Recap:
"Are you sure that you can handle them Kagome?" asked Sango.
Well apparently I have to since I am their new chew toy, she growled to herself, "I'll manage."
Great, demon versions of her modern day friends, just what she needed to make her stay feel more homely.
Miroku nodded in agreement, "Agreed, you are battle worthy Sango, but Kagome and I will handle the mind games."
"Then we should all get to bed, I have a feeling that tomorrow is going to hard," frowned Sango.
"Alright then, but I think we should all meet up tomorrow night somewhere to discuss everything. We are still going to have to convince Inuyasha to agree to his own terms," defended Miroku.
Kagome scoffed, "Convince Inuyasha that he is allowed to beat up his brother's soldiers? Shouldn't be a problem."
"They are not staying here longer than necessary," spoke Sesshomaru as he surveyed his fellow Lords.
"You are being unreasonable Sesshomaru. We need their knowledge and you know it. It may not be the method of your preference but it is the only one we have available to us. The girl is right, your pride is causing you to isolate your allies and all that you have available to you," said Lord Shiho as he took in a sip of his tea.
"You did not just say that wench was right about something, did you?" said Sesshomaru in a not so calm manner.
"You are legendary for your restraint Lord Sesshomaru, do not ruin your reputation now. Especially not over a woman," chuckled Lord Uza.
"Hold your tongue, you are all guests in my castle…and I am not losing my temper over a human female," growled Sesshomaru.
"And what a female she is. Not many can stand up to you like she did. You have to give the woman her credit. Not a flinch was in her stance, couldn't detect any hint of fear," spoke Lord Uza again.
The fourth and final member of the room scoffed at this, "More like a death wish. It is a wonder you did not strike her down at that very moment."
Lord Shiho smiled, "Come now Lord Malik, you must appreciate her courage, even if you do not appreciate her as a woman."
"All I want is this Naraku dead, if this is the only way that it can be done…then so be it. I will put up with their faults for the time being," Lord Malik took another sip of the sake he had been drinking.
"Faults? Throughout that entire encounter the only fault I could find with that woman was her desire to stay here. I too would have turned down the offer we gave her, with her knowing Lord Sesshomaru as she does. Everything else was flawless!" Lord Uza turned towards Lord Malik furiously.
"I think I know tactics better than you do, that woman is not worthy of our time!" Lord Malik threw down his sake and stood up in order to be on proper ground with Lord Uza.
"And what exactly did she do wrong? Her execution of the halfling was brilliant, as well as her negotiating skills with Lord Sesshomaru," Lord Uza sent a direct glare towards his fellow Lord as he said this, obviously challenging him to continue. "Please, do name something; the woman was a tactical force even I wouldn't have wanted to deal with."
"That is because you are a mediocre leader at best," spat Lord Malik in response.
"Lords!" spoke Lord Shiho angrily as he stepped in-between the two, "I think we are a little too old for petty deputes like this. We are not currently discussing our own issues, our target…I mean attention is Lord Sesshomaru. Please, let us concentrate on the issue at hand."
Lord Uza and Lord Malik continued to glare at each other but managed to somewhat calmly sit down, across the room from each other of course.
Lord Shiho shook his head in remorse. "I am sorry little miko, it seems you have become the new issue of fighting between these two. Your stay will not be a pleasant one."
"I hate your son," said Kagome in a not so whispering voice as she chopped up the nearest stack of vegetables. "He did this on purpose!"
"She's not that bad," said the floating Touga calmly.
The knife was suddenly imbedded in the cutting bored, "Not that bad? The beast asked me if I was a cow demon from the way that I smelled!"
"Friendly banter?"
Kagome grumbled as she nursed a new found headache, "I need an exorcist."
Touga rubbed her upper back in a fatherly manor, "There, there little one. You aren't completely crazy. I'm still here for you."
Oh, she wanted to swat him away so badly but she unfortunately already knew it was useless. Of course, as fate would have it, he would be the one telling her everything would be alright. When she finally made it back to her own time, she was seeing a therapist. They had to keep confidentiality didn't they? Of course, they would probably put her on medication for schizophrenia. Though, right now she would take anything to get rid of him.
"Cow, you are not to touch anything in my kitchen aside from what is already in your corner," came a gruff voice to Kagome's left.
