Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story... oneshot... thing...
Am I Good Enough Now?
firefox369
She was running away from Inuyasha (She really doesn't understand why she had to considering the jewel was complete and she should be able to go home now...) and trying to get back to the well, as usual, but this time she was also running away from an over-grown mushroom at the same time. Okay, so it wasn't a mushroom, but it looked like one! Seriously, it looked like one of those Koopa thingies in that one Mario game or whatever. You know, those tannish mushroom thingies with the sharp teeth and big eyes with legs? Yeah, think one of those except three times your height and arms with huge hands that were decorated with wonderfully sharp claws that look like steak knives the size of chainsaws. Exciting, huh?
Anyways, she was running away from one of those when it just kind of fell apart. Literally. Like, it was just kind of chopped up into tiny little pieces in a split second. When she turned around, she was surprised to see a kid dressed in nothing but pants, had white hair and a katana in his right hand. He looked back at her and she shivered when she saw his dark, black eyes.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"..."
"...do you not understand what I'm saying or something?"
He turned around and began to walk away. she heard him mutter "Stupid ningen..." That made the young woman VERY annoyed. First, he doesn't answer her, and then he calls her stupid? She stomped over to him and grabbed his shoulder, yanking him back.
"Listen, you-"
"Release me before I cut off your arm" he threatened. His voice was a lot deeper than she thought it would've been, and it shocked her. "Did you not here me, woman? Let go of me before I personally remove your arm from your body" he repeated, lifting the sword and placing the edge of it on her shoulder.
"Do it" she stated. "See if I care." Not like anyone will notice anyways...
"..."
"You're not going to?" she asked and he lowered the sword that was covered in yellow blood...juice... some form of liquid...
"...no..."
"Why not?" He didn't answer and she saw a drop of blood hit the ground. Staring at where it came from she noticed a large gash on his lower arm. "You're hurt!" she gasped but he just grunted.
"It's nothing important..."
"But you're hurt!"
"I don't need your help."
But-"
"There he is!" a voice shouted. "Get him!" "Kill him!"
"...if you help me destroy these demons then I will rethink your offer."
Despite his words, the real hidden meaning wasn't obscure to her. His words clearly stated 'I can't fight with my left arm so if you help me kill the demons then you can heal it for me.'
Shrugging, she gently nudged him into the bushes where he would be hidden and winked. "Just watch me."
"Stupid weak ningen, do you want to die?" he asked, stepping out of them. She gently shoved him back behind them and gave a small smile as she turned around and faced the charging youkai.
"To be honest, it's at times like these that I wish I were dead... Raizen..." His eyes widened in surprise. How did she know his name? Taking her bow off her shoulder, the girl knocked an arrow and kept it aimed at the ground, relaxed. The youkai stopped their advancement when they saw her.
"Get out of the way, human, let us kill him!"
"I cannot let you pass" she growled and another one stepped up. Her tone and composure was completely different from before when she was talking with the child. Her voice seemed deeper, calmer, more confident, and her posture screamed 'power'.
"Why do you protect him?" he snarled.
"Because the child is innocent" she replied.
"Innocent?" another scoffed, "How is he innocent?"
"How is he not innocent? What has he done to make you believe his death is best?" she countered. "What sins has he committed?"
"He was born, and that is reason enough."
"Is being born now a sin that will get you killed?"
"Enough!" another youkai snarled, charging at her, "if you refuse to move then I will kill you!"
Raising my bow, she released my miko energy, letting it strength wash over them. she felt the young one behind her step back in shock and she released the purified arrow. It hit the youkai and he turned to ash the moment it touched him. She left the bow unstrung and lowered it, staring at the youkai in front of her now. Her cerulean eyes glowed white as the power of her aura made her hair and clothing billow in the wind that it created.
"Who wants to try next?" she asked nonchalantly and another youkai came out of the crowd, smirking.
