InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bound by Blood ❯ Wanted and Unwanted attention ( Chapter 6 )

 

Chapter 6 - Wanted and Unwanted Attention

 

Both women turned to Sango and asked, “Do you know where our weapons are? It would be great to get in a workout. And if possible, may we please have hakamas? I think this will help our stiffness and wake up our senses.” Kagome smiled at the thought of sparring again with Yuriye. This would definitely help the both of them out.

 

“Yes, I know where your weapons are. We found both of your sai in the field though one had some minor damage. Yuriye, your staff is completely fine, it might need new leather though. The leather you had on it seemed a bit worn and in some places it was completely missing.” Sango saw how their moods lightened even more at the opportunity for them to spar. She understood that, in a way, they had to, they needed to prove to one another they could still fight and that they were really all right.

 

Sango could immediately tell that in some aspects Kagome had it the hardest. She had to prove herself to Yuriye again. To do this she had to reassert her dominance over Yuriye and make sure that she knew Kagome could and would continue to protect their pack. This would definitely turn out to be an interesting fight. Sango had seen other inu fight before but it seemed different with these two. It seemed as though they had a tighter bond than most of the packs she had encountered.

 

“Come on you guys, the dojos are around on the other side of the lake. It's about a ten minute walk from here. It's a little ways away from the main school for safety concerns. We have had a couple of accidents so they thought to rebuild them farther away from the main buildings. Plus we had problems with some of the younger ones getting scared from the noises.” Sango was explaining while walking around the lake toward the dojo.

 

“A couple of accidents, what type of accident are we talking about?” Kagome could only imagine, she could remember tales about her pack when brothers and sisters would fight. “And what happened to my sai?”

 

“One of your sai has a crack in the prong. And we have blown out a couple of walls when the fighting got, lets say heated. Every now and again we will have brothers or sisters that come together and sibling rivalry can become intense. That or sometimes a miko or monk will lose control of their powers.”

 

“Younger kids don't get exposed to the fighting until they are ten. Very rarely do we get an orphaned demon but if we do they are also not exposed until they have reached ten. But the dorms for the older humans and all demons are closer to the dojos. We have about ten training areas in total; some are more advanced than others. Some are created to rein in either youki or holy ki, others are created to restrain both. Only one area has no restrictions, it allows the most advanced students to train in full capacity.”

 

“The ones designed to hold back individual energies are only restrained to a certain point. Just enough so that if someone over powers or loses control we don't have to rebuild an entire building.” All the girls could see the beginning of a relatively large group of dojos. As they were walking around the lake they could hear and see the laughing of those around them. Both could see demons and humans of all ages around them. Suddenly Kagome felt someone run into her knees from behind and felt them fall backwards.

 

“Oomph, what the…” Kagome looked behind her to see a small human child sprawled out on the ground. She turned around and picked the smiling gapped tooth girl up, gather her into her arms and pulling her onto her hip.

 

“Who are you cutie?” Kagome's rang with bits of laughter and glee. She couldn't help the smile that broke out across her face. Now that the girl was in her arms she could see her warm chocolate eyes and hair. She had a small portion of it up in a side ponytail.

 

“Hello pretty lady, my name is Rin. What is the pretty ladies name? Is this your friend?” She asked looking at Yuriye. “What's her name? I'm sorry I ran into you I was running from my friends, over there. We're playing tag, do you want to play?” Rin's voice was full of excitement and so bubbly. She was also pointing at a small group of humans and demons, whose ages ranged to about 7-9 years old. Kagome, already giddy from her brief contact with the girl couldn't but to hold the child and returned the smile at the girl in her arms.

 

“My name is Kagome and this is Yuriye. It is ok, just be sure to look around next time.” Kagome said while laughing at the hyper and overly enthusiastic child.

 

“Rin, go on and play with your friends. I'm going to bring Kagome and Yuriye to the dojo. Maybe they can play with you another time. Alright?” Sango said while patting her head. Kagome let Rin down and she turned around smiling at the group before heading back towards her friends.

