Chapter Text
Small puffs of white rose in the air in front of her as Kagome ventured out from the warmer interior of their rocky dwelling. It'd been a few weeks of the temperature dropping and staying below than what was comfortable at rest, hence they've started to keep a very low fire burning at all times inside the cave. Otherwise, it was proving to take longer and longer to reheat the area if they'd continued with the previous routine of snuffing out the fire in the morning.
Honestly, her modern day sensibilities balked at the idea of leaving a fire unattended. But it was well ringed with a perimeter of stone and she was very careful to keep anything flammable well away.
The two of them had fallen back into a steady routine, very domestic. Though Kagome had shied from the idea of being confined to solely home duties, what they had going did not feel at all like a cage. Albeit, it was homesteading on steroids but like no-tech. Surprisingly, though everything definite gave off clear DIY vibes, it functioned well enough. And it might appear superficially worse to live in a cave, it was actually more pleasing than the old village huts. Especially when they creaked and smelled of decomposing wood, which made Kagome somewhat concerned about the roof collapsing on her.
There was also the added benefit of everything being theirs—hers and Inuyasha's. Everything here was built or gathered by their own two hands and that fuelled a powerful sense of belonging. From the way the hanyou's expression would cloud at odd times, Kagome knew Inuyasha still carried some unfounded shame that he had no house to shelter her in. She could honestly say that she was more comfortable than her months of being squeezed against a corner of a hut that she had to vacate during the day.
It made her sound like an ungrateful brat—and she did appreciate her elderly foster parents— but now she could lay out her things like she was used to in the modern world. After some trial and error, she had a great sleeping mat set up in a 'bedroom' and frankly, some fairly nice things they were able to buy at the market. And, a hundred-percent organic whole-foods diet, disregarding the no-salt, no-sugar part.
Inuyasha was away on his routine morning patrol leaving her some alone time. Rubbing briskly and blowing on her hands, Kagome worked on thawing her fingers. Then she progressed through a series of stretches and mobility movements recalled from Phys-Ed class. She was starting to feel the cold in the stiffness of her muscles and if nothing, Kagome had learned that to survive in this era was to be remain physically robust.
Kagome clambered up to the highest crag she could manage and perched there to gaze down at the landscape below. There were now larger swathes of muted brown-grey popping up in the lush carpet of forest, where the deciduous trees had lost their foliage. The sun sparkled off the frost crowning the trees. In a little while, it should warm up enough to melt the crystals that blanketed the plateau as well and then it'll probably be safe for her do her laps on the available flat-ish surface. Though Inuyasha thought nothing of carrying her everywhere, Kagome felt better if she could at least try to hold her own. But it was still a little embarrassing to run in circles while the hanyou watched on with amusement, so she tried to fit it in her alone time.
Inuyasha was as far off from a modern boyfriend she could get but it didn't mean she didn't feel a silly sort of imperative to upkeep a certain image. As if they didn't go from friends to straight co-habiting and then to not-just-friends and cohabiting? It was confusing even to herself, but if she didn't overthink then it was completely fine.
More than fine actually. She had no idea what she was missing out on until now. Spending time after dinner all snuggled up against his side. And the way he would gruffly talk close to her ear when they sat like this.
Kagome felt heat creep up her cheeks despite the chilly air when her mind wandered further. She could never get enough of his claws combing idly through the ends of her hair, ghosting enough over her back to make her shiver. Or the slightly rough feel of his lips, chapped from the wind.
He was so touchy now that some proverbial door has been open. And Kagome revelled in it. She loved that it wasn't a creepy kind of touchy but a heart warming, tender sort of affection. Like he couldn't help but reach for her, stay connected to her physically in some way. Or how he'd developed a new habit of pressing a kiss to the top of her head in parting.
Now feeling sufficient warmed up—both from her stretches and the train of thought—Kagome climbed back down and started on her laps. As she lengthened her strides, feeling the muscles of her legs flex and contract with each stride. It felt good, the motion and that brief moment of weightlessness before one heel will eventually connect with the ground again.
Kagome let her mind ease into a steady rhythm as she maintained an even pace, running a small but not overly cramped loop around the plateau. She soaked in the feel of the crisp air cooling the sweat on her skin and watched as clouds drift across the morning sky.
A sharp pain underfoot jolted her from the pleasant trance exercise provided. Though the construction was foreign to her, the shoes Sango had recommended that day at the market was well structured for physical activity, but the padding was nothing like modern day running shoes. The track at school where they'd done their laps was also paved with that cushioned material, of course it's nothing like running on solid rock.
That association immediately derailed the careful control she'd semi-consciously maintained on where exactly her thoughts wandered. And that was home.
Now, even more so than when she was still the village, it was more imperative that she didn't think of home. She kept a careful fence around it all because it would dredge up all the grief again. And none of that was productive.
