"You're sure he was heading for the well?" Miroku asked.
"Positive!" Shippou quipped, taking care to keep his voice down.
Miroku didn't doubt Shippou's story, not really. It would be completely like Inuyasha to slink away in the middle of the night, or in this case at the crack of dawn, thinking he was being sneaky and no one would realize what he was up to. Still, he didn't love getting roused out of the first decent night's sleep he'd enjoyed in far too long, only to be dragged out into the woods chasing after Inuyasha. And that was assuming the hanyou really had been heading for the bone-eater's well, and not on some other errand.
The forest was quiet at this time of day, when the sun was just beginning to rise and the village had not yet fully awoken. There was a certain tranquility to the landscape that he would have appreciated more in very different company. He tucked that information away for later. A night under the stars and a lovely morning, with a lovely female companion…
It wasn't a long walk to the well, and when they arrived the clearing was deserted. No surprise there. Inuyasha was damnably quick when he wanted to be.
"Do we risk investigating?" Miroku asked, keeping his voice to a whisper. He half expected Inuyasha to loom menacingly out of the trees at any moment, demanding to know what they thought they were doing. But there was no sign of the hanyou.
Even so, Shippou shook his head. "No way! I'm not gonna get caught out there if he comes back!"
So they settled in to wait.
The sky grew lighter and lighter with no sign of the hanyou. Back at the village, Sango and Kaede would likely be up and about soon. They would assume the worst when they awoke to find him gone, but he supposed that couldn't be helped.
Movement near the well caught his eye; he forced himself to remain still as clawed hands gripped the well's edge and Inuyasha pulled himself up and out.
The hanyou was scowling and muttering to himself—not a good sign. Worse, he stopped to kick dirt at the well before bounding off into the forest in a huff.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Shippou murmured.
"Do you?" Miroku watched a moment longer with a sigh. I have a stupid feeling about this.
All he could do was hope Inuyasha wouldn't do anything he would regret, or that couldn't be repaired. At least the hanyou wasn't trying to stuff trees down the well to prevent Kagome from coming back this time.
Not yet, anyway.
He supposed it was a good sign that Inuyasha apparently wanted Kagome to come back, even if he was as yet too stubborn to make it happen. In another day or so, perhaps, it would be time to push again. But not too soon, or Inuyasha would just dig his heels in even more.
There was nothing to be done about it but to find a way to pass the time.
He recalled from previous visits that there were many lovely—and available—young women living in the village that had proved amenable to his advances in the past. Perhaps one of them might prove willing to bear him an heir that could take up his fight against Naraku. Reacquainting himself with those ladies would be a pleasant way to spend some time while Inuyasha was occupied with sulking and moping about. He saw no reason not to seize the opportunity now that it had presented itself.
Slipping away from Shippou was child's play. He made his way into town at a jaunty clip, looking forward to the day's prospects and carefully avoiding any thought of why he so urgently needed to sire an heir. Doing so would simply spoil the fun.