōga retorted, but one look from Izayoi and his grin turned serious. If he had had dog ears like his son, there was no question in Kagome's mind that they would be pinned back. "Okay okay alright. Can't a dad be elated to be reunited with his son after a decade, dear?"

"Yes you can, but… how about after Kagome has recovered a little bit more?" Izayoi shot back, a smile on her face; Kagome did not have to squint to see the palpable love there. "Is Jinenji coming over?"

"He was out helping with a wolf birth—you know Kōga's wife was expecting… but he said he will be here this evening. Kagome is up and talking… and eating…" Tōga answered his wife. (Kagome did not like feeling like a hospital patient, but she supposed that that was exactly what she was.) "He said to have her drink his tea and continue to rest. That means…" Tōga looked directly into Inuyasha's eyes. "No funny business!"

If it was possible, the color of Inuyasha's face turned darker.

"Thank you, Mr. Taisho," Kagome giggled. She already loved Inuyasha's family. "For everything."

"Call me Tōga, dear one," Tōga beamed, "and… welcome to the Taisho clan."

The rest of the afternoon was abuzz with activity. Inuyasha never left Kagome's side. He helped her to the bathroom (apparently two weeks unconscious left one with very wobbly legs). He delivered her an endless amount of food (and Jinenji-supplied tea). He had brought her as many Latin books as he could find, so that he could start teaching her the language.

Jinenji arrived that evening. He was an enormous horse half-demon that had grown up near the Taisho clan. He was a genius with herbs and remedies, and had brought three separate concoctions to allow Kagome to regain her strength: one for the morning, one for the afternoon, and one just before bed. Inuyasha translated for her, and when the bright blue-eyed man bowed, Kagome smiled and bowed back.

"I like her!" was the last thing Jinenji said before hurrying off, apparently headed back to the wolf den, to check on the newborns.

It had not even taken a day for Kagome to figure out that the demon realm was not at all what Kagome had expected as she wrote her book. There were no flying harpies or hellfire. They did not snarl and snap and torture any hapless humans who had been lured into their realm. Demons were just like humans. They had senses of humor and close relationships and families. It was… idiotic to think of them any differently. It left Kagome a little ashamed.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome leaned over to look into the golden eyes of her soulmate. "It's going to be okay, you know… if… if I never go back."

"I know." Inuyasha averted his eyes as he said it.

"I mean it," Kagome insisted, using her hand to guide Inuyasha's face to hers. "I'm not alone."

"You're not alone," Inuyasha said, before kissing Kagome's eyelids closed. "And… in the human world, because of you, neither was I." He then whispered, "I'll be by your side, always."

Kagome smiled. She would be by his side too. Always.

That night, snuggled into Inuyasha's comforting arms, Kagome let the emotions wash over her. She was in the demon realm with no way to get home. No way to tell her friends that she was okay, that the portal had not claimed her or Inuyasha.

She hoped that Kikyō would tell her mother what happened, and would hold her hand and comfort her as she cried. And that Sango would give Miroku the chance he deserved. She hoped that Kikyō and Kagura would stop being so shy about their love and shout it from the rooftops like they deserved.

She wondered if Kagura would ever get to find out that her devices had worked. That without Inuyasha's mesh, they would not have survived the blast. She wished she could tell Sango how amazing her negotiation skills had been, or tell Kikyō that… that she was so grateful that they had found each other again, because Kagome loved her as a sister. That saving Kikyō's life was worth her life, and was certainly worth this exile.

"It's okay to cry, Kagome, love." Inuyasha kissed the back of her neck and pulled her in a little tighter to him. "I'm gonna miss the fuck outta them, too."

"Do you… do you think we'll ever see them again?" Kagome asked, letting the tears that had been congregating in her eyes run down her face.

"Dunno," Inuyasha answered honestly, "but… I have hope. Because if there's one thing you all taught me, it's that nothing is impossible when the right people put their minds to something." Inuyasha snuffled into Kagome's hair. "So… if there's a way, they'll find it."

"Yeah they will," Kagome affirmed, soothed by her soulmate's love. He was right. If anyone could find the way back to them, it was Kikyō, Kagura and Sango.

Kagome, too, had hope.