[[I do not own InuYasha, and I may be late to work for starting this chapter, so my
plot to purchase InuYasha is taking a backseat to my desire to see this story unfold.
Just saying,.. y'know.. .you're welcome. lol, jk]]
"Kagome..." Said InuYasha, knowing exactly who it was, but seeing her again was still
surprising.
"Miroku..." Said Miroku, in a more or less teasing manner.
InuYasha shot him a glare. "Silence." He added as he walked away from the doorway to
let them in.
"InuYasha, you be nice now, if it weren't for Miroku, I wouldn't have even found you."
Scolded Kagome with a sigh. "It's a little depressing that not even living here with
Sango, you still are as hostile as always." She added.
"Kagome! Miroku! Wha?" Said Sango as she emerged from the kitchen.
"Sango!" Greeted Kagome pleasantly.
"Wife, dear." Miroku followed.
"Silence." Said Sango, shooting Miroku a glare.
"...Guess it worked the other way around.." Commented Kagome with another sigh.
Soon enough the whole of the group was sitting around the table, with the kids placed
in a buffer almost. One between InuYasha and Sango, another between Sango and Miroku,
and the third between Kagome and InuYasha. InuYasha was pleased that the dinner was indeed, stew- however the mere presence of the once well matched group didn't contribute very well. Sango was particularly nervous when speaking with Kagome, and was abruptly short with Miroku. Miroku's attention was devoted to Sango, with only the occasional break in which to bring up InuYasha's presence in relation to the time he hadn't been with Kagome. Kagome was probably the least affected by the tense situation, but likely that was related to the fact that she was one of the only ones who were entirely left in the dark. Despite her blindness to the nature of the meeting, she was most curious about the time InuYasha had spent there, not due to suspicion, but rather why he was there. Considering InuYasha, it wasn't wholly natural for him to live in one place, it took a lot just to get him to properly live in town, and not just pop in- during their marriage.
While InuYasha managed to avoid being particularly involved with the conversation by keeping his mouth full, he was probably the most affected in the sense that he wasn't particularly comfortable talking to any of them at this point. Kagome's presence troubled him, due to the fact that she could, within her boundaries, ask him to come home- and refusing would beg questions, and start another fight. Miroku, he knew to have, intentionally brought Kagome, and was really bothering Sango, neither of which sat well with him, and Sango's feelings in particular made it awkward for him to even speak with her, as she was unable to respond openly with the other two there.
"So, Sango- I heard that InuYasha is helping to train your students?" Asked Kagome. "That must be exciting, tell me some about it." She added with a smile.
"Eh? We-Well... he.. often acts as an aggressor, if they are being educated in defensive maneuvers or escape methods, but sometimes he'll also act on the defensive, letting them attempt to attack him, giving them an understanding of anticipation and timing in battle." Said Sango, being particularly distant and factual about any topic regarding InuYasha, or his stay- leaving no room for error or personal feelings to come involved.
"Feh! Like any of them could ever catch me. Remember the time they thought they'd ambush me with students that weren't a part of the class? Like I wouldn't hear them!" He said with a snicker as he prepared himself another bowl of the stew.
Sango giggled. "Hey now, they're still trainees- they'll improve over time, besides, as I recall you did commend them for the attempt." She said with an amused chuckle.
"Yeah, I did, but not because it was a good plan, just impressed they had to nerve to even try it." HE said with a smirk.
"They certainly do seem to have become quite good friends, isn't that so Kagome?" Asked Miroku, bringing back the unnerving dagger of subterfuge to the table's conversation. Sango shrunk away at the mere appearance of her connection to InuYasha at all. However, InuYasha wasn't as inclined to let it slide as it's affects on Sango became apparent.
"I've had just about enough of you, Miroku-" Said inuYasha with a growl.
"InuYasha- don't." Said Sango quickly, as she turned towards Kagome. "Sorry about that, I'll, uh, explain later. I should really get the kids ready for bed." Said Sango as she went to get up, grateful for any reason to get away, though not particularly comforted by InuYasha's tendency to be overly blunt about details he shouldn't be on occasion.
Kagome seemed to be confused, but despite the fact that the tension with Miroku was unknown to her, it was mainly the control over InuYasha that Sango observed since the visit had began. On many occasions, InuYasha acted or reacted some way, and Sango was able to merely ask him or tell him not to, and he generally did- albeit not pleasantly usually. "You two really have changed a lot." Said Kagome with an amused chuckle.
Sango paused as she heard the words. "Why do you say that?" Asked Sango, more curiosly than anything, she wouldn't say things have changed much at all, just a different perspective now.
"You've become a lot closer." Kagome said simply. "During our travels, you two were generally rather supportive and friendly to one another, but Sango you didn't really even try to have any influence on InuYasha- and likewise, InuYasha has always been rather difficult to get along with, if you recall, and that's something that I assumed would never change- but he's also grown a lot, he seems to be able to keep his temper a bit better now. It's really quite impressive." she said simply.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Growled InuYAsha slightly in Kagome's direction. "I am not difficult!"
"As you can see, I don't think it's his temper that's matured." Said Sango with a giggle. "InuYasha will always just be InuYasha, his temper included, but I kind of like that about him-." She said rather openly with a smile as she went to leave again.
