It was a cold feudal night.
The village in Inuyasha's forest was eerily quiet, not one person stirring save for a few up in a small hut on the edge of the village. Although the village priestess Kaede took residence here, not many of the villagers chose to visit her as much, due to one thing:
The dangerous, but diverse group that lingered with Kaede.
The group that Kaede had learned to love.
And the group that Kagome had finally found true friends in.
Sango and Miroku were sitting inside the hut speaking with Kaede of the lack of recent demon attacks on the village. Sango's faithful Kirara lay on her lap, tummy up with Sango's hand rubbing it. Shippou was in the corner, ignoring everyone for the candy Kagome had recently given him, piles of wrappers at his side.
And the unusual girl the villagers had grown accustomed to seeing (although were still getting use to her odd way of dressing) was walking to her favorite tree in the forest to find her favorite hanyou.
Kagome walked slowly, understanding what she was about to start- a huge fight between her and Inuyasha as she needed to go home to the present era for testing.
She sighed. 'I wish Inuyasha would just allow me to go home when I wanted to without a fight. It's not like I stay there forever! Sheesh…'
A light breeze brushed against her knees, making her shiver and speed up. The Goshinboku was nearing and she could faintly make out the red haori that Inuyasha was laying on a tree branch in. She mentally braced herself for the coming fight- yelling, her leaving through the well, but eventually returning faithfully like always.
Inuyasha laid with his hands tucked into his sleeves, eyes closed tight when the breeze carried the scent of blossoms and jasmine to his noise. He flexed his claws and let out a harsh breath of air. He didn't bother opening his eyes to see Kagome but rudely asked, "What is it wench?"
Kagome rolled her eyes, expecting such a greeting. "Inuyasha, I need to head home for a few days again. I have tests but no worries; I'll be back as soon as they're done!"
What she did not expect was his response.
Inuyasha opened his eyes and jumped down, his face more angry then Kagome would expect for such a trivial thing as going home. He took a few menacing steps towards her and she subconsciously stepped back, her hand tightening its hold on her bag.
"You want to WHAT!?" He yelled, making her flinch.
Kagome looked timid but held her ground. "Go home! It's only for a few days and it's really importa-"
"YOU SAY THAT EVERY TIME! 'OH INUYASHA, I HAVE TESTS THAT ARE SO IMPORTANT THAT I NEED TO LEAVE THE REAL IMPORTANT WORK HERE!'" Inuyasha yelled, mimicking Kagome's voice in such a way that it was not a joke.
Tears pricked the side of her eyes but she didn't let them fall.
"YOU GO HOME SO MUCH- IT'S LIKE YOU'RE NOT EVEN HELPING US! YOU'RE JUST A GOOD FOR NOTHING JEWEL SHARD DETECTOR!"
Her worst fears were coming out in the hanyou she loved's voice. She shot her eyes down to hide it, but the tears were flowing already. Inuyasha saw but made no attempt to stop hurting her.
"That's all we use you for." His voice got a bit quieter, looking away. "You can't even shoot an arrow straight even if the target is in front of you, and it's been months! How you're Kikyo's reincarnation makes no sense to me." With that he turned around and began walking back to the tree. Before he could make it though, Kagome realized something.
This wasn't the first time he had hurt her, nor would it be the last…but why should she have to deal with it!
"Inuyasha…" he turned back around, ready to yell more. But she beat him to it.
"SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT!" Inuyasha fell face first into the ground and kept going, creating a man-shaped hole in the ground several feet deep. He groaned loudly.
"Honestly Inuyasha, if you think of me like that then why didn't you tell me in the first place? Why pretend that I was actually helping?! SIT! SIT! SIT!" She yelled, making him go deeper into the ground.
"You tell me this now, wh-when my feelings have grown so much that I actually CARE ABOUT YOU!" She screamed, making him flinch in his now very comfortable hole.
Kagome took a breath. "FINE! I'm going back home and just you wait and see Inuyasha! I'll be stronger then you, and definitely stronger than your DEAD, CLAY GIRLFRIEND KIKYO!" And with that retort, she stormed off swinging her backpack fully on.
By this time, Sango and Miroku had ran out and witnessed the end of the fight, standing idle in shock at how big it was. They watched Kagome run off and decided it was best if she did go home and relax. This fight was huge- bigger than the usual they had when she wanted to go home. Hell, he usually only got three or four SIT commands but Kagome was ruthless!
Sango glared at Inuyasha who was climbing out his favorite hole and grabbed Hirakotsu.
"Inuyasha! You're dead!" screamed Sango, throwing Hirakotsu at him. "Kagome is my best friend you fool, now she won't be back for who knows how long!" Inuyasha jumped out of the boomerangs way and hopped back into the tree.
"Keh, she'll be back tomorrow or the next day Sango, like always." With that, he turned his head away from them and sat, still in a bad mood.
She caught Hirakotsu and began to run towards the tree to pull him out and beat him senseless when Miroku grabbed her, holding her and trying to calm her down, rubbing her back.
