Trust

Inuyasha awoke to a scuffing sound just a few meters from his door. He jumped up, grabbed his hakama and tied the knot as he ran to intercept the unwanted visitor.

"It's the middle of the night, monk. Some people sleep at night," he hissed as he pushed back the screen on his door. He scowled deeply at the violet-clad man, crossing his arms over his bare chest.

"Yes, I know, but we just had a fellow race here on horseback," the man whispered urgently. The hanyou's demeanor changed instantly.

"That serious?"

"It would seem. There was a landslide just north of here, and a demon was released from a sealed mound." Inuyasha nodded then. The monk glanced down his friend's bare torso then. The hanyou was in no way dressed for travel. Despite the urgency of the matter, the monk smirked.

"Oh, and I'm sorry if I interrupted anything," he said, his tone doing nothing to hide its lewd meaning. Inuyasha scoffed.

"Only a good night's sleep, idiot." Inuyasha glanced back to his door, where inside his wife was still sleeping peacefully.

"I'll meet you at the north road in ten minutes." The monk took his leave then, allowing the hanyou time to get dressed and ready. He pulled on his clothes and hastily tucked everything into place. He shoved the Tessaiga through his hakama ties, taking one last look at his wife.

Ah, wait. She had twisted the covers again, pulling them down around her legs. God, did she look so defenseless with her arms curved above her head like that, her torso stretched and open. Inuyasha shook his head and went over to pull the covers back over her. As much as he liked waking to view her bare skin the morning after marital activities, the leaves were already changing colors, and he could sense the change in the air. He would rather the woman not freeze in her sleep.

Her arms came down to her chest, hands curling into loose fists against her collarbone. Inuyasha couldn't resist the urge to brush her bangs from her eyes, tucking a loose strand behind her ear. Her face was so serene, and his face echoed that as he brushed against her cheek.

"I'll see you tonight, okay," he whispered to her, knowing she wouldn't understand him, but she turned her face into his warm palm nonetheless. Inuyasha removed his hand and nodded. He'd try to get home before dark.

When Kagome awoke alone again, she went on with her daily routine. Every few days Inuyasha left her before dawn to work out with Sango. She was used to waking alone, and there was nothing wrong with it.

Although she argued it, Sango insisted she had baby weight that needed losing, and Kagome was happy to see Inuyasha so willing to help out their friend with that. If Kagome was speaking honestly, she thought her friend's figure was gorgeous before, and had only gotten lovelier after her children. Her chest was still heavy with milk, but in her tight black suit, she didn't appear to have a bit of extra fat on her. Her limbs muscular without looking masculine, her waist thin and her hips shapely…if Kagome was honest with herself, she almost wished she were as lovely. She wasn't going to be jealous her friend though, Sango was just as wonderful as she was beautiful.

In one discussion with the woman's husband, Miroku, it seemed he thought just the same. He knew of the few stretch marks from her pregnancies, but Kagome could tell he adored the woman, and her body, just the same as he had years ago. As for her own husband, he had commented once—though she couldn't be sure how seriously a man could be taken while growling against his wife's midriff—that no woman had ever held his gaze before her.

Oh, but here she was off on a tangent. She was supposed to be running to the river to rinse the wild herbs she had collected. To her surprise, along the water's edge, she spotted the woman her thoughts had lingered on just seconds ago. It was early in the morning, surely they had not broken for lunch yet.

"Sango?" She called, receiving her own name in reply as the woman's twin girls caught sight of her first. Sango greeted her, returning then to her laundry. The young Miko inquired about where both their husbands were. The former demon exterminator explained that the boys had left in a rush the previous night. The younger woman was surprised to hear it, since they usually left early in the morning. The young mother continued that this demon seemed to be a tricky sort, popping up in a village quickly after its escape from the mound it was sealed within.

Kagome went back to sort and empty her basket before returning out to a different part of the field. Near the tree line, she met Shippo, who had been out all night setting pranks for the villagers. While Kagome disapproved of it, Inuyasha convinced her it was just part of Shippo's nature. Foxes were tricksters, there was no helping that. Plus, it had been a while since it was just the two of them sitting down to a hot meal together.

"Oh, so you want us to have the whole night together, you perve," she had joked, not expecting the horrified expression on her husband's face.

