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KURAMA: I can't believe you stole my underwear!

Not even after the Sephiroth costume thing?

KURAMA: I didn't notice they were gone until- never mind. Just give them back.

Yes, the black ones with the little roses on them.

KURAMA: Don't play coy; you'll never do it better than I can.

Did you wear them during the Dark Tournament?

KURAMA: Yes, not that it's any of your- what are you doing with that laptop?

I am adjusting my asking price.

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Maybe not a three-headed toad.

A chattering monkey, perhaps. Or a clumsy baboon.

There was no denying that Inuyasha had been right, though: Hojo did start to look uglier the longer he hung around.

Miroku glaced sideways at where Kagome's simian guest was hovering near Sango, either ignoring or too stupid to notice Kaede's irritated hints that he should get out of the way.

"I was away to tend the young son of one of the farmers in the upland, who had taken ill with fever," Kaede narrowed her one eye as she looked over Sango's injuries. "Though had I known what would befall in my absence, I would not have acted so kindly with the horse."

"It's nothing, Lady Kaede," said Sango. "Please, one of the others-"

"Don't be so modest, Miss Sango," Hojo chimed in. "You got knocked down."

The taijiya gave him a confused, slightly annoyed look.

Miroku grinned widely before he could catch himself.

I'm getting as bad as Inuyasha... he thought, quickly schooling his expression. /But even so... I know Kagome's time is less warlike, but surely there are accidents worse than these. /By the time Hojo turned around, Miroku was confident that only the shrewd Kaede had caught his lapse.

Kaede let go of Sango and stepped heavily toward the boy. Without warning or breaking stride, she reached out and took hold of his chin, turning his face one way and the other, "Look clever," she advised him. "I would hate to think of what power I saw today under a fool's direction."

Miroku managed not to say anything.

Hojo's eyes had gone very big, and he was looking sideways at Sango as if for reassurance. "I-" his voice was slurred by the old woman's tough fingers poking into his cheek, "I don't know, ma'am. I'm afraid it's never happened before."

Hojo flexed his jaw as Kaede let go of it to finger the talisman at his throat. Inuyasha had managed to stretch the cord, and it now hung a little lower on the outside of the boy's shirt. Miroku frowned as the stone glinted in Kaede's thick grip. There was a gleam inside it not wholly unlike the evil shining of a Shikon shard, but it was much subtler, much weaker, and it seemed almost... Miroku shook his head. Whatever secret that little clear pebble possessed, it wasn't going to reveal it to his unaided eyes.

"Why wear you this stone, child?"

Hojo seemed to lose a bit of his apprehension. "It was a gift from my grandmother, Lady Kaede," he said with finality. "She told me to wear it all the time, and a young man should always listen to his elders. I put it on then and there."

The old priestess blinked. "Did you not ask why she sought to give it to you?"

"No, ma'am," he told her brightly.

"Did you not ask what powers it held? How you were to unleash them or keep them bound?"

"No, ma'am."

Kaede's hand swept across her eyes for a moment. "Did you not wonder, boy, why she gave you such peculiar instruction?"

"Well," Hojo's gaze went to the ground and then returned to Kaede, "my grandmother always was a bit odd -she's a foreigner, you know- and once she started getting on in years, I think she got a bit..." Hojo bit his lip. "...odder."

Miroku looked from Hojo to Kaede and back. The young man wore what he supposed was his usual expression of vacant, cheerful, openness. Kaede's face was much harder to read. By his best guess, though, she found the echo in Hojo's skull to be a little unnerving.

"Odder," she repeated.

"Yes, ma'am. But she's my grandmother and she told me to wear it, and that's good enough for me," he finished.

"So you know not the name of this talisman?"

"No, ma'am."

"You know not by what manner it conjured the fireblast?"

"No, ma'am," he answered. "I'm really sorry about it, though, really! Inuyasha will come to soon, won't he? And the guy with the mule, did he get away alright?"

Kaede rubbed her eyes again. "If I were you, boy, it is not they over whom I would worry..."

"Lady Kaede," Miroku spoke up, "Inuyasha seemed to believe that Hojo's talisman is what permitted him to pass through the portal between the two realms," he neatly omitted his own involvement in said belief - no sense in complicating the issue. "The fireblast occurred when he attempted to pull the object from Hojo's neck, in the hopes of giving him a safe and swift return home"

Sango made an unladylike sound.

Miroku scowled. "Well it did."

Kaede frowned thoughtfully, giving the innocently gleaming stone another glance.

"We shall speak more on this matter when Inuyasha awakes," she said at last. "Though, as I returned, it was a far different bit of news that filled my mind."

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Wood chips. Something in here smelled like charred wood chips, the kind the women used for cooking.