"Your bows unstrung! I can take you!" he laughed and charged. She raised a hand and felt her energy balling into it. She aimed it at the youkai and released it. He also turned to ash the moment it hit him. The others, now angry, all charged at once and she glanced back at the small youkai behind me, placing a barrier around him.
"Do not touch it, unless you wish to turn into ash too" she informed, then released the rest of her miko energy, purifying all demons within a 100 meter radius. Letting the barrier around the child down, she turned to face him. "How was that?" she giggled, "Am I still weak?"
"Yes."
The smile was immediately wiped off her face and she scowled at the child.
"Maybe I should have let them kill you after all... you can heal your wounds by yourself, I'm going home... Try not to get yourself killed" she growled and stormed off in the direction of the well. She thought she saw him smirk out of the corner of her eye, but ignored it. Running off, she saw the well and quickly hopped into it when she heard Inuyasha yelling at her. The familiar blue light engulfed her and she returned to my era. She had told Sango, Miroku and Shippo that she would not return after she made it home and they accepted that fact with ease. She could see the sadness in their eyes, especially Shippo's, but they knew it was best if she wanted to be free of Inuyasha.
Free of the person that had betrayed her too many times to count.
When the light around me disappeared she stared up at the wooden ceiling of the well house and climbed up the ladder. After climbing out of the well she walked up the steps and opened the door to the modern world of Tokyo. Breathing in the contaminated air, she gave a goofy grin.
"Nothing can get as good as home, even if it means breathing polluted air" she sighed before walking inside her house. She saw the clock and her eyes widened. She was late! Throwing her stuff on the ground, she burst into her room and grabbed her school supplies.
"Aren't you going to eat, sis?" a voice asked and she whirled around to face her younger brother, Souta.
"I don't have the time to!" she whined.
"Kagome! Come down and eat your breakfast!" her mother called and said girl groaned, picking up her school bag and racing out her room and down to the kitchen where a bento and a bowl of rice were waiting for her.
"Oh, mom, I really wish I could, but-"
"Don't worry about it, Kagome, I'll put it in the fridge for when you come back home" her mother soothed and Kagome allowed a slight curve of her lips to brighten her expression before she ran out the door again. "I'm going to be late!!!!" she finally allowed herself to scream and raced to school. She burst into the school office and panted as she began to apologize.
"Sorry! Sorry, sorry, sorry!" she stated in between breaths and she looked up to see who she was supposed show the school to. She was surprised when she saw that there were no staff members around.
Three boys suddenly entered her vision, but didn't seem to see her, or else simply ignored her. One had red hair and green eyes with a body any sane male would die for, while another was tall with orange hair. She would classify him as an oaf. And the last was a boy with black hair that was slicked back. How many bottles of gel it must have taken to keep it in that position, she had no idea, but she found the sight fascinating nonetheless. Curious, she released some of my miko ki and scanned them.
'Redhead's both human and youkai...? okay... the oaf has high energy, and the punk is... a hanyou... joy... escape one hanyou and find anoth-' A beeping noise suddenly went off and she accidentally released most of her ki out of surprise. She saw the redhead wince, along with the hanyou, and quickly hid them again when she saw their eyes land her on her nervous form. The oaf took out a pager and flipped it open, completely oblivious to the girl huddled behind the desk with her eyes peeking out from behind it. A toddler suddenly appeared in midair and she scrambled backwards until her back hit the nearby wall in shock.
"Where's Yusuke?" he asked and she saw the black-haired kid look up at the kid.
"I'm right here, toddler."
"Get over here right now!" the baby demanded and the boy, now known as Yusuke, scowled.
"Why should I?"
The toddler was suddenly tackled by something that resembled a demon, and she couldn't help but stifle a laugh at the sight.
"Get off of me you-"
"...dad...?" Yusuke mumbled, confused. The man looked at Yusuke and smirked.
"Hey, Yusuke!" he laughed and Kagome gasped when she recognized him as the boy that she had saved earlier today. He also noticed her and he squinted his eyes, confused. "You look really familiar..." he mumbled and everyone looked at her. She looked back at him with a scowl on her face.
