Author's Notes: Originally posted as a stand-alone sequel, reposted as the epilogue to Absence. I hope you like it, and, as always, thanks to my readers who requested an encore. I hope I don't disappoint! A double chocolate chip cookie to anyone who gets the title.

Day After Tomorrow

It was odd to be back.

In three years, things had changed, even as much had stayed the same. Sango and Miroku were married, proud parents to two lively girls and Susumu, their stoic baby boy. Shippou was older, more mature, more reserved. Even Inuyasha had changed—quieter, more at peace, somehow.

He brushed it aside when she brought it up. "Keh. Don't be stupid."

Some things, she thought, would never change.

Miroku still tried to grope Sango, and she put him in his place. Shippou would tease Inuyasha, then go running with the hanyou in hot pursuit. Kaede was as wrinkled and gravelly as ever, and Rin was effervescent with life.

Kagome worked hard to learn her lessons from Kaede, but there was so much to remember. She left the old priestess' hut one day, her temples throbbing with a headache as much from the smell of drying herbs as the difficulties of the lesson.

Inuyasha appeared on the path beside her. She knew he often spent large portions of his afternoon waiting for her to finish. "You done?"

Today she barely had the energy to nod. All she wanted was a soak in the hot springs, something to eat, and bed. "I had a long day, Inuyasha. I don't feel up to doing anything with you."

His shoulders slumped before he could control them. He kicked at a clod of dirt on the path and sent it flying. "You're busy a lot."

Her head full of plant names and their uses, Kagome missed the longing buried under the gruff petulance. "I have a lot to learn if I want to have a meaningful life here, Inuyasha. You don't have to mope about it. I don't want to be here if I'm just going to waste my life away doing nothing. I'm working at it, okay?"

Her words put his back up, and his temper flared to cover the quick jab of hurt. She didn't want to be here? She thought it was a waste of her life? "I'm not moping!" he shouted. He glared at her, ignoring the villagers who made themselves inconspicuous on their way home from the fields. "I just—you're always—I never get to see you!"

The belligerence of his tone was completely at odds with the sentiment behind his words. Kagome stopped in the middle of the path, fighting down her temper. It was easy, too easy, to revert to old habits and lash out without thought. She quelled the knee-jerk reaction to take the defensive and looked, really looked, at Inuyasha. Fists clenched, eyes ablaze, shoulders tense, with a scowl that would break a mortal's face.

It was, Kagome thought as her anger melted away, a statement of love as only Inuyasha could manage.

Her smile caught him off-guard. "I'm sorry, Inuyasha. My head hurts, and I wasn't paying enough attention. Let's try again, okay?"

"Try what again?" He was suspicious, defenses up through years of conditioning.

Kagome held out a hand. "I could use some down time. I know I haven't been able to see you much with all my studying. I'd like a bath, then some dinner, but after that, I'd like to spend some time with you."

His cheeks pinked, and he shot a vicious glance around at the villagers who pretended interest in anything but the couple in the middle of the village path, but he took her hand. Inuyasha sucked in a breath, as if the evening air could cool his temper. "You're always studying," he half-complained gruffly. "More te-su-to things?"

She laughed at the reminder. She'd always been studying, struggling to balance school with life here. "No more studying tonight, I promise. What should we do?" She slid him a glance as the started down the quieter path to Sango and Miroku's hut. "Something…just the two of us?"

His blood went hot at the mere suggestion. They hadn't gone all the way yet, but there had been several times where they'd come close.

Inuyasha had to work to get his voice out. "Uh, I had something else in mind." Though he could put his mind quite readily to that, too. "Got something to show you."

"Oh?" Curiosity piqued, Kagome gamely tried to weasel it out of him. She knew how he felt about keeping secrets. "Something like a present?"

"Nuh uh, no guesses." He shook his head for emphasis, and his messy silver bangs ruffled over his eyes. "I'm not going to ruin it this time." His stomach was already in queasy knots, doubt churning in his gut. He didn't have the courage to put it into words, not yet. He gave her a light push towards the hut. "Get your stuff."

