The next day, Kagome had recovered a bit of her strength, and decided to leave her sick bed and explore the village. The village people bowed to her, and Kagome wondered vaguely if praying to someone who also prayed did any good.

Laden with food offerings from the villagers, Kagome at first thought she might seek out the store house and put it all back, but by the time she got to the edge of town, her arms were so full she was surprised she could move. Kagome approached a tree with a familiar half demon sitting in it.

'So, he hadn't left town after all.' Kagome thought with mild amusement. "Lunch time." She was ignored, so she threw a turnip at him. Still no response. "I wonder if I'd break the tree's branch if I forced you down..."

Inuyasha whipped his head around glared at her before descending peacefully.

"What evil plan are you hatching now?"

"To fill your stomach?"

"Hm..." Inuyasha glared suspiciously at her.

"Well, I haven't seen you eat yet. Aren't you hungry?"

Inuyasha snagged a carrot and munched away in silence. Kagome did, too, for a while.

"Well, there was something else..."

Inuyasha stopped mid chew. He would have begun to glare at her if her wasn't already.

"Re-incarnation or not, I am not Kikyou."

"Feh. You think I care about that? All I care about is the Jewel! You better watch yourself, girl! I'll snatch it out of your side and kill you."

"That simply isn't true."

"Is that a challenge?" Inuyasha shouted as he stood up and threw the daikon on the ground.

"The binding rosary, may I remind you. Not that it is terribly important. You did fail to kill me before it was around your neck. Why was that?"

"I.. er... I was just playing with you!"

"...I see." Kagome said skeptically. 'If obtaining the Jewel is such an important objective for you, you wouldn't have had time to play around.' Kagome continued to eat in silence while Inuyasha just stood there.

"Inuyasha-san?" Kagome asked tentatively as she looked up at him. He twitched. "Were you really trying to kill me yesterday? Or were you just trying to scare me, so I'd give you the Jewel?"

"...shut up!"

"So, it's the latter."

"Shut up!" He turned to leave.

"Inuyasha-san."

"What is it this time?"

"Would you please tell me your story?"

"Huh?" he stared back at her.

"Your story. Of what happened that day. Unless you'd rather not talk about it yet."

Inuyasha continued staring, so Kagome lengthened her explanation, albeit a bit flustered.

"I've heard Kaede's story, but I'm not sure how well a fifty year old memory can be trusted. I'd like to hear how you remember that day." Well, that wasn't a total lie. Though Kagome did trust the old woman more than Inuyasha.

Still no response.

"...if my face still bothers you, I can look the other way while you speak or wear a mask." she offered.

Inuyasha snorted and walked away.