Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or Inuyasha
/...
Chapter 12 - "There's something wrong here."
Shock had rippled through eight teens as Tairi, shining blood red, joined Yusuke in attack Goshinki mindlessly. Perhaps it was a trick of their minds, a mass hallucination, but in the moment Tairi struck, supported by the other shrieking, squawking and enraged setrans, the others could have sworn wind, sharp like a blade, flew in front of the setran whose eyes now glowed blue.
Yusuke, attacking from the other side, felt the wind, but tucked it into the back of his mind. When Goshinki fell under the combined efforts, fell until there was nothing left but ashes, the red setran faded to her normal blue, now turning a darker, more royal blue as she trotted over to her fallen bonded. With one last look around, the blue glow from her eyes faded and the red color of her fur totally disappeared and she collapsed next to Kagome's still form.
The human boy was the first to hover over the miko's still form and he had to be shoved aside by Kikyou and Botan, their hands glowing, one set pink, one set gold. Sango ground her teeth in frustration. She hated not being able to use healing energy. By the look on Yusuke's face, apparently he did too.
After a few minutes Yusuke looked like he was ready to begin killing things again as the two girls sat back with grim looks on their faces. "What's wrong with her?"
Inuyasha and Hiei exchanged quick glances, then one with Kurama. There was a smidgeon of panic in his tone that they didn't like hearing. Keiko was giving Yusuke the strangest look, but it was Miroku whose eyes darkened as he noticed the glowing aura around the boy. "Calm down, I'm sure she's fine."
Botan opened her mouth to speak, only to be cut off by an angry team leader. "Don't tell me to fucking shut up! What do you know anyway?"
"Excuse-" Kikyou tried.
"About Kagome? More than you!" Miroku snapped back. Sango groaned and edged around them to where Kurama was standing.
"You can smell things, right? How bad is she?" Sango asked worriedly. Kurama smiled soothingly. "She'll be fine. She's weak, but the two removed her from danger. I believe their worry must be about something else entirely."
Sango relaxed slightly as Yusuke and Miroku began snapping at each other over Kagome and Inuyasha flattened his ears towards his head angrily as he crouched down to talk to Kikyou. He took a few moments to digest what the older miko said, then stood up with an angry snarl towards the two. "SHUT UP!"
When the two looked as if they were going to argue with him, he continued yelling. "SHE'S FINE!"
The roar had the effect of making Miroku immediately relieved and Yusuke both relieved and embarrassed. Inuyasha rolled his amber eyes as his leader seemed to flounder for things to say before Inuyasha cut off the attempts. "You're worried, that's great. We all are. Stop panicking. Hell, I had her ripped practically to shreds that time and she lived. Goshinki barely damaged her compared to..."
Inuyasha trailed off and flattened his ears again at the looks he was getting. "Fuck. Foot in my mouth again."
"I'm sure she forgives you by now, Inuyasha," Kikyou said calmly. Miroku snorted. "For trying to kill her? Of course. For using her? Sure. For trying to steal the Shikon no Tama? That's doubtful. For using her to get to you? No. She's too protective of those she loves."
Kikyou looked away from the perceptive monk, his words stinging as she remembered the things she had said to her sister not so long ago. Her sister probably hated her now. This time it was the little kitsune, sniffing at Kagome with a relieved look, who comforted her. "Don't worry. She'll forgive you and Sango as well. She's Kagome. It's what she does."
Botan stared at the kitsune and couldn't help it. She gave the smallest little squeal and picked him up. "You are going to be having girls falling all over you when you're older. You say just the right things."
Kikyou gave a small smile. The kitsune was right in some respects. Kagome did forgive. Her heart was too big not to forgive her own sister. "Thank you Shippo."
The two girls' petted pet the kitsune, comforting him and themselves that Kagome would be fine. Inuyasha's ears flattened to his head once more and he glare halfheartedly. "When he's older? Why wait, every fuckin' girl in the camp loves him already!"
"Foxes will always be chosen over dogs," Kurama's off hand remark had Inuyasha snarling. Yusuke glanced over and there was actually a brief silence as everyone anticipated the smart comment that would be coming. The silence stretched out before Yusuke managed a weak sneer. "Kurama, don't tease the animals."
Hiei snorted at the weak reply. Everyone else seemed to take it in stride but the fire apparition curled up his lip. That only one of them was injured was better than all of them being injured. There was a slight shifting in the branches of nearby trees and when Botan looked up from Shippo, automatically searching for red eyes, Hiei was gone.
Off to one side, Miroku had settled himself on a log, watching the group with worried eyes. There were so many cracks in the growing bridges of trust between them that it would only take a few wrong words to destroy the whole team. Even now they could barely be called a team. They weren't solid enough until times were desperate. The two original groups still had stronger ties and even those had been splintered. Some of them had reworked the bonds and strengthened them, but even he could see that they were holding on to the past too much.
These eight were supposed to destroy the two who were the greatest threat to the Shikon no Tama? Miroku couldn't help but doubt it. But it wasn't his choice. He was stuck within fate's wheels as well. Fortunately he was one of the outer circle. He didn't envy them for being the prophesized saviors. He looked to Kagome's prone form and remembered his own heart almost stopping as those claws slashed into her. Under his breathe; to remind him of what he knew would eventually happen, he murmured, " 'The Shikon's chosen must give up life, eternal life given so freely.' "
The original Prophet hadn't been very clear, and the wording was odd and jilted, but it was enough that it was there. Every Prophet after that first one had eventually channeled the whole prophecy and each generation wrote it down again and again. It never changed. Some lines couldn't be figured out, but that one had always been clear. Miroku closed his eyes and shoved the lines of the prophesy out of his head, and with it the grief that always accompanied those lines. There was no time for this.
"Miroku?" The soft hesitant voice was familiar and Miroku smiled as he opened his eyes and saw the worried brown ones staring down at him. Gently he took her hand in his uncovered one.
"I'm fine Keiko. Simply calming myself and contemplating the future. Would you like to sit down?" The brunette smiled in relief and opened her mouth to answer. Before she could, he tightened his grip on her hand and tugged her down. She fell forward with a shriek and with a triumphant smirk that turned into the innocent smile of a gentleman; he caught her and pulled her close. "None of them are paying any attention to us."
Despite the fact it was a statement, both of the teenagers glanced around and then without a second thought Miroku tilted his head forward and Keiko leaned up in his lap. In the wake of the battle, the two took relief that the other was unharmed and kissed each other gently under the odd colored sky.
Sango was the first to notice and she took a swift breath, surprised that even after all this time, there was still an echo of pain at the sight. Not nearly so sharp as before, but there it was, all the same. She jumped as someone behind her murmured, "You could just look away."
It wasn't said unkindly, but instead a gentle reminder. Sango's lips settled into a grim line and she shook her head slightly as her eyes stayed trained on the kissing couple. "I don't think I can. I have to accept that they are like that. Some part of me is still holding on to him and this is the quickest way to show it's over."
"And the most painful," The redheaded teenager said quietly. There was no answer forthcoming and Kurama moved away as he caught the murmured words that Kikyou passed on to Inuyasha. Botan had passed Shippo off to Yusuke and joined the other two by the time Kurama made his way over. The four shared significant glances before Kurama cleared his throat. "Should we move her back to camp then?"
"Yes. There isn't much more we can do for her, we just have to wait for her to wake up." Kikyou glanced over to her sister as she spoke and worried gray eyes settled on the form kneeling beside the younger girl with an uncertain gaze. "They've become swiftly attached to each other."
Kurama glanced over at his teammate and then back at the miko, correctly interpreting the worry in her gaze and smiled slightly. "He won't hurt her. Not on purpose, anyway. He can be a bit dense, but I'm not surprised he went a bit berserk when she became hurt."
"They shouldn't be so close while we're on a mission. I hate to say it, but shouldn't we be forbidding this? They're supposed to be our leaders. Don't you think this might be a bit distracting?" Botan winced at the three sets of eyes that landed on her in surprise. A part of her knew they should be close, even had to be close. But that part said it was to make the prophecy work, and there were parts of it that she desperately didn't want to come true. Most of it had already, with the eight of them making a team, but there were parts of it she desperately wanted to avoid.
"It doesn't matter. We're all stubborn in our own way that being a leader is half the time only a token rank. Let them have their happiness." It was surprisingly Inuyasha who had spoken, observing them with quiet sympathy. "They've both had a hell of a time of it."
"Haven't we all," Kikyou murmured tiredly. Kurama observed the three of them quietly and silently while his kitsune half stirred restlessly. They were being to slow, and staying here when the enemy knew exactly where they were was stupid and dangerous.
