So… I've been sick lately. I've had time to put more into this chapter than I usually allow myself. So have fun with the behemoth!
Chapter 9
"Heat, fuel, and oxygen are needed for fire," Kaede's microphoned voice boomed, bouncing off the tall, triangular walls of the Mother's Temple of Fire. Kagome thought they were vaguely reminiscent to those in Prialata, but these walls were built of wood, steel and glass, all pointing together at the top as if the giant building was a huge flame. Red clouds swirled above them, trying fruitlessly to dampen the hundreds of hearts that had come to the temple for the Fire Day sermon.
"And these three things are needed for love as well. Heat, the spark of infatuation, combines with our fuel, our physical and imagined selves, as well as oxygen, the rules of the world and life, to ignite something special in all of our hearts. This is the classical teaching on the nature of True Love according the First Mothers.
"But I am not standing on this pulpit to repeat ideas of the ancient ones," Kaede continued. "As it is Fire Day, the beginning of the season of emotions and love, I think we should talk about another side of love: The Practical side."
"Love is a feeling. You feel it to your spouse, your girlfriend, your boyfriend… towards your friends and your pets, to your children, your parents, your siblings. Some people have large enough fires in their hearts to warm even the lonely hopes of strangers.
"But there is more to love than that. Love is also an action. You can love your girlfriend and you can take them for granted. You can love your child or reap the sad harvest later. You can love the mugger on the street or you can stand there terrified, reaffirming in their eyes that human life isn't worth protecting.
"The Daughters of Fire will take on this point over the coming weeks, so I leave that idea where it is. But I want to finish today's service with a deeper explanation of love as an action. What does that mean? Does it mean doing something lovingly? I can speak to all of you lovingly, with sincere care and attention, but that doesn't mean everyone who hears me will feel that love. Perhaps we have become jaded. Perhaps we feel unworthy. Perhaps we feel that a stranger cannot love us.
"I disagree. I can love a stranger, but it is a specific kind of love. It is not one based in deep understanding of their character, but rather on a deep appreciation of the fact that, like me, they are one harmonic life in this world trying to make it through. Just in that way alone, we are similar. We all have the capacity to love the unknown around us.
"But also there are several ways we can love as an action. We can give gifts. We can spend meaningful time around those we care about. We can tell our loved ones why they are special to us. We can do things for them so they know we want their lives to be gentle. And yes, we can reach out to them physically, be it a hand-shake, a comforting hug, or a lover's embrace…"
Kagome listened on quietly. She liked the message Kaede was making, but she felt there was something incomplete about it and she couldn't figure out what. Moreover, she wondered if there were any demons or half-demons in the large Temple of Fire who might felt left out as only "human life" was worth protecting. At the end she found herself sitting alone the hundreds of finely dressed people stood up and called out in unison.
"All emotion is transitory but valid! One must acknowledge one's emotions, feel them, and then let them pass like smoke into the night! May our Mother's light guide us to a harmonious heart!"
'That was kinda creepy…' She thought warily, watching what might have been a mindless hoard of Polisians sit down as a commandable army. But after a minute of orchestral music Kaede disappeared. People began talking in cacophonous mass and filing out of the pews, brandishing umbrellas and lightweight rain-coats.
"Ah, Kagome," Prime Mother Kaede said as the alien found her way into the side alcove. "Have thee any plans for this lustrous Fire Day?"
"Lustrous? It's still raining," Kagome said.
"Only right now. In less than an hour's time it will pass. Now, your Fire Day? Has any strapping youth asked you to attend the Lover's Limpics yet?"
"Oh, uh… not really," she said. "I don't really know anyone all that well in town anyway - - I'd be more surprised if someone asked me than if someone didn't. But I had a—"
"No one has asked you yet? Hmm…" The old woman stared off into the distance for a moment. Kagome looked over her shoulder and only saw the masses she'd dodged around still heading for the main exit.
"Actually, I had a question about your sermon today," Kagome said, turning her attention back to the Prime Mother. Some of the Daughters and Neices attending her raised their eyebrows but carried on with what they were doing.
"Certainly Kagome, what is on your mind?"
"Well… I, uh… I noticed that you mentioned 'human life' specifically during the service, but what about life in general? Might some demons or half-demons in the congregation be hurt by their exclusion.
The Daughters and Nieces chuckled. "There hasn't been a demon in any of the Temples or the Compound for over 700 years!" One droned.
"No wait, there was one a few decades back," one of the older ones said, staring up at the ceiling as if trying to remember.
"I-I mean, even if they aren't here shouldn't they still be, well… respected?" Kagome asked, feeling like she was in one of her father's interrogations again.
"After how they treat us…?" Was the murmured consensus. Kaede shooed off the other girls, set down the notes she was holding, and moved closer to Kagome.
"Ignore them, child. Aye, that should not have been in that sermon. I shall amend my writings for the next few weeks. Though I wonder… is there a reason ye thought about that specifically?" She asked. Kagome blinked once and shook her head. Kaede nodded slowly. "All right then. Oh, what have ye learned about the origins of Demons?"
Kagome sighed. "Not a whole lot. We've found references to Demons a long way back, all the way to around year 500—"
"Aye, in the middle of the first Merican Confederacy after the Dark Times," Kaede said.
"Yes, but we haven't found much more than that. I've been looking through census records for Zaba since Miroku said that Prialata used to be a Demon City hundreds of years ago… but I can't figure anything out from that. I feel like we're coming to a dead end."
Kaede nodded. "Have ye found texts from the Dark Times?"
"No. I was told that there are no written records about what happened in Beji during or before the Dark Times," Kagome said.
Kaede shook her head. "Prince Inuyasha taught you that, didn't he? I know of at least one set of texts from that time that ye may read."
"What?! Oh my goodness yes! What are they!? Where can I find them!?"
"I will send for them," Kaede replied. "On the south-east coast of Ko there is a city called Tiner Sbark - - it is the first recorded settlement of the republic. It is also the place where the Mothers wrote the First Sacrament of the Mothers in the year 194."
Year 194. The Dark Times was a period lasting until the year 300 where reports of anything were scarce, aside from tales of great calamity, war, starvation, and literal darkness. But somehow a religion was born in the middle of it? And it's first text survived into the present?
"…You'll send for it…?" Kagome asked breathlessly.
"Not for the original, but there are numerous copies," Kaede replied.
A few lingering members of the crowd jumped when the short, light skinned and black haired girl with odd eyes screamed, jumped up and down, and hugged the Prime Mother of all people.
"Calm, be calm child!" Kaede huffed while disentangling herself from the embrace. "Have composure in this place!"
