Chapter 2

Kagome unlocked her the door to her apartment. She put down her keys and turned on the kettle to make some tea. With a sigh she checked her messages. The answering machine beeped and came to life.

"You have two new messages. First message. 'Hey Kagome it's Hojo. I'm in town this week and wondering if you want to meet for coffee... I would really like to see you.' Second message. 'Hey! Kagome! I bet you Hojo called you. I think you should see him. You need to get out and have someone admire you for a night! I'm starting to worry about you.'

The answering machine cut off with a beep. The last message had been from Sango. Kagome missed living with her close friend, but when Sango met Miroku and they got married, of course her roommate had to move out to live with her new husband. Kagome frowned at Hojo's message. They had tried so many years ago to have a high school romance but it was just an immature infatuation. Hojo still chased after her like a puppy and it annoyed Kagome to no end.

Kagome poured herself a mug of tea and sat down on the couch. When would she find a man? Someone that wasn't boring. She had almost fallen for Inuyasha if he hadn't been married. Her mind drifted towards work. Maru was gorgeous, though a tad odd for a wolf. Well if I can't get a man then maybe Maru and I can be friends, Kagome thought to herself with a laugh. She finished her tea and went to bed.

The next morning Kagome arrived earlier than Inuyasha. She walked through the barn, doing health checks on the all the animals. All the canines were fine and the baboons looked grumpy as usual. Kagome came to Maru and Cleo's enclosure last. She spent a longer period of time looking them over. Cleo kept her distance from Maru. Kagome knew it would take some time for them to bond if they were compatible.

Maru opened his eyes when she approached the fence. Kagome stared back at him.

"Good morning Maru," She said.

Well at least she doesn't baby talk, Sesshomaru thought. He had been through so many keepers in the past. Inuyasha was always the one that "took care of him" but that didn't stop the other keepers from trying to befriend him. They would bribe him with food or make childish noises trying to call him over. It was Sesshomaru's personal hell. His hatred for humans faded with Rin's entrance into his life, but that did not mean he found them appealing in any way. They were irritating, n necessary evil in his life. Much to his surprise, instead of speak to him further, Kagome walked away. Sesshomaru watched her disappear into a room, which to him smelled liked a meat room of some sort. She reemerged with a small chunk of meat in her gloved hand. Of course, Sesshomaru scoffed, resting his head back down on his paws once again. Kagome approached the fence but instead of walking towards Sesshomaru, she headed to the opposite side.

"Cleo," she called. The female arctic wolf came trotting towards the fence, carefully eying Sesshomaru.

"I know you don't trust him yet. That's OK," Kagome said in a reassuring tone. Cleo approached the fence and took the piece of meat that Kagome offered.

"There. Vitamins to make you healthy," Kagome said and stood back up. She looked over at Maru and hoped that Inuyasha would be able to do the same with the quiet wolf.

Inuyasha arrived not too long after and Kagome resumed training him on her route. Inuyasha gave Sesshomaru the vitamin without a word and prepared his meal. Sesshomaru ate in the holding yard, munching on raw meat. At least he was well fed.

Kagome did the canine talk for the public and fed Cleo in front everyone. Sesshomaru was glad he didn't need to be involved. Even if Kagome suggested it once he settled in, he knew Inuyasha would find a way to get him out of it. Once Cleo had eaten, Inuyasha freed Sesshomaru from the holding yard. He sniffed the air and his heart lightened. He headed over to the viewing deck, where Kagome was standing and speaking with a shorter black haired girl.

"We just got Maru yesterday actually. Good guess," Kagome was saying.

"I have a way of knowing these things. I'm really good with animals," the girl was saying. "I'm Rin." Rin said and held out her hand.

"Kagome," Kagome replied and shook Rin's outstretched hand. Rin looked down into the enclosure. Her eyes instantly said "dad" and Sesshomaru replied with a glance. "Rin."

"He seems to like you," Kagome said with an odd look on her face.

"I think so too," Rin smiled. Rin looked carefully at Kagome and then back to Maru. "Don't you think your new keeper is pretty Maru?" Rin asked. Sesshomaru scoffed and it came out as a chuff. He looked away from his daughter. Rin was always trying to play matchmaker for her father, though her efforts had been severely hampered by the fact that Sesshomaru was stuck as a wolf.

"Hm, I feel like I should be slightly offended," Kagome laughed, looking at Maru's disinterested glare. Rin giggled, she really liked Kagome. Inuyasha had told her yesterday that Kagome had hidden miko powers and she may even be powerful enough to free Sesshomaru from the curse. Rin tried not to get her hopes up but it was too late, she already had.

Kagome turned her attention away from Rin to answer some questions from the children that flocked around her. Sesshomaru watched Kagome's eyes as she explained some facts about wolves. She clearly loved her job and Sesshomaru admired her beauty when her passion was showing. When he looked up at Rin, she was smirking down at him.

