Update: 8/28/17: 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…

"This is useless," he murmured, his lips barely moving. "I'm getting nowhere." He returned his large stack of books back to the shelves one-by-one. "I wonder if she's made any progress with the monk so we can be rid of this curse and I can get back to my life."

But for some reason that didn't sound as comforting as it had before.

-oOo-

Chapter 11: Edge

"What's that you're reading?"

Sesshoumaru looked up to see Kagome looking over his arm at the book in his hands with interest. She was dressed in more conservative clothing than her usual modern school uniform, opting rather for the traditional miko clothing the head monk had provided for her. He found he liked these clothes better on her than her school uniform.

Of course, his thoughts didn't stay personal for long, as the curse immediately kicked in, causing him to say, "I certainly hope you continue to wear those clothes. They are much better than the old ones."

He swore internally. Why did the curse make him say the rudest of things? It seemed like it picked and chose which thoughts he would be forced to say and which he could keep to himself with the explicit goal to make him look like the biggest asshole possible.

Kagome smiled in that infectious way of hers, apparently not deterred by his comment. "Thanks! Houshi-sama gave them to me," she said. "He even said I can keep them!"

"I can't imagine why," Sesshoumaru said dryly. He almost smirked when he saw her smile became a little strained. Why was it so amusing to make this girl angry?

"Aaaaanyway," she said, changing the subject, "Have you found anything useful yet?"

He looked back at his book. "Only that nothing seems to make sense," he murmured as he shut it and stood, picking up the rest of the books he'd had on the table in front of him. Kagome followed him as he wove between aisles of books, returning the books to their spots.

She was silent for a long time, seeming like she had something to say but didn't know how to say it, so Sesshoumaru remained quiet, waiting for her to find her words.

After a long moment Kagome finally blurted out, "I'm sorry."

He looked back at her. "For what?"

"You know what for," she said. "For cursing you! For screwing up your entire life just because I was pissed off at Inuyasha!" She twisted her hands guiltily as she began to talk faster and faster. "This is all my fault. If it weren't for me you could be off doing... well, whatever it is you do when you're not busy trying to break a curse, and—and you wouldn't have had to leave Rin alone with only Shippou and Kaede to protect her, and—"

"Kagome."

She stopped abruptly, blinking in surprise. Sesshoumaru looked at her calmly and said, "You talk far too much."

Her cheeks grew hot and she crossed her arms. "I do not."

He returned to re-shelving the books, picking out others that seemed promising. "You are also very confusing."

Kagome's eyebrows shot up. "That had better be a compliment," she remarked.

"I do not compliment human wenches," he responded.

"Well I don't usually take compliments from rude youkai like you, Shou-kun," she said, feeling her temper flare up.

"I told you not to call me that."

"I told you not to call me a human wench!"

They glared at each other. She drew herself up to her full, albeit measly height, her hands in fists at her sides. "It's rude and impolite and demeaning, and I don't like it," she continued. "I've asked you multiple times not to call me that, but still you refuse. I don't care how you feel about humans or women. I won't allow you to call me that, and that's final."

His eyes flashed and he growled threateningly. "You will 'allow' this Sesshoumaru to refer to you as I see fit, wench."

"Don't call me that!" she exclaimed. "Is it so hard for you to call me by my name?"

"Yes."

She resisted the urge to pull her hair out. "WHY?!"

"I only refer to my packmates and those of an equal or higher station than me as such," he told her coolly. "Since you are a mere human of a much lower station, I have no reason to do so when speaking to you."

Slap!

He froze, shocked, when he felt her hand make contact with his face, leaving a faint sting of holy powers in its wake. She was looking at him angrily, her face reddening in her ire. "You are such an ass, Sesshoumaru!" she spat, causing him to flinch internally at her tone. He mentally scolded himself. She was just a human; she didn't scare him. But there was something about the look she gave him before she stormed away that made him sorry he'd made her angry.

-oOo-

I can't believe him! Kagome fumed. I'm of a "lower station" than he is? Give me a break! She stomped down the steps of the monastery and blended into the throng of people on the street. It was early afternoon; she and her friends had finished lunch about an hour ago, but the rest had not come back from shard-hunting yet, so she struck out on her own, hoping to walk off her anger.

That was freaking likely.

How dare he?! I am not of a lower station than he is! After a pause, she reluctantly admitted that, okay, maybe he did own a fourth of the country, but that still didn't give him the right to call her names! She huffed, annoyed. Alright, Kagome, remember what Houshi-sama said. Control your anger... Control your anger... She took deep breaths, feeling the powers swirling in her calm. All that meditating for the past three weeks was finally paying off.

Kagome sighed. Three weeks. They'd been here for three weeks. They had never stayed so long in one place. Never. She was missing boatloads of homework and tests back home, for sure. Even if they left now she'd have missed seven weeks' worth of school by the time they got back. The lucky coincidence between this little detour and her summer vacation meant she hadn't missed too much yet, but the vacation only lasted a month. She'd finished all her homework over the past five weeks, and was in the middle of preparing for her tests. But no way was Inuyasha leaving without the shard.