"Stupid youkai..." she mumbled, "I still look the same as five hundred years ago, while you seem to have aged quite a bit... am I still weak?"
"Oh yeah! It's you!" he exclaimed, jumping back and pointing at her as he released the toddler.
"Yeah, its me..." she drawled, rolling her eyes and sighing.
"You know her, pops?" Yusuke asked and Raizen nodded.
"She turned quite a few youkai into ash a while back" he began.
"Because I was saving your butt from being sent to the depths of H-E-double hockey sticks."
"Hey! I may have been injured, but I was not weak, if that's what you're implying!" he shouted.
"Then why didn't you kill some of the youkai?!" she argued back.
"Because you would've purified my ass!"
"I would not have purified you!"
"Didn't seem like it back then! How many miko actually save demons?! NOT MANY! I thought you were out to take my life after you released your ki!"
She shrugged and pretended to clean her nails. "Not my fault you were an idiot back then."
"I was not an-"
"WHOA!" Yusuke roared, silencing our argument. Kagome looked at him, smirking.
"What's wrong, half-breed? Our argument too loud for your sensitive ears?" she teased and he glared at her.
"Don't act so high and mighty. I felt your powers and they weren't that strong."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah, really."
"Care to try them? I would hate to see you turn to ash like all those other demons I purified. A hanyou like you shouldn't be any different" she taunted, letting them feel the full extent of her powers. Her eyes began to glow white and her blue aura surrounded her again, making her hair and clothing flap against the strength the ki gave off. She saw them all step back and she smirked, letting a ball of energy form in her hand. "Come on. If you're so strong then fight me."
"Yusuke!" the toddler growled and Yusuke looked at him.
"What?!" he snapped.
"If you have to fight, do it somewhere the force of the combined energy of you two WON'T destroy an entire school building!"
"Oh, you mean like... your office?" he thought out loud, a smirk on his face.
"No, not- Botan! What are you doing?! Get back h-"
A portal suddenly formed in front of us all and she glanced at Yusuke as the other two boys stepped through, slightly confused. He motioned for me to step through and she hesitated before obeying. She appeared in a large office with a desk facing a large wooden door. Piles of paper were on top of the desk, stacked at least a meter high. Yusuke stepped in behind me and she turned around, releasing her energy a little bit more. The papers began to flutter around the office, getting caught in the current and swirling around her, flapping and whipping all over the place. There was a sudden beeping noise and she glanced at a small blinking red dot on the wall to her right.
"Demon broke through the barrier again..." the toddler sighed. The dot suddenly disappeared and his eyes widened in surprise. "W-what happened to it?"
"Hiei must have killed it, Koenma" the redhead stated.
"Hiei is in the Makai, Kurama" the toddler, now known as Koenma, commented.
"I happened to it, that's what" she interrupted. She glanced at Raizen. "My, you've grown from when I last saw you... a man instead of an injured little boy" she teased playfully and both Raizen and Yusuke began to growl. "Oh? Did I offend you? I'm soooo sorry."
"I wouldn't provoke them if I were you, lady" the oaf informed.
"How mush do you know about my abilities?" she asked and he remained silent, trying to think of an answer. "None" she replied for him.
"Would you all please get out of here?! I have a very important meeting with one the rulers of Makai!!" Koenma shouted and she hid her ki. She glanced at Raizen.
"Which would be why you are here, I'm assuming."
She suddenly felt a familiar presence near the doorway and spun around, scowling and praying to Inari-sama that it wasn't who she thought it was.
"You..." they both growled at the same time.
"What are you doing here?" she hissed.
"I should ask the same. You died years ago, filthy ningen."
"I still see that that icicle is still shoved up your butt, like always."
"What are you saying?!" Koenma roared and she glanced at him before shrugging.
"The past has come back to haunt me..." she groaned, slapping her hand against her face and dragging it down the length of it. "And the last person I wanted to meet was Sesshoumaru, too." She glanced over at the blue-haired girl in the room. "Bring me home."
