Kagome and Shin returned home. The first thing her eyes fell upon when she entered the hut was the laundry basket, which was heaped to overflowing. As usual, she’d pushed this loathsome chore to the limit. If she waited until tomorrow to do her laundry with Sango, Inuyasha would have something to say about it, no question. 

Dismally, Kagome sighed. Either she could attend to it now, or suffer the consequences. From the carrier sling, Shin peeped up at her, as if in question. Looking back down at him, Kagome considered. He was already holstered and ready to go, and the laundry situation was pressing. Then again, it was getting late in the day. She had no one to accompany her unless she could enlist Rin or another one of the village women to the task. With the hour being what it was, this seemed unlikely.

Kagome sighed again, stamping her foot. “Enough of this, enough. Here or there, what difference does it make? I can’t keep doing this. I can’t keep hiding from Sesshoumaru forever. Odds are I won’t even run into him. And even if I do, am I such an animal that I can’t control myself around him?” Shin wriggled, cooing, as she stopped twiddling her wedding band and hugged her arms around him instead. “No. No, I resisted him before, back in that cave. I can do it again.” Firmly, she added to herself, “Get a grip already, Kagome. Stop being so silly and paranoid, and get on with your life.”

Nodding in determination, she rifled through the dirty laundry, fishing out what was absolutely necessary to wash today. She’d knock these out, she decided, then tackle the rest with Sango tomorrow. Happy with this plan, Kagome set off for the river.

Settling Shin down on a blanket in the shade of a tree nearby, Kagome began to wash and soap the clothes. She was perhaps halfway done when she happened to glance back, and saw with a start that he’d transformed into his beastly other-self. Pushing at the damp, rolled-up sleeves of her kimono, Kagome watched him from the shallows. He gamboled about on the river bank, snapping at the yellow butterflies his sizzling youki didn’t send wilting toward the grass. Pouncing at last on a particularly deft one, he spit its chalky corpse out with a toss of the head and turned his red gaze toward her, wagging his tail. Kagome smiled at him.

For longer than she’d seen so far, Shin maintained his inuyoukai form, sniffing and digging and prowling about. He certainly seemed more adept in this state of being. But how much more so was unclear. Though he moved quickly and forcefully, there was something decidedly graceless about his movements, as though his coordination still left much to be desired. Back on the hunt for butterflies again, he snapped up a few more under her watchful eye, before a sparrow happened to dart past him.

Kagome saw his searing red eyes snap to it, saw the youki gathering under his hind legs as he coiled to spring. Her stomach sank. Her blood ran cold as she cried out, “Shin, no!”

But he was already launching himself after the sparrow. His fangs snapped its tail feathers clean off before his mustered youki gave out. He fell like a stone over the steep embankment, plummeting with a splash into the rushing river below.

Kagome screamed as the white-edged current whisked him away like so much furry chaff, sending him tumbling head over heels. Sloshing to shore, she sprinted after him. 

“Shin! Shin! Oh gods…no!”

Shin surfaced, spitting, straining against the waters that hurtled him along at breakneck pace. Kagome stumbled over the grassy rocks as she chased after him, sobbing and screaming. The distance between them widened. The rapids grew fiercer. She could see him tiring, feel the exhaustion in his waning youki. But she couldn’t reach him. The river was too broad, too swift—

And it ended in a raging fall.

As the mouth of the gorge loomed before Shin’s fading form, Kagome cried out in despair. Would he be dashed to pieces, would he drown? Images of blinding terror flashed before her eyes—so terrible and all-consuming that she didn’t notice at first the pale specter that swooped into her field of view, plucking Shin’s thrashing, beastly bulk from the river with perfect ease.

On the bank ahead of her, Sesshoumaru alighted with Shin in hand. Kagome staggered toward them, breathless. Sesshoumaru held Shin aloft by the scruff like an oversized, errant pup. Shin’s huge taloned paws curled inward. His plumed tail hung dripping and listless to the grass. It would have been a comical sight if Kagome wasn’t still half-crazed with terror.

Shin shivered, whimpering, as Sesshoumaru lowered him to the ground. Sinking to her knees before her quailing son, Kagome threw her arms around his shaggy neck. It was the first time she’d held him in this form. The sensation was overwhelming as she curled her fingers into his dense, damp fur and wept.

After only a moment it seemed, Shin recoiled from her. Tail between the legs, he shook himself dry and slunk off toward the shadow of the trees. Kagome rose after him in concern. She was deliberating whether to cast a barrier around him before he got out of range, when Sesshoumaru’s voice cut through her mounting anxiety—

“Leave him be.”

Worrying at her lower lip, she turned to him. “Something’s wrong with him.”

“He isn’t hurt,” Sesshoumaru said, glancing after Shin’s retreating form. “Just ashamed.”

Still feeling distressed, Kagome said, “I don’t like him wandering out of sight. I should have been watching him better. I shouldn’t have let him play so close to the river’s edge.” Her voice broke as she clasped her hand to her lips. “I—I’m a terrible mother.”

“You are only human,” Sesshoumaru said pointedly. “He isn’t.”

“That doesn’t reassure me much,” she muttered, swiping at her eyes.

“Among my kind, it is not uncommon for females to devour their young.”

Kagome grimaced. “Okay, by that standard, maybe I’m doing all right.” Sheepishly, she looked to him. “Thank you,” she said quietly, “for saving him.”

Sesshoumaru’s eyes glinted. “What sort of monster wouldn’t?”

Kagome flushed, glancing away. By now Shin’s form had melted from her view entirely. She had to strain her senses even to detect him.

“Are you sure he’s all right on his own out there? He’s only a baby…”

“He won’t stray far. His instincts compel him to remain with the pack. Besides,” Sesshoumaru added dryly, “he cannot fly yet.”

Kagome’s eyes widened. “He really will be a full-fledged inuyoukai one day, won’t he?” She looked back toward the shadowed woods again. “In this form, he resembles you. The ears and stripes are a bit different, though. And the color of the crescent-mark—was your father’s mark red like that too?”

Sesshoumaru’s brow furrowed. “My father?”

“Yeah,” Kagome said, faltering. “Inuyasha said—”

Sesshoumaru’s sudden bark of laughter cut her off. Before Kagome could ask what was so funny, Shin came bounding into sight through the trees. Something limp and bloody dangled from his jaws. He padded straight toward her, dropping the mangled squirrel carcass at her feet. Sitting back on his haunches, he peered up at her.

A bit queasily, Kagome turned to Sesshoumaru. “He doesn’t expect me to eat that, does he?”

“No,” Sesshoumaru said, “he just wants to impress you.”

Relieved, she looked to Shin as he breezed back into his tottering human form. His blue eyes were still upturned toward her. Kagome reached down to ruffle his raven hair.

“Good catch, baby,” she praised him.

---

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi

Revised 9/22/23

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