"And then I just apply it directly to the wound, right?"

"Exactly."

Kagome smiled proudly. When Kaede had first started their herbology lessons, they seemed impossible. Since then it had become obvious that Kagome had a gift for natural medicine. When she looked up from the sprig in her hand she saw the older woman smiling down at her just as proudly.

"If I ever get stabbed or somethin', patch me up, k, Kagome?" Shippo yawned, cradling in his arms and staring at the greying sky.

"Ha, you're a demon! You wouldn't need poultices like these," she replied, reaching over and tickling his stomach. "And there's no way I'd let anyone stab you," she continued more soberly, standing once his subtle request for attention was satisfied. "I'd fry 'em first."

"I like the sound of your confidence!" called Miroku, coming up the hill behind them.

"Are you guys heading out?" Kagome asked, doing her best to mask the disappointment in her voice. After so many years together, it never felt quite right when Miroku and Sango left. Not that she could blame them. Rebuilding a village required lots of time; building a family even more so.

"Maybe you should wait a while," she added, sparing a glance at the clouds overhead. "It looks like rain."

"All the more reason to get on the road before the storm breaks," he replied gloomily.

"Right, of course." The monk smiled ruefully.

"You know our door is always open to you, Kagome," he added, resting a hand on her shoulder as he read the look that passed fleetingly across her face.

"Thanks," she said for the dozenth time, "but I need to stay here." The words felt less and less convincing to her lately.

"Really?" the monk prodded. Kagome caught his meaning.

"Really," she echoed. "The village needs a healer. Or at least a full-time one," she explained, her gaze following Kaede's swaying form as the priestess made her way back down the hill. "Kaede's just not up to the whole 24/7 thing lately. And you'd be amazed at how much trouble people manage to get themselves into. Even without demons to fight," she was babbling and she knew it. Miroku smiled understandingly and gave her shoulder a supportive squeeze.

"And if one comes around, it must be nice to have you here to handle that, too," he affirmed. "Alright," he sighed, throwing his hands up in defeat, "I relent. At least I can tell Sango I tried."

"I'm sorry she'll be disappointed," Kagome said, unconsciously petting Shippo's head.

"Not just Sango," said the monk, leaning over to ruffle the girl's hair playfully. "Promise you'll come stay with us sometime. It doesn't have to be forever, but you just need to get away from…" he looked around them and gestured, arms circling as he searched for the right word, "…this."

As if on cue, a bright red form burst through the canopy down the hill.

"INUYASHA," the monk yelled, his brotherly tone of moments before suddenly stern.

The half-demon quickly alighted on the closest tree that would hold him and turned back in acknowledgement, but he remained far enough away to discourage any actual conversation. Even from this distance, Kagome could tell his eyes were trained on her.

He was on his way to the well again, she realized. Miroku quickly noted the same and frowned.

"INUYASHA, COME HERE," the monk growled. Miroku's controlled-anger voice always made Kagome feel like she'd been caught doing something wrong, even when it wasn't aimed at her.

He'll be a good father, she thought.

The half demon shook his head in reply, sending his hair flipping from side to side like a white flag.

"WE NEED TO SPEAK WITH YOU," the monk persisted.

"NO," Inuyasha finally barked in defiance, pointing exaggeratedly for emphasis. "YOU WANT SOMETHING, YOU COME HERE!" Miroku made a small noise of disgust in the back of his throat, and Kagome rolled her eyes under closed lids, shaking her head. She didn't have enough sleep to deal with this.

"Inuyasha," she said, not bothering to raise her voice to match their volume. She knew he could hear her, especially when he recoiled at her familiar tone. Miroku grinned. He knew what came next, too.

"Sit, boy."

"Finally," breathed Miroku, picking up his staff as a loud crash and an angry howl of betrayal echoed across the hillside. Miroku chuckled low in his throat as the pair nonchalantly made their way towards the source of the disturbance.

