It was another summer day picking herbs with old Kaede. Kagome had been training under her as a miko for several months upon returning to the feudal era, and she was starting to finally get the hang of things. A lot of the time, Kaede could take a step back and let Kagome do her own thing while collecting herbs with her. The only real reason she was even still there was in case Kagome had a question or lingering doubt and to double check what Kagome had picked. Kaede was gently proud of this time-traveling girl, and Kagome just as silently proud of herself for her improvements as well.

Despite her progress, there were still moments she doubted herself. She held a leaf that split into many long, sharp points and grumbled in contemplation. It looked like mugwort. It matched what she had learned mugwort leaves were supposed to look like, but… what if it wasn’t? She didn’t want to ask Kaede because she really wanted to be able to figure this out on her own, but after two minutes of back and forth, she turned to the elderly lady a few feet behind her and opened her mouth to ask her to put her fretting to rest. Just as she did that, there was rustling from nearby that stole her attention. It sounded as though someone was coming their way. No, it sounded as if someone was running their way.

“Kaede sama!” Rin panted, bursting into view. “Oh, Kagome sama!”

The wrinkled woman stopped what she was doing and turned to the small girl. Well, she wasn’t really small anymore.

“What’s the matter, Rin? You look distressed,” Kaede replied.

“Kaede sama, it’s terrible! Someone fell into the river and began to drown! They said Kagome sama knew how to get into the water to get her out!”

“What’s that!? Kagome-”

Kaede spun to Kagome in a panic. She was one of the only people who knew how to “swim.” She had begun teaching some of the younglings, but if someone was truly drowning, they were far too young and weak to do anything. However, Kagome was already running toward Rin and asking her to lead the way. The two maidens were off before Kaede could get another thought in, let alone join them. She got up to follow as fast as her aged body would allow.

Kagome had been running with Rin for only a minute when there was more rustling coming their way, except this time it came from the treetops.

“Kagome!!” It was her husband of one month, Inuyasha.

“Inuyasha!” She exclaimed.

Inuyasha landed before her and quickly turned her back to her. Kagome knew exactly what to do. After she had climbed onto her back, she called back to Rin.

“Go find Kaede sama!”

“Okay!” Rin called back before turning to go back.

Kagome was focused on tying her hair while trying to stay securely on Inuyasha’s back without falling off. They were almost at the river’s edge, and Kagome didn’t want to waste any time when they reached it. Inuyasha had remained silent the entire time, focused on getting back to the river as fast as he could. The two fled out of the treeline and made it to the clearing by the river. There was a gathering of panicked people, but it looked like they may have managed to get the victim out with long poles. The instant Inuyasha let Kagome down she sprinted to the heart of the commotion.

“Kagome sama!” a fretful middle-aged man shouted at her approach.

A second man chirped in. “We managed to get him out of the water, but he swallowed too much water! He isn’t breathing!”

“Hurry! Move him to flat ground!” Kagome commanded.

She knew what she had to do, but she did not know how long the young man had been unconscious. He was slightly younger than her with sopping black hair sticking to his face. Kagome had seen him around the village before, but they had never directly interacted aside from passing greetings. She rolled up her miko robes and dropped to her knees beside him after he had been moved to firm, flat ground. Inuyasha ran up close behind her, and a small fox friend hopped onto his shoulder out of nowhere to get a better look.

Kagome placed the palm of her right hand firmly in the center of his chest before laying her second hand overtop and linking her fingers together. Hovering her shoulders directly above and without bending her elbows, she began pumping down on the young man’s chest. She counted. 1, 2, 3, 4… Sounds of confusion and wonder trickled out from the crowd around her, and she could sense them leaning in and staring harder to try to understand what she was doing. 10, 11, 12, 13… She didn’t have any time to pay attention to them, though. 18, 19, 20, 21…. She had to focus on this man.

