Inuyasha stood perfectly still, desperately searching for any sound or smell that might tip him off to what was happening. A possible demon hoard on the move or an ambush set for him and Kagome specifically...

Kagome looked around too. But she just seemed to be looking for Myoga and he didn't have the time to set her on guard.

Thankfully, he didn't have to. There was a spike of Reiki in the surrounding air and Kagome went rigid beside him.

"Inuyasha…" she whispered.

"I felt it."

"No I-" Her eyes flew wide and her hands jumped to his chest, pushing him back. "Move!"

Inuyasha stumbled backward just in time to avoid an arrow neatly wrapped with a paper talisman.

Inuyasha watched, A terrible feeling dropped into his heart like a stone, as the arrow narrowly missed Kagome's neck and sank deep into a tree behind them.

"W-What are you doing?!" demanded a startled male voice from off to the right.

Inuyasha, mad enough to kill, whirled around to face the enemy with his claws out and his feet already moving forward.

But far from being frightened by the near miss, Kagome moved fast and grabbed Inuyasha's arm, pulling him back and moving to stand in front herself. The move was deeply frustrating for Inuyasha. He could take an arrow and keep on going, Kagome couldn't. Didn't she realize that by now?

He almost ripped his arm from her hands on an angry impulse but he didn't want to risk hurting her. He moved to carefully extract himself and move her behind him.

"Don't you DARE Hojo!" she shouted, evidently fearless. "Lower the bow!"

"Kagome back up! He just fucking-" Inuyasha stopped, looking back at her with a jolt of realization. "Wait, Hojo? You… you know this guy?!"

Kagome didn't reply. She was too busy glaring daggers into the confused man before them. Inuyasha, equally confused and uncertain, looked over the would-be assassin again.

He appeared to be roughly around Kagome's age. And he had a very common sort of face. Handsome enough, but not striking. He was dressed In a set of very clean and well tended hunting clothes. Too nice to belong to anyone but the upper class.

Reluctantly, 'Hojo' lowered his weapon and Inuyasha, likewise, lowered his claws.

"Miroku! Come out!" she called. "I know you're here too!"

There was a flabbergasted sigh from the bushes behind Hojo. "As you command Kagome-sama."

A monk stepped forward from the underbrush to come stand between them and the bowman.

Kagome's expression stayed hard. "What was the last thing I said to you, Miroku?"

"Keep them safe," he replied evenly.

Kagome's expression softened a little and she nodded. "He's confirmed?" she checked without looking away.

Miroku blinked. "Why not check directly, my Lady?"

"I'll take your word for it," she replied stiffly. "Besides, if Naraku wanted to use a familiar face to get close he wouldn't bother using Him."

Inuyasha and the monk both blinked in different degrees of confusion and glanced back at the third man. Hojo shrank, his expression crushed and embarrassed.

"So, how did you find me?"

Miroku recovered beautifully, turning back to face them with a smile. "Ah, we've been tracking you ever since you escaped the estate. You managed to shake us off the trail about a month ago. But we heard a rumor that a dog demon in the area had kidnapped a woman. And then, Hachi came to me with a somewhat similar report. That a dog demon living here had taken a human bride. One that matched up to a description of your loveliness."

Inuyasha bristled slightly at the monk's flirtatious tone but Kagome was unaffected. Her expression became troubled. "I see," she replied softly.

"Ah, not to worry Kagome Sama! There's a carefully placed rumor already well in circulation that you are safely resettled in China," he rushed to assure, still all smiles.

It didn't seem to convince her though. Her frown stayed firmly in place and her eyes were lined with worry.

"Kagome," Inuyasha put in, half to turn her attention away from a subject that seemed to upset her and half out of pressing curiosity. "You gonna tell me what the hell's going on?"

She nodded and gestured to the monk. "Right, this is Miroku. He's my village's resident monk and a childhood friend of mine. Miroku, this is Inuyasha. He's a new friend who's been letting me stay with him for a while now."

"I see…" Miroku replied, looking Inuyasha over. The half-demon stood his ground, unmoved by the scrutiny. But Kagome's eyes narrowed slightly.

"He has also been feeding, clothing and protecting me. So I think a very sincere apology is in order for the unprompted murder attempt," she went on firmly.

To the hanyou's surprise, the monk nodded obediently, turning his attention to Inuyasha's face properly. And, without hesitation, bowed deeply on the spot. "My deepest apologies Inuyasha-san," he offered sincerely, much to Inuyasha's shock. "It seems we had entirely the wrong idea about you. We were told the lady was being held against her will. And without bothering to confirm the truth with Kagome sama herself, we attacked you. I hope you can forgive us."

Inuyasha glanced over at Kagome to gauge her reaction. She nodded at him encouragingly and he decided to go along with it.

"Fine. But only because she vouches for you."

"I-!"

Miroku and Inuyasha both looked up as the man with the bow clambered from the underbrush to prostrate himself before Kagome. "I'm very sorry as well! I-"

But she was having none of it. She turned her nose up at the apology and moved away. Her arms, (one of them with the handle of her basket still in the crook of her arm), tightened around Inuyasha's trapped limb and tugged him back toward the trail. Miroku raised an eyebrow but didn't attempt to follow them. Instead, his gaze turned skeptically toward his own companion.