Said priestess felt her right eyebrow twitch.
"And your filthy human hands are not to touch any of my meat," came the same voice.
Kagome could now feel herself getting angry.
"Don't do it little one. I know you are tired and stressed but I do not think making enemies with the staff will help your cause," came Touga's all knowing voice.
Well that settled it, Kagome thought. If Touga didn't want her to do it then she was most certainly going to.
Kagome spun around on her heal and faced the tall 5"11 demon before her. The overgrown boar was a horse demon that had red hair tied up in a bun. The woman would have probably been rather beautiful if not for her dirty clothes and her rotten attitude. "Listen here you overgrown bully! I don't like people picking on me, I don't like people being mean, and I above all don't like it when others think they have the right to treat others like trash! If you want to say something to me I suggest you either say it nicely or expect a fist in your gut!"
The horse demon looked at her strangely, like something was wrong with her vision. "Did you just…talk back to me?"
Everyone else in the kitchen had already stopped what they were doing in order to watch the exchange, and inevitable fight, as closely as they could.
"Yes," came Kagome's swift answer.
The horse demon's eye's narrowed as she looked at the younger woman, "You little cow, no one talks back to me."
"I'm not no one; get it strait, I'm Kagome. Ka-go-me. Don't for an instant think I'm going to let you push me around either. You stay out of my way and I'll stay out of yours, but don't think I'm your new chew toy. I bite back," with that said Kagome took her cue and turned around so she could finish chopping up her carrots.
She could feel the beast woman's angry huffs as Kagome continued to chop but desperately tried not to say anything about it. What was it with demons and not being able to stand being ignored? Were they all just that arrogant?
Kagome finished chopping her food while silently taking count in her head. There were about seven other demons in the kitchen right now, luckily none of them seemed to be warriors, not that she was really a warrior either though. So technically that put the odds at seven to one if they decided to attack, which was very likely because of her outburst. Oh wait, she couldn't forget that stupid horse of a demon. She would probably count for more than one demon. So that would be…ten to one.
Those were not good odds against someone like her, who would probably be better off if fully medicated and locked away.
Maybe she could throw boiling water at them, she was sort of close to the stove-ish type of contraption.
"Momma!" screamed a very familiar and welcomed voice.
Kagome turned just in time to catch her little ball of fluff called Shippo as he leaped towards her. "I see you are finally awake," she said while nuzzling his nose with her own.
"What time is it?" asked Shippo as he tried to guess how long he had slept in.
"Almost lunch, I was about to finish up here and bring Miroku and Sango something to eat. I know they are both starting their work today. Miroku is supposed to leave for another village around one or so, then there is Sango. I wonder how she is doing with the other weaponry masters," finished Kagome.
"What am I supposed to do Momma? I want to help too!" yelled Shippo excitedly.
Kagome placed her son down on the ground and looked at him firmly. "You and Kilala were assigned to help me in the kitchens. I'm going to need you two to be really good and not get in anyone's way though."
Shippo looked at her with wide eyes, "I get to help you?"
"Only if you can do a really good job though," she finished.
"I promise Momma, I'll work really hard and I won't spill anything!" he said proudly.
Kagome tapped his nose with her finger, "Alright, can you get me some butter?"
Kagome quietly walked down the halls, Shippo in front of her and the boxes of food in her hands. She of course had no idea where she was going but Shippo apparently did. This was one of those moments where she was really jealous of demon senses.
"It's down here Momma," he said enthusiastically while opening up at metal door that lead to a downstairs stairway. She followed her son down the wooden stairway. When she reached the bottom Kagome felt the hardness of stone through the soles of her shoes. Kagome leaned down and placed her hand on the ground, the stone wasn't cold like she had been expecting, but warm.
"This way," said Shippo while skipping along the corridors. The farther in Kagome walked the warmer it seemed to become, though thankfully it wasn't unbearable. Then she heard the distinctive sound of metal clashing with metal.
"Sango?"
The woman she had been looking for stepped before her immediately, "Hey Kagome, what are you doing down here?"
Kagome looked up at the surrounding men who were still working, "Umm…I brought you lunch. You doing alright?" she asked while handing the box to her friend.
Sango immediately put her tools down and headed over to a metal bench on the side wall. "Thanks, and I'm actually doing really well. Most of the men leave me alone and I do the same for them. I have to say, I was expecting some underground dingy cave when Sesshomaru first spoke about this place. I mean, it may be underground but I don't really feel like it. It's always warm and they have plenty of lighting, also there are a few vents to keep the fresh air circulating."
"That's good, I was rather worried. How are the others treating you?" asked Kagome while she watched Shippo look in awe at all the weapons.
"Like I said, they leave me alone and I leave them alone. They are really fast at what they do though. It's going to take me a good couple of days before I can finish an even half decent sword, I feel a little left behind," said Sango while taking a bite of Kagome's shrimp.
Suddenly Sango stopped chewing and looked down at her food. The woman swallowed and then smiled at her friend, "It's really nice to not be eating Ramen."
Kagome left shortly after that. After Shippo had relit Sango's fire with his fox fire magic Kagome walked back over through the tunnel and back up the stairs. She had to admit, Sango was taking this a lot better than she had expected. Sango had a rather large aversion to anything demon, whether she realized it or not, and Kagome was just glad it didn't seem to be affecting anything.
"Kagome!" yelled Miroku as he walked up to her.
Kagome looked up in time to see Miroku waving at her from only a few feet away. It seemed she had been walking for longer than she had thought.
"You seem happy," smiled Kagome.
"Why wouldn't I be, a beautiful woman brought me food," he continued to smile while he sat down to open the wrapped box.
"No really," Kagome plopped very ungracefully down next to him, "why are you so happy? You are going into unknown territory with a pack of enemy demons. I have been stressing about this all day, what's your secret?"
"I guess I just decided that if I die, at least Naraku won't be able to claim it was by his hand," he said while slurping up a noodle.
Kagome quickly hit him on the arm, "You always were a good liar. You're terrified aren't you?"
There was no answer to that.
"I'm going to talk to your…escort," she said before Miroku could finish stuffing his mouth. She could hear him choking in the background as she walked to the group of armored men standing in a circle.
They immediately quieted down whatever they were talking about when she was within hearing distance. Without a word she stepped in front of the nearest demon, the really cocky looking one. "Name?"
He blinked at her a few times before answering, "Hiko?"
"You don't sound sure that that is your name, are you lying?" she asked.
"No, I know my own name it's just, I've never met a priestess that wasn't trying to kill me before," Hiko said arrogantly, like he was making a joke she wasn't understanding.
"Do you attack villages?" she asked innocently enough.
"Well yeah, when we are ordered to," said another guard.
"So you have a reputation for being crude and unfeeling killers that attack innocent civilians just trying to make enough food for their children to survive?" she asked a bit more seriously.
"No we-" started another guard but she cut him off.
"So you attack villages and wonder why you've never seen a priestess who wasn't shooting an arrow at you. Tell me, if you had a child, would you defend him from intruders?" she asked.
"Yes, of course, there is nothing a demon values more than his pack," answered Hiko.
"Trained priestesses are forbidden from having families, something about not focusing enough on their duties," she said while aimlessly checking her nails for dirt. She looked back up at the pack of demons, "so the town becomes her life. You are attacking the ones she has sworn to protect."
Kagome's face became stern, "We do not like it when you do that."
The group silenced themselves after that, having nothing to say. It was either out of shock or fright, either way Kagome didn't care. Her point was made.
"Thank you Kagome for the lovely lunch, I doubt anything sweater has touched my lips," spoke Miroku as he calmly walked up to the group. "I shall be back in about two days, until then please take care of yourself Kagome…and do not kill anyone. We all know how your temper can get."
Kagome playfully swatted his arm, "Relax would you? I have a bit more self control than you give me credit for…you know, when Inuyasha isn't around. Then I kind of just go off the deep end."
"I will see you later Kagome, please try not to start too many fights," he said while grabbing his pack and walking away towards what she assumed was the direction he was supposed to be heading into.
She waved back with a smile, "Goodbye Miroku," then she snickered, "goodbye Hiko!"
She saw the man stiffen. Well that should make sure Miroku comes back in one piece.
After Miroku had left Kagome wasn't quite sure what to do with herself. She could go back to the kitchens but then she would have to put up with that beast Sesshomaru had set her up with. There was always Sango but really, what did she know about making weapons? She would probably just get in Sango's way. Unfortunately her form of entertainment, mainly Shippo, was still down with Sango so really, there wasn't all that much to do.
