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Ha-ha! Chapter 3 is out! My exams are finished and I immediately started working on the ending to this sucker. It's kind of shorter than what I wanted but it's a good spot to end at ;D
Hope you guys like it!
Time in the living world was opposite what it was in Soul Society. Day in the living world; night in the Soul Society. Winter in Soul Society; summer in the living world. So on and so forth.
This was among the first facts taught about the relationship between the two worlds when one went to the Soul Academy. There were reasons of course, but not the type of reasons that were typically know or taught to academy students, and were probably so technical they fell under the realm of the Science and Research Department or whatever it was that they were called. At any rate, knowing this little temporal quirk didn't help the fact that it was the middle of the night in human world when it was still high noon in Soul Society.
In fact, it made keeping track of the students in her sector all the more tedious.
Other than that minor sensory impairment, things were actually going quite smoothly. The living world location, a large and mostly abandoned industrial park filled with empty warehouses had been the favored location for the training exercises for only the past decade or so. A similar location had been used before that but after it had started to be re-developed they had found a new spot elsewhere. Being so bare of living souls such locations generally didn't attract Hollows and it had thus been cleared easily. The necessary Hollow simulating equipment and barrier had also been set up without a hitch and they'd been able to start the exercise early as a result.
The goal was to get ten simulated Hollows or to run out the three hour clock, whichever came first. Since the Hollows were few and far between, hidden in dark back alleys and corners, the clock usually ran out before anyone got to ten, but it was fun to see little competitions break out between the teams.
Kagome herself had done this exercise in the first few months of her first year, and found it mildly amusing to have returned in her second not as a trainee but as an overseer. She'd lucked out and gotten teamed up with Hana, who was spending her time examining the distant barrier interestedly. Her other teammate, a shy male youth by the name of Rikichi she wasn't very familiar with from any of her classes but to be honest he had such a weak constitution that she could've tripped over him and might not have noticed. He seemed very nice though and Hana had greeted him right away by name so she seemed to know him at the very least.
In addition to the sixth year students overseeing the exercise there were a number of unseated officers and one seated officer present for safety's sake. This had apparently become customary after a freak accident a couple decades ago in which several students had been killed when real Hollows had broken through the barrier and attacked just as the simulation was ending. She wasn't going to complain about them; she'd rather be looking at them than for them, even if nothing was likely to happen.
Although she'd really have appreciated it if the seated officer had decided to go with some other group when each of the sixth year teams had split up to guard their respective sectors. He was quiet enough she supposed. The only words that had come out of his mouth had been over an hour ago when he'd introduced himself as the newly minted sixth seat of squad eleven, Abarai Renji. But since then he'd spent his time standing just away from their group, glowering spectacularly at the world around him as if being saddled with babysitting academy students was the bane of his existence.
Glancing at him out of the corner of her eye she noted that he actually might not even have been glaring, but his long brilliantly red hair and jagged black tattoos applied an inherent seriousness to his expression. She'd spent enough time around people like InuYasha to not particularly be fazed by him, real scowl or not.
A quick glance at the moon indicated it had been about fifteen minutes since her last check in with the other groups. "North sector, nothing to report" she called into her neck microphone, smirking when Rikichi and Hana jerked a little at her sudden intrusion on the relative silence.
"West is pretty quiet too"
"Same for east, not even a student"
There was a crackle of laughter through the earpiece before "That's because they're all here in the south end blowing things up"
"Pfft, no wonder it's so quiet around here, lucky you"
"Some real klutzes in the freshman this year; A girl that was in a group here half an hour nearly brained herself when she tripped over her own hakama"
"At least you've gotten to watch someone. Last group through here was just chasing a Hollow, couldn't pin it down"
She listened to the wishful banter over the speaker, the east and west groups complaining about nothing to do, before someone, the guy from the south group by the sound of it, laughed softly. "Hey Higurashi" he barked teasingly, "That kid of yours is pretty good with Kido" She snickered softly and replied, "Oh so its Nobooru-kun who's blowing things up huh? He's pretty good at it" "I'll say; some of the sixth years can't even pull off Shakkaho with that much bite" "Shakkaho again?" she muttered. She felt a great swell of exasperated affection for Nobooru.
