Author's Note: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the source material for this story. All are owned by Rumiko Takahashi. This fic is labeled MA per standards for eventual violence, sex, and language so be warned.

...

Reconciliation

Chapter 11 - Do I Wanna Know?

"Fall back! He's breaking through the lines!" General Asakura shouted from the battlement above the Northern gate. He squinted his middle-aged eyes and stared down the descending, tree-lined road. Focusing down the hill, he saw the wooden outpost tower standing in a thick cloud of dust and a panicked soldier running from side to side aloft to catch any sight of the enemy below.

"He's engaged the whole battalion! They won't last much longer, General!" the soldier shouted back at him from halfway down the hill, the panic etched across his face at the horrors going on below him as he loosed another arrow at the enemy.

The sounds of death echoed up to the palace walls again and again. Screams of agony, desperate battle cries, the ringing of metal on metal, and the snarls and growls of the enemy who gave them no quarter.

If the General could hear the soldier's report, he didn't respond. Instead, he barked more orders to the interior of the keep.

"Archers, at the ready! Mount up, soldiers!" he shouted behind him, inside the formidable stone palace walls. Hand raised in the air, he was waiting for the enemy to appear to strike him down with a last show of force.

The General chanced a glance back over the wall into the courtyard below where the now mounted pike men and the fleet of archers stood awaiting the order to attack. He grimaced as he realized they were losing.

They had had little warning. The messenger had arrived not five hours ago nearly dead from the punishing ride south from Yaita to Utsunomiya castle to warn them. The messenger told them of a demon who was headed this way to attack the General himself. It hadn't been enough time.

Demons were a problem they were unprepared for. During the reign of Naraku and the stirring of all youkai to violence throughout Japan, even humans had been wary of the threat the evil hanyou posed but after he was defeated and rogue youkai were no longer beating down their doors, most of the priests had been discharged and the miko sent back to their villages.

The Asakura family was not defenseless, however, and the soldiers charged with keeping the palace safe had been immediately called up to earn their keep. The few remaining priests had been sent to protect the women and children and get them out of the palace and to safety.

From here, the view down the hill was advantageous but the cloud of dust kicked up by the skirmish had prevented the General from assessing the situation. Suddenly, any sound beyond the gates went quiet and the obscuring cloud of dust began to clear in the blustery autumn wind. The lone soldier atop the tower had hunkered down where he was, unmoving, paralyzed by fear.

Asakura signaled the heavy wooden gates to be opened so the remaining army would have a clear view of the battlefield. The General kept the archers at bay and squinted again down the hill.

A lone figure was walking up toward the keep. The foe arced a blade through the air too fast for human eyes to follow, clearing it of the blood soaking it to the hilt. The wicked grin he sported was out of place against the spattered gore that covered his face, red haori and hakama. Silver hair trailed behind him and was swept sideways in the breeze, unkempt and filthy.

His glowing red eyes were trained on the General himself and it was then Asakura knew this was the demon they were warned about. He would leave none alive if the remaining soldiers failed, just as he had at the Kakunodate estate so much further North.

"Hold!" he commanded. He could feel the tension building among the soldiers. Shuffling feet and the rustle of armor was telling him they were anxious. Horses sidestepped and whinnied forcing riders to be firm. They had a right to be nervous. The enemy was not in range yet but he fast and deadly. The demon had already killed over fifty men in the battle at the base of the hill. This attack had to land or else the palace would be breached.

"If we die today, men, we die with honor! Let's take the bastard with us! Utsunomiya!"

"Utsunomiya!" The forceful chorus of answers echoed inside the walls and the soldiers brandished their weapons.

"Archers, fire at will when the enemy shows himself!"

Asakura gritted his teeth, adjusted his armor one final time, and went down to the ground to join the troops and face his death.

…

Sesshoumaru landed lightly in the palace courtyard with Rin fast asleep in his arms sometime in the middle of the night. She was curled against him, head resting high on his chest, and kept warm in the fluffy coils of his pelt as they flew. He glanced down at her and registered her deep, even breathing while assessing her for any signs of chill from the late autumn air. Finding her to be warm and healthy, he began walking from the courtyard to her room in the palace to settle her for the night.

