Author's Note:

I was going over the plot on the train to school. The result? The rating got upped to R. For now, there are few foreseeable lemons but it's R just in case. Citrus is most likely imminent, though not in the first few chapters.

Chapter 2: Escape

Tradition demanded that dancers keep their face perfectly expressionless, like a Noh theatre mask.

However, whenever Kagome felt it was safe, she shot quick glances around the room and grimaced in disgust. As though the whole crazy geisha party wasn't bad enough, most of the men had tented their pants.

Dancing itself wasn't too bad. She'd hid herself in a corner of the dance classrooms, trying to pick up something. It had been hopeless, until Sango suggested she do something with a weapon.

Drawing her arm in a sweeping motion across her chest, the sword following, Kagome smiled behind the cover of her sleeve. Everyone was captivated, but nobody – though they were all fighters – could recognize that it was simply a series of sword-fighting stances, going in slow motion. All she'd done was add a silly fan in her left hand and she'd fooled everyone.

Well, maybe not everyone. Red eyes were fixated onto her sword. The shogun wasn't fooled. She didn't care; she didn't want to impress a man like Naraku.

Lord Sesshoumaru wasn't impressed either. He wore a slight frown, as though he was trying to figure out which chapter of sword techniques she was using.

None of the geisha looked happy at Kagome's improvised dance.

The music started slowing, signalling a finish. Sliding her sword back into its sheath, she snapped her fan shut and slowly exited.

A maid followed her. "They want another dance, Kagome-san." As expected.

Kagome smiled in the dim light. Pulling out a gold leaf hair pin, she turned it, making it glimmer and shine.

"You're a pretty smart girl," said Kagome softly. "Surely you know the price of one of these leaves on the market?"

"I think so..." The maid was confused.

Kagome fingered the leaf, as though pondering something. "How would you like to go out, and dance for them? They would never know the difference, those drunken fools. This leaf could be yours..."

"I'm not sure, madam. Maybe it isn't a good idea. They -"

Sighing a stage sigh, Kagome began to put the leaf away. "It's alright, then. Forget I ever asked. It's only that I'm feeling a bit tired... Never mind, run along, tell them I'll be out shortly."

"But..." The leaf was tempting the maid more than she realized, thought Kagome.

"Never mind, I said. You can go now."

"I'm so sorry to offend Kagome-san," said the maid, bowing. "If I could reverse that..." She reached for the leaf.

"Good girl." Some of Kikyo has rubbed off on me, thought Kagome ruefully. I'm as sneaky and devilish as she is. As the maid left, Kagome turned and hurried downstairs.

Sango was waiting. "You've taken ages!" she whispered. "Kaede's outside, waiting."

"I had trouble getting away," Kagome said apologetically. The street outside the teahouse was deserted. Probably the crowd had eventually given up, and went home. The guards were nowhere to be seen, but there was some rowdy noise coming from a smaller teahouse.

Outside the gate, Kaede emerged from dark shadows. "Slip these on, girls," she said, giving them each a cloak of black cloth. "If anyone comes searching they'll never see us."

Three horses stood patiently, not making even a tiny whinny or snort.

"Let's go," hissed Sango, and off they rode, into the night.

"That geisha is taking forever to appear!" commented Naraku sharply.

"A good thing too; look at them!" said Sesshoumaru mildly. All the men who weren't talking about Kagome were just plain slobbering.

Across the room, Miroku shook his head.

"She's gone," he said to Inuyasha.

"What makes you so sure of that?" Inuyasha asked, not too politely.

"Because it's the perfect escape opportunity. And if she were my sister, she'd be gone."

"So what are going to do about it?"

Miroku smiled. "Say... leave the party and follow them, hoping they haven't gone too far?"

The sky was a deep blue, with only the first few rays of sunlight peeking through from behind dark mountains. The small town before them was silent.

"We'll find an inn and stay," decided Kagome. "We've ridden all night; you all must be tired."

"Not a chance," laughed Sango. That was Sango – she loved her freedom. Given the option, she would choose to ride on rather than stay. But she knew, too, that Kaede could barely keep up with her pace.

"We need to look for work tomorrow too," sighed Kagome. Their money wouldn't last forever.

"Tomorrow," promised Sango as the horses stopped in front of an inn. A sleepy-eyed woman appeared.

"We're full," she yawned.

"Alright, then, thank you," Kagome said and started to turn away, Kaede following.

Sango grabbed them by the arms. "This is standard procedure," she whispered. "I'll handle it." In a loud voice she turned to the woman, a gold leaf appearing in her hands.

"I think the inn just next door will be happy to give us rooms," Sango said amicably.

