Chapter 9: Kitsune

Kagome was tired of being trapped in her room. She'd spent the last three days hiding there after the wedding. Luckily, she'd started her monthly cycle the next morning, so Sesshomaru had largely left her to her own devices, and she could claim that she needed to recover from the trip for a few days.

But now she'd decided that it was time to explore her new home. Brooding wasn't going to do her any good, so she might as well get used to this new place.

Rin and Sango had seemed relieved when she'd told them she wanted to take a tour of the palace. Jaken was more than willing to toady to the new Lady of the West, and organized a grand tour. She wasn't sure she liked the demon, but he did everything he could to please her, so she could at least be thankful for that.

As they finished the tour, the sun was hot overhead, and Kagome was starting to feel hungry. "Thank you very much for the tour, Jaken. The palace is really beautiful."

He looked surprised at the acknowledgment. "It is my duty, your Oujo-sama. You must be hungry, though. Perhaps we should retire?"

She was hungry, so she nodded, but felt kind of gloomy at the thought of going back to her room. It was like she'd been taken on a walk before being put back in her kennel. Her thoughts must have shown on her face, since Rin spoke up.

"How about we have lunch in the garden, ne? It's beautiful this time of year, and there's plenty of shade."

"That sounds wonderful!" Kagome smiled at the girl. Jaken looked surprised, but agreed and muttered something about informing the servants to move lunch to the garden, before leaving the three women to their own devices.

"I didn't know they had a garden," Sango noted. The tour hadn't included it.

"Jaken's nice, but he's kind of a stick in the mud," Rin said with a giggle. "He just took you to the important places, not the really interesting places. You'll see lots of those eventually."

"Maybe I should have you give me a tour, then," Kagome teased. Rin giggled, and it made Kagome happy that the girl always seemed in such a good mood.

"I think you'll like it better if you can find them on your own."

And with that, Rin led them through the buildings to one of the most beautiful places Kagome had ever seen. There was a garden, as promised, but there was much more than that. A huge Koi pond sat in the center of the garden, with a large island at the center of the Koi pond. A delicate bridge crossed from the shore to the island, and a gazebo sat on the island proper, providing a perfect place to eat lunch. Flowers of all colors, shapes and sizes poked through the rocks that circled the pond, and ferns and decorative greens made a beautiful background to the brilliant flowers.

Kagome wanted to walk around the garden without an escort, so she sent Rin and Sango, with a little convincing, to make sure the gazebo was ready for lunch, and started to make her way along the winding paths. This, more than any place she'd been to, made her think of home. She had always loved sitting in her mother's garden, and for a moment, she felt a little homesick.

Then, a high-pitched cry of pain, like that of a child, broke the peaceful scene, followed by men's shouts.

Kagome took off. Her simple yukata wasn't as easy to move around in as her hakama and haori, but it was still better than the formal clothing she'd been wearing for the last few weeks. She knew Sango would be angry, but her instincts took over when someone was in trouble.

She rounded the corner and found two guardsmen in combat with a half-dozen balls of orange fur.

The taller guardsman shoved his spear through one of the creatures, and Kagome gasped as the thing popped, revealing a leaf.

'An illusion?' Kagome realized.

Then the shorter guard managed to catch a real ball of fur, pinning the creature to the ground as it let out a loud yip of pain. As it uncurled, she saw the creature had huge fox ears and a huge, bushy red tail, but was so small it had to be only a child. His fox ears were pressed flat against his head as he stared up in horror at the guards as the second guard brought his spear up for a killing blow.

"No!" Kagome moved without thinking, pushing the spear aside and putting herself in between the guard and the child.

The guard was startled, and turned his attention to the newcomer. He snarled, and grabbed her arm, then let out a shrill yelp as if touching her skin has burned him. Which wasn't far from the truth.

Her reiki had manifested itself around her, again without her control. She'd never been able to control her abilities; they only seemed to manifest whenever she or someone she was trying to help was in trouble. Which made it difficult to practice. She'd taken up the bow, which helped her channel her abilities a bit, but she didn't have a bow right now.

"Leave the child alone," she yelled at the guard, who was staring at her in fear. The guards panicked and ran, which made Kagome sigh as her reiki dissipated. Why was her life getting so complicated?

She turned towards the child. He was tiny, with his tail being nearly as big as the rest of him. His hair and tail were bright orange and he tried to glare up at her, although she could tell that he was scared, and his shoulder was still hurt from the guard's attacks.

She knelt down, "What's your name, little one?"

The kitsuni pup glared up at her. "Why should I tell you?"

Kagome smiled. "Because if you do, I'll invite you to lunch." The pup didn't look terribly convinced, but then his stomach grumbled, and he flushed in embarrassment. He was hungry, and both of them knew it.

"Shippo," he said after a few moments of silence.

"It's nice to meet you, Shippo. I'm Ka... er.. Kikyou," Kagome lied, feeling a little queasy as the kitsune looked up at her.

"Kikyou... It's nice to meet you, too."

Author Notes: Sorry for such a long wait! We lost a line developer for one of the projects my husband and I were working on, and had to step in to fill the gap, so we've been up to our ears in work.