Hey all, it's meee! I'm glad everyone who reviewed did indeed enjoy the
last chapter, and didn't find the original friends too exasperating or
irritating to read about. I also have to apologize for not making Sango the
best friend, (Don't worry, she'll come up in this fic, just give it time.
It's all gradual like.) or even Kagome's real friends in the series. I just
didn't think they had enough personality, and I didn't really know them. so
I gave them the boot. Tell you what; let's just pretend Keiko and Kiki
really ARE those friends! Okay? Okay good.
And to the Random Ranger Lover? Whooo! Kindred spirits!
-One last note! I'm sorry about mixing up Kiki and Keiko during their debut last chapter. and if you didn't notice it, never mind. I didn't say anything. Also sorry about how I started off with Inu Yasha and later converted over to Inuyasha. (I think I'm sticking with Inuyasha. It's easier.)
I don't own Inuyasha and enjoy.
*
Bitten
By Rio Grande
Chapter Three: An Acceptance Of Sorts.
*
Kagome wasn't overly sure of JUST what she was doing, zooming down the highway at approximately eleven P.M in a black Lexus, next to an odd, yet admittedly sexy half-man wearing wonderfully tight jeans and a leather jacket, while she was sported a baggy t-shirt that said 'Main Street Coffee Shop, Delicious Coffee Hits The Spot', a fleece, and equally baggy sweat pants. She felt like a loser, (Looooser.) and with her mussed hair and currently darkly circled eyes, knew she looked like one too. Inuyasha looked so dangerous, so intimidating, so ready to go kick some monster butt! Where as she, well. let's just say the world of crime fighting had seen more formidable saviors. Putting it laymen's terms, she was about to get her ass whipped if she wasn't careful.
What was she thinking? Why was she letting Inuyasha take her in the dead of the night to an active crime scene, where they were to apprehend a DEMON, before she had even confirmed to Detective Kaede that she was willing to work with the FBI? She was wonderfully befuddled, but was willing to go along with it all for the time being, seeing as how she would most likely pee in her pants if she tried to talk to Inuyasha and he got mad at her. Hey, was she the only one that noticed his claws were like, four inches long!?
The couple drove in silence for about ten minutes, Inuyasha's eyes glued to the rode, Kagome's to defense spray he had sitting in the cup holder, that she was seriously considering steeling. Eventually, the girl mustered up the courage to ask a question that had really been bothering her.
"Is that your NATURAL hair color?" she got out, unable to contain herself. Inuyasha seemed to miss a beat, mentally, for a second, before rolling his eyes and putting his attention back on the rode.
"If you REALLY think it's vital that you know? Yes, yes it is," he sighed, looking vaguely furious. Hm. Touchy subject.
"So it's a half demon thing then-?"
"YES. If you need to talk, wench, could we please talk about something more relevant?" he asked, growling.
"Hey! Let's get one thing straight Mister! I am NOBODY'S wench! And I'm doing you a favor here by coming out like this! You should have more respect," she stated, folding her arms. Inuyasha just barely held back a bark of laughter.
"A favor? Right. Yeah, you're really going to prove to be a valuable asset when it comes to taking down the bad guys. You haven't even STARTED training your miko powers, so there's no way you could hope to take down someone like Naruku. Luckily, that's why I'M here," he huffed. Kagome felt her eye twitch. Where did he get off?!
"Well if I'm so USELESS then, why did you drag me down here?!" she squawked, flailing her arms about. It wasn't as though she could HELP it, sheeee hadn't been the one who wanted to accept this crazy job!
"Well, in case I do take him down, you'll need to hold on to the Shikon jewel so it doesn't become anymore defiled and destroy everything in its path," he explained, simply.
"HA! So you DO need me! Admit it!" she exclaimed, exited at the prospect of proving the damn bastard utterly WRONG.
"But that's only IF I get him, you're just back up!" he countered.
"So you don't think you stand a chance against this guy, hu? Why so pessimistic? You weak or something?" she asked, slyly. She definitely already knew what buttons to press with this guy.
"What?!" he cried, outraged. "No way, I could take him down in a second if he wasn't such a goddamn cheater and always did this disappearing act on us!"
"But, if you DO catch this guy today, you WOULD need me! I am IMPORTANT! A total NECCESITY!" Kagome insisted, eyes alight with the heat of battle, and the joy of success. However, she felt an odd, ominous chill run down her spine when Inuyasha smirked confidently at her comment.
"That's right," he said, quietly. "So now do you see why you have to join the team? You just made up a very convincing argument for yourself of why you should take up the offer, of why you have to help."
"Aghhh!" Kagome cried, putting her head in her hands, realizing how deep a hole she had dug herself, while Inuyasha chuckled evilly next to her. "You tricked me you freak!"
"Hey, I'm not ALL muscle," he joked.
"Yeah, some of it's hot air, too," she reminded him, helpfully.
"Coming from you, the super ditz?" he shot back.
"You're not really doing a swell job of convincing me to join your little organization, you know? So far all I've developed is a strong dislike for you, personally, and have no interest whatsoever in being part of any job that makes me work closely alongside someone as rude as you," she said, her face red with fury, and basic embarrassment at being fooled so badly.
"I think you're just sore from before, and I'm going to take that into account so that I don't throw you out of the car right now," Inuyasha said flatly, in such a dead serious tone that Kagome snapped her mouth shut rather quickly, and went back to staring at the defense spray.
She wanted that pepper spray. Now, more than ever.
"Ahh. Here we are." Inuyasha commented darkly after a moment, spotting the illuminated skyline that they were coming upon, everything glowing an eerie, red color. As he turned a corner, Kagome soon figured out WHY everything was red.
"Oh my God, that building is on fire! Should we call 911?" she gasped, going back to her skills she had learned in first grade. When in a fire: Call 911. That doesn't work? Stop. Drop. Roll like you've never rolled before. That doesn't work? Sucks.
Actually, Kagome really did have a level head in emergencies, and thus was rather disgruntled when Inuyasha began to laugh at her AGAIN, as he pulled into the building parking lot, all but flying out of the car.
"What, you want to kill those innocent fire fighters? A demon started this fire, Kagome, and it's OUR job to put it out. We're the justice enforcers now." he commented, storming towards the building, Kagome meekly following after him. If she hadn't been intimidated before, she was intimidated now.
Entering the totally average looking apartment, which Kagome had just remembered was run by demons, both people were attacked by a storm of smoke, Kagome gasping as she took in a suffocating lungful. Inuyasha, who, because he was a wonderfully gifted hanyou, was having no problems with the smoke, and looked vaguely sympathetic as Kagome began to cough and hack into her hand. He dug through his coat, and pulled out a cloth, the best he could do, for Kagome to put over her mouth.
"Thanks," she wheezed, eyes watering. Wow. This place was sure burning.
"No problem. Oh. you brought the pepper spray, good. I brought that for you. Figured you didn't know how to shoot a gun, and it's not a good idea to be TOTALLY unprepared." He commented nonchalantly. Kagome on the other hand, still following the white haired man as they both zipped up the stairs, was quite taken a back. Why, that had been, almost very thoughtful of him. Just like with the neighbors. Just like with the handkerchief just now. Hmmm. this Inuyasha character definitely needed some more investigating. Maybe there was more to his rough personality than meets the eye? "Would you hurry up, wench? We'll never make it to the roof at this rate!" 'Kay, scratch that. What was with this guy? He had to be the moodiest person she had ever met!
"You're sure they're on the roof?" Kagome panted, deciding she'd scream if they made it all the way there just to find it was empty. She was already almost keeling over with exhaustion, the smoke doing nothing for her out of shape body. She was a sprinter. not a long distance runner, and she hadn't practiced with her old track team in a while. she was really starting to wish she had.
"I can smell them," Inuyasha informed her.
".Riight," she sighed, shaking her head.
They had finally reached the top floor, standing outside the large brown door that would lead to the roof, Kagome nearly crawling along, and Inuyasha looked distantly bored, when the hanyou's ears started twitching sporadically, eyes narrowing.
"They're definitely all on the roof. Naruku and some victimized demons I'd assume. But there's someone else, another demon, wounded. just below this floor." He quickly turned to Kagome. "Go and find that injured demon, you'll be of no help to me out there anyway," he said. Kagome bit her lip, nervously.
"You're sure it'll be okay for me? All alone? The demon won't attack me?" she asked, feeling very naïve and stupid.
"Kagome, not all demons are real monsters. These people are good, law abiding demons, now go! We're wasting precious time!" he yelled, as he opened the door and dashed out onto the roof, leaving Kagome all by her lonesome. She stood alone for a second, shifting from foot to foot, before letting out a long sigh and trotting back down the stairs, still gasping for breath, and deciding to just do as Inuyasha said. If she got killed, well, she'd blame HIM.
"Hello!" she called, stumbling around the second to top floor, and hoping desperately that the wounded demon she was supposed to find would just jump out of a room, hardly injured and smiling, and let her take the poor dear somewhere totally safe while Inuyasha did his thing. Typically, no such occurrence took place, and Kagome was starting to get worried. What if that vulnerable demon was burning to death in one of these apartments, and it was all her fault because she couldn't find them!?
'Calm down Kagome, breath. Think. You just got some new, kick ass miko powers right? Just concentrate, and maybe they'll lead you to that demon in distress!' Closing her eyes and concentrating on her heart rate, hoping it was slow down eventually, Kagome focused all of her senses on finding that demon, imagining a really pretty, helpless one, suffocating somewhere. She found herself getting all teary eyed in spite of her own reassurances that the mental picture wasn't actually REAL- when she felt it. A little twang off to the side, a little tug that led her directly to apartment 8B. a little 6th sense if you will, screaming at her, telling her that yes, this was it. She had found the demon.
"Well, I didn't actually expect that to WORK." She admitted, trying to force the door open after finding, to her immense horror, that it was locked. No! Open you stupid, stupid door! She had someone to save! Why couldn't it understand?
"Yah!" she cried dramatically, throwing herself at the door as she had seen many a super hero in movies do, only to bounce forcefully off the door, and land flat on her butt. Humph. Stupid movies. She coughed once more, distantly wondering how much longer she could stand in the suffocating apartment. The smoke was really starting to become a problem.
"Please, please, open. There's someone DYING in there," she tried, reasoning with the door. "Meaning, if you don't let me in. they'll DIE," she repeated, wishing she had her credit cards on her person. Maybe she could use that nifty trick where you slide it in-between the door and the wall, and unlock it. "Please!"
She pushed her shoulder up hard against the door a few more times, biting her lip, before giving up and resting her head against its hot frame, defeated. She felt tears well up in her eyes, completely frustrated. Dammit. She wasn't even an official part of the Demon FBI, and she already felt as though she had failed them. Failed the Inuyasha and Detective Kaede. Failed that poor, helpless demon on the other side of the door. Failed her math test in eighth grade. Well, that as another story. but she was still very upset, openly sobbing as she pounded futilely on the idiotically solid door with weak arms. And then, it was as if something in her heart snapped, and a dam broke inside her. She froze, eyes wide and still watery, as power began to run through her veins and made her much more aware of her new, mystical abilities then she had been before.
