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Circus of Four Souls

Preface

Kagome walked out of the small tent and into the cool open air of late evening, half listening to the exited comments of her little brother Souta, and half reminiscing in her own memories of the performance she had just seen. Although it sounded lame to admit, Kagome loved the small circuses that came to visit their area from time to time. Usually the only people who came to see them were families with young children, but Kagome still liked to watch the small skits of the clowns, and see the exotic animals that were paraded around the ring almost close enough to touch.

Today's circus had offered some really interesting sights. There had been a magician/clown who had made one volunteer's twenty dollar bill disappear, then claimed with a perfectly serious face that he could not bring it back because he didn't know where it had disappeared to. The same man had stepped a little too far when he had gone and groped the woman he was supposed to be cutting in half, but one of the other circus women, with a high ponytail, had gotten back at him by smacking him on the head and then dragging him off stage. It was pretty humorous to watch.

The same woman turned out to be the keeper of some type of exotic cat that Kagome had never seen before. It looked almost like a sabre-toothed tiger, only lighter in colour and with two tails. Kagome watched amazed as the beautiful creature leapt gracefully through a hoop of flames, and then gasped when the woman had dared to mount the magnificent beast and leap through the same hoop astride the great feline. Amazing.

Another woman had found some way of shooting arrows that gave off strange lights, like fireworks as they streamed through the air and hit their targets, dead centre. Souta loved that part the best, he said, especially because the woman shooting them looked exactly like his favourite Ne-chan.

Their contortionist had been absolutely adorable. The little girl, appearing to be no more than eight years old, had managed to almost effortlessly walk around on her small little hands before folding herself into all sorts of strange shapes. She looked so cute, especially dressed in a small old fashioned Japanese kimono. She looked just like a doll.

The clown was also a child. A young boy reaching maybe up to Kagome's knee. He seemed, however, to be incredibly witty and very fluent with his language. With the help of the other performers, mainly the magician, he had Kagome and almost all the rest of the audience rolling in the aisles. It was great.

The juggler was another good looking guy about Kagome's age. His ultimate feat was keeping eight flaming torches going without dropping them once. Kagome always hated watching people do that, because it looked so easy to just reach out and grab the wrong end of the torch, it was scary. At the end of the act, Kagome was almost certain the young man had winked at her, making her blush before swaggering off the stage, his long black hair, tied up in a high ponytail, swaying behind him.

It was the animal trainer, however, that really captured Kagome's attention. With a full head of long, snow white hair and eyes as yellow as the setting sun, he looked more exotic than some of the animals he had been showing. Kagome was impressed. All the animals, the camels, the emu's, the horses, the hippo, and even the eewy, icky, snakes looked to be in perfect health, which was something Kagome didn't often see in circuses like this. Kagome's favourite animals, however, had to have been the group of great white shaggy dogs. Their tricks had been executed perfectly, and with the colour of their eyes and fur, they seemed to go with their trainer perfectly.

The same trainer also beat out the magician and the juggler in a weight lifting contest that had been held for the audiences entertainment. He lost to the juggler, though, in the tumbling competition when the juggler had managed to pull of a flip and a half in mid air and come down in a perfect handstand. Again, Kagome thought she saw him wink at her as the animal trainer growled at him behind his back.

All in all, it had been a great show, one of the best, in fact. She could honestly say that she hadn't enjoyed a circus this much since her father had last taken her to one, before he had passed away...

"Hey, Ne-chan, I wanna run away and join the circus!" Souta exclaimed, running up to her and grabbing her hand. Kagome smiled at him before grabbing his hand and kneeling down to his height.

"And what would you like to do, Souta-chan?" She asked sweetly as her mother and grandfather watched from a few steps ahead.

"I wanna be a clown!" he yelled, his eyes sparkling. Kagome's smile widened as she bent down to give her brother a hug and lift him into her arms. She gave him a stern look.

"Well I'm afraid I can't let you do that." she mock scolded.

Souta pouted, and then let out a whiney "Why??"

Kagome smiled again. "Because I'd miss you too much!"

Souta thought about this for a moment, before sighing, "Yeah, I'd miss you too Ne-chan. And Mama, and Ji-chan."

