The early morning air was crisp, the slight chill bringing his attention down to the sleeping woman beside him. Sometimes he didn't believe it. It was still fresh. Still new to have Kagome sleeping next to him in the small hut Miroku had helped him build just before the twins were born, but never thought he'd actually use.

Inuyasha propped himself up with his elbow and pulled the blanket around her shoulders to make sure the chill of the new season didn't bother her, gently brushing a strand of her raven hair off of her cheek. It had been a little over a month since her scent reappeared after three years and sent him flying through the forest trees to meet her at the well, and he'd never admit it out loud but he was still afraid, even after this long, that he'd wake up to find out it had all been a dream. Kagome knew. Of course, Kagome knew. Nothing got passed the girl. She'd told him they'd just have to enjoy the time they get with each other, sure enough sharing the same fear. It was all a load of cheesy shit to him if he was being honest, and he hated thinking about it. He'd be damned if he'd ever be without his Kagome again.

The dark-haired girl shifted in her sleep, unconsciously scooting her body forward until she was pressed against Inuyasha's chest, the icy tips of her fingers brushing along his bare waist and settling at his hip. He tried not to shutter, the cold causing a small trail of goosebumps to follow her touch. Instead, he relished in the feeling of her slender, sleeping body curved into his own. A feeling he wasn't sure he'd ever agree he actually deserved but would selfishly soak up for as long as he could.

Weeks ago, Inuyasha had planned a visit to his mother's grave. He preferred to go while everyone was preoccupied with other business and his absence for the day wouldn't be noticed. He didn't like being hounded with questions of where he'd taken off to, and there was no way in hell his visits to his mother wouldn't stay private. But it never happened. A couple of days before he felt it would be safe to escape, Kagome came back. And the thought of leaving her behind for even an hour was unfathomable.

The guilt was beginning to weigh on him now, though. The last time he visited her grave was nearly a year ago, and the only reason for that was because Sango was with child and this pregnancy was harder on her body than the last. Only a month or so after Miroku and Sango found out about their new baby, Kaede put her on bed rest saying she could lose her child if she continued to strain herself. And while Inuyasha frequently went with Miroku and Sango on demon exterminations, he stepped in permanently to take Sango's place.

Kagome's fingers twitched slightly against his skin and she adjusted herself once more, sighing into his chest. He couldn't help the smile that flicked across his lips, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her closer. The thought of leaving her behind caused a physical ache in his lungs. So, he'd just have to drag her along.

Dipping his head down to the side of her own, his lips gently grazed her temple as his fingers threaded their way through Kagome's hair.

"Hey," Inuyasha whispered, placing a kiss just above her ear. "Wake up, Kagome."

She responded with a groan, tucking her head further into his chest.

"Wake up, we've gotta go." He whispered again, brushing his nails through her dark strands, being careful not to pull at any possible tangles.

"Go where?" Her voice was almost a whine, triggering her arm to wrap fully around his waist as if to prevent him from leaving her alone on the futon.

"You'll see." He kissed her forehead as she unfurled, fluttering her big, brown eyes open at him. "Get ready. It's a long trip."

"But-"

He shot her a look, eyebrow quirked upward. A look that said no more questions. A look Kagome was all too familiar with yet hardly listened to. He was lucky she was still half-asleep. She released her hold on him and crawled her way to a seated position, blinking the sleep from her eyes and attempting to tame her bed hair by smoothing her fingers through it and picking out the small knots she came across. From her peripherals, which were still unfocused and unreliable, she watched her hanyou leave her side and make his way across their hut to retrieve his kosode and suikan. She noticed the darkness of their home, turning her head to watch him shift around until he found the clothing he was looking for, taking note of the lack of shadow in the definition of his broad back and shoulder muscles as he tossed her own kosode on the futon before he had even finished pulling an arm through a sleeve.

"Is it morning?" Her raspy voice didn't help her sound as awake as she tried to appear, shimmying out of her night robes, not even slightly worried that her half demon wasn't already facing the wall out of respect, and slipping her arms through her kosode from where she sat.

A small, breathy laugh escaped his nose. "Yeah. It's morning. Just early. Hurry up."

"What's the rush?" Kagome huffed, crawling her lower half out from under the covers to pull on her hakama that was folded neatly at the foot of the bed.

Another look.

Seriously?

