Faint pink briefly perfused the area where the arrowhead impacted the dead trunk before winking out.
Kagome squealed and clapped her hands as she turned towards her companion to offer her congratulations. Her excitement cooled pretty quickly however when she caught sight of the frown dragging down the corners of Kaede's mouth.
"Um..." Kagome began awkwardly after that little—apparently unwarranted—outburst of hers. "That's a hama-no-ya right? It's good right?"
"Yeah, good enough to take out one whole demonic squirrel, maybe." Kaede sighed dejectedly.
"Hey, it's nothing to scoff about! Little ol' me can't even fire one."
"Kagome, you've already fired one that obliterated a massive youkai instantly!" The young girl pinned her with a deadpanned look. "It's a matter of time before you sort it out."
Kagome frowned, not liking the tone the conversation was taking.
"Well, it's honestly pretty impressive how much you're doing already. Didn't Kikyou-sama mention that spiritual powers develop as you get older?"
"Onee-sama was way better at my age." Kaede trudged towards their makeshift target to retrieve her arrows. "She was so talented that she was already taken away to at study the big shrine across the mountains."
Curiosity suddenly piqued with this backstory that had never surfaced in conversation before, Kagome couldn't resist prying just a tinsy bit more.
"Oh! So did you go with?"
Kaede made a dismissive noise. "Of course not. They'd hardly tolerate a runt who could barely do anything useful on her own—shrine or not. I stayed behind."
"But you just said you were small!"
"Obaa-san and Oji-san took care of me the years onee-sama was gone." Kaede looked over at her meaningfully. "The same people you're currently living with, Kagome. Actually, same room even."
Ahh. So the kindly old couple—the ones she'd started to think of as adoptive grandparents of sorts—were the sort to take in stragglers.
"It wasn't bad, that time. I missed onee-sama but it wasn't like I suffered or anything." Kaede looked up at the sky, reminiscing. "I don't remember much actually. Everyone was nice, because they knew onee-sama would likely come back to be a priestess here because I was here. It's a big thing for a little village like ours. Well, they probably would've been nice to me anyways."
The last part was added almost as an afterthought. Kagome wasn't so naive to have not perceived the intense meritocracy of this time period. It was strictly for survival purposes, nothing personal about it though.
They gathered their belongings and started back towards the village. Just a short shooting practice was scheduled today and no meditation. Which to be honest, Kagome felt relieved about.
As they walked in silence, her eyes strayed to the shorter girl in front of her. Hidden in a pragmatic low knot was the hair pin with the tiny daisy she'd picked out with Inuyasha. It matched Kaede quite perfectly—Kagome was proud to say. Just a touch of youthfulness but still refined enough to keep wearing as she grew older.
Remembering the big bright grin Kaede sported when they'd presented her with the souvenir brought a smile to Kagome's face.
More than once, she'd find herself thinking that perhaps Kaede had been forced to grow up too early. She should have a chance to be a kid. But maybe that was just sheltered, modern thinking. And in this era, too unrealistic.
"Well, Kaede. I think it's ok to be you and not a carbon copy of your sister." The thoughts tumbled out aloud before Kagome could help it.
Said girl turned abruptly to blink at her, surprised at her comment.
There was a pause as her small cheeks pinked. "U-um, what's 'kaabon copy'?"
Understanding that Kaede was trying to dodge directly addressing her embarrassing comment, Kagome let it go.
"Ahhh never mind. Just a specific type of copy let's say."
Impulsively, she reached out to pat the top of Kaede's head, just like how usually liked to ruffle Souta's hair. Younger siblings loved that stuff.
Even more flustered, Kaede made a face and trotted further down the path to put some space between them. All the while, Kagome's rather evil cackled filtered from behind.
When they reached the village, the two parted ways. Kaede had errands she was tasked with and Kagome, guiltily had the rest of the day off. It was such a rare treat as of late.
With a pep in her step, she practically skipped to her foster parents' hut to drop off all the extra crap she had with her.
Then she was planning to make a beeline directly into the forest to track down a certain fluffy-eared grumpy pants.
Her plan was quickly derailed, when she was cutting through the village square.
"Kagome-sama!"
She barely suppressed a cringe, pausing her brisk walk and turned around with an awkward smile.
"H-hi. Good afternoon, everyone."
A pair of older ladies and one of the village's elders hobbled up to her.
"Kagome-sama!" One of the ladies reached to grasp her hand, patting it in a grandmotherly fashion. "It's so good see you. How have your training been coming along?"
"Uh, um, good, I think." Kagome replied, scratching the side of her head with her free hand. "Kikyou-sama is a great teacher."
"Oh-ho, but of course." The old man beamed at her. "We're sure you'll do well."
"Yes, yes. We're so proud." The other woman chimed in. "Our village is so incredibly blessed to produce three spiritual users in the same generation."
If she was an anime character, there would be a huge sweat drop over her head for sure.
There was no shortage of people who witnessed her one fluke arrow that day. Without her life being in imminent danger, apparently her powers refused to show themselves. Now that it was obvious that Kikyou was including her in formal lessons along with Kaede, everyone was convinced she'd also be a miko or something.
It made her squirm to be honest, because it almost felt like she was lying. It's not like she'd shown much potential, reiki wise. But the attitudes of the villagers have changed like the flip of a coin.
