"So, you weren't on… whatever you call it. I don't remember."

The pause that came after begged Kagome to finish his thought, but instead, she stared at Inuyasha over the table, sucking the last noodle up out of her broth in silent confusion. She had been listening to him talk about Miroku and Sango's growing family, most recently their baby boy Hisui. Inuyasha had plenty of other names for him, which Kagome threatened to tell if he didn't think up at least a couple nice ones. At that point he had confidently teased,

"Tell who? We don't even know if the well will work. Good luck trying to tattle!"

She had laughed a little at first, but then a quiet had overcome them and words left unsaid began to pick at their happiness; it failed however, as Inuyasha changed that pressing subject for another one he still needed some clarity on.

"You know what I mean." He pressed, casting sideways glances from her perplexed expression. Tapping his chopsticks on the rim of his latest empty cup, he groped for the word but came up blank. Finally, he sighed, dropping the sticks into the murky cup dregs, and asked, "Courting you. Was he… was that… were you, being courted by that…"

"Courting?" She repeated, trying on the antiquated term. Suddenly, her friends voice from days before rattled through her mind – dating, Kagome! And she felt her stomach do a flip.

Inuyasha watched her reaction closely for anything she might give away, but she only smiled what looked to him like a very sad smile.

"Absolutely not." The words were all he needed to hear, but he listened intently as she went on, "Hojo pursued me for years, even back before you had met him that one time, if you remember,"

"He threatened to fight me for you." Inuyasha scoffed. "Idiot. See how that would have ended for him?"

She would have found it funny, the innocence of Inuyasha's misunderstanding; the play, the lower grade demons they'd hunted, the stupid festival, problems she thought were so massive back then. She never would have guessed that Hojo could do something like this to her – never would have expected to go so long without seeing Inuyasha. The way things had turned out, she had to grip the edge of the table to keep from getting dizzy thinking about it all.

"My friends were always very insistent that I give him a shot." Kagome went on, recalling the days that Ayumi, Eri and Yuka had answered for her, pushed her to interact with Hojo, and encouraged him to continue with his attempts. "I always thought he was just an innocent guy, and I actually used to feel bad for him."

"Really?" The jealousy on Inuyasha's face almost made her laugh, it was so boyish and immediate.

"I felt bad because I had no interest in him." She clarified. "That went away after a while; it's not like I had to go out with him, I didn't owe him anything. I guess he didn't see it that way. But I didn't even know that he was going to be at this party my friends dragged me to last night – a graduation party, since high school is done, and we are all supposed to be heading to college or university."

"Did he… follow you?" Inuyasha questioned, trying to keep his mood light. He reminded himself he had already made Hojo suffer although, if he was being honest, he felt not nearly enough. He'd only broken most of his bones and right now he felt the need to finish with the rest of them.

"I tried to leave but he asked me to stay and celebrate and passed me my drink." She closed her eyes remembering how he had smiled at her and clinked his glass to hers, how he had reeked of beer, how he had suddenly been so close to her on the dancefloor with his arm locked around her waist. Her face rubbing against his chest as they danced. She felt sick.

"You okay?"

She opened her eyes again, facing his concern with honesty.

"I feel so disgusting that he even touched me." She wrapped her arms around her ribs, momentarily blind to the worry that began to paint its way through Inuyasha's eyes. "He knew I wanted to leave, so once he knew what he'd put in my drink had taken its affect, he asked if I wanted to go. I thought he was going to take me home – but he took me to his. I had to trick him to get him to take me back here. I thought, maybe I could get to the wellhouse."

"Why the well? Did you think it might work?" He couldn't put those pieces together and found it difficult to keep composure as he fumbled with the ending of her story. I should have fucking stopped him sooner, his thoughts raged, but he wanted to be there to comfort her. He couldn't start foaming at the mouth again now.

