Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

              Kazuya took a moment to pause at the crest of the hill and survey his surroundings. He still had a few hours left of running before he would make it to the village he called home, but it was nearly sunset. Normally he would have just kept running – his parents didn’t care if he came home in the middle of the night – but not tonight.

              Outside of the unfortunate timing of the phase of the moon, or lack thereof, there was no rush for him to get home. It was autumn, and he wanted to get back before winter came. While his parents were perfectly capable of getting things ready for the winter without him, but he still felt obligated to be there to help. And he also had no desire to be out traveling if any snow started to fly.

              Just like any other inuhanyou, Kazuya turned human on the night of the new moon. And that was just the beginning of things he had in common with his father. He looked enough like him that they got confused for each other all the time – same face, same eyes, similar hair. Kazuya’s hair had a smoother, finer texture, and was silvery light gray instead of white. He also preferred to keep it pulled back into a low ponytail, however his hair refused to be entirely contained and often had sections that had slipped loose. The locks of hair framing his face were shorter than his father’s, ending at his jaw. He had the fangs and claws, and even his voice was a smoother version of his father’s. And, of course, much to his mother’s delight, he got his father’s ears.

              He had all of this because unlike his elder sister, Moroha, who was quarter-youkai, Kazuya was a true hanyou – half youkai, half human. He asked once how that was possible and instantly regretted it, because no one wants to think about their parents engaged in certain activities. The short explanation was that his ol’ man could occasionally transform into a full-youkai and happened to do so at a very “opportune” time.

              His clothes were the almost the same in style and material, but a different color. Kazuya had also made his garments from the fur of the fire rat, but he was incredibly lucky to have been able to hunt down melanistic fire rats. His suikan and hakama were a dark, almost navy blue, and a purple and green sheen danced on the fabric when the light hit it just right. The sleeves of his suikan were shorter and his hakama wasn’t as baggy as his father’s. He actually hated having ankle ties on the hakama, but with the way he ran around, the pantlegs would flop around and bunch up, so it wasn’t practicial to go without them. He also carried a sword, but unlike Tessaiga, his was nothing special – it was just a regular sword. He preferred to use his claws.

              Growling at the sun, Kazuya decided to keep running a little longer. There was a large village not far from there that he wanted to make it to before stopping for the night. He hadn’t been by there in a long while, but he knew of a good spot in the forest there that would be safe. Taking a deep breath, he took a few long bounds until he hit the tree line again before switching back and forth between running and leaping through the trees.

              He made it to the outskirts of the village just as the sun was beginning to dip behind the horizon. The “village” was more of a small city now – it had really grown in the last couple years since he had been out this way. The safe spot he had in mind was now too close to buildings for comfort, so he made quick work of seeking out a rocky outcropping that he decided would just have to do. After all, it was only one night, he should be fine.

              Knowing better than to try to build a fire or anything that would attract attention, he picked out a spot in the rocks where he could see out but wouldn’t easily be seen and settled in for the night. He sat cross-legged with his hands in his sleeves and his sword leaning against his shoulder, his back against the rocks.

              The sun sank out of sight, and he felt his youki ebb away. His ears slid down to the sides of his head, his senses dulled, his claws receded back into regular fingernails. He couldn’t feel it, but he knew his hair had turned black and his eyes were now blue. Now he could only wait.

              Another difference between him and his elder sister other than their percentage of youkai blood was that Kazuya liked to go home a lot more frequently. Moroha was still out running around seeking adventure and chasing bounties with no sign of wanting to settle down anytime soon. Kazuya, on the other hand, flip-flopped back and forth between wanting adventure and to make a name for himself, and seeking peace and calm and growing a family of his own.

              Since Kazuya was actually raised by his parents (once again, unlike Moroha), he knew what it was like to have a family, and that was his ultimate goal. He’d heard all the stories of what his parents went through to get where they were by the time he was born and he knew it was nothing to scoff at. Even his uncle, Sesshomaru, had broken down and married Rin and had children after swearing for centuries that he would do no such thing.

              But, in hearing all of their tales, he craved doing the something that would give him his own story to tell his children. His parents and their friends were known for defeating Naraku and ridding the world of the Shikon no Tama, and his sister and cousins were known for bringing down the Grim Comet. And all of them, except his father, had done so when they were younger than he was now. Even his Uncle Sesshomaru was a legend because of how powerful he was. Everyone around him was famous for something, except him. So he traveled the countryside, hoping to have his fifteen minutes of fame and getting it out of his system before moving on to the next phase of his life.

              But so far all he’d managed to do was kill of a bunch of lesser youkai. Nothing exciting. How Moroha managed to find enough stuff to keep herself busy and want to stay away from home for months, or even years, on end, he had no idea. Perhaps there were no more adventures to be had, and the few that were left were getting hogged by his sister.

              A couple hours later, his eyes snapped open and started scanning the space around him. He thought he heard voices, but with his useless human senses, he couldn’t pinpoint where they were coming from or how many there were or anything. It was pitch black, and his useless human senses weren’t picking up on anything. His mind warred between sitting up further to try and get a better look and shrinking back into the rocks so he would be less likely to be seen.

              Soon the voices grew louder. Two men, coming from his right. Kazuya pressed his back harder against the rock out of instinct, although he knew the action would do absolutely nothing to make him any more hidden. He hoped his dark hair and clothing would make him blend into the shadows.

              Then their torch became visible. They were walking briskly, with purpose. They weren’t some other travelers - he realized they were on patrol.

              The men appeared in the space in front of the rocks and Kazuya froze in place, knowing they would definitely see him if there was any movement. They marched past his hiding spot, but before he could breathe a sigh of relief, the men stopped just before they left the clearing to take a seat on the rocks there. They pulled out some water and took a moment to sip at it.

              Unfortunately, the spot they stopped gave Kazuya a clear view of them, which also meant they had a clear view of him if they looked his direction. Very, very slowly, Kazuya dropped his head so his hair would cover his face and hopefully camouflage him a little bit.

              What he forgot to do was cover the hilt of his sword.

              When the men stood to continue on their way, the light from their torches reflected off the metal.

              “Who goes there!?”

              “Shit …” Kazuya gritted his teeth, but tried to plaster a friendly look on his face before looking up at the men.

              “Good evening, gentlemen,” he said, trying to channel his parents’ monk friend, Miroku.

              “What are you doing out after dark? The order is that no one is to be out of the village after sunset, and not out of their homes after dark.”

              Kazuya’s fake smile grew. “My apologies, good sirs, but I am not from your village – I’m merely passing through. I’ll be on my way at sunrise.”

              One of the men pulled a dagger out of his belt and raised his hand, poised to throw it. “You will come down from there and accompany us into the city at once.”

              Kazuya’s façade fell. He knew he wouldn’t be able to move fast enough to dodge the dagger in this form. He wasn’t sure he could take both of them at once, either. Why were these assholes being so hostile? He bared his teeth and glared at the men. “Fine.” He stood, making sure to keep his hands visible so they wouldn’t think he was going to try and draw his sword.

              As soon as he cleared the rocks, the men rushed forward and grabbed him. They took his sword and used the hilt to hit him in the stomach. When he doubled over, they each grabbed an arm and hauled him through the trees.

              Kazuya didn’t fight them. The hit to his gut hurt, but he was more annoyed than anything else. He just pretended that he was more incapacitated than he was, hoping they would let their guard down long enough to loosen their grip or something and give him a chance to escape. But no such luck - the men had an iron grip on his shoulders, enough that there would be bruises to heal come sunrise.

              The angle he was being held at made it difficult to see where they were taking him, but they took him into the village, through some gates and doors, and eventually to what appeared to be a prison or dungeon. They stopped outside a cell, and when he tried to get his feet under him merely to stand, and one of them knocked him over the back of the head for doing so. It was a pretty solid blow, enough to disorient him, but he registered the sounds of the cell opening and then felt the floor hit him in the face as he was tossed onto it.

              “We’ll deal with you in the morning.”

              “Isn’t that wench in there, too?” the other man said.

              “Yeah, but if that stranger wants to have his way with her, let him – it’ll only add to her punishment.”

              Both men chuckled as they moved away, taking the source of light with them. The window in the door and the barred window on the wall glowed softly, though, so there was light coming from somewhere.

              Kazuya groaned and pushed himself up on his hands and knees. They might have hit him hard enough to give him a concussion, which would only make this night more irritating. He rubbed the back of his head while he slid over to prop himself up against the wall. It was going to be a long night…

              He had only just opened his eyes and started to get his bearings when he heard the sound of soft whimpers coming from the opposite side of the cell. He squinted into the darkness, trying to force his eyes to adjust to the dim light. After a moment he was able to make out the huddled form of a young woman curled up, facing into the corner.

              She sat with her knees drawn up and her face buried in them, obviously crying. She was absolutely filthy – he couldn’t tell what color her clothes were supposed to be. Her kosode was torn open in the back, and it took him longer than it should have to realize that her back was covered in lash marks. She’d been beaten and whipped.

              After a moment, a pair of wet brown eyes looked up and met his temporarily blue ones. He could barely make out the bruises and swelling that covered her face, but he had no problem seeing the tear tracks shining in what little light there was.

              “Why would they do this to you?” He breathed, not realizing that he’d spoken out loud.

              She gave him a wry smile. “I tried to escape. Again.” Her voice was hoarse and dry. How long had it been since she’d had water? “What about you?”

              Kazuya shrugged. “I was camped out in the forest. Just passing through and picked the wrong place to stop for the night.”

              “The headman is very controlling. He thinks if he runs this village like one of the big cities that he’ll impress someone and move up in the world. He formed the village guard and put all kinds of new laws in place.”

              Kazuya scoffed. “So he’s an asshole. Got it.” The woman tried to laugh but started coughing instead.

              “So is that the reason you’re trying to escape? Because he’s too controlling?”

              Clearing her throat, she shook her head. “The headman isn’t my problem, it’s the priest. I’ve been forced to live and train at the shrine my entire life, and I don’t want any part of it anymore.”

              “Why would they force you to?”

              The woman lifted her eyes to gaze out the window. “They say I’m one of the most powerful miko that’s ever lived, they could sense my power from any early age. I don’t know if my parents gave me up or if I was taken from them, but I’ve been at the shrine as long as I can remember.”

              Now he was glaring at her. “If you’re that powerful, why I can’t I feel your reiki, then?”

              Her smile returned and she turned to look at him. “Because the first thing I was trained to do was shield it.”

              Just then, Kazuya felt a very powerful, and very familiar, energy. He gasped. The reiki that he felt was one of the most powerful that he’d ever felt, rivaling his mother’s.

              “Feh, you’re an awfully trusting person, dropping that barrier just to show me,” Kazuya muttered when he felt her put her barrier back in place.

              “I did it because I can sense you have some reiki of your own,” she answered, cocking her head to the side, “but yours is different somehow. Are you a priest?”

              Kazuya snorted. He was far from a priest. “No, my mother is a miko.”

              “She must be a powerful one.”

              He smirked. “Yeah, you could say that.” “You have no idea…”

              She smiled, but then sighed and let her head drop sideways against the wall. “I’ve been here for two days, so tomorrow they should let me out and take me back to the shrine. They’ll probably rough you up a bit more and let you out tomorrow, too.”

              “Keh! I’m bustin’ out of here at sunrise,” he said as he crossed his arms and tried to make himself as comfortable as possible on the damp dirt floor. “You’re welcome to join me.”

              Her eyes had opened wider at his bold claim of breaking out, but then her expression softened into one of sadness. “I’m afraid I will have to decline…”

              “I thought you wanted out?”

              A tear escaped one of her eyes and ran down her cheek. “I think my leg is broken…” she said softly.

              At that, Kazuya crossed over to her, and she turned her body away from the wall so he could see her right shin. Sure enough, the leg was extremely bruised and had an unnatural angle where it was supposed to be straight. His hands clenched into fists. He had learned enough from his mother to know that it wasn’t set properly and wouldn’t heal correctly – if she didn’t get to a healer right away, she could have difficulty walking the rest of her life.

              Which was exactly what her captors were probably hoping for so she wouldn’t be able to escape.

              He felt an ache in his chest, a mix of heartbreak and anger. He gave her a hard look. “As soon as the sunlight comes over the horizon, I’m getting us both out of here. I just… need you to trust me, okay?”

              Her face turned into one of wonder as she processed his words. This man truly believed that he could escape. “You… you really think you’ll be able to get out? And you’re really going to take me with you?”

              He gave her a single nod before turning to the barred window and walking over to inspect it. Just as he suspected there would be, there was a crack in the wall coming out of one of the lower corners. He shook the bars and they were a little loose. Not loose enough for a human to dislodge them, but enough that it wouldn’t give a hanyou a problem.

              With a confident smirk, he settled up against the wall to wait until morning.

              “What’s your name?” he whispered.

              “They call me Aiko, but it’s not my given name.”

              “Then what’s your real name? The one you want to be called?”

              “…Rikina.”

Chapter Text

              The glow of dawn started to filter through the window bars and Kazuya could already feel his youki chomping at the bit to rise up again. He stood up and watched the light get brighter and brighter. Rikina stirred on the floor next to him.

              “It’s time,” he thought. He looked down at Rikina and was taken aback by how bad her injuries actually were now that it was light enough to see her better. She was covered in blood, her back was practically mincemeat. Both of her eyes were blackened. He was hoping her nose wasn’t broken, also, but wouldn’t have been surprised if it was. Her arms were also bruised and covered in welts and lashes. Blood was crusted in her black hair.

              He was going to have to carry her on his back, cradling her in his arms would hurt her too much.

              He yanked off his suikan. “I need you to kneel, so I can get you on my back as soon as I get this wall down. They’re going to hear it and come runnin’ so you need to be ready.”

              She cocked an eyebrow at him. “That’s your plan? You’re going to go through the wall?” She winced and gritted her teeth against the pain as she moved away from the wall and got into a kneeling position. At least she was still following directions despite her obvious skepticism. “If that was the plan, why wait until morning?”

              Kazuya smirked at her and gently laid his suikan over her shoulders. She winced again but clutched the fabric and slid her arms through the sleeves. It surely hurt, but it was better to have something covering her wounds. “You’ll see,” he said, “But remember, I need you to trust me, and remember that you can still sense my reiki.”

              She looked at him, her expression showing both confusion and hope. “Okay, but what does reiki have to do with anything? If reiki could get us out of here I would have done it myself.”

              Kazuya’s eyes snapped back to the window. He smiled as he closed his eyes and lifted his face to the first rays of direct sunlight that came through the window.

              Then he felt it – a pulse of energy, signaling his youki returning. Another pulse, and his youki flooded back through his body.

              Starting from the roots and moving to the ends, his black hair turned silver and billowed behind him, although there was no wind. His nails grew into claws. The smile on his face revealed the tips of two fangs peaking out between his lips. And his ears morphed into a pointed shape and moved up to sit on top of his head.

              Opening his amber eyes, he stared down the wall ahead of him. Then he ran forward the few steps and threw his shoulder at the crack at the base of the window. The wall didn’t completely collapse, but it did give. Kazuya grabbed the bars and pulled them out, throwing the metal behind him, then balled his fist and punched a hole in the crumbling stone.

              Kazuya turned his eyes back to Rikina, who couldn’t do anything but stare with her mouth gaping open.

              Yet, she didn’t seem afraid of him. He jogged the few steps back to her and bent down, offering his back for her to climb onto, and she didn’t hesitate to push off the floor with her good leg and grasp his shoulders. Bringing his hands up in fists under her to support her, he ran out the exit he created and took to the air.

              Kazuya leapt and ran, covering ground as fast as he could. Rikina eventually relaxed against his back, and he couldn’t scent or scense any fear or anxiety from her. He felt changes in her grip in anticipation of his landings and take offs, and at one point he heard her laugh. She was enjoying this. But he needed to get them well beyond the reach of the village guard, but he also knew he needed to stop and get her some water, at least, and maybe some food if he could manage it.

              He ran at top-speed for an hour, then he changed course slightly, smelling running water to his right. Not seeing any buildings or roads or any other sign of civilization anywhere nearby, he went straight for the riverbank and knelt down to let Rikina slide off. Using her good leg, she flopped into the edge of the water and greedily slurped at the liquid, staying there for several minutes.

              Kazuya sat on his haunches, just watching her. Her wounds needed attention, but water and food took precedence since it was obvious that they had given her neither in the two days she spent in that cell. Double-checking their surroundings to make sure they were alone, he turned his attention to scanning the water. He saw a spot where the water slowed, creating a pool where the water swirled around, where fish were likely to lie.

              He waded out and stood at the edge of the fishing hole, holding his hands poised just at the surface of the water. His hanyou eyes scanned in front of him, looking for the shadows on the bottom created by his quarry. After a moment, one hand shot into the water and came up with a wiggling fish. He transferred it to his other hand, using his claws to hold it through the gills, then repeated the process a few more times. When he had four fish, he returned to the bank. After tossing his catch on the grass and shaking the water off himself, he went about gathering up kindling and wood for a small fire.

              Rikina’s eyes were on him, he could feel them watching every move he made. But he didn’t mind. He was probably the first hanyou she’d ever seen. She was probably waiting for him to kill her or eat her or do kami-knows-what atrocious things to her. He wanted to reassure her, to move more slowly and carefully so his speed and sudden movements didn’t scare her, but they didn’t have time for that. He didn’t have time to avoid acting like a dog. He needed to get food in her and they needed to get her to his village, to a healer – to his mother.

              After gathering enough materials to build a fire, he looked around at the various boulders lining the riverbank. Seeing one that was just what he was looking for, he piled his tinder and kindling at the base of it. Then he slashed his claws across the rock, creating sparks that fell on the pile. Before the sparks could fade, he quickly dropped down and gently blew on them to coax them to flame. He had the fire going in no time.

              Between adding bigger and bigger pieces of wood to feed the fire, Kazuya used his claws to clean the fish and used thin green branches to fashion skewers. Within a few minutes, the fish were roasting over the fire.

              Without meeting her eyes, Kazuya walked back to Rikina and knelt down next to her. He still didn’t sense any fear from her, only curiosity. He took the sleeve of his undershirt between his teeth and ripped off a piece of it, then dunked it in the water. Then he reached up and, with only a slight hesitation before he made contact with her skin, gently held her chin with his fingers as he wiped the dirt and blood off her face. But she didn’t recoil or push him away, merely gazed back at him while he worked.

              She could have wiped off her own face, he knew that. He wasn’t entirely sure what possessed him to do it, and he felt a little silly. But the other part of him needed to see her face under the dirt and dried blood, to see how bad the injuries to her face actually were, and to touch her skin. The evidence of what had been done to her couldn’t be washed away fast enough for his liking.

              He was relieved to see that the scratches on her face were superficial, and her nose didn’t appear to be broken, after all, but the bruising was awful. And the blood vessels in one of her eyes were ruptured and the whites of her eye were solid red. Her face alone had a long way to go to heal.

              After he was satisfied that her face was fairly clean, and he knew he couldn’t avoid meeting her eyes any longer, he dropped the scrap of cloth and met her gaze, but didn’t remove his hand from her chin.

              “You have questions,” he whispered.

              She swallowed. “You’re a hanyou.”

              “Inuhanyou, to be exact. And that wasn’t a question.”

              Her mouth twitched in a slight smile. “But last night you were human.”

              He sighed and dropped his hand and sat back. “Still not a question.” He ran his hand through his hair, nervous to voice this out loud. But she already knew, anyway, so what he was about to tell her didn’t make much difference. “All hanyou have a time where they turn human, temporarily. Mine was last night.”

“You said your mother is a miko?”

              “She is. My father is also hanyou.”

              Her brow furrowed. “How is that poss-“

              He started waving her off. “It’s just possible. Let’s just say my old man can turn into a full youkai now and then and leave it at that.”

              She was quiet while she processed, but then he saw a look of realization come across her face. She gazed at him with a look of awe. “Your parents… are a miko… and an inuhanyou…”

              Kazuya glanced up at her eyes before looking away again. He knew where this was going. Most people of a spiritual nature knew the legend.

              “…were they? The Shikon-“

              He was already nodding. “Yup, that’s them. Their names are InuYasha and Kagome.”

              Rikina brought her hands up to her mouth. “And you inherited power from both of them. Both youki and reiki in the same body.”

              “And I’m not the only one. I have an older sister, but she’s only quarter-youkai.”

              Her brow furrowed again. “Weren’t there a quarter-youkai woman and two hanyou-“

              “Yeah, yeah, the Grim Comet,” he rolled his eyes, “that was my sister, Moroha, and my two cousins, Towa and Setsuna.”

              “You come from a very powerful family, Kazuya,” she said teasingly.

              “I guess,” he muttered as he checked on the fish.

              She cleared her throat. “So what now?”

              “Now, we eat, and as soon as you’re done, I’m taking you to my village.”

              “Your village?”

              “So my mother can heal you. Your leg needs to be set before it heals incorrectly, and I can smell the infection in some other your other wounds. You’re also dehydrated and malnourished.”

              “You’re taking me to see your mother?” she gasped, some excitement coloring her tone.

