Chapter 4 - Emotional Rollercoaster
A young girl who looked to be eleven or twelve was playing in a field of flowers. She knew there was a young boy behind her, and when she concentrated, she was sure he was really a demon. To her, it was all the same. She looked up suddenly at him and the boy's green eyes widened in shock. "Would you like to play with Rin?"
The boy hesitated, then grinned. "Sure, why not? Just don't make me pick flowers with you."
Rin sighed; nobody wanted to pick flowers with her besides her own Sesshoumaru-sama. Her slight frown disappeared in an instant when he stepped forward. "Ok! Let's play tag! Sesshoumaru-sama never wants to play that with me!"
The boy began to grin but stopped thoughtfully as her name and the name she said registered in his mind. "Oh! You're that Rin! He won't mind me playing with you?"
When Rin shook her head in the negative, the young boy joined in with her. He was easily faster than she was, but she found her own ways to tag him back. "What's your name?" she asked through a giggle, her speech much better in this aspect than when she had been younger, even if she still tended to say "Rin" instead of "I".
"Rinku," he said through a laugh as he tagged her. She pivoted around but stopped in mid step, her mind flashing with brief images. Her fear-filled gasp filled the air and Rinku was instantly back at her side. "What's wrong?"
"The bad men are coming," She whispered softly. Rinku's face paled, the stars on his cheek a sharp contrast to his newly pale features. He knew what that meant. "How do you know?"
"I get 'minor' visions, Sesshoumaru-sama calls them. Mostly they show pretty fields that I want to see or things that are im-im-impor...special to me. We must run! The bad men are bad!" Rinku nodded in feverish agreement to her statement and then did begin to run, quickly grabbing Rin's hand so she would not be left behind.
"Stop right there!" And the two children stopped, Rin's eyes growing wide in terror. Instantly Rinku's yo-yos were out. They had no effect on the shielded guards with the nullifying nets already snapping around the boy before he could manage to make an opening. The collars were snapped on before either child had any chance to struggle, and only a lonely wail was left behind as the two children were kidnapped.
"Sesshoumaru-sama!" the child's piercing wail went up, and miles away, an inu-youkai's head snapped up as he felt in his gut something was very wrong.
+-+
The groups had gone back to fighting after the partial delivery of family history, using the best way they knew to break the tension. They beat each other up. Inuyasha and Yusuke's fight was still somewhat friendly, which was why Inuyasha had become unconscious rather quickly, to stop him from injuring himself. The most interesting fight was to most eyes, Kagome and Hiei.
He had more speed, but he couldn't get near her when she was radiating that much purifying energy. She wasn't staying still herself, weaving, dodging and rolling whenever her senses said he was too near for comfort. She had basically foregone arrows for a quicker fight. She knew just a touch and she could probably win. Of course, touching without getting beaten herself was the problem.
Eventually Jin won against Kikyou by pure fluke when a rock from one of the other fights flew and hit her lightly on the face. It was a simple distraction, but it was all the Wind Master needed. Kikyou's bow was ripped out of her hand and a few moves later she was among the defeated parties.
In disgust at her last fight, Sango had switched with Miroku, making for much better fights on both sides. Sango dodged Kurama's whip and he dodged her boomerang. Sango was furious when she realized this battle too would probably end in a draw. Helping a friend had weakened her opponent, and basically all they were doing was beating on each other.
Kurama finally ended the battle when he knew both of them were dangerously close to falling unconscious. "Please, let's call it a draw. Neither of us are at our best."
Sango agreed and went to watch Kagome and Hiei. Miroku and Kuwabara seemed to be sparring more than anything. With Miroku's staff enhanced by his spiritual powers, they simply used sword and staff to attack and usually ended up blocking each other. They too ended up stopping and everyone but Kurama eventually was watching the fight. And with him, Keiko.
"Are you all right?" Keiko asked Kurama in concern, surveying him quickly to see he seemed to be swaying slightly.
"I am fine Keiko. I am simply feeling a bit tired. The fight took a bit out of me."
"I've seen you fight harder and longer than that. That's not it. It's the block on my curse." Keiko saw his eyes flicker slightly, and stopped him from trying to deny it with a shake of her head.
