"I'm going to take you to my wing of the estate, if that is okay with you?" Inuyasha asked, giving Kagome's hand a slight squeeze, seeking her reassurance. He had already begun to walk them back that way but wanted to give her the heads up.

Kagome felt as though she was having an out of body experience. She had never felt her aura so at peace before, her reiki a happy hum within. Her hand felt slick against Inuyasha's, which was coarser than she remembered. 'Well, he did have all those years to do God knows what, the fact he survived this long...'

She was brought out of her thoughts by Inuyasha pausing their walk.

"Kagome? Did you hear me?" His stare was that intense, burning gold again and she felt her heartbeat quicken.

"Oh, gosh. I'm sorry, what did you say?" she released his hand to ruffle her bangs back and forth some, her nerves coming in waves. She felt like a teenager all over again.

Inuyasha internally chuckled, he enjoyed seeing a flustered Kagome. But he wanted her to feel comfortable, too. They had a lot to discuss, and he didn't want her nerves getting the best of her.

"I'm going to take you to my part of the estate so we can have a semblance of privacy if that is okay with you? I want you to be comfortable," he paused, waiting for her reaction.

Kagome nodded at him, picking up on his cue for reassurance, "I'm comfortable, but some form of privacy would be nice."

Inuyasha smiled at this, giving a warm chuckle, he motioned for her to follow him. He felt every urge to reach out and take her hand again, but also wanted to give her the space to reach whatever conclusion of interaction she wanted.

Kagome instinctually reached for his hand again, letting her fingertips softly graze his, but then she paused as she noticed him flinch at the contact. She brought her band back, clasping it with her other in front of her.

"I'm sorry," she spoke quietly into the space between them.

Inuyasha was taken aback by Kagome taking his hand, but in a good way. She surprised him over and over today with how warm she was to him despite the elephant in the room. He couldn't help the shock that coursed through him at her touch but frowned at her need to apologize. He turned the corner, Kagome a pace behind him. Deciding to cut the awkwardness, he reached for her hand this time, grasping it firmly.

"You don't need to apologize for wanting to hold my hand," Inuyasha murmured, giving her hand a gentle squeeze once more.

The warmth from before had stayed a constant pooling within her since when she first saw him in the sitting room, but at that statement she felt herself flush all over. 'I feel like a teenager all over again, swooning like this.'She furrowed her eyebrows, her lips coming to a pout, but she let her hand stay in his grasp. Feeling the warmth from him was grounding her. She wasn't dreaming. He was here. Breathing. Alive. Holding her hand.

In the ten years since the well had closed, Kagome had countless dreams of a reunion with her half demon. The entirety of the dreams surrounding being able to make it back through the well and living her life out in the feudal era with all of her friends. Granted, now she knew that many of them were still alive, but it was not the same. She took a sharp breath at remembering all of those she wasn't going to be seeing on this side of the well.

"Sango and Miroku," she murmured, grasping Inuyasha's hand more strongly as they came to stop in front of two large wooden French doors. She turned to look at him.

At the mention of their names, Inuyasha felt the sorrow that he had buried rise within him. He missed his best friends dearly and no amount of time without them by his side would lessen his desire to see them once more. Over the years he had grown accustomed to the casual mention of them in passing, but hearing their names come from Kagome's lips once more was painful.

"They missed you so much," he turned his head to give Kagome a sincere smile before continuing, "They had 7 kids, some of their ancestors are still around actually. An important few are here in Tokyo."

"I'd love to hear more," she responded, "If you're willing to share?"

Inuyasha let himself smile wide at her request, of course he would tell her their story. He would tell her anything and everything she wanted. Even the painful moments.

"I'll answer any and all questions, of course. They left something for you as well…" he let that statement drop off at the widening of Kagome's eyes as she took in the front room to his wing of the estate.

