Chapter 22: Advertence
n. The action of being attentive; attention or consideration.
Word Count: 3,900
Genre: Friendship/Drama/Romance
Rating: T
Disclaimer: Of the few things I own, these fandoms are not on the list.
Repacking her bag for the third time served several purposes, Kagome would argue.
For one, it allowed her to take inventory. It made her really think about what was necessary to bring through and what were simple indulgences, which then reminded her to pack the cat treats she had promised Kirara for a lift back to the well during one of her many trips back the first week of Jadeite's awakening. It let her feel productive while Inuyasha was out doing whatever it was he could have been doing - and to a degree it kept her from wondering too much about that too.
But most of all, it provided her a much needed distraction from a far too pleased with himself Jadeite. No matter that the man wasn't even inside the house at that point. He could have been on the other side of the city and Kagome was sure she'd be able to feel that smug grin of his. She had half a mind to stomp out into the courtyard just to tell him to wipe the smarmy look off his face, for all the good it would do.
"As you command, princess."
She certainly couldn't get his voice out of her head. Unfortunately, she could only take inventory so many times.
Inuyasha was gone longer than she expected - not that she would have ever expected him to rush off into the city on his own to begin with. But it was at least an hour, maybe a bit longer, until he finally turned up again. Questions of what he'd been up to were met with a noncommittal grunt that earned a frustrated sigh of her own, but she didn't press. Whatever he'd gone off to do, while it had her curious, was clearly something he wasn't particularly eager to share. While not exactly defensive or overtly cagey about it, she recognized the dismissal for what it was.
As it stood, rather than whatever had him so flustered, she was more concerned about the events of the night before. She'd been worried since, even after finding him no worse for the wear the following morning. Even if the power of his demon blood had healed him when it returned with the sun, he would have suffered through the night.
It wasn't until they'd climbed out on the other side of the well that Kagome finally broached the subject.
Inuyasha, as she expected, shrugged it off as no big deal. "What are you worrying about? I'm fine."
"You sure?" Kagome nibbled her lip, peeking at him through her bangs uncertainly. "I saw the news clip after. That was quite a fall, and you took the brunt for both of them."
"Yeah," Inuyasha grunted, "didn't plan on cape boy."
She paused a moment to process the name only to choke back a laugh when the realization hit her. "Tuxedo Mask?"
"Yeah, him." His expression shifted to one of amusement. "Ran off when Pigtail started yellin' at him."
"Rei said the others brought you back," she said quietly. Guilt tightened her throat as she turned to face him. "You must have been hurt."
Inuyasha held her gaze for a few seconds, his silence answer enough. He looked away with a sigh, pausing to stare off at the horizon that stretched out ahead of them.
"Not badly," he finally admitted. After a beat, his expression softened. "Ami really ain't a half bad medic."
"She is really smart," Kagome agreed. After a moment she giggled.
"What?" Inuyasha gave her a look, nose crinkled with a familiar defensiveness, though it lacked the sharpness it might have held a few months earlier. "What's so funny?"
"Oh, nothing," she assured, eyes twinkling. "She must have really impressed you to get your praise though."
"H-huh?" Inuyasha sputtered and the color that darkened his cheeks was not terribly far off from the red of his robes. "What's that supposed to mean?!"
Undaunted, and in fact oddly comforted by the familiar spark of bickering, Kagome only rolled her eyes and elbowed him. "You're not that easy to impress you know. It took you over a month just to stop calling me a klutz all the time."
"Keh." Inuyasha looked away with a scoff. "You are a klutz. Doesn't mean I don't know you're strong."
Kagome stopped short, left to stare at his back as he continued forward.
It struck her in that moment, just how long it had been since it had just been them. The quiet nights by the fire, sneaking glances and hiding knowing smiles, hadn't seemed so far away before. In reality, it had only been a few months - not even half a year since they'd met. Their dynamic, only altered ever so slightly by Shippo's entrance and then Miroku's, hadn't really changed much right away - at least, not on the surface.
Perhaps she'd simply been too caught up in her own feelings of inadequacy, in the way she'd delved into helping people, in her determination to be useful, to contribute more than her ability to sense the shards, that she'd failed to really notice just how much Inuyasha had also grown.
As if sensing her thoughts, he glanced over his shoulder at her. "You comin' or what?"
The gruff question was oddly comforting.
"Yeah, I'm coming." Kagome couldn't help her smile. There was a tightness missing from her throat and a lightness in her chest that she hadn't felt in some time as she scurried to catch up with him.
He might have grown, but Inuyasha was still Inuyasha.
Inuyasha being Inuyasha, of course, meant that they did not break for lunch until well into the afternoon. They'd gotten a late enough start that Kagome hadn't pressed the matter herself, even when the first grumbles of her stomach began, because it would only start an argument and she was enjoying the peace -however ironic the thought might be- that came of being on the road in the wilds of the past. There was no rush of traffic, no clatter of trains, no bustle of a crowd too lost in their own world to appreciate the one around them.
For all the horrors that she had seen, the war, blood, and death, Kagome loved this world.
And she was all too happy to agree when Sango took advantage of their break to suggest a quick spar. It felt like it had been forever since she'd gotten any training in with either the slayer or the monk and, while Kagome would admit that she hadn't quite been a very compatible student to their teaching, it lit a spark of excitement in her to engage in it again. Before, it had only been frustrating for both sides. Even if Sango had claimed to enjoy teaching her, and Kagome believed her of course, it was different to teach someone not even born to the realities of their world that were so second nature to them.
Now, though it had only been a few weeks, Kagome felt as if she could engage her friend's teaching on more even footing. As they launched forward at one another -ducking, weaving, anticipating- she even found herself feeling a bubbling of excitement rather than that dread of only being a disappointment for what she did not and could not have known.
Sango seemed a little caught off guard by the shift, but adapted well enough and Kagome was practically giddy. Still lost to a thrill that she'd never known before, she did not process the way she moved until she was looking down at a visibly stunned slayer. Off to the side, even Miroku and Inuyasha's quiet chatter with Shippo hushed.
"I don't remember teaching you that," Sango said, still looking a bit awestruck as she accepted the hand offered to her.
Kagome grinned a bit sheepishly, uncertain how to respond to praise for putting one of her best friends quite unceremoniously on her ass.
Sango, for her part, seemed unoffended. As the shock wore off, a smile brightened her expression instead. "You've really improved," she commented.
Inuyasha's call to pack it up so they could get back on the road was somehow a relief and disappointment in one.
Kagome shuffled nervously, lips pursed disbelievingly as she watched Sango turn to gather her things. "You think so?"
"Kagome," Sango chastised, "don't sell yourself so short. Your progress is remarkable."
"You sound like Jed," she mumbled as she shouldered her bag.
"Jed?" Sango paused in adjusting Hiraikotsu's strap to look at her. "Oh, that man living on your shrine now?"
"Yeah…" Kagome worried her lip. "I wasn't expecting him to be such a good teacher, really."
"I would have thought you expected him to be one of those monsters in disguise when he first turned up," Sango teased, elbowing her playfully when Kagome shot her a look. "Oh, come on, Kagome. You made Inuyasha and Kirara both bring you back home a lot more those first few weeks."
Kagome grumbled as Sango stood to situate Hiraikotsu back into place, but she supposed she couldn't deny that particular fact. Sango didn't know just how spot on her jest actually was. Even she could admit that she had been a bit paranoid. 'Is it really paranoia when the guy was trying to kidnap you only a month before?'
"You were either expecting him to do something untoward," Sango continued, looking back down at her with a twinkle of amusement in her eyes, "or you fancy him."
Kagome flushed. "Sango!"
"Oh." Sango tilted her head. "I was only joking, but was I right?"
Kagome flushed a shade darker. "It's not like that," she insisted with a whine.
"Okay," Sango conceded but didn't drop the matter, instead only inching a bit closer and lowering her voice. "Then what is it like?"
Kagome opened her mouth, only to find herself without an answer. That was a very complicated answer to what should have been a very simple question - to what should have not been a question to begin with. Sango had been her dearest friend, her confidant, for what felt like ages now and she should have at least brought her into the fold much sooner.
There was no time like the present, Kagome supposed. Short of the privacy of their quiet talks in the springs, she couldn't think of a better opportunity.
"Well," she began after a moment, "I'd actually been meaning to talk to you about-"
A rhythmic echo of footsteps interrupted the conversation before she even had the chance to broach it. Just as easily as that opportunity had fallen into her hands, it slipped through her fingers. If it didn't appear as if an entire military unit was suddenly approaching them, Kagome might have indulged in the dramatic groan of frustration that threatened to escape.
If it wasn't demons, of course it would be a literal army.
Maybe that was an exaggeration, Kagome thought. There weren't that many, perhaps twenty by her count, and their ranks were human from what she could tell. But numbers were numbers, and this was only what they could see. There could be more just behind, though it was unlikely that they were surrounded with Inuyasha's sense of smell. Luckily, just as they'd all positioned to reach for their weapons, the platoon came to a halt. Kagome furrowed her brows a moment before they proceeded to vanish into her bangs as the leader of the unit dropped to his knees in front of their group.
The man glanced over their group before his eyes landed on Sango, lingering noticeably on the Hiraikotsu she carried. "Would you be Sango, the demon slayer and her travel party?"
"Yes," Miroku confirmed with a blink, "this is Sango here."
The rest of the soldiers also dropped to their knees, much to their bewilderment.
"I am the vassal, Asahi, representing the Takeda clan," the man introduced, head bowed respectfully. "We have come to speak with Sango."
Her questioning look was only met with an equally helpless one from Sango. At least, Kagome thought ruefully, they weren't after her for once.
Before any of them could question just why these men had been searching for the slayer, the sky rumbled with the threat of rain. Not long after, it delivered. A nearby hut provided shelter for their small group along with the vassal and, while Inuyasha bristled at allowing themselves to be surrounded in such a confined space, they were left without much choice when the rain grew harder. Kagome, of course, couldn't help but feel a bit bad for the men left outside, despite the potential threat that they posed.
Asahi, however, was thankfully as mindful of making himself nonthreatening as he was forthcoming in answering their questions. But of all things a troop of soldiers could have come seeking Sango for, none of them had been expecting the simple job offer he presented, especially with the pay that came attached to it. It was simple job with a more than generous reward.
Miroku, for his part, made a point of detailing just how unusual a sum it was. Although, the monk seemed torn between salivating over the amount of coin and suspicious of being caught on the wrong end of the sort of con he might pull. Nobody could refute him, nor did they bother. It was, after all, enough to make even Kagome suspicious.
'Not exactly the kind of headhunting I've come to expect from this era, I gotta say,' she mused.
Sango was simply flummoxed, if the look on her face was anything to go by. She tried to turn it down, the offer far too good to be true, however diplomatic she was in keeping her own suspicion unspoken in her refusal. But, as they discovered before she could even muster the words, the job had never really been about the job.
That was how their ragtag little team found themselves in a castle that evening, honored -if confused- guests of the young Lord Kuranosuke himself. A lord who was thoroughly smitten with Sango. Enough so that in the same breath that he confirmed the job was indeed legitimate, he proposed to the slayer.
If Sango had seemed confused before she looked absolutely struck silly then.
A few months ago, Kagome might have been giddy at the flicker in Miroku's eyes, the tension in his jaw he couldn't quite conceal. But for as much of a romantic as she had been, as she still was, she had also learned how much she valued a mutual respect. So Kagome kept her silence and only observed, waiting through a feast -where she had to hush Inuyasha's sulking and side eye Miroku's blatant displays of lechery- until they were dismissed to turn in later that evening.
It wasn't until the others had dimmed their lamps that she slipped out of her room to approach Sango, the only one whose feelings on the subject really mattered. As expected, the woman in question and current guest of honor, was found standing outside looking wistfully at the sky, the storm long gone and the skies clear but for the twinkle of the stars above them.
Sango didn't look away as Kagome approached, but shifted to give her room to join her. After a stretch of silence, she heaved a sigh. "I don't know what I should do, Kagome."
Kagome pursed her lips and leaned down on her forearms to look up at her friend. "What do you want to do then?"
"I…" Sango began, uncertainly at first before heaving a resigned sigh. "It would be easy to say I want to rebuild my village. To train new slayers…"
Kagome inched a bit closer. "But?"
"Even before, I can't say I ever wanted to settle like that." Sango blushed, avoiding her gaze as she rubbed her arm sheepishly. "That isn't to say that I never thought about those things, but…"
A little smile curled her lips as Kagome wrapped an arm around her friend's shoulders. "It's not what you want?"
"No," Sango agreed quietly, "it isn't."
The demon was upon them moments later.
That Inuyasha hadn't caught its scent before the attack began should have been their first clue to its true nature. For all that they struck the beast, be it Hiraikotsu or Tessaiga, it remained unharmed. Luckily, Miroku noticed the oddity of its energy before it could do any real damage, and the battle ended quickly enough after that. Luckier still, Lord Kuranosuke was quite gracious in Sango's rejection of his proposal.
At the very least he let them stay the night without fuss and they were all treated as honored guests in the morning. Without the tension of the night before, Kagome thought it might have been a nice retreat - a vacation, almost. Lord Kuranosuke was a decent host, still soft on Sango though more than happy to chat amicably with the rest of them in a way he'd not the night before. He listened to their story raptly as they explained their mission, offered condolences to Sango when he learned of what had befallen her clan, and promised to assist as he was able.
They only asked that he share anything he knew of any strange occurrences that might lead to a shard, or a lead on any of the enemies that remained at large.
"There has been talk of many strange things lately," Kuranosuke answered, taking a sip of his tea. "There is word of a war brewing with a clan of bat demons to the south and fruit bearing the face of a man being found in the river waters."
Kagome couldn't help her shudder at the eerie description.