              He nodded and passed her one of the skewers of fish. The fact that she still had a sense of humor and seemed excited to meet his parents despite everything she’d been through was quite remarkable. “Eat,” he commanded.

              Rikina ate three of the four fish. He almost offered her the rest of his, but he also didn’t want her to get sick from eating too much after having an empty stomach for multiple days. Afterward, he allowed her a few minutes to let her stomach settle and to clean herself up a bit more in the river before he insisted that they get moving. Soon they were flying through the air again.

              They arrived at his village right at midday. Rikina watched over his shoulder as they lept over a shrine and landed in front of a large house on the hillside above it.

              “Oi, anybody home!?” Kazuya shouted as he let Rikina off his back and then scrambled around behind her to hold her shoulders where she sat on the ground. “I know you’re here, I can smell you!”

              A second later, the man that Kazuya was nearly a carbon copy of came from around back of the house. He was shirtless and carrying his robes in one hand and an axe in the other. His perpetual scrowl turned into a smirk when he saw his son and his guest.

              “Feh, since when do you bring home strays, Kazuya?”

              “InuYasha… Be nice.” a feminine voice warned through the open doorway, and was soon followed by the woman herself. Kagome gasped when she saw the state of the young woman that her son was holding and rushed over to their side.

              “Mom, she’s been beaten and whipped. Her right leg is broken, we might have to knock her out to set it. I don’t see any other broken bones but I can smell infection setting in.”

              Kagome nodded, her and her son falling into a familiar routine. Kazuya often assisted her in the past, and while he wasn’t as skilled as her, he was still quite knowledgeable and helpful.

              Rikina was staring at the woman in front of her. “She’s… so young…” she whispered. Kazuya pretended not to hear her.

              Kagome was all business. “Let’s get her inside. InuYasha, I need-“

              “Yeah, yeah, I’m on it,” the white-haired hanyou said as he emerged from the house, his robes on his body but still hanging open. A large water bucket hung from each of his hands by their rope handles. InuYasha then lept out of sight.

              Trying to keep from pressing on her back any more than necessary, Kazuya carried Rikina into the house and sat her on a mat next to the fire pit. Kagome flitted around, gathering all kinds of supplies. Salves, bandages, rags. Kazuya went over to the corner of the room and pulled out a screen, which he brought over and stood up next to Rikina. She looked at it in confusion.

              “Those clothes are going to have to come off,” Kazuya explained, “This is here to keep me from seeing you but I can still assist my mother.”

              Rikina slipped his suikan off to hand back to him. “You’ve… assisted her with women before?”

              He nodded. “Usually my aunt Rin helps her, but she’s not always around. That’s Towa and Setsuna’s mom.”

              Kagome shot her son a glare as she brought over another armload of bandages. “What have you been telling this girl?”

              “Not much,” he shrugged. “All I told her was that my mom was a miko and she figured most of it out on her own,” he said as he plopped down on the opposite side of the screen, but was still where both women could see him. Rikina was a smart one, that was for sure.

              Rikina tried to bow low to the floor despite her protesting injuries. “I’m honored to meet you, Kagome-sama. I’ve trained as a miko my entire life, your exploits are legendary.”

              Kagome blushed. “No need to use the ‘-sama,’ that was a long time ago. And don’t even try to use that honorific with InuYasha, he hates it.”

              “Oi, Rikina, drop your barrier,” Kazuya said.

              Both Rikina and Kagome said, “What!?”

              “Just let it down. If no one has come looking for my mom yet, then no one’s going to come after you here, either.”

              The younger miko nodded and visibly relaxed. It must be a lot of work to constantly shield herself. Kagome’s eyes widened as she felt her reiki.

              “They took her from her parents to train in the shrine because she’s so powerful. They did this to her because she tried to escape,” Kazuya explained.

              Now Kagome was mad. She actually gritted her teeth and growled – a habit she had picked up from her husband. “Now I can see why you brought her here. But where did you find her?”

              Rikina stifled a laugh at the look of panic that crossed Kazuya’s face. It was the look of a little boy that knew he was about to get in trouble with his mother. He cleared his throat, “Dumbass village guards arrested me for being out after dark and threw me in the same prison cell as her…” he muttered.

              If Kagome wasn’t mad before, she definitely was now. “On your human night!?”

              Kazuya sighed and rolled his eyes. “Yeah yeah, I know. They only hit me a couple times, and I just busted through the wall and left with Rikina the second the sun came up. They didn’t see me in this form.”

              Kagome closed her eyes and took some deep breaths to calm herself. “I guess it worked out for the best, because if that hadn’t happened, you wouldn’t have been able to save this pretty young woman.” She turned to said young woman. “Rikina, is it?”

              “Yes,” she beamed in return.

              Kagome smiled back and started preparing a tea for her. “We’ll get your back cleaned up and bandaged while we wait for this tea to kick in, then we’ll have a look at your leg.”

              InuYasha finally came in with the water, and said that Rin was on her way up to help also. Kazuya scooted back behind the screen so Kagome could remove what little was left of her clothes and help until Rin arrived to take over.

              Kazuya watched the water in the first bucket get dirtier and dirtier as his mother cleaned Rikina’s battered skin. Kagome asked for salve and bandages, which he passed to her. The tea did its job and Rikina drifted off at some point. Soon after that Rin arrived, so Kazuya picked up the screen and carried it to the edge of the floor just inside the door, keeping it between him and the women so he still didn’t see anything. With the screen there, the men could come just inside the house if needed without violating Rikina’s privacy.

              Then the young hanyou went outside, following his nose and ears and finding his father out back behind the house chopping firewood again. He knew InuYasha had heard everything they said inside the house thanks to his sharp hearing, so there was no need to rehash the story for him. Stripping off his robes as well, Kazuya picked up an axe and wordlessly started chopping wood along with him.

              Kazuya could feel his father staring at him, smirk and all. “Whaddaya lookin’ at?” he snapped.

              “Keh! When I thought about my son bringing a woman home someday, this isn’t quite what I had in mind.”

              Kazuya growled. “Not funny, Dad…” The next piece of wood was split with a little more force than necessary.

              InuYasha shook his head. “Maybe not. But still, you don’t usually drag shit home.”

“Mom’s the best healer I know, and I know you feel how powerful she is. Mom’s the best person to help her.”

              “You’re right about that, I guess. But what happens when she gets all healed up?”

              Kazuya paused in his chopping. “Whatever she wants, I suppose.”

              “What if she decides to leave?”

              He shrugged. “At least now she has the choice to.”

Chapter Text

The men were sitting out front waiting for the healers to finish with Rikina and get permission to go back in the house. After they had finished with the firewood, InuYasha filled Kagome’s bathtub and got the fire going to heat the water while Kazuya went out hunting. He was successful, harvesting a young deer. The meat was cleaned and hanging, now they had nothing to do but wait.

Finally Kagome called their names from inside the house. Kazuya was on his feet and through the door before InuYasha had even stood. The young hanyou darted around the screen and was relieved to see that Rikina looked a lot better now that she was cleaned up.

She was laying on her back, still sleeping thanks to the tea Kagome had given her. She was wearing a clean yukata, and the splint and bandages on her leg could be seen poking out from it. The women had also washed her hair and it was still wet. She was still covered in dark bruises, but even this much was a huge improvement.

“Can one of you move her to the other room?” Kagome asked quietly.

Kazuya didn’t hesitate, trying carefully to lift her upper body by her shoulders instead of her back. Rikina didn’t stir. Kagome followed him into the other room and helped position her so she was laying on her side. Then Kazuya started bringing in some of the supplies and setting them inside the door so they would be within easy reach when Rikina woke up. He set out the salve and fresh bandages, some drinking water, a couple rice balls and dried fruit, and an extra blanket for when it cooled off later that evening.

Kazuya stationed himself outside the door to her room, just in case she woke up. He didn’t miss the glances everyone else exchanged some glances over his attentiveness, but he didn’t care. He’d brought her here, so he would do whatever was appropriate for him to do. Everyone else then busied themselves with cleaning up and getting the venison cooking so it would be done in time for dinner.

Rikina woke just before dinner was ready. Kazuya heard her stir and turned to watch her, his nose sniffing the entire time. She tried to sit up, but her body must have protested – she was slow to move and a whimper escaped her throat. The sound had Kazuya to her side in an instant. Even though it was better for her wounds in the long run, getting them cleaned out and treated aggravated them and they probably hurt more than they did before.

Kazuya guided her upright by her shoulders. “You sure you want to sit up just yet?”

Rikina responded through gritted teeth. “Y-yes, I feel so stiff, I need to move…  And I need to eat something.”

“Dinner’s just about ready, I think.” Kazuya continued to support her while she found a way to sit comfortably with her leg, and he realized it would probably be more comfortable if she had something to lean against. “Oi, Mom!”

After a moment, Kagome appeared in the doorway. “Ah, you’re awake, Rikina. How are you feeling?”

“Stiff, sore, hungry… Nothing that isn’t expected, I guess.”

“Where are those extra futons and cushions at, Mom?” Kazuya cut in.

“Um, I think they’re in that cabinet over in the corner,” Kagome answered, and her son was already on his feet before she finished talking. He opened the cabinet and pulled out a rolled-up futon and a bunch of cushions of various sizes and took them over to the wall closest to Rikina. Without giving much warning, he grabbed the edge of the futon she was sitting on and pulled it across the floor with her still on it.

“Kazuya! What are you-?” Kagome started to scold him, but didn’t finish her protest when she realized what he was up to.

He left the futon rolled up and put it at the base of the wall, then guided Rikina to sit in front of it. Then he placed the largest cushion on top of the rolled-up futon behind her shoulders. She winced a bit when she leaned back, but she already seemed more comfortable and relaxed against the cushioning. Kazuya then helped her put another cushion under her broken leg.

Kagome made her a cup of tea that would help with the pain while Kazuya dished up some venison stew for her. Then Rikina’s hosts did something a bit unconventional – instead of sitting around the fire pit to eat, they all brought their dinner over to sit with her.

“Wh-what are you doing?” Rikina asked.

“We wouldn’t want you to eat by yourself,” Rin said cheerfully. “By the way, I’m Rin – Kagome and InuYasha’s sister-in-law. I helped Kagome with your bandages.”

Kazuya swallowed a bite of his food. “That’s Towa and Setsuna’s mom, remember?”

Rikina’s eyes widened while Rin beamed with motherly pride. Few humans knew about the Grim Comet, and it was close to a couple decades ago since it happened now, so Rin was especially glad these days whenever someone mentioned they had heard of her daughters.

Between bites, Rikina’s hosts asked her more questions about where she was from and her upbringing. They were all horrified when she told them her story. Kagome and Rin sat with their hands over their mouths and InuYasha looked like he wanted to go back and kill every last one of them. Kazuya’s expression was a less-intense version of his father’s, but only lacking intensity because he already knew her backstory – he would gladly join his father in the slaughter if given the chance.

“Well, now you can choose what you want to do with your life,” Kagome said.” You’re welcome to stay with us while your leg heals. The splint and bindings should stay on for a couple months, but you should wait another few months after that before you travel; so you have lots of time to think and decide what you want to do.”

“Are you sure you don’t mind me staying here?”  Rikina asked. “I don’t want to impose, especially for several months…”

Both InuYasha and Kagome were shaking their heads. “You’re fine,” InuYasha said, “This house is huge and half-empty and Kagome could use some company other than me.”

Rikina’s eyes glistened with the tears that were welling up. “You are all such wonderful people… I don’t know how to thank you all…”

Kagome reached out and patted her hand. “You just focus on getting better, okay?”

After dinner, Kagome made another tea for Rikina that would help her sleep as well as help with the pain. Kazuya helped her rearrange the cushions so she could sleep comfortably, and then sat at his station just outside the door. Rin stayed the night so she would be there to help change Rikina’s bandages in the morning and had offered to be the one on duty for the night, but Kazuya insisted that he do it.

Their routine was pretty simple over the next few days. Rikina mostly slept due to the tea that Kagome gave her for the pain. Her leg didn’t hurt so bad after the first day or so, but her back was another story. Her bandages were changed daily by the women. She didn’t leave her futon except to relieve herself, with help of course. The group continued to eat most of their meals sitting with her if she was awake; if she wasn’t, then they saved some for her and whoever was around would keep her company while she ate – which was Kazuya most of the time.

Rikina seemed fascinated with Kazuya. She was constantly peppering him with questions about his upbringing and his youkai abilities. But he didn’t mind answering her. Usually he was annoyed when random strangers asked him personal questions like that, but he found himself wanting her to know more about him. It also helped that she wasn’t put off by his answers. She seemed to find his dog-like traits endearing instead of odd or repulsive.

And he wanted to know more about her as well. He asked her his fair share of questions, but she didn’t seem to find herself as interesting as Kazuya did and usually gave brief answers. Then again, with a past as painful as hers, he supposed he couldn’t blame her for not wanting to talk about it. He knew better than to push, and just had to find other ways to get to know her that didn’t involve bringing up bad memories.

One morning while Kazuya sat outside and waited for the daily bandage change to be finished, InuYasha looked at him and shook his head. “Why are you hovering over her so much?”

“Because I brought her here and I feel responsible for her.”

InuYasha sat down next to him. “I get that, but just because you feel like you’re responsible don’t necessarily mean that you are, okay?”

There was a rawness to his voice that gave Kazuya the impression that his father was speaking from experience. “I know, Dad… I’ll back off once she’s over the worst of it. But there’s just something about her… Something that’s different than what I’ve seen in most other women. She reminds me of Mom and Sango and Aunt Rin, and even Granny Kaede.”

InuYasha nodded. “She’s been though a lot. Gave her wisdom beyond her years. She’s got grit, and she’s smart.”

“Yeah,” he said quietly.

InuYasha gave him a single grunt and a nod, then the two sat in a comfortable silence.

It took the better part of a ten-day for Rikina’s back wounds to heal enough that Kagome decided they needed to be left uncovered to heal the rest of the way. It was to the point where she wasn’t in constant pain anymore and stayed awake most of the day. Boredom and stiffness from staying in bed most of the time were becoming more pressing concerns.

Everyone was sitting around the fire pit, including Rikina propped up on some cushions. Rin was still there, and she said that Rikina’s wounds were healed up enough that they didn’t need her help anymore just in time – Sesshomaru was due to come that day.

Rikina seemed to recognize that name also and perked up. “Sesshomaru? Wait, that’s your husband!?”

Rin was beaming with pride and nodding when everyone in the house felt a powerful youki inbound. Rin’s face lit up while InuYasha rolled his eyes and groaned.

“I’m not going to be the one to explain why his wife is here instead of at her house,” InuYasha muttered.

“Oh, quit it…” Kagome admonished, “He’ll understand.”

Rikina turned to Kazuya. “Sesshomaru is…”

“…coming here, looking for Rin,” Kazuya finished. “He doesn’t live here, he just visits every once in a while. Sometimes he takes Aunt Rin with him when he leaves and sometimes he doesn’t.”

“Oh…” was all Rikina said. Sesshomaru and Rin’s relationship was a difficult one to explain, even Kazuya didn’t understand it, but it worked for them. Just then, there was the sound of footsteps outside – one quiet set, and another made up of very loud thuds.

The door slid open and a very imposing form was silhouetted against the light coming in the doorway. He didn’t bother to close the door behind him or remove his shoes, he just strode right in and up to the fire pit.

Rin jumped up to greet her husband, giving him a peck on the cheek and a quick embrace. Sesshomaru leaned into her hug slightly, but otherwise didn’t move or even smile. His eyes were cold other than the brief second that he looked at his wife.

Rin was already gushing and babbling. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t at home, Sesshomaru-sama – I’ve been staying here to help Kagome with Rikina. But she’s feeling much better now and they don’t need my help anymore, so I was going to go home to wait for you today, my Lord.”

Sesshomaru’s eyes turned to appraise Rikina, who was staring. She smiled and dropped her head into as low of a bow as she could manage. “I’m honored to meet you, Sesshomaru-sama. You’re very blessed to have a wife such as Rin, and I owe her my thanks.”

Sesshomaru just continued to stare for a moment, his face expressionless as usual. Then he closed his eyes and turned to walk out the door. “Come, Rin.”

“Yes, my Lord!” Rin turned to wave to everyone. “I’ll come visit and see how you’re doing when I get back, Rikina!” Then Rin hurried out the door and mounted a huge two-headed dragon that flew off a second later.

Rikina just sat and blinked for a moment. Kazuya sighed and got up to close the door that had been left open.

“Sorry about that, he’s not much for conversation,” Kazuya said, and InuYasha scoffed in agreement.

“I can see that,” Rikina muttered. “But if you don’t mind me clarifying… Sesshomaru is a full youkai, so-“

“He’s my half-brother,” InuYasha interrupted. “We have the same father. We’re not exactly close.”

“Ah,” Rikina nodded, and then picked up her tea cup. She didn’t ask any further questions, which Kazuya knew was a relief for his father. Rikina had a certain ability for reading people that Kazuya found impressive. Maybe it was a miko thing, because his mother was the same way, and so was Granny Kaede if he remembered correctly. But Rikina seemed exceptionally good at it.

The binding on Rikina’s leg was able to come off not long after the snow flurries made an appearance. One of the first things Kagome insisted that she do was take a bath. Rikina’s eyes went wide when she saw the monstrosity that was Kagome’s bathtub and commented that it was like having their own personal hot spring. InuYasha and Kazuya diligently filled and heated the water for Kagome on a regular basis, but Rikina hadn’t been able to go outside to see it until now.

They left dinner to simmer and then went out to bathe while it was still light outside. Kazuya stayed by the fire pit so he could give the food an occasional stir. His hanyou ears could hear the women’s conversation, and while he could have made more of an effort not to pay attention to what they were saying, he chose to eavesdrop. He couldn’t shut off his hearing, after all, so he couldn’t help but listen.

“Rikina, I want to ask you something…” Kagome said, her voice gentle yet serious. “You’ll be able to travel by the time spring arrives. Have you thought about what you want to do now?”

Rikina didn’t answer, so Kagome continued. “I don’t want to pressure you, but I have an offer for you…”

“An offer?”

“This village needs a miko. Rin helps with the healing and our friend Miroku helps with some of the spiritual needs when he visits, but neither one of them are around all the time anymore. I can’t do it anymore, at least… not until we get some more answers.”

“What kind of answers?”

“As to why I stopped aging. I know you’ve noticed and wondered about it yourself, but we honestly don’t know why it happened. But until we can explain to the villagers why, I’m worried they won’t fully trust me. It’s just better to keep a low profile for now.”

Kazuya had a feeling that this was coming. He’d heard his parents’ whispered conversations, and despite them trying to be quiet enough that he couldn’t understand what they were saying, he’d picked up enough to know what they were up to.

The whole story that Kagome wasn’t explaining was that this house had originally been shared by InuYasha, Kagome, and Rin so they could raise their children together, but some unfortunate events changed all that. After their fourteen-year hiatus, InuYasha and Kagome had returned to the home while Rin spent some time with Sesshomaru. Rin came back to live there briefly around the time when Kazuya was born, but then bounced back and forth between the village and staying with Sesshomaru. When Kaede passed away, back when Kazuya was little, Rin ended up taking over her old hut. It wasn’t very big, but since it was just her and she wasn’t living there full-time, anyways, she said she felt it made the most sense – that way InuYasha and Kagome could have their privacy.

However, over the last few years, Kagome had been going out in the village less and less. She hadn’t aged a day, still looking exactly the same as when InuYasha pulled her out of the well when she was eighteen, and was starting to get comments and stares.  Rin, who was younger than her, now looked much older than her. At first it wasn’t as noticeable because they had been frozen for fourteen years and none of them had aged during that time, but Rin picked up where she left off – she now looked like she was in her mid-to-late thirties even though she was actually just over fifty.

Miroku and Sango still spent a lot of time in this village, usually staying with InuYasha and Kagome or in Kaede’s old hut if Rin wasn’t there. But since all of their children lived in the demon slayers’ village, they spent most of their time there, including this winter. They wouldn’t be back until the spring. It was inevitable that their visits were going to fewer and farther between.

This arrangement wasn’t sustainable, but they hadn’t come up with a better plan yet.

At least, not until Kazuya showed up on the doorstep with the injured young miko.

“I was wondering if you would want to stay here with us, and take over as the village miko. I’ll still help with the shrine and in any other way I can, but you can still use your training and actually put it to use instead of being imprisoned by it.”

Rikina was quiet for a moment, the only sound was the gentle splashing of the water. “You… you really want me to stay? You wouldn’t mind?”

“We wouldn’t mind at all! InuYasha and I talked about it a long time ago and he’s in agreement. We haven’t said anything to Kazuya yet, but I have a feeling that he won’t mind, either.”

Kazuya rolled his eyes. Of course his mom had to throw that in.

“I hope he doesn’t mind…” she said so softly that Kazuya almost couldn’t hear her. “I know he feels like he’s the one that’s responsible for me since he brought me here, and I don’t want him to feel obligated to continue if I stay.”

