Hiyoshimaru trailed from Nobunaga’s shoulder like a small furry banner as they barreled ahead through the demonic wood. Unable to see it coming through the miasmic darkness, the miko and samurai yelped as a sharp-edged wooden tendril speared through the thin barrier surrounding them, only Entei’s swift maneuvering keeping their heads above their shoulders. Drawing his katana, Nobunaga hacked through the possessed limb as Kagome reinforced the barrier.

Sweat broke out across her brow, her reiki depleting rapidly from the effort of sustaining such a powerful shield in midair. As they hurtled on, each crash of the attacking trees forced her to expend that much more energy–and still, the end of the dark forest was nowhere in sight.

“I don’t remember these woods being so large,” Nobunaga remarked anxiously from behind her.

Kagome’s eyes narrowed. “Neither do I…”

Something was certainly amiss here. With Entei’s speed, they should have been well beyond these woods by now.

“It’s an illusion,” the miko realized aloud. “I bet we’ve just been going around in circles this whole time.”

Their enemy was trying to tire them out–and once they were too exhausted to defend themselves…well, that neat pile of bones in the bog told the rest of the story.

“An illusion?” Nobunaga asked weakly. “C-can we dispel it?”

“Sure,” the miko grit out as she glanced back at him, her lips curving up in more of a grimace than a smile. “We just have to destroy the youkai who’s casting it.”

Judging by the samurai’s wide-eyed look, he didn’t seem very reassured–but Kagome had encountered demons like this before. Closing her eyes, she cut through the noise and focused on the source of the demonic energy wreathing around them. In her mind, a sinister form took shape–a gnarled, monstrous abomination of a tree, youki emanating from it in sickly violet waves.

“There!” she exclaimed, arming and drawing her bow as Entei whirled around at her direction.

It was tricky, but with laser-like concentration, the miko divided her power and her mind–keeping the barrier raised as she channeled the rest of her reiki into her arrow, and let it fly.

Her attack tore a blazing path through the demonic shadows, shearing straight through the twisted limbs that rose to intercept it. In a flare of purifying light, Kagome’s arrow hit its mark, the youkai tree and its dark illusions going up in pale, rosy flames.

As the fire faded, Entei touched down onto the grass of a now gently waving plain. Sliding bonelessly from his back, Nobunaga looked around them in surprise, his monkey friend scratching his head in similar befuddlement.

“But…where did the forest go?”

“Guess there never really was a forest here,” Kagome answered, crossing her arms over her chest. “All the trees we saw earlier were just offshoots from the roots of that one youkai.” Sadly, the miko shook her head. “To spread out that far…There’s no telling how many poor souls that monster had trapped and devoured over the years.”

“What’s important is that the demon’s reign of evil is at an end,” the samurai said earnestly, red dusting the high bones of his cheeks as he smiled up at her. “…All thanks to you, Kagome-sama.”

Blushing as well, Kagome smiled back.

The sun was nearly setting by the time they returned to Takeda castle. Leery of Entei, the guards nevertheless ushered them all inside, where they were greeted by none other than Lord Takeda himself.

“Well done, Nobunaga!” the burly, red-faced lord exclaimed, as he held his precious sake cup aloft in one hand and clapped his samurai mightily on the shoulder with the other.

Bowing literally beneath the weight of his lord’s acclaim, Nobunaga rasped out, “…Thank you, Takeda-sama…but I could not possibly have retrieved the heirloom on my own.”

“Oh ho, is that so?” Takeda boomed, his merry gaze shifting to Kagome as Nobunaga straightened shakily.

“Yes, my lord–the bandits who stole your heirloom cup later met their end in a demonic forest. Had Kagome-sama not been with me, I would undoubtedly have been killed there as well. It was her purifying power that broke the curse of that fell place and allowed us to escape unscathed!”

“Impressive, indeed!” the lord of the castle proclaimed, regarding the young miko closely. “‘Kagome-sama’, is it?–might you be the same Kagome who destroyed the infamous Shikon Jewel?”