"Get your ass out of that tree Inuyasha and FIGHT ME!" She yelled, pushing Miroku away. But he grabbed her arms and pulled her back towards him.
Inuyasha chuckled harshly, "Oh please, like that time you thought you could kill me when Naraku tricked you? Yeah, alright."
Sango turned deep red and fought Miroku with new vigor, who then wrapped her in his arms into a hug, his hands on her back rubbing again.
"My dearest Sango, don't be too rash! Ignore him, something's got him in a bad mood and no one really cares." He shot Inuyasha a dirty look who 'humphed' and turned away again.
"I'm sure Kagome will be back in a few days, how about we go explain to Kaede and Shippou?" He smiled at her and she took a deep breath.
"I guess you're righ- PERVERT!" For his hands rubbing her back had slipped down to rub somewhere else…
She smacked him across the cheek hard and walked away into Kaede's hut without him, leaving Inuyasha chuckling again and Miroku groaning.
With a huge red handprint on his face, he followed her into the hut, ready to break the news to Shippou, that there would be no more candy for a little while.
With Kagome
'Grrr, he makes me so mad sometime! I can't even believe he said those things to me! And here I am, thinking we were getting closer.' She snorted.
Kagome threw her bag over the well walls and began her climb up.
'I'll become the strongest miko, just let him wait and see! And I'll learn how to actually fight hand to hand just to shut up him…this might be harder than I thought'
She threw one leg over the wall and touched ground, heaving herself over. Dusting her skirt, she picked up her bag and yelled "MAMA, SOUTA, GRAMPS!? I'M BACK!"
She opened the door to the shrine and found her mom walking down the stairs. "Oh, Kagome darling, out of ramen already? I sent you back with so much just a week or so ago!"
Kagome shook her head and dropped the bag. "Me and Inuyasha…we had a really bad fight this time." With a sigh, she walked to her mom who gave her a huge hug, and began the story.
After Kagome finished (after making the story much more dramatic then it was), her mom sighed and agreed it was good she came home.
"Oh, my poor Kagome…well I have some good news for you at least."
Kagome rubbed her face and looked up at her mom, waiting.
"Well, a day or so after you left I was walking to the market. Right outside the shrine steps, I met this old woman who came up to me and asked if I was the miko of the shrine. I laughed and said there's no miko here nor is there any in this era, trying to cover up but she said she sensed the presence and wouldn't believe me. I finally gave up and invited her in."
Kagome raised her eyebrows. "A woman in the modern era sensed a miko? How odd, what she say?"
"I told her most of what you were doing, without saying how you got into the past exactly. She then told me that she was a miko too, albeit she's not as strong as you are. However, she's lived a long, knowledgeable life. And she offered to teach you about your powers and to train you in them." Her mom continued, looking happy.
Kagome, however, was skeptical. "Uh, I'm no-"
"Oh, she also said that she even has an assistant who can teach you to fight! Isn't that great honey? Anyway, here's her number," she tossed a small piece of paper to Kagome, "Why don't you just give her a call? It can't hurt, and you need to learn to be stronger before you head back again, right?"
Kagome didn't answer, thinking to herself. Finally, she nodded and took the piece of paper and opened it. The paper read Kaguya, with a number right under with several lines underneath it for emphasis.
"Well…you're right, it can't hurt to call. Thanks mama!" Kagome gave her mother a kiss on the cheek and ran upstairs to her room to call.
Sitting on her bed, she dialed slowly, heart racing for some reason. It rang a few times and an old woman answered.
"Hello, uh is this Kaguya?" Kagome asked uncertainty in her tone.
"Yes it is, I presume that this is Kagome, from the Higurashi shrine?"
Kagome nodded.
"…am I wrong?"
Kagome then mentally slapped herself, realizing that Kaguya couldn't see her nod.
"Yes, yes sorry, it's Kagome. I was wondering if we could speak more about what you told my mother. You can teach me martial arts and train me in my miko powers?" She asked hopefully.
The old woman croaked out a laugh and said "Yes, of course my dear. How about we start tomorrow? Here's the address I would like to meet you at." She gave Kagome an address not too far from the shrine.
"Well Kagome, I cannot wait to begin. See you bright and early at 6:30AM!"
The phone clicked off and Kagome dropped the phone.
"6:30! In the morning! AH!"
She hyperventilated for a bit, and finally calmed down enough to think straight.
"6:30…if it means learning how to be stronger, then I can do it! I think…"
Her mom walked by the door and knocked, "what did she say darling?"
Kagome turned, "She said she would love to teach me, I have to be there at 6:30 in the morning though mama!" She wailed.
"I'm tired as it is, so I think I'll go sleep now…hopefully I'll wake up on time." Her mom smiled and said goodnight and walked off.
Kagome began changing into her pajamas, and once she got into her bed she smiled.
"Oh Inuyasha…"she closed her eyes. "I'll show you!"