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Hallow Be Thy Name	By : SplendentGoddess Category: InuYasha > Het - Male/Female > InuYasha/Kagome Views: 4545 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Inuyasha, and the characters therein, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi or VIZ Productions, and I do not gain financially from my fanfic in any way.

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
Welcome back! This story is the third (and final) installment of my annual 'Hallow' Halloween series that I first started posting back in 2006. I strongly...strongly...recommend reading both 'All Hallow's Eve' and 'Hallowed Anniversary' before reading this fic.
The Hallow series is off-canon primarily in regard to timeline accuracy, as like many people, I have stretched the length of time the 'original' mission took to be over two years rather than merely the nine or so months that it really took in the manga. Other than that, however, history for the characters within is fairly spot-on with the main exception being that from approx. manga chapter 474 or so, Inuyasha and Kagome, as well as Sango and Miroku, were married. Despite that slight alteration, the storyline of the manga is still fairly parallel to the history of this universe up until chapter 525, where I altered that particular battle with Naraku to become the final battle against the dark hanyou, which resulted in the second shattering of the Shikon jewel. The details of the manga from chapter 526 and beyond don't exist in this story's universe. This story is also off-canon in the fact that I have also included details that are exclusive to the anime and movies, meaning that Ayame exists in this universe. Even though she's an anime-exclusive character I've always liked her, because she offers the prospect of a happy ending for Kouga.
Where part-two of this story left off, Miroku and Sango had since decided to settle down and raise a family in Kaede's village, while Kagome and Inuyasha were still traveling the countryside in an attempt to reassemble the Sacred jewel yet again. As is the nature of this particular series, the sequels are kept in 'real time'...meaning that since this third installation was originally written one true year later, in 2008, one true year has passed for the characters within the story, as well. However, just like in 'Hallowed Anniversary', there are several flashbacks that will help bring everyone up to speed.
Although I never specified in 'Hallowed Anniversary' one way or the other, I've since decided that it did not take very long for Miroku and Sango to get started on their family. Timeline details from that story reveal that Naraku was defeated approximately six months after where 'All Hallow's Eve' takes place, which I've decided means that by the time period of 'Hallowed Anniversary', Sango was about five months pregnant. Since this story takes place one year later, that means that Sango and Miroku are now the proud parents of an eight-month-old baby boy.
As for Inuyasha and Kagome's paternal status...well, you'll just have to read and find out, won't you?

Chapter 1 - As time goes by...

Pausing in her work, Kagome turned her face towards the sun's warming rays, taking a moment to close her eyes and breathe deeply the afternoon air. It wasn't as sweet-smelling as the pollution-free atmosphere of the Feudal era, but still pleasant enough in its own right. Focusing her attention back on the task at hand, she pulled and stretched the shapeless clump of cotton she held in her grasp until the nature of the fake spider web revealed itself. Next, she craftily hooked one end on a nail sticking out of the eve, originally meant for stringing Christmas lights, as she then carefully lowered herself from the stepladder to attach the other end of the web to a much lower portion of the house.
Kagome absolutely loved decorating homes for Halloween; it was a guilty pleasure she hadn't had the opportunity to enjoy in five years. When she was younger, she used to decorate her shrine home every year, despite the fact that Trick-or-Treaters very rarely, if ever, bothered to climb all those steps merely to earn a single piece of candy. The Halloween shortly after her fourteenth birthday had been her last, however, as the average teenager-turned-miko's life had been instantly and irreparably flipped upside down from the very moment she was dragged through the Bone Eater's Well at the tender age of fifteen. That year's Halloween had honestly been the furthest thing from her mind, as the confused and frightened adolescent had suddenly found herself in the middle of the adventure of a lifetime.
Then the following year, she'd deliberately chosen not to mention the holiday. It wasn't as if she'd had any plans for the 31st, anyway. Nobody she knew had had a party in the works or anything of the sort, so Kagome had honestly seen no point in making her friends in the past aware of the holiday she'd been missing in the future, especially when she knew that at least one of said friends wouldn't have cared in the slightest, even if she had had plans. Inuyasha had been nicer to her at that point in time than he had been back when their adventure had first begun, and Kadome'd had the sneaking suspicion that his feelings for her had gone a little deeper than what he'd wanted the others to know, but they'd still hardly been what she would've called best friends, as he'd always seemed to go out of his way to be a total jerk to her whenever possible.
Then there was the Halloween shortly after her seventeenth birthday...the year that changed it all. Kagome still couldn't believe all that had changed between herself and Inuyasha literally overnight. They hadn't just had sex...they'd gotten married. He'd confessed his feelings for her, and hadn't hesitated in the slightest when it'd come to proving how he felt. Kikyou had since passed away, which had meant that Inuyasha had been free to express his love for Kagome without a guilty conscious regarding his previous obligations to the other miko. While her death had still been a tender subject between them for a time, Kagome had known that, in a way, Inuyasha had felt relieved to know that at least Kikyou wasn't suffering any longer. She had finally become an ordinary woman, and had even been able to spend her final moments in the arms of the man she loved. Kagome still recalled with crystal clarity the sensation she'd felt as Kikyou's soul had flown over to greet her, how warm and inviting the young miko's aura had felt. Inuyasha had never denied his feelings for Kikyou, and admitted openly that he had loved her a great deal, but Kikyou had not been the only woman he had ever loved - she'd merely been the first, and Kagome could and did accept that.
While their relationship hadn't been perfect back in the beginning, it'd been about as close to perfect as it could've gotten, under the circumstances. A miko being wed to a hanyou in the Sengoku jidai hadn't gone over too well with very many people outside of Kaede's village, but fortunately, at least the local villagers had all accepted them. While Inuyasha was usually a bit on the shy side when it came to expressing his feelings - in public, anyway - he and Kagome had been grateful to not have to worry about pretending that their relationship was still platonic whenever staying in the village they had come to think of as their true home. The occasional kiss in public view never led to rock throwing or torch-lit chases. It had probably also helped to soften the blow that the hanyou and miko had still continued to live with Kaede rather than building a permanent residence of their own, at least at first. They had been at the village so rarely back then, after all, first still having to continue hunting the dark hanyou Naraku, and then after his demise, having to still go back out to recollect the scattered shards of the Sacred jewel a second time. So the elderly miko's dwelling had more or less just been a place to crash for a night or two between ventures, at least until their mission had finally come to a close once and for all.
Stepping away from the front porch to gaze at her handiwork, Kagome smiled at her progress while resting a delicate hand on her swollen belly. After last year's fiasco at that 'haunted' mansion, some of her friends were rather Halloween-ed out this year, as Ayumi was planning on simply going over to Hojo's house to watch some scary movie marathon on TV. Kagome smiled a little to herself at how well those two had ended up hitting it off. Eri, meanwhile, had no desire to throw another party, but had decided that a more subdued evening of handing out candy would be fun, to which Yuka had readily volunteered both hers and Kagome's services with the preparations. Not that the miko truly minded all that much, especially since she secretly loved putting up Halloween decorations. But truth be told, even if they had wanted her to do something that she hated, she still would have agreed without complaint, still just so caught up in her feelings of relief that her friends from throughout junior high and high school were in fact still her friends, despite all that had happened last year and what they now knew of her life, and Inuyasha.
"How's it coming?" said hanyou suddenly asked from his place behind her on the lawn, successfully pulling Kagome from her thoughts.
Turning and offering her husband a playful smile, she gestured toward the front of Eri's house and asked in turn, "What do you think?"
Inuyasha, still holding the old, dilapidated piece of driftwood that Kagome had asked him to find, took a minute to genuinely criticize her work. He was fully versed in the concept of Halloween by that point, both in the more ancient sense, as well as what her 'modern' world did to commercialize the holiday.
"The webs above the door should have a couple of plastic spiders in them, but all the webs themselves look great." he told her honestly before continuing with, "Here ya go." as he handed his wife the old, warped plank of wood he'd found in a wash a few miles away.
"Oh this is perfect." Kagome congratulated, planning on writing the word 'Enter' on the board in drippy, fake blood. She was then going to hang it on the front door, as the door already had a nail in it usually reserved for Christmas wreaths, and have the bowl of candy be waiting for the children inside the genkan.
"Hi guys!" Yuka greeted as she quickly closed the distance between herself and the married couple. She only lived a few houses down from Eri, but it was much more fun to spend their time together at only one of their homes, and if Eri wanted to do it at her place, well then that was just fine with Yuka. That meant that she wouldn't get stuck with the 'clean-up' duty.
"Already in costume, I see." the girl addressed Inuyasha with a playful wink.
"Yeah, well...what can I say? I'm really attached to it." he teased back while deliberately wiggling his ears, smirking to himself at the way her eyes quickly rose to catch the movement.
He'd been right, of course, about how he'd believed that Kagome's various friends would react to the knowledge of his half-demon status. While Hojo was still a bit wary of him, they rarely saw the boy those days, unless he merely happened to be accompanying Ayumi somewhere.
As for the wavy-haired girl, as well as Kagome's other two girlfriends, all three women had fawned all over Inuyasha, more or less, when the scare of last year's Halloween had finally worn off and they'd come to their senses about how he really was a hanyou. Of course, he and Kagome had still been forced to bend the truth a little bit, as she hadn't felt comfortable sharing the secret of the well, no offense to her friends. So they believed that Inuyasha was from their time, having no reason to think otherwise, though they fortunately never asked him many questions regarding his past or his parents. Kagome had warned them that he was a very private person when it came to such things, and would only get angry if they pestered him rather than caving-in as she herself usually would. Not that that meant that Inuyasha never spoke with her girlfriends at all. While he wished to avoid any topics he wouldn't be able to answer honestly with their need to keep the well a secret, he had no problem answering their occasional questions about his youkai half in general, like what his abilities were, how strong he was, how strong his senses were, and so forth. The way they asked their questions made it clear that the girls were only curious; they accepted him for what he was, they just wanted to know more about it.
The fact that he had not only been invited to tonight's casual get-together, but had also been enlisted for his services in the preparation of said event, really went a long way to show Inuyasha just how accepting Kagome's friends actually were. That, and the way Yuka currently had her hand resting on Kagome's pregnant belly, cooing something in baby-talk gibberish that had his wife giggling behind her hand. It was beyond obvious that the child Kagome was carrying would not be fully human, and yet nobody seemed to care. That concept was somewhat mind boggling to him.
Kagome, seeing her husband and mate's goofy grin, instantly knew just where his thoughts had wandered off to, and she couldn't help but to smile at the sight, as well as at her own thoughts. Yes, he was her mate. Although inu-youkai didn't literally 'mate for life', and it was truly their marriage in the human sense that actually 'bound' him to her as her life-mate, Kagome still liked using that term to describe him from time to time. Inuyasha was part wild, after all, a side of him that liked to come out and play every once in a while, and as far as his youkai side was concerned, she was his 'mate'. Just because most inu-youkai went through a few various 'mates' throughout their long lives didn't mean that he had any desire to ever take another, because even though inu-youkai did not instinctively form automatic life-long bonds with their rutting partners like certain other species of youkai did, it wasn't like they couldn't still choose to stay with the same mate forever if they wanted to. It was perfectly acceptable in inu-youkai society to remain faithful to one's first rutting partner if that was what you wanted. So they were mates, even if such a concept remained 'optional' in the inu-youkai world. It was no different from a couple in her time remaining boyfriend and girlfriend year after year, with no intention of breaking up despite having no 'legal' commitments to one another. Inuyasha and Kagome didn't need legally binding customs to ensure their continual loyalty to one another over the years; their devotion for each other was more than enough to guarantee their unwavering fidelity.
That being said, his immediate desire to properly wed her in the human fashion had been unexpected but also truly appreciated. While Kagome had unfaltering faith that they didn't need to be married merely to guarantee that they would forever remain together, the simple fact that he had wanted to marry her anyway had shown his desire to prove that he had no intention of ever leaving her side. He had told her their first night together that he couldn't make her any promises, and in a way that had been true, at that time, because he hadn't been able to promise to always be there for her when there had been a chance that he might fall at the hands of Naraku...or any other enemy for that matter. But marrying her had been a promise of sorts, regardless, which had stated that so long as he was still breathing, and so long as the well continued to allow each of them entry into the other's world, he would be hers. Kagome had promised to be his in return, having understood the uncertainties they'd faced better than anyone. There hadn't only been the concern of either of them falling in battle, but also the concern of getting separated by a gap of time spanning nearly five hundred years.
Getting married, in a sense, had been more symbolic than anything else, as the uncertainties they'd faced had still existed regardless of their marital status, but it had offered each of them a sense of peace, in a way, to know that no matter what might happen in the future they would forever have been married to the person they loved. Having been faced with such an uncertain outcome, Kagome had easily made the decision that she would rather one day become Inuyasha's widow than to lose him without ever truly having had him to begin with.
They had continued to live by their 'live each day as though it may be your last' mentality for over a year, until finally, one day, it appeared the gods had truly smiled upon them.
It hadn't taken them nearly as long to recollect all of the sacred jewel shards the second time around, which at the time they'd thought was mostly due to the fact that they hadn't had another enemy equal in power to Naraku working against them in his own search for the shards. For the most part, it'd been random lower youkai that had acquired the scattered crystals, beasts that were relatively easy for the proficient shard hunters to dispatch. They even had some occasional help, as more than once Sesshoumaru had made an appearance to relinquish his claim on a shard or two, assuring them that though he was not deliberately seeking out the shards, he would nonetheless continue to bring them any he happened to come across in his travels.
They'd even gotten a surprise visit from Ayame once, the she-wolf having also sought them out to deliver a pair of shards into Kagome's possession. Her mate, Kouga, had stated with conviction that he'd wanted absolutely nothing to do with the damnable things, recalling how his original shards had very nearly cost him his life on more than one occasion. Kouga had also, at least according to Ayame, wanted to apologize for his previous behavior, while the redhead had also taken the opportunity to personally, and with great sincerity, congratulate both the hanyou and miko on their relationship.
Well of course Ayame had been happy about their mating; it had been the direct catalyst that had made Kouga finally relent to her own desires to become his mate. But having assumed for the time being that the male ookami-youkai truly had felt remorseful for the way he'd previously acted, Kagome had told Ayame to let Kouga know that he was forgiven. There was no point in staying angry with the guy when, by Kouga's own declaration, she was off limits to him now, and even if she hadn't been 'ruined goods', he was now mated, so Inuyasha definitely had nothing to worry about as far as the wolf ever showing his face again, at least in the form of competition.
