July 15

I did more miko training with Kaede today. I'm amazed at how much I've learned in such a short amount of time. Kaede has been saying that I'm doing a great job and I guess today was the first time I felt very sure of myself in my skills.

Kaede and I were going over some things for part of the day but then we just ended up talking about random stuff. I told her about the accidental "sit boy" the other day and she burst out laughing.

"I felt so bad," I said laughing as well. "I haven't sat him since I came back."

Just then there was a knock on the door. Kaede went to answer it and it was one of the village women name Kaori. I didn't know her very well but I knew she lived a few houses down from Kaede and she was a mom to four children.

"Hi Lady Kaede, sorry to bother you," Kaori said.

"You're not bothering at all, dear," Kaede said. "Please come in. What can we do for you?"

"I need some of your medicinal herbs," Kaori said as she and Kaede sat down. "My youngest is sick."

"What's wrong with him?"

"He's got a headache and a bit of sniffles," Kaori said. "It's not major but I want to get this out of him quickly before it gets bad and he passes it on to the other children."

"I understand." Kaede turned to me. "Kagome, what would you recommend for Kaori's son?"

Kaori looked at me expectantly and I was surprised to have been put on the spot like this. "Well, this is usually good for headaches," I said, taking out one of the herbs. "And this is good for sinuses. I'd recommend brewing them into a tea and giving them to your son that way."

"I would agree," Kaede said.

I was relieved that I had gotten it right.

"Thank you so much, Kagome," Kaori said. "We're very lucky to have you as a miko here."

"Very nice, Kagome," Kaede said once Kaori left.

"Thank you, Kaede," I said. "I was really hoping I'd get it right."

"You've been doing a great job up to this point and our neighbors are very grateful. Keep up the great work."

A few other people came in today. Takeshi, an older man who was kind of senile, needed something for his back pain. Satoru, a man who lived near Inuyasha and I, seemed really distraught and asked for a blessing for his son's safe return from his travels. Kaede let me take the reins on both of these things and each time she said I did a great job.

Inuyasha was there to pick me up later that afternoon as usual. We went for a walk and I told him all about my day and what I had done.

"That's great, baby," he said. "You're learning a lot."

"I'm trying," I said. "I really like doing this stuff so I'm trying to be the best at it that I can."

He kissed my cheek. "I'm very proud of you."

I felt a bit of pride. It's so nice that Kaede, who has been doing this for many years, thinks I'm doing well. It also means a lot to me that Inuyasha is proud of me too.

A shadow passed over us and I saw Sesshomaru flying towards Kaede's house probably to visit Rin. "Hey, look," I said to Inuyasha, pointing up at his brother.

He looked much less enthusiastic than I was though.

"Big brother!" I called to Sesshomaru.

It's not like I was expecting Sesshomaru to smile and wave back like he was happy to see me, but I also didn't expect him to glare at me.

"Huh? He looked really annoyed." I glanced over at Inuyasha and found that he didn't look very happy either. "You too?"

"That just sounds so wrong," Inuyasha said.

I couldn't help but laugh as I pulled him along to continue our walk. "Oh stop, he's my big brother now too! I think it's nice."

"Sure, whatever Kagome."

I also want to mention that I'm writing at my new desk tonight. Inuyasha made it for me, can you believe it?

As I was cleaning our dinner dishes tonight, Inuyasha brought it through the front door.

"I got something for you," he said.

As you can imagine I was very surprised. It was a really nice wooden desk with a couple of drawers built into it and there was also a matching chair along with it. "This is for me?"

"You're always writing every day so I thought you might want somewhere comfortable to sit," he said. "I started working on it before the wedding and I just finished it today. Do you like it?"

I was so touched that he had done this for me. "Yasha, I love it!" I went over to him and gave him a big hug and many kisses. "Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome, honey," he said, giving me another kiss. "Where should I put it?"

We decided to put it in our bedroom by the window, that way I could have the natural light to write by. I'm so excited to be able to write on this from now on. And I'm also so grateful to have such a thoughtful husband.