Luckily Hama, or the beast as Kagome had dubbed her, was not in the kitchen when she first arrived. So Kagome still had her time in the kitchen to keep her occupied, which is exactly what she had done. About three hours later and two pies in the making, Kagome had decided she was done with that stupid horse demon's comments and left her treats in her little corner.
So here she was, sitting alone in her arm length room with various candles lining the floor as she attempted to study. It really was a sad day when you had nothing better to do than to finish school work. Damn, she hated calculus like non-other. It wasn't that it didn't make sense since it did, it just took forever to do. Perhaps she should work on that science paper instead, but then she would have to do the chapter readings as well.
Suddenly a meow came from her left. Kagome swung around to see none other than Kilala sitting in the doorway. "Hey girl, I was wondering where you went. Did you catch any demon mice today?"
Kilala went on her stomach and pushed something over to Kagome with her nose. Kagome, seeing that it was an abnormally large mouse tail took it as a yes; she had indeed found some demon mice. While trying not to scream in fright, because the thing really did look like worm, she reached over and pet Kilala's head. "Umm, good girl," she squeaked out.
"You okay Momma?" asked another voice.
Kagome once again looked up to see Shippo bouncing towards her, "Yes, I'm fine. Kilala just brought me a gift."
Shippo looked down at the mouse appendage and smiled, "She's saying that she loves you when she gives you stuff like that. She's trying to provide for you."
Kagome managed another smile, "I know, and that is why I'm not screaming. Now what have you been up to Shippo?"
"Oh I was down with Sango. Though she was really busy so I talked to some of the demons down there," he answered back while snuggling down into her lap.
"Oh, what did they say?" asked Kagome while she brushed her fingers through his hair.
"Nothing much. They are really quiet and just work the whole time. So I told them all about our adventures and how you saved me from the Thunder Brothers and how you are my Momma now," he said with half closed eyes.
"And what did they say about that?" she asked, even more curious than she was before.
"Umm…just that you must be pretty weird to do that," he said with a yawn and before she knew it the small fox had glided off to sleep while in her arms.
After a few more minutes of brushing her fingers through his unruly hair Kagome silently slipped Shippo back into the sheets. It had been a rather long day it seemed. She was positive Shippo wasn't sure how to act around all these demons. It had been so long since he had traveled with his own kind.
Perhaps some time with the children of this castle would be a good thing for him. He was around adult company constantly and play time was never a bad thing.
"What are you thinking little one?" asked Touga as his form appeared next to her.
"Just wondering if the children of this castle are like the adults," she said absentmindedly while she began running her fingers through her son's hair again.
"What do you plan on doing in order to find out?" he asked.
Kagome smiled, "Same thing I would do if they were human children. Play off of their sweet tooth. I always have loved American sweets after all."
Kagome woke up especially early the next morning in order to prepare for the day. She had no idea how many children were scattered about through the castle but she had no intention of running out of treats. Quietly she rolled her head back and forth in order to get the kinks out of her neck. She tried to stretch but her hand hit the wall before the proper extension could be done.
With a quick peck on Shippo's forehead she continued with her daily routine. She really needed a shower or something because it had been a while since she had properly bathed. Perhaps the children would know, that would be much better than having to ask one of the adults who would undoubtedly just laugh at her.
Kagome quickly headed over to the kitchens, intent on making something for breakfast. As soon as she slid the door open though her smile fell. Did demons ever sleep? Mind you there was only like three of them in there but come on, she just wanted some peace and quiet where she didn't constantly have to wonder how to angle her blade in order to see properly behind her through the reflection.
Silently, if you minus the grumbling, she began her day, eventually deciding that blueberry muffins were probably the best choice for her to make. They weren't too sugary but they had that somewhat sweet taste to them. Also, she was positive it would be something none of the children had ever tried before.
After mixing in her ingredients, and having to substitute a few things, Kagome reached over to start her fire, only to find her flint missing from its regular shelf. Looking again and finding nothing Kagome immediately blamed Hama, that woman. Fine then, she would find another way to start her fire. There had to be another role of flint around here somewhere. Kagome once again began searching only to come up empty handed.