'Is this what I can do? Is this what Miroku and Kaede did to me?' she wondered, letting it all flow, not even caring that she had absolutely no control over what was happening. It was all good!
Next thing she knew, she was on her hands and knees, inside of the apartment, the lock of the door melted away, and still sparking with pink miko energy. Kagome didn't notice any of that though. All she saw, or rather, sensed, was the weak presence of a hurt demon at the back of the apartment. Scrambling to her feet, she dashed towards the demon's presence, throwing herself into what looked like a child's play room, head snapping around as she searched for any large, bloody demons, just lying around.
"Unghh." she heard a small voice sigh from a particularly large pile of toys. Kagome's eyes honed in on it, and she felt the unmistakable presence of a beating heart in that pile of toys. Hurling herself on it, she found herself tossing Barbie dolls and teddy bears in all directions as she tried to find the youkai.
"Oh, shit!" she gasped, as she almost threw the demon itself in the pile of discarded toys. "It's so small!"
Indeed, the wounded demon looked to be nothing but a baby, or a little child, in any case. Probably when standing the thing reached her knees, and its face was unmistakably cute. It had messy red hair, and a poofy tail.
"Hey. hey there, wake up," she whispered, shaking the little demon's shoulder, thankful that there didn't seem to be any open wounds or the like visible on its form. However, she was soon becoming increasingly worried as the demon didn't oblige to her requests, and stayed unconscious. "Wake up!" she commanded, a little harsher this time. Still nothing. "No, no, don't do this to me!" she cried, holding the demon close to her now, throat completely closing up. Damn, Inuyasha hadn't said anything about this being a BABY demon! She couldn't let it die!
And there it was again. That surge of power. That eerily calming feeling of magic and something ancient and secret, creeping through her. Well, it had sure worked out for her last time, so why not again? Kagome buried her tear stained face in the tiny demon's shoulder, praying for its health.
".Momma?" Fuck it, she was good! "Daddy?"
"No sweetie, I'm not your Mommy. I'm Kagome, and you were hurt, so I saved you. You'll be all right," she soothed in her most maternal voice, brushing the baby demon's hair back. And the little guy seemed ready to melt into her comforting embrace, too. before its head snapped up and its clear blue, cat like eyes went wide.
"Oh no, Momma, Daddy! He got them!" he cried, jumping out of Kagome's hug with surprising agility for someone of his size, or lack there of, and already rushing for the door.
"Wait! Come back! Who got them!? Stop! Wait up!" she yelled frantically, getting to her feet with wobbly legs. Apparently, this miko thing was a lot more draining than Kaede had first made it sound. However, because she was just such a good person, she diligently followed that little demon, cursing its name under her breath the whole way up to the roof.
'Oh no, not the roof. I don't really want to get tangled up in whatever it is Inuyasha's up to!'
"Kid! STOP!" she ordered. However the youkai didn't even spare her a glance as it burst through the roof's door, crying out for its parents, pathetically. "Ouch!" Kagome hissed, as she too fell through the door, loosing her balance, and landing on her knees. Snapping her head up, Kagome got a good, long look around the roof, ignoring her stinging and skinned knees, as she realized JUST what she was looking at. Jesus, it was like the apocalypse!
A few yards in front of her, stood Inuyasha. Okay. Not so disturbing. Except for the fact that those four inch nails of his were dripping with blood, his fangs were bared in a way that made Kagome shiver, even though he wasn't actually looking at her, and he had a long, deep gash down his back, that would probably scar. Of course, if he were human it would scar, at least.
Kagome let her gaze travel upwards, and she spotted what Inuyasha was howling at. Erk.
A man, of sorts, was sailing above everyone on the roof, wearing what looked to be a baboon pelt, a tangled nest of black hair flying behind him, and his eyes wide, yet infinitely blank. Kagome resisted the urge to gag as she felt waves of negative energy roll off him so strongly it made her head spin. He wasn't ugly, exactly, but there was definitely something wrong with his face, that made it hard to glance at. So Kagome stopped, and let her eyes wander down to something equally as disturbing.
There, in the corner, was what looked like two, steaming, giant foxes, curled up together, and very, very dead.
And that baby demon with the red hair was running right towards them.
"Momma! Daddy!" he was crying. Oh, for fuck's sake! Honestly! That was just too perfect!
"What?" Inuyasha growled, spotting the little demon. Kagome winced as his head whipped around to stare at her, next. "Kagome? What's going on here? Who is that kid?"
"He's that injured demon you sent me to get. Thanks for mentioning he's like, two years old!!" she called, as that evil looking demon who had been flying above them landed on the other corner of the roof. He had a sadistic and cold smirk on his face, that made the bile rise to Kagome's throat.
"Well Inuyasha, you didn't tell me you had a new miko bitch hanging around you," the thing hissed, gleefully. Kagome wanted to know what it meant by 'new', (What the hell happened to the last one!?) but didn't feel as though this were a good time to bring the subject up.
"Leave her alone, Naruku," Inuyasha boomed threateningly.
"But she's so untrained. just look at her. nearly frothing with untamed powers. I could just. eat her up," Naruku hissed softly.
"Bastard!" Inuyasha howled, leaping forward with arms extended. Kagome felt a slight heat rise to her cheeks because of the fact that Inuyasha was getting all defensive over her. However, that thought was lost to her as Naruku leaped over Inuyasha and slashed him quickly down the back before Kagome had time to blink, something that looked like thick guck beginning to eat away at the edges of Inuyasha's ripped t-shirt. The hanyou gasped softly with pain, and dropped to a roll on the roof. Kagome screeched with terror, hiding her face, and checking to make sure she still had the pepper spray in her pocket. Inuyasha however, didn't even stop to check his deep wound, snapping out of the roll and grabbing something from inside his jacket.
It was a sword!
'Where was he keeping that thing?!' Kagome wondered as Inuyasha leapt at Naruku with what looked like the world's oldest sword EVER. Thin and rusty, Kagome seriously doubted whether or not this sword could effectively slice through butter. But. it was better than nothing, she supposed. Naruku seemed a bit wary about it, in any case, dancing backwards as Inuyasha came at him with a series of wild slashes.
"Silly hanyou! You still don't know how to properly wield that thing! If you did, you wouldn't be wasting time with badly timed jabs!" Naruku hissed, leaping, once more, into the air. Kagome was, personally, impressed with the sheer amount of height the demon was able to obtain, but wisely kept the observation to herself. "I leave you now, worthless half breed! I've done what I came here to do!" Naruku cried triumphantly into the night, as he flew off into the distance, his white baboon pelt quickly disappearing into the darkness.
"Come back here you bastard! You coward!" Inuyasha screamed, skidding to the edge of the roof, and shaking his fist at Naruku until the demon's form was completely gone from sight. Only then did he let his shoulders sag in defeat, and his sword drop to the ground. "Dammit." He cursed softly, ears flattening against his head, and Kagome's heart suddenly swelling with compassion as Inuyasha suddenly looked all too much the part of the whipped puppy. Awww.
"I-Inuyasha," she gasped softly, trotting up to him, and still a little shocked. "Are you all right?" she asked, glancing at his back, which still had that gaping wound in it, steadily dripping with blood. Inuyasha didn't appear to notice.
"All right? Of course I'm not all right!" he growled in irritation, brushing some long white locks from his eyes. "I just let the only most wanted demon criminal in the world slip through my fingers-yet again- and also let him burn an apartment to the ground, not to mention murder two innocent kistune!"
"Oh. it can't be as bad as all that."
"But it IS!"
"Okay!. well um, then, I'm sorry. But moping about it won't do you any good! If you stand here and bleed to death you'll NEVER be able to catch Naruku, and then who will avenge all of the innocent demon's deaths?" Kagome asked, surprising even herself with her sudden burst of courage and bluntness. Inuyasha's eyes widened, but he stayed silent. "Now turn around so I can get a good look at that gash across your back, I'm pretty good at basic first aid, though I don't know how far that can take us with this injury. What does that guy have, anyway, fingernails of steel?"
"I don't need it," Inuyasha sighed, waving the girl off. Wow, for a second there, he had actually been LISTENING to her!
"The hell you don't! Look at you, you're about to keel over from blood loss!" Kagome snapped, trying to spin Inuyasha around, and failing terribly each time.
"Woman, get your hands off me! You don't understand, I can heal myself just fine!" Inuyasha shot back, backpedaling away from the girl, those frown lines returning to his face once more, his morose and beaten attitude gone with the wind. In some ways, Kagome felt as though she had done some good. An angry and pissed off Inuyasha was much easier to deal with than a self-hating and sad one.
"NO! Let me just SEE it!"
"Get AWAY!"
"I don't want it to get infected! I can help!"
"You'll just make it worse!"
"That's bull!"
"You don't know what you're talking about!"
"YOU don't know what YOU'RE talking about! Now turn-!"
"Drop it!"
"I wont! I'll-!"
"Mamaaaa.." The FBI agent and the college girl stopped in mid-retort, heads quickly swiveling to the side, where they both spotted the baby demon. crying over the corpses of what Kagome assumed were his demon parents. Oh. "Papaaa." It continued, tears streaming down its face as it tried to bury itself in the deceased kitsune's fur. Kagome felt her heart wrench uncomfortably in her chest, and she bit down hard on her lip. Glancing up at Inuyasha, she sighed as she found nothing but a sort of uncomfortable, lost expression on his features. Men.
Carefully, Kagome padded towards the little demon, Inuyasha watching her carefully, but never coming forward. This obviously wasn't his cup of tea, and Kagome had this nagging feeling she was far better with kids than he was.
"Hey." she whispered softly, putting a hand on the demon's shoulder, her own eyes shimmering with just barely repressed tears. This scene felt like something out of one of those really touching movies. like Annie. except that usually the parents were human, and the orphan child didn't have a tail.
"Maammaaa... Papaaa." the child continued to sob. Kagome could hardly blame him, she didn't know what would happen if she found BOTH her parents dead on her own roof. In a desperate attempt to get the child's mind off the tragedy before him, she swept him up in another hug, hoping that her own natural powers of comforting would help this kid where her newly awakened powers could not. "He killed them," the youkai child sniffed taking fists of Kagome's t-shirt and gripping onto them as he cried into Kagome's embrace. Kagome's features hardened. That bastard. That demon. He would pay. How dare he do this to helpless and innocent things like this demon!? Where did he get off?
"I know. and it was wrong. he was a bad man. but don't worry. we'll catch him. don't worry." Kagome could almost feel Inuyasha flinch from behind her, and mentally sighed. Now she was starting to understand why the half demon felt so guilty about letting that criminal go. because now, she did too.
