Chapter Eight -

A Startling Realization

The familiar blue glow surrounded Inuyasha, and when his feet hit ground again, he angrily kicked the side of the well.  He was alone.  Now he knew he had to go back, but the sweet scent of Kagome reached his nose, weakening his willpower.

He jumped to the top of the well, and took a good whiff of the scent.  She always smells so good, he thought.  Before he could change his mind, he forced himself to jump back into the well, and soon found himself back in his time.  Suki sat at his feet.

"It didn't work, otou!" she cried, jumping into his arms.

"We'll just have to wait until she returns," he said, though every part of him protested against that.  What's the matter with you? He thought, jumping out of the well.  You're strong, surely you can live without her for a little longer!

Walking back to their home, his heart ached as he caught her faint scent, which lingered on everything in the house.  Kagome…when will you come back to me?

"Otou?" Suki said, shaking him out of his thoughts.

"Nande?"

"Um…I could go stay with Sango-san, and you could visit okaa."

The idea made so much sense it almost made his head spin.  Then, suddenly feeling bad about it, he looked down at the girl.

"Don't you want to see okaa too?" he asked.

"Yeah, but you can go see her now.  I don't mind staying with Sango-san.  I'll get to play with Hisoka-kun!"

As he thought about it, he found himself unable to resist the idea.  "Come on, I'll take you to the village."

With his daughter on his shoulders, Inuyasha ran quickly to the sleeping village, and quietly entered the hut where Sango and Miroku lived.

"Oi," he called out in a loud whisper.  Neither of them stirred.  He then kicked Miroku's legs, and the houshi jumped up.

"Gah!" he cried out, before noticing familiar silver hair in the darkness.  "Inuyasha!  What in the world…?"

"You sure go to bed early.  Look, Miroku, I need a favor," Inuyasha said, kneeling down beside him.  "Can Suki stay here until tomorrow?  I'm going to go see Kagome."

Miroku grinned.  "Oh, spending the night at Kagome's house in her time…"

He was rewarded with a lump on his head.  "Baka, just do what I'm asking!"

"Calm down, Inuyasha.  There's nothing to be ashamed of.  After all, you are married."

The hanyou fought the urge to hit him again.  Instead, he pulled Suki off of his shoulders.

"Stay here with Miroku, Suki," he ordered.  "I'll be back tomorrow.  Maybe I'll even have okaa with me."

"I will, otou!" she said, hugging his neck.  Inuyasha gave Miroku a death glare.

"If anything happens to her…"

The human held his hands up in surrender.  "Alright, alright, don't worry.  You have fun.  Don't rush back." He winked, and Inuyasha shoved him.

"Keh," the hanyou muttered, before departing.  Confident that Suki would be ok, he ran at top speed back to the well, and jumped in.

*          *            *

Kagome was sitting on her old bed drying her hair when she heard the window slide open.  Looking over, she was surprised to see Inuyasha climb in through her window.

"Inuyasha!" she exclaimed, jumping up.  He grabbed her and hugged her tightly, immensely happy now that he'd finally come to see her.

"Kagome…" he whispered into her hair, hugging her tighter.  Then he adjusted their position so he could see her face, before kissing her deeply.

She melted in his arms.  They'd long since gotten over their nervousness of being with each other, and after having Suki, they rarely had the chance to be alone like this.

"This was…unexpected…" she said breathlessly when they parted.  "Where is Suki?"

"With Miroku and Sango," he said distractedly, all of his concentration on her.  He kissed down her neck, before reaching a shirt collar.  "You've got stupid clothes on again," he muttered.

"I like to fit in when I'm here," she told him.

"But you're so much prettier in the clothes from my world.  These clothes aren't feminine."

She looked down at her pajamas.  "Yes they are!  Guys don't wear stuff like this!"

He cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Ok, ok, I guess in your time these would be guy clothes," she admitted.

"Exactly.  The clothes in this world are messed up."

She tweaked one of his ears.  "You didn't come here just to lecture me about my clothes, did you?"

She got another kiss in response.  "I missed you," he whispered, settling his head on her shoulder.

"Well, lets at least let my family know you're here." With some difficulty, Kagome managed to get him to release her.  She then took his hand and walked downstairs.

"Mama, look who came to visit!" she said cheerfully.  Mrs. Higurashi looked up from the book she was reading, and smiled brightly.

"Inuyasha!" she exclaimed.  "You look so handsome!  I love your new clothes!"

"Inuyasha-oniisan!"

He turned to see a much older Sota standing behind him.  The now teenage boy looked as thrilled as he had as a kid to see his hanyou "brother".

"Hey kid, you got big!" Inuyasha said.  "You're almost as tall as me now!"

"What do you mean 'almost'?  I am as tall as you!"

"How long are you staying, Inuyasha?" Mrs. Higurashi asked.  He turned back towards her.

"Just until the morning," he said.  "I left our daughter with some friends, so I have to go retrieve her tomorrow."

"Well have a nice visit.  I'm glad you came."

Kagome took his hand again and led him back up to her old room.  It was exactly how she'd left it, for Mrs. Higurashi wanted her daughter to feel at home when she visited.  The two of them sat on the edge of her bed and just enjoyed being together for a moment.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha said after about a minute.  "Where'd the old man go?  I didn't see him downstairs."

She looked down.  "Jiichan [grandfather] had a heart attack last year and died.  Mama had no way of telling me."

"Oh…" Inuyasha looked at the small feminine hand he was holding, and was suddenly struck by how frail humans were.  He remembered his mother's death when he was little, as well as all of the other humans he'd seen die.  Unconsciously, he held Kagome closer.

It doesn't seem fair that I'm practically immortal, while my wife only has about seventy years to live, he thought.  She'll be gone and I'll still be young with most of my life ahead of me.  It's just not fair.

Temporarily releasing her, he removed his haori, and then pulled her down to lie beside him, holding her protectively.  She reached over to turn off the light, and they fell asleep in each other's arms.