Chapter 3:

Kagome was being stared at. Again. Gritting her teeth she slapped the book in front of her closed and locked eyes with the ones currently eyeing her. "It's impolite to stare. Or did you mother neglect to teach you basic manners?"

"Why are you here?"

She paused. It was the first time one of them had deigned to speak to her and the question, though unexpected, eased some of the temper threatening to give way to her powers. "This is a library. I'm studying." Or trying to. The words left unsaid were clear in the downward tilt of her pursed lips as she began to gather up her belongings.

"That's not what I meant, and you know it." He was sneering at her, the brown of his eyes so dark they could almost be black.

"I don't, actually. This is a library. At a university. Where people study. Where I study." Gathering her books to her chest, she stood up. "Since that seems to be such a problem to you though, I'll just go somewhere else."

He stood and took a step towards her and Kagome could not help herself. Purity rose to her fingertips, try as she might to smother it. "Take one step closer to me and I'll put you back in that chair so fast it breaks." It was a useless threat, she knew—he was human and her powers would have no effect on him and she was far from talented in self-defense—but there must have been enough bite in her tone to give him pause because he stopped and the color drained from his face. "Stay away from me," she said finally and turning, strode from the library.

o.O.o

Paranoid. That's what she was.

There was no reason for the other students to stare at her. There was absolutely nothing special about her—at least, nothing they could outwardly see. She was just another student trying to go about her business.

There was no reason for the other students to stare at her.

And yet.

Closing her eyes, she set a palm against the rough bark of the tree in front of her. She'd taken refuge in the forest again, ensconcing herself in the green and life and freedom. Here, there were no eyes or attention on her. Here amidst the trees and undergrowth and flowers and bird calls, she was just another creature in the quiet world.

She could breathe.

This forest surrounding the campus was so untouched by the modern world Kagome thought she could sometimes still imagine being in the feudal era while inside it. The dark, green depths offered her soul a home she hadn't even been aware of looking for, a peace she hadn't known she'd needed.

Taking a deep breath, eyes still closed, she unfurled the strict control of her powers and felt them spill out of her like honey out of a flower. Purity settled around her and eased her raw emotions away until she was nothing but a girl in the woods reveling in the peace and quiet.

When all the tension had faded away she focused on stretching out her powers. It had been so long since she'd had the chance to actively see how far she could reach and there were no youkai to worry about here, so why not?

Purity swelled and washed out of her, a swath of warmth and security, as she channeled her powers into the three before her and spread them wide. Suddenly she could feel everything—the birds, the skittering of insects, the gentle push and pull of life in the forest as nature took its course. She kept going, pushing herself to see how far she could see and found herself standing at the cliff's edge, salt spray lashing against her eye lashes. And she could keep going.

Ecstatic, Kagome turned her attention back to the forest she still stood within. She was about to see how far in the opposite direction she could go and wash her powers over the campus—but there was something coming towards her. And it was youkai and enraged.

Shock knocked her on her ass as she stared up at the canopy of branches above her. A youkai. A real, live youkai. And it was pissed. Presumably, at her.

Shit.

Scrambling for her bag, she was fully prepared to run. There was no bow she could use to defend herself and she'd just washed the forest in purity and her scent, most likely. This youkai probably thought she was out for blood and stealing territory.

But it was a youkai.

Determination strengthened her resolve to stay and face it. Summoning her purity again, she settled it into the tips of her fingers. She might not have a weapon, but she could be a weapon if she needed to be. At least against a youkai.

The creature hurtled out of the bushes to her right and she jumped out of the way as it barreled towards her, tusks raised and eyes wild. It was so small, she thought it must be young.

Even as disappointment settled inside of her, she focused on the young boar. Its yōki poured out of it, an unchecked burst of power that would have set her nerves on edge if it had been more powerful. As it was, she was hesitant to do it any damage. If it was anything like the youkai of the past, maybe it was just scared or something had agitated it. Without any hesitation, Kagome pulled in every ounce of her power and wrapped it tight back inside of her.

"Hey," she murmured, crouching down so she was on eye level with it. "It's okay. I'm not a threat. I won't hurt you." Kagome kept her voice low and calm, the words just barely audible outside the several feet between her and the boar.

It charged at her and Kagome debated, for a moment, throwing a barrier between them—but anything this young and with such small youkai might be purified just from touching it. The last thing she wanted was to rid the world of the only youkai she'd just found. Instead, she rolled out of the way like Sango had showed her all those years ago and in that small movement, saw something dark and purple glowing on the boar's hind quarters.

It was agitated, and it wasn't her fault. Relief was a palpable taste at the back of her tongue. This was something she could fix.

