Adult-FanFiction.org : Inuyasha / Yashahime

The More Things Change	By : inumom Category: InuYasha > Het - Male/Female > InuYasha/Kagome Views: 2401 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha, nor make money from this story.

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Disclaimer: They�re still not mine. Damn.

5. One Road

It was nearly nightfall when Kagome finally made her way back to the village. It came as a huge shock to her friends that she returned alone. One look at her tear-streaked face, and the others decided that it was probably best not to ask exactly what had happened until morning. By then, the miko would probably be more willing to explain.
Saying that she wasn�t hungry, Kagome slipped into the sleeping bag she had left in a corner of the room. Due to the stresses of what had been an undeniably long, confusing day, she fell almost instantly into a deep, dreamless sleep. Shippou, like all children everywhere, refused to give in to his own fatigue, insisting that he was more than able to stay up with the adults.
When he finally did go to sleep, it was curled into a tight little ball of fluff against the small of Sango�s back. Although he himself couldn�t have explained the change in his usual sleeping habits, it was strictly a matter of self-preservation in his world: all of his instincts screamed at him to avoid any unnecessary contact with the woman who smelled so strongly of the absent hanyou.
Although it seemed that there were many more questions than answers, there was nothing that could be done until--and unless--the young miko chose to speak of what had passed between her and Inuyasha. The other residents of the village miko�s hut had little choice but to retire for the night and hope that some real information would be forthcoming in the light of day.

*

Although not by nature a �morning person,� Kagome had grown accustomed to being rousted out of her warm sleep by a silver-haired hanyou eager to get an early start on the day�s travel. She had often complained that even when she returned to her world for a visit the habit of being up at dawn followed her. That�s why it was surprising when the young woman slept well into the morning.
Once at least partly awake--enough to function on autopilot, at least--she pulled her bathing supplies from her old yellow bag and headed for the chill river that was one of the few things she really disliked about this world. Fortunately for her, the rest of the group had found things to occupy themselves, so she wouldn�t have to answer any awkward questions for the moment.
Although it was late spring and getting quite warm during the afternoon hours, the water was a bit cooler than she considered pleasant. Still, that only made it possible to take advantage of the bright sun and gathering warmth. Sitting wrapped in a towel on a large boulder at the water�s edge, she used the too-short moment of privacy to think about all that had happened in the past twenty-four hours.
At least, she thought, she now had part of the answer to her friend�s tortured past. Even though he had loved Kikyou, he hadn�t been nearly mature enough to have made her his mate--not that she would ever have accepted him as his hanyou self in the first place! Or maybe he thought that by using the Shikon no Tama to become human it would allow him to mature at a normal human rate, thus permitting them to be together.
Still, there were indications that his feelings for the dead miko had changed in recent years. True, he still went off to see her every time she appeared, but he no longer spoke of following her to hell. And from what happened yesterday, it almost seemed as though he had developed feelings for her�.

It was all so confusing!
She was more than a little hurt by Inuyasha�s abrupt departure the previous evening. It really didn�t seem to make a lot of sense. If, as he so often said, he lived to protect her, then why had he gone? He could hardly protect her if he wasn�t there. Unless, she thought, he had decided that he himself posed a threat. She shuddered as she recalled his words about mating by accident and being �stuck� with him for life.
His implication that he was somehow unworthy of her troubled her, as did the admission that the changes in his body were painful. She had long known that it would take years of gentle acceptance before he would be able to see himself as anything other than a �filthy hanyou� and recognize his own unique value, but she had been a little hurt when he had flatly refused her offer of help. After all, he had been taking care of her for nearly four years now--was it so wrong to want to reciprocate when he needed it the most? The fact that he would admit to experiencing pain from this �seijuku� was more than a little frightening. No matter how badly he had been injured in the past, he had always shrugged it off as a minor inconvenience at worst.
In a moment of brutal self-honesty, she admitted to herself that she was worried about him. She had halfway expected that he would have returned by the time she had awakened this morning, but a quick glance around the village had shown her that it hadn�t happened like she had wished.
Finally warmed through by the afternoon sun, she dressed and gathered up her things before returning to the village. After all, how long could he remain away? Although Naraku had obtained nearly the complete Shikon no Tama, she possessed more than a dozen fragments in the little bottle she wore around her neck. No matter what, he would have to return eventually to claim the jewel.
She briefly considered returning home through the well, but decided against it. If he should return, she intended to be there to give him a significant piece of her mind.
It was only as she was walking back toward the village that she realized that she could have stopped him from leaving by activating the subduing spell he wore around his neck. In all truth, she had forgotten that it even existed: she hadn�t had to use it in more than a year, and hadn�t even threatened him with it for nearly as long.
The first thing she would do when he returned, she decided, would be to remove it.
Upon reaching her destination, she looked around at the curious faces and shrugged. �He�s gone,� she said. �I don�t know where he went, or how long he�ll be gone.� Turning to the old miko who had become like a second mother to her, she asked, �Would it be all right if I stay with you until he comes back, Kaede-baachan? It would give me the time to learn a little more of what you can teach me before he gets back.�
The old woman smiled. She was, after all, essentially a kindly individual. �Of course, child. But what about your family?�
The young miko shook her head sadly. �I can�t leave now. If he comes back while I�m gone, he�ll probably think I�ve given up on him. I can tell them all about it after he comes home.�
Nothing that any of her friends could say would make her change her mind.
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The More Things Change