Update: 8/7/17: I am now editing this entire story, slowly but surely, before going on with the updates. My writing style has changed a lot in the past three years, and if I were to continue this from the last chapter it would be a bit incoherent. Plus I foreshadowed too much and all the surprises I had planned for the later chapters won't actually be surprises at this rate. So just bare with me if the later chapters don't make much sense with the earlier ones: it just means I haven't edited them yet. I'll put this note at the beginning of each edited chapter to let you know which ones they are. Happy reading!
-oOo-
Last Time…
"I don't care that Inuyasha is in love with her. I'm over it."
"I hope so."
Her head jerked up to look at him. "What?"
His expression was neutral, but his eyes told her he was appalled at himself. "You are always sad when Kikyou is mentioned," he said, perhaps a bit too quickly. "You smell like a wet cat when you are sad."
"Hey!" she protested, punching him on the arm.
He glared at her. "That is the first and last time I will allow a human to get away with that, wench."
She smiled innocently, but she couldn't shake off the warmth that had crept up into her cheeks at Sesshoumaru's little slip-up.
-oOo-
Chapter 9: Kyoto
The undead miko had eluded Kagura for some time now, and it was starting to get on the wind witch's nerves. She was the wind; every particle of the earth's atmosphere was hers to command. She should have been able to find one stupid little miko in a heartbeat, especially in an area as small as Japan, but somehow Kikyou had managed to shield herself from Kagura's eyes. Knowing she could not return to Naraku empty-handed, she instead sought out Inuyasha's group.
They had been headed on a southwestern course for the past week and a half. She didn't know where they were going, but it didn't take much time following them from a distance (shielding her scent from the inuyoukai and his half-breed brother of course) to find out that they were headed to a monastery in Kyoto for some reason or another. Maybe there was a shard there. Who knew?
Kagura watched as they walked along the dusty road. The air was parched and dry. It hadn't rained in what, two months? She was for a moment grateful for the miasma that surrounded Naraku's palace to the north—at least the humidity was normal there.
She immediately cursed herself for her thoughts. How could she be grateful to that vile hanyou? He had stolen everything from her, made her his slave. She would do anything to see him dead.
Her eyes narrowed at the taiyoukai and miko bringing up the rear of the group. Since when did he travel with Inuyasha's little posse? And since when did he talk to anyone, much less to that human miko? Kagura huffed, observing as he said something in a low tone to the girl, and she laughed in response. It was so unlike him to be associating with that group—especially that miko! If it wasn't enough that she was human…
Kagura shook her head, clearing it of thoughts. She would worry about men and jealousy later, when she was free of that leech Naraku.
Subtle movement on the forest floor several hundred feet behind the group caught her attention, and she focused in there, waving her fan and letting the wind shift so she could listen in.
"Why doesn't she believe us?" a soft voice asked. "Did she really forget about us?"
"Don't be silly, Shizuko," came the rather loud response. "Miko-sama told us that she'd remember eventually if we just gave her time."
Kagura raised an eyebrow, her eyes flitting to the taiyoukai at the back of the group. There was no way he wasn't hearing this, so why didn't he call their pursuers out for following them? It's probably that miko girl distracting him or something. She returned to the conversation.
"…Himeko?" the soft voice was asking.
"She will remember in time," came the calm response. "As soon as she is reunited with her soul."
Did they mean the part of Kagome's soul that was in Kikyou? Then Kagome must have been the "Miko-sama" they were talking about. But what did they mean by "she will remember in time"? Kagura tried to listen in more, but they had fallen silent, so, with a last glance at Inuyasha's group, she lifted off.
Time to hunt down the undead woman.
-oOo-
"Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow!" Kagome giggled and spun around for perhaps the millionth time that day. "I can't believe I'm in Feudal Era Kyoto! It's just too cool!"
Inuyasha made an annoyed sound. "Come on, Kagome, you're holding us up! We need to find that monastery and get this bastard to take a hi—Hey!" He stopped short as she whipped out a camera and began taking pictures left and right. They had stopped in front of a large temple, and the frequent temple-goers were giving the young miko odd looks. Inuyasha heard one whisper in another's ear, "That girl's a magician!"
Sesshoumaru smirked. "Humans are so stupid."
Kagome disregarded his comment and continued snapping pictures. She had been in Feudal Era cities before with Inuyasha and the gang, but never one as famous (and completely awesome of course) as Kyoto.
"Come on, Kagome," Inuyasha complained. Being in this big of a crowd with nothing but a hat covering his ears was making him restless. It wasn't fair that Sesshoumaru could make his markings go away and pass for a human. He found he liked him better when he refused to put his hair back (if at all): his long silver hair would never have been mistaken for human. What was with him letting Kagome do his hair every morning anyway? Didn't he know how to do it himself by now? Inuyasha shoved those thoughts out of his head and focused on the task at hand. "We gotta go find Sango and Miroku!" he said gruffly.
"Don't be such a worrywart, Inuyasha," Kagome replied, taking a picture of the giant statue at the front of the shrine. "They'll be fine. How hard can it be to find rooms here anyway? I bet this city's just teeming with hotels."
She stepped back and tilted her camera sideways for a full-length picture. A little kid pointed at her and said, "Mommy, it's a magic girl!" The mother in question looked horrified and ushered the child away, giving Kagome a death glare. Kagome couldn't hold back a grin. Guess some things don't ever change.
After a few more moments Inuyasha gave up and stormed off, leaving Sesshoumaru to fend for himself. Sesshoumaru watched as the young miko continued to take pictures of the most mundane things. When she took another picture of the Buddha statue, the curse won out. "Why are you taking pictures of a shrine when you live on one?" he asked.
Kagome looked at him with bright eyes. "Because this is a shrine in Kyoto. In the Feudal Era," she said in awe.
"What is so special about Kyoto?"
"It's, like, the one place I actually want to go in this time," she said. "All the history. All the temples. All the houses. And the imperial palace!" She spun around again, throwing her arms out. "I love it!" But Kagome was Kagome, and Kagome was something of a klutz, and she wound up smacking someone in the face. She turned around, her eyes wide in horror and her mouth forming apologies a mile a minute.
"It seems you love it a bit too much," Sesshoumaru remarked as he watched the miko apologize profusely to the extremely short, elderly monk. The man himself didn't seem to be bothered—the miko hadn't been spinning that quickly—but Kagome paid no heed to his lack of anger at the situation and continued to beg his forgiveness as if she'd just murdered his entire family. The monk looked on from under thick eyebrows with a small smile twitching at the corners of his mouth.
Finally she calmed down enough for the monk to get a word in. "You… you are a miko, are you not?" he asked her. His voice was scratchy and betrayed an age even older than his appearance.
Kagome blinked at his sudden question, falling silent for a moment as her brain processed what he was saying. You are a miko…"Huh? Ohhhh, okay." She laughed nervously. "Sorry. Yes, I'm a miko. How did you know?" she asked him curiously.
He chuckled to himself. "I have spiritual powers also, young miko."
"Really?" she asked. "I have a friend who's a monk." But he's a bit of a lecher. And a con artist.
His brows raised. "Is that so?"
She nodded. "He is one of those traveling with me. We heard the library at the monastery here is very extensive, and we came to see if we could do some research there."
The monk smiled kindly, reminding her suddenly of her grandfather. "Then you have smacked the right person in the face, young miko. I am the head of that particular monastery."
Kagome wasn't sure whether she should be happy or horrified that she'd just hit the head of the monastery they needed to find right in the face. "I—I'm so sorry for... that," she said awkwardly.
He laughed. "That is quite okay, young miko. We all have our moments."
"I seem to have them more often than others," she murmured, scuffing her shoes against the stone.
"I have but one question," the monk asked. He frowned at her clothes. "Why is a miko not wearing traditional clothes? They are much more appropriate than those clothes."
"I… I have my reasons, Houshi-sama," she said, a bit embarrassed.
He studied her for a few moments before letting it go. "What is your name?"
"Kagome," she said.
"Well, Kagome, why don't we go see about finding you and your friends a place to stay? Are they around here?"
"Oh, Sango and Miroku—he's the monk I mentioned—went off looking for a place to stay, and Inuyasha followed after them, but Sesshoumaru should be around here somewhere." She looked around, standing on tiptoe to see over the crowds. At last she caught sight of a patch of white hair that stood out against the black-haired masses. She glanced back at the monk. "There he is. Come on!" She turned away and took off, the monk following after her as they maneuvered through the crowd.
When they reached Sesshoumaru he looked up, a bored expression on his face. He hadn't been able to hear their conversation due to the noise around the temple. "Is he trying to make you reimburse him?" he asked, shooting the monk a cold look as he placed his hand on the hilt of Toukijin.
Kagome waved her hands in front of her face. "No, no, of course not!" she said. "This is the head of the monastery we were looking for."
Sesshoumaru's eyes flickered to the monk, but his hand didn't fall from his sword. "He seems rather short."
"You travel with a youkai?" the monk asked.
The taiyoukai stared down at him. "Better than traveling with a human."
"You be quiet," Kagome snapped at Sesshoumaru.
"You seem to be forgetting that my talking is your fault," he said.
"I already said I'm sorry!" she shot back.
"Sorry doesn't fix anything."
"So you'd rather I jump up and down congratulating myself?!"
"That would be amusing, but you would certainly die."
"Kagome-chan!" She turned to see the other three members of their group approaching. Sango was smiling. "We didn't find a place to stay, but we found the monastery. It's only a few blocks away." The taijiya slowed when she saw the monk. "Who's this?"
"The head of the monastery," Kagome replied. "I kind of… smacked him in the face."
Inuyasha's eyes widened. "You did WHAT?"
"A taijiya, a monk, a hanyou, a youkai, and a miko." The monk shook his head. "What a rarity."
"Houshi-sama," Kagome implored, turning back to him. "I know it's a lot to ask, but may we please have a look around your library? There's a… situation we need to research."
The monk's eyes sparkled. "And what, pray tell, would this situation be?"
"Eheh… well… I kind of accidentally put a curse on Sesshoumaru," she said, gesturing to the taiyoukai.
"Some accident," said taiyoukai put in evenly.
"A curse?" The monk's forehead wrinkled. "This is interesting. How can a holy miko curse someone?"
"Well, I—"
He held up a hand, silencing her. "You will tell me at the monastery. I'm afraid an old man like me has a hard time hearing in these crowds, and it looks to be a long tale indeed."
Kagome's face lit up. "So we can use your library?"
"Of course. Everything in it, you are welcome to." He smiled warmly. "I would also like to hear the tale of how the five of you came to be traveling together. How about we discuss everything over supper?"
She grinned. "You have no idea how great that sounds."
-oOo-
Thanks for reading!
