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Eri tilted her head, pausing as they walked to look back behind her. A man was waving. She tilted her head to the other side. “Kagome? I think that guy’s calling you?” She brought the other three girls’ attention to her and they too paused on the sidewalk, turning to look back at her. She raised a hand to motion back to the guy, now jogging and waving a little more wildly.
“Heeey! Kagooomeee!”
“Do you know that guy, Kagome?” Ayumi asked, one hand curling around Kagome’s as their friend squinted.
“I dunno…” Kagome leaned forward, squinting a little more. “He looks kinda familiar…”
“Kagome! Hey, wait up!”
“He looks like he’s in college, doesn’t he?” Ayumi tilted forward to look Kagome in the eye. “But I guess he knows you. An old friend, maybe?” Eri and Yuka shuffled back and they resolved to wait for the guy.
“Pretty good eyes on him, don’t you think? To notice so far away,” Eri remarked as they shuffled off to the side, Kagome hesitantly waving back to show the man she’d wait. The guy whooped, nearly leaping in the air as he sped up. “Wow, he’s really excited. Is this one of those boyfriends you used to have, Kagome?”
“No, he’s not,” Kagome responded stiffly and Eri winced, apologizing quietly. Yuka frowned at her, then patted Kagome’s arm lightly. “But I swear I’ve seen him before…” She raised a hand to nibble on her thumb nail, watching as the man hurried closer, dodging around other people.
“Sis!” was the joyous cry.
“Sis?” Her friends echoed the man’s words and Kagome stared, then stiffened up, tears growing in her eyes. “H-hey, Kagome? Are you okay? Want us to run him off?” Yuka asked as Eri pushed her sleeves up, showing her resolve.
“No, no it’s—no I, I know him!” Kagome swallowed down the sob growing in the back of her throat. “Ginta!”
And then he was there, arms around her as he swung her around, loud laughter spilling from them both. “I missed you!” he wailed, swinging her wildly, rubbing his cheek on the top of her head. Kagome was laughing though, her arms thrown around him and the utter joy on her face had her friends backing away.
“I’m glad he wasn’t some creep,” Eri murmured and the other two hummed their agreement. “Kagome,” Eri raised her voice and the swinging stopped, the two looking over at her with red-rimmed eyes. The three smiled serenely. “We’ll go on ahead, okay? See you tomorrow!” They waved and once Kagome warbled out a goodbye, they turned, linking arms and chatting as they made their way down the street without her.
Which left the two alone, Ginta still holding her up and tears still coursing down her cheeks. As he looked down at her, she looked up at him. A moment later, they both grinned wide and he set her down, resting his hands gently on her shoulders. “Look at you, you don’t look any older,” he murmured.
“Yeah, well, it’s only been three years for me, you know?” Kagome told him lightly. He stared down at her, then nodded jerkily.
“It’s—it’s uh been a bit longer for us,” he managed, smile wobbling. Kagome swiped at her eyes with her sleeve, nodding as well. “Ahh, but enough of that! How ya been, huh? Still in school? You graduating soon?”
“Just a few more months,” Kagome confessed, smoothing down her jacket. Ginta stepped back and she finally took him in. He only seemed a little older than her now, college-age she would guess. Twenty-three at the most? His hair had hardly changed, but instead of the armor she was familiar with, he was dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt, a denim jacket with fur rimming the collar, and a messenger bag strapped across his chest. She reached up, brushing her fingers against the fur, frowning at it curiously. “Did you guys…?”
“As if we’d leave our comrades behind,” Ginta told her, a note of teasing in his tone. “I can hardly believe this! After all this time too!” He beamed down at her and she shrugged a bit. “When Inuyasha told us about the well and your world, we thought he was crazy, but it made sense, you know? And it was enough, that you were safe and maybe if we stuck it out, we’d see you again. But I’m pretty lucky, huh?” He laughed, fists propped on his hips as he threw his head back. “Everyone’s gonna be so jealous I found you first! Oh! Here, take a picture!” He pulled out a blue-cased cellphone.
“You have a phone!”
“Of course!”
Kagome pulled out her own phone, a pink flip phone. “I have a phone!” she brandished her mobile proudly. It’d taken some saving up and some time before her mom could get one for her, but after those months where the well didn’t work and she was forever trapped in the present… Well. It made sense. “I need your number!”
Ginta blinked, then grinned. “What a great idea, Sis! Emails, then picture!” he demanded and handed his phone over. The moment they’d finished, Ginta wrapped an arm around her, grinning brightly as he ducked down to press his cheek to hers, phone held aloft. She wrapped an arm around his back, grinning as the shutter sounded. He straightened up, turning the phone around and peering down at the small screen. “Aww, Sis, did you really have to?” he groaned and Kagome’s smile grew wider.
He turned the phone around and she giggled down at the photo: they were both sincerely happy, that was clear enough even with their reddened eyes, but Kagome had, at the last moment, thrown up a hand to give the wolf demon bunny ears.
“I couldn’t resist~” was her explanation and Ginta sighed and tucked his phone away in his pocket. “So, how long have you been around here?”
“Couple years now. We move around every so often. Hey, you hungry?” Ginta motioned towards the WacDonalds up ahead. “My treat?”
“I could eat,” Kagome told him and he steered her towards the doors. “It’ll be nice to catch up!”
“So… the well never worked again,” Kagome murmured, absently sipping at her drink. Ginta nodded, half a hamburger in his mouth. “So everyone…” She set her drink down, staring down at the table. “Sango, and Miroku…”
“Yeah, sorry…” Ginta swallowed his food, dropping his hands to offer her a sad look. “I heard for the first couple years Inuyasha went to the well every few days, to see if you came back. We were told you’d gone home to recover from your injuries, but after three years passed, we came to the village for any news. They told us about the well then—and how crazy is that? Time travel. We didn’t believe them at first, how could we, you know? We’d been told you’d be back, not that you’d be gone forever! So, it was a bit of a shock, but after a while, it made sense, what with you and all those things you carried.”
Kagome nodded sadly, nibbling on a fry. “I bet… they were wary at first too, until they saw me disappear into the well and they couldn’t follow.” There was a sad twitch of her lips and Ginta made a soft noise.
“We started coming every few months after that, to check in and all. They were your friends, so they were pack,” Ginta told her.
“Pack? A monk and a demon slayer?” Kagome huffed. He saw her pain at the loss of her friends, a loss she hadn’t dared to accept yet even after her time away. She’d grieve for awhile yet.
“Of course! You’re Koga’s woman, of course he’d watch over your friends! We made nice with Kaede and everything!” Ginta insisted.
“Really? Kaede?”
“Well, she accepted Inuyasha, so what was the protection of the Wolf Demon Tribe, right?” Ginta took another large bite of his hamburger and Kagome smiled lightly, taking a bite from her own. “Sango’s kids really liked our comrades, and we watched their backs once they went out fighting, so it all worked out.”
“Her kids? Fighting? Sango raised her kids as demon slayers?” Kagome leaned forward, the sadness still in her eyes, but there was the need for knowledge as well, for the memory of her friends to live on.
“Sure, why wouldn’t she? She and her brother were slayers, why wouldn’t her kids? Six of ‘em, believe that?” Ginta grinned, swiping a few of her fries and gulping them down as she protested.
“Six!?”
