Although it was far from morning still, as she and Sesshoumaru parted ways at her porch step, Kagome felt more revitalized than she had in many days. Now reassured that he would remain a part of her life, she found herself with renewed energy for it. Settling Taiyoutori down in a bed of straw near

Throwing a few more shirts onto the laundry pile, Kagome hefted up the heaping basket and shouldered her way through the noren curtain. Outside, the biting air of early morning struck her full in the face. If she hadn’t been wide awake before, she certainly was now. As she picked her way down the porch

There was a gnawing inside her that just wouldn’t stop. A hunger that had been growing increasingly more voracious over the past few weeks. Now Kagome couldn’t seem to get any reprieve from it, no matter how much she ate nor how often. She felt weak and restless all at once. Even after eating twice

After Inuyasha left, Kagome paced around the hut. She tried to keep her restlessness under wraps. Just a few more hours, she told herself, and then she’d get some relief. Her nails dug into her crossed arms. Her mouth salivated, out of control. All the while her stomach growled, like there really was a cranky

Kagome’s mind went frightfully blank.  When she came to herself again, her hands and face were smeared with blood. There was nothing left of the organs but a rusty stain in the snow. Nothing left of the rabbit but skin and bones, one of which she was gnawing as Taiyoutori shredded the bloody hide into

As Sesshoumaru disappeared into the trees, Kagome crushed fistfuls of melty snow to her face, trying as best as she could to scrub the blood from her skin. Her mouth, cheeks and chin were so numb after a few attempts she couldn’t tell whether she was making any progress or not. Her frozen hands were

As the days grew lighter, Kagome only seemed to grow heavier. In body, in spirit. She felt tired all the time. Her back ached, her head ached. The smallest exertions left her feeling drained. At night she struggled to find a comfortable sleeping position and woke up feeling about as rested as she had when

Inuyasha’s ears flattened. Next to him, Kagome paled. “Half-nephew then, you arrogant prick,” the hanyou grit out, as Sesshoumaru resumed his departure without another word. Scowling, Inuyasha turned back to her. “What an asshole.” Kagome swallowed slightly, recovering. Only her own hand was pressed to her belly now. At the tractor beam of enmity radiating

What marriage? The ladle slipped in Kagome’s bloodless hold. “Why? Why would Sesshoumaru say such a thing?” There was no keeping the quaver from her voice. When Inuyasha’s glare snapped from his claws to her, her breath froze in her chest. “I didn’t know what to make of it back then,” he said lowly, rising

For days afterward, Sesshoumaru’s cryptic response left Kagome feeling distinctly unsettled. The only silver lining to it all was that Inuyasha’s petty blinders toward his elder brother were more firmly set than ever. This would’ve given Kagome some much-needed space to breathe—if in his gloating Inuyasha wasn’t clinging to her incessantly, escorting her wherever she