Notes: Okay, so I'm really really sorry it's been so long since I've updated. I'm lazy, uninspired, and inconsiderate. I want to finish this story so badly, but real life is getting in the way... I can't promise you guys anything. I don't have any excuses - I'm only human and I apologize! I understand if you hate me forever, but I hope you continue to read the story anyway.
Sango makes her first appearance here and I'm not too happy with her character. Any suggestions you have would help a lot. I'm sort of resigned to the fact that she's going to be ooc for the whole fic and there's not much I can do about it. I hope to work her in at least two or three more times after this and I have one definite scene planned for the end so I'd like to feel more satisfied about writing her.
The next chapters are going to be hard for me to write and I might try to gloss over them a little so I can get to the good stuff. Let me know if they suck a lot so I can try to rewrite them. Thanks so much for all your reviews... I don't deserve them! They are what kept me from completely abandoning this story, and I'm continuing it for you guys. I hope it's worth the wait... I hope I manage to get more chapters up in a reasonable period of time. Ja ne minna. You all rock!
Chapter 20: Instant Attraction.
The ride to the train station was relatively painless for Kagome, who listened to Miroku's lighthearted babble and observed Rin's quickly returning cheerfulness with relief. She firmly put Inuyasha out of her mind, promising herself that she would work on resolving her plans for his future later, and acknowledging that there was nothing she could do at the moment to help him.
She was still discomforted by the look of anger and almost betrayal she'd seen in his eyes earlier. Kagome was unable to begin to fathom what it could mean. With a sigh, she pulled into the train station and parked the car as close to the main platform as she could get.
The three friends got out of the car and Rin checked her watch. "The train should be her in about five minutes," she told them as they climbed the stairs to wait on the wooden benches next to the tracks. There were very few people around, and the air was clear and cool, with a bit of the nip of approaching winter that Kagome had become accustomed to while living in New England.
Miroku, after performing a perfunctory scan for members of the opposite sex, settled down on a bench in a manner that Kagome could only describe as subdued. Lectures had never seemed to deter him from his behavior before, but Kagome thought that perhaps she and Rin had finally managed to talk some sense into him.
Putting Miroku out of her mind, Kagome sat down next to her friend, putting a comforting arm around her. "How are you doing?" she asked, still concerned despite the other girl's seeming recovery.
Rin shrugged noncommittally, a shadow flitting over her face. "Better than Sesshoumaru," she said shortly, effectively killing the conversation. Kagome sighed and sat back to wait for the train.
It wasn't long before the low rumbling could be heard in the distance, and Kagome looked up to watch the massive train roll lazily into the station. The three remained seated as a few passengers exited the train and walked briskly toward waiting taxis or cars in the parking lot. Kagome watched somewhat apathetically for a young woman to come off the train, but the doors closed before anyone fitting the description of Rin's slave exited. Kagome glanced at Rin, opening her mouth to comment, but Rin was looking down the track at the end car of the train.
Kagome closed her mouth quickly, stifling the quick flash of anger at the realization that slaves traveled separately and in a small, uncomfortable car at the end of the train.
There was only one inhabitant of the car that slaves were relegated to, and Kagome watched in silence as a small figure descended to the platform, pausing to reach back inside the car to retrieve a gigantic weapon shaped like a boomerang. Kagome was momentarily impressed by the obvious strength it took to wield the impressive weapon and the apparent effortlessness with which the young woman did so. Rin had finally risen to her feet and was walking to meet her, and Kagome quickly followed suit.
The girl had a classic beauty, Kagome noted as they approached her. Her black hair was pulled up off her face in an elegant twist, and intelligent, wary dark eyes were kept locked on the ground in front of her as the group drew nearer.
Kagome glanced back at Miroku, and was startled by the look on his face. The normal infatuation was there, but it was accompanied by something close to bedazzlement. Before Kagome could stop him he had moved forward to cut off Rin and take both the girls hands. He tried to look earnestly into her face, which was difficult when both of her eyes were still firmly planted on the ground.
"Light of my eyes!" he declared passionately, and Kagome held off a resigned sigh, thinking sardonically that clearly she'd been wrong in thinking she and Rin had had any effect on Miroku's promiscuousness whatsoever. "Your beauty is beyond comparison – you've made me blind to reason. I have no choice but to ask you to bear my child."