“He won’t, it’s not like that, I assure you. Now, let me help you wash your hair…”

Kazuya mulled over Rikina’s last statement. If she stayed, it wouldn’t be because she was hurt anymore – it would be because she’d be his mother’s apprentice. Not his responsibility anymore, but his mother’s. Part of him was disappointed – he had been anticipating feeling responsible for her until she decided what she wanted to do and then moved on from their village once the snow melted. Now that wouldn’t be happening.

However, it also meant that she was staying indefinitely. He was relieved to hear that she wouldn’t be going anywhere. The two of them had seemed to become friends in the time that she had been there. While they hadn’t done a whole lot more than sit and talk, just getting to know each other, it surprised him how much he truly enjoyed her company. And now that her injuries were healed, they could do a lot more things together than just sit around and make small talk.

He mentally shook his head. That is, if Rikina wanted to do more things with him. Until now she hadn’t had much choice than to be around him – it wasn’t like she could get up and leave. While she seemed to enjoy his company as much as he enjoyed hers, he worried that she was just being nice. Rikina had a heart of gold and didn’t have a bad thing to say about anyone, even the people that used to hold her against her will and beat her. Hell, one of her initial reactions to his mother’s offer was to worry about what Kazuya was going to think. She was too nice to tell Kazuya if he was bothering her.

After their bath, they came back inside for dinner. After everyone had been served, Kagome announced that Rikina was going to stay with them to be her new apprentice and take over as the village miko. InuYasha grunted his approval, not even bothering to stop eating at the news since he’d been expecting it.

Kagome was excitedly telling Rikina how she couldn’t wait for Rikina to meet everyone else in their friend circle. Miroku and Sango would visit in the spring, and Shippo was likely to drop in as well. The kitsune was an instructor now but still came by every once in a while. Rikina kept sneaking glances at Kazuya, trying to gauge his reaction - he could see her doing it out of the corner of his eye - but he made sure his expression gave nothing away. He still needed time to think.

After dinner was finished and everything put away, everyone retired to their rooms for the night. Instead of taking up post outside Rikina’s room, Kazuya slept in his own room for the first time since he’d been home. He was right next door, and he could still hear her clearly through the shared wall.

He could hear Rikina trying to get comfortable on her futon. She was restless tonight – normally she had no issue falling asleep. What was wrong? Why couldn’t she sleep? She’d had a nice hot bath, which should have relaxed her. Nothing else was different, except for the fact that Kazuya was in his own room now. But why would that affect her?

Deciding he had nothing to lose, he got up and moved his futon up against the shared wall. He laid back down with his body running parallel to the wall – the only way he could have gotten any closer was if he pressed right up against it. Rikina quieted down, the effect seemingly immediate.

Was it possible that Rikina found his aura comforting? No, that couldn’t be it… could it?

She had told his mother that she didn’t want him to continue to feel responsible for her. At first he thought that meant she wanted him to stop hovering, but now he had evidence that she took comfort in his presence.

He replayed the words he’d overheard in his head again. No, that wasn’t what she’d said, not quite. She said she didn’t want him to feel obligated. Did that mean that she didn’t want him doing it just because he felt like he had to? But that she didn’t mind his attention? The more he thought about it, the more that seemed like that was the case.

She didn’t want to feel like a burden to him. That’s what it was. But she was anything but a burden – he liked being with her and taking care of her. He wanted to continue spending time with her, at least as long as she wanted him to.

Except he really did need to sleep in his own room, though… There wasn’t much he could do about that.

Chapter Text

The next few weeks were uneventful, because even though Rikina was free to get up and move around a lot more, there wasn’t much that they could do outside because it was winter. Or, at least, there wasn’t much that the men would let Rikina and Kagome do. The two hanyou made sure to bring in plenty of game and firewood and to keep what little snow that had accumulated cleared, even from the shrine, so the women didn’t leave the house very much. Rin returned to the village and took care of the sicknesses going around, which fortunately there weren’t many of this particular winter.

Kazuya didn’t get to spend as much time with Rikina as he would have liked, but he still looked forward to coming home and seeing her while they ate their meals. She always greeted him with a big smile and asked him about his day, and was more than happy to share what she spent her day doing.

Rikina started some of her “training” with Kagome, which revealed some interesting comparisons between the two miko. Kagome hadn’t been formally trained until she was older, most of her skills being in the healing arts; and while she had a lot of power, knowing what to do with it and when was something she wasn’t able to hone as effectively. In many ways she still didn’t know everything she was capable of. Rikina, on the other hand, hadn’t been taught hardly anything when it came to healing, but when it came to using her reiki, she had more specific knowledge than Kagome. But they were both very happy that they could learn something from each other.

Rikina said she was particularly looking forward to learning how to shoot a bow.

After another day of getting a crash course in herbs and teas and such, Rikina had gone to bed early and Kazuya fully expected her to fall right to sleep. It was the night of the new moon, though, which meant no sleep for both him and his father. While what they ended up doing instead on these nights varied, they both often ended up sitting in the main room, quietly commiserating in the mutual loss of their youki.

Tonight, they were both sitting against the wall outside of their respective bedrooms. InuYasha didn’t want to disturb Kagome and usually stayed outside their bedroom so she could sleep, but always insisted that he didn’t need anyone to stay up with him. Kazuya knew his father better than that, and knew he liked having some sort of company as long as he didn’t have to talk much, so he would find a spot close by, but not too close, to wait until sunrise with him.

Rikina, however, also seemed like she couldn’t sleep tonight. Kazuya could hear her moving around even with his human ears. After a while, he heard her footsteps – she quietly opened her door and went over to the water bucket to get a drink. The house was dark and she didn’t seem to notice that they were there. Kazuya was content to let her get her drink and go back to bed, but then the sound of Tessaiga rattling in its sheath disturbed the quiet. He wasn’t sure if InuYasha moved on purpose or not, but the end result was the same.

Rikina froze, then slowly lowered the ladle back into the bucket before turning around. She didn’t move or say anything for a moment, but then turned and looked out the window. Kazuya smirked. She figured it out.

She exhaled in relief, then grabbed a couple pieces of firewood off the nearby pile and brought them over to put on the dying fire. She stirred up the coals with the poker.

“Can’t sleep?” she asked softly.

“Keh, I almost never sleep on these nights,” InuYasha answered quietly.

“Why?”

“Habit. In the past, humans or youkai wouldn’t hesitate to try to kill me if they found me like this.”

Rikina was quiet for a moment, watching the wood in the fire pit catch and flame. “I guess I didn’t think someone as powerful as you would have to worry about something like that.”

“Yeah, well, I ain’t so powerful right now. That’s why our human nights are our most closely-guarded secret, so keep this under wraps, okay?” His voice got harsher and a bit louder as he went, indicating that he really wasn’t okay with Rikina knowing it, but he wasn’t okay with anybody knowing.

Rikina nodded. “I won’t tell a soul. I’m going to make some tea, would you two like some?” She turned to make sure Kazuya had heard her as well.

Kazuya got up and walked over to the fire without saying a word. InuYasha didn’t respond right away, but after a moment simply scooted over to the side of the fire pit. Rikina kept looking back and forth between them, probably comparing their features. Kazuya had an idea of what she was seeing.

While they looked so much alike, there were several more subtle differences. InuYasha obviously experienced a lot of hardship in his life and it showed, both in his expressions and in his eyes. He was aloof, although not nearly as much as his brother. This was a warrior, a fighter; he never completely let his guard down, and there was a fierceness in his eyes that never went away, even when he looked at his wife and son – that fierceness just took on a different nature when his gaze turned to them. But those eyes also held a lot of other things, like sadness, and a lot more wisdom than a lot of people realized.

Kazuya, on the other hand, wasn’t battle-hardened – his eyes were warmer, and overall he showed more emotion than his father. His expressions and the way he carried himself were more like his mother. One could sense that he was a gentle soul if you could look past his claws and fangs and amber eyes. However, he was capable of the same fierceness his father had. He’d protect Kagome with his life just like InuYasha would.

Rikina silently poured the tea for each of them, not saying a word as she let it steep. After a few moments she handed a cup to each of the men before settling into her own spot as close to the fire as she could get to stay warm. They sat and sipped their tea in companionable silence.

InuYasha downed the last of his tea. “I’m going to go lay down, try and get some rest, at least. Thanks for the tea,” he said before standing up and quietly going to the room he shared with his wife.

Rikina and Kazuya sat silent, but it quickly grew awkward. “You usually can’t sleep on these nights, either?” she whispered.

“Nah, but it’s not from lack of trying. It’s just hard to relax when you can’t smell and hear and see as well as you’re used to.”

“So you’re not afraid of people coming after you?”

He shook his head. “Not really. My dad’s had to fend for himself ever since he was a kid. I grew up in this village with my parents to protect me, so I didn’t have to worry about stuff like that as much.” Kazuya knew he was very lucky – he had a better upbringing than what most hanyou had experienced.

Neither one spoke again for a while, just watching the fire lick up around the wood in the fire pit.

“I’ve… I’ve missed you sitting outside my door at night,” she said softly, without looking up.

Kazuya glanced at her but quickly looked away again. “It’s not necessary anymore, you’re better now.”

“I know, I… I just didn’t know how comforting it was until you stopped doing it.”

Kazuya could feel the blush creeping into his face. He cleared his throat. “Well, um, I’m right next door if you need anything.”

“I know… thank you…” She then quickly gulped down the last of her tea and said a shy good night before going back to her room.

Kazuya still had most of his tea left. He just stared at her bedroom door for a moment, then turned to glare at his parents’ bedroom. He jumped up and walked the few steps to their door and yanked it open, just in time to see InuYasha and Kagome scurrying back to their futon.

Kazuya growled at the eavesdroppers. “Enjoy the show?”

At least they had the decency to look embarrassed that they got busted. Before they could manage a response, Kazuya closed the door with a bit more force than necessary and returned to the fire pit to drink his tea in one swallow. Instead of trying to go sleep in his room, he decided to sit outside Rikina’s room since he doubted he’d get any sleep, anyway – and just maybe she would appreciate the gesture. He certainly wasn’t doing it because he wanted to. Nope. No way.

Spring finally arrived. It was early afternoon when the four of them were sitting around the fire pit, just having finished with their lunch and were now sipping at their tea and relaxing. Rikina pulled her sewing over and set it out on her lap while they chatted. She was putting the finishing touches on her new miko outfit so she could look the part when she got introduced to the villagers. It had been raining for several days – a light rain was tapping on the roof even now – and they planned on taking Rikina around the village for a tour and introductions as soon as the weather improved.

Kagome was saying how much she couldn’t wait to introduce Rikina to Miroku and Sango, and once again started to describe them both to her. Kagome had told her about the monk and taijiya several times, and while every now and then there was a new story or bit of information, most of the time she ended up repeating something that she had already told her several times now. But Rikina listened with the same amount of interest every time.

Finally InuYasha gently nudged his wife with his elbow. “Oi, you’ve told her this story already.”

“Oh, I have, haven’t I?” she said as she put her fingers to her lips and a look of embarrassment came across her face.

Rikina gave her a reassuring smile. “Yes, but I don’t mind. I can’t wait to meet them. Maybe someday you can tell me the whole story about the Shikon Jewel, from start to finish. I’d love to hear it.”

InuYasha snorted and rolled his eyes but Kagome beamed. “I’ve been thinking about writing it all down,” Kagome said, earning a sideways glance from her husband.

“Knock yourself out,” InuYasha muttered.

“InuYasha, can I ask you a question?” Rikina asked, getting a grunt in response. “Those beads you wear, do they serve a purpose?”

Kagome started giggling, and even Kazuya had to stifle a snort. InuYasha narrowed his eyes at their antics.

“Yeah, I kinda tried to steal the Shikon Jewel from Kagome when we first met, so this old lady miko put these on me so when-“

“-I say the magic word, they pull him to the ground,” Kagome finished with a big grin on her face.

Rikina looked back and forth between them for a moment, perplexed. “Beads of Subjugation? Why haven’t you taken them off him?”

“He won’t let me.”

InuYasha was shaking his head. “As humiliating as they are, they’ve saved my hide more than once. Besides, I can be a hard-headed jerk sometimes and it’s a quick way to set me straight.”

“I don’t even remember the last time I used them,” Kagome said.

“Well, maybe one of these days I’ll get to see the beads in action,” Rikina said with an amused tone.

The couple was exchanging glances out of the corners of their eyes, communicating with their eyes and expressions only. Kagome’s gaze was pleading while InuYasha’s was irritated but resigned. Kazuya had a feeling he knew what was coming and was trying very hard not to laugh.

Finally InuYasha growled, “Fine, do it – but it doesn’t count against my streak!”

Kagome looked more excited than she should have been. “You gotta stand up so she gets the full effect.”

InuYasha winced and rolled his eyes at the same time. “Fine, but just this once…”

Rikina looked back and forth. “What are you…?”

“You said you wanted to see, so InuYasha has agreed to a demonstration,” Kagome said. Meanwhile, InuYasha was grumbling as he set his sword on the floor by his wife and stood up. He took a couple steps back and gritted his teeth. When he gave Kagome a single nod, she said the dreaded word: “Oswari.”

The beads glowed and pulled the hanyou down to the floor by his neck with a resounding thud. Rikina stifled her laughter as best she could, but Kagome and Kazuya weren’t as considerate. InuYasha groaned and pulled himself off the floor, brushed off his clothes, and returned to his seat by his wife with a look of mild embarrassment and irritation.

Rikina took a deep breath to regain her composure. “I thank you for that, InuYasha, I’m sure that wasn’t pleasant.”

“It isn’t, but she took it easy on me this time,” he grumbled. “She’s made me leave some pretty deep craters in the past.”

“Oh I’m sure,” Rikina said, still trying not to laugh.

InuYasha must have decided that a subject change was in order because he turned his attention to Kazuya. “So are you gonna take off again this year? Or are ya stickin’ around for a change?”

The question took Kazuya off guard even though he knew they were going to ask it eventually. The truth was that he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do. These last few years he had left as soon as the snow melted to go seek his adventure, and normally he would have been cagey and looking forward to stretching his legs well before then. This year, however, he felt more anxious about the idea of leaving – he had no idea where he wanted to go or what he wanted to do. The thought of running around the country picking fights with random youkai didn’t hold the appeal that it once did.

And if he was honest with himself, he also hated the idea of leaving Rikina.

Schooling his features, he tried to act nonchalant when he shrugged and said, “Dunno yet.” Then he downed the last of his tea and abruptly got up and walked out the door.

It was a bit chilly outside, but the rain had subsided for the moment. He walked over to the bench that his dad had built for his mom. It was out in the part of the yard that had the best view of the village and forest beyond. Not caring that it was wet from the rain, he sat on it, cross-legged as usual.

He knew that getting up like that was rude, but he hated the tone in InuYasha’s voice. Like he was almost daring him to leave again. He knew his parents hated that he was out trying to fight when that was the last thing they wanted him to do. After what happened with them and Moroha, they only wished peace and a normal life for their son. They even gave him a name that meant “peace.” He was their end goal after all that they had been through and how hard they had fought to be together.

But he couldn’t help but feel like he wasn’t worthy to be part of this family. He was trying to figure out his place in the world just like all young adults do, and he felt like he had big shoes to fill.

The sound of the door opening broke into his thoughts, soon followed by footsteps and Rikina’s scent drifting towards him. Rikina walked over to the bench. Kazuya’s ear flicked her direction but he didn’t turn his head or say anything.

“Want some company?” she asked, rubbing her arms against the cold. Kazuya shrugged, which Rikina took as permission to sit next to him. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really.”

“Okay, well I’m right here if you change your mind.”

Kazuya tensed as the silence grew longer. He didn’t want to talk about it, really, but it wasn’t the type of thing he would ever be ready to talk about. But the silence was getting louder and he found himself gritting his teeth trying not to break it.

“Everyone else in the family has done something great except me,” he said in a rush.

Rikina’s eyes flicked to him, not understanding him since he spoke so fast. “Everyone else…”

Kazuya sighed and spoke again, but more slowly this time. “Everyone else in my family has done something great, they tell legends about what they’ve done and how powerful and amazing they are; but I haven’t done anything. Everyone knows who my parents are. Everyone knows who my uncle is. Everyone knows who my sister and my cousins are. But nobody knows who the hell Kazuya is.”

Rikina waited for a moment before responding. “Did anyone tell you that you had to? To live up to the family name, so to speak?”

“No… when I was younger they told me they didn’t want that kind of life for me. But I still feel like I need to do something…”

The young miko watched the emotions play out on his face and in his eyes, despite his best efforts to conceal them. “I imagine every parent wants their children to have a better life than they did,” Rikina said.

“Yeah, but they’re not the ones that are going to get forgotten a few generations from now.”

Rikina turned and gently placed a hand on his arm. “I know it’s not what you were going for, but you did do something that made a difference: you saved me. You changed my world.* And if it’s any consolation, it’s something I’ll tell my children and grandchildren, if I have any. At least I won’t forget you.”

At first, all Kazuya could do was look at her hand where it rested on his arm. Eventually he got up the courage to pull his gaze up to meet hers, and even though he expected the onslaught of emotions that would rush through him, he wasn’t prepared for it.

All he had wanted was for her to get healed up and get away from her oppressors. It seemed simple enough at the time – just get her out of there and get her to his mom. He’d done that, no big deal – at least, it wasn’t a big deal to him. It never really registered to him that he really did change her entire life for the better, that what she was experiencing was far beyond simple relief. Rikina was strong and hid her emotions well since she was used to having to guard herself, and he didn’t realize until now much him saving her meant to her.

But he saw it now. Those brown eyes of hers were not only beautiful, but had so much depth, and he could see the sincerity of her words in them.

His eyes dropped back to her hand, and he pulled his opposite hand out of his sleeve to set it on top of hers. “Thanks…” he said softly.

“I’m the one that should be thanking you,” she said.

Rikina’s hand was also freezing cold, so Kazuya pulled his hand away and sat up straighter in order to take off his suikan and put it around her shoulders. He pretended not to notice how she tried to be subtle as she pressed her nose against the fabric and inhaled deeply. She liked his aura, now she liked his scent, too?

As they watched the sun set, he wondered if he really did want to go out and become a legend in his own right. After all, his parents had done all that fighting in the hope that he would never have to. He saw how much they worried about Moroha and how they longed for her to find a life of peace. Why did he insist on adding to that stress?

Even if you took his parents’ feelings out of the equation, what did he really want? Did he really want to fight, to endanger his life? And even then, what was he fighting for? He had nothing to fight for other than his own ego and the ridiculous notion that he had to in order to fit in with his own family.

At least he had made a difference in one person’s life, and in that moment, he decided that that was enough. No more recklessness.

But then the question became what he did want to do instead, which he already knew the answer to: he wanted a normal life, one with a loving family surrounding him. He wanted his legacy to be him having been the first one in his family that didn’t have to fight to find and know peace.

He sighed. Now how was he going to go about starting this family of his? He wasn’t in a huge rush, but his father was almost a couple centuries old (if you include the fifty years he was pinned to the Goshinboku) when he met his mother, and kami-knows how old Sesshomaru was when he married Rin. Kazuya wasn’t sure if he liked the idea of waiting that long.

But then again, wouldn’t such a woman be worth the wait?

He couldn’t rush it, it couldn’t be helped. He’d either stay in this village where he was known and respected and safe until she came into his life, or he would go travel the country again and figure out where he wanted to settle down and maybe they’d find each other in the process.

During this entire thought process, visions of Rikina flickered unbiddingly through his mind. Rikina sharing a home with him. Rikina doing her rounds through the village and Kazuya following her, just like his father did with his mother. Rikina cooking the meat he harvested for them. Rikina sharing his futon, Rikina having his children…

He tried to push the images out of his head. He told himself he needed to be open-minded, that he couldn’t put her face on his fantasies when his soulmate was somewhere else out there in the world. That wasn’t fair to Rikina. She had only just gotten her freedom and she needed time to think about what she really wanted. And besides, having her fall into his lap the way she did almost seemed too easy. He thought he’d have to do something to earn his woman.

Then again, it had only been easy for him. Rikina had been through hell.

He spared a glance in Rikina’s direction. She was too busy watching the last of the sun dip behind the horizon to notice him looking at her. The oranges and pinks of the sky reflected off her skin and in her eyes, and seeing her clutching his suikan warmed his heart. Something about this just felt right.

It might not have been hard-earned on his part, but something told him he would be a fool if he let an opportunity to be with Rikina get away.

Chapter Text

              A few days later, the rain finally stopped and Rikina was getting dressed in her miko garments so she could go introduce herself to the villagers. Normally, Kagome would have gone with them to make the introductions just as Kaede had done with her many years before, but under the circumstances, they decided that it was best if Kagome stayed out of the public eye. Rin was off with her husband, and they all thought it would just be weird if InuYasha took her around. Kazuya had offered to escort her, which Rikina enthusiastically accepted. Her smile made Kazuya’s heart skip a beat for some reason, but he found that had been happening a lot lately.

