Chapter 3 - Testing
The trees were the first things Inuyasha noticed. Beautiful, tall trees made for jumping in. In fact, a good portion of the land was a forest beyond the training ground. Those with demon hearing swore they heard a stream somewhere in amongst the trees. The sun shone brightly down at the expectant and gleeful prisoners. And Kagome's breath caught as she noticed a familiar sword standing with other familiar weapons against one wall.
When she directed Inuyasha's attention to it he bounded towards it with a cry of joy. He gripped the sword firmly in his hands, but was stopped from using it by Yusuke shaking his head. "Wait for everyone to come out."
Their cell waited in tense anticipation as others streamed out. Souta and Shippo immediately flung themselves at Kagome. Souta hugged Kagome tightly, then turned to Kikyou, hugging her just as tightly as Shippo snuggled into Kagome's arms.
Sango and Miroku froze as they exited the building, mouths hanging open upon seeing two more familiar faces. "Kagome? Kikyou?"
The two sisters jerked their heads upward and suddenly there seemed to be a mass of people as Inuyasha joined in greeting Sango and Miroku. Kouga even joined in, though he was more into trying to take Kagome into his arms than anything else. Kohaku was grinning proudly and trying to avoid a public display as he saw his sister for the first time since the last time they'd been let out, over a month ago.
"I'm guessing you all know each other?" Keiko asked as she saw the people. Stunned silence met her statement from Yusuke's friends as they stared at her. Well, everyone who hadn't been in the cell when Kurama had worked on her.
"Keiko?" Yusuke asked uncertainly. She raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. Kurama's useful to have around. Who are they?"
"Kurama? Oh, them, they're...friends. I only met those three recently. They got stuck in my cell." Yusuke shrugged, but grinned at Kurama. Hiei was ignoring his friends in favor of watching the other group. Especially as suddenly they all stood up and as one looked towards the weapon. Kagome and Kikyou saw an especially nice bow and shrieked as one.
"Mine!" They shouted, grappling with each other for the bow. Souta rolled his eyes. "Not again. There's a bow almost exactly the same right over there!"
Souta pointed but neither girl took any notice of him. Yusuke watched the girls with a small smirk on his face and pulled Souta. "Let them fight about it. They might be stressed, it'll help them get it out."
Inuyasha's eyes narrowed as he watched Yusuke watch the girls trying to claw over each other to get to the bow. "Kagome, Kikyou, stop that. Especially you Kagome. You're still wearing your clothes that have holes from the battle in them, And a skirt. And almost every adult male is peeking up it right now."
Instantly Kagome stopped and Kikyou lunged towards the bow with a triumphant yell. Kagome stood up straight and tried to fix her clothes. She sighed and pouted at the state of them. "Can I get these replaced?"
"Come on Kagome, that little building you can probably get a replica of your outfit. We may be locked up, but they keep us pretty well in clothing and training. The food tastes like Inuyasha's fouler attempts at cooking, but it's all we get." Sango began to lead Kagome to a building sticking out of the main jailhouse.
"Hey! I cook well! Kikyou likes it!" Inuyasha growled and Kikyou quickly looked away.
"Kikyou's your mate. She has to pretend to like it. And her cooking isn't much better. In fact, the only ones who can really cook are Sango and Kohaku." Miroku took a step back when both stepped towards him.
"They're mates?" Yusuke asked in surprise, eyeing Inuyasha up and down. He hadn't seemed like one to settle down and make a family.
"Yes, and that's a strange tale. Inuyasha originally came to steal the Shi-"
"Shield! I came to steal a shield!" Inuyasha glared at Miroku and looked pointedly to Hiei and Kurama, the unknowns about them.
Kikyou sighed and studied everyone else around them. "Don't lie Inuyasha. On the other hand, why don't those who we don't know introduce themselves."
"Jin," A red-haired demon responded to her look. She nodded and others continued.
"Yura," one giggled, eyeing the hair of those around her, a comb in one had. "I hope they kept up my hair supply."
"Hiei." The fire apparition leaned against a nearby tree, glaring at the other group.
"Kurama." The red head studied the kitsune child he had seen earlier, who was smiling at him, and Kurama wondered how accurate Youko's earlier statement had been.
