Title: Chosen and Shunned
Rating: PG-13 and R at times for violence, language and sexual implications.
Summary: (AU) Kagome was not a normal girl, not leading a normal life. However, when Giles and Spike show up and her flat in London, God seems intent of making her even more abnormal, if possible...Of course, add in the accidental murder of a Death Eater in King's Cross, and Kagome may never get a peaceful day again.
Disclaimer: Copyright for Inuyasha goes to Rumiko Takahashi and this author does not get any profit from this story.
Author(ess): bluefuzzyelf
Chapter Two
"No, no, no, like this!" Kagome kicked out. Avery repeated her move. "Yeah! You feel that? That's the way it's supposed to be."
Buffy walked over to Jaime. "Your right hook is a bit high. Yeah, that's it."
They were in Inuyasha's basement. Well, the apartment basement really, but he rented it out as well. He had set it up like a gym.
"Max, a little higher. Knee, kidney, head. No, bit more. Yes!" Kagome walked over to Sango and watched her. She nodded and moved on.
The girls were all very good. Jaime had a bit of trouble with punches and jabs, resorting to her legs more often. Avery was just the opposite, fancying her fists. Max used a mix of moves Kagome had never seen before, very effective. Sango had no problem using everything and anything on her body. She looked as if she'd been in martial arts training since she was small/
"Where did you all learn to fight?"
Jaime looked up. "My brother."
"My father," said Sango softly.
Avery bit her lip. "No one. I just went at the bag every night." Kagome nodded. That explained her lack of finesse. She was strong, and hit in the right places, but her moves weren't very graceful. Not that it mattered in a real fight.
Max rolled her neck. "I lived in a tough neighborhood."
"You're all very good."
"But you need work." Kagome whipped around. Inuyasha leaned against the doorframe, his bandanna off. The girls stared at his ears. Max looked like she wanted to pet them. They sat on the top of his head, little dog ears. Fluffy and white. They were pierced all the way up, a little hoop at the top of the left one. "Jaime, your defense needs work. Avery, your attacks are good, but messy. Max, is it? You're gonna need to work on defense as well. The hits these guys land are gonna hurt much more that the stuff you're used to in your old neighborhood.
"Sango, you're really good. Let me spar you." Kagome's head flew up.
"Inuyasha." He gave her a reassuring look.
"Don't worry. What do you want to use?" He directed the last at Sango and waved his hand towards the wall of weapons to the right. Sango raised her eyebrow at using real weapons, but picked up a thin sword, strong and sharp, but light. Inuyasha hefted his regular sparring sword, a broad heavy one. "Kagome? Could you?"
Kagome nodded, realization dawning on her face. Inuyasha held his blade towards her and she bent over the edge, placing her hands lightly on it. She let a bit of power seep out, creating a defensive barrier on it. "There." Inuyasha drew it across his own hand, eliciting gasps from the onlookers. No blood was drawn. "Good. Can you do Sango's?" Kagome nodded and repeated to process.
"Now, these won't cut, but they'll still hurt. I want you to come after me like you want to kill me Sango. "
Sango nodded, a bit apprehensive.
They clashed. Kagome watched, worried, biting her lip. Inuyasha wouldn't use his full strength, would he? She hoped he would be careful.
Buffy watched, a bit angry. He was a demon! Sango wasn't going to win the spar! But then, she realized, that was the point. She had to fight the way she would if it was a real fight. If she couldn't win the sparshe wasn't ready for the really big bads.
The fight was short, only about ten minutes before Inuyasha brought Sango down with a well placed kick and brought his sword to her neck. He flicked the sword away from her throat and helped her up.
"That was good. Just.you thought too much. That's the way you're trained, but it won't do you any good out there. They will use anything to get to you; they fight dirty. So, fight dirty back." He spoke to all of them. "Kagome? I noticed you weren't getting much of a workout. Wanna dance?"
Buffy started. He reminded her of Spike when he had said the same to her. Then she frowned. If Inuyasha took out Sango that easily, then what would he do to Kagome? She wasn't exactly the strongest looking person in the world.
"Wait! Inuyasha, I don't think that's a good idea."
Inuyasha snorted. "She can take it."
"But-"
"It's okay, B." Kagome pulled her hair into a quick braid, flipping it over her shoulder. "I'm gonna enjoy this."
Inuyasha grinned.
The two fighters circled each other, neither holding a weapon. They danced around each other. Kagome jumped in with a flying kick aimed at his head. Inuyasha blocked and ducked. The two collided again, moves melting into each other, both moving so fast it was hard to distinguish separate moves.
