AN: Okay, okay, I know. Another story? But hear me out. I have my other stories' next few chapters written, but not edited (believe me when I say, you do not want to read my work when it is unedited). In the meantime, this story would not stop pestering me, and I simply had to write it. Be pleased to know that aside from having this chapter edited, I have many many more in rough form, all of which I plan to have uploaded before my new university semester begins. And for the first time in perhaps ever I actually have the entire plot-line finished. I simply have to write the ending and edit and it'll be done. So that is forty-six pages I currently have nearly ready to upload (!) and a whole story ready for you guys. So while yes, I do need to work on my other stories (and I plan to!) I will probably have this story finished first. Which is kind of cool!

So yeah, my sincerest apologies, but here goes another one!

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There was certainly something beautiful about the shade of blue that the sky wore in its typical summer attire - it was a bright, baby blue, the blue of robin's eggs, of ocean waters covering sand beaches, of a good today and a hopeful tomorrow. That type of blue was the kind that Kagome appreciated. She was an optimist at heart and loved to find the silver lining in any situation. The cerulean of the Feudal Era skyline was a very nice blue. She liked that blue a lot.

But now, this blue - the one that currently filled her vision- had something enrapturing about it. It was not as simple and straightforward as the other kind of blue. There was more mystery to the indigo that currently colored the late afternoon sky. More depth. It had more to it than just a surface shade, just like people tended to have more than one face. Why, this blue, it was positively captivating; she could not look away.

Although, that could have more to do with the many injuries that now covered her abdomen and lower limbs. Those pretty much restricted her movements until further notice.

Either way, all Kagome could see was blue, blue, blue. Sure, that meant that she had begun, about an hour ago, to project her own metaphors onto the horizon, but who was to say that such musings did not hold even a glimmer of truth?

She sighed, the movement causing more pain than anything else, and relaxed into her spread-eagle position on the forest floor. Go figure, it would be her luck to find the one park in all of downtown Tokyo that was overridden with demons. Modern day demons.

Okay, so overridden was a very strong word. But when you go from thinking there aren't any in your time to finding several, it's a pretty big leap.

It was just so vexing really, for today was her only day off of both shard hunting and school. It happened so infrequently, since the group was kind enough to plan their coming and going around her schedule, and she only ever asked to be home for major exams. She was only back for the day because they had not had any leads in a while and there was no harm in her visiting her family for the afternoon. She was to meet up with Inuyasha later and journey for another little while, so her absence was going to sorely missed in the ensuing hours. Or, at the very least, she was going to get an earful when she did get back late.

Only she could be useless enough to get attacked by demons in her own time, and not be able to fend them off.

Kagome blew a stray bang out of her face with an exasperated breath. She knew that she really ought to drag her body over to a tree or some sort of prop; upright, the blood could flow to her injuries, and the healing process could kick in a little quicker. Something about the current level of blood loss however made her unwilling to do much more than create idle ideas about why demons were running around modern Japan.

As she was weighing the pros (better chance of a speedy recovery, less gore visible) and cons (she'd have to run her body over a lot of roots and loose dirt to get to a tree, there was no guarantee of recovery at all) of moving her body, she heard soft footsteps walk into the clearing. From the angle they had entered they could clearly not see her face, only the massive damage she had suffered.

"Fuck," the first voice swore "there wasn't supposed to be people here." The voice was rough and reminded her of Inuyasha. She began to picture the dog-demon wistfully.

"No, certainly not. Not with Botan's barrier up." The second voice was a lot smoother, elegant almost but a little bit cold as well. It brought forth images of Sesshomaru and Kagome found it difficult to imagine that the two brothers were in the same clearing without arguing.

Which really put a wrench in her plan to totally pretend none of this was happening.

"I am going to kill that toddler if he messed this up...fucking demons running around Ningenkai."

Well, Kagome mused to herself, at least they appeared to be on her side. Most demons, which she could tell they were, were not really all that fazed when they saw dead human bodies.

"I am interested in hearing how exactly they managed to get past the barriers."

"This is bad man."

"I know Yusuke. It is a problem with the higher-ups though, there was nothing you could have done differently."

She heard a sigh, and the footsteps continued until one of them was up near her head. She turned, as much as possible from her position, and smiled widely as a pretty red-head walked into her line of sight. "Hey there."

She watched his face go slack jawed for a brief moment before he turned to his partner. "Yusuke, she's alive still."

Well...duh.

The other man ran over and she finally got a good look at the pseudo-Inuyasha. He was tall and had a little too much gel in his dark black hair, but he also had a kind face which was currently pulled back in relief. "That's great! I'll go find Botan, she can help heal some of this."

He moved to run off, but luckily was in close enough reach for Kagome to raise an arm and pull at his pant leg as he went past her. It was not yet a strong enough grip to do more than cause Yusuke to stumble slightly, but it did the trick.

"No medics. Please, I am alright."

He turned back to her, a dubious look on his face. "Look, I know this must be really confusing for you-"

"Nope, not confusing. I don't need any healers."

Kurama frowned. "Your injuries are life threatening if not left untreated."

Kagome mostly doubted that. "I never said I was going to leave them untreated. Your healers won't be able to do anything."

He frowned, then turned to Yusuke. Something in his expression had the dark-haired youth nodding and heading off into the forest, much to Kagome's chagrin. Why could no one ever listen to her. "No, wait, please it isn't worth their time."

But he continued out of the clearing and Kagome was just left with the other man, who was sending looks of pity her way. It was aggravating.

"I'm not in shock."

"Mhmmm." He murmured placatingly.

"I know what attacked me. This is not new stuff to me."

This finally got his attention, and Kurama stopped staring at her injuries. He turned his face back to hers. "How do you know about demons?"

She shook her head, or at least, as much as she could. "Nope, that is confidential information. Just...I know what they are and I can get this all fixed up on my own so if you would be kind enough to get me over to that tree over there," with her head, Kagome nodded back to one of the larger trees she was mostly confident was behind her "then we can stop all of this nonsense."

He smiled softly at her. "Miss..."

"Kagome, my name is Kagome."

"Kurama." He introduced. "Now, Kagome, I think the very fact that you need assistance to move several feet is cause enough to have a medic check you out."

"Fine." She relented, knowing that without explaining her situation in full there was no way to force them to cease and desist on the healer front. "But I really would enjoy having this conversation from a better position. Please?"

Kurama looked back down to her injuries, which aside from a lot of internal bleeding, Kagome was fairly certain there were a few limbs that were twisted incorrectly. She had been thrown a fair distance after the cat demon had caught her in his claws, but had not bothered to test out the limbs, hopeful it was a sprain instead of a break. She raised her arm to lay it on Kurama's knee, which was still in close proximity to her. He raised his gaze to her face. "I know this looks really bad, but I'm not crazy. They'll heal. You won't damage my body by moving me a little."

She could tell from the way he had been inspecting her wounds that Kurama knew what sort of damage her body had sustained. It was the same critical look she often got from Kaede after Kagome had started participating in the thick of more battles. The only thing that would be affected by moving her was potential some of the injuries on her abdomen, but she needed blood to flow there sooner or later.

He finally nodded, acquiescing after one last pause to consider her wounds. "Alright. Can you stand at all?"

He was not sure that this young woman truly knew the extent of the damage that littered her body, and was not yet ready to write off shock as a decent perpetrator in keeping these injuries from her awareness. However she did not appear willing to talk unless at a better vantage point, and when facing two strangers Kurama could only respect such trepidation.

She bent her arms at her side and pushed her body off the ground experimentally. Almost immediately Kurama could see an increase in blood loss, but she pushed through it, managing to raise her upper half off the ground until she was in a semi-sitting position. She gave her legs a curious look, wiggling them slightly.

Kagome was quite pleased to see she had both of her shoes still, since they were her only good pair left. She smiled up at Kurama as if to say see, everything is just dandy and waved him over. He still had that cautious look on his face, and she had to take advantage of his willing participation before he rescinded it.

He stood up and walked next to her, crouching down so as to take her arm over his shoulder and help move her into a standing position. With a triumphant aha Kagome managed to get both legs under her, although she could only rest her weight on one. Together they managed to shuffle over to the tree that was indeed behind where Kagome had been laid down, and twist around until she could slide into a sitting position, resting her upper half against the tree trunk. Kurama let go of her and walked a little ways in front, so he was standing in her field of view.

"Thank you." She said, truly appreciative. She felt just a little more secure from this position, and finally could feel her healing kick in. She wiggled her toes again, happy to see both still moving.

Kurama nodded. "You will still need medical attention."

She smiled benignly, choosing to not fight with him anymore about that particular line of inquiry.

After a moment's pause, he said "I'm sorry that you were caught up in this fight."

She waved off his concern. "Don't fret, I should have been able to fend for myself. I just wasn't really thinking about demons today."

"So you've seen them before?"

She nodded, thinking back to the hordes she had fought in the Feudal Era, but did not say anything.

Speaking of demons...she looked over at Kurama, the question written on her face. He had felt a little more strongly of it earlier, but Kagome could still see remnants of youki all over his aura. But it also seemed as if he was trying to hide it, and she never enjoyed exposing people's secrets, especially when the only thing they had done so far was try and help.

She groaned, dropping her head against the tree trunk. Damn helpful strangers, damn modern day demons. Damn jewel, damn life. There was no way she was going to be able to sneak this past Inuyasha. Not when these two seemed insistent on helping, and there was a whole new world of supernatural occurring right in front of her eyes.

Ugh. Why couldn't she just have one normal human day?

Kurama, on the other hand, was content to have the abnormal situation occur. He had had the honor, many times over, of meeting some very remarkable individuals - it was one of the many advantages of having a lengthy past. The young lady, who was presently muttering to herself in front of him, was measuring up to be yet another person on that list. There was something just so uniquely odd about her behavior. A human girl, seemingly less than powerless, who had resisted Botan's barrier and who seemed not at all surprised by the existence of demons. A human who, if not for the large and gruesome looking bruise that decorated the majority of the left side of her face, would be quite beautiful.

And that was the thing with kitsunes. They simply found themselves incapable of passing over pretty items.

For her part, Kagome was alternating between trying to talk herself out of her current situation and glaring at Kurama. The first part of her plan was going fabulously. In her head she had already healed herself and purified the smug look off of the fox's face, gotten home well before Inuyasha had ever known better, and had plenty of time to enjoy her dinner with Mama. In reality she could only stare at the red head with muted fury, not for him, for he had been nothing but cordial, but at her own inability to fix her problems.

The last piece of her resistance fell as she thought once again about her uselessness, and Kagome sagged a little against the tree she was currently calling home. Kurama appeared to notice this surrender, and cocked an eyebrow curiously at her.

While she may have thought it was because he was an arrogant demon who was well aware of his own good looks, truly it was simply due to his shock at her ability to last with such injuries for so long without passing out.

She sighed. "Any chance I could bribe you to sneak me out of this park and maybe pretend you never found me in the first place?"

"I am afraid that is not the way it works." He chuckled.

"Gosh," she said "you two are such bores. No adventure in your lives."

He smiled at her gentle goading, but did not push the matter. "If you were willing to tell us how you know about the demon race then we could be on our separate ways."

It was a bit of a stretch, as far as the truth went. Kurama doubted heavily that Koenma would allow them the privilege of releasing Kagome on good faith, but it was worth an attempt.

Kagome was silent for a moment, looking contemplatively at him, but shook her head. "Well what if we compromised like civilized folk. I tell you that I clearly know about demons, agree to not press charges against your inability to contain said demon, and also to not tell anyone about this whole ordeal, and then you let me go."

She was aware that it was not that they were really detaining her. Rather, it was her own damn body, unable to heal itself quickly enough, that kept her captive. But from the way they were acting, Kagome figured there was some sort of an official person who kept track of demons in this time, and that she should not have been in the area when the large, possessed cat had reared it's literal claws.

Kurama did briefly consider what she had said. "It is not so much that we are concerned that you know about demons, it is how you initially found out about them. If you were just an innocent here we could have wiped your memories and healed your injuries - given that you would let us." Kagome laughed good-humouredly at this, despite the niggling thought at the back of her mind that they even had the ability to rid her of her memories.

"Why does your group care how I found out?"

"Well," Kurama said "we need to stop the flow of information from the source, not just you."

Kagome scoffed. "Fat lot of good that'd do you."

"Pardon?"

She waved off the question. "How about you tell me how you know about demons?"

"Thank you for the offer but that is not how this interaction works."

Gods he was not making this easy. "Yes but imagine what it would feel like to break protocol for a change. Live on the edge Kurama, it's more fun there."

His ensuing grin was positively filled with subtext. "Oh, believe me when I say I know that thrill already."

"Good!" She said, a wide smile on her face. "How about you tell me some of those stories? I know a little fox who just love to know some more about his kind."

Kurama blinked. Whether that was from her abrupt change in conversation or her little tell about the amount of knowledge she carried, she was not sure. He stared at Kagome for a long moment then walked closer, kneeling in front of her so that their eyes were on similar levels. "How can you tell?"

He did look a little perturbed, but Kagome pushed through. "Nope, that is not how this works sir. You go first."

She held her hands up in a surrendering gesture at his ensuing aggravated look. "As long as it is not 'how do you know about demons' I promise I will answer a question of yours after."

"What would you like to know?" His voice was gruff, and she found she liked the husky tone it took when caught off guard. Actually, she just liked catching him off guard.

Kagome considered him for a moment, during which Kurama was racking his rather vast knowledge for some way she could have inferred his species type. She had said she knew her own fox, maybe it was a specialty of the young woman's?

"What type of kitsune breed are you?" Her gentle question pulled him out of his thoughts. "I'm seeing red all the way," she gestured to his face, and Kurama smiled wryly "but it isn't what I'm sensing from you."

He nodded, filing away what she had said. "You are correct, I am not a red."

There was no real harm in letting her know, but Kurama liked keeping as much information about himself as he could a secret. Knowledge was power, and he enjoyed being the one who held it. And yet...she was presenting him with a game; she really did know a fox of her own.

"I am a silver."

Her eyes widened. "Wow. That is very cool."

Shippo was going to kill her with his excitement when he heard she'd met a silver fox. The young kit, eager for his adoptive mother to know as much as she could about his kind, had given her the full run-down on kitsune breeds and customs. Or at least, as much as he knew.

It frustrated her that he did not have the chance to know more.

Kurama's gaze narrowed on Kagome at the telling admission. "Please then, tell me how you knew I was a fox demon?"

She shifted, the bark scraping against her back in a way that while not pleasant, kept her alert. "Well, you aren't really a fox demon...it is more like you're a half-breed? But not quite that either. Your youki keeps shifting, so I'm afraid I am not as impressive as I would have you believe."

He said nothing, waiting for her to continue.

"I can tell because I can sense your energy. And I can sense your energy because I am a priestess."

This time it was his face that went a little slack jawed. There had not been a functional priestess in Ningenkai in decades. Not one who could sense auras, and certainly not one that naturally purified barriers. "I cannot say that I sense your energy at all."

She nodded expectantly. "That is definitely a longer story than we currently have time for." As if testifying to this, Kagome leaned her head back and closed her eyes, resting her hands on her stomach. Kurama could tell that the blood was still flowing out of her wounds, not yet having clotted, and was concerned that the priestess would die on him before he had a chance to figure her out.

It would not do for this new puzzle of his to end up a permanent resident of Reikai before he had a chance to explore the intricacies of her life.

She opened her eyes again, those bright blue eyes that seemed to pierce right through his thoughts. At least, when they were focused on him and lucid enough over the blood loss. "This place you two wish to take me to...what is it?"

"You know of demons but not spirits?"

She gave him a heavy look. "Kurama."

He liked the way she talked to him as if they had known each other much longer than these last several minutes. He stood up, having had been knelt for too long, and looked down at her steadily, weighing her reaction. "Multiple planes connect there, so it's a place for spirits to go before they are sent to the afterlife. Reikai also acts like a moderator over the other two worlds, Ningenkai, here, and Makai, where demons are. Koenma - that is our boss - is acting ruler of Reikai."

He watched as her face bellied her surprise, and also her curiosity when he mentioned a world overridden with demons. An odd priestess, who by very definition was already quite spectacular.

"You have a very powerful boss then."

Before Kurama had a chance to comment Yusuke walked back into the clearing, followed by a perky girl with bright blue hair. He was a little miffed that the opportunity to grill Kagome was coming to a close, and did not expect another one quite like this to arise again, but brushed off the feeling.

"Here she is Botan."