"I-I-I want them back!" the demon hiccupped.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Kagome whispered comfortingly, her voice just as remorseful as the child's own, as she lulled him into a deep slumber, where he experienced nothing but sweet dreams as he breathed in the comforting smell of Kagome's sympathy and love, knowing that she would surely protect him as his parents once had.
Inuyasha stared at the young miko girl with something akin to surprise. He could feel mystical energy radiating off her in swirls of power, and knew that she was already unconsciously using her surplus of power to help the little demon in need. And without even knowing how to effectively activate them yet? That was truly impressive, and probably something Kaede should know about.
"Kagome." he started, hesitantly walking over to the raven-haired girl, still crouched down on the ground hugging the little kitsune to her chest as though he would break if she let him go. Kagome glanced up at Inuyasha, who was only mildly troubled to find that her pretty, shining gray eyes were red rimmed and already puffy. This sort of thing could be very startling to someone not experienced with the murderer Naruku. Heck, he was, and it STILL startled him. "We should go, the EMT guys and the whole Scooby gang will be here soon to help collect evidence and help with the bodies. They'll ask a lot of questions, and I figure maybe we should just spare this guy the experience." he said softly, so as not to wake the calm looking, slumbering demon now. Kagome continued to stare at Inuyasha, unnerving the half demon a bit.
"Inuyasha?" she asked quickly, voice no longer wavering.
"Um.?"
"I want to help you. I agree to it. I'll join you and your. cult, or whatever. All I want is to see this guy behind bars," she said firmly, a passion in her voice Inuyasha couldn't help but respect.
"Or disgustingly mutilated and shredded to iddy biddy pieces?" Inuyasha offered, voicing his own secret desire.
".Sure. Whatever. The point is, I'm in. And I'll do whatever it takes to get this demon," she said, standing up with the demon still in her arms, eyes hard and steely, showing an inner strength that had probably always been there to begin with.
Inuyasha mentally beamed. This should prove worthwhile. *
"-And this is the FBI's top secret, undisclosed, totally hush-hush.- coffee machine!" Miroku said proudly, revealing to Kagome an admittedly GOOD-looking coffee machine. (Stainless steel!) "Some of us pooled together our money to buy it, and only very few important agents have access to it," Miroku confessed in a furtive tone to Kagome. The girl bit her lip, averting her gaze carefully.
"Do I?" she asked quietly.
"Definitely."
"Yesss!" Okay, so she had forgiven Miroku for his previously lecherous ways. Hands slip! Right? And he was proving to be a really cool guy, showing her around the building and teaching her all of the finer points of being part of the demon FBI. She even had her own office! It wasn't particularly large or anything, but since she was being put through so much hassle to work on such a dangerous case, it was slightly larger than others, considering she wasn't a REAL agent or anything. When this case was done, so was she.
Speaking of dangerous, Inuyasha, after being especially thoughtful and careful with her after the incident on the demon apartment's roof, had reverted back to his cold, careless ways, making Kagome feel a bit distraught and confused. She had thought she had broken the ice with this guy already, and there he was, moping around the office again, apparently being far too busy to help Kagome get used to being a temporary agent. Jerk. Why did he do this to her? One moment she completely thought he was this brave, cool guy, and the next he was the ass-hole with something large and spiky stuck up his butt!
After the couple had gotten back to headquarters with the little demon, revealed to them as Shippou Kit, they had met up with Kaede who had been in the process of heading over to the crime scene herself. She had taken Shippou into her custody, promising he would be treated well, and that, yes, Kagome would be notified when his fate was decided. Most likely he would be ultimately living with some relatives, was how things looked. Kagome had let go of Shippou with some degree of hesitance, she had grown sort of affectionate to the traumatized little guy, and wanted nothing more than to help him get through the rough road ahead.
"Anyway, it's not much, but it's all we've got. Now. I realize Kaede's already run by you the strict rules for extreme secrecy in this joint, but I'd like to add my own little bit to it. I'm not kidding Kagome, no matter what, don't tell anyone what you really are doing here," Miroku said seriously, stopping in the middle of the hall to stare at Kagome pointedly. The girl cocked her head.
"Why?" she asked, even though she really had no plans of telling anyone what she was really doing at the FBI. They'd never believe her anyway!
"Well, besides thinking you're crazy, they might get tangled up with things that happen here. in which case we would have to give them the whole speech and totally alter their lives. You're example is an unfortunate case we could not avoid, since true mikos are so hard to come by now a day. but would you want your same fate for your family or friends?" Miroku asked, raising a delicate eyebrow. Kagome only hesitated a second.
"No,"
"Good! Then what are you going to tell everyone?."
"I've got a new job as a secretary for Detective Kaede at the FBI in order to help pay for all my supplies for college this year," Kagome recited dutifully, having made up that clever little lie with Kaede herself earlier. She surmised it would go over pretty well with just about everyone she knew. She WAS pretty poor, and notoriously odd. Sigh.
"Spectacular!" Miroku congratulated, clapping. Suddenly, he glanced down at his watch. "Oh! It's almost time for you to see Kaede. She had said she wanted to tell you something.?"
"Yeah, stuff about Shippou and this whole Miko deal," Kagome sighed, marching towards Kaede's with Miroku right behind her.
"Oh, yes," the agent chuckled. "I have a schedule for your meditative lessons all worked out. the key to being the perfect miko is having a serene and peaceful soul, you know," he said, winking.
"I suppose you've achieved this level of supreme peacefulness, then?" Kagome asked quickly, smiling as she reached Kaede's door, and Miroku continued his own walk back to his office.
"Oh, but of course!" the agent/priest commented flippantly, leaving Kagome giggling lightly. Ohhh- wait? Giggling? No. Stop!
Kagome was just about to knock on Kaede's door, when someone pulled it open before her, causing her to take a surprised step back.
"Oh, Inuyasha," she said, in as nonchalant and casual a voice as she could muster, pretending to be very interested in a stray piece of lint on her black sweater. Oh yeah, she was playing it cool.
"Hn," he replied curtly, exiting Kaede's office. Kagome raised an eyebrow, unable to contain herself.
"What were you doing in there?"
"Kagome, Kaede's my boss, I sort of HAVE to see her from time to time," he sighed, running a hand through his hair, and looking slightly disgruntled. With that little jab successfully made, he spun on his heel, and was about to stalk off down the hall, when Kagome retaliated with a little jab of her own.
"Umm. excuse me? What are you doing?" Inuyasha inquired gravely as Kagome began to jab and pinch him furiously in the back.
"Um!" Kagome blurted pinching done, and an odd expression on her face. When nothing more was uttered from the shorter girl, Inuyasha raised his eyes heavenwards, made a crude comment about mortal agents, and disappeared down the hall. Kagome stared after him with wide eyes. she had just pinched him pretty hard, in her opinion, in the exact spot Naruku had, not even twenty-four hours ago, slashed him practically down to the bone! Had he really. just healed? Just like that? Because he was a half demon? She hadn't even felt a bandage!
"What a weirdo," Kagome muttered darkly, whishing into Kaede's office without another look back at the silver haired brute, who, putting his astounding healing powers aside, was being really lame and mean that day.
Kaede's office was a bit different than Kagome had first assumed it would be. although, come to think of it, she couldn't quite remember what she had thought it would look like in the first place. Just. maybe not so smothered with the pictures of ancient Japan, with pricey looking, age old scrolls tacked up all over, along with a various collection of bows. Large oak bookshelves surrounded the office, and in the middle was Kaede's big desk, stacked with papers and letters, facing away from a large window with a picturesque view of Tokyo in the background. Sort of homey, in an antique- ish way.
"Ahh, Kagome!" Kaede said happily, as the girl carefully padded into the office.
"You wanted to see me?" Kagome asked, sliding into a seat in front of Kaede's desk.
"Yes, it's about last night. and Naruku," Kaede admitted, folding her hands carefully, and looking up at the twenty-year old.
"Ergh," Kagome made a disgusted sound in the back of her throat. Even with the tiny amount of sleep she had gotten in the past day, the somewhat poignant image of that ruthless criminal had still managed to haunt her briefly experienced dreams.
"Quite," Kaede agreed, solemnly. "Now, Inuyasha has already typed up a report for me on everything that transpired, however I would be much obliged if I could have a similar report from you. It would be interesting to see how things went from your point of view, seeing as how you have all of those new miko powers in you,"
"Sure thing," Kagome agreed with a sigh. Great. More homework. She was already showing signs of being lax in her college courses, but now she had to actually do paper work for the FBI. Fab.
"Kagome how WAS your run in with Naruku? Anything happen that you would find worth mentioning?" Kaede questioned, generally interested.
"You mean, besides the burning and the inured baby demon and the dead kitsunes and Inuyasha fighting and getting slashed down the back by a weirdo wearing a baboon pelt?"
"Yes. Besides."
"Hmm. well, come to think of it, some odd things did happen," Kagome admitted, jogging through her memory of the previous night, and finding it to be rather hectic and action packed. "Like when I was trying to knock down the door to Shippou's apartment? I tried using these new powers you've given me to get in when I found it locked. and it worked! I just thought about it hard enough, and bam! The door was down and I was inside!" Kagome said, as if for the first time understanding how truly odd that was.
"You just thought about it?" Kaede asked, looking distantly astounded.
"Yeah! And then, I kept getting these weird vibes from everyone I ran into, like I could sort of look into their soul and tell what they were thinking. or something. It's still happening, I feel as though I'm ten billion times more aware of what people are doing and how their auras feel. It's pretty odd," the young miko acknowledged. "And it made seeing Naruku terrifying. Do you know how TWISTED that guy is?"
"All too well," Kaede said, sagely.
"Well, it was pretty odd, and I'm not really positive as to WHY I can feel everything so acutely," Kagome said, eyebrows knitting together.
"It's all just part of being a miko, and acquiring a. how shall I put this? Sixth sense, so to speak. You will find yourself to be increasingly more aware of spiritual things around you, but hopefully with the guidance of Miroku and I, you will be able to control that feeling to some extent. Though I must admit Kagome, the sheer amount of power you're showing at such an early stage is something to marvel at. Inuyasha had told me you were showing signs of true power, but I had not thought he had been so right," Kaede admitted.
'So THAT'S what he was doing in here. telling Kaede about me! Weird.' Kagome thought to herself. Out loud, she said:
"Really? You mean, I'm advancing faster than you guys thought I would?" she asked in wonder. That had to be a first for her!
"Yes, you are. But not to worry, this just means I'll have to start training you sooner! How does tomorrow morning sound?"
"Ughhh." Kagome groaned. It was Monday already, and she had no more classes for the day, but Tuesdays were busier for her, and she could tell that from here on out her schedule was going to be something close to mental.
