More harried militiamen followed in the messenger’s wake. Spilling into the room, they reported their own versions of these alarming sightings—not a few of their accounts clearly embellished by some combination of excitement and fear. As Kohaku began giving out orders, Kagome hurried to the north-facing window. Squinting, she could just make out the approaching

“Ren-san,” Kagome greeted warmly in relief, while Kohaku’s whole demeanor chilled. “What a vision you are to behold,” the captain said to her. “My memory of your loveliness has been a poor substitute.” His light eyes flicked casually over the taijiya standing so frigidly beside her. “…Might this fierce young man be your little brother?”

In that severed head Kagome glimpsed another. The image exploded red behind her eyes. The roar in her ears was deafening. Her stomach lurched as she reeled away, panic clawing at her throat. Her palm clamped to her mouth in frozen horror. At her shoulder, a touch—the warmth and weight of it familiar. Hunched, she

Kohaku’s katana returned to its sheath with a snap. Jolted from her reverie, Kagome turned toward him at the sound. But the taijiya was already walking away. “…Grave lad,” Ren remarked as he drew up beside her, his smile wry. Sharp and narrowed, his hawkish eyes followed after Kohaku’s dark receding form, before flitting around

As Kagome watched her new army proceed through town, something nagged at the back of her mind. It was a feeling of misgiving that persisted in the days that followed, sharpening into outright suspicion as she opened the trunk at her bedside—and spotted something pale and glinting in the darkness within. Kagome’s brow furrowed. Plucking

Kagome wasn’t sure what astonished her more—the fact that Hirokin was part of Sesshoumaru’s inner circle, or the fact that Sesshoumaru had a ‘childhood friend’. Even imagining her brother-in-law as a child was difficult enough, though she supposed he couldn’t very well have sprung from the womb as he was. Shaking her head at all

Kagome scowled. “Inuyasha and I didn’t ‘steal’ anything.” Hirokin cocked his head, a shiver of watery sunlight gilding the platinum fall of his hair. “Is there another term you would prefer, Kagome-sama, for taking that which does not belong to you? I am speaking, of course, about the red barrier crystal, split and leached of

In a haze of distress, Kagome returned to her home. Throwing Tessaiga back into the trunk, she slammed the lid down upon it and reached for the nearest bottle of sake. Draining it, she scrabbled for another, and another still. In vain, she attempted to drown out the last few hours, to erase them from

Listless, Kagome watched as the hours slid by. Her muscles ached, those of her lower stomach most of all. She felt as though she’d been poisoned, which she supposed wasn’t too far from the mark. Returning from gods-knew-where with bits of bloody rabbit hide dangling from his muzzle, the wild dog paced around her whining

As Kagome put herself at last to bed, it felt more like putting herself out of her misery. Collapsing onto the futon, she let loose a muffled moan. Even as unconsciousness mercifully enveloped her, she knew that in a matter of hours she’d be stark awake with a pair of twin jackhammers pounding away on