AUTHOR'S CORNER:
Thanks for all the awesome reviews! Not enough time to address some of them, but I wanted to get a chapter up today! Let me know what you all think!
Chapter 9
They hadn't been able to practice that day because they had no sword for Kagome to use. Toujikin would have possessed her the moment she laid finger on the hilt and Tenseiga was a healing sword, not a fighting sword. Her grandfather however had been quick to say he had several in the shrine they could choose from the following day. Great, Kagome thought. Instead of helping me get out of this, everyone else thinks it's a great idea. Kagome huffed to herself.
She had actually gone to school that day. Most of her makeup work had been finished and she felt it would be wise as well to show up since her friends has seen her in perfect health at the mall with Sesshomaru. The poor girl had been bombarded with questions ever since she stepped foot on the school grounds. It was finally close to the end of the school day and she ignored her friend's incessant questions and wondered what Sesshomaru was doing.
Her grandfather had said he would take the demon around the shrine partly to pick out a sword, but also partly just to keep the demon busy while she was out. Her mother was cleaning that day and Souta was at school, so that left her grandfather. She hoped he wasn't annoying the demon lord too much. A snicker escaped her, no, she hoped he WAS annoying the stoic demon. It would serve him right.
"And what, Higurashi, is so funny? If my calculus lesson is so amusing to you perhaps you'd like to come up front and demonstrate this equation to the class," her teacher asked from the front of the class, leaning on the corner of his desk and staring at her over his glasses in annoyance.
Kagome gulped from her seat and rose slowly. Damn him! Stupid dog demon gets me in trouble even when he's not even around! She thought sourly as she headed sullenly to the front of the class.
Finally the last bell rang and Kagome leapt from her seat. She darted down the halls quickly partly to avoid anymore annoying questions and pressure for information from her friends and partly because she wanted to get home and make sure everything was alright.
Eri called to her from down the hall but she pretended not to hear and nearly jogged out the large glass doors at the front of the school and walked as quickly as she could toward the school yard's gate. She was almost home free when she her heart sank at the jingle of a bike bell.
"Higurashi!" she didn't even have to turn to know who the voice and the bell belonged to, but she slowed and turned anyways, stifling a sigh.
"Hi, Hojo," the upperclassman on the bike slowed to a stop next to her with a concerned look plastered all over his boyish face.
"How have you been, Higurashi? Your grandfather said you had rheumatitis and that we couldn't visit you, you've been out for quite some time." Oh boy. Grandfather needed to keep his illnesses straight. Kagome couldn't help but compare the poor boy unfairly to a certain tall, silver haired demon. Hojo was average in height, a little tall for his age with short brown hair, brown eyes and normal, tan tinted skin. All in all, he was normal looking. Sesshomaru was anything but normal and only words like exquisite would suit him. Her attention snapped back to Hojo who had continued talking while she spaced out.
"… and I thought that you'd like to come with me to the opening, it would be a lot of fun and most everyone is going to be there," he continued on oblivious to her inattention.
"Wait, what?" Hojo looked at her oddly.
"I said a new nightclub has opened in town and I was asking if you'd like to come out with me to the opening. Are you sure you're over your illness, Higurashi? You look a little pale…" Kagome interrupted him with a dismissive wave of her hand, thinking quickly.
"I'm fine, but I uh… I've uh… I'm going with someone else. I wish you had asked me sooner, Hojo," she said with what she hoped was convincing regret in her voice.
"Oh," he said somewhat dejectedly, "is it that guy that everyone saw you at the mall with? The one with all the tattoos and weird hair?" Kagome nearly fell over. She stuttered.
"Oh, um… uh… he's… uh…"
"You know people like that tend to be gang members and it sounds like he could be like a gang leader or something. You shouldn't hang out with people like that; they'll get you in trouble. So anyways, I guess I'll at least see you there then right?" Kagome nodded dumbly because she was too angry to say anything else. How dare he insult Sesshomaru when he's never even met him before! That's MY job! She waved goodbye to Hojo and turned and ran toward her house.
Kagome hadn't realized so many people had seen her at the mall with him. Or at least hadn't thought that her friends would spread something like that all around school. She'd have to call them and ask what was going on. On the way home she realized what she'd inadvertently done. Now she would have to make an appearance at the night club on opening night because she was sure other people had over heard her conversation and would be expecting her to show up with this mystery guy.
Oh no, she groaned inwardly as she reached the shrine steps and bounded up them, how am I going to explain all this to Sesshomaru and then convince him to go and not kill everyone around. I don't think he's going to understand the concept of a night club. Reaching the top she jogged across the yard and into the house, taking the stairs to her room two at a time.
Kagome had just set her things down on her desk and had begun sorting through her nightly work when the door slammed open nearly making her jump out of her skin. With a startled "eep!" she whirled around and faced the door. Sesshomaru stood there filling the entire doorway wearing a different pair of altered workout clothes from the ones he had on yesterday and a flush rose in her cheeks as he assessed her appearance.
"Miko, that will not do as a training outfit. Put on something more suitable. You will meet me outside in five minutes or I will come and get you regardless of if you're ready or not," with that he left and shut the door. Kagome leaned on her desk for a moment still breathing hard from her scare, then she began to get angry. Fuming she stormed around her room, removing her school uniform and changing into more "suitable training clothes" the whole time insulting the infuriating demon under her breath.
Sesshomaru stood outside in the courtyard with both his swords sheathed at his side waiting for her. He could hear her clearly since her window was open and he smirked at some of the creative insults she came up with for him. The demon had been bored out of his mind all day, but he was accustomed to such boredom. He bore it in silence and endured her grandfather's incessant babbling and history lessons, most of which he knew were wrong because he had actually lived through the event and knew first hand. The only positive result of his day was that he managed to find a suitable weapon for the woman to train with, though he knew that would not be seen as positive by the woman in question.
The lord was absolutely sure that Kagome secretly enjoyed the fact that she had doomed him to a day of complete mind numbing boredom with her grandfather while she was gone and he was determined to get her back for it. He would make sure it was thoroughly ingrained in her that she was not to cross him or subject him to treatment like that again and he nearly grinned in anticipation of the fun he would soon be having. Though momentarily his mouth creased downward slightly in a frown; he would have to make sure he didn't actually kill the girl. Oh, killing her was no problem and he could do it with no regrets in a heartbeat, bring her back with Tenseiga and kill her again. That might teach the girl a lesson, but he couldn't do that with her mother around. That would have to wait until either he was sure she wouldn't be home or they had a chance to visit the feudal era again.
Looking up at her window he knew the five minutes were past being up and he was starting to get irritated. He detected her scent still in the room, but he couldn't detect any movement. Leaping gracefully to perch in her window, he found her sitting on her bed with her arms crossed looking angrily at the window as if she'd been expecting him.
"I will not be treated like some servant who's beneath you. You will not order me around and you will STOP calling me miko!" he dropped into the window and stepped toward her menacingly.
"You will do well to hold your tongue and be polite in my presence," his voice dropped lower and sounded like silk over steel, "do you wish a repeat of yesterday?" he asked taking another step forward. Kagome held her ground, though she was still sitting.
"You don't scare me and I don't care what you do to me. You will not treat me like I'm some slave in your employ that you can order around at will!" unexpectedly he lunged at her. Kagome gasped and threw her hands over her head, a barrier flew up around her and stopped his attack. The demon growled ferally and shattered the shield in a show of force. Kagome took his momentary distraction to dash for the door, but she didn't make it half way. She felt a clawed hand grab her from behind by her shoulder and slam her into the wall. Before she could even yelp out at the impact she was being yanked again. When she had a second to suck in breath she found herself tucked under the arm of a very angry demon who was currently leaping out the window of her room.
She felt him touch down in the courtyard and then was dumped unceremoniously on the hard stone ground, emitting a yelp as her rump made a rough impact. Her eyes traveled up the expanse of demon looming over her until she found his face and she glared at him hard. He just continued staring down at her coldly. Saying nothing he suddenly dropped something hard and metal into her lap, not caring if he hurt her and turned his back on her, moving a few paces away.
Kagome winced as the hard metal struck her on her thighs and looked down, her breath hitched in her throat slightly. In her lap was an old but beautiful katana. The hilt was made of an intertwining pearly white silk or similar material for it looked tougher and easier to grip than silk. The pommel and hilt were a shiny silver that caught the light and reflected it back in dazzling arrays. Her eyes traveled down the sheath which was lined in that same pearly silk material, it seemed to have subtle pastel colors reflecting through it, a little like a prism. Gripping the hilt gingerly, she pulled it gently and it slid easily from the sheath with the high pitched sound of metal against metal as it slid free. The blade was magnificent. Lighter than she had originally anticipated, the blade was almost a soft metallic blue color instead of the harsh iridescent silver of the pommel and the hilt. What most caught her attention about the blade however were the tiny runes she saw etched all along the blood groove. She recognized a few of them as holy symbols, but the others she couldn't seem to make out or recognize.
Looking up in confusion she saw Sesshomaru watching her as she explored the katana. He had been surprisingly silent through her examination and now she looked at him questioningly.
"Where did you find this? Sesshomaru stared at her for a moment.
"Your grandfather gave me the pleasure of his history lessons today, half of which are wrong I might add, and finally gave me the chance to peruse the arsenal of swords he had stashed away. That one," he pointed at the naked blade she still held, "was in the bottom of a chest way in the back of the storage room and he had not even known it was there." Kagome looked back down at the sword wonderingly. She had no idea such a beautiful weapon had been stashed back there.
"I hope, miko that even with your untrained powers, you have recognized the fact that the blade you hold was created for a miko to use. The sword itself holds holy power," Kagome glared up at the demon at his comment on her training, but in examining the sword she realized she felt a familiar hum through her hand, as if the hilt itself was exuding holy energy and her own were responding.
Suddenly it occurred to her that something didn't sound right with his explanation and she looked up at him questioningly.
"Wait, miko's don't use swords. They use a bow or a staff if need be, but mostly the weapon a miko uses when pressed is a bow and arrow. Why would a miko have a sword made specifically for her use?" she asked tilting her head to the side and studying the demon still standing before her.
"Obviously this miko decided she had need of a sword and she was an ancestor of yours, so it is only fitting that you use the sword as your own. Besides, Midoriko used a sword as well and she was a miko. She even wore armor if you will recall," Sesshomaru said haughtily as if these were things she should have known. Honestly, she admitted to herself, they were things she did know, but had forgotten.
Cringing at her own stupidity, she sheathed the sword and got to her feet. Gingerly she tied the white cord around her waist in imitation of how Sesshomaru had Tōkijin around his own waist then looked up at her new mentor.
"Now if you are quite finished fooling around, we will finally begin," Sesshomaru said still looking down his nose at her even though she was standing. It didn't help that Kagome only came up to the youkai's chest when standing at her full height. Great, she thought sarcastically, this is gonna be fun.
The rest of the afternoon was spent learning stances, how to hold the katana properly, using the right hand to hold it and the left as simply a guide on the hilt, and learning basic swings. They practiced for at least two hours straight, the light of the setting sun warming their sides as Sesshomaru taught her and corrected her.
Sesshomaru was particularly hard on her because shortly after they began he realized she was a natural with a sword and picked up things not quite as quickly as he had when he was first learning, but close. He increased the pace of their lessons and was a brutal task master. Before they were finished he had her learning how to defend against attacks that he would bring against her.
Kagome was in the middle of trying to read a new attack by Sesshomaru and block it. Just as the demon lunged at her she brought her sword up to defend and…
"HIGURASHI!" her head snapped around in alarm and she missed blocking Sesshomaru's blade. She felt steel bite into her right wrist and cried out. Whirling back to face Sesshomaru she was met by a pair of angry molten gold pools.
"Never take your eyes off your adversary," he growled, she looked down at her wrist and then at Tōkijin. The demon blade had the barest hint of blood along one edge and her wrist sported a nice long but shallow gash on the top of her hand and a short distance up her forearm.
Within seconds before her astonished eyes, the little bit of blood on the edge of Tōkijin was tainted completely black by its evil nature and almost looked like it was absorbed into the blade, feeding on her miko blood.
Just then, the one person she hoped not to see came bounding up the stairs with a package wrapped in colorful paper cradled between his hands. Kagome quickly sheathed her sword and slid her injured hand behind her back, though she could feel the blood running down her wrist and fingers. There would be no opportunity to heal it until he was gone as the glow was sure to be noticed.
