Day 2 of the 12 Days of Witchyness

Kairos

The mission's goal was simple.

Stealth infiltrate Arachnid's cargo base. Hack into the mainframe with their new key decryption technology. Sneak back out without being detected.

Simple goal. Difficult as fuck execution.

Kagome Higurashi, codename Priestess, checked the tiny side room, making sure there were none of Naraku's cronies hiding around the shipping crates. When every single angle was accounted for, she took a deep breath to even herself out. Her breath barely fogged up the visor of her enclosed helmet. "Priestess clear."

"Copy. Slayer?"

Sango Houko, otherwise known as their weapons specialist, held that particular codename. She had been raised during the rise of Arachnid, and the slow destruction of planets under Naraku's rule. Every aspect of her childhood was meant for killing the demons that associated with him. Kagome didn't understand it, not really, but in the end it didn't matter.

Death found a way to everyone eventually.

"We're in and Monk's on deck."

"I'm hacking in but I told you all, this mainframe wasn't meant to access the files we want. I'm going to need time." Monk was named Miroku Tsujitani, their resident tech specialist. Even through the comms Kagome could hear the rapid-fire clicking of a keyboard. Normally, the sound would calm Kagome down during missions like these, where her main goal was to observe and protect. Now though, in the heart of one of Arachnid's largest cargo ships, she felt nothing but unease.

A looming sense of dread, even.

"I need an ETA."

Monk let out a tiny gust of air and Kagome could imagine him exhaling roughly through his nose, mouth pressed in a thin line. "Four minutes, tops."

"You're on countdown. Slayer, the moment he's done you get yourselves out of here."

"Copy, Taisho. On my mark."

Inuyasha Taisho was the second and youngest son of Inu no Taisho, one of the greatest leaders of their generation. He was the Commander in Chief, ever since the destruction of Earth, and led the fight against Naraku and all of Arachnid. Inuyasha wasn't even his second-in-command, which fell to his older brother, but Inuyasha was his most trusted on the field and all speciality missions fell on their group of four. They were known collectively as The FANG, the Commander's greatest weapon.

Her thoughts dissipated instantly at the sound of footsteps, coming closer and closer to her position. Kagome frowned. The guards' rotation shouldn't have been done yet. They should still have time. "Taisho, I've got company incoming." She silently moved towards the side of the door, her armor making no noise as she pressed against the wall. She triggered her bow, the weapon collapsing in on itself until it was little more than a disjointed pole.

"I'm on my way. Sleep only, Priestess. This is not a kill mission."

"10-4," Kagome whispered. She strained to hear each footstep, her breaths forced to slow as she willed her body into calm. One step, and then another. One more and Kagome saw a flash of the dark purple uniform all of Arachnid's army wore. She instantly jumped, wrapping her body around the much larger demon. Her gloved hand clasped over its mouth while her arm encircled its neck. The demon struggled, throwing its body weight backwards and into the wall. The breath was knocked out of her and she could feel her armor distributing pressure all along her sides. The demon was trying to claw her open.

Closing her eyes, Kagome took a risk and let go of its mouth. She slammed her hand into the side of its head and whispered, "Sleep." Her will was strong, vibrant, pulsating in the air. It took one second for the demon to instantly begin to sway and Kagome unwrapped herself from around it just in time for it to collapse to the ground. She took a deep breath and centred herself, drawing her will back into hiding.

But when she looked up, Inuyasha Taisho was already there.

Even through the visor, he looked absolutely murderous.

Kagome tapped on the side of her visor, opening up a private channel. "I didn't have a choice," she stated, brooking no argument. "I had to make a call."

"I make the damn calls," Taisho replied, near snarling. "You don't use your powers on missions."

"I made it look like I was choking him," Kagome shot back, refusing to back down. "The footage won't show anything."

Taisho growled and spun around. She could see him clicking back to the general channel, her comm coming to life yet again. "Monk, can you scrub any footage?"

"Where?"

"Priestess' location. Five seconds maximum."

Monk made a noise through his teeth. "Add two minutes."

"Then we're three minutes and counting," Slayer stated.

