InuYasha Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Prismatic ❯ Transience ( Chapter 18 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

“Your hands are too far apart. Watch your center.”

If anyone had asked Kagome two weeks earlier -or even just the week before- exactly what she thought she’d be doing for the first half of her summer break, the picture that sprang to mind wasn’t this - whatever this even was.

Her life, Kagome realized, was weird.

Now, she understood that wasn’t particularly new information, of course. In the span of less than six months she had been dragged through time by a demon, had a magical jewel ripped from her body, proceeded to break said jewel, and started the scavenger hunt of the century. And that had only been the first three days.

That wasn’t even accounting for her involvement between sailor soldiers and Dark Kingdom schemes. Any claim she might have had on normalcy had quite clearly slipped through her fingers a long time ago.

But the last few weeks had been weird even by her standards.

Taking in someone who’d recently tried to kill and subsequently attempt to kidnap her wasn’t particularly strange - not for her, anyway. Making friends with them was even less unusual. In fact, it was perfectly in line with her already nonsensical track record. If she thought about it, before Usagi, the vast majority of her recent friendships were with people who had tried to steal from her, kidnap her, or kill her. She couldn’t exactly begrudge him for it when so many of her friends had come into her life from the opposing side of a battlefield.

“Better. Tuck your elbows in more.”

Being trained by a man once seeking her capture, a general of the Dark Kingdom -an enemy threatening the destruction of her city, her home - certainly fit this pattern that she’d established, but had not crossed her mind on the topic of summer plans.

Traveling through time using an old well - routine.

Hunting for shards of a magical jewel - habit.

Fighting off demons - normal.

“Watch your flank, soldier.” His fingertips jabbed at her ribs. Kagome yelped in protest and tucked her arms closer to her sides.

This was weird.

“Good,” he murmured and Kagome wasn’t certain if it was a heightened sense of awareness or simple self-consciousness, but she could practically feel the way his eyes raked over her. “Your form is improving.”

For as hard of a time as she’d given him before, she had to admit that Jadeite was an excellent teacher. 

Sango and Miroku were masters at their crafts but sometimes Kagome did feel as if they forgot that she had not been born to their world, nor the conditioning that came with it. It was odd, simultaneously feeling as if they expected more experience of her than she had and also as if they were holding back because they knew how much she lacked. Jadeite, on the other hand, seemed perfectly in his element.

She had expected him to start her with combat, just as the others had. It had surprised her when he’d started her with basic fitness. For the first week, he’d given her weights to lift and critiqued her form.

“You use a bow. You’re quite good with it but improving your upper body strength will make it easier to wield,” he’d said, “but you can’t rely only on your weapon.” 

No wonder he’d seemed so at home back at Shapely, she’d thought. She supposed it made sense if he was truly a General, or had been - they hadn’t really established what his status was now. But his approach was more analytical and adaptive to her, rather than attempting to adapt her to the form. It was almost strange to have her strengths and weaknesses taken into consideration the way that he did.

When he wasn’t trying to kidnap her, Jadeite turned out to be surprisingly good company. He slotted into place at the shrine, looking perfectly at home and every bit the part of assistant keeper as he’d been incidentally appointed. Grandpa certainly adored him -or his sales numbers, at least- and while it had never been overtly explained, Souta and Mama very obviously knew who he really was.

At first, she hadn’t been thrilled at the idea of leaving him alone in her home. Much to Souta’s disappointment, Jadeite had not, in fact, taught him dark magic but she still wasn’t sure whether to be amused or annoyed that he had shown him how to use grandpa’s old kendo equipment instead.

“Hm? The boy should know something with his involvement. It’s hardly dark magic, you know,” he’d pointed out. She’d called him a sneak that night but Jadeite had only laughed. He had a surprising sense of humor.

He was right, of course. It wasn’t the first time she thought Souta was too involved but it was too late for him not to be, so she couldn’t rightly argue the necessity. She hadn’t realized until that moment just how deeply she’d allowed Souta to be drawn into a world she’d only told him stories about before.

But she did realize that it was the first time she’d heard Jadeite laugh.

Kagome certainly knew that she had hardly been subtle in the motivations of her frequent returns back through the well that first week, but he’d always seemed more amused than offended. She might have kept it up if Inuyasha hadn’t gotten so completely frustrated with her frequent need to rush back to the well when they should have been hunting Tsubaki and Naraku.

In hindsight, Kagome realized that the dark priestess’ escape was probably her fault. Tsubaki hadn’t gone far at first; after they’d found her, she’d fled to a nearby shrine, apparently the very shrine where she and Kikyo had originally trained. It had taken them a week to find that information out in the first place, only guided by rumors and suggestions from Kaede. They found and defeated Tsubaki’s ogre by the end of that week, despite Kagome’s frequent returns.

When Tsubaki escaped, she decided that staying to track the woman down was more important than keeping such an unnecessarily close eye on Jadeite. They managed to keep to the road for a week without a trip back, but they never did find Tsubaki. In the wake of their victory over the ogre that Tsubaki had summoned there should have been relief. The woman had fled in the wake of her ogre’s destruction, but they might have caught up with her before she’d ever had the chance to make plans had they stayed on the road more consistently. But after all that she’d already seen and survived, she wasn’t expecting the nightmares that began towards the end of that week.

A demon had dragged her into the past. That demon had ripped a magical jewel from her body.

She had lost track of the number of times she’d been kidnapped, some of those events more harrowing than others.

She’d had her soul torn from her body at least twice and only fully recovered what had been taken once. This wasn’t even the first time that someone had invaded her mind. Tsubaki’s possession had barely lasted an hour.

And yet it was this that had her waking in tears.

Not for the first time, Kagome thought she might be more of a hindrance to their quest when she’d nearly begged Inuyasha to bring her back to the well as she tried not to sob from the remnants of the first of her nightmares.

She hadn’t expected Jadeite to notice them. She hadn’t been expecting the guilt in his eyes when he’d followed her to the Goshinboku that night. She hadn’t expected him to think her nightmares to be his fault. She certainly hadn’t expected to end up blurting out the insecurities and the fears that had been eating at her in the wake of Tsubaki’s curse.

If she was honest, she still wasn’t sure what had spurred her to tell him so much. She had expected him to mock her or find amusement in her weakness as he had the times before, and she had been decidedly unprepared for him to disagree and offer her a solution instead.

Of course, she knew his stay with them was out of necessity more than anything.

If she had believed any part of his story it was that the queen he’d apparently served under was the true threat - the one really pulling the strings. She believed him when he told her of the threat on his head in the wake of his failure to defeat them, and she believed what fate would await him in the Dark Kingdom if he dared to return now, even if he did not explicitly state what it was. He didn’t need to.

She remembered the fear in his eyes that night. She had wondered at it then, but it made far more sense with that knowledge.

He hid it well, but she’d seen the way his eyes shifted when he detailed his rank and the expectations that came with it. She had known Inuyasha long enough to see that façade of disinterest for what it was. Jadeite might have been her enemy but her bleeding heart could not help but to ache when she saw that flicker of betrayal in his eyes. He’d been loyal, risked his life to dutifully carry out his mission, and his queen would have sooner executed him for failure than grant him assistance.

Luckily for him, Kagome had made friends with worse and was decidedly more inclined to be angry on his behalf than she was to begrudge the things he’d done. She certainly couldn’t fault him with the damage her mistakes had made.

“Enough,” Jadeite’s voice snapped her back to the present. “We’ll stop here for today.”

Kagome looked at him sheepishly. He really did read her obnoxiously well.

Jadeite arched a brow and didn’t bother to hide his amused smirk. “You had plans with those friends of yours, didn’t you?”

Kagome jumped to attention with a squeal. “I’m late!” 

She had entirely forgotten that on her last return through the well that first week, Usagi had caught her on the phone with an invite to Hikawa. Kagome had been so harried that she had forgotten about the invite, much less her distracted agreement to attend. Behind her she heard Jadeite's quiet chuckle at her expense. Luckily for him, she was in far too much of a rush to do anything about it.

---

It was only just going on noon by the time Kagome made it to Hikawa Shrine. There was a bit of a crowd, and she could hear the chatter of visitors up in the courtyard as she started up the stairway. The rumors of the shrine being cursed had faded in the wake of the attention that the media was giving to the sailor soldiers.

Granted, she supposed the sudden bout of tourism might have been more a result of the very public revelation that demons and dark magic were real. Even Higurashi Shrine and its much more remote location had seen an influx in visitors looking for protective charms and blessings to keep the demons away. Although, the increase in visits from her own peers might have had something more to do with the attractive new assistant working with grandpa. Whatever reservations her grandfather might have had about the man’s sudden residence with them went out the window once he realized how good of a salesman Jadeite was.

Kagome giggled. If only they knew.

That was a matter she still had to talk about with Usagi. Kagome had promised to wait to give Jadeite time to recover -more for her to process his story and determine how honest he was- and it was only how busy she’d been kept traipsing through the feudal era that kept her from running to her friend with the information. She already felt bad enough about being so absent after Makoto had joined them.

'At least I’m not too late!' Kagome increased her pace and was halfway up the steps before she found the path blocked by a figure perched on the landing between the sections of the staircase.

Rei looked down at her with a scoff. "Took you long enough to show up."

"Huh? Hino-chan?" Kagome hesitated at the hard look to the other girl’s eyes. When she realized Rei was alone, she frowned. 

She wasn’t that late. When she’d spoken to her, Usagi had been quite vocal about the time - particularly her opinion of it being far too early for summer break. She was twenty minutes late at best. Unless they’d had an incredibly short meeting or skipped it altogether, the others should at least still be there. Her fingers clenched anxiously around the ribbon that bound the bento she’d brought.

Kagome furrowed her brows. "What are you-"

"Usagi-chan was hurt in the last fight, you know." Kagome sucked in a breath, but Rei only turned with a huff. "You should go."

Kagome came back to herself with a jolt, not willing to be dismissed so easily, and especially not when Usagi was apparently hurt. "Hey, wait a-"

"She was only hurt because of you, you know," the interruption caught her by surprise and Kagome froze. Her heart skipped in her chest at the accusation, her eyes wide beneath the other shrine maiden’s stare. When she seemed to realize Kagome was too dumbstruck to speak, Rei continued. "She leans on you way too much, and the enemy knows it. You're only hindering her- all of us at this point."

‘No…’ Kagome thought. It wasn’t like that. It wasn’t a bad thing. They were supposed to be there for each other. They’d learned that lesson already. And yet, the little tendrils of doubt still tightened her throat.

Perhaps she had interfered too much. Perhaps Usagi had become too dependent because she took charge too much. Perhaps she had hindered them. 

"This isn't even your fight,” Rei continued, drawing her attention back to the conversation at hand. “You're not a real soldier."

Kagome froze.

Perhaps if it hadn’t been for the recent events on the other side of the well, she wouldn’t have hesitated to refute that declaration. But with the wounds still so fresh and recent insecurities still so close to the forefront of her thoughts, Kagome froze instead, stricken and at a loss for a reply.

“But…” She couldn’t exactly deny it. It was true, after all. She wasn’t a lot of things. She was Kagome, but she wasn’t as sure that she knew what that encompassed as she’d once been. She knew what she wasn’t.

She wasn’t Kikyo.

She wasn’t a trained priestess.

She wasn’t a real sailor soldier.

“That’s remedied easily enough.”  

Kagome never thought the whispered assurances of a man so recently an enemy would be so comforting. She turned back to Rei, but whatever she intended to say died in her throat.

"We don't need you here. You have your own duties, don't you?" This time, when Rei turned her back to ascend the temple stairs, Kagome didn’t try to stop her. "Go take care of your own mess before you get Usagi-chan killed."

It was only once Rei crested the top and finally vanished from sight that Kagome ran. This wasn’t how things were supposed to go. She was supposed to see her friends, exchange stories about their respective adventures, and make plans together.

Every time she thought they might have a chance for a semblance of normalcy it seemed to be ripped away.

She wasn’t sure whether she wanted to scream, cry, or throw something. She glanced down at the little bento that she was still carrying. There was no use bringing it home now. It would earn her too many questions. Going home so soon would only yield the same result, so Kagome wandered a bit instead.

She didn’t pay much attention to where she was going until she looked up and realized she was standing at the now familiar front door of the Tsukino household. Her throat tightened, and there was a sudden surge of a want to see her friend, to reassure herself that Usagi was alright.

Before she could make the decision whether to knock or run, however, the door swung open and she was faced with the blindly cheerful continence of Usagi’s mother.

Ikuko invited her in to wait, but Kagome only strained to smile as she turned her down, opting to leave a message instead. She couldn’t see Usagi now, not with the face she surely wore in that moment. The note itself was impulsive, hastily written, and did not detail even a fraction of the things she’d been so eager to share, but it felt wrong to leave without communicating something to Usagi. Kagome figured she at least owed her friend an apology now.

At least now she wouldn’t have to explain why the bento hadn’t been eaten.

She tucked the little note beneath the ribbon, offered Ikuko a smile and a polite refusal before hurrying as quickly out the door as she could without being rude. The woman seemed bewildered, but only called out after her to get home safely.

The bus stop nearby was mercifully empty. She might be able to stop crying by the time the next bus arrived at least. 

---

As the General of the European division and second in command of the Four Kings, Zoicite considered himself a sensible man. Certainly, he was one of class and good taste. He did not often sully his hands with the likes of humans, whether it was with their company or their blood. Really, he much rather avoided consorting with their ilk at all. 

But in the wake of Jadeite’s death, he supposed it was an unfortunate necessity. He planted his own base within the city, a video store he’d named ‘Rental Shop Dark’. It certainly wasn’t the subtlest of names, as Nephrite had been quick to point out, but he hadn’t been intending for subtlety.  As the youngest of the Kings -a fact that he was most painfully aware- he did perhaps relish in the occasional displays of power a bit too obviously. If only to Kunzite, Zoicite might admit that he did go a bit overboard at times.

The festival had not been one of those times. The festival had been a statement. Now, he wanted to draw out the soldiers. He wanted them to find him.

After nearly three weeks, he determined that it seemed they needed assistance in that. He meandered the city for a bit, picking out key spots to conjure advertisements for the little shop that he had taken such care to be obvious with.

It was almost disappointing. The damned Sailor T that the queen wanted hadn’t even shown her face at the festival.

‘Pathetic little fools.’ He thought. The top of a bus stop peeked out around the corner as he rounded it. Zoicite lifted a hand to conjure another advertisement for the commuters and froze when a quiet sniffle came from inside. He nearly scoffed. Rounding the side, ready to simply hypnotize the sniveling little human, he paused. Oh, he recognized that one.

He hadn’t expected to find a little human on Nephrite’s arm when they had arrived to join him in their fallen comrade’s territory. Zoicite held no particular fondness for humans -in fact if he felt anything for them it would be disdain- but this one had been intriguing. That wasn’t to say she was particularly unique, really. The girl had the same dark hair and fair complexion as most of her countrymen. She was pretty, certainly, but nothing special.

Although, he thought as his hand drifted idly to the little clip in his hair, he supposed that she had shown him proper tribute.

But the girl was crying. Zoicite furrowed his brows, oddly perturbed. Humans were pitifully breakable but Nephrite was certainly still too enthralled with the pretty thing to have dumped the girl.

"You there. ” She jumped and Zoicite realized too late that he did not recall her name. “Flower girl. What's wrong with you?"

That appeared to be the wrong thing to say. She turned to him with such a snap of the head, even Zoicite found himself startled. Her pupils dilated and her nostrils flared with a huff of anger that seemed oddly disproportionate to whatever offense she could have taken. 

"My name is Ka-go-me!" When Zoicite raised his brows at the display, she wilted just as quickly as she’d puffed up in the first place. “Ugh, I’m sorry.”

She was apt enough to apologize so Zoicite supposed he could forgive the outburst. Though that then begged the question of what had riled her so.

"I just worry I've let down the people I care about." Her eyes were suddenly far away, distant in a way that indicated she might have forgotten he was there. "A friend of mine was hurt and maybe if I had done a little more…been there…"

Thoughts of Jadeite sprung to his mind and Zoicite thinned his lips. Their brethren certainly would have lived if he’d been there. No little soldier would have gotten the better of him.

"Ah, but what about you?"

The question caught him by surprise and Zoicite turned to look at her with a blink. For a moment, he could only stare at her, uncomprehending.

"The last time I saw you was at Sumidagawa! And that…" she trailed off, clearly recalling the events of that particular evening. It had been some of his finest work -if he did say so himself- even if she had been spared the worst of it. Were he someone else, Zoicite might have felt guilty. Instead, he found amusement in the way she inched a bit closer to look him over. "You weren't hurt, were you?"

“Me?” Zoicite couldn’t help but to scoff at the thought. "Of course not."

She blinked then shook her head as a look of realization crossed her face.

"Wow, I've been rude,” she sighed, “I never even asked your name."

"My name?" He wasn’t quite expecting that. Most of the humans he’d interacted with had little care for such niceties without motivation. He eyed her for a few seconds before the corners of his lips quirked upward. Well, at least she was inoffensive as far as humans went. "Hm. You may call me Izono."

"Izono?" She tilted her head, looking at him with a glint of curiosity to her stare. He wondered for a moment just what had caught her attention so, but the expression was gone and her lips curled into a little smile instead. "Well, alright. Will you be in Japan long, Izono-kun?"

Zoicite glanced at her, raking his eyes over her briefly. "Perhaps."

There was that flicker of curiosity again as she turned to look at him. "You don't know?"

"I seem to have found,” he paused to hum thoughtfully. “A few more points of interest in this city than I had expected."

"Oh,” a look of understanding crossed her face. “Were you here on business?"

That wasn’t quite the word he would have used, but he supposed she wasn’t wrong. Still, the little thing was a bit more perceptive than he’d anticipated.  It wasn’t as if it mattered. One little human girl was hardly a threat.

But he found himself amused and it wouldn’t hurt to indulge her curiosity. "Research, of a sort."

She tilted her head with a blink, clearly waiting for him to elaborate. He was more than happy to oblige.

"The festival,” Zoicite purred, “was a personal interest."

"Oh, wow," she mumbled, clapping a hand to her cheek, aghast. "Your first festival and it was crashed by demons and sailor soldiers. I am so sorry."

He could not help his quiet chuckle at her assessment. "It certainly was as eventful as you'd promised." 

"I did not promise demons!" She huffed, looking adorably annoyed for a moment before her posture deflated. "Though with the way things have been going lately, maybe I should have…" 

Zoicite eyed her with increasing amusement. "Miss Flower might need an escort with demons on the loose, hm?" 

"Hey!” She swatted him on the arm with another huff and crossed her arms over her chest, her expression looking more playful than annoyed this time. “I can take care of myself just fine, thank you very much!" 

Zoicite could not help but be tickled by the display. ‘Cute little thing…’  

He should have been offended at the audacity. She was fortunate to have earned his favor, perhaps less fortunate that he found her so amusing. Anyone else who might have dared to touch him, the second in command of the Four Kings, would not have been given such grace.

His eyes danced as he looked her over.  "Ah, the flower has thorns then?"

A bus pulled up to the curb beside them, and Zoicite watched as she shouldered her bag with a roll of the eyes. His gaze flickered up briefly to the number on the display, idly noting the route.

She paused just at the door and a smile danced on her lips as she turned to point a finger at him. "And don't you forget it!" 

‘No,’ Zoicite thought as he watched her board the bus.  ‘I certainly shall not, Ka-go-me.’  

---

Summer break wasn’t going exactly as Usagi had envisioned it. Now, even Usagi knew that foresight wasn’t really a particular skill of hers, that she had a bit of a tendency not to think things through, but that was beside the point. Their summer was supposed to be a time of relaxation, spending time with friends, getting to know their new friends, and -if the novels Usagi snuck off her mother’s bookshelves were to be believed- a whirlwind romance.

Kagome seemed to have gotten that particular part down, so Usagi had thought they were on the right track.

Then the festival happened and - okay, it was a bit of a setback, but Usagi had pulled out a win in the end. That would have been fine. They could have spent summer break still having fun, practicing and talking about the enemy’s plans together.

But something from the other side of the well ruined those plans too.

Usagi knew that Kagome was going to spend more time through the well during break. They’d even discussed it. It was part of their plans - Kagome would go shard hunting, train with the others while Usagi and the other soldiers held down the fort on this side. Then they would practice it all together on this side like a team.

Sure, Usagi might have whined and grumbled about it each time Luna had interrupted them to go deal with strange readings, but the demons themselves had been less frequent since the attack at the festival and she’d promised Kagome that they would take care of things on this side.

They were supposed to be a team.

Usagi was excited to catch up with Kagome, to find out what that thing that had gotten through the well was and, more importantly, that it had been beaten. She had called Higurashi Shrine to check up on that front -and perhaps a bit too frequently- and had been so excited when it was Kagome who finally answered that she’d nearly flung Luna from her bed. Of course she’d had to invite Kagome to their upcoming meeting, even if Usagi didn’t really think she’d be able to make it.

