Chapter 2 Revision!

YES! I FINALLY GOT AROUND TO IT!

Little Sister

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Chapter 2: I Know You

It wasn't long after Kagome had left that they'd set out toward a local village. Inuyasha's complaining had certainly been a contribution toward that particular cause.

They'd decided to investigate the closest village and ask around for information about the Band of Seven –if anyone knew anything.

It was a quiet journey, without Kagome to chat about this and that the group was left to their own devices. Their own thoughts.

However, their plans were severely messed up when they came upon an older man, who promptly set down his hoe and left his garden in favor of approaching them.

For a man his age he rushed out to them with a look of urgent rage on his face. "What are you doing?! Don't you know if young folk like you wonder around here you'll be taken to the castle?"

The members of the Inu-Tachi glanced around worriedly at each other.

"Taken to the castle? Why?" Inuyasha retorted, he was still in a sour mood from being sat so much that morning.

…The slight urgency in his tone had nothing to do with Kagome saying she was going to a 'castle' before she'd left. Or at least he tried to convince himself of that.

The old man looked around as if scared of being overheard. "It's rumored that a letter was sent to the lord of the castle saying the castle treasure would be stolen!"

"Castle treasure, what's that?"

The old man hushed him and quickly bereted him for his loudness. "No one knows, but all the able bodied people are being taken to the castle… and there is no exception for travelers!" His eyes widened as he glanced past Inuyasha to see a person whom he truly despised. "Oh no!"

"You there!" The sound of galloping horses lead the Inu-Tachi to turn and find a group of soldiers on horseback slowing, with their eyes fixed on them. "Why are you there?"

Inuyasha's ears twitched impatiently and he took a step forward deftly, "Listen…" He started only to be cut off by the lead man rudely trying to spear him.

"I had no idea demons dared run around in broad daylight." He said in a hard tone that suggested Inuyasha had personally offended him by doing so. He continued to attempt to stab the elusive half demon before he huffed and gave up. "You're an impertinent one, but be warned there will not be a second chance."

He clipped his horse and took off, his men following behind him.

"What do you think you were doing?!" The old man from before, thundered as soon as the general was out of range.

"Huh?" Inuyasha blinked dumbly as the man practically steamed in front of him.

"That man is pure evil!"

Inuyasha snorted, " I could take him down no problem!"

A grave expression took over the other man's face. "Have you ever heard of the Band of Seven?"

"The Band of Seven?!"

"Tell me good sir do you know anything about the Band of Seven?" Miroku interjected.

He turned to look Miroku even in the eye. "My name is Ryota. And yes, I know quite a bit about them."

"Out with it old man!" Inuyasha snarled.

Ryota shifted and his eyes turned to the ground. "The Band of Seven were a group of deadly mercenaries hat traveled this land some time ago."

"Tell me something I DON'T know." Inuyasha snapped back.

Ryota glanced up at him. "They took in three orphaned girls a few years before their untimely demise."

Sango's eyes widened, she hadn't imagined the killers were capable of any sort of compassion. "Really?"

Ryota nodded, "Hai. They taught those girl's how to defend themselves and protected them from the horrors of this world. Even the horrors the Band caused. After they died, the girl's went on to become an even more famous group of mercenaries set on revenge."

"That's terrible." Sango whispered as her heart ached for the girl's.

Inuyasha snorted, "Tell us something more important than that bullshit!"

Ryota's eyes narrowed, "That man we just met. He's the one responsible for killing the Band of Seven."

Inuyasha looked dumbfounded. "That guy?"

"It was an ambush. That man is a devil."

Miroku's brow furrowed and he looked deep in thought. "Maybe we should talk to him…"

"No! If you go now, you're all done for!"

Kagome had snuck has the guards, apparently they were having some sort of lock down. Nobody comes in if they weren't already in the castle.

It was weird and she just wanted to see if she could find a good kimono.

She was now sifting through some choices in an old antique shop, she was honestly surprised they even had kimonos there, but everything about the shop was strange. It was named 'Hoadly Toadly. Probably the weirdest place she could have found… but…

She looked bad at the kimono she had her hands on.

It was black with a bunch of swirls and outlines in dark shades of red, blue, pink, and violet. It was remarkably modernized compared to a lot of kimono's she'd seen and would probably fall under something a woman in a brothel would wear in this time. That is, considering how it would stop just above a girl's knees and that was practically a crime in the Feudal Era.

It was also really pretty.

Reaching down, Kagome felt the fabric and was surprised to find it wasn't silk. Testing it, she noted that it seemed to be some kind of flexible material that would stretch with the user. She raised an eyebrow, "A kimono built for flexibility?" That was something she certainly hadn't seen before…

Picking it up, she went to the front of the shop –which was currently unattended- and decided it would be best to wait patiently.

She happened to glance out of the shop window for a second and saw an older gentleman chatting with a hyper looking teenage girl and noted that she'd seen her face before.

…Somewhere.

Kagome shrugged off the weird sense of déjà vu and smiled when the man looked through the window and motioned for her to give him a second with a gentle smile of his own.

The teenager with him wasn't so forgiving. She gave a cold stare that could have frozen the pits of hell and stormed off with the man calling after her.

