Legend in the Making
Chapter 13:
Easy Come, Easy Go..?
The next day found a group of new guests entering their gates as if they owned the place themselves. Because of the training session going on for the military force, not many were placed at the front gates, thus the individuals could enter with relative ease. Though once they did, they nearly turned around and walked back out.
In front of them, people were running around with paperwork, herbs, bandages, and scrolls as if they were being chased by fire breathing dragons in a narrow cave. In all honesty, the small group couldn't believe that the people were able to dodge each other with how fast and chaotic the scene was. The dog eared male looked over at the teenage, white haired female beside him. Her light lavender eyes taking in the scene before turning her inquisitive gaze up at the golden eyed male. Realizing they were both in the same boat, they turned their attention to the monk and taijya of the group. It was only then that they noticed one of their members was gone.
"Ano...Where'd Shippo go?" The lavender eyed girl questioned, looking around curiously.
The dog eared male stiffened, sniffing the air momentarily before a sudden explosion of mushrooms hit the hallway to their left. Eyes turning in that direction, he gave a bland look and turned his attention back to the surprised girl. "This is nothin' new."
Her gaze turned back up to him curiously as the two humans behind them started to giggle and attempt to hide their amusement respectfully.
"SHIPPO! QUIT DESTROYING MY HALLWAY!"
Snapping their attention to their right, they found their target marching passed them and toward the biggest mass of chaos that they had seen him create yet.
"Itai! Kaa-san!" a young man's voice called out, followed by a few gasps and people running to get out of the way. Soon, a red haired male came shooting out of the mass of mushrooms and people, darting behind the dog eared male. His emerald gaze met with gold for a moment, receiving a silent reprimand before they zeroed in on angry blue. He whimpered, ducking behind the red sleeves of the male in front of him, only for said male to move out of the way, leaving him wide open for the woman's wrath.
"How many times do I have to tell you? If you're going to destroy something, do it to someone else!"
"Gomen ne" he quickly said, ducking his head.
"Not only that! What if I was an enemy, huh? I shouldn't be able to catch you! To be caught means-"
"To die, hai. Gomen ne," he said once more, looking up at her with watery emerald eyes.
The two humans and hanyou took in the expressions of everyone present as she scolded the kitsune, gaping at what she was scolding him about.
Nodding, satisfied that he understood, she pointed away from her, "Go train with Raizen."
The dog eared male gave a half-laugh, "I knew that bastard was here." Cracking his knuckles, his eyes gained an excited gleam.
Catching on, the monk gave a sigh with a smile, "I'll follow Inuyasha and Shippo to the training grounds. I'm assuming he'll be able to lead us there."
"Damn right, Miroku." Inuyasha said, starting to walk away.
"By the way, Kagome-sama," Pausing beside her, he gave a charming smile, "You look wonderful."
"Why thank you Miroku. I'd probably start moving though, unless you look forward to getting knocked unconscious when your hand reaches it's destination?" Kagome smiled back pleasantly.
He retracted his hand, "You wound me, my dear lady. Though I should catch up with Inuyasha before he destroys your newly built kingdom."
"Yes...that would be nice. I'll talk to all of you tomorrow about why I called you here, alright?"
Nodding, he quickly walked away, catching up with Shippo and Inuyasha in no time.
Turning to the last two of the group, the elder one moved to give her a hug. "It's been so long!"
"I know, I missed you, Sango-chan!" Kagome replied, hugging the woman back. When they separated, Kagome turned her attention to the lavender eyed girl that was now up to her shoulder in height, "Shiori-chan! Thank you for coming!" Giving the young bat-hanyou a hug, the girl returned it with a smile.
"Thank you for having me, Kagome-sama."
"Just Kagome is fine, Shiori-chan!"
The young girl blushed a bit, nodding shyly. "Hai, Kagome."
Kagome beamed, "Great! Oh, I almost forgot to ask. How is your training coming along?"