“Yuuup,” Ginta drawled, enjoying the shock on her face. “The Twins first—girls. Miki and Kuru. Then a boy, that was Youji. Then another girl, Kaori, then a boy, ah, that was Masao, he was my favorite,” Ginta confessed, smiling lightly at the thought of the child. “Good kid. He became a priest, very spiritual and holy, actually not a lech.” Ginta paused, then sobered. “I, I guess I lied, they had eight kids, but, there was a fever that went around and the little ones didn’t make it through the night. Two daughters, Seina and Mei. They were still little, Mei was just a couple months old and Seina was maybe three.” He pouted down at the table. “We stayed in the village for awhile after that,” he went on quietly. “She was pretty inconsolable and Inuyasha wasn’t much better, so we figured we’d stay for a while, make sure everything was okay.”
“Oh—oh poor Sango,” Kagome whispered, hands clenched tightly in her lap as she refused to let the tears fall. “I can’t even imagine what she went through…”
Their table fell to silence as the restaurant around them chattered on, unaware of the past that was being brought to the light of day as both demon and priestess tried not to cry at the knowledge they held. It was Ginta, several minutes later, who sniffled and then picked up another hamburger. Three bites in, he glanced to his companion.
“Their last one was a little girl. She eventually trained with Kaede before she died. Miroku’s old master had passed on by that point so they moved to the temple and she finished her training there, with some of her father’s disciples.”
Kagome sniffled, closing her eyes tightly and nodding. “Good for him,” was her hoarse whisper. “He always said he’d take it over.”
“She returned to the village and became it’s priestess. She did a good job too, trained some girls of her own before passing on the job. Moved back into the temple and helped her brother with the boys there. They named her Kagome.”
Kagome dropped her head to the table, sucking down a quick breath and holding it, eyes tightly shut. Then, a nod and a whimper. “I would have liked to meet them…”
“They woulda loved ya, Sis,” Ginta patted her shoulder lightly. “But don’t worry, we all told them about ya, so they grew up with stories. The twins tried to go through the well sometimes when they were little,” he told her. “They wanted to go and bring you back, so they could go on adventures with ya, so their parents wouldn’t be so sad sometimes.”
“Ohh, they sound like good girls,” Kagome’s voice was muffled by the table and Ginta nodded again.
“They all were. I miss ‘em. Fun to play with. That village didn’t fear demons, not when they’d seen us so much. We missed that, later on,” Ginta mused, resting his elbow against the table so he could hold up his chin, gazing out blankly into space. “Ahaha, well, this is kinda depressing…”
“Yeah…”
“So, let’s talk about something happier!” Kagome raised her head and Ginta saw the tears. He grinned. “Rin married Kohaku,” he told her.
“And Sesshomaru allowed it?” Kagome gaped at him, utterly surprised. From what she had seen, Sesshomaru was cold but his affections for Rin were sincere. To watch the girl grow up and then marry? That had to have been hard for him. And while Kohaku had traveled with them for a while, she couldn’t imagine anyone being good enough for the Lord of the West’s ward. Ginta grinned widely, a secret hidden in that smile. Kagome waved a finger threateningly. “Oh no, you better tell me what’s so funny, mister!”
“Sesshomaru was the one who practically gift wrapped her for him,” Ginta snickered.
“No!”
“Yes!” Ginta howled, tears leaking at the memory. “Gods, we were there too!”
“Tell me! Tell me tell me tell meeee!!”
“So he left her in Kaede’s village for a few years, okay? Because Kaede told him Rin could hardly live among demons if she never lived among humans. I’m sure there were some other absolutely valid points, but the end was Rin was in the village. Because Miroku and Sango were so busy with their kids, and their house was crowded, Kohaku never ended up visiting. It was almost eight years before he finally came back—”
“Wait, eight years? That long? After all that time?” Kagome interrupted, nearly outraged. “Why, Sango suffered so much and he just didn’t—”
“Ah, Sis, they saw each other, don’t worry,” Ginta soothed, hands raised to ward off her rage. The outrage was better than the suffering he’d inflicted thus far, so he didn’t much mind. Kagome settled after a moment, grumbling under her breath but accepted and nodded, allowing him to continue. “So when he came back, Rin was probably sixteen then, so he was, what? Nineteen? Grown. Regardless, we were all there and it was like love at first—ah, well, that’s not right,” Ginta mumbled to himself as he sat back, thinking about it. “Love delayed? I mean, they were kids the last time they saw each other, so…”
“It’s different, since they were both grown up,” Kagome offered him and Ginta nodded, accepting it.
“Yeah, so there we all were, us playing with the kids and Rin greeting Sesshomaru for his visit, and then Kohaku and Kilala just appear from the sky, come to visit! Everyone’s excited, Sango’s already crying, the kids wanna play with Kilala and then Kohaku just happens to look around and he and Rin make eye contact—and Sis, it was just like the movies!” Ginta assured her, hands clasped together to his chest. “So romantic! And bam! She can barely string two words together and he’s stumbling and staring and Sesshomaru, oh, oh Sis, his face! He was so angry!”
Ginta fell back to laugh and Kagome—
Kagome can picture it, the two blushing and eyeing each other from across the village and Sesshomaru just watching on, his indifferent mask crumbling as he frowned. She can imagine how little time is takes for Sango to notice Kohaku’s state, to start teasing him slyly, for Miroku to offer ‘sage advice’ and the poor boy barely able to keep his eyes off Rin, but also refusing to make contact.
She wishes she could have seen it.
“But wait, didn’t you say Sesshomaru—”
“Oh, oh he did, but later! First, he decided Rin could go travelling with him again and they left the next day for the Western Palace. Kaede was not pleased and she made her stance very obvious, but Sesshomaru insisted and, well, you know how he is,” Ginta shrugged, still smiling. “So Kohaku’s nearly heartbroken as she leaves. From what I heard, they spent the next few months in the Western Palace and Sesshomaru’s mother was incredibly amused by Sesshomaru claiming Rin as kin and essentially naming her his heir. She called Rin ‘Sesshomaru’s Human Pup’ for the next three years, gods, he was so annoyed!”
“Ohmygod,” Kagome breathed, just imagining the annoyance on his features while a woman Kagome imagined bearing a striking resemblance to her son doted on the teenage girl just to spite her own child. She had come to learn that Inuyasha’s family had drama all on its own and she wondered how Rin had fared with the demoness. “And then?”
“They went travelling when Sesshomaru couldn’t take her anymore,” Ginta confided in her, trying and failing to smother his laughter.
“P-poor Sesshomaru,” Kagome managed.
“And then one day, Rin went into a village, I don’t know if she was just curious or bored or went to buy something, but the young lord of the castle saw her and decided Rin would be his wife. She told him no—straight out!—and then left! But this idiot refused to let her leave, insisting she was beautiful and be his bride!”
“Oh, oh that poor fool,” Kagome couldn’t help but feel for the guy, honestly. It was stupid of him, but he couldn’t have known the horrors that would await him.
“Right? And Rin just kept telling him no, that she wouldn’t marry him, that she was off traveling with Sesshomaru—ah, I hear he got so jealous at that, that she was traveling with a man who wasn’t her family. And he kept insisting that she stay. She finally told him she’d leave in the morning, but that she wouldn’t marry him, and it was late anyway, so what was the harm?”
Kagome had a feeling she knew where this story was going.
“So that’s when Jaken decided to make his grand appearance!” Ginta proclaimed, shoving a handful of fries in his mouth and pausing to take quick bites of his burger.
