It Was Written In The Tree

InuYasha had been unusually subdued since the defeat of Naraku. He hadn't made a huge fuss as usual when Kagome returned home to see her family, though he wanted to. He hated to admit how much he missed her even if it were only for a few hours. This time it was for several days, and he was always terrified she would change her mind and not return to him. However, she said she had to decide if she wanted to continue on with school or not. The hanyou was afraid that if he argued with her too much, she would decide to stay in her era and never come back. So instead of fighting with her, he'd keh'd a few times when she tried to explain what she was doing and allowed her to go on her way. The one thing that had made him feel at least a little better was when she told him he was always welcome - as long as he didn't try to force her back before she was ready.

He had returned through the well to find that Kagome was off shopping with her girl friends. However, her mother had asked if he would like to have some lunch. He nodded, and she requested him to fetch Souta down from his room. He bounced up the stairs and threw open the door to the boy's bedroom.

"Hey Souta-" he started but abruptly cut himself off when he saw him hurriedly gathering papers that he was trying to hide. "Whatcha doing?" InuYasha couldn't help but to be curious about what he was hiding.

"InuYasha, please don't tell anyone, will you?" Souta looked almost frantic.

"Tell what?" the hanyou asked, puzzled.

The youngster's face turned an even brighter shade of red as he slowly uncrumpled the paper and tried to smooth it flat.

"That's your name?" InuYasha asked, having seen it before when Kagome showed Miroku how to write both her and her brother's names. InuYasha had pretended not to care, but he'd been paying attention.

Souta nodded in response.

"And butterfly?"

Souta just stared at InuYasha. He had no idea he could read what he'd written when he decided to show him.

The hanyou cocked his head. "You practicing?"

"It's a girl's name, Cho," the boy whispered so softly even InuYasha could barely hear him.

"Oh." InuYasha turned pink as well. "You like her?"

Souta started to say something but they were interrupted by the sound of Mama at the foot of the stairs.

"Oi, I was supposed to tell you lunch was ready. Come on, kid."

Souta hid his papers away and followed the hanyou from his room.

InuYasha had been quiet during lunch, trying to decide how to ask Kagome's sibling more about the purpose of writing the names together on the paper. From his reaction, it was clear that the boy liked the girl named Cho - was this some way to help bring them together? Maybe stay together? However, some of Souta's little friends showed up, and the hanyou ended up scurrying to Kagome's room, out the window, and over to the sacred tree. As he set high in the branches, an idea came to him.

He looked around to make certain the coast was clear before jumping down and dashing into the well house. In a flash of blue, he was back in his own era breathing the pollution free air. He was thoughtful as he walked towards Goshinboku and then jumped up. He climbed higher than he normally did and found a sturdy branch to sit on.

"It couldn't hurt to try, could it?" he asked himself as he stared at the bark of the tree. Carefully, he began to etch into the trunk. He didn't want to slice into the ancient wood of the sacred tree enough to damage it, so instead he carved away little by little to leave his name engraved into the bark. He closed his eyes to picture what Kagome's name looked like when written, and then started the same process over again, ever so gently sculpting it next to his.

When he was finished, he ran his hand over his handiwork and closed his eyes. "Please, Kagome, please stay with me. I know I'm just a selfish hanyou bastard, but I don't want you to leave. I hope that you will be with me for as long as our names are together on this tree."

"InuYasha?" a voice drifted from the direction of the old well.

"Kagome!" InuYasha exclaimed, his heart soaring into his throat. He leapt out of the tree and rushed to the edge of the clearing at the well and then walked towards her. He didn't want the wench to know how anxious he was to see her.

"Are you all right? Mama said that you were there at lunch but then took off. Did you need me?" Kagome asked him.

The hanyou couldn't help the pink that began to cross his cheeks at the loaded question. Of course he needed her - he just couldn't let her know. "Keh, some friends of your brother's showed up so I had to hide. It was easier to come back here."

"I see. Well, I just wanted to make certain everything was okay." Kagome tried to suppress a smile as she turned back towards the well. She had finally learned that the hanyou couldn't be pushed, and cornering him brought out his rather bad temper. Instead she added, "If you're hungry, supper is almost ready. I know you like Mama's cooking."

"I could eat." InuYasha thrust his hands into his sleeves and followed the miko, though he surprised her when he scooped her up in front of him and then jumped into the well and back out again.

The next day found him back up in Goshinboku on the young miko's side of the well. He had climbed up to about where he thought he'd carved their names into the tree and started looking. Needless to say, the tree had changed in five centuries, and InuYasha was crestfallen when he found some damage near the area where he was certain he had engraved their names. His first thought was that they were not meant to be, and his work had been eradicated from the trunk by some greater being. However, refusing to give up just yet, he kept looking.

"I don't fucking believe it," he whispered to himself when he finally found the right spot. The damage wasn't that far from where their names were, but due to whatever had happened to the tree, the bark seemed to have compressed there, rather than spreading further apart as one might have expected as the tree expanded and grew. Whereas the two names had once been etched rather neatly next to each other, they were now overlapping to the point that they were almost merged completely together. InuYasha traced his claw following the scores in the bark. "Maybe you really will stay by my side."