Frustrated, Kagome bent down and grabbed at the demon. She took its arms and started to drag it, pulling the demon towards the crates when she watched something fall out of its scaly hands. She frowned and picked the object up, horror starting to bleed into her veins. She couldn't read the alien language, but one word was clear: FANG.

"Taisho, the demon sent a message–"

And then the alarms flared up.

"For fuck's sake," their leader snapped. "Exit Plan Bravo, go."

"One minute," Monk pressed. "I almost have it."

Kagome could hear Slayer on the comms, trying to drag him away. She activated her weapon, her bow coming back to life as she followed Taisho down the hallways. They needed to make it back to the manifest room, where Monk and Slayer were hacking in. It wasn't much further, only a couple rooms over but before they could get there three demons came into view. She didn't hesitate, not for a moment. Her left hand engaged the trigger while her right hand swiped from the front of the bow to the drawstring, an energy arrow manifesting itself to launch. She released, the pink bolt of energy blowing a hole into the first demon's head.

She watched as Taisho withdrew his own weapon – a massive sword by the name of Tessaiga – and sliced through the other two in quick succession. They continued to run, Slayer's words deadly calm over the comm. "Monk and I are in position. No demons trailed us."

"Give us a minute," Taisho stated, rounding a corner only to be smashed back into the wall. A huge, hulking grey demon lurched towards him but Kagome engaged and shot another energy arrow into his neck before he could lay another hand on their leader. She re-trigger another arrow, her footsteps quick and even until she covered Taisho, releasing the moment movement caught her eye. Another demon staggered, energy arrow in its chest, and Kagome shot one more before the demon could make a sound.

Taisho didn't say a word. He ran past her, sword at the ready and the two of them faced no other threats as they made their getaway. Cargo ships were some of the least valuable vessels Arachnid had. They contained weapons and food, but the majority of cargo ships contained minerals that Arachnid had long harvested for trading. The ships themselves were so large that trying to destroy them was far more dangerous than worthwhile to the cause, but Taisho and Monk had found a way to connect the cargo ship to the mainframe, and from there, a lot of techno-babble she didn't really understand.

They slid into their ship and Monk instantly cloaked them. The familiar hum of invisibility burned in her ears. She barely had time to grab at a seat before Monk put them into warp, the vessel speeding off far, far away from the cargo ship they were once on.

"Warp disengaging in three, two–" Monk called out, and Kagome felt her body relax as they returned to stable speed. She hated the smaller ships like this, where warp travel felt like being the marble in a slingshot.

The moment everything settled, Slayer whirled around in the co-pilot's chair, magenta eyes serious. "What the fuck happened?" she asked, her firm tone barely softened by the concern that was clearly there. It had taken years for Kagome to notice it, to notice the way the woman's eyes quickly assessed both hers and Taisho's bodies for damage.

"I had a demon incoming, completely off rotation," Kagome started, shaking her head. "I caught him in surprise but it was huge. I knocked it out, but not before it could get some sort of message off to Arachnid's systems."

"That's not all you did," Taisho spat. He tore off his helmet, his long silver hair completely in disarray underneath. She knew it was tied at the back, hidden under the rest of his armor, but no matter how he tied it there were always loose ends coming free. It made him look softer, though Kagome knew that there wasn't a single part of their leader that was soft. The next words were proof. "You used your goddamn powers, Kagome."

First names, then. That's where they were at.

"He was going to make a hell of a lot more noise and you said to not kill him," Kagome replied, trying her best to remain level-headed. It never seemed to really work with their leader, no matter what she did. Inuyasha crawled under her skin and managed to stay there, burning, eating everything up from the inside until she felt like she was going to explode. "I had to subdue him another way."

"Didn't matter because he got off the message! So you put yourself at risk for no reason!" Inuyasha snarled. "You put our entire army at risk."

"Just because I'm your goddamn secret weapon doesn't mean that I can't use my powers." She wanted to yell, to scream, to raise her hands and show them all exactly what it meant to be the Commander's secret weapon, to be the most dangerous part of The FANG. Tiny, innocent looking Kagome with only above average combat and weapon skills. Minus her bow, there was nothing special about her. Everyone thought the only reason she was part of the legendary FANG was because she fucked her way to the top.