Even though the miko still didn't really understand his way of thinking, even to that day, Kagome had at least come to accept the fact that, as a wolf-youkai, Kouga's logic, as well as his emotions, all worked very differently from her own. It was moments of realization like those that had Kagome thanking every god she could think of for Inuyasha's human heart. Her husband might be half inu-youkai, but his love and devotion for her was that of a human man, through and through. Even when he allowed his youkai blood to rise to the surface, his inner beast coming out to play, he never forgot himself, or the fact that his wife was a delicate mortal; a mortal he loved more than life itself.
Even so, Kagome had hardly been blind, and she had easily been able to see the speck of sad longing her husband had attempted to keep hidden within his eyes as they'd continued to hunt for the shards of the sacred jewel.
As Yuka continued to gently pat and speak to her seven-month pregnant belly in that moment, and the miko observed the look of absolute bewilderment on her husband's face at the sight of her friend being accepting of their future child, Kagome remembered well how she'd known for a long time that Inuyasha had felt as though something very important had been missing in their lives. It'd been an absence that she'd felt as well, after all.
She hadn't missed the way her husband's eyes had lingered on Miroku and Sango's hut as they'd passed by on their way out of town, on what they hadn't known at the time would turn out to be their final shard hunt. Kagome had known that Inuyasha had longed to start a family of his own; it had been something that she'd desired as well, but they had agreed long before then that nothing could be finalized along those lines until after the completion and purification of the Sacred jewel.
Despite the fact that it would have been incredibly stupid and risky to have Kagome traipsing all across the countryside while pregnant, there had also still been that pesky matter of lingering uncertainties hanging over their head. Leaving Kagome a widow was one thing, but leaving her a single mother was something that Inuyasha had absolutely refused to chance. At the same time, while Kagome had had much more faith in her hanyou's abilities to keep himself alive regardless of whatever shard-enhanced enemies came his way, there had also still been the very real issue of whether or not she would become trapped on her side of the well once the Shikon no Tama finally ceased to exist. Even if she never went through the time portal again, choosing to merely remain in the past, there had been the slight possibility that upon the jewel's completion Kagome would have simply been pulled into her time against her will. It had been an unpleasant question that they'd both longed to know the answer to, as so many plans for their future had depended on that little detail. While they had certainly hoped that what they'd had planned for the jewel would eliminate the risk of temporal separation, there had truly only been one way to find out, and while they'd both feared the possibility of losing each other, they'd also both longed to just hurry up and get it over with. They'd wanted the jewel complete, their questions answered. Even an unfavorable outcome would've been better than continuing to live in the dark, continuing to live in fear of an unfavorable outcome. What they'd truly craved above all else was closure.
Fortunately, as it would turn out, another enemy of sorts, though nowhere near as powerful as Naraku, had in fact been collecting shards of his own behind their backs. In the end, that little happenstance had only proven beneficial for our favorite couple, by literally cutting their workload in half and bringing their mission to an unexpected, yet desperately sought after climax. Suddenly, the time of facing their uncertainties had been thrust upon them, and without much warning.
~~~Flashback~~~
Tending to the small fire-pit, Inuyasha's thoughts were elsewhere as he absently listened for the sound of boiling water from within the kettle that sat on a rock in the fire. It'd been ten months since the defeat of Naraku, and they already had a little over half of the entire jewel reconstructed. Kagome had learned long ago how to fuse their shards together, so now whenever they found another one, she merely added it to the jewel like assembling a puzzle, a puzzle of unparalleled importance and unfathomable power. It was getting a little frustrating that they hadn't found any more shards in the last few weeks, but the rest of them were obviously out there somewhere. Hopefully a few creatures would turn up soon, each one possessing a few shards, so they could hurry up and 'get this show on the road' as the saying from Kagome's time went. Then again, taking their current situation into consideration, Inuyasha thought he should probably amend his wish for shard-possessing baddies to suddenly show themselves. It could wait a few more days; now would not be a good time...
A light snore drew his attention to the far corner of the hut, and the hanyou couldn't help the way his lips curled up in a small, yet undeniable grin. Shippou was all tuckered out, having fallen asleep despite his earlier insistence of staying awake until Kagome's return.
A familiar and sometimes unwelcome pull on his youki captured his attention then, even before his sensitive ears registered the sound of gentle footfalls crunching in the thin layer of snow that blanketed the ground outside. While he no longer wanted the jewel for his own gain, its temptation still pulled on his aura, not that he was so weak that he would ever become overpowered by the thing. Magatsuhi's influence was practically nonexistent, as their half of the jewel was never permitted to darken, Kagome keeping the jewel around her neck and in her purifying influence at all times. The jewel's collective specter of darkness had only grown as powerful as he had thanks to Naraku's meticulous efforts to corrupt and taint the jewel with as much evil as possible. Still, it wasn't as though the pure jewel was truly all that pure, luring lower youkai of all types within their village for a chance at attaining its power. That was one of the reasons why they stayed at the village so rarely those days, wishing to protect its inhabitants should something come looking for their half of the jewel, with innocent human villagers getting hurt as a result. But tonight was a relatively peaceful night, and for that Inuyasha was tremendously grateful. The last thing they needed to worry about was fighting off a youkai attack while Kagome's assistance was so greatly needed elsewhere.
"How's she doing?" he asked his wife quietly, keeping his voice down so as not to disturb the sleeping kitsune child, as Kagome emerged in the doorway and made her way inside Kaede's hut.
"Very well, all things considered." Kagome answered with a wistful smile. "The first baby always takes the longest to deliver." the miko explained as she asked her husband, "Is the tea ready yet?"
"Just about." Inuyasha answered, hearing the first telltale signs of bubbling water and quickly pulling the kettle from the fire before it started to whistle. That sound always hurt his ears.
Kagome, meanwhile, couldn't help but to stare in amazement as Inuyasha grabbed the metal pot without so much as flinching, when to barely touch the thing would have instantly scalded the hand of a human. Quickly adding the dried leaves and petals that Kagome had instructed be placed inside the water once it boiled, Inuyasha then wrapped a thick rag around its metal handle to protect Kagome's human skin from getting burned before handing his wife the kettle of pain-numbing tea she had asked him to make for Sango. The fire-pit in the monk and slayer's hut was a little overcrowded for the time being, after all, as Kaede currently had a large caldron over its flame to keep a steady supply of sterilized rags at the ready.
After everything they'd been through as a group, Inuyasha still found it a little hard to fathom how their friends were about to become parents, even despite the fact that he'd known full-well of Sango's pregnancy over the last nine months. They certainly hadn't waited very long after the fall of Naraku, not that he could blame them when, just like he and Kagome, they had continued to travel the countryside as man and wife for roughly half a year, without having any of the privacy that such a status should have granted them.
