"Kagome," Masami gestured to the man standing before them at the entrance of the training room, "This is my cousin, Bushida Takeshi."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Bushida," Kagome bowed, dressed in the slayer unitard that had been gifted to her when she enrolled in slayer training. "I'm very grateful for your personal training."
"Taki, keep in mind we're not following regular training schedules with Lady Kagome." Masami explained, "She's well versed in archery already, and knows plenty of our classroom work with survival and medicinal field work. So just focus on close range." With that, Masami pat Kagome's shoulder reassuringly before taking off.
"I see they gave you the proper attire, good," Takeshi gestured for Kagome to follow him inside, "Was there anything in particular you were eager to learn?"
"Not really, no," Kagome tugged at her full body uniform uncomfortably with her new teacher looking away, "I always saw Sango with a short sword, hidden daggers, things like that."
They came to a stop in the middle of the training room. Along one wall hosted many different weapons, and off the left were three doors. Two looked to be locker rooms, and one unlabeled, likely storage. The whole room was brightly lit and on the right side was a mirror that stretched the whole wall for self observation, much like a dance studio.
Her teacher turned to her then, readying a study plan for her inside his mind, determined to transform her skills into something deadly and tangible. Kagome colored with his eyes on her person, feeling self conscious in the skin tight uniform. Now she understood Sango's discomfort in wearing her fighting unitard all the time. Miroku would have behaved far worse.
Takeshi appeared different from his cousins, Kagome realized. While the Sakai family all resembled each other in coloring, with soft brown hair and dark eyes, it seemed that the Bushida family had more dominant traits. Sesshou had pointed it out to her briefly when they were visiting.
"Look at their eyes," He'd said, directing her attention to two ten year old boys dressed in slayer uniforms, "Notice they're primarily grey." Still giving him a curious look, he explained further, "They're not Sakai children. Those children are descendants of Kohaku."
With Takeshi's light grey eyes and black hair that ran down his back, tied low and loosely, Kagome was reminded of Inuyasha's human form. He even carried himself like Inuyasha; obscenely confident. She wondered which relative along the family tree influenced these traits.
"May I ask why you're not dressed for training?" Kagome had been wondering about his dark jeans and jacket.
"Well, for starters," Takeshi stretched his arms overhead, "I don't train slayers, normally."
"But Masami said-"
"I train Mercenaries." His intense gaze never left her face. She was startled, clearly. "No one explained that to you, huh?" Takeshi smirked. Approaching her frozen form, Kagome took a step back when he didn't stop at a reasonable distance. Invading her personal bubble, he kept forward; predatory. His large hand grasped her elbow, keeping her from escaping, and hovered his mouth by her ear. "You ready?"
For what? She thought, but never had the chance to respond. Her feet were kicked out from underneath her faster than she understood what had occurred. In a second, she was on her back, with no time to brace herself.
"What the hell?" Kagome yelled, turning onto her hands and knees to get up. His boots were just in her line of sight, circling her.
"Welcome to class, Kagome," Takeshi's voice held a smile she couldn't see, "Now defend yourself. I want to see what you can do."
Bringing herself to her feet, Kagome faced her new teacher. She was beginning to think maybe Inuyasha's ghost was nuts. There's no way he would subject her to this. Not sure how to continue, she stayed in place, holding her arms up to defend her face. Takeshi lunged forward, prepared to tackle her from the torso, and Kagome couldn't decide where to lunge to avoid contact.
Mere seconds before he would have knocked her on her rear again, he dove and slid between her legs, swinging his leg again to sweep her off her feet. This time she landed sideways, bracing herself for the floor. Grunting upon impact, she rose much quicker this time, but not before he did.
Takeshi knew he would have to knock her around more before getting a rise out of her. She was being timid, too polite, and too professional for his liking. He wanted to see her angry.
"Come on, priestess," He aimed for sentimental targets, "Inuyasha would be disappointed." Circling her again, he stood behind her, taking slow steps. Her silence was a show of resistance. He would remedy that.