 

After Rin ran towards her friends the three of them continued on their way towards the dojos. As they got closer the two inus could feel the rise in youki and holy ki. It caused most of their senses to reawaken, in so many ways it felt good. The week they had slept might have replenished their bodies but they needed to be around others for their senses to completely open up. Both felt the excitement around them, they could smell the tangy scent of human sweat which was not the best smell in the world. They heard the twangs of bow strings and clashes of metal against metal.

 

As they continued to walk they finally started to see more students. Most students around the different dojos had on fighting garbs and carried various styles of weaponry, most common were swords though. Many had stopped when they noticed Sango approaching with the two newcomers.

 

“Who are they? Why is Sango leading a couple of inu around?” Were just a few of the questions the students asked among themselves. Everyone had heard about the two stray inu that had been found outside the barrier but everyone thought they were still unconscious in the medical unit. Both inu were beautiful but the seriousness of their faces had told many they were not approachable.

 

“Sango, why are they staring? Have they no manners?” Kagome was uncomfortable with all the attention her and Yuriye were receiving.

 

“Everyone heard about us bringing two injured inu back, they are most likely curious about the two of you. Kaede made an announcement instructing students to avoid your rooms for safety reasons. As you can imagine, with this type of training many are hurt so the medical ward is constantly treating students. Have no fear, no one will harm you.” Sango could feel Kagome and Yuriye become even more uncomfortable with the stares.

 

“If you follow me I will take you to a smaller dojo, most students don't use it anymore. It's mainly for the youkai students, it should be empty today. The human and youkai students usually trade off days when training; today the humans have most of the dojos.” Sango started to walk towards the very back of the group of dojos.

 

Kagome and Yuriye continued to feel the stares of the students even as they moved farther away. Both held back growls, neither wanted to make trouble, especially since they were so new. So far the school grounds had impressed them, they were open but on the back side of the dojo in front of them the clearing led off into a forested area. As they approached the dojo both inu could hear the swing of a blade but no clashing. Their senses told them that there was a very powerful youkai behind those doors.

 

“Sango, there is someone already in there.” Kagome informed their guide.

 

“It's alright most of the dojos have multiple rooms off to the side. Most likely the student is using one of the smaller rooms to practice.” Sango really hoped the main room was open, she really wanted to see the two inu fight, their weapons were also being housed in this particular dojo. When they reached the dojo Sango opened the door for them and followed them in.

 

Inside they stepped into a hallway that lead two ways, to the right were the locker-rooms and the left lead to the fighting rooms. Sango led the inu towards the locker-rooms so they could get into some hakamas and possibly sparring jackets.

 

“Here let me get you both a set of hakamas and sparring jackets,” Sango started towards a pile of pants and jackets.

 

“The pants will be fine, the jackets are too confining.” Kagome shivered at the thought of wearing a jacket while fighting. She was trained without one and she would fight without one. “Neither of us use them.”

 

Sango stared, most human females would never spar without jackets. These inu were not your typical human females, they were female youkai and they had been trained very differently. Sometimes Sango would forget that those around her were not always human, she had grown comfortable with having youkai auras next to her over the years. Sango handed over a pair of hakamas to each girl and waited for them to change.

 

Soon both girls had changed and Sango was leading them towards the main sparring room. As all three females were walking they could hear the demon. As they passed by the door they saw long white hair flowing behind a tall male. He soon passed from their vision as they were to a stop in front of closed wooden doors. The window was rather dirty from its obvious lack of use.

 

Sango quickly opened the door and invited both inu in. As she turned on the lights, they could see a pretty large size room, dimensions about thirty by thirty by thirty feet. Above the sparring area there was an observation deck, it went around three sides of the room.

 

Kagome and Yuriye were both impressed by the size of the dojo. `I hate to see what large is if they consider this small...' Were the sentiments of both demon women. As they gawked, they didn't notice Sango walk to the wall across from them and retrieve their weapons from a storage cabinet. As she returned to them she noticed the two pay close attention to the observation deck.

 

“It's the place for persons who oversee student evaluations and competitions. Other than that, it's barely used.” Sango said while handing them their weapons. Both inu could see the minor damage that Sango mentioned earlier. Sango turned to the pair, “Could I watch you two fight? I mean…unless, of course, it's a problem.”

