Secrets of the Unknown

A word from the author: Wee! Chapter 2! Yay for me! Ok… Let's start off with the disclaimer. I don't own InuYasha or any other thing I might mention that sound like they make any form of money through their names... . Hmmm… anything else? I guess I'll save it for later.

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The Difference

Kagome sat in Miroku's room her head in her hands. Miroku stood next to her, face drawn up in concentration. An arm ran across his chest the other rested above it and led to his face. He chewed on his thumb nail thoughtfully. Miroku patted her back lightly, "I know I should say something like, 'he didn't mean it' or 'they're really nice guys deep down' but I would be lying," He said.

She glared at the floor and muffled out, "I could tell." This was starting out to be a crappy job, almost as bad as having to work at the water park at Disneyland (One of those other things I warned you about…) as a lifeguard. She shuddered just thinking about it.

"I should have warned you about him." Bankotsu leaned on the door frame, seemingly to hold it up. He startled her with his sudden statement.

Kagome shook her head, "No, no. I'm sure that even if you had warned me the situation wouldn't have changed."

Miroku sighed and pulled his hand from his mouth, He'd obviously have to have that talk with her earlier than he expected. "Bankotsu, do you mind giving me some time alone with her?"

He gave him a lopsided grimace, "dude…"

Miroku rolled his eyes; he didn't have to ask to know what he was thinking. "Oh for the love of- She's my cousin, man! Just get out of here!" he shook his head, "And shut the door while you're at it…"

Kagome felt a little disturbed. She knew her cousin was a bit of a womanizer but he must have been doing some pretty perverted stuff if they thought he would try something with his own cousin. She knew he wanted to talk to her about something that had noticeablely been bothering him since the incident with the guys in the lounge or café or whatever they wanted to call their living room. "Roku, I-"

"You should not be here." He stated gravely.

Her head snapped up from her hands, "Excuse me?"

He unraveled his arms from their previous position and kneeled to be at eye level with her. "Look, I know how this must sound an-"

Her bottom lip quivered, "I know I should have found a regular job but this one paid so much better! And isn't it great that we get to see each other after so long?"

He sighed again, "That's not going to work on me, I know better." She crossed her arms huffily, a pout plastered on her face; he continued. "I know the money sounds great and all that and I know you're just starting college and it'll probably cost an arm to go, but this job is dangerous."

Kagome's eyebrow rose in disbelief, "Dangerous?" She stood and walked to the door, "Really Miroku, danger? On a ghost hunting show?" She grabbed the door knob and pulled, "I think the only danger around here is the probability of me strangling one of those white-haired as-" In the door way stood two of the most horrible looking things she had ever seen.

"KYAA!" She back peddled, tripped over the bed, rolled over the other side and fell to the floor with a plop.

Miroku looked over the side of the wretched bed and laughed heartily.

"Thas nooh phunny…" she grumbled and grabbed at the dark purple comforter on his bed. Although it was a bit of a trial, she hoisted herself up and crawled on top to see Bankotsu and Shippou with masks in their hands, nearly crying from the supposed hilarity of her face when she screamed.

"Oh hah hah…" she spat, "Grow up you bunch of jerks." She re-adverted her attention to Miroku, who was leaning on the wall for support, "Anyway, you heard the white-haired guy. I am a quote miko unquote." She stated with a little roll of her eyes.

He stopped laughing and sighed again, "Even so you are a very untrained quote miko unquote. We can't be sure you even have holy powers."

She shook her head and gave an exasperated sigh, "Oh for crying out loud! What difference does it make?"

Bankotsu walked to the bed and crossed his arms, "It makes a big difference. Whether you have powers or not could decide if you live or die."

Her nose crinkled up and she squinted, "What?" She shook her head and skooched over so that she was sitting with her legs over the side. "What are you guys on about?"

Shippou bounced over and on to the bed next to her. "You mean you are unaware of your powers?" She shook her head and he 'hmm-ed' "That's pretty hard to believe considering you were the one to find me. Not to mention you often pet my tail."

"T-tail?"