Well this sucked, there goes her good moment. And here she was starting to think that this place would be bearable.
"I'll help you with that, you need a fire right?" asked a strangely new voice.
Kagome turned around to face a new person entirely. She was tall, about five eight if Kagome had to guess. Of course that wasn't extremely tall but it was taller than Kagome, and to her that was tall. Her hair was a dark shade of brown that went down to her shoulders and her eyes were a deep lavender color. From the mouse like brown ears on top of her head Kagome was guessing it was this demon's extended family Kilala had slain earlier.
"Umm…yeah," stuttered out Kagome.
"This one, right?" asked the girl.
Kagome looked at where the clawed finger was pointing. It was indeed her personal fire, since non-of the others wanted to share with her in the larger one. Suddenly a fireball rested in the girl's palm and she tossed it into the fire.
"Umm, thanks…" started Kagome but honestly she didn't know how to finish. This was certainly unexpected.
"Sure…" and then there was silence. Kagome wasn't exactly sure how to handle this situation. Not only had this demon helped her but she wasn't leaving afterwards. What was she supposed to talk to her about? The weather?
"What are you making?"
Kagome came out of her ramblings when the woman spoke. Kagome looked over towards her mixture, that's right. It wouldn't only be the children who had no idea what she was cooking but the adults as well. "Oh, it's a recipe from home that my mother taught me. They are called Blueberry Muffins…you can have one when I am done if you like."
The girl quickly turned around and headed back over to her station, "I don't eat human food."
Deciding she wasn't going to take it personal, because frankly Inuyasha had said the same thing to her when they first met, Kagome turned back to her food and started dishing the servings out into their little bowls. They would be abnormally large muffins since she had been forced to use some metal sake dishes but they would do. Perhaps she could get Sango to forge something for her.
While she was waiting Kagome looked back over at her two pies, only to realize there was only one. Kagome quickly walked over to where her deserts from the previous day had rested. There was…only one? The cherry pie was gone? But why? Where? They don't exactly get up and walk away after all. Sango was going to be so mad, cherry was her favorite.
Wait? Sango! That was it, Sango must have come to check up on her and taken the pie. Of course Kagome blocked out the fact that Sango could never eat a whole pie no matter how hard she tried.
Kagome turned around when she could smell the muffins. She quickly checked the watch on her wrist in a discreet fashion. It was hard to tell how long to cook things since she didn't have a set temperature or anything, like she would in a modern day oven.
"Thirty more seconds little one," spoke Touga.
Kagome looked behind her to see him leisurely sitting on the counter. She had the sudden impulse to tell him to get off, that it was wrong to sit on the place where you cooked but then it crossed her mind that well, it didn't really matter now did it. "How come that much longer?"
"I can smell it, about ten more seconds and they will be perfect," he said while smiling.
Kagome grabbed the iron sheet that she used to pull out the small treats. "Okay, thanks I guess…why are you being helpful?"
"Well I can't exactly make you help my boys when one is missing and one is still in a meeting now can I?" he countered, "Now would be a good time to take them out."
Kagome immediately reached in with the sheet and pulled them out of the fire, "Yeah, but you are usually much more annoying than this."
"I am hurt little one, I have done nothing but show fatherly affection," mock pain leaked from his smile.
"More like insane fatherly affection. Where I come from, they have facilities for people like you," she whispered.
After setting them all out Kagome let them cool as she put in another batch.
"Momma! Why didn't you wake me?" asked Shippo as he bounded in.
Kagome smiled as she caught him, "You were sleeping and my own Momma said to never wake a sleeping baby."
Shippo looked appalled, "I'm not a baby!"
"Your right, you're not just a baby, you're my baby!" she laughed while she kissed his forehead and he tried to push away.
"Momma!" he yelled as he jumped out of her arms.
Kagome continued to laugh as she piled muffins onto a large platter. Soon all the muffins were done and she looked at the last few that she couldn't fit on the plate. Come on, there had to be something she could do with them.
Kagome looked at her son who was watching the muffin with glowing eyes. "If you want one that bad all you have to do is ask," she said while taking one for herself.
"Please?" he asked in that adorable voice of his that Inuyasha couldn't stand. She swore that made it all the cuter.