Kagome feigned to the left, narrowly missing a kick aimed for her head that would have left her dazed. Inuyasha pulled off a sweeper, bringing his foot around to the back of her knees, catching Kagome off guard. She went down, but before he could place a foot on her windpipe, she kicked out with her foot, bringing him down with her. The fighters panted, staring each other down. They jumped away at the same time, crouching. Kagome knew his moves, his weaknesses. Right before he kicked out, he always left his right side open. Kagome ducked the kick and punched at his kidney. He let out an oomph, but brought his leg around and kneed her in the back of the head. Both fighters fell.
"Okay," Kagome panted, "I think that's enough."
"Uh huh," agreed Inuyasha, gulping in great breaths of air.
"I will never understand how you fight with your hair down." Kagome rolled over, flicking stray hairs away from her face.
Inuyasha grinned, his fangs glinting in the low light. "Practice."
Kagome rolled to her feet and took in the stunned looks on her companion's faces. "What?"
Buffy blinked. "How old are you?"
"Seventeen."
"Sixteen."
"Inuyasha! It's only a month away, can't I get away with saying seventeen?!"
"No."
"Prat."
"Keh."
"You're only sixteen?" Kagome turned back to Buffy at her incredulous tone.
"Er, yeah."
"Well, that's good, so am I!" Jaime said happily. Avery shook her head exasperatedly and ruffled Jaime's hair.
"I thought you were twenty or something!" said Max.
"Well, I've always been told I look older than I am."
Buffy was troubled. When Kagome was fighting, there was a look in her eyes Buffy knew all too well. A sixteen year old should not have that look.
The rest of that morning's workout went well. Inuyasha left to check on Shippou and Miroku, and Kagome helped pack up.
"So, how do you guys know each other?" Sango asked as they went back to Kagome's flat.
"Well, I met Inuyasha a couple of years ago. I was only fourteen, but I had been attacked by a couple of demons. He saved my life. " Kagome's expression was fond, a small smile appearing. "I took an immediate liking to him. We found out together about my powers after I almost fried him when he accidentally walked in on me in the shower. He started training me."
"Why did he train you?"
"I asked him to. All these demons were suddenly seeking me out, and it was because of my powers. They must've awakened when I was attacked. Plus, I think he wasn't too keen on getting purified by accident.
"We got really close. He lived with me for a while, until I could defend myself. He introduced me to Shippou and Miroku, who work with him.
"Miroku finds information, where demons have been attacking, where nests are. Inuyasha and I patrol together, usually every night, but these last two nights he's been alone. I think he misses my company."
"Shippou's young though, isn't he? How'd he get into this?"
"See, what we're doing is looking for a demon named Naraku. He killed Shippou's parents fifty years ago, and also took someone from Inuyasha's life. He's never really told me whoAnyway, Naraku also killed Miroku's grandfather and father with a curse. I'm just in it because this guy is a bastard."
"Fifty years!?!"
Kagome laughed. "Avery, demons don't age the way we do. Shippou, though still a kit in demon years, is around eighty. Anyway, Naraku disappeared sixteen years ago, right round when I was born. We're not sure what happened, where he is, but we keep looking."
"Eighty years?!?"
"Yes, Avery, eighty years."
"How old's Inuyasha, then?" Jaime asked, looking particularly interested.
"Well, I think he said he was born around 1696, but I'm not sure."
Avery, Jaime, Sango and Max's mouths dropped open. Buffy looked mildly shocked.
That night was their first patrol together. Inuyasha had ordered Miroku and Shippou to stay behind, to their dismay. He had told them, irritably, to "play cards or something" and keep out of trouble.
He knocked on Kagome's door.
"Sango, could you get that?"
"Sure!" Sango walked to the door and let Inuyasha in. He looked around.
"You guys ready yet?"
"Almost." He jumped, startled. Kagome had appeared behind him.
"Don't do that." He complained, one hand over his heart.
"Sorry." Kagome replied absently, flipping her hair into a ponytail. Max bounced up to them, dressed in stretchy jeans and a red hooded sweatshirt. Between that and her vivid green hair, she looked rather like a Christmas decoration. "Wotcher, Inuyasha!"
"Hey Max." Avery was the next to walk up, in brown pants and a black t shirt. Then Jaime, in all black, like Kagome and Sango. Buffy walked out of the bathroom in red leather pants and a black long sleeved shirt. She carried a crossbow and a stake in her back pocket. Sango had two wakizashis, Max had a few stakes, Avery had Kagome's arm guards on and Jaime brandished a couple of daggers.
"Let's go." Buffy said, and they filed out into the night.
"Now," said Kagome quietly, "You guys have fought demons before, but the first one we come on, let me and Yash handle it, so you can watch."
The girls murmured their assent. A few more moments of silence, and Kagome sighed. She sent out a tendril of power, and waited.