"Glad to hear you're free. Just stop by the offices at around nine o'clock, and I'll be here. Always am." Kaede said, mumbling the last part a bit remorsefully, to Kagome's ears. "Really though Kagome, this is a very good sign, and it's looking as though the FBI is going to be very lucky to have you on our side. Why, if things keep progressing like this, you could be the next Kik- oops!" Kaede said, quickly slapping a hand over her mouth.
"The next Kik-what?" Kagome questioned tartly, as Kaede tried to look as though she hadn't just almost told Kagome something very secret. "Kik- what?!"
"Um. It's nothing. I shouldn't be tell you. It would be wrong," Kaede said halfheartedly, as though she really DID want to tell Kagome everything.
"Awww. come on!" Kagome, who loved secrets, ever since she had been in grade school, pleaded, doing her good pouty expression.
"I really couldn't."
"Pleaaaassee?"
"Weeell- okay!" Kaede said, quickly caving in, and not looking overly worried about it. Her old withered face got a bit reminiscent as she spoke. "Kikyo was our last miko here at the FBI, and Inuyasha's old partner," Kaede confessed, whispering across the table to Kagome, lest Inuyasha hear their conversation from halfway across the building with those big dog-ears of his.
"Really?" Kagome said, distinctly remembering Naruku saying something about Inuyasha's old miko on the roof. it hadn't made sense then, but things were starting to piece together. "What happened to her?" she wanted to know, eager to learn of Inuyasha's track record when it came to partners, if she was going to be his next one.
"She got involved in some pretty serious dark magic stuff, fell into a deep depression, snapped at Inuyasha and. moved to America." Kaede said, whispering the last part in a substantially darker voice.
"Erk!" Not what she wanted to hear! NOT what she wanted to hear!
"I know." Kaede said, nodding sadly. "A terrible fate." (A/N- I live in America! Yes I do!)
"Th-this doesn't happen to most of his partners. right?"
"Why no, Inuyasha's never had any others! Oh-well, except that one kid. but, we're not permitted to talk about what happened to him anymore. It was bad press,"
"Erk!"
Great! So Inuyasha had a history of offing his partners! JUST was she needed!
"What sort of magic did Kikyo get herself involved with, anyway?" Kagome asked, wanting to know just what happened to this woman, so she didn't make the same mistakes. At this however, Kaede began to look notably older, and she let out a long, tired breath while leaning farther back in her cushioned seat.
"We're not really sure, actually. It was pretty potent stuff though, since she's the best miko we've had in Japan for many years! And the darkness just ate away at her like a disease she couldn't' rid herself of, no matter how hard she fought. I believe. I know she and Inuyasha might have been more than just partners for a short time, and the whole situation didn't sit well with him," Kagome blushed as she remembered all of the times she had thought about Inuyasha in more than just a strictly business way as well. But, she would never!. would she? Apparently Inuyasha saw nothing against such relationships in the work place.
"Did she die?"
"No, I told you she moved to America, remember?"
"Same difference,"
"Well, we haven't heard from her in ages, so she MIGHT be dead, if she wasn't able to find a good, solid cure for her sickness. I wouldn't bring any of this up with Inuyasha though, he REALLY doesn't like talking about it. He and Kikyo did not part on good terms, to say the least," Kaede sighed.
"Had they been working together long?" Kagome asked.
"Only about a year I'd say, but they were a good team," Kaede said, nodding her head solemnly. "Kikyo was a big loss to us, since she was so good at what she did, and that's why were all so thrilled to have you here with us. Working without a miko has been hell for some time,"
"Why didn't you just find another one then? Are we really so rare?" Kagome asked, feeling a wee bit special.
"Extremely! In fact, all of the remaining mikos in the world are somehow related at this point. There just aren't that many miko families left. We can really see it with you and Kikyo since you both look a lot alike." Kaede said, trailing off, and digging through a cabinet in her desk, as Kagome stared off into the distance with a slightly upset expression on her face.
'I look like Inuyasha's ex? This doesn't bode well. Especially if I'm going to be working with him on such a serious case.'
"Ah! Here we go, a picture," Kaede said triumphantly, pulling out of her drawer a picture of a very pretty woman, with long, straight raven hair, and perfect porcelain features, though a bit colder. She wore the typical miko garb of the olden days, and stood in front of a much more spectacular looking temple than Kagome's own Higurashi shrine. She gave off an air of mystique.
"Are you kidding? I look NOTHING like her!" Kagome scoffed. That woman was way to beautiful to be related to her! She had a long history of having very unattractive relatives, and no way could Kikyo and she be linked in any way.
Did we mention that Kagome was STILL in denial over her appearance?
"Can you not see the resemblance?" Kaede asked critically.
"Nope!"
"That's odd, it's so blatant!. But in any case, remember not to bring her up with Inuyasha. He's very . touchy about it." Kaede reminded the girl seriously. Kagome took these words to heart, as she was sure Kaede was sugar coating it when she said 'touchy'. Most likely, the case was- 'psychotically angered by it', and Kagome had no plans to get on Inuyasha's REAL bad side just then. "Oh, Kagome, one last thing before I release you," Kaede said quickly, swiftly putting the old picture away. "I wanted to talk about Shippou."
"Oh, yes! How is he?" Kagome asked, all thoughts of Inuyasha, Kikyo, and their messy relationship gone with the wind, as she leaned forward in her seat, intent on hearing about the kitsune's condition.
"Well, as it would seem. he has no living relatives left, and thus no family to stay with. Even temporarily," the old woman admitted somberly.
"That's terrible!" Kagome gasped.
"What's more, demon authorities are refusing to put him in a foster home just now, because his parents were targeted by Naruku, and that demon could still be after Shippou as well now," Kaede continued. Kagome bit her lip, eyes sympathetic. How awful for Shippou! ". So we were wondering if he could stay with you,"
".EXCUSE me!?" Kagome blurted, nearly falling off her chair. Had she heard Kaede right? "But I thought you just said Naruku might still be after him!?"
"He might!" Kaede agreed.
"But. then. I." Kagome said, floundering around, flabbergasted. This wasn't happening! Sure, she liked the little tyke, but living with him was getting a bit extreme about it!
"Kagome, if your miko powers are truly as amazing as I think they might be, you could very well be just the sort of protection Shippou might need in the near future! And I remember how worried and affectionate you were towards him last night. You love the little guy! How bad could having him living in your house be?" Kaede said, trying to pose the question so that it DIDN'T sound so bad, when really, it could be disastrous for Kagome. Already she was juggling college and an FBI job, but a child now too? It could possibly prove to be too much. What would she do when she went out? Leave him their alone? Kagome voiced these worries to Kaede.
"I have college too, you know, I can't be at home all day looking after Shippou! ESPECIALLY with this new demon FBI gig," Kagome pointed out fiercely.
"Oh, it's all right, he could stay at the offices most of the day, since demon children are usually far more well behaved than human ones. He'd just sleep at home with you," Kaede explained, her voice comforting as well as extremely convincing. Kagome could already feel her defenses crumbling around her, as pictures of the impossibly cute baby demon floated through her head. Well, maybe it wouldn't be THAT bad.
"I don't know. my apartment isn't very big."
"I HIGHLY doubt he'll take up much room,"
"And I'm a terrible mother figure, which is what he really needs!"
"Not from what I saw. You were fantastic with him!"
"Not to mention I'll have NO night life now,"
"Meaning you had one before?"
"Okay, low blow," Kagome huffed, folding her arms. "But. all right. I'll do it. I guess. If it's what's best for this guy, how can I refuse?"
"That's the spirit!" Kaede cheered, knowing Kagome was going to do it from the start. The girl was just that kind of person. "He'll be arriving at your house to get settled in around tomorrow afternoon, so you have a little time to prepare for him."
"Not really," Kagome said, standing and checking her watch. "I have to eat at my family's house tonight! Mom's making me,"
"Oh yeah, that's a real wild nightlife there," Kaede said dryly, catching Kagome off guard.
"Hey, are you mocking me?!"
"Nooo." Kaede drawled, shooing Kagome out of the room with a smile. "But you should go, I'm sure your mother's worried by now! You're late!"
"What are you, a high-school boy?!" Kagome shrieked, storming out of the room, appalled that a sixty-year old woman would act in such away, as Kaede was left to chuckle to herself at the sight of Kagome's rapidly retreating form.
That girl was a keeper.
*
Kagome sighed and rubbed her eyes of all their sleep, sitting in her little Ford Escort outside her family's shrine, later that evening. She was thoroughly exhausted from a day at the job after getting practically no sleep the other night, was about to endure a family dinner, and on top of it all, she really needed a new car.
'Well, I AM getting paid a bit to do this FBI job. maybe I could start saving up,' Pause. 'Or maybe I really do need that money for school supplies this year.'
Stifling a moan at her own stupidity, Kagome stepped out of the car and began the long haul up the shrine steps. She wore black tights and a red corduroy skirt, with a plain white blouse. The nights weren't quite so chilly yet, since it was still September, but if things kept going the way they were, soon she might have to ((gasp)) pack away her impressive miniskirt collection for the winter! Oh the horror.
The rest of the day at work hadn't been too terrible, although she still was a little shell-shocked over the fact she was about to acquire a new child in her house. (Dear God, what was she going to tell Kiki and Keiko?!) Thankfully she hadn't seen Inuyasha anymore that day, for she would have been too tempted to ask him about Kikyo, and if he didn't want to talk about it, would have had too short a temper just then to deal with him and that mouth of his. Miroku gave her a schedule of their meditating and spiritual focusing lessons coming up, and Kagome had tried to look grateful for his help and guidance, even though she really just felt like burning the schedule and have been done with it. All in all though, the day hadn't been THAT terrible. And she'd had some damn good coffee!
Finally she reached her house, part of the main shrine, making sure her hair wasn't too messy, and that all of her clothes were in order. She had this nagging feeling that her family didn't really think she was ready to live alone yet, and worked hard to convince them she was every time they made her come visit. Usually she failed horribly, but she was set to make things look good this time. After all, getting a secretary job at the FBI was pretty mature, right?
'I'll have to break the FBI thing to them carefully, and make sure not to reveal any demon-like secrets. It's just an ordinary secretary job. at the FBI. Right, Mom might not like that part anyway, better be extra careful.'
However, no sooner had Kagome run the doorbell, than she realized it was too late to be careful. She was IN.
"Kagome!" Her mother cried, swinging open the door, a worried expression plastered onto her feature. "What's this I hear about you getting a job at the FBI!?"
"Uhhh." Was Kagome's quick response. How did she KNOW already? She hadn't TOLD anyone! She hadn't-
"Way to go sis! That is TOO cool!!"
"Granddaughter, what are you doing working for the FBI? It's a disgrace! You know they've been hiding ALIENS from us?."
Kagome cried out in agony, as she let her family drag her into their house, not unlike an unsuspecting gerbil getting sucked into a vacuum cleaner. There was hardly any warning, and then, 'Vwoop!' and it was all over for the tiny, hair brained rodent.