"Alright," but Kagome caught herself as she looked at the woman who had helped her earlier. She didn't have to do that. She could have left Kagome to search the entire kitchen, "but see that girl over there? Place one of these on her cooling rack and without her noticing. Think of it as a test, now don't get caught."
Shippo looked at the muffin in front of him and quickly grabbed it while heading over to the woman silently. Kagome turned back around to her dish, "He's cute," spoke Touga.
Kagome smiled, "I know."
"He reminds me of Inuyasha when he was a pup. Could you imagine how happy that little fox would be if he had a brother who loved him?"
Kagome rolled her eyes, "Oh look, he's back. I was wondering when you would be that pushy demon I have come to love."
Kagome watched as Touga licked his lips, "That muffin thing does look good though."
Kagome blinked as she took in the situation, and then she smiled, "Oh it is. It practically melts in your mouth. And you should try it with butter, it's completely amazing. You want to try one?"
She watched as he reached forward in order to grab the tasty treat, only for his claws to shimmer through it. She snickered as his face fell, "Damn, you did that on purpose."
"And that," she said while taking her last bite, "was for all my sleepless nights."
Shippo led her to yet another hallway that she had never seen before. It was like the castle was a maze, and one that she could easily see herself getting lost in.
"Umm, I think it is this way," he said shyly.
Then another door was opened and Kagome walked into a room with about ten little children looking up at her. Were they…working? Kagome looked at four of them, each of which who had a needle and some thread in hand, while two others where tending to what looked like a miniature vegetable garden. Another one was aimlessly looking out the window and the last one was really too small to be doing anything so she just watched the four who were sowing.
"Why aren't you playing?" she asked randomly.
One of the girls who was sowing was the one who spoke, "Why would we play?"
Kagome placed the tray down and comforted Shippo who was attached to her leg, "Because you are children, it's what you are supposed to do."
The same girl was the one who spoke again as she scrunched up her nose, "Who are you? You smell human."
Kagome suppressed a glare, "Get over it. I happened to remember what my son said about there being other children here and I decided to bake you something sweet."
She watched as a little boy tending to his garden sniffed the air. His eyes went wide and she was guessing he had caught a sniff of what she had been making, "I've never smelled anything like that before."
Kagome's heart went out to the kids before her, "I'll tell you what. I'll finish your stitch work if you guys do me a favor. I'm going to need you guys to finish off these muffins for me and then of course you can tell me all about yourselves okay?"
Well that had gone well, Kagome thought amiably. The children loved the muffins and she had learned all about them. Apparently all of their parents worked here in the castle but there really wasn't any type of daycare system so they just watched themselves. The first girl who had spoken had been mending her mother's skirt as she told her this; this was of course before she let Kagome take over in order to eat with the rest of the children.
She was thinking that visiting them was going to have to be an everyday occurrence as well. Not to mention she was going to have to start bringing them food every morning too. They opened up like she couldn't believe once you stuffed them with sweet tasting treats. Human or demon, food always worked. Oh, and she should think up a game too! That way the kids aren't always working.
Maybe soccer? Or hide and seek? What about tag? Oh this was going to be so much fun!
And of course they were impossibly sweet to her and told her where the servant's bath house was. Kagome hugged herself briefly as she remembered how adorable the children had been, once they got over the human factor of course. Shippo was actually still playing with them and Kagome couldn't be happier. As much as she wanted the boy all to herself she knew he needed interaction with other children.
Kagome quickly headed back towards the kitchen once she realized how late in the day it was. Hama would of course want her there to boss around. It didn't matter that Hama wouldn't let her touch anyone else's food of course, but Kagome just had to be there. So of course, being Kagome, she had every intention of taking advantage of her time with a semi-full kitchen with actual ingredients and utensils. She still had Sango's lunch and dinner to make, and she had to figure out who Shippo had spoke to the other day. Kagome had every intention of thanking him for occupying her son's time like that and not brushing him off.
Perhaps a nice slab of raw meat would do the trick. Or maybe some chocolate, if he was a dog demon anyways. Contrary to belief dog demons were more than capable of eating chocolate and not being sick. Inuyasha had proved that much to her when he ate all of her younger brother's Halloween chocolate one year.