“Plot twist,” Kagome said, watching him.
“The stupid imp, he just walked right into the village with Ah-Un.”
“Ohmygod,” Kagome repeated.
“So then there was panic about demons and Rin, calm as you please, just told Jaken he took an awfully long time, had he gotten lost? And off they went, just, right out the gates!” Ginta sucked down some more of his soda and Kagome nibbled at her own burger. “So the guy’s just, dumbfounded, but he rallies up some soldiers and they chase after them. Unfortunately, they’d already met up with Sesshomaru at that point, so all they knew was now here’s Rin, surrounded by demons. He tells her he’ll have her, one way or another, because she’s beautiful—as if that’s her only redeeming quality,” Ginta scoffed and Kagome nodded, something warm welling in her chest as Ginta’s disapproval.
“And Sesshomaru?” Kagome halfway feared he simply killed the soldiers then and there.
“Just said it was time to go and off they went, Rin and Jaken on Ah-Un. Two weeks later, they’re back in the village and incidentally so is Kohaku, and all of us for that matter,” Ginta jerked a thumb at himself. “And Sesshomaru just stares down Kohaku, looking between the two of them, before he walks her over and then he’s doing this—this protective dad-stare or something! I swear, Kohaku was skilled on his own, but when Sesshomaru looks at you like that, geez, there’s no escaping, you know?”
“Did he challenge him to duel or something? Something archaic like, ‘defeat me and you can marry her?’”
“Nope.”
“No?” Kagome tilted her head to the side, eyeing him. “No?”
“He said, and I quote,” Ginta paused to clear his throat, slanting his eyes in an impression of Sesshomaru. “At least I know you aren’t an utter failure. Bring her happiness or you won’t live until the next morning.”
Kagome stared at him and when Ginta blinked, he stared back. Kagome took in a deep breath and then, with immense feeling: “Ohmygod.”
“Right? They got married two years later and their firstborn was a boy. Rin insisted Sesshomaru name him, so he was called Touga. When they had a daughter, Rin insisted his mother name her and she was just so pleased with Rin that she called the girl Tsukiko. She stopped calling Rin ‘Human Pup’ after that and called her Granddaughter instead. I think that pissed Sesshomaru off even more, you know?” Kagome raised her hands to muffle her laughter as Ginta grinned wide. “They had two boys after that, Kisho after Kohaku’s father and Yori after Rin’s.”
“I just—I can’t, gods, that girl was fearless!”
“Don’t tell him I told you, but the guy went completely soft after that,” Ginta whispered to her, a hand up as if to cover his mouth—as if Sesshomaru was in the booth behind them. “He doted on those kids and even his mother was pretty gentle with them. She still didn’t really care for humans, but she saw that they were important to Sesshomaru so she seemed to accept them.”
Kagome paused, then latched onto his words. “Wait, he’s—he’s still around? Sesshomaru?”
Ginta screwed his nose up, gazing at her in surprise. “Of course he is. Why wouldn’t he be? He’s the Great General’s son. No, wait, did you think five hundred years would do him in? Kagome, we were over five hundred when you met us!”
“He’s still around,” Kagome repeated and Ginta nodded. “And you and…?”
“Hakkaku and Koga, to name two,” he told her patiently. “And your little kit.” Kagome sucked down a breath, tears filling her eyes. “Oh, maybe I should’ve told you that sooner. Yeah, little guy’s growin’ up! He’s getting big now!” Kagome covered her face with her hands, sobbing into them in her joy. “Ah, come on, there there, Sis, don’t cry,” he soothed, patting her back.
“He’s okay!” she wailed, several people around them shooting her strange looks. Ginta grinned apologetically, bowing his head slightly as he wrapped an arm around her, drawing her closer so he could hug her.
“Sis, you’re causin’ a scene, come on.”
“I’ll cause a scene if I want to!” she told him, scowling at him before bursting into a new wave of tears. “I want to see him!”
“And you can, you can! How ‘bout this, okay? Lunch, this weekend! Saturday work for you?” she nodded into his side and he pet her hair, waiting for her tears to stop. “I’m sure he’ll be surprised, you know? We’ve all missed you so much, Sis.”
“I-I—I missed you too!”
“There there~” He continued to soothe her, waiting out her tears and finishing off his dinner while he waited. “You good?”
“Aaaggghhhh, you’re making me cry so much,” she accused, frowning up at him.
“Ah, guilty. Sorry, Sis.”
“Be sure to invite Hakkaku to lunch, okay? Oh, and give him my number too, will you?” She asked him, leaning against his side as she raised her drink up. “Koga too.”
“Oh, well, the Boss’s outta the country right now, so, raincheck? But Hakkaku’ll definitely come, even if I have to drag him across the city!” He felt her nod against him more than saw it. “I could invite Inyuasha too?” he suggested gently. She stiffened against him. “He’s out on business, but if I tell him it’s you, I’m sure he’ll drop everything to come back.”
“He’s still here…” she whispered.
“Yeah, yeah he is.”
“Then…” Kagome paused, then shifted a little closer to him. “Then it’s alright. He’ll be back and we’ll meet then. We have time. So this time, just you three.” He wrapped his arm a little tighter around her, leaning down to grin at her.
“I knew we’d win you over eventually! Us wolves have our charms!” She stared at him, then a smile spread across her lips and he breathed out a quick sigh of relief.
“This time around, I guess I’ll switch sides,” she told him, teasing.
“You won’t regret it, Sis! Here, let me walk you home, okay? Can’t have you gettin’ carried off before our date!”
Kagome grinned down at the picture Ginta sent her, of Hakkaku and Shippo sprawled on the floor, snoring away. Her precious little kit had grown since she’d last seen him. Taller now, almost reaching Hakkaku’s waist where before he was just at his knees. He looked to be just a little younger than Sota now, maybe ten? It was hard to guess ages for demons, but Kagome assumed he was likely older—unless kitsunes aged differently than normal demons? She’d heard they were exceptionally long-lived, but…
There was a ding and she opened the new message, blinking at Ginta now standing over them with a bucket of water and a mischievous grin. She covered her mouth, smothering her laugh and waiting patiently for the next ding. It came a few moments later with two pictures attached, one of the water splashing the two and the second a blur of color as they sprang up to attack. She rolled to her back as she laughed loudly on her bed, phone clutched in hand as tears sprouted in her eyes. Another ding brought her out of it, wiping at her eyes to look at the latest picture.
Ginta was sprawled beneath the two, victory on their faces as Ginta begged for mercy.
Kagome couldn’t wait for Saturday.
She was there first, only because she was so nervous. Twenty minutes early, in fact.
They decided it was for the best that they didn’t meet in a restaurant or café, given the likely emotional encounter it would be. Instead, Kagome had packed a lunch and was waiting for them under the shade of a large tree in a nearby park. She saw families and loners spread around, some settled under trees like her with books and lunches, others playing in the sun with children or toys or dogs.
It was nice. Peaceful.
She felt like she was going to be sick.
“You guys never bring me to the park! Do you have bad news for me or something?”
“What? Of course we do! We play at the park all the time!”
“Yeah, don’t lie!”