"Oh, sorry I'm just so excited, especially after what Inuyasha said the other day! Really you don't know how much—"
"Hm? What did the prince say…?" Kaede began to ask, but her gaze and words trailed off. Kagome saw that the old woman was staring at someone behind her, so she turned around to find a tall, brown haired young man with a familiar face standing there like a child caught in the act of stealing cookies. He stood there for a few second longer before Kaede cleared her throat. "Nice to see you, Nobunaga, how has your mother been lately?"
"Wha-?" He shook all over for a moment and took a proper gaze at the two. "She-She's fine ma'am, thank you for asking!"
Kaede nodded slowly. "Very good… may I introduce you two? Nobunaga Hojo, this is Kagome Higurashi. Nobunaga's family runs a chain of restaurants here in Polis and are major supporters of the Mothers, and Kagome's is, eh, well—"
"I'm one of the aliens," Kagome offered. No use hiding it. "We're still figuring things out…"
Nobunaga nodded jerkily. He looked at Kaede and back to Kagome, and rouge bloomed on his cheeks. "I-I… hope you all are fitting in here well. Um, I… I would…," He swallowed and tried again, almost blurting out. "I have seen you in the compound before and think you are the most beautiful girl I've ever seen and I want to put forth my bid to you at the Limpics!"
Whether the Temple truly got more quiet or Kagome's ears made fuzz-balls of everything else in the world was hard to discern. He just said… what? Over the course of a few days two young men called her pretty… granted, one was probably added as an after-thought to get her to shut up, but that was still more times in one week than in her whole life.
"I… uh…" Only about 2/5th's of Kagome's brain was responding to her dire need to say something. "Sure, I guess. I don't really know how to do this… but…"
Instantly the boy started beaming. "You will!? That's great, that's really really great!"
"You hardly had to worry, Nobunaga," Kaede chuckled behind them. Kagome caught a few of the Neices and Daughters whispering about how popular he was. 'Just like the old Hojo…wait a second.'
She looked at his face a little closer, and it was obvious: This kid was the great-great-great-to-infinity-grandson of the boy who stole her first kiss back on Earth.
The glamour of the moment suddenly turned icy. 'This… is creepy…'
Nobunaga bent down quickly and pecked Kagome on the cheek. "I'll do everything I can to win tomorrow! Oh, uh, I'm competing on the Fire Mekaday, tomorrow… heh, yeah! See you!"
Kagome lightly rubbed at the place where he'd kissed her and watched him run back to a group of whooping friends. She looked over her shoulder to Kaede, and in that knowing look Kagome knew the gas-bag had been in on it.
Mekaday rolled around, and Kagome found herself walking towards the Limpics Stadium, standing in the same part of the Rose Quarter, Witten District as she had over a month before. Willow was introducing Sango to the world of Ice Cream Discs while Kagome was thinking about the name of the day. She'd figured out that the Sun on Beji wasn't known as a sun but as Meka: Sunday to Mekaday made some sense. But why the term Meka? She asked this to Sango after the police trainee was liking her Fire Day Cream.
"Hazel has a cool theory about that," She said. Kagome looked over to Willow to see if she was in on the conversation, but the woman seemed to absolutely off in la-la land.
"What is it?"
"His apartment is right next to a singularist temple," Sango said between licks. "It belongs to people called the Musas, and guess what they call the temple?"
Kagome had no idea where this was going. She shrugged.
"It's called a Mosk, like a Muslim Mosque. They read a book called the Second Kora, written by the New Prophet Karence, and they have to direct their worship to where the Great Prophet first met Ala, AKA God. So they worship towards Meka, AKA Mecca."
"Holy crap…" Kagome muttered. Why hadn't Hazel told her about this? He'd been over to the family's apartment plenty of times since the… event with Sota… maybe that was why he'd been spending more time with her younger brother than her.
"I know. And get this," Sango took another lick of the red and orange stuff. "Wow, spicy ice cream, who'd a thunk… There is a country in Niraq called Ala and there is another right next to it called Viv, and guess what the name of the singularist religion in Viv is?"
"Something to do with Judaism?" Kagome replied.
Sango nodded. "Yup, they are called the Juz and they worship a God called Adonai. Ala and Viv have been fighting each other off and on for as much history as I've read. But not between the Juz and the Musas, those two groups get along fine in lots of other places. Its just between Ala and Viv."
"You two know, yeah, that this is the time of fire?" Willow chimed in with a sparkling smile. "Let that water go, let it! We're here for the Lover's Limpics! Feel the warmth inside you…"
Kagome and Sango stared at the blonde woman and wondered a bit about what was going through her head at that moment.
"Uh…right," Sango said. "But Kagome is the only one who was specifically invited. What do you and I do; go up there and watch guys compete for other women while nurturing the idea we'll be forever alone?"
Willow laughed heartily. "Not me I won't, I'm being inducted as a Daughter of Air at the end of the week!"
This was the first the other two had heard of it: Kagome and Sango cheered and hugged her and offered their congratulations.
"Oh thank ya, thank ya… but still it is fun to tell men I cannot accept their bids…" The Neice-soon-to-be-Daughter crooned. They stopped at the last stoplight before the many steps going up to the stadium.
"So I'll just be feeling like I'll be forever alone… But really Willow, that's cruel to the poor boys!" Sango said, but the other woman flapped her hand like shooing a fly.
"It's fine, happens all the time it does. But you two stick with me and I'll show you how to get a man's bid… or a woman's bid? Do either of you prefer that?"
"Men please," Kagome replied.
"There are times when I'm tempted…" Sango said. After a momentary stare from the other two, she shook her head and said. "Oh, I like men. But boys are more common, and after being around them for so long you wonder if women would be better…"
"They're not," Willow said. The walk light turned blue and the trio crossed the street. This garnered a stare from the other two.
"Are you a lesbian Willow?" Kagome asked. The soon-to-be Daughter raised an eyebrow.
"Heh… no. I like men and women. Both are pretty. But both can be petty. Anyway, my heart calls and answers to the wind, finds spirit and life in the clouds, swirls in the air that's been poked by rain drops. I do the best when I connect to everything." She replied.
The two girls nodded calmly and headed up the stairs. "Kagome probably has a different story to tell than me," Sango began saying a few steps up. "But where I came from… bisexuality, homosexuality and such… it was considered a bad thing. When I was young there were riots where a lot of those kinds of people were killed."
"Oh right…" Kagome said quietly. "The Tallahassee Massacre…"
Willow looked at the two of the aliens as if they truly were from another planet. "Sexuality? What does that have to do with the time of love? Spring is the time of loins, but Summer is the time of love. And its not about who someone has sex with - - anyone have can sex with anything. It's about who you love and how you love them. When I was younger I loved this girl called Anna… she was sweet but so jealous about everything. A few years ago I loved a boy named Aonso, but he was… ooh, he was bad news. I think he has a kid now I think about it, back in Luanda…" She seemed to be lost in memory. "Ah, yeah yeah right right. This ain't where you are from, yeah? This is a new home. It's love time, not loin time."