Kagome was staying with her friends, and while the arrangement wasn't bad, it was also a little cramped in the small cottage. Miroku kept wondering when Inuyasha was going to take Kagome into his house—to which Sango replied that Inuyasha needed to have a house, first. Kagome would merely blush and try to change the subject.

Inuyasha waited for her outside while she gathered her bath things. The evening shadows stretched long across the path as they made their way into the forest. Inuyasha wordlessly took the bundle of clothes and soap out of Kagome's hands, and she smiled her gratitude.

"Maybe we should have eaten first," she said when they reached the hot springs. "Are you hungry?"

"I can wait." Inuyasha set her bath things on a flat rock protruding into the water. The clearing was muggy with heat and steam, and he stripped off his outer red jacket before turning away to give Kagome privacy.

Her voice startled him. "Do you want to come in, too?"

He glanced over reflexively. She was in the midst of undressing, the ties of her hakama loose in one hand as she held the garment up over her hips. Her cheeks were flushed, but she said, "It's relaxing, that's all. In the water."

It was tempting—naked, wet, with Kagome. His imagination veered sharply off-course, but Inuyasha shook his head. He remembered too well the time her little brother had convinced him to bathe with him. Sitting around in scalding water was not his idea of relaxation!

"Oh." Kagome bit her lip in disappointment. "Uhm, would you…talk to me, then?" At his cocked brow, she elaborated, "That way I can feel like I'm actually spending time with you."

"Sure." Inuyasha put his back to her again, as was his habit. He couldn't remember the number of times he'd stood guard while she bathed. The sounds of her undressing and entering the water were familiar, soothing. The routine, and the heat, made him sleepy. "Uh…what do you want to talk about?"

Her laughter came with sounds of splashing. "Anything. What do you want to talk about?"

His mind was blank. The sleepiness lowered his defenses, and Inuyasha blurted the first thing he thought of. "I missed you."

His face immediately flamed. Why'd he have to say something like that? Stupid, weak, emotion human half!

"I missed you, too." Her reply was soft. "Every day, it was like an ache in my heart that wouldn't go away. I wondered what you were doing, if you thought about me."

"All the time." She didn't need to know what he'd done, he thought. Didn't need to know he'd been broken.

"Shippou-chan said you never gave up." There was an odd note to her voice, like she was searching, or something.

Inuyasha trembled, like a child caught in a lie. "Uh…" Damn that kitsune! Maybe ignorance would work. "What's that mean?"

Water tinkled; she was rinsing her hair. Inuyasha valiantly tried not to imagine what she looked like, hair wet and clinging to her skin…

She spoke, returning his wayward mind to the present. "Well, he said you never forgot me." She was holding something back. Even Inuyasha could read between the lines enough to know that.

He hunched his shoulders. "Keh. Like I'd forget you." She hummed, her wordless indication of pleasure at his admission, but was otherwise quiet.

Inuyasha listened to her bathe, the scent of her rising around him like an ethereal hug. Finally he steeled himself. "The well stopped connecting."

"I know." Her voice held sad regret.

His ear twitched. "You ever…try?"

A long pause. Inuyasha wished he could turn around, see her face, but he knew if they were face-to-face he wouldn't have the courage to finish this.

"No." It was barely a whisper. "I wish…I wish I could say I did, but I didn't. I couldn't. I was so afraid. It took me a long time to realize why, but I was afraid."

"Of coming back?" His heart ached. If she said yes, he thought it might break.

"No. No, Inuyasha. I never in a million years wanted to be separated from you," she said, her voice fierce. Inuyasha closed his eyes to imagine the look on her face—passionate, sincere, determined. "I was afraid of the passage. What if I was trapped again? What if I got…stuck?"

His heart didn't break, but it lodged itself in his throat so his voice came out rough around it. "I'd come for you. Wherever you were. Whenever you were."

"I know." She was smiling now. He could hear it. "But I was also afraid of leaving my family. My obligation to them…being a good daughter to my mother, big sister to Souta. I was afraid of letting them down. I had to finish there, so I could start over here. With you."

The heart in his throat throbbed. Melted. "I tried to go through the well. Every three days. It never worked."

"Shippou-chan didn't…Every three days? You did that? For me?"

