So...this story is taking a turn that I didn't expect...?

Don't have much to say about this chapter, except for PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK. I like how i'm focusing on character and relationships but i also feel like some of you might be bored with all the talking...trust me, action/plot is COMING next chapter!

I'm letting my gut lead me on the whole Kohana and Inuyasha thing. So blame my gut for any problems you might have. My brain is not in control - only the gut feeling reigns supreme.

If you like it and want more ASAP...

PLEASE REVIEW!

Chapter 20: We Share The Blame

Visiting Kaede was the best decision Kohana could have made—the elderly priestess had news. Sure, it wasn't good news, but it was something to distract Kohana from reliving the kiss over and over and over inside of her head and so she clung to it like a lifeline.

Shippo greeted her with excited yips and lots of nose rubs. The kit's exuberance made Kohana laugh as she settled down to listen to Kaede speak.

"I have received word that demon attacks are on the rise in the mountain just north of us. More than thirty villagers have died so far, or so the messenger tells me," Kaede informed Kohana as she prepared a hearty vegetable and rabbit stew. "There was no mention of Jewel shards but I think we can safely assume that they are involved. There's a temple near the Seikatsu River that should offer you sanctuary while you investigate."

Kohana nodded, sobering at the casual way Kaede relayed the news of so much death. She supposed she shouldn't judge the woman too hastily—life was harsher in the feudal times according to history books. Add in some unaccounted for demons and magic, and yeah, Kaede's attitude made sense.

It didn't make Kohana feel any less queasy, though.

Soon after, Kaede left the hut to visit one of her ailing patients. The moment the woman was gone, Shippo pointedly sniffed in her direction and beamed.

"Has he marked you, yet?" he asked eagerly as his nimble fingers went straight for the collar of her shirt. Kohana felt her cheeks flare with heat and she wished the ground would swallow her whole in the time it would take her to reply. But she had no such luck.

"Shippo, dude, please don't," she groaned, batting his hands away.

The kit's brow furrowed. "But his scent is all over you. I'm just a kid and even I know what kissy stuff smells like…"

Kohana was tempted to laugh at his exasperated tone—she was only human, after all—but nothing about the situation was funny.

"Yeah, we kissed, but it was a one-time thing and that's it. He's still in love with Kikyo, remember? Plus, he's my friend—"

"Pack."

Kohana resisted the urge to roll her eyes and instead continued as if Shippo hadn't spoken. Pack was a demon thing, something that wasn't exactly hidden knowledge. As sweet as it was for Shippo to make her feel included, she wasn't pack.

"—and I don't want to mess that up. We have too much at stake to…to…"

"Be happy?" Shippo suggested, and this time he flinched away at the sharpness of her look.

Without missing a beat he darted forward and nuzzled under her jaw—the demon equivalent of groveling, she assumed. The worst part was that it worked.

Kohana hated herself for folding like wet paper even as she leaned into the touch. Unlike Kagome, she was usually able to resist the innocent charm of cute kids, but something about Shippo pulled at her heartstrings so strongly that resisting just wasn't an option.

Just moments after taking Shippo into her arms, Kohana felt a familiar energy flare at the edge of her awareness. It was reminiscent of the rush of untamed power that came with Sesshomaru's huge demon diversion and the static tingle that marked the arrival of the Thunder Brothers, but instead of filling her with a spark of anxiety, like the others did, this particular demon energy put her at ease—even after the unexpected kiss in the meadow.

Inuyasha was coming.

She was beginning to recognize the feeling as her demon detector, subtler than her Jewel sensing and much more variable; every demon had a different feel to them. The baser demons they had encountered and killed for Jewel shards possessed auras that were duller than those of fully sentient demons like Sesshomaru and the Thunder Brothers, a faint hum compared to the piercing notes of a flute.

Inuyasha's aura wasn't mild or gentle, but Kohana didn't expect any of that where the half-demon was concerned and so it didn't surprise her. His demon energy was earnest and unyielding, strong in a way that soothed Kohana's nerves despite her attempts to be unaffected.

Shippo's nose twitched and his entire body perked up while she was busy identifying Inuyasha's aura. Huh, that was interesting—the kit was a full-blooded demon, equipped with senses that probably rivaled most other demons, and yet they both had sensed Inuyasha at the same time. Maybe it was the priestess thing that gave her that ability?

Seconds later, Inuyasha pushed aside the door mat of Kaede's hut and stepped inside. Shippo gave her one more chin nuzzle before pulling away and hurrying to greet Inuyasha. After leaning down to rub noses with the kit, the half-demon pinned Shippo with an unyielding scowl.

"The subject of me and Kohana is off limits, brat. You heard her—we're not gonna push this," he barked. Shippo let out a disappointed whine but quickly quieted when Inuyasha cocked his head to one side; silently daring the kit to argue.

"Okay," the kit mumbled after a long pause. Inuyasha curtly nodded his approval before finally turning to look at Kohana. The steadiness in his golden eyes surprised her. Was he really fine with putting the kiss aside?

