Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or Kuroko no Basket. They belong to their respective authors and creators.

Note: If you haven't seen Season 2 and 3 of Kuroko no Basket there will be spoilers in the upcoming chapters.

The Battlefield of Basketball:It's Just Began

Chapter Eight: Shifting Worldview - Part 2

Monday came up quickly with most of them feeling sleep-deprived after being pounced on at all hours of the day and night. There was no chance for them to relax, they had to constantly be aware of what was around them. They finally started sleeping in shifts with several on watch while the others slept and then changing out who was awake every few hours.

Even hiking back to the entrance didn't give them a reprieve since Kirara and Natsuki followed along, randomly trying to jump onto one of them. Everyone was learning to evade the attacks to keep from being flattened to the ground by a suddenly massive nekomata.

Coming to the clearing with the Sacred Tree, Kagome set her hand against the bark and blue light sparked up again. This time they could clearly see the courtyard beyond. Surprisingly, given that they had gotten there right around lunch time, there was no one around. She had them link hands again and suddenly they were all on the other side. Instantly they were inundated by the sounds of Tokyo and Kagami clapped a hand over his nose and mouth.

"What is that awful stench!?"

"The city, Kagami-kun."

"Why has it never bothered me before?"

"You were just in a environment that was clean of all the smells that are normally found in a human city. Your nose will need some time to adjust back to dealing with it."

"How long?"

"Hmm, a few hours, maybe less." She paused by her home's front door. "I'll see you all back here by 4 o'clock. We'll need to get back to the campsite before it gets dark. Have fun on the court. Ja ne."

After calling out answering good-byes, they all headed out.

"Everyone, I called my father and he set it up so we can head to a nearby gym to practice."

"Is… is your father going to be there?" Hyūga asked.

"Hmmm," she smiled, "who knows."

"Why don't you know!?"

"You know how he is!"

Teppei ignored Riko and Hyūga, glancing over at Kuroko, "Why the frown, Kuroko-kun?"

"Kagome-chan isn't coming with us."

"She probably has some stuff to do with her family." Kagami said.

Kuroko shook his head, "Kagome-chan has been coming back to see them during a few mornings while we worked in the glade with Coach."

"Hah? She's left us alone in there? Whatever happened to making sure we stayed safe?"

Teppei answered, "Kirara and her family have probably been helping keep the glade safe."

"Hai, she mentioned that to me before she left the first morning."

"You knew about them? And didn't say anything?" Kagami rounded on Kuroko. "Teme!"

"She just told me that Kirara-san and her family would keep an eye on us when she had to leave. I didn't know that they were who was stalking us on the hike until later."

"So why are you concerned?"

He frowned and glanced back up the long set of shrine stairs. "Kagome-chan lost some close friends a while ago and her response, it's concerning to me."

"That's awful, but… she seems to be doing alright."

"She's not reaching out, Kagami-kun. She's keeping her distance from people."

"How do you figure that? She's helping us train. She's around us nearly all day."

"But she's not really forming connections, is she?" Teppei rubbed his neck. "She's talking with us, but she's mostly focused on helping us with our goal to become the best team in Japan and win the Winter Cup. She's not trying to get to know us or let us get to know her."

Kuroko sighed, "Yes, if you knew Kagome-chan when we were younger, you'd realize how different she is now from her previous self."

Kagami frowned, "Is she expecting us to drop her after we finish training with her? She's an idiot if that's the case."

"Not an idiot, just hurting. She doesn't want to get close and lose people again." Teppei looked down at Kuroko, "It's a very human reaction, Kuroko-kun. We'll try and help her too, but you might have to be willing to give her time."

"She's already had too much time."

"Hah?"

"Nothing, Kagami-kun. I'll keep that in mind, Kiyoshi-senpai. Thank you."

"Of course, Kuroko-kun, and like I said, we'll help. She can't avoid all of us."

Kagami grinned, "And she still owes me a one-on-one game! Kagome-san isn't getting rid of us that easily and she'll just have to get used to it."

Kuroko gave a soft smile, "Hai, arigato."

Once they were back at the campsite that evening, the boys were left in the clearing with the family of nekomatas while Kagome and Riko headed to the hot springs.

Kagome glared at them, "If I catch any of you peeking, I'll toss you into a nest of snake youkai with only a sword to defend yourself with! You got that?"

They gulped, "Hai!"

"Good," She gave them a radiant smile, "we'll be back in a little while."

