(A/N) So, here's another chapter. I hope everyone has enjoyed the story so far! Also, thank you for all the reviews that you've sent it!
Ch.7 Baby Steps
Kagome gritted her teeth in frustration for the hundredth time that day. Her back had finally healed fully and it was deemed by 'her highness' that Kagome was fit enough to walk on her own and at the same pace as the rest of the group. She cringed as every muscle protested the prolonged workout that she was being subjected to. According to the Lady of the East, Kagome should be fit enough to keep up with the rest of them and now had to prepare to be a proper gift to Lord Sesshomaru.
Basically, this meant hours of aggravation as the hand maids scrubbed her clean in the cold waters of the nearby river. Of course it was the tiger demons that did this as they seemed to be the only ones around inclined to go into the water willingly. Once at least three layers of skin had been rubbed off of her, in accordance with the Lady in order to get the stench of dog off of her, they would move on to washing her hair and making sure not a single tangle could be found. She treats me like I'm some kind of filthy puppy!
After the embarrassment of bathing in front of so many strangers, Hanako got the pleasure of showing Kagome how to keep her claws pristine and well groomed. Kagome rather enjoyed what little time with Hanako that she got.
"Honestly Lady Kagome, how do you not know even the basics of taking care of your claws? They need to be maintained on a regular basis as they grow so quickly," she lectured, taking Kagome's hand in hers and filing the overgrown nails down.
"My apologies. I'm just not used to doing anything like this," Kagome responded. Most people in her era simply bit their nails to keep them in line. The more girly types went somewhere to get them done by a professional; but, she didn't have that kind of money and honestly they wouldn't last long given what she normally did.
"You are not used to taking care of yourself?" Hanako asked. It seemed rather odd that a dog demoness, especially one of the royal courts, wouldn't know how to take care of herself. Surely she couldn't be so spoiled as to have never taken care of herself? She didn't seem to act that way.
"What I mean is it's been so long since I've been in a situation where personal care was needed. You see, I fight a lot of demons so things just happen naturally," Kagome explained. I'm not really lieing about it. I do fight a lot of demons.
Hanako tilted her head to the side and stared at her for a few moments. Her clawed hands paused with the filing as she tried to understand the girl before her. "You fight, Lady Kagome? Is that not seen as quite the disdain upon your reputation as a lady?" She did not know what to think about Kagome. She seemed so different from every female demon she had ever met.
"Well, I travel quite a bit and a girl needs to know how to take care of herself. I always had friends to take care of me though if anything really bad happened," Kagome explained. She wondered for a moment if she should really be having this conversation.
"If I may inquire, what happened to your vanguard? Were they killed and that is why we found you all alone?" Hanako could only imagine the grief she was going through. At least she will be happy upon her return to Lord Sesshomaru. He will make sure she is well taken care of.
"I had wandered off admittedly," she said, her cheeks flushing with a bit of shame. "I shouldn't have done so and I was attacked by a group of demons. Luckily I managed to escape but…" she paused. Surely she couldn't tell her what had happened between her and Lord Sesshomaru. If she did then they would certainly just kill her now and be done with it. "Uh…I ran into another one. He injured me quite a bit and left me to die."
"My apologies Lady Kagome. It must have been quite the ordeal," she consoled. With one last flick of the wrist, Hanako smiled. "There, they are as good as new. Do not fret though, Lady Kagome, for you shall be home in a few more days and presented to your Lord as a survivor."
Kagome laughed nervously at that and then flushed when she noticed a man come over with what looked like layers and layers of silk. He quickly handed them to Hanako and leered at Kagome for a few seconds. Kagome was bright red and she tried to hide behind Hanako. "The Lady demands she be dressed appropriately for the duration of our travels. The duty is yours to make her presentable…as you seem to have an attachment to the stray." With that, he turned on his heel and walked back to where Kagome knew the rest of the demons were lounging around for what she could only term a cat nap.
Hanako had Kagome stand up and with skilled hands quickly put the kimono on her. The one for today was a light blue with light pink flowers scattered across the garment. She placed Kagome's hair into a messy looking bun and placed tendrils delicately to make it seem like the wind had a way with her. In the end, Kagome could only stare at her reflection and noticed just how much she had changed. Another reminder of what had happened to her and how much everything was going to change. A short lived change if Sesshomaru has anything to do with it.
"There Lady Kagome, you look stunning," Hanako proclaimed as she noticed her stare at her reflection in the running waters of the river. "Come now, you must wear these and protect your feet." She then slid over a pair of wooden sandals towards Kagome.
Slowly, she put them on and tripped in the process of standing up. Lucky for her, Hanako held her up with a concerned look on her face. "I'm fine," Kagome assured. "I'm just not quite used to walking yet due to all the injuries I sustained." Kagome gave her the best smile she could and two walked slowly over to the rest of the cats. Baby steps, Kagome. I don't need to look like a complete klutz.
