Kagome Hurt: Chapter 14
A sneering tone of voice rang out from the side of the path the Inu-tachi were jogging down.
"Oi, you're the HALF demon, Inuyasha, right?"
The surprise was so sudden for the humans of the tachi that they whirled around in mid step, with only Miroku faltering a bit. Inuyasha only slicked back his ears in annoyance with the interruption, but was not startled, since he had long sensed the pathetic human lurking in the brush. He had only thought they would pass by the miserable wretch, and that the human would not dare to call out to a demon, even if it was only a halfling.
"What's it to you, human?" The silver haired figure sneered right back.
Curling back a lip with disgust at what the scrawny human male was about to say, the insolent villager threw down the proverbial gauntlet. Or was it the carrot and stick?
"There's one of your youkai buddies running around and killing the people of my village. I want you to kill it."
"What the fuck makes you think I'll do what you say? That's a job for a tajijya. Go hire one, or are you too poor to meet their price?"
The shaggy haired villager gritted his teeth at this blow to his village's pride, and purse. "Teme," he growled out. "That damn demon has already killed the demon exterminators. Its got one of those shards everybody keep hearing about, and we can't do nuthing. Get your collective asses over there and destroy it. I know this group is renowned for its collection of the Shikon no Tama shards."
During the whole of the spitfire volleys, Sango and Miroku's heads were whipping their gaze from one contender to the other, in an attempt to keep up with the challenging conversation. When the last word had been bit out by the human, they almost face faulted when Inuyasha almost seemed to be pondering the possibility of going on a side-quest.
"INUYASHA!" came in dual stereo from the more responsible figures of the 'pack'.
"What?! I was only thinking about it. It's not like I would really leave Kagome in the lurch like that." and then the hanyou goes on to mutter to himself, although the others heard as well, "she probably deserves it if I did go off and get more shards. She was the one who ran off after our fight. She probably went tripping straight into Sesshoumaru's grasp."
While still in a mild inner contemplation, he reached up and absentmindedly pulled off the small fuzzy body connected to the head with the sharp teeth grinding over his skull. Chucking Shippo over his shoulder back toward Sango, the hanyou added to his bemused thoughts. The pup is getting bigger. Normally his mouth could only stretch a quarter of the way around my head.
The nameless village youth could only stare in dumfounded shock. What the hell? The Inu-tachi were passing up a rumor on the Shikon shards? Oh shit! The world is coming to an end!
The last the houshi and the tajijya saw of the little prick was a dust trail going off into the wilder parts of the forest, and only a voice trailing back at them, screaming in demented hysteria. Obviously, his universe just tilted on its axis, and he couldn't handle the change.
Inuyasha just snorted and decisively nodded his head back in the direction they were originally headed. Just one more day's travel, barring any unforseen problems cropping up.
One more day Kagome, then I will have you back in my arms.
And then right on the heels of that thought came another.
And then I can shake you silly for getting caught by my bastard of a brother. What the HELL were you doing? Why didn't you call out for me?
Inuyasha also conveniently forgot that he was the reason in the first place she was so distraught.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~
"Oh Kagome! There you are. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!"
Said caught miko froze in the middle of her stalking ranting anger to look up to Marisa, bearing down the hall on her. Just when her erstwhile maid clutched a hand to her forearm in an effort to hurry her charge back to the room, Asoiharu rounded a corner and spied what he thought of as a lowly servile youkai accosting his new friend. Regardless of how pretty the chit was, she had no right manhandling the noble human miko in such a familiar way.
And calling her by her first name nonetheless! Without an honorific!
"Girl!" he barked authoritatively, "You will unhand Kagome-sama at this instant! If you do not treat Lord Sesshoumaru's guest with the proper respect as she deserves, I will have to bring this matter up before the lord himself."
Marisa was startled with the appearance of the foreign cutie and so let Kagome's arm slip from her grasp, but she was not intimidated by what this....She hesitantly took a sniff, and then grinned. Mink. Vulpine, just like her. And younger, to boot.
Kagome just took a step back to observe the interaction between her new friend, and her maid. With the instincts that were common to almost all of her half o f the species, she sensed a possibility for mega amounts of embarrassment combined with romance.
Asoiharu felt like he was being sized up by one of the greater predatory youkai in anticipation of a fight. He had always had the suspicion that in a match between evenly powered male and female youkai, the female would always win. They were just.........vicious, when provoked. If the gleam in both the kitsune's and Kagome's eyes were any indication, he had just stepped into a viper's den. Now all he had to do was stay still and quiet and not step on any proverbial tails if he wanted to get out of this alive, or at least in one piece.
When the tension in the corridor seemed to skyrocket, Kagome finally decided to break the silence.
"Bwa ha hahahahah!!! You two are just precious!" she exclaimed when two stares of matched incredulity were cast her way. "Asoiharu, thank you for trying to protect me from my own maid and friend. The sentiment is appreciated, if wholly out of place. Marisa, I would like the pleasure of introducing the estimable Asoiharu-san of the - what was it again, the Tanris Scout family of the Western Lands.
Marisa blushed with the male's gaze on her, and Asoiharu noted the importance the austere but laughing human made with the order of introductions. She had placed the maid in the supposedly higher ranking position in the greeting formula. That either meant that he was wrong in his original assumption that the kitsune was only a servant, or that this girl meant a great deal to the miko, and wanted to show their friendship in the most polite way available in this situation.
Regardless of which of the options were correct, the sable mink found it in his best interests to up his flattery and charisma, for he had just made a grievous faux pas. To this end, when he bowed upon his turn in the introduction, his face was flushed with a berry hint.
"And my dear mink, please meet Marisa-chan, a kitsune of surprising talent and warmth of heart and my closest friend in these few days since I've been here."
"Ano, forgive me then, for my harsh words, Marisa-san. I was under the impression that Kagome-sama was being accosted unnecessarily."
With a big grin on her face in light of a noble bowing down to her and apologizing, the kitsune felt that she could behave magnanimously toward this male, since he was only acting in the defense of her Kagome-sama.
"All is forgiven, Asoiharu-san. However, I must ask Kagome to follow me, since she hasn't readied herself for the ball, and we are wasting time here."
At this point, Kagome stopped with the observation, and started with the interaction.
"That's just it, Marisa-chan, I wasn't invited to the ball! I was on my way to go give Sesshoumaru a piece of my mind when we ran into you. That sleaze-ball poofy-tailed arrogant youkai has another thing coming if he thinks he can present me as a trophy during the banquet and not allow me the right to attend the ball like a normal guest." All through her rant, there was a low growling coming from the miko, that was somewhat disturbing to hear by the two youkai. Humans were just not meant to go that low on the voice scale without being immanently pissed off or having some youkai blood.
"Ano, Kagome?"
"What?!" she barked, and then immediately looked contrite. "Gomen ne, Marisa-chan. I'm just a little worked up over this."
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. You were invited to the dance. You just never went back to your room to change. The invitation was delivered personally by Lord Sesshoumaru, but since you weren't present, he left it on your bed."
A few seconds went by while the human sent this new information into her processor.
"Oh."
"Yes, 'Oh' my lady. Just what were you doing, anyway, that kept you from coming back?"
"Pish. Don't be angry with me, onegai. I wanted to meet Asoiharu's parents here. We were going to get that out of the way, since I promised him at the banquet and then I was going to crash the party." And thinking to herself, Kagome completed the thought. Perhaps make a big scene in the midst of everything and hopefully embarrass Sesshoumaru. Crap. Now that I think on it, that would not be a very smart thing to do. Its full of youkai that would not take it too lightly for a human to be making a fuss of things. And I know I'm not strong enough to go up against even a fraction of those guys attending. C'mon Kagome, you must think of these things before jumping into a situation. That's what Inuyasha would do, and then berate you afterward for.
At this point, Kagome was repeatedly smacking herself lightly in the head with a fist, causing Marisa to exchange one of those 'looks' with Asoiharu. As in 'what have we gotten ourselves into?' looks.
The mink took it upon himself to reschedule everything so as not to disappoint the fair ladies before him. His youthful disposition disliked too much conflict among the womenfolk.
"Kagome-sama, why don't you drop by my family's quarters tomorrow, then? That way we all can attend the dance. I know afterward everybody will all be too tired to do anything else."
"Hmm, sounds like a good idea. My mornings are busy, so can I meet your family for lunch? We can dine with Rin, since I already have to do so."
