If there was any one phrase that Kagome hated more than anything, it was 'I wish'. For the past five years of her life, those words had haunted her every waking moment - whether directly or indirectly because of the wish-granting jewel that she'd been born with wedged in her hip. Either way, they were the bane of her semi-immortal existence.
Her current situation was no different.
Getting adopted into the House of the West was supposed to make things easier on her with the whole 'constantly getting targeted' thing. It was supposed to get all of the ambitious jerks that were after the jewel off of her back once and for all.
It was not supposed to land her where she currently was, fighting for her life against the Lord of the East and his whole freaking army. Why the hell had Sesshoumaru named her a diplomat, anyway? So yeah, she was still unmarried, but she was only twenty! That didn't mean that she had to take a mate right now, wherever she could find one. The only reason that the demon had gone so far in the first place was because he knew that she would never go for a political mating and he needed some way to parade her in front of possible suitors. Because he was a conniving bastard with a god complex.
When (if) she got back, she was slinging a rosary around his damn neck.
"Well, well, well," Suzumiya drawled as she was pushed back into a corner. "Look what we have here, my friends... A little lost bitch, all alone in the wilderness."
She glared at the male. She was adopted by the West, yes, but she was still human; if she hadn't had four years to get used to being called 'bitch', she would have been more than just a little bit insulted. Instead, she bared her teeth at the stupid bird in a threatening grin. "So, what?" she goaded. "We've got a girl claimed by dogs, a pheasant that thinks he's too pretty for his feathers, and a fight over something stupid. All we need now is a monkey and a boy that was born from a peach!"
The idiot snarled and rushed her, but she quickly ducked his swipe to slam her bow into his ribs. Yet again, she cursed herself for not bringing any other weapons - her arrows had run out not ten minutes into the battle and now her strength was more than halved thanks to the constant barrier that she was having to keep up in order to discourage any demons weaker than a general from coming within fifty feet of her. Moreover, she was still bound by the treaties between the East and the West. She was on their land, and therefore most of her reiki was sealed away by the House of the Moon insignia tattooed on her left shoulder.
It aggravated her to no end that the blow didn't kill her opponent, but the crunch and subsequent collision with the cliff face off to her side was rather satisfying. The darting of his two generals to fill his place was not.
She managed to fight them off for another twenty minutes, but she ended up pinned way faster than was acceptable. That was what she got for slacking off in her training... Quickly, in a manner that they wouldn't notice, she began to pump her wounds with healing ki. Her barrier had fallen the moment that the archers had been called off, and now she was just praying that she got the chance to channel that energy back into her body before a wish could be made. All they would have to do was touch her with the intent of using it and the Shikon would wake up faster than she could seal it back down. And if the Shikon was used before she could seal it back down, she would be as good as powerless for at least a month.
If she was lucky, he would be like all the other idiots that had come close before him and would spend the next twenty minutes or so monologuing like a pretentious ass.
The Lord stared down at her with a look of haughty superiority that had nothing on her adopted brother's, but that didn't stop her from wanting to smash his face in. She'd been living with dog demons for nearly half a decade; maybe those mentalities had sort of rubbed off on her own way of thinking.
... A lot.
Suzumiya gave her a sick grin and crouched down, placing a hand on her cheek in mock gentleness. "I wish," he purred, "for ultimate power to be laid before me."
Oh, for the love of-!
xxxx
Goku stared curiously at the four people that had just appeared out of nowhere in the middle of his nap, trying to decide whether they were friendly or not. They looked kind of weird, that was for sure, but he'd known a lot of other people that looked way weirder than just having feathers for hair; most of them were alright, even if it took a bit for them to come around.
"What... What the hell is this?!" the one dressed the fanciest demanded, kicking the girl (at least he thought that she was a girl, but he really couldn't be sure without checking) in the face. She didn't even make a sound, convincing the boy that she wasn't conscious - though how anyone could fall asleep in the middle of a fight was beyond him. Because looking at them now, they had definitely been fighting. There was too much blood and a couple too many bruises for it to be anything else.