The com fell silent as the individual groups went back to their respective tasks.
With a soft sigh, Kagome draped herself over the railing that guarded the edge of their rooftop corner. The industrial park was very quiet, no animals or people nearby to make noise, and only the distant explosions and shouts of students doing their exercise broke the silence. Kogitsune was bored, and she knew it in the way her bells rang softly regardless of how little her shifting was; They were always quite silent when she was going about her day, even when the motion of her back as she walked should've set them off. But when he became bored they would become very obvious.
She reached her hand back up and over her shoulder to touch the silk covered metal of Kogitsune's hilt. It was a gentle motion which had him stretching luxuriously in her soul but she felt a little pang of desire to go and destroy a few simulated Hollows herself. She had no love for fighting, never had in the Sengoku era, and even now years later as a Soul Reaper still had no taste for blood; But sitting idly waiting for nothing was even worse for someone like her who'd spent so much time travelling.
The simulated Hollows would be about as challenging as a wet paper bag to Kogitsune who'd grown by leaps and bounds from where she'd been a year ago when she'd done the exercise herself, but it at least would've broken the monotony of just standing there watching.
Kagome let her hand fall away and walked across the roof to the other side of the building. In the distance was the barrier used to secure the training area, rippling in the night sky like a heat mirage. It was interesting to watch; so different from her glittering pink shields and angry crackling Bakudo.
The supressed spiritual pressure and soft footsteps that followed her after a moment of silence didn't go unnoticed but she was mildly preoccupied as Takashi went darting by in the street below with a group of the sixth years which she recognized by behaviour alone as nobles. She'd been wondering where he'd gone and disappeared to when she hadn't heard him in charge of any of the stationary watches over the radio; He'd been assigned the moving watch apparently. Perhaps it was sensei's effort to keep them mostly separated from each other after their last dramatic, and bloody, spat. He paused long enough to shoot her an acid-filled stare which convinced her that Onabara-sensei had told him what she'd accomplished the night before, before continuing on his way.
She resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at his retreating back, and settled with twitching her lips into a half concealed smile when Kogitsune sent her the brief but deeply amusing image of him running around with his hair on fire.
"Friend of yours?" She turned to see Abarai standing beside her, having watched the exchange with mild interest, he was leaned against the railing beside her. She scoffed, "Takashi is the honourable grandson of a Seireitei noble who doesn't like 'Rukon district street rats' like me being his equal in anything" she explained casually, watching as said person disappeared with his group around a corner. The red headed man looked mildly surprised and seemed to size her up for a few moments before muttering, almost as though to himself, "Never would've pegged you as a someone from the Rukon"
She held up her hands, balanced on the edge between aggravation and amusement, "Why do I always get that?" He seemed to find this a bit funny; a slight raising of his eyebrows and quirk of his lips that might've been imperceptible to anyone else.
She'd had a lot of practice hanging around Gin.
"You're a lot more polite than most for starters" he explained, scratching at his cheek in what she thought was a nervous gesture, "What district are you from anyway?"
"I'm from the outer North Rukon district. On the border of the Zaraki district" He was clearly shocked by this, most people were when they found out she was from that decrepit lawless area, but he took it a lot better than most people did when they found this out. She added quickly, "I moved out pretty quick though, took my little brother with me. Ended up living in District 8 before coming to the academy" He seemed to ponder her words for a few moments, then he gave a small chuckle, which had her smiling and prompting, "What's so funny?" He didn't answer right away, seemingly thinking it over, than explained, "It's just kind of ironic… you're from the same district as my Captain and you're probably the complete opposite of him"
This was intriguing, she hadn't really heard of any of the Gotei 13 Captain being from the Rukon district but then again she'd only read up on a handful of them. The older ones were in some of the history books and then there were those that she'd met or seen, but that left most of the Captains completely unknown to her. However she'd read that the Squad 11 Captain had always historically been the strongest swordsman in all the Gotei 13 so it didn't come as a terrible surprise to her to discover that the current Captain would be from that area.
