CHAPTER TWO
x.
Kagome swung her legs over the lip of the well, feeling the backpack tugging her backwards. "Ugh!" she grunted, landing on the grass. "Gets... a little heavier every time I pack it." She had broken the straps on at least one other backpack, and she could feel this one straining.
A scented breeze was blowing down from the meadows as she walked back to Kaede's village. The girl smiled slightly. We're always so busy fighting Naraku, it's nice to just be able to stop and smell the flowers once in a while, she thought. I wonder why Inuyasha didn't come to pick me up, though.
She walked quickly down the forest paths, humming softly to herself. Little streams of smoke were rising above the trees, from the direction of the village, and she could hear the voices of the farmers in the fields. It was all so peaceful, no one would have thought that anything was wrong.
As she rounded a cluster of trees, she saw a flash of red and white. "Inuyasha!" she called.
The half demon paused and looked back at her. Kagome thought for a moment that he had a spear or stick over his shoulders, but as she ran toward him, she saw that a bucket of water was hung from each end. "What are you doing?" she said breathlessly.
"Gettin' water for the old crone," Inuyasha grumbled. "I made the mistake of lookin' bored in front of her house."
Kagome smiled. "Well, that was perfect timing. Let's walk back to the village together."
Inuyasha somewhat grudgingly agreed. "So," he said gruffly. "How'd your thing go?"
"You mean my test?"
"Yeah, that."
"Not so great," Kagome said. Her spirits began to sink, despite the beautiful day. "I didn't even understand half the questions." She sighed wearily. "I probably am going to totally flunk the next one."
"Why can't ya just take some time off?" Inuyasha shifted the pole higher on his shoulder. "A year or two shouldn't hurt too much."
Kagome sighed again. "Anyway, I guess we should get going again. Are the others ready to leave?"
"Not yet. Miroku isn't back yet."
"Back from where?"
"He's been off on some monk retreat." Inuyasha wrinkled his nose. "Kaede said that it might do him some good to go purify his soul. There ain't enough retreats in the world to do that -- I bet he spent the whole time thinking about girls."
"Well, just so long as he didn't grope any," Kagome said brightly, "then Sango probably won't be mad."
They had reached Kaede's small house on the outskirts of the village, near the steps that led to a small shrine. Inuyasha grunted slightly as he set down the buckets, then rubbed his shoulder. "I hope he gets back soon," he mumbled. "I smell demons in the air, but not too close yet."
Kagome tensed, glancing around at the peaceful little village, with the wives watching little children, and chickens running underfoot. A dog barked at one of the farmers. "I don't sense any jewel shards," she said slowly.
"Still, I'm getting a bad feeling," Inuyasha said through his teeth. "The sooner we get out of here, the better. We've got a lot of work to do, tests and retreats be damned."
"I guess so," Kagome said faintly. She knew what Inuyasha meant -- she had a strange twisted-up feeling deep in her stomach. She wasn't sure what it meant, but the feeling was making her a bit sick. Could it mean Naraku was on the move? Or perhaps Inuyasha's brother Sesshomaru? No, it wasn't either of those...
Suddenly there was a commotion on the far end of the village. Kagome clutched Inuyasha's sleeve as a voice faintly called, "A demon! A demon!"
"I knew it," Inuyasha said grimly. He drew Tetsusaiga and started running toward the commotion, with Kagome only a few steps behind him.
TO BE CONTINUED