As dawn broke, tinting the edges of Kagome’s vision red, she stirred as if from a heavy sleep. Blinking her scratchy, tired eyes, she sat up slowly, annoyed but unsurprised to see Kanako staring back. Wrapped up like a mummy beside the cold hearth, the girl regarded Kagome from just over the blanket’s knitted edge. The miko sighed, feeling the beginnings of a headache taking root.

“Go draw a bath, Kanako-chan,” she said as she stood, her stiff limbs complaining at the motion, “while I make breakfast.”

The blanket dropped to the floor as Kanako burst from it, snatching up a pair of buckets near the door. “Hai, Kagome-sama!”

Shaking her head, Kagome set about lighting the hearth. At hurried intervals, Kanako returned, pouring pails of well water into the wooden bathing tub. By the time it was full, the kettle Kagome had placed above the fire was starting to boil. Adding the rice, she reduced the heat to a simmer and plucked out a few hot stones to drop into the chilly tub.

As the stones fizzled to the bottom, Kagome turned toward Kanako with tongs still in hand. “Okay, hop in.”

The waif’s grimy face sagged in a frown. “But, Kagome-sama, I bathed just yesterday.”

“Well, now you’re dirty again because you slept under the porch.” Glaring, Kagome set her hands on her hips. “So get to it.”

Glumly, the teenager stripped out of her salmon-colored yukata as Kagome turned back to the rice. Giving it a quick stir before fitting the lid to the kettle, she heard the water splash as Kanako entered, and again—as she exited about a minute later. Kagome’s brow twitched.

“There is no way you’re clean already,” she growled, whipping around. “And why in the gods’ names are you putting that on again?”

Halfway into her dingy yukata, Kanako froze like a deer caught in the headlights. Sure enough, Kagome could see a smudge on the girl’s hollow cheek from here. Striding toward her, the miko pointed vehemently to the bath.

“Get back in.”

Letting the yukata slide from her bony shoulders, Kanako crept back into the tub, her eyes widening somehow further at Kagome’s thunderous approach. Muttering under her breath about how she had to do everything herself, the miko knelt down beside the tub. Wetting a washcloth and bar of soap, Kagome scrubbed Kanako’s face, arms and chest like she was a child, before dropping the soapy cloth into her lap with a splash.

“You do the rest,” Kagome said crisply, bracing herself for the challenges ahead as she circled around and poured water over the stringy tangle of Kanako’s hair.

Lathering her hands, Kagome set to work on the knotted strands with the same harsh efficiency she’d used to scour Kanako’s skin. But no matter how hard Kagome pulled at her scalp, and despite Kanako’s tendency for whining in general, the girl didn’t so much as whimper in protest. Instead, she was perfectly lax as she ran the cloth obediently over her submerged lower half.

When at last her hair lay limp but unsnarled, Kagome rose and looked to the simmering kettle, a grasp in the sleeve of her sleeping robe drawing her attention back down. Flushed from the heat of the bath and Kagome’s ruthless ministrations, Kanako gazed up at her with heavy-lidded eyes.

“Kagome-sama…aren’t you going to bathe too?”

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi