One week later

Why do I need an individual daily report for every crop harvested. Why can they not combine them to save me from having to read dozens of different scrolls. Dropping the latest in a large pile of reports, I lean forward over my desk on my elbows and place my head in my palms, willing the headache I have developed to leave. Hearing the door to my study open, I look up to see Kagome stepping in with an odd expression on her face.

"Is everything alright, Kagome?" I query, lowering my arms to cross across the desk.

"Huh? Yeah, fine. Just, thinking. I, uh, bumped into InuYasha outside the dojo's, apparently he was in the one next to me. Wrapped up at the same time as I did." She stops as she sinks down onto a pile of cushions, looking at the ground still.

"Did he say or do something to upset you?" I hedge, prepared to smack the hanyou a bit if needed.

"No, no. Nothing like that. We ended up talking a bit, it's why I'm late. He apologised for that night, and we're okay now. He still doesn't like it, but it's not his place." She waves a hand vaguely. "No, he said something else that made me think. Something you told him, actually." She finally looks up to meet my eyes.

"What did I tell him?" My curiosity is piqued but I am also unsure if what I supposedly said is something that has upset her. Carefully scenting her, I can smell no anger or upset, nor is her aura behaving erratically, more... contemplative? If an aura can be such.

"When you were meditating with him over Tetsusaiga, you told him that he could control the fang, that if he wasn't able to, the pearl wouldn't have been able to be housed in his eye. 'All power can only be held by vessels that are of equal or greater power.' is what he said you told him." Her voice is soft, thoughtful as she relays the conversation.

I nod, "Correct. If the vessel were not, it would break apart. Or, in the case of organic vessels, they would deteriorate in some fashion- whether it is by being drained of their life force, ripped apart, disintegrated, or some other similar fate. Ultimately, the power would render the unsuitable vessel non-functioning."

"Yeah..." she murmurs, drawing out the word a bit.

"What about this has you so lost in thought, kotori?" I tilt my head at her, waiting for her to come to why she seems so unsettled. Her gaze is still directed towards me, though she is seeing through me, as her brows pinch and her lips quirk periodically in a minute frown, apparently trying to figure out how to tell me something. "You may tell me, Kagome. I will not judge or fault you for whatever it is, you know this." I reach a hand out towards her, palm up, smiling gently when she sighs and placed her own hand in mine.

"You know the story of how I came to this era, right? How the jewel got broken?"

"I know a general telling of it. You were pulled through the well by a revived youkai, and after a fashion, an arrow pierced the jewel, shattering it. Why?"

She snorts and huffs, squeezing my hand before sucking in a breath. "I was pulled through because the jewel revived a centipede youkai that had been dumped in the well. She grabbed me and attacked me to get the jewel from me."

"You are the Shikon Miko, it stands to reason you would have it." I reply, minorly confused as to how this relates to what I told InuYasha.

"No, you don't understand. I didn't just have it. I housed it." Her gaze is sharp, expectant. Waiting for something. For me to do or say something.

"I am afraid I do not understand how this relates. You were attacked because you had the jewel-"

"Sess. I didn't just have it. I housed it." she repeats, her hand squeezing mine tighter as her eyes beg me to understand.

"You housed... it was inside of you."

4/18/21 a/n: Cliffie! I'm sorry, but I had to do it.