Kagome turned her gaze to the girl, who let out a surprised gasp. "Why Yusuke! You did not make it seem so frightful. I am so sorry that it took us this long to get here!"

As she talked, she knelt down in front of Kagome, inspecting her injuries. Kagome sighed, but let her continue poking around. "Don't blame him, I told them both I don't need a healer."

"Now there, that's just completely silly-"

"It isn't." She sighed again, unsure of how to convince some strangers of her abilities. She looked over at Kurama for a little help, but the redhead seemed content to watch the situation from afar.

Botan was looking at her wounds through bright pink eyes. "I can make this much less painful for you dear."

Oh, how she wished that was the case. "You may go ahead and try."

Botan glanced at her, but Kagome was already looking away. The grim reaper nodded to herself, and set about using her abilities to fix at least some of the more major injuries.

And was promptly stopped by a light pink barrier.

"Oh my." She exclaimed. "Whatever is that from?"

Kagome looked back down at this, staring at the barrier with a bit of a forlorn expression on her face. Kurama decided now was an excellent time to pipe back into the conversation. "Is that because of your purifying capabilities?"

Yusuke's gaze shot over to his. "Her what?"

Kurama motioned over to Kagome. "She is a priestess."

Botan sat back on her heels, staring at Kagome wide-eyed. "Why...that's impossible! A priestess?"

Kagome smiled wide, waving her hand. "Yup, hello there." She turned to Kurama. "And no, I don't think my powers would try to purify - Botan was it? - Botan's."

He cocked his head. "Then what is that barrier from?"

"That story that is longer than what we have time for, actually."

Botan had stood up during this conversation, pulling out an oar as she did so. "Well now, that just won't do at all. We need to get your injuries healed up real soon, and then take you to Koenma for some questions!"

She was pacing around the clearing, trying to think of some quick solution, all the while waving her oar around. This last action seemed to be weaving some sort of gate right in front of Kagome's eyes, and she could see tendrils of air wrapping around each other, bending space and creating an alternate image right in front of her. Was that a portal?

She braced herself against the tree trunk, and started pulling herself up - much to the chagrin of everyone present, loudest of all being Yusuke, who ran over to her to give her a hand up. "You shouldn't be moving in that condition."

She accepted the shoulder he offered, only minorly guilty about the blood she was sure she was leaking on his shirt. "Don't worry about it. The same energy that is keeping Botan from healing me is going to heal me itself. I won't die."

The two stood up together, watching Botan make a portal to what Kagome could only assume was Reikai. Yusuke was looking down at her, which was quite admirable given his current position. "Yeah, but ya still hurt now, right?"

She looked up at him with wide eyes, but after a brief pause smiled gently at the young demon. "It is not too bad."

"I can see part of your rib cage."

"Yeah, I knew there wasn't supposed to be a breeze there."

He laughed, the gesture shaking the both of them. "If it turns out you're not evil, then you're quite alright."

"Ditto." She grinned, watching Botan now. "Uhm, but first...well, I will be coming back from this little trip, right? There are people who will be quite concerned if I don't come home tonight."

She thought of Inuyasha, torn between anger and concern, and the giant catastrophe that would ensue should he go looking for her. She greatly appreciated his dedication to that age old promise of protection for her, but in this particular situation it would not bode well for either parties.

She felt more so than saw Kurama approaching her from the other side. He laid a hand down on her shoulder, as if trying to communicate everything Kagome noticed neither was willing to say. Thankfully, Botan spoke up, apparently finished with her portal.

"Of course, we'll have you back in a jiff!" She chirped, turning to the group. "And if your healing does not kick in, we have a great staff of healers who can stitch you up the human way."

Kagome smiled at Botan, finding that she quite liked the woman's exuberant optimism. She was certain there would be more to this visit than a quick in and out would fix, especially given the looks the two men beside her were shooting each other, but there was something nice about Botan's lack of fear. Or her keen interest in her apparently unique priestess-hood.

Whatever it was, it would have to do. Kagome was in no position to be trying to fight these three off. Besides, she was rather curious about this three world business. Who knows, maybe it could somehow help her in her quest.

So she nodded, accepting Botan's answer, and they walked through the portal, into whatever awaited them next. She only hoped that it would leave her in a better state than it found her.

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