Other youkai were walking about the palace tonight as well. With so many different species living all together, nocturnal and diurnal alike, the palace halls were always occupied. News of his arrival would spread quickly. He could already hear the panicky bustling of servants reassuming their positions throughout the Palace.

Rin had not lived with him here for some time. He found himself curious about how she would feel being here again.

After the defeat of Naraku, the inudaiyoukai had brought her here to live with him with the intent of her staying. His council of cardinal advisors, however, had deemed it unworthy of the Western Lord to harbor an orphaned human and suggested, none too gently, that she be removed to live with her own kind for her safety. Their looks of disdain and suggestive words about his intent for her had angered him. Sesshoumaru was not his father and Rin was strictly his ward.

He could still remember Rin's sad, mahogany eyes the day he told her she would be returning to Edo to live with her own kind. He had reminded her that he would visit from time to time but that hadn't stopped sadness from dominating her scent as he took her back. She had tried to remain happy as he turned away from the old priestess' home, plastering a wide smile on her face for his benefit, but he knew otherwise. It could not be helped.

Sesshoumaru had been unwilling to make demands about keeping Rin here before but he had… missed her, if he was honest, and longed to hear her cheerful babbling filling the hallways and dining room once more. Her presence was a spot of sunshine among the gloom of the palace-dwelling youkai bowing and scraping. At the very least, she was safe here from his rampaging brother and his politicians had no reason to send her away. This time he would not allow it.

All of his thoughts on Rin were hidden, of course, to the others around the palace by a well-practiced mask of indifference and superiority. It would not do for his feelings to be discovered. Outside of the council, only his mother and Jaken knew of his care for the girl. The antiquated ex-lords had their suspicions but no confirmation.

Rin shifted in her sleep and murmured something he couldn't decipher, bringing him out his reverie. Sesshoumaru adjusted his hand underneath her to lay her more comfortably against him and raised her head slightly to make her breathing easier, just in case.

As they approached Rin's rooms, he was greeted by a servant standing on the far side of the door.

"Welcome back, Sessshoumaru-sama." She bowed low, wheaten hair brushing the floor, and waited for him to pass by her into Rin's room.

"Hn. Come." He ordered her as he turned into Rin's prepared room, a whisper of silk in the doorway.

"Yes, my Lord?" She straightened and stood just inside the door, dark green eyes watching in the dark room.

"See to it that Rin is cared for and notify me when she wakes. I place her in your charge."

Sesshoumaru spoke quietly as he laid Rin down on the futon that had been prepared. He gently brushed her dark hair away from her face and pulled the quilt up to cover her.

"It is my honor, Sesshoumaru-sama. I will do as you command." Tomomi bowed low again, shocked at the open display of affection by the merciless Lord of the West.

She had heard the stories of his conquests and the odd tale of his adoption of a human orphan but hadn't believed them to be more than the invention of gossipy maids' boredom. She was new and was determined to keep such a sought-after position. She would keep his secret.

Walking silently past the stunned deer youkai, he turned left to enter his own rooms next door. The scents here were comforting and familiar. Old polished wood, parchment and ink, his own unique scent interwoven in all the trappings he thought to keep close.

Carefully unwrapping the silks at his back, he revealed Tessaiga and strode to the wall mounted rack where his own swords were kept when he was not armed. He placed the sheathed fang on the bottom of the rack by way of the silk sash and moved to unequip his own swords.

The display had been his father's. In fact, it had not been moved since Touga's reign. The ornate rack displayed the images of his father's true form in duplicate on each side, and the wood was highly polished, heavy, and made to last. Made for the three swords his father had mastered, it now held Sesshoumaru's own: Bakusaiga, along with two of the three of his father's. It was a conflicting sight to see two of the same swords in his possession under such different circumstances.

Sesshoumaru left his own rooms and turned left towards his study, turning his mind back to the work ahead.