27, 28, 29, 30! Sweat had started beading on her face and rolling down her temples. She had trained to do CPR back in her era, but she had never done it before. Every instructor had told her that it required a lot of stamina, but she didn’t realize just how much! But there wasn’t time to think about that. She couldn’t get tired yet! His airway needed to be opened, and he needed to start recirculating oxygen ASAP. Kagome tilted the man’s wet chin back and let his mouth gape open slightly.

The stares became more intense as she did this. For just a flash, she worried about Inuyasha during this next part, but the thought was so quick that she forgot she had thought it almost as immediately as it had appeared. She pinched the man’s nose with one hand and supported his head with the other while taking in a nervous breath; this had better work.

Shocked gasps erupted from the crowd, and Kagome was pretty sure she could hear Miroku go, “Ohhhhhh,” in pleasant surprise. She was also pretty sure she heard Sango hit him. Murmurs of confusion and doubt The miko-in-training watched as the man’s chest rose then she slightly sat herself up.

“K-Kagome, what the hell-”

“OSUWARI!”

Thud.

Kagome watched his chest cavity slowly fall, and when it had gone all the way back down, she took another breath, leaned forward, and put her lips to his again. She watched his chest rise once more and straightened herself fully up while watching it fall again. Her clothes were now sticking to her in sweat, but she interlocked her fingers as she had done earlier and pumped the heel of her right hand into his chest thirty more times. By the end of it, she was panting and exhausted, but she wasn’t done until this man was breathing again, damn it!

Pinching his nose and securing his head in place, she met her mouth with his a third time and blew air into him. She had barely lifted her head away from him when he began sputtering up water and coughing deeply. It had worked! Kagome watched him struggle for air and turned to the crowd behind her.

“Help me tip him over!”

Several people came forward in awe and helped tip the man to his side while Kagome led his face downward, allowing water and foamy spit to stream out of his mouth. He coughed more and forced more water out, and the sweaty, tired woman slowly rubbed his back until he had gotten most of it out and was gasping for air on his own. Between coughs and gasps, the young man groaned and kept his eyes squeezed shut.

“He’s okay,” Kagome hoarsely declared.

She was already exhausted, but now that the adrenaline and terror were leaving her body, she was shaking and having a hard time catching her own breath. A villager swooped in beside her to take her place watching the man and rubbing his back after noticing how tired the miko had become. Kagome nodded a thanks and scooted over before leaning back and taking deep breaths. The crowd erupted in cheer and sounds of wonder and amazement.

“Our priestess truly is sacred!” one voice called.

“The gods have blessed us!” another shouted.

Kagome sensed a particular sour aura behind her and turned to see a very agitated half-demon squatting behind her with twitching ears and balled fists. If Kagome wasn’t so tired, she may have grinned.

“Oy! What the hell was that about!?” Inuyasha demanded.

Shippo ran over to stand defensively between the husband and wife, and Inuyasha raised a fist in a threat to the fox demon for barging into their soon-to-be argument.

“Leave Kagome alone! She just saved him!” the tiny fox demon barked.

“She’ll have to save you too if you don’t shaddup!” Inuyasha barked back.

Sweetly and with a smile, to Shippo, Kagome said, “Shippo, it’s fine. Thank you.”

Fiercely and with a sharp glare, to Inuyasha,  Kagome exasperated, “Really!? What’s your problem, Inuyasha!?”

Inuyasha sharply inhaled, slightly taken aback.

“My problem!? What’s YOUR problem!? Making out with random village men right in front of me!”

Kagome’s face reddened as much as it could under her already red, damp skin.

“I did not!”

“Everyone just saw you do it!”

“Kagome sama,” a serene and bubbly voice approached, “I knew you were a sacred priestess, but I had no idea that your kisses were magical. No wonder Inuyasha claims you so.”

“Don’t say such things!” Sango chirped at Miroku.

Each parent held a hand of one of their daughters, and their young son was tied to Sango’s back. The daughters giggled at watching their father get scolded by Sango once again. The demon’s slayer reproachful expression softened when she turned to her priestess friend.

“How did you do that though? I’ve never seen anything like that.”

“Y-you guys!” There was flustered betrayal in the half-demon’s voice. “Don’t encourage this!!”

