Kagome and The Company continued their journedy with relative ease. There were no attacks of any kind, but everyone remained on alert. That night the Company camped along a ravine with The mountain side at their backs. A lovely meal of venison stew was being prepared by Kagome herself. She had decided that Bombur deserved the night off and took it upon her self to cook. Besides she enjoyed cooking. She made sure that the stew had plenty of vegetables and roots she had gathered and exotic herbs that she had brought from her own world. The aroma that the stew was giving off had the Dwarves' mouths watering. Along with the stew, Kagome had brought several loaves of bread with her from the Shire, and dividing it up.
When she finally declared that supper was ready, Bilbo and the Dwarves couldn't get in line fast enough. The first one in line was Bilbo. He gave her an encouraging smile as she ladled out some stew into his bowl and gave him two slices of bread. She then served the rest. She was a little nervous about whether or not the Dwarves would like it. But when they all dug in and gave her nothing but compliments her fears subsided. Thorin and Gandalf were the last two to be served. Gandalf recieved his and inhaled the aroma. "My dear Kagome this smells heavenly." Bofur looked up from his bowl. "And it tastes better than it smells, Gandalf!" The others Dwarves agreed, Kagome blushed. Then Thorin came up to get his bowl. He and Kagome stared at each other though narrowed eyes. She snatched his bowl from him, filled it and handed it back to him along with some bread. "Here." Was all she said to him. Thorin grunted his thank and walked away to sit between Dwalin and Balin.
He eyed the food suspiciously then sniffed it. It didn't smell half bad as a matter of fact it smelled downright delicious, but he was still cautious. "Oh please Thorin, its not poisoned. If it was the entire Company would be dead already." Kagome said standing in front of him with her hands on her hips. When did she move? Thorin didn't even hear her walk over to him. "That's right Thorin, I'm sure the lass can think of more creative ways of killing you than poisoning all of us." Dwalin said sending a wink in Kagome's direction, she winked back at Dwalin. This cause Thorin's blood to boil, but he still couldn't understand why. "Shall I spoon feed you Thorin?" Kagome said in the sweetest voice she could. He was about to make a snide remark when Balin looked at him andd shook his head. Thorin said nothing just took a bite of the bread and ate the delicious stew in silence.
Once supper was over and everyone was settling in for either a smoke or a to go to sleep Kagome gathered all the bowls and headed for the stream to wash them. Bilbo was trying to go to sleep but couldn't due to Bombur's snoring. He got up, went over to his pony Myrtle and gave her an apple. While he watched her happily munching on the apple, he heard the most hideous noises in the distance. "What was that?" "Orcs" Kili says in an ominous tone. "Orcs?" Bilbo repeats a little worried. "Throat cutters, they'll be dozens of them out there. The lowlands are crawling with them." Fili adds. "They strike in the wee small hours when everyone's asleep. Quick and quiet, no scream, just lots of blood." Kili says obviously trying to frighten Bilbo. Both Fili and Kili snicker. "You thin that's funny? You think a night raid by Orcs is a joke?" Thorin asks clearly irriated. "We didn't mean anything by it." Kili says lowing his gaze. "No you didn't. You know nothing of the world." Thorin says as he walks away.
At that point Kagome comes out of the darknes and thumps both boys in the ear adding a little of her spiritual powers so it would hurt more. Causing Fili and Kili to jump and start rubbing their ears vigorously.
"Don't worry Laddie." Balin says addressing Kili. Thorin has more cause than most to hate Orcs. After the Dragon took the Lonely Mountain, King Thror tried to reclaim the ancient Dwarf Kingdom of Moria. But our enemy had got there first." Kagome could imagine the battle between the Dwarves and the Orcs easily in her mind. Balin continues. "Moria had been taken by legions of Orcs led by the most vile of all their race, Azog the Defiler. The Giant Gundabad Orc." Kagome shuttered, she couldn't picture this Azog creature. But by the way Balin spoke of him, she could imagine he was almost as terrible as Naraku.
As Balin went on with his story she learned that Azog's goal was to wipe out the line of Durin. And he started by taking Thorin's grandfather's head. King Thror, this drove Thorin's father insane. Which left Thorin to face Azog with a sword and a oaken branch for a shield. 'So that's why he's called Oakenshield.' Kagome thought. In the end Thorin took the Orc's hand and rallied the Dwarves and beat the Orcs, but is was a bitter sweet victory. "And I thought to myself then, there is one I could follow. There is one I could call King." Kagome's eye's widened, she never realized that Thorin was a King. She just thought he was a pompous ass.
Thorin turned around and notice all the Dwarves were standing out of respect for him including Kagome. He made eye contact with her and gave her a barely noticeable half smile. Then he bowed to his Company and walked away. For some reason her sign of respect meant more to him than the others. "And the Pale Orc, what happened to him?" Bilbo asked He slunked back into the hole whenc he came. That filth died of his wounds long ago." Thorin said as he continued walking into the night. Kagome noticed the look that passed between Gandalf and Balin. Something told her it was not true.
The entire Company was wide awake now and there was no way they'd be getting back to sleep any time soon. So Gloin had a brilliant idea. "Kagome why don't you tell us another one of your adventures from your world? Kagome blushed. "Let me think for a minute." She put here finger to her lip and thought then she snapped her fingers. I know I'll tell you the story when the whole world was nearly sucked into hell. The Dwarves all gasped. Bilbo and Gandalf glanced at each other and nodded. Gandalf had heard this story before. It showed Kagome strength against overwhelming odds. her loyalty to her friend and her fearlessness. And if this did not earn Thorin's respect nothing would. It may even capture his heart.
