Miko Upgrade - Chapter 5

Kagome was lead away from the hospital and towards a tall red building which seemed to be at the centre of the city, everything in this place seemed strange to Kagome and this building was no different with stairs winding around it. The young miko followed her guards in utter silence only wishing she had something besides a thin medical dress to wear but she assumed her kimono had been discarded since it was destroyed anyway. Thankfully no one paid her a lot of attention as they walked, bar a few who stopped to talk to either of the teens, Kagome waited patiently at these times not even thinking about escape until she found herself ushered into a small, empty, grey room with a single chair and nothing else.

At this point Kagome became extremely wary and began noting the lack of escape routes, forcefully calming herself the young miko followed the pink haired teen to the chair where she was then told to sit. Kagome passively did as she was told proceeding to fold her hands in her lap and await further instructions but none were forthcoming as the pair left the room all together. Kagome heard the solid thump of a bolt falling into place as she was left alone in the morose room.

Time passed but nothing changed, a few times Kagome swore she heard voices on the other side of the door but no one entered the painfully dull room where Kagome amused herself by pacing, sitting, whistling, and watching a very persistent moth attack the single bulb which flooded the room with artificial light. When the bolt was finally pushed aside with a clunk Kagome was swinging back on the wooden chair, whistling while watching the moth all at the same time; at the noise the extremely bored miko stopped swinging and turned her attention to the door which stayed closed a good three minutes after the removal of the bolt before a large man with scars on his face entered with a scowl which Kagome suspected was a permanent fixture on the man's disfigured visage.

The man approached Kagome but the miko just gazed at him emotionlessly, she wasn't even shocked by his appearance but then the girl had seen much worse over the years she'd spent traversing feudal era Japan. The scarred man glared at Kagome who met his glower with a slightly patronizing smile, she'd been stuck in a grey room for an unknown amount of hours, alone and bored out of her mind so there was no way she was going to be cooperative right now. The man growled and began asking Kagome questions which she promptly ignored instead she began examining her nails wishing for a nailfile, the stubborn Miko was unaffected by the hostile man's words, threats or general demeanour, sure he was a damn mean bastard yet he had no idea what she had been through.

Years of war and pain had taught Kagome to keep her mouth shut, being around Naraku and demons day in day out had taught her not to be afraid, and dealing with Inuyasha every minute of those days taught her to be steadfast in her decisions, regardless of how the other party may huff and puff. Kagome had completely zoned out and wasn't even listening to her interrogator anymore, she could easily tell that he was not used to being ignored and so he was getting extremely agitated. When the door opened and another man entered the room the large man walked over with a gruff 'humph' and Kagome watched the pair. This new man had long blonde hair and looked to be roughly middle aged; he looked far more gentle then the other man yet something cold lingered in his eyes.

Kagome listened to the men converse in hushed whispers as though she couldn't hear but when she heard the large man growl that he'd tried everything she couldn't help but call out. "You never said please!" both men turned to look at her one shocked the other furious.

"I'll take care of it Ibiki" said the blonde man walking back to the door, grabbing a chair that appeared to have been waiting on the other side of the door, then approaching Kagome. The large man shook his head and left the room locking the bolt behind him, leaving Kagome alone with the blonde man who had proceeded to place his chair in front of Kagome's then sit facing her.

The young miko smiled and waited for the inevitable barrage of questions, she felt more inclined to talk to this man who wasn't trying to scare or threaten her into talking.

"There aren't many people who can remain unaffected while Ibiki Morino attempt to question them" the blonde stated seemingly at ease but not expecting a response

"There aren't many people that can scare me… besides I don't like being threatened" Kagome commented taking the blonde off guard

"It appears so, are you going to answer my questions?" he queried suspiciously

"I don't see any reason not to now that someone is actually trying to talk to me" at the man's confused look Kagome elaborated "After being stuck in a room like this for a number of hours, bored while wearing nothing but a hospital dress you would be disagreeable too!" The man let out a bark of laughter that threw Kagome off balance slightly; she didn't think it was funny.

"I can see why you'd be disinclined to cooperate; now I was told your name was Kagome Higurashi is that right?" Kagome nodded and the man continued. "Where are you from?" This was a question Kagome had been wondering how to answer since she had a strong feeling she was neither the feudal era nor the future anymore despite the fact that these people spoke her language… or maybe it was she that spoke theirs.

"I move around a lot" Kagome said with a shrug, this wasn't exactly untrue but at her. obvious evasion the man seemed untrusting again. "Look I don't really know where I am. I just kind of turned up at that town, got attacked and ran, if you let me go I'll leave"

"We can't do that until we can verify your story but we can't do that until you tell us a story." The man persisted much like the moth that still flew above them.

"Any story I tell you I doubt you'd believe. Can I ask you a question?" Kagome ventured looking down at her clasped hands when no answer came she decided to simply voice her concerns. "Is that boy doing alright? The one I hurt?" At the man's nod Kagome heaved a sigh of relief "I never meant to hurt him but I suppose that doesn't matter… could you tell him that I'm sorry?" Kagome looked deeply into pupil-less eyes until the man once again nodded.

When the man left the only real information he had gained was confirmation of her name because there was little else Kagome could tell him without being declared insane.