Sorry this chapter is a day late - my little sister needed to go to hospital. Hope you all enjoy this chapter, and another should be up later today!
"Why am I staying in the cave? If these panther youkai are as bad as you say, then surely the safest place would be with you! I can stay out of the way." Kagome decided to excercise caution, and not tell the youkai she was stuck with about her spiritual abilities. She had learned her lesson from Kouga, thank you very much! "Besides, I have a bow! I can fight too, you know!"
"While this one appreciates the offer, and agrees that, upon further reflection, with me is the most secure place, a bow will not do much good against Konomi - that is, the leader of the youkai I have been sent to destroy." He looked at her, evaluating her silently. His gaze flickered from her worn yet well cared-for bow to the callouses on her fingers left from years of practice. "But an archer would be useful against the lower-level beasts she controls."
Kagome bounced in place. Finally, she would be able to do something, even if she had decided to hide her spiritual abilities for now. This meant that they had an ace in the hole that Arashi knew nothing about if everything went badly.
"It is too dark to begin hunting again now, so it is better to ensure we are well-rested in preparation for tomorrow."
Kagome agreed, and after saying a quick goodnight, let slumber overtake her, exausted from the long day she'd had.
As the new day dawned, Kagome and Arashi were already well on their way out to track Konomi, leader of the fearsome panther youkai clan which had been terrorizing the area.
Kagome didn't recognize the forest outside of the cave, and realized anew that returning home was probably going to take a lot of work. Besides that, she had a feeling that there was something she needed to do here, the same feeling which had led her to return to Feudal Japan when Inuyasha had first barged into her home.
She couldn't sense any Shikon jewel shards, which meant that this must be before the time of Midoriko, before the jewel was created. She breathed a sigh of relief that she had left the jewel shards the Inutachi had collected with Inuyasha for safekeeping while she was in her own time.
As the sun rose higher and higher into the now-blue sky, Kagome ventured a , "So, as we're stuck together for the forseeable future, what's your favorite colour?"
"Blue." A puzzled looking Arashi put forward. "Although, what this has relevance to I am uncertain."
"It's a getting-to-know-you kind of thing! My favorite colour is pink. Now, you ask a question!"
"Pink, like the blossoms you were named for. Fitting. Very well, this one shall make an attempt. What is your favorite food, Sakura-san? I prefer sashimi."
"Now you're getting the hang of it! I like dumplings. Okay, do you have any brothers or sisters? I have a younger brother, Souta."
"This one has three older brothers. Sesshoumaru is the eldest, and heir to father's estate. Natsuo is second-eldest, and Raijin is the youngest, mysself excluded."
Kagome's mind was in a whirl. Sesshoumaru had more than one brother, one of whom was this kind individual? That she managed to run into someone related to Sesshoumaru in the first place was stunning, but a brother she had never heard of? Inuyasha had never mentioned that he had more than one brother, but using Sesshoumaru as the measure, he probably wasn't that close to any of his half-siblings, and knowing Inuyasha, he wasn't the most open about his family. He probably just didn't see the point in telling people.