Curiosity – Chapter 21 - "Five, Six, A Midnight Mix"

It had been about three hours since everyone had gone to bed. At first, Gramps thought that there wouldn't be enough beds for everyone to sleep in and he would have to give up his room, but that problem was automatically solved by Kagome. She had apparently been thinking about the sleeping arrangements for a while.

Much to Gramps relief, he and Souta kept their rooms while Suki, of course, got Kagome's room. Touga and Izayoi shared the guest bedroom and Kaede got Mama Higurashi's room which left Kagome with the couch downstairs. Being dead, Kikyo didn't need sleep and decided to go out and roam around the woods surrounding the shrine, but not before swearing on her own grave that she wouldn't hurt anyone in this time. (As per Kagome's request.)

All were now asleep in the cozy house, well, that is everyone except Kaede. She just couldn't get her mind to settle down no matter what she did. Every time her mind would settle down enough for her to go to sleep a single thought kept darting around inside her mind, pestering her until she was fully awake again.

"What if it really is him?" She questioned herself. "The way he kept glancing over at me today with a certain gleam in his eye, like he had finally gotten the toy he always wanted. No, it couldn't be him not after all this time. Besides that he has a daughter and a son. The Yasuhiro I knew only had a son. But what if it truly is him?"

Finally deciding that she just couldn't take it anymore, Kaede got up from her bed and made her way to the door. It took her a couple minutes to get the door open, she wasn't used to doors that didn't slide open, but when she finally did manage to twist the door knob and pull the door open a little ways she had to cringe.

The door hadn't even been opened enough for her to get through before it decided to squeak. Kaede quickly glanced through the doorway to make sure that her little nighttime adventure wouldn't be discovered.

Seeing that the small hallway was free and clear, she opened up the door a bit more, just enough so that she would be able to slip out easily and made her way out into the house.

Double checking once again to make sure that the coast was clear, Kaede slowly made her way to her left, towards the door at the end of the hall that she had seen Yasuhiro enter in to earlier that evening. But she was stopped dead in her tracks when she heard noises coming from down stairs.

Coldness went down her spine then, making her fear that her little escapade had woken Kagome up. Thankfully she heard the young priestess say something about her math being so complicated which eased her mind greatly as she continued down the hall.

It felt like it had taken forever, but finally she was in front of Yasuhiro's door. Unfortunately yet another bout of fear shot through her then. What if she was making a mistake? Was she only making a fool out of herself by waking this man in the middle of the night simply to see if this was the man whom she had known in memories past? Surely she didn't know, but there was only one way to find out.

Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Kaede hesitantly reached an arm out and, as softly as she was able, knocked on the door twice.

What truly surprised her was when the door had opened not even a second later to reveal the man in question inside.

"Oh, good evening Kaede. I see you couldn't sleep either. Would you like to come in and chat a bit?" He asked kindly while opening his door a bit more to invite her inside.

Suddenly finding her throat very dry, Kaede could only nod as she quietly stepped inside Yasuhiro's room. She looked around for a moment before laying her single eye on a piece that was setting upon his nightstand.

Forgetting about the man watching her every move, Kaede inched her was towards the small table next to the bed and picked up the small trinket lovingly, cradling it in her knurled hands. Yet another memory had decided to pour over her.

"This… this is the ring that Hiro gave me when…"

"When we were married here so long ago." Yasuhiro finished for her from behind. "I was twenty-nine and you were twenty-six, it was exactly a year later after the day we met when we were married. You thought it was an odd custom, the trading of rings, but you went through with it anyway; just to make me happy. And when we had to separate four years later, we traded our rings. That way we would always remember each other and the love we shared." He finished for her; he could tell that she was having a hard time comprehending all of this, much like himself actually.

A surprised chocolate eye turned to look into loving pools of deep, dark violet.

"You mean it really is you my darling Hiro?" She asked hesitantly as she raised a hand to cup his cheek.

A warm smile spread across his face thanks to her touch. He raised his own hand to cradle hers while he answered her with love practically overflowing from his eyes. "Yes my beautiful Kaede, it is really me."

