Chapter 2. 1981-1996 Growing up as a friend

Between her Holy Servant Main Course studies, and the hunts, years went by before she saw the young girl chosen by Fate again. And a few days after Kagome's fifth birthday, as she was climbing the steps to Sunset Shrine, a familiar notification appeared on Chaos' Interface – a notification she hadn't seen yet in this life...

[Life Quest! The Seeds of Belief...
Goal: help Kagome
Bonus Goal: make Kagome accept her gift
Reward: +50XP, +10 to a mystical skill to be chosen, Kagome gains +50XP
Bonus reward: +100XP, Kagome gains +10 to Healing skill
Failure: Kagome completely close herself off from the preternatural, forbidding any awakening of her gift before her fifteen birthday]

Just as she finished reading, soft whimpering sounds reached her ears – crying.

She rushed ahead, bypassing a surprised Daisuke, and soon found the little girl, hiding in the greenery behind the shrine, and crying. "Hey, what's wrong?"
Startled, the little girl raised her head toward her, revealing beautiful, pale blue eyes – that were for now red from crying.
"You're here to make fun of me too, aren't you?"

"Why?" Tsukiko was talking softly, trying not to frighten more the visibly shaken little girl – and she had to keep a hold on her temper, and her powers, as she realized Kagome's arms were littered with bruises and scratches
"It's my friends at school! They made fun of me when I said tou-san healed me! But it's true, I've seen him, when he thinks I'm asleep! And I did the same thing to the kitty I found in the garbage, and now he's all healed, and he stays at home!"
Despite crying second earlier, the little girl temper's was rising as she remembered the reason she had been tearing up for.
"But then, they said you can't heal people like that, and they mocked me, and told me if it was true I should be able to heal myself!"

And they hurt her – Tsukiko realized the part left unsaid. Children could really be cruel sometimes.
"So?" Kagome asked daringly "Are you going to mock me too?"
Tsukiko looked around – and finding one particularly nasty looking rock laying a bit away, picked it up and promptly slashed her hand with it.
"Wha! What are you doing!" the blue-eyed child protested as blood fell to the ground, eyes wide and panicking
Tsukiko pushed her wound toward her, expectantly "Here. Heal it."

"But... but... I couldn't heal myself!"
"But I'm not you, I'm me. Don't you want to heal me?"
"Of course I want to! You're bleeding!"
"Then do it."
The little girl, not seeing anything else to do, took the wounded hand, a bright aura haloing her own hands. The wound started receding nearly immediately – and less than a minute later, was completely closed.
"Oh wow. It worked!" she realized, surprised at herself

"Well, you did say you healed your cat." Tsukiko reminded her "Of course it worked."
"But... I couldn't heal myself..."
"I can't either." the young youkai answered in a hushed whisper, as if sharing a secret, before finally doing what she'd been itching to and letting her own reiki rise to the surface, healing the human girl

It was both awe-inspiring and vexing – Kagome at five was already just as good at her at healing, and that without any formal training! Of course, it was easily explainable by the fact that as Death's sister, her gift just weren't made for healing, and as such learning the basics at Mahoutokoro had been one hell of a chore, but still...
As for Kagome, her eyes widened as she realized what the other child was saying – and doing.

"You... you can heal! Just like me!"
" I can."
"But... the other... they said it's impossible..."
"It's not, clearly. You can do it, I can do it, your otou-san can do it... Eh, maybe your ojii-chan can do it to!"
"Hm... Jii-chan too..."
"There are people who don't want to believe in things they think are abnormal. Healing like this, it's not normal."

"I'm not normal then?"
"Why would you want to be normal? Normal is boring."
"But they will mock me."
"Don't talk to them then. Find yourself better friends, ones that won't be nasty to you just because you can do something they can't."
"You're right!" the little girl realized, before asking somewhat shyly "Then, can you be my friend?"

"I would be honored."
"Yay! uh... It means yes, right?"
"Indeed it does."
"Oh great! You speak like a grown up you know, it's funny!"
The remark surprised her – she was so used to people knowing about her among magical beings that she hadn't realized that for someone who didn't know she wasn't really five, she did indeed sound far older than her apparent age.

But Kagome, now revived, had already jumped to her feet, and was grabbing her hand, rushing toward the shrine "Come on, I'll show you my jii-chan! He's funny, even if his story are a bit boring sometimes..."

