Enchanted Orbs

Chapter 18 The Spy and the Stalker

Kagome exited Shouron's quarters and headed towards her room. When she got there, she slipped out of her servant's garbs and put on a pair of shorts, and a tee shirt. She left her feet bare and tied her hair up.

She completely disguised her scent, aura, and covered the sound of her footsteps, heartbeat, and breathing. With a quick check to make sure no one was in the hall, she made to open the door.

She paused with her hand at the door. 'No, I rather like being a ghost.' She concentrated then pushed her hand through the door, followed by the rest of her.

She quickly made her way to the soldiers' areas. She passed by the dining hall and noted that Rokoshi and Samon were still in the room. Everyone else had left and they were having a hushed conversation.

She continued on her way to Aishi's room. 'I know I'm biased against him, but he gives me a bad feeling. Plus, I saw, with my own eyes, how disrespectful he was to Sesshoumaru yesterday evening.'

Kagome reached out mystically and found his aura. He was amidst several others, weaker than him. 'Ha, Maybe I can catch him plotting with his fellow conspirators! Then I can report them, and Sesshoumaru won't need me anymore! I'll get to go back home...back to my normal life. Wait, why am I not excited anymore? Nonsense! I can't wait to go home and see my family again.'

Lost in her thoughts she didn't feel the approach of several soldiers.

She looked up to see three fully armored men striding down the hallway towards her. She panicked.

'I can't slip past them. They take up the entire width of the corridor! Crap.'

She backed up, but she didn't match their pace. They were almost on top of her.

She frantically looked around, pressed herself against the wall next to her, and prayed. Kagome felt a tingling in her hands and fingers; she glanced down to see her fingers sinking into the wall.

'Of course! How could I forget?' She sank fully through the wall just in time for the passing of the guards. 'That was too close. I actually felt the breeze that followed in their wake.'

Hearing voices behind her, Kagome turned to hear Rokoshi and Samon still talking.

'Well at least I went into the dining hall instead of ending up in a bathroom. That could have been really gross!'

She got her first good look at the two generals. Every time previously, she had her eyes downcast in respect. 'Well, mock respect, at least.'

Kagome recognized the voice of Samon as his voice escalated, their conversation was turning heated.

'Why are they getting so upset?' From what she could tell they were just debating which soldiers would be called in to train for the next session. The only reason she could come up with was, 'All work and no play, makes for cranky generals.'

She tuned out the conversation and concentrated on their appearances so she could recognize without searching auras if she encountered them in her future spyings.

Samon had the most beautiful pale blue hair; it echoed the color of moonlight on a weak night. His eyes were a crystal blue, electric in their intensity, just a tint softer than Kagome's eye color. From his profile, she could see that he had a navy slash painting his skin from the bridge of his nose out to the corner of his hair line. His marking was unhindered by bangs as it made a striking contrast to his snow white flesh.

He was beautiful, but so was the demon seat across from him. Brilliant red hair flamed from pale flesh. Fiery orange eyes twinkled in silent challenge to Samon's heated comments.

Jagged scarlet scorched across his left cheek. Kagome moved around to the other side of the room out of curiosity. Her theory was proven shortly after; both youkai had symmetrical birth marks highlighting their facial features.

Satisfying her thirst for their appearance, she began to listen to their voices. She listened to their words more for their personalities rather than what was being said.

She had no interest in battle tactics and the soldiers' rotation schedule.

Rokoshi had a smooth, silky voice that echoed Sesshoumaru in its quality, but it was lower in pitch.

She listened as he manipulated his voice as would a master of ceremonies. It would vary from a grandfather quality, assuring Samon of his decisions, to a honeyed drawl that promised a slow death after you were hypnotized by its sweetness.

Samon, in contrast, had a higher pitched tone. He seemed too high strung to be a general of his standing, but she could tell he was strong by his aura. Rokoshi was also very strong. She secretly began to wonder which of the generals was the strongest, but she had never seen them simultaneously before, so she was unable to tell.

Kagome left the room to find her original target.

She felt out his aura, and entered the room. She stopped to take her first look at the object of her anger. His hair was the color of spring grass. She shuddered as she looked at his eyes.