The woman started, then frowned slightly. Coming to her senses, she plastered a large smile on her face and made room slightly for them in the doorway. "Come in, I must have been mistaken. There are stables in the back for animals, for an extra charge."

Sango snorted. "Yeah, extra charge. I guess then, the other inn would suit our needs better. I'm sure they would never charge for the horses."

In the end, when the mistress had tried to squeeze every cent out of them and failed, she had no choice but to let them in grudgingly.

"Who taught you to do this?" Kagome asked Sango in a low voice as they followed the woman to their room.

"Nobody. But I grew up with the country folks and learned a few tricks," Sango replied. "Remember, I only moved into your estate when we were twelve."

The woman opened a door, showed them inside and left them. It wasn't too bad inside; there was a reasonable amount of space and it was relatively clean.

"Too bad the owner is a bitch," sighed Kagome.

"Yeah. Did you see the way she was sulking, with her face like a, a... I don't know. It's too nasty to describe." Sango dumped their few belongings into one of the drawers provided.

They rolled out the futons stacked in a corner and fell onto them. At least they are soft and warm, decided Sango. If they weren't, she would go pick another quarrel with the owner.

That was, after she slept.

"What makes you so sure she came here?" asked Inuyasha, looking at the town before him. They had left the geisha party soon after Kagome had been discovered missing.

Miroku was more confident. "Where else? I wouldn't head north, that's towards Naraku's territory. Every fool would stay away from there. The east is ruled by Kouga and Hojo. Seriously, wolves are not renown for their hospitality. And Hojo is a new lord, and hasn't yet expanded his territory. The most obvious choice would be to head west. And this is the first town we've come across since heading westward," said Miroku patiently, like he was speaking to a small child.

"Fine, fine. So what do we do?"

"Hang around, dig for news of them. I think we'd hear if someone dressed like Kagome waltzed in and started a new life. And I think she had help. There was no way she could've left the party and assembled a horse or whatever she escaped in, then left. The whole of Gion would be out looking for her by that time. Probably, someone was outside, waiting for her."

"Smart, Miroku," said Inuyasha sarcastically. "A fool could've made that connection."

Miroku didn't look upset. "Let's go find an inn to stay in."

He marched over to the one closest to him and rapped the door.

"What the hell do you want?" yelled a woman from inside and banged open the door, her face twisted into a sour scowl.

"Nice lady," muttered Inuyasha, and stepped inside the same inn three women had entered just a few hours ago.

The next morning, Kagome and Sango had set out to explore their village, and in doign so got caught in a market morning. Around them, vendors swarmed with their wares and goods. At one stall a few chickens had run away; at another, a man had stolen a few apples.

"Hey, at least we can mingle with the crowd," Sango pointed out when Kaede rolled her eyes and scolded them for being so hasty to get out of the inn.

"Uh, bad news," said Kagome, ducking behind Sango. "Look who just came." She saw the same hanyou and priest that had been at the geisha party wandering near them.

"I doubt they'd recognize you," Sango said reassuringly. They were all wearing simple commoner's clothes. "Besides, they were probably half drunk last night."

Kaede begged to differ. It was not every day you saw an old woman with an eye patch accompanied by two girls, one looking like a lady dressed as a maid and the other wielding a huge weapon. She picked up Kagome's hands, soft and white. "Look at these. They have never worked."

"They have, too," cried Kagome indignantly. She didn't just sit around the house giving orders to servants, thank you very much. "Now, where did Sango go?"

"Just around the corner," Sango answered, walking back towards them. "I found this notice." She dangled the piece of paper in front of them.

A full-blown painting of Kagome in apprentice geisha regalia was plastered on the paper.

"You're wanted," said Sango wryly.

Kagome stared at the picture for awhile. It was an uncanny likeness of her.

"Any ideas?" asked Kaede. "People are already beginning to stare." Sure enough, a few passing villagers were staring strangely from Kagome to the notice, back to Kagome again.

"How did they get the notices up so fast?" Sango wondered aloud. Not to mention that it was unusual for geisha houses to put wanted notices up; they always kept runaways hushed up for fear of the publicity. Someone else had to be driving the search, probably someone political. She led them to a grey stone wall. "I think this is the town noticeboard," she said. Other announcements were pasted on it, too.

"Look at this one," Kagome said, tiptoeing and pulling a notice down, grinning widely. "This one's perfect for our job search!"

"Let me see," insisted Sango, taking the announcement.

RECRUITING!!! Strong, young men wanted, to be trained as samurai. Salary will be discussed after a meeting with the commander.

The rest was simply when and where to show up.

"Umm, Kagome," Kaede said, "they want strong young men."

"So?" asked Sango. "We're strong and young. That fits pretty much most of their criteria. Besides, that's a good place to hide."

