Summary
She wonders if it would just be easier to tell him about her past before it's too late. Miroku resolves to find another way to research seals...
A/N: This one is a little more serious, and has the dregs of some kind of plot. Wait? There's a plot? Yes. Yes there is. Vaguely. Now, on to the fun stuff! Enjoy!
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:
It was frustrating to find that though the Kuchiki manor had a rather impressive lirary to boast of, almost none of the information he was looking for happened to be in said library. It was even more frustrating to realize that the only place in the Sereitei that could possibly have the information he was trying to get a hold of was probably in the Research and Development Lab of Squad 12. Unfortunately, Kagome seemed to avoid Squad 12 like the place possessed a plague. It was mostly due to the fact that the Captain was a bit of a fanatic when it came to interesting "specimens", as he liked to put it. He was equally sure that Kagome just happened to be one of those interesting ones that the manic mad scientist had yet to get a hold of.
Miroku sighed in annoyance and ran a hand through his hair. There was little else to do. He was going to have to break in there to get what he needed. The alternative was too painful to even attempt to consider.
"Are you okay, Miroku?" said reason for concern asked, waving her hand in front of his face. He automatically grabbed it in a suave way and batted his lashes at the unaffected priestess.
"But of course, my dearest friend! The day is a lovely one, made even more so by the beautiful smile that you grace me with," he answered smoothly, not betraying a hint of his unease. His hand was suddenly smacked and he withdrew immediately. He'd forgotten that there was an audience with them today.
"Perhaps you will live to see the end of it if you keep comments like that to yourself, monk," Byakuya Kuchiki intoned icily. This caused Kagome to bite her lip to keep from smiling at how amusing the two acted. Honestly, her old friend was just screaming for a beating if he kept it up. In a sense, her Captain was very much like her old hanyou friend; minus the brash attitude and the tendency to compare her to a former lover. It was almost the protective streak from Inuyasha set in the icy personality of Sesshomaru. The thought alone sent a chill of fear down her spine.
"Of course, my esteemed lord. I humbly apologize if my behaviour had caused you any distress... or indigestion," the other man replied, sagely nodding his head as he noted the white-knuckled grip the noble had on his chopsticks.
"Oh, knock it off, Miroku. He'll jab those in your eye if you keep it up," the priestess giggled, sending a happy grin at her disgruntled leader that had his heart suddenly beating faster.
"I don't think he'll want my germs, my considerate friend," Miroku countered, actually winking at the visibly cool look sent to him. The family head suddenly pushed his plate aside and delicately set down his chopsticks. Reaching over, Kagome pinched the rambunctious monk and shook her head, the smile never leaving her face. Despite the fact that her superior didn't seem to trust Miroku as far as he could throw him, she was pretty sure that he did see him as a valuable ally to have.
"This conversation is ridiculous. We are here for a reason, monk. What have you found out?" The cheerful atmosphere died down and Miroku trained his gaze on the table.
"Not very much, unfortunately. Though your family's library is vast, it doesn't contain enough of the detailed information I need," the monk replied, automatically reaching out a hand and capturing Kagome's when she gave a quiet sigh. Just this once, Byakuya decided to let the action slide.
"...Perhaps Captain Ukitake might be able to tell us that he's found something?" the former priestess pressed, keeping her gaze locked on her old friend as he shook his head.
"I have already spoken with the Captain. He's not found much more than what I have. With the combined information, we know this much."
Both parties paid close attention to the next words. "We have surmised that when you first came to the Soul Society, someone placed this suppresser on you. I imagine it was shortly before you woke in the Rukongai. Then, as time went on, it was slowly supposed to suck away your powers and energy until you became nothing more than the average soul. However, you showed enough potential to get into the Academy before the seal could accomplish this. Every time you used your powers, I imagine that it drained you just a little more."
At that, Kagome nodded, her brows drawn together in concentration. "When I first got to the Academy, I was near the top of the class because I had really good control over my reishi. Over the years, though, I kept dropping more and more until I barely graduated."