At first appearance, it seemed as if his eyes were solid white. 'Eerie.' Upon closer inspection, Kagome saw that, where Sesshoumaru's eyes were molten gold, Aisi's were liquid silver.

Aishi was in the company of about twenty soldiers; all were either drunk or extremely close to that state except Aishi.

He had a drink in front of him, but he seemed to be inattentive to his sake and his rowdy companions.

His brow furrowed, and Kagome wished she had the ability to read minds. One of the men stumbled up to his general and began to attempt conversation.

He failed miserably as his speech was slurred beyond comprehension; Aishi raised his gaze to the soldier. As the soldier was about to tumble to the floor, the general's hand shot out and grabbed the man by the front of his haori.

Kagome had to suppress a gasp; she imagined a spray of blood painting the walls for the man's disrespect. It never came.

Aishi lifted him back to his feet by his shirt and waited for the soldier's friends to come take the inebriated man to his bed.

As soon as the man was gone, he reverted back into his quiet musings.

This is not what Kagome expected the attempted rapist to be doing. She thought she would find half naked girls screaming in fear as he and his men violated them, but it was just a drunken party.

'Well, there will be no productive reports for Sesshoumaru in the morning.' Just as she was about to head back to her room, she saw Aishi rise from his seat.

He walked out into the hallway and lifted his nose into the air. She watched as he scented the air and started down the hallway.

He made his way to the servants' quarters with Kagome trailing him. She gasped as he stopped in front of her room and entered.

Aishi heard the quiet gasp and spun quickly to catch whoever was following him. Kagome felt his aura spread as he searched for her. She made sure she was invisible to his senses.

He narrowed his eyes, but turned back towards Kagome's room. Seeing the room was empty, he walked away.

Kagome grabbed the wall for support. 'If he would have gone in there and looked around, he would have noticed all the modern items I left out. My secret would have been in serious danger of discovery. Ok, I need to keep everything that does not belong in this era hidden.'

Kagome set out to do just that. When her things were properly concealed by both physical objects and magic, she crawled into bed.
Morning came, and she quickly dressed. Following her normal routine, she went to the kitchens and filled a pitcher with water and proceeded to the dojo.

She felt Shouron's aura behind her throughout her trip to the kitchen and dojo, but she didn't think anything of it.

Kagome met Sesshoumaru in front of the doors, and as normal he turned to enter as soon as she reached him.

Sesshoumaru noticed the presence of Shouron trailing his spy; he decided to ask Kagome on it as soon as they were behind his barrier.

Kagome didn't even have time to set down the tray before Sesshoumaru started his inquiry.

"Why is Shouron following you?"

Kagome donned a thoughtful expression. "Hm, you noticed it, too. I thought I might have been imagining things. It just started this morning. As far as the reasoning, I haven't the slightest idea."

Sesshoumaru's brow creased, but he dismissed this information for later scrutiny.

"Ready yourself."

Kagome spread her senses and nodded.

He disappeared, but Kagome was getting used to his speed. She waited for his aura to flare and prepared her counter attack.

Solid shields formed at her fingertips, as he struck she blocked him. Funneling pure energy through her portable shields, she could smell his skin burning with the contact.

But instead of retreating to attack again, as he usually did, he ducked and swept her feet out from underneath her.

Kagome was surprised, but she held onto her concentration and threw a barrier up to protect her from his victory.

He smirked briefly as he flicked his energy whip at her to break her barrier.

But she was prepared for this move. Ever since he had shattered her barrier last time, she wanted to try a new trick. This was just what she was waiting for.

Sesshoumaru saw her smirk at the sight of his whip, but did not heed its warning. With the slightest twitch of his fingers the whip surged forth.

Kagome brought her power in around her, ready to be unleashed. As soon as the whip hit, her shield shattered once again.

She released the energy she held around her and concentrated on taking control of the shattered pieces of her barrier.

Golden eyes widened as shards of her barrier were propelled towards him with unbelievable speed.

Before he a chance to react, blood flow freely down his arms, and a fist- sized shard hovered against his throat.

Kagome broke into the hugest smile and hopped into the air. "HA!! Finally, I beat you." She exclaimed with pure joy.

Sesshoumaru didn't know whether be infuriated that he had been defeated by a human or amused that this little girl had outwitted him.