Tears escaped her eye then, just by hearing those words. Without a moment's notice, her lips were occupying his own in what could only be described as a joyful reunion kiss, followed by another more passionate kiss that, to them, felt as if they were making up for all of the kisses that were lost throughout the past years of loneliness.

After five whole minutes of lip-locks, Kaede and Yasuhiro parted only to then find themselves engulfed in one another's embrace.

"It has been driving me crazy ever since I saw you. I kept wondering if it truly was you my beautiful Kaede."

"I was the same way Hiro. That was why I couldn't sleep, not until I knew if this was real or if I was just imagining things." She replied with a smile in her voice.

"You have no idea how much I have missed you Kaede." He whispered into her hair. "There have been so many things that I've yearned for over the years. Seeing your beautiful face every morning, watching how good you are with your villagers when they were ill, your wonderful cooking, holding you just like this while we sit under the boughs of a tree watching the sunset, you playing with Satoru…"

Kaede's heart had stopped with that last part he mentioned. All of the other things had been wonderful, things she had missed as well, but when she thought of their son she could only think of the woman that had brought Suki over earlier that day.

Feeling his long lost love stiffen, Yasuhiro took a step back to gaze into her emotionless face.

"What is wrong Kaede? Do you feel ill?" He questioned.

"You moved on." She whispered.

"I don't understand. Moved on from what?"

"The woman that was here earlier today, Suki's mother, she called you 'Daddy'."

Understanding dawned on him when he finally understood what made her so self-conscience.

"Dearest, if you are thinking that I remarried you are mistaken. About a year after Satoru and I left the Feudal Era I noticed how lonely he was and that he didn't really have anyone to play with so I adopted Aisha. I even went so far as to show her the few pictures I had of you so she would know what her mother looked like. You know there isn't anyone for me but you."

Kaede let out the breath she had unconsciously been holding in and leaned in for another kiss from her long missed husband.

After parting again, Yasuhiro led them both over to his bed so that they could sit down and talk. He could tell that his wife had wanted to ask him something because she was biting her bottom lip nervously.

"A trait that Kagome also inherited from her." He thought to himself, but was brought out of his reverie when he noticed Kaede began to feel around for something underneath her kimono top, only to pull it out a minute later. It was her husband's wedding ring tied to a leather rope and bound around her neck.

"I always wore it around my neck, that way you would be close to my heart." She began. Yasuhiro could tell she was nervous by the way she was fingering the ring.

"Was he happy? Did he grow up like we planned? Did he learn all of the good morals and values just as we were taught?"

Placing a hand on his wife's shoulder to get her attention, he answered her questions lovingly.

"He did. Satoru learned all of the values we grew up with and as he got older he had more and more friends. He was so happy, I made sure of that. There were times when he missed you terribly and wished that you were here with him but I helped him through it. You would have been so proud of him Kaede! He became a doctor, just like you."

She smiled the whole time he had explained everything and when he was done another thought popped through her mind.

"This makes Kagome my granddaughter doesn't it?" She asked quietly.

"That it does my darling, that it does."

They ended up chatting about various ups and downs in their time apart from each other for the next hour. Yawns had begun to escape the both of them and Kaede decided that it was time for her to head back to her room. Giving her husband a chaste kiss on his cheek, Kaede stood and began making her way towards the door when a tug on her sleeve stopped her.

"Don't leave Kaede; you can sleep in here for the night. Only God knows how long I have yearned to hold you in my arms again." He spoke gently.

"But what if we get caught? How will we explain something like this?"

Yasuhiro didn't pay any attention to her questions as he stood himself and pulled back the sheets on the bed and then pull her back to lie on the bed with him as he wound his arms around her. Moments later he began laying butterfly kisses along the concave of her neck and moving his hand slowly down until it laid upon her thigh.

Even though it felt wonderful to Kaede, she had to stop him. "Hiro, we can't do anything like that. We're too old for such things."

He didn't respond to her for another minute, wanting to savor the long missed taste of her skin. When he was done, his hand found hers and he clutched it as if it were his only lifeline.

"Darling, we are not too old, we are as young as we want to feel. But it doesn't matter. What only does matter right now is you and me being together again." He whispered before giving one final kiss before drifting off into dreamland.