Feeling much better than he had in days, he gracefully jumped back down to the ground. Unfortunately, he landed near an unsuspecting Jii-chan, making him drop the pot he was carrying as he used language InuYasha wasn't certain that a priest should know.

"InuYasha!" he heard in a voice that made him cringe. He hadn't been sat in quite some time, and really didn't want to suffer that humiliation right now.

Kagome saw the look that crossed the hanyou's face, and for once reeled in her temper. He'd been so skittish since they had defeated Naraku - or at least once the swagger and adrenaline had worn off after the battle. "Try not to scare Jii-chan, okay? He's getting too old to have you jumping out of trees at him."

InuYasha breathed a sigh in relief. "Keh."

"What were you doing up there? You seemed to be a lot higher up than usual." Kagome was looking up at the branches he had descended from.

"I could show you," he said shyly. He couldn't tell her how he felt, but if the great tree deemed they were to be together, maybe that would work.

Kagome studied him for a minute. "Okay."

"Climb on." When she was securely on his back, he headed straight up.

He reached the branch that was nearest where their names were carved into the ancient wood and then carefully helped her find her balance. "Don't worry, I won't let you fall," he said softly.

Kagome smiled at him. "I know."

"This is what I was looking at." He indicated the area by rubbing his palm across it.

The miko looked puzzled. "I'm sorry InuYasha, but I can't quite tell..." she leaned back a little to be able to get a better overall view. Slowly, the picture began to sink in and she gasped. "How?"

The hanyou's ears flattened to his head. "You really want to know?"

Kagome nodded in return.

This time he picked her up and held her close to his chest as he headed towards the ground. However, he didn't set her down when he reached it, but instead kept her tucked against him as he went back through the well and then up into Goshinboku once again. When he arrived at the limb with his still fresh carving above it, he stopped and straddled it, still holding her to him.

Still afraid she may not want him, he nodded towards the two names before blushing and looking away. "That's how."

"InuYasha," she whispered, rubbing her hand across the rough bark. "You did this?"

He nodded though he didn't have the courage to look at her.

"You want to be with me?"

Once again, he nodded, afraid to look at her in case she rejected him.

"InuYasha, I promised to stay by your side. I try to keep my promises," she told him.

The hanyou whispered, "You could change your mind - go back to your own time."

"Is that what's been bothering you since Naraku was defeated?" she asked.

"Keh."

"Why didn't you say something," Kagome started, and then realized who she was asking. "Never mind." She cupped his cheek with her hand and turned his face back towards her. "Was this your way of saying you loved me?" He could hear her heart pounding in her chest when she asked. She held his eyes captive and refused to let them go.

Slowly, he nodded.

"I love you, too," she whispered before she leaned towards him and softly pressed her lips to his.

He was grinning for the first time in days when she pulled away. "Does this mean you'll stay?"

"For as long as you want me." Kagome was smiling as well.

InuYasha cupped the back of her head and drew her to him for another gentle kiss. When they pulled apart he pressed his forehead against hers. He was silent for a moment before he asked, "Would you be with me?"

It took a moment for what he was asking to sink in, and Kagome gasped.

The hanyou turned away from her and frowned. He knew it had to be too good to be true.

"No! I mean yes!" Kagome exclaimed when she realized what he was requesting.

"Keh?" a very confused hanyou asked.

Kagome looked at him seriously. "Are you asking me to be with you, like your wife?"

InuYasha was now the color of his firerat. "Yeah, but I'd understand..."

"Will you take me back to my time?" the miko inquired rather suddenly.

The hanyou didn't answer verbally but instead gathered her back up into his arms and sailed to the ground. When they were back in her time and had determined the coast was clear, she asked to be taken back up into Goshinboku.

They were once again on the limb high up into the tree when Kagome placed her hand over InuYasha's and then ran it over the rough bark. "InuYasha, all logic says our two names should have grown apart over the years, but instead, they've almost merged into one. This tree is considered sacred, and I for one certainly do not want to go against its wishes. I would be honored to be your wife - though you'll have to let me figure out how to break it to Mama."

They sat in silence for a few moments before Kagome asked, "Where did you learn calligraphy like this?"

InuYasha looked puzzled once again. "Cal-li-gra-phy? That's the name of the spell?"

"Spell?" Kagome giggled. "No, silly, the name of the beautiful writing. Wait, you thought this was a spell?"

The hanyou cringed. "I'm sorry. I would have done just about anything to keep you with me. I saw Souta try it, but he didn't want me to tell anyone."

The miko's smile made him relax a little. "It's not really a spell, InuYasha. It's hope - a wish for what you want to happen." She reached inside of her shirt and pulled out a piece of paper that had been tucked into her bra. "I've been carrying this around next to my heart for a long time."

InuYasha took the battered piece of parchment from her and unfolded it. His eyes widened when he saw that she had written her name next to his. And like the writing on the tree, it had run and become crumpled so that the two were almost overlapping each other. It was difficult to tell where one ended and the other began.

"Anyway you look at it, I think we were meant to be."

*finis*