Chapter 4: Sanosuke

By Leoncia

"Hey, don't drop me, woman!" the voice echoed to her again.

Chizuru laughed, "It spoke to you, didn't it?" Kagome just nodded, dumbfounded, as she gently picked the spear back up. "Sorry… I didn't mean to! You just surprised me!"

"Ah well, don't worry about it. Not like it hurt or anything."

"Do you want it?" asked the older woman.

Kagome looked at her, her eyes wide. "How much would it cost?"

Chizuru shrugged and titled her head, "Well…" she drew out the word teasingly. "How about whenever you have free time, you come see me? It does get awfully lonely in this shop." A grinned split her face again at Kagome's surprised face.

"That's it, my time? Are you sure, Chizuru?" she asked as she clutched the spear closer to her chest.

"Hey, don't question it. She's giving me to you, take the offer and run!" the spear practically yelled at her.

Kagome glanced down at the spear, then back to Chizuru. "Sure, why not? It's not every day that a sentient weapon finds its owner, you know? My father owned this shop and I inherited it from him. He would double over in joy to see such a thing." Chizuru's voice was wistful as she spoke.

Without saying another word Chizuru turned and grabbed a cover for the spear's head off the wall and handed it to Kagome. She took it slowly, looking down to the spear, "Care if I cover up the blade?"

"Of course not, go ahead." It responded. Kagome nodded and strapped the cover over the blade. She almost jumped out of her skin when she heard the tinkling of the bells, letting them know someone else had come into the shop.

Chizuru turned, "Just a moment, please!" She called out. Turning to Kagome, she set a hand on her shoulder and smiled. "Business calls, I guess. Take care of it, okay?"

Kagome nodded and returned her smile, "Of course! I should be going anyway."

"Be careful, then. See you later, Kagome." Chizuru didn't let Kagome respond. She left in a hurry to take care of the customer, leaving Kagome in a slight daze.

"Shall we go, my mistress?"

Kagome groaned, "Don't call me that. Kagome is fine."

The spear's laugh echoed in her head, "And you may call me Sanosuke."

"Sanosuke…" she let the world slide off her tongue and nodded.

After Kagome left the shop, she couldn't count the number of weird stares she was getting from people. Sanosuke was griping the entire time, yelling at them to stop their gawking and go on with their business. Not that they could hear him, anyway, but Kagome sure could. She felt the beginnings of a headache bloom at the top of her head and she wondered if she'd ever get used to hearing another voice in her head besides her own.

"Maybe I really am crazy…." She muttered.

"I heard that. I can assure you, you're not crazy."

"Says the voice in my head," Kagome countered.

"Hah! True, true. I guess this would be a little unnerving, but you seem to be taking it rather well considering the circumstances." He mused, mumbling about how dull humans had gotten in the past century.

Kagome chuckled and shifted the spear—Sanosuke into a better position on her shoulder. "If you had seen the things I have in the last six years, you'd take a spear talking to you pretty well, too."

"Oh, and what's that?"

She began telling Sanosuke about all the things that happened to her. The trip, literally, down the well and the Shikon no Tama being ripped from her body. She spoke of InuYasha and his necklace, the sit command that would make him crash to the ground. That made Sanosuke laugh hard.

She continued her story as she reached the Shrine and climbed up the steps, passing through the Tori gate. She tried to sum it up as best she could, but six years to cover, even summarized, even took quite a bit of time to talk about.

She decided not to go back into the house, content with telling her new companion the rest of the story and what had happened in the past couple of days. Kagome sat at the base of the Sacred Tree and once her story was finished Sanosuke was quiet for a moment before speaking.

"I see… I'm sorry to hear about that, but I'm happy I can be of help now." His tone was kind and understanding.

"This will be the first time I've actually used a spear, though… I've only had a monk staff to practice with." She said, a bit dejected.

"Ah, I wouldn't worry about that Kagome. I have it covered."

"How do you have it covered?"

By the tone of his voice Kagome could imagine the grin he would have on his face if he was a real human, "You'll just have to wait and see, my dear."