Kagome stared at Rin, frozen in shock. The realization dawned on her by slow degrees. How could she have forgotten? How could she have been so careless as to forget? “Sesshoumaru’s mother,” Kagome said slowly, “you’ve met her.” “Oh yes,” Rin said brightly. “The second time Sesshoumaru-sama rescued me from death, I beheld her.” Dreamily,

Kagome sat by the crackling hearth after breakfast. Shin rolled around beside her on an old quilt her grandmother had made, basking in the glowing warmth of the coals. On the tatami platform by the bed, Inuyasha was getting ready to depart on another extermination mission. He threaded Tessaiga through his sash and leapt down.

Extricating her old trusty yellow backpack, Kagome crammed it full to bulging for herself and Shin. She’d stuffed in all the essentials for a three-day’s trip and then some. Shin watched her silently from his crib all the while. He stood up as best he could while he supported himself on the rails. Glancing to

Knowing what to expect this time, Kagome barely felt disoriented at the stomach-flipping sensation she experienced when Sesshoumaru ferried them away to his demonic mountain keep. Her worries were for Shin. Would he be anxious? Would he be scared?  The moment her feet touched the ground on that sparkling, wind-swept slope, she looked to her

The inside of the mountain tower was much changed from the last time Kagome had visited. Crossing the enchanted threshold with Shin in arms, she gaped at what she beheld— It was a winter wonderland, and nothing short of magical. There were still the silvery tiered cliffs and the moon-shaped pool. But instead of velvety

On his youki cloud, Sesshoumaru spirited Kagome and Shin away to the snowy mountain valley far below the castle. The dinosaur-sized snowflakes had stopped falling for the moment. Bundled up with Shin in Sesshoumaru’s dense fur, Kagome barely felt the winter chill. The air here was brisk but still. It smelled faintly of pine and

Shin spent the rest of the afternoon zipping about the demonic countryside, phasing between forms so much that it threatened to give Kagome whiplash. Now and then, Sesshoumaru would share some anecdote of Shin’s with her that Kagome highly suspected had been paraphrased, or at least much had been lost in translation from beast-lingo to

Kagome paced back and forth in the lofty central alcove of the castle, unable to rest while her son was turned to stone. Every other second, her eyes would flick to Shin in the small bed of furs where Sesshoumaru had placed him. The faint thunk he’d made on impact had reminded Kagome disconcertingly of

When Shin continued to look grumpy, Kagome figured he was just hungry. Bouncing him on her hip, she went over to her yellow backpack, knelt down and rifled through it. She offered Shin some jarred applesauce on a spoon, at which he turned up his snub nose. She offered him some mashed carrots, some mashed

Kagome couldn’t deny she was itching to check out that heated pool at the center of the castle—’slumbering’ youkai presiding or not. Despite the cold weather, she’d gotten sweaty from the various trials of the day, and she wanted to wash up before dinner. No longer comatose from gorging himself on blood-plums, Shin was raring