Kaede was finishing her lunch and afternoon patrol of the village. She spotted a missing poster in the marketplace and took it down to read it carefully. Kagome was at it again. The elder went to smirk for a moment before that sliver of amusement was replaced with longing. She should have gone to the funeral. Arimasa was a friend to her, and he helped her get through the pain of her childhood as one of her many grief counselors. She wasn't ready to go to Heiwa yet. If she did, she would have a hard time coming back. She received another letter just before the town's festival. It took everything within her to not run to the other village to see... him. But, she didn't let herself get carried away. Instead, she removed her priestess robes in the afternoon and wore her wifely kimono with his star-crossed bow and quiver strapped to her back. Only shoulder armor and a leather glove were added to her ensemble, and she did her hair up the way he preferred it and wore hair accessories gifted to her from her friends. Just about everyone flipped out when she changed clothes. She didn't answer any of the questions regarding her attire, only compliments. They were few and far between, but some gave her at least one or two compliments. Surprisingly, Inuyasha was the one who spotted a bracelet on her ungloved wrist.
"Hey, Kaede, what's that thing on your hand?" he asked, pointing at the jewelry.
Kaede was deathly silent before she replied, "A gift."
"It smells nice. Kind of like oranges," Inuyasha said, nose twitching from the scent.
"I have to oil it to preserve its lustre," Kaede said, lifting her arm to look at it.
"Oh! Kaede, will you please tell me his name!?" Kagome begged.
"His?" Inuyasha questioned. He then flinched before asking, "You're seeing some guy? At your age?"
"What about my age?" Kaede replied, eyes narrowed with displeasure and fury present.
Inuyasha could feel her wrath escaping her. While their relationship was on neutral terms for most of their lives, he had never seen Kaede angry like this other than when he was resurrected from his fifty-year slumber. He thought they made amends since then. She let him live in her village, continued to mentor Kagome, and, for the most part, didn't cause him any grief. It wasn't until this sudden revelation came about with this new beau of hers. Who on Earth would court at the tender age of sixty-three or above was anybody's guess, but he couldn't deny his own curiosity now. Has Kaede been dating this man recently or for a while? A friend of hers visited some time ago and spanked Kagome for getting too nosy about Kaede's past life, so this man must be worth protecting if he was part of it. Yet... No, this was a seething anger directed at him. It wasn't disgust like his supposed family had of his demon lineage, but there was a piece of hatred lingering just beneath the surface that he had never seen from Kaede before. Between her and Kikyo, Kaede was probably the most expressive and territorial about her sister, but, to Inuyasha, she was oddly the purest of heart and the most human between the two. He didn't say anything about it before, but part of the reason why he wasn't surprised that Kaede had taken over as leader of the village was because he knew she was capable of it.
When he and Kikyo had planned to live together, his proposal was for Kikyo to train Kaede until she became of age to take over. Instead of her having to do so much, he would take half of the responsibility in protecting the village by learning how to properly fight as a human. In turn, Kikyo would be able to live a normal life. Her guardianship duties would be cut in half, her mentorship would allow her to adjust to a civilian lifestyle, and, obviously, his presence would satisfy her other needs whether that be emotionally, socially, or sexually since they were getting to that point. They did talk about sex a few times to address their concerns about Kaede, but, ultimately, the focus was on how they could make everything work. It required a lot of adjusting before Inuyasha made the final decision to wish to be human. Whatever transpired between Kaede and Kikyo once the plan was coming together was beyond him and any amount of guessing he could muster. From the way Kaede has been acting around Kagome and Rin, however, it looked like whatever was said between the sisters was not something akin to happiness.
Regardless, Inuyasha analyzed Kaede's posture and clothes and asked, "Isn't it a little weird for old people to just start dating now? I mean, life is just about over, right?"
"That doesn't matter, Inuyasha! Kaede's done a lot for us. She can have her beau!" Kagome said, supporting Kaede's choice to court a man regardless of age. "I promise I won't bother him or anything, Kaede. I just wanna know who it is. Can I get just another clue?"
"Ye know he's a swordsman and that he's human. What else do ye need?" Kaede asked, lifting a brow.
"A na~me," Kagome whined, crying at the ground as if a clue was in the dirt.
Kaede smirked at Kagome's persistence before replying softly, "No."
"Why don't you live together?" Inuyasha asked.
"We were still in mourning," Kaede replied, darkly. "Even though twenty years had passed, he was still grieving over his loss. I... was suffering for thirty years over mine. When we found each other and felt something strong between us, we felt guilty. We believed we were doing something we didn't deserve, so we settled on a singular promise. Until we overcame the pain we felt, we wouldn't formally be together. It just so happened that I had been chosen to lead this village, and he had been chosen to guard his king."
"Thirty?" Kagome questioned, looking into Kaede's eyes. There was some pain there, but it wasn't nearly as strong as the anger. It then hit Kagome like a stone was dropped onto her chest. The title of head priestess took away the title of wife. "Kaede, no..."
"I am free, Kagome. Stand," Kaede said, watching her rise with an apologetic look in her eyes.
She looked at Kagome and Inuyasha with a blank stare. She found solace in the truth she possessed. Kikyo may have reunited with Inuyasha as a reincarnation, may have lived her life vicariously through another as a free, spirited girl who experienced love from family and daily life without so many duties, and potentially already had been touched and claimed by her beloved half-demon lover, but Kaede no longer had a reason to be jealous or angry at her sister. Kaede didn't experience life in the body of another. Kaede took great pity on her beloved sister ever since she accepted her love's gifts. In her pursuit of normalcy, Kikyo met tragedy and had her life ripped from her. Worse than that, she was resurrected as a crumbling beauty having to take other's lives just to sustain a doomed existence. Her chance at an afterlife with Inuyasha was gone since he no longer felt the same way about her. The power and purity she thought she had as Midoriko's "representative" was moot since Kaede surpassed her in power and Kagome surpassed her in both while being fully in love with Inuyasha and practically living with him prior to their marriage. She wanted all of those things and was granted no gods' blessing. It was such a cruel lesson, but it was a lesson that Kaede needed to see and learn from. It was a pity that Kikyo had to be made an example of in order to teach her this lesson. Inuyasha may never know of the argument she had with Kikyo about him living with her, but it wasn't the nicest exchange of words in the world.
