Disclaimer: Nope, not mine.

Note: No, Yuusuke's not sexist. he just can't wrap his mind around the fact that the sweet and innocent little girl he knew is a battle hardened fighter like himself. no one can accuse our favorite Toushin of being quick on the uptake!

Chapter 4

I am Woman

Kagome faced Yuusuke across the dojo. Spectators sat along the wall, respectfully silent. The cousins were both in anticipating fighting stances, waiting for the other to make a move.

"You know, Kagome-chan, I don't want to fight you. You could get hurt," Yuusuke commented as he shifted his weight. Kagome smirked.

"Yuusuke, I've been fighting for my life for years now. I didn't get all these scars on my body from falling down the stairs, like Jii-chan told the school,"

"Well, I guess this has got to start sometime," he muttered and dashed forwards. Kagome dodged.

"You're slow," she commented idly.

"Don't wanna hurt you," was his defense. Kagome narrowed her eyes and glared at Yuusuke.

"Yuusuke, if you don't get serious then I swear that I will force you into a pink bunny suit, take pictures, post them on the internet and e-mail them in a chain letter around the world." The miko growled. Kurama, Shippou and Miroku laughed. Yuusuke glared at them.

"You wouldn't dare."

"Try me,"

Yuusuke fired his reigan. Kagome chanted up a shield. The fight was on: toushin versus miko.

Yuusuke immediately dominated offensive. Rei charged punches and kicks were aimed to damage. Kagome managed defensive very well, successfully blocking and deflecting every attack aimed towards her.

"Miss Kagome is very accomplished," Kurama commented. "Where did she learn to fight?"

"Sesshoumaru taught her," Shippou replied.

"Miss Kagome was by taught Sesshoumaru-sama himself? No wonder she is so accomplished," Kurama was impressed. So were Yoko and Hiei for that matter.

Kagome flung several sutras at Yuusuke. The toushin dodged all but two, which burned white hot as they touched his body leaving reddened skin where they touched. Yuusuke jumped back in shock, crying out in surprise. Kagome prepared several more.

Yuusuke let loose his shotgun attack. Kagome's eyes widened in shock and she barely had time to cross her arms in front of her to protect herself. When the smoke cleared the miko was against the far wall. Yuusuke smirked.

"Uh oh," Shippou muttered.

"It's not looking good for the miko," Hiei smirked. Sesshoumaru shot him a sideways glace.

"On the contrary, hybrid. It is the toushin I pity now. The further Kagome comes to losing, the harder it is to defeat her,"

"As many unfortunate youkai and dark miko discovered too late," Miroku said offering up a short, halfhearted prayer for their souls.

Kagome pushed herself away from the wall. The dojo grew silent as she slipped into a well used stance and when through the motions of knocking and drawing an arrow.

"Oh Inari-sama," Shippou groaned.

Yuusuke watched in confusion, wondering if his last attack had knocked more than a few screws loose in his cousin.

But Kagome wasn't addled. The only other person who could see what she was doing was Miroku, who was grinning. She had formed her ki into a bow and arrow and was preparing to fire. The priest noted that she purposefully kept the level of power to a minimum.

Kagome released the ki bowstring sending her spirit arrow flying to its target. The arrow struck Yuusuke in the chest, sapping him of energy. Gasping in shock he sunk to one knee, clutching his chest.

"Yuusuke!" Kurama half rose, surprised.

"What happened to him!" Hiei demanded. Miroku ignored the hybrid and turned to Sesshoumaru.

"I hadn't realized that she had fully mastered that. You must be quite proud,"

Sesshoumaru nodded, a smirk gracing his angelic face. "I will admit I had been surprised when she mastered such an advanced technique so early on, but it seems that Kagome is always doing such things,"

"What happened to him?" Hiei repeated.

