I apologize for the late update! Goodness gracious, these past weeks have been BUSY. Aiya. I really am a slave to my schedule, but I do enjoy writing this, so you have my word that I shall see this story through.

Chapter 4: New Threats and New Beginnings

There was a commotion in the courtyard. The sound of urgent voices and running steps filtered through his hearing. Sesshoumaru wasted no time, striding swiftly through the hallways of the castle to the site of the din. From the smell of it, his half-brother had returned, bearing with him more than just the kill from his hunt.

Youkai parted before him as Sesshoumaru approached Inuyasha. The right side of the hanyou's bright-red haori had been stained a dark brown from the blood that had seeped through the fabric. Inuyasha struggled to hold up the remains of the demon in his arms, the armor of which was hauntingly familiar.

"My….lord…." the demon raised its mangled head, and Sesshoumaru recognized the viridian eyes of the youkai before him. Hoshizaku was one of the younger members of his guard, barely trained before sent into duty. His disappearance was blamed on his oft-wayward behaviour, and the guards had quickly forgotten his absence in the ranks.

"Take him to the healing chambers, quickly!" Sesshoumaru barked, and two sentinels rushed forward.

Hoshizaku struggled and parted his lips, baring shattered fangs in a limp semblance of a warning. "No…." he whispered, his broken voice a gurgle through the blood in his throat. "No….it is too late for me. My lord….you need to know…."

The courtyard stilled, hushed, waiting for the dying youkai's report.

"Half-breeds…." Pain congealed the forced words into a breathless wheeze. "Humans who have….injected into….themselves….the flesh and blood…..of youkai."

He did not know what exactly it was that coursed through his veins. A nameless feeling, a white-hot, needle-sharp emotion penetrated deep into his bones, and Sesshoumaru could not quell the growl that resonated within the deepest parts of his throat.

Inuyasha shivered. He had clashed swords with his brother before, seen his brother unleash his fury during his moments of rage, but it had only been twice that he had ever heard Sesshoumaru utter that kind of chilling, soul-freezing snarl, and both times it convinced him that perhaps the battles with his brother were really just bouts of sparring, and that if Sesshoumaru had ever truly wanted to kill him, he would have been dead before he'd been able to blink.

"They….are….strong." Hoshizaku's voice cut through the murkiness of the hanyou's thoughts. "They….are….many."

The light was fading quickly from the demon's countenance. He drew another breath, a deep one, a full one, knowing it was his last, a sudden clarity in his emerald irises. "They come from the South. They hunger for power, for dominion over all lands."

Claws slid from the curve of Inuyasha's shoulder, and Hoshizaku fell to the ground. His eyes slipped closed, his lips forming soundless words that Sesshoumaru saw rather than heard.

"My lord…."

The fluttering rise and fall of his chest faltered once, and then ceased.

The wind that brushed through his hair brought with it the sweeping descent of solemnity. Sesshoumaru gazed at the lifeless body of the youkai before him, a torrent of thoughts swirling through his mind. The Western Army was well renowned for its strength, and despite his youth and lack of training, the fallen demon had indeed been a part of it. That he would return in such a state, so thoroughly broken and tattered proved indeed that there was a force unknown with malicious intentions, and that it was strong enough to cause alarm. As a lord and leader, Sesshoumaru was not so arrogant as to flippantly dismiss a potential threat to his army when one posed a real danger.

"Light a pyre for the fallen one, and await further instructions." The daiyoukai directed the command toward the head general, who bowed and moved toward Hoshizaku's supine form.

It was then that Sesshoumaru caught sight of the miko, standing just beyond the doors to the castle.

Kagome caught his gaze and held it steady, a grave expression on her countenance. The daiyoukai drew level with her and stopped, his stare impassive, yielding nothing. They continued to look at one another, each betraying nothing, until Kagome broke the silence.

"What are you going to do?" She asked softly.

There was something about the way she asked him in her solemn, quiet manner that prompted him to indulge her with an answer. "Further ruminations are in order. As of yet, the lack of information regarding the matter is too great to inspire any immediate actions." With that, Sesshoumaru brushed past her, and made to stride into the castle.

Why she did what she did next was something she could never explain. Acting entirely upon an impulse, Kagome whirled, her fingers catching the demon's silken sleeve.

"Wait."

A seeping paralysis arrested her limbs as Sesshoumaru turned and slanted her a glare that singlehandedly held the combined temperatures of all of Japan's coldest winters. Her fingers, still entwined in the fabric of his sleeve, stiffened with apprehension, but did not release their hold.

Kagome swallowed back the lump in her throat and doggedly pressed ahead. "I want you to train me." She entreated. "Please."

What nerve. He was astounded by the sheer cheekiness the woman dared to exude. She, a lowly little human, wanted to be trained by him? The notion was so far-fetched, it was almost humorous. Surely the miko would realize the absurdity of her request and eat her words….but when she continued to stare at him openly, her cobalt eyes deadly serious and filled with no regret, he was loathe to admit that even he was taken aback by her mettle.

"No." Short and clipped, the word felt like a punch to her chest.

"Why not?"

"Insolent human," Sesshoumaru snarled. "You would do well to remember that there are much more important matters to take care of than the insignificant task of overseeing your needs."

"Oh really?" Kagome was undeterred. "If it's such an insignificant task, care to explain why you took all that time to come all the way out to my village to fight not with Inuyasha, but with me?"

He silently cursed her and her admittedly logical argument. The miko had a point. It was useless wasting more energy than necessary pretending that he was not intrigued by her and her unusual store of power. Perhaps it was time, he mused. He could no longer deny his interest, and now that she had openly brought it up, there was nothing he could do other than acknowledge his intentions and acquiesce.

"Very well."

Kagome fought to keep her jaw from dropping. Did Sesshoumaru just….agree?

"You will begin tomorrow morning at dawn. This one will assign you to a member of the guard. Be even a minute late, miko, and you will have more than one reason to visit the castle healer. "

It wasn't exactly what she had bargained for, but it was a step in the right direction, and she knew better than to ask more of the icy demon lord. "Thank you very much, Sesshoumaru-sama." Kagome replied in earnest.

A sharp flick of his arm, and the miko released her grip on his sleeve. Equal parts disdain and irritation coursed through his veins, but whether they were directed at the miko or at himself, he did not know. He was beginning to get a little too involved in her life for comfort—coming to her village, taking her back to the palace, and now, with this recent development, offering her the training of his army—he was acquiescing more and more easily to her requests, which was a tormenting thought. Overseeing one human was enough already. He had no need for two.

xXXx-xXXx

Kagome showed up at the barracks well before the first rays of sunlight crested the horizon of the lands. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and sank into a crouch, stretching out her weary muscles and joints, anticipation tingling up and down her spine. She did not know who would be overseeing her training, but given the status quo between humans and youkai, she suspected it would be very much an uphill battle to earn her trainer's respect.

Or perhaps not, she thought with a rill of excitement. She had a few tricks up her sleeve that had worked against more demon than one over the years.

The scrape of steel against fabric assailed her hearing and she rose from her stretch, turning to face the demon before her. His high, winged brows were framed by waist-length, pale-golden hair. His eyes were a light grey, bisected by magenta pupils. Angular cheekbones accentuated the sharp line of his jaw, all of which was covered by alabaster skin. His tall frame was covered in deep blue robes, over which was draped impressive ebony armour.

"Good morning," Kagome murmured as she inclined her head.

The demon acknowledged her with the merest flick of an eyelash. "I am Hanzo, third general to the Western Army. My lord has commanded that I hone your abilities."

"Yes….that's the plan, I suppose," Kagome replied, fighting to keep her face neutral.

"Though it puzzles me as to why my lord would waste so many necessary resources on something as trivial as the training of a human," Kagome's jaw stiffened, but with a tremendous effort, she bit back the tide of indignant comments that rose to her tongue. "I must do as he commands." The youkai concluded. With that, Hanzo slid from a sheath at his waist a long, deadly blade that shimmered in the light of the rising sun. "Come."

Kagome was already moving, an arrow grasped tight in her skilled fingers. She nocked it and, with barely a pause, sent it screeching towards the general. Hanzo dodged it easily, and it imbedded itself into the side of a wall with a dull thwack. Gritting her teeth, Kagome nocked another arrow and drew back the bowstring, dimly aware of Hanzo's condescending chuckle.

"Foolish human. To think that your flying toothpicks could be fast enough to injure a demon."

The miko gritted her teeth and fired anyway. Again, the arrow flew towards him, and again, Hanzo slipped out of its way, a pitying smirk gracing the corner of his lips—

He reeled backwards as pain seared a burning path across his face and neck, scorching the air with the scent of cauterized flesh. Hanzo clutched a hand to his sizzling skin as shock more than anything else sent him staggering. Kagome smiled as she lowered her bow. The arrow had been infused with a nasty surprise she had been working on for a while, a tightly coiled ball of concentrated reiki embedded in the shaft that would explode outwards upon coming across the slightest indication of youki within its range. Hanzo, like most other demons she had encountered, possessed enough pride to only slightly avert the trajectory of her attacks, something which had cost him a great deal of pain from the purification properties of her power.

He was looking at her with a new kind of gaze, Kagome noted. Disbelief, anger, and a spark of begrudging respect glittered in his gunsteel eyes. Slowly, Hanzo rose, his skin already knitting together from the healing properties of his breed. This bitch was no weakling. He would have to be much more mindful, now.

Kagome stood before him, waiting patiently as he readied himself. She did not taunt him or express excess revelry in her temporary victory. A silent understanding passed between them; he would take her seriously now that the pain of her purification had taught him a lesson.

Hanzo was upon her instantly. Kagome barely had time to raise her arm before she was knocked to the ground by his inhuman speed, her limbs pinned beneath her, her bow flung across the ground to an unreachable place. Hanzo bent over her and pressed the tip of his sword to her exposed neck as she struggled, her blunt nails scrabbling across the ground. Kagome eventually stilled, then met his gaze evenly, acknowledging defeat. After a moment, the demon took the point of his sword from her throat and stepped over her body.

"I shall admit that you command considerable power," he intoned as she struggled to her feet. "However, you will be no match for the speed of a demon. Your arrows will fare well in long-range battles, but almost all youkai prefer close combat, in which, as we have just discovered, you are sorely incompetent."

Annoyance flashed in her eyes, but any snarky comments Kagome would have spewed forth were cut short by an amused chuckle from the demon before her. "Plucky human," he said almost flippantly. "It will be most interesting to oversee your growth. Come. We will start at the very beginning."

Kagome trotted after his retreating back, feeling equal parts eagerness and irritation. He had defeated her so disappointingly quickly. She felt that all of her training over the past years had gotten her nowhere, and yet there was a new sense of hunger that was growing inside of her, a thirst to finally learn from a teacher experienced in the art of battle. Well, she mused to herself, it was perhaps enough of a monumental step that he, a general in Sesshoumaru's army, would even consider her worthy of being trained, command from his lord or no command from his lord. To have earned the initial respect of such a figure…she would do her best to partake of every last ounce of knowledge he was willing to impart.