Chapter 20

"Kagome, I received a reply from Midoriko-sensei. She believes there might be something in the archives regarding your… predicament. Perhaps, you might wish to accompany me to the city when autumn comes this year?"

Kikyou had delivered this information pragmatically this morning when Kagome joined the sisters for an early breakfast. The priestess left soon after for her shrine duties, graciously offering Kagome a chance to consider her proposal. The words had been ricocheting off the walls of her brain since, refusing to quiet down and inciting her heart to race every so often when her imagination went wild concocting possibilities.

In short, with Kaede kindly filling in the gaps, it would seem that the seasoned miko Kikyou trained under had written back in response to the question about how Kagome came to arrive in this world. And instead of questioning her sanity, the priestess actually might have a solution for her. Kagome would've gladly booked it to see said priestess but apparently her shrine was located near a port city very far from this village. Kikyou herself would make the trip late fall every year for a spiritual retreat of sorts. And that would be when Kagome could feasibly join her and maybe… go home.

The sound of displeased throat clearing jolted her from the eddy of thoughts.

"Kagome," Her young companion reprimanded. "Remember for this we need to separate the petiole from the leaf completely."

Glancing down at her bowl, Kagome winced, embarrassed to see at least a handful of thin stems, in addition to the intact leaf.

"Sorry."

At that, her young companion softened, patting her arm. "It's alright. It must be hard to concentrate after the good news this morning." Kagome looked up to catch Kaede's small smile. "But I don't want extra work for us after lunch, 'kay?"

She nodded, recalling the firsthand experience of having to pick bits of stem and petiole out of the crushed powder as those parts were tough and don't grind down with the mortar and pestle. Better to avoid having them in the mixture in he first place.

Speaking of lunch, Kagome had to bite her lip to keep from letting a silly grin loose. The last few days had been so enjoyable with her, Kaede and Inuyasha having lunch together. It seemed Inuyasha and the village craftsmen have settled into a working rhythm since the day they all got together to fix the roof of the storehouse. The hanyou had reluctantly agreed to stay on to help with the rest of the repairs, which were well on their way to completion with the extra muscle. This meant Inuyasha, along with the other villagers would take their midday break around the village common area, where they would meet up with him.

It was difficult to put a finger on it, but something about seeing the hanyou amongst the villagers and at relative ease made her happy. Even though he'd never admit it, Kagome knew that, like her, Inuyasha probably felt a little lonely and out of place here as well.

Before long the sun had climbed to its zenith and the dried bundles of botanicals had been dissected to neat piles. Stretching to loosen up her muscles having hunched over the work bench all morning, Kagome was eager for a break.

While Kaede rummaged in the kitchen for some leftovers, Kagome retrieved the cloth wrapped bundle of onigiri. She'd packed extra knowing that Inuyasha might not have food, since his usual meals were freshly caught from the forest and he'd been nowhere near that all day.

The two girls made their way leisurely to the village commons, scouting out a nice spot on the perimeter to park themselves. Kagome hopped up, setting down her lunch and began scanning for the shock of silver bobbing above the sea of rice hats and dark hair. Kaede had already dug into her food with gusto the moment her backside made contact the low stone wall.

Taking a long drink from her bamboo flask, Kagome leaned up slightly to admire the clear blue sky until their friend arrived.

The sound of angry shouts fast approaching and increasing in volume shattered the easy peace. All around her, people, like herself was craning to see what the commotion was about.

They did not have to wait long for the livid man to come barrelling into the square. His hair was coming loose from its short braid with his violent gesturing while his beady eyes flashed. What was more alarming was the dark, ruddy stains marring the front of his tunic.

As he slowed to a stop, with a couple others trailing after him, what he was waving about in his hand came into stark view.

In his grasp was the head of some small livestock, maybe a goat, clearly torn off with flaps of skin and sinew dangling like bloody ribbons. A horn was gone; something with a smallish bite clearly having gnawed that part off.

"Where is that fucking half-breed?" He shifted around in agitation, raking his eyes over the shocked groups of people eating lunch moments before. "I'd like to hear what he has to say about this!"

No one uttered a thing but the pause was suffocating. Abruptly, the man's head snapped up, eyes narrowing to slits at a point beyond where they sat. Kagome gasped, whipping around her to see Inuyasha down the road.

The days before he'd arrived with the same group of men, actually appearing to be somewhat in congenial conversation. Today however, everyone was tense and on guard.

The burly man in front of her stalked forward and aggressively threw the goat head down between himself and the arriving group. It only slid a short distance before its momentum was halted by the dust and gravel. The fluids on it glistened in the sun.

"'the fuck did you do to my goats, hanyou?"

The result was instantaneous. The cluster of tradesmen previously walking beside Inuyasha collectively shirked back and away, expressions ranging from confusion to wariness.

"That's right fellas, just cuz he's all buddy-buddy with y'all, don't mean he ain't a freak." The man jeered. "This ain't it. There's two. He killed two of them."

Inuyasha was stock still, every muscle tensed but did not say a single thing.

Maybe it was the shock, but somehow the situation escalated at a speed that escaped her. Before she could follow what was going on, a different group fo men had rallied behind the initial accuser. There was a lot of incoherent shouting and amidst all that Kagome could barely make sense of them saying that Inuyasha was responsible for the bloody remains.

"There's a fucking reason he's been hanging around!"