"We should move soon. Once Kagome is awake we should load up the ship and get out of here. In fact, we should probably start packing things up now. Can we take her off planet now?" Kurama stifled a sigh at the glance the girls exchanged and Kikyou turned toward him, already shaking her head.
Her voice dropped as she explained, "There's something wrong here. We had an odd feeling while we were healing her and while she is physically healing fine, we can sense some mental distress. It doesn't seem caused by Goshinki, but the Shikon no Tama was... pulsing for lack of a better term. The jewel isn't normal, but it still shouldn't have done that."
The kitsune took refuge in reflexive silence as the comment set in. Only Inuyasha looked unsurprised and his expression quickly turned guarded when a sharp glance from two green eyes headed in his direction. He was remarkably easy to read, and extremely stubborn about revealing anymore than his face and body language gave away. Now was not the proper time to corner the inu demon.
Kikyou continued, either oblivious to the ongoing interaction or ignoring it in favor of keeping to the original subject. "For that reason, we would prefer she didn't leave the planet. In the close quarters of a ship, it could be unhealthy, for her, or for us."
Kurama had to settle for that and he was the one who moved off to help Kikyou with moving her sister. More specifically, he was going to move the clawed filly curled up in the grass where she had collapsed while Kikyou presumably moved the other miko. That was if Yusuke let her without taking his worries out on the older sister.
Kurama delayed in picking up the small horse, straining to filter out all the other noises. All he heard was the calm murmuring of Kikyou. He turned his head and was surprised to see that Kikyou had willingly backed away from her sister to allow the human boy to pick her up.
Seeing that his concerns were baseless the kitsune returned to his task of picking up the bulky horse-like creature. She still wasn't heavy considering what her eventual size would evidently be and his own heightened strength, but the red head was still careful as he acclimated himself to her weight.
'Tairi not-awake.' There was the slightest hint of worry and a lot of confusion involved in the thought and Kurama's head snapped up to look at the green gryphon staring up at him with expressionless eyes. 'Kill hurtful things.'
Some part of him acknowledged the fact that they too would like to go kill things, but self-restraint had carried them this far. It was no use looking for things to kill. There would be plenty of chances for that later. "Not yet Sako. You did well in battle."
'Of course.' The arrogance seemed so exactly Youko that Kurama almost dropped the clawed horse in his arms. Laughter echoed in the back of his mind and the wild looking animal gave him an amused look before suddenly turning away and bounding toward where the other Setrans were huddled.
Kurama shook off the weird feeling that he was missing something important and carried the Setran after the miko, finding that the rest of the group was beginning to trail back to camp as well. They had some packing to do.
/./
Strangely, neither of the unconscious females awoke in the next two days and it made certain males concerned. When Miroku was found talking quietly to the unconscious miko and smoothing her bangs back from her forehead, it also caused large amounts of jealousy. The only thing stopping Yusuke from throwing the boy away from Kagome was Elako's desperate attempts to get him to realize the girl would be mad at him forever if he hurt her best friend.
Not that Yusuke was the only one jealous. Keiko stared at the tender scene for almost five minutes before turning directly about and going to sleep in the ship, convincing herself it was nothing to be worried about. Botan watched the four with a sigh. Both Kagome and Miroku needed to have a talk about the differences between friends and more to Yusuke and Keiko, because apparently they didn't get it.
Miroku noticed the jealousy, but frankly he was more worried about his best friend. He knew Keiko could and would think about it logically. Kagome had been his best friend since childhood; it was as simple as that. He was worried about her, and he wasn't stupid. She should have been awake by now. Her still, pale body reminded him too well of the days spent in the hospital after Inuyasha's betrayal. The look on Kikyou's face and the fact she was now avoiding the hanyou told him she thought much the same. The teenager fingered the comet on his collar. A symbol of what he was. An observer, a messenger, perhaps even a ship fighter if necessary, but he could never be more.
He could have stayed in the fighting classes of Seghetra, and he also knew he would never have seen his friends again if he had. He would have been on some team sent on dangerous but level one missions. He also knew they would never have let him at Naraku. He would have died young, without a chance for revenge on his family line, and without an heir. Two of those things would still probably happen, but there had been an option when joining the Comets. His genetic material was stored somewhere, and now, due to his contract with the Comets, if he died, that material would be put to use, and there would, eventually, be another to his line.