There were surely some answers from the other lords by now about the meeting and a reply from his mother. Kouji was usually very prompt and he remembered his mother had a soft spot for the pheasant. She had a soft spot for most things that were unique and ostentatious, and Kouji was certainly both of those things. It would have helped him get the response he desired more quickly.

The hallways were mostly quiet this time of night, several hours before dawn. As he made for his study, he idly glanced up and down at the paintings which hung on either side of the wide hallway that all held images of his ancestors and their notable deeds. Most were violent and perpetrated against other demon houses.

'And now it is my job to fix their mistakes and coerce peace out of youkai that have been at war with each other for centuries.' he thought, annoyed.

It was the honorable course of action now that his quest for Supreme Conquest was satisfied. He had gained his own sword by right of that conquest, his arm was returned to him, and his reign as Lord of the West was begun. None stood to challenge him. Now for the conquest of the next millennia: the survival of his species and those like him. Daiyoukai were dwindling and he knew it.

Youkai populations were decreasing everywhere. Not that he cared about them all. But the inuyoukai and their allies were among the strongest families still living and he intended to keep it that way.

After the defeat of Naraku, Sesshoumaru theorized that if more daiyoukai had deigned to join in the fight, instead of using the distraction to further their own agendas, it might have been over much sooner. Then he could have returned to his duties at his leisure instead of having to bother both with his mother and the hanyou. But there were very few left, he realized, when he began to count the allies of the West.

The humans were creeping en masse over the land and began to care very little for the youkai they displaced. If the daiyoukai banded together, they could rid the island of the human threat and return to their separate corners of the world. Or perhaps, use the humans to accomplish their own goals of power. That would be decided soon when the council met and it was pointless to postulate until then.

Sesshoumaru breezed into his study in the darkness and glanced over at his desk passively. There were several letters there, all smelling of different youkai. Not caring to open or reply to them right now, he stood still in the darkness and pondered what else could be done.

Turning golden, inhuman eyes to the sky through his study doors, he stepped languidly out of his study and put two booted feet down in the central courtyard once again. Gazing longingly up at the full moon, his blood suddenly longed to be free. It had been too long. His clawed fingertips brushed the hibernating bushes that bordered the yard as he walked past the borders and toward the wide expanse where he had landed only minutes ago.

Suddenly Sesshoumaru was deaf to all other sounds as the moon fully captivated his attention.

Without another thought, he left the thicket of bushes and strode quickly to the center of the green expanse and took off into the sky, youki rising from within him as he ascended.

Amber eyes shifted to a brilliant and glowing vermilion highlighting turquoise pupils that saw everything above and below him for miles. Powerful legs grew and his face elongated into the muzzle of his true form, concealing jagged fangs and dripping with deadly poison. His pelt wrapped around his changing form, merging to become one with him once again, reuniting with the full power of his youki.

He was free. No one else around for miles. He could pad among the clouds and stars and there was no one to bother or stop him. He breathed easy for the first time in weeks in the cold night air. The moment of self-indulgence was rare and he would enjoy it fully.

But there was also no one to share it with.

At times like tonight, he was grateful for the solitude but in the past, he remembered the feeling of longing that accompanied him into the deserted heavens. As a creature driven by familial bonds, he had felt the pull before to join or create a pack worthy of himself but he could never bring himself to do it.

After the war his father started with the dragons in the East over a mate, a human, he severed pack ties and decided it would never be worth the trouble. Pack only seemed to breed weakness in inuyoukai, he concluded, contrary to what his true nature was telling him. His instincts had been demanding all the time that he change his mind, settle in his den, and breed pups of his own. He firmly denied himself. At war with his natural urges for the past three hundred years, he had become embittered to the idea of females and family. It was not lost on him that he followed his instincts without question in almost every other way.

Suddenly he was not alone in the deep night. Another had entered the peaceful black expanse over the mountains. He sniffed. Another inudaiyoukai.

'Mother.' He thought her title like a curse. She would show up now, at his moment of peaceful solitude and reflection.