Word sure gets around, Kagome thought as she nodded in reply.

Setting his cup aside, the lord inclined his head respectfully toward her. “It is a privilege to have such a powerful priestess in our midst. I welcome you as our honored guest, Kagome-sama. Allow me to express my sincerest gratitude for aiding young Nobunaga here!”

Sending his samurai to the floor with another hearty shoulder clap, the boisterous lord bellowed out a series of orders to his jumpy vassals, and a lavish feast shortly ensued. Needless to say, the sake flowed around just as lavishly as Lord Takeda put his dearly returned cup to good use. Kagome’s polite refusals fell on deaf ears, Nobunaga sighing embarrassedly from beside her when his lord insisted she partake in the celebrations–by shoving a brimming cup of his finest sake straight into her hands.

Well, Kagome thought as she raised the wine to her lips, no sense in letting it go to waste, I guess…

Two cups and two hours later, the lightweight miko found herself stumbling slightly to her room, only realizing as she awoke the next morning that she’d promised to stay for a week to train the mikos of the Takeda clan. While it was nice to have good food and a good bed for a change–and while she enjoyed the task of imparting her dubious wisdom–it wasn’t long before she felt herself growing restless, her idle thoughts turning increasingly toward a certain dog demon lord from her past.

When a couple of farmers from one of Takeda’s outlying villages arrived seeking aid with a youkai that was plaguing their lands, Kagome took that as her cue. Packing up her few belongings and Lord Takeda’s parting gifts, she was preparing to leave the castle when a hesitant knock at her door gave her pause. Sliding back the screen, she met a rather nervous-looking Nobunaga Amari with a smile.

“Hi, Amari-kun,” she greeted, stepping out to meet him.

“Kagome-sama,” he returned, glancing at her zippered pack. “I heard you were planning to leave.”

Setting her hands on her hips, Kagome nodded. “Yep–it’s time for this miko to be moving on.”

“I see,” the young samurai replied awkwardly. “It’s just that, well, I was hoping you might reconsider.”

Kagome blinked. “Eh?”

“W-what I mean to say is…” Flushing furiously, Nobunaga dropped into a bow. “Would you…would you consider marrying me, Kagome-sama?”

Inwardly, Kagome sighed. As he peeked up at her hopefully through his bangs, she flashed him a warm, friendly smile.

“I’m very flattered that you think so highly of me, Amari-kun, but I don’t think we’re right for each other.” She bowed her head politely to him in turn. “So I’m afraid I must decline.”

“I…I understand,” the samurai replied faintly, shutting his eyes in disappointment.

“I’m sure you’ll meet a great girl who will make you a very happy husband,” Kagome said sincerely. “Just a word of advice though, for future reference…” she continued, her gaze resting on tiny primate who stood atop Nobunaga’s head, still enthusiastically spinning a pair of plates balanced on sticks, “…you might want to leave Hiyoshimaru-kun out of your next proposal. That plate-juggling act of his is a bit of a mood-killer.”

Nobunaga’s lips twitched as he sighed. “Yes…”

With that, Kagome and Entei set out from Takeda castle, on the road to their next adventure.

“That makes the third marriage proposal this month,” the miko sighed to her equine companion. “Am I giving off some kind of desperation vibe?”

The horse youkai lifted his muzzle sniffily, not even bothering to deign her with a snort.

“Hey,” Kagome said crossly, “don’t give me the cold shoulder just because you were enjoying living in the lap of luxury back there! You really want me to just settle on some rich handsome lord or samurai so you can roll around in comfort?! Where’s your fighting spirit?”

Crimson eyes slanted back at her a bit too shrewdly, clearly bringing her idea of “settling” into question.

The miko flushed defensively. “Look, I just happen to have ridiculously high standards, okay?”

…Blame Sesshoumaru for setting the bar so impossibly high, she lamented inwardly as they continued on to the distant village.

Unbidden, thoughts of the last time she’d seen him rose in her mind. All throughout the time she’d spent healing under Kaede’s watchful eye, Sesshoumaru had never been far from her side. Parting from him after that had taken every ounce of willpower she possessed, but she didn’t want him to remain with her out of guilt or some sense of obligation.

