A/N: Guess whose back? That's right, Slim Shady! Ok, bad joke. I'm so sorry for abandoning you guys for so long! I dislocated a finger about 3 weeks ago :/…I guess all my muse was in that finger too. But, it's back and ready to roll! I hope you like what it came up with.

Disclaimer: I no own. You no sue.

Chapter 10: But we roll with it's punches…

It had been an entire month, yes, but Kagome still looked over her shoulder once she was no longer in the safety of her room. She sighed, feeling weaker than she had in quite some time.

"I'm just as much a servant as any of them…"

She mumbled to herself, since no one else was around to hear. Sesshomaru had heard her, but she hardly feared him going around and voicing her opinions- even if he could talk, he was practically glued to her side whenever his father was unavailable. As expected, the baby only blinked curiously up at her; he had been resting in the silence before, but he liked the sound of her voice just as much. Kagome smiled down at him, rubbing his back in a soothing manner. She actually spoke to him this time-

"That's right, little man, I'm just another servant. I'll be gone once you don't need me anymore."

Her voice was excited merely to entertain the pup, but even she had to admit that the sad words sounded odd in her tone of voice. Almost as if in agreement with her current train of though, Sesshomaru pressed both his hands over her lips, a whine that she had recognized as one of annoyance slipping past his lips. Kagome giggled.

"Oh you…"

She whispered, blowing raspberries on his palms.

XXXXX

Kagome stared down at the many characters on the scroll that sat in her lap, not absorbing any of the information. Out of a (very recently developed) nervous habit, she rubbed her neck…the pressure of Hatsu's hands still lingering in her mind.

:FLASHBACK:

Kagome followed behind the taiyoukai lord quickly, but made sure to stay at a safe distance; he was obviously not in the best of moods, and for once since they had met, it was because of someone's presence other than her own.

Oddly enough, she was rather grateful for that fact, because seeing the Western lord's anger from the outside was an experience.

He was speaking with Lady Hatsu now; she had deduced the woman's name from a conversation he had had with a servant moments ago. He did not shout, but she could feel the rage in his aura, and the cruel clip to his voice gave her chills.

Footsteps neared the door she stood behind, so Kagome dutifully stepped out of the way. Sesshomaru began to fuss in her arms, and her attention was drawn away from the footsteps coming closer. She rubbed the pup's back in an attempt to soothe him, and somewhere in the back of her mind, she registered the doors sliding open. Still, her attention was completely on Sesshomaru until-

"How dare you bring that monster back into my home!"

Kagome's eyes were immediately on the demoness that stood, restrained, a few feet away from her. The woman's familiar, silver hair moved with an unknown wind, her beautiful face so screwed up with anger that there was no beauty in it at all- only rage.

Now it was Kagome's turn to be stunned into silence.

She thought quickly, hoping to come up with something to reply, when Hatsu suddenly broke into maniacal laughter. It was loud and menacing, and Kagome could feel the tightening in her kimono as Shippo tried to hide himself in it- a habit he frequented when afraid. Sesshomaru's whimpers grew louder to at the crazed guffaws rising from the demoness's throat, and still Kagome had nothing to say.

"What a mistake, Toga. We would have been so much happier without him."

The youkai lord in question appeared from the room now too, and Kagome could not ignore the nag in the back of her mind that was wondering what had taken him.

"Take her to the dungeon. Now."

He did not reply to the woman, did not even look at her, and Kagome could see that this enraged her even more.

"Is she the reason? Her and that beast of a child, Toga? Is she the reason you won't love me!"

Kagome couldn't even fully process what had just been said before her airway was cut off.

She was staring the crazy woman in the face.

There was plenty going on around her at this point as well: Shippo had begun to scream from behind her, Sesshomaru from in her arms. As quickly as the pressure was there, it was gone, as the men had managed to restrain Hatsu once more.

"You found him and brought him back! I see it all in your eyes! You brought the worthless child back. It matters not. Toga loves no one!"

"To the dungeon now."

Toga himself spoke up again, making the guards drag Hatsu away even faster. Hatsu's screams were unintelligible now, but there were several things that were completely clear to Kagome by the end of the ordeal.

She had just met Sesshomaru's mother.

The woman was crazy.

She thought back to the bit of conversation she had picked up a few minutes ago, the small bit she procured more than enough for her to synthesize that the servants had some loyalty to the insane woman who was just dragged away, and as she noticed the many shocked faces peeking out from hiding, there was one other thing of which she was completely sure.

Her time here was going to be far from enjoyable

:FLASHBACK END:

The laugh that left her at the thought held no mirth. Far from enjoyable indeed. She was a social outcast!

She sighed, her eyes going back to the scroll that sat in front of her, in the hopes of drowning her thoughts in something else.

"Kagome?"

She looked to the door and was sure that her face was reflecting the look of surprise that was on that of her visitor. Of course, her surprise came from the fact that she was still adjusting to him calling her by her name instead of "Miko" all the time. She didn't know what had him so shocked.

"Toga-sama."

She greeted him back with a bow of her head, resisting the hard pressing urge to twiddle her thumbs at the almost tangible awkward.

"You read?"

And since that was certainly not the question she was expecting, she dissolved into giggles. Kagome was sure she looked off her rocker, but was currently too amused to care.

"Why else would I inquire to the whereabouts of the palace library?"

Toga's slack jaw closed with a barely audible click. She had a point, and he did remember Shippo telling him that she had taught him to read.

Shippo.

"A new tutor is required for your son."

Kagome could tell from his facial cues that the thought of this annoyed him, but she prodded anyway. This was her son after all.

"Why?"

XXXXX

She hadn't been able to hear her blood racing in her veins like this since her tachi had been up against Naraku.

Kagome was livid.

"You. Junichi."

The man appeared startled by her voice as he turned, but the sneer that then graced his face had her seeing red.

"You would do well to speak to me with more respect, ningen."

"And you-"

She partnered her opening words with a shove. He had crossed the wrong woman.

"You would do well to never be entrusted with another child's wellbeing, let's not even start on their education! How can you possibly be an educator when you obviously have no brains at all?"

She made to shove him again, but he grabbed her wrists.

"I should have known that boy was being raised by a filthy ningen from the start, and a woman no less. He is weak, and he is weak because of you."

"Wrong!"

Kagome hollered, breaking his grip on her arms and getting her shove in.

"Wrong, you prejudiced bastard. He is a child! One who isn't accustomed to almost having his wrist broken for speaking the truth!"

She shoved him again, this time singeing his chest with her miko energy.

"How dare you lay your hands on my son!"

Junichi reached for his chest, the purifying energy unexpected.

Kagome just continued to let out a months' worth of frustration- to him, and the eyes and ears of the entire palace that she just knew were all tuned up. Good, she wanted everyone to hear.

"It's people like you who are weak. People who hurt youkai children because they have human mothers. People who neglect their duties to youkai children because they have human caretakers as well. You are the weak one! It isn't my fault that I was in the right place, at the right time to save both of my pups. Blame your race! The ones who can hear screams miles and miles away! Blame them for leaving the situation alone and making me save the two boys I care for!"

She stared straight into his eyes, not caring that his nostrils flared in obvious anger. They were chest to chest now, Kagome's anger making them the same height. Now she only whispered, just to him, her voice dripping poison.

"And do not dare call me weak. I am stronger than you in every way that counts."

She stepped away from him, allowing herself a deep breath…before her hand sailed back and come forward, colliding with his cheek. Hard.

"How do you like it?"

XXXXX

Maoshi scrubbed at another kimono. Apparently the young prince's stomach had been unusually upset this week. Her thoughts were shared with three other hand maids, who dutifully scrubbed as well. It had been a rather quiet day in the washroom as everyone was engrossed in their own thoughts. And oh the irony, even if they were trying to keep their minds off of her outburst, they were doing her laundry, and their minds strayed to her inevitably.

"So…the Lady Kagome shows her backbone…"

Mai, the oldest on the maid staff, remarked. She flicked her greying hair over her shoulder, stopping her work for a moment to reflect on her own statement. All the other women followed suit.

"I knew I liked her…"

Laughter broke out around the room. Perhaps they all would have to rethink the little miko.

Lady Kagome.

A/N: Kagome took a stand! Hooray for backbones! Oh yeah and, hi! I'm really sorry about how long this took…pinky fingers are actually pretty essential to my typing game I guess. I promise you, though, that I will never make you wait that long for a chapter ever again.

P.S: Sorry if this chapter seemed a little rushed (especially the flashback part), I just really wanted to get it to you guys. How much you say? So much that this chapter wasn't even beta'd…so don't you dare tell me I had to many commas…I did it out of love.

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