Hauling the fur home had been challenging enough; Kagome's arms had been burning and aching by the time she'd made it home.

Getting it through the well had been another matter entirely. Kagome still wasn't entirely sure how she'd gotten it through the well once she and her mother had cleaned it. Her mother, at least, had taken the fur in with the same stride she'd taken in Kagome's time traveling. She'd also helped Kagome prepare rice balls to take back with her, in the hopes that Kagome might appease InuYasha's stomach when he realized there would be no ramen.

"Oy, where's the ramen?" InuYasha called out the moment Kagome reached the feudal era. He peered over the edge of the well, no doubt expecting to see a yellow backpack, full to bursting, which would have his precious ramen. "What the fuck?! What," he said, his tone dropping, "is that?"

He didn't point to the fur but he didn't need to.

"It's just a boa, InuYasha. People wear them in my time all the time," she said, hoping he wouldn't call her out on that. He'd never seen anyone wearing them in her time before and certainly not one as gargantuan as the one she was wearing, but she also didn't care. She wanted to wear it and he wasn't going to stop her.

"The fuck it is!" InuYasha glowered at her as she offered a hand to have him help pull her out. "That shit looks just like the bastard's tail. Take it off; we're burning it."

Tail? She filed the thought away to consider later.

Kagome glared back, hoping he would still help her out of the well. If she had to use the vine to climb out, she would probably end up getting bits of dirt and shards of wood in the fur she'd just spent the last few hours cleaning. "I paid good money for this, InuYasha! We aren't burning it or doing anything else to harm it, either. Besides, you should feel it. It's so soft and silky!" She sighed with pleasure as she rubbed her face against it.

InuYasha opened his mouth and then shut it, flushing as he took in her pleased expression. "Keh." He took her hand and pulled her out of the well. "Whatever. Where's my ramen?"

She had the feeling he wasn't dropping the subject forever and she made a mental note to talk to Shippo about helping her keep an eye on her new fluffy boa. "Um, I couldn't get any," she said truthfully, unwilling to explain why. "But Mamma helped me make rice balls and a few other snacks for you guys!"

InuYasha clicked his tongue but, to Kagome's surprise, he didn't bother to argue. "The others're waitin'," he groused. "Hurry up; we got shards to find."

Kagome was relieved he didn't press the topic. "Yeah, yeah, let us eat first, okay? The food I brought is best fresh."

InuYasha, to Kagome's surprise, only gave a courtesy protest before acquiescing.

Later, once they'd started out again, Kagome couldn't help but notice that both Shippo and Sango were occasionally giving her odd looks, likely due to her new accessory. Miroku seemed to take it in stride, only commenting that the fur looked fetching against her skin—a comment that had resulted in the handprint now across his face from Sango's hand—and InuYasha was his usual grumpy self about how lunch had inevitably delayed them.

But whatever it was about the fur that had both Sango and Shippo so interested, neither of them seemed willing to discuss it in front of Miroku and InuYasha.

It was only when they stopped to make camp for the night that Sango finally pulled Kagome aside, stressing strongly that they needed to bathe.

"So what's on your mind?" Kagome asked once they were soaking alone in a nearby hot spring. Shippo was paddling about in the water, using the little arm floats Kagome had brought back for him a few months back, but she saw his interest as soon as she spoke.

Sango hesitated and then remarked, "That's a very lovely fur, Kagome-chan."

"Isn't it?" Kagome beamed. She'd brought the fur in the water with her, figuring that the water wouldn't harm it any—she didn't exactly trust it out of sight after InuYasha's threats—and had still kept it draped around her to preserve her modesty as they soaked. She ran her fingers through the soft fur and sighed.

"Ah," Sango's eyes widened a little, "where did you find it?"

Kagome explained how she'd found the fur in a shop, careful to try and translate it enough that Sango would understand what had happened.

"I see." Sango nodded slowly. "So you bought this boa," she said the word slowly, waiting for Kagome to nod that she'd used the right word before continuing, "at a stall. A stall that specialized in selling items that were not recently made." Sango bit her lower lip as she fell silent.

Kagome waited, knowing her friend would continue when she was ready to do so. In the meantime, she decided to get her comb and use it to run through the fur to untangle any knots that might have appeared since she'd returned to the feudal era. She didn't want the fur to mat.