"First the animals, and then it'd be us after!"

"That's right… I saw him hang around the village really early a few days ago… must've been scouting out the place!"

And Inuyasha… Inuyasha was still motionless. Why wasn't he saying something to defend himself?!

Kagome whirled around desperately hoping to find some sort of ally but the villagers who weren't shouting looked scared to get involved in the increasingly heated debate. Beside her, Kaede was wide-eyed, stunned speechless, looking from one man to another and to Inuyasha looking like she might cry.

Heart pounding loud in her ears, Kagome rushed in with fists clenched, elbowing aside the gathering crowd to say her piece.

"Inuyasha can hunt better than anyone!" She defended, angry gaze pining the hateful man who started all of this. "I don't think he has to resort to eating your stupid goat."

He ignored her but some of the other men around him started jeering in response to her words.

"Just think about it- it makes no sense. Obviously he'd be the one easiest to blame if he were to do anything remotely untoward in the village. You'd have to be stupid to-"

"What do women know about 'sense'?" The man finally deigned to look her in the eye.

"Ohhh…!" She growled, properly pissed and stalked towards to the beady eyed man to give him a piece of her mind.

He proceeded to talk loudly over her, cutting her off. "Don't think we've forgotten how you showed up, girlie. Ya may not be youkai filth, but ya still could be a fuckin' witch for all I know."

That man had never been friendly, keeping mostly to himself, and she'd seen him say spiteful things to some other villagers before. He was a bully, plain and simple.

"I'm not! — you know what, if you had evidence you wouldn't have to resor-"

The man's face darkened, and he took a menacing step towards her, stained hand raised.

Before she knew what happened, another hand—familiar and claw-tipped—had circled her wrist tightly and yanked her away.

"Ahh…" The man sneered. "A half-breed and his witch- "

"Enough." The familiar tones of their priestess cuts through the pandemonium, though quiet as always, it effectively silenced the crowd.

Kikyou appeared on the other side of the square and with each measured step towards them, the villagers moved aside to let her pass, murmuring greetings and bowing. As she slowed to a stop in front of the hateful man, he too grudgingly dropped his gaze to the red hakama, deferring to her authority in the village.

"Reo-san," Kikyou addressed evenly. "I require a brief account of the issue at hand."

Her expression remained perfectly neutral throughout the whole retelling, not a crinkle of a brow even when the man devolved into awful slurs at the tail end of his explanation.

Having had enough of the asshole, Kagome was about to interrupt him when a sharp movement caught her attention. Kaede apparently had made her way to the front of the crowd at the arrival of her sister and was desperately gesturing for her keep quiet.

Biting her tongue, Kagome grudgingly complied.

"Am I correct in my understanding that you unexpectedly found two of your goats deceased in unusual circumstance this morning. There was however, no first-hand sighting of any suspicious persons around your property by yourself or any others. You have speculations in regard to the nature of your finding."

The man made to protest but the priestess held out a hand.

"I understand your concern and this matter is of importance to the safety of the village and the reputation and interests of all persons involved. I will personally investigate the circumstance. Until there is concrete evidence, I will ask that Reo-san you refrain from publicly inciting any more excitement of this kind. I will come by this afternoon to inspect the carcasses."

Turning her even gaze to the hanyou, now standing apart from the others, Kikyou continued.

"And Inuyasha, while we appreciate the help you've lended to the storehouse repair efforts, it is best to put that on pause until I can fully investigate this incident."

Kagome pushed forward then, stormy eyes flashing and unable to hold back any longer. "Wait, why does Inuyasha have to go— Kikyou, you know he wouldn't— "

She stopped. Kaede too had darted forward to pull on her sleeve in an effort to stop her. Kagome slapped her hand over her mouth. In her incredulousness, caught up in her emotions, she'd failed to address the miko with her due honorific.

Kikyou flashed her a stern look but quickly refocused her attention at the two men.

The human muttered something under his breath and spat pointedly at the edge of the path. Glaring hard at Inuyasha, he spun on his heel and stalked away.

Only after making sure the brute was truly going to leave without a fight did Kagome turn to look at Inuyasha closely for the first time since the start of this whole incident.

He was rigid, his face was blank but his jaw was clenched tight, belying his true emotional state. The warmth of his normal gaze was replaced by something dark and turbulent, deep anger and something else trying to claw its way through. He wasn't meeting her—or anyone's—eyes.

Kagome swallowed, trying to think of something that wasn't stupid to say. Something in the air around him seemed bristly and hostile, making her skin feel uncomfortable.

Calmly, Inuyasha stooped down and placed the short planks soundlessly on the ground. They looked like samples of different kinds of wood; his group was probably discussing building materials prior to being interrupted.

Before she could blink, he jumped backwards in a blur of colour and raced away, faster than she'd ever seen him run before.

It was highly likely she'd imagined it, but Kagome thought Inuyasha had turned a fraction towards her briefly before he disappeared, much too fast for her to catch his eye.

The villagers began to disperse awkwardly, murmurs rising amongst them. Kaede was blinking back tears, moving closer towards her sister for comfort.

Kagome turned to look helplessly at the forest where not even a glimpse of red could be seen.

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A/N: Alright… so who was waiting for me to drop that on them? Hands up :P

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. However, this plot, the exact sequence of words and any original characters described therein, I reserve all rights to.