"Some even speak of the walking dead, men made of clay who devour souls of their victims," Kuranosuke continued, looking perturbed by the thought himself. "And there are some whispers of foreigners. Though rumors do not speak of whether they are demon or human, one has supposedly claimed himself a king."
Kagome had enough men in her life who thought themselves king, thank you very much.
In and out and in and out. Humans were such painfully predictable creatures. It took only a few well-timed articles and advertisements in their media, and they set the trend themselves. All the while completely unaware of the magic they took with them, the magic that would claim their service to the Dark Kingdom once his plans came to fruition.
Zoicite barely refrained from crinkling his nose in distaste as a particularly rowdy group filed in. They were donning uniforms of a sort, some sports club most likely, the most boisterous of the lot being a boy sporting a mop of blond hair so unkempt that Zoicite nearly took offense.
This age group in particular was especially useful in spreading the magic's reach far, and quickly at that. Still children, obsessed with trends, fitting in, and naive to the world and the dangers that lurked within it. They were teetering just on the cusp of not quite adulthood, scarcely teenagers, yet so eager to prove themselves ready for it that they often only managed to prove the very opposite.
"Hey, Higurashi," the blond boy greeted the newcomer. When there was no reply forthcoming -and the boy clearly did not recognize that he was being ignored- he called over more loudly. "Souta!"
"Oh," the boy replied, less enthusiastically, "hi, Tsukino."
If this Tsukino boy noticed, he certainly didn't acknowledge Higurashi Souta's clear distaste for the interaction. Instead, he only sidled up to the other boy and grinned. "Haven't seen your sister around lately. Finally get sick of Usagi's whining?"
"No," the reply came more tersely this time, "Kagome's just been busy with a summer job, that's all."
'Kagome?' Zoicite glanced over the edge of the book he'd been pretending to read to eye the two with a touch more interest. Whether or not Higurashi was on the more uncommon end of names, Kagome certainly was. Surely, it wasn't mere coincidence. It never was.
"She'll be around more when summer break is over," the Higurashi boy continued, the rest of their conversation fading from his attention after that.
Zoicite lowered his book slightly and searched the boy's features. Looking a bit closer, the resemblance became much more obvious. Aside from the color of his eyes, the boy was the spitting image of the little flower. The shape of his eyes, the curve of his cheekbones, and the crinkle of his nose that betrayed an annoyance he couldn't quite fully hide - his face was round with youth, but there was no question that he was related to that girl.
"It doesn't matter," Higurashi said suddenly. The firmness to the declaration drew Zoicite's attention back to their conversation just in time to see the boy turn to Tsukino with a disdain that almost made him laugh. "Busy or not, Kagome would come running the second Usagi needed help."
"Usagi always needs help," the Tsukino boy said with a roll of his eyes.
The Higurashi boy looked unimpressed. "Shouldn't you be practicing for the upcoming soccer meet instead of picking on Usagi?"
"Huh?" Tsukino stammered. "How'd you know about-"
"Shingo!" a woman called before he could finish. "Come on, it's time to go!"
Higurashi flashed the other boy a smile. "See you at the next match, Tsukino."
Zoicite hid an amused smirk behind his book. This Tsukino Shingo at least had self awareness enough to look flustered before he scurried out of the shop with his purchase.
Higurashi stared after him, lips thin with clear annoyance as he watched the other boy vanish into the bustle of the city streets. After a moment, he heaved a sigh, his expression of annoyance melting into one of relief.
"Finally," he muttered, and turned back to the aisle he'd been headed for when he'd first come in. "Now to find that video Hitomi was talking about…"
The boy began perusing the shelves then. Zoicite watched him curiously, his position behind the counter playing the role of dutiful shop clerk allowing him the perfect vantage point. The boy was headed right for the video display that the last group had come for. No matter the exchange he'd had with the others, Zoicite realized, the kid was still just that. Still just as easily lured into the web of dark magic by the whispers of pop culture amongst his peers. He came just as readily to the counter, another of the enchanted tapes in hand, all too ready to pay for the privilege of becoming a thrall to the Dark Kingdom.
How very fortunate he was to have caught Zoicite's eye this day. 'Souta, was it?'
"I'm sorry," Zoicite said as he plucked the tape from his hands, "but this is reserved for another customer. Last one, I'm afraid. Can I get you something else?"
"Oh." A look of confusion crossed his face before the boy simply furrowed his brow. "No, that's alright. Thanks."
Zoicite watched him go and plastered another smile befitting a dutiful customer service clerk on his face when the boy turned to sneak another glance at him, only to hurry into the crowd and out of sight when he realized he'd been caught. The door slammed shut and the little bell above the door jingled loudly in his wake.
He chuckled quietly. "Nice kid."
Truly, Zoicite thought, he was sometimes far too benevolent a king.
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~Huntress