She stood for a long moment watching the closed door after he'd walked out of it, her hand still tingling from the odd shock she'd received when his hand brushed against hers, some small level of shock returning to her suddenly dazed mind. It was impossible, but Kagome could have sworn that she'd sensed a demonic aura, possibly two very close, but they were gone now with no trace left behind.
Shaking her head violently to clear the thoughts Kagome turned back into the room she'd been given, her hand tunneling into her pocket so her fingers could run across the smooth part of the jewel until she found the missing piece.
Only one shard before it was completely whole again, but she knew the location of it this time, knew that it was safe, and so she was glad to let Kohaku keep that shard until he was strong enough to live without it. She could tell something was going on around this part of town, all she could do was hope she didn't get pulled in to it, that no one noticed the jewel and she would be okay. She turned back, running her hand over the jewel again before dropping it into her pocket and busying herself with unpacking some of her things instead.
"At least there isn't any major damage to anybody, you all just need some rest and you'll be as good as new." Botan smiled around at them all, and only received blank stares back. She sighed.
"Let's just get home." Yusuke glanced at his unconscious friend, trying to ignore the pain in his ankle as he limped forward, "My place is closest, I don't want to carry Kuwabara any further than we have to."
"Oh, and what about your sister?" Hiei asked softly, freezing the group for a moment.
"Yeah… I forgot about that girl." Yusuke paused for a moment, searching the ground for an answer of some sort, "I know. I'll just tell her we got in a fight and… I won."
"You're going to tell her you beat up your own friend? Don't you want her to like you at all Yusuke?" Botan glared gently at him.
"I don't really care if she does or doesn't." He lifted Kuwabara's limp body slightly and started forward again.
"That isn't very nice Yusuke. She's your sister; you should at least try to be a little nice."
"I never wanted a sister Botan. I don't care what she thinks or anything else about her." He flinched away from a blow to the back of his head, turned to glare at the short demon who had hit him, then looked at Botan and Kurama's disapproving gazes. "What was that about?"
"Kurama and Botan are busy trying to carry the oaf. I merely did it for them."
"Thank you Hiei." Botan smiled, and as she expected didn't receive one back as Hiei vanished into the distance.
"You know Yusuke, Botan is right. The girl at least deserves a chance."
"Thanks for the advice, but it's none of your business."
Kurama looked down for a moment, "That's a shame, she seems fairly nice, you may like her more than you think."
"I guess I'll just deal with it when we get there."
She tucked the jewel into the back of a drawer, carefully checking that all of her special belongings were there before covering them with her clothes, but as she prepared to place the socks over them she froze, her eyes sliding sadly over all of them. The stack of Sutras that Miroku had given her, one of Shippo's favorite tops and two of his wooden puzzles. Nestled neatly beside them was one of the knives that Sango normally kept hidden in her sleeve, and a sealed shell containing one of the demon slayers' most powerful and effective poisons, which Sango had spent hours teaching her to handle safely. She didn't cry until she found herself looking at one of the pictures that Shippo had drawn for her before she'd left. Only two weeks since she'd last visited them, and already she missed them so badly it hurt. How long would it be until she saw them again? Would she ever see them again?
She tried to laugh at herself as she moved toward the living room and the kitchen beyond it. She'd been alone here for hours, and just to keep herself busy she'd already unpacked all of her things, and cleaned nearly the entire apartment, just to have something to do. She paused in the doorway for a moment, wondering if leaving the jewel alone in the dresser was a good idea or if she should keep it in on her until she found a safer place for it. As her thoughts turned to it she found herself moving back toward the dresser and withdrawing the jewel from its hiding spot to place it back in her pocket. Kagome was certain that she would eventually feel safe leaving the jewel there, or somewhere else, but for now she felt when it was closer. She was beginning to understand why Kikyo had worn it as a necklace, but that would have left it too exposed, this way people would just think it was a broken trinket on a keychain, and at most wonder why she hadn't thrown it away yet. This was definitely a safer option than Kikyo's had been.
"Kikyo…" The name left her as a whisper as she moved toward the window to stare into the dark sky that stretched over the seemingly endless city lights. Kikyo was still alive… or as alive as she had been all the time Kagome had known her. She'd rejoined Inuyasha after that final fight with Naraku, but she hadn't been there when she'd left the village the last time. She'd thought Kikyo would want the jewel back, so she'd kept it hidden until the woman was gone, because in the weakened state she had been in after the battle Kagome would have been easy to overpower. She'd only begun to realize recently how stupid that was. Kikyo was able to sense the jewel as well, and she had been the original guardian after all. She wasn't sure if she'd been lucky or not. She should have been happy to let Kikyo take the jewel, but for some reason it hadn't seemed right. After so long, when the jewel had been in her hand again it had seemed like a part of her… or something. She still didn't quite understand it herself, and she wasn't going to spend any more time thinking about it.
