Kagura's afternoon was proving to be as listless as she imagined it would be. Hell, the most excitement she had felt in weeks was her anticipation for her favorite time of year approaching: fall. Many things drew her to what most viewed as the dreariest season of all. The sky was visibly darker, giving her a break from the harsh sunshine that assaulted her ruby red eyes and porcelain white skin. She often got stuck, staring in awe at the contrasting colors of the leaves changing. She was envious, in a somewhat morbid way, of how nature clung to beauty even in death. The crisp autumn wind, however, was what she admired the most. There was a certain sharpness to it that she craved in its absence. She loved the way it whipped her long, dark brown hair in an almost playful manner. If was fitting, seeing as how she was a wind sorceress, herself.
Her head was propped up on her left hand, with her elbow resting uncomfortably on top of her desk. She subconsciously waved her right hand in one sweeping motion in front of her. A sudden breeze swept away a stack of papers from the desk she'd been sitting behind all morning. One paper floated astray and landed neatly in a trash bin of the office across from hers. She didn't feel the slightest incentive to retrieve it. A familiar voice called out, snapping her out of her boredom induced trance.
"Um, do you want this back?" said her confused co-worker, Kagome. The cheery young girl pulled the paper out of the bin next to her desk and examined it.
"Have I high-lighted anything on it?" Kagura asked, dryly.
"No.. but this is time stamped for today's date. Are you already done editing all these? Naraku always gives you more work than me, and I'm only halfway through. N-not that I doubt your abilities," she replied in a concerned tone.
"Just toss it," Kagura sighed.
It was certainly cruel that the likes of a wind demon be made to work in a stuffy office for 8 hours a day. Her unfortunate setting was coupled with an even more unfortunate job: newspaper editor-in-chief. She had the responsibility of editing the stories that were to be published, and also deciding which ones didn't make the cut. To make matters worse, her boss Naraku was an ignorant, vile man. A few months ago, Kagura had come to work after barely an hour of sleep and accidentally allowed a slew of errors to pass through the network and make their way to Naraku. Her neighbor's caterwauling feline was to blame, not that she cared to offer an excuse. Although he caught the mistake and the errors were never published, he accused her of being too imbecilic to use human-made technology and temporarily "suspended" her use of it. She didn't know when she would be allowed to use a computer again. This seemed to be an unfair abuse of power, but Kagura knew better than to dispute it. He had connections upon connections in this town, particularly with the corrupt police department. Not to mention he was the publisher of the Baltimore Sun. One wrong move from Kagura and he could tarnish her reputation, or even have what little freedom she had stolen from her. The threat wasn't just assumed; he had told her these exact words more times than she cared to recall.
Anyhow, he at least assigned her an assistant, Kagome, to help bear the weight of all the paperwork she'd have to sort through. It was later discovered that he was merely attracted to the young girl and hired her on the spot before interviewing anyone else. He often talked about how she looked like one of his previous lovers. Kagura snarled at the thought of him slithering around the poor girl's desk like a snake waiting to strike. She was naive and overbearingly positive, the opposite of Kagura. She was a good enough assistant, though.
The rest of the day seemed to move like a coin sinking through jello. Kagura glanced at the cheap, black and white clock that hung high next to the door to her office. 4:28.. only two minutes left. She watched the next 60 seconds tick by through half-closed eyelids.
Rubbing her temples, she asked, "Hey, Kagome, you busy?"
"No, just finishing up. I only have 13 pages left to print for your review and we're done for the day. If you want, I'll finish off the work. You really don't look so good. I feel like you work so much harder than I do!" she exclaimed.
"Hmph, as if I'd leave you here to be preyed on by Naraku." Kagura smirked at the girl in an attempt to ease her worry. "You go ahead and pack up to leave, lest that ill-tempered boyfriend of yours storms in here to retrieve you."
Kagome blushed. "It's okay, I'll stay to help. And I've told you already, he isn't my boyfriend, just a friend. We're just bound to each other now, is all. Besides, someone has to feed him properly." A soft smile came across her lips. Kagura couldn't help but giggle at the girl's loving expression.
She'd met Inuyasha, the 'friend', the very first day Kagome had been hired as her assistant. Kagura had escorted the young girl outside at the end of that day after seeing Naraku's disgusting tongue lick his lips while silently watching the girl work. Kagome was naive and saw nothing wrong with flouncing about in her green mini skirt in front of this man. She wore a white button up shirt tucked into it that didn't add any modesty to the attire. She had on a bright red bra underneath it and had no undershirt to keep the loud color concealed. Kagura made haste in getting her out of the hallway of offices, bee-lining for the exit. Before they could make it out of the double glass doors completely, a flash of red whipped towards them from across the street and stopped in front of Kagome, making both women jump backwards. Kagura was on guard at this point, ready to rip whatever it was apart with her winds for startling her. She calmed down when she saw Kagome smile and place a hand on her hip.
"Inuyasha, that wasn't polite at all! You scared my boss on my very first day!" she yelled, wagging a finger at him.
"That's all the damn thanks I get for coming all the way here to pick you up?! And you," he snapped at Kagura, "just what the fuck are you lookin' at, wench?"
"Wench?" she let out a laugh.
She lifted a loose fist and gently flicked her fingers towards him in a shooing gesture. A strong gust of wind knocked him across the busy street, soaring him high enough over traffic to avoid any accidents. His back landed firmly against a light pole and he quickly slid to the ground. She realized she was probably overreacting. Still, she couldn't have been the first person to gawk at the boy's pointy, puppy-dog ears. With a shake of his head, was back in front of them as suddenly as he had been whisked away by her powerful wind.
"SIT!" Kagome exclaimed. The boy smashed to the pavement face first, just before his hands had made it to Kagura. "Can't you go a single day without being nasty to anyone? Honestly, today was my first day of work and you don't even have the decency to ask me how it went," Kagome said with a shaky voice.
Kagura decided to play nice. This was definitely the weirdest shit she'd seen in a long time and it provided much needed entertainment.
"I apologize for attacking you, dog demon," she said, trying to sound believable.
"Heh, I'm not sorry. Don't cha have any manners? You can't just stare at someone like they're some kinda zoo animal!" he shouted, struggling to get back to his feet.
Kagura couldn't help but look back up at his fuzzy dog ears that had captured her attention before. They were the same silvery white color as his long, thick hair. It was much longer than Kagome's dark brown hair. He had it pulled back in a simple ponytail at the base of his neck. It beautifully contrasted with his golden eyes, black eyebrows, and deep red button up shirt in which the sleeves were pulled up to his elbows in a messy fashion. She noticed that while he was young, he couldn't have been much younger than herself. You can never tell with demons, though. She smelled a scent in him that made her realize he was only half demon. It was common knowledge amongst demons that mating with a human can only bring about an abomination, of sorts. The spawn was promised to live a life filled with judgement, torment from demons and humans alike, and unprovoked violence. Not to mention the fact that the vastly different bloods never mixed well, causing an issue with self control. She almost felt sorry for the cute mutt. Times had changed a great deal, sure, but living things are creatures of habit. And due to pureblood lineage conservation, medieval views were not in any way rare among the hierarchy of the demon community. Nonetheless, Kagura didn't care what he was or wasn't, so long as he kept his 18th century insults to himself.
"Inuyasha, was it?" Kagura asked, noticing she was drifting off in thought. He crossed his arms and nodded once, not looking her in the eye. "Well, it's been a pleasure chatting with you," she said, her words dripping with sarcasm. Kagome said her goodbyes and they parted ways. She could hear the half breed cursing as she walked to her car. She couldn't help smirking.
The two dark haired women had finally finished the last of their work at 5:44pm, over an hour behind schedule. Kagura thanked the gods that Naraku was tied up in the publisher's office doing something or another. She enjoyed ending her work days without having to hear the sound of his grizzly, condescending voice trailing behind her. When they made it outside, Kagura stretched her aching arms out and looked up to the sky, dropping them back down to her sides. There wasn't a cloud in sight. How dull.
"See ya in the AM, Kagome," she said through a light yawn.
"Wait.. Inuyasha isn't here. He always meets me right here, even when I work late.." Kagome replied, sounding worried.
Kagura looked around. The girl was right. He was 'always' here to greet her. Not always cheerfully, but he had a reputation for his dependability. She wasn't sure why she hadn't noticed this detail herself. Maybe she was more self absorbed today. She knew without even looking at Kagome what the petite young woman would ask her next, so she decided to offer the proposal herself. In her mind, it redeemed her for not realizing the tremendous change in Kagome's routine.