Kagome sighed, tying the final knot of her clothing tight and standing into a pencil stretch in an attempt to fully waken up her muscles and ready herself for this mysterious and long journey Inuyasha was about to take her on. Whatever it was, she figured it was important to him if he opted out of talking about it. He never talked about anything important. Usually, she was lucky to be intuitive enough to figure it out on her own. This time, though, she had no clue what he had planned.

She remembered back in the day, back before Naraku was defeated and everyone had settled down, the only sudden and important trips Inuyasha would take he would take alone. She remembered waking in her sleeping bag those mornings, little Shippo cuddled up in her arms, to find Inuyasha gone without a trace. Neither Miroku nor Sango knew where he'd go whenever he pulled those stunts, and they'd have to sit and wait however long for him to return with nothing but a hunch as to what could have possibly been so important for him to take off on them. Sometimes training, sometimes Kikyo, sometimes for privacy to figure out his next move.

Kagome couldn't help but feel at least a little excited to be included on this one.

Inuyasha slid the door shut behind them, the sunlight just beginning to peak over the mountains.

"Should we let Miroku and Sango know we're leaving in case they come looking for us?" She asked, turning to face him. The soft curve of her lips sent a flutter through his abdomen, causing him to close the insignificant distance between them just to see how wild the fluttering could get, his fingers cradling the crook of her jaw and placing a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"Nah. They'll live without knowing where we are for one day." The hanyou replied, tilting her head back just enough to give him easier access to her lips, brushing a kiss against them and sighing to calm that tickling sensation he'd mistakenly excited that was quickly becoming far too much to handle.

It hardly worked. Not with the way her hands gripped at the front of his robes, or with the way she smiled into his kiss, or with the way she broke it far too soon just to give him another chaste kiss, brushing the tip of her nose against his. He could feel his cheeks grow warm, a common effect brought on by anything she did to him, no doubt a pink flush blemishing his face. Son of a...

In an attempt to hide it from Kagome, he quickly turned around and kneeled down, willing her to climb onto his back. "C'mon. We've uh... Got a ways to go."

One slender leg straddled his back, then the other. He gripped the back of her thighs firmly, giving a bit of a gentle bounce as he stood up straight to make sure she was secure and her weight was distributed evenly, then jumped into the nearest tree heading northeast.

He found himself subconsciously stroking Kagome's thigh with the pad of his thumb at some point, the cloth that separated his fingers from her smooth, pale flesh growing irritating and bringing his attention to what he was doing. Inuyasha had no idea how long he'd been doing it for, but the unenjoyable, tingling sensation he had from rubbing his thumb back and forth over clothing tells him it may have been a while. He used to do it all the time on their journeys in the past, all unintentional of course. The first time was after Kagome had gotten kidnapped by that Hakudoshi kid. After he'd rescued her from the evil, little shit's attempt to manipulate and control her for her powers, he carried her unconscious body back to Kaede's village. It was perfectly evident that she was harmed and he hated himself for letting that happen to her, and on his slow trek back to the village he found himself stroking her thigh with the padding of his thumb. As if to comfort her or something. Ever since, it had occurred more and more frequently. He'd caress, he'd notice, he'd stop. Wash, rinse, repeat. A vicious cycle that he couldn't put an end to because, frankly, he didn't want to. And Kagome never said anything about it, so why should he? Especially now.

He didn't take the time to enjoy the silky feel of her skin enough while he had the chance. The scratchy hakama that dressed her long legs snatched the pleasure away from him, making Inuyasha realize just how much he missed that short skirt she used to wear. He never understood how she fought battle after battle in the thing without her ass popping out, an art if you think about it, and constantly wished she'd just wear pants for once in her life because he'd have been damned if the accident occurred in front of that stupid, scrawny wolf... But if there was ever a time he found it absolutely acceptable for her to wear that skirt, it would be while she was hitching a ride on his back.

The sun was high in the sky, a few clouds drifting by and creating patches of shadows on the trail Inuyasha stopped on. He crouched down allowing Kagome to climb off and stretch her limbs, exhaling a blissful sigh and taking in a deep breath of the nearby field of flowers.

"It's so pretty out here! Have we ever been out this way before? I don't recognize it!" Kagome asked, pushing a stray strand of black hair the breeze blew in her face behind her ear. She turned and walked a little ways ahead, heading into the large field of colorful flowers.

"I have." Inuyasha responded flatly, wanting to smile at how her first reaction to the overly fragrant plants was to twirl around, pick a few, then twirl around some more, but finding it difficult to curl his lips out of the flat line they were pressed in due to the anxiety of the grave that sat just about a half mile or so up the grassy hill. He hadn't realized he was staring off in that direction until Kagome's soft voice broke his thoughts.

