Taking a short break from writing for myself to writing for others, since I've seen a couple of people asking for post-series stories that follow the format and feel of the original series. For that purpose, I offer this, a one-shot adventure just like the good old days.

Objects of Affection

It was a day like any other. The villagers were tending the fields, Kaede was making house calls to the sick and injured, and someone somewhere was having a youkai problem. A typical day.

"It's awful, simply awful!" the young woman sobbed outside the hut door. "I was able to escape, but I know not what happened to the others. A man on the road told me of youkai exterminators residing in this village, but..."

Kagome rested a reassuring hand on the woman's shoulder. "Don't worry. I'm sure Inuyasha and Miroku-sama will be able to help you. They're veterans at this by now."

Miroku puffed out his chest and gave a confident laugh. "Ha ha ha, Kagome-sama, your praise is too much." Gleaming brilliantly, he pointed to the woman and exclaimed, "Indeed, for a nominal fee, we vanquish vermin, mutilate monsters, and corral creatures." He sounded like he should be in some kind of pest extermination ad.

The woman looked hesitantly hopeful. "I would be grateful if you could, but... I carry nothing of value to use as payment."

Miroku dramatically laid the back of his hand against his forehead and threw his head back. "But alas! As you can see, I have three small children and a demanding wife to feed! I can't make a habit of working for free!"

"Houshi-sama, we already have plenty from those other villages you overcharged," Sango called from inside the house.

Kagome shrugged. "Well, if Miroku-sama won't work for free, then I'd be happy to go. I haven't gone on a youkai extermination trip in a while."

At this, Inuyasha's ears perked up. "D... don't agree to something like this so easily! You were stuck in that weird world of yours for three years, so you're way out of practice!"

Kagome put her hands on her hips. "So you're saying you don't think I can handle it?"

"I'm sayin' I'll go with you. You got a problem with that?"

"N... no," she replied, her stance relaxing.

The woven tarp over the door was pushed away, and Sango stepped out, dressed in her pink and black taijiya armor. "And if Houshi-sama is unwilling to take this job, I take it that means he's offering to stay home and look after the children while I go. Right?" she said, flashing him a coy smile.

Miroku went pale. "S... Sango, you can't be serious! What if the baby gets hungry?!"

"Shida-san is nursing as well, and she was happy to help with the girls when Kohaku and I went to visit our village to pay our respects every year." She gave him a pat on the arm. "I'm sure you can handle it."

"B... but...!" Miroku looked around frantically, then ran to the requesting woman and held her hands in a familiar fashion. "Young lady, it turns out there is a method of payment I would accept. Would you please..." Sango shot him a glare. "... watch my children?!"

"... Eh?!" Before she knew what happened, the young woman was left by herself in front of the house, while Inuyasha, Kagome, Miroku, and Sango headed out of the village.

"Thanks a bunch!" Miroku called back, waving. "Talk to Rin or Kaede-sama if you have any questions! Bye!"

Kagome took in a breath of air and let it out with a smile as the four of them walked down the road. "Aahhh... How long has it been since we all went out traveling together?"

"Not since Naraku was defeated," Sango surmised. "Although, Shippou-chan is still out training, and Kohaku took Kirara. Still... this all feels so nostalgic."

Kagome laughed. "You seemed just as eager to get out. I kind of figured you'd need a break from being a housewife at some point."

"Kagome-sama, I'm hurt at the implication that raising our children is a tedious task," Miroku complained.

"Says the man who would rather leave them in the care of a total stranger than look after them himself," Sango shot back.

Miroku ran in front of her. "Is that what you think? I merely wished to accompany you! As you said, it has been a long time since we were all together, and I wanted to be able to participate!"

"H... Houshi-sama..." Sango blushed. But she still turned her nose up and reprimaned, "But that still doesn't excuse leaving the children in questionable hands! Even if Kaede-sama and Rin-chan are there..."

"Don't worry, I'm sure everything will be fine," he assured unconvincingly.

Meanwhile...

"Slay!"

"Slaaaay!"

The requester woman sobbed into her hands as the twin three-year-olds relentlessly ran in circles around her, each holding the end of a piece of rope which was becoming ever more firmly bound around her. "I'd almost rather face the youkai..."

Rin pulled back the door tarp and observed the scene. "Huh? Where are Sango-sama and Houshi-sama?" she wondered calmly.

"They left to go slay a youkai and asked me to watch their children," the women cried.

"Oh, okay," said Rin, and let the tarp fall back down.

The woman fell on her side and crawled after Rin like a caterpillar. "W... waaaait! Don't leave me with them! Please, can't you find help?!"

Rin perked up and pulled a small wooden whistle out of her collar. "Whenever I need help, I just blow this and he'll surely come!" She blew into the whistle, but no sound was heard.

Inuyasha flinched and probed his finger into his ear in annoyance. "Aaagh, what was that horrible high-pitched sound just now?"

"I didn't hear anything," Kagome said, tilting her head. She then turned back ahead of them and pointed down the hill, "Ah, there it is! That must be the village that woman was talking about."

The four of them descended the hill onto the village's main street. The wind rustled fabric and hanging signs, but there was no trace of human activity. By all appearances, the village had been completely abandoned.

"Something's not right," observed Inuyasha, seemingly stating the obvious. But on further clarification, he explained, "There's still fresh scents of humans here, but none leading out of the village except for that woman's. It's like the rest of the villagers just... disappeared."

"Were they devoured by the youkai?" Sango wondered.

"Maybe... I don't smell any blood, though," he replied. "Or a youkai, for that matter."

"Heeeelllpp~" came a soft, plaintive cry from one of the huts.

"Ah, there's someone still here!" Kagome exclaimed, running into the house. However, when she examined the interior, she found it to be empty. "Hello?" she queried.

"Heeelllpp~" came the cry again. It was definitely coming from inside this house, but where...?

Kagome followed the source of the sound, and came upon a wooden bucket tucked in the corner. She looked into the bucket, but found it to be similarly empty. "Um, are you in this bucket?" she wondered.

"I am the bucket," the voice said forlornly.

Miroku leaned over to give the bucket a better look. "Hoooohh... would you happen to be a tsukumogami?"

"No!" shouted the bucket angrily, rocking back and forth. "My name is Tsurube! This is just the bucket I use to draw water from the well every day!"

"Hmm," said Miroku, standing back up. "It would appear that, unlike a tsukumogami - an object that gains its own soul after being used for a long time - something has affixed a human's soul to an object instead."

"That means it's likely the same thing happened to the other villagers," Sango concluded.

Miroku nodded. "Kagome-sama, bring that bucket, and we shall see if we can locate any other object-bound villagers."

"I'm Tsurube, not a bucket!"

The four of them rushed back outside, then split up to search for other villagers. As Kagome examined other inanimate objects, she questioned the bucket, "Tsurube-san, do you know what did this to you?"

"I don't know!" it replied in annoyance. "I was just sitting around, minding my own business, and the next minute I'm on the floor feeling wooden and damp. I don't care what it was, I just don't want to be a bucket anymore."

"Ah, Tsurube, is that you?" came a voice from a comb sitting on a windowsill.

"Kushi! What happened to you?!" cried the bucket.

Kagome looked back and forth between them with a flat expression. "Um... with those names, are you sure you haven't just always been objects?"

"Quiet!" they shouted in unison.

Meanwhile, Inuyasha was out in the field examining farming implements. Looking at one, he greeted, "What's up, hoe?"

"How rude!"

After some time, the four of them re-convened within the village to compare their findings.

"I found an umbrella and a walking cane," Sango announced.

"My findings include a sake flask and a straw mantle," Miroku added.

"I found a hoe," said Inuyasha.

"Inuyasha, SIT!" Kagome sputtered. Inuyasha slammed into the ground with a yelp as Kagome stood over him, reprimanding, "You mean you found a lady."

"Nggh... no, actually, I think it was a guy..." he mumbled from the dirt.

Miroku rubbed his chin. "Still, it's all very strange. All signs point to the work of a youkai, however there has been no trace of such a thing anywhere in the village. Perhaps it has already moved on."

"It seems unlikely," Sango replied. "From my experience with youkai, they do things with a purpose. There would be no reason to turn an entire village into objects and just leave them there. There must be some greater reason for it that we're missing."

Kagome thought. "Hmm... there was a movie like this back in my world."

"Moo-vee?" repeated Inuyasha.

"Yes. Like a play," she explained. "It was about a prince who was so selfish that a sorceress transformed him into a beast and everyone in his castle into objects. They were able to turn human again once the prince learned to love."

"So you're suggesting that this is perhaps some form of punishment?" Miroku surmised.

"Maybe... it would explain why everyone was transformed and just left that way." Holding up the bucket, Kagome wondered, "Tsurube-san, do you know of anyone who would be angry at this village?"

Before the bucket could answer, a whirlwind erupted at the center of the village. The objects that everyone had been holding were pulled from their hands as if drawn away by a powerful magnetic force. The four of them ran towards the source of the wind, and saw countless objects from the village caught up in the vortex. The objects clumped together, slowly taking on a vaguely humanoid shape.

The whirlwind dissipated and blew outward, leaving some strange creation in its wake. It was tall and stout, wearing an umbrella for a hat and a straw mantle draped over its shoulders. Its body was lumpy and covered in twisted cloth, with various implements hanging from its waist. The place where its face should be was mostly shrouded by a scarf, a pair of dull points of light showing through the darkness above it. It wobbled on one leg made of a walking stick and the other of a hoe, its entire body sounding like a clattering bag of cookware as it moved.

Inuyasha growledd and drew Tessaiga. "So you're the youkai behind this, huh? No wonder I couldn't smell you. You're just made of junk!"

A low rumble emanated from the creature before them as it turned slowly to face Inuyasha. Miroku reached into his collar for one of his sutras. "I'm sensing a dark aura starting to build," he said lowly. "Inuyasha, don't antagonize it."

"How do you antagonize a pile of trash? It's already trash!" he shot back.

The creature inhaled with a sound like air rushing through a metal grate. With a low, metallic voice, it rasped, "If all you see is mere refuse when you look upon me, then you are no different."

"It spoke!" Sango exclaimed.

"I see... The villagers' souls have been transferred into these objects, and it uses those objects to power its body," observed Miroku. "Inuyasha, Sango, don't attack it. Not until we've freed the villagers from its body."

"Can you do that?" Kagome wondered hopefully.

"I can certainly hope so!" he replied, flinging a handful of paper sutras at the creature. The excorcism spells affixed themselves to its cluttered body, and it shook with a clatter and a groan. However, after some straining, the creature let out a metallic roar and the slips fell from its body in tatters.

Inuyasha blew air through his teeth. "Keh. Well, if you can't exorcise it, the next best thing is to cut every piece of junk off its body one by one!" Raising his sword, he shouted, "Sorry, buddy, but I'm takin' your hoe!"

The creature's eyes flashed. "You who shows such disrespect should learn your place. I banish you to the very existence you hold in such contempt. Begone!"

There was a bright beam of light, and the others shielded their eyes. When the light subsided, Inuyasha was nowhere to be seen; Tessaiga lay discarded on the ground as a rusty blade.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted in a panic. "What did you do to him?!"

"I merely gave him a more appropriate form," the creature replied.

Tessaiga suddenly stood upright of its own accord and bounced angrily. "Dammit, what the hell is this?!" it shouted in Inuyasha's voice. It flailed fruitlessly in the air before clattering back to the ground.

Kagome ran over to it and hesitantly touched the hilt. "Inuyasha, is... is that you?"

"Keh! What's it look like?!" It was him.

Angrily, Kagome shouted to the creature, "Why would you do that to him?!"

"I am Gugenbou, the avatar of tools," it replied. "Those who take the tools in their lives for granted shall be doomed to live out their lives as one, as punishment for their lack of respect."

"Gugenbou..." Miroku repeated. "Certainly, tools have their place in our lives, but humans shouldn't place equal value on them as they do other people. For example, no tool could ever match the appeal of a lovely lady..."

There was a flash of light, and Miroku was gone, his staff clattering to the ground. Sango looked flatly at where he'd been standing and muttered, "I thought you said not to antagonize it."

"Now who would ever think that speaking of lovely ladies would antagonize anyone?" the staff reasoned.

Sango turned back to Gugenbou and held Hiraikotsu in front of her defensively. "In any case, we can't let it turn us all into tools. Its power seems to be tied to the light coming from its eyes, so..." She reached under her shoulder armor and threw a handful of black balls at the tool creature. "Blinding venom!"

The balls hit the creature in the face and exploded into black ooze, coating the cloth wrapped around its head and obscuring the lights that formed its eyes. Gugenbou stumbled backwards with a rusty groan, and Kagome pumped her fist and cheered, "Good thinking, Sango-chan! No wonder you're a youkai-slaying expert!"

Gugenbou slowly righted itself, the black ooze evaporating off its face. "An admirable attempt. However, I am neither man nor beast. Venom has no effect on me." Its eyes glowed back to life, and Sango barely had time to raise Hiraikotsu in front of her before they flashed again.

Rin stood at the edge of the village, counting on her fingers. "Three... two... one..."

There was a gust of wind, and a figure in flowing white lightly descended from the air before her. "Sesshoumaru-sama!" she exclaimed excitedly. "We have a big problem!"

"What is it?" he wondered boredly.

The twins came running from behind her and latched onto Sesshoumaru's pelt. "Fluffyyyy!" they babbled in unison.

Jaken leapt from his own perch atop the pelt and attempted to pry them off with his staff. "You whelps! How dare you be so forward with Sesshoumaru-sama! Any who touch him without permission will meet a cruel end!"

His threat seemed to have worked, at least partially, as the girls detached from the pelt and piled on top of Jaken instead.

"Kappa!"

"Slay!"

"You brats! I am not a kappa!" he shouted, writhing.

Sesshoumaru glanced down at the pile of small people and observed, "I see your problem. Jaken," he commanded.

"Rraarrghh... Ah... Yes, sir?"

"Take care of it." And with that, Sesshoumaru turned and flew away.

"WHAAAAAT?!"

Rin ran after him a few steps, waving happily. "Thank you, Sesshoumaru-sama!"

The glow from Gugenbou's attack faded. Kagome quickly lowered her arm from shielding her eyes and looked towards Hiraikotsu, shouting, "Sango-chan!" Hiraikotsu was still there...

And, unexpectedly, so was Sango, her eyes still squeezed shut in anticipation. Gugenbou took a step back and made a creak of surprise. "I... impossible! Your tool protected you?!"

Sango opened her eyes and looked up at her giant boomerang in astonishment. "Hiraikotsu did...?"

Gugenbou shuddered, and Tsurube the bucket fell out of the tangle of fabric that held together its torso. "Ow..." the bucket whined as it hit the ground.

With a low metallic grunt, Gugenbou threatened, "It is no matter. Come sundown, these villagers will become permanently bound to these forms. However, unlike most tools that are easily discarded and unappreciated, they will be welcomed as pieces of my body and will never go unused. They should consider what I have given them a blessing."

Steam poured out from its face, concealing it in a shroud of mist. Sango and Kagome ran forward, but when they passed through the mist, Gugenbou was gone.

"Get back here, you bastard!" shouted Tessaiga from the ground.

"Ah, but if I become permanently bound to this form then... how will I stroke Sango's lovely bottom? How will I ask her to bear more of my children? ... How will I even have children?!" That last prospect made Miroku's staff quake with fear, to which Sango picked it up and gave it as much of a comforting pat as one could give a staff.

Kagome picked up Tessaiga and firmly assured it, "Don't worry, Inuyasha, I promise I'll find some way to change you back."

The sword felt like it warmed a little in her hand, before it shook and sputtered, "W... well you'd better! When I said that me and Tessaiga were of one mind and body, I didn't mean it like this!"

Sango rubbed her chin in distracted thought, wondering, "Still, how was it that Hiraikotsu defended me when even Tessaiga couldn't protect Inuyasha? Hiraikotsu was renewed with the ability to break through evil auras, but it doesn't seem like that would- Oh!"

"What is it, Sango-chan?" Kagome asked.

"Gugenbou's primary grievance is that tools get taken for granted. It's possible that Hiraikotsu was immune to Gugenbou's power because I went through a gruelling trial for the express purpose of restoring it." She wrapped her arms around her giant boomerang and whispered, "Thank you, Hiraikotsu. You have always been appreciated."