But that did not mean he would tolerate the radiant smile that taunted him. In a flash, she was pressed against the wall with his hand at her throat and his breath hot on her face.

Kagome expected him to be pissed, but all she heard after her not so soft collision with the wall was, "You got lucky."

She huffed, and met his eyes. "You are a sore loser."

"I won't lose again." He said removing his hand from her throat, but still trapping her to the wall with his body.

"You wanna bet?" Kagome challenged.

Sesshoumaru was unsure of the meaning of her words, but from her tone and the context of their conversation, he knew that she was challenging him.

Kagome about fainted when she saw him smirk in such close proximity. 'That means either death or... well slow, painful death, but at least you were blessed with a vision of beauty before your passing.'

He stepped away from her, and felt her power gathering. He jumped across the room to prepare for her attack.

He watched her as lights began to surround her, much more than her usual amount. He silently wondered how many she could control at her maximum.

The orbs began to flicker and twirl around her, 'Flicker? Is she weak right now?' But as soon as the thought crossed his mind all of them disappeared and reappeared around him.

For the second time that day he had been caught off guard, but instinct kicked in and he began to dodge her attacks.

'Kami, he makes it look so easy. I'll just up the odds.' Kagome thought with a wicked grin.

Sesshoumaru noticed that there were two subsets of orbs flying around him. Some were attacking him, but there were several staying on the outskirts of his maneuvers.

He began to think that she couldn't control as many as he thought, but then he saw movement from the outsiders.

'It's another trap.' He realized with a shock. Quickly he sacrificed a few burns and cuts, from the attacking spheres, to escape the net Kagome was weaving with the others.

'No! Well, shoot, he escaped.' But Kagome had bigger things to deal with because at this point Sesshoumaru decided to go on the offensive.

Funneling her energy into shields the length of her forearm; once more she blocked his first strike, but his second drew blood.

It wasn't deep but Kagome could feel her skin separating from her shoulder to her elbow.

She immediately countered by releasing one of her shields into the air. It raced to the demon lord, but managed only a shallow cut. The shield was too big to be maneuverable enough to cause damage to the agile youkai, 'but maybe I can still salvage a use for it.'

Keeping hold of control over it, she stopped its path and swung it back towards him; at the same time she sent a pure energy blast at him.

He felt both coming and swiftly jumped above the collision, but the collision never came.

They weapons sharply angled up to continue after their target.

'That's enough of this.' The taiyoukai commanded and took control of the battle.

Faster that Kagome knew, the energy whip reappeared, decimating her weapons. The next thing she knew, she was on her back looking up at Sesshoumaru who was bent over her, claws poised to kill.

"I win." His flat tone portrayed boredom, but Kagome could have sworn his eyes twinkled in amusement.

'Can't be. I'm imagining things. Sesshoumaru doesn't get amused, but...maybe I'm wrong.'

"Thank you, I didn't realize that." Kagome stated sarcastically.

"And here I thought you were intelligent." Again his monotone showed no sign of emotion.

'But he was mocking me! HA! He does have some semblance of humor. I wasn't imagining things!'

Kagome smiled at her realization, which thoroughly confused the demon.

'I insulted her, yet she enjoys it? Strange girl.' "That is enough for today."

Kagome picked herself off the floor when Sesshoumaru stepped away. She hadn't exerted a great amount of energy, but she was still sweating slightly.

She masked her ruffled appearance, and picked up her servant's tray. Walking to the dojo door, Sesshoumaru stopped her.

"Shouron is still there."

Kagome reached out, mystically. "Well, I'm not sure why he is following me, but he won't find anything out of the ordinary. I'm just your average human." Kagome stated in a sing-song voice and winked at Sesshoumaru.

He creased his brow. 'She never ceases to confuse me.'

He reached for the door, but Kagome stopped with. "That means I can't bath in the hotsprings, doesn't it?" She stated more than asked. She was irritated; she looked forward to her post-work out dip.

Sesshoumaru merely turned opened the door while Kagome mentally pouted.
Kagome never realized how boring and long the day was when she had nothing to do and couldn't spy on anyone.

Shouron was always right behind her. 'What is he up to anyway? Should I confront him? I want to know, but would that blow my cover?'