"Kagome-sama fired a arrow of pure holy energy at him. If Yuusuke-san had been a full-blood youkai it could have killed him. Of course, Kagome-sama would have taken this into account, seeing as she would never dream of harming family, no matter how rude they have been,"

"Although it is understandable why Yuusuke thought that she was still a weak and innocent schoolgirl. He hasn't seen what she has seen," Shippou reasoned.

"Quite right Shippou," Miroku nodded, "Quite right,"

"Would you two cease chattering?" Sesshoumaru growled.

They closed their mouths.

"What was that, Kagome?" Yuusuke gasped. His head was staring to ache. Whatever she had hit him with had drained his youki and the imbalance was disorienting.

"That, Yuusuke, was a pure hamaya. The truest of sacred arrows. I made sure that I didn't put too much energy into it because, let's face it, this is only a spar. I'm not trying to kill you," Kagome explained, "It purified most of your youki. It will take a while for that to recharge unaided. Sorry,"

Sesshoumaru sighed. "She needs to learn to stop apologizing,"

"But Sesshoumaru-sama, Kagome cannot help it. It is part of the pureness that makes her such a powerful miko,"

"I know that Houshi, but even one such as this Sesshoumaru will wish sometimes for the stars,"

:I like her even more, Kurama:

So do I. She's interesting.

-Look Fox, it's something shiny,- Hiei said sarcastically.

:She does sparkle, doesn't she:

-Idiot,-

"Alright, Kagome, I acknowledge you can fight," Yuusuke said, standing laboriously.

"Gee, thanks," Kagome grinned.

Sesshoumaru stood and exchanged places with Yuusuke.

"Now see how professionals fight, boy," he said as they passed.

"You be nice to my cousin, you got that!" Yuusuke threatened. Shippou and Miroku grinned.

"No need to fear. The miko can take whatever I throw at her,"

"Ah, Sesshoumaru! You're up now?" Kagome grinned mischievously.

"Draw your sword, miko," Sesshoumaru ordered, drawing Tokijin. Kagome slid Fumetsu from her sheath and brought it to guard. Sesshoumaru swung, sending a thousand bolts of lightning at the miko. A short prayer to erect a shield neutralized them before they could to any harm.

"Impressive," Miroku muttered.

Kagome flung sutras at the youkai lord only to have them shredded. Under the cover of the destroyed sutra, she unleashed a wave of holy energy from the blade of Fumetsu. Sesshoumaru dodged and charged.

Swords clanged together. The sound of scraping metal echoed throughout the dojo. Finally brute force won out and Kagome was sent rolling back. Sesshoumaru leapt towards her prone form, but Kagome rolled out of the way and flipped to her feet.

Everyone stared in shock at Sesshoumaru. The lord was frozen in mid leap, directly over a sutra on the dojo floor. Kagome grinned.

"And cunning wins another round, Fluffy-sama,"

Sesshoumaru growled. "Remove the spell,"

"I win, right?" she teased. Another, louder growl. "Yep, I win!" and she peeled the paper off the floor. Sesshoumaru dropped gracefully to his feet and sheathed Tokijin.

"This Sesshoumaru will not fall victim to the same trick twice, miko. You have been warned," The youkai Lord turned his back to his guests. "This Sesshoumaru will be sending out missives to select youkai that I am sure can be trusted with the information of your mission. Expect the wolves here by evening,"

Kagome smiled brightly. "Koga-kun and Ayame-chan? I heard that they had finally mated! When did that happen?"

"About three hundred and fifty years ago, Momma," Shippou grinned, "And they have so many kids running around that it's almost scary. Ayame sure loves the role of mother and she manages to keep Koga out of too much trouble. Then again, he is only a wolf," the young fox grinned. Kagome groaned.

"That's it. Shippou-chan, you spent entirely too much time with Inuyasha." She sighed.

"Early childhood," He shrugged indolently, "Never really left me,"

"Brat," The miko sighed, sounding so hard done by.

"Miss Kagome," Kurama interrupted politely, "If I may ask, how is it that you know Koga-sama and Ayame-sama?"

