InuYasha Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Decisions ❯ Chapter 10

 

Chapter Ten

 

When they finally made it to Sesshomaru's palace just over a week later, Kagome was greeted by a hyperactive, cute little girl being chased after by a short, ugly youkai. Rin jumped into Kagome's arms. “Rin knew you would be back! Can you come play in the garden?”

 

Kagome groaned. She just wanted a nice, hot bath. She was exhausted but she just couldn't disappoint the girl. She was just about to agree when Jaken spoke up. “Rin, you know that dinner is going to be served soon, and they need to get cleaned up. As do you.”

 

The girl just smiled, yelled “Bye!” and ran back into the palace to find her favorite lord.

 

Kagome couldn't help but be relieved. Jaken showed them to their rooms. Luckily, the boys were in a different wing and were not shown where the girls would be bathing. Miroku would have almost no chance of finding them. The girls had rooms next to each other, with a room with a natural hot spring in it connecting them. Shippo was sharing Kagome's room and Kirara was in Sango's room. Kaede got a cottage all to herself on the grounds, since she didn't feel comfortable in the palace.

 

Kagome had to restrain herself from running and jumping in the hot spring with all her clothes still on. She was surprised that she could even think of running anywhere, as tired as she was. A servant informed them that dinner would be served at sunset, which was about an hour and a half off. They were also informed that they would have to `dress for dinner.' With that, the servants opened Kagome's closet and the girls gasped at the beautiful array of formal kimonos that it held. They were informed that Sango's closet held the same.

 

The first thing that the girls did when the servants left was get undressed and sink down into the water. Shippo and Kirara were taking a nap together on Kagome's bed. The girls talked about the upcoming wedding and continued on until Shippo joined them, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

 

Kagome smiled at him. “It's about time that you that you woke up to take your bath.” Shippo ran to her, shedding his clothes as he went. When he got to the edge, he cannonballed into the middle of the springs, splashing both Sango and Kagome. They both just shielded their faces and laughed, used to his antics.

 

They finally got out and got dressed. Both girls were exclaiming over their beautiful kimonos. Sango's was deep burgundy silk with ivy trailing down it. Kagome's was dark blue silk with cherry blossom's falling down its sides. Both girls put their hair in buns, which was the best that they could do as neither was really good with hair. Someone had delivered some clothes for Shippo while they had been in the springs and he was wearing a plain dark green kimono.

 

A servant appeared at the door to show them to the informal dining room. Sesshomaru's palace was truly amazing. It had pure white stone that never seemed to get dirty and black marble floors. The only thing that saved it from being kind of sterile was the tapestries and portraits on the walls. They finally made it to the dining room where everyone else was waiting. Both Miroku and Inuyasha stared at the girls so long that they blushed. Miroku came up to Sango and whispered something in her ear that caused her to turn even redder before slapping him hard across the face, keeping her promise to hit him extra hard for Kagome. Kagome was only surprised that he had lasted this long. Miroku was of the opinion that the slap was worth it. He loved making Sango blush. Sesshomaru was still not used to this behavior, but was willing to tolerate it without comment as it was mildly amusing. Rin was watching it all with avid interest, like a modern era child would watch cartoons.

 

Everyone took their seats as dinner was served. While they were eating, Kagome filled the rest in on what happened. When she was done, Sesshomaru said, “This Sesshomaru recommends that you start your journey to get the sword tomorrow. You cannot afford to lose any time that could be better spent training with me.”

 

“So you're willing to train me?”

 

“Yes, but you may not be so happy once we have begun. This Sesshomaru shows no mercy, not even to allies.”

 

Kagome was happy that she had gotten the task of finding a teacher out of the way. She had been afraid that she would have to rely on Inuyasha to teach her, and God knows that although he somehow managed to defeat the enemy almost every time, he didn't seem to know the first thing about how to do anything other than swing the sword around and hope that it hits the other guy. And that seemed to work for him, but she didn't think that it would work for her. First of all, she didn't have the strength or speed that he had. Second, she was human and couldn't afford to take as many serious injuries as he did on a regular basis. Plus, she doubted that Midoriko would put up with her being anything but perfect with a sword.

 

Yes, anything worth doing is worth doing right.

 

Kikyo, I thought you were sulking.

 

No, I was thinking about all the things that I have to teach you as well. There are many things that you need to be taught. It took me almost my entire life to learn all that I know and I am still learning. You will also need to study with Kaede to see if there is anything that she can teach you that I cannot. Although she lacks our power, she has all the knowledge that her years allow her and we cannot hope to match her in that area, at least not until Midoriko joins us. Even then I'm not sure. I was only seventeen when I died and Midoriko looks to be in her early-twenties.

 

Kagome groaned. It looked like she had a long few months ahead of her.

 

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