The woman under the tree spoke up. "How about what I want?" she asked. "Do I have a say in this?"

Inuyasha looked down, and then said, "Not really. After I'm dead I'll go to hell with you, if that's where you're going. If not, I'll go to hell alone."

The woman glared at him, but said nothing.

Just then the monk, Miroku, stepped in front of Sesshoumaru's brother. "Inuyasha," he said, nodding toward the figure at the edge of the trees, "you have to speak to her."

Inuyasha looked away. "We said our goodbyes last night," he said. "I have nothing to say to her."

Miroku stood his ground. "I think," he said at last, "you owe her these last few words." Inuyasha was perfectly still, looking at nothing. "Inuyasha," Miroku said. Inuyasha looked at the woman under the tree, his face unreadable, and then suddenly turned on his heel and walked slowly toward the girl in the distance. The others watched silently. The woman under the tree scowled and turned her back.

Rin hugged herself, feeling troubled and sad.

To her surprise, Sesshoumaru’s figure suddenly blurred and then solidified in front of his brother, who walked right into him. Inuyasha started, nearly knocked off his feet, but then regained his composure and raised his fists, snarling, "Anikisama, what the fuck…"

"That woman," said Sesshoumaru, nodding slightly toward the figure in the shadow of the nearby tree, "that is the miko who sealed you?"

"Explain to me what fucking business it is of yours, and I’ll give you an answer," said Inuyasha.

"Your intent, then, is to return to Kagome and complete your quest," said Sesshoumaru.

Inuyasha blinked a bit at the mention of the name, then recovered his sneer. "Kagome knows what I gotta do. That shithead there—" he nodded toward Miroku—"says I gotta go talk to her again. So fine, I’ll go rub a little salt into the wound. OK with you?"

"You intend to throw yourself to the miko," said Sesshoumaru.

Inuyasha scowled even more deeply. "I intend to finish this right," he said, and began walking away, staring at the girl who waited silently at the edge of the wood.

Sesshoumaru murmured, so quietly Rin could barely hear him, "Kagome is worth twenty of that woman." Inuyasha’s funny little dog ears twitched, and Rin knew that he, too, had heard. He seemed to pause almost imperceptibly, then he walked on until he stood in front of the girl at the edge of the trees. They seemed to talk for a moment. She spoke, he shook his head, and then he slowly—perhaps reluctantly—held out his hands, palms upward. Kagome reached forward with her own hands and grasped only the tips of his fingers. They stared silently at one another for a moment—Rin could not see Inuyasha’s face, but she saw Kagome look intently into his eyes—and then both pairs of hands dropped and Inuyasha turned, continuing on out of the woods.

Kagome did not follow, but began to walk toward Rin, Sesshoumaru, and the others, head held high. Rin could see tears on her face as she passed by, looking neither right nor left. The woman under the trees stood unmoving until Kagome had passed, and then without a sound slipped out from under the tree and down the path toward the place where Inuyasha had disappeared. There was a singing sound from the trees, and Rin saw that the woman was followed by several strange youkai, eerie, snake-like things with long tails.

And Miroku the monk ran to the side of the Lady Kagome, and he said, "Lady, are you well?"

And the Lady Kagome did not cease to walk, but only said to him, "Lord Miroku, I am well. It is only that I had deluded myself to believe in a regard that was not there." As she so spoke to the monk, the tears did not cease to pour down her face. But in the clearing beyond the wood, Lord Inuyasha could be seen to stand cold and thoughtless of the maiden’s distress, as he waited silently for the miko Kikyou to gain his side.

Suddenly Kohaku’s sister, Sango, ran up to the monk and, to Rin’s shock, hit him on the head with the flat of her huge bone weapon. Miroku yelped in pain, hands jumping to his head. "You idiot!" Sango said. "Just leave her alone, will you?"

"But, Sango," the monk protested, "I merely sought to comfort…"

"Leave her alone!" Sango repeated. Suddenly she spun on her heel and walked away, the monk following after her. "Men!" she cried. "I am so sick of men."

To Rin’s amazement, a small person suddenly dropped out of a low branch and onto Sango’s shoulder. It was a very little boy, a boy with a long fluffy tail and the legs of a little dog. "I’m a man," the boy said. "You’re not sick of me, are you?" Sango glared at the boy for a moment, then suddenly picked him up with both hands and flung him to the forest floor, where he landed in a bed of fallen leaves. "Hey," said the boy, "what did I do?"

"Come, Rin," said Sesshoumaru. Rin scurried to follow him, glancing once over her shoulder at the tantalizing scene playing out under the trees.