Delayed Reactions

He was amazed that she hadn't cried yet - from the moment he pulled her up out of the well that final time to the end of the hastily organized ceremony that joined them as husband and wife, she had been remarkably well composed.

There had been tears in her eyes, but they didn't fall.

Her radiant smile seemed to have pushed all other such emotions out.

But somehow that changed when they stepped inside their hut for the first time.

As they approached the newly built structure just inside the forest of Inuyasha, Kagome let go of her new husbands hand to race towards the house with unbridled giddiness, sliding open the sturdy wood door and all but prancing into the nearly empty room.

Inuyasha leaned against the door frame and watched his new wife, his best friend, as she twirled in circles in the center of the room, her bridal kimono blossoming out around her.

He was just glad that she was too busy being an idiot to see the goofy grin spreading across his face as he watched his crazy girl.

"So," he started, and his grin was so strong she could hear it in his tone "Do you like it, or should I go find you a nice tree to sleep under instead?"

She paused in her twirling to look at him, her eyes twinkling as she replied "That wouldn't be so bad if you were sleeping above me in that tree, but if it's all the same, I think I'll stay here."

He smirked at her, a curt and rumbling "Good" her only response, and for a short instant she thought she saw his face from years ago: immature, arrogant, and smug for no good reason, and for that short instant she was hit with a jolt of 15-year-old Kagome's frazzled feelings towards the boy she loved who just couldn't take a hint and would never grow up.

And then suddenly she was back, standing in the middle of the home she would share with Inuyasha, that once arrogant, selfish, immature half-demon, who was still a little arrogant, not as selfish, and much more grown up than he used to be, and who was currently laying out a plush futon to the side of a smoldering fire pit.

He had shed the ornate outer jacket and formal robes of his own wedding attire, leaving only simple hakama and kosode, and as she watched him more memories surfaced of all the times he used to lend her his fire-rat robe, and how warm and safe she always felt in it, and how such a simple act always gave her a million butterflies and caused her cheeks to warm….

Inuyasha stood up, the futon ready and waiting, and turned to look at Kagome.

As her eyes met his, she froze at the emotions she saw churning there.

Love, anxiety, hope, desire… she even thought she saw a bit of annoyance, which was amusing – and it was all unabashedly directed at her.

It wasn't the first time he'd looked at her this way (especially since coming back), but there was definitely something different this time.

This time… it was her husband looking at her with such emotions.

"… Well? You… ready for bed, or…."

He tried to make his tone sound impatient, but to his chagrin it was just coming out eager.

Kagome didn't seem to notice though.

Her eyes were wide and glistening, and her mouth hung open slightly in a look of almost… shock? Was it?

Inuyasha stared at her, stepping closer to get in her face, asking brusquely, yet softly "What's your problem?"

"We… we're married."

He stared at her, the annoyance from earlier growing in his eyes.

"Yyyeah… so do you wanna make it official," he said with a slight nod towards the futon, "or… are you just going to stand there all night?"

Either she didn't hear him or she flat out ignored him as she said again, this time breathy and whispering "We're married!"

The half-demon's annoyance turned sharply to panic as he saw his new wife's bottom lip tremble and her eyes fill with tears.

Well, this wasn't at all how he pictured this night going.

"K-Kagome! I'm sorry – I didn't mean to rush you, I just –"

His jumbled apology was cut short as Kagome all but fell on him, her hands gripping his shirt as her face pressed into the fabric.

Sniffling, she turned her face to the side and said in a thick voice "Inuyasha… I'm not dreaming, am I?"

He was frozen, and could only stutter out a lame "Uh… I sure hope not."

She smiled against him, feelings of love overwhelming her.

'Inuyasha… my husband.'

With merely the thought of those few simple words, Kagome's entire emotional structure came crashing down on her, and at first one tear fell, then three, then ten, and soon it seemed a dam had been broken as she sobbed against Inuyasha, her frame convulsing as her feelings rushed out of her.

For a moment he let his shock get the better of him, but soon his brain kicked in, and Inuyasha wrapped his arms gently around the weepy girl.

He really had grown up, after all.

"Kagome… what the hell is wrong with you?"

Well, perhaps he wasn't as 'grown-up' as he considered himself to be.

"Nothing's 'wrong', Inuyasha."

She raised her watery eyes to look at him, and he almost gasped at the brilliant smile behind the streaks of tears.

