AN: Lookie, an update! It isn't terribly long, but I hope you enjoy :) Thanks to everyone for sticking with me!
This was it. This was how she died. The end was in sight and despite its complete blindsight she had to wonder why she had not predicted its coming. She should have expected it, by all means, since trust was such a precarious thing, and once lost it was truly a feat to earn back.
And this was agony to endure, to add insult to injury.
"So are you alright? I hear that those type ofinfections," Yuka lowered her voice just slightly as she said this, although it did little to save Kagome from the scarlet blush that raced across her cheeks "can be really awful."
Death by embarassment. What a way to go.
Kurama looked over at her out of the corner of his eye, his tone bordering on amusement. "Are you sick Kagome?"
She was going to kill gramps.
She shot Kurama a dirty look - as if she'd even have the time to get sick! - and turned back to her friend. "Thanks Yuka, I'm feeling much better actually."
The brunette shook her head in deep-riddled sympathy. "Oh well I am glad to hear that. You were out for so long this time we all thought it had taken a turn for the worst."
Sometimes, Kagome felt bad about lying to the trio of girls she had previously called her closest companions. They were kind-hearted people, even if sometimes that good will was grossly misplaced, and didn't deserve the persistent barrage of diseases Kagome was usually suffering from.
And then, sometimes, she couldn't be bothered to feel simultaneously ashamed about the slight pain she might cause, and the large annoyance she knew was hiding just beneath her smile. Because gramps had taken it too far this time - what was wrong with a nice bout of the common cold? A persistent case of whooping cough?
"Nope, I just needed to rest for a few days. Thanks for bringing my notes over, I couldn't get through this stuff without it!"
Yuka smiled. "No worries! We're all glad to help out."
And the guilt came trickling back. But there was nothing she could say to assauge it. She couldn't tell her old friends what she was up to, for fear of disbelief or just of ruining the way they saw the world, and she couldn't stop the lies about her health. It was a necessary evil, something to balance out the time she spent running from this reality.
"Alright, well, then I really need to be heading out..." Kagome said, glancing back at the red head who was patiently waiting for her to finish up the interuption.
Yuka followed her gaze with wide eyes, looking over Kurama with a positively enthusiastic look. When she finally turned back to Kagome it was with a playful grin and a wink. "Oh no worries, I can see you're busy. I'll see you in class tomorrow!"
"Ah - " Kagome's protests died on her lips, as Yuka trotted off as quickly as she had come.
It was just after the end of classes today, marking the last day of Kagome's successful mini-mission in which she avoided her friends in any situation that did not constitute an educational swapping of notes. For whatever reason, her grandpa had begun researching diseases for her to contract, that while believable in their berevity and impacts, were coincidentally awful.
As students milled around the courtyard, swapping stories and complaints about the upcoming cold weather, Kagome studiously stared ahead at the spot her friend had just been occupying. It was only a few seconds that passed however, before her newest companion gave into temptation.
"Shut up." She turned around as she heard the first signs of laughter coming out of Kurama's throat.
She walked blithely past him, her shoulders held straight as she led the way to the library - it was Thursday and sure enough he had kept his promise of help. She could hear footsteps falling into line behind her, but when she glanced back around Kurama was still shaking with quiet laughter. He covered his mouth, hiding the mirth that still shone through his gaze.
"Shut up." Kagome repeated, although a small smile was working its way onto her face. "I live a very confusing life, and I don't want to be a truant."
It was either become a student with a bad reputation, like Yusuke, or be the sickly kid that still made the heart-warming attempt to attend classes. She had made, hopefully, the less damaging choice of the two.
Kurama was finally able to drop his hand and give Kagome a straight look. "I understand."
"My grandpa just gets a little too into it sometimes."
"Mhmm."
"I don't even know what half of the diseases are." How could she, when she was missing half of the classes where she might have learnt the term?
"I'm sure." He replied, falling into step beside her.
"Kuramaaa." She whined, and he soon found he could not keep the smile off of his face for long.
He had to ask... "How many diseases have you had?"
Kagome sighed, dropping her shoulders down in a slouch. Too many. "I'd just be guessing, honestly, and if I can help it I don't actually ever ask gramps what I have. I want to remain as blissfully ignorant as possible."
He laughed. He had known she'd missed a lot during her travels, but she had never let on that the only reason the school was so forthcoming in allowing her these absences was because of full on lies. "Fair enough. I'm impressed you can stay in school at all."
She shrugged, straightening up self-consciously as they re-entered the school. The principal had very kindly agreed to let her stay in the main library past regular school hours, and although she had suspected that the pitying look he had sent her way had more to do with her latest illness than her struggling grades, she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.
She repeated something of what she had been telling Botan earlier. "I need to. If I wrote off who I am in this time for who I must be in the past, I wouldn't have either worlds. It's easy to forget some days that indeed this time is mine."
Kurama looked down at the young woman, no older than he in simple human years yet having to undergo experiences that, with all of his memories and melding with Youko's adventures, even he could barely imagine - despite having had the opportunity to hear them first hand from the priestess herself. He knew from her gait that the injuries under her bandage still hindered her, and had to wonder if like that, she bore through resentment and frustration better than most, with a smile tacked on her face.
What he couldn't figure out was if it was foolish or smart of her to attempt such folly.
"It is difficult to pretend to be who you once were." He thought back to her friend, bright and cheery if not a bit oblivious - much like every other girl Kagome's age.
"It is," she said thougthfully "but it's not like I have lost anything that has not been paid back to me twice over."
She looked up at him, the deceptive smile still twined in her features. "Maybe I'm not that girl anymore, but that is not just a bad thing. As much as I'm no longer naive I am also no longer ignorant. As many friends as I've lost the ability to connect to, I've gained real family that I love and trust more than I ever could had we not gone through what we have. It isn't a blessing or a curse, it's just part of the path I'm on."
Kagome was willing to ramble on about these thoughts if only because she knew that Kurama was a curious by nature and had seemed to zero in on her story as his latest interest. It was refreshing too, to be able to talk outloud about something she never thought she would be able to. She couldn't talk with her family and let them know the real horrors that she sometimes had to face, nor could she really discuss the full scope of implications that came with her lifestyle with her friends in the past. They didn't understand her world or what she gave up to be with them, and while they loved her and appreciated the sacrifice, she couldn't talk to them about it. Especially not when they too had lost so much due to this fight.
She laughed to herself softly, pulling both herself and Kurama out of deep thoughts as she glanced up at him. "We were just having this conversation a few nights ago."
"So we were." He murmured. "But I cannot tell if you're being honest or just putting on a good show."
She chose to not take offense with his doubt. "Ultimately that is for you to decide I guess."
Kurama nodded thoughtfully, absently following the brunette as she made her way around the twists and turns of the school. She claimed to be content being on this path of hers - a path that was bound to be filled with much more darkness and terror than any other she could have been on. If Kagome had chosen, like so many others would have, to avoid the well after everything had happen, to shrink from her duties and from the terrifying reality that presented itself to her, then her days could have been filled with small trivialities instead of life and death ones. She probably could've been happy, eventually forgetting about the weird occurrance that had happened when she was fifteen, and perhaps eventually passing it all of as some strange dream.
But why hadn't she? What was it that made this girl, this woman, different? Why was she so willing to fight a battle that did not have to be hers? She had done the proper thing, absolutely, but many in her place would not have. What made her choose the more difficult path?
They walked into the library, the familiar smell of old books and dusty tomes instantly putting Kurama back at ease. Answers would come, slowly but surely, and he knew he should revel in the opportunity for a new challenge rather than rush through the intricacies of it.
They soon found a table in the far back corner, lit by several well placed lamps and the softening daylight. Kagome took a seat across from his, looking up at him from under her eyelashes and smiling pleasently at him. She was always smiling.
"Thank you, again, for doing this." She said.
He nodded. "Thank you for letting me."
Kagome laughed, turning so as to pull out some textbooks as she talked. "I think my constantly being threatened and kidnapped and attacked has turned me into more of a cynic than I was before. That's something that's changed." She did not apologize for it however.
Kurama liked that she refused to bow down to his questions, and that she was willing to stand up for the decisions she made. It was...refreshing.
"Kidnapped?" He could not help but zero in on the this detail. When she and Inuyasha had been telling their story she had left out a lot of the details regarding the manner in which most of their fights were started. He suspected that she was editing for her companion's sake.
"Mhmm, being the weakest in the group has placed a bit of a target on my back. It doesn't help much that I'm female and don't look much like a fighter." She waved off Kurama's furrowed eyebrows and tight face. "Inuyasha always comes for me in the end, and I'm training as much as I can these days."
"So you train while you're on the road?"
Kagome nodded. "If I can. It isn't always realistic however, since we're also fighting a lot and need to preserve our strength."
A thought suddenly came to Kurama, but he pushed it down with reluctance - better to analyze the possibilities later and then see how much of her life the priestess was willing to share.
"Understandable."
She pulled out the final stack of papers, an odd assortment of old exams and reviews that she should have finished but never did. "But we're always working! We plan on being at our very best whenever Naraku chooses to strike next."
He cocked his head at her. "You're being much more forthcoming than I thought you would be, given your reluctance to accept my help."
He couldn't help but point this out, even running the risk of revealing to her how much more of herself she was showing.
Thankfully Kagome just continued to smile placidly. "I thought about it, and as long as we're clear that I'm not some mythical being from a scroll, then there isn't any reason for me to be defensive about my life. You know my story, so I don't have anything big to hide, and I made a choice."
"A choice?"
She hummed a little agreement. "Yup. I'm going to trust you Kurama."
He could not help his answering look, loosing a small slip of control as he gave her a questioning glance. "You're going to trust me."
"I am. In return, I'd really like that you come to trust me as well."
Before he had a chance to pounce on this contigency, a rather clever plan of hers, he thought, Kagome interrupted. "Now, I'm not demanding that you trust me. I won't hold out on answering your questions just because you refuse to answer mine."
He bit back his first statement, curling his tongue inwards until the proper words could come out. "You are just going to trust me?"
She nodded. "I am."
"Even though you know nothing about me, except that I work for Koenma." And that he really wanted to pick apart her thoughts and behaviours concerning her trips to the past.
This time her smile was much more beguiling. "And that you're a kitsune."
"Oh." He said, suddenly catching on. Still, he let her continue.
"So what I'm proposing is that we play a bit of a game." She had grown up these last three years with a small kit in her company, and if there was one thing Kagome was certain about it was that foxes could not resist a challenge of wits.
"And what exactly are the terms of this game?" Kurama asked.
"It's simple. For as much as you want to know about me, I am just as interested in you and your story. For every question you ask I get to request one in return. The first person who refuses to answer loses; there's no time limit on this either, it can go on for months."
She softened her smile at the thoughtful look on her new friend's face. "I meant what I said earlier - I won't hold back talking about my life and my journey just because you don't want to trust me with yours."
"But what I'm suggesting," she continued "is a fair exchange of information. You'll get much more out of me this way. And I'm still willing to answer whatever you ask beyond the scope of the game, but since I am as eager of a player as the next fox, I'll be less likely to avoid answering some of the...let's say, more delicate questions that you might want to ask."
Kurama could not help his answering grin. What a smart woman, choosing to not only accept his honest curiousity, but to take full advantage of it. Clever, clever girl.
He threaded his fingers through one another, resting his chin ontop of them as he placed his elbows on the table. "What are the terms exactly?"
Kagome lifted up her hand, counting the rules on each fingers. "One: A participant gets to ask one question for the other to answer, and refusal to respond on either's part results in a loss. Once the person answers, it becomes their turn to ask a question. Two: There can't be any deception when answering the question, and that's including answers which are purposely vague or misleading. Three: Any questions that the other person chooses to answer after the first one is at their own discretion. Four: There is no time limit on asking questions, but the answer must come within twenty-four hours, or it is a loss."
Kurama raised his head, placing his interlocked fingers down on the table in an attempt to control his burgeoning excitment - he already had the obvious advantage, since he knew the majority of her story. Kagome however knew next to nothing of his. He nodded once, allowing only a small smirk to alight his face. "Your terms are acceptable."
"Perfect!" She exclaimed, much less concerned with keeping a calm facade. "I'll let you go first, since you extended the initial olive branch and offered to help me study."
At the mention of her schoolwork, Kurama shot the several stacks of disused paper a considering look. He nodded slowly, straightening up and pulling a few of the old exams towards him. "Alright, then I will consider my first question carefully."
She smiled. "You do that."
"In the meantime..." he trailed off, holding up her paper so as to bring her elation back to the subject at hand.
"Oh right," she said, her tone much more dejected than it had been before "those."
He laughed. "Allow me the opportunity to prove my olive branch useful."
"A necessary evil I suppose."
He laid the first test down flat, taking in with great strides the large amount of red markings on the page. As if reading his thoughts - or perhaps his face, for Kurama was much less in control than he'd like to be, due to the pleasure he found in his newest pursuit - Kagome drew his attention back with a horrified moan. "Don't get all scared off when you see those."
"I won't." He promised.
"Just remember, I have a very valid reason for doing so poorly."
"You do."
"And also I hate math. A lot."
Kurama chuckled. "I would not base any judgement I have on you off of how you perform in school."
"That's good," she said "because otherwise you'd have a really low opinion of me."
He smiled at her concern, taking a few more of the marked exams out of her hands. As he read over the results - many of which were pretty awful - he grinned to himself. She may not be a bright student, and really who could blame her. She was more often than not absent from classes, and she certainly didn't posess the time to work on such simple things as homework. But she was not dumb. His grin widened and he ducked his head down to hide it.
No, she was proving to be immensely intelligent and playful. A beautiful woman who fought demons and played games and took everything that happened to her with a light heart and a smile. She was definitely more than she gave herself credit for. Why, if he had to pin it down, Kurama would say she was positively kitsune like.
. . . . .
"You barely know the girl."
"I know she is a priestess, and from her story a powerful one. I know you like her."
Kurama sighed. "She is not the enemy, Hiei, just a girl trying to fight a battle that is too big for her."
"So you won't deny that you like her?"
Kurama pulled back a scowl, well aware that the hybrid was simply attempting to get a rise out of him. "I do not like her, I am merely fascinated by her story. You know just as well as I the person she is supposed to become."
Not that she would like him telling Hiei as much - expectations always results in some manner of failure. But it had been about a week since Kagome had left once more for her travels, and he had spent much of this time mulling over the things she had given him. An opportunity for intimate knowledge of her journey, without the fussiness of coraling her into telling him. All he wanted was for his pieces to be in place by the time she returned, so that he could foster the trust she had decided to place in him.
Regardless of whether that trust was deserving or not.
"Hm."
"Hiei."
"I do not fancy an even stronger priestess running around. Especially not one that Koenma likes."
"True," to be fair, typically anyone the young godling favoured right off the bat was someone the rest of the team was sure to find fault in "but think of who she is. Her journey is meant to save our worlds."
"Supposedly." The distinction was important to Hiei.
They were in Kurama's room, which was realistically the largest one in his new apartment. He had bought the place when his mother and step-father had moved out of the old house, knowing that he would need a place of his own eventually anyway. Hiei was, for lack of a better word, curled up in the small alcove beside the window, his disinterested eyes closed to the setting sun. Kurama sat adjacent to him, in a large cushioned chair that was meant to be in the living room. "She claims to hold no ill-will to demonkind."
One red eye cracked open in dull amusement. "She would not state anything to the contrary."
"You think she is lying?"
"Hn."
Kagome was much easier to get answer out of than the koorime was. Kurama thought - although his beliefs were still underdeveloped - that it was a strange mixture of this open disposition and the initial segment of her life being raised by a single-parent family in a shrine with some unique points of view that gave the priestess her position in the world as a supporter of life, without distinctions.
"Did you hear the legend growing up?"
Although Hiei would like to argue that he had been born an adult, forfeiting any time where he was not a 'grown-up', it was a pointless argument. "It was a popular story."
"The clans I grew up in favoured the story, but I always suspected something became lost when adoring wives and mothers recited it to their kin. It was told as more of a story than a myth however, since it had only been several decades since it had happened. How did you hear it?" Kurama asked, green eyes bright.
"You are insufferably curious."
"You don't need to answer if you don't want to."
Hiei scowled - he knew that. But after a moment's pause, during which Kurama had settled to stare into space trailing after whatever thought he was currently possessed by, he spoke. "Some of the younger bandits were fond of telling stories about impossible treasures. It came up then."
"Sometimes her group was talked about in reverence, since they were strong and time only favours the winners. A lot of the time it was told as a warning, for their adversary was nothing but a hanyou who reached for too much."
Kurama dropped his gaze so that he was looking once more at his friend. "Both of those statements are true, in their own right."
"Perhaps. Perhaps her and her companions don't even win." Hiei said.
It was a probability. "Maybe. Or possibly it is your aid that saves them in the final battle."
"You are running out of reasons fox. Why do you request my help at all? The detecive is more than capable of teaching a human wench some combat tricks."
"Yusuke has already agreed to aid Miss Kagome." Even if that only meant he had somehow gotten Genkai's agreement to allow them to practice on her property. "But you are much better at sword work, and I am under the impression that a close combat weapon would be most beneficial to our new friend."
Kurama did believe that Hiei would find Kagome to be one of the less annoying humans he knew, which by the hybrid's standards was a big complement. She had also let it slip that she had been training with a wakizashi, one which she could fill with purified energy, much like her legendary arrows. What a sight that would be. Kurama had not had the chance to see a priestess in action.
"You just want to observe her some more." Hiei pointed out.
The red-head frowned slightly. "That is not a bad thing."
"That obsessively inquisitive nature of yorus will hurt you one day."
"Oh, are you admitting you would care if I got snubbed?" Kurama teased. He knew that the small demon held a soft spot for him, but heavens if he could not help but exploit it from time to time.
"I have better things to do right now." Hiei declared, narrowing his eyes at his friend. "I will consider your proposition, but I won't make a decision until I have a chance to observe her myself."
Kurama knew that the small admission was the best he would get from the koorime. "Thank you Hiei."
With barely more than a passing grunt, the young demon was gone from his perch. Likely to check in on his sister or to perhaps make his way back to the Makai for the evening. In any case, the more Kurama pressured Hiei in one evening, the less likely he would even consider teaching Kagome anything at all.
And for his purposes, it would be best to share a little piece of his puzzle with his friends. The more of the group that Kagome was endeared to, the likelier it was that the priestess would open up to everyone. It had the double benefit of helping her physically and mentally, increasing her chances of surviving what were already very low odds. And then, at the end of the day, Kurama would be able to hear everything directly from her. Short of actual time travel, it was the best possible scenario for him to get the maximum amount of information.
He would entwine her so deeply in this time, that she would have no chance of escape.
. . . . .
It was night time when she returned, but then again, when wasn't this wretched place enshrouded in the dark? The sky bled a constant red and the grounds swirled with lingering miasma at each slow step she took - Naraku probably enjoyed watching the rising sun as much as he would revel in the news she was about to bring.
The certainty of his impending ire caught her between pleasure and fear. As it always did.
With a deft twist of her wrist Kagura unlatched the complicated lock to the hidden door, giving way to the inner sanctum. A long puff of dark mist crept out as she did so. She brought her fan back up to her face, if only to give the illusion of a calm disposition, and perhaps to keep the abrasive stuff from lingering too long, and entered the heart of the castle.
