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“Who's that?” Kagome asked Sango as she noticed a lone figure at the borders of their village.
They had been walking home from the river, Kagome helping her friends with her energetic twins when her eyes fell on the woman standing still and appearing completely out of place.
It would have been hard for her not to, given the clothes she wore and her posture, which were the first thing that stood out and differentiated her from the simple peasants or merchants who usually passed by.
She was not close enough to get a good look at her, but the intense blue of her kimono already told her a lot. Immediately afterwards, the umbrella that covered her face and whose colour was even richer than her robes stood out.
On seeing her, she couldn't hold back her curiosity.
Sango followed her friend's gaze but was not as surprised as she was, nor, the apprentice priestess mused, did the villagers seem to be.
“Oh, she's back,” she exclaimed.
“Do you mean this is not the first time she has visited?” asked Kagome again, reaching out to restrain Kin’u who, taking advantage of her mother's distraction, had attempted to escape.
From the absence of any reaction, she should have known immediately.
“No, not at all. She has visited Kaede several times,” Sango replied, casting a disapproving glance at both twins, who giggled in response.
“So you know her well?”
Her friend shook her head. “She is very private. When she comes, she spends some time with Kaede and then disappears in the same way. Come to think of it, maybe a couple of times Inuyasha tried to pick a fight for the sake of it.” Kagome laughed, expecting something like that. “It's not the first time you've met her, though.”
“Huh?” Kagome was unable to express herself any better. Considering she had only recently returned to the village after an absence of three years, she didn't understand how she could have met her before today.
“You've probably forgotten,” Sango tried, resuming walking, “but we met her once during the search for the jewel shards. Inuyasha wanted to attack her because she kept one.”
“And I only managed to distract him after promising to bring him some more Ramen,” Kagome finished, now remembering the incident and other details concerning the woman, a demon.
Such as the delicate red tattoos that adorned her face and echoed the make-up on her lips, but also the composure she had shown against Inuyasha's verbal attack and her particular love for tea.
The only thing she could not recall, she reflected, was her name.
“Yes,” Sango agreed, jolting her out of her memories, “and when you returned with so many of those boxes of ramen he accused you of being too late.”
Kagome nodded, smiling. “Kaede is not here today, though, maybe I should go and greet her.”
“That's a good idea. Go ahead; I'm more than capable of handling these other two demons on my own,” she joked, referring to her daughters. “Plus, maybe she'll be able to open up with you as much as she does with Kaede. Good luck.”
“Thanks, Sango; I'll see you later,” she said before heading in the direction of the woman who, not surprisingly, was not far from her mentor's hut.
As much as she was the picture of calmness and had given her a genuine smile when she had explained Kaede's absence, being alone with her, at first, made Kagome not a little nervous.
She couldn’t tell if she had noticed, but fortunately, it didn’t last long.
The sudden arrival of Inuyasha – who completely ignored the demon in her favour – helped improve her mood, and when she sent him off in search of the ingredients she had been asked for, Kagome felt much more relaxed. In addition, she realised there was no real reason to be nervous.
She put some water on the hearth to boil and signalled the other to join her there.
Watching her, Kagome was even more impressed by her grace and the ease with which she held the umbrella over her face.
She didn’t remember seeing her eyes even during that first meeting years before.
“Would you like to have tea with me while we wait? And maybe, I'd like to be able to put a name to your face,” she asked in a confident but soft voice, hoping not to send the wrong message. She didn't want to sound intrusive.
Besides, she couldn't know how fast Inuyasha would be and they had to start the conversation somewhere. Her name had seemed the best way.
“I am Kagome, Kaede-sama's apprentice,” she supplied immediately afterwards.
“It is a pleasure, Kagome. Kaede-sama has already told me about you; she must be very pleased with your return,” she smiled at her again before taking a sip of the tea Kagome had just passed her. “I do not use my name a lot,” she added, “nor does she who usually accompanies me.”
Kagome waved her hands in front of her in fear that she had gone too far. “I'm sorry, I absolutely didn't mean to pry-”
A soft laugh interrupted her apology. “You did nothing wrong. In fact, the last time I introduced myself was actually with Kaede a few years ago. You can call me Kasako.” Then, after looking at her contemplatively and casting one last glance towards the door Inuyasha had used as an exit a short while earlier, she said in turn, “Can I ask you a question too?”
“Absolutely.” Kagome clasped her hands around her cup of tea in an attempt to keep them occupied, noting with pleasure that her companion had enjoyed the drink enough to serve herself more.
“What connects you to the half-demon Inuyasha?”
Kagome was taken aback and at first, she could do nothing but blush.
What tied her to Inuyasha? Everything and nothing.
They had a special past and her feelings for him were what had made her choose this era over her native one, love over family, yet, she had been back for such a short time that nothing had yet been made official and the question added to her anxieties about it.
Nonetheless, not for a moment did she doubt that she had been asked with malice, quite the contrary.
Everything about Kasako conveyed tranquillity and contentment. She couldn’t imagine her sharing some of the prejudices that had affected her and the half-demon in past adventures.
Besides, the curious look and smile she still continued to give her reminded her of Miroku's ways of teasing her.
“Um, we... well... we travelled a lot together in the past before I was forced to return to my country for a while,” she finally replied.
Kasako nodded again, before taking another sip. “Oh, I know the stories well. However...”
However? Kagome asked in her mind. Maybe what she felt for Inuyasha was so blatant as to be obvious even to someone who had seen them together just for a few seconds. Did she seem pathetic?
Oh, she felt like she was back in her school days.
“However, his change from the last few times we met impressed me a lot," the older woman finished.
That day, Inuyasha had completely ignored her, focusing solely on the apprentice priestess, and it was easy to understand his urgent need to help her. He was so eager to fulfil her request that he hadn’t even noticed that he was indirectly helping Kasako as well.
She remembered that in the past Kaede had had to force him to do the same.
And since she too, in her own way, could be curious, she had wanted to take advantage of the relaxed atmosphere that had settled between them to find out more.
“Oh,” Kagome murmured. “Inuyasha has a very noble heart, though he may seem grumpy at first glance. I'm sure whatever problem there was between you is not really important.”
“I have already been assured of that,” she smiled at her again, and Kagome felt even more soothed by the gesture. Something about that smile made her want to confide her fears and doubts as if she had known Kasako all her life, as if, like Sango, she could embody the big sister she had never had. “Most of all, his affection for you is clear as day.”
Kagome gasped as she heard those words, even more so when she saw Kasako move the sunshade slightly to wink. But she was also so quick to cover her eyes again that she doubted it had even happened.
Recovering, she leaned forward. “Really?”
These were things she had heard many times before from her friends and companions, and she recognised for herself that the three years of separation had helped Inuyasha to be more open with his feelings. Still, it was a different matter if it was someone outside their dynamics to tell her so.
“Really,” Kasako confirmed, glad to be able to help the priestess in turn and to see a smile light up her face and her shoulders relax completely.
Afterwards, the two women spent the rest of the afternoon discussing lighter topics, and when Kasako asked for some more of that delicious tea, Kagome was more than happy to let her in on the secret behind it, one that had been revealed to her by her grandfather.
Later still, when Inuyasha returned with the ingredients they had requested, Kagome was still too busy exchanging more advice with the demon, who chuckled as she noticed the half-demon's jealous pout.
And at sunset, when she left the village and joined her companion to resume their journey, she was so pleased with her visit that she even promised herself not to let too much time pass before returning.