Edited: 7/20/2011
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.
Dashed Hopes
Chapter Twenty: The Sunset Shrine
Kohaku and Rin, unaware of the impact of those words, went back to the TV show, and Sesshoumaru continued on his paper. Souta and Shippou sat with goofy smiles, all happy about the idea of going back to Kyoto.
The other three, however, weren't doing as well with Kagome's news.
"Home?" Sango squeaked, her voice losing its normal confident edge.
"Home," Miroku echoed dully.
Inuyasha flinched like he'd just been slapped. Although he wasn't surprised, he did still feel a little betrayed. He'd feared this ever since the police station—Kagome going home had made sense after Naraku's death—but that didn't mean he liked the idea.
Kagome, who had been gazing out the window when she'd told them, tentatively turned back to her three friends, unaware of their reactions. "That's not all," she continued, sounding nervous. "I was hoping…"
The way she was dragging out her words was killing her friends. Sango felt tears prick her eyes, and Miroku wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders and pulled her towards him. Inuyasha kept glaring.
"That you would like to, well…"
"Yes?" Sango pushed.
"Would you like to come with us?" Kagome finished in a rush, lifting pleading eyes.
Already, Inuyasha's mouth was hanging open, ready to yell until the full impact of her words hit him.
Go with?
"You could come and meet my other friends and family, and I can show you the shrine. I can find some way to repay all of you," Kagome explained hopefully.
Neither Sango nor Miroku could stop smiling, while Inuyasha remained speechless.
Thank goodness for Sesshoumaru.
"Thank you but no thank you, Kagome. Rin and I need to go to the D-O-C-T-O-R."
Kagome couldn't help grinning at the way he'd spelled out doctor to avoid alarming the little girl; it seemed like such a parent thing to do. "Oh, Souta? Shippou? Would you mind?" she asked, looking to her brother and son.
"We can see mom? And Kohaku could come and see the sacred tree?" Souta asked, bouncing in his seat. "That would be awesome!"
"Well, yes to Kohaku coming only if Sango says he can."
"Kagome!" Sango said excitedly. "Of course I'd love to go to Kyoto with you. Kohaku, too! Thank you!" Sango bolted out of her chair to hug the very relieved Kagome.
"Well, I'm going. All the better that Sango's going too." Miroku grinned.
"Thanks; it means a lot that you'd like to come!" Kagome gushed. "Inuyasha?" she asked, peering at him. She was hoping he'd say yes. For the longest time, she'd been worried that when her problems were gone, that Inuyasha would kick her out of the company and his house. When she looked at him and saw the angry and surprised expression on his face, plus the way he was being so silent, she took it the wrong way. Her bottom lip trembled slightly; slowly, she began to turn away from him.
"Wait!" Inuyasha started trying to kick his brain into gear.
"Yeah?"
"Are you telling us that you're not just going to take off?"
"Of course I wouldn't do that," Kagome said slowly, completely confused.
"Ah." Inuyasha crossed his arms, and Kagome stared blankly at him, deciding to take that as a Sure, I'd love to go to Kyoto with you, Kagome. Inuyasha's cheeks reddened as relief swept through him. Kagome didn't want to leave. Well, she did want to leave, just not in the way he'd been losing sleep over. She wasn't going to desert them.
Now all that scene needed was a group hug.
It was almost depressing how short of time it took Kagome to pack up her things. Even after her shopping trip with Sango weeks earlier, she still only had enough clothes to fill a single duffel bag. Everything else she stowed away in a backpack. Once she was done, Kagome stood in the doorway and surveyed the bedroom she had been living out of for such a short time, realizing that she was leaving nothing behind to show that she had ever been there at all.
"Kagome?" her little brother asked, surprising her as he appeared in the hallway. She'd been so intent on being nostalgic that she'd missed his footsteps.
"Yeah, Souta?"
"When are we going to leave?" he asked, coming to stand next to her. He wrapped his arms around her and leaned into her side, also looking into barren guestroom.
"Tomorrow," she answered, tugging him closer. She ruffled his hair and gave him a sentimental smile. "We'll show up on the shrine steps and surprise the heck out of Mama."
Souta smiled back crookedly, already anticipating the look on their mother's face. "Hey, thanks," he said suddenly, looking shy.
"For what?"
"For keeping me. Most sisters would never have wanted their little brothers hanging around, but you let me stay with you for four years; plus, you really protected me," he confided quietly. "I know things got rough for Mom after Dad died, and I think it really helped that you took care of me when she had to focus on the shrine and taking care of Grandpa."
"I'd never leave you, Souta," Kagome promised, chucking him playfully on the chin.
"I know." Souta squeezed her one more time before letting go. He stepped back and said, "I'm going to go pack and help Shippou."
"Hey, don't forget anything!" Kagome called after him as he raced away, but she wasn't sure if he'd actually heard her.
With a chuckle, Kagome went back into the room and sat down on the edge of the bed, propping her feet on top of the small pile of luggage. Before she could get too deep into her memories, someone standing in the doorway knocked on the doorjamb.
