I'm back! It's been a while since this was last updated, and I've felt so bad about it. The inspiration ran out the door, but since I started turning Mating Fever into a doujinshi, it's helped a bit. Updates will be slower (I only have a couple chapters drafted after this), and I'm working on multiple fics so I don't burn myself out. Hang in there, I'm doing my best!

The food somehow stayed in the basket she'd carried out to him. It was a wonder she hadn't thrown it at him, even if there were three now. There was more than enough to hit all three, even if she weren't as confident without a bow before her.

He split. Again. Kind of like how she was taking the meal back to Kaede's hut, walking like the master of hell was tickling her ankles.

Kikyo wondered if this was what that "uphill both ways" statement Kagome made in jesting about her grandfather's sayings meant. Only, there wasn't any snow. Not yet anyway, but it wouldn't be too long –

"Argh!" she let out an uncharacteristic groan and debated throwing the basket of food straight up into the air. Maybe she could get it high enough that it would be taken by the stars, so that she wouldn't have to return with it and have to explain why the hanyou hadn't eaten it. Kikyo didn't want to explain that, because that meant having to come forward and explain everything that had happened on the work site.

And that meant admitting that she'd…that she'd…

"Kagome will kill me once she finds out…"

"Finds out what?" Kaede hadn't expected to get one on her sister, but she had to take a little delight in seeing Kikyo levitate off the ground without the use of the soul collectors she once had. "Kagome is very forgiving, Kikyo. Whatever it is I doubt that if she were to be upset, it would linger for long."

Kikyo clutched her chest with her free hand, almost as hard as the basket's handle. She hadn't heard her little sister come up behind her, and as she looked around she realized she'd walked further than she'd expected. She really hoped that no one had heard her fit moments before, if she was this close to the village. Apparently she still carried a reputation for being poised and calm-mannered even after fifty-something years.

"Inuyasha has split again."

"Oh dear," Kaede sighed. "I can't imagine why, since they are bonded now."

"Inuyasha…explained why he has been acting as he had." She felt out of place talking about this, because it should've been the hanyou who explained, but since he'd taken his human side and ran for the well… "He's scared, about risking Kagome's honor in her time. With her obligations to her family that she needs to complete, he's worried that he might…" Dammit why was she blushing! She didn't blush! "He doesn't want to take the chance of her carrying his child before she's ready," she finished in a rush.

Glancing at her sister was a bad idea, because now she was giving her a critical look with her one good eye. "Why are you flushed, Kikyo?"

"It's nothing!" It didn't help her case when her voice cracked then.

"Mm. If it were nothing, you would still be fair as fresh linens, but your cheeks are pink." Then she looked down at the basket and Kikyo really did want to throw it into the sun. "And did Inuyasha eat his lunch?"

"…He did not."

"Well, I suppose Shippo will volunteer to eat it before it spoils," Kaede shrugged, like she wasn't surprised. Given what happened, she probably wasn't. "Don't think you're getting away from my question, sister."

Oh good, the authoritative tone she used to use to pull rank on Kaede was now being thrown back at her. That's just what she needed right now. Technically she was still the older sister. The fifty years of being dead ought to count for something, even if she was born again with that sliver of Kagome's soul. "F-fine. When I came to bring Inuyasha the food, I found him on the ground. He wasn't responding…and neither were the other two…"

Kaede's lips quirked up slightly.

"I thought something was wrong! I thought a youkai had attacked, so I started yelling for him as I ran to the site. I expected to see pieces of a youkai slaughtered – not find a naked one splayed out across the grass –"

Kaede lost it. She stopped walking as she doubled over laughing at the image her sister described.

"Why are you laughing?! This isn't funny, Kaede!"

"It is!"

"No it isn't! I saw him naked! I saw that!" She couldn't bring herself to say penis, she was that rattled. Or his member – she could've said that. Instead her brain wanted her speech to revert back to being a child that thought certain body parts were naughty words.

Why her sister thought this was the funniest thing in the world, she'd never understand. It didn't help her situation any when Kaede calmed enough to respond. "Come now, Kikyo. You've seen naked men before when you've treated them for injuries. You know good and well that that's not the end that bites –"

"Of course I know that!" Now she was bright red, and the gods were laughing at her expense along with her sister. "But it was large enough that it could have!"

Kikyo didn't recall Kaede ever having such a dirty laugh as a child, and wondered if this was some development that had happened with age. As mortifying as it would be to speak to Kagome and confess that she'd looked – multiple times, to make sure she wasn't seeing things – she could only hope that Kaede was right about the woman's ability to forgive.