"Well, yeah… but still it's kind of hard for me to talk about these things, okay?" Sango said, sounding a little hurt. "My… my brother was, and my mom left because of that… so it's not easy…"
"Your mother left?!" Kagome blurted out. "Because your younger brother was gay? I thought she died in… in something."
"Well, she died in a car accident as she was leaving, so the two kinda go hand in hand, but still… it's weird for me."
"Gonna havta get over that you will!" Willow replied cheerfully, hurrying up the last few steps. Sango crossed her arms and followed, Kagome trailing behind. At the front Willow showed Kagome how to put up her bid, asking one of the front clerks if Nobunaga Hojo had arrived to 'wager' yet. The clerk nodded and ticked something off in a book he held behind the counter. He rummaged for a bit and held out a small, green circle with the numbers 94 on it. Kagome groaned - - the numbers for "excruciating pain" and "death".
"There you are miss, Mr. Hojo is competing in the fourth rotation so you can go see him in the Stables if you want. We will have to ask you to stay in the Stables once you enter and not leave to the general viewing arena. May your wager win all you want," the clerk said with practiced monotony. Willow showed Kagome and Sango to the 'Stables', a large, covered pavilion built into the side of the stadium with a clear view of the large pool down below. A thousand or more people were crowded loudly into the general seating, but in this shady, red carpeted room there was plenty of room to mingle. And mingling seemed to be the name of the game: several shirtless and nearly pantsless young men were talking to other young men or women, some with a look of adoration and others dread. Kagome wasn't sure where she stood on that gradient.
"So… now what?" Sango asked Willow.
"Over here," Willow said, beckoning the others over to standing rails similar to the ones Kagome had sat at with Miroku a long time before. Kagome made a secret wish the waitress that had served them had died in some quick, painless way since then.
"Okay, and now…?" Sango asked.
"We wait for the boys to find us. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. You can get drunk in the meantime if you want," Willow said lightly.
And so they waited for a few minutes until a loud gonging jerked Kagome and Sango around to see what just scared them to death's door. Willow pointed down to the pool, and they saw a woman holding up a large sign with the number 3 on it as young men lined up. An announcer came on the microphone, offered an odd introduction and called off the names of the competitors and the people they had given their bids to. Kagome smiled as she heard that about half of them were racing for young men as young women.
There were two whistles - - the men took their places. A third whistle, and the men jumped into the—
"Kagome! You made it!" the alien heard behind her. She whirled around as splashes rang out, and there was Hojo in what was essentially a bright green speedo. He looked wet but brimming with energy, and… she couldn't deny how distracting his abdominal muscles were.
"Yes! Uh, hi!" She said, trying not to trip while standing. It didn't work very well. Nobunaga stood there smiling like a fool for a few moments.
"Hi…" he said again, clearly lost in the moment.
"Hi… we kinda covered that one," Kagome said. He didn't seem to notice. Instead he reached out and pulled her into a deep wet hug.
"Wow, he doesn't kid around," she heard Willow say.
"I'm so glad you came…," Nobunaga crooned. Kagome fought the urge to shiver.
"Agh, can't breathe! Guh!... thank you, and you know we hardly know each other right?" She eventually said once back on solid ground.
"Oh really? It hardly feels like that, with all the things I hear from the Prime Mother," He said. Still smiling. Kagome stared at him for a moment, and inexplicably imagined Inuyasha standing next to him saying, 'Who let the village idiot in?'. Kagome cracked a smile and instantly regretted it as Nobunaga's smile got even bigger.
"Hey, Erris!" He called over his shoulder. A mound of tanned muscle flesh near the bar jerked his head around. He wore a bright pink speedo with white stripes. This time Kagome couldn't keep from shivering. "Erris! This is the girl I told you about, Kagome Higusashi!"
"HiguRAshi…" Kagome muttered. The man named Erris rolled his head with his eyes, finished whatever he was drinking, and lumbered over.
"The famous Kagome girl, huh?" He slurred deeply. He stopped next to his green clad friend and looked her over like a piece of meat. "Pretty hot."
'Don't break any braincells,' she heard pseudo Inuyasha say. This time she flat out laughed, but cut it off when the Erris guy raised an eyebrow.
"She's-she's really cool, I can't wait to cream you in there and get to know her even better!" Nobunaga said. Erris gave a little huff and nodded, and walked off to intimidate something else.
"Hi there Nobunaga!" Willow said cheerfully, snapping the boy's attention off Kagome for the first time. They greeted like old friends, gossiped about some of the Daughters, introduced Sango, but before Nobunaga could get into deeper detail the gong sounded down below.
As the announcer began the odd, sing-song introduction he'd given to the competitors before, a thought crossed Kagome's mind. "You know, why can't the people here just ask each other out normally? Is all this competition stuff really necessary?"
"Who told you it was about going out?" Willow replied. She shook her head and laughed. "No Kagome, the winner of a Lover's Limpics competition is supposed to spend the night with winner."
"…Spend the night…?" Kagome whispered.
"Yeah yeah, loud sex, all that stuff," Willow replied. Sango and Kagome looked at each other with panicked wide eyes.
"And now, who is competing in this fourth rotation!?" The announcer called out. The swimmers lined walked out of several doors fitting on goggles and adjusting their garments. "In line one, we have Landrew Latview, whose bid goes out to Ryan Aldereie!"
A thin young man with boyish features screamed like a harpy in the booth next to Kagome's party. 'We will have to ask you to stay in the Stables once you enter and not leave to the general viewing arena' repeated in her head.
"In line two, Josef Ndagu, whose bid goes out to Cler Wissent!"
You hardly had to worry, Nobunaga," Kaede chuckled behind them. Kagome caught a few of the Neices and Daughters whispering about how popular he was.
"In line three, Nobunaga Hojo, whose bid goes out to Kagome Higusashi!"
Screams erupted from the stands as Kagome's forehead slammed down on the rail. "…And yes, I've been invited to the Limpics several times and have gone on plenty of wonderful excursions afterwards." Miroku said.
"In line four, Radishaw Lorilai, whose bid goes out to Yates Brooks!"
'Miroku was so quiet after that girl came up to him - - I bet she was one of those excursions that pressed on longer than he wanted… Oh please don't let Nobunaga win!'
"And in line five, Erris Lucknow, whose bid goes out to Kagome Higusashi!"
Kagome's skin turned to ice. She flipped her head up to peer down at the racers: Nobunaga was staring at Erris with his mouth wide open. The hulking thing was swinging his arms back in forth, ignorant of the world around him.