"That is kind of interesting" she muttered aloud, putting her chin in her hand and looking off towards the barrier. A thought occurred to her and she snapped her fingers in response catching Abarai's attention, "I don't think I ever introduced myself" she explained at his questioning look. She bowed respectfully and said, "I'm Higurashi Kagome. It's a pleasure to meet you Abarai-sempai" He held up his hand to stop her there, "Just Renji's fine, I'm not really one for titles"
She smiled, "Then I'm just Kagome"
She might've continued to get to know him but as she opened her mouth to speak his eyes flicked to look at something over her shoulder in surprise. She turned, fully expecting a group of students to be battling a Hollow nearby, but felt her own surprise, and a sinking sensation of anxiety, at what she saw. The barrier, which had been gently rippling like a curtain caught in a breeze seemed to be shuddering as a few waves of untamed energy broke loose and arced over its surface like so many little bolts of lightning.
She raised a thin rosy shield on impulse when a few of the large streaks of free power soared in their direction but they faded rapidly as they separated from the surface of the barrier. "What was that?" Renji asked staring tensely at the barrier, even as the strange energy calmed and the barrier slid smoothly back into its former peaceful state.
"Did anybody else see that?" she asked into the radio around her throat, feeling Rikichi and Hana cross the roof to where she was.
"See what?"
"We did. Did a student hit the barrier or something?"
"I don't think there's enough power in any of them to do that"
"Oi! Barrier squad! You guys taking a nap or what?"
"We're doing exactly what we're supposed to, stupid! Whatever it was the equipment sources it in the North area. Did you see anything weird Higurashi-san?"
"Other than the barrier trying to electrocute us? Nothing. There weren't any stray Kido that hit it, at least from where I could see" She tilted her head back to glance over her shoulder at Rikichi and Hana, "You guys sense anything just now?"
Both shook their heads with Hana adding, "Just when the barrier flared, nothing before"
Renji's movement in the corner of her eye caused her to turn back to him as he clicked the dial on his own radio, "All squads hold their positions. It's probably just a glitch in the equipment but we'll do a perimeter sweep to be sure. In the meantime, everyone keep an eye out for any other problems with the barrier"
There was a blurred chorus of affirmatives from over the radio before it went quiet again, and Renji turned to them expectantly. "Well looks like we're going for a walk" he said. Rikichi looked pensive at this statement and asked, not without a nervous little lilt to his voice, "Shouldn't the unseated officers be the ones to go with you?"
"It's probably nothing" Hana interjected, "I've heard that the Squad 12 technology they use for this exercise has always been a bit glitchy. Besides, it'll be good practice" Rikichi blushed under the taller girl's gaze, something which Kagome was definitely going to be mentioning to Hana later, but seemed to inflate himself a little with her confidence.
She shot a knowing look to Renji who had watched the exchange amusedly. He shook his head at her antics, and began to wander off towards the edge, jumping over the railing and landing in the street below as they wandered towards the general direction of the barrier.
When they got there they simply observed the barrier up close and noted that it seemed to be perfectly fine now. There were a few curious scorches around the bottom in a few spots that looked like they may've been caused by the loose energy but besides that there was nothing of particular interest going on.
"Well whatever it was, looks like it didn't leave any permanent damage" Hana mused aloud, scuffing her zori across the scorch marks and showing the otherwise unblemished pavement beneath. Renji seemed quiet though, Kagome thought inwardly, noting the tense line of his shoulders as he glared at the scorches and the barrier.
He reminded her of InuYasha…
She looked away.
And noted that the pavement a dozen feet farther down seemed… wet. It was a curious thing when the rest had been apparently burned by the energy of the barrier, and the air was too dry for it to have rained recently. She took a few steps towards it and felt her gut knot itself into an anxious ball at Kogitsune's long low rumble. She crouched next to the liquid and heard the others start to walk towards her when they noticed her attention had turned.
Carefully she dragged her two fingers across the surface of it and found it wasn't water but rather a thick viscous fluid. Some sort of slime, as if someone had taken a bucket of saliva and thrown it all over the ground. It had a heavy offensive aroma, not quite like something rotting. It reminded her of when she'd still been living and had forgotten about clothes left in the washing machine too long after being finished, until they'd soured and had to be washed again.
