Kagome found it shocking that she wasn't surprised when the path
Sesshomaru had told her of came into view. She knew she should think he
wanted to get her lost and she should have been worried sick... But it
didn't really work out that way. Instead she found herself completely
trusted the warlord as if he had never, numerously, attempted to end her
'pathetic human' life.
She followed the twisting train straight up a hill when she suddenly
reached the top. A giant hill loomed on the horizon. And Kagome was
shocked to find that, even from this distance she could make out a small
shrine at the top of the foreign hill, much like the one at her house.
Must be a LOT less polluted here.. she thought dismissively.
For the first time Kagome studied the terrain that lay between her
and the shrine. Lots and lots of hills, lots of twists and turns on the
path, thousands of perfect hiding places for youkai and a giant hairball on
the path directly in front of her... Wait... Hairball???
A fleeting image of Yura passed through her mind and Kagome studied
the ball more closely, only to find it to be a giant spider web. Great, I
don't know what's worse, a reincarnated hair fanatic or a giant spider just
waiting to eat her. Needless to say, Kagome pulled her bow and arrows
out...
~*~*~*~* One hour later *~*~*~*~
Kagome walked on. Tired, sweaty, and caked in mud and blood (the
demons), she rested herself on a rock right off the trail. She pulled out
a water bottle and took a few sips, pouring the rest of it over her hair,
arms and legs. Pulling out a towel, Kagome began to scrub all the wet
areas with the towel.
By the crazed look in her eyes, one might think her possessed. They
may think she was furiously trying to rub the skin off her body and pull
all of the hair from her head. They may say that she needed some help, or
they may have just ignored her. They may call a priest to try and get rid
of the problem. But me, I just think she's obsessed about being clean.
And obsessed she was, but she did eventually pull herself from the
rock and continue on her way. Kagome then noticed that she should still be
tired. When she had been traveling with Inu Yasha, it had taken her an
hour to recover after something like what had happened did, but she had
only been sitting down scrubbing for fifteen minutes... and the last ten
she hadn't been any more tired then she was now.
Kagome rubbed her temples and trekked on. My life is too strange for
the simple mater of my anatomy to bother me... That's when another strange
fact hit her. She had smelt salt ever since she had gotten into the
forest. But that wasn't what bothered her... Since when was I able to
smell salt?! Kagome wondered fleetingly if she was going crazy, but before
she could continue that train of thought, she found herself at the shrine.
How the hell did I get here so quickly?!?!
She turned around in wonder, only able to guess what more there was
to this forest then met the eye. Suddenly, a pale blue haired girl with...
red eyes??? appeared before Kagome and she was hastily ushered inside.
Kagome was so shocked by the sudden movement that she didn't even try to
stop it, and was instead seated on a large table in front of a steaming
cup. Kagome looked at it blankly before looking up at the smiling girl who
had positioned herself across the table.
"Um... I...who...?" Kagome wasn't sure what to ask. She knew this
girl was an ice demon but she seemed nice enough. And from what she had
heard about Genkai she was human, so who was the demoness? The girl seemed
almost to read her thoughts.
"Oh how rude of me, I'm sorry," the woman started, "I'm Yukina, I've
been helping out Genkai for a while around the shrine.
"Oh... Where is Genkai?" Kagome asked timidly.
"She's around somewhere," Yukina said, still smiling, "Did she know
you were coming?" Kagome was suddenly worried that she'd have to get an
appointment and come later.
"Um... no... Do I need to arrange a meeting earlier?" Yukina was
still smiling and Kagome was reminded of one of the advertisement people on
TV. Except that this girls smile didn't seem fake of plastered on, and
Kagome was instantly warming up to her.
"Oh no, I was just wondering if she was expecting you. Can you give
me your name and I'll tell her your here?" Yukina asked kindly. Kagome
was nervous again. If she told her her name and then she found out Genkai
didn't know her, would she be thrown out??
"Um, she doesn't... exactly, er... know me," Yukina's smile shrunk a
little as she looked at Kagome curiously.
"Hmm, but your human? If you didn't know her directly how'd you know
how to get here?" Kagome closed her eyes and rubbed her left temple.
"I would tell you but its a long story," Yukina smiled again when
Kagome opened her eyes.
"You'll have time to tell me later. I would still like to know your
name though," Yukina said politely.
"Oh! Um, It's Kagome," Kagome found herself smiling right along with
the girl. Yukina waved and turned around, walking into a hallway in the
back.
"I'll be right back!" Yukina shouted as she disappeared in the dark
hallway. Kagome finally looked down at her cup, and noticed that it was
once hot tea, and now was lukewarm due to the conversation she had had.
She quickly picked it up and had a drink. She was reminded immediately
thinking of Keada and how every time she would come, she would spend at
least one night drinking tea and discussing different things with Genkai.
The had discussed the jewel, Kikyo, different herbs, first aid
techniques... she had learned lots of useful things from her.
"Broken arrows can still fly..." Kagome suddenly realized what the
old woman had meant. A broken soul can move on to better places. A smile
slipped onto her face and she again took a sip of the tea.
A few minutes later Yukina entered with an old woman behind her who
Kagome knew at once was Genkai. Kagome stood up and bowed politely to the
other two who both bowed in return. Yukina pointed at the old woman, "This
is Genkai," points to Kagome, "Genkai this is Kagome."
"Kagome," Genkai started, "May I ask why you've come to see me?"
Genkai sat down and Kagome followed suit.
"Genkai-sama, I was actually hoping you could train me..." Genkai
shook her head.
"I have already chosen and trained the one who will carry on my
techniques," Genkai made to stand up but Kagome grabbed the hand on the
table to stop her.
