Kagome told herself what she’d sensed on the road was only in her head. Shin hadn’t seemed to detect anything out of the ordinary. Her imagination had simply gotten the better of her, that was all.

But later on when she was in the hut alone, getting ready to make lunch, her senses alerted again to an unexpected presence—this time unmistakable.

The empty kettle fell back to the tabletop with a clatter. Heart in her throat, Kagome crossed the short distance to the door curtain. With trembling fingers, she pushed it aside.

Out in the yard there he was, as if it were only yesterday. His silver hair listed in the crisp spring breeze. His eyes glowed golden in the light of the noonday sun.

Seven years hadn’t aged him at all. He looked exactly the same as she remembered. When their eyes met, she saw in his mirrored gaze that so, too, did she.

“Inuyasha,” Kagome said, wandering out onto the porch.

Inuyasha nodded back to her, his hands folded together in his sleeves. He wasn’t exactly frowning, but he wasn’t quite smiling, either. He looked thoughtful, almost pensive, as he regarded her from the foot of the steps. Now there was a look she hadn’t seen from him before. 

As she was wondering at this change in him, the curtain of his silver hair parted. A pair of keen violet eyes peeped out at her from the cover of its shadow.

Kagome smiled at Inuyasha. “You’ve brought a friend along, I see.”

“Keh,” he scoffed, turning his head to the side. 

As his silver hair swished back into place, a cute little girl swung down from the back of his shoulder, landing nimble as a cat on the green grass beside him. With her high ponytail and her black taijiya garb, she looked very much like a miniature Sango. But her eyes were Miroku’s alone.

“You must be Kaori-chan,” Kagome said, smiling down at her. “My name’s Kagome. I’m—”

“I know who you are,” the little girl said, a glint of challenge sparking in her violet eyes. “You’re the Shikon Miko, my papa’s old wife who ran away.”

Kagome’s smile twitched. “Ah…”

“Hey,” Inuyasha said sternly, flushing, but Kaori glared on undeterred.

Taking hold of him by the sleeve of his fire-rat haori, she said to Kagome, “He’s married to my mama now. You can’t have him back.”

Before Inuyasha could reprimand her again, Kagome put up a pacifying hand. She walked down the porch steps to where the little girl stood, and bent to meet her eye to eye.

“Your mama’s very dear to me,” Kagome said, adding warmly, “and you look very much like her.”

Kaori’s wariness melted away. She beamed up at Kagome with pride.

“I’m going to be an elite youkai taijiya, just like her. I’m the best fighter in my class. When I’m older, I’ll battle toe-to-toe against the wickedest demons in the land.”

“We’ll see about that,” Inuyasha muttered.

“Papa wants me to be a miko instead,” Kaori put in matter-of-factly, “because he says that it’s safer.”

As Kagome arched a brow at this, Inuyasha’s ears went flat. “That’s not exactly how I put it. And what’s so wrong with me wanting to keep you off the front lines when there’s no good reason for a reiki-wielder like you to be there?”

From the stubborn set of Kaori’s lower lip, Kagome had the feeling Inuyasha was going to be in for a struggle with this one.

Squinting off toward the wilderness behind the house, Kaori said, “I should go sweep those woods for threats.” She took a step toward the trees, then paused, turning back to Inuyasha with a sweet little smile, “All right, Papa?”

Inuyasha sighed, relenting. “All right, kiddo. Have at it.”

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi