Someone was trying to kill her.
Life had been going pretty good for her for a while.
Years of jewel hunting and time traveling, a kidnapping, and months of recovery after death had her flunking out of high school. Yet with the power of money from a demon lord, months of one on one tutoring, and a called in favor had her enrolled in cram school for university entrance exams.
She went to school three days a week. Three days submerging in public like a normal girl. Like a girl without a hormonal/pheromone problem and who didn't attract unwanted sexual attention. For the most part, people tended to feel awkward and didn't approach her. She heard the girls make snide remarks, the boys felt intimidated, some didn't know how to handle the dead arm, and some feared she had some connection with the Yakuza. She assumed it had something to do with the scales on her arms resembling tattoos. They were subtle markings, so she figured people were studying her harder than their work.
Though cram school was a bit solitary for her, home life was a bit livelier. She seemed to be getting to know her family all over again. She never realized how fast her family had adapted to her time traveling and dealing with demons. Now that she was around more often, she realized it seemed unusual to her now. She felt there should have been more worry, or reluctance, or even some form of commotion. But they just accepted it.
Even now they were accepting. Her mother was even taking charge of the situation and getting her involved in a plan of action. She had mentioned she wanted to finish school, start a career, and get married before having children, and so her mother had looked into cram schools for her, placed a large box of condoms in her bedroom, and collected pamphlets for a variety of universities.
Her grandpa and Sota were on chaperone duty. If they weren't constantly in her company, then they were on set schedules to check in on her. It was mostly Sota's responsibility to do these things as she became aware of grandpa and his new habit of frequent naps.
She wasn't sure if it was a good idea for Sota to be taking on the responsibility of chaperone. He had his first year of high school to focus on. She tried to dissuade him from the task, but he insisted. She guessed the responsibility gave him a sense of power. Or else he was just being a good brother and trying to keep his sister safe. He escorted her to and from school. All shopping was done as a group activity. Whenever she was alone at home, she was always expecting phone calls or if she was merely alone in her room, she was due a knock on the door.
While her life resembled that of a typical girl, she was jolted from normalcy by regular visits from demons.
Shippo was a part of her life again and commonly took time off from ruling over the western lands to visit her and her family. In the human world, he appeared as a young boy no older than seven, but when alone with her or her family, he was the small and foxy kitsune she had known for years.
Sometimes he would visit for a day, sometimes a few, sleeping with her like old times. On rare occasions he was there for only a few hours as he conducted business in the human world. If he conducted business as a child, she didn't know. He never took her with him and never showed her any form but the one she knew.
Most of his visits were either to accompany Dr. Caeli to conduct therapy with her, or to bring her to the doctor for the sessions. While her arm remained useless, she had some feeling in it now. She couldn't move it, it took a lot of pressure for her to feel anything, and the only true sensations she could be sure of was temperature. So at least she'd know if her arm was on fire.
Sesshoumaru was also a new constant in her life. Maybe not constant; more like a reoccurrence. As her attorney, he would visit or schedule meetings to discuss her case. As a retired attorney, his days were very busy and he could only put in so much time for her case so every meeting needed to be productive, but her case was very interesting to him and he wouldn't treat it lightly. Or so he said.
As a retired attorney, Kagome wasn't sure what he did now. She never asked and he never offered. Her first sighting of him was a bit jarring, as he was almost unrecognizable. In the present, he kept his hair shorter and trimmed to his ears, wore only the finest suits, and sported thin framed glasses.
His glasses, she learned, were manufactured to change the hue of his eyes from their startling gold to a soft, honey brown. His hair, he explained off as an absence of pigment, and the length, while remaining professional looking, kept his tapered ears hidden from the public. Sesshoumaru had learned to blend in with the sheep and someone was trying to kill her.
The assassination attempts started out as small occurrences. Small enough to brush off as nothing. A pebble was thrown in her path to roll under her feet, a tree branch fell just as she walked passed, or a wild, feral cat fell from the sky to render her face to pieces. Small occurrences.
Then they started to occur more often and they began to up the ante. Pebbles turned to rocks, branches turned to hurled spears, and feral cats falling from the skies turned to two feral cats flung through the air with their tails tied together.
She became edgy and paranoid. She also developed a nasty habit of kicking the hell out of cats when she saw them. The attacks were becoming too frequent and she was getting tired of the bruises.
Finally, on an evening stroll from school, a sign embedded itself into the wall mere inches from her face.
"What the shit is this?" she yelled angrily.
"Was there an accident or something?" Souta asked in confusion.
"This was no accident!" she continued to yell into the air. "Someone is being stupid!"
"Someone did this?" he asked, eyeing the crowd that stopped to gawk at them.
"Yeah! Some bitch!"
"Kagome!"
"Pebbles and rocks? Alright! The sticks and branches, I can handle! Hell, the cats were even a little funny! But a sign? With my little brother here? You've gone too far!"
"We should probably get out of here."
"That's right! Get out here! Quit throwing things and face me like a man! Or woman! I don't know, all I smell is fear! You want me, here I am!"
"Kagome, watch out!"
Even with the warning, Kagome was already dropping to the ground as the brick exploded on the wall behind her.
"A brick? Seems like a step back from a sign embedded in a wall! What's the matter, getting tired?"
"Come on, let's go." As his sister trashed talked to no one, Souta grabbed her by the dead arm and helped her off the ground.
"I was expecting a car this time, you pansy!"
"Oh my god, shut up!" Souta scolded, as he forcefully pulled her along. "Act like a lady!"
"I may have only one good arm, but I have two feet! Guess where they're going!"
She had calmed down by the time they got home, and she even apologized for making a scene in public. To give her credit, Souta agreed that having a sign embedded inches from your face would cause anyone into hysterics. So promising to never mention it again, they parted ways.
In the solitude of her room she planned to figure out a way to flush out her attacker. Most of the attacks came from above, so she figured she had to keep an eye to the sky. With Souta with her, she hoped she could count him in to help keep watch. Maybe, if she found out how her curse worked, she could aim it in her attackers' direction and drive them out.
But if it was a woman, that wouldn't work. She needed time to think. Time she wasn't permitted because her attacker was in her room and waiting for her.
Closing her door and dropping her bag, she found out what her door smelled like. With a hand around her mouth, a knee in her back, and a strong grip on her good arm, she almost choked on her heart as it jumped into her throat. Her breathing came out harsh and the beating of her heart was loud in her ears.
She wasn't sure how long they held their positions, neither moving forward, but the initial excitement wore off and she wasn't sure if boredom or annoyance began to take over.
With a disapproving tsk, the pressure eased away from her back and the hands released her.
Turning on her heel, she found an expressionless Hiei.
"Is there a problem?" she asked him with a now calmed heartrate.
"You bore me."
"Excuse me?" She had not been expecting that.
His lip curled up at her in distaste. "You're a disappointing bore."
Confusion welled inside Kagome like a raging storm.
"What? Listen have you been throwing caaaa…" she gasped in pain as Hiei landed a solid strike to her abdomen.
The pain was sharp and spreading. All the air was forced from her body and she collapsed. Hiei hadn't moved an inch after his attack and he was the only thing keeping her from hitting the floor. She didn't understand why, but her mouth began to salivate and she couldn't control it.
"You disappoint me." He repeated into the quiet air. "You have no fight anymore. You're docile. A boring little school girl. You're a mere shadow of who you were, of what you're capable of; just a flickering flame of what I know is inside of you."
She coughed into his shoulder and tried to regain her breath. "And so…you attack me…in my room?" she gasped out.
"Throw shit at me? If you're bored…if, I bore you…go away and leave me alone. I have one arm. I'm getting to know my family again. I'm trying to make sense of the changes in my body. I live in the human world; I have to get my life together. Get an education and career. I had no reason to fight…until now."
She felt him tense up immediately and she rewarded him with a bite to the neck. Her teeth were fast and he was faster, but she managed to get a good grip before he pushed her away. She didn't break the skin, but she saw him wince.
Not relenting, she struck out with a right hook and caught his cheek, she followed up with a backhand slap to his other. When he merely gave her a blank stare in return, she gave him another slap for good measure.
One arm hung uselessly while the other throbbed at the knuckles, her stomach was aching, and her mouth was sore from trying to take a plug out of Hiei's neck, but her hackles were raised and she'd be damned if she didn't make him bleed a little.
"So are we going to do this or what?"
"You asked for it." He commented with a smirk.
"No I didn't, jerk, you did!"
She charged him, swinging hard, but he was expecting it and ducked. He was too fast, but she brought her knee up to meet his forehead. As he reeled back, he kept hold of her leg and drew her in. Using him as leverage, she planted her other foot on his knee and hoisted herself above him.
He leered up at him and she sneered back before bringing her elbow down onto his head. At impact he dropped her to her back. As he still had a hold of her leg she couldn't move away from him, but she could use her free leg to kick him black and blue.
With one arm clutching her leg, Hiei was having troubled blocking her kicks and took more blows to the face than what he would've preferred.
Eyes closed against her assault, he blindly reached out for her.
"Watch where you're grabbing!" she yelled as a clawed hand pawed clumsily at her chest. As she slapped at the offending appendage, she was suddenly caught in an iron grip. For a second, her heart dropped into a frozen lake of fear as she made eye contact with her assailant. His eyes were aflame, his grin was predatory, and in that moment, she knew the face of evil.
The grip on her leg tightened to almost painful proportions and her arm was hyperextended. With barely a grunt on his part, Hiei lifted her into the air and threw her into the wall. Judging by the pain in her back, she realized that if she hadn't grown scales there, she would have been in trouble. Gritting her teeth, she pulled herself up into a sitting position and tried to look out for Hiei's next attack, but she wasn't fast enough.
Slamming his hand mere inches from her head into the wall, he grabbed her jaw tightly with his other and looked searchingly into her eyes.
"There you are." He whispered before sealing her lips with a kiss.
Hiei was a man of violence and it showed in his kiss. He bit and sucked viciously while a soothing burn began to flow throughout her body. He leaned into her and stole her breath and she became uncomfortably aware of the hand on her jaw and it closing proximity to her neck. It wasn't until he enticed a moan from her that she became upset, and it wasn't until she felt him smile against her that she became pissed off. She wasn't going to lose this.
With a combination of strength and the element of surprise she pushed him onto his back. She saw the shock in his eyes before she dove into the kiss again. With her hair curtained around them, they entered their own little world as each fought for dominance in each other's mouths.
She didn't know if Hiei had sensitive lips or if they were just tender from the kissing, but she finally managed to get him to make a noise when she bit his lip. Hard.
Growling aloud he wrapped a hand around her throat and began a death squeeze. With his grip on her neck, she couldn't move her torso, but her legs were free. Hoisting her rear in the air and extending her leg, she gave him no warning before slamming it down home into his groin.
He groaned aloud and clenched her throat tighter as black spots began to dance before her eyes. With his grip still firm, a bit too firm, she groped for his face with darkening vision until she found the soft, plushy feel of an eye.
Realizing what she intended, he quickly tossed her aside where she could regain her breath. But that wasn't his intention.
As she was pulling in life giving air, Hiei was suddenly there by her side. One hand to her throat and another to her back. She didn't have time to brace her as he slammed her to her back…again.
His grip on her throat wasn't as strong as it was. With his other hand he tried to capture her arm to subdue her, but while he was preoccupied, she managed to force her legs between them. She tried to push him away, but while her legs were strong, his strength was more powerful overall.
Evading his grip, she reached out for his head and grabbed a handful of hair. Pulling him closer, she managed to put his head into a leg lock. Which she thought was immensely fair as they were now both being choked.
She was rewarded with a red faced glare a few seconds later. He stood clumsily to his feet, hoping to loosen her grip, but her technique was perfect. While he abandoned her neck to rescue his own, she merely tightened her hold on him as she became vertical.
He shook and bounced her, but she held firm. He even tried imbedding his claws into her thighs, but her back hurt worse than anything else at the time. She wasn't sure how long it took to choke out a demon, but she hoped it wasn't long. Her head was beginning to hurt.
She felt him shift between her legs as he turned his face towards her inner thigh. Confused, wary, and suddenly uncomfortably aware of his position, her eyes widened in pain as he sank his teeth into her flesh.
She cried out in pain. His teeth were not blunt and his jaw was a lot stronger than hers. His bite hurt. She pulled at his hair viciously and squeezed his head tighter, but he only hardened his chomp.
With a cry of defeat, she released his head and crumpled to the floor. She made to inspect her gnawed flesh, but he was quick to recover. Flipping her onto her back, he grabbed her good arm and tucked it into the curve of her back while using his other arm to press her head into the carpet.
"I believe I won this." He managed to get out from his labored breathing.
Breathing harder and spitting out carpet, Kagome growled at him. "Only because you have two working arms, stupid. Is this your way of courting a girl, because you suck?"
"Whoever said I was courting you?"
"You did." She taunted. "When you kissed me in front of Kurama and moved into the trees around the shrine to watch me. And could you at least pretend to eat the food my mom leaves out for you? If you're going to stalk me and be creepy, at least try to be polite about it."
"Do you ever shut up?"
"When I'm not being assaulted in my room!"
"Oh my." A surprised voice sounded out amidst their squabbling. "This doesn't look good."
Fighting his hold on her head, Kagome forced her head up to see her family and Shippo staring at them with horror and amusement. She saw her mother stood ahead of them all and carried a knife from the kitchen.
"Not good at all." Shippo added with a small smile on his face.
"Looks a bit criminal to me." Grandpa said with a glare.
"A bit?" Souta asked, his voice sounded just short of outraged.
"This won't do at all." He mother commented with a smile of her own. "Souta, go get mother a bigger knife."
"And some bags." She called after him as he ran to retrieve a weapon of death.
"I like you momma." Shippo chirped as he hopped onto her shoulder.
Meanwhile, Kagome and Hiei were still frozen in their positions. Feeling his hold loosen, she managed to push him off and clamber to her feet. Hiei remained kneeling on the floor. Maybe he did know his manners.
"Momma." She breathed out, hunched over and hurting. "This…is Hiei…the ninja in the trees."
Her mother only nodded her head in greeting, her smile still in place.
"Uh…Hiei, this is my mother…who was kindly putting out a bowl of food for you at night."
"Hn." He grunted.
"Right." She said into the uncomfortable silence. "Anyway, Hiei." Standing to her full height, she turned to him and met a blank eyed stare.
"You didn't win anything." She was tired, in pain, and embarrassed, but the punch she delivered to Hiei's temple was quite satisfying. And when she saw him slump over unconscious, she knew it was worth an aching hand.
"I would say he seems nice," her mother began. "But he doesn't."
Kagome shrugged her shoulder. She couldn't disagree with her mother; he wasn't nice. He punched her in the stomach to say that he liked her.
He was a vision of loveliness. He stood tall and proud before her with an comforting smile. His hair was lush and thick, yet swayed with the gentlest of breezes. When she opened the door, she hadn't expected him see him and stood closer than she would have preferred. That preference was diminishing as his scent evaded her nose. Clean and floral.
"What are you doing here?"
She thought she saw his smile falter for a moment, but with the way the moon haloed behind him, she could have been mistaken.