"Yeah!" he grabbed at the orange something that matched his hair and pulled it onto his lap. "Besides that, to have found me you had to break through my papa's barrier. I always thought you had to be pretty powerful to break i-"

"Shippou!" Miroku hissed. Bankotsu's mouth was set into a grim line and shook his head at the runt. Shippou shut his mouth quickly.

Kagome's mouth hung open.

"Does this mean you hate me now?" He asked into his tail quietly.

She blinked and shook herself out of her mental pause and pulled him into her lap, "Of course I don't hate you! I just don't understand what all that you're telling me means."

"Kagome, you are in the midst of youkai." Bankotsu explained.

"Youkai? Like… demons?" she asked.

"YEAH! That's what I am!" Shippou beamed and waggled his tail in her face. She had never noticed it before but now it seemed so laughably obvious! Shippou's ears were pointed and his eyes sometimes looked like a cat's (she'd always laugh and compare him to Buyo.) Then there was his tail. She had always figured it was a part of his ponytail!

Her thoughts were cut short. "Look, if you're willing to stay on and do this you'l-"

"I'll do it. None of this bothers me… too much. But I've never quit anything in my life," Miroku mumbled a 'I-was-afraid-of-that.' "I think it might be a new experience for me." She said a little unsure of herself but with a resolve no one could break. After all she was a college student and if it was easy money (short of prostitution) it was ok!

Bankotsu mumbled "yeah, but it could get you killed…"

Shippou puffed his chest out and said, "Don't worry Kagome! I'll protect you!" firmly.

"Yay, my hero." Both Miroku and Bankotsu mumbled simultaneously. Miroku looked at Bankotsu and declared, "I've got to stop hanging out with you…"

Bankotsu shrugged.

Miroku looked back to his cousin with a solemn stare, "Okay then, I just want you to know that since you are so adamant about staying, you're going to have to train."

"Train for what?" she asked.

"Train your spirit powers." He said.

"What?"

Bankotsu sighed, "Look, like it or not, the spirits," she rolled her eyes and he glared at her, "The spirits will want to talk to you and more often then not, touch you."

Miroku shivered, "tell me about it." Kagome wanted to brush it off as a prank for the new girl but they had been right about Shippou and well from the way Miroku was acting she could probably guess what could have happened if what they were saying was true.

"So, ghosts are real?" she asked.

"Yes," all three answered. Some more frustrated than others.

"And I have to train to become more in tuned with the spirit world?"

"Yes," the frustration was starting to border on agitation.

"And I'm the only one?" she asked.

"No," Miroku said. "Jakotsu and I will more than likely be training with you."

"Oh" was all she could reply.

Shippou bounced off of her lap and towards the door, "I have an idea! Let's eat!" Kagome smiled at him and nodded. He opened the door and three bodies tumbled in.

"My InuYasha, I didn't know you cared…" a muffled voice called from the bottom of the heap.

"Shut it, Jakotsu," InuYasha said from the middle of the bunch trying his best to move Sango off of him.

From the top of the bunch Sango squirmed her way off, "Well this is awkward…"

"Tell me about it…" Bankotsu muttered. Kagome's eyebrows drew down. Was it her or did everyone use the same expressions? Must be the camaraderie.

"Hey someone tell the new girl she has to cook for us." InuYasha struggled to say while prying Jakotsu off of his legs. "But Inu, I love you!" Jakotsu wailed.

Kagome's mouth hung open in shock. Again.

"InuYasha, please do not be rude to my cousin. Even though I would prefer her cooking over yours," there was an immediate murmur of agreements that included: 'yeah, InuYasha sucks at cooking,' and 'last time he cooked for us I almost died.' "I cannot ask her to cook on her first day here… Plus it is your turn."

"Besides, shouldn't you be doing something productive, like training? Or was that only when Kikyo was here?" Bankotsu snickered.

"Hey, he doesn't need any help." InuYasha said eyes adverted with a look that screamed 'child-with-hand-caught-in-cookie-jar' on his face.

Kagome clicked her tongue, "Well, I guess I wouldn't min-"

He perked up, "See! She said she wouldn't mind!" He scrambled down the stairs.