Sesshomaru walked silently through the forest as his light steps didn't make a sound even against the leaves on the ground. His silver hair reflected bits of sunlight that made its way through the trees and made it sparkly in what some would call a heavenly way. His amber eyes were focused intently straight ahead of him. He had a purpose and nothing was going to deter him from it for he needed information from one that he could count on. Unfortunately and fortunately, the person he needed lived within the forests on his grounds. At least for a little while he could escape the trappings of having to deal with preparing for the meeting that had been called.
So far each Lord had agreed to show up and each Lady, where one applied, was bringing a minimum of thirty demons as an escort. Preparing his grounds on such a short notice for so many people had Jaken in a constant state of panic, especially if a mishap should happen that needed to be reported to Sesshomaru. He recalled the last incident where during the cleaning of the ceiling, the servant lost their footing and as they fell happened to tear the curtain that hid the entryway to the kitchens down. The Kappa had turned a pale green when he had told the lowly demon to simply replace it in time or there would certainly be consequences. Though it did need to be replaced as it was starting to look rather old; besides, it helps appearances to have so many new things, even if it is a waste of time and expenses.
After quite a long walk within a very deep forest on the outskirts of his lands Sesshomaru finally arrived at his destination. "It has been quite some time since you last cared to visit, Lord Sesshomaru. I assume the reason you are here has something to do with a spell cast recently?"
Sesshomaru quietly regarded the tree, and true to form, got straight to the matter for which he was there for. "Indeed. Inuyasha's," he thought for a second to say wench, but the ancient tree demanded more respect in language than that, "human woman ran into this Sesshomaru and transformed."
Bokusenou laughed and its branches danced around him. "By ran into I take it you mean you attacked the poor girl?" At Sesshomaru's intent stare he continued. "Yes, I know something about the spell that was cast. It takes more than one to cast such a powerful and ancient spell. Her energy imprinted itself with yours and transformed itself accordingly. It was a way in the old days for evil humans with some power to become lesser demons."
"She did not merely turn to a lesser demon," Sesshomaru stated.
The ancient tree laughed at Sesshomaru's remark for he still seemed so young to the tree. So very young. "You, like Inuyasha, have the blood of your father within. How could she have turned into anything less than what she has?"
Sesshomaru considered the tree's advice and decided he indeed liked the compliment to his family line. "Is there any worry about her inability to control the blood as Inuyasha has?"
Bokusenou closes his eyes and for sever moments seemed to be in deep thought. "There may be some trouble in controlling her essence; however, she will not have the same problem as Inuyasha. She will merely have trouble restraining the new powers."
Sesshomaru nodded. So the girl will be causing problems after all if she managed to live. He now wished he had just killed the stupid wench and gotten his problems over with. Now he had guests he had to impress and an untrained demon girl on his lands that they would likely run into. That would most certainly tarnish his reputation for keeping those of his lands in line…especially if the girl was as smart mouthed to them as she had been to himself in the past.
Sesshomaru nodded to the tree and simply said, "I thank you for the information."
Bokusenou laughed, "Any time, Lord Sesshomaru. You know where to find me when you need me again."
Sesshomaru paused for a moment as he heard the telltale signs of Bokusenou expecting his need to visit again in the future. That tree knows entirely too much for his own good.
Sesshomaru departed and returned with haste to his formal grounds. Many of the servants, he noticed, sped their pace with his arrival and admittedly a bit of vanity coursed through him at the sight of their fear. Good, they should fear me.
"Lord Sesshomaru! Thank goodness you are here!" Jaken screamed during his run out of the main entryway. Upon tripping over one of the workers who was busy walking across the lane he muttered, "Get out of my way you filthy servant!"
Winded, Jaken stopped in front of his Lord Sesshomaru and gasped several times for air. "My Lord, the Lords and Ladies *pant* are appearing a little *pant* earlier than intended due to the *pant* death of the Southern Lord. They will be arriving tomorrow!" Jaken bowed to the ground in hopes that his lord would not kill him for the delivery of the bad news.
"Hn." His simple statement sent a trickle of fear down the kappa's spine. His look implied simply 'get it done or I will kill you and anyone that failed their task'.
Jaken scurried off and yelled at several of the people to have everything ready by the morning light. Many of the servants began running and rushing whatever it was they were doing. At least it will be over with sooner and the new lord will have precious little time to prepare himself for the questions that are surely to come. Sesshomaru stared at his claws and could think of nothing he'd like to do more at that moment then have the blood of the new Southern Lord dripping from them. With that lovely thought, he strode with all the grandeur of his station into the main building and headed towards his office. Two demon guards bowed and opened the door for him and closed it once he entered. Resigned to his fate of not getting his wish instantly, he sat down at his desk and continued to work through the paperwork.