He moved to spin her around roughly and was pleased to see her side step and flip around to face him herself. She felt his intention before he made it. He took note of that.
"What was Inuyasha like? I kind of always hated the story. What half demon falls for two human women?" Kagome's face grew colder with every sentence, attempting to seem unfazed. "Or, are you really just one, since you shared a soul?" The smirk that followed broke the icey stare on her face.
"We were two people," Her voice held fire, but he wanted to see her move, "And he was the strongest person I'd ever known, human, demon, or otherwise!"
"Was?" Takeshi paused for a reaction. While he hadn't attended the reunion, most Bushida clan members didn't, since the only Bushida members living in the temple were children that had yet to graduate slayer training, but he had been home a few days now, waiting to meet the renown priestess. Everyone has been talking about her welcome home party, and he might have been eavesdropping on his cousins' conversation the previous night.
Turns out Masami had come to help Kagome out of her borrowed party attire, only to hear questionable sounds, and decided against interrupting the pair. Jiyu had affirmed, he suspected the Lord of the West and the Shikon Priestess were interested in one another. It's the only reason he could supply for such incredible protectiveness coming from the demon lord.
"Don't tell me you've already moved on."
It was all Kagome needed to lash out. No one spoke ill of Sesshoumaru. He was not some replacement, and she wouldn't have anyone diminishing his status by making him second to the dead.
She had reached to punch him in the mouth, but he caught her wrist, and spun her out, using her own force against her to throw her to the ground.
Kagome caught herself much quicker, rolling to her feet again. Takeshi was already stalking towards her again, and this time she lunged before he could. He thought she was going to come at his face again, and instead she ducked low last minute and wrapped her arms around his waist, using her low center of gravity to lift and push him over, only he grabbed onto her, taking them both down into a heap. Kagome scrambled to sit on his chest, preparing herself to pummel his face in.
He wanted to see how far she would go. He let her pin him, his wrists tight in her smaller grip. She was seething, and he could feel her hands shaking with her fury. Lifting a single hand to strike her foe, Kagome paused, her hand frozen in the air.
He waited. Maybe she was hesitating. Maybe she would follow through.
Then the tears came, dripping onto his own face, and he realized just how broken she truly was. He had seen it before, with his sister. She was an excellent marksman, truly passionate about her gunmanship. Then she had to take a life, someone around her own age, with her bare hands. It was too personal for her, and she grieved her possible murderer. That's how she would have died, and he didn't see it any other way, but she did. She gave up their way of life. Quit the school completely, and took off.
Kagome dropped her arm and brought both her hands to her face, sobbing into her palms. She felt so stupid, so guilty, for kissing Sesshou. He was not her lover, and she would tarnish his good name for trying. Her own heart ached at what felt like infidelity. How could she do this to Inuyasha? To either of them?
"Kagome," Takeshi took her wrists in his hands, guiding her hands away from her face. She tried to refuse, but he pulled again, "Kagome, please." He tugged again, and he was successful, unveiling her sorrowful expression. "Kagome I didn't mean any of it." She hiccuped and sobbed, and he wondered how long she had been torturing herself. She was just like them; war torn and trying, still, to go on. "I didn't mean any of it. I just wanted you to fight."
She only cried harder at his admittance, feeling foolish for buying into such a cheap trick.
"I'm sorry." He tried to comfort the girl, seeing just how young she truly was. He had a good ten years on her, but he didn't doubt her experience in battle. She was likely fierce in actual life and death situations. She had just lost too many times now. "Hey, look at me," Takeshi rubbed her wrists with his thumbs, "I got you."
Maybe it was the way he said it, or the minor resemblance to Inuyasha, or even the position they sat in, but it was all too familiar, and she stilled to capture the expression on his face. A lopsided smile, with fangs.
So torn inside her own drama, she failed to sense Sesshou's arrival, and they both turned their attention to the demon clearing his throat across the room.
"What is going on here?"