Yuusuke and Hiei all turned expectant eyes towards the miko. Kagome laughed, sighed and groaned all at the same time. Sesshoumaru looked displeased, his eyes narrowing. Shippou snickered behind a delicately clawed hand.

"Ah, well, Koga-kun you see, well, he had decided long ago when he first met me that I was going to be his woman. He simply would not listen to me whenever I turned him down,"

"You mean that someone actually wanted to Mate you?" Yuusuke looked shocked for a second before he grinned evilly. Kagome slugged him, knocking him to the floor.

"Jerk," she muttered. "Is that really so hard to believe?"

"Your cousin sure is stupid. He reminds me of Inuyasha," Shippou tilted his head to one side and arched a crimson eyebrow.

"Yes. It seems that the young toushin and my deceased half-brother share several personality traits. An unfortunate happenstance indeed," Sesshoumaru said.

"Why you...!" Yuusuke muttered from the floor. Kagome nudged him firmly with her foot.

"It's not that bad Sesshoumaru-kun. Inuyasha may have been rude and crude and know nothing about life or women, he may have tried to kill nearly everyone he met on sight and heavens know he had no taste in girlfriends but he was fiercely loyal to the people he trusted and we could always trust on him to fight his hardest in every battle. He wasn't perfect by a long shot, but then again who is?" Kagome then paused and smiled sardonically, "Other than you, that is,"

"Of course," The youkai Lord inclined his head regally, a cascade of moonspun hair spilling elegantly over his shoulder.

"Well, back to the topic at hand," Kagome clapped her hands and turned back to the Spirit Detectives, "So Koga-kun had just decided on his own that we were going to mate. Then Ayame-chan came down from the Northern Mountains with her grandfather and their pack to remind Koga-kun that he had promised to mate her when she turned adult. Koga claimed for years later that he didn't remember the promise and continued to try to convince me to mate him. Sesshoumaru protested most violently of course. But I guess he must have given up on me," She grinned. "Good thing too. It's not healthy to obsess over something for five hundred years,"

"No. It's not," Hiei agreed contemptuously.

-Pathetic wolf. She obviously didn't want him if his mating another causes her such joy.-

:She is a treasure, isn't she:

She's interesting, I'll giver her that.

:She's an interesting, beautiful treasure, and she's going to be mine.:

Is she now? Does she know that?

:It would be unwise to announce our intentions this early in the game.:

Your intentions, you mean?

:That's right. My intentions.:

-Fox. You really must cease talking to yourself.- Hiei teased.

:I'll have you know that I am not talking to myself, Firebrat.:

Yes Hiei. You know better than anyone that it is practicality impossible to talk to just myself.

:What is that supposed to mean:

Absolutely nothing...

-Pathetic-

"Fox. Pay attention," Sesshoumaru commanded. Kurama jumped, shocked.

"Pardon me," he mumbled.

"How could you tell that he was flickering, Sesshoumaru-kun?" Kagome asked, peering inquisitively up at her adopted brother.

"Never mind, Kagome,"

Kagome glowered, belatedly helping Yuusuke to his feet. "Stuck up youkai lords," she muttered just loud enough to be overheard. Sesshoumaru growled deep in the back of his throat. Every youkai stiffened and backed away defensively, not wanting to get in the way should anything happen. Kagome released Yuusuke's arm and stepped forward, staring hard into her brother's glowing golden eyes. Icy fire flared to life and waged a silent war.

Miroku stepped between the siblings, his hands spread peaceably. "Now, now you two. This is no time to be quarrelling amongst each other. We must plan and debate how to attack this problem," he reminded everyone. "After all, who knows how many children this magician has in his possession,"

"Souta," Kagome whispered, dropping her gaze to the floor. Sesshoumaru nodded curtly, saying nothing.

"We will get him back, Kagome-sama," Miroku reassured.

"Yeah, don't worry Momma, we'll get your brother back," Shippou hugged Kagome comfortingly.

"Yeah, you can count on us," Yuusuke boasted, "I haven't lost a fight yet,"

"At least his boasts aren't quite as empty as the idiot's," Hiei commented sideways to Kurama, who smiled at the jibe at their other, absent teammate.

"So," Kagome and Miroku turned to the Spirit Detectives and Kagome continued, "Which one of you knows the most about this spawn of a low-class, sub-scum youkai?"

"Ah, that would be me, Miss Kagome. Koenma gave me the files he had on the Magician," Kurama produced the files. Shippou snatched them out of his hands.

-You have gotten slow as a human, Fox,- Hiei observed with a sardonic smirk. Kurama squashed Yoko's retort.

"Woo! This sucker's almost as ugly as Inuyasha," Shippou commented as he leafed through the pages of the filched file.

"What does it say Shippou?" Miroku asked. Kagome stood on her tiptoes to catch a glimpse of what the file contained. It was not fair! Shippou was almost two heads taller than she! The indignity of it all. Even Souta was growing so fast he would soon be taller than her.

"Hmm. This guy looks like a serious piece of work. Not the same M.O. as Naraku, but sly and tricky in his own fiendish way," Shippou muttered. Sesshoumaru sighed.

"Kit. Explain the contents or hand it to someone who will."

Shippou waved a hand. "Hold on Sesshoumaru-sama. I am just going to read this through so that we will only have to go over it all once. No point in wasting time just waiting for people to finish reading. Although the Toushin-boy doesn't look like he'd have the patience to read to begin with," the red kitsune shot a laughing glance towards the restrained toushin.

"Shippou, mind your manners. He's my cousin after all,"

"Sorry, Momma,"

"Just read. No talking till you're done," She commanded, steering her son to a zabuton and pushing him lightly downwards. Shippou knelt down on the fluffy cushion and tucked his legs underneath himself, holding the files up so he could read easily. Each page was examined with the utmost care and delicacy before it was removed from the folder and placed face down in a neat stack next to him. Silent servants brought tea, and one maid was unfortunate enough to come too close to Miroku's 'cursed hand'. Kagome took care of that problem. Miroku's tea got cold, as he lay senseless on the tatami covered floor. No one paid any attention to it.

After some time and another round of tea, Shippou lay down the last page from the folder.

"If the information that you got from the toddler is correct and complete in the most part, then taking on this magician youkai should be fairly easy. The information on the magician himself is not much, but then again even I could see a weakness. He relies primarily on his magical defenses and offences. If we could get through those and hit him up close, trapping rage close, the he should go down no problem. The rest of the file contains information on his mode of operation and his mysterious employer. It reminds me very strongly of some intelligence my kids got for me on a possible troublemaker looking to take out the Four Lords and you as well, Sesshoumaru-sama." Shippou nodded to his lord. Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes at the kitsune.

"And why wasn't I informed about this possible attempt at a war?" he demanded. Shippou shrugged.

"I didn't have enough finite information. I know how you hate half cooked theories, so I had my Kids sit on their quarries,"

Sesshoumaru nodded. "Very well. Continue,"

"Thank you. Well, as I was saying, the information my kids brought me was about a plan to overthrow the Four Lords and Sesshoumaru-sama in order to seize ultimate control over the Makai. Rumor had it that he was engineering an army of super-youkai, or something equally powerful. I had heard that he had some scouts out looking for possible candidates for experimentation, and if Souta-ji-sanĀ­ is anything like Momma then he would probably seem like the perfect target, being a potentially powerful priest,"

"Experimentation?" the blood drained from Kagome's face.

"Not on MY family." Yuusuke swore. He clenched his fists so tight that his nails drew blood.

"Your conviction is admirable, toushin. Save it for the battle," Sesshoumaru advised standing. He looked at everyone assemble in the room. "Rooms have been prepared. A servant will escort you to them. We will revisit this matter in the morning, when the wolves arrive. Kagome, I would speak with you and your son,"

"We're coming, Sesshoumaru-kun," she whispered.