Thank you so much to those who have reviewed, favorited, or followed! Your support means a lot to me! So far this is looking to be a long story, longer than I thought it would be. I've written more than 10 chapters of it already and have planned more than I thought I would. Hopefully, it all lives up to what I hope for it!
Just for the record:
Yukimura Taji - Inuyasha
Yukimura Sumiko - Rin
Miyamoto Kaori - Sango
Kiyoraka Kazuo - Miroku
Kiyoraka Yasuo - Kohaku
Rating: PG-13, because Inuyasha's got a potty mouth
Disclaimer: Not mine.
The Path of Destiny
Chapter 4
Meeting Kagome
About one month passed.
They had agreed to help and to protect Kagome and since then they had remembered much of their former lives. Slowly, they had begun to understand what it was they were doing, and why. It hadn't been easy, or pain free for that matter, but the three of them were more than willing to learn.
Their families had been a different story.
It didn't take much time to convince them that the story was true, but some members took it better than others did. Naoko had taken the news very well, not saying much, but nodding her consent to Taji to do what he had to do.
The Kiyoraka family was different. At first, Kazuo was going to tell his parents that Yasuo was Kohaku's reincarnation, but their reaction to him coupled with the complicated nature of Kohaku, convinced him to keep his mouth closed. When Yasuo started to remember, that would be the right time. They had refused to accept it, and even tried to leave until Shippou stopped them. It took longest to convince them.
The Miyamoto's were strong and fully supported their daughter in her decision. They agreed it was dangerous, but that she had handled everything before and could do the same with this challenge. Of course, they said nothing of Sango and Miroku's relationship because all had agreed it best to keep that as under-wraps as possible.
They quickly agreed that all of them needed to be much closer to the Higurashi residence. Even those who had not taken the news well understood that and agreed.
Sumi, especially, was happy that she would be getting to see 'Sesshoumaru-sama' more often, and that she would get to see 'Kagome-sama' as well. Sumi, apparently, had been having the dreams for almost as long as Taji. She claimed that one day she had felt something tug in her mind. "It was like my soul was telling me I had to find Sesshoumaru-sama! And so I did!"
Each of them had started using fragrant soaps and even mild perfumes at Sesshoumaru's insistence. He said that they needed to cover their scent as much as possible, and these days that meant making it as artificial as possible. True, they didn't smell exactly as they had, Taji remembered how similar Kikyou and Kagome had smelled, but it was similar enough that they might raise suspicions if they were too close to Inuyasha at some point. Sumi and Kaori had taken to it quite naturally, convincing two young men to use a scented shampoo had taken a little threatening.
They were moved within two days, but not to completely separate homes. Rather, all three families now lived in a large compound, the same one where the three had been taken to find out about their past lives. The land was vast, and each family still had their own area apart from all the others, for privacy.
It was close to Kagome's home and to her school, but it also was perfect for people who were training with weapons. There were spacious grounds with youkai and humans who were proficient to teach the techniques needed. However, Sesshoumaru, Shippou, Ayame, and Kouga were their main teachers, much to Taji's disgust.
Their training had begun immediately, and it quickly became obvious that their talents, like Kagome's with the bow, had not strayed despite their rebirth. They needed to polish the skills, but hours of work a night was enough to do that. Because of this, their bodies and minds quickly adapted to the new training. Quicker than most people would have.
When they transferred, all of them had ended up in different classes. It wasn't a problem, until the first day of school when Kazuo realized he was in Kagome's class and that no matter how little she was there she would eventually recognize him.
There was really no way to solve the problem beyond hoping Kagome didn't recognize him. However, Kaori had an idea. Normally Kazuo wore his hair very similar to how he wore it in his past life as Miroku, loose and a little long in the back. Trimming it up and slicking it back gave him a more mature look, and with the slightly different shape of his face unless you were looking for Miroku you probably weren't going to find him. Kaori also took steps to conceal her identity and cut her hair to her shoulders, bleaching it to a light brown.
Taji had been a problem, he refused to cut his hair, or color it. Not even a fight with Sesshoumaru had changed his resolve. Shippou had tried holding him down so Kouga could cut it, and he had ended up being overpowered by the human.
Taji's hair had stayed long. Though he agreed on one thing: Kagome would immediately recognize him with his sideburns and he integrated them into the rest of his hair. By cutting them.
OoOoO
Naoko set out the breakfast with a sigh. She had eaten long ago, and Sumiko was all ready done with her food, what she could eat of it. Now, she was just waiting for Taji to come down stairs.
Naoko looked towards her youngest child's room with another sigh. Sumiko was bed ridden today. She had caught a slight cold, which had quickly spread to her lungs and made her too ill for school. She had tried to go to classes, or at least get out of bed, but couldn't find the strength.
The sliding of the door brought her out of her thoughts and she nodded politely as Sesshoumaru stepped over the threshold. He looked at the table, which was set for only one person and sniffed the air. "Where is Rin?"
Naoko had gotten used to Sesshoumaru calling Sumiko 'Rin'. He refused to call her anything else, and Sumi didn't seem to mind. A part of her wanted to reprimand him though, to remind him that she only carried Rin's soul, she wasn't Rin.
Instead, she just answered, "She's sick today. It's a bad flu, I guess. Well," she said softly, "she should be better soon."
"'KAA-SAN! YOU DIDN'T WAKE ME UP!" a voice suddenly yelled from up the stairs.
Naoko smiled and rolled her eyes at the inquisitive look Sesshoumaru was giving her. "I did so, Taji! Now get down here, you'll be late for school!" She began placing the food on the table and gestured towards a chair. "Would you like something to eat, Sesshoumaru-san?"
"We're coming in!" Kaori announced as she opened the door. "Good morning!" she greeted Naoko. Her gaze traveled to Sesshoumaru and she nodded her greeting.
Kazuo followed Kaori in and bowed to Naoko. "Yukimura-san, you're looking lovely today. Oh?" his tone changed as soon as he saw who else was in the kitchen. Suddenly, he sounded much like the monk he had been. "And what are you doing here, Sesshoumaru?"
Taji came running down the stairs and sprinted to the table. He was pulling his school jacket on and quickly set to work eating, not glancing up at anyone.
Sesshoumaru watched the display for a few moments before returning to the woman's question. "No, but thank you. I only came by to make sure that my idiot half brother," he ignored the protest from Kaori that they were no longer related, "and his friends knew to come down to my office after school today."
After swallowing the bit of omelet that she had stolen from Taji, Kaori probed Sesshoumaru for information. "Why do we need to be at your office?"
"There are things we need to discuss," he said shortly. He cast a glance at his watch and frowned. "I have an early meeting."
"That doesn't answer my question, Sesshoumaru," Kaori pointed out as she shifted her bag, unconsciously becoming defensive.
Sesshoumaru, however, took notice. "There is no need to be worried, taijiya, this Sesshoumaru has nothing sinister planned."
"Yet," Taji muttered. He escaped a glare from his mother as he cleared his dishes from the table.
Sesshoumaru made his way to the door, but paused just before opening it. "I will send a doctor to treat Rin later today. Be expecting him."
Naoko didn't have a chance to protest, and knew that even if she had, he would never have listened to her. Instead, she just smiled knowingly at the closed door and went to do the dishes Taji had just cleared. She saw the looks on the teen's faces and elaborated. "Sumiko's sick again," she explained. "She'll be fine in a couple of days, but..." she trailed off.
"I still can't believe Sesshoumaru would be that attached to a human," Taji said in disbelief. He then realized what time it was. "Ah, SHIT!"
"Yukimura TAJI! Watch your mouth!" Naoko snapped. She had noticed it over the past few weeks. Taji, who had always had a bit of a sailor's mouth, had begun to have even more of one. His speech pattern was changing, but only she seemed to notice it, or be disturbed by it.
They yelled a quick goodbye to Naoko and took off down the road, hoping that they wouldn't be late to their classes.
"You know," Kazuo yelled as they ran, a boyish grin appearing on his face, "this does remind me of old times!"
"What? Running to school?" Kaori called back, since she was slightly ahead of him.
Kazuo pushed his speed a bit more and caught up to her. "No, just the fact that we always seemed to be running."
"Yeah, usually to save Inuyasha!" Kaori shot back, grinning.
Taji just glared at his friends and picked up speed, leaving them both in the dust and ensuring that at least he would make it to school on time.
