Kagome slept like the dead. When she woke it was to the sound of Kanako’s reedy voice calling out— “Kagome-sama? Kagome-sama, it is nearly noon.” Groggily, Kagome blinked, propped herself up on an elbow. There was a blissful moment where she didn’t remember anything of the night before. Then Kanako slipped through the door curtain,

Kagome stared. Was it possible Sango had learned something of her sordid affair with Sesshoumaru—or perhaps even worse, her unfortunate entanglements with Kohaku? A ball of lead sank through Kagome’s stomach, though her face remained quizzically blank. “…No,” she said, after a moment. “…Not particularly?” For another heartbeat, Sango’s keen, slayer’s gaze remained riveted on

As Kagome stomped down from the porch, Ikiryou rose and fell into step beside her, a fresh dusting of snow shaking loose from his fur. Kagome didn’t feel the cold, or the wind. All the flakes that drifted down onto her turned straight into steam. Sango sure had some nerve, dredging up the past like

Kagome had been expecting to see a long line of petitioners awaiting her on the veranda outside. For several days she’d held no audiences as she’d attended to Kaede and the funeral preparations. In hindsight, she supposed this should have been her second sign that something was afoot. Inside the main hall, a small crowd

A marriage then, Kagome knew. Part of her had been anticipating this subject would come up between them, at some point. Yet still she braced herself. “That would be the ultimate way to legitimize you, wouldn’t it?” she said, half-smiling at him, though there wasn’t an ounce of good humor in it. “You’d be beyond

In a tempest of frustration, Kagome paced back and forth across the length of the shrine house. The flames of the brazier bowed, flickering and writhing, each time she stalked past. She’d come here to meditate, but all sense of inner calm eluded her. Her train of thought was fractured, jagged-edged and incongruous as a

Kagome’s mouth twisted. “Why would you think that?” “Why else would you be here,” Kohaku retorted, “unless you were in some sort of crisis? You only come to me when there’s something you need.” Kagome regarded him in steady silence. The slashes on his cheek were faint now, yet somehow they seemed to glare at