He turned his massive head and gracefully tipped back down towards the Fortress to lead her there. If she wanted to talk, it would be away from Rin. Her idle threats to eat the child were old and tiresome, and he did not have the patience for her antagonistic nature tonight. He shifted his form so as not to disturb the whole barracks with their massive forms conversing in inu, hoping she would follow suit. He landed in the center of the training yard, dust rising in wisps around his black boots.

She did land in her true from in the yard, gave a loud huff of disappointment, and then shifted to her smaller, humanoid form.

"Mother." he greeted flatly.

"Why, Sesshoumaru, no warm and welcoming greeting for your one and only mother? Pity. Always such a direct and disagreeable pup. You never change." Kikuko fluffed her pelt around her delicate and pale shoulders, tossing frosty twin tails behind her with a graceful arc of her neck as she continued settling her appearance.

"Mother, why have you come?" His tone was growing sharp.

Her eyes sparkled with mischief and she knew he would ask again, but given his gruff greeting, some teasing was in order first. She grinned slyly before continuing.

"Can a mother not visit her only son on the eve of war?"

…

Miroku was deep in thought with one hand at his chin as he sat on the floor of his home, legs crossed beneath him. Sango returned with tea, knowing they were all three about to be deep in conversation.

Kagome had just finished telling them both about her encounter with Sesshoumaru just a few hours ago. They were shocked and concerned, looking immediately at one another to decide how to proceed.

Miroku had confided in Sango about Inuyasha's visit weeks ago. She wasn't surprised really, he had lost himself before, but disappointed for her friends. Mostly for the disruption of the new couple's happy newlywed life. They really did deserve some peaceful happiness but somehow just couldn't find it. Why was Fate being so fickle with those two?

Kagome had stayed to help cook dinner and tell stories to the children before bed, helping to tuck them in. Satomi and Shizuka were enthralled at her tale about a princess cursed by an evil faerie queen into a deep sleep. Yearling Komori was more interested in milk than stories but he was fond of Kagome and eventually reached out to be held by her as well after his hunger was satisfied. She loved the feeling of the little ones snuggles and innocent rapt attention, and suddenly missed Shippou very much.

Stories finished, the children had gone to sleep and the adults could plan.

"And he never mentioned any of this to you before that night, Kagome-chan?" Sango asked, setting everyone's tea down in front of them.

"No. I noticed a few times that he looked like he'd gotten in a fight or he felt like he had a fever, but we would've heard from the farmers if he'd beat up one of their sons and he kept claiming he'd never get sick. I think he was afraid of what we would all think after he'd lost control before. He was afraid of what I would think." She sipped her tea. "And I understand that he was afraid but not why he would be afraid of me."

"He was not afraid of you, my friend. He was afraid of your perception of him. He is half-youkai and it is easy for us all to forget that now but he is very much alone in that here, no matter that we accept him."

"Don't make excuses for him, Miroku. He should've told me. He should've told someone before it got so bad." Kagome sipped her tea again but didn't taste it.

"So now you are determined to go find him?" Miroku asked.

"Yeah, I've got to do something. I can't just sit here and wonder what he's doing, who he might be hurting, or if he's still alive. I'm going nuts just spinning my wheels trying to keep busy." Delicate fingers clenched around the teacup until her fingertips turned white.

"Oh, Kagome, I'm so sorry. We didn't know anything either." Sango tried to be supportive but it just reminded Kagome that her husband had kept his secret from everyone that loved him, not just her.

'Stupid, stubborn ass!' She thought.

It was easier to be mad for now. Anger would fuel her until she could get to him herself. It was past time for action after hearing Sesshoumaru's account. She remembered his words.

'Inuyasha is lost to his youki, miko.'

He had said it with no emotion on his face but his words were those of someone with regret. If Sesshoumaru was worried, she sure as hell should be too.

"Do you guys know anything about what's happening to him? Can you fill in any blanks for me? Everything I come up with in my head sounds ridiculous."

