Dear Best Friend Since Day One,

It's been way too long since I've heard your voice. I wish you could be here in the states with me, everything about it is so different from where we live. I've caught onto the slang pretty well and I have a new found love for fried food, its unavoidable here. Don't worry though, my body is still as sexy as ever. Our troops seem to have a good lead so before we know it this mess will be over and we can all go home. I love you more than this letter could probably ever express to you, Kagome.

See you soon,

InuYasha

Seven Months Later

Standing before a mirror, her hands clasped on the sides of the sink to keep balance, Kagome peered into her reflection. The ground beneath her rattled softly. Her lips were painted with a fierce shade of red she never dreamed she'd be brave enough to wear. Her lashes seemed long enough to high five her eyebrows as wide as her eyes were. Kagome straightened her posture then, twisting her hair around her fingers and pinning it up. It was strange to her how quickly life could change seemingly overnight. She could still recall the events of high school and middle school like it only happened yesterday. All the playful fights with her younger brother Souta, all the secrets shared with Sango, and all the special moments with InuYasha. She finally in this instant felt grown, and felt she had a purpose. She patted down the creases of her pencil skirt, simultaneously checking for smudges on her soft yellow heels. Kagome slid out of the tiny bathroom space and gently closed it shut. She removed the mic from the wall and switched on the intercom, clearing her throat.

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen, in about twenty minutes we will begin our descend in Tokyo, Japan. Please fasten your seat belts as soon as the light switches on, we hope you enjoyed your flight with us here at Tama Airlines." Kagome heard light clapping from behind her and rolled her eyes.

"That was perfect Kagome, well done!" Her fellow flight attendant gave her an encouraging pat on the back. "You're a natural."

Kagome made sure the intercom was shut off before turning to face her coworker. "Thanks Tsubaki."

"Today's the day isn't it?" Tsubaki asked excitedly. She had one of those voices that felt forced, like a child pretending to sound like a 45 year old woman. Kagome tried speaking to her very little but it was hard to avoid her in such cramped conditions. "Nervous? Excited?"

"I feel like I'm going to shit myself."

The older woman wagged her finger at Kagome speaking as so in front of her. "Oh Pish-posh. He'll be so thrilled."

"He's going to be pissed. I should have never listened to Izayoi." She continued, engulfed in her downward spiral of worry.

"Everything will be just fine. He sounds like a picture perfect fiance."

Fiance. The word still sounded so strange and foreign yet remarkably tummy-warming at the same time. Kagome stared down at her left hand, the shimmering pink-ish pearl seemed to wink back at her. InuYasha popped the question shortly before his departure not knowing when he would return if Naraku still had allies roaming about. Luckily for them the war against Naraku and his allies was dwindling and it was finally time for him to go home. But even so, it had been seven months since she'd seen him in person. The first three months were the hardest but this time Kagome insisted on upkeeping their cozy apartment. Every paycheck she would set aside some money and add an additional decoration to their place. She would reread his letters before bed and they never failed to make her smile ear to ear like a school girl getting her first crush.

()()()

After double checking the aisles for any lost items and trash, Kagome said goodbye to her crewmates and pilot and departed with her rolling luggage.

She received several smiles along the way as she made her way about the airport. She felt like a celebrity in her uniform, she couldn't image how the pilots had to feel. It wasn't long after InuYasha left that she looked into becoming a flight attendant. She was amazed at how quick the training was. She hadn't seen much of the world growing up so it felt great to break out of her comfort zone. The hours made it easier on her mind to take a break from thinking about InuYasha.

Even though they were thousands of miles apart, with each letter they seemed to fall more and more in love. Unfortunately where InuYasha was stationed video chats weren't an option but he wrote to her whenever he could.

In the distance, Kagome could see her brother Souta, now sixteen, holding a bouquet of flowers. His girlfriend, Hitomi was at his side, already waving at Kagome.

"What are you guys doing here?" Kagome chortled, happy that she was welcomed back home with flowers.

"Per InuYasha's request." Souta nodded down to the flowers. "I'm just a grown bro who can DRIVE now, picking up my GROWN sister." He started dancing with his keys twirling around his finger.

"Aw you passed! Congratulations Souta." Kagome hugged Souta.

"Kagome you look adorable!" Hitomi squealed. "I'm so excited for tonight."

"You sure we can't come back with you to pick up InuYasha from the airport?" Souta swapped out the flowers to roll Kagome's luggage and the three of them headed towards the parking garage.

"No, in case this all goes downhill I need to be the only one there. Everyone is meeting up at the Taisho's, Izayoi even hired a party planner." Kagome rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Is your sign all ready?" Hitomi asked with excitement.