              Rikina took more time than usual dressing this morning, and when she finally came out Kazuya could see why. She had pulled her hair up into a high ponytail, with a few strands of hair that were too short to be contained hanging in front of her ears. The clear view of her neck did something to Kazuya and his mouth went dry. It didn’t help that she had done a really good job making her miko garments and they fit her just right.

              “Oh Rikina, you look nice with your hair up like that! You should wear it like that more often.” She gave her son a pointed look. “Don’t you agree, Kazuya?”

              His shot her a glare and muttered, “Yes, Mother…”

              InuYasha walked out of their bedroom and slapped something into Kazuya’s palm. “See if the blacksmith has any arrowheads, for both of them. Rikina will need a bow, too.”

              Kazuya looked at his hand when his father pulled back and saw that he gave him a handful of coins. He nodded once and tucked the money into his sleeve. The young miko and hanyou then said their good byes and headed out the door.

              The first place they went was the shrine, especially since Rikina hadn’t really seen it yet. Then they descended the steps to Rin’s hut, which Kazuya explained was originally Kaede’s, his mother’s mentor. Then they turned and walked towards the village center, Kazuya pointing out some of the houses that he knew and naming off people that lived there. He knew Rikina wouldn’t remember them all, but he thought it would still be helpful if she had an overview of the demographic of the village. She listened intently, regardless.

              They went to the headman’s house and spent a lot of time there talking with him and his family. They were very happy that they would have a new miko, and made it clear they harbored no ill will toward Kagome. Apparently there were rumors going around that she had a serious illness that kept her from fulfilling her duties, and those in the know never bothered to correct them since it was a convenient excuse. Kazuya managed to steer the subject of the conversation away from his mother, and eventually they were able to make their exit.

              They meandered through the village streets, Kazuya stopping every once in a while to make introductions. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming, and Rikina said she thought she would feel at home here.

              When they got far enough out of earshot of people, Rikina asked him, “You are quite well-respected here. I notice everyone calls you ‘Kazuya-sama.’”

Kazuya shrugged. “Technically my dad’s a lord or something, and he’s protected this village ever since he’s lived here. And since I’m his son I get the same treatment, I guess.”

              “He’s a lord?”

              “Son of the great Inu no Taisho and Lady Izayoi. Sesshomaru is heir to the western lands but never claimed them, or at least he hasn’t yet.”

              Rikina blinked a few times but only responded, “Huh.”

              They swung by the blacksmith’s shop next. Since this was a small village, the shop also served as an armory. He didn’t have any arrowheads ready, but said he would have a bunch done that he would hold for Kagome within the next few days. He did, however, happen to have a handful of complete arrows and a bow for Rikina, so Kazuya paid the man for those and said he would be back to get the arrowheads for his mother when they were done.

              They were just about through with their tour of the village and about ready to turn back when a group of four women were walking toward them. They were coming back from the river from doing laundry. Kazuya froze when he recognized one of them and mentally braced himself for an awkward exchange.

              He knew all four of the women – they had all been part of their friend group that played together as children. But the one that he was worried about was the shortest one on the end wearing a pink kosode: Chiyo.

              He had a crush on Chiyo for years. She had the kindest heart out of all the girls and always went out of her way to make him feel included. While the other children hadn’t been overly cruel to him, there had been a few comments made over the years about his hair and ears and such that she would stand up for him over and would make sure that he could still play with everyone else. When Kazuya hit his teenage years and they were at the age where they would start thinking about marriage, Kazuya had wanted to court her.

              He never got to formally ask her, though, because she made it clear she wasn’t interested. He had tried to have a private moment with her a few times, just to talk, and she always declined. Even if they were in a group and he tried to talk to her she would find a way to bow out of the conversation entirely. She wasn’t mean to him, and he didn’t push, but he knew that she knew he liked her and she was letting him down gently.

              It was after she had been avoiding him for the better part of a year that he decided to go seek his adventures. Looking back, the connection was obvious, but at the time he never thought that Chiyo’s perceived rejection was a reason for his sudden wanderlust. In some ways it seemed silly because he never got an actual rejection, but at the same time, it almost felt worse that he never even got that far.

              He long ago accepted that he didn’t actually love Chiyo or anything like that, he was more in love with the idea she represented in his mind. He wanted a marriage like his parents, and he thought if he couldn’t have that with Chiyo, the girl who had been the nicest to him throughout his life, then he wouldn’t be able to have it at all.

              Now the whole thing seemed so stupid. He was a stupid kid then, and in many ways, he was still a stupid kid. He might not have been through trials like hunting jewel shards or fighting Naraku or an evil comet, but he’d gotten out of the village and experienced enough to know that some girl giving him the cold shoulder was far from the end of the world. There were lots of other women out there.

              One of which was standing right beside him.

              Kazuya and Rikina moved to the edge of the path to make room for the women to pass, and just as the group walked by, Chiyo did a double-take and stopped and stared.

              “Ka…Kazuya?”

              His eyes flicked to her face briefly but he couldn’t maintain eye contact. “Hi, Chiyo.”

              “I thought you were your father at first,” she said, her hands worrying the side of the basket of clothes she was carrying. Her eyes traveled up and down his body, which made him feel rather uncomfortable and a bit smug at the same time.

              The last time they’d seen each other was right around the time he turned sixteen, which was three years ago now. He didn’t have his firerat robes yet and wore simple clothes at the time. His mother couldn’t keep up with making his clothes because he was constantly ripping them running through the forest, so he always looked a little worse for wear. He was shorter then and very lanky. He knew he was a scrawny little thing with a baby face and dog ears too big for his head and was not much to look at.

              Now, however, he had grown some. He was lean and muscular and had filled out quite a bit – and if he continued to take after his father, he still had a bit more to go. His fire rat outfit was much more flattering and made him look more the part of a hunter or warrior. He looked like a man, and it would seem that Chiyo liked what she was seeing.

              Kazuya cleared his throat. “This is Rikina – she’s my mom’s new apprentice and will be taking over as miko.” He held his arm out to his side to gesture to Rikina as he spoke, and she surprised him by stepping into his arm. Reflexively, his hand came down and rested on her hip. It was so natural he did it without thinking. As soon as he realized what he was doing, it was all he could do to not yank his arm away and make things obviously awkward; instead he tried to channel confidence, as if he totally meant to put his arm around her.

              Rikina folded her hands in front of her and bowed to the group of women. “I’m very pleased to meet you all, and I look forward to serving your village as miko.”

              The women all bowed back and gave her warm smiles… except for Chiyo. Her eyes were wide and kept darting between the two of them and down to his arm around her. She finally blushed slightly and awkwardly returned the bow.

              The other women asked Rikina a couple questions but Kazuya was too busy waiting for them to say their good byes that he didn’t pay attention. His thoughts were focused on the feel of her under his hand. Eventually Rikina lightly placed a hand on Kazuya’s chest and said, “We should be going if we’re going to make it back to your parents’ in time.”

              Kazuya nodded and guided Rikina back to the path before putting his hands back inside his sleeves where they belonged. With his back to the group he allowed the blush he had been suppressing to wash over his face.

              After they got out of earshot of the group, Rikina glanced back over her shoulder to make sure they were alone before speaking again. “I’m sorry about that…”

              “Feh! I’m the one who should be sorry.”

              Rikina shook her head. “No, I had a feeling you were going to do that-“

              “You did? Then why’d you do it?”

              “Because I could tell the way she was looking at you made you uncomfortable. Who is she, anyway?”

              Kazuya shrugged one shoulder. “Girl I used to like. It wasn’t mutual.”

              “Ah, I had a feeling it was something like that.”

              Deciding a subject change was in order, Kazuya knelt down and said, “There’s something I wanna show ya. Climb on.”

              Rikina’s face brightened. The last time she rode on his back was when she was injured when he first brought her here. She seemed to like it when he carried her like this back then, and apparently she was excited to do it again. She didn’t hesitate to wrap her legs around him and hold on to his shoulders, and he was hyper-aware of her touch. He almost wished that it was a longer trip to get to where they were going.

Kazuya took them into the forest and let her down in front of a large tree. Rikina’s eyes were immediately drawn to a large patch of missing bark on the trunk, and she walked up to it and to place her hand on the smooth spot.

              “This is where my parents met,” Kazuya said. “My dad was sealed there for fifty years and my mom was the one who woke him up and broke the seal.”

              “Then your dad tried to steal the Shikon Jewel from her and promptly earned himself those beads of subjugation.”

              Kazuya snorted. “Yup, you got it. Not long after another youkai stole it and it shattered when my mom shot it with an arrow. So they went on their mission to find all the shards and put it back together.”

              “The legend says they had to fight another powerful youkai for the jewel, and when they defeated him and completed the jewel, the Shikon Miko wished it out of existence and disappeared somewhere to live happily ever after with her hanyou protector.”

              “Yeah, well, that’s the short version. C’mon, walk with me.”

              As they walked, Kazuya filled in some of the missing details, like just how evil Naraku really was, how they met their friends, and how the quest took the better part of a year. They made their way out of the trees and into a clearing where the grass was just over knee-high. Kazuya walked over to a clump of bushes that was partially concealing a small wooden structure – a well.

              Kazuya stopped a good distance away from it. Getting close to the Goshinboku didn’t bother him, but for some reason the old well made him leery. “There’s one part of the story that isn’t part of the legend and needs to be kept secret, though.” He paused and looked at Rikina to make sure she understood the weight of what he was about to tell her. “My mom is actually from almost five hundred years in the future.”

              Rikina’s mouth gaped.“Five… hundred…”

              “In her time, her family’s shrine is here. She ended up in this time when a centipede youkai pulled her into the well. She went back and forth between this time and hers the whole time they were putting the jewel back together. She and Dad were the only ones that could pass through. But when they destroyed the jewel, the well took her back to her time and quit working for three years. Finally it let her some back, and they’ve been together ever since.”

              “Has she ever tried to use the well again?”

              Kazuya shook his head. “No, she doesn’t want to risk getting separated from Dad again. And my sister and cousins got to travel to her time through the Goshinboku, so they’ve all been to the future, too. But we don’t tell anyone because we don’t want anyone to try and change history.”

              Rikina nodded. “So… your mom thinks that the reason she doesn’t age…”

              “…is because she isn’t from this time.”

              Rikina was quiet for a moment, then softly said, “I’m honored your family trusts me with this secret.”

              Kazuya blushed and felt guilty. “I… I didn’t tell them I was going to tell you, but I don’t think they’ll mind. If they didn’t trust you then they wouldn’t have offered to let you stay.”

              “Well, I’m still honored.” She paused, then said, “It’s obvious your parents are soulmates. They have such a wonderful relationship.”

              “Yeah, they do,” Kazuya said. Then he swallowed hard and dropped his gaze. “I hope I can have that too someday.”

              “I’m sure you will,” she almost whispered. She turned and scanned the forest around them. “At least your parents have a nice place where they have those memories of them meeting – it’s better than a dungeon cell.”

              “Keh! I can take you back to the river where we stopped that morning if you want a better spot to get all nostalgic over.”

              Rikina blushed. “I’d like that, actually.”

              The exact meaning behind what they had just said sunk in, and Kazuya’s face quickly matched Rikina’s. He cleared his throat and swallowed.

              Not sure how to salvage the conversation, he knelt down and gestured to his back. “We should get back to the house, lunch was a while ago.”

              She was all-too happy to clamor aboard again. Kazuya purposefully took a more scenic route back to the house just so he could enjoy feeling her against him a little longer.

Chapter Text

Over the next few months, Rikina took to her new duties with ease, and the villagers loved her. Kazuya accompanied her on her rounds, just like his dad used to do for his mom. She went just about every day even if there wasn’t anyone in need of a healer so she could get to know the villagers and learn her way around. She would do that in the mornings and spend her afternoons foraging, training with Kagome, or puttering around the shrine. Kagome and InuYasha did most of the cleaning and maintaining of the shrine, usually doing so in the morning while Rikina was out and about.

Miroku and Sango returned within a month of Kazuya showing Rikina the Goshinboku and the well. Rikina took an immediate liking to Kirara, and that was even before she transformed into her smaller form.

They all ate lunch and dinner together the day that they arrived, and Rikina fit right in. Miroku was fascinated with Rikina and how she was made to live and train at the shrine. He said that taking spiritually powerful children away from their parents wasn’t unheard of, but it was very rare and she was the first one he knew personally that it had happened to. Sango spent most of her time chatting with Kagome and catching up, so Rikina didn’t get to talk to her as much, but Kazuya had no doubt that they would get along very well.

They sat around the fire pit well into the evening, reminiscing and telling Rikina stories about their days shard hunting. Kirara, in her kitten form, ended up curling up in her lap and falling asleep, which earned a set of eyebrows raised in surprise from Kazuya. Kirara usually opted for Sango’s lap.

In many ways, Kazuya still felt like an outsider. They, his parents and the monk and taijiya, had a special connection – they bonded through battle and shared trauma. And it wasn’t anything any of them did to make him feel exluded (on the contrary, they went out of their way to include both him and Rikina in their conversation), but the strength of their friendship was obvious. It was like this every time they visited. But at least he wasn’t alone in it this time – Rikina looked uncomfortable also.

Kazuya nudged her with his elbow and leaned over to whisper in her ear. “Wanna go for a walk?”

Rikina nodded, and he immediately got to his feet and offered his hand to help her stand. “Oi, you old fogies can keep telling your stories, we’re going to get some fresh air.”

While the looks that InuYasha and Kagome often gave them were embarrassing, they weren’t as bad as Miroku and Sango’s – the monk and taijiya weren’t subtle at all with where their minds went at their announcement. Miroku gave them a devilish smile and wagged his eyebrows, and Sango winked. Both Rikina and Kazuya blushed furiously.

“Stuff it, Miroku, it ain’t like that,” Kazuya snapped. For some reason this made everyone except InuYasha burst out into uncontrollable laughter.

“Oh my, he really is his father’s son,” Miroku said as he wiped a tear from his eye. InuYasha balled up his fist and looked like he was actually going to punch him, but was stilled by his wife putting a hand on his arm. While InuYasha looked annoyed, everyone in the room could tell that he was just as amused as they were.

Kazuya shot them all a glare as he opened the door for Rikina and followed her outside.

The moon was nearly full and it was a clear night. The stars were breathtaking and Rikina stared up at them as they walked.

There was something bothering Rikina, he could tell, but he wasn’t sure how to bring it up, or even if he should bring it up at all. She kept sighing and fidgeting with her fingers. Finally he couldn’t take it anymore. “Wanna talk about what’s bothering you or would you rather be left alone?”

Rikina blushed and dropped her eyes. “When they tease us… Does the idea of being with me… like that… bother you that much? The way you spoke to Miroku-“

“Naw, it doesn’t bother me, but Miroku is one of those that you can’t let get away with saying shit like that or he’ll keep doing it and only get worse. He was quite the lecher back before he and Sango got married and he didn’t entirely lose all his old habits.”

“O-oh… I guess I didn’t expect that from a monk.”

"He used the curse he used to have as an excuse, but-“

 Just then, Rikina stumbled over a rock in the path. Kazuya caught her before she face-planted, holding her by her shoulders until he was sure she was steady.

“You okay?” he asked. All Rikina could do was nod and her blush renewed itself. Kazuya took her hand and started walking again. “Better let me guide you since you can’t see in the dark very well.”

He knew she could see, she just hadn’t been paying attention. But it made a convenient excuse to hold her hand. And she didn’t protest – in fact, she laced her fingers with his and gently squeezed.

The pair walked the rest of the way back in companionable silence. Rikina would occasionally gaze at the stars instead of watching where she was walking, and would lean into his arm and grasp it with her other hand to keep herself from tripping again when she did so. Kazuya certainly didn’t mind, but it made his heart pound faster every time she did it.

Kazuya was just beginning to come around to the idea that he’d developed feelings for Rikina. Even though he stopped himself from his fantasies about a possible future with Rikina that one day, they had come back… again and again. He couldn’t imagine a future with anyone else.

And he automatically started doing all sorts of things that husbands do for their wives without giving them a second thought. He didn’t have to escort her around the village every day, he just did it. In fact, him doing so without being her husband could be seen as inappropriate. He found himself doting on her in little ways, noticing when she was tired or hungry or thirsty and offering to remedy that for her – him offering to take her for a walk tonight being a prime example.

It all felt too natural. Too easy. Surely true love took a lot more work to forge, right? Was this what it was supposed to feel like?

But he also couldn’t fathom it feeling any other way.

They walked out to a spot where they got a clear view of the sky, and they sat on a knoll there. Kazuya pointed out a bunch of the constellations that his mother had showed him. Rikina hadn’t let go of his hand, and rested her head against his shoulder. He was tempted to put his arm around her, but that would require letting go of her hand and he wasn’t quite willing to relinquish his hold quite yet. Instead he reciprocated by leaning back into her, and tried to be subtle as he inhaled her scent over and over again.

Eventually, Rikina shivered – it was getting late and it was pretty chilly. Kazuya relunctantly let go of her hand so he could give her his suikan. After she put it on, she shyly offered her hand for him to take again, and he gladly did so. When they left the knoll not too long afterward, they walked back to the house like that, hand-in-hand, and thankfully everyone had gone to bed by the time they got back.

Kazuya rebuilt a small fire while Rikina got ready for bed. She slept better when she had a cup of tea before bed, so he got the teapot ready. She came out of her room and gave him a smile that made him very happy that he thought to do this for her. He poured himself a cup for a change, just so he could sit with her longer. But they didn’t speak, they didn’t have to. This was another thing Kazuya liked – that neither one of them felt the pressure to talk all the time. Words just weren’t always needed.

Rikina finished her cup and set it next to the wash basin for the next morning. “Thank you for getting the tea ready for me.”

“Feh, you do it every night and it ain’t like it’s hard.”

Rikina smiled and turned towards her bedroom. “You’re going to make a wonderful husband to some lucky woman someday,” she said before quickly going to her room and closing the door.

Kazuya looked at her closed door for a moment before turning his eyes back to the almost-empty cup of tea in his hand. Is this really all it took to be a good husband? Just to be observant and do stupid little shit like this?

However, he also knew that he wouldn’t do this stupid little shit for just anyone. He wanted to do it for Rikina because he cared about her and wanted her to be comfortable and happy. He saw his dad do this kind of stuff for his mom all the time. The kind of stuff that neither one of them did for, say, Rin or Sango or anyone else because it wasn’t appropriate. That was husband stuff.

But here he was doing it.

He downed the last of his tea and sighed. He couldn’t deny it anymore, especially after everything that happened this evening – he loved Rikina. But loving her was one thing, how did he know if she was the one? What if the one he was meant to be with was still out there somewhere?

Artwork of this chapter that I commissioned from the wonderful Cati Art:

Chapter Text

The rest of the summer passed uneventfully. Their routine continued with the only exception being periodic visits with friends. Miroku and Sango were staying in Kaede’s old hut for the summer, and Shippo finally made an appearance, but he didn’t stay long. Kirara went back to the demon slayers’ village since she helped with exterminations. Rin spent a lot more time with Sesshomaru now that Rikina was there to take over the healing duties in the village, so she only popped in for a short visit here and there as well.

Kazuya never got up the courage to ask Rikina for another moonlit walk. It didn’t help that they still got teased about that, too. But that evening played through his mind over and over again.

Instead, on the days when Rikina had rounds to make in the mornings, the two of them would take a detour on the way home. Usually they’d walk through the forest or some other scenic route that gave them an excuse to be by themselves. Kazuya found himself wishing more people were sick or injured so they could do it more often.

Normally all they did was talk and maybe hold hands if they were sure no one would see them, but that was only briefly on a handful of occasions. They had a knack for running into other people almost anywhere they went. There was one day late that summer, however, that Kazuya saw an opportunity and didn’t hesitate to take it.

The wife of one of Rikina’s patients that morning gave her a bundle of food as thanks for treating her husband. Rikina came out of the house carrying the bundle, and they waited until they were out of sight and earshot of the house before opening it to see what they’d given her. There was enough food to make a generous lunch for two, which gave Kazuya an idea.

“Climb on,” he said as he knelt down, and Rikina did so with their spoils in hand. He took her up the steeper hillside bordering the village where they were very unlikely to run into anyone. He let her down in a small clearing. “We can’t be too long because everyone is going to wonder where we are.”

Rikina nodded but was too busy opening the bundle and setting the food out to respond. She had a big smile on her face and Kazuya was glad that he thought of this. The two of them scarfed the food down quickly – Rikina even licked her fingers clean which Kazuya found rather amusing.

After he’d taken his last bite, Kazuya had a particularly bad itch at the base of one of his ears, and scratched it, as one does when they have an itch. However, when he pulled his hand away, Rikina’s eyes lingered on his ears. There was a twinkle in them, but something else as well. He knew that look – he saw his mother give it to his father all the time.

He feined annoyance and sighed as he laid down on his stomach and rested his chin on his arms, his head near Rikina’s lap. “Go ahead.”

She blinked at him. “Go ahead… what?”

“You wanna touch them. You’ve been wanting to ever since we first met, I can tell. Go for it.”