Mama quietly peeked into the living room, taking note of how quiet the four were as they sat around the television watching the evening news. From the backs of their heads it was hard to tell if they were still in their mood or if they were simply engrossed in the news segments. She turned back into the kitchen to continue on with dinner; there'd be extra places to be set at the table. 'For how long?' she wondered, picking up the knife to cut vegetables. 'There's something different this time, and I'm not sure if Inuyasha has figured it out.'

She heard the stomping before the yelling and knew it was her son-in-law before the yelling even started. Of course, there were other sounds that were muffled before that that she promptly tuned out by starting a load of laundry. They were basically adults and stupidly in love. At least, she assumed so even with the yelling and…was that slamming? It didn't sound like a door…

As soon as it started it stopped. Michiru crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the ceiling, wondering if she should go upstairs and check to see how they were doing. She knew it would be better to let them work out their problems on their own, but as a mother, she wanted to swoop in and fix whatever was wrong. The longer the quiet lingered above her, the more concerned she grew. Something wasn't right. They never got over their spats that quickly, not without one or the other making an appearance in her kitchen. They argue, reach the boiling point, explode, split off, calm down, and get back to normal. That's how it was for the last three years, and a youkai bonding shouldn't have been radical enough to change that.

Michiru found out that her intuition was once again on the money when her daughter came downstairs, followed by Inuyasha…and Human Inuyasha…and Youkai Inuyasha. "Oh dear," she sighed, watching them file into the kitchen. "I think I understand what all the noise was upstairs now."

Between the glare the hanyou sent the youkai and the way Kagome blushed and looked away, her instincts were right about something else, too. The change of clothes was another clue. Not her business, so she put on a blissfully ignorant expression as she waited for one of them to explain.

"There's been uh…a complication," Kagome looked sheepish. They all knew there was a mess. "Inuyasha –"

"The youkai and myself have differing opinions than the hanyou, and we…split." Human Inuyasha spoke up. "The hanyou is…scared…"

"I hope it's not a fear of commitment," she teased, hoping it'd lighten the mood. It made the youkai and Kagome laugh, at least. Michiru sighed, wishing she could find some way to comfort Inuyasha. He was clearly upset. "Does this have to do with you and Kagome?"

The hanyou nodded, looking down at his feet.

That wouldn't do at all. "I won't ask you to explain every detail," she assured the four. "I feel like this could be something I don't want to know. Instead, I want you – all of you – to understand that you can come talk to me anytime. Don't think that just because I'm your mother that I won't help you if you're in trouble. Is that clear?"

It wasn't often that she brought out the "mom voice" as Souta put it, because for the most part her kids were well-behaved. But in instances like this…well, sometimes they needed a reminder. Inuyasha in particular, who still froze at calling her "Mama" from time to time.

"That being said," she added, crossing her arms in front of her. "from one adult to another, I get that you will and have done adult things. However, as your mother, I think it's important to remind you that this is a family home. Please use discretion with what you do, okay?"

Of the four, the only one that wasn't blushing was Youkai Inuyasha. Michiru wasn't sure if he was capable of blushing, and frankly…it was probably better to not know what if anything could bring it out of him.

She dumped the sliced vegetables into the pot and gave it a stir. They wouldn't take long to cook, so she hoped that at least one of her children would be available to help set the table. She'd give it a few more minutes.

"The boy made a mess of things again, hasn't he?"

Michiru turned to see her father-in-law enter the kitchen, shaking his head. "Mm, no. I think…this time I think he was acting in Kagome's best interests." Truthfully that had been what happened the first time, but she wasn't certain that he wanted or needed to hear that. She certainly wasn't about to tell him what spawned this round of chaos. They hadn't said as much out loud, but between the expressions and body language it wasn't hard to figure out what Inuyasha was concerned about. "You won't give him a hard time, will you? He's pretty upset about the whole thing."

The old man sighed, letting out a grunt as he took a seat at the table. "The extra hands will do some good around here, if he needs the distraction."

'Yes, a distraction might be good for all three of him,' she silently agreed, going back to the doorway to put out a call to action for dinner.

Kagome was once again in her bedroom, completing the homework that she should have been doing earlier. 'If it wasn't for you Peaches, I could have this finished already.' It was stupid to mentally glare at her libido, she knew this. It gave her an outlet.

"My fault? Oh no no no," She could just imagine the hormones tittering if they had a form. "It's not me you have to blame. We went over this before you got your o-"

'And look at what kind of mess that turned into! Inuyasha's mad and a fight broke out.'

"He's mad cause he knows he's wrong. He's the one that pulled away. It's not your fault if his youkai was willing to bury the sword first."