Kagome held her breath, staring straight ahead as she recognized the voices moving towards her. She and Ginta had been texting and while she wanted to meet her old friends as soon as possible, the thought of surprising them was also high up on her list of things she really wanted to do too. Ginta confessed that while they believed in the well, the fact of the matter was they also assumed she had passed away as the centuries passed. Inuyasha always insisted she went back to her time, but even he couldn’t properly gauge when that was. It never occurred to him when he was younger and when it finally did, she’d already been gone many years.
“But, well, I guess I’m curious too. You were pretty insistent, Ginta.”
“And there are closer parks, you know? It’s not like we had to come all this way.” Shippo. That was Shippo. Her precious little kit.
“So ‘fess up! What’s so special about this park?” Hakkaku, always suspicious—well, she supposed she’d be curious too.
“Ah, well, I just thought, you know, why not, uh, go somewhere new, you know?”
“You’re actin’ real shifty, you know?”
“Yeah, real suspicious, Ginta. You know, if I didn’t know any better, you’re meeting someone and brought us along. Well, I’ll have you know I’m awfully cute, so any lady will definitely date you after seeing how great you are with me!” Kagome immediately covered her mouth, muffling her laughter. Shippo was still the same, thank god. She’d been terrified the years would have changed him more than she knew, but here was that overconfidence he’d always shown.
“Ah, well, I mean… that’s not… entirely wrong…”
“Ha! I knew it! Don’t worry, we’ll have you in her good graces in no time, won’t we, Hakkaku?”
“Well, it’s the least we can do! Spill! How’d you meet? What’s she like?”
“W-well, she’s uh, she’s a shrine maiden…”
“How’d you meet a shrine maiden? In this day and age?”
“Her family shrine is just a few streets up, okay? I met her last week!”
Kagome leaned back against the tree, smiling broadly before she stood, brushing off her shorts and then stepping around the large trunk. They were easy to spot, the small group moving towards her, bags looped around Ginta’s wrist. She crossed her arms loosely across her stomach, watching them with a fondness she feels she hadn’t felt in years. Shippo skipped along between the two of them, looking every bit the excitable younger brother. His transformations had gotten good over the years; all Kagome could see of his demon heritage was his slightly pointed ears, but those would hardly draw any attention.
They were all dressed casually in shorts and t-shirts, Hakkaku’s hair still white and stuck up in his signature mohawk and Shippo’s hair still bound up in a ponytail, even after all this time. She vaguely wondered what it’d look like short.
Ginta saw her first, grinning widely. The two beside him blinked, tilting their heads, then beginning to look around. Before they saw her, Kagome raised her hands to cup around her mouth, tears already beginning to form in her eyes.
“Shippo! Hakkaku! Ginta! Over here!” They swiveled immediately and both froze, staring at her with wide eyes. She saw Hakkaku breathe out, likely whispering her name, and she dropped her hands to wave. “I brought lunch!”
The child she had always felt so protectively over bristled where he stood, turning a dark gaze up to Ginta and scowling at him with such a dark look. Ginta gazed down at him evenly. “How could you,” Kagome heard Shippo hiss. There was such pain in his eyes and Kagome was startled to see it. Hakkaku, standing still beside them, turned his own gaze to his best friend and Kagome could see the disappointment there.
With a start, Kagome realized they didn’t believe it was her. Either a joke, or just a woman who looked like her in an effort to soothe their hurt, however briefly, she realized they didn’t appreciate her surprise in the least.
Because in her effort to surprise them, in her excitement, she’d forgotten.
She forgot they thought her dead. She forgot they mourned her.
Tears slipped down her cheeks and she took a hesitant step forward. Shippo’s emerald eyes immediately shot to her, such disdain in those eyes, and she pasted on a quick smile, raising one hand once. “I brought your favorite, Shippo! And it’s all yours, because—” she had to stop, take a breath, because this was beginning to hurt. “Because Inuyasha isn’t here to eat it all!” Her voice echoed across the park, drawing the brief attention of several people.
Hakkaku dropped to the ground, staring at her with wide eyes and a slack jaw while Shippo stared at her, his bottom lip wobbling. Ginta raised the bag around his wrist, moving towards her. “I brought the drinks!” Kagome dropped her hand to wait, to see what her old friends would do. While Ginta made his way steadily towards her, Hakkaku burst into tears, arms covering his face as he just sat there, too overcome right now to do much more.
And Shippo, he bolted.
“KAGOME!!” Within moments, she had a wailing fox kit in her arms and then she was crying and they were on the ground and no doubt everyone was watching them now but she didn’t care—she didn’t care—because she had her friends back, Shippo was back here where he was supposed to be and for the second time in three years—
For the second time she actually felt alive, like her old self.
For the second time since the well closed, she felt like Kagome Higurashi.
Shippo was curled against her stomach as they relaxed under the shade of the tree, drinks half drunk or tucked away in the designated trash bag, and containers scraped clean of the lunch she brought for the reunion. Hakkuku still looked ready to burst into a new round of tears at any moment, but just being nearly curled around her other side seemed to help immensely and with Ginta on Shippo’s side she felt more protected than she had in years.
She felt a headache coming on from all the crying but she also felt so light she couldn’t help but to keep smiling.
“Just wait til Koga hears about this,” Hakkaku broke the silence giddily, jerking upright to reach for his phone.
“He’s out of the country, isn’t he?” Kagome tilted her head as he fumbled with it in his back pocket.
“Yeah, but once he knows, he’ll be on the next plane back!”
“No, wait,” she waved a hand and he immediately paused, staring down at her. “How much longer, do you think? A few days? A few weeks?”
“Uh? W-well, I don’t think he’s getting back til the third, last I heard,” he told her hesitantly.
“So just two weeks?” Kagome brought up a mental calendar, counting forward.
“Just about,” Ginta said quietly. Silence fell again, the two wolf demons watching her for her answer.
“Then…” She looked up at the leaves swaying gently above her. “Then I want to surprise him, when he gets back.” Shippo snuggled further into her and she brushed her hand against his hair. “Is that okay?”
“Whatever you want, Sis,” Ginta told her. Hakkaku looked at her, then down to his phone, guilt bleeding into his features.
“But, but Koga,” was his whine. She reached out her other hand and he blinked when she took ahold of his fingers. “But Sis…”
“I wanna surprise him. I wanna, I don’t know, throw a party or something, where he’ll be welcomed back. How long has he been gone?”
“Three months,” Shippo told her, clinging tight to her shirt. She smiled, brushing her thumb across his cheek.
“Don’t you guys usually do something?” Kagome asked, looking first from Hakkaku then to Ginta.
“We usually just take him out to dinner when he gets back,” Ginta enlightened her. Hakkaku nodded, shrugging a bit.
“Then… I want to do this—for Koga.” The two looked at her, then seemed to startle and look to each other. “What?”
“For Koga, Sis?” Hakkaku hedged uncertainly, but there was something in his eyes that Kagome pegged as hope—or was it awe?
“Of course. I missed all of you guys and I want to make it up to all you. And since you guys met me first, doesn’t it seem fair that in exchange we throw him a party, both for his safe return and my apology for making him wait so long?”
She knew she wasn’t mistaking the absolute glee on their faces, she just didn’t entirely understand why it was there. A knee to her stomach had her nearly doubling over and she was face to face with Shippo, the smaller demon bracing both of his hands on her cheeks to stare her dead in the eye. “Kagome, I know it’s been awhile, and forgive me if I’m wrong, but—” He stared hard at her, even narrowing his eyes a bit. “I thought you loved Inuyasha?”