She had considered demonic viruses, a curse of some kind, something brought on by her expanding reiki. Each possibility sounded less plausible than the last. Sango was thoughtful for a moment.

"I have encountered only a handful of youkai that were lost to bloodlust, and it was terrifying and tragic at the same time. I'm sorry, Kagome-chan, but you need to prepare yourself. When youkai are rabid and bloodthirsty for days at a time, it's usually because they are either sick and dying, or have lost their sanity. It's the instinctual way they protect themselves, like Inuyasha has in the past.

But for him to have lost himself and come back is strange to me. It should not happen. Once they are ill enough to be taken over, they should not awaken from their bloodlust until they… well, they die. Forgive me, Kagome. That is the part that confuses me most. If you are able to get through to him, since he has been out of control for so long, the damage to his body will be severe. Be prepared to heal him extensively."

"Got it." Kagome made a mental note. Sango wasn't trying to be harsh but her taijiya training had kicked in and she was soldiering through even thought her friend was obviously hurting.

"Inuyasha is hanyou." Miroku thought out loud. "He is two halves of very different beings. It sounds to me as if his youki is overpowering his human side."

"But why?"

"That I cannot say."

"But we traveled together for over a year! Why didn't any of this happen back then?" She was floundering for reasoning.

"You said he confessed that he must burn off a certain amount of energy to return to normal, correct? If that was the case, the hunt for Naraku would most likely have kept his demonic half exhausted, constantly using his youki to fight during our journey." Sango explained.

Kagome considered. "And he was sealed to the sacred tree for 50 years before we set out so we have no way to know how he might have reacted back then…" She was talking more to herself than to them but their words were reaching her.

"Are you all right, Kagome?" Sango dipped her head down to peer at her best friend from across the table.

Kagome steeled herself against the fear that was already too far gone. The only thing to do now was find him. And fast.

"I'll be fine. I have to go find him. Tomorrow morning, I'm leaving."

"So, you are setting out alone?" Sango asked, concerned. Kagome wasn't an 'alone' kind of person. She needed people. She thrived when friends were near and she had someone to protect.

"Don't make me feel bad for it, Sango. I have to go and you two definitely can't go with me. I have no idea what I'll even find. If I find him at all. I could be gone for weeks or months. I can't ask you, either of you, to do that. I'll be fine. This is what I've been training for, I think."

She was talking into her tea cup. Kagome couldn't bear to look at the pitying faces of her guilty friends anymore.

'I'll deal with the idea that future Sesshoumaru knew and didn't tell us on purpose later.'

"I had wondered why the training was so important but keep your secrets, my friend. Very well, Kagome-sama." Miroku set his cup down and turned to leave, brushing the curtain aside and going out into the night. Sango smiled and looked at Kagome.

He returned with a long, awkward cloth-wrapped bundle and a warm smile a few minutes later. Resettling himself down at the table, he pushed the bundle to Kagome.

"If you are leaving, then this is our parting gift to you."

Kagome blinked for a second and then grinned, eyes glistening at their thoughtfulness.

"When did you- But why- Oh my- Thanks, you guys!" She rounded the table to get them both in a bear hug. For a minute, they were all laughing. Kagome tried hard to record the moment in her memory. Sango was the first to pull away.

"Well, open it before you thank us, Kagome-chan. It may not be to your liking." Sango looked doubtful for a moment. Miroku put a gentle hand on his wife's leg to reassure her.

Kagome reached for the cloth and opened it slowly, folding each layer back revealing her gift. When she was done, the table was a display for a beautiful polished quarterstaff and a taut, polished bow. Her breath caught.

"Oh, you guys…"

Kagome reverently lifted the staff from the table. It was heavier than she expected and then she noticed the two metallic ends of the staff. The weapon was a head shorter than Kagome herself but at each end of the staff was a blue steel cap decorated with leaves and small blossoming flowers. The sacred tree. She looked wistfully up at Miroku who was glad to see her appreciate the work.