It took a lot not to groan, and she had multiple reasons to. One out of embarrassment that her libido put it that way. Another was knowing Peaches was right. She'd gotten a taste of being with Inuyasha again, and there was a small part of her that wanted to go another round. Inuyasha had already told her that he wouldn't stop her if she sought affection from either of his sides, but…he had also told her that it bothered him.

This was different than the first time. Before, it was a matter of Inuyasha not being certain that she felt the same. Now, he was scared that he'd ruin her plans to finish school. Why couldn't he understand that she had the means of protecting herself? Was it because they had spent three years with him shielding her from death? Did he see a pregnancy as – but that wasn't the case at all! Complications could happen sure, but…maybe she was thinking too literally about this. He wanted her to finish school so they could have a human wedding for her family. He wanted to give her a home, then they could think about starting a family.

He wanted to do things in a certain order, and the thought of his plans getting thrown off was terrifying him.

Kagome could understand that. She'd had high marks before she'd been pulled into the past – for the most part, save for math. Finding the balance to study and chase shards had made her grades slip in the beginning, and even makeup tests couldn't raise her average without extensive work. But for each injury, she kept working towards her goal, and she was able to get back to where she was at the start of high school. Why couldn't Inuyasha look at it that way? If something disrupted the plan, it wasn't like it was over and done with. They could reevaluate the situation and make it work.

"You know if you'd left Kagome alone we wouldn't have to be quiet," Human Inuyasha hissed at the youkai.

"Not being very quiet, Human," he hissed back. Youkai Inuyasha reclined on the bed, making a point of kicking the human in the leg with his foot. "You're awfully pissy."

"Fuck you."

"Ooh, sounds as though I've hit a nerve," Youkai Inuyasha grinned.

Inuyasha snarled from somewhere behind her. "You're both getting on my last one," he warned. "Now shut the hell up so Kagome can focus –"

"It'll be a cold day in hell before he gets the last word," Human Inuyasha jammed a thumb at the youkai.

"Sounds like I am, Human. Just like how I got off –"

Kagome let out a shriek as she shot up from her chair, spinning on her heel and seeing three Inuyashas visibly jump. She'd been able to see everything from the small desk mirror that sat on the corner, and she'd had enough. "Will you give it a rest?!"

"But he's –"

"I. Don't. Care." The homework had already annoyed her, workbook problems tended to be monotonous, but their squabbling on top of that and Peaches' words was too much. Getting sex might've done the youkai some good, but from her end all it was doing was making things worse. "I've had it up to here with all of this –"

"Kagome –"

"No. I've got a test on Friday that I need to study for, and if you three don't want to be blocked off on the other side of the well for the next four days, you need to get along and let me focus."

No sooner had she turned back around to sit down at her desk, they started again. Inuyasha had gone quiet, but his human and youkai sides wouldn't let up about that afternoon. She wasn't kidding when she said that she couldn't take anymore. Kagome whipped around and glared at the human.

"Do you just want to have sex, Inuyasha?!" she bit out. "Right now. Right here. Desk, floor, wall, I don't care. Just say the word so we can do it, and then you can't say that you haven't been going without, because it's been such a hardship hasn't it?!"

Her words came out dripping with sarcasm, but she was so mad she didn't care. It was like they had forgotten that it took two people for that kind of dance, but they were so focused on how it was affecting them that they didn't realize how she might have felt. Her tirade must have made it click, because Human Inuyasha was looking especially guilty.

"I'm sorry Kagome," his words were soft. "I'm not mad that the youkai got… I mean yeah I'd like that a lot too, but that's not what's bothered me so much! I…It's not about sex, Kagome. I miss how… when we… it's… being able to have you close. It's our time that no one else can have. I don't have to hold back when we can have that time."

It was his roundabout way of saying that he missed the intimacy when they were together. Thinking back to how Youkai Inuyasha held her, the way he assured her that he loved her, how he was set on making her happy first…now Kagome could see why Human Inuyasha was upset.

"I'm not pissed about that," Inuyasha spoke up. "I'm pissed he didn't pull out!"

Kagome rubbed her face, all anger replaced by exhaustion. "Inuyasha…I swear I'll be careful." She really didn't want to go into all the mechanics of her birth control or how pulling out wasn't always effective. She still needed to study. Instead, she looked at the human and said, "We'll find some time for just us, okay?"

The hanyou let out a soft "keh" and leaned back against the wall as Kagome returned to her work. He still didn't like this arrangement, but it wasn't just affecting him. He couldn't punish Kagome like that, and it was what got him into this current mess in the first place. She didn't deserve it, but she also didn't deserve having her life derailed if she got pupped. It was confusing and giving him a headache trying to make sense of it all. It was simply easier to trust that his human and youkai sides would be careful. He'd rather see Kagome happy and sated than upset like she'd been.