"Agreed. I shall let my parents know post-haste. Now that I know you are in capable hands, fare thee well." he said to Kagome before turning to Marisa. "And I hope to see you again as well, sometime, Miss. Let me make up for my boorish behavior previously."
Marisa gave a slow blink before her girlish tendencies got the better of her. She giggled, to which Asoiharu gave a slow smile full of potential heat.
The mischievous mink took his leave leaving the flustered somewhat older kitsune to her friend's tender mercies.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
And what tender mercies they were, Marisa was contemplating as she pinned another lock of her favorite charge's hair up for the new day's training.
Tugging a little harshly caused a yelp of discomfort from Kagome, but it brought a smidgeon of joy to the maid.
"Come on, Marisa, you know I was only teasing, last night, right?" Kagome whined at her most piteous.
"Even if you were jesting, some of those things you did not need to say." Even if they were true. Perhaps she was lingering a tad overlong on the physique of the mink youkai. But still. It was the principle of the thing!
"All right. Changing the subject. At the ball did you see - " Asoiharu, she thought "-Sesshoumaru-sama?"
"Hai, I did. Got to stand in his presence for a whole twenty minutes before he moved off. That guy is down-right reticent despite his icy good looks."
"Really?!" This was news to the maid. Normally, Sesshoumaru cannot stand anyone outside of the cardinal lords for more than five minutes. Hmm, and Kagome has taken notice of his even features as well. Her secret hope does seem to have a chance of coming true. Perhaps. Oh wait, Kagome was still speaking.
"- and just before he walked off, I had mentioned how those kappa of the Eastern lands could not stop glaring at me during the entire meal. It's very disconcerting to try to eat when someone just wants to tear your head off is just only a few tables away. Before that, he had a somewhat amused look on his face when I had commented on how bad Asoiharu's parents' quarters looked. I mean, this castle has over thousands of rooms, surely one halfway decent suite is unoccupied."
It was at this point Kagome stopped to inhale. Marisa was stunned. Now she knew why castle gossip informed her of those kappa that were sentenced to the far reaches of the northern wing. It was far easier to lose one's way there than at any other point in the castle, because there were no maps of the surrounding area to be found on any of the walls.
This was further evidence for her suspicions that her lord had more than a passing interest in the miko. This was his way of protecting Kagome. She mentions a discomfort, and he makes it go away, as easily as that.
Hey, what does this bode for Asoiharu and his family, then? What will solidify her prediction is if the mink's family is transferred to better quarters only on the human's say-so. Here is hoping!
"Kagome? Did you have fun at the ball? Did you dance with anyone?"
At this, Kagome looked a little disappointed.
"Don't tell me no one asked you to dance?!"
"NO! That's not it. A couple of Asoiharu's friends asked me, but I couldn't."
"Why not?" Marisa asked, curbing a little bit of jealousy at the thought of someone dancing with the sable youkai.
"I don't know how to dance like you guys do in this time!"
Nani? 'This time?' Marisa shunted this tidbit away for further perusal, in order to concentrate on her line of questioning.
"So you just became a wallflower during the entire ball?"
"Nah, not even. I circulated and met some pretty interesting people. There was this one jiggly blob-like youkai......... He was ugly and icky as sin, but he had one of the best melodic voices I've ever heard. Pretty nice too.
"A lot of the middle nobility were snobby as hell, but I just pulled an eyelid on most of them. They had no idea what it meant! Must be a human thing. I guess they thought they had nothing to gain from associating with a mere human, even if I was a miko. Probably scared out of their britches as well.
"Some of the lower nobility kept trying to toady up to me. I can tell right away. Too many people like that in the real world for me not to know about it. The high nobility I just don't know about. They're either of the suspicion that I'm out to get them all, or they're just amused at me. Sometimes I can see that they really want to be friendly, but their rank puts them in a position where they can't easily accept friendship. Those I just pity."
Marisa finished with the tightly pinned bun before turning to Kagome's side and tapping a delicate finger against the side of her mouth. "It seems that you've had a full night. Are you sure you've had enough sleep for the day? I think I see some bags under your eyes." She teased.
"Uwahee?! Marisa! You're terrible!" Kagome made a half-hearted swat in the kitsune's direction.