She stopped in front of a well. There was a long line of people lined up with wooden buckets for their turn for fresh water. There were multiple wells all over the city; Houshi-sama had told her they were all interconnected beneath the city because of the groundwater. It was like the entire city was built atop a lake.

The shard was here. She could feel it, just on the farthest edges of her subconscious. The suspense was killing her. It was all around her, like it had somehow dissolved into the air itself to hide from her. Where had those rumors of a shard come from anyway? She closed her eyes, concentrating on the familiar draw the jewel had on her, as if it always wanted to be touching her. There it was, in every person who walked past her, in every particle of air she breathed, far below the earth's surface. Her head ached. What the hell was going on? Why couldn't she pinpoint the location? Over the past three weeks, her skills had improved dramatically, and even before she'd begun training at the monastery she'd been able to sense the shards accurately every time. So why couldn't she feel it now?

A shout went up from a place near the front of the line, and Kagome glanced up to see that a man in his thirties or forties was yelling at a tiny girl who looked to be only about six years old. "What do you think you're doing, bitch?" he snarled. Heads turned as some people drew closer to them, abandoning their places in line to watch the impending spectacle. More people darted to take their places. Shorter people looked over the shoulders of those in front of them.

The girl cowered. "I—I didn't do anything," she stammered.

"Don't lie to me," the man growled, towering over the girl. "You jumped in line for the well."

Kagome pushed through the crowd that was forming around the girl and the man. She heard a woman whisper the word "orphan" behind her hand.

"I'm sorry!" the little girl was crying. "I didn't butt in line, I swear!"

"Stop lying, bitch!" He raised his hand behind him to hit her, but at that very moment Kagome burst through the tight circle surrounding the two.

"Stop!" she cried.

The man paused, turning his head to glare at her menacingly "And who are you supposed to be?" His eyes widened slightly when he took in her clothes and Kagome saw him hesitate. But then his eyes narrowed again and he crossed his arms over his chest, staring down at her. "Stay out of this, miko. This is none of your business."

Her eyes sparked in anger and she put her hands on her hips. "You made it my business when you threatened to hit an innocent girl!" she said.

He leaned closer. "Back off," he said.

She wrinkled her nose in disgust as his rancid breath blew in her face. If there was one thing she could not stand about this era, it was the sanitation. "Not likely."

With a growl, he raised his hand behind him, obviously intending to punch her. She ducked at the last moment, the survival instincts she'd built over the past three weeks kicking in. The top of her list? Dodge and weave. The man was a significantly larger opponent than she was used to, as she'd been practicing with a bunch of twelve-year-olds most of the time, but she figured if she could just land a couple nice blows to his stomach she and the girl could escape into the crowd while he was still surprised.

The man hadn't been expecting her to dodge, and was thrown off balance by the misplaced momentum of his rather sloppy punch. Without waiting for him to regain his footing, Kagome quickly kneed him in the stomach. When he had doubled over she darted around him and kicked him sharply in the back of the knee, and he stumbled to the ground.

Before the crowd could react, she dashed over to the surprised girl and grabbed her hand. "Let's go!" she said. The girl nodded and raced after her as they wove their way through the crowd. All eyes were on them as they left, but the crowds swarmed back together behind them, just as Kagome had hoped they would.

They continued running for several streets and, praying they had lost anyone who might have followed them, ducked into an alley between two tall buildings to catch their breath. Kagome was in relatively good shape from all the exercise over the past week, but somehow the whole "breathe correctly when you run and you won't burst your spleen or something" thing had escaped her, and now she grasped her middle, struggling to regain her breath. The girl was in a similar condition, and was leaning against the wall across from her, breathing heavily.

"I—I think he's gone," said Kagome breathlessly.

"Thank you," said the girl.

Kagome waved one hand in front of her. "No problem," she said. "What that man said was totally uncalled for."

The girl hung her head. "I get picked on a lot because I don't have any parents," she murmured sadly.

Kagome's brow creased in sympathy. "You don't have any siblings, either?"

"Well, I have a sister, Kita, but I haven't seen her in years."

Years? How old is this girl? Kagome brushed the thought aside and straightened. "Why don't you show me where you live? I can walk you home."

The girl's face lit up. "Really? Thank you." She frowned. "But I have to stop by a well on the way back. It'll take a long time to get there because of the line."

Kagome shrugged. She had the entire afternoon to kill. Inuyasha would be mad at her for missing their daily shard-hunt, but he'd just have to deal with it. It wasn't like they were making extremely good progress anyway; she could afford to miss one day. Besides, he'd been avoiding looking at her since she'd started wearing the miko clothes Houshi-sama had provided for her. If he were only a bit more logical, he could take advantage of the break. "It'll be fine," Kagome said, her mind made up. "I have time." She looked down at the girl who was now smoothing her sleek bob, which possessed neatness uncommon to this era. "What's your name, by the way?"

"Minami. And you?"

"Kagome," she said, bowing slightly.

Minami smiled. "That's a pretty name."

Kagome grinned in response and thanked her as Minami led her out into the street.

-oOo-

Thanks for reading!