[Life Quest Complete! The Seeds of Belief...
Reward: +50XP, +10 to a mystical skill to be chosen, Kagome gains +50XP
Bonus Reward: (100+50)XP, Kagome gains +10 to Healing Touch skill]
[Level up! You are now level 105!
+2CP, +2SP]
[Level up! Kagome is now level 12!
+7SP, +2CP, +1PP]

"Jii-chan! Look I made a friend!"
"I see you've met Tsuki-hime, Kagome-chan."
"Uh?" the little one was puzzled "You already know my friend?" then she realized "Oh! I've not introduced myself! I'm Higurashi Kagome, yoroshiku!" Kagome bowed quickly
"I'm Taishou Tsukiko, of the House of Moon, and I'm honored to meet you." Tsukiko answered back with a bow of her own
"So you already know jii-chan? How come?"
"Father comes often." she stated as way of explanation

¤.¤.¤

Soon, Kagome was talking about something else, happy to have found a new friend – then as the evening drew nearer, and with it, the time for the little girl to go home, Kagome grew sad at the idea of leaving her new friend. That is until Tsukiko said that she would be coming to the shrine the next weekend...
And so the next week, Tsukiko was back to the shrine – taking the occasion to come early with Saiyuri, and help her with her shrine maiden duty.
"So... since you're helping me out... Does it mean I can put you in miko garb?" her near sister pleaded with big puppy eyes

It was unfair how even though the huntress was now looking much older than her, she still managed to pull off the little sister act so well – add to that the fact she loved to put her into any cute outfit that fell into her hands...
Moments later, the three old friend were busying themselves around – cleaning the ground, checking the wards and globally doing their holy servant duty to the shrine while talking amiably between themselves.

"Mamoru called to confirm that he would bring Kagome-chan this afternoon. Apparently you're all that Kagome has been talking about all week. I think he's a bit surprised..."
"Well, I played with him sometimes, but he always seemed to think that since I was your friend I must be a boring grown up. Kagome is much more open-minded. Did you know she called me out on my speech?"
"Well you tend to speak a bit as if you were in a Period Drama..." Saiyuri teased, amused
"It's not my fault I've been brought up like this..." a blushing ookami protested

"Youkai have kept an older fashion of speaking." Daisuke nodded "The reason for that are quite fascinating..."
The two girls shared an amused look as their friend started to ramble on the historical reasons that explained why youkai tended to speak an older dialect than humans – it was quite simple in the end, because they lived longer, their language changed slower than humans... But well, Daisuke did love his stories, so they let him speak, listening with one ear while doing their job.
That is until Saiyuri asked "Tsuki-hime... This is the same outfit you usually wear in the shrine?"
"Yes?"
"I didn't think I'd ever say this but... It's getting too small..."

Tsukiko could only stare dumbly as Daisuke, surprised, took a closer look at her outfit "She's right you know."
And suddenly it hit her.
She had been feeling different for a while after all. Since Kagome healed her...
"I'm growing up! Wouhou!"

The other too shared an amused look as she proceeded to happily danced in the middle of the courtyard "Weren't we talking about the fact that youkai were far more old fashioned and reserved than humans?" a bemused Saiyuri whispered to Daisuke
"Well, she has been human three times and a youkai only this once..." the priest shrugged helplessly
"That or she really was getting tired of Ryo-dono mocking her..." Saiyuri added while the young-looking wolf finally realized what she was doing and controlled herself

From then on, Kagome and Tsukiko met every weekend – the two becoming very good friend quite fast, and Tsukiko finally growing up.
It was a strange friendship, as Kagome seemed to understand quite well that the other girl was very different, and accepted it easily, even admitting the fact that her grand-father too was good friend with the little girl, even thought she thought old people were supposed to be friend with old people.
And one weekend, Kagome arrived with a large smile "I'm going to be a big sister!" she loudly announced to all those who wanted to listen to her – and those who didn't want too

There had been no other life quest, but Tsukiko wasn't too surprised about this – Kagome was barely six after all.
Still, she fact the little girl now considered her healing gift as a part of her, and didn't shy from it meant something had already been changed for the better. She also encouraged the girl to listen to he grand-father's stories with her, meaning she was slowly learning about the preternatural without even realizing it.
Not to mention that even the one Life Quest Tsukiko had completed had given a considerable boost in XP to Kagome, even if the little girl didn't realize it – and as a 6 year old, she already was level 13 rather than he expected level 6 thanks to this.