"I was going to throw myself into the well and try to kill myself." She whispered this part shamefully, looking down into her lap so she didn't catch the way Inuyasha flinched. "I didn't want him to do… what he was planning to do. And I didn't want… another minute without you. So, it seemed, it would have been my only choice."

"Well apparently there was only one choice." He snapped, standing suddenly. He couldn't stand the thought, that she had even had to think of something like that. "And that was for the well to bring me back to you."

He knelt in front of her and took her hands off her lap, giving them a squeeze.

"I still don't know what compelled me to head back to the well last night," He admitted, gazing up at her. He couldn't believe how beautiful she was in person – his thoughts had not done her justice; this alone would be enough cause to look at her for the rest of his life. "There seemed to be this feeling in the air, this need. I don't know. It's the same way I could feel if you were in danger, or smell when you had returned, back then. I felt like I was being called home."

He pushed her hair back from her face, which had dimmed while telling the story of the previous nights' situation.

"Kaede had been making some interesting remarks about the energy around the well, so even she must have known something, or felt something." He told her. "Maybe you will eventually be able to tell too when the portal between both times is open or shut. But for now, I'm just grateful it was, and that I'm here with you. And I'm not going anywhere. Not without you. Got it? I'll jump into one hundred meidos. I don't care."

She wrapped her arms around his neck, sliding out of her seat to join him on the floor. Caught between his legs, she leaned into his chest and hugged him close. He nearly went weak with the motion but held his balance as she curled up into him and quickly, simply kissed his neck in a movement so quiet he was unnerved at how many lightning bolts it sent rocketing through his system.

"And you?"

"Pardon?" He asked, unsure if he had even heard her properly.

"You… did you… court?"

The words caught him off guard, was she serious? He had to lean back to take in her expression and keep himself from rolling his eyes as he slid one arm beneath her knees, one under her shoulders, and lifted her into his arms again.

"Inu-"

"Don't pretend this isn't faster than you would be dragging yourself back upstairs." He admonished, "And of course I didn't. All I could think of was how to get that damn well working and get back to you. I won't go into details-"

"I wish you would."

"But I never gave up hope." He shifted as he turned to take on the second part of the staircase, making sure to duck her head beneath the low-bearing ceiling as he went. "And I never will."

She blushed in his arms, feeling silly for needing so much help, but thankful all the same. Thankful he was there, that he had come when he did, that he had shown up back in her life at all – that he had waited for her, that he still wanted her.

However, there was one thing she still had to take care of. Tugging on his shirt, she asked him to set her down just outside of her bedroom.

"What is it?" He asked, holding her close – whether to help her with balance, or because he couldn't let go, neither were entirely sure.

She turned her head toward the bathroom. "I need to bathe and get the feeling of him off me, you know? And I'm sure… well, you can smell his scent, can't you?"

He stiffened, anger rising in him like steam. Yes, of course he could, but he had been so enjoying just having her back in his sight and his senses that until she had mentioned it, the scent of his filth had been greatly overpowered. Now he could smell the stale sweat and hormones and he agreed that she would probably want to get more comfortable.

That decided, the two approached their next hurdle; Kagome still couldn't stand, much less navigate the trudge on her own. This she made clear enough as she attempted to hobble down the hallway, dizzily criss-crossing from one side to the other as she went. When she nearly missed the bathroom door and walked partly into the hallway wall, Inuyasha quickly held out his arms and encaged her in a safety bubble, gently righting her balance.

"I… um," She gulped, "I might need some help, could you just, get the door for me?"

He reached past her to push the door open but before she could take a step, she found herself hovering in the air again.

"Let me just start it for you, okay? Then I'll go and you can just call me if you need me." He set her down on the toilet and surveyed the tub with a serious glance, "Now how does this thing work again, Kagome?"

A/N: Early update because I'm leaving for a weekend! I also updated my other ongoing Fic, and you can also join me on AO3 if you're over there! Thanks again for reading and for your likes and reviews. See you soon!