Author's Notes:
Truly sorry this meager little chapter took so long to get out, and I hope I didn't loose too many readers with my laziness. Did you like this chapter? Is the plot too weird, or maybe too predictable? PLEASE review, it would make me soooo happy. thanks! And happy holidays!
Rio Grande
And to the Random Ranger Lover? Whooo! Kindred spirits!
-One last note! I'm sorry about mixing up Kiki and Keiko during their debut last chapter. and if you didn't notice it, never mind. I didn't say anything. Also sorry about how I started off with Inu Yasha and later converted over to Inuyasha. (I think I'm sticking with Inuyasha. It's easier.)
I don't own Inuyasha and enjoy.
*
Bitten
By Rio Grande
Chapter Three: An Acceptance Of Sorts.
*
Kagome wasn't overly sure of JUST what she was doing, zooming down the highway at approximately eleven P.M in a black Lexus, next to an odd, yet admittedly sexy half-man wearing wonderfully tight jeans and a leather jacket, while she was sported a baggy t-shirt that said 'Main Street Coffee Shop, Delicious Coffee Hits The Spot', a fleece, and equally baggy sweat pants. She felt like a loser, (Looooser.) and with her mussed hair and currently darkly circled eyes, knew she looked like one too. Inuyasha looked so dangerous, so intimidating, so ready to go kick some monster butt! Where as she, well. let's just say the world of crime fighting had seen more formidable saviors. Putting it laymen's terms, she was about to get her ass whipped if she wasn't careful.
What was she thinking? Why was she letting Inuyasha take her in the dead of the night to an active crime scene, where they were to apprehend a DEMON, before she had even confirmed to Detective Kaede that she was willing to work with the FBI? She was wonderfully befuddled, but was willing to go along with it all for the time being, seeing as how she would most likely pee in her pants if she tried to talk to Inuyasha and he got mad at her. Hey, was she the only one that noticed his claws were like, four inches long!?
The couple drove in silence for about ten minutes, Inuyasha's eyes glued to the rode, Kagome's to defense spray he had sitting in the cup holder, that she was seriously considering steeling. Eventually, the girl mustered up the courage to ask a question that had really been bothering her.
"Is that your NATURAL hair color?" she got out, unable to contain herself. Inuyasha seemed to miss a beat, mentally, for a second, before rolling his eyes and putting his attention back on the rode.
"If you REALLY think it's vital that you know? Yes, yes it is," he sighed, looking vaguely furious. Hm. Touchy subject.
"So it's a half demon thing then-?"
"YES. If you need to talk, wench, could we please talk about something more relevant?" he asked, growling.
"Hey! Let's get one thing straight Mister! I am NOBODY'S wench! And I'm doing you a favor here by coming out like this! You should have more respect," she stated, folding her arms. Inuyasha just barely held back a bark of laughter.
"A favor? Right. Yeah, you're really going to prove to be a valuable asset when it comes to taking down the bad guys. You haven't even STARTED training your miko powers, so there's no way you could hope to take down someone like Naruku. Luckily, that's why I'M here," he huffed. Kagome felt her eye twitch. Where did he get off?!
"Well if I'm so USELESS then, why did you drag me down here?!" she squawked, flailing her arms about. It wasn't as though she could HELP it, sheeee hadn't been the one who wanted to accept this crazy job!
"Well, in case I do take him down, you'll need to hold on to the Shikon jewel so it doesn't become anymore defiled and destroy everything in its path," he explained, simply.
"HA! So you DO need me! Admit it!" she exclaimed, exited at the prospect of proving the damn bastard utterly WRONG.
"But that's only IF I get him, you're just back up!" he countered.
"So you don't think you stand a chance against this guy, hu? Why so pessimistic? You weak or something?" she asked, slyly. She definitely already knew what buttons to press with this guy.
"What?!" he cried, outraged. "No way, I could take him down in a second if he wasn't such a goddamn cheater and always did this disappearing act on us!"
"But, if you DO catch this guy today, you WOULD need me! I am IMPORTANT! A total NECCESITY!" Kagome insisted, eyes alight with the heat of battle, and the joy of success. However, she felt an odd, ominous chill run down her spine when Inuyasha smirked confidently at her comment.
"That's right," he said, quietly. "So now do you see why you have to join the team? You just made up a very convincing argument for yourself of why you should take up the offer, of why you have to help."
"Aghhh!" Kagome cried, putting her head in her hands, realizing how deep a hole she had dug herself, while Inuyasha chuckled evilly next to her. "You tricked me you freak!"
"Hey, I'm not ALL muscle," he joked.
"Yeah, some of it's hot air, too," she reminded him, helpfully.
"Coming from you, the super ditz?" he shot back.
"You're not really doing a swell job of convincing me to join your little organization, you know? So far all I've developed is a strong dislike for you, personally, and have no interest whatsoever in being part of any job that makes me work closely alongside someone as rude as you," she said, her face red with fury, and basic embarrassment at being fooled so badly.
"I think you're just sore from before, and I'm going to take that into account so that I don't throw you out of the car right now," Inuyasha said flatly, in such a dead serious tone that Kagome snapped her mouth shut rather quickly, and went back to staring at the defense spray.
She wanted that pepper spray. Now, more than ever.
"Ahh. Here we are." Inuyasha commented darkly after a moment, spotting the illuminated skyline that they were coming upon, everything glowing an eerie, red color. As he turned a corner, Kagome soon figured out WHY everything was red.
"Oh my God, that building is on fire! Should we call 911?" she gasped, going back to her skills she had learned in first grade. When in a fire: Call 911. That doesn't work? Stop. Drop. Roll like you've never rolled before. That doesn't work? Sucks.
Actually, Kagome really did have a level head in emergencies, and thus was rather disgruntled when Inuyasha began to laugh at her AGAIN, as he pulled into the building parking lot, all but flying out of the car.
"What, you want to kill those innocent fire fighters? A demon started this fire, Kagome, and it's OUR job to put it out. We're the justice enforcers now." he commented, storming towards the building, Kagome meekly following after him. If she hadn't been intimidated before, she was intimidated now.
Entering the totally average looking apartment, which Kagome had just remembered was run by demons, both people were attacked by a storm of smoke, Kagome gasping as she took in a suffocating lungful. Inuyasha, who, because he was a wonderfully gifted hanyou, was having no problems with the smoke, and looked vaguely sympathetic as Kagome began to cough and hack into her hand. He dug through his coat, and pulled out a cloth, the best he could do, for Kagome to put over her mouth.
"Thanks," she wheezed, eyes watering. Wow. This place was sure burning.
"No problem. Oh. you brought the pepper spray, good. I brought that for you. Figured you didn't know how to shoot a gun, and it's not a good idea to be TOTALLY unprepared." He commented nonchalantly. Kagome on the other hand, still following the white haired man as they both zipped up the stairs, was quite taken a back. Why, that had been, almost very thoughtful of him. Just like with the neighbors. Just like with the handkerchief just now. Hmmm. this Inuyasha character definitely needed some more investigating. Maybe there was more to his rough personality than meets the eye? "Would you hurry up, wench? We'll never make it to the roof at this rate!" 'Kay, scratch that. What was with this guy? He had to be the moodiest person she had ever met!
"You're sure they're on the roof?" Kagome panted, deciding she'd scream if they made it all the way there just to find it was empty. She was already almost keeling over with exhaustion, the smoke doing nothing for her out of shape body. She was a sprinter. not a long distance runner, and she hadn't practiced with her old track team in a while. she was really starting to wish she had.
"I can smell them," Inuyasha informed her.
".Riight," she sighed, shaking her head.
They had finally reached the top floor, standing outside the large brown door that would lead to the roof, Kagome nearly crawling along, and Inuyasha looked distantly bored, when the hanyou's ears started twitching sporadically, eyes narrowing.
"They're definitely all on the roof. Naruku and some victimized demons I'd assume. But there's someone else, another demon, wounded. just below this floor." He quickly turned to Kagome. "Go and find that injured demon, you'll be of no help to me out there anyway," he said. Kagome bit her lip, nervously.
"You're sure it'll be okay for me? All alone? The demon won't attack me?" she asked, feeling very naïve and stupid.
"Kagome, not all demons are real monsters. These people are good, law abiding demons, now go! We're wasting precious time!" he yelled, as he opened the door and dashed out onto the roof, leaving Kagome all by her lonesome. She stood alone for a second, shifting from foot to foot, before letting out a long sigh and trotting back down the stairs, still gasping for breath, and deciding to just do as Inuyasha said. If she got killed, well, she'd blame HIM.
"Hello!" she called, stumbling around the second to top floor, and hoping desperately that the wounded demon she was supposed to find would just jump out of a room, hardly injured and smiling, and let her take the poor dear somewhere totally safe while Inuyasha did his thing. Typically, no such occurrence took place, and Kagome was starting to get worried. What if that vulnerable demon was burning to death in one of these apartments, and it was all her fault because she couldn't find them!?
'Calm down Kagome, breath. Think. You just got some new, kick ass miko powers right? Just concentrate, and maybe they'll lead you to that demon in distress!' Closing her eyes and concentrating on her heart rate, hoping it was slow down eventually, Kagome focused all of her senses on finding that demon, imagining a really pretty, helpless one, suffocating somewhere. She found herself getting all teary eyed in spite of her own reassurances that the mental picture wasn't actually REAL- when she felt it. A little twang off to the side, a little tug that led her directly to apartment 8B. a little 6th sense if you will, screaming at her, telling her that yes, this was it. She had found the demon.
"Well, I didn't actually expect that to WORK." She admitted, trying to force the door open after finding, to her immense horror, that it was locked. No! Open you stupid, stupid door! She had someone to save! Why couldn't it understand?
"Yah!" she cried dramatically, throwing herself at the door as she had seen many a super hero in movies do, only to bounce forcefully off the door, and land flat on her butt. Humph. Stupid movies. She coughed once more, distantly wondering how much longer she could stand in the suffocating apartment. The smoke was really starting to become a problem.
"Please, please, open. There's someone DYING in there," she tried, reasoning with the door. "Meaning, if you don't let me in. they'll DIE," she repeated, wishing she had her credit cards on her person. Maybe she could use that nifty trick where you slide it in-between the door and the wall, and unlock it. "Please!"
She pushed her shoulder up hard against the door a few more times, biting her lip, before giving up and resting her head against its hot frame, defeated. She felt tears well up in her eyes, completely frustrated. Dammit. She wasn't even an official part of the Demon FBI, and she already felt as though she had failed them. Failed the Inuyasha and Detective Kaede. Failed that poor, helpless demon on the other side of the door. Failed her math test in eighth grade. Well, that as another story. but she was still very upset, openly sobbing as she pounded futilely on the idiotically solid door with weak arms. And then, it was as if something in her heart snapped, and a dam broke inside her. She froze, eyes wide and still watery, as power began to run through her veins and made her much more aware of her new, mystical abilities then she had been before.