There was a solemn pause...

"Hey look! They're selling cotton candy! I'm gonna go ask Mama if I can get some!" And with that he leapt out of Kagome's arms and ran over to her. Kagome smiled. Yes, she still missed her father, but in the wake of his death, they had all grown so much closer that it was easy to fill the void, or at least push it out of her mind.

"DAMN IT! COME BACK HERE!!!"

Kagome suddenly spun around as a white streak raced through the crowd, followed quickly by an angry looking animal trainer with equally white hair. Kagome saw that it was one of the white dogs, but it couldn't have been one of the ones that had performed tonight, because this one had the markings of a crescent moon on its brow. The crowd rippled with light laughter as the dog ran away down the street, being quickly chased by it's cussing trainer and several other members of the circus gang. Kagome laughed too, but secretly hoped that the animal wouldn't give them too much trouble. Circus life wasn't easy, she knew. They didn't need more difficulties then they already had.

Out of the corner of her eye Kagome saw the juggler arguing heatedly with a police officer in uniform. These guys never got a break, she thought. Even if they were perfectly harmless, nobody really wanted them anywhere. Kagome sighed and ran to catch up with the rest of her family.

*~*~*~*~*

The next afternoon,

"Kagome, could you go pick Souta up from Satorou's house. Dinner should be done by the time you get back."

"Aw, but Mama, I've got so much homework to do. He's old enough, why can't he walk home by himself. He's done it before."

"Yes, but that dog that escaped from the circus last night still hasn't been caught, and you know how scared Souta is of stray dogs." Kagome gave her mother a pleading look, only to be rewarded with a scolding one. "Come on Kagome, don't give me that look. It's a good excuse to take a break anyway, you'll ruin your eyes."

"Alright, alright." Kagome gave in and got ready to leave, grabbing her umbrella just in case. The sky had clouded over and was starting to look rather dark. The weather man had predicted it would possibly rain all night.

The walk to Satorou's was pretty uneventful, and the first drops of rain were just starting to fall when Kagome was already starting to head home with Souta in tow. Souta was not in a good mood.

"Come on Kagome? Can't I stay at Sotaru's house? His mom was going to bake us Pizza! I'm so sick of oden I could puke!!"

"Hey, you should be thankful for the food you get!" Kagome said defensively. Oden happened to be her favourite dish. "Besides, Mama is already expecting you to be home. You know how much she likes us to eat together as a family, so just do this, for mama's sake."

Beside her, Souta sighed under the protection of the umbrella as the rain grew harder. "Oh, alright. Just this once, but next time I-"

He stopped short as something clattered in one of the small alleys as they walked by. Kagome took a few steps forward, expecting Souta to follow her the moment he stared to get wet. Instead, he just stood there, staring at something.

"H-hey N-ne-chan." His voice was suddenly shaking, "Th...they didn't catch that dog that escaped last night...did they...?"

Kagome thought for a moment. He sure was acting weird, she walked back over and covered him with her umbrella so he wouldn't get soaked. "No...why do you ask?" She stared down at her bother's paling face, but he wouldn't meet her eyes. Just continued stammering for a moment. Finally he managed to speak.

"B-b-because it's right there..."

Surprised, Kagome finally followed her brother's gaze where it lead into the ally. Her heart stopped.

There it was. A great, big, white, shaggy dog with a mark of a crescent moon on it's brow. Kagome gulped as it's head suddenly snapped up, and a growl emitted from it's throat. Kagome felt her own throat constrict as Souta let out a frightened squeak and clutched at her skirt.

"N-n-n-NE-CHAN!!"

The dog got into a crouching position, and Kagome's did the only thing her instincts told her to. "Souta, Run!"

He didn't need to be told twice, that was for sure. He took off as fast as his little legs could carry him, Kagome in quick pursuit. She threw her umbrella aside, putting all her efforts on running as fast as he could, but still keeping herself between Souta and their assailant. The beast slid on the pavement as it leapt out of the alleyway, its sharp claws making little clicking sounds on the wet pavement as it ran. One maul from those things and Kagome was sure she would need stitches to put her back together again. They couldn't out run it for long though. Kagome looked around, desperate for an escape.

