Jumping Hurdles and Choosing Sides
Chapter 1: Getting to know you…
Momiji ran through the halls of the castle, desperately helping where ever she could. The servants that had remained loyal were dying around her as they sought to defend their master's daughter. Caramel colored hair and fur flew behind her as she jumped down stairs, vaulting the banisters in an extremely unladylike fashion.
"Hime-sama!" The old crane youkai called when he spotted her. He was bleeding from several cuts; his feathers matted with both it and sweat. His large broad sword, a usually immaculate talisman he had brought with him centuries before, was red stained. He clicked his beak at her when he caught up. "You should be hiding, waiting for your father to claim you after we win."
Momiji did not slow as she ran. She slid to a halt outside the armory and strode inside toward the sword wall. "Do you really think we will win?" She demanded as she pulled a sword and several daggers free. "The Dog Clan has been scattered to the four winds, our allies have deserted us and joined with the very army they pledged to fight." Her blue eyes bored holes into the crane youkai until he was forced to turn away. "I warned my father months ago that a battle brewed with our lands and he chose not to heed me. This is the result of his ignorance and stupidity." Sword in one hand and daggers hidden within her kimono, the princess went to defend her home.
"Hime-sama, please leave the fighting to your father and brother. Find your mother and hide with her." The old crane pleaded as he saw her head for the foyer and the heart of the battle.
"I refuse to hide within my own home and cower behind my mother's skirts. There is no place to hide, no place that is safe from these monsters; once they destroy us they will kill anyone in their path without discrimination. I am a woman, the princess of this realm- I should be out there fighting as well and helping my clan." She stopped outside the doorway and as the faint light bathed her, Momiji did look like the princess she was meant to be. The crane youkai looked at her, hung his long head, and then nodded as he brought up his broad sword.
"Right. Let's end this then." The two rushed in with a roar, hacking every non-dog demon in their way to bits.
"How long do we have?" I asked as walked beside Taomaru down the long hallway. Each of us was weighted down by boxes, heading for a room somewhere above. Inu Yasha was also with us carrying his own burden of heavy boxes.
"A few days maybe? Depends on when Sesshomaru actually decided to swallow his pride and find you two." The wolf dog panted as he led us around another corner.
"Where's everyone else?" Inu Yasha asked. He still refused to leave my side. I was really going to have to talk to him about it. The plus side of his attention was that I could feel him inside my head now, just as I could feel Taomaru and Sesshomaru. There was something that he was keeping from me, something that I couldn't unlock and I had a very good hunch that it was the source of his sudden show of affection.
We had passed youkai after youkai when we were finally inside the castle. The three of us had made it back through the well just in time- whatever Taomaru had done to bring the castle near the well had all but faded away. Everything from the twentieth century had arrived intact, from the clothes to the stereo to the motorcycle. We were going to have to make multiple trips up and down the stairs to get everything up here and out of harms way. No one was looking forward to it.
With a grunt, Taomaru stopped us in front of a dark wooden door, kicking it lightly and opening it. He walked inside like he had every right to be there- considering he had once been a prince of the region, I guess he did. Inu Yasha and I entered right behind him, depositing the boxes against the far wall and out of tripping range. It wasn't until I wiped the sweat from my brow that I realized the room wasn't empty.
On the table, the sole piece of free standing furniture, were all sorts of maps. They were pinned down by decorative stones or ink wells. They appeared to mark the boarders of the Western lands- I saw a map of Japan and noticed it was slightly inaccurate. Around the table were a sputtering toad youkai, three dog youkai whom I didn't know and the ever social Sesshomaru. Compared to the five, sweat soaked Taomaru, Inu Yasha and I were woefully underdressed.
Might as well be friendly. "Hi," I said and wiped my hand on my jeans, wincing at the dirt still present. "I'm Higirashi Kagome. Pleased to meet you." My friendliness was met with sneers and expressions of disgust. Inu Yasha moved up beside me on one side, Taomaru on the other.
"A human? Talking to me?" A black haired youkai asked. He flicked his tail at me, wrinkling his nose. "Sesshomaru-sama, you let your humans run with too much freedom." I took back my ignored hand.
"I agree." A balding brown haired youkai added. "And her clothing! Where did you get such a suggestive thing?" He pointed at me, his lip curled. In my jeans and T-shirt, my hair tumbling down around my shoulders, I was perfectly normal by my standards; however, in comparison with the yards of cloth women in this time wore, I guess my outfit was a bit revealing. Damn; I hated it when I could see it from their point of view.
"I see you have finally tamed your mongrel half brother." A completely bald youkai laughed. "How fitting you made him your servant."
"Tell me, Sesshomaru," The black haired one looked at Sesshomaru in a conspiratory manner. "If you cleaned her up, do you think the little hanyou would bed her?"
Throughout all the taunting, Sesshomaru had looked at us in a weighing manner. He said nothing, thought nothing, felt nothing. The last probably made me the angriest. Beside me Inu Yasha growled, trying to form a coherent thought that would insult them without getting us killed. It was funny- they had all bashed on Inu Yasha and I yet no one had mentioned Taomaru.
Can they see you? I asked him silently as I watched the three youkai laugh at their intelligence. I was so going to cram it down their throats.
At the moment, no they cannot see me. I am blocking myself from their eyes. Sesshomaru and Jaken can both sense me and know I am here however. Okay, so Taomaru had an idea that centered on the three stooges over by the table. Fine, I was on my own then to deal with them. Inu Yasha continued to growl, for lack of anything else to say- his brain had stalled on royal comebacks; it had been a long time since he had had to deal with it. I patted the hanyou's shoulder and crouched, opening a box near my feet. I found what I was looking for, battery and all, and put my hand through the strap.
"Lady Kagome, what is that and what are you doing with it?" Sesshomaru addressed me formally. Since I guessed we were putting on a show, I bowed my head shallowly at him, feeling his irritation and stress from dealing with these lords. Sesshomaru was not happy having to endure being poked fun at and having his authority undermined but he needed the army these three idiots could supply him with. I hit the power button, flipped out the side screen and pushed record. I filmed everyone in the room as they stared at me.
"Lord Sesshomaru, this is a video recorder and currently I am filming you as well as Larry, Curly, and Moe over there." The lords did not like that; they snarled at me. "Smile Jaken, you're on camera!" I grinned as I taunted the toad youkai.
"Why are you recording them?" Inu Yasha asked as he blinked and poked at the lens. "They aren't worth it." Ah yes; Inu Yasha had foregone subtly and was simply going to go with the ever popular brashness option. Now the lords were really mad and the balding one took a step in our direction.
"Human, you have over stepped you bounds!" I watched him through the camcorder and frowned.
"Me, you pompous twit? If anyone has leapt that fence it's you and the other two stooges!"
"Lady Kagome…" Sesshomaru warned, and I felt the mental exhaustion he was suffering from.
"Sesshomaru, we have to get the rest of the stuff from Kagome's world." Inu Yasha said, standing straight and looking as royal as he could. "We'll leave these morons to you. Make sure you consult Kagome and me with any battle plans." Inu Yasha looked hard at his brother and then glared at the three lords.
"He can't be serious!" The slightly balding youkai said. "Consult with a human? Why?"
"Lord Sesshomaru, surely you are being sarcastic when you call her 'lady?'" the black haired one said.
"Kagome is more of a lady than any of your wives or daughters!" Inu Yasha said and stood in front of me. I was glad I was getting it all on tape- this way I had a visual record for later. Inu Yasha growled and both Sesshomaru and I knew that a fight was coming. I put my hand on Inu Yasha's shoulder again and let my power flow down my arm and over him.
Calm down. I said to him silently. Fighting this early with these idiots won't solve anything. Go back down stairs and we'll find another room where we can put everything.
Taomaru, And I glanced at him quickly. It was hard to imagine that the lords couldn't see him when he looked so solid and real. Find us another room please. He bowed, looking at me with a smile and left. None of the lords noticed him at all. I pushed Inu Yasha slightly and, with a glance at me, he left the room. Now alone with the lords, I sighed.
"I am not being sarcastic. Kagome is Lady Kagome. Inu Yasha is not my servant; in this venue he is my brother and nothing less. Both are to be respected and consulted before any plans are made." Sesshomaru stated calmly, ignoring the blank looks from the lords before him.