"It just needs a few last minute touches but it will be ready in time."

Kagome and Hitomi climbed into Souta's new ride, it was obvious that he was still a little anxious but he tried his best to play it off in front of his older sister and his girlfriend.

Kagome couldn't help the smile that crept on her face as she took in the scenery they passed by through the town. The weather was calm and still like the paintings her father was always fond of. She took that moment to think about her early memories of her father and how he used to base his stories off of the paintings that he collected. How she wished he could stand beside her on this special day.

Souta pulled up to Kagome's apartment, carrying in her things for her.

"Wow Souta, do I get this special treatment every time I come home from work?" Kagome teased, fishing for her house key in her hand bag.

"You wish, I'm a fill-in for InuYasha. I give it a couple weeks before he dumps the special treatment."

"I think it's sweet." Hitomi cooed.

Souta bit the inside of his cheek. "Well you're different. I would do it for you in a heartbeat."

Hitomi kissed Souta on the cheek. Kagome opened the door to some unexpected guest: Jakotsu, Sango, Miroku, and Kagome's trio friends.

"Um…hello," Kagome gazed around the room, simultaneously setting her stuff down. Jakotsu was currently pouring a glass of champagne and Miroku had his face stuffed in Kagome's fridge.

"Hey Kagome, welcome back. You should really go grocery shopping. You don't have anything I like to eat."

Kagome shoved Miroku's face out of the fridge before closing it shut. "How the hell did you guys get in my apartment?"

"Eri." Everyone replied. Kagome took a mental note to retrieve her house key back.

Souta took Hitomi's hands and headed for the door. "We'll see you guys at the dinner later."

"Don't be too raunchy, you kids." Jakotsu remarked, never peeling his eyes away from his expert drink mixing.

Hitomi lead an eye-twitching Souta out of the door. "We'll try not to." She giggled.

"Aw dang, I forgot to ask Souta if he wanted a soda for the way home." Mirokue stated with his hand on his chin. Sango smacked him upside the head.

"Miroku, that joke was never funny." Sango groaned, embarrassed that he was her boyfriend.

"Not to be rude but uh why is everyone here?" Kagome attempted to ask politely, just now escaping from her work heels.

"We're your official stress relievers." Yuka smiled. "We know you're nervous about tonight." She admitted.

"Well me personally," Jakotsu took a swig of his drink. "I ran out of booze, but you my dear, have plenty to share."

"It's all yours now." Kagome laughed and threw her hands up in defeat. A letter on the counter caught her eye. She was surprised none of her friends had torn into it already.

She began to read the small cursive of the letter and gasped. "Holy shit you guys, this is from Kikyo." She said in shock.

"No way? What's it say?" Sango asked. The rest of the group stopped what they were chatting about to get the scoop. It was so easy for them to gloss over the fact that they used to always play with Kikyo when they were children. When they had heard that she had simply vanished they were slightly concerned for their old friend.

Kagome continued further and paused for a second before answering. "She knows what happened to me. It's an apology letter." Kagome rose her brow. "She was hiding in the states from Naraku."

Miroku was ready to make a comment about how she possibly ran into InuYasha in the states but Sango pinched his left butt cheek hard to keep him quiet.

"InuYasha will be happy to know she's alright." Kagome continued. Everyone glanced around at each other in the room. The air was suddenly heavy. It always was when Kikyo was talked about. They knew it made Kagome feel uneasy. She had been a barrier for years when it came to InuYasha. "She might have always been a brat to me growing up, but she was still our friend." She shrugged.

"Aw I wish I knew you guys when you were babies." Jakotsu daydreamed about the thought.

"Miroku hasn't changed." Sango rolled his eyes. "He's a man-child."

"Who has an undying love for his Shango-hime." Miroku pulled her close, nuzzling her face and causing her to blush in front of everyone.

"How did you two meet?" Jakotsu asked, looking at Kagome with his champagne glass to his lips.

"Me and InuYasha? We fought over a crayon, he was the only one there willing to play with me, and… the rest is history." Kagome shook her head at the memory.

"So what you're basically saying is my ship to finding the love of my life has already sailed? I can't even remembered the last time I colored. Fuck!" Jakotsu downed the rest of his drink. "Is it me or am I the only one drinking?" he darted his eyes around the room.

"Nope! I'll take some more." Eri skipped over to Jakotsu who smirked.

"I remember in middle school there was this paper floating around about favorite couples." Miroku reminisced. "Kagome and InuYasha were on the list. They would make the creators of that list very proud."

"Aw! I never got to see that list." Kagome whined.