"Well this just got more interesting…," Willow murmured. Kagome stood there for a moment, terrified: sex. With the winner. Love had nothing to do with it. The swimmers took their positions. The two whistles blew.
"The hell is WITH you people!?" Kagome screamed, and the last whistle blew. She ran for it, pushing servers and speedo-wearers out of the way in her gasp for the main entrance. Cage bars closed the way. She grabbed them and rattled, but they weren't going anywhere. She turned around, looked for more options, giving a rat's ass to her reproaching onlookers. There!—near the bar, an emergency exit. She ran past Willow again, who was yelling something about calming down, and booked it, throwing a plate full of something sizzling into someone's face. Didn't care.
Someone, a bartender, jumped in front of the door. "What's your name?"
"Kagome Higurashi, let me through!" She tried to shove him. She was the once who bounced back.
"Don't change your name like that, we all know who you are," Was his response. Someone grabbed her elbow - - Kagome whirled and slugged Sango, it turned out, in the face.
"Oh god, what was that for!?" Her friend wailed, clutching her jaw.
"Sorry, sorry!" Kagome replied. The hordes were surrounding her. Her dream - - the strangely clad zombies. It was like her vision split for a second and she couldn't tell whether she was back in dream world or living the nightmare.
"It's okay, over there! You can jump down into the bleachers!" Sango called, joining the runaway train and shoving people out of the way until they arrived at the railing. They looked down - - a two story drop to the closest general seating area.
"Other ideas?" Kagome begged. After a second Sango, snapped her fingers and pointed up.
"Get on the roof of this thing! Climb on the rails, I'll give you a push and you can run from there!"
The bartender was after them - - Sango side-kicked him into a table. Willow was yelling now – an odd tone coming from her. Kagome threw a leg over the rails, wishing she hadn't worn a skirt that day, climbed a bit, and put her hands up on the ceiling. "I'm ready! Oh, it's not that far, we can do this!"
Sango grabbed her foot and pushed up. Kagome grasped at the roofing but suddenly her support vanished - - she slipped, screamed, and fell.
One of her feet caught on the rail. She flipped back, the rear side of her skull slamming into the two story tall wall and her skirt falling down and covering her face. The crackling in her skull spread - - the world went wobbly, lines melded, and suddenly sleeping sounded very good. Was she falling? There was a loud gong. Some called out a name, a winner. Erris… Erris Lucknow.
Kagome ignored the newspaper on the wet pavement. All of Polis had seen her underwear a week ago and were just starting to move on to more interesting topics. The concussion she received had kept her from getting the worst of the gossipy reporters, but still… walking on her own towards the Great Library, even in shades and a hat, felt risky.
She gathered her key while ignoring the whispers of the front desk staff and hurried over to the East Wing. No one seemed to be following her… but crap, one of the people at the front desk was speaking fervently into a phone. Tabloid folk probably knew by now that Kagome frequented this place… continuing to research the origins of demons was not going to be that easy anymore.
She pulled off her glasses and hat as she approached Frogger and Simba. "Oh ho, so the alien slut shows her face," The greener one said.
"Please guys, just let me through," She replied. They stood aside, but she felt their stares again. "And for your information, I haven't even seen the guy since I went to the hospital!"
"Sure you haven't…" Simba nagged. She bit her teeth against their laughter for the rest of the march up stairs.
Inuyasha only gave her a momentary glance as she entered. "So you made it finally?"
"Clearly," was her response. She tossed the hat and glasses in the corner next to the remains of the broken chair, pulled up a seat to the table and started sorting through papers. After a moment she noticed she was being stared at: she looked up to see Inuyasha's hands on the table, eyes closed.
"…Just go ahead and ask me," Kagome sighed. He did nothing. After a few moments he snorted, opened his eyes and crossed his arms.
"You couldn't do it could you?" He said.
Kagome blinked. "I beg your pardon?"
"You didn't sleep with that guy," He replied matter-of-factly. Her eyebrows jumped.
"…How do you know? Maybe I'm secretly like Miroku… speaking of the devil's number one sinner, where is Miroku?"
"He's in Tiner Sbark getting something for the gas-bag," Inuyasha said. "And you still smell like you. If you'd bred with someone you'd smell different."
"Oh… well, yeah I guess. I got the concussion so the people at the stadium said I could wait until I healed… But, my god, do I have to? I barely know the guy? What about love and… and… wait a minute, do all demons have your kind of sense of smell?"
"Usually, yeah…"
She slammed her fists on the table. "Dammit, those two pricks down there were jerking my chain!... Ugh… Whatever, I guess it doesn't matter. How are you doing today?"
Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. "Uh… cool. Fine I guess."
Kagome nodded. They started shuffling through books. "…Do I really have to… to, you know… with that Erris guy?"
"Heh, according to Polisian social rules you do," He retorted. Kagome's shoulders slunk. "But… hey, you could tell them to go fuck themselves. You don't have to follow the rules all the time."
Kagome didn't respond, but her head lifted up slowly. A smile crept onto her face. "I can?"
"Yeah. I do it all the time."
"You're a prince and a half-demon: you can get away with breaking the rules."
Inuyasha shrugged. "Sango gets away with it."
"She's a lieutenant and knows how to kill people. Same thing."
"Do you want me to cheer you up or not?"
"I do, and you did. I'm just argumentative," Kagome replied. The room was quiet for a moment, the two staring at each other. Finally Inuyasha shrugged, keh'd, and sat back down, pulling out a large, thin book that cracked when the pages turned.
"So… I have a random question," Kagome put forth.
"I'm not telling you how big my dick is," He replied. The burning blush on her face informed him that that was not the question she was thinking about. "What is it?"
"I, uh… well… I'm wondering… what are the differences between humans and demons?" She said. Inuyasha frowned. As usual. "I've just been thinking lately that if I'm studying the origins of Demons it might help if I also know what separates them from humans."
"We're way stronger than you guys, have heightened senses, can transform into—"
Kagome waved her hand while willing the blush down. "Yes, thank you captain obvious, but anything else?"
"Hey, you asked, I'm tellin'. Most demons have the advanced senses and secondary forms of other creatures you find in the world, but not all of them. Like… there are no demon Smoke Shrimp, but there are dogs and wolves and toads and foxes… hm… demons don't ovulate the same, and they have really strange immune systems…"
"They don't ovulate the same?" Kagome asked. Inuyasha was quiet for a second, looking through his creaky old pages.
"Yeah. Demons consciously control their menstrual cycle while humans can't."
"Lucky bitches…" Kagome muttered.
"Heh, well, Half-demons or Hanyou have it a bit different. Female hanyou follow a moon cycle, it never fails, so they have to be more careful."
"That's weird."
"Nah, not really. Once a month a half-demon's powers wane. They're there the whole day except for one period at night. Some hanyou become human on the full moon, others loose it when the moons eclipse each other, some loose it on the waning crescent…"
"…That makes no sense scientifically," Kagome replied.
"Well Miss Religious, since when was scientific sense the only thing in Beji?" Inuyasha shot back. "And here, look at this."
Kagome got up and walked around to the other side of the table. "I found this in the Ambassadorial Archives at the Iguto Embassy. You said that Demon Tongue is really Japaniss—"
"Japanese," Kagome jut in. She received a glare.
"But these scratchy things on these pages, they're not part of Demon Tongue. Do you know what they're saying?"
Kagome looked at the page and instantly saw the Kanji, the blocky form of writing brought over to Japan from China thousands of years ago. Plus 2500 years.
"Yeah - - what is this?"
"It's the oldest book I've got on the Clarence Ritual. Demons and Humans do it all over Beji, so I though something this old could help somehow."
Kagome knew she could read the Kanji - - that would be easy. Putting a finger on the page she flipped to the front cover. There was Kanji there too: The Teachings of Clarence.
"Hunh, that's kinda weird…" She muttered. She flipped back to the page Inuyasha had pointed out. A faded ink figure was shown pouring water into a boxy device with people around him. One hand was pointing up at a symbol for Meka.
"It says… *Do not touch those who reject the teachings. Be they man or born from the devils,* I think that means demons, *they injure us all by dirtying their veins in the ocean. Stay upon the land, tread wary in the presence of those touched by the Silver Emperor, and fall not into hell lest you become the.. kw… the kwis. * Whoa, what!?"
Kagome read it again. She flipped back a page. "Oh my… Inuyasha, I think you've really found something here…,"
"What? What is it?"
Kagome looked up to him beaming. "The Clarence ritual! I always thought Clarence was a reference to cleaning the water, but no, it's a person! Someone named Clarence taught people how to clean their water to keep them from getting sick and turning into Kwis… I think! You just found a possible origin story to the Kwis!... Not that I really know who they are, but still—"
"We're looking for the origins of Demons though…" He muttered.
"Hold on, I'm getting to that part…" She flipped back a few more pages, then forward a couple and started reading.
"…*And Clarence the second prophet said, "My children, while you must protect yourselves from the evil waters, do not force your ways upon those touched by the Silver Emperor, for their bodies are like God's and cannot be infected. For this they * Oh my goodness, oh my goodness! *For this they can remove the Kwis from Post Ria Plata, the sacred island taken in the Dark Times. Though the devil's children, born by our Emperor, arose from the ashes, they be not evil in face of the rejectors* !" She screamed and grabbed Inuyasha. "Do you know what you've found!?"
"Uh… no?"
"We have an origin story for the Kwis! We know that whoever the Silver Emperor was he was directly involved with the emergence of Demons which happened sometime during the Dark Times! We have an origin for the Demons! And on top of that the Clarence ritual is named after a guy named Clarence, and he's - - -oh my God the Musas! HE'S the second Prophet of the Musas!" She yelled again and grabbed the flabbergasted half-demon into a tight hug. "This is amazing!"
"Uh, w-well, you're the only one who can read it," Inuyasha worked out amidst the yelling.
"Mom and Ji-Chan can read it too! Oh my goodness, I have to keep reading this!..."
By the end of the work-day Kagome and Inuyasha had learned a few more euphemisms for Demons, including Children born from the Silver Emperor. Kagome guessed the book was from around the year 850 and was probably the children's version of a larger religious tome.
"But better yet, the style of book tells us a lot about what the world was like then too!" Kagome gushed on. Her hat and sunglasses were back on and she held a Kwis Kiss disc of ice cream in her hand as Inuyasha paid for his. The sun was barely hovering above the western mountains and red-trimmed white clouds billowed high above. "It's nothing like the books on Earth! Sango and I have been wondering why the technology here is at the level it is considering how more advanced we were. I mean, we built a space ship that could cross part of the galaxy but now you guys are lucky to have a boxy TV. Something BIG must have happened early on… oh, do you think it was the Dark Times? Maybe Demons evolved out of a strenuous new environment—"
"If you keep acting like a geek I'm going back to the embassy," Inuyasha cut in. He brushed past her with a Vanilla disc, crossing the street and found his way to the cobbled walking path that ran the length of the central lake. A few blocks away the Great Library could still be seen, as well as the small mob of reporters waiting outside, hoping to get a crack at the voyeur alien they presumed didn't know how to sneak out of a window.
Kagome followed after him. "Don't get your boxers in a twist,"
"I don't wear boxers. I wind up crushing my testicles too much," He replied nonchalantly. Kagome tripped on the curb and fell on the cobblestones, watching her disc soar like a Frisbee and land on a green Pigeon.
"*By the way of the Emperor*, what is wrong with you?" Inuyasha hissed, but he stalked over and helped her up. "You get like this whenever someone mentions sex or anything like that."
"Wha—no I don't!" Kagome replied. "I-I once had a lengthy discussion with Miroku on what the proper place of sex is in one's life."
"Yeah, he told me about that," Inuyasha replied. "But that was a talk about ethics n' crap. You weren't actually talking about sex."
Kagome's face flushed again. "…Aren't they the same?"
"No! One's talking about ethics and the other is talking about two, sweaty, naked bodies pressing up against each other and—"
"STOP!" Kagome shook her head furiously. "Really, this is… I don't feel like…"
"Look Kagome, whether its with that Erris guy or someone else, you're going to have sex at some point. Do you really want to be afraid of that moment?"
"I know sex is normal and stuff… but… but…," There was a part of her mind that was getting angry with this conversation. 'No… no wait, I'm not angry… I'm upset but I'm not angry…'
Inuyasha scanned the walk for a moment before finding a place to sit on the stone wall placed up above the shore. He bit at the ice cream disc, swallowed the rest, and wiped at the white dribble rolling down his chin. Kagome blushed again and turned around.
"Yeah, see! You ARE thinking about sex in that way!" Inuyasha called on her. Some passersby stared but moved along after a moment. Kagome hurried over to him.
"I… well… I'm not a whore all right?!"
"Yeah, I know that already," Inuyasha said, pointing to his nose. "But you're not a prude either. You want to be, you want to be in control of yourself all the time but no one can. The Fire Parable says—"
"Yes, yes! I KNOW about the parable…" Kagome replied sighing. She looked down at the paper cone and stick in her fingers.
Inuyasha was quiet for a moment. "You can't hold a dick like that, you need more-"
"GAH, STOP THAT! STOP MAKING EVERYTHING SEXUAL!" Kagome yelled. She chucked the stick at him, which he caught and snapped in two almost too fast for her to see.
"You once told me that people can see the world lots of different ways," Inuyasha said. "Or something like that. And you're right. Each person can also see it a lot of different ways too. I can see sexual innuendo, and guess what, its funny. Some people just don't like sexual innuendo, but you catch on so fast that I know Miroku's right, you've got a sexual mind!"
Kagome had no shame in blushing this time. She crossed her arms and pressed her legs together, deciding to take off her sunglasses to give him the full power of her glare.
"You don't scare me, little human girl," He snarked. Then he gave a wry smile. "And if you hated all this talk so much then you would have left by now."
"…You know when I said I don't think badly of you? I'm seriously considering amending that statement."
"Just sit down," Inuyasha grumbled. Kagome bit her lip, but she walked forward and swiped some of the latest rain off the top of the wall before sitting.
"Say it," He said.
She blinked. "Say…what?"
"Penis," He replied. "Or cock, dick, shaft, love-stick—"
"STOP STOP STOP!" Kagome waved her hands in front of him as fire bloomed on her face. How had her skin not melted off by now?
"It's just a word. It's just a part of the male body. Don't let it own you like this, now say penis!"
"…It doesn't own me!" Kagome replied in sheepish defense.
"Rrgg, what, do you need a visual example to—"
"NOOOOOO!" Kagome yelled. "I don't know what the social norms about nudity are in Iguto but where I come from… well… actually I guess the Tokyo bath houses were kind of loose about nudity, but I never went there!"
"Why does that matter?" He replied, staring her down. "You are here now. Learn to do things another way! Don't be so afraid of something intimate like this!"
Her father smacking her. Grabbing her, throwing her away from the dinner table. The years of standing outside of her parent's bedroom at night because she had a bad dream but she knew better than to ask to sleep with them. Kagome stared at Inuyasha for a moment… and in that moment she meditated, the first time in a while. She listened to heart and her mind, quieted her thoughts, and the soft, terrified reply was…
'Men are scary. I can't be touched; they'll just hurt me. Hug and touch only when you need to keep the social peace. Don't let anyone too close. Intimacy is a lie, a trick, it'll kill you.'
She stared down at the ground, heart hammering painfully. Dammit he was right… and she didn't want to be scared of anymore… Her eyes flitted to his for a moment; amber, intense and determined. She looked back down and closed hers. The images rushed into her head again: crying in bed, left standing there after her father refused to hug, watching her mother run out of the bedroom one night crying. Her father. Naked. No heart in his eyes.
'…You don't own me anymore dad…Takoku…'
"…pe…penis…," She whispered.
Inuyasha shook his head. "Louder."
She took a deep breath. 'You don't OWN me anymore Takoku!' "…penis…,"
He groaned. "Penis," He said at a normal tone.
"Penis!" She called back shakily.
"C'mon, louder!"
"Penis!"
"LOUD-ER!"
"PENIS!" She screamed, sending a flock of birds into the air and knocking a biker's attention so off that the woman rode right into the lake. Kagome's hands flew up to cover her mouth a second before Inuyasha's. She stared at the woman, who was picking herself out of the water, and then the flabbergasted pedestrians as Inuyasha started shaking with laughter. His hand felt rough but warm.
"Hey Inuyasha… I've got another question for you…" Kagome asked as she and Inuyasha stepped down onto a small park on one of the lake banks. Bright green fig trees stood over them and shaded the gray cobblestone from the bright street lights. They were almost all the way back to her apartment.
"Is this one about how big my penis is?" He asked with a roll of the eyes, wandering over towards a bench near the water's edge.
She frowned. "No; you and Miroku, gracious… I was wondering about, well, the other day when we, uh, ran into inanimate objects while going to see Sango. I felt something on your back that day…"
He visibly tensed. "That's nothing."
"…No, I don't think it is…" Kagome replied softly.
"Why do you have to be so nosy?... Oh right, because you think everyone's worth saving or whatever…" He said admonishingly.
"Not saving, just worth respecting and listening to, like you and the… penis stuff." She said.
"Well if you're gonna respect me maybe you should go back to using my title."
She frowned. "You're trying to change the topic by getting me upset, Inuyasha, I'm not falling for it. What did I feel on your back?"
His face flushed for a moment, but his gaze suddenly ran from hers and he crossed his arms. "It's just a scar from something that happened when I was a kid, all right?"
She frowned. "…That's not a normal scar. I don't know a lot about demons and half-demons, but I do know those crazy immune systems you guys have heal all wounds perfectly. But not this one."
He visibly winced. His arms loosened, but they stayed crossed. "My brother gave it to me… to teach me respect…"
The lake water lapped and cars passed on the road above them. "What did he do to you…?"
"It doesn't matter…," Inuyasha said, staring at the ground. He wasn't really listening to anything around him either, so when he turned to look at the girl he was talking to he started to see her lifting up her shirt. "What the-!"
"That's where mom decided she was going to divorce dad," She said, looking down at the black, triangular scar on her ribs. "I said something stupid to him and I didn't care that he had had a bad day. He threw the iron at me and this is where it hit. I don't know if he knew it was on or not, but either way it didn't stop him from picking the iron up again and breaking two of my ribs…
"After it happened some of my friends came to cheer me up, and they said they understood what I was going through because of… I don't really remember what. But I knew that they didn't understand what I felt then, or what I feel now. No one can ever really understand what it's like to earn scars like this," She said. She looked up to Inuyasha: this was the first time his face looked soft, like a shocked boy. His arms were no longer crossed. She pushed her shirt down and looked down at the waves.
"But… I've been talking to this Daughter of Water for a while now, up at the compound… And she's been teaching me that even though no one can really understand what it feels like to have these scars… that doesn't mean I can't help them understand. Kinda like how you helped me a few hours ago with…penises. And… the process of talking to people helps me understand what I'm going through. It's like these waves… each one is very specific, but they're all waves, and we can all understand at least the basics of each one…"
She looked up and saw Inuyasha was still staring, though he had closed his mouth. "Wow…," She said.
"…What?" He whispered.
"You're handsome when you're not angry at the world," she said.
His shocked softness faded slightly as his lips returned to their usual, determined scowl, but his eyes weren't hard. He looked down at the water and then to the bricks beneath his feet. Very swiftly he checked if anyone was above them on the boulevard, and with shaking fingers he undid the belt of yellow fabric around his waist. He shook his shoulders a bit and the red haori thing slipped down, revealing a brown, green, and violet scar on his spine reminiscent to a warty pumpkin. Kagome gasped quietly.
"Pretty gross huh?" Inuyasha said bitterly. But a moment later he shivered as he felt fingertips gently pressing onto the tender area.
"What happened to you…?" She whispered. "And no… it is what it is. There's beauty in everything."
