As Kagome and Shippo walked – and sometimes rode her bike – according to Sesshoumaru's directions, they encountered only the occasional demon. The first had a jewel shard in it's neck, and was altogether crazed. Kagome drew her arrows quickly and purified the rabid lizard, taking the shard from it's hide.
"You know what Shippo?" Kagome said as she tucked the purified shard from the creature, "I'm beginning to think that it's the jewel's influence that makes the demon's act crazy, not just Naraku's."
"But my Papa had jewel shards, and he wasn't like that," Shippo pointed out.
"Maybe that's because he got them when the jewel had only just been shattered, so they were still fairly pure," Kagome suggested. "I'll bet your father was a really kind, strong demon anyway. The jewel has less influence on the strong willed."
"And when we fought the spider heads back before we met Miroku? They didn't make me crazy when I collected them," Shippo continued.
"Well, I'd been keeping them, and you're a pretty pure soul yourself Shippo," Kagome answered him fondly. "Besides, you only held them, rather than taking them into yourself."
Shippo thought for a moment before he nodded in acceptance of the theories that Kagome had given him to think about.
They were a few miles away from where the thief's camp was supposed to be when another demon with a jewel shard attacked her. This one was a raccoon-dog, much like Miroku's friend Hacchi. As she pulled back her arrow, she told Shippo not to look.
"May you find peace," she told the demon as she took the two tainted jewel shards from it's head, purifying them and standing by as the poor creature dissolved into ashes.
"Your aim has gotten better Kagome," Shippo said quietly. "I don't think he suffered."
"No Shippo, he suffered a great deal, and all because of these," she said, staring down at the now pure and glowing fragments in her hand. "The sooner we get the jewel whole and out of this time, the less humans and demons will suffer because of it."
"Well, I must say, strange for a miko to be so concerned about the welfare of demons," a deep, husky voice said from her left. It sounded pained.
Kagome turned quickly, searching for the source.
"I'm not exactly a traditional miko," Kagome told the voice, still searching.
"There Kagome!" Shippo said, pointing to a flash of silver underneath a bush.
"No closer, if you please. I don't want the concerned miko to do to me what she did to our suffering friend there," the voice said, still pained.
"I have no intention towards such actions," Kagome said.
"Yeah, Kagome's the nicest person in the whole world! She hates having to kill demons, but when they get like that there's nothing else that can really be done!" Shippo yelled vehemently, a growling undertone in his voice.
"A fox kit? Miko, when did you steal this child from his parents? What bindings do you practice upon him?" the unknown speaker demanded, now growling himself, though he could not completely disguise his pain.
"Kagome didn't steal me, and she hasn't put any bindings on me! She helped me avenge my papa's death, even after I stole from her! And Papa used some of the last of his magic to make her my guardian!" Shippo was getting steadily angrier at this unknown voice.
"Well then, such a strange miko," the voice said, chuckling dryly before hissing in pain.
"This is ridiculous," Kagome grumbled, grabbing her first aid kit from the back of her bike and stomping over to the bush. "You can either let me help with your wounds, or you can be stubborn about it and I'll help anyway," she informed the bush before stepping around it to see who the injured demon was. After all, no human was ever concerned with being purified simply because a miko came too close to them.
Kagome almost stopped short at the sight of the wounded demon. He looked to be in about his mid-twenties, though with demons ageing is more than just a little bit deceptive. He was also extremely handsome, shirtless, and quite bloody.
"Hey, you're a fox too!" Shippo exclaimed, his big green eyes nearly popping out of his head.
A silver one, Kagome noted, with ears and tail that probably looked even nicer when they weren't caked with blood and dirt.
"Shippo, can you transform into a bird and scout around? See if you can find a river or a hot spring nearby. I'm going to need more water than I've got handy to wash all that blood off and see what actually needs to be done," Kagome asked her small friend.
"No need, I was already heading towards a hot spring when I collapsed. It's just a couple of minutes that way," the fox said, jerking his head to indicate his left and a bit further on.
Kagome nodded, and Shippo hopped down from her shoulder to transform and help her carry the wounded fox demon. With a masculine arm over a shoulder of each of the two Kagome's, and the real Kagome also leading her bike on the other side, they reached the hot spring in fairly good time considering the stumbling pace, and Shippo changed back into himself as soon as they reached the edge.
Kagome lowered the fox to the ground beside the spring and pulled out a cloth. She wasn't going to just let him get in the spring, that would increase the circulation and in all likelihood cause further blood loss. She intended to make sure he was at least mostly fixed up before she let him get in. Taking the cloth and dipping it in the water, she then proceeded to wash blood off and gently inspect for damage with her powers as she did so. She may have only been an apprentice miko, but she had at least – at last – gotten the hang of healing with her energy. Most of it was just flesh wounds, though they were fairly serious flesh wounds, but he also had a couple of broken ribs, which was dangerous. She sent her energy to heal those first while she continued to clean the blood off his very nicely toned chest and arms.
"That stings," the fox said.
"I'm sorry about that, but it's not going to do anything that's actually harmful,"Kagome answered, moving to rinse the cloth and continue with cleaning the many various cuts and burns to his torso. "Do I even dare ask how you ended up like this?"
"Does the miko care to hear of greedy lords hiring monks to guard their treasures from a thief?" the fox answered. "Half of these would have healed by now if they hadn't come from the holy men."
"I can only guess most monks start their training as enthusiastic, faithful and devoted young apprentices, but most of the monks that I've met are either stupid, proud or both, and sometimes greedy as well," Kagome said, and felt no guilt over describing Miroku as such to the stranger. Finally, she was able to turn her attention to the arrow that had lodged itself in the fox's leg. The shaft was broken, which must have been painful, and it had gone straight through muscle, which was no doubt also quite painful.
"Do you want me to pull it out or would you rather do it yourself?" she asked, hand hovering just above the arrow's tip.
"Give me something to bite down on, I don't even want to watch," the fox answered.
Kagome passed him a stick, waited for him to brace himself, then pulled sharply.
He grunted painfully, and Kagome sent her energy to heal it.
"Damn rich lords, changing their security the day after we did the surveillance of the place. Damn fortune telling priest who warned him. Damn monks and their thrice damned sutras," the fox panted as the wound slowly healed with Kagome's help. "And damn Korunoue for going back for his damn trinket and getting killed for it, even if that is why I managed to get away."
"Kagome! He said bad words!" Shippo yelped.
"Well, he's had a bad time, and lost a friend by the sounds of it," Kagome told the child quietly. "It's times like those that are what the bad words are for. Now, would you like to have a bath Shippo? I think we're all a bit of a mess right now."
Shippo nodded and proceeded to strip down before jumping in with a splash.
"Do you want to bathe now, or did the healing make you tired?" Kagome asked the larger, silver fox demon.
"I'd rather fall asleep in the spring than with my hair and fur in this state," the fox answered, pushing himself up off the ground and shifting so that he had at least his legs in the hot water.
"That is a feeling I completely understand," Kagome said, grabbing her bag and searching out her soap, shampoo and conditioner, comb and towel.
"You know, for a miko, you sure don't seem to mind what I am," the demon said as he slid carefully into the hot water, pants and all.
"Like I said, I'm not exactly a traditional miko," she said, taking off her pleated skirt but leaving on her shirt and tugging her bra carefully out one of the sleeves. She wanted to be clean, but she also didn't want to be exposed. Laying her bow and arrows near the water's edge beside the other things she had already put out, she then slipped into the water, sighing in bliss as the hot water relaxed all her sore muscles.
"Besides, we're actually looking for a thief to ask his help," Shippo added, floating over to them so that Kagome could shampoo his hair for him.
"Oh? Who and why?" the fox asked, his curiosity raised by the innocuous little statement.
"Because I need to steal something back," Kagome answered shortly, before sighing. "I heard about a Yoko Kurama, and that he was the best. I have to get the Shikon no Tama back from a particularly nasty half-demon named Naraku – what he's got of it anyway, since I've been collecting the shards as well."
"The shards have been making whoever has got them go crazy unless they're really powerful," Shippo added. "Because they're becoming tainted and evil. Kagome can purify the jewel though, so it doesn't make demons crazy any more."
"Except with want to get it," Kagome said with a sigh. "It's capable of granting power to whoever holds it, which is what Naraku wants it for – he wants to be some kind of super-demon, probably has world-domination on his short-list of things to do," she explained, before ducking under the water quickly. When she came up, she lathered shampoo into her hair and ducked down again to rinse it out.
"What is that stuff?" the adult silver fox asked the young brown one.
"Kagome calls it shampoo. It gets hair and fur really clean. There's another one she calls conditioner, that makes it all smooth and shiny and the knots come out easy. If you want to try some, I'm sure Kagome wouldn't mind sharing. You have to get your hair wet first though," Shippo explained.
Kagome surfaced again and smiled to herself, eyes closed before she wiped the water from her eyes with her hands.
"Conditioner Shippo?" Kagome asked the kit.
"Kagome, can he try shampoo and conditioner?" Shippo asked, paddling over to her and pointing to their new friend.
"Of course, if he wants to."
"Will you massage it in for him?"
Kagome laughed. "If he wants me to," she answered, looking out the corner of her eye at him. "I'm sorry, I just realised that we hadn't actually introduced ourselves. I'm Kagome Higurashi, but please, just call me Kagome, and this is my adopted son, Shippo."
"I'm the Yoko Kurama," the silver fox answered.
"Wow! Really! So all this time we'd already found who we were looking for!" Shippo said happily.
Kagome blushed slightly and the silver fox laughed gently.
"Yes, so it would seem," he said. "Please, call me Kurama. Those who fear me know me as Yoko, and I think it's a little too late to frighten you. I understand I have to have my hair wet before I use this shampoo?"
Kagome nodded. "If you want to lie back in the water, I'll do all the work for you," she offered.
Kurama obligingly did as suggested, and Kagome got to work cleaning all the blood, dirt and twigs out of his long silver hair, massaging his scalp and being careful of his ears as she did so. She was just about to rinse out the shampoo when a pleased moan gently sighed passed the handsome creature's lips. Taking that as a good sign, she washed the shampoo away in the same manner before reaching for the conditioner and the comb. Two more of those contented moans escaped the thief before Kagome was finished.
"I'd ask if you want me to do your tail too, but Shippo always does that himself, saying it isn't to be touched by anyone but a fox and his mate," Kagome said softly into Kurama's ear, causing it to twitch.
"That's true," Kurama said, lifting himself from the water so that he was upright again. "And as pretty as you are Kagome, and however deliciously talented your hands may be, I don't believe that I know you well enough to let you be that intimate with my person just yet."
Kagome smiled and just turned to squirt a little of the shampoo into Shippo's hands for him to wash his tail with, then offered the same to Kurama.
"Thank you," he said, then began the process himself while he watched Kagome treat her own hair with the conditioner, particularly admiring the way her wet shirt clung to her shapely form while she ran her fingertips and the comb through her thick black tresses.
"So tell me more about this Shikon no Tama, and why you have to retrieve it," Kurama said when he rinsed his tail and was given some conditioner to put through it.
"Well, a centipede demon ripped it from my body, which is why I'm the one who has to get it," Kagome started. "It's actually the soul of an ancient priestess and some demons. They're all trapped inside. Supposedly, if someone makes a pure wish on the jewel, it will purify the souls within the jewel, and they will all be able to move on to the after life or whatever. Naraku wants to taint the jewel, gaining power for himself, spreading insanity, and generally making life miserable for anybody he takes any kind of an interest in."
"How did it come to be inside your body if it is the frozen soul of a priestess fighting demons?"
"Ah well, you see..." Kagome started, scratching her cheek nervously, before explaining about being a reincarnation from the future, about the Bone Eater's Well, the Tree of Ages, and eventually everything else he asked her about.
"I'll help," Kurama said at last. "Stealing from someone so very protective sounds like a fun challenge, and he won't have priests or monks to get in my way."
"Just demons," Kagome pointed out, having talked about that already.
"Demons that can be bested, particularly if we combine your miko powers with Shippo's illusions and my skills. Of course, we will work on all that as we go, and by the time we find this demon, I promise you, you will find it embarrassingly easy to get in and out, and you will have this Shikon no Tama in your hands again," Kurama said.
"I don't know how to thank you," Kagome said, smiling in delighted shock.
Golden eyes glinted at her. "You healed me, and you're working towards the removal of something that is dangerous to demons as well as humans. Maybe in five hundred years, I'll come to visit you at your family's shrine, and ask you to wash my hair again, and perhaps even my tail," Kurama said, whispering the last words into Kagome's ear in a seductive promise that made her shiver, despite being in hot water up to her shoulders. "But we'll see how things turn out first."
Kagome nodded. Basically, she would owe him a big favour, possibly several big favours, and he was free to call them in at any time.
"Besides," Kurama said with a more teasing smile. "I couldn't leave the training of one of my own kind to a miko. He would be sadly under-educated in trickery."
~oOo~
Kurama began training Shippo and Kagome as they travelled back towards the Bone Eater's Well, standing back when rabid, jewel-infected demons or greedy jewel-seeking demons attacked, only interfering when the situation got out of hand for Kagome and Shippo to handle. It helped them to improve their skills, which was something he knew needed to happen, and quickly.
Kagome hopped down the well, a plan for her future now in hand along with the latest jewel shards, and she couldn't wait to tell her mother.
It made sense really. She'd missed so much school due to 'illness', that really she might as well be home-schooled instead. This way, she would be able to keep up with her studies properly even in the feudal era.
Kurama had obligingly suggested that she take a week to get her official documents and social life tidied up, and he would use the time to train Shippo and look for any books on miko training. A few favours would be added to Kagome's tab, but if she got results then she was willing to pay up, even five hundred years in the future.
"So Kagome, how's that two-timing boyfriend of yours?" Eri asked.
"Dead," she answered flatly. "Next question."
Her three friends were stunned for a moment, not sure how to really take that answer. Of all the things they hadn't expected from their absent friend, that was... well, they were in shock.
"What about the guy who declares his undying love for you every time you see him?" Yuka questioned.
"Mercifully absent," Kagome replied, massaging her temples like she had a headache. "But he's got something of mine that I'm going to need back soon, so I'm going to have to smash his hopes some time in the near future." Yes, that's right, Koga still had those jewel shards in his legs. Let her friends think she'd lent him notes or something.
"The guy who asked you to bear his children?" Aya suggested.
"I'm hoping he's come to his senses and realised he's in love with a mutual friend. Haven't seen him for a while either," Kagome said. If Miroku hadn't figured out his feelings for Sango by the time she saw them again, then she was going to shoot him with one of her purifying arrows.
"So you're finally open to going out with Hojo?" Eri said eagerly.
"No."
The three friends blinked in confusion at the flat response before chorusing all together "Why not!"
"One of you date him, he's just not my type," Kagome answered. Looking up from her burger around her friends, she sighed and explained a little. "He's too... blithe, I guess. Too sweetly innocent and pandering. I want someone I can have an interesting conversation with, maybe even a bit of a fight with so that we can make up afterwards. I'll bet he'd be out of breath from running up and down the shrine steps too," she said.
"And you're not? You have practically a million stairs there!" Yuka said.
"I'm not," Kagome confirmed. "Look, grandpa's the one who's got all those illnesses, not me. The only reason I've been in the hospital is because I've been beat up by guys who want a fun time with a cute and unwilling girl. If Hojo can't keep up with me, he sure isn't going to be able to keep up with that, and yes, that's what my two-timing boyfriend helped out with. He usually caught the guys before they got too far with me, and then he'd haul them off to the police. Then there were investigations and court trials. I'm away from school for the whole thing because I didn't want anybody to worry about it. I'm being home schooled now so that I don't have to worry about being caught in the street on my own. Do you guys understand now?"
Three heads nodded, eyes wide.
Kagome sighed deeply. "And you won't go blabbing to the entire school?"
They nodded again, drawing crosses over their hearts and swallowing heavily.
"Thanks guys. I'll be either at home or staying with my new tutor from here on, and she picks me up and drops me back home so I'm not going to have to deal with creeps," best to make it sound like her mother had become paranoid of men that weren't family. "So if I'm not home when you feel like coming to visit, it's probably because I'm at an intense study week or something with her."
"We understand Kagome," Yuka said. "But do you think you'll ever get to date again?"
Kagome shrugged. "Maybe, but probably not for a few months at the very least. The only guys that mother will be letting near the house are going to be family for quite some time, not that we'll be stopping visitors going to the shrine of course."
"Well, try and keep in touch, okay Kagome?"
She nodded. Tomorrow, she was going back to see how Shippo was getting along with Kurama, and maybe, hopefully, get some more training as a miko from the spirit fox as well. She hoped they would be able to get the Shikon no Tama back soon, and if things went really well, possibly kill Naraku as well.
~oOo~