SLOTH
There are times Kagura wishes she was still evil.
"Good morning! How've you been doing?"
The miko's voice is grating, and she misses the days when the girl feared her. But nonetheless, Kagura cracks an eye open and squints against the blinding sun to look up at Kagome, who's smiling down at her as if she hasn't just woken Kagura up from a nap.
"Was sleepin'," she says, as if that wasn't obvious, and sits up.
"Oh, sorry." She doesn't sound like she means it. "I was just wondering if you were still going to be in the village later this week, we're having a―"
"I'm busy." Kagura cuts her off, because she doesn't feel like listening to Kagome's story or the invitation that will follow it. She's reluctant to leave the soft bed she's made in the warm grass, but she jumps to her feet anyway.
"Well, if you―"
She's in the sky before Kagome can finish her sentence.
…
Unfortunately her peace doesn't last long.
It's summer, which means that the sun is blazing hot by the time she thinks she's far enough from the miko to feel at ease. She steals a pear from a nearby orchard and finds a cool stream to dangle her feet in, and just as she dips her toes into the water, she hears the sound of giggling children.
"Kagura! I wasn't expecting to see you here!"
"Wasn't expectin' to be seen."
The slayer does look surprised, but the children circling her legs perk up at the sight of her.
"Kagu-a!"
Their screams are ear splitting, and instead of the relaxation she'd been seeking the children are suddenly swarming her, babbling and asking questions. Unfortunately, the slayer puts too much trust in Kagura when it comes to her children, but she must have softened over the years because she doesn't shoo them off right away.
To Kagura's irritation, the slayer just laughs it off and goes to the water's edge with her basket of laundry.
"You know, Kagura, we're having a festival in the village in a few days, you should―"
As loathe as she is to leave the cool water the gag-inducing chatter is more oppressive than the summer's heat. She leaves the slayer and her children without a second glance.
…
"Kagura-sama!"
She blinks up at the trembling leaves above her head, sunlight scattered in warm spots across her face, yet it cannot illuminate the deep furrow between her brows. With a sigh she sits up, blinking away what little sleep had come to her in her few short minutes of silence.
"What do you want, Rin?"
"Huh?" The girl stops a few feet away, a full basket resting on her hip. She's been digging up roots, evidenced by the dirt smearing her hands. "Oh, nothing. I just saw you there and thought I should come say hello! I'm sorry, were you sleeping? It's just that you hardly ever come into the village to visit, so I thought since you were here that we could catch up? I don't know what you…"
She'd heard once that the girl had been mute before coming under Sesshoumaru's care. With the way she blabbers now Kagura finds that hard to believe.
"...and you'd hardly believe how much he's grown! But that reminds me! The summer festival is in two days, you don't visit much but I think it would be fun. You should come―"
"No thanks, not my thing."
Kagura doesn't get up right away, because Rin of all of them should know that this is the end of the conversation, and maybe the girl considers it, but then she just puts on a pout.
"But it would be so much fun! Even Se―"
"Sorry kid!" She slaps her hands down on her thighs loud enough to startle her. "Not interested!"
The girl sticks out her bottom lip in a pout, but watches Kagura go without a word.
…
The sound of his feet stomping through the grass makes her groan. She knows he's doing it on purpose, because Kohaku should have better tact than that.
"What do you want?"
He chuckles, an odd sound coming from him, too mature for the boy she's known. Kagura sits up and tilts her head to look at him. She has to squint against the setting sun behind him. He smiles, and she reluctantly nods at him to sit.
"Nothing, I just heard you were hanging around." He drops to the grass to sit beside her. "Are you coming to the festival? Everyone's pretty excited about it."
Kagura holds herself back from hissing and lets out a snort instead. "You all keep askin' me about that. How many times do I have to tell you to fuck off before you get the hint?"
"I thought I'd at least make an effort," he laughs, "Rin was pretty disappointed that you said no."
Kagura rolls her eyes. The kid could get over it.
"I've got no business hangin' out in some dumpy human village."
Kohaku goes quiet. The silence is comforting disturbed only by the sound of the wind rustling through the trees. Kagura let's it fill her, and she almost misses it when the boy says:
"Not even with friends?"
Kagura sniffs and lets the silence speak for her.
…
Her arrival is welcomed with nothing short of an assault.
The miko and the slayer, the girl and Kohaku all crowding around her as if it's been years since they've seen each other. All smiles and giggles, as if she hasn't threatened their lives on more than one occasion. All of that forgotten, they pull her into the crowd like reeling in a fish.
Kagome tugs on her hand, introduces her to someone who's name she'll never remember, but who is fascinated by the color of her eyes. Sango pulls on her sleeve, and finds her a comfortable place to sit, not too far from the fire but close enough to the edge of its light that she can slip away. Rin offers her the sweet candies she and the other young girls have made; they make her teeth ache, but Kagura reaches for another. And Kohaku slips her a cup of sake that she greedily gulps down as he laughs.
It burns her throat, but she's never felt so warm.
...