The windows were large panels of glass, around seventeen feet tall Kagome would guess. There were curtains pulled off to the sides, made of a red silk material tied back with a black braided rope. Kagome made her way over to the first window, to take in the beauty of the yard. She could see the pond that graced the property, as well as a large garden of roses amongst other flowers. They were strategically placed around a wooden bridge that extended over the pond. It was all very quaint. She smiled to herself taking it all in, letting the sun beat down on her through the glass.

"It's beautiful," she whispered before closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath. Her emotions were in overdrive, and she was still reeling from the small tidbit of information she had been given on her friends. She was genuinely still dumbfounded that the one person she had loved so deeply was alive and well and in her era. An era she didn't think he'd ever seen again once the well closed.

Inuyasha let Kagome leave his side to glance out the windows. He had always loved his private part of the estate. He had helped design the wing, asking for tall ceilings and many windows. Being close to nature was essential for him. Taking in Kagome's expression of the grounds, he lets himself smile. The sun was hitting her features in just the right way, the blue sheen of her hair being exemplified. He wanted to reach out rake his claws through the soft strands but restrained himself.

"I'm glad you like it, you're more than welcome to take a stroll out there whenever you'd like," he paused before continuing, "That is if you plan on coming here again."

"Why wouldn't I want to come here again? This is where you live, no?" she asked, confused over such a statement.

"Kagome..." Inuyasha started. He was so taken aback by her demeanor. She was acting as if she had seen him just yesterday and no time had passed. That he hadn't hid his existence from her for the past ten years. That he didn't make her go through her grief of the well closing without him.

"Do not 'Kagome,' me, Inuyasha," she swallowed before continuing, turning her body back to facing the half demon, "I don't know why you kept yourself a secret from me for the past ten years. I don't know why you let me believe all the absurd theories I made up in my mind. But none of that matters, don't you know?"

Inuyasha felt his skin flush at Kagome's words. He let out a breath, "Kagome, I'm so so—"

"No," she cut him off, coming to stand directly in front of him, placing her palm to his chest, looking up at him. "I promised I'd always be by your side. I meant that."

"You can't mean that. Not after all this time, you have a life outside of the past, Kagome," he didn't falter in his words. He had stayed away for that reason. She deserved to live a life not tied to him. A life that was expansive, full of new experiences, new joys, and loves.

A life he himself had lived without her.

Kagome shook her head at Inuyasha, letting her hand trail down to the front of his chest, feeling the muscles there contract under her touch. She took a deep breath before exhaling and removing her hand, letting herself put distance between them.

"I do mean it, though. Despite the circumstances, now that I know you're alive, I'll be in your life. That's that," she turned on the balls of her feet then, walking further into his wing of the estate, "Now show me around your space and tell me about our friends. I miss them every day."

Inuyasha let himself laugh. He truly was awestruck at Kagome's ability to brush off her pain, her potential discomfort, and grief for the sake of them catching up. He hoped it wasn't a new habit she had picked up, but, if that was how she wanted to proceed he would follow. He would follow her wherever, whether he told her that right away or not.

"I see you're still stubborn as ever," he said, catching up to her as she made it into the area of his wing that split off into two directions, "We can go to my office first if you prefer?" He pointed to the right, then pointed to the left, "That way takes us to the master suite and en suite bathroom."

Kagome swallowed at the mention of a master bedroom. She could only imagine the plush bed that awaited there. The soft linens, puffy pillows, the glorious bathroom… that most definitely held a beautiful bathtub.

"Do you have a big bathtub?" she blurted out before she could stop herself.

Inuyasha let himself burst into laughter at her question, doubling over his knees. Kagome always did love a good bath, and he would be lying to everyone if he didn't admit he had put in the large bathtub in his en suite with Kagome in mind. Not that he ever thought he'd be bringing her here, no. He hadn't dreamt of that. At least, not recently.

"How about I show you?" he asked, motioning them to take the hallway down to the bedroom.

Kagome was taken aback by his response to her outburst. She flushed at the implications of seeing his bedroom, though seconds before she was daydreaming of such a thing.

"Usually, a man takes me out to dinner before I see his bedroom," she smirked, making her way to follow Inuyasha's cue to continue down the hallway on the left.

