Summary

She doesn't like it when people assume that she is weak. Miroku enlightens Renji and Byakuya on a little information on their secretive new recruit.

A/N: Time for another moment. And a surprisingly quick update! Please enjoy!

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"Let me just start with a quote from you, Captain. 'Barely defend herself' my ass!" Renji hissed, staring wide-eyed at the scene in front of the two men.

"... I retract that statement," Byakuya replied faintly. Really though, if he hadn't seen this with his own eyes he wouldn't have believed it. Eight grown men were on the ground in various states of semi-consciousness with Kagome standing over them as she cheerfully dusted off a young girl that was obviously a noble.

"I see you're causing a commotion as usual, Kagome," Miroku sighed, sidling up to the two girls and leaning down to check over the younger one, "Are you all right, young lady?" She huffed and glared up at him.

"Of course I am! This kind shinigami was more than enough help to get rid of these ruffians for me," the blonde girl replied, turning adoring eyes up to the priestess, "My thanks to you, Shinigami-chan! You have truly done my family justice by keeping me safe. As a reward, I will allow you to continue to protect me when my guards are unable to." Kagome stared wide-eyed at the girl, spluttering in shock.

"I-I'm sorry, but I was just trying to help! I can't protect you all the time! I've got a squad I'm pretty devoted to!" the dark-haired girl stuttered, turning pleading blue eyes onto her Captain suddenly. Byakuya swallowed quietly, unsure if he would even be able to properly respond with the way she way looking at him.

"Nonsense! You did a fine job just now! Your squad will be happy to let me patronize you for your excellent work!"

"Well... You'd have to take that up with Captain Kuchiki," Kagome countered quietly, hoping that the girl would just drop the subject. Instead, she turned wide green eyes at her.

"You work for Byakuya-sama? Well, that explains why you are so skilled! He must be informed immediately!"

"You... know Captain Kuchiki?" the priestess asked faintly, reaching over and unconsciously clutching the front of Miroku's robes. Her Captain didn't fail to notice the gesture, and he restrained the urge to smack the monk out of habit. Byakuya came to an epiphany a few seconds later; one that he wasn't really sure how to go about dealing with.

'I do not like her clinging to other men.' He'd never had to worry about jealousy when he'd been with Hisana. She'd been completely devoted to him and him her. It was an all-together eye-opening experience to realize that he wished for Kagome to come to him only when she had problems. 'I have no prior claim to the girl. There is no need for such a ridiculous reaction.'

Still...

"Monk, cease your coddling. Higurashi, explain what, exactly, has transpired here." The commands were sharp and the reactions were immediate. Kagome snapped to attention out of reflex, Renji twitched in preparation, and Miroku jerked away instinctively from the two girls. Rurichiyo, however, had stars in her eyes as she daintily bowed to the noble.

"Lord Kuchiki, I humbly request permission to keep this shinigami." Kagome twitched and sent a tiny glare at the little girl. What was she now? A pet?

"I apologize, Lady Rurichiyo, but Higurashi is vital to my squad's integrity. I'm afraid I simply couldn't allow such a thing," Byakuya replied serenely, despite the incredulous looks the other three people sent him. Renji choked, trying to hold back the urge to suddenly laugh, and instead turned away to cough loudly. Kagome stared at her superior in obvious confusion, and opened her mouth to ask a question.

Miroku, meanwhile, smirked in a knowing fashion. Byakuya ignored the smug monk and bowed slightly to the small noble. "Now, I believe we have intruded on you long enough. As it is, your guards are just-!"

"Lady Rurichiyo!" Two shinigami skidded around the corner, panting for air and looking extremely worried. The moment they spotted the small girl, they rushed to her, bowling over Renji in the process. "What were you thinking, running off like that? You mustn't do that!" The larger one nodded vigorously as he looked the little girl over.

"-There," Byakuya finished after he'd been interrupted. While the much younger noble was being questioned, he reached over and took Kagome's wrist in his hand and tugging her away from the ensuing argument. Miroku follow by default, wishing to be away from the noise, and happy to go anywhere the priestess was headed to. They were out of the line of fire a few moments, and several streets away, later.

"Now, Higurashi. What have you learned today?" Byakuya asked in an almost teasing tone. Kagome sent him a deadpan look and huffed loudly.

"Don't help nobles. They'll think your some kind of stray animal that they can just collar and take home with them. Like a demented pet," she mumbled, flushing the moment she realized that her Captain still had a hold of her. "You can let go now, Captain!"

He dropped her wrist like it was on fire. "Good. Now explain yourself."

"You see, I was minding my own business-!"

"I doubt that," Miroku and Renji grumbled, getting elbows to their guts from Kagome for that.

"-and I stopped in that tea shop there. That girl ran in, obviously scared out of her mind, and headed straight for one of the back rooms. I stopped her and asked her if she was okay. That was when those guys showed up. Apparently, they were hired thugs trying to hurt her when she got separated from her guards. I didn't like the fact that they were picking on a little girl, and they didn't like that I was defending her, so they attacked me. I beat them up for such a stupid move. You don't attack someone that wears a shihakusho. That's just moronic."

"All... by yourself?" Renji wheezed, rubbing his stomach and watching as Kagome rounded on him. With that scary look on her face, he could imagine that she had taken on all those men. She let him off the hook, though, when she merely huffed angrily and stomped away, muttering under her breath about sexism and chauvanists.

"You must be warned of one thing, Lieutenant Abarai," Miroku muttered, straightening finally after he recovered from the blow he'd been dealt, "When Kagome is upset, angry, emotionally charged in any protective way, she is extaordinarily strong. Even in life she was that way, and with the superior strength she now possesses as a shinigami, you would do well not to direct her wrath at you. Ever." It would only end painfully.

"It seems that you have offended her before," Byakuya surmised, pinning the monk with a cold look and resting his hand on the hilt of his sword, "If this is a recent offense..." He let his words trail off deliberately, the painful meaning behind them perfectly clear to the already abused man.

"No, sir, milord. I have yet to turn her ire at me in any way recently." Miroku decided he would keep that last time he'd groped the priestess to himself, for safety reasons to the public surrounding them, of course.

"... See to it that it remains in such a way." Satisfied that his words were heeded, he relaxed and started to catch up to Kagome. Renji, meanwhile, swallowed at the absolutely chilly atmosphere that had descended around them.

"You really know how to piss Captain Kuchiki off, don't you, monk?"

"Believe me, I have no concept of how to not irritate your officer," Miroku sighed, jingling his staff habitually and running a hand through his hair carelessly, "It seems that anything my old friend does is sensitive to him."

The redhead nodded, tilting his head in curiosity. He wondered if Rukia knew about this recent development in her icy brother.

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A/N: Kagome kicks ass when she's pissed off. It gets the better of her sometimes, but we'll see more of that infamous temper of hers and in more detail than I've done justice in this chapter. Think explosions. Yeah. Explosions.

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