Kagome felt a lot better now that Goku knew more about her. They had even swapped a few stories back and forth, her telling him about her family before her mom's accident and the eventual sealing of the well, and him telling her about his grandpa in return. She was still a bit too nervous to bring him in on the Shikon and her connection to it, though, despite knowing that it wouldn't actually bother him.
How was she even supposed to go about that? 'Oh, and by the way, I'm also sort of kind of immortal and can grant wishes'? Not really an easy thing to explain. By that same reasoning, she had kept from asking about his race.
"So," she spoke up as they traveled. It had already been a few days since they had left Penguin Village, and she was beyond relieved to have her reiki back. "How much farther?"
"Almost there," he sighed. "Maybe this next one will finally be my grandpa's dragon ball."
She smiled at him. "Well, our chances do get better with each one we collect."
The boy grinned and let out a laugh. "Yeah, that's true!"
They flew on for a good while, filling the silence with relaxed chatter as they went. That was one thing that she always did appreciate about Goku: he never truly let things get awkward or uncomfortable.
"We should be getting close to it now," the boy spoke up after a bit longer.
"That's good," she chuckled. "I thought we might have to break for another snack before we got there."
His stomach growled and he chuckled sheepishly.
She just laughed and pulled a few pears that they had collected earlier from her bag, handing them over to him with a teasing grin. It occurred to her that she really was feeling more like herself now than she had in years, and she randomly mussed up her companion's hair (as much as it could be mussed, considering its permanent state of disarray) in a show of thanks for all the things he had done for her.
He let out a slight yelp. "Wha'?" he questioned uncertainly around one of his pears. "Di' 'oo wan' one?"
She shook her head and smiled, turning her attention back forwards. "Nah... Hey. Is that an airplane?" she pointed out with a frown. "And what's up with that tower?"
"I don't know," the boy admitted as he finished his last pear. "Let's find out!"
Nimbus sped up at his urging, and they drew up alongside the craft.
"Throw it up here!" the... tiger? demanded.
Yeah, she still wasn't used to this world. But she wasn't sure if she would ever be.
The priestess's eyes narrowed as the tiger glanced up, seeing her and Goku, and his aura colored with panic.
"Hey," her companion spoke. "We've seen a symbol like that before!"
"You're right," Kagome agreed with a slight growl. "Looks like the Red Ribbon Army got here before we do you say we serve them with an eviction?"
"Evi-what?"
"And just who might you be?" the tiger snarled, pulling out a gun and aiming it at them without waiting for a response.
The priestess immediately surrounded them with a barrier as the bullets began to fly, Goku darting right out of the silvery defense to punch the soldier in the face and send him tumbling back to earth. Kagome quickly reached out and grabbed the kid that he had obviously been using as a hostage, catching him before he could fall very far.
Her companion laughed brightly and joined them back on the cloud, the plane slipping into a nosedive without anyone at the wheel and crashing a short distance off.
"Hello!" the boy greeted their new passenger with a bright grin.
The kid just gaped at the two of them dumbly as they descended.
The priestess stared up at the child's father after a few moments, the little boy perched on his shoulder the same way Shippou used to enjoy doing, and reminded herself that there were no bear demons in this world. Though, apparently, there were indians.
"Thank you for saving my son," the giant of a man told them.
"Oh, you know, it was nothing!" Goku assured with a grin. "No trouble at all, really."
Kagome chuckled. "Yeah, you'd probably be surprised just how often we end up doing this kind of thing."
"Thank you," the little boy also chimed in. "You're nice!"
They both smiled, though her friend suddenly gasped. "Y-you have it!" he pointed. "The dragon ball! It's right there! Please, can I see it?"
"Ah, so you were looking for the ball too," the man murmured, handing it over.
"One," Goku counted excitedly, "two, three... and four! The four-star dragon ball! I can't believe we finally found it!"
She grinned at him. "So it's your grandpa's after all?"
He nodded happily, exploding with glee and literally bouncing around in celebration.
"What is this dragon ball and why do so many search for it?" the giant questioned.
The priestess glanced up and met his eyes with a sigh. "That's sort of a long story..."
xxxx
"So, the ball holds special power..." the really tall guy hummed almost to himself after Kagome had given them the general explanation. "Now I understand why the army was so determined to acquire it."
The girl nodded gravely. "They seem willing to do just about whatever it takes to get their hands on all of them."
"But we don't really care about the wishes or anything like that," Goku shrugged, his eyes glued to the ball in his hands and a smile on his face. "We were only looking for this dragon ball because it belonged to my grandpa."
"Ah, good," the man sighed. "You have few wants. That's fortunate."
"Daddy?" the little boy wondered. "What do you mean by that?"
"You see, son," he revealed, "too many desires can drive a person mad."
Kagome cringed and hugged herself a bit. "Very, very true..."
Goku frowned and glanced up at her, worried.
"Anyway," the priestess continued, shaking off whatever was going through her head with no small amount of determination, "I think we were both wondering what that monument over there was for."
"Hm, the tower," the big guy nodded, turning his gaze up to the giant pole. "It is a sacred symbol of my people. To our tribe, it is a very important and honored landmark; we call it the Korin tower. I learned of the legend from my grandfather when I was Upa's age. It is a story that has been told for many generations... but still we wait, after all this time, for the arrival of someone who can pass the test."
"What do you mean?" Goku wondered, completely caught up in the story. "What test?"
"It is said that if any person can climb to the top of this tower unaided, he will find the great noble guardian waiting for him there," the man told him patiently. "The guardian will then give him a cup of cold water to drink, and with that single sip the climber's abilities will increase dramatically."
"Really?" the boy gaped.
"As incredible as it sounds, my people have always believed it to be true," the big guy confirmed with a nod.
Kagome gave him a wry smile. "No more incredible than what we're looking for."
"So if I climbed all the way up there, I'd get a lot stronger - right?" Goku guessed. "Have you ever tried it?"
"Once, when I was young," the man admitted. "But I couldn't make it all the way to the top. Anyway, no one has ever been successful in the attempt."
"But, I heard that a long time ago one person did make it," the little boy argued.
"A compelling story," his father allowed. "But only a myth."
"Take it from a living myth," the priestess chuckled, her own gaze following the length of the tower, "there's no such thing as impossible. Only how far you're willing to go to reach what you want."
"What do you mean?" the man asked.
She shook her head, dismissing the question. "What do you think, Goku?"
"It's so gigantic!" he awed for another moment, before turning his attention back to the big guy and the little boy. "So... why do you live here?"
"Because of the tower," the man spoke, curious eyes still stuck on Kagome. "My family has been guarding it for generations; it is our ancestral duty." Finally, he shifted his gaze back to Goku. "It is my job. I am the protector of the land."
"Oh," the boy blinked in understanding. "I see. Do you think it would be okay if I took my Nimbus to the top?"
"I'm pretty sure the legend said 'unaided'," the priestess pointed out with a sigh.
xxxx
They sat around a small fire some time later, Upa running around grabbing different herbs and leaves to add into the pot as it stewed. He really did remind her of Shippou, what with his eagerness to help and that habit of riding his father's shoulder.
"Wow," Goku awed as the little boy dumped in another armful. "That sure smells good!"
The man pulled out a pair of bowls and filled them both up, handing them to the two of them across the fire wordlessly.
"Thank you," she told him, her companion already blowing on his soup in anticipation.
Bora smiled and nodded. "Have as much as you want."
"Mmm!" Goku practically purred as he downed his bowl, munching away happily. "Thank you!" he exclaimed.
Kagome chuckled and took a sip of her own soup, also enjoying the flavor.
She glanced down at her friend when he paused in his eating, curious. Goku didn't stop eating until he was full or there was no more food left, and he was definitely never full. She followed his gaze, watching their hosts interact. She couldn't help but smile to herself.
They really were a good father and son. Could this be what Goku was so enthralled by? He'd never had a father of his own, she remembered.
She reached down and gave one of his hands a reassuring squeeze, careful not to draw any attention to the two of them. She got the feeling that he would be asking more about this later on, once they were back in the sky. That was something to wonder about, though - they had his grandpa's dragon ball now. Where would the go from here?
The boy squeezed her hand back gratefully, surprising her. She hid another smile in her bowl, their fingers parting as they both returned to the meal.
A long while later, they were back in front of the tower - and the priestess was pretty sure that she was staring at the answer to her previous question. Goku really, really wanted to climb this thing, and she wasn't quite ready to part with him just yet. Where he went, she would most likely be right on his heels.
"This is great," the boy declared, his smile determined. "I'll be better at everything once I go up there!"
"Do not get your hopes up, my young friend," Bora spoke up.
Goku blinked up at him uncomprehendingly. "Huh?"
"It may only be a legend," he was reminded.
He seemed to think it over for a bit. "Well, Kagome's supposed to be a legend too, and she's standing right here. I'm gonna try it."
"What?" Upa questioned, his eyes going wide.
The priestess shook her head. "Don't worry about it," she assured the little boy, very carefully avoiding his father's critical eye. "So, Goku, do you really think we can make it to the top?"
The boy gaped at her. "You're coming with me?"
She shot him a look. "What, you thought you could get rid of me that easily? Of course I'm going with you."
He beamed up at her.
"But you're already strong," Upa pointed out, watching the pair uncertainly.
"But I'm not the strongest," Goku argued. "So there's still a chance!"
"There's always room for improvement," Kagome defended easily.
"Yeah!" the boy nodded in agreement. "It's definitely worth it to be the best."
She frowned at him. "Hey, being the best doesn't matter," she scolded. "Winning, losing, it just distracts you when you look at things like that. If you want to get stronger, want it for the sake of itself. If you want to be the best, then you're always going to be chasing some pinnacle that you may never reach."
He paused and stared up at her uncomprehendingly.
She sighed. "Just... think about it. Okay?"
He nodded slowly in acceptance.
"It will not be an easy task," Bora warned them.
Goku turned his attention up to the man, and Kagome made a mental note to go further in depth about the concept of 'the best' later on. Not even Sesshoumaru had ever managed to reach that point, not after over four hundred years of striving for it. "Have a lot of people tried to climb the tower? Besides you?" the boy wondered.
"Yes," the man nodded. "There are many who have attempted it."
"Oh?" the boy wondered, turning his gaze back up.
"But they have all failed," Bora continued.
"Oh," Goku slumped.
"The tower is much taller than you imagine," the man described. "It takes many days to scale it; those who try often eat their provisions too soon and fall off from weakness and hunger. Those who attempt by plane fare no better. They run out of fuel before they reach the top."
"It's that far away?" the boy gaped.
"Well, I guess I'm holding onto the food," Kagome chuckled teasingly.
He stuck his tongue out at her.
"So you see," Bora continued, shaking his head at them. "Those who defy the rules or who attempt to climb unprepared do not generally get a second chance."
"... Oh," Goku repeated once more, finally taking in the seriousness of the situation.
"What's that, Daddy?" Upa questioned out of nowhere, drawing their attention. He raised a hand and pointed out towards the horizon. "That thing in the sky!"
Goku squinted. "I can see a person on it!"
The priestess frowned and reached out with her senses, eyes going wide and a violent shudder running down her spine when she picked up on the waves and waves of killing intent that was all being directed towards them. Without a thought, she grabbed her companion's arm and dragged him out of the way, barking for Bora and Upa to do the same.
A pillar crashed down right where they had been standing not a second later, the same man that they had spotted from a distance landing on it the moment that the vibrations had stilled with a blank face and arms tucked behind his back militantly.
The priestess shuddered again. "So much darkness..." she choked in a whisper.
"Kagome?" Goku called worriedly, tugging at her wrist.
The newcomer just smiled, the expression not at all pleasant. "Pleased to kill you."
"What are you doing?" Bora growled, holding his spear out at the other man defensively. "You nearly hit us!"
"Well, that's the idea," the newcomer - enemy - smirked. "I'm a hitman."
"A hitman?" the father repeated cautiously. "Whoever you are, your kind is not welcome in Korin."
"The name is Tao," the assassin stated, dismissing them all as threats. "And I won't be staying long; I've simply come for the boy."
"What?!" Bora demanded.
"But... I don't know you, do I?" Goku spoke up. "Why did you come to see me?"
Kagome reached for the hilt of Reikenkon, gaze sharp as she followed each of this 'Tao's movements. "Not for anything good, that's for damn sure," she murmured.
"Quite right, little girl," the man smirked. "The Red Ribbon Army has sent me here to tie up some loose ends."