"Hey," Kagome told Inuyasha with a smile.
He walked and collapsed in the armchair next to the bed, looking a bit nostalgic himself. It was an odd and unfamiliar expression on him, and it seemed a little out of place. "Hi. So… what are you doing?" He asked, glancing over at her. The way he spoke told Kagome that he had something to say, but he was going to beat around the bush first.
"I just finished packing."
"Why?"
"So, I'll have clothes," Kagome explained, trying to wait patiently to figure out his angle.
"Why?"
"Because I don't want to run around the shrine naked."
"Why? I wouldn't mind and neither would Miroku, I'm sure," he joked with a chuckle.
Her patience broke as a blush flared on her cheeks. "Inuyasha!" Here, she smacked him in the shoulder to show her annoyance. "Out!" she ordered while pointing towards the open door.
"Fine," he huffed childishly and lurched out of his chair. He started towards the hallway, but he stopped when he felt her reach out and grab his wrist.
"Thanks," she told him sincerely, surprising him. Her expression had melted from irritated to serious, reminding him of how restrained and somber she'd been back when she'd first arrived in Tokyo. Inuyasha liked Kagome better when she was smiling.
"For what?"
"For a lot of things," she said, still holding onto his wrist to keep his attention. She didn't have to do that, he thought, because she would always have his attention. "Thanks for helping me out when we were still practically strangers. Thanks for watching over the boys and giving me a chance at work. For coming to my rescue and saving me—more than once, but especially this last time. Thanks for standing by me, and most of all, thank you for just being there for me, Inuyasha."
"I…" he began, unsure of how to answer that. In the end, there seemed to be only one thing he could say. "You're welcome."
The way Kagome smiled at him then made the entire room feel brighter. It made his bruises and cuts from the confrontation with Naraku stop hurting so much. It even made the possibility of her leaving Tokyo for good seem not as painful.
"Hey, Kagome," he said, wishing he could give her the same feeling that she gave him at that very moment. "Thank you, too." With that, Inuyasha pulled out of her grasp and walked out of the room without an explanation.
The beginnings of one of Kagome's favorite pop songs drifted out from the car radio, and she started to hum along and drum her fingers on the dashboard to the beat. Before the first stanza even finished, Inuyasha, who was driving, reached over and clicked a button to turn the sound off.
"Inuyasha!"
"What?"
"I liked that song!" Kagome protested, glaring at him from the passenger seat heatedly. She even folded her arms over her chest over the seatbelt to enhance her air of irritableness.
"Oh, yeah? Well bite me!"
"Eww, Inuyasha!"
"What?" he snapped again, glancing away from the road and at Kagome.
"I'm not kinky; why would I want to bite you?"
"Kagome! It's an expression!"
"Oh," she muttered, her cheeks heating in a blush as she remembered that it was, in fact, only a common expression. Clearly her mind had been corrupted from the amount of time she'd been spending with Miroku.
"Will you two shut up, please, and turn the radio back on?" Souta asked in a very irritated voice from the backseat. "And I really, really didn't need to hear that 'bite me' comment."
"Shut up, Souta," Kagome snapped, sounding like she had back when she was a teenager and still found Souta the most annoying person in the world.
"Feh," her little brother countered.
"Hey, I'm a trendsetter," Inuyasha announced with a laugh. "You sounded just like me there, little man." His laughter was cut short when Kagome smacked him on the arm with a resounding smack noise.
"Ow!" he protested, risking looking away from the road again to glare at the woman. "Kagome!"
"Keep your eyes on the road, you idiot! I'd like to live to make it to my shrine," Kagome scolded. "And the radio is going back on."
"This is my car," Inuyasha pointed out, pouting.
"And your point is what exactly?"
"Feh," Inuyasha muttered, giving up and turning the radio back on. The chorus of a depressing oldies song were playing, and he immediately clicked the 'off' button again. "Yeah, that's it. The radio is staying off."
"You're just irritable, because you've been in a car for two hours," Kagome suggested.
"No, I'm irritable, because we are driving in a convertible when it feels like winter. Even with the top up and the heater one, it's freezing in here," he argued.
"I told you we should have taken the train," Kagome muttered under her breath. Due to the tight quarters of the car, Inuyasha heard her anyway. "Who drives from Tokyo to Kyoto instead of taking the train?"
"Me," he told her decisively, effectively ending the conversation.
Following close behind them was the SUV that carried Miroku, Sango, and Kohaku. There was no way all seven of them could have fit comfortably in one car for the almost three hour drive, so they'd decided to split up. This seemed like the most logical division.
In the back seat, Shippou was sleeping soundly, snuggled up against the door. He'd been knocked out almost since they left the Youkai household. Kagome wished she was so excited, so she could get a nap in, too. The car was so cramped, that she was feeling a little claustrophobic and sleep would have been a welcome relief.