She wiped her hands off on her handkerchief quickly.
"What is that?" Rikichi asked, leaning over it.
"Goop" she said, matter-of-factly. Then added as an afterthought, "Smelly goop"
Hana had stepped over the narrow pool and seemed to be examining how it slid right through the barrier. Renji however was scanning the ground, seeing how the slimy trail went deeper into the practice area.
"It looks like something went out through the barrier" she said, then sent a serious glance to Renji who was already looking at her, 'Or in' went unsaid between them. "Maybe one of the fake Hollows accidentally walked into it" Rikichi suggested, blissfully ignorant of the increasingly tense atmosphere building between around him.
She lifted her hand to her communicator to speak, then nearly smacked herself in the face trying to get her hand to Kogitsune's hilt at the sight of movement just farther down the road. Her blade was half drawn when Takashi's group flash stepped the short distance from the building alleys to where they were standing. She gave a sigh, inwardly berating her own jumpiness and nearly snarled at Takashi for not announcing himself but Renji beat her to it.
"I told all squads to hold their positions!" he barked, glowering at them. Takashi inclined his head in what may've looked like a respectful action if his eyes hadn't been gleaming with irritation. She knew he was probably fuming at have to answer to some eleventh squad officer. "Sorry Sempai. We heard that the anomaly was here and thought you might require assistance" he said, though not without a hint of coldness to his voice. Renji looked exasperated and closed his eyes.
She couldn't smother her smile upon recognizing it as the expression of someone praying for patience.
"Well as long as you're here you might as well come along" he said, walking along the edge of the trail. "Sir" Takashi affirmed, and quickly he fell in step beside her and behind Renji. It wasn't like they went far; the slimy trail ended after only a hundred yards. It had curved off the empty street and into one of the warehouses whereupon the trail ended in a faint scorch mark, this time a Kido blast judging by the faint spiritual pressure still hovering in the air around it. If it was a Hollow that had forced its way through the barrier it looked like it had been mistaken for one of the simulations and dealt with accordingly by a passing group of students.
"Well whatever it was, it's gone now" said the student from Takeshi's group. It took her a moment to recognize him in the poor light but she realized he was one of the sixth years from she and Takeshi's Hakuda class, she knew him by last name only but Takeshi and he seemed to be pretty good friends as they were more often than not eating or training together. He was a lesser noble who practically served Takashi but he was pretty respectful with everyone so she didn't mind him too much. He was pretty normal looking, high cheekbones and a thin face which spoke to his breeding but his short hair was a plain black and he had dark brown eyes.
"Shitagawa-san" she said, catching his attention, "You were through here earlier weren't you? Did any of you see anything strange then?" He shook his head, and looked around, "No, not even this slime trail was here" Renji was frowning, looking at the trail's end and looked to be wondering just what the hell was going on. Then Shitagawa added, as though as an afterthought, "Oda-kun and Yamashita-chan might've seen something though"
Seeing the confused glance he was getting from Abarai he explained, "We split up just after that weird thing with the barrier happened. Oda-kun and Yamashita-chan went onto the other side of the warehouses over here while we searched the near side. Maybe they were the ones who used the Kido here"
"And they haven't reported in since?" Renji snarled. He looked as though he might very like to smack the other man. Shitagawa shrank under his glare, and squeaked, "They said they'd check the buildings closest to the barrier and then catch up"
"I'm calling them" Renji snapped, lifting his hand to the mic at his neck. "No need" someone, male, said from behind and Kagome just about leapt out of her skin at the suddenness with which they'd appeared. They turned to just outside the doorway where a male student in his mid-teens stood, medium length light brown hair and grey eyes, he was looking at the ground where he'd stepped in the slime and seemed to be trying to keep his balance on the slippery substance.
Kagome wasn't really paying attention to this. She was more concerned by how easily she was getting snuck up on. Her ability to sense spiritual pressure so acutely had always been one of her greatest abilities, even before her Bakudo or Shikai had been accomplished. Normally she could always tell where she was and who she was with just with her spiritual senses. Onabara-sensei had once joked with another teacher that she could probably navigate all of Soul Society blindfolded her senses were so precise.