Kagome's happiness didn't last long – a few weeks after she had learned her mother was pregnant, Higurashi Mamoru died in a car accident. The little girl became less joyful and outgoing, even if she remained very helpful toward her pregnant mother.
There may have not been any Life Quest, and Tsukiko may have known that the child would eventually grow back to the naturally cheerful girl she was, if only a bit more mature, it didn't mean she enjoyed seeing her friend like this.

The O-bon festival had come and gone – or rather, the human one, celebrated around mid-July in Tokyo where they resided – as had Kagome's birthday, and the little girl and her mother had started to make plans to move in the Sunset Shrine with Daisuke.
The man had insisted, refusing to let his daughter-in-law alone and pregnant – even if he knew it wouldn't be easy to manage everyday. Usually, everyone on an active shrine knew about the preternatural, but Mamoru hadn't told anything to his wife, and had been the only one to be authorized to tell her anything under the ministry's laws.
The only way the woman could now be told about the other world living side by side with hers, was if her daughter's gift was detected by the ministry's.

Which wouldn't happen for years – both Daisuke and Mamoru had been late bloomers, and despite having awakened her healing gift, Kagome's powers still weren't registering on the ministry's charts.
As if they were voluntarily kept hidden.
Tsukiko was pretty sure it must have something to do with her destiny...

¤.¤.¤

"A sleep-over?" Higurashi Natsumi repeated, a bit surprised
Her husband hadn't told her a lot about Kagome's new friend, if only that she was a daughter of the mysterious yet renowned Taishou family, an that her family had been regular of the shrine since as long as he could remember.
She had noticed him slipping once or twice when talking about the girl, acting as if she was far older than she really was – and knew he really didn't understand the two children's friendship, even if she didn't know why. Sure, Tsukiko was quite a serious and very mature child for her age, it was still clear that she regarded Kagome as a very good friend just by looking at the two interact, and that was more than enough for her.

But this was the first time the idea of a sleep-over was even spoken of, be it at her house, or Tsukiko's.
"My family spends quite a bit of time at the shrine around this time of the year." Tsukiko explained "I thought we could include Kagome this year."
And suddenly, it made sense – and she had to restrain the tears coming to her eyes as she understood the little girl true intention, proof once more of more maturity than a six year old should have.

"I didn't know Kyu-bon was celebrated at the Sunset Shrine."
"Some of us kept to the old calendar." the little girl confirmed – not precising that those 'some' were all of the magical beings

All magical celebrations were attended without disguise, all youkai able to drop the illusions they used when in the mundane world – the wards of all the shrines strengthened enough that anyone who didn't know about the preternatural would be turned back. Those wards would also make the local inhabitants not in the known want to stay at home, or even to sleep early.
As one of the few times they were able to drop all pretenses outside their home, or the magical streets, the celebrations truly were joyful events; and contrary to the mundane festivals, they also had further use – all equinoxes and solstices had their particular significance, as did the more local holy days.

Kyu-bon was celebrated mainly in Asia, under different names, and was a day to honor the departed – while in Europa, this celebration was included in Hallow Eve, the celebration to seek guidance from the deities.
Kagome had been explained by her mother that some people didn't celebrate O-bon on the same day as others – and that they would come to celebrate at the shrine, so she wasn't too surprised when everyone woke up early in the house to start cleaning up and decorating.

She was more surprised by the cleansing ritual, even if she quickly accepted the explanation that it was to keep evil spirits away from the visiting souls of the departed.
It was also the first time she realized Tsukiko regularly helped at the shrine, which she found fascinating.
"I thought only grown up did that!"
"it's mostly grown up, but some people start to learn younger sometimes." Tsukiko had explained patiently, like always "Sa-chan started to learn when she was only seven year old, and at twelve she already was a true shrine maiden."

Kagome's eyes light up with awe – and Saiyuri sound found herself with a new little follower. Jii-chan's story were mostly boring, but Saiyuri wasn't, she was cool! The huntress miko sent a withering glare to her elder sister, but soon found herself falling under the little girl's charm, just like everyone always did.
Soon, evening had come, the fires were lit up outside the decorated shrine...

[Event (LV:scaled)! Kyu-Bon...]

As the event announced flashed on Chaos' Interface, the wards went up – and Kagome, falling under their powers, started to nod off. Tsukiko let the little girl sleep a couple of hours, until the Shrine's ground were full of youkai, wizards and other monks and priestess, and the main celebrations were about to start.
Then, she woke up the little girl, feeling the wards recede around Kagome thanks to her own presence.