Then again, she was guessing that the guy who Shippo spoke to wasn't a dog demon, since the race seemed to be pretty rare. In fact, aside from the brothers and their father Kagome had never come across another dog demon.
Maybe cat nip?
Kagome quickly made it down the staircase as she looked at the watch on her wrist. She couldn't believe she had lost time like that, Sango must be starving! The woman with mounds of food in her hands continued to skip every other step as she made it to the bottom of the now familiar hallway.
As the priestess stepped into the heated area she immediately waved Sango who looked weary and tired, of course adding to Kagome's guilt. "I am so sorry Sango; Hama made me lose all track of time."
Sango just waved the whole situation away as she took the food out of her friend's hands, "Don't worry about it," and with that the demon slayer dove into her food.
"Inuyasha or Miroku back yet?" asked the very same demon slayer.
Kagome shook her head, "No, not yet. Though I wasn't really expecting either one of them to be back, no matter what or when they implied," Kagome gave a small laugh, "Of course that doesn't mean I'm not going to give them a load of crap when they come back. I mean, seriously, leaving us defenseless girls with a bunch of demons who want to tear us apart for breakfast, who the hell does that?"
Suddenly it was silent as the two girls looked at each other, a few more seconds passed by as they searched the room for eavesdroppers. When the coast was clear the two immediately broke out into laughter.
"Oh that is going to be rich, please say you are going to do that with me around. I could use a good laugh," snickered Sango while trying not to choke on her food, "Seriously, us? Helpless? Please, there isn't any demon you can't talk out of killing you."
Kagome perked up as a realization came to her, "Hey, what do you think would happen if Sesshomaru had to save me from something?"
Sango stopped chewing as she processed the new scenario, "God, Inuyasha would die knowing that. He'd owe the man who has tried to kill him for years. He'd probably never let you out of his sight again."
Kagome quickly weighed her options. Possibly make the two moronic dogs face each other on a civil level and be stuck with Inuyasha as a personal attachment for the rest of her life…or find a different way. Imprisonment or not to be imprisoned.
"Not worth it," she sighed dramatically.
"What's not worth it?" asked Sango as she took a drink of water.
Kagome snapped her attention back to her friend, "Nothing, hey, who did Shippo talk to the other day?"
"Oh, the big guy over there," Sango pointed aimlessly behind her back.
Kagome peaked over her friends shoulder to see six overly large demons working on their weapons, "Umm, they are all rather humongous Sango."
Sango took another bite out of her meal and turned around, "The one with the spikes coming out of his back, and the fangs that look like the size of your arm. Why?"
Kagome gulped down her bit of fear as she looked at the oversized demon. Shippo went to talk to that? On his own? Oh, her little boy was growing up wasn't he? "I'm going to talk to him."
Kagome tried to stand but was immediately pulled down by her friend. Kagome looked up from the ground as she stared at her friends terrified state, while Sango stood above her, shaking just slightly. "Kag's, I love you but you don't have any common sense. This guy bent another guy's sword in half after declaring it was too long. You can't just go up to someone like that and ask how their day is going!"
"Well of course not, I'm going to offer him food first," with that said Kagome yanked her hand out of Sango's hold and began to head up to the large creature before her. Hopefully he liked chocolate chip cookies, and if he didn't, if anything his curious demon nature should at least want to know what it was she was holding. At least that was an opening. Mind you it may be an opening for mass murderage but she was just going to have to take that chance now wasn't she.
In a very hesitant way Kagome walked up to the giant beast. She stood there for a few seconds as she contemplated what to say. How are you? Please don't attack me or where did you get those scars were on the very top of her list. For some reason neither one of them felt appropriate.
As the demon continued to work and pound away at the metal Kagome placed a hand on her hip, deciding on the appropriate course of action. Perhaps this wasn't such a good idea after all. He seemed incredibly immersed in his work and he didn't really look like the talkative type. Well that burst her friendly bubble.
She immediately sat down on the nearest slab as she absentmindedly stared at him. Kagome quickly glanced back over at Sango who was not so discretely staring at her and the demon who was ignoring her.
Suddenly the metal work stopped, "Are you just going to sit there?"
The voice was hoarse, gruff and it broke in odd places. But most of all it seemed dry and crackly, like it was out of practice. In fact it reminded her of a mountain man, one who lived all on his own, hunted for his own food and killed anyone that looked like food. Oddly enough, anywhere else in Japan and that analogy would have worked.