He gestured at his hands and Kagome realized that he held a small pile of books.
"Last we spoke; you mentioned you were having trouble with your core science class. So I thought I might be able to lend a hand with that."
Licking her lip, she glanced behind her into the house. "Yeah, well, that's what my tutors are for."
"Tutors and still have trouble. You might benefit from a little extra help."
She glanced at him suspiciously. "Was that a joke about me being dumb?"
"That depends on how much trouble you're actually having." He smirked.
"Coming through, Kagome."
As Kagome stepped aside, Kurama saw Souta and Shippo hauling out a rolled up carpet that was roughly shaped liked a carpet rolled around a body.
"Hey Kurama!" Shippo greeted cheerfully from beneath the suspicious parcel.
"Lord Shippo. Souta." Kurama greeted in return with a face filled with confusion and concern.
Souta only grunted in return before looking back at Kagome as he passed. "Don't take too long."
"You're going somewhere?" Kurama asked as the pair finally went on their way. As he turned to ask her, he was met with a face of alarm before it turned incredulous.
"You're not even going to ask what that was?"
"A body I presumed."
"Well it's not." She commented with a narrowed gaze. "Any why would you be so nonchalant about me having a dead body carried out of my house? What kind of girl do you think I am?"
He gave a secretive smile and looked away.
"Oh, good evening Kurama."
"Evening, Mrs. Higurashi." he greeted as she appeared in the doorway alongside her daughter.
"Dear, Kagome told me that you were a botanist. Is that true?"
"Well I have no credentials, but I am a bit of an expert when it comes to plants."
"That's wonderful." Mama Higurashi cheered. "I've been planning on refurbishing my garden. Do you think you could give me a hand with that?"
"It'd be my pleasure." He answered, but his eyes had turned towards Kagome.
"Oh my!"
"Yeah whatever." Kagome muttered, trying to rid herself of her blush. "Did you find it, Mom?"
"Yes, Dear. It's in my bag. Thanks again for letting me borrow it."
"Anytime."
"Bags?" looking past Kagome, Kurama saw that there were packed bags waiting in the hallway. "Going somewhere?"
"Oh no!" Mama Higurashi suddenly called out, looking over Kurama's shoulder in alarm. "Don't do that!"
"Too late." Shippo yelled as he and Souta tossed the bundle down the shrine steps.
"Oh dear. Excuse me."
"So where are you going?"
"If you really want to know." She sighed. "Nowhere special. The doctor is really busy this week, so instead of him coming to me for therapy, Shippo invited me and the family to the palace for the weekend."
"Reallly?"
"Disappointed?" she ask2ed with a smirk.
"It seemed like you were going on a mysterious adventure to rid yourselves of a dead body."
"That's not a dead body." she corrected him with a wag of her finger. "And nope. Just going to the Western lands for a weekend therapy session."
"With your rolled up carpet?"
"It's a rug, and yes. Love that rug."
"I think we need to hurry, Kagome." Her mother yelled from a top the stairs, looking down with a frown.
"Coming, Mom!" she yelled in return. "Listen Kurama, thanks for the offer, but now is not a good time."
Turning from him she went over to the pile of bags and hoisted one onto her shoulder before looking lost.
"Having trouble?" Kurama asked from the doorway.
"I didn't think this through." She answered with a sheepish smile. "Mind helping me carry some bags?"
Setting his books down on an end table, he grabbed a few bags from the floor and even took the one she carried.
"Thanks."
"So when are you expecting to return?" he asked as they began to move.
"Sunday night. Souta has school the next morning."
"Hm. By the way, what happened to your face?"
Kagome stopped in her tracks and looked to him with surprise upon her face.
"Kurama! You can't just ask a lady what happened to her face! That's rude."
"And you seem to be limping." He continued.
"And you need to stop asking questions that would be awkward and embarrassing for me to answer at this time. It's rude."
