Slipping off her shoes and socks, the otherworldy priestess sat down by the edge of the waterfall pool, the sound of running water soothing her as she dipped her toes into the cool depths. The raven-haired girl could close her eyes and imagine being at home, running her own bath water at a much more heated temperature to relax in, free to wash her hair with shampoo and conditior and all the wonderful blessings of the modern era. But even so, when she opened her eyes, her surroundings had not changed. Forest still surrounded her, stretching out for quite the distance before any villages could be found. She had walked for quite sometime on her own, wondering to herself when she would go back to the others- or if Inuyasha would even bother to come searching for her. If he was even worried, if he cared at all that she had stormed off in a fit of rage. She leaned back, resting her hands on the grass behind her as her thoughts consumed her. Or maybe not.
Her hand came into contact with something slippery, something grotesque feeling. Her body seized up as it coiled around her wrist, tightening enough to surely leave some form of bruising upon her delicate looking skin. "Let go!" She shouted in confusion and anger, her head whipping around to meet her attacker. The familiar white baboon pelt immediately filled her with dread, eyes widening slightly. Should she scream for Inuyasha? No, what good would that do? She had wandered too far for him to hear her call out for him. Her chocolate irises darted to the side, feeling the tentacles that had seized her one wrist wrap tightly around the other and restrain her before she could act out the plan she was trying to formulate as her brain scrambled in the rush. Then her gaze shifted in the other direction to where her bow and arrow lay out of her reach, confirming that she was helpless in this situation.
"What a pleasant surprise to find you alone." The voice came from beneath the mask. Naraku.
"Leave me alone!" She demanded, infuriated with the antagonistic hanyō.
"I can't do that~" Laughter emitted from beneath Naraku's disguise. What damnable scheme had he come up with now? Was he going to kill her here? No. He must have had something bigger planned. Something to draw out Inuyasha. Closing her eyes tightly, Kagome prayed for Inuyasha to pick up the scent of danger from afar and run to her aid. She kicked at Naraku, her efforts of little use. The miko pleaded softly in the back of her head for Inuyasha to show up. He would show up to rescue her, she would forgive him, and they could go back to looking for the jewel shards.
The smell of rotting flesh caused her to open her eyes, feeling her attacker release her for some ungodly reason. What? A blur of white appeared in front of her, the figure slashing at the tentacles and burning through them in one fluid movement. Him again...? Why had this daiyōkai come to her aid? Deadly acidic poison ate away at the severed flesh on the ground, and her savior didn't even bother to look her way as he grasped her waist firmly and pulled her aside one-handedly. Right... he only has the one arm... and it was partially her own fault. And despite having such a disadvantage, he was still so strong.
"How unexpected of you to try and get in my way..." Naraku jumped backward, engulfed in mist as he made his retreat. To think that someone like him would get in the way of his plans was truly surprising, considering they had very little to do with him. At the very least he would have expected Inuyasha, and even then that would have been managable. But there was a time and a place for this foe. Even after Naraku disappeared into the shadows of the forest, the blur of white that had jumped in front of her made no effort to even glance at her as his hand slipped from her, beginning to walk in the direction from which he came.
"W-Wait!" Kagome outstretched a hand, daring not to touch him in slight fear that he would harm her for such disrespect. After all, this man greatly disliked humans. She watched as he paused, and she scrambled to her feet in hopes of looking less foolish. "...Thank you." She offered him a gentle smile, and the white-haired daiyōkai merely turned his head, long white tresses falling over his shoulder as he gazed at her with a lack of interest.
"Do not thank me, miko." The dog demon's tone was icy as he made no attempt to be friendly with her. That was right- he was probably looking for Naraku for his own reasons, and the yokai having shown up to attack her was merely of convenience to him. But she couldn't help but thank him regardless, as it was in her nature.
"You don't need to be so rude, y'know. I was only expressing my gratitude." Kagome mumbled dejectedly, her deep brown hues averting their gaze and dropping to stare at the grass in slight embarrassment. She felt silly thanking a man who obviously couldn't care less if she died or not, but nonetheless she couldn't just let him walk away without doing so. But he gave no response to her stubborn attitude, and merely took his leave for the second time that day. "He must really hate talking to me..." She deadpanned before sighing softly. Kagome could only stand there, staring at the space where he had been standing before her. He couldn't be that bad, right? Even if he hadn't done it for her sake, he still saved her. The silence that filled the air dragged out for a seemingly long five minutes, a loud voice then crying out from behind her.
"Kagome!" The hanyō's voice boomed, swinging his Tessaiga out in front of himself in a wild fashion. "Where the hell are those bastards?" He sniffed the air, the lingering scent of both Naraku and Sesshomaru filling his nostrils.
