Kagome reeled aside as if she’d been struck. She staggered a few steps into the grass, clapping a hand to her mouth. Her shoulders hunched. Her guts twisted, her stomach roiled. She thought she might throw up. Her eyes watered and burned. Her throat was parched, constricted. Blood rushed pounding in her ears. At her

Tangled up in Sesshoumaru’s arms, Kagome stared out at Miroku, staring back at her. In the time before he turned away, she was frozen, numb inside. Her body went still. Her mind went blank. A moment could have passed. An eternity could have passed. She felt no difference between the two as she stood there,

Kagome leapt up from the stump like she’d been shocked, glaring at Sesshoumaru. “I knew I shouldn’t have said anything. I should have known better. This is why I can’t talk to you—because you always try to twist things back around on me to suit your own purposes. I’m not in love with you. I’m

Kagome sat on a stump in the clearing, watching Shin dash about through the falling leaves. His gusts of youki sent them swirling in all directions—riotous confetti-bursts of crimson and gold. He darted and leapt, snapped and spun. At times he gathered enough ethereal steam beneath his paws to go briefly airborne, but even Kagome

Kagome stared down at where Inuyasha lay sprawled, too stunned at first to do anything else. He was out cold. Shin inched toward him, bristled and sniffing. Even when he nudged Inuyasha with his snowy crackling muzzle, even when his miasmic purple tongue licked Inuyasha full and fuming across the face, the hanyou barely stirred. 

In the wake of Inuyasha’s departure the silence was deafening. Crushing. Shoulders hunched beneath the oppressive weight of it, Kagome stood there in the middle of the hut, staring after him long after he’d gone. Her own brash words had left her reeling. She had fired them off without thinking. Only now was she registering

It was wishful thinking, looking back, for Kagome to hope that this moment would never come. To hope that it could be delayed indefinitely. That she could continue to avoid it forever. Because until she was put to the point, she could pretend that it wouldn’t come to this. That she wouldn’t have to look

Kagome and Shin returned home. The first thing her eyes fell upon when she entered the hut was the laundry basket, which was heaped to overflowing. As usual, she’d pushed this loathsome chore to the limit. If she waited until tomorrow to do her laundry with Sango, Inuyasha would have something to say about it,