Fucked Inuyasha, that was. People seemed to have this delusion that he favoured her, but Kagome had yet to witness any favouring. If anything, he was harder on her than anyone else on their team.

"You can't use your powers if Arachnid or fucking Naraku can witness footage of you using them! Your kind was wiped out, Kagome. You are the only thing standing between us and the survival of this galaxy. Do you even understand that?"

"Of fucking course, I understand! I can't go one fucking day without you reminding me!" The scream was vicious, dripping in venom, and Kagome felt her hands raising and shaking. She instantly clenched them into fists and shoved them in her lap. Her control was fraying. It was the goddamn cherry on top of everything else that had gone wrong that day. She whirled around, unable to look at their leader for a moment more.

Inuyasha opened his mouth to say something. Kagome could see it out of the corner of her eye but Sango, ahead of her, snapped a finger in his direction and seemed to silence him with a glare. Kagome had never been more grateful to her in her entire existence.

The ride back was filled with tension. Only Miroku and Sango, occasionally discussing something about the ship managed to break through the fog. When he piloted the ship back onto their vessel, the entire room decompressing and eradicating the shards of space, Kagome felt that same feeling of dread that came over her while they were on Arachnid's cargo ship.

She fucked up.

Sango was the first to exit, but when Kagome gestured for Miroku to go after her, the blue-eyed man just shook his head. Kagome shrugged and let herself off, stepped into the loading station and made her way to decontamination. Decon took only a minute, but by the time she was done neither Monk nor Taisho had exited the ship.

Kagome counted her blessings.

The FANG's warrior vessel, named the Wind Scar, was one of the smallest of its class. It was meant for stealth missions but had the strength, capabilities and dexterity of ships four times its size. The Commander had commissioned it made just for Inuyasha when it was made clear his son would fight in the war. Most often, Kagome loved the smaller size. It felt more economical, something built for a team of four and no more. She had hated the larger vessels – had hated the habitat vessels, especially – because no matter where she went, she was alone.

The Wind Scar never felt lonely.

Right now, though, Kagome wasn't so sure. She entered her room and took off her armor, piece by piece. After years of putting it on and taking it off, it took only a matter of seconds. She collected the pieces and her disengaged bow, nothing more than a fancy pole about a foot long, and left them on the nearby table.

The shower wasn't a real shower. Not what Earth used to have, anyways. Technology that she barely understood sent waves that disintegrated any offensive bacteria, and moderated remaining bacteria growth for optimal health. She missed water for cleansing, the feeling of ducking her head under the spray and drowning out the world. What would she give to do that now, at that very moment?

When she realized her hands were shaking, Kagome looked down at them. She didn't stop it from happening, didn't clench them and force them away. She let the tremors take over and breathed, in and out, until the shaking faded away.

She never asked to a secret weapon.

She never asked for her parents to ship her off planet to Earth, where she would be safe but alone.

She never asked why her planet was the first to be eradicated when Naraku rose into power, not until an accident at the orphanage changed everything and she met a man named Inu no Taisho, now Commander of The FANG, the enemy of Arachnid.

Kagome couldn't remember the last time she asked for anything at all.

Stepping out of the cleanser, Kagome released her hair from the wrap and brushed it out. The repetitive nature of the action drove her mind into a kind of desperately needed quiet. For longer than needed, she continued to brush, over and over until the strands were shining and wispy.

Her doorbell chirped, and then announced, "Taisho."

So much for her newfound calm.

Kagome got dressed into her sweats, wanting comfort in any way she could find it. The conversation with Taisho wasn't going to be pretty, a lecture she had heard probably dozens of times before. He always found a new way to spin it though, to make it seem like the first time in a long line of fuck-ups.

Her door chirped again and Kagome took in a deep breath. "Enter," she murmured, loud enough for the computer's systems. The door slid open and Inuyasha stood there, still in his under-armor. The black leggings and tight, black turtleneck did nothing to hide the lines of his body, or the muscles that lay underneath. She knew that despite the fact that he was the youngest son, and despite the fact he was a half-breed in a world full of purebloods, he was one of the strongest, smartest people she knew. The admiration bled a little too far, sometimes, but Kagome held it firmly back.

