Chapter 52

The wind gusted around her, battering the flimsy looking paper charm against its crude support. Somehow, her pitiful attempt at securing the shide to the branch lodged in the ground held. The same couldn't be said of the pleats in the paper, the intended form succumbing to the force of the air whipping it about.

Kagome sighed, and got up gingerly. Her knees protested the long minutes she'd just spent squatting over the contraption in the chill morning air.

She scrutinized her creation again.

Still, though. At least the spell held, even if the talisman looked more like a sad limp stream of paper than anything holy.

Letting her spiritual sense wash over it one more time just to be sure, Kagome headed back uphill. In her mind's eye, she inspected the formation that formed a loose, squiggly sort of circle around the cave and a portion of the plateau.

It came as a surprise to her, how protective she'd gotten of their new home, the warm little cavern now stuffed with supplies and foodstuffs she and Inuyasha had painstakingly gathered and preserved with their own two hands. Even the plateau was organized with extra firewood and all their ongoing projects.

Maybe it was overkill, but Kagome didn't want to risk any mishaps.

Hence the barrier.

Moving to activate it, she felt the hum and the slight blue pulse of her power before it siphoned down into the ring of anchoring shide she'd just set around the area. As if nothing happened, the air cleared.

Unfortunately, there was no way of testing it because Inuyasha had chased away all the youkai in the vicinity. She'd also been surprised to find out on their trial run of this yesterday, that her barrier had no effect on Inuyasha, even though she'd tried very hard to impress her intent to bar entry to any with youki whatsoever.

They would have to bank on it being functional, on a wing and a prayer.

Something sharp jabbed into the side of her foot, making her almost miss a step. Of course, of all the ways a rock could dig into her feet, it would find the exact angle to go through the large rip in her left loafer.

Sadly, her indestructible school shoes finally gave up the ghost after a couple seasons of abuse.

It was terrible timing given the imminent arrival of winter. And though she tried to make do, lacking the ability to acquire warm socks did not help her cause.

And it was impossible to hide it from Inuyasha. She winced, recalling the way his expression clouded instantly, golden eyes fixed on the tear in the leather, as if he was personally responsible for the damage.

Kagome was no fool. She knew how much guilt he was fighting against, even if all of it was misplaced.

Speaking of, she looked up at the crunch of gravel and met said golden eyes, lambent in the rays of the early morning sun.

Secured around his shoulders by a rough knot was a bundle containing a few foodstuffs but mostly it was extra carrying cloths to hold what supplies they would hopefully buy today.

Inuyasha was understandably wary of going into any human settlement given what had happened but it seemed that the imperative to get her some new shoes won out.

Kagome highly doubted being able to replace loafers but it seemed a bad idea to not have at least an alternate pair of foot wear available.

"How'd it go?" He asked, one hand outreached to boost her up the last steep part of the bluff.

Though unnecessary — she'd made this trek back to their plateau countless times — Kagome still placed her hand in his, relishing the feel of his warm calloused fingers as they wrapped securely around her own.

"Like how it went yesterday. But I found a few better places to secure the anchors."

He shook out the drape of coarse fabric that was draped over his arm and dropped it on her shoulders, tying the fraying strips of fabric to secure the cloak. They had minimal supplies as it was and she was loathe to waste anything thread on purely cosmetic alterations.

Right. Thread.

Kagome began another round of reciting their long shopping list in her head. This was their only excursion to a market probably until winter passed, and she could not afford to forget something.

"Oi," Inuyasha's grumble interrupted her. "You ready, Kagome?"

Startling, Kagome shook her head and at the hanyou's unspoken signal, she swung her leg nimbly over Inuyasha's lower back. With practiced efficiency, his warm palms found their usual spots behind her thighs as he centred her weight perfectly against his back.

They'd travelled so often like this lately that it'd become muscle memory. It didn't mean Kagome ever stopped over-fixating on the feel of his hands on her thighs.

She cleared her throat. "Ready!" Wincing a little at how awkward that sounded to her ears, Kagome ignored it and leaned forward, wrapping her arms loosely around his neck.

"Put the damn hood over your head." Inuyasha rumbled against her torso.

She clicked her tongue but did as bade.

Once they dropped altitude to travel in the valley, the drafty day was much easier to bear. Since Kagome was now fully accustomed to travel by hanyou express, Inuyasha had been running much faster than he had previously. So long as she protected as much of her exposed skin as possible with the cloak, there was no worry of windburn at his preferred speed.

It was shortly after noon when they arrived at their destination. From what Inuyasha had told her of his scouting, it was more a town than a village, poised for optimum trade located at the convergence of two large tributaries.

Inuyasha stopped at the edge of a large grove near the outskirts of the town. There, he tucked a handful of heavy coins into her palm and she'd taken one of the carrying cloths. Then, with a nonchalant 'keh' but that slight crease between his brow, he launched back up into the trees where he'd stay hidden until she returned.

Kagome wasn't fooled. Inuyasha was clearly worried. And given what happened last time they'd been in a human settlement; she could hardly blame him. In the same vein, it was for this very same reason that he chose not to come with her. Sure, he could probably get away with hiding his ears under a sweatband and play it off like many of the working men —she'd deliberately showed him the spare piece of fabric she'd packed—but he didn't change his mind.

She was pretty sure Inuyasha wasn't anxious about what would happen to him; it was her. He most likely didn't want people to ostracize her because of the company she kept.

