Whatever it was that was making that rocking motion was quite superb. Gentle and consistently even—Kagome could really understand babies like this so much.

It was a little breezy though, so she nuzzled into the warm, puffy softness underneath her cheek, wishing she could somehow get it to cover her shoulders instead.

Against her wishes however, consciousness slowly bled back into focus. She fought it, stubbornly burrowing into her blankets to avoid waking up. Until the tip of her nose collided with warm skin and Kagome woke with the discovery that she wasn't in bed.

"Oi." She felt the rumble of his voice against her torso as well as heard it. "You awake, Kagome?"

"'Nuyasha?" She mumbled, at last lifting her head from where she'd been apparently nuzzling into his hair and the side of his neck.

Turns out, he was still traveling with her asleep on his back. The rocking motion had been his measured steps as he leapt from treetop to treetop.

"We're almost there."

She was about to ask 'where' but it fizzled on the tip of her tongue. As the emotional events of the day filtered back into her brain, asking that question seemed pointless.

They'd just been exiled from the village. There was nowhere she knew to go. So wherever Inuyasha deemed a suitable place would be where they would head.

Looking around, she noted the warmer glow to the sky. They were nearing dusk and even she knew it would be best to find shelter in the wilderness before dark. The landscape they travelled through looked vaguely familiar but then again, being a city-bred girl, most forests and mountains looked very similar to her eye.

She was so glad she was with Inuyasha.

Approaching a proper mountain, Inuyasha effortlessly scaled the slope in short leaps taking them both up in altitude. It wasn't until they broke through the shorter trees that Kagome got a good look at the plateau roughly half way up. The sparkling drop of turquoise crowning the rocky bluff was hard to forget. And sure enough, the narrow stream that the small pond tapered into flowing on downhill and the surrounding rock face was familiar indeed.

They've been here before!

This time Inuyasha didn't slow down when they reached the strip of even ground but instead continued onwards to the rocky slope at the back. Previously, Kagome remembered wanting to explore the expanse that was in shadow, and it turns out she wasn't wrong. As they neared, aided by the western exposure, her friend maneuvered them easily around a tall, narrow gap.

Suddenly, they were in a natural enclosure— not quite a cave, although the far back seemed to have an hollowed area that was shorter and extended deeper into the rock.

Kagome blinked a few times, letting her eyes adjust from the sunlight to the dimmer interior they'd just transitioned into. Looking up, she noticed how the slabs of rock stretched up to form a natural ceiling of sorts leaving a long, slender gap that opened up into the sky. It was very pretty, like a skylight for the place.

Feeling the way her friend shifted beneath her, she automatically slid down his back. Pins and needles shot up her legs and Kagome hopped from one foot to the other, shaking each limb to get rid of the numbness from the long period of immobility.

Without a word, Inuyasha left her near the entrance and continued further inside on his own. Kagome watched curiously as he shuffled around, stirring up the loose gravel on the ground and clearing some material she couldn't quite make out in the dim.

"—this stupid shit hole—had to bring her here of all places—"

Snippets of critiques filtered back to where she was standing as Inuyasha continued to stalk around. Observing his movements, Kagome suddenly realized he was trying to tidy up the place and it made her heart do a funny tumble.

Of all the things the two of them have to worry about after this disaster of a day, Inuyasha was focused on her comfort. What she could interpret of his body language screamed a sort of caged unrest. She couldn't even begin to imagine how he must feel after the injustice done to him in the village.

Her mouth fell open, trying to utter some sort of reassurance but upon finding no words, she simply closed it again.

Truthfully, the little cave wasn't bad as far as caves go—not that she's had much experience with them of course. It was surprisingly spacious and had natural light and ventilation. The air inside smelled a cool damp instead of musty. There didn't seem to be much in the way of debris or animal remains in here either.

Given it must've been almost half a year since she's arrived in this era, overcoming her squeamishness was simply key to her survival. There had definitely been a good share of inconveniences and gross things she'd had to get used to. And this shelter was far from anything offensive to her.

As her sight finally adjusted to the light levels, Kagome noticed at last that there were ledges of sorts in the rock walls lining the far back. They probably formed as the mineral crumbled off vaguely horizontal fault lines—with someone then helping the process along.

Kagome eyes widened further when she spied items on the ledge. It was a bit too far away to properly ascertain but she was pretty sure those were stacks of crude earthenware and tools.

Several muffled thumps drew her attention back to Inuyasha. He had finally deemed the area passable and plunked down the heavy bags he'd been carrying for them.

Kagome took it as an okay for her to approach and so she did. Taking his lead, she eased the bow and quiver from her shoulder.

Now that they're out in the middle of nowhere, she'd have to be extra careful with her limited means of self-defence. Making arrow shafts wasn't a simple task any random joe can pick up.

Precious cargo settled, she turned to observe Inuyasha carefully. He still seemed so irritated and she didn't know how to approach him.

He was now bustling about, one moment disappearing outside, and another stalking back in, as if taking measure of something or another.

"Umm, Inuyasha?" She interjected timidly. "I-is there anything I can help with?"

He grunted at her, not even bothering to verbalized his answer and waved her off with a casual gesture.

"Uhh, okay. Um, we didn't get to look around last time, who would've thought there's all this space tucked in behind." Kagome tried to start up conversation awkwardly.