"Tsuki-chan?" the little priestess mumbled, still half-asleep – then, her eyes widened "Wha?" she cut herself up – realizing that her friend had drastically changed while she was sleeping
Black hair were now pure white, light green eyes gleaming golden, round ears sharps and three tails floating in her back...
"So cute!"

Tsukiko chuckled, amused by the little girl reaction, and led her to the bathroom, giving her a colorful yukata – the girl then realized that not only was her friend looking different, she also was wearing unusual clothes, a beautiful traditional garb, with a blade tied to her sash. Not wanting to be left out, she was soon dressed up too, and they left the house.
Ryoichi-san was there too, and he too had tails. Sa-chan didn't have tails, but she was wearing her miko outfit, and a beautiful naginata , There was another red-head girl with several tails, who presented herself as Ryoichi's cousin Akane.

Kagome was looking around her in awe, wondering how the calm little shrine she usually knew could have changed so much while she was asleep. There were people everywhere, with weird hair or eyes colors, with tails or wings or fangs and claws.
It felt as if she had woken up in on of jii-chan's old stories...

They wandered a bit around the festival, then Tsukiko took her to a room were lots of people were busying themselves, making paper lanterns – some white, other colorful.
"This is to guide the soul of the dead." Tsukiko explained "White lantern when its the first kyu-bon since the person died, and colorful lanterns otherwise." she was taking a stash of colored paper for herself, and gave Kagome white one, and soon enough, they had created simple, but beautiful lantern
They went to the back of the shrine, when several other families where cleaning their beloved graves and decorating with the lantern.

At the cemetery entrance, jii-chan was waiting for her with a smile, people greeting him with a smile or a respectful bow – and as her grand-father was leading her toward tou-san's grave, she felt something strange, and realized a lot of people were looking behind her – a tall man had just met with Tsuki-chan, and he looked a lot like her.
"This is Sesshoumaru-sama," Jii-chan explained when he saw where she was looking "he's Tsuki-hime's father, and the Lord of these parts. He's very powerful, and well respected."
"Why are they here?"
"Tsuki-hime's mother died protecting her when she was born." he explained as he finished cleansing his son's grave "Here, help me put the lantern."

She did so, and Jii-chan started to pray.
Except, she soon realized, it wasn't like when mother prayed, or other peoples – she could nearly see light around Jii-chan. And she could feel the familiar presence of tou-san, as if telling her to be strong, and take care of mama and the baby to come, and to always smile and be happy.
Yes, this really felt like tou-san.
Kagome's smile as she realized this reached her eyes for the first time since her father's death.

Soon, they were back with the rest of their friends, Tsukiko making her dance the Bon Odori with her, and even if Kagome didn't know the steps, she learned them easily as they were simple enough.
The night went on, with dancing, and looking around at all the interesting things and people – and really, Tsukiko had been right, why settle for normal when there were so many different people around?
Then, as the night came to an end, they all walked toward a river she didn't remember ever seeing, putting toro nagashi into the water – and as the paper lantern was taken by the water, she saw him.

Her father, waving good-bye to jii-chan and her, side by side with baa-chan, and bowing toward Tsuki-chan before fading away.
She fell asleep soon after, a soft smile never leaving her lips, not knowing about the notification that had popped under Tsukiko's surprised eyes...

[Event Complete! Just like a dream...
Kagome heard her father's last wish
Reward: +25XP, Kagome gains +25XP, Kagome gains A Father's Blessing Perk (Spiritual Shield unlocked)]
[Level up! Kagome is now level 16!
+2SP, +2CP]

¤.¤.¤

Kagome, the next day, could only wonder at whether the celebration had been a dream – she didn't talk about it to her mother, and realized that nobody else was talking about it in front of her. But dream or not, it didn't matter; because she knew that he father's last words had to be true.
And so she started to smile again, her smile each day a bit more honest, and when her little brother was finally born at September's beginning, she was able to smile truly once more.

As she realized that Tsukiko was coming early every week-end to help with the Shrine Maiden duties, Kagome also started to take an interest in it, learning about the dances and other benedictions with her friend – she was really fascinated by the old legends about miko, and though Saiyuri was really impressive.
Daisuke was happy to see his grand-daughter take an interest into the shrine's work, as it gave him hope that Sunset Shrine would still be tended to by an Higurashi even in the coming years.

