In the morning Kagome and Shine woke bright and early. While he wolfed down his putrescent fish in a few stomach-churning chomps beyond the trees, she grimaced over her own bowl of breakfast. Shaking water from his hair, he returned fresh-faced from a plunge in the creek, and together they finished off the rest of

“You again,” Kagome said through clenched teeth, striding forward with her fists balled at her sides. “How many times do I have to tell you to buzz off?” The imp peeped out from the cover of the trees—not at her, of course, but at Shin in his inuyoukai form. Lingering on Shin’s crescent blood mark,

“Now look what you’ve done!” Kagome and Jakken blurted at one another. Kagome froze. Then, she punted Jakken as far away as she could in the opposite direction, and she went off the road into the woods, on the trail of her sulking son. As she drew closer, she saw something blue and shimmery on

“What happened to Jakken?” Shin asked, pulling back from Kagome’s embrace. “I sent him flying,” she replied, glancing west. Shin squinted in that direction. “How far?” “Not far enough,” Kagome said dryly. Shin grinned toothily. “Listen, Kaa-san: I know a way we can leave him in our dust.” Kagome laughed, ruffling his black hair and

Kagome could hardly believe her eyes, the place was so changed. But there was the village well, its crumbling old stones remortared and its rotting beams replaced. There was the scattering of dilapidated shacks which ringed it—although dilapidated no more. All the wood and thatching was bright, whole and fresh. In front of and around

After the kitsune scare, the rest of the dinner with Mei’s family proceeded without incident. Shin the flirt proceeded to flatter Mei at every turn—saying she was “so nice,” “so smart,” “so pretty,” and so on and so forth. All the nose wrinkling and retching faces made by her younger brother didn’t deter Shin in

Kagome wandered toward the house a step, as if in a dream. Then she stopped and stared, drawn up short. Something waved in front of her face, breaking her stare. “Hell-o-ooo, earth to Kaa-san!” Kagome blinked and glanced over at Shin, perched on a fence rail and waving a small hand into her face. She