"H-hai!" she stammered and she gave a small smile. The girl opened a portal and before Kagome walked through it, she made sure to give the hanyou a little burning sensation with her ki. She smirked when she heard him yelp.
"Why you-" he began.
"Bye!" she chirped, waving at him and walking through the portal and back into school. I met Raizen in the Sengoku Jidai, Kagome mused, only to come back through the well and meet him the exact same day. Sadly, they would be meeting much more in the future considering his son was currently attending her school.
His son, Yusuke, was never really fond of her (which she could understand), but the kitsune, the oaf, and a newcomer who she learned was Hiei, seemed to enjoy her company a lot. Then enjoyed it especially so when she succeeded in giving Yusuke a royal pain in the ass. They had quickly become good friends and in the end, Yusuke began to loosen up a bit and friendship began blooming there, too.
Botan, the blue-haired girl, would occasionally drop by and visit. During those times, Kagome would make sure to entertain her as well as she could with her miko ki. Needless to say, she liked reaper, she was nice.
The first time she met Keiko she thought she had felt a jolt between them. A good jolt, not a bad one. She couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding, though. They became fast friends and were practically inseparable afterwards.
Kagome was always training with Yusuke, Kurama, Kuwabara and Hiei. They were... how should she phrase it? They were amusing… she supposed was the correct term to describe them, to spar withwhen she didn't forget about her miko powers, which she often did. The results were always large burn marks on their bodies which she had to heal for them.
Once, after she had beaten Yusuke too many times to count in a row in front Raizen, she had turned to face the silver-haired demon with a smug look.
"Well, how was that?" she had asked, but Raizen shut his eyes.
"You still have a ways to go, yet, onna."
For some reason, Kagome had felt her slight pain in her chest at the thought, but quickly shoved it down when she looked away from the demon and at Yusuke, who was lying on the ground and swearing his frustration. Fear filled her entire being when she realized the small pang she had felt was similar to the sensation Inuyasha gave her when he ran off to meet Kikyo at night.
She forced herself to ignore it. After all, she did not deserve to love.
That night, she gazed at herself in the mirror and snarled when she saw her reflection, smashing the mirror when her fist crashed through it in a ferocious punch. Shards sprayed onto the floor, her reflection staring back at her from every single shard, large and small. Slowly, she dropped to her knees, sobs racking her entire body. Her hand was bleeding profusely, but once again, she ignored it.
Dark eyes watched emotionlessly from the doorway before the figure turned on his heel and walked away, white hair flowing behind him.
"Yusuke! Trouble in the Makai! The demons are revolting and are trying to overthrow the lords!" Koenma explained quickly, panicking.
"What does that have to do with me?" Yusuke asked, obviously not finding a connection.
"For one, the demons are going to break through the barrier if they succeed, and two, HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN THAT YOUR FATHER IS ONE OF THOSE LORDS?"
"He can handle it, he's not weak."
"He is when he's STARVING!"
Yusuke's eyes widened, remembering their first encounter. "Send Botan. I'm going."
When Botan appeared, Kagome held him back - much in the same fashion she had restrained Raizen that day so long ago, she mused - and allowed a minute smile to curve her lips upward. "You'll die if you go, Yusuke. I'll go for you."
"It's my dad!"
"I'm the one that can summon a barrier that can purify any youkai that touch it. Now stay here, got that?" she commanded. Though her voice was soft, it allowed no room for argument. Yusuke opened his mouth to argue, but it quickly snapped shut as he gave a grudging nod. Kagome stepped though, and the portal disappeared the moment she did so.
