Stupid classes getting the way of my fanfiction. Grrr, though bastards! Anyways, here we are, Chapter EIGHT!
DISCLAIMER:If I owned it, you'd be watching this on TV and it'd be better, so I obviously don't. 3
Yukina cleaned off the forbidden child, she couldn't help but examine her closely. She couldn't see any resemblance between them at all. But, this woman was dominant over fire after all, why would they look a like? She didn't understand why she was told she had had a brother if she had really had a sister. Maybe no one ever checked? It did make sense, maybe, that they'd assume that an ice maiden would give birth only to other ice maidens, so a fire apparition would have come out a boy… but it still didn't make any sense.
She was distracted by the scars that covered Kagome's body. Some were very faint, just little nicks here and there that hinted towards some light battle scars. She frowned when she noticed two very new scars, though. One at the bottom of the left of her rib cage that read 'alone', above an old scar that was jagged, but still a circle that looked to be at least a year or two old. She wondered over it as she cleaned her with a damp cloth. She gasped when she noticed the pink jewel around her neck. It reminded her of an old wives tale she had heard called the Story of the Shikon Jewel. She remembered the women in her village telling stories that if you did wrong the priestess who guarded the jewel would come and purify you. But her own mother had told her that the story was really about someone called Midoriko, who made the jewel.
Yukina touched the jewel gently. There seemed to be some sort of power there, but it didn't seem evil. It was probably a replica or something. Moving on, Yukina noticed that Kagome had the kanji for Inu on her neck, and bit her lip as she realized it was right where a mating mark would go for animal-type demons. She tilted her head to the side as she wondered if this girl were actually mated. If she was, where was her mate, then? And why would a fire demon mate with an animal demon, anyway? She shrugged it off and got her changed into a yukata that she had gotten from Genkai. She had never used it before because it was a little too big. It worked well for Kagome though, because she was a little bigger than Yukina herself and a bit more endowed. It was a dark blue with flowers embroidered in yellow, with a yellow obi that has the same style flowers in the dark blue. It wasn't exactly the fire demon's color, but Yukina didn't think it mattered.
Kagome didn't seem to be fussing anymore, though she was still shedding a few precious tear gems here and there. Yukina took one, and held it close.
"I have a sister…" she whispered questioningly, examining the gem. "I was so sure that Hiei was my brother… but there's so much proof here…"
There was a tapping at the door and Yukina jumped, hiding the gem in her yukata's sleeve before she answered the bedroom door.
"Yes?" she asked as Sesshoumaru appeared in the doorway.
"Rin is hungry. The old woman said to come to you for that," Sesshoumaru explained.
"Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama. I'll be right there," she replied with a smile, happy to help out the small dog demon girl. She knew that the Western Makai lord wasn't so mean, since he had been taking care of that little girl for so long and Rin seemed so happy to be with him.
Sesshoumaru barely spared her a slight nod before he turned and went back to the den.
Yukina checked on Kagome, making sure she was in the middle of the bed and sleeping soundly before she went to prepare a nice lunch for the Spirit Detectives and their Makai guests.
Yokolite was sitting under a tree, having already caused a thinning in the grass he had been pacing in during his heavy thinking and telling of his meeting with "Kaname". He was still awestruck by the idea that she was right here, right now. He had lost her out of nowhere so many, many, many years ago; he had lost hope decades before! And here she was, just dropping out of the sky!
"Yoko, she's been through a terrible ordeal," Shuichi warned, admonishing the demon for his forward goals of getting her to 'be his' before Sesshoumaru could get her. "She's in no shape for a relationship!"
Yoko growled and shook his head, wanting to continue recapping his story to his other half before he went on.
Yoko followed the inu-gumi for three days, keeping his scent and energy covered while he kept his eye on the group, assessing their habits, personalities, traveling patterns. He learned quickly that the Kaname girl was infatuated with the hanyou. The demon slayer was equally in love with the priest, but more mature about it. The priest himself seemed to be fond of the demon slayer as well, but that love didn't overpower his lecherous ways. The small fox cub had accepted the miko as his mother, and the firecat was well, simply a firecat with some pretty good instincts. Yoko thought on a few occasions that the little cat demon had spotted or sensed him.
He had also noticed that Kagome, though a bit blinded by love (more like stupid with it); she possessed quite a bit of strength and perseverance. She fought alongside the hanyou, taking out demons on her own, backing him up. And she also could take his put-downs, his snide remarks, and his demanding pace. Sango and Miroku did what they could to stand up for her, but Kagome stopped them quite a bit. He always had to stifle his laughter when the kit would avenge his adoptive mother by pestering the hanyou.
It did seem that Inuyasha was fond of the miko, but there were times when it seemed that he wasn't truly looking at her, but looking through her. The silver fox wondered about that quite often.
On the fourth day, the group was in a village that had been destroyed during the fight with Naraku and was being rebuilt. Inuyasha was off (reluctantly) helping with some rebuilding, along with Sango and Miroku. Kirara, Kagome, and Shippou were just outside the village. The two demons were playing in a stream while Kagome sat in the grass at the edge, stoking a small fire to make some soup she carried in an odd container (ramen).
Shippou and Kirara had wandered off, and Yoko took that opportunity to approach the miko again.
Kagome was completely immersed in her task of stoking the fire and checking the pot for boiling water. She was keeping her senses out for Shippou and Kirara, but other than that, she felt safe. They had scouted the area for any demons and hadn't found any, so she wasn't worried. She was even wearing a pair of jeans and a tank top because she wasn't worried about a scuffle ruining them. So, to say the least, when she felt a tug on the chain that held the Shikon Jewel, warm breath on her throat, and heard a sensual voice calling softly in her ear, she was shocked.
