Yusuke woke to the wonderful scent of sizzling breakfast foods, and the far less pleasant sound of two very off key voices singing badly somewhere beyond his room. He couldn't even be sure they were singing the same song as the radio he could barely hear. Groaning a little Yusuke glared at his alarm clock. Six thirty in the morning. No one should ever be happy to be awake at six thirty in the morning. He rolled to the side, burying his head beneath a pillow. Even through the thick padding and the hand he pressed it against his ear with he could hear them, and with a moan he gave up and climbed out of bed and shuffled toward his bedroom door. He paused for a moment that didn't brace him nearly enough for the increasing loudness that came to his ears as he pushed the door open. Apparently Kagome was already making friends, because she and Kuwabara seemed perfectly at ease with each other in his kitchen.
"Do you two have to be so loud so early?" He demanded, throwing them a glare that vanished in an instant the second Kagome turned to him with a surprised squeak and wide eyes. When she smiled he couldn't help returning it.
"Yusuke…" She seemed to skate around the counter separating them, spun in a circle to make her red skirt flare slightly out around her knees, "What do you think? Do I look okay?"
He considered her for a moment, "Well sure I guess… but that's not what the girls at our school wear."
"Oh, well Mom didn't know what school you went to, so she just picked one." Kagome looked down for a moment, "I could always try to transfer again; I mean it isn't like I'm settled in there or anything."
"Nah, if you got out of going where we go you should consider yourself lucky." He hated the idea of the teachers that hated him taking it out on Kagome just because she had the misfortune of being related to him. "You know where your school is?"
"Yeah, I went there before I came here, so I've got everything completely under control." She smiled again and scurried back to the pan Kuwabara was watching nervously.
"I guess you're feeling better." Yusuke sank into a chair and turned to look at the big read head as Kagome pushed him easily out of her way.
"Sure am, good as new." Kuwabara tried to peak over her shoulder as Kagome batted his hand away from several strips of bacon, then pointed silently to the table. Kuwabara made his way to it; following the order simply because his honor code wouldn't let him argue. He leaned across the table to whisper, "Hey Urameshi, why didn't you ever tell me you had a sister?"
"I didn't know until yesterday, and it wasn't any or your business." He shrugged as she handed plates across the counter, then walked over to join them. "You want me to walk you to school so you don't have any trouble?"
"You don't have to, I'm pretty sure I can manage to walk a few blocks on my own." Kagome had gone through far harder trials before after all, but she didn't feel like fighting with him about it… not just yet anyway. She glanced at the clock and began shoveling her food down like it was going to run away, "but… I… better… hurry… or I'll… be late." She choked out between bites and after dropping her dishes in the sink found herself running in search of her backpack.
"Okay… I'll see you after school?"
"Sure, if you get home before midnight tonight." Smiling Kagome paused at the door, "Take some leftovers or something for lunch, or they'll go bad."
"She's more like a mom than a sister…" Kuwabara murmured after the door had closed, staring at it with wide eyes.
"Not really. And her cooking rocks." Yusuke smiled as he began to shovel down his food much as Kagome had moments before, "Face it Kuwabara, I got luckier than you when they started handing out sisters."
"What did you say Urameshi?"
"What… I just meant that…" He found himself flying backward in the chair, jumped to his feet again after colliding with the far wall, "Okay, what the hell was that for?"
"Hey did you see the new girl yet?"
"Sure, I watched her fall on her way into class."
"Well to be honest one of the other girls tripped her."
He attempted to ignore the idle gossip fluttering through the halls as he walked, choosing instead to keep his attention focused on the book in his hand as he wove through the hall and toward his favorite lunch spot and one of the only places where he could have peace, a bench near the back of the school in the shade of several trees and surrounded by ferns that for some reason always grew back when the groundskeeper tried to remove them. Of course Kurama had an idea of why, he had planted the ferns there himself after all, and the bench just seemed to be lacking without them.
As he rounded the corner he looked down to tuck his book into his bag and when he looked up again was frozen as he found his favorite bench already occupied.