'Is this what I can do? Is this what Miroku and Kaede did to me?' she wondered, letting it all flow, not even caring that she had absolutely no control over what was happening. It was all good!
Next thing she knew, she was on her hands and knees, inside of the apartment, the lock of the door melted away, and still sparking with pink miko energy. Kagome didn't notice any of that though. All she saw, or rather, sensed, was the weak presence of a hurt demon at the back of the apartment. Scrambling to her feet, she dashed towards the demon's presence, throwing herself into what looked like a child's play room, head snapping around as she searched for any large, bloody demons, just lying around.
"Unghh." she heard a small voice sigh from a particularly large pile of toys. Kagome's eyes honed in on it, and she felt the unmistakable presence of a beating heart in that pile of toys. Hurling herself on it, she found herself tossing Barbie dolls and teddy bears in all directions as she tried to find the youkai.
"Oh, shit!" she gasped, as she almost threw the demon itself in the pile of discarded toys. "It's so small!"
Indeed, the wounded demon looked to be nothing but a baby, or a little child, in any case. Probably when standing the thing reached her knees, and its face was unmistakably cute. It had messy red hair, and a poofy tail.
"Hey. hey there, wake up," she whispered, shaking the little demon's shoulder, thankful that there didn't seem to be any open wounds or the like visible on its form. However, she was soon becoming increasingly worried as the demon didn't oblige to her requests, and stayed unconscious. "Wake up!" she commanded, a little harsher this time. Still nothing. "No, no, don't do this to me!" she cried, holding the demon close to her now, throat completely closing up. Damn, Inuyasha hadn't said anything about this being a BABY demon! She couldn't let it die!
And there it was again. That surge of power. That eerily calming feeling of magic and something ancient and secret, creeping through her. Well, it had sure worked out for her last time, so why not again? Kagome buried her tear stained face in the tiny demon's shoulder, praying for its health.
".Momma?" Fuck it, she was good! "Daddy?"
"No sweetie, I'm not your Mommy. I'm Kagome, and you were hurt, so I saved you. You'll be all right," she soothed in her most maternal voice, brushing the baby demon's hair back. And the little guy seemed ready to melt into her comforting embrace, too. before its head snapped up and its clear blue, cat like eyes went wide.
"Oh no, Momma, Daddy! He got them!" he cried, jumping out of Kagome's hug with surprising agility for someone of his size, or lack there of, and already rushing for the door.
"Wait! Come back! Who got them!? Stop! Wait up!" she yelled frantically, getting to her feet with wobbly legs. Apparently, this miko thing was a lot more draining than Kaede had first made it sound. However, because she was just such a good person, she diligently followed that little demon, cursing its name under her breath the whole way up to the roof.
'Oh no, not the roof. I don't really want to get tangled up in whatever it is Inuyasha's up to!'
"Kid! STOP!" she ordered. However the youkai didn't even spare her a glance as it burst through the roof's door, crying out for its parents, pathetically. "Ouch!" Kagome hissed, as she too fell through the door, loosing her balance, and landing on her knees. Snapping her head up, Kagome got a good, long look around the roof, ignoring her stinging and skinned knees, as she realized JUST what she was looking at. Jesus, it was like the apocalypse!
A few yards in front of her, stood Inuyasha. Okay. Not so disturbing. Except for the fact that those four inch nails of his were dripping with blood, his fangs were bared in a way that made Kagome shiver, even though he wasn't actually looking at her, and he had a long, deep gash down his back, that would probably scar. Of course, if he were human it would scar, at least.
Kagome let her gaze travel upwards, and she spotted what Inuyasha was howling at. Erk.
A man, of sorts, was sailing above everyone on the roof, wearing what looked to be a baboon pelt, a tangled nest of black hair flying behind him, and his eyes wide, yet infinitely blank. Kagome resisted the urge to gag as she felt waves of negative energy roll off him so strongly it made her head spin. He wasn't ugly, exactly, but there was definitely something wrong with his face, that made it hard to glance at. So Kagome stopped, and let her eyes wander down to something equally as disturbing.
There, in the corner, was what looked like two, steaming, giant foxes, curled up together, and very, very dead.
And that baby demon with the red hair was running right towards them.
"Momma! Daddy!" he was crying. Oh, for fuck's sake! Honestly! That was just too perfect!
"What?" Inuyasha growled, spotting the little demon. Kagome winced as his head whipped around to stare at her, next. "Kagome? What's going on here? Who is that kid?"
"He's that injured demon you sent me to get. Thanks for mentioning he's like, two years old!!" she called, as that evil looking demon who had been flying above them landed on the other corner of the roof. He had a sadistic and cold smirk on his face, that made the bile rise to Kagome's throat.
"Well Inuyasha, you didn't tell me you had a new miko bitch hanging around you," the thing hissed, gleefully. Kagome wanted to know what it meant by 'new', (What the hell happened to the last one!?) but didn't feel as though this were a good time to bring the subject up.
"Leave her alone, Naruku," Inuyasha boomed threateningly.
"But she's so untrained. just look at her. nearly frothing with untamed powers. I could just. eat her up," Naruku hissed softly.
"Bastard!" Inuyasha howled, leaping forward with arms extended. Kagome felt a slight heat rise to her cheeks because of the fact that Inuyasha was getting all defensive over her. However, that thought was lost to her as Naruku leaped over Inuyasha and slashed him quickly down the back before Kagome had time to blink, something that looked like thick guck beginning to eat away at the edges of Inuyasha's ripped t-shirt. The hanyou gasped softly with pain, and dropped to a roll on the roof. Kagome screeched with terror, hiding her face, and checking to make sure she still had the pepper spray in her pocket. Inuyasha however, didn't even stop to check his deep wound, snapping out of the roll and grabbing something from inside his jacket.
It was a sword!
'Where was he keeping that thing?!' Kagome wondered as Inuyasha leapt at Naruku with what looked like the world's oldest sword EVER. Thin and rusty, Kagome seriously doubted whether or not this sword could effectively slice through butter. But. it was better than nothing, she supposed. Naruku seemed a bit wary about it, in any case, dancing backwards as Inuyasha came at him with a series of wild slashes.
"Silly hanyou! You still don't know how to properly wield that thing! If you did, you wouldn't be wasting time with badly timed jabs!" Naruku hissed, leaping, once more, into the air. Kagome was, personally, impressed with the sheer amount of height the demon was able to obtain, but wisely kept the observation to herself. "I leave you now, worthless half breed! I've done what I came here to do!" Naruku cried triumphantly into the night, as he flew off into the distance, his white baboon pelt quickly disappearing into the darkness.
"Come back here you bastard! You coward!" Inuyasha screamed, skidding to the edge of the roof, and shaking his fist at Naruku until the demon's form was completely gone from sight. Only then did he let his shoulders sag in defeat, and his sword drop to the ground. "Dammit." He cursed softly, ears flattening against his head, and Kagome's heart suddenly swelling with compassion as Inuyasha suddenly looked all too much the part of the whipped puppy. Awww.
"I-Inuyasha," she gasped softly, trotting up to him, and still a little shocked. "Are you all right?" she asked, glancing at his back, which still had that gaping wound in it, steadily dripping with blood. Inuyasha didn't appear to notice.
"All right? Of course I'm not all right!" he growled in irritation, brushing some long white locks from his eyes. "I just let the only most wanted demon criminal in the world slip through my fingers-yet again- and also let him burn an apartment to the ground, not to mention murder two innocent kistune!"
"Oh. it can't be as bad as all that."
"But it IS!"
"Okay!. well um, then, I'm sorry. But moping about it won't do you any good! If you stand here and bleed to death you'll NEVER be able to catch Naruku, and then who will avenge all of the innocent demon's deaths?" Kagome asked, surprising even herself with her sudden burst of courage and bluntness. Inuyasha's eyes widened, but he stayed silent. "Now turn around so I can get a good look at that gash across your back, I'm pretty good at basic first aid, though I don't know how far that can take us with this injury. What does that guy have, anyway, fingernails of steel?"
"I don't need it," Inuyasha sighed, waving the girl off. Wow, for a second there, he had actually been LISTENING to her!
"The hell you don't! Look at you, you're about to keel over from blood loss!" Kagome snapped, trying to spin Inuyasha around, and failing terribly each time.
"Woman, get your hands off me! You don't understand, I can heal myself just fine!" Inuyasha shot back, backpedaling away from the girl, those frown lines returning to his face once more, his morose and beaten attitude gone with the wind. In some ways, Kagome felt as though she had done some good. An angry and pissed off Inuyasha was much easier to deal with than a self-hating and sad one.
"NO! Let me just SEE it!"
"Get AWAY!"
"I don't want it to get infected! I can help!"
"You'll just make it worse!"
"That's bull!"
"You don't know what you're talking about!"
"YOU don't know what YOU'RE talking about! Now turn-!"
"Drop it!"
"I wont! I'll-!"
"Mamaaaa.." The FBI agent and the college girl stopped in mid-retort, heads quickly swiveling to the side, where they both spotted the baby demon. crying over the corpses of what Kagome assumed were his demon parents. Oh. "Papaaa." It continued, tears streaming down its face as it tried to bury itself in the deceased kitsune's fur. Kagome felt her heart wrench uncomfortably in her chest, and she bit down hard on her lip. Glancing up at Inuyasha, she sighed as she found nothing but a sort of uncomfortable, lost expression on his features. Men.
Carefully, Kagome padded towards the little demon, Inuyasha watching her carefully, but never coming forward. This obviously wasn't his cup of tea, and Kagome had this nagging feeling she was far better with kids than he was.
"Hey." she whispered softly, putting a hand on the demon's shoulder, her own eyes shimmering with just barely repressed tears. This scene felt like something out of one of those really touching movies. like Annie. except that usually the parents were human, and the orphan child didn't have a tail.
"Maammaaa... Papaaa." the child continued to sob. Kagome could hardly blame him, she didn't know what would happen if she found BOTH her parents dead on her own roof. In a desperate attempt to get the child's mind off the tragedy before him, she swept him up in another hug, hoping that her own natural powers of comforting would help this kid where her newly awakened powers could not. "He killed them," the youkai child sniffed taking fists of Kagome's t-shirt and gripping onto them as he cried into Kagome's embrace. Kagome's features hardened. That bastard. That demon. He would pay. How dare he do this to helpless and innocent things like this demon!? Where did he get off?
"I know. and it was wrong. he was a bad man. but don't worry. we'll catch him. don't worry." Kagome could almost feel Inuyasha flinch from behind her, and mentally sighed. Now she was starting to understand why the half demon felt so guilty about letting that criminal go. because now, she did too.
"I-I-I want them back!" the demon hiccupped.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Kagome whispered comfortingly, her voice just as remorseful as the child's own, as she lulled him into a deep slumber, where he experienced nothing but sweet dreams as he breathed in the comforting smell of Kagome's sympathy and love, knowing that she would surely protect him as his parents once had.