Inuyasha couldn't even really be mad at the little fox for telling. "For me, too. Mostly for me. I never knew what I wanted to happen. I didn't know…what you wanted."

Water sloshed, and she was suddenly behind him, arms wrapped around his torso. She pressed her cheek against his shoulder, feeling his muscles tense at that first unexpected contact, then relax. "I wanted you," she murmured. "I wanted to be with you."

He covered her hands with his. The feel of her damp, naked body pressed against him might have made his pulse leap, but it was tenderness that all but drowned him.

"I'm glad you came back." Somehow it was okay to say it, to admit aloud, when she couldn't see his face.

Kagome smiled against his shoulder, brushed a kiss over the fabric of his shirt. He smelled like fresh air, forest and sunlight and a faint muskiness that was all his own. "Me, too."

His brain wanted to cloud, but Inuyasha pulled away. He turned, putting his hands on her shoulders. He kept his gaze on her face, and his was serious. "I want to show you something."

She lifted a brow. "Can I get dressed first? Or would that be a waste of time?"

Heat gathered in his face. Inuyasha couldn't stop himself; he automatically glanced down, eyes drinking in the sight of her lovely, naked curves. "Uh…"

Kagome giggled even as her cheeks pinked. He'd seen her naked before—by design as well as by accident—but his reaction was incredibly flattering. Inuyasha—brave, unstoppable, rough-edged, beautiful Inuyasha—going cloudy-eyed and slack-jawed at the sight of her. She gently lifted his face and kissed his mouth.

"Let me put some clothes on."

He watched. Kagome fought the knee-jerk self-consciousness and let him. She'd chosen him, hadn't she? There was no room for silly shyness if he was the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.

Inuyasha huffed out a long, long breath when she slipped into the simple blue-patterned yukata. "Ready?"

"Where are we going?" Kagome let Inuyasha take her hand before starting down the path beside him.

Nerves were back, dancing under his skin. Inuyasha itched, all over, and tried not to twitch. "You'll see."

"Okay." Kagome swung their interlocked hands back and forth. "Mysterious. A surprise. I like it." Since she all but smelled the tension oozing out of his pores, she kept the chatter light to fill the silence. "Fall harvest is coming up. I can't wait to help. I've never done anything like it. All those squash and pumpkins."

"I don't like pumpkins."

She glanced over, surprised. "Really?"

"Really."

Kagome set her teeth. Patience, she reminded herself. He so often needed prompting. Conversation was a skill he could learn. It wasn't as if, growing up, he'd had much practice. "My mom makes the best pumpkin tempura. She puts it in soup, too. Delicious." Nostalgia washed over her briefly, but she shook his back. "I'll have to try to make it on my own. You might like it."

Inuyasha stared straight ahead. "I got caught once, when I was little. After my mom died, there was no one to protect me. They tied me against a tree so I couldn't run, and they threw pumpkins at me."

The memory surged unexpectedly, caught him up so that he could see it—the mad glee on their faces, the vicious hate in their eyes. He could feel the bruising impact of rotten vegetables on his face and body, the fear coursing through him as he fought the ropes that burned against his skin and made him tear and bleed. The villagers' jeers and chants filled his ears, cruel, hateful words. He could smell the nauseating stench as pumpkin pulp oozed over his skin, dripped onto open wounds and stung unmercifully…

Kagome squeezed his fingers, jolting him back to the present. Inuyasha's heart thundered as he shot out of it. His skin was clammy, breath coming short. He stubbornly avoided her gaze. "Sorry. Stupid."

"It's not stupid." She wanted to hug him, to just squeeze away all his painful shadows. "I'm sorry. You shouldn't have had to go through all that."

He was so grateful to her. So glad. With her, even the darkness wasn't so bad.

"Here we are."

Inuyasha stepped into a small clearing. When Kagome released his hand, he jammed his into his sleeves. "What d'you think?"

A large, sturdy tree stood slightly off-center in the field. In its spreading boughs was a square tree house made of new wood. The sloping wood roof boasted a small chimney, and an open porch wrapped around the entire structure. A rope-and-wood ladder ran up near the trunk of the tree.

It was basic, but there was both rustic charm and elegance in its simplicity. "It's beautiful." Kagome walked towards it. Something inside her heart resonated, and she felt at peace. At home. "Is this…yours?"