Forty-five minutes later, not long after they entered the suburbs of Kyoto, Kagome directed Inuyasha towards a little neighborhood. He parked at the curb, and the group piled from the car just as Sango pulled up behind them. The seven gathered at the base of the wide steps, looking up the hill to see the welcoming archway and all the trees that surrounded it.
"Wow," Sango breathed. Miroku merely nodded his agreement, at a loss for words.
Tears pricked Kagome's eyes.
She was finally home.
Fighting down the overwhelming emotional response to being back at her childhood house, Kagome linked her arm with Inuyasha and tugged him towards the steps. Souta pushed by them and ran ahead, Shippou and Kohaku not far behind. When they reached the top, Kagome spotted her mother—Mrs. Higurashi was sweeping the main courtyard, gathering fallen leaves into a small pile to get rid of. Grandfather was kneeling close by, fixing a shutter with his old toolbox.
"Mama!" Kagome shouted, dropping her grip on Inuyasha and rushing forward. Mrs. Higurashi looked up, her face overcome with emotion.
"Kagome!" she called. The broom fell from her hand. "Souta! Shippou!"
"Mama," her daughter repeated, hurrying forward and throwing herself at Mrs. Higurashi. Souta and Shippou joined in, hugging her from either side.
Grandfather dropped the hammer in his hand and stood up, teary-eyed. "Children!" Kagome gestured with one arm to join them, and he did.
Touched, the others stood back and watched, afraid to interrupt or ruin the moment. Sango was so excited to see how happy everyone looked that she started to cry herself, looking away from Miroku in embarrassment. He only chuckled and bumped his shoulder playfully against hers.
"Oh, Mama!" Kagome was sobbing, but she was smiling.
"Kagome, dear! We've missed you so much. Kouga told us you were doing alright, so we tried not to worry. When you called, we were so happy!"
"Oh, Mama! It was horrible," Kagome confided tearfully. She then launched into a description of what had happened, but she was so upset and overwhelmed that she more or less babble incoherently. "He… and then… of course Naraku… and you should have heard him… splat!"
Mrs. Higurashi hushed her daughter gently and patted her on the head as if she were still a little girl. "It's all right, dear," she promised soothingly. But then, in a very confused voice, she asked, "What went splat?"
"I, uh, I think I can clarify," Inuyasha said hesitantly, rubbing the back of his neck nervously as he stepped forward and gained everyone's attention.
Mrs. Higurashi tilted her head and looked at the young man carefully, and Inuyasha got the feeling that she was sizing him up. When Kagome's mother stepped forward, he tried very hard not to flinch, and then he tried even harder not to when Mrs. Higurashi enveloped him in a hug.
"Thank you for taking care of my daughter," she told him sweetly. "We owe you so much!" She let go only to hug Sango, Miroku, and Kohaku in turn.
"Mama?"
"What, Kagome, dear?"
"I've missed you."
"I've missed you too. Now let's go inside and get some tea."
Everyone relaxed as Mrs. Higurashi ushered everyone inside the house, herding the large group like cattle. When Inuyasha walked by her, Kagome's mother reached out and tugged on his sleeve. "Now… what went splat?"
Inuyasha laughed. "Let's sit down first."
Within minutes, there were people settled on every available seat in the crowded but cozy living room. Mrs. Higurashi fetched a tray of cups and a teapot, making sure everyone got one. She then brought out a plate of cookies, which the boys immediately dived in to.
"So far, from Kagome," Mrs. Higurashi began, taking a seat next to her daughter, "I've gotten: He… and then… of course Naraku… and you should have heard him… splat! …Did I miss anything?"
Miroku, who felt right at home in the shrine considering he was descended from a long line of monks, told Mrs. Higurashi rather cheerfully, "You missed nothing. That's word-for-word what Kagome said."
"So what, exactly, does it all mean?" Mrs. Higurashi prodded, quirking an eyebrow at her guests. She may have been an outstanding mother, but that did not help her any with filling in the blanks.
Inuyasha considered the order of Kagome's words, deciding that it might be less emotionally-taxing if he explained what happened instead of her. "I can try."
"Go on then."
"He pushed me (by which I mean Kagome, of course) off the top of an office building. And then Inuyasha (which would be me) came and attacked Naraku. Of course Naraku fought back, and you should have heard him when he also fell off the roof. He hit the ground with a splat sound."
"Oh, I see," Mrs. Higurashi said gently, her head tilted in thought.
"That was actually really good," Kagome praised, surprised.
"Well, I was there, wasn't I?"
Kagome laughed before nibbling on a cookie.
"So Naraku is gone? As in, really gone?" her mother asked, her eyes wide.
"That demon is gone?" Grandfather echoed.
"Yeah, he's… well, he's as gone as it gets," Kagome confirmed, smiling around at her family. "It's over."
"Then we should be grateful."
"Yes, Mama, we are."
"So," Mrs. Higurashi clapped her hands, banishing the thoughtful silence they had fallen into. "Where will you be sleeping tonight?"
Next Chapter: Stay With Me