She blinked rapidly, pink forming on her cheeks. “Shippo!” Her cry was echoed by both wolf demons, Ginta even grabbing him away from her to rub hard at his head, hissing threats to him too low for Kagome to hear. And when Hakkaku threw himself at the two, Kagome sat up, biting at her thumb while she stared down at the remains of their picnic lunch. “…love…?”
The threats and cries behind her immediately stopped.
“Inuyasha?” she breathed, brows furrowing at the thought. She didn’t see it, but both demons held their breath and Shippo was nearly strangled in their hold. “Do I…?” She slumped a little further into her knees. “I used to think I was, but with everything that happened with Kikyo and everything he… But then I was home and I never…” She glanced out at the park and Ginta eased on his hold slightly. Shippo took a big gulp of air. “No… no, I love him,” Ginta glared down at the fox demon in his hold, tightening his grip while Hakkaku loomed over him menacingly and Shippo squeaked in alarm at the sudden spike in demonic aura. “But he’s my best friend, why wouldn’t I love him? I knew, I knew how much he loved Kikyo and at some point, I… I realized what I felt for him was the same he felt for me and we wouldn’t—not like he loved Kikyo.” She turned, smiling sadly back at her friends, tears threatening to fall. “But I miss him, so let’s meet up with him soon, okay?”
Ginta dropped Shippo to salute. “Sure thing, Sis! We won’t breathe a word so the surprise won’t be ruined!” Hakkaku copied his salute and Kagome giggled at their antics. On the grass, Shippo glared at them then scuttled to Kagome for safety.
“I’ll keep your secret, Kagome,” he told her earnestly, holding onto her hand. “It’s time I paid him back for all those times he was mean to me!”
“Oh, Shippo, does he still bully you? Ahh, if I only had those beads, I could sit him into a crater!”
Kagome’s phone dinged with a text and she flipped open her phone, idly filling in the blanks on her homework. “From Hakkaku, huh?” She raised her phone.
Inuyasha’s back. Saturday lunch?
Kagome sucked down a quick breath, staring at the four words with wide eyes.
He was back. His trip was only supposed to have been a few days but it’d gotten extended and Ginta told her they’d drag him out to meet her when he got back—whether he wanted to go out or not.
YES!!!
Aha, sure thing Sis! There a place you like? 11 or so?
Anywhere you guys like! I don’t want him to be suspicious and ruin the surprise!!!
GOOD THINKING SIS!
She cried that night.
“All this fuss to get me out to lunch, and now you knuckleheads keep stalling. What’s up with that, huh?”
She remembered the voice, but the rough edge had faded over the years. He’d gotten taller too and his hair was cut shorter, bound back in a small ponytail at the base of his neck and a bandana fashioned into a headband hid his ears. He looked older. Not old, but older. Older than the two full demons he stood with anyway. They could pass as college students but Inuyasha looked like he’d be working full time and engaged, if not married already—late-twenties, maybe twenty-eight? She was surprised, and just a little sad that she missed so much.
“Table for five,” Ginta told the waitress waiting to seat them, smiling politely.
“Five? Who else is coming?” Inuyasha turned slightly, frowning at his friend. “You didn’t tell me anyone else was coming.”
“It’s a surprise,” Hakkaku breezed and Inuyasha turned his frown on him. Shippo, standing in the middle of their small group, shook his head.
“Honestly, Inuyasha. Still the same as always.”
“What was that, runt?” No longer was there a bite to his voice and the threat of violence, instead replaced with a simple quirked brow. Kagome remembered the motion most from Sesshomaru.
“She should be here soon, so just hold on, will you?” Ginta told him and the waitress looked down at her chart, figuring out where to place them.
“’She’? Ohh, that girlfriend of yours, huh? Kinda movin’ a little fast, aren’t ya?” Inuyasha’s grin spoke of teasing. “Already meeting the family. Never though I’d see the day when you two started growing up!”
Ginta looked unamused, but he noticed her past Inuyasha’s shoulder and perked up. She stepped forward, bracing one hand against Inuyasha’s back and feeling him stiffen up as she leaned forward, a grin on her lips as she smiled up at him. He stiffened further, staring at her.
“Surprise~” she drawled, pulling her hand away to step around him and into their group. “Thanks for waiting, you wouldn’t believe how long it took me to get here!”
“Y-yeah, you never were on time, I always had to—to drag ya back,” Inuyasha choked out, his arms trembling, as if holding himself back.
“Yeah,” Kagome agreed, her own voice rasping as tears blurred her vision. “Yeah sorry about that. But I’m here now, so, let’s enjoy it, okay?”
She was engulfed by the smell of cotton, arms wrapped tight around her as if afraid if he let go she’d disappear forever—like she did so long ago. “Gods, Kagome,” he hissed above her, his face buried against her hair. “I missed you.”
She wrapped her own arms around him, squeezing back just as hard. “I m-missed you too, Inuyasha!”
Fifteen minutes later found them seated in a corner, Inuyasha plastered to one side and Shippo on the other, Ginta and Hakkaku demoted to the opposite side of the booth. The pouted for the first five, but figured they owed him that much.
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me,” Inuyasha groused, glaring at the two. Ginta shrugged, sucking on the straw and avoiding eye contact. “Cut that out! What’s the big idea, huh? If you met her, you should’ve called! I would’ve come home!”
“Ah, I asked him not to,” Kagome raised a hand to grab his attention and he turned to her, staring down at her. She raised both hands, fingers spread as she made a rainbow. “Surprise!” His eye twitched and then he smacked her hands down. “Alright, I deserved that. But you were away for work! I didn’t want to interrupt! And you’d be back soon, so I figured I’d hang out with them until my best friend got back!”
“Heh, hear that? I’m her favorite,” he sneered to the two across from him, who immediately began protesting. Shippo curled into her side as she watched them bicker, no heat behind their words.
Her cheeks hurt from smiling.
“Sis! Your friends are here!” Sota called from downstairs and she heard footsteps.
“Be there in a sec!” She brushed at her hair, looking at herself in her mirror critically, then nodded. She wasn’t expecting anyone, but Ayumi, Eri, and Yuka had a tendency to drop by unexpectantly, just to make sure she wasn’t “sick” like she was so often in their third year. She grabbed her purse—no doubt they’d want to go out and do something.
Except, standing at the bottom of the steps were Inuyasha and Shippo, the two looking up when she hit the top of the steps. She blinked and Shippo nearly hopped up the stairs to cling to her. “You guys?”
“I missed you, Kagome!” Shippo cried and Sota was eyeing Inuyasha, eyes narrowed as he stared at him. Inuyasha slanted his eyes to glance back and Sota jerked, looking away and wandering towards the kitchen.
“I-I missed you too, Shippo!” she wrapped her arms around him, crouching slightly. “Why don’t we go to the living room, okay?” She released one arm as they made their way down the stairs, Shippo still holding tight to her. She grinned at Inuyasha and one side of his lips quirked up in a small smile. “Sota, come here for a sec, will you?” She collapsed on the couch, Shippo curled into her as Inuyasha settled on the other side of her, both remarkably relaxed.
“Yeah, Sis?” Sota peeked into the room.
“You remember Inuyasha, don’t you?” Kagome asked him. His eyes widened, looking from her to the stranger next to her, who tilted his head back.