"Keiko." The brown-haired girl gave a bright smile; glad to be rid of thoughts that weren't hers, even if Kurama had said it was only temporary.
"Kuwabara."
"Hello, I'm Yukina."
"I'm Botan, nice to meet you!"
"I'm Ayame, and Kouga's my mate!"
"I know who you are Ayame. We met before. And you two haven't mated yet," Kikyou said dryly. Botan coughed and looked pointedly at Kikyou and the returning Kagome and Sango. "I know Sango, but as some of the others are new, why doesn't everyone else introduce themselves to the other newcomers, besides yourselves."
"I am Kikyou Higurashi, eldest of the Higurashi family. Souta is our youngest, and Kagome-"
"Can introduce herself." Kagome smirked and offered her hand to the blue-haired girl. "I'm Kagome Higurashi, just introduced to this lovely place yesterday after having been beaten half to death."
"Really? Why didn't they just collar you?" Keiko asked in the background.
"They collared Kikyou first, and I got a little violent when I realized what it did," There was a pause from both groups and Souta and the other two young boys exchanged grins.
"Translation, Oh, I'm Shippo Higurashi by the way. Kikyou forgot me. I'm adopted. Anyway, translating that from Mama's understatement, that means she purified everything they threw at her until she was drained. Am I right?" Shippo grinned as Kagome glared at him, attempting to look stern. Behind her, Inuyasha and Kikyou exchanged a look and both nodded once.
"Yeah! I'm always right! Anyone have chocolate?" Kagome smothered a smile and cleared her throat, inclining her head towards Inuyasha. He took his cue.
"I'm Inuyasha. I wield the Tetsusaiga and I'm an inu hanyou. That's all you need to know." Inuyasha crossed his arms defensively as many eyes widened in shock.
"Wait a minute -- Tetsusaiga? You're that hanyou? Urameshi!" Kuwabara turned startled eyes on Yusuke and was met with an equally startled gaze.
"Hey, I didn't know!" He turned to Inuyasha. "Why didn't I know?"
Inuyasha snarled in defensive surprise. "What the hell? How do you even know about Tetsusaiga?"
"Gee, it's only a famous sword that anyone who pays attention to the rumors knows about," Kagome muttered.
Kurama's mind was catching up to a few facts with astounding speed. "Wait. If you wield Tetsusaiga, you must be part of the group that Naraku frequently targeted. Besides our own. Where are the rest of them?"
Sango and Miroku stood coughed and walked to either side of Inuyasha. Kohaku waved. Kouga flashed a smirk as he walked up to Kagome. Inuyasha grinned and simply waved to the group gathering around him. "At the moment, they're right in front of you."
Hiei sneered doubtfully. "Them? A bunch of humans and weak demons? What use are they?"
Kagome looked at the grounds they were meant to train on before being shipped off and grinned at the weapons there. "You know, you have a point. Why don't we see what use we are?"
Kagome had already walked forward; grabbing a bow almost identical to the one Kikyou had won. She looked at the others and they all began moving. Inuyasha already clutched Tetsusaiga in his grasp and Kikyou had her bow. Sango's boomerang was there, as was Miroku's staff.
Shippo picked up some of his toys, statues, and other assorted tricks while Kohaku picked up his chained sickle. Souta grinned and picked up a straight, long wooden staff. He briefly pressed into the side and a blade popped out. Kohaku jumped back with a glare. "Be careful with that! Why are you always pointing it at me when the blade comes out?"
Kouga simple crossed his arms and Ayame and Yura stood to one side, watching the two groups curiously. Keiko shifted nervously. "What are they doing?"
"Arming themselves. And doing it very well. Yusuke?" Kurama's inquiry was met with a fascinated nod as Yusuke watched the others turn from a bunch of people dressed in mostly normal clothes to a family of warriors.
"Hn." If Hiei was surprised his question had such an effect, he didn't show it. He simply picked up a katana from the opposite side of the fence. Botan sighed and grabbed Yukina and Keiko's hands to pull them off to one side. Unsurprisingly, Jin joined Yusuke's side and looked interested in seeing the fights. Kurama was pleased to see freshly picked roses placed near the fence and quickly transformed one into the rose whip.