The emphasis on 'we' didn't escape her—he wasn't just talking about Shippo.

"Thanks," Kohana said quietly, reaching over to ruffle Shippo's hair but keeping her eyes solidly on Inuyasha. She hoped he could see that she was thanking him, too. He didn't react, so she wasn't sure if she had succeeded, but she decided to drop it when he moved past the fire-pit to sit beside her.

"So the old hag is sending us on missions, now? Some village in the mountains whines a bit and we're expected to go play the hero? There'd better be a goddamn shard waiting for us at the end of this."

Kohana found her awkwardness fading; irritation quickly took its place.

"People are dying, Inuyasha. It's most likely a result of the Jewel shard, sure, but I'd help them even if it wasn't," she countered.

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. "Humans die all the time. Why should I care if a few more bite the dust?" he casually offered, leaning back against the wall and putting his hands behind his head as he did so. Shippo helped himself to his small bowl of food, eating and watching for Kohana's reaction.

Kohana flinched, his words hitting her as hard as physical blows. Shippo let out a low whine of discomfort, his food forgotten as he jumped up to hug Kohana's shoulder. Inuyasha didn't seem to realize what he had just admitted and that made it even worse.

"Good to know, Inuyasha," she bit out. "Then you won't mind if I go by myself—after all, I'm just a human, and you don't give a shit if I 'bite the dust'!"

With that, she put down her half empty bowl of food and shouldered her heavy backpack. Inuyasha's eyes flashed with something akin to regret but he didn't stop her when she stormed past him. Shippo didn't let go of her, wisely keeping quiet as they moved.

After making sure her quiver was full and her bow and daggers were safely secured to her person, Kohana started in the direction of the large mountain Kaede had pointed out to her earlier. She didn't let herself hesitate, even when she felt Inuyasha's stare prickling at her back. Shippo turned to look behind them, and when she glanced over at the kit she found him glaring daggers at the half-demon they had left behind.

"Are you sure you want to come along?" Kohana asked with forced casualness, shifting the straps of her pack so they lay more comfortably against her shoulders.

Shippo scoffed. "What, and stay with Mr. My Foot Lives In My Mouth? Yeah, no thanks."

Inuyasha's yell was loud enough to be heard even from within the cover of the forest.

"I heard that, you flea-bitten rodent!"

"Good!" was Shippo's lightning fast response, said with so much condescension that Kohana couldn't help but laugh a little. Shippo's answering grin shone with the promise of dangerous fangs he would one day grow into.

"God, I'm almost glad you can't go through the well and meet my uncle. You two would get along way too well," Kohana said after she was done laughing. Shippo perked up and immediately asked for details.

Kohana thought for a moment. "Well, his name is Nobu and he's an absolute shit. He's impossible to prank—trust me, I've spent ten years trying and failing—and he always knows what to say to knock someone down a few pegs. I'd never say this to his face because his head might explode from how big it already is, but he's the best fighter I've ever seen."

"He's the one who taught you?" Shippo asked after a short pause.

"Yeah."

Shippo was quiet for a long time, so long that Kohana started to wonder if she had touched a nerve. Maybe the kit was missing his father?

Just as she was about to ask, Shippo beamed and hopped up on top of her head.

"My father always told me stories about the Eastern City, where the fox-demon Council lives as well as the royal family, and one of the strongest fighters was Lord Shinobu. He was the royal family's tutor and guard; they called him the Fangless Shadow."

Konoha snorted. "I bet he loved that name…"

Shippo laughed. "My father met him when he visited the East before I was born, and yeah, apparently Shinobu spent a lot of his time trying to create a new name for himself. None of the new names ever stuck, and it was hilarious watching him get all flustered and irritated whenever he appeared in front of all the Court and his full title was given."

"Why'd they call him that?"

"He was a half-demon, but that's not what was special about him—things are different in the East with half-demons and humans and all that. No, the name came from the fact that Shinobu was born without any claws or fangs."

Konoha blinked in surprise, stepping over a fallen tree with a little hop so she didn't get her ankle caught in the lingering vines.

"Woah, that's intense."

Shippo nodded. "Yeah, I loved hearing stories about him when I was really little."

"You were smaller?" Kohana marveled, cackling when Shippo's teeth closed gently but sharply around the tip of her ear. The two danced around each other for a few minutes before Shippo returned to his place on her shoulder.

Kohana looked up at the demon child. "So what happened to Shinobu?"

Shippo's body sagged slightly. "He died, just a few weeks before the Thunder Brothers showed up. My father got the news and was already making plans to move us to the East when we found the Jewel shard."

"How did it happen?" Kohana asked quietly.

"Papa said that a powerful enemy demon attacked a group of kits just outside the city walls. Shinobu went to help, and by the time more help arrived…he had died. He managed to save all of the kits except for one. One of the older girls, the daughter of Lord Satoshi…she didn't make it, either."