"I don't ask for your techniques. And I am not asking you to train
me the same as you did Yuske. He uses Spirit Energy, I don't," both the
woman before her looked at her shocked when she said his name.
"You know Yuske?" Yukina asked, eyes wide.
"Not... well..." Kagome said slowly.
"Wait, you said you don't use Sprite Energy, and it didn't sound like
you meant you went without any Energies. Are you a sorceress?" Genkai
suddenly looked untrusting toward Kagome.
"No, no! I'm... I'm sort of a miko..." Genkai looked shocked again
and Yukina just looked confused.
"But there haven't been Miko around for four hundred years!" Genkai
finally managed.
"Long story involving a weird well, a jewel, and a girl named Kikyo,"
Kagome rubbed her temple again, "All I know is that my power is, if
harnessed, probably one of the greatest in history and I have yet to learn
to control it. I would also like to learn how to manage without them so I
won't hurt a couple of my friends who are demons." Kagome looked up again,
willing to plead. But instead of the untrustful looking old woman who she
had seen before Genkai stood smiling slightly and looking straight at her.
"Sounds like a challenge," Genkai murmured, then her voice grew
louder, "I will train you if you yourself can come up with your own
technique within two weeks. I usually test the people I'm willing to train
but your probably the only miko alive and if your as powerful..."
"Powerful when I harness it," Kagome spoke, trying to make sure she
hadn't given the old woman false hopes.
"Well that powerful when you harness it then there would be no need
for testing anyway," Genkai finished, "I'll teach you some about the actual
gift tonight an tomorrow we start hard training."
So Genkai trained Kagome. First she taught her how the energies work
and how to practice controlling them. Then they went into what Genkai had
called hard training, which Kagome called hell. She had to do all of the
training Yuske did. Kagome found herself actually itching to practice even
without Genkai saying she had to, and so she asked Genkai if she could
learn with a different weapon then a bow so that she could practice in
small spaces. She then learned how to purify and work with daggers.
Kagome's technique was made in time but on the same evening she
showed it to Genkai, something strange happened. Kagome felt a sharp pain
in the small of her back and fell to the ground, writhing the same as she
had the day she left home. Except this time, the pain had started at her
spine and gone throughout her body. The pain didn't stop as quickly this
time and she heard herself scream once, Genkai an Yukina ran into help.
After twenty minutes of writhing like a fish on the floor the pain stopped.
Kagome just stayed curled up in that spot, sobbing. Yukina and Genkai
trying to comfort her in their own way (Yukina actually comforting and
Genkai throwing small threats at her to get through it).
The next morning she woke up on the couch instead of the guest room
bed. Genkai was sitting on a chair beside her.
"Why didn't you tell me you had the mark?" Genkai asked suddenly.
"What?" It was the best Kagome could answer when she was still half
asleep.
"The mark! On your back! Why didn't you tell me?" Genkai said
again, slightly more angry.
"You mean the foxprint?"
"Yes the foxprint you moron! Why didn't you tell me?" Genkai was
standing now.
"I didn't think it was anything but some stupid mark that wouldn't
come off," Kagome mumbled. Genkai looked at her a moment and then set down
again.
"The foxprint is a failsafe mechanism they put on important material
that's not meant to be seen by humans. It's kitsune magic that has the
ability to change you into whatever youkai you have any or the most of it's
type of DNA. It would have killed an ordinary human by now, but your miko
gift is slowing it down," Genkai said tiredly.
"But... I don't have any youkai DNA," Kagome said, now slightly
worried.
"It isn't always by the traditional means, if some of their blood
gets in your bloodstream or even your stomach in the past month or so. But
it won't change you into any low class demons, that wouldn't kill you, only
the upper class ones," Genkai looked tired and bent her head over.
"Is.. is there any way to stop it?" Kagome was mentally listing the
demons she had come in contact with in the past month. Sesshomaru, Yukina,
Inu Yasha, Shippo and... Hiei... "Will hanyou blood have the same effect?"
"It wears away in half the time, so instead of a month it's two
weeks," counts out Inu Yasha, and she didn't really do anything but shake
hands with Sesshomaru so she probably wasn't turning into a dog demon. So
ice apparition, kitsune, or... whatever type of demon Hiei was, "And
there's only one way to stop it. It's to use the magic of a soul. I'm not
sure where you could find that though. And even if you could stop it,
what's done by then can't be reversed. You don't happen to know of any
magical soul do you?" Genkai had said the last part as a joke, and was
shocked when Kagome answered.
"The Shikon-no-Tama..." Kagome whispered. Fatigue suddenly felt
extreme and Kagome suddenly found that her head lay comfortably on the
couch's arm.
When Kagome finally woke up, the house was pitch black. One glance
out the window and Kagome saw the moon hovering in the sky, an ominous glow
shining on her face. How long have I been asleep???
Kagome swung her feet over the edge of the bed, ignoring the way her
muscles protested against the sudden movement. When she pulled herself up
and took a step... she found herself face first on the floor. She looked
down at her feet and saw the hooded layers of fabric hanging over her feet.
That's strange... These fit me perfectly yesterday... Kagome shoved the
unneeded thought away and walked over to the full length mirror on the
other side of the room, pulling her pants up to avoid yet another
confrontation with Genkai-sensei's smelly floor.
Kagome's eyes widened with shock as she saw her appearance in the
mirror. She had most obviously shrunk a few inches, making her training
pants look like Erkles (AN: Can't spell) high-water overalls when she
pulled them above her feet. But the part that creeped Kagome out most was
when she was about to turn from the mirror and she caught a glimpse of red.
Turning quickly, Kagome again saw the flash of red and this time she saw
exactly what it way.
Kagome's eyes glowed a vivid, blood red, but only for a second before
returning to their previous stormy blue.
"Well, at least now I'm sure it's Hiei..."