OoOoO
Kazuo wiped the sweat from his brow and grinned in triumph. He plopped into his seat just as the final bell rang and had to congratulate himself. Despite Taji leaving himself and Kaori to, literally, eat his dust, they had even managed to beat him to class because he was stopped by a first year that had a love letter.
'Ah, justice does serve her purpose.'
He reached to pull out a pen and paper from his bag so that he could get ready for the lecture, but stopped when he noticed that the seat on his right was filled. He sat up quickly, and had to force himself not to gape at the girl who filled the seat. Kagome. There were two reasons for this, the first being that this was only the second time he had seen her in this lifetime. The first time had been for only a few hours because she had been late for class. The second reason was that she was not wearing her school uniform, but rather a sweater and a skirt.
Her friends were fussing over her, despite the bell having rung, and he listened in to their conversation.
"If your uniform got bloody why are you even here, Kagome?" one of the girls asked.
Immediately Kazuo's eyes widened and he became concerned. To his knowledge, there wasn't a battle that Kagome was ever hurt that badly that she had lost a uniform. The worst has been in the Oni's rock, but that wouldn't happen for months now.
"Yeah!" another chimed in. "You shouldn't even be here if you're vomiting blood!"
"Vomiting blood!" Kazuo exclaimed before he could help it. The four girls faced him and he smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to listen in, but, I could not help it."
Kagome smiled and turned in her seat so she could see him. There was no recognition in her eyes. "No, its okay...Kiyoraka-kun, isn't it?"
"Yes," Kazuo smiled, relieved at the friendliness, but non-recognition in her eyes, "I've heard from the class that you've been very sick lately, Higurashi-san. Are you sure you can be at school today?"
Her smile seemed to falter, and it became semi-fake, a smile that Kazuo knew from his dreams. He had seen it often when she was trying to hide something. "I'm fine to be at school today. Nothing wrong here."
Her friends seemed to know the tone as well, and immediately changed the subject. "Ne, ne, Kiyoraka-kun, you transferred in after the semester started, isn't that a bit strange?"
It was Kazuo's turn to become nervous and he coughed. "Well, that is-"
The door slid open and their homeroom teacher walked into the room, silencing all of them. Class began and Kazuo tried to search his memory, to pinpoint exactly when Kagome had traveled back, and when blood had been on her clothes. She seemed upset, which didn't help to narrow down the different possibilities.
"IN THAT CASE, I'LL NEVER FORGIVE HIM!"
The sound of Kagome's voice snapped Kazuo from his thoughtful state. He blinked in surprise at Kagome, who had just slapped her hands on her desk and yelled out. She looked incredibly embarrassed and turned to their teacher, who had stopped between her and Kazuo.
"Higurashi, go stand in the hall."
Kazuo winced at the tone of his voice. Kagome, though, bowed her head and muttered an apology before hurrying outside. He made a mental note to give her his notes later. Looking at his paper, though, he realized that would be impossible since he hadn't taken any notes all day.
Sighing, he leaned on his hands and looked out the window. 'Never forgive him? She was probably talking about Inuyasha,' he pondered. 'But never forgive him for what?' There were very few things that Kagome every left the Sengoku Jidai for because they were unforgivable. And only one where she had been forced to leave by him….
"HE STOLE THE JEWEL!"
Kazuo realized a fraction of a second later what he had done and stood up and walked out the door, where his teacher was pointing.
He could see that Kagome was lost in thought again, but quickly looked up when he came outside. He took a spot next to her and she smiled, but dared not to speak. She had heard him yell. He offered a smile back, which quickly turned to a chuckle. Kagome giggled and the two finished their class period outside, silently laughing at the situation.
OoOoO
Kaori walked out of class as quickly as she could when the lunch bell rang. She was hoping that she was fast enough to make it to the roof before she ended up sharing her lunch with Kazuo again, since he never seemed to bring his. Kaori slid the door open and was about ready to break towards the door down the hall, when she spotted two familiar faces.
Kagome and Kazuo were smiling at each other, and laughing about something. She stood there, trying to measure Kagome up, see if it was really her. She had to stop because Kagome opened the door and went into the classroom, waving cheerfully to Kazuo.
Gaping, Kaori crossed the hall and pointed to the classroom, which caused Kazuo to smile, and then frown. "We need to talk, before Taji sees her." Kazuo didn't wait for a response and pulled her to the side. In the rush, he managed to open the supply closet and shoved her and then himself inside.
"Kazuo," Kaori warned, her voice deadly. "If you try anything, and I mean anything, I will make certain that you will be unable to attend any high school in this country."
In response, Kazuo simply sighed. "I'm not doing this for that, I have other ways of getting that anyway..." he trailed off, lost in his thoughts, but snapped back when he heard the unmistakable sound of Kaori cracking her knuckles. "Anyway. Kagome-sama," Kaori noted his use of the honorific, "is back in this era for a few days. I think this is right after the battle with Sesshoumaru, when Naraku tricked him." He frowned, trying to piece together his thoughts.
Kaori knew what he was talking about. Sango hadn't been there, but both Taji and Kazuo had talked to her about that incident. "So she'll be here for a few days?" Kaori said softly. "This gives us a chance, doesn't it? We can get to know her, become her friends and..." she didn't finish her sentence as Sesshoumaru's warning came back to her.
"No, we can't can we?"
Kazuo nodded. "If we get too close to her, Inuyasha may smell us on her. Our scents aren't completely covered, despite all the perfumed soaps we use."
"And reincarnations smell similar," Kaori sighed. "Okay, so we can't get close enough to be her friends, but it was nice to see her." Kazuo didn't respond. Kaori picked up the nearest object, a dustpan, and hit him in the head with it. "Houshi-sama!" she snapped, not aware of the change in how she addressed him.
Kazuo rubbed his now sore head and swore. "Did you have to hit me that hard?" he wondered.
"Did it help jar some of your brain cells?" Kaori countered, pointing towards where his hand now rest, on her shoulder.
"Ah, see, it is a cursed hand," he joked. The light-hearted atmosphere faded just as quickly as Kazuo's laugh and he spoke what he had been thinking. "I don't think we should let Taji see Kagome-sama just yet."
"What?" Kaori demanded. "But, she's all he's dreamed about for months now! We can't deny him if he wants to see her."
Leaning against the shelves, Kazuo folded his arms. "Think about it this way, Kaori. Inuyasha cared for Kagome more than he could even admit, and once the well closed, he never saw her again. As far as we know, he died not knowing her feelings. This has been passed on to Taji, who now dreams of this young woman so often that he must be confused. If he sees Kagome-sama at this time, it could be disastrous."
There was a pause before Kaori was able to put together what he was saying. "You mean he could love her or hate her."
Kazuo nodded, serious about the possibility. "So we are agreed then? We can't stop him from seeing her, but we can try to prevent it." Kaori sighed, but nodded her agreement with him. "Good. Now," his voice and mood changed as quickly as the seasons, "let's go eat some of your mother's wonderful rice and fried shrimp!"
Before Kaori could yell at him for not bringing his own lunch, Kazuo had already turned toward the door and started opening it. However, the knob would not turn, no matter how hard he tried. He gulped and looked up at the ceiling, silently asking what he had done to deserve this.
OoOoO
"And with that, Oda Nobunaga attacked the monks of..." the teacher droned on, quickly losing Taji's interest. Everyone knew how this story ended, only a moron didn't. The monks all died and Nobunaga gained more strength and then...Taji didn't care what happened.
'Besides,' he thought bitterly, 'it's not like I lived through any of that. Not at all. Wonder what people would think of all the re-writing that's been done of history?' he pondered. Quickly though, he decided he didn't care and continued to let his mind wander.
Thoughts of the past plagued him day and night. He had asked Kaori and Kazuo about it, but both of them said that their memories were slowing down, and many were choosing to remain hidden. It seemed that Sango and Miroku didn't want to give too much of life after Kagome away to their reincarnations.
Inuyasha didn't seem to care, and Taji's thoughts and dreams were of everything from his mother's scent to the day Sango and Miroku were officially married. Something he knew that neither of them remembered - but knew had happened.
He cracked a smile. Kagome would enjoy-
He stopped his train of thought as soon as it began. Her again. Somehow, he always ended up thinking about HER. He had never even seen her, never heard her and she was always on his mind! He growled softly under his breath, not realizing what he was doing. In all honesty, he didn't even notice the changes he had been undergoing since he had accepted the responsibility of his past.
The bell rang, signaling that lunch had started and Taji sighed. "Finally," he muttered under his breath. He grabbed his lunch from his bag and headed outside and up the stairs that were across the hall from his room. He didn't care that he should have waited for them, but instead got to work on his lunch.
Kazuo always forgot his, and if Taji didn't eat quickly, he'd end up sharing. His food was gone in minutes and he frowned. Normally Kazuo was here by now, and Kaori was yelling at him...
He waited until half way through the lunch period before starting out to find them. He poked his head into all the classrooms and didn't see any of them. He had come to Kazuo's class and was about to open the door when he heard a shuffling from across the hall. He let his hand drop and strolled towards the door, listening carefully.
He could just barely make out the sound of two people arguing, and a grin lit up his face. He could catch the words 'jammed' and 'open the damn door right now' fairly well. But...he glanced around the hall and started back towards his class. Most people wouldn't even notice the strange sounds.
OoOoO
"Has anyone seen Kiyoraka-kun?" the teacher asked when he saw the empty seat.
Kagome glanced at the seat beside her and then at the door and frowned. "He was here before lunch. Maybe he's ill, sensei?" Her thoughts briefly wandered to the girl she had seen open the door, and she shook it off. But she did worry...
OoOoO
"I'm sorry if I'm not gentle, I can say anything in my dreams," Kaori sang softly, while counting the number of specks on the wall.
Kazuo really hated Sailor Moon, and hearing Kaori sing every song from the show wasn't helping his mood or view of the show, either. "Kaori, Kaori, please," he begged, "please, sing something else."
"Like what?"
"I don't care, anything," he sighed, exasperated.
For a moment, Kaori pondered. She sang because she was bored, and because every time she tried to start a conversation with Kazuo, it always ended up with her hitting him. Finally, another one came to mind. "I touched those hated freckles lightly and -"
Kazuo hit his head on the door. Of course, he should have known. Kenshin.
The sound of the doorknob turning was enough to stop Kaori's voice, but not enough for Kazuo to realize that there was someone there. The door opened and Kazuo fell to the ground. Before he hit, he reached out, grabbed something to stop him from falling, and ended up grabbing Kaori by the shirt and pulling her down with him, leading to a very awkward position.
Especially since Kagome had been the one to open the door.
"Ah...Kiyoraka-kun and um..." she trailed off, blushing, glancing around, hoping for a way out of this awkward situation.
Kaori's eyes widened and she realized what they must look like, and she did the first thing that came to her mind and clobbered Kazuo before she climbed off him. Placing a hand behind her head, she bowed to Kagome, more embarrassed than ever. "I'm sorry! This must look...I'm sorry!"
"That...that's okay, but did you really need to hit Kiyoraka-kun that hard?" Kagome inquired, wincing as she thought about Miroku back in the past.
Kaori brushed her skirt off and looked down. "That pervert? He's lucky he's not DEAD," she spat.
'Definitely like Miroku-sama,' Kagome thought, with a small grin. "Oh, I'm Higurashi Kagome, it's nice to meet you."
"Miyamoto Kaori."
OoOoO
Kagome had kept her mouth shut about the incident in the closet, but someone else must have seen because it was all over school by the end of the day. Even Taji knew about it, and he wasn't letting them forget it. Of course, he knew that it had to have been an accident, but that didn't stop the rumors.
Both Kazuo and Kaori had about reached their breaking point just as they reached Sesshoumaru's office building. They didn't check in at security, simply waved at them, and headed up the elevator the top floor where Sesshoumaru and his closest business associates were located. Taji was still laughing when he passed by Kouga's office.
"Oi!" Kouga yelled at the passing trio. He slammed his desk drawer shut and walked to the door, where they had stopped. He frowned quickly and pointed to Taji. "What's his problem?"
Kaori and Kazuo blushed, which only caused Taji to laugh harder. He was able to spill what had happened, which only caused Kouga to laugh as well.
Ayame appeared, and could only grin at the story. She waited for the laughter to die down a bit before interrupting. "As much fun as teasing these two is for you boys, Sesshoumaru wants us all in his office now."
