Chapter 2: The start of change
Naraku frowned as he read the resignation letter Kagome handed him, who was sitting patiently before him.
"Ms. Higurashi, may I ask why you are resigning? Aren't you happy here?" he asked.
Kagome shook her head. "No, it's not that Mr. Naraku. It's just that my mother thinks that the offer is a good opportunity for me and it will give me the experience I need, given the course I am taking," she explained. A brief look of irritation flashed at his face, but Kagome, with her abilities, spotted it as if it was in slow motion. Naraku stood up.
"I understand Ms. Higurashi. We will surely miss you here," he said as he shook her hand.
"Thank you Mr. Naraku. I really enjoyed working here," Kagome replied.
Yeah right she added in her mind. Kagome left her boss' (former boss') office and went to her desk. Taking a box from under the desk, she started to gather her things. Her former officemates said their goodbye's as she packed. Some of them even escorted her from the building. At the gates, Kagome sighed.
I never realized I had so many things. How am I supposed to get home lugging all these around? she thought with a frown. A honk startled her from her thoughts.
"Hey sis! Need a lift?" Goku asked as he got out of their car, a smirk on his face.
"Goku, thank God you came! I was just wondering how I was going to get home," Kagome said as she put her things in the trunk. Goku chuckled as Kagome seated herself in the passenger seat. He started the engine and off they went.
"I figured you might need help. You never realize how much things you take with you at work, do you? Even in school you're like that," he said.
"Yeah. It's a wonder how I made it all fit," Kagome said with a laugh. They reached the shrine after ten minutes of driving. Goku put away Kagome's things while she helped her mother with the cooking. They managed to finish with thirty minutes to spare. Kagome and YengLa had just finished dressing when someone entered the living room.
"Something smells great," Kinta Higurashi said as he put down his luggage.
"Dad, you're finally home!" Souta shouted as he ran to his father and hugged him happily, knocking him to the ground. Kinta laughed as he ruffled his youngest son's hair.
"How have you been Souta?" he asked.
"I'm fine. And my training is going great. I'm gong to learn sword fighting soon," Souta replied proudly. Kagome and Goku laughed as thy helped their father up.
"Come on Papa. Let's go to the kitchen. Mom's really outdone herself this time," Kagome said. When they entered the kitchen, the sight of a smiling YengLa and a wonderful feast greeted them. YengLa's smile made her even more radiant as she kissed her husband.
"Welcome home dear. We've really missed you," she greeted. Kinta smiled sweetly as he returned the affection.
"I've missed you too, so much" he whispered softly in her ear. The two of them broke apart when they heard Souta groan.
"Eww! Gross! Mom, Dad, we had an agreement you wouldn't do that in front of me!" he exclaimed.
YengLa laughed at the dejected look on Kinta's face. "I'm sorry Souta. Shall we eat now?" she said.
"Wait, where's grandpa?" Kagome asked.
"He's in the storerooms," her mother replied.
"I'll go get him," Kagome said and left through the back door. She saw her grandfather emerging from one of the storehouses.
"Grandpa" Kagome called out," let's go inside. Everyone is waiting for us"
"Alright Kagome. I was just checking if we have enough space to store the armor in" her grandfather replied when he reached her.
"Don't worry grandpa. We can always use the other storehouses if we need them. Now why don't we join the others before Goku etas the entire feast Mom made? You know how brother eats. He's like a giant vacuum," Kagome giggled. Her grandfather laughed and the two of them went inside to fin the rest of the family already seated.
"Come on, grandpa, big sis. Hurry! Let's eat!" Souta said from his seat. Both of them smiled and sat down. A conversation ensued as Kinta old them about his travels. Souta contributed by telling his father what happened while he was gone, Kagome and Goku occasionally adding a comment. Kinta congratulated Kagome on her new job. After all, Taisho Inc. was one of the most influential and powerful companies in the world, and two of his children have a job there.
After they had eaten, they all proceeded to the living room to open the gifts Kinta bought for his family and to adore the armor he found in Italy (and they have a right to. After all, it took Kinta 3 months to find it), along with the Jewel of Chaos.
The jewel looked a bit like the Jewel of Four Souls, except that it's pure black and a bit smaller. Everyone in the room could feel the power radiating from it, even Buyo, making the feline curl beside Souta. Next, they turned their attention to the armor and studied it carefully. It was colored black, and though it was very old (more like ancient), it still shined like brand new. It had a silver lining around its sides. The only thing missing was the helmet.
"Hey Dad, where's the helmet?" Souta asked.
