A/N: First submitted to IYFic for their prompt Hermit. Won second place.
"Would you draw one already?" Kagome said, extending the Tarot cards at Inuyasha.
"Keh!" The hanyou scowled. One thing he knew too well – no good had ever come from Kagome's futuristic games. Somehow or the other, he'd always end up at the receiving end of an 'osuwari'.
"Be a sport, Inuyasha," Miroku insisted, "let's see what's on your mind right now."
"Yeah," Shippou snickered, "is there one for Ramen, Kagome?"
The miko giggled as she practically shoved the deck into Inuyasha's hands. Sighing in resignation, he extended two clawed fingers and drew a card, turning it as he placed it upon Kagome's waiting palm.
"The Hermit," Kagome's voice shook slightly as she read the explanation, "a recluse, perhaps a religious figure upon a solitary quest, searching for arcane knowledge."
Inuyasha's face was as inscrutable as a marble sculpture, but the transient softness betrayed by the golden orbs did not escape Kagome's vigilant attention. She had suspected as much, but at least she had a sliver of hope. Now, it was dashed by a blow of reality. He was thinking of Kikyou.
Inuyasha looked at Kagome, at her face pinched with pain and disappointment, and then looked away in his telltale manner. Miroku gave an uncomfortable chuckle.
"It's just a game, Kagome-sama."
Eyes blurred with tears, Kagome looked down at the swords in her palm – in the dancing campfire, each had become real, each glistening tip was plunging into her heart with unerring accuracy.
A shinidamachuu appeared in the sky.