They began to walk towards the main office near the back of the building, passing familiar and unfamiliar faces in the process. A few waved, others whispered. "So," Taji began, "any clue why he wants to see us?"
Ayame shook her head. "He didn't say anything, just told me to get you. And here we are." The doors were simple, for Sesshoumaru. They were elegantly carved doors, which seemed to depict his family history, at least that's what Taji thought. Though he didn't miss what looked like Sesshoumaru killing Naraku...that pissed him off.
Taji opened the doors and smiled when he saw Shippou was there. "Hey, Shippou."
Shippou stood and grinned back. "Hey guys. Come on, Sesshoumaru wants to get this over and done with, and so do I."
"Yeah, I don't like bein' here either," Taji muttered. "So," he turned his attention to Sesshoumaru, who was sitting behind a desk, "what was so important that we had to come?"
Sesshoumaru raised his eyebrows. "You could always leave, I'm not forcing you to be here."
"Good enough for me." Taji turned and started to walk, but was caught by Kaori.
"Stop it, Taji," she hissed. "So, why are we here, Sesshoumaru?" she asked in a much calmer voice.
"I thought you would all like weapons, since it has become clear that more youkai are threatening the Higurashi shrine." He opened his desk drawer and pulled out three pens. Seeing the blank looks on their faces, he sighed. "You can't go around carrying weapons all the time in this day and age."
Kazuo rolled his eyes and Taji snorted, "No shit."
Ignoring the young males, Sesshoumaru pushed the pens forward. Each was elegant and of a different color, silver for Taji, red for Kaori and black for Kazuo. They took them and examined them, before continuing to stare blankly at Sesshoumaru.
Sesshoumaru sighed and rubbed his temples. "Those are your weapons."
Taji looked from the pen to Sesshoumaru back to the pen and then back to Sesshoumaru. He blinked. "You're fucking kidding me."
Shippou took this opportunity to hit Taji on the head. "Idiot!" he said. "You know that everything youkai is hidden by barriers! These are your weapons barriers, the true form of your weapon will come out when you call it."
"Yeah, because we'd all KNOW THAT!" Taji yelled at Shippou.
"Well any moron should have realized that!"
"Say that to my face, runt!" He held his fist up threateningly and shook it at Shippou, who looked like he was going to bring out his own powers.
Kouga sighed and leaned on Sesshoumaru's desk. "Why were we happy that he was alive again?"
"I can't remember."
OoOoO
Taji had his arms crossed and his shoulders slumped on the way home. The entire time, he was muttering curses under his breath to Sesshoumaru and Shippou. Kazuo was sure he heard something about Kouga, too, but that wasn't a surprise.
They had left the meeting as quickly as possible, with still very little idea as to what they had been given. Of course they knew that anything youkai was shielded with a barrier so it appeared to be something different, even changing shapes. It was similar to the type of spell Sesshoumaru had on himself, so that no one could see what his true form was unless he wanted them to. They figured it was the same with the pens.
Too bad Sesshoumaru didn't tell them how to work them, saying they needed to figure it out on their own.
Kazuo was examining his pen closely, hoping for some hint on how to use it. Suddenly, he felt something...
"Taji, Kaori," he hissed softly, glancing around the area. They had just passed the school and were now getting close to the Higurashi shrine. "Do you feel that?" he asked.
Kaori closed her eyes and nodded. "Youki."
"Not a lot of it," Taji agreed. He grit his teeth, desperately wishing for the senses that Inuyasha had in the past. Just so he could know what they were about to face. "Look out!" he yelled, not knowing how he knew that the youkai was just about to attack.
They all dodged out of the way as the youkai jumped them. Taji rolled and stood on his feet. The youkai they were fighting was a weak one, by youkai standards, but he had always hated centipede youkai.
The youkai laughed. "So, this is who Sesshoumaru has protecting the shrine now? Three mortals?" She laughed and circled around them, creating a perimeter that they couldn't escape from. "How boring."
She struck too fast for Taji to see, and he soon found himself pinned against a nearby tree by his throat. He grabbed her hand and tried to pry it off his neck, but found that she was too strong. 'Damn it...now would be a good time for that weapon to work!'
To be continued...
Long story short...I hate writing battles, but they are a necessary evil!
Hence why it'll be in the next chapter. Thank you for reading, and please review!
-Ginzuishou