"Keh! I've been through way worse than that for Tessaiga's sake, but I still got transformed!" Tessaiga complained.

"Isn't that because you were being a jerk about it?" Kagome reasoned. But she wasn't particularly confident about that, as her eyes fell to the ground and she said softly to herself, "But if that's the case, then I'm just lucky that Gugenbou never got to me... I'm the one most deserving of its ire..."

"I see..." Miroku's staff pondered. "It's true that I have never given this staff any special thought the way the rest of you have your weapons. Which is a shame, as this staff belonged to my late father. He passed it on to me the day he died... It's really my only tangible memory of him that I have left. And yet I've never treated it as such..."

The staff gave a small jangle, then confessed, "I am so sorry, staff of my father's. You are a precious heirloom, and I should have given you more appreciation."

A glow erupted from the staff, and the others shielded their eyes. When it faded, there stood Miroku, staff in hand.

And Sango's hand clutching his bottom, from where she had been holding the staff before. "Oh my, Sango, aren't we getting a little personal here?" Sango quickly removed her hand and turned away with a deep blush, while Miroku looked wistfully at his staff and whispered, "Thank you..."

Kagome clapped her hands. "Miroku-sama, you're back! Then that's it! To break Gugenbou's spell, you have to show appreciation for the tool you were bound to!" Holding up Tessaiga, she instructed it, "Okay, Inuyasha, you were just talking about how much you went through for Tessaiga, so give it some appreciation and you'll be back to your old self!"

"D... do I have to?!" it complained. With a bit of a grumble, it muttered, "Well... it fights good... and has a lot of good attacks... and it's helped me defeat all sorts of enemies. So yeah. Tessaiga's really great!" Nothing happened.

"Come on, Inuyasha, you have to be more sincere than that."

"Hey, I don't do this gushy stuff, okay?!" If Tessaiga had a face, it would be pouting right now.

"Um, I'm still a bucket over here..." complained Tsurube from the ground.

"And do you have anything nice to say about your bucket?" Sango wondered. "You did say you used it to fetch water every day, so there must be something special about it."

"Other than being the only bucket I've got?" it replied. "I mean, it's a decent enough bucket and all. No holes. Has lasted me a good couple of years now. So, yeah, I'm grateful I've got this bucket, but that doesn't mean I wanna be one."

There was a glow, and suddenly there stood a skinny man with a bucket on his head. "Aw, man, am I still a bucket?" He took the bucket off his head and looked around. "All right, I'm not! Thanks, bucket!" He gave it a little hug, then grew dead serious and announced, "But, seriously, I don't wanna be a bucket. You're on your own against that monster." And with that, he ran off.

"Oh, come on!" whined Tessaiga. "I was way more sincere than that guy, and he still got to change back!"

"You also expect way more of Tessaiga than just carrying water," Kagome reasoned.

Miroku stepped forward. "We don't have time for experimentation. Gugenbou threatened that the transformation will become permanent at sunset, and it still has the rest of the villagers held hostage within its body."

"Inuyasha, now that you know what Gugenbou smells like, can you track it?" Kagome asked Tessaiga.

"If you haven't noticed, I don't exactly have a nose right now!" Tessaiga shot back. You don't have a mouth, either, but that hasn't been stopping you from complaining, Kagome thought to herself.

Kagome lowered Tessaiga and thought. "I think... I may know how to lure it back. Gugenbou is transforming people into tools as punishment for taking them for granted, right?"

"Yes..." Sango confirmed hesitantly. "But what do you plan to..."

Stepping forward, Kagome shouted into the air, "Gugenbou! If you're after people who didn't appreciate a tool as much as they should, then I'm the one you want!" Squeezing Tessaiga, she lowered her voice slightly and confessed, "The bow from Mount Azusa... I had to go through such painful ordeals just to get it... It was the bow that allowed Kikyou to be saved, the bow that pierced the Shikon no Tama, the bow that followed me into the blackness of the Meidou and accompanied me home... And I just left it there! Even when I went home prior to the well being sealed, I'd just leave it behind and Inuyasha would have to bring it to me and remind me to keep it..." Turning her head back to the sky with a shout, she confessed, "I never took care of that bow the way I should have!"