"Ya weren't meant to look at this shitty place." He grounded out harshly, flashing golden eyes glaring anywhere but meeting her gaze.

"No, no, it's... nicely appointed!" She chirped, then winced at how high pitched she sounded. In trying to keep the residual negativity from bleeding into her voice, it seemed have only done the opposite of concealing her frazzled emotions from him. "There's lots of stuff stashed here. Do you come here often, Inuyasha."

He gave her a brief glance over his shoulder."Sometimes. It's high up, so it's safe."

Inuyasha didn't elaborate any further. And Kagome let the silence settle again, having given up on trying to engage him in strained conversation.

Instead, she got to work sorting through their packs before the last of the sunlight dwindled into evening.

Focusing on a task kept her grounded and distracted her from all the emotions warring inside her. There was time to absorb everything. Right now, they need to get sorted for the night.

Almost immediately after steeling her resolved, Kagome teared up upon seeing what was in the packs. It took everything in her to stop from straight up crying.

The bundle from her foster parents held her precious school uniform, extra sets of clothing and more textiles including a blanket. Obaa-san also threw in some every day items she might need, like the old spare pot, a small sewing kit, a lump of soap, dried goods and even a hastily wrapped portion of leftovers.

Kaede's parting gift was no less generous and though she must've have haphazardly thrown it together, the collection was also immensely thoughtful.

Not only had she basically given her what she had on their trip to Jinenji's village, she also included items Kagome herself wouldn't have thought to pack without premeditation. There were various small packets of medicinal herbs, some scrap pieces of parchment, bamboo water vessels, and even an assortment of spiritual implements, include shide.

How the small girl was able to run around and gather all these items in record time, even reaching Inuyasha before she left the village was beyond her.

Simply cataloguing the packs' contents told volumes of the care her foster parents and Kaede had for them.

Kagome sniffled discreetly, sneaking a look over her shoulder at Inuyasha to see if he noticed. Thankfully he didn't react.

Speaking of, the hanyou was crouched over a pile of kindling and branches he'd gathered. This latest task Inuyasha had also taken upon himself, refusing her help starting a fire for the night.

Once again, Kagome was genuinely impressed with how well-suited their new shelter was—she wasn't lying earlier! The way the natural opening allowed smoke to ventilate but the wrap around rock formations formed a near perfect circular barricade.

Kagome pulled her legs up to rest her head on her knees. In the flickering light of the young fire, Inuyasha's expression looked both angry and troubled.

His strong brow were pulled tensely down towards the bridge of his nose. Dark amber eyes were hard as he glowered at the fire.

Kagome could gather as much from the way he'd been acting since they arrived that he was upset and self-conscious about the fact he had to take her here.

Without him actually saying, she deduced that this cavern, with the nearby water source must be some sort of hideout for him. What she couldn't quite understand was why he was almost bracing for her to ridicule him or something.

It wasn't like they had any notice and she certainly wasn't expecting some glamping site with amenities in the middle of the wilderness. He'd taken them to a place he knew was safe and in all honestly, was equipped with all the basics.

When she'd demanded that Kikyou let them go, her heart and gut had jumped to the unquestionable course of action immediately. It wasn't like she paused to think much. And truth was, she was already so grateful that she was allowed time to pack, had lots of supplies and Inuyasha had a ready shelter for them.

She had been bracing for spending the night in a hollowed out tree stump or something.

Suddenly, his golden eyes snapped to hers—Kagome's stare probably got too intense while she was caught up in her thoughts.

He studied her unblinkingly for a long moment. His expression was curiously blank so she couldn't begin to guess his thoughts.

For some stupid bizarre reason, Kagome could feel a flush creep into her cheeks. Of all the inappropriate situations to start blushing?

All that attention from the hanyou was a little much. In the beginning, she found his tendency to do that quite startling, highlighting the fact that he wasn't all human—a fact that she forgot often. Apparently, now that she was used to him, she just found the intensity embarrassing?

Finally, he blinked and the words that came out of his mouth next sent her into another round of surprise.

"I'm sorry, Kagome."

All she managed was gape at him.

"W-wait, what?" She floundered after a couple of seconds "Why?"

He gestured aggressively with both arm. "This. Everything. It should've just been my shit to deal with."

"N-no! Of course not!"

He shook his head, almost dejectedly and got up. "Stay here. I'm going to take a quick look around to make sure we're alone."

Before she could even attempt to stop him, he rushed out in a hurry.

Kagome wasn't successful the remainder of the night either in getting Inuyasha to talk. He remained withdrawn and quiet.

Neither of them were very hungry after the day's events, but Kagome did manage to boil some water from the little lake outside, so they'd have drinking water for the morning.

Setting up her bedroll and blankets, she picked a section of the lower back part of the enclosure and designated it as the sleeping area.

It took a long time for her to settle. Rolling about this way and that didn't seem to help too much, since the ground beneath her was literal rock. Finally, she opted for curling up on her side, so she could see Inuyasha. He was sitting against one of the walls closer to the entrance, knees drawn up. His face was shadowed, making his expression even more shuttered.

They had a challenge facing them for sure. But tomorrow was a new day and between the two of them, Kagome was sure they'll figure out a new game plan.

What she did know with solid conviction was that she did not regret her decision to leave the village with Inuyasha today.

Not one bit.

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

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.