She could never let rumours ring true.

"Can I come in?" their leader asked, standing outside the door. His face gave nothing away, nor did his body language. Kagome didn't know what to make of it.

"Okay," she said. She stepped back, deeper into her room. Their bedrooms were small and built only for one. There was a desk with a chair and a bed, a mid-sized drawer and a closet. That was it, though. Kagome backed up until her knees touched the bed behind her, though she didn't dare sit. Lectures from Inuyasha never involved sitting.

It took her by surprise then when Inuyasha came in and pulled out the desk chair. He made sure to carefully move it so that it avoided any armor on her desk, before collapsing down onto it. For the first time ever, Kagome watched as exhaustion took over his features. Inuyasha kept his gaze down to the floor, his dog-shaped ears flattened against his head. He looked the picture of defeat.

"I shouldn't have yelled at you," Inuyasha said suddenly, breaking the silence in the room. "You made a call in a bad situation and it was the best option you had. I don't…" He paused, face contorting into a wince before he continued. "I don't agree with you using your powers in enemy territory, but it was your call with the guidelines I gave you."

Kagome could do nothing but stare. Silence slowly crept back into the room, Inuyasha apparently finished saying what he wanted to. She sat down on the bed, hard. It was shocking. It was–

"What the hell did Miroku say to you?" she demanded, a little scared. Miroku had always been the most perceptive of the group. Just because he was great with technology didn't mean he shut out the outside world. If anything, it made people look him over, forget that he was even there. She wouldn't be surprised if Miroku knew about things that she didn't want coming to light, like her slowly dwindling control on her power, or her feelings for their leader.

Both secrets would be bad, if brought into the light.

Inuyasha's scoff drove away any fears though, his golden eyes rolling to the ceiling before landing on her. "The usual shit. You know Miroku, always trying to play the team card."

"We are a team," Kagome said, instantly, firmly. Another long buried secret was that she thought of them almost like a family, the only one she ever really had.

That one she'd bring to her grave.

"Yeah, we are. And being a team means backing each other up. Just because I'm leading doesn't mean I can control everything you do." Inuyasha frowned, but it was more contemplative than angry. "I know I'm worse with you than the others."

"No shit." The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them.

Inuyasha smirked at her though, not a trace of anger or irritation in those golden irises. She locked the image away for safe keeping. "I'll work on that."

"Why though?" Kagome asked. Demanded, really. If Inuyasha was going to take a moment to be honest with her, then she needed all that she could get. "I know that I'm your father's secret weapon. I know that my powers are the key to destroying Naraku, the moment we can break him out of hiding. I get that if Arachnid learns of my heritage, I'll be dead within a week." She took a deep breath and tried to focus on her point, on what she needed to learn. "But you're like this even when I miss a shot with my bow, or when I fall during hand-to-hand training. Why are you so hard on me?"

It took a long time for Inuyasha to say anything. It felt like ages, space and time bending in that moment. The reality was mere seconds, ticking away in a little countdown. Kagome couldn't keep track, especially not when Inuyasha was looking at her like he couldn't see anything else, like he was seeing her, every part of her. The parts that were terrified of her own powers, of the burden that rested on her shoulders. Of the loneliness and the anger and the terror.

"I can't always protect you," he answered finally, voice no more than a hushed whisper. An admittance in a dark room where space and time meant nothing. "And I need you to live."

"So I can kill Naraku." Kagome let the words be said, and waited.

One breath in.

One breath out.

Another in.

Out.

Inuyasha shook his head and stood up. He spun around slowly, hand raised to disengage the door locks. Before he could press it though, he turned his gaze on her, fierce and burning. "No. That's not why."

And then her door chirped, the locks opening up. Inuyasha was out the door in a second, and it was only a second later than everything closed back up, leaving her alone in her room.

Everything in her was singing, quivering, like a song was playing and every nerve ending in her body yearned to dance. She felt rocked, blindsided, shaken to her core.

She looked down at her hands, expecting them to be trembling worse than she had ever seen. Her body certainly felt like it.

But when she looked down, they were stable. Relaxed, quiet.

Not even a tremor.

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