"I caught you peeking," she said. Sesshomaru frowned, though it didn't show on his face. Rin could tell and it made her laugh. "I'm going to go now. I miss you." She whispered but Sesshomaru heard her. He gave a slight nod and watched his daughter leave. He returned to his shady sleeping space that was far from the public.

Over the next few days, Sesshomaru continued to watch Kagome. He found it hard not to, which both surprised and frightened him. She loved talking to people and she did an amazing job filling people with interest in animals. Kagome also had a funny habit of dancing while she cleaned enclosures. She turned the radio up and would move her hips to the beat while hosing a stall or changing beds. Sesshomaru often had a nice view from his shady sleeping spot. It was clear that Kagome respected animals. She was not in this job to have furry cuddle buddies. That alone made Sesshomaru willing to make her life easy. He often entertained himself by lashing out at keepers or destroying parts of his enclosure just to inconvenience the humans. He didn't do that to Kagome.

Inuyasha and Kagome seemed to be forming a solid friendship as well and Sesshomaru hoped that this would lead to Inuyasha talking to her about the legend of mikos. How to bring something like that up was beyond him, but he hoped Inuyasha would be able to do it. Inuyasha, despite his brash nature and general inferiority, did have a talent for connecting with others.

Kagome was busy dealing with Cleo when Inuyasha announced that he would finish up the chores for the day and head home.

"Alright," Kagome replied.

"Don't stay too late. She'll be fine," Inuyasha said. Kagome gave a nod to indicate that she had heard him but continue working in the holding hard to get it clean and comfortable for Cleo. The female wolf hasn't been eating for a couple of days and Kagome was starting to worry about her. It was common for animals to skip meals every once in a while but this was becoming too much of a pattern. Kagome lay down a hay bed and a large bowl of water in the yard. She locked the door and opened the gate connecting the holding yard to the main enclosure.

"Cleo," Kagome called. She hoped that Cleo would come into the holding pen as usual. Cleo was hesitant, slowly making her way over to the yard. Cleo clearly knew something was up and Kagome had anticipated that. She just needed to be patient. When Cleo was close to the gate, she stopped and looked as if she was going to turn back but to Kagome's surprise Maru came up behind Cleo and growled at her. Cleo yelped in surprise and ran forward. Maru chased her towards the pen and Kagome was nervous that he was going to bite Cleo. He backed off once Cleo was inside the pen and then looked at Kagome as if to say "your turn."

Kagome shook her head and carefully closed the gate. Maru walked away to return to his spot and Kagome watched him go with confusion written on her face.

She shook her head. There was no way Maru understood what she was trying to do and actually helped her. Animals had shown great and surprising intelligence over her years working at the zoo but this was a little much. Kagome grabbed Cleo's food and threw it over the fence into the holding yard. She hoped that Cleo would eat and rest over night. Kagome got ready to go home, taking one last look at Maru before she turned off the lights and closed the door.

Sesshomaru watched her go. He wasn't sure why he had helped her at that moment but the confused look on her face made his efforts worth it. Sesshomaru could smell that Cleo was ill. It was nothing serious, just a wolf bug, but he knew Kagome was very worried.

Kagome returned to her quiet apartment. There was one message from Hojo and Kagome cringed.

"Hi Kagome. Just wondering if you got my message from yesterday and the day before. I'm leaving town tomorrow so it would be nice to see you."

Hojo had called her every day that he was in town. Kagome refused to call him back. She knew trying to rekindle the romance that never was would be a bad idea, for both of them. Kagome decided to have a nice hot shower and go to bed early. tomorrow was her last day of work before the weekend and she looked forward to a break. Maybe she could even convince Sango to go on a movie date with her tomorrow night.

Kagome settled into bed for a good night's sleep. The one down side to being a zoo keeper was that by the end of the day, Kagome was exhausted and usually in bed by nine. She knew children with later bed times than she had. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Her dreams were plagued by images of Cleo dying. Her wolf was sick and died over night, Maru broke into the holding yard and killed Cleo, Kagome was late for work and the extra hour made her too late to save Cleo.

Kagome shot upright in bed feeling wide awake and drenched in sweat. She took a shaky breath and looked at her alarm clock. It was four in the morning but Kagome knew she couldn't sleep. She decided to check on Cleo. She would make sure Cleo was OK and then sleep in the staff room with the mice until it was time for work. Kagome got out of bed and got dressed. She headed out the door and drove the short distance to work. When she arrived, she went straight for the wolf barn. Kagome went to the holding pen and startled both Maru and Cleo with her entrance. Kagome approached Cleo carefully and was relived when she saw that Cleo had eaten her meal. Good, all her fears had been unfounded. Kagome went to her office to record that Cleo had eaten.

Sesshomaru watched her go and then turned his head to the back door Kagome had just through. He sensed them long before he saw them.

Two demons were approaching.

Sesshomaru looked towards the office, he heard Kagome gasp. The demons were not hiding their aura at all, unlike Inuyasha and Kouga, and Sesshomaru guessed Kagome could feel them.