"Inuyasha says I am almost at his level...then he's going to have me face off against Raizen-san." Shiori stated, "Shippo-kun too...he's hiding it right now, but he's already got five tails."
"Five? I knew he had three since he started to fight with us against Naraku's puppets, but he gained another two?"
"He's been attending the kitsune school and trading off between sparring with Inuyasha, Kouga, and Sesshoumaru-sama." Sango said, beginning to walk down the hall Kagome had come from earlier. Kagome and Shiori followed, and before long, Kagome was leading them through the multiple corridors and toward the garden. Sitting down on the ground near the garden, they chatted amiably about anything that came to mind, ignoring the smoke coming from the training area.
Shippo dodged the high pressured punch, dipping around the fist and slipping right between his legs, standing behind the toushin. Wasting no time at all, he booked it out of the near vicinity, stopping when he was on the other side of the island.
Thankfully, Inuyasha had taken over from there. He didn't really want to fight the psychotic toushin at the moment. He rather liked all his limbs in tact. So, without much thought he jumped into the nearest tree and leaned back, taking a deep breath and breathing out in contentment, relaxing against the trunk. When he felt a sudden weight land on the tree with him, he opened one eye, staring at the human woman. Her face got close to his and his other eye came open, staring at her oddly while trying to move it away.
"Ohayo." He stated, emerald orbs meeting light brown. She simply continued to stare at him, causing him to raise a brow.
"You look like a teen...how old are you?" She questioned, leaning back a bit and straddling the branch, swinging her legs.
He blinked at her blankly, looking her over. "You're part of Kaa-san's military force?" He questioned instead, "You look awful." He stated blankly, looking over the bandages that were covering her arms and legs.
Her gaze narrowed on him, "That's rude."
He shrugged, uncaring. Suddenly, his head snapped toward the right, watching smoke pile up into the air. "Maaaah…Inuyasha and Raizen are going overboard again…"
Looking in the same direction as him, she turned her attention from the smoke to the kitsune in front of her. "Who are you?"
At that, he grinned. "Shippo! I'm Kagome's kit!"
She blinked, surprised. "That's what you meant? Gomen ne, Shippo-sama...I meant no disrespect."
Once more, he shrugged, not caring in the least, "Hey hey, what's your name?"
"Kora. I'm part of the infiltration unit." She supplied, flipping her leg over to the other side of the branch so she was no longer straddling the tree.
"Honto ne? That's cool!" Shippo exclaimed, then grinned, "I'm 49, by the way. So technically, I am a teen."
"How much of one?"
Confused, he responded in the way he thought she was asking, "14?"
"That's it?" She questioned, bewildered as another cloud of smoke shot into the air closer to where they were located.
"Ano...yes?"
"Hey...how do kitsune mark how strong they are?" She asked, looking at yet another pile of smoke. "Do they do it like those two?"
Shippo snorted, "Not a chance. Those two are brutes. Kitsune show their strength through the number of tails they have and how well they can hide them from everyone else." Shippo replied, thinking, 'Among other things...'
"Ooooohh…ano...are they getting closer?"
"Yup."
"Should we leave?"
"Probably." Shippo responded, still relaxing against the trunk of the tree.
"Are you going to leave?" Kora questioned, looking at him curiously.
"In a minute. They won't-" A rumble went through the earth and Shippo shot up, grabbed Kora and flew out of the tree toward the left of where they had been standing. "...Nevermind." He finished, setting her down on the ground and looking back at the damaged area. Three giant slits like claw marks dug deep into the earth, uprooting and splintering trees in their path. Watching the two fly through the area, and into their line of sight, Shippo sighed, eyes half closed and posture slouched. He watched the two with a critical eye as they punched, blocked, and all out beat each other up. It wasn't until they stepped into one of the newly created crevices that Shippo suddenly perked up.
"Ne, Kora-chan." He chirped, causing her to look at him curiously. "Run."
