A/N: You know, I don't understand why all these old books we have to read for school are renouned classics. I couldn't get over how horribly bad and cliche the book I had to read yesterday was. Ugh! I swear, if I was an editor with a pen back then, then Oscar Wilde, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and all those other authors would have never gotten published.

My teacher better have a good sense of humor...


Chapter 29: The Distant Future

At first, right after we were mated, I could see that Inuyasha was still worried that I would somehow feel that I didn't love him as I said I did. I thought this was the way it would always be, and though it was incredibly annoying, I believed that I would just have to live with it.

But as time went on, I began to see yet another incredible change in my hanyou. I could tell that with all the times I told him I loved him, and with all my smiles and proof of my love, he was beginning to lose his fear. There was always the same fear there, but it wasn't at all like it was before. A month passed, where I caught up on my school work (I had now passed into the eleventh grade and had many things to be done in order to pass this year), and went back to the village every so often, and then there were always the little trysts Inuyasha and I would go on in the forests of the Sengoku Jidai, in which the secrecy made it much more enthralling.

At first I warned him that I didn't want to be sneaking off for our "quality time" too often so our friends (or Naraku) would catch on, but Inuyasha, being a male inu-hanyou, somehow made it so we were sneaking off every opportunity. I was afraid that our lame excuses would soon be seen through ("I seem to have forgotten the ramen, so I guess we need to go back now." "I think Inuyasha senses a youkai deep in the forest. We'll take care of it. Do not come after us." ) and though they did get a little suspicious, I suppose they thought we were only going off to make out rather than other things.

Though I felt a little bad about lying to Sango-chan, and Miroku-sama, sometimes I honestly did not care. I had the man I loved in my arms, and every morning I would awake with him by my side. Can any woman really say they haven't kept things like this quiet, for a time at least, to enjoy the thrill of the secret all to themselves? But it wasn't out of sheer fun that I didn't tell anyone…It was because both Inuyasha and I knew our friends wouldn't be happy when they found out.

Even though we both knew it would probably lead to trouble, we didn't tell them anyway, and kept this secret of ours for a while. Summer came upon us sooner than we anticipated, and that summer, that beautiful summer, was the last time I laughed without care, not feeling the weight of my decisions upon me…


Kagome waved bye to her friends as she and Inuyasha stood in front of Kaede's hut, looking ready to go. "Okay, I'll see you all in a week!"

Sango and Shippou returned the gesture. "Have a good trip!" the kitsune told them, as Inuyasha and Kagome headed out past the village, towards the forest.

Once their friends had disappeared, Sango and Shippou walked back into Kaede's hut, sitting by the fire. Miroku was already there, helping the aging miko prepare their dinner. "And so they're off," Sango told them, Kirara jumping into her lap with a mew.

"When will they be back?" Shippou asked, folding his arms in annoyance. He wanted to go with them, but Kagome had already said it was best if he stayed behind.

"Kagome-chan did say it would probably be a week." The exterminator glanced back at Miroku, who was currently staring into the fire. "But doesn't it seem odd to you, Houshi-sama? I expected Kagome-chan would one day want to go visit Jinenji again, but Inuyasha seemed adamant to go as well…"

"He probably wants to spend some time with Kagome-sama," the monk supplied. "You know him, he's been sneaking off with her every spare moment he can get."

"And Kagome-chan has agreed without a second thought," Sango finished. After a pause, she added, "They're hiding something."

Kaede sat down by the fire and began adding herbs to the stew. "I don't think its anything of the sort," she explained, "Inuyasha was always sneaking off with my sister back when she was alive…he just doesn't like spending time with others when he could be alone with Kagome."

"Why would he want to be alone with Kagome, anyway?" Shippou asked. "It's not like we tease him any more…mostly."

The monk gratefully accepted this opportunity. Grinning, he began, "Well, Shippou, when two people love each other very, very much—"

"Houshi-sama!" Sango yelled, smacking the monk upside the head. "Shippou is just a child!"

Rubbing the bump that had appeared on his forehead, Miroku gave a nervous chuckle, "Well, Sango, you know, he is going to be needing this talk sooner or later."

"And you're not going to be the one giving it!" she roared, oblivious to Shippou glancing between either of them, trying to discern what they were talking about.

After she finished scolding him she continued, "Anyways, I was going to say that Inuyasha's also been acting differently, Instead of blindly going after Naraku, he seems to content to stay in the village, or go back to Kagome-chan's time, not really wanting to go search of him like he used to."