The center of the shaft was wrapped tightly in black leather and bound with gold cord to make a textured grip. She raised it from the table and tested its weight across both palms.

"It's beautiful. How did you find it?"

"We didn't find it, Kagome. We made it. For you." Sango offered, reddening just a bit. "The bow, too."

Kagome gawked at her friends, eyes shining. Miroku explained.

"Indeed. My talented wife supplied the skill and design, and I was the muscle." He laughed a little then at Sango's giggle at his bravado. "Both made from late summer branches of the sacred tree. They are still plenty pliable but should serve you well for a long time. The staff has a thin steel core, actually, to lend it strength and weight. They were meant to be a gift for the completion of your training, which we were rapidly approaching anyway, but now it would seem you have need of them sooner."

"As long as I live, I will never have better friends than the two of you." Kagome confessed as overwhelmed tears of love and friendship fell down from her chin onto the beautiful gifts she would treasure forever.

The young miko ran around the table again and hugged them both, still silently crying and thanking them for supporting and understanding her.

"Thank you both so much. For everything. I'll send word as soon as I can, I promise."

After that, she told them good night and released them to go home, testing the weight and feel of the staff with some flashy swings and a smile the whole way there. Once Kagome arrived back home, she packed away her things except for those few she would need for a meal tonight, and began packing a few traveling kimonos.

'I'll just wear the slayer outfit underneath and save myself the trouble. Makes it harder to go to the bathroom but that's the least of my worries…'

The new bow and staff would stay with her and within easy reach slung onto her back. Her old quiver would be just fine as it was.

'Wish I had some more time to make arrows before I left but I guess I'll have time on the road.'

Thinking on that, she packed her knife, arrowheads, and some hawk feathers. She sat back and reminded herself of all the work she and Inuyasha had done to make sure she had tools like this at her disposal.

They had taken a few day trips here and there to find a blacksmith that would sell arrowheads, and had hiked up the mountains to the northwest to hunt down a few suitably large birds for feathers. It had been a ruse, really, for them to get out of town and ravage each other in the woods for the first time in a long time. She remembered the campfire and the smell of cooking meat and the look of Inuyasha's naked form draped over her in the fading light…

At the memory of their not-so-innocent and carefree trips around the countryside, she could feel the burning at her eyes again and squinted hard to keep the tears from coming.

"No, ma'am, we don't have time for that." she chided herself in the lonely house, voice trembling and hands shaking.

Packing and prepping took her late into the night and when she settled down to sleep, exhaustion won out. The meeting with Sesshoumaru, explaining everything to Sango, and all of her daily duties finally came crashing down on her and she was ready to sleep well for the first time in days. Knowing tomorrow, she would be doing something useful was a relief.

She rolled over from her spot on the left side of the large futon and ran the back of her right hand reverently over the empty space where her husband should be. Before she could stop herself, she was rolled all the way over and burying her nose in his welled-out side of the bed, trying to remember exactly what he had smelled like. The forest after a storm and that decidedly male spice she couldn't put a name to.

Blue eyes drifted up to the window over their bed from her position admiring the remnant scent of her love and she noticed the full moon. Maybe he was out there looking at the same moon and remembering their wedding night, too. Maybe.

…

Kagome woke early and packed up to leave. She bundled up all of the perishable food and took it over to Sango and Miroku. With one more round of hugs and a letter left for Shippou, she told them all goodbye and was ready to go. Miroku handed her a few ofuda and some short but neatly planed boards, per her request last night, and hugged her warmly. She turned around a few times to tell them goodbye again before she was too far away.

One more place to stop before leaving Edo. Well, two.

Kagome hefted the pack more comfortably behind her and began to climb the slope up the hill to the Bone Eater's Well.

She sighed as she reached it. The power humming in the depths of the well was comforting. The knowledge that it was open to her should she decide to go home gave her peace. A soft smile came at the thought of being back in her room in her mother's house surrounded by comfortable and familiar things.