Oh sure, there were the occasional nights at an Inn where they would get two rooms, presumably for the men and women to sleep separately, only to silently switch sleeping arrangements in the middle of the night. While Inuyasha and Kagome never braved being intimate in such a public environment, and truly couldn't have at those times anyway since they had kept the kitsune and nekomata with them to ensure their friends the utmost privacy available, said privacy hadn't been anywhere near as risky for the monk and slayer to indulge in, as the only thing they'd truly risked was discrediting Miroku's virtue in the eyes of the villagers he'd just scammed to get a free room; not really the end of the world.
But after the fall of the dark hanyou, Miroku had immediately begun the assembly of a hut for himself and Sango to reside in permanently, having decided to make Kaede's village their home rather than attempting to rebuild his wife's old taijiya village. That place was best left as a memento to all those who had lived and died so bravely. While Sango would never forget where she had come from, it had been time to look toward the future, rather than living in the past. Under normal circumstances, Sango would have simply moved in with Miroku in his family's home, but he'd obviously had no such dwelling since they were both strangers to the village, although it had quickly become apparent that the locals wished for them to be strangers no longer, as Miroku's construction of his and Sango's hut had been greeted with friendly words of welcome, and offered assistance in the form of labor and tools from the resident carpenter.
Now, nine months later, Sango was giving birth to what Inuyasha was sure would be the first of many children, as being a respectable husband and father-to-be had in no way curbed Miroku's lecherous behavior at least where Sango was concerned. Fortunately, for everyone's sanity and the monk's own well-being, Miroku had successfully given up flirting with other women, and unlike Inuyasha, he had no reservations when it came to expressing his feelings for his wife in open, public settings. While that meant that an inappropriately wandering hand still earned him the occasional slap across the face, as Sango was a firm believer of some things being reserved for the privacy of their own home, the slayer had never again possessed any doubt as to the sincerity of his feelings for her.
It was rapidly approaching dawn's first light by the time their son finally made his debut appearance into the world, and Miroku named the boy Shourio, because his birth truly was a victorious occasion. Shourio's very existence was the ultimate symbol of Miroku having acquired the life of a normal man, something he had always wanted but at the same time had feared would never be possible - a loving wife and a loving family.
The following day, Inuyasha tried hard to mask his mild jealousy as he and Kagome once again headed back out in search of jewel shards. While he had never been happier than he was now to have Kagome as his wife, the hanyou would admit to secretly wanting the life Miroku had finally achieved for himself. But if such an outcome truly awaited both he and Kagome, it would obviously have to be after the completion and purification of the Sacred jewel, which was all the more reason to find the remaining shards as quickly as possible.
Their mission was suddenly cut short three days later when they responded to the desperate pleas of a frantic wanderer they happened upon while on the road, a man so relieved to see a miko that her hanyou companion was completely overlooked as he begged Kagome for her assistance. As it turned out, the man had fled his home village in fear when a powerful youkai lord recently took over, enslaving the men to build weapons, while enslaving the women for...other...purposes. Disgusted, Inuyasha for once didn't protest his wife's desire to detour from their need to find the shards in an effort to liberate the innocent villagers.
When they reached the village in question, however, it quickly turned out that their original mission to recollect the jewel shards, and their current goal of saving the enslaved human villagers, were actually one in the same. The 'youkai lord' that had taken over their village quickly turned out to be a human, a power-hungry warmonger who possessed quite an impressive collection of shards, himself. The man's preexisting dark and greedy nature had made it easy for Magatsuhi's influence to drive his own bloodthirsty desires, as the evil man intended to make use of his involuntary army of villagers to attack Edo castle.
The man also turned out to possess some mild spiritual powers of his own, which somehow enabled him to partially mask the presence of his shards from anyone else with the power to sense them, a trick Kagome actually found rather fascinating; it'd be a good trick to learn. While the miko could still plainly see precisely where he had the shards hidden within his body once standing face to face with the man, she hadn't been able to feel their pull on her aura until she and Inuyasha had already entered the village's borders. Just passing by outside in the nearby forest could have easily meant that she wouldn't have felt his shards at all, and he had quite a lot of them, too. If she could learn how to utilize the same masking technique, it might mean fewer youkai attacks. This guy obviously wasn't bothered by lower youkai, although it was fortunate that he also didn't appear to employ their aid, as a certain other shard-crazed warmonger had once done. So instead of having another Naraku on their hands, it was more like having to deal with another Tokajin, most definitely the lesser of two evils.
Apparently, as it turned out, the man they were currently squaring off against had heard of the reappearance of the Sacred jewel even back during the original ordeal with Naraku, but he'd also known enough at that time to not attempt seeking out even a single shard, lest he merely bring the dark hanyou's wrath upon himself, as he had also heard several tales of how anyone who interacted with Naraku inevitably wound up dead. Upon the dark hanyou's destruction, however, he had eagerly sought to collect as many shards of the re-shattered jewel as he could, wishing to grow in power almost as desperately as Naraku himself had, although he had no desire to sell his soul to lower youkai. Just like Tokajin, however, the man was truly no longer human, as his large collection of shards granted him youkai-like abilities of his own, which he then used to force himself on innocent villagers, both as an overlord, as well as in the more literal sense.
The battle was long and hard, but not as long and hard as the battle against Naraku had been. Realizing that they had a savior, two of them in fact, the stronger villagers began banding together against their torturer as well, offering the hanyou and miko some much needed assistance in their battle with the very weapons their former 'master' had been training them to use. While Inuyasha didn't hold anything back, he and Kagome were actually able to injure the man to the point of successfully removing each of his shards without first delivering the final deathblow. After making sure they had retrieved every single shard, reverting their once formidable foe back into nothing more than a mere mortal, a severely injured mortal at that, Inuyasha suddenly decided that killing the miserable bastard wasn't truly his place. He wasn't really their enemy, after all. All they'd wanted was his shards, and they now had what they'd come for. The hanyou's partings words to the villagers were that the asshole was all theirs now, to do with as they pleased. Kagome cringed mildly in thought of what they would do to the poor bastard, but she wasn't angry with Inuyasha for deliberately leaving him alive to face their wrath; he truly had brought it on himself.
Infusing the man's confiscated shards into her own chunk of the jewel quickly and quite unexpectedly revealed that they were now in possession the complete Shikon no Tama. No wonder they hadn't been able to find any other remaining shards as of late, as apparently that man had been in possession of all of them. Their return trip to Kaede's was much slower than usual, as Kagome and Inuyasha both now had a lot of thinking to do. With one mission successfully over, they suddenly found themselves face to face with the last obstacle that stood between themselves and an inordinately long lifetime of happiness together.
~~~End Flashback~~~
Walking protectively by his wife's side as they headed indoors, Inuyasha stubbornly assisted Kagome as she sat down on the sofa, despite her continual protests that she was 'only pregnant'. She was constantly insisting that she wasn't sick, and that he needn't fuss over her so dramatically, although Kagome would secretly admit that his continual display of affection was truly appreciated. It wasn't anything she wasn't used to, after all; his already rather protective nature had just grown even more intense since her pregnancy. He'd always been overly protective of her, Kagome remembered, even back when he'd denied that he cared for her at all, insisting that his only reason for protecting her had been because she could sense the jewel shards. Once upon a time she'd actually believed his little lie that he didn't care about her, but Kagome had gradually realized the truth of how he'd merely used gruff insults to mask his deeper feelings, even back before he'd confessed his love.