Kagome contemplated her answer, "I actually think I might. Aside from thank you for taking care of my son and listening to him like you did, I can't really think of anything to say. Which is odd for two reasons. One, I always have something to say and two, I was sure something would come to me the moment I came over here."
The man made a small grunting noise as he began his metal work again. A few quiet minutes like this passed before any more words were spoken. The demon banging his fist against a sword and Kagome watching him absentmindedly.
"Does that hurt?" she asked randomly as another fist connected with the metal.
"No," was all he said, not a beat was broken in his rhythm.
The silence was immediately back and Kagome felt the sudden urge to fill it, but honestly, what was she going to talk about?
"Do you have any children?" she asked suddenly.
The man quite quickly stopped what he was doing and looked at her questioningly. After a few minutes of silence he answered her, "No, I do not."
"I have two of them…sort of. Shippo is the first one. I found him when he was just a little baby. He couldn't have been older than three or four years by demon terms, not that he has really aged much since then. Then there is the biggest baby of all, Inuyasha. I swear he is worse than Shippo could ever be. He's like that little kid that wants to be held all the time but throws a fit every time you try to touch him," she said amiably.
"Lord Inuyasha? Lord Sesshomaru's brother? You act as his mother?" he questioned while sitting down next to her.
Kagome snickered at the thought of playing mother to Inuyasha, "More like…the reluctant sister most of the time, but don't let him hear you say that. He thinks he's good at taking care of himself. He also thinks I am incapable of taking care of myself. He's rather arrogant that way. I am beginning to see that it runs in the family."
The demon nodded and then continued on with his work. Kagome remained seated for the rest of the day, not really saying anything other than a sentence or two. It wasn't until she was leaving with Sango that another question popped from her mouth unexpectedly.
"Are you a different breed of demon I have never heard of before?" she asked while placing the left over cookies back in her bag. They had both eaten a few, her more than him of course, but in the end his curiosity had won out over his desire to work.
"No," he said as he placed his sword in the fire next to him, "Why?"
Kagome was amazed, that was the first question he had asked her that day, aside from the first one. "Oh, well, most demon's I know can't stand me ignoring them and well, you just let me sit there, not doing anything."
"You weren't ignoring me. You were sitting there to talk to me, were you not?" he answered in his deep voice.
Kagome's mouth could have dropped for all she knew. It made sense though. She hadn't actually been ignoring him; she had gone over there with the specific purpose of talking to him. Damn, and she was thinking the demon race was maturing, no, it was just her not realizing the situation. Sometimes she was so dense it was amazing, "Well, thank you for putting up with me and my son. Anything I can bring you tomorrow?"
The demon lifted what seemed to be an eye brow but she couldn't really tell what with his large and disfigured form, "You will be here tomorrow too?"
Kagome, hearing his mocking tone crossed her arms in a needlessly defiant manner, "Yes, why?"
"…More of those sweets then. The men next to me were to chicken to try a bite," his gruff voice was the same but she could hear the subtle mirth in it. It seems he wasn't laughing at her at all, well there was a first.
Kagome's demeanor immediately changed with the realization, "Okay, I can bring down some raw meat if you would like. That was always what my demon friends ate when not around me."
With that Kagome latched onto Sango's arm and hugged her friend close as they walked up the stairs. Today was actually turning out to be a rather good day wasn't it? Now if only Miroku and Inuyasha were here, then her day would be all better-Kagome was suddenly lurched backwards as Sango pulled her back into reality from her thoughts.
"What the-" but she stopped when she saw who was standing in front of them.
Kagome refused to gulp as the situation hit her. No Inuyasha, no Touga, no Miroku and his wind tunnel and no giant boomerang.
Crap.
"Hello…Sesshomaru. I see the meeting is finally over," she somehow managed to say.
Suddenly all that confidence that she felt earlier while telling him off in the great hall was nowhere to be found.
Firevixen73-I know, almost no Sesshomaru/Kagome interaction, but I had to set up Kagome and her place in the castle and it was easiest to do when Sesshomaru wasn't around. This way he can't sabotage her in a Sesshomaru like fashion. I hope everyone liked it, please review, it will make my day!