"Hi, Hojo," she said turning to him and squinting against the setting sun as he approached, "was there something you needed?" He stopped in front of her with an apologetic look on his face.
"Well, I thought you didn't look very well in school today and that you might need something to help you finish recovering so I brought you this," he finished handing the brightly wrapped package to her. Kagome took it with a dull smile.
"Oh, thank you Hojo, that was nice of you," she said with a dismissive smile, hoping he would take the hint and leave. No such luck, he noticed Sesshomaru standing behind her at that moment. He looked from Kagome to Sesshomaru and back again as if just noticing she was wearing shorts and a t-shirt and that they both possessed swords. Sesshomaru continued to hold Tōkijin which glinted in the setting sunlight and stared coldly at the intruder.
Instantly Hojo recognized Sesshomaru from the descriptions he'd heard flying around school. He had assumed they were exaggerating, but now he could see it was actually opposite, things were worse than he thought. There was no way he could compete with someone like that. Sesshomaru was tall and obviously well muscled. Though he'd been working out his pale skin was porcelain and fine, accentuating his unusual "tattoos" and his knee length silver hair looked silky and perfect. Not a single blemish to be seen, save for the fact the man appeared to be missing his left arm from the bicep down. Hojo cleared his throat and turned back to Kagome.
"I didn't know you had taken up learning swordsmanship, when did that happen?" he asked trying to keep the jealousy out of his voice. Hojo felt like he'd been punched in the gut. He'd been after Kagome to date him for a long time and she never really seemed interested in men, until now that is.
"Oh, well, just recently actually," Kagome shifted from foot to foot, blood pooled in her palm as she tried to keep it from dripping on the ground. The wound was really beginning to sting and she wished Hojo would just leave. "I figured the exercise would be good for me after being sick so long, you know. But Sesshomaru-sama and I were in the middle of a lesson, so I guess I'll see you later?" she asked hoping to get him to leave. Hojo looked at her disappointedly.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt anything," he bowed curtly and quickly to Sesshomaru before turning to leave, "but I'll definitely see you in a few nights! Reserve a dance for me!" he said waving as he started down the stairs. Kagome winced and waved with her left hand, the present tucked under her arm before letting out a heavy sigh of relief. Sesshomaru's deep voice directly behind her startled her.
"Who was that and what dance was he talking about?" the demon asked looking down at her. Kagome shifted nervously making a big fuss out of her wound instead of looking at him.
"Oh, nothing… just this… thing that's going on in a few nights, it's nothing though really," she started to head into the house when a firm hand on her shoulder stopped her.
"I do not like it when people lie to me, but I will let it go for now since we are not done training," Kagome's shoulders sagged.
"But I need to take care of this," she said motioning to her arm but Sesshomaru was shaking his head before she had finished.
"The consequences of your mistake are no excuse to get out of training. It is not a bad wound so we will continue." He stepped a few paces away and resumed his position. Kagome sighed again and brought her sword up. This was going to be a long few days.
When they had finished their training session, Kagome was covered in sweat and her entire arm was caked in dried blood. The limb shook slightly as she sheathed her sword and headed toward the house, mentally cursing the fact that Sesshomaru had ever come home with her.
Sesshomaru sheathed his sword as well when a sudden thought occurred to him, he had a question that he had wanted Kagome to answer the day before and her conversation with that Hojo character had reminded him.
"Miko," Kagome turned wearily not even bothering to correct him, "what does everyone mean by 'you've been sick for so long?' People around you keep saying that. I was under the impression you had been in my era and that you have been in good health." Kagome sighed and leaned on the door frame chewing her lip distractedly.
"Well, people here don't really know about the properties of the well or my travels back and forth through time. The first time I left my mom didn't know what had happened to me, so instead of worrying my teachers, she simply told them I was out sick. Ever since then, whenever the school calls to see if I'm out sick again, my grandfather will make up another sickness for me to have contracted. That way I can be absent quite a bit but still be able to attend school." Sesshomaru stood there while she explained and was honestly amused; he had not expected to hear that. He didn't know what he had expected, but it wasn't that!
"Hnh," he said and turned away to pick up Tenseiga. Kagome sighed heavily and turned inside. Sometimes that man really infuriated and confused her.