Chapter IV -- Training
When Kagome woke in the morning, she was much more comforterable than she had been in a long time. The only thing to offset her current contentment was the memory of the dream she had had. It had been much like the last one, but felt more like a vision than the other had. The first one, now that she really thought about it, had seemed to be a warning. Both times, the dream had been accompanied by a strong sense of evil, much like a youkai's aura, but more sinister. Rolling from her side to her back, she stared at the ceiling a moment before she decided to get up.
From the closet, she dressed in a spring green yukata and left the room. She wanted to see how well she knew the place. After only a couple turns though, she realized she had never been to these halls. Making sure every turn she took was fixed in her memory, she continued until she found herself outside again. Directly in front of her lay a stone path leading to a building of good size. The door was open, so she figured it couldn't hurt if she had a peek in.
Nearing the door, she could faintly hear soft footsteps and the hiss of something moving through the air. Up the two steps to the porch on the front of the building and she looked inside. What she saw shocked her: Sesshomaru practicing. Sure, he was using a practice blade instead of the Tenseiga or the Toukijin.
"What do you want?" the taiyoukai asked.
"Ah, n-nothing!" Kagome exclaimed, turning to leave.
"Wait." Kagome stopped. "You are weak as you are now."
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
"Rin thinks that you should learn how to fight."
"I can fight."
"Not efficiently enough. That bow of yours is only good for long range."
"Bu- wha-" Kagome spluttered. "Rin said that!?"
Sesshomaru stopped, but did not turn to face her. "She said she does not want her friends to be unable to protect themselves. Her reasoning is that I will not always be there and she does not want them to die."
"Ah… very blunt…"
Turning, cold eyes met startled and mildly confused eyes. "She said I should train you to use some weapon other than a bow."
Now Kagome could think of nothing to say. Of course she had known she couldn't use only a bow forever but she sure didn't want to learn how to use something else from Sesshomaru of all people. "Are you giving me a choice?"
"Yes." Wait –yes? She was sure it would have been 'no, I'm not giving you a choice in this' or 'no, I wont teach you.'
Squaring her shoulders, she replied. "Yes. Please teach me how to fight."
"Come back after breakfast. And have Mayuko find you something to wear." Without another word, he went back to his routine, signaling the end of the conversation.
Not hesitating, Kagome turned and left. Following the directions stored in her mind, she found the way back to her room with only one wrong turn. Mayuko was there waiting for her.
"Kagome-sama, I was beginning to wonder where you had gone." She paused, sniffing slightly. "Were you with Sesshomaru?"
"He offered to train me," Kagome said, trying to gauge what Mayuko's response would be. The youkai merely blinked, looking faintly surprised. "He said I needed to ask you to find me something to wear."
Mayuko nodded slowly. "Alright, Kagome-sama. I'll find you something, you go eat breakfast."
"Can I at least convince you to just call me Kagome, at least in private? I really don't like all this formality stuff."
"Maybe," Mayuko replied, smiling. "Now you get to breakfast."
As she had found the night before, meals were not horribly formal. Since youkai did not have to eat as often as humans, it was a choice whether or not to go, and the table where the lord of the house, Sesshomaru, would sit had only two chairs. One for Rin and one for Kagome, since they had to eat at every meal served. Rin had told her that Sesshomaru might come once a week, but it was never certain when. With the household as large as it was, with both servants and guards, there were always enough youkai in the room to keep the sound level just where you would have to raise your voice to be heard. Breakfast found a scene almost identical to the one from the night before. Not even the morning hour had any effect on the youkai –or Rin.
"Rin told Sessmomaru-sama that Rin does not want Kagome-chan to get hurt again," the girl said. Until now, Kagome had only paid her half an ear; but this got her full attention. "Rin told him that it would be good if Kagome-chan could protect herself like Rin can. She asked him if he would teach Kagome-chan like he taught Rin. Sesshomaru-sama said it would be Kagome-chan's choice. What does Kagome-chan think?"
"I think it might be a good idea, but what did you mean, 'if Kagome-chan can protect herself like Rin can?' Do you know how to defend yourself in a fight?"
"Mm! Sesshomaru-sama taught Rin how to use a knife last time we came to stay here. Now Rin can help Jaken fight when Sesshomaru-sama is not there!" Mentally, Kagome shook her head at the girl. How is it one so young could talk about such things as if she were talking about… flowers? In truth, she could not picture the girl with a knife in her hand, let alone actually using it. None-the-less, Kagome had to smile about how enthusiastic Rin had been about saying she had been taught to use a knife and could protect herself. Confidence could mean a fight won or lost, too much or too little and you were dead. Kagome didn't think the girl was over confident, but she didn't want to see the results of a real fight.