"I-I wasn't even thinking about that," he sputtered. Given his reaction, she supposed he could have genuinely wanted to spend some time with his wife—innocently. Kagome wondered which one of them that made the pervert. Although, with her starting to rub up on him before he even had the dishes rinsed, she really shouldn't wonder too hard.

Shippo came to sit beside her, munching on a grilled lizard as a snack. Kagome asked what sort of pranks he had set up, and he replied simply that it was a secret. Kagome paused her work to send the boy a disapproving stare, and he caved right away. All of the pranks were harmless. Kagome saw to it that they stayed that way, demanding he go take down the one fake snake prank that might spook a passing horse and cause property damage. The rest he could keep up.

The two migrated to Kaede's hut come lunch time. Rin greeted the woman happily as she entered. Kagome had made sure to make time to talk to Rin every day when she returned from Hana's. The young girl had been feeling down as of late, and Hana chastised her for speaking about it. The girl had been missing her savoir too, as more and more days passed without a visit from the demon lord. Kagome even noticed that the girl had started wearing the first kimono he had ever given her again. She told Kagome that it was because the color matched the trees, but being as poor a liar as the girl was, Kagome knew it was because she was missing Sesshomaru. Poor kid.

The younger men followed the elder to the patch of earth disrupted by the recent landslide. The man told the pair that long ago, a Miko had sealed a demon in the mound. It was about fifty or sixty years ago, they were told. Miroku and Inuyasha shared a knowing look, and it wasn't long before Inuyasha dug up a white-feathered arrow. Longer and thicker than most arrows, the projectile stirred up an ache Inuyasha had scantly forgotten as he absently rubbed the center of his chest. His wife had no arrows of this type.

Miroku examined the place the demon had emerged from when they had fought it, seemingly vanishing without a trace. It left a bad taste in his mouth—the disappearance, the arrow. Explaining his concerns to Inuyasha, the hanyou got the point and they hurried for home. Upon arrival, Kagome greeted Inuyasha happily, asking how things went with the job. He looked up at her at the sound of her voice, his mind elsewhere. He paused as he looked over her, head to toe and back up. Kagome's face dropped when he asked her to spend the night with Sango.

"Why?" she asked, suspiciously.

"I'm probably gonna be out late, and I don't want you to be home alone." Kagome hesitated. She had been left at home alone on many occasions, why should tonight be any different? She scanned over Inuyasha's face. He seemed…grim, maybe? Whatever it was, Kagome saw that he was serious about his request, and she obliged, heading over to the house of her friend.

"They just headed straight to Kaede's, huh? I wonder what's going on?" Sango said, cleaning the little bit of food off Ichiro's chin. She cradled him gently as she looked back up to her friend. Kagome looked deep in thought, knuckle to her lip.

"Well it's gotta be something they don't want us hearing," Shippo piped up. Rin nodded in agreeance.

"Even I was told to stay with Sango," she said as she twisted the end of the grass rope she was making. Kagome glanced over to the girl. If even Rin was told to leave then it must be serious…

Kagome's eyes widened with a spark of demonic energy lit up her senses. It was approaching quickly. She spun in her seat as Sango's door began to rattle.

"Oh, Inuyasha and Miroku are back!" Rin declared. She started to stand, if they were back that meant she could go back to Kaede's.

"No, it's not them!" Kagome stuck out a hand protectively guarding the girl from moving any further. Kagome instinctively reached her other hand back to her quiver—her quiver! Damn! It and her bow were propped next to the door! Could she reach them before—?

She didn't have time to finish that thought as the doors were broken off their tracks and thick roots burst into the room. A bulbous eye opened from one of the clusters of roots. Red and wide, the pupil scanned the room as Kagome thought of how to get to her bow. There were children here! She had to protect them somehow. The eye stopped on the black-haired Miko and Kagome froze, seeing her image reflected in the red eye.

"Kikyo!" Kagome bristled at the familiar name. Did…did this thing believe she was Kikyo?

"You have the Shikon no Tama…" Kagome mentally swore. She thought she was done with this!

"You will give the jewel to meee…" Kagome couldn't even back away as the thing charged at her, a mass of gnarled roots and that single bulging eye. She caught the familiar sound of winds whistling past. She heard her friend shout something and she ducked on instinct, the Hiraikoustu whipping past and slamming hard into the demon. Bits of broken root and wood shards flew everywhere. Kagome was vaguely aware of the shrieks of an infant as the mother ran past the Miko.