"Lord Satoshi is…who, exactly?"

"The Lord of the East. He's ruled over the Eastern Territory for the past five hundred years."

"Oh, shit. So his daughter was like…a princess?"

Shippo nodded solemnly. Kohana didn't push for more details, and the two continued in silence for the rest of the afternoon.

Inuyasha didn't show up until the fire was lit and Shippo was deeply asleep in the top section of Kohana's sleeping bag.

Kohana had known that the chances of Inuyasha remaining in the village while there were possible Jewel shards to be found were extremely slim and yet she still felt a jolt of shock when he silently dropped from the trees and approached. Thanks to the firelight, his eyes flickered like miniature flames and his pale hair took on a shimmery orange glow.

She continued to poke at the embers with a long stick, content to ignore him for the time being. When he plopped down by her side he left a healthy distance but immediately Kohana wished he had sat closer. Not because the night was cold, but because she could never quite shake that part of her that wanted him close. It was a part that remained stubbornly independent of Kikyo's influence, much to her chagrin.

Finally, after what felt like an hour of increasingly tense silence, Kohana spoke.

"I just don't understand how after your mother…after Kikyo…you can still say those sorts of things," she said quietly, and Inuyasha let out a heavy breath. His eyes met hers, and she looked back at the flames in an attempt to escape the hypnotizing flicker of his gaze.

"I've been alive a lot longer than you, and so I ain't gonna apologize for having my own opinions about the world. The truth? Most humans are selfish, cruel and stupid. They shunned my mother for not leaving her half-demon baby in the woods to die like any normal person would do, and they judged Kikyo because she refused to enjoy the slaughter of demons. It didn't matter that both of them were kind, that they were good. The humans around them still hated them. They fucking preyed on that gentleness, just like the demons they claim to hate so much."

Kohana stared at Inuyasha with wide eyes, so shocked that for a moment her mouth refused to open and let anything out. Inuyasha didn't look back at her, too caught up in watching the fire slowly eat away at the wood.

"I don't care about a lot of people, Kohana," Inuyasha continued. "Not because I'm evil or unfeeling, but because it keeps me alive. Don't ask me to start shedding tears for every single human's pain because I just don't have it in me. My mother was like that…and so was Kikyo. But I'm not, never will be."

His mouth was curved into a deep scowl, and suddenly Kohana remembered that same expression being on his face when he rescued that little human boy from the demon-bird that had stolen the once-whole Jewel. That same scowl was also there whenever he stood near Kaede outside of her hut; his body was casual but his eyes never left the old woman, following her every move in a way that seemed wary to the untrained eye but was actually protective at its core.

Kohana reached over to take his hand. Inuyasha tensed at the sudden contact, but relaxed after a second or two and curled his fingers around hers.

"I get it, I really do…but I'm human, Inuyasha," Kohana said with a wry smile. "When you talk like you did earlier, it makes me wonder if you have my back and we need to have each other's backs."

Inuyasha stared at their joined hands for a moment before glancing up at her. His grip tightened ever so slightly.

"I want you to trust me," he admitted, so softly that if the fire hadn't chosen that moment to be silent, Kohana probably wouldn't have heard.

"And I want you to trust me. Trust me, I don't want you to start dancing in a circle with every human and sing about peace and love," she assured him, laughing softly at his disgusted expression. "But I would appreciate it if you could tone down the whole 'humans are disposable and we shouldn't care about them' thing you and your brother have going on."

Inuyasha's nose wrinkled at the mention of his brother, but to his credit didn't deny the comparison.

"Deal."

Inuyasha was smiling at her, now, and the longer that she looked at him the more dangerous the silence felt. Every second of him staring at her—smiling at her—made it harder to remember why she shouldn't be leaning in, why she shouldn't be giving in.

The half-demon's gaze flickered down to her mouth, moving back to her eyes so quickly that she knew that it had been an unconscious lapse.

Before logic and reason could remind her why it was a bad idea, Kohana leaned forward and pressed her lips against his. The kiss was a gentle, quick thing, but it still caused heat to flood her face, as if it was closer to the fire than it actually was. Unlike before, Inuyasha didn't pull her closer or react beyond the slight pursing of his lips in return.

They parted, and to her surprise, Inuyasha's eyes were shining with mischief.

"Is that how we're making pacts, now?" he asked innocently. "Most people just sign a paper or shake hands, but hey, I'm not complaining—"

Kohana hit him in the shoulder in lieu of a response, hitting him again (and much harder) when his loud bark of laughter woke Shippo.

It wasn't weird. This tension between them, the fact that they had each initiated a kiss…it should have been weird. It wasn't perfect, it wasn't comfortable, but in a way it was good.

When they finally settled in for the night, Kohana met Inuyasha's gaze one last time from the warmth of her sleeping bag, seeing the lack of uncertainty in his eyes and finding that his confidence bolstered her own.

He had her back. And she had his.

That was the most important thing.