When it ran at her again, Kagome summoned the smallest amount of purity she could manage and when it was close enough, wrapped her powers around the boars tusks and let it collide with her. The force was enough to knock her on her ass but with her powers dulling the sharp points of his tusks, she was otherwise mostly unharmed. Wrapping her arms around it, she huffed and pulled and dragged it into her lap as it squealed and writhed in her grasp. Even she could smell the terror on it as it struggled.

Undaunted, she focused on the foreign thing sticking out of its hip. It looked to be a glass and metal dart with an inch long needle at the nose. She pulled it out and tossed it to the side to examine later, focusing instead on the tiny wound left. The boar started to calm in her lap once the needle was removed, but she knew it was still scared. "Shh," she soothed, taking a moment to run a palm soothingly up and down its spine. "It's alright. The bad thing is gone now. Let's get you all better so you can go back to your family."

Examining the small entry wound, she could still see something there. Purple purity poured out of the wound like blood and just the feeling of it made her queasy. A dark miko had done this. Gritting her teeth as inexplicable rage settled over her, Kagome smothered her emotions and focused on helping the poor animal in her grasp.

Summoning her powers for a second time, she set her hand flat against his side and closed her eyes so she could see his aura. It pulsed under her hand, the same color of the earth and run through with a violent stream of dark purity.

"I've never really healed an injury like this," she said to it as it quivered under her grasp, "but I think I can help you."

And she did. Warmth settled around her and the boar, wrapping around and easing the tension as she focused on his aura and weeding out the dark miko's powers. All the while she ran her free hand up and down his spine as he grew quieter and quieter in her lap. It didn't take long to erase the touch of darkness from his aura, to sweep in with her own and eliminate the dark purity.

When it was done, the boar was asleep in her lap. "Phew," she breathed, and leaned back on her palms. "I'm a little out of practise. So sleepy now." And fell back among the twigs and roots to rest her eyes.

o.O.o

Kagome kept a whisper of her powers out from that point on. If a creature as simple as the young boar she'd helped a couple of weeks ago existed, it was entirely possible there were other, stronger youkai too.

Unless the dark miko she'd sensed in the boar's injury had killed them all. It was a daunting and infuriating thought every time she considered it but no matter where she went in the forest or on campus or around town, she sensed neither miko nor youkai again. It was tempting to spend all of her free time traipsing through the forest looking for more youkai, but Kagome knew obsession when it tugged at her heart like that.

If she was meant to find another youkai, she would.

In the meantime, she wanted to focus on getting back into shape. While she hadn't exactly be lounging around since she'd returned to the future, she certainly hadn't been trekking through the wilds or fighting youkai. She'd been sore for days after dealing with that boar.

And so she found herself standing at the counter of the only gym in town—though she thought it looked more like a dojo than it did one of the modern gyms littering Tokyo's streets. And was that an archery range half hidden at the very back? Pleased at the thought, she turned back to the counter and found herself suddenly nose to chest with another person. Startled, she took an instinctive step back, an apology tumbling from her lips. "Sorry, I wasn't paying enough attention!"

He towered over her and the look on his face had her taking another step back. "Get out. You aren't welcome here."

"What?" she gaped at him, eyes wide as she processed what he'd said. Not welcome? She hadn't even done anything. Confusion warred with irritation before she set her hands on her hips and stared him down. "You don't get to say where I do or don't belong. I want to speak with the manager." Not easily intimidated, she did not give him another step when he loomed over her and instead met his eyes glare for glare.

Then he grabbed her arm and started to drag her towards the door.

Outrage was a punch at the base of her throat and all the vile curses she'd learned from her time with Inuyasha simmered on her tongue.

But he'd no more dragged her a step away from the counter before a small hand wrapped around his hand on her arm, twisted, and sent him to his knees howling in agony.

Kagome followed that small hand up to a woman not much taller than her and found herself flat on her ass for the second time in as many weeks as she stared up at the strong woman before her.

The woman barely paid her any mind, she was so focused on the man in her grasp. Kagome realized she must have missed part of the conversation because now the man was whining.

"—but Yukiko, she—"

"How many times do I have to tell you Hiroki, I don't care? This is not your dojo, not your family's dojo—it's mine. And I say anyone is welcome here who means no ill will to any of my other customers. Which means you aren't welcome here. Now get out."

The man scowled but pushed himself up once she let go of him and stomped out of the reception area and through the front doors. Kagome could tell he meant to slam the door, but it slowed and slid closed with a soft thump.

"So. You're either exceptionally daring or depressingly rash."

Kagome jerked her attention back to the other woman. Some of the shock and elation had worn off as they locked eyes again. Irritation settled along her shoulders in place of everything else rampaging through her and she scowled. "I had it under control. I was just about to do what you did. My friend taught me a long time ago."

The two women stared at each other, neither willing to break eye contact first—but Yukiko finally relented as she studied the smaller woman. "You look like you've seen a ghost," she said, and shrugged. "C'mon. I'll get you some hot water to sip on and then get you signed up."

