Trap of Darkness

A/N: Welcome back to Trap of Darkness. Thank you to all you readers that have read the story so far. Thank you to all who have favorited, followed and reviewed. A special thanks to LADY SILVERFOX charita rai for leaving your comments on each chapter. I know you know that LADY SILVERFOX charita rai is a cohort of this story with me, but she likes to provide ideas to add to the story and leaves me with editing the chapters. So yes, the chapters are as much a surprise to her as they are to everybody else.

I'm sure you've noticed how the speech setup had been changed in the last chapter, and that was because it was mainly Japanese orientated. I hope this helps clear up some confusion.

Well, on with the story. Enjoy reading and don't forget to leave a review. Thanks!

For a little head's up:

'Japanese'

'English'

Thoughts

Nine

A loud blaring sound jostled Akemi out of sleep. Jasmine groaned and flipped onto her other side, ignoring the sound. Kagome and Rin cuddled against each other. Sango woke with a groan, brown eyes blinking up at the yōkai who slammed a hand on the alarm clock in frustration. Running a hand through her dishevelled blonde hair, Akemi eyed the blaring numbers that read 7:06.

'Why couldn't it have been Friday yesterday?' she pondered to herself.

Sango smiled and got to her feet. 'At least you can enjoy a weekend,' she commented, pulling the bobble out of her hair and running the brush through it as she sat at the vanity mirror. 'I've got to help Miroku with any cases that come through.'

'I forgot you're a taijiya,' Akemi said running her own brush through her hair. 'Plus you've been punished to work with that lecherous monk.' She looked at Sango quizzically. 'How is he even a monk?'

'He was born into it,' she answered tying her hair into a high ponytail. 'His father was a monk, and so was his grandfather. It's something that runs in the family. Well, that's what he told me, and I've got no reason not to take his word for it.'

The sadness on Sango's face was enough for Akemi to understand the unsaid words.

'Monks, priestesses, taijiya, even other yōkai, death is the result when fighting for peace. It's harsh, both the life and me saying it, but it's the end result that is expected for those in such professions. Not many respect them, but they should. They sacrifice themselves for the greater good. And I'm sure Miroku's father was an amazing man,' Akemi said smiling.

Sango smiled and nodded her head in agreement. 'I have no doubt of that.' She sighed. 'I just can't explain why he's such a playboy. He goes after every good looking woman.'

'Has he tried it on you?'

Sango shook her head. 'I'm not pretty enough.'

Akemi smirked. 'Are you kidding me? You're absolutely beautiful.'

Sango smiled at her, not knowing why she was looking at her with a knowing look. 'Thanks, Akemi. But I'm obviously not a looker.'

'You really like him, don't you?'

'W-what?' Sango questioned flushing scarlet, jumping in her seat, startled at her sudden question.

'Well?' Akemi persisted.

'I d-don't know what you're talking about,' she stammered out not looking her in the eyes.

'You can't fool me, Sango. You not only like him, but you've fallen deep.'

Sango's face darkened in colour. 'J-just don't tell anyone.'

Akemi stood behind her and hugged the girl around the neck, peering at her in the mirror. 'Your secret's safe with me. Just know that if you need to talk to someone, anyone, I'm here for you.'

'Thank you, Akemi.'

'It's what friends are for,' Akemi said stepping away and grabbing her towel. 'You might want to tell these three at some point,' she said poking Jasmine with her foot. 'They're your friends too, you know. I'm sure they'd do anything for you.'

Sango smiled and nodded. 'I will, but not yet.'

'I'm grabbing a quick shower. You might want to wake them up. With only forty-five minutes to get ready, I'm sure they want as much time as possible to prepare.'

Sango groaned. 'Kagome and Rin take forever to get ready,' she readily agreed.

Akemi shrugged. 'It's what makeup, dressing to impress, and wanting to smell fabulous does to you. Makes you more slut-like in my opinion.'

Sango chuckled before going over to wake the girls.

Akemi went into the bathroom and discovered five showers lining the left wall, each with their own drain. On the right-hand side was a large onsen that could fit ten people. Rather than going for the modern look, they had gone with a natural look. The onsen was ringed with large immovable stones set into the nonslip tiled floor. There were five stools stacked against the wall beside the door on the left side, meaning that the shower area doubled as a rinse area before getting into the onsen. The back wall had vent-like windows that were set high up the wall to reduce the risk of peeping toms.

Akemi showered quickly, using shampoo, conditioner and body wash to get rid of any lingered sweat and smell. She squeezed out all the water from her hair and then wrapped her body in the towel. Grabbing her dirty clothes, she entered the bedroom to discover the other girls now awake with only thirty-two minutes left until school.

Kagome and Rin rushed into the bathroom, not even bothering to close the door behind them.

Heck, they were all girls, who cared?

'You look positively radiant,' Jasmine commented, turning to her English language for more complex sentences. It was strange she could now perfectly understand Japanese but had not yet perfected speaking it. Must be a djinn's ability. 'Any particular reason?'

'Five showers and a massive hot spring for a bathtub? Who can argue with that?' Akemi replied beaming.

'How did we get a hot spring on the top floor?' she asked perplexed.

The yōkai shrugged her shoulders and picked out a set of clothes from the walk-in wardrobe that the girls had to share. They had separated it into five sections so that they didn't get it confused. She quickly dressed, pulling a pair of black combat jeans and a red spaghetti strapped top that exposed her stomach. Once dressed, she towel dried her hair and then ran her brush through it. The ends curled into loose ringlets while the rest contained a strong weave to it that showed she had naturally wavy hair. Standing in front of the large vanity mirror, that the five girls could use without having to push the others out of the way, Akemi brushed the top half of her hair back and braided it, tying the end off with her own hair rather than a bobble.

Once finished, Akemi smiled at the twins who were now dressed in tank tops and skirts.

Kagome was dressed in a pink top and a frilly purple skirt. Rin wore the opposite, purple top and pink frilly skirt. They kept their own hairstyles, Kagome's was left down while Rin had a portion of hers pulled into a side ponytail.

Jasmine left the bathroom fully dressed, drying her hair on a small towel. She was dressed in a pair of form fitting faded blue jeans and an oversized black top, that read 'Nothing To See Here', that could double as a nightie. She brushed all of her hair over to the right side, letting all of it fall in front of her left side. She gave it a bit of a ruffle before declaring herself ready.

Sango was the last to finish after finishing applying her eyeshadow. Getting to her feet revealed that she was dressed in a pink crop top and dark blue jeans. She looked at the time and smiled.

'With fifteen minutes to spare, I have to say that's a record for us,' she said.

'Well, let's not dillydally. I'd rather have this day over and done with,' Akemi said.

'She want to sleep,' Jasmine said, grinning at herself for getting better with the language, but still needing a lot of work.

Kagome clapped her hands happily. 'You're getting better, Jasmine!'

Rin nodded in agreement. 'You're a really fast learner. Soon you'll be able to speak perfect Japanese.'

Jasmine beamed in pride.

'Don't let it get to your head,' Akemi whispered to her friend. 'I understand it's part of your species nature, but it could prove to be fatal. So just be careful.'

Jasmine nodded. 'It won't.'

'Sango-nee, will you be heading straight to Inu Ind. after school?' Rin asked her eldest sister as the five of them left their room, locking the door behind them.

Sango nodded. 'I'll be working with Miroku.'

Rin looked confused.

'It's my punishment, as well as his, for not stopping the fight,' the taijiya explained.

'Ah! I remember now! Kagome-nee's being taken to Inu Ind. to be tested. Inuyasha-sama's escorting her,' Rin said smiling.

Sango looked at Kagome. 'That's what Inu no Taishō-sama gave you as punishment?'

Kagome nodded. 'He said he could sense reiryoku in me and that I'm to be tested appropriately. Inuyasha's my escort.'

She didn't sound happy about who was to be escorting her.

'What's matter?' Jasmine asked Kagome, gently touching her friend on the shoulder to show that she was there for her.

Kagome smiled at her. 'Inuyasha's such a child! How he managed to be head of security at Inu Ind. is a miracle! And his attitude! Urgh, he's the most irresponsible, immature, unbearable idiot! Why do I have to be escorted around by a ruffian like him?'

Akemi laughed. 'Someone's in love.'

Kagome blushed. 'I am not!' she denied strongly.

'Deny too strongly,' Jasmine commented making Kagome's blush darken. 'What for breakfast?'

'We slept through it,' Sango answered.

'Damnit,' Jasmine cursed. 'What we do for food?'

'We can go to the cafeteria at break and grab something. I'm sure the dinner ladies will let us.'

'They've done it before,' Kagome said.

'We usually sleep through breakfast. Because of that they've allowed students to grab a late breakfast at break time,' Rin said, much to Jasmine's gratefulness.

'You've just introduced her to heaven, Rin,' Akemi said, smiling at the look on Jasmine's face.

'Is she…imagining what food she's going to eat?' Sango asked the yōkai.

Akemi chuckled. 'Yeah. Jasmine, you're drooling.'

'No I'm not!' she said, cheeks flushed in embarrassment. She wiped her chin and actually found it dry. 'Hey!' she said in protest, as Akemi was now laughing, knowing that the yōkai had tricked her.

'Girls, we better hurry or we going to be late,' Sango said after checking her watch.

'Can't we skip it?' Akemi asked, having the sudden need to be surrounded by her pack.

Rin looked over at Akemi. 'Is everything alright, Akemi-chan?'

Akemi tried smiling reassuringly at her. 'I'm fine.'

'Are you missing someone?' Rin asked, bypassing the yōkai's false words.

Akemi blinked in surprise at her. 'You're quite sensitive, aren't you? I'm just missing my pack is all.'

'Where did pack go?' Jasmine asked.

'They were here?' Kagome asked, panicked and delighted.

Akemi chuckled. 'They wouldn't harm you, Kagome. And yes, they're here.'

'I'm going to have to ask you to elaborate later, right now, run! We're going to be late!' Sango said grabbing Kagome's hand and running towards the school.

Kagome had grabbed Rin's hand, who grabbed Akemi who grabbed Jasmine. With Sango leading and dragging them, the five burst through the doors and raced through the school hallways.

Tōga-ō stood in front of the classroom, next to the teacher that was almost pissing himself, waiting for five females to make an appearance before he could make the announcement. He had long since folded his arms, tapping a finger against his arm as the seconds passed into minutes. He knew that the Higurashi sisters often woke up late and got to class a little after the bell, but he had not expected Akemi to be late considering her upbringing. Perhaps placing her, and Jasmine, in the same room as the Higurashi sisters was a bad idea. Their tardiness was already rubbing off on them. If he didn't see an improvement in that, he'll have no choice but to put the two with Kagura and Kikyō. Their room was the only one that had spare beds. He didn't want to do that considering how they don't get along.

Tōga-ō could see that his sons were put off with him being there. Sesshōmaru looked uncaring, but he could see the slight downshift of his eyebrows and the narrowing of his eyes. He knew that Sesshōmaru was not happy with him being there. Inuyasha, on the other hand, was more panicked. It was clear with the way he was acting that he thought he was there to keep an eye on him. As if he, the King of Japan, had time to sit around a classroom keeping an eye on a bunch of rambunctious teens. Given that some were adults, Tōga-ō did not have the time to keep them out of trouble. He was only filling in the headmaster's spot until he came back, but he was still dealing with his own duties. Adding another duty, on top of everything else he had to deal with, would only overpressure him.

The door slid open with a slap and the five girls entered the room just before the second bell rang.

Tōga-ō turned to them.

'You're just on time,' he said startling all but Akemi. 'Take your seats,' he said before any of them could apologise.

He waited until the five shuffled into their seats, Kagome next to Inuyasha with Kikyō on his other side, Sango behind Miroku, Rin behind Sango, Jasmine behind Inuyasha who was four seats away from the back, and Akemi behind Jasmine but in front of Sesshōmaru, who sat beside Kagura. Kikyō's flirting face shifted into a sneer as Kagome took her seat. Kagome, doing the right thing, ignored her completely, which angered her further. Kagura, who was flashing Sesshōmaru her breasts in her low cut top, sized Jasmine with disgust. Jasmine pretended to not see her. And when Akemi sat in front of his eldest son, Kagura's reaction was instantaneous. She lunged out of her seat, reaching to grab her long hair.

Tōga-ō was surprised to suddenly see Akemi move so fast and slam Kagura's face into her desk and then threw her to the back of the room. She then retook her seat and crossed her arms, looking straight out the window with a thunderous look on her face.

'You bitch!' Kagura seethed, getting to her feet.

'Kagura, sit down!' Tōga-ō ordered.

'Did you see what she did?!' she screeched, blood dripping from her nose.

'You instigated it,' he said, his voice low and dangerous.

She shuddered under his intense glare.

'I'm putting you in isolation for a week,' he announced.

'What?!' she snapped. 'She's the dangerous one!'

'No, you are. You're incapable of controlling yourself, therefore making you more dangerous. Akemi could have done a whole lot more to you, but didn't. She had many opportunities to kill you but hasn't.' Although that would save a whole lot of trouble for me, he thought while seeing the murderous intentions in Kagura's red eyes.

'It's not fair that you're not punishing that bitch for breaking Kagura's nose!' Kikyō spoke up, glaring at Akemi.

Better yet, add Kikyō to that list too, Tōga-ō thought heavily. 'Akemi.'

Hearing Tōga-ō calling to her, Akemi looked at him, green eyes lacking any emotion whatsoever.

'For as long as you attend this school, you'll be participating in morning exercises to reduce your energy levels. If you keep reacting with such force, you're going to end up killing someone, and I will have to isolate you.' I need to avoid that as much as possible. 'Every morning and evening or night, you'll be sparring with Sesshōmaru.'

Akemi's eyes narrowed as her anger surfaced.

'That's an order,' Tōga-ō interrupted just as she opened her mouth to argue.

'I know he used to train every morning, but I doubt that he still does that after seven hundred years,' Akemi said.

Does she have any idea how she just released a piece of Sesshōmaru's and her past history? Tōga-ō thought, eyeing Kagura's and Kikyō's reactions carefully.

They were both surprised, but Kagura was shell-shocked. It appears that she had no idea that Akemi had any kind of history with Sesshōmaru before yesterday.

Tōga-ō found himself looking at Jasmine, who was too busy looking out the window. He had seen how she had exchanged a look with Akemi when she revealed that information, but she didn't look overly bothered by it. She didn't even look surprised. Did she know that the pair shared a past? Just how much did Akemi tell her?

'Now then, as for the reason why I'm here,' he said after Kagura had finally took her seat. 'In a few months' time I'll be hosting a ball in celebration of the school's success rate.' The class began to get excited, but when Tōga-ō cleared his throat, everyone quietened instantly. 'I'm only telling this class because you all have the tendency to believe you're above your teachers. Well, I'm warning you in advance, any misplaced behaviour will land you confined to your dorms for the duration of the ball. Is that understood?'

'Yes sir!' most of the class chorused as one.

Tōga-ō looked to Jasmine to see her reaction to his news. He couldn't really identify the expression on her face. Rather than standing there looking like a fool for staring at her, he nodded once at the teacher, looked at her one last time and left the room. Instantly, he heard the class erupted into noise. He cringed at the sound. Shaking his head in disappointment, he had the feeling that he'll be confining a few to their rooms for the ball. It wasn't something he wanted to do, but those who misbehave could not be trusted around a roomful of outside clients who have come to see the school's progress.

He had no choice but to be there. What was he going to do about a dance partner? Regardless of whether or not he chose one, the women would seek him out to dance with him, if only to try to gain his favour into bedding him or coupling with him. He didn't want to go, but it was not an option. He was going to have to avoid the female crowd as much as possible.

At least there was one thing he got out of announcing it. Both Sesshōmaru and Inuyasha were not happy. They'd be as uncomfortable as he would be.

Word meanings

Taijiya – slayer

Onsen – hot spring

Nee - sister

Sama – lord/lady depending on the gender