As much as she longed to be with him, she had learned the hard way that he would never return her feelings in the way that she needed him to. He would never love her as she loved him, and because of that, things would never work between them.

Nothing, Kagome knew, could change that.

Under this dismal cloud of reminiscence, she arrived to lend her assistance and receive some much-needed distraction for her trouble. As it turned out, the youkai “plaguing” the farmers’ lands happened to be just a couple of young rival kitsune vying with one another to attain higher rank at the academy. After helping them safely settle their differences, Kagome sent the tricksters on their way with her regards to Shippou and sank down on a stump to rest.

“Well, that one turned out to be a bit anticlimactic,” she said, grinning over at Entei.

The horse youkai flicked his tail in reply as he lifted his ruby-red eyes to the sky. Sailing toward them, an elongated, orange balloon-shape of a demon came into view. With an exuberant wave, Kagome leapt to her feet.

“Hachi-san!–over here!”

With a loud pop, the tanuki demon dropped gracelessly down into the clearing before them. Brushing off his multi-colored haori, he rocked up to his feet.

“Kagome-sama!” he greeted with a flourish. “How may I be of service?”

“You interested in some silver sake cups by any chance?” the miko replied, rooting around for the set Lord Takeda had gifted her–making her wonder just how many precious metals his family had turned into drinkware over the years.

“I am indeed!” Hachi said as he gave the cups an appraising glance before stowing them away in his pocket. “These should fetch a fine price among my more ‘high-class’ vendors.”

“Good to hear it,” the miko said, extracting a wicked tusk from her pack next, “and what about this?”

“Oh, you’ve felled another boar-demon, I see,” the tanuki remarked brightly as he accepted the long tusk and tucked it away inexplicably into his haori. “Here, I’ll pay you for it directly, and if that’s all…”

Nodding, Kagome held out her hand as Hachi dropped a small bag of coins into it. Counting out the gold pieces, the miko frowned, her eyes narrowing toward the tanuki demon who was already starting to slink away.

“Hey–wait just a second, you,” she ground out, Entei snagging Hachi by the collar before he could escape. “This is two coins less than you paid me for the last one!”

“W-well, now, Kagome-sama,” the tanuki stammered with a sweatdrop, “market prices are always subject to change!”

“‘Market prices’ my butt!” Reiki crackled from Kagome’s fingers as she strode forward, gripping the demon by the neck of his shirt. “You were trying to cheat me, you rascal!”

“Now, now…I’m running a little short on gold at the moment,” the raccoon-faced demon hedged anxiously as he paled. “But how about I trade you some good news instead?”

“It’d better be good,” Kagome growled, tightening her grip.

“Trust me, it is! The best kind of news–Miroku-sama and Sango-sama are now happy parents! Two beautiful healthy twin girls, delivered just last week!”

“Oh,” the miko said in surprise, releasing the panting demon as a smile bloomed across her face. “That is good news.”

“S-see?” Hachi stuttered out in relief. “I wouldn’t lie…”

Kagome shot him a sharp look. “Don’t push your luck.”

As she stashed her gold and Entei released his captive, Hachi gave her a slight, shaky bow.

“A pleasure doing business, as always, Kagome-sama,” he said as he began to inflate, fixing her with a parting glance. “…Miroku-sama and Sango-sama ask after you often, by the way. I’m sure they would be thrilled if you stopped by to visit sometime soon.”

As Hachiemon took to the air, Kagome sat down on the stump again, propping her chin in her hand. To say that she’d been more or less avoiding Edo village would be a true statement. When a girl was trying to run from her memories, the idea of going back to the place where they’d all begun wasn’t exactly an appealing prospect.

But, still…how often did her two best friends become parents for the first time? After being away for so long, Kagome owed them an in-person congratulations at the very least.

Rising to her feet again, she turned toward Entei with a determined smile. “I think it’s about time to return home.”

---

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi

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