He glanced down at his right hand and the slight bump under his glove. There was a band of metal in there, blessed and purified and with electronic "eyes" that watched the growth. A small part of his glove was made from that self same metal and a quick flick of his wrists and a slight burst of energy could send it sliding back and letting loose the curse that Naraku had given his line, before anyone had realized he was Naraku.
Naraku had manipulated the genes of an unborn child at least a century ago and put what amounted to a black hole in his hand. It had been to get back at one of the few who had ever successfully weakened him. When that man's wife had come to the hospital and had to stay for a few days, the hanyou had taken full advantage of the situation. And now Miroku was cursed with the hateful spite of Naraku if the form of his death, which was always drawing nearer.
He had thought he would never get a chance at Naraku. Now it appeared that fate had thrown him a bone, rewarding him for some act he had done in his life. If there was anything that he had ever done that was worthwhile, it was befriend the girl with big blue eyes who had tripped and skinned her knee right in front of him when they were only a few years old. When he had helped her, she had apparently decided that anyone who helped her was a friend of hers, and he had acquired a life long friend. One who was still unconscious, for no physical reason that any of them could see or sense.
So he patiently waited by her side for a few hours each day and ignored the curious glances from everyone except Kikyou, who had long ago acknowledged that the perverted boy and her younger sister were indeed friends, and would be staying friends for the foreseeable future.
/./
It was dark and she thought she was alone and that one thought made her bite her lip nervously. She needed some of them there. She could be alone, but she wanted company, simply to know that there was something else breathing nearby, someone who would listen when she talked, and someone to listen to. As it turned out, she didn't need to push aside those fears and find out where she was. She was not alone, and the four who took shape in front of them, each generating their own light.
The dreamlike quality of the four people in front of her led Kagome to conclude she was asleep. The fact that the light around two of them was dark red and around the other two a very light pink sent chills down her spine. These were the four souls who were the Shikon no Tama. She knew the legend of how the Shikon no Tama came to be well.
The jewel had been being formed by Midoriko and her husband, part of a group of genetically altered humans who each had powers that could be found in many humans, but much more powerful. The jewel was supposed to have had a tiny bit of their souls and much of their power, and it would have been the stabilizing point to the failing barrier. Instead, while it was less than half formed, a battle broke out. A demon they had asked to protect them was struggling with another demon they knew well as another human struck out at Midoriko and her husband.
Here was where the details in the legend became blurry and changed. All anyone knew was that by the end, two demons souls and two humans souls had been sucked into the Shikon no Tama, and their power with them. As it turned out, the Shikon no Tama's powers grew even beyond the four original souls. The jewel took in energy from the very air while it was still forming, and it was Resurga who was the first to find the jewel, before it had settled into the pink jewel it would eventually be.
When the demon had first picked it up, it had been a swirl of colors as the four souls fought for dominance inside the powerhouse, but as Resurga held it up, the two brighter souls were pushed back by the malignancy in his touch. Since then, who was on top and winning the battle would always depend on who was holding it.
She had never expected to be confronted with the confirmation of the jewel's history. The Shikon were standing in front of her. All of them were smiling, looking pleased with themselves. She couldn't see why.
"Don't look so confused, girl. You think we would really leave our fate up a few ignorant teenagers? None of us agree on how this should end, but we do agree that if you are going to be protecting us until the end, you need to be talked to. You fight badly, you let your anger coat your mind when you fight, and you have absolutely no idea what this jewel can really do." This was, surprisingly, from one of the two coated in the brighter light and Kagome went rigid in surprise and hurt.
"But," The demon continued, ignoring her expression, "You have a strong will, and determination. And there is much power in you. Just as there is much power in us, that if you and he knew how, you could access."
"To think, the Guardian and Controller, making out. That was nothing even Midoriko's little pet Prophet saw, I bet." The barb hit its target as the human woman bathed in bright light stiffened and turned to glare at human man glowing dark red.
"I don't-" Kagome began to explain she had absolutely no idea what they were talking about, besides the apparent allusion to her and Yusuke, when the first speaker held up his hand.
"Yes, yes, you don't understand. Some of which is why we are here. You and the boy need to put aside all the difference with your peers you may have, and begin to train together on the way to Mars. You've been lucky that you were trained to fight both alone and in pairs as well as in groups. You certainly didn't take your teamwork lessons to heart. Besides all the romantic connections you eight seem to be making, what other connections have you made?" Kagome opened her mouth to respond and was cut off. "None. You can fight along side the other females, the monk, and your boy. What of the fire apparition? The hanyou? The thief? If you were stuck with one of them at your back, could you fight alongside each other without actually hindering each other? It is doubtful. When you get to Mars, large hordes of demons and one or two detachments will not be all you are fighting."
