Turns out Kagome picked things up faster than she thought she could. Within a week, she knew how to start a fire from flint and kindling, she could go out and find herbs and roots in the forest, and she could cook up a pretty decent stew from whatever animals Sesshomaru hunted and brought back for her. She knew Tea ceremony from a class she had taken in 10th grade, and she could dress herself in those odd priestess clothes, which she actually found quite comfortable.
Unfortunately, her mastery of traditional living did not transfer over to mastering her powers. She could reach out and touch her power, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't draw it back out, which left her in the position of not knowing when or how she might have a purity meltdown again.
Eventually, Sesshomaru had decided to call in some backup. The old babysitter who took care of Rin sometimes also happened to be a priestess. She could no longer use her own powers, but she had trained many of the Miko who helped his father keep the wards up around the sanctuary. She was a trusted member of his family's inner circle, and she was well known for being able to train even the most inept pupils. Not that he thought Kagome was inept, but having someone who obviously knew what she was doing, couldn't hurt. She was coming in today to give Kagome some pointers.
By the time the old Miko arrived, Kagome had prepared a warm kettle of tea and welcomed her into their little temporary home. Kaede was an older woman, in her late 60s at least, with long silver hair pulled into a loose ponytail and dressed in the traditional Miko garb similar to Kagome's. She had a kind face with cool brown eyes which had this look in them like she was laughing at an inside joke that only she knew.
Kagome liked her instantly.
After they had had tea and introductions, Kaede took Kagome outside to assess what she already knew. Sesshomaru sat on the porch to watch, as Kaede ran through some meditation techniques and basic, necessary, information that every shrine maiden should know. She went through what was true and what was a myth, and she listened to Kagome recount what had happened at the bunker.
"Your power woke and came to your aid because your life was in danger." She said after hearing the whole story. "You went your whole life without the training that most Miko begins at the age of 10. Therefore, there may be a little more effort that you will need to put in in order to achieve the level of control that most have at your age. I think it's safe to say, though, that you do in fact hold a great power that most in this day and age could only dream of."
Kagome listened and felt herself deflate a little at the thought of all that training. "How much control do you think I need before it would be safe to..." She cast a meaningful look at Sesshomaru and blushed slightly realizing he could hear her and could probably guess her meaning.
Kaede chuckled. "No need to be bashful, child, it's a part of life. I think you're safe now. Before you reenter society though, you should at least be able to control your spiritual power through some sort of object, like an anchor. Do you favor a specific wepon?"
"... No. Not really."
"Let's start with a Bow and Arrow then. Seeing as that is what your power manifested when you shot down the spider demon. Use mine for now, and if it feels right, we'll get you your own." Kaede then proceded to produce a long-bow and a quiver of arrows from her back and hand them to Kagome. "Just knock one and try to hit that tree." She suggested.
Kagome pulled one of the arrows from the quiver and knocked it to the string, trying to remember what she had done when she was fighting Naraku. Pulling back on the string, she took aim, took a breath to try and still her trembling hands, and let it loose along with her arrow. The arrow flew and struck the tree trunk. Walking closer to examine her handy work, Kagome was quite supprised with her self.
"Good! You're a natural. Now pull it out and try again, only this time, find that power inside and try to direct it into the shaft of the arrow. Attach your power to your weapon, and then let it loose."
Kagome tried again. Nothing happened. She tried again and again and again until finally, hours later, fed up with the whole thing, she loosed one last arrow jokingly thinking about tying that frustrating little ball of power to the arrow in a neat little bow, and the arrow glowed bright pink before it burned a little hole into the tree. Her eyes widened. She'd done it! She had actually accessed her power, and it had worked!
Kagome did a little victory dance and Kaede reclaimed her bow and arrow, telling them that the next time she came, she would help her to make her own bow and arrows.
Kagome was both elated and exhausted after training all day like that, and her arms felt like they might fall off at any second. Sesshomaru had left a few hours earlier to let his Beast run, and Kagome was almost too tired to care. Trudging into the house, she rolled out her futon and went to sleep without bothering to change out of her sweaty clothes.
AN. Well, that was fun. I'll Be back with another update here soon hopefully. As always, I love hearing from you guys! Hasta luego!