Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, Prince of Tennis or any of its characters.

New Beginnings
[15] Remnants of a Spider

"You are positive that it was Naraku's aura?"

Kagome bit her knuckle, "For the last time, Sesshomaru. Yes!" She almost rolled her eyes. She spent a year of her life hunting down the half-demon, there was no way she could have mistaken his aura for someone else's.

"You did not confront him?"

"No, of course not," she replied quickly. "We're in public. Miroku said that since he hasn't confronted us yet, we should just carry on like before, pretending that we didn't notice anything." She sighed and leaned against the tree behind her. "Beside, he's in the middle of a tennis game."

Silence. Then:

"Tennis match," Sesshomaru repeated slowly, sounding distant even through the phone. "Naraku has lowered himself so far that he is playing a game of tennis?"

Kagome groaned. "He just has Naraku's aura. I'm not even sure it's him. He certainly doesn't look anything like Naraku."

"Naraku is an entity that is made up of multiple low-class demons," Sesshomaru reminded. "He can look however he wishes to look."

Kagome groaned again. "Damn. I forgot about that." She closed her eyes, allowing herself a moment to relax. "Besides… didn't we kill him?" She was pretty sure that her final arrow had completely purified the half demon. She had put so much purification energy into her last arrow that not even dust was left of the man.

"Your friends have been… reincarnated and even remember their past lives, do they not?"

"But I thought Naraku was in the past! We have to defeat the witch now or something. Or deal with the return of demons. I don't know!" She sighed heavily. "The point is, Naraku should just be a distant memory."

"Perhaps he has been reincarnated?"

Kagome wanted to throw the cell phone in frustration but didn't think her cousin would appreciate that. "I doubt that." She picked up a nearby twig and poked the earth with it. "I'm Kikyo's reincarnation, aren't I? And we have different auras."

Sesshomaru thought the fact over. "Did you sense the jewel on him?"

"Nope."

"Assuming that the witch made a false jewel, would you even be able to sense it?"

"Well," Kagome said, remembering. "Inuyasha and I have fought demons before that had a dozen of fake jewels and I was able to sense those so I don't see why not."

Sesshomaru was silent for a moment. "If he is Naraku, killing him would be simple if he lacks the jewel. Nevertheless, do not confront him without me."

"Yes sir," she muttered, knowing a Sesshomaru-dismissal when she heard one. She was not the least bit surprised when she found herself listening to the dial tone without a proper goodbye from the demon lord. Well, who was she to complain? At least she had the demon lord on her side. She couldn't imagine facing Naraku again without him. Or Inuyasha, Kagome thought grimly. That asshole was still in the states.

With a sigh, she got up from her seat and slowly made her way back towards the observatory bench. She slid into her seat quietly and exchanged glances with Miroku and Sango. "Sesshomaru says to wait," she whispered softly.

Miroku nodded his understanding. He held up his hand and wiggled his fingers. "Let's try not to panic. I don't think it's him."

Kagome stared at his palm and sighed. "I certainly hope you're right," she muttered.

For the first time since her arrival at the tennis courts, she turned her complete attention towards the tennis match ignoring both her cousin and his captain's questioning gaze directed her way. And while she didn't know exactly what was going on, she could see that Sasabe—Naraku, or whatever his name was-wasn't an average tennis player. Then again, so far, Tezuka, Momoshiro and even that Atobe guy had demonic energy running through their bodies.

Kagome sighed, wondering just what was going on in the world. Was everyone slowly turning into demons? Or was this a tennis player thing? Sesshomaru had a point though, if Sasabe was Naraku… what was he doing playing tennis? Unless he was the same as Miroku and Sango and she needed to say his name in order for him to remember. She shuddered at the thought.

Kagome was forced out of her thoughts when she felt a warm hand rest on her shoulder. She turned around, catching the worried gaze of her cousin. "I'm fine," she murmured. "I'll tell you later."

He made a small humming noise in the back of his throat but nodded once and returned his attention back to the match. Kagome knew that he was still worried though; she had always been the older sister figure and didn't remember the last time she had shown fear in front of either Ryoma or Sota. But just the thought that Naraku might be in the modern world was sending shivers down her spine. She didn't waste a year of her life attempting to save Japan only to have to postpone its impending destruction.

"Ah!" she could help but exclaim in surprise as Sasabe forced the tennis back over the net. It was a rather slow attack since she could clearly see the yellow ball but it seemed to flutter across the air as if it was some sort of fly. Could one even do that with tennis balls? Or was this a human with demonic energy type of thing?

"That's Sasabe's signature move," Inui explained, sensing her shock. "Saimyosho."

"Eh?" she cried out, snapping her head towards him, making a cracking sound. She almost winced at the sound and Tezuka looked at her worriedly. "Saimyosho?" she repeated, her voice horrified.

Inui nodded. "Hell wasps," he elaborated.

Slowly, Kagome turned her attention back to the match, feeling both Sango and Miroku shift closer to her. She linked her hands with both her friends, gripping them for support and swallowed when Sasabe turned his attention towards the audience after scoring a point.

His gaze caught Kagome's and he smiled in her direction.

Kagome held back a shiver. She didn't have a good feeling about this.

Tezuka found himself watching Higurashi (when doesn't he, nowadays?). She had been acting weird since the beginning of the match, ignoring even Adobe—Tezuka didn't think that was actually possible, even Echizen had trouble ignoring the man. She was currently exchanging words with her two friends in low whispers. Whatever they were talking about, they wanted to keep it to themselves, as they have distanced themselves from everyone.

"That was a very good match," Higurashi said as she and her friends made their way back towards the group. "It went a lot faster than Ryoma made me think it would go."

"Che."

"It would have taken a lot longer if Sasabe's power shots had not caught his opponent by surprise," Inui inputted, pushing up his glasses.

Higurashi smiled sweetly and she turned her attention to the lanky second-year. "Oh yes! You did a very good job too Sasabe-kun." And while her expression was sweet and her words nice, Tezuka couldn't help but shiver at the dangerous light that was obviously lurking just beneath the surface of her large blue eyes.

"Thank you Lady Kagome," Sasabe answered with a smile, surprising everyone because Sasabe was even less talkative than Tezuka was. The fact that he didn't just nod in her direction and walk off was amazing. "I did not expect to hear those words come out of your mouth."

She instantly froze.

Then her smile dropped, her expression hardened and she was the girl that had made the target explode, the girl that had put that one senior in her place in Mythology, the girl that despite her smiles and large, innocent sky-blue eyes, had wisdom, secrets and danger lurking just beneath the surface. Her two friends immediately stepped forward, angling their bodies as if to defend her in case Sasabe decided to get violent.

No one had any idea what was going on but they knew that whatever was going on was a lot more serious than any of them could imagine. They didn't dare interrupt, not wanting to add to the tension in the air. Then much to Tezuka's surprise, Higurashi broke out in a giggle. "Only Miroku ever calls me Lady Kagome, it's sort of weird hearing it from someone else." She smiled at him.

They eyed each other for a few seconds and then Higurashi turned her attention away and went to her cousin's side. "Are we going home now?" she asked happily, her smile a bit too bright.

"Aah," Echizen nodded.

More than one person breathed a sigh of relief as Echizen, his cousin and her friends began making their way away from the group and back towards the bus. Tezuka frowned, slightly, looked towards Sasabe who was staring at Higurashi's retreating form with a look in his eyes that made Tezuka worry slightly for the girl. Despite being on the same team with the man for the past two years, Tezuka knew nothing about the man.

The team slowly made their way back to their bus (Atobe boarded on his own, thank god—Tezuka really didn't need the additional headache—and the ride back to the school was a lot quieter than before. Echizen, for the first time since Tezuka could remember was awake the entire ride. Tezuka caught him glancing worriedly at his cousin more than once. Then when Fuji caught him looking at Echizen, Tezuka cleared his throat, pushed up his glasses and returned his attention to his book.

It really wasn't his business, Tezuka reminded himself. Whatever was going on between Echizen and Higurashi and Higurashi and Sasabe had nothing to do with him. And curious as he was about the subject, he had no right to press the issue.

The ride back seemed to take longer—must be the tension in the air—and the entire group, minus a couple people, (which really consisted only of Higurashi and her friends) breathed a sigh of relief. Tezuka bid everyone farewell after a few parting words and made his way into the school so he could plan for the next match (which was only a week away—best not drop his guard).

Tezuka rubbed the bridge of his nose as he sat down by his usual window seat in the empty classroom. This is the last time I'm going to think about this, he decided at last. He had no time to worry about Higurashi, Echizen and their problems. Right now, he was trying to bring get his team qualified for the High School Nationals—which was a hell of a lot more competitive than the junior high one.

He got out his timesheet and his pencil and was just about to begin planning when voices, just outside his window caught his ear. Tezuka would have ignored it but then realized that it was Higurashi and Sasabe's voice he was hearing.

He debated with himself for a moment or so and then sighed; Tezuka placed his pencil down and got up from the seat. He slowly made his way towards the window and looked out, catching sight of Echizen, Higurashi, her two friends and Sasabe.

"Who are you?" Higurashi demanded, her voice cold in a way Tezuka has never heard before. And here he was, thinking that she was frightening before.

Sasabe smirked in a way Tezuka had never seen. "Not who you think I am," he answered vaguely.

Higurashi narrowed her eyes and made her way towards him despite the protest of her friends, only stopping when she was directly in front of him. "Who are you?" she repeated.

Sasabe sighed and began unbuttoning his shirt. With a shrug, his shirt fell of his shoulder and he turned around, revealing a spider-shaped scar on his back. Tezuka's eyes widened; why had he not seen this all those time that Sasabe had changed in the locker rooms. "Can you guess?" he asked, turning around to show her his scar.

Higurashi took her step back and her friends a step forward. "I killed him," she said, making Tezuka blink in confusion. "He died."

"Yes," Sasabe confirmed. "But I did not."

"I don't… remember you."

"You wouldn't," Sasabe confirmed. "When father had the jewel, he was so obsessed with it that his soul had more or less merged with it. So when you killed him, you killed his current body and half his soul. The other half—me—remained in the jewel. And you know that you can't ever completely purify the jewel, so I remained."

Tezuka felt his head spin in confusion as he tried to process the information. Something about purification and a jewel. More importantly, apparently Higurashi had killed someone? Sasabe's father? And they were utterly calm about it? He wondered if they knew he was eavesdropping and was just playing a trick on him. He hoped so.

"I-I got rid of it," Higurashi cried out. "It was in my hands and then I told it to cease its existence and it disappeared. Disappeared!"

"Yes," he agreed. "And then a witch pulled us out."

"What?" she shrieked. "No, no! That can't just happen. I didn't spend a year of my life going around—"

Without warning, Sasabe grabbed Higurashi by her wrists, twirled her around and pushed her up against the fence behind him. "You stupid, foolish priestess. Instead of worrying about that, why don't you concentrate more on the fact that a witch had manage to pull the Jewel of Four Souls back into existence?"

Tezuka's eyes widened at the display of violence that Sasabe was displaying. Before anyone could pull the two of them apart though, there was a crackle in the air, pink sparks of what appeared to be lightning seemed to dance around Higurashi—and he wasn't imagining it this time—and Sasabe pulled back with a yelp.

Higurashi grabbed a fistful of his shirt, which was now hanging loose and open and yanked Sasabe towards her until their faces were inches apart. "Touch me again and I will give you a taste of exactly the agony Naraku went through in his final moments," she hissed. "Do I make myself clear?"

Even at his distance, Tezuka knew that she wasn't joking. He couldn't believe he was worried about her before. The one he should be worried about, he realized, was Sasabe. Higurashi could handle herself just fine.

"There it is," Sasabe said with a feral grin as he pulled back and rubbed his hands together. "I was wondering what happened to the spitfire."

Higurashi glared at him.

"I want to see the woman that stood up against a thousand enemies and held her ground. I want to see the woman who isn't afraid to stain her hands with blood, who isn't afraid to kill, and who isn't afraid to save someone that hates her kind. So when you are fully become Lady Kagome, Holy Priestess, Guardian of the Shikon Jewel, gather your remaining lackeys and then come find me." He began buttoning his shirt and gave her friends a quick glance. "Make it quick, I won't last long."

"What does that mean?" she asked, frowning.

"Come find me when you're ready," Sasabe said, beginning to walk away, "and I will tell you everything."

Tezuka blinked, slightly dazed, unsure of what to make of the conversation he had just overheard. Jewel of Four Souls; hadn't he heard that somewhere before? Their conversation had literally made zero sense to him. Higurashi had apparently killed Sasabe's father who seemed to be more than fine with it. More importantly, what was the sparks that he had seen dancing across Higurashi's skin? Tezuka tapped his pencil against his chin and then blinked in shock, remembering that he was supposed to be planning for their next match, not listing to some story about demons and jewels and—

He almost gasped.

The Shikon Jewel, or the Jewel of Four Souls, it was a large part of their first unit in Mythology. He tilted his head in confusion, were they talking about a play? A game? Before he could give it further thought, however, someone knocked on the door to the classroom efficiently making him jump in surprise.

Tezuka looked up, his grip immediately tightened around his pencil. "Come in," he said curtly.

The figure walked in slowly, tall and lanky. Tezuka narrowed his eyes, hiding his surprise. "Sasabe."

"Ryoma?" Rinko called out softly, knocking on the door to his bedroom.

He grunted in answer, enjoying the soft glow of his lamp light and the weight of Karupin sitting on his chest.

The door opened a crack and Rinko poked her head through it. "Your friend's here to see you."

Ryoma turned his head towards his mother and give her a flat look. When she returned his gaze with one of his own, Ryoma huffed and rolled over in his bed, pulling his cat with him despite his protests. "I don't want to," he said, his words muffled by his blankets.

Rinko sighed. "It's your tennis captain," she said. "What happens if it's important?"

That caught Ryoma's ear. He sat up in surprise, still holding onto his cat. "Buchou?" he repeated. What could Buchou possibly want with him? Ryoma groaned and forced himself—and Karupin—out of bed, following his mother across the hall and down the stairs. He hoped Buchou wasn't here to ask him about Kagome and Sasabe.

By the time he made his way down into the living room, his mother had already made sure Buchou was comfortable, sitting in the largest sofa they had to offer and had a cup of hot tea in his hands. Tezuka stood up the moment Ryoma stepped foot into the room. "Echizen," Tezuka greeted.

Ryoma stared at him. "Buchou," he murmured. Ryoma inched his way towards the towering man and took a seat across from him on the long couch. He waited.

"I want to know exactly what's going on," Tezuka said firmly.

Ryoma winched and shifted Karupin in his arms. He sighed and rubbed the cat underneath the chin making her purr loudly. "I can't really say…"

"Echizen," Tezuka said with a glare. Ryoma recognized it as a glare that promised laps. "Whatever happened between Higurashi and Sasabe made me lose a regular today."

Ryoma's eyes widened. "Sasabe-senpai quit?"

Tezuka nodded in confirmation. He held up his arm, showing Echizen the charm that Kagome had made for him. "I refrained myself from asking since it was not my business but the moment Sasabe quit due to an exchange between him and your cousin, it became my business." He paused as if for effect. "And I want to know exactly what's going on.