"Keh, don't strain yourself," He replied, fumbling with his clothes to bring the top back on. "My brother… I think I was just being an annoying brat again, but he… uh, he punched a hole in me."
"HE WHAT?!" Kagome yelled.
"Yeah… its relatively common where I come from…," He said carefully, tying his belt back on. He flipped his hair down and looked at the alien girl, who stared right back with wetness in her eyes. "…What? Don't you dare pity me. I don't need anyone's—"
"I'm not pitying you Inuyasha…" Kagome replied. "I'm just… I'm so sorry you had to go through that."
"I just said don't pity me!" He bit back. He instantly regretted it as she jumped to her feet angrily, a tear jumping down her cheek and a finger pointing at his face.
"Stop that! It's not the end of the world if someone else cares about you enough to tell you that they are sad to know that you've felt pain! It doesn't mean you're weak or lower than me or something stupid, it just means I think you need a fucking hug!"
That was twice in one day Kagome Higurashi sent birds flying.
He sighed. "What's the name of the guy who won the Limpics? Erris?"
Kagome stood there angrily for a few moments, feeling like her thunder just blew apart like a balloon let loose with an open end. "Yes!"
He nodded. "I read the interviews with him… don't go out with him. He's a dick."
"I… I hardly see what this has to do with the conversation!"
"I know you said you didn't want to do stuff with him, but really, don't. For your first time you deserve someone better."
She stood there quietly, her finger still pointing at the white haired, dog-eared, complex young man in front of her. After a few moments rain started tinkling down around them. She lowered her arm as he stood up.
"Let's get you home," he said.
Two days passed and there was a car running and waiting outside the family apartment. No way Kagome was going to be able to evade the Erris guy now: she had to go on the date. 'But I don't have to play by the rules…' She thought to herself with steel, remembering her pep-talk from the half-demon.
"Hazel…" She called. "Take care of Sota till my mom gets home from work. I'll be back in a few hours."
Down the steps and into the car, she found herself face to face with the tanned, heap of muscle known as Erris, clad in a red and white striped suit. He used his whole head to look her over. "Hot."
"Don't hurt yourself," jumped out of her lips before she could stop. Kagome slid into the car, thankful that Inuyasha could at least be with her in spirit to fight off this mess. Or at least in word.
"Hurt myself doing what?" Erris asked.
'Oh god.'
The door slammed behind her and they began driving, just in enough time for her to realize there were no seat-belts in this particular vehicle.
Erris sat on the other end of the car, fingers scratching his unshaven chin. "So… you're name's Kagome, right?"
"Kagome Higurashi, not sashi," She replied. And waited. Nothing happened. She sighed - - the one loop hole she thought of to get her out of this situation failed to even register on the guy's radar. Or the driver's for that matter. "So, uh… nice car?"
"Thanks, my family has a lot of 'em," He replied deeply. Aaand… more silence.
"Um… where are we going?"
"Oh yeah, we're going to this club on the Shore, hot to the max," He said with a grin.
"And after that…," He said, sliding closer to her like an evil octopus. "I wanna take you and fuck your brains out."
Her eyes shot wide open and her mouth locked closed. 'That was fast—okay, don't play by the rules, don't play by the rules, fight back!'
"Uh, h-hey, listen," Kagome sputtered. "I'm, I'm, well, I'm one of the aliens, you know?"
"Oh yeah, I know, it's hot," He rumbled. God his breath was terrible.
"Thanks, eh, I think, but listen. Hey! Listen!" She snapped her fingers in front of his eyes. "I didn't know what I was getting into, all right? Nobunaga just asked me to go and I said yes because I thought it was just a date thing, not a—a—a random screw a person you just met thing!"
"Aeh, that's what I thought. You'd never go for a skinny bitch like Nobu," He said, getting closer.
"No, NO!" She pushed at his chest with her heeled foot. "Hold on here dude, I'm saying I'm not having sex with anyone tonight!"
"You want it though," He grabbed her leg and lifted it up. Dammit why did she keep wearing skirts!? "See, you—"
"Get off!" She screamed, trying to kick him in the face with her other leg. It knocked him in the temple - - his head lolled over for a second but he looked back at her in a moment. Heartless. Soulless. Her father's face flashed over his for a moment.
"You cunt!" He seethed. She didn't see it, she just felt the thunk against her head and felt the pain on her cheekbone. "Spence! Keep drivin', fuck the club we're doing this now! You want it rough, huh? Want me to fuck you nice and hard bitch?"
Doing what? She wasn't sure - - 'Two concussions in two weeks?' was the best her brain could manage for a few seconds until she felt her legs getting lifted up. One word screamed across her mind.
Rape.
This was happening. This was happening. She forced her eyes open and found the man in front of her. He wasn't looking at her - - he was licking two fingers and staring between her legs. 'Quick, think anatomy! Men – usual weak points are eyes, nose if you hit it straight on, throat, xiphoid process in the sternum, the groin, knee caps and the metatarsal bones! Can't reach any of—'
He grabbed one high heel and threw it behind him. He grabbed the other, hurriedly ripped it off and tossed it to the side where it bounced off the walled back of the car and down to the floor. With that she could reach something on him. When she let go of her pounding head - - when did she press her hand up against it? - - a bolt of pain streaked up and down her face, but she had to. Kagome reached for the heel as she felt his sticky fingers brush up against her inner thigh.
'Why am I not screaming?' Her brain raged. 'Why not!? Why not—No, focus! Heel! Now!'
She grabbed the heel and did her best to close her legs, but with someone as big as Erris that couldn't be done. He was saying something, but she tuned it out.
'GOT IT!' Her mind screamed victoriously. She fumbled for a moment getting the heel into a pike position and looked down at him. One of his arms was down between her legs - - she felt fingers grabbing at her underwear. There was a honk, a screech, and a rapid turn, throwing them off balance and making them roll to the ground. One of his hands didn't let go of one of her legs.
"Get up bitch… Up!" He snarled, picking her up by the front of her dress and throwing her down on the seat. He pushed one of her legs up and pressed his hips in towards her.
The heel hit his temple and raked down to his eyelid. Erris screamed and jumped back, making her miss him with her second swipe. Kagome sat for a second – she knew she shouldn't, but her brain kept jumping between fighting and running for it. A second more and she grabbed her panties, shimmied them up, and stabbed at him again when he lunged: the heel hit his nose and slid up into his eye.
This scream was different. Kagome dropped the shoe, and it slowly slipped out of his eye socket. Erris crumpled into the bottom of the car, blood turning the white stripes of his suit red. An earthquake suddenly hit, but as Kagome turned and fiddled with the door she realized there was no earthquake, she was shaking. They were on a large arterial road, going fast: it was abandoned in the late night rain.