The priestess knew the time of life where such things existed for her was drawing to a close. This quest to find her wayward husband was a wake-up call. She was no longer the starry eyed and naïve girl that had arrived from Tokyo so many months ago. Her immaturity had kept the bulk of her past horrors from affecting her too deeply but now she was a grown, married woman. She shuddered to think of some of the things they had all faced together. It seemed like another life.

But no one would be helping her this time around. Throughout her past months of training, she had learned her limits and found confidence. Her abilities were her own and she had finally mastered them. The young priestess knew her own mind and discovered who she was now without Inuyasha. The knowledge was hard-won and while it might have been better and more fulfilling in the short term to have him there to share in her discoveries, she felt like the accomplishment was all the sweeter for having mastered her physical and spiritual selves with only her teachers to witness.

Kagome was on her own to find and help Inuyasha recover and she would be strong enough on her own.

Pulling out the ofuda Miroku had made, it was decision time. If she sealed the well, there was a real fear that it might not work again in the future. Kagome hadn't made a study of it in the time she had been here. Honestly, life had been busy and happy and she hadn't felt the need. If she and Inuyasha were married in modern Tokyo, there wouldn't have been many trips home either. She consoled herself that that absolutely was true and let the guilt skitter away to the back of her mind.

If Inuyasha made it back here in his crazed state, if he went through the well… She already felt responsible for his affliction and her own failure to notice but if he wreaked havoc in modern Tokyo, it would most definitely be her fault. This was the right thing to do.

Laying the backpack aside and removing her weapons, Kagome reached for the boards and laid them neatly and precisely to cover the well. Handling the ofuda, she charged them as she laid them down across the boards, creating a weave of binding seals and wooden planks that would prevent travel from both sides.

When the humming of power beneath the well stopped, she exhaled a small sob and covered the face with her hands. She was protecting the future from her husband. This was all so wrong.

'It's not even ten in the morning, and I'm crying at the well over Inuyasha again. I'd laugh at how familiar this is if it weren't so screwed up…'

Wiping the self-pity from her face, Kagome gathered her things and headed back toward town.

…

In Tokyo, a pair of green eyes flashed in the total darkness of the well house on the Higurashi shrine at the tingling sensation of reiki coming from the well. Delicate and tanned hands with blunt fingernails pulled out a cell phone from a dark brown cargo pocket and dialed a number.

"Hey, Pop. Sorry, it just slipped out. Yeah, she's sealing the well. I know, I won't. Mm hmm. Yep, see you back there in a bit."

Shippou ended the call and pocketed the phone again. Running fingers through chopped, rich auburn hair, a sigh escaped him. He scooped up his novel and the leftovers from his takeout breakfast, and took the few steps down to the dirt floor.

He could smell her very faintly if he tried hard enough. Tiny traces of her scent from their last visit. A hand came up to rest on the lip of the well and he jerked it back when tiny sparks of her power leapt up to warn him away.

"I know, Momma, and I'm so sorry. It won't be long now."

Two weeks, maybe three at most, and she'd be back. They could count down the days for the first time in five hundred years. Their reunion would be so bittersweet.

He'd finally have his mother back. His widowed mother.

…

Back in Edo, the morning of her departure…

"Good morning, Kaede-sama! How are you feeling this morning?" Kagome chirped as she stepped into the house, not wanting to worry the elder priestess.

"As well as ever, child. Why do ye ask?" The old miko smiled as she stirred something in a pot over the fire.

"Well, I'm leaving to find Inuyasha. He hasn't been home in weeks and I'm worried. Will you be okay if I leave? Can you handle everything? Miroku has said he'll do as much as he can to help while I'm gone."

"Of course, Kagome. We'll be fine. Take care of yourself, child, and send word as soon as you can. That boy is more apt to get into trouble than a hen in a fox den. Is there anything you need before you go? I'll gather up some herbs for you to take, just in case."

"Thank you, Kaede-sama. Actually, I do have one small request." Kagome asked, stepping out of the way as the old miko started bustling around gathering this and that from shelves and bowls.

"Ne? What is it, my child?"

"Do you still have the kotodama?"

...