"This looks like a fair enough spot to wait." Kagome said, leaning against the picnic bench near the playground equipment. She looked at Sango, grinning at her. The girl was going to fight in a tube top. That was kind of a hilarious idea. Kagome noticed the silver charm bracelet on Sango's wrist with the singular charm shaped like a heart. "Who'd you get that from?" She asked, pointing to it.
Sango blushed but didn't answer, her eyes glancing at Miroku who was playing on the playground equipment with Souta.
"Ah. I see." Kagome said, grinning from ear to ear. "You know, I think you should just tell him how you feel."
"I did..." Sango said quietly, looking down. "But I didn't let him hear."
Kagome sighed, shaking her head. "Thief, you're being very stupid. He really likes you."
"Kind of hard to tell, ya know?" She sat heavily on the picnic bench. Miroku was shimmying up the slide backwards, calling out to Souta who was walking on top of the monkey bars.
"I know it is." Kagome said with a sigh. "Be patient, you know he likes you if he saved up to buy that." Kagome told her. "You know, you wouldn't have this problem if you were to let him grope you."
Sango's face flushed. "How indecent!" She scoffed. Kagome laughed as her friend stalked over to the play equipment, leaving Kagome to lean against the edge of the picnic table.
Kagome smirked, crossing her arms across her chest defiantly when she saw Medallion enter the park with about eight or nine other people, male and female. The females were dressed rather scantily; the males were wearing black and a lot of it.
One wore a black trench coat and the girl he was hanging on to was wearing Kagome's bells, but she noticed the girl wasn't his sister. His sister was only seven she knew, and this girl was clearly at least ten years older than that.
She glanced over to where her friends were, noticing they hadn't noticed Medallion yet. They were playing Paper, Rock, Scissors behind the rock climbing wall so Medallion wouldn't have seen them yet either. She turned her attention back to Medallion as the twenty year old noticed Kagome, a sinister smile splaying across his beautiful face to show pristine white straight teeth.
He had perfectly unblemished tan skin, aside from the clipped black and blue bruise on his jaw that Kagome had given him the night before. His lips were a perfect pink and his brown eyes glowed with both hate and admiration as he appraised Kagome. He was about five feet eleven inches tall and slicked back his short black hair.
He said something to his friends and they laughed, all of them walking over to be just a short fifteen feet away from Kagome's perch. "Ahh, Hell's Bitch... So, you've come to play, all alone?" He sneered. Kagome thought he might be really good looking if he weren't sneering all the time.
But he did have an unnatural light to him, and no it wasn't a dark aura or any weird crap like that. He had a smile that could melt any heart. Any heart except Kagome's that is. That was why he hated her. Because he couldn't have her. But even though he was always sneering, he had a sort of unrealistic good look about him.
"No." Kagome said, chuckling. "Today I decided to bring a few of my friends." She brought her thumb and middle finger to her mouth, folding her tongue around them and letting out an ear splitting whistle. Her friends looked over and noticed Medallion, then walked over. "Now, if you hand me my bells, I might go easy on you."
Medallion smirked at her. "Too bad you're outnumbered two to one." He said.
Kagome rolled her eyes. "There's where you mess up, Medallion." She said calmly, looking at her fingernails that were painted a shocking blood red. She hadn't had time to change the color to silver to match her outfit. "You underestimate me and my friends."
"I didn't underestimate you this morning, though, did I?" He sneered.
"Oh, Medallion..." The girl wearing Kagome's bells said, staring starry eyed up at him. "Won't you get her out of here? She's bothering me!"
Kagome laughed. "Who's the slut, Medallion?"
"None of your concern!"
"Oh gee, sorry for imposing." She said, though she wasn't very sorry at all. She'd always thought it was strange that Medallion never denied the woman being a slut. "So, are you going to give my bells back, or do I have to take them from you?"
"Medallion, hun, she's going to take my jewelry!" The girl squawked. Her voice was a gratingly high soprano, high enough to shatter glass. She clung to Medallion's arm, pressing her large, practically uncovered bosom up against his chest.
Kagome sighed and shook her head almost sadly. Her midnight blue eyes were laced with amusement to contradict her actions, though, which sent shivers through Medallion's body in places he knew he shouldn't feel for her.
She was his enemy, his foe. He knew that he would never have her no matter how much he'd fallen for her. "Medallion..." she said in her alto voice, a melody in each syllable, "I'm going to have my bells back...And I'm going to have them back now..."
"Fuck off!" The girl shrieked. "These are my bells now!"
"Suit yourself." Kagome looked at her friends, they nodded. All were thinking the same thing: Fight time.
Souta grinned. "Too bad Trip's not here!" He said with a grin. "He would have enjoyed this!"
Miroku laughed. "Trip'll probably cry when he finds out what we've been doing!"
Sango smacked Miroku and Souta both upside the head. "Would you two please shut up? I, for one, don't want to spend my entire night waiting to start this fight! I have to get ready for tomorrow's field trip!"
"Right." Souta said, but the grin stayed.
"Sorry, my dove!"
Sango slapped Miroku again. "How many times must I,"
Kagome groaned, slapping her forehead. "I'm cursed with you guys!"
Medallion broke into laughter, wiping tears from his eyes, and his followers soon followed him into laughter, though they didn't know what they were laughing at. "Ah, Hell's Bitch, you are too humorous! First, you intend to fight me outnumbered, and then you cower behind an argument amongst yourselves?"
That angered all four of the friends. "Hey! Who's the coward here?" Souta yelled. "You attack a single person in a dark alley with ten people and then mug them! I'll kill you for doing that to my sister."
"I'm not too worried about it." Medallion said nonchalantly.
The next thing that happened was Souta rushed at Medallion, shoving the girl with Kagome's jewelry to the ground and connecting his fist with Medallions nose. Kagome, Sango, and Miroku followed his lead, Kagome went for the slut who was dirtying her jewelry, and Sango and Miroku went for a few stragglers.
After a few slow seconds, Medallion regained his composure and threw his fist at Souta. Souta skipped to the side, then lifted his leg back, smashing it forward into Medallion. Medallion fell to the ground and his followers began to realize what was happening.
Miroku and Sango were easily handling five of the goons themselves, Kagome was struggling in a fight with the girl wearing her bells. It was a wonder how the girl was able to fight in stiletto high heels. The only sounds heard were grunts or hits or kicks.
Moments into the fight, Souta had Medallion pinned to the ground with his thumbs pressing painfully on Medallion's eyeballs. Miroku and Sango were being held by four of the goons each, and Kagome had the girl who wore her bells in a chokehold.
"Bells, now!" Kagome shouted.
"Alright, alright!" The girl said in a panicky frightened voice. "You can have them!"
Kagome let the girl go and she fell to the ground, coughing for air. Seconds later she started taking off the jewelry and Kagome soon had all her missing jewelry in her hands.
Souta pressed harder on Medallion's eyes and Medallion gave a pained cry, trying to get out of Souta's surprisingly strong grasp. "Medallion, get your friends to let go of mine, or else." He said in an angry voice.
"Beat them to within an inch of their lives!" Medallion shrieked, maneuvering himself so that his knee would ram into Souta's unhappy place and then doing such.