"You've returned."
His voice spoke out into the darkness, and she turned to it. "Yes milord."
"And?"
"It is as you feared," she lowered her eyes, deferring to the man who suddenly appeared in front of her "the priestess is unharmed."
When he had first caught word that the young miko had survived their encounter, appearing no worse for the wear, Naraku had dissolved into a fit of bemused rage. A lot of which involved broken rooms and harsh screams as he drifted around the compound. It was all he could do, Kagura thought rebelliously, since he had been too injured by the priestess to do much else. The wave of purification that had stung the hanyou had left its scent on him, and even the most oblivious of his servants here could see how slow he was healing.
However, this was Naraku, and he was not to be pushed down for long. As his recovery progressed, he demanded to know what had happened - no human would have survived the wound the priestess had gotten. Kagura had been following the shard-hunting group for weeks now, although she could not get too close without one of their members sensing her presence, or smelling the scent of Naraku that pervaded her body. As a result, she had only been able to see them in battle, but that was exactly what she had needed.
"And that was all you discovered, in the time I allowed you to flee from my sight?"
She raised her head finally, annoyed at the threat lingering in his words. There was little moonlight filtering through - although whether that light was real or created, Kagura did not know - but it illuminated the figure before her.
He appeared relaxed, lounging on a tatami mat in the center of the room, his usual robes billowing out beside him. He wore them more fully these days, perhaps to hide the scars that still lingered on his skin; purification was a messy attack. Red eyes stayed trained on her form, and despite her better height she could not help but feel incredible small in his presence.
It infuriated her.
Kagura tightened her grip on the fan, but moved it away from her face. Such tactics did not amuse Naraku, and he appeared to be in an already bad mood. "No milord. I watched them retrieve the shard," she hesitated to tell him this "and it appeared as if it...flew into the girl."
Naraku frowned briefly, narrowing his eyes on her. "She is using the jewel for her own gain?"
Kagura shook her head. "I don't believe so, it looked like an involuntary reaction. She does not appear to be any stronger than before either - the demon you sent them presented a difficult battle."
He nodded. As it should have, for he had scouted out the dimwitted youkai weeks ago solely for his brute strength and regenetative abilities. The only downside to allowing the simpering fools another shard was that he had not been able to absorb the demon himself.
It did not matter that he had lost a piece of the shikon, not when anything less than the whole jewel was useless to him. Besides, he would leave to retrieve what was his soon enough.
His scowl turn on the wind-witch, who could not hold back the shudder she felt under his gaze. "I do not care for your beliefs wench. Leave. I will call for you when you are needed."
Kagura raised her fan once more, likely to hide the grimace that had etched itself onto her face, and bowed out of the room. He could feel her aggravation like a flame, licking at him as she left the compound. One of the more satisfying qualities of her defiance was the amusement it provided, and if there was one thing that could warm his heart it was a woman completely under his control, yet convinced otherwise.
But she was not worth toying with at the moment.
Naraku leaned back, contemplating this information. So, the priestess had absorbed the jewel. That would explain her newfound durability. It was not very often that a mere human, even a half-assed miko, survived an encounter with him where their destruction was his goal. Although more troublesome than before, the bitch had elevated her status from mere hindrance to potential toy.
He pulled out his portion of the sacred jewel from where it rested in the confines of his robes, tapping on the swirling black jewel with tipped claws. What was the advantage of keeping such an incomplete thing in his body? It already gave him the undestroyable quality that made his demise an impossibilty, as well as the freedom to do whatever he willed. He controlled the jewel, not the other way around.
Tucking the piece back in, Naraku decided. It did not matter where his musings led him, he only needed to test out some theories. So what if there was an indestructible miko with his piece of the jewel? Running a finger over the scar that stretched across his chest, Naraku allowed the feeling of intesnse fury to once more rise in him with each breath. It was time. The bitch would pay tenfold for what she had done.
He would retrieve what was rightfully his, even if he had to light a fire on her body and pluck the shikon from her ashes.