"The Beginning of Tomorrow"
Chapter Six
The Wind User's Discovery
By Kelly O'Connor
The wind rustled in the treetops around the Higurashi shrine as the sun crept up the horizon; the signal of the start of another day in Tokyo. The skies were colored with pastel-morning hues as one particular woman went on a morning outing in a very unusual way.
Despite the fact that the man who had held her captive as his unwilling servant had been dead for almost five hundred years, Kagura still sometimes felt the need to relish the freedom she had gained upon his defeat. Thus, many times when it was still early and those out would mistake her for a large bird, Kagura found herself flying atop her great white feather just to relax herself.
The breeze blew through her tied back hair as the female youkai swerved the white feather to avoid an incoming gust of wind.
"Hmm?" Kagura wondered out loud; as she paused above the Higurashi shrine. She could discern loud arguing below.
The black haired youkai wasn't one to normally spy, but with those voices, she felt a small amount of youki. Being that there were very few youkai still alive in the modern era, Kagura was familiar with most that currently resided in Tokyo. But this aura was unfamiliar.
Lowering her feather down to a distance where she could clearly see what was going on, Kagura's breath caught and her crimson eyes widened.
"Hanyou," the wind user said to herself as she took in the appearance of the silver haired boy on the shrine grounds below.
He seemed to be in a heated argument with a very determined looking human girl, and his clothing was that of the long ago Sengoku Jidai.
"How strange," Kagura continued to listen in on the conversation. Despite the fact that youkai were few and far between nowadays, Hanyou were still as rare as ever.
The wind youkai adjusted her position a bit as she listened to the argument, pulling the long casual skirt she wore out from under her in order to be more comfortable.
"Stop arguing about this with me!" The dark-haired teenage girl demanded from the Hanyou.
"Oi, what am I supposed to do inside your house all day anyway?" The white haired boy replied with his arms crossed.
"Mama will find something, you just can't be wondering around the shrine grounds. I told you that last night!" The human girl snapped back in aggravation.
"Hmph, why do you have such a problem with me anyway?" The Hanyou asked in defense.
"I don't have a problem with you!" She yelled back in exasperation, "The problem's with your attitude!" The half youkai looked slightly taken aback by this and only managed a "Keh" in response.
Kagura strained her ears a bit when the girl lowered her voice.
"Look, I'm sorry you have to stay inside all day, really I am," the girl began with an apologetic tone, "I have to go to school every day, and there's no where for you to go right now… I told you this and," she gave the boy a somber look. "I'm sorry InuYasha I really am."
Kagura's blinked in surprise when she heard the Hanyou's name.
"InuYasha?" She repeated his name, startled. "What the hell?" The woman glanced back down to the boy, noting his oft-twitching canine ears. "Well he is an Inu-Hanyou," Kagura reasoned, "But I thought Sesshoumaru's younger brother was long dead."
She chanced one more look down to the bickering pair, "Damnit, I'll just go check it out myself."
Descending to the shrine grounds, Kagura placed her feather back in her hair and turned to the fighting teenagers. "Yo," she said simply as they turned to her.
Kagome gasped and InuYasha took on a defensive stance.
Shit! How did I not notice her? I guess Kagome was distracting me too much with her stupid rambling.
The schoolgirl's gawked at the woman, taking in her red eyes, pointed ears, and contrasting that- a rather ordinary long skirt and blouse.
"Umm," Kagome ventured bravely, "Are you a youkai?"
Kagura smirked. "A youkai? Yes. I am Kagura," The wind user's stare met that of Kagome's.
"I'm uhh, Kagome," the teenage girl replied, momentarily startled. "Wait a minute! You're not here for InuYasha are you?" Her eyes narrowed. "Because if you are I'll…"
"What the hell?" InuYasha interrupted, "I can defend myself. I don't need your help!"
"Excuse me?" Kagome snapped back, "If it weren't for my help you'd still be stuck to a tree!"
"Keh- Well I would have…"
"No you wouldn't have, InuYasha," she sighed, the youkai momentarily forgotten. "We've already discussed this, face it- you're screwed without me!"
"Like hell I am!"
"Hmm," Kagura cut into the argument, "I'm not here to do anything of that type. InuYasha I have a few questions for you." InuYasha did not move from his defensive stance.
"Keh- what do you want, youkai?" The boy responded.
"Well, Hanyou, I would be correct in assuming you're the younger half brother of Sesshoumaru would I not?" InuYasha and Kagome both stiffened.
"Why the hell do you want to know?" He growled.
"Hmmm, so you are his Hanyou little brother," Kagura put a hand on one hip, "Sesshoumaru said you were killed by a Miko hundreds of years ago." A pained expression briefly crossed InuYasha's features. "Care to tell me how you're here now?"
"Hmph, why should I tell a friend of Sesshoumaru's anything?" He retorted.
"That's true, you really have no reasons. From what Sesshoumaru tells me, you two didn't exactly often engage in brotherly bonding."
Kagome gulped and stepped forward, not noticing how InuYasha tensed up when she stood in front of the female youkai.