"Well, this looks interesting, doesn't it?" Kagome said cheerily, testing out her bow on a far off tree. The leaves hardly rustled as her arrow imbedded itself into one slim branch. Kagome grinned in satisfaction. "So, who wants to fight me?"
The five boys looked at each other, clearly trying to out glare each other. Sango frowned and focused on the three girls of the other group. "Why aren't they fighting?"
Kuwabara looked astonished. "They can't fight. They're girls! And so are you! You can't fight either!"
The temperature turned amazingly frigid and Sango gritted her teeth. "Mine. I'm fighting that bastard."
"I can't fight girls!" Kuwabara said in shock.
"Tough. Can we get back to me?" Kagome turned eyes to the others and the fire apparition stepped forward with narrowed eyes.
"I'll fight you."
"Great! So, Inuyasha?" Kagome grinned as Inuyasha and Yusuke instantly smirked and stepped towards each other. Kagome shook her head and muttered under her breath, "Careful Inuyasha. He's powerful. You might actually lose this one."
Inuyasha gave no sign of hearing and Kikyou stepped up when Jin looked for a challenge. That left Kurama, and when Miroku started to step forward he was pulled back and a furious argument ensued. Souta and Shippo were pushed out almost immediately, but Kohaku argued that he was as strong.
"Excuse me, but perhaps just choose one and we can have a round, you may fight others if some of your team mates lose to ours." Kurama solution seemed all right with them and Miroku stepped up to the plate.
Kagome opened her mouth to begin a count, but most of the fights were already beginning. And her opponent wasn't waiting either. She dropped to her knees and rolled away to get to her feet as Hiei's sword met the air where she had been. "Fast, aren't you?"
He didn't bother answering and she grinned. This time she let him come, simply dodging enough so it would be a killing blow. She dropped her bow immediately and laid one hand on the sword arm that had come towards her. He froze as her hand glowed. "That was quick."
"You haven't won yet girl," Hiei ground out, and she blinked as she noticed his sword was closer than it had been before. They both stared at each other for a moment before they both backed away, starting again, arrows whirring through the air this time to keep him at bay.
Kikyou scowled as the wind demon floated above her head, her arrows falling short as he moved quickly around. "Stay on the ground, demon!"
"Ow," Inuyasha muttered. "Why do I never listen to Kagome?" He pulled himself out of the ground again and met a grinning Yusuke. Inuyasha growled and rushed Yusuke with Tetsusaiga in hand.
"Fight me, damn it!" Sango let her boomerang fly into the man who was supposedly her opponent. He was steadfast in his resolve, and she knew she couldn't just keep beating on him. He wouldn't surrender; claiming it wasn't a real fight in the first place, so this would have to end as a draw.
As everyone else fought, Kurama and Miroku had begun talking. Neither had let down their guard at first, but they had called a draw and were now talking animatedly. Yura looked disappointed. "I was hoping one of them would get injure enough that I could take their hair. I would dearly love to have that red head's hair."
Ayame shrugged and pointed towards Kagome and Hiei. "Look at that. The fire apparition's about to be burned to a crisp if he doesn't watch out. Ouch! That had to hurt!"
"In his arm too! She'd better watch out, he's getting angry. The fire is gathering around his sword." Yura giggled happily as she watched the bloodthirsty scene. The giggle stopped suddenly, as did every battle around them as Hiei's sword caught in a necklace around Kagome's neck, ripping through the chain. Kikyou faltered as the necklace fell to the ground, and Inuyasha stopped in the middle of another charge. Sango hissed through her teeth.
Hiei's eyes narrowed as the necklace fell to the ground. He hadn't even seen it before. It was like it had been hidden from all viewing. On the end of the necklace a small pink orb glittered and gleamed. Every demon on the grounds heard Kagome's breathing pick up and her aura flared brightly. Hiei's acknowledged the purifying pain with a hiss and jumped back.
"Kagome," Kikyou called softly, watching as the demons around them stared at her with amazement. And the fire apparition grew angry.
"That whole time... You held back your powers." Kagome didn't answer Hiei but instead picked up the necklace. The glittering orb shone briefly in her hand before she calmly walked towards a tree.
"This was meant to be practice. I may have been holding back, but I was doing as much as I could without risking serious harm to my opponent." Hiei glared at her through narrowed crimson orbs at her speech, and Yusuke winced. Wrong thing to say to the prideful fire apparition.
"The arrow?" Hiei questioned.
"I can control the powers that are filtered through my arrows enough that they may hurt, but I don't have to kill with them any more." Kagome didn't notice Yukina coming closer, unafraid of the girl who was clearly saying she meant no harm.
"Any more?" Yukina asked, and saw Kagome flinch in return. Yukina smiled kindly. "I have heard that the stronger mikos have to maintain strict control on their powers, otherwise they may one day drain themselves so much that they would die."
Kagome's bitter smile met Yukina's kind one. "True. It is hard to do maintain control. And only a few ways to go about it. Maintain tight control over your emotions at all time until you are sure you can control it, and learn to control it and use your emotions to strengthen it are the two big ones. You can also have it blocked off. You can get outside help. Or..."
Kikyou drew a sharp breath as she saw her sister's fingers clench the jewel still in her hand tightly and the younger girl’s sapphire gaze turned away from everyone else. "Or turn dark. Don't control it at all."
"Getting turned dark is not necessarily a voluntary choice. In some instances, enough pain and suffering can force one to turn dark, or if a demon with a dark aura is strong enough to over power the miko, they can get turned dark that way." Shippo spoke quietly as he hopped into his adopted mother's lap, curling up quietly. Kagome's family, even if not all were by blood, looked grim, and Souta's eyes were closed tightly. Kikyou held out a hand towards him. He shook his head.
"We've all cried enough over this. Kagome's cried enough over it. We shouldn't have to any more. We can't get her back." The Spirit Detectives were silent as Souta sat down and sulked. Kagome winced as he did so and looked up apologetically at everyone else.
"So...Why'd you lose control like that?" Yusuke's eyes were fixed on her hand, seeing the dangling chain. There was something odd about the way they were all acting, but that jewel had made them all stop.
"She didn't, some of it just slipped out because of the Shikon no Tama," Kohaku explained calmly. Then he slapped a hand over his mouth as he realized what he'd said. Kagome grimaced, but her mind was somewhere else.
Keiko sighed beside Botan and suddenly heard a tiny thought not her own. 'Kaede. My poor younger sister.' Keiko's eyes widened and she began shaking slightly. The shield should have kept other thoughts out. Was it already failing? She glanced towards Kurama, but he was gaping at the girl with the jewel.
"Shikon no Tama? You have it?" Kurama asked, his voice slightly shrill. Youko was utterly silent, but Kurama caught part of what he was feeling. There was excitement, but also fear. Kurama almost backed away.
"What's the Shikon no Tama?" Kuwabara asked. Yukina had actually backed away a step before she realized what she was doing and but her lip anxiously. She looked up at Kuwabara and murmured softly, "It is a very powerful jewel."
Keiko wasn't listening as she closed her eyes against the thoughts slowly filtering in. Trickling right now, but she could already feel that they would be overwhelming her soon. "Kurama," She whispered softly.
"I don't get it, what's so special about a jewel?" This time it was Yusuke asking, studying his three cellmates especially, as the others had grouped behind them.
Kurama opened his mouth to answer but his head swiveled and he let the others answer as he went off to check on Keiko. Botan was now kneeling beside Keiko who had sat on the ground and was shaking her head slightly. "I think whatever you did is wearing off Kurama."
"I know. I'll have to put up another one." Kurama grasped one of Keiko's hands and was relieved to feel her squeeze his hand. He squeezed back, trying to give her as much comfort as possible. Kurama made another shield and was relieved to see her eyes clear.
"You'll wear yourself out if you keep doing that Kurama. We have to find another way. What if they ship us out to Naraku tomorrow? Or we find a way to escape? You'll be weakened." Botan looked worriedly between the two and Kurama's smile radiated confidence.
