Kagome stood alone on the porch, watching after Kohaku long after he’d left. Leaning heavily against the outer wall of her home, she tried to bring her whirlwind of fears under control.

The vial. The detection charm. Were Kohaku to encounter Sesshoumaru with it, he would know. And if he knew, if he knew…

Kagome clutched her arms around one another, holding herself together as she trembled. Kohaku was a taijiya. No matter how much he respected and even admired Sesshoumaru, a murdering demon was a murdering demon. Kagome knew Sango’s brother—knew he would challenge Sesshoumaru if he discovered the truth. Even if he stood no chance of success, Kohaku would never back down. He would die attempting to slay Sesshoumaru.

With that vial on him, Kohaku would be walking into a death trap. Kagome couldn’t let that happen. He had said a few days. A few days…

Easing herself off the wall, she grasped for a pail and staggered down the porch steps to the little well that lay off to one side of the yard. Tying the bucket to a rope, she lowered and raised it, detached it and with Herculean effort lifted it high and poured the icy contents over her head. Spluttering, shivering, she slicked back her drenched bangs and swept the clean, dry corner of a sleeve over her freezing face.

The cold braced her, revived her. Resting her palms on the ledge of the well, she felt her thoughts settle, crisp and cool. She needed to get that vial away from Kohaku. If he didn’t have it on him, he would be none-the-wiser to Sesshoumaru’s true nature. He would be safe.

Determination steeled her. Kagome may have failed Mayuri, but she would protect Kohaku. She would find a way.

As her mind raced to come up with a plan, she strode briskly back to the house. Eyes narrowed and jaw set, she began cleaning up the place, ordering her thoughts as she ordered her home. Time was against her. She could try to convince Kohaku not to go see Sesshoumaru, to delay their inevitable confrontation and buy herself a few more days, perhaps, to strategize.

But she considered this only briefly—the fact of the matter was, Sesshoumaru himself could show up in Edo at any moment. If he came here, if Kohaku uncovered him here, the entire village would be in danger. Sango and Miroku would become embroiled in the conflict, Kaede, even Rin…

Kagome clenched her sore fingers hard around the broom handle, this nightmarish scenario making her ill with dread. No—she had to get that vial away from him as soon as possible. But how? Even if she could manage to steal it, Kohaku was shrewd. He would know she had taken it—who else would? It would only be natural for him to suspect her motives. To begin to suspect Sesshoumaru…

The end result, she feared, would be the same. As Kagome finished cleaning up the house, she turned to herself. Stripping away her stiff dirty clothes, she scrubbed herself off and sealed up the raw tears and scrapes in her flesh. As the sun began to set, she cooked some rice and chewed it mechanically as she continued to mull over the pressing crisis.

What she needed was to disarm the enchantment, to render it useless somehow. If the spell was broken, Kohaku could keep the vial on him and still never suspect a thing. Bracing her chin in her hand, Kagome frowned. Getting close enough to do that without being detected seemed almost impossible…

Night fell, and Kagome found herself circling around the only option available to her, risky though it was. Pacing back and forth in the near-empty hut, she knew she couldn’t afford to wait. Each hour that passed brought them that much closer to peril.

Kohaku would be tired from his travels. Safe here in his home village, he would be relaxed, would sleep far deeper than he’d been able to out in the wilds. She couldn’t conceal herself from him like she could from Sesshoumaru, but she could be quiet—

Quiet enough, she prayed.

As the hour grew late, Kagome set out for Kohaku’s home, a small thatch-roofed dwelling that lay over the hill from Miroku and Sango’s farm. Approaching the hut from behind, she slipped off her sandals and set her dim lantern down in the grass beside them.

Slowly, carefully, she crept up toward the door, scarcely daring to breathe as she pushed the heavy curtain aside and entered. She had only been here a few times before with Sango and Rin, but she remembered the layout of the place well enough. Toward the back of the dark room Kohaku slept soundly, the sharp lines of his face softened by the muted glow of the hearth’s fading embers.

And glinting from the belt hung that on the wall behind him, was the vial of curse-blackened earth.

Heart hammering, Kagome made her way toward it, silent as the grave. Stepping lightly around him, she uncurled her clammy fingers and reached out—

As a board creaked faintly beneath her shifted weight, and the cold point of a blade pressed to her throat.

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi