The summer solstice was approaching. Festivals would assume their positions in the intermittent junctions and larger cities nearest the old Baba's village and Kagome was wrought with anticipation.
Every year she wore her best yukata and polished her geta feriously. Sango often sewed herself one on her birthday in the springtime with the beautiful fabrics that the miko would bring time to time.
Kaede often sat with the girls in the glade, near the old Goshinboku with her small needles and punctured each design meticulously.
It was this quiet time that held their sanity together, and left them reeling with the normalcy that rang when there was no war, no yokai, no turmoil; though that was very seldom.
Kagome of course spent days fumbling with her modern sewing kit. She'd lay flat on the ground in her dirty summer clothes, tennis shoes high in the hair and her tongue catching the loose ends of her ponytail on the wind.
Sango wore thin long sleeves shirts with the sleeves rolled up and what she thought were called shorts that were gifted to her. The sisters would sit for hours beneath the tattered sunlight, shifting positions.
Inuyasha, with his scowling face, would occasionally watch from the branches before boredom besieged him. Houshi-sama did much of the same, lingering around to see what witchcraft the women had conjured before finding snacks buried deep in that stained yellow backpack.
When the time came, Sango would proudly show off the soft, vibrant cotton yukata she had constructed. She held it up to catch the evening sun as Kagome's gray eyes inspected the rich floral patterns that littered the dark yellow fabric.
"I'm so excited!" Sango exclaimed, eyes wide with bewilderment each time she succeeded in making a new garment. "This one looks like I purchased it in the market!
Kagome smiled warmly, realizing she had sewn a portion of her yukata to the blanket she was lying on. "Well, Mike looks like it has a friend." She said in exasperation. The girls giggled as Kaede whisked the garment away and undid the dastardly seams.
"Sango, you will look very lovely and have good luck this year." Kaede-bachan wheezed, rubbing a film of sweat from her brow.
The taijiya beamed graciously as she watched the old woman unfolded Kagome's yukata to reveal the dark blue cotton bathed in white and green patterns. It was exactly like her. It mirrored the coolness of her skin and the blooming of spring that made up her entire body.
"I think someone is going to like that a lot." Sango chortled in a small sing song voice as Kagome's skin was eating by variants of red.
"Sango-chan, I don't think that he cares that much." She replied softly, garnering a roll of the eye from Kaede.
Looking above, Kaede noted that the boy in question was gone. "Oi, Kagome-sama, you shouldn't be so afraid of your feelings. We all read you very well."
Kagome covered her face childishly, finding her lips curling into a pout. Her heart thrummed in her throat as she shook her head. "No! It's not like that." She sighed.
Sango brushed a hand through her dark bangs and let her features fall flat. "I know that you're worried, and I don't want you to get hurt and I know that it's very complicated, but you mustn't let that harm you."
Kagome closed her eyes and inhaled the sweetness on the wind as it pulled the sun down to the earth. "I have an important job to do. I'm here for that reason and I am not here for that."
Kaede-bachan glowered, her skin wilting like the bark of an old oak. "Things that you cannot see are seen by others," she rasped, pointing at the girl's pinky finger.
"There's nothing there." She blinked, inspecting her hands wildly as the Sango smirked playfully.
"Could you explain to her?" Kaede gestured, handing Sango the small spool of red thread.
Joyously, she unraveled it and grabbed her friend and companion's hand. "You see," she said, prying Kagome's fingers apart. "The thread is unbreakable, it doesn't know time, it doesn't know age, it doesn't know any outside inference."
Her long fingers wrapped the red string around the miko's pinky and pulled it tight enough not to fall off and she tied a neat little bow atop the knot.
"It only knows where your soul belongs and whom it belongs to." The taijiya said thoughtfully, holding onto the spool as she stood up. The loose thread followed her movements, and Kagome stood alongside the taller girl.
Kaede wince as her old bones followed with a basket of their wares. "You see my sister's soul only partially resides inside of you. She could not connect the string, for her love was born of loneliness." The woman sighed as they walked into the clearing, bathing in the soothing cool tones of the evening.
Kagome's cheeks were warm, beaming with color as she walked with wide eyes leading her way. "I don't know what that honestly has to do with my feelings." She said softly, "I know that once the Shikon no Tama is complete, that the magic that keeps me here will be gone and I'll either be at home or not exist."
Dire way of thinking, but at this point the possibilities were like tossing a stone into the ocean to gauge the fathoms.
"Kagome-chan," Sango cooed, slightly dancing with the thread as she span around gently. "Fate will always find a way."
"Alas my cruelest maiden," A familiar, smooth and rich voice crooned. "Fate is the one thing we can never outrun, isn't that right, Sango?"
The woman stiffened, eyes closed as the pain of his lechery seeped into her pores. "Houshi-sama, why do you eavesdrop worse than a girl?"
Miroku jingled his staff precariously, batting his dark eyes as though his innocent display truly framed his essence. "I am an all knowing man, and have many talents."
Sango rolled her eyes and listened to the bemusement of her companions.
"Does the string work on perverts, too?" The miko asked poignantly, watching her friend's head drop in dismay.
"Oh! What is this?" Miroku inquired, peering at the thread in the woman's hands as it followed it to Kagome's fingers. "Are we playing with fate or making it so?"
"Houshi-sama, we are explaining the importance of fate to Kagome." Sango replied stoutly, ignoring the man staring blantantly at her bare legs.
"Well, I wonder where the string will lead..." The man responded passively, smirking in his traditional boyish manner. Kaede shooed the monk in an attempt to free them of any spoiled time alone.
It was precious, as they were rarely granted time to be just mere women. "I think that this has been forthcoming and fortuitous!" The woman exclaimed as she watched him sulk away.
Sango's tensions fell as she turned her vision back to Kagome. "Don't even say a word because I know what you're going to say."
The miko looked away as though her expression had ratted her out. It was only fair, right? All of this fate and destiny had left her emotional exhausted and embarrassed. It was only right to play hardball.
"Needless to say, Kagome-sama, " Kaede popped her chapped lips as she mulled over her thoughts, "I'd like for you to think about this and tell me in the morning how you feel."
The younger woman nodded quietly as she played with the minute bow. As they neared the old hut, the hag slipped inside humming an old tune from the capitol and left Sango stranded with the string.
The two girls stood along the rickety and worn fence to the garden outside, eyes peering at the newly formed canopy of stars. They punctured the blackness and sent their light plummeting to the earth as though they were trying to grasp onto the grounds they illuminated.
It was beautiful.
It always was. In Tokyo, the same sky would have been empty and covered by a blanket of smog and dissonant light to cover the heavens. This was the Sengoku Jidai Kagome relished.
And in the coolness of the evening, she longed for this to be her home. She fiddled with the string, barely noticing that Sango and wandered off soundlessly around the old hut.
They had been talking about their lives and they're upbringing for some time and how gracious they had been to find one another when she had disappeared.
Soon after she noticed, Kagome felt a tug on the string. Looking down, she blinked and glanced around to find herself alone in her thoughts.
Furrowing her brows, she followed the tug and called out for Sango to no avail. "This isn't funny anymore, Sango-chan! Where are you?" She whined.
Pressing her hand to the side of the hut, she made her way around the structure to see where the girl had gone. "I can't believe this. This is so stupid." She said under her breath.
Following the string, she walked past the house into the small clearing, where the tugging became mora stiff and stern. Near the well, Kagome found a pair of ears perked up on the other side.
She felt her heart beat billowing in her chest as it tried to free itself from its cage. Her skin was so painful hot, scalding with goose flesh and pigment.
Inuyasha was grumbling darkly as she made her way to him. He glanced up at the girl through a rift in his ashen bangs and snarled. "You think this shit is funny?" He asked, extending his hand to her.
Kagome gasped, inhaling sharply as her nerves fought beneath her skin. "I-I didn't do that."
"Keh,me either." The boy scoffed, scowling down as he tried to find with the tangled thread. "I found it and I was messing with it and now I'm stuck in it."
The miko glowered, "You fight yokai with those claws of yours and you're so helpless that you can't untie yourself?"
Inuyasha rolled his tawny eyes, hissing at his deflating ego. "Sango told me to put it on and I'd get a surprise." He said weakly, looking into the forest line.
Kagome shoved her hand in his face, "Well surprise!" She retorted sarcastically, "She got me, too."
Inuyasha hugged, crossing his arms over his bare chest. "Well, this isn't much of a surprise is it?" He responded darkly, suppressing the heat eating at his cheeks.
"Okay, well, that was extremely rude of you and harsh. So, I'm going to just be going." The girl said, beginning to walk towards the village.
Before she got very far, she felt the thread cut into her finger and she let out a small hiss. "Be careful! I need to take his stupid thread off before it cuts my finger!" She seethed, pulling at it roughly in frustration.
Idly, Inuyasha let out a sigh and grabbed his tuft of feathered thread and went o rescue her.
She clenched her jaw as she watched him get closer, and her knees wavered at the chilly breeze that blew in. It made him look like a Spector; his white hair billowing in the moonlight.
She was irritated, tired, and clearly so was he as he extended his hand for hers. She reluctantly obliged and fell slack against his warmth as he delicately began untying her torture device.
Even with his claws, he couldn't unthread the minuscule knotting and raised her hand to his mouth. Instantly, the girl felt flush and looked away at anything to keep her eyes away from him.
She felt his lips part on her finger as his pert fang nipped at the thread a couple of times. When she was free, she recoiled, holding herself as though she were injured.
The pit of her stomach was full of weightlessness. "Thank you, Inuyasha." She said quietly, pressing a sweet smile on her face.
He snorted crudely in response as he chewed through his own knot. His fingers flexed a few times to improve the circulation and he let out a freeing sigh.
The hanyou noticed that the girl was buried in a thought and nudged her softly, "Oi! You okay in there?" He asked, bending down to eye level with her. He caught the worry and confusion across her glassy eyes and perked a brow.
While inspecting her features, Kagome parted her mouth as though she wanted to speak and nothing came out. Instead, she closed her eyes and leaned forward.
She quickly pressed a kiss on the boys soft mouth and bowed her head. "Gomen ne!" The miko yelped, and felt her legs mindlessly begin to sprint.
Moments later, the man rested in front of her. Catching her shoulders, he stared intently at the curves of face and idly brushed her dark bangs from her eyes. "What was that for?" He asked more gently than she had expected.
Kagome couldn't look away from him. Even in the darkness, she could see the small marring on his lip and on his cheek from his previous battles and the one scar that ran beneath one of his golden eyes.
She felt her breath hitch in her throat, "I-that-" She quickly closed her mouth. She never imagined her first kiss to be so quick, so awkward. Then again, maybe she did. She was callow, very green and sophormic with these kinds of things.
The red string seemed to have gotten the best of her and swept her into a gully of feelings she tried to avoid. And now she was drowning as she felt his grip fluctuating in tightness. There was no use lying.
She relaxed beneath his touch and fell slack, "That was my first kiss." She said painfully. She looked at his kotodama and hoped he would be graceful with letting her down.
Instead, she found his hands firmly resting near the crook of her shoulder and one atop her cheek. His claws barely grazed her skin as he watched her worry change to fear, along with her scent.
For a moment, he inhaled her and became intoxicated on the uniqueness that he'd found. He'd steered clear of the girl as much as he could do dilute some of her power over him, but it was always so useless. "You're an idiot." He said with a weak smirk.
She furrowed her brows at that as he leaned down and pressed his mouth against hers. She froze, feeling his warmth engulf her as he parted her lips and tasted her. It was slower than she imagined, and methodically. Much as if he had planned on carrying the action out and theorized each move.
As they stood beneath the moon, as it watched them so astutely, there were a few other spectators clammoring for a front row seat.
Sango was mighty proud of her handy work, blushing for her friend as the evening progressed. Miroku-sama held a hand over his mouth, trying to refrain from a told-you-so chuckle as he eyed the woman crouching beneath the fence - completely inconspicuous.
Sango shoved him away a few times before she relented and let him wrap a lazy arm around her. "Don't ever say anything about this to them." She said as softly as she could.
Miroku rolled his eyes. "Kagome-sama will probably tell you anyway, in due time." He sighed softly, "Sometimes fate needs a helping hand."
Soon after, a rogue hand rolled softly around the slayer's bottom and she hollered at the top of her lungs as a slap was heard throughout the glade.
Kagome and Inuyasha stood mortified as she pushed him away from her. Cheeks stained red as she ran towards the well. "Ja neeeee!" She squealed, winking at Inuyasha as she lept over the lip.
The hanyou rubbed his mouth and pretend spat like a child as he turned to find the two culprits resting behind the village entrance.
Soon after, he slowly inched towards the well. There was nothing else that he could do, nothing he could say. He was in catatonic shock. Perverts are always ruining everything, he thought as he found himself creeping over the edge of the well to follow the girl, still caught with a tuft of thread on his foot.
And as fate would have it, they were all caught in its web.