She didn't have to wait long. Two seconds later, a rat youkai attacked Inuyasha. Kagome delivered a quick hit to the head, and Inuyasha sank his claws into the rat's stomach.
There was a chorus of "Ewww"'s from the girls behind them. Kagome giggled.
"There, you see? Most of the demons we fight look kinda like that. Large animals. Very large animals."
The slayers were congratulating Kagome and Inuyasha, inspecting the carcass and chatting animatedly with each other.
It happened so fast, no one could have seen it coming. It struck Sango first, raking it's claws down her back. She screamed, and was the first to fall. Another attack came from the shadows, slashing Jaime's leg. Avery threw a knife and they heard a howl of pain. Razor claws hit Avery next, raking down her arms, rendering her attacks useless.
Buffy stabbed into the dark and felt her stake hit flesh. Another scream of agony. Max kicked out where Buffy had hit it. A sweep from the monster's leg knocked them back.
Kagome narrowed her eyes. I can't feel it. It has no aura. She exchanged a glance with Inuyasha, and they split up, each taking to the shadows. Inuyasha felt the tingle of Kagome's magic descend on him. He moved within the dark, ears perked for any sound.
He heard a slithering sound and slashed. Blood spattered onto the ground. Kagome struck out with her sword, sliding it across bone. Something large and fuzzy smacked her in her ribs and into a wall.
"Kagome!" Her magic slid off him, and his eyes glowed with an unearthly light. He swung out with his claws, blades of energy slicing through the monster. "Fucking bastard!"
He continued to slash at it, driving it into the light. When it finally stepped into the alley and away from the shadows, Inuyasha's jaw almost dropped.
It was a huge spider, black and furry. It's eight eyes blinked down at the half demon. Little clicking noises were heard from the vicinity of it's mouth, where it's pincers were clacking together.
It lunged at Inuyasha, but Inuyasha, able to see his adversary, struck out and cut off a leg. The spider stumbled, and Inuyasha lopped off another.
He did not stop until the beast was dead on the ground, limbs scattered everywhere and it's eyes gouged out.
Kagome came to him, one arm over her stomach.
"Kagome!" He rushed to her. "Are you alright? Anything broken?"
"If it is, it'll just heal in a couple of days. Oh, don't look at me like that. We have to take care of the others."
The injuries were not fatal, by any means. Jaime was limping around, Sango refused to stay down, Max had some bruised ribs, and Avery was lamenting the fact that she couldn't pick anything up. Buffy was fine, as was Kagome. Inuyasha sustained many little scratches, but they were all superficial. That didn't stop Kagome from hovering around him like a mother hen, however.
Kagome wondered what the monster had been. It was too large for a spider demon, and it had no human traits. Inuyasha told her somewhat irritably to just be glad it was dead.
Miroku walked into the den room in his flat, carrying a pot of tea. Shippou followed with mugs. Kagome and Inuyasha had decided to take the girls to their flat, as Kagome's didn't have enough supplies for a bunch of injured girls.
He doled out tea, amiably pushing Sango back into her chair. She looked like she wanted to get back up and smack him, but he shoved a mug into her hands, and she had to hold still for fear of spilling scalding tea all over herself.
Jaime took her cup, batting her eyelashes at the handsome demon slayer. He grinned indulgently. Kagome went by him into the kitchen, smacking him as she did so. He winced.
"Whaat?"
"I saw that."
"What?"
"That look."
"What look?"
Kagome looked at him, her eyes narrowed. Jaime giggled. Miroku sighed and shook his head, moving away and handing Inuyasha a mug.
The phone rang. Miroku groaned. "Ugh. Shippou, can you get that?"
"Yeah." Shippou walked over to the phone and answered it.
"Hello?" There was a pause as Shippou's eyes got wide. "Turn on the TV!" he said to Inuyasha. Inuyasha picked up the remote and flicked it on.
"Channel?"
"Five." Shippou had hung up the phone and sat down next to Inuyasha as the TV started blaring.
"Oh, bloody hell," Inuyasha said, his face pale. Kagome frowned and sat next to him.
The images on the TV were horrific. Death, blood, screams. A giant spider, like the one that had attacked them not so long ago. It crawled menacingly through the streets, snatching up humans and eating them, clicking it's pincers, stepping on cars and anything else in it's way.
"Jesus Christ, we need to get over there! Where is it?"
"Nearing King's Cross station."
"Shit. Let's go." Inuyasha got up and opened a chest behind the sofa, arming himself with knives, guns and even a very large claymore. Kagome followed him, hopping over the couch and strapping a significant amount of sharp objects to her belt. Inuyasha strung a belt of ammo over his chest as Kagome fit two guns in holsters on her thighs.
Miroku picked up a crossbow, but Inuyasha snatched it away. "You're not going."
"What? Yash, I need to! You can't do this by yourself!"
