Chapter 4.-Twice is fate

2005, before deviations.

Words came and went, but try as she might, Kagome couldn't find it in herself to care enough to make any attempt to focus on the conversation, let alone join it.

Guilt was a great motivator, so when her friends asked her to go out for the 4th time in a row in a single month, the priestess could only smile and nod. Hanging out with her friends was something she'd often enjoyed before, and the girl could hardly find the time for it while traveling to the past, and she remembered missing the outings once. She should be happy about getting the chance to go back to this kind of routine. It really shouldn't feel like a hassle. Besides, it was her turn to pick a movie so there was no need to worry about having to be stuck for an hour or two fighting to stay awake, so she made a show to pretend to pick a random movie despite purposely avoiding what would've been her usual picks. Romance lately left her feeling off, and whenever the topic of love came up, her friends jumped to question her about what happened to her delinquent boyfriend, which had her grasping for lines she could deliver without stumbling. Action, on the other hand, bored her. She knew what fighting really looked like, what it took for a bone to break, and what kind of hits would immediately incapacitate someone, more often than not, she could only stare in disbelief at the screen. Not like she'd had much hope for horror, but Kagome figured comparing what she knew to be true with the modern take on ghosts and demons might be interesting.

In hindsight, that had been a poor choice on her part.

Sure, she got some entertainment out of it, but having to look around to figure out when she was supposed to jump, or wince, or pretend the special effects looked awful and oh so realistic despite their appearance being nothing like the monsters she'd faced. More than once, the girl had to bite her tongue to stop herself from laughing at how ridiculous it all was. That wasn't the sort of reaction she was meant to have, so she forced a smile on her lips as she walked out of the theater and listened to the girls chat about the movie, praising how scary the visual effects and props were and how they'd surely have nightmares because of it. It was worth it, Kagome reminded herself. Bonding with her friends was an important step for her re-integration into modern life, her mother had also been happy to hear she was going out for fun for the first time since the well-closed; all she had to do was grin and say the lines she was meant to deliver. Everything was fine.

"…and that curse at the end too!"

"That's not how curses work." Her short mutter was sharp and a little too loud.

Silence followed her words.

Crap…

Her line was the wrong one. The tone was bad, too. The certainty of that statement wasn't supposed to be there, and there shouldn't have been any frustration bleeding into it, either.

It didn't matter that Kagome had first-hand experience dealing with many kinds of curses, learned how to distinguish them, and even helped dispatch several of them. No one should even know the girl had seen the range of consequences they could have. Nothing good would come of her noting that the people in charge of the prosthetics had never seen any sort of youkai and didn't even bother to look up how third-degree burns looked like or how someone with no previous experience would retch at the pervasive smell those injuries were attached to. Al she had to do was keep quiet and let the others keep chatting. But she'd opened her mouth and messed up her dialogue, and her three childhood friends were staring at her now, confused expressions, waiting for some explanation that would smooth things over and let them continue as if nothing ever happened.

The longer it took for her to scramble and find a decent follow up, the worse it would get.

"Man, I think jii-chan's ramblings got stuck in my head." Her laughter was wrong, too stiff, unnatural. These words were not in the script for her role. "It looked worse than I thought it would, though."

"Uff, still having to hear those stories, can't see how you sleep at night." Yuma-chan shook her head, playing along.

"Maybe we should get some omamoris?" Ayumi's airy voice seemed unconcerned about the tension the miko still felt.

She was sure her voice was a little too stiff as she tried to follow along with the others' dialogue, but thankfully, it seemed to be good enough for the girls to laugh it off and allow the girl to fade into the background. It was all she could do not to let out a sigh of relief at not having to lead the conversation.

They were good people, and they genuinely cared for her.

Despite her weird excuses and long absences, they stuck with her, doing all they could to help her catch up with her studies. No matter how she looked at it, it wasn't the girls' fault that the priestess was utterly failing to re-adapt to her former role.

It took only a week or two for her to figure out how to live in the chaos that was the feudal era, constantly on the move and scanning her surroundings in case enemies attacked, she'd gotten used to looking at bloody injuries and dragging broken bodies into freshly dug graves, even getting kidnapped had become something that happened to her with the sort of regularity that she even got a it bored. Sure there were still other details that came to traveling over 500 years into the past she struggled to fully conform to, but all in all, Kagome adapted to the change fairly easily. It was never a seamless fit, the miko was stubborn and absolutely refused to change her clothes to something less eye-catching and modern, and she definitely missed future commodities, but she'd gotten used to all the risks that came with chasing a blood thirsty and power hungry spider demon all over Japan. Going back to her peaceful, normal life, however, seemed to be an impossible task, she just wasn't slowly reconnecting to her old life. Each passing day only left her feeling more and more isolated from the people around her. This wasn't what should've happened. Nothing had gone the way things were meant to go. Perhaps that's why a part of her was glad the Shikon gave her no choice and simply left her stranded with her family. At that point, she'd already lost. Resignation was a bitter pill to swallow, but it was better than wasting away, trying to cross through the well.

The situation wasn't ideal, but it could be worse.

Letting her gaze wander around the people walking through the street, stopping in front of stores, the miko kept mindlessly humming whenever she heard a lull.

Her smile almost faltered when she noticed the topic had somehow changed, and her friends had abandoned the safe discussion about the movie in favor of retelling how Hojo-kun had looked for her to give her yet another basket filled to the brim with a bunch of natural remedies and insisted on inviting her to an amusement park this weekend. Once upon a time, Kagome would've jumped up and down with the others, excited about the chance to date the brunet. For a human, he was good-looking enough, he was popular, smart, polite, kind…the kind of guy anyone would be happy to bring home to meet the family. A little over a year ago, she'd had a crush on him herself, but right now, Kagome couldn't help but find him…dull. Accepting the boy's affection was the sort of choice that would make her mother feel reassured, but the priestess had the sinking feeling that dullness would be the death of her.

"I heard Hojo-kun got confessed by a girl from 3-A." Yuma wasn't even being subtle about glancing at her as she spoke.

"That's nice…" Kagome trailed off.

"But he turned her down."

"Do you know what that means?" Eri was quick to jump on the bandwagon.

"That he doesn't like older women?" The priestess could only laugh at Ayumi-chan's innocent question.

As if rehearsed a hundred times, the other two hurried to stop the absent-minded girl from coming up with wild theories that could potentially derail the conversation from where they obviously wanted it to go, and Kagome almost groaned, barely managing to keep smiling. The topic was meant to intrigue her and trigger some jealousy, but her tone was wooden enough without trying to force herself to pretend her old crush hadn't wilted a month or so into her journey to the Sengoku era. Playing oblivious was a bit of an lazy move, but it was probably her best choice right about now.

"Is a year enough to be considered an older woman?" She could see her friends' frustration at her playing dumb. "Well, to each their own, I guess."

"Oh, for all the…that's not it!"

"He keeps rejecting girls because he's waiting for you," Yuka continued before Eri could really lose it. "I mean, he's always looking for you at lunchtime."

"True, I suppose, but I've already told him I need to focus on my studies so I honestly don't have the time." It was as neutral a response as the miko could give, but apparently, it wasn't working.

"Come on, Kagome," Eri added, apparently doing her best to keep calm. "Your health is better now, and I'm sure Hojo-kun would love to help you study."

"Right now it's not –"

"That girl!" A rough scream cut her off. "That's her!"

She didn't so much recognize the voice as she did the tone. That accusatory edge those the priestess or her friends had screwed over whenever their paths crossed again. Back in the Sengoku era, having greedy humans or youkais harbor resentment towards them was simply par for the course. Each and every time someone addressed them that way, it was a sign they should start running.

Looking back to where the shout came from made her feel like the stage she was on was crumbling a little. The scene was unraveling as some eight guys were pushing people out of the way to reach them. All of them were thugs, shouting and pointing at her. Frowning, Kagome tried to place any of her apparent attackers. It wasn't odd to find someone trying to rob them or just attack them in an era were wars were common and demons prowled the lands, but in this time period, there was no reason for her to be hunted down. Confusion took over for a second as she studied the group of boys steadily making their ways towards her. None of the faces brought anything to mind, but the clothes were somewhat familiar, those were the same jackets the assholes that tried to corner her three days ago. Her meeting with the couple of blond delinquents had completely eclipsed what happened before, but if she thought back to it, one of the auras did ring a bell, a faint, too easy to miss bell. All in all, the miko was more surprised at the persistence the guy had, to be looking for her despite not having a single hint on how to find her almost something to admire, though there was no denying the cowardice he showed by going after the weak-looking, short girl instead of the two guys who were actually responsible for humiliating him. The jerk was clearly aware there was no way he could beat them.

Not like this group would've better chances at catching her than the three guys that tried to accost her had. All it took was one good look for her to know none of the thugs had any experience in actual martial arts, roughly pushing innocent passersby, trying to make themselves look bigger and more intimidating. She may not be strong enough to beat them in a fair fight with how outnumbered she was, but running away from them shouldn't take too much effort. Though that only went for her. Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi all had the same physical condition; already, Kagome could see tension entering their postures, they'd never been surrounded by people wanting to hurt them.

"There you are," the boy she vaguely recognized was leering at her again. "Remember me, girly?"

"L-look here…" Yuka tried to start only to stop as one of the thugs glared at her.

"Step back, Yuka-chan." The scenario was breaking apart, it didn't matter if she went off-script.

"Is this the girl you've been looking for, huh bro?" Unsurprisingly crass, a taller guy smirked at her. "We might be too much for her, why not invite the others as well."

"Oh, I think I'm more than enough to handle every single one of you on my own." Pushing the others back, the miko placed herself in front of the panicking girls.

"Kagome-chan!"

A well-placed elbow was all she needed to shut her classmates up. They were too used to peace and probably didn't think these guys would do more than push them around a bit, maybe try to rob them. But Kagome could tell, their auras weren't quite as tainted as the bandits who'd burn down villages, but she had no doubt they'd cross several lines with no hesitation or regret. That was nothing she hadn't dealt with before, as long as the priestess was sure she was the only one to be targeted keeping things from escalating too badly should be doable. And she'd learned more than enough to keep the others out of it.

"Oh, you wanna play then?"

"Would be rude not to even try," the girl said, making sure no tension laced her words. "Especially considering you had to get this many people to feel brave when coming to get me."

"Kagome!" Ayumi's hand was frantically trying to pull her back.

"Just stay back," she muttered. "And when I tell you to run, run."

"Tch, just as much of a bitch as before, huh?" The first thug took a step, trying to be intimidating.

"I bet we can find a better use for that pretty mouth of hers." One of the lankier jerks tried to get closer. "And we can get some real fun too."

"Can you, really?" The miko smiled at them, her patience was wearing thin. "Because from where I'm standing, all I see is a bunch of overcompensating brutes."

"You fucking…!"

"I'll show you!"

"Run!"

Big hands raced to grab her, slow, clumsy. Ducking, Kagome closed into the apparent leader. Her knee shot up, hitting the guy's crotch with as much force as she could put in the move. And then she pushed, shouldering his crumbling form into the next jerk that tried to hunt her down. Shock froze the mindless minions, just long enough for her to sprint between them and get out of the corner they'd been trying to push her and her friends into. She didn't keep going, instead, she turned on her heel, staring back at the several incredulous assholes, polite smile on her lips. The girls hesitated for a second before nodding at her and running away.

"See, this is what I'm talking about." Waving at them, the miko shook her head. "Eight on one and still not one of you managed to catch me."

"You're gonna regret this, you fucking bitch!"

"Not too original either, are you?" This time, she faked a sigh. "Come and prove me wrong, then!"

With a laugh, Kagome began to sprint once again, weaving through the streets while glancing back to make sure all eight of them were still hot on her trail. If she were to make a blunder here, there would definitely be consequences, and yet, the priestess wasn't feeling nervous. She was breaking off the script, this wasn't how she was meant to react, but it was still familiar. Being pursued by bandits and youkais happened so often, the girl lost count and it wasn't hard to find a proper pace to keep to. If she were to run at full speed, it wouldn't be hard to miss them within the crowd, and a couple of streets away they'd back in the shopping district, she'd have her pick of stores to hide in. But they'd been looking for her, personally. Hiding would buy her some time, but if they went this far for such a petty reason, then they were likely to keep harassing her. Especially now that they'd seen her in her school uniform. It would be annoying, but she could deal with it. The others, however, wouldn't. So she turned to taunt her pursuers.

The priestess didn't want to fight them.

Being alone and outnumbered was never a good scenario. No matter how Kagome looked at it, she was at a disadvantage, she wasn't smiling, she didn't enjoy fighting, but her steps felt lighter now. Breathing was easier despite all her running. Her mind felt clear as she went through the mental map of the neighborhood. Unlike what happened three days ago, Kagome was severely outnumbered so getting caught in an alley would limit her movements to a dangerous extent. Caging herself in there would be the most stupid possible decision she could make. It wasn't the best location, but if memory served her right, there should be a park not far from here. It would give her a nice open space where she could move around, and the playground there could give her obstacles to dance around. Trying to fight this to win would be difficult unless she wished to escalate the situation, though. Then again, Yuka and the others were sure to call the police, so all Kagome needed to do was to dodge and buy enough time for the cops to show up. Now that was an easier task to accomplish.

"Should I slow down for you?!"

Angered screams rose as one, a cacophony of insults and threats hurled her way.

That pissed them off for sure. Shaking her head, Kagome sped up, it was all working out as it should.

If there was one thing the priestess learned from all of the fights she'd had in the feudal era was that there were three types of enemies. Weaker ones were easy to spot, they often bragged about it and all one had to do was talk back for them to back off. Not really her current situation, that kind of luck was never on her side. On the bright side, the thugs mindlessly chasing after her were definitely not the dangerous sort that could properly channel their anger and turn it into strength. Meaning they were the last type. The kind that got riled up at the slightest provocation, and the more irritated they got, the clumsier they became. Well, if the gap between opponents was big enough, then things like techniques and finesse didn't matter, where there was a rule there was an exception. In this particular case, though, Kagome felt confident. She'd learned how to dodge youkais who could cross a mile in an instant, and the boys behind her couldn't catch up even though the girl wasn't going as fast as she could.

Slender fingers tightened around the black strap of the bag she'd chosen to replace her yellow monstrosity of a bag pack as she saw the outline of the park come into view. Books, notebooks, and an empty lunchbox were all she carried inside, loosing her cargo wouldn't exactly be a tragedy, and throwing it away now would leave her hands free. Plus, they'd had one less thing to tug and grab. Should she lug it at them now?

No, better not.

The books' hardcovers could pack a stronger punch than what she could deliver with her fist. The weight would give her a nice swing too. If she could run and fight carrying her yellow bag and a long bow without stumbling, then Kagome could use her bag for a while without getting tired.

Eyes locked on the park's short fence, the priestess slowed down, making a show of trying to jump over it and stumble. As long as they underestimated her, it would be less likely they'd all attack her at once. Then again, fooling them into thinking she was easy prey, wasn't what anyone would call difficult considering she could hear them cheering at her apparent clumsiness. Kagome leaned to the right, trying to make her movements look desperate, as she got closer to the playground. She forced herself to pant and pretend to look for options as the thugs hurried to surround her, puffing their chests and making their best effort to hide their own labored breathing. Stiff, forced sneers slowly spread across the faces surrounding her and the girl was quick to lower her eyes, taking a step back. Until the fight started, she could get away with focusing only on their feet and trusting her hearing. It would save her the trouble of having to put on a scared act. Last year gave her a lot of practice when it came to lying, and she'd gotten pretty good at mixing lies and truths, but her acting could still use some work, and the more time she could waste by talking the less she'd have to fight while waiting for the cops.

"Not so fast now, huh?"

"Just needed to take a breath." Following every cliché they could, the gangsters were trying to surround her. "I'll be more than happy to play with you."

"Oh, if you wanna play then we can play all day. We'll make the rules tho –

"You guys sure you want to push things?" Cutting the apparent leader's line, Kagome spoke up, watching his face begin to turn an ugly shade of red. "There's no shame in backing off now."

"Ha! You're not backing out of this, bitch!"

Definitely slower than a demon. Even the more mindless and weaker ones.

She could see the first thug taking big, threatening steps towards her. Slow steps.

Glancing up, the jerk was reaching out to grab her. Leaning back, thick fingers closed around nothing but air. Another peek let her see him frown and had her biting her tongue to keep herself from smiling. Even for a human, this guy was slow; Sango and Miroku were faster by a mile and a half. Dodging once more, Kagome kept both hands on her bag strap. There was a difference between a martial artist and a random person who could throw a punch. There was a flow to every battle, a rhythm. Fighting properly trained opponents was hard because they knew how to read it; brawlers like this, on the other hand, well they were an entirely different brand of fighters. Running from inhumanly fast youkais had put her in a situation where she either learned how interpret said melody or died. Jumping back again was easy.

"Stop fucking moving!" Really this guy was not creative.

"Oh, come on." The girl made an effort to smile at them. "If you want to, you can always ask others for help."

"Don't!" And unsurprisingly, he also fell for her taunts with absolutely zero effort. It almost made her feel sorry for trying so hard. "I can take care of her alone."

"Suit yourself." Shrugging, Kagome took another step back.

And there was no doubt that this guy was not the sharpest tool in the shed.

In all likelihood, this wouldn't last long, but she'd take every second she could get from his humiliation. Getting his opponents to fly into a blind rage was a tactic Miroku-sama used often to give himself an edge when outnumbered. And their enemies also made use of it more than once against Inuyasha with more than decent results. For all that she'd fallen in love with the silver-haired hanyou, the miko wasn't blind to his faults, and when his hotheadedness wasn't frustrating, she found it funny. Plus, it wasn't like Kagome was the epitome of cool-headedness and calm decisions, so the priestess could hardly point fingers when her impulsiveness had placed them in just as many tricky situations as Inuyasha's did during their travels. Though in her defense, the miko did learn how to be patient and not screw herself over by recklessly jumping into a possible battle when she didn't even know her odds, even borrowing some strategies from her friends and opponents.

Kagome wasn't a strong fighter. When youkais made up the bulk of their strongest enemies, there weren't any reasons for her to prioritize her physical training. Her archery and spiritual mastery would be the things that let her do real damage in battle, and with the limited time they had to help her become less helpless some areas had to be left to the side. Of course, Sango still made sure to teach her the basics. There were a few spots on the human body that were especially sensitive and a well-placed hit would be enough to bring any human down. During the Sengoku era, bandits would, at times, wear armor that could hide some of those points, but that just didn't happen anymore. The girl had plenty of targets to choose from. Her tactics would have to change, and quick, since she could tell the thug was losing his patience with every dodge and taunt that came out of her lips.

Decision made, azure eyes locked on their target, right hand closed in a fist.

And the distance between her and the gangster vanished.

Dull pain spread over her knuckles, the stench of sweat annoyingly strong. The thug's gasp loud so close to her ear.

Compared to her friends, she was extremely weak in hand-to-hand combat, but she was still an archer.

Even now, Kagome could draw a long bow over and over for quite a long while without breaking a sweat. A decent blow to the liver could do quite a bit of damage. Silence followed her as she stepped back, not wanting to have to support his weight as the boy crumbled to the floor, causing the cheers and leers to die out. This wasn't the stage she was supposed to be on, the scenario was all wrong, the Higurashi Kagome from one year ago would never even have the information to make fighting back a possibility. That girl wouldn't scoff at the guy because if he was willing to assault a random girl, then this pain was the least he deserved.

But she knew this script.

"There, can we just stop this?" Getting out of this without a bruise would be difficult, and she didn't want her family to worry. Making a half-hearted attempt to de-escalate this mess would help with the guilt. "I'm sure we all have better stuff to do."

"Get her! Fucking get her!"

Fighting wasn't something Kagome found enjoyable. It was true, even now.

The choreography, though, this was something she knew, the steps she needed to take to lead the feral group behind her into the playground, using the games as obstacles to her advantage. It was familiar. It was freeing. Her muscles didn't feel stiff when she jumped back, slender fingers closing around rough fabric, pulling and pushing down, breaking their balance, sending them to the ground. The lines that left her lips felt natural as she taunted the gangsters, stalling until she could find the time to go after their more sensitive areas and using her bag as an improvised weapon to get back some space. A pull on her bag threatened to make her lose her balance. Planting her feet on the ground, the miko made a half-hearted attempt to pull her bag only to let go of it at the last second.

At first, the sound didn't really register, focused on the fight as she was, but she was used to chaotic battlefields.

Her body moved on its own, stepping back to put as much distance as she could between herself and the thugs. Four motorcycles raced into the park, separating her from her attackers. The name stitched on the back of the black jackets was one she knew. The aura in front of her was unmistakably the one from the guy he met only three days ago. Black eyes bore into her as the leader of the Toman gang looked back at her. Ignoring the script, Kagome smiled at him.

A/N: I forgot to add the year/timeline thing in the last chapter but I'll be more careful from now on, just to make things as clear as possible so once things begin to deviate it doesn't get as confusing. Of course, since this happens before any time travel happens things will remain the same no matter what.

As always thank you guys so much for reading and any and all reviews/comments/criticism are greatly appreciated.