"They're gone. And you're a little late!" She shouted back in his face, soon letting out a stressed sigh. The other members of their group came rushing behind Inuyasha, panting and heaving as they were clearly out of breath from running.
"Tch. I'll kick both their asses in one go next time." Inuyasha muttered, putting away his sword as his muscles relaxed. "What the hell was Sesshomaru doing here anyway?" He sneered, leaning over Kagome and taking in her scent, sensing that the two had been in close proximity. "Did he hurt you?"
"I'm not sure..." Kagome replied softly, but then placed her hands on her hips as she defended her independence. "-Of course he didn't hurt me! I can handle myself."
"There's no need to get so defensive, we were just worryin' about you! You could've been killed." Inuyasha snapped, the two companions off to a horrific start just mere moments after having been reunited toward the end of the day. Sometimes she just really wanted to go home.
"Whatever, let's get going and start a fire before it gets dark." The raven-haired priestess mumbled, picking up her quiver and hitching it over her shoulder along with her bag.
"I agree with Lady Kagome. Who knows if Naraku will come back looking for us later, right?" Miroku chimed in, sucking up to the female with his words.
"Of course you do." Sango sighed, pulling him by the ear as the group began to resume traveling, to which he whined in pain.
Evening came and the sun could just barely be seen overtop of the trees, the group of friends sitting quietly around a fire. Shippo spoke unintelligible sentences through mouthfuls of potato chips that Kagome had brought from her era, most likely of praise in regards to the food. She smiled sweetly and rustled his hair with a gentle laugh, before looking around at the others. Sango had decided to sleep early, and Miroku had decided to follow suit after moping about for a while, calling Sango 'cruel' for not allowing him to lay with her to 'protect her throughout the night'. This left Inuyasha and Shippo awake by the fire with the miko, the crackle of the fire the only noise to be heard as the night approached.
"Do you think he'll come back again tonight?" Kagome asked the hanyou quietly, perfectly proportioned fingers brushing through Shippo's hair as he grew sleepy in his position, curled up in her lap as she sat on the grass with the now empty bag of chips held close to his chest.
"Probably not. He'll wait until we're not expecting it. It wouldn't make sense to come back while we're on guard." Inuyasha replied lazily, flopping over on the grassy ground beneath him and scratching the back of his head before letting out a loud yawn. At the very least, that was a relief. "So get some shut eye and don't go wandering off. We gotta be ready for that bastard next time." He lectured sleepily, rolling over on his side and closing his eyes. To this Kagome gave a soft nod of the head and an 'mhm', carefully picking Shippo up and setting him on the grass. Pulling a small blanket over him to keep him warm throughout the night, she too laid down and pulled a sleeping bag from her knapsack, unrolling it and zipping herself up within its warmth. Just as always, she had ended up back by his side without much of a fuss. He hadn't apologized, and neither had she. Maybe it was a silent understanding? Something like that. "Goodnight, Inuyasha." She whispered, eyes fluttering shut.
But she couldn't sleep. Her eyes opened once more after half an hour of restlessness, taking in the sight of the stars that began to come out from hiding. One of the more beautiful things about the feudal era, of course. The sky at night was so clear in comparison to the sky of the modern era, filled with pollution. Her thoughts sorted through the day that was coming to a close, thinking of her constant bickering with Inuyasha, and... The Lord of the Western Lands who had come to her rescue so abruptly, so unexpectedly. She still couldn't figure out what could have possibly made him come all this way- or could he have been in the area by coincidence? No, that didn't seem likely. And he had been so strong. Strong enough to ward off Naraku, who knew better than to attack him before having time to grow stronger and overpower the daiyōkai to do something as small as kidnap the priestess when no one was around to save her. And she was certain that he hid away much more demonic strength. And to think of something like that could only lead to darker thoughts. What would become of Inuyasha, if he were to become a full fledged demon as he wished so deeply to? Would he hate Kagome for being human and leave her side to become something much more? A lord, much like Sesshomaru? Would he grow cold...? Her thoughts began to scatter, one thought leading to another. No. Of course not, she reassured herself. She was certain of it. Even Sesshomaru, who seemed to be sculpted from ice, had light within his heart. He had to. Otherwise he wouldn't bother with his ward, Rin. The thought soothed her, any worries she had disappearing as she grew sleepy from the uproar of thoughts that crashed like an infernal train within her skull. Maybe tomorrow she'd apologize to Inuyasha before they set off once more on their quest to put the Shikon no Tama back together, and it would lift just a little of the weight on her heart. Slowly but surely Kagome drifted off into a deep sleep, her droopy eyelids taking one last glance up at the breathtaking stars that decorated the dark sky.