"We haven't gotten any leads for quite a while, Sango," Miroku reminded her. "It's not like we can just go charging after Naraku when we don't even know where he is."

"That's not the point!" the exterminator yelled. "We haven't seen or heard from Naraku in a year, doesn't that sound suspicious to you? Inuyasha would go after Naraku even if we didn't know where he is, he's done it before. My point is that all he seems content to do right now is to sneak off doing who-knows-what with Kagome…it isn't like him at all!"

After she finished, there was silence in the hut. She was right, of course, it did seem odd that Naraku was making no move to attack them…which mean that he was probably building up his strength in order to attack them with something greater in mind. He had done this before; when he had closed himself off behind a barrier in Mt. Hakurei, but this time he had been hidden for much longer. The only lead they had about what he was up to was…

"The Curse of the Shikon no Tama," the monk said, clenching his cursed hand. "Naraku must be doing something in relation to that."

Shippou reminded him, "But we can't learn anything unless the shard we use is tainted. How are we going to learn what it is if all the shards we have are pure?"

"I know, that is where the problem lies." Gazing into the fire, he thought about it a moment. "All the shards with Kagome-sama are pure however…when I had them, they weren't nearly as pure as they are in her hands…"

Sango glanced at him, with curious eyes. "What are you saying, Houshi-sama?"

"Kagome-sama's not the only one who could use necromancy in order to find out what we need, I could do it as well," Miroku explained. "In fact, it might work better for me since I do not posses quite the purifying power she does."

The exterminator nodded in agreement, "Yes, it might work, considering that you're not nearly as pure as she is."

Miroku sighed and hung his head. "You wound me, Sango."

"But what's Inuyasha going to say when we've planned this all without him?" Shippou piped up.

Ruffling his hair and giving the kitsune a grin, Miroku reminded him, "But he's not going to care, remember? He's just going to sneak off with Kagome-sama, again."

Sango rolled her eyes, "You can't exactly blame them. If two people are in love, they want to spend lots of time together." When Miroku glanced at her, his violet eyes lit in longing, she suddenly turned away, feeling her heart pang against her chest.

The monk took a second to clear his throat. "But…you don't think Kagome-sama and Inuyasha are being…irresponsible, do you?"

"Of course not," Sango replied at once. "Even if Inuyasha tried to be, Kagome-chan wouldn't let them. She knows none of us can afford that until Naraku is defeated. Kagome-chan knows that even when we get so much free time now without knowing where Naraku is, she knows overall that it's not the time to take risks and get ahead of ourselves. It's not supposed to be the time for fun."


"Inuyasha!" Kagome half screamed, half squealed, as the hanyou tackled her into the water, creating a giant splash that rose up around them. They fell under the water briefly, still tangled around each other, before breaking the surface once more, both of them completely soaked.

Smacking him playfully, she chastised, "You baka! I told you I was just a little hot! Not that I wanted to get totally soaked!"

Inuyasha shrugged, and said with a grin, "Don't make suggestions then." He shook his head briefly, like a dog, and flung water droplets everywhere…including on Kagome.

Angry about that and her previous soakings, she yelled, "How would you like to be dragged under by some bigger force, not knowing when they would let you up?"

He rolled his eyes, "Keh, like you could." However, an instant later, when he saw the way her eyes narrowed, the hanyou regretted his words. "Uh, wait, Kagome--"

"Sit!" she ordered, sending the hanyou back under once again while she marched off towards the shallow side of the lake. She wasn't worried about him, it was only about four feet deep, he could hold his breath longer than any human, and soon he would be lifted anyway. Kagome was worried about how her hanyou would react once he broke the surface once more. She took off into a run once the water only reached a foot as she heard Inuyasha pop back up, sputtering and cursing.

"Kagome!" he yelled, chasing after her as she ran towards the small waterfall at the back of the lake. She couldn't help but smile as he ran after her, going only half his normal speed.

The instant she broke through the waterfall, into the small culet behind, the hanyou caught up with her, grabbing her by the waist and turning her around, pinning he against the slick, rock face. "That wasn't funny!" Inuyasha roared, but the way he flicked his ears to get the small droplets left by the waterfall off made Kagome giggle slightly.

"It wasn't!" he retaliated. "How would you like being slammed to the bottom of that lake, unable to breathe for a minute, huh?"

Looking up at him with a mischievous glint in her eye, Kagome asked huskily, "And what are you going to do about it?"

Inuyasha stared at her, stunned that she would make such a comment at this time. The gentle hiss of the waterfall behind and the sounds of their breath were the only noises around them… "You're going to have to be punished," he told her, his eyes picking up their own sparkle of mirth.