Inuyasha grunted, uncomfortable. "Yeah. Well, I made it."

"You?"

The humor in her voice made him curl a lip. "Keh. I had some help." The lip came down. "Do you…like it?"

She turned. Inuyasha could only stare a moment. She looked so perfect, framed by his tree house behind, evening shadows gathering on her yukata and hair. Playing secrets in her eyes. "I love it. Can I go up?"

Dumbly, he nodded, then watched as she scrambled up the swaying ladder and disappeared inside.

It was more spacious than she'd assumed. Inside, it was a single rectangle, partitioned into two rooms—one, clearly a bedroom, ware bare save a large futon and a single clothes chest. A quick peek inside the drawers revealed that though Inuyasha might have made this house, he didn't live here.

The second room was a combination kitchen-living-dining room, with a fireplace and both front and back doors opening to the porch. A shelf with rudimentary cooking implements had a fine layer of dust, as if nobody had bothered with them since they'd first been organized there.

Still…Kagome looked around. Despite the slight air of abandonment, this simple tree house called to her, whispered secrets in her heart. This felt right.

"It's beautiful," Kagome repeated. She glanced around, realizing she was alone. She went out to the porch, looked down at Inuyasha. He was still standing down by the ladder, looking a little nervous, a little lost. Kagome grinned. "Romeo and Juliet," she murmured to herself, amused.

Inuyasha's ear twitched. "What's that?"

She'd forgotten about his hearing. She flushed, leaned on the railing she imagined Inuyasha had installed with her in mind. She couldn't imagine him ever toppling out of a tree house. "It's Shakespeare."

Suspicion ran over his face at the foreign word. "What's that?"

Kagome giggled, imagining all her English teachers' horror at Inuyasha's uncultured comment. "He was a playwright from England, a long…" She stopped. 'A long time ago' wasn't so accurate anymore. Not here, not now. "Well, in the future time, he was alive a long time ago. Anyway, he wrote a play about these two characters, Romeo and Juliet, and there's a scene with a balcony."

Inuyasha eyed her cautiously. "Oh yeah?"

Since he seemed moderately at attention, Kagome thought she could broaden his horizons a little. A speck of modern culture in a battle-torn history. "Their families hate each other because of some feud, but Romeo falls in love with Juliet at a party. The balcony scene's one of the most romantic images of literary history. He sneaks into her garden and tells her he loves her."

Inuyasha looked unimpressed. "That's romantic?"

"Yes, Inuyasha. I mean, the idea of it is romantic. Forbidden love, overcoming generations of familial feuding…" Kagome placed a hand over her heart and gave a dramatic sigh. "The language of it is so poetic, too."

"What, they don't speak Japanese?"

Kagome snorted out a laugh, cast Inuyasha a look. The gleam in his eye caught her, though, and her initial response—no, silly, they speak English—stilled on her tongue. Her heart thumped in her chest. "When I say he says he loves her, it's not like he comes out and tells her. What he says is, 'But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun'. It means he thinks she's as beautiful as the morning sun."

"The morning sun blinds you, you look at it straight."

Kagome chose to ignore that. "And then…Juliet complains about why he has to be a Montague, and therefore forbidden to her. And…" She frowned, trying to recall her fuzzy memories of the Shakespeare she'd been forced to read. "Juliet asks how he got there, and Romeo says, 'With love's light wings did I o'er-perch these walls, for stony limits cannot hold love out, and what love can do that dares love attempt, therefore thy kinsmen are no let to me'."

"Huh?"

She leaned further over the rail to smile down at him. "He jumped the garden wall so he could see her. He's not afraid of her family finding out, because he thinks love makes him invincible."

"That's stupid." Inuyasha snorted, crossed his arms over his chest. "Doesn't make you invincible."

Inuyasha could leech the romance out of shooting stars and candlelight dinners, Kagome thought sourly. "It's a story," she snapped, irritation flaring. "A beautiful, romantic story." Muttering, she started down the ladder. "Shouldn't have brought it up. Stupid."

"No, go back up there." When she ignored him, Inuyasha grabbed the bottom of the ladder and shook it, making her squeak and cling to the rungs. "Go back up."

