For the second time, Kagome ran her hand along the rough edge of the submerged stone. Wincing, she turned her dripping palm face-up, watching as the angry red scrape in the center smoothed and faded before her eyes. An anxious frown weighed at her lips. She’d suspected it earlier that day, but now there was

Kagome’s face was still burning with indignation as she burst through the trees at the edge of the village, like the devil himself was at her heels. Furiously, she stalked her way toward the square. Swiping her sweaty bangs aside, she paused at the well to get a drink. Her hands shook with suppressed anger

“Kagome—you still in bed?” Before she could respond, Inuyasha burst through the door of their home, a pile of parcels from the Modern Era balanced in his arms. She winced as the afternoon sunlight slanted full across her face. Her hand rose belatedly to shield her eyes from the glare. With an unmistakable spring in

Alone in her home, Kagome stared up at the close, dark ceiling in paralytic numbness—unable to move, unable to sleep. As the air began to lighten, her lashes fluttered, her fingers twitched. Thawing slowly from her frozen state, she rose and wandered from the hut. Dawn had not yet broken. Still dressed in her sleeping

And now she could see it reflected in his eyes— Six years of want, six years of waiting. Six years of restraint and careful calculation dissolved in that one unguarded moment, that one unvarnished glance of pure and unadulterated longing. Kagome’s features crumpled in despair. “Sesshoumaru…” He tightened his hold on her ankle. The tips

As her home came into sight through the trees, Kagome drew to a stop alongside Sesshoumaru. The sleepy haze of morning had been scorched away by the noonday sun. Gilded, the village burned her eyes as she gazed upon it. An indescribable heaviness settled in the pit of her stomach. Her clammy hand twitched in

As summer neared its end, Kagome felt the changes of the season settle in her bones. The air was cooling. The days were growing shorter. Slowly, steadily, the world around her was losing its luster, and she was dimming along with it. Time had taken the raw edge off her symptoms. While she was grateful

“Kagome!” Her eyes flew open. Sesshoumaru’s hand fell from her face as she turned with him toward the village. In a few blurring red bounds, Inuyasha landed before them. Crossing his arms over his chest, he scowled habitually at his elder brother before leveling his sharp amber gaze on Kagome. “What’s going on? You said

The next morning, Kagome rose with renewed energy. Scarcely able to contain her enthusiasm, she hastened to get herself and Inuyasha fed and ready and out of doors—despite her husband’s excessive grumbling. Even the baby’s aura seemed to reflect her excitement. The glow in her belly was as incandescent as the one that lit her

For more than a week, Kagome languished on, merely existing in the wake of Sesshoumaru’s bitter departure from Edo village. His absence was glaring, all-consuming. The last words he’d spoken seemed to hang in the air around her, haunting her wherever she went. In this haze of guilt and exhaustion, her days and nights ran