Inuyasha growled once again that day as he looked back at the group saw Kikyo just a few feet behind him. They were getting nowhere fast and it was all that blasted woman's fault! It's not like it was uncalled for. Kagome rode on my back all the time; but will she do it? NO! First they gang up on me to let her join and then she makes us take our sweet time in scouting.
Kikyo sent a cold glare back at Inuyasha. She didn't care how many dirty looks or scowls he sent her way…there was no way she was going to demean herself enough to ride on his back like the other girl did. She had standards and appearances to maintain. Of course he would not understand, he is as brash and uncaring as ever. She recalled their fight earlier that morning.
"Dammit woman you're slow and you're slowing us down! Just get on my back and I can run!" Inuyasha screamed as the others watched with breakfast in their laps.
Shippo leaned in next to Sango and Miroku, "Who do you think is going to win?"
Miroku and Sango chimed in at the same time, "Kikyo."
Kilala mewed her response which was yet again a Kikyo as the victor.
"I am not degrading myself to ride on your back. Kagome may have found that appropriate but I do not," Kikyo stated in a matter of fact tone. She would not be pushed around by a silly half demon that wanted her to do something so outrageous. Surely he knew being seen like that, as a priestess, was bad form.
"Kagome did it all the time and no one said anything about it to her," Inuyasha tried to persuade her.
Shippo shook his head and took a bite out of the rice ball on his plate. "Bad move Inuyasha."
Inuyasha glared at the poor little fox demon, "Shut it you little brat!" He smirked as Shippo hid behind Sango since he no longer had the protection of Kagome to stop him from beating him on the head.
Kikyo glared at the half demon and her priestess energies swirled around her in a very faint blue glow around her. "Inuyasha, do not compare me to my reincarnation. As you should have learned by now, she and I are nothing alike."
"Keh," Inuyasha responded. "Look, we need to get places quickly so that we can find Naraku. If you ride on my back it will give us a faster way to search for him…meaning more likely to find him!" He was pacing now and quite clearly agitated.
"We will find Naraku in due time. If we rush we are more than likely going to miss something and prolong our journey to find him," Kikyo countered.
Inuyasha growled once again and wondered why he was putting himself through this. "The faster we find Naraku the better…and we've never had any problems finding him in some form or another traveling the way we always do!" He wished so much that Kagome would come back sooner rather than later.
"We will simply have to make do with the slower traveling," she told him once again. "I refuse to be seen in such a state as it is highly unbecoming for one of my profession. Until the jewel is complete and I am no longer bound as the priestess who guards the jewel, I cannot act as any normal woman Inuyasha. As I said long ago, while I am a priestess of the jewel I will never have a normal life."
Inuyasha's ears flattened as he recalled a certain promise he had made to her. Soon, his temper flared as he recalled the reason he was not able to keep the promise he had made to her over fifty years ago. "I'm sorry it didn't happen for you Kikyo…but if you recall, you happened to shoot me with an arrow and because of that I wasn't able to do anything."
Kikyo's energy sizzled around her, sparking in the air like static. "I know well my past mistakes Inuyasha. I apologize for them and no longer need them thrown at me." Her eyes went as cold as Sesshomaru's at that point. She did not care for the constant reminder of how much had happened because of misplaced trust and lack of it in certain areas. "Now, you can either forgive it Inuyasha or we can continue our travels as we have so far."
Inuyasha sighed and was about to speak from his heart but then noticed that he was still in front of the group. "Keh, whatever woman. Have it your way but we're walking twice as long to make up for lost time."
With that, he had huffed and moved to the front of the group. Nagging them at times to move faster and denying certain periods of rest that Kagome would normally sit him for. Sango missed Kagome dearly and noticed that the group had changed quite a bit in the short amount of time she had been gone. First of all, Inuyasha's temper was even worse now than it had ever been. It's probably just due to the constant reminder of past mistakes. Hopefully he gets over it soon enough.
Then, there was the monk who had probably changed the most out of all of them. He had not groped a single person since this journey without Kagome started. Whether it was due to his thoughts troubling him or if it was just the newness of Kikyo's presence she was not sure. Granted it was probably going to be a very short lived break but she would enjoy it while she could. I wonder whether or not he will ever learn any amount of restraint. Though I do wish he was up to his normal, upbeat self. It might have been annoying but at least it was comforting.
Though Shippo's behavior had not changed too terribly much she could tell Kagome's absence was affecting him the most. He still bothered Inuyasha quite a bit though was more careful of it now since there was no sit command waiting in the background. He would curl up in the position Kagome usually took close to the fire or next to Kilala when he was feeling particularly lonely. She was just glad he didn't succumb to depression over this, though it helped that they were all there to tell him Kagome would one day return and everything would continue as normal.