“Sure, sis, why?” he asked cautiously. For the longest time, discussing the Feudal Era was a no-go in their house, so he wondered if all these friends she made recently had anything to do with it.
“You grew up, kid. Good for you,” the man drawled, opening golden eyes to stare at him. With a quick moment, the bandana was gone and Sota was staring at soft, fuzzy triangles that twitched. His breath hitched.
“Is—is it really?” Sota whispered. The man grinned and then Sota was lunging across the room to crash into him, hugging him tightly and near sitting on him in his rush. “Inuyasha! We missed you!”
“Yeah yeah, missed you too, brat.”
A week passed quickly and Kagome was seated on a cushion in the home that the Wolf Demons called their own. It was a nice house, settled in a somewhat sparse neighborhood and it was well maintained and, well…
It was clear that the centuries had been good.
Large, it had many rooms and a vast kitchen with a yard that settled around the house at all points. In actuality, it was a compound, the walls surrounding them tall and keeping out neighbors and passerbys alike with the sturdy gate. Traditional in its architecture and the courtyard settled in the middle of the house, along with the deck that wrapped around the entirety of the house and the tranquility that was the backyard with a quaint little pond.
Privacy, Ginta had told her, for all of them. The centuries had taught them discretion and their neighbors were just as private as they were (“Some other demons,” Hakkaku translated for her and Kagome looked at the rest of the street with wonder). Here, Shippo released his transformation and the fluffy tail she remembered popped into view, along with his fox feet. No longer did they keep wolves, instead what they had now were descendants, mixed with common dogs over the years. Most common were huskies and akitas larger and with darker coloring than she ever remembered seeing. The compound allowed for many more of them than a common yard would and Shippo had spent many years running around in that yard with them.
And wasn’t that a shock? Shippo, her precious little kit, living with the Wolf Demon Tribe—or, well, those who lived at the house. Admittedly, the clan had dwindled as the years passed, but there were still many that remained. Few chose to live in the house nestled in the Tokyo suburb, instead settled in the few houses the tribe had purchased over the years—all out in the country, deep within forests where they would be seldom bothered.
Inuyasha stayed with them too, off-and-on anyway. He had his own place –where, he never told her—but he liked the company and the privacy. His apartment was in the city, loud and filled with the noise of humans. The wolf demon house was an escape—he said the word so bitterly Kagome wondered if he had exceptionally loud neighbors.
And she was over to start planning for the party. Admittedly, she also wanted to see where they lived and to spend time with them, but party planning could get done then too, so, two birds, one stone.
A perfect plan!
Well. Almost.
“Koga!” Hakkaku was exceptionally loud over the phone, voice raised in panic. Everything almost immediately fell silent as they stared at him, holding their breath. “Y-you’re not comin’ home early, are ya? Well, no, of course we miss you!” Kagome could almost imagine him snarking about them wanting to keep him away, but the Koga she pictured in her head was the confident Wolf Prince from five hundred years ago, not the slightly older man she’d seen in the many pictures around the house. “W-why do you ask?” Hakkaku’s voice pitched at the end. “Hiding? No, no! Why would I hide anythin’ from you, Koga?!”
Ginta snatched away the phone, hurrying away from the main room. “Koga! Good to hear from you!”
No doubt they could all easily hear the both of them as they wandered away, but Kagome was left in the dark.
“You idiot,” Inuyasha hissed and there was a yelp. When Kagome turned to look, Hakkaku was holding at his head and Inuyasha was relaxing back onto his own cushion. “Now he’s gonna be suspicious.”
“I’m sorry! But it’s Koga!” was Hakkaku’s counter and, Kagome had to give him that. He was their leader, after-all. No doubt her request was putting them in a weird place, but they hadn’t said anything more about, seemed excited even, but still…
“Hey, I’m sorry if I’m making things weird for you guys…” she murmured, bringing both their attention to her.
“Nah, he’s just being a pansy,” Inuyasha waved a hand, dismissing her guilt.
“N-no! Just a friend! Hakkaku’s seeing someone!” was Ginta’s frantic yelp.
“Oh my god,” Inuyasha smacked a palm to his forehead, dragging it down his face in disgust. “You two are both idiots and if I had more options, I wouldn’t be here to witness this train wreck.”
“Admit it, you like them,” Shippo breezed, safely on the other side of the table with Kagome, stiff against her side.
“A-ah, well, I mean, n-no, but, we were thinking, it uh, you know, might be, um—Well, see,” Ginta was stammering and Inuyasha was out of his seat and stalking towards the front hall. “Oh! Inuyasha! Here! Koga wanted to talk to you!” Ginta’s voice was just as frantic as Hakkaku’s had been and when he rushed into the main room, he collapsed in a heap, nearly crying. “I hate lying,” he whispered, lest he be overheard.
“Yeah, what of it, huh? Well, then I guess you’ll just have to meet her when you get back, now won’t you? Get to work, we’ll take you out when you’re back. See you.” As Inuyasha hung up and strolled back in, Hakkaku’s phone dinged with a text. He closed his eyes, refusing to touch his phone. It was Shippo, brave, brave Shippo, who reached for it across the low table and nudged it open. He made a curious hum and Hakkaku slumped against Ginta, burying his face in his shoulder. Ginta made a low noise in his throat in sympathy. “So? What’s it say?” Inuyasha drawled, settled back in his seat.
“He wants to see a picture,” Shippo informed them and if Kagome wasn’t mistaken, there was a note of glee in his voice. Hakkaku groaned louder.
She covered her smile with her hand, trying to school her expression into something sympathetic. “I-I think I might know someone who will be willing to help.”
Three days later, Koga’s phone pinged with a notification informing him he’d received a picture from Hakkaku. In it, Hakkaku had his arm wrapped around a girl’s shoulders, his cheeks tinted pink and the girl’s smile wide as she held a shopping bag in hand. They were both dressed casually and were posed in-front of a shrine. She was cute, shoulder length hair wavy and parted neatly with her bangs brushed off to the side. Two other girls were further away in the picture, Inuyasha talking with them.
She looks a little young… high schooler?
SHE’S GRADUATING NEXT MONTH OKAY
No more was said on the matter and everyone breathed a sigh of relief and with multiple expressions of thanks, they treated the girls to lunch.
And if Ayumi kept staring at Hakkaku and blushing when he’d smile back at her, well. Kagome wasn’t going to say anything.
“Guys! I’m here~!” Kagome twisted the doorknob awkwardly, arms ladened with grocery bags for their party. “Sorry I’m so early! I was just so excited!” She nudged the door closed with her hip and carefully kicked off her shoes in the entryway. “Guys?”
“K-kagome!” Ginta looked frantic—and guilty? “I-I was meaning to, uh, to call you!”
“Ah, well, I figured, I’d come over early, no harm, right?” She grinned at him and he hurried to collect some of her bags, leading her awkwardly to the kitchen, where Hakkaku also looked remarkably distressed. “Is everything alright?”
“W-well…”
“You see, Sis…”
They both looked at each other, then back to her.
“You see,” Ginta tried again, swallowing hard. “Koga’s not, uh… He’s not coming home.” He closed his eyes tightly and Hakkaku looked close to tears himself.
“Did something happen?” Kagome asked them, looking from one to the other then back. “Is he okay?”
“Y-yeah, Sis,” Hakkaku assured her. “He—he just decided to extend his trip and since we didn’t wanna give away the surprise… He called last night to tell us. We meant to call you, honest! We just…”
Kagome settled at the table, crossing her arms and resting her chin on them, staring down at the woodgrain. “I see.”