A sneering tone of voice rang out from the side of the path the Inu-tachi were jogging down.
"Oi, you're the HALF demon, Inuyasha, right?"
The surprise was so sudden for the humans of the tachi that they whirled around in mid step, with only Miroku faltering a bit. Inuyasha only slicked back his ears in annoyance with the interruption, but was not startled, since he had long sensed the pathetic human lurking in the brush. He had only thought they would pass by the miserable wretch, and that the human would not dare to call out to a demon, even if it was only a halfling.
"What's it to you, human?" The silver haired figure sneered right back.
Curling back a lip with disgust at what the scrawny human male was about to say, the insolent villager threw down the proverbial gauntlet. Or was it the carrot and stick?
"There's one of your youkai buddies running around and killing the people of my village. I want you to kill it."
"What the fuck makes you think I'll do what you say? That's a job for a tajijya. Go hire one, or are you too poor to meet their price?"
The shaggy haired villager gritted his teeth at this blow to his village's pride, and purse. "Teme," he growled out. "That damn demon has already killed the demon exterminators. Its got one of those shards everybody keep hearing about, and we can't do nuthing. Get your collective asses over there and destroy it. I know this group is renowned for its collection of the Shikon no Tama shards."
During the whole of the spitfire volleys, Sango and Miroku's heads were whipping their gaze from one contender to the other, in an attempt to keep up with the challenging conversation. When the last word had been bit out by the human, they almost face faulted when Inuyasha almost seemed to be pondering the possibility of going on a side-quest.
"INUYASHA!" came in dual stereo from the more responsible figures of the 'pack'.
"What?! I was only thinking about it. It's not like I would really leave Kagome in the lurch like that." and then the hanyou goes on to mutter to himself, although the others heard as well, "she probably deserves it if I did go off and get more shards. She was the one who ran off after our fight. She probably went tripping straight into Sesshoumaru's grasp."
While still in a mild inner contemplation, he reached up and absentmindedly pulled off the small fuzzy body connected to the head with the sharp teeth grinding over his skull. Chucking Shippo over his shoulder back toward Sango, the hanyou added to his bemused thoughts. The pup is getting bigger. Normally his mouth could only stretch a quarter of the way around my head.
The nameless village youth could only stare in dumfounded shock. What the hell? The Inu-tachi were passing up a rumor on the Shikon shards? Oh shit! The world is coming to an end!
The last the houshi and the tajijya saw of the little prick was a dust trail going off into the wilder parts of the forest, and only a voice trailing back at them, screaming in demented hysteria. Obviously, his universe just tilted on its axis, and he couldn't handle the change.
Inuyasha just snorted and decisively nodded his head back in the direction they were originally headed. Just one more day's travel, barring any unforseen problems cropping up.
One more day Kagome, then I will have you back in my arms.
And then right on the heels of that thought came another.
And then I can shake you silly for getting caught by my bastard of a brother. What the HELL were you doing? Why didn't you call out for me?
Inuyasha also conveniently forgot that he was the reason in the first place she was so distraught.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~
"Oh Kagome! There you are. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!"
Said caught miko froze in the middle of her stalking ranting anger to look up to Marisa, bearing down the hall on her. Just when her erstwhile maid clutched a hand to her forearm in an effort to hurry her charge back to the room, Asoiharu rounded a corner and spied what he thought of as a lowly servile youkai accosting his new friend. Regardless of how pretty the chit was, she had no right manhandling the noble human miko in such a familiar way.
And calling her by her first name nonetheless! Without an honorific!
"Girl!" he barked authoritatively, "You will unhand Kagome-sama at this instant! If you do not treat Lord Sesshoumaru's guest with the proper respect as she deserves, I will have to bring this matter up before the lord himself."
Marisa was startled with the appearance of the foreign cutie and so let Kagome's arm slip from her grasp, but she was not intimidated by what this....She hesitantly took a sniff, and then grinned. Mink. Vulpine, just like her. And younger, to boot.
Kagome just took a step back to observe the interaction between her new friend, and her maid. With the instincts that were common to almost all of her half o f the species, she sensed a possibility for mega amounts of embarrassment combined with romance.