She looked oddly peaceful sitting there, her hands resting on the open textbook in her lap and her eyes glued to whatever she held in her cupped palms. She'd pushed up the sleeves of her shirt, wrinkling the fabric, and her backpack rested against her legs that were tucked slightly under the wooden seat. As he watched a light breeze swept over her, ruffling her hair and skirt while it brought her scent to him, something soft and sweet with a slightly tangy after effect that lingered sweetly against his sensitive nose. It was soothing somehow, and he found himself almost wishing for time to stop, at least for a while so he could savor her intoxicating smell. But if she looked over and saw him it would mean coming up with an excellent excuse to keep from looking ridiculous.
Swallowing his disappointment at the moment's end Kurama walked toward her. "Hello Kagome. Yusuke didn't tell me you would be attending school here." He hated that his voice made her jump, but noticed that she quickly closed her hands and hid whatever she'd been looking at in a pocket before looking up with a smile he could see was forced.
"Hello Shuichi." Her smile wavered as he sat beside her, "Yusuke and I didn't know we'd be going to different schools until this morning."
"I see… Yusuke must have been disappointed."
"Actually he said I'd be better off going here than where he goes. He doesn't seem to like his school very much."
"He probably would have liked it more if he attended his classes more often." He murmured, only half of his thoughts focused on what to say next. He was far more interested in what she might have hidden from sight, and why she would want to keep him from seeing it.
"Oh, so Yusuke had a problem with attendance too huh?" She looked down and away, something he couldn't place in her eyes, either guilt or concern, maybe regret. For some reason it bothered him, he was surprised by just how much.
"Is there something wrong Kagome?"
"No… I've just missed a lot of school pretty recently too."
"Why is that?" She'd finally withdrawn her hand from her pocket, and was now busy fiddling with her fingers in her lap. Whatever she'd hidden from him was unprotected. It wouldn't take much, just a slight nudge, maybe a quick pull at the most and whatever had been placed there would easily fall out. He could do it with the fern and she would probably never notice. It would be easy to claim he'd found it on the ground and return whatever it was later, once this bit of his curiosity about her had been satisfied. At last an answer would be found, maybe a small one, but an inconsequential solution was better than none at all, and at the moment all he had about Kagome was a great deal of questions. And unanswered questions were like unsolved puzzles, and unsolved puzzles were a sin even he couldn't endure.
"I was aw… sick." She smiled a little, but he could see that it wasn't real; he could practically smell the lie she was telling even if he hadn't caught the slip she made. Yet another puzzle piece for him to wonder over.
"You're feeling better now though I hope?" He used his energy almost absently, now concentrating on two separate versions of the same question. What was she hiding? There was something Kagome wasn't telling him and something that she was trying to keep him from seeing, and Kurama was dying to know what both of those things were. He felt his energy moving to the fern, and then he felt it stop, as if it had run into a wall of lightning, and the pain of it skittered back across his energy into his body, making his left arm twitch just a little before he could steady himself. He kept his face passive as he looked up to meet her suddenly hardened eyes, taking in the suspicious glint that had sprung to life in her large brown eyes. "Kagome," For some reason his voice wanted to catch, his words were dying to stumble and he nearly stammered, but would not allow himself to. Carefully Kurama pattered his face into one of his more innocent expressions, "Are you alright?" His thoughts were screaming in his head, demanding answers, praying that what he'd thought wasn't what was actually happening. If his suspicions were correct Kagome had somehow sensed his energy and counteracted it with her own. He'd never encountered that sort of thing before, not unless it was just an overwhelming force blocking an already weakened one, but her energy was much lower than his.
"Oh me? I'm fine." She smiled, but she wanted to run away at full speed. There it was, the same energy she'd sensed when they first met, but this time it had been so much stronger. The aura around him seemed human enough, but the energy seemed like a demon's. It was confusing, but it had to come from him… unless there was someone nearby that she didn't know about. She found her eyes searching even though she didn't know what she was looking for.
He saw her stiffen as she stood, noticed how her eyes were dancing from place to place, but it was the slight tinge of fear that bothered him. Perhaps she had noticed the energy, but didn't know where it had come from, or maybe she knew and was trying to look like she was afraid of something else, but why would she do that? "Are you sure? I would hate to think I'd done something to upset you." He smiled, "And Yusuke would be very unhappy with me if I he thought I'd been unkind to his sister."
"Don't worry, I'm fine." She stood quickly and yanked her backpack up, unable to hide her eagerness to be somewhere else, "Besides I don't need Yusuke to stick up for me, if you'd done something I'd be sure to tell you." Kagome offered another fake smile before she turned and began running, "But I'm supposed to meet with my next teacher before class and I'm already late. It was nice to see you." She swung her backpack over her shoulder in a smooth practiced motion, like someone used to having to move quickly.
"That went well." He murmured as she disappeared around the corner, and shook his head. Trying to use his energy near Kagome wasn't going to do any good if he wanted her around long enough to learn anything about her. He was going to have to change his approach. His eyes went quickly to the tree a short distance away from where he sat, "Hiei, I am well aware that you've been here for some time." Perhaps it was Hiei's arrival that had upset her; it had corresponded with his attempt at foliage controlled pocket picking, but then she would have started jumping earlier. He wasn't surprised when the demon appeared beside him, red eyes glued to the corner where she had disappeared for a moment. "What brings you here?" He gave up looking for the answer to that question for now, whatever Hiei didn't want to tell him wasn't worth fighting over, and that was what it would come down to. "Did you happen to sense that as well?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"I see… you must have to be near her then."
Hiei only considered him for a moment, and then quickly away, "This is becoming an obsession. You should be careful."
"I'm merely curious Hiei, Kagome is hiding something and I find that very interesting." Kurama looked down for a moment, "It seems I'm fortunate you're here, I may need your assistance in discovering what."
"Why should I become involved? It has nothing to do with me."
"If you weren't curious about her you wouldn't be here Hiei. I sincerely doubt that you would have remained hidden in a tree if you were looking for me."
"I merely happened by."
Whatever Hiei was thinking wouldn't be shared, and Kurama was used to accepting that, besides at the moment he was far too interested in whatever secrets Kagome was keeping to be preoccupied with what Hiei wasn't saying this time. "I see… then what caused you to stop?" He ignored the glare Hiei gave him. "I won't tell anyone your secret Hiei. I find her… fascinating myself."
"It's nothing like that." Hiei paused, "The detective won't be pleased to discover you're investigating her, if he has changed his mind about her that is."
"Then we will have to ensure that Yusuke does not find out."
For a long time Kagome had thought school was hard because she was unprepared, tired or worried about her so call "Extra-curricular activities". She'd never once considered the possibility that school was just hard. That was until her first day at her new school ended with an exhausted walk home just like every day at her old school had. It didn't help that she had other concerns playing on her mind.
She knew she'd sensed several demonic auras over the last few days, and wondered why she'd never noticed them before. There weren't supposed to be demons in the modern era, but…
Sighing to herself Kagome tried to banish thoughts of demons and turn her attention back to thoughts of school work. She hadn't been attacked by any after all, for the moment the only demon she really had to worry about was a half demon that was losing his mind over a stupid wish. With her mind swirling between her thoughts of Inuyasha, and the tests coming up that she definitely wasn't ready for Kagome indulged in her new nervous habit, and found her hand back in her pocket, her fingers running over the jewel's smooth surface until she found the crack where the last shard was missing. She ran her fingertip across the sharp edge of the tiny crevice, absently taking in the difference in the feel from the smooth rounded edge and this roughened spot.
Gasping sharply Kagome withdrew her hand from her pocket, the breath she'd sucked in leaving her as a hiss. She stared for a moment at the blood dripping from the torn skin across the tip of her right index finger, then sighed and absently spun her backpack around to search for a napkin or a band-aid, trying to ignore the twinges of pain that radiated through the finger she held away from her to keep the blood from dripping on her or her school things as she searched.
"That appears painful. What happened?"
"Hmm…" She looked up to meet a pair of large bright green eyes and in an instant felt every part of her freeze, "S… Shuichi…" She tried to hide the nervousness that clenched her stomach and the apprehension that had her eyes widening, and made her forget about the pain in her hand, until he caught it with his.