"Hush. You are confusing the girl, and ridding her of the self-esteem she desperately needs. I for one think you've done well considering the situations you've been thrown into. But he is right. You all need to learn how to fight together. You need to learn each attack the members of the group have, and it should become second nature to be able to sense exactly how, when, and where each of your companions will move." The one Kagome had identified as Midoriko smiled at the confused miko girl and then sighed at the crestfallen expression.
"You need to learn not to depend on others as well. In the end, it is you who is our ultimate chosen. Even the Controller does not have the same destiny set on his shoulders as you do. There will be times when you cannot depend on them. There will be things you will have to do that they will not understand." Kagome whirled around at the fourth and final voice, realizing that the demon glowing dark red had moved behind her. He had been silent and he was close enough that if this had been real and he had wanted to, her throat would have been slit open without her knowing he had done a thing.
"Hello Guardian," The purr sent cold, icy shivers down her spine and all the confusion was swept away as fear built up. Even the human man, despite the dark aura, hadn't been like this. This demon was elegant and with a wiry, catlike build despite the fact she could sense perfectly well he was an ice demon. What scared her was his eyes held confidence and long held in anger and beneath it all, his aura was dark and malicious and swept around them. There was a desire to destroy her in him. Not for any particular reason, but simply because she was there.
"Don't look so fearful. I wouldn't kill you even if I were more substantial. Not right away. I would rather play with you first. I wonder how long I could keep you before you would break altogether? I've always wondered if what happens in your mind would reflect on your body. If I rip you open here, would you die, or could I simply do it again?" The curious musings were more terrifying than if he had been actually threatening to do it. He was perfectly calm, and speaking as if this was a normal, ordinary conversation.
"Aw, leave her alone. You know we need her. You ever want to get put in Resurga's palm; we have a lot to sink into her stubborn head. And a few requests to make." The human man was nudging the demon back and after staring for a few more unnerving moments at Kagome, he stepped away and Kagome relaxed, the dark presence of the human man beside her feeling almost normal despite the evil aura.
Finally she looked up at the four and frowned. "What requests?"
/./
It was the morning of the fourth day that they had been unconscious when Kagome and Tairi snapped awake. It was the one time of the day when not a soul was watching them. Miroku and Yusuke had been forced to go and eat breakfast with the rest of the uneasy and worried teens and the miko tilted her head before their auras lit up in the back of her mind, a rainbow of colors that couldn't be seen with her eyes.
'You've been asleep a long time. Yusuke will be happy. May I tell him?' Kagome sat up as she mulled over how to answer Elako. Her eyes settled on Tairi's form and her larger size and deeper color with surprise that quickly passed. She didn't have much she could be surprised over anymore. She remembered a flash of red and almost let herself get sidetracked by the vision of her horse-like Setran glowing bright red.
'Yes Elako, you may and should. He knows you and Tairi can talk to both of us and might get angry at you if you don't.' Kagome smiled as she sensed the alicorn Setran's glee.
Tairi nuzzled her side affectionately before she paused a moment before informing her bonded, 'We've been unconscious for four days.'
'We?' Kagome questioned, her mental voice startled. Her answer never came. They were interrupted by frantic footsteps as the first hopeful head popped in, familiar brown eyes raking over her body in concern as he rushed inside. Yusuke stopped short of the bed she was on, still radiating worry but Kagome could see him pulling down the guard over his features.
She smiled at his concern, her own eyes reflecting the relief that he as well as everyone else seemed to be in perfect health. Her mouth opened to speak a greeting, to soothe the concerns of the faces peeking in behind Yusuke, but a flying ball of red and gold prevented her from doing anything more than squeaking in surprise. "Kagome! You're alright!"
The kitsune had a death grip on her shirt. She noted in surprise that someone had put her back in the more formal uniform while she had slept. She had only worn the black uniform once, when she had gone to her graduation ceremony, shortly before she had been assigned to her team. She glanced up in surprise and found they were all similarly garbed, the girls in black, the boys in the dark blue of the separated school they had graduated from. Once they were either promoted to higher ranks or been declared higher levels, they would get different uniforms. As it was, they were still rookies, and therefore they still had ties to their schools.