"Yeah it was mainly a popular kid thing." Miroku shrugged.

"Which you weren't!" Eri spat, causing Jakotsu to upchuck his drink from laughter.

"She does have a point Miroku. You were never not with our group of friends." Kagome giggled.

"Hey was I on any lists?" Sango asked Miroku. The look on his face said yes but he seemed hesitant to tell her. "I can handle it."

"If my memory serves correctly you were second place for nicest ass."

Sango suddenly felt all eyes on her backside and she growingly got self-conscious. Everyone nodded in approval.

"Who the hell got first?"

"Idk, some girl who looked twice her age so all the lonely creepy teachers would find any excuse to talk to her."

Kagome left briefly and once she returned presented the group with her welcome home sign for InuYasha.

"That is insanely cute." Ayumi chimed. "Someone should be there to record it."

"Already offered. Kagome is ninety percent sure it will end badly so none of us are allowed to go with her." Sango sighed.

"I mean for the average guy, probably. But we're talking about InuYasha." Jakotsu stated. "How would you take it Miroku?"

"I would slowly back away and hope that it wasn't too late to book a flight to anywhere willing to take me." The glare from Sango nearly burnt a hole into his back. "But like you said, we're talking about InuYasha." He laughed nervously.

Kagome took a finally glance at her sign and placed it back on her bed. She drew closer to the full length mirror and again looked at her reflection, she turned sideways and titled her head. Would he be as excited to see her as she was to see him?

()()()()

Kagome chatted with her dear friends for a couple of more hours before it was finally time to meet InuYasha at the airport. They texted back and forth in between flights. He easily reassured her that he was just as excited to see her again. He was grateful that it was seven months they had to endure and not two years like originally planned.

Kagome had on a silky, t-shirt styled dress that fluttered outward on the skirt portion like a tulip. She had her hair pinned with a sing clip to keep out of her face. She double checked that she was at the right terminal that InuYasha would emerge from. As soon as the screen announced that his flight had arrived on time the butterflies in her belly reawakened. She pondered on if it was too late to flee, the anticipation killed her. Every time she thought she saw him she would perk up with her sign in front of her then slouch realizing it was someone else with a similar hairstyle as him.

"Get a hold of yourself girl." She said to herself.

The more time that passed the more her heart thumped in her chest with impatience. As people passed by her sign they would smile politely to themselves.

Then it finally happened. Golden eyes locked onto brown eyes. Time nearly froze, and her sign almost slipped from her grasp. It took every fiber of her being to stand firmly where she was and not run into his arms. Her eyes began to water from happiness seeing him before her. Seven months may have not sounded like long to some but to be separated from InuYasha seemed like an eternity.

He reciprocated her longing expression and as soon as she was in arms reach he dove in for a yearning kiss. He paused for a second, taking note she didn't remove the sign so that he could pull her into an embrace. He took a gracious step back and read the sign once more in his head. Kagome gulped. Without breaking eye contact he used his finger to lower the sign. Doing so revealed a shocking surprise. Kagome's belly swollen five times its normal appearance. Kagome's lips were quivering, he wasn't sure if it was out of fear or happiness.

The sign read: Made with Love, Before Deployment.

The crowd seated on the benches had their phones pulled out and were waiting in anticipation. There was nothing better to do at the airport.

The look on InuYasha's face was priceless to their audience. Still, he didn't mutter a word.

He pointed to himself. "M-mine?"

"Did you even read the sign, dummy?" Kagome said through a sniffle. "I worked on it for an entire ten minutes."

InuYasha laughed then, "I was honestly confused at first. I thought you meant the sign." He whispered. He took in the beautiful sight before him again. Kagome's dress outlined the bump perfectly. Tears began to well up in his eyes. "Oh my god, Kagome. Are you serious?" His voice quiet with astonishment.

He pulled her in close to him and kissed her again, in the distance they could hear an array of clapping and cheering. She clung onto him. "By the way…Hi InuYasha."

He chuckled. "Hello Kagome. I've missed you terribly. Souta didn't fail his mission, right?"

"I received my flowers. Thank you." Kagome smiled.

He stood there speechless for a second, his arms resting on her waist. "I have so many questions."

"Well you're still here so that's relieved a lot of my nerves. Ask away." Kagome lightly tapped away at a stray tear from his eye.

"You thought I would run? I'm the one that did this to you. I must have bought those condoms from the dollar store. Wow, first try." InuYasha stared down at her bump again and placed his hand gently on the center.

"You've been gone for seven months, how has Miroku rubbed off on you so much?" Kagome rolled her eyes all previous thoughts of worry had vanished.

