"I'm not even bleeding anymore, Mama," Kagura groused as they all stepped into the cottage. "Kagome saw to that."

"You still need rest," Kagome and Emiko chorused together, neither able to suppress her grin as Kagome knelt next to her sister. "How're you feeling?"

"Like I was stabbed and then had to fly myself home," she said, wincing as she tried to cross her arms, eventually giving up.

"You could've waited. We would've all—"

Kagura waved her off. "I made it didn't I?" Ruby eyes flickered towards the daiyoukai, somehow more imposing in this form even though he took up less space. "How'd things go?" A smirk tugged at her lips as a blush spilled onto Kagome's cheeks. "That well, huh?"

"We talked," Kagome argued.

"Not the whole time, I hope."

"Well…" She bit her lip, blushing harder when she glanced over her shoulder and found Sesshoumaru's eyebrow raised before being distracted by their mother.

Kagura chuckled. "Did he at least apologize?"

"Yes. There's still a lot to be said, but—"

"—it's a start," Kagura finished. "And I can't really blame you. I'd have kissed him too. Probably tried to undress him while I'm at it."

Kagome wrinkled her nose. "There was still miasma everywhere."

"Meaning you thought about it."

Kagome gave her an innocent look. "Don't know what you're talking about." They dissolved into laughter, Kagome wrapping her arms around Kagura's shoulders before placing her hands over what was left of the wound, tendrils of reiki quickening the healing process.

Her power was so depleted she almost didn't feel it, but perhaps it was because she was waning that Kagome was so sensitive to the shift in youki, and she was instantly on her feet, glaring at Emiko's bedroom door. "Mama—"

Emilio put a hand on Kagome's shoulder at the same time Kagura grabbed her wrist. "She's not a threat."

Kagome opened her mouth to argue. This level of youki was at par with Sesshoumaru's, and she wasn't about to—

The door opened, and a figure stepped into the hallway. "I will give it to you, little miko. It is not often someone is able to sense me with my aura masked so heavily." Kagome's stance remained defensive, stifling a gasp at the intricacy of the woman's kimono.

And the crescent moon on her forehead.