"Souta, the coffee shop!" There it was, right in front of them. If she could get there, if they could get inside, then they'd be safe. "Hurry!"

Her heart sank, however, as Souta slipped on the wet pavement and went sprawling face first across the sidewalk. No. "SOUTA!!"

She stopped, her sneakers skidding to a halt on the wet cement as she whirled around to face the snarling attack dog that was after them. She had to stop him somehow. Maybe, if she could...

Whatever plan she had been forming in her head vanished as the angry beast leapt at her, fangs bared, aiming for her throat. This was it. She was going to die. Afraid, Kagome shut her eyes and waited for the final blow.

"Stupid bitch, look out!"

Kagome was surprised when she felt weight not on her front, as she had expected, but at her side as she was shoved over and sent sprawling onto the street. Recovering from her shock, she turned over just in time to see the animal trainer from the circus begin wrestling the beast to the ground, trying to slip a muzzle over it's mouth. Kagome wasn't sure if she should try to help or turn and flee while she had the chance. Instead, she settled for sitting there on her ass, watching as the young man was finally successful in pulling the muzzle over the struggling dog.

"Damn it, Sesshoumaru! You as bad as the bastard I named you after!!"

Surprisingly, the dog stopped struggling and just lay down on the pavement, rather grudgingly admitting defeat, for the time being. The trainer gave his head a shake before turning just enough to glance at Kagome in his peripheral vision.

"Oi, You alright?"

Kagome blinked for a moment before giving herself the once over and deciding she was.

"I...I think so. What about-"

"NE-CHAN!!"

Kagome's sentence was cut short as her lower half was suddenly captured in a death hug by her little brother.

"Ne-chan! Ne-chan! I was so scared!!" Souta sobbed into the folds of her skirt. Kagome caught the white-haired man giving them a worrying look. Kagome sighed and crouched down to see if she could calm her little bro.

"Souta! Come on now. You're not hurt are you?" Souta shook his head furiously, but didn't release her from his grip. Kagome gave an exasperated sigh, and changed her tone to be just slightly chiding. "Well then what are you crying about? Huh? Come on now, be brave. Really, you're supposed to be a boy, aren't you? Stop being such a fraidy-cat."

Souta bit his lower lip and took deep breath to calm himself. A minute later, he finally loosened his grip on Kagome and settled for just holding her hand. Kagome turned to the young man who was still standing there, eyeing her suspiciously.

"Um, Thankyou, for what you did just now. I really owe you a lot..."

"Keh!"

Well that certainly hadn't been the type of reaction Kagome had been expecting. She stared at him a moment, startled, before she noticed... "Oh my god, your bleeding! Why didn't you say something earlier. Here let me take a look at it."

"It's noth..."

The girl, however, had already taken a gentle hold of his arm and delicately lifted up the fabric to reveal the wound. She gasped.

"This is really deep, you're probably going to need stitches. Here I think I got a...aha! There we go. That should hold it for now. Does it hurt a lot?"

Inuyasha watched the girl examine his arm, surprised at how gently she managed to tie a white handkerchief around the wound. He looked up again to meet her gaze, only a few inches from his own, not having heard a word she said.

"Huh?"

"I asked you if this was hurting you a lot." She stood up then, backing off, giving him space to breathe and think. "We could take you back to our place if you wanted. I could get some proper bandages, not to mention it would be dry. It's not too far now..."

Inuyasha just continued to stare at her. Here she was, asking him, a complete stranger, to come with her back to her house, after she had almost been killed by his dog just moments before.

"...What are you, some kinda retard?"

Well, Inuyasha was never one to think before he spoke. Kagome stared at him, blinking.

"Hey now! That wasn't very nice! I was just trying to..."

"Save you're breath, 'cause I don't have time right now." he started to walk away. "You'd better get yourself back home before you catch a cold."

Kagome just watched him walk away through the pouring rain, to flustered to say anything. Finally, once he was out of sight, an appropriate word came to mind.

"That...that...JERK!"

Abruptly she grabbed Souta's hand, spun on her heel and stared walking back towards her shrine ground home, swearing that if she ever saw that jerk again, she'd punch him.

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