Amusingly enough, even though she regularly helped around as a miko, Kagome still thought most of the old man tales to be just that, never realizing they weren't legends but true stories.
Because of her fascination for shrine maidens, she had also taken up kyudo – or rather, she had tried the antique archery discipline for about a year before realizing that while she wasn't hopeless at it, she really wasn't all that good.

That, and she really didn't like the idea of fighting.
"It's not like you were hurting people with those arrows..." Tsukiko had pointed out
"I know, it's just... Why can't people just talk about things rather than fight?"
"Well, for one some people just like fighting, others are just really stupid and sometimes... You just have to bash the opponent a few times on the head before he's ready to hear you out. Beside learning to use a weapon isn't the same as fighting."
"Eh?"
"Well, kyudo is mostly a traditional art nowadays. And most of the formal martial art are like that."
"Really?"
"I know, why don't you ask Sa-chan to watch one of her training sessions?"

"Let her see one of your sessions!" the miko who was sweeping the ground as the two girl finished climbing the long stairs leading to the temple retorted
"You fight, Tsuki-chan?"
"I don't fight." the hime answered with distaste "You're saying this as if I was some kind of drunkard punching idiots in a pub! I'm the House of Moon heiress, I've been trained into a number of martial arts ever since I've learned how to walk."
"You should follow the same schedule as you have at home here once, so she could see." Saiyuri suggested - and she had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes at her elder sibling's surprised look; did the goddess really think she hadn't realized who Kagome was with how much interest she had taken in the girl?

"Oh, why not." Tsukiko shrugged as she felt her resolve crumble under Kagome's puppy eyes – she always was weak to this kind of pleading

[Life Quest! The Resolve to Improve...
Goal: show to Kagome that a healthy mind and a healthy body works better together
Bonus Goal: make Kagome see the appeal of a martial discipline
Reward: +50XP, unlocks Map System, Kagome gains +50XP
Bonus Reward: +100XP, +1Perk Point, Kagome gains +100XP, Kagome gains +10 to a Weapon Skill to be chosen
Failure: Kagome doesn't take an interest in improving her physical conditioning, gaining the status Regular City Flower(-50 when in the past)

note that the Regular City Flower status can only be lost by gaining the Seasoned Time-Traveler status, available only to Kagome herself in the Reward Tab of the Hunting System]

Well, realized Tsukiko as she read the quest – now she really had to make her friend change her mind.
Then again, she had been able to explain to peace-loving Kyouko-chan why her brother loved to fight in a previous life, she should be able to do this – right?

And so it was decided – and the following week-end, Tsukiko and Saiyuri had woken up Kagome at what the young girl considered an absolutely ungodly hour. Both had started by their usual warming ups, Kagome being encourage to do what she could, which wasn't a lot, she soon realized, before switching to kata, then sparring.
Saiyuri favored the naginata , and was exceptionally graceful with it – Tsukiko was good enough, but even Kagome could guess that it wasn't her favorite weapon. It was when they switched to the katana kata that her friend's talent showed – even if she wasn't using a full sized blade, still too small for it.

But what really struck Kagome was the peace of the early morning routine – the kata were harmonious, and while they did get their blood going hotter during the spar, they ended their early morning with a long, far too long in Kagome's opinion, meditation.
"Pretty..." a young voice whispered by her side – it was only then that she realized that sometime after she had stopped exercising to switch to only watching, her little brother Souta had woken up too, as had jii-chan, and both had been watching by her side
Still, she could understand better why Tsukiko had looked so – vexed, not that she'd admit it – when she had thoughtlessly told her friend that fighting was useless and only for violent people.

"Daisuke-kun! Join us!"
The exclamation surprised both his grand-kids, while the older man protested "I'm not as young as I used to be, Tsuki-hime."
"Nonsense," the girl contradicted with an amused smile – while he may not be in his prime, her friend was far from old for a holy servant – and to prove her point, she threw the wooden naginata she had been training with early at him
Grumbling, Daisuke caught the weapon, used to it – everybody followed at least one basic weaponry course at Mahoutokoro, and most of the time, it was the bo or archery for holy servants. He may not be as good as the two huntress, he still made a point to train a few times a week, after all he had to be in shape if some corrupted beings ever had the stupid idea of attacking his shrine.