It felt like ages since the last time they were alone without her friends and family to get in their way. "Then punish me, Inuyasha," she grinned, right before his powerful arms grasped her and pulled her into a searing kiss. She responded back with more than enough willingness. But when had they become so desperate for moments like these, anyway?

When they finally broke away, panting and clinging to each other, bellies full of fire, Inuyasha grinned, "You know, you should probably get out of those wet clothes, you might catch a cold."

Kagome smacked him. "You animal! It's not even dark yet!"

Smirking, Inuyasha said, "That's never stopped you before. Besides, weren't you the one that thought of this little getaway?"

Kagome pouted, "I wanted to go visit a friend, not come out here to…"

Leaning closer to her, the hanyou whispered, sending chills down her spine, "They won't mind if we're one day late."

She turned away from him for a moment, to face the waterfall and back towards the small lake. "Inuyasha?"

"Yeah?"

Turning back to him with a grin, she yelled, "Race you back to land!" and promptly took off.

Inuyasha ran after, tackling her once more when they reached the deep part and pulling her under again, this time meeting her lips in a fiery kiss as they went under. When they broke the surface, they were laughing. The hanyou picked Kagome up once more and spun her around, flinging water droplets everywhere, before kissing her uncontrollably, forgetting the fact that they were standing in a cold lake and both soaked to the bone.

Perhaps they would need to "dry off" soon after all…


It was nighttime when Kagome and Inuyasha lay by the dying fire, underneath the blanket she had brought from her time, Inuyasha's arm around Kagome's waist, pulling her towards his body. She snuggled against him, her head tucked under his chin and her fingers lazily drawing imaginary circles on his bare chest. They both looked up at the endless expanse of stars, content.

"Hey, Inuyasha…" Kagome asked, her breath teasing his shoulder.

"Yeah?"

She paused for only a moment. "What do you think of when you think of the future?"

"The future?" He glanced down at her with suspicion, and she nodded. Looking away, he sighed, "I don't know…"

Propping herself up on her elbow, Kagome asked, "Well, you know, after we defeat Naraku, what do you want to do?"

The hanyou glanced back at her, his eyes softening when they saw the seashell necklace still around her neck. "I thought maybe we could get ourselves a hut of our own."

Kagome giggled, "That much is obvious." His right hand captured her left, the meeting of their mating scars making them both feel warm and fuzzy…a welcoming, loving feeling. "I mean," she sighed and leaned against his chest. "Do you want any children…someday?"

"Maybe," he was unable to keep from smiling back at her loving face. "But not for a long time. We've got our whole lives to live together, Kagome. And I want to spend most of it with you…just you."

"I know, but I still want children sooner than that." Glancing back up at the endless stars, she told him, "Mama says she doesn't want me having children until after I graduate. That's two years. But after that…"

Her smile was enough to melt Inuyasha's resolve. "I guess we'll talk after that," he murmured, pulling her against him once more as they glanced up at the endless sky.

After another minute of quiet, savoring the feeling of being in each other's arms, Kagome spoke, "I like looking up at the stars."

"I know," he muttered. He had heard her say that so many times before.

"Do you know why I like looking up at the stars, Inuyasha?" she asked, glancing back at him.

Deciding to humor her, he asked, "Why?"

Kagome leaned her head against his chest. She was beginning to get sleepy. "Mama always told me that stars were the spirits of loved ones, always watching over us…This was right after…after my father died when I was eleven." Feeling her tense at the mention of her father, Inuyasha pulled her closer, offering his support. "Mama told Souta and me that no matter where he was, he would always watch over us, and keep us safe."

There was a pause, and Kagome thought Inuyasha wouldn't respond, but to her surprise, he did. "My mother used to say that too."

"Really?"

"Yeah…only she said it a little different…She said that the stars were people who refused to go on to the afterlife, who stayed behind for those who they were waiting for."

Closing her eyes and snuggling against her mate, Kagome whispered, "I like that."

As she slowly drifted off to sleep, Inuyasha closed his eyes and let sleep take him as well, her scent filling his nose, making him feel comfortable and safe as he slept.


Naraku looked into Kanna's mirror, seeing the hanyou and miko both sleeping so soundly in each other's arms. He grinned as his hand closed around the Shikon no Tama. He knew Inuyasha and Kagome would eventually give in to their desires like this, and now that they had, it made his work a lot easier.

"Soon," he laughed, as the image faded. "Soon you will know what it is like to live your worst nightmare."