Kagome wrote down notes in Cleo's file when suddenly she felt something. It was a unlike any other feeling she had ever had before. It caused her to gasp. She felt like she was being choked and the sensation was only getting strong. She froze when she heard the back door being torn open. Foot steps echoed in the halls and Kagome's heart raced. She peeked out from the office and saw two tall men standing in front of the arctic wolf enclosure.

"Lord Sesshomaru. We finally found you," One of them said. Sesshomaru approached the fence, cruses running through his head.

"You should have made it harder for us. Inuyasha always working with an arctic wolf? Shippo hiding out at zoos. Come on. We know who your companions are. And Inuyasha only hides his ears! It's just laughable," The other said while acutally laughing.

"Shut up. Let's just kill him. Then we'll have revenge. You killed everyone in our village Lord Sesshomaru. Now it's your turn to die," he sneered.

Sesshomaru looked up at them and sniffed the air. They smelled like goat demons. He had killed a bunch of them in the past, yes, but they were trying to invade his lands so it only seemed fair.

Kagome stood frozen listening to them talk. What on earth were they saying? The were speaking to Maru like he would understand them. Who was Lord Sesshomaru? Had Maru killed someone in the past? That wasn't possible, Kagome thought. She had to be going crazy. When the men advanced on the enclosure Kagome's body acted without her permission.

"Stop!" she yelled and stepped out behind them. The men turned and both of them chuckled.

"What have we here? A miko? I thought all of them were gone," one said.

"Idiot. They're still around but no one believes in mikos and yokai anymore so they're all untrained. Look at this one, she doesn't even know what we're talking about," said the other. You got that right, Kagome thought. She knew very well what a miko was, and a yokai, but she had never entertained the idea that they were real. With the two men standing in front of her she had to question that. They were human-like in appearance but had several differences. They had hoofed feet and purple eyes. Their faces were elongated and their ears were furry and shaped like a goat's. Kagome swallowed hard, now what did she plan to do? She had hoped they would run off or something when she yelled at them. Stupid.

"Let's kill her first. Then we'll go after Lord Sesshomaru," one said.

"Sound good to me. We can toy her with a little first," the other replied. Kagome shrunk back and retreated away from them but she eventually backed into a wall. She sunk to the ground as her fear made her knees buckle. The feeling from earlier still coursed through her veins and it got stronger and stronger as the men approached her.

They were about the reach for her when Kagome yelled "NO!" and a pink light burst out from her body. The men screamed and collapsed into ash. The pink wave filled the entire wolf barn and once it reached Sesshomaru he could feel it unraveling the curse.

Kagome's power broke each bond of the cruse and he felt himself changing. He grew to full height, his silver hair cascading down his back and swords faithfully by his sides. His clothing was as it had been so many years ago and Sesshomaru stood in shock at finally being back in his own body. He used his poison claws to cut an opening in the chain-link fence. He stepped into the wolf barn on wobbly knees.

Kagome had been staring at the pile of ashes in front of her but now she looked at Sesshomaru. She gasped at the sight of him. He was tall and beautiful and yet Kagome was frightened of him. She had never seen anything like him in her entire life and his claws didn't look soft.

"Lord Sesshomaru. Sessho...maru... Maru," She stuttered as she tried to comprehend what had just happened.

"That is correct," Sesshomaru answered. Speaking for the first time in 500 years. His voice was smooth and it made her heart flutter. Inuyasha, Shippo and Kouga burst through the door at that moment.

"Sesshomaru!" Inuyash and Kouga were here.

"Sesshomaru, what happened?" Inuyasha asked. Kagome looked up at him. Inuyasha had claws as well and doggy ears! And Kouga! She had worked with him for years and never seen his tail. Sesshomaru inclined his head towards Kagome and everyone seemed to notice her for the first time.

"Kagome," Kouga said, rushing to her side. She flinched away from him and he frowned.

"Kagome, look I know this is probably all a bit much for you," Inuyasha began.

"A bit much! Isn't that kind of an understatement!" Kagome hissed.

"I know. Look we can't talk about this here. The security guards are on their way. You need to lie to them. Tell them twp men broke in and stole Maru. You hid in the corner, too scared to come out. Got it?" Inuyasha said. Kouga was already sweeping up the ashed from the two goat demons.

"O... OK," Kagome replied.

"We'll meet at your place to talk about this," Inuyasha told her.

"I got her keys," Shippo said, emerging from the office. Who was he, Kagome's frown deepened.

"I'll lead the way. I know where she lives," Kouga said.

"Understand?" Inuyasha asked her.

"Yeah," Kagome said. She stayed where she was, too overwhelmed to move.

"Let's go Sesshomaru," Inuyasha said. In a flash they were all gone, leaving Kagome alone in silence.


The Priestess and The Yokai by Lindsey Merril – available now – free from August 7th - 11th (last day tomorrow!) - www amazon com/dp/B07G74GWRK