She decided against it, and went to the gardens to find something to do.
By dinner time, Kagome was about to explode. 'Why is he still following me? Does he have nothing better to do? Kami, demons are so annoying.'

She went to the kitchen to gather her trays. Samon and Rokoshi ate their meal in silence, but this time Shouron made an appearance at their table. He didn't eat with them; he only made comversation.

Kagome kept her eyes to the ground, but was still fuming.

She took Aishi his meal. She had almost forgotten that she had followed him to her room the previous night until she was on her way to his quarters.

Thinking on his actions, Kagome feared the worst. 'What if he changed his mind about me being tainted?' She began thinking of escape routes just in case. She couldn't pull any straight forward attacks, but she might be able to trick him into releasing her.

'That is, if Shouron lost interest in me.' She didn't even he to feel out his aura, he was close enough for her to feel his eyes on her.

'There goes the trickery. What can I do?' Kagome began to panic as she reached Aishi's door.

For the first time since she'd arrived, she knocked on someone's door without being called in beforehand.

Aishi, again appeared deep in thought, but this time he had several scrolls in front of him. Kagome couldn't tell how many as she couldn't lift her eyes to look, but she could hear him ruffling parchment.

He was abnormally quiet; he didn't insult her at all. She simply walked upon his beckoning, sat the dinner tray down, and stood by the door until he dismissed her.

After a few moments time, he must have realized that she was still present. Under the cover of her bangs, Kagome saw him glare at her then bit out a harsh dismissal.

She didn't mind. She just wanted out of there.

Shouron was still present when she exited Aishi's room. She retrieved his tray and felt him pull away from her.

When she reached his room, he invited her in as before.

"Good evening, Kagome."

"Good evening, General Shouron."

She glided to his table, kneeled in front of it, and deposited his food. She stood and turned to leave. She didn't trust her temper to stay in check when he had been annoying her all evening.

But he stopped her.

"Why are you leaving so suddenly? Stay, sit down. We can talk while I eat."

Kagome did not answer but did as she was told.

"How was your day?"

"You tell me." Kagome bit out before she could stop herself.

Shouron's blue eyes widened, but he held his silence.

Kagome quickly attempted to fix her slip. "What would you like me to tell you, my lord?"

"Did you have a nice day?" He asked with a suspicious undertone.

"It was on the dull side, but as pleasant as a servant could hope for." Kagome answered in partial truths. She was beginning to become skilled in the art of avoiding the full truth.

"Dull? What do you normally do that makes it appealing?"

'I set myself up for that question.' Kagome thought a bit dejectedly as she realized she'd have to dance around the question again.

"I watch people." Before he could interrupt she quickly explained. "You see, I enjoy trying to guess one's personality and characteristics by their movements. As as a servant, I do not have the opportunity to lift my eyes from the floor often. So, when I am not busy, I watch people passing."

"Interesting. What do you watch for?"

"Posture, the way they hold their head, even the way they swing their arms, can tell a person about them."

"What do you see in my movement?"

'You're nosy!!' She thought a bit irritated. "You have a curious manner. I can tell you are intelligent, and good natured, but you are mysterious also. You would like others to think you are completely open and trustworthy, but you do hide things."

He was a bit shocked with her statement. She was directly on target. "But you hide things as well. I've already tried to convince you to tell me your secrets."

"Intimate secrets are reserved for intimate friends, my lord."

"I told you not to call me by that title, General Shouron is fine."

"Yes, my lord." Kagome said with mischief dancing in her eyes.

'Her eyes, they are as brilliant as any youkai, but there is something there.'

He smirked at her statement. "I see you are not well trained in following orders."

"I was not aware that your statement was an order; I thought it only a courtesy offered to me."

"Slippery."

"Pardon me, my lord?"

"You are skilled with words, which offers a suggestion to your intelligence. What else are you hiding?"

"I hide only that which needs to be hidden." She answered immediately.

"But that is a matter of opinion."

"Since I am the one that holds the information, my opinion is the only one taken into account."

"Brave words from a servant."

"But if the servant dies, the secrets are still hidden, still protected." She countered his threat.

He nodded his head in silent admission of defeat, but that was not the last thing to be said. 'I will follow her again tomorrow, what she hides must be of great importance.'