A/N: Everything is at the bottom this time so you can get on with the story ^_~
"Kagome-sama."
She felt a slight shake on her shoulders, then slightly felt someone crawling on her stomach.
"Kagome-sama"
The person continued to shake her shoulders, trying without success to wake her. Finally irritated she opened her eyes in two small slits. She could make out a wavy, blurred form above her but was just too comfortable to get up right now. She closed her eyes and went back to sleep. The shaking continued till she batted the person away with her hand and turned on her side towards the doors. Crawling back on her, she shook her again a couple more times. Kagome ignored it and turned back on her backside, pulling the white fur up around her shoulders more. Now fully mad because she wouldn't wake up and she had been tossed off in the process; the person in general crawled back on her—sitting on her stomach, and crossed her arms to her chest-her brows coming together in a frown. Suddenly her face brightened up in a devious smile. She moved carefully over Kagome to her right ear—then taking a deep breath…
"KAGOME-SAMA!!"
She bolted strait up on the futon, still slightly sleepy but more awake then before. Clutching the white fur in a death grip and blinking her eyes to get the blurriness out, she searched around the room for the culprit who had scared her half to death. Not seeing the person she looked down at her lap, having felt a slight weight there. There was Kitsu lying on her back, smiling at her like nothing had happened—tail swishing back and forth in the air.
"Good morning Kagome-sama"
She looked at the kit like she was crazy, heart beating a mile per second. How could such a small creature have such a loud voice? And to disturb her from her sleep to…
'Wait sleep? When did I fall asleep?'
She let go of her fur cover and rubbed her eyes with her palms. Stretching her limbs above her head, she popped all the kinks out of her back and shoulders. She breathed in calming breaths, trying to soothe the remainder of her racing heart down. Then looking back at the troublemaker in her lap, she picked Kitsu up and set her on the floor beside her futon. Kitsu sat down with her legs crossed and both her hands in front of her. She was leaning towards her but not far enough to fall over. Tilting her small head to look at her, she smelled a strong scent of fear coming off her in waves.
"Kagome-sama I didn't mean to scare you. I just wanted to wake you yes yes. I'm very sorry for scaring you but you just wouldn't wake up. You are a very deep sleeper yes yes?"
She looked at the cub. Her yell had indeed scared her. She did have to admit that she was a deep sleeper sometimes, especially when in such quite surroundings. Holding a hand to her chest, she finally calmed down enough to speak.
"Kitsu, why'd you wake me? You have never done that before. Usually you let me sleep in for as long as I want."
Looking at her with her amber orbs, she smiled so big Kagome could see her sharp canines. Standing up, she clasped her paws together in front of her and jumped up and down happily on her hind paws—hair and outfit bouncing in perfect rhythm around her small body.
"Kagome-sama my onno-shujin finally wants to see you. She has sent me to fetch you to her oooku."
~
"Kirara!"
Looking with her brown eyes, she could see her companion walking towards them; Miroku having moved the mat-grass door frame to the side to let some light into the dark hut. Said fire-cat walked inside the hut battered and bruised, slowly walking over to Sango who was out of the futon and making a stew in the kennel over the fire pit. Her dark brown hair was down and covered her back. She was still bandaged around her chest and right shoulder but she was a lot stronger and able to move around more. She also had a striped pink and white blanket draped around both her shoulders and wrapped around her body to keep the monks wandering eyes off of a certain place on her chest. Kirara dropped down in front of her in pain and fatigue—giving a struggled mew greeting to her. Sango picked her up gently, putting her in her arms, cuddling and stroking her dirtied cream fur absentmindedly.
'Oh poor Kirara. What happened to you?'
Not soon after Inu-Yasha came into the hut not in any better shape. He was leaning on Tetsusaiga like a walking stick, red haori top ripped and torn. He had bad wounds on his arms and upper chest in the shape of claw marks, a medium sized hole in his stomach. Both of his snow white ears was flat against his head, still edgy from what had happened-his hair in a complete mess that matched his appearance. Miroku looked at him after he had finished assessing Kirara with his green eyes. Leaving his staff in the corner he got up to help the wounded hanyou sit down inside. After he got him in, he helped the hanyou to the futon Sango had occupied and made him lie on his back across it. He took Tetsusaiga and laid it next to him-- then moving from him and not saying a word, he went to get Kagome-sama's bag from behind the second mat door located between the main room and Kaeda baba chan's herb room. He came back out and went over to the hanyou--sitting next to him cross-legged. Removing both the red haori top and undershirt, he proceeded to take out the white medical box, opened it, and started to clean and bandage him up—Sango doing the same with Kirara a few inches away from them. While doing his work the monk finally spoke.
"Inu-Yasha what happened out there to cause this?"
His eyes were closed from the burning sensation of the medicine and he turned his head to the side so his sensitive nose wouldn't get too much of the scent in it.
