Kagome’s head fell back against the tree behind her. Glaring up at the steely skies, she tried her best to shut Sesshoumaru out of her mind. She was still stewing somewhat when she finally detached herself and resumed her trek toward home.

Her run-in with him aside, it had felt good to her, making this small journey to help out Yoichiro and his family. It brought her back to her Shard-hunting days, all the detours she and her friends had made to aid those they’d chanced to meet along the way. Back then this kind of adventuring for her had been a matter of course. Now with all the time she spent milling about her home at worst, her small village at best, she felt as though she’d taken those days for granted—

That sort of freedom for granted.

But more than that, she wondered how many folks were out there, scattered across the rural countryside, where a few hours of her time might make all the difference to them. Her bittersweet nostalgia steepened with a pang.

She shook her head to try to banish the thought from mind. There was no point in dwelling on that sort of thing. Her days of roaming the land like a vagabond were over. She wasn’t some carefree teenager anymore. She was a wife, soon to be a mother. It wasn’t safe or sensible for her to go gallivanting around. She had responsibilities now. And even if she didn’t see it this way, Inuyasha would never allow it.

She tried to curb her wandering thoughts. At home it was easier, as if the perimeter of the village, the four walls of her hut kept her imagination neatly contained. But out here in the wilderness, in the openness and the silence, her thoughts kept running away in all directions.

Her panting breaths plumed out before her, hazing the air as if in a dream. There were little flurries of snow entrained in the breeze now, glittering and swirling through that mist that was like her restless spirit being exorcised from her—or attempting to be, anyway.

But even as she stepped forward, her wayward thoughts ran back, slipping the reins of her will, taking her into the past…

He was easy enough for her to find, for all that he was hidden. Not that she suspected he was really ‘hiding’ so much as seeking sanctuary from the clamor of camp. As she scaled the hill and rounded a tree, she saw him there, sitting cross-legged atop a boulder, looking out over the valley below. 

Kagome took a moment to look at him. She’d never really seen him like this before. Most times that she’d glimpsed him, he’d either been trying to kill her, or someone else. There was a fascinating novelty to seeing him sitting still—probably because at the same time that he was, he also eerily wasn’t. His hair and fur streamed shimmering over the rock, the former pooling beside him like a current of liquid silver. His spiked armor glinted oddly in the sun, as though the metals within it were subtly shifting. Even the snowy silk of his clothes rippled more in the breeze than it seemed like it should. 

His eyes slid toward her then, golden and slit-pupiled. Doglike in the way they dragged over her face while the rest of him stayed still. A prickle ran along her spine, primal and unbidden.

“Um,” she said, starting to wave then stopping awkwardly with her hand half-raised. “Hi.”

Sesshoumaru’s gaze slid back to the valley. Inwardly, Kagome cringed. Tamping down on her unease, she mustered the nerve to step toward him.

“I wanted to thank you for saving me from Mukotsu the other day,” she said all at once, in a breathless rush. “It was really nice of you to go out of your way to help me. It’s not something I’d ever have expected. Honestly, I’ve been wondering why you did.”

From the way Sesshoumaru’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly, he seemed to be asking himself the same thing right about now. Kagome’s spirits sank.

“Anyway,” she continued on in a fluster, “I appreciate it. Between saving me and looking out for Rin-chan, I see now that I misjudged you in some way.” 

Sesshoumaru remained stonily silent. As the seconds ticked by like slow torture, Kagome took a deep, bracing breath. 

“Inuyasha’ll never say this,” she began again, “but since our paths keep crossing, I can’t help but think: if we’re both hunting Naraku, why not just join forces and take him on together? The way I see it, we’re two groups traveling separately toward the same goal for no good reason.”

Since Sesshoumaru had yet to say anything to her so far, she had no reason to think he’d respond to this either. She was turning away when he finally did, making her start in surprise.

“An alliance,” he said, as though musing aloud, “with my father’s bastard and his ragtag band of drifters.” 

Kagome’s hands balled into fists as she turned. “Those ‘drifters’ are my friends.”

Sesshoumaru pinned her with his glinting stare. “Your friends,” he said, a shadow of smirk playing about his lips. “And my little brother?—is he your ‘friend’ as well, priestess?”

Kagome tensed, blindsided by the question. More than that, she hoped, after all she and Inuyasha been through together. But this of course she didn’t say. From the way Sesshoumaru’s eyes seemed to flicker, she had the uncanny sense that he understood her anyway.

Stepping down from the boulder, he approached her. His bootsteps made no sound in the grass. The tension along Kagome’s spine redoubled. This close to her, his fine features stood out in vivid detail. She could see the elliptical halo of even brighter gold at the center of his irises, the moonstone complexion of his skin. Most striking of all, she realized his markings weren’t inked into him like she’d thought, but enameled into his brow and cheeks like living veins of stained glass.

This close to her, she caught his scent, so warm and wild. So at odds with his adamant image. Now that she had the luxury to admire him, she had to admit—

He really was a beautiful creature.

When he reached for her, she flinched back on instinct. But he caught hold of her anyway, just as easily as if she hadn’t moved at all. Deceptively delicate-looking, his needlepoint claws scraped against her scalp. Only for a moment, but Kagome’s cheeks flushed like mad anyway. As his hand withdrew from her, she stumbled back.

“W-what? You—why did you…?”

Before her, Sesshoumaru unfurled his claws. Resting in his palm was a big, beady-eyed black-and-yellow spider. Kagome eeped, jumping back.

“It was building a web in your hair,” Sesshoumaru said.

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi

Revised 3/1/23