"I just can't believe this is really happening!"

Her poor husband just stared at her, his panic resurfacing as he had no idea how to interpret her confession.

"Do you remember when we first met?"

"Y-yeah… and you're bringing this up now because…?"

It wasn't exactly him at his best… he had been rather rude to her….

"You tried to kill me."

Yeah, there was that too.

"Are… are you sure you wanna talk about this on our wedding night?"

She giggled, and Inuyasha was amazed to see that she was still crying.

"I never held that against you, you know."

It was his turn to smile then – he knew what she said was true. And he still couldn't understand it. What an amazing woman she was….

"And do you remember… how after I saw you with Kikyo… I decided to always stay by your side?"

He couldn't help but cringe, being reminded of his past offences against Kagome. He'd been a straight up louse back then.

But Kagome only smiled again, and her eyes half closed as she said "That's when I realized I was in love with you."

His arms tightened around her a little, but all he could manage to do was breath out her name.

Recognizing his guilt-ridden tone, Kagome plunged forward, not giving him a chance to respond.

"You know, at that time, I never really had any hope that you'd love me back. I knew you cared about me, but I just… resigned myself to the fact that I'd always be second best to you."

His eyes clouded, and he said with more force than he intended "But Kagome, you're not –"

"I know!" Came her excited whisper, as if this were some deep secret she were revealing to herself.

"I know Inuyasha, because you're here, and I'm here, in this house just for us, as husband and wife, and we'll be together from here on out!"

"But… but then why are you…"

"Inuyasha, don't you see? If the 15-year-old me could only see this… if I could have ever known just how… Oh Inuyasha, I'm living it, and I barely believe it's real!"

He smiled softly at her, and there it was again – that look of absolute devotion and love that she never thought she'd see, which she now seemed to get on a daily basis.

"Oh it's real alright."

Then he leaned down and kissed her, feeling the wetness of her tears on her lips, and soon he could taste her tears as well as they increased in force and he deepened their kiss.

Pulling back slowly, he gazed at her with a look she had only seen in her dreams – a look of raw love. A look that – had she ever dared think he'd show it – she always thought would have been directed at someone else.

"C'mon Kagome…

The love in his voice was her breaking point, and with a shuddering sob she sank to the floor, pulling him down to his knees with her.

"K-Kagome, what's –"

"I-Inu-Inuyasha…" she cried, fighting to be composed enough to even speak his name, "You – you have no idea…. No idea…"

He held her loosely as she sank into him more, and he had to crane his neck a bit to get a good look at her face, pressed against his chest and soaking the white fabric over him.

"What is it? You're not helping me understand…."

Kagome was desperately trying to gain control of herself, and eventually managed a few deep breaths which brought her down to a level where she could talk.

"Oh Inuyasha… d-do you… do you remember when…" she paused, biting her lip as she wondered whether she should continue or not, but she pressed forward, knowing he had a right to understand her feelings, even if they did bring up painful memories, "when Kikyo stole my jewel shards?"

Inuyasha's arms tightened around her and his eyes hardened a bit. He knew that the resurrected Kikyo had changed between that incident and the night she finally died in his arms, but – the memory still stung. "Yeah… she tried to kill you."

Kagome grasped his shirt and lifted her head to look up at him, instantly regretting the look of guilt she saw, which her words had planted. "Don't think of that Inuyasha – her soul is saved, and she passed on in peace. I don't resent her at all. But..."

He looked down at her expectantly as she paused, and it gave her courage to continue "But do you remember those illusory deaths you and everyone went through? You thought I was unaffected by them, but… but I wasn't."

A sudden surge of protectiveness washed over Inuyasha, and he gripped her forcefully to him. No – Kagome had gone through those horrid illusions too? And he had never known?

Some protector he was.

"Kagome, I'm so sorry… what happened? Tell me, I need to know. What did you see? Did I fail to protect you? Did… did I h-hurt you?" 'Did I kill you?"

There was a sadness seeping into Kagome's shining eyes – a sadness Inuyasha had not seen in years, but which he remembered seeing all too often back then.

"I… I saw… all I saw was you and Kikyo… just you and Kikyo. You were in the forest, and it was beautiful… you were both so beautiful, and smiling, and happy… you kissed… and you both looked so in love… so so in love…. There was no one but the two of you. And that… that was what killed me."