Inuyasha's mouth fell agape at her retort. She was playing with him. She was playing with him. Her tone, scent, and posture said as much.

As Kagome took her first few steps, she felt a pull on her arm, spinning her right back into Inuyasha's chest. The fabric of her dress was thin, and she once more felt the plains of chest against her body. She felt his breath in her ear, causing her heartbeat to quicken, her chest rising and falling in harsh pants.

"I'd love to take you out to dinner," his breath was warm, but it sent a needy chill down her spine. He let the hand that had twirled her back into his embrace come up to pet her hair and trail down to the small of her back.

"You just say the word," he spoke, breaking the embrace and repositioning them to make their way to his office, "But first, I have a few things to show you and we really do need to talk."

Kagome was no amateur when it came to flirting with men. She was a twenty-six year old, attractive young woman. She knew the impact she had on men, she was confident in that. Throughout her college years, her confidence with men grew. She liked to play with them, aiming to beat them at a game they thought they had already won. The majority of the time? She'd win out, either getting a round of free drinks, a good conversation, and even on occasion a satisfying roll in the sheets.

She'd follow this type of game play some nights out in San Francisco, too. She'd woo her way at the bar or club, enjoying the way she could wrap a man around her finger but not have to keep any promises. Once she met Josh, the dynamic changed mostly. She'd dialed back on her time trying to outplay men and spent more time bonding with her friend over beer and peanuts late into the night. She of course had desires and would satisfy those when she felt like it, but playing games came at a minimum nowadays.

Playing those types of games with Inuyasha? That was dangerous. A game she was sure she would have to fight extra hard to win. One she wasn't sure she even wanted to win in truth. Sure, he was alive, and she was so extremely grateful. It felt like a small crack in her being was now glowing gold at the reality this all meant, but Inuyasha didn't know her. And she didn't know him.

She was not under some delusional, wishful thinking that he'd sweep her off her feet and lead her into a fairytale ending. No.

But she couldn't help the pull to flirt with him. To play with him. It felt out of her control. In his embrace with his breath on her, she felt small again.

When he released her, she internally settled herself, wanting to keep up her strong demeanor, 'I cannot pine over him like I did when I was fifteen. I am not that girl anymore.'

"Nothing good ever comes from, 'We need to talk,' Inuyasha," she pouted.

They paused then, outside a large wooden door which Kagome presumed to be his office. The hallway had been lined with the same large windows as his entry room and she darted her eyes out to take another peek of the scenery, avoiding his glances.

The sound of Inuyasha clearing his voice brought her back, her eyes connected with hard gold.

"We have a lot to discuss, and some of it will probably make you upset. I'm not going to lie to you about that," he spoke softly as he turned the doorknob, motioning for her to enter first.

What lay behind the door took her breath away. She brought her hand up to her mouth, eyebrows furrowing.

There on full display, behind a glass frame, was the fire rat robe she had come to search for in her dreams. The deep red was still as vibrant as it was the last time, she saw him in it. She was thankful it was behind glass: a part of her craved to reach out and steal it, stow it away, and sleep with it every night. She felt juvenile. Kagome had become a pro at nestling her emotions deep within her. Sure, she at times felt haunted by the ghosts of her past, but this felt like an outright attack of feelings she had long buried. It was suffocating.

She still had the occasional nightmare, similar to what she had those first two years after the well closed. Those nightmares back then left her screaming, typically they revolved around Naraku torturing her friends from the dead, sometimes he came back from the dead, and other times they never won at all. The nightmares she had now were reminiscent of her time in the jewel, stuck in darkness. She wouldn't wake up screaming at these as much as they drained her the next morning. She was used to them.

What had been the worst of all dreams, was the dreamscape that gave her everything she had wanted as a fifteen year old: a small wooden hut, in her love's forest, her being chased by a handful of dog eared children, Inuyasha watching her laugh from under the glow of the sunset. Kagome had craved that life for so long after the well closed. She had prayed for it. But she had given that up. She forced herself to lock those wishes back into the well that wouldn't open. She didn't have those dreams anymore.