She hesitated, and her first touch was so light that his ear flicked reflexively and made her giggle. But then she ran her fingertips up both ears, and Kazuya had to suppress a groan. The only other person that had touched his ears was his mother when he was really, really little as a way to comfort him when he was upset. He didn’t think it would affect him much since he was an adult. It was relaxing and invigorating all at the same time. He buried his face into his arms to hide his expression.

Rikina grew bolder, her fingers finding their way into his hair at the base of his ears. She started rubbing and massaging, and Kazuya’s head would lean into one hand or the other of its own accord. After a while, she paused long enough to reach over and pull out the ribbon tying his hair back so she could expand her ministrations to include the rest of his scalp as well.

Kazuya didn’t like leaving his hair loose because it was just one more thing that made it easy to mistake him for his father. Normally his knee-jerk reaction was to immediately pull it back again, but what Rikina was doing felt amazing and squashed any protests he might have had.

“Your hair is softer than it looks,” she said softly.

Kazuya would have shrugged but he was too relaxed to bother. “Aunt Rin told me once that my hair was more like my uncle Sesshomaru’s than my dad’s. Dad’s is more coarse, I guess.”

There were a few seconds of silence before Rikina spoke again, her voice almost at a whisper and Kazuya could hear her blush in it. “Your ears are just as soft as I thought they’d be, though,” her fingers stroking them as she said it.

Kazuya was glad his face was still down and she couldn’t see him, although he was blushing so furiously he wouldn’t have been surprised if his ears were also turning red. He swallowed. “Glad they didn’t disappoint.”

After a few more moments, they knew they had to get back. Rikina insisted on fixing Kazuya’s hair for him before they left, then they gathered themselves up and headed back to the house. They got some raised eyebrows when they said they had already eaten lunch, but thankfully no one pressed further when they explained that one of the villagers had fed them instead. It wasn’t a complete lie…

Summer was soon gone and autumn was about to make its presence known. The villagers were hurrying to get the last of the harvest done before the first frost. Kagome and Rikina were gathering as many late-season herbs as they could to dry for the winter. Kaede’s old hut was once again readied to sit empty until spring, since Miroku and Sango would be returning to the demon slayers’ village and Rin was staying with her husband.

Kazuya sat on his haunches on a knoll overlooking some of the rice paddies and the meadows beyond. Kagome was giving Rikina an archery lesson at the edge of the forest off to his right – he couldn’t see them but he could smell them. His dad was over there with them somewhere, keeping watch as usual.

Walking from the meadows and heading towards the rice paddies on their way back to the village was a group of young women, most of whom Kazuya recognized – one of them being Chiyo. Looking at her didn’t stir any emotions anymore, but it did make him think…

The scent of his father wafted his direction, and after a moment his ear flicked toward the sound of his footsteps drawing near. InuYasha walked over and plunked himself down in the grass next to Kazuya, crossed his legs, rested Tessaiga against his shoulder, and tucked his hands into his sleeves.

“Hey, Dad... I need to ask you something,” Kazuya said, knowing full well that he was venturing into dangerous territory. He turned to watch his father’s expression when he asked, “Who exactly was Kikyo? And how did you know Mom was the one you were destined to be with and not her?”

Even though InuYasha barely moved a muscle, Kazuya could feel the tension build and roll off him. He gripped Tessaiga’s sheath tighter, and there was a slew of emotions playing out behind his eyes.

Kazuya had heard Kikyo’s name come up now and again when they were talking about their past mission looking for Shikon shards and Naraku. He had gotten the general idea of who she was and knew there had been something between her and his father, but neither one of his parents were very forthcoming with details. She was also the person they seemed to talk about the least, and while some of the reasons were obvious, Kazuya knew he didn’t have the full story.

But now he wanted to know.

InuYasha swallowed. After a few moments – long enough to make Kazuya think that perhaps he wasn’t going to answer – InuYasha sighed and closed his eyes. He almost choked on her name when he finally said it. “Kikyo was Kaede’s older sister, the one that your mother is a reincarnation of, and… my first love.”

Kazuya turned to face his father more and sat fully in the grass and crossed his legs, giving him his full attention.

InuYasha went back to the very beginning, telling Kazuya the story starting from when he met Kikyo. How she was the guardian of the Shikon Jewel, how he was willing to turn into a full human and live his life with her, how Naraku tricked them both which resulted in Kikyo’s death (the first time) and him being sealed to the Goshinboku for fifty years.

“I thought your mom was her when I first woke up,” InuYasha said with a slight smirk. “She set me straight pretty quick.”

He went on with the story, telling how Kikyo was resurrected, how she wanted to drag him to hell with her and how that’s what he thought he wanted at first, how Kagome tried everything in her power to keep her alive in the end, and the part she played in defeating Naraku.

This is probably the most Kazuya had ever heard his father talk at one time, but he hung onto his every word.

“But… why didn’t you follow through on going to hell with her? How did you choose Mom?”

“I chose her without realizing it,” InuYasha said, “In my mind, I owed Kikyo my life because I couldn’t protect her and she died, and I was promised to her first, so my head told me I had to choose her. But my heart and soul chose your mother from the very beginning. Kikyo wanted me as a human, but your mother told me over and over how she liked me the way I was, as a hanyou. I wanted to be with Kikyo just so I wouldn’t be alone anymore; but your mom also made it so I wouldn’t be alone – because of her, I had friends, and now a family. Kagome multiplied anything I ever could have had with Kikyo.

“Looking back, it was so obvious. She was the reason why I could wield Tessaiga in the first place. I hated being away from her, and hated the idea of any other man being in her vicinity. She was the one who could reverse the transformations when I turned full-youkai. Just hearing her voice brought me out of trances and spells, even one that Kikyo put on me once. I had several chances to go with Kikyo but I didn’t because I wanted to stay with your mom. Protecting her pushed me to become a better fighter, and a better man…”

InuYasha turned and met Kazuya’s eyes. “You know your mom is an amazing woman, I don’t have to tell you about all the wonderful, selfless things she’s done, but it’s the kind of man that she caused me to become that made me realize she was the one I was born to be with.”

For a few moments, all Kazuya could do was stare back at InuYasha, but his eyes grew more unfocused as the words sunk in. He knew most of the rest of the story, and how it wasn’t until InuYasha was fighting off the youkai in the Shikon Jewel that he realized Kagome was his soulmate, and how they were separated for three years soon after; but hearing all of this added a whole new layer to their story.

Kazuya finally looked away, his eyes looking out over the now unoccupied meadows and rice paddies. “I know you went through hell to be together, but… what if you don’t have all that kind of stuff happen to you? How do you know you’re supposed to be with that person without it being put to the test like that?”

InuYasha’s eyes darted back and forth between looking at and away from Kazuya, a mild look of panic on his face. Finally he shook his head and said, “You know I’m not good at this stuff, Pup… But I know this much: don’t get too hung up on that shit. Your mother and I drive each other nuts on a daily basis – that’s what puts us to the test now. We might have been born for each other, but when she came back, there was no more fighting or Naraku or jewel shards – it was just us. I found new reasons to love her, and new ways to love her. You don’t need some big test, you just need to choose each other.”

Kazuya blinked a couple times before dropping his head in a sort of nod of acceptance and turning away again.

“She reminds me of her, you know,” InuYasha said. “She’s like a mix of both Kikyo and your mother.”

It took Kazuya longer than it should have to realize who he was talking about. “Rikina?”

InuYasha nodded. “She reminded me quite a bit of Kikyo when you first brought her here. And I’m not sure if she’s just loosened up because she felt like she can be herself with us, or if your mother’s just rubbed off on her, but she’s gotten more and more like your mom.”

“Is that a good thing?”

“Yeah, it’s a good thing.”

Kazuya’s eyes flitted around nervously as he tried to form his next question. “So you like her, then? You… um, approve?”

InuYasha’s mouth twitched and eventually failed to contain his smile. “She’s smart, caring, knows not to pry. She’s a tough one, and she puts up with your ass. Not to mention that your mom loves her. She’s pretty, too. What’s not to like?”

Kazuya snorted, trying not to blush. “You have a history of not liking people, so I wanted to be sure.”

“Keh! She’s one of the few people that I don’t have a single complaint about.”

Kagome and Rikina were making their way over to them, so their conversation was pretty much over.

“Thanks, old man…” Kazuya muttered with a smirk.

Kagome climbed on InuYasha’s back and they took off home immediately, leaving them alone. Kazuya wanted more time with Rikina before they went back, so he stalled. “How was your archery lesson?”

“Oh it was a lot of fun! I’m not a very good shot, though.”

“Eh, you’ll get it with practice.”

She blushed and looked down. “And I got to have a bit of a heart-to-heart with your mom, too.”

“Yeah, she’s pretty good at those.”

Rikina laughed. “Yeah, she is. She gave me a lot to think about.”

“Yeah she’s good at that part, too,” he muttered, trying very hard not to question further since she didn’t seem to be volunteering much. “C’mon, let’s get home.”

However, Kazuya kept getting odd looks and smiles from his mother the rest of the day, and he had an idea what their little talk had been about.

Autumn was extraordinarily short that year. Winter came in with a vengeance – no one could remember a winter with that much snow. Miroku and Sango hadn’t even had a chance to return to the slayers’ village before they got snowed in. They ended up moving into the fourth bedroom at InuYasha and Kagome’s since they were unprepared to stay for the winter.

The two hanyou felt like they had no choice but to step up. Every morning they went around to every house in the village and made sure that they had what they needed: if they needed food, they went hunting for them; if they needed firewood, they got some from someone who had plenty; if someone was sick, one of them would run home and bring one of the miko back to treat them. They cleared snow off of roofs every few days to make sure they didn’t cave in from the weight.

InuYasha and Kazuya were gone most of the day every day from dawn until past dark. They skipped breakfast and only rarely came home for lunch. Kagome insisted that they eat dinner every day even though they both tried to convince her that they were fine, but they also knew that they wouldn’t win the argument if they pushed it.

What they weren’t admitting was that they were skipping meals on purpose to make their food supply last longer since they hadn’t planned on having Miroku and Sango to feed. After a while, both father and son were wearing down – they both completely crashed and slept hard on their human nights. In fact, Kazuya ended up falling asleep before he turned human one time.

Mercifully, spring was just as eager to cut winter short just like winter had done with autumn. The only bad thing was that everything turned into a muddy mess when the snow started to melt. Kirara showed up to take Miroku and Sango to the slayers’ village once most of the snow was gone, and they planned on staying there for a while to make up for the lost time with their family.

InuYasha and Kazuya were still busy helping people repair their houses and the roads from all the damage caused by the excessive amount of snow. And to the credit of both of the hanyou, everyone had stayed fed and warm that winter, and there wasn’t a single death - which everyone attributed to the fact that their basic needs were taken care of by InuYasha and Kazuya. Once people started traveling between the villages again, it was clear that they were the only village that hadn’t been devastated by the season.

Things finally settled down at last, and they could finally fall back into their old routines. Rikina was back to making her rounds to those that needed a healer in the mornings, with Kazuya in tow, and then working with Kagome in the afternoons. There wasn’t much as far as training anymore, but Rikina had taken on more housework and other chores so the two women often tag-teamed getting things done together.

Kazuya was just glad he could go back to spending most of the day with Rikina again.

Chapter Text

One day, the two miko decided they were going to spend an entire afternoon out picking herbs and foraging. The wet winter gave all the plantlife a great headstart this year, and they didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to stock up. Of course, their protectors accompanied them to the meadows and patiently waited for them to fill their baskets. Kazuya took up position in a nearby tree, while InuYasha took the opposite side of the meadow.

It was approaching dinner time when Rikina filled her basket. In fact, it was overflowing, and Kazuya could tell she was very pleased with her haul. She stood and looked to Kagome a short distance away.

Kagome looked up. “You and Kazuya go on home and get dinner started – I won’t be much longer, my basket won’t hold much more.”

“We might have to come back tomorrow!” Rikina laughed. She picked up her basket and started walking towards the path that took them home through the forest, and Kazuya jumped down out of the tree to join her. He would have offered to carry her home, but there was no way to carry her and that overly-full basket without spilling it, so he just fell into step beside her.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a basket that full of herbs before,” Kazuya commented.

“Yeah, Kagome and I will have a lot of work getting these dried out and ready to use, but they should last us a long time.”

“Feh, that means you’re going to stink up the house more than usual.”

Rikina chuckled and shifted the basket to her opposite hip, trying to find a comfortable way to carry it with it being so full.

“Here, let me carry that,” Kazuya said as he held out his hands.

“It’s okay, I’ve got it.”

Famous last words. The words had no sooner left Rikina’s mouth when she stumbled over something since she couldn’t see over the basket. Kazuya was quick enough to catch her by her shoulders before she hit the ground, but the basket wasn’t so lucky. The plants now lay across the ground at their feet.

Rikina sighed. “I guess I should have let you take it, after all.”

“I should have just carried it for you from the start,” Kazuya said guiltily. Both of them knelt down and started picking the plants up. Luckily the herbs didn’t scatter too much, they clung to each other and pretty much fell in one clump, so the two of them were working closely side by side gathering up the few that had fallen loose.

When the last piece within his reach had been picked up, Kazuya looked up and froze. Rikina was much closer to him than he’d anticipated. A few strands of her hair were blowing in the breeze and brushing his face, that’s how close she was. Her scent overwhelmed him, and he couldn’t move.

Before he could snap out of it and create some distance between them, Rikina looked up also and met his gaze, and her reaction was identical – she didn’t move. It was like her eyes held him captive, and he had no desire to be released. He could hear her breathing, shaky and shallow, while he couldn’t breathe at all.

Rikina was the one who broke eye contact, but it was only because her eyes dropped to his lips. The small action did something to him, and his body leaned toward her of its own accord. Then his heart skipped a beat when she leaned in as well.

It was a soft, tender kiss, one that they held for several seconds before Kazuya brought a hand up to her neck so he could pull her in for a deeper kiss. Rikina reciprocated, one of her hands coming up to grip the front of his suikan.

It just seemed so natural. There wasn’t any nervousness, at least not on Kazuya’s part – the only thing he felt was something that he couldn’t find words to describe. A mix of elation, excitement, and just a feeling of being whole, like this was right.

Then a twig snapped somewhere nearby, breaking the spell, and they jumped apart. They looked at each other with wide eyes and flushed faces for just a second before Kazuya grabbed the basket and jumped to his feet. Rikina scrambled to hers and brushed off her clothes. InuYasha and Kagome appeared on the path a ways behind them just as they started walking again. They walked back to the house in silence.

Kazuya’s mind spun all the way home. What the hell had just happened? Had he really just kissed her!? Had that been real? Did she even like it? He knew he did…

Now what was he supposed to do?

The next couple of days were nothing but awkward tension. Kazuya and Rikina didn’t say a single word to each other. Kazuya often caught Rikina staring, about as often as he caught himself staring at her, but if their eyes met, they would both immediately look away with bright red faces. Any attempt by InuYasha and Kagome to rope them both into a conversation and get them talking didn’t work.

Kazuya couldn’t stop thinking about the kiss. The whole scene played out in his head in slow motion over and over again. He remembered how it felt just being that close to her while they were picking up the herbs that had spilled, then the way his entire body locked up when he looked in her eyes. He remembered the undeniable pull he felt and his automatic response to lean in. And of course, he remembered what the kiss itself felt like, and how it was all too short.

Then he remembered the look of panic on her face when that twig snapped and she realized what they were doing. Maybe she hadn’t enjoyed it as much as he had. Kissing is a whole ‘nother level compared to holding hands. Maybe she was ashamed and that’s why she hadn’t brought it up. Hell, she couldn’t even look at him.

Then again, he was just as guilty as all of the above. He didn’t know what to say to her.

After another awkward lunch, Kazuya announced he was going to go get the fire going to heat the bathtub. The thing was so big it took most of the afternoon to get hot enough and made a convenient excuse. Rikina had come to enjoy regular baths just as much as Kagome did, so the men traded off the task of preparing the tub instead of it just falling to InuYasha most of the time. Kazuya stomped out the door and slammed it shut behind him.

He heard InuYasha growl, “I’ve had enough of this shit…” and his footsteps as he followed. Kazuya kept walking, not in the mood to wait for him.

InuYasha caught up to his son and grabbed him by the shirt collar and slammed him against the side of the house. He didn’t do it very hard, but still made a loud thud against the wood.

“What the hell, Dad!?”

“You need to man the hell up and tell that woman you love her.”

“What!? Get off me,” he said as he shoved InuYasha’s hand away.

“This has gone on long enough. You already act like an old married couple, you might as well make it official.”

Kazuya growled. “It ain’t that easy, and you of all people should understand that.”

“I do, Pup, but this is the easiest part. It only gets harder. But if she’s what you want, it’s worth it. I’m not telling you what to do, but you need to quit dragging your feet - the one thing I regretted most when the well kept your mother and I apart was not telling her how I felt sooner. Don’t wait for the ‘right moment’ because it’s never going to happen, but some catastrophe might happen instead and make you regret stalling like I did.”

Kazuya let the words sink in, then his shoulders slumped as he realized his father was right. “Alright, fine, I’ll talk to her. Happy?”

InuYasha smirked. “Let’s go get that stupid tub ready.”

Kazuya spent the rest of the evening mulling over what he was going to say and how he was going to say it. Nothing he thought of seemed good enough, and quite frankly he was terrified. Kagome and Rikina decided that they were going to go out for more herbs the next day, now that they got all of the ones from the first trip drying. He should be able to get a moment alone with her and he could tell her then.

His thoughts were interrupted when a familiar, tiny little voice was faintly calling his father’s name. A moment later, InuYasha smacked the side of his neck and a flattened flea drifted to the floor.

“InuYasha-sama, it’s been so long!” Myoga whimpered just before popping back to his normal shape. Kagome and Rikina had been gathering their bath supplies and came back to the fire pit to see what was going on. Rikina kept glancing at Kazuya in confusion, looking for an introduction.

But Kagome beat him to it.

“Myoga, this is Rikina – she’s taken over as the village miko for me and has been staying with us. Rikina, this is Myoga.”

Myoga hopped over to her and she held out her open palm for him to sit on. “Rikina-sama, I’m very pleased to meet you. I’ve served InuYasha-sama’s family for generations, and it’s been such a long time since I last visited I thought I was due to drop by.”

“I’m pleased to meet you, as well,” Rikina said, bowing her head slightly.

“Rikina and I were just heading out to take a bath, we’ll chat some more when we come back,” Kagome cut in. Myoga hopped back over to InuYasha’s shoulder and the women made their exit.

InuYasha and Myoga talked and got caught up, but Kazuya didn’t pay much attention. He was still trying to plan out what he was going to say to Rikina tomorrow. He played different versions of the conversation over and over again in his mind. When the women came back in, Rikina said she was tired and wanted to go straight to bed, so she bid everyone good night and went to her room.

Kazuya also retired for the night not long after. He still needed to figure out what he was going to say to Rikina the next day. Nothing he had come up with so far seemed good enough. He tried very hard to ignore his father very quietly rehashing their earlier conversation they had outside with his mother and the flea. So now everyone was waiting for him to confess. No pressure at all…

The next day, they spent the morning cleaning the shrine, then headed out to the meadows after lunch. Kazuya intentionally walked a little slower than his parents and hoped Rikina would follow suit and hang back with him. It worked, and soon InuYasha and Kagome were so far ahead of them that they disappeared from view into the trees. They were alone for the first time since they shared that kiss a few days before, not far from the spot they were now.

He still wasn’t entirely sure what he was going to say. He knew he needed to tell her his feelings, but did he want to ask to court her, or did he just want to jump straight to a proposal? Like his father had said, they were already acting like they were married, so what exactly would courting consist of, anyway? But would jumping straight to proposing marriage be too fast?

He supposed he’d have to gauge her reaction to his confession and go from there. He didn’t know what else to do. He was so nervous his hands were going numb.

Kazuya swallowed and took long, even breaths as he tried to keep his heart from pounding out of his chest. “Um, Rikina… there’s something I want to talk to you about.”

Rikina stopped walking and turned to face him. “O-okay…” was all she said.

Kazuya also turned to face her and uncrossed his arms. “I want to talk about what happened, um, the other day.”

Tears welled up in Rikina’s eyes. “I’m sorry, Kazuya… I’m sure you want to make sure nothing like that happens again…”

“Huh? Why would you think that!?”

“Because you’ve barely even looked at me since then, let alone talked to me…  I know you’re upset.”

Kazuya mentally cursed himself for letting her think that. He reached out to take her hand, that one that wasn’t carrying the basket, and held it between both of his hands. “I’m not upset about the kiss… it’s actually the opposite.”

It took a few seconds for his words to register. She finally brought her glistening eyes up to first look at her hand held in his, then moved up to meet his gaze.

“Kazu…ya…” she whispered.