Asoiharu felt like he was being sized up by one of the greater predatory youkai in anticipation of a fight. He had always had the suspicion that in a match between evenly powered male and female youkai, the female would always win. They were just.........vicious, when provoked. If the gleam in both the kitsune's and Kagome's eyes were any indication, he had just stepped into a viper's den. Now all he had to do was stay still and quiet and not step on any proverbial tails if he wanted to get out of this alive, or at least in one piece.
When the tension in the corridor seemed to skyrocket, Kagome finally decided to break the silence.
"Bwa ha hahahahah!!! You two are just precious!" she exclaimed when two stares of matched incredulity were cast her way. "Asoiharu, thank you for trying to protect me from my own maid and friend. The sentiment is appreciated, if wholly out of place. Marisa, I would like the pleasure of introducing the estimable Asoiharu-san of the - what was it again, the Tanris Scout family of the Western Lands.
Marisa blushed with the male's gaze on her, and Asoiharu noted the importance the austere but laughing human made with the order of introductions. She had placed the maid in the supposedly higher ranking position in the greeting formula. That either meant that he was wrong in his original assumption that the kitsune was only a servant, or that this girl meant a great deal to the miko, and wanted to show their friendship in the most polite way available in this situation.
Regardless of which of the options were correct, the sable mink found it in his best interests to up his flattery and charisma, for he had just made a grievous faux pas. To this end, when he bowed upon his turn in the introduction, his face was flushed with a berry hint.
"And my dear mink, please meet Marisa-chan, a kitsune of surprising talent and warmth of heart and my closest friend in these few days since I've been here."
"Ano, forgive me then, for my harsh words, Marisa-san. I was under the impression that Kagome-sama was being accosted unnecessarily."
With a big grin on her face in light of a noble bowing down to her and apologizing, the kitsune felt that she could behave magnanimously toward this male, since he was only acting in the defense of her Kagome-sama.
"All is forgiven, Asoiharu-san. However, I must ask Kagome to follow me, since she hasn't readied herself for the ball, and we are wasting time here."
At this point, Kagome stopped with the observation, and started with the interaction.
"That's just it, Marisa-chan, I wasn't invited to the ball! I was on my way to go give Sesshoumaru a piece of my mind when we ran into you. That sleaze-ball poofy-tailed arrogant youkai has another thing coming if he thinks he can present me as a trophy during the banquet and not allow me the right to attend the ball like a normal guest." All through her rant, there was a low growling coming from the miko, that was somewhat disturbing to hear by the two youkai. Humans were just not meant to go that low on the voice scale without being immanently pissed off or having some youkai blood.
"Ano, Kagome?"
"What?!" she barked, and then immediately looked contrite. "Gomen ne, Marisa-chan. I'm just a little worked up over this."
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. You were invited to the dance. You just never went back to your room to change. The invitation was delivered personally by Lord Sesshoumaru, but since you weren't present, he left it on your bed."
A few seconds went by while the human sent this new information into her processor.
"Oh."
"Yes, 'Oh' my lady. Just what were you doing, anyway, that kept you from coming back?"
"Pish. Don't be angry with me, onegai. I wanted to meet Asoiharu's parents here. We were going to get that out of the way, since I promised him at the banquet and then I was going to crash the party." And thinking to herself, Kagome completed the thought. Perhaps make a big scene in the midst of everything and hopefully embarrass Sesshoumaru. Crap. Now that I think on it, that would not be a very smart thing to do. Its full of youkai that would not take it too lightly for a human to be making a fuss of things. And I know I'm not strong enough to go up against even a fraction of those guys attending. C'mon Kagome, you must think of these things before jumping into a situation. That's what Inuyasha would do, and then berate you afterward for.
At this point, Kagome was repeatedly smacking herself lightly in the head with a fist, causing Marisa to exchange one of those 'looks' with Asoiharu. As in 'what have we gotten ourselves into?' looks.
The mink took it upon himself to reschedule everything so as not to disappoint the fair ladies before him. His youthful disposition disliked too much conflict among the womenfolk.
"Kagome-sama, why don't you drop by my family's quarters tomorrow, then? That way we all can attend the dance. I know afterward everybody will all be too tired to do anything else."
"Hmm, sounds like a good idea. My mornings are busy, so can I meet your family for lunch? We can dine with Rin, since I already have to do so."