Kagome and Souta were both awed by their grand-father – who knew the old man was so cool, once he stopped talking about strange legends?
The rest of the morning, the two shrine maiden had spent cleaning the shrine, before performing a cleansing ritual and checking on the wards. While neither Kagome nor Souta knew what really was taking place, both seemed to realize there was a hidden power at work there, confirming that even the younger sibling would have quite strong holy powers once they awakened.
Souta, even if he wasn't old enough to understand all that was going on, had decided to tag along with them for the day – so Saiyuri and Tsukiko integrated the little boy quite naturally in their activities.

The afternoon was spent with an introduction to calligraphy – which really was more of an introduction to writing for the youngest, Saiyuri demonstrating how she made some of the talisman which were then sold by the shrine.
They then spent some time behind the shrine, looking for healing herbs for poultices, then ended the afternoon making shikigami – which of course neither Saiyuri nor Tsukiko animated under the others two eyes.
That is until a very proud Souta announced "Look, my shikigami can dance!"

"I can't believe he did this without any training." Saiyuri blurted as she eyed said shikigami, before blushing
"Very good Souta-chan!" Tsukiko was praising without missing a beat - if Kagome could heal at five year old, why couldn't her brother animate a shikigami after all?
"You mean you knew this was possible?" Kagome asked, curious, while Tsukiko was explaining to Souta that he couldn't show off his dancing buddies to everyone

"Well, it is a miko skill."
"Souta is a boy."
"A monk or a priest then." she shrugged "The original gift is the same, they just don't use it the same way traditionally."
"So... You can do this?"
Saiyuri and Tsukiko shared a look – with Souta having awakened a shikigami by himself, they technically could tell them a bit more, even if the bigger revelation would have to wait the ministry's officials.

With a controlled burst of power, both girls animated their own shikigami, Tsukiko's using Kagome as a climbing wall while Saiyuri's was dancing with Souta's.
"They are cute." the girl admitted "But how did you do this?"
"Well, you both have to be able to call your gift up, and tell it what to do." Saiyuri explained
"Just like when you heal someone." completed Tsukiko
Kagome immediately tried – but while her own shikigami shivered a bit, it didn't woke up like her brother's had. She pouted at it, before Tsukiko explained "It takes patience, Kagome-chan. People don't learn to do this is one day usually, just like healing people isn't usually leaned in one day."
"Really?"

"Tsuki-hime was complaining for weeks about how unfair it was that she trained for years, yet you just saw your otou-san do it once, and managed it on your own."
"Hey!" said hime protested, the slight blush quickly confirming to Kagome that the miko wasn't lying
"So you've had training? Where? How?"
"That's not something we're allowed to say." Tsukiko answered with a sigh "There are people taking care about this in the government. Both Sa-chan and I were early-bloomer, so we were trained earlier, while you are a late-bloomer. Your brother probably will be as well."
"But don't worry, you will eventually be trained. And you'll see then that the other students will mostly be your age."

Kagome was young, but was also very mature, some would even say wise for her young age – and she knew her friend well enough that if Tsukiko said that she only had to be patient to learn more about those strange things, then she would be patient.
Even if she did manage to extract a promise to help her with the shikigami. She had seen them after all, so she was allowed to know about it wasn't she? The fact the first task she had been given was to start meditation wasn't really what she was expecting...

But for the sake of making little dancing paper figure, she would do it!

In the following weeks, Kagome had tried several of the martial art clubs around – before asking Saiyuri herself to train her. The huntress had been surprised, and had quickly pointed out that she was only present on the week-end, but Kagome had been quite adamant, feeling the clubs she had seen were lacking the spirit of Saiyuri and Tsukiko's own training.
Saiyuri had eventually relented, working up a schedule, with Daisuke himself taking care of some lessons during the week.

All in all, it had been a very successful day, as Chaos' Game had confirmed...

[Life Quest! The Resolve to Improve...
Reward: +50XP, Map System unlocked, Kagome gains +50XP
Bonus Reward: (100+50)XP, +1 Perk Point, Kagome gains +100XP, Kagome gains +10 to a Weapon Skill to be chosen
Hidden Goal Complete! The awakening of a new generation...
Both Kagome and Souta have gained an interest in the arts of holy servants
Hidden Reward: (100+50)XP, Kagome gains +100XP, Souta gains +100XP, +10 to a Mystic Skill to be chosen for all, +2 Goshinboku Branches added to Inventory]
[Level up! You are now level 123!
+ 1SP]
[Level up! Kagome is now level 34!
+15SP, +6CP, +2PP]
[Level up! Souta is now level 28!
+25SP, +10CP, +2PP]

Tsukiko and Saiyuri had both shared a stunned look at the massive level gain of the two children but neither sibling had realized anything, too taken up by their new scheduled activities – be their martial art or basic holy servant training.