…So how in the hell had Takashi, Shitagawa, and now Oda all managed to sneak up on her so easily?
"Oda-kun?" Shitagawa asked, looking him up and down as though for injury, "Where Yamashita-chan?" Oda paused in a way that suggested surprise but he didn't lift his head so she couldn't see his expression. "You mean she hasn't found you already?"
"What happened?" Renji asked snappishly, coming to stand in front of the group and all the more visible for being the only one garbed in black in their cluster of white, red and blue. "Well we were checking out the other side of these warehouses when we spotted this Hollow coming down the alley over here. It was smaller and kind of acting weird for a simulation so we both fired a Kido, but I guess we were too close to each other or something when we casted the spells because they combined when they hit it; there was this really bright flash and lots of smoke. I lost track of her when it happened… I figured she'd just go find you guys. But I guess maybe when you weren't at the rooftop she came looking like I did"
Renji gave a great sigh and looked back at the black smear on the ground. "Well… if it was a Hollow it's dead now. I'll just call her over the com" he said, reaching for his throat. Oda interrupted him quickly, "Wait! If the other students hear you telling just her to report in won't they think she's missing? Her com is probably broken if she hasn't called in yet, and the students might panic if she doesn't reply right away" Renji paused, seeing his point, "That's true. Let's split up and find her then, still…
He trailed off, looked at the scorch mark on the ground then back towards the barrier. "I don't like this. That Hollow got in somehow right? The barrier might not be working like its supposed to…" he said slowly, scratching his head, then looked back to all of them, "All right. I'm officially cancelling this exercise. If that one got in who's to say other's didn't too, or can't get in now? There was only about half an hour of time left anyway"
"What about Yamashita?" Shitagawa asked. "I'll go look for her" Renji replied easily, then lifting his hand up to the mic around his neck, spoke to the unseated officers and sixth's years, "This is Abarai Renji, 6th seat. Due to the possible instability of the barrier this training exercise is now over. Please gather the students at the starting area immediately" He took his hand away as the confirmations were parroted back and turned back to them, "In the mean time I want all of you to go help herd the students. Make sure nobody panics"
He flash stepped away and she turned to the group. Takashi immediately set his nose in the air, "My group will go back up Abarai, you can babysit Higurashi" She rolled her eyes, not caring at this point where he was. She wanted to find Nobooru first and foremost, and get him out the training ground before another real Hollow showed up.
Oda stuck his hand up immediately and said, "I'm going to go with Kagome-chan's group" Takashi looked at him weird, so did she for that matter. Takashi she suspected was just annoyed that his 'friend' a fellow noble, would want to go with her. She was more preoccupied but Oda's sudden decision to refer to her on a first name basis; She wasn't offended or anything, she preferred going by her first name anyway, but Oda was typically very ignorant of her. If she and Takashi weren't so well known she might have wondered how he knew her name at all. Still…
"That's fine. Let's move quick, I want to make sure my Otouto isn't making a fuss over the exercise being cut short" She flashed stepped to the nearby rooftop and began to run south across them. She cast out her senses as she moved in the hopes of locating any wayward students.
But casting out her senses, she felt almost… lightheaded. All the spiritual pressure in the air, even that of the barrier, seemed muffled and impossibly weak. It was like she was trying to hear something with pillows over her ears. It was disorienting in a way that she not appreciate.
She passed a few groups, most of which were already accompanied by older students, guiding them back to the starting area. One she had to stop for and explain that the barrier had acted funny and they were going back to Soul Society just in case. Their protest wasn't unexpected but no less irritating, and she sent them off with Hana just in case they were still feeling defiant.
With them being hurried on their way, she took Rikichi and Oda and continued farther towards the south end of the exercise ground.
She paused on the corner of a rooftop when the cloudiness affecting her spiritual senses began to intensify. Trying to feel out spiritual pressure was actually starting to give her a headache, and the quietness of the training ground grated on her nerves. Kogitsune was growling in the back of her mind and Rikichi's spiritual pressure was alive with nervous energy just behind her. Oda seemed unnaturally calm about the situation as he jumped the gap in front of her and paused on the lip of the building in front of her.