"Sango!" came the shout of a young father as he came into view over the hill. A figure in red flew past the man as his own shout for his wife came as he saw the look in her eyes through the broken door. His golden eyes shifted. He caught the movement of the demon as it retreated away. He snarled as he drew his sword, diving after the demon.

"No you don't!" He shouted as he slammed the Tessaiga down with the force to shatter the hard-packed earth and send it flying over his head. He searched the crater for any traces of the beast. Running footfalls came behind him and he flung his head around to meet his wife's eyes.

"Kagome, are you alright?" he asked, shaking the clumps of hard earth from his clothes. She indicated she was but…

"It…it called me Kikyo," she explained. Her eyes were wide with adrenaline, and his widened slightly as well. He nodded once, and Kagome squinted at that. It was almost as if he…wasn't surprised to hear that?

"Are you hiding something, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha nearly sputtered at the fox's illusion, taking on the appearance of his wife, but knocked him over the head for the nasty trick. She was standing right in front of him, and this was no time for kitsune tricks. Though, as Kagome blinked, she had to wonder…if this demon had anything to do with Kikyo, could that be the reason he sent her to Sango's? Because he didn't want her to know? Or did he know it would come into the village?

Miroku informed the pair that since the thing, the Ne no Kubi, was after Kagome now, it would be a bigger problem. Kagome gasped. If…if it was actually after her, then that meant the whole village was in danger. Kagome climbed onto Inuyasha's back, and the pair ran towards where the thing was currently wreaking havoc on the village.

With a barrage of arrows and Tessaiga strikes the pair kept on fighting the roots, but more kept coming. Kagome knew they were only fighting the very edges of the beast, there had to be a base to it. When a white-feathered arrow flew overhead and struck the earth, Kagome saw the ground move. She didn't question the arrow.

"Over there!" she indicated.

"Where?"

Shit. It was moving too fast, if Inuyasha didn't notice it…she leapt from her husband's back and raced after the moving ground until it was directly underfoot, and she started to draw an arrow. Suddenly, the ground opened up, revealing a mass of razor-sharp teeth.

Inuyasha's pounding heart tightened in his chest. Before his next heartbeat he kicked off the earth and dove for his wife. He was not going to lose her now. He clutched her tightly to his chest as the rows of teeth snapped shut. He crashed into the earth, landing hard on his heels. A loud rumbling roared up behind him and he spun to lay witness to the colossus rising from the ground, towering above the tallest houses in the village. It was a mass of twisted roots, dozens of bulging eyes, razor-sharp teeth, and the skulls of the thing's victims that Inuyasha looked upon. He took one more glance down at his wife. She could have ended up one of those skulls.

"Kikyo!" the thing called out. "I will swallow you, along with the jewel." Inuyasha's mouth twisted in a sneer as the jaws opened up wide once again. Tongues of roots emerged to twist around Inuyasha and his wife to draw them in. He felt his wife shift, her bow and arrow held out over his shoulder.

"I am not Kikyo!" She declared. "I am Kagome!"

'That's my girl,' Inuyasha grinned.

"And besides that," he started, drawing his Tessaiga once again. "The Shikon no Tama," he raised his sword, "don't even exist anymore!" Kagome let loose her arrow with Inuyasha's simultaneous Windscar, tearing through the beast with vicious blades and power that ultimately decimated it. It fell in lifeless pieces to the ground, splintering like glass upon contact. Inuyasha took a moment to take a deep breath before he stood and spun towards his wife.

"What the hell were you thinking, Kagome?" his mouth almost dropped open when she stared back dumbly. "You nearly got yourself eaten by that thing!"

Kagome opened her mouth to speak then closed it with a soft smile. How the hell was she smiling?

"Well, you were right there. I knew you'd save me if need be."

IF. NEED. BE?

"Well duh! But that doesn't mean you can just—"

"Oh, Inuyasha…" she interrupted. She still held that same sweet smile up to him. "I trust you. I trust that..." she looked off forlornly for a moment, then sighed. "You know…about Kikyo? I…" her eyes drifted to the ground before her. "I don't want you to hide anything, just because you think it might spare my feelings or anything, after all—" she almost didn't hear him mutter the next words.

"So, you're not mad?" His voice was so small, so unlike the man she knew. Unlike the hanyou man she loved so much. He was looking away from her, somewhere far off. He wasn't even looking at the ground, he was staring through the ground, all wound up in his own thoughts. Kagome sighed.