Try as he had to hide his feelings from her, she'd seen how he'd truly felt on multiple occasions. How panicked he'd been when he'd thought both she and Shippou had fallen at the hands of the Thunder Brothers, their spirits lingering to say goodbye. How he'd found comfort in her lap, as he'd lain dying of Spiderhead poison, confessing to having lied about hating her scent. How he'd smiled and returned the gesture of holding her hand when she'd confessed her desire to remain by his side, despite his obligations to Kikyou. How guilty he'd always look whenever he caught the sadness in her eyes after he'd return from a visit with the undead miko. Then there was the time he had deliberately chosen not to seek out Kikyou, upon hearing Kagome's side of things of how she had purified her preincarnation of Naraku's miasma. He'd stated that if she'd saved her, then that was good enough for him to know, choosing to stay with Kagome because of how upset she'd obviously been at the time, and knowing enough to realize that to leave at that time would have only made everything that much worse. He had even proceeded to demand an apology to her thoughtless outburst that she hated him, admitting that her words had been hurtful; an admittance that the others had taken as petty, but that Kagome had realized was truly significant. The old him never would have confessed that her words had hurt him; he would have brushed off her statement as if he hadn't cared in the slightest. Instead, his demand for an apology, coupled by the fact that he had chosen to remain with her rather than seek out Kikyou, had openly broadcasted his connection to Kagome, in that he cared what she thought of him. That gesture had been appreciated almost as greatly as the time he'd shed tears for her sake, when she'd very nearly died from Mukotsu's poison.
Yes, there were all sorts of little things Kagome could think of here and there that all added up to the grand conclusion that, even if he hadn't been 'in love' with her, he'd most certainly cared for her as a dear friend. That'd been the mentality she'd possessed when she'd braved inviting him to Eri's Halloween party two years back. The fact that he'd been aware of her feelings for him had caught her off guard, but all things considered, she supposed it stood to reason that if she could see through his tough exterior to realize he really cared, then her feelings for him had probably been flashing above her head in bright neon lights. Of course, ever since that fateful night exactly two years ago to the day, expressing their feelings for one another had become a lot easier.
"Do you need anything to drink, Koi?" Inuyasha asked his wife, uncaring of her two girlfriends who were currently reeking of both happiness and jealousy as they observed his interaction with their childhood friend.
Neither Yuka nor Eri felt vengeful toward Kagome for having found such a caring husband, but they did long for the same type of relationship for themselves. While Ayumi and Hojo had been going steady for roughly a year, neither of the other two girls had had much in the way of serious, lasting relationships. All three women had been a little hurt at first when they'd learned that Kagome was in fact married to the man they'd only thought of as her boyfriend, but they'd eventually forgiven her for keeping such a huge secret to herself, especially considering her husband's other secret. The way Kagome had explained it, she'd made it obvious how they couldn't have been invited to the wedding, when at the time, they'd still remained in the dark regarding her husband's species. How exactly would he have explained wearing a hanyou 'costume' to his own wedding? They had conceded to her logic, but fortunately, they were aware of his half-demon status now, as Kagome hated keeping such important things from her friends, and the two women currently present had proven just how loyal they truly were as friends when they'd continued to remain jealous over her 'perfect' relationship, Inuyasha's youkai blood being completely irrelevant to what a wonderful husband they still saw him as. They were envious of Kagome, but in a good way. They were genuinely happy for her, and it was because of that reason that Inuyasha didn't mind showing his affection for his wife while in their company.
In fact, it was probably because they were watching that Inuyasha was laying it on extra thick, knowing well of the reputation he used to possess among Kagome's school crowd. While he might still be a possessive, jealous, violent (toward his enemies) jerk, he most certainly wasn't a two-timer, and he most certainly wasn't a danger to Kagome in any sense of the word. He knew well how some men, especially those in his own era, treated their wives, literally like possessions, sometimes even like slaves. He would never hurt Kagome physically or emotionally; Kagome knew that, and so did her friends, now. Inuyasha would literally give his life to save her own, so the concept that he was 'no good' for her had quickly been thrown out the proverbial window. Because the other girls were now all aware of the fact that he was an inu-hanyou, his domineering and possessive nature suddenly made perfect sense. He openly confessed to the thought of willfully (and happily) dismembering anyone who would either cause Kagome harm or even merely threaten to take her away, but he would never, never direct his wrath towards Kagome herself.
Said miko, answering her husband's question by admitting that she'd like a soda, smiled at the way Inuyasha merely nodded before turning to head into the kitchen. While he still had no idea how a refrigerator actually worked, he knew that it was the magical cold box in which food was kept fresh for much longer periods of time, and that was good enough for him to retrieve for her an ice cold can of soda, which he then proceeded to pop open for her upon his return. The simple gesture reminded Kagome of how he'd done the same thing for her at Eri's party two years back, which had been much more significant on the 'affection' scale when you considered the fact that, at that time, they had not yet been involved romantically. It was little things like that that showed what type of a person Inuyasha truly was, when he let his guard down, and dropped the 'I'm a bad ass and you better not mess with me' routine. Inuyasha might think of himself as an abomination, mostly because that was all he'd heard others call him while growing up, but as far as Kagome was concerned, her husband was literally a gift from the kami themselves.
She didn't care that he was half youkai, and in fact, the miko had downright convinced herself that she loved him even more because of it. While her love and attraction for him in no way diminished during his human night, she had simply fallen in love with the man that she knew day in and day out, and that man had triangular dog-ears peaking from a nest of silvery white mane, and razor sharp talons that could offer her the most tender of tickling caresses one minute, and fiercely maim and dismember a dangerous foe the next. There was no way in any of the ten hells that she would have ever wanted to use the jewel to turn him human, as had been the desire of her preincarnation. They had actually discussed it, once, when Inuyasha had first voiced his concerns regarding the difference in their life spans, and if she would prefer for her husband to grow old with her rather than having him remain the same as she became older and older. Inuyasha had been willing, because he hadn't thought at the time that he'd be able to just stand back and watch the love of his life wither away without him, and sharing in her mortality would've been better than doing nothing about it at all.
Fortunately, however, that had not been the outcome of their final wish on the completed jewel, Kagome thought with a pleasant smile as she quietly sipped her soda while listening to Yuka and Eri discuss further plans for that night's festivities. Inuyasha had been reluctant to voice his alternative plan, what he'd truly wanted to do with the jewel, fearful of her reaction to the suggestion. So it was no surprise when Kagome had shocked her hanyou beyond words when she had not only agreed to the idea, but had literally squealed for joy at the very notion, throwing herself into his arms in a fierce, loving embrace, in front of some passing villagers, no less, as he'd voiced the option while standing outside of Kaede's hut. Once he'd gotten over the initial shock that she actually loved him enough to want to stay by his side for multiple centuries, rather than merely a few decades, he'd been so overjoyed that he'd returned her embrace, whispering how deeply he loved her, uncaring of who might observe them. Even Miroku hadn't had a teasing word to deliver upon such a display, never before having seen his hanyou friend so utterly happy, and knowing how greatly the demonic man truly needed a ray of happiness in his life. That had been shortly after the couple had originally wed, so everyone knew that their moment of cheerfulness was short-lived with such an uncertain outcome still dangling before them. While Kagome and Inuyasha had figured out what they wanted to do with the jewel, what the souls within the jewel agreed to cooperate on was another matter entirely.
