Only One Way To Know, Part 2 (The Conclusion)

"Mama! MAMA!"

Kagome thrashed violently in her husband's arms, but he only smiled, sharing her eagerness to see the woman leaning over the top of the well. He shifted his weight, crouching slightly and whispered "Hang on tight" as his thigh muscles coiled and he sprung the length of the old well.

There was a gasp from Mrs. Higurashi as he cleared the edge of the structure and planted his feet on the compacted dirt beside it, but the gasp soon became a joyful sobbing exclamation of "Kagome!" as the older woman rushed toward the two.

Knowing his wife likely wanted to hug her mother herself, Inuyasha started to lower Kagome to her feet, but she practically screeched at the movement and tightened her arms around his neck in a death grip.

He didn't even have time to ask what was wrong before she was shouting "Get out of the well-house! Just get outside! PLEASE!"

Inuyasha didn't need to ask questions – he knew what she was worried about. And he didn't want to disappear on her again. He didn't even bother to nod as he leapt up the small staircase and out onto the shrine grounds, the sliding door having been left wide open in Mrs. Higurashi's haste.

And speaking of Mrs. Higurashi….

Both pairs of eyes turned back to the well-house to see the woman rushing up the steps towards them, breathing hard from the exercise as well as roiling emotions. Kagome practically jumped out of his arms this time, and met her mother halfway, the two women embracing and clinging to each other with over a year's worth of missing each other.

There were no words spoken, only whimpers and sobs and sniffles, and truly neither Kagome nor her mother could have talked if they'd wanted to.

Inuyasha couldn't help the wide smile that broke over his face – it had been worth the risk. Seeing Kagome so happy, so overcome was always worth the risk.

Mrs. Higurashi couldn't be sure she wasn't dreaming – she'd had too many dreams to count of her little girl coming home again, and sometimes she felt guilty for them, because wasn't it she who gave her daughter her blessing to go and be with the man she loved?

And yet here was her daughter, her kind-hearted young man in tow, and holding the girl in her arms just felt too perfect in Mrs. Higurashi's mind to be any kind of dream.

She took a moment to memorize the feel of her little Kagome, noting how the fit was much different than when her little girl had last been home. She had a stronger grip than when she was in school, no doubt from all the hard labor in the feudal era, and her skin looked a bit darker, as it had when she'd been going back and forth between the past and present at only 15 years old. Her red and white priestess's outfit was coarse and slightly dirty, but the sight of Kagome in such clothes reminded Mrs. Higurashi sharply of the first time she came home, scratched and bleeding, her hair tousled and feet dragging and spouting off stories of centipedes and razor-sharp hair and angry, insufferable dog-eared boys. She had been crying then too.

Oh, how that day had changed everything.

Hugging her daughter even tighter, Mrs. Higurashi was suddenly aware of another spot where Kagome didn't quite fit like she used to. She paused, wondering at the strange pressure of Kagome's abdomen against her. Had the girl put on weight? Or….

She gasped. Kagome's quiet crying stopped as she looked up worriedly at her mother, and Mrs. Higurashi took the opportunity to pull away and stare at the barely visible bulge of her daughter's stomach. She could barely remember how to breathe.

Catching her mother's gaze, a smile lit up Kagome's face as she remembered just why it was she had needed her mother so badly. Somehow finding her voice, the young woman put a hand to her baby-bump and said through a voice thick with emotion, "We thought you should know… you're going to be a grandmother!"

Her mother's eyes were swimming as she glanced back up at Kagome, and then over to Inuyasha, who despite a faint stain of pink on his cheeks was also smiling widely… just like a proud father would.

Her vision blurred, and Mrs. Higurashi fell on her daughter all over again, saying through her tears "Oh Kagome… I'm so happy for you. I'm so happy you're here! I… I… thank you for coming back."

Inuyasha sniffled at the overwhelming salt in the air… at least that's what he would tell anyone who happened to see his red face and watery eyes at that moment. However, sniffing again, he was suddenly aware that they weren't alone, and there was someone who was witnessing his cracking self-control.

He turned abruptly and stopped as his eyes fell on a young man with hair just as black as Kagome's and a school uniform like that boy who brought her gifts used to wear. The boy was taller than he used to be, but there was no mistaking Inuyasha's nose: 'Souta!'

