Chapter 4: Skipping School

Kagome opened bleary eyes and tried to focus on the clock sitting next to her bead. '11:00! Shit! I'm late for school… scratch that, I already missed half the day. Not really much point in going, it'll practically be over by the time I get there.' Kagome thought to herself. She groaned and rolled out of bed, stripping out of her dirty clothes and heading for the bathroom ready for a bath. She soaked in the warm water for a while, allowing her self to get some much needed relaxation.

Afterwards she quickly dried off and changed into a pair of jeans and a gray pullover hoodie with a logo for a company that makes skateboards on it. She dug around in her closet for a clean pair of socks and searched intently under her bead for her missing shoe. She lay on her stomach with one arm stretched under her bead feeling around for the troublesome shoe when her hand brushed over something very familiar to her.

'My bow…' she thought, snatching her hand back as if she were burned. 'I won't be needing that anymore, maybe its time I get rid of it.'

After a moment she finally found her shoe and headed down stairs into the kitchen for some lunch. She dug around in the fridge and pulled out some salami and mustard along with some bread and proceeded to make a giant salami sandwich. She cut her sandwich into triangles and returned the mustard and what was left of the package of salami to the fridge. She wrapped her sandwich in a paper towel and headed out towards the shrine steps, taking care to avert her eyes as she passed the goshinboku tree. She walked down the steps to the street and made her way to the park deciding that it would be most appropriate place to play hooky. She liked sitting in the grass amongst the tall trees. it reminded her of the feudal era.

Kagome found a spot under a big leafy oak tree and began to eat her sandwich. She basked in the shade, the light breeze playing across her face. The sound of the dancing leaves like familiar music. There was no one else around; all the usual park goers were either at work or at school so Kagome had the whole place to herself. It was just so peaceful. She finished her sandwich and threw away her napkin before settling back down against the tree and closeting her eyes.

If she tried hard enough she could almost imagine she were back in the feudal era. The song of the wind blowing through the trees at the park was nothing in comparison to the serenade of the winds dance through the endless forests in ancient times. At the park there were a few birds carrying a soft melody, but on the other side of the well the forests were alive with wild life. And the smell… Kagome tried to imagine how the forest used to smell, a soft sweet smell. Inuyasha smelled like the forest, Kagome remembered. She pictured the way all the blossoms looked in the springtime. In the feudal era Kagome could always catch the faint sense of demons, although they were usually ridiculously weak, or far off, they were always there. Demonic energy was unmistakable once you learned to identify it. That was the biggest difference between modern times and the feudal era, that little voice in the back of Kagome's head that's always telling her there's demons around instantly shut up every time she came home. Kagome had no trouble remembering what demonic auras felt like, powerful energy tugging at her senses, dark energy, she had to admit she missed the feeling. She could almost feel it right now.

Kagome's eyes snapped open. She could feel it right now, a demon aura close by. Kagome focused on her surroundings, there was definitely a demon close by and it knew she was there. It seemed to be trying to sneak up on her. She slowly got to her feet and turned towards the direction from where the demon was coming from and waited with her arms crossed over her chest. The demon paused when it realized that it had been spotted and seemed to think over its next course of action. Kagome was annoyed at being caught unarmed and half asleep out in the park by herself, however she wasn't worried. It would be difficult to find a lower level demon than the one that stood before her at the moment. It was humanoid with spines running down its back. Its skin was a red orange color, and it had a squished nose and eyes that sat in the sides of its head like a fish. All in all it reminded Kagome of Mr. Amphibian, except Mr. Amphibian was gray green.

"Giive it to mee…" the demon hissed.

"What's that? you should speak more clearly." Kagome figured the silly creature was talking about the shikon jewel, but it had been a while since she had seen a demon and she wanted to torment it for a bit.

"Give iit ttoo meee." It hissed louder.

"I'm sorry I cant understand you, you should really work on your Japanese." Kakome replied.

"The shiikon no taamaa, giive it too meee." The demon advanced towards Kagome with its claws ready.

"Oh you mean this?" Kagome asked, showing the creature the shikon jewel around her neck.

"Give iitt tooo meee." It growled

"Now that's no way to ask, you should try being more polite." Kagome scolded lightly. The only response she got from the demon was a low growl. "No? Too bad then. You can't have it."

At those words the demon lunged at Kagome with all its speed, but unfortunately for the demon all its speed did not amount to much. Kagome landed one good punch to its face, right between the eyes, and sent the poor creature staggering backwards. The demon pulled itself together and hissed menacingly at Kagome. The demon grew a deadly whip like tail that was covered in sharp spines and made a swipe for Kagomes throat. Kagome dodged backwards and summoned her miko powers to the surface. The creature hissed as he eyed her battle aura warily before finally backing down and retreating back to wherever it came from.

"Well that was odd…" Kagome muttered out loud. 'Where the hell did it go? I can't sense it anymore.' She shook her head and made her way out of the park, back toward the main street. 'maybe I shouldn't get rid of my long bow after all.' Kagome mused 'but how exactly can I get away with carrying a long bow around in modern times… maybe I should join some sort of archery club or something. aha! That's what I'll do! I'll go join an archery club today since I'm not in school and I wont have to worry about people thinking I'm homicidal if they see me walking around with my bow, and I could get one of those things to carry it in so I wont freak people out…' Kagome stopped and tried to remember where she saw that archery place. Once she finally remembered she zigzagged down a few streets till she finally found the place. She went inside and signed up and bought a black zip up case that would hold her bow and quiver.

After talking to a few of the people in charge of the archery range about rules and everything Kagome headed back home. She left her shoes by the front door and went up to her room to dig her longbow and arrows out from underneath her bed. She put her bow and quiver in the case she bought for it and leaned it next to the door. The big bulky case would slow down her reaction time in a dangerous situation, since she would have to unzip it, take her bow out, restring it, and dig out her quiver before she would be able to fight; but she would not be able to just walk around with a bow and arrows on her back either so it was a risk she would have to take. It was not likely that she would run into any particularly powerful demons anyway. During her time in the feudal era she had learned to string her bow quickly, and she also learned not to loose her cool in a dangerous situation, Kagome figured shed be fine, even if she somehow managed to run into a strong demon.

Kagomes train of thought was interrupted when the phone rang. She dashed down stares and answered it just in time.

"Your son or daughter has missed one or more of his of her classes today. If you have any questions or concerns please talk to Betty Myers in the attendance office at 425-776-9073. As I'm sure you are aware attendance is a very impor-" the automated recording was cut short as Kagome hung up the phone with an exasperated snort.

"Why doesn't any one other than recordings from the attendance office ever call me?"