Chapter 121
Collige virgo rosas
"Pick, girl, the roses"

"Life had taught her to be brave,
to be patient, to love, to forgive."
—Rainbow Valley

Kagome slipped into the water, feeling all the kinks in her muscles relax and letting out a soft sigh of contentment.

She really did need this.

Leaning her head to the side, there was a sharp crack as the muscles in her shoulders and back loosened, allowing her to move more freely.

Sango slipped into the water across from her.

"Oh, this feels so good," she murmured, and Kagome hummed in agreement. "It's been ages since we were able to soak like this." She cracked an eye open to stare at the trees. "Especially without peeping ears."

"Inuyasha's not peeping or listening," Kagome said. "He's—" She paused as she felt out his youki. "He's going that way," she said, pointing her finger behind her and in the direction that he was running. "Inuyasha promised that he would let us relax."

Sango scoffed at that, reaching back to dig into the tote.

"Well, how are you two doing after Kikyo?"

Kagome stared at the water, trying to discern her own feelings into a tangible word.

"I don't know. I didn't hate her, and I'd never want her to suffer, but the things she said—those are hard to let go."

"You're a better person than me."

"How so?"

"I don't think that I could've forgiven her after what she did to you and Inuyasha," she said, looking off into the trees. "Even before you," the statement drifted off, but the sentiment was clear. They both knew what event she was referring to.

Kagome let her fingers swirl around under the water, creating ripples just barely disturbed the surface.

"It's not that much different than forgiving Kohaku. It wasn't really her doing those things. The real Kikyo wouldn't have hurt me. She was just angry, and I was in the way."

"You forgive so easily," Sango murmured.

"Not really," Kagome said with a shake of her head. "I was—I was angry at Kikyo for a long time, and I took a lot of that out on Inuyasha when he probably didn't deserve it." She watched the water steam up and swirl around her fingers as she moved. "I kinda took it out on you guys too."

"He deserved most of it, in my opinion."

"Well, maybe a little, he didn't exactly explain it well, and a lot of times, I didn't want to hear it."

But Inuyasha did love her, and he loved her now, and that was what mattered in the grand scheme of things.

"So, how are you two?" Sango asked as she rose up from where she sat, taking out the shampoo and the conditioner bottles.

"Oh, well, I think Inuyasha's made—I don't know—amends with Kikyo's death. I think he's happy that she's at peace now."

"Turn around," Sango ordered. "And not what I meant. How are you two?"

"What—what do you mean?" Kagome asked staring at the water ahead of her as Sango urged her to dunk her head beneath the surface. She came up wiping her face.

"You know exactly what I mean. He's been clingy and touchy with you lately—so what's happening?"

"Uh," Kagome stammered as Sango's fingers sank into her hair as she scrubbed at Kagome's scalp. "I don't know what you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean. You and Inuyasha."

Was she supposed to talk about it? Was she allowed to talk about it? Did Inuyasha want to keep this a secret from everyone? Not that it didn't sting a little, but she knew that he was private and that he didn't want everyone in his business. Heck, it had taken her months to be able to get him to open up about anything.

But she wanted to talk to Sango, and at the same time, relish the newness of it, because it felt new and grand, and she still couldn't quite believe that he'd just—kissed her like that for no reason!

Just because he wanted to, and she'd thought that he was going to kiss her again with Sango right there!

Not that it would've been that big of a deal, but there was something about holding this close to her heart, keeping it between her fingers, something that was just the two of them, after it had been her and Inuyasha and Kikyo for so long, that now, it was something small and finite and hers.

Just hers and only hers.

And after fearing that she'd have to lock these feelings away and that her love and affection were unrequited, it was like her feelings were an infant, and she was too afraid to let them wander too far from herself, lest they get hurt and hurt her in return.

"Kagome?" Sango said, gently tugging her head back. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You just got really quiet. You don't have to say anything if you don't want to. I was just teasing. Miroku's been poking and prodding about you two, and I guess it rubbed off on me."

"It's fine, Sango," Kagome said, giving her a genuine smile. "Don't worry about me."

Sango returned the smile, and then instructed her to duck under the water and rinse.

When she came back up, Sango spread conditioner throughout her hair, smoothing it and twisting it into a pile to soak as Kagome rested back against the stones of the spring.