Kagome turned to her two friends, blatantly ignoring Inuyasha (to which he gaped at with more flustered betrayal) and looked up at them. It may have been more polite to stand up and speak to their faces, but she was still coming down from all of the commotion. She wasn’t confident she had the energy to stand up yet.

“It’s a technique from my home called CPR,” Kagome smiled sheepishly. “The point is to pump the chest and to help keep the pumping. That’s all it is, really…”

Inuyasha lunged forward and grabbed her shoulder and tugged her toward him. He was angrier than before now that not only had Kagome kissed a man in front of him but his friends had betrayed them. He’d show her! He’d show all of them! His tense, twitching face was centimeters in front of her, and the scent of her sweat was nearly all he could smell in that moment. Kagome stifled a small chuckle because she noticed some mud on his face from when she had used the o-word on him.

In a worringly low voice, Inuyasha said, “If that’s the case, then why did you kiss him?”

“Jeeze!” Kagome tugged her shoulder out of his grasp. “I already told you! I did not kiss him!”

“Yes, you did!”

“No, I did not!”

“YES, YOU DID!”

“ENOUGH ALREADY! I did NOT kiss him! It’s a part of CPR called mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and-”

“Keh! I don’t know what this resusi-whatever is, but mouth-to-mouth is a kiss! And you did it three times!”

Inuyasha whipped his head to the young man who had finally begun breathing somewhat normally. He was being tended to by a few of the villagers, but Inuyasha paid them no attention. A growl with growing intensity came from him as he stood up with twitching fists ready to fight and take back his woman he was losing to this wet rat of a human. Wait a minute? Losing her to this guy? No way! As if! Now he was even angrier.

Kagome turned her head to follow his movement.

“Inuyasha!” she scolded.

“WHAT!?” he shouted back but louder.

“OSUWARI!”

Thud.

The priested glared at her husband with his face in the mud then turned back to her friends and smiled sweetly as if nothing had just happened. Miroku and Sango laughed nervously; Kagome could be scarier than most demons they had run into sometimes. The couple’s daughters laughed hysterically at the comical sight of it all and pulled free of their parents to go play with the helpless puppy on the ground.

“Anyway, it’s a thing called mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The point of it is to blow air into the person’s mouth to help get them breathing again,” Kagome explained.

“Oh, that’s actually very useful!” Sango explained. “Your world is so smart. The inventions there are so amazing.”

Kagome smiled. She didn’t have time to respond before a random villager was kneeling before her.

“Priestess!” He shouted while bowing deeply. “I have suffered from a very bad pain in my chest for weeks! Please, I beg that you kiss me too!”

Kagome’s face drained of color and went blank.

“Heh?” was the only sound she could make.

The man bowed his head deeper until it was almost touching the ground.

“Please! I would be honored!”

The poor girl’s brain was in the process of rebooting still when yet another villager followed suit of the first one and bowed as deep as him as well. This one was an elderly man, surely older than old Kaede. Speaking of Kaede, she and Rin had just shown up moments before, missing the “miracle” her trainee had performed.

“Please, kiss me too! I do not have much time left to my life! I need your kiss!”

Sango gasped and covered her mouth with her hand, and Miroku chuckled. They both watched her and left her helpless. Just as Kaede popped her head over by them to see what the commotion was, another young man pushed past her in a hurry.

“Me too!” he panted.

“You guys…” the desired priestess finally got out.

Inuyasha fought to regain his senses and get back up on his feet, pushing the twins off of him. Shippo saw this and shrieked before running behind Miroku to hide. The rest of the crowd looked upon her reverently and several conversations about her started or were being continued.

“Not only is she beautiful, but she also has a magical kiss too! Maaan, I wish I was her!”

“I want a kiss too! I’ve always wanted to kiss our beautiful priestess!”

“Praise the gods! They have sent us a true angel!”

