Autumn was a great time of year. Not Inuyasha's favorite season, but he considered it objectively the best. Bountiful harvests weren't even his favorite part. Neither was, in modern times, all the interesting autumn themed foods. There were far deeper reasons for why he loved it second best out of the four seasons. The quantities were food were nothing more than what made it objective in his eyes.
Because fewer people would starve in the coming winter, if everyone worked hard to make sure things were preserved in a way that was sustainable. Inuyasha could, and had been easily able to hunt for himself for decades and decades. Survival came before taste, and his regular presence meant protecting the villagers in any and every way he possibly could.
So he ate less from the one village he could say he belonged in, and hunted twice as much. Enough so that the residents could dry the meat as preservation, while simultaneously satisfying his own personal hunger.
No one would starve on his watch.
A soft crunch came with each step. Total silence was an impossibility with the mixture of golds, and reds settled on the grass. Late autumn was a time of year that even he, whose blood naturally ran hotter, felt chill in the air. A striped scarf, yellow and red, had been lazily draped around his own neck.
If only they made ear warmers for dog ears... keh...
Yet he'd found exactly who he'd been looking for. Inuyasha couldn't say he was particularly surprised she was by herself. When it came to strength alone, she was definitely on par with him. What bothered him was a certain other detail.
"Oi. Kagome. What the hell are y'doin' out here without somethin' covering your face?" Even he hadn't been that thoughtless to his own health. A sharp sigh followed, frustration, not directed at any one person. Not even the woman he was now standing next to. "Get over here."
Inuyasha wasn't one to wait patiently when it came to matters of importance. The second she was standing, he pulled her wrist firmly. The scarf around his neck was now one shared, albeit, in a more sloppy fashion. He was still figuring out how to properly wear one for himself, let alone how to share one.
The hand that had gripped Kagome's wrist was now a one armed hug. She needed the warmth more than he did, and he had a good body for providing that.
"We're... going back to the village. The herb stuff can wait." A softer tone of voice, and a pair of feet that hadn't moved just yet. A hesitance, because there had been a very specific reason why he'd sought her out. But... her safety came first. Even before something as big as what he'd wanted to share.
