. : Inazuma : .
: . By Akikazu . :
. : Chapter Thirteen : .
"Breath in… Breath out… In… Out…"
Kagome's eyes closed and she yawned silently, Noya's soothing voice making her relaxed and, because she had not slept for two day strait, tired.
"Why are we doing this?" Sota questioned quietly.
"Meditation is a good way for a beginner to harness their power."
"Mhmm, I still meditate before waking you up, Sota," Kagome sighed.
"Oh."
She listened to their controlled breathing from her position on the couch. Sota was already improving, performing the actions better than before the explanation.
"Use your 'sight' search out nearby auras. Be sure to keep your meditation breathing" Noya instructed him.
The sound of their breathing continued steadily and Kagome kept her eyes closed but continued to listen to what they were doing.
"I see your aura and Onee-chan's too."
"Good, go farther."
Sota was silent again but soon he once again spoke.
"There's a brown aura outside."
"Can you tell what it is?"
"I… It's a cat."
Kagome slipped farther into her rest, lulled by the near quiet and peacefulness of the leason.
"How can you tell?"
"I don't know, I just know it's a cat."
"Good, trust your instincts. Now find something else."
Her body felt lighter and her mind became numb, only being attuned to the lesson happening besides her.
"There's another aura, its brown but with some green. A tree?"
"You tell me."
"It's a tree."
"You must learn to trust your instincts."
She thought of the many times she had failed because she hadn't done as her instincts insisted. This would be a valuable lesson for Sota to learn.
"Anything else?"
"Hm… Kagome your friends are here."
"Nh," she grunted.
"Higurashi-kun!" Mana called loudly.
Kagome laid unmoving on the couch, feinting sleep.
"Cheater," Sota whispered as he stood to answer the door.
"It's nice to see you again, Sota-chan."
"Hello Mana-san, Itsuki-san, Kaname-san. I'm having lessons with Noya Sensei and Kagome is taking a nap, but you can come in and wait for her to wake up."
In her mind she cursed Sota. How could he betray her like this, his only sister? Hopefully they reject the offer.
"Thank you Sota-chan, where would you like us to wait?"
"You can wait in the dinning room, you'll be able to see us in the living room from there."
"Alright."
Mana and her entourage took the seats in the small kitchen and Sota returned to his spot on the floor in front of Noya.
"Traitor," she whispered, barely moving her lips.
He didn't reply, instead he waited for Noya to restart the lesson.
"You should mediate daily, you can do it with your sister at first so she can make sure your doing it properly."
"Okay."
Yup she would be there, after putting all breakable items away, and tying down all movable thing, and when she had a fire extinguisher on hand.
"Now, have you noticed any unnatural qualities you have gained this past week?"
"When we were attacked by Eraser's I shot fire at them… I missed though."
"That will be your focus element then. I suspect that most of your attributes will focus in that direction, but you should be careful of surprises."
"But how should I train?"
Kagome found herself becoming restless from being still for so long.
"Do little things, like lighting candles, but be sure your sister is there with you. On Wednesday I'll take you to a dojo I know. I sign you up with an instructor that will be able to handle your fire, and maybe you'll be able to unlock another facet of your power."
"Cool!"
"I'll be taking my leave for now Sota, be sure to meditate."
Noya stood and Sota followed him and locked the door behind him.
She couldn't prevent her self from letting out a groan of discomfort, which alerted the others to her conscious state.
"Are you awake, Higurashi-kun?" Mana questioned, coming to her side.
One of her eyes opened slightly to look at the girl and she resisted the urge to roll over and sleep.
"Kon'nichiwa, Mana-chan."
Mana smiled brightly down at her and straightened as Kagome sat up, giving her room to get up.
"Is there a reason for your visit Mana-chan?" Kagome questioned.
"Kaname-kun, Itsuki-kun, and I were going to hang out and we wanted to know if you wanted to come."
'Not really…'
"Sure."
She wondered ideally why she as going with them if she didn't want to, but then again she was in a semi good mood since the voice had sunken so far into her subconscious that she rarely heard them.
"Alright! Let's go."
"Sota, I'm going out with Mana and the boys. You want to come or stay?"
"I think I'll stay, I'm exhausted."
Kagome poked her brother as he collapsed on the couch.
"You have no right to be exhausted, you were only meditating."
"Don't you know how hard it is to clear my thoughts? Thinks are always going through my brain, the madness just won't end!" He announced dramatically.
"Nn-hn, sure," she said sarcastically.
"Good bye Kagome."
"Bye, bye Sota."
And Kagome propelled the group out of her apartment before Sota could say anything further, taking care not to touch Itsuki directly.
"So where are we going?" She asked when they were fair distance from her house.
"To this really nice karaoke bar in Ikebukuro, Itsuki-kun took Amou-kun and me to before," Mana sighed happily.
Kagome nodded, "very well."
The bar was dimly lit and they took a booth in the back, Kaname sitting with Mana and Kagome sitting next to Itsuki.
It was akward for her to sit next to Itsuki. When she saw him, and she was doing her best to avoid him, a faint blush covered her features. She had no idea what had come over her after he had rescued her, she was especially confused about the kiss.
Mana's tugging on her sleeves brought her back to reality and she looked at the girl sitting across from her.
"Do you sing Higurashi-kun?" Mana asked.
"Not often, why?"
"Do you want to come up and sing with me?"
Her eyes swept briefly over the karaoke bar, taking in all the empty tables and the few occupied ones, weighing her options.
"No, I don't believe I will."
Mana's smile never dimmed and instead she dragged Kaname with her up to the stage. They sang a happy, upbeat love song, though Kaname didn't look like he was enjoying singing the song all that much.
Itsuki went up next and sang a song of discovering romance. His voice washed over her and Kagome found herself tuning out all other sound and letting his voice sooth her. Much like Noya's had done earlier, Itsuki's voice relaxed her and made her feel sleepy.
The group looked at her expectantly and Kagome stood and resigned herself to her fate. She found herself up on stage, nearly blinded by the spotlight on her. The music played and her world ceased to exist and she poured her emotions into her song, singing the slow song of betrayal and pain with all of the feeling in her small frame.
When she returned to the group she felt as if they had all gotten closer, as if they had discovered a part of her that she had yet to reveal to many people.
For a second Itsuki's golden eyes caught hers and seeing the warmth and understanding in them confused her far more than she cared to admit. The blush once again rising on her checks Kagome retook her seat.
: . End Chapter . :
. : Author's Note : .
The first week of school is finally over!
But I'm buried in homework, AP Biology is going to kill me.
Still I have given forth my effort and have provided this chapter.
Alrgiht, I hear that the dite administrator has declared answering reviews illegal so I can't give review reponses. Normally I wouldn't care either way, but you can get band for doing it and I would never deprive all my loyal readers of their chapter so sorry.
If you give me your email addresses in the reviews I'll email you back but that's the best I can do.
Regarding question reviewer had, I can still answer those.
1- Kagome will get to kick ass very soon, in either the next chapter or the one after that.
2- Mythrel has more to do with Kagome than Itsuki.
P.S. My god LKLTB you are a genius, I can't believe you guess it right already, though it is kind of obvious.