Disclaimer: Inuyasha and all things involved belong to Rumiko Takashi. Nor do I own anything with a brand name (I.e. Nissan, GTA, etc.)
A/N: So I fixed embarrassing typos in chapter one. I'm having computer issues, so I'm typing on my phone/tablet for this story and my other story, "Playing Hero" is on my computer so I digress. This chapter got kinda lengthy and very informative, so I cut off the rest I had planned. Not much action, just easing ya'll in with some background info because it's necessary for a plot, I hsrd. Also, I should have mentioned before but I wil be using English spelling/words for everything. I.e. The names will not have a "u" if they usually do, I won't use "miko", "hanyou", "youkai", "tajiya", etc. That's usually just how I write, I don't like throwing in the random Japanese words, besides their names. Also my last names aren't creative. I love reading your reviews! I will answer them now, and please feel free to read my profile, where I will try to post info on my stories. Now even my note is long. Enjoy. All feedback appreciated. Cheers.
A wild eyed girl stomped down the same hallway in a similar fashion as Sango had just two hours earlier. Kagome snorted as she recalled Manten's kind suggestion of dragging her in by her hair.
"Since you want to act like a child, you should be treated like one," he had sneered. She rolled her eyes at the memory, glaring daggers at the back of said demon in front of her.
"Settle down." Kagome glanced over her shoulder at Hiten walking just a couple feet away behind her. "Just cut the crap and we won't have to do this every week."
Her eyes narrowed and she faced forward, glowering at his brothers' back again.
'Easy for you to say. No one's been following you around for the last six months.'
Manten opened the conference room door and shoved her in. She stumbled, caught off guard but gathering her wits enough to swing around and send a right hook flying. He dodged and grabbed her arm, twisting it painfully.
His large eyes narrowed at her as she bit back a groan. "You're gunna get yourself in trouble one day, little girl. Big trouble."
He released her arm with an extra push, sending her back a few steps. He turned and left without a glance back, Hiten following suit.
Only after the door slammed shut did she wince and rub her arm. She sighed and threw herself in the nearest chair.
Glancing around, Kagome noted happily that there wasn't a one-way mirror in this room like most of the others.
She also noted a yellow post-it with hurried writing stuck on the table. Picking it up before she could stop herself, she read aloud, "Escort to ceremony? Must get along or else."
The girl blinked twice. "What the actual f-"
Kagome jumped about a foot in the air when the door slammed open and revealed a very angry looking Sango. She winced, offering a weak, "I like your shoes."
The older girl stomped in and sat next to her with a flourish. "Let's cut to the chase, no pun intended. What the fuck were you thinking today? And you should like them. They're yours. I borrowed them a year ago."
Kagome gasped, holding her hand over her heart. "I've been looking for those!"
Sango's eyes had narrowed to focus on the very familiar post-it crumpled between her friend-slash-pain-in-the-ass' hand. "What's that?"
"Ummmm..." She grabbed the paper before Kagome could finish, flushing as she read it and quickly stuffed it in her bra.
Kagome blinked and opened her mouth to ask why she knew what it was when the door slammed open again.
Their heads whipped around to see an angry Hiten and Manten filing in with a haggard but slightly sheepish Miroku behind them.
She idly wondered how the walls and doors in the building could handle the abuse they took daily from all the ill-tempered employees running around, as Sango jumped up in an outrage.
"What the fuck are you still doing here?"
Miroku appeared in front of her, hands coming to her shoulders. "Now, dear, the boys just wanted to talk to you about ..."
"About why the fuck we've been fired!" Manten roared, angrily smoothing his three wispy hairs. Kagome gagged but tried to stay silent, gauging that Sango wouldn't find it quite as humorous in such a foul state of mind.
"Um, probably because you can't KEEP A SEVENTEEN YEAR OLD FROM TAKING A JOY RIDE DOWN MAIN STREET!"
Miroku made cutting motions with his hand as Kagome attempt to interject with a "It's my car, you know..."
Sango ignored them and got in the angry demons' face. "I fired you because you two have your head so far up your own asses that you couldn't tell that a teenage girl, who has been complaining about security detail every second, was planning to make an escape. In. A. Fucking. MALL!"
Manten's hairs went askew comically as his ex-boss bellowed the last part in his face. His eyes rolled upwards as he felt them move before narrowing at the woman in front of him.
"You are lucky my hairs are unharmed. Watch your back, slayer. Next time, you may not be so lucky."
Her eyes narrowed back.
"Are you threatening me?"
Hiten opened the door, side glancing her as he said, "Consider it a promise. This isn't the last of us." His long, black braid swished as he stomped out of the room. Manten sneered and followed.
Pausing at the doorway, he half-turned to Kagome. She met his gaze unwaveringly. He held the contact for several long moments, before sneering and slamming the door behind him.
Kagome couldn't help the shiver that went down her spine. The noise died down and the three were left in silence, with their minds working over the actions from the last ten minutes.
Miroku sighed, causing both girls to turn to him. "So, who wants fro-yo?"
Kagome sighed as Sango continued to lecture her. It was always the same talk, too. She kept saying how they were just trying to protect her and if she could make their lives a little easier, everything would go smoothly and it would all be over in a month.
She sighed again. 'Just one more freaking month.'
Kagome Higuarshi was your average seventeen year old girl. Except for the part that she was about to become one of the most powerful priestess' of her generation.
Almost three years ago, after fate sent her into that little antique store, Kaede had sat her down and informed her of everything. And I do mean everything.
Fifty years ago, Kikyo Hakoda was the Guardian of the Jewel of Four Souls. She trained her whole life, rigorously learning control, defense, and everything to make her the perfect Guardian. Legend says that she cracked under the pressure, killing herself the night of the ceremony. The jewel was supposedly lost after her death and hadn't been found until a year before Kagome laid eyes on it.
But Kaede told her the truth. The pressure on Kikyo did drive her to the brink of insanity, but her friendship with a half-demon and a human were what kept her grounded. Even though she was young, Kaede knew her sister longed to live a normal life where she was free from such responsibilities and able to love. She also knew she fell in love with the half-demon, causing their human friend to develop much jealously and hurt. Over time, it grew too much for him to keep to himself. He told Kikyo of his feelings, despite knowing of the almost-relationship between her and the half-demon.
Kikyo was always kind, loving everyone, so she gently turned him down. Despite her attempts to keep their friendship, he turned his back on her and disappeared. The night before the ceremony, which was the same day as Kikyo's eighteenth birthday, he reappeared. He begged the priestess to run away with him, to leave the city and be with him.
'You could be normal, just as you always wanted!' He had plead. She refused, attempting to convince him to stay for the ceremony and rekindle the trio's friendship. It was the final straw. The next day, before the ceremony began, hundreds of demons attacked.
Everyone fought back, but Kikyo was mortally wounded. She begged her old friend to stop the battle, offering forgiveness even as she bled out.
He had laughed in her face before demanding the jewel. But the jewel was gone and so was Kikyo's half-demon love. He filled her head with the notion that he had obviously betrayed her and left in her time of weakness. Kikyo knew better than to believe these cruel words, and in her last breaths, told Kaede to find the jewel and train the next Guardian.
Kaede had asked her if she thought the half-demon really had betrayed her. Her older sister had smiled at her, a shaking hand coming up to caress her cheek.
'No, Kaede. He did not betray me. Think no harsh thoughts of him, for I know in my heart he has not. Where he is, I am not sure, but he will help you when it is time.'
'What do you mean, what it is time? Sister! Please, I need you! Sister!'
But it was too late. Kikyo passed, finally free.
Kaede had fallen silent, and Kagome didn't doubt that it still felt fresh to her, all these years later. Her voice bought the young girl out of her musings.
"Now ye shall train to be the next Guardian."
Kagome swallowed hard. "But Lady Kaede, how am I supposed to be this .. this powerful Guardian when Kikyo trained her whole life to become it and I'm fifteen, just learning that I have powers."
Kaede peered at her with her good eye. "Just because you know they're there now, doesn't mean they weren't there to begin with."
Just like Kaede said, for the following two years and eleven months, Kagome had trained. She had been moved closer to what she now nicknamed "headquarters". Her brother came as well, while Gramps and Mama stayed at their shrine and security was stationed around the clock. Gramps had only recently stopped throwing sutras on the demons who protected their home. They took it good-naturedly, but the fear of the crazy old man had made its way through the security forces.
Kaede and Miroku were her spiritual teachers, while the other skills fell to each of the departments at Headquarters. Sango was the head of security, leading the demon slayers as well as keeping the bodyguards in line. Miroku became their unofficial leader mostly to help out Sango, but also since he was there the longest and basically kicked ass when he wasn't acting a fool.
In just a month, on Kagome's eighteenth birthday, the ceremony to complete her status as Guardian would happen and she would be tested before the Council.
The Council of Elders was composed of demons and humans alike, all anonymously bought in to oversee the matters of either species, as well as those in between. They were changed every time a new Guardian was chosen, and the final act of the ceremony and previous term of Council was their approval of the new members and Guardian. Kagome knew that Sango wanted to a position on the Council, and hoped someone nominated her. She would kick someone's ass if she wasn't, anyway.
It was the Councils' idea to beef up security in the past six months, to ensure that the current Guardian-in-training a.k.a. Kagome would be safe from any threats. Kagome couldn't wait to personally thank the Council for having at least two meatheads shoved up her ass everywhere she went. Of course she knew no one wanted a repeat of the tragedy from fifty years ago but seriously, she was getting ready to burst.
"And seriously, we can't keep hiring new bodyguards every week because you want to play speed demon. It looks bad to the Council and we're running out of muscle that hasn't heard of you, that won't eat you or will run away with the Jewel. And - are you even listening?!"
Kagome was ripped out of her thoughts as her best friend slammed her hands down on the table in front of her. She followed them up to her arms, to her shoulders, to her neck, finally reaching the angry expression on her face and realized why she didn't make eye contact for the past half hour.
Sango let out an impressive growl. Kagome sighed.
"Yes, Sango, I get it. Stop tormenting the meat heads and in one month, I can breathe without the smell of man sweat breathing down my neck."
They both ignored Miroku's protests of "Hey! I am one of the meat heads, you know?!" Sango sighed and sat down next to her friend. She rested her hand on one of Kagome's, drawing the younger girls' gaze back to hers.
She smiled softly. "Kags, we love you. We just want you safe. In just a month, every thing is going to change. We just want to make sure you get there in one piece."
Kagome returned her smile, hugging her friend. "I know, I know. They just drive me crazy sometimes. Thank God Manten is gone, I couldn't stand him."
Sango giggled, returning the hug. "Me neither. His three hairs always freaked me out."
She pulled back, smiling at her friend before playing scolding her. "But next time you cause me that much paperwork, missy, I'm telling Myoga you need more math homework."
Kagome grimaced at the thought, then smiled at her friend. "Deal."
A/N: You may notice some information is missing from this mini-history, and it's intentional. All will be revealed in time, my loves. Next chapter - some action!