That night, for the first time in weeks, Kagome’s sleep was dreamless.

Groggy and stiff, she awoke the next morning with a refreshing clarity of mind. While she would never stop hunting the Beast, her brother-in-law had been right in one sense—she couldn’t let herself be driven to destruction in the attempt. She needed to remain sharp and focused for when the next opportunity arose to catch the killer.

Maybe Kohaku would return with promising news in a week’s time—maybe he’d find nothing. Regardless, Kagome resolved to keep herself healthy and productive. This outlook in mind, she devoted herself to her miko duties with renewed energy.

Checking the consistency of the healing salve with a wooden spoon, Kagome smiled in approval. “Good job, Rin-chan—this looks perfect.”

“Thanks, Kagome-chan.” The young woman beamed, tucking back a few wisps of chocolate-brown hair that had escaped from her loose braid. “I feel exhausted though—is that normal? It didn’t seem like I used all that much of my reiki…”

“It isn’t always about how much you use. The more precisely you have to wield your reiki, the more draining it’ll be, and infusing the salve requires precision,” Kagome explained. “With practice though, you’ll be able to utilize your power more efficiently, and you won’t feel so tired in the future.”

Rin nodded in understanding, rocking up onto her toes. “I see! Well, I’ll just have to train even harder, then.”

Kagome laughed as she took the simmering pot off the fire. “Just don’t push yourself too hard, okay? You’re doing great.”

“Oh,” her apprentice sighed happily, her dark eyes glittering as she clasped her hands, “I can’t wait to tell Sesshoumaru-sama all the things I’ve learned! It seems like he’s been gone for ages.”

Setting the pot down to cool, Kagome frowned. “…You didn’t see him yesterday?”

Rin shook her head. “No—was he here?”

“Not for long, I guess,” Kagome answered, her frown deepening as she faced her apprentice. “I’m sorry, Rin-chan—I think I may have angered him. We spoke briefly, and it seems that afterward he left the village altogether.”

To her surprise, Rin smiled. “If Sesshoumaru-sama was angry, Kagome-chan, you would know.”

“Ha, I suppose you’re right,” Kagome conceded lightly. “Well, annoyed him, then.”

“That’s more likely,” Sesshoumaru’s ward giggled. “He does get annoyed pretty easily. Even when I was a little girl, Sesshoumaru-sama would become cross with me and leave me by myself for days on end.” At Kagome’s scandalized look, Rin added quickly, “Never anywhere dangerous, of course! Anyway…I never doubted he would come back—I knew he cared for me.”

“He certainly has a strange way of showing it,” Kagome muttered.

“Well, he is a demon, after all,” Rin said with a grin. “Although, I think, even for a demon, Sesshoumaru-sama has a hard time expressing his emotions, at least in a way us humans can understand.”

He doesn’t think like we do, Inuyasha had once told her. Kagome had taken her husband’s remark as a warning, and in light of Rin’s words, she found herself considering it anew. Sesshoumaru had always been nearly impossible for her to read. She had assumed this was intentional on his part, but what if it wasn’t? Somehow, the prospect was more unsettling still.

“How were you so sure,” she asked Rin after a moment, “that he cared for you, back then?”

“An intuition,” the younger miko answered at once, tilting her head as she regarded her mentor. “…Don’t you feel it, too?”

The memory of his tongue sliding over her skin rose unbidden in Kagome’s mind. She knew Sesshoumaru felt a sense of familial loyalty to her, but the idea of him caring for her beyond that wasn’t something she wanted to contemplate too deeply.

Lips thinning, Kagome turned away, busying herself with decanting the thickening salve. “…We should get this over to Kaede-baa-chan before dark.”

Before Kohaku had left for the far North, he and Miroku had slain a salamander youkai whose noxious slime had been slowly poisoning the residents of the castle that lay above the demon’s subterranean lair. While the most dire of the victims’ symptoms had abated shortly after the demon’s death, many of the afflicted men and women still bore youki-laced fleshwounds, which would fester and kill them if not properly purified and treated. Tomorrow morning, Kaede, who had tended to the daimyo’s sick daughter once before, and Rin would set out to administer the cure she had enlisted Kagome’s help in making.

But as the younger mikos took the healing salve to their elder’s home, it quickly became clear that Kaede wouldn’t be making the trip.

“Threw my back out chasing crows from yon garden,” the old woman groused from her futon as soon as Kagome and Rin entered the dwelling. “Mayhaps I’ll be up tomorrow, mayhaps not.”

“Either way, you need to take it easy for a few days,” Kagome decided. “Rin’ll stay with you to help out around the village. I’ll go to the castle and see to the sick people myself.”

Kaede and Rin shared an uncertain glance.

“…Are ye sure?” the elderly miko asked. “Ye cannot make the trip in one day.”

“I know,” Kagome said with a determined nod, “and I’m sure.”

The western castle was a fair distance away. She understood Kaede and Rin’s reservations, but it wasn’t fair for them to continue to cater to Kagome’s reclusive tendencies. Traveling with Kohaku had eased some of her anxiety about leaving the region. She could either backslide into isolation or take advantage of the positive momentum and start pulling her true weight again as a priestess.

“Maybe Miroku-sama could go with you?” Rin suggested.

Kagome considered this, then shook her head. “He only just got back. It wouldn’t be fair to Sango-chan and the kids—besides, with me and Kohaku gone, I think it’s best if he’s here to help protect the village.”

“Take Jiro then, at least,” Kaede urged. “On horseback, ye can make the trip in half a day.”

Smiling slightly, Kagome rose with the jar of salve. “Thanks, Baa-chan—I will.”

After saying goodnight, she returned to her home to prepare for tomorrow’s journey. Venturing into the Western Lands put her odds of encountering her brother-in-law very high—and he wouldn’t be at all pleased to find her there without his prior knowledge and consent. If Sesshoumaru had his way, Kagome reflected sourly as she stowed a few more supplies into her satchel, he’d put a cage around Edo village.

But there was nothing for it—she would only be gone for a day or two. If she rationed her reiki carefully, she could probably keep herself concealed for the duration of the trip and avoid a confrontation with him altogether.

What Sesshoumaru didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. Reassured by the thought, Kagome lay down to sleep.

---

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi

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