“We’re really sorry, Kagome…” both murmured sadly. She sniffled once and they stiffened up, panic in their eyes as they stared. “S-sis?”
She sat up and stared hard down at the table. A moment, and she smiled warmly. “Then we’ll just have the party without him!” She tilted her head slightly, smile bright and eyes closed, and they blinked, then nodded slowly.
‘She’s pissed…!’
Six hours later, Koga’s phone pinged with a text, then a picture, from Inuyasha.
The guest of honor is missing his own party. Lucky for us.
The picture showed the main room with low tables and cushions, food nearly overflowing. It looked as though half of his tribe was there, if not more, a banner declaring WELCOME HOME taped up on the wall as they all enjoyed the veritable feast held in his honor. It all looked delicious and he was mildly regretting his decision to stay on, but it’s not like they couldn’t handle themselves for three more weeks, so what was the harm?
Though, the woman with her back to the camera, too busy talking to Hakkaku and Ginta, told him he was missing a prime opportunity to get to know the girl one of his own seemed interested in—and to bring up as many hilarious stories as he could manage.
Oh well. He had time.
I can’t believe you’d go back on your word and stay longer!!
Koga blinked down at the text two weeks later. So, it seemed like they were just now getting around to nagging. He expected it the next day, to be honest, but they’d both been nearly silent and even Inuyasha was more distant than usual. And yeah, a party was a little more time consuming than going out to a restaurant, but they weren’t that upset, were they?
Who was he kidding? They’d probably hold this against him for the next three years. They went through the trouble of inviting everyone and buying all the food and keeping it a secret, only for him to call and essentially cancel the night before.
Come on, it’s just another week. I’ve been gone longer before. I’ll pick up the tab when we go out, deal?
That usually got him back in their good graces.
( ง •̀_•́) ง
Well. That was a new one.
I’m sorry, lunch?
ヽ( ≧ Д ≦) ノ
He stared down at his phone, then tilted his head to the side. Was that… agreement?
Ginta? Yes? Lunch?
There was a popup telling him he was receiving a picture and he waited patiently for it to load. He wondered what it would be this time, the two flipping him off? Crying? Inuyasha and Shippo in on? Or would they just be staring blankly like the last time they guilt tripped him into buying lunch for two weeks?
When it hit 100%, he hit the ‘ok’ and waited for the blank screen to pixelate into color.
He near dropped it when he did, gripping tight to the phone to stare down at the screen, scarcely daring to breathe, to hope.
A woman stared back at him, the angle and position showing she was taking a selfie, her smile soft, while the background showed an open grassy area—probably a park? Ginta and Hakkaku were sprawled out on a checkered blanket, Shippo perched across from them as they all concentrated down on the cards in front of them. Inuyasha was relaxing against the tree they were under, hands behind his head and eyes closed.
I was really looking forward to seeing you again, but I guess since you’ve made me wait this long, I can stand another week. Just don’t blame me if some other handsome devil swoops in to sweep me off my feet (ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
Is—
Did she—
Was it really—?
And they didn’t tell him?!
“Whatcha doin’, Sis?” Hakkaku glanced up from their game briefly, then returned his attention to the cards.
“Oh, nothing really. Thanks for letting me use your phone!” She dropped it into Ginta’s raised hand, settling back on the blanket to watch Shippo absolutely destroy them in Uno.
“Sure thing,” Ginta muttered, staring hard. It promptly beginning ringing and Ginta jerked at the sudden noise.
“Ah, let it ring, okay?” Kagome asked him, tilting her head to the side and smiling sweetly. He stared at her, then the caller ID. He paled.
“S-sis, what did you do?” he whispered in fear.
“Oh, nothing, really!” She laughed and they all shivered. Ginta—it pained him to do so—ended the call to open up his messages, reading through the latest thread.
Then he breathed out something between a laugh and a squeak of horror. “H-he’s gonna kill us! Sis!” Kagome tilted back to fall onto the grass, staring up at the sky, a grin on her lips. “Are you—are you smiling? We’re going to die, he’s going to kill us and you’re—and you’re smiling?!”
“It’ll be nice to finally see him,” she told them blithely and Ginta made another sad sound before his phone started ringing again. She heard the panicked noise leave his mouth, then the harshly whispered discussion between the two wolf demons on who would answer the phone when Inuyasha piped in with a ‘give it here, morons.’
“Koga, good to hear from you,” was the drawl Inuyasha greeted the Wolf Prince with. Kagome rolled onto her stomach to cradle her head in her arms, watching on. He glanced at her, a wide grin transforming his expression to something distinctly mischievous. “Well, I don’t know, wolf. You’ve been gone an awfully long—yeesh, alright, don’t get so worked up. Oh? Well now, I don’t know, is it Kagome? Hmm…” Kagome laughed and there was a loud noise over the phone. “Shit—hell, Koga, yell a little louder why don’t cha?!”
Kagome heard a very distinct, “Screw you, Mutt!” and buried her face under her arms to laugh.
“Well, jeez, Koga, you’re the one making her wait. Take any longer and we’ll see what happens when you get back next week.”
“KEEP YOUR PAWS OFF MY WOMAN, MUTTFACE!”
“Oh, Inuyasha~” Kagome cooed and Inuyasha pulled the phone away to face her, phone held up. “Tell me again how beautiful you think I am!” She made a valiant effort to not laugh, but Shippo was already rolling around on the grass, absolutely losing it. “So charming~” she sighed, swooning as she collapsed back onto the grass. “Why don’t we just cut to the chase and elope?”
There was an anguished sound over the phone and Inuyasha took pity, pulling it away to listen back in on the curses Koga was throwing at him. A moment later, Inuyasha snapped it shut. “Good news! Koga’s catching the earliest flight he can. I think he’ll be back in Japan by tomorrow night. And on that note, Kagome, can I stay at your place tonight? I think I fear for my life and he may or may not be planning to put out a hit on me.”
“Sure sure, Shippo, why don’t you stay too? We’ll order pizza and have a sleepover, okay?” Shippo gave a wobbly thumbs up, tears leaking from his eyes as he tried to bring himself under control. There was a whimper to her left and she looked over at the two demons, watching her with wide, watery eyes.
“C-can we stay too, Sis?”
“Yeah, please? He’s gonna be so mad when he gets back!”
“Well, I guess since it’s my fault… Sure! We’ll set up the futons in the living room!”
Sometime after two in the morning, probably closer to three, Ginta’s phone vibrated and lit up from where he and Hakkaku had left theirs on the tv stand. They refused to answer any calls or texts, only getting progressively more depressed with the amount of threats Koga was sending. And since Kagome had never been able to sleep well on a futon and she’d gotten out of practice with the camping she’d always done in the Feudal Era, she sat up and reached for it, scrolling through the threats to reach the latest message.
Tokyo 7 am I want asnwers ginta
Ah, good. Koga’s plane was landing in four hours.
“answers”
dont get smart with me
So she plugged in the Higurashi Shrine’s address, set the phone aside, and snuggled back down under the blanket, content to sleep for a few more hours before her grandfather woke up precisely at 6:27 am and puttered downstairs to start his coffee and then begin the day as he always did. She’d join him this time around, she’d be awake anyway.