Something grabbed the shoulder of Kagome’s priestess robes and pulled her up to her feet. She looked over to her growling and furious husband, and her brain finally finished rebooting. Realizing the situation she was in and the way everyone was looking at her made her face hotter than the sun. When Inuyasha pushed her behind him, she didn’t fight him. Sango and Miroku collected their daughters and made it a point to back away from the crowd as soon as they could, and Shippo was right on their tails. Kaede shook her head and tsked then made her way to the poor young man that everyone had forgotten about. He was still coughing and soaking wet.

“Everyone get away from Kagome!” Inuyasha shouted at the crowd. “There’s only one person Kagome kisses, and that’s me, got it?!”

“That’s not true!” one of the villagers protested. “She just kissed that young man over there!”

“Why you…”

“Who are you to keep all of her magical kisses to yourself!?” another shouted.

Every part of Inuyasha was hot with anger and tense. How dare these people! After all he and Kagome had done for the village!

“I-I’m her husband, you bastards!”

He was so focused on the crowd he was facing that he didn’t notice another man come running behind him toward Kagome. He dropped to the ground in a deep bow like the other men.

“Please grant me a kiss, o beautiful priestess!”

Inuyasha turned on his heel faster than ever before and punched the top of the man’s head, giving him a decent sized bump. He pushed Kagome behind him again to protect her from this new threat and growled. The first man who asked for a kiss tugged on Kagome’s pant leg, frightening her, and causing her to squeal. She wanted the earth to eat her whole. This was so embarrassing! She was too embarrassed to ever leave her hut again!

“Kagome!!” Inuyasha screamed.

Another head got smacked. And another. And another. And another until all the heads directly around the couple had been given a bruise or two.

“Inuyasha!” Kagome begged.

She wasn’t begging him to stop punching the people around her. She didn’t like that he was doing it, but she was too mortified to care. More than anything she wanted to be as far away from everyone as she could. If her face got any hotter it may just go up in flames. A hand from the crowd reached for her as she stood there.

“Kagome!” Inuyasha shouted before grabbing her waist and jumping to the outskirt of the crowd.

Everyone gasped at this and followed them with their eyes. Sango, who was watching from the side with her children, her husband, and Shippo, sighed and closed her eyes. Those her stupid, silly friends. Shippo shook his head and tsked with crossed arms. Miroku chuckled while his two daughters guffawed and reenacted Inuyasha hitting people.

When the crowd turned to see where their beloved priestess had gone. Inuyasha immediately sprinted away and fled by hopping through the treetops while clutching his wife as tightly as he could.

When they were far enough away from the crowd to guarantee they weren’t being followed, Inuyasha stopped and put Kagome down. He folded his arms and looked away from her with a “keh!” This made her pout.

“Inuyasha…”

He didn’t respond.

“Inuyasha, I didn’t kiss him!” She was continuing their prior argument. “If you had just listened, what I did was-”

“I know, alright?!” He barked.

“Huh?”

Inuyasha still had his arms cross and head turned when he began to mumble.

“You said that… you blow air or sum’in… to make them breathe or whatever…”

Kagome felt a weight leave her chest and any remaining nerves melt. Good. He knew. He was still in a sour mood, though, but she knew exactly how to calm him down. Smiling sweetly, she walked in front of him and looked at his turned face that turned pink. He made nervous sounds and kept his face away even though he kept stealing glances at her. That damned smile always made him feel like such a softie.

Despite his crossed arms, Kagome reached for both of his hands and held them until his arms relaxed and unfolded. She held them again after he had let them drop lazily to his sides. He had wanted to resist that, but he wasn’t able to. There would definitely be no swaying in making him turn his face toward her. He wasn’t that big of a pushover.  

“You know,” Kagome warmly reassured, “you’re the only person I’ve ever wanted to kiss.”

Inuyasha was quiet for a while before an embarrassed, “I know that…”

Kagome released a breathy giggle.

“Then remember it.”

She stood on her tippy-toes and kissed his cheek, bringing forth a lot more heat and color to it. The half-demon’s wife smiled and fought to keep down another giggle. She didn’t want to embarrass him more.

“Let’s go home,” he grumbled.