A/N: Kagome is still covered in bandages.
The Healer's Apprentice
"Girl, it isn't necessary to be gentle with me. I am a soldier, for hell's sake." He chortled, and mischievous vermilion eyes flashed.
"O-oOOWW!" the soldier screamed, drawing his arm from the demented girl. She had literally thrust the soaked bandage inside his wound. "Bitch! What was that for!?"
"My apologies, noble soldier. Sessha was only packing your wound." She continued to wrap a fresh roll on his arm, ignoring the glower that was plastered on his face. She remained oblivious to the suffering she had bestowed on him and continued about with her routine. "There, all done!" she smiled at him sweetly, proceeded to shove him off the bench. "As good as new!" she chirped, slapping her new handiwork a little too enthusiastically, making sure she hit that particular spot. The soldier reeled in pain.
He turned back and shot her a string of curses, she waved at him cheerily.
He disappeared at the doorway. Shrugging her shoulders she turned back to her little corner, cleaning up the excess white gauze scattered around.
A chuckle was heard from behind.
"You do know that there is a salve to at least numb the pain when packing wounds." The older woman's voice lilted, and Kagome did not bother to turn to the source. She knew who it was.
"He asked to be spared a caring hand, Midoriko-san. I was only complying to his wishes. A patient has the right to-"
Thwack!
It was Kagome's turn to reel in pain, rubbing the crown of her head where wood connected to skull. She bit back another smart ass reply in fear of another blow.
Now she knew where Kaede had acquired her habit of knocking people unconscious.
"You remain within the conduct of a healer regardless of how patients treat you." Kaede's mentor folded her arms across his chest. She did a double take on the girl. Kagome's shoulders were slumped, her movement erratic. The healer exhaled. "I saved some stew in my tent. Go and eat. You literally look like a walking corpse."
Kagome turned and nodded at her. "Hai!" she stood and hastily tried to finish her clean-up.
The old woman turned and gave her a sidelong glance.
"Oh, and they have arrived from the reconnaissance... you might want to assess how much work we shall be in tonight."
The girl perked up, eyes flying wide. Kagome practically bolted out of the tent, dropping the pieces she had so carefully gathered.
The old woman couldn't help but chuckle at her silly infatuation.
Kagome hid herself behind a tree and scanned her vision across the crowd of wounded soldiers. She had heard rumors of the unfamiliar terra they were involved in, and that fact alone caused her such unrest. Even in her deranged mind, she knew unexplored terrain was extremely dangerous. Her sight finally settled on a familiar white form, and she sighed in relief.
He was safe, albeit wounded, but safe.
Sesshomaru-sama.
She knew that the Warlords were out of her reach, she will not even have the chance to come as close as she did to him during the festival, but as long as he was within her range of vision, it was all that mattered.
Her ruminations were cut short when she noticed his arm all bandaged up. Too bad they did not trust commoners to tend to their wounds. They only utilized Elioud elders to do the job. After all, aside from the Blood of Ill Will, it was their knowledge of the forbidden magic that made them a frightening lot.
She watched as he disappeared into his tent. Realizing she was soaked all over, she smiled bitterly.
A mentally damaged nobody like her had no place near someone like him.
But she owed him a life debt, and she was determined to repay it.
Exactly how, Kagome had no idea.
"So what did you guys find out?" Kagome coaxed as she patted a freshly bandaged leg, hoping the soldier would at least spare her a morsel of information. He seemed trusting enough.
"Ah, we didn't go very far, Jou-chan. Only to the edge of a vast steppe...
there we lost half of our men." His eyes stared off to a distance. It was only when Kagome gently placed her hand on his shoulder did he seem to rouse back to the present.
"The scouts that were at the head of the cavalry- they disappeared into thin air... as if swallowed by the grass." He leaned back, repressing a shiver. "We must have triggered something, for Akuma yoma suddenly appeared in droves and ambushed us."
Kagome poured the last brew of herbal tea and offered it to the soldier. Akuma, she had read about them from an illustrated book of dangerous youkai Kaede had gifted to her eight seasons ago.
He drew in a pained breath as he sat up, rounding his thoughts. "It was a good thing that three Warlords were there. Of course, Sesshomaru-sama's presence warranted that number, they protect him as if he were made of glass."
She finally sent the soldier off and was closing her tent when the downpour in her mind finally started. She looked up at the dark, raincloud-riddled sky, remembering the soldier's parting words: "They send him off to war yet try to enclose him in a glass cage. A monster, he truly is."
Midoriko watched her temporary apprentice as she absently poured the liquid into the packing gauze canister.
"You have to mix the tincture to the water before you do that, or else you would only be packing watered gauze into their raging wounds."
Kagome drew back, snapping from her trance. "Oh," she blabbered, and took the other pitcher beside her, drinking water, and poured it in the canister.
Realizing her mistake she froze, grimacing as she anticipated another thwack in the head that would probably render her unconscious for the rest of the afternoon.
That blow did not come. Instead, "I assume the letter you received from earlier was from your brother."
Kagome cast a worried look at the offending letter.
"Fumi is having second thoughts of me being here."
She sighed. "The exact line he wrote: 'If I hear word of you getting harmed in any way, I will drag your ass back to the Ryokan and shackle you to chains.'"
Midoriko mentally laughed at the image. Knowing Fumiko, that possibility was entirely true. Leaving her post she shifted, motioning to the bucket beside her. "I need you to refill that with water for tomorrow. We are moving forward again. DO NOT be distracted on your way." She carefully instructed, knowing the girl's short attention span. "I requested for another healer, I get an idiot with no healing powers." Midoriko shook her head.
Kagome merely nodded and picked up the empty bucket, heading out.
"Midoriko-san," Kagome stopped by the opening and turned, a genuine smile gracing her hidden face. "Thank you... for accepting me, even though my reasons are less than honorable. You are... a great healer, now I know where Kaede took after."
The old woman smiled as the younger bowed slightly and ran off, and the good doctor couldn't help but chuckle as she proceeded to pack up the rest of their supplies.
Kagome felt the warm breeze hit her face as she ran. Thankfully where they settled, the carpet of flowers had spread wide enough it had kept the flames at bay. She headed towards a small stream at the edge of the encampment. A true stream, in her eyes, at least there was one thing the real world and her own mind had agreed upon. Kagome knelt before the flowing water and admired the feel of the cold on her bandaged hand.
They were a week's worth travel southbound, deeper into the unknown of Asphodel, to the direction of Niflheim. Tomorrow they will be moving forward again, at least to where the Warlords determined safe.
Something shifted from beside her. Startled, Kagome came face-to-face with a familiar woman soldier. It was one of Sesshomaru-sama's lieutenants... Ayame, she recalled the name. Giddy, Kagome offered her a smile, only to be rewarded with a scoff from the pretty lady.
"I know you," the lieutenant acknowledged. "You are Midoriko's apprentice," she continued, eyeing Kagome suspiciously from head to toe. The soldier splashed her face with the cool water and sighed, momentarily forgetting the girl's presence.
"I see you stop by the camp every night." The lady soldier flopped onto the grass and watched the clear sky overhead. Dusk was settling in, and the beautiful hue of the sunset calmed her.
Kagome continued to run her hands in the cool stream when she stiffened. "W- what about your camp?"
"I see you stop by the camp every night." Ayame repeated, smirking.
The lieutenant restrained herself from laughter when there was a clatter of metal beside her, and soft cursing that followed. Deciding to relieve the girl from embarrassment she gave her a second glance.
The girl held curious blue eyes, Ayame was so sure it had been vermilion a while ago when the sun had not set. She shrugged.
"Don't be all flustered, ojou-chan. No one else has noticed. And I assure you, you wont have any problems with any man's attention here." She informed her brutally. "His harem is incomparable, only the most beautiful he takes in."
Kagome carefully retrieved the spilled bucket and stared at the lieutenant sprawled bonelessly beside her. "Are you part of it, then?" Kagome asked, and the soldier tilted her head towards her. "His Harem, I mean. You are... very pretty."
The young lieutenant carefully studied the woman-child before her. There was no hint of envy in her voice, it was a genuine complement. "Thank you," Ayame brought her gaze back to the sky. "But no, that I am not. I am mated to Miroku. He may be a sheep compared to Sesshomaru-sama's intensity, but that Fey Warlord would sure not appreciate his wife initiating affairs with his friend."
"Ah," Kagome nodded thoughtfully. Miroku was that inky-black haired warlord that frequented Sesshomaru-sama's side. Then she tilted her head thoughtfully. "You mean to say your husband is Fey?"
The lieutenant finally shifted, smoothing rustled silk. "The warlords are good mixture. The only one to carry the Blood of Ill Will in their group is Sesshomaru-sama. The rest of the clan, especially the council," she grimaced at the mention, "they're cowards." She chuckled as she picked up her armor.
"They try to preserve their precious cursed blood as much as they can and hide."
As the lieutenant turned to leave, she spared a parting look to the pondering girl. "By the way, I suggest you cease that pitiful stalking. You were lucky it was I who happened upon you. Heck, I didn't even notice you standing beside me until you shifted. Scared the crap out of me." She watched in hidden amusement as the girl's jaw fell.
"Y-you were there...?" Kagome stuttered, and the lieutenant casually waved a goodbye at her. "It was nice talking to you, jou-chan." the lady melted into the encampment.
'That was embarrassing.'
Kagome mentally cringed. First impressions and she was already labeled as a stalker from someone in his inner circle.
She did not know how long she had been sitting there. Snapping into attention, Midoriko's blunt instructions echoed through her head. DO NOT be distracted on your way.
She cringed again as the sensation of wood against her head tingled.
As Kagome struggled to gather her precious bucket, her eyes suddenly caught a sudden flock of black birds taking flight in the raincloud-riddled sky.
Her heart started hammering through her chest, pounding as if it wanted to break free.
Kagome's eyes widened in this foreign fear of the unknown-
so new, yet deeply familiar. As the light drizzle started in her crazy mind, she hastily gathered herself and bolted to the campsite, metal bucket in tow.
A/N: Sorry, some characters will only play a minor part here in the AU, if they even play a part here at all. I suck at writing group transitions. :P So for those who dont follow:
Kagome joins the depredation as a healers apprentice. As they move forward, the warlord's scouting mission resulted in an ambush, and a soldier recalls the event. Kagome is content that she can at least see her reprieve.
She encounters Ayame, Sesshomaru's lieutenant. As she goes back, she is given a warning. She rushes back.