"Kaname Chidori?" Yoko whispered, utterly butchering her name, smirking as he hooked a claw on the chain and she nearly jumped out of her skin. She was smart enough not to jump, though. He noticed that she still had a bit of a friction burn on her neck from their last encounter, and tisked.
"Oh dear, there's a mark…" he said with a frown, running the soft pad of his index finger over it.
The hair stood on the back of Kagome's neck as the silver fox demon stood behind her, touching her tender neck. She would've growled if she could.
"Back off, Yoko," Kagome said coldly. "And my name is Kagome Hi-gu-ra-shi;" she said slowly, "Get it right."
Yoko laughed and said, "Kaname Higurashi, right." Just to annoy her. He let go of the chain and sat down next to her. "Don't worry. I mean you no harm. I've simply been observing you and your little group. I must say I am impressed and disappointed at the same time, which is quite a feat on your part."
Kagome glared at him, her power flaring in her hands. She kept at her task, though, hoping he would sense her anger rather than smell her fear.
Yoko wasn't paying attention so much to what he could sense from her with his sense of smell, nor his 6th sense. He was concentrating more on his sight; the view of her behind in that strange, yet wonderfully clingy blue fabric she wore, particularly. He tilted his head shamelessly for the view as she bent forward to check the pot that was set to boil.
"Why so quiet?" Yoko asked, tilting his head back to where it was supposed to be as she went back into her sitting position.
"What do you want?" she asked, glaring at him rather coldly. She didn't want to play any games with him. She had told Inuyasha that she wanted to stay on her own, that she'd be safe and she could handle herself, and now she was here, with a high level demon right next to her, and Kirara and Shippou out her sight, and probably out of earshot.
"You, surprisingly," he replied. "Why do you stay with the half demon when the regard he has for you is unbefitting of one like yourself? You are the keeper of the Shikon no Tama, the one who dealt, in part, the killing blow to Naraku, and one of quite unpredictable but great power. Not to mention you are beautiful. The diamond in the rough at its best." He offered her a grin and winked with his last statement, and stood slowly, so as to not startle her. He swept the tip of one of his tails under her chin as he turned to face her, frowning at the glare she still observed him with. "I will not kidnap you or do anything so forceful. I merely ask for your audience every so often. A courtship, of sorts. I've never come across anyone like you, where I've actually needed to work for the attention, but I always invite a challenge."
Kagome was rather annoyed with his confidence, but she didn't see what choice she had. If she tried to fight him, she'd loose. And it would be in poor taste to attack someone who obviously meant her no harm. She huffed and opened an extra package of ramen, telling him that he'd better beat it before Inuyasha got back. She made sure she had extra ramen as she remembered he'd already be in a sour mood from having to help people.
"You think I'm afraid of that mutt?" Yoko asked, raising a brow at her in disbelief.
Kagome shook her head and sighed. "No, but I would hope you wouldn't want to give me any more grief by making him angry. You said you've learned how our group works, so you know that he'll take out his frustrations on me or Shippou."
Yoko nodded. She had a point. So, on that note, he said good bye for now and disappeared, leaving a white rose for respect in his wake.
Hiei was deep in the woods in the back of Genkai's property, sitting in a tree with his Jagon eye concentrating on Kagome. He couldn't get into her head; she'd shut him out with a barrier of purification. He didn't understand it. Her miko was up, but her demonic energy was nowhere to be found. He couldn't sense any of- oh, he could. But it was faint, as though it were locked up.
Hiei wanted to take time to figure this out, possibly ask the infant leader of theirs if he knew how a forbidden child could use miko powers, but he was interrupted by Sesshoumaru.
"Apparition," Sesshoumaru called from the bottom of the tree, nodding to show the demon a bit of respect. This fire demon had saved his friend, so he found he deserved quite a bit of his regard.
Hiei looked at the Western Lord and nodded to say he had his attention. Hiei had respect for the Makai lord's position, but it didn't mean he was about to rise to his feet or go through any of those formalities. He didn't know why but something bothered him about the dog demon, though he didn't dwell on it.
"That Jagon eye you have; you used it on Kagome, did you not?" Sesshoumaru asked, getting another nod from Hiei. "What did you see?"
The fire apparition didn't answer right away, and then thought better of telling Sesshoumaru it wasn't his business. He was obviously in Kagome's good graces, so he could know.
"Nightmares," he replied simply, not offering more information until the western lord looked at him more expectantly, "That hanyou that I killed and some priestess that bared a striking resemblance to her." He explained, "They were hurting her."
Sesshoumaru was a bit annoyed that the apparition didn't offer more information, and pressed a bit more, wanting to know all of the details. All Hiei would tell him after that was that the hanyou had ripped out her heart, and that she was extremely distraught. In one last attempt for more information, he got Hiei to add, "He told her that she was his, and that she would be alone forever. He called her filth."
Sesshoumaru wished he knew what had happened to her that day she left, and what she had really dreamt about. He wanted to help her, and he was powerless in this situation. It didn't sit well with him that some strange elemental demon, a forbidden one at that, was able to offer his friend more help that he himself could. And that the apparition knew more of the situation than he wasn't exactly his cup of tea, either.
On the thought of tea, Sesshoumaru thanked Hiei for his help and went to have lunch with his ward. Five hundred years and not only did she still look like a child, but she had the appetite of a growing one.
With Sesshoumaru gone, Hiei kept trying to pry into Kagome's mind for another few minutes, and once he felt his Jagon start to protest to the painful territory, he called for Boton to give him a portal to the spirit world. Maybe Koenma would have more insight on the situation, or knew someone that would.
So yeah. When you finish a story, what do you do?
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