"We grew up together." He shrugged. "So what….does that make you seven months along?"

"Give or take."

Once the couple was finished reacquainting at the airport they headed back to their apartment for InuYasha to change and they headed to his parents house for his homecoming dinner.

()()()()

"So this was your idea." InuYasha pointed a finger at his mother.

"InuYasha Taisho do not point your finger at me I am your mother. I'll rip it right off." She warned, placing the last dish at the dining table. "and yes it was. It was cuter than cute."

Rin placed her hand over her heart, overjoyed by the family reunion. She took in the sight before her, family and friends joined together. Sesshoumaru, InuTaisho, and Miroku were in the den playing pool, Akira was in the kitchen helping Nozomi and Izayoi, and there was small chatter in the main living room with their remaining guests, including the bunch at Kagome's apartment.

"Now that I think about it, we got those condoms from you. You probably poked holes in them."

"InuYasha the only real preventive measure is abstinence and you failed, foo." Gramps said, descending down the stairs. "Akira, are you sure those eggs you made me for breakfast weren't expired? That's the third time I've blown up the bathroom."

"Gramps, gross." Kagome put her hand on her forehead in disbelief.

"What? They're talking about sperm ripping through latex."

"Yup, definitely going to the living room now." Kagome waved herself out in embarrassment.

"She wanted to tell you so badly." Izayoi admitted. "She was really scared when she found out. She didn't know how you would take it. Akira and I thought it was best she held off, we didn't want you to lose focus. We didn't know how bad the situation was where you were."

"God, I could have went two years without seeing my child." He stated.

"Oh sweetheart, as soon as we got the news you were being discharged we no longer had that fear. Of course we would have told you if that was the case."

Akira called everyone to the table to eat. InuYasha's welcome-home cake was positioned in the center. InuYasha and Kagome never unlaced their fingers from each other, even as they ate.

"Wait a second, how the hell are you a pregnant flight attendant?" InuYasha turned to Kagome in disbelief. "Are you crazy?"

"Just sounds like bad writing to me." Gramps looked up cutting his steak ridiculously fast.

"Women do it all the time." Kagome shrugged. "I'm not even scheduled for international flights yet and I get screened twice as much as everyone else."

InuYasha just looked at her in disbelief because of her negligence.

"So is it a boy or girl?" He continued.

"I don't know. I wanted us to both be in for at least one surprise."

"Well whatever the sex, I hope they become best friends with Hyacinth, Pelosia, and Aiyama." Rin said excitedly.

"Can I be the god-mother?" Jakotsu interrupted. All eyes were on him. "Oopsie, is that rude to ask?"

"I bet their uncle can't wait to babysit." InuYasha said excitedly with sarcasm laced in his voice towards Sesshsoumaru in midbite.

"I'm sure if I can handle three, one of your runts couldn't hurt." He stated simply, shocking InuYasha that he actually agreed to watch his future kid.

"Well I think you should name them Sasha. Like a play on your guys' name." Souta chimed in.

"How does that incorporate my name?" Kagome asked with a raised brow.

"You right. You right." Souta nodded and continued eating, causing Hitomi and Miroku to laugh.

InuYasha caught a glance at the woman seated beside him once more. He still was in utter amazement, he guessed it wouldn't really have mattered when she told him, there was a baby on the way regardless. She gave his hand a gentle squeeze.

"I feel like I should apologize" He whispered, drowning his voice from the dinner chatter. "Is this something you want?"

"I've made my decision. Accidents happen and sometimes those accidents are precious. I should really be asking you that question." Kagome placed her fork down and caressed his thigh for comfort.

"I get the privilege of having a baby with my best friend." His soft words made her blush. "I'm right beside you on this."

InuTaisho clicked his wine glass and began to stand. "I'd like to make a toast. To InuYasha's safe return from deployment, you've made your mother and I extremely proud." He shifted his gaze to Kagome. "And to our future daughter in law, whom we've considered a part of the family forever. May this growing family bring about more laughter and a lifetime full of memories. Cheers."

Kagome mouthed the words thank you and joined in on the light clapping.

()()()()

InuYasha and Kagome were back at their apartment, getting some fresh air on the balcony. He was behind her, his arms resting on her belly and her hands over his. The gently breeze blowing through their hair. The neighborhood was quiet, the purple skies absent and the world seemed still. Everything seemed right. He couldn't have asked for a better homecoming gift.

The instant she touched that red crayon, she never realized she had written out her destiny for the future. But all in all, she's glad she did.

She turned slowly to face him and getting on her tiptoes, reached up to kiss him.

Best Friends Since Day One.

The End.