Standing in the middle of the stone courtyard, his backpack fallen to the ground and his jaw falling with it, Souta gaped at the sight of his child-hood hero and his missing sister who he thought he would never ever see again.

As Inuyasha's eyes met his, Souta snapped to attention, and just as Inuyasha was about to call out to him, the boy ran full-throttle toward the house, leaving a very confused half-demon in his wake. Looking back at the hugging, crying women, he guessed neither had noticed the young man's presence and speedy departure; he chose not to bring it up.

Mrs. Higurashi had pulled away again and was laughing joyously as she laid a tender hand on her daughter's swollen stomach, firing off excited questions about 'how long' and 'how do you feel' interspersed with so many exclamations of 'I can't believe it!'

The laughing was infinitely better than the crying in Inuyasha's opinion, though he understood the need for the latter, but he was wondering if they shouldn't take the reunion somewhere more comfortable. Kagome had been standing for a while now, and he didn't think this conversation was going to end any time soon.

Approaching his wife, he touched her arm lightly, gently holding her elbow to steer her to the house. She looked up at him then, her eyes so bright and shining and radiant that it caught him off guard. He hadn't seen that smile since she found out they were to have a child. "How, uh… how about we go inside… so you both can sit down?"

Mrs. Higurashi beamed at him, and he wondered what he had done to merit such a pleased expression. Kagome however reacted more predictably, rolling her eyes, though her smile and happy attitude remained. "Oh Inuyasha, you worry too much! I've told you before, just because I'm pregnant doesn't make me an invalid!"

The laugh in her tone stopped his snappy retort, but he still frowned as he started to pull her away, her mother keeping pace beside them, a knowing smile on her face that Inuyasha wasn't entirely sure he liked.

His irritated mood disappeared quickly however as he felt Kagome grab his arm, hugging it to herself with her own as she looked up at him with sparkling eyes.

Yup. Definitely worth the risk.

They had just passed into the yard around the house when the front door slid open, clattering at the force it was thrown with, and Souta emerged from the house holding firmly to the arm of his wobbly grandfather. Kagome gasped, her tears coming back full force as she rushed towards the pair, yelling their names as they gasped out hers. Grandpa Higurashi let go of the young boys arm to hobble hurriedly to his granddaughter, stumbling slightly in his increased age, but Kagome made it quickly to his side and steadied him with a firm hug.

Souta rushed forward as well, and with a laugh Kagome threw out an arm to welcome him into the embrace. She was laughing, they were crying (or pretending not to in Souta's case) and Inuyasha heard movement beside him as Mrs. Higurashi went to join the group hug as well.

Inuyasha stood back, watching the reunion with a nostalgic feeling… and one he wasn't too keen to remember again. It was just like when he and Kagome returned from the Meido, and he realized, as he had then, that there were others who needed Kagome just like he did. How could he have kept her from them? He felt strange… out of place… and suddenly he felt a strange tingling sensation throughout his body – one he recognized as well.

But before he could react, or say a word, Souta looked up from hugging his sister and looked straight at Inuyasha, saying with exuberance "C'mon Inu-no-niichan! There's room for you too!"

Inuyasha froze, and the tingling, time-warp sensation ebbed.

Kagome's grandfather looked up next, his wrinkles growing deeper as he smiled and said "Indeed my boy, you've done such a good job taking care of our Kagome, I dare say you're part of the family now!"

"Oh but he is, Father! They got married!" Mrs. Higurashi said with a laugh, and Souta all but cheered at the news that his hero was really his brother now.

Kagome looked back at him then, imploringly, her hand coming to rest over their growing child, and that was enough for him. The strange sensation from before disappeared completely as he went to join the group, hugging his wife tightly as her…no, their family embraced the both of them.

Warmth spread through him, the kind of warmth he felt often with Shippo and Miroku and Sango and always with Kagome, and he realized that these people accepted him, loved him, and… he loved them too.

And maybe… maybe it wasn't a fluke that the well had let them both through this time. Maybe he needed this family as much as Kagome did, and needed to finally realize that. And… maybe they needed him too.

*Author's Note:

Unless I get a stroke of inspiration for something to follow this, I'm calling this the end. It was only supposed to be a couple parts anyways.

Sorry about the intense fluff! Couldn't help it.