Now, it's quite humorous. All this normalcy, obsession, and lust surrounding her sister became her ultimate demise, and she told her about that. Kikyo didn't want to listen to her. Thought she was too young to be giving her lectures about something she would never know about. A pity indeed. Kaede lived her life first. Yes, she was forever grateful for Kikyo taking up the task of being her caretaker in her early years. How much of a slap in the face would it be if Kaede had confessed that the village abandoned her after Kikyo died and that she had to fend for herself in the end anyway? Even to Inuyasha, how much of a blow to his ego would it be if he knew that she went to live on her own in order to get the strength necessary to kill his brother? If she could kill Sesshomaru with a single arrow, Inuyasha was as good as dead. She hunted, collected bounty money, learned how to cook and fight outside of this very village. Ironic that the same village that outcasted her elected her to be its leader. Moreso, that the demon she wanted the strength to kill is the one who trusts her to raise his ward. My, how the gods work!
Looking at Inuyasha, she almost wanted to laugh at him. He and her sister spoke of so many things that would happen if they could be together. Nonsense now. Kaede would never admit this aloud, only ever said it to her love, but she really only halfway believed that Inuyasha and Kagome were in a legitimate relationship. Part of it was that Kagome had the same obsessive behavior as her sister. Kaede was just watching from afar to see how the story ended. Two things remained the same in the context of Kikyo's story. Inuyasha was always going to be the end result and Kaede was never going to be part of that life she wanted to live. She had every reason to hate her "father" the same way she did her "mother", but there was truth in her words before. She was free. Kikyo wasn't her mother, and Inuyasha wasn't her father. They were just the subjects of a life lesson she had to learn. Her heart was full of jubilee when she realized the day she learned it. Looking at her bracelet, she looked fondly at her love's gifts. She experienced attraction to another man, found love, drank wine with him, played with him, had toe-curling sex with him, and spoke of marriage to him. She became powerful, felt powerful, was feared by many demons for a time. She became the leader of the village, but she was a wife for at least half of a year. She had friends and went to parties.
Thinking of something, Kaede smiled at Kagome and asked, "You want just one other clue, child?"
"Really? You're going to give me one?" Kagome asked, zipping in front of the woman with her hands balled up on her bosom. Such an excitable girl!
"He likes to drink wine," Kaede answered, walked past Kagome. She then said over her shoulder, "Sometimes, he'd drink it off me."
"What!?" Inuyasha shouted more than questioned, face redder than his clothes.
Kaede said nothing more to the couple, but Kagome stopped writing missing posters for a while in favor of other things. Rin was taking a nap on the engawa. She had expressed some curiosity in Kaede's regal dress, but the older woman didn't give much of a response to her either. While the elder didn't harbor the same feelings towards Rin as she did for Inuyasha or Kagome, she didn't particularly show favoritism to Sesshomaru either. Sesshomaru obviously did nothing to her, but she didn't like his involvement with her apprentice, Meioshi, in recent days. Kaede didn't know Sesshomaru was with Meioshi until one of the children from the okiyas mentioned him. They seemed to be on friendly terms, and Meioshi left a note behind to say she was coming to visit her soon to check on the children, but Meioshi's holy warrior duties were very specific and the pallbearers were now visible. She and her family, or clan, were only ever called out when there was a disturbance in the heavens or hell itself. Kaede worried that Rin's resurrection might have forced Meioshi back into her line of duty, which would mean Rin's soul was at risk again, and that she would have to deal with Sesshomaru or his Tenseiga. Tampering with fate had high consequences. Kaede wasn't sure what that would mean for her beloved apprentice. She was already being targeted by deities. The war wasn't over.
As though she heard her name in Kaede's thoughts, Rin woke up and wiped her eyes and face to ask, "Oh, I guess I fell asleep again. Are we learning anything new today, Lady Kaede?"
"I believe it best for ye to learn how to make medicine for itchy skin," Kaede said. "This particular ailment attacks during the summer months. It'll be useful for then."
"Okay," Rin said with a smile and nod. She then looked down at her hands and asked, "Do you think Lord Sesshomaru is busy at home? He didn't come to visit and it's starting to get cold."
"He didn't forget about ye, child," Kaede said. "I'm not sure what happens where he lives, but I would imagine he can handle it. He'll probably just be a tad late. I saw you trying to speak to the children just outside of the village again. What were you doing way out there?"
"Oh, I just wanted to introduce myself. They seemed nice, and they're learning how to medicine, too. It just looked more advanced than yours is all," Rin replied. "Where did they get all those pictures and statues?"
"My apprentice. Those are her students. Ye'd best not go near them until she returns here. She's very protective of them and will not hesitate to push ye out or move ye away if she feels it's necessary," Kaede warned. "I said the same to Kagome and Kohaku. They might be young like ye, but they are not to be threatened. They will fight ye back."
"Lord Sesshomaru entrusted Lord Inuyasha with my safety. I'll be fine!" Rin cheered, confident that she'll be safe.
"Ye don't know my apprentice," Kaede said, smirking with a confidence that worried Rin. "She taught those children how to fight... and how to kill. Be persistent if ye wish. They aren't the ones who will kill Inuyasha..."