"Did she hurt you badly?" She asked in concern, ignoring him when he shook his head and gently running her hand over his ribs where she had seen the boomerang hits a few times when he hadn't dodged. Of course, she'd been hit equally as hard by his whip, but Keiko wasn't worried about the woman. She pulled her hand away immediately when Kurama flinched.
"Kurama," Keiko said warningly when the kitsune tried to move away. With a sigh and a faint blush, Kurama did as Keiko was gesturing as she went to get first aid supplies. He took off his shirt and folded it neatly besides him, avoiding Keiko's eyes as she came back over. He could tell she was blushing as well as she began to wrap the bandages tightly around his ribs. Across the clearing, a resounding "Pervert!" was heard as Miroku attempted to suggest he look after Sango's injuries. Botan scowled at him and the monk quickly backed away from the angry women.
*She has a soft touch, * Kurama thought wistfully to Youko. Youko chuckled, but then stopped, seeming to be distracted. Kurama shrugged it off. His older half sometimes seemed distracted at the oddest times. Keiko had briefly paused in her wrapping, but quickly returned to it. Kurama wondered what had made her stop.
'What was that?' Keiko wondered to herself. She could not possibly be hearing Kurama's thoughts. The block was only just up. And he wouldn't think that about her anyway.
-The energy is ours, so it does not precisely make it so that you do not hear us. It simply makes it harder for the moment. - Keiko's eyes widened in shock at the cool and silky voice that echoed through her mind. Not only had that not been her own thought, it had been directed at her!
'Who are you?' Keiko asked in her mind, trying to hide what she was hearing in her mind. Kurama was frowning at her and she could see the concern in his eyes.
-A part of him. I am Youko Kurama. For simplicities sake, you may just call me Youko, as he does. - Keiko was stunned by the knowledge as she stopped wrapping the bandages. As she moved her hand away, she thought, 'Nice to meet you Youko.'
Even after her hand was away she swore she heard a chuckle. She looked up at Kurama who was studying her with an unreadable expression on his face. Then he smiled and bowed his head towards her slightly. "Thank you for your help Keiko, but I'm sure Botan or Yukina can help heal me later."
Keiko blushed at her oversight but nodded. "Yeah, I just...forgot. I wanted to help. It's partly my fault."
"No it isn't Keiko. It was my choice, and I'd rather have you sane. A few cracked ribs is nothing in comparison." Kurama smiled gently, green eyes catching her mahogany ones. She caught her breath at the feeling behind his statement and the two stared at each other for a minute. Only when a flying fire apparition slammed into a tree trunk nearby were they forced away from each other. Both of them jerked their gazes towards the fight and were stunned to see Kagome glowing brightly.
"Can't take the truth, ningen? Your sister is evil, and we have no way of knowing that you aren't the same way," They heard Hiei sneer out.
"If I was evil, I wouldn't be here, and Naraku would probably have taken over. Or I would have. You think that if I were evil I'd be letting the Shikon no Tama lie, only protecting it? If I had the inclination to switch sides the jewel would gladly unleash its power to its Guardian. It is a stone, it doesn't care if the one using it is tainting it or purifying it. Except that one who purifies almost never uses it. If I was using the Shikon no Tama for the wrong purposes, do you think Naraku would still have a hold of my sister? She'd be mine again! My sister, my family! Don't ever say such things to me again!" Kurama shuddered from the amount of power she was emitting, and noticed that every demon except Yusuke had moved back. Kurama smiled slightly. Trust Yusuke to be stubborn enough to stand near that girl while she was like that.
"I think we missed something," Keiko whispered to Kurama. "I believe you're right. Hiei doesn't trust her because of her family of course, and apparently he said something."
"Is she powerful enough to kill him?" Keiko asked, a shudder of fear traveling down her spine. Hiei wasn't moving forward, but neither was Kagome. Kurama frowned as he took a closer look at Yusuke. He didn't appear to be getting hurt at all. Perhaps he had an immunity for it? Or, perhaps the miko was somehow subconsciously protecting him. But why?
The snickers in the back of his head gave him an idea, but he quickly shunned that idea. They had only met recently, and the fox wasn't always right. Even subconsciously, she couldn't be protecting someone she hardly knew. She couldn't like someone she hardly knew either. Except that, unlike her friends, he hadn't seen her this angry before, and would be too stubborn to get away. Kurama sighed and then widened his eyes as Hiei was thrown away from Kagome, this time only a few feet from Keiko. "Perhaps we should move.
"I second that motion," Keiko muttered before both shot up and joined the rest of the group huddled against the wall.
"Keh. I bet they're rethinking letting us train now. We'll kill each other long before they can send us to kill Naraku." Inuyasha muttered.
"We die no matter what. Even if we got strong enough to defeat Naraku they'd kill us when we're weak. This just allows us a bit more time. They're taunting us. Pretending that we have a chance to live. They let us train, let us think we can escape or defeat Naraku, but in the end it won't matter. What life would we have if we had no where to go anyway?" Souta asked bitterly. In response, his eldest sister cuffed his upside the head.
"Stop that. We, out of any of the groups that have gone before us, have the best chance at survival. Look at this! Kagome's power is uncontrolled at the moment because she's so angry, but for normal demons they'd be burnt to a crisp. But these? They huddle with us as far from the field as they can get and feel fine. Of course, the fire apparitions speed is the only thing keeping her from killing him I think." Kikyou frowned. "Perhaps we should stop her."
"Nah, let's leave her. Hiei did insult her, and I doubt your sister would lose control enough to kill him," Yusuke said as he walked over to the rest of the group.
"Oh? You haven't known her very long. How would you know what she's capable of?" Kikyou snorted disdainfully and a heavy sigh escaped the rest of her friends. Did they really have to hear her speech again? She always gave this speech.
"Sometimes it's the outside view that sees the best," Yusuke snapped back cheerfully.
The high pitched cry of pain that interrupted them had Inuyasha snarling and leaping for the fire apparition in an instant as he saw the high speed slices he had made across Kagome's body when she'd gotten unbalanced. Kagome beat him too it, her hands extending outwards with her palms facing the fire apparition. A sharp crack penetrated the air as Hiei flew through some branches before landing at the edge of the forest part of the training arena.
"Hiei!" Shouted multiple voices as they ran for the fallen fire apparition. Kagome managed to get back to her group before falling down. She leaned against one wall and sighed, wincing as a wound on her back hit the cold material of the building behind her.
"Foolish to waste so much energy," Kikyou mutter. Despite her tone, her words, her tone was full of pride and her eyes shone with affection.
"Very foolish. Of course, I've seen worse from another miko who almost killed her mate the first time they met." Kagome's smirk was short lived as the Hiei was carried out of the woods, his body limp. Kagome trembled inwardly. She knew she hadn't used enough energy to kill him, but still a nagging worrisome doubt gnawed at her. What if she really had lost too much control?
Kagome looked up to meet the angry stares Yusuke and his friends. There was a quiet rage in all of them, even the females who didn't fight, and when Kagome shifted her gaze slightly she saw a flash of guilt in Yusuke's eyes. That was puzzling, but the girl quickly stared at all of them collectively, waiting for them to speak. Surprisingly, it was Botan who spoke first. "How could you lose control like that? What if your miko powers had killed him? He’ll be fine, but what if he hadn't-"
Botan stopped as Kagome suddenly lost all the tension in her body and sagged against the wall, closing her eyes. "Thank kami. I was afraid I had lost control," She whispered.
"You mean you hadn't?" Kurama asked in confusion. "You did that on purpose?"
"Don't be foolish. He made her angry enough that it was a struggle to control her powers, so she had to let them out a bit. She reined it in enough so that it definitely wouldn't kill him and let her instincts guide her." Kikyou's calm and collected voice shocked everyone out of their rage as they turned. Despite the anger they were radiating, the rest of the group stood side by side, just as threatening as they.
Kagome let out an explosive breath as they faced each other. This wasn't simple sparring anymore, they were really fighting each other, or they would be. Even Inuyasha, who was so injured by now, was standing up and glaring over at the other group. Ayame had joined Kouga while Yura looked on with a delighted look. She was practically squealing for joy.
Kagome's head suddenly shot up as she noticed the door opening behind the two groups. A guard pushed two children in and Kagome shot to her feet in an instant. The door was closed long before her bruised body got there, but she had already gathered the small girl in her arms. "Rin!"
That shout was all the three youngest boys needed, and suddenly Kagome found the girl taken out of her arms. She noticed the green eyed demon boy now. "Hello."
The boy smiled at her, though he seemed a bit nervous until Rin managed to squirm away from the protective group of young males and grab a hold of his hand. "Kohaku, Souta, Shippo, this is Rinku! He tried to help me when the bad men came! And he's good at playing tag! Rinku, this is Souta, Shippo, and Kohaku!"
The four boys stared at each other for a moment before Souta grinned at him and held out a hand. "Hi. Welcome to prison."
Rinku blinked in surprise at the strange statement, but extended his own hand. The instant their palms met Rin was cheering. "Yay! All my friends are friends!"
Rinku stared at her a moment, then at Souta, still unnerved at the friendliness. Then he grinned and shrugged it off. And Rin's grin grew larger. The four boys tentatively began talking when the girl sprinted off. "Uncle Inu! Aunt Kikyou!"
Inuyasha groaned at her nickname for him. When they'd first met, she'd had problems saying his whole name. Not he was reduced to being a dog uncle. Kikyou on the other hand, ignored her mate and went forward, crouching down with arms outstretched. "Little Rin! You are growing up."
Sango and Miroku crowded around and Rin was soon passed to them. It was only when Kagome spoke that Rin had her feet on the ground again. "Rin? What about Sesshoumaru?"
There was silence for a moment as Rin looked at Kagome, the guilt shining in her eyes. "Sesshoumaru-sama told Rin-"
"Me," Kagome corrected her.
"Sesshoumaru-sama told me that he was going to a business meeting. Ri- I was supposed to stay on the grounds. I wandered off and then I played with Rinku. Then I had a vision of the bad men and we tried to run but the bad men caught us and threw us in here," Rin mumbled while staring at the ground. Kagome sighed and winced as she took a wavering step towards the girl. Apparently her energy loss and the pain nerves had decided to kick in. Kagome sank back down to the ground.
Sango grimaced herself, feeling all the slices in her skin from where Kurama's strange whip had slashed through her skin. The whip hadn't even slowed down; it had gone through her skin like water. Only her dodging and Kurama's control had stopped it from doing major damage.
Kikyou sighed in exasperation glared at both of them. "Kagome, stop using up so much energy, you need it to heal yourself. Both of you really need to learn how to heal faster than you do. At least you Kagome. Your healing skills are lacking. You're all power and no skill!"
Kagome closed her eyes and groaned. Souta couldn't help but chuckle. He winced when his sister's gray glare focused on him. "What are you laughing at? Half the time you can't even call up the power to purify a low level demon!"
"Aunt Kikyou! Why is Aunt Kagome bleeding?" Rin asked in concern as she studied the fallen miko.
"She was training Rin," Souta explained. Rin nodded and immediately brightened up.
"That makes sense then! At least she's conscious this time!" There were looks of shock from the former Spirit Detectives as they heard a little girl accept bloodshed like an everyday occurrence. Yusuke frowned as he watched the other group. None of them seemed shocked. Perhaps it was an everyday occurrence. Even Kagome's sister had scolded her instead of helping her.
"Excuse me, but shouldn't you be using your healing powers to help them?" Yukina asked softly, eyeing Sango and Kagome in concern. Kikyou snorted and shook her head. "Why? It will only waste energy and they will be healed soon anyway."
"They heal fast. For weak humans," Inuyasha said, his lips curling into a playful smirk.
"This weak human usually happens to kick your ass, Inuyasha," Kagome said smugly.
"I hate it when those two spar. They only spar when they're really angry at each other, and they usually end up in bed for at least a week afterwards." Miroku shook his head as he spoke and Sango nodded in agreement. "Especially when Inuyasha and Kikyou officially mated without telling Kagome first. He should have known she would have wanted him to follow the tradition of asking the family."
"Wait a second, a girl fought Inuyasha and won?" Yusuke asked incredulously. There were a few raised eyebrows at that while Kohaku coughed pointedly and motioned towards the unconscious Hiei. "Someone missed the light show."
"Light show? That was nothing compared to me and Kagome protecting Kikyou against Naraku on Kagome's seventeenth birthday, Kohaku. That was a light show. Especially when Inuyasha joined in from out of know where. It was awesome. Of course, we only killed a puppet and a couple of incarnates, but still, that was a real light show. Kagome's only pink." Souta grinned and Kohaku rose to meet the challenge.
"Only pink? Too bad I've seen her powers be everything from an almost dark red color to almost white! And you, not much light there. You had just come into your powers, so there couldn't have been much light there," Kohaku bantered.
"Children," Kurama suddenly said, quickly getting their attention, but not in the way he wanted it.
"We are not children!" All three boys and Rin joined in. Only Rinku didn't join in, watching his new found friends as they glared heatedly as Kurama.
The kitsune watched them gravely. Then he turned to the older members of the group. "Have they all been fighting? These past three years when things got especially bad with Naraku, have they been fighting? They're practically nothing more than babies!"
Souta and Kohaku exchanged glances, but none was quicker than tiny Shippo, who had bounded up onto the older kitsune’s shoulder and had made sure he had his attention. "And what would you have done if you had younger siblings or children three years ago? We needed to learn how to fight. We're young, but we can protect ourselves. We're going to be involved with a battle either way, so shouldn't we be able to fight?"
Even his own gang was stunned by Shippo's words. "But...You are so young..."
"Which is why we fight in the first place. So others like him won't have to do what they do. Even Sesshoumaru conceded that Rin should learn how to fight." Kagome stated quietly.
"I'm a kid and I can fight," Rinku stated. There were a few double takes upon a closer look at him.
"Hey, you were in Chu's group," Yusuke suddenly stated with a grin. "How is he anyway? It was fun fighting him. Course, I was human then."
The subtle boast wasn't lost on the young demon and he rolled his eyes. "That was pure luck! You were just more hardheaded than he was. Unlikely, but it's not the most boastable thing, either!"
"I don't think 'boastable' is a word Rinku," Kagome said suddenly. Rinku grinned at her and shrugged, opening his mouth to say, "Well, it is now!"
Kouga suddenly shifted forward and cleared his throat. "I think if we're all done gaping at each other and trying to kill each other, we should start planning."
There was silence as the statement sank in. Then Kagome slowly rose, ignoring her lack of energy and bleeding wounds. She went to stand next to Inuyasha and Kikyou. Slowly, the others filtered into a semicircle. Sango went to stand next to Inuyasha, then Miroku next to her. The three boys from Cell #342 rolled their eyes at the dramatics of their elders, but still the younger boys joined in, followed closely by Rin, dragging along Rinku, who was eyeing her companions with fascination. Shippo looked around Rin at the other demon boy and grinned. "Get used to that. She used to pull me around. I'm glad it's you now."
Kouga and Ayame joined them last, and then every single one of them went on to stare at the other group. Yusuke raised an eyebrow. "What is this, story time?"
"Oh, just get in the circle," Kagome said in exasperation, though her lips were twitching suspiciously. Yusuke grinned at her, though it was still a bit strained from the incident with Hiei.
"Fine, fine, everyone lets make a great big circle and wish for world peace." Yusuke smirked at the growl from Inuyasha. "If I wasn't injured I'd kill you."
"Please, tell us how you got injured again, Inuyasha?" Kagome asked slyly. Inuyasha snarled but said nothing more as the other group made a circle. Yura giggled and joined the circle at the last moment, placing herself on one side of Kurama, with Keiko on the other side. Kurama blushed as Yura snuggled into his side. Keiko glared at her.
"For once in his life, Kouga actually said something worthwhile," Kikyou began. Kagome rolled her eyes. Apparently Inuyasha's dislike for Kouga had rubbed off on her older sister.
"We have to plan for an escape. From what I've heard, you have the best track record of attempted escapes," Kikyou said, directing her statement at Yusuke.
"Yeah, but that was just me," Yusuke said, shifting uncomfortably when she smirked.
"Good. We don't have to plan much then. You scheme, Kagome can change it to work for everyone." Kagome looked up at Kikyou's statement and her eyes got wide.
"I can't do that! How could you think I could to that?"
There came some coughs that hid various names in them, including Naraku's, but there were various names in the coughing and Kagome scowled. "Unfair, I just...Oh."
"Just changed plans that other prisoners had made for themselves so it worked for everyone?" Miroku asked innocently.
"This is a different situation, the wards-" Kagome was cut off as Yusuke spoke again, hope flaring in his eyes. "There are weak spots in them, it's just a matter of finding them and finding a way to break them without being sensed."
Kagome sighed and looked at the other eager faces around her. "You'd better all be scheming too. Back up plans everyone. That includes you little brats. We all know how could you four are at sneaking about-or is five now?"
"It's five," Rin said firmly. Rinku actually seemed to relax at that.
"Then let's get started," Yusuke exclaimed.