The beast didn't show itself again, though Kagome had the distinct feeling of being watched every time she left the cottage.

Kagura was more protective than usual, never letting her out of her sight whenever they needed to hunt outside the barrier, but Kagome welcomed it, using it as a chance to hone their skills together.

Though she drew the line when it came to bathing.

"I can dry my own hair," she grumbled, Kagura weaving the dark locks into a braid.

"Never said you couldn't." She tied a string to the end, then leaned back to admire her work.

"Yet you keep offering to do it," Kagome said, eyes narrowing over her shoulder. "And why can't we bathe in the lake like we normally do?"

Kagura rolled her eyes. "Because it's currently frozen over, that's why." Kagome pursed her lips. Her sister was right, of course; the temperature had dropped tremendously in the last week, and the forest was now blanketed in a foot of snow.

"You know what I mean," she said, rising to her feet to check the stew bubbling over the fire. "We haven't seen that thing in months—"

"That doesn't mean anything." Kagura crossed her arms, giving her a fierce look. "And you're the one who keeps saying it's still out there."

"I said something feels off," Kagome argued. "I don't know what it is." And truth be told, she didn't. It made the hair at the back of her neck stand on end, but it felt darker than the youki from the creature at the lake.

It was something she couldn't just laugh off, especially with the lack of pain in her chest.