As she turned her eyes went to the closet and the pile of old coats lying in the corner to hide the bow and quiver of arrows that Kaede had given her some time before. She really didn't want anyone to notice these and the items in her dresser. She'd considered leaving them at home, after all she was much safer in the modern age than in the feudal era, and here she didn't even have to consider using them against Inuyasha, who's daily appearance and demands for the jewel had clearly become far more dangerous for her. However just the idea of leaving behind the tokens from her friends had made her tumble toward a breakdown, and it had seemed like a far better idea to have them with her… just in case. As her thoughts twisted toward the silver haired half demon she felt an odd little pang of guilt coupled with the anger and pain at the idea of what he'd done, and Kagome couldn't help wondering if he was okay. She knew that she couldn't have done much damage to him, even after three weeks she hadn't regained all of the power she'd used while fighting against Naraku, after this unnaturally long stretch of time she shouldn't have felt this drained still, she decided it must have been stress, because the only people she could have asked were currently on the other side of the well, five hundred years and one angry half demon away from her.
At least here she was safe from the dangerous half demon. With all the space between here and the shrine there was really no way he'd be able to sniff her out, and her family wouldn't tell him where she was, if they listened to her they wouldn't speak to him at all. So she would stay here, give him some time to cool down about the jewel and his wishes before she dealt with him again. She'd hated the plan at first, but Kagome couldn't help being grateful of her mother's genius. The next time Inuyasha went looking for her he would find she was gone, and that he couldn't find her.
The snap of a distant door closing brought her back from her thoughts. Sighing a little Kagome turned back toward the hallway, paused when her hand landed on the doorknob to close her eyes and pull in a steadying breath. Someone was back, and while staying barricaded in her new room seemed like an excellent idea it wasn't going to win her any friends among her new extended, somewhat temporary family. It was going to take a lot of effort, but if she was going to live here Kagome didn't want to feel alone. She wanted to have someone that she could at least think of as something close to a friend, or at least have a civil conversation with on a regular basis. She hesitated at the door a moment longer, wondering if she actually did have the energy to do this, then steeling her resolve and fixing a smile onto her face she turned the handle and stepped into the hallway. If there was anything Kagome had gotten good at it was pretending to have more energy than she actually did.
The smile she'd painted into place vanished almost the instant she saw them. Of the five people standing inside the entrance way two weren't bleeding, and only four were standing under their own power. "Oh… What happened?" Instinct and practice took over for her shocked brain, sending Kagome into a ball of hyperactivity and action, she raced across the space between them to take the arm of the most injured, a large boy in blue with coppery red hair, who also happened to be the unconscious one. She barely glance at the blue haired girl who had the other arm around his shoulders as she began issuing orders, "Help me get him to the couch… someone grab the first aid kit, there's one on my dresser."
"Well she certainly takes charge in a crisis." Kurama smiled a little, then noticed the look Yusuke and Hiei were both giving him, each just short of a glare, "I'll go get the medical kit shall I?" He moved past the frozen spirit detective and down the hall into the room that was now hers glanced around as he entered. It appeared that she'd already finished unpacking. The room was neatly organized and he could see a corner of the brown suitcase he'd carried for her through a crack in the closet door. She'd placed a shockingly pink comforter on the top of the bed, and on the nightstand was a picture frame, which he supposed held a photo of her family though he couldn't see the image clearly. His eyes slid slowly to the foot of the bed, where several hand drawn images rested in a messy pile. For a moment he wondered if she had a younger sibling as well. Then his sharp nose detected something oddly familiar in the air, something he knew that he should have known, but couldn't exactly place. Searching for the source of the unusual scents he found his eyes pulled to a wooden dresser along the wall, and a battered white tin box resting alone on the surface.
Rushed voices drew his attention back to the living room, and Kurama shook himself inwardly, gave up on finding the source of whatever scent had distracted him and strolled to the dresser, his hand reaching for the handle when the air itself seemed to protest and low voltage lightning skittered painfully across his skin, causing a quick recoil. For a long second he considered his still stinging hand, then glanced at the box that was standing against the far wall. "That's… odd." He murmured. His hand hadn't been close enough for the first aid kit to have done that, there had to be something else… but what?
He glanced over his shoulder quickly, his decision to search already made in an instant as curiosity won over reason for once.
The drawer slid open almost soundlessly for him, and Kurama ignored a tinge of guilt at invading her privacy as he gently pushed the clothes she'd placed there aside to reveal what she'd hidden underneath. His gaze slid across them slowly, once and then again.
"What is taking you so long? The girl is complaining about needing bandages." Hiei sounded as close to harassed as he had ever heard, he could practically feel the impatience and annoyance rolling off of him. "She is very loud."