"You okay?" She had a handful of yellow daisies. Just the yellow ones. Always just the yellow ones. He'd never asked, and she'd never said, but if he had to guess her favorite flower that'd be it.

"Hm? Oh... Yeah. Fine. W-what are you-"

"Just relax." She was perched on her tippy toes, arms reaching above his head to stick a flower in his hair to the side of an ear, giving the appendage a little attention by rubbing it in between her fingers before rocking back on the heels of her feet to stand at her normal height. "There! You're as cute as ever, Inuyasha!"

"Feh! Demon's aren't cute." He huffed, quickly grabbing the daisy from his head and holding it in front of her clutched bouquet.

"Yes, but you're half demon. So that makes you half cute." Kagome smiled, reuniting the blossom with the others in her hands.

The hanyou rolled his golden eyes, holding his clawed hand out for Kagome to take, feeling that fluttering feeling in his stomach return when her small fingers laced perfectly with his calloused ones.

"C'mon, it's just a little bit further."

"Will you tell me where we're going yet?" She asked, giving his hand a tender squeeze and sending a wave of heat directly from his palm to his cheeks like a lick of flames traveling through his veins. He couldn't say why merely holding Kagome's hand made him nervous, but it did. Holding hands was the absolute lowest bar on the spectrum of intimacy and it still made him red in the face. Was it something he was proud of? Fuck no. Did he feel pathetic? Hell yes he did! Was he ever going to hold himself back from touching her in any which way he possibly could for as long as he lived? Over his dead body.

He dodged those dark brown eyes that no doubt saw the shade of pink he tried to hide and stared off in the opposite direction as they began their slow ascent up the hill.

"Just be patient, would ya?"

She squeezed his hand again as if to acknowledge what he said. It was a little quirk she did. Instead of saying "okay," if they were holding hands, she'd give a quick squeeze. Sometimes while taking a walk around the village, or even laying in their bed late at night after a long day, they'd be hand-in-hand some way or another and she'd give three firm squeezes. He still hadn't figured out what they meant yet.

"What do you plan on doing with those daisies?" Inuyasha asked, approaching the top and curving around the trail.

"I'm not sure. Maybe make some flower crowns for the twins. Maybe even give a few to Kaede to thank her for the training she's giving me." She shrugged lightly, eyeing the scenery ahead, taking in the sight of the large mountains in the distance and the grassy fields that spread far and wide. There was nothing this beautiful in her time. Not that she'd seen, at least. All she knew back in Tokyo were buildings, trains, people, and noise. Sure, Kagome was used to it and there was a level of domestic beauty to it, but compared to the serene, undisturbed nature that stood before her there was no competition. Feudal Japan won by a long shot.

She felt a tug on her hand as she fell behind, Inuyasha leading the two of them off the path and towards a small gathering of trees. She stayed quiet, noticing the uneasy features that scrunched his eyebrows together and had his lips just slightly curving downward. She felt his grip against her fingers tighten, felt the muscles of his arm tense, saw him stand up straighter as they walked through the trees, noticed the rise and fall of his chest constrict to the point that she was certain he was holding his breath.

Kagome followed the hanyou's line of sight, locking her eyes on an oval-shaped slab protruding from the ground just ahead. Small patches of green moss made their way up the sides of the slab, the lettering on the front faded and hardly legible. The stiff body beside her stopped completely several feet away, the curiosity building so intensely that, on impulse, she removed her hand from his own, closed the gap, and kneeled down in front.

Still, she couldn't make out the name, running the tips of her fingers along the carvings down the face of the stone.

"Who-"

"Izayoi..." Inuyasha breathed, his voice gruff and thick, strands of silver hair blowing across his chest with the breeze. "Her name... Was Izayoi."

He knelt down next to her, giving a small bow to the stone that Kagome sloppily copied from not being able to peel her eyes away from her hanyou, and met her with his golden gaze.

"Kagome, this is my mother."

Her lips parted to speak, but no words formed. She wasn't sure how to react. Should her shoulders have sunken like they did? Was that right? How about the way her own breath hitched in her throat? That couldn't have been right either. Instead she continued looking at him, even after he'd turned his attention back to his mother's resting place, a warm sensation coursing through her body from head to toe and pooling in the pit of her abdomen.

