For days afterward, Sesshoumaru’s cryptic response left Kagome feeling distinctly unsettled.

The only silver lining to it all was that Inuyasha’s petty blinders toward his elder brother were more firmly set than ever. This would’ve given Kagome some much-needed space to breathe—if in his gloating Inuyasha wasn’t clinging to her incessantly, escorting her wherever she went. Gods forbid he miss an opportunity to rub his budding family in Sesshoumaru’s face.

Sighing to herself, Kagome was grateful for the wish she’d made to destroy the Shikon no Tama. If Inuyasha had ever become a full-fledged demon, he’d have been a true terror unleashed upon the world.

Since their confrontation in the village square, Sesshoumaru seemed to have made himself scarce. Who exactly he was avoiding was anyone’s guess. But in Kagome’s glum mood she was inclined to think the worst. It was another dark, soggy day when she spied him at last, reclining high in the branches of a long-dead tree, in the middle of an old pasture gone to seed. It struck her as somehow deliberate, this distance of his. With effort, she tried not to overanalyze it.

Ghostly as Sesshoumaru looked in this derelict setting, he wasn’t all that alone. A creek ran by this pastoral haunt of his. Some teenaged girls were doing their washing there. At the way they kept stealing glances at Sesshoumaru and giggling amongst themselves, Kagome knew they’d chosen their spot on purpose, at least.

One of the girls was very pretty—slender and sloe-eyed and peachy in the blossom of her youth. Looking at her, Kagome felt all too keenly aware of her big belly, her swollen joints and the dark circles under her eyes. Beside her, Inuyasha seemed similarly put-out at the spectacle.

“Tch,” he said, crossing his arms. “Those girls are wasting their time, mooning over him.”

Prickliness getting the best of her, Kagome said briskly, “What makes you so sure? If he’s as determined to get one over on you as you said, then maybe he’s in the market for just what they’re selling.”

Inuyasha made a twisted face. “Sesshoumaru, rut with a human?” A bark of laughter escaped him. “He would never!”

“Your father did,” Kagome shot back, before she could stop herself.

Inuyasha scoffed, unfazed by this obvious fact. “All the more reason he wouldn’t. Sesshoumaru would rather die than risk tainting his precious blood. Even if he wasn’t so hung up on himself, he considers humans an inferior breed. For him, it’d be like a man fucking a cow.”

Kagome glowered aside, resenting the unwitting comparison. When Inuyasha started toward home in a huff, she hastened after him. But on some strange whim, she glanced back. Sesshoumaru had been staring up at the sky before. Now, across the distance between them, his gimlet eye met hers. She held it for a beat before she turned her face away, the scarred skin at her collar stretching taut as she did so.

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi

Revised 1/26/22