THEME 37: MIST

(Words: 905)

"Youko"

"Kurama"

"Ne, Kurama, these stairs are longer than mine!" she grumbled, glaring at the amused smirk he sent down to her. The kitsune reached back to twine his fingers with hers, pausing on the steps until she stood level with him.

"It's not that much farther."

They began to once again progress up the steep concrete stairs with only the sound of wildlife surrounding them. The air was heavy around them, muffling the sounds of their footsteps. "Where are you taking me, anyway?" Kagome questioned, slanting him a curious look. "You were awfully evasive with your answers…"

"Why, I'm whisking you into the woods to have my way with you, of course."

A blush immediately spread across her face and she narrowed her eyes when he chuckled in a timbre much lower than usual. "Youko…"

"You're just so very cute when you blush," he grinned, eyes flashing gold. Once his eyes returned to their normal color, he added, "We're here."

Just then they topped the rise of stairs that had previously seemed endless. Kagome blinked and glared into the heavy wall of mist. The only thing she could see were the brightly painted torii gates a few feet in front of them. "I don't see any-"

"Hn, so you've finally come." The voice was so unexpected that she couldn't help but jump with a strangled squeak as he head whipped around to find its source. Standing to Kurama's left was none other than Hiei, the edge of his lips kicked up in a small smirk at her reaction. "Took you long enough, fox."

"H-Hiei…! What're you doing here?" she stammered. Kurama was immensely pleased when she sidled closer to his side and tightened her grip on his hand.

"That'll show the little bastard that she belongs to us!" He got the distinct impression of his other half cackling in the background and withheld the urge to roll his eyes.

"He's already backed off, Youko. Hiei's not the type to try and seduce a girl who's already taken."

The silver haired man snorted. "He'd better not, or I'm going to take that katana of his and shove it right up his…!"

Tugging on his hand brought them out of his ranting as they focused on the girl glancing up at him. "Kurama…? You ok?"

"Youko can be rather…distracting," he murmured, squeezing her hand affectionately.

Her eyes flickered over his face for another moment before she took a step back and looked around again. "So…what're we doing here again?"

Just then a breeze swooped through the trees and revealed an enormous building. With its elegantly curved ceramic roof, meticulously cleaned wooden porches, and its ten foot tall doors made it obvious it was a temple. Having lived on a shrine her entire life made it much less intimidating for Kagome, yet this shrine was easily twice as large as the one her family owned.

Kurama couldn't help but chuckle at the girl's look of awe. "This is the shrine of Genkai, a good friend of ours."

"This place is huge!" she stuttered, obligingly following him across the gravel path that led towards the large doorway. Noticing the lack of tourists or visitors, she frowned. "Where is everyone?"

"Genkai does not allow visitors here. The forest surrounding the shrine has many demons that, while weak, could easily kill a human."

"Hn. The woman does not appreciate prying eyes, in other words," the fire demon snorted.

"Then…why am I here?"

"The only reason you're here is to train." Her reaction proved to all those around her that she had encountered quite a few battles. Before the speaker even finished that rasping sentence she had bent her knees and spread her legs in a more stable stance, her pink ki sparking out around her palms as she held her hands in front of her defensively. "I'm not going to attack you, guardian of the shikon no tama."

Kagome blinked down at the older woman that stood before her, energy sinking harmlessly back into her skin. The woman had dingy pink hair that would have fallen to her shoulder blades if it weren't for its curliness, standing even shorter than Hiei at perhaps four and a half feet tall. Her face was covered in wrinkles and her brown eyes were set in a stern stare. "Ah…err…Who're you…?"

"Genkai."

Turning a questioning glance at Kurama, she murmured, "What sort of 'training' are you talking about…?"

"Kurama informed me of your poor control over your powers," the woman said. "While I do not possess holy energy, I could easily teach you proper control."

Kagome opened her mouth once, twice, and finally stammered, "T-thank you, Genkai-sama…but, I don't spend much time in this era, so I don't know how often I'd-"

"You will come here for training every time you return from sengoku jidai. Your survival is necessary for this time to remain as it is. Schooling should be the least worry on your mind at this point."

"But…!"

"You can always return to your schooling later, Kagome,"Kurama intervened, placing his hand upon her shoulder comfortingly. "I'll help you."

Genkai's eyes swept over her form before she grunted and began walking towards the temple. "Follow me. We will test your abilities for today and begin your training tomorrow."

Shoulders slumping with a defeated sigh Kagome trudged after the shorter woman, sticking her tongue out at the chuckling kitsune.

So, I made a wee bit of a goof up and accidently uploaded chapter 38 instead of 37. I do believe it's fixed now, but I apologize if you got ahold of it before I swapped the chapters. Thanks for stopping by, and please leave a review! -Master of all Perv's, out!