Pulling herself from her thoughts upon the realization that somebody was addressing her, Kagome apologized sheepishly and asked Eri to repeat herself. Kagome's friend wanted to know if she and Inuyasha would actually be staying for the candy-handing-out portion of the evening, and after a quick nod of agreement from her hanyou mate, Kagome happily told Eri that yes, they would be staying to help them deliver the evils of sugar-highs upon the youth of Japan. She even threw in an overly cliché laugh of diabolical evil for extra panache, which earned the miko duel sets of rolling eyes from both Eri and Yuka, while Inuyasha merely smirked in mild amusement, simply happy to see his wife so happy.
While part of him didn't want to share Kagome on what she'd come to call their 'anniversary', the truth was that passing out candy wouldn't really take very long. Hanging out at Eri's for the first couple of hours of nightfall wouldn't hinder the miko's plans for their evening in the slightest, as Tokyo, much like New York, was a city that never slept. Later into the night, after handing out candy to the Trick-or-Treaters, Kagome planned on taking Inuyasha out for a leisurely stroll through some of the city, just for something to do. She was sure they would probably stumble upon a block party or two that they could crash for a few minutes of fun, and there were also a few all-ages clubs that they would be able to enter without Inuyasha needing a valid ID. Kagome might be seven months pregnant, but she was hardly an invalid, and thanks to the demonic energy flowing through her ki, she was a lot stronger than other humans. There was no way she would allow them to miss tonight's opportunity, pregnancy or no.
Halloween was their cloak of normality, the one night out of the year in which Inuyasha could be treated like a normal human being while still retaining his hanyou senses. While they had gone on a couple of 'dates' in the last year during the night of the new moon, Kagome knew that Inuyasha was never very comfortable interacting in public while in his human form, not that she hadn't been nervous herself, though for an entirely different reason. Kagome had always been worried that during one of their dates, they'd bump into one of her three girlfriends from school, or Hojo, and she'd have to try to awkwardly explain why she appeared to be cheating on Inuyasha, without revealing the secret of his human night. Inuyasha, on the other hand, hadn't given a rat's ass what her friends might have thought, had they ever spotted them, which they never had, but he'd simply hated the idea of being out in public while so vulnerable. Even though he knew that Kagome's time was much safer than the Sengoku jidai, generally speaking, it had since been established that youkai, or at least certain species of youkai, did still exist in her century. He absolutely loathed the idea of being out in public while mortal, and being unable to protect her and their unborn child should anything happen. Sure, Kagome had attempted to assure him that the various remaining youkai must be fairly peaceful, overall, otherwise the human world at large would still know of their existence, as word of youkai attacks would be all over the news. But, on the other hand, it was true that there was always the occasional, rare 'disappearance' of somebody or another and the occasional, rare 'body' that was found here or there. Most of the time, it was probably only a human criminal that had been responsible for the heinous acts, but Inuyasha refused to take any chances. Kagome was a very powerful miko, after all, so for all they knew, her aura could be functioning as some sort of a beacon to lure and temp the hiding youkai who would ordinarily leave everyone else alone.
Her aura definitely stood out to him in such a way, considering it radiated with a harmonious combination of both reiki and youki, a merger that was rarely accomplished so successfully. It had been a tremendous risk on Kagome's part, but the only way to successfully accomplish what both she and Inuyasha had so desperately wanted to do with the jewel.
Once they'd returned to the village with the completed, perfectly round bobble hanging around Kagome's neck, Kaede had immediately jumped on them to purify the thing as quickly as possible, as if that hadn't already been their intention, but the elderly miko had had a valid point. After all, the completed jewel pulsed in a way that a few measly shards, or even a lot of shards for that matter, never had. It literally screamed temptation to youkai for miles around, but fortunately, they'd been in less of a diabolical situation as soon as Kagome had managed to master the trick she'd been inspired to learn from the man who had possessed the remainder of the shards, creating a barrier around the jewel that had successfully masked its presence to all but the most powerful of youkai. That way, their village had at least been protected from hordes upon hordes of lesser youkai all seeking the jewel, as had been the scene Inuyasha remembered from the days when Kikyou had been its guardian. No one had been happier than he was to have finally had the thing put back together again, but the last thing Inuyasha had wanted to do was then spend the rest of his life defending it.
Kagome had known what she'd wanted to do beyond a shadow of a doubt, but how to do it had been another matter entirely. The jewel had contained both good and evil, and to use its power for a selfish purpose was to strengthen its negative aspects. But while Kaede had voiced her concerns for the young miko's safety at such a risky endeavor, she had also conceded that in her own personal opinion, Kagome's desire had definitely stemmed from a place of love. She hadn't wanted to become virtually immortal merely for her own personal gain, but because she was married to a man who already, naturally possessed such a lifespan, and her love for him was so strong, her heartache at the thought of dying centuries before him so intense, that she was willing to sacrifice her humanity, her purity as a miko, merely to stay with him. Not only that, but their inherent fear that the well would no longer function as a two-way portal also meant that Kagome had said her farewells to her family forever, or at least for the next five hundred years, having told them of her plans to remain with Inuyasha in his time, permanently. When viewed from that perspective, taking note of all that she had truly been giving up in order to be with him, the wish had become selfless, and the powers within the jewel had reached a conclusion.
A conclusion that had shocked and frightened everyone present. Kagome had thought, at the time, that she would merely utilize the power of the jewel the way everybody else always had. It was an object of extreme power, after all, so she'd figured that she could merely take its power within herself, like some sort of energy-boost, not really giving consideration to the fact that there were souls within the jewel capable of conscious thought. She'd figured that absorbing the jewel's essence would make her more powerful, just as it did with youkai, and how Inuyasha had originally wanted to use it to become a full fledged youkai himself.
The jewel had agreed to grant her her wish, but not in the way that she'd planned.
Logically, the only way to give Kagome the lifespan of a youkai was to give her the life force of a youkai, which was half of the jewel's very essence. The soul of Midoriko had approved of this because with her enemies no longer encompassed within the jewel with her, she would finally be free to transcend into the afterlife, and perhaps even one day be reincarnated. So even though Kagome was making use of the dark forces of the jewel, as opposed to the light that was Midoriko, the jewel as a whole was still purified from the act, simply ceasing to exist as its inner most components were separated from one another.