It was all she managed to say before they both froze. They both sensed it. Unfamiliar youkai. Rikina picked up on their youki while Kazuya caught their scent. There was more than one of them. Both of them looked around, trying to figure out where they where and where they were going. Youkai hadn’t bothered this village in years, the only ones stupid enough to try anything with InuYasha around where a few random lesser youkai here and there. But what they were sensing now weren’t small fry.

“Three of them,” Kazuya said as the scents closed in. Whoever they were, they were coming right to them from somewhere deeper in the forest.

“They’re moving fast,” Rikina said as she stepped closer to him.

A moment later, three figures landed on the tree branches above them. They were all dressed similarly to each other in dark, tight-fitting clothing. Their outfits reminded Kazuya of a ninja’s or the taijiya’s getups. They looked reptilian in nature, but between most of their bodies being covered and the shade from the trees, he wouldn’t see them clearly enough to tell.

“My, what a powerful reiki you have there, miko,” the one closest to them said. “Does the name Aiko mean anything to you?”

Rikina didn’t react at all. But Kazuya tensed next to her.

“Why? Should it mean something?” she said coldly.

“There is a hefty bounty on the head of a miko that goes by that name.”

“Dead or alive,” a second one added. “It would seem that they are fine with no one having her if they can’t.” 

Before she could respond, she hissed in pain. She dropped to her knees and hugged at her shoulders.

“Rikina!” Kazuya cried as he dropped down next to her. Her robes were cut open down her back, and a thin line of blood was welling up along her spine. The third youkai had come up behind them, and armed with a dagger-like blade on the end of a long chain, had sliced open the back of her robes, revealing the extensive scarring on her skin.

“Ah yes, that’s her,” the third youkai sneered.

“Now, which is it going to be: dead or alive?” the first one said.

Kazuya stood them both up and held Rikina against his chest. “You’re not laying a finger on her,” he growled. Then taking a deep breath, he yelled, “DAD!!! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU!?” He couldn’t take on three of them at once. How had neither of his parents sensed these guys and come running yet!?

“It’s too late,” the second one said, just before Kazuya was aware of a sharp pain in his right shoulder and him slamming against a tree, with Rikina between him and the trunk. He could barely move, something was pinning him down. He managed to push back just enough to look down at Rikina, and he paled at what he saw.

Chapter Text

Rikina’s eyes were wide open, staring back at him with fear and… pain. A lot of pain. The next thing he noticed was the overwhelming smell of blood – both his and Rikina’s. Then he finally realized what happened.

The second youkai had been armed with a spear. He had thrown it, and it passed through both his and Rikina’s shoulders and staked them both to the tree that had been a few steps away.

Just then, he heard the unmistakable sound of his father drawing Tessaiga and crashing onto the scene. Kazuya was able to turn his head to his right just enough to see his mother standing a ways away, an arrow nocked to her bow, waiting for an opportunity to use it, and then glimpses of his father leaping around and slashing at the youkai. Most of the fighting was happening right behind him where he couldn’t see, since InuYasha was trying to keep himself in between them. Kazuya braced himself and pushed back against the spear as one of the youkai fell to the ground dead not far off to his left.

The spear wouldn’t budge, and since it had been thrown from above them, the handle was sticking up at an angle and made it hard for Kazuya to get good leverage. All he managed to do was pull his body along the spear a little bit. But he had to do something fast – Rikina’s face was getting more pale by the second and her eyes becoming unfocused.

Urgency fueling him, he gritted his teeth and braced his arms and feet against the tree trunk, then pushed up and back as hard as he could. He slid his body off the entire length of the spear in one fluid motion. Then he grabbed the handle, slick with his blood, and pulled it free of Rikina. She slumped down to her knees and he caught her and lowered her to lie on the ground.

The fighting continued behind him, but he only barely took notice. The spear had hit an artery where Rikina’s upper chest met her shoulder. She was bleeding to death. Her unfocused eyes looked at him for only a second before they slid shut.

“Damn it!” he shouted before yanking off his suikan and undershirt. He wadded up the undershirt and put it under her shoulder against the exit wound, then did the same with his suikan and pressed it to the front of her shoulder. He used both hands and leaned over her, putting as much pressure as he dared against the wound without doing more damage.

Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion. It had only been a couple moments ago that he had been holding Rikina’s hand and looking into her eyes. Now she was laying on the ground bleeding out under his hands.

“Kazuya-sama!” Myoga appeared on his shoulder, bouncing up and down. “What’s wrong with Rikina-sama?”

“She’s losing too much blood,” he ground out before reaching back to pull her legs up, hoping to keep whatever blood she had left closer to her head and vital organs. He could feel the bleeding slowing, but he had a feeling it was because she was running out of blood instead from him stopping the bleeding. She needed blood.

“Myoga, quickly, suck out a bunch of my blood and give it to her!”

“But… but Kazuya-sama, that’s forbidden! It would be better to use your mother’s…”

But Kagome was still on the opposite side of the fighting from them. It sounded like there was only one of the youkai left. They didn’t have time to wait for the last one to fall. Rikina’s pulse was almost non-existent. Her heart wouldn’t be beating by the time Kagome got over to them. She needed blood now.

His own blood ran hot as the need to save Rikina overrode everything else. His fangs and claws lengthened and his vision was tinged with red, but all he knew was that this needed to happen now or she would die. “DO IT, NOW, MYOGA!!!” he roared.

The flea was terrified into compliance. “You need to take in some of her blood first, Kazuya-sama, otherwise your blood will kill her.”

Kazuya growled but somehow knew the flea was right. He didn’t have time to examine how he knew, but he just knew. He pulled his soaked suikan away from her shoulder and lapped up as much of the blood, her precious blood that he desperately needed to be inside her body instead of pouring out of it, as he could, as fast as he could.

After a couple seconds, he pulled back and put his suikan back to the wound while Myoga latched himself onto his arm. The flea inflated to a size bigger than Kazuya’s head before he couldn’t hold anymore. He withdrew then rolled over and poked his proboscis into the side of Rikina’s neck. He pushed the blood into her at an even pace so her blood vessels wouldn’t burst from the pressure.

Kazuya could feel the blood flowing out of her wound pick back up again as the new blood supply found its way through her, but the flow slowed after a few heartbeats and then stopped completely after a few more. Her pulse was already gaining strength. Just as Myoga drained himself and backed away, Rikina’s eyes flew open. Her hands clenched into fists and her body bowed off the ground. A strangled cry escaped her throat as she writhed for a couple seconds, then she fell limp again.

The first thought that came to his mind was that she was dead, but then he immediately knew she was very much alive. Her heartbeat was strong again, her breathing even. She was just unconscious. He lifted his suikan off her shoulder to verify that her wound had indeed stopped bleeding.

She was going to live. She was going to be okay. He’d saved her, with Myoga’s help.

As the scene behind him grew quiet, Kazuya spread out his suikan to lay across her chest, even though it was covered in blood. There were so many tears in her robe he didn’t want her exposed if they tore open any further.

“Oi, Kazuya!”

Kazuya responded with a feral snarl, and quickly scooped Rikina up in his arms and took off back towards their house. He didn’t even turn around. Getting her home where she was safe was the most important thing right now.

He left a trail of blood across the floor as he carried her into her room, but he didn’t care. He took her to a corner of the room and sat down, laying Rikina across his lap. She’d be okay, he just had to wait for her to wake up.

His parents weren’t too far behind him. He heard their footsteps and they came straight into the bedroom.

His lip curled up into a snarl and he growled low in his throat when they came in. His hung his head low over Rikina’s face and didn’t turn, but he tracked their movements with his eyes. Kagome moved slowly and knelt in front of them, then raised a hand up to reach for them. Kazuya’s growl got louder and he clutched Rikina tighter to him. InuYasha hung back, his hand on Tessaiga’s hilt.

“Kazuya, my son, you’re both hurt. Let us help you,” Kagome said softly.

“She’s fine,” he snapped. “She just needs time.”

“Can I see, please?” she tried again, reaching out to them.

“Don’t touch her!” he shouted.

And as he said it, a sphere of glowing energy surrounded the pair and pushed Kagome back. A barrier. He’d put up a barrier. A skill that Kagome had never taught him and that none of them knew he could do – including him, until that moment. He glared at them from inside it.

In Kazuya’s mind, everyone was a threat to Rikina, and he was the only one who could protect her right now. She belonged to him, and no one else was going to touch her. He didn’t feel the pain from his own injury and had forgotten all about it. He knew these people were his parents and didn’t want to hurt them, but Rikina was his priority now and he’d do what was necessarily to protect her, even from them.

Tears started welling up in Kagome’s eyes, her heart breaking for her son watching how he was protecting the woman he loved from even his parents.

InuYasha came over and placed a hand on Kagome’s shoulder. “Let’s go.”

“Is she…?”

“She’s alive.”

Kagome breathed a sigh of relief. “We’ll bring some supplies in for you for when you’re ready for them, okay?” she said to Kazuya. He didn’t respond, and the two of them made their way out of the room and closed the door most of the way behind them.

Awhile later, they quietly brought medical supplies and water and food in and set it as close to Kazuya as they dared. Once again he put up the barrier and continuously growled as he watched them out of the corner of his eye the entire time they were in the room.

Kazuya didn’t sleep that night. He continued to sit, awake, holding Rikina in his lap. No sleep, no rest, nothing for him until she woke up. She was defenseless right now and he had to keep her safe. Her body needed time to heal.

It was just before dawn when Rikina started to stir. She cracked her eyes open and looked around the dim room. Then her eyes moved over and up to look at Kazuya, her eyes widened when she met his eyes. Tentatively, she raised her hand up and lightly traced her fingertips along one cheek. He closed his eyes and leaned into her hand.

“You’re okay,” he said, his voice rougher than usual.

She nodded “I’m okay, but what about you?”

“I’m fine. I stopped bleeding a long time ago.”

“But… your eyes… why-“

“What about my eyes?”

“Why are they red?”

Red? Did… did that mean he’d transformed? Kazuya looked down at his claws that were longer than usual and were just starting to recede back to their normal length. This had never happened to him before, but it wasn’t anything like his old man had described to him once upon a time; the physical description was the same, but the rest of the experience wasn’t. He wasn’t close to death, he didn’t turn into a killing machine, and he remembered everything.

“Allow me to explain,” Myoga said as he suddenly appeared on Kazuya’s shoulder. “You transformed because Rikina-sama almost died.”

“’Transformed?’” Rikina asked.

“Into a full youkai. It’s happened to InuYasha-sama, too, but under different circumstances. Kazuya-sama asked me to take some of his blood and give it to you to save your life. The good news is that it worked, but the bad news is that blood bonds are strictly forbidden, so it’s imperative that you tell absolutely no one about this!”

“Care to explain, Myoga? What’s this ‘blood bond’ thing?” Kazuya growled. He knew he should be grateful to the flea and that Rikina would be dead without him, but he was irritated with him speaking in riddles.

“By exchanging blood, your souls have now been bound to each other’s – it’s like being soulmates, except more tangible. You’ll always be connected. You’ll always know where the other is. You now share a lifespan – Rikina-sama will live as long as you do, Kazuya-sama.”

Kazuya’s mind was spinning. “All this just from giving her some of my blood!?”

The flea hesitated. “I’m afraid that in saving Rikina-sama’s life, you’ve inadvertently performed a ritual intended for those that are… um, committed to each other… You know, married couples…”

Now Kazuya was pissed, but mostly at himself. This wasn’t how he’d wanted this to happen. They hadn’t even had a chance to talk about how they felt and now they were basically married. “So I’ve basically roped her into… m-marrying me… without her consent. She stuck with me for the rest of her life, which is now going to be considerably longer because I’ll live for centuries.”

Rikina shrank back a bit at his words. She tried to sit up and get off Kazuya’s lap. But his grip on her tightened so she couldn’t go anywhere. He wasn’t ready to let her go yet.

Myoga looked back and forth between the two of them with both confusion and concern. “I know this is a lot for both of you, and that this isn’t the way this is supposed to happen, but keep in mind this wouldn’t have worked if you didn’t already care deeply about each other. Give it some time. But remember what I said – tell no one!”

They both nodded, and Myoga bowed before hopping away to leave them alone.

They sat in silence for several moments, neither one of them moving while the light in the room got brighter as the sun rose. Rikina looked around the room with wide eyes. Eventually her eyes came back to Kazuya, and she finally noticed that the shoulder she was held against was covered in blood.

She leaned away so she could look at the wound, and apparently just noticed that Kazuya was shirtless. Her eyes darted across his chest before she pulled her eyes away.

“We should really get cleaned up…” she said softly.

Kazuya nodded and released her so she could climb off. He took his suikan and walked over to the door. “I’ll go wash off in the stream, be right back.”

He was vaguely aware of his parents’ presence as he passed through the main room and went out the door. He wasn’t ready to face them yet.

The water was so cold it almost burned, but he welcomed the feeling. Faint traces of the purple crests on his cheeks showed in his reflection. After washing the blood off his shoulder, he smoothed his hair back and redid his ponytail. Then he got to work trying to wash the blood out of his suikan.

All he’d wanted to do was keep her alive. She was bleeding to death. She needed blood, so he gave her some of his blood. It was supposed to be a simple solution. It wasn’t supposed to fucking bind their souls. Yeah, he loved her and the idea of being bound to her didn’t sound so bad to him, but what about how she felt?

He was still in the same position he was the day before – he needed to talk to her. They needed to sort all this out. They were bound to each other now, and he could only hope that the flea was right and that the feelings were mutual.

They had just sat down at the fire pit for breakfast when Kazuya came back in. Breakfast was the previous night’s leftover dinner, which no one complained about. Kazuya assumed that Rikina filled his parents in on what happened with the bounty hunters while he was gone, because no one spoke at all. Kazuya didn't even know what to say. Luckily, no one in the village was sick or injured right now, so Rikina didn’t need to go make her rounds and there was nothing pressing to rush them into talking about things with his parents. He and Rikina needed to figure things out between them first.

Kazuya was hyper-aware of every move Rikina made. He didn't even need to look at her to know what she was doing at any given moment. He was waiting for her to finish her food because he needed to get them alone so they could talk. Rikina put down her empty bowl, but froze in place with her hand outstretched. Kazuya followed her eyes and saw she was staring at her hands. Then he saw what caught her attention. She usually kept her nails short, but now they were longer, thicker, and sharper – like claws. She had claws. They were shorter than Kazuya’s, but they were still claws.

Oh no… Was anything else different?

“I need some air,” she said suddenly as she got to her feet and went out the door.

Everyone stared after her for a moment, but then InuYasha and Kagome turned to look at their son. They didn’t say anything, but the message in their eyes was clear: go after her. Kazuya took one last bite of his breakfast and followed.

Chapter Text

Rikina wasn’t on the bench outside, so Kazuya sniffed the air to figure out which way she went out of habit. Her scent led him up the path behind the house that went further up the hill and further away from the village. There was nothing up there, and there wasn’t much of a path once you got inside the trees because they seldom went that way. It was a good spot to go to if you wanted to be alone.

However, he found he didn’t need to find her scent – he could feel where she was. It was like her soul was tethered to his, and he could feel her through the link. It would have unnerved him if he didn’t find it so comforting.

Kazuya felt a little guilty for following her since she obviously wanted to be by herself, but he also knew they needed to talk. Hell, they’d needed to talk for a long time now. He sighed when he realized his old man was right: he waited too long, and things had definitely gotten harder.

Eventually he caught up to her. She’d gone all the way back to a small clearing at the base of a cliff face, and one of the few fairly flat spots in this part of the forest. She was sitting with her back to the rocks and her legs drawn up to her chest, her face pressed into her knees. He knew she was crying before he even got a whiff of her tears.

He walked over and sat next to her, but before he could say or do anything else she turned and threw herself into Kazuya’s chest. She buried her face into his suikan and he automatically wrapped his arms around her. He folded her legs around his side and pulled her closer into him. The need to comfort her took over everything else.

Eventually her tears stopped flowing and she sat back, embarrassment coloring her face. “I’m sorry… Everything just hit me at once, and I guess I’m feeling a little overwhelmed.”

“You have nothing to apologize for,” he said as he held her face and used his thumbs to brush away the remnants of her tears. He stared into her eyes, and he suddenly realized that her eyes were a different color – they were more like the color of dark honey now instead of brown, and had flecks and streaks of amber in them.

But that could wait. He had so much that he wanted to say, he just wasn’t entirely sure where to start. He found himself paralyzed by her gaze once again, but this couldn’t keep happening. There was too much that needed to be said. He decided right then that they needed to finish their conversation from yesterday. That would dictate everything else.

“Do you remember what we started to talk about yesterday? Before those assholes showed up?”

Confusion was written all over her face. “Um, not really, I-“

“I need you to remember. It’s important… please.” He needed her to know that his feelings were there before the blood bond, so that she didn’t think he loved her because of it. He was still cupping her face, but removed one hand to tuck her hair behind one ear then trace his thumb along her jaw. He knew he shouldn’t touch her like this, at least not yet, but he couldn’t resist.

Her brow furrowed. He watched her eyes as they searched his, going in and out of focus with her thoughts. He willed her to remember, to replay the day through her head, to remember what he’d said just before they were interrupted.

“You weren’t upset about the kiss,” she finally whispered.

Kazuya smiled in relief. Now came the hard part. “Do you know why I wasn’t upset about it?”

“Why?”

“Because… I love you, Rikina… I’ve loved you since I brought you here. I just waited too long to tell you. Yesterday I was going to ask you if… maybe… you’d agree to marry me…”

She stared back at him in astonishment. “You mean it? You really love me? You want to marry me?” When he nodded, tears started to well up in her eyes again. “Oh Kazuya, I love you too… I have the whole time.”

Then they pulled each other in for a kiss, this one picking up where the first had left off. Kazuya still held her face and Rikina clutched the front of his suikan. It wasn’t long before the kisses grew deeper, they were breathing harder, and their hands were longing to roam elsewhere on each other’s bodies.

She said she loved him too. And always had. All that worry, all the time he’d spent fearing rejection, all that overthinking about whether or not she was the one for him. He really had been stupid and waited too long. Maybe he was just as dense as his father. But none of that mattered now. They were together now, and they were bound to each other, so no real harm done. They had all the time in the world to make up for it.

“So… does… that mean… you’re not upset… about the blood bond… either?” Rikina panted between kisses.

“Hell no, I’m not,” he growled back. “You?”

“Hell no,” she echoed before he crushed his mouth back to hers again.

Soon he pulled his mouth away from hers to trail kisses along her jaw and down the side of her neck. She shivered when he gently suckled the spot just below her ear. Once he hit the collar of her robe he switched to the other side, and she whimpered in frustration. While he continued his ministrations on that side of her neck, she reached down between them and pulled her robes loose, then slid the fabric off one shoulder.

He had been trying to tell himself to go slow, to take their time and not rush into anything. A couple kisses were all he’d been hoping for. But seeing Rikina pulling her clothes off for him chipped away at his self-control. He knew this was happening much too quickly. You’re not supposed to confess your love to someone then bed them in the same conversation. That’s not how this was supposed to work.

However, it still felt right. It felt long overdue. They’d already loved each other for so long, but now they were also bonded, and their bodies and souls were clamoring for each other. The need to consummate their union was overwhelming and all-encompassing. And they both felt it.

“Are you sure you want to do this? Now?”

“Yes…” Rikina said with a breathy voice, “take me as your wife…”

The last of Kazuya’s control snapped. He resumed greedily kissing her neck above her now-exposed shoulder and pulled the robes down as he went lower. Both of their hands grabbed at each other’s clothes and yanked them off.

If anyone were to observe their intimacy, it would have appeared awkward and more than a little rushed. Neither one of them had any experience. Once their bodies were bared to each other, there was no further foreplay. But neither one of them noticed or cared – their need for each other was too much. To them, it was just what they needed, and it was perfect.

After they were brought to completion, they collapsed on the ground together amidst their strewn clothes, still tangled in each other’s arms and legs while they caught their breath. Eventually they relaxed, then shifted to a more comfortable position where both of them were on their sides facing each other, with Rikina’s head tucked under Kazuya’s chin. Neither one spoke - there was no need to.

He wasn’t sure how long they laid there like that, but he knew they had to get back. There was a spring coming out of the cliff just a little ways down from where they were, and he knew that they should definitely get cleaned up because his father would be able to smell what they had been up to. He wasn’t sure if they would be able to explain their sudden decision to marry without also confessing about the blood bond, so they agreed that secrecy was the best plan for right now.

They carried their clothes with them and walked naked to find the spring, that way they could lay out the clothes to air out a bit while they washed up. The water was freezing, but it did the job.

“Speaking of the sense of smell… Myoga didn’t say anything about me gaining any youkai abilities,” Rikina said as she started putting her clothes back on.

“Huh?” Kazuya said as he tied his hakama in place.

“When I woke up this morning, I could smell and hear everything, and I could see just fine in the dim light. And look,” she held out her hands, “I have claws!”

Kazuya had frozen in place half-way through pulling his suikan on. That explained her running out of the house this morning: sensory overload. Seeing her claws had been the last straw. “You’re eyes have changed color, too.”

“What? They have!?”

“They’re lighter.”

