Chapter 23

His right ear was swivelled almost as far around as it possibly could, straining to keep track of the sounds coming from the two humans further away from where he sat. Splashes of water, agitated by their sloshing about, and the bursts of laughter from Kaede accompanied by Kagome's murmurs of encouragement. Though she seemed hard pressed to keep the teasing amusement from her voice.

Inuyasha was trying to keep an ear out for water youkai, because kami knew the oblivious girls were most definitely not. It wasn't like he wanted to know what they were talking about. It wasn't.

He could see them, glimmers of colour weaving in and out from behind the curtain of tall reeds that grew around this area. It was an ephemeral wetland, where the wide and shallow part of the river sometimes escaped its banks during the rainy season.

The hanyou shifted his weight from one butt cheek to the other, extracting his arms, uncrossed and recrossed them the other way and jammed them back into the confines of his sleeves. It took everything he had to keep his foot from twitching.

As discreetly as he could manage, Inuyasha snuck a look from the corner of his eye at the priestess seated several arm lengths away to his left. Though more casual than usual, with one arm propped on a bent knee, other leg crossed beneath her, Kikyou's posture was still immaculate. Her face was serene, gazing out at the sluggish river from their perch on a short knoll.

It was an odd affair. And it made him fidgety as all hell.

While he was usually just whatever with Kagome and Kaede, and he knew how to act with Kikyou, he sure as hell didn't know how to be with all of them together at the same time. Not gonna lie, it did catch him by surprise when he went to meet up, expecting a lazy afternoon of lounging in a tree while the girls frolicked in the water, and instead he saw Kikyou in tow as well.

He'd never seen the miko take leisure time in the few moons he's been around.

To be honest, the bitterness from their previous encounter hadn't quite had enough time to completely dissipate. Wariness crept into his demeanour and there was not much he could do to quell it. His youkai instinct was rubbed the wrong way and he'd just have to wait till it subsided on its own

What didn't help was the bow and quiver lying innocently at her side. They weren't far at all from the village grounds but he'd noticed Kikyou's been armed more often. Or he was more… attuned to it lately.

She'd told the villagers that after examining the livestock carcasses that it'd been some sort of wild animal attack, perhaps a wolf and for the humans to be more vigilant for the time being.

Bullshit.

There wasn't a wolf pack in this forest. He'd have heard and smelled them. But the shitty thing is, even his enhanced senses haven't detected much out of the ordinary.

With his name 'cleared' so to speak, Inuyasha ended up finishing the last day of repairs on the building he'd been working on with the others. Kagome and Kaede had looked so happy and relieved.

But he wasn't a dumbass. It hadn't been the same. There was just a slight edge of awkwardness and unease with a handful of the humans.

Fuck 'em. He'd already decided to go back to his normal level of interaction with the villagers. It just wasn't worth the trouble.

Inuyasha shuffled, adjusting the cross of his arms again.

How can Kikyou be so damn quiet? Was he supposed to say something?

As if she somehow reading his mind, he heard her inhale before the words manifested in the air.

"It was generous of you to complete the storehouse repairs." She offered quietly as one of the first few things she'd to him since he'd met up with them that day. Lunch was mostly filled with anecdotes from Kaede with Kagome keeping the conversation alive. "I'm certain it is most appreciated by everyone."

"'S nothing." He muttered back.

There was a stupid, extremely stupid, part of him that wished Kikyou would outright apologize, say she was sorry she'd doubted him. But that was not a thing that aligned with how he'd come to know her to be. This was the closest it would get and he'd have to make do.

"Well, with the building back in commission, we will not have to worry about the stores for winter. It is early in the season yet, but it's crucial to stock pile provisions."

He nodded along.

Something in the reeds on the far side rustled. Inuyasha's ear flicked up, assessing the situation. A quick sniff told him the culprit was a human brat.

Kikyou's brow raised delicately but did not comment once she saw he'd not reacted further.

He didn't elaborate, feeling no need since it was obvious she'd have sensed the youki if it'd been a demon. That was just how they were, he guessed. Kinda like how he'd wouldn't have minded if she shared more about what she'd found about the dead animals. But she obviously wasn't inclined to share either.