Hyūga glanced down at Kirara, who was resting in his lap. "Has she always been that scary?"

She glanced up at him and meowed. He got the distinct feeling she was saying yes. He sighed as he went back to scratching her behind the ears, "No wonder they get along so well."

Meanwhile the girls were relaxing in the hot spring. Kagome was leaning her head back on a rock with her eyes closed. Riko glanced at Kagome's chest self-consciously, before sinking further down into the water. Why were all the girls she knew bigger than her?

"Riko-chan, you have nothing to be jealous of."

"Hah? What are you talking about?"

Kagome slit her eyes open and glanced at her, "You're slim, with a more athletic build. There's nothing wrong with that. You're lovely just the way you are."

Riko blushed, "Still…"

"No." Kagome straightened up and focused on her, "I want you to repeat after me. I'm lovely and I'm strong. I will be confident in who I am and in my body." Kagome stared at her even as Riko felt her face heat up into a deeper blush.

"I…"

"Say it."

"I'm lovely and I'm strong. I will be confident in who I am and in my body." She mumbled. Kagome gave a soft smile. "Now say it like you mean it, Riko-chan. Say it like you believe it."

She repeated it a little louder and with more confidence.

"Again."

This time she took a deep breath and said with conviction, "I'm lovely and I'm strong! I will be confident in who I am and in my body!"

Kagome's smile widened, "Good. Never forget that, repeat this anytime you question your self image. You're you! No one will ever be you, but you. You were created to be who you are and you should never be ashamed of that."

Riko pushed some of her bangs back behind her ears. "That sounds like something you learned personally, Kagome-chan. But, you're so pretty and self-confident. I'm surprised that you struggled with something like that."

"I'm not that pretty, Riko-chan. I'm just Kagome." She leaned her head back and looked up through the leaves towards the first evening stars coming out. "I've seen incredible beauty before, and I don't rate that high when I measure myself against them. Especially with all the scars I have. But! That doesn't mean I can't be happy with who I am. Believe me, it took me years before I could say what you just said so confidently in just a few minutes."

She smiled at her as she added, "Even if you don't believe it completely yet, it's true and you're very strong for working on accepting who you are, Riko-chan."

"Ano, thank you, but what scars are you talking about Kagome-chan?"

Kagome looked startled before she sighed and reached for the necklace with a charm bag hanging just above the water around her neck. When she slide it over her head and let it rest on her nearby towel, Riko could only stare at the amount of scars that suddenly became visible on her arms and shoulders. She could even see a massive one on her side through the water. Carefully she reached out to brush her fingers against a series of white puckered scars on her one arm. It looked like clawed hands had dug deeply into both of her upper arms.

"Nani?!" She whispered.

"Fighting youkai isn't glamorous, but it is dangerous. You sometimes have to be ready to take a blow to win a fight." Kagome ran a finger over the massive scar in her side, "Though some of these are from before I learned to fight back. I was lucky I survived long enough to learn how to win the fights I got into."

She grabbed the necklace and put it back on. The scars shimmered for a moment before vanishing. Riko couldn't even feel the scars she still had her fingers resting against.

"Why do you hide them?"

Kagome huffed out a breath, like she wanted to laugh but couldn't. "What would I say to someone who asked about them? I can't tell the truth and how else would I explain where I got them?"

Riko gave a slow nod before leaning back against the stones, looking up at the sky. "I still think you're one of the prettiest girls I know, Kagome-chan. The scars don't change that. They just enhance your beauty."

"That's sweet of you, Riko-chan."

"I mean it! Maybe you should repeat those words you had me say."

They glanced at each other before laughter burst out of them both.

"Okay, we're both strong and lovely. Let's leave it at that." Kagome giggled.

As they calmed down, Riko smiled at her, "We could always talk about how the training has worked for the boys so far."

Kagome brightened, "I'd love to hear how their time on the court went. How's their passing? Were they able to catch Tet-kun's Ignite Passes? How…"

"Wait! Wait!" Riko laughed, "Let me answer those questions before you give me more. Their passing has improved, as has their stamina. They weren't as tired after three hours on the court like they were at the beginning of the summer. A few of them were able to catch Kuroko-kun's Ignite Pass, but only Kagami-kun was able to handle the newer version of that pass."

She smiled, "So Tet-kun finished his newer version? Good, now he just needs to work more on his drive and diminishing both his presence and the ball's when he has it."

"How does he do that anyways?"