Rikina went over to the spring to try and look at her reflection, but she couldn’t see it clearly enough in the water – she’d just have to look in the mirror when they got back to the house. She reached up and felt her ears. “My ears feel normal.”

Kazuya walked over and gently lifted her upper lip up. He’d felt them when he was kissing her but wanted visual confirmation. “But you have fangs, too. They’re not very long, they’re subtle like your claws, but definitely not human. You’re still beautiful, though.”

Rikina blushed at the compliment. “I’ve always thought you were handsome, dog ears and all,” she said as she reached up to rub the base of one of those ears.

He leaned into her hand. “You can do that all you want now, as long as no one sees you doing it.”

“Okay,” she said, “but right now we’d better get back, before they come looking for us.”

Luckily it seemed that InuYasha and Kagome had decided to go down to the shrine or to the hut or something, because they weren’t there when they got back. Sighing in relief, they started getting things prepared for lunch. Rikina usually cooked with Kagome, but this was probably the first time she’d gotten to prepare a whole meal with just Kazuya. The thought of cooking and sharing a meal with his wife made him smile.

Kagome and InuYasha were pleasantly surprised to have food ready and waiting for them when they returned some time later. They seemed equally happy to see that Kazuya and Rikina were in much better spirits, too. InuYasha eyed them suspiciously at first, though, but didn’t say anything so Kazuya felt confident that he couldn’t smell any evidence of their activities.

InuYasha and Kagome had gone down to the hut to make sure it was all in order in case Rin returned. However, they commented that they doubted that Rin was going to end up living in this village much longer, if at all.  Apparently Sesshomaru had some sort of residence set up for her elsewhere, otherwise she wouldn’t have been gone this long, and there just wasn’t much of a reason for her to stay. Rikina had taken over all of her responsibilities in the village, Rin didn’t have small children anymore that she needed help with, so unless Sesshomaru had some other reasons he wasn’t saying (which was a very real possibility still), the hut would probably be permanently empty soon.

Kazuya and Rikina were back to blushing furiously anytime their eyes met, but this time they didn’t look away or act like they were upset when it happened. If InuYasha and Kagome noticed, they didn’t comment on it. The couple didn’t bother to hide the affection in their eyes, and they probably couldn’t if they’d wanted to, anyway.

For the next several weeks, things went back to normal… mostly. Kazuya and Rikina snuck off to be alone every chance they got. They didn’t always end up doing the deed – they often just wanted to sit and be affectionate without an audience – but more often than not they did. After rushing through their first time, they spent a lot of time making up the difference by exploring each other and filling in all the gaps and things that they had seemingly skipped over. They made sure to wash up as much as possible afterward to avoid InuYasha figuring out what they had been up to.

Rikina had quickly adjusted to her new set of inuyoukai senses. She also lost her youki on the night of the new moon along with her husband, and found it very uncomfortable. She was surprised at how relieved she felt at sunrise, and she could only imagine what Kazuya and InuYasha went through each month.

A couple months after the blood bond, InuYasha and Kagome were asked to go to another village to help with a youkai extermination. They rarely got extermination requests anymore since the demon slayers’ village had been restored to its former glory and then some, but the taijiya were the ones that were requesting their aid, so they felt obligated to go.

“We should be back in a week, probably in the afternoon sometime,” Kagome said as she tied up a bundle of supplies for their trip.

“What’s a ‘week?’” Rikina whispered to Kazuya.

InuYasha and Kazuya both snickered, which made Kagome’s head pop up before she smiled at her own blunder.

“A week is seven days,” Kazuya explained. “In her time they go by weeks instead of ten-days, and months are thirty or thirty-one days depending on which month it is.”

“Sounds confusing,” Rikina said as she scratched her head.

“It can be, but when you grow up with it, it isn’t hard at all,” Kagome said as she stood and tied the bundle around her shoulders. “A ten-day just seems too long sometimes. I’ll have to tell you more about my time sometime.”

InuYasha was impatient and wanted to get going, so they all walked outside where Kagome climbed up on her husband’s back.

“Keep an eye out for Rin in case she comes back,” InuYasha said, “and behave yourselves.”

Both Kazuya and Rikina dropped their eyes and tried not to blush, but InuYasha took off before they could react much more than that.

The ‘week’ was uneventful, except for the fact that Kazuya and Rikina could finally spend their nights together for a change. Neither one of them wanted to go back to sleeping in their own bedrooms after this, but they had an unspoken agreement that they would figure that out when InuYasha and Kagome came back. They otherwise kept up on their duties and kept the shrine clean and orderly.

On the morning of the sixth day, Kazuya and RIkina had just finished their breakfast and the dishes, and were sitting at the fire pit trying to figure out what they wanted to do with the rest of their day. There wasn’t anyone that was sick or injured in the village so there were no rounds to make, and they had just done a thorough cleaning at the shrine the day before, so all it would need at the most was a quick sweep.

“I think I’ve got an idea of a way to pass the time,” Rikina said in a playful voice.

“What’s that?” Kazuya said as he gave his wife the side-eye. He knew that tone by now and had an idea of where her mind was going.

“Oh I don’t know,” she said as she crawled across the floor and straddled Kazuya’s lap. “I’m sure we can think of something…” She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and hovered her lips just over his. The feeling of her breath across his lips had an instant effect on him.

“Hmm, I think you’re on to something,” he growled back as he tugged her robes loose enough that they slid down to expose one of her shoulders. She reached between them and pulled his suikan and undershirt loose and he quickly shrugged them off.

Just as they started kissing and getting lost in their own little world, the front door slid open.

Chapter Text

Rikina squeaked in surprise and scrambled off Kazuya’s lap as she pulled her robes back up into place. He just growled and took his time pulling his robes back on as his parents walked in the door with knowing smirks on their faces. They’d been busted.

“Home a little early, aren’t ya?” Kazuya said dryly.

“We did say probably a week, didn’t we?” InuYasha answered as he and Kagome settled into their usual spots across the fire pit from them. “Okay, you two, no more secrets – anyone want to explain why Rikina’s scent has changed?”

At that, Kagome gasped and put her hands to her mouth for a second before she dissolved into smiles and giggles of delight to herself.

Kazuya and Rikina’s faces both turned red as they glanced at each other then went back to staring at the floor in front of them.

Finally Kazuya took a deep breath. “Remember when we were attacked a couple months ago?”

After his parents nodded, Kazuya launched into the full story. Told them about how they accidently performed a blood bond and what Myoga had to say about it, but then told them about how Rikina had some youkai abilities that the flea had failed to say anything about. At some point during the tale, he looped an arm around Rikina’s neck and let his hand hang in front of her, which she took in her own hand and laced her fingers with his as she leaned into him. He finished with admitting that he’d taken Rikina as his wife as well, but that they were afraid to say anything.

InuYasha and Kagome both looked at them dumbfounded, not able to do anything but blink for a few moments. Then they turned to look at each other.

“Well, that certainly explains a lot… especially the secrecy,” Kagome said.

“Yeah, it explains why her scent changed two months ago, but it doesn’t explain why it’s changed in the time we’ve been gone,” InuYasha said as he pinned them with a glare.

Now it was Kazuya’s turn to blink at them in confusion. “Well… I thought her scent was a little different, but it was so subtle I thought I was imagining it…”

InuYasha and Kagome looked at each other again. “Does he really not know?” InuYasha said.

“You didn’t pick up on it right away with our first, either, so maybe he doesn’t,” Kagome replied.

“But how could he not figure it out!? Especially with how much they’ve been going at it!”

Kazuya watched them talk with growing irritation. When he couldn’t take it anymore, he punched the floor with his free hand, not quite breaking the floor tiles but causing quite the snapping and popping sounds that continued long after the impact.

“Does someone want to explain to me what’s going on with my wife!?” he shouted.

His parents stared at him with wide eyes before their faces melted into smirks.

“Congratulations, son, your wife is pregnant,” InuYasha said as he stuffed his hands into his sleeves and Kagome tried to stifle her squeals of delight.

Both Kazuya and Rikina were shell-shocked. “That’s… that’s why she smells different all of a sudden?” Kazuya said with a small voice.

InuYasha nodded. “It’s not very strong now, but the scent will get stronger as the pup grows. I never noticed it with Sango until after she knew herself because I wasn’t around her all the time. It took a while for me to figure it out when your mom was pregnant with Moroha, but when you came along I knew what to look for. I probably wouldn’t have noticed it with Rikina if I wasn’t already trying to figure out why her scent changed the first time.”

Kazuya and Rikina turned to look at each other. Neither one of them were expecting this, although it shouldn’t have been much of a surprise considering how often they snuck off to have some alone time. They knew exactly where babies come from, they just hadn’t thought far enough ahead.

“And you… you knew, that we um, were…. this whole time?” Rikina said with a bright-red face.

“Keh! I could still smell it on you, all you did was dilute it with river water. Oh, and you need to pick which bedroom you want and quit hogging two of them,” InuYasha said as he lifted the lid off the pot that was hanging over the fire to see if there were any leftovers.

Kagome still hadn’t stopped smiling. “And remind me after the baby’s born to have a talk with you about how to avoid giving the baby a brother or sister until you’re ready,” she said, then she stood to get her and InuYasha some bowls.

But the newlyweds were only half listening. They were too busy staring into each other’s eyes with their faces so close that their noses were touching, whispering things to each other that only they could hear. When they started kissing, InuYasha cleared his throat.

“Oi, I already told you to pick a room, maybe you should go use it!” But he was smiling the entire time he said it.

Later that evening, Kazuya was sitting outside on the bench watching the sunset. InuYasha came out of the house and walked over and joined him. They both sat cross-legged, but only InuYasha crossed his arms.

“Can’t believe I’m going to be a father,” Kazuya said softly.

“It’s not something you’re ready for whether it’s planned or not. At least you’ve got a little over seven months or so to get used to the idea.”

Kazuya sighed. “Seems like a lot of time but not enough at the same time.”

InuYasha snorted. “I know the feeling. In another couple months you should be able to hear the heartbeat. I’ll have to show you how.”

Kazuya’s eyes grew wide. “You can do that?”

“In your mom’s time they have ways to hear the heartbeat and even see the baby before it’s born, so that’s where I got the idea. I did it with Moroha, you, and even Towa and Setsuna – I figured out Rin was having twins that way.”

Kazuya wanted to respond, but suddenly his throat felt tight and he started shaking. The reality of the situation set in.

“Dad… how the hell am I supposed to protect the kid? I barely kept Rikina alive when those bounty hunters showed up. I don’t know how to fight like you can. This is the only village I’ve ever come across that accepts us hanyou and we’re lucky that we’re not being chased down with torches and pitchforks. What if something happens and I can’t protect either one of them? I want to be as strong as it takes…”

InuYasha gaped at him for a moment, then cleared his throat. “So whaddaya wanna do? Learn to fight?”

Kazuya nodded. “I need a sword, a real one.”

InuYasha grinned. “I think I know someone who can help with that. And while we’re there, we can get some more answers about this blood bond shit, too.”

The next morning, the four of them were sitting around the fire pit discussing their plans to go see Totosai (and hopefully Myoga, if he was there) over breakfast. But their conversation was interrupted by the sounds of a certain inuyoukai and two-headed dragon landing outside.

“Not sure if this is perfect or horrible timing,” InuYasha said as he turned to the door. Rin slid the door open and bounced inside, with Sesshomaru on her heels. He actually closed the door behind him for a change, and walked over to join his wife kneeling by the fire.

While Rin and Kagome greeted each other and started chatting, Sesshomaru was staring at Rikina. She wrapped an arm around Kazuya’s arm and shrank back against him. Kazuya bristled, an automatic reaction to his wife’s unease, but he knew why Sesshomaru was staring. Not much got past the inuyoukai.

InuYasha didn’t miss where his brother’s attention was. “Yeah, seems like Kazuya and Rikina here have found themselves in some sort of a blood bond, but ol’ Myoga was scant on the details other than it was forbidden. So we’re planning on going to go see Totosai to see if we can get Kazuya a sword and find Myoga at the same time to get s’more details.”

“And the young miko is with child,” Sesshomaru added.

Rin had a similar reaction to Kagome – gasping and making all sorts of happy noises. “Oh, Kagome! You’re going to be a grandmother!”

Kagome giggled and grasped Rin’s hands in hers while Rikina blushed. Kazuya couldn’t help but smile as well. At least everyone seemed happy about the news.

“Myoga said that blood bonds are forbidden, and that it connects us in a bunch of ways and that Rikina will live as long as I do,” Kazuya said, “but there’s other stuff that’s happening that he didn’t tell us about, so we wanna go find him and ask some more questions.”

Sesshomaru’s eyes widened ever-so-slightly as Kazuya was speaking. “When do you leave?”

Kazuya and InuYasha exchanged glances. Since when does Sesshomaru care? “Uh… we were thinking about leaving today, after lunch, maybe,” Kazuya said.

“You can ride on Ah-Un,” Sesshomaru said with only the slightest of nods.

Rin and Kagome looked up at that statement with a level of confusion that matched InuYasha and Kazuya’s. It was unusual for Sesshomaru to be this interested in much of anything.

Over the next few hours, the men finalized their travel plans (well, InuYasha and Kazuya finalized the plans while Sesshomaru just sat there listening) while the women chatted excitedly about what they would do while the men were gone and their other plans for the baby.

Kazuya and Rikina had chosen what used to be Rikina’s room for their room, which meant that Kazuya’s old room would end up being the baby’s room eventually. Rin and Kagome went on and on about what they would need for the baby’s room while Rikina merely sat and listened.

Rikina had told Kazuya that she didn’t even feel pregnant, and that she thought women usually felt sick right at the beginning. While not all women had morning sickness, Kazuya thought maybe her youkai blood was preventing her from feeling ill. In many ways, the fact she was pregnant hadn’t fully sunk in for either one of them yet.

Kagome and Rin started to put lunch together a little early, deciding they had nothing better to do than to get the men on their trip sooner rather than later. Sesshomaru didn’t partake in the meal as usual, but everyone else ate and Kagome wrapped up some of the leftovers for the road.

Rin and Sesshomaru barely said much of a good bye, and InuYasha and Kagome’s was more substantial but still rather brief; Kazuya and Rikina were the ones holding up the show when it came time to leave.

“I hate leaving you when there might be some more asshole bounty hunters out there looking for you,” Kazuya said softly as he pulled Rikina in to his embrace.

She pressed her nose into the crook of his neck and inhaled. She seemed to like his scent in this spot in particular. “I’m sure we’ll be fine, but I won’t complain if you hurry back.”

“Hopefully we’ll only be gone for a few days at most, not sure how long it takes Totosai to make a sword… Might have to tell him I’ll be back for it later if it takes him too long.”

Rikina nodded and opened her mouth to say something, but InuYasha interrupted.

“Oi, wrap it up, we need to get going!”

Kazuya growled while Rikina couldn’t help but giggle. She kissed him on the cheek. “Be safe, I’ll be here waiting.”

He kissed her on the forehead before releasing her and jumping onto Ah-Un’s back behind his father. Then Sesshomaru took off and the dragon followed suit.

As they flew, Kazuya started to feel… uncomfortable. Unmoored. Like something was missing. A dull ache settled in his chest. He knew why, and knew it couldn’t be helped. He rubbed his chest and started fidgeting, which attracted InuYasha’s attention. He looked back over his shoulder at his son.

“What’s your problem?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

InuYasha eyed him but ended up smirking and turning away, deciding to drop it.

Being away from Rikina was effecting him physically. It hurt to be too far away from her. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too long of a trip, because he was already miserable.

When they reached Totosai’s, InuYasha was jumping off Ah-Un before he even fully landed. Kazuya had never met Totosai, so InuYasha took the lead even though they were all technically there on his behalf. Well, at least InuYasha was there on his behalf… It still wasn’t entirely clear why the hell Sesshomaru came.

Chapter Text

Totosai was hammering away when the trio walked inside. He didn’t look entirely surprised to see them and didn’t acknowledge their presence right away, blowing flames on the blade he was forging several times before he even looked up.

“Oi, Totosai, we need to talk to Myoga,” InuYasha said as he sat down and crossed his arms. “And my kid needs a sword.”

Totosai turned and looked at the “kid” in question. “It’s Kazuya, isn’t it? I’m surprised you haven’t come to see me sooner.” He tossed the blade he was working on aside and started rifling around among several others lying behind him. Then the flea produced himself from somewhere on Totosai’s person and bounced up onto the table.

“You wish to speak with me, InuYasha-sama?” Myoga said apprehensively.

“Yeah, what’s this blood bond thing that Kazuya’s talking about? And don’t try to lie to me.”

Myoga shrank back. “Please understand, InuYasha-sama, blood bonds are forbidden! I really shouldn’t-“

“You will reveal everything you know, Myoga,” Sesshomaru cut him off, much to everyone else’s surprise.

The flea whimpered and produced a handkerchief to wipe his sweating brow. Then he took a seat and tucked the handkerchief away. “I suppose I should go back to the beginning…”

Sesshomaru and Kazuya took seats on either side of InuYasha, and even Totosai paused what he was doing and settled in to hear what Myoga had to say.

“The legends say that thousands of years ago, many youkai and humans lived much more peacefully together than they do today. Marriages between them were more common, but humans obviously don’t live as long as youkai and are also much more easily killed; so they performed blood bonds so their human mates not only received their longevity, but also connected them to them in a way that made it easier to protect them. They’d always be able to tell where the other is and sense when something is wrong.

“But, an ancient dragon youkai named Ryoga decided that blood bonds should be forbidden and went on a rampage to wipe out anyone and everyone that shared such a bond, as well as their offspring.”

“Why? What was his problem with it?” Kazuya asked.

“He felt that youkai and humans shouldn’t be together. He thought youkai bloodlines should stay as pure as possible. In truth, he’s the one responsible for the attitudes that youkai and humans have toward each other today – he convinced youkai that they were superior to humans, and so many humans were killed in his campaign that they started fearing youkai.

“He not only thought that mixed offspring were an abomination, but according to the legend, he thought the worst thing of all was that, although rare, a bonded pair was still capable of producing a full-youkai child.”

“H-how? That doesn’t even sound possible,” InuYasha said.

“I’m not sure how exactly, InuYasha-sama. We already know a hanyou and a human can produce another hanyou child by the… um, method that Kazuya was conceived, so I imagine that explains part of it. As for the rest, I would assume it’s because if enough youkai blood is transferred to the human mate, it can in turn be passed down to their children. But it would have to mean that the human received a very large amount of youkai blood.”

Sesshomaru interjected. “How is this blood bond performed?”

“Um, well… methods s-seemed to v-vary,” Myoga stammered, “Some say it was a matter of both of them opening a wound and pressing them together to allow the blood to mix; some would drink each other’s blood; I’ve even heard of some biting the neck or shoulder and drinking the other’s blood during the act of consummating their union. There didn’t seem to be one set way to do it, but it was said that the youkai should take in some of the human’s blood first, that way the youkai blood they receive already has some of their own mixed in it, because some humans would die from shock otherwise.

“The human also needed to receive a certain amount of blood to complete the bond, so a few drops alone wouldn’t be enough. It needed to be enough that the youki would be self-sustaining within the human, but none of the legends said how much would accomplish that.”

Everyone was quiet for a moment as they processed this information. Finally, Kazuya spoke up.

“Did any of the legends say anything about the human gaining youkai abilities?”

Myoga shook his head. “Not that I’ve heard, Kazuya-sama.”

“Well, Rikina has. She heals faster, she’s got fangs and claws, she can hear and smell and see better. Her eyes even changed color.”

Myoga and Totosai exchanged a look, then Totosai surprisingly chimed in. “I would assume that was because not only did she receive a very large amount of your blood, she was also on the brink of death – her body may have absorbed and assimilated more than what would have been done with a normal blood bond to compensate for her blood loss and keep her alive.”

Myoga nodded. “You were also fully transformed when I took your blood, and your youkai blood is rather potent given your lineage…”

Meanwhile, Kazuya was wondering how Totosai knew about all this after Myoga had been so adamant about this blood bond staying a secret, but he didn’t get a chance to say anything.

InuYasha was looking at Kazuya out of the corner of his eye with a smirk. “Speaking of transforming… have you transformed during any other activities, Kazuya?”

Kazuya immediately blushed and looked away, which gave InuYasha his answer. The truth was, Kazuya couldn’t always feel it when it happened, especially given the timing of the transformations in question, but Rikina had often told him that it had happened towards the end of the act. It wasn’t every time and it had been happening less and less. It was entirely possible that it had even happened the first time they were together but they were so wrapped up in each other, literally, that neither one of them noticed.

Myoga looked back and forth between the two hanyou. “InuYasha-sama? Kazuya-sama? Are you saying that..?”

Both of them were nodding. “Rikina’s pregnant,” Kazuya said.

Myoga and Totosai’s faces both split into wide smiles. “Oh congratulations, Kazuya-sama!” Myoga gushed, “and to you as well, InuYasha-sama – I can’t believe you’re going to be a grandfather!”

