Kagome had accepted her lot in life. Her fate, so to speak. She'd accepted that she could see spirits. She accepted that they weren't always easy to look at or to avoid. She accepted that sometimes they were a nuisance. And she accepted that she'd live this way for the rest of her life.
She accepted it because, though she'd spend a good portion of her life beyond the property line of her shrine, she'd spend even more of it within its boundary.
And she was fine with that, because her property was warded against spirits. Within her home and upon its grounds, she never had to deal with them. The ones who were able to wander around couldn't bother her there.
Her grandmother had made certain of that.
Her grandfather strengthened the wards as needed when she was young, and he'd been taught her to do the same.
They'd never yet failed, so she was understandably shocked when, upon entering her room after a shower, her eyes landed upon that same, inhuman spirit from the shiro.
She'd just slid her door closed and turned to her closet when she spotted him. She stalled, eyes widening. Her pulse began to race and her breathing picked up. She felt her hands tremble and clenched a handful of her towel where it laid against her thighs.
Amber eyes penetrated blue and she couldn't help but stare mutely as his brows pulled and his eyes narrowed in contemplation.
"H-how are you here?" She whispered in shocked distress.
His eyes widened briefly, before narrowing again. "So, you can see me," he declared softly, relaxing against the wall and folding his arms into his large kimono sleeves. "I had speculated as much."
Kagome's lips trembled and she pressed them together tightly. She took a deep, calming breath, lifting her chin and glaring at him. "How did you get in here?" She demanded, relieved her voice was steady.
She'd dealt with spirits for a long while now. She was no longer that frightened four-year-old, but a senior in high school.
And this was her home. Her territory. As far as she was concerned, he was trespassing and encroaching upon her privacy and the small freedom she had in her home.
She straightened her spine and glared more deeply.
"Leave," she commanded with a flare of reiki. "Now."
The being smirked at her, his pink tongue running over the sharp edge of his fang!
"Delightful," he murmured, straightening to his full height and walking casually toward her.
She stepped back, hitting the door. "Stay back," she hissed. "What do you want?"
He paused only when he towered over her, that ominous darkness rolling from him in waves. And she suddenly realized what it was she was dealing with. What it was that loomed over her like the predator he was.
"What do I want?" He breathed, his smirk growing as he leaned toward her so that they shared the same air – had he actually needed air. "It has been quite some time since I have tasted power like yours."
His words and voice dripped with hunger, with desire, and Kagome shivered, raising her hands to where the towel was secured at her chest. She gripped it in a white-knuckled grasp.
"Well, youkai, you won't be tasting anything from me," she seethed in a soft voice, glaring up at him with a challenge in her eyes. "I don't know how you broke through the wards, but I'll see it never happens again. This is my house, and you're not welcome here."
To Kagome's horror, the youkai grinned, baring his teeth and those sharp fangs. He pressed both hands against the door on either side of her face and leaned closer still, his lips hovering over her ear.
"On the contrary, little miko, this is my land." His lips brushed her ear and she tensed, her horror growing. "Everything west of the bay belongs to me, and has for centuries. If it was not so, I may not have been able to cross your wards." He drew back, eyeing her. "Not in this form, at least."
Kagome's mind was reeling.
She couldn't wrap her mind around the load he'd just dropped.
And… and he'd touched her. She'd felt his touch.
How? How was it possible?
With trepidation, she looked into his eyes.
"I'll fight," she breathed. "I won't let you hurt me."
He pulled back further, his face apathetic as he observed her. His citrine gaze swept over her from head to toe, and she'd never felt so exposed before.
"Harm you?" He murmured, almost as if to himself. "It is not to harm you that this one desires."