Sniffing, not particularly caring if she was being childish, Kagome went back up. Crossed her arms over her chest. "Happy now?"

"Go back to the edge." Inuyasha stepped back, directing her to the left, a little more to the left, back to the right, until she was placed where he wanted. He stepped back so he wasn't craning his neck so much. "So, this balcony scene, it happens at night?"

"After the party." Kagome had her arms crossed over her chest now. She was irritated and in no mood for whatever games he had planned. "I'm hungry, Inuyasha. If we're all done here, I want to go eat."

"In a minute. Now be quiet, I'm thinking."

Kagome might have made some snippy comment about that, but his beautiful golden eyes were narrowed with concentration, his face scrunched in comical thought. Her heart thrummed in the silence, and something deep in her belly quivered when he opened his mouth.

"But soft, what light through yonder, uhm, tree house breaks? It is the east, and, uhm, Kagome is the sun."

His delivery could use some work, but his substitutions, rather than being clumsy or awkward, were poignant. Kagome's voice strangled in her throat, and his image blurred suddenly as tears rose in her eyes. She sniffled, ruining the moment by rubbing the back of her hand under her eyes.

"You're supposed to say something."

His gruff words cut through the moment, and Kagome smiled at where she thought he was, a blur of red and white against a green field. "O Inuyasha, Inuyasha, wherefore art thou Inuyasha?"

His arms came around her, suddenly, warm and strong and tight. Kagome let herself be enveloped by him, sleeves and hair settling around them as he bent his head over hers. "I dunno," he muttered hoarsely. "I dunno wherefore I am Inuyasha, but…" He stumbled over the poetry. "That stupid morning sun's got nothing on you."

Her heart throbbed, overflowing with love. Tears rose to her eyes, and she hid her face against his shoulder as if to hide them. Who'd have thought Inuyasha could ever be so romantic? Even without trying, and at the most unexpected of times, he could move her to tears.

Inuyasha pulled back gently, hands clasping her shoulders so she was forced to face him. Kagome kept her face bent, embarrassed by the tears on her cheeks. For once Inuyasha ignored them.

"I'm Inuyasha," he said, his voice oddly quiet. Hesitant. His eyes, molten gold, never wavered. "Just Inuyasha. I'm not…I'm not rich or powerful, I don't have a fancy house or clothes or fancy words. I'm stubborn, and selfish, and violent, and rude. I don't have anything to give you except for everything I am." He swallowed, and Kagome stared at the sheen of tears that blurred his eyes. "If that's good enough…if I'm good enough…would you accept me?"

The love that swelled her heart spilled out to spread through her body, warming her from the inside out. Kagome lifted both hands to frame Inuyasha's face as her own tears spilled over in answer to his. His words, clumsy and rough, were more beautiful than any poetry, more true than any declaration she could have asked for.

Since words were not enough, she merely nodded. "Yes," she whispered, needing to hear it aloud as much as she felt Inuyasha needed them. "Yes, I do. I will. I accept you, Inuyasha." Not just love, she thought. It wasn't just love he asked for. That much was given, wasn't it? Without words, without asking or explanation.

"I accept you, Inuyasha. All of you."

He knew without her saying what she meant. Hanyou, human, demon, all of him. Darkness and light, questions and answers, hopes and fears. All of him. She accepted him.

His arms tightened around her, and Inuyasha cradled her close. His voice was rough as his tears dripped onto her hair, rolled down the ebony mass to drop to the floor of the porch. "I'll take care of you," he promised. "I'll make you happy."

"Oh, Inuyasha." Kagome sniffled back the tears of joy that flowed endlessly. She slipped her arms around his shoulders, felt the tense strength of muscles along his back. In his arms, she felt safe, protected, cherished. "I know it. And I'll do my best to make you happy right back." She leaned back, pressed a kiss to each wet, salty cheek, then smiled up at him. "I love you, Inuyasha."

His smile spread, wide and full and gorgeous. She loved him. She said it, right out loud. She loved him. Joy, a feeling of absolute untainted happiness he hadn't felt since he was a child in his mother's arms, tingled all along his skin until he felt numb from it. There were no more tears now as he stared at her, his heart pounding rapidly in his ears. Nerves assaulted him, doubts rising to the surface as she leaned against him, face lifted expectantly.