When the well was close by, Kagome could entertain the thought perhaps if that portal to her home miraculously reopened, it would somehow signal like a lit flare. And she would be around to see it and rush over. But since leaving the village, being this far away, there was very little logical sense she'd know even if there was a change. It was something she'd weighed before making her decision to leave. It was something she'd knowingly decided to leave behind.
It wasn't like they couldn't go back; it would just require planning. She had no idea what Kikyou's 'sensing range' was and how they worked really. If it was possible to sneak back to check the well, if it their presence will trigger some sort of spiritual alarm system.
Logically, she'd tried the well at least once a week and it'd been over half a year now of that. Not once was there even a spark of that light that appeared when she fell through the first time. The chances of it working again was incredibly low, so it wasn't like she made a choice to not go back or anything by moving farther away with Inuyasha. But in some aspects it felt like it, like she did turn her back on her family.
See? This was the exact reason why she tried to not fall into this useless thought-spiral. There wasn't a chance she could've let the villagers exile Inuyasha on pretext and have stayed back. That would make her complicit, silently acquiescing to their false accusation.
No matter what, she would not have made a different decision. It would still have led her here, living on a mountain top with Inuyasha. And regardless, it wasn't like she was likely to ever see her family again. So maybe she should just hurry up and accept that fact.
Feeling the sour tingle up her throat and traveling down her nose, Kagome scrunched up her eyes and picked up speed. She pumped her arms and forced her legs faster, hoping to outrun the threat of tears.
"Kagome!" Inuyasha harsh cry came from somewhere downhill, sounding urgent and alarmed.
She halted, the panic in the hanyou's tone causing her chest to constrict. Kagome looked reflexively around her, ready to run for her bow. But there was no youki other than that sudden burst of Inuyasha's that had flared in tandem with his call.
A red blur rushed out from the skeletal shrubbery, cresting the top of the incline.
"Kagome!" He skidded to stop in front of her. "Are you okay?"
Is she ok? Kagome blinked blankly up at his intense attention. Though her body was apparently raring to go his aid against some yet unknown foe, her mind was still too mired in the heavy thoughts she'd been wallowing in all morning to compute.
The textured back of one of Inuyasha's claws rasped lightly against her cheek. Surprised, her own hands flew up to mimic his movement and was met with warm wetness.
Apparently, she'd been crying without noticing. And Inuyasha's olfactory senses was keen enough to pick out the scent of her tears from a fair distance out.
"I-I'm okay." Kagome reassured him weakly, stepping back and hastily swiping at her cheeks, embarrassed to have been caught.
She had no issue with Inuyasha witnessing her moments of vulnerability, not at all. But it was because this would throw all her past efforts out the window. Since leaving the village, she'd been trying all this time to keep her sadness under wraps because she worried it would compound Inuyasha's already overblown sense of guilt. He was already so caught up about taking her away from human comforts to live in the wilderness, she couldn't pile on the additional complexity.
Unfortunately for her, Inuyasha was having none of it. Refusing to let her back away, he laid his hands solidly on top of her shoulders. His brow was pulled down over eyes that were liquid gold in their intensity. He held her gaze trapped to his.
"I-I was just thinking about my family and I…" She trailed off.
His hands slid up a fraction, warming the curve of where her neck met her shoulders, the pad of one thumb caressed the side of her throat in slow, gentle strokes.
It was too much. Kagome hiccuped, trying to choke down the emotions that were rising in the space Inuyasha was so carefully holding for her.
"Is this about the well?" He murmured gruffly after a moment.
Kagome's eyes widened and that was enough to answer him. He made a grumble in understanding. No one gave him enough credit—shamefully, not even her at times—he could be so profoundly observant and considerate in the most unexpected ways.
She sighed out a shuddering breath and stepped forward, closing the distance between them.
"How did you know?" Kagome said, Dropping her forehead to rest near his collarbone.
"Keh, your voice gets all pinched when ya talk 'bout certain stuff. It doesn't take a genius to pick out."
His arms came around her then, bringing her flush into the shelter of his solid frame. Giving up entirely, Kagome twinned her own arms around his waist and buried her face into his neck.
"We'll go back to look in the spring." He rumbled, hand moving up to card his fingers through her hair.
"But Kikyou said-"
"We'll figure it out."
She snuggled in closer, trying to burrow her nose through all his hair spilled over his shoulder to get some skin contact. Unsuccessful, Kagome settled for just breathing in the scents trapped his mane, of musk and cold mountain air.
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A/N: Fun fact, recently I've been told that em-dashes are considered a sign of AI writing. It's too bad I'm so fond of them :P This all comes from my brain in case it needs to be clarified.
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. However, this plot, the exact sequence of words and any original characters described therein, I reserve all rights to.