Once upon a time, there was a girl who knew things no one else knew.

She knew if her father would be late from work. She knew if her grandpa was really sick or just pretending to be. She knew when her mama was pregnant with her little brother (and that it was a little brother). She knew who was standing behind her at school when they played "Kagome, Kagome."

It didn't really occur to her that no one else could know things the way she did, not until the kids didn't want to play anymore because she could always guess right. Not until someone called her a freak. Not until someone had thrown something at her and laughed.

She had run away once her mama had brought her home, which she knew was really bad and her mama would be mad at her, but she just wanted to be alone. She ran into the woods behind her house and kept running until it felt like she'd finally left those mean words behind. Then she sat down under a tree, curled up into a little ball, and wondered why she was different.

Footsteps crunching over leaves brought her out of her pondering. It sounded like it was coming from the other side of the tree, so she carefully peaked around the side.

There was a man walking towards her, a really tall grown-up with long white hair. He looked kind of scary. His eyebrows were pulled down and he seemed to be looking for something, scanning the ground. Then he looked right at her. His eyes were yellow and intense, and she couldn't do anything but stare at him. They stood like that for a while, just looking at each other, and then he smiled and started walking towards her.

She squeaked and started scrambling away.

"Whoa, hey, kid!"

Why was he following her?! She kept going until her food caught on a bush and she fell to her knees. She gasped.

"Shit, are you okay?" The man knelt next to her. She trembled and tried to scoot away. Mama had said strangers could be bad, could try to take her away forever. She had to run back to mama if she didn't feel safe. But now she couldn't run, she was far away from mama, and the man was already here, reaching out for her.

"No!" she screamed, swatting away his hand. "Leave me alone! Go away!"

He sat back on his heels, his eye wide. Then he smiled again. "Kid, I'm not gonna hurt you."

She shook her head and closed her eyes tight. "No, no, no. I don't want to, leave me alone!"

He sighed and then sat cross-legged on the ground. "You're hurt. And lost, I bet. What are you even doing out here?"

Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked up. The man was sitting far enough away that he couldn't touch her. She frowned and scooted a bit farther away, but she didn't try to run. He didn't look so scary now. Just weird.

They sat quietly for a while. "I'm…uh, I'm Yoshi," he said eventually. "And you're Kagome, right?"

She sat up straight and glared at him. "How do you know my name?" She thought she sounded really scary and tough and mentally congratulated herself.

The man covered his mouth and looked away for a moment, his shoulders shaking. After he took a deep breath, he said, "I know your mother. Higurashi-san tells stories about you, about how smart and brave you are."

Kagome squinted at him. "How do I know you're not lying?"

He tilted his head and she thought he looked an awful lot like a confused puppy. "Well, lets see. I know your family. I know your mother likes to take pictures of you in front of Goshinboku whenever something important happens. And I know your grandpa likes to play Go. And your mother makes really good cookies."

She looked at him while he talked, stared him straight in the eyes and let herself know if he was telling the truth. She only felt…warm. Happy. Safe. So she relaxed. "Okay, Yoshi-san. I believe you." He looked surprised, so she patted over her heart and said, "I can feel it. I know you're telling the truth."

He smiled at her, then gestured to her knees. "Are you okay? You really took a tumble."

Looking down at her skinned knees, she frowned. She hadn't really noticed it before, but now she could feel how much they stung. She blinked tears out of her eyes. "Yeah. They just kind of hurt now."

He shuffled closer and held out his arms. "Can I take you home? I bet your mother's worried about you."

She sniffed and nodded, and he scooped her up and held her against his chest, then turned and started walking.

"So why are you way out here?" he asked after a little bit.

She sighed. "I dunno. I didn't want to tell mama."

"Tell her what?"

Frowning, she carefully brushed one her new scratches, trying to clean it. "Someone was mean. They called me names, and…and someone threw a rock at me."

Yoshi-san stopped abruptly and looked down at her. His eyes looked more gold than yellow up close. He scowled and said, "What?"

She frowned back. "It wasn't my fault." Then she hung her head. "It's just…do you know the game 'Kagome, Kagome,' the one where you have to guess who's behind you?" He said that he did. "I can always tell. Even if they switch. Even if they try to trick me. They said I was cheating." Looking up quickly, she added, "But I wasn't! I don't cheat! I just know who it is!"

"So someone threw a rock at you because you kept winning?"

She slumped again, snuggling into his warm shirt. "They…they called me a freak. They said I was weird. No one wanted to play with me anymore, even other games."

They stood quietly for a while. When Yoshi-san didn't say anything, she looked up at him. He looked so sad, so brokenhearted, that she couldn't help but throw her tiny arms around his neck. "It's okay, Yoshi-san! Please don't be sad."

He gave a low chuckle and brought one hand up to her back to hold her close. "I'm fine, Kagome. I'm just upset people were mean to you, since you're just about the nicest little girl in the world."

She giggled and let go of the hug. "Nuh-uh. Not all the time. And if anyone beats up my little brother, I'm gonna beat them up even harder."

Laughing, he started walking again. "Your brother's just a baby now, isn't he? Who's going to beat up a baby?"

She crossed her arms and looked up at him like he was an idiot. "He's not gonna be a baby forever. Duh. And then I'll be bigger and I won't be scared of anything."

"Keh. Yeah, let's see how that goes."

"I will! I'll be really brave!"

"Oh, I believe you, kid."

They reached the edge of the forest. Kagome perked up. "Hey, there's Goshinboku! We're almost home!"

He set her down on her feet, and she looked up at him, confused. He reached out and ruffled her hair. "I've got somewhere to be, kid. Can you make it home from here?"

She smiled and nodded, then gave a little bow. "Thank you, Yoshi-san."

He smiled back and it was the most beautiful thing Kagome had ever seen. His eyes sparkled and it was liking standing in the warm sun after being inside too long. "You're welcome. I'll see you later, okay?"

She nodded and watched as he turned around and walked back into the trees, then started walking back home. She heard her mama calling for her and yelled, "I'm right here, mama!"

—

Inuyasha walked back through the trees to the cozy little house he shared with his wife. He couldn't keep the smile off his face as he went. As he stepped inside the house, his wife turned from the table covered with papers from whatever project she was working on now.

"And what's got you in such a good mood?" she asked with a laugh when he pulled her in for a kiss.

He kissed her forehead and held her close. "You'll never guess who I met today."

She knew.