Sensing his uncertainty, Kagome tightened her arms around his shoulders, drawing his face closer. She smiled, her dove gray eyes soft. She laid to rest all his doubts with a single whispered command.

"Kiss me, Inuyasha."

She was so warm and soft, deceptively slender in his arms. Inuyasha felt a rush of protectiveness as he bent his head to obey her directions and pressed his lips lightly against hers.

I love you, Kagome. He wanted to say it, but the words wouldn't come. I love you. Somehow, even though he couldn't voice them aloud, he knew she understood. She heard what was in his heart. She'd always heard his heart, even when they'd been separated.

She knew. She knew his love transcended time.

Kagome wiggled lightly out of Inuyasha's arms. She turned to face the house, cocked her head. "So…This is for us, then?"

He hunched his shoulders, uncomfortable. He knew that tone of voice. It was the one that preceded her saying 'thank you' or something like that, and it always made him feel awkward. Which, in turn, made him irritated and short-tempered. "Well, it's far from the village and everything, so you might not like it, but…" Kagome turned to face him, and one look from those soft eyes had the words clogging in his throat. Inuyasha coughed roughly. "Yeah. It's for us."

"I like it." Because they were alone, and because she thought he wouldn't resist, Kagome slipped her hand into Inuyasha's. She felt his fingers clasp hers gently, careful of his claws, and hid a smile at his thoughtfulness. "I know you don't like being so close to all those people all the time, and it's nice out here."

She turned to survey the forest around them, inhaling deeply. The scents of the forest surrounded her, soothed her. Ducking her head, she added, "And…I like thinking that the well isn't too far away. I'm not thinking about going back," she hastened to say, meeting Inuyasha's eyes. The fear, the vulnerability, were close to the surface, and she squeezed his fingers in reassurance. "I chose to be here, with you. But…it's nice to know it's there."

"Yeah." Inuyasha battled down the insecurities. She chose to be here. He understood her attachment to the well, that last connection to the world from the future. He didn't think he could ever tell her how much it meant to him that she'd chosen this world, his world, to be 'hers'.

"But you kind of need more things."

"Huh?"

Kagome smiled and released his hand to go back in through the front door. She looked around the bare room, hands propped on her hips. "A door, for one." She indicated the empty doorway. They didn't have proper doors as she thought of them, but Inuyasha's little tree house didn't even have a hanging curtain to block out the night breeze or the summer heat. "Cleaning supplies, shelves, floor cushions." She turned slowly around the room, imagining all the things she could do to make this into 'home'. "Since we don't have a sofa, we'll need extra bedding for when we get into fights and I don't want to share a bed with you."

That one stopped any arguments forming before they spilled out. Inuyasha's eyes went wide, and he could have sworn his heart stopped. "You…You wouldn't let me sleep with you?"

Under other circumstances, the subject under discussion would have made Kagome blush, but she steeled herself. She had chosen to be here, she had accepted his proposal—such as it was. She wasn't a stupid, naïve girl who didn't know what went on in the adult world. But Inuyasha's stupefied shock made her heart twinge. What had started out as a half-joke had suddenly turned into something serious.

Cautious, Kagome crossed towards him. "Inuyasha…It was just a joke." He flinched when she reached out to touch him, and Kagome pulled back, wounded. His eyes looked scared, like a wild animal trapped by predators. She chose her words carefully. "In my time…well, in the time across the well, it's kind of a joke that if a husband gets in trouble, he has to sleep on the couch. It's called…" Kagome stopped herself. Telling him it was called 'sleeping in the doghouse' just didn't seem appropriate. "Never mind. I'm not planning on fighting with you a lot."

Inuyasha didn't look convinced. In fact, he still looked outright scared. "If things don't go well between us…would you…kick me out?" His heart squeezed. "If I'm not good enough for you, would you leave me?"