"Yes I can. You have to stay here with Shippou and the girls." Buffy stood up.
"I'm coming."
Inuyasha gave her a withering glance. "No, you aren't."
"I'm the slayer. This is my job. I'm coming." Her tone was final, and Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Whatever. You die, not my problem."
Kagome smacked him. "Let's go! There are people out there, getting killed! Miroku, can you work on PR? Feed something to the media. "Shippou, I want you to track this thing down. Tell us where it came from, and if it's going anywhere specific.
"Jaime, Avery, Max and Sango, I need you to help too. Go volunteer with the wounded. You all have basic medical skills, and they're going to need all the help they can get.
"Now, let's go kill this son of a bitch."
Inuyasha nodded and strode to the door, Kagome and Buffy right behind him.
They found the giant spider right outside King's Cross. Buffy got in the first shot, firing her crossbow at it, cursing when it bounced right off it's hide.
"Go for the belly and the eyes!" Kagome nodded curtly and fused some of her power into one of her knives, throwing it straight at the underside of the beast. It hit, and the creature screamed shrilly.
The pain made it go wild, stomping on everything in sight.
No one could tell, afterward, how it got into the train station, but by then it didn't really matter.
They followed it. People were screaming and running all around them, sometimes directly at the spider. Inuyasha had to catch some and throw them back the other way. He swung the claymore, hitting the creature's leg. Unlike the last spider, this one was obviously more resilient. Inuyasha damaged the leg, but didn't but it off. He refrained from shooting bolts of energy at it, considering there were still people around.
Buffy had been continuously shooting at the creature, and there were now a significant number of arrows lodged in it's belly. The spider turned on her, pincers clicking. He bent and bit Buffy on the arm, eliciting a loud scream from the slayer.
Kagome narrowed her eyes and grabbed Buffy's discarded crossbow, aiming it and firing an arrow full of her power at the beast. The arrow had so much power in it that it glowed a ghostly blue. The creature turned it's attention to Kagome.
Inuyasha threw caution to the wind and send blades of energy at the thing's legs, effectively cutting them off. The body fell to the ground, and Kagome took an arrow, stabbing it into all eight of the spider's eyes, covering herself and Inuyasha with a layer of dark blood and goo.
The giant spider screamed one last time and died.
"Oh, gross." Kagome grimaced and tried to wipe some of the blood of her. "That's disgusting."
Inuyasha chuckled. He made a very funny picture, bits of white hair showing through the dark gore, his gold eyes glinting.
Suddenly, a very loud voice shouted something that sounded like "Stupefy!" and a red bolt of light caught the hanyou in the back. Kagome screamed.
Inuyasha fell, his eyes still open. Behind him stood a man in black robes and a hood. His face was masked and he pointed a stick of wood at Kagome.
Kagome immediately acknowledged the new threat and put up a barrier. Just in time, too, because the hooded man shouted again, and a green bolt of light headed towards her. There was an odd rushing noise in her ears that stopped when the light hit her shield. Kagome fired her crossbow just as another voice from behind her, considerably younger, yelled. Another bolt of light whizzed past her and it and the arrow hit simultaneously. He fell.
Kagome narrowed her eyes. She spun about and grabbed the newcomer by the throat. She was slightly surprised to find that is was a boy around her age, but she did not release her hold.
"Fix him," she hissed dangerously.
The boy gagged. A hand came to rest on Kagome shoulder, and she looked up to find no less than four people grouped around her. The man with his hand on her shoulder was old, his long white beard and hair swaying gently in the wind that was coming in through the hole the monster had made in the wall. He wore a pair of half moon spectacles, and his eyes were an impossible shade of blue.
A girl her age, maybe younger, was having some trouble holding back a tall redhead, who looked like he would charge at her given the chance.
"Please put Harry down, my dear."
Kagome curled her lip. "I am not your dear," she said, enunciating her words. "I want you to fix him, or you will find yourself out of a companion."
The old man sighed and nodded. He pointed a stick of his own at Inuyasha and said, "Ennervate!".
Inuyasha groaned and sat up. "What the hell-?"
Kagome let the boy go, shoving him away and running to Inuyasha. "Jesus, you scared the bloody hell out of me."
"I scared you? What about me? All of a sudden, I black out, and I wake up to find you hovering nearby, trying to choke a bloke to death."
Kagome shot a glare at the grouped people. "What the hell is going on? What are those little sticks? Who was that man? What did he do to Inuyasha? And why the hell do you guys have weird auras?"
"Please, one question at a time," said the old man, one hand raised in placation. "My name is Albus Dumbledore, and we have much to talk about."
A/N: Heheh. Don't worry, I'm working on the next chapter already. I'm on a roll. I just thought this a good place to stop.