"Baka!" Kagome shouted at him, smacking him across the back of his head. "How can you ask that of someone who can't refuse you?" The girl herself had no response, but Kagome was certain that she must be thinking what a lot of lunatics lived in Boston.
Rin gave Miroku a disgusted glance as she pried his hands off of her new slave and smiled reassuringly at her. "I'm sorry about him. I'm Rin, your new master, and this is Kagome." She knelt and touched the ground at their feet and Kagome winced and looked away. "You can stand," Rin told her. "We'll be heading home now. Is that all you have with you?" She gestured at the boomerang.
"Yes," The girl responded quietly.
"We'll have to put it on top of the car," Rin mused, reaching to take it from the girl and staggering under the weight. "Miroku, help me with this!"
"Of course," he said, eager to show off his prowess in front of his latest obsession. Unfortunately for him, the boomerang was nearly too much for both of them together, and Kagome couldn't hold back her giggle as the two tottered toward the car, struggling not to drop the heavy weapon.
She turned to smile at the girl beside her now that they were alone. "I'm Kagome," she said, having learned that the best way to get through the reservations slaves had about masters was sheer normality. "What's your name?"
The girl couldn't repress the startled glance she threw at Kagome. When Kagome only smiled reassuringly rather than berating her for her lapse in control, she replied, "Sango." There was more wariness in the tone now, as if she were suspecting some kind of trick.
Kagome nodded politely. "It's nice to meet you. Did you have a good trip?" The question was at random, and the girl gave her another strange look. Kagome didn't blame her, but at least she was thawing out.
"The trip was… fine. Long." They lapsed into silence. Sango surprised Kagome by speaking abruptly. "Are you a Higurashi?"
Kagome blinked. "Yes… how did you know?"
"I know your mother. She tried to help my brother and I once… It was a long time ago." Sorrow and bitterness colored Sango's tone, and Kagome couldn't help but ask.
"Your brother? Is he a slave too?"
Sango nodded jerkily. "We were separated when we were sold into slavery. I don't know where he is now, or even if he's still alive."
"That's horrible!" Kagome whispered, icy fingers of horror touching the nape of her neck as she imagined a similar separation from her own little brother. "That must have been…" She trailed off, full of empathy for this girl. "I'm sorry." The words felt inadequate, but there was nothing Kagome could do. She mentally berated herself for her fatalistic attitude, resolving to look into the matter later. "What was his name?" she asked.
"Kohaku. Your mother tried to intercede but it was too late."
Kagome winced. If her mother had been unable to help Sango and her brother it seemed very unlikely that Kagome would be able to do so. But she had to try.
"Hey!" Called Rin from the car where she and Miroku had finished latching the boomerang to the top of the car. "Are you coming Kagome?"
Kagome filed her newest resolution away with all the rest and smiled ruefully at her new friend. "I guess we better go." Suddenly feeling as though she had to give the girl some kind of hope she touched her arm, a pained look in her eyes. "Sango… Don't – " She broke off in frustration. What could she possibly say to this girl? Don't lose hope? Don't give up? Everything she could think of sounded as trite and empty and useless as her apology earlier. She couldn't even begin to understand what this girl had suffered through. How could she presume to offer her hope?
"Yes?" Sango was staring at her with wide, clear brown eyes, expectant yet cautious. Kagome's relation to the woman who had tried to help her obviously won her points in the slave's eyes and she was quick to see her as a possible ally. Her brother was her driving force, the hope that kept her going, and in Kagome she must have seen the potential for... something.
Kagome shook her head. "Nothing." They walked together toward the car in companionable silence. "Stay clear of Kikyo," Kagome warned Sango quietly before they were in hearing range. "Rin's older sister. She's dangerous."
Sango nodded almost imperceptibly. "Thank you."
"Don't
thank me," said Kagome, feeling as if the weight of a thousand lives were
on her shoulders. Don't thank me. I don't deserve it yet.
@@@
Now back to the even more serious stuff... and back to Inuyasha, who I've left all alone for this whole chapter.