"Agreed. I shall let my parents know post-haste. Now that I know you are in capable hands, fare thee well." he said to Kagome before turning to Marisa. "And I hope to see you again as well, sometime, Miss. Let me make up for my boorish behavior previously."
Marisa gave a slow blink before her girlish tendencies got the better of her. She giggled, to which Asoiharu gave a slow smile full of potential heat.
The mischievous mink took his leave leaving the flustered somewhat older kitsune to her friend's tender mercies.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
And what tender mercies they were, Marisa was contemplating as she pinned another lock of her favorite charge's hair up for the new day's training.
Tugging a little harshly caused a yelp of discomfort from Kagome, but it brought a smidgeon of joy to the maid.
"Come on, Marisa, you know I was only teasing, last night, right?" Kagome whined at her most piteous.
"Even if you were jesting, some of those things you did not need to say." Even if they were true. Perhaps she was lingering a tad overlong on the physique of the mink youkai. But still. It was the principle of the thing!
"All right. Changing the subject. At the ball did you see - " Asoiharu, she thought "-Sesshoumaru-sama?"
"Hai, I did. Got to stand in his presence for a whole twenty minutes before he moved off. That guy is down-right reticent despite his icy good looks."
"Really?!" This was news to the maid. Normally, Sesshoumaru cannot stand anyone outside of the cardinal lords for more than five minutes. Hmm, and Kagome has taken notice of his even features as well. Her secret hope does seem to have a chance of coming true. Perhaps. Oh wait, Kagome was still speaking.
"- and just before he walked off, I had mentioned how those kappa of the Eastern lands could not stop glaring at me during the entire meal. It's very disconcerting to try to eat when someone just wants to tear your head off is just only a few tables away. Before that, he had a somewhat amused look on his face when I had commented on how bad Asoiharu's parents' quarters looked. I mean, this castle has over thousands of rooms, surely one halfway decent suite is unoccupied."
It was at this point Kagome stopped to inhale. Marisa was stunned. Now she knew why castle gossip informed her of those kappa that were sentenced to the far reaches of the northern wing. It was far easier to lose one's way there than at any other point in the castle, because there were no maps of the surrounding area to be found on any of the walls.
This was further evidence for her suspicions that her lord had more than a passing interest in the miko. This was his way of protecting Kagome. She mentions a discomfort, and he makes it go away, as easily as that.
Hey, what does this bode for Asoiharu and his family, then? What will solidify her prediction is if the mink's family is transferred to better quarters only on the human's say-so. Here is hoping!
"Kagome? Did you have fun at the ball? Did you dance with anyone?"
At this, Kagome looked a little disappointed.
"Don't tell me no one asked you to dance?!"
"NO! That's not it. A couple of Asoiharu's friends asked me, but I couldn't."
"Why not?" Marisa asked, curbing a little bit of jealousy at the thought of someone dancing with the sable youkai.
"I don't know how to dance like you guys do in this time!"
Nani? 'This time?' Marisa shunted this tidbit away for further perusal, in order to concentrate on her line of questioning.
"So you just became a wallflower during the entire ball?"
"Nah, not even. I circulated and met some pretty interesting people. There was this one jiggly blob-like youkai......... He was ugly and icky as sin, but he had one of the best melodic voices I've ever heard. Pretty nice too.
"A lot of the middle nobility were snobby as hell, but I just pulled an eyelid on most of them. They had no idea what it meant! Must be a human thing. I guess they thought they had nothing to gain from associating with a mere human, even if I was a miko. Probably scared out of their britches as well.
"Some of the lower nobility kept trying to toady up to me. I can tell right away. Too many people like that in the real world for me not to know about it. The high nobility I just don't know about. They're either of the suspicion that I'm out to get them all, or they're just amused at me. Sometimes I can see that they really want to be friendly, but their rank puts them in a position where they can't easily accept friendship. Those I just pity."
Marisa finished with the tightly pinned bun before turning to Kagome's side and tapping a delicate finger against the side of her mouth. "It seems that you've had a full night. Are you sure you've had enough sleep for the day? I think I see some bags under your eyes." She teased.
"Uwahee?! Marisa! You're terrible!" Kagome made a half-hearted swat in the kitsune's direction.