How nice would it be to spend an afternoon walking around the market with him? Kagome hated that he always had to hide in the periphery, never feeling like he could walk proudly out in the open wherever there were humans. There was nothing wrong with Inuyasha.

All so could do was run her errands and get back to him quickly.

Turns out, the market was bustling with all kinds of characters. It was pretty packed and thus a bit difficult to get a good unobstructed look, but Kagome could've sworn there were glimpse of tails and ears that could not belong to a human. There were enough slight differences in attire to signal that the town was indeed supported by a confluence of merchants and peoples from outside the immediate area.

Caught up in the excitement of the chattering crowd, Kagome wandered through the stalls wide-eyed, trying keep to a somewhat systematic way of cataloguing the various stalls at market. But several times, she wandered off, entranced by goods she hadn't come across during her time in this era.

That was before she noticed the youkai and then she was truly distracted, trying to catch a good look at them without being rude and staring outright.

Said youkai were more of the animal-like variety rather like the sort she would sometimes encounter on her foraging treks in the forest—never when Inuyasha was around of course. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched what would pass at as an ox if one it didn't have the bonus, smaller eye hidden in a tuft of dark hair. And on the shoulder of a merchant was flamboyant pet bird that tingled her senses when she walked past. There wasn't an abundance of them, but definitely enough to notice if she deliberately sought them out.

Not every one of them triggered her spiritual senses, which could reflect the varying degrees of youki they possessed or perhaps her newly awakened ability was still a bumbling, unwieldy thing with low sensitivity.

Kagome contemplated this between noting all the vendors who had the best prices for the items on her shopping list. Pretty certain that she'd finished a first walkthrough, she was rolling up her proverbial sleeves in preparation for a good haggling session when a dart of movement from her periphery caught her eye.

Whirling around to locate the source, she spied a tiny kitten peek out from behind a laden basket on a nearby cart. It was a dark cream colour—more condensed milk shade then the milky off-white Kagome had in mind—and dainty black markings. Nimbly, the creature jumped down and landed soundlessly in the dirt with a comically disproportionately large dried fish in her mouth.

It trotted around a corner and disappeared into a side alley.

Inexplicably, Kagome felt compelled to follow.

The cat was nothing like Buyo. For one, Buyo was like four times bigger at least and calico. Yet, her family cat was what immediately came to mind when she saw the little feline thief.

Inevitably, thoughts of home tugged at her heart. Winter evenings with her family tucked under the kotatsu and Buyo taking up all the room. The well and how it was doubly difficult to get back to it now.

Kagome had been stubbornly tamping down all these stupid, useless thoughts since their rude departure from Kikyo's village. It was pointless to dwell on it. She'd tried the well bottom countless times prior and that had been all it was, a dusty hole and decidedly not a portal back to her own world.

Just 'cause she's now moved kami knows how far from it doesn't mean it'll magically start back up to spite her.

She should seriously know better, and yet…

Deciding to take this welcome distraction, Kagome hurried down the narrow alley between rows of squat buildings. Not seeing any glimpse of the kitten, she was just about to concede on losing track of it before she heard a trio of low growls.

Kagome skidded to a stop as the rounded the corner and almost ran into the pack of dogs barring the path. Three of them surround the cat she saw and none looked friendly.

The silly kitty did not seem the least concerned though. As if it wasn't just a snack to any of the canines there.

Her palms moistened with the sudden rise of anxiety. This was probably a really bad idea—Inuyasha would flip if he knew she went looking for trouble again.

She'd heard stray dogs were not to be trifled with. And she wasn't a terribly big or threatening individual. Nervously, she casted about, looking for any scrap piece of wood or something to brandish around if it got violent.

But in the barest slip of time she took her eyes off the animal showdown, she'd apparently missed all the action. It was the flurry of furry bodies rushing past her in retreat that made her head jerk back up in surprise.

Gaping, Kagome just stared at the tiny cat in front of her. There was a bite missing from the trunk of the dried fish, which was now discarded to the side in favour of some intense paw grooming.

What the…? Maybe those were just really wimpy dogs?

Regardless, Kagome was plenty relieved to not get into a brawl that might necessitate her getting a rabies booster that would not be invented for another literal hundreds of years.

She walked closer, taking care to remain as unthreatening as possible to not scare the kitten off. When she was close enough she squatted down and held out a hand for the animal to sniff.

Up close, she could admire the dainty black markings on the paws and tip of the tail and dark ears.

"You know, it's probably best to run for it next time this happens." She told if softly, hoping to impart some advice on self-preservation.

Kagome gasped and almost tumbled over onto her butt when the kitten unexpectedly launched itself at her hand. Instinctively, she caught the flurry ball in both hands held it closer as the small head tilted to regard her.

Crimson irises. Which is very peculiar indeed for a non-albino mammal.

The kitten perched in her cupped hands, as serenely as can be. Its pretty tail waved languidly, once and then at the second time, an exact carbon copy of said tail popped out, side by side.

The tails swished again, moving independently of each other.

Ohhhh. How had she not noticed earlier?

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Kotatsu - low table covered by a heavy blanket with a heater underneath

Shide - zigzag-shaped paper streamers, often used to demarcate holy spaces, and in purification rituals

A/N: Ooooo who do we have here? o.o

I've been a little stuck plotting out the next string of chapters cuz things happen and splitting between the two POVs makes it complicated. But I figured it out! Now to write it. Beware that from this + upcoming series of chapters are probably gonna be widely varied in lengths in order to make it all work together :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.