"Well no…but…" he wasn't even listening. What was he thinking, anyway? Kagome realized then, exactly what he was thinking. He thought she was lying about how she felt.

"Osuwari." Her voice was firm, and she closed her eyes when he came crashing to the earth. She crouched down to his level, waiting for the spell to lesson. His eyes were confused when he lifted his head, but without the usual annoyance or anger. Kagome could see that at least now, she had his attention. She offered a soft smile and her hand, which he took gently. She lifted him out of the crater to sit beside it.

"You really need to trust me more." She saw his mouth open and close, searching for words, protests maybe, but no sound came out. She stood, once again offering her hand. When he stood, staring down at her bewilderedly, she twined their fingers. She held their hands up for him to see, giving his hand a squeeze as she did so. He squinted, unsure of what she was doing before she spoke.

"Inuyasha, I love you," she said softly. Her eyes scanned his face, and he never took his eyes off her beautiful brown ones. The sun was rising and his eyes looked so lovely in the light.

"But I think we need to have a talk."

Miroku and Sango watched the pair wonder away from the site. They moved onto a grassy hill, where Kagome sat, patting the earth next to her. Miroku smiled. This was something he had gotten used to on the road years ago, and something that, despite the torment they had all been feeling at the time, stirred up warm feelings of back then. He watched the couple start to speak, calmly, softly, and the monk sighed.

"How nostalgic this seems." Sango nodded in agreeance, having watched the pair as well.

"Come on, the kids will be waiting for us."

"And why did you think that would bother me, Inuyasha?"

The hanyou fell into the grass, tucking his hands behind his head and scowling.

"I dunno I just...Didn't think you'd wanna hear about Kikyo is all."

Kagome sighed. She didn't hate the woman, but besides that at the heart of the issue, this wasn't even about Kikyo. It was about the demon that Kikyo had sealed. No, it was deeper than that. Kagome just wanted her husband to stop keeping things from her. She wasn't a jealous little girl anymore, and he shouldn't feel the need to keep information from her to spare her feelings. Lying by omission was still lying, and a relationship like theirs needed absolute honesty.

"And trust," she explained. Inuyasha stared at her for a moment before turning away dejectedly. A butterfly caught his eye and he watched it for a moment before she laid a hand on his shoulder. She asked him to look at her. What he found were her eyes, strained and sleepless. She really wanted him to understand how serious she was.

"I want you to trust me," she said simply.

Inuyasha rose back up with a huff.

"I do trust you! I trust you with my life, Kagome!" Kagome shook her head.

"Trust me with your honesty then. Don't keep anything from me. If you think I'm getting fat, or I smell bad-I want you to tell me. If Miroku tells you something dirty and I ask what it was, tell me." Kagome sighed as her gaze broke from his for just a moment before she returned it.

"Even if it's something about Kikyo, tell me about it."

Inuyasha growled, looking at the sky.

"It's more complicated than that, wife," he scoffed. Kagome sneered despite herself. It was the first time he had used that term to call her that, but the effect was ruined by the tone of voice he used. It almost sounded like an insult. "If I trusted you to take care of yourself, you'd have gotten yourself killed. How am I supposed to live with that, wife?"

He said it again. She didn't want to hate that word, but the way he was saying it...

"If I tell you you're getting fat, you'll probably hit me," he diverted.

"Inuyasha, please. Tell me you'll trust me." He ran a clawed hand through his hair, pushing it from his forehead. He looked back down to her. Why the hell was he even hesitating? Of course he trusted her, of course he wanted to be honest with her, and of course she deserved that much from him. Hell, she deserved a lot more than this, but if all he could offer was...

"I trust you," he told her.

...

So, in reading the Epilogue, I thought it was really weird that Inuyasha keeping something from Kagome (about Kikyo) was even an issue. It was six months since she arrived back, close to three years since the woman died, by now Inuyasha and Kagome's relationship should be very strong, and Inuyasha should not be keeping anything from Kagome, especially something like the demon having been sealed by Kikyo some indeterminate amount of time ago. I thought the 'sit' was really forced in the chapter, but the line "You need to trust me more" made more sense for the chapter. Kagome was probably a little confused about why Inuyasha would keep anything from her. Their relationship was built on trust, and Inuyasha would be a fool for not having more trust in Kagome. The trust to be completely honest with your spouse, and not keep anything from them.