"Kagome," he said appreciatively, throwing an affectionate arm around her shoulders, "remind me to never piss you off."

—

The two men hurled insults at each other for the first few minutes of their conversation as Miroku and Inuyasha butted heads - both figuratively and literally. They were getting nowhere. It didn't take much convincing for Miroku to leave the two to talk alone. He laid a protective kiss on Kagome's forehead as he left, making eye contact with Inuyasha as he did so, daring his friend to discover the consequences of hurting the woman further.

Well, that was new, she thought to herself, watching as he turned and strode back towards the village without a word. Their group had never really taken sides in these arguments before. Miroku in particular was prone to side with Inuyasha when it came to misplaced - or manifold - affections. But today he'd seemed genuinely upset. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen the monk so unsettled, if she ever had.

Maybe Sango changed him, she speculated.

Or maybe he knows Inuyasha is meddling with more than hurt feelings this time, countered a wicked voice in the back of her mind.

She sighed.

She turned to look at him. He sat leaning his back against the tree to shield himself from the rain, arms and legs folded defiantly around Tessaiga and head turned away, his lower lip jutting out in a decided pout.

She opened her mouth to begin, but no words came out. She sighed again.

"You gonna stand there an' sigh me to death or you gonna say what you been wantin' to say?" he snarled at last, still refusing to make eye contact.

"I know why you're going down the well," she answered, noting how he stiffened. It was easier to cut to the chase in retaliation to his biting remarks than it was to begin on her own. As she watched, his scowl gradually softened into a pained expression. His silence hung gratingly in the space between them, stark in contrast to the pitter-patter echo that muffled all the sounds around them. He exhaled in a groan.

"Yeah?" he asked at last, the defiance gone from his voice. Her courage wavered in the face of his sudden vulnerability, the anger that had fueled her slipping away. She swallowed the lump forming in her throat, fighting the urge to wrap comforting arms around him, and continued.

"You could be messing with…" she struggled for the right words to convey the seriousness of his transgressions to him, "with fate, Inuyasha. You could be undoing events that are important to the future. To all our futures. You could be putting us all in danger." The righteous ire that had abandoned her rekindled as she imagined the damage he could be causing her friends. "Especially if you're just using the well for selfish reasons." She muttered it as an aside, but his head snapped towards her like she'd slapped him.

"Selfish?" he demanded, jumping to his feet. "How is it self-"

"Are you seriously going to sit there and tell me that playing with the flow of time and possibly disrupting the events of the future - of everyone's futures - for the sake of your LOVE LIFE somehow isn't selfish?" she scolded, anger in full bloom once more. "How could you- I mean I know I'm biased, but have you even stopped to THINK about the repercussions of all this? What you're doing is-" she let out a frustrated groan. "It's killing me, Inuyasha," she sighed defeatedly, clamping damp hands at her sides and fighting to regain control.

Literally, she thought. She felt tears building behind clenched lids.

"I-" he started, but bit his tongue as she dropped her head and first one tear, then another slid down her cheek.

"Kagome…" he exhaled sharply as his brows knit together, his fangs digging into his lower lip.

Before she could register the movement, he pulled her tight against him, one hand at the small of her back and another cradling her head, pressing his cheek to her hair.

"I- I'd never do anything to hurt you," he said purred emphatically. And whether it was because he hadn't held her in so long, or because he sounded so desperate, or simply because she so badly wanted it to be true, for the thud of a few heartbeats she believed him. For a fleeting moment she let the warmth of his body and his declarations wrap around her and sink into her skin.

But she blinked, and the spell wore off. She pushed him away, not far enough move out of the circle of his arms, but enough so that their bodies weren't pressed against each other. It would only make things harder.

"But you have," she mumbled finally, unwilling to meet his eyes. "You've already hurt me… a dozen times. You've endangered all of us for Kikyo before, and now when everything is finally settled you're just rushing in to do it again!"