But then she’d said yes! Usagi had been practically bursting with excitement and anticipation since then. She didn’t care that she was annoying Rei with the way she practically bounced at her seat by the table. Little didn’t annoy Rei.

After about twenty minutes past their scheduled start time, Rei got up with a huff to stomp outside. She was gone for a few minutes and Usagi hadn’t been able to help the way that she perked up once she finally returned, looking hopefully over her shoulder.

Rei hadn’t even given her the chance to ask the question.

"Just tourists. Higurashi must have forgotten."  

It was possible, Usagi had realized. Kagome was very busy, fighting much more frightening things than they had to face. Her bottom lip still quivered a little at the thought.

"Even she must get tired of always having to save you."

That stung, but anger was easier than hurt. So Usagi had huffed and stomped to her feet with a scowl, ready to argue but Rei had cut her off before she could even rebuke the declaration.

“Just sit down, meatball head. We don’t need her for this meeting anyway. She’s not even a real soldier.”  

Usagi had deflated at that reminder. Honestly, she had forgotten that detail. She had gotten so used to Kagome fighting alongside them with the Disguise Pen that she often forgot the nature of their transformations weren’t the same. But she hadn’t needed Rei to point it out.

She hadn’t told the others about Inuyasha coming to get her that night. Luna hadn’t been in when he had shown up to get her -the cat had been off doing whatever it was that Luna did when she wasn’t being a nag, much to Usagi’s delight- and had still been absent after she had gotten back. As far as Usagi had been concerned, as far as she was still concerned, that was perfectly fine. 

She wanted to pretend it hadn’t happened. She didn’t want to talk about it with the others, especially Rei. 

Rei had been insistent on regular ‘sailor meetings’ and Usagi knew that battle had been lost when Ami and Makoto agreed it was a good idea. As if they hadn’t already been having regular meetups! Rei was the one who never joined them at Higurashi Shrine. 

But Ami was too timid to argue and Makoto was too new. 

Usagi still thought it felt wrong to shift their base to Hikawa when it had been at Higurashi Shrine up to that point. She wasn’t quite sure why it bothered her, but it left a sour taste in her mouth. 

Whatever even ended up being discussed at the meeting, Usagi hadn’t paid attention. She only realized it was over when Ami gently put a hand on her shoulder and invited her to walk home together. They did, but it was made in silence. Usagi at least had the presence of mind to wave Ami off when they parted ways at her doorstep. 

"I'm home," Usagi mumbled.

"Oh! Usagi!" Her mother rushed out of the kitchen, chattering excitedly about something. Usagi was far too deep in her own spiraling thoughts to really listen. 

"-your favorite tonight!" Ikuko chirped, clearly unaware that Usagi wasn’t paying attention. "Oh, and you had a visit earlier." 

Usagi perked up, her attention finally caught. “Huh? Who?"

"Kagome-chan dropped this off for you." Her mother set a little package into her hands.

"Kagome did?" Usagi looked down at the familiar design of the bento box Kagome often brought along when they met up for practice. Then her eyes fell on the paper tucked beneath the ribbon wrapped around it. She retrieved the note, mumbled a distracted ‘thanks’ to her mother, and sprinted up the stairs with much more energy than she’d had before. 'Kago didn't forget…'

Her room was mercifully empty of any nosey cats as she hurried in. She paid no attention to where her coat landed as she tossed it to plop down at her desk chair. The note itself wasn’t long and the handwriting was messier than she’d grown used to from Kagome. Most of it was an apology for missing their meeting and a request to ‘feel better’ that Usagi didn’t quite understand. 

Much to her dismay, Kagome hadn’t detailed any particularly exciting adventures and -while that might have been in case her mother had tried to snoop- Usagi couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed. Aside from a few objects getting possessed by monsters, there hadn’t been much activity since the festival. Still, Usagi wasn’t surprised to see instructions for her to call Higurashi Shrine if anything happened. Apparently, she was going to be away for another chunk of time in the coming days. 

Just a few days if everything goes smoothly.

Usagi almost snorted. Rei would have called her dramatic for it, but nothing ever went smoothly when they tried to make plans. Then a few words at the end caught her attention.

We're traveling to find the dragon that killed Inuyasha's father.  

“Eh?!” Usagi stood so quickly that she sent her chair to the floor. "Dragon?!"

Kagome was off to fight dragons while she was stuck running to meetings with Rei. Usagi whined. Kagome got all the fun.