"That's quite a bit of blood, what happened?" He produced a red handkerchief and tore it in two. She was silent, watching in awe as he wrapped the cloth around her finger and tied it in place with a small knot. "Are you alright?"
"Oh…" She stared, wondering if the strange aura she'd felt earlier would return, waiting for it and the small seed of panic in her to blossom. Instead she just received a slight smile that didn't hide the oddly concerned look in his eyes. "I must have stabbed myself on a… pen or something." She murmured, still staring at her finger again, "It'll be fine in a day or two."
"You should be more cautious where you keep your pens." He could see the blood soaking into the fabric around her finger, "You'll have to bandage that better when you get home, but for now…"
"Oh…" She jerked her hand away from him suddenly, blushing lightly, "Thank you… I'm sorry about your handkerchief."
"It's nothing to worry about, I have plenty more." Feeling the awkward energy rolling off of her he dropped his smile, "How was your first day here?"
"Tiring." She wasn't sure why she was so relieved that the strange aura she'd sensed when she'd spoken with him earlier didn't seem to be here, probably because demons made her nervous now that she had the jewel, and because there was something about that aura that seemed like it was familiar, even though she knew it wasn't, "For some reason I didn't remember classes being that hard."
"I'm certain you'll do very well once you become accustomed to it here."
"Says the smartest guy in school!" She turned on him without fully meaning to, her accusing finger hovering so close to his nose she was nearly poking him, "Don't give me that surprised look. I heard all about you Shuichi Minamino, You have the highest grades in the school in practically every subject there is. I bet school is just easy for you isn't it?"
"Well, yes." He nearly cringed away from the glare she gave him this time. "You did say you had missed a lot of school. I'm certain you'll find it easy enough once you get used to it again."
The determined fire in her eyes vanished and she dropped her hand, looked at the ground between them, "That must be it." She turned away then without another word and began walking. Maybe he was right; maybe if she just had school to focus on it would get easy again. She'd been busy with the jewel shards, and always had so much on her mind school had been difficult to find time for, and she was pretty far behind. So maybe in a week or two she'd have readjusted. She seriously hoped so, because if she had to deal with this everyday Kagome was pretty sure it would kill her.
"You seem depressed, did I say something wrong?" If he got to know her better perhaps he could figure out exactly what sort of thing she might hide. It wasn't much, but it was also a starting point, and if he gave her enough time she might just slip on her own.
"No, it's nothing like that." She offered a smile, but barely turned to face him, "I'm just home sick is all." It was true in a way. She missed her family, but she missed her friends more, couldn't help worrying about them. She had wanted to go back and warn them about how Inuyasha was acting, but she hadn't been brave enough, and her mother hadn't been willing to let her go. Besides they didn't have the jewel so there was no reason he should go after them. Unless he decided to go after Kohaku…
She carefully tucked her hand back into her pocket, her fingers closing around the jewel again, careful to avoid pushing too hard against the sharp edge that had cut her flesh moments earlier. Inuyasha wouldn't have hurt Kohaku, he wouldn't normally hurt her either; he had just been angry and lost control for some reason. He probably felt really bad about it now that he'd had time to think about it. That didn't mean that she was going to go back and see early, just in case he was still angry with her. She had managed to hurt him pretty seriously… even if she wasn't sure on how she'd done it. When she'd seen him going toward Sota, when she'd thought that he might have hurt her she'd had no choice but to act, and the power had just gathered in her hand. She'd tried a few times since then to replicate it, but it just didn't work.
Homesickness was a good excuse, but not one that she would be able to use forever. Finding a new one wouldn't be all that difficult, but she was so tired of making excuses. Her fingers found the missing piece again, drawing her attention sharply back to the jewel in her pocket. It would probably be covered with her blood… again. There was a spot in the very cracked section that had cut her where she could still see blood. It had been there since she'd gotten it back from Naraku, and Kagome was beginning to think that she would never be able to clean the dried substance out of it. Nothing had worked to dispose of it yet after all, and she'd tried everything she could think of, from delicate brushes, cotton swabs, and even soaking the jewel itself in bleach and several other cleansers. Sighing to herself she withdrew the jewel to inspect the damage, and tried not to cringe at the rust colored smears over the normally sparkling surface as she reached for the bottom of her shirt in hopes of wiping it away before it dried completely.