The miko began to tell him about something about the neighbouring village. He understood that this was her roundabout way of signalling that things were back to 'normal' between them.

Inuyasha felt a little bad about not paying full attention to Kikyou's words but he had always been shit at multitasking and right now he was most interested in what Kagome and Kaede were up to down in the water.

"O-oh!" Kagome's surprised gasp indicated she'd probably discovered the human kid lurking in the reeds. "Ryota-kun! I didn't notice you."

The sloshing of water ceased.

A short delay later. "Yeah, did you want to play with us?"

The kid mumbled something so garbled that even he had trouble making out the words.

"Mmm-hmm. I'm sure Kaede won't mind at all, right Kaede?"

"Sure." The kid chimed in. "But we're not having any luck. I'm going to get help."

At that the splashing resumed, sounding like someone was wading out of the shallow depths and crunching on the reeds as they got closer.

Within second, Kaede's face popped out from the fringe of tall grass, a little pink from the sun but grinning. The edge of her yukata was tied up—courtesy of Kagome's bad influence no doubt— and sleeves rolled, skin glistening from her excursion in the water.

"Inuyasha!" She called, unknowingly halting Kikyou mid sentence. "O-oh! Sorry Onee-sama, I didn't mean to interrupt."

"No matter, Kaede." The miko reassured, gesturing for her sister to continue.

Kaede dipped a little bow at her sibling then ran up to Inuyasha. "They're too fast! We can't catch any!"

"What? You two are getting bested by tadpoles?" He smirked at her.

"N-no! It's the minnows." Kaede pouted, wrinkling her nose at his attitude.

Beside him, Kikyou let out the softest tinkle of a laugh. Surprised, he shot a quick sideways look at her, spotting the smile she wore while regarding Kaede. It could be described as fond, something rare on the priestess' usually placid countenance.

"I see. Well then, Inuyasha, I believe your assistance is required."

He leapt up and let himself be led by the young girl down to the shallow waters, all the while giving him a breakdown of their operations thus far, completely forgetting he could hear the two of them loud and clear.

The splash he made entering the water made Kagome look up, as mild surprise, then delight brightened her features. Her robes were tied up even higher than Kaede's, making him look away hastily the instant his gaze caught a glimpse of her bare legs.

That dang woman! What was she thinking?

Movement behind her drew his gaze. A messy bowl-cut mop of hair on a small boy with wide eyes peered back at him worriedly.

Kagome, noting the exchange, swivelled around putting a hand on the child's shoulders.

"Ryota-kun, this is Inuyasha. You've seen him around the village right?"

The boy barely nodded, big eyes pinned unwaveringly on his face, wide with nervous awe. Inuyasha recognized him. He was the runt of the pack, smaller and more timid than the other boys his age.

Kagome's grey eyes caught his, amusement twinkling in their depths.

"So before you say something rude, I would like to note that my abilities are only as good as the tools I'm given." She waved what appeared to be an impossibly chipped bowl in the air in front of her.

"Keh." He rolled his eyes, wading out to where she was. "That's an excuse if I've ever heard one."

"We did try, Inuyasha!" Kaede protested indignantly. "They are fast!"

"Ah-huh. Some puny fish," With a quick, fluid movement, he dipped his hand in and out of the water, cupping some liquid in his palm. "Whatcha catching these for anyway, way too small to eat."

Kaede splashed up to him, pulling at his elbow to bring his hand down to her eye level for a closer look.

"Oh wow, you got some!" She beamed, looking up at him and then back to the two minnow swimming in his palm.

"Geez, show off much?" Kagome landed a playful punch to his shoulder as she came up to inspect his handiwork.

"Oi, you're gonna make me drop 'em."

At Kagome's insistence, he begrudgingly trudged over to show the small boy hanging back as well.

He spent the rest of the afternoon thus, being bossed around to catch and release prey that were nowhere near edible size or quality. 'For learning', Kagome had called it.

Kikyou remained up on the knoll, seemingly pleased to watch her younger sister play.

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A/N: I think the safest thing I could infer from the manga is that Kaede adored her sister and Kikyou loved her dearly as well. I think it was a shame not to be able to see that sisterly bond more… especially how much it must've pained Kaede to see the sister she basically worshipped come back to live as a twisted undead person :(

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.