It was like a clock had been at a standstill for a minute before ticking along at twice the speed.

Those three years vanished in the blink of a blink of a blink of an eye and before he knew it, he was lifting her out into the open sky. She looked a bit older, a tad taller, but her scent was exactly the same.

Her voice was the same too, that rich, womanly lilt he had never fully appreciated until it was gone. Her hair caught the moon and the sun in its strands, just as he remembered. Had it always been so shiny?

Even the sight of her in miko attire brought back fond memories of that golden year long since gone. He couldn't believe he had ever mistaken her for Kikyo. Kagome was Kagome. And no one could replace her.

There was one thing that he was missing, though.

There was no reason Kagome needed to be carried on piggyback anymore. They weren't after the jewel shards anymore and there wasn't any pressing need to get anywhere at breaking speed.

But he'd grown used to certain habits. The wind in his ears, her weight on his back, and her arms and legs tucked securely around him. Her heartbeat sending sparks into his spine. There was nothing else like it, and though she was back, the idea of him not being able to carry her anymore –

He let out a low keening whine.

Kagome gave him a puzzled glance.

Over the next few days, he kept an eye out and his ears perked up like a wind vane ready to catch the slightest stirring of the breeze.

Just in case, of course.

He finally found his chance a week after Kagome's return.

She and Kaede were carrying baskets that looked pretty heavy in his opinion. Heavy enough to warrant a piggyback ride.

He bounded towards them, as fortune favored the brave.

"Looks like you two are havin' trouble." He crossed his arms, closed his eyes, plastered a cocky grin on his face, and mimed a confident mien, avoiding Kagome's eyes. He hoped his voice was level, but something told him it wasn't. Still he soldiered on. "Want me to help ya out?"

"My, Inuyasha," Kaede croaked in her gravelly old grandma voice. "You've certainly matured. Yes, dear boy. We would be delighted to receive help."

He opened his eyes a fraction, and suddenly the wind was knocked out of his lungs as Kaede clambered onto his back, heavy baskets and all.

What the –

"Ahhh, my joint pain's been acting up lately," Kaede said. "Thank you greatly for your offer, Inuyasha."

He was more cautious after the Kaede fiasco.

Still keeping an ear to the ground for any situation that would involve Kagome needing to be piggybacked.

He finally got a second chance while he and Kagome and Sango were picking wild berries in the forest.

Berries that happened to be growing near tree roots.

Tree roots that Kagome tripped over.

She yelped in pain, face deathly pale, eyes scrunched up and biting down on her lip hard enough to draw blood.

Inuyasha's heart stopped beating for several agonizing seconds.

He did want opportunities to piggyback her, but not this way.

There was only one thing he hated more than not being able to carry her around and that was seeing her hurt.

Oh God.

Kagome was hurt, her breathing was shallow, he had to help her or else –

"Just a sprain. I'll carry you back and get help." Sango's calm voice jolted him back to reality. She wrapped one arm under Kagome's shoulders and another around her waist, lifting her in a piggyback. "Really, Kagome-chan, please be a bit more careful."

"Y-Yeah!" Inuyasha's voice was in no way level and he couldn't bring himself to care. "Don't ever do that again, Kagome."

She smiled weakly through her pain. Her eyes drifted shut to sleep off the injury.

This woman was adept at giving him heart attacks.

There were other opportunities after that, but someone kept snatching them from him.

She and Sango perched on Kirara's back, laughing and gliding through the air, searching for firewood, as they had done so many times in the past.

It was by all means a very nostalgic sight.

Except for one thing.

He was supposed to be the one carrying her. That was how it always was.

He growled.

"Jealous?" Shippo asked, a smug little look on his face. "I'm gonna tell her."

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes. "You won't."

Not even you wouldn't. There was no way Shippo was gonna tell Kagome that Inuyasha desperately wished to piggyback her again. He would not allow it.

"If you don't want me to tell Kagome, then you have to give me your – "

"No."

"You didn't even let me finish!"

"Don't have to." Thinking fast, he plucked Miroku and Sango's twins from the ground and dumped them on Shippo in the blink of an eye.

Squeals of joy and terror intertwined. Inuyasha breathed a sigh of relief.

Shippo did not tell Kagome for some reason. Unfortunately, as Inuyasha would find out later, he told Miroku.

That little brat.

Miroku was happily married to Sango now and had no intentions of straying...or else.

He still liked teasing his friends, though. Pressing Inuyasha's buttons.

Honestly, Inuyasha put up with way too much from all of them.

They were all just sitting with their backs pressed against the well, talking about everything and nothing, when Miroku's eyes twinkled mischievously at a suspicious Inuyasha.

"Kagome-sama, your ankle is still hurt. May I assi – "

Inuyasha sprang to his feet as though springs were attached to them and swept up Kagome in a piggyback after three long years. She didn't even gasp in surprise, but merely hooked her arms around him on cue. By habit. Because he had been piggybacking her for ages. It was like walking. No, it was like breathing.

Her heartbeat still made his spine prickle.

Yes.

He glared sharper than Tessaiga.

"All right, let's get something straight! No one piggybacks Kagome except for me! Got that?"

Kagome's breath tickled his ears and he leapfrogged away in triumph.

"Finally." Her grip on him tightened like a koala. "What took you so long? I was so sure you'd have done it ages ago!"

At the well, Sango and Miroku exchanged a high-five, a gesture from the future. A gesture from Kagome.

Sango smirked. "Okay, Shippo, since you lost the bet, you have to babysit the twins tomorrow!"

"Wait, wait, wait." Bullets of sweat poured down the poor young fox's forehead. "Kaede! Kaede's the one who lost the most! She bet that Inuyasha would have piggybacked Kagome while they were carrying those baskets! So if anything, she's the one who has to babysit them!"

"Oh, I don't know...it's wrong to burden the elderly..."

"Miroku, she loves being an adoptive grandma!"

"A bet's a bet."

"That's right."

"Awwww, come on!"

A/N: I think we all know that the rest of the gang had a betting pool going on about various InuKag moments...

Please review! :)