March 9
We got home from a demon exorcism trip earlier today. I'm just glad this one wasn't nearly as dramatic as the last one.
Miroku received a letter from a village not far away asking us to come. He and Inuyasha had helped them out before and apparently, we had gone there sometime during our travels with the shikon jewel although I can't recall what we were doing there at that time. Because of this, Miroku insisted that we go. We were concerned about his health of course but he said he was well enough by now to be able to travel and said he would leave the strenuous work to Inuyasha and me.
So we set off early this morning to go. It wasn't a long trip to get there. The snow was long melted and the weather was actually warm today so the journey wasn't unpleasant.
"There are a lot of demons inhabiting our shrine," the village headman told us when we got there as he led us to the shrine. "We haven't been able to use the shrine in weeks."
"How many demons are we talking?" Inuyasha asked.
"I'm not sure but it's probably very many. Are you sure you'll be able to handle this?"
"We've dealt with way worse," I replied. "We'll be perfectly fine."
We arrived at the shrine. The headman stood back and a few other people watched fearfully from around the corner. I could sense that there were a few demons in the shrine but I doubted there were as many as they made it seem.
"You two ready?" Miroku asked as he pulled out his sutras.
Inuyasha and I stood a few feet back with our weapons drawn. "Ready!"
Miroku placed the sutras on the wall of the shrine. The demons were expelled but there were only three of them. We were expecting much more but oh well. After the last trip we'd had, the lack of excitement was welcomed.
Inuyasha cut one of the demons down with his tetsusaiga and I shot two arrows at the same time to take out the others. Afterward, he glanced at me looking impressed.
"Two at a time, aren't you fancy?" Inuyasha said elbowing me.
I giggled and elbowed him back. "Shut up."
The village headman thanked us and gave us our payment. He also offered us lunch at their inn and we agreed.
It was a little warm inside though so after I had finished I went outside to get some air. I walked around the village square for a little bit to stretch my legs when I caught the eye of a familiar face.
"Akitoki!"
"Kagome!"
We went over to each other and exchanged a hug.
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
"My uncle lives in this village. What are you doing here? Last I heard, you had been away for a while."
"I'm here with Inuyasha and Miroku," I replied. "We kind of have a demon exorcism business so we were taking care of their shrine."
"Oh yeah, my uncle did mention there have been demons in the shrine for a couple of weeks," Akitoki said. A smile broke onto his face. "It's so great to see you again, Kagome."
We started to walk around the village square as we talked.
"So when did you get back?" Akitoki asked. "I ran into Miroku a while ago and he told me you had been in your world for over a year at that point."
"I've been back for a while. It's been nearly a year by now."
"That's really great, Kagome." He looked off into the distance. "I was devastated when I found out you had been gone for such a long time. You had been gone for so long at that point, I figured you were never coming back and I felt horrible that I wasn't able to say goodbye."
"That's really sweet of you, Akitoki," I said.
"Well, we had been through a lot together back then with the Ken Blade and everything else. I had always hoped you would come back."
I noticed he was blushing a little bit. Akitoki did have a major crush on me back then after all. I still remember the way he had professed his love to me in front of everyone in the middle of a big fight. I kind of wondered if he still liked me.
"What have you been up to since I last saw you, Akitoki?" I asked.
"Oh, nothing all that interesting. My parents keep pressuring me to get married. I guess I was just kind of...waiting."
"Waiting for what?"
"Just waiting for the right person to come around, you know?"
I knew all too well what it was like to have people telling you to move on and find a relationship when you were waiting to be with one person. "Yeah, I know."
"Let me ask you, are you and Inuyasha...together?"
"Yeah, we got married shortly after I came back." As always I couldn't help but smile at the thought of our wedding.
"I see." I detected a bit of disappointment in his voice. "I shouldn't be surprised. It was always clear that Inuyasha really liked you anyway."
"I'm sure the person you're meant to be with will come around soon," I said. I remembered back in my era when Hojo, Akitoki's descendant, showed me his family tree and it showed he was related to someone named Kagome from this time period. Back then I had wondered if I was supposed to be the one who ended up with Akitoki; I know he gladly would have married me. Now I wondered if I would ever get to meet this Kagome whenever she came into Akitoki's life.
"There's this girl my parents keep trying to set me up with," Akitoki replied. "Maybe I'll give it a shot and see where it goes."
I noticed Inuyasha coming over to us. "Hi, sweetheart," I said waving at him. When he reached us he placed a kiss on my lips. "I ran into Akitoki."
"Hi Inuyasha," Akitoki said.
I noticed the two of them eyeing each other for a moment. They did kind of have a little bit of a rivalry for my affection back then. For a moment I worried it was still going on.
Luckily, it seemed like my worries were unfounded.
"Hey Akitoki, long time no see. Hope you're doing well," Inuyasha said warmly. He turned to me. "Are you ready to go home?"
"Sure." I turned to Akitoki. "Bye Akitoki. I'll see you soon."
"See you later, Kagome."
Inuyasha and I went off to meet up with Miroku. "What's Akitoki doing around here?" Inuyasha asked.
"His uncle lives in this village," I replied.
"Ah, I see. You have fun talking with him?"
"Yes. It seems like he was waiting for me to get back too."
"Keh, well clearly he didn't get to you fast enough."
"Oh stop," I said as I elbowed him in the arm. He laughed a bit and I kissed his cheek. Then we met up with Miroku and made our way home.