Kagome knew she should have been pissed off at him cutting her off like that but she was otherwise busy. Her head tilted to the side as she examined him more closely, or rather just his head. Was her mind playing tricks on her or did he have-

"Dog ears?" She jumped, nearly rolling down the jagged stairway of doom.

Oh. It was just Miroku. With a hand over her chest in a feeble attempt to calm her pounding heart she nodded. "Yeah…"

"Hn"

"Why can I see that now but I couldn't see it earlier?" She asked. It was a little too convenient for her.

"Honestly, I don't know. The only logical explanation that I can think of is that you weren't looking for it before." He gave her a weak smile, "It's true what they say then?"

"What?" She descended down the stairs.

"That ignorance is bliss."

Her lip jutted out in indignation, her hand gripping the hand rail so harshly her knuckles began to turn white and said, "Yeah, I guess so," saucily. She really didn't understand why everyone was picking on her…

Sango pushed passed Miroku to Kagome. "Here I'll lead you to the kitchen," She smiled at her. "I want to help."

"Ah," Kagome stuttered before smiling and with a quick nod gave a "thank you" as sango rushed in front of her leading her to a large kitchen. "How long have you been working with Miroku?"

Sango began puling various vegetables and motioned for Kagome to help. "I met him in one of my history classes. You do know he's a pervert, right?" Sango asked.

Sango closed the refrigerator door, her ingredients in hand and placed them on the counter; Kagome followed. "You were raised at a Shinto shrine, right?"

"In Japan? Yes."

She grabbed a knife and handed it to the other girl. Kagome took it with a smile and began chopping up the veggies on the counter. "You honestly don't know about demons? Ghosts? None of that?" Sango continued.

Kagome bit her bottom lip nervously, "Well, I know about them, I just never thought any of that would actually be real. My Grand-Father used to go off for hours on various stories and legends. I usually tuned him out after the first three minutes."

"Well then perhaps, that is if you want to keep this job, you should educate yourself on the subject." A unfriendly voice said from behind the two girls. Kagome gripped The knife defensively. She could feel something, she wasn't sure what it was, but her insides were telling her to run very fast.

"S-s-sesshoumar-" Sango started.

"I will not have you become a danger to any of us because 'did-not-know,' is that understood?" He drawled. He looked at the shorter of the two girls. She had a weapon. Amusing.

He almost had to do a double take. The blade in her hand glowed a faint pink. He gave an almost silent, 'hn.' Maybe it would be worthwhile to keep her around.

She nodded dumbly but kept her guard up.

"Good. You will start your training tomorrow. You will come to me when we come back to house and we will go over legends and folklore. Understood?" His eyes bored into hers. Again all she could do was nod. "Good, get back to what you were doing…" He turned and walked away.

Sango let out a deep breath. "Good God! That had to be the scariest anything I have ever encountered. And I was trained as a demon-exterminator." She looked over to Kagome who still had the knife in her hand defensively. "I think he likes you." She stated off-handedly.

Kagome's eyebrows drew downwards. "How do you figure?"

"He's never invited anyone to train with him."

"I hardly call it training. It's more like studying." She slouched a little, "I really didn't think I'd have to do that for a couple of months."

"Don't worry I'm almost completely sure he won't kill you." Sango said happily.

"Almost completely?"

"Look, don't worry about those jerks. They're mostly all bark."

A suddenly voice called, "Would you two hurry up in there?"

Sango sighed, "Well, InuYasha is mostly bark. Tread softly around Sesshoumaru."

Kagome sighed. "I'll try."

She rubbed her temples in an attempt to sooth her headache. Life was just about to get harder; she could already feel it.

Person who wrote this' notes: Well that's chapter two. . One at a time, Bay-Bee! Woo! I'd like to thank my Two. 2. reviewers. (Hey! Hey! Hey! Don't laugh! I'm just glad I got so many as this is my first posted fic. So thanks to you:Mollie22 and Vampiric Sesshomaru gurl... U.U Sorry this update isn't longer. I amtrying to make them longer... T.T) Well... That's it folks! Until next time. .