"We packed up most of our things, including the normal sets of clothing," Botan explained in response to Kagome's questioning look. Her response was an absent nod from the miko as she returned her attention to the kitsune who had his head buried in cloth and was shaking slightly in Kagome's gentle grip.
"I thought you were dead. You weren't waking up. You were so still, just like Mama and Papa." Kagome's arms tightened instinctively at the raspy murmur. She rubbed his back soothingly and glanced up at the rest of her team to see the response. A few of them were surprisingly unguarded and in Miroku's eyes she found Shippo's concerns echoed. The memory of her torturous time in the hospital after Inuyasha's betrayal forced her to look away. That was where his memories led when she was injured, and she couldn't blame him. Her memories went the same way.
Kikyou was, as always, carefully on guard against showing too many of her emotions and she only allowed her relief and joy to show. The concerns and questions were set aside, as was her reaction to the emotions plain to see on the faces around her. Miroku's quiet relief and the affection in his eyes were for a friend, but Kikyou could see that Yusuke didn't think so in the way he clenched his fists tightly. Keiko only looked a bit upset and was struggling in vain not to be jealous.
She wasn't the only one to notice it, and Kurama and Inuyasha exchanged exasperated glances while Hiei smirked at the chaos building just from the simple look from one friend to another. Kagome stayed oblivious to the sudden emotional currents in the room, but Botan picked up on it and bit off a sigh. Nothing they did could go on without drama.
"Are we leaving soon? You mentioned that things had been packed up. I knew the tent looked a little bare." Kagome grinned at her own understatement. The tent was empty besides the small cot-like bed she was sitting on and a few medical supplies. It looked abnormally large without all that space being taken up by personal possessions and another bed.
"Yes. In fact, we were just waiting for you to wake up before Keiko and I flew the ship out of here, and hopefully unnoticed by whatever they have up there waiting for us. Obviously you were supposed to have more time to acclimate to each other and the creatures from the eggs, but that is no longer possible. Once you are-"
Kagome cut Miroku off. "I'm fine now. Just let me pack up the bed and medical supplies."
Kagome stood and handed Shippo off to Yusuke, who looked faintly alarmed to have a crying child in his hands and fumbled before attempting to cheer up the kitsune while Kagome folded up her bed. The bed itself folded up into a compact if heavy package, but the bedding was more of a problem and was promptly stuffed into a bag with no thought of packing it properly. Kikyou's lips twitched in amusement at Kagome's lackadaisical manner and Sango smiled fondly before they quickly fixed it when the girl's back was turned.
"Are you sure you're up to travel? You just woke up. We didn't even know what was wrong." Botan's eyes burned into Kagome's back intensely and the miko endeavored to sound normal. The former grim reaper obviously knew something was up.
"I'm sure. I feel fine. Just catching up on sleep, I guess." The lie slipped out too easily for Kagome's liking as rearranged the medical supplies into a package that was easier for loading.
Botan actually felt relieved. Kagome didn't seem to even know that the Shikon no Tama had been acting strangely in her sleep. Perhaps the jewel had just been responding to the energy around it. It was said that it could sometimes absorb energy instead of just give it to others. Botan could believe that was what it had been doing. The Setrans did it. That was how they grew and how they collected energy. Except, there was no reason for the Shikon no Tama to do it. The only time it had done it was by the command of one who wielded it or when it was first forming. So why had it been pulsing?
Something was certainly odd here.
/./
The last traces of the camp were obliterated when Kurama encouraged the plants in the area to grow at an accelerated rate and soon all that could be seen was the untamed wild forest of the area. Kagome caught Kurama's arm before they boarded and looked pointedly towards their small sad looking kitsune charge. He took the hint and went off collecting seeds around the area.
The ship wasn't built for many passengers and it actually only had six beds, firmly attached to the walls and in bunk like set ups, with on above the other. Two sets were attached to the left wall and the last set was in the middle of the right wall. Kagome took one look at them and ignored the grumblings from behind her about splitting into two shifts. They were already trying to argue over who received which shift.
"There will be three shifts, not two. Eight working hours, eight hours split into sections of training and downtime, and eight hours for sleeping. Somebody show me an info console. I need to split us up." The scolding voices from her time asleep were ringing in her head. She didn't even know if that had been real, or simply something from her imagination, but the Shikon no Tama seemed a heavy weight on its chain either way and some of the things they had said had merit.