"Don't worry Botan. I'm sure I'll be able to keep fighting and keep up the shield." He glanced back over to the group and found that alarmingly they both seemed about go to blows. Keiko shifted behind him and he was surprised to see her getting up and ignoring the fighting about to happen around them. Everybody paused and let her pass, wondering what she was doing.
She stopped in front Kagome. "What happened to your sister?"
Kagome's eyes widened. "What?"
"I heard it, when the shield started to break down. Naraku put a curse on me to hear thoughts. All thoughts usually." Keiko expected to see the usual sympathy and pity. She did see the sympathy, but then the other girl was looking her up and down.
"And you're here now? And you still have your mind left now that there's a shield? You're strong. Why don't you fight again?" Kagome's eyes hardened as Kuwabara tried to protest and he quickly shut his mouth.
"I don't know how. But, I don't mean to pry, but what happened to her?" Keiko backed away as Kagome's eyes seemed to flash, and in response the jewel in her hand glowed a pure bright pink. Behind Keiko, Kurama gasped.
"It's pure..." He murmured. Yusuke and Hiei both looked at him and Yusuke seemed to wince. Perhaps he shouldn't have jumped to conclusions about her and the jewel when he heard it was used for evil.
"Naraku happened. She was thirteen!" Kagome paused. "I was fifteen, Kikyou seventeen. Her miko powers were just beginning to grow, and we were both so pleased. And so stupid. We got careless. Naraku had been around the area before, but we were so confident. Inuyasha had recently joined us, Shippo too, and Miroku had been my best friend forever. Sango I met when I was fourteen. Me and Miroku drove off some demons after her. Kaede was practicing one day, and we were hunting. She got a deer, but it was only wounded. We went after it, and Kaede got separated from us." Kagome lapsed into silence, trying to calm herself as her aura flickered with her fury.
Kikyou glanced at her sister and then continued the story for her. "We realized she was gone soon and followed her aura. When we got there, all that was left behind was the traces of a dark demon aura, and Kaede's bow had dropped to the ground. We searched for her for a long time. We've never stopped. Two months after that, things got worse, but that's a different story. It wasn't until six months after that, a bit after Kaede's fourteenth birthday, that we first saw Naraku's witch. The Dark Miko. Our sister, Kaede Higurashi."
"That girl's your sister? She killed my kitten!" Kuwabara cried. The other members of the former Spirit Detectives glared at him.
"She was part of the reason the boys were no longer allowed to be Spirit Detectives," Botan said quietly.
"She's also the one who cursed Keiko," Kurama's eyes flashed gold. Inuyasha snarled at the anger coming off Kurama in waves. Kagome suddenly laughed humorlessly
"The Dark Miko. Murderer of humans and youkai alike. It's said she enjoys torturing and killing younger siblings in front of their older ones." Hiei stated, eyeing the Higurashi family members as they stiffened. Kikyou seemed calm except for her hands clenched into fists. Kagome simply stared at Hiei.
"So what happened?" Yusuke asked, attempting to ignore the aura's flashing around the clearing as the tense atmosphere heightened.
Neither girl answered and Souta stepped up, his eyes flashing angrily. "Naraku had turned her eyes red, and called her his 'dear Bringer of Death, my own precious little daughter.' She looked like him in a way. Then, she killed Kagome. Drowned her actually."
Yusuke stared at Souta, then at Kagome. "You mean attempted, right?"
"No, he means killed. I drowned, but Kikyou and Souta dragged me out while Sango, Miroku, Kohaku, everyone stopped Kaede from keeping them from me." Kagome went silent again, struggling not to remember how her sister had smirked as she held her under the water.
"You see, We did CPR, but Kagome wouldn't wake up. We even managed to get the water out of her lungs. Her heart had stopped." Souta paused and suddenly grinned, lifting his hands up to show the electricity coming off of them.
"You see, I was cursed with this. It can kill me, and others. But I found out that day I could do a bit more with it."
Souta grinned and the electricity faded. "I brought her back. While Ka- the Witch struggled to get back to the seemingly dead Guardian, I restarted her heart."
Amazement was written across the faces of the former Spirit Detectives. Yusuke, finding nothing else to say, managed to say. "Yeah, well, I've got you beat. I died twice!"