"Exactly."
For a moment, there was a lull in the conversation. Then, surprisingly, Byakuya spoke up.
"Had you stayed at that level instead of being forced to drop so far in rank, you would have graduated and likely become a seated officer," he murmured, ignoring the two sets of wide eyes staring at him, "You had the correct potential. At the moment, though, you are barely qualifying as a shinigami in any aspect."
Kagome clenched her hands and grit her teeth in anger. Whoever had done this had probably ruined her chances of furthering her career as a shinigami! Letting go of the small ball of fury that had built in her chest, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"At the rate I'm going, I'll have no choice but to put up my sword pretty soon."
"Not necessarily, Kagome," Miroku countered after a moment of hesitation. The girl snapped firey blue eyes to him and he was pinned with an equally viscious pair of grey eyes. "Think of it this way. You remember how you could barely control your powers before?" At her nod, he continued very carefully. If he slipped up even once, the noble sitting with them would be tipped off to who, exactly, Kagome was. "Remember the other seal?"
Kagome's eyes widened and she stared at him. "Is... it the same? Do you really think that the je-"
"No. I'm pretty sure that has nothing to do with this. After all, you got rid of it in the end." He cut her off, slanting a glance at Byakuya before giving the former time traveler a discreet shake of his head. "I do believe, however, that the concept is similar."
The Kuchiki head was quickly becoming annoyed. He knew, for a fact, that the two friends were talking of something extremely important, and that he was deliberately being left out of the big picture. It was really starting to grate on his nerves.
"How so?"
"With enough pressure, we can break it."
"But, it took us a long time to break the other! If the idea is similar, then-!"
"There is no guardian this time. Things will be much simpler now."
"If you're going to continue to dance around your point, I will force you to reveal whatever special information you seem to be hiding away, monk," Byakuya interrupted, raising his chin arrogantly and staring down the other man. Miroku had the decency to lower his gaze and peeked a glance at the priestess sitting next to him. She'd bitten her lip again, agitating it more than usual while thinking.
Finally, after a few moments of silence, Kagome nodded hesitantly and cleared her throat. "I... You know I remember when I was alive, right Captain?" The squad leader's attention was immediately fixed on her. "This has to do with then. My abilities were pretty volatile even when I was alive. The reason was because there was a seal put on me. Eventually, I was able to break it, but it took a lot out of me because there was a guardian over that portion of my powers that had to be... eliminated."
"And you believe that this seal may be similar?" Both holy figures nodded. "Then perhaps you should go about this the same way."
"If we did, it would cause a lot of problems and attract unwanted attention," Miroku countered, sighing quietly and staring at his tea, "If only Kaede-sama were here..."
"If we..." Kagome hesitated, then went ahead and plowed on. At this point, it would probably be easier for her Captain to know about her past, "If we found Kaede, do you think she'll remember us, let alone what we might be able to do?"
"There's always a chance," the monk answered, shrugging his shoulders half-heartedly, "After all, Sango and I remember everything. It's likely anyone touched by those events personally will."
"Then I'll ask Sango the next time I see her." Mind made up, the former time traveler went back to her lunch with determination. She was going to get through this.
Even if it meant losing her powers in the process.
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:
Sango swung her practice blade down and the wood cracked loudly against the dummy she was training against. Said dummy shook with the force of the blow before the former taijiya devoted her attention to her closest girl friend. "You really think it's another seal?"
"Yeah. It's too convenient to not be," Kagome shrugged, swinging at her own dummy with a shinai of her own. "I just have no idea how to go about removing it. And, at the rate it's going, I'm not going to be able to even call on my Zanpakuto when I need her. I don't like that at all."
The brunette next to her bit her lip in consideration before she slowly continued, "Well... when Kohaku and I came here, we were actually found by Kaede-sama, so I bet she would know something about what to do."
Kagome dropped her blade in shock and whipped her gaze around to her friend. "Are you serious! You know where Kaede is?" When the taller girl nodded, she shot forward and enveloped her in a crushing hug. "That's perfect! When can I go see her? I really need to talk to her about this! And... and I miss her too!"