Goku snarled and clenched his fists. "Red Ribbon?!"
"Yes," the hitman confirmed. "You're getting in the way of their hunt for the dragon balls, so you must be destroyed."
The boy growled. "Again?! They won't quit!"
"D-Daddy, help him!" Upa yelped. "Please don't let them hurt Goku!"
"Now wait a minute," the guardian glared. "That boy you're threatening saved my son's life; if you've come here looking for a fight, you will have to deal with me first!"
"It's alright," Goku argued. "I think I can handle him."
Bora glanced down at him. "It is my obligation to protect this land from any enemies," he informed bluntly. "Now son, stay back."
Upa let out a relieved breath and did so, moving away. "Okay!"
Tao chuckled. "What a fool. Why would you choose to take the fall?"
The father turned his attention back on the assassin, shifting himself into a firm fighting stance. "Enough talk," he growled.
"Daddy, be careful!" his son called out.
Kagome's hands shook at the amount of darkness swirling around in the hitman's aura, thickening the very air they breathed. This was bad. This guy was more dangerous than any of the opponents they had come across thus far, and she had to admit... just a bit, the pressure of his energy reminded her of Naraku.
"Hm," Tao sighed, seeming bored. "I'll bet you fancy yourself a trained fighter. Let's see if you can handle this."
He all but disappeared, reappearing only to grab Bora's spear with a single hand.
"W-what?!" Goku yelped, stunned.
The guardian struggled to move his weapon, but it didn't budge.
"What's the matter?" the hitman mocked. "Is it stuck? That's too bad."
Bora strained even further, but still to no avail.
The assassin sighed. "Let's try something else, shall we?" he offered, releasing the shaft until the only grip he had on the spear at all was between his thumb and forefinger. Again, there was no change.
She was wrong before: this wasn't just bad. This was a very serious problem.
"Hey!" Upa shouted defensively. "My daddy!"
"Still stuck?" Tao smirked. "That's okay, I'll move it for you." He once again wrapped the rest of his hand around the weapon, using it to lift Bora completely off the ground without any sign of exertion. He laughed and threw the man into the air. "Here, have your spear!"
Kagome watched the spear fly through the air, straight for its wielder, and felt her heart go cold in her chest.
"Nimbus!" Goku shouted, rushing up into the sky to do something...
He didn't make it. Bora's limp body fell back to the earth, Upa letting out a broken wail for the father who could no longer hear him. The cloud returned to ground, the boy leaping from it with an enraged snarl.
The priestess stood there numbly, staring at the dead guardian and the sobbing boy laid out over his skewered chest. His energy was disappearing. He was already...
She hadn't known him for long. She had seen death before. Still, it hurt. There was another orphan in the world, and she hadn't stopped it. She had frozen up. She hadn't done anything.
"THAT'S IT!" Goku screamed, charging for the assassin.
Her eyes went wide and she immediately unsheathed Reikenkon, rushing in right behind him with only the thought of keeping him safe tumbling through her mind on repeat.
... No matter what.
xxxx
Goku let out a pained shout as he crashed into the tower, every single muscle in his body aching. What was this guy? Why couldn't he land even a single hit?!
"Goku!" Upa shouted worriedly. "Kagome! Be careful!"
He got back to his feet as fast as he could, watching as his friend struggled to fight the hitman despite that she was armed and he wasn't.
"Not bad, little girl," the man commented, swatting away her blade like it was nothing. She was quick to swing it back around, slashing at him from a different angle. "Most opponents fall within seconds of engaging me in close-quarters combat," he continued, dodging the arc of the sword by barely an inch yet somehow still making it look effortless. "Who was your teacher, if you don't mind me - what!"
The hitman gave a shout as Reikenkon exploded with silver light, cutting a deep gouge across his chest without actually touching him.
"You little brat! You ruined my outfit!" the man snarled.
Kagome just rushed to duck out of the way of a kick, letting out a sharp yelp as it made contact with one of her shoulders. There was a loud crack, and she went flying into one of the nearby trees with enough force to break it.
Tao heaved a sigh and glanced down at himself, tugging at one of his sleeves as he took in the damage. "I suppose it can still be salvaged..."
