Kagome slept very late the next morning. It had taken quite a while before she could pry her mother's arms from around her. Naraku had eyed the copious amounts of blood, but seemed to accept her story of the snake being struck, but flailing about before escaping out the window. At any rate, he didn't say anything. She had managed to grab a robe before opening the door, so that he didn't destroy it entirely. It had been close, however.
Hana had insisted on cleaning the blood right away, and as it was so close to dawn she started breakfast alongside the boiling cleaning water. Once the room was blood-free and put to rights, her mother insisted that Kagome finish sleeping in her room. Kagome was too keyed up to argue, but strangely fell asleep quickly once she was settled.
When she woke, it was to the sound of hammering and banging. She lay in bed replaying the previous night in her mind. It had started out oddly, with the discussion of Hojo's true mission, then turned passionate beyond her wildest dreams, but had ended on quite a different note. It left her unsettled, her thoughts in a jumble.
Her breath caught when she remembered InuYasha killing the snake. How it had taken only one slice of claws to end the fight. If she had any doubts before, she had none now. The speed and power he had was enormous.
Would he come back? Or could she seek him out, there in the jungle? Knowing the former was a better hope than the latter, as she was likely to become hopelessy lost trying to find him, Kagome sighed. And what to do about Hojo, and the information she had learned from Naraku? It was too much to think about with so little sleep. She got up and headed for her room to dress, hugging her mother on the way for reassurance. Hana trembled still when she thought about it.
Her bedroom floor was still slightly damp from the scrubbing the night before, so Kagome dressed quickly. Hearing the hammering continue, she peered out the window but could see nothing through the thick foliage. Her mother explained when she came down to eat.
"Naraku and your grandpa are making shutters for the windows," Hana told her. "Why they didn't have them to begin with I'll never know."
Kagome made a noncommittal noise as she ate her rice and fried plantains.
Hana pinned her daughter with a hard eye. "You will close that shutter every night, Kagome. Do you understand?"
Hearing 'that tone' from her mother made Kagome answer promptly. "Of course, mama. Every night."
Of course, she wouldn't do that. She couldn't, if she wanted InuYasha to return. And she did want him to return. She was also pretty sure that he would.
Kagome knew that with this new development she had to make him understand that they must move operations elsewhere if they didn't want to get caught.
Kagome wasn't stupid. She knew what her family would say about her recent behavior. Add in a wild, dog eared man to the mix and she knew that her mission would cease at once. Naraku also, would be a problem. Knowing his propensity for guns and ego, Kagome could easily see him embarking on his own mission to hunt down and kill the 'beast'.
She was trying to figure out a way to get out from under her mother's watchful eye when a shout was raised outside.
"Kagome, Hana! " her grandpa yelled. "Come quickly, you won't believe it!"
Kagome and her mother exchanged puzzled glances, but obeyed and climbed down the ladder and made their way a short distance where the men were working.
"Look, look who's here!" Tomo was jumping up and down in his excitement, much to Kagome's amusement.
Said amusement fled as the girl turned to where he pointed. The whole world tilted and spun. Her breath stopped. Her chest felt as if an elephant was sitting on it. A man stood there, near the edge of the clearing. He had shoulder-length black hair and a close-cropped beard and mustache. He was dressed in what could only be described as native clothing: skins lashed together to form short, loose trousers and a sleeveless tunic. His face, arms, and legs were tanned, and he wore crude boots on his feet.
"Hojo," Kagome whispered, and fainted.
SSSSSSSSSSSSss
Kagome opened her eyes to see her mother's beloved face. The older woman was looking down at her, a damp cloth pressed to her daughter's forehead. Behind Hana was her grandfather, wearing a worried, concerned expression. Naraku stood to the side, silent.
Kagome turned to the fourth person in the room she now recognized as her mother's. Hojo. Her long-lost fiancé. She closed her eyes again, squeezed them tightly, then opened them. He was still there. It hadn't been a hallucination. She gave a tremulous smile.
His face was clean shaven now, his hair was neatly combed and held back in a tail. He was now dressed in a shirt and pants she recognized as Naraku's. "Kagome," Hojo said, reaching for her hand.
His fingers, warm and calloused, closed over hers. She could hardly believe this was real. She had never imagined her mission ending like this, with her fiancé finding her!
"Let's give them some time now," Hana said. "It's been nearly a year. I'm sure they have things to talk about."
No sooner had the others gone than Kagome was pelting her lost love with questions. "Where have you been? How did you find us? How did you survive?"
"Kagome," Hojo said again, sitting down on the bed next to her. "It's a long and involved story, but I'll tell you the basics to start with."
"But first…." He leaned closer, his intent clear. "I've missed you ."
His lips covered hers, warm and familiar and demanding. Kagome felt an instant of hesitation, then closed her eyes and slid into the kiss. This was Hojo and he was somehow, incredibly, alive. Her man.
Man. Woman.
Kagome's eyes flew open. It was Hojo pressing against her… but it wasn't Hojo she'd imagined just then. She sat up, nearly knocking him in the head. What am I thinking?
"Here, darling," he said, drawing her close in a hug.
Kagome could no longer allow herself to think about last night. Then, she'd held no hope that her fiance might be found, alive or dead. Last night… when the sleek, muscular wild man had slipped into her room.
"What happened to you, Hojo? Naraku told me you'd jumped down a cliff to retrieve a knapsack, and no one could find you ."
"He told you that?" he said with an odd note in his voice. "I hope it didn't cause you to worry too badly."
"Of course I worried," Kagome told him, looking at him in surprise. She pulled away then. "Why would you think I wouldn't?"
"Well," he agreed, "Okay, worried, maybe, but I never expected you to come after me."
She gaped at him. "What else should I have done?"
"That was a silly thing for me to say, wasn't it? I shouldn't have expected anything less of you, crazy brave girl," he smiled, reaching out to tug her hair. Kagome gave him a pointed look that clearly said 'get on with it'.
"Okay, here's my story. After I went down for the backpack, I found I couldn't climb out, so I went looking for another way up. I never heard Naraku or the crew calling for me, I'd wandered to far. It got dark, and I foolishly kept going. Of course, I slipped on loose rock, twisted my ankle and hit my head."
Kagome gasped, but he continued on. "When I woke up I was in a village, surrounded by a tribe of natives."
"A village?" Kagome asked. Was there a village so close by? The mountains were only a couple days journey through the jungle. Why hadn't they seen any other people?
Thoughts of InuYasha flooded her mind. Maybe he did come from such a village. But what of his fangs, claws and ears, to say nothing of his unusual eye color? Perhaps he was accepted there, despite his differences? Suddenly realizing she had forgotten all about Hojo again, she wrenched her mind back to the man before her. He was looking at her with an intent stare.
"What were you thinking just now?" he asked.
Kagome scrambled for an answer.
XXXXXXXXXXXxxx
So, Hojo's back! What does this mean for our heroine and beloved hanyou? Is the adventure over? Not quite yet. The course of true love and all that...lol.
Chaps are short b/c that's how I wrote them, and it seems to be my 'natural' limit for writing, based on my other stories. Just enough to hook you, but keep you coming back for more. Hope it's working!