"Woah! Slow down, Kagome! I'm not completely sure where exactly she is because they move from district to district! I've gotta get a letter from Kohaku first before we can go out there, or we'll be wandering around for days!" Sango choked out, brown eyes wide and pleading as she begged for the former priestess to let her go. She got her wish and Kagome danced around her in excitement.
"That's great! Let me know as soon as you get the letter, and we'll go see them!" the former time traveler answered giddily, the enormous smile never leaving her face. For once, she felt like she was finally going to get somewhere with this whole seal business.
"Of course. I was waiting for one so that I could tell you about her anyway."
Neither noticed the shadow slipping away from them, deep in contemplation.
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:
Miroku paced agitatedly in front of the Research and Development Lab, waiting for the feeling of the aura on the other side of the doors to settle down into a semblance of sleep. If he was caught...
"Hey." The voice made the monk jump, and he whipped around brandishing his shakujo in defense before he heard a snort and the person in the shadows stepped into the light. The merry jingle of bells didn't make him feel any better as he came face to face with the Captain of Squad 11.
"You are... Captain Zaraki, correct?"
"That's right. You're that friend of the little pussycat that Sango is so attached to," the taller man murmured, tilting his head before letting loose a lazy grin, "You heard my bells? Not very many people can. You must be strong too."
"I assure you that I am not as strong as you think I am. Merely highly attuned to spirit energy," Miroku countered in a deeptively calm voice. Inwardly, he was sweating bullets. He still couldn't completely figure out Kenpachi's volatile reishi, and that worried him. "May I ask why you're here, Captain?"
"I overheard Sango talking and she said the cat's got a seal of some kind on her. That true?" The monk blanched, unsure about how to go about this encounter. "If so, I wanna help break it."
"W-What? Why?" Now he was just confused.
"Because it's no fun if the kitty cat gets her claws clipped before she gets to really use them, now is it?" Kenpachi replied, the smile becoming a few degrees more insane, "I want to see how strong she really is. To do that, this 'seal' has to go."
'Aside from the excuse of why he wants to help, it wouldn't hurt to have another powerful ally on the inside,' the smaller ma thought, rubbing his chin absently for a second before making his decision, 'Oh, who am I kidding! Even if I said no, he'd probably jump in anyway and cause a disturbance.'
"Very well. I accept your proposal."
"Good. Now, what the hell are you doing out here?"
"I'm waiting patiently for the Research and Development Lab to be emptied. I need to get in there without being seen in order to look up some information on this seal," Miroku explained, glancing back at the doors before narrowing his eyes as he concentrated. He could still detect two prescences behind the doors, and they had been there for a long time. It was highly disconcerting.
"Good luck with that. Kurotsuchi and his Lieutenant are in there all the time when there aren't any meetings to deal with," the Captain snorted, tapping his unsheathed blade against his leg absently before striding forward. "If you want in, you're going to have to get another Captain."
The monk nodded, already knowing where this situation was going. It was a good thing he'd decided to agree to Kenpachi's help.
"Very well. What did you have in mind, sir?"
Kenpachi grinned psychotically. "Oh... You'll see..."
'I have a feeling that this is going to be extremely illegal,' Miroku thought, swallowing slowly as he let the taller man lead the way into the Lab. 'But it's worth it for Kagome's sake. Anything is.'
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:
A/N: A little bit of plot development, and Kenny's joined the resistance! Yayz for him! I wonder how well Kagome's going to take that news? It's bound to be interesting!
Anyways, let me know what you guys think! I'm kinda on a roll as far as updates go right now, so I'm hoping to crank out a few more chapters of some things before I hit the brick wall called writer's block again. Haaah, I've been climbing that one for a while now. It would be so much easier if I could just transfer thought onto computer without the process of typing it up. I'd have so much more done! Well, I can dream.
Reviews are nice. I like to hear back from you guys!