Goku rushed back into the fight, his anger growing even further. He aimed a series of low kicks at the hitman's feet, trying to knock him down, but the man stepped out of the way of each one. Giving up on that tactic, he hit his belly and tried using his hands to try and sweep the man's legs out from under him, flipping back up and integrating it with more kicks. Still, not a single one went through, and it was all he could do to avoid the knee that flew at his face after a few more seconds of keeping up the onslaught.
He darted back, giving a short yell of fear when he realized that he hadn't gone nearly far enough before his foot was stepped on, pinning him in place. He strained to free himself, finally swinging a punch at the assassin - that was caught without any problem. He tried again with his other fist, but that was also captured and he soon found his other foot also being stepped on. He couldn't move!
"Settle down, boy," Tao scoffed as he struggled to break loose, cracking his neck and delivering a massive head-butt right to the boy's forehead.
He went limp.
"Goku, no!" Upa screamed.
The man released him and he fell over limply, only to be picked up by an ankle and thrown at the tower yet again.
"Well, the boy at least takes a better beating than most," the hitman smirked.
He groaned weakly and forced himself back upright, hands pressed to his sore head. It hurt even more than that one time Kagome had hit him when he'd kissed her! He hadn't thought that was possible! "Ahh-aaahhh!" he moaned. "Hey, ouch!"
Tao reeled a bit, but the look of surprise melted into a glower. "So, you're back on your feet. I would advise against that."
"Well, then," another voice coughed, "I guess we all make bad decisions sometimes."
Goku gasped, his eyes darting over to see the priestess also standing and brandishing her sword once more. "Kagome!" There was a little trickle of blood at the corner of her mouth, and her clothes were dirty - but other than that, she looked like she hadn't gotten hit at all. Her ki danced around her in visible swirls, focussing mostly on her shoulder and middle.
She shot him a tired wink. "Takes more than a little love-tap like that to keep me down. Shall we?"
He grinned at her.
"Ignoring me," the man drawled, appearing right behind the priestess out of thin air. "Also something that I wouldn't advise."
She swiveled around quickly, nicking him again with Reikenkon, but he caught her arm as she tried to shift into another swing. The girl winced, giving a short scream when the hitman squeezed down.
"Kagome!" Goku shouted, rushing in to help.
"You have a good deal of endurance for a girl, I'll admit that," Tao spoke, staring down into her paling face as he carelessly batted the boy away once more. "And your ki is impressive enough as well. I can't honestly say that I've ever seen its like... However."
He lifted her off the ground and flung her into the tower with a sickening thunk, the same way he had been tossing Goku around.
"It is still not enough."
"KAGOME!" the boy yelled, seeing her fall limply to the ground.
He turned back on the assassin with an enraged snarl, shifting one foot in front of the other and bringing his hands up to his side. "You're gonna regret that! Ka... me...! Ha... me...!" This one was for Kagome and Bora. "HAAA!"
The wave exploded forward, swallowing the hitman in a blinding blue light.
For a moment, it seemed like the fight was won - but then the attack faded. The hitman stood there, clothes in tatters and smoking but completely intact.
"Now..." the man snarled. "My clothes are completely ruined!"
Goku stumbled back a step. "Y-you're still standing?!"
"Dodon Ray!" Tao growled, pointing a finger at the boy - and a beam of yellowish energy tore through the air, right into Goku's chest.
He went down, and the world went dark around him.
xxxx
Kagome jolted back to consciousness suddenly to the sound of gunshots. She sat up fast, fighting back a whimper as her reiki rushed to mend broken bones and stop any internal bleeding, and glanced up to see a soldier shooting at Goku - who actually looked to be protecting Upa with his body.
"No!" she screamed, rushing to her feet.
The soldier swerved around, pointing his gun at her instead, and she flinched as she hurried to call up another barrier-
"Didn't get me!" a familiar voice announced, causing the soldier to freeze.
She slumped with relief, falling limply to her knees as the man ran back for his plane and flew away at full speed. "Goku..." she murmured, relieved and disbelieving in equal measures. He had gotten shot. She had seen him get shot, dammit! Multiple times!
He gave her a bright grin. "I'll be right back, okay! Nimbus!"