Kagome couldn't help the way her brain slowly wrapped around the information Inuyasha had given her. She was sitting in front of his mother's grave. She was sitting in a place she'd never even considered possible, not from lack of knowledge of its existence, because Myoga had briefly shared that Inuyasha visited it from time-to-time some years ago, but because she was well aware of how much Inuyasha cherished his privacy when regarding his mother.

They sat in silence for a moment, her brown eyes drifting from his calmed expression, to the old stone in front of her, to the old vase holding dry, withered flowers just off to the left. Without a second thought, Kagome took the dead flowers out, parts of them crumbling from her touch, and replaced them with her entire batch of yellow blossoms.

"You didn't have to do that." The hanyou mentioned.

She shook her head, placing a hand on the balled up fist in his lap. "I'm happy to, Inuyasha."

"I've never brought anyone here before." His clawed hands slowly opened up, welcoming her slender fingers to slide their way between his own. "I never even thought there'd be someone I wanted to bring here. But you... I... I wanted you to be a part of this, because this is a huge part of me."

Kagome felt herself subconsciously giving Inuyasha's hand three slow, firm squeezes when he abruptly gripped hers back, his golden eyes meeting her own once again.

"What does that mean?" He asked, eyebrow arching in curiosity.

"W-what?"

"That hand thing you always do. What does it mean?"

Kagome froze. Did she do it that often? She never once considered that he'd notice, and even if he did, she never thought he'd call her out on it.

"I-uh... It's just... I..." She could feel the searing heat hit her cheeks, her heart thumping as erratically as it did the day she returned to the feudal era. "It means... I..."

"Kagome-"

"Love you."

It was his turn to freeze, eyes wide, ears at attention.

"Enough about that!" Kagome laughed loudly, flicking her other hand up and down as if to dismiss the conversation, something she'd always done when she was nervous or flustered. "Listen, Inuyasha..."

She was changing the subject. And he was letting her. Albeit, unwillingly. He still couldn't figure out what to say. It were as if his brain forgot how to fucking talk, and he was just gaping like a damn idiot.

"I can't tell you how happy it makes me that you wanted to bring me with you. It means more to me than you'll ever know. And... well, I want you to know that you don't have to talk if you don't want to. Whenever my family would visit my dad's grave, I preferred to sit in silence. You know... Kind of just to spend my time with him instead of focusing on idle chit chat. We didn't get to visit often. It was always hard on my mom. But when we were able to, it was quiet and peaceful and I was happy after. So, I understand if you'd like the same." She smiled sweetly, cocking her head to the side slightly and giving his hand a small squeeze before taking it away and standing. "I'll give you a moment with her."

He wanted to ask where she was going. More importantly, he wanted to stop her. He hadn't said what he'd wanted to say yet. He hadn't figured out what he'd wanted to say yet.

What the hell was wrong with him?

She returned a half hour later, a circle of yellow daisies knotted together in her hands. Yellow. Always yellow.

"Hi!" She smiled, noticing his knee bobbing up and down impatiently from where he sat.

"I was about to go looking for you, Kagome."

"Oh, come on, I wasn't gone that long." She rolled her eyes, sitting close enough that their legs were touching to stop his knee from continuing that irritating bouncing motion, and swept her dark hair behind her ear before the breeze could blow it in her face. "Besides, I made this flower crown. I thought your mom would like it!"

"Y-you made that for her?" He wondered, watching as she placed the tiara at the foot of the headstone, fluffing the flowers out around the sides.

"Mhmm," she responded, sitting back and admiring her work. "I hope that's okay."

"Of course it's..." He stopped, finally understanding the answer. Finally feeling like he knew what to say to the raven haired woman that sat at his side. That would always sit by his side. Even through the hardest times all those years ago, she was by his side, and he realized almost too late that he wouldn't want it any other way. It was there in front of him the entire time, plain as day.

Why did it take him so long to figure it out? Was he really that stupid?

Kagome watched his expression harden, brows furrowing together, jaw setting. His ember eyes suddenly bore into her, the flames inside his irises glowing fiercely. She couldn't help the sudden and heavy thump her heart gave behind her ribcage, or the look of question that she was sure was evident on her face.

"Inuyasha?"

"Kagome, I-"

She watched him swallow, watched him unfold his arms from over his chest and remove his hands from his red sleeves, watched as his fingers curled into tight fists over his knees and how the muscle in his jaw twitched.

Her heart gave another heavy thump, her palms beginning to sweat at how intense his stare was.

He took a deep breath, lips parting once more.

"I want to marry you."