"Hiei, come look at this." He glanced over his shoulder to receive an even more annoyed look from the demon who didn't respond immediately to him, but seemed to give up after a moment and walked over with a disinterested look. It didn't last long. "Yes, an odd collection of items for a girl to have hidden in her dresser isn't it?"
"It hardly matters. What damage can a human girl do with some pieces of paper?"
"These sutras are more than that, they aren't the style most shrine keepers and priests make today, and someone took the time to infuse them with a great deal of energy. They seem to be very effective."
"It's nothing to do with us." Hiei turned to the door, his arms crossed for a moment before he began walking. "Just hurry."
"That shell holds a powerful poison," He could smell it even through the tape she'd placed around the shell in an attempt to strengthen its seal. He wondered why she would have it in a container she didn't seem to trust. Wanting someone to share in his curiosity he moved his eyes over the other items. Wooden toys and puzzles wouldn't be of any interest to Hiei, but there was… "There seems to be something strange about this knife, surely you find that intriguing?" Why would she have these things? Where would she even have gotten them?
"Kurama…" Hiei nearly sounded exasperated, drawing Kurama's attention away from the wooden puzzles that had drawn his eyes, they were fairly simply really, if he got his hands on them he could have solved both in less than five minutes… shaking his head he reaching to the side, avoiding putting his hand directly over the sutras as he grabbed the metal handle of the box with his left hand and carefully nudged the clothing back into position with his right ignoring the warning tingles that came from such close proximity to the enhanced papers. Turning from the now closed drawer he made his way quickly to door and stepped back into the hall.
He found them in the living room, Kagome bent over Kuwabara already busy at work assessing his injuries. He was two steps away when she reached over to grab the box from his hand, and he expected that somewhat painful shock to come through again, braced himself for it, only to feel the cool skin of her hand barely brush his before the heavy box was lifted from his fingers. He nearly swallowed, expecting to be questioned about why it had taken so long to retrieve it, and spouted an answer before he could be, "My apologies, I dropped it and several things fell out." He could only hope she wouldn't remember what the contents had looked like, or that it had been juggled enough during her journey to dislocate a few things.
"That's okay… thanks…" She barely heard him at first, but as Kagome opened the lid a strange fact struck her mind. This was the same first aid kit she'd carried in the feudal era, it had gone through a lot worse than being dropped and never once had it just popped open on her, and when she looked at everything it was exactly where it should have been. Either he'd managed to put everything exactly where it was supposed to go or… Kagome disliked the suspicious thoughts now plaguing her mind. What possible reason did he have to lie about something like that? It really made no sense, considering she hadn't even planned on asking what had taken him so long. Forcing her curiosity and unease about it away Kagome forced herself to go back to work. Whatever she might have been occupying her mind with there was a bleeding boy on the couch that clearly needed its attention more.
"There, that should do it." She smiled as she secured the final bandage into place around Yusuke's arm, "Unless I missed anyone?"
"No, thank you Kagome, you've taken very good care of us all." Shuichi was the only one to return her smile so she nodded to acknowledge the words before moving away from the small group, her hand closed so tightly around the handle of her first aid kit the thin metal was starting to hurt her palm.
She'd tried to banish the troublesome thoughts, had tried to ignore that strange suspicion that she never would have experienced before. She normally would have trusted that what he'd said was the truth, but it wasn't… or at least she didn't think it was. As Kagome stepped into her room her eyes quickly ran over the room, taking in every little thing and trying to tell if it was where she'd left it. As far as she could tell nothing had been touched, but she still couldn't shake that eerie feeling that he'd been lying to her… but why would he?
Kagome forced herself to turn back toward the living room and ignore her newest idiotic notion. It was nothing but paranoia. Fixing her smile back into place she moved out into the hall, trying to at least appear cheerful as she fought against those thoughts. It was just because she didn't know them, because she was in a new place with people she didn't really know at all. It wasn't fair of her to be suspicious of them where they probably hadn't done anything wrong. Sighing inwardly she shook her head before coming around the corner to the living room and kitchen. "Um… I made dinner a while ago if anybody's hungry…"
"Actually, we should be going." The redhead stood and gave her a half smile that didn't quite seem to hide the scheming glint in his green eyes. She almost wondered what he was up to, until she saw him glance at Yusuke with a slightly larger smile and throw meaningful glances at the other two, who seemed almost disappointed or annoyed as they stood to follow him to the door, preceded him into the hall of the apartment building before he stopped and turned around, "It was a pleasure to meet you Kagome." The smile he gave her now was closer to a real one, and she found it oddly infectious.
"Oh… it was nice to meet you too Shuichi."
"Guys… come on aren't you going to stay for…"
"Goodnight Yusuke." The door snapped shut a little more loudly than was probably necessary and left silence ringing in its wake. Slowly she chanced a glance at him, only to find Yusuke looking quickly away even as her eyes darted off to the side.
"Um… I don't suppose you want something to eat?"
"Yeah… sure."