"Um, Kagome-chan? I don't think you should do that." Sango's eyes widened as she watched Kagome groom the fur.

Kagome glanced up to see Sango looked distinctly uncomfortable. "Why not? I don't want the fur getting matted."

"Because it belongs to a really powerful yokai," Shippo spoke up then, his voice loud as he floated on his back, paddling closer to Kagome. "Really powerful. In fact," he sniffed the fur pointedly, "it kind of smells like dog."

Hardly surprising; it probably came from another inuyokai. Kagome nodded. Personally, she doubted it was any they knew; she couldn't see Sesshomaru, alive or dead, allowing a human to gain custody of his pelt.

Sango opened her mouth to respond to that when a familiar yoki impressed upon Kagome's senses. The way it pulled at her seemed to scream for her reiki to rise and match it, but like she had every other time since she'd encountered this particular yokai, she pushed it back.

Sesshomaru.

He was conspicuously alone as he walked through the clearing, giving no sign that he'd noticed either woman, and Kagome figured he probably had every intention of leaving before InuYasha even realized the inuyokai was there.

At least Sango and Kagome herself had been covered enough; Sango by a towel and Kagome by the furry boa she was still brushing.

Kagome herself wasn't surprised that Sesshomaru kept walking. Stopping would mean that he was affected by their near-nakedness and Sesshomaru would probably sooner fall on his own new blade than admit that he'd happened to catch sight of two human women bathing.

But then he stopped short and slowly turned, his eyes widening as he saw the fur Kagome was brushing in her hand. "Priestess," he rumbled, his yoki rising, "where did you get that?"

Kagome cursed under her breath. If Sesshomaru recognized it on sight, that could only mean one thing: it was his. And that was one contingency she hadn't planned for.

How do you even explain this, anyway? Hey, Sesshomaru, I found this at a store in my time and bought it and brought it back with me. Surprise! I'm a time traveling priestess.

Yeah, that probably wouldn't go over well, assuming he believed her. Not to mention the fact that she was more than a little uncomfortable letting a yokai like Sesshomaru know where she was from. He would probably destroy the well out of spite.

It's a shame, she thought to herself. He's beautiful but his personality really sucks.

"Priestess," he prompted her, reminding her that she hadn't answered.

She licked her dry lips. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you," she finally settled on.

His brow raised. "You are in possession of something that is not yours. You will hand it over to this one, now."

Kagome immediately bristled. "Hey, I paid for this," she hissed, wrapping the fur a little more firmly around herself as she heard Sango take a sharp breath. Besides, you already have one. "It's mine."

He stiffened.

"Ah, Kagome-chan?" Sango whispered. "I really think you should hand it over to him."

"No way," Kagome protested. "I paid five thousand yen for this; I'm not just handing it over." Sure, Sesshomaru could be really scary when he wanted to be, but Kagome had shot him with her arrows before. She could purify him if she needed to.

I hope.

"Mokomoko is not yours." Sesshomaru's lips thinned. "However much you paid for it is irrelevant."

So that's what it's called then. Mokomoko. Well, it does sound better than fluffy boa, she admitted to herself.

"Oy! Bastard!" InuYasha came rushing towards the hot spring, Tessaiga already unsheathed. "You ain't welcome here."

Miroku was a few steps behind InuYasha. "Kagome-sama, Sango-san, are you both alright?" He kept one hand firmly on the beads keeping his wind tunnel sealed shut.

Sango nodded, already reaching for her own weapon laying just at the edge of the hot spring.

"We're fine," Kagome said, her fingers moving to absently stroke the fur around her, not even noticing how the tension seemed to leave Sesshomaru's body as she did so.

Sesshomaru did not move to either sword at his hip. "Calm yourself, hanyo. This one is not here for you."

"Keh. I know what you're here for and you ain't gonna get it." InuYasha waved Tessaiga in the air. "Back off."

Sesshomaru eyed the group and seemed to come to a decision. He turned to leave but as he did so, he said over his shoulder, "You will explain yourself, priestess, when this one sees you next."

Kagome flushed at the heated promise in his words even as she told herself that, no matter what happened, she would never tell Sesshomaru the truth.