Souta groaned, rolling off of Medallion. "Oooh..."
Kagome grabbed the girl who clung to Medallion by the hair with her free hand in a tight grasp. "Medallion," she started, but was unable to finish. Blaring sirens were heard and flashing lights were seen as the police came rushing down the street towards the park.
The two gangs of people split immediately, Kagome and Sango helping Souta to get up while Miroku put Kagome's jewelry in his excessively gigantic pockets.
"Damn... I'm gonna feel that for a week..." Souta complained as they got into the car. Sango sat in the back with Souta and Kagome drove with Miroku in the front.
"Ice it when we get home." Kagome told him. She drove to the Shrine, parking in her place in the large three-car garage. Naraku's car was gone. Her mother's car was gone.
"Where's your mom?" Sango asked.
Kagome shrugged. "Probably grocery shopping or something. I don't know. Come on."
Souta had recovered enough so he could walk on his own, but he was walking like he'd pissed his pants, which made the others laugh. "Shut up!" Shouted Souta. "I'd like to see you walk with a sore nut sack!" He yelled, storming up the stairs.
The others followed, keeping their laughter to a minimum as they went to the first floor bathroom to was the wounds they'd not realized they had until they got into the car. Seconds after they'd finished in the bathroom and were walking by the basement door, they heard the garage door open, signifying Kali's coming home.
Kagome looked at the clock. It read four fifty eight pm. "Aw shit!" She swore. "It's been two hours since we left school and Kohaku and Kikyou still have my android!" She took her cell phone from its holster on her hip, having put it on when they'd got home. She'd taken it off for the fight.
She went into her mother's office, going in her desk for a phone book to find Kikyou's number. Her friends all followed her in. "Okay, guys. Which do you think it is? Motshuria, Gytha; Motshuria, Sora and Petoni; or Motshuria, Cit?"
"Try them all?" Miroku suggested, looking over her shoulder, placing a hand on her shoulder to slide it ever so innocently down towards her chest.
"Don't even, Miroku!" Kagome warned. He did anyway, and Kagome grabbed his hand, twisting it painfully. "I said don't!" She let go of Miroku, whose eyes were glinting happily. "Which one do you think I should try first? All of them live here in Sunset..."
Sango said, "Well, she rides the bus, so try the one furthest from the school."
"Okay, that'd be Motshuria, Gytha." She read the number a few times, committing it to memory, and then dialed.
"Motshuria residence, Kaede speaking, how may I help you?" A young female voice said.
"Yes, hi, I'm Kagome Higurashi, and I was wondering if by any chance Kikyou Motshuria lives there?"
"KIKYOU! Phone call!" The female voice screamed. "Kikyou! What are you doing up there with him! For god's sake, Kikyou, you just met him today practically!"
Kagome stifled laughter and her friends looked at her curiously.
"KI"
Another voice took over, still female, but much more elderly sounding. "Kaede, do not shout."
"Sorry, Grandma. But Kikyou is up there making out with her new boyfriend and,"
"Excuse me? I'm doing WHAT?" That voice sounded like Kikyou.
"Making out with your boyfriend! Did I not say it loud enough for you?"
"He's not my boyfriend, you brat! We were assigned to a project, and it isn't easy taking care of a baby!"
"Um.. Can I speak with Kikyou?" Kagome tried to get a word in edgewise, but it appeared no one was listening.
"Well, if you weren't such a slut, you wouldn't have a baby to take care of!"
"How could you listen to Taisei?" Kikyou sounded hurt. "You would believe her over your sister? After all I do for you? You know those rumors aren't true!"
"Both of you calm down!" A stern voice said, sounding like the elderly woman from earlier in the conversation. "I will have you apologize to each other and separate yourselves from each other's company, this instant!"
"Oh, sorry!" Kaede didn't sound at all sorry. "You have a phone call, Kikyou."
"Hello?" Kikyou said into the receiver seconds later.
"Hi Kikyou, this is Kagome Higurashi, is Kohaku there?"
"Yes, one moment"
"No, no, you don't have to get him. Can you just tell him to bring the android to my house?"
"Of course. Was that it?"
Kagome sighed and nodded. "Yes, thank you for this. Whenever you need something, you can tell me and I'll do my best to help you out, okay?"
"Thank you, and yes, I'll keep that in mind. I'll have Ichiro bring the android right over."
"Thanks, bye."
"Good bye. Have a good evening."
"You too." The two hung up, and Kagome sat back in her mother's desk chair. "Well, Kohaku'll be over soon. But wanna know something interesting?"
"What?" Sango asked.
"Kikyou's sister, Kaede, believes Karei's rumors about Kikyou."
"Oooh, ouch." Miroku said. "That must be harsh. Karei was merciless on Kikyou when she marked her."
Sango looked at Miroku. "You know what happened?"
"Of course I do!" Miroku sighed. "It's not a very pretty story either. At age thirteen, Kikyou was an emotional wreck. She was constantly looking over her shoulder when she moved here to Sunset, don't know why but she was, and so when she was coming out of the lunch line with her lunch tray one day, Karei went to talk to her, tapping her on the shoulder.
"She must have startled Kikyou because Kikyou turned around looking petrified and her tray ended up all over Karei. It was rice and gravy that day..."
"Oh damn!" Souta muttered. "'Gome, you've done worse to Karei, how come you're not marked?"
"No clue." Kagome said quietly.
Soon Kohaku arrived to pick up Sango and drop off the android. "My snuggle shampoo," Kohaku said upon arrival, handing Kagome the android and diaper bag. "Mine heart belongs to another now," He said. "I have fallen," At that moment, when he was about to grab Kagome into a hug, he tripped on the first step into the house, forgetting that it was there. Kagome laughed.
"Literally!"
Sango pulled Kohaku up, rolling her eyes. "So who's gonna take care of your android, Trip?"
"My love child and I are alone this weary gloomy eve, without the heat of my sweet Kikyou body to comfort us... I am desolate already..." Kohaku actually looked depressed for a millisecond before that disappeared and a smile appeared on his face. "I shall see thy beauty once more tomorrow, my love! If only ye did not have to work!"
"Speaking of work, what are you two doing?" Kali said from behind the group.
Kagome groaned. "Sorry mama. I had some things to take care of because the jerk who I was partnered with couldn't care less about a grade since he could buy one." It was a very vague half-truth.
"And what is your excuse?" She said, looking at Souta with a stern look.
"I was with 'Gome." He said simply.
"Well, now you're back, so get to work. Today you've got a new list of things to do that I made up for you. You'll find it on the fridge."
"Okay, Okay, we get it." They said in unison, startling each other.
Kali left to go to her office and Miroku took Kagome's jewelry out of his pocket, handing it to Kagome. "Thanks, Perv." Kagome said. Seconds after she'd said that, Sango grabbed Miroku's arm, dragging him out of the shrine.
"Welcome!" Miroku called back.
Kagome sighed as the android started to cry. Souta had taken off to go read the note and she was left in the hall. Slowly she made her way to the third floor, dragging her feet. 'Let the dumb thing cry for a few moments. I don't care.'