The priestess just nodded weakly as he hopped up onto the cloud, darting off after the fleeing enemy. By the time he got back, she was mostly healed - and, beyond any of her wildest expectations, so was he. Did he still have a few scrapes and bruises here and there? Oh, absolutely.
Did he look like he had just been beaten to the brink of death by a paid assassin? Nope. If she didn't know any better, she would have been quicker to assume that he'd just had a monkey-bars mishap at the playground.
"What happened?" she demanded.
He beamed and pulled out the four-star dragon ball. "Grandpa saved me!"
Her eye twitched. "What?"
Upa quickly explained things for her, also going into how the man had left after collecting the backpack with the other dragon balls in it. She supposed she should just be glad that her bags (yes, both of them) had been sitting far enough out of the way not to garner attention.
"Goku, get over here," she ordered sharply.
He cringed, hugging his dragon ball to him. "I-I didn't mean to-"
"Get," she cut him off, "over here."
His gaze was watery with fear, but he stumbled over to where she was still sitting in the grass. He squeezed his eyes shut, obviously anticipating the worst.
"D-don't hurt him!" Upa yelped, worried.
She yanked the boy down into a tight hug, her shoulders shaking as she clung to him and confirmed that his heart was indeed still beating.
"Kagome?" he murmured uncertainly, wrapping his own arms around her neck.
"You scared the life out of me, you stupid brat!" she scolded, voice more than just a little choked. "I'm partially immortal, what the hell is your excuse?!"
"Wait, what?"
She hated it, but she cried. She downright sobbed.
She'd seen him lying there, saw him get shot, and thought that he was dead. Even if it was only for the few seconds it took the damn kid to spring back up, she had been all alone in a world where nothing made sense - and then she found out that the only thing that had stood between him and the afterlife was dumb luck and his grandpa's memento.
Yeah, she was not having a good day.
The boy spoke to her worriedly and held onto her, but none of his words really registered as anything more than white noise. She had lost people that she cared about before: her father when she was young, her mother to a drunk driver, and Inuyasha through his own stupid pigheadedness and countless strings of bad decisions. But she had never seen any of them slip away, or their corpses when all was said and done.
She never ever wanted to again, either, whether it had turned out that he wasn't actually dead in the end or not.
It took her longer to calm down than she would have liked, but it was therapeutic; even Upa had joined in at some point or another, and had tucked himself against her side to sob out his own loss in company. She sniffled, finally loosening her grip on Goku a bit so that she could sit back and give the other boy a well-deserved hug as well.
"I'm so sorry about your dad," she whispered, her face buried in black hair. She wasn't sure which of the boys' it was, but she wasn't in too big a hurry to move yet.
"I-it's not your fault," Upa whimpered. "It's not either of your faults."
"There's gotta be some way we can help..." Goku murmured subduedly. "... Wait..." He pulled away from the huddle abruptly, eyes sparking with eager determination. "If we can collect all the dragon balls, we could wish his dad back to life!"
"What?!" the other boy gasped, also sitting back up straight. "Can you really do that?"
"I think so," Goku nodded excitedly. "If we find all seven, then we can have any wish that we want!"
Upa's grin slowly faded. "But... remember, that bad man who hurt my father took your bag with the other dragon balls..."
The tailed boy glanced away, growling a bit with anger and frustration. "That's right, he sure did... Well the next time we see him, we'll just have to take 'em back! Then we'll only need three more! That guy... is really strong, though... We'll have to find some way to beat him... I just don't know what to do... My Kamehameha wave didn't even scratch him!"
Kagome swallowed thickly. "W-what if... Bora could be wished back right now?"
The boys jolted and turned to stare at her. "What do you mean?" Goku gawked. "We only have one dragon ball!"
She winced and glanced away. "Yeah, but... we have something similar."
"What do you mean?" Upa questioned, taking hold of her arm.
The priestess took a deep, fortifying breath. "We have me."
Looked like she was going to just have to push past that awkwardness and get it all out there after all.
"Kagome?" Goku worried. "What do you mean, we have you?"
She forced herself to look up and meet his eyes. "There are a few things I didn't tell you earlier..."
xxxx
A/N: Bum bum bummmmm... And now the secrets are all out there! Certain things are obviously harder to talk about than others, but there comes a time when you just have to spill your guts. Hope everyone liked the chapter!
Edit: 8/26/16