"You're serious." The bald one said flatly in surprise. I was tempted to stick my tongue out at him but didn't. I was quite proud of my restraint. Well, Sesshomaru would handle the lords and that was fine by me. I started stacking the boxes on top of each other, stopping just shy of one too many; now that I was on my own, I had to carry it all out again. Damn it. I clicked the camera off and put it back in its box, lifting the boxes up by using my legs, and slowly made my way to the door- didn't want to trip or anything after all.
"I'll be back for the rest in a minute. Lord Sesshomaru, are there any rooms free? We need to put these somewhere and suddenly this room is not acceptable." I said as I balanced in the doorway looking at him. Good luck! I added and knew he could hear me. These guys look as fun as getting your teeth drilled.
What? Sesshomaru asked, one eyebrow raised. Out loud he gave me directions to a room down the hallways, all the while giving me different picture directions in my head from what he was saying.
When he was done I nodded. I need to talk to you later, without them. I left then, without bowing, and followed Sesshomaru's mental directions and then came back to get the rest. I didn't bother to bow then either. Inu Yasha joined me and we finished hauling the boxes by ourselves- Taomaru said he had something to do and had hurried off down a hallway. While in the room, I ripped open several walkie talkie packages, loading in the appropriate batteries and taking them with us. There was so much to do and most of it needed to be passed by other people. To do this the fastest, it was time to show off the radios. I packed a plastic bag with all the ones that were ready to go and brought it with us.
We ran into Rin in the hallway. The little girl was looking for Sesshomaru and wanted to give him a small arrow she had made. I explained that Sesshomaru was busy with a few of the lords and Rin looked disappointed.
"Since they came, Sesshomaru-sama hasn't had any time for Rin. Rin doesn't know why- they're mean!"
What could I say; they were mean. "I know. If you like, you can come with Inu Yasha and I." I offered and she accepted. "The youkai downstairs keep trying to eat Rin." She said and I frowned.
"Kagome, you better stick close." Inu Yasha said. "Any human wandering around may be seen as food, especially if they're being led by any of those three." He jerked his thumb in the room we had met the lords in. Rin and I nodded and the three of us went to find Sango and Miroku.
An hour later, we had found the hoshi and exterminator, both in separate areas. We found Sango on the top level, giving orders to the humans that were going to fight with the youkai. They were a sorry bunch, most not much older than Sango or myself. I was willing to bet that the men, the real fighters of the village, had stayed behind to defend the farmland while the boys who wanted to make a name for themselves had come to fight with us. I walked over to Sango while Inu Yasha looked over the cadets. I tapped her shoulder and she turned toward me. She looked at her wits end with the group but when she saw me she smiled. He hugged me tightly and I hugged her back. From the concern on her face, I must have really had them all scared- too bad I couldn't remember what happened. Oh well.
"Ready for a break?" I asked and she nodded. "I need a few volunteers for an experiment. Wanna help?" I took out two walkie talkies and raised my eyebrows. Sango took one curiously and Rin came over to see too. I picked two other humans to come join us and called Inu Yasha over. While they watched I explained how to use the walkie talkies they now held. I made sure they were all on the same channel and what the experiment consisted of.
"These are for talking over long ranges. I don't know if they will work inside the castle before we can go any further. Your job is to simply walk about the castle and radio the others. We'll try this at different levels in the castle as well as outside. If this works, we'll do better when we fight!" I said and explained how to use it again because no one had understood it the first time. To demonstrate, I asked Sango to go down the hall way and say something into the walkie talkie. She came through loud and clear over the radio. We grinned at each other and I gave her a spare for Miroku when she saw him.
"Great. Now that we know it will work inside we need to see what the range is. I'm going to go talk with Sesshomaru and find out some more on what we're up against." I saw Rin smiling at me. "No Rin. You stay with Sango or Inu Yasha. Those meanie lords are still there and they are not friendly." I asked Inu Yasha to go downstairs and check out the other youkai and to also keep an eye out for the monk. I grabbed a paper and mechanical pencil from the room we were using to store my stuff and went to talk to Sesshomaru.