"I'm sorry, I'll drive you home. Come with me." Kagura started towards the parking area, knowing her concerned assistant would follow.
"Are you sure? I don't want to bother you," Kagome replied, quickly finding her way to Kagura's heels. She had no other options, after all.
Kagura unlocked her black '98 Thunderbird and ushered the girl inside. The car ride was uncomfortably silent, aside from Kagome's sudden exclamations of "turn right!" and "no, sorry, I meant left!" Kagura was losing her patience. When they finally reached their destination, an interesting scene was awaiting them in the large yard in front of Kagome's house. It hadn't been as Kagura had expected. She'd pegged Kagome the type to have a tall white house with bright pink shutters and a white-picket fence, or something similarly childish. It was quite the opposite. There were two small, red rose bushes on either side of the front door to a cozy looking log cabin. It stood out on this road with a run down apartment complex that couldn't have housed more than 10 people being its only neighbor. The front yard had to have been at least a quarter of an acre large just by itself. There was no fence, no garage, no driveway. It was simplicity at its best. However, none of this had anything to do with the aforementioned 'interesting' part. Kagura pulled the car to the side of the street and put it in park.
There before them were two white haired men, with the lights from their immense energy surrounding them. She recognized Inuyasha right away. The other man resembled him, but his demonic power was leaps and bounds above Inuyasha's. She could sense another source of power that was stronger than both of theirs, but she didn't have much time to analyze the situation before the more powerful one disappeared from the very spot he'd been standing.
"Inuyasha!" yelled Kagome. He snapped his head towards them. His eyes widened when he noticed Kagome's presence.
The powerful demon had moved so quickly that he'd made the illusion of disappearance, and was now standing behind Inuyasha. He raised a hand in the air, extending his claws towards the unsuspecting boys back. Without thinking it through, Kagura sent an incredibly strong wind at the unknown demon. She didn't exactly consider Inuyasha a friend, but she admired his protective nature over Kagome. On another hand, if something happened to him, she'd feel obligated to carpool her young assistant to and from work.
The gust of strong wind knocked her target and Inuyasha both to their left, hurdling towards a small thresh of trees behind the cabin. The taller one stopped himself just before impact with a sturdy looking limb. Kagura watched with wide eyes as the demon changed direction and disappeared in a streak of light. What the hell? Suddenly, she sensed a presence behind her. Damn it.
"Is there a reason that you, a pathetic wind witch, dare to interfere in my affairs?" he said in a low voice.
Kagura turned to face him. Wind witch? Ha, that's a new one. His eyes were calm, showing no expression. He hadn't even broken a sweat. She studied his face, acknowledging the purple markings on his high cheekbones. The moon symbol on his forehead matched it in color. His eyes were solid gold, much like Inuyasha's, but different. They looked.. empty. His hair was a smooth silvery white and was pushed neatly behind his pointed ears, hanging down near his legs. She couldn't help but admire his features for a moment. He looked like a human statue, chiseled into perfection. Nonetheless, she didn't show any signs of weakness.
"As if I'd include myself in a quarrel between testosterone fueled mutts. I simply didn't want my life to be effected by that half breed being injured," she replied, mimicking his calm tone.
He raised an eyebrow then turned away from her. "I see," he stated, almost calmer than before. And in what seemed like an instant, he was gone.
Kagura let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding in. She was grateful for his departure, but she was confused as to what encouraged him to leave so suddenly. Why act like a blood-thirsty hound one minute, then run away the next? She turned off her thoughts when she spotted a frantic, finger waving Kagome.
"You could've been seriously hurt! Why would you pick a fight with him while I'm away?! You big dummy! If it weren't for Kagura, who knows what may have happened to you!" she yelled, tears rolling down her face.
"Wow, glad you have so much faith in me," he hissed, putting an arm around the girl. "Let's just go inside."
Kagura was shocked that the temperamental boy hadn't gone after him. He interrupted her thought, looking over his shoulder to frown at her. It was understandable, considering she'd just sent him flying with her winds again. Still, he could've at least said thank you. Ungrateful brat. She followed them inside, regardless. Her main concern was getting answers about who the other dog demon was. It wasn't like Kagura to pry into people's personal affairs, but she couldn't help herself.