Proverbial Pandora's Box!

Summary: "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, but teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." Kagome scoffed at the man who stole a fish from the stand in the village, "A waste of effort...but whatever...rewards a reward..."

Anime/Manga: InuYasha/Samurai 7

Pairing: Kagome/...I have an idea...let me think on it a little longer.

Genre: Romance

Rated: M for Mature Content

-x-x-x-

Kagome looked at an old man, or at least, in comparison to herself. He was actually kind of cute, not in her boyfriend or potential husband age range, but still. Clearly he'd seen war, and carried himself with a strong mind. He had long brown hair, a tan and wore almost all white.

"Why not just take the girl?" Kagome asked Tessai curiously.

"Hm, because they steal her back,"

"So you guys tried already, huh?"

"..." he stood and left, having showed her the ones she'd have to kill, his job was done.

The man was with five others, a slightly tanned boy with orange hair, a dark skinned man with gray hair, a large and colorful machine, a young girl with brown hair whom Kagome assumed to be Kirara and then...

'Little Samurai?' shaking her head at the boy in the group. "Right, I just need to follow them to their groups' hideout, and then I can kill them all, grab the girl, and collect my reward." She laid down on the rooftop, jumping a bit in surprise when the brunet turned his eyes to her and stared. She played it off cutely as she smiled and waved, watching a brow raise before he turned and continued what he was doing. "Kami, what am I doing," she sighed, watching the group carefully as they walked through the streets. Something caught her eyes as the bag machine began to make a scene by walking towards a familiar face leaning up against a pole. "Ah...that Androgynous looking guy! I didn't get his name..." She rolled off the roof and fell gently to the ground beside him, her blade raised to his throat irritably. "Did you need something?" She asked with an edge in not only her Kadachi, but her voice as well.

"Ah, get your filthy blade off of me!" He made to move only to step back into another point.

"..." Kagome looked and smiled, "Hello there, Little Samurai,"

The boy blushed, "Hello to you,"

"Nice weather, isn't it?"

"I've seen nicer,"

"Hmm," She turned to the man in front of her, "Consider this my two weeks' notice, you can return to your boss and explain why I am no longer taking this job if he is to interfere." She pressed the blade enough to draw blood and smirked, "A souvenir, so you can stop mocking your cute friend,"

He scowled and jumped off in the direction of the building before charging her again, his sword drawn, "I won't be made a fool bitch!"

She sighed, taking hold of the front of Little Samurai's clothes and pulling him so that he stumbled behind her, then stabbing her sword into the ground as he brought his blade down on her. There was a hard clang and then silence. "Surprised?" She asked, "I'm not a sword fighter, so don't presume I'm going to go in waving a sword like a maniac. I am a Priestess, first and foremost...and you...can find someone else to fight, because as far as I'm concerned, you aren't breaking through my barrier."

"Fine then, if I kill your hit, I will be rewarded instead!" He turned his blade to the older man she had earlier smiled at and Kagome soon found herself watching a sword fight. "...I should probably help..."

"Mama,"

She turned and smiled, "Shippou,"

"Did you start a fight?" Shippou jumped up onto her shoulder and looked at the fighting. A loud explosion and the crumbling of the stone walk they stood on caused them both to jump and start moving.

"I can't really tell, it just happened!" She snapped, "Why do you think I did it anyways?"

Shippou laughed, "You are always behind the fights in this city, aren't you?"

She shrugged, watching the girl tumble back before sliding down, Kotsushiro catching her before she fell. "Only sometimes, now go to u the guy with orange hair, and see if you can help."

"Right Mama!"

-x-x-x-

Kirara held tightly to Kotsushiro's hand, she'd been doing this a lot lately, and she was ever so happy that he wasn't letting go. She saw the woman from earlier, she slid down the stone slab towards them with her sword and stabbed it into the stone walkway.

"Hello little one, I need your other hand, so that we can pull you up, okay?"

Kirara didn't give her hand, she didn't know this woman, she didn't like her, trust her or want to be near her.

"Okay, asking nicely is starting to get annoying, give me your hand before you kill both yourself and Little Samurai in your childish stubbornness!"

That had worked; her hand shot up and Kagome pulled her onto the slab with ease, steadying Kotsushiro as well before she heard a yell.

-x-x-x-

"Catch!"

Kagome threw her hand in the air and caught a piece of wood with a rope tied tightly around it before wrapping it around Kotsushiro, "Hold her close, keep her safe!"

He grabbed Kirara around the waist and pulled her close to him, just as the wall gave and tilted downward. Kagome was quick to jump and caught the orange haired boy's hand in time to not lose footing and stumble backwards, her sword clutched tightly in her other hand.

"That was fun..."

He smiled, "Not over yet,"

They watched the older man fight the genderless creep she had cut earlier, and watched him knock the guys' blade from his hand. The fight was over as he had to jump to another stone walk to keep from falling to his death.

The brunette stood holding the roped up piece of wood, before he started his trek up the slab of rock. Kagome met him with a hand, holding it out for him to take, which she was slightly surprised when he did.

"Thank you, you helped out a lot, and so did your quick thinking, Heihachi."

"Me too! Me too!"

The man looked to Shippou who was on Heihachi's shoulder now, "He did help, he was quick to wrap the rope around everything I told him, I'm surprised he moved so quickly despite what was going on around him."

Kagome saw his mouth opening and the words coming out before she could say anything.

"That was nothing compared to the Demon's Mama and Me fought!"

'...oh gee Shippou!' Kagome closed her eyes and took her hand from the older man next to her, "We should leave now Shippou,"

"Oh, I forgot...I'm not supposed to mention that..." Shippou's eyes got big and watery, "I'm sorry!"

Kagome smiled, "No, don't worry, they wouldn't get it if we explained it to them, a slip of words won't do anything but scatter their brains a bit."

"You sure?"

"Yeah..." She slid the Kadachi into her silken sheath and sighed, "I'm hungry..."

"We don't have much, but we have rice, please, join us, as a thank you for saving our lives."

Kagome smiled, "Don't be blinded my act of kindness; I am sorry to disillusion you to something like that, but I had originally come to kill your friends...and for a rather large bounty that would have kept me and my son wealthy for the next twenty plus years or so,"

"I can't say I would have done it, are we allowed to turn one another in?" This came from Heihachi.

Kagome laughed, "I'm afraid this bounty was offered only to me, myself, and I...now I have to go back to assassinating bad guys, I had hoped with this I'd be through with killing all together," she shrugged, "oh well." She turned to the girl and sighed, "On my part, I would like to apologize, so how about you guys come to our place for some dinner, Shippou's cooking fish tonight,"

"Yeah!" Heihachi cheered.

"That sounds good," Kotsushiro agreed.

The older man nodded, "It does sound nice, but we have no time I'm afraid."

Kagome nodded, "Then I'll let Shippou find you guys later, and drop some off. See ya, Little Samurai~!"

Kotsushiro waved, "Bye!"

-x-x-x-

Me: Here is chapter two guys, I hope you guys enjoy!