“Someone to protect,” Kagome said, with a wistful smile. She glanced toward Inuyasha, whose back was still turned. His head was bowed, his ears slightly dipped. She opened her mouth again to call him back from his ruminations, when a girl’s high, bright voice beat her to it, calling out from the edge of the

Inuyasha pursed his lips. Drawing Tessaiga from its sheath with a soft hiss, he held it out toward his starry-eyed nephew blade-flat. Shin eyed the chipped and rusted sword over, then frowned. “That’s your sword, oyaji? It looks like an old piece of crap.” “Shin,” Kagome said sternly. Shin tossed her an apologetic glance. “An

Holding Kagome’s eye for a beat, Inuyasha nodded. She could see that he believed this, too. Or rather, that he believed in her. He always had. Through thick and through thin, he had never lost faith in her. Even now, after all that had come to pass between them. To see this unwavering belief in

“Oh,” Kagome said, faltering.  At her bereft expression, Inuyasha’s ears went flat. Thunderously, he glowered. “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.”  “Inuyasha—” “You’re tellin’ me after all this time,” he exploded, gnashing his fangs in Kagome’s face so hard she winced, “after all this time, he’s still givin’ you and Shin the slip? Seven fucking

As Kaori went off to sweep the woods, Kagome glanced sidelong at Inuyasha. “So, you and Sango-chan got married, huh?” Inuyasha scratched behind a silver ear, not quite looking at her. “Not right away or anything,” he muttered, flushing high on the bones of his cheeks again. “It wasn’t like that. She and the kids

Kagome told herself what she’d sensed on the road was only in her head. Shin hadn’t seemed to detect anything out of the ordinary. Her imagination had simply gotten the better of her, that was all. But later on when she was in the hut alone, getting ready to make lunch, her senses alerted again

The ensuing days were unbearable to Kagome.  While the new Shinto shrine was being built for consecration, time seemed to slow to an interminable crawl. She was restless, beyond anxious to put an end to her and Shin’s obligations here in the village and be on their way to resume their search for his missing

Everything was dark. So pitch dark that Kagome didn’t even realize she was dreaming until her eyes began to adjust to the heaviness of the gloom around her, which resolved by degrees into contours of brownish-grey. She wasn’t walking, but she was moving. She was floating along, gliding slowly through space. She felt bizarrely detached

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