She wished she felt as calm. Kagome hadn't felt this sort of anxiety since she'd been in the Sengoku Jidai, and ignoring the knots her gut was working itself into had never been a good idea, even then. The haze over her senses wasn't helping, and she couldn't help but wonder if it was because of the flare-up from the barrier earlier.
"Rikichi-kun, Oda-kun" she said, "Do either of you sense anything?" She had felt Rikichi jump behind her at her words, and when he answered there was a curious little lilt to his voice, "N-no. I can't really sense anything actually" Oda seemed to look around and after a moment, "I don't sense anything either"
Her anxiety was intensifying by the minute, and she reached up to finger the com around her neck. She half wanted to call up Renji and ask him if he'd found Yamashita, heck she'd even talk to Takashi if she had to. But just the few sixth's years she'd come across were already nervous, not quite buying the whole 'unstable barrier' story, and if she asked Renji anything directly over the radio than there would probably be a kerfuffle.
Her train of thought was broken by a sharp crackling sound from nearby.
"What was that?" Rikichi exclaimed, nearly jumping out of his skin. "It came from over there" Oda replied immediately and he pointed to a gap in the buildings just a few blocks away. It was within her range of senses, but she couldn't really feel anything despite the flare of lights that indicated the use of Kido.
She lunged forward, flash stepping the short distance across the last few rooftops and landing in the broad alley below. There was a Hollow, but even with her senses as muddled as they were she could tell it was one of the simulations. It was as good a place to dump her stress as any, and it was split quickly in half by Kogitsune's blade.
"Oi!"
She turned to her right and saw a girl of maybe only ten standing there with a furious glare on her face. Her nameless sword was drawn and held above her head in the stance of someone who'd just been about to make a cut.
"What was my Hollow! You can't just come in here and jack my kill!" she howled, lowering her sword. Her dark red hair clashed spectacularly with the brilliant crimson of her uniform and her green eyes practically gleamed with her anger.
"Onee-chan?" a voice asked from the side. They both turned to it, and Kagome gave a soft sigh at the sight of her adopted brother. "Nobooru-kun" she acknowledged, taking in his startled expression and the confusion from the boy next to him whom she recognized as one of his friends.
"She's your sister?" the young girl snapped, crossing her arms and stomping over to him. Nobooru looked a little flushed at her scrutiny but ducked quickly away and strode over to her.
"What're you doing here?" he asked, looking up at her.
"You probably couldn't see from here but there was an incident with the barrier" Rikichi said from behind her. Kagome put her hand on Nobooru's shoulder, turning his attention back to her, "The seated officer in charge of this exercise is cutting it short" She ignored the indignant shout and subsequent protests from his teammate, feeling him tense up under her palm.
Nobooru was a smart kid, and he'd apparently been around her long enough to realize when she wasn't telling the truth. He looked up at her and turned slightly so that his comrades wouldn't see his face; not that they would, seeing as they were busily assaulting Oda and Rikichi.
"What's going on?" he murmured softly. She shook her head, "Not here. I want you to take your friends and go back to the starting area okay?" His expression turned nervous, but he nodded quietly and carefully slid his nameless blade back into its sheath. The girl was howling at Rikichi, apparently having picked him out as the weakest –he was cowering under her snarls like a small child- and it took Kagome dropping her hand onto her head to catch her attention again. "Enough of that, go back to the starting area" she said, levelling the girl with a glare and continuing when she opened her mouth to protest, "That's an order"
It was kind of cute to watch the girl puff up like an angry bird when she pulled rank, but she obeyed, turning and storming past towards the central meeting area. Nobooru and his friend chased after her, with the former throwing a nervous glance over his shoulder at her as he went. "Rikichi?" Oda asked, and she turned to glance at the two over her shoulder. "Maybe you should go with them just to make sure they get there?" the young noble suggested.
"O-oh! You-.. You think so?" he asked, glancing rapidly between them. After a moment, she nodded in agreement, preferring that her inexperienced brother had an extra set of eyes on him. Rikichi jerked funnily then ran after them as they turned a corner.