"My thoughts exactly," added Kagome. "And if we become ninjas, samurai that spy, we get to wear masks. Even better."

"Hey, we could wear masks anyways. Start a trend or something," Sango shrugged.

"Very funny," said Kaede. "It's too dangerous and I won't allow it."

"Of course you'll come with us," Kagome replied. "I mean, a miko in a group of fighters won't be too uncommon. Men get injured. They need medical care, which, of course, mikos provide."

"And I suppose you think you're going to pull this off," huffed Kaede, but Kagome and Sango had already walked off to the recruitment camp.

"State your name and fighting experience," droned a bored little toad. Later, they learned his name was Jaken.

Kagome and Sango wore ninnja masks. Speaking from behind then was proving to be difficult. At least it muffled their voices, making them sound less like girls.

"Tanaka Kohaku," said Sango. "I've been trained as a taijiya."

"Youkai exterminator?" The lord wouldn't like that. Although the man looked healthy enough. Rough work and infantry training would do. The toad scribbled something on a scroll. "You?" he asked, jabbing his writing brush like a knife at Kagome.

"Higurashi Kei," Kagome made up quickly. "I was trained in close combat."

"Close combat?" Jaken didn't like the skinny look of this one either. "Well, you can join Tanaka with the infantry."

Kagome coughed. "Um, close combat, such as fencing..."

"I think I know what close combat is," interrupted the toad. "Now stop holding up the line. The infantry camp is over at the north section of the training grounds. Tonight, your commander Lord Hojo will be inspecting the men. I suggest you be less talkative. Good day." He signalled to the next man to come forward.

"Nice guy," muttered Sango.

"Completely," agreed Kagome sardonically. "Wasn't Lord Hojo at the geisha party?"

"Who knows? Who cares?"

"True," said Kagome, and made her way to the infantry grounds.

Mealtime at the infantry camp was proving a disaster.

"We're eating this?" asked Kagome, looking sick. She held a thick, wobbly mess in a chipped bowl.

"It's supposed to be nutritious," Sango reported, dumping hers into a brook nearby.

A loud cough could be heard before them.

"You do not waste your rations," the same Jaken toad said sternly. "We are training you to protect the lands of your lord, but more importantly, we want you to be prepared for battle. War does not allow you to waste food in this manner."

Kagome was glad she was wearing a mask. If not for it, something vulgar might have slipped out.

"Jaken, stop lecturing," said a young man. He was soft and pale and looked hardly suited for fighting.

"You're the commander person, Hojo, I take it?" asked Kagome without thinking.

"Lord Hojo," hissed Jaken.

Hojo smiled. "Yeah, Hojo. But I'm not really the commander. I'm training you all for Lord Sesshoumaru. He doesn't believe in recruiting samurai, but Jaken is trying to convince him it's the right idea. When Lord Sesshoumaru sees Jaken's progress he'll be pleased."

"I see," said Kagome politely. Hojo looked like a great scholar, and wasn't all that ugly either, but Kagome was guessing he probably weighed less than a sword. She wasn't even sure he knew how to ride a horse without getting thrown off, let alone train infantry.

An army for Lord Sesshoumaru, who did not know of its existence. Kagome could see how it was not going to work.

It was nearly time to close the recruitment bench, but two new men approached Jaken.

"State your name, and fighting skills," droned Jaken, more focused on the two new infantries he'd just recruited, Tanaka and Higurashi. He didn't like them, for some reason.

"I knew it was you!" yelled Inuyasha gleefully, whacking the toad on the head. "Only such a toad would put up a recruiting notice for samurai. Sesshoumaru will have your head, you ugly toad, when he hears what idiotic things you've done." He took the opportunity to deliver another punch to Jaken.

Jaken delivered the coldest glare he could muster in Inuyasha's direction.

"Your imitation of Sesshoumaru is pitiful," pronounced Inuyasha. "Now, who have you recruited today?" He snatched the scroll from Jaken. "Four people?" exploded Inuyasha. "You did better than I thought!"

Miroku, who had been listening, burst out laughing. "Who are they?"

"Tanaka Kohaku... Higurashi Kei... Higurashi sounds familiar." Inuyasha cocked his head to one side, trying to remember.

"That's my last name, you imbecile," Miroku said. "So, Jaken, how are you training your recruits?"

"Lord Hojo is assisting," Jaken answered, looking extremely furious at Inuyasha and Miroku.

"Fool!" exhaled Inuyasha. Lord Hojo was... scholarly on a good day. The other circles called him a coward. They'd better help the idiot Jaken before Sesshoumaru decided to serve up barbecued toad for supper.

Four recruits. Screw searching for Miroku's sister, they would be occupied for awhile now.

End Chap 2