"Oh, Inuyasha, no." Kagome couldn't help it, and she wrapped her arms around him. To her surprise, she felt him trembling. Quivering. "No, Inuyasha, I would never leave you." Her voice was fierce, trying to convey her conviction. "Never. Even if things are rough, or if we do fight, I'll never leave you." She tightened her hug, wanting him to believe her. "I might get mad at you sometimes, and we might yell at each other—like we did before. But I won't leave you. I won't abandon you." She ducked her head so she could meet his down-turned gaze. "I made my choice, Inuyasha. I'm here."

His arms came up hesitantly around her. "You're here." He repeated it, murmured against her hair as if trying to convince himself. "You're here." He leaned back and tried a half-smile. "Let's make a deal. I won't get into any fights with you bad enough where you'd want me to sleep in the other room, and we won't have to go get extra bedding."

Kagome wasn't fully sure he could keep that deal—who knew what lay ahead, after all—but she was willing to concede just this once. She nodded, then stuck her hand out. "Deal." They shook on it, and Kagome laughed. "I've always dreamed about having my own house, making it everything I always wanted. It's a little different than I imagined, but…" she looked around the humble tree house and knew her heart was right where she wanted to be. "I like it."

"Keh." Inuyasha folded his arms so his hands were hidden in his sleeves. "We should head back. Sango and Miroku are expecting us for dinner, anyway."

"Okay then." Kagome took one more turn around the house, smiling to herself as she imagined all the memories they'd make together. Inuyasha waited for her out on the porch, leaning back against the railing. Kagome joined him, glanced down at the ground, then lifted her eyebrows at him. "Want to give me a lift?"

The words were no sooner out of her mouth than he'd swept her up into his arms, bridal style, and leapt lightly to the ground. Kagome laughed, delighted, as he set her down. Her fingers ran over the wooden beads of the rosary he still wore around his neck, and she glanced at it, surprised. She was so accustomed to seeing him wear it that she hadn't really taken notice of it lately.

Inuyasha noticed her staring and, self-consciously, reached up to tug at the beads. "What?"

"You still wear it?"

He shrugged. "I can't take it off on my own." He'd never been able to, ever since Kaede had first put it on with some incantation that imbued it with magical subduing powers. He didn't usually even notice that he had it on. "I'm used to it, anyway."

Kagome cocked her head, eyeing him critically. "I guess you didn't need to worry about it while I was…gone." Though she was a little surprised that Kaede hadn't mentioned removing it. The old priestess surely had the power to remove the spell.

Inuyasha squinted as if something hurt his eyes. "Not that Sango didn't try to use it once or twice." Kagome snorted a laugh at that, and Inuyasha's lips quirked at the corners in response. More seriously, he added, "Kaede-baba brought it up a couple times. Said she'd take it off for me." He knew Kagome was looking at him quizzically, but he refused to meet her gaze. "I told her it was okay. I mean…It's kind of all I had left to remember you. Not that I'd forget you if I didn't have it."

He stumbled over the words, but still, Kagome's heart warmed. She reached out to tug on his hair, smiling at him. "You're very thoughtful." His shoulders hunched. It was that tone of voice again. Kagome tilted her head. "I can take it off, though. You can still keep it, for the memories." She toyed with the wooden beads, eyebrows lifted in silent query.

Inuyasha glanced away, embarrassed. "Keh. Like I want to remember all the times you made me eat dirt." Kagome was silent, waiting, and he cleared his throat. "If you want to."

"Only if you want me to."

Inuyasha glanced back, met her eyes. In his was the pained question: are you going to make me say it? Hers were filled with patience and understanding, but firm demand as well. She wanted to make sure he was sure. Inuyasha blew out a breath, feeling as if his heart was heavy and light. "I want you to. And I'll keep it." For the memories.

Not just of eating dirt, though he remembered that well, too. But for everything the rosary represented, everything it had borne them through. Everything it meant.

He crouched, tilting his head back so he could watch her. Kagome stood in front of him, placed both hands on the rosary. Her brow furrowed in concentration, and she mumbled the words under her breath as she ran her fingers over each bead in turn. The feeling of power around his neck grew, and Inuyasha concentrated on regulating his breathing. He kept very still as Kagome slowly lifted the rosary over his head.

His hair fell loose as she took the rosary off. The feeling of power dissipated as soon as she removed it, and Inuyasha could breathe easily again. Kagome coiled the beads in her palm, smiling at Inuyasha. "You look kind of…I don't know, plain without it."