"It doesn't have one. It was made like that. But there's a legend that the helmet was lost long ago because of a war that took place between two kingdoms. The reason for the war was a beautiful princess. Her name was Princess Tamara. Because of her status, she is the treasure of their kingdom. And as can be expected, she is also the most beautiful. The kings of two other kingdoms wanted her to wed their sons, not only for her amazing beauty and intelligence, but they also hoped to someday gain her wondrous kingdom. The war took place and continued for several months. Tamara, because of her kind heart, did everything she could to stop the war from happening, but it was already too late. The two princes met each other on the battlefield. One of them, Prince Haito, was the one who wore this armor. He and the other prince, Shinta, were very evenly matched, so in the end, no one won the war and eventually, Princess Tamara died without marrying anyone at all," Kinta said. He prepared himself for the wave of questions he knew were coming.
"What happened to Princess Tamara?"
"That's it? After all that drama, she's not even going to marry one of them?"
"Where did the helmet go?"
Kinta calmed them down while his wife and father laughed in the background. "Calm down, you three. I'll tell you the rest of the story. Other people say that the reason Princess Tamara didn't marry someone else was because she was already in love with Prince Haito, and she took the helmet as a reminder of the man she loved. Even in her deathbed, she held the helmet and using the last of her strength, she told her parents the truth. And that she would love him in this life or the next," he finished.
While Kagome and Souta questioned their father further, Goku turned to look at the armor again.
"This is so cool. I would love to wear something like this," Goku whispered in awe. He suddenly got an idea. He turned back to his father with pleading eyes, but before he could say anything, his father spoke in a stern voice.
"Forget it Goku. You are not to use that armor under any circumstances. Its an antique and absolutely priceless. If even one scratch gets on that armor, you'll be on clean-up duty until you're eighty," he said.
Goku sighed while Kagome and Souta laughed loudly. He glared at them both, but that only made them laugh harder.
"Goku, I don't know why you even try. You never had a chance anyway," Kagome said as she wiped tears of laughter from her eyes.
"Alright kids, that's enough now. It's late, and Kagome still needs to settle things at her new job tomorrow," their grandfather said to them.
"My father's right. Get to bed, you three," Kinta added. The three of them nodded in understanding and stood up. After giving respect to their parents and grandfather, they trooped up the stairs, each heading to their own rooms. YengLa sighed in contentment and turned to her husband and father-in-law.
"Don't you think were very fortunate to have the three of them? I'm very proud of all the things they've done," she said happily.
Kinta nodded. "Yes. We've truly been blessed when the Gods brought them into our lives," he agreed as he put his arm around his wife's shoulder. His father agreed.
YengLa smiled warmly. "Let's go to bed as well," she said. They were about to climb the stairs when they heard someone knock on the door.
Kinta looked puzzled. "That's strange. It's pretty late. Who could that be?" he wondered aloud as he went to the door. After a few minutes, he came back carrying a scroll tied with a blue ribbon.
"There was no on there, but this was left outside the door," Kinta said. Kinta's father and YengLa came over curiously as he opened untied the scroll. His frown deepened the further he read the scroll. When he finished, Kinta's face looked slightly paled.
"Kinta, what's the matter? You look worried," YengLa said. Kinta didn't answer.
"What did the scroll say son?" his father added.
Kinta's voice sounded heavy and grave as he answered.
"It seems that our past has caught up with us YengLa. This scroll comes something about the Dark Tournament," he said.
YengLa looked surprised. "The Dark Tournament? Why did you say that? What did the scroll say Kinta?" she demanded. Without a word, Kinta handed her the scroll and sat down, still looking pale. YengLa quickly read the scroll aloud for the benefit of her father-in-law.
YengLa Chen,
This is to inform you that the Dark Tournament will commence in one year. The Chen Royal family has tasked you to represent our clan in battle. We will expect an answer in one week.
When YengLa finished reading the scroll, she instantly sat down, suddenly feeling ill. She put the scroll aside and clasped her shaking hands together.
It seems that my past has is still haunting me. I hoped to never compete in the Dark Tournament ever again. Especially now that I have a family of my own. But I should have expected something like this from my family she thought sadly. She felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up and saw her husband with a small smile on his face.
"Oh Kinta! What are we going to do?" she whispered fearfully. Kinta shook his head sadly.
"I really don't know!" he admitted.
They sat in silence for a while. Kinta's father cleared his throat and said in a serious, but saddened voice," We won't get anywhere if we worry about this all night. Let's get some rest. We'll talk about what were going to do tomorrow"
YengLa and Kinta saw the sense in the advice. The three of them headed to their rooms, thinking about how this will affect their children.
