Kikyo remained rather distant over the next few days. She kept to herself, away from the children, wolves, but mainly Koga.

She sat atop the ledge outside the main cave, beside the waterfall which concealed its entrance. She was an impure life, a life that was not supposed to exist any longer. She couldn't feel, she couldn't taste, she couldn't want. Yet now, after so many years, something in her was changing. That much she could tell. Whenever she was near Koga, or even thought about the demon who showed her such kindness, the faintest sensation would arise in the pit of her weary soul.

Despite what all of their natural instincts were screaming inside each of their heads, neither of them could seem to get enough of each other. All day Koga sat there upon some boulders at the base of the cliff, watching Kikyo from below like a hawk. He grumbled to himself and stubbornly crossed his arms, right as Ginta came to his side and followed his leader's gaze up towards the cliff.

"Koga, if you hate the wench so much, why not kill her?" Ginta asked.

Koga growled lowly and snapped his head towards Ginta, "Why don't I just kill you while I'm at it, huh?"

Ginta twitched and jumped back a bit, "S-sorry, Koga! It's just that, well, you seem upset with the wench now." He said, cowering.

Koga turned his head away and lowered his eyes to the ground, "She has a name y'know. I'm not mad at her...I'm...confused." he confessed, almost inaudibly.

Ginta blinked, surprised a bit by what he'd heard. He stood there silently for a moment, unsure of what exactly to say to his leader that might help. He leapt again upon hearing a soft young voice from behind him. He looked down, spotting the young red headed pup peeking out from behind him.

"What are you confused about, daddy?" Akai asked, stepping out from behind Ginta, her arms crossed behind her back so as to conceal the circlet of flowers Kikyo had given her.

Koga smiled after lifting his head to see his daughter and opened his arms for her as she climbed up onto the rock, taking a seat on her father's lap with the circlet now in hers.

He smiled down at her for a moment before speaking, "It's nothing, my little iris."

She tilted back her head a little to look up at him briefly, her expression seeming to be indifferent. Koga blinked, only confused further by the look on Akai's face.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing." she replied, turning her emerald gaze to the cliff top, "You like her don't you?"

"What?" he blinked again, "Like who?"

She turned her head back to look at him, "The priestess. You like her, right, daddy? I can tell."

He fell silent again, staring down at his daughter in awe. She was still so young, so innocent, but even she could tell what was going on just beneath her father's nose (and not because she's shorter than him).

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Up atop the cliff, Kikyo lowered her gaze to the ground so far below and spotted Koga and Akai sitting together. A faint smile passed across her thin lips before she was able to shake the feeling off.

She was angry with that demon. True, he has the right to be angry with her as well; as it was her who ruined their moment in the filed the other night, but ignoring her would not solve a thing. She refused to hive in. If he wanted to avoid her, then she too would avoid him, she wouldn't run to him and beg for him to stop. Unfortunately, the game of waiting only seemed to anger her more.

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"It's okay to like her, daddy." Akai told him with a sweet smile, breaking the dreadful silence her father had cast upon them. "She is very nice to me and Kin. Plus she really seems to like you too."

"What?" he blinked at her more, "She's been avoiding me for two days, sweetie, not counting today."

"Exactly," she giggled, "It's like a game of Tag. You must hide, and when you're found, you try to get away. But the only way to not be It anymore is if you catch them. Even if it seems like they don't want to be caught, it's the whole point of the game, to lure It to them, only to run and hide again; though they aren't mad if they are caught. By the end of the game, everyone is happy, even if they were caught, because deep down, you want to be caught, so you know you really are part of the game, and so the game will end."

Again, Koga was astonished by his daughter's words. She truly was wise beyond her years, even though she just compared the game of love to a game of Tag. He smiled to her and pat her head cheerily, "How'd you get to be an expert on this kind of thing?"

She giggled again and grinned up at him gleefully, "I'm a girl; it comes naturally."

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Kikyo took in a deep breath, inhaling the sweetly fragranced air and letting it fill her lungs. It relaxed her somewhat, the scent of wildflowers and fresh running water having entirely engulfed the area around her. Her dark eyes opened and she turned her head to glance over her shoulder, having picked up the sound of footsteps with her keen hearing.

Sure enough, Koga emerged over the top of the cliff top path. She sighed and turned her attention back to the horizon, trying not to let his presence interrupt her fairly decent mood.

He sat beside her and gently took her pale hand into his tanned one, locking his crystal blue gaze upon her face as she turned her head to look at him with a surprised look on her face. She glanced down at their hands and then up to his face again, searching his eyes for some hint of whatever plan he had.

He lifted his free hand and removed a flower from his belt, bringing it up to her and carefully placing it into her ebony hair. Her expression softened a bit and she gave him a slight smile.

Before she knew it, he had leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. She went to pull away, it having been so sudden, but he placed his hand upon her cheek, his other hand releasing hers and moving around her waist to keep her there. He had thrown out his stubborn pride and worked up enough courage to go up to her, he wasn't about to let her run away again. He wanted the game to end. Slowly, she began to ease into his touch. He grinned lightly against her lips as he then felt her softly kiss him in return.

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"See! I told you, brother!" she giggled, her eyes locked upon the cliff top with a wide grin across her face.

"Eew…that stuff's gross, Akai. Can we go play now, before I get sick?" Kin asked with a slight grimace, his arms folded across his stomach.

She only giggled again and nodded to him, "Yeah, come on, let's go." She took his hand and smiled, leading him back into the woods.

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AN: Okay, guys, here it is...finally. -sweat- I apologize for such a long wait. As soon as I realized I hadn't updated in a month, I went back to writing the chapter. I finished a couple weeks ago...but...when I typed up the edited copy...it seems the site was a little too crowded at the time and couldn't accept the document. When I went to upload it the next day, it turns out someone messed up all my files and somehow permenantly removed the file from the hard drive. Just love little brothers...--