 

Kagome saw the want in Sango's eyes, “Of course you can. You might want to watch from the upper deck though. I wouldn't want you to get hurt We tend to not pay close attention to our surroundings when we fight.” Kagome was curious as to why she wanted to watch them so much. `Doesn't she get to watch the demons fight here?' she thought to herself.

 

Kagome looked closely at her sai trying to figure out the extent of the damage. She noticed that the black leather on her handles would need replacing, soon, but what concerned her most was the deep crack down the middle prong of the sai for her right hand. She was right handed, so she tended to use it more. Now, she wasn't sure how much longer the weapon would last. Though it couldn't be seen on the other side it still concerned her. These had been costumed made for her and the design was her making. She could remember giving the instructions to the forger, she specifically wanted the middle prong of each sai converted into a partial blade with the tip flattened and sharpened so that it would cut and stab more fluidly. She looked at her leg bindings, `They'll have to be replaced,” if she tried to use them again she was pretty sure they would fall apart.

 

Yuriye was also assessing the damage to her staff. The only thing that warranted any attention was the white leather was almost completely gone. That which remained was beginning to rot away.

 

Yuriye looked towards Kagome and could see the dismay in her eyes. At first it looked as if the only thing wrong was the obvious need to replace the leather, but upon closer inspection she saw the deep crack down middle prong of the sai. She knew, at this point, they couldn't afford to have another set costumed made. She also knew that Kagome put so much of herself into the making of that particular weapon and what that represented.

 

Kagome continued to look at one of her most treasured possessions in defeat. She had her weapons for 50 years. She had gotten through some of her most difficult periods with that weapon by her side, fighting horrible fights defending those she cared for.

 

Sango empathized with Kagome's; she couldn't imagine how she'd feel if she had lost her favored weapon. Her Hiraikotsu was given to her by her father and she knew if she lost it, it would be like losing an arm. Losing a chosen weapon could do irreparable damage to a fighter. It was an extension of the fighter, most fighters considered it as much of a limb as the ones they were born with.

 

“We do have a demon weapon-smith that works for the school. He might be able to repair your weapon.” Sango said.

 

Kagome didn't want to think about it anymore, she looked to Sango “You might want to go up to the deck now.”

 

Sango retreated from the room, leaving through the same door they all had entered through. She met up with another student, a young monk, as she walked down the corridor, “Miroku what are you doing I here?”

 

“Ah, Lady Sango. Just the beauty I'm looking for. I was told that you came in here with two young youkai. Of course, I came to see if I can be of any assistance to you all.” Said Miroku, the monk with a “cursed” hand. He had his black hair pulled into a low ponytail that ended at the lower nape of his neck. He stood about 6 feet. He could be seen walking the campus with his staff which he focused his holy powers through, chasing down any female he happened upon. Unfortunately, while doing this his hand got him into a lot trouble and which result in him being thoroughly thrashed.

 

“I'm just helping out the two inu we found the other day in the field. They have decided to stay with us. I am in the middle of something, so if you will excuse me?” Sango said while walking up the stairs to the deck. She was stopped from her progression when Miroku grabbed her hand.

 

“Lady Sango, would you please allow me to accompany you? I'm sure it would be a valuable learning experience.” Miroku said with usual false innocence.

 

“You just want to check them out,” Sango accused.

 

“Lady Sango, you wound me. Whatever could you mean?” Miroku innocently batted his eyelashes and placed his hand upon his chest in mock hurt.

 

*****

 

As Sesshoumaru concentrated on his daily kata, he felt the approach of two youkai. He didn't recognize their auras, this concerned him very little, if at all. He found it odd that the two youkai auras were accompanied by the demon slayer's aura. Most humans avoided this particular training area because it was built specifically for demons.

 

As he finished his morning ritual, he headed towards the locker-rooms. The clashing weapons could be heard as he approached the male locker-room. He looked towards the end of the hall and saw light coming from the main fighting hall, then he saw the demon slayer and a monk run up the stairs to the viewing deck. As he started towards the room, he began to concentrate more on the two unfamiliar auras. They were the auras of two from the clearing. He reached the door and looked in at the pair fighting.

 

*****

 

“Darn it, Miroku!” Sango said as she ran up the stairs when she heard the sounds of fighting. Miroku immediately followed, both couldn't wait to see the inu fight.