"We were attacked by a possessed black ookami youkai while I was training with Kirara. Usually he would have been easy to take out except he had three jewel shards in his forehead. Kirara helped a lot with weakening him and I finished him with Tetsusaiga, but not without getting some wounds first."
He flinched a little as Miroku continued to rub the medicine on his wounds.
"Monk, get the jewels out of my right haori sleeve and add it to the little collection we still have."
"Hai Inu-Yasha but only after I finish bandaging your wounds. What has been on my mind though is that you never get this seriously wounded when fighting. Is it because Kagome-sama is gone?"
He stared at the wall, eyes holding grief but quickly covering it up before anyone saw.
"Just hurry up and finish monk, by this time tomorrow Kirara and I should be healed. Well Kirara's wounds will be and it will take a couple of days for my stomach wound but we will continue our search for Kagome then since Sango can move around now and I will be fine enough to walk."
Miroku did as he was told, helping the hanyou turn over to his back so he could spread medicine over the wound and bandage it. He knew that for Inu-Yasha the answer to his question was yes.
~
Kagome stared at the kit with wide brown eyes. Finally she was going to meet the mysterious onno-shujin. Standing up from off the futon she walked over to the doors wanting to get this meeting over with and find out why she was brought here in the first place. She had noticed when she got up that her yukata was all wrinkled from her sleep and that her black hair was a mess but she didn't care. Right when she was about to open the doors she felt a tug at the edge of the yukata.
"Kagome-sama you have to get ready to meet my onno-shujin. You can not meet her like you are. She will be very disappointed yes yes. Everyone who goes to her has to be presentable."
She stopped her pursuit of going to Kitsu's onno-shujin and let the cub push her by the legs back to the futon. Sitting back down with her legs to the side of her body, she watched to kit with careful eyes. Happy she had got her to stay, Kitsu ran over on her four paws to the right corner of where the doors were. There had been a white screen placed there—an elaborate design decorating the front in a multiple display of colors. She went behind it and came back around with her uniform held over her head by her small arms. It looked better than before. All the rips had been sewn up and it had been washed and looked as close to perfection as one could get.
"Here you go Kagome-sama. I was the one who changed you into the yukata since this was ruined. I hope you like it. You do like it yes yes?"
She walked back over to the futon with ease while holding her hands out with the uniform. She nodded her head up and down looking for her approving smile. Kagome took the uniform from her and held it up piece by piece. She was very happy she had it back and that it was fixed. Setting the pieces down on the end of the futon she picked up Kitsu and gave her a gigantic hug.
"Thank you Kitsu. I absolutely love it."
She giggled; glad she had made Kagome-sama happy. Getting out of the hug she bounded towards the doors.
"Now you stay here Kagome-sama. I have to go get your bath ready and then after you finish washing and getting prepared, we will go see my onno-shujin yes yes."
"Yoshi"
With that Kitsu left to go get her bath ready.
Kagome sat there on the futon thinking after Kitsu had left. She had been doing that a lot lately when she had failed to escape without getting caught. She laid back down on her side, elbow resting on the pillow and head resting on her hand. With her other hand she started to draw designs on the futon with her finger.
'Why did she want me? Why am I so important? Sure like the demon said I am the reincarnate of the Priestess Kikyo though I don't think of myself as such. I'm me and that's all to it. Besides, It's not like I'm really good at shooting a bow and arrow yet I am getting better."
She stopped her doodling on the futon and reached her hand inside her yukata. She pulled out the Shikon no Tama fragment she had on the small beaded chain. She held the small jewel piece in between her thumb, middle and index fingers; while it glowed its pinkish-purple light on them. As she stared at it, she could have sworn she saw a small movement inside it. She continued looking at it, its reflection in her two chocolate orbs, while she started to think again.
'I wonder why they didn't take it away from me. I mean usually all types of demons would try and take it from me and yet they had the perfect chance and left it. This jewel, this thing that has caused so much pain and suffering to everyone I've meet has the power to do good or evil. So if this onno-shujin was evil, she would have ordered me dead and took the jewel. So does this mean she's good? And if so does this mean she has something planned for me? What if she does? What could she possibly…'
She was cut off when she heard the door start to move open. She put the jewel back inside her yukata and sat up on the futon the way she had been when the kit had left. Kitsu walked inside and looked at Kagome. Something was wrong, she could barely smell it but she had a weird scent coming off her. Ignoring it she went up to her smiling while grabbing her hand with both her small ones at the same time.
"Come Kagome-sama it is time to get ready. The bath is all nice and ready and my onno-shujin had some of her potions put into the water. I will make you smell all nice yes yes. I will take your clothes to you when you are done. All you have to do is ring the bell and I will come yes yes. By the time you are done, you will look ready to see my onno-shujin."