"We'd better check the rest of this sector" Oda said, turning and striding deeper into the alleys. She gave a soft 'hmm' of agreement and trailed after him. She almost wanted to suggest them taking to the rooftops but Oda seemed to be pretty determined to go wherever it was he was going. "I didn't want to startle Rikichi-kun, but I thought I sensed something over here when you were talking to those students" he said suddenly, and her heartbeat jumped nervously at the thought of having missed something. She tried to spread her senses again but only felt disoriented at the confusing haze of vague spiritual pressure that was draped over her surroundings.
"What did it feel like?" she asked, immediately on alert and fingers twitching with the impulse to draw her sword. "I'm not sure, I barely caught it as it was" he replied casually, not walking so much as gliding down a dark gap between the buildings. She trailed closely behind him, stopping when he slowed to carefully examine his surroundings, his face showing that innate focus apparent when someone of their level tried to use their spiritual senses to take in their surroundings. She cautiously tried to do the same, calming mind and raising her spiritual but barely got anywhere before Oda jerked as though surprised and drew his sword.
"Over there!" he hissed, and she just about jumped out of her skin when he did. Before she could think to even ask what he saw he was darting towards the gap in the wall of one of the warehouses where the door had long rusted and decayed away until it lay in rotting pieces upon the ground. He gave a few sharp hand signals, indicating he'd seen a Hollow, about twenty feet in, and for her to enter first. She nodded, laying her hand upon her hilt and lunging forward into the warehouse.
She wasn't sure what the building had been when it was in use, but the floor had become flooded by stagnant water that felt thick, cold, and slimy even through her tabi. It had been dead still but as she stepped into the water the surface broke into ripples, which caused faint blue-green streaks of light to go dancing across the walls, reflections of moonlight streaming down through the few holes in the roof. It sent similar eerie markings coursing up and down Kogitsune's drawn blade, bathing it in gleaming fox fire in the half light.
But there was nothing there, nothing that had touched the water at least judging by how calm it had been before her first step into it. She ignored Oda stepping in closely behind her as she meticulously chose her steps; careful not to make any noise and leery of accidentally stepping into deeper water invisible in the darkened warehouse.
Kogitsune, without warning, hissed in her mind like an angry cat and she paused nervously, glancing up at the worn rusted metal walkways and balconies above her head. Still nothing.
"Oda?" she whispered softly, and it still felt too loud in the silence of the soggy room, "Are you sure you saw it come in here?"
Silence…
She turned her head to glance sharply over her shoulder and felt a sinking anxiety to find absolutely nothing.
'Oh, c'mon…'
The water behind her was moving gently, ripples from when she'd walked, but no indicator to suggest she'd ever been followed. She turned fully, and every second she was left watching the door and not seeing Oda come around the corner caused her more and more panic.
Screw ruffling feathers, she was done playing this game.
Kagome reached up to press the button on her neck radio….
And paused when a soft echoey noise, humming by the sounds of it, reverberated around the room.
She twisted, looking for the source, but in the open space it seemed to echo from every direction. "Who's there?" she shouted; Quiet be damned.
There was a soft noise, like a smothered laugh, before the humming resumed, louder this time.
Her guts knotted into tangles when she recognized the three low notes lilting through the air, and Kogitsune's angered snarl in her mind nearly smothered out the first few words of the song that followed;
"Kagome, Kagome… a bird in a cage…
When, when will you come out…
In the evening of dawn…
Crane and turtle slipped…"
Kagome jolted as the last sentences rolled out into the air and twisted sharply, Kogitsune raised… only to curse as she found nothing in front of her but felt something slide in behind her as she moved.
"Who is behind you now?"
Dun dun dunh ! I'm so mean :D
Hopefully you all liked this chapter; Not sure if I'm any good at aspiring suspense or anxiety but I tried my best.
Not sure when I'll have my next chapter up. My plot bunnies are so fickle and I'm itching to write a little IYXYJ crossover for kicks, but having chapter 3 and being stranded at work inspires chapter production so I might be able to crank out 4 right away.
At any rate, EXAMS ARE OVER! *dances*
CrowFeathers out!