When she got to her room, she set the android on the floor, moving over to the window behind the futon, opening it to let the cool autumn breeze in. "I hate that stupid rich boy!" She grumbled. Moments later she went to find out what the baby wanted, then after an hour of holding it, it fell asleep so she put it back the car seat so it could sleep and then changed for work, taking the baby with her as she started to help Souta with the list of chores.
All they were doing was getting things ready for the next day. She remembered she had to print out the maps yet that evening. It was going to be a long night.
Sesshoumaru sighed. He sat in his new room, trying to ignore the fact that his stepmother was drunk and calling through his locked bedroom door for him and Inuyasha. Inuyasha was sitting next to him on the pricey black leather couch and the two were playing a racing game on their game console taking turns.
If you died, or got busted, it was the other person's turn. Right then it was Inuyasha's turn, but he was obviously having trouble concentrating on the game with Nekura (their mother) trying to get in and telling them everything she would do to them for being bad boys.
"What'll we do about our permission slips? Dad's on a business trip and his note said he wouldn't be back until the fifth..." Inuyasha said as he died, handing the paddle to Sesshoumaru.
Sesshoumaru sighed. "We wait. She'll probably pass out around midnight, which would give her seven hours to sober up, and I'll go to her with our permission slips to sign..."
Inuyasha leaned back against the couch, growling angrily. "Why does she treat us like that?" He asked his eyes with both haunted and furious lights. He reached underneath the back of the school uniform shirt to scratch his back.
Sesshoumaru knew Inuyasha did not mean their mother. He meant Kagome. Since Wednesday, their conversations seemed to roam back to the mysterious outcast often. "I don't know." Sesshoumaru said as he felt his heart clench at the thought of Kagome.
He knew hardly anything about her, yet he'd gone to the same school with her since he was twelve and she eleven. He'd crushed on her immediately, the first time he saw her.
She was shorter then, of course. She'd been abnormally small for her age, just three feet seven inches, but she was a fighter and a strong one at that.
His very first day of school, he and Inuyasha had entered the school grounds by way of the limo their father favored to send them in. By this time, Sesshoumaru had already perfected his expressionless mask, unwilling to let anyone know how he felt violated every night. He knew if he let people know that, they would pity him and he didn't want that.
His walk into the school courtyard with his brother by his side was a short-lived moment of gloom. He thought he and his brother would be shunned because of their abnormal looks, but it appeared as though they would not.
No, they found out soon that they were in for a life of finding out just how stupid most humans were. The females of the species swamped the two, clinging to any part of them they could. Sesshoumaru could see the look of sheer horror on his brother's face as the girls swamped them, but with what they'd been through for the past few years, the horror was reasonable.
He himself was able to control his expression, keeping it uncaring, but on the inside, he'd felt violated and disgusted.
Sesshoumaru grabbed his brother's upper arm and drug him out of the circle of lecherous females, but the girls followed, talking about how the two brothers were even more good looking than someone called Hiten Dansuka and plotting who would marry which of the brothers. As they grew up, those whispers became less of who would marry them and more of who would screw them first.
It was in his first class that he'd seen her. Inuyasha was in another class, but he'd been in Art class. It didn't seem like she'd had any friends and she wore something very against school protocol.
She wore an overly large black sweatshirt with a yellow smiley face on it and tight blue jeans, along with black tennis shoes. Her hair had been just a little past her shoulders, but she'd kept it up in a high ponytail all the time and she had deep blue eyes that had captivated him when she looked up from her sketchbook towards him.
She'd done that a lot that first week, constantly looking up at him, and each time she did, he felt himself falling harder and harder for her.
She wore no make up then, but she didn't need make up. What would an eleven year old do with make up anyway? Between ten and fourteen usually were the points of change in a person's life, though, and change she did.
But it was that first day, that first period that he'd been captivated and lost in her eyes, never to return. By the single glance she gave him, only to look back down again quickly and draw her sketches more. She'd glanced at him often in that period, and he'd been unable to stop himself from blushing each time she did.
As the years went by, he taught himself to not blush when she glanced at him, but she didn't look at him, she didn't spare him much attention after that first week.
On lunch the first day, he'd found out she had friends. Four of them; three male and one female. She sat with them, joked with them, laughed with them.
Sesshoumaru had sat with his brother at lunch while girls had swamped them, playing with their hair, fiddling with their school uniforms, and one girl even had had the audacity to lick Inuyasha's cheek to which he'd responded somewhat violently and shoved the girl off of him.
However, that had not deterred the girls and they just continued while Inuyasha's temper had risen. One of the girls, Karei Taisei, had latched violently to Sesshoumaru as though he were a lifeline.
The fifth day, he found out during Gym class, which at the time had been six hour, about her rivalry with Karei. Karei went to no end to point out about one of Kagome's friend's misfortune.
"Ah, look at the poor baby!" Karei shouted to all her friends. "Shishuni is so poor he can't even buy his own lunch tickets! He has to borrow from the Ichiro's!" She said as she stalked up to Kagome and her friends.
"Shut up, Karei!" Kagome had yelled. "Leave Miroku alone! He never did anything to you!" Her blue eyes had flashed angrily. "You want to fight; I'll give you something, but leave Miroku alone!"
Karei had laughed at Kagome as though Kagome were a child and knew no better. "Of course he did! He was born! Poor people shouldn't go to this school. You, your brother, and the Shishuni family should just be off to the Public School."
Kagome had looked like she had just been slapped in the face. Her eyes had darted towards Sesshoumaru for a second, and it seemed Karei had noticed it because she looked back to see what Kagome was looking at.
A smirk had played on her face then and she leaned forward to whisper in Kagome's ear. With the noise in the Gymnasium, Sesshoumaru had been unable to hear what she'd said to Kagome, but Kagome had looked broken at the seams when she heard it.
Tears had welled up in Kagome's eyes and she had run out of the school through the Gym fire doors, crying. It stung to see her cry. It stung very badly.
Sesshoumaru couldn't help but wonder what Karei had said and to this day he had no idea, but whatever it was, after that Kagome had given him a very cold shoulder. She no longer spared him a glance.
In time, it had seemed like it had become a natural routine, go to school, watch Kagome in Art class since he seemed fated to have that single class with her throughout the years, and then go home to a cold-hearted father, and a drunken disgusting mother.
He'd thought that over the years the crush would go away, but it only seemed to grow stronger.
It was at age thirteen (Sesshoumaru had been fourteen) that Karei seemed to receive power amongst the students. A jumpy girl Sesshoumaru's age who'd just moved to the school had gotten the first 'mark' placed on her locker the day after Karei had gotten food accidentally dumped on her.
At first, everyone had been confused when they saw the black cloth taped to the girl's locker, but soon word spread that everyone was supposed to be cruel to the girl, hate her, and chase her out of the school.
After that, the girl didn't seem to notice any change in status, but three more people in the next five months had been 'marked' and run out of the school.
Kagome and the rest of her friends hadn't liked when her brother had gotten the mark for an unknown reason, so they'd attacked Karei, beating on the girl until the teachers separated them, Karei had a bloody nose, black eye, and swollen split lip, plus there would be multiple other bruises on her face later on.
The next day, Sesshoumaru had seen the black cloth on Kagome's locker and he'd taken it off before Kagome had seen it, but Kagome wouldn't have been able to anyway since she and her friends had a three day out of school suspension.
He hadn't wanted to know Kagome's reaction to being marked and he didn't think that Karei doing that was right at all. A lot of the students had seen it before it was removed though, and since then they'd treated Kagome worse and worse. She was deemed an 'outcast of society'.
Sesshoumaru knew that the harsh treatment had made Kagome cry over the years even if she didn't know why they did it, but slowly the crying turned to anger and rather than cry she began to get this mysterious glint in her eye and she would always write in this little purple notebook, laughing every so often at something she wrote.
After a while the purple notebook changed to being a gray one, and then a blue one, and then a red one, and finally it had become black. Sesshoumaru always wondered what was in those notebooks, but knew he would never find out considering that she wouldn't even tell her brother whom she seemed to have such a good bond with.
"Sesshoumaru, you okay?" Inuyasha asked, waving a hand in front of his elder brother's face. "Woohoo? Anyone there?" He lightly rapped his knuckles on Sesshoumaru's head, Sesshoumaru dropped the paddle to grab Inuyasha's wrist.
"Don't do that." He said, and then added in a less-than-heartfelt threat, "Unless you want to lose your hand."
"Ha, whatever! As if you could beat me!" He said, grinning and crossing his arms across his chest in a confident manner.
Sesshoumaru reached up to where he knew Inuyasha's dog-ears were and yanked on one of the invisible attachments. Inuyasha gave a little yelp, both hands going up to grab Sesshoumaru's wrist to keep him from pulling harder. Sesshoumaru gave his younger half-brother a smirk, "What was that, puppy?" He said, using the childish nickname for his brother.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow... Okay, okay! Fine, Sess! You're king, KING! Just don't take it out on the ears!" He begged, also using the childish nickname. "Ow, ow, ow!"
Sesshoumaru dropped his icy mask, laughing and letting go. "Wimp." He said.
"Why you!" Inuyasha said, growling. He jumped at his brother, but because of the way he was positioned on the couch, he was unable to make the attack right and ended up tripping to the floor with his feet still on the couch. "Ow..." He said, but began laughing. Sesshoumaru laughed with him, not at him.
Soon the two were wiping tears of mirth out of their eyes. Shortly after that, Inuyasha fell asleep on the floor and Sesshoumaru dozed off on the couch, the game forgotten during the only escape the two had from their hellish lives.
Still, it wasn't much of an escape. The two, even in sleep, knew that they would soon wake and another day would start, no doubt being equally as horrid as the previous.
Kagome sighed, looking at the wall clock on the north wall in the weapon storage room. It was almost midnight. She and Souta had been working since five thirty with only a short break for dinner so that the things for the next day would be finished.
Aside from that, both were running on lack of sleep, and Kagome was taking care of an android that woke up every half hour needing something.
The two of them were currently polishing approximately thirty bows and splitting three hundred sixty arrows up between thirty quivers. Each quiver held twelve arrows. Each bow was different. They ranged in size and curve. Kagome and Souta had their own well-maintained bows, which they knew they'd probably take the next day. If they were going to be able to hunt the deer in the forest, they needed a good weapon, because they certainly couldn't use guns. No gun was allowed anywhere within the 30-acre Shrine grounds.
Once they had completed polishing a bow, they'd place it back on the rack in the weapon room in the shrine, and count out twelve arrows, placing them in the quiver and setting the quiver full of arrows by the bow.
Kagome stood, stretching momentarily. Her body ached from so much sitting hunched over. The two of them were to do what they usually took three days to do before the next morning, which was difficult.
She looked at her brother. He too looked like he could use a break. "Come on, Souta. Let's go get a soda and start your computer to printing those maps." She said.
He looked up at her, relief filling his dark blue orbs. He set the bow he was working on down along with the oil rag and stretched, covering his yawn with an oil-blackened hand.
"A moment to relax..." He draped an arm across Kagome's shoulders, chuckling. "Yes. Quite literally, a moment to relax. If mama weren't called away to bail jerk off out, we might've had help. Oh well."
Kagome jabbed him in the stomach with her forefinger. "Souta, that really isn't funny, you know."
He nodded. "Yeah, I know. I'm laughing at the irony of it."
"Ah, I see." She and Souta started for the kitchen, both quite at ease in each other's company. They'd always been able to talk to each other and be around each other much easier than they could be around most anyone else.
Slowly as the years went by though, they found it easier to be around other people as well when secrets were revealed to each other. Sango and Kohaku were Kagome and Souta's longest friends, and Miroku followed right after that.
Now, it seemed, Rin was going to be a great friend as well. She would probably learn of the five friends secrets soon enough.
"And what does her majesty want to drink today?" Souta asked, opening the fridge. "We are fresh out of soda."
Kagome sighed. "Well that bites." She went over to peer in the fridge. "Ew, gross." She took out a pitcher of juice that had a bug swimming in it and dumped it out in the sink. "That's nasty!"
"Ya that is." Souta grabbed the jug of milk, checking the expiration date before pouring him a glass and chugging it down. He used the same cup and poured Kagome a glass, which she downed.
"Thanks." Kagome said. Souta put the milk away, nodding his head as Kagome rinsed the glass out. After that, the two headed up to the attic and Souta's room. Souta turned on his computer and while it booted up, he went and sat on his couch, folding the end seat out into its recliner state and putting up his feet.
He grabbed his newest edition of comic magazine from the small stack on the table next to the couch. Kagome sat down at his computer to wait. "Wha'cha reading?"
"Spitley." He said, not removing his eyes from the book.
"Ah. I see." Kagome leaned back in the chair, putting her socked feet on the desk. Moments later the computer booted up and Souta set the comic down, coming over to load 'Map Editor' on his computer, pulling up a file that was coded 'AzureGarden'.
"How many of these things do we have to print?"
"About thirty or so."
"Okay." He took a stack of paper and stuffed it in the printer paper slot, typing for thirty copies and hitting print on the keyboard. "Right, this'll print then. Tomorrow Ms Saeko can go through and mark where the port potties are."
"What I want to know is how mama and Ms Saeko did all this without us knowing what was going on!" Kagome complained. "And how they got the port potties out there."
"It is a mystery we might never solve." He said, rubbing his temples.
"Headache?"
"Yah."
"Feel like vomiting?"
"Yah."
"Same here. It's the lack of sleep."
"God dang it!"
"God dang it."
Souta laughed and Kagome laughed with him.
Soon the two had to go back to work, finishing up the bows. Once that was done, they went to work organizing the hundreds of tents (it seemed like hundreds and probably was) into a nice stack out by the God Tree.
All of them were exactly the same size and color. Each would hold two people, each were dark green. Once that was done, the next equipment to be sorted and placed into a stack was small cooking necessities that had to be stuck in small backpacks so every group got what they needed and after that were thin small blankets that had to be stacked into a pyramid.
Finally, the last things were the environmentally friendly cleansing herbs to be sorted and placed in small packets. All the equipment had been delivered to the shrine during the school hours on Friday.
While they were doing this, the sky began to gray and lighten and all through this, Kagome had to take care of the constantly waking android.