Kikyo was a difficult person to assess as she still was not quite forthcoming with the group. She remained silent during their walking and rarely went with Sango to bathe. The times the two did spend together were so far awkward, mostly due the fact that neither knew what to say to the other. Sure, they had Naraku in common and being betrayed by him; however, that wasn't exactly the conversation starter she wanted. Well, someone has to break the ice. I might as well be the one.
She hurried her pace a bit so that she was walking beside Kikyo, who simply looked over at her with curiosity. "Hello. I was just wondering how you are doing? I know it can't be easy traveling with us since Inuyasha is as Kagome puts it, a 'slave driver'."
"Keh, if that woman weren't such a pathetic human maybe she could keep up," he said as he looked pointedly at Kikyo, as if the statement were to refer to her as well.
"I am fine, Sango. Thank you for inquiring," she nodded at the demon slayer at her side. She was the only one she really felt like she could talk to at the moment. Everyone was still so new but at least she had something in common with Sango. She was too cautious to get near the monk at the moment given what had happened the first day she had agreed to travel with the small group. "As for you, Inuyasha, you would do well to remember that this woman is hardly pathetic."
"Whatever," he stated. He watched as the sky started to get dark and mentally cursed the fact that they would have to stop. Pathetic humans with their pathetic eyesight. "We'll stop here for the night. I suggest you get some sleep." With that, he took off into the trees of the surrounding forest so that he could keep an eye on everything that was happening; also, he had to get away from Kikyo. She was going to be worse than Kagome ever was.
Sango sighed as she settled down for the night. The two had been fighting all day but at least they hadn't threatened death yet. It would seem this is going to take baby steps.
Naraku watched the surface of the mirror as the ghostly Kanna held it in her child-like arms before him. He watched as his old love, Kikyo, had joined with Inuyasha in search for the jewel shards that he now mostly possessed. Thanks to Kagome's untimely demise and Inuyasha's stupidity, he now had the shards that the girl once possessed. He held up the glass vial that had once contained the purified shards of the jewel and watched as they turned black as he put them in the palm of his hand.
He laughed at the thought. They had been so distracted that they still had not realized the mistake. Honestly, who could forget about the shards of the sacred jewel at a time such as this? With that thought in mind, he added the tainted shards to the rest of the jewel. It was very nearly complete. There were still two left to the wolf Kouga and one still within the young slayer Kohaku. If he had to guess, there were at least two more scattered somewhere. Kagura would be there soon with the latest news on that front.
"Kanna, show me Kagura," he instructed, his deep voice sending chills throughout the room.
If Kanna had been anyone else, she would have succumbed to the maliciousness of the voice, but she had been created with little to no emotion within her. "Yes Master," was all she said as the image in the mirror reflected a different scene. This one was of Kagura, who was currently on her feather and heading straight towards their new hideout. She would arrive in a few moments.
"I wonder what she has found," he inquired aloud. "Onto more pressing matters though," he spoke to the group that had now entered the room at his bidding. "How are the plans going in the south?"
Shiru looked at the demon Naraku and smiled. "Things are going just as planned. We have dispatched the Lord of the South and his son as succeeded in taking over already. Inuyasha's group is already on the move and Talona is keeping a close eye on their movements. The only hitch in the plan she has reported is the dead priestess, Kikyo, seems to be human now and is indeed travelling with them. The Southern Lord is amassing his armies, secretly of course, so that the attacks can begin soon. We should be able to cover quite a bit of ground before Sesshomaru and his allies have a chance to react."
Naraku smiled, obviously pleased with the news. "Kikyo is human again? That should make it all the more easy to bend her to my will." After all the years of planning and coercing their movements, things were finally starting to pay off. His movements had been slowly building towards this one outcome. The other lands would fall and he would be on top. He almost had everything that was needed.
He didn't even look over at Kagura as she entered the room. He simply looked out the window and looked at his miasma covered lands. "I hope you have good news Kagura."
Kagura gave a semi-glare to the man who controlled her heart. "Indeed, there are two other shards of the sacred jewel. One is in the eastern mountains and should be easy enough to retrieve. The other will be slightly harder as they are in the western lands. Odds are, Inuyasha's group will be able to get at least one of the shards. I might suggest stalling them with your new thugs," she said as she glanced at the group of demons Naraku had hired on to do his dirty work.
"An excellent suggestion. See to it that Inuyasha is kept away from the shards," and with that, he dismissed them all. He would wait for the right moment to make his move. For now, he would wear them out and perhaps get the rest of the jewel shards while he was at it. This was turning out to be a wonderful day.