"Hey!" he frowned. "That's really not very nice. Didn't anyone ever tell you that you're not supposed to hit someone when they're down?"
The man twitched before turning on him with a violent snarl. "Silence, filth!"
He blinked, head tilting to one side. "So... Is that a no...?"
"KILL HIM!" the stranger shouted, jabbing a finger towards him violently.
Goku blinked once more before grinning. That was a language he could understand!
It was really disappointing when the men ended up running away not even ten minutes into the fight, though. Now he was just going to have to hope that the girl (again, he would have to check that) could give him a better workout when she woke up.
xxxx
They had found out, shortly after Inuyasha had accidentally made a wish on her right after the final battle, that the miko was now the human version of the stupid Shikon Jewel in more ways than one. He'd been hugging her and murmured this wistful little "I wish Kikyou could have been here to see this," and wham. Every last drop of power had rushed out of her in the most painful surge that she had ever felt and there stood Kikyou herself when she opened her eyes again... sort of.
Ghosts didn't exactly stand in the strictest of senses, but there she was. Kagome, on the other hand, was left so weak that she couldn't even move.
Of course, the wish still hadn't been pure-there was no such thing as a pure wish, she had figured that out a long time ago. The real secret, though? The jewel wasn't pure, either. Any wish that it 'granted' was twisted into something darker. Case in point: Kikyou was there to see them, but she was still dead. The only real difference from her previous undead lifestyle was that she was incorporeal this time, and Inuyasha (in his infinite stupidity) had thought that he would remedy the situation by making another wish the moment that the living priestess regained some of her strength a month later.
"I wish that Kikyou had her own body again" didn't exactly go over that well, either. She ended up possessing Kaede against her will, her little sister's spirit getting ejected and passing on to the afterlife in the process.
Needless to say, she had killed him and then herself. Only this time, it was for good-and Kagome had gone through a three month recovery instead of just the one. She was in constant pain throughout the whole thing, with only her friends to look after her as she mourned the loss of her first love and his betrayal, and the news had spread that the Shikon was still around in a new vessel. Her.
Sesshoumaru had showed up and taken her in several weeks later, if only to keep the jewel out of the hands of those that would use it (her) for their own gain. She knew that it was in a lot of ways only so that he could claim her as an asset of the West, but she still appreciated it more than she could ever say.
She just wished that he would stop trying to marry her off. She would continue her line in her own time, when she found the right guy, and under no one's agenda. It wasn't like she was going to be dying any time soon, so why bother rushing into something?
"Heeeeeyyy!" a voice shouted, paired with someone shaking her shoulder and forcing her back into the realm of consciousness. "Hey, are you alright?"
Her eyes cracked open slowly, the already expected ache pounding through her skull and leaving her nauseous. A boy crouched over her, clothed in bright orange with an almost blank look of concern on his face. Behind him, all she could see was desert.
Which should not have been possible, seeing as how the East was covered in mountain ranges and countless forests...
"Oh, shit," she murmured weakly, very shortly before passing out again.
xxxx
He waited impatiently for the girl (he'd gone ahead and checked after she'd fallen back asleep, so now he was sure that she really was one) to wake up, but the sun was already starting to set and she hadn't so much as budged. Finally, he just pulled her up on the Nimbus with him and kept going. He wanted to find out who she and those other guys were, why they had been fighting, and how they'd managed to just poof into existence like that - but he really needed to find his grandpa's dragon ball, too.
"Let's see," he spoke to himself as he pulled out the radar he'd gotten from Bulma, doing what he had seen her do more than once and clicking the button a few times until a little yellow light showed up. "Got one! Sure looks real far away..."
It was a good thing he had Nimbus, or he'd be in some big trouble.
He - well, they - flew on for a good while, even after the sun went down completely. He ended up dozing off next to the girl after it had gotten dark, thinking to himself that maybe he should have just doubled back and taken her to Master Roshi's island instead. The others would've been able to look after her much better than he could, and the master never seemed to mind having a girl around. Goku might not be able to tell if this one was supposed to be pretty or not, but she did smell good; that had to count for something, right?
When he woke up the next morning, they didn't look to have gotten very far - and he was really thirsty. Ushering the cloud back up into the air tiredly, he felt his tongue fall out of his mouth as the day wore on.
"Water..." he mumbled, glancing around this way and that. "Need some water..." Finally, he saw something shiny off in the distance and perked up. "Hey!" As it got closer, he felt a bright smile part his lips. There was some water - and a lot of it! "Big puddle!" he announced excitedly, bringing the Nimbus down so that he could get a drink and maybe go for a swim.
For the first time since she'd passed out, he heard his new companion shift around a bit. He turned around from getting his drink, a little water still dripping down his chin, and stared at her. Blue eyes met his own as they opened, and he gave her a wide grin.
"You're awake!" he announced happily. "I'm Goku. What's your name? You want some of this water I found?"
She stared at him blankly for a long moment before heaving a sigh. "Sure," she agreed as she joined him right on the shore. He frowned when he saw how slow she was moving, how it almost looked like every step hurt - but she didn't say anything, so neither did he. His grandpa had always told him to be as nice to girls as he could be, after all. "I'm Kagome," she told him with a weak smile, leaning down next to him and bringing some water up to her mouth with her cupped hands. From the way she started drinking after that, he would almost say that she was even thirstier than he had been.
"So what were you doing with those guys anyway, Kagome?" he questioned, watching her curiously once she had finally drank her fill.
The girl stiffened a bit, her face shifting with... fear? Well, that made no sense. Why was she afraid? Had she done something bad? Or maybe had those men done something bad to her? Either way, he really didn't like that expression on her.
"Hey, it's fine!" he rushed to assure. "You don't have to tell me. I just really wanted to ask how you showed up out of nowhere like that, but I can take you to the next town if you want."
She was quiet for a long time, studying him with a cautious glint in her eye. Finally, she slumped a bit and shook her head. "Sorry to be so suspicious, Goku. You seem like a really nice kid, I just don't know if I can trust you yet."
Goku grinned reassuringly at her. "That's okay! Hey, do you want to go swimming?"
The girl blinked at him twice before smiling. "That sounds good."
He liked this girl, he decided. She was a lot nicer than Bulma, even if she was still a little weird about him taking all his clothes off before diving in.
xxxx
Kagome heaved a sigh (it felt like at least her tenth in as many minutes) as she dunked her head under the crystal-clear water. She wasn't in the East anymore, so at least that meant that her reiki was going to be faster to recover - but this sure wasn't the West, either. She was in a completely different world, yet again, and her only company in it was a boy no older than her little brother had been the last time she'd seen him... four years ago.
Kami, that was a scary thought. Souta was sixteen already, and she'd completely missed a whole quarter of his life...
She shook it off quickly. Ever since the well had closed, she'd done her best not to think about what she had lost on the other side; it made her depressed, and Sesshoumaru was plenty fond of telling her just how poorly that emotion effected her scent. It was better to live in the here and now and leave all the 'could have been's for when she was sleeping.
When she resurfaced, the boy - Goku - was staring up at the sky with his jaw slack... and she could hear someone shouting off in the distance.
"It's Nam!" he announced worriedly, hurrying to swim back to the shore.
"Goku?" she called after him, her eyes wide as she followed him as quickly as she could manage in her weakened state. "Goku!"
"Wait here, Kagome!" he shouted as he rushed to dress. "I'll be right back, okay!"
The priestess watched as he called a cloud to him, hopped on, and flew off. She gaped up at his disappearing form, slowly processing that he had just ditched her in the middle of a desert oasis. Which was better than the desert proper, sure, but not by a whole lot.
She felt her eye twitch. "GOKU!"
Okay, so she couldn't be sure - but her new 'protector' might be even worse than her last. If she ever heard the brat start making a wish, she was out of there.
With a weary sigh, she sank back into the water.
xxxx
Goku felt like he was forgetting something. He had no idea what he could be forgetting, but he just knew that something was bugging him... Something... Wow, the stars were pretty out here. And that sparkly stuff on the horizon seemed kind of familiar-
"Oh, no!" he shouted, beginning to freak out. "Kagome!"
He was back on Nimbus in an instant, glancing around this way and that in a panic for the big puddle that they'd found earlier. To his relief, that sparkly stuff turned out to be exactly what he was looking for. Putting on an extra burst of speed, he flew down to the little island in the middle.
"Kagome! Kagome!" he called, scanning the water worriedly. "Oh geez, what if she never got back to shore? Kagome!"
"What?" a dry voice questioned from right behind him, making him jump.
The boy swiveled around so quickly that his head spun, but was definitely relieved when he saw the girl that he'd been trying to find just sitting there, staring at him. "Yay!" he cheered, running up and swinging his arms around her neck. "You're okay!"
She stiffened for a second, seeming surprised at the contact, but slowly returned the hug and let out a quiet snicker. "If you were that worried, what made you run off like that?"
"Oh, it was my friend from the martial arts tournament!" he explained as he pulled away from her. "He was getting carried off by this really huge bird, so I had to go help him. I'm sorry I just left you here all alone."
"Yeah, yeah." She rolled her eyes and gave a pained grunt as she stood up, but seemed to forgive him for messing up. Again, he was really relieved - Bulma would've pounded him.
Maybe not all girls were that strange after all. Launch was pretty nice, too, come to think of it... even if she did have that other side of her that came out when she sneezed. That was kind of scary. But this might not be so bad! If Kagome felt like it, maybe she would even keep him company while he found his dragon ball! She could actually sit on Nimbus (unlike Krillin) and it was nice having someone around. He'd gotten really used to that the last few months.
The boy grinned. "Hey, do you wanna help me find my grandpa?" he offered, even as he heard Nam and the villagers make it to the outer shores and start gawking about some moving lake or something.
She blinked down at him, becoming concerned. "Your grandpa's missing?"
He shook his head, a little confused. "No, Grandpa's dead - but the dragon ball he gave me is out there somewhere, and I really need to get it back."
There was a beat of silence, right before she snorted. He could have been wrong, but he was pretty sure that she was fighting down a smile when she started scolding him. "Then maybe you should have asked if I wanted to help you find your grandpa's memento instead of him. What do your parents think of you being out here all on your own?"
His head tilted to one side, his brow furrowing. "Memen... to?" he repeated. "Parents? What are those things?"
She stared down at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. "Don't joke with me, Goku."
He frowned at her. "I'm not! What are they? Are they something you can eat? I am really hungry."
Her eye twitched, but it seemed like she wasn't going to tell him. That was frustrating; all these new things in the world, and no one ever wanted to sit down and explain them to him! Oh, well... He was starting to get used to that, anyway.
"Come on," he sighed. "Let's go help them get some water back to the village. Nimbus!"
The girl caught his shoulder as they got up on the cloud, her expression weirdly serious. "A memento is a thing left behind by someone who died, as something to remember them by. And parents are the people that bring us into the world - a mother and a father."
He blinked at her in surprise as she settled down and they took off across the water, feeling a wide grin split his lips. "Hey, Kagome?" he asked.
She looked over at him, giving him her full attention. "Yes?"
He grinned even wider. "How are people brought into the world?"
Really, he had no idea why she turned so red.
xxxx
A/N: Alright, so probably not what people would be expecting from me. For one, it's not Fairy Tail-and for two, obviously, it's taken forever for me to post something new and it's in a crossover that is so far from popular that it's sad. Still... I figure if people can do Inuyasha/DBZ crossovers, why not DB? If this doesn't really appeal to anyone, I'll go ahead and stop at the end of the RRA saga. If people do like it, well... my brother for one is already anticipating me going all the way through DB, DBZ, and GT. Let's see where this monster goes, folks! Oh, and in case it wasn't fairly obvious, this is going to be some slow burn Goku/Kag. Sloooowwwwww burn. He's only twelve right now, after all.
Oh, and in case you come across any gaps, the storyline is staying pretty much exactly the same. Here in the beginning, Kagome's presence doesn't actually effect just about anything when Goku goes running off on his own, so I've left that alone. Apologies for those who haven't actually watched DB and get confused! I promise it gets more in-depth later on!
Edit: 7/01/16