Kagome could hardly believe it. Now that night had fallen, and the joyous reunion with her friends had time to settle, it was finally sinking in. The well had opened and she had returned to Kaede's village. Everyone else had finally gone to bed, after the happy celebration of her return.
She couldn't sleep, tossing and turning on the sleeping mat in Kaede's hut. She felt like a cup overflowing that had previously been dry and empty, uncomfortably full of feelings with no outlet. It was a relief when she felt Inuyasha's fingers gently touch hers, and she answered the silent question immediately, following him out into the moonlight.
They walked silently, hand in hand, fingers interlaced, her smaller hand lost in the strength of his. She gazed at the stars in delight, wondering at their brightness. She didn't mind where he took her, as long as he kept holding her hand, an anchor in a world that was both achingly familiar but dulled in her memory by three years absence. Three long empty years, where on the surface, she fulfilled everything required of her, but inside, fading a little more each day.
They reached the Goshinboku, where Inuyasha sat down on the soft grass, then tugged on her hand. Taking the hint, she sat down next to him, and was immediately gathered into his lap by his strong arms, straddling his thighs, and he was holding her like he'd never let her go. She was finally in his arms again, sitting underneath the Goshinboku, a special place with so many memories, where she'd often visited in her dreams.
Her eyes drifted closed, because finally, she's safe, she's right where she needs to be. A single tear rolled down her cheek, not of sadness or happiness, but pure overwhelming emotion. There was no reason to fear the nightmares in the dark anymore, because Inuyasha was holding her.
She concentrated on the feel of his arms around her shoulders and waist, the strength of his hands that she remembered. The hands and claws that could be so fierce, but were always gentle for her. His fingers rubbed circles on her lower back, and her heart almost skipped a beat, because she'd almost lost hope, almost begun to believe she would never get to feel the touch of his hands again, that the well would keep them apart forever. With trembling fingers she reached out to touch his face, felt the softness of his skin, the plush cushion of his lower lip. Her Inuyasha. He was here. She was home.
Inuyasha couldn't look away. He'd dreamed of holding her like this for so long, and now that she'd come back to him he drank her in, eagerly examining every small change in her face that three years apart have brought. Her face a little thinner, a little paler. Her lips more lush and full, her hair longer than it was before. But essentially, she's still his Kagome, and he can't get enough.
He felt ashamed that he had almost given up. Almost resigned himself to a lonely existence without her; his only consolation a bitter hope that he might live long enough to see her again in the future. But now she had come back to him.
He delighted in the weight of her smaller body resting in his lap. It felt real, substantial, confirming to him that he wasn't dreaming. It wouldn't be like all those other times when he reached for her in his dreams to wake up to reality, the unrelenting loneliness hollowing his chest, the ache far worse than Sesshomaru's fist though his gut had ever been.
He pulled her closer, careful of his claws. Was she always this soft and small? This delicate in his arms? And her scent. He'd almost forgotten how comforted he felt by her scent when he was this close to her. He smelt the salty tang of a tear, watched it roll down her cheek, reflecting the moonlight like a diamond shard, and he circled his fingers in her lower back, hoping to bring her comfort. Hoping his touch was rebuilding her as much as hers was rebuilding him. And then she reached out and placed a finger gently on his lower lip, a butterfly's touch. His Kagome. She was here. He was home.