"I just don't want to make you feel pressured to talk about whatever is happening with you two, and I know that you love him, and that he's—well, he's Inuyasha." Sango scrunched up her face a little at that. "You should just really—You should just talk to him."

Sango scrubbed at her scalp and hair with the shampoo.

But Kagome was trying to figure out what Sango was trying to tell her, even though she was being vague, and if there was one thing that Kagome was tired of at this moment, it was dancing around her feelings for Inuyasha.

"I'll—uh—I'll try," she said, feeling a slow heat rise up her face as she tried to not give herself away.

She wanted to tell Sango, but she also wanted to keep this to herself before everyone poked and prodded her feelings until they were sore. Maybe that was what Inuyasha was trying to do too.

Let them dry out a little and stretch after being cramped up and buried for so long.

Sango rinsed her hair out under the water, and Kagome sighed. Maybe she was being a little selfish, but she wasn't ready for the teasing either. Not yet, anyway.

Sango rose up out of the water, squeezing the excess water out of her hair. She spread conditioner through her own hair, before settling back into the warm water to soak.

"Well, how are you feeling after, you know, everything?"

Kagome stared at the rippling water.

"Okay, I guess." Kagome shrugged.

"Care to elaborate more on that?"

"I don't know," Kagome sighed. "Kikyo was bad, and then she wasn't, and there's so much else. And a lot of it is just really confusing and I don't even know what to think about most of it anymore, like Kouga! He was our friend, and now maybe he's not? And I don't know how I feel about all of that, even though he was being controlled?"

Sango blinked.

"That is—yeah, that makes sense."

"Everything feels different, you know?" Kagome shrugged weakly before giving Sango a faint smile. "It's not all bad though. It's just different, and it's just taking me a little bit to figure out how I feel about it."

Sango hesitated for just a moment.

"Do you think that you'll be in your time for a while?" Sango asked, twisting her hair up and then settling back against the rocks.

"I don't know. It won't be more than a week. I just need to catch up and then take whatever I missed."

"Is a week going to be long enough?" Sango asked, and there was a spike of fear that shot through Kagome's chest.

"What—what do you mean?"

"If you need to take longer, then stay longer and visit your family."

Kagome took a deep breath.

"Yeah, okay," she said, flashing a small smile, even as her chest felt like it was fluttering. Sango wasn't telling her to leave. She wasn't telling her to go home and stay there. She was just telling her that it was okay to take a break. She didn't have to rush back. She could take a deep breath and relax. She could try to recover.

They hadn't wanted her to leave forever. It was just for a little while. That's all. She just needed to recover a little. Be able to walk on her own two feet and then come back, and they could figure out who was behind all this.

Kagome just needed a moment to breathe.

When the girls had soaked until they were relaxed and looked every bit like a prune, they rinsed before getting out and drying off. Sango got out first, towel drying herself off before she helped Kagome get out of the springs and sit out on a towel, drying her own hair gently as Sango dressed.

The air was crisp but the steam of the springs kept her from getting a chill. Kagome gently ran a towel over her hair and body.

"Kaede said I could take out the last of the stitches once your skin was soft," Sango told her, tying off her skirt.

Kagome shifted herself a little so that Sango could reach her back a little easier.

"Here," she said, and Kagome felt the cool metal of a knife slip between the stitches, and the gentle pull and snap of the threads holding her skin together. Tugging the little threads out was uncomfortable, but it wasn't unbearable.

"Does it look okay?" Kagome asked.

"Yeah. The wound looks fine," she said as her fingers brushed over the closed wound. "It looks like it's healing up okay. Can you raise your arm up?"

Kagome lifted her arm a little, slowly raising it up, feeling muscles in her shoulders and back tense and then slowly pop and release, and it was amazing.

Letting out a low groan, she rolled her shoulders as the muscles jumped and popped again.

"Feel better?" Kagome nodded, rolling her neck as the tension in her back released.

Sango helped finish drying her hair and then let her slip on a shirt and a pair of pajama pants.

"I'll pack everything up, and you can call Inuyasha."

Sango slipped off to where the tote bag was, and Kagome felt out for Inuyasha's youki. It wasn't agitated or flaring, which made it a little harder to find, but it wasn't impossible.

She took a deep breath and then shouted his name as not-in-danger as she could possibly sound.

And then his youki was in motion, and Kagome smiled at the speed in which he came towards her, and then he was there, landing just a foot from her.

"You done?" He asked, walking over and running his fingers through her hair. "It's still wet."