A few of the ten who had stopped what they were doing looked surprised that she was taking it into her own hands. Kagome found herself a bit angry to notice this included Yusuke and Sango. Kikyou actually seemed happy with the new confidence she was showing. Miroku was giving her a supporting smile and Keiko seemed to be weighing something inside of her.
"Here. Just type it here and you can even set up the times and what they should be training in if you like. We can just leave it on so whenever someone passes by they are reminded of what they should be doing." Miroku handed over the electronic device, a set of small buttons in one corner the obvious control. The screen was presently glowing a medium blue as it waited to be given commands.
After tapping a few buttons, Kagome was soon placing in their names. Small letters had appeared on the bottom of the screen and she carefully place ten names in before splitting them into three groups and labeling which watch would be in the control room controlling the ship at what times. Kagome leaned back from the screen and placed it into a recess in the wall where it had evidently been taken from. There were murmurs of surprise from behind her as they saw where they had been placed.
"I tried to place us with the people we have had the least amount of training with. We need to know each others strengths and weakness. Right now - we don't. Some of you will complain. You don't want to be with that group. That's the point. You really think I want to be on the same watch as Inuyasha? I don't, but I have a responsibility, and so does everyone else. We can deal with this." Her voice wavered as she spoke the last sentence. She wasn't even sure she could get through training and spending most of her waking hours with Inuyasha. Kurama probably wouldn't be so bad, but it would take most of her will power not to turn every training session into an argument and a personal battle.
"What about me?" Shippo piped up. He had noticed his name was not on the list and the kitsune was a bit hurt that he wasn't considered part of the team.
"You have a choice. You can pick any time slot you want, but you will have to stay with those three - or four - people the rest of the ship ride, which may be awhile if we have to skirt around Naraku's forces. Or even worse, Resurga's forces." Kagome was back at the screen, this time her fingers hover over it as she awaited the kitsune's decision.
"Can I be on your watch, Kagome? I don't know how anyone fights, really, so it won't matter, right? And Kurama's a kitsune too! He can help me learn to fight, and about this Maker stuff!" The kitsune had perked back up and Kagome's pleased smile was all the answer he needed to his original question.
"It's nearly sixteen hundred now. That is the beginning of my watch, and the beginning of your sleeping watch, Kagome. I guess this is where we all split off, huh?" Sango looked a bit anxiously around at the others. She wasn't so sure of this new plan. Sure, they all had someone who knew at least enough about the ships to keep it on course, but Sango thought it better to do as they had before, when coming here.
They were already splitting off, three toward their beds, four towards training, and Sango, Hiei, and Keiko toward the control room. Sango didn't like this arrangement at all. She didn't like the brunette girl, and she didn't trust the fir apparition.
She also couldn't help wondering if Kagome really knew what she was doing.
/...
Ok, after this chapter, I think I'll start e-mailing people who have questions and just include everyone in the thank yous. But that'll be next chapter and forward, because I'm too lazy right now.
Thanks you to Kishiro-Kitsune05, Sherkoni, Sukera, and blazingsunstar.
animegurl5: Can you keep reviews to only two a chapter? I appreciate that you want an update, but new people reviewing sometimes gives me an extra boost and the same person doing so multiple times does the opposite. I love that you like my story so much! Just done it down. oh, and on the review table thing, you didn't put spaces between the "update"s and it kinda messed it up. Thanks for reviewing so much though! You're an awesome reviewer!
Animefreak242: Three times? I said his eyes were blue three times? -dies- I have absolutely no idea what was going on in my mind when I did that. I've noticed and fixed the mistake in chapter 2. Where is it in the other two stories? And Sango's eyes... really? They look black to me. Hmm...
Winged Knight: He would have to be a demon first, and that means he has to die. Not saying it won't happen, but he's still human so far. Berserk, yes, demon with spiffy markings, fangs, and lots of power? Not yet...
Foxylilraven: Nope, sorry, there are only four types of Setran body types. They get one of the ones already existing.
inu.-sess.fan: All the character slots are taken by real characters or in the case of Tenashu, by relations. The only Original Characters will only have bit parts, no romantic relationships or such. Sorry.
Dragon Heart: Yeah, the prophecy is something a Prophet way in this world's past made. I don't know if you would say it's what the story is based on. It's just why these characters have been brought together. I made the Prophecy up and one day will have someone actually say the whole badly done thing.