As for the youkai within the jewel, the collective consciousness once known as Magatsuhi had still been very much muted, the jewel far too pure for him to have taken any form or hold any real power, Kagome's light successfully keeping his blackness at bay. But at the same time, it had been his essence, the combined forces of the collective youkai he was comprised of, which had fueled the power of Kagome's wish. What everyone had bore witness to as the jewel had suddenly begun to glow upon the completion of her silent meditation, was a dark mist of crackling jyaki escaping its confines to join itself with Kagome's very being. In a sense, though he had no conscious power of his own, Kagome had taken Magatsuhi within herself. The force had knocked her unconscious, and for a moment everyone around her had stopped breathing as panic slowly began to sink in. What had happened? Had something gone wrong? Had it been a trick? Would she become ruled by the youkai of the jewel, just as Onigumo had become Naraku, his original mind and heart forever lost to the desires of the youkai who had fooled him into willingly selling his soul? As Kagome had lain unconscious, a million thoughts had run through everyone's minds, but none more intensely than in Inuyasha's, who could literally smell the difference within her. She'd still smelled like Kagome, but also, she'd suddenly smelled like the jewel, too. That was the only way he'd thought to describe it. What if, when she woke up, she was possessed? What if Magatsuhi hadn't been as weak as they'd thought and he'd somehow managed to take over her mind? What if the whole thing had somehow been a plot he'd been thinking of while they'd been collecting his shards, just biding his time as they worked, knowing of her desire and planning on using it to trick her? What if Kagome was lost to him forever? He would have rather had her for a few decades than to lose her after only sixteen months...
The hanyou had barely resisted the urge to touch her, only holding back for fear of what physical contact with a being of youkai blood would do to her in her current condition, while the squirming kitsune attempting and failing to break free from his grasp hadn't thought that much through, Shippou merely crying his eyes out that something was wrong with Kagome. He could see what was happening, as could Inuyasha, as well as Miroku and Kaede. Even Kirara seemed transfixed, as her mistress was the only one left out of the loop, since Sango lacked the ability to physically see holy and demonic auras. Miroku had quickly filled her in, however, of how Kagome's aura seemed to be literally merging with the secondary aura that had just encroached itself upon her from the jewel. It hadn't truly appeared as though either aura was attempting to overpower the other, but rather, that the two were simply becoming one, which left everyone horribly uncertain of the eventual outcome. But fortunately, when Kagome finally opened her eyes it had instantly become apparent that she was the one in control, as she'd merely blinked and looked around in mild shock and confusion, surprised to find everyone hovering over her and wondering how she'd come to be lying on the ground. She'd asked Inuyasha in a meek, slightly worried tone of voice what had happened, and as soon as her husband and friends had heard her question, they'd known that she was still the same Kagome they'd come to cherish over the years. Inuyasha had let go of Shippou at that point, and the miko had suddenly found herself in the middle of a fierce embrace, her unofficial adoptive son on one side, and her husband on the other.
While the youki of the jewel had entered her body, the reiki of the jewel, namely Midoriko, had drifted up toward the heavens, much like the light of Kikyou's soul upon the undead miko's departure. Kagome already possessed her own reiki, after all, and therefore she'd had no need of absorbing the ancient miko's energy, essentially taking over for Midoriko when it came to keeping Magatsuhi at bay. The balance of the pure and evil forces from the jewel was now maintained within her own body, but it was not a constant struggle. Her aura naturally kept itself as pure as her aura had always naturally kept the jewel shards pure, without any conscious effort on her part.
Magatsuhi also had no power over blocking her miko powers. The small seal that had been placed upon her at birth had only been successful because she'd been too weak as an infant to fight the influence of his spell, and even then it had been blatantly obvious that his seal hadn't been as successful as he'd planned when, despite Hitomiko's inability to sense Kagome's spiritual powers, she'd still been able to utilize said powers, at least to some degree. Then later, the stronger seal he'd been able to place on her had only been possible because he himself had grown so much more powerful, because the jewel, at that time, had been almost entirely black, the only speck of light having existed separately within Kohaku's shard. It was the other way around, now, though the jewel itself truly no longer existed. But if it still did, in some way, if Kagome herself was in a sense a living representation of the Shikon jewel, then the tiniest speck of almost unnoticeable darkness that was the demonic part of her aura was constantly surrounded by unwavering, shimmering light.
She was still a miko, but to anyone else with spiritual powers, the youki of her new aura was unmistakable, and she'd quickly earned herself the hateful title of 'Kuromiko' by a few random strangers. They still responded whenever anybody showed up asking for help slaying a youkai, after all, as it'd been long established by that time that a powerful miko, as well as a taijiya, and a monk, and even a 'friendly' hanyou, all lived at that village and would answer the call to help others. It wasn't a job description they'd deliberately sought to advertise, but word of their past good deeds had spread quickly over the years. Most people that sought them out had nobody else of spiritual powers at their disposal, hence the reason for their need of the inu-tachi's aid in the first place, which obviously meant that Kagome received no persecution from those people. But every once in a while they'd come across somebody on the road who couldn't keep their opinions to themselves, especially since it was usually only Kagome and Inuyasha alone who responded to the requests for aid after the jewel's completion, since Sango was obviously unavailable as a new mother, and Miroku usually wished to remain by his wife's side, unless the monk thought that the situation specifically called for a man of his training. While Kagome had learned how to make a few different types of ofuda over the years, she was admittedly nowhere near as knowledgeable in the art as Miroku was, nor did she know how to make things like shikigami. If she even attempted such a feat now, thanks to her demonic aura, most people would probably freak out that she was casting some sort of evil spell, automatically assuming that she meant them harm, just like the prejudice her husband had always faced his whole life.
Fortunately, Kagome hadn't really been fazed by the hateful words of random villagers she didn't even know, focusing solely on the fact that the villagers at home still accepted her, just as they accepted her husband. She had already gotten used to being called a dark miko by that point, after all, so what did it matter if the title was suddenly true? Of course, Inuyasha had promptly bitten her head off at such a casual remark, but Kagome had merely shrugged her shoulders and stated with finality that, by definition, she really was a kuromiko, but that didn't necessarily make her evil, any more than he was evil for merely being a hanyou.
Kagome was, in a sense, exactly what Tsubaki had become. She still possessed her miko abilities, but she had taken the very essence of youkai within herself, and as a result, she'd gained much more than merely an extended lifespan. She could feel it within herself; she was powerful, but the difference between herself and Tsubaki was that she had no intention of ever using her demonic powers for evil. She would no more go about casting evil spells of dark magic than Inuyasha would up and decide to slaughter a random village of innocent farmers. He certainly had the ability to do so, physically, but it was his heart and mind that prevented him from carrying out such an unthinkable act of evil, and the same went for Kagome and her spiritually based youkai-like abilities, as well.
Inuyasha also felt more confident in his wife's ability to protect herself, now, especially from those who would wish to do her harm merely for the company she kept. He'd gradually been easing up on his insistence that he needed to be there to protect her...at least until the day, roughly a month after the completion of the jewel, when she'd suddenly announced that she was pregnant. As if completely forgetting that his wife now possessed the strength of a youkai, and was, in a subtle way, a self-made hanyou of sorts, his protective nature had instantly kicked into overdrive, and he'd been hovering over her ever since. Not that Kagome truly minded all that much, although it could get a little annoying from time to time.
Applying a few ghostly appliqués to Eri's front windows, Kagome couldn't help but to smile at the pleasant memories of all that had changed in the last year, much more so than the year before that. They had finally done what they'd set out to do, completing and purifying the Sacred jewel, even if their methods had been a little unorthodox. But to be perfectly honest, Kagome didn't mind her demonic power boost in the slightest. While she'd originally thought that, despite her increased lifespan, she would still for the most part be a 'weak' human - by her husband's definition - it had quickly turned out that that wasn't the case. She had youkai within herself, now, so she was, in a sense, a self-made hanyou just as Naraku had been. The only real difference was...she wasn't evil. She wasn't evil, and she chose not to utilize most of the powers she possessed because to do so would most likely corrupt her aura if she allowed herself to become consumed by the desire for power, just as Inuyasha could theoretically lose himself to the bloodlust of his youkai half if he wasn't careful. All Kagome had wanted was to live as long as Inuyasha would, and she'd gained that ability, hands down. The fact that she was no longer susceptible to getting sick as easily as other humans, and that she healed just as fast as her husband did from physical injury, was a pleasant added bonus that she had no intention of complaining about.