He wrinkled his nose. Something else smelled like a burnt-

Oh fuck...

-dog.

Inuyasha stifled a groan as he remembered the events of the past five minutes. Or had-? He opened his eyes to the dim interior of Kaede's house. The sunlight was coming through the window at a slant. How long had he been out? He was lying on his stomach on some sort of pallet, and beside him-

He inhaled, feeling a smile in his brain. That stunted scrub of a human might have gotten Kagome's attention, but he'd never have the last imprint of her scent, never know her without looking up.

"You're awake," she said gently. He twisted until he could see her legs folded into a kneeling position by his shoulder. "I was worried." She laid a soft hand on his back.

I know.

I saw you jump in front of me.

I was scared.

I worry about you every time you leave my sight.

"Keh!" he answered.

Kagome pulled her hand away.

Inuyasha drew his arms underneath his chest. "It takes more than some light show to hurt me!"

There was a pause.

"Your ears didn't get singed, did they?" she asked as he tried to push himself straight.

Inuyasha flicked them experimentally. "I don't think so. Why?"

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"OwOwOwOwOw! Cut it out you BITCH!!"

Kaede paused at her task of knotting a bandage on Miroku's forearm.

Shippo looked up from where he'd been playing on the ground outside the hut.

"He's awake."

"Hm," observed Miroku.

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"Watch the ears! Watch the ears!"

"What did you think you were doing?" Kagome hissed into the furry wedge that she was twisting hard between her fingers. "I thought we had a deal."

"We do have a deal!"

"Why did you attack Hojo?"

"I didn't." Inuyasha made what sounded almost like a dog's whine in the back of his throat, muffled against the cloth. "You said you wanted him safe back in his own time. Miroku said that that thing around his neck might be why he couldn't get back through the well -/ow!/- you can ask him."

Kagome went still for a moment.

Inuyasha did have an unpleasant habit of ripping things off people's necks for what he thought was their own good...

"I believe you, Inuyasha," she said at last. "I'm sorry I jumped to a conclusion like that, but the way you rushed up to Hojo, you really gave us all a scare."

"If you believe me then let go of my fucking ears!!"

"Oh!" Kagome released her grip. "I'm sorry, Inuyasha, I-"

The dog demon let out a stunted moan as he lifted his head off the pallet, pressing his tormented ears back against his skull. He opened his eyes and fixed her with a glare.

Kagome swallowed, blushing in embarrassment and leaned forward to gently rub the abused skin.

Inuyasha let out a squeak. "Kagome-?"

"Am I making it worse?" Kagome asked carefully. It was dim in here, but ...had Inuyasha's cheeks gone pink?

"No, but..."

Inuyasha's eyes rolled back in his head and he dropped down on the pallet.

Kagome bit her bottom lip, still stroking lightly at his quivering ears. I really twisted those things hard, didn't I? They must hurt like-

Inuyasha interrupted her thought by twisting over onto his back. Before Kagome's now-twice-as-open eyes, he lifted his shoulders and slid his head onto her knees.

Kagome pulled her hands back.

"Um ... Inuyasha?"

"Hm?" he asked without opening his eyes.

...actually it was more of that dog-whine noise again, only this time it sounded much less unhappy. Both ears flicked.

Okay... /Kagome thought tentatively, /it's not like this is the first time I've been like this with Inuyasha... She shook her head. But the other time, he'd been wounded and pumped full of spider poison and/ then /he'd asked first!

Kagome bit her lip, and just barely stroked a finger down the soft fur.

Inuyasha arched his neck, snuggling deeper into her lap, almost like Buyo did when he wanted his tummy rubbed. ...but the cat had never managed anything like - there was no other word for it - like that doofy smile.

Kagome didn't know whether to be amazed or embarrassed. The expression on the Inuyasha's face as he got his ears scratched was so far off from his usual cocky smirk that she had to wonder if he'd finally gotten some kind of head trauma.

She worked her way down to rub at where each ear joined his skull. He made a tiny noise and one foot gave a twitch.

"Inuyasha, can you even hear me?"

He turned his head toward the sound of her voice, but didn't look up.

This is freaky. I should totally stop. This is probably why he doesn't like anyone to touch his ears in the first place.

Kagome knew that Inuyasha trusted her at least a little, but seeing him let his guard this far down had left her dumbfounded. Inuyasha resembled nothing so much as a happy puppy, and while it was kind of cute - okay, so it was extremely cute - there was no question that the proud dog demon would be humiliated if anyone should ever-

"What are you doing, Higurashi-san?"

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KURAMA: You've put my shorts on eBay?!

Mine weren't selling.

KURAMA: Have you no shame?

Shame? Everyone knows my underwear is clean.