Worry
She banked the fire with practiced movements, tucking the embers deftly against each other. Setting the poker down in its accustomed spot, Kaede glanced discreetly at the flickering shadows on the opposite corner of the room. From this angle, only the folds of the heavy blanket draped over the girl's small form can be seen, and the dark tumble of her hair fanned against the wooden flooring. Not even two feet from her head pooled the generous fabric of a familiar pair of hakama, the red just a little too luminous to be normal. The owner of said clothing had his legs crossed, arms tightly wound in his sleeves against his chest. His face was unreadable and essentially hidden beneath he full fringe of his hair, his attention directed downwards and focused intently on the sleeping visage of the girl in front of him. He sat so still. The only part of him moving were the two ears perched on top of his heading, swivelling about, one alternately focused on the slumbering figure, one keeping track of sounds filtering through the hut entrance.
The elderly priestess's attention drifted down toward the child that was currently being guarded so intently by the hanyou. The foreign girl had tumbled into her life as abruptly as her sister had been snatched away. When viewed from certain angles, Kagome echoed her sister's face but with a softness and belief that her sister never had. Truly, Kagome reminded her more of herself at that age. Kaede gave a tiny shake of her head at her next thought. And to think she had feared for this child's life at the hands of the hanyou Inuyasha only a few weeks ago. So much so that she had resorted to uttering the incantation that sent the kotodama no nenju into formation around his neck. But now it was evident the truth could not be further.
This afternoon, he had crashed through the door of her hut, nearly ripping off the swinging tatami mat in his haste. If she hadn't heard his brash shouts booming across the valley minutes before his arrival, he would've likely stopped her old heart with fright. He had looked almost feral, eyes flashing wildly, silver hair whipping about in his agitated youki. And amidst all this, with contrasting care was Kagome draped over his back, unconscious. He'd yelled a bunch of obscenities then, something about her being an idiot and that she better not die before she cleaned up her mess, accented with many chosen expletives of course. But Kaede had earned her years. She saw the lost look, how he swallowed anxiously between each burst of insult and that his claws flexed and clutched at the fabric of Kagome's sleeve when he set her down on the mat. As if he was afraid to let go.
Kagome had thankfully only gotten a bump and a bit of a nasty scrape on her forehead. She had woken up shortly after they arrived and fallen asleep again after an herbal tea. Inuyasha had remained in the same position since.
Kaede sighed, rising to make her way to her own bedding set up on the opposite.
"Inuyasha, the child is well." She whispered softly in his direction as she passed.
His head snapped up and suddenly Kaede felt uncomfortable being pinned by that piercing, golden stare. In that split second, there was no guard over his eyes, just a flash of worry, almost childlike. But when she tried to look again it was gone, replaced by the usual steady, observing look. They were really both children. Suddenly, Kaede felt old.
After a moment of holding her gaze, he grunted at her in response, and just fleetingly, a small downward jerk of his head. An unspoken gesture of gratitude. He returned his intense gaze back to Kagome and did not look like he was going to abate anytime before she awoke naturally with next morning's sun.
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