“But what happens if anyone finds out about the blood bond? What if my kid ends up being more than just half youkai and word gets out? Does this Ryoga come after us or something? You say it’s forbidden but who enforces that?”

Myoga and Totosai just looked at each other again. There was a very long pause before anyone spoke again.

“I’m… I’m afraid I don’t know, Kazuya-sama,” Myoga said solemnly. “It’s been so long since anyone has performed such a bond that nothing may come of it, but Ryoga is a very powerful youkai and it’s best not to incur his wrath, so let’s do our best not to advertise it, shall we?”

“But if he does get wind of it,” Totosai said, “you’ll need a sword.” He reached behind him to grab a blade and a large set of pliers that he held out toward InuYasha. “You know what I need.”

InuYasha growled and grabbed the pliers out of his hands. “Yeah, yeah, I can do it myself.” Then he opened his mouth and used the pliers to yank out one of his fangs.

Kazuya just sat there wide-eyed. He knew Tessaiga was forged from his grandfather’s fang and his father’s was later added, but when he said he needed a sword, he didn’t expect any actual teeth to be involved. Next thing he knew the pliers were being held out to him.

“Do yourself a favor and give him one of yours now,” Inuyasha said as he rubbed the side of his mouth with his free hand. “It’ll save you a lot of trouble in the long run.”

Totosai chuckled. “Your father’s right. One of many of his hard-earned lessons.” InuYasha snorted in affirmation.

“You’ll have to tell me the rest of that story, old man,” Kazuya said to his father before he grasped one of his fangs with the pliers and pulled. The tang of the taste of blood filled his mouth and his tongue seemed fascinated by the gap created in his teeth, but it didn’t hurt that much. More annoying than anything. He dropped the fang on the table in front of Totosai and set the pliers next to it.

Totosai nodded and started to say something, but he was interrupted by a third fang being tossed onto the table next to the other two. They all looked up in surprise at Sesshomaru, who only had a small trickle of blood coming from the corner of his mouth as evidence that the fang had come from him.

Totosai eyed him. “Are you sure about this, Sesshomaru?” The inuyoukai gave him only the slightest of nods. “Very well then. This is going to be a very special sword, indeed.”

“How long is it going to take you to forge it?” InuYasha asked.

“Three days.”

Sesshomaru stood. “We will return to the village. Totosai, you will deliver the blade when it’s finished. Myoga, you are coming back with us.”

“What? But Sesshomaru-sama-“ the flea started to protest, but the glare that was shot his way was enough to make him stop short.

Totosai didn’t argue, only nodded. “I’d better get started. I’ll see you in three days’ time.”

“Thank you, Totosai,” Kazuya said as he stood up and bowed slightly, which made Totosai smile. Then InuYasha and Kazuya once again mounted Ah-Un and followed Sesshomaru – with an unwilling Myoga in tow – back to the village.

They traveled through the night and made it back to the house well before dawn. Kazuya was grateful that Sesshomaru wanted to come right back, and he could feel the discomfort of being away from Rikina easing as they got closer to home. This time it was his turn to leap off of Ah-Un’s back before the beast had even landed when they got there. Kagome greeted them at the door, speaking in whispers so she didn’t wake the others.

“Rin is in the bedroom next to ours, Sesshomaru,” she said. He closed his eyes briefly in acknowledgement and strode by her into the house.

“What are you doing up?” InuYasha hissed at his wife.

“I couldn’t sleep, and I don’t think Rikina could, either.”

Kazuya nodded and said, “She’s awake.” He could sense it.

InuYasha put an arm around Kagome to guide her to their bedroom. “Let’s try and get some sleep, we’ve got a lot to talk about in the morning.”

Kazuya quietly entered their room, and Rikina was immediately in his arms. He rained kisses all over her face and then scooped her up to carry her back to their futon. Then the couple curled up together tightly and fell asleep, relieved that they weren’t far apart anymore.

The newlyweds were still pretty groggy when they heard activity out in the main room some time later, but they knew that they had also better get up themselves. They slid open the door and walked out to see that the sounds they heard were coming from Rin and Sesshomaru. Rin was starting to get breakfast going. The lord sat by the fire pit without his mokomoko and his armor, but his swords were still sitting at his side. Kazuya tried not to stare, but he didn’t think he’d ever seen Sesshomaru dressed so casually.

“I’m sorry if I woke you,” Rin said quietly, “I know you all didn’t get much sleep last night, so I thought I’d have breakfast ready for everyone when you got up.”

“That’s very kind of you, Rin,” Rikina said as she sat down in her usual spot.

In the other bedroom, it sounded like InuYasha and Kagome were also up and would likely be joining them momentarily.

The tea water was ready just as InuYasha and Kagome came out, and everyone sat and sipped while Rin put the finishing touches on the meal and left it to simmer for a bit. InuYasha started on what was probably the lighter topic first, which was informing the women that Totosai would be there in a few days to deliver Kazuya’s sword.

Kagome sighed. “We’d always hoped that you’d never have to fight, Kazuya… but I guess I feel better knowing that you can if you have to.”

Kazuya wasn’t sure how to respond to that, but thankfully Rin started dishing out the food and saved him from having to. Everyone sipped and slurped their breakfast in otherwise silence. Even Sesshomaru had some, which Kazuya figured was only because Rin had been the one to make it.

After all the bowls had been put aside to be washed later, InuYasha and Kazuya went about filling everyone in on their conversation with Myoga about the blood bond the evening before. Rikina squeezed Kazuya’s hand during a good chunk of it, anxiety rolling of her. First the bounty hunters were after her, now they potentially had some ancient dragon youkai that would be coming after them and their child. He didn’t blame her for worrying, because he was worrying himself.

Kagome was fascinated about the part about it being possible to have a full-youkai child from mixed parents. “I guess it makes sense if you think about it. It sounds like the human needs to get enough youkai blood to change some of their DNA, and then some of that DNA gets passed down to their children, and it’s just a matter of chance whether it’s the youkai or human DNA.”

Of course, everyone in the room was confused. “Mom, you’re using future words again,” Kazuya said teasingly.

“DNA, as in your genes,” she said, but was still met with blank stares. She growled in frustration, obviously thinking about how she was going to explain it in a way they’d understand. “Basically your genes are the information in your body that determines what traits you have, everyone gets half of their genes from their mother and half from their father. You get genes for your eye color, hair color, your height, even your personality – and you either show the more dominant of those genes or a mix of both. Then you get a random mix of half of those genes that get passed on to your children.

“If a human gets enough youkai blood to change enough of their DNA, there’s a possibility that the half of the genes that end up getting passed on are youkai. If you think about it, there’s a possibility that InuYasha and I still could have a hanyou child even without him transforming, it’s just the chances are much more slim.”

“Makes sense to me!” a tiny voice said. Myoga was bouncing up and down on Sesshomaru’s shoulder. Kazuya had almost forgotten that he’d been brought along.

“So now what do we do?” Kagome said.

“Now Kazuya gets his sword and learns how to use it,” InuYasha said, then turned and pinned his son with a look, “and, you get to go explain to the village headman how your mother performed the marriage blessings for you two months ago and you were so caught up in having your fun as a newlywed that you forgot to have him record the marriage.”

“Huh!?” Kazuya said with a panicked look. “Why can’t I just tell him we just got married today or yesterday!?”

“Because Rikina is going to start showing soon and people aren’t that stupid – they’ll figure out that she got pregnant before you supposedly got married and will make your miko wife look bad. You’re going to get gossiped about either way, you just need to choose which story does less damage.”

Kazuya growled but knew he was right. The story that his father presented him with made him look bad, but trying to do it Kazuya’s way made Rikina look worse. Hopefully they’d be able to hold off as long as possible on people finding out about the pregnancy so it didn’t look like the cover story that it actually was.

“Fine, I’ll go talk to him before lunch,” Kazuya muttered.

Sesshomaru looked more bored than usual. He stood and offered his hand to help Rin stand before the pair went back to the bedroom, all without saying a word. It was odd, but not entirely out of character for Sesshomaru, so after shrugging, everyone else went back to finishing off their tea and sitting in companionable silence.

A short time later, everyone was startled by a very sudden and powerful spike in youki – Sesshomaru’s youki. InuYasha and Kazuya had just leapt to their feet and were about ready to storm into the other room, thinking that he was being attacked or something, when Myoga came out jumping.

“Everything’s fine! No reason to be alarmed!” he said, but there were sweat beads rolling down the sides of his face.

“What the hell is going on, Myoga!?” InuYasha snarled.

“Please just trust me, InuYasha-sama – don’t go in there…” the flea whimpered.

InuYasha looked back and forth between the closed door and the flea, then glanced back at Kazuya and Rikina before turning back to Myoga again. “He’s protecting Rin, isn’t he? He had you do the blood bond the same way you did it with them, am I right?”

Myoga shrank back. “I’m afraid so, InuYasha-sama…”

“That bastard… rushing right into things like that.” InuYasha muttered as he sat back down. After a moment he added, “And Myoga, don’t go anywhere – stick around for a couple days at least, okay?”

The flea looked puzzled but nodded.

Everyone sat in silence for quite some time, then Kazuya got to his feet. “Guess I’d better to talk to the headman sooner rather than later.”

“I’ll go with you just to back up your story, but you’re doing all the talking,” InuYasha said as he also stood and slid Tessaiga into place on his hip.

Chapter Text

The two hanyou opted to walk instead of leap down the hill to the center of the village to give Kazuya time to prepare himself for the conversation he was about to have. Once again he thought about how his father had been right: telling Rikina that he loved her was much easier than most of the other conversations that he’d had lately.

While the conversation with the headman was still a bit humiliating, it went better than Kazuya thought it would. He said pretty much verbatim what InuYasha told him to, and luckily the headman only laughed.

“I’m sure every married man remembers those days, Kazuya-sama, we’ve all been there,” he said with a chuckle as he held the scroll open and began to ink their names onto it. “If anyone asks, I’ll tell them I’ve known about it the entire time but wanted to respect your privacy and your right to share your good news when you were ready.”

“You’d… you’d do that for us?” Kazuya said, looking back and forth between him and InuYasha.

“Certainly,” the headman said, then lightly blew on the ink to help it dry faster. “Besides, the whole village has been waiting for you two to make it official, and I imagine you were wanting to avoid all the inevitable fanfare and extra attention when your marriage was fresh, you both being public figures and all.”

“Yeah, pretty much… but I think we’d better start letting people know now,” Kazuya said.

"I imagine so,” the headman said with a wink. Then the men said their good-byes and went on their way to go see what their wives were cooking for lunch.

InuYasha and Kazuya walked back to the house instead of running and leaping. Once they were out of earshot of the headman’s house, Kazuya let out a groan that he’d been suppressing.

“Why do I get the feeling that he knows everything?” Well, just about everything.

“He probably does, he’s a smart man – wouldn’t be the headman if he wasn’t.”

Kazuya sighed. He guessed it couldn’t be helped, but he knew he could trust the man.

Back at the house, Kagome and Rikina had left lunch on the fire to simmer while they sat outside with some sewing. Kagome was already working on baby clothes and giving Rikina all sorts of tips and advice about what to do when the baby arrived. Kazuya could tell that her head was spinning, but that she was also so grateful to Kagome for everything that she didn’t mind.

Inside, there hadn’t been any sight of nor sound from Sesshomaru and Rin, but they could all still feel his flared youki and knew better than to even open the bedroom door. Kazuya still had human form when he was fully transformed, but not Sesshomaru, and they didn’t want to risk having their house demolished if they triggered him.

When it came time to eat, Kagome had an idea. She grabbed an old blanket and told everyone to take their food outside so they could have an impromptu picnic. It was a fairly nice day and everyone wanted to put some space between them and Sesshomaru’s youki, anyway, so it worked out perfectly.

After putting their bowls away, InuYasha and Kagome decided to take a walk through the forest, the looks on their faces making it clear that they wanted some privacy - but of the serious sort, not necessarily the “wink-wink” sort. Kazuya and Rikina, on the other hand, thought that a walk sounded like a good idea, but that they’d better take their walk through the village and get the word out about their marriage sooner rather than later.

The pair walked side by side, Kazuya with his arms crossed as usual, but their shoulders were brushing against each other where before they stayed a respectable distance apart. They went towards the center of the village, where there was a community well and the blacksmith’s shop and generally a lot of other activity. While they weren’t looking for a crowd, they also needed to make sure they found someone to tell.

There were a handful of people milling around when they got there, including Chiyo and the group of women that she usually hung around with. They must have been on their way to do laundry, or perhaps to do some sewing – they were all carrying baskets full of clothes and fabric.

At the edge of the well there was a bucket and a ladle for those that wanted a drink, and the couple walked up to it. Kazuya made a bit of a show out of scooping out some water and passing it to Rikina, taking extra care to make sure the water didn’t drip on her in the process. They made sure to not hide their smiles and not avert their eyes from each other’s. The display didn’t go unnoticed, and they could feel several pairs of eyes staring at them.

One of the women cleared her throat. “Good afternoon, Kazuya-sama, Rikina-sama.”

The couple turned to them, Kazuya merely nodded before taking a drink himself and returning the ladle while Rikina blushed and returned their greeting. “Good afternoon! It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?”

“You two seem awfully cozy,” Chiyo said, rather dryly. “You’d better hurry up and get married already, or you’re going to be even more of a scandal than you already are.” The rest of the women started giggling, clearly thinking that the statement would embarrass the couple. Little did they know that it was exactly the opening they were hoping for.

“Oh, Kazuya and I have already married,” Rikina said with a bright smile. Her upbringing had made her quite the actress, so she sounded genuine and not catty at all.

“You… you’re married?” another woman asked.

“Have been for a while now,” Kazuya said.

There was a soft collective gasp among them. Then the woman that had spoken first asked, “And you didn’t announce it or anything? Does the headman know?”

“Yeah, it’s recorded, we just didn’t want to make a big deal out of it,” he said with a shrug.

“I guess that’s understandable,” the second woman said. “We’re just surprised you didn’t say anything earlier.”

“We didn’t feel it was necessary,” Rikina said, still smiling. “But you brought it up, and it’s not a secret, so now you know.”

The conversation was being overheard by several other people milling around. Most of them were openly staring at the exchange. With any luck, the village gossip chain will do the rest of the work for them. Compared to everyone else, though, Chiyo’s expression was unreadable – the only obvious thing she was feeling was shock, but there was something else there that was different.

“We’d better get going,” Kazuya said as he pressed a hand to the small of Rikina’s back to guide her away from the well.  Rikina gave the ladies a shallow bow and walked past them, Kazuya falling into step next to her.

They got a short distance away when they heard a woman’s voice calling Kazuya’s name from behind them. They turned to see Chiyo jogging up to them.

Rikina gave Kazuya a gentle smile. “I’ll give you two a moment,” she said softly, then kept walking. Kazuya put his hands inside his sleeves and waited for Chiyo to catch up, keeping his profile to her instead of turning to face her fully.

Chiyo caught up, panting slightly. “Kazuya, um…” she started as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and avoided his gaze. “I just wanted to say, um, congratulations… and that I’m glad… that you found someone. You look very happy together.”

“We are, thank you,” Kazuya said, managing to give her a somewhat genuine smile. Then he turned and kept walking, before the interaction became awkward. Fortunately, Chiyo didn’t say anything more or follow.

After rejoining Rikina, the pair continued until they were sure they were out of sight. Then Kazuya offered his back for Rikina to climb on, and he carried her off into the forest, to an area where they weren’t likely to run into his parents since they had the same destination. He found a small clearing where the grass was particularly soft to put her down. He took a seat and pulled Rikina to him so her back was against his chest.

“What did Chiyo have to say?”

“She said she’s happy I found someone.”

“Sounds like she still cares about you, even though it wasn’t in a romantic way.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Kazuya said in a low voice, “or maybe she’s realized what she missed out on.”

“Maybe that, too,” Rikina said with a grin as she nestled back against him. “I still don’t know why we had to bother with any of that. Some people just start living together and say they’re married and that’s that, why did we need to make sure everyone thinks we did things the ‘proper’ way?”

“Because I’m hanyou. Dad and I are lucky that we’re accepted here, and it probably wouldn’t take much to change that. People find out you’re pregnant without being married by human standards, the gossip could go south quick – people might accuse me of raping you or something.”

“With the way everyone’s been waiting for us to marry, I doubt they would have jumped to that conclusion.”

“Maybe not, but the prejudice against youkai runs deep, so it’d be best not to test how tolerant the villagers can be if we can help it.”

“I suppose you’re right,” she said as she leaned her head back and gazed up at the clouds. She sighed in contentment. “I still can’t believe all of this is happening. Three months ago I never would have dreamed that we’d be married and expecting a child right now.”

“You and me both. But I ain’t complaining.”

“Me neither. Now, what do you think: boy or girl?”

Kazuya shrugged. “I dunno, I haven’t thought about it.”

“Your mom said that your dad guessed correctly with both you and sister. She said he could tell from the heartbeats.”

“Dad’s got some sharp instincts, I don’t know if I’ll ever measure up to him.”

“Your dad’s also got several years’ worth of experience more than you,” she said as she turned her face to his and kissed him on the jaw. The one kiss turned into several, and they shifted so they could continue kissing with their lips.

Kazuya pulled away. “Can we still do this? It won’t hurt the baby?”

Rikina nodded. “Your mom said it’s fine until it gets close to delivery.”

He sighed in relief, then picked up where he left off.

The newlyweds meandered back to the house and got there just before dinnertime. They walked up to the house just behind InuYasha and Kagome, who went inside just ahead of them. Immediately everyone noticed that Sesshomaru had calmed down, his youki just about back to normal. Kagome and Rikina started getting dinner ready while InuYasha and Kazuya went outside to get the bathtub heating.

InuYasha sniffed and grimaced when Kazuya got particularly close to him. “Decided not to jump in the river afterward this time, didn’t ya?”

Kazuya shot him a look. “Shaddup, and don’t forget that my nose works just as well as yours, old man.”

InuYasha snorted and smirked, but Kazuya didn’t miss how red his face was.

They were all just sitting down to eat when Rin and Sesshomaru emerged from the bedroom. Sesshomaru was back in his full outfit, and Rin looked… completely normal. Her eyes were still the same color, and no sign of claws or fangs. She was her usual, bubbly self, and acted like everything was normal when she joined the other couples sitting around the fire pit.

“How are you feeling, Rin?” Kagome asked apprehensively.

“Oh I feel fine, Kagome,” Rin said with her usual bright smile. “Sesshomaru-sama took good care of me.”

“Um, we’ve got the bath heating up, would you like to join us after dinner?”

Rin looked to Sesshomaru, who only offered her the slightest of nods. Her eyes lit up. “I’d love to!”

“How long ya plannin’ on staying, Sesshomaru?” InuYasha asked, not quite concealing his annoyance that his brother was still there.

“Tomorrow I will travel to the taijiyas’ village. I will return before Totosai arrivess with your son’s sword the day after.”

InuYasha didn’t respond, but it was clear that he was glad he’d get a break from Sesshomaru.

After they finished eating, InuYasha and Kazuya said they’d clean up the dishes so the women could go enjoy their bath. Sesshomaru just sat there, as usual. When the ladies were done, Kazuya went out to make sure the fire was out and came back inside just in time to hear his father calling for Myoga.

“Oi, Myoga! Where you hiding at?”

The flea came bouncing out from somewhere – it wasn’t clear if he had been somewhere in the house or was stowing away on someone, but he appeared and went jumping up to InuYasha. The hanyou caught him in his fist then held the tiny youkai up between the tips of his claws.

“We need to have a talk with you,” InuYasha growled as he walked to his bedroom with Kagome close behind him.

Kazuya and Rikina watched with puzzled looks on their faces, then set about getting themselves ready for bed. Just as they were getting ready to close their bedroom door and retire for the night, they felt an immense spike in energies. Kazuya immediately recognized it, and uttered a curse under his breath as he sprinted across the house and threw open the door to his parents’ room.

In the far corner of the room, InuYasha sat with Kagome cradled in his lap, both of them surrounded by the glow of their auras. InuYasha’s red, Kagome’s lavender. Kagome was unconscious, but InuYasha was very much alert – he was in his full-youkai form.

InuYasha looked at Kazuya out of the corner of his eye and growled a single word: “Don’t.”

Kazuya growled back, then slammed the door shut. He turned around to see that Sesshomaru, Rin, and Rikina were all standing behind him.

“MYOGA!” Kazuya roared. He heard the flea’s whimpers, and quickly zeroed in on him, sitting on Sesshomaru’s shoulder. But Sesshomaru spoke before Kazuya had a chance to say anything else.

“Do not be angry at Myoga for merely doing what was asked of him, especially when you once asked for the same thing yourself.”

Kazuya growled. “That was life or death, that was different.”

“Was it really?” Sesshomaru said calmly. Then he returned to his room with Rin right behind him.

“Dammit…” Kazuya cursed as he ran both of his hands through his hair. He wasn’t expecting this. He’d started something. First Sesshomaru and Rin, now his parents. Three couples that made up most of his family. And none of them knew what the repercussions of this were going to be yet.