Sure, there were a handful of people who'd always been quite kind and patient with her, like her foster parents for example. But the majority had just tolerated her as the latest charity case of their priestess, especially when Kagome had struggled so much picking up just daily life skills when she first arrived here.
So now, having people attach an honorific to her name and taking initiative to greet her was disconcerting to say the least.
Realizing she'd zoned out and not listened to a word of the people chatting to her, Kagome nodded and made some noncommittal hums, hoping it fit with the conversation.
"We won't keep you any longer. It seems you're in a hurry somewhere"
"No, it's no trouble." Kagome replied automatically.
"Oh, yes," A roughly wrapped bindle was thrusted into her hands. "Please accept these. They make a lovely snack."
"And these too!"
Before Kagome had the chance to refuse, a few root vegetables tied together with string was hooked over her shoulder.
Thanking them profusely, Kagome bowed and waved at the villagers.
Waiting until they've walked away some, as manners dictated, she then turned and trotted quickly under tree cover before anyone could interrupt.
Following the narrow footpath, Kagome thought about how grateful she was now that she's more accepted into the village community. Deserved or not.
Even Kikyou seemed to be nicer to her these days. Just a tiny bit warmer, closer to how the priestess was with her sister.
A big blur suddenly shot down in front of her, making a big thump on impact.
Not paying attention to her surroundings, Kagome shrieked. Unable to brake in time, her forward momentum carried her face first into a hard chest.
She was startled but not scared. Because she knew exactly which idiot she'd barreled straight into.
"Argggg, what the heck, Inuyasha!" Kagome jerked herself back, rubbing her poor nose.
It was a miracle she didn't drop any of the things she was carrying.
The soft sound of his chuckle filtered into her ears, and she caught a glimpse of a mischieveious little smirk pulling up one corner of his mouth.
"Keh." Inuyasha turned away from her before she could investigate his expression any further. "Serves ya right for disappearing for days."
"I'm sorry! I was really busy!"
He made a noise in reply by forcefully blowing air past his lips. Kagome sped up a few steps to lean down in front of him to peer up at his face.
"Whaaat? Did you miss me, Inuyasha?" She teased.
"You wish!" He exclaimed, crossing his arms in front of his chest and nudging her aside to stomp ahead.
She couldn't help but giggle and trail after him. Truth be told, it was she who really did miss spending time with Inuyasha. More than a lot, actually.
Golden eyes studied her when she caught up to him again, fluffy ears flickering to note the dull thuds the various objects strung over her shoulder made when they collided with her torso as she walked.
"What's with all the stuff?"
"Gifts... erm, offerings, maybe?" Spying his one cocked eyebrow, Kagome proceeded to explain. "Well, since I started training with Kikyou-sama... people have been treating me different."
Inuyasha grunted, prompting her to keep going.
"I mean, it's good that people are a lot nicer, and I feel like I'm fitting in better but it's still a little awkward. I can't even shoot another one of those hama-no-ya."
He glanced at her.
"Eh, it's probably just a matter of time."
Kagome's pout immediately evaporated at his unexpected encouragement.
"Awww, really? You really think so, Inuyasha?"
He made a face, almost as if he was annoyed he'd let such a positive comment slip, even though she knew he was really quite sweet deep down.
In comfortable silence they continued to walk to one of their usual spots. The intense heat of summer had toned down significantly to a comfortable warmth. Some of the early trees were tinged with yellow and hints of red.
Soon they reached the bluff that had a bit of a view over the surrounding forest. It was Kagome's favourite out of the handful or so places. They frequented it so much that Inuyasha left a ring of rocks for the fire and arranged two logs for seating.
Settling down the various packages, Kagome reached up stretching out her sore shoulder and sighed with how good that felt. Then, bending down, she dug around her various spoils before locating the small plums in a rough sack.
"Inuyasha!" She called not quite before she'd already tossed the plum his way knowing full well his reflexes wouldn't allow him to miss.
"Oi!" He half-heartedly scowled at her while snatching the fruit clean out of the air. "What's this?"
"It's yum! Try it!" Kagome grinned at him impishly before biting into her own plum with gusto feeling the tart juices gush around her lips.
Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at her. "I don't think they'd appreciate their new divine person sharing their offerings with a demon."
Kagome pursed her lips and took pointed steps to close the distance between them. Reaching out to feign taking the plum back, she couldn't keep her expression straight when his clawed hand very obviously moved away from hers.
"Hey! No take-backs!" He popped the whole fruit into his mouth with a pointed glare.
"There's a pit you know! I won't save you if you choke!" She laughed, holding out her open palm to offer him more.
Clawed finger darted out to snatch another two of the plump yellow fruits.
"Ulterior motives aside, they're damn tasty." He muttered, probably not wholly intended her to hear.
Kagome had to agree though. They were tasty. And well, maybe she can just focus on the villager's goodwill. After all, she barely had any spiritual power and likely wouldn't become nearly as influential as Kikyou. The gifts will probably peter off when they catch on.
"I'm gonna get fish!" Inuyasha called to her as he leapt up and disappeared into the leaves.
Kagome tied back her sleeves and set about poking through the remains inside the ring of stones searching for anything still burnable from last time.
At least she was pretty darn good at getting fires going now.
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A/N: Finally! We get back to the main theme of this entire story, InuKag eating food. :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.