Standing in front of this relic from that time transported her back in time, pondering all that she had missed out on. She inched her way into his office space, moving her way around the large desk that sat there, passing by bookcase upon bookcase. As she came to stand in front of the robe, her breath caught as her eyes settled on the shadow box hanging to the right, the Kotodama necklace old Kaede had placed on him all those years ago on display.

"Sit," she whispered, bringing fingertips up to slide across the glass.

To her dismay, nothing happened. She shook her head.

Unbeknownst to her, Inuyasha had been watching her in tense curiosity. He tracked her every movement, every breath. He knew this would be hard on her, being faced with physical reminders of the life she had once experienced. He knew the added layer of it being the things that had connected her to him, the only image she ever held of him, must have been painful.

He didn't miss the dip in her aura as the beads of subjugation made no reaction at her command. He chose then to speak.

"I assume the spell wore off a few hundred years ago, perhaps," he came to stand next to her, "I had Miroku remove them before he passed. I wanted to preserve them as best I could." He had kept those beads with him, always. Although not physically worn anymore, they were forever protected. He had held close to them as a reminder that the year and a half he had spent with Kagome hadn't been a dream. It had been real. She was real.

Kagome welcomed Inuyasha's presence next to her, seeking any comfort she could get. She hummed at his words; it had been a really shitty past month, and this was the icing on the cake—she felt too stunned to speak.

She chose to close her eyes then and take a deep breath. There was the faint smell of leather in the air, as well as sandalwood and Inuyasha's scent she had imbedded into memory from earlier. She chose to focus on that, mentally feeling around her and moving into her spiritual headspace, she reached out to sense the auras around her. To her surprise, the only aura she felt was Inuyasha's. She pondered that for a moment.

"I'm so sorry about your grandfather, Kagome," he sighed out.

"He never was your biggest fan," she started, swallowing the knot rising in her throat, "but he knew I loved you. And he never made me feel crazy for being so deep in my grief those first couple of years. He made it easier." Kagome turned to face Inuyasha then, examining his facial features. His jaw was sharp, a slight stubble there. He had it clenched, she presumed in anxiety, but she couldn't be so sure. Moving upward, she admired the sweet slope of his nose, the plushness of his lips, which were parted. Her eyes met his then, and she saw something reflected there. Something she couldn't quite name. Not yet.

"He taught me so much, even more once the well closed, you have no idea. I could have minored in demonic and priestess studies in college if that had been a thing," she chuckled, "I miss him." Her eyes were still locked on Inuyasha's as he listened to her intently. "You know, it is kind of funny that when I lose one of the men that was most important to me in my lifetime, I seem to gain back the other. Fate is funny that way, I guess."

Fate. Fate was funny. Fate was what it was. Fuck. He knew more than that. He knew. He was thankful she was being so casual with him; her vulnerability was a beautiful gift he wouldn't squander.

"Kagome, he loved you. So much," he sighed, "I have something for you." Kagome cocked her head at his statement, watching as he moved around her, his hand brushing the side of her hip as he came to open a drawer to his desk.

Shuffling a few papers off the top, Inuyasha grabbed ahold of the journal he had been keeping in his protection. The old, leather-bound journal kept a rich history for Kagome to dive into. A story that told of the friendship that he and her grandfather had built in Daisuke's younger years. His early involvement in the Alliance. The birth of his son. Finding out his spiritual powers had been passed down. Watching his son fall in love. The birth of his granddaughter, grandson. It was all in his journals; this was just the first one. The one Dai had instructed him to give to Kagome when they met again. Lifting the journal out of the drawer, he reached it out towards Kagome, for her to take.

"This is for you. Dai—," he paused as the nickname he had given Kagome's grandfather slipped from his lips, "I mean, your grandfather wanted you to have this. He asked me to hold onto it and save it for when we met again."

Inuyasha shut the drawer and stood tall, waiting for the barrage of questions he knew was coming his way. As Kagome had grabbed the journal from him, he had felt the shift in her emotions. First confusion, wonder, understanding, and then anger came to the surface. He braced himself.