Inuyasha was surprised, but he let her pull him along, glancing back and forth between Kagome and the devastated man scrambling to get up and pursue them, bow and arrows forgotten on the ground.

"N-No please! Kagome, I'm so sorry! Please wait!"

"Did you hear something Inuyasha?" she asked, deceptively calm, looking straight ahead and picking up the pace. "You seem very distracted. You keep looking back at nothing."

The man's face fell as though she'd condemned him to hell with a single word.

Inuyasha might have felt the same in his place. But he was confident Kagome wasn't the type to snub someone like that for no reason. There was no telling what this guy had done to get on her bad side, but it couldn't have been small. As such, Inuyasha's sympathy was very limited. Especially since the idiot had almost hit them with an arrow not three minutes prior.

As the man on her arm, a petty part of him couldn't help but feel a bit triumphant at the other man's disheveled and desperate appearance.

He looked forward as well, feeling very smug indeed as he replied, "Nope, didn't hear a thing."

There was a stuttered protest but he stopped following and Kagome didn't slow down or look back until they were well out of earshot. At least by human standards.

"...Are they following us still?' she eventually murmured.

"Nope. They're back there talking."

It was hard to tell the full context of the conversation from this far away, but he could hear Miroku speaking very sternly. If Hojo replied at all then it was too soft for Inuyasha to catch. But he wasn't about to turn around and leave Kagome alone to go spy on them.

The girl relaxed against his side as though exhausted. He allowed the slight transfer of weight without protest.

"I wonder how they managed to get all the way out here," he said after they were far enough to be completely out of earshot.

"Hatchi is Miroku's Tanuki friend. He could have gotten them out here easily enough, especially if he knows the area."

"Ah."

A monk who's friends with a tanuki. He'd never heard of such a thing. But he couldn't say he was surprised either. The village that produced Kagome must have been fairly open minded. It sounded like an interesting place.

"...I'm guessing having spiritual powers on hand helped some too," he reasoned aloud.

"Probably." The strain in Kagome's voice was palpable.

Sensing his companion's desire to change subjects, but left without ideas, Inuyasha went quiet. He knew that if she felt like talking then she'd talk. And he had a feeling she would. The encounter seemed to have shaken her up.

They walked close in silence. Myoga didn't return and the men behind didn't chase them. For the moment all was quiet.

The silence seemed to bear down on her.

"...That wasn't very nice of me, was it?" she murmured eventually.

Inuyasha snorted. "Who cares if it was nice? If that guy pisses you off then you shouldn't have to deal with him."

Kagome smiled slightly and leaned her head onto his shoulder. The unexpectant intimacy of it made his back muscles twitch, but he was starting to get used to Kagome's brand of casual affection.

"He doesn't."

He glanced down and raised an eyebrow at her.

"Okay well, he does," she amended sheepishly. "But I know It's not entirely his fault."

"It was his fault he shot an arrow at us," Inuyasha pointed out bluntly. "So at the very least, you can still be pissed off about THAT."

"True," Kagome smiled.

She turned back to the path and walked without any of her usual distractions. No bird nests or herbs caught her eye and pulled her away. She stared at the beaten dirt path without really seeing.

"...You haven't pushed me to talk about him." she noted softly.

"No need. If he comes back I'll just toss him off a cliff," Inuyasha replied smoothly. "Done! Goodbye problems."

"You will not!" she scolded, biting back a smile even as she pulled away to smack his arm.

Inuyasha, unreserved in his dislike of Hojo, and still riding high on a petty sense of victory, gave a fanged grin. "Why not? He's a pain right? One good toss and he's out of our hair for good!"

She whacked him a bit harder that time. "You're terrible!"

"You could at least let me drop him in the swamp…" he jokingly pled.

"No way!" she laughed.

Inuyasha sighed in mock defeat. And Kagome's laughter trailed off into giggles as she hung onto his arm.

After that, they walked on in a companionable silence for a bit. And then Kagome surprised him by reaching down to timidly hold his hand instead. "Thanks Inuyasha," she murmured, looking up to offer him a soft smile. "I feel better now."

Inuyasha's expression softened a bit and the clawed hand in her grip gave a gentle squeeze. But the hanyou didn't reply. He just shrugged it off, as if to say 'no big deal'.

Im sure you noticed how show this chapter was co pared to the others. Thats becouse the chapter lengths for this story are wack. 4000 words EVERY chapter? Why did i ever thing that was a good didea?
I'm planning on updating again sometime next month. Shits been busy lately, but with the quarantine ive finally had more time to slow down and write.

Chapter notes:
I was originally going to put a kouga arch here but it would have dragged out the story too much without adding anything interesting to the inu/kag romance. So i nixed it. Some people asked if i was going to bring sesshomaru in here, but no.
No i will probably never write for sesshomaru. i just dont sympathize with him as a character