"It's dry enough," Sango said. "You can grab a towel and do it yourself."

Inuyasha snatched a towel and sat behind Kagome.

"You don't have to," she started to turn around, and Inuyasha firmly turned her back.

"You sit there," he snapped out before squeezing her hair in the towel, gently running it through the towel.

Inuyasha was always gentle with her, more gentle than he was with anyone else.

"Thank you," she whispered to him, and he grunted in response as he worked the towel through her hair as Sango packed everything back into the tote.

"You done?" Sango asked, and Inuyasha ran his fingers through her hair for a bit before seeming to decide that everything was to his liking.

"It's dry enough now," he said, and Kagome turned to see him toss the towel at Sango, who caught it with a glare. "You ready?" He asked her, and she nodded, raising her arms as he leaned down to pick her up.

She deftly placed a kiss to his cheek when his face leaned in close to hers, so quickly and quietly that there was no way for Sango to have seen it.

She watched the flush spread over his face and couldn't help giggling at the sight of him entirely flustered.

"Oi," he grumbled, barely able to glance down at her before the redness across his cheeks worsened, which only made her giggle at him more. "You ready?" He barked out to Sango, who was already jumping to up sit astride Kirara.

Without waiting a moment longer, Inuyasha leapt up into the air with Kirara following with a roaring bellow.

His face was bright red, and Kagome felt a little bad about it.

"Are you going to be okay?" She asked him.

"I'm fine," he grumbled out, face still completely red, and Kagome wondered if she'd stepped over a line she was unaware of, especially since he ran in complete silence back towards the village. Maybe he didn't want her just kissing him out of the blue like that?

He'd seemed pretty—uh—enthusiastic about kissing her, but maybe he wasn't prepared for the unsolicited affection.

Or maybe he didn't want it?

"Sorry, I kissed you like that," Kagome said quietly, even though she was sure that Sango couldn't possibly overhear them with the wind rushing by. "I didn't mean to embarrass you." Inuyasha landed near Kaede's hut, feet alighting gently on the ground. "I won't do it again."

"No!" He shouted loudly, with panic edging in on his face and voice as his eyes darted between the hut, her, and then Sango, who landed with a concerned look on her face.

"Everything okay?"

"It's fucking fine!" Inuyasha shouted, waving his hand at her like he was shooing her away.

"Kagome?" Sango asked, and Inuyasha shot her a glare.

"It's fine, Sango," she said, and Sango raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything else as she headed into Kaede's hut. "It's not that big of a deal, Inuyasha," Kagome kept her voice low so that no one else with normal hearing could listen in on their conversation. "I don't want you to be embarrassed like that."

"It's—It's not like that!" He growled out, face flushing redder than it had been, and Kagome watched as a range of emotions flickered across his face faster than she could discern them. His ears flicked behind him, and he looked over his shoulder with a death glare. "We're going to your time," he said, grumbling. "Might get to have an actual fucking conversation then."

"Really? With Souta around?" She asked as he carried her to Kaede's hut.

"The brat is at least fucking nice, unlike some assholes," he said, kicking the mat to the side as he stepped in with her.

"I have no clue what you could possibly mean by that statement," Miroku said, and Inuyasha snorted and rolled his eyes at that.

"Right," was all he said about the matter.

"Well, my fair Kagome," Miroku started as Inuyasha moved to help Sango collect her things. "Are you planning on being gone long?" Miroku asked her as he moved to sit beside her against the wall.

"I hope not," she sighed, "but I have a feeling that I'm really behind in my school work, and I don't know if I have any tests coming up or if I've missed them at all." She looked over at Inuyasha. "I'm hoping that maybe I'll only be gone a few days, but it may take longer."

"We are in no rush to have you back. If anything, a good rest would do us all some favors, I think." He looked over at Sango. "I think perhaps we might take the time to go back to Sango's village while you're away."

"She'd probably like that," Kagome said with a small smile, looking over at where Sango raised her fist to Inuyasha in a clear threat. Inuyasha responded by baring his fangs at her, even though it was clear that neither of them intended to actually do harm.

It was sweet watching them interact like that, even though half the time they acted like they wanted to beat each other senseless.

"They act like siblings, don't they?" Kagome whispered.

"I suppose they do, don't they?" Miroku whispered back with a conspiratorial grin on his face.

"We do not!" Inuyasha snarled at Miroku.