"Kikyo-"

"I don't want to hear it!" she yelled, surprising both of them at the sudden force in her voice. "I don't want to hear it anymore," she repeated, hands clenching his forearms. It sounded more like a plea than a command.

"Kagome…" he murmured. He moved to rest his forehead on top of her wet hair and inhaled her scent, lingering.

"You smell like that bastard again," he muttered after a moment, more an observation than an accusation. She had no reply.

He let out an achingly wistful breath. As if giving himself permission, he slowly stepped back, his fingers trailing down her arms and across her skin as he released her, reluctant to break that last bit of contact. A single fingertip hooked around hers as they stood inches apart, both staring at the ground. She wanted desperately to say something, but no words came.

Oh, she realized, rain masking the tears streaming down her face, so this is why I was avoiding it.

Inuyasha gently squeezed her trembling hand in his own.

"How did it…" he grimaced and closed his eyes, giving the slightest shake of his head as if internally admonishing himself. Or maybe forgiving himself. His hand slipped out of hers and he turned to go without a sound.

She looked up through blurring tears to see his back begrudgingly receding.

"Inuyasha…" she whispered, her resolve crumbling as the weight of finality in the air pressed down on her, realization suddenly washing over her.

"Inuyasha," she called more insistently, moving forward involuntarily and catching the edge of his sleeve between nervous fingers.

"I- Inu…" she tried to formulate the words but they evaporated off her tongue as quickly as they'd come, her mind desperately fishing for what to say to express the crushing pressure that wrapped around her.

"Don't," she murmured at last. "Don't go."

He winced painfully.

"It's a debt I can't repay, Kagome. It's something I owe to-" he let out a small, broken sigh, knowing no explanation would be enough.

"I have to, Kagome," he finished wretchedly, sleeve still caught, unwilling or perhaps unable to free it.

"Stay," she begged, all semblance of pride or spite long-since shattered, "please."

His chest ached at the raw anguish in her voice, his very blood begging him to relent. He clenched his fists, a fine tremor running over his body as he fought the urge to sweep her up in his arms and promise whatever he had to promise to keep her from breaking.

The seconds seemed to bend, drawn out endlessly in the inches and the regret that stretched between them.

"Stay," she pleaded, more desperately than before.

"Kagome-" he whimpered.

"Stay," she whispered thickly. "Stay, st-" the words caught in a gasping sob, drowned out by the sound of the rain trickling through the canopy above them.

"Just stay."

—

A/N:

Are you guys as sad as I am right now? SOMEONE HOLD MY FEELS.

More importantly, I need you to know that the original draft of this had "Miroku came up on the threesome from behind" and when I read over it on the first edit I laughed my ass off.

Second, to the InuKag shippers: I'm sorry for your tears. I think you can't really call yourself an author until you've written something and thought "I hope this makes people cry… I hope this breaks their hearts" lol. Forgive me. Honestly I got pretty emotional writing this, because InuKag was the power couple I idolized through my entire childhood. Not to spoil anything, but don't be too sad (for those of you not reading this on FF, the description of this story is "when the well closes a door, it opens a window", riiiiight).

Last (BUT OMFG NOT LEAST), THANK YOU to all you wonderful people who have read, faved, commented, reviewed, and sent me nice messages. Honestly, when I started posting this I thought "huh, maybe one or two people will read it...maybe," and instead I've been overwhelmed by all your kindness! I'm so glad that you guys have been liking it so far and I'm so grateful for all the support you've given me. It really makes me want to work extra hard when I hear that you've been enjoying it, so thank you! I really hope that you guys are happy with how it turns out, especially since, as I mentioned in the beginning blurb on my tumblr (on my manapurin blog, search the "clean" tag), I wrote basically the whole fic before I ever started posting chapters. After reading how invested some of you are, I really, really, really hope the plot/ending will be satisfying! Not that we're even close to that, though haha.

*ganbarimasu*

Anyway, thanks for sticking with me, and thanks for reading Clean. You guys are the best!

xoxox

Mana