As she had been explaining all the procedures to Kagome, she had dragged her through a series of halls out to a bath house. It looked better than the ones you usually saw in the Sengoku Jidai. On the outside it looked like a small brown hut, but on the inside it was bigger than it appeared. In the middle of the ground was a man-made bathing hole, filled with steaming water that had been fired and brought in bucket by bucket—two or three steps leading into it. To Kagome it looked like it was a small version of a hot spring just with a wooden floor around it. There was a wooden bucket on the far side of the hut, hot steam rising from it. There were two cloths near it on the left side; one was to wrap around herself after her bath and the other one which was on the rim of a wooden bucket was to wash herself with. Next to it on the right was a silver bell and a brown brush; on the right wall was a medium sized window so some light could get into the room. It was covered with what looked to her, a light green silk curtain. The room smelled like rose petals, a nice simple scent to ones senses-especially to those of demons. She stood there looking around the space. Kitsu lead her to the bucket then told her she would be back when she was ready. Kagome turned away from admiring the bath hole to watch Kitsu leave through the door. Turning back to the bucket after the door closed she got ready. Stripping out of the yukata, she stooped down to the bucket-balancing on her feet. She took the cloth and dunked it under the hot water, rung it out, and then wiped her body with it. When she was done with the task of thoroughly cleansing herself she grabbed her first towel, bell, and brush then went over to the hole. Walking on the steps carefully she place the items on the edge then sunk into the warm water up to her head, her black locks floating on the water behind her. She let the water relax her muscles for a few minutes in serenity. After she was done she got out of the water, hair clinging to her back, and wrapped the towel around her body—drying herself off at the same time. She rung the silver bell and waited for Kitsu. Soon the kit came in with her uniform for she had been waiting outside the hut in order to hear the bell. She left her to finish getting ready. Kagome slipped on her garments-- happy to have them finally back on her, and ran the towel through her hair once more to get out the remaining water. She picked up the brush and ran it through her hair in soft motions, freeing the mass of locks of any tangles. After she had felt that her hair was as good as it was going to get she stepped outside to see Kitsu waiting for her. Feeling refreshed and clean Kagome happily walked after Kitsu back into the main shrine building, fully anxious to be meeting the person who had brought her here. The two walked through the interior of the building to two doors that led to the onno-shujin oooku. The doors were made to be slid open and were of white screen with wooden frames around them painted light blue. Kitsu went down on her knees and leaned her body down forward—arms sticking out on each side of her body as she bowed. She kept her head up a ways so she could talk, some off her orange hair falling over her shoulders. She spoke in a low yet loud voice to the person on the other side.
"My onno-shujin. I have Kagome-sama here as you have instructed me to do."
A soft voice answered her call
"Bring her in"
~
In a dark room of the castle sits a lonely figure. He is covered in the darkness, a dark purple miasma mist surrounding his castle in a fog; all the plants and crops dead or dieing. We can barely see that he is sitting on a futon behind the screen door—one leg up holding his arm the other leg tucked underneath the first, when a dark red light eminates from his body outlining it so that only his shadowed form is the only thing you can see. His head is down looking at the end of the futon, some of his wavy dark hair is put up in a ponytail—the rest framing his shoulders down to his waist; his body dressed in the clothes of a lord. He is reciting something under his breath over and over from a scroll laid out neatly in front of him…
Protected yet hidden
Controls yet controlled
Powerful yet gives power…
His mouth turns up in a wicked grin; eyes glowing a dull bright red to magnify his malice features. When he speaks, his cold voice sends a chill down your back, his words holding a much deeper and sinister meaning from how he says it.
"I have finally found you after all this time."
~TBC
R&R plez ^_^
A/N:
*O_o peeks from behind computer chair * I'm so sorry this couldn't be out sooner * hides behind it again* don't kill me kay cuz I have good reasons.
One I've been very busy with tons of work. Another thing is the sudden case of writers block that I suddenly happen to get regarding this chapter but lets look on the bright side, I have a really neat chapter already written for later in the story! and my other stories got some work done on them! The progress is in my author's page.
I really tried to get this out sooner, really I did. I will try really hard on the next one but I cant promise anything. I know there are probably some grammar mistakes but I will later repost this with the corrections. Also I forgot to mention three important facts.
Number 1 when kagome was kidnapped she had a small jewel fragment around her neck.
Two in my story the inu gang has miroku or sango protect a very small amount of shards incase something happens to Kags.
Third is that kags bag was a Kaeda's hut.
That's all for now. Ciao till later and plz R&R ^_^
Shout outs: I would like to thank Tiger of the Wind1 for letting me Rubi-Yue and Kitsu. Thanks ^_^
New words
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Ookami- one way to say wolf
Yoshi – All right!
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No new music for this chapter. I couldn't think of any good songs for it. Till later!