"Signed-up?"

Yukiko grinned over her shoulder as she led the way past the reception counter and to a small office behind it. "You did come to the gym to work out, right? You need a membership for that."

Work out? Was that what she had come here for? Kagome floundered, unable to draw her eyes away from Yukiko's face.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"Alright?" she repeated, and finally snapped to attention when the other woman raised a brow. "I—right. Yes, sorry. It's just you look so much like someone I used to know, is all."

Yukiko smiled and leaned forward on her desk, arms crossed as she stared. "That's alright. Take your time."

She looked just like Sango. It was disconcerting. Except her eyes. She had—she had Miroku's eyes. Was it possible her two close friend's souls had been reincarnated into one soul? Did reincarnation work that way for some people? Was this even the reincarnation of her friends or just a weird genetic lottery and a strange twist of fate?

Realizing what she was doing, Kagome paled. She was acting like Inuyasha, mixing up her friends with this woman. And it was not right.

Clearing her throat, she sat up a little straighter in her chair. "Okay, I'm good now." And she was, mostly. If there was still a faint twinge of hope inside of her, she ignored it. "So, a gym membership. I'd like to sign up."

Yukiko smiled and there was a secret in the smile as she leaned back finally and pulled a small stack of paperwork off the file divider on the corner of the desk. "You'll want to fill this out then. It's a 5,000 yen fee a month, but that includes personal training, combat training, various classes, and use of the archery range plus all the other basics."

Kagome scanned the form, wincing at the price—then paused when she saw the actual price. "But this says—

"Friends and family discount," Yukiko said, and rested her chin in the palms of her hands.

"Are we friends already?" Bemused, Kagome glanced over the top of the paper at the indigo eyes staring back at her.

"Certainly. Or we will be, soon. And I'll also be your teacher if you want any kind of combat or defense training."

Kagome knew what it was about Yukiko. She knew it was because of the resemblance to Sango and that it wasn't fair to make friends with Yukiko if all she wanted was bits of Sango back. Still she couldn't help herself. Yukiko's smile was infectious, and Kagome had always been weak to offers of friendship. Maybe getting to know this vibrant woman would help put Sango firmly in the past. Maybe they looked similar but were so firmly different that once Kagome got to know her, there was no way she could possibly confuse them.

So she took the pen Yukiko offered and filled out the form.

o.O.o

Strangely, it wasn't just Sango Yukiko reminded her of. There were bits of Miroku thrown in, and Shippō too—but definitely Miroku.

Being flirted with by another woman was an experience in and of itself. It had, admittedly, given her pause until she'd reminded herself that Miroku had been just as much of a flirt. Plus, Yukiko seemed to flirt with her only to calm her down or make her laugh.

Admittedly, Kagome had been flirted with enough to recognize the difference. Also, it made getting the stuffing knocked out of her a bit more bearable when she was thrown a saucy wink before Yukiko threw her across the room.

The dojo, Yukiko had corrected her when she called it a gym, became another sanctuary to her. When Kagome told her new friend about all the stares she'd been on the receiving end of since she'd joined the campus, Yukiko was only too happy to train Kagome in a private room usually reserved for VIP clients.

At only nineteen there was enough of an age difference between her and Yukiko, twenty-two, for Kagome to envy the easy grace and matter-of-fact way that Yukiko went about her day-to-day. But they were also close enough in age that hanging out outside of the gym was as much pleasure as it was enviable. Already Yukiko had spent the night at her house several times in the month since she'd joined the dojo.

As Kagome lay on her back, panting and aching and wishing for a cold drink, her eyes caught onto the faint carvings in the roof of the dojo. "What are those?" she gasped and rolled out of the way as Yukiko brought her foot down where her stomach had been.

Yukiko spared a glance for where Kagome had pointed at the ceiling and grinned. "That's a poor distraction, if ever there was." And she lunged, grabbing hold of Kagome around the shoulders and flipping the slighter girl over her shoulder.

A whoosh of breath, a yelp, and a thump—and Kagome found she was incapable of moving again. "I concede." The concession, whispered and shaky, spilled form her lips as her lungs heaved. "I think I'm done for the day." A pair of bare feet crouched in her line of sight and Kagome followed slender ankles up to powerful calves and thighs to a shirt barely wet with sweat and a cocky grin.

"The carving—it's a prayer. My mother says it's meant to help only the best-intentioned of people to enter. It's supposed to be good luck." She smiled down at Kagome and tapped her nose—then that secretive smile blossomed again but she said no more. "C'mon. Let's go get changed and grab a bite to eat. My brother can watch the counter for a while."

Even as Yukiko helped haul her up and drag her out of the room, Kagome's eyes lingered on those carvings.

o.O.o

Word Count - 3242