Kagome’s blood ran cold. “What?!” she cried out, rushing over. Dropping to her knees, she ripped up the tatami and pressed her face to the floor, attempting to peer through the narrow gaps in the boards. But her shout, combined with her thunderous approach, seemed to have flushed out the eavesdropper. There was a sound

Boneless, Kagome sank down into the tub. Water rose to drown her ears. With her eyes just above the surface, she listened to the haunting dampness of every fleeting motion. Even rising to breathe, she felt submerged still. It was a feeling that persisted long after she’d dried off and dressed. The heaviness dragged at

Through a tangle of thorns, Kagome stared down the intruder. He was a mangy beast, feral and wolfish—grizzled and yellow-fanged and mean down to the marrow. Purple lips pulled back in a snarl as he dug his dark cracked claws into the earth and glared at her with sallow eyes full of hate and hunger.

Kagome’s eyes cut west as she frowned. Picking herself up from her perch, she ventured deeper into the forest with bow in hand. But at the sight that greeted her, her defensive posture relaxed a fraction. “Jakken,” she said as she shouldered her bow and strode toward him. “Ah.” Sesshoumaru’s retainer sighed, lowering the nintoujou

And yet, as the days passed and Kagome continued to catch phantom glimpses of this beast of the woods—the smoky wisp of a tail turning into the trees, the glint of gilded eyes through the brush, the pale points of ears tipping just above a fallen log or the far side of a boulder—her irritation

Restless as Kagome felt, there was never a shortage of work to be done in the village-turned-mecca that Edo had become. Visiting Rin in the makeshift hospital she’d raised in the heart of the sprawl, Kagome was struck by the sheer number of battle-wounded among the afflicted travelers and refugees. Yet there were no warlords

Kagome stiffened. With effort, she kept her tone light as she replied, “Just checking in.” Kohaku’s flinty eyes pierced hers a moment longer. “Checking in,” he repeated, as if weighing the veracity of each word, before his gaze cut past her toward the stair. “Who’s your friend?” Kagome glanced behind her. Near the edge of