Unthinkingly, he lifted a hand to touch at the base of his throat. It felt kind of odd without the rosary's familiar weight against his chest. "Feels kinda weird."

"We'll get used to it." Kagome held the rosary out to him. "We'll put it on the wall when we get home, but let's go eat. I'm hungry."

Inuyasha took the rosary from her. They walked along the quiet, cool forest path in silence, each entertaining their own thoughts. They reached the path to the village when Inuyasha spoke.

"Kagome."

"Hmm?" She could smell cooking fires and roasted fish and wondered what Sango had prepared for them.

"Tell me to sit."

"What?" Glancing back, Kagome saw Inuyasha had stopped in the middle of the path. He had a strange expression on his face. "Why?"

"Just say it."

Amused, Kagome propped her hands on her waist. She assumed the scowl that always accompanied the command to get into character. "Inuyasha…sit!"

"No!"

Inuyasha's laughter rang clear through the evening air. The sound of it was lyrical, like music at a summer festival, full of freedom. His eyes glowed with it when he met her gaze, his grin wide on his face. "You can't make me!"

Understanding now, Kagome grinned but narrowed her eyes. "I said, sit!"

"Try it!"

Inuyasha threw his arms out as if to embrace the sky, then launched himself straight up into the nearest tree in direct opposition to the command's usual reaction. Kagome laughed to see him cavort through the branches, a blur of red and silver as he bounded through the tree's canopy, spinning in the air, before landing beside her with a thud. Grinning, he looked impossibly young, incredibly handsome. "I'm free," he whispered, as if in awe. "I'm free, but I'm yours forever."

Even when he said the most contradictory things, Inuyasha meant every word. In everything he did, he was nothing if not sincere. Kagome's heart squeezed, and she went with the moment and leaned forward to kiss him. "If you love something, let it go. If it loves you, it'll always come back."

"What's that, more Shakesfear?"

Kagome laughed and took Inuyasha's hand. They resumed the rest of the walk to Sango and Miroku's hut. "No, no Shakespeare. It's just a saying."

"I don't want to be free." Inuyasha looked vaguely puzzled. "Don't let me go." He tightened his grip on her hand until she met his eyes. "You better hold on to me, cuz I don't ever want to let you go. You already did come back."

"I guess that means I love you."

Inuyasha's throat tightened. "I guess so."

They walked in just as Sango's open palm connected with Miroku's cheek. "Pervert!" Shippou laughed uproariously as he valiantly tried to distract the children from their parents' antics. Kagome chuckled and went to help with serving the meal while Inuyasha was promptly set upon by Mieko and Kimiko, who clamored for attention. Shippou hopped up onto Inuyasha's shoulder.

"You two were gone for a long time! What'd you do, get lost out there?"

"Shut up, runt." Inuyasha couldn't suppress the grin as the girls screamed in laughter as he sent them flying up and down in turn. "Showed her the house."

Miroku came over to pick up baby Susumu and rock him gently. He lifted an eyebrow. "Aaaand?"

Inuyasha grunted and tucked a girl under each arm. They kicked and squirmed for freedom, wriggling out of his hold and tackling him. Inuyasha let them bowl him over and replied flat on his back. "She said yes."

"You dog!" Miroku clapped Inuyasha on the shoulder. He leaned over and, while the girls were momentarily distracted by Shippou, lowered his voice for Inuyasha's ears alone. "So…you gonna get lucky tonight?"

Inuyasha sat up straight, face flaming. "Keh. Don't be stupid."

Kagome and Sango brought bowls of rice over, called the twins to order. Kagome sat between Inuyasha and Miroku, smiling as she listened to the usual banter. Some things, she thought as Shippou and Inuyasha bickered and snitched food off each others' plates, she hoped would never change. Miroku cut bite-sized portions of fish for each of his daughters as Sango took Susumu to a corner to breast feed him when he started to fuss. Miroku tried to get up to 'help' his wife, and Inuyasha batted him on the back of the head with a muttered oath about perverts and idiots.

Kagome just laughed.

It was good to be back.

~7.11.10