Inuyasha made no sound as he pulled her up against him and crushed her to him, resting his chin on her shoulder, his mouth close to her ear.

And when he spoke, his voice was so choked and constricted that it made the tears well in Kagome's eyes all over again.

"You stupid girl… you stupid, stupid woman. Don't you know anything? You wanna know what my illusion was? Kikyo killed me – all over again. Just plain shot me with an arrow, never mind the sacred tree. And I felt so sorry for her and so guilty because now I knew the truth about Naraku… I felt so bad that I told her I would always protect her." He could feel Kagome duck her face against his shoulder. He knew that she knew that that promise was over and done with, but it still was no fun to hear.

But he wasn't finished, and his gravelly voice whispered into her ear "But then I felt something… I knew something was wrong. There was something I forgot… and I realized… there was someone else I was supposed to protect. And then I saw you."

He could feel Kagome's hot tears against his neck as her arms reached up to squeeze him in a hug.

"You broke me out of that illusion Kagome. I broke out of it because I needed to see you again. I needed to protect you."

She was crying again, but this time he didn't feel panicked or anxious about it.

And when she pulled away from his shoulder to lean in for a kiss, he felt nothing but happiness.

But she pulled back quickly with a bright smile, and reached up to gently tweak one of his ears.

"Inuyasha, thank you for telling me that. You don't know what it means to me. But you never let me finish."

The upwards quirk of a dark eyebrow was all the response she got.

"It took me a long time to get over it, but eventually I realized… I never actually saw you two like that – every time you were together, all I saw was sorrow and guilt and regret. I was finally able to… let go of it, but… what got me crying just now was… oh Inuyasha, that look I saw you give in that illusion, I saw it again moments ago, but you gave it to me. You kissed me the way you… the way I always dreamed you would, but hardly dared to hope. That illusion… that's all it'll ever be. I don't have to think of it anymore. Because now you're here – and it's real."

He still looked uncertain, and guilt was still ghosting his features, but Kagome smiled brightly at him, and he relaxed a bit.

"Inuyasha, remembering how much it hurt back then, and feeling what I'm feeling now… I just can't believe how far we've come!"

He smiled at her, pulling her to his chest and resting his head atop hers, but not before she saw the moisture building up in his eyes.

"I guess that just goes to show… we can never really leave the past behind us, huh?"

"Don't" she said brusquely, gripping his shirt once again, "Don't ever leave the past behind – and don't forget it either. After all… the past is what led us to our future."

She felt him nod against her head and bury his nose in her hair, and had the night not already been full of surprises, she would have gasped as she felt his usually sturdy form shaking against her and heard his sniffling from above her head.

She wanted so much to say something, to soothe him with words, but she knew he wouldn't want her to point it out, and she dare not ruin this rare emotional show by pricking at his ego.

But that didn't mean she could stop the tears that flowed from her eyes in response to his tears that were wetting her hair.

"Inuyasha… I'm just so happy… you can't believe… you can't believe how happy I am to be here with you. To be held by you… kissed by you… to be loved by you. But more than that… to know that you're happy, too… that's what I always wanted for you. This is all that I've wanted… since I first found you."

"Because you were born for me."

Her eyes shot wide, and she pulled back to look him in the eye, not quite believing what she had heard.

"W-what?"

His penetrating gaze never wavered, and his tone radiated assurance as he said once again "You were born to be with me, Kagome. And I was born for you."

Such confidence she had never heard from him before – this wasn't his usual bravado or arrogance or boasting.

It sounded as if there was nothing truer or surer in the universe – that the earth could crumble and the planets collapse and the stars fall from the sky and that statement would stay strung in the firmament - immovable - forever.

It took her breath away.

The searing kiss that followed took her breath away too.

*Author's Note:

I just always figured... with all the crap Kagome had to put up with to get to this point... she deserves a moment to just be overwhelmed with joy for finally getting her happy ending.

She's been openly in love with this guy for *most* of the series, with really no opportunities to do anything about it, and then for three years she was supposedly separated from him forever, never again to see the only man she'd ever fallen in love with, and then suddenly she's back and marries the boy she's loved for the past four years who she originally thought would never love her the way she loves him...

I can't even handle it - the fact that she actually gets her happy ending in the series just makes me beyond happy.

And I feel it would do the same for her.