"Umm, how do you know InuYasha's older brother anyway?" She asked courageously, unfazed by the potentially powerful youkai in front of her. Kagura shrugged.
"When you've been living with a guy for almost five hundred years you do tend to get to know him. Although with Sesshoumaru, he's so closed up that it would take--"
"What!" InuYasha interrupted, "You're Sesshoumaru's… you're with Sesshoumaru?"
"You're Sesshoumaru's wife?" Kagome translated, slightly surprised herself. From the short glimpse she'd gotten the day before of him, he didn't strike her as the type to be in a relationship.
"Sesshoumaru and I have a slightly unique living arrangement," she replied, somewhat amused at the Hanyou's reaction.
"Bah, of course you're not his wife or something. There's no way a woman could ever fall for an asshole like Sesshoumaru."
"I could say the same about someone falling for you InuYasha," Kagura retorted with a shrug, "You don't exactly seem charming yourself." Kagome somewhat subconsciously nodded in agreement. InuYasha noticed and "Keh-ed" in her direction, a sour look crossing his features.
"Sesshoumaru said something about the Miko pinning you to a tree," Kagura began, changing the subject from her relationship with the youkai lord, "I'm guessing this human is the one who unsealed you." Kagome shook her head lightly. "As for my part in this, I don't much care about all of it. I just happened to fly by..." She motioned towards the feather in her hair, "Noticed a loudmouthed Hanyou down below me, heard his name, and decided to see if he was Sesshoumaru's brother."
"Keh, I'm not loudmouthed!" InuYasha defended himself lamely.
Kagome rubbed between her eyes. No you're not loudmouthed at all InuYasha.
"So what are you going to do, go tell Sesshoumaru? The last person I want to see is him!"
Kagura shrugged. "Hmph, who says he wants to see you either? But I think he has the right to know." She pulled the feather out of her tied back hair and flipped it, transforming it into her large feather. InuYasha rolled his eyes, not impressed. "I'll be leaving now, that's all I needed to know," she paused, "And by the way I have no issue with you or your girlfriend, InuYasha." Kagura mounted the feather and quickly flew away, leaving InuYasha with an aggravated expression.
"My… what?" He spat out, slightly flustered. Kagome just shook her head.
"InuYasha, my boyfriend? Like that could ever happen," she glanced back to the Hanyou. "I'm still going to school, and you're still going inside."
"Wha-? I have to patrol the grounds for other youkai! Not that I care, but if some come to this shrine…"
"InuYasha," Kagome began, "I really don't believe that woman had any evil intentions."
"Of course she did. She lives with Sesshoumaru!" He reasoned. She gave him a somewhat blank look.
"Well you don't exactly have the best reputation either InuYasha, but you don't see me jumping to conclusions about you." Kagome paused, "I've formed my own opinion about you. I didn't base it on any legend, or what anyone said. You need to stop being so presumptuous. You're the last person who should be acting like that." InuYasha stepped back, feeling the brunt of her last comment.
"Keh," was all he could come up with, defeated at his own game.
"I'm not saying all is safe and well, but I'm not going to let my family alter their life just because you think everyone is out to get you. You're going inside, and the shrine will continue business as usual today." Kagome gave him a somewhat stern expression and went inside with intentions of him following.
InuYasha stood behind, processing what Kagome had said. I guess she's just trying to help, but here I am… He cut off his own thoughts with a light "hmph" and found himself following the girl inside.
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Kagura landed softly on the ground and placed her feather in her hair once more. The doors of a large estate on the edge of Tokyo lay in front of her. Sesshoumaru, being a youkai, obviously couldn't be heavily involved in the business world. However, like many youkai, over time he'd acquired a fortune by investing in other businesses and collecting artifacts from various eras. He often ended up selling them to museums.
He, still a respected name to the remaining youkai, was undeniably wealthy. Kagura had her fair share of wealth as well, along with living with Sesshoumaru. With a quick stretch of her arms, Kagura walked up to the doors and pushed them open.
"Yo, Sesshoumaru!" She yelled into the foyer as she entered, smirking when she heard him emerging from his office on the first floor.
"Kagura," he made his way into the foyer and acknowledged her presence, "You were- out?"
"Hmm, I was just flying. You know I like to do that at times," she shrugged, "However, I found out something very interesting today."
"Interesting?" The youkai raised an eyebrow inquisitively.
"You had a brother named InuYasha, a Hanyou right?" Kagura inquired.
"I did. At one time." Sesshoumaru replied.
"Pinned to a tree by a Miko?" She continued.
"Yes."
"Well guess what?" The dark haired woman paused, "The girl who lives at the Higurashi shrine must be a Miko herself, because your brother's not on that tree anymore."
Sesshoumaru went silent for a moment, no doubt surprised but not one to show it.
"So someone managed to unseal my half brother," he stated calmly, "I suppose I will just have to pay him a visit then."
The inu-youkai turned around and walked back into the office, leaving Kagura to shake her head.
"After all this time, he is still one truly strange man."