A cloud of steam erupted before them, and the bulky, cluttered form of Gugenbou appeared from the mist. Looking down at Kagome with the two dull points of light behind the cloth that wrapped its face, it intoned, "So you accept your punishment?"

"Only if you release the other villagers first," Kagome demanded, glaring back up at it to meet its gaze.

It made a scraping sound that sounded almost like a chuckle. "What makes you think that your sins somehow erase those of the others? You shall all spend eternity as unloved objects!"

There was a flash and Miroku and Sango shieled their eyes. "Kagome!" Tessaiga shouted as it fell from her grasp. "You idiot, sacrificing yourself to that thing won't do anyone any good!"

But when the light faded, Kagome was still there. In fact, she wasn't the only one there now. Clutched firmly in her hand was a bow that she hadn't been carrying a moment before.

Opening her eyes in astonishment, Kagome exclaimed, "The bow from Mount Azusa! But how...?!"

Gugenbou stumbled back and groaned again. "C... curse you!" Its body began to shudder as more pieces fell off of it.

"Kagome-sama, we can't let it escape this time!" Miroku shouted. "My apologies, good citizens, but the staff of my father has never been the gentle sort." He rushed forward and swung his staff at Gugenbou, catching it in the side and knocking it over.

Sango stepped forward and ordered, "Everyone, think of the tool that you've been bound to and how it's helped you. Show gratitude for what it's done for you, and this creature's hold on you will be broken!"

Gugenbou shuddered violently on the ground, the various pieces of its body starting to glow. Beams of light shot out of its assembled components, those beams of light manifesting as the villagers one by one. They looked themselves over and began excitedly mumbling.

"My body's back to normal! Thank you, teacup!"

"Life as an axe is rough. I'll try to treat you better..."

"I finally stopped being a hoe!"

"Is that everyone?" Miroku wondered.

Gugenbou shuddered again, and despite no longer having the human souls bound to the tools that made up its body, it was somehow still able to move, however it was having difficulty holding its form. "Your sentiments are but fleeting declarations in order to save yourselves from trouble... they will not last. I am well aware of this, and it is this wrathful knowledge that sustains me..."

It rose up, the tools forming its body no longer taking on a human-like form, but rather a grotesque mass of clutter. It shot out an arm that smashed into a house between two of the villagers as it roared, "If you will not live as tools, then you will die by them!"

"Well, if malice is the only thing sustaining you now rather than the souls of the villagers, then we have no reason to hold back, either," Miroku warned. "Sango!"

"Right, Houshi-sama!" She swung her boomerang over her head and let it fly. "HIRAIKOTSU!" The boomerang smashed into the appendage, severing it from the rest of Gugenbou's body, the tools that comprised it falling to the ground with a clatter.

Gugenbou roared and started drawing in other pieces of scrap lying around the village in order to add to its bulk. "The more you destroy, the more your disrespect feeds my anger!" it warned.

Miroku pulled out a few more of his talismans. "Beloved objects who have found new appreciation, I purge you of this creature's hateful influence! Be exorcised!" He threw the slips at the assembling clutter, driving away the evil aura that it was using to draw the items to it. The creature's extremeties fell to the ground in a heap, but the main body remained standing.

"You think... you can counter hatred... with more hatred?" it groaned with a low rumble.

Kagome stepped forward, holding the bow that had materialized in her hand. "No... You need something more than that. This bow... I have a long ways to go before I can show it my proper appreciation... But it still responded to my thoughts and passed through time in order to give me the chance to do so." She placed an arrow on the string and drew it back tightly, pointing it at the mass of items in front of her. "So I hope its will reaches you... that in whatever way it was wronged, it's willing to give someone a second chance."

She let the arrow fly, and it struck Gugenbou directly between the two points of light on its face. The eye orbs shone with a bright white light momentarily, the creature giving a rusty wheeze before the lights went out entirely, and it collapsed into a pile of clutter.

There was silence for a moment, before everyone was startled by another glow. But this glow came not from Gugenbou, but from Tessaiga. A beam of light shot out of it, and Inuyasha finally materialized, a grouchy expression on his face. "Hey, I didn't even get to do anything!" he complained. Picking up Tessaiga, he muttered, "Ah well, at least I didn't have to give some gushy speech like the rest of you did."