So Kagome began telling them of Inuyasha's birth how his mother was killed by Takemaru of Setsuna because he was jealous of her having a child fathered by a demon. But Inuyasha's father brought her back to life using the Tensiega. "Wait, how is that possible? How could a sword bring a person back to life." Oin asked Kagome explained that it was no ordinary sword it was made from the fang of Inu No Taisho the Great Dog General who was a powerful demon. and he specifically ordered it made that way. So Inuyasha and his mother escaped the burning castle while his father perished inside fighting the human that tried to kill his mate.
The great dog general had three sword Tenseiga, the sword of Heaven tessaiga the sword of Earth, and So'unga the sword of Hell. The first two swords he had given to his sons, the last one his servant had sealed for it was an evil sword and only a strong demon could control it. But 700 years later the seal was broken and possessed Inuyasha. Inuyasha returned to his own time and from there the distruction began. It was then revealed that So'unga's plan was to drag the entire world into hell. The Dwarves gasps at this turn of events. "But in order for us to get to So'unga and Takemaru we had to fight through an army of the undead my arrows seemed to have the greatest affect on them…!" Thorin listens with rapted attention amazed that this girl had gone through so much. In the end the combination of the two brothers attacks were able to stop So'unga and return everything to normal.
Now that the story is over off to bed with you all. Everyone groaned but did as they were told. Thorin was taking first watch. He was contimplating her story. She may not have been the one to say the day but she did take a big risk leaving the safety of the barrier to get the two brothers to work together. She could have been sucked into the nether world. The thought of that caused a slight pain in Thorin's heart. He was convince there was something wrong, he'd have Kagome check hime this time. Oin said she is a skilled healer.
On the other side of the camp Kagome couldn't get over all that Thorin had been through. Seeing his grandfather decapitated, his father lose his mind. And still had the courage to fight that Orc and rally his men. Oh she wish she could have seen him in all his majesty. 'Where did that come from, girl' She thought She shrugged it was true whether she wanted it to be or not she wished she had been there. Finally she settled down for the night. That was there first night she had a dream that Thorin had kissed her.
The next day there was just a down pour of rain. The morning started out good they were able to have some nice reheated stew with bread from last night which everyone still enjoyed. Once they had finished Kagome offered to go wash the dishes. she made her way to the stream when she heard a twig snap behind her. She world around with her Katana drawn. Thorin had his hands raised in surrender, he didn't even know she had a sword with her when she came out her to wash the dishes. He now felt a little silly offering his assistance to guard her while she washed the dishes. So he changed tactics. "Thorin what are you doing out here? Kagome asked. He cleared his throat and scratched the back of his head. I want to offer my assistance to help wash the dishes. Kagome was taken a back. She didn't know what to say. She bowed to him. Su-sure if you want to. How about I wash and you dry? Thorin gave her a devastating and rare smile and agreed. That smiled stunned Kagome for a moment then she cleared her throat. "Right then.'' She back to wash the dishes and handing to Thorin for him to dry.
They finished in no time and headed back to the camp. Dwalin had a smirk on his face when he saw his friend enter the camp with Kagome. He would have to find out the dirt about what happened. Leaning against the rock Gandalf smiled with his pipe in his mouth.
The downpour started about mid morning and all the Dwarves had pulled out their cloaks in an attempt to keep warm. But Kagome was off in her own littled world. She hadn't even the noticed the rain. She had been thinking of the story that Balin had told of Thorin. How he rallied his men after the death of the King and the insanity of his father. And the fact that he was an honest to goodness King. She had zapped a King unconcsious. Not that he didn't deserved it, it was just that he is a king. She looked at the front of the line and she could see Thorin quite well, and for the first time she realized just how attractive he really was. With that raven black hair with flecks of silver. Strong jaw, regal nose, nice trim beard. Kagome wasn't one for beards but on him it looked very good. Not to mention all those muscles!
She was in the middle of her daydream about Thorin when Bilbo rode up next to her. "Kagome you're going to catch your death if you don't put your cloak on. For the first time Kagome noticed it was raining. "OH! You're right Bilbo." She reached inside her backpack and pulled out three things her cloak and two umbrellas. She handed on to Bilbo and opened the other one for herself. After that she and Bilbo were quite comfortable in the rain. The other Dwarved looked at her. "What is that contraption?" Ori asked Kagome looked up Oh this its called an umbrella it helps keep the rain off you." Kagome explained "Do you have any more? Dori asked. "Not enough for everyone. I think I might have four more." She looked though her bag and sure enough she found four of them two big ones so the Dwarves could share and an individual one for Gandalf. So she handed that one to Gandalf. "Here you go Gandalf this one is only big enough for one person. Then she gave a bigger on to Dori so he could huddle with his brothers. Then she gave a large size one to Fili and Kili so they could huddle together along with Oin and Gloin and the Largest one she gave to Bombur Bifur and Bofur.
The others in the front hadn't even noticed Thorin was too busy daydreaming about Kagome's beauty to notice that there were no more complaints coming from the back of the line. But eventually Dwalin brought it to his attention. "Have you noticed Thorin that the complaint have stopped from the back?" Come to think of it he had. He turned around in his around in his saddle and saw the reason. "Where did you get those contraptions? He asked in a serious tone. "Kagome had them in her pack and gave them to us to keep warm. He looked at Kagome, but Thorin couldn't bring himself to glare at the girl. She did it for the good of the company. His eyes softened when he looked at her. "Thank you Kagome." He said and inclined his head. "Why don't the two of you ride back there and share one of those shades with them and dry off." He says to Dwalin and Balin. The brothers look at each other and do as they are told. Balin goes and share Bilbo's umbrella and Dwalin Gandalf's. Kagome feels bad for Thorin so she urges her horse forward had rides next to him and covers him with them umbrella. Thorin looks up and inclines his head. Thank you, Kagome I appreciete your generosity." Kagome can only blush and Thorin chuckles. They ride on in silence.