"Part of it is regular misdirection, like any magician would use, but Tet-kun also has some spiritual abilities." Riko blinked and suddenly Kagome was gone from where she had been leaning against the hot spring's wall to the left of her. "Mikos and monks," her voice came from the other side of her and Riko snapped her head around to find Kagome in the same position she had been in on her right as she continued, "can blend their aura into the background of the natural world to hide from those around us. It was most often used when they were hunting youkai, but that's not it's only use."

"And that's what Kuroko-kun is doing?"

"Eh, partly. He doesn't like to stick out, so it's actually something he does naturally. He's not been trained in doing it continually, which is why he can only use it in a high focused, high intensity sport like basketball for a limited amount of time." She looked at Riko, "You can't tell me you thought it was really natural for all those opposing players and people watching to discard his presence when he's on the court."

"When you put it like that… no, that doesn't make sense."

"Hmm, well Tet-kun is a little more complicated then that." Kagome lifted a hand in front of her and flexed her fingers, "He's also got some void youkai in his ancestry."

"Void youkai?"

"Just what they sound like. Void youkai naturally have a gift for using voids, both creating them and throwing things into them. They don't have much presence to either their fellow youkai or those with reiryoku, which is part of why Tet-kun's presence is already weak. His spiritual abilities are just augmenting that."

Riko flashed back to when Kagome was arguing about training them, "Teppei and Kagami-kun aren't normal either, are they?"

She smirked, "No, moreso with Kagami-kun then with Teppei. Teppei likely has bear youkai pretty far back in his ancestry. His build, especially for his age, shows it in being broad, tall, and strong with big hands. But while it's effected his physique, I don't think he'll ever manifest abilities like others do, aside from having a decent awareness of extraordinary things around him."

"And Kagami-kun?"

"Ah, now he's interesting. My best guess is that he's got some inu, as well as phoenix youkai in him."

"Ha, inu youkai? But, but he's scared of dogs!"

"Ever asked him why?"

"Eh? He didn't really give a good answer."

"Well, he can probably understand them."

"Nani?"

Kagome looked over at her, "Without an explanation of why that was happening, especially if it started when he was a child, he may have developed an instinctive fear of them. To avoid them and what it could mean that he could understand them. After all, that's not normal for humans, is it?"

"Pfft…" Riko burst into giggles. "If that's true, I'm never letting him live this down!"

As her giggles died down, Kagome brought the subject back to their training, "Were they more aware of their opponents and allies on the court? Were they able to start doing nearly blind passes just by being aware of where everyone was?"

"Hmmm…" Riko frowned as she thought back to the several games they had played that afternoon. "Yes, and no. I think it was a little better across the team, but that kind of awareness and passing style most strongly showed up in Izuki-kun and Kuroko-kun."

Kagome nodded, "Alright, then we'll keep up with what we're doing. Then, in a few days, once they've sharpened their senses a bit more, we'll start working on accuracy under pressure."

Riko looked down at the water with a smile, "Thank you for being willing to train them, Kagome-chan. We all appreciate it, even if they grumble about the amount of training you're putting them through."

"You're more then welcome, Riko-chan. I'm glad I can help Tet-kun and the team." She smiled even as she stood up to get out of the hot spring. "I'm looking forward to seeing them win the Winter Cup."

Riko got up and grabbed her towel. "Me too. I can't wait."

A few days later, Teppei got up early in the predawn hours and carefully stretched while everyone else was still dead to the world. His body was getting used to the crazy training schedule, but, he winced. His knee had started to bother him more and more as the days went by. He dug around in his bag for a roll of athletic tape and went to sit down on one of the logs by the fire. He tossed a few branches onto the fire and stirred the coals. Once it caught, he started to wrap his knee when a feminine hand interrupted him.

Startled, he glanced up to see Kagome frowning down at him. He opened his mouth, but stopped when she shook her head and knelt in front of him. She grabbed the tape and unwound it, before shoving it into his hands. He watched as she pressed her fingers around his knee, shifting his leg and feeling how the tendons and muscles moved. He noticed when blue light started to trail from her fingers and sink into his skin. It was warm and soothing. He gave a quiet sigh of relief as some of the discomfort and pain faded away.

"You baka." She whispered. He just looked at her as she continued, "You shouldn't be training so hard with your knee in this condition. It's making the damage worse. Why haven't you had surgery to fix this?"

"I won't be able to play this year or the next if I had surgery. The rehabilitation would have taken too long. We made a promise to win the Winter Cup together. I'm going to protect the team as we reach for that goal."

"You're still an idiot," she sighed and shook her head, "but at least you're a noble one. I can't fault your desire to protect them." She considered him for a moment before she gave a small nod, "Alright, I'll do what I can to help."

"What do you…"

She ignored his startled question and wrapped both of her hands around his knee. The light started to became a deeper blue with strands of purple and pink curling around the edges. The warmth became a searing heat and he fought not to jerk his knee away from her, instead he just clenched his hands around the tape, his knuckles going white with strain.

After several long minutes the glow started to fade, as well as the heat. Her hands were trembling as she lifted them away from his knee and he was surprised to see sweat forming on her forehead. She wiped her brow and took a deep breath, sitting back on her haunches, "It's not fully healed. That would take multiple sessions, as well as you taking it easy for at least two months after the final session, which you don't have the time for right now. But I've fixed part of the damage and restored some of the strength and elasticity to the muscles and tendons. It will last you the rest of the time we're training."

She frowned up at him, "I'm going to want to do another session before you go back to school and probably before the Winter Cup itself."

"I…you…" His hands came up to cover his eyes as he started to tear up. "Thank you, Kagome."

"Don't thank me until it's fully fixed, Teppei. That might not be until next year."

He shook his head as he looked up at her with a small smile despite his wet cheeks, "No, thank you. I was going to play this Winter Cup without regrets, at least that's what I told myself. But I knew I would miss not being able to keep playing with the Seirin team next year. You've, you've given me hope that I can keep playing with everyone. Even beyond the end of this year, so thank you." He took her hands and bowed over them. "Just thank you."

Her hands tightened around his, "I know something about regrets, Teppei. I'll make sure you don't have this as one of yours."

He just nodded his head against her hands as the tears came faster, though silent, while his shoulders shook. She brought her forehead to rest on top of his head, letting her hair fall around them both to hide him from view, even as she continued to hold his hands.

Kuroko looked silently at the two people by the fire before he quietly slipped away. As he went into the brush towards the designated latrine area, he smiled. She was reaching out and letting others in again. His smile widened as he paused to look up at the brightening dawn sky. 'She's going to be alright.'

On their last day of training, they woke up with a sense of anticipatory dread. What would she have them do on the last day? She'd already handed some of them bows and arrows and others swords before pushing them into a clearing to fight a rat youkai five days ago! Thankfully, Izuki had gotten a lucky shot off and hit it in the eye with an arrow, but not before several of them had gotten scratches from the youkai's claws.

Sure, Kagome had patched them up easily, since none of the cuts were deep. But then she'd forced them to do it again three days after, only this time it was against a snake youkai. Kagami was the one to get the final hit this time, when he'd done a superjump and cut its head right off its neck. It was traumatizing, nearly all of them got covered in some of the blood and had spent hours making sure to get it all off in the pond. The clothes they'd worn were unsalvageable and they'd burned them all.

Getting up and heading towards the fire and logs, they all cautious gathered around as Kagome hummed a cheerful tune while she dished up breakfast. They took the food and sat down, darting wary looks her way. Though Teppei just grinned while Kagami scarfed down the food and went for more. Kuroko was just as expressionless as ever.

Once everyone had eaten and the dishes had been taken care of, Kagome leaned back with a sigh and glanced up at the clear blue sky, "Relax, I'm not going to have you all face another youkai. You're training finished last night."

"…"

"Why didn't you say so yesterday!?" Half of them suddenly bellowed.

She smirked, "It kept you on hyper-alert for one more night, good last bit of training snuck in." She clapped her hands and leaned forward, "Now, we're going to have one last conversation about one final benefit that will likely come of this training, before we start packing up and making our way home to Tokyo."

"What's this benefit then?" Hyūga asked as his shoulders relaxed.

"Have you heard of the Zone before?" Several of them startled and looked at each other before nodding in affirmation while others just looked confused.

"Right, from what Riko-chan told me and from my own studies, the Zone is a state of hyperfocus where you fully focus on achieving your goal. Other thoughts that aren't important, or that focus on the results, are done away with. You're totally focused on the here and now."

Riko nodded and added, "You can achieve 100% of your potential in that state. Normally, even great athletes perform at 80-90% of their actual capacity, but being in the Zone adds that extra 10-20%."

"But isn't it normally only really dedicated and talented athletes that are able to access the Zone?" Kawahara asked.

Kagome shook her head, "It's not a magical, impossible-to-reach state. It's a mental discipline where you are solely focused in the present moment, with everything else fading into the background. Like this."

She closed her eyes for a minute before opening them slowly. They all noticed the electric spark that glinted in her eyes as her focus shifted around the clearing before landing on each them. The pressure from just having her focused gaze on them was incredible. It was completely different to how Kagome normally was. She blinked and that hyperfocus faded away from her eyes.

"What!"

"How!"

"You just!"

She laughed at their shock. "You don't find the Zone only in sports. Fighters can go into it too, as well as other people. I've personally been able to go into a battle focus for years."

"You're saying we could do that as well from this training?" Kagami asked as he idly played with a ball.

"At least one of you, yes."

They glanced at each other, before Kuroko spoke up, "Kagami-kun."

Kagome smiled and nodded, "He's already done it once."

"HAH?!"

"During the fight with the snake youkai. It was only for a few seconds, just a tiny step into the Zone, but enough to know that he could do it again in a game when under pressure and with the right trigger."

"Is that why you had us fight those youkai?" Izuki asked.

"Partially, yes. Also to heighten your awareness as much as I could before we have to end our training."

"Why only Kagami-kun?" Koganei asked.

"Because he's the ace. His whole goal is to score points and win the game. His focus can safely narrow in a game, if that makes sense. Whereas for the rest of you, your focus is divided on multiple fronts during a game."

Riko nodded, "Hyūga-kun is the captain. He needs to focus on not just playing but also changing tactics mid-play if necessary. Izuki-kun and Kuroko-kun are both constantly intaking information to strategize where best to pass or send the ball. Teppei is also focused on several things at once, shifting from defense to offense as needed. Koganei-kun, Mitobe-kun, and the rest as well."

Kagome hummed in agreement, "It can be hard to remove everything else and have only one focus. I don't think it's possible to have a single team have everyone in the Zone at once, but reacting to one person in it…" She gave a sly grin, "Well, that might be hard, but it's not impossible."

Teppei laughed in understanding, "That's why you focused so much on situational awareness and responding instantly to what we see around us. So that when Kagami hits the Zone, we'll be able to actually read his queues during it."

She nodded, "It might not happen immediately, but once you get used to how he is in the Zone, I think it's possible."

"The ultimate team play." Riko muttered.

"Yes. A team so harmonized that they can respond to each other, even when one of them is in the Zone."

The silence lingered as they considered what she said and the various pieces of training they'd done over the last few weeks. They realized, as it started to come together in their minds, all that Kagome had been preparing and training them for.

"We're really going to do it." Koganei dazedly said. "We're going to win the Winter Cup."

Kagami grinned and gave him a friendly shove, "Of course we are!"

Hyūga pushed up his glasses and smirked as he stood up, "Well, we better get back and hit a court before the school year starts to get to work on refining our team plays."

Everyone jumped to their feet, "Hai!"

As they all started going towards their bags to pack up, Hyūga paused in front of Kagome and bowed, "Arigato, Kagome. For all that you've done for us."

She smiled, "You're welcome and I have one request as my compensation."

He looked up at her in question as her eyes burned, "Don't you dare lose."

Hyūga smiled as fire lit his eyes too, "We won't."

Riko and Teppei grinned at each other before they turned to begin packing.

In no time they were back at the shrine and all thanking Kagome for her help and training before they headed out to go back home. Each of them were looking forward to tomorrow and getting on a court once more.

Kagome smiled as she watched them leave, 'They did well and I know they'll keep improving over the next few months. I'm pleased that Kagami didn't activate his youkai abilities, in fact I think he may never fully activate them.'

'He's getting some benefits, but yes. As long as he's never threatened by a higher youkai, I think you're right Kagome-chan.'

'That's good, no need for him to be drawn deeper into the youkai world and politics. I'm not happy that Tet-kun may get pulled in because of his close ties to me.'

'Kukuku, but that would be so interesting, little miko. Not that these last few weeks weren't full of hilarious moments when the poor humans floundered with the reality of the world.'

She huffed as she head up to take a nice long shower, 'I hate that I find that funny, Naraku. I blame you for my sadistic side getting stronger.'

'And as I've said before, you flatter me, Ka-go-me.' She cut the connection with his and Yuuto's laughter ringing in her mind as she stepped into the bathroom and shut the door with a resounding thunk.

Note: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, leave a review on your way out and let me know what you think!