"We don't what?" Sango asked with her own glare at Miroku.

"Why is everyone glaring at me? I just agreed with what Kagome said!"

To that no one said a word, and Inuyasha snatched the medical kit out of Sango's hand and shoved it into the backpack.

"Kaede, tell them I didn't say anything!"

Kaede merely sipped from her tea cup.

"I am afraid, Lord Monk, that ye's seditious past will not help ye here."

Kirara wandered up to Miroku and stepped into his lap.

"Well at least I still have Kirara. At least she loves me." He reached out to stroke his hand along Kirara's back, who promptly side stepped him and continued walking right into Kagome's, where she promptly curled up and chirped. "Well, I suppose I shall die alone and unloved."

"Yeah, but not quietly," Inuyasha commented, and Kaede snorted into her tea.

Kagome giggled as Inuyasha slung the backpack over his shoulder, returning to her side.

"Ready?" He asked, and she nodded, smiling up at him as she reached for his neck. He picked her up with no effort and stood with Kirara still in her lap. "You're gonna have a rough ride down the well, Kirara," Inuyasha told her, and the firecat chirped.

"I suppose I will see you two off since I am so clearly unwanted here."

"Bold assumption you're wanted anywhere," Inuyasha mumbled.

"Sango! My love! Defend my honor!" Miroku said as he followed them out the door.

"What honor?" Sango asked, and Miroku clutched his robes like he'd been shot.

"You wound me, my love!"

"See? Told you he wouldn't die quietly," Inuyasha remarked, and Kagome swatted him gently.

"Be nice!" She told him.

"Ah, my fair Lady Kagome always comes to my rescue," Miroku said, giving a slight bow at her as he walked beside them.

Kirara crawled up Inuyasha's chest to his shoulder where she leapt onto Miroku's shoulder instead.

"I knew that my fair Kirara would return to me," he said reaching up to pet her, but she skirted around the back of his neck and leapt onto Sango's shoulder.

Miroku sighed long and dramatically forlorn.

"Honestly," he mumbled, and Kagome couldn't help it. She laughed at the smug look on Kirara's face when juxtaposed with the grumbling one on Miroku's.

Inuyasha moved to the edge of the well, jumping onto the edge.

"We'll be back in the village in 4 or 5 days. Just long enough to visit."

"Take a week," Inuyasha told them. "Kagome needs to do her work and she needs to stay off her ankle."

"Then we will be back in a week. If you decide to stay longer, no one will be upset."

Inuyasha nodded like that was the acceptable answer.

"Be safe!" Kagome called as Inuyasha leapt into the well.

The light surrounded them, and Kagome looked at Inuyasha's face as it highlighted his features.

He was beautiful, and she couldn't believe that no one wanted to love him.

He was so kind and caring—and earth-shatteringly beautiful.

How could no one want him?

The lights faded, and he landed softly in her time. The light dimmed with the roof overhead, and Inuyasha shifted as he nimbly leapt out of the well and in front of the stairs.

"You okay?" He asked her, and she nodded. "You ready to talk to everyone?"

She turned towards the door, and then looked up at him.

"No, not really, but," she sighed, "I'm going to have to face them eventually, aren't I?" Another sigh. "Might as well get it over with."

Inuyasha hesitated for just a moment before walking up the steps to the wellhouse door.

He took a deep breath, and then shifted her a little so that he could slide the door open. His hand returned to her, and he cautiously stepped out into the courtyard before darting over to the back door of the house.

He slipped it open and stepped inside, shutting it behind him.

No one came to welcome them, and there was no noise.

"No one's here," Inuyasha said.

She should feel ashamed at the relief she felt at not seeing her family, but the moment that Inuyasha had stepped outside the well house she'd realized that she wasn't ready. She wasn't ready to see everyone and explain everything.

Without asking or prodding, Inuyasha started up towards the stairs, taking her up to her room.

Somehow, he always knew just what she needed.

A/N: Sorry I've been out for so long. 2024 decided to go out with a bang (metaphorically speaking). I had a fibroma removed, got 8 stitches, and wound up having an allergic reaction to bandages and aquaphor (which is apparently rare). So it's been a fun time. On top of that, it was also the holidays, and now it's just the start of the new semester. 2025 has also not started off well, and it's been a struggle. I'm going to try very hard to not slip off my schedule again, but just, you know, be patient.