¤.¤.¤

By the time Kagome went to middle school, the result of her training was clear in every aspects of her life – while still very cheerful, she also was far more collected thanks to the numerous hours of meditations that were now part of her regular schedule, furthermore the meditation hadn't only helped her with her budding miko gift, but even in her everyday life, helping her with school work.
The regular exercising with either Daisuke, Saiyuri or Tsukiko meant that she was also very fit – and coupled with her temperament, it meant people were quite easily attracted to her , making her one of her school idol.

Kagome had found the situation very strange, even more-so that she didn't think herself all that special, being used to have Tsukiko to compare herself to. Of course, she tended to forget just how different her childhood friend was from normal people.

As Kagome fifteen birthday was approaching, Tsukiko went to her father.
"You know what will happen soon, don't you?"
Sesshoumaru hadn't ever talked about it – so much that it could only mean one thing : whatever was going to happen in the past, he had his part to play in it, and knew better than to tempt Fate by blabbering about what already was the past for him, yet still was the future for his daughter.

"I know." he confirmed " Even thought I don't know exactly when, I do know that the miko was looking much like she does now the first time I saw her."
"Her powers are still being sealed, which is why the ministry hasn't found her... But once it has started, I'm going to train her, whether they like it or not. Still it would be better if it was legal..."
"I talked about the events to come to the minister of magical being when he took his office." Sesshoumaru announced – and knowing her father it had probably been one very unilateral talk

"Sending a ministry worker to informer her mother wouldn't be a bad idea." Tsukiko suggested, not surprised Sesshoumaru had already anticipated her concerns "And I guess they could use the occasion to talk to Souta too."
"The only reason he hasn't been invited yet is probably because the sealing over the miko's gift is spilling over to her brother."
"Who knows what Fate has in store for him..." Tsukiko wondered absentmindedly
"There is one thing yet to be taken care of before you follow the miko to the past."

She looked at him curiously, not really seeing where he was going.
"FuurinKiba is a fine weapon, but it is not one made for you. While it has worked well for you up until now, it is time for you to get it a partner."
He was right, she realized – because she had never found a better weapon, Kiba had stayed a main weapon, but five hundred years in the past, and battling against powerful youkai, it wouldn't be enough. Younger, there had been no point in getting another blade, since she was still too small for a proper katana.
But she had been growing upon for ten years now, and while she still looked like a teenager, she knew she had about reached her adult height.

Totosai looked as old as ever.

And he promptly grabbed FuurinKiba away from her as soon as she entered, grumbling an annoyed "Finally. I was wondering how much longer your were going to let your heir prance around with a weapon she wasn't even attuned to. Tch."
Sesshoumaru and his daughter twitched in the same nearly unnoticeable way, the weapon-smith able to annoy both of them in a record time.

"She'll need her own weapon."
"Of course she will if she's going to follow around that miko without a shred of survival instinct and keep her alive! I'll want a couple of fang!" while loud-mouthed, he wasn't stupid enough to just take them without warning – this was a princess after all, and her very protective, and very powerful Daiyoukai father

"Can you do a weapon that channels reiki?" Tsukiko asked while handing over two fangs
"No way, youki and reiki don't work well together." he contradicted
"Well mine do."
"Because you're special."
"Then wouldn't a weapon forged from my fang work with holy powers?"
"It would." the youkai confirmed "But I would have to find a wood to work with it, youkai wood wouldn't work."

She reached into her Inventory, now understanding why she had received such a strange quest reward years earlier – and took out one of the two branches from the sacred tree of the Higurashi Shrine.
Totosai snatched the branch, announcing "I'll need one more fang for this. And give me a week. Now let me work."

"Well, he's about as I expected from Ryo's description." Tsukiko couldn't help but comment as her father and her were leaving the shop "How about taking a look at the market place since we're here anyway?"
Sesshoumaru, was he a lesser youkai, would have sighed – even goddesses weren't immune to the allure of shopping, after all – instead, he simply followed his daughter as she started looking around, decided to enjoy her presence for now, since she'd soon be going to the past, and meeting a very different version of himself.