She found herself near a castle and she gave a small smile when she recognized it as Sesshoumaru's. It was surrounded by demon's however, and that dampened her mood quite a bit. A flash of white caught her eye in the sea of dark-colored, lower-level youkai, and knew that Sesshoumaru was fighting off as many as he could. She took a closer look and saw him bathed in blood. The miko scowled at the sight but shrugged it off, releasing much of her ki for the first time in a year. The mass amount of power caught all the youkai's attention and she smiled when she saw them moving away from the castle and towards her, leaving three lords behind to tend to their wounds. Kagome then shut her eyes, asking for forgiveness from all of her friends, and turned around, fleeing in the opposite direction of the castle. The youkai followed her, their train of rational thought long ago overpowered by the instinct to kill all miko. She felt them surrounding her, but not before noticing a small mob of them surrounding a large concentration of familiar youki. She began to move towards it and smiled when she felt the weaker ones leave, and ran away from the powerful youkai that she knew was a lord. Which one, she did not know, and did not want to linger in order to find out.
Kagome stopped when she knew that none of the youkai lords would be harmed any longer, but her jubilation dropped when she realized that she had run herself into a proverbial pit of lions. She was surrounded by youkai on all sides with a radius of at least a mile long. She gave a bitter smile, knowing that she was already getting tired from flailing her miko ki around like a kid with a balloon. Slowly, she began to shut her eyes as they neared, and summoned a barrier around her. She felt the barrier vibrating with the amount of youki that crashed against it as she pulled out her bow and notched an arrow. After aiming, the young woman concentrated miko ki into it and released, watching as it plowed a path through the mile long crowd of youkai. The holes were quickly filled. Kagome continued to fire arrows until she felt her energy nearly completely depleted, and swore under my breath. Chucking the bow at the nearest youkai she could, she took out her katanas, one in each hand, as she waited for her barrier to shatter. It didn't take long.
Panting as she slashed through the mob of youkai, Kagome felt some strong youki drawing near. The Lords had finally regained enough strength to fight again. Giving a small smile, she began to fight harder, determined to bring down as many youkai along with her to hell as she could.
-----Raizen-----
I felt a burst of power and the pain went away. Opening my eyes a crack, I saw the low-level youkai leaving me, and I gave a smile. Wincing as I sat up, I examined my wounds and rubbed my growling stomach. Seeing some fruit dangling off a nearby tree, I grimaced, but shrugged and ate them. After doing so, I felt strength in my body and a sigh escaped my parted lips. I wasn't much of a fan for fruits, but I was willing to consume them if necessary. Running towards the area where I felt the most ki, a large expanse of youkai met my eyes.
I couldn't help but give an excited laugh and join the fray.
I felt the adrenaline coursing through my veins as I sliced down any youkai in my path, their blood spurting onto my bare chest, and an evil smirk gradually grew, striking terror into the pathetic youkai's hearts. A flickering ki caught my attention and I recognized it as that miko's. Strangely enough, she never told me her name. I always just called her 'you', 'human', 'woman' or 'miko', never really had to call her anything else. It was suddenly drowned out, but came back with a vengeance moments later.
Everything suddenly turned white and I saw the shadowy figures of the lesser youkai disintegrating to ash, just like so long ago. When the light disappeared, I was surprised to see that everything was gone except for the miko, the other lords, and me. Glancing at the miko, I saw her staring at the blood that dripped off of her body and onto the dusty earth. Letting the katanas slide out from her hands' grasps, she collapsed to her knees and raised her head to look at the sky.
I continued to watch from a distance as liquid diamonds dripped down the sides of her face. She turned her gaze to me and I saw a large gash on her forehead that bled into her right eye, which was squeezed shut. Her eyes were dull as she looked at me and I gave a confused expression. Her mouth opened to speak but no noise came out other than her harsh breathing. Instead, hacking coughs escaped her body, more blood dribbling down her chin. Finally, when the coughing had faded, a weak whisper floated into my sensitive ears, but I had not deciphered it until all of the life had already left her bloody and beaten form. For some reason, I suddenly felt as if a knife had stabbed my heart and was twisted many times over when I finally comprehended her final words.
"Am I good enough now...?"
However, I'm positive my mind heard it as "Am I worthy of your affection?"