Once they'd finished doing everything, they stretched and went inside the house, both yawning. "Maybe we can get a few hours shut eye before everyone comes and we're forced to search bags."
Souta laughed bitterly, pointing to the clock on the wall. It read six fifty.
"Aw damn." Kagome complained, lowering her head. "Well, fine, I get the shower first."
"Fine with me. You go ahead in the shower. I'll switch over the laundry from the washer to the dryer and then set your last clean robes on the hook in the bathroom for you. Don't use all the hot water, and before you dress completely I'll rub some ointment on your back."
Kagome smiled at Souta, her gratitude showing. "I've no clue what I'll do without you this whole week." She said her eyes serious but her voice joking.
Souta grinned secretively. "Just get Sesshoumaru to do it." He said, snickering.
Now Kagome was scowling. She grabbed his ear, digging her nail into the cartilage. "If you tell anyone about that, I swear you'll die! Besides, that was eight years ago! Things change you twit."
Souta laughed and cried at the same time, wiping tears of mirth and pain from his eyes. "Well, either way, its still fun to mention it. It's a wonder you kept the secret from everyone else, but I know you too well. You couldn't keep something like that from me!" Kagome let go.
"Well, if you know me so well, then you know I don't harbor those feelings any more."
"Yeah, I know. Still, I'm going to tease you!"
"Then I am going to shower."
"Okay. Don't use all the water, 'Gome."
"Whatever." Kagome headed towards the attic and Souta went downstairs. As Kagome showered, the shampoo she used to wash her waist length black hair burned as it got into the split skin on her back that had been created by Naraku's belt.
She heard Souta enter the bathroom fifteen minutes after she started showering, but as quickly as he'd come he'd gone. "Hurry up, 'Gome." He said and left.
Kagome did. She finished washing up, and then put in a clean tampon, and dressed in the clean undergarments and priestess robes that Souta had brought her. She left the top off and put her hair in a towel wrap while Souta put the ointment on her back, and when he was finished she put the top on.
"Mama's up already. She says she's very proud of us for getting that done, but she's very disappointed that we worked all night. She had thought we were smart enough to go to bed."
Souta grinned as he set his priests robes on the hook and took off his shirt to reveal a carefully muscled upper body received from years of karate lessons given by Sango and Kohaku's father and from years of street fighting. He started running the water to get it to a good temperature.
Kagome laughed, tying on the sash to the priestess robes. "We must be really stupid then." She said, leaving the bathroom and closing the door for him. She went into her room, carefully picking her way about the mess to her desk.
Her mother had set her permission slip on the desk, signed. Once she'd done that, she went into Souta's room and got the maps from the printer slot, smiling at the colorful map on top.
All of them were the same, and all of them were very well detailed. They showed where there were streams or hot springs or clearings large and small.
They showed paths through the forest, located hidden benches in the flower garden, located the fountains in the flower garden, located where in the forest the giant waterfall was, located where the ponds were, and where the dried well was.
There was a large square on the map with a tiny circle inside it, which was the most vague part of the map and across it in faint letters read the words 'Madison's Labyrinth'. In the left hand bottom corner of the map was a legend showing what things on the map meant, and in the right hand bottom corner was a compass to show what was north.
Kagome took the stack of papers down to the kitchen to greet her mother, who was tiredly making oatmeal for the three of them. "Good morning, mama." She said, pecking her mother on the cheek.
"Good morning, sweetie. Where is your brother?"
"He's taking a shower. He'll be down in a few minutes."
"Alright. I'll just let the oatmeal simmer then so it stays warm."
"Mama, how come you never told me about my cousin?"
"Because my sister and I were never on very good speaking terms... I suppose you were bound to find out sooner or later though."
"Well, I already told Ms Saeko that we're suing her and the school if anything happens to my Eden."
"I also told her that. I didn't think you would be very appreciative if something bad happened, considering the care you give it."
"I wouldn't have liked it either." Souta said, coming in the kitchen scrubbing his head dry on a towel. "We spend five hours a day caring for that garden on school nights minus Wednesday, and then from eight am to eight pm on Saturday and the same on Sunday."
Kagome pulled three bowls out of the cupboard and Kali got out three glasses. Kali sighed. "The gardeners that I hire don't like the idea much either, and told me as much."
"Well they work their asses off every day from ten am to five pm, minus Wednesday. I'd be ticked too."
Kali sent a stern look at Kagome. "Kagome, stop cussing. I mean it."
"Sorry mama."
"It's true though." Souta said, cutting a banana into small slices. "We all put our backs into that garden."
"And each year, who do you have to pick the apple grove? Us. The seven of us do it every year. Speaking of which, it'll soon be time to do that."
Kali poured three glasses of milk, and then scooped the oatmeal into the bowls, adding some banana with each. Kagome got three spoons out of the silverware drawer and each took their bowl and beverage to the dining room, sitting at the table.
"Not this week, but next week I'll probably have you do that before the apples start to fall." Kali told them.
A comfortable silence fell among the three as they ate. Finally the grandfather clock in the long dining room chimed eight. "Well, they should be here in about fifteen minutes or so. You two can go make sure everything is in order and I'll wash the dishes. I'll see you in an hour or two."
Kagome and Souta thanked their mother for the breakfast and went to brush their teeth, then after that Souta went to get the clothes from the dryer and take them up to his room where he and Kagome would pack them to use for the week. Each had chosen only two outfits. One they would wear, one for their backpacks.
"I'll bet you she chickened out." Karei said, clinging to Sesshoumaru's arm as though she were his girlfriend. She was talking to her two friends who were in her group. "Poor people do that all the time." She reasoned as they got onto one of the two buses.
Sesshoumaru sat in the very back in the one person seat, slouching down with his knees in the air and his small backpack on his lap so that Karei wouldn't sit on his lap or try to.
Inuyasha, he saw out of the corner of his eye, ended up sitting near the middle of the bus with Eleanor, his 'girlfriend' if you could call her that.
He couldn't care less where Karei sat. Hiten, Karei's partner for the android project, sat in front of Sesshoumaru with the android taking the other half of the seat. It seemed he'd already gotten sick of all the attention that the girls were giving him.
Sesshoumaru just plastered his 'I couldn't give a damn if I wanted to' look on his face and stared out the window, wondering why Kagome wasn't on the bus.
I wonder if she just stayed at the shrine? She does live there after all... And I haven't seen Souta either, so it is a possibility. He thought, miserably looking at his reflection in the window glass. He had paler skin than most Japanese, but it was still tanner than a white American.
His eyes were narrow, angled, and almond shaped. His eyes were gold, his hair silver and down past his waist. His bangs curved around a center point on his forehead where he knew there was a blue crescent shaped marking.
On his cheekbones there were two maroon lines, he knew, but these markings also weren't showing because of the witch charm. The markings on his wrists didn't show either, and neither did his fangs, pointed elfish ears, or claws.
This was how he was, he knew, but he didn't really like it. He thought it was unfair that he had to be born of two demons. He wished he could have been born of two humans so that he would live a normal life.
The ride took half an hour to get to the shrine because of a minor detour that had to be made around a construction site. Sesshoumaru reveled in the few moments he had without a girl clinging to him, but as soon as they stopped in front of the shrine, he found himself clung to again. God, can't she realize that I hate this? He thought, though he let his face betray no emotion.
When they got off the bus and Karei saw the giant staircase that she would have to climb she put on the most pathetic pout face known to man and looked at Sesshoumaru. "Sesshoumaru, will you carry me?" She whined in her obnoxiously grating voice.
Sesshoumaru resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her and shrugged away from her, starting up the steps quickly with his backpack in hand. He heard her start working at crying but ignored her. He couldn't care any less if she burst into hysterical sobs.
He was sure that if she did, he would probably burst into tears of laughter his own self. When he reached the top of the stairs he looked around. There were piles of tents, small packs of whatever, and piles of blankets, all around the courtyard.
Two people in red and white kimonos were flitting about the courtyard; trying to be sure everything was perfect. From the scents that drifted to his nose on the wind, he guessed that it was Kagome and Souta and almost smiled. Keyword, almost.
The only one he showed emotion to was his brother, and that was even a rare occasion, so Sesshoumaru didn't allow the smile to grace his stoic features. He was glad that he hadn't, because just after he pressed the smile down and locked it inside him, the wench named Karei latched onto him again.
No sense in allowing her to think that he actually liked her. His real feelings towards her were that he wouldn't care if she dropped off a cliff and every bone in her body broke, but somehow she remained alive and conscious to feel the excruciating pain.
Ms Saeko got off the second bus, climbing the stairs to the top and went to stand in front of the students, waiting for them to simmer down and listen to her.
"Alright, for approximately ten minutes, you may lounge about the courtyard. Do not go anywhere else! I will be with you shortly to explain the field trip in more detail." She then rushed over to where Kagome and Souta were on the other side of the courtyard, leaving the students to their own devices. Inuyasha came over by Sesshoumaru, and in doing so ended up dragging Eleanor with him.
"Sesshoumaru," He said, not using the childish nickname for him. He knew better than that. Sesshoumaru would have been furious if he'd done so. Only his brother could call him that, and even that was just barely.
"What, Inuyasha?" Sesshoumaru said his voice the calm, unemotional void that he preferred to keep it at.
"Eleanor, would you let me go for a moment?" Inuyasha asked, struggling to get out of her grippy little fingers.
"Aw, Inuyasha, why?" Eleanor pouted. "Don't you love me?" She tried to make her voice light and feathery, Sesshoumaru noticed (like Kagome's always seemed to be), but she failed miserably and it turned out low and husky, crackly.
Inuyasha sighed, defeated, and then looked at his brother briefly before looking like he'd decided against saying whatever it had been he'd wanted to say. "Never mind." He said with a sigh. He looked at his brother for a moment, before following his eyes to where Sesshoumaru was looking.
Stupid girl. He thought miserably. Just because our father is rich doesn't mean we don't have problems...
Sesshoumaru looked away from Kagome to glance at his brother. "Play nice with the wolves, Inuyasha." He said quietly so that only Inuyasha could hear, refraining from grinning. He knew his brother was murderous about the whole situation.
Inuyasha's golden orbs lit up angrily, but he kept his voice down. "This is a shitty arrangement if ever I saw one."
"Yes, but it gets you out of the house."
Inuyasha could not disagree with that, because it was true. Ms Saeko was a blessing in disguise.
Ms Saeko looked at the top map that Kagome had given her. It was truly a remarkable piece. It was simplistic yet ornate at the same time. She wasn't sure how that was even possible, but it was. "You did a fine job, Kagome." She said, praising the girl.
Kagome smiled a tired smile at the teacher who was her cousin. "Souta did most of it." She admitted.
"Well, Souta, Kagome, you both did excellent on this. I appreciate you sorting the equipment out as well. We might even be able to start by ten this morning, rather than the expected noon. But anyway, would you search through bags and take out unnecessary items?"
"Of course." Kagome said, knowing that she had no choice. Kali was expecting them to do so. "Can you have them form a line?"
Ms Saeko nodded and excused herself from their company. Souta had a box of paper bags sitting next to him and he opened one, setting it on the ground, and then took out a pen, notebook, and permanent marker from the box, opening the notebook to the first page and taking the cap off the pen.
Ms Saeko returned to by the group of teens, smiling broadly at them. "Now, to check for unnecessary items. The two Shrine Keepers will check your bags and if there are unnecessary items, they will be confiscated until the first when you will receive them back.
"Please form a single file line. Your backpacks will be filled with the necessary camping equipment once it is checked, and when it is checked you may find a place to sit in the courtyard."
As asked, the students flocked towards Kagome and Souta, forming a line. Kagome checked the first backpack, taking out nine carefully folded sets of clothes, a box of granola bars, a flashlight, batteries, a CD walkman, two pencils, and a sketchbook, calling out the name of the person who owned the backpack to Souta, who wrote that down and wrote down everything the person had.
Kagome put only one set of clothes back in the backpack, along with the box of granola bars, the flashlight, the flashlight batteries, the pencils and sketchbook. The rest she put in the paper bag, which Souta marked with the name of the person who owned it, and set it off to the side.
"You can't do that!" The boy yelled. "Give back my stuff!"
"You'll get it back on the first." Kagome said, unperturbed. Kagome handed the bag to Kali, who had come out of the house to help, dressed in a priestess robe. "One from each pile except the tents." She explained, and her mother hurried to comply. The boy stomped after Kali, waiting to retrieve his backpack again.
The process continued for an hour, in which students from the Public School arrived along with the gardeners. Kagome didn't have to check the students from the Public School's bags, because they were being checked by multiple of the gardeners (who also wore priest and priestess robes).
"Next." Kagome said, looking at the next person who she'd check. Sango wore the traditional black with stripes pants, though today she'd gone with a blue tank top with the words 'I love...' sprawled across the chest and blue stripes.
Her makeup was a blue theme, with the heavy eyeliner that she and Kagome favored. She'd done her nails up in a dark blue color. Her hair was in the normal high ponytail. "Hey, Sango!" Kagome said, grinning.
"Hey, 'Gome." Sango greeted back. "Hey Souta."
"Hey."
With a brief glance Kagome saw that the rest of the group, and Kikyou, were behind Sango. She and Souta said hi to each of them and everyone said their returns. Miroku wore a pair of army green khakis with enormous pockets (all of his pants had enormous pockets which wasn't a surprise) and a tan wife beater under a white tee shirt.
The bruise on his eye was fading, but now he had a puffy lip (which he'd not gotten in the fight the previous day). As always, he wore the purple fingerless glove on his hand, the gold ring, and the necklace and cross. The two tiny gold hoops were in each ear and his hair was in its dragon tail.
Kohaku wore a pair of beige khakis and a black shirt. His hair was combed neat for once and he seemed unable to keep his brown eyes off of Kikyou.
Kikyou had the android in her arms; Kohaku had the diaper bag and seat. Kikyou wore a white tank top and loose maroon pants. Her hair was in a low tie at the nape of her neck with two strands lightly hanging over her shoulders, yet still going back into the tie.
She wore no make up other than a light feathering of pink eye shadow and lip gloss. Rin was just behind Kikyou, frightened to no end about having to stand by a tall boy who was giving her funny looks. She wore the school uniform and her usual hairdo, no make up, and no jewelry. All five of them wore decent walking shoes.
Kagome began searching Sango's bag. "One outfit, one pack of light sticks, two chocolate bars, one water bottle, one brush, one five by two inch makeup case containing," Kagome paused and whispered in Souta's ear.
Souta snickered at Sango and wrote it down. "One sketchbook, five pencils, one large eraser, and an inhaler." Sango had asthma. Kagome put everything back in. Sango didn't have anything unreasonable, and none of it took up all that much space. The others were much the same, except the guys didn't have the makeup case holding unmentionables or the brush or the inhaler.
Once the equipment was in each of their backpacks, they went and sat under the God Tree in the center of the courtyard.
"Next," Kagome said, looking at the next person. She scowled. "Karei."
"Kagome." Karei looked at Kagome with obvious disgust etched into her face. "You aren't touching my things."
Kagome collected her angry thoughts, and placed them in an orderly fashion. It wouldn't do to allow Karei to get the upper hand. "I have to. It's my job. Give me the bag, Karei."
Karei just stood there, latched onto Sesshoumaru's arm, ignoring Kagome.
"Karei, I will only say this one more time before I get angry." Kagome warned. Karei ignored her. "Fine." She stood from the bench she sat on, grabbing Karei by the hair. Karei was so shocked by the sudden pain that she let go of Sesshoumaru, her hands moving to her head, holding her hair, not wanting to lose a giant clump of hair.
Kagome let go of her hair, grabbing her arm and dragging her over to her mother. "You don't want me to do it? Fine. I didn't want to anyway! I stay up longer than twenty four hours to do this stuff, and this is my thanks! God dang it!" She shoved the girl wearing the school uniform to the ground in front of her mother.
"Mama, you get to search her crap." She said angrily, walking back to the line. Her mother sighed, shook her head sadly, and then went to help Karei, who was crying because she'd scraped her hand.
Kagome looked at Sesshoumaru with burning anger clear in her eyes. "Don't make a scene, rich boy. Give me your bag so I can search it, because now I'm in a severely ticked mood."
Sesshoumaru wanted to roll his eyes, but refrained from it. Kagome noticed that he wasn't wearing the school uniform. He wore clothes for comfort. His sweatshirt was hooded with a pocket and on the left shoulder were little red cherry blossoms.
He wore a pair of loose white khakis with multiple pockets. As always, Kagome wondered how he could be so completely unblemished in his looks, so gorgeous, even through the mask of stone.
She'd only seen him without it once in her entire life of knowing him, and that had been the other day when she'd walked in on him waking up in her room.
Secretly, she wished she'd be able to see him like that again, but she crushed those wishes before they formed very much. He's rich, I'm poor. Those are a combination that never works. She told herself angrily. And the only time it works is if your name is Cinderella. My name isn't. It's quite clearly Kagome. And besides, I don't like him that way anymore. He's a pompous jerk. Why am I even thinking these ridiculous thoughts?
He gave her his bag and she sat down on the bench, opening it. She was surprised to find the thing near empty. She'd expected him to have loads of clothes, and miscellaneous totally unneeded things. But he didn't, he actually had the barest essentials.
"One pair of clothes, one bottle of water, one sketchbook, one notebook, three pencils, one large eraser, one small carry pencil sharpener, and two black pens."
Sesshoumaru had almost panicked that she would question the notebook, but she just put everything back in and gave the bag to her mother, who had finished with Karei.
He left to follow Kali as Kagome began checking the last of the bags. When Inuyasha had his bag checked and filled with the necessary items (dried food stuffs, the small packet of cooking utensils, blanket, and etc) he went and stood by Sesshoumaru, who had chosen to stand off to the side of everyone else.
Ms Saeko was scolding Karei for the scene she caused (for once it was Karei in trouble for something not Kagome, it had always been the other way around when Karei would pin Kagome for all her wrongdoings, unable to take responsibility for her own actions) so Sesshoumaru had a break from the leech, as he thought of her. Karei the anorexic leech.
"She seems mad today." Inuyasha pointed out, casually avoiding saying who he was talking about, knowing Sesshoumaru knew anyway. "She also seems exhausted."
"Hmm."
Inuyasha shut up, realizing that his brother wasn't in the mood to talk. Five minutes later the bag checks were done. Ms Saeko went from where she had been discussing something with another teacher who was from the Public School.
"Alright, everyone, simmer please!" She said in her mischievous voice. Sesshoumaru saw the entire group of shrine keepers go into the shrine in a hurry, including Kagome and Souta. "Today you are going to be released out into the sixteen acre Sunset Garden, where you will be living for the next week."
Sesshoumaru zoned her out. He didn't care at the moment. He wanted to know where Kagome had gone and why she wasn't listening to the talk. He wondered where the android was; wondering if that was why she was gone.
For a second he felt guilty about having to leave Kagome with the doll. His mother would have smashed the thing if she'd seen or heard it though, so he'd had no choice but to ditch her after school.
After about ten minutes though, she came out of the Shrine, changed and ready to go. She had an unstrung bow connected to her backpack along with a quiver of arrows, and was carrying the android in her arms, feeding it a bottle.
She wore the same make up theme she'd worn the day before with black clothes, two silver stripes up the sides of her black pants and the words 'Breaker of hearts' sprawled across the black tank top in sparkling silver letters.
She was once again garbed in her bell jewelry, but surprisingly she made no sound. He thought that was quite odd. Her hair was done in a long braid down her back and she had a black hooded sweatshirt tied to her waist. Sesshoumaru noticed a very colorful strap next to the black straps.
Souta carried the seat and diaper bag for her, wearing baggy blue jean shorts and a blue shirt that said 'I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it'. He too had an unstrung bow and a quiver of arrows on his backpack.
Kagome said something to Souta and he nodded, handing her (somehow she was able to juggle it all) the diaper bag and seat, then going over by their friends while Kagome went over towards Sesshoumaru.
Vaguely Sesshoumaru heard Ms Saeko say "get into your groups" but he didn't register this until his group had come to him. Once more Karei latched onto his left arm.
He felt if she didn't let go soon, his left arm would fall off from lack of blood circulation. The rest of the Shrine Keepers came out carrying a large rack filled with bows and arrows and one person from each of the thirty groups got a bow.
He tore his attention away from Kagome and the other Shrine Keepers to try to pay attention to Ms Saeko.
"-and you will be able to hunt, though whatever you kill you must eat. Now, I'll give all the group leaders a map. The red letters 'x' on the map mark where there are restrooms, though I warn you they are port potties.
"You are not allowed to enter the Shrine at any time for any reason." She had obviously concluded her speech pretty much. "Now, you will be released one group at a time, and you must stay amongst your groups. You will be checked on from time to time. Good luck, and don't forget to do your mini-sketches!"
Kagome was surprised to find her group released first. They were transported by way of an Auto Transport Vehicle to the woods. It seemed that each group would be transported to a different part of the Garden in hopes of keeping them separated. Karei held the map and was trying hard to understand it, even though it was easy to understand. Then Kagome noticed she was holding it upside down.