Inuyasha stared at the young miko girl with something akin to surprise. He could feel mystical energy radiating off her in swirls of power, and knew that she was already unconsciously using her surplus of power to help the little demon in need. And without even knowing how to effectively activate them yet? That was truly impressive, and probably something Kaede should know about.
"Kagome." he started, hesitantly walking over to the raven-haired girl, still crouched down on the ground hugging the little kitsune to her chest as though he would break if she let him go. Kagome glanced up at Inuyasha, who was only mildly troubled to find that her pretty, shining gray eyes were red rimmed and already puffy. This sort of thing could be very startling to someone not experienced with the murderer Naruku. Heck, he was, and it STILL startled him. "We should go, the EMT guys and the whole Scooby gang will be here soon to help collect evidence and help with the bodies. They'll ask a lot of questions, and I figure maybe we should just spare this guy the experience." he said softly, so as not to wake the calm looking, slumbering demon now. Kagome continued to stare at Inuyasha, unnerving the half demon a bit.
"Inuyasha?" she asked quickly, voice no longer wavering.
"Um.?"
"I want to help you. I agree to it. I'll join you and your. cult, or whatever. All I want is to see this guy behind bars," she said firmly, a passion in her voice Inuyasha couldn't help but respect.
"Or disgustingly mutilated and shredded to iddy biddy pieces?" Inuyasha offered, voicing his own secret desire.
".Sure. Whatever. The point is, I'm in. And I'll do whatever it takes to get this demon," she said, standing up with the demon still in her arms, eyes hard and steely, showing an inner strength that had probably always been there to begin with.
Inuyasha mentally beamed. This should prove worthwhile. *
"-And this is the FBI's top secret, undisclosed, totally hush-hush.- coffee machine!" Miroku said proudly, revealing to Kagome an admittedly GOOD-looking coffee machine. (Stainless steel!) "Some of us pooled together our money to buy it, and only very few important agents have access to it," Miroku confessed in a furtive tone to Kagome. The girl bit her lip, averting her gaze carefully.
"Do I?" she asked quietly.
"Definitely."
"Yesss!" Okay, so she had forgiven Miroku for his previously lecherous ways. Hands slip! Right? And he was proving to be a really cool guy, showing her around the building and teaching her all of the finer points of being part of the demon FBI. She even had her own office! It wasn't particularly large or anything, but since she was being put through so much hassle to work on such a dangerous case, it was slightly larger than others, considering she wasn't a REAL agent or anything. When this case was done, so was she.
Speaking of dangerous, Inuyasha, after being especially thoughtful and careful with her after the incident on the demon apartment's roof, had reverted back to his cold, careless ways, making Kagome feel a bit distraught and confused. She had thought she had broken the ice with this guy already, and there he was, moping around the office again, apparently being far too busy to help Kagome get used to being a temporary agent. Jerk. Why did he do this to her? One moment she completely thought he was this brave, cool guy, and the next he was the ass-hole with something large and spiky stuck up his butt!
After the couple had gotten back to headquarters with the little demon, revealed to them as Shippou Kit, they had met up with Kaede who had been in the process of heading over to the crime scene herself. She had taken Shippou into her custody, promising he would be treated well, and that, yes, Kagome would be notified when his fate was decided. Most likely he would be ultimately living with some relatives, was how things looked. Kagome had let go of Shippou with some degree of hesitance, she had grown sort of affectionate to the traumatized little guy, and wanted nothing more than to help him get through the rough road ahead.
"Anyway, it's not much, but it's all we've got. Now. I realize Kaede's already run by you the strict rules for extreme secrecy in this joint, but I'd like to add my own little bit to it. I'm not kidding Kagome, no matter what, don't tell anyone what you really are doing here," Miroku said seriously, stopping in the middle of the hall to stare at Kagome pointedly. The girl cocked her head.
"Why?" she asked, even though she really had no plans of telling anyone what she was really doing at the FBI. They'd never believe her anyway!
"Well, besides thinking you're crazy, they might get tangled up with things that happen here. in which case we would have to give them the whole speech and totally alter their lives. You're example is an unfortunate case we could not avoid, since true mikos are so hard to come by now a day. but would you want your same fate for your family or friends?" Miroku asked, raising a delicate eyebrow. Kagome only hesitated a second.
"No,"
"Good! Then what are you going to tell everyone?."
"I've got a new job as a secretary for Detective Kaede at the FBI in order to help pay for all my supplies for college this year," Kagome recited dutifully, having made up that clever little lie with Kaede herself earlier. She surmised it would go over pretty well with just about everyone she knew. She WAS pretty poor, and notoriously odd. Sigh.
"Spectacular!" Miroku congratulated, clapping. Suddenly, he glanced down at his watch. "Oh! It's almost time for you to see Kaede. She had said she wanted to tell you something.?"
"Yeah, stuff about Shippou and this whole Miko deal," Kagome sighed, marching towards Kaede's with Miroku right behind her.
"Oh, yes," the agent chuckled. "I have a schedule for your meditative lessons all worked out. the key to being the perfect miko is having a serene and peaceful soul, you know," he said, winking.
"I suppose you've achieved this level of supreme peacefulness, then?" Kagome asked quickly, smiling as she reached Kaede's door, and Miroku continued his own walk back to his office.
"Oh, but of course!" the agent/priest commented flippantly, leaving Kagome giggling lightly. Ohhh- wait? Giggling? No. Stop!
Kagome was just about to knock on Kaede's door, when someone pulled it open before her, causing her to take a surprised step back.
"Oh, Inuyasha," she said, in as nonchalant and casual a voice as she could muster, pretending to be very interested in a stray piece of lint on her black sweater. Oh yeah, she was playing it cool.
"Hn," he replied curtly, exiting Kaede's office. Kagome raised an eyebrow, unable to contain herself.
"What were you doing in there?"
"Kagome, Kaede's my boss, I sort of HAVE to see her from time to time," he sighed, running a hand through his hair, and looking slightly disgruntled. With that little jab successfully made, he spun on his heel, and was about to stalk off down the hall, when Kagome retaliated with a little jab of her own.
"Umm. excuse me? What are you doing?" Inuyasha inquired gravely as Kagome began to jab and pinch him furiously in the back.
"Um!" Kagome blurted pinching done, and an odd expression on her face. When nothing more was uttered from the shorter girl, Inuyasha raised his eyes heavenwards, made a crude comment about mortal agents, and disappeared down the hall. Kagome stared after him with wide eyes. she had just pinched him pretty hard, in her opinion, in the exact spot Naruku had, not even twenty-four hours ago, slashed him practically down to the bone! Had he really. just healed? Just like that? Because he was a half demon? She hadn't even felt a bandage!
"What a weirdo," Kagome muttered darkly, whishing into Kaede's office without another look back at the silver haired brute, who, putting his astounding healing powers aside, was being really lame and mean that day.
Kaede's office was a bit different than Kagome had first assumed it would be. although, come to think of it, she couldn't quite remember what she had thought it would look like in the first place. Just. maybe not so smothered with the pictures of ancient Japan, with pricey looking, age old scrolls tacked up all over, along with a various collection of bows. Large oak bookshelves surrounded the office, and in the middle was Kaede's big desk, stacked with papers and letters, facing away from a large window with a picturesque view of Tokyo in the background. Sort of homey, in an antique- ish way.
"Ahh, Kagome!" Kaede said happily, as the girl carefully padded into the office.
"You wanted to see me?" Kagome asked, sliding into a seat in front of Kaede's desk.
"Yes, it's about last night. and Naruku," Kaede admitted, folding her hands carefully, and looking up at the twenty-year old.
"Ergh," Kagome made a disgusted sound in the back of her throat. Even with the tiny amount of sleep she had gotten in the past day, the somewhat poignant image of that ruthless criminal had still managed to haunt her briefly experienced dreams.
"Quite," Kaede agreed, solemnly. "Now, Inuyasha has already typed up a report for me on everything that transpired, however I would be much obliged if I could have a similar report from you. It would be interesting to see how things went from your point of view, seeing as how you have all of those new miko powers in you,"
"Sure thing," Kagome agreed with a sigh. Great. More homework. She was already showing signs of being lax in her college courses, but now she had to actually do paper work for the FBI. Fab.
"Kagome how WAS your run in with Naruku? Anything happen that you would find worth mentioning?" Kaede questioned, generally interested.
"You mean, besides the burning and the inured baby demon and the dead kitsunes and Inuyasha fighting and getting slashed down the back by a weirdo wearing a baboon pelt?"
"Yes. Besides."
"Hmm. well, come to think of it, some odd things did happen," Kagome admitted, jogging through her memory of the previous night, and finding it to be rather hectic and action packed. "Like when I was trying to knock down the door to Shippou's apartment? I tried using these new powers you've given me to get in when I found it locked. and it worked! I just thought about it hard enough, and bam! The door was down and I was inside!" Kagome said, as if for the first time understanding how truly odd that was.
"You just thought about it?" Kaede asked, looking distantly astounded.
"Yeah! And then, I kept getting these weird vibes from everyone I ran into, like I could sort of look into their soul and tell what they were thinking. or something. It's still happening, I feel as though I'm ten billion times more aware of what people are doing and how their auras feel. It's pretty odd," the young miko acknowledged. "And it made seeing Naruku terrifying. Do you know how TWISTED that guy is?"
"All too well," Kaede said, sagely.
"Well, it was pretty odd, and I'm not really positive as to WHY I can feel everything so acutely," Kagome said, eyebrows knitting together.
"It's all just part of being a miko, and acquiring a. how shall I put this? Sixth sense, so to speak. You will find yourself to be increasingly more aware of spiritual things around you, but hopefully with the guidance of Miroku and I, you will be able to control that feeling to some extent. Though I must admit Kagome, the sheer amount of power you're showing at such an early stage is something to marvel at. Inuyasha had told me you were showing signs of true power, but I had not thought he had been so right," Kaede admitted.
'So THAT'S what he was doing in here. telling Kaede about me! Weird.' Kagome thought to herself. Out loud, she said:
"Really? You mean, I'm advancing faster than you guys thought I would?" she asked in wonder. That had to be a first for her!
"Yes, you are. But not to worry, this just means I'll have to start training you sooner! How does tomorrow morning sound?"
"Ughhh." Kagome groaned. It was Monday already, and she had no more classes for the day, but Tuesdays were busier for her, and she could tell that from here on out her schedule was going to be something close to mental.
"Glad to hear you're free. Just stop by the offices at around nine o'clock, and I'll be here. Always am." Kaede said, mumbling the last part a bit remorsefully, to Kagome's ears. "Really though Kagome, this is a very good sign, and it's looking as though the FBI is going to be very lucky to have you on our side. Why, if things keep progressing like this, you could be the next Kik- oops!" Kaede said, quickly slapping a hand over her mouth.