Inuyasha didn't mind it, either. His only fear had been whether or not Kagome was still Kagome, but once it'd become apparent that her heart and soul had remained unchanged, he too had only looked at the changes of her body as a good thing. Thinking of what the women were discussing with that night's upcoming holiday, the hanyou smirked to himself at the pun he'd just come up with. Trick or treat, indeed... He had feared for a brief moment that Kagome's solution for his wish, to directly take the jewel's power within herself, had been a trick concocted by the jewel itself, but it'd quickly turned out that the evils of the jewel had in fact been powerless over her, as her natural strength of purity easily kept them at bay. Magatsuhi might have been eager to get out of the jewel, but he was now forever dormant, sleeping away his existence while Kagome's body unconsciously utilized the strength of his demonic abilities. So in the end it had turned out not to be a trick after all, but rather a wonderful, wonderful treat. Kagome was still his Kagome, only...stronger.
While Inuyasha admittedly didn't understand the concept of asking a question such as "Trick or treat?" the desired answer was obvious. Everybody wanted the 'treat', and speaking of...the smell of all that chocolate was making his mouth water, even through the wrappers.
"No chocolate." Eri teased with a smile, playfully slapping Inuyasha's clawed hand as he made a grab for the Mini-Hershey bars she was dumping into a bowl.
"Feh!" he growled, albeit playfully, as he attempted to snatch a bar or two without her notice. The human woman was quick, however, and whirled around with the bowl to her chest before her friend's husband could claim his prize.
"Too much chocolate will make dogs sick." Yuka explained with a chuckle at Inuyasha's forlorn expression.
"Bah..." he waved off, "I ain't a mortal dog. I'm half youkai, and youkai don't get sick."
Giggling, Eri turned back around and held out a peace offering of two of the mini bars. "Okay, you can have a couple, but these are for the kids anyway, sheesh."
Glancing in his wife's direction for moral support proved futile, as Kagome was too busy snickering to herself at his display.
"I'm sure Inuyasha can handle chocolate just fine," she finally said in her husband's defense, although she immediately added, "But that candy is for the children, Inuyasha." Her mate's cheeks tinted a light pink at being chastised by three women for the way he'd suddenly made a grab for the confection, but it smelled so good, damn it!
"Well, I better get into costume." Kagome commented then, as she made to get up from the couch.
Inuyasha was by her side in an instant, the chocolate completely forgotten as he insisted she take his hands so that he could help her stand. "Do you need any help changing?" he asked her, his voice completely void of any hentai undertones as he genuinely only wanted to know if she required his assistance with her dressing.
Glancing down over herself and the maternity clothes of her time that she was currently wearing, Kagome knew that she could easily get out of her baggy blouse and skirt and into her hime robes by herself, since the 13th century-styled ensemble didn't include a wide obi tied in the back, but she nodded her desire for Inuyasha's assistance all the same. She just couldn't bear to crush the hopeful look in his eyes, as she knew he needed to feel needed. Besides, just because she wasn't suffering from the standard aches and pains of pregnancy didn't mean that her giant belly didn't get in the way from time to time, and it would probably be much easier to have Inuyasha assist her with her itsutsu-ginu kouchiki costume, anyway.
The first two layers of her outfit were simple, and greatly resembled the standard miko garb that she usually wore in the past, the main difference being that she was not wearing a chihaya over her white narrow-sleeved kosode. Her baggy red hibakama were tied on the side at her midriff like always, or what was left of her midriff, anyway. While Kagome felt a little weird wearing her pants hiked up practically to her breasts like that, she smiled at her husband's amusing words that, because she was so short, to tie the trousers any lower would turn them into naga-bakama, and she wasn't going for the 'long hakama' look with her outfit. She had a hard enough time walking those days as it was.
Her outer noblewoman's robes were long and elaborate, made in the style of dress that Inuyasha's mother used to wear, which consisted of a hitoe, toped by an itsu-ginu, toped by a ko-uchiki; hard to walk in, indeed. The coloring was a deep, vibrant red, with a pattern of forest greenery and white birds decorating the silk. For that year's Halloween, they had decided to go as the dog-demon and his wife, a classic tale from her time, with several customized twists of their own, including her elaborate dress of 13th century nobility. When she'd first breached the subject of possibly going as the legend, Inuyasha had blinked at her, being unfamiliar with the fable, and had asked bluntly for clarity if she'd meant that she wanted them to go as his parents. Freaking out thinking that she'd hit a sore spot, Kagome had immediately started to backpedal, until Inuyasha had silenced her with a gentle kiss and proceeded to whisper how beautiful he knew she'd look in his mother's robes, especially since she was carrying his child. That had given her the idea to go ahead and unofficially mimic his parents, since it was all right with him; the legend of the dog-demon and his wife didn't specify what century they lived in or what the woman was wearing when the lost traveler found their cabin in the woods.
Working both from memory, from back when Sesshoumaru had pulled that stunt with the un-mother, as well as Inuyasha's own physical description of his mother's garments, Kagome, with much assistance from her mother and her mother's sewing machine, had taken the time to make that year's costume by hand with material from a fabric store, rather than merely tossing some cheap Halloween Store accessories together with a standard-issue yukata, or wearing the miko garb from the past that she actually considered normal clothing by that point. It was clear from the look of her hime robes that she'd put a great deal of time and effort into their construction, and it was also clear from the expression on Inuyasha's face as he assisted her with applying each layer that the significance of the gesture had not been lost on him.
They had only been married for two years, but already he could easily tell how his love for her merely continued to grow with each passing year, each passing month, week, day, hour... And he had centuries of her companionship to look forward to. The hanyou didn't know what he could have possibly done for the gods to have granted him such a wondrous reward, but he swore everyday that he would cherish her presence in his life, forever.
Kagome's thoughts were running along similar lines as she caught her husband's expression in Eri's bedroom mirror, as he assisted her with the finishing touches of her outfit. You wouldn't know it to look at the gruff wild man, but Inuyasha really did know how to layer a noble kimono. He had been raised in higher society for the first few years of his life, after all, and some things had simply stuck with him throughout his long life of solitude afterwards. How his mother's clothing had always looked as each layer was applied was one of them, an image that would forever remain engraved in his mind, and an image that his wife's current ensemble emulated perfectly. The only difference was the coloring, which she had chosen to match his own robes.
Kagome was just about to break the silence that had grown between them when the sound of the front door sliding open did it for her, followed shortly by the harmonious inquiry of "Trick or treat?" by at least three different children. Her husband adopted a thoughtful look on his face as he rested his hand on her rounded belly, before murmuring, "Come on, Okaa-sama, let's go greet the children."
Smiling, Kagome followed Inuyasha back out into the living room.
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Hallow Be Thy Name