"Why do you have this? And why did you just refer to Jii-chan by his childhood nickname?" she huffed out, holding the journal to her chest like a lifeline. Her eyes narrowed on him.

Kagome was frustrated. She could only manage so much in one day and finding out the love of your life, who was a half-demon, was still alive and was hot, so fucking hot and was a part of this billionaire class family who basically ran all of Japan was a little much. Finding out he potentially was all buddy-buddy with your now deceased grandfather pushed her one step too far. She was furious at all the questions she had. She was furious he had hidden himself from her over the past ten years. And now she was furious that somehow her grandfather participated in all of this twisted, messed up ordeal.

"Inuyasha, answer me."

"I think the journal will explain it all sufficiently. He let me read it," he ran his hand through his hair, "Dai really didn't want me telling his story. Hence the journal."

"That is not what I meant. Why do you have this and not my mother?"

"We were close friends."

"Close. Friends," she said, clamping her jaw shut.

"Kagome, I'm sorry. There's so much we need to go over, and I just don't want to mess this up," he breathed out, stepping closer to her.

She took a step back as he came closer.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner you were here?"

He had been waiting for that one. He knew she'd be upset about it all, but his abandonment the most.

"I couldn't. When the well closed, you were sixteen, Kagome. With how we left things before the well closed, I couldn't approach you then. Not until you healed."

"Well, I'm all fucking healed now, Inuyasha. And here you are, alive and somehow connected to my dead grandfather. What the hell? I thought you were dead. Do you know how painful that was? Because I don't think you do."

"Dai told me it all," he bit out. He was having a hard time not enveloping her in his arms, holding her close and easing the pain away. But he deserved her ire. He deserved it all. He had stayed away. Too long. Much too long.

"How could he not tell me? He saw me struggle firsthand to move on. He watched me cry myself to sleep at the bottom of that stupid, fucking well. Why? Why did he do this? Why did you do this?"

"Kagome, you need to understand—"

"I don't! I don't understand a thing," she screamed at him then, her aura a wild cyclone of pink, swirling with her fluctuating emotions. She paced in front of his desk now, him on the other side, giving her distance even though he still felt the pull to comfort her with his embrace.

"And why is it that my aura seems to want to merge with yours? I haven't felt my spiritual powers in years. Honestly, I think since the well closed. So, why is it now that you magically reappear that I have this sense back? Inuyasha, what is going on?" She stopped her pacing, sinking to the ground, pulling her knees into her chest, the leather journal forgotten to her side.

He had enough of the waiting. He went to her then, kneeling in front of her, placing one hand on her knee, the other coming to tilt her chin up to look at him. She averted her eyes, tears tracking down her cheeks.

"Look at me," he spoke sternly, shifting her chin up just the slightest inch. She refused.

"Kagome."

She listened then. Brown met gold and his restraint faltered. His demon growling at him to stop upsetting his mate. Mate.

"I could not approach you when the well closed. You would have wanted me fully and I could not give you that. You were a child. That does mean I didn't love you, Kagome. The timing wasn't right," he moved his hand to cradle the side of her face. She leaned into his touch, blinking up at him.

"Why not when I went to college then? I wasn't a child then." Another question he knew was coming.

"I wanted you to experience life without the ghost of me haunting you. Dai told me how hard it was for you. The pain. I couldn't hold you back from the joys life could bring."

"You would have brought me joy," she choked out now. Hating that he was right. Hating that even now, she was at his mercy. After all this time, she still found shelter in his hold.

He couldn't help it then, grabbing hold of Kagome and positioning her into his lap, bringing his hands to wrap around her, holding tight.

"Shhh. Shh, Kagome, it's okay," he murmured to her as she broke down in deep sobs. "I'm so sorry, I just couldn't risk ruining your progress. I love you too much to do that."

Kagome let her head rest against the crease of his collarbone and shoulder, clutching onto his dress shirt. She inhaled sharply at his sentiment. He had never directly said those three words before.