Kagome cautiously walked towards the pile of objects that once made up Gugenbou's body. The cloth that had wrapped its head was lying on top of the pile, some sort of object still hidden beneath it. Gingerly, Kagome unwrapped the cloth to discover its contents. When the cloth fell away...

"It's... an old-fashioned teapot..." Kagome observed. "This was Gugenbou's true form?"

Miroku looked over her shoulder. "Ohh... by its design, that teapot must be hundreds of years old. It has some wear and cracks in the top, but it looks like it should still be usable."

"It must be a teapot that someone discarded a long time ago, and over time it built up so much resentment that it became a youkai," Sango reasoned. "Gugenbou itself was the tsukumogami, not the villagers."

Kagome gingerly picked up the antique teapot. "Well, I think the best thing to do is to help make it feel appreciated again so that it no longer has a reason to hold a grudge."

Inuyasha stuck his nose in the air. "Keh, after all the trouble it's caused, I say just smash the damn thing."

"Inuyasha, s-" Kagome began, but let out a sigh instead. She calmly turned to Inuyasha, who had already braced himself for impact, and told him, "I don't think we should automatically resort to smashing things just because they cause trouble. We should be showing our appreciation better to keep them from acting out in the first place."

Inuyasha's stance relaxed and he let out a confused mumble. He turned his head away and pouted, "Well, don't expect me to fawn over that battered old thing. If you're gonna take it, then pack it up and take it. I'm ready to go home."

On the return trip, Kagome rode on Inuyasha's back, the teapot slung behind her in a cloth wrap. She rested her cheek on Inuyasha's shoulder and absently stared at the bow in her hand. "Inuyasha...?" she wondered softly.

"What?"

"Did you... ever feel like I abandoned you when I was away for those three years?"

He let out a little choke and stumbled somewhat. "'C... 'course not. I knew that you couldn't help it!"

"But you were still lonely..." she recognized.

Another stumble. "Well, with all the brats Miroku and Sango were popping out, I didn't have time to be lonely," he countered.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and hugged his back, which caused him to stop completely. "Inuyasha... thank you for waiting for me. Thank you for enduring everything even when you didn't know if we'd ever see each other again..."

His shoulders relaxed somewhat. "Well... I knew you'd never give up on me, so I had no reason to give up on you..."

Kagome nodded. "And that will always, always be appreciated."

When they returned to the village, Rin greeted them while holding the baby. "Houshi-sama, Sango-sama, welcome back!"

"Rin-chan! Thank you for your help," said Sango, taking the baby from her. "I hope they weren't too much trouble."

Suddenly, the village woman came running in a panic. "Did you defeat the youkai?!" she wondered breathlessly.

"Yep," replied Inuyasha nonchalantly.

"Good! Then I'm getting out of here as fast as I can!" And with that she ran away from the village, never to be seen again.

The twin girls came toddling into view, one of them holding a handful of Miroku's talismans and the other a handful of Sango's stink bombs. When they saw their parents, their eyes lit up and they shouted, "Mama! Papa!"

Miroku spread his arms. "Hey, kids! Were you on your best behavior?"

The two of them folded their hands behind their backs and looked around absently, twirling their toes in the dirt. "Yeeees."

"That's what I want to hear!" grinned Miroku as he picked one up in each arm. "Now let's get back to the house and make some tea!"

Later that night, a pitiful whimper came from beneath a pile of dirt beside the house. "Sesshoumaru-sama... I feel so very unappreciated right now..."

Some notes on new Japanese names and terms to clarify anything that might have been hard to understand:

Shida (シダ) - "fern". I chose this name because all of the named characters in Kaede's village seem to be named for plants.
Tsurube (つるべ) - "well bucket"
Kushi (くし) - "comb"
Gugenbou (具現坊) - "tool manifestation boy"
Tsukumogami (付喪神) - mythological inanimate objects that gain a soul over a long period of time

If you enjoyed the style of this story, please consider reading my long-running illustrated autobiography of Inuyasha's father over at my website linked in my profile, which acts as sort of a prequel to the events of the main series, and is updated monthly. Thank you for reading!