Grief closed its icy claws around Kagome’s heart. Dazed and disoriented, she strove against it. Railed against it—against the loneliness, the pain. Against the eviscerating torment of her disappointed hopes, and those she’d pinned them to.

Inuyasha, Kohaku, Mayuri…

Sesshoumaru.

The last was the greatest—the most crushing, the hardest to bear. Everything—everything went back to him. Her wet hands rose to cup her face as she trembled in helpless frustration. In furious unfulfillment.

It was almost with relief that she detected his presence approaching from the west. Kagome glared through the slits in her pruny fingers, her hiccups subsiding as her eyes ran hot and dry. Dashing away the salty tear tracks staining her cheeks, she briskly stood, pulling the plug from the tepid tub as she reached for a towel.

Dressing quickly, she ran a comb through her disheveled hair and rubbed at her splotchy face. She couldn’t afford to be a weepy mess in front of her brother-in-law. She couldn’t afford to look weak before him—

Not anymore.

It was curious, how the act of strength seemed to imbue her with actual strength. Drawing confidence from the role she’d been forced to assume, Kagome glanced sharply toward the door as Sesshoumaru pushed the reed curtain aside and entered.

“Don’t just come barging in here unannounced,” she snapped, her chin turning archly from him as she gathered her drying hair up high. “You can wait for me outside.”

The floorboards creaked as he stepped pointedly toward her. Grasping for a ribbon with one hand, Kagome froze, her spine tensing at his approach. Despite the relative darkness of the hut’s interior, his pupils were razor thin, the green-gold of his irises flashing at her with eerie intensity. Reflexively, she flinched as his ivory claws reached for her, catching a stray, errant lock of her hair.

The dark shimmering strands sifted in his hold. Not yet trusting herself to breathe, Kagome snatched back her wayward tress, tying it up hastily along with the rest. Sesshoumaru’s preternatural eyes held hers a moment more before he turned toward the door.

“I will wait for you,” he said.

Heart pounding, Kagome stared after him, her hands slightly shaking as they returned to her sides. It infuriated her, how easily he unnerved her, while he himself remained so damn unflappable. Recognizing his supposed act of ‘helpfulness’ for what it really was—a challenge—Kagome set her jaw and went out to face him.

In the broad light of day, he was somewhat less imposing. The pale silk of his hair and sleeves rippled faintly in the breeze, his moonwhite fur streaming across the verdant grass as he looked toward the village. Striding up to him from across the yard, Kagome crossed her arms at her chest.

“What is it?” she demanded. “What do you want?”

“To see Rin,” he replied, his gaze slanting to her, “of course.”

Something in his answer chafed her raw. Kagome’s eyes narrowed.

“Well, you certainly didn’t waste any time, did you?—that barrier’s only been amended for a day.”

Cool metallic eyes slid over her scowling face. “You look haggard, Kagome. Go back inside and rest.”

Her scowl deepened. “And let you have your run of the village? You’re out of your mind. Just because you’re not sex-crazed at the moment doesn’t mean you can—”

“Sesshoumaru-sama!”

Kagome bit off as she turned with him. Sprinting up the dirt path, Rin beamed and waved, her red-stitched white sleeve slipping halfway down her arm in her enthusiasm.

“I thought I’d sensed you!” the young woman exclaimed as she drew to a breathless halt before them. Clasping her hands, she smiled up at her beloved guardian. “Kagome-chan has been teaching me how.”

“Has she,” Sesshoumaru said as he skimmed his claws along the line of Rin’s jaw, Kagome’s hackles rising as she recalled with gruesome clarity just where those filthy fingers of his had been. “Well done.”

As Kagome’s eyes darkened, Rin’s glittered at the touch, the praise. Taking his vile hand in hers, she tugged him toward the village.

“Please, Sesshoumaru-sama, let me show you what I’ve been working on while you were away. Oh—I have so much to tell you!”

Her pretty braid swung merrily as he let her lead him on. Sparing Kagome a backward glance, he flicked his fur over his shoulder in clear provocation. Silently fuming, the miko grit her teeth and followed after.

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi