Tuesday morning came too early, much like Monday had. Still, Kagome managed to drag herself out of bed and get ready for the day.
After getting dressed Kagome wrapped the prayer beads around her wrist as a bracelet again. Remembering her grandfather's words, Kagome said, "Hey, Inuyasha, Grandpa said that these prayer beads would protect me from evil spirits, by which I'm assuming he meant yokai. Could they actually work?"
Inuyasha walked over and tapped the beads with one finger. There was a small spark, like static electricity.
"It would have a long time ago," Inuyasha said. "The power is mostly gone now. I guess a strong enough priest or priestess could probably recharge it."
That might be something she'd ask the priestess about when she visited her this afternoon.
"Are you planning to follow me to school again?" Kagome asked Inuyasha as they went downstairs to the kitchen to get breakfast.
"Yup," he said.
"I guess its okay as long as no one finds out about you," Kagome said.
Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "It's not like you could stop me anyways."
That was true enough, but the way he said it irked Kagome. It was like he thought she was weak or something. Admittedly, Kagome wasn't very athletic or anything, but she'd never thought of herself as weak.
She ate her breakfast quickly and left for school. She met up with Miroku and Sango at the usual point. "Good morning, guys," she said.
"Good morning Kagome," Sango said with a smile.
"And how are you doing on this fine morning?" Miroku asked.
"As good as I can I guess," Kagome said. "By the way, Inuyasha says hi." He hadn't actually said hi, but it seemed the polite thing for Kagome to say.
"Inuyasha's here?" Miroku asked.
"He sure is," Kagome said, pointing to where he walked just behind her. "Apparently he plans to follow me to school everyday."
"I guess that's more fun than just sitting around Kagome's house, huh?" Sango said while looking in Inuyasha's general direction.
Inuyasha glanced over at her. For some reason he didn't seem completely comfortable with Sango speaking to him. "I guess so," he finally said.
"He agrees," Kagome said to Sango. "Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, I told my family about Inuyasha, so when we're around them you don't have to pretend."
"What brought that about?" Miroku asked.
"Well, apparently Uncle Ryou, Aunt Hina, and Kikyo are coming to stay over fall break, so I'm going to need help keeping Inuyasha hidden."
Miroku grimaced at the mention of Kikyo's name. He would be avoiding Kagome's house over fall break most likely. To say that Miroku and Kikyo did not get along would be an understatement. They disliked each other with a passion. Miroku thought that Kikyo was arrogant, rude, and spoiled, while Kikyo was of the opinion that Miroku was an immature and highly offensive brat.
It had all been a misunderstanding really. Several years ago when Kikyo had been visiting Miroku had mistaken her for Kagome. At the time, Miroku had been going through a rather aggravating, not to mention embarrassing, phase where he had tended to…well he'd liked to grab girls' bottoms.
Needless to say, Kikyo had been less than pleased, and the ensuing fight had left them bitter enemies.
It didn't matter that it had been years since the incident, and that Miroku had outgrown his phase. Well, mostly anyways, but Sango was his only target now, though her mean right hook discouraged Miroku from trying to take liberties to often. The two still hated each others' guts.
"Are you still planning to go see that priestess this afternoon?" Sango asked quickly, probably to avoid another of Miroku's "I hate Kikyo" rants.
Kagome nodded. "I am. After all, I figure it couldn't hurt to at least talk to her."
"I'm not sure it's a good idea for us to go," Inuyasha said.
Kagome looked at him. "Why not?"
Inuyasha scowled. "Priestesses tend not to like yokai."
Kagome frowned. "What's the worst she could do?"
"Purify me into ash," Inuyasha said dryly.
"Oh." That wasn't what Kagome had expected. "Well, I'm sure she won't try to hurt you or anything." An idea occurred to Kagome. She looked at Inuyasha with concern. "But if you're afraid to go to her home, I guess I understand."
Inuyasha looked insulted. "I never said I was afraid!"
Kagome managed to look innocently confused and surprised. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to insult you or anything. It's just when you said you didn't want to go, I assumed you must be afraid that she was stronger than you or something."
Inuyasha glared at her. "I am definitely not afraid of some stupid priestess. We're going after you get done with your school!"
Kagome had to fight a triumphant grin. "Well, if you're sure…"
"We're going and that's finale!" Inuyasha snapped and then marched off ahead of Kagome.
Kagome grinned at his back. That had been surprisingly easy, and more than a little fun. She wondered if he'd ever figure out that he'd been tricked.
Sesshomaru stepped into the hotel room with some distaste. Despite the fact that the hotel maids cleaned the room every day, it still reeked to his sensitive nose. Luckily he wasn't planning to stay long; just long enough to get the information Shippo and Koga should have for him.
"Well?" he asked, forgoing any polite greeting.
Shippo stood and handed him several pieces of paper, with the picture of a girl resting on top. "That's the girl that broke Inuyasha's curse. Her name is Kagome Higurashi, age eighteen. She lives with her mother, grandfather, and one younger brother. She's in her last year of high school."
Sesshomaru glanced over the papers Shippo had given him. They contained quite a few facts about the girl, but none of them were pertinent to the situation. "You are certain Inuyasha is still with her?" he asked.
"He is, sir," Koga responded. "When I met up with the girl, I could smell his scent on her. I could also sense him nearby, but I didn't actually see him."
"She hasn't told anyone about Inuyasha?"
"Not so far as we can tell, sir," Shippo said.
That was good. Sesshomaru didn't want to even think about the sort of mess he'd have to clean up if word about Inuyasha got around.
He'd already had to clean up more messes than he liked. Bigfoot, the Abominable Snow Man, alien sightings; all that and more were stories that he and his people had had to concoct in order to keep yokai a secret. The last thing Sesshomaru wanted was a war with humans.
"We shall be waiting for her at her house after school today," Sesshomaru said. "I'll meet you back here at two thirty."
Sesshomaru had no intentions of waiting hours in this small room for Kagome to get done with school. He'd go somewhere that smelled a bit more pleasant.
Sesshomaru left the hotel and climbed into the driver's seat of a nondescript car. Usually he drove around in flashy sports cars and limos, but his mission in this city required some subtlety; although, he would need to drive a slightly bigger car for his meeting with Inuyasha and Kagome.
As he drove, Sesshomaru reflected on the irony of his situation. There had been a time when he would never have cared whether or not humans were aware of his presence. There had been a time that he'd been sure that humans would one day wipe themselves out, leaving only yokai.
The humans had proved Sesshomaru's beliefs to be very wrong.
As a whole, the human race had turned out much stronger and smarter than he'd ever expected. They had survived, and had invented many things to make their way of life easier.
No, at this point it wasn't the humans that Sesshomaru thought were going to die out. It was the yokai.
Oh, it wouldn't happen anytime soon, as long as humans were unaware of their existence. But it would happen. Yokai did not procreate as easily as humans did; they never had. Still, the number of births on the reservations was dwindling, and the number of deaths was starting, oh so slowly, to increase.
Sesshomaru was of the opinion that the population would begin to increase again if they were allowed to leave the reservations and live where they wished. However, leaving the reservations was impossible. Humans were famous for hating and fearing anyone or anything that was different from them. They couldn't even get along with each other, so how could he expect them to accept yokai?
No, Sesshomaru was certain that the only result of revealing the presence of yokai to humans would be a war. At this point in time, Sesshomaru wasn't certain yokai could win that war.
And so, yokai were stuck. Unable to grow, they were dying out.
Sesshomaru pulled into a parking lot that was next to a park. He got out of his car and followed the path that wound through it. The park was beautiful, what with the leaves that had changed to vibrant shades of gold and red, but Sesshomaru couldn't get away from the noise of the city or the smell of fumes in the air.
"I hate cities," he muttered.
He paused in his walk when he heard a noise behind him. Glancing back he caught a flash of dark hair as the culprit ducked behind a tree.
Sesshomaru continued forward, listening to the sounds behind him. From the noises, Sesshomaru was able to discern that the person following him was either a midget, or a child. They were also not well versed in the ways of stealth.
Sesshomaru stopped by a bush, pretending to admire the last few late blossoms it held, and waited to see what the person following him would do.
He could hear them creep up behind him, slowly. At the last moment, he caught the small hand that had been reaching for his wallet. Turning, Sesshomaru studied the would-be thief.
She was tiny, probably only eight or nine years old. Her skin and clothes were filthy, and her hair was matted into knots that would likely take hours to remove. Sesshomaru could tell that her jeans and shirt had once been of good quality, meaning she was probably a run away. Her brown eyes were wide, and she had frozen with fear when he caught her.
There was a time, Sesshomaru mused, hundreds of years ago that he would have killed her without a second thought for daring to try and steal from him. Taking in her rake thin form now though, Sesshomaru found he couldn't bring himself to be upset with her.
"If you are going to steal you should be wiser in choosing your targets," Sesshomaru told her.
She looked surprised and confused, probably wondering why he wasn't angry with her. "Are you hungry?" he asked.
Slowly she nodded, still watching him with wide eyes. Sesshomaru released her hand. "If you come with me I'll get you some food."
Without waiting to see her response, Sesshomaru turned and walked away. He could hear her scampering after him, and without any real thought he shortened his steps so she could keep up. There was a small café right beside the park, and that was where Sesshomaru led her.
Sesshomaru paused when he heard her stop at the edge of the park. Looking back, he asked, "You won't come inside?"
She shook her head no, looking nervous. This only confirmed his belief that she was a runaway child.
"Wait here then," he told her. Sesshomaru went inside the café and ordered her a large sandwich along with a bag of chips and bottled water. He carried it to the girl who accepted it with a big smile.
Clutching to food close to her chest, the girl dashed back into the park. Motivated by a mixture of curiosity and boredom, Sesshomaru followed her, taking care that she didn't notice him. She went to the center of the park where several boulders sat together forming a makeshift cave. She crawled inside and disappeared from view.
Sesshomaru stood staring at the cave. It was probably where she lived. Briefly he wondered why the girl had run away from her home to live like this. Soon, though, he turned away. What were the problems of one human girl when compared to his own?
He'd been duped. It had taken a while for him to realize it, but Inuyasha finally figured out that Kagome had used his pride against him to get him to agree to what she wanted to do.
Still, even if she had tricked him, it wasn't like he could go back on what he'd said now. There was no way he was going to let Kagome think that he was a coward.
No, she'll just think you're a gullible fool.
And he really wasn't afraid of the priestess. They'd never scared Inuyasha before. He was however cautious of them, due to some unpleasant meetings in his past.
Inuyasha watched the students spilling out from the school's front doors, waiting to spot Kagome. Really, it couldn't take that long to walk from the classroom could it?
Finally she appeared. Inuyasha had to admit as he watched her that he'd gotten somewhat lucky in the fact that Kagome was the one who had broken his curse; he could be doomed to spend the rest of his life with an ugly woman after all. Kagome could be called many things, but ugly, or even just plain, wasn't one of them.
It was one of the reasons he hated her school uniform so much. If she was going to marry him, he didn't want other males to see that much of her skin.
She said goodbye to Miroku and Sango and headed in the opposite direction from her house. Inuyasha moved so he was beside her.
She glanced up at him in some surprise, and then smiled. "I was wondering where you were."
Inuyasha shrugged noncommittally. "Tell me why exactly you want to talk to this priestess?"
Kagome sighed. "You're not still trying to convince me not to go are you?"
Inuyasha scowled. Did she really think that he'd go back on his word? "I said we could go, so we'll go. I just want to know why. You already know how to break the curse."
Kagome shook her head. "I refuse to believe marrying you is the only option. Besides, it really can't hurt anything to talk to her."
Inuyasha didn't respond. Really it was insulting how much she refused to marry him. Inuyasha supposed he shouldn't be surprised. Most people wouldn't find him a desirable mate. But still, Kagome was supposed to be able to fall in love with him, since she broke the first layer of the curse.
There was still, of course, the question of how.
Inuyasha stopped as Kagome led him to a staircase that went below ground. "What's this?"
Kagome looked back at him. "It's the subway. We need to take it to get to the priestess. It's going to be crowded probably, so be careful."
She descended the steps and Inuyasha reluctantly followed. He didn't like the looks of this subway.
It was somewhat crowded, but Inuyasha managed to avoid the people and keep close to Kagome. The crowd was nothing compared to the noise of the subway though. The roar hurt his ears and caused him to flatten them to his head. He didn't know how Kagome could stand it, and was more than relieved when they got off.
"Let's see, according to the address Hojo gave me, the shrine the priestess lives at should be over here." Kagome led the way the short distance from the subway to the shrine. Without a pause she walked down the cobbled path that led to a modest sized shrine.
Kagome walked up to the door and knocked on it. Inuyasha was surprised by the image of the woman who opened it. He was used to seeing young to middle aged priests and priestesses; it was rare for one of them to live to old age in his time. This woman was most certainly old, with wrinkled skin and gray hair, as well as an eye patch over one eye. Her single brown eye studied Kagome seriously.
"How may I help you child?"
"I need some information that I am hoping you might be able to provide," Kagome said.
The old woman turned her head slightly, and for a second Inuyasha thought that she could actually see him. "Does it have something to do with the yokai you have brought with you?"
Kagome looked surprised. "Can you see him?"
"No, but I can sense his presence. Come in child; and you as well I suppose," she said, addressing Inuyasha in the last bit.
They went inside and the priestess motioned for them to sit at a table. They sat on one side while the priestess sat on the other. "My name is Kaede," she said. "What is yours?"
"I'm Kagome," Kagome said. "And my invisible friend here is Inuyasha."
Kaede nodded. "And what is it you wanted from me?"
Kagome launched into an explanation of the curse and Inuyasha felt faintly embarrassed. True he had messed up and gotten cursed as a result, but he didn't like everyone being told about it.
Kaede listened to the tale without interrupting. When Kagome was finished, she asked, "Does Inuyasha not know the answer to breaking the curse?"
Kagome shifted uncomfortably, causing Inuyasha to roll his eyes. "Just tell her already," he snapped.
Kagome sent him a dirty look, and then turned back to Kaede. "Well, he says that I have to marry him to break the curse."
Kaede looked surprised. "That is all?"
Kagome frowned. "What do you mean, that's all? I happen to think that's a pretty big thing!"
Kaede's head turned in Inuyasha's direction. Inuyasha knew she couldn't see him, but it felt an awful lot like she was staring at him. "Either some of the information I have been taught on yokai is incorrect, or you have a kinder heart than I would have guessed."
It was Inuyasha's turn to shift uncomfortably. What did this old woman know about the customs of yokai?
"What do you mean?" Kagome asked.
Kaede turned her attention back to Kagome. "Yokai marriages are not like human marriages. It requires no ceremony, nor does it require you to give your consent. All it requires is for Inuyasha to mark you as his, which he could easily do whether or not you wanted him to. Am I correct in saying all this, Inuyasha?"
Inuyasha stared down at the table. "Yeah, she's right."
He could feel Kagome's eyes on him. Inuyasha was wary of what he might find there. Finally, when her gaze didn't move, Inuyasha glanced up at her and snapped, "What?"
She had looked surprised and confused at first, but as he watched her gaze softened into a warm small. She reached out and took his hand in her small one. Still smiling, she said, "Thank you, Inuyasha, for not doing that to me."
That reaction wasn't exactly what Inuyasha had expected. He felt his face warm up a bit, and was horrified to realize he'd started to blush. Quickly he turned his head away so that Kagome couldn't see. "Whatever."
Inuyasha didn't know how he'd expected Kagome to react to this knowledge, but he certainly hadn't expected that smile, or for her to take his hand. Perhaps he'd been expecting disgust that yokai were willing to do that? He knew how a yokai would have reacted; they would have called him weak for not being willing to make her his. Far from seeing him as weak, Kagome's opinion of him seemed to have risen.
"If you were hoping I could give you another option to break the curse, I am afraid I cannot," Kaede said. "The curse upon him is yokai born; perhaps another yokai might be able to give you another option. Had a priest or priestess laid it upon him I might be able to find another way. I do believe that your only option for breaking the curse is to marry him."
Kagome sighed, though she didn't release his hand. "I was kind of afraid you'd say that."
"Is there anything else I might help you with, child?"
Inuyasha glanced over at them. Kagome was nodding. "There was one other thing I wanted to ask you about." She held up the arm that had the prayer beads on it. "Inuyasha said that the power of this bracelet might be restored by a priest or priestess who was powerful enough. Could you possibly do it?"
Kaede examined the prayer beads for a moment, and then shook her head. "I am afraid I cannot help you with this either. Were I still young I could do it, but that will require more power than I possess."
Kagome looked disappointed. This little trip hadn't gotten any of the results she had hoped for. Glancing down at the hand that was holding his, Inuyasha couldn't help but think that the trip hadn't been a complete waste for him though.
Kagome was relieved to be home. She had had a long day, and wanted nothing more than to be able to relax. All she had to do was climb up the stairs and to her house.
Before she could take one step however, a limo pulled up to the curb and stopped beside her. Kagome stopped walking as well. What was this?
The door opened and the man from yesterday, Katsutoshi, stepped out, along with a man with auburn hair and brown eyes that Kagome hadn't seen before.
"Hello again, Kagome," Katsutoshi said. "We hate to impose, but our boss needs to speak to you and Inuyasha." He slipped one arm around her shoulders, much to Kagome's embarrassment and distress. She also wanted to know how he knew her name; she'd never told him. "Where is Inuyasha anyways?"
Kagome almost didn't see the fist that hit Katsutoshi in the face. He certainly hadn't seen it coming, and was knocked back into the side of the limo. Kagome quite probably would have fallen to the ground, but Inuyasha grabbed her arm in time and pulled her back up, and pushed her behind him.
"Don't you touch her," Inuyasha growled, apparently forgetting that Katsutoshi couldn't hear him.
"What was that?" the auburn haired man asked.
"Inuyasha," Kagome told him.
Katsutoshi's eyes narrowed on Inuyasha. He couldn't see Inuyasha, Kagome was certain, but he seemed to know where he was despite that. "What was that for?"
"Kagome belongs to me; you can't touch her," Inuyasha snapped, still not remembering that Katsutoshi couldn't hear him.
Kagome's temper flared. "I do not belong to you!" she almost yelled at Inuyasha. She was no one's possession. Catching sight of the smirk on Katsutoshi's face and rounded on him. "Oh, don't you look smug! You deserved to get hit! Why, I ought to-"
"Be silent."
The voice wasn't loud, but it held enough command that Kagome shut up. It wasn't until that moment that Kagome realized that there was someone else waiting in the limo.
"All of you get inside, now."
Katsutoshi and the as yet unnamed man both obeyed immediately. "I know that voice," Inuyasha muttered. "Let's go, Kagome."
He took her hand and pulled her into the limo. He tugged her to the seats that sat across from where the three men already sat. After buckling in, Kagome looked up into the cold, unyielding eyes of Chikao Taisho.