"Well, that's good, Rin. You still practice, right?"
"Of course Rin practices! Rin likes to practice. Sesshomaru-sama says you can never practice too much." Well, at least that was good. One thing Kagome found strange was how much the girl knew, it seemed to be more than any human child her age should know. She couldn't even be any older than eight!
Rin finished first and bounced up from her seat and told Kagome she would see her later before leaving. Kagome hastened to finish her food and returned to her rooms where she found Mayuko with a blue hakama and pale green kimono shirt. The only difference between these garments and her miko's outfit were the colors.
"I believe these should fit you… Kagome." The two girls smiled at each other.
"Thank you."
"Here, let me help you," Mayuko said, coming over when Kagome began to take off her yukata. Stopping, the human shook her head and took a step back.
"That's ok. I can change on my own."
Mayuko gave her a look. "I gave in to calling you Kagome, so the least you can do in return is let me help you. After all, I am supposed to be your servant, and so far, I'm not doing a lot of what servants are supposed to do." Kagome frowned and Mayuko grinned, stepping over and helping the girl undress. When helping Kagome pull on the kimono shirt, Mayuko stood behind her, gasping when she saw her back. "What happened?"
"Nothing," Kagome said, with a little more force than she had intended. "I said I can dress myself." Pulling away from the youkai, she finished pulling on her clothes.
"Is that why you didn't want my help?"
"Pease don't tell Sesshomaru," Kagome said, by way of reply. With that, she left for the dojo she had found Sesshomaru in earlier that morning. Mayuko stood in the doorway watching her charge go, feeling something she couldn't identify. Maybe it was pity? Hurt for the girl who seemed to feel none? What confused her was the fact that those were human emotions. With a small sigh, she turned back into the room and began to pick up the discarded yukata. Kagome was a strange human. She didn't hate or fear youkai and she didn't like to feel superior.
As she walked, Kagome stared at the floor. She felt a little sorry for snapping at Mayuko, but she had also let a secret out that she had wanted to keep hidden. Until now, it had worked well. The sunlight from outside fell first on her feet, causing her to look up as she neared the path leading to the dojo, a slight nervousness replacing whatever else she had felt before. She did not know what to expect from Sesshomaru. Without stopping, she headed right through the doors.
Sesshomaru stood in the far right corner, before him, Rin was going through some simple moves with a knife. When she held it, in comparison with her body, it could almost be called a dagger. He did not look up as she entered. Stopping just within the door, she stood at a slightly relaxed 'attention' and waited to be acknowledged. Only a minute or so passed before attention was turned to her.
"Rin, continue working on this." Sesshomaru then turned away from the girl and began walking towards Kagome. Halting a few feet away, he eyed her, considering. At his hip were two swords, both simple and neither the ones she was used to seeing him wield. One was probably the one he had been using earlier. Grasping one by the sheath, he pulled it free of his sash and held it out towards Kagome. "This will be yours. Do not loose it, do not mistreat it and do not use it lightly. Come." Turning, he walked to the center of the dojo. Kagome slipped the blade through her own sash and followed. When he stopped and turned to face her again, he spoke. "Draw your blade and do as I do."
It turned out that he could be a surprisingly patient teacher, correcting her every time she made a mistake, but he also worked her hard. Every once in a while, he would giver he a drill to do and go to see how Rin was doing, correcting her or giving her something new to do, sometimes he would simply stand to the side and watch them. No one paid much attention to the time.
Involuntarily, Kagome found herself determined to prove Inuyasha wrong for all those times he had called her weak or worthless. Eventually Sesshomaru had to tell her to stop and send her and Rin off for baths.
Their things were piled on the bench in the bath house, weapons on top of it all, and the two girls were soaking in the spring when lunch rolled around. It didn't seem like they had been in there long, proving that they must have spent more time in the dojo than they had thought. When the servant told them of this, Rin was out in a flash and half dressed by the time Kagome pulled herself from the water. Someone had taken their sweaty clothes and replaced them with clean, non-sweaty, ones, but left the swords and knife. Rin was waiting somewhat patiently with her knife in hand when Kagome tied her sash and picked up her blade. The two left their weapons in their rooms before going to the noon meal.
Again, Rin finished and announced that she was gong outside before vanishing. Kagome went to her room and went through the basic movements she had learned that morning; only without the sword in her hands. She left both the door and window open for airflow as she worked up a light sweat.
By dinner she was tired but satisfied.