Wow, yea for procrastination. It was write, or study. Guess what won.

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"Who are you… You sound… are you me?" Kagome wimpered to the darkness in her mind.

Kagome tossed in her sleep, her night disturbed by a far off voice whispering in her mind. Whispering always whispering, in a voice so soft that she had to strain to hear it. She was running trying to find the body that went with the voice, knowing that it was important. That voice held knowledge she would need. That voice could explain everything that was happening. That voice…

Kagome sat up in bed, throwing panicked looks around her darkened room while she ascertained that she was alone. No one was present to account for the midnight whisperings.

Then clear as day, though still soft and breathy…

"He is awake…He is free… You must learn… Learn… She will train you." Then silence descended as Kagome stared out her window and watched as the sunrise painted the morning sky in the red of fresh blood.

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A few hours past dawn Sakura knocked hesitantly on Kagome's door. "Kagome? Kagome-Chan? There is someone here to see you. Could you come down?"

Kagome turned lethargically to the door. She didn't want to see anyone… no; she couldn't be trusted to see anyone. If she had harmed one person, then she could harm others. Kami-sama, she had even thrown whatever it was at Inutaishou and his family! Not even her friends were safe!

Her mother tried again, "Inutaishou asked her to come over and speak with you."

Kagome gave a start at the name jerking so hard that she hit her elbow against the window. She rose slowly from the window and stepped to the closet pulling out a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, comfort clothes. Inutaishou… If nothing else she owed him for last night she thought guiltily. Very well she decided speaking with this person would be her atonement to him.

"Hai, Mother. I'll be down in a moment." The words were barely spoken, but Sakura must have heard them for Kagome heard as she quietly padded away from the door and down the stairs.

Barely ten minutes later Kagome walked into the kitchen and stopped with her heart in her throat and her stomach rapidly descending to her toes.

"The darkness has risen…You must learn… She will train you." The whisper slid through her mind causing her to straighten from her slouch though it seemed no one else had heard it. Her gaze collided with that of the old woman sitting peacefully at the table.

"Kaede-san…"

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Kaede watched as the younger woman slunk into the room. Slunk, that was the only word for it, and from what she knew of Kagome the girl never slunk. Kaede's old eyes narrowed as the girl in question suddenly stiffened and shot a panicked look around the room before turning her frightened gazed to Kaede's patient one.

"Kaede-San…" It was barely a whisper of sound but it blew through the still room like a plane crash. That one word held more despair than Kaede had ever expected to hear in the girl's voice and she suddenly thought that Inutaishou's decision to send her to speak with the child was very wise indeed.

"Come, Kagome." She said kindly while standing from the table. "Let us walk." She proceeded through the door, permitting the shaken girl to choose to follow her or not.

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Kagome followed and felt no warmth from the sunlight that now surrounded her. She walked slightly behind the older women, her eyes on the shoes that were leading her somewhere. It was the sudden lack of sunlight that forced her to look up.

Kaede had led her to Goshingboku, the god tree. She had always felt safer here. After the earthquake had killed their fathers she and Rin had spent a great deal of time here. When she had graduated from high school she had demanded that her graduation party be held here in the shade of the ancient tree. There had always seemed to be an energy that the tree exuded; a warning to those who would prey on the weak. A warning that to be in the shade of the great tree was to be protected by a power so great and so primordial that only the gods held sway over it.

Then Kaede spoke from beside her. "It is as much my fault as it is ye'rs, what happened last night. I should have begun training ye soon after I interviewed ye. Though to be truthful, I thought I had much more time, certainly more than two weeks."

"I'm sorry." Kagome whispered, returning her eyes to the ground in front of her.

"Nonsense!" Kaede interjected. "I knew upon first meeting ye that ye would have t' be trained. Power such as yours 'ill not lie dormant forever. I have known fer the past week that it was stirring, I thought to broach the subject of yer training with ye next week when we've more time for it. I never thought it would be so quickly or violently awoken."

"Power? What would you know of these powers? Kaede… What happened to me last night?" The voice didn't belong to the vibrant twenty-one year old that she knew, but to a frightened child asking the adult to prove that monsters weren't real.

"Do not fear child. 'Tis only that yer miko powers decided to make themselves known. It would have happened eventually anyway, but from what Inutaishou-sama told me there was an event that brought them on now. As for me knowing about such abilities…Child, just who do you think gave the Kiba family their concealing spells?" She tried to console the distraught girl.

"I don't have any miko powers, don't you think Ji-Chan would have found them if I did. He often used to test Rin and me when we were little. And none of this excuses me from what happened yesterday. I mean that poor man on the train, and then to get back here and attack Inutaishou and his family like that. It's unacceptable!" Her voice had risen but quivered with suppressed tears.

Kaede smiled at the upset youngster. "Aye 'tis unacceptable, but still understandable. Ye do have miko powers child, why do ye think that ye can see through concealing spells with nary a thought. It comes as easily to ye as speaking, nay easier, for one must learn to speak. However, ye can do no more on yer own now. As for yer grandfather, he should have known better than to try training ye girls. A priest's power is different from a miko's power. A priest must pull from an outside source to work their abilities. A miko is her own source, she must learn to shield herself so that she is not constantly using her abilities. Your shielding is old and impressive child, but it is the shield of a child that has cut itself away from something it fears to know. 'Tis of the same principle that causes people to forget a traumatic experience. But eventually something will trigger the knowledge to come back. The trigger last night was the man on the train."

"Worry not about what ye did to him Kagome-chan. The only reason he would have been able to awaken a power so long asleep was if he was actively seeking to do ye wrong. As for what happened when ye arrived back here… ye were acting on primitive instinct alone Kagome. Ye had returned home, to yer place of safety only t' find demons awaiting ye there. 'Tis no strain t' guess that ye would attack those that had invaded yer home."

She turned old eyes to meet Kagome's startled gaze. "Now the training must begin, because the shielding once broken will continue to crumble. And such things as last night will begin to happen more frequently. Both ye and yer cousin will have to study this, but for now it is more important to teach ye the basics. With her we still have some leeway time, as her shields are still intact.

The first thing to remember, Kagome is to stay calm. Let me teach ye some breathing techniques that can be used in an emergency…"

And so Sunday continued with Kagome being taught the practical while Rin sat in on theories and explanations.

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Hai – yes