Chapter 9- On the road again

Kagome slept in late that next morning. The few times consciousness had tried to pull her from the comfort of her bed she had resolutely clutched her blanket tighter and turned the other way. Unfortunately not even sleep could defeat the echoing, painful, growl coming from her empty stomach. Grumbling the young priestess pulled herself from her bed, glaring out towards the sun as if this was, somehow, its fault. Wiping the sleep from her eyes she made her way to the bathroom, found her toothbrush and paste, reached up to her lips and winced. wakefulness finally claimed her as she stared at her lips through the mirror. Her bruised lips. Which meant...

"Oh my Kamis." Her strangled voice whispered. It wasn't a dream. It was supposed to be a dream. Oh no. A loud, shrill sound echoed through her home. It was time to pick up Shippo! "Shit" the word was viciously soft. Moving as fast as she could she hopped into the shower, rushing out fifteen minutes later still soaking wet. She'd just finished brushing her teeth and pulling on Inuyashas jacket over her black shirt when she heard the front door open.

"MAMA! I'M HOME!" Shippo called out. She heard a soft command. Frowning she pulled Sesshomarus obi tight around her waist as she made her way to the living room. There her son sat, quite happily, with a plate of food in front of him. The young kit was devouring it, mouth full to bursting, when he saw her. He smiled widely, eyes sparkling. He tried to say something around his mouthful of food but before any sound could come out a tan hand hit him over his head. Shippo nearly lost his balance, glaring back at the person who had hit him before swallowing and turning back to her.

"Good Morning Mama." He said, voice happy and bouncing. For a moment she wondered how her son had managed to keep his innocence, his childishness intact after all he had faced in the past. All the horror and death. She refused to ask this question out loud, miracles end when you started questioning them. "Guess what mama? Kurama tried to show me how to use plants to fight, like he does. I couldn't do it though but I can kinda copy it with my illusions. It was so much fun and I learned so much more and then, when you didn't come and get me, cause you were sleeping, guess who come and got me? Hiei came and he carried me up on his shoulders and-" Her son was abruptly cut off by a much sharper voice, "I did not carry you. You climbed on and refused to move."

Kagome had managed to keep up, barely, with Shippos account of his night before. Feeling guilty she had slept past her first few alarms to pick him up from Kuramas home herself. A feeling that rapidly changed to shock, disbelief and finally embarrassment. Within moments her cheeks a pretty pink, just in time for Hiei to come into her view. He looked at her for, what was possibly, the longest second of her life. Oh no. Here it comes. She worried at her lower lip, waiting for any comment from the night before. Instead he moved away from her, placing two plates on the empty spaces left at the table. Sitting he began to calmly eat his breakfast. Kagome stood too stunned to move.

"Mama come on. It's good." Shippo encouraged between mouthfuls. Warily Kagome found herself moving to the table, "Did you make this?" The questioned hung in the air for a breath before Hiei sniffed and tilted his head away. The smile appeared on her face seemed to make all other worries disappear. For now.

"Thank you!" And she dug in.

The weeks continued to pass by and slowly, but surely, they had fallen into a routine. Yusuke had gone into full-blown cousinly protectiveness. Which was to say that any male who looked at her was in danger of meeting a vicious, albeit quick, end. What made things worse was that no only had all the boys followed his example but the girls saw no reason to help her stop them. Personally she thought it had more to do with the silent war going on between Yusuke and herself then the poor boy who had braved the rooftop to proclaim his undying love for her with an offer of marriage. It had been sweet but Hiei had damn near thrown the boy from the building. Since then Yusuke had been a Nazi about the men who tried to include themselves in her life. If they weren't part of the group they weren't allowed near her. It was endearing and increasingly frustrating. She didn't need the help. The boys of her school, not to mentioned every other man who came near her, had quickly learned that beneath that bright, kind, innocent venire there was a the heart of a warrior and she did not take insults upon her person or her friends lightly. For awhile there the hospitals had an influx of men who looked like they'd been beat with a semi.

No she was sure it had nothing to do with the boy. She was positive it was because the sudden struggle for leadership that had cropped up between them. Kagome had tried to tell him, adamantly, that she was perfectly fine with being a follower. Yusuke had glared at her before telling her, very carefully, that by the blood they shared they were equally stubborn. He had told her she wouldn't be able to help it. He had been right. It was the little things, the small victories, in which she took immediate control of. Something made instinct by her past. Meanwhile Yusuke commanded them for every battle, with some ideas tossed out from all of them of course. The problem lay in that Kagome was winning more often than Yusuke. It pissed him off and the more he acted like Inuyasha the more she wished she could sit the man.

Other than that, though, her days were near peaceful. School in the mornings, training in the afternoon, homework before dinner and then time for bed. Rinse and repeat. The pain was still there, still aching but the hope of seeing even one of her old friends again, no matter how remote, made the hurt not as bad. Made it easier for her to breathe. Other than that she was just peachy. Well except for the damn memories. She got them when she was asleep, when she was in class and every other instance where her mind wandered. The feel of his lips against hers, his body hard against hers. Holding her up from the pain of the past, keeping her safe against him as they rushed to the future. She had tried fighting it and failed. How could she overcome them if he was always there. He slept in her living room. He made breakfast. He walked her home. He took Shippo to school on occasion. He was everywhere but he never said a word.

It was...irritating. She felt like she was walking around a bomb, waiting for it to explode. He'd enjoying this. I know he is. It didn't change anything. He walked into the room and she smiled. Somehow, somewhere, she knew that he wouldn't be here if he hadn't wanted to be. That something about her drew him to her. It could be nothing more than curiosity, she wasn't sure but she was almost thankful for it.

The alarm went off on what would be her last day of school before the start of the tournament. Grumbling to herself, reluctant to leave the warm cocoon of her bed, Kagome managed to raise herself up and get herself ready for the day. In the kitchen Shippo was already dressed and ready, looking at her with a soft, pathetic, puppy dog look that indicated he was starving. She dropped down to kiss his cheek before turning to the stove and starting up some fresh pancakes, biscuits, eggs and huge slabs of bacon. Right on cue Hiei walked through the door and sat down next to Shippo. His eyes studying her as intensely as he did every morning. The first time he came through her door she had nearly had a heart attack, she was use to it now so she put a plate down for him and a cup of orange juice which he always sneered at but always drank.

"Hiya Hiei." Shippo offered. The boy had simple needs: Kagome and Kirara he loved without question, Kuwabara he found hilarious, Yusuke was like a big brother (More like Inuyasha then anything but no brother was perfect) and Kurama was something like a mentor/brother to him now but Hiei was the one that made his mother smile and, that alone, would have made him love the fire demon for eternity. It also helped that he was almost as cool as Sesshomaru, he was so fast and his flame attacks would have sent the great Western Lord running for cover at least once.

For his part Hiei enjoyed the boy. He was a bit too curios and constantly getting into mischief but Hiei thought he was a good boy despite those few annoyances. He was a young demon, a baby really, but he was strong and intelligent and devoted. So much more than his few years should speak for. He would have protected the child with his life, and Kagome even more so. What feelings he had for the priestess were strange, complicated, illusive things tempered by suspicions. He was waiting, biding his time, he knew she had once had the jewel of four souls. What else could incite so much pain? What else could drag her through time? What else could demand her banishment from a place that had been as much a part of her as her very soul? But did she still have the jewel? No, he would have felt it but perhaps she hid it and if she did hide it he had to hide it better or destroy it. Its existence disgusted him because what kind of a fool would use power outside of oneself for victory? What honor lay in that?

His eyes tracked her, a hunter after its prey, because the kiss haunted him as well. The need to plunder her, to find every little secret about her, to touch her soft skin and to make her eyes light up with life was his only goal. It was the very focus of his being, he hungered for her like a starved man invited to a banquet but not allowed to eat anything, not even the scraps. He had never meant to kiss her but he had understood her pain, once, and understood how much it had cost her to tell him the truth she had escaped from the past to protect. He had done it because her lips had been slightly parted, her eyes wide, tears streaking down her cheeks, hair tumbled as if she had just gotten out of bed and her body was soft and trembling against his. It had been impossible to stop even though he knew her secret, or at least part of it. Since then he had come, every spare moment of his day here with or around her. Demons had come calling more than once but he had dispatched them before she could sense them. Kurama had been the only one to question him on his absence and the only one to guess why he stayed with the girl. A priestess drew demons like a moth to flame, they wanted her dead. He had resolved to stay with her only so long as she continued to intrigue, as long as she drew him to her, like a gravitational pull even stronger than the sun.

Once breakfast was over and her men fed, along with Kirara of course, Hiei left Kagome to drop her son off at his school first. Reappearing at her side halfway back towards her own school, he placed a gentle hand against her arm. The contact sending an electric shock of awareness through her body and she stopped instantly. As if by magic Yusuke and the rest of the gang circled her unlike normal, however, they weren't dressed in their uniforms. Come to think of it neither had Hiei been. Frowning she waited as they came to her. Yusuke got to her first and offered a cocky half-grin.

"We're ditching school today Kags."

"Oh WE are?"

"Yep. Look Genkai invited us over to her place so we better get moving, that old bat hates waiting."

"Who's Genkai?"

"The toughest old broad in the world. Come on, go get Shippo and get packed. We'll meet you at the train station in an hour." And off they went, each boy speeding by her with a casual hello and a smile before chasing after her cousin. Still frowning Kagome glared over at Hiei who, of course, was leaning casually against a tree.

"You knew this was going to happen?"

"Hmph."

"Well you should've told me you know? Now we gotta do twice as much work. Sometimes Hiei you make me sooooo mad." But she was smiling, and so was he even though his mouth hadn't moved. It was in his eyes. Eyes that should have scared her (Narake had equally red eyes there at the end) but they had such depths. Sighing Kagome shook her head and planted her hands on her hips, sniffing angrily she marched past him.

"Ok you go get Shippo and Kirara I've gotta go pack now. One hour don't those guys have any consideration I swear sometimes Yusuke's worse than Inuyasha." That she could joke about such things now was comforting, even when it came with a small pang of pain. Hiei grunted again, shrugging his shoulders. Ever silent. A mischievous impulse struck her and she planted a kiss on Hiei's cheek before he could react and was well on her way. Hiei merely stood there stunned for a moment before his feet began moving, stiffly, in the general direction of Shippo's school.

She couldn't be sure but she was pretty sure she'd caught a glimpse of a blush staining his cheeks.

Kagome was in a rush, a hell of a rush, trying to find everything and anything they might need. At first she was throwing things into a suitcase but she stopped in the middle of tossing a rather risque nightgown when she spotted her yellow pack resting on the bed. For a moment sorrow etched her features before she glanced back at the suitcase.

"Ok. Fine, I wouldn't leave you behind."

Chuckling she found herself stuffing everything into her yellow pack instead, including spare clothes for herself and Shippo, spare arrows, bow strings, and a mountain of food for all the boys so much that it would have lasted her almost a month in the past, unfortunately in the past only Inuyasha had a humongous appetite in the present she had both Kuwabara and Yusuke who ate like demons. It was ironic really. It took a little over half an hour to pack and dress in her normal attire consisting of Inuyashas jacket, Sesshomarus obi, Mirokus beads and a copy of Sangos hunter clothes underneath it all. Once she had her sword strapped to her waist worry began gnawing at her gut because neither Shippo nor Hiei had appeared yet. She could almost imagine the tactics he would use to get the boy out of school.

"Oh god Hiei don't burn the school down. Just get Shippo and get out. Simple right?" She asked the air around her, predictably there was no response.

"Do you have permission from his mother?"

"Yes."

"Written consent."

"No. But she told me to come pick up her son and the cat."

The elderly woman, with bright silver hair and distrusting green eyes, glared at him and sniffed disdainfully before shuffling the papers in front of her.

"Well then I'm sorry but without written consent you can't take the boy."

"Damn it woman I have consent."

"Young man I think you'd better leave."

The thought of burning the woman until only charred bones remained was so tempting that he almost gave into it, would have if he had not had the Jagan eye. With it he looked into the woman's mind and forced her to acknowledge that he could pick up the boy and the cat and he did it none to gently either. If anyone had passed by them they would have thought he and the old lady were re-enacting a scene from Star wars.

"You will let me take the boy."

"You can take the boy."

"No one will get in the way."

"No one will bother you."

It was pathetic but it allowed him to go on his way in peace and pick up the child, who had immediately began chattering incessantly as if they were the greatest of friends. Once he'd reached her home he left them without a word. Rushing to pack what few things he needed (Which, admitedly, wasn't much more than a change of clothes and the few things he needed to keep his blade in perfect condition). They met at the train station, were the first to arrive to be exact. Kagome had taken the time to buy Shippo a lollipop, shutting the kit up quite beautifully. He'd never seen anyone who attacked candy like that. It was rather impressive.

"Come on guys what're you waiting for!?" Yusukes voice broke out from somewhere behind them. Without missing a beat Kagome turned around, "You're the one that's late Yusuke!" She called out, smiling. Within minutes the others joined them, Kurama having had the foresight to buy everyone's tickets making him the last to arrive but the first to board. Kagome wasn't sure why she felt so uneasy. She was nervous, sure, but the feeling in the pit of her stomach was one she recognized, the same feeling she'd had the day she'd been dragged through the well. The feeling that her life was about to change again, whether she wanted it or not. A warm hand covered hers, offering a soft squeeze before pulling away from her. That touch brought her back to the present but when she opened her eyes there was no one there save her friends, all sitting in their appointed seats. Frowning she joined her Son and Hiei in the seat furthest to the back, determined to enjoy all she could from the trip. She had a feeling they wouldn't be coming back.

"So then she is on her way to the old one?"

"Yes Mistress."

"We must make certain that her trip be uneventful. I doubt the old one will receive her kindly and I would spare her what pain I can."

"As you wish, Mistress."

"Thank you."

The woman, ethereal and so beautiful it almost ached, stood as still as a statue. Her hands holding a delicate bouquet of flowers that shone like jewels in the afternoon sun. Her eyes were lost, her smile slightly crooked but infinitely kind. There was a sweetness, an innocence, about her that had never dissipated even after all the centuries of her life and all the heartache she had endured. Turning, the woman looked past her lieutenant and the smile she bestowed upon the new arrivals only seemed to enhance her brilliance.

"Father. It's almost time. She's gone to see the old one."

"Good."

"It has taken longer than expected. Are you certain?"

"Oh yes father, Kagome is on her way."

"The tournament begins in two months time."

"It doesn't seem fair, father, can't we just go to her? Tell her what has happened? What's been won…What's been lost? Why do we hide?"

A single delicate eyebrow rose, "She is Kagome." He answered her as if that answered everything.

The girl frowned sadly. Her eyes shutting tight, "What if he comes back? What if he finds her first?"

Her fathers silence was her only answer.

SilverontheRose- Hehe...I'm probably just going to look at this review every time I need to spell her name. Words and I get along great...Letters not so much T_T

Elrosh- I will definitely keep that in mind. I had serious issues with those lines in the past. Whenever I used one it'd keep making another one every time I pressed enter. Still happens sometimes.

To my wonderful beta Lady Artimes, without whom this story would be littered with confusing sentences and horrible spelling.

And, of course, a Thank You to all of you who continue reading this story.