Erris screamed something to the driver. Kagome's stomach jumped into her throat and forced the auto-lock back, opened the door, and jumped out. Her bare feet caught the asphault, tore, and then she was tumbling and skidding on the road. After a few seconds she stopped, aching on her shoulders and her head and her feet and her hands, and getting drenched.
A second later she heard the car screech to a halt. "Shit," She jumped to her feet - - nothing broken except very pissed off skin - - and ran, not sure where she was running except that she was getting away from that car and running faster then she ever had in her whole life. She wiped her wet hair out of her face as it ran down, but soon she was wiping at the water as it clouded and stung her eyes.
Run. Run. Run. Breathe for a second. Where was everyone? She looked at her watch. Almost midnight - - everyone was asleep. Except for the car that splashed her with water. Car. Run. Run.
She didn't know how much time had passed. But she recognized that street. How? She slowed, her legs feeling like they couldn't take running any more.
She looked down the street, and saw all the way down the boulevard to the Swim Stadium. Lighting cracked and a swirl of pale violet and yellow swirled in the mountains beyond it. 'A swim stadium… for the time of fire…' Kagome managed in the pounding rain. She turned and kept walking. And walking. She checked her watch again after a while. Well past midnight. She was getting cold. Keep moving.
She checked the road behind her a few times- - no cars. Would the driver take Erris back to her? To finish the job? … To get the girl who might talk to the police?
"Police. Sango…" Kagome thought aloud. Where was Sango's apartment? Where was Kagome now? If she passed the Swim Stadium's area, then she was in the Rose Quarter. Still a long way from home, but Sango's apartment was in this quarter. It was close to Embassy Row too, where all of the Ambassadors to Ko resided. She ran over to a bus station and peered at the map - - all of the buses were done for the day of course, but the route map showed… about a mile and a half north was the stop for Embassy Row. In the far distance she heard a car horn, prompting her to start jogging. One block. Three. Seven. Ten. Almost there. Eleven. She could see the lights from the embassies in front of her. Twelve. She wiped at the rain and hair in her face, starting to feel the chill of the water seeping in. She didn't recognize any of the buildings as Sango's. She'd only been there once. Was it on this side or the other?
She stood on Embassy Row. The buildings weren't tall but they were ornate, illuminated in gold, red, green or blue lights. She walked down the abandoned street smoothly, lightning reaching a crescendo in the distance. She glanced towards the Northern side of the city and saw a building struck - - an advertisement board lit up for several seconds before fading again.
She turned to the right and found herself in front of the cream colored Igutoni Embassy. The lights inside were off, the gates closed and locked. She walked closer to them anyway and held onto the bars. She looked down and examined at her injuries for the first time - - it was hard to tell in the rain, but the bottom of her left foot was covered in black bits of road and sidewalk, glued in with blood and tinges of silver where the rain crystalized with her hemoglobin.
There was a loud clang and suddenly the gate swung open. Kagome let go of it and stared, watching the black metal coast to a stop. More rain. More thunder. A light in the front of the building flicked on. Kagome took a step and buckled from the clawing pain in her foot. 'No more adrenaline…' She thought, pushing herself up and walking on the ball of her foot down the front drive.
She looked up again and saw an orangeish figure behind the glass door. She wiped at the wet hair in her eyes again. "Lion…?" She wondered aloud.
Some ran out to her, white hair. "Kagome, what are you-?! The fuck…,"
"I broke the rules," She said, surprised at how calm her voice was. "I broke 'em Inuyasha, I didn't let… I didn't…"
"Fuck—" She was up in the air and flying out of the rain. The front room was stately, yellow carpet covering white marble and dark stained wood desks in places passing in and out of her vision. "*Naga, call an ambulance! Wake up Enoi after that, get him to call the Higurashi residence!* Shit, stop shivering—Your eye-! Kagome…?
Faces ran through her mind. Erris and the bloody shoe. Takoku. Sota screaming. Her mother crying. Inuyasha admonishing her on the top of a hospital, Inuyasha on a bridge… Inuyasha holding her face in his hands? I don't remember that one…
"C'mon, talk to me, what happened?" She heard again.
"*What's going on?*" She heard - - a different voice. It belonged to Frogger.
"*Enoi, lock down the Embassy! Alert the rear guard and call Miroku Denem Yamada – his number is in the personal record!* Kagome stay with me, stay awake – Fuck, your head's been bleeding—"
"You were right," She mumbled. She felt the warm hands stop moving.
"Right about what?"
"He is a dick, a total penis…," She said. After a moment warmth started flowing into her from her back.
"*Here's some towels – the ambulance is on its way. They said keep her from moving and keep her warm.*" Simba was talking this time. Inuyasha called him Naga.
"*Go get the rear guards with Enoi!*" Inuyasha ordered.
"He was going to kill me…," Kagome muttered. Sleep was collapsing around her. "So I fought back. I broke the rules…"
"C'mon, stay awake Kagome. You're safe here, but you have to stay awake, got it? No falling asleep - - let's get a towel around your legs… your foot…!"
In the alley across the street from the Igutoni Embassy someone shook off the crystalizing silver accumulating on top of her umbrella. She shook her head with a puff, opened her fan and flicked it. Kagura soared into the sky, landing on a nearby roof before flicking her fan again and soaring once more.
Authors Notes:
I know, huge chapter, but I had to get to that last point. Plus, sick. Had time to kill.
Also, you guys may have noticed that I don't shy away from some very scary topics, such as the after effects of abuse and rape. I don't do this to scare people or to make the story more 'gritty' or 'real': As someone who has survived both, I wish people wouldn't take these topics in vain. But that said, these things are extremely important to talk about. Rape doesn't tend to happen with random strangers; its people who we're are acquainted with, friends, and even family. Abuse comes in numerous forms, and it is not always overt or physical. One of the reasons I bring these topics into this story is because people need to know that it is not the end of the world if something like this happens. There is beauty in everything. And, to be quite frank, one of the most beautiful things in my life was just being held by a friend and reminding me that I was going to be okay in face of what that man did. Guess what - - I am okay. And Kagome will be too. She's going to get exactly the help she needs, so don't worry. ^_^
Fyi, I have maps of Ko and Beji, and if people want to see them I'll be glad to share. Just send me a private message and you can see what I do with my free time.
Kagura… mwehehe.
Chapter Preview:
Kagome is going to get the help she needs to deal with the Erris event. Miroku will return with even more information about the origins of Demons, which turn out to be tied even closer to the rise and fall of the Kwis. We also watch Inuyasha, Kagome, Miroku and Sango come together as a real group, augmented by the appearance of a new, pint-sized demon into their lives. It also won't hurt that Inuyasha and Kagome will start recognizing what they mean to each other.
And oh, you think my last quip about Kagura was bad?...