"What's that?" His voice made her jump, and Kagome's hand began to close instinctively over the jewel, but she stopped herself. If she tried to hide it now it would only reveal how important the thing really was, exactly what she'd been trying to hide by disguising it as a keychain. She mentally berated herself for being an idiot and completely forgetting that he was walking with her.
"This? It's just some old piece of junk keychain my grandpa gave me a long time ago." She was only half lying after all. Her grandfather had given her the keychain, she'd just replaced the false jewel that had come with it with the real one. "He had a whole box of them made years ago and gave me one too."
"That was kind of him."
"Better than a petrified nymph hand or something like that." She scoffed a little, "He's got a passion for odd antiques."
"It sounds as if he means a great deal to you." He could hear the affection through the annoyed tone she was trying to perfect.
"Well of course he does…" Kagome stopped short of another step, her eyes glued to the stone in her hand, "They all do… more than anything." And that was why she had to keep the jewel safe and away from evil hands. If there were demons and even evil humans in the modern era that got the jewel it would have all been in vain, all of the sacrifices she and her friends had made, all the work they had done to put it together, to get it from Naraku. No matter what time period she was in if anyone got the jewel it would mean severe danger, and that was why she would keep the loathsome thing with her forever if that was what it took, no matter how she wished to be rid of it. In order to keep her family safe, and her friends safe she had to keep it out of the wrong hands. With a mildly renewed sense of purpose trying to battle through her slight depression she put the keychain away. It hit her so suddenly she had wide eyes as she turned to look at him, "I forgot… I'm running so late!" She waved over her shoulder as she ran away down the street, leaving him to stare after her for a long moment.
She'd promised Yusuke she'd make dinner again, but in order to make anything she had to stop by the grocery store, which while only a block from the apartment building she didn't know the layout of very well, and had no idea how long it would take her to find what she was looking for. If she didn't want a surly and annoyed brother on her hands she would have to hurry. She was actually enjoying it, making dinner, hanging out with Yusuke, at first she hadn't thought they would be friends, but he was pretty entertaining, and nicer than she'd initially suspected. These were the little things she'd taken for granted before her journey into the feudal era, and with a brother closer to her own age it was easier to realize how much she'd missed them.
Kagome was only a few feet from the market's door when something brought her to a sudden halt. She paused for a moment before she was able to spin around, her eyes searching the crowds around her.
Someone was following her.
Kagome wasn't certain how she knew, she just did. There was someone, or something following her down the street, it had been for several blocks now. But as soon as she looked nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Deciding that she was crazy she shook her head and stepped into the store, glancing over her shoulder once again before the door closed behind her.
"You may have been right about her."
"Hiei?" He hadn't expected to see the shorter demon sitting in his window, hadn't expected to see him for probably several days at least since he had been less than interested in Kurama's growing interest in figuring out Kagome.
"I followed her… she saw me."
"She knows that you were following her?"
"Don't be a fool. I avoided actually being seen, but she was looking."
"She sensed my energy when I used it earlier, perhaps that is how she knew you were there."
"I wasn't using any energy."
"Well, she continues to grow progressively more interesting doesn't she?" He smiled a little to himself, "It seems I'll have to try a little harder."
"She's still only human. It was probably a coincidence." By the time he'd blinked Hiei was gone, clearly unnerved that even while he had been trying to be stealthy Kagome had noticed his presence. Kurama dropped onto his bed, drawing one knee up to his chest as he stared thoughtfully at the wall. In all likelihood there was nothing to be concerned about, if there was something wrong about her surely someone else would be able to tell, but he couldn't help his instincts, and his instincts were screaming that there was something about Kagome that he didn't know, something it was vital he discover if only for his sanity. She was hiding something, and her attempts at keeping it secret only served to make him want to know what it was more.