A moment later the man came in with an exasperated smile. "Sorry about that miss! I haven't seen my friend for a few months so you can imagine how much I wanted to catch up… oh." He blinked as he stared at the kimono she was holding.

A silence fell over the shop and Kagome cleared her throat. "Did I do something?"

He shook his head slowly, "No… not exactly. That kimono just has a story behind it."

"A story?"

"It belonged to Kagome Himura." He said shrugging, as if that explained everything.

For Kagome, it didn't.

'She has the same name as me.' Kagome couldn't help but be a bit happy about that, she always felt a strange connection with those who shared her name… and it wasn't a common one. "She gave up a kimono like this willingly?"

"No." He admitted. "She was killed and it was taken from her. It costs 10,000 yen."

Kagome gulped, realizing that was a signal that he didn't want to talk about the subject, but she also knew she shouldn't drop it. It was calling to her.

First the shop itself, then the kimono, and now its story. Or at least its owner's story.

"Burglars?" She asked as she got her money pouch out and counted out the correct amount. Boy was she glad they'd accepted some little exorcism jobs a few days beforehand.

"No. The army." There was a hint of bitterness in his tone as he grabbed her money and started counting. "She'd originally intended for her kimono's to go to her sisters, but… spoils of war you know." He shrugged.

Kagome flinched back a little at the level of emotion in his voice, it was almost like… "Did you know her?"

The shopkeeper smiled slightly at her, "Naw, but I knew her sister Akira, and she's the girl I was talking to earlier. I also know that her other sister Akako disappeared about a year ago."

Kagome's eyes softened, so that was why she'd been stared at so hatefully. "That's sad. Do you think she's okay?"

His smile disappeared and he busied himself with putting away the money he'd been given. "Honestly? I think she's dead. Little lady like that runs away from home someone's bound to find her and take advantage of the situation."

"Situation?" Kagome murmured quietly.

"Kagome meant everything to them… without her there Akako lost herself. She wouldn't eat, couldn't sleep. Depression hit her hard. She wouldn't have been able to defend herself."

She took a deep breath, "...Oh. Sorry." ' 'What a lame way to respond! Say something better, like...' She racked her brain for several minutes, unaware of the awkward silence that had taken over the shop.

"…Take care!" The shopkeeper finally said, ripping her out of dream world.

Kagome blushed, "You too! Bye."

She quickly walked out of the shop and looked for a place she could change into her new outfit.

That had been her real mission when she'd left this morning. She was tired of men trying to rape her because of her skirt! If the kimono was easy to move around in she would switch to fighting in THAT. At least she wouldn't feel as exposed as she did in her short green skirt!

Kagome glanced down at the kimono again, it really was pretty, but she was curious about what the swirls and outlines meant. It could have been some kind of tribal symbols… if she were in her time that is. Suddenly, she froze. 'He said her sister's names were Akako and Akira.' Those were two of the people in her dream last night!

She thought back to when she'd seen that girl. She could have SWORN she knew her! 'Did… did I have some kind of premonition, maybe that girl has kids?' Or maybe she'd caught a glimpse of that girl's past.

Kagome straightened her shoulders and her eyes became determined. She'd find that Akira girl and ask her about it!

Glancing around she started searching for the flowery pink kimono she remembered seeing and black hair.

There was really only so many places she could have gone considering the lock down and even the areas that were strictly off limits. It was while she was searching that she noticed a masked man on horseback coming toward her…

Kagome panicked, looking back and forth for an escape route. She hadn't really done anything.

…Sneaking into the castle put aside.

Quickly, she turned around and started walking with the flow of the crowd until she found a pretty large shop and ran in. 'Thank goodness for bathrooms!' Laughing a bit evilly to herself she changed into her new kimono and reveled in the feel of the soft flexible fabric.

'Definitely keeping it.' Kagome squealed and did a few twirls, before realizing how girlish she was being and coughed lightly. "Ops."

After gathering her bearings, she heading about out to the main portion of the –very large- shop and then back out into the street…

…Where the masked man with a sword was waiting for her.

"Excuse me miss." He said calmly, as if the change of outfit didn't surprise him at all.

Kagome smiled at the soldier, putting her nerves behind her. "Yes, sir? What can I do for you?"

"My lord has spotted you from his castle and he simply must have a beautiful lady like yourself come over for a private tour of his estate." He said it in an apologetic way. Like he felt bad for even asking her to go see a huge mansion.

There could only be one reason for that.

'Oh dear. Don't tell me he's ashamed his lord is a lecher?' She tried to remain optimistic. Even if he was a pervert, not ALL men with lecherous minds groped people. Besides Miroku had once described being a pervert as 'Keeping an open eye and appreciating beauty'. 'Hm… I could say no, but he could be like the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland. "Off with her head" and all that. I'd rather avoid that.' "I would be honored to take a tour with him." I gave him my best fake smile.

"Wonderful. My lord will be pleased." He didn't sound like it was very 'wonderful', more like he wanted her to run away.

'What have I gotten myself into this time?'

I luv niki4444

IT HAS BEEN REVISED! O_O Holy cow this is about twice the length of the original. *happy*

Anyway, hope you like it!

Love Always

~ Niki