"You might want to hold it right side up." Kagome pointed out, not looking at Karei but looking at the tall trees to her left. They stood on a path that followed the edge of the woods. On the right side of the path was some very tall grass, easily four feet tall.
Karei scowled at Kagome. "Who's the leader here?" She snapped.
Kagome shrugged. "Well, your highness," she said, mock bowing, "I'm sorry I interrupted your moment of meditation. But incase you are wondering, you are facing north, so you should have the compass on the map facing north."
A particularly strong gust of wind blew by, taking the map Karei held with it. "The map! Higurashi, go get it!"
"I'm sorry," Kagome dug in her ear, "I think I must have heard wrong. I thought I heard you ordering me about." She turned back to the woods. "Karei, you want that map, you go fetch it." She slipped into the trees, disappearing into the mass of vines and tree branches.
Karei squawked her anger and chased after, the map forgotten as it flew higher and higher into the sky on the wind. Sesshoumaru picked up the android's seat and diaper bag. Kagome still had the android, and Hiten was struggling to take care of the android himself.
The rest of the group followed after, the two remaining girls carrying two of the three tents given to the group. Sesshoumaru was also carrying one of the tents. His back was getting sore from all the weight on it, but he knew Karei wouldn't offer to help carry anything.
"Higurashi, you have to follow me!"
"How can I follow an idiot? I'm not a mindless drone like your friends are." She called back. "Now move. I want to get somewhere and you aren't making things easy for me."
Three hours of walking later, though it seemed like only twenty minutes later, Karei stopped, refusing to go any further. "I'm not moving from this spot!" She said defiantly.
Kagome sighed. 'I knew I wouldn't get to the waterfall.' "Fine, Karei." She said, going over to Sesshoumaru. She took the seat from him, setting it on the ground. They were on a small dirt path at the moment, only about two feet wide.
Kagome stuck the android comfortably in the seat. "There is a clearing just a little off the path, so we'll camp there." She rubbed her temples, closing her eyes a moment.
"I said I'm not moving from this spot!"
Kagome's eyes snapped open, narrowing at Karei. "You'll move, or I'll move you. Either way works for me. So, what's it gonna be?"
Karei glared at Kagome, sticking her nose up in the air. Kagome just shrugged. "Fine, let the coyotes eat you." She said, picking the seat and diaper bag up, walking off the path through the trees again.
Sesshoumaru sighed and the four of them, Hiten, Sesshoumaru, Chrisa, and Maren, followed Kagome and Karei.
Five minutes later they were standing in a clearing. Karei was shivering, being completely soaked from head to toe, Kagome was laughing.
"You bitch!"
"Me bitch!" Kagome said, still laughing, agreeing with her. "Next time you will know to watch where you walk."
There was a small stream running through the clearing, in which Sesshoumaru guessed Karei must have fallen. "Higurashi, you"
"Yes, me. Now, Karei, I suggest you go behind that rock over there and change before you turn blue." Kagome said. She shrugged her backpack off, setting it next to the sleeping android. "If you want, you can set up your tents."
Hiten set the android down, sighing. "Alright, thank you Higurashi."
Kagome reached into her backpack, pulling out what looked like a jerky stick and popping it in her mouth. "Don't thank me. I would have continued the pace. Thank Karei." She rolled her blanket out on the ground and Sesshoumaru noticed that the sky above the trees seemed to be darkening.
Sesshoumaru shrugged his things from his back as Karei went grudgingly behind the rock to change. Sesshoumaru, Chrisa, Maren, and Hiten began to set up the three tents. Kagome took her sweatshirt off, balling it up and using it as a pillow, her arms cradling the back of her head.
Karei came out from behind the rock in dry clothes, setting her wet ones to dry on a low tree branch. Once she'd finished that, she went and latched onto Sesshoumaru. "I'll sleep in your tent, Sesshoumaru!" She exclaimed.
Kagome gagged, none to quietly. "I don't think the rest of us want to hear you two having sex." She said.
Karei just smiled blissfully.
Sesshoumaru pulled his hand out of Karei's grasp. "You will not sleep in my tent." He said in his monotone voice.
"But,"
"I said no." He said, ending the discussion.
Karei pouted, then went and latched onto Hiten, who eyed her like she was a poisonous snake. "Okay then, I'll sleep in your tent!" She told him.
"Um..."
"Great! You agree!" Karei said before he had a chance to say no. In her voice was a threat: the threat of being marked if he said no.
Hiten nodded numbly. "Are you going to help take care of the android?" He asked hopefully.
"Of course not!" She scoffed.
And so it was that Sesshoumaru had his own tent, Karei shared with Hiten, and Chrisa and Maren shared with each other. Kagome slept outside on the ground, preferring the open ground to an enclosed tent. Each of her group members went into their tents.
She laid the android on the ground next to her and watched the thing for a moment. It had grown since the day before. It was able to crawl already. She grinned at the little boy android. He actually looked real. His skin felt real, not like the plastic it was.
"Bababa." The android said, looking at Kagome with those deep blue eyes of his. "Babababa." Kagome watched as the baby tipped itself onto its stomach and crawled over to Kagome, butting her stomach with his head, drooling on her blanket. "BABABA"
Kagome reached into her bag for the bottle, giving it to the eager android, picking him up and feeding him. When he was done, she burped him, changed him, and let him crawl around for a while.
Soon, he'd fallen asleep so she covered him with his baby blanket and lay by him, drifting off into a light sleep, for the first time in the longest time she was sleeping on her back. It hurt, but it kept her aware of her surroundings in her sleep.
Kagome woke before dawn, picking the baby up and taking him over by Sesshoumaru's tent, kneeling before it, zipping it slowly, quietly open. She crawled in, one hand holding the sleeping android.
Sesshoumaru groggily woke up when he heard his tent being unzipped. His first thought was that it was his mother, but then he remembered he wasn't at home, so he calmed down. Then he heard it continue to unzip and through his grogginess, he couldn't register who it was by scent and it was too dark to see.
He growled as the person began to close the distance between them in the tent. "Karei, get out." He said, only to be answered with a chuckle that was certainly not in Karei's voice.
Kagome set the android next to Sesshoumaru, moving so her mouth was next to his ear. "Karei, huh? And what about yesterday? I thought you would be one to hold people to their word, yet you didn't make me your slave. Am I off the hook?" She whispered humor in her voice.
Sesshoumaru blushed at their closeness, thankful for the dark to hide it. He thought quickly. He had actually forgotten about the deal in the chaos of Friday. At that moment, he just wanted her to be away from him so his speeding heart wouldn't burst out of his chest.
He steeled his voice, not wanting to let it be squeaky and nervous especially in front of her. "Off the hook."
"Really?" She breathed in his ear, knowing she was –for some reason- making him nervous. She smirked. I wonder why... I'll have to find out this week. He just nodded, looking anywhere but at the shadow that was her body next to him. He heard her chuckle quietly. "Don't let Karei kill the android, and think of a name for it. I'll be back soon."
She left him in the tent with the sleeping baby android next to him, curling up against him; to go put her sweatshirt on, grabbing her bow and arrows. She strung her bow and walked toward where she knew a deer trail was.