Koga’s ponytail was lopsided but he was too busy storming through the early morning streets of Tokyo to care at his rather disheveled appearance. He could see the office workers shoot him curious looks, but the murder in his eyes convinced them to quickly look elsewhere.
When he said 7, he was hoping to catch them off-guard at the house, but no, they weren’t there. Good to know they still had some self-preservation. So now, he was following the directions to the shrine they’d given him—did they think he wouldn’t murder them on sacred ground? Hilarious. He’d been awake almost all night and it was only sheer luck that there’d been a plane an hour after he ended the call with the mutt and he was able to catch it. It was a terrible 15 hour flight and he’d make them pay for that too.
The directions told him to stop and he did, staring at the torii gates and the steps leading up to the shrine. He sucked down a deep breath and began the climb. It wasn’t terribly long, but long enough for him to plan what he was about to do when he got ahold of those knuckleheads. Inuyasha he’d deal with later, but for now, he’d get even with his so-called brothers.
Halfway up there was an old man dressed in shrine keeper’s robes peering down at him. He offered a tight smile and the man wandered away, disappearing from sight with a few steps. He heard the old man speaking, but couldn’t entirely make out the words, nor did he care to devote that much focus.
Ten steps from the top, he saw a flash of white and he steadied himself for the excuse he was just about to give the priest as to why he was at the shrine so early in the morning.
Five steps from the top, a woman dressed in priestess robes stood, her back to him as she faced the shrine and temple, her hair bound in a low ponytail.
At the top, the woman turned, a brow raised. “Welcome back.”
He stared at the absolute vision of beauty before him, her eyes sparkling and a warm brown, just as he remembered. She smiled and his legs failed him, dropping him to his knees as he collapsed to the stone beneath him, tears falling without his permission.
“K-kagome…”
She raised a hand to swipe at her own eyes, walking to him just to kneel before him, her hands just as soft as he remembered when she cupped his face. She had aged—hadn’t they all?—but he was older than her, the years longer for him than for her. She was beautiful, so very beautiful, and he felt as though his heart would stop then and there, just—stop, like it’d hadn’t all those centuries ago when he thought her lost to time. “I’m sorry for making you wait so long,” she whispered and he shook his head, careful not to dislodge her hands, finding the strength to bring up his own, to rest them over hers.
Her hands were warm.
“Don’t apologize,” he murmured back.
“I told them not to, so don’t blame them. It was going to be a surprise, to welcome you home. But you cancelled,” she said and there was a sudden squeeze in his chest. He could’ve seen her so much sooner if he hadn’t dismissed all their careful hints about coming home?
“No, I should be saying sorry. If I hadn’t—”
“Mm, but you’re home now, so it’s fine,” she interrupted and he stared at her.
Home. She said home. Home, not ‘back’. Yes, he was home, wasn’t he?
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“I have a question.”
“Anything.” She pulled her hands away and he stilled at their loss before she twined their fingers together and dropped them to rest between them, squeezing tight and holding onto his hands. He thinks he likes this better.
“When we met, all those years ago, you told me—you told me wolves mate for life. Is that true?”
“I’ve never lied to you, Kagome.” And he never would. Not now, not in another life, not ever.
“So all this time, all these years… you’ve never…?”
He grinned and she glanced away. “I found my woman, who else could compare?”
She pursed her lips, glancing at him, then down to their joined hands. “So, you still…?”
“Of course. But I won’t push you, Kagome. I’ve lived long enough to know things are different now. But I’ll always wait for you.”
She was quiet, her thumbs brushing careful circles into his skin and, gods, was this love? Was this what he’d been waiting for all this time? Just her simple soothing touch and he was ready to follow her every word, any command—as long as she was happy, what was ethics and morals?
“When the well wouldn’t work and I couldn’t go back, I thought the world was ending,” she told him quietly. “Everyone I knew, all my friends, I’d lost them. I was home, sure, but everything that the past year had given me was taken away. I couldn’t say good-bye but I also couldn’t mourn them because if I did, it was true and I could never go back.”
“We all missed you, Kagome,” he breathed, squeezing lightly. Her lips twitched into something resembling a smile before they fell.
“I hoped, you know? That one day it’d work or—or one day Inuyasha would show up at the shrine and—well, everything wouldn’t be okay, but, I’d have him, you know? I’d have someone.”
Her hands were trembling and he felt his heart squeezing painfully in his chest. It always came back to Inuyasha, didn’t it? All these years later and it was him.
“But Ginta found me first, and…”
“Really? He did?” Koga pressed when she cut off. She raised her head and he saw the tears. “K-kagome?”
“And then I had them, and Shippo, and Inuyasha and—and—” she let go of one of his hands to swipe at her eyes with the wide white sleeve of her robe. “And you were alive!” She sobbed and he took up her hand again, squeezing and rubbing his thumbs against her skin like she had done moments ago, making soft noises as she bowed her head. “But you were taking so long,” she told him.
“I’m sorry,” he repeated, ducking his head to rub his nose against her hairline.
“You made me wait so long!”
“I know,” he soothed, letting go of her hands to hesitantly wrap his arms around her. She pressed into him, her small fingers curling into his shirt as she cried. He let one hand rub her back, the other tight around her waist as he buried his face against her hair, breathing in deep the scent he though he’d never smell again. “I’m sorry I took so long…”
“B-but the worst part—” she hiccupped, pulling back to stare up at him with teary eyes. He offered her a crooked grin. “The worst part was that I never—I never go to go back!” She seemed especially upset about that and yes, he’d been upset for decades, thinking he’d lost the love of his life, but Inuyasha insisted the time would come and he’d probably see her again—if he survived.
“We missed you,” Koga repeated and she scowled, pulling back further to smash her hands to his cheeks, squeezing lightly.
“No, you idiot! I couldn’t go back to you! All that time and your confessions and after everything, the well took you away from me!”
Silence echoed around them and Koga heard the old man choke out a cough, obviously eavesdropping and apparently not liking what he’d just heard.
“Me?” Koga asked, absolutely dumbfounded. “But I… But you and—the mutt?”
“Inuyasha loved Kikyo and I made my peace with that, you fool! You were always there and didn’t I tell you I’d think about it? God, boys are so stupid,” she seethed and vaguely, locked away in a box Koga rarely opened, he recalled her mentioning something to that effect. What had been her words? “I told you when everything was over, we’d see about it. You were so excited and Inuyasha was so pissed the two of you got into a fight,” Kagome told him.
Ah yes. That’s right. That’s why he didn’t open that box. The burn of hope hurt more than anything else.
“So… you…?”
“She loves you, boy!” the old man hollered, a distinctly irritated expression flitting across his face before he devolved into mumbling, sweeping across the stone aggressively.
“Stupid wolf,” Kagome hissed, cheeks puffed up in a pout.
And Koga—
Koga wondered how much this was going to hurt when he woke up.
“Not a dream,” Kagome said, clapping her hands against his cheeks hard. He blinked at the pain. “Now, since you made me wait so long, I swear to go if you don’t kiss me I really will walk away and I won’t have—”
Koga wrapped his arms around her, smashing his lips to hers in a kiss he’d always dreamed of and now, after so many years, she was his—again and finally.
“Way to go, Koga!”
“Go, Sis!”
“Will you morons shut up!? Some of us are trying to sleep!”
“Mom, Sis’s kissing some guy!”
“Sota, stop spying on your sister and her boyfriend.”