Her eyes widened as his grin turned slightly sadistic, eyes gaining a mischievous glint. Taking the hint, she booked it out of the area as fast as she could. Shippo watched her out of the corner of his eye until she was out of his sight and smell before he turned his attention back on the fighting duo.
Miroku was nearly run over by the young woman as she burst from the tree line. Catching her by the shoulder before she could fall in her rather hasty stop, he repositioned her on her feet, letting her take in the much needed air. When she seemed to have gotten control of her breathing, he stared at her worriedly. "What happened?"
Looking up into violet eyes, she blushed lightly before relaying what occurred moments ago. "Inuyasha-san and Raizen-san burst through the area I was in with Shippo-sama and Shippo-sama told me to run."
Unsurprised, Miroku turned his attention back the way she had come and waited. Sure enough, two distinct shouts rang out. A flurry of leaves flying through the area, just passed him and reformed back into the kitsune he knew. "What happened, Shippo?"
Shippo grinned, standing behind the monk. "Hum? I don't know...One minute Inuyasha and Raizen were standing in the field and the next they were sinking into the ground…"
Shaking his head, he turned to the kit. "I'd suggest you find Kagome-sama now."
"Hai!" He chirped, disappearing in a flurry of leaves.
"Where is he?!"
Heaving a sigh, Miroku steeled himself for a different type of battle.
Time to bring down the powerhouses.
Shiori started to wander the halls when Kagome and Sango had decided to go off to Kagome's study to work. It was during her wandering that she met Shippo, hiding in the kitchen. The kitchen staff looked at him as if he grew a second head, while the kit flew around the kitchen sampling all of the goods that they had. Two of the individuals there were attempting to catch him, making the scene all the more funny. Unable to withhold her giggles for much longer, she let them out, catching everyone's attention.
Shippo froze in his motions, a piece of bread hanging out of his mouth. Looking over at Shiori, he stuffed the rest into his mouth and bolted for her, hands grabbing at the area he had just vacated. Picking her up in a hug, he spun the bat hanyou around in a circle, set her down, grabbed her hand and booked it out of the kitchen as fast as he could. She followed after him, amused.
"Did you find out what Kaa-san wanted?" Shippo asked, still holding Shiori's hand.
She gave a light blush but shook her head, "Iie. She just said to keep training until everyone is gathered together. I think we'll be going on patrol soon though…"
"Patrol?" Shippo whined, pouting. "I hate patrolling…Doesn't she have a division for that?"
"They're being...'trained' by Raizen-san." She replied as the two split apart, dodging one of the many maids of the household. Watching her fly through the hall and into a nearby room, the two looked at each other before laughing.
"I wonder if Sesshoumaru ever had to deal with this! Could you imagine what he would do?" Shippo exclaimed, leaning forward a bit before bouncing back as another worker flew passed him.
"Shippo-san, you're going to get hit by one of the workers if you keep this up." Shiori warned as she watched him lean forward again, looking down the hall at the sudden onslaught of people coming their way. "We should help."
He turned to stare at her quizzically then, eyes zeroed in on hers. "Help? With what?"
"Training the rest of the staff...Kagome-san wants everyone to be able to hold their own against an attack, right?" Shiori questioned, causing Shippo to lean back against the wall.
"I guess so…"
"So why don't we help? Your pranks create a need for higher security, and I'll move stuff and take stuff so that they start paying more attention."
Shippo blinked, looking from her, to the ceiling. "We could do that...Sounds like fun! I'm in!"
Nodding, Shiori started walking back the way they came. "Ne, where are you going?"
Looking over her shoulder, she held up a small, but expensive looking vase. Shippo grinned, nodding and spinning on his heel, taking off in the opposite direction.
And the explosive thefts began.
To be continued…
Thanks so much for your reviews! A lot of the guesses one what's going to happen next and such are pretty close to accurate! Of course, they're not completely...but that's something else haha.
3 reviews!
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