Chapter 4: A Challenge

Kagome slowly opened her eyes and took notice of her surroundings. She noticed that she was not in her bedroom in her era. Them she remembered of what happened yesterday; falling down the bone-eater's well, Lady Centipede attack, meeting Lord Inu no Taisho, the Western palace, Sesshomaru, and Kata the cat yōkai. It's a lot to take in. She didn't know how she was going to take it all in. She got out of bed and walked towards the hot springs. She took off her sleeping yukata and submerged herself and into the soothing waters. She had never expected this kind of thing to happen to her. She began to wonder how her family was doing.

They're probably very worried about me. Kagome thought. Then she heard a knock on the other side of the door.

"Kagome? Are you in there?" A feminine voice asked. She knew who that voice belonged to. It was Kata.

"Hai, I'll be out in a minute." Kagome said as she got out of the water and wrapped a towel around herself. She opened the door and saw Kata carrying a green kimono and a white obi in her arms.

"Good morning, Kagome-sama. When I came in to wake you and didn't find you in bed, I figured that you might have went into the bath." Kata said.

"Hai. I just wanted to sit in a place to think." Kagome said.

"You must have been through a lot, Kagome-sama." Kata said.

"Hai." Kagome said, "Would you mind calling me Kagome and not Kagome-sama, Kata?"

"Are you sure? You're a guest of Lord Inu no Taisho." Kata said.

"I know, but it makes me a little bit uncomfortable though." Kagome said.

"Alright, Kagome." Kata said.

After getting dressed and done with breakfast, Kata decided to give Kagome a tour of the palace. Kagome had to admit that it is really huge. It was bigger than any palace she had seen in her lifetime. Then she heard a 'thwack' sound nearby. Kata noticed that Kagome stopped walking when she also heard the 'thwack' sound. Then she decided to lead her to the training grounds. When they arrived, Kagome was amazed by its size. She saw many demons of all different kinds training.

"Lord Taisho's soldiers are always training the next day after a patrol or mission that milord had assign to them." Kata said.

"Wow." Kagome said.

"Everyone wants to be at their strongest whenever they go out on patrol. They also want to make a good impression on milord." Kata said.

"I'll bet they do. Hey, can I practice my archery over there?" Kagome asked, pointing to the area where the soldiers were practicing their archery.

"You know archery, Kagome?" Kata asked, shocked that Kagome knew about archery.

"Well, I was always practicing back home and I won a lot of competitions as well." Kagome said, "Besides, I like archery."

"I see." Kata said, "Well then, how about showing me?"

"Okay." Kagome said.

"What's a ningen onna doing here, Kata?" A bird yōkai asked when he saw Kagome with Kata.

"She happens to be a guest of milord, Yamako." Kata said.

"Oh, I'm sorry ladies. I didn't know." Yamako said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"It's okay." Kagome said.

"Yamako, would you mind getting a bow and some arrows for Kagome, please?" Kata asked.

"Why would she need them?" Yamako asked, his brow arched.

"I would like to see Kagome's skill with a bow." Kata said.

"You know archery?" Yamako asked.

"Hai. I'm pretty good." Kagome said.

"Okay then, let's see it." Yamako said, "If you manage to hit dead center three times, I'll give you our respect."

"Sounds like a deal." Kagome said as she extended her hand out. Yamako took her hand and shook it. He called over a tiger yōkai to get a bow and arrows for Kagome. The other troops lined up the targets at different distances. The first one to shoot was Yamako. He steadily held his bow and notched his arrow. He released it and hit into the first target dead center. All the other soldiers cheered for him. Then Kagome was next. She held her bow steadily, took a deep breath, and released her arrow. It hit dead center. The soldiers gasped. They didn't expect that a ningen onna would hit dead center on her first try. Actually, it wasn't her first. Her first arrow was shot when she was ten years old. She was captain of the archery club at her high school. She also won many tournaments since middle school.

"Nice shot, Kagome." Kata said.

"Beginner's luck that's all." Yamako said.

"Okay then, how about a little further?" Kagome asked.

"As you wish, milady." Yamako said. The target was moved further away from them. Yamako was first again. He released his arrow. He expected it to hit dead center, but it didn't. It hit outside the center. Kagome was next. She took a calming breath and released her arrow. It hit dead center again. The soldiers gasped again. They were starting to like this ningen onna. The tiger yōkai from before took out their arrows. Yamako was first once again. He aimed and shot his arrow. It hit outside of the center once again as well. At last it was Kagome's turn to shoot. Everyone was quiet and still as Kagome let out her breath. She released her arrow and it hit...dead center. All the soldiers were shocked at what just happened between Yamako and Kagome.

"So, I guess I won, Yamako?" Kagome asked.

"I guess so." Yamako said as he extended his hand out and shook it. He had to admit that she has good marksmanship.

"Well done, Kagome. You have our respect of you." Yamako said.

"Thank you, Yamako." Kagome said.

After the challenge was over, Kata let Kagome explore the palace. She decided to go see the gardens. Unfortunately, she got lost. Maybe she should have stayed near the training grounds. She began to wonder how anyone can navigate is this place. Suddenly, she bumped into something hard.

"Sorry, I didn't see where I was going." Kagome said. When she looked at what she bumped into, her blood drained from her face. There stood Sesshomaru, 'The Killing Perfection'. He didn't look very happy to see who dared to bump into him.

"Um...hi, Sesshomaru-sama. Lovely day today, huh?" Kagome asked, nervously.

"What do you want, ningen?" Sesshomaru asked, stoically.

"Just trying to find the gardens, that's all." Kagome said.

"Why did my father let a ningen like you into the palace?" Sesshomaru asked.

"I had no where to go and your father kindly invited me to stay here." Kagome said.

"What's so special about you, ningen? You seem weak and helpless to me." Sesshomaru said. Kagome was already angry at Sesshomaru for calling her a 'weak and helpless ningen'. She promised herself that she wouldn't try to do anything to anger Sesshomaru because he was Taishō's son. But when he constantly called her a ningen, her anger exploded.

"My name is Kagome! KA-GO-ME! You stupid dog!" Kagome said angrily. Suddenly, Kagome started to regret her words. She noticed that Sesshomaru had the look of extreme anger on his face. He lifted his hand and his claws started to glow green. Then he darted towards her with his claws. Kagome quickly dodged his attack and kicked at his legs, making him fall into the right side of the wall. She quickly ran down the hall, hoping to get as much distance away from the ice prince. She stumbled among the garden and hid behind one of the inuyōkai statues. She tried to get her breathing under control. Now she knew why he was called 'The Killing Perfection'. He won't hesitate to kill his opponent no matter what. A shiver went down her spine. She decided to trust that feeling. Then she quickly hit the ground and saw a glowing green whip hit one of the head of the statues. The stone piece was completely disintegrated by the green glow substance. Then she realized what the green glow was: poison!

That could've been me. Kagome thought as she got back up.

"Impressive, you were able to dodge my poison whip, onna." Sesshomaru said. Kagome turned her attention back to Sesshomaru who was slowly walking towards her.

Sesshomaru was impressed by this ningen onna. She was able to dodge his attacks when a normal ningen would be too afraid to move. He had to admit that she was brave for a ningen. His claws glowed again and his whip appeared. Kagome quickly dodged to the side. But before she dodged, a tip of Sesshomaru's whip hit her right shoulder. She held onto her right arm as she slowly sat up. All of a sudden, she saw Sesshomaru right above her. As he raised his claws, Kagome placed her arms in front of her, expecting the ice prince's acid claws. She felt some sort of warm energy flowing through her. She opened her eyes and found herself in a pink barrier of some kind.

As she stood up, she noticed Sesshomaru standing away from the barrier. He looked surprised at what she did. But then his face went back to stoic. He summoned his whip again and hit the barrier. The barrier broke and Kagome fell onto the ground. She looked up and saw Sesshomaru towering over her. His claws were glowing green.

"Die well, ningen." Sesshomaru said. Kagome closed her eyes in fright, waiting for Sesshomaru's poison claws to penetrate her. She waited and felt no pain. She opened one of her eyes and saw Taishō standing in front of her.

"Sesshomaru. Back...down...now." Taishō said in a threatening tone. He was holding onto Sesshomaru's wrist. He wasn't even wincing at how tight Taishō was holding his wrist. Sesshomaru's claw stopped glowing. Taishō released his hand. Kagome let out a sigh of relief. For a second, she thought she really was going to die.

"Are you hurt, Kagome?" Taishō asked when he turned towards her.

"I think I got hit by Sesshomaru's whip." Kagome said. Taishō smelled blood on Kagome's right shoulder. The wound didn't look too bad.

"Let's get it taken care of." Taishō said as he picked her up and carried her bridal style to her room.

"Taishō! I-I can walk on my own." Kagome said, blushing.

"Don't worry about it, Kagome." Taishō said, smirking.