"Yeah, one might say you have-" Started InuYasha before a vice in the form of two slender fingers snatched him up by one of his dog ears. "Hey~ Ow! Ow! Ow! Lemme go!" He cursed, as he was dragged out of the room by Sango.
"I think he'll be saying goodnight to the children too." Said Sango with a rather sinister smile. "You be quiet!" She snapped at InuYasha as she proceeded to drag him away by his dog ear.
Kagome stifled a giggle as they left. "I wonder why I never thought of that." She mused to herself.
"You had the rosary, you didn't really need to resort to such brutal means." Said Miroku, knowing the pain all too well of Sango's deadly ear grip, and being dragged away by it none the less. "Suffice it to say that you'd think she holds Hiraikotsu with just her fingers more so than her hand." He added with a shudder.
Even Kagome paled slightly at the thought, a mental image of her flinging InuYasha by his ear like the Hiraikotsu. "Yeah.. maybe not.." She said after a moment, shaking her head to rid herself of the image.
Meanwhile, InuYasha nursed his wounded ear in the bedroom, while Sango put the kids to bed. "Doggy?" Asked the boy, as he noted InuYasha trying to get his ear to sit symmetrically on his head, somewhat unsuccessfully.
"What is it kid?" He asked, still a little annoyed at his punishment.
"Are you going to go home with Miss Kagome?" Asked the kid, the twins seeming to peek up at the question as well, and even Sango had to admit, she was paying more attention to the answer than she'd like, or the impending answer.
"...Nah, I like my new home just fine... Besides, if I wasn't here, your mom might drag you guys around by your ears instead of me." He said, giving Sango a dirty look. Sango returned it somewhat spitefully, while the three kids all covered their ears in unison.
"Now, now, InuYasha's just joking- If you guys go right to sleep though, I promise I'll make sure he stays here, even if I have to keep hold of his ears all night long." Said Sango, the latter part directed at InuYasha, though despite the somewhat threatening look, she actually appeared quite happy now.
Once the kids seemed to be trying to sleep now, Sango moved back over and guided InuYasha with her, out of the bedroom, to talk privately in the hall. "First of all, InuYasha- Thank you." Said Sango in a hushed whisper.
"For what?" Asked InuYasha with a degree of confusion.
"I don't know what sort of feelings seeing Kagome must bring up in you, and I wouldn't 'dare' assume your feelings, of course, but thank you for reassuring the kids. If they thought you were even thinking about going back, they'd probably end up staying up all night long." She said with a giggle. "You're their favorite toy, after all." she added, more teasingly than anything.
"..You aren't wrong." He said with a rather serious expression. "Kagome being here is wierd, and it makes me think about before a lot, but you are wrong to think that I was just reassuring them- I really don't intend to go home. Rather, I am more at home here, than I was there, even when Kagome and I weren't arguing. I haven't been particularly certain about how I felt about being here, other than it was kind of fun, but when he asked me that, I wondered if I would consider going back, and realized that even if I wanted to go back, the only way I would even consider going back was if it was with you guys, together." He said simply. "And I wouldn't be with Kagome either.." He said, losing his ability to look at her for the moment.
Sango remained silent, uncertain of what he was getting at. She had an idea, but she refused to accept it even as a remote possibility for fear of the implications, especially with Kagome and Miroku not too far out of sight, let alone out of hearing range. "Wha- What do you mean? Surely you don't expect me to move my family back to the village.." She said, going for the obvious implications more so than the subtle ones.
"You know better than that.. I just meant that.. What makes me have fun and happy here, isn't where we live, but who I'm living with." He said as he glared at her, as if he was one to be annoyed at having to spell things out, when he clearly stated before that she should've been clearer in her meaning.
"I.. uh,.. What.. I... I mean, we're happy you are here too." She said, unable to form a proper response or even thought regarding this subject really.
InuYasha sighed slightly, before recalling their previous conversation. He then moved forward quickly and gave her a quick peck against her lips- causing her to hop back a bit out of surprise, flushing a bit at the action. "What? I mean, why did you.." She said, confused about the meaning until she recalled her own confession, her blush intensified. "Ah.. I, uh, ...see." She said, really unprepared for that. "We.. should get back.. That is.. they might wander what's taking us so long.. or come looking for us or something.." She said as she took a deep breath, trying to calm her heart rate and restore her blood flow to not stand in her face any longer, though the moment she glanced back at InuYasha, she found it failed. "You... You go first, okay? I'll be along in a minute." She instructed, finding it was impossible to reliably return in good condition with him there.
By the time that she returned though, InuYasha and Miroku were nowhere to be found. Kagome was sitting there looking rather bored when she entered. "What's going on?" she asked.
"Oh, I guess Miroku wanted to talk with InuYasha- so I guess we can catch up now." She said with a slightly embarrassed chuckle, not particularly comfortable sitting in another's house unattended as she was.
"Oh, uh.. yeah, maybe we should talk for a bit.. I promised it anyway, didn't I?" Said Sango with a small smile, though the topic she was sure would cause immense fear in her before the end. 'I should... be the one to tell her... at least about.. my own feelings.' She thought to herself with a resigned sigh, before moving towards the table. "Oh wait, I should make some tea!" She said as she completely sidetracked and fled quickly. She only had enough time to make some tea, but at least she could go into the conversation a bit more prepared this way.
Kagome tilted her head slightly, but she shrugged it off. Tea sounded nice anyway.