"The next Kik-what?" Kagome questioned tartly, as Kaede tried to look as though she hadn't just almost told Kagome something very secret. "Kik- what?!"
"Um. It's nothing. I shouldn't be tell you. It would be wrong," Kaede said halfheartedly, as though she really DID want to tell Kagome everything.
"Awww. come on!" Kagome, who loved secrets, ever since she had been in grade school, pleaded, doing her good pouty expression.
"I really couldn't."
"Pleaaaassee?"
"Weeell- okay!" Kaede said, quickly caving in, and not looking overly worried about it. Her old withered face got a bit reminiscent as she spoke. "Kikyo was our last miko here at the FBI, and Inuyasha's old partner," Kaede confessed, whispering across the table to Kagome, lest Inuyasha hear their conversation from halfway across the building with those big dog-ears of his.
"Really?" Kagome said, distinctly remembering Naruku saying something about Inuyasha's old miko on the roof. it hadn't made sense then, but things were starting to piece together. "What happened to her?" she wanted to know, eager to learn of Inuyasha's track record when it came to partners, if she was going to be his next one.
"She got involved in some pretty serious dark magic stuff, fell into a deep depression, snapped at Inuyasha and. moved to America." Kaede said, whispering the last part in a substantially darker voice.
"Erk!" Not what she wanted to hear! NOT what she wanted to hear!
"I know." Kaede said, nodding sadly. "A terrible fate." (A/N- I live in America! Yes I do!)
"Th-this doesn't happen to most of his partners. right?"
"Why no, Inuyasha's never had any others! Oh-well, except that one kid. but, we're not permitted to talk about what happened to him anymore. It was bad press,"
"Erk!"
Great! So Inuyasha had a history of offing his partners! JUST was she needed!
"What sort of magic did Kikyo get herself involved with, anyway?" Kagome asked, wanting to know just what happened to this woman, so she didn't make the same mistakes. At this however, Kaede began to look notably older, and she let out a long, tired breath while leaning farther back in her cushioned seat.
"We're not really sure, actually. It was pretty potent stuff though, since she's the best miko we've had in Japan for many years! And the darkness just ate away at her like a disease she couldn't' rid herself of, no matter how hard she fought. I believe. I know she and Inuyasha might have been more than just partners for a short time, and the whole situation didn't sit well with him," Kagome blushed as she remembered all of the times she had thought about Inuyasha in more than just a strictly business way as well. But, she would never!. would she? Apparently Inuyasha saw nothing against such relationships in the work place.
"Did she die?"
"No, I told you she moved to America, remember?"
"Same difference,"
"Well, we haven't heard from her in ages, so she MIGHT be dead, if she wasn't able to find a good, solid cure for her sickness. I wouldn't bring any of this up with Inuyasha though, he REALLY doesn't like talking about it. He and Kikyo did not part on good terms, to say the least," Kaede sighed.
"Had they been working together long?" Kagome asked.
"Only about a year I'd say, but they were a good team," Kaede said, nodding her head solemnly. "Kikyo was a big loss to us, since she was so good at what she did, and that's why were all so thrilled to have you here with us. Working without a miko has been hell for some time,"
"Why didn't you just find another one then? Are we really so rare?" Kagome asked, feeling a wee bit special.
"Extremely! In fact, all of the remaining mikos in the world are somehow related at this point. There just aren't that many miko families left. We can really see it with you and Kikyo since you both look a lot alike." Kaede said, trailing off, and digging through a cabinet in her desk, as Kagome stared off into the distance with a slightly upset expression on her face.
'I look like Inuyasha's ex? This doesn't bode well. Especially if I'm going to be working with him on such a serious case.'
"Ah! Here we go, a picture," Kaede said triumphantly, pulling out of her drawer a picture of a very pretty woman, with long, straight raven hair, and perfect porcelain features, though a bit colder. She wore the typical miko garb of the olden days, and stood in front of a much more spectacular looking temple than Kagome's own Higurashi shrine. She gave off an air of mystique.
"Are you kidding? I look NOTHING like her!" Kagome scoffed. That woman was way to beautiful to be related to her! She had a long history of having very unattractive relatives, and no way could Kikyo and she be linked in any way.
Did we mention that Kagome was STILL in denial over her appearance?
"Can you not see the resemblance?" Kaede asked critically.
"Nope!"
"That's odd, it's so blatant!. But in any case, remember not to bring her up with Inuyasha. He's very . touchy about it." Kaede reminded the girl seriously. Kagome took these words to heart, as she was sure Kaede was sugar coating it when she said 'touchy'. Most likely, the case was- 'psychotically angered by it', and Kagome had no plans to get on Inuyasha's REAL bad side just then. "Oh, Kagome, one last thing before I release you," Kaede said quickly, swiftly putting the old picture away. "I wanted to talk about Shippou."
"Oh, yes! How is he?" Kagome asked, all thoughts of Inuyasha, Kikyo, and their messy relationship gone with the wind, as she leaned forward in her seat, intent on hearing about the kitsune's condition.
"Well, as it would seem. he has no living relatives left, and thus no family to stay with. Even temporarily," the old woman admitted somberly.
"That's terrible!" Kagome gasped.
"What's more, demon authorities are refusing to put him in a foster home just now, because his parents were targeted by Naruku, and that demon could still be after Shippou as well now," Kaede continued. Kagome bit her lip, eyes sympathetic. How awful for Shippou! ". So we were wondering if he could stay with you,"
".EXCUSE me!?" Kagome blurted, nearly falling off her chair. Had she heard Kaede right? "But I thought you just said Naruku might still be after him!?"
"He might!" Kaede agreed.
"But. then. I." Kagome said, floundering around, flabbergasted. This wasn't happening! Sure, she liked the little tyke, but living with him was getting a bit extreme about it!
"Kagome, if your miko powers are truly as amazing as I think they might be, you could very well be just the sort of protection Shippou might need in the near future! And I remember how worried and affectionate you were towards him last night. You love the little guy! How bad could having him living in your house be?" Kaede said, trying to pose the question so that it DIDN'T sound so bad, when really, it could be disastrous for Kagome. Already she was juggling college and an FBI job, but a child now too? It could possibly prove to be too much. What would she do when she went out? Leave him their alone? Kagome voiced these worries to Kaede.
"I have college too, you know, I can't be at home all day looking after Shippou! ESPECIALLY with this new demon FBI gig," Kagome pointed out fiercely.
"Oh, it's all right, he could stay at the offices most of the day, since demon children are usually far more well behaved than human ones. He'd just sleep at home with you," Kaede explained, her voice comforting as well as extremely convincing. Kagome could already feel her defenses crumbling around her, as pictures of the impossibly cute baby demon floated through her head. Well, maybe it wouldn't be THAT bad.
"I don't know. my apartment isn't very big."
"I HIGHLY doubt he'll take up much room,"
"And I'm a terrible mother figure, which is what he really needs!"
"Not from what I saw. You were fantastic with him!"
"Not to mention I'll have NO night life now,"
"Meaning you had one before?"
"Okay, low blow," Kagome huffed, folding her arms. "But. all right. I'll do it. I guess. If it's what's best for this guy, how can I refuse?"
"That's the spirit!" Kaede cheered, knowing Kagome was going to do it from the start. The girl was just that kind of person. "He'll be arriving at your house to get settled in around tomorrow afternoon, so you have a little time to prepare for him."
"Not really," Kagome said, standing and checking her watch. "I have to eat at my family's house tonight! Mom's making me,"
"Oh yeah, that's a real wild nightlife there," Kaede said dryly, catching Kagome off guard.
"Hey, are you mocking me?!"
"Nooo." Kaede drawled, shooing Kagome out of the room with a smile. "But you should go, I'm sure your mother's worried by now! You're late!"
"What are you, a high-school boy?!" Kagome shrieked, storming out of the room, appalled that a sixty-year old woman would act in such away, as Kaede was left to chuckle to herself at the sight of Kagome's rapidly retreating form.
That girl was a keeper.
*
Kagome sighed and rubbed her eyes of all their sleep, sitting in her little Ford Escort outside her family's shrine, later that evening. She was thoroughly exhausted from a day at the job after getting practically no sleep the other night, was about to endure a family dinner, and on top of it all, she really needed a new car.
'Well, I AM getting paid a bit to do this FBI job. maybe I could start saving up,' Pause. 'Or maybe I really do need that money for school supplies this year.'
Stifling a moan at her own stupidity, Kagome stepped out of the car and began the long haul up the shrine steps. She wore black tights and a red corduroy skirt, with a plain white blouse. The nights weren't quite so chilly yet, since it was still September, but if things kept going the way they were, soon she might have to ((gasp)) pack away her impressive miniskirt collection for the winter! Oh the horror.
The rest of the day at work hadn't been too terrible, although she still was a little shell-shocked over the fact she was about to acquire a new child in her house. (Dear God, what was she going to tell Kiki and Keiko?!) Thankfully she hadn't seen Inuyasha anymore that day, for she would have been too tempted to ask him about Kikyo, and if he didn't want to talk about it, would have had too short a temper just then to deal with him and that mouth of his. Miroku gave her a schedule of their meditating and spiritual focusing lessons coming up, and Kagome had tried to look grateful for his help and guidance, even though she really just felt like burning the schedule and have been done with it. All in all though, the day hadn't been THAT terrible. And she'd had some damn good coffee!
Finally she reached her house, part of the main shrine, making sure her hair wasn't too messy, and that all of her clothes were in order. She had this nagging feeling that her family didn't really think she was ready to live alone yet, and worked hard to convince them she was every time they made her come visit. Usually she failed horribly, but she was set to make things look good this time. After all, getting a secretary job at the FBI was pretty mature, right?
'I'll have to break the FBI thing to them carefully, and make sure not to reveal any demon-like secrets. It's just an ordinary secretary job. at the FBI. Right, Mom might not like that part anyway, better be extra careful.'
However, no sooner had Kagome run the doorbell, than she realized it was too late to be careful. She was IN.
"Kagome!" Her mother cried, swinging open the door, a worried expression plastered onto her feature. "What's this I hear about you getting a job at the FBI!?"
"Uhhh." Was Kagome's quick response. How did she KNOW already? She hadn't TOLD anyone! She hadn't-
"Way to go sis! That is TOO cool!!"
"Granddaughter, what are you doing working for the FBI? It's a disgrace! You know they've been hiding ALIENS from us?."
Kagome cried out in agony, as she let her family drag her into their house, not unlike an unsuspecting gerbil getting sucked into a vacuum cleaner. There was hardly any warning, and then, 'Vwoop!' and it was all over for the tiny, hair brained rodent.
Author's Notes:
Truly sorry this meager little chapter took so long to get out, and I hope I didn't loose too many readers with my laziness. Did you like this chapter? Is the plot too weird, or maybe too predictable? PLEASE review, it would make me soooo happy. thanks! And happy holidays!
Rio Grande